Die Smiling

by Linda Ladd

  “Then you stay here. I think that’s a better idea anyway. But I’m taking him out and I’m gonna finish my interrogation while I’ve got him. Then he can show me where the perp is, or soon will be. It’s not exactly unheard of. Hell, Claire, we’ve done stuff like this before.”

  I wavered, because we had done similar things in the past on multiple occasions, but my instincts were screaming that this was all going to go very bad very quick. “I’m not staying here. And I’m not going without Charlie’s say-so.”

  “Okay, damn it, I’ll call him.”

  Bud pulled out his phone, and I immediately felt a wash of relief. Lynch mobs went against my grain, even if it was a mob of one pissed, out-of-control detective. He punched in the sheriff’s number and instantly turned into Mr. Calm and Pleasant. Well, that was unsettling. “Sheriff, sorry to disturb you again, but I’d like permission to take Shaggy out of his cell. He thinks he knows where Costin might be holed up, says he can’t tell us, but has to show us or we’d never find it.”

  As he listened to Charlie, he stared poisoned arrows at me, not so Mr. Calm and Pleasant where I was concerned. “Yes sir.” Pause. “Yes sir, she’s right here.”

  He handed the phone to me.

  I took it. “Yes sir.”

  “Is this on the up and up, Detective?”

  “It seems to be, sir. He’s not talking unless we take him with us.”

  “What’s Shaggy’s connection with Walter Costin?”

  “I’m not sure. We’re trying to find out. It’s definitely there, sir. I think they’ve all known each other since they were kids, and that includes Brianna. I found some tapes at Costin’s house that seem to prove it. I just don’t know exactly how it all fits together yet.” I hesitated, not wanting to tell him, but I did. “One appears to be a snuff tape, but I think it’s probably just a homemade movie somebody made. I’m not sure, though.”

  “Are you shittin’ me? You’re not sure?” Lots of low swearing, muffled, then, “Then take him out, if you have to. But put him in cuffs, you hear me. And don’t screw this up or I’ll throw all three of you in jail.”

  Maybe that’s where McKay’s Bud-Behind-Bars vision came in, but we now had Charlie’s permission. The truth was, of course, I couldn’t see Shaggy giving us any trouble or trying to make a run for it. He was just in lockup temporarily, anyway, for Pete’s sake. As far as I knew, Charlie couldn’t hold him much longer, probably until tomorrow morning. Now, though, his involvement had deepened to possible homicide charges, or accessory to murder charges, which made him dangerous, even to Bud and me.

  “Okay,” I said. “Let’s go.”

  Bud didn’t waste time, but gripped Shaggy’s arm and pulled him outside. We signed him out at the desk and said it wouldn’t take long. We placed Shaggy in the front seat of Bud’s SUV. Bud drove. I sat in back behind Shaggy, in case he did try something. But what the heck was I going to do if he jumped out and ran? Shoot him in the back? That was laughable. I could never shoot Shaggy. But Shaggy wouldn’t do that to us; he wouldn’t run. Nobody could make me believe that.

  Shaggy told Bud to head to I-44. We did. We rode in silence until I’d heard enough of it.

  “Okay, Shag, it’s time to talk. What’s going on with you and Costin? Who’s the man on the bed in that film? Did those kids kill him or was it just an amateur movie?”

  “Christ,” said Bud.

  Shaggy stared straight ahead, at our headlight beams flashing past the thick tracts of trees on either side of the road. “We gotta go to Springfield.”

  “Springfield!” I said. “That’s an hour and a half from here.”

  “That’s where he’ll go, sooner or later.”

  Springfield was the third largest city in Missouri, a city of about a hundred and fifty thousand people. “Shaggy, there’s no way we’re driving all the way to Springfield unless you tell us why.”

  Shaggy didn’t appear to like that idea.

  “Okay, Bud, turn the car around. I’ve had enough of this crap. He can rot in jail, for all I care.”

  Bud braked and hit the turn signal.

  Shaggy said, “Walter Costin’s my stepbrother.”

  “Shit.” That was Bud but I thought the same thing.

  “Okay. Let’s hear it all.”

  “There isn’t any more.”

  “Shag, I’m warning you.”

  “He did that to Hilde, cut her. I can’t prove it but I know he did.”

  “Why’s he’s in Springfield?”

  “That’s where we grew up. It’s out in the outskirts. On a kinda farm.”

  Bud was letting me handle this, and I was glad of it. He took Highway 5 south to Lebanon and kept driving, eyes glued on the road, fingers clenched in a stranglehold grip around the steering wheel.

  “Why would your stepbrother want to mutilate and murder Hilde?”

  “I’m not sure. I just know he’s capable of it.”

  “Why? Has he done it before?”

  “I don’t know what all he’s done. We got away from him for a while, then he found us.”

  I said, “Who’s we?”

  Bud said, “Come on, Shaggy, don’t sandbag us. You got out your relationship with Costin. Why are you protectin’ him?”

  “I don’t know, maybe I am, but not why you think.”

  “Well, enlighten me.”

  Shaggy got mad. “I don’t know. He’s bad, real bad, sometimes. He made me do things I didn’t want to do. He scares me. You should be scared of him, too.”

  Shaggy sounded scared. Bud lapsed into silence again. My turn.

  “Tell me why he scares you?”

  “Why do you think?”

  “Did he hurt you?”

  “He hurt lots of people. He gets off on it, always has.”

  “Are you saying he’s murdered people and you knew it?”

  “I can’t say any more. He’ll kill me. He’ll kill you. He’ll kill Brianna. He’ll kill all of us. And he’ll get by with it. He always does, always, every single time.”

  “If you’re taking us to arrest him, how can he kill you?”

  “He just can. He’s smart. He’s so smart you wouldn’t believe it. He figures out everything, manipulates everything and everybody. Everything’s a game with him. He likes to play cat and mouse, trip people up, catch them in traps.”

  “Nobody’s that smart.” But truth be told, I was beginning to get a little edgy myself. “Is he gonna be at this place outside Springfield? Would he try to ambush us? Are we gonna need backup?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know for sure where he is. But he’ll go back there. He always goes back home. And that’s where we’re supposed to meet, early tomorrow morning after I got outta jail.”

  “Is that where he’s been living?”

  “No, I drove up there and checked a few days ago. We still own it, but he’s been living down in Florida some. He didn’t know where I was until he followed Hilde and she led him straight to me at the lake. She didn’t know he was followin’ her. I didn’t know he was here until I found out he was working at Lohman’s, then it was too late.”

  “Why Hilde, Shaggy? How does she fit into this?”

  “Just get him and lock him up so we’ll all be safe.”

  “I know you know more than you’re telling us.”

  “Okay, okay, it’s the smile thing, that quote he left on her. I’ve heard him say that a thousand times. That’s why I think he did it. But that doesn’t prove he did.”

  Shaggy wasn’t making a whole lot of sense and I knew good and well there was plenty more to this bizarre tale. He seemed genuinely afraid of his stepbrother, if Costin truly was his stepbrother. But I had a feeling we weren’t going to get much more out of him.

  “Were he and Hilde lovers? Was it a jealousy thing?”

  “I guess so. I moved away ’cause I know what he’s capable of. I’m warnin’ you, Claire, we can’t mess this up. He’s too dangerous, he’s cunning and savage. He’s evil.”

 
“Evil, you say. Your stepbrother is evil.”

  “Yeah, that’s exactly what I said, yeah.” Shaggy turned to Bud. “Take I-44, our place is just off it. It’s way out on the north edge of the city.”

  “Right.”

  I pressed for more, but couldn’t get anything else out of Shaggy. It looked like his stepbrother was going to have to be the one we forced the answers out of. I was sort of relieved that Shaggy had been protecting a family member rather than being a part of the murder himself. I still didn’t think he had it in him to hurt anybody. All of it was weird, though, and not quite kosher. I checked both my weapons, made sure they were loaded and handy, my cell phone charged up to the max, just in case I was wrong and ended up with a pillow over my face.

  We made the drive in record time. Bud has a heavy foot, when need be. The farm was isolated, all right. We left the interstate and bumped down a rural gravel road with houses showing up every hundred yards or so, and then about a mile farther up Shaggy pointed out an overgrown lane leading up to a farmhouse. As Bud turned in, our headlights flashed on the front of the house. It was two stories, and I could see a barn roof behind the house.

  “Doesn’t look like anybody’s home,” Bud said. “No cars. No lights. You sure he’s comin’ back here?”

  “Yeah, positive. In the morning between eight and ten. He was giving me time to get outta jail and make it up here. Park out behind the barn. You don’t want him to see your car or he’ll take off.”

  I looked around at the dark house and overgrown yard, the sheer isolation of the place. “I think we better get some backup out here, Bud. I can call the Springfield PD. This place gives me the creeps.”

  “Not yet. Let’s go inside and see what we can find. There might be proof of what he’s been doing. Is that right, Shaggy? Is this his lair?”

  Shaggy stared at the house. “Yeah. It’s his lair, all right.”

  Bud and I got out. I said, “Man, I don’t like this, Bud. Something’s not right. Can’t you feel it?”

  “Let’s get inside and call from there. If we can surprise him in the morning, it’ll be easier to take him down. We get a bunch of uniforms out here, he won’t get within a mile of this place.”

  Bud opened the door and helped Shaggy get out. The cuffs stayed on. Shaggy looked straight at me, and I didn’t like the expression on his face, either. He looked scared and guilty and nervous.

  We moved around the side of the barn, Bud and Shaggy in front. I followed, my Glock held down beside my leg, my finger alongside the trigger. There was no sound except for some insect mating shrieks, and it was pitch black except for some moonlight filtering through the tree branches. The house was dark and silent, seemingly deserted.

  “You got the key, Shaggy?” I asked.

  “It’s not locked.”

  “That’s not much of a lair.”

  Bud said, “C’mon, let’s get inside in case he shows up early.”

  We climbed the back steps and Bud tried the door handle. It opened easily, just like Shaggy said it would.

  “The electricity isn’t on, but there’s a kerosene lamp on the kitchen counter. Matches, too.”

  Bud moved through the darkness to the counter and fumbled a second or two then I heard the scratch of a match. The kerosene lantern flared, and I gasped and raised my weapon as the kitchen door swung inward. My aim faltered as Brianna appeared in the doorway. I watched her run into Bud’s arms. He held her, his eyes locked on mine.

  “Oh, thank God, you’re here,” she was saying. “I’ve been so scared he’d come before you got here.”

  Confused, wary, not liking any of this, not one bit, I held the three of them in my gun sight, not sure what to think. “Okay, Bri, stand back away from Bud. I mean it, Bri.”

  I watched her back away. I looked at Shaggy. He smiled. Can’t say I liked that, either. “Put down your gun, Claire. You’re not gonna shoot us, and you know it.”

  I said, “Bud, what the hell’s going on here?”

  I turned to him and saw he had his weapon out now. Problem was, though, he had it pointed at me. “Bud? My God, what’d you think you’re doing?”

  Bud said, “I’m sorry, Claire, I really am, I tried to get you to stay behind at the jail, but right now you’re gonna have to put your weapon down on the floor and let me handle this my way. I don’t want you to get hurt, I swear to God. I don’t want you to compromise your principles or lose your badge over this, but I can’t let you stop me from doin’ what has to be done. Just cooperate, just until we take Costin down, then you can take me in, if you want. You can take all of us in.”

  I tried to think what the devil was going down here, get my mind around the fact that the three of them were in this together. Against me. My three good and loyal friends had lured me out here, tricked me like I was some kind of colossal chump. I held my Glock steady on Brianna. She didn’t look so beautiful anymore, not now, holding her own gun leveled at my head.

  I said, “I guess we’re at a bit of a stand-off then, aren’t we, fellas?”

  “Be reasonable, Claire,” said Shaggy from beside me. “You don’t have to get hurt. I don’t wanna hurt you. I don’t wanna hurt anybody. You wouldn’t be involved tonight at all if Ortega hadn’t put you on to Walter at the last minute. Bud was gonna get me out before you got to the jail. You just showed up too soon and forced us to bring you along.”

  “What are you planning to do? Gun Costin down in cold blood?”

  “Yes.” Shaggy, calmly, unequivocably.

  “Are you crazy?”

  “We have to, it’s the only way out. He always finds us. He killed Hilde as a warning to us. So we’re gonna kill him first, Brianna and I together. When Bud picked up Brianna tonight, she explained everything to him, how Walter showed up and made her take Hilde’s place in the pageant, made her promise to leave Bud and go off with him. And once he heard what all Walter did to us when we were little kids, the terrible things he made us do, he said he wouldn’t stop us, that he’d help us cover it up.”

  “My God? You’ve lost your freakin’ minds. Listen to yourselves. You can’t be serious. Bud? Think, think. You can’t do this.”

  I kept shaking my head, hoping I was dreaming, and trying to figure how I could stop them from getting themselves locked up for the rest of their lives, but while I was working on Bud’s conscience, Shaggy darted at me suddenly and caught me off guard. He hit me from the side, and then Bud had my gun arm up, twisting the Glock out of my hand before I knew what hit me. He stuck the Glock in his waistband, then pulled the .38 out of my ankle holster and the cell phone off my belt while Shaggy held me still. He tossed Brianna the keys to the handcuffs.

  “Unlock Shaggy. Then put the cuffs on Claire.”

  “What the hell’s the matter with you, Bud? I thought you had more sense than this. You’re a good cop. You’ll never get away with this. And for what? We can take him down in a matter of hours. Legally, put him away for good. We’ve got the jump on him. He doesn’t know we’re here waiting. We can arrest him and none of you will have to go to jail for it.”

  Brianna knelt down in front of me and locked my hands together, apologizing to beat the band. She began to cry a little. “I’m so sorry, Claire, I know you’ve been trying to help me, but you can’t do it, don’t you see, you can’t stop him. Nobody can stop him. You think we haven’t tried? All my life I’ve been trying to get away from him. He finds me every time. He killed Hilde because she knew where I was and didn’t tell him. He followed her here. He cut off her lips as a warning to me. To make me go back with him. He’s obsessed with me.”

  Shaggy frowned, made sure the cuffs were tight enough on my wrists. “You don’t know Walter like we do, Claire. He’s been killin’ people for years. It’s a game to him, and he’s made us his accomplices ever since we were little. Hilde didn’t mean to, but she led him straight to us. He kills anybody that looks at Brianna. He wants Bud dead. He was shooting at Bud that day at the Royal Condos, not you. You just got in
his way.”

  I said, “Let me handle this. I can get more officers here right now. We’ll surround the place and arrest him when he shows up. Bud, you’re ruining your life. You’re kissing your career good-bye and you’re gonna rot in prison for this.”

  “No, no…” Brianna was sobbing. “You just don’t understand what all he’s done to us. But we can’t prove it. There’s no way we can prove anything he did. He’ll go free.”

  Shaggy said, “Hilde was our sister. We called her Sissy. That’s why I wanted to fix her mouth for the memorial service, you know, to make her look better because I knew Bri was gonna put that heart necklace on her at the funeral.” He choked up but quickly shook it off and grabbed me by the arm. “We’re gonna have to put you where you’ll be safe until this is over, where nobody can ever say you were involved in it. We aren’t gonna hurt you, if that’s what you’re thinkin’. We’d never do that. We love you, all of us do. You just got in the way at the last minute and we can’t let you stop us.”

  I looked at Bud and held up my shackled wrists. He had the decency to look ashamed. “How long’ve you been planning this, Bud? Seems you’re a pretty fair actor.”

  “I didn’t know the whole story until tonight. Like Shag said, Brianna told me when I went back to pick her up. That’s when I decided to take Shaggy out of jail so he could meet Costin like they planned. I knew Bri and Shaggy couldn’t handle him alone. They can’t do this alone, so I’m gonna help them.”

  “You’re signing your own death warrant.”

  They all three looked guilty, but not enough to stop them from herding me outside the house, across the backyard, and into the old barn. Brianna and Bud stood back with the lantern and watched Shaggy wrangle me up the steps to a hayloft. Our elongated shadows flitted in the dancing lamplight, chasing dark patterns up the walls, but gave me a dim overview of the barn. I saw some kind of box sitting in one corner, one with a barred door on the front. I was prodded inside. The door shut behind me, a padlock set with a final click. It was big enough for me to sit up with my knees bent, but not enough to stand.

  “Okay, Claire, hold your hands out through the bars and I’ll uncuff you. No need to be uncomfortable till we get back. This’s gonna go down in the morning. Then we’ll get you out.”