Sacred Evil

by Heather Graham

Page 35

 

  Angela still even had the door open. She stared at Jude, and then followed the trio out to the porch.

  Captain Tyler was standing there wearing a coat that had caped shoulders, much like the kind seen on the killer in every Jack the Ripper movie ever made.

  Captain Tyler’s eyes lit up as he saw Jude, and then Whitney.

  “Captain Tyler,” Whitney said. “You’re supposed to be at a veterans’ shelter. ”

  Jude asked, “Captain Tyler, where did you get the coat?”

  Tyler looked confused, not sure who to answer first. “Do you have coffee? Food?” he asked hopefully.

  “Yes, of course,” Whitney said, taking his arm and glancing at Jude. He knew he could be too brusque, and that she had the right touch with Captain Tyler. Whitney had incredible sympathy for the downtrodden, and it seemed that her instincts were usually on the money. He nodded; he understood her silent warning. They needed to take this slowly.

  “First,” Jude said huskily, “we need that coat. ”

  “We’ll find another one for you,” Whitney assured him.

  Tyler looked at them, and then shed the coat. Whitney quickly secured a garbage bag for the garment, hoping to preserve what evidence might be left.

  When it was safely sealed, Ellis Sayer let out a sigh of relief.

  “In this case,” he said quietly to Jude, “I didn’t want to drag him in, and we needed the damn coat, but he wouldn’t give it to me. I knew he meant something to you and to the case, of course, and that’s why I came straight here. ”

  “Thanks, Ellis,” Jude said.

  “Of course,” Ellis told him.

  Jude set a hand on his shoulder.

  “He’s not our killer, but he may be an essential witness. And you’ll notice his condition. His mind is shot and we’ll have to handle him with kid gloves, so to speak. ”

  “I figured,” Ellis said.

  Jackson was in the hallway when they entered the house. He glanced at Whitney, and then walked forward. “Welcome, sir,” he said to Captain Tyler.

  “Thank you, sir!” Captain Tyler offered a hand to Jackson. “Captain Tyler, retired, sir! And you are…?”

  “Jackson Crow. Please, we’d love to have you join us for breakfast. ”

  Breakfast? They’d slept through the night? Jude wondered.

  That was bad, very bad. Except that it had been good. He could still recall his dreams. She’d been with him, and he’d been weary, but she had touched him, and in his dreams, she’d been naked, crawling over him. They’d made love passionately without a word, and he’d felt her against him, the pressure of her breasts against his arm, the softness of her body curved to his…

  The last had been true.

  The first…

  Good God, he could only pray that he hadn’t….

  What the hell was he thinking? They were as far apart in thought and belief as the sun and the moon.

  “Right this way, Captain Tyler, please!” Jackson said.

  They seated Captain Tyler at the breakfast table in the kitchen. Coffee was placed in front of him. “I’ll start the eggs,” Whitney said. “Do you like cheese in them? Ham?”

  “Oh, that would be delightful,” he said.

  Jude sat down across from the man. Ellis stood in the doorway, watching and patiently waiting. Whitney quickly went about scrambling eggs while Jackson popped bread in the toaster and Angela took a seat at the end of the table.

  “Captain Tyler, this is very important. You went to a veterans’ home, right?” Jude asked him. “The deputy chief told me that he’d make sure that you were helped there, and that someone would see to your records and a permanent shelter for you. ”

  “Oh, yes, thank you. The police were wonderful,” Captain Tyler said, sounding entirely lucid.

  “So where did you get the coat?” Jude asked.

  “In a Dumpster off Broadway,” Captain Tyler said. “Of course, it’s not exactly up to standards in today’s style, but it’s warm. It’s a wonderful coat. ”

  “Yes, it’s a wonderful coat,” Jude told him.

  Tyler stiffened. “Sir! It was my only coat now. I gave the pea jacket to old Harry, who hangs around the new subway station. ”

  “I’m going to make sure you have a coat, maybe even a stylish new coat,” Jude told him. “But it’s very important that you tell me the exact location. ”

  “In a Dumpster. About a block north of Trinity,” Captain Tyler said.

  “Thank you. Now, one more question, Captain Tyler,” Jude said. “How did you wind up back by Trinity if you were at a shelter in another borough?”

  Tyler’s white brows arched high, and then furrowed. His hands began to shake around his coffee cup.

  Jude reached out a hand and gently touched his. “Captain Tyler?”

  Tyler looked up at him. “I—I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t remember anything. I was at the home…there were very nice people there. I had a very long shower, and it was so good. I went to sleep, in a bed, with clean sheets. I…”

  “It’s all right…drink your coffee, Captain. ” He looked down the table at Angela. “Jenna Duffy is an RN, right?”

  Angela nodded, rose and went into the hallway. They could hear her calling up the stairs. “Jenna? Are you awake? Could you come down, please?”

  The eggs were cooked; Jackson added toast to the plate Whitney prepared and she set it in front of Captain Tyler. “Don’t be upset. Just relax. ”

  “Yes, just relax, Captain. Your memory will be better if you don’t force it. ”

  Jenna Duffy came into the kitchen. Angela indicated Captain Tyler.

  “Captain,” Jude said. “This is Agent Duffy, and she’s a nurse. She’s going to take a look at you, if she may. ”

  Tyler saw Jenna and his eyes lit up with appreciation. “Yes!” he said simply.

  Jenna walked around the table to him. “I’m not going to hurt you, Captain Tyler. I just want to see your eyes, if I may?” She lifted his lids, studying the man’s bloodshot eyes.

  “Thank you,” she told him.

  “As you wish, young woman. Beautiful accent! Irish, of course,” he said.

  Jenna nodded.

  “My mother, bless her soul, was an Irishwoman!” Captain Tyler said.

  Jenna took his eggs away, and he stared at her like a child who had been slapped—through no provocation—by a parent. “He’s been drugged,” Jenna said. “I can’t tell you what is in his system, but I’d get some tests done on him before allowing him to eat anything. ”

  “What?” Captain Tyler demanded.

  Jude stood. “Sir, I’m so sorry, but this is incredibly important. I have to take you to see a doctor. ”

  “But I’m not sick! I’m hungry,” the man said, indignant.

  “I know, and I’ll get you food just as soon as I can. ” Jude took Tyler’s arm and started out of the kitchen and along the hallway.

  “Ellis, can you drive us?” Jude said. “I’d thought we were dealing with his usual loopiness, but Jenna believes he was drugged. ”

  “Of course. I go where you send me. Where to? Headquarters?”

  “The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner,” Jude said.

  Captain Tyler balked. “But I’m not dead yet, young man!” he protested.

  “No, sir, of course not. They have wonderful laboratories there. And it won’t take long. And then we’ll get you something to eat. ”

  “All right, all right. Just so long as you know that I’m really not dead yet,” Tyler said.

  As they walked, Jude spoke to Ellis, telling him to get his men busy on the Dumpsters that needed to be searched.

  “Jude, you know that we had Forensics all up and down the street the day that Virginia Rockford’s body was discovered. I swear, there was no Dumpster left unturned that day,” Ellis said.

  “I know. But it needs t
o be done again,” Jude told him.

  He got to Ellis’s unmarked simple black sedan and looked back. Whitney was at the door. He realized that they were both a mess; they hadn’t changed since they’d made the discovery in the foundations, dug into the earth, worked all day and fallen asleep on the sofa. If he was a mess, maybe she didn’t mind being a mess.

  “Agent Tremont?” he said.

  He saw Whitney look at Jackson; their team was tight. Jackson nodded, and Whitney hurried down the steps.

  “Agent Tremont will be with us. I’m getting accustomed to working with her,” Jude told Ellis.

  Jude slid into the backseat with Captain Tyler while Whitney sat up front with Ellis. It didn’t take them long to cover the distance to the Office of the Medical Examiner, only this time, Jude didn’t head for the morgue. Instead, he headed to the lab of Dr. Gil Sullivan, with whom he had worked many times before. Of course, he had usually brought him mysterious substances, rather than a living subject.

  Jude explained how Ellis had found Captain Tyler downtown, wearing the coat, and that, as Dr. Sullivan could well imagine, they needed the coat tested as well as Captain Tyler himself. The coat he would bring to One Police Plaza, but he was pretty certain Captain Tyler needed to be tested quickly.

  “Captain, how are you? I’ll be kind and quick,” Dr. Sullivan told him.

  “Thank you. ”

  “I’m retired navy myself, sir,” Sullivan assured Captain Tyler, leading him into one of the rooms where the captain could lie down on a white-sheeted bed.

  Jude, Whitney and Ellis were left in a small employee lounge. Jude dug in his pockets for change and found enough for three cups of watery coffee. Better than nothing at this point.

  “I should get going,” Ellis said. “I’ll get with the men on the Dumpsters. ”

  “Great, thanks, Ellis. But get some rest, too. Either that,” he said ruefully, “or fall asleep on the job. ”