“Do you understand your rights as I explained them to you or not?”
“Sure I do. Now, will you please let me go ask her to explain what I’m doing here?”
He closed the door and returned to the Bentley, where he and his partner stood around until another patrol car arrived. Two more uniformed policemen emerged from the second car. They spoke for a few minutes. One of them gestured toward Olivia’s apartment. I began to hope. Two of them walked across the street to Olivia’s front gate. I saw them press the button on the intercom. After a few minutes, I saw them try the gate. They came back across the street, spoke to the other two, and then came over and got in the car.
I said, “She’s in there, but I told her not to answer unless she hears my voice.”
One of them picked up the radio handset and told the dispatcher they were coming in with a prisoner in custody.
I said, “You’ve got to believe me. She’s in there. And the gate isn’t really locked. I secured it with some twist ties to slow them down.”
The patrolman in the passenger seat chuckled a little as the driver started the engine and pulled away from the curb.
“Please,” I said. “You’re making a terrible mistake.”
“Of course we are,” said the driver. “We always do.”
I looked back through the rear window. The second patrol car’s headlights came on. It pulled away from the curb, following us.
“Listen to me,” I said. “You’re going to regret this when an innocent woman is killed. Please call Sergeant Tom Harper with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. He’ll vouch for me. You can get his cell number off my phone. Please.”
“Plenty of time for you to make a call after we get to the station, buddy. Just relax.”
“They’re going to kill her.”
“Sure they are, buddy,” said the driver. “Sure they are.”
47
The handcuffs were inescapable, the patrol car’s doors were modified to open only from the outside, and the steel grill between me and the front seat was solid. I had no options, no way to save Olivia. The hopelessness was nearly overwhelming. It threatened to defeat all thought. I fought it as I had fought madness in the hospital. I had to keep my mind clear. There had to be a way.
I said, “How did you guys know where I was?”
Neither of the cops replied.
“Somebody tipped you off, right? It’s the only way you could have known. You need to stop and think about who could do that. I told you these guys have already cruised by her apartment twice tonight. They spotted me. They’re the ones who called it in. They wanted to get me out of the way. They could have come after me themselves, but they knew I’d be trouble. Think about it. They’re using you. They’re murderers, and they’re using you.”
The driver said, “I hate it when they won’t shut up.”
The passenger said, “Yeah.”
“You don’t want me to shut up. You need to listen. If you don’t, you’ll always regret it. Olivia Soto is in her apartment. She didn’t answer the intercom because I told her not to respond to anyone but me. She has taken a lot of money from these people. It’s dirty money. They want it back, and they’ll torture her to find out where it is.”
The driver said, “This one is creative.”
The passenger said nothing.
I said, “Why would I care so much about it if it wasn’t true? I’m not asking you to let me go. I’m not even asking you to turn around. Just call it in. Get another squad car over there as soon as you can. I’m not asking for me. This is about her. Please. I’m begging you.”
Neither of them said anything. The patrol car slowed and stopped at a red light at McLaughlin. I stared forward through the steel grid behind the officers, looking at the street ahead without really seeing it. I fought against the desperation. I had to stay calm. There had to be a way.
A vehicle approached the intersection on the other side. At first it didn’t register with me, but then I realized it was a black Lincoln Navigator.
“There they are!” I said. “That’s them, over there. The Navigator, like I said. Look at the mud. Look at the license plate. It’s just like I told you, 5DB. They’re going back to Olivia’s apartment. Please, you have to stop them.”
The light changed. The Navigator rolled past us. The patrol car went ahead, the two policemen saying nothing.
After we had traveled another half a block, the one in the passenger seat said, “Couldn’t hurt.”
“Oh, all right,” said the driver.
We made a fast U-turn. The passenger reached forward and flipped a switch. I saw the flashing blue and red of the squad car’s emergency lights reflected in the side windows of parked cars as we sped by. Then he lifted the radio handset and advised their dispatcher that they were about to stop a suspicious vehicle.
“Thank you,” I said. “Thank you.”
They said nothing as we caught up with the Navigator four blocks away from Olivia’s street. We pulled up very close behind it. The Navigator stopped at the curb.
“Listen,” I said. “There will be at least two of them, and they’re armed and very dangerous. Be careful.”
“Just sit there and shut up,” said the driver, getting out.
I watched through the front windshield as he and his partner approached the Navigator, one of them walking in the street and the other on the sidewalk at the passenger side. They had both unsnapped their holsters. They each moved forward slowly with one hand on their holstered sidearm and a flashlight in the other, aimed at the SUV. I kept thinking they should have drawn their weapons.
The rear passenger side door opened. I saw one person get out of the vehicle. It was a small person, maybe a woman, although I couldn’t tell for sure in the darkness. The patrolman on the sidewalk seemed alert and suspicious. The person seemed to speak to him. The patrolman seemed to relax. He took his hand off his sidearm. I heard him raise his voice. Although I couldn’t make out what he said, his partner immediately relaxed as well, also removing his hand from his weapon. The cop on the sidewalk appeared to exchange a few more words with the person standing there, then he and his partner both turned and started walking back toward the patrol car.
When they were about midway between the Navigator and their car, the two front doors of the SUV opened. Both of the policemen heard it and started to turn, but they were too slow. There were two muzzle flashes, one from each of the men who had emerged from the Navigator. Both of the cops went down. The two men from the Navigator walked forward and stood over them. One of the men, the one who had emerged from the passenger side, fired once more into the bodies of each of the fallen policemen.
They spoke to each other for a few seconds, then they both looked toward the car. I ducked behind the front seat. Since the patrolmen had closed their doors, the overhead light was off. I didn’t think the murderers had seen me, but it was possible. I raised my head a little and peeked forward past the driver’s-side headrest. One of them was walking toward the car. His gun was in his hand. I ducked again, sliding all the way down onto the floorboard between the front and rear seats, as low as I could go. The front door opened. The light above came on. I waited for the shot.
Instead, I heard a few metallic noises, and then the door closed and the light went off again. A few seconds later, I heard the Navigator engine start. I rose up to peer out through the windshield just as they drove off.
I rolled onto my back on the rear seat and began kicking at the glass in the side door. I kicked with both feet at once, slamming the glass again and again with my heels. At first it seemed unbreakable, but after a couple of minutes, a spiderweb of cracks appeared.