Stephanie Doyle - Suspect Lover

Steven hit a button and held the phone to his ear. “No answer at home.”

“Try her cell.”

“She never answers her cell. She said she’d be at home. Maybe she’s not answering.”

“I’m not taking that chance,” Dominic insisted. He turned to the detective. “I need to go to Caroline. Now.”

The two men looked at each other. Then immediately bolted into action.

“You sit tight. I’m going to send a uniform in here to wait with you,” Mark told Steven. Once that was done, Mark led the way out of the station and pointed to his car.

“I’m driving,” Dominic insisted.

Mark jingled the keys in his hands. “I’m driving. You’re about half gone with panic.”

“I swear to God if anything happens to her…” Dominic muttered as he threw himself into the passenger seat and silently urged the detective to move faster.

“Nora’s with her and she’ll be armed. And even if she weren’t, I think I would still put my money on her.”

Nora rolled on to her back and groaned. Her head felt as if it were going to explode. For a moment, she wondered if maybe it had. No, that was silly. If it had exploded, she’d be dead. And dead people didn’t groan. Which she did again.

Think, she told herself. But that hurt.

All she really wanted to do was close her eyes and try to escape the pain, but there was the niggling anxiety in the back of her mind that wouldn’t let her rest. A feeling of danger and an urgency to move spurred her on.

Move where, though? Where was she?

Dominic’s house. She was at Dominic’s house with Caroline.

Caroline. Where was Caroline? Had she hit her? No. There was someone else in the house. Oh, God.

“Caroline.” She knew her voice couldn’t be more than a whisper, but suddenly she realized that the urgency she was feeling was related to Caroline. She had to make contact. She crawled for while along the living room heading for the stairs that would take her down to the next level. Caroline had gone swimming. She should be in the pool.

That was confirmed by the sound of a very loud splash.

The water engulfed them both instantly. But because she knew where she was going, Caroline was able to adapt more quickly. She kicked away from the tangle that was Anne and felt something solid brush past her thigh.

The gun! Anne had dropped it and it was sinking. Caroline kicked her legs powerfully, pushing herself to the bottom of the pool. She brushed her hands over the tiles but with the underwater light turned off, she could see nothing.

Needing air, she rose to the surface. Only the glint of the moonlight peeking through the passing clouds offered any light inside the glass room. She couldn’t see much, but she could hear Anne breathing.

“You bitch!”

Caroline remained motionless as the woman floundered about struggling with her clothes. Instead of bothering to reply Caroline dove again and with fluid strokes moved farther away from her. Once more, she kicked her way to the bottom of the pool, holding her breath as long as possible in her desperate search for the gun. She heard a muted sound and felt a hand close around her ankle. She kicked sharply and dislodged the hand, then kicked again, angling her body to the side to change her direction.

As she surfaced, the ragged sound of her breathing gave Caroline’s position away. Anne turned dramatically in her direction but she didn’t move as a cloud obscuring the moon plunged the room into darkness.

Anne chuckled. “Marco,” she sang as if waiting for the answering call, Polo. Caroline shivered.

Caroline needed that gun. The pool was large and the gun could be anywhere, but the most likely place was not too far from where they had both fallen into the water. Which meant she needed to get behind where Anne was standing.

“I’m here, Anne.”

Instantly the woman lunged in her direction. Caroline sank deep and could feel the movement of the water above her. When they surfaced, Anne was on the other side of the pool.

Without a sound Caroline let herself slide back under the water. Her foot brushed a solid object and she twisted her body around, clasping the weapon in her hand. She kicked off the bottom and charged for the top.

She heard splashing behind her as she ran along the shallow end of the pool. She knew Anne was closing in on her, reaching for her. If she could just get the advantage of dry ground. Caroline climbed up the stairs, slipping on the slick stones and then turned around and fired the gun once into the air.

The crack and the jolt of the weapon’s impact sent her sprawling backward and she fell butt-first on the edge of the pool. Quickly she spotted Anne still waist-deep in water and aimed at her.

“You think you have what it takes to shoot me?” Anne taunted.

Caroline continued to point the gun, but she could feel her hands shaking. “I don’t want to kill you, Anne. Just give up.”

“Give up? I don’t think you’ve been listening very well. I. Don’t. Give. Up.” Anne had made her way to the stairs and was emerging out of the water like Poseidon. “You’re going to have to shoot me to stop me. All you have to do is pull the trigger.”

Shoot her. Just shoot her. Caroline raised the gun, felt her finger curling around the trigger. All she had to do was pull it. Pull the trigger and save Dominic and herself. Her family.

“What’s the matter?” Anne sneered. “You can’t do it, can you? Coward.”

Caroline could see the woman was getting ready to jump when a light burst into the room, blinding them both for a second.

“Maybe she won’t shoot you, but I will.” Nora stood at the edge of the pool with a gun aimed directly at Anne. Blood dripped down her face and Caroline feared she would topple over at any second, but her gun hand didn’t shake.

Caroline dropped her head in relief, then heard the pounding of feet as Mark and Dominic rushed into the pool room. Dominic was bearing down on her and she felt like a football as she was scooped up into his arms.

“Ughh!” Anne shouted, slapping her hands on the water with fury. “No, no, no, no! This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. I don’t lose. I don’t ever lose!”

“This time you do,” Caroline said, her arms wrapped around Dominic’s neck. “Take me away from her. I don’t want to look at her face.”

Moments later, uniformed officers swarmed the pool room. One kept his gun on the woman, while two entered the water. As they forcibly dragged her out, she kicked, screamed, and splashed the whole way.

Nora lowered her weapon and holstered it. She walked over to where Mark stood with his hands on his hips and a grim expression on his face. He reached out and swiped a stream of blood off her cheek.

“What the hell happened to you?”

“She snuck up on me. She must have been inside the house when we got here. One second I’m watching TV, the next I wake up sprawled out on the floor.”

“Come here.” He reached out and pulled her close, gently feeling her head for the lump she knew he would easily find.

“Ouch!” she hissed.

“We’ve got to have you checked out.”

In a sudden motion, he bent and lifted her into his arms. She was about to do the proud thing and tell him she could manage on her own, but bereft of all energy, she let herself be carried through the house and outside to the ambulance that had been called to the scene.

The truth was, it felt kind of nice.

He sat her on the back of the ambulance and waved over the EMTs.

“When you get out of the hospital, we’re going to work on your surveillance skills. They suck. An elephant could sneak up on you.”

“Screw you, Hernandez,” she muttered weakly.

“Screw me? Eventually, shortcake,” Mark replied smoothly. “Eventually.”