Passion in James County XVI
After Ann called the store, she walked across the lawn between Martin's house and hers, went inside, and began packing. She had a hard time believing all of the things that had happened that day, and were still happening. Martin had found out that Lonnie wasn't in jail, which made her feel a little better. And the fact that her neighbor believed her, and was helping her, also made her feel good.
"Maybe," she thought as she got clothes out of her dresser and put them into her suitcase, "maybe things are finally starting to change in my life. It would be nice to think I might have a chance at a normal life." Then memories, temporarily buried by her recent troubles, flashed into her mind and her mood fell. "Who am I kidding?" she told herself glumly. "I'll never have a normal life again. Not after what I did all those years ago. Someone like me doesn't deserve to be happy."
Martin got hold of Lieutenant Sonny Dawson, head of the Jamestown Police Department's detective division. Sonny was only slightly miffed that Martin had called him at home fairly late in the evening.
"You calling because you got an arson case you can't figure out, or are you just lonely?" Sonny asked.
"I'm not lonely, and I've got a real case for you," Martin told his friend. "You guys busted a kid for stealing jewelry and electronic stuff from the department store out at the mall today, didn't you?"
"Yeah," Sonny said, "I was just reading the report the uniforms turned in on that. Kid sounds like a real dope. Had the shit sitting on the front seat of his truck, right outside the damn store in the friggin' parking lot. What's that got to do with the Arson Task Force?"
"Nothing," Martin said, "but it might have something to do with blackmail, extortion, filing a false police report, theft, and maybe even stalking and rape."
"Jesus, Martin, you saying this kid did all that shit?" Sonny asked. "I told you, he don't sound like the brightest light bulb in the string. I mean, I figure he just got carried away, you know, his folks are nice people, and he don't have a prior record, not even motor vehicle stuff. You expect me to believe he's some kinda one-man crime wave?"
"Not him," Martin said, "he's one of the victims. The criminal's name is Mark Lewis."
"You been drinkin', Marty? Is that it?" Sonny said. "Lewis is the manager of the damn store. He's the one caught the kid stealing."
"Maybe he's the one set the kid up to get caught," Martin suggested.
"Yeah, right," Sonny snorted, "the goddamn store manager plants a bunch of shit on one of his stock boys. Why, just because the kid's got pimples or something? Jesus, Martin, I think you're losing it. What the hell are you getting at, anyhow?"
"Well..." Martin said, "it goes like this..." He told his friend everything Ann had told him, without mentioning her name.
"Man, that's wild, if it's true," Sonny said. "Who gave you all this information, anyhow?"
"My neighbor," Martin said. "She works at the store. She's the woman Lewis has been stalking and extorting sex from."
"You believe her?" Sonny asked.
"I see no reason not to," Martin said. "Her story sounds legit to me. And some of it sounded too real to be made up. Once you get a chance to talk with her, I think you'll see what I mean."
"OK," Sonny said, "you been at this even longer than I have. If you think she's reliable, I'll take your word for it. How do you figure to handle this? I mean, if this Lewis guy is doing all this shit, he sure as hell ain't gonna admit it to us."
"Oh, I don't know," Martin said, "if we give him a chance, he just might."
"What do you mean?" Sonny asked.
"I have an idea," Martin said. "Why don't you get hold of the P.A.'s office and see if they're interested? I'll drop by your office in the morning and tell you how I think we can get Mr. Lewis to admit his wrong-doing."
