Chapter 11: Murder In Harmony
Chapter 11:
Sheridan swung the bathroom door open quickly and she held her carelessly draped towel with one hand as she grabbed the ringing phone with the other.
“Hello.”
“Sheridan it’s Ethan. We have a problem.”
“What is it? What happened?”
“I just got a call from the DA’s office in Boston. The kidnapping charges against Luis have been reinstated.”
“What! How the hell did that happen?”
“My guess is that father and grandfather did it to cause problems for you and Luis.”
“Ugh, I’m going to kill them,” Sheridan yelled.
“You didn’t really expect them to just accept you and Luis without a fight did you.”
“No, I suppose not, but I was hoping. Does Luis know yet?”
“I don’t think so. As far as I know this whole thing just got started about half an hour ago. So I’m sure they’re still dealing with paperwork and technicalities before they do anything. Luckily I know someone who works up there and when he heard your name he gave me a call. So what do you want me to do?”
“Nothing. I’m going to take care of this myself. I want you to call the District Attorney up in Boston and tell him not to do anything until I get there to talk to him. And when I get back I’ll deal with Julian and Father.” Sheridan hung up the phone. She dressed quickly jumped in her car and headed for Boston.
That afternoon Sheridan was driving back home, thinking about what happened in Boston. She had marched into the DA’s office and demanded that the charges against Luis be dropped. When they pompous DA started talking about how ‘Mr. Crane’ had insisted that Luis be punished for his crime Sheridan proceeded to inform him that she would not cooperate in any way.
She told him that if forced to testify she would tell the jury that they had merely been having a lovers spat and he was only doing what was best for her and had saved her life many times, before, during, and after that incident. And, Sheridan had continued politely yet with a threat firmly implied, that if the charges against Luis were not dropped that she had every intention of informing the press that she didn’t want Luis prosecuted and that perhaps the only reason the charges had been reinstated was because her father may have made a hefty contribution to the DA’s campaign fund. With the threat hanging heavily in the air Sheridan slammed the door behind her and had headed back to Harmony.
Sheridan was snapped from her thoughts by the sound of sirens and flashing lights coming from the car behind her. “Ugh,” Sheridan groaned as she pulled over, but then a smile crept onto her lips and she rolled down the window and waited for the officer to walk up to the car.
“License and registration please.”
Sheridan snapped her head up at the sound of an unfamiliar voice to look at the officer.
“Oh hi Miss Crane, I didn’t realize that was you,” the officer said, “is everything ok? You look a bit startled.”
“I’m sorry. You’re Dave aren’t you? I think we met at the Policeman’s Ball.”
The officer nodded in agreement and Sheridan continued. “I was just surprised to see you because when you pulled me over I guess I was expecting to see someone else.”
“Oh, well Luis doesn’t do traffic stops anymore. Detectives just go out on all the big stuff like murders and robberies, things like that.”
“Of course. So officer what did I do? Have I committed a crime worthy of another arrest by one of Harmony’s finest?”
“You were just speeding,” the officer chuckled.
“Are you sure, I thought I was only doing 45?”
“You were doing 45, but the speed limit dropped to 35 about five miles back.”
“Really? I didn’t notice the sign. I thought it was 45 all the way back into town.”
“They just changed it a few weeks ago. A lot of people haven’t noticed it. That’s why I’m stopping people, to make sure they know. As long as you were obeying the old speed limit you only get a warning, not a ticket.”
“That’s good. If I get a speeding ticket Luis will never let me hear the end of it. I had no idea they changed the limit, I haven’t been out here for a while. Up until a couple of weeks ago Luis had me under house arrest, so I couldn’t go anywhere.”
“If you don’t mind me saying so Miss Crane, Luis is a lucky man. All the rest of us at the station are jealous. We all keep hoping that one of these days one of the speeders we pull over is going to be the woman of our dreams, just like what happened to Luis when he pulled you over.”
Sheridan laughed. “Tell you what, I’ll tell all the single women I know to speed by here and maybe one of them will be your dream girl.”
“Well, I’m sorry I detained you ma’am.”
“It’s ok Dave. I n fact, I’m glad you did. I am in very foul mood today and I needed a little distraction. The longer I drove in this car, the angrier I got.”
“If you don’t mind my asking, where did you go all the way out here. The only thing out this way is the highway.”
“I’m on my way back from Boston. I just gave the District Attorney there a piece of my mind and now I’m on my way home to let my brother have it.”
“Ooo. I caught a couple of your blowouts with Luis before you two finally got together. I almost feel sorry for your brother except, well, I don’t like him.”
“That’s ok, nobody likes my brother, not even me.”
“Well, I better let you get going.”
“Bye.” Sheridan pulled out and started driving towards the mansion and by the time she got there her fury was back in full swing.
Luis stepped out of his office to get a fresh cup of coffee and found Ethan and Sam talking by the coffee machine. “Hey guys, what’s up?”
“We just finished a police board meeting,” Sam answered.
“Yeah, and I better get going,” Ethan replied. “I’m supposed to pick up Kay in half an hour. I’m taking her to the club to teach her how to play racquetball and then have dinner.”
“Hey Luis,” Dave interrupted, “I saw your gorgeous girlfriend a little while ago.”
“Oh yeah, where?”
“Out on route four. I pulled her over for speeding where we put up a new speed limit sign is up. It was just a warning though.”
“I wonder what she was doing out there?” Luis said.
“She said something about yelling at the District Attorney in Boston,” the officer answered.
“Boston? She didn’t say anything to me about going to Boston.”
“It was a last minute thing,” Ethan said.
“Why did she go to Boston? Why’d she need to see the District Attorney?” Luis asked.
Ethan let out a frustrated sigh. “Father and Grandfather had the kidnapping charges against you reinstated this morning. Sheridan insisted on taking care if it herself.”
“We should have been expecting this Luis,” Sam said, “Julian warned you that if you didn’t stay away from Sheridan he’d have you thrown back in jail.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it too much. I’m sure Sheridan will take care if everything. And even if she can’t, then I’ll get you off,” Ethan offered. Ethan’s cell phone rang in his pocket. “Hello.”
“Hi Ethan, it’s Kay.”
“Oh hi Kay, I was just about to leave to pick you up.”
“I called cause something just happened here. I was in the living room and Sheridan stormed in the front door screaming for Julian. Then she went into his study and slammed the door behind her. She was yelling at him but I couldn’t hear what she was saying and then I heard glass breaking. A few minutes later she came out of the study and left.”
“Did father come out of his study?”
“No, but I heard him yelling. I think he was talking to your grandfather over that stupid speaker phone,” Kay said.
“Listen, I want you to go upstairs and watch TV in your room or something. Father’s bound to be angry and I don’t want him to see you and yell at you because of Sheridan. I’ll be home to pick you up and we’ll leave for the club.”
“Ok. Bye.” Ethan hung up the phone.
“What’s going on with Kay? Is something wrong?” Sam asked. “Kay is fine. She called to tell me that Sheridan just had it out with my father. And, from the sound of it Sheridan won,” Ethan answered, “well, I’d better go, see you later.”
“Yeah, I’m going to finish up my report so I can head home and find out what happened,” Luis said and he disappeared back into his office.
When Luis got home from work he wandered through the house until he found Sheridan in the kitchen making herself a cup of tea.
“Is that tea to help calm you down after your big blowout with Julian?”
Sheridan almost dropped her teacup. “Luis, I didn’t hear you come in. How’d you know about Julian?”
“Kay heard you and she called Ethan while he was at the station after the police board meeting. He told me about the kidnapping charges.”
“I’m sorry Luis, but I took care of it. The charges will be dropped and they won’t be brought again, I won’t let them.”
“Do you really think that Julian and Alistair are going to let it go just like that?” Luis questioned.
“I’m not saying that they won’t interfere with us again. But as far as the kidnapping charges are concerned, they won’t even be discussed again. I scared Julian so bad that he dropped his decanter of brandy and it shattered.”
“Exactly what did you say to Julian that got him so freaked out. I can’t imagine him letting go of his liquor for anything.”
Sheridan sat her tea on the counter, stepped up to Luis, and wrapped her arms around his neck. She looked up into his face with a mischievous grin on her face. “I just told him that if he insisted on having those kidnapping charges pressed against you that we would run off to Vegas and get married. Then there would be no way they could make me testify against you.”
Luis put his hands at Sheridan’s waist and slipped his fingers under her sweater onto her back. “I’m starting to think those kidnapping charges might not be so bad after all.”
“Oh really.”
“Yes, really.” Luis leaned his lips down to hers and kissed her intensely and Sheridan let her fingers play in his thick hair.
Luis pulled back to take a breath. “I heard you were a bad girl today, got pulled over for speeding,” Luis grinned.
“At least I didn’t try to out run him,” Sheridan laughed, “besides, it was just a warning and I wasn’t doing it intentionally.”
“Speeding is speeding baby. I thought you would have learned your lesson already. Am I going to have to arrest you again?” Luis said with a wink.
Sheridan slid her hands down from Luis’ neck to the back of his waist and she unhooked the handcuffs from his belt. She dangled them enticingly from one finger in front of Luis. “Go ahead, slap the cuffs on. But,” Sheridan continued in a sexy whisper, “I think it would be much more fun if you kept me here under house arrest instead of taking me down to the station.”
Luis’ mouth dropped open slightly and then formed into a grin. “Really? Are you trying to bribe me Miss Crane?” “Absolutely detective.” Sheridan put one of the handcuffs on her wrist and stepped up to Luis pressing her body firmly against his and began slowly unbuttoning his shirt. “And what I have in mind, you definitely won’t be able to resist.”
To Be Continued…