True Blue

CHAPTER 100

AN HOUR LATER it was determined that Mace did not have a cracked skull.

“Your head must be extremely hard,” said the emergency room doctor.

“It is,” Beth and Roy said simultaneously.

Her leg stitched up, a bandage on her head, and a prescription for pain meds written, they left the hospital in the early morning hours. Roy and Mace had told Beth some of what had been going on during the ride over, but now she insisted on driving them back to Abe Altman’s so they could tell her the rest. Mace’s Ducati had been picked up by a police flatbed and also driven over to Altman’s.

In the guesthouse, they spent another hour bringing the police chief up to speed on their findings.

“We’ll get a BOLO out on Ned Armstrong right now,” said Beth, and she took a moment to make this call. After she’d relayed the order, she said, “He may have been the one who attacked you.”

“If so, I look forward to returning the favor,” said Mace as she lay on couch with a baggie of ice on her head.

Roy said, “He’s probably long gone by now.”

“How do you figure?” asked Beth.

“If he did put Mace in that fridge he probably hung around for a while to watch the building. He would have seen the police and Mace walking out alive.”

Beth shook her head. “We can’t take that chance. Ned is obviously not working this alone. So you two are getting round-the-clock protection.”

“I’ve got a case to try,” said Roy.

Mace sat up. “And I’ve got a fat asshole to catch, among lots of others.”

“You can leave that to the police now. You should’ve left it to us from the get-go.”

“Hey, I’ve done a lot of the heavy lifting already,” objected Mace.

“And what, you think I’m going to do an end run and take all the credit if we do break this thing?”

“Damn it, Beth, we had this talk. I’m going to keep working this.”

“Why don’t you start learning that the rules do apply to you?”

“I would, except they always seem to be stacked against me!”

“That’s just a pitiful excuse.”

“I need to do this, Beth,” Mace yelled, jumping off the couch. The baggie of ice slid to the floor. For a moment it looked like blows might be launched.

Roy stepped in between them, one hand on each of their shoulders.

At the same time both women cried out, “Stay out of this!”

“No!” he shouted and pushed each of them back. Mace landed on the couch and Beth in a chair. Both sisters stared up at him in shock.

“You just assaulted a police officer, Kingman,” snapped Beth.

“Oh, right, throw that in his face!” retorted Mace.

Roy barked, “Will both of you just shut up and listen for one damn minute!”

The women glanced at each other and then back at him.

“Okay,” said Roy. “Okay. These people have done things that take enormous resources and manpower.”

“And your point?” said Beth.

“That we work together,” Roy answered simply. “Like Mace said, she’s done a lot of the heavy lifting. I’ve got a way into DLT to see what that brings. Chief, you’ve got resources that neither of us have. All I’m saying is that it makes a lot more sense for us to work together. I think we all want the same thing here, even if it is for different reasons.”

Beth pulled her gaze from Roy and looked down. “Maybe we can work together.”

“Then we need to tell you one more thing,” said Roy. He looked nervously at Mace.

She said, “The guy Tolliver was having dinner with Friday was Jamie Meldon.”

“How the hell do you know that?”

“Waiter at the restaurant recognized him,” said Roy.

Beth looked puzzled. “I’ve got a contact who thinks Meldon was killed by domestic terrorists.”

Roy shook his head. “We think he was killed because someone saw him having dinner with Diane. The lady knew something and they were afraid she’d told Meldon. The guy was a federal prosecutor after all.”

Mace added, “And they didn’t wait long. Dinner on Friday night and Diane killed right after. Meldon never made it past the weekend. Watkins is probably dead too. That’s why I need to clean myself up and head to Newark in a few hours.”

“What’s in Newark?”

Mace explained about the law firm that had represented Tolliver in her divorce.

“And I’ve got the presentment this morning,” added Roy. “But after that I’m going over to DLT and see what I can find out.”

“And what would you have me do?” asked Beth.

Mace said, “Hopefully, you’ll find Ned.”

“His prints are probably all over the front lobby. We can run them through the databases.” She stood. “If I let you do this,” she began, staring dead at her sister, “you are to report in regularly and you are not to go into any dangerous situation without backup. No more fourth floors, you got that?”

“Loud and clear. I don’t think I can ever even own a refrigerator again.”

Roy said anxiously, “So are we good to go?”

Beth glared at him. “Yes, but we go by my playbook, not yours.”