62
Laurie was in the middle of a sentence with her father when they heard the roar of Brenner’s engine. The black sedan hopped over the barrier and plowed onto the field.
“Call 911!” Leo shouted as he raced the car around the trees and sped onto the field. They watched helplessly as Brenner’s car accelerated toward the backstop fence behind home plate.
• • •
I can still get away, Leigh Ann thought. Her shoulders ached from the effort of reaching down to retrieve the gun. She tried to think clearly. I have my car. Maybe I can leave before anybody comes. Nobody knows I was here. If they find out, everyone will believe me when I say I did it in self-defense.
Brenner moaned as he opened his eyes and tried to shift his body. Pointing the gun at his heart, Leigh Ann said, “Say hi to Martin for me.”
As her finger began to put pressure on the trigger, a voice from behind her barked, “NYPD. Freeze. Drop the gun. Let me see your hands.”
Leigh Ann turned her head and saw Leo in a firing position, his gun pointed at her head.
“I’m Leigh Ann Longfellow—” she said as she let the gun slip to the floor.
“I don’t care who you are,” Leo barked. “Keep your hands where I can see them.”
Leo gestured to Laurie, who opened the passenger-side door. She picked up the gun.
With his gun still trained on Leigh Ann, Leo said, “Get out of the car and sit on the ground with your hands up.”
As Leigh Ann complied, Leo glanced back and forth between her and Brenner, who was regaining consciousness.
“I’m not armed,” Brenner said.
“Keep your hands where I can see them,” Leo ordered as Laurie opened the driver’s-side door. Brenner pulled himself out and walked unsteadily toward Leo. He sat down in the grass a few feet away from Leigh Ann.
Leigh Ann began shouting at Leo and Laurie, “Who the hell are you? Do you know who I am? Do you have any idea who my husband is? He’s Senator Daniel Longfellow. When my husband, the senator, finds out what you’re doing to me right now, you won’t have a job tomorrow.”
She gestured at Brenner. “He tried to kill me. He was holding me at gunpoint. He killed Martin Bell and has been blackmailing me. He just tried to kidnap me. Don’t just stand there like an idiot. Do something!”
Brenner’s hand reached for his jacket pocket, and Leo quickly shifted the gun toward him. “I said, keep ’em in the air. What were you reaching for?” Leo demanded.
“You’ll see. Get it yourself if you don’t believe me.” With his hand still in the air, Brenner used his index finger to point to the pocket of his jacket.
Laurie looked toward Leo, who nodded his approval. She approached Brenner cautiously, slipping her hand into the pocket he’d indicated. She pulled out the same small digital recorder he’d had with him at Cooper Union. The red light was on.
“I’ve got her whole story on tape,” Brenner said with a sly smile. “That’s got to be worth something to the district attorney, don’t you think?”
Brenner turned to Leigh Ann, who was glaring at him from her seated position. Smiling, he said, “I’ll see you in thirty years if you’re out by then. Oh, and give my best to the senator.”
• • •
At the sound of the first siren, the driver of the white SUV started his engine and pulled forward. He would find a place to wait near the park exit, away from the police activity that was certainly going to follow the sounds of gunfire on Randall’s Island.
He assumed she’d be leaving in that same little BMW. She wouldn’t be able to get off the island without passing him on her way out.