Mistaken Malice

To my readers, please feel free to leave feedback for me so that I know that you liked my stories, what you would like to see, and perhaps maybe suggest one. Please also vote on how you liked it, every vote does count. If you'd like to read it over and over again, favorite it and come back to enjoy it like an old friend. I look forward to hearing from you...K'Anne

"If at first you don't succeed, destroy ALL evidence that you TRIED"

So she had killed a cop, so what. Alice knew though there could be serious repercussions from that. They would review tapes from the parking garage, of who came and went and ask questions. She was fairly certain from what she could see that Richard had chosen a spot that wasn't visible from the cameras for his own use. She wondered how long it would take to find his body.

She walked around her condo like a caged lion. She didn't make mistakes often and she had nothing against Richard personally but it had been almost automatic, a self-defense response. Her buckle was already soaking in bleach, removing any DNA from it. The leather had been washed even with a leather solution and she was fairly certain it contained no blood. She had wiped it off on his clothing.

But killing a cop? This was a new one for Alice. She couldn't justify this one as she had the others. That a cop was on her tail made her wonder, what else did he know about her, how long had he been investigating her, and why? Questions like this could drive you mad, she thought. But that was how Alice's mind worked; she was analyzing it from every angle. She knew she had to go to the man's office and home and see what else he had on her. She glanced out the patio window, it was still closed with the drapes across it, and it also told her she had several hours before sunset. Several hours that other cops would discover the body and search the very places she needed to. She couldn't wait for them to find something she needed to see, some evidence that would link her to his death.

She got on her computer and looked up what she could of one Richard Haggard, L.A.P.D. She was intrigued to find he wasn't an active police officer. He had been retired two years ago with honors. Apparently he had been hurt in the line of duty after some heroic deed saving a woman's life and been retired ever since. She wondered that he had been still carrying a badge though; did he use it to intimidate people? Was it for show? Some guys just couldn't give up being a cop. Shit, she had killed a cop! Even a retired one, he was still a cop, and the other cops would go nuts over it. They tended to band together at a time like that, all for one and all that.

"Hello" her cell went off.

"Hi, my friend in Florida came through, he found out why it was taking so long to get the results we were waiting for."

'We were waiting for?' she thought to herself before she answered "well?" She wasn't in the mood for word games.

"Yeah, he was some cop."

'No SHIT!' she said to herself.

He went on "but they retired him like two years ago and now he does a kind of private investigations kind of work but for real high end security, not that sleazy 'dick' work" he loved using the word 'dick.'

"Really?" she pretended amazement at 'his' find as though he had given her important information. She didn't want him tying her in with the apparent murder; it was going to be plastered over all the television stations in L.A. by tomorrow.

"Yeah, once we figured out he was using the wrong database; I helped him piece it together."

"My client will be pleased then" she planted that little tidbit in his psyche.

"There's more if you're interested" he offered, you never knew, sometimes she gave 'extra' into his account for information. He already had to wire the prick down in Miami a sizeable chunk and soon but he knew his payment would be in his account by morning after he gave his report to Alice.

"Of course" she coaxed him. She knew how to handle him. He was greedy, he wasn't stupid.

"All the information indicates he was honorably retired for helping that woman but I have friends who I remember telling me about the case. He was forced to retire or the scandal would have been horrendous. She was some high muckety muck who was bopping him and got caught in an awkward situation. She was blackmailed and he killed her blackmailer. They covered it up because he not only got shot but 'saved' her life. Her husband was 'grateful.'"

"You haven't discussed this with anyone?" she asked, knowing the answer but wanting to confirm.

"Of course not, may I ask why your investigating him?" he cringed knowing he had stepped over some invisible line with her, there went his bonus.

"No, you can't, but I will pass this information on to my client so they can decide what to do with it, I'm sure they will be 'appreciative.'" She stressed that last word knowing his greedy mind would grasp it.

"Thank you" he said relieved. He had to learn to shut his mouth sooner; she had sent him numerous 'clients' that paid very well. She had taken his retirement and these extra's and he was really set for someday when he did actually retire. He couldn't afford to offend her; he had an eye on a condo near the beach.

"If you find out anything more or remember anything more, let me know. I don't know what my client wants with him but I am sure if he does what you say he does they might want to know." She planted this in his mind, it would at least cast any doubt on the thought that she, petite little Alice, had anything to do with his death.

He smiled delighted "of course."

After getting off the phone with him she went to her computer and transferred several thousand dollars to his liquid account. He would make sure his 'friend' in Miami got paid; she didn't have to worry about that. There was a network of contacts around the country, hell around the world that would do things like this for a price.

It still didn't settle the problem of rifling through one Richard Haggard's files; she couldn't have anyone else but herself do it since it was about herself! It settled the problem of going to the police department which really hadn't been an option. He had to have an office somewhere.

Going back to her trusty computer she couldn't find a listing for an office. Apparently whatever he did as a sideline to supplement his income he kept fairly quiet so as not to affect his retirement from the force. That he used contacts and buddies to help him she had no doubt. She wondered if anyone besides Bev had been used to research her own life and activities. She would worry about that when the time came; she wasn't going to spend time in useless speculation. She decided the only way to find out anything was to go to his home. She had a hard time finding his home, probably a failsafe against anyone he had put away over the years finding him when they got out. She finally found it through archives of retired L.A.P.D; breaking into their database through a third party server so no one could trace it back to her. By the time she found he was divorced (no surprise there) and found his condo on a nice address in Venice it was dark and she gathered a few things to help her on her foray.

Dressed in dark but inconspicuous clothing, she wasn't going to wear a black mask and tight jumpsuit; it would be too obvious on her lush form. She instead chose a baggy sweatshirt she could zip up, some sweatpants with pockets, and a hat that she could put her blonde locks into if necessary. If anyone saw her they would assume she was out for a jog and she could pull that one off. She looked at her Porsche in disgust; it was a highly visible vehicle with its expensive paint and style. It was too obvious but she didn't have a second car to drive and there was no time to rent one. She shrugged, she didn't have a choice and if the place was swarming with cops, then she would just drive on by.

Marina Del Rey and Venice Beach were neighboring communities and she was quickly there despite L.A. traffic. She drove slowly around the cul-de-sac where he lived realizing there was nowhere for her to park her white Porsche. She found a park a few blocks away and got out to follow the canals back to his address, figuring out the address from the back along the walkway. Fortunately the structure of his house was distinctive. She saw no lights on; no one must live with him. She jogged past it before jogging back as she looked around for anyone who might be watching as she pretended to stretch, it was sufficiently dark that she had no problem slipping into his fenced off yard. She quickly went to a door where she slipped on tight leather gloves from her pocket and slipped on the hat to hide her bright blonde hair, the door was in shadow and she looked around several times for any prying eyes. Who would rob a cop's house anyway? They'd have to be insane! She smiled at the thought as she soon had the lock picked. Putting away her case in a back pocket she pulled out a thin mag light. There was sufficient light from the drapes being open and the street lights to let her move stealthily around the condo and get her bearings. She felt creeped out though and it wasn't because she thought anyone was there. She had felt awful since she had killed Richard, feeling without a doubt that somehow it was a mistake.

She found an extra bedroom that he obviously used as an office. She was careful not to shine her flashlight against a window or to attract any attention. The state she saw the office in though gave her pause as she thought someone had been there before her to ransack the place it was so messy. Then she realized that this Richard was a slob and she wondered at the gossip she had heard, if he had been having an affair with a married woman, then it was also possible his other habits weren't too good either. It took a little while, more than she was comfortable with to find a file marked with one word 'Blondie' to find what she was looking for. She glanced inside it once to confirm it was about her and then she tucked it into her shirt across her back, making sure nothing would fall out as she pulled up her sweat pants tightly by their string. She turned on his computer but couldn't figure out his password. She rolled a set of magnets across all access points and the sides of the unit, it was a little noisy and she knew it didn't always work but the magnets might screw up the data on the computer whatever it contained or at least corrupt it. She was nervous about the amount of time she had been here and she quickly headed out of the little office after turning off the computer again. She checked the other rooms, saw a picture of a little boy, must be his son, and another of a woman that made her eyes narrow, it wasn't his ex-wife, that was for sure. She had her arm around another man and Alice realized she knew who this woman was.

Starting to get a little jumpy, she had been in the condo too long she headed out, using the same door she had entered in to leave, locking it; she pulled it shut behind her quietly. In the shadow of the condo she removed her hat and gloves, stuffing them in her pockets as she again looked around for anyone. She saw someone way down the walk along the canal but they were far enough away that she felt confident jumping the fence and walking along before them. She walked briskly as though she was exercising doing that odd little walk that speed walkers do. She felt the file slipping into her pants further and worried about something slipping down her pants. She was ever so glad to find her Porsche where she had left it. As she took off her sweat jacket, actually sweating from her exertions, she noticed a red light out of the corner of her eye and looked up to see several police cars heading off down the street towards the cul-de-sac where Richard lived.

She waited a moment and removed the file when she was inside the tinted windows of the Porsche. Starting its powerful engine she began to move off slowly, making sure to stay within the posted speed limit. That had been a little too close for comfort.

Throwing the file on her own desk she headed to the shower to quickly clean up, stuffing her sweaty clothes in the hamper for wash day. As she was drying off she heard the doorbell and for a second her heart was in her throat. Dismissing the feeling she wrapped a towel around her hair and swung a robe around her naked body as the doorbell rang again, a little more insistently. Annoyed she pulled the door open. "Yes?" she said before she saw who it was.

"Jeez, don't you ask who it is before you answer the door?" a cute little blonde stood on her doorstep with a sassy little grin on her face.

"I just got back into town and you're already on my doorstep?" Alice answered as she let the blonde into her condo.

"Oh, where were you?" the other blonde asked curiously.

"Out" Alice returned as she began to unwind the towel from her head and rub her hair dry. She started to walk up the stairs to the bathroom to hang the towel but turned as the other blonde followed her. "Was there something you wanted?" she asked a little coldly halting her in the middle of the steps. Her glance towards her office and the file on her desk was brief.

"Can't I come and see my little sister now and then and see how she is doing?" the sassy little grin was back.

Alice sighed and shook her head "no, you don't happen to come and see me to see how I'm doing, ever" she stressed the last word.

The grin deepened "you know me so well. So where ya been?" she asked returning to the earlier subject.

"Miami, the Caymans, a few places" Alice said airily knowing her sister would keep pursuing the subject like a hound dog on a scent. Her tenacity was a little annoying sometimes.

"Wow and you didn't think of taking your poor old sister?" the pout was there.

Alice looked down from her spot on the second landing to her sister standing on the stairs "you don't look poor, I know for a fact you aren't, and old, well, you're only a few minutes older than me my dear old sister," adding the last part sarcastically.

The blonde on the steps looked down at her manicure and shrugged "but I would have enjoyed a trip to the Cayman's, even Miami has its vices" she grinned again at the innuendo...they both had enjoyed the cop show 'Miami Vice' when it had been on years ago.

"I went for personal reasons and to get away from things, why would I want my 'old' sister to tag along?"

"Meet anyone interesting?" she asked slyly.

Hmm, in a moment the thought of Sonja, Bev, and Richard flashed through her mind "interesting?" she considered for a fraction of an instant "no, not really."

"That's too bad" her sister returned as she studied the identical face above her own.

"Do you mind if I get dressed?"

"Do you mind if I help myself" her sister indicated the kitchen

"I don't know what's in there, I just got back today" she called as she headed into the bathroom to leave her towel to dry. She hurried up the stairs to her bedroom to change into jeans and a blouse not bothering with underwear and going commando. She was just in time to see her sister walking into her office.

"Hey, where you going?" she called as she came down the stairs to the second landing.

Her sister turned around to look at her and shrugged; she had an apple in her hand and was chomping on the bite she had just taken. "Thought I'd see what you were working on lately."

Alice laughed convincingly "you know I don't keep any details out where people could find them, most of it I keep in my head." She tapped on her blonde head for emphasis.

The other blonde shrugged her elegant little shoulders and turned around to head back down the stairs to the living room "why do you still have the drapes closed" she asked as she headed to open them.

"Because, like I said, I just got home today. Don't open them" she stopped her from pressing the button that would have opened both sets "its night and I don't want people looking in."

"You're such a prude" her sister returned. "You have such a great view and you don't even utilize it."

Alice sighed; dealing with her twin sometimes was a pain in the ass. "It's night, they can see right in to the place if the lights are on, I have them open during the day" she explained patiently. She sat down on her couch, pulling her feet up to sit with her legs Indian style on the couch "so what have you been up to?"

Her sister sat down across from her taking a small bite of the apple she was holding as she gestured "nothing much, I got bored, so I thought I'd see what you were up to."

Alice nearly winced as she watched juice from the apple fly around in the air, she restrained herself but barely. "Yeah, I was bored too so that's why I went out of town, why don't you go somewhere, do something?" she suggested.

"Yeah, I probably should" she answered as she took another bite and began to chomp.

Alice rolled her eyes at the indelicacy of her sister. "I don't mean to be rude but it has been a long day and I'm kind of tired."

Her sister looked at her with a sardonic look in her eye "I've seen you go 36 hours without dropping, why so tired tonight?"

Well, I flew in from Miami today, killed a guy, checked out his house; "It's been a little long of a day, you know how a flight can take it out of you" she answered with a yawn for emphasis.

Her sister nodded knowingly as she made to get up "we should go shopping tomorrow."

Alice got up as well to see her out "yeah, that sounds like a plan, call me and we will set it up."

"Beverly Center here we come" her sister smiled showing bits of apple in her pearly white teeth.

Alice grinned, her sister while her twin, was absolutely nothing like her.

Once the door was closed and locked for the night, Alice watched on a closed circuit television in her office as the nearly identical Porsche to her own drove away from the curb. She picked up the file on her desk.

Opening it she realized the first items in it were a set of press releases, the next a series of photos that had her sitting up and pulling a magnifying glass from her desk drawer to look at. There were a few reports too that had her starting to smile and then sit back in anger shaking her head. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day...

"So I told the bitch that she needed to upgrade her computer or get a better boyfriend, because one or the other was going down wrong on her and it wasn't good for her either way..." Constance was telling her about a friend as they shopped in an exclusive store.

"Clever" Alice grinned at the pun.

"She had no idea what hit her" Constance turned to a mannequin and asked Alice "what do you think of that?"

"I think if you want to be a be-bopper you would so be in with that" she indicated the youthful display.

Constance started to laugh "trust you to get to the heart of it." As they walked away from the teen display to a more 'adult' section of the store.

Alice had a good time with her sister, she was decent company, and slowly she led her conversation around to why she had consented to going shopping with her. Not that they didn't do it fairly often, but Alice did have more things to do than shop with her sister. Nothing had been on the news, yet. "So, I heard through the rumor mill about Senator Edwards..." she left off with a grin.

Constance's head came up and it almost gave her whiplash "how the hell did you hear about him?"

Alice laughed "how do you think?"

"Are you having me followed?" Constance asked in alarm.

"Of course not!" Alice returned in appropriate chagrin "you know how these things are, word gets around!"

Constance shook her head "there is no way this 'got around' how the hell did you find out?"

Alice tread carefully she had made a stab in the dark about Senator Edwards, no one but she and a dead guy knew about the file she now had. "Constance, let's just say I'm taking care of business, why don't you tell me your side of things? Hmmm?"