The Usher

by Will Pettijohn

  He was startled at the sound of his cell’s sally port being opened. Soon after that a tray of food slid in and the port was closed again. Young dreaded the food that was served to him, but today he was hungry. He picked up the tray and swallowed down the food as fast as he could. He was satisfied enough to feel better, and it suppressed the hunger pains for a bit. He wanted to be out of this place so badly. He found himself thinking of stupid things to pass the time. He counted every brick in his cell several times to make sure he hadn’t missed any. He played “chase the cockroach” when he saw one. He found himself thinking of old memories he had forgotten.

  His most suppressed memory was one of him and his father, who would beat him for not sitting up straight at the dinner table. He hated his father and didn’t regret not going to his funeral when he was buried. He and his mother were estranged after his father died; she never recuperated from her loss. . She didn’t like that his father had been so hard on him, but it didn’t stop her from loving her husband.

  His brow wrinkled and a sour look gathered on his face. He didn’t want to think about that stuff when he had this much time to kill. He began to make up silly rhymes to pass the time. He knew he’d be let go on circumstantial evidence, and he was going to make himself look like a hero again in the public’s eye.

  Young began to think about what he’d do when he was set free. He would be reinstated by the director of the FBI, and he’d be back on the street. That’s where he wanted to be. He couldn’t wait to make Leonard Marcell pay for the crimes he’d committed and gotten away with. He would also make him pay for making him sit in that hell because of a nosey police detective who couldn’t leave well enough alone. If it hadn’t been for Rick Wise, he’d be fine. Even if Archer had tried to get him busted, he could have gotten away with it, because Archer wasn’t smart enough to catch him on his own.

  Archer and Young had worked together long enough for Young to get Archer’s personality profile. He was out of shape, which meant that he lacked drive. He wasn’t married because he was unappealing to women. He had moved out of his mother and father’s house late in life, which meant he was codependent. All of the signs pointed to Archer being a follower, and that was why Young had involved him in his plan to get Marcell.

  Archer was apprehensive about the idea at first, but with a little persuasion from Young, he followed the plan and even helped devise it. He didn’t know Archer had gone to their commander and told him the story. But the way the FBI worked, Young would have noticed the difference in Archer and never killed the Bennigan family to begin with. Archer got scared when he noticed that Wise was on to their plan. That’s why he told the truth in the end. He liked the popularity almost as much as Young did. He loved the spotlight and the credit that came with it.

  Archer was never given full credit for any of the cases until he turned on Young. And Young actually felt as if he had pushed him into being a little more independent and taking charge. When Archer realized that Young would go to prison, he wasn’t afraid of him anymore, and Young felt like that’s what made him rat him out.

  Young hadn’t always been such a creative thinker. In the academy he had been tormented by his peers as well as his instructor. He had always been the last to finish the obstacle course and the first to finish tests. It had made him an easy target for everyone’s ridicule.

  He had often been picked for special assignments from the dean of the academy. And that had made his classmates hate him even more. He had been the last to qualify with a handgun and assault rifle as the academy drew to a close. But in the end, he had finished at the top of his class on the academic portions of the training.

  Young hated Rick for what he had done. He hated Colt for being free when he was locked up now. He hated Archer for stealing his glory and turning on him. He hated a lot of people, and he was in the wrong place for hate to be getting to him. Prison seems to allow hate and discontent to grow like a weed in an unattended garden. Young could feel himself slipping deeper and deeper into a depression that was beginning to control him.

  Chapter 26

  Rick and T-Bone made their way back to Captain Dickie’s office and knocked on the door. Dickie was on the phone and motioned for them to come in. The two entered and sat in chairs in front of his desk. Dickie was agitated by the phone conversation, and it was apparent by his tone. “I’ve cleared them for a visit to Beaumont for tomorrow. They feel like if they can talk to him, they will get more information about the Bennigan murders,” he said as he shook his head. “Yes, sir, I’ll let them know. They just walked into my office,” he continued.

  Judging by Dickie’s attitude, the two detectives knew the person on the other end of the line had to be the police commissioner or the mayor. They watched him squirm in his chair. “Yes, sir … You have a good afternoon as well.” Dickie cupped his head in his hand as he hung the phone up. The next words were muffled from his hand. But the two understood them: “Well, son of a bitch!”

  “What is it, Captain?” Rick asked as he stood up and took a step toward Dickie’s desk.

  “That was the police commissioner, and he got a call from the FBI about the Young case. I told him you two were headed to Beaumont tomorrow to interview Young and try to get more information about the Bennigan case.”

  “What did the FBI say, Cap?” T-bone asked.

  “They would prefer that we let them handle the case from now on. I told the commissioner it was a jurisdictional issue and that our department had precedence because of the location of the murders.”

  “So what did the commissioner say to that?” Rick asked.

  “He agreed and said he told them that we would continue to investigate, but that we’d share any and all information with them—or Special Agent Archer, to be exact.”

  “Captain … I am getting more and more concerned about Agent Archer’s involvement and what he is doing now.”

  “What are you talking about, Rick?”

  “We just came back from the evidence room, and Andy said that Archer has the phone records from the Bennigan’s home.”

  “So call Archer and get them back from him.”

  “Well … he never mentioned it to us that he was going to get the phone records. He got them the day he told us the bad news about not having the warrant and the result of that.”

  “Hmm … It makes me wonder what he wanted those records for.”

  “Our thoughts exactly, Captain.” T-bone answered quickly.

  “Okay, I’ll get to the bottom of it while you guys are gone to Beaumont tomorrow.”

  “Captain … would you wait to talk to Archer until we get back from talking to Young? If my hunch is correct, then Archer is still playing a deadly game, and maybe Young will talk to us about it tomorrow.” Rick asked.

  “What the hell makes you think Young would say anything about Archer? Weren’t they partners in your little theory?”

  “Well … Only one of them is sitting in prison,” Rick said. “That would make me mad if my partner in crime was portrayed as a hero and I was sitting in prison, waiting to be tried for a horrible crime.”

  “Are you thinking that Young is innocent now, Rick?”

  “No, sir. I just think he isn’t the only one who is guilty now.”

  “So, explain to me why you think Archer is up to something.”

  “Well, if Archer was really innocent throughout all of this, wouldn’t he let us know when he borrowed evidence? Wouldn’t it make more sense to let us know rather than have us find out and think he looks guilty? And why wasn’t the warrant signed that day? Agent Woburn told me that Archer was a lot more involved than he portrayed when Young was taken down.”

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” the captain said. “You’ve got me convinced now. That dirty son of a bitch! Find out what you can from Young and then get your asses back here and let’s figure out how to catch the bas
tard.”

  “Okay, Captain. So we’re still clear to head to Beaumont tomorrow?”

  “Yes, but keep in mind that I just got my ass eaten out about the overtime. So don’t fuck around. Get down there and get back as soon as possible.”

  “Okay, Cap, but we have another issue. The phone records from the Bennigan case are with Archer now, and we were going to take them tomorrow.”

  “I don’t know why Archer took the phone records either, but why would you need to take them to the interview? Young’s number was never on the records anyway.”

  “I think that if we can scare Young into admitting that he had a romantic relationship with the teenage girl he killed, maybe he’ll crack and give up another taped confession. And give us Archer as well.”

  “Why do you need another taped confession?” the captain asked. “We have the tapes, and now they’re admissible because the judge has signed a warrant for the tapes that we have.”

  “Because I believe that there is another story other than just the one that is being told. If Archer is still working with Young, then we need to get him as well.”

  “What makes you think he’ll give Archer up? If they’re still working together, then he’ll keep it quiet.”

  “I believe Archer was more involved because of the way that the Bennigans were killed. Nobody is good enough to watch every single component and then take out five people like that without help from someone else.”

  “I hope you’re right about Archer and that Young will give him up … Where did you come up with the idea that Young and the teenage girl had a romantic affair?”

  “Well, it’s simply a hunch, but if I know teenage girls, there was conflict in the house and she would have been vulnerable to his persuasive advances. She may have given him anything that he wanted … even her family’s lives.”

  “That’s what I’m asking you, Rick! Why would that even pop into your head?”

  “Okay … Sorry … What we know right now is that the girl was simply killed and not mutilated in any way. That suggests that he had an emotional attachment to her and not to the others.”

  “Wouldn’t the emotional attachment be more evident with the murders of the people he cut up into a hundred pieces rather than the girl who was just killed?”

  “Well, he had a reason to kill them violently. He wanted the guy Marcell that he was trying to frame to get the death penalty for the violent crimes. I believe he wasn’t originally going to kill the girl, but then something changed and he decided to kill her. He felt the emotional attachment, and that’s why he simply killed her and then left.”

  “But if she was there the whole time, her footprints would have been all over the place, right?”

  “I guess maybe that’s why he killed her. Maybe she showed up when she wasn’t supposed to and then he killed her too. I do think he planned on her not dying, but she was a witness, and he must have known she was untrustworthy.”

  “Hmm … I don’t know about your theory here, Rick. Maybe you guys are way off base, but then again … maybe you’re not. Did you get your fuel vouchers and paperwork together for your trip?”

  “Not all of them yet, but we’ll focus on that while we get the phone records together.”

  “What phone records? I thought Archer had them,” the captain said.

  “He does … I mean my phone records.”

  “Dammit, Rick! You’re confusing me now.”

  “Young can’t know that Archer has the phone records, and if Archer took them, then I believe there must be a pretty good reason. I’m simply going to go in there with a set of phone records and several numbers highlighted. Young may spook and then give it all to us.”

  “Okay. That sounds like a good idea … and Rick?”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Don’t be too cocky with this guy. Remember what happened the last time you thought you had him in a corner?”

  “Yes, sir, I do,” Rick said, and he and T-Bone left the captain’s office. They gathered their paperwork and got the fuel vouchers together before printing off Rick’s phone records. The two walked by the captain’s office and waved good-bye. Dickie was on the phone again, but placed a hand over the receiver and said, “I’ll expect a call from you guys when you’re on your way back.”

  Rick nodded before walking away. He and T-Bone walked out and made their way to the car. Rick dropped T-Bone off at his apartment and said, “I’ll be here at five hundred hours to pick you up.”

  “Okay, Bubba, I’ll see ya then,” T-Bone answered, and then closed the door behind him.

  Rick went home and was in bed before too long. He lay there and thought about what he would say to Young in the morning when he saw him again. He wondered if Young would even talk to them.

  He knew Young hated him now, but he didn’t care. Rick was in a position of not knowing what had really happened at the house. He felt like Archer was involved and was covering up something now. He also believed that Young had had an affair with a minor girl whom he then killed. He wouldn’t simply volunteer that information unless he had a reason to do so.

  Rick wanted to make Young believe that he knew everything there was to know. He wanted Young to break down and offer all the answers to the questions he had. He would do whatever it took to break Young and have those questions answered.

  Chapter 27

  Colt called Gamboni’s phone and Berto answered. Colt knew he couldn’t let him know that he knew of his misdealing before he could figure out what was going on and why Berto was having him followed. He needed to first find out why he would even care about Colt’s business to begin with.

  “Let me talk to him,” Colt said.

  “He’s taking a nap right now.”

  “Okay then. I’ll call him back later.”

  “Why don’t you come on over to the house? He should be up in a little while. He told me to call you and have you come by before he went to lie down. I just hadn’t gotten around to calling you yet.”

  Colt knew that Gamboni would have called himself. He was careful to say, “What’s up? Why wouldn’t he just call me himself?”

  “I don’t know. He just told me to call you and have you come to the house so that he could visit with you about a few things.”

  “Okay, I’ll be there in about forty-five minutes,” Colt said, and then he hung up the phone. He was leery of what had just happened and wasn’t going to be tricked by a bodyguard. In most cases, if Gamboni was gone, Berto was with him. Unless of course … Gamboni was entertaining guests at his cabin on Lake Worth. He had done that on occasion and Berto hadn’t gone with him.

  Colt didn’t think Gamboni really wanted to see him. He believed Berto wanted to get him over there and put him into a situation that they both might regret. He didn’t know whom Berto was working for, and he wasn’t going to take any chances. Colt called Tony on the phone.

  “Yeah,” Tony answered.

  “I believe Grandpa has a rat in his house that’s trying to eat everything in sight.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “’Cause I called and Grandpa was taking a nap … but his butler asked me to come over anyway and see if I could catch it.”

  “Okay, so go over and see if you can flush out the rat.”

  “I don’t think Grandpa really wants me to come over and catch it. He always talks to me himself. And I thought Grandpa was at the doctor’s office today. So I don’t think he’s taking a nap.”

  “Well, if you think the butler wants you to find the rat, maybe you should go and see if you can find it.”

  “I don’t know how many rats there are.”

  “Do you want me to go and help you kill the rats?”

  “Yeah, I think that would make me feel better. I’m not afraid of rats, but when there are a lot of them, it
can be hard to catch them all.”

  “Okay. You want me to meet you or what?”

  “No, be there in an hour. That’ll give me a chance to figure out how many rats there are. Then we can get rid of them all and be done with it.”

  “Okay then, see you in an hour,” Tony said, and hung up the phone. Tony knew that for Colt to call him meant that he feared that Berto would have an ambush or something there for him. Tony didn’t know whom Berto was working for yet, or why he was having Colt followed. But he did know that Berto being there and waiting for Colt to show up while Gamboni was gone wasn’t a good situation for Colt to be in. There waas no telling what Berto had planned. He might just want to talk, or he might really try to kill Colt.

  Either way, Tony would be there to help Colt, because he could use Colt in the future and knew Colt was the best hit man in the business. Tony had had Colt do a few things before, and they had turned out perfectly. He knew Colt was one to have on his side during a fight. He called his guys and loaded up to go and meet Colt at Gamboni’s house.

  Colt began the twenty-minute drive to Gamboni’s, and his mind began to work. Berto could have an ambush ready for him. He could kill him as soon as he pulled into the drive. He could act as if nothing was wrong just to feel him out to see if he knew what was going on. The possibilities were endless. But Colt didn’t believe that Gamboni wanted him to come to the house, or that he even knew Colt was coming.

  Gamboni would sometimes do things just to see how loyal his people were, though. He was a gambler of sorts, and he liked to make people jump when he spoke. Therefore, Colt knew that he had to go even though it was dangerous. If Gamboni had told Berto to have him come over and Colt chose not to, the repercussions could be worse than if Berto was tricking him.