A Kettle of Hawks (The Birdwatcher Series Book 3)

by European P. Douglas

  “What is it Eddy?” Delgado asked, taking a couple of steps towards him. Eddy was still just staring at him but his lip was trembling now and his mouth open to speak. For a long time no words came out but his eyes were so expressive with sorrow Delgado could have said the words for him. Finally they came to Eddy's breath.

  “I did it,” he said, “I killed him!” and with this utterance he broke down on his knees crying. Delgado stood there in silence for what felt like a long time allowing him to let it all out. Then he stepped back and called for a patrol car to come take Eddy Hobbs in for murder. Having done that he called Sarah again.

  “What’s going on?” Sarah demanded.

  “Hobbs has just confessed,” Delgado replied wearily as he understood now that while he’d been off the phone Sarah had been suspicious of what he himself had been doing. “A patrol car will be here in a few minutes and will take him in.”

  “I’ll meet you at the station,” Sarah said.

  “What about Pallister?”

  “I’ll arrange a cover guard before I leave,” she said.

  “Is Detective Duggan okay?” Delgado asked remembering it was he who was supposed to be watching James Belfoy?

  “I haven’t heard,” Sarah said, “I’ll see if I can find anything out on my way over to you.”

  After the phone call, Delgado sat on a high stool at the kitchen counter. Hobbs was still slumped on the floor within his eye line and he could see the front door clearly from here too. He tried to piece the case together as he waited for the patrol car. Hobbs still had alibis for some of the murders, in fact tonight was only the second of seven he didn’t have one for. So what the hell did that mean? It meant this case was far from over, this was no more than a break in the case that would hopefully lead to the next stage of things and to some new evidence.

  He thought of Spalding and how Sarah felt he was behind everything but the thought changed quickly to how distrustful of him Sarah had been tonight. He seethed at the idea of her worrying over at Pallister’s place when he rang. What did she think he was doing? Did she think he was going to kill Eddy Hobbs and then just disappear into the night?

  In his anger a slimy thought slithered over his own consciousness- he should look into Sarah’s alibis for the nights of the murders. She was so wrapped up in this Dwight Spalding thing perhaps she'd gone too far in and her mind had snapped. He shook his head as the flashing lights of the patrol car appeared outside. Of course Sarah couldn't be involved, that was just his anger talking. He was tired and they still had to get down to the station and interview Hobbs. It was going to be a long night.

  Chapter 45

  By the time Sarah got to the station she’d run through a lot of the same thoughts as Delgado had. Hobbs couldn’t have committed most of the murders. Mike Duggan was in hospital with a pretty bad gash to his head that required stitches and pain medication and at least a night in hospital under observation. He wasn’t dead, at least that was something, Sarah thought.

  When she arrived into the station she felt the eyes of the officer and admin staff on her as she made her way to the interview rooms. There was a sense of victory in the air and Sarah didn't understand it all. Did they actually think Hobbs was responsible for all the murders? Could they be that obtuse?

  “He’s inside waiting for us,” Delgado said when she got to the room. “No lawyer again.”

  “Has he said anything?”

  “Not yet,” Delgado shook his head.

  “Well let’s get in there and see what he has to say,” Sarah said, grabbing the door handle. Delgado nodded and followed her inside.

  “This is Agent Sarah Brightwater, with my colleague agent Pedro Delgado of the FBI interviewing Mr Edward Hobbs for the murder of James Belfoy.” Sarah said for the benefit of the recording. Hobbs was slumped on the table with his face sideways on his arms. He’d been crying and he made no motion to indicate he even knew they had entered the room.

  “Mr Hobbs?” Sarah said as they sat down. “Can you hear me?” There was no answer. Delgado and Sarah exchanged a glance.

  “Is there anything we can get you?” Delgado asked.

  “What’s the point?” Hobbs said after another long pause.

  “Are you ready to talk to us?” Sarah asked him. He didn’t answer but did sit upright and looked at them both for a moment.

  “I’m so sick of you two,” he said, but there was no malice in it, just a great tiredness. His eyes were red rimmed and his face pale.

  “What can you tell us about the murder of...;”

  “I said I did it,” Hobbs interrupted Sarah’s question.

  “Why did you do it?” Delgado asked.

  “It was an accident,” Hobbs said and he broke down in sobs again. Sarah and Delgado exchanged a surprised glance.

  “An accident?” Sarah asked. How could this be? You don’t sneak out at night, break into someone's apartment and then kill them by accident.

  “We had a fight, as we often did, but this time he fell awkwardly and banged his head,” Hobbs said through his tears.

  “You had arguments before?” Delgado asked but Sarah knew something was wrong at once. James Belfoy hadn’t died of a head injury, he was killed with a sharp implement and left slumped in his bathtub like the others.

  “Wait, wait, who are you talking about Mr Hobbs? Who did you kill?” Hobbs looked at her like she was crazy.

  “My brother, who do you think?”

  “You killed your brother?” Delgado asked. “When?”

  “When he went missing, three years ago,” Hobbs replied.

  Sarah jumped up and rushed from the room and down the hall to the dispatch office.

  “Have the patrolman check in on Ray Pallister,” she said, a sick feeling twisting in her gut.

  The radio officer tried to make contact but there was no reply.

  “Try again,” Sarah said, “Keep trying. I’m going out there!” She went running and Delgado came running after her,

  “Someone put Eddy Hobbs in a cell!” he called back behind him. He caught up with Sarah just as she got to her car.

  “Slow down Sarah, there will be a patrol car within ten blocks of the place that will get there long before we do!” he said, pulling open the passenger door. Sarah ignored him and pulled out onto the road at speed before he ever had his seatbelt on.

  “He’s going to get two in one night!” Sarah said and then another sick feeling came over her, were they leaving Hobbs exposed!

  “What did you do with Hobbs?” she asked looking quickly at Delgado.

  “I told them to put him in a cell,” he replied.

  “Call the station, tell them to keep him under strict and constant supervision. He may be in danger.”

  “You think the killer could get to him in the police station?” Delgado asked, surprised.

  “I don’t know but I don’t want to take any chances.” Delgado called it in and she listened to his words as he was speaking.

  “Ask if anyone answered from Pallister’s,” she said when he’d given the instructions to keep Hobbs under watch. He asked and then turned back to Sarah,

  “He’s dead, same as Belfoy in his tub.”

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Sarah shouted as she beat her hands on the steering wheel. Delgado covered the phone so those at the station wouldn’t hear this. Sarah was shaking her head violently and then she stopped suddenly and said,

  “One more thing, “Delgado looked at her, “Find out how Detective Duggan is at the hospital?”

  “Now?” he asked, clearly thinking this was a strange time to be worrying about that.

  “Now,” she said firmly. Delgado nodded and made another phone call. Again Sarah listened, hoping she was wrong.

  “Hi, this is Agent Delgado of the FBI, I’m checking up on a patient who was admitted earlier this evening with a head wound. His name is Detective Mike Duggan,” Delgado said. “Thank you,” he leaned his head to Sarah, “They’re putting me through to the ward.” It se
emed like a very long wait but in reality was probably only about a minute.

  “Yes, Mike Duggan, he’s a police detective,” Delgado said to whoever came on the line. “Oh, are you sure?” he said then.

  “What?” Sarah asked, “What is it?”

  “Okay, thank you,” Delgado said, hanging up. “He’s not at the hospital, they don’t know when he left or how.”

  “Duggan’s the killer!” Sarah said.

  “What? Where are you getting that from?”

  “He killed Belfoy earlier and then made it look like he was attacked. As soon as everyone's attention was taken away by Hobbs he went to Pallister to get him. He would have known the cop on duty and could have killed him too without much issue.”

  “This is nuts,” Delgado said but he looked like he was taking the idea seriously. Suddenly a new idea came to Sarah and it scared the life out of her.

  “Now he could be on his way back to the station to kill Hobbs!” Sarah glanced in her mirror and then spun the car around in a huge skidding arc in the middle of the road. Tires screeched and horns honked all around and one car ploughed hard into Sarah’s side of the car but thankfully at the rear door. Delgado and she shuddered violently with the impact and Delgado's head cracked hard into the window, the glass spiderwebbing with the impact.

  “Aw Jesus,” he mumbled. Sarah pulled off again, heading for the station,

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “I’ll be fine,” he said but he didn’t sound like he meant it.

  Chapter 46

  Tyler Ford was a good journalist for a lot of reasons, but one of them was his ability to read a story before any of his competitors did. When he heard over the police scanner of Eddy Hobbs’ arrest after the murder of James Belfoy he didn’t follow the crowd of reporters to the police station in the hopes of getting a picture or a word from Hobbs. No, Tyler saw something else; he made his way to the house of Ray Pallister, the last free suspect now. He had a hunch he was going to find something amiss there and he was not disappointed.

  The patrol car was empty out on the street. This was unusual. Tyler looked up and down the street but saw nothing that might have drawn the officer from his car. He looked to Pallister’s ground floor doorway and saw the thinnest of chinks of light, it was open! He crept to the front door keeping an eye on his surroundings.

  At the door Tyler listened but all he could hear was a faint gurgling noise. He pushed the door slowly open just enough to see inside. A police issue boot was trembling on the floor, the rest of the body out of sight behind a sofa. Tyler pushed in some more and saw no one else in the room. He crept to the sofa and looked over. There on his back was the patrolman, his throat had been cut right across and his hands were there trying to stem the bleeding. The gurgling noise was hissing attempts at breathing and staying alive. Tyler shook his head, there was no way this guy was going to survive this.

  Noise from another room came to Tyler’s ear now, someone speaking, then someone else. He walked to the door and realised it was the bathroom.

  “You don’t have to do this.” Tyler recognised the terrified voice of Ray Pallister.

  “I’m sorry, but I do,” came a gruffer voice and it almost sounded apologetic. Tyler didn’t know who it was but he knew it was ‘The Gingerbread Man.’ “Close your eyes, it will be easier,” he went on. Tyler’s hand hovered above the doorknob about to burst in but then something stayed him. He didn’t know what for a moment but then it dawned on him. ‘The Gingerbread Man’ was working for Spalding, Spalding had something over him- that was why he said he had to do this to Pallister. If this was the case, Pallister was going to die anyway, sooner or later. It would best to let him go now and put him out of his misery, and it would also almost end the misery of whoever was behind this door doing the killing. Was it better to not intervene and just let this happen? It probably wouldn't be great for him to be involved in another crime scene either. They would get even more suspicious of him.

  A terrible whimper and then a horrible tearing noise made his mind up for him. Tyler pushed open the door and the wide eyes of the dying Pallister met his. The Gingerbread man pressed into his chest with the knife and twisted it until Pallister slumped down. When he was done he stood back and drew in a deep breath.

  “What has Spalding got over you Detective?” Tyler said. Duggan was startled and he spun and lunged at Tyler with the knife before even seeing who he was. Tyler backed away fast but the tip of the blade caught his defensive arm and sliced thinly into the flesh.

  “You can’t win,” Tyler said backing away, “They’re going to figure out it was you.” Duggan’s head was wrapped in a bandage and it looked like the stitches underneath had opened up and were bleeding again. It wasn’t a good idea to be bleeding at a crime scene if you wanted to get away with it Tyler thought.

  “I have one more to go, I can’t let you get in the way!” Duggan lunged with the knife like it was a fencing sword and Tyler backed hard into a wall and had to grab both of Duggan’s wrists at the last second to stop the blade penetrating his chest. Duggan was strong but he was weakened by his blood loss tonight. Tyler felt he had the edge but right now he was the one pinned to a wall.

  “You can let me walk out of here,” Tyler said, “I won’t write a word about this and we’ll see how it plays out,” he offered. Duggan shook his head,

  “If I don’t get it done tonight my little girl dies!” he cried and he pushed harder than ever, to Tyler’s shock the top of the blade pressed into his chest, cutting through the skin and he heard it scrape on the bone.

  “He’s probably going to kill your daughter anyway!” Tyler spat into Duggan’s face and then he dropped his weight, allowing the knife to cut up his chest and used this momentum to knock out one of Duggan’s knees. Tyler then used Duggan's loss of balance to throw his weight on the man and take him to the ground.

  The knife clattered on the tile floor and Duggan dropped for it. Tyler knew better. He allowed Duggan to scramble for the blade and while all of his attention was on that frantic task Tyler drove his two fists hard into Duggan’s throat. The detective fell to his side and clutched at this neck trying to breath. Tyler knew it would be a temporary effect but it gave him the time to get the knife and plant himself firmly on top of Duggan before he had the air coming back into his lungs.

  As he sat astride the man looking down into his terrified eyes Tyler felt the power he had so often felt in the past and he wanted to plunge the knife deep in Duggan’s neck. Would he get away with it though, that was the question that stopped him. He was sure there was plenty of evidence of Duggan being the killer and they would be able to see that Tyler was hurt in another attack. It would all be very obvious. Would it be any less obvious if Duggan was dead when the police arrived?

  “I have to finish this!” Duggan pleaded. Tyler looked down at him, the knife ready to find his flesh and that was when he became aware of the patrol car lights out on the street.

  “They’re here, detective, it’s over,” Tyler said.

  “Freeze!” someone shouted from the door, "Drop the weapon!” Tyler threw the knife to one side and rolled off Duggan. Both men lay bleeding on the floor as tears filled Duggan’s eyes.

  Chapter 47

  A couple of days later Sarah and Tyler met at his house.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked.

  “I’ve had worse,” he said, “Only really a long cut.” He looked down at his bandaged chest.

  “Duggan has admitted to it all,” she said sure he already knew this. “He had something on each of the men, going back a long time. He made sure they all had an alibi for the nights of the killings apart from the one they were going to be accused of. They didn’t have a clue what they were involved in until the bodies turned up. That’s why they were all so scared.”

  “And the man who set them all up was the one questioning them about the murders most of the time,” Tyler said, shaking his head in wonder.

  “The worst part
is how no one noticed anything,” Sarah said. She had been only a couple of interviews when Duggan was present but hadn’t picked up on anything at all. She felt like she’d let the victims down for this.

  “Has anything been heard about Duggan’s daughter?” Tyler asked. Sarah shook her head and took a sip of her beer.

  “No,” she said. “I don’t suppose we will for a long time either. Duggan might be caught but he’s not going to talk about Spalding while he still has her.”

  “Would you?” he asked.

  “I guess not,” she agreed. They were quiet then and the heavy rain started like a shower being turned on. They both looked to the ceiling.

  “Have you spoken to Megan since she went to the cops about us?” Tyler asked.

  “No, I’ve been meaning to but just haven’t gotten to it yet.” She looked at him as if to ask the same question.

  “I haven’t either but I think I will in the next few days. I need to know what changed with her.”

  “Do you think she’d talk to you?”

  “Who knows,” he shrugged. “I’m going to get another beer, you want one?” he asked, getting out of the bed. Sarah felt the weight of the bottle in her hand and nodded “Be right back,” he said. She watched him leave the room and then lay back and listened to the rain.

  Delgado had made a point of telling her to stay away from Tyler after he was found at yet another crime scene, but somehow she had wound up here again this evening. It was the sense of being free and able to talk that drew her here, that’s what she thought at least. He knew things about her, about her life that no one else could find out, and it was the same with her for his life. There were things no one else could ever know.

  A phone rang downstairs and she heard Tyler answer it and then he was talking. It didn’t sound urgent and Sarah didn’t get a sense it was anything to do with Dwight Spalding. Her mind wandered and settled on Duggan again. What did he know about Spalding? Had he met him in person? Could he tell her anything that would be of use to finding the killer?