He glanced at Spence. “Take it easy going back, we don’t need the lights anymore. The girl’s been sedated so her body can cope. She’s out of it and will be until the docs say otherwise. We get nothing from her until then.”
Spence grinned at him. “Just fasten your belt and hang on. We won’t be long.” With that, she drove carefully out of the lot before flooring the car. She left the siren off but used the lights. She was right, they weren’t long getting back.
XXIII
In the office again, Harry and Sabina filled in Isabella, who was getting ready to leave for the day. Then they sat in the easy chairs in Harry’s office with a nip of scotch. Sabina looked at Harry over the edge of her glass. “We won’t have much until we talk to Dina. Might not get to since we’re not cops. Guess Alan’ll fill us in. And if he doesn’t, I’ll pick his files.” She smiled sweetly and sipped.
“What was most interesting was Rowe’s stuff on the river and that green area he talked about. If that’s where they are, the two of them, it really narrows the search. It’s still big, but it’s not that huge swatch the geographic profile turned up. Wonder what Alan’s gonna do with that.”
Harry reached for the phone.
“Alan, Harry. You guys gonna search that green area we got from Rowe’s map?” Harry listened and rolled his eyes at Sabina. “Budget, huh? Well, we’re still on retainer. How about we try looking around? See what we get?” Harry listened some more, then hung up and filled in Sabina.
“We can get Rory going, so I gotta find Will. Wanna eat before you dress for tonight? We could go to the Modern. Maybe drop in on Sam.”
“Gimme ten, I gotta check some stuff. You clean the coffee room, surprise Isabella in the morning.”
Sabina handed Harry her glass, walked into her office and booted up. Twenty minutes later found them on the street walking down Victoria Crescent towards the Modern. It was after dinnertime, but the place was still busy.
They finished eating quickly so they could go see Sam and have another nip of scotch before Sabina had to hit the stroll.
The bar doors were open when they walked up the cobbled stone street, and Sam was in his usual place behind the bar. There were a few customers splattered around at tables, and one waitress was serving. Sam raised a hand in greeting and reached under the bar for the twenty-year-old stuff that Harry still imported from London. He kept a few bottles of it with Sam for visits and now that Sabina was here as well, he’d increased the number.
“Been a while,” Sam said.
“Been busy with the girl stuff,” Harry responded.
“How’s it going?” Said Sam.
“Could be better,” Harry replied.
Sabina listened to this, shook her head, and said, “Stop it, you two. You always do this! Pour the damn stuff, Sam, so we can use actual sentences with big words in them.”
Sam poured and they settled in. The conversation circled around the missing girls and the investigation and inquiries about business. After that, the emphasis fell on the scotch, as it should. Harry and Sabina left an hour later.
“I’m going home with you first, mostly to see what you’re wearing. Then I’m gonna find Will. Since I don’t know where the hell Rory will want to meet, god knows how long that will take.”
After Sabina dressed and Harry watched, they walked back to Victoria Crescent, taking the seawall and the path under the bridge. Sabina stopped to look in the window of the new shop with the risqué club stuff in the window, something Harry was happy to do. She was certainly dressed for the stroll work, with a short red skirt, tight blouse, lots of black lace, and heels.
“I gotta stop in here soon, H. They’ve got some great stuff I can use. You like that short black skirt? And those boots? Course you do, why do I ask?”
They moved on up the crescent to the office, happily discussing lingerie. Harry called Will on the street outside the office and set up a meet so they could get together with Rory. Then he called Alan again and asked for a copy of the map he’d gotten from Rowe.
Sabina gave him a peck goodbye and wandered slowly up the hill, watching for Sally.
◆◆◆
Once on gravel, the older brother sped up. He was irritable and short with his sibling. They were both dressed casually for the stroll, baseball caps turned backwards, dark shirts, jeans, and running shoes. The kit was in the glove compartment.
The gravel gave way to blacktop after a few kilometers, and he sped up more. They could see the lights of the city below them, the road they were on twisting down hills and around gorges and small streams. The foothills leveled out, and they ran quickly down toward the lights and the water.
Once they entered the city area below the bypass, he slowed and worked his way along the streets of Harewood, a working-class area that was just beginning to see an influx of moneyed buyers. The anchor of the new development creeping through the area was a rebuilt plaza sporting a large Shoppers Drug Mart, a new grocery store, and a sprinkling of places like Starbucks and Subway.
The older brother took the SUV down Fifth to Victoria and the stroll and began to cruise. They both knew what they were looking for, and they were patient, but there was an urgency that hadn’t been there before. They had to find her that night, had to, or the frustration would make them careless and rushed. She had to be the right one, one who had that quality so that her passage was more powerful, her transformation more profound. They searched, driving the streets over and over.
He saw her first and pulled to the side of the road. She was tall, blond, and had that walk. She would do. He turned the SUV in beside her. The younger one wound down the window and waved her over. She came slowly, her sultry walk practised and gracious.
But all his brother’s banter couldn’t tempt her. She smiled at him, patted his arm, and moved back to the sidewalk.
This one would be a pleasure. She was careful and knowing. He idled for a bit to watch her walk. Then he slowly pulled away and turned up Milton.
◆◆◆
Sabina started on the hill looking for Sally. If anybody knew the street, she did, and a tall blonde like that would be hard to miss, especially in the heels she wore. Sabina did two tours and still no Sally. She walked up Milton, took the little walkway, went down the side of the house, and listened at Sally’s door. No music, no lights either. So the girl was out, but not on the strip.
Sabina sighed and retraced her path to Milton. Her feet hurt. The pumps were newish and not meant for long hauls like this was turning out to be. She had runners in her big bag, but she couldn’t use them here. She’d do one more pass, she thought.
She took Victoria up to the stop sign on Needham, crossed over, and came down the other side. A few pickups and a couple of SUVs pulled in to the curb and idled along beside her for a bit, then took off. A grey SUV was stopped up ahead, the window down on the street side, and a head popped out. He waited for her to catch up and waved her over. Sabina sauntered up to the window. She talked to the guy for a few minutes while he tried to get her to join him and his friend.
She was good at putting them down gently; she’d had a hell of a lot of practice. The SUV hesitated a bit longer, then slowly pulled away when a couple of girls popped out of one of the cars at the side of the road. Persistent, she thought. The pair of them won’t have any problem tonight.
She walked on toward the lights at Milton. She’d cross there and go down the other side toward the office. That side of the hill was busier for some reason. She made one light at the corner and was waiting for the other when she saw the pickup slow and stop just up Milton. She thought she recognized it, and sure enough, two long naked boot-clad legs slid out and Sally stood on the street talking to the guy in the truck.
When the light changed, Sabina sauntered up toward her. Sally looked up and yelled, “Boots, good to see you. Come here, you sweet girl you.”
She waved to the guy in the truck as he drove off.
“You’re in pumps tonight. We’ll have to change you
r street name, you keep mixin’ it up like that. I like that skirt though, where’d you get it?”
She gave Sabina a big hug. “How are you? Wanna come back to my place?” Sally pointed to the retreating truck. “That’s Joe, he’s still having trouble with his wife and likes to come down, pick me up, drive around and unload. I don’t mind, I sort of like the mother role. What have you been up to? Any leads on that prick taking girls?”
Sabina waited for her to stop for breath. “Yes, we will; Laura’s Cave; pretty good; no; not much; a few.”
Sally looked at her perplexed. Sabina laughed. “Those are answers, Sweet one, I can elaborate while we find a place to sit a bit. My feet are killing me. New shoes.” She pointed down. “But not your place, too comfortable and I won’t leave. We’re working, and Harry‘ll expect me back tonight.”
Sally grinned at her, slipped an arm through hers, and walked with her toward the hill on Victoria.
“Let’s walk to the park, then. It’s only a block over. It’s dark and private. You can fill me in.”
They turned up Selby and wandered up on the rocks and sat. Sabina told her the story.
“We got the last one back, a Native girl named Dina. She somehow escaped, got through some pretty rough country naked, and ended up floating down a river. Some kayakers saw her and called the coast guard. So we know the psycho lost his catch, and he’ll be pretty determined to replace her. He’ll likely try tonight. Harry’s cruising around and I’m looking too. The problem is, we don’t know what to look for, so we’re just looking and hoping we catch a break. The cops are too obvious. This is the best opportunity we’ve had, so we have to try.”
They were sitting in the dark with no streetlights nearby, only a lonely bench near some cascading humps of rock.
Sally turned to Sabina. “I know that girl! I was here with her a few nights ago! Right here! She seemed a bit lost somehow, aimless. Sort of just drifting, you know? We talked for a while and I left her here. You think this is where he got her?”
Sally looked around in some alarm. “Maybe we should get out of here, find some streetlights and people. Let’s head back to the stroll, find a bench, sit there for a while, or better still, come to my place, we’ll be off the street and safe there.”
Sabina stroked her hair. “I don’t think we’re in any danger here, not with two of us. We have clear sight lines all the way to the end, and I’ve got mace, among other things.”
She watched an SUV move slowly down the side of the park and turn down Robarts toward Victoria.
“I’ve seen that car before,” Sabina said. “Tonight, just before I met you. He stopped and tried to pick me up. I think I’ve seen it somewhere else too, but I don’t remember. Maybe I’m imagining it.”
“I don’t think so. He tried for me too, before Joe. Probably he’s just cruising. I see a lot of repeats. Some of them circle this way just to avoid the obvious, especially when the cops’re around. And it’s a common car, and pretty common colour.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I’m a bit spooked, knowing that the guy’s ready for a new one. If he passes again, though, I’m gonna get Harry to tail him. Let me change my shoes to runners.”
While Sabina changed shoes, Sally watched and waited.
“There he is again. That’s his second circuit. Could be looking for someone specific, but he’s too slow for over here. The girls don’t normally trick over this way. So why so slow?”
Sabina turned, one shoe dangling from her hand. She saw the SUV crawling along past the playground around the long curve into Robarts. “I’m calling Harry.”
She rummaged in her bag for her cell.
“H, I’m over in that park on Selby, you know the one, by that condo with the turrets and stuff. There’s an SUV, kinda grey, been cruising here, just went by again…Yeah, Sally thinks so too. He tried to pick me up earlier. We just don’t like the way he looks, doesn’t feel right. Try circling the park, you’ll see him. Tail him if you can without being obvious. We’re okay. There are two of us and he can’t see us.”
She put her hand on Sally’s. “He’ll drive by, see if he can find the guy. Anything looks off near us, I’ll hit one on my cell and leave it on. That’s his cue to call in the troops.”
Sally nodded in the dark and grabbed Sabina’s hand. “It’s probably nothing, but I got the creeps. Let’s get out of here, and not that way.” She nodded toward Robarts and the flat part of the park. “Let’s take the block down to Albert, stay off the circuit a bit.”
They started to move toward the playground on the north side and the steep hill that ran down to Albert Street. They were barely to the children’s swing sets when the SUV rounded the rock ridge and pulled into the curb. Two men got out and started toward them. Sabina reached into her bag, pressed one, and grabbed her mace.
The two men separated. The forward one stopped by one arm of the swing set while the other leaned against a slide. “How you girls doin’ tonight?” the swing guy asked. “We’re lookin’ for some company and we saw you two when we went around the park. Thought we’d stop and see if we can’t work somethin’ out.”
Swing guy turned to Sabina. “We talked to you earlier, at least he did. He nodded toward his friend. “And you sort of blew us off.”
Swing guy moved closer, still talking, “We’re just looking for a good time, you know, and thought we’d try again when we spotted you here.”
Slide guy was now moving to Sally’s left.
Sabina concentrated on the one in front of her. “Funny, you know, it’s really dark here. Don’t know how you could have seen us. But since you did, I gotta tell you, we’re lez. That’s why we’re here, for a little privacy, you know? I shined you off earlier because I was waiting for my friend, didn’t wanna be rude, you know. She was a little late getting here is all. So you understand, we’re not interested, right?”
Slide guy kept inching up on Sally’s left and swing guy started coming forward.
Sabina had her hand on the mace, and Sally’s hand was in her bag.
They all heard the car at the same time. It was coming fast. The two men turned just as Harry rounded the rock and slammed on the brakes, sliding in to the soft dirt shoulder in front of the grey SUV. He got out and walked over.
“Okay, you guys, fuck off! I got a bone to pick with that one.” He pointed to Sabina. The bitch is mine and she’s not available. Get your ass over here!”
Sabina did.
“And you, slut, you get over here! You mess with my girl alla time, I gotta maybe teach you a lesson.”
Sally did too.
“Get in the car, the both of you!” Harry turned to the two men who were now standing together. “Fuckin’ broads, you can’t trust any of ‘em. You guys have a good night, lots a meat on the strip now. This pair needs some talkin’ to, fuckin’ broads, Jesus!”
Harry turned and walked back to the car, slammed the doors, and took off, throwing dirt and gravel back on the SUV. He took the corner at Robarts too fast, skidded, compensated, then took off down the hill to Albert.
The two men watched him go, still standing in the playground, the older vibrating with anger. He stood that way for a time, then motioned for the younger one to follow.
They returned to the SUV and drove down the side of the park and around Robarts toward the stroll. Behind them, hidden by the rock face, Will’s old Subaru edged slowly into sight and followed.
Harry turned up Albert and kept going. He checked his rear view constantly. He slowed and took the turn onto Pine, heading to Jinglepot and the expressway. The girls said nothing until he was on his way up College Heights.
“Holy shit, H, that was brilliant! Scared me even. But thanks for getting there so fast. Those fuckers are definitely off, and they were workin’ on getting us both. This is Sally, by the way.”
“Nice moves, thanks. I had no idea what was going on, but anything that got us out of there’s good.”
“Good to finally meet you, although that probably wa
sn’t the best intro you’ve ever had. Turn your cell off, Sweetie. It’s still tying up the line. I’ve got Will tailing the guys. He was right behind me. If those guys had come after us, he’d have called in Alan and Spence. As it is, he’s behind them and he’ll stick.”
“If they’re not the guys we want, they still need to be off the street. They’re hunters all right and shouldn’t run around loose.”
“I filled Will in on the way over. He’ll follow them around the stroll and then home. He’s speed-dialed in to both me and Alan. They’re at headquarters waiting. Don’t want to use an unmarked.”
“I’m done for the night and so’s Sally. Take us back to our place, H, and drop us off. We both need a drink and a place we feel safe.”
XXIV
He drove aimlessly around the stroll a few times and the younger one stayed quiet at his side. He felt his brother’s vibrating anger, like a huge wave, black and threatening. He shrank back toward the door, feeling a mixture of fear and confusion, as he had when their father threw them into the root cellar. His older brother had rescued them both, built a world of their own, made them whole. But when the anger came, it shook the fabric of everything, and he was afraid. At those times, he retreated into memory, into the pit, into the darkness they shared, where they became one.
For the older one, his young brother’s passivity added fuel to the rage running through him. He felt as if a side of his being had been sliced off, and he knew who was responsible.
“They’ll pay,” he muttered. “I’ll make them pay, the girls especially.” As his adversaries gathered, he would prey on them as he had in the past, using their ignorance. It gave him pleasure to think of their useless alarm, their incomprehension. They were like ants running aimlessly adrift when he ran his foot along their scent highway, obliterating it.
As his superiority returned, the anger subsided, slowly extinguished like rain on fire. He looked at his brother. He reached over and caressed his cheek. The younger one started, turned at the touch, relief washing over him. They resumed their hunt.
NIGHT MOVES: The Stroll Murders Page 31