Personality Plus
(Chapter 4)
© December 2009
Back in the break room at the station…
Jim poured himself and Mac a cup of coffee, "Mac, I've drawn a blank on a vehicle for Ann Greenfeld, but I did get the make, model, and license plate number on one belonging to a Vicki Greenfeld. I was able to get an address and phone number for her; Jerry Miller's checking those out right now."
"Good deal; in the meantime, see if we can't find out where she works, just in case Jerry doesn't find her at home."
"One step ahead of you, Mac. Seems that she has a bit of a lead foot and has had several speeding violations in the last couple of years. She was also involved in an accident about six months ago and the report lists her as a real estate agent with Sunshine Realty. Jerry has that information as well."
"Keep me posted on what you find out. In the meantime, if I hear from Jerry, I'll let you know."
The two sipped their coffee quietly for a few moments, then Jim spoke up, "You know Mac, Pete's like a big brother to me. I hope I don't let him down."
Mac could appreciate the emotions that Jim was going through; he'd been in a similar situation with his partner years ago, when he was just a rookie himself. "Don't worry, Jim. If Pete's in trouble, he'll keep a level head and do whatever it takes to survive while we track him down."
"I know that, Mac…" Jim's sentence trailed off just as Jerry Miller came sailing through the door of break room.
"We may have a lead on Pete's whereabouts. You want to ride with me to check it out?" Jerry directed to Jim, knowing full well what the answer would be.
"Yeah, I'll ride with you and you can fill me in." Jim answered, getting up from the table.
"Where we headed, Jerry?" Mac inquired as he got up and rinsed out his coffee cup.
"To the new housing development down by the canyon. Vicki Greenfeld's got a listing out there and she was supposed to have gone and checked on it before coming to work this morning. She never made it in to work." Jerry paused a moment and then continued, "I spoke with one of her co-workers and she said that Vicki's pass key to the place came up missing a couple of weeks ago, so she's been using her co-workers pass key. She told her co-worker that she suspected her sister as the one that took the pass key and that she didn't' want to report it as missing until she could talk to her sister and find out if she is the one that has it. Losing a pass key is grounds for termination from the real estate company."
Jim was at the door and anxious to get going, "Well, c'mon, what are we waiting on?"
"We aren't waiting, Jim, we're right behind you; let's go." Came Jerry's voice as he and Mac got up and headed to the door as well.
Jerry gave Mac the address and then he and Jim headed out, followed by Mac and another uniformed unit.
"I'm not going to say it again…get away from the door now, little sister."
Pete and Vicki slowly turned around to face a very angry looking Ann. She had Pete's gun trained on them and they both knew that she wouldn't think twice about using it if they didn't obey her orders. Slowly they moved away from the door and back over toward the sofa.
"You know, Vicki, you really are stupid. I can't believe you'd actually think that I would let Ann get away with letting the two of you out of here alive."
Out of the corner of his eye, Pete could see Vicki shrug her shoulders, "Well, it was worth a try, at least. I should have known that I couldn't outsmart you, Angie."
"Yeah, you should've known, but you apparently didn't. I don't like being crossed, little sister." Ann brought the gun up and fired a shot, skimming Vicki's right temple. She crumpled in a heap at Pete's feet; blood streaming from the wound on her head.
"Vicki!" Pete started to bend toward the fallen woman, only to be stopped short by Angie's voice.
"Leave her alone! She got what was coming to her. I told Ann a long time ago that her little sister was a busy body goody two shoes and that one day she was going to push me too far." She gave an evil laugh, "I guess this was the day…"
"Angie…it is Angie, isn't it?" Pete knew he had to try and help the injured woman. "Let me just check her…please?"
"No, I don't think so. I don't want her to live. I never really liked her. I only tolerated her all of these years because Ann likes her. I don't, though; mostly because she's always rallied to Ann's side and she has a way of making Ann think that she doesn't need me…but she does, you know. Ann can't make decisions for herself. With Vicki out of the way, Ann will listen to me."
Pete looked down at the woman on the floor; the head wound was bleeding badly and she wasn't moving. Studying her, for a brief moment longer, Pete was relieved to see slight movement of her chest as she breathed.
"Sit!" Angie ordered, waving the gun in Pete's direction. "Now!"
Pete, not wanting to risk angering her any further, figured that it was in his and Vicki's best interest to do as Angie bade. He wasn't sure just what he was going to do to get them out of this situation, but he knew that he didn't want to risk having Angie take out any further fury on Vicki.
"That's gotta be it up there" Jim pointed to the house just up the road. He could see that there was a Sunshine Realty sign in the front yard as Jerry pulled the car over. In the side mirror, he could see Mac and the other unit pull up behind Jerry's unmarked car.
Jerry and Jim exited their vehicle and walked back to Sgt. MacDonald. The other two uniformed officers joined them as well.
"See that car in the driveway, there. Fits the description of Vicki Greenfeld's car. I don't see Pete's car, though." Jerry observed.
"Looks like a two car garage. If Ann Greenfeld lured Pete out here, she wouldn't leave his or her car out for anyone to see. She's probably got the vehicles in the garage." Jim offered. He was anxious to find out if his partner was in the house but he also knew that a plan had to be made in order to ensure Pete's safety, as well as the safety of anyone else in the house that was an innocent bystander.
"Alright, Jim, you and Barnes check around the sides of the house. Griffin, you take the backside. Stay low, see what you can find out and get back here as fast as you can with your findings. We'll make a plan after we know what we've got." With those orders in place, Mac and Jerry waited while the officers went about their duties.
Jim and the other two uniformed officers took off toward the house, taking care to stay out of sight as much as possible. Jim took the side of the house that the garage was on and, standing as tall as he could, he was able to get a glimpse into the window on the upper portion of the garage. Pay dirt…he saw Pete's car, and the green Volkswagen parked inside.
On the opposite side of the house, Barnes managed to get a brief look into the side window of the living room. He could see Pete sitting on the sofa, and a woman standing in front of him, with a gun trained on him.
Griffin peeked into two windows to the rear of the one story house, but wasn't able to see anything amiss.
The three met back on the garage side and made their way back to Mac's station wagon, where they reported their findings.
"How do you want to handle this, Mac?" Jerry asked.
"Well, you're in plain clothes; you could take my briefcase and make like a door to door salesman. Maybe get a look inside."
"I don't know…I mean after all, it's an undeveloped area; why would a salesman pick an unpopulated and undeveloped area to go door to door? What else you got?"
"Directions, then? You could be a lost businessman." Jim suggested.
"Hmm…We'll keep that one as a last resort…everyone knows that most men won't stop and ask directions, and if they do, it's usually from a gas station or other well populated source. Not too many people just randomly stop at a house for that…unless someone is outside in the yard at the time."
Barnes spoke up, "Maybe you could say you ran out of gas or the car broke down; you want to use the phone. You get her to open the door and we can storm in."
"Now that's a good idea." Mac agreed.
Jim and Griffin nodded their approval as Jerry contemplated it and then nodded his head, "That would work. Let's do it."
Plans were quickly made for Jerry to act as a businessman with a broken down vehicle; Jim and Mac would stand off to the sides of the door so that they could barge in at the crucial moment. Barnes and Griffin were to watch the side windows and the rear door of the house. The uniformed officers quickly took their assigned places; Jerry straightened his tie, picked up Mac's briefcase and made his way to the front door of the residence, pausing only a moment before reaching out and pushing the doorbell.
Ding-Dong….Ding-Dong…..
Hearing the doorbell, Pete perked up; maybe help was just on the other side. His thoughts were quickly distracted by a low moan coming from Vicki, who was still lying in a heap on the floor. C'mon, this girl needs help…please let that be someone who can help us!
Angie whirled around to look at the door and just a quickly turned back to Pete, suddenly realizing that he wasn't tied or gagged. "Make one sound, one move, or so much as even look like you're thinking of doing anything stupid, and I waste the both of you and whoever is at the door…got it copper?"
Pete knew she wouldn't hesitate to carry out her threat; he stole another glance at Vicki, lying on the floor. Her eyes were open half way and she was looking up him, with a pleading look for help. "Yeah…I got it."
As Angie made her way over to the door, Pete continued to shift his glance between the two sisters. During one of his brief glances at Vicki, she slightly nodded her head toward the window. Pete looked that way also, just in time to catch a glimpse of the top of a policeman's hat, as it slowly passed by the window. He realized that from her vantagepoint on the floor, Vicki had seen it also. Thank God, help's here, he thought.
Ding-Dong….Ding-Dong…. Came the doorbell again.
"I'm coming, I'm coming…hold your horses!" Angie yelled, approaching the door. She had the security chain in place so she only opened the door about five inches. She still held Pete's gun in her hand that was hidden behind the door. "Can I help you?" She asked in the pleasantly seductive voice that seemed to be reserved for Angela's use.
Jerry Miller stood on the other side of the door; he straightened the knot in his tie and smiled at the woman. "Hi…uhm, my vehicle seems to have broken down…just down the street. It's not a real populated area so I just walked to the nearest house to see if I could use a phone to call for a tow truck."
Inside the residence, Pete strained to hear the conversation at the door. He was pretty sure that he recognized the voice of Jerry Miller. He knew that if yelled, he'd likely be signing the death warrants for both Vicki and himself, not to mention the person at the door. It wasn't a risk that he could take since he wasn't sure if it was Jerry at the door. He didn't have to contemplate for long on what to do. Vicki took the decision out of his hands with a loud moan. It was just enough of a distraction, and as soon as Angie looked away from the door, Jerry drew back and raised his leg, kicking in the door and sending Angie sprawling onto her backside.
The blunt force of hitting the floor stunned Angie only momentarily, but it didn't cause her to lose her grip on the gun. She raised it and began to randomly fire at the door, just missing Jerry by inches as he dove into the room with his weapon drawn, yelling, "DROP IT!"
Angie paused and began to lower the gun, then just as quickly, changed her mind. She raised in once again and aimed toward Jerry. She barely got her shot off as both Mac and Jim came through the door, each firing one shot in her direction. Angie fell backwards into a spreading pool of blood.
Jerry went to her side and felt for a pulse; finding none, he announced, "She's dead." He then took Pete's gun from her grip and placed it in the back of his waistband before finding a phone and calling for a couple of ambulances, the coroner and another detective unit. Afterwards, he went outside and told the other two uniformed officers to come around to the front and keep the area secured, even though there was no one else around.
Jim went immediately to Pete's side, assessing his shoulder wound and getting a rundown on what had taken place in the last twenty-four hours.
Mac went to the aid of the injured Vicki, who was beginning to lose consciousness again. Taking his handkerchief from his pocket and trying his best to staunch the flow of blood from her head wound. She moaned at the first bit of pressure. "Shh…just lay still, Miss; the ambulance will be here shortly and we'll get you to a hospital."
"Mac, how is she?" Pete asked from the sofa, making a move to get to the injured woman.
"Sit still Pete; you're shoulder's bleeding." Jim admonished.
"Yes, Mother." Pete knew better than to argue with Jim on the issue.
"I can't be sure, but it looks like it's superficial. The ambulance should be here shortly."
Jerry looked toward the injured woman and then back towards Pete, "Was she involved in this in any way, Pete?"
"No Jerry; I'm pretty sure of it. She showed up here this morning looking for her sister, Ang…looking for Ann. She walked in on a bad situation and I could tell by the look on her face that she was shocked at what she found. At one point, she had her sister talked down and we tried to get away; that's when her sister shot her."
"Hmm…I see. When did Ann shoot you?"
"Well, after I pissed her off by not remembering who her dad was right away, she became very angry and then Vicki tried to talk some sense into her. That's about the time that she decided she'd had enough of talk and she shot me in the shoulder. I think she would have finished me off if Vicki hadn't of intervened when she did." Pete paused a moment to reflect and then said, "This all stems from a pent-up hatred that she had for me…I shot and killed her dad…their dad, five years ago during a bank hold up."
Pete winced as a pain shot through his shoulder. Jerry noticed his discomfort and decided that further questioning could be done later. "We'll go over everything a little later, Pete; relax, it's over now."
Nodding, Pete leaned his head against the back of the couch, and waited. He could feel Jim's eyes boring into him; studying him for signs of distress. He knew that his young partner was concerned for him. Raising his head, he looked at Jim and reached over, putting his hand on Jim's shoulder, "Jim…I'm fine…relax, okay?"
Jim gave him a sheepish smile. He knew Pete didn't want to be fussed over and Jim also knew that Pete wouldn't let on how bad the pain was. He was only trying to make sure that his friend, his son's Godfather, was okay.
On cue, the group inside the residence heard the wail of the sirens off in the distance and a short time later Pete and Vicki were both loaded up in the ambulances and on their way toward the hospital.
Two days later…
Pete quietly opened the door to Vicki's hospital room. He didn't want to wake the young woman if she was asleep. She wasn't. She glanced toward the door and gave Pete a slight smile. He could tell that she'd been crying, by the telltale red rimmed eyes that met his as he walked toward her bed.
"Hey there…how do you feel?" He offered a small smile as he leaned on the bed railing. His shoulder was heavily bandaged and his arm was in a sling.
"I'm okay." Came Vicki's slight voice. "The doctor said I had a bit of a concussion from the force of the bullet, but everything is fine otherwise. It was pretty much superficial." She nodded slightly towards Pete's shoulder, "How are you doing?"
"Oh, don't worry about me. I'm fine…been through this before." He had a tendency to blow off his injuries as if they were no big deal.
"Detective Miller was in yesterday. He said that Ann's dead. He said that she shot at him and that the other two officers shot her." She turned questioning eyes towards Pete for confirmation.
Quietly he nodded his head, "I'm sorry Vicki; yes, Ann is…she's gone."
Vicki swallowed hard a couple of times, trying to hold back a fresh wave of tears, "Well maybe now she's at peace…" She squeaked out in a barely audible voice, closing her eyes tightly and biting her lower lip as she struggled to control her emotions.
Pete lowered the railing on the bed, not an easy task with only one good arm. He sat down on the edge of the bed, and, laying his free hand on her arm, he spoke softly to her.
"Vicki…I'm so sorry things turned out the way they did. I just don't know what to say…other than I'm sorry."
"It's okay…you don't have to say anything…it wasn't your fault; it wasn't the other officer's fault either. It was Ann's doing…well, the doing of Ann's multiple personalities. She'd struggled with having multiple personalities for most of her life. I guess it was her way of dealing with mom leaving us when she was six and I was three. Dad never amounted to much when we were kids; he didn't really know how to deal with little kids, so we were left alone, a lot, to fend for ourselves. Ann took on the typical 'big sister' roll and I guess that was a roll that was just too big for one little six-year old. She used to be nice one minute and then really mean, to me, as well as everyone else, the next. Up until she was in junior high, it was just the two personalities."
Curious, because he had taken a couple of college courses in psychology, Pete asked, "What changed in junior high?"
"Boys."
"Boys?"
"Yeah, boys. Angela began to show up on a regular basis when Ann was old enough to notice boys. Suddenly, my plain-Jane sister molded herself into a life-size Barbie doll and had a new boyfriend every weekend. And I don't use the term 'had', lightly…"
Pete, uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation, cleared his throat and looked toward the floor, mumbling something unintelligible.
"Sorry…I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, Officer Malloy." Vicki apologized.
Pete gave her a small smile, "Uhm…no, that's okay, you didn't."
"Liar." She fired back without thinking; but not in an angry tone; her voice had a teasing note to it.
He perked a bit at her teasing tone. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me. Most people don't turn beet red and look away unless they are uncomfortable, Offi…"
Cutting her off at the pass, "Call me Pete...please; I think after what we've been through, first names aren't exactly overstepping the boundaries of etiquette."
"No, probably not…"
"Did the doctor say when he's springing you from this fine establishment?" Pete wanted to keep the mood light.
"Maybe tomorrow afternoon. What about you?"
"Either this afternoon or tomorrow morning. I'm really hoping for this afternoon, though."
"Yeah, well, good luck with that. They'll spring you when they think you can stay out of trouble."
"Ooh…I may never get out of here then." Pete laughed along with Vicki, but when he noticed that she had stop laughing and had gotten quiet, he asked her what was wrong.
"Pete…I'm sorry that Ann hurt you…in more ways than one. You seem like a very nice person; she had no right to do any of this to you. On her behalf, please accept my apologies."
"Vicki, you've got nothing to apologize for. You're sister was…ill; she had problems that were beyond her control, and I realize that now. I just wish I could have seen the signs sooner and maybe all of this could have been avoided; maybe I could have gotten her the help that she needed."
"No Pete, she didn't want help…not from me, and certainly not from you. She had a plan of vengeance to carry out where you were concerned and I just happened to get in her way. I'm going to miss my sister…we did have some good memories together, but at the same time, I'm not stupid enough to believe that she would have let either one of us leave that house alive if she could've helped it. She would have killed you and me both if your fellow officers hadn't shown up when they did."
Pete didn't have much to say to the blatantly true statement that Vicki had just voiced, so he just nodded his head slightly in agreement.
Sitting silently for a few moments, and contemplating what could have been their fate, was proving to be more than a little uncomfortable for both of them. Finally Pete broke the silence as he rose up from the edge of the bed, "Listen, I had better get out of here before they notice that I'm not in my room and send out the search party. You take care of yourself, Vicki; if you need anything…anything at all; even if it's just because you want to talk…call me. Here's my home phone number, and my work number. I'll likely be off for a couple of weeks and then probably have a week or two of desk duty." Pete picked up a pencil and piece of paper off of her bed tray and jotted the numbers down. He then gave her hand a squeeze and turned to leave the room. Deep down he knew that he probably wouldn't hear from her. It was an awkward situation; one best put behind the both of them.
Vicki gave him a smile and a small wave as she watched him walk out of her room. Sighing, she turned over and thought about the man that just walked out of her life.
A few minutes later, the nurse came in to take her vitals. "Vicki? Are you awake, or are you dreaming about the handsome man that just walked out of here?"
Vicki turned over and smiled at the nurse, "Yes, I'm awake...and yes, I was thinking about the man that just walked out of here; now please, call me Victoria."
The End
They say that inside of every one of us is another person wanting to bust out and be heard. My inner person wants to be a writer. This may be the closest I ever come to making that a reality, therefore I want to take this opportunity to thank the faithful readers that give me a chance to be a writer every time you read and review a piece that I have penned. Thank You.