by Joe Hart
“Empathy is one thing, but truly imagine what you would do if someone precious was taken from you. How far would you go to make sure they were avenged? At what point would you stop and let fate dole out justice?” Valerie’s voice was lower now. She’d taken a step toward him. “You know deep inside that those men got what they deserved, including Owen. You know that.”
Liam watched her, studied the lines on her face that shouldn’t be there. The ones that were created solely by long suffering. They were road maps to a pain he hoped he would never truly understand. He felt a tipping within him, scales tilting that balanced every decision he’d ever made of any consequence.
Time slowed around them.
The sounds of sirens, the helicopter, even Superior’s waves faded away. There was only this woman and a choice. Nothing else.
“I’m sorry, Valerie. I can’t let you leave.” His voice was unsteady when he finally managed to say the words. The muscles in his arm holding the gun quivered.
“I won’t go back. You know I can’t. Please, let me go. No one will ever know what happened here.”
“I’ll know,” he said slowly.
She nodded, as if she’d already guessed what he’d say. “I’m not sorry for what I did. I wrote a full confession and mailed it to the police department this afternoon. I put everything in the letter, including the bracelet. I didn’t want to leave any doubt. Doubt is a poisonous thing. Remember that.”
Valerie moved in a blur of motion. Her hand flew behind her back and drew out the pistol that was stowed there.
“Don’t!” Liam yelled, flexing his knees, his finger tightening on the trigger.
Valerie whipped the pistol up and fired.
Liam jerked the trigger.
Their dual reports shattered the stillness of the airport.
A hole appeared in Valerie’s shirt below her throat followed by a dark stain that spread outward, flooding the fabric with blood. The pistol fell from her hand and clattered on the concrete near her feet. She took a faltering step back, a tremulous smile on her lips.
She crumpled against the side of the plane, leaving a bright red slick on its white paint as she slid down and fell on her back.
“Dammit!” Liam said, rushing forward. He knelt at her side, putting a hand beneath her head. Her hair had come slightly undone from the tight weave she’d had it in and it tickled his arm as it fluttered in the wind. Her eyelids flickered and some clarity came to her gaze as he crouched over her. Her lips trembled and opened, a rasp coming from her throat.
“Don’t talk. I’m gonna get you help, okay?” Liam said, digging for his phone. As he drew it out, one of her hands fell on his wrist, pushing the phone away. He looked at her and with the last of her strength, Valerie gave a small shake of her head. She took several shallow breaths, each one less than the last. A wet sound almost like a sigh came from the wound in her chest. She looked up at him, past him, through him, as her eyes took on a haze that deepened with each second. She shivered once and was still, her hand dropping from his arm.
Liam swallowed the solid lump in his throat and looked up at the sound of cars approaching as well as the swell of boat motors from the direction of the lake. He placed two fingers over Valerie’s vacant eyes, and drew them shut to the deepening October night.
CHAPTER 24
Liam stepped off the hospital elevator and strode down the hallway, looking for the room number the nurse at the station desk had told him.
He switched the small bouquet of flowers to his opposite hand and slowed as he came to the correct door. As he reached out to knock, it opened, revealing Perring who stopped in the doorway.
“Hi,” he said, stepping aside to let her through.
“Hi.” She glanced down at the flowers.
“They’re for Rex. How’s he doing?”
“Going to make a full recovery.”
“And how are you?”
“Busy. Still slogging through paperwork. If I’m walking funny it’s because I have the chief, the mayor, and half the city council up my ass.”
Liam couldn’t help but laugh. “The paperwork is one thing I don’t miss.”
“Yeah, I bet.”
They stood for a moment, an awkward silence stretching out before Liam handed her the flowers. “I’ll let you give him these. You don’t have to tell him they’re from me.”
She took the bouquet from him. “He’s got a pretty different opinion of you now. He hates flowers though, so maybe I’ll say they’re from the department.”
“Good idea.”
“How are you doing?” Perring asked after a pause.
“I’m fine. Healing nicely. I’m heading home from here, looking forward to seeing my family. I just wanted to stop and say good-bye.”
“Is it wrong that I’m not real sorry to see you go?”
He laughed again. “I won’t hold it against you.” He fished inside his coat for a moment and pulled out a sheet of folded paper. “I wanted to give you this,” he said, handing it to her.
“What is it?”
“It’s a ballistics report I requested yesterday after I found a pistol tucked beneath the mattresses on Owen and Valerie’s bed. It matches the bullet they dug out of Caulston’s garage wall.”
Perring looked up from the page. “What?”
“It was Owen, Denise. He snuck out of his room the night I went to find the diary. I had Heller check his phone records. He called a cab service shortly after I left and again in the early morning hours after I lost him in the woods. He must’ve known that something in the diary would lead me to the truth about Alexandra’s death. I think Valerie may have written something about the bracelet and that would have been the key to it all. He was willing to kill me to keep the secret.”
“Did you find the diary too?”
“No. He must’ve destroyed it or hidden it somewhere. Who knows if it’ll ever turn up. But there was something else. Owen had rented a boat and wanted to go out on the lake during the exchange for Valerie.”
“Yeah, I remember you saying that.”
“Do you recall they found a long folding knife in his pants pocket?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“I think he was going to try and kill me once we got out into open water,” Liam said, watching the surprise wash over Perring’s features. “He thought I was still a threat, even with the diary gone. And he was right. He knew me well enough to know I wasn’t going to give up on Alexandra’s case no matter what the outcome with Valerie’s situation. I think he was going to stab me and throw me overboard then say that I slipped and fell in. I would have sunk to the bottom of the lake. And Superior never gives up its dead.”
Perring shook her head in disbelief. “I never would have guessed he was capable of that, or of any of the things he did. I could have sworn he truly loved his wife.”
“I think he did. I think maybe he regretted what happened to Alexandra and on some level his marriage to Valerie was a form of retribution in his eyes.”
“Paying for his sins?”
“I don’t think he ever would’ve paid for them, but in his mind that might’ve been what he was trying to do.”
“To think that he’d kept that secret for over sixteen years.”
“Sometimes the things that people hide grow stronger with time instead of lessening. Sometimes they take over completely.”
Perring sighed. He could hear almost a week of fatigue in that one sound. “This will go down as the most twisted case in our department. We’ve already had several offers from the big news stations to do exclusives about Valerie. I’ve never seen an orchestration like that. The way she planned it, it was . . .”
“Brilliant,” Liam finished for her.
“Yes. For lack of better words. She made us all look like fools.”
“She did. But you and your team handled the case admirably. There was nothing you could’ve done different.”
“We did things by the book. But I can see now that some things ha
ve to be found outside of the lines. You have to be willing to go there, though.”
Liam gazed at her, a slight coolness settling over him with her words. “Yes you do,” he said quietly.
“And to think if her bullet had hit you, she would’ve gotten away with it all: the murders, the money, everything.”
Liam shook his head. “She never intended on killing me.”
“What do you mean?”
“When she went for her gun she knew I had her beat. She fired the shot well over my shoulder.”
“She wanted to die.”
“I think so. I guess we’ll never know for sure, though.” They stood silent for a moment, each wrapped in their own thoughts, until Liam reached inside his pants pocket and drew out a pack of gum, holding it out to her.
Perring laughed and shook her head. “No thanks, I’m trying to cut back.”
Liam raised his eyebrows. “And no cigarettes?”
“None. And I’d appreciate it if Rex never found out that I smoked the rest of his pack.”
Liam mimed a key turning at his lips. “Not a word from me.”
“I think that’s a blessing in more than one way.” A grin tugged at Perring’s mouth.
Liam held out his hand. “Good-bye detective.”
She shook his hand. “Good-bye Liam.”
He walked quickly down the hall. When he was nearly at the elevator Perring’s voice stopped him.
“Liam.”
He turned. “Yeah?”
“You’re a damn fine cop.”
He smiled and stepped into the elevator as it opened. “You’re a better one,” he said as the doors closed, Perring’s smile the last thing he saw.
It was early afternoon when he pulled into the farmhouse. The sight of his home waiting there in the glory of fall foliage left him nearly breathless. The field beyond was golden with swaying grass, the few trees that surrounded the house had flared into even deeper reds, yellows, and oranges of varying shades in the short time he’d been gone. The sound of gravel crunching beneath his tires was a melody he could’ve listened to for hours.
He’d barely shut the truck’s door and retrieved his bag from the backseat when Eric barreled around the pickup, slamming into him with a rib-crushing hug.
“Liam! I missed you!”
“Missed you too, buddy. Ouch, you gotta go easy on me. I’m a little sore.”
“Sore from what?” Dani said, following the same path Eric had taken to him. The boy stepped aside and made an exaggerated sound of disgust when Dani pressed herself against him, kissing him hard on the lips. He kissed her back, wrapping an arm around her waist while waving dismissively at Eric who made another vomiting sound.
Dani finally broke away, a smile lighting up her face. “So glad you’re home.”
“Me too.”
“Now what were you saying about being sore?”
“Nothing. I’ll show you later.”
“What?”
“Never mind. Let’s go inside.”
They spent most of the afternoon catching up with one another on what had happened since Liam had left a week ago. Dani made cups of tea for all of them and they sat around the kitchen table with the smell of the fresh bread from the bakery he loved permeating the air. He breezed through an overview of the case without mentioning the murders or any of the horrific details that had taken place, his gaze speaking to Dani over the top of Eric’s head in the silences. When they were finished talking Dani rose and went to the cupboards, pulling out pans and several cans of organic tomato sauce.
“I’m making stuffed manicotti for supper,” she said, throwing a look over her shoulder. It was his favorite of all the meals she had cooked for them.
“That sounds wonderful. Do you need help?”
“No, why don’t you relax for a bit. Take a nap or something.”
“Can we go to the park, Liam?” Eric asked, bringing his empty cup to the sink and rinsing it. A heavy cloud of fatigue still hovered over him from the past week, but the enthusiasm in the boy’s voice was infectious. “Pleeeeease?” Eric intoned, drawing out the word. “Daryl and Christian from the team are going to be there.” The boy nearly danced in place with excitement and Liam chuckled, pointing toward the front entryway.
“Get your glove.”
“Yes!” Eric yelled, running to the front of the house.
“You sure you’re up for that?” Dani asked from beside the counter.
“Just wait until later and see how much energy I have,” he growled leaning in for another kiss. She giggled and shoved him away.
“Get going, Mr. Dempsey.”
“Yes, Miss Powell.”
They drove through the late autumn air with the windows down. The respite from the biting cold of Duluth raised Liam’s spirits even further as they wound through a small neighborhood, the wide expanse of the park and brown dirt of the baseball diamond coming into view. The park’s grass still held its green color, which only highlighted the gold leaves dotting the stretches beneath several ancient oak trees. Eric and Liam played catch for the better part of a half hour before two skinny boys wearing baseball jerseys approached on bikes, yelling Eric’s name as they raced toward the unoccupied diamond. Liam watched them go, a portion of his heart with them in the unburdened happiness of youth on a fall afternoon, the other, greater part, full of pride and a pure contentment at simply being able to see them enjoy it from afar. For a moment all his worry drained away, the horror of how Valerie’s case had turned out less overwhelming. Even the simmering anger and fear quieted watching his son play in the autumnal light. He could almost imagine it had been something he had dreamed.
Trying to hold on to the contentment, Liam turned, searching for a park bench to rest on until Eric and his friends were finished practicing drills they’d run a thousand times. He began to move toward the jungle gym and swing sets but froze in mid-step.
A man about his age sat upon the farthest bench wearing a too-tight red sweatshirt with a yellow circle on the chest. He was leering at a mother who was bent over, helping her daughter pick up several toys from a sandbox nearby, his eyes locked on the taut jeans covering the woman’s ass.
Liam didn’t know he was moving until he was beside the bench.
“This seat taken?”
The man’s eyes were still on the young mother slowly walking away with her child, a crooked smile pulling at one corner of his mouth. He was exactly as Dani had described him. Average looking with a blond crew cut that accentuated his sharp nose and bright blue eyes. He was well-built; hard pectorals pulled at the fabric of his sweatshirt, and his thighs were thick within his designer jeans. He glanced at Liam as the mother and daughter moved farther away.
“What?” the man asked.
“Good,” Liam said, sitting down. The bench was built for children, perhaps three middle schoolers. It didn’t accommodate the bulk of two grown men well, especially when Liam widened his legs and leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees.
“Hey pal, I’m not into what you’re sellin’, you catch my drift?” the man said, inching slightly away from him despite the threatening tone in his voice.
“Oh I know what you’re into,” Liam said, gazing out across the park’s clearing. They were alone save for Eric and his two friends tossing ground balls to one another in the distance.
“What did you say?”
“I said,” Liam replied, slowly sitting upright and turning to face the blond man, “I know what you’re into. You’re into coming to public parks and harassing women. You’re so pathetic you think this is the best place to get a date or pick up fun for an hour back at your place.”
“What?” The man’s incredulousness was so potent, he actually tilted his head to one side. “I don’t know who the fuck you are, pal, but—”
“No,” Liam interrupted, scooting closer. “No you don’t know who I am. But I know you. I know you walk here from your house just down the street. You’ve come here often enough for me to
have witnessed the filth that you are and followed you home. I know where you sleep.”
The second before the man threw his clenched fist, Liam whipped a hand to his throat and pressed his thumb behind his earlobe. The pressure he applied made the man wince, but he was strong and seemingly stubborn, so he tried to follow the punch through anyway. Liam caught his fist and turned it, the man’s fingers opening as he pushed harder below his earlobe. Snatching the man’s index and middle fingers, he twisted, hearing the knuckles pop under the pressure.
“Ah, fuck!”
“Shut up and listen to me,” Liam hissed. “I’ll be watching all the parks you go to from now on. I have nothing better to do. If I ever spot you in any of them again, the next time you’ll see me will be in the middle of the night, standing over your bed.” He bent the man’s fingers back farther, eliciting a hoarse whimper. “Do you understand me, you piece of shit?”
“Yes,” the man croaked.
“Good. Now get the fuck out of here.”
Liam shoved him. Hard. The man rolled from the bench onto the ground, gagging. He stayed there on his hands and knees for several seconds, then drew himself upright and jogged away, casting a watery glance at Liam as he left.
Liam wiped his hands on his jeans as if they were dirty, letting the overpowering rage drain away. He tried to regain the peaceful feeling he’d experienced minutes ago as he watched Eric expertly catch a fly ball, but it was only a memory.
The manicotti was fantastic. They dined beneath the warm glow of the kitchen lights, the smell of garlic, Parmesan, and pepper permeating the air. Dani had opened a bottle of cabernet sauvignon, and two large glasses stood beside her and Liam’s plates. When dinner was finished they sat in the living room, watching a movie until Eric’s head began to slip forward on his neck, his eyes closed to slits.
“To bed, young man,” Dani said, switching off the TV. “You’ve got school in the morning.” She stood and made her way into the kitchen. Several dishes clacked together as she loaded the dishwasher. To Liam’s surprise, Eric didn’t put up an argument but simply lifted himself off the couch and walked to the doorway only to come back to stand by Liam’s side.
