Vendetta (14 page)

                              
   CHAPTER 10

                         
         UNARMED

     There was a knock at the door to Captain Haddocks’ office. The three men, on edge, stood as Deputy Hansen entered the room.

    
“Excuse me, Detective Williams. A Ms. Butler is here looking for you. She says it’s pretty important,” Deputy Hansen added. The Deputy gestured towards a woman sitting next to his desk.

    
“Julie?” Marks heart skipped a beat.

    
“Excuse me, Officer,” Mark made his way around Deputy Hansen and went out the door towards Julie.

    
“Julie, what’s the matter? What happened?” Mark was concerned to see his friend so visibly shaken and sitting in the police station.

    
Unable to actually tell him, there was so much going through her mind, she ran to him and hugged him tight. Just seeing him made her burst into tears. How was she supposed to get this all out? She had no idea where to begin.

    
“Please, come into my office,” Captain Haddock held the door open.

    
Mark walked with Julie back into the Captains office and helped her into the chair where he was just sitting. He stood next to her, leaning back up against the wall. He was anxious to hear what she had to say.

    
Captain Haddock asked his Deputy, that they not be disturbed. He shut the door behind him.

    
With everyone listening closely, Julie began to tell them of her visit to the restaurant. She told them what she’d heard, and of her phone call to Nick. She explained how she used the claim of jealousy and rage to her advantage, to allow for time to speak with Williams. She spoke slowly, just trying to get it all out. It was very difficult for her. Haddock then asked Julie if she would agree to sign a statement, which she agreed to do, eagerly.

    
“I’ll do anything that could possibly help,” she said willingly.

    
“That was some quick thinking, Ms. Butler. You’ve done a great job,” Haddock was very patient and sympathetic with her. “Is there anything we can get you? A bottle of water perhaps-”

    
Haddock was suddenly interrupted by a swift movement and a loud crash, as the door to his office had suddenly been torn from its hinges. A flurry of activity erupted in the precinct, outside of the now opened door. Mark was desperately trying to get out of the nearest exit, knocking over anything that was in his way. Detective Williams reacted quickly and ran after him. Another Officer saw this and managed to reach out and grab Mark’s arm just as he went by his desk, but Mark skillfully twisted the man’s arm back behind him and shoved him to the ground.

    
“Mark, STOP!” Williams yelled, lunging for him. He had managed to get his arms around Mark, and hang on, using his bodies “dead weight” to keep him from going any further. Mark spun his body, flinging Williams’ to the ground.

    
“Mark, don’t do this! Please stop!” Williams pleaded. He got up and ran after him again, jumping over a table and knocking papers and supplies onto the floor. He knew where Mark was headed. He was going after Nick.

    
Yelling for help, Williams shouted to the stunned officers. “Block the entrance! Don‘t let him leave!”

    
Other police officers began to grab at Mark and he fought them off too. One by one, they didn’t stand a chance.

    
“He’s unarmed!” Williams shouted.

    
Julie watched, horrified, from behind Captain Haddock, who stood in the shattered doorway.

    
“No, he’s not Sir! He has two 9mm handguns strapped to his chest!” Deputy Hansen exclaimed.

    
Williams paused. He honestly didn’t know that. Five officers descended upon Mark.

    
“Just let me go!” he growled.

    
One of them kicked his legs out from under him as they struggled to get Mark onto his stomach. They managed to get his arms twisted behind him to handcuff him. He continued to resist as they pressed his face harder into the floor. Mark suddenly felt a shocking pain in the side of his neck, as volts of electricity pulsed through his body, temporarily paralyzing him. They stripped him of his guns.

    
Williams suddenly appeared over him, telling the officers to get up. “You got him down, now hand him over to me. Come on; get off him … NOW!”

    
Haddock tried to explain to his men what was going on.

    
“He just found out, that it might have been his friend that killed his daughter. Please, restrain him, but give him the benefit of the doubt. He‘s a grieving father,” Haddock tried to diffuse the suddenly volatile situation.

    
Marks ridged body jolted on the floor. He continued to fight, even with the effects of the second dose of the Taser coursing through him. Williams knelt down next to Mark’s head and breathlessly tried to calm him.

    
“Now is not the time for revenge. Just try to hold on to that last little bit of sanity you got. I know it‘s there somewhere. Let us bring Nick in and question him. You can trust me, okay? Stop fighting us and they’ll remove the taser.”

    
Williams tried to catch his breath and sat down on the floor. Mark stopped moving and lay still on the floor.

    
“We can’t just let you go and kill someone, even if he does deserve it. We‘ll get him, and when we do, you bet your ass, you’ll be there to see it,” Williams stayed next to him and waved off the other police officers that stood nearby. He decided to wait a moment before he would un-cuff Mark. Mark didn’t say a word.

    
Williams helped Mark, as he struggled to sit up. He looked like he was in a lot of pain. Williams removed the barbs from his neck. Marks red face was distorted, but not by the sting of the Taser. It was pure anger and turmoil. His icy glare was dark as night. Inside, the ominous betrayal that he felt burned into his very soul.

    
Mark let out a stifled roar, like a beast being gutted alive. Trying to lean over towards the waste basket, he dry heaved several times. His guts constricted and squeezed him from the inside out.

    
He clamped his eyes shut, and just like every other time he tried to close them, he saw his daughter, cold and un-breathing. Her eyes would never open again.

    
The feelings and emotions that he had pushed aside over the last 48 hours…began to surface. Tears streamed down his face as he choked back the uncontrollable sobs. He couldn’t suppress it anymore.

    
With both hands, Williams gripped Mark’s shoulders again, but this time it wasn’t to restrain his friend, it was to support him. The other officers slowly wandered to another part of the station. No one said anything. They didn‘t quite know what to say or do. They just stared at the floor…and listened, as Mark finally began to grieve. 

         
~                              

    
Detective Williams and Captain Haddock spoke quietly to each other at Williams’ desk as they cautiously watched Mark. He came out of the restroom and walked back into the Captains office.

    
A distraught Julie was standing next to the desk, her face soaked with tears. Wiping her running nose on her sleeve, she looked up at him.

    
“Mark, I‘m so sorry!” she stepped towards him, arms outstretched to embrace him. But he backed away.

    
“It’s alright, Julie,” Mark briefly held up his hand.

    
“You had no way of knowing that Nick was involved in killing Allie. I realize that, and I’m not upset with you at all,” he sounded very cold.

    
“Oh, thank God, because it’s true. If I had any idea something like that was going on, I would’ve gone straight to the cops!” Julie said sincerely. “If I could’ve saved her or protected her in any way… I would have.”

    
“Of course you would have,” Mark said nonchalantly. “I just wanted you to know that.”

    
Julie stood back, noticing his detached behavior.

    
“Oh, okay. Thank you for that,” Julie said quietly.

    
She tried to swallow the seemingly large lump in her throat. She looked at him, a bit confused as to why he was so different towards her. But she couldn’t blame him.

    
“Sorry to hear about Nick and Lucy, though. That couldn’t have been an easy thing to overhear,” Mark sat down in the seat that he had been sitting in before her arrival.

    
“I wonder how long that’s been going on,” Mark said casually.

    
She shook her head slightly and looked down at her green scarf…tugging at the frayed edges with her trembling fingers. “I don’t know… I, I have no idea,” she stuttered.

    
Julie sat down in the other chair, and suddenly felt … wounded. She turned her head and looked out the window.

    
Captain Haddock and Detective Williams came in then and began talking about the next steps of the investigation. The Police Department would continue investigating the possible poisoning of Allie, in which they now suspected Nick Butler. Julie signed her statement, and in doing so, agreed to testify against her estranged husband. She also agreed to wear a wire when she went home that night to retrieve her things. Any evidence to prove the affair between Nick and Lucy would only strengthen the connection in the pending murder charge. That would help the prosecuting attorney to prove some sort of motive. Also, it would be especially compelling evidence, in bringing in Lucy for the conspiracy charge.

    
“Nick was obviously carrying out Lucy’s wishes. That was very apparent from the conversation I overheard,” Julie said. She was trying hard to think of any other clue she may have missed.

    
Mark glared at her and said, “What, are you the good wife all of the sudden, defending him now?” he said harshly.

    
Julie looked at Mark. ”No! Of course not, Mark, I’m just telling you what I heard. Please, don‘t twist it that way,” she stared back; mortified that he would even think that.

    
Haddock cleared his throat.

    
“I’m wondering who else is behind this. We need to start thinking about whom the other person might be that Lucy mentioned to Nick. You know, “The One” that’s supposed to be arriving tomorrow and squaring up Nick,” Williams contemplated.

    
“Yeah, if only there were someone like, OH, say… A CONVICTED MURDERER, that we could point the finger at! That would narrow things down considerably, don’t you think?” Mark said sarcastically. “In fact, it would almost solve the case.”

    
Haddock wasn’t impressed. “I understand your suspicions, Mark. And they’re very believable and compelling. But right now, Vanzetti’s still in prison. We still don’t know what will happen at his appeal tomorrow. Until then, we need to be able to consider other possible suspects. There’s only one other person that we know, FOR SURE, that’s coming into town. And that’s Dom Angelo,” Haddock stated.

    
Mark hadn’t even thought about him. It was hard to suspect Dom of being capable of such betrayal. Something like this wouldn’t be happening without him knowing about it, though. “Could it be?” Mark thought.

    
“I know that he’s out of town right now, taking care of his sister, Anita,” Mark said. “And he IS supposed to be here tomorrow for Allies autopsy…” Mark trailed off.

    
“But, according to Julie,” Mark said rudely, “Lucy clearly said, ‘Just wait one more day…HE would be there…and Nick would be rewarded,’ ” Mark quoted.

     “Right, w
e’re going to assume that that means a payment of some kind. Maybe it’s a cash exchange, a payment for a job well done. That would be something Dom might likely handle, since Nick DOES work for him already,” Captain Haddock added.

    
Julie shook her head in disagreement.

    
“I don‘t know, something doesn’t make sense about Dom…I don’t really think he’d be okay with Nick and Lucy…carrying on, unless, he just doesn’t know about that part yet,” Julie shuddered.  The very thought of Nick and Lucy being together made her skin crawl.

    
“Who knows if Dom is really a part of this? At this point, I just assume everyone is involved now. If you don’t get Nick and Lucy to spill the beans on each other about who, where, when, why and how.... there’s going to be a blood feud tomorrow,” Mark said frankly.

    
This revelation shocked Williams. Julie sat stunned, staring at Mark.