Tommy remained quiet.
“You do know, don’t you?” the man asked. “Because all this time, I’ve been trying to figure out why anyone would lie to the police about it. Why would they say I killed two people when I only killed one? It didn’t make any sense at first, until I realized the second murder was being covered up. The boyfriend’s murderer is being protected. What I want to know is—why?”
“You still killed Caroline, so why does it matter?”
The man slammed his fist down on the arm of the wooden chair. “Because. I didn’t kill him! I had no reason to kill him. His death is not on me, and I won’t be blamed for it!”
The man closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to collect himself. He didn’t like getting angry. He didn’t like it when he had a loss of control or how it made him feel inside.
“I apologize for the outburst,” the man said. “I don’t like to lose my temper. I really am a rational man, most of the time.”
“If you say so.”
“What’s wrong with you, mentally?”
“Nothing is wrong with me. What’s wrong with you?”
“Bold statement for such a soft kid. You’re different, you and Grace. Your faces are similar and round, and your eyes remind me of almonds. Is that why you like Grace so much—because you both have eyes shaped like almonds?”
“Don’t talk about her,” Tommy said.
“Why not?”
“Just ... don’t.”
“I might be able to respect your request if you give me the information I want. Part of my decision about what to do with you depends on your honesty. I’m giving you a chance not everyone gets with me, like your girlfriend’s neighbor, the one who lived across the street. But then, she was a vile old woman, and you ... well, the jury’s still out on what you are, isn’t it?”
Tommy’s breathing changed, becoming heavier until he was puffing so hard through his cheeks, the man thought the kid might pass out. He’d pushed him, maybe a bit too far, but if it gave him the closure he wanted, it was worth it. Soon everything would be made right again. Soon everyone would know the truth.
“Do you need a glass of water or a moment alone to calm yourself down before we continue?” the man asked.
Tommy shook his head.
“I imagine you’re getting hungry by now. I have a sandwich all made up for you. As soon as we’re finished talking, you can have it.”
“Don’t hurt her.”
“Don’t hurt whom, your girlfriend?”
“Yes.”
“I have no plans to do anything to her at the moment. The girl’s just lost her mum. She’s hurting enough, wouldn’t you say?”
“All you want is for me to tell you who killed Hugh?”
The man nodded. “Spare no details. Tell me everything. You arrived at the house after I left that night, and then what happened?”
“I saw Grace.”
“Where did you see her? What was she doing?”
“She was climbing out of her mum’s bathroom window. She was crying. She said Caroline was dead and Hugh killed her. I ran into the house, and Grace chased after me. Hugh was standing outside Caroline’s bedroom with his car keys in his hands. I thought he was leaving. Grace picked up the knife and started swinging it. Hugh ran, and she chased him. He got to the top of the stairs, and she swung at him and missed. He reached for the knife, trying to get it away from her, and I pushed him. I pushed him, and now he’s dead.”
The kid was bawling uncontrollably.
The man stroked his chin, thinking.
It was a good story.
But did he believe him?
“Get yourself together, Thomas, and stop sniveling. I have more questions. What happened after the two of you realized he was dead?”
“Grace said she was going to call her uncle. She said he’d know what to do. She told me to go home, and she’d call when it was safe.”
“And did you leave like she asked?”
“No. I didn’t want her to be alone. But then Grace’s neighbor was running across the street toward the house. Grace told me if I didn’t leave, it would make things worse, so I hid, but I didn’t go home. I watched Grace to make sure she was okay.”
“What did you see?”
“Grace told her neighbor that she killed Hugh. The neighbor hugged her. She said everything was going to be all right. They called James, and he came over. He told Grace not to worry. He said everything would be fine. Then I went home.”
“You could have told the police what really happened. You could have told the truth, and you didn’t.”
“I wanted to protect Grace.”
“And yourself. Now that I know the truth, you may as well admit it.”
“I just did.”
“I’m going to need you to admit it all over again. I’m going to record your confession.”
“And then what’s going to happen?”
The man drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair. “Hard to say. I’m feeling conflicted about what to do with you. Part of me thinks you deserve to die. The other part thinks you deserve to live to serve out whatever sentence you have coming to you. What to do, what to do ... I suppose we could flip for it.”
“Flip for it?”
“You know, heads or tails. I believe I have a coin in my car. Hold on. Be right back.”
The man darted out the room, returning a minute later. He held the coin out in front of him, showing it to Tommy. “Got it. Now you call it.”
Tommy’s eyes widened. “You’re crazy.”
“All right, then. I’ll call it. I choose the Queen.”
The man pinched the coin in between his fingers and flipped it into the air, smiling when he clapped it flat against his hand as it came down.
“It’s exhilarating, isn’t it?” the man said. “Would you like to peek, or shall I?”
“I ... I ... don’t ...”
The man lifted his hand just enough to reveal the final verdict in the case of Thomas Walker. He stared at the coin for a moment, and then looked up and said, “Well, well, this is interesting.”
Tommy Walker had been missing for several hours. His cell phone had been found by the police, smashed to pieces in a supermarket parking lot not far from his home. If he had been taken, it wasn’t hard to know who had him or why.
I was at Caroline’s office, sitting at her desk, sifting through some papers I’d found in her top drawer, but it was just as James had said—nothing here provided me with the clues I so desperately needed. There were no client files. No notebooks. No hidden safe to break open.
Sitting in the same chair she had once sat in, I wondered how many patients had come through her door over the years and whether it was possible she’d angered one of them enough that he’d decided to end her life. Even more curious was the fact she’d been frequenting Brad’s ocean rental in recent months.
Whom had she gone with, and what had she been doing there?
I had too many questions and too few answers.
The wall opposite Caroline’s desk contained a shelf of nonfiction books with subjects spanning from anxiety and infidelity to abuse. Most of the books appeared to be in good condition, like they’d barely been touched. On the shelf below was another set of books, which were far more worn than the others. Even more interesting was the fact that all five of them were on the same subject: hypnotic regression.
I pulled one of the worn books off the shelf and flipped through it, learning that hypnotic regression was a way to assist the mind in traveling to different dimensions of time, or more easily understood, it dived into a person’s past. A therapist using this technique could assist the patient with going back in his mind to a time where a specific event needed to be examined and worked through. The title page of the book had been signed in red pen by the author. It said: Caroline, I hope this helps in your new research. Dean
New research. Perhaps I’d found a clue after all.
I closed the book and inspe
cted the cover. It was titled Hypnotic Regression: From Unknown to Known, and the author’s name was D. Eugene Palmer.
I slid the book into my bag and headed outside. The street was dark and quiet. It appeared I was alone, and yet I couldn’t help wondering if the murderer was out there, hiding in the trees, watching me as he had done in the past.
He could watch if he wanted.
I was watching too.
If he showed his face again, this time I’d be ready.
I dreamed I was walking down an endless hall with numerous doors. As I passed each door, I stopped and knocked, but none of the doors ever opened, and all of them were locked. The hall I was in was an unfamiliar one, and it seemed my only way out was to keep knocking until one of the doors was opened. For now, I was trapped here.
I stood in the middle of the hall, wondering which door to try again, and then I heard a voice. Behind one of the doors, someone was talking to me.
“Sloane, are you in there? Are you awake?”
I sat straight up in bed, bouncing out of the dream into a state of mind where I was somewhat conscious. I realized someone was knocking on my front door. Through the darkness, I ran my hand across the side table. I flipped the clock around and glanced at the time. It was just after two a.m., and the voice on the opposite side of the door was Noel’s. Worried what had him awake at this hour, I ran out of the bedroom to greet him.
I opened the door, finding him out of breath and panting on the other side.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
“I’ve been knocking for about five minutes. I started to think you weren’t here, but I saw the car in the driveway and realized you must be. James has been trying to reach you.”
I checked my phone. Noel was right. I had three missed calls.
“Why aren’t you in bed?” I asked. “Is everything all right with Grace?”
“She’s fine. I just looked in on her a few minutes ago. She’s sleeping.”
“What about James?”
“He’s fine too.”
“Why is he calling me so late?” I asked.
“The missing kid, the one who’s sweet on Grace.”
“Tommy Walker?”
Noel nodded. “He’s been found.”
Instead of calling James, I went to the hospital to see him.
“Is it true?” I asked. “Is Tommy Walker alive?”
James nodded. “It’s the strangest thing. He doesn’t even have any injuries.”
“What happened?”
“About an hour ago, a couple was taking a late-night stroll in the park. They heard a guy shouting for help, and when they ran over, they found Tommy sitting in a chair, tied to a tree. Want to take a guess at the exact location he was found?”
I didn’t need to—somehow I already knew. “Where we were found?”
“Yep. When the police got to Tommy, a round metal serving platter with a lid was sitting on his lap, the kind you get from room service at a hotel. They lifted the lid and found a perfectly made fish sandwich and a note inside of a plastic bag sitting next to it.”
“What was the quote this time?”
“It said: Bait the hook well. This fish will bite.”
Clever and annoying. “Was anything else found?”
“Inside the plastic bag with the note, there was also a recording device. The police played it. The only voice on the recording is Tommy’s.”
“What did he say?”
“It’s a confession. He says he killed Hugh.”
I stood there a moment and took it all in. “Could that be true?”
“I don’t know. I have to talk to Grace. They’re letting me out of here in the morning. Once I get home, I’ll ask her.”
“Where is Tommy now?”
“At the police station. Charlie is there with him. I’ve asked him to represent Tommy. He should be getting in touch with me soon to let me know the latest. All we can hope for now is that Tommy knows something that will lead us to this guy. I’m glad the kid’s alive, but it doesn’t make any sense. He let Tommy go, just like he let you go. Why spare some and kill others?”
I didn’t know.
“Were you aware your sister was renting a place one weekend a month from Charlie’s cousin?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I had no idea.”
“She rented it for about four months and then had two additional months booked, but she canceled those a few months before she died.”
“Around the time Evan Hall committed suicide.”
“Looks like it.”
“Well, I don’t know anything about it. But about six months back, Caroline said she wanted Grace to start spending more time with the men in the family since she didn’t have a father figure at home and felt it would benefit her since she was in her teens. So, here and there, she’d let Grace spend a weekend with either me or my father, but I didn’t know Caroline was going out of town during that time.”
“I’m trying to find out why she rented his place and what she was doing there.”
“All right, let me know if you learn anything.”
My thoughts turned to the killer. He was different than any other I’d tracked before. He was meticulous and precise and yet restless at the same time. He was forgiving and unforgiving. He seemed to have his own code of ethics, which he adhered to as long as it suited him. I was starting to think the killer might not be concerned about being caught. If there were a type of killer who had me worried, it was this guy because he wasn’t a specific type.
He was unpredictable.
Charlie Branson had large, dark circles under his eyes when he walked into James’ hospital room.
James took one look at him and frowned. “That bad, huh?”
Charlie leaned against the wall, shook his head, and sighed. “Well, Tommy is sticking by his recorded confession. And now the police suspect him of killing Caroline as well.”
“He didn’t kill her, though,” James said.
“I know that, and you know that,” I said, “but think about it from a cop’s perspective. Tommy conveniently showed up around the time of Caroline’s murder and had been sneaking over to her house for weeks after being told he wasn’t allowed to see Grace. To a cop, that’s motive.”
I had to hand it to the kid for being honest, if what he said was true.
James looked at Charlie. “What did he say about what happened that night?”
“He said when he got there, Grace told him Hugh had murdered Caroline, and he was trying to protect her. They chased Hugh to the top of the stairs. Tommy pushed Hugh, and he fell to his death. I believe him, but I’m not sure I have the entire story.”
“At least we can assume Tommy was kidnapped,” I said. “He didn’t tie himself to that tree.”
“There’s something else,” Charlie said, “and you’re not going to like it, but there’s little I can do to stop it from happening now that Tommy’s talked to the police.”
James shook his head. “No. They’re not talking to Grace, especially without me there. She doesn’t even know any of this has happened yet.”
“I understand how you feel,” Charlie said, “but at the very least Grace was an eyewitness. You can’t protect her from this, James. Not this time.”
“If Tommy is telling the truth, and he killed Hugh, and Grace told you and Adelaide that she lied to protect Tommy, she’ll be heartbroken about it ... but maybe it’s for the best,” I said. “This will finally get everything out in the open, and Grace can move on.”
“Wait ... what?” Charlie said. “What are you talking about?”
James clenched his jaw and glared at me, but with Tommy’s confession, the time to protect Grace had passed. The jig was most definitely up.
“Don’t be upset with me, James,” I said. “Charlie represents your family, which means he represents Grace. He needs to know what’s going on, and we need to figure out the best way to break the news to her about Tommy’s arrest before the police do.”
&nbs
p; James looked at Charlie. “How long do we have?”
“They want to talk to Grace in the morning.” He glanced at his watch. “We agreed on ten, and they’re allowing me to drive her to the station.”
“And me,” James said. “I’ll be going too.”
“But you haven’t been released from the hospital yet,” Charlie said.
“I don’t care. As of this moment, I’m releasing myself.”
Charlie shrugged. “Okay. We’ll take her in.”
I thought about suggesting we make it a threesome, but I didn’t.
“Tell me everything Tommy told the police about the guy who took him,” James said. “I want to make sure we go into the meeting tomorrow with all of the necessary details.”
Charlie nodded. “Tommy was at the grocery store, getting a few items for his mum. He came out and saw a guy parked a bit off the road, next to that pond on Cloud Street. Tommy walked by, and the guy was digging around in his trunk. He looked at Tommy and said there was something wrong with one of his tires. Since the tire in question was on the other side of the car, Tommy didn’t go around to check and see if something was wrong with it or not. He just took the guy at his word. The guy told Tommy the spare tire was stuck and asked if he would give him a hand getting it out. As soon as Tommy poked his head into the trunk, the guy stuck a knife to Tommy’s chest and told him not to make a sound. He said if he didn’t comply, he’d push the knife into his chest, it would stop his heart, and he’d die instantly.”
“What happened next?”
“The guy told Tommy to climb into the trunk. He said if Tommy behaved and didn’t make a scene, he might not hurt him, or Tommy’s mum, who the guy mentioned by name.”
“He actually said the word might?” James asked. “I might not hurt you?”
Charlie nodded.
“What an arsehole,” James said. “Preying on Tommy’s emotions. Probably got his jollies off over it, too.”
“It worked. Scared the shit out of him. He did what he was asked.”
“Did Tommy say anything about the car?” I asked. “Inside? Outside? Color? Make? Model?”
Smoke and Mirrors (Sloane Monroe Book 8) Page 12
