City Council at its Finest

When she saw how terrified Marilyn looked, Kate decided to play it straight with her. She couldn’t believe her good friend would endanger her, husband or not. She parked, and hurried toward her.

Marilyn met her halfway, and grabbed her arm before Kate could say a word, and steered her out of the park, walking fast. “Kate, you’ve got to trust me. Hurry. Let’s get out of here.” She headed for Kate’s car.

“What’s wrong with your car?” Kate asked.

“You’ve gotta drive, I’m hiding. Hurry.”

They climbed into Kate’s SUV and Marilyn, slumped down in the front seat. As Kate was backing out, a man ran into the parking lot, looking all around. She pulled on out of the parking lot, normally, and watched him in the rear-view mirror. He was writing her license number down on his hand, then started talking on his cell phone.

Kate’s patience was at an end. “Marilyn, what is going on? Who was that man? Is he after you? And if so, why?”

Marilyn straightened up, and hand shaking, lit a cigarette. “Kate, I’m scared to go home. Jim has gotten himself into something he can’t get out of and I think that guy was going to kidnap me to make Jim go through with it. They’re into drugs, big time, and I’m scared! If that guy catches me I don’t know what he’ll do.”

“Slow down. Marilyn. I want to hear everything, but first, did you happen to see what he was driving? I don’t know what to look out for. He got my license number.”

“Oh no! Now I’ve gotten you involved.”

“Yeah. You might say that. His car?”

“I…I think it was a BMW, black, uh, sedan.”

 “Well, I’m going to go a roundabout way to get to my office. Hopefully we’ll lose him. I’ll tell Jake, our guard, if anybody comes in looking around, suspiciously, to let me know.”

Kate parked in her spot and they hurried into the building. “You may have to stay with me tonight, Marilyn. And I want to hear everything. In Kate’s office, Marilyn collapsed in a chair. Kate got her a glass of water. “Now. Start at the beginning.”

“A few months ago,” Marilyn said, “Jim told me Carl called him, saying he was glad he, Jim, was in on the deal, seeing as how they were friends and Jim could be trusted. Jim told me he’d thought about it and decided even though it involved a lot of money, which we could certainly use, he didn’t want to be mixed up with them. He didn’t want to end up in jail which they very well could. But that left him in a quandry, because he knew the other council members involved, and he knew Carl had been responsible for Mildred’s death.”

“Wait a minute.” Kate said. “First, were you okay with your husband mixed up with illegal drugs and illegals coming into this country? All that was okay with you?”

“I’m not proud of it, Kate, but Jim’s business hasn’t been doing so good and we needed the money. He made it sound easy at first, but then, he said it left a bad taste in his mouth, not to mention his conscience, and he wanted out.”

Kate was impatient. “Well, that’s water under the bridge, now, so, what about Mildred? Why was she killed? Oh, and is Carl’s lawyer part of the group in on the deal?”  

“It started with Carl,” Marilyn said, “who has access to Fentanyl, brought in, as you said, by a bunch of illegals. He got his lawyer in on the deal and the lawyer got drunk one night with a friend of his on the city council and told him about it, and it spread from there. Lots of money involved. Mildred was one of them, but she decided to take her cut of the money and run. They didn’t like that. Or rather, Carl didn’t. That’s what he got so mad at her about in the restaurant.”       

Kate was pacing, thinking. “So he had her killed. Where is Jim now? He must have told them he wanted out if they’re after you.”  

Marilyn finally put her face in her hands and wept. “I know. I know. And I turned my phone off so he couldn’t … reach me  … so they couldn’t reach me. But they must have had me followed.” She looked at Kate. “I ought to try to get hold of Jim, but I’m scared to.” Then, suddenly, she said, “Would you recognize the guy who was after me? Did you get a good look at him?”   

“Yes, and I…” the phone rang. Kate answered it.  She listened, and immediately said, “Jake, call the po…” the line went dead. Kate said,  “He’s on  his way up!"                                                                                                                                    

“Oh, God, what are we going to do?”

“Go in the bathroom and lock the door. Stay away from it and call the police. Hurry!’

“But what about you?”

Kate reached in her desk drawer and pulled out her revolver and a high beam flashlight which she propped up on her desk, aiming the light at the door. She turned out all the office lights. “Go on in the bathroom and call the police, Marilyn.”

Kate moved away from her desk, and stood by a wall light switch, in the dark.

Three quick gunshots and the door crashed open.  It was Jim! He shot three more times at the light, thinking Kate was holding it.

Kate got off two shots, to his gun arm and shoulder, not wanting to kill Marlyn’s husband, though he thought he was shooting at her. Jim dropped his gun which skittered across the floor. Kate hit the light switch and, moving out of his reach, grabbed his gun. The bathroom door slowly opened.

Marilyn screamed.