Sinnerman sm-2

by Cheryl Bradshaw

  When I walked through the door I heard, “Mr. Luciana. Good to see you again.”

  “And you Rochelle.” He faced me. “This is Sloane. I’ll be showing her around.”

  She nodded and then retreated behind a desk in the center of the room.

  “Do people always let you do whatever you want?” I said.

  He smiled and said, “Most of the time, yes. But it helps when you own the place.”

  We walked into the different areas of the facility and in fifteen minutes I’d seen enough to last a lifetime: women with blackened eyes, children on crutches, some with broken arms or legs. Some walked around freely while others were downtrodden and stuck to their beds.

  “What happens to them here?”

  “They are treated, and they are safe. It’s a refuge. A place where they can’t be harmed.”

  “How long do they stay?”

  “Depends on their needs, and those of their children. My goal in building this place was to get them back on their feet and then to offer counseling. Once their confidence is built back up, they can be released into the world again. I offer the chance of a better life. All they need to do is embrace it. In here they are taught essential skills like self-defense and given the tools they need so that when they are ready to leave, they can survive anything.”

  “This place and what you are doing…it’s amazing,” I said. “These women owe you their lives.”

  “I know what it feels like to be the one someone puts the screws to. I’ve witnessed and suffered through many things in my life, even as a child, and this is my opportunity to make it better. Even if it makes the smallest dent on humankind. It will spread to future generations that come along after I’m long gone. All it takes is one seed, Sloane, to make a change in the world.”

  I stood there in that moment with a full heart and in complete awe of him.

  In the corner of the room a young boy looked our direction and then darted into the next room and returned seconds later with a group of children. They ran to Giovanni, and he bent down to greet them.

  “Gio, Gio,” they said. “Will you read us a story?”

  “Please,” one girl said.

  “Double please,” said another.

  Giovanni laughed and said, “Alright then, one story. Go and choose a book for me to read.”

  A minute later we were in a room full of beanbags with an assortment of children who latched on to every word Giovanni read like a room full of parishioners listening to a sermon.

  There were times in my life when I felt like I was a magnet to all things complicated. Giovanni seemed stable and secure, and more magnificent than I expected him to be. Here he was in a safe house with a book in his hand reading to a handful of children. There was just one caveat that played like a skipped record in the back of my mind, and there was no getting around it. I was dating a modern version of Don Corleone, and as impressive as the safe house was, there were two sides to a man like this. There had to be.

  CHAPTER 48

  In the morning I found a note next to my bed that said to go upstairs and to walk to the second door on the right and then go in. I’d never been one to back down from a good old fashioned surprise, and I wasn’t about to now either.

  Lord Berkeley was still asleep on the bed next to me sans his detective costume, so I slipped out the side of the bed, wrapped a robe around me, and tiptoed out to the hall. When I arrived at the door in question, I imagined what I might possibly find on the other side. I almost didn’t want to open the oversized double doors in fear that I would spoil what I’d built up in my mind.

  I grabbed both knobs in my hands and pushed them open at the same time and then gasped. Along the walls on all four sides of the room were bookshelves lined with books—old, new, collectible—they were all there, and there were thousands of them. A desk in the middle of the room contained a note that had been folded over with my name written on the front. I opened it.

  Sloane, read whatever you wish. I hope this helps take your mind off things.

  I folded the note up and slipped it in the pocket of my robe.

  “Amazing isn’t it?”

  I spun around to see Giovanni’s sister at the door.

  “Morning,” I said.

  “He’s been collecting for over twenty years now. It’s a big deal he let you in this room, you know.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “This is where he comes for refuge, and usually when he’s in here everyone knows he’s not to be disturbed.”

  “I see. He showed me the shelter last night. It’s amazing to me that he built that place.”

  Daniela laughed.

  “He’s ahhh, built ten of them.”

  “Ten?” I said.

  “They’re all over the place. Las Vegas, L.A., Miami….”

  “It’s amazing what he’s done for these women and their children.”

  “That’s just who he is. He puts others before himself all the time.”

  “I can see that,” I said.

  “Listen, I have to head out.”

  “So soon?” I said.

  “It’s time for me to get back to my real life. I just came up here to say goodbye.”

  She had a look on her face that said something more.

  “And…?”

  “Don’t hurt my brother.”

  “What makes you think I would?” I said.

  “I can’t remember the last time he had a girlfriend. I hope that gives you some idea of how long ago it was. He’s cautious with women; most don’t appeal to him.”

  “Why?”

  “They can’t think for themselves, are interested in his money, and that type of thing. So it’s rare for him to attach himself to anyone. As his girlfriend, I thought you should know.”

  “But I’m not his—”

  “Of course you are. Just don’t hurt him. He acts all tough and believe me he is, but he’s let you see the other side of him, and not many ever see that so consider yourself lucky.”

  She walked over and squeezed me tight and then turned and walked back out the door and said, “See you soon.”

  I selected an old copy of Jane Eyre and shut the door to the library and walked back down the stairs and was met by Giovanni.

  “I was just coming to find you,” he said.

  “Your book collection is amazing. I could have spent hours in there. I’ve never seen anything like it, thank you for—”

  He grabbed my arms and shook me, not hard—but enough to get my attention.

  “Sloane…”

  I looked into his eyes. Something wasn’t right.

  “What’s happened?” I said.

  “How fast can you get ready?”

  CHAPTER 49

  It wasn’t time for the first matinee of the day at the local movie theater, and already there were two patrons. The only thing was—they were both dead. The garbage collector noticed them when he made his early morning rounds and called it in. Two women, fully clothed, lay side by side with one arm across their chest and the other spread out, just like the other victims had been. Their right hands had been hacked off, and one had Sinnerman’s signature S carved in her wrist, but the other had something different this time, an M.

  “Maybe he’s breaking up his name into two words now,” Maddie said, “since there’s two women. One for Sinner and the other for Man. This is the first time he’s killed more than one at the same time.”

  “We both know what else that could stand for, Maddie.”

  “Oh please, you’re being ridiculous.”

  “Am I? Those initials could be mine too.”

  “How close are you?” Maddie said.

  “ETA is five minutes.”

  “The place is already swarming with fed’s and everyone else on the planet, so I’m not sure how close you’ll be able to get to the victims.”

  “If Coop’s there, I’m sure I won’t get anywhere near them.”

  “Here’s hoping he’s down with some kind
of tragic illness where he needs bed rest,” Maddie said.

  I pressed the end button on my phone and looked at Giovanni.

  “Every time someone is killed, I can’t help but feel it’s my fault,” I said.

  He took his right hand off the wheel and replaced it with his left and then reached over and set his hand on top of mine.

  “You can’t think like that.”

  “It’s hard not to. And I feel like I’ve let my sister down because I still haven’t found this guy. All I do is keep sending others to join her.”

  “We will catch him, and he’ll pay for what he’s done, and you will be the one to be congratulated for it. If not for you, the feds wouldn’t have the information they have now.”

  We parked across the theater and exited the car, but Coop was ready and waiting.

  “You shouldn’t be here,” Coop said.

  “I have every right. What have you done recently? Not a damn thing from what I can see, so don’t try and tell me about what I’m entitled to and what I’m not.”

  Once I’d said it, I actually felt bad. Coop was silent for a moment, which was rare for him. He’d worked just as hard on the case as I had the first time around and never even turned over one rock that gave him a solid lead on the killer.

  Coop made a motion with his hand like he was trying to swat a fly in my direction and walked off. It wasn’t like him to back down from me, and a minute later I realized he hadn’t. The chief headed straight for me and said, “You know you shouldn’t be here, Sloane.”

  “After everything that’s happened? You’re still going to keep me behind some ridiculous line like I’m a spectator?”

  The chief gave a courtesy nod to Giovanni and said, “Mind if I borrow her a minute,” like I was some car at a rental agency and then he pulled me by the arm over to the side.

  “Listen, we’ve been down this road many times before, and you know I need you to keep your distance so we can do our job. Now I know Giovanni has some magical muscle he seems to flex over his brother, and I’ve no doubt that he could get you in here, so I’m asking you to respect me here and not to push it.”

  I opened my mouth to speak and he leaned in even closer and said, “Besides, I know Madison will get you down to her office the first chance she gets, and you can examine the bodies there.”

  “It’s not the same as being able to search the scene.”

  “We’re doing that,” the chief said.

  “I meant, myself.”

  “I’m aware of that. You need to trust me on this.”

  I was stunned. In all our years together the chief had never asked me not to do anything. He told me and expected me to comply with any and all requests. It was in that moment that I realized the power I had with Giovanni by my side.

  Maddie and her long platinum pigtails approached us from the side and said, “What’s up?”

  Neither of us spoke.

  “Well alright then,” she said, “I can see I’ve barged in on you two, so—”

  She turned to go and I said, “Maddie, wait.”

  I caught up to her. “The chief doesn’t want me close to the bodies.”

  “Shocker.”

  “Yeah, but there’s something else,” I said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “He took the time to drag me aside and talk to me about it, and I detected something in his voice—it was like he was nervous, and that’s not like him.”

  “Hmmm, I don’t know.”

  “See what you can find out for me, okay?” I said.

  “You got it.”

  She leaned in close and whispered, “Meet me at my office in three and you can examine the bodies there.”

  I watched Maddie cross over to the dark side, slip plastic gloves on her hands, and hunch over the bodies. Ten seconds later she was writing in a furious motion in her notebook and I was on my way out.

  * * *

  The look on Maddie’s face when I walked into her lab was that of a doctor preparing to give news to a family that their loved one had died.

  “What is it?” I said.

  “What?”

  “Maddie, come on.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Really? You haven’t looked this sad since you found out All My Children was going off the air.”

  I could count on one hand the amount of times I’d seen Maddie forlorn over the years. Most of her life had been spent living in some blissful bubble no matter what happened around her.

  “What have you found?” I said.

  She shook her head.

  “You’ll tell me sooner or later, so how about you just get whatever it is off your chest.”

  “There was a note.”

  “The same kind Sinnerman always leaves?” I said.

  She nodded.

  “What did it say?”

  “Wade doesn’t want me to talk to you about it.”

  “Screw what the chief wants. Since when have you ever let a man come between us?”

  She backed up against the counter and sighed.

  “It’s just that the note was for you.”

  “That much I’ve gathered, and I appreciate the two of you being considerate of my feelings, but I don’t need protection right now, I need answers.”

  She shrugged and said, “Fine. It said: Hello Sloane Monroe. See what you made me do?”

  CHAPTER 50

  “That’s it?” I said. “The whole thing?”

  Maddie nodded.

  “Alright.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be?” I said.

  “Turn around.”

  I revolved around and looked at myself in the mirror behind me.

  “What?”

  “You’re gnawing away at the inside of your cheek, and you always do that when your anxiety gets the best of you.”

  I stopped.

  “I’m fine.”

  I wanted to be fine and to shake off the sense that I was responsible for every murder Sinnerman committed since they started again. I felt like I’d failed all of them. I had three years to produce the killer while everyone else sat idly by and did nothing, and I might as well have sat right along with them.

  “This is why I didn’t want to tell you,” Maddie said.

  “He can say whatever he likes. It just incites me to find him all the more. I’m ready to take a look at the bodies.”

  We walked into the next room and my eyes focused in on one thing, and that was all it took—I was distracted. I picked up one of the silver tools from Maddie’s mess of a tray and suddenly had the urge to rearrange everything. I took the three shortest ones and placed them on the left and continued to sort by size until a hand reached in and slapped me on the wrist.

  “Check your OCD at the door,” Maddie said. “You’re in my lab now, and I don’t need you making a mess of my tools.”

  “Do you see how you have them arranged on here? I don’t know how you find anything.”

  Maddie grabbed a random tool and angled it at me.

  “Everything’s just the way I like it, so back off sister.”

  “What have you found out so far?”

  Maddie walked over to both women and stood between them.

  “This one here with the S carved into her wrist went first and fast. He choked her out and then strangled her. I didn’t find any signs of a struggle, and she had no lacerations anywhere else on her body. It was like he picked her up, sedated and killed her in a hurry and then moved on to the next one.”

  She turned to the second victim and said, “This one wasn’t so lucky.”

  “I’m afraid to ask.”

  “He took more time with her, and she was killed in a style similar to the other women. She had three lacerations on her left leg, and see this impression right under her upper arm?”

  I nodded.

  “It’s the shape and size of a thumb print, and it looks like he pressed it into her for some reason—
hard.”

  Maddie looked at both girls.

  “There is one difference between these women and the others. Their hair is lighter than all the other vic’s.”

  “That’s the first thing I noticed,” I said. “Maybe it was quantity and not quality he was after this time.”

  “Both girls have been identified, and it turns out they knew each other. They were best friends.”

  CHAPTER 51

  Sam Reids hovered over his shelves and admired the recent additions to his trophies on the second row. There was something about the hands that mesmerized him more than the fingers he’d collected, and every now and then he swore they actually swayed in their liquid coffins and waved at him.

  He wondered what Sloane thought of the note he left at the crime scene and if she cringed when she saw it. By now the anger and denial he had over the five finger discount she’d done on his notebook had subsided and was replaced with a sense of relief and acceptance—something he never thought possible. He arched his back and folded his arms and imagined Sloane in a quiet room with nothing but his words to keep her company. Now she would understand him like no one ever had, and their relationship would be forever changed.

  Sam’s favorite song blared through the speakers of his Bose iPod dock. He hummed the soft melody and leaned back and allowed himself to return to a previous time in his life, where he found himself alone in a stark white room with Laurel. He was five and she was—well, significantly older. How much so Sam didn’t know at the time. He just knew she looked like a mom, even though she didn’t act like one. Laurel knelt down next to him and her soft hair fell in his face. It smelled like he’d dipped his hand in a jar of honey.