by Jan Graham
Once his mother disappeared into the distance, he stood quietly and collected his thoughts. It was time to move on to step two. He didn’t like involving Ms. McCabe in all this, but he needed some emotional support to get through it all. If he had to walk into the police station and talk to a stranger, Patrick knew he’d chicken out. If he spoke to Steve at Rhia’s house then he’d be less nervous. Of course he’d eventually be taken to the station and charged, formally interviewed, and assigned counsel. The initial confession though, would have been conducted on more friendly ground.
He hoped Rhia wouldn’t be too disappointed in his actions. What she thought was important to him. She’d helped his mother without question and supported his attempts at getting a scholarship. He wasn’t going to tell her about the trouble he’d gotten into immediately. He’d wait for Steve to arrive before he said anything. Rhia would find out what was going on soon enough.
He stopped at the bakery and brought a cake to say thank you for all she’d done to help him. He hoped she wouldn’t be upset that she’d spent the afternoon eating cake with a murderer.
He mulled the word over in his head. He hadn’t thought of it until now but that was exactly what he was…a murderer. He’d killed people, indirectly as it was. He had been instrumental in the recent deaths within their community. Murder by proxy, wouldn’t that look good on a resume?
“Patrick, you didn’t need to bring cake.” As always, Rhia seemed pleased to see him.
Apart from his mother, she was the only person who didn’t make him feel nervous when he was with her. He thought back to Harper. Despite her friendly demeanor, he’d always been awkward around her. That should have been an indication he shouldn’t trust her.
“I wanted to say thank you for all your help and I was hoping to be able to stay until Superintendent Jax arrived home. I was hoping to speak to him about something. I thought cake could fill in the afternoon.”
“Well it’s a lovely idea and the second surprise a man has given me today. Look at these.” Rhia pointed to the beautiful flowers and teddy bear sitting on her table. “They’re from Steve, He’s so sweet.”
Patrick placed the boxed cake on the coffee table and sat down on the sofa while Rhia went to the kitchen to make coffee and get plates and a knife to cut the cake. He stared at the two dozen long-stemmed roses in the beautiful glass vase that sat on her dining table. The large brown teddy bear sitting next to them actually looked like it was smiling at him. Patrick wasn’t sure how much it all cost, but he knew it was out of his price range. It was nice to see Steve obviously cared about Rhia. A woman like Rhia deserved a good man in her life. He’d always be there, protecting her, making sure she was okay. That was how love was meant to be. The card said he loved her more than life. Patrick hoped he’d feel love like that one day, although he doubted it. He’d be in prison for a long time, and by the time he got out, it would be too late for love.
“Can you see who that is please, Patrick?” Rhia called from the kitchen.
The knock on the door was loud. He assumed it wasn’t going to be Steve. The card had indicated he wouldn’t arrive home until later. He’d barely unlatched the wooden door when it flung back into him with force. He heard the shocked, angry words as he grabbed for the door and tried to push it back in his father’s face. He must have followed him to Rhia’s.
“Get out of my fucking way, boy.” Kevin growled the words as he grabbed him by the throat and pushed him back into the room.
Patrick saw the glint of his father’s ring and his fist pulled back ready to strike.
As his father’s hand descended, Patrick angled his head and prepared himself. The fist struck on the outer edge of his cheekbone, closer to his jaw than the temple, which would have knocked him out. Patrick didn’t have quite enough room to adjust his fall perfectly and ended up hitting the corner of the coffee table. By the time his face was against the floor, blood from the cut in his scalp was already pooling on the polished boards.
He remembered all he’d been taught by his mother and the added tips he’d learnt over the years. He’d rolled slightly when he landed, angling his chest and stomach to the floor to cover evidence of breathing. He slowed the breaths in his lungs, kept them shallow so there was hardly any body movement. His eyes were shut lightly, his long fringe partially covering them. If he was lucky, Kevin would assume he was unconscious, and he could wait for an opportunity to assist Rhia if he found her. His father was screaming at him about where Rhia was. He remained motionless.
“You idiot, shut the fuck up. As it is the neighbors have probably already heard you.”
Patrick nearly gasped at the sound of Harper’s voice. “Go and find that interfering little nun. We need to get out of here.”
He could smell Harper’s perfume, she was close to him. She grabbed a fist of hair and lifted his head, stretching his neck back. This was going to hurt. As she left go of his hair he resisted tightening the muscles in his neck. His head slammed to the floor with a loud bang. Yep that hurt. Her fingers pushed into the crease of his neck, obviously feeling for a pulse. There was nothing he could do if she found it, but hopefully she, too, would assume he was unconscious. Harper stopped her search when both Rhia and his father screamed. Well, the noise his father made was more a grunt. There appeared to be a scuffle taking place. He prayed Rhia wouldn’t be injured before he could help her.
“I wouldn’t. And that goes for both of you,” Harper stated coldly. Patrick heard the cocking of a gun. “Step away from her, Kevin, there’s a good boy.”
“The little bitch stabbed me.” Kevin spat the words furiously.
“Yes, I see. Go and get something to stop the bleeding or you can travel in the boot with her to the farmhouse. And be quick about it.” Patrick hoped Rhia had hit something vital when she stabbed his father.
“What have you done to Patrick? Let me see if he’s okay,” Rhia demanded. Patrick heard a few footsteps then Harper spoke again.
“Don’t move, and drop the knife while you’re at it.” Harper sounded like ice. The warmth usually in her voice was gone now. Something hit the floor with a clattering thud.
“I want to check on Patrick.” Rhia sounded insistent.
“No need, he’s dead. I can’t find a pulse. Besides even if he is hanging onto life by a thread, anyone who loses that much blood from a hole in the head is a goner.”
Christ, they think I’m dead.
“It’s a horrible thing to die alone, but that won’t be your fate Ms. McCabe. You’ll be dying with the interfering Superintendent Jax. Won’t that be fun?” Harper’s laugh was eerie and Patrick restrained from shuddering at the sound.
Harper started spitting orders at his father. “Tie her hands. Go and open the boot, and have the tape ready to cover her mouth once she’s hidden in the car.” The farmhouse—they were taking her to the farmhouse. He tried to think through the pounding of his head and face. He could save her. It didn’t matter they were taking her away. She’d be okay. Harper told Rhia that Steve and she would die together. Rhia would be kept alive as long as Steve didn’t show up. That would give Patrick time to think of something, get help, and rescue her. A car door slammed or maybe the boot. They were putting Rhia in the boot. An engine started, a car accelerated. Patrick kept still until the engine faded in the distance. Then he opened his eyes.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Where’s the coffee?” Steve demanded.
Christian didn’t look happy when he reentered the room.
“It’s all over the fucking sidewalk. Tell me, do you often have kids covered in blood deliver packages to the station?” Steve didn’t know how to answer the question Christian asked. “I can tell by the startled look that you don’t. I don’t know whether to say Happy Birthday or Happy Halloween.”
Christian thrust a thick brown envelope toward Steve.
“Fucking hell, get me some gloves,” Steve snapped as he inspected the outstretched parcel. “Tell me exactly what happened.”<
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Carlie handed him a set of latex gloves which he quickly applied before accepting the package from his friend. There were bloody fingerprints on it and just his name printed on the front. He weighed his options. Rip the thing open and hope it didn’t explode in his face, or hand it to the officers trained in forensics who were now standing next to him with their handy little black work kits. He laid the package on the desk and moved aside. Best let the guys do their thing.
“I don’t hear you telling me anything.” Steve turned to Christian.
“It was a skinny kid. He looked a bit frantic. He called out to me as I was coming back inside, asked if I was a Detective. He had blood down the side of his face, on his shoulder. It was caked in his hair. He also had a huge bruise on the side of his face. I dropped the coffee and tried to assist him. He wouldn’t have a bar of it. I said I was a cop, showed the badge, and then he asked if I knew you. When I said yes he handed me that. He said it was evidence that you needed. I tried to get him to come inside and see you. He swore and didn’t seem happy you weren’t in the city anymore. I asked what happened, and he said, ‘Nothing it was just an accident.’ I offered to call an ambulance, get him some help. He wanted nothing to do with me, just kept saying don’t worry about him and give the parcel to you.”
“Hopefully whatever’s inside the envelope will tell us who the kid was because, frankly Christian, your description of him sucked.” Steve didn’t need another mystery today.
Sometimes Steve hated procedure. And he had no idea who the kid was. He instructed one of his team to contact the hospital in the event the kid sought medical treatment and to alert the local patrol officers to be on the lookout for the mystery youth.
“Jesus Christ, how long until I can open that fucking thing up?” Steve snapped.
“You don’t get to open it. We do. Now please get out of the way and let us work.” The forensic officer replied.
He watched as the officers frantically dusted, taped, and generally destroyed the outer surface of the envelope with black powdery shit. The other was taking happy snaps of the process.
“Steve…Steve…where’s Steve?” Patrice, one of his off duty admin workers, came running through the door. “Patrick Johns, I just saw him. He’s covered in blood. He stopped at the traffic lights. I was crossing the road and I saw him. I asked him what happened, and he said he’d seen his father. I tried to get him to come here with me, but he said he couldn’t and drove off.”
“Well, at least we know who our delivery boy was.” He glanced at Carlie, who was calming Patrice. “One of you get out to the Johns’ house, and put out an alert for Kevin in case any of the patrols spot him. I want him arrested.”
Steve couldn’t shake the thought that his day was about to well and truly go to hell. He was never going to make it home tonight if shit kept going down. He needed to get into that parcel. He wanted Harper Roderick so they could get the questioning over and done with. He wanted to hold Rhia, and at the rate everything was going he wouldn’t be home until midnight.
“Open the damn parcel.” He wasn’t sure if his officers were obeying his furiously spat out command or whether that was just the step they were up to in the process, but the envelope was carefully cut open and the contents spread out on the table. “Fucking hell, how did Patrick Johns end up with this?” His question was soon answered as Carlie read the contents of a letter Patrick had enclosed.
I am the chemist Harper Roderick employed to design her drugs.
“Find him. He can’t have gone far. I want Patrick Johns back here within the hour. Is that brother of yours at work today?” He turned his attention to Christian who shook his head as he reached for his phone. “He’ll need medical treatment and a clearance that he’s fit to answer questions before we can talk to him. Get Daniel down here, medical bag in tow.”
Steve looked at his watch. The warrant to search the Roderick home had been granted thirty minutes ago. They should be at the house by now, or very close to it. Carlie was seated at her desk, beginning to catalogue the evidence. Steve watched the video file and smiled. They had everything they needed to nail Harper to the wall. There was no way she wouldn’t be incarcerated for a very long time. He looked at the evidence and couldn’t help but feel sorry for Patrick. Rhia would be distraught when she found out he was involved and hadn’t trusted her enough to ask for help. She’d still help him, because it was in her nature. His motive was documented as trying to make money so his mother and he could get away from Kevin. An admirable reason, but totally misguided. Still, Rhia would understand why he’d done it better than Steve could. She still saw the shades of gray that had long since faded into black or white for him.
As he continued to read, a knot formed in his guts. Harper had convinced Kevin Johns to work with her. They were going to manufacture the drugs together. Patrice said Patrick told her he’d seen his father, and had presumably been beaten by him. He glanced at the time again. Christian’s team would be calling him soon, and Steve knew exactly what they’d report. Harper won’t be at the house because she’s down here with her new partner in crime, Kevin Johns.
His stomach turned over as Christian’s mobile rang. Something was about to go down, and Steve had a feeling he wasn’t going to like it. When Christian made eye contact and indicated they needed to go into Steve’s office, Steve took a deep breath and prepared for the worse.
“She’s not there, but they did find Jaxon MacLeod. He’s being taken to hospital, but they don’t know if he’ll survive.” Christian’s phone rang again. Steve waited. Daniel Shore arrived. He was surprised when Christian walked to the door and beckoned for Daniel to join them. Neither of them needed medical treatment, and technically Daniel shouldn’t be involved in any discussion between Christian and him. Christian ended the call.
“I’ll give you the good news while you’re taking a seat ready for the bad news.” Steve firmed his stance near the desk and refused to sit down. “Have it your way. The good news, one of my detectives just got a confession from one of the workers at the pharmaceutical company we’ve been investigating. He’s been selling small and regular quantities of pseudoephedrine to Elizabeth Hastings.”
Steve didn’t like the pause between the good news and the bad. This was going to be big. He also didn’t like the concerned look on his friend’s face. He held his upright stance, not sure if it was the wisest thing to do.
“And the bad news?” Steve prompted.
“Jaxon MacLeod managed to pass on information before they transported him to hospital. We may have a lead on where Harper is and what she’s planning to do.”
“How is that the bad news?” Steve was getting annoyed.
“Macleod said she was going to kill the cop and…” Christian’s mouth continued to move but no sound appeared to be coming out.
Steve shook his head. He didn’t understand what was going on.
Harper could try and kill him if she liked, but she wouldn’t succeed. Christian’s mouth was still moving. Daniel was now standing beside him, but he couldn’t hear a damn thing. It was like someone had turned the volume down. Steve shook his head and nearly stumbled as Daniel supported him and pushed him onto a seated position on the edge of his desk. He’d missed something important. Christian had left the office and was organizing Steve’s team. They looked like they were getting ready to leave. They all stared at him concerned. He’d definitely missed something, something important.
“Tell me again. What did he say Dan? Tell me again.”
Daniel was taking his pulse. His team was on the way out of the damn building without him, and Daniel was holding his friggin’ hand.
“They asked Jaxon where Harper was.” Daniel paused and Steve nodded. Yes, he’d heard that bit. “He told them she’d gone to kill the cop… and the nun.”
“The nun…that’s…” He took a deep breath. “They’re going to kill Rhia.” Steve started moving for the door. Daniel kept up with him step for step. He was going to kill Christian
for leaving without him, although he understood why he had.
Daniel insisted on driving. Steve agreed that was probably best. The state he was in he’d probably kill them both on the drive over to Rhia’s. They were only a few minutes behind the others, time Steve needed to get a grip on what he was feeling. He’d been here before, a frantic drive to get to the woman he loved. Four years ago, Kathy had been taken. The same names were in play then as well. Except instead of a Hastings threatening to kill Steve’s wife, Adrian was at his side helping to save her.
“We don’t know that anything has happened to her, so try to stay positive.” Daniel’s words were true. He didn’t officially know anything had happened yet. His instincts were telling him differently. Once they arrived at the house and saw the huddle of officers out the front of Rhia’s with Mr. Brooks talking to Carlie, he had all the confirmation he needed. Rhia was gone.
As he approached the house, Christian joined him. Rhia wasn’t inside, which meant she wasn’t dead. If Harper wanted to kill him as well then maybe she would use Rhia as bait to get him into a vulnerable position. Steve agreed with what Christian said. The problem was he was already in a vulnerable position, and by the time he found Harper and Kevin Johns, if they were together, he needed to have overcome the weakness that he was feeling right now.
