Post Pattern (Burnside Mystery 1) (16 page)

While the soft rolling hills of the LAU campus are
normally rather tranquil on a warm June day, chasing after a murder suspect can
certainly dim the experience. Ashley was in very good shape and her long legs
glided across the grass effortlessly. The four of us followed about thirty
yards behind her, with me leading the two uniforms and Mickey Batson bringing
up the rear. A few students stopped to gawk at the sight: four large, middle
aged men chasing a slender blonde co-ed through the heart of campus. For us,
just another day at the office. Welcome to the workaday world, kids.

We tore across the main lawn and passed a series of
metal sculptures being exhibited by the Art department. Ashley turned sharply
to her left and ran in front of a commissary where a few academic looking types
glanced up from their afternoon break in complete awe of the spectacle. I
vaguely hoped someone would stick a foot out and trip our suspect, but most
were too surprised to do anything more than take in the whole episode. We had
run what seemed like a mile, and at that point I started to feel sharp knifing
pains form in my ribs once more, a not so subtle reminder of the punishment
with which this case had dished out to me. And as the spurs in my ribs slowed
my pace, Ashley Stark began to widen her lead.

She turned down a narrow, brick-lined path between the
commissary and a humanities building, and headed for the parking structure. If
that meant she was going for her car, our luck would take a further nose dive.
For if Ashley made it off the campus, her chances of disappearing into the
shadows of society would skyrocket. I pushed my body forward but it would not
respond. I felt myself slowing down and one of the bulky uniforms surged
slightly ahead of me. Things were not looking up.

The entrance to the parking structure was twenty feet
wide and eight feet high, and looked curiously like the open mouth of a
monster. Ashley darted through the opening and cut to her right, running up a ramp
and onto a level that contained perhaps a dozen cars and a hundred empty
spaces. The pounding of our soles on the concrete echoed throughout the
darkened chamber. An Acura ZDX sat off by itself, and it appeared that was
Ashley's destination. It also appeared she would have time enough to unlock it,
climb in and drive away.

I briefly considered drawing my pistol, but I heard the
sound of tires squealing against the slick pavement around a corner, and
quickly decided against it. There had been enough innocent victims in this
case. As Ashley neared the Acura, a car came into view however, and pulled in
front of her path. A lone figure climbed out and screamed at her to stop, but
to no avail. Ashley danced to one side and tore around the vehicle. The figure,
dressed in a khaki security guard uniform followed rapidly. Just before the
slender blonde reached her car, the guard grabbed Ashley Stark in an arm tackle
and pushed her against the vehicle. As I drew near the two, I became aware that
this was no ordinary campus police officer. Gail Pepper was about to apprehend
a suspect.

Ashley struggled to squirm out of the grip, and when she
couldn't, she twisted her body and wrapped one arm around Gail's neck. Gail was
built a bit lower to the ground and appeared to have more physical strength as
well. She used her leverage and reached around with her left foot to cut
Ashley's ankles out from underneath. The two fell to the pavement and Gail
landed atop the tall blonde with a loud thud.

The two uniforms reached the tussle first and it was
with utter horror that I watched one draw his service revolver out with his
right hand. Using his left to steady his aim, the officer pointed at the two
and ordered them to stop. A heavy lump rose in my throat and I ignored the stinging
ache in my ribs and raced towards him.

"Put that away, you idiot!" I screamed,
nearing the scene.

"I am ordering you to cease and desist!" he
commanded them, seemingly unaware they were totally oblivious to his directive.
"And I mean now!"

My first impulse was to go for the officer's gun, but
the thought of an accident causing his weapon to discharge into the fracas was
enough to keep me at bay. Holding my hands out I rushed in front of him. Before
I could do anything further though, the other uniform lowered his head and
rammed into my chest, wrapping his arms around me, pushing me a few feet from
the scene. The pain in my ribs reached new heights as I struggled against him,
grabbing his arms and creating what amounted to a stalemate. The patrolman with
the service revolver at the ready stood transfixed at what was before him, and
when Mickey Batson arrived, the resulting scene looked more like a group
watching a chicken fight rather than a professional attempt at law enforcement.

"You guys mind doing something?!" I managed to
shout.

"Yeah," Batson panted, without shifting his
eyes from the two women. "We're handling the situation."

"Dammit, put the gun down!" I screamed.

"Aw right, lower the weapon, officer. She ain't
goin' nowhere."

Unable to jerk free from the officer's grasp, my gaze
turned towards the women as well. Gail was on top in the scuffle and wrestled
with Ashley's wildly flailing arms. The taller girl slapped at her, and acted
like a wild animal fighting for her life. The two bodies strained intensely
against one another, their pelvises grinding unyieldingly and without
constraint. Ashley's teeth were gnashed together and she was exerting every
muscle of her lithe body, but Gail was persevering. She was fully astride the blonde
now and slowly forced Ashley's arms to the ground, her own hands locked around
the blonde's wrists. They stayed that way for about five seconds, muscles taut,
breathing hard. I thought the tussle was over, but Ashley surged one more time.

Wrapping her long legs around Gail's waist, she swiveled
her body and flipped the smaller girl over onto her side. Grabbing a handful of
thick brown hair, she tugged on it and forced Gail onto her side. Gail still
maintained control of Ashley's left wrist and twisted it mercilessly. Ashley
let out a low groan but finally yanked her hand free. She still had her legs
wrapped around Gail and was beginning to apply pressure. By the expression on
her face, I could tell Gail was starting to feel some pain in the abdomen. I swallowed
hard and shifted my own legs around for leverage. I didn't think I could take
much more of this scene myself, and I positioned myself for one last attempt to
break free.

Taking a step backwards with my right leg, I drew the
officer towards me. With all my strength focused, I brought my knee up into his
solar plexus with a thundering blow. He grunted loudly and I felt the air
literally go out of him. His body slumped against mine and I threw him angrily
to the ground. He lay motionless for a brief moment before starting to writhe
in pain. As I was about to leap in to help Gail, she herself found her own path
to freedom.

Balling her right hand in to a fist, she reared back and
dug her left hand sharply into the blonde's forearm. Her nails raked the arm
hard and deep, and Ashley screamed in agony and let go of the brown hair. Gail
pushed her body forward and slammed her fist solidly into the middle of
Ashley's face. It landed with a loud whap and was followed by a scream of pain.
The blonde slumped to one side and Gail rolled her over immediately. She pulled
Ashley's left arm around her back in a hammer lock and shoved her face into the
pavement. Applying pressure to the arm, Ashley moaned in agony and Gail showed
no indication of letting up the pressure. I walked over to Batson and politely
asked for his handcuffs. He shrugged and passed them to me.

"Here," I said, handing them to Gail.
"Use these. I think you're breaking her arm."

Breathing deeply, Gail took the handcuffs and snapped
them on the blonde.

"You think I broke her arm?" she asked,
breathing hard as she was getting up.

"Maybe."

Gail looked down at the whining killer. "No great
loss," she said. "At least not in my opinion."

I couldn’t have agreed more.

By the time we wrapped things up, the parking structure
held four police cars, an ambulance, and what might have been half the number
of students enrolled in LAU's summer session. The officer I put out of
commission kept moaning about what he was going to do to me when he got better,
but fortunately Mickey Batson told him to take a number. The officer complained
of sore ribs, but I doubted they hurt any more than my own did. And seeing a
smiling Captain Lafferty pull up didn't exactly lessen my pain.

"Bagged a nice doe, guys," he laughed.
"You sure she's in season?"

I looked at Gail who was leaning on the hood of her
patrol unit. "I don't think the captain quite appreciates all that went
into apprehending her," I said.

"Why don't you tell me about it," Lafferty
chuckled. "It would help if you have pictures."

Gail, still leaning against her cruiser, held up a right
hand that featured a row of swollen red knuckles, a trace of dried blood
evident. "Best I can do."

"Nice job, officer," Lafferty said. "You
just happen to be in the neighborhood?"

"I was on patrol," Gail said, "and
received a radio call about some young girl being chased by a group of
thugs."

"Mostly thugs," I added.

Lafferty shot me a glance. "And you responded by
engaging the girl?"

"When I arrived, I noticed the thugs were actually
uniformed LAPD officers. When I saw who they were after, I joined in."

Lafferty rolled Ashley over and looked at her agonized
face which had some blood of her own around the nose. "Nice shot," he
said and let the blonde fall back on her face. She let out a groan and
whimpered something about the handcuffs being on too tight. Lafferty laughed.

"Perhaps you'd like some tea and crumpets,
sweetheart," he said sardonically to Ashley and then turned to me. "I
guess we owe you an apology there, Burnside."

"I'll say."

"We make our decisions based on the information we
have available."

Batson gave him a look. "Whaddya mean we?"

Lafferty ignored him. "There are over two hundred
unsolved homicides in the city every year. If I dedicated resources to each one
we'd run out of staff."

"And most of the time you decide to suspend an
investigation you'd probably be right," I said. "But coming up with
an easy solution like deciding Curt Salvo murdered Robbie Freeman was too pat.
Curt's dead too, so it's not like you'll be able to bring him to trial."

Lafferty gave an exasperated sigh. "And your
suggestion?"

"Just don't package the solution so quickly. Noodle
it around a little. There are always angles that haven't been played out."

"If it was that easy, why did it take you so
long?"

"I'm not saying it was easy. In fact, this one was
a gnarly beast. But if you had examined the DVD a little more carefully,
checked the closet more closely, looked at that registry they keep in the
lobby, reviewed the parking citations that night, some peculiar things might
have jumped out."

"Gee you've got some great ideas there,"
Lafferty said. "Maybe I should take notes."

I shrugged. There's only so much you can do. Lafferty motioned
to the uniformed officers to ride along with Ashley in the ambulance before
taking her in for booking.

"Say Captain," I called.

He turned and looked at me.

"How'd my tip work out on that cocaine nest in
Westwood?"

He nodded slowly. "They were sitting on three keys
of coke. We popped a couple of kids. As you probably know, one of 'em grew up
with the Freemans. Couldn't find any link between them and what happened to
Robbie though."

"Me neither," I said. "But if things
continued on the same trek, I'll bet Evan Wurman would have pushed the button
on Robbie. It was just a question of time."

He nodded again. "Looks like I owe you a couple of
favors," he said. "You're a good man, Burnside. I just wish you
weren't such a smart ass. The Philip Marlowe style doesn't play well on
people's nerves these days."

"You know what, Captain?"

"What?"

"It never did."

*

I offered to buy Gail dinner that night and she agreed,
but only if she could go home first and take a long, hot bath. That would give
me time to wrap up a few final business matters. It was five o'clock and I had
a client in need of a de-briefing, but there was someone else I needed to visit
first.

The sun was going down in back of Baron Hall but Dick
Bridges was still behind his desk. His wide frame was hunched over a set of
papers, and the low hum of the air conditioning was the only sound. I said
nothing as I opened the door and walked across the carpeted office.

"Have a seat, Burnsy," he said without looking
up.

"You’re very intuitive."

He put his pen down and leaned back into the padded
leather chair, rubbing his large face with a pair of meaty hands. "Glad
you came by," he said. “I couldn’t get a lot of info from the uniforms in
the parking garage. Figured you could give me a de-brief.”

“What do you know?”

"Not a lot. But I do know that Gail's done some
good leg work on your behalf."

"I'll say."

Dick cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah," he continued,
"she did a bit of digging around for you. Talked with some guy back in
Cleveland. Apparently Ashley Stark was nailed a few times for prostitution.
Turning tricks since she was fifteen. Isn't that something? Young Norman
marrying a lady of the evening."

"The wedding'll be delayed for a few years," I
said.

"How's that?" he frowned.

"Unless they choose to have the prison chaplain
perform the ceremony. The Robbie Freeman case is solved."

Dick took a deep breath. "Norman did it to
Robbie?"

"Nope," I said, shaking my head side to side.
"Ashley."

A wry smile crossed Dick Bridges' lips and perhaps a new
level of respect. "Wouldn't have guessed it," he said. "But I
never would've guessed she'd have been a whore either."

"You should do a few reference checks on your job
applicants. There might even be a few professors with colorful pasts. It's
amazing how many people aren't what they say they are."

"True," he said. "Very true. But that was
McCallum's call."

"So to speak," I smiled. "He hired Ashley
for that very reason. She worked over at Neary's and knew her way around the
block. When the high school recruits needed to be entertained, she had a posse
of friends willing to do it discreetly. As for Ashley herself, she was probably
getting tired of turning tricks and wasn't about to start processing claims in
an insurance office. Working here gave her a chance to meet a few eligible
young bachelors. And when old Norman came along, she reeled him in like a
rainbow trout."

The wry smile had dissipated from Dick Bridges' face.
His expression turned more somber and he started to rub his hands together.
"McCallum wields a lot of power around here. But he's getting old. And I
don't like the idea of somebody running a call girl operation on my
campus."

"Helps the football program," I reminded him.
"And that means it ultimately helps the University coffers."

"And it'll put my butt in a sling if word gets out.
Anyone else you know involved?"

"A few of McCallum's assistants. But there's
another area you ought to be more concerned about."

"What's that?"

"Drugs. Some of the guys on the team are pretty
heavy users. One or two in particular were dealing."

"Who?"

I shook my head. "No names."

"Burnside," Dick sighed.

"I gave my word. Without integrity, a man is just
another carnivore. No different from any jungle animal."

"Such a philosopher," he said, picking up his
glasses. "Go talk to Gail. She was moping around today over something. You
two have a fight?"

"Not that I was involved in," I said with a
frown. "I'm seeing her later. She saved my neck, you know."

"Do what?"

I related the story of the past afternoon, and Dick sat mesmerized,
particularly when I described the bout between Ashley and Gail. He took it all
in, smiling when I described in minute detail the punch that landed on the
bigger girl's schnozz and sent her reeling on her back.

"She's a good soldier," he said at the end of
my discourse. "And I believe I once told you she could take you apart as
well."

"That she can," I said, getting up to leave.
"But she's gone one step further."

"How so?"

I smiled. "She's putting me back together
again."