by Amy Shannon
“Did he say anything else?”
“He said to say hi to my boss, and then he shot me. I ran out the door. I was a coward. This really hurts,” he winced.
“Doc, get him to the hospital.” Jake walked over to his desk, and unlocked the desk drawer. He pulled out his 22-caliber gun and placed the holster in his cowboy boot. He pulled out his Glock and holster and put it on his belt. He opened the closet behind his desk and pulled out a Kevlar vest. He put it on, and then put on his suede jacket. He kissed Aggie’s cheek as he put on his Stetson. He grabbed his cell phone off the charger, and put it in his back pocket. “Stay safe, both of you,” he headed out of the agency.
Ralph looked at Aggie. “He’s gonna get himself killed.”
“No, if anyone can get through to Robinson, it’s him. I don’t know why, but I’ve got faith in Jake Dalton,” she helped Ralph to his feet. “Let’s get you some help,” she led him out of the agency and toward her car that was parked next to Jake’s truck in the driveway.
29
Jake walked down the street toward the diner, where the parking lot was filled with Sheriff and Clarksville PD squad cars. He noticed that Nels pulled in from the other direction, and parked in the street, where other officers were blocking off the road with bright orange wooden barriers. He approached Nels. “I need to get in there.”
“No friggin’ way,” Nels said.
“He shot Brennan. It was a message to me,” Jake said. “He’s mad at me for whatever reason. I gotta try to get inside his head, figure him out. It’s the only way outta this.”
Nels looked to his assistant, who was standing next to him with a phone in his hand. “Get him again.”
“He’s not answering the phone, sir,” Deputy Jericho explained, trying to dial the diner number again.
“Got a bullhorn?” Jake asked.
Nels looked around. “Officer Lemansky, get a bullhorn here to Dalton,” he commanded.
“Yes, sir,” the officer reached into his police car, grabbed the bullhorn, and then hurried behind all the cars, making his way to Jake and Nels. “Here you go. Uh, hold on, someone is near the front door,” he pointed, and all of the police officers aimed their weapons toward the door.
The door opened about an inch, and Sully appeared in the crack of the door. Jake could see a shadow behind Sully’s body, through the frosted glass of the diner’s door. He looked at Nels, “I reckon Robinson is behind him.”
Sully opened the door with his foot slightly, his arms raised in a surrender position. “Jackson, I’m sorry,” his eyes scanned the crowd of officers for Jake.
Jake put the bullhorn to his mouth. “Robinson, what can we do to make this end?”
“Die,” Robinson’s voice said from behind Sully’s body.
“Can’t do that, Robinson.”
“My name is Arlo. Arlo. That’s it,” he yelled. “You should know my name. You will remember my name.”
Jake could see Sully shudder every time the man behind him yelled. “Why do you want me to die? You don’t even know me,” Jake said.
“You were warned,” he yelled. “You were warned. Agatha is supposed to be mine. Take the presents and let us be.”
“Then why didn’t you take her?” he slowly walked toward the front of the squad car, gaining a better view of the front door. His eyes scanned the windows of the diner, and he could see that Janice and Lorraine were in one booth, and Joe was with another man in another booth, behind the one the women were sitting in. He couldn’t tell if the other man was the cook or another customer. “Arlo, you and I should talk about this.”
Robinson pushed Sully out of the door, and Sully landed on his chest, using his hands to block falling on his face. He closed the door quickly, but aimed his weapon through the crack of the door, and before it shut all the way, he shot Sully in the back. Robinson moved out of sight from the door.
Without thinking, Jake rushed to Sully’s attention, when he noticed the door opening again, this time all he could see was the barrel of the gun pointed at him. Jake stood up, and stepped behind Sully, so his body was between Sully and the gun. He put both his hands up in surrender. “No one else has to die,” Jake said.
“You do,” Robinson aimed higher, his voice yelling from inside the diner.
“Tell me why.”
“I told you. I warned you to stay away from Agatha. She’s mine.”
“You keep saying that, but how do I know that? Have you ever been to her home?” Jake asked calmly.
“Yes, all the time,” Robinson said.
“Have you two ever had supper together?”
“Yes, we eat at the diner all the time,” his voice was calm, but loud. “Sometimes she lets me clean her office.”
“Oh, I didn’t know all that,” Jake said. “How long have you two been together?” He knew he had to keep him talking, and with each calm response, Jake took a small step forward.
“You shoulda known,” he said. “I told you before you could get her. The girls. In Austin, you know. You could have them, and not my doctor friend. They were all for you. We are one, Jackson. We are one. You and me.”
“What do you mean?”
“You should know,” he sighed. “You should know.”
Jake took a deep breath as he heard a familiar engine pull up to the barrier. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Aggie, sitting in her car. Her hands were gripping the steering wheel tightly. He knew what she was thinking, she wanted him away from here. She wanted to help Sully. She was also scared that her stalker was inside this building, hurting people. She probably blamed herself. “I didn’t realize that was for you or those girls were for me. Why? I didn’t even know Dr. Constantine then.”
“Elaine pretended she was with you. She was mine, and then you took her. They were both mine. Beautiful. I had to spread their wings and let them fly, but I knew they’d come back. The girls were to keep you busy. Then Elaine took on that other loser. You know the one.”
Jake sighed. Elaine had a stalker, too, years ago, but he never did anything but follow her, do hang up calls, and strange text messages. He was stalking them both at the same time, and then when Elaine went with Meyers full time, Robinson focused his obsession on Aggie. The thoughts of putting the puzzle together was making his mind spin. He had to worry about Sully bleeding out behind him, and the hostages in the diner. Robinson needed to be taken in. “I know. I know. It was probably my fault that she went to him. But that’s over. She’s with him, and I’m here. Why are you against me? You said we were the same. Is that why? How are we the same?”
“You tried to take them both, Jackson.”
“Then why not just come after me? Those girls were not on my radar ‘til Sully told me about them.”
“That’s why he came here,” Robinson said. “I told him to. I let him know they were presents for you.”
“Presents? How are those girls presents for me?” He thought back to the references of the word presents throughout his investigation, but he pushed the thoughts away so he could pay full attention to Robinson’s words.
“You shoulda known they were for you. I marked each one.”
“The only thing marked on those girls were the tattoo of caduceus. That’s it.”
“It’s all in the wax. Since you didn’t get the hint in Austin, I had to bring Sullivan in, practically hand-delivered to you. Drunkin’ bastard. Who do you think the first one was?”
Jake heard moans from Sully but took another step forward. “Sully is your partner?”
“No, can’t trust a ranger or a cop,” he grunted. “Dr. Jones helped me. That’s it. Sullivan was just easy because when he’s not drunk, or feeling guilty for his wife dying on him, thanks to me, he felt guilty because of you. I am a profiler, too, Jackson. I know all about you.”
“What about Morrison?”
“He’s just helping me. He was learning but he just watched. It’s a science. It’s an art. I perfected my art of your gifts, and I would be one step
closer to being perfect for Agatha.”
“So, where is Dr. Jones? How come he isn’t helping you now?”
“He’s busy,” Robinson called out.
“Arlo, why don’t you let those people in there go? They’re not part of this. It’s you and it’s me, that’s it.”
“I just wanna go home, but all those cops were at the house. They took my shadows.”
“Your shadows?”
“Yes, my shadows. I kept them buried and they looked out for me. Protected me.”
Jake took another step, when Robinson shot at him, hitting him in the arm. Jake’s first instinct was to grab his arm as it burned when the bullet slightly grazed his arm, but instead he ran as fast as he could toward the door. First, he focused on the belt buckle, the one that was like his own, but then he was determined to get to Robinson right now. Robinson shot the gun frantically, his shots were all over the place, with only two hitting Jake in the Kevlar vest. Jake kept charging toward Robinson, bursting through the front door. He lunged at the gun, grabbing onto it with both hands. He landed on top of Robinson, sending him crashing into the floor. The two men struggled, the gun shooting in the air until it was empty. Jake pressed his forearm against Robinson’s neck, Robinson gasped for breath.
Officers headed with their guns drawn to the other side of the diner, and entered through the side door. They quickly led the hostages out of the diner.
Aggie and the EMTs rushed toward Sully, who was lying on his stomach. Aggie looked toward Jake, who was sitting on Robinson’s back, pressing Robinson’s arms up hard behind his back. “I need cuffs here,” Jake called, as Nels and Jericho approached.
Jericho handed Jake the cuffs, and Jake cuffed Robinson’s hands. “I’d tie his legs, too,” he said as he stood up.
Robinson lay on the ground as Jericho zip tied his feet together. Two officers tried to drag Robinson to his feet, but he just slumped all his weigh on the ground. “He needs to be carried,” Jericho called, motioning to two other officers.
Aggie stood up as Sully was being loaded on the gurney. She walked toward Jake, looking down at Robinson. “I always knew he was a coward.”
“Am not.” Robinson grunted.
“Can’t even stand. Haveta be dragged like an animal.”
“I can stand. I’m a man. More of a man than any of you,” he grunted.
Jake nodded to Jericho, as he and three officers pulled Robinson to his feet. “If you were a man, you’d know how to treat a lady.” Jake put his arm around Aggie.
“They can’t talk back when they have lobotomies,” he said.
“Then why didn’t you do that to me?” Aggie asked, putting her arm around Jake’s waist, for comfort and for support.
“It wasn’t time yet,” he grunted. “Talk to Elaine lately,” he smirked.
“Get him out of here,” Nels said, as the officers led Robinson, who could only take small steps with his tied feet, to an awaiting squad car. “Get him processed and put him in the ISO cell.”
“Yes, sir,” Jericho said. “I’ll follow them out,” he hurried to his car.
Jake turned around, searching the crowd of officers for the Feds, any feds. “Dina?”
Dina walked through the crowd. “Elaine was mugged three days ago. She’s fine, but I don’t think it was Robinson or Morrison. They were at work at the time of her mugging.”
“What about this Dr. Jones?” Jake asked.
“The body in the freezer, at the old clinic.”
“So, there is at least one more accomplice,” Jake sighed. “Sully,” he watched at the EMTs loaded Sully’s gurney into the ambulance.
“You think Sully is involved?” Aggie asked.
“I’m not sure,” he sighed. “I don’t know anything anymore,” he walked away, through the crowd and down the deserted street toward the agency.
Aggie looked at Nels. “I haveta see what’s going on with him.”
Nels nodded and Aggie walked to her car, and drove it down the road toward the agency. Nels focused on his officers, “let’s get this processed, and the road open again.”
30
Jake hurried into the agency, slamming the front door shut. “Brennan!” he yelled, and then stopped. “Goddammit.”
“He’s still at the hospital,” Aggie said, opening the front door.
“I know, I know. I just forgot,” he sat down in the chair behind his desk, not even removing his jacket or Stetson. He patted his pocket, pulling out a cigar. He lit it and harshly inhaled, so hard that he coughed his exhale.
“Jake, what is it?”
“This is all because of me,” he stood up quickly and rummaged through the files on his desk. “Where is it? Where the hell is it?”
“What?” she asked, calmly.
“The photos of the girls. The ones in Austin.”
“Let me help,” she carefully piled the folders on his desk, and then pulled out a purple file folder. “Is this it? It says Icarus on the folder, under the Texas Rangers label.”
“Uh huh, thanks, Doc,” he took the folder out of her hand, and opened it. He spread out the photos of the women on his desk. “I don’t see it. Where is it?”
“What’re you looking for?”
“He said he marked them for me,” he said. “Where is it?” he stared at the photos, the paraffin wax piled on the torsos of the young women, their hair embedded into the wax.
Aggie walked around the desk, and looked down at the photos. “How would he mark them? He inked the tattoo, but he then used wax mixed with their own hair. He could be just playing with your mind.”
“No, he stalked Elaine and you at the same time. He must’ve stalked me, too, giving me these presents. If I gave you a present, I’d add a card to it, with your name, and my name on it, so you knew it was for you, and from me. Now, how does this guy give me a present?”
“Do you have these photos in black and white?” she asked. “Or have the negatives?”
“Not the negatives, but there are black and whites on my computer. I had Brennan scan them in, in color and without. What’re you thinking?”
“That sometimes color changes our perception.”
Jake pulled his laptop out of his top drawer of his desk, and opened it. He waited for it to load, and then logged on. Once the desktop fully loaded, he opened a folder on his desk labeled Austin. There were several icons of folders labeled with different case numbers. He opened the folder labeled 10-9635 Austin. Inside the folder were other folders, and he opened the one labeled crime scene. He opened up the first black and white photo of the crime scene. He gently scrolled through the photos that were in the folder, and stopped on the first torso, covered in wax and hair. He looked up at Aggie. “Do you see this?”
“J. D,” she whispered. “He did mark her, with her own hair. Did he mark them all?” She stared at the black and white photo that showed the dark streaks of hair within the wax, spelling out two scripted letters. J. D. Jake Dalton.
“Looks like it,” he sighed. “But it doesn’t really show in color,” he sighed.
“Did you know that Elaine had a stalker?”
“Yes, we knew, but he seemed to be watching her from a far, once in a while doing hang ups from a burner phone or texting her from an unknown phone. The last year we were married, they stopped. I didn’t know it had to do with cases I was working on. I thought it was someone, and so did she, that had a crush on her at her job, but she never said if she knew who it was. She thought it was harmless.”
“There is somethin’, though,” she sighed.
“What’s that?” he closed the photos, and then closed the folders on his desktop.
“Open your browser,” she pointed to the laptop. “Go to the Austin Chronicle Website.”
“OK,” he followed her instructions. “Now what?”
“Do a search on Elaine’s name.”
He typed in Dr. Elaine Billings and waited for the article results. “Five hundred results. Goddammit,” he took a deep breath and t
he first headline caught his eye. “Local Medical Examiner Mugged?” he read the first headline that appeared. He continued to read the article. “Sounds like it was a typical mugging. Right outside the county coroner’s office. Nothing matches Robinson’s MO.”
“That’s right,” she said. “I reckon Robinson also did his research. Over five hundred results. It’s sorted by most recent article. Anyone could get good information on Elaine. I don’t know if he really stalked her or if he just stalked you. We may never know the truth.”
“There is one person we haven’t questioned yet,” Jake closed his laptop, which instantly turned it off.
“Who?”
“Sully,” he said. “I haveta get to the hospital. We need to check on Brennan and Sully, if he’s still alive.”
“Hold on, Jake,” she put her hand on his shoulder. “You don’t believe that Sully would be involved with this guy, do you?”
“I don’t know. He was right about Sully. He is a drunk. I just didn’t know that ‘til earlier. I never saw it before. I know he drank, but I never knew he would be drunk at work. I’m not sure about what his involvement with the first victim was. Sully’s wife died of cancer fifteen years ago. They were only married four years, and by the time she was diagnosed, it was beyond too late. She died four months later. I’ve known Sully since before I entered the Rangers. He was one of my closest friends. I know he was pissed when I left Austin, but I had to go. I didn’t even tell him about Elaine and Meyers.” Jake took off his Stetson, ran his fingers through his hair, and put the Stetson on the desk. “I thought we were friends.”
“Think about what Robinson said. He just said that he told Sully that the presents were for you. That he killed the girls for you,” Aggie explained. “Sully could’ve gotten the information and not know what it was or who it was from. You should talk to Sully, if he’s not in surgery.”
Ralph walked into the agency, and Jake stood up. “Brennan, what’re you doing here?”
Ralph walked over to Jake. “I’m sorry, sir. If you wish to fire me, I’ll understand.”