Cusp of Crazy: Nick Stryker Series, Book One, Shallow End Gals

by Vicki Graybosch

  Nick quickly spotted Lacey’s problem. Two security guards were trying to talk to a man sitting on the hood of Lacey’s car.

  Nick walked over. One of the guards started backing up and asked, “Who are you?”

  Nick opened his jacket, “Chicago PD.” He turned and looked at Gary. Big guy. Good looking, but obviously socially challenged.

  “Gary, seems we have a problem.” Nick squared his stance in front of the car and focused on Gary’s eyes. Lacey was right; Gary carried a little crazy in him.

  Gary frowned, “I don’t know you. I don’t have a problem. I’m waiting for my girlfriend.”

  Nick smiled, “You’re right, Gary. I guess I’m the one with a problem. Lacey is my girlfriend, too. How do you think we should resolve this?”

  The security guards looked at each other and started to back up. Gary slid down from the hood of Lacey’s car. Nick continued, “Did Lacey tell you to go away? Stop calling? Leave her alone?”

  Gary was staring at Nick’s shirt that was splattered in blood. Nick looked down. “Oh. Don’t worry about that. It’s not my blood.”

  Gary started backing up. “She didn’t say she had another boyfriend.” He had clearly decided to leave.

  Nick stepped forward. “You’ve got to listen close to women, Gary. Trust me. The most innocent sounding statement can hit you like a sucker punch. If they come right out and tell you to get lost, you best listen. You agree, Gary? Are we good now?”

  Gary looked like he wanted to say something, but didn’t. His fists were clenched and his neck red with anger. He turned and walked across the parking lot to his car. Nick made note of the car and wrote down the plate number. Gary wasn’t done. Crazy is never done.

  Lacey gingerly walked from the building and squeezed Nick’s hand. “Thank you. I’m so sorry to get you involved in this mess.” Lacey had been crying.

  Nick smiled, “No problem. Do you want me to follow you home?”

  Lacey shook her head. “I’m sure he’ll leave me alone now.” She pointed to Nick’s shirt. “You’re bleeding!”

  Nick chuckled, “Not mine.” He kissed her cheek. “Call me if you need me.”

  Lacey wanted to run after Nick as she watched him walk back to his car. She didn’t. Nick would have to decide if there was room in his life for her. She wasn’t going to date again, but she wasn’t going to settle for Nick’s crumbs either. They both deserved more.

  Nick got back in his car and turned off the radio. Love songs. He headed for the 107th to watch the camera footage and put on a clean shirt. Lacey didn’t know it, but she had his heart. Heck, he didn’t really know it until just now.

  He scribbled down a few phrases that came to mind as he waited for Tanner’s car to leave the parking garage. A dark fist invisibly grabbed his throat and made him look up. Tanner’s car pulled into traffic. He followed at a safe distance. He clutched the steering wheel in excitement, anticipation. He had left just enough fluid in the brake line for Tanner to get halfway to Casey’s. Time for her to warn him. Time for him to feel the fear of his looming fate.

  Tanner’s car sharply turned away from traffic, barreled across the park, through the iron fence and plunged into the Chicago River. He pulled over and parked his car to watch. Good Samaritans leaped from the concrete sea wall and dove into the green water. One minute. Two minutes. Three minutes. People were screaming and pointing. More men jumped in. Six minutes. Three heads bobbed from the water’s surface. Then more. A man was lifted out of the water. It was hard to see through the crowd. A body on the ground. Someone was doing CPR. Several people were on cell phones. Many held their hands over their mouths in apparent anguish.

  He had goose bumps. It was perfection.

  The body on the ground began coughing and then sat upright.

  He slammed his hand against the dash of his car. His monsters growled and scratched at their cages. This wasn’t how he wrote it.

  Wednesday 7:00 p.m.

  Eli walked into the sandwich shop and asked Mitch, “Well, should we try this again?”

  “Try what?”

  “Goin’ to Cubby’s for darts. Last night we found a body, remember?” Eli poked his head around looking for Momma.

  “I suppose you’re hungry again?”

  Eli frowned. “You know? It’s the craziest thing. Seems to happen almost every day.” He shook his head as he pointed to the clock. “We’ve got an hour, but I want to get there early. Break in my arm a little.”

  Mitch wrote down the total for the deposit and zipped up the bank bag. “Should have the whole team tonight. Oink and Tanner both said they’d be there.”

  Eli waved his index finger in the air, “Look out, Chad! We are reclaimin’ our fame!”

  Momma had walked up behind Eli and startled him. “What are you two famous for?” She handed them each a cold tuna sandwich.

  Eli twisted his mouth in protest. “You’re givin’ us old food?”

  “Yep.” Momma took the bank bag, looked at the deposit amount and declared they had two minutes to leave before she locked the door. “Can you drop this at the bank on your way Mitch? My car don’t want to mess with traffic tonight.” She gave him a big smile and giggled. “Ain’t I just a stitch?”

  Jen had sent Nick a text that she would be at home if he needed her. She stopped at the market on the way and bought what she needed to make John his favorite pork chop dish. If they were going to have their ‘talk’ about her shortcomings, at least he would have to agree that she was a good cook.

  When she opened the door of their apartment, a wonderful aroma of garlic and warm bread assaulted her. John stood waiting and took the packages from her arms. “I saw you pulling up.”

  Jen handed him the bags. “Thanks.” She hung her coat up and glanced in the dining alcove. The table was set and there was a rose in a vase at the center. Her mind raced to remember what it was she had obviously forgotten. Their anniversary? John’s birthday? Her birthday?

  John smiled at her expression. “I wanted to fix you a nice dinner tonight. I have something important to talk to you about.”

  “I know. I saw the note.” Jen sat on a stool at the kitchen island. She didn’t know how to start this conversation at all. “I think I can make this easier for you, John. You didn’t have to make me spaghetti.” Jen smiled. “I was wrong when I said my job wouldn’t get in our way. This is all on me. You deserve better.”

  John stopped stirring the pasta. “What are you trying to say?”

  “I know you want a divorce.” Jen thought she was ready for this, but her eyes started to swell with tears and her heart was breaking.

  John walked over and hugged her. “I don’t want a divorce. I love you. Let’s eat and let me tell you about my surprise.”

  After about five minutes of devouring food, Jen and John locked eyes. Jen had a noodle hanging from the center of her mouth. “What?”

  John took a deep breath. “About a year ago I was feeling that we were in trouble. The marriage. I resented the time you were gone and spent my evenings watching anything on TV that didn’t show couples. You know how hard that is?”

  Jen nodded. John continued. “I think I was jealous of your passion for your work. I wanted to feel that in my life. Jen, if you hadn’t completely ignored me, I never would have discovered my true passion!” John reached under the table and laid a paperback book on the table. His name was listed as the author.

  Jen couldn’t even form an intelligent question.

  John asked, “Well? What do you think?”

  Jen picked up the book and read the jacket. John was beaming across the table from her. “John! You wrote a book? When? How?”

  John laughed at her expression and answered, “I just started imagining what you were doing and writing it down. Pretty soon a story started to grow in my head and well, a few months of nothing else to do and voila!”

  “Your job. You did all of this at night?” Jen was impressed, shocked. “And you’re published?”

&n
bsp; “Self-published. That’s what everyone does now. The eBook has been out for over a month. I’m actually selling in countries all over the world. People are buying it, reading it and leaving me glowing reviews! I’m just full of myself right now. The paperback will be released next week. I’ve been dying to tell you all of this. This first one is for you.” John looked truly happy and proud.

  Jen moved to sit next to him and they really kissed for the first time in months. John nuzzled her neck. “Jen, I will love you the rest of my life. There isn’t anything we can’t work out.” Jen started crying and John hugged her tight. “You still feel the same about me, don’t you?”

  Jen went back to her seat across the table. “You keep cooking like this and we’ve got a long term deal.”

  They smiled at each other and John said, “As for the job, I took a sabbatical about six months ago. I arranged for a year off without losing my job. I’ve been saving and the book’s sales have helped a lot.”

  “You haven’t gone to work in six months and I didn’t notice? Some detective.”

  Nick put the flash drive of the camera footage in his computer and watched the timestamp roll through the hours. Jessie had said that James started his guard shift of the guns at seven p.m. Nick saw James enter the building’s service door to the basement exactly at seven. He watched the entire night’s footage. Nothing. No one came out of that grate opening except for Nick in the morning. He was about to hit replay when Wayne walked over.

  “You know around here they let us go home, eat, sleep and come back. It’s called a shift. You were here when I got here this morning.”

  Nick looked up. “I’ve got nothing. No leads on my cab driver and a missing cop that vanished from a sealed room. Jen followed up on your idea of a serial. The coroner has slit throat cases downtown, the park, our cabbie and Don. All appear to be the same type of knife and method. Strong. Nearly decapitated. I’m trying to link these victims together or….”

  “Or we got us a random crazy.”

  “Yep. A serial random crazy.” Nick leaned back. “What was Don messin’ in?”

  Wayne glanced around the room and then sat down. “Can you be more specific?”

  “Everything I’ve heard points to him being a stand-up cop. A skilled detective with good instincts. I don’t see a random crazy getting the jump on him.”

  Wayne focused on Nick’s eyes and said, “You watch. Carl will solve this in two days and it will be some random crazy. Case closed.” Wayne pushed his chair back and stood. “Don asked a lot of questions. He believed in crazy, but not random.”

  Nick wasn’t sure what to say. “What are you saying?”

  Wayne put his coat on and said, “I’m going to Cubby’s to play darts. Here’s my number if something breaks and you need help. You asked what Don was messin’ in. The answer to that might get you dead.”

  Wayne walked away, his last words replaying in Nick’s mind.

  Shelly sat in her car staring at her house. She couldn’t believe her home was going to blow up. Figures, she had just shampooed her carpets. This was crazy. The police had blocked off the street and the bomb squad had been called. Utilities had been shut off for the entire block and she was made to park at the end of the street. All of her neighbors had been evacuated from their homes. It had been over an hour. Casey had called at least four times wanting an update. Shelly told her each time that she didn’t know anything yet.

  Finally, she saw an officer walking toward her car. Shelly got out and met him. “Did you find it?”

  The officer frowned at her and then looked down at a notebook page and asked, “Do you know a Joyce Peters and a Casey Thurston?”

  Shelly answered, “Yes.”

  The officer put his hand on her shoulder and turned her around. “Shelly Turner, you are under arrest for calling in a false bomb threat and conspiracy to commit a terrorist act.”

  Forty five minutes later Shelly, Joyce and Casey sat in a jail cell and stared at each other. Casey told them about Tanner’s brakes, how he ditched his car in the river and was saved by pedestrians in the park. Their conversation was sporadic and nervous.

  Finally Casey said, “I’m so sorry. This is entirely my fault. I thought I was doing the right thing. I was trying to save you both. This is so crazy; we are the victims!”

  Joyce smirked, “Did you see that cop’s face when you said you knew it was going to happen because you read it in a book?”

  Shelly stretched her legs out and wiggled her new shoes, “The Christmas block party will be swell this year, evacuated the whole neighborhood, bomb threats, jail. Yep, gonna be a good ol’ time.”

  The three of them, sitting on the cold metal cots in the jail started laughing. They all realized the seriousness of the situation, but the stress had to vent somehow.

  Casey wiped the laughter tears from her eyes and declared, “We’re going crazy, you know? I bet this is what it feels like.” They composed themselves and Casey said, “Thank God I still had that card for Detective Stryker. He is the only reason we’re getting bailed out of this tonight.”

  Joyce added, “Yes, but we have to come to court in the morning to see if they are going to charge us. If they do, we have to pay the city back for all of that manpower.”

  Shelly sighed, “Guess my new shoes are going back.”

  The gals were led from the cell to a room where Tanner was waiting dangling car keys. “Your bail has been posted ladies. You can tell me your stories as I drive you home. I got a rental since my new car now sleeps with the fishes.” Tanner looked pretty good considering what he had been through in the last few hours. His suit, not so much.

  Casey held back tears and kissed his cheek. “You’re our hero.”

  Tanner smiled, “No. You’re mine. Your warning saved my life.”

  Mitch and Eli played a short set of darts while they fed the jukebox and ate their burgers. Momma’s cold tuna sandwiches were not enough. Wayne arrived and hung his jacket on a hook. It was his favorite jacket. He had won it in a State Dart Championship. His team had had “Oink” stitched in the center of the back. Wayne ordered a beer and Eli and Mitch came over to join him.

  “Soon as Tanner gets here we can challenge Chad to a playoff round. Grinds me that he won last night.” Eli gulped down the last of his beer and motioned to the bartender he was switching to water.

  The TV above the bar flashed a breaking news story of a man being pulled from the Chicago River. Wayne grabbed the remote and turned up the volume. “That’s right over there by the park. Dumbass drove right through the fence!”

  The camera zoomed in on the victim’s face as he was carried to a waiting ambulance. It was Tanner.

  All three men dropped their jaws, and then yelled, “What?”

  Eric watched police enter his building and go to Casey’s apartment. They had been in there a long time. Eric had entered Casey’s closet from his secret panel after the cops searched her room. He wanted to hear what they were saying. He heard her pleading with them that they didn’t understand that she was a victim. He heard her tell them to call Nick Stryker.

  Eric knew that name. That was the cop he met this afternoon. The Seal. The one at the funeral. He must be Casey’s friend. Casey talked about some book. The cops took a book when they took her. Eric had seen that man put something in Casey’s mailbox. He bet it was the book.

  He felt the flash drive in his pocket. A wave of grief swept over him. Seeing the police tonight reminded him that he had killed a cop. He slipped out of the closet and back into his wall cavity. He leaned against the cold brick wall and listened to his own breathing. He couldn’t make any more mistakes. He needed time to think. Too much was going on. He took the flash drive from his pocket and crammed it in a crevice in the bricks. He had been wrong to enter a stranger’s home.

  When his hand touched the door knob, he knew instantly. A sharp metallic burr protruded from the keyhole and stuck his finger. His penlight confirmed his lock had been tampered with. He felt
his mind drop a dark shawl around him. His senses intensified and his eyes darted around the rooms. He had been violated.

  He sat across from his monitor and stared at the bright screen. He typed a few keystrokes and reviewed his computer history. His files had been copied this afternoon. Someone was suspicious. He did have some notes for his new book, but those had been spiced with enough fiction that it should be harmless. A dark fist grabbed his stomach. His draft of the manuscript he gave Don was still on his computer. He wildly searched his other files for any identifying information. He thought the rest of it looked innocent enough. He would check it again later to be sure. It was the fact that someone had been in his home. Uninvited. A strange calm replaced his anger. He knew the guilty one.

  He turned off his computer and left the room to shower. By the time he left the house again, he was a mere shell of himself. His monsters had busted through their cages and now soared in search of his prey. They would find him. He grabbed his briefcase and checked that the knife was there. It was important for this new blood to be added to the others.

  Nick was tired. He grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair and left the precinct. He made a mental note to call the DA’s office first thing in the morning and explain Casey’s situation. Tanner was almost murdered tonight. Nick had requested CSU go over the car to find evidence of tampering.

  Nick started his car and pulled from the precinct garage as he dialed Lacey. “You still up?”

  Lacey answered, “Is something wrong?” Lacey was sure that Gary must have done something else.

  “Yes. I let you slip away. Can I fix this?”

  Lacey’s heart started beating faster. “I’m not sure you understand what I need from our relationship, Nick. I love you. That doesn’t mean I will settle for being in the fringe of your life. You can love someone, yet need to walk away.”

  Nick understood exactly what Lacey meant. “I think I love you too, Lacey. I don’t think I realized it before.” Nick was surprised at how easy that had been to say. It felt natural and right. The Navy shrink had told him he had abandonment issues because of his mom leaving. The shrink said he would avoid close relationships for a long time. “I guess I just haven’t thought about how loving you should change my behavior.”