Trip to Murder 4

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The office, Kitty arrived at, was attached to a long, wide warehouse, not far from the river, in a nominally decent section of town. But looking about at the people in the area, Kitty thought briefly about returning to the hotel and taking Matt up on his offer to accompany her.

However she shook that off as a silly notion. She was a grown woman and a business woman at that. Besides, looking around, she realized she had seen worse looking characters, just about every day, in the Long Branch.

Walking in, Kitty was slightly surprised to find no one in the small office and a lone door in the back, which she assumed led into the warehouse, standing wide open. Glancing at the small watch pendent, she had pinned to her jacket, she realized she was about five minutes early, so perhaps, the man she was supposed to meet, would be coming in shortly.

Glancing around the room, at the neat yet sparse space, she was about to sit down and wait when she heard voices coming from the open door way.

"I told you no." An angry male voice yelled. "We can't afford to get in any deeper than we already are."

Kitty thought briefly of just leaving the office and going back to the hotel. Whoever was speaking was certainly not in a good frame of mind, however her natural curiosity got the better of her. Besides, she did have an appointment that she had come a long way to keep. Taking another glance around, she picked up her skirts and walked through the open door, looking around her.

She saw nothing but rows and rows of crates and barrels and the warehouse, though supplied with numerous lamps attached to the walls, was still dimly lit. Mentally kicking herself for her actions, she still went deeper into the building hoping to find the source of the voice.

Turning down a long row of crates and casks, she found what she had searched for as she tripped over a man lying on the ground, a knife sticking upright in his chest. Glancing at his bearded face, she saw his dark eyes were already glazed over in death. The dank, cold ground beneath him, made even worse with his presence.

Gasping, Kitty began frantically trying to pull herself up, only to fail twice, before finally gaining her feet.

Just as she stood, she saw another man, dark hair and mustache with a grimace on his face, rushing towards her. Kitty turned and ran, quickly losing herself amidst the mindless rows of merchandise. Though her pursuer said not a word, she could hear his hurried steps as he chased after her.

Quickly hiding herself behind a large wooden pallet of crates, she held her breath as she heard the man making his way ever closer. Feeling something on her foot, she barely managed to stifle a scream as she looked down to see a large rat playing around her feet, two more of its kind nearby. Kitty jammed the knuckles of her right hand into her mouth to keep herself quiet, until she heard the man move past her.

Her heart pounding in her chest, Kitty hitched her skirts higher and turned down one aisle after another until she finally saw a door standing open and light spilling into the darkened interior from it. Somehow she had managed to find her way back to the entrance.

Racing through the door, she made her way back out onto the street and continued to run until she saw a man, dressed in a policeman's uniform, idly walking down the street. "Officer!" she yelled with the last of her breath. "Help!"

The handsome young patrolman, with the reddish brown hair and a dimpled smile, that she had managed to locate, was kind and polite and very attentive, but he refused to follow her back to the warehouse alone. Instead he escorted her to his headquarters, three blocks away, and made her sit, while several other officers were dispatched to the warehouse to investigate her complaint.

Pacing the small windowless room, Kitty was a close to screaming. They had only briefly spoken to her and had refused to listen when she asked someone to contact Matt. They simply pushed her into the room and told her to wait.

'How are you doing?" Patrolman Sean Flannery asked as he stepped inside the room.

"I'm upset and scared half to death, how are you?" she replied with a glare.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am." He ducked his head, regretfully. "I know this isn't easy for you but we do have rules for dealing with reports of this nature, and we have to follow them."

"I see," Kitty snapped at him. "Treat the victim like a criminal until it's proven otherwise. Isn't that it?"

Honest green eyes studied her intently but refused to answer. Patrolman Flannery understood her frustration and doubted very much that she would've made such a claim, had it not been true. But he had his orders. "Can I get you anything?" He finally asked. "Coffee, tea or something to eat?"

Kitty shook her head as she paced the confines of the small room, wringing her hands together. Suddenly her head came up. "Wait! Yes you can." She answered. "I am here in St. Louis with a friend of mine. US Marshal Matt Dillon. Is there anyway someone can go and get him? I tried asking earlier but they wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise."

The officer smiled and nodded. "Certainly, Ma'am. As a matter of fact, I'll go myself. I get off in a couple of minutes. You just tell me where he's at and I'll bring him back here personally."

Finally breathing easier, Kitty nodded and wrote down the hotel information for the officer. As he left the room, Kitty wrapped her arms protectively around herself and leaned against the wall. "And I had to go and say there'd be no trouble." She muttered, with a shake of her head.

TBC