by Mary Eason
Chapter Twelve
John knew he was being unusually quiet during the meal. His mind a million miles away, going back to the past. Their past. Having made love to Anna again, made it almost impossible for John to keep his focus on the case. Every time she came near him, he went up in flames.
“How are Bev and Ed holding up?” she asked, her expression quizzical, as if she had come close to understanding what he was thinking.
His face grew warm. He’d been remembering one particular time in the past. One of few times they’d shared an intimate meal like this. Anna had come over to his place, he'd ordered a pizza. They'd sat in front of a fire talking. Sharing pieces of their lives, their pasts. Soon, talking wasn't enough…
John still remembered how angry he'd been with Aaron earlier that day. Aaron had gone out on his own, refusing to let John come along. He’d told John he’d been working a different angle of the case. John believed Aaron was actually seeing Cheryl.
“I beg your pardon?” John forced the past back into the place he'd buried it.
A strange smile crossed her face, but she let it go. “Bev, how are Bev and Ed holding up? This is probably the most adventure Ed’s had in a while.”
He returned her smile. “He’s a nice guy. Bev’s lucky. They’re both doing fine.”
“Yes, you’re right. She is lucky.” Anna stopped smiling. She was thinking about her marriage to Aaron, comparing it the Bev's. Anna's marriage to Aaron hadn’t been so good. He wished a thousand times over he hadn’t promised to keep his partner's secrets.
“Aaron loved you, Anna. More than what he could show in the end.”
That familiar hurt look returned to her face. She stared into space as if looking back into the past. “I didn’t really know him at the end. He wasn't the person I thought he was. He changed, John. Radically. I barely recognized him anymore.”
“Yes.” He’d noticed the change in his partner long before Anna figured it out. Yet nothing prepared him for the reason behind it.
“I read something in his notes on the Larsen case…” Anna told him.
John forced himself to look at her. Had she figured it out?
Anna's expression shifted. Her eyes grew winter-cold, her mouth thinned into a hard line. Did she know about Cheryl or was she on a fishing expedition for answers.
“He didn’t tell you I'd read them, did he? Well, I'm not surprised." She glanced away from John. "Soon after his death, I discovered Aaron didn't really have many personal effects in his hotel room. I'm not sure where he was spending most of his free time, only that it wasn't with me. A couple of months before the end, I found evidence that he was coming to the house when I wasn't home. There'd be little things, a half-empty coffee cup. Some of the mail I'd gathered for him would be missing. A dirty dish in the sink. I searched his office and found he'd brought some of the case files home with him. They were locked away in his desk, among other things. There was something almost personal when he mentioned Cheryl. As if…”
Anna took a deep breath and asked the question he’d dreaded from the beginning. “Was Aaron having an affair with her?”
She appeared so vulnerable, asking him to confirm Aaron's betrayal, but he’d made a promise to his partner and he couldn’t see that breaking it now would serve any purpose.
“You’d have to ask Aaron,” he told her quietly.
She got to her feet, frustrated by his answer. “Aaron’s dead. I can’t ask him anything. I’m asking you!”
John stood as well. “And I’m telling you I can’t answer that question.”
“Can’t or won’t.”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes. How can you ask me that? Of course, it matters. I trusted you. I trusted you not to lie to me.”
“Anna, what you want me to do is rewrite the past. I can’t. Let it go. Get on with your life. Start living.”
The tension between them strung further toward the breaking point. Without so much as another word, she turned and walked out of the room, leaving him full of regrets.
As he listened to the sound of her footsteps leaving, not for the first time he resented his partner.
To keep from going after her and telling her everything, he went about clearing away the remains of their meager lunch. Neither he nor Anna had much of an appetite. They’d thrown together a salad and called it a meal.
Outside, the peek-a-boo glimpses of blue-green ocean had begun to turn gray. A storm was coming. The local weathermen had been urging those located along the waterfront to batten down the hatches.
John did a quick check for candles and emergency supplies. They’d be okay if the power went out. But protecting Anna against the unknown monster hunting her wouldn’t be so easy. They needed answers soon.
As if reading his mind, the phone clipped to his belt belched out its ring tone.
“Delaney here.” He recognized his partner’s number right away.
“We’ve got the name of Anna’s donor along with her history.”
“You do? Thank God. Give it to me.” He glanced out at the dark clouds gathering. In the window’s reflection, he saw Anna had stood behind him.
“Her name was Brenda Lewis.”
How could such a simple name be connected to such horror. “Brenda Lewis. Doesn’t ring a bell.”
“No reason why it should except that she died due to injuries she received at the hands of her husband. Jericho Lewis murdered his wife. He stabbed her more than—”
“Forty times,” John finished the sentence for his partner. The same number of wounds as the other victims. The pieces were all beginning to fit together now. “My God. Was he convicted?”
“In a way.”
“What does ‘in a way’ mean?”
“He was found mentally unfit to stand trial and sentenced to twenty years in Brookhaven Mental Health Facility. He was released a little more than a year ago. Around the time of the first murder. “
“Dammit. Who released the son of a bitch out into public?”
“A team of doctors apparently convinced the review board he was okay. As long as he stayed on his meds.”
“Have you got a last-known address?”
“Yep. An abandoned building downtown.”
“Shit. Figures. Okay, I need someone here right away to stay with Anna.”
Anna, who had been silently listening to the conversation until then, was ready to protest. “No. I want to be part of this.”
“Hang on,” John told his partner. He turned to Anna. “I can’t let you. I can’t risk anything happening to you. I’d never forgive—”
“I am part of this. He wants me. At least the person he thinks I am. I am part of this.”
“Anna, he’s insane. A killer who will stop at nothing. I’m not putting you in his path again, so you can forget it.”
He returned to the call. “I need Samson and Henderson here right away.”
“They’re on their way now. I’ll wait for you at the office. I’ll see if I can’t get in touch with his Brookhaven psychiatrist. Maybe he knows something.”
John glanced Anna’s way. She was angry with him. She wouldn’t go along with the plan easily. “Lewis has no family living?”
“None that came forward. There are a few on the wife’s side though. I’ll see what I can find out in the meantime.”
“Great. Good job, Rick. Thanks.” He snapped the phone shut and prepared for the battle to come. “It has to be this way, Anna.”
“No it doesn’t. I’m one of you. I’m still an agent.”
“Who walked away from the job over a year ago. Who’s emotionally attached to this case—“
“So are you! Have you forgotten the partner you lost to this nightmare?”
“No,” he said quietly. “And I haven’t forgotten how much I care about you either. That’s why I can’t risk getting you further involved in this, Anna. I can’t. I won’t.”
She shook her head. “You won’t have a choice. He’s good, John. He’s
managed to survive this long without us even having a clue about his identity until now. And he wants me. You’re not going to have a choice and you know it.”
Dear God, he hoped she was wrong. “Maybe. But for now I do. And until I have to make that decision, I’m not letting you get involved in this thing.”
Chapter Thirteen
He’d been so close. He could smell her. She still smelled the same as she did twenty years earlier, only her face had changed. Not that it mattered. It wasn’t her face he wanted. It was her heart.
Now she was gone again. He watched them work methodically and his anger grew. They had no reason to keep her from him. She belonged to him. He’d spent years searching for her, survived the dark place to be with her. He needed to ask her forgiveness, tell her he was sorry. It wasn’t him. It was the monster that lived inside of him. He understood that now. He knew how to fix the rage. Knew what needed to be done.
He’d come close to finding her in all the others only to fail. Now he was positive. She was the one and nothing they could do would stop him from claiming her as his forever.
* * * * *
“Any news?” John asked the moment he arrived at the Hoover Building.
Both Rick and the agent working with him, a twenty-something ex Navy seal name Ryan Morris's gaze shot to the doorway. Neither realized John had arrived until he spoke. Rick had been discussing something with Ryan.
Rick nodded to Ryan who left them alone. “Nothing good. Lewis’ psychiatrist has refused to let us see his notes on the guy. Apparently, he is seeing a lawsuit and is trying to cover his hide, but I did get someone from the hospital Lewis was incarcerated at to talk to us. I know you just got here, but we need to move on this now.”
“I’m ready.” John dodged Rick’s attempt at making eye contact as much as possible. His partner wanted to know but he wasn’t going to discuss Anna, especially now.
John brought the briefcase carrying the case files and got in the passenger side of the Crown Vic. A move that clearly surprised Rick.
They were heading out of town toward Richmond when Rick finally voiced his curiosity. “You going to tell me what happened between you two?”
John spared Rick a glance. “I think you know the answer already.”
“Yep, but it doesn't hurt to try. I love a good romance, you know.”
“Then you’ve come to the wrong place. Our story has nothing to do with romance.”
Rick’s dubious snort made his opinion clear, but he let the subject drop.
“Where exactly are we going and who’s this person we’re talking to.”
Rick hesitated which did little to reassure John.
“Lewis’ former doctor.”
“Former. Please tell me he quit.”
Rick grinned at him. “I could tell you that, but it wouldn’t be the truth. The guy was fired, okay? He says it was because he didn’t go along with what was being suggested.”
“And that was…” John tried to squelch the sinking feeling in his gut.
“Says the board of trustees at the nut house wanted him to medicate, treat, and release, regardless of the inmate's condition, to allow for more patients, which meant more government funding. He said he warned them about releasing Lewis. They didn’t listen.”
John nodded as they entered a quiet suburban section of Richmond. “You’re kidding. Can he substantiate any of those accusations?”
Rick threw him an 'oh please' look. “Nope. They covered their tracks too well. The good doctor had a long list of grievances against him by the time they fired him, I checked. The worst being he’s a drug addict. He’d gotten caught prescribing narcotics to himself. He’s not exactly credible, but he is all we have. I’m hoping he can shed some light on Lewis’ friends, hangouts, anything that might help us capture the creep. “
“Great. This case just keeps getting better and better.”
“Oh, that’s nothing. The AD has been asking questions about you. He’s grilling everyone who worked the original case for information.”
John spun in his seat to focus on Rick. He knew his partner hadn’t given anything away, but how much longer before Warren turned up the pressure on Rick. John had a decision to make. How badly did he want to keep his job? At the cost of Rick, possibly others, losing theirs? As much as he’d once loved this job, if he were being honest, since Aaron’s death, and especially after losing Anna, well, the job had become more of a burden than anything. How many gruesome killings could any human being witness and not lose parts of their soul? He was at the end of it and had been for a while.
Chapter Fourteen
Doctor Archibald Baldwin lived in an affluent section of Richmond known as Tanglewood.
“Not bad for a fired drug addict.” Rick let out a low whistle as he pulled in front of the two-story red brick Georgian.
“Yeah, was he selling the scripts?”
“Not according to what information I could find. But then, that was sketchy at best.”
John nodded then got out of the car and waited for Rick do the same. “Does he know we’re coming?”
“Yep. I phoned ahead. After I struck out with the Brookhaven shrink.”
They approached the small flagstone porch, Rick rang the doorbell, and they waited in silence. John found himself wondering what Anna would be doing. He hadn’t wanted to leave her, but he couldn’t make her part of this. Agreeing to let her look at the files had been hard enough, but he needed her help. His gut instinct told him to keep her as far away from the case as possible. He wondered how long it would be before Lewis found her. He couldn’t think about that now and not go crazy.
The door opened and a slightly built, middle-aged man with glasses pushed high on his forehead as if they’d interrupted an afternoon perusing the paper. He appeared puzzled by their appearance.
“Detective Garner?” Clearly confused, he addressed John.
Rick spoke up. “I'm Agent Garner, actually. This is my partner, Agent Delaney. May we come in?”
The gray-haired man glanced from Rick to John. Something registered as he gave John the once over, but he stepped back and let them inside.
“I was just in the middle of reviewing some cases.” John sent Rick a 'what the fuck' look.
Doctor Baldwin saw it and grinned.
“I see you’ve been told the reason I was fired from Brookhaven. Well, I’m working in the private sector now.”
“I see.” John wondered how the man had kept from losing his license.
“I’m in the process of suing Brookhaven for wrongful termination.” He showed them to a small office and indicated that they should have a seat.
“With all due respect, Doctor, if you didn’t fight the charges against you when you were fired, how come you're suing them now?” John had to ask the obvious.
“Because I wanted out of that hell hole. I’d seen things there that no human being should see. When I brought the list of wrong-doings to the board they told me I was overreacting.”
“So you’re saying they fired you to shut you up. Must have been one hell of a list,” John challenged.
“It was. The list was long indeed. Patient abuse. Over-prescribing drugs. Falsifying patient records to make it look as if they were getting better when in truth that wasn’t the case.”
“Is that what happened with Jericho Lewis.”
“Oh yes.” The doctor nodded. “Although for a while, I had hope for him. I even recommended him for work in the office for a bit.”
Baldwin’s assessment didn’t sit well with John. “What can you tell us about Jericho Lewis?”
The doctor hesitated. “As I told Agent Garner, I can’t be identified as the person who spoke to you concerning this patient. I’m filing a wrongful termination lawsuit against the institute. If they found out I talked to you…”
“Doctor, I need to know what you can tell us about Jericho Lewis. I don’t give a damn about outing you to anyone. He’s killed seven people already. And he won’t stop until h
e’s gotten the person he wants. I don’t intend on letting that happen. But I need your help,” John countered.
The doctor expelled a weighty sigh. “Those bastards. Those foolish, foolish bastards. I tried to tell them. And what did they do? Replaced me with an incompetent ‘yes’ man and drummed up false charges against me to make me seem disreputable.”
He shook his head. “You see, I was the original psychiatrist assigned to Lewis’ case when he arrived at the institute. From our first session together, I saw the potential for much evil in him. I warned the board if they let him free, he’d not only kill again, he’d do it repeatedly. The man is a sociopath. He has no conscience, no sense of right or wrong.”
Rick had been busy scribbling notes. “Obviously the courts agreed with you when he was sentenced to Brookhaven. I’ve read the court records. The judge recommended Jericho Lewis never be set free.”
The doctor nodded. “Yes. They had to sedate him on high doses of Desyrel Trazodone for a month before I could even see him, much less get him to talk to me somewhat rationally. When he did, all he could talk about was his wife. He was like an injured animal. He spoke as if she were still alive. I tried to get him to accept the fact that he’d killed her, and hopefully, come to some type of terms with it, but he insisted she was still alive. He said she talked to him.”
If Lewis thought his wife was still alive then how did he explain her organs being used as transplant, John wondered. “So he never admitted he killed her. How do you think he found out about her organs being used to save other lives?”
The doctor smiled. “For a time, after several sessions, Lewis actually began to show improvement. Oh not that I'd ever recommend his release, but so much so that I did favor him being allowed to help in the office. That is, until I discovered he’d been using my medical license to check out patient records. When I confronted him with this, he said he needed to find out where they’d taken his wife.
“Oh yes,” he added to John and Rick's skeptical exchange. “Well, needless to say, after that, he was no longer allowed in the office. Or at least on my shift. It was at that time, I started receiving thinly veiled threats from him during our sessions. As a precaution, I dug around in his background. I wanted to know what I was up against. I discovered that Jericho Lewis worked as a carpenter for a living, but I found a record of where he’d applied to the Naval Academy. They did an IQ test and the man was a genius. You’d think most colleges would be anxious to recruit such a candidate but the Naval Academy rejected his application. Of course, his files were sealed but I was able to talk to the recruiter privately. He told me Lewis scared the hell out of him. He quit his job soon after. He’d started receiving threatening calls.”
