“I think so,” Cronin said. “We came to an understanding.”
Bud tapped the frame of the door as he walked out and went to his desk. As he reached his desk, Paul walked in.
As Paul sat down, he spoke, saying, “Sherry is going to be released tomorrow. Isn’t that great news?”
“Yes,” Bud replied.
“Listen,” Paul replied, “I think you and I need to go over all our notes and make sure we both know the same things. You have been off doing things as I have, and we need to get together and match a few things up.”
Bud had been scribbling with his pencil on his desk when he suddenly stopped and started to speak. “I think we do, I agree, but the key to this is the girl, not Rachelle, not Deborah or that asshole Simpson or even the bitch we just let get out on bail. The girl can ruin them.”
“Them?” Paul said.
“Yes,” Bud said, “them.”
“I agree,” Paul replied, “but to a point. Releasing Saunders will move things along faster.”
“And who,” Bud replied, “is going to keep an eye on her? We have 24/7 on Lindsey, Rachelle, Deborah, and your father in Florida, and now this. And more important, we have a masked killer eliminating the bad guys.”
Paul moved forward and said, “How do you know he’s not eliminating partners? The pot is only $3 million. The masked killer has eliminated Starfield, the three Winters brothers, and Anderson. There’s a big savings in killing five partners.”
“Yes,” Bud replied. “He lets Deborah, Rachelle, and Sherry live, and it’s fair to say he saved their lives. Doesn’t sound like the same person to me.”
“Unless,” Paul answered, “he wanted us to have the conflict and the confusion.”
“Or,” Bud said as he looked at Paul, “someone wanted to frame him.”
Paul started to feel the sweat on the back of his head as he answered Bud, saying, “Do you really think someone would go to that much trouble?”
“I think,” Bud said, “a killer would.”
He picked up the phone and dialed the lab and left it on speakerphone so Paul could hear him.
“Hey, Ross. This is Bud Johnson. The video we have of the masked killer from the hospital in the Kyle Winters killing. You indicated from the body structure and height that it’s possible it was Phil Smith.”
“Yes,” came the reply.
“OK, I’m going to give you additional names.”
“OK,” Ross replied.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes,” the lab technician replied. “Go ahead.”
“Myself,” Bud continued, “Kevin Cronin, Paul Powers.”
“Sir?” Ross interrupted.
“It’s OK,” Bud answered as he looked at his partner, “it’s all in a day’s work. Robert Simpson, Al Simmons, Agent Jason 'Jack’ O’Connor, Agent Sherman, Officer Healey. Any questions?” Bud asked.
“Only a comment,” Ross answered. “I can eliminate you, Sherman, and Cronin right away because of obvious body structure, weight, and the age of Cronin. There is no way at the age of 48 he could perform some of the things I saw on the video, and certainly not as quickly.”
As Bud continued to eye Paul out of the corner of his eye, he said, “Are you saying I’m too chunky to be the masked killer?”
“Well,” Ross replied, “that’s a nice way of putting it.”
“OK, so take a closer look at Simmons, Powers, Healey, Simpson, and O’Connor for possible matches.”
The lab technician replied, “I’m also going to eliminate Simmons because he was too thin and a bit too tall. I will study the photos of Simpson, Powers, O’Connor, and Healey and get back to you.”
Bud replied, “Also add Lynagh and ADA Ashley to the list.” The phone went click as Bud looked at Paul.
Paul got up and said, “I’m leaving. I hope you’re proud of yourself for wasting taxpayers’ dollars.”
He started to walk toward Cronin’s office, when Bud yelled, “I gave my name as well as yours. I have to tell you, I don’t agree the one going around shooting people is the same person. They can’t be that smart. The victims being killed by the Ghost Face mask killer are the bad guys. These are vigilante killings in response to what happened to Deborah and Rachelle. What better vigilante person than someone in law enforcement who doesn’t want to see a long trial or their loved ones go through suffering on the witness stand? I think you know I may be right.”
As Paul stepped into Cronin’s office, he turned and looked at Bud, saying, “Knock yourself out.”
Paul began to get lightheaded as he sat down in Cronin’s office. “Are you OK?” his boss asked.
“I’ll be fine,” Paul answered. “I want to talk more about what happened in the courtroom today, and I’m not discussing it with Bud right now, so let’s talk.”
Patty Saunders left the Riverhead Correctional Facility and raised her hands above her head and started yelling about the fresh air.
“Don’t get too excited,” Al Simmons said. “You have an ankle monitor on you, and they will be able to tell if you leave the Port Jefferson area. Even now, you have two hours to get there before they come looking for you and throw your ass back in lockup. So what are you going to do first?” he asked.
“Hmmm,” she said. “That’s easy. I need to get laid quick, before I bust.”
“Well,” he replied, “good luck. You will have to take off your bulletproof vest for that.”
“Ha, ha,” she replied, “no kidding.”
As they were talking, Officer George Lynagh walked up to them and said, “Ma’am, I’m here to take you to your apartment.”
“Oh, thank you, Officer,” she replied. “Do you have any plans later?”
“I’m a married man,” he replied.
“Oh, even better,” she said as she looked back at Simmons with a wink.
“Hold on,” O’Connor yelled to Patty as she was walking. Simmons also walked toward Patty to be sure there were no issues with the FBI. Agent Sherman was also present as O’Connor began to speak. O’Connor said, “Ms. Saunders, you are the instigator in a major kidnapping trial that involves the states of New York and Connecticut. It is the FBI that will be keeping an eye on you, not the Suffolk County Police Department. Just be aware of it.”
“Whatever,” Patty remarked. “Who’s taking me home?”
“I am,” Lynagh said. “You guys want to watch her, go ahead, but
I have my orders, and they’re not from you,” he said as he gently put his hand on Patty and steered her toward the car.
Sherman spoke, saying, “Sounds like you need an attitude adjustment, Officer Lynagh.”
“Give it your best shot,” the cop replied. “After all, I’m only part of the Suffolk County Police Department. You should be able to handle that.” He got in the cruiser to drive to Patty’s apartment in Port Jefferson.
As Patty sat in the backseat she suddenly realized there was a cell phone in her pants pocket. Lynagh was already on the expressway, heading west, when Patty was still wondering where she had gotten the cell phone. Her thoughts were filled with confusion and apparently had seen too many movies because she promptly reached from the backseat and threw it out onto the Long Island Expressway from Lynagh’s window.
“What the hell was that?” Lynagh spoke up.
“I threw out a cell phone,” Patty answered.
Lynagh pulled over his cruiser and turned around. “You listen to me. You don’t throw anything from this vehicle. If you can’t follow directions or stop from doing dumb things like that, I will turn around and take your ass back to Riverhead. I don’t give a shit what the judge says. Do you understand me? Now why are you throwing out a cell phone on the highway?”
“Because I don’t know how I got it, and I was afraid.”
Lynagh started backing up his cruiser at a fast speed in the emergency lane to the approximate place
she had thrown out the phone, then got out of the car and looked at Patty. He said, “You stay in this car, or I will make your release a living hell.” He locked her in the vehicle, took out his shotgun, and opened up his badge as he started motioning for cars to stop.
Another police cruiser happened to drive up within a couple minutes from the courthouse and assisted Lynagh is stopping traffic before the cell phone was run over. The second cruiser parked sideways on the Long Island Expressway, and the officer got out of the car to hold traffic. Lynagh had his shotgun because he wanted to be more intimidating to the drivers to get them to cooperate with him, and he was right. Pointing at them with one hand and holding the shotgun in the other worked. His dark sunglasses were the icing on the cake. They all were at a standstill as the traffic backed up about 200 yards very quickly.
Officer Lynagh’s persistence paid off. He had searched the open area of the Long Island Expressway but continued toward the parked cars in the lanes. He searched the first few rows of the vehicles that were at a standstill and feared one of them had run over the cell phone. As he searched through the vehicles with his eyes to the ground, with quick glances at who was in the cars. It was the shotgun he was carrying that had everyone’s attention. It was a very intimidating sight as he brushed aside each of the cars. Having a second officer parked in the middle of the Expressway holding another shotgun was only an added form of intimidation.
Officer Lynagh made it to the sixth row of vehicles and located the cell phone about two inches from one of the tires of the vehicle. He picked it up and opened it up to see if it worked, and thanks to the leather cover, it still operated properly. He thanked the assisting officer as he ran back to his cruiser. He sat in the cruiser and called in to Bud about what had happened, and in turn Bud went into Cronin’s office to let him know what had happened.
Paul was still there talking to him as Cronin answered Bud, saying, “Tell Lynagh to give the phone back to Patty to use, bring her home, and then get some sleep before his 2:00 am shift tonight.”
“The FBI also told Lynagh that they will be watching Patty, not the Suffolk County Police Department,” Bud replied.
“OK,” the detective lieutenant replied. “Sounds good to me.”
“Very good,” Bud replied as he shut the door.
“Getting interesting, isn’t it?” Cronin said as he looked at Paul.
Lynagh sat there to be sure the assisting officer moved his cruiser out of the middle of the Long Island Expressway without any incidents. Once Officer Waters turned his vehicle around and waved to Lynagh, he turned on his cruiser and waited a couple minutes before moving. He was surprised how a five-minute delay looked like it caused a backup of more than 100 vehicles.
He turned around to Patty and said, “This is your cell phone.
Please keep it on you. Someone has gone to the trouble to be able to reach you if they need you.”
“That’s why I threw it away in the first place, genius,” Patty remarked.
Lynagh kept looking straight ahead as he said, “You were released on bail to help us catch a killer, not have a vacation. Keep the cell phone.”
Patty became silent and didn’t say another word as Lynagh started up the car and drove back to the village that had become famous throughout the nation. It took Officer Lynagh about 25 minutes to reach the Fairview Apartments. He escorted her to her apartment and looked around to be sure there were no problems.
“I think you are OK,” he told her. “If you decide to go out, remember to wear your vest.”
“Wait,” she said. “Will they be able to tell if I’m having sex with an ankle monitor on?” Lynagh didn’t smile but answered, “Why don’t you let me know next time I see you.”
As Lynagh left the front door of her apartment building, he noticed there was an unmarked car about 60 yards to the right. There was no doubt in his mind it was the feds. “You can have her,” he said aloud to himself as he got to the car. He was now alone in the car and he did what was requested of him directly from Cronin in a text.
“Officer Lynagh, before you hand over the phone to Patty Saunders, get the number for me, and tell no one.”
Lynagh texted the number of the cell phone directly to Cronin’s phone. He turned on his vehicle and, instead of driving out of the complex, made a u-turn and drove up alongside where the unmarked vehicle was. He rolled down his window as he pulled out his 9mm Glock and kept it on his lap. There were two men in the vehicle.
“What’s up, boys?” Lynagh spoke. The two men looked at each other like it was beneath them to even speak to a Suffolk County police officer.
Finally one of them spoke up, saying, “FBI surveillance of Patty Saunders.”
“How about some identification?” Lynagh spoke again.
“Are you busting our balls?” the other man asked.
Lynagh smiled and said, “No, sir. I dropped Ms. Saunders off from the courthouse, and before I leave I want to be certain she is safe.”
“And if I don’t feel like it?” the man in the passenger seat answered. Lynagh took a deep breath then looked back at the two men. This time he had no smile.
He said, “Then I will think you are not part of the FBI, and you don’t want me thinking that, because then we will have a problem. Identification please.”
The two men looked at each other again and went into their lightweight jackets as Lynagh raised his 9mm toward the bottom of the window. Their identifications came out of their pockets as they extended their arms out of the window.
“Thank you, sirs,” Lynagh said. “You have a nice rest of the day now, you hear.”
As he pushed the button to raise his window and drive away, he muttered “assholes” to himself. He pulled out of the complex and drove to Crystal Brook Hollow Road to get some sleep before his shift that night at the Wilkerson home. His house was only about eight minutes away from the house on Bell Circle in Belle Terre. He arrived at his house and figured if he got four to five hours of sleep he would be OK for the 2:00 am shift so Healey could get some shuteye. He checked his phone to be sure there were no messages from anyone before he shut it off.
Bud was watching Fox News from the precinct and was getting ready to leave when he looked at the bottom of the screen of the television. It showed 5:04 pm, and he looked at his watch, which said 5:02 pm. Lindsey had been right, it was two minutes off. He was shaking his head when he told Cronin he was going home to get some shuteye before he headed over to the Wilkerson home about midnight. If Healey could get six hours of sleep between Bud and Lynagh relieving him, he thought it would be a big help to the officer who had Lindsey’s life in his hands.
“Where’s Paul?” he asked Cronin.
“He needed to take care of some things,” the boss answered. “What about the ballistics on Allan?”
“He gave them to me,” Cronin answered. “.22 caliber shot from about two feet away. A gun from Ohio, bought by a man in 2006 that somehow ended up dead here on Long Island last year.”
“Names?” Bud asked.
“We are checking, won’t know ’til morning, computers are down.”
Bud said good night as Cronin held a paper in his hand. The computers were not down. He looked at the name on the piece of paper; it was all starting to come together. As Bud walked past his desk, he stopped Officer Henderson to contact Fun World to send over images of every costume they had associated with the Ghost Face mask. He wanted to take a look at the differences in the styles based on what was sold in stores everywhere and the one from the hospital video. He got in his car and sent Deborah a text before starting the car.
He wrote, “I hope you are OK and I can speak to you soon!”
She answered him within minutes, writing, “I miss talking to you. I look forward to being able to come home.”
He pulled over his car to text back to her, typing, “Me too!”
He reached his apartment, took a shower
, and climbed into bed for a three-hour nap. Usually he would be texting or calling Paul, but he didn’t want to. He felt a change in the air. He wasn’t comfortable about how he was feeling. He didn’t feel the need to call him, and evidently Paul felt the same way. He laid in his bed for more than an hour before he dozed off.
The Wilkerson home was in good hands. Officer Dugan was sitting in his cruiser looking at the beautiful homes in this tiny village. He scanned all the yards and looked at every vehicle that drove by. Every hour or so he would get out of the car with his shotgun and walk a bit just to stretch his legs. He would even call Healey in the house just to tease him that he had gotten the better end of the deal.
On the inside, the Wilkerson family was having dinner at the kitchen table, but only after Healey had moved the portion of the table they would be sitting at away from the window. Healey also sat about 12 feet away from them, just in case there were any problems. It was Lindsey who kept bringing food over to him. She was almost motherly to him, the way she wanted to please him.
“I’m OK, Lindsey,” he said, and smiled at her.
Both her parents were surprised at how well Lindsey was handling all of this but felt she truly felt protected by his presence.
After they finished dinner, Lindsey wanted to watch the History Channel but decided not to. When asked why she had changed her mind, she told Officer Healey that she had enough on her mind for now and did not want another 60 minutes of history in her head forever.
He raised his eyebrows as if to say he almost didn’t believe her, but based on everything he had seen, he gave her the benefit of the doubt. He got up and looked out the window and saw a shadow on the front lawn. He picked up his shotgun and sent Dugan a text to wave if it was him. A few seconds later Dugan waved at the front window. Healey sent him a note to text from then on when he was taking a walk.
Cronin was still in his office at 7:00 pm when he contacted Assistant District Attorney Ashley. He gave him the cell phone number that found its way to Patty after she was released from the correctional facility.
The Face of Fear: A Powers and Johnson Novel Page 42
