5 Alive After Friday by Rod Hoisington Page A

would take place
earlier than she’d expected.
    “I know it’s late. I finished my assignment and
just checked in with Stabler. He told me to phone you...that you’d be up and
would want to speak with me.”
    “What a guy.” She assumed the chief told him what
was happening.
    “So, how do you feel?” he asked.
    “I just left an FBI interrogation, but I’m much
better since I’m talking with you.”
    “I just got home. Why aren’t you here?”
    She wasn’t in the mood to go over all of it one
more time with him. So she said, “Because I’m dead tired and must talk to
Jaworski first thing tomorrow. I thought I’d go back to my place.”
    “Sandy, I heard about the kidnapping and got a
brief rundown on what happened in the chief’s office. You’ve been through hell,
sweetheart. We won’t talk about it tonight. Just come over. I want to hold you
close to me.”
    “I can’t refuse that offer.”

Chapter Nine 
     
    A t
breakfast the next morning, Chip said very little about how Sandy had handled
herself during the ordeal and none of his comments were especially critical of
her. The big expected confrontation with him never happened. She’d never
doubted that Martin would side with her, but she thought it was great that Chip
also hadn’t come down on her. Where’d he get all that faith in her?
    It helped that he was incredibly relieved she’d
made it through the nightmare relatively unscathed. He appreciated that she
tried to protect him and would pay the money or do whatever was demanded
because she loved him. He seemed to be taking a philosophical attitude; he understood
what had gone on, what else was there to say? For better or for worse, the
money drop was a done deal, he said. No point in her beating herself over it.
    “Just don’t get personally involved in trying to
get the money back,” he made that point twice. “It’s now in the hands of the
authorities. Let them do their job.”
    She left his house and was at the Park Beach
police building, at eight that morning. As she exited the elevator on the
second floor, Judy Nagler came over and greeted her. Judy was a uniformed
police officer specializing in crime analysis and known to be sharp and serious
about her career. An excellent resource inside the department, she had helped Sandy
and Martin officially and unofficially several times in the past.
    Judy and Martin had been seeing each other. After
a few dates, they had become an item. Martin would occasionally dream about settling
down anyway and had flipped over the cute blonde almost from the start. Almost
immediately, he pictured her as a wife never as just a date. Her situation was
more complex as she was a single mom with a teenage daughter she had to
consider, before changing their lives by taking the remarriage leap. Sandy liked
her but they weren’t close. She didn’t know where Judy stood on the subject of
marriage.
    Judy said, “Sorry about your horrible episode.
Must have been terrifying.”
    Sandy thanked her for the concern.
    “Eddy’s down the hall. Go ahead and sit in his
cubicle. I’m already working on your case.” Judy turned and went back to her cubicle.
    Detective Sergeant Eddy Jaworski was a law enforcement
veteran who successfully combined a friendly demeanor with a no-nonsense
attitude. When Sandy needed something confidential, she’d go directly to him.
Hard not to like a guy who trusts you. He often worked directly under State
Attorney Mel Shapiro, frequently bypassing Eddy’s immediate superior Chief
Stabler. Mel had already told her Jaworski would be the lead detective on her kidnapping
and extortion case.
    Jaworski arrived and greeted Sandy warmly. He told
her they didn’t have any reports from CSI yet, but the M.E. was examining the
body found near the equipment building. They had taken prints and expected
something back on the victim’s ID shortly. He wanted to hear about her entire
episode from start to finish. He’d then take her written