and along came SPIDER ( A Martina Spalding Thriller ) (Spider Series Book 1) (10 page)

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

On her return walk
home, Martina noticed the little park was now alive with people.  Upon closer
examination, she noticed several produce vendors had set up tables and were
busy hawking the fruits of their trade.  Actually, much of it was fruit, and
Martina eased in among the swarm to study the selection.  A display of red
grapes caught her eye near immediately.  She selected the paper bag of them,
most appealing, and held them up to the smiling old man behind the table. 
“That’ll be fifty cents, ma’am.”  Oh…so now she was a ma’am.  Had she aged that
much over the past twenty-eight hours or so?  Or was it just the haggard look
she’d seen in the mirror after her shower that’d made her appear a mother of
God knows how many screaming brats.  She smiled to herself, even though the
thought was horrifying.

Setting the grapes
down, Marti dug in her purse for the proper change.  Before long she was back
on her way, one of the grapes rolling around inside her mouth.  She would toy
with it sensuously for a while before savoring its juice and slippery pulp. 
Parker had done a masterful job of arousing her.  Now it was the lowly grape
that was called on to pacify the desire.

At the apartment door,
Marti quietly let herself in, removed the spike heels, and tiptoed down the
short hallway to Gloria’s bedroom.  Seeing Gloria was resting peacefully, she
reversed course, went to her own room, and gently closed and locked the door. 
Stripping naked, she went into the bathroom, reached past the curtain, and
turned on the shower… hot.  Moments later she parted the curtain, stepped into
the cubicle, tucked the curtain tightly on both sides and lowered herself
gently to the floor.  There, crouched in a corner, she began to cry, the
agonizing sounds muffled by her hands.  The opportunity for relief had been a
long time coming.  But since it was here, she meant to get it all out, now.

It was hours later when
from her bed, where she’d been sleeping soundly, Marti heard a forceful knock
on her door.  “Martina!”  It was Gloria’s voice.  “Are you okay?” 

Dragging herself from
the bed, she took her robe from the bedpost and pulled it on before unlatching
the door and easing it open a few inches.

“I didn’t hear you
return,” Gloria said, eyeing her concernedly.

Squinting back at her,
Marti asked, “What time is it?”

“After five.  Go back
to bed, if you want.  I was just worried you weren’t okay.”

“I’m fine.”  Marti
yawned, covering her mouth as she did, and pulled the door fully open on her
way back to the bed.

“I never thought…  How
embarrassing would this have been, if you’d had a man in here?”  Gloria
chuckled and stepped into the room.

“I did.”  Marti pulled
the sheet over her face.  “I booted his bony ass out a few hours ago.”

“It must have been an
orgy?”  Gloria’s eyes rested on what remained of a cluster of grapes on the
nightstand.

“Oh, God, I don’t want
to get up,” Marty said, and stretched her body.  It was an action that exposed
her face again.

“Then don’t.”

“I promised Parker I’d
come back later.  Well, it’s later.  And I still have to put myself together.”

“Yeah, what… throw on a
little lipstick?” Gloria huffed.  “You ought to have my wrinkles to contend
with.”

“What about this
hair?”  Marti grabbed a handful and pulled it around for a closer look.  “I
went to bed with it wet, now look at it?  It’s a kinky mess.”

“That’s why I keep mine
short,” Gloria said.  “Shower, blow, and go.”

“Now, that would be a
life changing experience,” Marti said.  “You know how many years it took me to
grow this?”  She pulled more hair from under her shoulder and studied it.  But
what could be more life changing than what she’d experienced last night?  Maybe
a change would do her good.  She looked at Gloria again… primarily her
haircut.  “Who does yours?”

“This may come as a
surprise to you, but I do it myself.  I use a scalpel to taper the ends. 
Mostly by feel, of course,” she laughed.

“Would you do mine?”
Marti asked.  “Maybe a little longer.  I think I’d like the Dutch Boy look. 
Can you do that?”

“You got it, Lady!”
Gloria beamed, anxious for something to do to curb her anxiety.  “You’ll need
to wet it…  Brush it straight.  I’ll get my things.”

An hour later, Marti
was bouncing down the five flights of stairs, sporting a sassy new hairdo, when
she caught sight of Lieutenant Dunbar on his way up.  Instantly, she stopped
and glanced back to Gloria, half a flight behind her.  And here they were, so
joyous just a moment ago, anxious for Parker’s take on the new her.

“Oh there you are, Miss
Spalding,” Dunbar said, huffing and puffing from the climb.  “And, I see you
have Ms. Gillen, there, with you.”

“Lieutenant,” Marti
greeted him.  “Don’t you ever sleep?”  She proceeded toward him.

“Not much, when there’s
a killer on the loose.”

“We’re on our way to
visit Parker McLean in the hospital,” Marti said when she reached him.  “Was
there something you wanted from me?”

“No,” Dunbar said,
looking past her.  “It’s Ms. Gillen I want a word with.”

“Now, Lieutenant…”

“No, Martina!  You
won’t be getting by with sheltering her any longer.  You should have thought of
that before tossing Raym Koffee’s name out there.”

“Yes, Lieutenant, but
can you be gentle?” Marti pleaded.  “She’s had a rough time of it.”

“There you go again!”
Dunbar said.  “Every time you open your mouth, you create more questions.  Well,
frankly, I’m tired of the riddles, Martina!”

“I agree.  Up until
now, I have been less than forthcoming, Lieutenant,” Marti confessed.  “But
there’s a good reason for that.  I tell you what.  If you’ll allow us to go
visit Parker for an hour, I promise we’ll tell you everything.”

“Oh, no!  You two are
not getting out of my sight again.  Not until I get answers.  Even if I have to
haul you downtown.”

“Haul us to the
hospital instead.” Marti suggested.  “We can talk on the way, and again after a
quick visit to Parker.”

Dunbar thought on that
for a moment, then turned to Gloria, who had just arrived.  “Ms. Gillen, in the
officer’s notes you said you got those black eyes you’re so skillfully hiding
behind those sunglasses from some falling boxes at work.  That’s not true, is
it?”

“No, sir,” Gloria said
meekly, wondering what kind of trouble she was in for keeping that from him. 
“I got them from my ex-husband.”

“Raym Koffee?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“Friday, after work. 
He picked me up, as he usually did once or sometimes twice a week.”

“Were you two carrying
on an affair?”

“If you want to call it
that?” she said, looking into his eyes.  “Maybe it was an affair on his part. 
To me it was torture.”

Ignoring that last
part, Dunbar went on to a question he’d previously jotted down in his notebook.
“So why didn’t you report the beating?”

“I was afraid he’d kill
me.  He’s threatened to do that many times over the past few years.”

“Had he ever beaten you
before, Ms. Gillen?”

“More times than I want
to count.”  Her eyes filled with tears as she struggled to again block out the
memories.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Gillen,
but I have to ask this.”  He hesitated.  “Did Raym Koffee ever rape you?”

“After every beating,”
Gloria said boldly, without shame for that of which she had no control.

Hearing that, Dunbar
instantly dropped his head, momentarily.  “Okay.  Let’s go visit Parker
McLean.”  He reached out a hand to Gloria and guided her down the stairs. 

Martina followed close
behind, angry now.  “Lieutenant, what prompted you to ask if she’d been raped? 
There was no call for that.  Could it have been dredged up by your own
perverted curiosity?” 

Dunbar halted instantly
and turned back to her.  “You know, Martina, I’m going to let that slide.”  He
glared and, in his frustration, pushed the hat to the back of his head.  “But
if you have to know, it’s good police work.  It goes to the character of the
perpetrator.”

“So it’s your practice
to ask every victim of a beating if they’d been raped, Lieutenant?”

“It’s okay, Martina!”
Gloria cut in.  “I don’t mind.  It’s not like I had any control over it.”  But
she was ignored.

Angry now, Dunbar
fought the urge to tell more than he should.  But then went ahead and said it
anyway.  “To answer your question, Miss Spalding…  No!  It’s just that in this
case, since we have nothing on him here, I inquired at the East St. Louis
Police Department.  They were kind enough to show me the files on the murder
investigation conducted on behalf of the first Mrs. Koffee…  Susannah.  The
autopsy report showed she had been beaten prior to her murder.  And there was
vaginal tearing.  This indicated a rape had also occurred within hours of her
death.  Now, is that reason enough for you?”

But before Marti could
answer, or better yet, apologize, she caught sight of Gloria’s face.  It was
frightfully contorted.  Her mouth was open, but nothing came from it.  Then she
dropped to the steps beneath her.  “Gloria!”  Marti scrambled to her.

“Oh…!  God…!”  Gloria
found her voice… agonizingly, she cried out.

Dropping by her side, Martina
spent a solid five minutes trying to calm her.  Then, looking up at Dunbar as
she cradled Gloria’s head, she spotted people above who had exited their
apartments and were peering over the railings down on them.

Following what had
captured Martina’s attention… Dunbar swiftly produced a badge and shouted up to
them.  “Go back to your rooms!  There’s nothing to be alarmed about!”  With
that, the dozen or so people, on various floors, slowly moved away.  This
prompted Dunbar to offer Gloria a hand, feeling it best they leave the
building.  “Are you okay?”

Gloria nodded, and with
Dunbar’s help, got to her feet.

“Do you want to go back
to your apartment, honey?”  Martina asked.

“I’ll be alright.”  She
dug in her purse for a Kleenex and dabbed at her face, as they moved on down
the stairs and out of the building.

“I’m so sorry, Gloria,”
Martina said.  “I had no idea she was also raped.  That part of the
investigation must have been kept from the public.  It caught me by as much of
a surprise as it did you.  I can see why you were so upset with the
similarity.”

With that, the both of
them now focused on Martina.  That forced her to come out with the details of
her visit with Gwyn Raizel, grandmother of the deceased first wife, Susannah
Koffee, and tell in detail all that she’d learned, and or surmised, from it.

“What are you… really?”
Dunbar was astounded.  “It appears to me you have taken this beyond the scope
of the average…”

“What would you do if
your best friend’s life was in danger, Lieutenant?  You wouldn’t sit on your
thumbs, I’m sure.  I’m just sorry my efforts produced so little.  More… and I
may have had the good sense to be better prepared to head off what happened to
Parker McLean.”

Dunbar pulled open the
rear door of the patrol car.  “Well, all I have to say is, the next time you
decide to play kick ass, Miss Spalding, I hope I’m not the target.”

“I had no idea you did
any of that… investigating,” Gloria said, gaining more respect for the
friendship they shared.  She was also heart-warmed at having been called
Martina’s best friend, although she supposed that was a given, being that Marti
was new to the city.

At the hospital, Dunbar
dutifully escorted them inside, then came back out and waited patiently in the
car for their return.  During the time, he and Officer Ripley kept a close eye
on who entered and exited at the front.  What they hadn’t noticed, though, was
the baby blue, 1955 Ford Thunderbird three rows back of them in the parking
lot, its lone occupant also paying close attention on the entrance.

CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN

Back in the patrol car
near an hour later, Marti asked if it would be alright for her and Gloria be
dropped at the diner up the street from their apartment building on their
return.  She was so thrilled Parker had gone pleasingly bonkers over her new
haircut.  Now she wanted to reward Gloria for her skillful efforts by buying
her dinner.  Her request, however, appeared to have fallen on deaf ears when a
call came in on the police radio.  The gist of it was: a late model, black
Lincoln Continental had just been pulled from the Mississippi River in a county
area north of town.  It was void of license plates and all other traceable
markings.

This brought another
shocked look to Gloria’s face and she turned to face Martina, who appeared
equally amused.

“There’s your Lincoln,
Martina.”  Dunbar reached for the transmitter.  “Cully, this is Dunbar.  Get
ahold of county.  I want that car.  It may be evidence in the John Doe hit.”

“Okay.  I’ll take care
of it pronto, boss,” came back, among some static.

“Ten four, to that.” 
Dunbar replaced the transmitter and turned to Ripley.  “I’m getting kind of
hungry.  Will you pull up to that diner ahead?”

“Thank you,
Lieutenant,” Marti said from the rear seat.

“Can we join you?”
Dunbar asked.  “I have a few more questions for Gloria.”

“Of course,” Gloria
returned.  “I have some questions of my own I’d like answers to.”

“Fine.  If I can, I’ll
be happy to answer them.”  Dunbar threw open his door at the curb, got out, and
opened the rear door, as well.

Once in the diner and
seated in a booth, Dunbar on the side facing the door, Marti asked, “Is Officer
Ripley unsociable?”  She glanced at him seated at the counter, alone.  “He’s
kind of cute.  Gloria may be interested.”

With that, Gloria shot
her a look of disinterest.  Cute he may be, but it would take more than that to
get her interested in another man, at this point.

“Yeah, well, there’s
some silly rule in our department that prohibits uniformed officers from
socializing with civilians while on duty.”

“We’re not civilians,”
Marti protested.  “I’d say we are victims in an investigation.”

“Good point,” Dunbar
said and looked toward where Ripley sat.  “Ben, get over here!”

With that, Ripley
promptly came over.  “Yes, sir?”

“Sit down,” Dunbar said
and slid over to make room for him.  “These ladies made a request for your
company.”

“Thank you,” Ripley
said, smiling at the ladies and receiving the same in return.

To put an end to this
folly, Dunbar said, “Now, Ms. Gillen, you said you had some questions?”

“I was just wondering
if you have enough to make a case, now… well… now that you know about what
happened to Susannah?”

“Before I answer that… 
Did you know her?”

“No.  We never met. 
She was already dead by then… by the time I met him.  But that didn’t keep Raym
from talking about her.  Angry, awful things, usually…  Like me, she divorced
him.  And that didn’t sit to well with him… seeing as how he can’t handle
rejection.”

“Are you scared of
him?”  Dunbar looked at her strangely.

“I am now.”

“But you weren’t while
married to him?”

“Not particularly.  I
mean, he slapped me around a little occasionally…  But I got used to that. 
After I found out what happened to the other wife, I felt lucky just to be
alive afterward.  By then I’d convinced myself that as long as I was married to
him, he wouldn’t kill me.”

“But you divorced him
anyway.”

“Yes.  After a while I
got to thinking death might not be so bad.  He had openly taken a mistress.  I
couldn’t tolerate that.”

“Oh, Gloria…”  Martina
took her hand under the table.

“But then you allowed
him to keep coming around?”

“Old habits are hard to
break.  I guess in a way, I thought I was serving up justice, seeing as how he
married the mistress.  Turnabout is fair play, is it not, Lieutenant?”

Dunbar chuckled.  “Yes,
I guess it is.  But to answer your question, no, we don’t have a case yet.  The
Koffee family is a very respected family in St. Louis, as you surely know. 
That fact alone will make it doubly hard to get an indictment… even once we
have more incriminating evidence.”

“So… what’s the plan,
Lieutenant?” Marti said.  “Do we wait for someone to actually die?”  She hadn’t
singled out Gloria of purpose, for fear of creating even more anxiety in her
than the poor woman already had stored up, but it was only logical, she would
be the one most likely targeted.  “Then hope something incriminating will be
left behind?”

“Of course not!” 
Dunbar was instantly riled.  “We keep digging for the needle… even if that
means we need to sort through the entire haystack.  We know it’s there.  Now
it’s just a matter of finding it,” he said confidently.

The waitress came, and
since no one had yet bothered to look at the menu, it became follow the leader,
once Martina ordered her favorite — cheeseburger and fries.

“Gloria,” Dunbar
continued to probe, “did you ever know Raym to own guns?”

“A Koffee without
guns!  Are you kidding?  Between him and his father they must have hundreds. 
Of course, most of those are antiques handed down through the family from the early
days.  Raym’s father has an entire wall full of them in that old log house at
the ranch.”

“Any twenty-two’s?” 
Dunbar wasn’t sure what knowing this would prove.  Anyone who owned a lot of
guns most likely had one or two of those.  They were common.  But it may serve
to jog loose other memories about Raym that may be stowed away somewhere in
that pretty little head of hers.

“I wouldn’t know a
twenty-two from a BB gun.”  Gloria shrugged.

“I take it from that
you’ve never fired a gun, either?”

“No.  Never.  Guns
frighten me.”

That’s when Dunbar
focused his attention on Martina.  “How about you, Miss Spalding?  Any
experience with…”

“Yes.  A little.”  She
purposely downplayed her true ability, fearing if Dunbar knew how expert she
was, he may somehow think differently of her.  Not that he didn’t already think
her a tomboy, for the job she’d done on the John Doe.  “What are you
suggesting, Lieutenant… that we arm ourselves?”

“Frankly, no.  A gun in
the hands of a novice most often does more harm than good.”

“So we’re to go naked
to the dance… so to speak?  Is that it, Lieutenant?” Martina said, without even
the trace of a smile.  No way would she fess up to having a semi-automatic
pistol in the purse, right there beside her.

“My suggestion is you
stay indoors… during nighttime hours, at least.  Lock your door securely… and
keep the phone handy.  I’ve already put in a request patrols be increased in
this area.”

Just then, a clap of
thunder sounded from outside and soon it began to pour down rain.  So much for
the beautiful day it started off to be this morning.  Marti glanced out the
window.  But no matter how gloomy she felt because of it, she vowed not to
allow herself, ever again, to sink to the miserable lows of earlier, when she’d
unburdened herself for near a half hour in the shower.

When they gathered at
the door of the diner sometime later to make a run through the rain for the
patrol car, Dunbar gallantly removed his jacket and allowed the ladies to
huddle under it.  He then ran ahead of them and had the door open when they
arrived.  He did likewise at the apartment building and followed them inside.

“You coming up,
Lieutenant?” Gloria said as she handed his wet jacket back.

“No, but I would like a
word with Miss Spalding before I go.”

“Oh… Okay.”  She looked
at the two of them strangely, before turning away to the stairs and heading on
up.

Once she was out of
sight, Dunbar guided Marti to the dead space behind the stairs.  There he
lifted a pants leg and unsnapped a leather holster from above the ankle.  He
then pulled the small pistol from it and handed it over to her.  It was similar
in size to the one she already had, except this one was made especially by
Beretta for just what Dunbar used it for: a backup.

Marti expertly popped
the clip out to check for bullets, then slid open the chamber to check for a
cartridge there.  It was something her father insisted she do, as a safety
precaution each time she handled a weapon.  She then popped the empty chamber
closed and reinserted the loaded clip.

“I can see right now I
don’t need to give you any instruction.  But why am I surprised?”  He glared at
her.

Not knowing what to
say, she simply handed the gun back to him.  Dunbar in turn reinserted the
pistol into the holster and handed it over, leg straps and all.

“Now you won’t be naked
at the dance,” he said, with the twinkle of a smile.  “I hope you don’t need to
use it.  But if you do, you didn’t get that from me.  Understand?”

“Thanks, Lieutenant.” 
She shoved the gun into her purse in such a way as not to expose the one
already there and turned back for the stairs.

“You bet.”  He watched
her go up a half flight, then pulled down on the brim of his hat, put on his
wet jacket, and headed for the door, hoping he’d done the right thing.

In the apartment, Marti
found Gloria anxious to know what Dunbar was keeping from her.  “I suppose he
thinks I’m seriously deranged for sticking with Raym as long as I did.  What
did he say?”

“Actually, he didn’t
say anything about you.  But he cares.  He’s worried for your safety.”

“How do you know that,
if he didn’t say anything?”

“Because he gave me
this,” Marti said, and pulled the gun from her purse.  “Come on, I’ll show you
how to use it.”

“Oh!  No!”  Gloria
tossed up her hands and moved away.  “Don’t even come near me with that thing!”

“Do you want to end up
like Parker?  Or even worse?”