Cat and Mouse

By Terri D. Thomas

Part 15

Harry sat on the corner of the bed staring at the leather badge case and gun now residing on the nightstand. His mind ran back over the events of the night. He could still feel the burning anger in the pit of his stomach. Despite his words to the contrary, he truly had thought Tom was smarter than what he had demonstrated that evening. It was unbelievable to him that the detective could be so callous as to endanger the occupants of the house by drawing Murdock to him.

"Far be it from me to tell you how to do your job, but don't you think you are overreacting?" Frannie's quiet voice said from behind him.

Harry was silent for a moment and then he shook his head. "He should have known better. He never should have gone out to meet Murdock alone," he finally whispered.

"I agree, but I don't think you two are thinking too clearly right now," the woman concluded.

"What do you mean?"

Frannie sighed and sat on the bed next to her husband. "This case has had you two running in circles for the past three days. First you think Murdock did it, then you don't, now. . .," she paused.

"Now, I don't know what in the hell is going on," Harry completed.

"Exactly. Tom is just as confused. I think that he was trying to get things straight by meeting with Murdock."

"He could have been killed."

"Yes, maybe, but from what I saw the man had no intentions of hurting Tom until you went outside." Harry was silent once again. Frannie continued. "Did you think about the fact that Murdock knew where Tom was in the first place?"

Harry shook his head. "He called Tom. . .," he started to explain.

"Yes, and told Tom to meet him outside," Frannie added.

Harry frowned. "Tom didn't say that."

Frannie shook her head. "That's because you didn't listen to him. You were so busy berating him for what he did that you didn't hear what he was trying to tell you."

Harry stood and walked over to the dresser, staring into the mirror at his wife's reflection. "Murdock knew where he was?"

Frannie nodded. "Yes. Apparently Murdock called Tom and told him to meet outside. So Murdock already knew Tom was at the house."

He turned to face his wife, eyes wide. "Damn it. He followed us?"

"Apparently." Frannie walked up to her husband and wrapped her arms around him from behind. "So you see, Hesch, Tom did nothing more to put us in danger. Murdock was here. . .watching us . . .waiting to meet with Tom alone."

"Why?"

Frannie shook her head. "Tom said that Murdock wanted to give him something." She turned to her husband. "What did he give Tom?"

Before Harry could respond there was the sound of a car engine starting. Harry rushed to the window and looked down in the driveway. "Damn it!" he yelled. Without saying more, Harry ran out of the bedroom and down the stairs. He threw open the front door, but was too late. The department issue sedan was already out of sight.

"He left," Harry whispered, stunned.

Frannie ran up behind her husband. "Tom's gone," she stated, knowing that her husband had already come to that conclusion.

Harry could feel his anger building up again. "I swear to God I'll have him writing parking tickets until retirement," the man growled.

Frannie pulled her husband back into the house. "Can you blame him?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Can you really blame him for leaving? You put him on suspension, Hesch, without even listening to his side. You took his badge. . ."

Harry closed his eyes. "And his gun." He felt a hard knot in his stomach. "And Murdock is out there."

Frannie picked up the phone. "You'd better be making some calls."

Harry swallowed hard. He had no desire to complete the actions he knew needed to be taken. Dialing the first number, he waited for an answer. It came on the second ring. "Dispatch, this is Lt. Samuels."

"Hi Don, it's Harry Lipschitz."

"Captain. Are you okay? We got the 911 call of shots fired after the alarm came in on your house, but didn't see anything else come across the line."

"Oh. . .yeah, everything's fine with that."

"So, what can I do for you?"

"I need you to put out an APB."

"Okay, no problem. Who are we looking for. . .the shooter?"

"No. Tom Ryan."

"What?" the man responded, clearly confused.

"Do me a favor," Harry continued with addressing the man's question. "Call over to the precinct and get the license plate of the car I checked out. He's driving that car. And have someone go to his apartment. Make sure he's not there."

"What should we do with him when we find him?"

"Call me and have him taken to the precinct."

"Sure thing, Captain. But do you mind me asking what's happened?"

"Nothing but a lot of short fuses on tempers. I just don't want him running off and doing something half-cocked."

Tom pulled the sedan to the curb. He turned on the map light and opened the file. It was a miracle that the contents hadn't been lost during the scuffle with Murdock. The folder was still sitting underneath the police issue vehicle when Tom found it.

Two documents were in the folder. He read them quickly and then reread them a second time more slowly. Sighing, he leaned his head back against the headrest. Murdock had been right. The document did make for interesting reading. Further, it convinced Tom of one thing. Jason McCarthy had killed his wife.

"Hello?" responded the sleepy voice.

"Cassy, it's Harry."

"Harry? Do you know what time it is?"

"Yes, believe me, I do," Harry responded flatly.

Cassy heard the tone of her commander's voice and knew something was wrong. "What's happened? Is it Tom?"

"Cassy, listen to me. Did Tom call you?"

"What? No. . .I called him."

"When?"

"Earlier this evening. I wanted an update on what had happened today."

"But you haven't spoken to him since?"

"No. . .why? Harry, what happened?"

Her questions were met with silence. Then she heard the older man sigh. "We had an. . .incident. . .here tonight."

"Incident? What incident?" The tone of the woman's words was growing in frustration.

"Murdock apparently called Tom and asked to meet him here. Tom went."

"What? Damn it! What was he thinking?"

Harry heard her anger and knew it matched his own from earlier. "Look, I already jumped on him for that. I need to know if he's talked to you within the last thirty minutes or so."

"No. Where is he?"

"We don't know. I. . .overreacted and he took off. I was hoping you'd know where."

"What did you do?"

"I suspended him, Cassy. I took his badge and gun."

"What!?!"

"I was furious with him. I just wanted to punish him for being so irresponsible. I didn't think that. . .," Harry started to explain.

Cassy cut in, not carrying that she was interrupting her superior. "That's not important now," she concluded. "Why did Murdock want to meet?"

"I. . .I'm not sure. He wanted to tell Tom something."

Frannie, who had been listening in on Harry's side of the conversation, suddenly interrupted. "No, Tom said that Murdock wanted to give him something."

Harry glanced at his wife. "Give? Give what?"

She closed her eyes, clearly trying to think back to her conversation with Tom. Her eyes suddenly widened as she rushed up to her husband. "A file! Tom mentioned a file!"

Cassy heard the woman's words through the phone line. "What file? What did it say?"

Harry, trying to keep the two conversations straight, ignored Cassy's question. "He didn't have a file."

"No. . .he didn't," Frannie answered. "I think he forgot about it after the shooting."

"Shooting? What shooting?" Cassy gasped from her side of the phone line.

Harry turned his attention back to Cassy's questions. "I. . .interrupted Tom's meeting with Murdock. Murdock fired at me."

"Oh God, Harry, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Tom and Murdock fought for the gun. . .Tom was pretty banged up, but he's okay."

"So Murdock gave Tom a file?"

"I'm not sure. He didn't have it on him when we brought him inside."

"I think he forgot about it," Frannie interjected. "At least until later. Then you didn't give him a chance to pursue it further."

"And now he's gone." Cassy confirmed.

"Yes." Harry's voice reflected his disappointment.

"With the file?" Cassy guessed.

Harry glanced at his wife. "Probably."

"And he's unarmed," Cassy murmured.

"Unless he had his spare on him. . .which I'm pretty sure he didn't."

"It's at his apartment," Cassy stated.

"And I have it being watched." There was silence from Cassy's end. "St. John, are you there?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. . .sorry, Harry. I was just trying to figure out what would be in the file. What would Murdock want to make sure that Tom saw?"

"He's claimed this whole time that he wasn't responsible for deaths. It has to be evidence proving him innocent."

"Or proving someone else guilty," Frannie added, hearing only her husband's side of the conversation.

Harry turned to his wife and nodded. "Yeah. . .Frannie's right."

"What did she say?"

"That it might be evidence as to who the killer is."

"And you think that Tom has the file now?"

"I think we have to operate on that assumption."

"And so Tom now knows who the killer is."

"Yeah. . .," Harry answered.

Cassy's voice dropped. "Or worse, he now knows who Murdock wants the killer to be."

"You mean that Murdock is setting him up?"

"The man's a psycho, Harry. He isn't playing with a full deck. He's using Tom to get what he wants. . .."

"And what would he want?"

Cassy didn't answer for a few seconds and when she did, the words were hard to make out. "To get back at me."

End Part 15

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