5 Alive After Friday (4 page)

S
andy
drove out the main entrance of Lagoon Park and raced around the half mile to
circle the park and arrive at the service entrance on the back side. She parked
alongside a ficus hedge where her car couldn’t be seen, yet she could watch the
service entrance. Too much time had passed since she walked off the footbridge;
anyone using this rear entrance could easily have already escaped the park. But
it was something.

Now that she had carried out the money-drop part
of it, for better or for worse, she was no longer reluctant to talk to Chip. Now
she could let it all out and explain what had happened. She tapped speed dial
on her phone. She was eager to hear his voice and explain the abduction and money-drop.
His first question would be about her personal safety.
He’d be horrified
to learn of her ordeal, and then there would be some minor scolding. Soon, he’d
come around to sympathizing with her dilemma. In the end, she knew he’d feel
guilty because he was on earth to protect everyone, especially her, and had
failed to somehow miraculously rescue her.

After a few rings, she was surprised to hear an out-of-service
announcement. Something was wrong. City detectives were never entirely out of
service. His phone usually went to voicemail and the detective picked up
whenever possible.

She saw some movement near the service entrance to
the park and tensed up. Then relaxed as she recognized the scrawny kid on the
bicycle. He was riding out of the service entrance and coming in her direction.
What luck, maybe he saw or heard something. She’d wring his scrawny little neck
if he didn’t cooperate. He didn’t notice her parked there in the dark. When he
was almost in front of her car, she flipped on the headlights and yelled, “Hey
wait. I need to talk with you.”

He was startled for a moment caught in the
headlights. Then he squinted, saw who it was, and yelled, “I didn’t do nothing.”
And took off on the bike. He appeared shaken. She noticed something else as
well—he was riding a brand new bicycle.

She took the flashlight from the glove compartment,
got out and locked the car. She walked over to the service road; a sign at the
corner read:
Maintenance Vehicles Only
. Although the intersection where
the service road left the park was well lighted, she saw only darkness farther
up the road. Deserted—no vehicles, no people. She walked on up the curving road
into the park casting the flashlight beam from side to side. The road curved
again and about fifty feet ahead she saw a narrow side road running over to a large
metal equipment shed.

She walked closer around behind the shed. The
kid’s old bicycle was there on the ground. She also noticed a pile of what she
thought were old boards—until she stepped closer. Then she saw the body.

She tried Chip again—still out of service. An
emergency call to 911 was a poor option; she needed someone who would
immediately accept what she said without a string of questions. The abduction,
the money-drop and the dead body would take an hour to explain. She needed to
reach someone with the power to make things happen.

She scrolled down her contact list to Mel Shapiro,
the newly elected State Attorney for the judicial district. She met him back
when he was an ASA under Larry Moran. They had faced each other both in court
and socially. She enjoyed being around him. Over the past year, they’d become
special friends; he had told her to call him anytime day or night. She had
never abused that privilege. This was official business. When he answered, she
said, “Mel, I’ve got a body.”

“I’ll drink to that.”

“Seriously, a dead one.”

“How dead?”

“As dead as he’ll ever be.” She looked down at the
body and slowly shook her head. “I’m in Lagoon Park. Mel, this’ll sound wild. No
one else knows any of this. A man and a woman kidnapped me two days ago—”

“What? Are you safe?”

“—just listen...took me out in the sticks. They
threatened to shoot Chip, if I didn’t pay a lot of money. I made the money-drop
tonight at the Lover’s Bridge. Anyway, all that can wait. Now you have a dead
guy in the park and the blood’s still wet.”

He listened in near shock. “Are you okay? Where
are you right now?”

“I was staking out the back service entrance to
the park. Then I walked up the back road to the equipment shed and found the
body. I’m certain this dead guy is connected to the money-drop.”

“Stay there. I’ll call the chief. The police will
seal off the park, secure the interior scene around Lover’s Bridge and over where
you are—the equipment shed. Is that all we need right now?” Mel was fast. He
had processed it all instantly.

“You’ve got it,” she said. “Tell them to hurry. Someone
around here murdered this guy, and I’m standing here alone in the dark without
a gun.”

“I understand. Stay back in the shadows until you
see flashing lights. You’ll hear the sirens in a minute. And Sandy...don’t take
any more action on your own. You’ve done too much already.”

Was that a crack or a compliment? “Mel, I
absolutely must talk to Chip, and his phone is out of service. You know where
he is?”

“Yes, but it’s confidential. I’m not allowed to tell
you that he’s on a joint assignment tonight with the FBI down in Fort Pierce.
He can’t answer for a while. Now please get off the phone!”

She put the flashlight beam on the dead guy’s
face. His eyes were wide open and blood had dripped down from the corner of his
mouth. She didn’t recognize him. She looked down at his shoes—work boots not
sneakers. This was not the man with the woman on the path approaching the
bridge earlier that night. At least she knew that much about him.

But was he Dick? Was he the man who had manhandled
her into the SUV? The man who had pushed her to her knees, threatened her and
most certainly would have molested her, if they had been alone? Was he the one
pressing the gun barrel to her neck? “If that was you, then I’m glad you’re
dead,” she said aloud without hesitation. “I wished you had died of abject mosquito
bites.” Then in a louder voice, she said, “Too bad you can’t hear me.”

She thought better about going through his pockets;
she didn’t want to screw up any evidence. But she couldn’t resist reaching down
and feeling his ankle. The body had a normal temperature, not a bit cold. He couldn’t
have been dead more than a few minutes. Without moving closer, she cast the
light around the pile of boards and beyond. She didn’t see the gym bag. She’d
love to search around the area for it, but this was a crime scene. She’d
trampled on enough evidence all ready.

She stepped away from the body and phoned Martin.
He answered on the first ring. She said, “I don’t know if everything went okay.
I dropped the money okay, but God knows who picked it up. At least I’m safe.
Thanks to you.”

“Good, I can start breathing again. I don’t know
what you’re talking about, but I’m glad you’re okay. You must tell me
everything. I guessed it was extortion, but I couldn’t figure out the mosquito
bites.”

“Now don’t go all hyperbolic on me. I was abducted
and taken to the Everglades. They didn’t harm me much physically, the
mosquitoes took care of that part. They extorted me for the four hundred grand.
I’ll explain about that part. Geez, I hope I’ve done the right thing. We need
to talk but I can’t now. We’ll meet later tonight. Stay by your phone.”

This dead body was just too close in time and
space to not be connected with the money-drop. She wondered how far it was across
the park to the Lover’s Bridge. She’d love to run over there. Maybe her four
hundred grand was still sitting there on the sidewall of the bridge. Maybe she
was looking down at Dick, and he was shot
before
he could pick up the
money. If the money were still on the bridge, it surely wouldn’t stay there
long. She’d run over as soon as the police arrived.

Mel called back, “Chief Stabler requested the
murder investigation be separate from your kidnapping and extortion, which the
FBI will take charge of. I told him that was okay. To tell the truth, he said he’d
rather deal with a murder any time than with the escapades of Sandy Reid.”

“My escapades included kneeling blindfolded with a
gun pressed against the back of my head execution style.”

“Just the same, the police department will focus
on the murder. My office and the FBI will focus on your kidnapping and extortion.
Okay? I had Detective Jaworski assigned to me.”

“Why didn’t you ask for Chip on your team?”

“Come on, you said he was the target in the
extortion scheme. Much too involved. The chief wants to know what his men are
looking for. A man and a woman, you say. I realize you were blindfolded, but
can you describe the vehicles at all?”

“Must have been two. The one that stopped in front
of me was a dark colored SUV—I don’t know the model they look so much alike.
The vehicle behind me...I have no clue. Since the headlights seemed a bit high,
might have been a small truck. There were six vehicles in the parking lot a few
minutes ago when I left. I have photos of their plates. I also have a
description of two strollers I encountered, plus a thieving kid who doubtless
knows more about what goes on in the park than the caretakers. Someone might have
witnessed something.”

“Here’s the deal. You can leave when the police show
up. Tell them I said okay. They can get your statement later. And I’ll meet you
in the chief’s office at ten and we’ll talk about the kidnapping and extortion.
Okay?”

“At ten? That’s over an hour from now. This is an
emergency!”

“I know, but I’m at a party up in Palm Bay. I’m
going out the door right now. I’ll call the FBI on the way. Chip can join us at
the meeting, if he gets through with his special assignment. Anything else?”

“Mel, I know I’ve possibly screwed up the
investigation by going ahead with the money-drop.” She again wondered if the
money was still sitting on the footbridge. “I’ll run over there as soon as the
police get here.”

“A
fait accompli
, Sandy. We’ll play the
hand we’re dealt. The important thing is you’re safe. You might want Martin at
the meeting, as well. Is he available?”

“Martin is always available. See you at ten.”

She heard the sirens immediately and waited by the
body for the police. Within five minutes, a sergeant arrived and took charge. She
didn’t remember his name, but he seemed to know who she was. He accepted what
she said without question and carefully listened as she explained what probably
happened.

She then took off running straight across the park
to the footbridge. As she got nearer, she could see that the bag and tray were
gone. Anyone could have picked it up in the last half-hour. Since it was
another crime scene, she held back and stood on the path. Why was the tray
gone? If the strolling couple picked up the bag, why would they take the tray?
Within another ten minutes, the police arrived at the bridge. After explaining
the situation, there was nothing for her to do; she’d be speaking with CSI
later.

She phoned Martin, “We have a meeting in the
chief’s office in less than an hour. You think the mosquitoes beat up on me,
wait until the police and FBI do a job on me.”

S
andy
and Martin were the first to arrive at the police chief’s office in the Park
Beach police station for the hastily scheduled ten o’clock meeting. They took a
seat on the small leather bench along the wall beside his desk. Police Chief Stabler
and Detective Eddy Jaworski walked in together. Two other sergeants and a
detective entered the office right behind them. Sandy knew them all by name. Jaworski
took the seat beside her, making her a bit more comfortable. She put her hand
on his arm and leaned over. “Eddy, I ran over to the bridge after the police arrived,
but the gym bag was gone. How did the crooks pick up that money so fast? It was
less than a minute between the time I set the bag down and that couple walked
onto the bridge. It had to be the couple. The damn couple took my money and I
let them. Eddy, you must find that couple.”

“Sorry, buddy, I got out of bed to come over here.
I heard you found a body, but beyond that I don’t know what the hell you’re
talking about.”

“In that case, you’ve a few surprises coming.”

Mel Shapiro came in and immediately took charge.
He was tall and slender with noticeably thinning hair. She had always
considered him attractive especially so at that particular moment as he still
wore his black and white formal evening clothes from the party complete with
black bow tie. A skilled courtroom prosecutor, defense attorneys dreaded
finding themselves up against him. Although a fierce and verbal competitor in
the courtroom, he tended toward the quiet side socially.

Mel said, “The FBI is sending a man up from Jensen
Beach. I don’t know his schedule. Sandy, please start in with the background. You
can fill in the FBI later, as they’ll want a written statement from you anyway.”

She began the sorrowful tale, “By now you’re aware
that you have abduction and murder. You’re starting out with almost nothing on
the abduction, but the FBI has primary responsibility there. I’m sure you can
handle the murder. Although, I believe it’s related to the abduction.”

The chief said, “We have the murder scene at the
park equipment building secured and floodlights set up. CSI has started looking
around. Of course, they’re limited until daybreak. Who and what are we looking for.
Give us that up front so we can get it out to the field.”

“Let her talk,” Mel said.

She gave them a fast explanation of the encounter
with Dick and Jane from the kidnapping through to her release. She skipped the
part about trying to memorize sounds and voices, and just admitted she could
identify neither the perpetrators nor their vehicles. She also skipped being
terrified before they released her almost two hours later.

“At which point,” the chief interrupted. “You
should have notified us, so, along with the FBI, we could initiate the
time-tested procedures for which we are trained. Such as, marked bills, special
chemicals sprayed on the money, GPS hidden in the bag of money and so forth.
Did you consider of any of that?”

“All of those so called confidential police tricks
are well-known and thoroughly explained on the Internet. Just Google
howtokidnap
dot com
, all your secrets are listed there. As I just said, I thought of
Chip being killed.”

“Very emotional. Except, we could have had surveillance
in place around the park,” the chief pushed on, “Hidden cameras on the
footbridge. We could have shadowed the perpetrators until we were certain
Detective Goddard wasn’t in danger. Did you think of that?”

Martin sat biting his lip. He wanted to take her
side, but didn’t know enough about the situation to jump in.

“Some of that might have worked. With luck, all of
it might have.” The chief wasn’t there; he had no idea what she’d been through.
No idea how she had agonized over her decision. She looked at him fiercely. “I’d
have taken the chance with your life but not with Chip’s.”

The chief’s face flushed red. He needed a minute to
continue scowling at her. “So you walked around the murder scene, then for good
measure you say you walked around the money-drop scene.”

“Wrong. I didn’t walk around either. As I got
nearer to the footbridge, I could see that the gym bag was gone. I could also
see that your men still weren’t there. I stood where I was and waited to keep
people away until the police showed, then I went back to my car and came over
here.”

“So I guess the point of this meeting is for all
of us to realize that thanks to Miss Reid we have no real starting point.” He
smirked. “Well, I’ll get prepared to forget about ever catching the perps, and
you can get prepared to kiss four hundred grand goodbye.”

She was glad Chip wasn’t hearing all this,
although she’d need to explain it all to him soon enough tomorrow, or whenever
he got off his special assignment. Everyone was looking at her waiting for her
reaction. In spite of everything she’d worked for, when the word got out she’d
given away the money she would be just another lawyer joke.

Then all eyes went to the office door as a young
man, thirty-something, in a dark business suit entered. “Sorry I’m late. Agent
Conrad Hastings.” He pulled a chair over from against the wall and sat. “I was in
Jensen Beach headed back to West Palm, when I got the call...a long day. I
guess a long day for many of you also.” He let out an extended sigh. “I wasn’t
given much information on this. Now as I understand it the kidnap victim was
released unharmed. No notes, no phone calls. They just released her.”

He paused and glanced around the room. No one was
correcting him. His eyes went to Sandy and stayed on her, obviously she was the
victim. He examined his notes and then looked back up at her. “Miss Reid, I
believe.”

She nodded.

He went on, “Not only released her but released her
without any ransom being paid. How nice of the captors to be so trusting that
they would get their money. Isn’t it great that people are finally trusting
each other in this country? And apparently, the victim was so appreciative she later
paid the kidnappers the ransom demanded even though at that point she was free
and could tell them to go to hell and contact the authorities. How nice of the
victim to pay the ransom although already set free. Do I have that about right?”

Sandy was the one who answered, “It sounds dumb
and ugly the way you’ve stated it.”

“And now you’re going to try to pretty it up by putting
lipstick on the pig.”

“No, that’s about the way I’d have said it, except
I wouldn’t have used all that unnecessary sarcasm. Now technically, the
kidnapping was more like abduction, since they didn’t hold me for ransom. And
the ransom was actually extortion, since I’d already been released. So, we could
call it abduction and extortion rather than kidnapping and ransom.”

She had scored a couple of points against him. He
didn’t look pleased. “Yet, you went ahead and met their demands. Whether you
call it ransom or extortion, you paid off. And now what’s left?” the agent
said, throwing his hands in the air. “I could have read about this in the newspapers.
Does anyone here have any information on what happened, other than what Miss
Reid might have told them?”

There was no response. He pointed a finger at
Sandy. “I need to talk with you right now. Chief, can I borrow an interrogation
room?”

Martin said, “Can’t it wait until morning? She’s
been through quite a bit today.”

“I suspect she has little information to offer, it
won’t take long.”

As the meeting broke up Mel came over. “You going
to be okay?”

She made a face and nodded.

“We need to get moving on this. I want you to give
a statement about the abduction and the money-drop to Jaworski at eight
tomorrow morning in his cubicle. Then meet with the chief at ten about the guy
you found murdered at the park equipment shed. Can you make those appointments?
Is tomorrow too soon for you?”

“Let me grab a couple of hours sleep and we can
start tonight.”

“First thing tomorrow is fine.”

Sandy and Martin followed agent Hastings down the
hall to one of the interrogation rooms. The FBI guy motioned for her to sit on
the side usually occupied by suspects; the side facing the mirror, which
everyone above the age of three knows is in fact a window into the adjoining
room. She tried to get comfortable in the wooden chair. As Martin started to
take the chair next to her, the agent said, “Are you her attorney?”

“No.”

“Then please leave.”

“Okay, then I
am
her attorney,” Martin said
and sat down.

She handed the agent the white paper bag and
explained it was the blindfold used by the abductors. She understood it might
well be useless. Agent Hastings sneered, had her sign and date the outside of
the bag and put it in his briefcase.

He then took out his note pad and a recorder. He
placed the recorder on the table between them, clicked it on and stated a few
formalities about time, place and persons present. After the routine demographic
questions, he led her into a narration of what had transpired. It seemed the further
she got into her version of the episode the more he began to challenge her
responses, making judgmental comments and glaring at her with his practiced
accusatory stare.

After thirty minutes, Martin interrupted, “This
has gone far enough. We’re through here. Miss Reid understands the problem
she’s created for you by taking action on her own and not calling in the authorities
before complying with the culprit’s demands. Whether it was an error in her
judgment remains to be seen. What we do know is you are becoming rude and
abusive. We know you’re upset. You don’t have a neat typical kidnapping here. Your
main complaint seems to be you’ll have to work harder. Now live with it.”

The agent frowned at Martin, reached out and
turned off the recorder.

“He’s right, you know,” Sandy spoke up, “lecturing
me on what I should have done doesn’t help getting my observations on what
occurred.”

“I’ve barely scratched the surface of what you
should have done. A lawyer should have known better.” He pointed to the
recorder. “Did you leave anything out of this?”

“I included the sights, sounds and smells that I
can recall, and my attempt to describe their disguised voices. I left out my own
grunts, groans, sighs and assorted manifestations of horror over the terrifying
two hours I was tied up, threatened and held hostage.”

“I’m sorry about that. Nevertheless, nothing
you’ve said so far seems particularly helpful.”

“Then let’s go over it again. We’re all exhausted.
I’ll be happy to reschedule this interrogation after we’ve all rested.” Then
she had another thought, “You have your laptop with you?”

“Of course, why?”

“Here’s my phone.” She took it out. “I took snaps
of every vehicle, and their license plates, in the parking lot after I made the
money-drop. You can copy the photos to your laptop right now.”

He nodded at that. He booted his laptop and found
a transfer cord while she located the photos on her phone.

She kept talking while he was fussing connecting the
transfer cord. “I don’t believe the bad guys would have been dumb enough to
park there, but some of those people parking there might have seen something significant.
Hey, stop rolling your eyes at everything I say.”

“I copied about fourteen. Does that sound right?”

She nodded. “Now some plates are from out of
state. Get right on this or they’ll be leaving town.”

That unnecessary observation earned her one more
dirty look from him.

This particular agent was most likely an okay guy
she imagined, if she’d met him under other circumstances. Just then, however,
he was being a jerk even if a good looking jerk. “I’ve given you some useful
information. Are you going to follow up on what you have? I’ve a definite
interest in what you’re doing, you know.” She noticed him rolling his eyes
again.

Originally, she was uncertain about how involved
in the investigation she wanted to be. She had carried out the money-drop part
of it; she could now let the authorities take over. She had a workload of cases
in the office and as important has finding Jane and recovering the money was,
she couldn’t devote full time to the investigation anyway. Plus, Chip had
admonished her in the past to butt out and let the professionals take over.
Nevertheless, when the agent rolled his eyes again it was too much, she changed
her mind and made the firm decision that she could not keep out of the
investigation, could not just stand back let the FBI take over and not be aware
of what was going on.

She said, “First order of business is to locate
and apprehend that couple who stepped onto the bridge as I stepped off. They
probably have the money. I can get started as soon as the police can ID the
shooting victim in the park.”

“Look, Ma’am, if you want to start somewhere then
start by staying home. If something comes up, we’ll let you know. This is
official FBI business. We don’t need you putzing around.” He started jamming
his notes and equipment into his briefcase like an annoyed kid picking up his
toys and going home.

“I don’t give a damn about official FBI business,”
she said. “Putting a gun to my head, scaring the shit out of me and stealing four
hundred grand are my business. I’ll putz around where I please, thank you very
much. And don’t roll your eyes at me one more time!”

“God help me. She’s Nancy Drew with an attitude.”