by Easton, Don
“Wait at the restaurant,” she heard Jack say. “It’s closer for me to pick you up there than go to your house. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. I’ll also call our friend and tell him to get over to Sy’s and see what he can find out.”
Jack’s call to Rodine went unanswered and he cursed out loud. He was heading out the door when he glanced at Natasha and said, “What was it that you were going to tell me?”
“With what you’ve got going on … be careful. I want you to stay focused.”
“I always am. What was it you were going to tell me?”
Natasha briefly reflected on her thoughts and said, “About how much I love you.”
“I love you, too.” Jack quickly kissed Natasha and hurried to his car. He tried to call Rodine several more times as he drove to the restaurant.
Laura was with Elvis in the restaurant foyer when they heard the squeal of tires approaching. Laura stuck the tissue back in her purse that she had been using to dab the smeared mascara off her face. Without thinking, she automatically used her hands to brush a wrinkle out of the front of her skirt before giving Elvis a quick kiss on the cheek. He watched as she ran in her high heels out to the car to join Jack, leaving Elvis thinking that under any other circumstances, it might have appeared funny.
“Where we going?” Laura asked, as soon as she closed the door.
“Over to Sy’s and see who he’s with. Tell him we want to see him about the apartment or something. Our friend isn’t answering. I left him a message to —” Jack stopped to answer his BlackBerry.
“Sorry, I couldn’t pick up,” said Rodine. “I was with Sy. You gotta get over to that teacher’s place. She’s been attacked and is tied to her bed. Probably less than an hour ago. I just found out.”
“We know. She’s at the hospital. Who did it and where are they?”
“Three kids. Juvies. I’ll be burned if you bust them.”
“I won’t burn you. Are they the same three as were in court today?”
“No, those guys are apparently at some Pizza Hut so they have an alibi. The three that did it just left here.”
“They were already there! Who are they?”
“I don’t know who two of them are, but the oldest one, Ray, lives in the apartment on the floor below Sy. He’s only seventeen, but looks older than the other two.”
“I’ve seen Ray coming and going from the apartment building,” said Jack. “What about the other two. Did you see them?”
“Yeah, I saw them, but they’re not from around here. They look to be about fifteen or sixteen years old. One has a purple Mohawk hairdo and the other has long black hair parted in the middle. Ray called Sy to meet him out front of the apartment. That’s when Sy told me what they did, so I walked out with him. Ray and the two others were waiting in Ray’s red Camaro. Sy gave them a case of beer and they drove off.”
“Son of a bitch,” muttered Jack through his rage. “Any idea where they might have gone?”
“Not really. Sy asked Ray what they did with the masks and knife. Ray said they put it all in a plastic bag and tossed it into the bushes when they drove past some park. Sy was pissed. He told them to go back and bury it so it would never be found.”
“What park? Do you know the name of it?” asked Jack, his mind pleading for the right answer.”
“I don’t know. They didn’t say. They left a couple of minutes ago.”
“Jesus fucking Christ!” yelled Jack.
“They did say it was about a ten-minute drive from the teacher’s house, if that helps.”
Jack felt relief. “That helps a lot. Coming from Sy’s they’ll be using Highway 99, which means they’re coming in our direction. We’ll be waiting when they get to Richmond.”
“Man! You do that and I’m dead! You promised —”
“I know what I promised. Don’t worry, I keep my promises.”
Chapter Nineteen
Jack told Laura what he had been told while driving to intercept Ray.
“We can’t let them get away with this,” cried Laura. “Informant or no informant. We can’t sit by.”
“Do you really think I will sit by?” answered Jack tersely. “You know me better than that. We will protect our friend though. We gave him our word.”
“Then what can we do? Any arrest and they’ll know who told. Especially if we wait until they pick up the bag of evidence.”
“I’ve got an idea,” said Jack, coldly, “and it doesn’t involve arresting them.”
“Jack … no, we can’t. I know how you feel. I’d like to kill them, too. But we can’t. They’re still just kids.”
“Kids committing adult crimes,” replied Jack. “You know how things went in court today … and that was with the masks and a pellet pistol. What do you think will happen in court if they’re arrested without the hard evidence of the masks and knife?” Jack paused and when Laura didn’t respond, he said, “I can hear it now. If we get DNA to prove they were there, lawyers will get the kids to say they were enticed to Miss Flowers’s home on the pretext of tutoring them. She used her position to seduce and introduce them to the world of bondage. The kids went along with her, but one kid threatened to tell his buddies about it. They’ll say Miss Flowers threatened to charge them all with rape if that happened. The kid panicked and things got out of hand. They’ll cap it off by saying the kids were actually the victims of an adult. A teacher yet … a person in authority who used her power over them.”
“That’s far-fetched. A jury might not believe that.”
“Yeah, might being the key word. Especially without the masks and the weapons.”
Laura sighed and said, “Okay, okay. Even if you’re right … I don’t even want to think about it. But what do we do? Killing them isn’t an option. Anything else I would go along with.”
The rage Jack felt caused the tendons to go taut in his neck and his eyebrows furrowed, darkening his face. “I’ll tell you what the option is —” He stopped talking and Laura wondered if he was too angry to speak. “Hang on, incoming call,” he snapped, answering his cellphone.
“Jack, it’s Connie. The office said you called. You know what happened?”
“I know,” replied Jack tersely.
“You told me you were moving her to a safe place. How did you let this happen?”
“I don’t know,” replied Jack. His mind continued to cycle every detail in a futile attempt to figure out how he screwed up.
“You better find out, because so far, we got nothing.”
Jack realized he was clenching his jaw and that his fist was gripping his phone like a vice. He relaxed his muscles, but the vengeance he felt was as powerful as ever. “Believe me, we’ll find out,” he replied. “I’ve picked up Laura. How’s Amanda?”
“Her injuries aren’t life-threatening, thank Christ. I only spoke to her briefly. She said she was tied to her bed, repeatedly raped by three guys, and then they slashed her forehead multiple times with a knife. She’ll be badly scarred.”
“Where is she now?”
“She’s laying on a gurney in the holding area. A doctor is working on her face. After that, they’ll get her a private room where, hopefully, if she’s not too sedated, I’ll be able to talk to her in detail.”
“Not life-threatening if the nightmares don’t drive her to suicide,” said Jack, bitterly. “Do you really think she will be up to talking to you?”
“She’s traumatized, but not hysterical. She did say she is good with voices and is positive none of the three were the same guys as before.”
“Good with voices, is she?”
“Yeah, but she didn’t recognize any of them. Maybe they were adults or kids from some other school.”
“Cocktail used juveniles last time to alleviate any jail time if they were caught.”
“Do you have any leads for us?”
“No, we don’t have any leads at all.”
“Oh, man …” murmured Laura in the background.
“Then wha
t are you doing?” asked Connie
“Talking it over with Laura. Trying to figure out who is responsible.”
“Responsible! You know it’s Cocktail! Probably went through Sy again. What’s wrong with you? Have you called your informant?”
“It’s kind of touchy talking to the informant right now,” replied Jack.
“Kind of touchy? I can’t believe this! Don’t you realize what happened?”
“I’m fully aware of what happened,” replied Jack. “We’ll do some digging and get back to you.”
“Yeah, well —”
Jack hung up his phone mid-sentence.
“Do some digging?” asked Laura. “Oh, man,” she muttered again.
“Not the type of digging you’re thinking of,” replied Jack, “but a skirt and high heels isn’t exactly the right thing to be wearing for what I have in mind. You wearing nylons?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Hang on, I’m going to phone Natasha.”
Jack rapidly punched the buttons on his BlackBerry. Laura listened as he asked Natasha if she could convince the hospital to delay moving Amanda to a private room.
“There’s no time to explain,” he said. After a pause, added, “Convince someone that you’re a doctor from another hospital. Say there’s been a multi-vehicle accident and it may be necessary to transfer some patients. Ask them to hold any rooms they can for an hour to give you time to assess the new arrivals.”
Laura saw Ray drive past in his red Camaro, as did Jack.
“Gotta go,” said Jack. “Use a payphone. Hopefully in an hour I’ll get you to call again and say the transfer isn’t necessary.”
“Take ’em off!” he yelled to Laura as he sped through traffic to catch up to the Camaro.
“Take what off?” asked Laura.
“Your nylons. Now!”
Chapter Twenty
Connie Crane looked down at Amanda Flowers as she lay on the gurney and tried to console her. Amanda’s forehead was swathed in bandages to stop the bleeding while they waited for a plastic surgeon to examine her.
“They’re supposed to move you to a private room,” fumed Connie, once more sliding open the white drape and peering out. “They don’t seem that busy.” She caught sight of the doctor who first examined Amanda and said, “Hey! You forget about us? You said we would be moved to a private room in a couple of minutes. That was forty-five minutes ago.”
“Sorry, something came up. A multi-vehicle pileup. Rooms are on hold for the moment until the situation can be assessed. We’re working as fast as we can.”
Connie walked over to the doctor and said, “Sorry, but it’s critical that I get a formal statement from the victim as soon as possible. Under the circumstances, I need to talk to her in private.”
“I’m sorry,” replied the doctor. “I appreciate your situation and have kept the spots on either side of you empty. That’s the most privacy I can offer at the moment and even that could change soon. I’m told we have three more patients being brought in with multiple injuries, so it is about to get busy. You may want to use what time you have now to talk to her.”
Connie grimaced, but nodded in agreement and returned to Amanda and pulled the curtain shut before taking out her notebook.
“Okay, Amanda, you’ve told me some of the details, but I need a full statement. You said you were in your kitchen near the back door when three guys in ski masks kicked the door open. They were brandishing knives and said they would kill you if you screamed. Is that right? So —”
Connie shook her head at the sound of running feet and loud voices as gurneys were slid in on both sides of the curtained enclosure. “This isn’t going to work,” she muttered, sticking her head out once more. She saw two uniformed RCMP officers, with notebooks in hand, about to enter the enclosures beside her. A young man was laying on a gurney out in the open and it was apparent that all of the private enclosures were occupied.
She recognized one of the officers. “What’s going on? An MVA?”
“No, this was no car accident. Some lunatic attacked three kids in a park with either a tire iron or a pipe. They said he was wearing pantyhose over his head.”
“Must’ve looked like a deranged rabbit.”
“He accused them of getting his daughter hooked on dope and started wailing on them. We have two victims with broken legs above their ankles, the other with a broken arm, and all three with broken collarbones. Actually, the oldest kid had both his collarbones broken. At least, that’s what the paramedics say.”
“Broken collarbones,” mused Connie. “Easy to do and it would disable a person’s ability to use their arms and hence their hands. Sounds like your perp has been trained in hand-to-hand combat. Could be a soldier. Did you catch him?”
“Not yet. We’ve got the dog handler out looking.”
“Sounds like they sold dope to the wrong person.”
“It could be mistaken identity. These kids claim it was their first time to the park. They’d gotten their hands on a case of beer and were drinking it and minding their own business when the attacker appeared out of the dark and started beating them. Must have been crazy … although he did have some conscience.”
“Why do you say that?”
“When he was finished, he used one of their cellphones and jabbed in 911 and put the phone in the kid’s hand so he could scream for help.”
Connie shook her head. What the hell is the world coming to? She looked at her colleague and said, “Well, good luck. Hope you catch him.”
Moments later, Connie saw the startled reaction on Amanda’s face when the voices of the new patients could be heard.
“It’s them,” she gasped, sitting up and grabbing Connie by the sleeve.
“Who?” asked Connie.
“The guys who attacked me,” she whispered. “I recognize their voices. Out there.” She pointed. “I’m positive.”
Connie looked at Amanda and whispered, “Lay quietly. I’ll check it out.”
Connie slipped out from behind the curtain to have a closer look at the three teenagers. She fought the urge to believe they could be that lucky. Amanda is in shock … could be a false reading to any young men’s voices she hears …
Connie looked at the youth who was laying on the gurney out in the open. Her pulse quickened when she spotted blood on the bottom of his running shoe. More on his shirt … but they were attacked …could be his own. She bent to examine the blood on his shirt sleeve.
“You a cop, too?” asked the youth, who had seen Connie talking with the uniformed officer.
“Yup.”
“You better catch the guy. Look what he did to me! I’m really hurtin’.”
“The uniformed officers are investigating what happened to you. I’m not here for that.” Connie made direct eye contact with the youth and added, “I’m investigating a woman who was attacked in her home tonight.” She saw his response. A flicker of fear … or could it be a reaction to a jolt of pain?
“I had a nosebleed earlier,” the youth said, instinctively trying to pull his arm away. He yelped in pain as the effort to move his arm was stopped by a broken collarbone.
Connie heard the crackle of the portable radio as the uniformed officer spoke. Could it really be them? To get a lucky break like this … She was only partially aware of a conversation droning over the police radio in the background. Nosebleed, my ass. Doesn’t explain how the blood got under his bicep and he’s acting nervous ... She momentarily forgot the blood on the sleeve as her brain triggered a response to the radio conversation. Something about a bloody plastic bag with ski masks found buried in the park?
“Yeah,” crackled a voice over the radio. “The police dog found it buried in the park close to where the youths were attacked. Contains ski masks … latex gloves … a bloody knife … the blood is fresh.”
Connie stared at the young man in front of her who glanced at the officer with the portable radio before looking sullenly back at her.
“That
fuckin’ sucks!” he said, defiantly staring back. “Figures, the only way you pigs could catch anybody is by a fuckin’ fluke! Get me my lawyer!”
Chapter Twenty-One
It was midnight when Jack dropped Laura off at the office so she could retrieve a surveillance van. She was going to watch Sy’s apartment in the hope that the arrests might spark some activity. In the meantime, Jack was going to pay Gabriel a visit. He knew she would still be up.
“I’ll join you as soon as I’m finished,” said Jack.
“That might be soon if Gabriel slams the door in your face,” replied Laura.
Gabriel’s home was still a buzz of activity with the Forensic Identification Unit still hard at work in the basement. Any fear that Jack had about not being welcome was quickly overcome. Gabriel peered through a window after he knocked and flung open the door and hugged him.
“How is Amanda?” she asked.
“Her wounds are not life-threatening. She will, however, be scarred for life … emotionally and physically.”
“I hope she finds comfort in the Lord,” said Gabriel while using her fingers to wipe tears from her eyes. “Thank you for coming back tonight.”
“Thank me for coming? Gabriel, it was me who introduced you to Amanda. This wouldn’t have happened here if I hadn’t brought her over.”
“I guess not,” replied Gabriel. “Where do you suppose it would have happened, then?”
Jack found himself at a loss for words.
“Please. I’m glad you’re here. Come in and I’ll make you some tea. I … I need to know if we’re in danger.”
“No, you’re not in danger,” replied Jack. “Amanda was their target.”
“Because she was helping catch bad men who were selling drugs to the kids in her school?”
“Yes … something like that.”
“Are the same people who attacked her the ones who murdered Father Brown?”
“The youths who attacked Amanda tonight are not the same people, but belong to the same group … or groups of people that we suspect are behind Father Brown’s murder.”
