CHAPTER FOUR: FINDING NAMES
After leaving the hospital, the three women pondered what to do next. “I think we should go back to the house where I was held,” Raelene said.
“Why?” Anne asked.
“Somebody heard a shot, but tests showed the bullet came from a silenced piece.”
“So you think there may be a slug somewhere,” Drea said.
“Exactly!” Raelene exclaimed. “I want to look that place over.”
“We might as well,” Anne said. “Finding that bullet should go a long way in clearing Raelene.”
Then it’s settled,” Drea said.
The trio proceeded to the house. Once there, the fanned out and started to search for the bullet. “Now, if I’m firing off a round just to make noise, what do I do?” Drea asked.
“For one thing you don’t shoot into the air,” Raelene said. “That bullet has to come down somewhere, and it could come down on the windshield of your car.”
“Yes, and you don’t just fire it off randomly because you don’t know what you’ll hit,” Anne said.
Anne made her way to the back yard. “Drea, Raelene, take a look,” she said.
Her companions rushed to her side and immediately noticed the two big orange trees in the back yard. “Why not?” Raelene said. They’re big and sturdy.”
“Assuming Lisa Sand pulled the trigger, and she was in a proper aiming position, the bullet should be at or below the level of our eyes,” Drea said.
Drea and Anne each inspected a tree. Anne found a piece of metal imbedded in her tree. She summoned Drea over. The former pulled a Swiss Army knife from her purse, the latter a resealable sandwich bag. Drea held the bag open when Anne dug the projectile out of the wood.
“Since this is the first piece of evidence we’ve produced in your favor, Raelene, I think we should get to the lab right away,” Anne said.
“Of course,” Raelene said.
“Would they be of any help?” Drea wondered.
“My record speaks for itself,” Raelene said. Besides, there are plenty of people on the force who think I’m getting a bum rap.”
“Then there’s no argument,” Anne said.
The three rushed to police headquarters. On the way in, they encountered Detectives Blaine and Parnell. “So have you found who put my uncle in the hospital?” Anne asked.
“We’re working on it,” Blaine replied.
“You might be interested in what happened last night.”
“Like what?”
Anne described the previous night’s events. “Interesting story,” Parnell said. “But it has no bearing on what we’re doing.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Drea said. “You two were among the people who knew what Anne would be doing last night.”
“Don’t you think we have better things to do than to set up a kidnapping?”
“If you have something to complain about, the Internal Affairs division is on the fifth floor,” Blaine said then stalked away.
Don’t mind her,” Raelene said as the pair walked out of sight. “I went through the academy with her and she hasn’t even made sergeant.”
They dropped off the slug at the lab. Officers sympathetic to Raelene offered their help. Drea and Anne leaped at the chance. They noted one of their assailants, a Lisa Sand had a prison tattoo. Perhaps there was a parole officer they could contact.
While they waited, a young woman approached. It took a little while for Drea and Anne to recognize Tina Flores. The rookie was at headquarter to drop of paperwork she had signed regarding her benefits package.
She chatted briefly with the trio. Tina seemed to be a bit curious about Drea and Anne and the idea of being a detective. Ralene remembered her days a young officer, when she was plucked from uniformed ranks to go on a special assignment, which she carried out brilliantly and was subsequently transferred to the plainclothes division.
Shortly after Tina left, the information arrived: Lisa Sand was indeed on parole and an interesting fact was she had shared a cell with Sylvia Valdes. As part of her parole, Lisa was required to see a clinical psychologist.
“I think that dictates our course of action,” Anne said. “While we’re at it, I think one of should look over where she lives while the other has a talk with this psychologist.”
“Right now?” Drea asked.
“I doubt the office would be open right now. Besides, we should be able to find out when Lisa lives through club records. We can ask her neighbors if they know about any unusual things.”
“I’d like to go with you two,” Raelene said.
“Sure,” Drea said. “We can pick you up at your place.” The she realized something. “Where is your place?”
Raelene gave the address. “Okay, we’ll pick you up at eight.”
After parting with Raelene, Drea and Anne returned to the health club. The found the address of Lisa Sand and compared that with that of Heather Hunter gleaned from the club’s personnel records. “Why were you looking there?” Drea asked.
“I thought they might live together,” Anne replied.
A light popped in Drea’s head: “The guest book.”
“What do you mean?”
“All guests, especially first timers, must sign a guest book and include an address.”
“Ah, so Alicia can mail her to see if she liked it and invite her to join.”
“Exactly.”
“I’ve heard worse ideas.”
Sure enough, a subsequent search showed Paula Stubnick shared an apartment with Lisa and Heather did likewise with Sylvia.
“Lisa seems to be the ringleader,” Anne said. “Let’s go over to her place right now and see what she’s up to!”
“Whoa, horse,” Drea said. “There’ll be lots of people around that place right now, I prefer not to have an audience.”
“All right, it’s settled.”
The next morning, Drea and Anne met at Ralene’s house, a modest structure in a residential area. Raelene invited them in and they were confronted by two surprises. The first was Raelene wearing a t-shirt and jeans. True it was common enough, but they had never seen their friend dressed that way, even on social occasions. The second was a cat.
“I hope neither of you are allergic,” Raelene said as a ball of fur approached the pair. The tabby rubbed itself against Anne’s legs. Raelene picked up the cat and Anne noticed an odd stripe pattern. She had seen stripe patterns on cats before, and some looked as if there was a capital M on the forehead. In the case of this cat, it looked like two M’s stacked one atop the other.
“Meet Miss Marple,” Raelene said.
“You never told us you had a cat,” Drea said.
“You never asked,” Raelene said as she set Miss Marple back down.
“Ready?”
“Just need to lock up.”
“Are you sure you can deal with doctor on your own?” Anne asked Drea.
“Of course I can. Better than Raelene go with you. You’d probably go after Lisa on first sight.”
“And what is wrong with that?”
“Nothing. Until you get caught or killed.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep Anne out of trouble,” Raelene said.
Drea sighed then drove off to meet this psychologist. Odd coincidence, that Doctor Nancy Dawson had an office in the building next to the one containing Jack’s. On arrival, Drea introduced herself to Doctor Dawson’s receptionist and stated her business. To her surprise, the wait was no longer than the time it took the receptionist to relay the information. Drea was admitted right away.
Doctor Nancy Dawson stood in front of a large wooden desk. Her reddish-blonde hair was done up in a bun. She wore a pale blue jacket with a cream-colored silk blouse and short skirt that matched the jacket. Drea decided that without the three inch heels, Doctor Dawson would be a little above average height.
“Come on it,” she said warmly.
Drea introduced herself and got to the point: “I’m here to ask about one of your patients.”
“Clients,” Doctor Dawson corrected. “I’m a Ph. D, not an M.D. Most of the so-called mental disorders are caused by chemical imbalances in the brain, and can be treated with medications. I deal with bad thought processes.”
“Such as Lisa Sand.”
“What has she done?”
“For starters, she’s violated her parole.” Drea then described what happened to her and Anne that morning.
“Oh dear,” the psychologist said. “That is indeed a problem. I’m not violating anything when I say this, as you may even know this already, but Lisa did time for a particularly vicious armed robbery. She didn’t kill anybody in it, but she did break the fingers of one of the people she beat.”
“You mean she did it out of pure meanness?” Drea said.
“Perhaps. It is quite easy to dismiss deviate behavior as insanity. But sane and rational people have committed brutal crimes. ‘The human animal is the most vicious of all God’s creatures is how one of my professors put it. Most people suppress their more nasty urges, but others let them loose.”
“Lisa Sand seems to be doing that,” Drea observed.
“Very perceptive, you could do this job yourself.”
“You do need to know how people think to get along in this line of work.”
“I’m sure you do.”
Drea had picked up enough information to know she wasn’t comfortable with the thought of Anne looking for Lisa on her own. True Anne was with Raelene, but Drea thought it would be better if Anne had this information as soon as possible. She excused herself and left the office.
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Anne and Raelene found the apartment complex where Lisa lived, which they noted wasn’t far from the house where Raelene had been held. The parking lots were empty, as most of the tenants were at work or doing their daytime activities. They parked near the swimming pool, where a young woman was skinning things out with a net. Though the woman wore denim cut-offs and a blue and white checked halter top, it was clear she had something to do with running the place.
“Are you the landlady?” Anne asked.
“My uncle runs the place,” the woman said. “But I help take care of it in exchange for an apartment.”
Anne introduced herself and Raelene and asked about Lisa Sand and Paula Stubnick. “Have you noticed anything unusual about them?” she asked.
“No, not really,” the woman said. “They work at the same place and sometimes have to leave town. They’re usually gone by now.”
Raelene and Anne thanked the woman and started to leave. “Let’s stay close for a bit,” Anne suggested.
“Why?” Raelene wondered.
“Just in case.”
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“Lisa, Paula, you’re still here.”
“That’s right, Julie,” Lisa said. “We’ve been called out of town and might be gone for a few days.”
“You had a couple detectives here looking for you. I didn’t know you were still around.”
“Are they still here?”
“No, they left a few minutes ago.”
“Do you think it’s them?” Paula whispered as soon as Julie was out of earshot.
“It probably would be,” Lisa replied. “Let’s give them a reason to follow us.”
“They should be gone by now.”
“Only if they didn’t decide to wait for us.”
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“Bingo,” Anne said as she looked through her binoculars.
“Lisa and Paula?” Raelene wondered.
“Right. And judging by that luggage, they’re planning to be away from home for a bit.”
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“Ah, the blue Jeep,” Lisa said shortly after they left the apartment complex. “It’s too much of a coincidence for it not to be Anne Thorne’s.”
“Should let them follow us to where we meet the van?”
“Why not? You know the Boss Lady’s file on her. Impetuous. Eager to go off on her own. We don’t have to go after her, she’ll come to us.”
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“They’re pulling up to a parking lot,” Raelene reported.
“Yes, and there’s a very familiar looking van there, too,” Anne observed.
“Naturally, the have the sliding door away from the street so we can’t see what they are doing.”
“You have you cell phone?”
“Sure.”
“Call Drea. I’ll go around for a better look.”
Anne crept quietly toward the van. She looked around for any signs of Lisa, or any of their adversaries for that matter. The side door was closed. Had it been abandoned? Or was it parked here while it’s users conducted business elsewhere. She crept alongside the van and looked into the front area. Nobody was there, and a curtain had been rigged to conceal the cargo area.
Suddenly, the door flew open. Heather and Sylvia leaped from the van and pinned Anne to the side. A gag was stuffed into the sleuth’s mouth and her wrists were bound. Unceremoniously, Anne was lifted into the van, where here ankles were bound as well.
“All too easy,” Sylvia observed as she started the engine.