by C. M. Sutter
“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Jack teased. “I don’t want you to go through withdrawal.”
I smirked at his comment. “Yeah, up yours. Seriously, guys, don’t keep me out of the loop. It doesn’t matter to me if next week is a vacation week or not. I’m only a phone call away.” I said good-bye to Clark, wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, and reminded them not to eat too much stuffing or pie. I was excited to get home and intended to relax with Amber over a glass of wine and a leisurely night in front of the TV. A week of fun would begin tomorrow as soon as my dad’s plane landed safely on the ground in Milwaukee.
Chapter 44
Robert
They finished their burgers in the darkened corner booth at the nondescript dive bar on the corner. The place was perfect. Nobody paid attention to anyone, and they came and went completely unnoticed. They were only a dinner for two, paid in cash, and nothing more.
As Robert and Tony walked back to the hotel and the dusk became night, they noticed that the activity along Morrison Avenue had increased. Hookers pranced back and forth in seven-inch Lucite heels and wore skirts that barely covered their bottoms. Cars circled the block slowly with the windows down. Men ogled as they looked out at the women strutting by.
Tony elbowed his brother. “It looks like we found the hot spot.” He licked his lips and moaned as he cupped his groin with his hand.
Robert smirked at Tony’s antics and cracked his neck as they passed adult stores and walkways littered with entertainment flyers. They were only a few blocks from the hotel.
“I’m ready for some action, bro,” Tony said. “How about you?”
“I’m more than ready. Let’s get our tools of the trade and the van, then we’re good to go.”
Back in the hotel room, Tony used the bathroom, sheathed his knife, and headed toward the door.
“Hang on, I want to admire this for a minute.” Robert twisted the knob on the desk lamp and held his knife under the bright glow. “Isn’t this a thing of beauty?” He jerked his head for Tony to come back and take a look.
Dried blood coated the glistening blade. They both stared at it while Robert reminisced about slicing the knife through Jillian’s neck.
Tony blew out a puff of air. “Damn, I washed mine off. There was too much gunk on it.”
“I imagine so when you gut someone.” Robert slid his knife into the sheath under his T-shirt. “Let’s go. There’s got to be some hot babes dying to meet us.”
Tony locked the door behind them. They walked the worn linoleum hallway and crossed in front of the registration desk. The old woman sat on the chair and nodded at them. A lit cigarette hung from her dry lips. They exited the building, took three steps down, and then turned right. The parking lot was straight ahead. Tony clicked the fob, and the van’s lights blinked and the door locks popped up. They climbed inside. Tony drove slowly out of the parking lot and turned right. The area they had just walked by twenty minutes earlier was five blocks away.
“The tape and zip ties are under the backseat,” Robert said. “We’ll look for two hookers working together and invite them to party with us. I’ll sit in the backseat with them while you drive to that area we scoped out earlier.”
Tony stopped at the red light as the traffic passed. “You mean the wooded trail that goes around the park?”
“Yeah, it should be pretty quiet there now. All of the activity is on Morrison Avenue. Once they’re comfortable in the van, I’ll give them both a good punch to the face and disorient them. When they come to, they’ll be gagged and tied up. That’s when the party will really begin.”
The traffic light turned green. Tony continued on for three more blocks.
“Here we are, and it looks like the party is in full swing. I may as well line up with the rest of the cars. Put on your charm, bro, and get us some ladies.”
Robert lowered the passenger-side window. Tony drove slowly behind a row of cars ahead of him.
“Up there, under the streetlight at the end of the block,” Robert said and pointed at two hookers standing together.
Tony groaned his disgust. “They look pretty skanky.”
Robert laughed. “They are hookers and probably heroin addicts too. They’re going to look a lot worse later. Pull up alongside them.”
Tony waited until the car ahead of them turned right, then he pulled up to the curb, and Robert called the ladies over. One woman had overly bleached hair that was nearly white. She wore it in a tangled mess on top of her head. The leopard-print spandex skirt showed off her bright pink panties underneath. She wore seven-inch platform heels. The other woman was Hispanic. She had black hair, one side shaved close to her head and the other side long. The dangly earrings she wore hung several inches below her earlobes and nearly touched her shoulders. The short, tight-fitting silver dress she wore was covered in sequins, and her stripper-style heels matched. They leaned their heads in the window and grinned.
The Hispanic hooker spoke up. “Hey, boys. What can we do for you?”
“It’s what we can do for you,” Robert said, giving them his widest grin. “But first, what are your names?”
The blonde answered for both of them. “I’m Lucky”—she pointed at the hooker standing next to her—“and she is Corrine.”
“Lucky, huh? A fitting name, I’m sure.”
“We work together for safety, so you have to take both of us.”
“We absolutely intend to.” Robert got out of the van and opened the door to the backseat.
“What a gentleman,” Corrine said as she climbed in.
Robert got in before Lucky had a chance to climb up to the seat. “I’ll sit between you ladies, if you don’t mind. We can get better acquainted that way. By the way, I’m Bobby, and the handsome gentleman driving is my brother, Tony.” Robert reached out and took Lucky’s hand then helped her in. “Come on. Let’s have some fun.”
Tony turned on his left blinker and pulled away from the curb and into the row of cars. He headed south.
“We need the money up front,” Lucky said, “just to get the business part out of the way.”
“Totally understandable. How much?” Robert’s hand brushed against the knife sheath as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet.
Lucky stroked Robert’s hair and flicked his ear with her tongue. “An hour is a hundred dollars each.”
“Got it right here.” Robert pulled out two crisp hundred-dollar bills and handed one to each woman. “Are you ready to get busy? I know I am.”
Corrine smiled at Robert just before she was elbowed in the face. Blood ran from her nose and settled in her open mouth. He spun to his right and nailed Lucky across her left cheek, causing her head to bounce off the side window. Both women were unconscious.
“Guess you aren’t that lucky after all, bitch. Head to the park, bro.”
Lakeland Park was a five-minute drive south of Morrison Avenue. Tony pulled in at the main entrance, where the street lights guided his way. He drove deeper into the park, where darkness took over the densely wooded area. With only the running lights on, Tony weaved in and out of the shadows until he arrived at the trails. The women’s hour was ticking away.
“Back the van up near the woods.” Robert pointed behind them and to his right. “That area doesn’t have any pavement, and it’s plenty secluded. We’re going to take our time with these women and enjoy every minute they have left.”
Tony did as he was instructed then killed the engine. They sat and listened—dead quiet.
“Perfect, just the way I like it. Let’s get started.” Robert got out and walked around to the back of the van. He opened the gate and clicked the seat latch, lowering the third-row seat. “Which one do you want?”
“Makes no difference to me,” Tony said. “They both bleed the same.”
“Okay, you can have Corrine. Help me get her ready. Let’s zip tie and gag her, you can have some fun, then we’ll take her into the woods. We’ll do the same with Lucky.”
Robert sneered. “Lucky—what a stupid name, right?”
They grabbed Corrine by the arms and legs and carried her to the back, where Tony tore off a strip of duct tape and spread it across her mouth.
“It isn’t sticking. Her damn face is all bloody.”
“Wrap it around her head. We have plenty. When you’re done, let’s roll her over so I can zip tie her hands.”
Tony wrapped the tape around Corrine’s head twice. “There, she can’t make a peep even if she tried.” He wiped the slippery blood on his pant legs.
“Okay, give me a hand rolling her over.”
With Corrine face down, Robert zip tied her hands behind her back then jerked his head toward the front of the van. “Let’s get Lucky.”
They returned to the open door they had pulled Corrine out of. The backseat was empty, and a pair of heels lay in the footwell.
“Son of a bitch, she’s gone!” Robert ran around the van. He got on his hands and knees and looked under it. “Where’s the damn flashlight?”
“Shit, it’s still in the truck.” Tony raked his fingers through his hair. “Should we spread out and look for her?”
“It’s too dark. We’ll never find her. Change of plans. Drag this bitch into the woods and kill her. We’ve got to ditch the van somewhere else. Let’s go.”
Corrine began to moan—she was waking up.
“Help me drag her into the woods before she’s completely awake,” Tony said.
Each brother grabbed Corrine by the armpit and pulled her through the thick brush. She kicked and flailed.
“Damn it, how far should we go?” Tony tripped several times in the tangle of undergrowth. “Lucky is probably heading to the nearest police department. We can’t hang around too long.”
Robert craned his neck to see how far they were from the van. “Twenty more feet and she’s all yours.”
“Good, these bitches are bad luck.”
Robert dropped Corrine’s arm and walked back to the van. “Make it quick and cover her up with brush.”
Chapter 45
I pulled into the garage, killed the engine, and popped the trunk. I had four bags of groceries to carry inside. I’d enlist Amber’s help. With the overhead safely closed so there wouldn’t be an escaped cat to deal with, I went inside to get Amber.
“Hey, Sis, I’m home.”
“Pretty cool, huh?” Amber lifted Spaz off her lap and got up. She clicked the remote and turned off the television, then came around the breakfast bar. She wore a grin that lit up her face.
I laughed. “What’s cool?”
“That you’ll be home for an entire week, Dad will be here tomorrow, and Thursday is Thanksgiving Day.”
“Yeah, that sort of happens every year on a Thursday in November.”
She stuck her tongue out at me. “Well, you don’t take that week off every year, and Dad sure doesn’t visit then, either. He hasn’t been here in two years.”
“I know. Time goes way too fast. Anyway, help me bring in the groceries. I got everything for the week except the Thanksgiving meal. That’s on you, kid.”
“My pleasure.”
We brought in the groceries and, between the two of us, had them put away in a few short minutes. That was one thing I loved about my new condo—the kitchen was huge, and nobody ever bumped into anyone else unless it was intentional.
“I’m going to get changed so I can spend a relaxing evening being a slug.”
“I love that idea. Supper is already in the oven.”
“Really? What are we having?”
“Shepherd’s pie.”
“You’re a pretty awesome sister, Amber.”
I heard her giggle as I walked down the hallway to my bedroom and flipped the wall switch. I spent a few minutes cooing with my lovebirds and kissing their heads. They sat on the back of a side chair while I changed their water, replaced the newspaper at the bottom of their cage, and added fresh food to their seed cup.
“There you go, just like new.” Polly jumped on my outstretched finger, and I placed her on the perch in the cage, then I repeated the process with Porky. My shoulder holster was hung over the chair back, and I pulled a T-shirt and sweats out of my dresser drawer. They’d be perfect for the lounging I intended to do for the rest of the night. I heard my cell phone ring on the breakfast bar. I jogged down the hallway to answer it.
“Hello, Jade Monroe speaking.”
“Jade, it’s Joe. Sorry to call in the first few hours of your vacation, but I knew you’d want to hear this. I didn’t call Kate. I don’t want to alarm her. Actually I was called on two separate issues in the last hour. I tried you earlier—”
I interrupted. “The grocery store gets really poor cell reception. This sounds serious, Joe. Go ahead.” I sat at the bar, and Amber brought me a glass of wine. I tipped my head to thank her, then slid the pad of paper and a pen closer.
“The first call I got was from Evansville PD. Guess the reason nobody found Jillian Wiley’s car was because it was towed away. Apparently, her car was smashed in the back and partially hidden from view in a ditch on private property. The owner of the land called a tow service to haul it away after it sat there for thirty-six hours and nobody came to get it. The plates were removed, so they assumed it was abandoned. Turns out, the tow company had it in a secured, fenced area with guard dogs. The dogs kept sniffing the trunk, so they popped it and found a body inside. Evansville PD believes it’s the missing EMT. He had his work uniform on. The jacket patch read St. Peter’s Medical Center on it.”
“Oh, crap. So Jillian Wiley’s car had the plates removed, she’s nowhere to be found, and the EMT was dead in her trunk?”
“That pretty much sums it up. On initial inspection, the forensic lab said he had been stabbed in the back multiple times.”
“That damn knife thing again.” I jotted notes as Joe spoke.
“Do the cops know what kind of vehicle the EMT drove? It wasn’t at the site where the car was towed from, was it?”
“That’s correct. Hang on, I know I have that information.”
I heard Joe shuffle through papers.
“Here we go. He had an extended-length gray Ford van, and no, it wasn’t at the scene.”
“Meaning, the guys have Jillian and the van too.”
“Yeah, but that’s not all. The car was found on Highway 41.”
I let out an extra-long groan. “What the hell are we going to tell Kate?”
“I’m not sure yet because there’s more. This call came in about a half hour ago. A hysterical barefoot woman ran down a patrol officer cruising the streets near Morrison Avenue in Chicago. A lot of drug dealers and prostitutes frequent that area, and according to her description, she was a lady of the night. Anyway, she said she and her friend were abducted by two men, beaten, and taken to Lakeland Park. She escaped, but she doesn’t know what happened to her friend.”
I processed that information as fast as I could. “Okay, if she and her friend were alone with them, then where is Jillian?”
“I’m thinking the worst-case scenario.”
“This story gets more gruesome by the minute. Did that woman, what’s her name?”
Joe chuckled. “It isn’t funny, but it is ironic. Actually, you won’t believe it.”
“Try me.” I huffed. “I’m getting to the point where I believe everything.”
“She goes by the name Lucky.”
“Okay, I don’t believe it. What the hell are the odds of that? Anyway, did Lucky have a description of the men and the vehicle?”
“Yep, and it’s all coming together, Jade. The vehicle was a gray van. She said she didn’t see the driver well, but she remembered he had long hair and a beard.”
“Sounds familiar, and the other guy?”
“According to Lucky, he had two teardrop tattoos next to his right eye and the word revenge tattooed on the back of his right hand. That photo you faxed Bill Branson paid off. He dispatched copies of it to every Chicagoland precinct.”
“Son of a bitch, it is Robert Lynch, and he’s coming for Kate. How in the world would he know where she lives?”
“I did extensive research on him when Kate gave me his name. He ran with quite the crowd, and his brother, Tony, is far from a saint. Somehow he’s managed to slip through every net thrown out by law enforcement. He doesn’t have a jacket anywhere, has never been arrested, and has no prints on file.”
“So Tony could be his accomplice.”
Joe let out an audible sigh. “I’d bet my bottom dollar on it. And don’t forget, he’s had ten years to do the legwork for Robert.”
“I have to tell Kate. As a matter of fact, I’m going to have her stay here at my house until those two are captured and under arrest. I guarantee you, they’ll never see the light of day again.”
“Run that past your boss first, Jade. Don’t go rogue. Everyone needs to be on board, and it has to be a mutual decision.”
“You’re right, and thanks for everything. Now we just have to keep Kate safe until Robert Lynch and his sidekick are apprehended. Keep me posted, Joe. Right now I have some calls to make.” I clicked off and thought about how I’d proceed.
Chapter 46
Robert
“Take off your shirt and wipe everything down.”
“What the hell, Bobby, it isn’t even forty degrees outside. Take off your own shirt.”
Robert threw his jacket to the ground, removed his T-shirt, and then put his jacket back on. “Do what I just did and pitch in. We don’t have time to be whining about the cold.”
Tony peeled off his denim jacket, pulled his shirt over his head, and began helping. They wiped down the van and threw Lucky’s heels in a nearby Dumpster along with the van keys, zip ties, and tape. They had plenty more supplies back in the truck.
“Did you grab the hundred bucks off of Corrine before you killed her?”
