Electric Dreams

Paul looked up; it was the Torrie. "Wait," he was thinking, "she never gave me her number, did she?" Paul almost pulled out his phone to see if she had put her number in there without him knowing. Instead he looked across the table to see Zoe staring at him with fire in her eyes. Torrie ignored Zoe and spoke directly to Paul.

"What's a girl got to do to get a second date with you? I thought I was good enough; you seemed to enjoy yourself that night. Call me." And she left.

"You fucking asshole." Zoe said it loud enough that most every other diner in the place was watching. A number of patrons, including the couple Karin had hired, pulled out their phones to video the possible altercation. They didn't have a chance because Paul tossed two twenties on the table before quickly pulling Zoe from her chair. "Not here, let's go outside."

This turned out to be a mistake because once outside, Zoe really let loose; she was shouting. "You fucking asshole, I killed my husband for you!" The screaming continued for at least five minutes before Paul shuffled Zoe into his car and drove away.

Neither Zoe nor Paul noticed the man across the street with the high-tech camera, recording the altercation and Zoe's confession. The camera caught every word of the interchange. Karin stood next to the cameraman.

"Gotcha!" whispered only loud enough for the cameraman to hear. She walked over to the car parked at the corner. Torrie smiled at Karin. "How'd it go? Did you get what you needed?"

Karin handed Torrie two-thousand dollars. "Better than I expected, but everything I hoped. There's two-thousand there. The fifteen-hundred we agreed to and an extra five-hundred for doing such a great job."

"I hate thinking some murdering son-of-a-bitch was in me; but if it helps put two scumbags in prison, I guess I'll sleep tonight."

"Thanks again, Torrie."

"It's Janet, my name is Janet. Goodbye Karin." Torrie/Janet started her car and drove away. Once again Karin was struck by how crazy life can be; who would guess it would take a woman who sells herself to catch two killers. Karin got in her own car and drove home.

The first thing the following day, Karin called Detective Turner and made an appointment to see him in the afternoon. She spent the morning putting her notes together along with the video from last night. At two, she was sitting at Turner's desk, Turner was shaking his head.

"Captain Hutchins said you were a good detective, but I underestimated you."

"I had unlimited resources and the ability to bend the rules just a touch."

"It appears we have Zoe Miller confessing to the crime, but nothing that absolutely ties Paul Roberts to Miller's death. What do you think; can we get her to implicate him?" Karin was pleased, the way Turner said 'we' implied he was including her in the follow up.

"I think she's ready to talk; but I have a suggestion. Tell me when she's going to be picked up and what door she'll be brought into the station. Make certain she looks across the street when she gets out of your squad car."

Turner was intrigued. "Want to tell me about it?"

"Not really. Maybe someday."

Turner chuckled. "Okay. Wait here."

Turner came back ten minutes later. "We're going to pick her up now. Lt. Gleason agreed with my idea. I'd like you in the room with me when we question her. If she doesn't ask for a lawyer first."

Karin was thrilled. "Don't Miranda her or ask any questions until she gets to the station. Trust me."

By now Turner trusted Karin enough to agree. He also decided to share more news with her. "You should know, earlier this week I resigned effective in three weeks. I'm spending these weeks turning over my active cases. My brother-in-law offered me a job in his construction company. I'm hoping this saves my marriage; my wife seems happy." Turner got up from his chair, put on his jacket. "I'll be back in an hour or so with Zoe Miller; will you be ready by then with whatever you have in your bag of tricks?"

"I'll be ready, just be sure she looks across the street." Karin picked up her phone and made a call.

Turner and two patrol officers picked up Zoe from her office. They found her sitting at her workstation, she was staring into space with her phone in her hand. They led her outside and the female officer sat in the back of the patrol car as they brought her back to the police station. They parked right out front and, as instructed, Officer Simmons made certain Zoe saw the man in the Boston Red Sox cap standing across the street; just watching as Zoe exited the back of the car. Officer Simmons had to hold Zoe as she almost collapsed.

Once inside the conference room, Zoe was given her Miranda warning but she didn't ask for an attorney and seemed anxious to talk. Both Karin and Detective Turner had seen this before and, with the camera rolling, Zoe told them everything.

"Paul and I fell in love; Paul understands me and what I had to put up with living with Derek. If I complained to Derek, he'd pretend to sympathize with me, but Paul really understood, he listened." Zoe paused here to take a sip of water, Karin and Turner sat quietly and didn't interrupt. Zoe went on.

"Paul and I became intimate and I decided I couldn't live with Derek, but I also couldn't afford to divorce him, we owed too much to the bank because of that stupid, old house. Both Paul and I owed a lot of money and we were in bed one afternoon when it just hit us - why not kill Derek and get the insurance money - right?"

Turner interrupted her. "Whose idea was that? You or Paul?"

Zoe thought about it for a moment before answering. "I think it was mine; I asked Paul if he could fake a robbery and shoot Derek. Make it look random, you know."

"Why didn't you do it that way?"

"Paul thought we should make it look like an accident after I told him about all the problems we were having with the electricity in the house. I think he was too chicken shit to do it himself. He made me throw the trimmer into the tub."

"So if it was Paul's idea to electrocute Derek in the hot tub, how did he know the fuse wouldn't break the circuit?"

Zoe's eyes actually brightened as she recalled the conversation. "Paul knew about the fuse panel, I told him. He said we could make certain the fuse doesn't break with a penny in the socket. I left some clean pennies on the floor, Derek picked them up and put them in the change jar - they were the only pennies in the jar. Paul thought of that, then he used gloves to put the pennies with Derek's fingerprints into the sockets. Paul was pretty proud of himself when he came up with that plan."

"What about the outside socket; didn't that have a breaker on it?"

"Paul disabled the socket the same night he put the pennies in the fuse box. It was when Derek and I went to Hood River. Paul made certain the socket was unusable; that's why Derek used the inside socket to trim the bushes."

Zoe took another drink of water, then added, "It almost didn't work. Before I went outside, Derek had already unplugged the extension cord from the outlet. Luckily, I noticed that and plugged it back in."

"Your neighbor saw you move Derek's boots from next to the door."

"It was that stupid black bitch from next door, right? I swear she had the hots for Derek; the way I'd see her looking out her window. Damn, some people can't mind their own business."

Karin asked her first question. "What were you and Paul going to do with the two million? Were you going to split it or get married?"

Zoe was especially surprised to learn the insurance payout was two, not one million. Karin explained the double indemnity clause in the policy.

Zoe's eyes brightened. "Two million? That should really help, I'll need a good lawyer, won't I?"

Turner and Karin exchanged looks, neither wanted to be the person to tell the delusional Zoe that the insurance money wouldn't be paid out to the beneficiary if the beneficiary murdered the policy holder.

There were a few follow up questions Zoe answered. But essentially the interview was over. Turner had enough to obtain a warrant to arrest Paul Roberts. As a female officer was leading Zoe out of the room to be processed, Zoe suddenly snapped out of her fog. "Wait a minute. I don't get the money, do I? I don't get Paul and I don't get the money. My life really sucks. Son of a fucking bitch!"

Like every narcissistic/psychopath criminal; Zoe didn't give a moment's thought to the life she snuffed out, Derek never entered her mind; the only thing Zoe cared to consider was what would happen to her.

After Zoe was gone, Jack Turner turned and looked at Karin. "Want to tell me what that was about? I don't think I've ever seen a person confess like that."

"We didn't do anything illegal, as far as I'm concerned. At the same time, we probably gave Zoe Miller an incentive to clear her conscience." One day, Karin might tell Jack about the phone call Zoe received from Derek's number just before the police arrived. Even though Zoe didn't answer, it still disturbed Zoe as she looked at the number of the incoming call. Then, just as they pulled up to the police station, Zoe couldn't help but see the actor who looked and dressed like Derek, standing across the street; the fifth time Zoe had seen the man staring right through her.

"Bend, but don't break the law." Karin had promised Jack Turner.

$$$$$ -----$$$$$

Paul had spent the day out on a service call; he pulled into the parking lot and headed into the building. The first person he encountered was that busy-body gossip, Lisa Pryce. "Paul, did you hear? The cops came here two hours ago and took Zoe away."

Paul did his best to keep his shit together, but inside he was twitching like a damn bobble-head.

"Did they arrest her?"

Lisa took great pleasure in watching Paul begin to sweat. "I don't know. She wasn't in handcuffs when they walked her out. But they put her in a squad car and left."

Paul didn't know what to say, so he walked back to his workstation, locked up his instrument case, and left the building - heading to his apartment.

Paul was packing his bags when he saw two patrol cars and an unmarked car pull up in front of his building. "This is it then," he thought, "I'm going to jail and end up some Aryan or Black dude's bitch." Paul couldn't stand the thought of it and grabbed the gun he stole from his father's house, the gun he stole just in case he changed his mind about killing Zoe and that detective, he removed it from under the sofa cushion where he was hiding it.

Paul stuck the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

"Can't one fucking thing go right?" He actually screamed the words out loud.

How was Paul to know that there wasn't a bullet in the chamber? He never fired a gun in his life. He just figured you pulled the trigger. He didn't know that it was a semi-auto and he needed to pull the slide back first. When the cops finally kicked his door in and entered the apartment, Paul was sitting on the floor, the gun on the ground and Paul weeping into his hands. The cops cuffed Paul and took him away; he cried all the way to the police station.

$$$$$ -----$$$$$

There wasn't even a trial. With all the evidence against them, both Zoe Miller and Paul Roberts took the deals offered to them by the district attorney. Neither felt confident the public defenders assigned to their case would have a chance in front of a jury. The lawyers tried to have Zoe's confession thrown out, but the ADA argued that it was given voluntarily after Zoe had been given her Miranda warning and the judge agreed.

Zoe was sentenced to thirty years and Paul twenty-five. Of course, Zoe complained that it wasn't fair - why should she get more years than Paul? Zoe saw it as proof that the world was misogynistic and paternalistic. She never did apologize for murdering her husband.

As Zoe was led out of the courtroom after the judge read the sentence, she looked out at Karin sitting next to the elder Mrs. Miller. Zoe tried her best to launch a loogie at Karin and shouted, "You fucking bitch. I'd be on a beach somewhere if it wasn't for you!" Zoe's outburst actually made Karin smile as Mrs. Miller squeezed her hand and whispered in her ear, "Thank you."

One month later.

Karin Roland was sitting at her desk; trying to find the right words. Writing a decent mystery was harder than she would have thought. With all her experience as a detective, you'd think the words would just flow. She cursed softly when the phone rang. "Now what?"

It was Sal Coppolini on the line, asking if he could stop over. Talking to Sal instantly put Karin in a better mood. A guy like Sal restored her faith in humanity.

A half an hour later, Sal was sitting in the Roland's den handing her a cashier's check made out to 'Karin Roland' for one-hundred thousand dollars.

"What's this? You already paid me."

"It's half of what I received from the insurance company. You get half; hell, you probably deserve it all but I'm using the other half to start a scholarship in Derek's name. Kids from our high school can apply and receive a few thousand toward their college or trade school expenses. Mrs. Miller is going to administer it."

Karin got up and opened her desk drawer. She wrote a check and handed it to Sal. "Here's the seven grand you paid me; put it toward the scholarship. Give Mrs. Miller my love. Poor woman, losing a son like that."

"Thanks Karin. My mom and I have been able to spend time with her. Administering the scholarship will keep her occupied. I need to go back to Africa and finish the water system project I was involved with before all this. I'll probably be back in a year or so. Mom will keep in touch with her."

Sal got up and shook Karin's hand. "Thanks again. I wish we had met under better circumstances." Karin walked Sal to the door and gave him a hug.

"You take care of yourself over there. Don't take any unnecessary chances. Call me when you come home; let me know you're all right." Karin watched Sal walk to his car and drive away. She said a silent prayer he'd be okay.

The End