An Insignificant Case

Chapter Forty-Two

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Three patrol cars followed Detectives Blaisedale and Rawls through a driving rain to Leon Golden’s estate. When they arrived at the wall that blocked access to Golden’s mansion, the detectives found the gate open.

“That can’t be good,” Rawls said.

“Agreed,” Blaisedale said before keying in the radio that connected her to the follow cars.

“Everyone, on your toes. Elin Crane is very dangerous. Do not hesitate to shoot her if you’re threatened. Remember, she has already murdered three people.”

Golden’s mansion came in sight. Sally grew uneasy.

“The last time I was here, guards were patrolling the grounds.

“I see a car parked near the front door,” Sally said. “I’m going to park here and go the rest of the way on foot. If Crane is in there, the rain may cover our approach.”

Sally signaled a halt. The other cars stopped, and the officers got out. Sally unholstered her sidearm and checked it. Then she moved toward the house with the others behind her. The front door was open, and rain was blowing in, drenching the entryway. Sally raced into the house with two officers close behind. She saw Leon Golden sprawled on the floor with a gun in his hand just as she heard an officer scream, “Runner!”

Sally ran outside, and an officer pointed toward the side of the house. When Sally rounded the corner, she saw a figure racing toward the forest that surrounded the estate. The rain was falling in sheets, and that made it hard to see if the person was a man or a woman, but Sally thought her prey looked slender enough and tall enough to be Elin Crane.

“Get her before she makes it into the trees!” Rawls shouted.

Sally ran distance to stay in shape, and she began to close the gap between herself and the fleeing figure. Then, just as she and two of the officers got close, Elin turned and fired. Sally hit the ground. When she looked up, Crane had disappeared into the woods.

Sally swore and got to her feet. She ran forward, cautious now that she knew that Crane was armed. When she reached the first line of trees, she slowed down and walked through it slowly with her gun leading the way.

She heard the officers crashing through the trees on either side. The canopy brought some relief from the downpour, but Sally was soaked when she walked into a small clearing. She turned slowly, worried that Crane could be hiding anywhere in the trees and underbrush that encircled her. When she didn’t see any movement, she edged between two trees in a line toward the last path she’d seen Crane take.

Just as Sally moved out of the clearing, an arm circled her throat, and a hard chop on her wrist knocked her gun to the ground. Seconds later, she was thrown down, and a gun barrel screwed into her temple.

“Don’t try to yell or I’ll have to hurt you,” Elin whispered. “I only shot at you so I could get into these woods, and I shot over your head. I don’t want to hurt you or any of the officers.”

“I understand why you killed Hall and Makarov,” Sally said. “We’ve seen the snuff film. Turn yourself in and we can work a deal where you get a lighter sentence.”

Crane laughed. “If I let you take me in, I’ll be facing multiple homicide charges. Those scum deserved to die for what they did to my sister and all the other girls, but I know enough law to know that I’m not going to get a slap on the wrist.

“But enough small talk. You’re going to lead me back to your car, and we’re going to drive away. When I’m safe, I’ll let you out. Help me and you’ll live.”

Elin pulled Sally to her feet and used the detective’s cuffs to secure her hands behind her back. Then she kept behind Blaisedale as she steered the detective through the woods in a circuitous route that took them onto the road behind the parked cars.

Two officers were standing near the front door, and they started to walk toward Crane and the detective.

“Ask them how Golden is doing,” Elin whispered.

“How is Golden doing?” Sally yelled.

“He’s alive. We sent for an ambulance,” one of the officers said.

“Tell them to go inside and wait for the ambulance to come,” Elin said.

Sally repeated what Crane had said. The officers, who were only too pleased to get out of the rain, went back inside Golden’s mansion.

When they reached Sally’s ride, Crane took Sally’s keys and put her in the passenger seat. Then she looped Blaisedale’s seat belt around her.

“Don’t try anything foolish and you’ll be okay,” Elin said as she drove into the night.

An ambulance was parked in front of Leon Golden’s mansion by the time Gordon Rawls and the other officers gave up the search for Elin Crane. Rawls was soaked to the skin and only too glad to get out of the rain. As soon as he entered Golden’s home, he spotted two EMTs working on Golden, who was sprawled across the floor. He was alive but leaking blood from a shattered kneecap. An officer was holding an evidence bag that contained a handgun.

Rawls talked to the EMTs, who were getting ready to put Golden on a stretcher. Then he watched as Golden was transported to the ambulance. As he looked around the entryway, it dawned on Rawls that he didn’t see his partner.

“Anyone seen Detective Blaisedale?” he asked.

“Yeah,” one of the officers said. “She and another person came out of the woods, a little before everyone else. She asked how Mr. Golden was doing. Then she told me to go inside and wait for the ambulance.”

“She was with someone else?” Rawls asked.

“Yeah. They were going to the car you drove in.”

“Was the other person a police officer?”

“It was raining hard and the other person was standing behind Detective Blaisedale, so I couldn’t see who it was.”

Rawls got an icy feeling in his gut. He walked out of the house and toward the spot where his and Blaisedale’s ride had been parked. The car was gone. Rawls raced to one of the patrol cars and put out an all-points bulletin for a stolen police car.