“We believe you.”
“What?”
“I said that we believe you and you can thank Cynthia for that. Sergeant McGraw believed so vehemently in your innocence that we kept digging until we discovered the truth.”
“What truth is that?”
Jessica looked past Wilde.
“The truth is that someone was framing you since the beginning. Isn’t that right, Steven?”
The sly smile on Steven’s face disappeared as he sat up straight.
“What? No, of course I didn’t frame her, besides, how could I? Captain Wilde is the only one who could access the main files. I don’t have that kind of clearance, the most I can do is make copies.”
“Not here, but what about at Digital Vigilance?”
Steven’s mouth fell open as Captain Wilde asked a question.
“What’s Digital Vigilance?”
“It’s the security company where Steven works part-time, a company owned by his father. Digital Vigilance is the parent company of all three firms that installed and maintained the cameras at the crime scenes. You see, Captain Wilde, all of the files were altered at their source before you ever received them, a fact you had no reason to suspect.”
Steven walked over towards Jessica and shrugged.
“So what? So I work part-time at the same company that forwarded the crime scene surveillance, it doesn’t mean that I’m the one that altered it. My father employs dozens of people.”
Jessica shook her head.
“We have you dead to rights. An FBI forensic team is searching your house as we speak, and I’m willing to bet that they find traces of the victims there. We also obtained a record of your comings and goings at Digital Vigilance, those records show that you swiped in and out of the building in the early morning hours after each abduction, hours you spent digitally altering the crime scene footage caught by the security cameras. Later on in the day, when the police requested the video, they had no way of knowing, nor any reason to even suspect, that the evidence had been tampered with.”
Steven’s left eye began twitching, but he said nothing, and Jessica continued.
“It was actually a brilliant plan, but tell me, why did you keep killing? Why didn’t you simply frame Captain Wilde for the first murder? If you had, you might have gotten away with it.”
Steven stuttered, as he made useless gestures with his hands.
“You, I,I I, not me, no not, not, not me,”
“You enjoyed killing those women, didn’t you? Those powerful, successful women, each one so like Captain Wilde, We now know from Digital Vigilance’s records that you observed each woman on multiple occasions by downloading video of them from the security cameras. It’s over, Steven. Everyone sees what you are now. Everyone knows what you’ve done.”
Steven began breathing hard as his lips parted, revealing clenched teeth.
“You’re just another know-it-all bitch, aren’t you? Another goddamn know-it-all bitch!”
Steven’s hand flicked downward and he withdrew a ceramic knife from a sheath beneath his pant leg. He raised the knife overhead and then brought it down in an arc as he lunged towards Jessica.
The doctor’s husband was seated, but managed to jump in front of her, sheltering her in his arms, even as the blade came plunging down towards his back.
A moment later, he let out a cry of pain, but it was drowned out by the chorus of shots fired by McGraw and Stiles, a chorus of shots that hit their intended target and sent Steven tumbling over a section of empty chairs, to lie still in a widening puddle of his own blood.
Jessica looked up into her husband’s eyes.
“Are you all right?”
“No,” he said, and then he turned around and she saw the blade buried inches deep into his bloody back.
Jessica’s eyes grew large at the sight.
“We need an ambulance, now!”
He grimaced. “How bad is it?”
Jessica forced herself to stay calm as she ripped open his shirt and surveyed the wound.
Around them, all was chaos, as officers rushed in and out of the room, and an evacuation siren was sounding off, sonically activated by the sound of the shots.
“The blade... the blade appears to be in about three inches deep, but judging by the amount of blood, I’d say it missed an artery, thank God. But honey, please move slowly until the ambulance arrives, we don’t want the knife to shift around.”
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She moved in front of him and kissed him.
“You saved me, me and the baby.”
Stiles walked over with McGraw.
“Let’s get him downstairs. The ambulance should be here any second.”
They made their way through the chaos with relative ease as everyone parted to let them through, without exception, their eyes widened at first sight of the knife and the blood.
After passing through the threshold, he turned and gazed at Steven’s dead form.
“That was good shooting, you two.”
Stiles nodded. “Thanks, and you were right.”
“About what?”
Stiles stared over at the corpse.
“Dead is better.”
He nodded in agreement, and then made his way downstairs to wait for the ambulance.
CHAPTER 23
THE PAST
Cambridge, Massachusetts
At the apartment house, Jessica led Juliet to the back staircase and the two of them tiptoed down to the bottom. As they entered the basement hallway, Jessica squinched up as the door let out a creak upon closing.
She then pointed down the hall as she whispered in Juliet’s ear.
“The maintenance office is the second door on the left, just past the elevator. I need to search that room again and figure out how Manuel managed to leave it without me seeing him.”
“But what about Manuel, doesn’t he live down here?”
“Yes, but if he hears us and comes to check, I’m hoping that you’ll... distract him.”
“Ewww, Jessica, I want to help and all, but that’s asking too much.”
“Shh, not so loud, and I’m not asking you to make out with him or anything, I just need you to keep him out of this room if he shows up.”
“All right, but please, try to be quiet.”
When they reached the room, Jessica eased the door open and turned on the light. Juliet’s mouth opened in surprise as she pointed toward the lockers.
“Look, there’s a slight gap between that last locker and the wall.”
The two walked over and peered inside, but all they could see was a patch of brick wall with a pair of rounded, inch thick pieces of reinforced steel jutting from it. Jessica walked over to the workbench and removed a flashlight that was hanging from a hook on the pegboard.
When the light was aimed up into the shaft, they could see that the space ran the height of the building and that the reinforced steel bars continued up the entire way, with intermittent wooden platforms sitting adjacent to some,
“I want to see where this goes,” Jessica said, and as she pulled the lockers farther from the wall, a harsh grating sound echoed throughout the room and made both women wince.
“Damn, that must have woken Manuel.”
Juliet touched her on the arm.
“Go, go and find out where this leads and I’ll take care of Manuel.”
Jessica smiled.
“Thank you, honey, and you be careful, you hear?”
“You too, now hurry, and find the proof we need.”
***
Manuel’s eyes popped opened as some vague sense of danger tumbled about his mind. For a moment, he felt disoriented, but as he realized where he was, where he had foolishly fallen asleep, he jumped up from Juliet’s bed and ran towards the closet.
***
When they arrived, they found Jessica’s empty car parked a block from the apartment house and no sign of the police.
As they entered the lobby, Dr.
White summoned the elevator as he headed for the back staircase.
“Where are you going?” the doctor said.
“I’ll be in the basement, there’s a chance they went down there to look for Manuel.”
“Fine, if you find them, bring them back here and I’ll do the same.”
He nodded his agreement and then rushed downstairs.
***
The last thing Juliet wanted was to run into Manuel, but when he failed to appear after all the noise they had made, curiosity got the better of her and she crept down the hall toward the staff quarters.
As she passed a door on the right, the faint light drifting from the maintenance office illuminated a picture frame sitting atop a small table, and she saw a photo of Jessica.
This must be her boyfriend’s room.
Juliet stepped inside the small space and gazed down at the empty bed, while thinking of him. She was so lost in thought, that she never realized she wasn’t alone.
***
Manuel stopped short when he entered the closet to climb back down, because someone was headed up, someone female judging by the size and shape of the shadowy figure, and that someone was very close.
As he turned and ran for the front door, he silently cursed himself for his stupidity. He had gone into the passage with the intent to once again spy on Juliet, but when he found the apartment empty, he grew bold and pleasured himself atop her bed until he fell asleep in a drunken stupor.
He reached the door and flung it open to leave, only to find Dr. White gawking at him.
“What the hell are you doing in my daughter’s apartment?”
“I...I...I’m the maintenance man. There was a report of running water.”
Dr. White pointed at him.
“Why are there women’s underwear hanging from your pants?”
“Huh?” Manuel said, and then he looked down at himself and saw that Juliet’s soiled panties were hanging from his opened zipper.
“Daddy? Daddy, is that you?” Jessica’s voice called from Juliet’s bedroom.
“Jessie?” Dr. White whispered, and then he lunged at Manuel. “What the hell have you done to my daughter!”
The two men fell to the floor in a tangle as Jessica entered the room.
“Daddy!”
Jessica pushed Manuel away from her father, and then watched as he got to his feet and fled out the door.
Dr. White stood up.
“Jessie, baby, are you all right?”
“I’m fine, Daddy, but come with me to Juliet’s closet, there’s something you need to see.”
***
He heard a muffled scream just before he reached the bottom of the stairs and rushed into the corridor. The light streaming from the maintenance office caused him to look inside and he blinked as he saw the lockers slid back from the wall. The faint sound of someone yelling could be heard coming from the opening, and although he couldn’t swear to it, to his ears it sounded like the voice of Dr. White.
He took a step into the room but halted, as he heard a moan come from farther down the hall. He found the source of the sound lying atop his bed with a trickle of blood at the left corner of her mouth. It was Juliet.
She appeared dazed, but as he sat beside her and laid a hand upon her cheek, her eyes opened.
“Hi,” she said.
“What happened to you? Where’s Jessica?”
“I don’t know. Where are we?”
“You’re in my room, in my bed.”
Juliet smiled. “Good,” But a moment later, she passed out.
“Put your hands up where I can see them!”
He looked up and saw a uniformed cop holding a gun on him.
“I didn’t do this to her. Someone else hit her.”
“That may be, but right now I want you to stand and place your hands behind your back.”
“All right, but once I’m cuffed, go look for my girlfriend, she’s somewhere in the building and she might be in trouble.”
The cop entered the room and cuffed his hands behind his back, before telling him to sit on the floor at the foot of the bed. Afterward, he used his radio to call for back-up.
The cop leaned over and shook Juliet.
“Miss, Miss, are you all right?”
A shadow appeared behind the cop.
“Look out!”
Before the officer could heed his warning, he grunted in pain and fell to the floor. Standing over the cop with a pipe wrench in his hand was Howe Winslow.
***
Dr. White gazed down into the opening at the rear of Juliet’s closet.
“Jessica, what apartments did those two murder victims live in?”
“Um, 2G and 4G, why?”
“One above and one below you, that man that ran out of here, he must be the murderer and this is how he got to his victims.”
Jessica gasped. “We’ve got to get to Juliet; she’s down there alone.” She took a step upon the narrow platform, but was yanked back by her father.
“I’ll handle it,” he said.
***
Howe Winslow switched the wrench to his left hand, before reaching down and ripping the gun from the cop’s holster.
As he stood up, Winslow pointed the gun at him.
“Not so fast, Slick,”
A door banged open, followed by the sound of running footsteps, and a moment later, Manuel entered the room while breathing hard. When he saw the cop, he turned white.
“Goddamn it, Winslow, did you kill a cop?”
“He’ll be fine; I just smacked him with the wrench.”
“Oh, well listen, the shit has hit the fan. That girl Jessica knows about the shaft. We’ve got to get out of here before she brings more cops.”
Winslow smiled.
“I’ve got a better Idea.”
He swung the pipe wrench in an upward motion and caught Manuel under the chin. There was a crunching sound as Manuel’s teeth smashed together and he stumbled backwards, to fall unconscious upon the hallway floor.
Winslow tossed the pipe beside Manuel and then turned to stare at him.
“Okay now, here’s how I see it. You and Manuel used that shaft to peep at the girls, but then you went too far and began raping and killing them. You two have a falling out when he catches you with Juliet, but you overpowered him and knocked him out. The cop comes along and cuffs you, but you still managed to take him by surprise. I hear all the noise, shoot you with the cop’s gun and then play the hero.”
“Manuel will tell them about you.”
“Let him. Who are the cops going to believe, a peeping Tom janitor or a Harvard med student? Now close your eyes and take your medicine.”
Winslow raised the gun and aimed at his heart.
“Hey, Winslow,”
Winslow jerked his head around and found Dr. White standing there holding the pipe wrench as if it were a baseball bat. An instant later and the wrench slammed into the side of his head and he crashed to the floor in a limp heap.
Afterwards, the doctor looked over at him and winked.
“That’ll teach him to mess with family.”
CHAPTER 24
THE PRESENT
Detroit, Michigan
While his wound was more than superficial, the emergency room doctor assured him that with time it would heal completely.
The FBI forensics’ team found enough evidence in Steven’s home to convict him five times over. Not only did they recover blood and hair samples that matched the victims, but also pictures of them. There was also a video of Captain Wilde. It was taken in her bedroom while she slept, unaware.
McGraw put forth the theory that Steven had originally planned to kill Wilde, but later realized that he would be an obvious suspect, and had then switched to a plan of framing her.
***
Jessica hugged Cynthia McGraw as her husband shook Stiles’ hand.
They were inside Detroit Metro Airport saying goodbye as their flight began boarding.
“I want
you to send me a picture of the baby when the time comes.” McGraw said.
“I’ll do that,” Jessica said, before giving Stiles a peck on the cheek, as McGraw did the same to her husband.
Jessica smiled at the pair.
“So, how are things going with you two?”
“You know we’re together?” McGraw said from a surprised face.
“Yes, and I hope it last.”
The corners of McGraw’s mouth turned downward as she stared at the floor.
“Edgar’s work makes that impossible; he’s never in one place very long.”
Stiles cupped her face in his hands.
“I’ll have you know, Sergeant, that you are looking at the new Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit field office.”
McGraw smiled.
“Does that mean that you won’t have to travel all the time?”
“It does, it looks like I’m putting down stakes here.”
McGraw let out a little laugh and fell into Stiles’ arms.
Jessica sent them a wave as she took her husband’s hand and walked towards the gate.
“Goodbye, you two, and good luck,”
CHAPTER 25
THE PAST
Cambridge, Massachusetts
In the following days, Manuel and Howe Winslow waged a war of accusation against each other that, in the end, led the cops to piece everything together.
Manuel had known about and used the shaft behind the lockers for years to peep at the unfortunate women living in apartments aligned with it.
One night, while in a drunken rage, Howe Winslow punched a hole in the wall of his closet. When he peeked through it, he found Manuel surreptitiously eyeing his ex-classmate, Carolyn Simon. Instead of turning Manuel over to the authorities, he blackmailed him and used the shaft to sneak into Carolyn’s apartment and kill her.
The second victim, Kathy Dawkins, had been a favorite target of Manuel’s voyeurism. Ms. Dawkins had lived in the building year-round for three years, and Manuel knew her schedule well. He often spent time in her bed while she was at work or school, enjoying the same activity that he had indulged in while in Juliet’s bed.
On the day of her death, Kathy Dawkins had called out sick at her part-time job and had fallen asleep on the sofa. When she awoke and heard the noises coming from her bedroom, she walked in on Manuel just as he was exiting her closet.
The TAKEN! Series - Books 5-8 (Taken! Box Set Book 2) Page 9
