The Takedown

This scene is from chapter twenty-nine of Twisted Stitches. In this scene, Eric reluctantly picks up Megan so she can ride along while a team of police officers takes down a murder suspect. Megan is thrilled about seeing the take down firsthand, but Eric is less thrilled and worried about her safety.

First, is the scene as it appears in the book, from Megan’s point of view. The scene, rewritten from Eric’s point of view follows.

Megan’s point of view

“Are you sure you don’t mind if I leave my car in your driveway? I can park on the street.” I put the giant SUV in park and unbuckle my seatbelt. 

“No! Park here. That way I’ll know when you come back to pick it up, and I can ask you what happened.” 

“Deal,” I say, turning off the engine. “He’s here.” In the rearview, I see Eric’s car pull up across the bottom of the driveway. “Stay there, I’ll help you down.”  

I unplug my phone, grab my tote, and dismount the vehicle. I open the passenger side door and take Rita’s hand as she carefully steps down.

“Hello, detective!” Rita waves as she approaches Eric’s car. 

He lowers the passenger side window. “Hi, Ms. McConnell.” Eric waves then reaches into his back seat and extends a Kevlar vest toward the open passenger side window. “Put this on,” he says. 

I step forward and take the bullet-proof vest from him. Rita holds my tote while I slip the vest over my dress and fasten the Velcro straps. 

“You’ve done that before,” she observes, handing my bag back to me. 

“I had lessons this morning before I left for brunch,” I reply. 

I get in the car and buckle my seatbelt. 

“Ready?” Eric asks. 

I nod. 

“Good luck! Be careful!” Rita waves as we pull away from her driveway. 

“Did you tell her anything?”

“No,” I assure him. “She figured out the phone call was part of a setup. I denied it, but she didn’t believe me.” 

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into bringing you along.” 

I get to watch the takedown. I negotiated it with Eric and Darby when we met last night to go over the plan. Eric was adamant that I shouldn’t be there, but Darby was more open to compromise. I have to wear a vest and stay in the car. I can live with that. Darby has a lot of influence because this is happening in Harmony Hills, his jurisdiction. If it were happening in Harmony Lake, Eric’s jurisdiction, I wouldn’t be in the car right now. 

“I was wrong about Wayne embezzling the money,” I say. 

“Who do you think it was?” 

I tell him my theory. We have the same suspect in mind, but for different reasons. In a few minutes, we should know for sure. 

“Two on the move,” Eric says. He has an earpiece to communicate with the other cops. “Not including Rita. She’s still at home where you left her.” 

“So, it’s narrowed down to two,” I say. 

We’re convinced the killer buried the murder weapon at Princess Diana Park. Unfortunately, all the suspects had access to the park and proximity to it around the time other-Meaghan was killed and the murder weapon was disposed of. Since digging up a 400-acre botanical garden isn’t a practical option, Eric and Darby are hoping to trick the murderer into leading them to the weapon. The fake phone conversation between Eric and me at the memorial gathering was to make the murderer—or murderers—believe someone who saw them hide the murder weapon has come forward. We want the murderer to believe they have one hour to retrieve the weapon before the witness leads the police to it. I left immediately after the staged phone call, and police are following the four suspects hoping that one of them leads to the murder weapon. 

We pull into a busy parking lot in a strip plaza near Princess Diana Park and wait. If we get to the park before the murderer, and they see a police presence when they arrive, it will spook them. There are already police there disguised as groundskeepers and civilians, but no uniformed officers and no patrol cars. 

In the event the murder weapon isn’t at Princess Diana Park, each suspect is being followed. If they lead their police officer to a different location, their police officer can communicate with the rest of the team, so everyone can get to the other location or split up if two suspects go to two different locations. 

“Another suspect is grocery shopping,” Eric says. “At Shop’n’Save.” 

“There’s only one suspect still in motion?”

He nods. “And they’re heading in the direction of PDP.” 

PDP is Princess Diana Park. 

After a few minutes of anxious waiting—anxious for me, Eric is cool, calm, and collected because chasing bad guys is his happy place—he says something into his microphone and puts the car in gear. Here we go. 

“Stay. In. The. Car,” he reminds me as we approach the gates to the park. 

“I already promised I will,” I reply. 

“You’ve never stayed in the car. Ever. Today, I really need you to stay in the car.” 

“I will. You don’t have to worry.”

Eric’s point of view

“Hello, detective!” Rita McConnell waves as she approaches my car. 

I lower the passenger side window. “Hi, Ms. McConnell.” I wave before I reach into the back seat and extend a Kevlar vest toward the passenger side window. “Put this on,” I say, looking at Megan. 

Megan takes the bullet-proof vest and hands her bag to Rita while she puts it on.  

“You’ve done this before,” Rita says to Megan, giving her bag back.  

Darn right she’s done this before! I made her try on the vest at least half a dozen times this morning to make sure it fit and she knew how to fasten it properly.  

“I had lessons this morning before I left for brunch,” Megan replies. 

She gets in the car and buckles her seatbelt. 

“Ready?” I ask, trying to hide my anxiety. I’m not comfortable bringing Megan to a takedown. 

She nods and smiles. 

“Good luck! Be careful!” Rita waves as we pull away from her driveway. 

“Did you tell her anything?” I ask. 

“No,” Megan assures me. “She figured out the phone call was part of a setup. I denied it, but she didn’t believe me.” 

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into bringing you along.” 

In exchange for her assistance with Operation Twisted Stitches, Megan convinced Darby to let her watch the takedown. This is against my better judgement, but it was two against one. I was adamant she shouldn’t be there, but Darby was more open to compromise. Easy for him, Megan’s not his girlfriend. 

She has to wear a vest and stay in the car. This takedown is happening in Harmony Hills, Darby’s jurisdiction, so I don’t have the final say. I have to cooperate with the HHPD. If this were going down in Harmony Lake, my jurisdiction, Megan wouldn’t be here. She’d be safely situated at home in Harmony Lake, with her security system turned on.  

“I was wrong about Wayne embezzling the money,” she says. 

“Who do you think it was?” 

Megan tells me her theory. We like the same suspect, but for different reasons. Soon, we’ll know for sure if we’re right. 

“Two on the move,” I inform her. I get updates from the team through my earpiece. “Not including Rita. She’s still at home where you left her.” 

“So, it’s narrowed down to two,” she says, smiling at me. 

We’re convinced the killer buried the murder weapon at Princess Diana Park. Unfortunately, all the suspects had access to the park and were in proximity to it when the the murder weapon was disposed of. Since digging up a 400-acre botanical garden isn’t practical, Darby and I devised a plan to trick the murderer into leading us to the weapon. 

The fake phone conversation between Megan and me at the memorial gathering was to trick the murderer—or murderers—into believing someone saw them hide the murder weapon and has since come forward. The murderer thinks they have one hour to retrieve the weapon before the witness leads us to it. 

For her safely, Megan left the memorial as soon as we ended our fake call. Cops are tailing each suspect. At least one of them should lead to us to the murder weapon. 

We pull into a busy strip plaza near the park and wait. If we get to the park before the murderer, the police presence will spook them. Undercover police are positioned at the park disguised as groundskeepers and civilians, but no uniformed officers and no patrol cars. 

In the event the murder weapon isn’t at Princess Diana Park, each suspect is being followed. If they lead their police officer to a different location, their police officer will alert the rest of the team, and we’ll rush to the other location, or split up if two suspects go to two different locations. 

“Another suspect is grocery shopping,” I update her.  “At Shop’n’Save.” 

“There’s only one suspect still in motion?”

I nod. “And they’re travelling in the direction of PDP.” 

PDP is Princess Diana Park. 

After a few minutes of waiting and pretending to be calm, I get the word. I pull out of the parking lot and steer us toward the park.  

“Stay. In. The. Car,” I remind her, trying to sound authoritative.  

“I already promised I will,” she replies, aloof and unworried about her safety. 

Why am I always more concerned than Megan about her safety?

“You’ve never stayed in the car. Ever. Today, I really need you to stay in the car.” I try to sound commanding, but the pleading undertone in my voice betrays my concern. 

“I will. You don’t have to worry,” she assures me. 

Are you ready for the next Knitorious Murder Mystery? You can find Son of a Stitch: A Knitorious Murder Mystery book 5 here.