Blood, a Bullet, and a True Sinner

by Kelly Shade

“You can’t do anything, cop!” O’Finn yelled.

  “I‘m just a consultant. I can do whatever I want. But I prefer to prove it to you. It‘s going to be a long year for you, Fergus. I‘ll come again at some point. But if you want me to visit you earlier, just call LAPD and ask for Jane Blake,” she explained calmly.

  “Just empty words!” O‘Finn was on his feet again, ready to swear and fight, but the guards came in. The visiting hours were over, and they took him back to his cell.

  Jane and Ryan went out. Gray was looking at her with admiration. He couldn‘t understand how she did it. There was no info about Fergus‘s family in the file except names. Ryan was amazed and a little bit scared of Jane‘s composure. Blake was inexpressive; she showed no emotion.

  They walked to their car. Jane was smiling; she was satisfied with what she got. Ryan, still puzzled, asked, “Do you think he meant what he said about when he gets out?”

  “Yeah, of course, he meant it. I pissed him the way maybe just his father was able to.” She started the engine and drove off.

  “Aren‘t you a bit scared?” Ryan still couldn‘t understand her.

  “No,” Blake answered with surprise “He is the one who should be afraid. I‘m really going to turn his life into hell. If we still haven‘t caught his boss, Fergus will tell us who he is, where he is and even the name of his dog.”

  “So you are really going to do that? You know it is against the law, right?” Ryan wasn‘t very excited about the idea.

  “And what did you get when you played by the rules?” Jane lifted her eyebrows “I believe it is time to change the game.”

  Ryan had no choice but to agree. It was a simple dilemma. Either he was with Jane, helping, or kept in the dark while she was catching the killer by herself. Gray knew it wouldn’t be easy to understand how Jane‘s mind worked, but he hoped at some point he would understand her.

  “Can we go to one more place?” Ryan asked.

  “Yeah, where?”

  “To the mental clinic . . .” he started.

  “Where the person accused of your mother‘s murder is. Okay.” Jane finished the sentence for him.

  “Yes. I saw how you handled that Fergus, and I was wondering if you could do the same.” Ryan said nervously.

  “I can‘t do the same, Ryan. Every person is different. I have to see him first, and then I‘ll decide how I should talk to him.”

  “Can‘t you just hypnotize him? You got rich doing that. I think it won‘t be a problem.” Gray was looking down and playing with his fingers.

  “Hypnotizing people is not as easy as you think. Besides, he has mental illness, which makes it almost impossible. His brain works in a different way than ours.” Jane was a little bit annoyed but kept calm “Let me see him first, okay?”

  Ryan nodded. “Sorry, I didn’t tell you about my mom being Rose’s partner,” he added.

  The mental clinic was in Long Beach. They drove to a building in the Psychiatric Clinic Willow Herding. The facility was well equipped, with more than fifty rooms and large enough to handle a hundred ill people. The director, Mr. Nelson, was at the reception area talking to a nurse. When he saw Jane and Ryan, he headed to them and politely introduced himself.

  “Hello, my name is Adam Nelson. I‘m the director of the clinic. How may I help you?” he said, extending his hand to Ryan.

  “Ryan Gray, and this is Jane Blake. We are with the LAPD.”

  “And to what do we owe the pleasure?” the director asked kindly.

  “We are here to visit Caleb Vang,” Blake said and glanced at him coldly. She didn‘t like hypocritical people who behave well only in the presence of authority.

  Mr. Nelson got the little hint and gestured for them to follow him. He led them to a room on the third floor. Jane reached for the handle to open the door, but the head doctor stopped her.

  “First, I want you to know his condition,” he said and opened a file he got from another room on the way. “Caleb has bipolar disorder with psychosis symptoms, which means . . .”

  “We know what it means. Mood changes, depressive episodes. They last more than seven days; they may occur separately or together; it‘s also called manic-depressive illness. The psychosis symptoms are that he has hallucinations or delusions. Which one is it, or both?” Jane asked.

  Impressed by her knowledge, Dr. Nelson said with a smile, “I‘m happy you know the condition. Only delusions. From time to time he says impossible stuff about himself, but they aren‘t hallucinations.”

  “What is the treatment?” Ryan decided to join in.

  “Medication and psychotherapy. He is better now, way better than when we got him almost seven years ago.” The doctor pointed out his success, and that made Jane want to get rid of him even more.

  She opened the door and saw Caleb Vang sitting on his bed, staring through the window and quietly whistling a tune from a famous advertisement. Caleb was wearing a gray sports suit and old white sneakers. There was only a bed, table, chair and a nightstand in his room. On the table were several books and a plastic cup. The man turned around minutes after Jane and Ryan walked in. His eyes were brown and warm; his skin was wrinkled; his hair was shoulder length, brown and wavy, combed and still wet from the water he used to brush it. Jane knew he was a homeless guy before he was hospitalized, but when he smiled, he didn‘t have the teeth of a person who ate from the garbage. Caleb stood up and reached for a handshake and spoke with a soft voice.

  “Good evening, Mr. Gray! And your beautiful friend is?”

  “Hello, Caleb! My name is Jane Blake. I‘m Ryan‘s colleague.” Jane smiled and shook his hand.

  “I don‘t have much to offer, but maybe tea?” offered Mr. Vang, but they said no. He led them to sit, and since there was only one chair, Jane sat next to him on the bed.

  “I believe you know what we want to talk about, Caleb,” said Blake, while looking at his hands. They were covered in scars, perhaps from a car crash.

  “Yes, I do.” His looked down, ashamed, playing with his nails and continued. “I don‘t remember much. I was sitting next to the woman; she was bloody. I didn‘t help her. I just walked away.”

  “What were you doing before that?” Ryan asked.

  “I don‘t know. I don‘t remember. I didn‘t even know who I was. The policemen told me my name and that I used to be homeless.”

  Ryan exchanged a curious glance with Jane. She opened her mouth, but Caleb continued to talk.

  “When they told me I killed the poor woman, I didn‘t know what to do. I had no idea why I got her blood on me or her wallet or why I wanted to kill her.”

  “How do you feel now? Is it better than at the beginning?” Jane asked quietly.

  “Yes, If you can say that feeling the guilt more and more every day is better,” he cried. “I remember a house; I think it is mine, big house, beautiful with a pool outside and a pretty woman smiling at me, kissing me. An icy road with snow on the side. What is wrong with me?”

  Jane took a piece of paper out of her notebook and asked him to sign it. He did after arguing that he didn’t know how to do it. A moment later another doctor came in. He had to show his card for an ID because he was still dressed as a civilian. Looking very anxious and frustrated, he spoke with an arrogant, loud tone. “Mr. Gray, I believe we had an agreement. If you wanted to visit Mr. Vang or, frankly, anyone of my patients, you should have called.”

  “And why is that? So you can drug them before?” Jane stood in front of him.

  “How dare you! Who is that, Mr. Gray?”

  “Jane Blake,” she answered instead of Ryan. “LAPD.”

  “You cannot have an occupation like that, Ms. Blake. I may talk to chief Wilson to consider what kind of people she hires,” he said with a glib smile.

  “Okay, do you want me to dial her now?” Jane took her phone in her hand ready to call Abigail Wilson.

  “I shall talk to her privately! Now, please, leave!” He pointed to the door and Ryan and Jane stormed out.
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br />   “This is not his real name; look at the signature!” Jane showed him the piece of paper.

  “He may have just . . . forgot?” Ryan said.

  “Sign is something you do automatically. It’s a muscle memory that cannot be forgotten easily. I’m telling you there is something fishy here!” Jane said on the way to the exit.

  They called Hunt to ask if they are needed at the office. He told them to go home, but Blake said they should meet at her place. Ryan and Jane headed to her home.

  They got tacos for dinner on the way. Hunt promised he would be at Jane‘s house in an hour. After stopping all the alarms in Blake‘s home, they were able to go in. Ryan pointed out there were more cameras than before the shooting, and he was right. Jane had installed four more security cameras and a laser security system on the windows. Her house now looked like Fort Knox.

  Hunt was on time. He had the same expression from the morning, but after they told him what happened, there was a spark of hope in his eyes. Jane’s theory was that Caleb Vang didn’t have a bipolar disorder at all; he was set up by very powerful people and most of all he wasn‘t at the crime scene by mistake. Hunt surprisingly agreed with her. He was happy that she succeeded in getting the name out of O‘Finn that he offered to give her all the documents and files about Rose‘s and Amber‘s cases first thing in the morning. Ryan was just about to tell Connor about Jane‘s promise to Fergus, but Blake intentionally changed the subject. Gray got the hint. Jane knew if Hunt was aware of her untraditional ways of convincing, he would call it off immediately.

  Chapter 10

  You are one of us …

  Jane opened her eyes. It was 5:30 in the morning. She had barely slept. Nightmares were haunting her through the night. Always dreaming the same, her parents dead with poems written on their backs, Ryan stabbed, Hunt, Nick, and Ian with cut throats and she was there with a knife in one hand and a gun in the other, covered in blood, not knowing if she killed them.

  Then she goes out of, what looks like, a warehouse and Ryan‘s dead mother is screaming at her, "Why did you do it?" Rose Hunt comes and points a gun at her, she shoots, and Jane wakes up. It‘s been months since Blake started to dream that horror. And, of course, when she woke up, she couldn‘t go back to sleep. It was exhausting. That morning, the same as many before, Jane was covered in sweat and her body hurt a lot. Probably the dream felt so real she tightened her muscles, and the result was awful as if she were exercising all night.

  After a fast shower, Jane went down to her kitchen for the elixir of life, as she called it, coffee.

  Ryan promised he would bring the files to her place. He was supposed to visit Hunt to get them and then go straight to Jane‘s house.

  Jane was glad she was working the cases with only Ryan. Gray was okay with her methods and didn‘t ask too many questions. Hunt, on the other hand, wanted to know everything and Jane didn‘t like to explain herself.

  The doorbell rang, and Ryan was there with his ordinary happy face, smiling and waiting for Jane to open the door. She was looking at him on the camera and trying to read the text on the paper bag in his hand. “Oh, donuts!” she said and hurried to let him in.

  “Morning! I suppose you have coffee, so I bought . . .”

  “Donuts, perfect!” Jane grabbed the bag and gave Ryan the coffee she made for him. He was pleasantly surprised. It was odd for Blake to be that happy, especially at 7 in the morning.

  Jane wanted to work outside in the fresh air, so they took the laptops, the files, and their breakfast outside, in the wonderful backyard. There was a new big table with umbrella and chairs that Jane prepared for work.

  “Did you buy this just to work outside? There are plenty of sun beds, and there is a couch that looks comfy?” Ryan was looking around and pointing to all the furniture “You have more furniture in your yard than I have in my whole apartment.”

  “Yeah. I love to spend time here. Don‘t really like to be locked behind walls.” Jane smiled and put two bottles of water next to their cups. “And I bought that table because I can imagine Hunt working on the sun bed. Besides, I have the feeling that at one point, all the team will be here. I guess my house is the safest so if we need it . . .”

  “Good thinking, and it is very nice to offer your home.” Ryan was glad to hear that Jane was becoming a team player.

  “Okay, what do we have here?” Blake made herself comfortable on one of the chairs and took the files out of Ryan‘s bag.

  “This is Amber Gray‘s, my mom‘s, case.” He pointed to the smallest folder, and then he opened the other, much bigger one “This is the investigation Rose was assigned to. Silvio Vidal, a drug lord. We know he is either the boss or the right hand, but we have no evidence to arrest him even for 24 hours. Rose was working with the FBI on that, but we only have her part of the investigation.”

  “No worries; in thirty minutes we will have theirs,” Jane interrupted him and took her phone. A minute later she was talking to somebody. “Hey, Smith, it‘s Jane Blake! Yeah. Look! I need a favor. Send me the files you have on Silvio Vidal. I know it is ongoing. No questions asked, Smith, I‘ll owe you. On the secure mail. Yeah! Perfect, you are the best! Bye, bye!” she turned to Ryan with a devious smile “We will have them in a minute.”

  Too surprised to talk, Ryan just blinked quickly with his mouth open. Jane noticed so she decided to explain. “He is an old friend. I helped him a few times, he helped me few times, and he works in the FBI.”

  “Okaay,” he dragged out.

  Moments later Jane received an email with the needed files. They printed them, and now they had all the info on Vidal‘s case. Blake looked at them very carefully, but soon enough she realized they had nothing concrete to go on. The address of that Silvio was the only thing they could use. Ryan shared the same opinion, so they moved to Amber Gray‘s files. It was a big surprise for Jane when she saw Amber‘s notes_they were encrypted. Ryan had no idea what the code meant; he tried everything he knew to decode them in the past but with no success. Jane said she would reveal the big secret, but she needed time to do so.

  Rose‘s file weren’t any different, no valuable information at all. Ryan was one step away from giving up, but Jane saw something.

  “Look here, does that seem familiar?” She pointed to Mrs. Hunt‘s old notebook. There were two words; at least they looked like words, written with symbols. Ryan glanced at Jane. He looked confused. What’s that supposed to mean? Blake waited for him to get it, but since he was still looking at her with a look that said he had no idea what he should see, Jane decided to enlighten him.

  “It is the same as your mother‘s coded notes!”

  “Oh!” Ryan finally saw the similarities.

  Jane looked convinced. “I think I should visit Silvio Vidal.”

  “No, no, no, no!” Ryan jumped off his chair “No way! I’m not letting you go to see that sociopath alone! We have to call the team.”

  “And tell them what? Don‘t be stupid, Gray, you know we can‘t do that. If you want you can come with me, but . . .”

  “I‘m coming with you. It may be a risk, but I‘m doing this for my mother!” Ryan was clearly annoyed.

  Jane agreed. After all, it was the right thing to do. She couldn‘t ask Ryan to step back when his mother was involved.

  They got in Gray‘s car and headed to Silvio Vidal‘s mansion. The guy was rich, crazy rich. His estate was one of the biggest Blake had ever seen. The location was also impressive_Bel Air. Without wasting time for sight-seeing, Jane and Ryan headed to the front gate. Seconds later a voice came out of the monitor.

  “How may I help you?”

  “Hello, we are with LAPD; we want to talk to Mr. Vidal,” Ryan answered politely.

  “What is the matter?” said the man‘s voice.

  “Please, let us in; we can talk only with Mr. Vidal,” Jane joined.

  There was no sound for five minutes. Maybe he was checking in with Silvio. The drug lord agreed to meet them, and the tall gate opened
slowly. An oldish man was driving a golf cart toward them. Ryan wondered if he should move but stayed shoulder to shoulder with Jane. The man stopped the vehicle and invited them to join him. Without a word, they drove to the front door where another gentleman opened the door for them and escorted them to, what looked like, the office of Vidal. He was sitting in a baroque style armchair with crossed legs. To Jane‘s surprise, he was pure American, a young man with a charming smile. She didn‘t expect that of a drug lord who had been chased for years. He must be younger than me, she thought.

  “Normally, I wouldn‘t let cops in, but when I saw you on the camera, I wanted to meet you in person,” said Vidal, looking at Blake.

  “And why is that?” Jane asked with surprise.

  “You remind me of a very special woman,” he said with sadness, but the sharp look of his adviser made him change the tone. “Who are you, and why you are here?”

  “Just wanted to ask how the business is and how Rose Hunt and Amber Gray were a problem for it?” Jane said coldly. Ryan was terrified.

  “Business is good, thank you for the interest.” Silvio talked slowly and leaned forward. “These friends of yours maybe were messing with others’ private lives way too much or . . .” He leaned back again. “Something else. I don‘t know them, can‘t help you.”

  “I think . . .” Jane was interrupted by Ryan‘s phone. Hunt was calling them. They had a case; it was time to go back to work. On the way out Jane shouted, “We will meet again, Silvio!”

  He responded with an oily voice, “I‘d be delighted to have you here again, but lose the blond!”

  Ryan and Jane drove back to the office. They were discussing their visit so passionately that they almost missed the turn to the department. In Jane‘s opinion this "boy," as she referred to Silvio, was just the face and she had no idea what was behind the curtain. She said the drug trafficking and the murders were someone else‘s operation. Maybe a father or a mentor, someone who had enough trust in Silvio to let him be in charge. Ryan was too affected by Vidal‘s words about his mother and Rose. He couldn‘t believe that man had nothing to do with them.