She Left Me Breathless (33 page)

Jackie slowly made her way down the hallway, turned to her right, walked a short distance and stopped in front of a closed door. She pushed it open. It was a stairwell that only led down. She felt her heart thundering in her chest, beads of sweat popping up on her forehead as she quietly pulled the door shut behind her. Moving as quietly as she could and with her back pressed against the wall, she descended the steps.

“This must have been their call center,” Sydney said, shining her light on several cubicles.

Rachel tightened her grip on the back of Sydney’s shirt. “This place is creepy,” she whispered.

“It’s not so bad during the day when you can see your hand in front of your face,” Sydney laughed softly. “Come on, we still have a few more places to check,” she said, pulling Rachel out the door by her hand.

Jackie stopped at the bottom of the stairs. With her gun aiming forward, she slowly pushed the door open and stepped into a room, lighted by two propane lanterns hanging on the wall.

Maureen looked up from the table where she was sitting. She smiled as she got to her feet and walked over to Jackie.

“I was beginning to worry about you, baby,” she said, wrapping her arms around Jackie’s neck.

Jackie reached back and unclasped Maureen’s fingers from around her neck. She gently pushed her away, holding her fingers to her mouth for Maureen to be quiet.

She slowly raised the gun and pointed it at Maureen chest. She looked at Maureen and silently mouthed the words, “I’m sorry.”

For a split second, Maureen’s eyes went wide in shock as her mind registered what was happening. Before she could open her mouth, Jackie pulled the trigger.

The gun recoiled in Jackie’s hand, the sound echoing loudly off the walls. The bullet hit Maureen directly in the middle of her chest. Her body dropped to the floor with a thud. The white blouse she was wearing turned pink as blood gushed from her chest.

“Oh no,” Sydney yelled when she and Rachel heard the gun go off.

“Caitlyn!” Rachel screamed.

Sydney grabbed Rachel by the hand and pulled her toward the doorway that led back out into the hallway. Still holding Rachel’s hand, she took off running in the direction she thought the sound had come from. “Shit, I don’t know which way to go,” she said in frustration when they came to the end of the main hallway.

“What about that door?” Rachel asked, pointing to the door located less than three feet in front of them.

“I think it leads to the stairwell,” Sydney said. As soon as she jerked the door open, they heard Caitlyn scream.

Jackie hurriedly pulled a gun out from inside her waist band. She used the tail end of her shirt to wipe off her fingerprints. She knelt down next to Maureen’s body and picked up her right arm.

“What’s going on out there?” Caitlyn shouted. She grabbed the chain wrapped around her ankle and jerked with all her might, trying to rip it from the wall. It didn’t budge. “Let me out of here, please,” she pleaded. 

Ignoring Caitlyn’s cries for help, Jackie placed the gun in Maureen’s hand, making sure to press her fingers around it, taking extra care to insure Maureen’s index finger touched the trigger.

Just as she got to her feet and took several steps back, the basement door flew open and Sydney and Rachel rushed in. Rachel gasped, clasping her hand over her mouth when she saw Maureen laying on the ground. She looked around the room. “Caitlyn?” she yelled.

“Oh God, Mom. I’m in here,” Caitlyn sobbed from the other side of the door.

Rachel ran over to the door and looked through the screen window. She was unable to stop the tears spilling down her cheeks when she saw Caitlyn standing next to the cot. “It’s okay, baby. It’s all over. You’re safe now. I’ll get you out in a second.”

“Don’t leave me,” Caitlyn sobbed.

“I won’t, baby. I’ve got to find the keys. I’ll be right back.” Rachel looked around the room. “Keys, where are the damn keys?” she yelled.

“I think that’s them laying there,” Jackie said, nodding toward the table.

Sydney walked over to Maureen and knelt down on the floor beside her. She used her fingers to check for a pulse in Maureen’s neck. Rachel looked at her expectantly as she snatched the keys off of the table. Sydney shook her head. Although she checked for a pulse, she had known that Maureen was already dead by the fixed position of her eyes, which were now staring blankly up at the ceiling.

“Oh, Maureen. Why? If you needed money, I would have just given it to you. All you had to do was ask,” Sydney said, fighting back tears.

Rachel tried several keys before she found the one that fit the door, she unlocked it and ran over to Caitlyn, wrapping her arms around Caitlyn’s shoulders.

Caitlyn collapsed against her mom, her body shaking as she cried. “It’s okay now, baby,” Rachel said in a soothing voice as she hugged her daughter tightly. She let go of Caitlyn long enough to find the key that fit the cuff on her ankle. She released the chain and wrapped her arm around Caitlyn’s waist as she led her out of the room.

Jackie ran her hand through her hair. “I had no choice, Syd. She pulled the gun and ...”

“Is, is she dead?” Caitlyn asked when she saw Maureen.

Sydney nodded. “Yeah, she is,” she said, getting to her feet.

“Do you know her?” Rachel asked, looking at Sydney.

“She is, was my assistant,” Sydney answered. She looked at Rachel. “Do you have your cell with you?”

Rachel nodded. “Yeah, why?”

“Call the police. When you get them on the phone tell them that there’s been a kidnapping and a murder and that we’re standing here with the person who’s responsible for both.” Rachel and Caitlyn both looked at Sydney like she had just lost her mind.

“Just do it, Rache,” Sydney said when Rachel made no move to take out her cell.

Much to everyone in the room’s surprise, Sydney slowly raised her gun and pointed it at Jackie.

“What the hell are you doing, Sydney?” Rachel asked.

“Damn it, Rache, just do it! Sydney yelled, not taking her eyes off of Jackie.

“No! Not until you tell me what’s going on,” Rachel said, shaking her head.

“Yeah, Syd. I think we would all like to know the answer to that question,” Jackie said with raised eyebrows.

Sydney glared at Jackie. If looks could kill, she would have been dead in an instant. “Shut the fuck up,” she yelled. She rubbed her temple with her index finger. “It all makes sense now. How could I have been so stupid?” she asked, shaking her head.

“Damn it, Sydney! Please tell me what’s going on? What are you talking about?” Rachel demanded.

Sydney looked at Jackie and smiled. “Jackie is or was Maureen’s lover.”

“Don’t be stupid, Sydney,” Jackie said.

Sydney glanced at Caitlyn, being extra careful to keep an eye on Jackie. “Caitlyn, can you tell me if you remember hearing a phone ringing a little while ago. Actually, what I want to know specifically, is if you heard a phone ring twice, say around fifteen minutes apart.”

“Yes, it was a weird kinda ringtone,” Caitlyn answered without hesitation.

Sydney watched Jackie’s facial expression as she flipped out her cell phone. She hit one of her speed dial buttons. “Did it sound like this?” she asked, continuing to watch Jackie.

Inside Jackie’s coat, her cell phone rang, producing a raucous kind of beat.

Caitlyn’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Yeah. That’s exactly what I heard,” she said, nodding her head.

Jackie laughed. “I never did like that ringtone but Mo insisted on it.” She looked at Sydney and grinned. “So hotshot, how’d you figure it out?”

Sydney looked at Caitlyn and smiled. “Actually, Caitlyn did it. It was your clue. At first, I thought two demo referred to the demolition taking place in two days for the Demo Burg Project and it wasn’t until I went to your office that it all started making sense. I went to use your desk phone and I accidentally hit the redial button. The caller ID display showed Jackie’s cell number and I couldn’t figure out why you would have ever called her and then it dawned on me ... All those times Maureen had received roses, they were signed by John. I could never understand why she didn’t want to find out who this person was, she didn’t need to because she already knew who John was. Calling yourself John was pretty ingenious. Nice word play on the name Jack,” she said, looking at Jackie. She turned to Caitlyn. “See one of the things I knew about Jackie is that she thought JFK was the best president to ever walk the face of the earth. His name was John, yet everyone called him Jack. As for Maureen, she had to have called Jackie from your office after she attacked you and that’s how she carried you out. Jackie helped her.”

Sydney smiled at Jackie. “I’m doing pretty good so far, huh?”

“You figured it out just from the caller ID?” Caitlyn asked.

“No, it just confirmed what I already suspected. It was that shorthand way of talking thingy you do.”

Caitlyn smiled. “I knew you would get it.”

“Yes, but when I wrote out the clue you yelled through the phone, it took me several tries to get it right. Two demo stood for the demolition and Mo was short for Maureen, which is what Jackie called her when she was at my office, which I assume was a slip-up on her part. I just assumed the two meant there were two people involved.”

“Not bad for an old lady,” Caitlyn laughed.

Rachel shook her head. “But how did you know she killed Maureen and that it wasn’t in self-defense like she said?”

Sydney looked at Jackie as she spoke. “That’s an easy one and Jackie should have known better. She put the gun in the wrong hand.”

All three women looked over at Maureen’s right hand, which still held the gun.  

“She was left-handed?” Rachel asked.

“Yeah, she was. I used to tease her about it all the time,” Sydney said.

Rachel took out her cell phone and dialed 911. She waited for the dispatcher to pick up. “My name is Rachel Ashburn and I’m at ...” She looked at Sydney.

“2122 North Third,” Sydney said.

“I’m at 2122 North Third Street. There’s been a kidnapping and a murder and you need to send someone as soon as you can.” She paused to listen to the dispatcher. She shook her head. “No, I can’t stay on the line,” she said and then snapped her cell phone shut.