“You are too invested,” Braggs said.
“Damn straight I am invested. She is the key to putting everything away neatly. You know his nickname now so how about you go find him and I protect her. I will do it better than anyone else because she is carrying my future niece or nephew.”
Braggs was silent a moment, then said: “You aren’t trained to handle this.”
Hazel went to lash out but Owen caught her. “Get her out of here and Brooks, take her to a safe place.”
Owen dragged Hazel out of the room and gave her a look of disapproval. “You need to keep your head on. You can’t act like a three-year old.”
“I am so sorry,” she said cynically. “But I am not going to be written off because I don’t have the skills to protect her. You know better than anyone that I will protect the people closest to me.”
“That isn’t important.”
“You know what?” she began. “I should be able to pick who my true friends are and you don’t make the cut. You should stand up for me, but you don’t. You back down when Barbie is there.”
“Don’t talk about her like that.”
Hazel shook her head. She felt frustrated not knowing where else to go. She started to walk home when she heard her mother’s voice. “Hazel, where do you think you’re going?”
She didn’t want to talk to her Mom. She didn’t want to tell her anything because the moment she did, Hazel would more than likely burst into tears. She didn’t want anyone knowing what was happening in her head, but she’d have to tell her mother eventually.
Chapter 7
Looking in the mirror inside her apartment, he saw himself for what he was – a killer. It was something he had been destined to be, and now he just needed to get a feel for this new girl. Hazel Hanson, his next target, was a police officer. She was different than the other women though, slightly older and much stronger.
Looking through her drawers, he found a picture hidden there of her and a young man. He enjoyed killing these women and he wanted to finish off the other girl – Kelly Mathis. She was a fighter just like her sister, and he knew in order to get to her he would have to go back to the office and follow the mother.
Still looking around, he heard his phone ring. It was Cecily. “Arianna went to the cops. Get out of her house and we will go ahead and plan this out again. Until then, we need to get all our shit together.”
“What do you have planned?”
“You already know what I am thinking of.”
He hung up and began to leave, grinning to himself. His next target was probably still in the hospital, but she had yet to identify him. He would have thought that with a scar like his, his face would be memorable, but no one had picked up on it yet.
Shutting the door quietly, he quickly made his way out of the building and back into the streets.
§
She watched her mother fold laundry while she sat at the foot of her bed. Mom had been very persuasive getting her to come to the house. They had not spoken a word about it yet, but her mother deserved to know what was happening. Her son had gotten a mob boss’s daughter pregnant while he was undercover and now he was somewhere out there. She had no idea what was happening to him.
“Hazel,” she said carefully, “could you tell me why you and Owen broke up all those years ago?”
It was a fair question. No one really did know what happened. All they knew was that Owen packed his bags and left and afterward Hazel had disappeared for a few weeks. However, no one knew in those weeks what had happened to her, and no one ever asked. They respected her – but now was the time to tell her mother part of it.
“He and I agreed it would be better to stop being around one another. He wanted something else with his life and we just went our separate ways.”
“Was he involved with another girl?”
“No – it wasn’t because of someone else. I know it might sound silly, but I didn’t want to be with him anymore. Being around him just drove me crazy.”
Her mother sat down next to her and she nodded. “Then tell me this ... how come you were never with anyone else after the fact?”
“I don’t like talking about relationships, Mom. They sort of suck. I don’t know how you managed to do it again after Dad died.”
She smiled. “Your stepfather and I were an accident.”
“Oh yeah, right! I know you’d always had a thing for him.”
Her mother sat there with memories taking her back to those days. Hazel’s mother and father had true love, and then after his death her mother had found true love once more with his partner. It was something Hazel had thought she could find for herself, but realized she wasn’t meant to settle down and have a family. Especially with her job, having a family would just be a distraction. She saw how much it bothered her not knowing about Nate. If she was a mother and her kid was missing, she’d be a wreck.
“Will you give me grandchildren one day?”
Hazel stifled a laugh, but she knew her mother really did want grandchildren. “Let me get back to you on that one.”
“You know any man would be lucky to have you. You’re beautiful, smart and independent. But your best trait is your giant heart. I wonder if doing this is something you’re truly happy with.”
“I wouldn’t want it any other way. I bring answers to loved ones who need it and catch killers before they can hurt even more families. It will never end,” she said sadly, “but at least I’m making a dent.”
Her mother embraced her. Suddenly, she felt tired. “I am going to head home.”
“You could stay here,” her mother said wistfully. “Your room is still your room after all.”
“I know, Mom. I have a lot more things involving my case that is at my apartment.”
“Promise me you’ll get some sleep.”
“I’ll try.”
Downstairs, Percy and Paige sat on the couch, his arms wrapped tightly around her. Without disturbing her brother and his girlfriend, she walked home.
Her car was still parked outside her building. It wasn’t that far to walk to her apartment. Roughly two miles from her parents’ house. It was cold outside and she hoped her brother wasn’t freezing somewhere. Arriving at her building, she walked up to her unit to see someone standing by her front door. A gut-wrenching feeling came over her. Moving closer, she drew her gun out of its holster and then saw Arianna standing there.
“Hazel,” she said, out of breath. “I am sorry for startling you.”
“How did you know where I lived?” she asked, opening her door and letting Arianna in first.
“Nate told me how to get here if I ever needed to. I left before they took me anywhere. I saw someone in the station who is one of my brother’s informants. I don’t know his name. He could be the reason why they knew who your brother was.”
“Why are you telling me all this instead of the other officers?”
“Your brother only trusts you and the rest of your family.”
Sitting down, she gestured for Arianna to do the same. “You can disappear,” Hazel told her. “You can get out now.”
“I am not going anywhere until Nate is with me.”
“Is my brother still alive?”
She nodded. “The last time I saw him he was. That was this morning when they were moving him into another part of the factory. I know how cruel my father and brother are.”
Hazel watched as Arianna was about to cry. She reached out to comfort her but knew it wasn’t helping. “Arianna, I want you to leave the state,” she said slowly. “I won’t be putting you or your baby in danger. We have a house in Atlanta that my aunt left for my mother. No one knows about it.”
“Are you sure I should leave? What if I could help?”
“You already did help. Now you owe it to yourself to be safe with your baby. Once this is all over, we’ll come get you.”
Arianna pondered this for a moment before she nodded.
“Stay the night here and you can set off in the morning,” Hazel offered.
Getting up, she walked to her bedroom to get clean clothes for Arianna. “If you need to take a shower you can.”
“No thank you. I’m fine.”
Hazel knew she was not saying something, but did not push her to find out more.
Finally Arianna asked, “Did your brother give you the evidence I gave him?”
“Nooo, he was barely here five minutes. But I might know where he left it.”
Suddenly it all became clear. She went into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet grabbing her old retainer case. Opening it up, she saw a USB drive sitting in there. She smiled to herself. Nate never ceased to amaze her.
“I’m going to the station to hand this over.”
“No,” Arianna said firmly. “If you have a mole in there with you, why would you give them the one thing they want more than anything else?”
“I know someone I can trust on this,” she said. “Someone who would like nothing more than to put them away.”
§
Brooks was pacing back and forth. Arianna Ciervo fell through the cracks somehow and no one knew where she was. Now he was beginning to wonder if he should even send anyone into the old factory. It could be a trap and he was not about to let anyone else die.
Finally he sat down and began massaging his temples. The door opened and Detective Hanson walked in. She seemed nervous. “What is it?”
“Nate left this in my apartment,” she said. “I found it shortly after I got home and I decided to give it to you.”
“Don’t you cops have a chain?”
She knew he had a reason for the question. “Arianna identified someone in the station as an informant. I do not know the name of the person, but I do know I can trust you with this. Everything on here will help you convict the Ciervos.” She handed him the USB drive.
“So is Arianna with you?”
“Yes sir, she is. She felt like she was in danger and that is why she left.”
He nodded and looked at her in a new light. She reminded him a lot of his ex-wife. She too was headstrong, but it was his work that drove them away. He wondered if that had been what happened between her and Owen.
“Hanson, what else would you like to share with me?”
She shrugged. “I’d personally like to know why you thought I wouldn’t figure it out.”
“Figure what out?”
Hazel smiled and shook her head. After she had spoken to Owen, she knew there were more victims and checked it out. There were other murders out on Staten Island that fitted the modus operandi of The Slitter. “You should already know.”
As Hazel walked out of the office, she closed the door and continued towards her desk.
She had asked one of the rookies to dig out details of the Staten Island murders. This was waiting on her desk. Upon studying the details, she realized that there were five other murders that fit with the current ones. Now she was going to blow this case out of the water.
Chapter 8
Back at home now and in her pajamas, she felt relaxed. She was poring over the new files when Arianna walked into the living room with a cup of coffee. “Are these the other women that he killed?”
“It appears to be that way,” she said as she began biting the end of her pen. “Could you tell me more about this guy?”
She shrugged. “I know he has a son named Thomas. His girlfriend didn’t like him all that much. I never met her, but I do know she had a hard life. Her name was Alyssa.”
The very first murder they found was a Jane Doe. No one was ever able to identify her, but the torture was so severe that they wouldn’t have been able to. After that, it was a couple ... a girl named Stephanie Locke and her boyfriend Troy Wilkes. Both had been brutally murdered, and it was the only time a couple had been murdered together.
Reading through the file, she wondered if Troy was supposed to be with her that day. Unsure of it all, she continued reading through the other cases. The brutality of the murders had been extremely harsh, but not nearly as bad as the original three.
“Arianna, you went to Dr. Mathis, didn’t you?”
She nodded. “She was the best doctor. Every time I had an injury, I knew I could go to her.”
“Did anyone ever go with you?”
“No, I was always alone. Why?”
“These women,” she said pointing to the three victims, “went to her office as well. They were all murdered.”
Arianna shook her head. “I know nothing about that. I just went there to get help with my injuries – though it is possible my father had me followed.”
Hazel sensed she could trust Arianna. “Is there anything else you could tell me about this man named Ray?”
“My father took him in when he was a teenager and raised him as family. I steered clear of him and was always attempting to be invisible. I never wanted to be part of this family.”
“I need you to promise me something right now,” Hazel said looking into her eyes. “You must promise me that you are going to Atlanta.”
“Of course I will promise you that. I trust your judgment call and I’ll do what I have to in order to protect my baby.”
“Okay,” Hazel said, smiling warmly. “We should be getting some sleep.”
Hazel let Arianna sleep in her bed because she knew from experience that the futon was uncomfortable. When Arianna looked comfortable, Hazel returned to the living room and poured another cup of coffee. She needed to talk to Stephanie Locke’s mother. She wondered why the first three murders were so brutal and her mind immediately drew the conclusion that they had been personal. The others were probably just random targets.
Taking another sip, she heard someone knock on her door. She looked through the peephole to see Owen who appeared to be very angry. Behind him was the real=life version of Barbie and she too looked annoyed.
“Is she with you?” he said as she opened the door.
“Is who with me?”
“Arianna,” said Owen. “Look, I don’t know what the hell is going through your mind right now. She is supposed to be in our custody.”
“Then why isn’t she?”
Owen was silent for a moment as he stared into her eyes. He tried to find any indication that she was lying, but found none. “Maybe instead of always accusing me of doing something,” Hazel said curtly, “you should actually get the facts. Now you can go ahead and leave.”
Barbie threw a nasty look at her. Hazel disliked her. She seemed like a slut, and she wasn’t just saying that because she was on Owen’s arm but because she truly seemed classless.
Hazel closed the door, blocking them out. Anger overwhelmed all her senses, but it passed quickly. If she had been better at her job then he wouldn’t be here. She wanted him to leave and never come back. The feelings she’d buried so long were screaming loud and clear. Owen was always going to be a constant reminder of what could have been.
§
Owen wanted to tell Hazel why he was so frustrated. They had gone to the factory and had shot and killed several people. Nate wasn’t there, to their knowledge. He didn’t even know if he had it in him to tell Hazel about it. He knew she was hiding Arianna, but the only reason he had showed up was because of Bianca Braggs. She was always attempting to get others in trouble, and he was not going to let that happen to Hazel for protecting someone.
When they got to the car, Braggs spoke. “Why weren’t you more firm with her? You could’ve gone inside.”
“I know Hazel,” he said firmly. “I know when she is lying to me.”
“It has been five years. You need to stop feeling the way you do towards her. If you ever want to be with someone else, you are going to have to ditch those feelings and move on.”
Owen had attempted to start a relationship with Braggs but it had ended badly. His loyalties were still with Hazel. Despite how she acted, she was still important to him
. He would always love her, regardless of anything that had happened. She had been his first love.
Owen knew they had to go and speak with Brooks now. He wondered what he would say after he knew that Arianna was gone. He wondered how furious he would become. Owen didn’t want to be there when he turned into a monster.
Several minutes later, they arrived at the station and walked inside. Brooks was reading something. He gestured for them to come inside. “You already heard about what happened at the factory,” Owen stated.
Brooks looked up and nodded. “You know that we will find Nate. That is crucial now.”
“Why?” demanded Braggs. “What could an undercover cop offer us?”
Owen wanted to say something – an undercover cop could offer them everything they needed to put the criminals away. “He hid evidence in Hanson’s apartment and she brought it to me. I’ve been looking at everything and having Nate there to testify will be crucial. Almost as crucial as having Arianna there.”
“We don’t have the girl.”
They both waited for Brooks to blow up, but he didn’t. Owen thought Brooks knew more than he was telling them. “I am sure she knows what she is doing.”
Braggs looked surprised immediately and she shook her head. “You don’t understand,” she began to say.
“I do understand, Braggs. I understand that she was your responsibility, but she disappeared. Women with fire in their heart will always do the right thing. Now if you don’t mind, I need to speak with Jones alone.”
She left reluctantly. Owen stood there waiting for him to explain. “You went to Hanson’s apartment before coming here. You didn’t tell her though, did you?”
“No. She needs her head in this and can’t know how bad Nate is going to be when we find him.”
“Something tragic happened between the two of you. Do you mind telling me what it was?”
Shoot to Kill Page 8
