Angels (A Detective Pierce Novel Book 3)

by Remington Kane

  His name was Dave Owens, and he was one of two men that the media had dubbed, “The Monsters.”

  Owens, along with his best friend, Jack Murphy, had abducted, raped, and killed well over a dozen women. Their reign was stopped by Pierce.

  Owens had spent the last eight years of his life rotting away in a cell, while Murphy died in a different prison three years earlier. Murphy had been sodomized so severely that he passed away from massive internal bleeding.

  Murphy’s fellow convicts had used a length of pipe. Since that incident, Owens had been kept alone in a cell. When his appetite lessened and he began losing weight, he didn’t think much of it. When the weight loss continued and then became noticeable, Owens grew worried.

  A few days earlier, the pain started from deep within his guts, and Owens requested to be taken to the prison hospital for a check-up. For a man who’d been locked away in the same cell for years, the trip Owens took to see the doctor on a different level of the prison seemed like a vacation.

  But then, he received the news.

  “Cancer?” Owens said.

  “Pancreatic cancer, and you’ll need treatment to keep it from spreading.”

  Owens stared at the doctor, who had wispy gray hair and bloodshot eyes. Owens didn’t look much better than the doctor, despite only being in his forties, his lined face looked old. However, from behind, with his body wasting away from the cancer, he was as thin as a teen boy.

  “Am I going to die, Doctor?”

  “There’s a chance, yes, but we’ll know more once you’re tested.”

  “How soon can you test me?”

  “It could be as soon as later today, but first the transfer order has to be approved.”

  “Transfer? Transferred to where?”

  “To the old county jail. There’s a new hospital across the street from it, and they’ll be giving you an MRI there, along with other tests and procedures. Our MRI machine has been broken for over a year. The assholes in charge can spend the damn money to transfer prisoners, but they can’t find the funds to fix my equipment.”

  Dave Owens paid the doctor’s complaints no attention, his thoughts were filled with the possibility of his looming death.

  ***

  Back in New Jersey, Amy Lowe laughed as she saw the odd look on her young lover’s face.

  The middle-age professor had not only introduced her teen lover to the pleasures of sex, but was also schooling him in the use of recreational drugs.

  Matt was smoking pot, and the fifteen-year-old had a goofy look on his face. The two of them were naked and sitting up in bed after having sex, but Amy had a sheet draped around her.

  As far as Matt’s mother knew, he was off somewhere with Christy, while Christy thought that Matt was running errands for his mother.

  The boy had fallen in love with Amy, but she told him to keep dating Christy. Matt also had to sneak in and out of Amy Lowe’s rented townhouse by using the rear door. Matt’s visits occurred when Amy knew her neighbors were at work and only after she had left him a text on a cell phone she had bought him. Matt never called Amy and didn’t even know her phone number.

  No one knew that he visited Amy and Matt was smart enough not to brag about it. He had only made one friend since moving to the state, and that was a boy he hadn’t seen more than once since school let out for the summer.

  Amy knew the relationship was not only stupid, but illegal, given Matt’s age, but she desired Matt, because he made her feel special. He made her feel young again.

  Amy watched her teenage lover as he took in a deep drag.

  “I see that you like that weed. That’s a little stronger than the pot we had last week.”

  “It’s good, really good, and I’m going to be so hungry later.”

  “Are you and Christy still going to the movies tonight?”

  “Yeah, but I’d rather be here.”

  “How far have you gotten with her?”

  Matt exhaled and then made a face.

  “She’ll only let me kiss her, not that I really care... since you.”

  “She’s just a girl, and I was still a virgin at that age too.”

  “Who was your first?”

  “You know him. It was Rick Pierce.”

  Matt nearly dropped the marijuana cigarette he was holding.

  “Mr. Pierce? The cop?”

  “We were high school sweethearts.”

  “Did you love him back then?”

  Amy nodded, as she thought about Pierce. Not only had she loved him all those years ago, but she had never loved anyone else.

  “Yes, I loved Rick, but I had to let him go.”

  “Why?”

  “I had to make a choice. Love, or money.”

  “And you chose the money? If that’s true, why aren’t you rich?”

  “The irony is that I would be if I had stayed with Rick.”

  Matt grinned.

  “Yeah, that house is sweet, and all that land, plus, Mrs. Pierce is getting a new car.”

  “What’s his wife like?”

  Matt blushed and Amy noticed.

  “Look at your face. You have a thing for her, don’t you?”

  “She’s hot. She’s not as... curvy as you are, but yeah, I like Mrs. Pierce.”

  “Has she ever looked at you... that way?”

  Matt laughed.

  “No, but she’s nice to me and they don’t mind if I come over while Christy babysits.”

  Amy took a hit off the pot and then handed it back to Matt.

  “I want to see the house. Will you sneak me in there?”

  “Inside the Pierce house, why?”

  “I want to look around. I won’t take anything. When is the next time that Christy will babysit, do you know?”

  “Uh, yeah, Wednesday, but she’ll be doing it at her own house. Her parents and the Pierce’s have something to go to in Pennsylvania.”

  “Oh, but when will she be babysitting at Rick’s house again?”

  “Um, this Thursday night, Mr. and Mrs. Pierce have a date night every other week on Thursdays.”

  Amy stuck a finger in her mouth and imitated a gagging sound. It made Matt laugh.

  “Sneak me in that night after the kids are asleep, okay?”

  “How?”

  “Unlock the front door and then keep Christy towards the back of the house, or better yet, keep her outside on the patio. What time do the kids go to bed?”

  “They’ll be asleep before nine, but Amy, what if someone catches you?”

  “It’ll be all right. I’ll walk in from the road and only stay a few minutes.”

  Matt frowned.

  “I don’t know; it sounds risky.”

  Amy slid down to lay flat as she moved aside the covers.

  “Do it for me, please?”

  Matt’s breathing increased as he stared at her nakedness.

  “I’ll do it.”

  “Thank you, lover, and is there anything else you’d like to do?”

  Matt tossed the pot into an ashtray on the nightstand and lay beside Amy.

  “I love you, Amy.”

  “Show me how much you love me,” Amy whispered, then she sighed as Matt’s hands caressed her.

  CHAPTER 6

  After eating a late lunch, Pierce and Jake decided to check out Oscar Carlson’s home and business while they waited to hear the coroner’s verdict. They had checked into Carlson’s background and found that the man had never been arrested for anything, much less child molestation.

  To Pierce, it confirmed his initial impression that Oscar Carlson was a good man.

  They went to the hobby shop first. When they arrived, they discovered a group of children sitting out front. The children wore clothes that Pierce would have classified as too threadbare for his own children to wear, but times were tough, and sometimes you had to make do.

  “Hey guys, what’s up?” Jake said.

  There were four boys and two girls, all around the age of ten. The shortest of the
boys, a blond kid with a face full of freckles, spoke up.

  “Are you guys cops?”

  Jake smiled.

  “That’s right.”

  “We’re not doing anything bad. We’re just waiting for Oscar to open the store.”

  Pierce and Jake gave each other stricken looks. Pierce had already broken the news of Carlson’s death to the man’s sister, Leah. Mrs. Leah Meyers lived in Pennsylvania but was meeting the detectives at her brother’s shop.

  Jake walked over to the kids and gave them the sad news, and each of them took it hard, with all of them crying to some extent.

  “You guys really liked Mr. Carlson, hmm?” Pierce said.

  “He was great,” said the blond boy, whose name was Ronny. “Oscar never got angry or was too busy to talk, and he let us play at his house too.”

  “Yeah,” Jake said. “We saw all the playground equipment he kept in his back yard, but did you ever go inside the house?”

  Ronny nodded yes while wiping his eyes.

  “Oscar keeps a really cool train set in his basement and he’s got video games too.”

  Pierce cleared his throat.

  “Was it always fun at Oscar’s... or did things get weird sometimes?”

  Ronny looked confused by the question, but one of the girls took Pierce’s meaning.

  “Oscar wasn’t a creep. I know that was what some people thought, but he was just a really fun guy who liked hanging with kids. He never tried touching us, you know?”

  Pierce smiled at the girl. She resembled his daughters but was twice their age.

  “That’s good to know, honey, and what’s your name?”

  The girl smiled back at him.

  “I’m Maggie.”

  A car pulled up behind Pierce’s unmarked police car. A chubby woman with dark hair and a cute face stepped out of it. When the kids spotted her, they ran over and the woman hugged them all. She had begun to cry, and Pierce realized that he was looking at Oscar Carlson’s sister.

  “You’re Mrs. Meyers?” Pierce asked.

  “Yes, and you’re Detective Pierce?”

  Pierce introduced himself and Jake. Afterwards, Leah Meyers let everyone into the store. The store was crowded with remote control toys and model train parts, but towards the back was a play area set-up. The kids went back there out of habit, but then just stood around, as if they didn’t know what to do.

  Leah Meyers smiled at the children.

  “It’s okay to play even though you’re sad about Oscar, but my brother wouldn’t have wanted you to be depressed by his passing.”

  The kids smiled, and within minutes, they had a train moving around a track.

  Leah grinned at them, even as she wiped away tears.

  “My brother loved those children, and he was a big kid himself.”

  “We’re sorry for your loss,” Jake said.

  “Thank you, but tell me, why did you want to look inside the shop?”

  “It’s routine,” Pierce said. “We have to check for signs of a struggle or foul play.”

  “Foul play? But you said on the phone that my brother was killed by a falling tree limb.”

  “Yes ma’am, and as far as we know, that’s what happened, but as I said, it’s just routine.”

  Pierce and Jake asked Leah Meyers a few questions about her brother as the kids played in the back of the room. When it was time to leave, Leah handed each of the children a new handheld game and told them to think of it as a gift from her brother.

  “Can we still go to the house and play sometimes?” Ronny asked.

  Leah shook her head.

  “I’m sorry honey, but no. It wouldn’t be safe with no one around.”

  The kids looked sad, but nodded in understanding before walking off towards their homes.

  ***

  Pierce drove to Oscar’s house with Leah following behind. When they pulled up in front of the home, Reba Miller poked her head out of her front door.

  She stepped onto her porch when she saw Leah, then shrugged.

  “I’m sorry about your brother.”

  Leah marched over and stared up at Reba.

  “Are you really? Because you gave him nothing but grief when he built the house.”

  “I know,” Reba said, as she wiped away tears. “And I’m sorry I was always complaining about the noise the kids made. I actually liked Oscar... I wish I had told him so too.”

  Leah’s gaze softened.

  “Miss Miller?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Despite everything, Oscar liked you too, and he knew that you sometimes gave the kids candy.”

  Reba frowned.

  “Those kids said they wouldn’t tell him.”

  Leah gestured at the woods along the street.

  “He figured it out. After all, you were his only neighbor.”

  Reba smiled, waved, and went back inside her house.

  Leah used a spare key to open up the front door of her brother’s home. There were bean bag chairs strewn about the living room and a pile of kids’ movies were stacked near a Blu-ray player.

  The house had a lived-in look, but nothing was disturbed or damaged, while the windows and doors were all locked from the inside. When Pierce and Jake followed Leah down into the basement, their mouths dropped open. Nearly the entire basement was taken up by a model train set. It was a genuine work of art that contained a lifelike town in its middle and a mural of mountains on the wall behind it.

  Pierce guessed that the track was over sixty feet in circumference and he was dying to see it in action.

  When he looked at Leah Meyers, he saw that she was smiling at him.

  “You want to see it run, don’t you?”

  “Yes!” Jake said.

  Leah walked over to a wall and hit a switch, within seconds, the train was moving.

  “This is awesome, Mrs. Meyers,” Pierce said. “I wish I’d known your brother.”

  “You would have liked him, almost everyone did, and call me Leah, Detective. Like my brother, I don’t like to be formal.”

  Signal bells sounded off on the miniature train tracks and smoke puffed up from the train’s engine car. Pierce and Jake both looked like children as they thrilled to the sight.

  Pierce’s phone rang and he moved to a corner of the room and answered the call. When he was finished, he walked over and hit the wall switch, to cause the train to shut down.

  “Leah, I have disturbing news. The coroner says that your brother was murdered.”

  “Oscar was murdered? Are they certain?”

  “The coroner determined that the wound on his scalp was actually caused by several hard blows administered to the same area. Do you know anyone who would have wanted your brother dead?”

  Leah moved over to a chair and sat.

  “I can’t imagine who would want to kill my brother.”

  “What about Reba Miller?” Jake said.

  “Reba? No, she’s a cranky old maid, but no, she’s not a bad person. There were even times when I thought she might have a crush on my brother.”

  Pierce walked over and lowered himself until he was looking Leah in the eye. He had never met Oscar Carlson, but he was angry as hell that someone had murdered such a good and loving man.

  “We will find the person who killed your brother.”

  Leah looked at Pierce, and then up at Jake. After wiping away tears, she smiled.

  “Yes, I believe you will.”

  CHAPTER 7

  Amy Lowe sighed with contentment. Beside her, her young lover, Matt, hugged her from behind and spooned against her. The teen had spent the day at Amy’s house and they had made love several times.

  When Matt left the bed to use the bathroom, Amy turned on the TV. By the time Matt returned, Amy was engrossed in the program she was watching. It was about famous crimes. In particular, it concerned true crime stories where the perpetrators had gotten away scot-free.

  Matt climbed back into bed and he too became fascinated. The program we
nt into detail about a million-dollar kidnapping that took place in the early 1970’s. The victim was returned unharmed, the kidnappers were never arrested, and the case remained unsolved.

  Amy thought about what a million dollars could have bought back then, and then began thinking of all the things she could do with a million dollars now. With a million dollars, she’d never have to debase herself again in the hopes of marrying into money. She would be rich herself.

  When the program ended, Amy talked to Matt about it, and the teen said that he heard that kidnappers never got away anymore.

  “Why not?” Amy said. “They hold all the cards. Even if they were captured, it seems to me that they could make a deal for the whereabouts of their victim.”

  Matt shrugged.

  “I guess, but if you didn’t give up the location, then you’d be facing murder charges too.”

  Amy shook her head.

  “But no one has to die. You just have to be smart about it... that’s all it would take.”

  Matt soon left Amy to head back home in time for dinner. He also had to be gone before Amy’s neighbors began arriving home from work. Amy kissed Matt goodbye at her back door and returned to her bedroom, where she began pacing about.

  A kidnapping would be a way to get money fast, but most people with money had elaborate security systems.

  The amount of $1,000,000 stayed in her mind and flashed there like a neon light. The tricky part would be collecting the money, she knew that much. However, the longer she thought about it, the more she came to believe that there must be a way around that. At her usual bedtime, she went into the kitchen and began brewing tea. She was too keyed-up to sleep and her mind was racing.

  When she began thinking about the people she knew who could come up with a million dollars, her mind stopped on Rick Pierce.

  Her old boyfriend owned property that was estimated to be worth more than a million. Any bank would loan him the money in a crisis, and security at the house was no more than a locked door. Also, thanks to Matt, she could get inside whenever she needed to do so.

  The more Amy thought about Pierce, the more convinced she became that he was perfect, and what had started as a game of what if, became a question of when and how.