by LS Sygnet
“Helen’s gonna go after Sherman, David. You’re right. She’ll use every trick she knows to get her answers – one way or another.”
Chapter 38
I paced in the kitchen. Should I share what I suspected? How would Crevan react? No. Best keep this hunch to myself. At least until it could be proven. And how would I go about doing that?
My cell phone rang.
“You gonna get that, Helen?” Crevan asked.
I glanced at it. Johnny.
“Hello?”
“Hey, sorry I haven’t called. Things have been intense.”
“Oh, are you making progress?” I tried my best to tone down the sarcasm, but anger has a way of expressing itself whether I like it or not.
“Baby, don’t be angry. I’m sorry I pushed you out of the crime scene like that. Something just didn’t sit right with me, that’s all.”
“Hmm.” He wasn’t such a stellar liar himself, at least not to me. “You never did say why it bothered you so much that old Lyle might be watching events unfold on that rooftop. It was practically a straight shot from his apartment to where CSD lit up the night sky. There were probably a number of people in that building with their eyes glued to what we were doing.”
“Haven’t you ever just had a really bad feeling? That’s all it was, Helen.”
“All right,” I sighed. Once again, the rules of the relationship, the foundation that started with a lie, was so long ago established, I felt particularly resigned to acceptance that it would never change. You get what you give, Orion.
“Where are you?”
“In the kitchen. Crevan’s here. Would you like him to confirm that fact? Or would it mean more coming from Danny?”
“I wasn’t making an accusation, Helen. I just called to let you know that everything is fine, I’m sorry I didn’t make it home last night, and that nothing has really happened or changed since I sent you home. Well, I suppose Chris and I have a few bumps on our head from banging them against the wall.”
“No luck on the identity of that shooter yet?”
“Not so far. Listen, I’ve got to meet with David again, see if the bureau has had any success determining the identity of our victim last night, but I wanted to let you know that I didn’t send Crevan over because of any other reason than protection. I’m worried about you. Please don’t give him too much trouble, and just… just stay home, Helen.”
I gritted my teeth and struggled against the rage pumping like sludge through my veins. It was a slow burn, painful, yet heightening awareness to an acuity I’d never known before. “We’re perfectly safe. If anyone should be careful, it’s you.”
The grandfather clock in the living room chimed eight. Johnny’s relaxation at the familiar sound permeated AT&T’s network.
“Helen, I do love you. You know that, right? You believe it.”
As much as you believe me. “Johnny, I thought we had everything straight again. Are you telling me –?”
“No!” he interrupted quickly. “It’s just this case. The whole thing, when it started two months ago. I need this to be done. I need to know you’re safe.”
“I have an appointment with the obstetrician this afternoon. I don’t suppose you’ll be able to tear yourself away for an hour.”
Johnny muttered under his breath.
“You promised me you’d be there for all of them, Johnny. Have you forgotten?”
Crevan’s eyes were round as saucers. Datello was grinning. At least somebody under this roof got me.
“I did forget about the appointment. I’ll do everything I can to meet you there, but for now, just make sure Crevan takes you. Let’s not forget who we’re both so desperate to protect, Helen.”
I hadn’t, but it hurt to hear him admit it. His main concern wasn’t for me at all, but for the babies I carried. “Well, maybe I’ll see you later then,” I said. “Good luck with the case.”
The phone call was over before Johnny had the chance to say anything else that upset me. Miss my appointment would he? I’d make sure there wasn’t an appointment to miss.
“Crevan, call a taxi. I’m going to change clothes and make another phone call before we leave.”
“Where are we going? Helen, if you’re angry with Johnny about this appointment –”
“There is no appointment. At least there won’t be when I get off the phone. We need to get out of here.
“Danny, upstairs in your room is an old cell phone plugged into the outlet in the window seat. I want you to get it. Make sure it’s charged. Change your clothes. Wear something black.
“Crevan, you’re leaving your phone here. And your clothes.”
“Excuse me?”
“I wouldn’t put it past Orion to have some sort of tracking device planted in your shoes. I’ve got something you can wear. I never got rid of a lot of Rick’s workout gear.”
“I’m not wearing your dead husband’s gym clothes!”
“Then you’re not coming with us.”
“The hell I’m not.”
I grabbed Crevan roughly and slammed him against the wall. “Do you want this to end once and for all?”
“Yes,” he mouthed on a soft hiss of air.
“Then for God’s sake, do as I ask. Johnny is lying to both of us, Crevan. He thinks he knows where this case is going, but I promise you, he hasn’t got a clue. He’ll go after Henderson and he’s a dead end.”
“Why? What makes you think he won’t be so terrified that someone planned to kill him that he won’t leap at the opportunity for police protection?” Crevan asked.
A bit more of the puzzle clicked together in my head. Johnny’s odd behavior, first and foremost, suddenly made sense. “Oh good grief.”
“Helen?”
“Jesus, why didn’t I realize what was happening last night? Idiot! Stupid pregnant brain!”
“Helen, you’re starting to scare me.”
Danny shook his head at Crevan. “Just let her process it, man. She’s about ready to pull it all together. I bet it was like this every other time she solved a case.”
Crevan’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah, it was. So what did you figure out, Helen?”
I looked at Datello first, a smirk crowded past exasperation, and then to Crevan. “I don’t know who Johnny saw in Lyle Henderson’s apartment, but I’m pretty sure I know what he saw.”
“Which was?”
“Oh my God,” Datello breathed.
I nodded. “Lyle Henderson is already dead, Crevan. Dammit. Whoever was supposed to kill Henderson wasn’t alone. Call to EMS my ass. I’ll bet it was this alleged mastermind that called the police. Exactly how much of a flash is visible from a weapon that uses a silencer anyway?”
“I’m assuming not much,” Danny said.
“The way that a suppressor works to effectively muzzle the flash,” Crevan explained, “is that it extends the barrel of the gun enough that any remaining powder burns before the bullet is ejected from the muzzle.”
“Son of a bitch,” I said. “Johnny has to know that. He must’ve figured it out on that rooftop when he saw that Henderson was already dead. Question is, if he saw the man responsible for all of this, why didn’t he lockdown that neighborhood immediately, rather than waste time sending me away?”
“Well, he did lock it down, at least according to Tony Briscoe,” Crevan reminded me.
“Hours later? The perp would’ve been long gone before we got across the street last night, Crevan. That’s why Lyle didn’t answer his door. He was already dead.”
“Maybe Tilly saw him,” he suggested.
I shook my head firmly. “She’d have told me if she’d seen anything else, if she’d heard anything else. That’s what they were fighting about. Dammit, I can’t believe I missed this!”
“What exactly did you miss?” Crevan asked. “Because I heard exactly the same thing you did, Helen.”
“She said they were arguing, she couldn’t quite make out the words. But she heard Nate’s name. Lyle w
as pissed. He paid off Nate to insure his silence. It wasn’t good enough for his partner, so he killed him, probably with Nate’s own truck. She said it was a Cadillac, brand new. Maya said the emblem imbedded on Nate was from a Cadillac. So they fought about this ultimate solution to make sure Nate didn’t talk about whatever these extra errands he did for Lyle were. Tilly follows this guy down the hall and shares an elevator. She hears him grumbling about the need to use Koehler again. Hours later, our alleged Sanderfield assassin is found dead on a rooftop across the street from the Hanging Gardens, with a direct line of sight into Lyle’s apartment. Somebody shoots the shooter. Nobody hears a thing, even though we all know damn well that a .50 caliber weapon isn’t exactly mistakable for anything less than a sonic boom, but then somebody calls nine eleven to report a muzzle flash? No way. Somebody was watching, making sure that Lyle was out of the way.”
“Probably to make sure that Koehler was out of the way too,” Crevan said. “Other than Melissa Sherman, nobody knows the identity of this guy.”
My eyes widened. “And that’s what Johnny’s thinking right now, that this is his golden opportunity to extract the truth from Sherman.”
“You think it isn’t?”
I grinned. “She’s not going to talk, Crevan. She hasn’t so far. In fact, she’s had how many people willing to die to give her an alibi? No, she won’t talk. At least not as long as she thinks Henderson is still alive and pulling strings to protect her.”
“So what happens if Orion tells her that Henderson is dead?” Danny asked.
“She’ll kill herself rather than wait for somebody else to do the job.” I grabbed my phone and dialed Maya’s cell.
“I can’t talk to you, Helen.”
“I realize how busy you are this morning, but if could just tell me if you got the DNA results back yet, that’s all I need to know.”
Maya’s voice dipped low. “Have you talked to Johnny this morning?”
“Yes.”
“Thank God,” she breathed. “Billy’s still at the morgue. I’m on my way out to the island again with Hector. Call him and ask about the DNA. It’s still a little early, Helen, but he can check it for you. Mind you, this isn’t going to be verified by peer review or any such thing yet. It’ll be his eyeballs alone.”
“I’ll take anything at this point. Thanks Maya, and don’t worry about Johnny’s threats. He’d never fire you for talking to me.”
I hung up.
“You let her believe that Johnny told you everything, didn’t you?” Crevan asked.
“She asked if I talked to him. I said yes. It’s not like I didn’t know he lied to me, Crevan, and she didn’t say a single word about Henderson specifically, only that she’s on her way back out to the island.”
“I gotta know how you figure all this shit out,” Datello breathed.
“You’re not so far behind where my mind is headed, Danny. We were, after all, raised by criminals. Thinking like them isn’t such a stretch, is it?” I glanced at Crevan. “At least it isn’t when they don’t pretend to be something they’re not.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Crevan demanded.
Datello paled. He knew what I meant, where all of this was going. I understood as well, that my brother was taught denial stronger than probably anyone I’ve ever known. “It means it’s time to change our clothes and get out of everyone’s sight for the next few hours, Crevan. It’s up to you. Are you in or out? Make up your mind. We don’t have a lot of time to waste.”
He didn’t hesitate, which surprised me. Maybe my brother had less heart and more backbone than I thought after all.
“I’m in. Point me to the sweat suits.”
I grinned. “They’re in a box on the shelf in Johnny’s closet. Both of you, go. I’ve got one more call to make.”
Billy Withers answered on the first ring. “Hiya, Helen. Are you calling for your DNA results?”
I sucked in a calming breath. “Please tell me you have something to report this morning, Billy.”
“As a matter of fact,” he chuckled, “I was just getting ready to send Maya a text and let her know that we’ve got the comparison here. You understand that until she verifies what I’m looking at –”
“Billy, I trust you. Just tell me what you got.”
“It’s not a match,” he said. “John Doe is not related to the sample from Melissa Sherman, but the mtDNA from that envelope was a match. Looks like you found mommy, but not daddy just yet.”
“Do me a favor, Billy. A very quiet favor. When Maya gets her latest victim out to the morgue, run one of his samples against Melissa Sherman’s.”
“Seriously? You think Henderson is a biological –?”
“I don’t know. But I’d love to find out.”
Chapter 39
Johnny paced inside the private visitation room inside Bay County Correctional Facility with proficient impatience. David leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest.
“How bad is it?”
“Helen?” Johnny glanced David’s way for the barest moment.
“Yeah, since I’m pretty aware of how bad the rest of this is.”
Johnny shook his head, felt like slamming his fist against the wall until both were reduced to pulp. “She’s mad at me. Not hiding it particularly well, which isn’t the greatest sign in the world.”
“You know, this will come to an end, Johnny. And when that time comes, you’re going to have to make a decision.”
“I know,” he admitted. “Do you think it isn’t eating me up inside? Christ.”
“It’s not too late to fix what’s broken. It’s never too late for that, my friend. Helen would’ve never married you if she didn’t love you.”
“She’s pregnant and terrified. That has nothing to do with love.”
David sighed but didn’t offer the rest of his opinion. He simply waited for this jail officer, Saul Becker, to return with Melissa Sherman. He understood Johnny’s impatience. This conversation might well result in the identity of the unknown conspirator.
He hoped.
Orion was hanging by a thread as things were.
The door pushed open and Billings pushed an unwilling detainee into the room. “Says she don’t wanna talk to you ‘til her lawyer gets here from Montgomery.”
“We’re not here to question her,” Johnny said. “This is an official notification.”
Saul frowned. Sherman cowered into his chest.
“‘Bout her father? She already got notified by her parish priest about that a couple of hours ago.”
“My father?” Sherman echoed. “He wasn’t my father, you fool! He was my –” she clamped her lips together tightly.
“He was your what?” Johnny growled. “Your partner in crime?”
“I want my lawyer! Officer, I demand that you return me to my cell until Mr. Marcel arrives.”
Saul looked from the fuming Orion to serene Levine for direction. David merely nodded and waited until they left the room.
“Even though this wasn’t the reception we anticipated, it still helps us, Johnny. We know that someone else, someone posing as a priest, showed up this morning and delivered our news to Mrs. Sherman. If not the killer, then who else could it possibly be?”
“Really?” Johnny spat. “You’re really asking me that? Our so-called clandestine investigation has been leaking like a sieve since day one. For all we know, Helen could’ve sent Crevan in here to share the news.”
“Helen doesn’t know that Henderson is dead.”
Johnny snorted. “Doesn’t she? She’s always three steps ahead of everybody and you know it. She thinks like that bastard who raised…”
“What is it?”
Orion’s eyelids fluttered shut. He pinched the bridge of his nose and cursed expansively.
“I take it there’s more to this story that I don’t know.”
“Son of a bitch.” Could he betray Helen? Should he tell Levine all of it, how he’d met Wendell not o
nly out of concern for Helen, but for help in getting Seleeby off her back once and for all? Maybe Levine needed to know what they were really battling against here, that they knew Datello was alive because he got to Helen through her very much alive father – who happened to be posing as a priest somewhere.
Did Johnny doubt for one second the identity of the priest who delivered the news of Henderson’s death to Melissa? No, not even a little. He wondered if it was at Helen’s direction, but that was about the sum total of what he didn’t already know.
Wendell Eriksson might well be the last conspirator. He was connected to Lyle Henderson, had been for years. He might well be Melissa Sherman’s real father. He might’ve been behind Helen’s abduction all along.
Johnny groaned and rested his head against the cinderblock wall. He began pounding it lightly against the surface, muttering, “No, no, no, no, no.”
“Johnny, whatever you tell me, it’s strictly confidential, completely off the record.”
Something welled in his chest. Pain. Fear. Agony in the battle between doing what he knew was right and what he wanted to happen. “David, this isn’t my story to tell.”
“If it keeps her safe, it most certainly is.”
Johnny slowly turned around. “No, keeping Helen safe is her responsibility. She won’t let anyone else assume what belongs to her alone. I get that now. You can ask her for the truth. I’m not sure you’ll ever get it. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard it. But you can ask.”
“Then I’d suggest we find her and let me have that opportunity.”
Johnny made a sweeping gesture toward the door. “After you. She’s at the house with Crevan. That is, unless she’s off closing this case without us.”
David grinned. “Well, that would be the predictable thing about her, wouldn’t it?”
Fog rolled into the city on cue with the sun’s dip below the western horizon. Crevan, Danny and I sat huddled together in the only seat of the beat-up Chevy pickup I had hidden away in another storage facility.
“Dare I ask how many more emergency stashes you have all over town?” Crevan asked.
