15 Seconds. Andrew Gross

when was the last time you were stopped by the Jacksonville police?” Martinez asked, staring into my eyes.

      Huh? I laughed a nervous, back-of-the-throat chortle. “Stopped by the police?” I uttered, my mouth completely dry. “I’ve never been stopped by the police. Listen, I don’t know what the hell’s going on, but—”

      “You’re saying you weren’t pulled over in downtown Jacksonville earlier this morning?” Martinez asked me again. “Around nine a.m. With a woman in this car?”

      I was shaken by the total seriousness in his eyes.

      “No. No! I have no idea what you’re talking about. Nine a.m. I had just gotten off a plane! You can check my itinerary. I think it’s in my briefcase in the car. Or in the rental agreement. Look, I don’t know who the hell you guys think I am, but you’ve obviously mixed me up with …”

      Martinez removed his sunglasses. “Sir, what were you doing in a federal office building in downtown Jacksonville an hour ago?”

      My heart stopped. As did just about everything inside me. I just sat, with my hands bound, realizing just how serious this was. Being stopped for a traffic violation was one thing … But having 9/11-like kinds of questions thrown at you—in cuffs; in the back of a police car …

      “Look.” I stared back, sure that my voice was shaking. “I don’t know who you think I am, or what you think I’ve done, but look in my eyes: I’m a doctor. I’m on my way to the Marriott for a medical conference at which I am delivering a speech later. I sped up through a traffic light because I was confused about the area trying to find the damn hotel. Actually, I’m not even sure I did go through the light … And I surely didn’t drive down a one-way street, which in any event, all seems kind of trivial now in light of what you’ve been asking me.

      “But that’s it! I wasn’t stopped earlier by the police. I didn’t have a woman in the car. And I damn well wasn’t in a federal office building in downtown Jacksonville! I don’t know whether you have the wrong car, or the wrong information, the wrong whatever—but you definitely, definitely have the wrong guy!”

      I steadied my gaze as best I could, my heart pounding in my chest.

      “You just better hope you’re right,” the bald cop finally said with an icy smirk, “’cause if it turns out you’re screwing with us in any way, you have my promise I’ll put a fat one up your ass so deep you’ll be shitting lead for the rest of your life. Which, I assure you, no one will be betting will be very long. You getting me, sir?”

      “Yeah, I’m getting you,” I said back to him, my gaze heated too.

      The cops got out again, Martinez asking for my Social Security number. Then he and another older trooper who seemed to be in charge stood talking for a bit, and out of the blue, I thought I saw Martinez smile.

      Smile?

      Martinez patted him on the arm, and a short while later the senior cop got back in his car and headed off. As did the others. Even Baldy, who tossed me a final glare that to me said, Don’t let me meet up with you again.

      I started to think this seemed like a positive sign. If they were transporting a dangerous suspect to jail, they wouldn’t all be driving off. I even let out a hopeful breath. Maybe I would get out of this with only a ticket. A ticket I didn’t deserve maybe, but it damn well beat jail!

      Finally, Martinez came around and opened the rear door again. This time his tone was different. Softer. “I’m not going to apologize,” he said. “I told you several times to keep your mouth shut, didn’t I?”

      This time I wasn’t looking for any moral victories. “Yes, you did, Officer, and I guess I—”

      “And I haven’t violated any of your civil rights …” He stared at me. “Isn’t that correct …?”

      Sitting there, unfairly, in the backseat of a police car, my wrists aching from the cuffs, I took a chance and smiled back at him. “That part, I’m not sure the jury isn’t still out on …”

      He gave me a bit of a chuckle in return. “Turn around. I’ll get you out of there. Truth is, I suppose the streets are kind of confusing back there. Bay Shore West is only a couple of lights down the road. We do try to be friendly here …” He took off the cuffs and a wave of relief ran through me.

      “Your sidekick back there … I assume he’s just the friendly type too?”

      “Rowley?” Martinez snorted. “Me, I’m a teddy bear.” He slapped me amicably on the shoulder. “Him? Guess he’s just a little embarrassed by the misunderstanding. Let’s just say, better you don’t run into him again, if you know what I mean?”

      “No worries,” I said, wringing my hands free.

      He said, “I’m going to write you up a warning. For speeding up through a yellow light. No proof of insurance required. That sound okay?” Martinez winked, like the whole episode was just some kind of a shared joke between us. “Just take a seat back in your car.”

      A warning? If the guy had said up front that all he was doing was writing me up a warning, we could have avoided the whole mess …

      I got back in the front seat of the Caddie, glancing back once or twice through the rearview mirror, as Martinez, back in his car, wrote on his pad.

      And suddenly it all began to make sense to me—how they were all just standing around grinning, like it was some kind of joke … How, what if there never was any other person in a federal office building? Or someone who had been stopped earlier. With a woman in the car. How what if they were all just covering Martinez’s ass for totally overreacting. He’d probably told them that he had this rich, out-of-town doctor in cuffs, and they all stared back at him, like: Are you out of your mind? You’re arresting him for that, protesting a traffic violation …?

      My blood was simmering, and I could feel myself growing more and more angry at how the whole thing had gone down.

      That’s when I saw an old-model blue sedan, a Ford or a Mercury or something—I wasn’t the best at those kinds of things, and nor was I really paying attention—pull up next to Martinez’s patrol car.

      Yeah, that’s what I’m sure it was, I said to myself—a cover. To give him some justification for what he did, yanking me out of my car. There probably never was any other person or woman in any car. In fact—

      Suddenly I heard a loud pop coming from behind me. Like a whip snapping.

      Then another.

      I spun around and saw the blue sedan pull into a frenetic U-turn, screeching away from Martinez’s car.

      Everything was scarily still. Just this total absence of movement or sound. Including my own heartbeat.

      What just happened?

      I looked in my mirror as horror began to grip me. Martinez was slumped forward against the wheel.

      Oh shit, Henry … I leaped out of my car, this time no one barking at me to remain inside, and hurried back to Martinez.

      His police light was still flashing and the driver’s-side window was down. Martinez was pitched forward, his forehead against the wheel. The warning pad was still in his lap. There was a dark, dime-size hole on the side of his head, a trickle of blood oozing.

      I found a second wound, a blotch of matting blood, near the back of his skull.

      He wasn’t moving.

      “No, no, no,” I shouted. How could this be …?

      My heart surged into fifth gear. I ripped open the door and did a frantic check for a pulse or any sign of life. There was none. Martinez must have been dead when his head hit the wheel. I let him fall back. There was nothing I could do. Except take a step back from his car in disbelief.

      He’d been killed directly in front of me.

      My