CHAPTER 5

After spending another hour looking through the apartment and trying to find out the name of the young woman who was now being stalked, Matt and Hoyt ended back up at the lieutenant's office. "The only way I know of to find out who she might be is to go to the TV stations for help – get them to broadcast her picture. And use the newspapers, too." Matt took a sip of the coffee that Hoyt handed him as his phone rang. "Uh oh." He answered it. "Hi, Babe…yeah, we're okay. I was. Yeah…alright. I don't know yet. I will. Yes ma'am. Love you. 'Bye." He hung up expecting Hoyt to rag on him about the call but was pleasantly surprised when he didn't. "It's already on the news." Matt looked at his watch: 11:10pm.

"Great. Just what we need. Another 'see the cops screw up' story." Hoyt was madder than Matt could remember seeing him in quite some time.

"I know a bus driver that needs to lose his job, I'll tell you that." Matt couldn't believe that the driver had just pulled right out in front of them like that.

"I heard that. At least we've got an APB out for Darrel Vincent and his car." Hoyt sat down behind his desk and sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"There's not really much else that we can do tonight." Matt stood up and stretched, finished the cup of coffee and threw the styrofoam cup in the trash. "Guess I'm going to head on home. Go home and get some sleep, cop. We'll get on this guy's tail tomorrow."

"Yeah, I guess so. I'll leave after I talk to the department spokesman. He's supposed to call me back. See you tomorrow."

"Alright. 'Night." Matt walked on out of the office and headed home for the night. CJ was asleep in his recliner where she had been waiting for him. Just as he was about to wake her up, Catey started crying and he went down the hall to see about her. As he pulled her out of the crib to change her diaper, CJ appeared in the doorway. "Her fever's gone." Matt turned and grinned at his wife. Catey was doing her usual cooing and gurgling, glad to see her daddy. He talked quietly to her as he changed the diaper and took her into the kitchen to get a bottle. CJ was already warming it up for her and he took the baby and sat down in the recliner.

CJ walked in and handed him a bib and the bottle. "She doesn't seem any worse for wear. Just off her schedule a little bit."

"Nope." Matt was watching his daughter as she hungrily drank the formula. "I guess Hoyt was right."

"Oh, about what?" CJ snuggled up next to him, tucking her feet underneath her.

"When I was leaving to come home this afternoon he told me she just needed the drops and a nap." He looked at his wife a little sheepishly. "Guess I over-reacted."

"Nah – you just happen to be a good dad." She gave him a kiss on the cheek. Catey drank the rest of her bottle and dozed right off. Matt carried her back to her crib, kissing her gently before putting her back to bed, and then walked hand in hand with CJ to his own room for the night.

When he woke up to the alarm clock the next morning, he could hear Catey cooing and talking. He looked over and CJ was sitting on the other side of the bed. "Maybe she's having a conversation with her teddy bear." Matt chuckled and went to peek around the corner at his daughter, who was in fact holding a small teddy bear and seemed to be jabbering at it. He went back and headed for the shower. "Yup, she's telling the bear all about it." He and CJ laughed.

When Matt got to the kitchen after his shower, he poured himself a cup of coffee and stood leaning against the kitchen counter while CJ and Catey talked over her morning bottle. "I put your waffles in the microwave, hon." She took the bottle to the sink after the baby was done with it, then poured herself a cup of coffee. "What have you got going on today?"

"I think I'm just going to Hoyt's office. Hopefully something will happen and Darrel Vincent will get shaken loose today." He poured syrup on the waffles and dug in while Catey was busy talking to him, then rinsed his plate and put it in the dishwasher before heading out. "I'll see you girls later." He gave CJ a goodbye kiss, then Miss Catey Rose, and headed on out to the truck and into town.

Hoyt was already in his office when Matt arrived and didn't look like he had slept much the night before. "Howdy." Matt walked in and sat down on the couch. "Any sign of Vincent?"

"No." Hoyt yawned.

"Did you even go home last night?"

"Yep."

Matt watched the man. "Liar." Hoyt's head shot up. "That's the same tie you had on yesterday." The detective looked down at the tie, then back up at Houston.

"Shut up." He sat back down behind his desk.

"Well that's an improvement – you said two words that time." Matt managed to keep a straight face as Hoyt scowled at him. "So – what did the spokesman have to say? That he wasn't worried about you getting his job?"

"Bite me." Hoyt took a sip of coffee. "He's going to the TV stations today. Actually, he already has – I saw it earlier."

"Aha! Seventeen words – you are shooting for his job."

"I'm about to shoot a PI." Hoyt couldn't help but crack up. "Thanks, by the way."

"Anytime. Now, I've had an idea while I was cussing at folks in traffic. Do you reckon our stalker has ever been in a mental hospital?"

"Good idea." He reached for the keyboard and the phone rang. "Hoyt. Uh huh. Where? Okay, I'm headed that way. NO! DO NOT APPROACH HIM! Just keep an eye on him."

Matt was already out the door and headed for the elevator. Hoyt caught up with him just as the doors opened. "Where is he?"

"The Vincent Thomas Bridge." Hoyt pulled out his pistol and checked the load, then noticed the look on Matt's face. "What?"

"Nothing. Just brings back some bad memories." Matt was thinking back a few years when his old friend Wildcat Callahan had been shot and killed by a man that was trying to kill Matt. That man had ended up in an accident, running his car off of the Vincent Thomas Bridge and into the harbor. He went to his truck and got his vest and gun, then joined Hoyt in the police car and the pair took off for the bridge. "Which side is he on?"

"East bound." Hoyt was moving at a good clip through the morning traffic but it still took twenty minutes for them to reach the bridge.

"There he is." Matt saw the man first and Hoyt's phone started ringing.

"Damn it!" He pulled it out and hit the speaker button. "Hoyt."

"Lieutenant, we just had a call from one of the local TV stations. They've identified the girl that you're looking for – her name is Sarah Marshall."

"Okay, have someone go to her address and standby." He hung up and slowed as he got near Darrel Vincent. Matt already had his seatbelt unfastened and was ready to jump out. Just as they got within twenty feet of him, he took off running across the lanes of traffic and jumped over the divider into the west bound lanes where he began shooting at a car. When the driver stopped, he ran over to the vehicle pulling the driver out and took off again. "Damn it!" Hoyt called for a blockade on the other side of the bridge but there were no units available. He sped on across the bridge, then got on the entrance ramp to go back across, cursing the traffic as he went. By the time they got across, there was no sign of the man or the car either one. "I can't believe we lost him again!" The veteran cop pounded on the steering wheel.

"Easy pard, come on now, we'll get him. At least we know who the girl is – we might be able to lure him in using her." Matt was starting to worry about his friend but his comments seemed to have settled the man down somewhat. "What's her address?"

"I don't know. I'll have to call Sanchez back." He reached for the phone but Matt got it first.

"I'll call Sanchez and you drive. Deal?" He pushed the send button and made the call. "Hey, it's Houston. No he got over the dividing wall and carjacked somebody. Listen, what's the girl's address? Yeah, okay. 'Bye." He hung up. "She lives in the same apartment building that Sherri Betts lived in. Second floor."