by E. E. Borton
“And these,” said Lewis, sliding the folder containing photos and statements across his desk. “They clearly show a rape is taking place and Brittany is behind the camera. A jury will be hard pressed to believe the sex was consensual.”
“Where did you get these?”
“Brittany’s father granted me access to her laptop, digital camera, and all the data cards,” said Lewis. “All of which he owns.”
“I find it hard to believe you did this by yourself, James. It makes more sense to me that Kate Freeman obtained all of those and used her team to extract the information. Again, easily defeatable and will be thrown out of court before a grand jury sees any of it.”
“I’m willing to take that chance,” said Lewis. “Brittany told me everything about the deal you made with her to keep this quiet. She’s also convinced you made another deal with Billy Simmons. You did an excellent job of covering your tracks, but I know that connection is there. I also believe Billy, or Bullet, has something to do with her disappearance. Bottom line, all roads lead back to you.”
“You truly have lost your mind, James. That’s the most ridiculous story I’ve ever heard.”
“Regardless of your opinion, I’m moving forward with the investigation on Monday. I promise you I’ll commit every resource of my department to uncover the truth.”
“What are you expecting me to do?” asked Cassandra. “Confess that I was the mastermind behind a conspiracy to cover up a rape? Please.”
“I expect you to do the right thing, Judge,” said Lewis. “I’m giving you the weekend to think about it before it becomes official. Either way, you’re going to be in the spotlight. It’ll be your decision if the public sees you as cooperating with the investigation or trying to bury it.”
“I always do the right thing,” said Cassandra. “I didn’t earn my federal judgeship by making bad decisions. I strongly suggest you take the weekend to think about your next move.”
“Oh, I plan on it,” said Lewis, folding his hands on his desk. “I’m leaving for my cabin this afternoon and I don’t plan on coming back until Monday morning. Two days of being alone out there with no cell service and no distractions is exactly what I need. But I can tell you right now I won’t be conflicted about which direction I’m heading. I’m taking this time to make sure I’m covering all the bases so nothing slips through the cracks. If you dodge my calls when I get back, I’ll consider that your answer.”
“No need to call, James. I’ll be right here waiting for you.”
Sheriff Lewis left work early and left word that he’d be unreachable until Sunday evening. If they needed him, it would take an hour boat ride to his fishing camp to find him. It was a secluded cabin on a small island that had been owned by his family for generations. It was the only place he could go to disconnect from the world. Judge Hall knew exactly where it was.
Taking out one of the three witnesses would bring too much attention to the case. Taking out all three would prove her involvement in the conspiracy. Removing the sheriff was her best option, and he had just handed her the opportunity on a silver platter.
They wouldn’t start looking for him until Monday, maybe even Tuesday. That would give Bullet’s brother plenty of time to make the body disappear. The swamp rarely gave up its dead.
When the Sheriff was reported missing, there would be hundreds of suspects in Terrebonne Parish with obvious motives. It would take investigators months to clear all of the names on the list of people he had arrested over the years. As long as he went missing before he opened the sexual assault case against her son, Judge Hall’s name would never make it onto that suspect list. It would also send a clear message to Brittany, Tyler, and Greg. Keep your mouth shut or you will disappear.
Sheriff Lewis tied his boat to the small dock at his fish camp. It was a short hike through the woods to the highest point on the island where the cabin was located. It was built on a platform that stood several feet off of the ground to protect it from floods. Over the years the family had added more rooms to the original structure. Eight adults could move around inside with ease. It was his home away from home in the middle of nowhere, Louisiana.
It was three in the morning on Saturday when the second boat glided up to the dock. Five men with automatic rifles and handguns debarked and made their way up the path to the cabin. They knew the location well and only needed the full moon to guide them up the gentle slope.
There was no need to lock the doors at the cabin. There wouldn’t be another soul for miles in any direction. Two of Bullet’s men stood on the porch as Brad and the remaining two crept inside. They lowered their night vision goggles, and the room was illuminated with invisible infrared light only they could see. They knew the sheriff’s bedroom was the last door on the left.
As they approached the half-opened door, they could hear snoring inside. It was Brad’s job to put the bullet in his head. Two men waited outside the room while Brad entered. He raised his pistol and aimed at the back of the sheriff’s head. When he squeezed the trigger, the explosion from the bed propelled him into the wall.
The two men on the front porch cowered and hunched over when they heard the detonation. As they stood upright, two large caliber bullets found their marks. They dropped to the floor leaving red clouds of blood hovering in the air.
Evan had filled the mannequin head with enough explosives to have the same effect as several concussion grenades, but not enough power to kill. The intense light blinded the two men in the hallway, and all they could hear was ringing in their ears. They left Brad behind and stumbled out onto the front porch to find safety. Two more shots from the blackness dropped them on top of their dead friends.
It took Brad a few moments to regain his senses and his balance. Blood was pouring out of a wound on the back of his head after it impacted a stud in the wall. He called out to the men in the hall with no response. Feeling his way along the walls, he made it to the front porch and tripped over a mass. As his vision cleared, he realized he was lying on top of a pile of bodies. Panic set in as he kicked away and stumbled down the stairs. When he reached the tree line, a baseball bat materialized out of thin air and ended his mission.
With his rifle slung over his back, Grey removed his night vision goggles and looked down at Brad. Satisfied that the fight was over, he pressed a button on his microphone. It was time to clean up the mess.
“He’s down,” said Grey. “Everybody come in.”
Thirty yards away in the woods, Chief raised himself out of his concealed shooting position. He folded the legs on the bipod of his rifle and adjusted his goggles. Sheriff Lewis did the same from his position on the other side of the house. Evan started walking up from his position near the boats. He was the last line of offense if Brad managed to escape Grey.
Brad, three of the hit men, and the boat were red dots on the screen back at the rental house. As soon as they converged, Grey, Chief, and Evan were notified by Abby on their satellite phones that they were coming for the sheriff. They were concealed with their high power rifles with night vision scopes thirty minutes before the murder team arrived.
“You okay, Sheriff?” asked Grey, binding Brad’s hands and feet.
“I am,” said Lewis. “They were coming here to kill me in my sleep. I’ve got no problem with this. If we had let them live, they’d be going after my family next.”
“Kate got them out of town last night as a precaution,” said Chief. “We’ll make sure they stay gone until this is over.”
“Thank you,” said Lewis. “I owe you my life. I still can’t believe Judge Hall was willing to kill me to stop an investigation that was never going to happen anyway.”
“She didn’t know that,” said Grey. “You now have a better understanding of how Kate operates. She gets into their heads and stays two steps ahead of them. She used you as a carrot to dangle in front of the judge. She knew they’d come after you before they did.”
“She’s effective,” said Lewis, looking at the bo
dies on the porch. “She just eliminated half of Bullet’s top thugs and now has his brother. Those boys have always been tight. This is going to drive Bullet insane when he finds out.”
“Exactly,” said Grey. “Kate knows that and will use it against him and the judge. Next time they won’t be coming after you. They’ll be coming after her.”
“Everybody okay?” asked Evan, joining the group.
“Yep,” said Grey. “A little bit of overkill on the exploding head, but we’re all fine.”
“Seriously,” said Evan, looking at the baseball bat and Brad’s crushed nose. “You couldn’t have tackled him?”
“I’ve always wanted to do that.”
After Brad regained consciousness in the basement of the rental house, it didn’t take much convincing to get him to call his big brother with news that the sheriff was dead. The information was passed to Judge Hall. She was pleased with their success, but still had to do some cleaning of her own.
She knew the deputies would allow her wait in the sheriff’s office if he was running late. It would give her access to the evidence box she noticed on Friday. It contained the items from Brittany’s house and the case file folders with the photos and their statements. Once the sheriff officially opened the case, the box would be processed and held in the secure evidence locker.
In her pocked was a USB key drive. She obtained it from one of the forensic technicians she knew from her days as a prosecutor. It would erase an entire operating system off of a computer and permanently destroy all the files. After she left his office, nothing would remain that would lead investigators to believe he was going to start an investigation against her son. When the deputy opened the door for her, the last person she expected to see was Sheriff Lewis sitting at his desk.
“Good morning, Judge,” said Lewis, beaming a smile.
“G-good morning, James,” said Judge Hall, losing her color.
“Are you okay, Cassandra? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”
Chapter 36
Best Enemies
Her first instinct was to turn and run. Her second was to pull the pistol out of her purse and empty it into his chest. Judge Hall had no idea how much he knew about the hit she ordered, but she needed to find out.
She stood in the doorway for a moment to slow down the thoughts firing off in her head. She realized panicking was not a good option. She composed herself by thinking that, if he knew it was her, she would have been arrested before the deputies allowed them be alone. After taking a deep breath, she smiled and stepped inside.
“I’m fine,” said Cassandra. “Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep over the weekend.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Lewis. “That wasn’t my intent.”
“I know,” said Cassandra. “In your mind, you’re doing the right thing.”
“If it’s any consolation, I didn’t get much sleep this weekend either,” said Lewis.
“Why not?”
“Five heavily armed men came to pay me a visit at my cabin,” said Lewis. “They were there to kill me.”
“Oh my God, James,” said Cassandra, dropping her jaw with surprise.
“The department received a tip late Friday night from a couple of our informants,” said Lewis. “All five were taken into custody before they got to me.”
“Who are they?”
“They aren’t important,” said Lewis. “I’m more concerned about the man who ordered the hit. This probably won’t come as a surprise to you, but it was Billy Simmons.”
“I’m not surprised,” said Cassandra, shaking her head. “It was just a matter of time before Bullet screwed up again. Have you arrested him?”
“Not yet,” said Lewis. “We still have some work to do piecing all of this together. According to our informants, he may not have been working alone. They followed Bullet to an isolated location where he met with another person. They couldn’t get close enough for a plate, but they got close enough to see that it was a woman. It was too dark for a positive ID.”
“How are you going to handle this?”
“Quietly,” said Lewis.
“Ordering a hit on a county sheriff isn’t something you want to handle quietly,” said Cassandra.
“Judge Hall,” said Lewis, leaning forward in his chair. “Can I speak freely and off the record with you? I’ve had a rough week here.”
“Of course.”
“I owe you an apology,” said Lewis. “I realize now that whatever happened to Emily Pierce had nothing to do with you or your son. It has everything to do with Bullet and his associates. The events of this weekend proved that to me. I still think what your son and Brittany did to her was despicable, but that isn’t the reason she’s missing. Bullet is. I won’t be opening a case against your son.”
“I’m sorry this happened to you,” said Cassandra. “You’ll have my full cooperation and support when you go after him. We need to get him off the streets.”
“I’d like to get him off the planet,” said Lewis. “I’m sure he knows I’m still alive. There’s nothing stopping him from going after my family or taking another shot at me.”
“I can get you federal protection,” said Cassandra, “for you and your family.”
“That won’t be necessary,” said Lewis. “I plan on taking the fight to him. He crossed a line coming after me and made it personal.”
“Be careful with him,” said Cassandra. “Most of the stories about him and his family are true. When I was on the bench here, he came through my court a few times. He has no remorse or regard for human life. The entire family is psychotic. His two brothers are just as bad, but they’re not as smart as he is.”
“I know,” said Lewis. “I have one of them.”
*****
Brad had to breathe through his mouth to get a lungful of air. For the most part, his nose was useless. If Grey had given him a full swing, he wouldn’t be breathing at all. His arms and legs were bound to the same chair Greg found himself in ten days earlier. With Brad, there would be no special effect tricks to coerce a confession. The method was going to be both psychological and physical.
Kate sat in a corner of the basement. “What do you want with me?” asked Brad. “Who are you?”
Nobody had said a word to him since he regained consciousness during the boat ride back to the rental house. When he arrived, they blacked out the windows and plunged him into darkness. He was confused, dehydrated, hungry, and tired. If he tried to sleep, heavy metal music was blasted through the speakers next to his head. When the lights came on for the first time, Kate was staring at him.
“The sheriff wasn’t very happy about you showing up to kill him,” said Kate, picking up a piece of bacon from a large plate of breakfast.
“What?” said Brad, trying to act surprised. “No, no, we was just gonna scare him!”
“You shot him in the head,” said Kate, taking a sip of juice. “Or at least what you thought was his head. Nonetheless, why? Why were you trying to scare him?”
“I don’t know any of that,” said Brad, staring at her plate. “I was just doing what I was told.”
“By who?”
“I can’t say,” said Brad.
“Would you like some of this?” asked Kate, holding out her plate. “It’s delicious.”
“Naw,” said Brad. “I ain’t hungry.”
“Yes, you are,” said Kate. “And you’re going to get hungrier and thirstier and more tired if you don’t answer my questions.”
“Look, lady,” said Brad, trying to be brave. “You don’t know who you’re messing with. My boss is gonna find you because you killed his guys and kidnapped me. There ain’t no place you can run or hide from him. I ain’t kidding about that either. He’ll find you and he’ll hurt you. He don’t care that you’re a woman.”
“I’m counting on that,” said Kate.
Evan had removed the two bolts on the front legs of the chair and fastened hinges on the back legs. It still secured
the chair to the floor, but it allowed it to be knocked over, leaving anyone in it staring up at the ceiling.
“I know who your boss is,” said Kate, standing. “I know Bullet told you and your four dead buddies where you could find the sheriff. He told you to kill him and make him disappear in the swamp.”
“If you know all that, then why are you holding me here?”
“Those things I do know,” said Kate, walking in front of him. “You’re going to tell me the things that I don’t. You’re going to tell me what happened to Emily and where we can find her body.”
“I don’t know anything about that,” said Brad, looking away. “I don’t even know anyone named Emily.”
“Wrong answer,” said Kate, kicking him in the chest and knocking him over in the chair.
As soon as he hit the ground, Chief and Grey knelt down beside his head. Chief covered his face with a thin towel while Grey held a bucket of water. He looked over at Kate as he tilted it over the towel. It was her last chance to stop him.
Earlier in the day he described the technique in detail. He told her several times it didn’t look like much when it was happening, but it was a brutal form of torture. He wanted her to be informed about the process, but Grey didn’t believe it would change her mind about using it. He was right. She made no attempt to stop him.
Even though Brad wasn’t submerged, within seconds his brain was convinced he was drowning. Holding his breath wouldn’t stop the water from entering what was left of his nose and begin to suffocate him. There was no way to defeat it. It’s the reason why waterboarding is such an effective interrogation tool.
After ten agonizing seconds, Chief removed the towel from his face. Brad spit up water and began screaming. With the combination of excruciating pain from pressure being applied to his broken nose and the sensation of drowning, Brad became more cooperative. Grey grabbed the back of the chair and stood it upright. He was facing Kate again.
