The Killers Amongst Us: Chimera Dawn Chronicles

by Conner, Declan

  “Okay, keep me informed. But you have to understand this; if she’s not found by the morning, they can stuff investigation protocol up their ass. It doesn’t stop me driving around to look for her.”

  He placed the handset back on the cradle, picked up his coffee and gulped it down in one.

  “God, this is going to be one hell of a long night. It doesn’t look as though I’m going anywhere... for now. This is crap. I don’t know what to do.”

  “I don’t know what you can do either, only wait to see what they come up with,” said Jim, and walked over to the window. “Frank’s back. Wait a minute. Is that another prisoner in the back of his pickup?”

  “Who is it?” Shaw said, and swiveled his chair to look out of the window.

  Jim put his hands on his hips and stood in front of Shaw, blocking his view.

  “Well, I’ll be,” Jim said. “It’s... nah ... yes, it is. It’s only the rooster himself, Ted Carter.”

  Chapter 26

  AMY’S boyfriend stumbled through the office door, wearing a white T-Shirt, jeans and sneakers. Frank followed, holding the chain between the cuffs securing his prisoner’s arms behind his back. Shaw stood, then turned with his back to them and looked out of the window. He wished he had simply phoned the FBI. The prisoner was a distraction too far.

  “Broken taillight, and resisting arrest,” Frank said. “I’ve read him his rights, but I need to let him cool off so I can write it down without the cussing.”

  “This is bullshit. He broke the taillight with the butt of his gun. I would have come to talk to you only I needed to go home first. I’ve done nothing. What’s so urgent we need all this?” said Ted.

  Shaw couldn’t face him and continued to stare out of his window.

  “You know the drill. Book him in then lock him in a cell,” Shaw said.

  A county sheriff’s deputy pulled up in his car outside. Shaw turned to Jim.

  “I can’t handle this. County are here for their prisoner. Frank’s report is on his desk with the evidence. You see to him, I’m going upstairs.”

  Shaw trotted up the stairway with Gyp following. He threw himself on the sofa, face down, and buried his head in a cushion. Reaching out, he blindly grabbed the telephone from the coffee table and put it beside him. He lay there almost comatose for around ten minutes. The telephone rang, and he turned over, grasping at the handset.

  “I have it,” said Shaw, as someone in the office had retrieved the call at the same time.

  “Sheriff’s office. Shaw speaking.”

  “It’s Mary, the officer’s gone.”

  “What did he say?”

  “He took all the details, and I gave him Louise’s phone number and Amy’s photograph. He spoke to someone called Logan over his radio. Apparently, they’ve tracked the driver down on his bus route, and the officer is going to speak to him. Then, he said he was going to central to meet this Logan person.”

  “Logan is my old boss. He’s going to throw everything at finding her.” Mary started to cry over the phone. “Is... is there anything you can do?”

  He wasn’t sure if he should tell her his thoughts on her connection to the attempt on Johno’s life. The last thing he wanted was to upset her any more than she already was. He decided to leave the incident with Johno out of the equation.

  “Logan’s asked me to stand by and to wait for news. I feel so damn powerless. He wants me to check with her friends that she hangs around with locally. Maybe she’s phoned them?”

  “God, I hope so. She was supposed to be meeting Ted tonight and going back with him tomorrow.”

  Shaw sat up at the revelation that Amy was going to meet him that night. His mind worked overtime as to why he had come home a day early.

  “Ted! I thought I asked you... oh, never mind. Well that wouldn’t have happened, he’s back here in Breakers Pass. Listen, I need to go and start asking questions. Ted’s at the office now. I’ll phone you when I hear from Logan. If she’s not found by the morning, is it okay if I come and stay at yours?”

  “You don’t have to ask, of course you can.”

  “Thanks, speak to you soon.’ Shaw closed the call. Gyp offered him a paw.

  “What’s up, boy? You hungry?”

  Shaw hauled himself from the sofa and walked to the kitchen. He poured out some dog chews in Gyp’s bowl. Gyp sniffed at the treats, but turned away, following him out of the apartment and down to the office.

  “I’m so sorry about Amy,” said Frank, as Shaw entered the room, head bowed. “Is there anything we can do?”

  “Yes, there is something. I need you and Jim to talk to Amy’s friends and see if she’s contacted them. I also want you to shake them down. There’s been an attempt on Johno’s life.”

  “What!” Frank said, and dropped his backside on his chair.

  “I need you to find if there’s anyone dealing drugs in town. LA homicide reckons the motive for the attempt on his life lies up here somewhere.”

  “God forbid,” said Jim. “Ain’t come across nothing like that, only the liquor.”

  “Maybe it’s because we haven’t been looking.” Shaw said. “Anyway, it’s likely I’m going to LA tomorrow, so I’ll want you both to look after things up here.”

  “Look after what?” Frank asked. “It’s not as though you’re exactly forthcoming with what’s in your head. I mean, why is Ted here for a start? And what’s that list of names for on your desk headed, ‘Things to do’?”

  Shaw knew the rebuke was deserved.

  “Oh yeah, sorry. I think it’s time we had a meeting.

  Shaw could feel the heat in his cheeks. Frank was right. He’d not exactly entrusted them with his line of investigation. There again, he’d thought that their job description didn’t go far beyond handing out vehicle violation and litter tickets, and attending the odd breach of the peace. If ever there was a time to test their loyalty, it was now.

  “Whatever’s said in here stays here. It’s the first rule of investigating. Breakers Pass is too small a town for word not to pass around if there’s a leak. That includes talking to the wife. We clear on that?”

  “Clear,” said Frank.

  “You got it,” Jim said.

  “Good, I’ll start with our prisoner, Stewart Harvey, alias Ted Carter.” Jim and Frank exchanged glances. “He’s wanted by the FBI for questioning.”

  “Why didn’t they haul his sorry ass?” Jim asked.

  “Because I haven’t told them, that’s why. I wanted to give him a tongue-lashing first, on account of the hurt it’ll cost Amy. In the circumstances, it’s a good thing I haven’t told them yet. He may know something about Amy going missing.”

  “What have the FBI got on him, besides using an alias?” Frank asked.

  “Computer hacking and fraud, but I’m not interested in that. They can handle that once I’ve questioned him about Amy. I need you both with me when I question him, ’cause I‘m likely to want to tear his head from his shoulders.”

  “Understandable,” said Frank.

  Shaw didn’t want to give them time to ask how he found out about Ted and moved onto the next subject.

  “Did you get the statement from Ron Bartlett?”

  “Yeah, Ed Grimes had been visiting Maria alright. I have the dates and times, but nothing on the night of her death,” said Frank.

  “Good, we can move on. Maria’s death. Here’s where I’m at with it so far. We don’t know the cause of death until the autopsy comes back to us. We can take it an animal, probably a dog, ragged her neck, but she could have already been dead. That brings me onto the bare footprints. Someone else was at the scene, and my main suspect is Ed Grimes. He was the last to have contact and we have Bartlett’s statement confirming Grimes had been paying her late night visits. I think it’s likely he had a hand in the arson attack to cover his sorry ass. Trouble is; we don’t have any physical evidence yet to put him at the scene of either the death, or the arson attack. I’m waiting for the forensic report on t
he oil valve to see if they can find any prints that will match his. Until then, I can’t move in on him, or he’s likely to cry to his attorney.”

  Jim set an awkward stance and shuffled from foot to foot. Shaw could see he had something bugging him, but he was having difficulty communicating with his mouth.

  “What’s on your mind?”

  “I didn’t want to tell you this,” said Jim. “But Ed pulled me to one side the other day in the main street. He was asking me if you thought your taste for liquor was affecting your judgment. I told him I’d never seen you drink at work, which is the truth.”

  Shaw slapped the desk and sat back in his chair.

  “That confirms it then. I had a visit from the county sheriff this morning. I guessed Grimes had a hand in the county sheriff’s visit. I need to take a medical on Wednesday after they’d had an anonymous call about me drinking. Luckily, I haven’t had a drop since I came back from LA.”

  “So he’s trying to get you suspended?” said Jim.

  “It’s looking that way, which tells me he wants me off of the case because of my background working homicides.”

  “Do you think the dog could be one of his pit bulls?” Frank asked.

  Again, until we get DNA tests back, there’s no point in testing his dog. With a little luck, it may have left some saliva on her body or nightdress. But now we have a second dog. Ted got rid of his dog Polly, and by all accounts, it was fierce and big enough to have caused the damage to her neck. It had also been for treatment to the vets a few days before her death. So after questioning him, I’ll need you to track it down.”

  “What about the prepper’s feral dog?” Frank asked.

  “I think that’s just a smoke screen to keep people away from the silver mine, and to perpetuate the mine monster myth. Breakers Lake is near the silver mine. It was probably the preppers’ way and scaring off Amy’s crew from wandering near there. So... that’s it, my to-do list is waiting for the autopsy and forensics reports to come in for me to start hauling ass. The priority now is to interview Ted, or Stewart, I should say, and then you can go and start talking to Amy’s friends.”

  “But what about the dog tracks at the ravine?” Frank said.

  The questions were becoming like a tide washing over him. This had to be the final answer. Finding Amy had to be the priority and that meant interviewing the prisoner.

  “Same as I said about the multiple cat tracks. It could have been a hunter’s dog passing the trail earlier. Okay, meeting finished. Let’s get this interview under way with our reluctant guest. But first, pass me his personal belongings from the locker.”

  Frank sprang off his seat and walked to the locker. He retrieved his prisoner’s belongings and placed the box on Shaw’s desk. Shaw tipped the contents out and spread them around. He inspected the keys on his car key ring. There were two other keys besides his car key, probably for the front and back door of his home. He picked up his wallet and opening it, he checked the contents. There were a few small denomination bills amounting to fifty dollars, his driving license, insurance card, medical card, and a bank debit card, all in the name of Ted Carter. In one of the pockets, he found a piece of paper tucked inside. He teased it out and unfolded it to reveal two addresses scribbled in Biro. One was Mary’s address and the other was for the Medical Centre with a room number. Shaw slipped the note back inside and picked up his cell phone. He pressed the phone symbol to fire it up, but the battery was dead.

  “I’ve got a charger for that model in my drawer,” said Jim. He opened his drawer and rummaged around. “Here it is,” he said, and tossed it to Shaw.

  He connected the lead to the phone and plugged into a socket by his feet.

  “That’s better, now let’s see who he’s been calling.”

  Shaw noticed his neck chain had a small key attached. He had a flashback to the locked door in the corridor at Ted’s home. Shaw opened the outbound calls on his cell. The last call was to Amy around the time she would have been on the bus.

  “Okay, let’s see what he has to say. Take your chairs through to the interview room. I’m not going to tell him I know about the alias straight away, or that Amy’s gone missing. Just watch, listen and learn. Let’s see if we can find a drug connection.”

  Chapter 27

  SHAW followed Frank and Jim into the interview room. He took a seat at the desk. Gyp sneaked into the room and crawled under the table. Shaw’s mind fixed on the time of the call to Amy. It would be within ten to fifteen minutes after the attempt on Johno’s life. He was also reminded that Ted was separated from the crew the night of Johno’s accident, and turned up with his feet bare.

  Shaw looked over at Frank “Lock the connecting door and go and get your prisoner. You can take his cuffs off. Jim, you wait outside.”

  Shaw waited, chewing the top of his Biro. He flicked the corner of a closed buff folder on the desk which was stacked with sheets of blank statement papers. The door opened. Frank ushered his prisoner into the room. Shaw placed his Biro to one side of the folder.

  “Please, take a seat,” said Shaw.

  “Are you gonna tell me why I’m here?”

  Shaw ignored him, picked up the file off the desk, opened it and studied the blank sheets. He closed the file and set it down.

  “Well now. I just need to ask you some questions. I know most of the answers, so answer truthfully and then we can all go about our business I’m not recording our interview and you’re not under caution. You’re just helping with our enquiries. But anything you do say to help us with our investigations that we could repeat in court. What were you doing in LA?”

  “Research, why do you need to know?”

  He’d seen that look before when someone had something to hide. His eyes displayed a mixture of questioning and fear. Fear of what the folder could hold.

  “Just answer the questions. What research and where?”

  “Well there’s the LA Times record office. And then the Public Reference Library. I’m just doing research for a book I’m going to write.”

  “What’s the subject?”

  “It’s private. You’ll find out when it’s published.”

  Him being evasive and using an indignant tone gave the impression that the book was a lie.

  “It doesn’t matter. Where were you staying?”

  “The Globe motel.”

  “Alone?”

  “Yes, alone. Amy wasn’t with me if that’s what you’re thinking. Ask her Aunt Mary.”

  “What about this morning, what were your movements up to arriving back here?”

  “Like I said, I was at the public library after the newspaper records’ office, until around eleven thirty this morning. Then I went to see if I could catch Amy at the hospital for lunch. I knew she went for lunch with Louise around time I arrived. Besides, I wanted to find out how Johno was progressing. I phoned her from the outside the Medical Centre, but she was on a bus going to her Aunt Mary’s.”

  He was finally opening up. It was time to press a button to see how he’d respond.

  “What did you talk about?”

  Ted pushed back in his chair.

  “Wait a minute, what’s all this got to do with what I said with Amy?”

  Shaw couldn’t be sure if his response was out of concern, or he needed time to concoct a story.

  “Just need to know what you had planned, that’s all. I thought you were supposed to be seeing her tonight?”

  “Well, I was, and that’s what we talked about. I told her I had to come back to see the guy working on my home. In fact, because of your gorilla here, he’ll probably not be there to show me how to work my new security system. Anyway, I said I’d be back on Tuesday to bring her home.” Shaw detected his demeanor change from puzzled, to as if he’d hoped that he’d worked out why he was there. “Oh, I get it. Is that what all this is about?” He laughed and shook his head. “This is a joke right; the sort of stunt I’d pull. You’re teaching me a lesson for letting her down by not see
ing her tonight. It’s the Dad’s thing, right?”

  Shaw kept a poker face, picked up the file once more and studied the contents.

  “Come on you guys, the joke’s over.”

  “I’ve not finished yet, humor me a little longer. This dog of yours, Polly. Where is she?”

  His smile disappeared with the change of subject.

  “I gave her away.”

  “Why?”

  “She frightened Amy and Polly was starting to get vicious in her old age. I’d even taken to putting a muzzle on her.”

  “Who did you give it to?”

  “Don’t tell me someone’s made a complaint? I gave her to some neighbor who rented the cabin next to mine for a vacation. Said he had a car wreck yard in LA and she would make a good guard dog. I’m sure he said his site was on Brook Street. It was hard letting her go, but I did it for Amy. I’d had Polly for six years.”

  Shaw didn’t respond, but fired his next question.

  “When was Polly last at the vets?”

  “Oh, God, no, I hope you’re not going where I think you are, ’cause you’re wasting your time. Don’t say that you’re thinking it was Polly who killed the vet. She was gone by then, ask Amy.”

  “And she would know would she? If I remember right, she was at a sleepover with Louise on Thursday.”

  Ted squirmed on his seat.

  “For God’s sake, I took the dog to the vets last Wednesday for a vaccination, before I handed her over to her new owner.”

  “So she didn’t stay over at the vets?”

  “No, we were in and out in five minutes.”

  “And you wouldn’t lie to me? After all, I’m the sheriff and your girlfriend’s dad.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Oh, that’s right, you don’t lie. Like when you said that you were going home to fetch your tent on Friday. So, if Amy could put me straight about your dog, how would she know Polly wasn’t there if she slept at Louise’s house on Thursday?” Amy’s said nothing about you giving Polly away. You’re saying that after six years, you wouldn’t be upset enough to tell her. That’s bullshit.”