Kisses Are Like Bullets

Chapter 7

"The two dead men in that room were federal agents," I told the officers the truth before lying to them. "I knew those two men personally," I said before going back to telling the truth. "Another federal agent by the name of Phil Johnson said he will be here in ten minutes."

"Wait, The Feds are in on this too?" The short cop asked.

Instead of going into details about it, I answered his question with a simple, "Yes!"

Phil arrived approximately ten minutes after he said he would. He gave the officers an in-depth story about Andrew and Lenny.

One of the backup officers, a bald-headed big-nosed brute with jelly-jar thick glasses, doubted Phil.

My retired companion shot him down quick. "Excuse me officer, but if you don't believe me, you can check Detective Slim's phone. You will see the only text messages between him and me were messages of me sending him my address, so we could talk more in-depth about this case in person. And, the only phone call between the two of us lasted less than a minute. So, I'd like to know exactly how it is possible he was able to search through both of the dead men's pockets, memorize all of their information, put their wallets back where he found them, call me, and tell me everything about them in under a minute. Better yet, I'd like to know exactly how I, in my old age, could and would be able to memorize everything I just vocalized about the two deceased federal agents in less than a minute?"

The officer remained silent. He had his fill of humble pie for the evening.

Another backup officer tried his luck. "We would still like the two of you to come down to the station with us for questioning."

It didn't work. Phil shot him down too. "Fine! Then, you can tell my supervisor at the FBI exactly why one of his former top agents is in a holding cell!" Phil waited for a response. He didn't get one. After a moment of silence, he continued to talk. "Two federal agents are dead. This investigation is now in the hands of The FBI. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to make a phone call. All of you are dismissed."

"Well, you heard the man," I chimed in like a little kid on a playground would after his bully buddy was done tearing into his peers.

The Lake Geneva police officers turned around and walked through the double doors of the hotel without saying a word.

Phil came back to me after he finished with his call. He had some news for me I didn't want to hear. "You're off this case too, Slim."

"What?! Why?!"

He didn't answer my questions. He only made demands. "I am going to need your cell phone. I need to know about every call and text between you and The Stealer. Where is Heather?"

Heather was the subject I wanted to talk the least about at the moment. "Kowalski shot her in the leg as she made her escape. She was taken out of here on a stretcher."

He put his hand on my shoulder, and his voice changed to a sympathetic tone. "Go be with her, Josh. She needs you now, probably more than she has ever needed you in the short time the two of you have been together. The Bureau will take care of this, and I will take care of The Stealer."

"My, my," a familiar voice said to the two of us. "That's a wonderful offer. It's been a long time since a man has taken care of me."

"Sydney," I said with excitement. "What are you doing here?"

"After you sent me a text telling me Katherine was staying at the same hotel as you, I decided to take a little road trip to this lovely Wisconsin town. I was ready to go knocking on every hotel room door in town until I heard what happened here." In her explanation, she gave us a brief rundown of everything going on outside. "There is quite a crowd out there. News reports and civilians with cell phones have swarmed around the hotel. The police are holding them back. I was able to sneak inside. I'm sure someone caught me sneaking in on their cell phone, but I don't mind."