Common Enemy

by Sandra Dailey

  “What’s that Detective?”Caleb asked.

  “Where were you last night?”

  Conner leaned back and folded his arms. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “The guest at the motel told Mr. Bass that his daughter had called the blonde man in the van, McCrae. He didn’t catch the first name.”

  “I was with my brother in Tampa until he went to bed,” Caleb answered. “Since then I’ve been spending time with a young lady I met in a gentlemen’s club. Her name is Leah. She lives in an apartment over some old lady’s garage in Ybor City. It’s on Magnolia Street just off Main.”

  “You can’t give us a last name or a full address?”

  “I know, that sounds kind of bad. We were just being two consenting adults.” Caleb’s face turned red.

  Mullins smiled, showing tobacco-stained teeth. “We’ve just found out how fast you can get down here when you take a notion.”

  Dundridge chuckled at his partner’s comment. Suddenly the door shot open, nearly knocking him down. Tucker walked into the room looking steamed.

  “This case has nothing to do with yours, Tucker. We have a witness.”

  “Did you bother to check that witness out, Mullins?”

  “We have someone tracking him down in Miami right now.”

  “Don’t bother. He was using the name Jerry Bennett. That was Butler’s attorney, the one who blew his brains out on the beach.” Tucker stood nose to nose with Mullins. “Did you even take a look at the kid’s body in the morgue, asshole? She still reeks of rubbing alcohol, Butler’s calling card.”

  Connor’s stomach flipped. Butler had killed again and set him up to take the fall. He’d used a seventeen-year-old kid to frame him. He wanted him out of the way. He wanted him away from Jordan.

  Caleb must have had the same thought. He turned to Connor. “Where is Jordan?”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Joyce returned to the living room with tears in her eyes and Bobby Ray’s gun to her head. “I’m so sorry sweetie.”

  “Time to come home to Papa, sugar-boo.” Bobby Ray grinned triumphantly.

  “Don’t hurt her, Bobby Ray. She doesn’t have anything to do with this.” Jordan tried to stay calm. Bobby Ray looked bazaar with his hair bleached to a bright yellow color. His eyes were bright and dancing. He truly was insane.

  “Well I can’t leave her behind. That just wouldn’t be polite. Besides, she just may come in handy.” He used his empty hand to pull two zip-ties from the pocket of his jacket. “Your friend is going to tie your hands behind your back. Just turn around and hold still. If either of you try anything funny I’ll pull the trigger. You know I’ve done worse, so don’t test me.”

  Joyce’s hands shook as she pulled the end of the plastic tie through the loop to bind Jordan’s hands. Jordan’s skin crawled when Bobby Ray giggled slightly under his breath.

  “Do what he says, Joyce,” Jordan whispered. “He didn’t go to all this trouble just to kill me. There’s no need for you to risk your life.”

  “She’s right, Joyce,” Bobby Ray whispered in her ear. “I only want my wife back. That’s all I wanted in the first place. I’m going to take you along for a little while to buy myself some time.” He placed the gun in his pocket for the few seconds it took to bind Joyce’s hands with the second tie. “You believe in true love, don’t you, Joyce? Jordan promised to love me for better or for worse and I intend to hold her to that.” The gun was back in his hand. “Now we’re all going to go through the kitchen to the back alley and get into my car. Don’t make a sound. I’ve got nothing to lose any more.”

  Bobby Ray instructed Jordan to lie on her stomach on the back floorboards of the Bronco. Then he produced another zip-tie for her feet. He pushed Joyce through the driver’s door and across the console to the passenger seat.

  The bump between the floorboards pressed painfully into Jordan’s stomach. After a few minutes, there were no streetlights passing across the windows to illuminate the interior of the car. She was fairly certain they’d left town.

  Bobby Ray drove in silence. The only noise came from the car’s stereo. Tears ran down Jordan’s nose as a smile crossed her lips. The song, When You Walk In was playing. That was the song Connor had sung while they danced for the first time. She remembered his arms around her and the love in his eyes. She wondered if she’d ever see those eyes again.

  ****

  The twenty minutes it took for Bobby Ray to drive to his destination seemed like an hour. He was so excited his heart pounded. Finally things were going his way. He had almost everything he wanted. Sure, Jordan had been his main purpose for coming to Mayville, but now he wanted to get McCrae, too. Connor McCrae had thrown roadblocks in his way at every turn. A smart man wouldn’t come between a man and his wife.

  He pulled the SUV behind the old wooden structure at the back of an overgrown field. The trees were dense behind the building, but he had a clear view from the front. Hardly anyone came down this old side road.

  There was no electricity for lights that hung from the rafters, but he didn’t need them. There was only one wall at back. The sides were opened to loading ramps. The front looked out over the field. The moonlight was bright enough to see several support beams and conveyor belts. Wooden crates were stacked against the wall and between aisles.

  He pulled Joyce’s hair tightly in his left hand while his right hand held the gun to the back of her head. When he had guided her to the first set of conveyors he hit her with the handle of the gun. She fell to her knees on the dirt floor. He stripped the belt from her kimono, causing it to open and leaving her body exposed. He used the belt to tie her hands to a leg of the conveyor. She looked up at him with dazed eyes.

  “You know, Joyce, you’ve got a good body for a woman your age. Too bad you’re a tramp. You deserve to be in the dirt.” He kicked her in the stomach. Her breath pushed from her lungs as she doubled over. “Scream if you like. No one can hear you. I do love to make women scream.”

  He walked back to the car and pulled Jordan out by her bound feet. She hit the ground, but didn’t utter a sound.

  Knowing there was no way either woman could run away, Bobby Ray returned his gun to the pocket of his jacket. “Come on darlin’, we’ve got a phone call to make.” He grabbed her by her arm and jerked her to her feet. “That robe is filthy,” he said. He used the hunting knife he’d killed the camper with to cut the strap around her wrists. Her eyes widened. She knew he intended to remove the robe, leaving her naked.

  She brought her arm around to dig her nails across the side of his face. He punched her in the jaw and she crumpled to the ground.

  As he stood over her unconscious body with the knife in his hand, a memory came back to him of a night long ago in a parking garage.

  ****

  Conner followed Tucker’s unmarked car with Caleb in the BMW. Tucker had already ordered a patrol car to check Joyce’s house and wait for them. The uniformed officer, Tony Markham, was standing at the beauty salon’s front door when they arrived.

  “I’m not getting any answer at the door, s-s-sir,” the young officer said as Tucker approached “I don’t have any cause to justify going inside.”

  “That’s okay, Tony.” Tucker stopped walking. “You haven’t seen or heard anything strange since you got here, have you?”

  “No sir, not a thing,” Markham answered.

  “Here’s something strange.” Caleb twisted the doorknob. It was unlocked. “Jordan and Joyce would both be too cautious right now to leave the door open.”

  “Maybe they didn’t come back here at all.” Tucker stepped inside.

  “What’s going on out there?” a weak voice called out from the apartment down the hall.

  Tucker walked into the bedroom while Connor waited outside in the hall. He didn’t want to scare the woman, but he didn’t intend to miss a word of what she said. Anything could be a clue to where Jordan had gone.

  “I’m sorry to bother you, Ms. Walker. We were lookin
g for Joyce and her friend Jordan. Have you seen them this evening?”

  An old woman was sitting in the middle of her bed, surrounded by a ruffled floral comforter. Every surface in the room was covered with images of flowers.

  “Why, yes I have, Billy. Joyce brought me my tea while her friend was in the bath. I think they left with someone who came to the door about an hour later, just as Jeopardy was going off.”

  “That would have been at about eight o’clock,” he said. “My wife never misses that show.”

  “The back door is standing wide open, Detective Tucker,” Markham yelled from the kitchen.

  “Good Lord, what has gotten into that girl?” Ms. Walker sighed. “She knows I’m a sick old woman. She can’t just run off and leave me like this.”

  “I’m sorry, Ms. Walker, but I’m afraid Joyce and her friend may have been taken against their will.” Tucker spoke gently. “We’re going to do everything we can to find them. Until then, I’m going to have Tony get Mrs. Murphy to stay with you.”

  While he waited for Mrs. Murphy to come from next door, Connor paced the living room floor.

  “Why aren’t we doing something?”

  “All we can do at this point is canvas the neighborhood for witnesses,” Tucker said. “Tony and I can take each end of this side of the street; you and Caleb can do the same on the other side. When that’s done, we’ll hit the houses across the alley. It’s been two hours since they left. They could be heading in any direction. I can’t even prove they left with Butler, let alone they left against their will.”

  “Sir, there’s something out here you’ll want to see.” the officer yelled a second time.

  Connor followed Tucker to the kitchen door that led to the alley. They found Officer Markham looking out into the darkness, pointing at the ground. “I think it may be evidence, sir. It looks too clean to have been here long.”

  Tucker pulled on a pair of rubber gloves before picking up a spiral bound sketchpad by the edge of the road. “Butler’s name is printed on the bottom corner of the cover. And, there’s a partial shoeprint on the back. It must have been kicked out of the vehicle.”

  “Isn’t that enough proof to call out a search?” Every molecule of Connor’s body was held so tightly he felt like he’d split wide open.

  “Have an A.P.B. put out on Butler,” Tucker ordered Markham. “Make sure everyone understands he’s armed and holding two hostages. They are not to try to apprehend him. Have them call S.W.A.T. then me when he’s found. I earned my masters in psychology before I entered the academy. Maybe I can get something from these pictures that’ll give us a lead.”

  “I don’t care about the stupid pictures,” Connor shouted. “We should be out there looking for Jordan.”

  “It won’t do her any good if we’re looking in the wrong direction,” Caleb stated.

  Connor felt like punching the pitying expression from his brother’s face.

  Tucker flipped the book open to the first page. Connor was surprised by the detail and raw talent Butler exhibited. However the subject matter was beyond disturbing as a story unfolded in the progression of the pages. Tucker described each one.

  “A hooker on a street corner with two junkies shooting up against the wall behind her.”

  “The hooker has red hair,” Connor remarked. “And the junkies look similar.”

  “Here, the woman is preparing to kiss a man. There’s something coming from her mouth, smoke, mist, some kind of vapor.” Tucker pointed to the side of the page. “One of the junkies is shooting her up behind her knee with his syringe, and she’s smiling.”

  “She’s a junkie too,” Connor observed.

  “Now the man is lying at her feet. He looks like he’s dead. She’s laughing at him and the two male junkies are kissing.”

  “Jordan told you this,” Connor growled. “She told you that Butler hated gays and sluts because of his phobia about germs and disease.”

  “Look at this one,” Caleb urged. “A woman in a bathtub has cut her wrists. A little boy, sitting on the floor, is crying.”

  “The boy is powerless to save her,” Tucker added.

  The last picture shocked Connor. In it, the little boy had killed the hooker and two junkies with a bloody knife. The look on his face was pure evil.

  “I don’t suppose either of you know what happened to this guy’s family?” Tucker asked.

  “No,” Connor replied. “But I think we would have heard if his killing spree started when he was a child.”

  “I don’t think it did.” Tucker tapped his finger on the last picture. “This murder hasn’t happened yet.”

  “So, who’s the boy?” Caleb asked.

  “It’s Butler, or at least the way he sees himself. Powerless to control what has happened…innocent.” Tucker pointed to the hooker’s bloody image. “This is Jordan, a shameless, manipulating whore.”

  Connor dove for the detective, but Caleb held him back.

  “It gets better,” Tucker continued. “The two junkies are you guys, the bad influences that poison her. Butler is avenging more than a jail sentence.”

  “How do Joyce or John, or any of the others, fit into this story?” Caleb asked.”Collateral damage?”

  Connor’s cell phone rang. He looked at the caller ID. The call was coming from John Truman’s cell phone. “Hello,” Connor answered apprehensively.

  “Hey, McCrae, how’s it hangin’, buddy? Are you being more careful where you park your van these days?”

  “Where are you, Butler?” Connor’s entire bloodstream boiled with rage.

  “I wanted you to hear something. Now just listen. I love this sound.”

  The sound of a gunshot exploded in Connor’s ear. Before he could pull the phone away, he heard a woman’s painful scream and Butler laughing.

  Caleb took the phone from his shaking hand, but the line was already dead.

  Chapter Thirty

  Connor held his fists to his forehead trying to push away the sound of screaming inside his head. Was it the scream he’d heard over the phone that would forever haunt him, or was it his own mind screaming the rage that bubbled and churned in his brain? He felt as though his body would burst into flames at any moment. He had never felt this much anger and helplessness. Not even six years ago-in a parking garage in Tampa.

  The phone in Caleb’s hand rang again. Connor rushed to grab it before his brother could answer. “Connor McCrae speaking,”

  “Connor, this is Arnold Coleman.”

  “I can’t talk right now, Coleman. We have a situation here…”

  “Something’s going on out here, too, Connor.”

  The urgency in Coleman’s voice registered in Connor’s mind. “What do you mean?”

  “I just heard a gunshot. Nobody hunts out this way, especially at this time of night. I’ve got a bad feeling about it.”

  “Where do you think it came from, Coleman?”

  “It was in the opposite direction of the Holbrook place, past the trees to the south. I was out back when I heard it. It was a long way off but I’m sure it came from that way.”

  “Butler took Jordan and Joyce.” Coleman gave a low curse. “We think he may have shot one of them just a few minutes ago. He was talking to me on this phone when he did it. We’re heading that way.”

  “Don’t bother stopping here. I’m going out looking myself.”

  “I’m not going to try to stop you. We need all the help we can get.”

  Connor relayed the conversation to Caleb and Tucker. He finished by asking. “Is there any place out in that direction he would take them?”

  “There’s nothing south of Coleman’s house until you get to the Indian reservation. He wouldn’t be able to hear a gunshot from that distance.”

  “There is one place.” Mrs. Walker shuffled her way down the hall leaning on a cane. “Old man Jackson used to grow watermelons out that way. His field was off County Road 19. They crated and shipped them out right about this time of year. Nobody’s u
sed that old watermelon shed since he died over thirty years ago.”

  “Are you sure about this, Ms. Walker?” Tucker asked.

  “Get the hell out there and find those girls,” the old woman demanded before slumping into an easy chair.

  ****

  Jordan came to when she heard a gunshot. Her hands were bound above her head where she hung from a support beam in the middle of the structure. Her shoulders ached from her own weight. Her robe was gone.

  Behind her, Joyce was crying. She might be injured, but at least she was still alive.

  Bobby Ray lean against Jordan’s back, pushing her harder against the wooden beam. He inhaled the scent of her hair as he ran his fingers along her sides. “I’ve always loved the way you smell.” His lips touched her shoulder blade. “Isn’t it nice to be together again, Jordan? Tonight I’m going to show you how much I’ve missed you. You know what I have to do first, though. You’ve been a very bad girl.”

  Jordan couldn’t hold back a whimper when his belt slid out of the loops of his jeans.

  “Damn baby, you’re making me hard already.”

  She gritted her teeth as the belt struck her back. Each time the leather landed on a different strip of flesh. Her body thumped against the beam with each strike. She felt as though her arms would rip away at her shoulders. Her entire backside burned like fire.

  Joyce had screamed protests until her voice went hoarse.

  Jordan’s head was jerked around by the fistful of hair in Bobby Ray’s hand. “Just look at what your friend has done. She’s bled all over the place. I’m going to the car, but I’ll only be gone for a minute. Would you please tell her how I feel about this kind of mess?”

  He returned a few seconds later with a box. He pulled out a bottle of rubbing alcohol and twisted off the cap.

  “No, Bobby Ray! Please don’t!”

  “Don’t worry, baby, I’ve got enough for everybody.” He smiled widely as he poured the entire bottle over the bullet wound in Joyce’s left shoulder.

  Joyce gasped before she passed out.

  In a way, Jordan was relieved. Now, maybe he’d forget about Joyce and she’d make it out of this alive.