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The next morning, Gil called Lili. She said, “Gil, I think we should take a break from each other. How can I ever compete with your love of aquatic creatures?”
“Ha, ha. I guess that was my fifteen minutes of fame.”
“Did you get hurt? Did that big fish have teeth?”
“That big fish was a cobia. They just have small teeth. It was really good grilled, but I think they’re high in mercury, so I may get taller or shorter as the temperature changes. I’m packing up today. I plan to leave really early tomorrow to avoid the traffic on I-75.”
“Well, hopefully by the time you get to your house, I’ll be back at mine.”
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MARTHA’S DOORBELL RANG. She answered the door and found Officer Childs with a young woman. She motioned for them to come in.
“This is Keysha Spinks, a forensic locksmith out of Boston. She’s going to take a look at your door-locks to see if they were tampered with.”
“How interesting. A forensic locksmith. And a girl, too,” Martha wrote.
Keysha smiled and asked, “When the break-in occurred, was the deadbolt locked, or just the doorknob?”
Martha wrote, “Oh, I guess just the doorknob. I only lock the other one before I go to bed.” Keysha nodded.
They started with the front door. Keysha set up her equipment on the floor. She quickly disassembled the knob lock and took the inner workings apart. She put high-powered magnifying glasses on and examined the different pieces. Then she re-assembled them. She gathered her equipment and Officer Childs showed her to the back door. After a few minutes, the pair of them went down to the cellar to check that door.
“So, how are you feeling today, Martha?” asked Lili.
She wrote, “I guess I don’t feel so afraid today. I don’t know if that makes any sense because nothing has changed yet. I felt better that you were here last night.”
“Well, I can’t stay here forever. Let’s see what the locksmith has to say, then I’ll go speak with the Police Chief and you can decide what to do. Is it possible for you to stay with Barbara for a while?”
She wrote, “I’m sure she’d let me. I’ll have to think about that.”
Officer Childs came back with the locksmith. Keysha said, “The lock on the door in the cellar was picked recently. That’s probably how the perpetrator got in. The lock down there isn’t very good. Your deadbolts are pretty good on the front and back doors, but you don’t use them when you leave because it’s a hassle. Knob locks are not very secure. What I recommend is that I put a combination lock on the front deadbolt, and eliminate the knob lock. On the back door, I’ll put a more secure deadbolt on and eliminate the knob lock. On the cellar door, I’ll put a secure deadbolt. This way, you’ll lock the back door and the cellar door using deadbolts from inside the house. Then you’ll lock and unlock the front door using the electronic combination lock. It will be battery powered. The contract I have with police is to provide these locks for only wholesale and installation costs. I’ll do the whole job for $375.”
Martha looked at Lili. “That sounds like a good deal,” said Lili. “Now I’m thinking about my locks at home.”
Martha wrote, “Thank you Keysha. Please install the new locks. Will you show me how to use them?”
“Yes Ma’am. It’ll only take me about an hour.”
Officer Childs said, “Thank you Keysha. Ms. Eames, I’ve checked your window locks and they’re pretty good. If you decide to install a security system, call me and I’ll recommend some contractors for you.”
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LILI DROVE TO THE PORTSMOUTH Police Department. It was located in a scenic area near a saltwater pond. Detective Berniski escorted her into the Chief’s office. “Agent D’Amico, this is Chief Voorhees.”
They shook hands and Lili said, “I’m here as a civilian, so please call me Lili.” The Chief indicated that they should sit.
“So Lili, how did the Massachusetts State Police get involved in this?”
“Well, this year I started working part-time so I could spend the winter in Florida with my boyfriend. Martha was staying in the unit directly above me. We heard her being attacked, so I got my gun and shot the guy. He’s dead. Martha had been strangled by him and was barely alive. When she got out of the hospital, I volunteered to escort her to Portsmouth. She still can’t speak yet, so soon after her surgery. And, she doesn’t have any family.”
“You ever shoot anyone before?”
“No, but I don’t feel bad about it. Martha would have been dead in a few seconds if I didn’t shoot him.”
“Any idea what’s going on?”
“No, none at all. Martha’s just a long-retired woman who doesn’t do very much, from what I can tell. I only met her in January.”
“Well Jim, what do you think we should do?” asked Chief Vorhees.
“I think Ms. Eames may still be in danger, so we should guard her house until she has a security system installed. We should probably pay for it because it‘ll save us money. I also think we need to call in the FBI since the break-in is probably connected to her attempted murder in Florida. In the mean time, I’ll call this Detective, um, Arias in Florida and fill him in.”
“Lili, what do you think we should do?” asked the Chief.
“I think we should do what Detective Berniski says. I’ll stay long enough to talk to the FBI, then I’ll go back home to Northampton, Mass.”
“Sounds like a plan. Jim, you get the guards and the security system arranged. I’ll call the FBI. Nice to meet you, Lili.”
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CARRICK WAS PERCHED high up in a big maple tree, watching Martha Eames’s house which was across the street. Cloudy skies were making the evening sky dark, but there was a street light nearby, making him a little more detectable. This was his initial watch, so he didn’t bring his rifle. It was easy to identify his target because she had a bandage around her neck. There was a police officer stationed on the front porch, and another in the backyard. There was a middle-aged woman in the house with the target, maybe her daughter. He used a laser range-finder and measured his distance to target as 476 yards. No problem.
The fact that the police were on alert would make Carrick’s job riskier. He decided just to observe this evening, then come back in a few days. The police won’t hang around for very long, he figured.