by AJ Basinski
I was surprised to see that Shipley had left his computer turned on. I hit the file icon and typed in the name “Sullivan,” hoping to find out about Shipley’s investigation. Nothing turned up. I tried a few more searches but nothing of any interest turned up. Nada. I was about to give up when I saw a couple of flash drives sitting in a candy dish on his desk. I popped one in the USB port. I was disappointed again. It was a shopping list for Publix. But when I put the second one in the drive, I hit paydirt.
What came up astounded me. Rather than an investigative file, a diary appeared on the computer monitor. I read through the entire document. It was the diary of a madman, a madman who had killed two and probably three people. It was Ed Shipley’s diary.
The diary confirmed my worst fears: Shipley was a cold-blooded murderer who would probably kill Sun Li unless I got to her first.
What I saw on that computer was bone-chilling. It was Shipley’s confession to murder, told in the most mundane way. It began simply, “I killed two people today. Helluva way to start the New Year.” Those two people were Mike Sullivan and Amanda Blakely.
According to Shipley’s narrative which went on for some five single spaced pages, Shipley had received an anonymous phone call around Thanksgiving accusing his wife of having an affair. Shipley at first refused to believe it but did question his wife who denied any affair. He did notice his wife was often on the phone late into the night so his suspicions continued to grow.
On Christmas day, Shipley found a gift under the tree addressed to “MS” that had the phrase “With all my love forever” written on the gift tag. When his wife spotted the box, she immediately removed it and he never saw it again. Shipley knew then that the anonymous caller had been correct.
Shipley wrote that he made a decision not to confront his wife that Christmas day, but he knew he had to find out who this “MS” was and deal with him. He was well aware of Mike Sullivan and his long series of conquests. He was the only man he could think of who had those initials, “MS.”
It seems that Shipley tracked Sullivan down at the Xanadu bed and breakfast, where he was staying. He went to his room and confronted him. Shipley thought there was no one else in the house. According to Shipley’s account, when he pulled out his gun, “Sullivan started begging for his life like some sniveling little kid.”
Shipley writes that it was at this point that Amanda came into the room. He then wrote “Then it all happened. I shot them both. Blood spattered everywhere in the room. Both of them fell to the floor moaning. I could see the looks of disbelief on both of their faces as they lay there on the oriental carpet. I had to finish both of them off with a second bullet. It was the humane thing to do.”
“Humane thing to do!” What kind of monster was this Shipley? Who calls cold-blooded murder, “humane?
It told a gory, spine-chilling story. As I read the diary, everything began to jell in my head. The Cuban gold and all this stuff about the CIA were just diversions. Shipley had been adamant about what a low life Sullivan was. He told me how he was fooling around with a lot of women on the island. Shipley believed that Sullivan was fooling around with his wife and killed him because of that. Only one problem, as I had just seen at Shipley’s house, it appeared that Shipley’s wife was actually having an affair with the maintenance man at the Bed and Breakfast, Mike Schafer, who just happened to have the same initials as Mark Sullivan, “MS.” A squirmy little guy like Schafer, I’m sure that Shipley never had reason to suspect him, probably never even gave any thought to him since he was so fixated on Sullivan.
The diary also explains that Shipley kidnapped Sun Li in order to try to get me off the island. He thought that if she was gone, I would leave also. When that didn’t work, he decided to get me back involved in the investigation and then set me up for killing as well. And somehow he persuaded or helped Zeke Chandler kill himself after using Zeke to help with the disposal of the bodies of Sullivan and Amanda as well as the kidnapping of Sun Li. The bastard.
I had to find Shipley and find him right away.
I knew there was no point getting Janosz involved at this time. I was on my own.
Chapter 48
As I was finishing reading Shipley’s diary in all its ugly details, my cell phone rang.
“Mario, I just wanted to say ‘Hello.’” I recognized Shipley’s gravelly voice immediately on the other end of the line. It sounded like he had been gargling with razor blades. It was unmistakable.
I could not believe that Shipley actually was calling me. But I knew one thing: I had to make sure that I did nothing that would put Sun Li in any further jeopardy if he was holding her as I suspected and if she was still alive. I was sure that if I was able to find him, I would also find Sun Li.
“Ed, where the hell are you?” I said without any kind of preliminary greeting. This was not the time for any niceties. I had to find Sun Li. I had to.
“I thought you might be interested in knowing my whereabouts, Mario. Particularly because I have someone with me who you might be interested in.”
“You touch her and you’re a dead man.”
“Hold on, Mario. Don’t get excited. Your little China doll is fine.”
“How do I know that?” I pressed Shipley. “Let me speak with her.”
“All in good time, Mario. All in good time. For now you have my guarantee. It’s as good as gold. Cuban gold,” he laughed. “Yeah, Cuban gold.”
I was under no illusions. I knew he was capable of just about any type of atrocity since he had already killed two, maybe three people in cold blood and kidnapped Sun Li.
“You know, Mario,” he continued. “I just about shit a brick when I saw you in the lobby of the Bonita Inn the day that Sullivan’s body was found in Palm Island Sound I just could not believe my bad luck. Not only did his body turn up, against all odds, Lieutenant Mario Morales, of all people, the best damn homicide detective I ever worked with, turns up on Palm Island. Unbelievable.”
I decided silence was my best option and let Shipley ramble on.
Shipley was more than willing to talk now, “You know what, I thought you had somehow been hired by my wife to investigate the disappearance of Sullivan. For years, I would tell my wife what a great detective you were when we worked together. Mario, seriously, I was always hoping that I would someday become as good a detective as you. As I’m sure you know by now from reading my diary, that bastard, Sullivan, was having an affair with my wife.”
Shipley’s voice rose as he said this last statement. I had to keep him talking. And he did continue.
“I made up my mind right then and there when I saw you that first day that the only way I could keep an eye on you was to get you involved in the investigation of the murder of Sullivan. You know what they say, ‘keep your friends close to you and your enemies even closer.’ My strategy worked for a while, but I should have realized that eventually you would see right through it.”
I realized I had to be careful what I said now since obviously he had Sun Li and the last thing I wanted to do is to put her in any more jeopardy than she already was in. So I paused before I said anything, carefully choosing my words. “Ed, I think the wisest thing for you to do now is to turn yourself in. Let’s face it, the jig is up. I’ve read your diary. I know you were involved in the murders of Mark Sullivan, Amanda Blakely and probably Zeke Chandler.”
“Mario, you really surprise me. Do you really think that I’m that stupid? If I turn myself in, I’m in for the death penalty for sure. There is no way I’m going to give up that easily. By the way, wasn’t that diary thrilling? My deputy called me to tell me that you came into the office looking for me. When I drove by the office a little later I saw your white Mustang parked in front. I figured by then you had found the diary.”
I was becoming more desperate by the minute.
“You had better not have done anything to Sun Li. If you have, you will not have to worry about the death penalty because I will personally kill you if I ever see you again.
” I realized I probably should not have said that but I had to make it clear that I wanted to make sure Sun Li was safe.
“Ha ha, that’s a very weak response, Mario. I’m actually a little disappointed. You have no idea where I am. So this bravado is just a meaningless gesture on your part. But I will tell you again that Sun Li is safe. She is my guarantee that nothing will happen to me.”
I knew that I had to act quickly.
“Where the hell are you?” I blurted out.
Surprisingly, he answered right away. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s play this little game out to its ultimate conclusion. I’m in this partially built mansion over here near the Calusa Indian settlement and not far from the Bonita Inn. Can you get over here right away?”
I knew this was my only chance. “Sure” I said.
“You know where it is, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I know where it is. I’ve driven past it a number of times since I have been on the island.”
“So come alone and no back up or you will never see your little China doll alive again.” With that he hung up the phone.
Chapter 49
It was obvious that Shipley knew exactly what he was doing. He had me in a bind. I knew that if I contacted Janosz and had him follow me in, he would not hesitate to kill Sun Li. Having read his diary, I had no doubt about that. So, in the end, I felt I had no choice. I would go it alone and hope I could save Sun Li.
I drove as quickly as I could to the site of the large mansion that was being built near the ancient, sacred Indian shell mounds. The mansion was only half-built and it was very dark when I got there. I parked the Mustang out front, just off the road. I couldn’t see anything at first as I walked carefully towards the structure on a gravel path. Then a bright light was shined in my face, completely blinding me and disorienting me.
“Welcome, my friend.” It was Shipley, of course.
“Can you turn that goddam light off?” I shouted.
“In a minute.”
“Where is Sun Li?”
“Don’t you worry, you’ll see her soon enough.”
“Put your hands on top of your head and follow the gravel path into the garage.”
The light went off as suddenly as it had come on and I did as I was told. When I got to the garage door, it suddenly opened. Once the door was opened, I could see Sun Li sitting in a chair next to a small round table with a lamp on top of it. I wanted immediately to rush over to her, but I knew that was the last thing I should do now. The thick metal garage door then closed behind me with a loud crash. There were no windows on the door and once inside, I could see that we were in what looked like an underground bunker, just the three of us. The room was made of concrete blocks and looked more like a bomb shelter than a garage. There did not appear to be another door into the room, but I knew Shipley had somehow slipped in while I was walking up the gravel path so I knew there had to be another entrance somewhere.
Sun Li had her hands and feet bound with duct tape, so that she was unable to move. Shipley had also taped her mouth shut. I could see the fear in her eyes. Shipley stood behind her and had a large Bowie knife right up against her throat. He was holding her hair in the air as if he was going to cut off her head like one of those ISIS terrorists had done to innocent civilians in Iraq and Syria.
I knew that I had to act quickly or she would be dead. I wondered if Shipley remembered that I carried my Walther underneath my flowered, Hawaiian shirt. That was the advantage of wearing an untucked tourist’s shirt.
“Can I put my hands down now?
“I don’t think so. Keep them right where they are. God damn you, Mario, I never thought for a moment that you would consider me to be a suspect. I thought for sure that I could keep you under control as long as you were with me. Obviously, I was wrong."
“That’s what paranoia does to you,” Shipley continued. “Piece of advice for you, Mario, never let paranoia get the best of you. I had this crazy idea in my head that you had come to the island specifically to look for Sullivan. You see, I knew about your reputation for getting to the bottom of murders and missing people and I guess I just thought you were here for that reason—to look for Sullivan. And the girl, I thought she was just a cover. You know, it was me who shot at you with the Uzi in Miami at Domino Park a few days ago. I didn’t really intend to kill you, just scare the shit out of you. I thought you would just decide to drop the whole thing and stay back in Miami on your frigging cruise ship. Obviously, I misjudged you.”
“You had it all wrong. I never had any intention to get involved in the murder investigation or the disappearance of Sullivan. If you hadn’t asked me to join the investigation with you, I was more than happy to let it go and leave it all up to you. You miscalculated big time, didn’t you? You probably would have been scot free. And I’m sure that you also tried to run me off the road the other night.”
“Yeah, that time, I did intend to kill you, you lucky bastard. If that guy in the other car hadn’t come along when he did, you would be dead right now.”
“Look, Ed" I said. “You still have a chance to make it out of here alive."
"I intend to do just that. And you are going to help me, you bastard."
I knew I had to control my anger. I knew that Shipley was trying to get to me. "What the hell kind of help are you expecting from me?"
"I suspect that you will do just about anything to protect and save your lovely Chinese girlfriend."
He was right, of course. It was obvious to me that Shipley had the upper hand. I saw no choice but to cooperate with Shipley’s demands, whatever they might be--- or at least give the appearance of cooperation.
"You still haven't told me what you want," I said.
“I want a helicopter to take me and Sun Li off this island. And most importantly, if you want to ever see Sun Li again, I also want a guarantee that no one else will follow me."
“How am I supposed to do that" I asked Shipley.
"You had better find a way if you want your Chinese girlfriend to leave here alive"
"I need to find a helicopter and the pilot. That’s going to take some time."
"You have exactly two hours."
"Two hours? How in hell can you expect me to do all that in two hours?"
"That is your problem, Mario. Just do it!” Shipley laughed a creepy laugh that came from deep in his diaphragm. It sounded like that laugh in that scene in a movie where the actor Richard Widmark pushes an old lady in a wheelchair down a set of steps and then laughs demonically.
“By the way, Mario, you’ve just used up ten minutes of your two hours. Let me suggest you get going. Chop, Chop. “
“I’m curious, before I leave,” I said. “Just one question. Why did you kill Sullivan? I know you thought he was having an affair with your wife, but did you have to kill him?”
“I never intended to kill him, I swear to God. I’d been looking for him for several days. He must have known I was looking for him as he made himself scarce on the island, but eventually I tracked him down to the B&B. I was just going to try to scare him, maybe pistol whip him a little bit—or maybe a lot. But he began sniveling like a baby when I confronted him and something happened. He reached for his gun in his duffle bag, but I was quicker and got there first. You know, back when we were working homicide together in LA, how some of the sonsabitches we arrested for murder would say they didn’t remember pulling the trigger when they shot their husbands or wives during some sort of domestic dispute?”
“Sure,” I said. Like most cops, I never believed that defense for a second, but, you know, sometimes juries did believe it.
“Well, Mario, it’s true, at least in my case, it’s true. We always thought these poor bastards were just making it up as a cover story to justify their actions. I can tell you now, that’s what really happened here. I shot him before I even realized what was happening. I swear to God. You might almost say it was almost an accident. Yeah, an accident.”
“What about poor Amanda Bla
kely, did you kill her by accident also?”
“Not quite. I guess she must have heard the gunshot when I shot Sullivan and she came running into the bedroom. She screamed, ‘You’ve killed my son’ and ran over to Sullivan’s body and started crying uncontrollably. Fortunately, there were no other people in the B&B at the time. I knew then I couldn’t leave any witnesses.”
“So you shot her in the back?”
“It was the humane thing to do,” Shipley replied rather nonchalantly, like he was talking about putting down an injured horse.
“What in the hell do mean by that? Killing a defenseless woman. How is that ‘humane’?”
“I mean, when you lose a child like she did with her son, you don’t want to go on living. Or so I’ve heard,” Shipley said. “By the way, until she came running in like that screaming about ‘her son,’ I had no idea Sullivan was her son. No idea.”
I could tell from Sun Li’s eyes that she was scared out of her mind and I knew I had to act soon if I was going to be able to save her. And she could tell as well.
“You self-justifying son of a bitch,” I said, hoping I could get a rise out of him so that I could take action while he was distracted.
“Yeah, Mario, you’re right. I’m probably some sort of cruel monster, maybe even a psychopath. But listen up, they can’t execute me twice. I don’t care anymore. I either get out of here with your help or I’m a dead man anyways.”
I knew, of course, if he was able to get off the island, there were plenty of places in the Caribbean where he could hide and probably never be found. I also knew that getting off the island was the death knell for Sun Li.
"You know,” I finally said, dropping the bomb on him that I had been holding back for just the right moment. “You killed the wrong man."
