by Tom Barber
Save it for when you get out. Which now, he knew would most likely be never.
‘You think they’ll give me my old cell back?’ he asked, trying to force a smile, his throat dry.
Outside, plans were being made to call the phone again and try to end the situation without more bloodshed when the front door opened.
A revolver was thrown out before a hand appeared, then the other.
Followed by Nicky Reyes.
Standing with the other cops, Archer stared at the prison fugitive who now had the sights and red dots of at least twenty weapons trained on him. The scene went quiet. Reyes was wearing what had once been a white shirt, suit trousers and dress shoes, the clothes blood-stained and marked with dirt. He saw the man had also been injured, with a cut on his cheek and dried blood on his neck from another injury there. Archer had last seen him in person during the heist in Cleveland two days ago and the heavy toll of his seventy two hours total on the run was very evident.
But once it also became clear he was surrendering, officers moved forward to detain the wanted man, the chopper still hovering overhead. They grabbed him and he was pushed to the ground before being frisked and cuffed.
The most inventive of the Gatlin fugitives was now back in custody, three days after his escape. Multiple state lines crossed, no-one hurt at his hands save two bikers and a local deputy who’d ended up with sore heads and bruised egos. As he was taken to an Oneida Sheriff’s cruiser and put into the back, Nicky took a final look towards the hillside where with Kat, he’d made their last bid for freedom and where she’d died in his arms.
Give them everything you got, kid, Prez had told him on Friday morning before his escape attempt began.
He had.
FORTY SEVEN
‘…apprehended the fugitive after he surrendered at a house in the area almost two hours ago,’ the Oneida County Sheriff told some off-camera reporters, with US Marshals, a lieutenant and a sergeant from the county SWAT team standing behind him. Being the ones to apprehend a member of the Gatlin Four and the wanted thief Kat O’Mara after so many had failed in Ohio and Pennsylvania, meant Oneida’s police authorities wanted representatives from their departments visible on camera. Hometown pride.
The images were being broadcast to news channels all over New York State as well as wider parts of the country. ‘Nick Reyes was cornered by law-enforcement and surrendered after being surrounded,’ the Sheriff continued. ‘His accomplice was found deceased half a mile away. Early indications are she succumbed to injuries she’d sustained in Cleveland on Saturday morning when this robbery took place.’
‘So the Loughlins got her in the end,’ Archer said quietly, as he and Marquez both watched the announcement on a TV screen from the 1st floor inside the Sheriff’s Office building, the conference being held just outside.
‘Have you recovered everything that was stolen?’ a reporter off screen asked.
‘Not yet. A bag was found with the woman’s body, but it was empty. The suspect has been taken for questioning. When more information becomes available, we’ll let you all know.’
‘What about the Loughlin brothers, Chief? And Frank Lupinetti?’
‘The search is ongoing. We got two of them. We’ll find the other three soon too. This area’s finest law-enforce…’
Walking away from the TV, Archer went to the window and looked outside. He could see the reporters ranged behind the cameras, with rows of vehicles belonging to the news crews and curious locals filling the parking lot; but his gaze ended up shifting beyond them to a truck parked further down the street. Two men were standing beside it, their arms crossed, one chewing tobacco or gum, both dressed in hunting gear.
‘A deputy told me they were the pair who first saw Reyes at the gas station,’ Marquez commented, joining her colleague and seeing who he was looking at. ‘Both got interviewed. They’re from Wayne County.’
‘Wayne County,’ Archer said. ‘Red Creek. Loughlins land.’
‘Yeah, but same as a lot of people in the area. Probably don’t mean much. Deputy told me those two are no relation to Brooks and Billy.’
‘Reyes and the woman weren’t the dangerous ones here,’ Archer replied, shifting his eyes back to the press conference and mirroring Marquez’s thoughts when she’d been standing over Kat’s body. The mention of the brothers’ names had reminded him of the reason they were still there. ‘The three that should really concern everyone are still free.’
‘I need to tell you something, while we got a moment,’ Marquez said abruptly now they were alone, her change in tone catching his attention. He turned to look at her. ‘It’s about Reyes’ cellmate back at Gatlin.’
‘You traded a lot of cash and jewelry at the fair last night for whatever the brothers were carrying,’ one of two US Marshals said, leaning over the desk with Nicky sitting in cuffs opposite him. He was being held in the same building Archer and Marquez were in but was downstairs in an interview room, still wearing Barry Marsh’s trousers and shirt.
Some of Kat’s blood had stained his chest from when he’d last carried her, the collar also a watery red from where his neck had been grazed by a bullet. The injury had been given rudimentary medical treatment, a couple of white band-aids taped across it. All he was getting right now. ‘The kid you paid to hold the laser pointer watched the whole thing,’ the Marshal continued, pressing him. ‘Told us what went down. What was in the bag you swapped for? And where is it?’
Nicky didn’t look at the two men sitting across from him, focusing instead on the wall behind them, his face and clothes caked in dried mud and silt.
‘C’mon, Nick, it’s over,’ the Marshal persisted. ‘Co-operate with us and it might not mean your whole life back inside a place like Gatlin. Whatever was in that safe deposit box didn’t belong to you or even Katherine right now. It’d been signed over to her stepmom.’ He paused, softening his tone. ‘And you look like you could use a shower. Some food. We can help you get all that. But just tell us why you made this trade. Why was that bag the brothers had so valuable to you and the girl?’
Nothing.
‘I’ve seen some dumb shits in my time but you’re champion above them all, guy,’ the second Marshal told him, shaking his head. ‘You should’ve been released in forty eight hours but now we’re gonna get you sent back for another fifty years. Hope it was worth it.’
Nicky glanced at him for a moment, but then continued to stare at the wall.
He hadn’t uttered a word since his arrest.
‘You’ve been talking to Reyes’ cellmate?’ Archer whispered in disbelief to Marquez upstairs, drawing her closer to the window and away from anyone who could possibly overhear. ‘How?’
‘When they first grilled him at Gatlin about the escape, he saw me in the corridor when they were taking him to the SHU block,’ she explained. ‘Said he’d talk but just to me. He remembered us from the chow hall when we stopped the inmates from raping that female guard. We saved him too when he was getting attacked, remember? He stalled me out, but told me later he saw I was wearing a NYPD CT Bureau badge so he knew who to call to reach me. When I got back to the motel that night, Ethan got in touch from New York and said someone wanted to speak to me.’
‘And it was this man Rainey? How’d he make the call? His block was in lockdown.’
‘He’s got a phone in his cell.’
Archer closed his eyes for a moment. ‘What has he told you?’
‘A lot.’
‘This makes you an accessory. You’ve been talking with him and didn’t pass it on to investigators on a federal case this wide? And with this many casualties? What if they find his phone and your number’s on it?’
‘I know, I was so focused on what he was telling me, I didn’t think about that until it was too late. I’ve been trying to get in touch with him and tell him to erase my number but he won’t answer.’
‘That doesn’t matter. If they find the phone, they can just check the records. You’ll be all over them
.’
‘I thought it was worth the information,’ she said defensively but her worry was showing, especially now seeing Archer’s reaction. ‘I was always gonna ask him to delete all traces.’
‘He had nothing to do with Lupinetti, Lis.’
‘It was Reyes. When they found that laundry truck driver and turned out Nicky saved him, I got curious about the guy. Why he risked everything to do that after he’d escaped. I had to find out.’
‘What if Rainey sells you out?’
‘I know he’s a criminal, but he seems OK. I get how that sounds,’ she continued, seeing Archer’s face. ‘You said it yourself, does Reyes really feel as bad as the Loughlins? Or Lupinetti?’
‘No, but that doesn’t mean a thing. The biker gets found with that phone, you could end up on the stand too.’
‘I know,’ she replied miserably. ‘I know.’ Below, the brief press conference ended, reporters separating to record segments or give live takes on what had been said, updating people who’d tuned in from all over several States. Archer was still processing what Marquez had just told him, surprised that his usually very professional colleague had slipped up so badly and now extremely concerned for how this might shake out for her. He was about to say something further when they both became aware of the sound of a large gathering somewhere downstairs.
They headed for the stairs and walked down to find a group of law-enforcement, Marquez hiding her worries at her lapse in judgement and thoughts of the possible repercussions, for now.
‘How we doin’ on the Loughlin boys and the ex-cop?’ the Sheriff asked the people assembling in front of him. ‘We bring all five of these assholes down, you know how good that’s gonna look.’
‘Brothers haven’t been seen since the fairground, Chief,’ a deputy told him. ‘That Oswego sighting first thing turned out to be nothing. But every badge over there and in Wayne is out on the roads looking. Same in Onondaga, Madison, Cayuga and Cortland.’
‘Getting reports of locals driving loops in the area with weapons in their trucks too, Sheriff,’ another deputy informed him.
‘To hunt down Brooks and Billy?’
‘Or help them out if they get cornered. Depends who’s behind the wheel. We know the influence that family has around here. Word might’ve gone out that Reyes screwed the two brothers out of several million dollars at the fairground last night. Could be looking to take a crack at him here too, maybe.’
‘Reyes say anything?’ the Sheriff asked.
‘Not yet,’ one of the Marshals answered. ‘Think he’s having trouble accepting that this is over for him. His dumb ass better get real used to the idea.’
‘Some time back in the local jail might get him talking,’ the Sheriff answered, echoing a similar idea of a prison captain at Gatlin a few days previously.
‘Taking him to county?’ a Marshal asked.
‘There’s a solitary wing there. Instead of keeping him here, why not lock his ass away isolated from everyone else and get him back in a jumpsuit in a cell, not an interview room. Little shot of reality and a reminder where his future’s headed. How many years he serves depends on how much he co-operates, or least we can tell him that. Few hours in a cell again, he’ll open up.’
‘He lasted almost twelve years in Gatlin,’ Marquez commented, but no-one paid any attention.
‘Oneida’s got a full house, Chief,’ one of his deputies added, seeing the Marshals seemed receptive to the idea.
‘Onondaga’ll have room at theirs,’ the Sheriff answered. ‘We gotta get working on finding Brooks and Billy instead. Let Reyes fester in a pair of jumps for a few hours.’ He shot the two Marshals a look. ‘You don’t want us showing you guys up and apprehending every one of your suspects, do you?’
‘Fine, we’ll transport him,’ the Marshal replied shortly. ‘I heard Onondaga’s got a bad reputation though. We need to keep him in one piece to find out what he knows.’
‘The rep’s improved. And we’ll keep him in solitary.’ The Sheriff grinned. ‘Son of a bitch has probably missed wearing orange so we’ll make him feel right at home,’ he added, as the assembled group laughed.
Archer, Marquez and the two Marshals were the only ones who didn’t.
FORTY EIGHT
‘That’s Bonnie and Clyde out of the game,’ Glick said, watching a TV from his desk at the Robbery/Homicide unit’s headquarters in Cleveland as news covered the report of Nicky’s capture. Members of their squad were out working assignments related to this case, including going to visit the owner of the first deposit box to tell her part of it had been recovered last night. Two other members had gone out to Blair’s home in Pepper Pike to inform her and her daughter that Kat had died.
At his desk, Richie put his phone down. ‘Called French Lick PD and the Sheriff’s Office over there in Indiana. Blair O’Mara doesn’t have any trace of a record. Not one ticket or write-up.’
‘Tommy O’Mara had a twelve million dollar estate when he died,’ Glick replied, an open file on his desk that he and the rest of the team had put together. ‘Blair must’ve inherited the majority of it. She took over his real estate business and investments.’
‘What about Kat and Reyes? And Blair’s daughter, Alaina?’
‘Alaina got a hundred thousand apparently but she’ll profit eventually through her mom too, I guess. I spoke to Nicky Reyes’ defense counsel from his trial and they said he paid them almost two hundred thousand to be represented. That must’ve come from what Tommy had left him. Waste of money as it turned out.’
‘And Kat?’
‘No-one knows for sure. She never revealed what’s in that deposit box, even when it was temporarily taken off her hands. Note here says Blair informed the court she suspected it was a significant sum Kat could use to waste on her addiction. How she got the hold granted.’
‘So she doesn’t know what’s inside?’ Richie asked.
Glick shook his head. ‘No-one does, or did, apart from Kat and probably Reyes too, I figure. That’s why Blair’s danced around it when we’ve asked her.’
‘That girl’s life was sabotaged from the moment her stepmom showed up in that family home. Sick as a teenager before the maid was hired, then suddenly becoming a benzo addict with no previous issues once the maid was gone again. And all the money left from her father withheld on technicalities?’
‘Kat was faking her own prescriptions to get supplies of the pills. This was a few years later too, Rich.’ Glick thought about it. ‘We know how she got started on them?’
‘No. I’d need to talk to her prison counsellor again. See if she ever told him.’ Richie paused. ‘I heard a case once where a dealer slipped some of his product into the coffee of a guy who was trying to get clean. Heroin. Junkie was a good buyer, so his dealer wanted to keep him around.’
‘Now we’re really swinging for the fences.’
‘Look at the timings. And these issues the girl developed. Tell me that isn’t suspicious.’
‘You don’t think we’re reading too much into this? Kat seemed pretty self-destructive.’ Glick glanced back at the TV screen. ‘Look at how it ended for her.’
Instead of answering, Richie walked over to Glick’s desk and picked up the file, then found Nicky Reyes’ arrest report from twelve years ago. He took it back to his own workspace to check something on his own computer, then scrawled whatever was on the screen onto a piece of paper. ‘You’re right, she seemed like her own worst enemy,’ he said. ‘But someone tried to kill her the night Reyes got arrested.’ Richie rose again, folding the paper he’d just written on ‘Let’s go. We’re paying the dead boy’s folks a visit.’
‘Why?’
‘To tell them Nick Reyes has been re-apprehended, of course. Their son’s murderer. Why else?’ Glick understood the subtext, so without replying, rose and grabbed his jacket.
Outside the police station in Phoenix, NY, Archer and Marquez were back in their Ford, wanting to be able to talk freely without being heard.
On the opposite side of the lot, the local news vans had been joined by others from bigger networks, all of them hoping for the Sheriff to come outside to provide another statement, some of the correspondents still shooting segments in front of the building. The two local cousins who’d tried to hunt down Reyes and O’Mara had now left, but on their way to their car, Archer had made eye contact with the pair. Something about them had been off. He was still trying to work out exactly what it was.
But right now Marquez had sent a text to Prez to call her without fail, immediately, and as they sat in the car the phone rang; seeing it was him, she put it on speaker but kept the volume low so anyone passing outside couldn’t hear. ‘I need you to swap out that phone or change numbers as soon as you can, Rainey,’ she told him straight away.
‘Not real easy to do in here, Detective. Can’t just walk to the store, you know?’ A pause. ‘Worried they’ll find your number?’
She glanced at Archer who was looking at her with raised eyebrows. ‘Yes.’
‘Relax, I’m stuck in this place because I didn’t sell people out. You’re good in my book after what you did in the chow hall. Need a new phone now anyway. All you gotta worry about is if investigators on this case ever track the number and check the records.’
‘I’m her friend from the hall,’ Archer cut in. If they had the biker on the line, he figured he might as well use the opportunity. And something had been on his mind ever since he’d first learned of Reyes’ sentence that put him inside. ‘Before you go, can you tell us something?’
‘Tell you what?’
‘Nicky’s manslaughter charge. The reason he ended up in federal prison. What exactly went down that night?’
‘It’s on his record.’
‘We don’t have it available.’
‘Was about half a year after Katherine’s father died. The kid was about to graduate, had plans to go down to the recruiter’s office and enlist once he’d got his diploma to get out of Cleveland for good. But then he said Kat gave him a call from a party. She was upset, slurring her words, sounded all messed up. She’d taken her father dying pretty hard. Nicky couldn’t be with her all the time to keep her head straight.
