by Rick Reed
“It makes sense to me,” Tunney said. “Any chance you can interview the guy that confessed to the girl’s murder?”
Jack said, “He was killed in prison.”
“Oh. Well, did Crispino see anything? Any leads there or is that just a coincidence?” Tunney asked.
Jack said, “Uncle Marty either didn’t see who hit him, or he’s lost some of his memory. The doctor said he could have memory loss. In any case, I don’t think he wants to be involved anymore.”
“And you say Sully and Mindy are missing. Are they answering their phones?”
“No. I put a BOLO out on them and Sully’s car. Mindy’s was left at the house. They left quickly. There’s something else you need to know,” Jack said. “I think Sully kidnapped one of the kids that found Sonny’s body. This happened almost two hours ago. I’m not positive it was Sully, but he drives a black Mercedes sedan, and a witness across from the girl’s house saw her leaving with a guy that matches Sully’s description. In a black Mercedes.”
Tunney was silent and Jack asked, “What are you thinking, Frank?”
“Oh, probably nothing,” Tunney said.
“Come on. Give.”
“Okay. I’m just thinking outside the box here,” Tunney said. “What if Mindy and Sully are the ones behind all of this? You said Mindy called Sully to come to Evansville. Sully showed up at Mindy’s several hours before Sonny’s murder, to the best of your knowledge.”
“That’s right,” Jack said.
“Now Sully and Mindy drop off the radar. Knight is found burned up in his car. And remember, Sully was in Boston—or in that area—when Little Bobby was killed. When he comes to Evansville you have two more murders. All with monkey carvings. All extreme violence. That kind of violence wouldn’t bother a cop.”
“Or an ex-cop,” Jack added.
Tunney continued, “You said yourself that you thought Sonny was skimming from the money seized in drug raids. Maybe he’s done it before but didn’t get caught.”
“If Big Bobby suspected Sonny of stealing he might have sent Sully to talk to his old partner,” Jack said.
“And just maybe Sully wants what Sonny has. A big house, big money, expensive toys, and Mindy.”
Jack agreed with him.
“Sully sounds sharp enough to set this up,” Tunney said. “Maybe the monkeys were a diversion. Leaving the money behind was a ploy to make us think the motive for the killing was revenge. Maybe it was about the oldest motive in the world. Love, or sex, or whatever passes for a relationship these days.”
Jack said, “Mindy couldn’t leave Sonny without losing everything she has. The house was in her name, but I’m sure Sonny had a way around that if she left. Maybe something like a pre-nup.”
Jack thought it over. It sounded right. “But why kidnap the girl?” Jack asked.
“I’m not sure, but I think he’s wanting to eliminate any possible witnesses to Sonny’s murder. He’s not sure how much they really know,” Tunney said. “This is all theorizing, Jack. It just makes me wonder why Sully’s not dead. If he’s not the killer, why hasn’t the killer gotten to him?”
“Good point,” Jack said.
“Jack, I’ve got to get off here. I’m almost to my meeting. Keep what we’ve talked about in the back of your mind. Better too much caution than not enough. If you find Sully, you should consider him armed and dangerous. He could be your killer. Mindy too, for that matter.”
“Well, thanks for the brainstorming session. Enjoy your meeting,” Jack said.
“I always do.”
Chapter 36 Sully drove north into Vanderburgh County. He’d scouted this area before going to Mindy’s, and was now glad he did. He didn’t know if that detective was looking for him, but he definitely didn’t want to be found now.
He pulled in behind The Peaks Inn and parked close to the door to the room he’d put Mindy in.
He pointed a finger at Zack. “Sit,” he ordered, got out and walked around the vehicle. Sully opened Dayton’s door and pulled her from the car by the arm. He opened Zack’s door, grabbed him by the back of his coat collar and yanked him from the car.
“Listen to me, you little shit. You try anything, the first bullet goes into your girlfriend.
We’re going in that door, straight ahead, single file, just like in school. You act up or talk, you get demerits.” He shoved the gun in Dayton’s back to press his point.
Zack went first and said over his shoulder, “People will be looking for us. That detective…”
Sully slapped the gun into the side of Zack’s head. Zack staggered face-first into the brick wall of the inn. Sully put his arm around Dayton, grabbed a fistful of Zack’s fatigue jacket and pulled them together. He shoved them toward the door.
Zack said, “If you touch her again, I’ll kill you.”
Sully shoved Dayton into the door and bounced her forehead against the door twice. No one came to the door.
“Shit. Mindy! You’d better not be passed out drunk.”
To Dayton, Sully said, “Knock, bitch. Make it loud.”
Dayton raised her hand and tapped on the door.
“I said loud,” Sully said threateningly.
Dayton raised her hand again and knocked.
A woman’s voice came from inside. “Who is it?”
Sully said, “Open the damn door, Mindy.”
The latch turned and the door opened on the security chain. A pale face peeked through the crack. “Sully. I didn’t know you was bringing visitors.” The door closed, the chain came off and the door opened again.
Sully pushed Dayton and Zack inside, keeping a hand on Dayton’s arm. He said to Mindy, “Put the chain on the front door.”
Mindy stared at the gun in Sully’s hand. “I don’t understand…”
“Put the chain on the front door, dummy. Do it.”
She seemed frozen.
“Now, Mindy!”
She walked to the front of the room with an obvious sway in her step. She had taken her sweater and shoes off and was in a see-through bra and tight jeans. Sully pushed them past the smelly bathroom toward a filthy kitchenette.
The kitchenette boasted a stove, mini refrigerator, counter and two barstools with backs. Two new rolls of silver duct tape were on the kitchenette counter. Sully forced Zack on one stool. Dayton climbed up on the other and sat without being told to. Sully kept the gun pointed at Zack and said, “Mindy, get the tape.”
She looked confused. Sully said, “The tape, Mindy,” and glared at her.
Mindy picked up the roll of tape and held it out to Sully.
“You do it,” Sully said. “Do him first.”
Zack held his wrists out and Sully said, “Put them behind your back, smart guy.”
Mindy taped Zack’s wrists. “Now her,” Sully said, and Mindy obeyed.
Sully put his gun back in his holster and took the duct tape from Mindy. He wrapped the tape round and round Zack’s legs and upper body, securing him to the barstool. He secured Dayton to the barstool in a similar fashion.
“I never seen you like this, Sully,” Mindy said.
A malicious grin spread on his face.
“Don’t you think you done enough—”
“Shut up and do what you’re told,” Sully snapped at her. “Go sit on the couch.”
Mindy did as he said.
“What are you gonna do?” she asked.
He drew the gun. “Depends on what they have to tell me. If they lie, they die.”
“He won’t shoot—” Zack said. The blast was deafening in the small room, and a small hole appeared in the top of Zack’s right boot. Zack’s mouth hung open. Pain from a gunshot wound isn’t immediate. It grows on you. When it did, Zack said, “Son of a…” and shut his mouth.
Dayton stared at Zack’s face and then down at his bl
eeding foot.
“Now. Where were we?” Sully said. “Oh yeah. You’re going to tell me everything you know. Everything.”
Dayton continued to stare at Zack’s boot.
Sully pointed the gun at Dayton’s feet. “You first, girlie. Talk.”
She did. Dayton told Sully everything she remembered, from meeting Zack on the street, to the police releasing her to her parents. “And then you came to my house and told me you were a cop and needed me to come downtown again to look at some pictures and I told you I didn’t see anyone and you said I needed to come with you anyway and I told you I was meeting Zack again and…”
“Shut up,” Sully commanded. He’d been watching Zack’s face to judge the truth in the girl’s words. He was good at spotting lies. “Now you,” he said to Zack, the gun still trained on Dayton’s feet.
Tears ran from the corners of Zack’s eyes. The pain was unbelievable. He felt like he was going to pass out.
“I’ll ask questions, you answer,” Sully said. “Otherwise you and your girlfriend will have matching limps.”
Zack said, “I’ll tell you. Honest, mister.”
“Yes, you will,” Sully said. “First question.”
Sully asked Zack how he came to pick the exact house there was a dead body in. He asked if Zack had seen any cars moving on his way to the house. He asked dozens of questions, and Zack’s answers were basically the same as Dayton’s, with the exception of the gun, and the ten thousand dollars. He hadn’t seen any cars on the streets. He didn’t know of Sonny Caparelli.
“The money I found was taken by the cops. I swear to God!”
Sully backhanded Zack with the gun and stuck the barrel against Dayton’s head. “Is he telling the truth, honey? I’ll know.”
Dayton screamed, “Zack! Give him all the money if you really love me.”
“Honest, mister. I ain’t got any. I kept some from the cops, but a couple of those homeless guys by where you found me took it,” Zack lied.
Sully slapped him across the face with the gun for the second time, leaving a gash under Zack’s eye. “Don’t lie to me. If I find the money on you, that’s it for your girlfriend.” To Dayton he said, “I guess he doesn’t really love you.”
“Okay. Okay. It’s in my underwear. Ten thousand bucks,” Zack said.
“Mindy,” Sully said and looked back at her. She was sitting on the broken-down sofa. She had put her sweater back on but she was still barefoot.
“Get your ass over here. I got a job that was made just for you.”
“Sully, I don’t want to. Please don’t make me. You’re scaring me.”
“You’re not in one of these chairs,” Sully said. “Get busy.”
Mindy knelt in front of Zack and unzipped his jeans. She put a hand down in Zack’s jeans and turned her face toward Sully. “What am I supposed to get?”
“You’re not looking for his nuts. You heard the kid. The money’s down in his crotch. You were always good at diving for money. Now dive.”
She reached deeper and her hand came out with a wad of cash.
“You got some balls, kid,” Sully said. “I’ll give you that.” He waggled the gun at Mindy and said, “Don’t he have some balls?”
Mindy held the money out to Sully.
“Count it,” Sully ordered. “I’m not touching something that’s been up his crack.”
Mindy counted agonizingly slowly. “Ten grand, Sully.”
Sully said, “Go take a seat. Hang on to the money.” He took the gun away from Dayton’s head. “Telling the truth wasn’t so hard, was it?” He smacked Zack in the nose with the butt of the gun.
Zack’s nose gushed blood. Zack’s face dropped and he shook his head, slinging blood across Sully’s suit and shoes.
“You little son of a…”
“Stop it, Sully!” Mindy cried. “He’s had enough. You got what you wanted. Just stop.”
“You hear that, kid? She wants me to stop. Do you want me to stop too?” he asked Dayton.
Mindy doubled over, hands covering her mouth. “Sully, I think I’m gonna get sick.”
“Not in here. Go outside. Get some air.”
She headed for the door and he said, “Put your shoes on first, dumbass. I’ll yell if I need you again.”
She slid her shoes on and said, “Sure, Sully.” She hurried outside.
* * * *
Mindy stepped out into the cold air and shut the door to the room. She was feeling kind of sick, but mostly she just wanted to get out of there. Sully was so focused on the two kids he didn’t notice she had taken the keys to his Mercedes. She hurried around behind the motel, quietly unlocked the door of the Mercedes and slid behind the wheel. She waited until she heard a big truck coming down the road before starting the engine. She hoped the noise from the truck would mask the car starting. Her luck held.
She backed out and pulled onto New Harmony Road. She had no idea where she was going but she saw a sign for Diamond Avenue. She stayed on New Harmony Road and pulled smoothly into the light traffic on Diamond Avenue heading east. She remembered the airport was that way. She still had some cash. She had her credit cards, and her driver’s license in a pocket of the jeans. She was thankful she had thought to grab all of that before Sully rushed her from her house.
Sully would be killing mad when he discovered she had left. Taken his car to boot. She’d seen what he did to that boy. That could be her. She’d always had a thing for Sully—even when she was with Sonny—but she had no illusions what she was to him.
“Just another whore,” she said, and said it again, “Just a whore. That’s what I am.” She wanted to be angry, sad, anything but scared. “Screw you, Sully!” she said loudly, and tried to laugh, but it came out ugly and stiff with fright.
A white Jeep sat beside the road, exhaust plumes trailing out. The man sitting inside watched her closely.
Chapter 37
Zack grimaced in pain. Both eyes were swollen shut. The cut on his right cheekbone smarted and caused the eye to water constantly. Blood ran down his face and into his mouth. He was afraid to spit the blood out, fearing it would set the guy off again. He let it dribble down his chin. Sully had given up pistol-whipping Zack and slipped on leather gloves.
“I used to be a cop. You didn’t know that,” Sully said.
Zack had stopped listening. The pain was his world.
Sully landed a hard blow on Zack’s ribs, driving the air from his chest. Zack gasped for air. The pain of broken ribs brought him back to the present.
“I kept some of my gear when I resigned—like these gloves. Three ounces of lead pellets in each one.” Sully delivered a one-two punch to Zack’s face and chest. Sully danced like a boxer and landed several more blows.
Zack’s head lolled and hung to his chest. Sully could see the kid was barely breathing. There was no way this kid was still holding back. He’d already tried to say he was only getting rid of Sonny’s body and it was his father who murdered him. He told Sully he was with the Narcotics Unit and was following Sonny. He would implicate his own mother if it stopped the beating. He knew the kid couldn’t take much more, or it would kill him. He didn’t care.
Sully pulled the gloves off, reached in his pocket and took out a switchblade. He yanked Zack’s head back and put the tip of the blade under his chin. “You’re running on empty, pal. I believe you. So now it’s your punch’s turn,” Sully said, and pulled the blade through both sides of Zack’s mouth. Zack passed out.
Sully went to the kitchen and rummaged around in the cabinets. He found a dented stew pot someone had left behind. He filled it with water and poured it over Zack’s head. Zack came to sputtering. Dayton started screaming, and Sully said, “What’s the matter, hon? You afraid I might do something like this?” Sully swung the pot into the side of Zack’s head. He could hear something crunch. He threw the po
t into the kitchen and said, “Listen kid, I want you to listen to your girlfriend beg you to tell me about the man who killed my friend. I don’t want to hear any more made-up shit.”
Zack mumbled. The words were garbled, but the implication was still there. “Touch her and I’ll kill you.”
Sully laughed out loud. “I almost like you, kid. You’re tough as nails. You can take my admiration to the grave with you.”
Sully slashed out with the knife, the blade cutting across the side of Dayton’s face. She screamed and screamed, until Sully slapped her across the face. Hard.
Dayton stopped and said through puffy lips, “You don’t have to do this, mister. We don’t know who you are. I swear we won’t tell anyone. Let us go and we’ll just disappear. Please. Don’t hurt us any—”
“Shut up!” Sully yelled, but for some reason the murderous excitement he’d felt while beating the boy was no longer there. He almost felt pity. He knew he’d gone too far to stop now. He had to kill them. He had to be able to tell Big Bobby that these two were no longer an issue. Big Bobby would expect that much if Sully wanted to keep his own life.
Suddenly he couldn’t stand to see her face, those eyes pleading with him to stop. She was pretty and young and had her whole life ahead of her. Or she would have if she hadn’t hooked up with the punk. Sully wanted to end this. Neither of them knew shit. And where the hell was Mindy?
He shook pillowcases from two flattened pillows on the bed and slipped them over the kids’ heads. The girl began to panic, the cloth sucking in and out. He’d have to do her first.
He pulled his gun to shoot them both. The door behind him opened. “About effing time, Mindy! Where the hell have you been?”
An arm went around Sully’s throat, drawing him back while another arm locked his head in a vise grip. Sully struggled. His breath was crushed from him, his strength was quickly fading, vision turning gray. His arms fell limp; the gun fell from his hand and clattered on the linoleum floor.
A man said in a kind voice, “Shhh. You’re both safe now. Someone will come to get you soon. I promise.”
