Now Gunnar was alone with Jana.
He quickly pulled the KABAR knife from his sleeve. In one practiced move he inserted both hands into the side pockets of his windbreaker, found the gloves, and wriggled them onto his hands. Then he edged along the wall farthest from the stall until he was facing the locked door. He knew the lock was easily penetrable and that his man would be caught literally with his pants down.
With two steps he covered the distance to the stall and kicked the door in, hammering the target and bouncing his head off the tile wall. Then Gunnar had his knee on the man's shoulder and his knife expertly punctured Jana’s thorax. With the concentrated strength of his upper torso and arms, Gunnar twisted the knife upward and into the heart and lungs. When the blood was flowing, Gunnar withdrew, leaving the knife buried in Jana’s chest.
Gunnar looked down at the dying man. “It’s the same thing you did to those school girls. How’s it feeling now, Jana?” Gunnar stepped backwards, out of the stall.
Off came the gloves as he swiped a square of paper towel from the dispenser. Using the towel to grip, he opened the door to the restroom and then wadded the paper and inserted it into his jacket pocket with the right-hand glove.
Casually he wandered out of the restroom and exited the dining room through the same door.
Out into the night he stole, removing wig and eyeglasses when he was certain no one was watching and then quickening his step as he made his way back to Staley Street and the hotel.
It was November. The night was cool, low fifties. The bead of sweat above his eyebrows quickly dried.
Once again inside the hotel suite, he removed the windbreaker and sat at Danny's desk. He crossed his hands and waited for the phone to ring.
Twenty minutes later, the call came from an airplane high above the California-Arizona desert.
"Let me speak to Danny Gresham, please."
Gunnar's eyes fluttered and his posture relaxed into that of the young, unathletic female attorney with her controlled demeanor.
"This is Danny Gresham."
"Wrong number. Sorry to bother you."
"That's all right. Goodbye."
The call ended. Danny hung up. Then she sat, listening.
Out of nowhere, Trang complained, “I was just a baby, twelve years old, just a baby."
Danny's eyes fluttered. Mention of any baby was enough to call up Gunnar for protection.
He looked around Danny's room.
He was hungry. He looked at the GPS on Danny's phone, at restaurants nearby. One in particular captured his attention. Thai. That was it. Trang loved Thai. His finger touched the phone icon.
"Order for delivery, please," he said to the heavily accented voice that picked up.
"Your name?"
"Gunnar Mendelssohn."
"What can I get you?"
"We all want Thai."
"How many orders will that be?"
"There are five of us. Wait, Dr. Thomas says he's back from the hospital. We are six.”
"All right, sir, I'm ready when you are."
"Everyone's trying to talk at once. I'll have to call you back."
Gunnar ended the call. He closed his eyes and demanded silence.
The voices relented and he opened Danny's legal pad to a fresh page.
"Now," he said, "I'm going to take orders one at a time."
He began writing. Several minutes passed as he wrote.
The smartphone rang again.
"Danny Gresham, please."
Gunnar passed off to Danny, who found herself blinking and trying to decipher the handwriting on her legal pad. It said:
Trang: Neur Ga Time (pork). Extra sauce.
Tingo: Barbecue duck.
Bashar: Anything Mild.
Dr. Thomas: Thai Asparagus (stuffed).
Gunnar: Barbecue duck.
Danny
“This is Danny," she said into the phone.
"Hey, man, this is Tommie's Thai. I called your caller ID for Danny Gresham. Did you just call about an order for six people?"
"No, I didn't."
"Dude, I'm sure you did."
"Dude, I'm sure I didn't."
Danny ended the call. Her hands were shaking so hard she fumbled the phone. It fell to the floor and she didn't pick it up.
She sat upright, stretched out her back, and rubbed her eyes.
She pulled herself into a strong posture in her chair and said, “All right, we’re not ordering Thai. I’m tired and we’re going to bed.”
“Do you need me to take over?”
“No, Gunnar. I’ve got this. Goodnight.”
“Thank you, Danny,” said Trang.
Long pause.
“Are you making me go away, Danny?” asked Trang’s voice.
“Trang, I’m asking all of you to admit you’re really part of me.”
“Who says?”
“Dr. Zastrow. And I say. Please join me. Everyone else is.”
“Fine. Whatever you say.”
“I say. And everyone listen up. We’re going home to Chicago now. I need my kids. I need my husband.”
There was no response. So she said, “Can we all let me just be me now?” It was slow coming, but one by one, they assented. She heard Tingo, Dr. Thomas, Bashar, Trang, and, finally, Gunnar.
Tears came into her eyes and began rolling down her cheeks. Tears of joy, because they had come forth and spoken with her directly. She cried herself to sleep in her bed.
Danny slept soundly. There were no voices, there were no middle-of-the-night trips here or there. Nothing, just pure, blissful sleep until she awoke at seven, made coffee, packed her bags, and called a cab for the airport.
Before boarding, Danny turned and faced them for the last time.
“I’m leaving you now,” she told them.
There were tears and there was crying but it soon passed.
“Even me?” said Gunnar. “You won’t need me, you’re sure?”
“I’ve got this now,” Danny told him, tears welling up in her eyes.
“Just say my name if you—”
“I’ve got this now.”
She turned and entered the jetway and made her way to the airplane.
Minutes later she was aloft.
And she was alone.
Or at least…it was quiet.
Very quiet.
THE END
Also by John Ellsworth
THADDEUS MURFEE SERIES
Thaddeus Murfee
The Defendants
Beyond a Reasonable Death
Attorney at Large
Chase, the Bad Baby
Defending Turquoise
The Mental Case
Unspeakable Prayers
The Girl Who Wrote The New York Times Bestseller
The Trial Lawyer (A Small Death)
The Near Death Experience
SISTERS IN LAW SERIES
Frat Party: Sisters In Law
Hellfire: Sisters In Law
MICHAEL GRESHAM SERIES
Michael Gresham
Michael Gresham: Secrets Girls Keep
Michael Gresham: The Law Partners
Michael Gresham: Voices in The Walls
Acknowledgments
Where to begin with gaining an informed background in dissociative identity disorders? Dr. Stephen Daniels for multiple personality disorders as it was called in the Eighties. Certainly. Dr. Nora Baladerian for MPD and trauma and recovery guidance. Dr. Sharma Singh for the medicine of dissociative identity disorders. The patients who have opened their hearts to me. To all of you I say thank you for your hours of time and your keen willingness to help.
Editing tasks were performed by Anne Creel, Cheryl Hopton, Debra Ellsworth, and Tammi Labrecque. Proofreading by Laura Keysor and Debra Ellsworth. First readers were headed up by Maia Sepp. Thank you one and all.
To my many friends at IAC for the nurturing and encouragement you provide, my acknowledgment and thanks.
And of course thank you
to Debra, who gives me the time, the place, and the peace to write. With all gratitude I am capable of expressing and more that cannot begin to find words.
And, as always, thank you to Dr. Mac for telling me years ago I might have a future in this if I only keep plugging away.
Thank you all.
About the Author
John Ellsworth practiced law while based in Chicago.
For thirty years John defended criminal clients across the United States. He has defended cases ranging from shoplifting to First Degree Murder to RICO to Tax Evasion, and has gone to jury trial on hundreds. His first book, The Defendants, was published in January, 2014. John is presently at work on his seventeenth novel, which, it is hoped, will be published before January, 2017.
Reception to John’s books has been phenomenal; more than 1,000,000 have been downloaded in 30 months. All are Amazon best-sellers.
John Ellsworth lives in Arizona in the mountains and in California on the beach. He has three dogs that ignore him and worship his wife. He tools around town on a yellow Vespa and all but resides at Starbucks when he’s not sitting on the loveseat in his office, balancing his MacBook on one knee while making stuff up and keeping editors busy.
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Copyright © 2016 by John Ellsworth
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is strictly a work of fiction. Nothing contained herein is real or is based on real circumstances. Characters are all drawn entirely from the author’s imagination. No person living or dead is portrayed herein,
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— John Ellsworth (August 2016)
Reviews
I make my living writing books and I’m very happy about that. And because I make my living writing books, I would really like to ask your help. Book reviews are the lifeblood of what I do, and your review of my book would mean a lot to me. If you would take a moment or two and leave your review on Amazon that would be wonderful. I honestly thank you.
—John Ellsworth
Voices In The Walls: A Psychological Thriller (Michael Gresham Series) Page 23
