Lucy's Chance

by Jackie D

  Erica opened the file she had brought in with her and pulled out a picture of Teresa Ortiz and slid it in front of him. His eyes slid over the photo, an image of Teresa, pale, cold, and dead, her head caved in on one side. She slid another one in front of him, a picture of the body taken where they had found her. It had been her final resting place, a dirt road she had probably never driven down before, surrounded by people she had never met.

  “Never seen her.” His eyes said something different. There was a glimmer of recognition.

  “See, that’s what I figured. I knew my partner was making a mistake. This has Lance written all over it. I mean, these murders, they took planning and dedication. The man who did this needed to be strong, smart, and attractive enough to lure Teresa and Jessica without raising the suspicion of anyone around them.”

  She watched his jaw clench, a flicker of emotion showing in his eyes. Rage. She pulled out a picture of Claudia next, sliding it next to Teresa’s. “These women are young, and whoever killed them would have had to lure them in somehow. I told my partner it wouldn’t have been you. That would be crazy. I mean, no offense, but why would two twenty-somethings go anywhere with you? You’re what?” She pulled up his file, pretending she didn’t have it memorized. “Fifty years old?”

  “It couldn’t have been Lance. That newspaper article said these murders span twenty-five years. He wasn’t even alive when they first happened.” He sat back in his chair, a little smugger than a moment ago.

  “I know. I think he’s a copycat.”

  “That’s absurd.”

  “Is it? Think about it. We haven’t found Jessica yet, so maybe he’s keeping her alive. Maybe he always felt a little burned by her, held on to a bit of animosity. He was just warming up with Claudia and Teresa, making sure he honed his skills for Jessica. The guy who killed those women years ago was obviously a one-off, since he never did it again.”

  As she spoke, he became more and more focused on the photos. His eyes were traveling up and down, in an almost intimate movement. She needed to push him a bit more, see where it led.

  “The way Claudia was left, it was almost like he cared about her. She had been cleaned and laid on the ground like she was resting.”

  “Maybe whoever did this did care about her.”

  There it is. It might only be a slight opening, but she was going to take it. “What makes you say that?”

  “Well, from this picture, her hair is out of her eyes, so he took his time to make sure that happened. She was found in the dirt, but she isn’t all that dirty, so he must have carried her there. I would think someone who does that cared about the person.”

  “Yeah, but he killed her. That’s not how you treat someone you care about.”

  He picked the picture up with both hands, almost reverently. His face flushed a bit, and for a moment, she thought she saw a small inkling of remorse. But just as quickly as it had come, it disappeared. His eyes once again flecked with rage. “Maybe she deserved it.”

  “What could she have done to deserve this?” She motioned to the picture.

  “The devil has infinite ways of enacting retribution. These girls, they run around teasing men, making them think they can have something, and then pull it away from them. I can see where someone would get fed up, want to take matters into his own hands.”

  The way he said it, the way the words rolled off his tongue, full of self-righteousness and entitlement, sent shivers through her body. Her phone vibrated and she pulled it from her pocket. Stein was on her way over. The message said she had more bad news. “I need to take this. I’ll be right back.”

  She walked into the adjoining room, still rubbing her arms. Diego was standing in the same place she had left him, arms still folded across his chest.

  He looked at her and pointed at Frank Wilds through the window. “This sick motherfucker needs to be locked up. He’s holding Jessica and Lucy, and we need to find out where they are. Who knows what he’s done to them.”

  He was right. The thought of anything happening to Lucy was enough to make her want to throw up then and there. She had been trying to keep it out of her mind while talking to him. The only thing holding her together was the knowledge that while he was here with them, he wasn’t with Jessica and Lucy.

  Stein walked into the room, a look of defeat on her face. Erica knew what she was going to say before the words came out of her mouth. “The prints are inconclusive.”

  Erica felt the blood drain from her head. This was not the outcome she had been hoping for. She wanted solid evidence in her hand. She fought the impulse to sit, not wanting to give in to the heavy feeling of failure.

  Years started to flash before her eyes. She pictured nights and days in a world where Lucy no longer existed. An infinite line that stretched on and on, with dimmed colors, without taste, without anything real. A world without Lucy wasn’t a place she ever wanted to exist. Even when they had been apart, just knowing she was out there somewhere brought her a sense of peace. An alternative to that reality wasn’t something she could live with.

  She looked at the chief, who hadn’t yet offered an idea or an alternative to their situation. He stood with his hand over his mouth, staring contemplatively at the monster they finally had trapped, in their grasp, and would have to let go. Sure, at this point, she could come up with something flimsy to search the property, but she wouldn’t get access to all of it. And then if they didn’t find what they were looking for, he would be in the wind, the fate of Jessica and Lucy out of her control.

  No, she wasn’t going to let any of that happen. Playing by the rules hadn’t gotten them anywhere yet. They needed to do something different.

  “Let him go.”

  “What?” Diego yelled at her. “No. No fucking way.”

  “I’m going to go out to the property. I’ll wait for him there. He’s going to go to them. I know he will. He’ll need to see them.” She kept her voice calm, to prove her plan made sense.

  “And then what?”

  “And then I’ll take him in once I’ve seen where he’s keeping them. It’s a stakeout with a clear purpose. Nothing illegal there. I’ll watch him until he goes to them, even if it’s not right away. This is the only way.”

  “I’m going with you,” Stein said from the corner of the room. She stood up straighter.

  “I’m her partner. I’ll go.” Diego put up his hand in protest.

  Erica took a step closer, wanting Diego to hear her words as a friend, not just a cop. “You can’t go. It took everything you had not to shoot him at his house. If you lose your head, this whole thing could blow up.”

  He listened and then glanced over at Stein. “Is your gun qualification up-to-date?”

  Stein patted her hip. “I’m a cop, Rodriguez. Just because I do the crime lab work here too, doesn’t change that. I can do this, and she needs backup.”

  The chief pulled the door open. “If they aren’t there, or if this isn’t our guy, this could be a lawsuit for the department. I’ll have to take disciplinary action.” The door shut behind him. Erica didn’t miss the fact he hadn’t said not to do it.

  “I’ll drop him off at his place in forty-five minutes. If I haven’t heard from you after thirty minutes, I’m coming back to the property to find you. No exceptions.” Diego hugged her. He was warm and strong, and he smelled of the aftershave his wife bought him every year for his birthday. Then he looked over at Stein. “Don’t do anything stupid and don’t get killed.”

  She nodded, a bit surprised those were his only instructions. “Good plan.”

  For the first time since Erica had figured out Lucy was missing, she felt a small sense of relief. They had a plan, and she would stop at nothing to get Lucy and Jessica back. She wouldn’t let her mind wander to the possibilities of what could be happening to either of them. She needed to focus on getting them out as soon as possible. It didn’t matter what her chief had said about Frank Wilds not being their guy. She knew he was; she could feel it in
every nerve ending of her body. He started this, but she was going to end it.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Frank knew the room was purposely kept cold in an attempt to keep whoever was forced to sit in it uncomfortable. Despite this fact, he wasn’t chilled. He looked down at the pictures in front of him, a beautiful display of his hard work for him to remember. These small-town cops were so far off the mark, he almost felt embarrassed for them.

  That bitch cop Erica Chance would probably overrule the only one who seemed to have the slightest bit of wit about him. As if my idiot cousin could have pulled off something of this magnitude. But they would all know soon enough, and they wouldn’t be able to deny his brilliance. Lucy was going to make him immortal. She was going to make sure he was remembered the way he wanted to be, and no one would be able to take that from him. No one would tarnish his accomplishments. And then he would get rid of her. His hands warmed with the thought of taking Lucy’s life away, to watch the spirit drain from her eyes. It would be perfect. Then he would take Jessica and they could disappear together.

  He’d chosen not to ask for a lawyer when they arrested him because he knew damn well they didn’t have a shred of evidence on him. It was only a matter of time before he’d be out of here and back with Jessica. If he’d asked for a lawyer, it would’ve implied he had something to hide, and he didn’t. He’d been right in front of them the whole time and they did nothing. The dumb cops chased their tails, sniffing around, looking for scraps of evidence that never existed. He was no amateur. He had been doing this for decades and across several different states. These small-town cops didn’t have a chance in hell of figuring any of this out.

  Diego walked in, heat and anger bubbling right at the surface. He knew the look well, because he felt it too. He thought about how ironic it was that they shared this commonality. The only thing that separated them was the fact that he had enough balls to act on it. This cop was restrained by the constructs of society, feeling as if he had to live a particular way to be accepted. That very idea went against the most very basic of human instincts. Diego Rodriguez was weak and pathetic. Unlike me.

  “What the fuck are you smiling about?”

  Frank made sure to smile wider. “You.”

  “What about me?”

  “You and I, we aren’t all that different.”

  Diego leaned across the table, getting in his face. “I’m nothing like you.”

  “No? You don’t feel hatred pumping through your veins right now, every nerve ending in your body screaming at you to rip my head off?”

  “You have something to confess, Wilds?”

  He leaned closer to Diego, so close he could see the growing stubble on his cheek. “No, just making a point. We all have forces that drive us, forces beyond our own sense of reason. It’s animalistic, that fury you’re feeling right now. You should embrace it, be a man.”

  He watched as Diego’s fists clenched on the table. “Get up. I’m taking you home.”

  Frank stood, feeling empowered, victorious. “Where’s the woman?”

  “Breakfast.”

  He shoved him out the door and down the hallway toward the parking lot in the back of the building. “Can I expect this harassment to continue, Detective?”

  “No. We have nothing to hold you on.” He took a deep breath. “We’re releasing you, along with an apology.”

  Look at that, I even get an apology. It was poetic really, the police department driving him back to his house. Back to where he kept the very things they sought out so tirelessly. A part of him felt sorry for them. They were tied up, restrained by society’s rules and expectations. They would never know freedom the way he did. The ability to take a human life, to make a decision religious institutions taught only God could make. This will be it. They would leave him alone now. He would have an endless amount of time with Jessica. And Lucy, well, she would be there to document it all.

  * * *

  Erica and Stein worked their way along the fence line outside of his property until they were directly behind the barn. There were a few missing slats along the back of the structure, making it possible to see in. It wasn’t perfect, but it was all they had. From this angle, they’d be able to see his movements inside the barn while still under the cover of the trees and dying shrubs.

  Stein slipped her handgun into its holster as she knelt down next to her. “They’ve got to be in there.”

  Erica wiped the sweat off her forehead but didn’t put away her gun. “I know, but we can’t risk blowing this on a technicality.” She looked down at her watch. “He’ll be here soon.”

  Stein pulled a few of the branches back, then took out a small set of binoculars from her pocket and adjusted the sight. “I hope you’re right about this.”

  “I am.” She looked over at her, briefly breaking her focus from the barn. “Thanks for coming, by the way. You didn’t have to do that.”

  “Don’t get all sentimental,” she whispered. “I would have done it for any cop.”

  “I know, but you did it for me and I wanted to thank you.”

  “You’re not getting soft on me are you, Chance?”

  “Nope.”

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “Would we be here if we were just coming for Jessica, or are we here because of Lucy?”

  Erica considered this question for a moment. Lucy was in danger, she could feel it, and she knew somewhere deep down in a place she couldn’t identify, that this man had her. The very thought of it made her blood pump with a fury she had never experienced. But was Lucy more important than Jessica? No, there were people in this world that needed Jessica to exist, the same way she needed Lucy to exist. “I’d be here either way.”

  Stein watched her face, probably trying to decide if she was telling the truth. “Good, I would hate to be caught up in some insane romantic gesture.”

  “Shh. I hear a car.”

  They waited for what seemed like ages. The smell of dirt and foliage tickled her nose. Erica looked down at her watch for the ninth or tenth time. All she could assume was that Frank was waiting to make sure Diego was truly gone before coming into the barn. And he would, especially with his renewed confidence that the police were on the wrong track. He would be here soon. Unless we’re wrong, and it’s not the barn he’s using after all. Ten acres was a lot of land, but she couldn’t imagine him keeping them far from his house. He’d want control, and that meant having them nearby and isolated.

  Just when she was beginning to formulate a new plan, they heard the sound of boots kicking through dirt, moving closer to them. Erica and Stein watched him move through the barn and over to the corner, where he pulled a tarp off a table and then slid it out of the way. Then he pulled open a large metal door and headed down a flight of stairs and out of sight.

  She squeezed her fingers tighter around her gun. I was right, you son of a bitch. She felt the thrum of adrenaline start to pump through her body. They were minutes and feet away from putting an end to this nightmare. She wanted to get closer. She needed to hear what was going on down there without putting Jessica or Lucy in danger. Knowing Diego, he wasn’t far away, and when she didn’t check in, he’d be there in an instant as backup. Sweat slid down her back and arms, cooling her heated body. She felt sharp, focused, and determined. This ends now.

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Lucy heard the door open and was surprised by the amount of light that poured into the makeshift dungeon. Her eyes had adjusted hours ago, and she was forced to squint at their captor.

  “Sorry it took me so long to get back down here. I got held up.” He moved toward Jessica. “Are you enjoying your present?”

  She nodded, moving closer to Lucy.

  Lucy stepped farther in front of her. “Why don’t you let her go and I’ll stay with you. I’ll write your story and then I’ll go with you, wherever you want. You don’t need her. I’m the one who can preserve your legacy.”

  He la
ughed, a fully belly laugh, the kind that takes over your whole body and brings tears to your eyes. “Why would I ever want to do that? Look at her, she’s perfect.” He reached to touch her, and Jessica moved farther behind Lucy.

  “No one is going anywhere.”

  The statement came from Erica. Lucy would have recognized the voice anywhere. It was strong and determined. It was exactly what Lucy had been begging whatever gods existed to hear.

  Frank’s face momentarily froze. Then, within a heartbeat, he was behind Lucy, a gun against her temple. The steel was cold against her face and the pressure instantly made her head throb.

  Stein came down the stairs after Erica, gun already drawn and pointed in their direction. She stood next to Erica, trained on the same target. “Jessica, come over here. It’s time to go.”

  Lucy looked over at Jessica. Her eyes were filled with panic, and she looked frozen to the spot. “Go. You have to go.”

  Frank pushed the gun harder into her temple. Her ears were buzzing and her head was swimming. She was terrified and relieved at the same time. Her instincts were telling her to run, but she willed her body to stay in place, not wanting to make the wrong move and put everyone in more danger.

  He looked at Jessica. “If you go with them, I’ll kill her.”

  Erica took a step forward. “And then I’ll kill you.”

  He laughed, gripping Lucy’s arm harder and shoving her forward. “But can you get me before I get them both, Detective? I don’t think you can, and I don’t think you’ll risk it.”

  “You’re out of your league, Wilds. There are going to be police all over the place in about five minutes. You have nowhere to go.”

  He bounced on the balls of his feet, shaking Lucy as he did it. “Let them come. It will be too late!” He said it with such force, spit sprayed from his mouth.

  Stein moved to her right, putting distance between her and Erica, getting closer to Lucy. Her movements were fluid and practiced. “I have a shot.”