An Intimate Murder (The Catherine O'Brien Series) (25 page)

“Who found me?”

“Jane.”

A hard chill raked through me.

“She didn’t see anyone leaving the restroom?”

Louise shook her head. “She said there wasn’t anyone in the hallway. Everyone must have been at the party.”

The paramedics pushed their way through the hall crowd. My suspicions would have to wait. If Jane Katts had decided to retaliate for me breaking her recorder, the surveillance tape would catch her.

“Well, Detective.” The elder of the two paramedics clicked his ballpoint pen open, and then scribbled some notes on a pad attached to a thick metal clipboard. “You’re going to have one hell of a shiner, but I don’t think you’ll have any permanent damage. You could have a concussion as well, but since you’re refusing to go the hospital, I can’t be certain on either front.”

He clicked the ballpoint closed, and then tucked it into the breast pocket of his white shirt, a half an inch below the nametag that read, Brad.

“You won’t change your mind about going with us to get checked out?”

I pressed the cold compress they’d given me to the side of my face and wagged my head.

“Alright Detective, but do me a favor, if you get any sudden headaches or lethargy, please go see your primary care physician.”

Sudden headaches? My entire head throbbed as an unseen rocker banged out a drum solo on my brains.

“You bet,” I said.

Brad smiled a knowing smile that said, sure you will.

“Ibuprofen and ice for the pain,” Brad said and picked up his kit and left.

Louise scowled at me with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Not now, Louise. My head is killing me.” I covered my left eye with the ice pack. “Literally.”

I slid off the counter top and headed for the door. The hallway had finally cleared of most spectators. My examination had lasted long enough for a shift change and those with families waiting dinner for them had left. A few concerned officers hung around to find out if I was okay, including Shackelford.

“Jesus, O’Brien. Someone messed you up bad.”

“Thanks. Have you found out who yet?”

“The Chief’s reviewing the surveillance video now.”

Shackelford guided me through the hall by my elbow like a fragile Grandmother. I would have protested my treatment, except with each throb of my pounding head the vision in my good eye swam in blurry tears that obscured my path.

The Chief’s voice was clear fifty feet from the doorway of the surveillance room.

“Who the hell was supposed to be on duty?” The Chief bellowed.

His answer came in a hushed voice.

“And where the hell was he when this happened? Where the hell is he now?”

Shackelford helped me navigate between the officers standing in the monitor room receiving the ass chewing from the Chief.

“Whoever he was, was probably at the party with everyone else, Chief,” I said.

The tight, anger-wrinkled expression on his face melted like wax to that of anguished concern. For a moment, I wished I had looked at myself in the bathroom mirror before I’d left. I must look pretty bad if my appearance could make the man who had tried to teach me to perfect my emotional detachment crumble like a sandcastle.

“Have you called your husband?” He asked. “You shouldn’t be driving.”

“I’ll take her home, Chief,” Louise said from the doorway.

I sent a silent blessing to her. I didn’t want to have to upset Gavin before I really had to. He’d drive like a maniac and probably cause an accident trying to get to me.

“Who was on duty here?” I asked.

“Rees,” Chief said. “Where the hell is he now?”

“I’m here.” Rees lifted his hand from the back of a crowd of officers who looked more like the Vikings defensive line, blocking Rees from the Chief’s view. Rees stepped toward me. “Jesus, O’Brien I’m so sorry. I went to get a piece of cake. I couldn’t have been gone more than five minutes.”

“Long enough for the assailant to obscure the camera in the ladies room hallway,” The chief grumbled.

Rees bowed his head like a shamed dog.

I put my hand on Rees’s shoulder.

“It was an innocent mistake,” I said. “It’s not like he took a payoff, chief. Lighten up a bit. It’s not your fault Rees.”

Rees’s lips turned upward, but despite his best effort, he couldn’t look at my face.

“How in the world could someone obscure the camera?” I asked. “They’re protected by a plastic bubble to prevent tampering.”

I moved toward the bank of monitors. Pain pulsed with each step. Rees took my elbow from Shackelford, and helped me into a chair. The videotape machine whirred to a start and the blue screen flashed to life. On the monitor, I saw myself enter the bathroom. Then at the bottom of the picture, in the camera’s blind spot, there was the flash of something dark. A spray can nozzle and fingers appeared. Liquid spewed out of the nozzle tip, adhered to the plastic, and obscured the view.

My attacker moved down the hall. There wasn’t any way to tell who had kicked in the door. The image on the screen was like trying to see through a veil of Vaseline.

The Chief paused the image. “That’s about as good as it gets. I know it’s a fuzzy image, but does this person look familiar to you?”

The picture was even more blurry when one of your eyes had swollen to the size of an orange.

“No, I can’t make out any of the features.”

“Did they say anything when they attacked you?”

“She, not they.” I turned to face him. “It was a woman who attacked me. She called me a bitch. That’s all, except that she kicks like a mule.”

I lightly touched the side of my face. The pain wasn’t as intense as it had been a few minutes ago. Adrenaline must have finally kicked in, at least for my face. My shoulder, on the other hand, throbbed with sharp, spiky-needles of pain.

Rees leaned close to my ear. “I’m so sorry, O’Brien. I should have been here to see the cover-up.”

The hitch of regret was evident in the strained whisper of his voice.

“You didn’t know.” I patted the back of Rees’s hand. “Anyway it was a party. I’m sorry to have broken it up, Chief.”

Chief gave a half grin. “You’ve made it one memorable anniversary, O’Brien. First the vultures crack and now this.”

Realization dawn on me and I swiveled to see the entire room.

“Where is Jane Katts?” I stood and faced Louise. “Where is she?”

“I think she’s in the break room.”

I shuffled past Louise and out into the hallway.

“Catherine? What’s going on?”

I charged down the hall, for the first time not feeling the swoon of pain in my head. The diminished depth perception of my eye caused me to careen right and left down the hallway, like a drunk, first hitting one wall and then the other. Finally, I got smart and ran my hand along the wall to guide me.

I turned the corner into the break room. Jane Katts casually chatted on her cell phone smiling and nodding.

Anger rolled into my chest. For the first time since the stall door had rattled my cage, I was pissed as hell about what had happened.

Before I could think, I reached across the Formica table and batted the cell phone away from her face, like a Catherine pouncing on a mouse. The phone hit the tile floor. The battery skidded one direction and the body of the phone spun away in the other.

Jane’s jaw went slack and her eyes wide.

“What the fu—?”

“So you found me?” I said. “How convenient. Then you couldn’t wait to get back to your precious little cell phone and report my misfortune to your editor.”

“Catherine!” Louise reached for my arm.

Before she could touch me, I jerked my arm away. My shoulder shrieked with pain at the sudden movement. I ignored it.

“Look at me, Jane,” I yelled. “Look at what you did to my face. Are you happy? Is this what you wanted?”

Louise stepped between us.

“Catherine, it wasn’t Jane who kicked the door. She was in the break room with me right before she found you.”

I blinked at her.

Jane stood. “I even had a piece of anniversary cake. I was on the phone with your husband, Gavin, not my editor. I assured him that you’re okay and we’d make sure you’d get home safe.”

My confidence in all the things I knew, for sure, shook with the force of an earthquake. The room whirled. Then I whirled. The last thing I saw, through my dimming vision, was Louise and Jane rushing forward to catch me before I fell on my ass.

The linoleum tiled floor of the break room felt cold against my back. The chill soothed the pain of the bruises on my battered shoulder.

I took a deep stuttering breath and let it out slow. My left eye had finally swollen completely shut. I opened my right eye.

Louise and Jane hovered over me. Their faces twisted in mangled expressions of worry.

“Well, I’m not dead,” I croaked.

The left side of Louise’s lips tipped up in a half-grin. “She’s fine.”

I couldn’t see Jane Katts’ hand but I felt it on my left shoulder. She pulled me to a sitting position. Then Louise took my right arm. Together they lifted me to my feet, and then bent me into a chair.

I flicked my good eye up to Jane. “I’m sorry, again.”

She sat across from me. I was grateful that I didn’t have to tilt my head back to look at her any more.

“Don’t worry about it.” She picked up the two halves of her cell phone. “The only damage was an abrupt hang up that probably freaked your husband out.”

Yeah, I would have some explaining to do and I probably shouldn’t wait until I got home.

Jane snapped the battery back into place, then flipped open the cover and pressed the power button. The phone chimed.

“See, the phone’s fine.”

“I’m still sorry.” I adjusted in my seat to relieve the pressure of the hard, chair on my shoulder. “Whoever attacked me knew who I was. She targeted me. I jumped to a bad conclusion. You didn’t deserve the accusation. You’ve been playing by our rules through this whole thing.”

Jane’s eye flicked down to the floor and she nodded.

“I can’t imagine who would do this to me.”

Louise chuckled. “I could make a multi-page list for you, of just the people I know, who have a grudge against you.”

She sat in the chair to my left so I could see her.

“The same list of people who might apply to you?” I asked.

“You got it.”

“So who do we know that’s pissed about an arrest and has been recently released?”

Louise shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ll need to check. However, tonight, you need to go home and rest. Gavin is probably freaking out by now.”

A lump rose to the soft hollow at the base of my throat when I thought of Gavin’s worried face. I wanted to go home, bury my face in his chest, and cry.

Tears burned up to my eyes, and I willed them not to fall.

“I’d better call him.” My voice wavered and cracked. “Can I use your phone?”

I held my hand out to Jane.

She gripped the antenna and handed me the cell.

“We’ll give you a little privacy,” Louise said. “I’ll come back in a few minutes to help you to the car. Don’t go wandering around by yourself. You’re likely to pass out and whack your head again.”

From the doorway, Louise called over her shoulder. “See if Gavin can talk some sense into you, and convince you to go see a doctor.”

Louise and Jane disappeared around the corner and I was alone. Unease shivered up my spine. Someone wanted to hurt me—had hurt me in the one place I felt the safest, surrounded by fellow officers. Here I was again, alone and vulnerable. I gripped the edge of the table for leverage, got to my feet, then moved so my back was against the wall and I would have a full view of the room.

I flipped open Jane’s phone and arrowed down to her call history. Maybe a small part of me was still suspicious of her, but my suspicions disappeared completely when I found my home telephone number in her outgoing calls. I highlighted the number and then pressed send.

The display flashed “calling.” I held the phone to my ear. Gavin answered on the first ring.

“Hello?”

“Gavin, it’s me.”

I steeled myself against the emotional breakdown that threatened to overtake me.

“Jesus, Catherine, are you okay? Some reporter called and said someone attacked you. Then her phone went dead. What the hell is going on?”

His anxiety cracked down the phone line. I swallowed past the stone in my throat.

“I’m fine.”

Silence.

“Gavin?”

“You’re not fine. I can hear it in your voice. How bad is it, Catherine?”

A hard squeeze compressed my chest. A single tear rolled from my good eye despite my best efforts. I took a deep breath and let it out slow.

“I’m as fine as I’m going to be in the next fifteen minutes. Okay?”