Chapter 5:
"Hey Carter, listen to this," Detective Fusco called out.
Carter walked to her desk the next day, surprised to see Fusco already there.
"You been here all night?" she asked as she handed him the coffee she picked up on her way in.
"Got a couple of hours of sleep then came in to see if anything came back from ballistics."
"What do we have? Did they come up with anything useful?"
"How tall do you make Miss Morgan to be? She's what, five-foot-four in her bare feet; five-foot-seven tops with three inch heels?"
"Sounds about right,"
"And Winslow's what six-two, six-three?"
Carter nodded, waiting for Fusco to continue. "Well the geeks at CSU reconstructed the shooting and based on how those two bullets entered Winslow's body, they put the shooter at about six-foot, six-one at least."
"Miss Morgan's friend, Meredith, she's tall. In heels, easily over six-foot. And there's just something about her story that doesn't make sense." Carter confirmed.
"And get a load of this. . . " Fusco added as he went to his computer and tapped a few keys. His screen split into two. On one side was footage of the Helmsley hotel lobby. On the other side was footage of what looked to be Zoe Morgan's apartment building.
"See here," Fusco pointed to the left screen, the one of the Helmsley. Carter and Fusco watched as Zoe made her way to the hotel lobby a little wobbly on her feet. After a few seconds, they watched as a familiar blonde left the hotel as well.
"Hmm. She never said she left her hotel did she?" Carter pondered as she went over in her head the interview she had with Meredith Lawson.
"Check this out too . . ." Fusco added pointing to the right screen showing the footage from the outside of Zoe's building. They saw a taxi pull up, Zoe exited the taxi and precariously made it to the front steps of the building and sat down. Almost immediately, another taxi pulled up and the same familiar blonde exited that taxi.
"Son of a bitch, she followed her. Zoe never made it to Winslow's apartment. Twenty bucks says we see Meredith somewhere in the footage of David Winslow's apartment." Carter said as she pounded her fist onto the table.
"Wonder boy called, said that the friend lied about Zoe not leaving the table. He said that Zoe told him that she had gone to the 'little girl's room' . . . Might be time for another get together?"
"I wish," Carter replied. "But, I went to talk to her again this morning at the Helmsley, and she's already checked out."
"Crap," Fusco said. "What is her beef with Miss Morgan?"
"Who knows, we'll just have to keep digging for motive."
Zoe stepped out of the shower and toweled off. It didn't feel as if she could take enough showers. Although she knew that David Winslow's death wasn't her fault, she couldn't help but feel responsible.
Moving into her bedroom, she slipped a clean top and jeans, and tugged on her flat soled boots, tucking her ever present phone in her back pocket. Awareness slowly tingling, she hadn't noticed the woman sitting on her couch at first. As she turned around, she saw Meredith Lawson, holding her gun; the one that had been strapped to the bottom of her coffee table.
"So, how have things been with you Zoe?" she asked, smiling.
Trying to disregard the fear blaring in her head, Zoe tried to determine if she had had time to get to the phone.
"Give me some good news Carter," John flicked his ear bud on.
"Seems like our shooter was someone in the range six-foot or taller. Unless Miss Morgan was standing on a stool, with heels on, there's no way she's our shooter. Plus, GSR came back negative on her."
"What about Meredith Lawson?" John asked.
"She's MIA at the moment; she checked out of her hotel room this morning." Carter also filled John in on what they had discovered regarding the footage.
His heart stopped. "Has Zoe gotten in touch with you today?"
"No, we were just getting ready to head over to her apartment."
"She's not going to be there. . ."
"Why not?"
"Call it a gut feeling . . ."
A bright, blinding light flashed in Zoe's eyes. The back of her head pulsed, as she tried to adjust her eyes to the glare. Though not being able to recall what had occurred, the pieces slowly flooded back. She couldn't remember what had happened at first. Then pieces of it began to flood back to her. She remembered Meredith with her gun forcing Zoe into a car. The instant sting across the back of her head, as Meredith hit her from behind.
As Zoe's vision cleared, she remembered the last time she woke up this way, and she barely escaped with her life. She wondered if this was it for her. Making out Meredith's outline positioned in front of her, she could feel a pair of handcuffs digging into her wrists. Another memory emerged; the one where she and John were handcuffed to chairs, awaiting their demise.
"Ah, she wakes," Meredith said in a voice filled with malice.
"What is going on Meredith?" Zoe asked, still woozy. "Why . . ."
"Why the hell do you think?"
Zoe's eyes finally focused and saw for the first time Meredith's face. Her eyes were red and wild, her breathing unsteady. Meredith, in the years Zoe had known her had never appeared this . . . unbalanced.
"I don't understand . . ." Zoe continued. Surreptitiously testing how far her hands could go, she was relieved that she was able to get to her phone she had tucked into her back pocket. As long as her phone was on, there was hope that John would be able to figure out where she was.
"Well, maybe if you would stop droning on and on about your life, you would realize how much you have ruined mine," Meredith raged.
"Is this about your father and Mark?" Zoe asked.
"Oh finally, you realize what this is about. It's your fault that my father and husband are in jail. You took everything away. Because of you, I'm alone. After what happened to your father, I thought you would understand . . . but no. It was all about you."
"Meredith, your father and Mark had Dana Miller killed. Their drug was killing people and they tried to cover it up. Don't you understand, innocent people were going to die," Zoe reasoned with her.
Meredith stopped pacing. She walked up to Zoe and drew back her hand as if to hit her.
"I don't care!" she screamed.
She lowered her arm. Walking away from Zoe, she began to pace.
"You left me with no money. I didn't care if I was alone, as long as I had money! But because of what you did, I am left with nothing! No one!"
"You killed Dan Winslow, an innocent man for money?" Zoe asked incredulously.
John killed the engine and jumped off, barely toeing the kickstand. Throwing off his helmet, he immediately reached for his gun. A flutter of apprehension in his chest told him there was something wrong as he looked at the now abandoned building that used to be Virtanen Pharmaceuticals.
Seeing the lone car in the completely desolate parking lot, the flutter in his chest mushroomed into a full blown panic. He flicked his ear bud on. "Carter, I need you and Fusco at Virtanen Pharmaceuticals," John said as he slowly made his way up the stairway he and Zoe had ascended last year.
Meredith stopped pacing and glared at her. "You were never this dense in college Zoe. This isn't just about money!" she screamed, lunging at Zoe. She viciously seized her arms and shook her. "This is about pay back. Karma is a bitch, isn't it Ms. Holier than thou! Who are you to judge me, my father, my husband? What makes you think you're better than we are? You're daddy was just as rotten as the best of them."
"Meredith, please listen to me. I never thought I was better than you or Robert or Mark." Zoe tried to reason with her. "You need help. Let's go someplace and talk this out. I will help you. I promise."
"Oh Zoe, we are talking . . ." Meredith said, eerily calm. "And you're finally listening. But, we can't go anywhere now. Our guest of honor isn't here yet."
Warning bells sounded off in Zoe's mind. "Who's coming Meredith?"
"Why your knight in shining armor of course. The one who helped you take everything from me."
Zoe fought to keep the fear from her eyes. "Please, Meredith. Don't do this," she asked, trying to curtail the trembling in her voice.
"Oh come on Zoe. This will be wonderful. You'll get to watch this time when I put a bullet, oh excuse me, bullets into your rescuer. Did I already say payback is a bitch?" Meredith sneered.
Zoe tried to curb the single tear that ran down her cheek, but she failed. She hoped that John wouldn't come, that he would send Carter and Fusco instead. That he would stay away, but deep down, she knew better. Panic overwhelmed her as she realized that she was utterly useless, handcuffed to a chair.
"You're not fooling me Zoe Morgan. I know you. Your ice bitch façade? I can see right through it," Meredith snidely said. "You should have known that in the end you were meant to be alone."
"So, shoot me then. Let's get this over with," Zoe said. "Just leave John out of it."
"Now what would be the fun in that?" Meredith replied, playing with Zoe and putting the gun to her temple. "I want you to watch him die, then realize you're alone and will always be alone when you die."
"She's not alone," a raspy voice said from the doorway.
John stood by the door, gun drawn aimed directly at Meredith's head. In all of her raging, she never heard the ex-operative enter the floor.
"Come on Mrs. Lawson. Let Zoe go," John coaxed her in a hard but soft rasp; he slowly walked into the room. "Just put the gun down, and we can all talk." His intention was to keep Meredith's attention while Fusco and Carter got into position. With only one entrance into the room, it proved difficult.
Meredith held the gun tighter to Zoe's head. Instinctively, John took a step forward.
"Oh John, your name is John right?" at his nod, she continued. "Zoe and I have already been talking," she responded. "I already told her how this is going to end."
"Killing both of us for revenge won't change anything," John informed her.
"I don't care about Mark and my father. This is all about payback."
In her anger, she pulled the gun away from Zoe's head and pointed it towards John.
"No!" Zoe screamed as she heard a gunshot.
Then he was there in front of her, holding her face up to look at him. "Hey, look at me. I'm fine. Carter got her." Over his shoulder she saw Carter and Fusco enter the room. As soon as the handcuffs that were binding her were released, John pulled her to him, holding her tightly. He felt the back of her head and hear an indrawn breath. When he drew his hand away, he saw a trace of blood.
"Jesus, you have got to be sick of saving my ass . . ." Zoe mumbled into his neck.
"I happen to like your ass," John whispered into her ear.
"You should get checked out, Zoe," he said gently. He held her away from him slightly so that he could take a look at her. "You might have a concussion. Did she hurt you anywhere else?"
Zoe shook her head. "No - - ahhh." and winced as she grabbed her head.
"The EMT's should be here soon," Carter told them.
Zoe looked at John, "You need to get out of here John."
He nodded, cupped the back of her neck and pulled her close. "I'll see you later, okay?" He kissed her gently and got up. As he passed by Carter, she raised an eyebrow at him. "It's a long story." He said as he walked out.
AN: There's still another chapter to go folks! Hang in there.