by Tom Barber
‘He might’ve shown up earlier and done his reconnaissance.’
‘Him being a carny could explain how he disappeared so easy,’ Marquez suggested. ‘Like Sam said, no witnesses of any kind saw the blade being thrown or who threw it despite him being as tall as a Knicks small forward. If he’s worked for a carnival, he’d know those kinds of places inside out. Where to conceal himself. How to look as if he was part of the show.’
Archer turned to Ethan again. ‘This could narrow it down. Search carnival or amusement park deaths in Texas over the past decade. Actually, make it twenty years. Chalk said this guy didn’t look younger than mid-thirties.’
He typed in the search. The team waited.
‘Six deaths on rides at amusement parks or carnivals in the State of Texas that I can find, in the last…eighteen years,’ Ethan read after forty seconds or so. ‘Three heart attacks, a teenager ejected from a ride and two men in their twenties got hit by a rollercoaster as they tried to climb over a fence.’
‘OK, so those are reported deaths,’ Shepherd said, seeming to be coming round to the theory slightly. ‘What about missing persons?’
‘At amusement parks in the entire State? That’s gonna take a while to check, sir.’
‘That’s why the city pays us. Let’s get it done.’
‘Where are the others?’ Archer asked, as Ethan set to work.
‘Josh and Ledger headed out to liaise with CSU at the Doc Wyzyck crime scene and try to find a missing colleague of his,’ Shepherd said. ‘Alice is downstairs making some calls. We’re shifting focus for the moment from Isabel’s dad to her mom instead. And I’m putting it out that Vargas has volunteered to come back off bereavement and I’ve agreed. I need her on this.’
‘They’ll buy that; they all know she wouldn’t step away for anything,’ Marquez said. ‘I’ll go keep her updated. Whistle down if you get something.’
‘I’m trying to get hold of James Dalton,’ Vargas said, on the phone with the US Marshals New York field office over in Manhattan. She was at her desk on the lower level of the CT Bureau, other members of the Bureau glancing over at her uncertainly, not sure how to deal with the woman still wearing her mourning dress from her daughter’s funeral, but apparently, now working.
Vargas noticed the looks and reminded herself that she was still meant to be grieving. A lot had happened since that service for Issy two hours ago.
‘And you are?’
‘My name’s Alice Vargas. I used to be a US marshal before joining the NY-’
‘Whoa, shit! Vargas? Dalton moved to the Midwest,’ the man replied, his previously disinterested tone undergoing a rapid change. ‘But we all know who you are. You kept our wit protection record intact that night in Harlem. You and your colleague in the NYPD are legends down here.’
‘Thanks.’
‘Whatever you need, I’d be glad to help. My name’s Edelman. I took over from Jimmy after he left.’
‘I need someone who knew a mob boss and his wife who ran part of Midtown a few years back. Boss’s name was Gino Lombardi. Wife was Carla.’
‘A big player?’
‘Major. I know if there’s anyone out there, it might be hard to get the FBI to connect me to someone relocated through Wit-Sec, especially with the specificity of this. Why I figured I’d come to you guys first with my track record and all. It’s real important I talk to someone who knew his wife, not just him.’
‘What’s this concerning?’
‘A child witness from that case you mentioned.’
‘The girl that was killed on July 4th?’
‘That’s her. Gino Lombardi was her father, and we’re trying to track down who shot her. We know all about the dad. But I want more flesh to the background on her mom.’
‘We’ve been involved in providing protection during relocation for people during that time, I’m sure. Let me go through our records.’
‘Thank you.’
‘This girl…I heard you adopted her?’
‘I did.’
‘I’m real sorry what happened. I’ll do all I can to help.’
‘Thank you,’ she said after a pause. ‘Call me back the moment you have something. I want to catch this asshole.’
Before he finds her and kills her for real, she thought, replacing the receiver and turning to Marquez, who’d walked down from upstairs to join her.
TWENTY
‘Check it out, Sam. I found this,’ Ethan said upstairs. Archer and Shepherd moved over to look at the screen. It was a newspaper article, from the Houston ABC13 News website. ‘Not deaths but something weird. Connected with an amusement park in Texas.’
Search continues for more missing children at Kemah Boardwalk, the headline read.
‘Up top,’ Shepherd ordered. The article appeared seconds later on the big screen. Archer stepped outside and whistled down to Marquez, waving her back up to re-join them.
‘Number of kids disappeared from a theme park in Galveston, five years ago,’ Ethan said, as Marquez re-joined them a few moments later. ‘Last to vanish were a young brother and sister.’
‘Never found?’ Archer asked.
‘Never found.’
‘Play that video,’ Archer said, seeing one on the article.
‘Potential tragedy struck one of the most popular sites in the region again on Sunday night, when six year old twins Luke and Missy Rafferty went missing from the parking lot at Kemah Boardwalk in Galveston, some thirty miles from downtown Houston.’ As a correspondent’s voice talked, images of a search at the boardwalk was shown, police cars and search dogs everywhere. ‘Residents of Dallas, the Rafferty family were leaving after a day of fun at the boardwalk when parents Ian and Nia stopped in a store to pick up some souvenirs. The children were each eating a hot dog and told to wait outside. When their parents came back outside, Luke and Missy were gone.’
The footage switched to an interview with the devastated mother, supported by the father with police also in the shot. The screen changed to four separate children’s faces in photos, all of them smiling.
‘The twins are the third and fourth kids to go missing at the boardwalk in the past seven months, and the site has been shut down, with a full investigation underway,’ the correspondent continued, the photos of the Rafferty kids replaced by a police press conference. ‘The Galveston County Sherriff’s Office is liaising with State Police and other officials at this present time,’ a police chief said at a press conference, cameras clicking, a bank of microphones set up in front of him. ‘We can confirm that Kemah Boardwalk will be closed until further notice, until we can get to the bottom of what’s goin’ on here. We advise any parents of children in the area to not leave them unaccompanied until more details can be ascertained.’
‘Employees are undergoing questioning, locals being interviewed, and police have deployed divers to search the bay,’ the correspondent said in a voiceover, closing out her segment as the camera showed police officers, sheriffs and K9 sniffer dog units inspecting the site. The shot changed to the spilt food the two kids had been eating, left dropped on the ground, two half eaten hot dogs, one of them squashed from being stepped on. ‘Kemah Boardwalk was built to be a place of fun and enjoyment. But with two more children now having disappeared on a day out with their families, everyone in this area is left wondering whether something far more sinister is going on down here. Kaley Iococca, ABC13.’ The video ended, but Ethan left it on the screen.
‘Was the case ever solved?’ Shepherd asked. Ethan ran some searches.
‘Doesn’t look like it. But is this enough?’ he asked Shepherd. ‘Anything could have happened to these kids.’
‘We’ve got the drawing worked up from Chalk’s description and a physical description,’ Archer said, glancing at Shepherd. ‘Could be totally unconnected. But can’t hurt to check it out, right?’
Shepherd looked back at the big screen, considering all the information they had. ‘Contact the Boardwalk and see if they have anyone on file w
ho looks remotely like our sketch-up,’ he told Ethan. ‘Either who still works there, or has. And make sure they know his height. We’re only interested if they’re six foot six or taller.’
‘I got someone for you, Detective,’ Edelman told Vargas, having called her back downstairs. In the wait for the US Marshal’s return call, Marquez had filled her in on what the cutler had told Archer and his current suspicions that the knife from the Chelsea theater attack had come from Texas.
‘Who?’ Vargas asked.
‘Her name’s Natalie Cortese. She was wifed up with one of Gino Lombardi’s senior guys, Lorenzo Cortese. He got sent down on a fifteen year bid before the East Hampton attack after getting busted on a wiretap. Luckiest thing that ever happened to him, as it turned out. Testified against some of their guys to sweeten his sentence; Natalie wanted protection for herself and her kids in case of retaliation, which was pretty much guaranteed. Marshals’ office worked with the Bureau and they agreed. Moved her out of New York to Cincinnati, but she wanted to come back when she heard the Lombardi family organisation had disintegrated.’
‘Wife of one of Gino’s capos?’ Vargas replied, her pulse quickening. ‘That’s perfect. Can we get her on the phone?’
‘You can see her in person. She’s still in the area. You at your headquarters in Queens?’
‘Right here.’
‘Stay there and I’ll come meet you. We can drive to her place together. She took some persuading, but agreed to meet us for an hour. It’s all you’re gonna get from her, so make the most of it.’
‘We’re from the NYPD and are looking to talk about the four missing-’ Ethan said. He cut off mid-sentence then looked at Shepherd, putting the phone receiver back down. ‘They hung up. Again.’
‘Three times in a row,’ Archer said, his arms folded as he stood by the table.
‘We could send local PD round and get them to ask some questions for us,’ Marquez suggested. ‘Sweat the management out a bit.’
‘We don’t have reason to come in too heavy yet,’ Shepherd said. ‘And after the press attention this place must’ve got when those kids disappeared, they’ll be lawyered up the wazoo. We gotta proceed carefully.’
‘This was five years ago, boss’
‘Case is still open, from what I can see. And no-one’s committed a crime in their offices that we know of. We can’t get the local PD to go in hot on a hunch.’ Beside him, Archer looked at the time. ‘What do you think?’ Shepherd asked him. ‘This is your theory. I can’t divert all our resources to chase it, but if you want, I can give you some time to look deeper. See if there are any insects crawling out from under the rock.’
‘It’s almost 2pm. There must be a flight to south Texas leaving before sundown from at least one of the three majors.’ He turned to Shepherd and Marquez. ‘I can get down there, drive to Kemah, and be back by tomorrow lunchtime. Walk right in and ask these people in person. They can’t hang up on me if I’m standing in front of them.’
‘They could just escort you off the premises.’
‘I’ll find someone to talk to,’ Archer said. ‘And spending time with Chalky has reminded me how to run my mouth.’ As he was talking, his phone had made a noise from his pocket and he took it out.
‘Delta direct from LaGuardia, in eighty eight minutes,’ Ethan said, having searched flights for Archer the moment he’d raised it as an idea.
‘Something come through?’ Shepherd asked Archer, seeing him reading the message and the expression on his face.
‘The cutler said he made some calls and traced the knife to a store from a watermark under the grip. Wolf Paw Knife and Shear.’
‘Mom and pop store?’ Marquez asked. ‘Or an outlet?’
‘Originated in Big Spring, Texas,’ Archer read. ‘Big store in Midland, but there’s a smaller outlet somewhere else in the state.’
‘Where?’
Archer searched it via the maps on his phone and turned the screen to show them.
‘Thirty minutes in the car from Kemah Boardwalk,’ he said.
‘Get to La Guardia ASAP,’ Shepherd told him, doing a complete 180, now sold on the theory. ‘We’ll get them to hold the flight if necessary until you board.’
‘Just don’t call Kemah back,’ Archer replied, going to the door. ‘This needs to be a surprise. Don’t want them knowing I’m coming.’
‘They’d probably hang up anyway,’ Marquez said.
An ocean away at the Oxford hideout, Chalky was sitting in the kitchen of his and Issy’s Summertown rental apartment, the Glock from the ARU weapons locker on the table near his hand. The TV was on but the volume was low.
He looked through the open door at the girl sleeping on the bed, her chest rising and falling slowly. She’d crashed out once they got back from the centre of town, a combination of jet-lag and the considerable stress she’d been under for the past few days.
She was curled up, still in her clothes, the thin cuts on her arms and legs showing up starkly against her tan. If Archer hadn’t acted so fast, she’d have been impaled in her own bed. Chalky knew if he hadn’t been at the theater, she’d have taken an entire magazine from the tall man’s sub-machine gun.
And if she hadn’t turned her head at the Nassau carnival, that knife would have buried itself to the hilt in her face.
Tiny twists and turns of fate that had kept her alive; but only just. Chalky rose and went to the window, standing to one side as he peered out into the street through the side gap in the blinds.
The street was quiet, apart from the distant noise of people in a pub down the road. He’d paid upfront with his credit card for their rooms for the next two weeks, and had been pleased with his choice so far. The area felt safe.
He heard Issy stir, and a few moments later, she wandered out of her room, yawning, her new shorter blonde hair unkempt and sticking up. He smiled.
‘What time is it?’ she asked.
‘7pm.’
‘Feels later.’
‘Should feel earlier. It’s just turned afternoon for you back home.’
She took a seat at the kitchen table and he walked over to join her. They sat quietly as the TV began to play an old episode of The Simpsons, but neither paid any attention to it. A distant yell came from some kids playing on the street.
‘I hear them at night sometimes,’ Isabel said suddenly.
‘Who?’
‘My family.’
Chalky didn’t answer for a moment, not sure how to respond. ‘From when they were alive?’ he asked, eventually.
She shook her head. ‘I hear the gunshots from where I was in the bathroom.’ She swallowed. ‘Their screams. Smashing glass. The sound the smoke alarm made when it went off. And what I saw through the gap in the open door.’
Pause. ‘I used to not sleep well either,’ he told her. ‘A few years ago, someone put a gun in my face and pulled the trigger. It misfired. It kept me up a lot of nights afterwards.’
‘Not anymore?’
He shook his head. ‘I realised I was sick of being afraid.’
She didn’t answer. He saw her look away, clearly wrestling inwardly with something. Archer had told him all about her past but even in their short time together, he’d come to appreciate that she was something unique. Smart and resilient, tough but kind. She was going to be a force to be reckoned with in a few years’ time.
Those honest brown eyes of hers, that had seen so much, looked up at him. ‘He didn’t take the bait, did he?’
‘Who?’
‘The tall man. I saw it on your face when you came back into the pub earlier.’
Chalky hesitated, then realised there was no point in hiding the truth. They felt beyond that. ‘No, Is. He didn’t.’
‘Did he hurt someone else?’
‘I don’t know for sure.’
‘Then how do we know he didn’t take it?’
Chalky saw his mistake and again, knew he had to be at least partially honest. But no way was he telling her everything. �
�He went after the doctor who helped us in the morgue,’ he told her.
‘He’s dead, isn’t he?’ Her eyes glistened with a sheen of tears and she blinked. ‘Because of me.’
‘Not because of you. Because of him.’
‘The doctor knew we were leaving New York. He heard you speak. He knew you’re English. The man who killed him is gonna come here looking for us.’
‘If he tries, I’ll stop him, sweetheart. He surprised us at the carnival, your apartment and the theater, and he still failed, all three times. This time I’m ready and waiting for him. And he doesn’t have a clue where we are.’
She seemed to be reassured, but he saw the sadness on her face. Without another word, she turned and went back into her room, closing the door quietly. Chalky rose and went to the window, standing to one side.
He looked out onto the street in the quiet, upmarket Oxford neighbourhood again.
He knows she’s out there somewhere, and that we have her.
It was a question of whether Archer and his team could find the killer.
Before he found Issy.
TWENTY ONE
The door to the lower Manhattan bar on Walker Street was slammed back so hard, glass in the panelling cracked. A group of men from the Lombardi crime family sitting with bottles of beer and smoking cigarettes or cigars had been talking among themselves until they heard the noise, and all turned to see Carla Lombardi striding in.
‘C, what the hell you doin?’ the capo of the group called over to her, Lorenzo Cortese, a man who oversaw much of their activities and held major status in the organisation. The busted door swung back on its hinges, but the mob boss’s wife didn’t acknowledge any of the men as she marched down the bar. None at the table would ever admit it to each other, but each and every one of Gino’s men were wary of Carla, all of them keeping out of her way if they could.
Especially when she got the look in her eyes that she had right now.
‘Boss better run,’ the soldier beside Lorenzo muttered, a cugine, a younger man waiting to be made. ‘Looks like he’s in trouble.’
