Con Game

by Alex Westmore

  “Don’t worry, Megan. It only appears insurmountable. You’ll get the hang of it. I’ve played his games before, and he’s a master at hiding clues right in front of your face. At least, that’s how he did it in college.”

  “And my job is to write down every action Dori makes in order for something to happen,” Megan stated.

  Connie nodded. “Right. Like when Dori read the boxes. You’d write ‘Read box, discovered Elson note,’ so if we have to go back, we’ll remember what we’ve done.”

  All three women nodded as they received their assignments.

  “But Con, if we have to start at the beginning, won’t we waste time?”

  Connie shook her head. “The way these games work has to do with the order in which you accomplish a set of goals. In other words, I couldn’t kill the fifty-headed beast until I acquired what was needed. The computer knows the sequence of events and can only move forward when those events are done in the right order. I wasn’t cautious going through the first time because I didn’t know what was at stake. I might have missed some important clues.”

  A sick streak pierced Delta’s stomach. On the street, she knew the parameters to work by, as well as how her capabilities fit into those parameters. But this, this was altogether different to anything she’d been trained for. She felt like a blind person trapped in a maze.

  “What do we do when we discover who his next target is?” Megan asked, uncapping a pen.

  Connie’s eyes narrowed. “We set him up.” Delta nodded. “And then we take him out.”

  Jan was speechless.

  Only when they had stopped for dinner did Jan put her thoughts to words.

  “Delta, I think you’re looking for trouble if you go at this on your own. Especially if you’ve already spoken to Leonard about it. Or have you forgotten the warning given to you after the trial?”

  Delta bowed her head and moved her food around her plate with her fork. How could she forget? She’d received not one, but two warnings after the trial of Miles’s murderers; both were the same: “Follow departmental rules from here on out, or you’re gone.”

  “Warning or not, Connie’s in trouble. What would you do if she were your best friend?”

  Jan took an apple out of her brown sack and took a small bite. “I’d go over Leonard’s head only after I gave him a chance to run with it on his own.”

  “That would take too much time. While he was busy checking and re-checking, people would be murdered as Elson goes on his merry game-playing. You know how departmental bureaucracy is.”

  “Yes, and I also know you aren’t one who goes through proper channels if you think there’s a faster route.”

  This brought a grin to Delta’s face. She couldn’t deny shirking departmental rules, especially if she felt those rules hampered her from getting the job done. “I get results. And I’m not about to chance it with Connie involved. We got away with the disk swap once. I’m not going to get on my knees and beg for someone’s help. As far as I’m concerned, we did what was required. The rest is moot.”

  “You slipped him a phony disk. I don’t call that `doing what was required.’ I call that faking procedure. I don’t imagine that will go over very well once it’s discovered.”

  Moving her tomato off her salad and to the side, Delta looked up at Jan. “If I can’t keep my best friend from harm, then this job really won’t be worth a damned thing to me anyway.”

  Jan took another bite out of her apple but said nothing.

  “And I’ll understand if you—”

  “Don’t even say what I think you’re about to say, Delta Stevens. We’ve been partners long enough for you to know that I would never bail out on you, even if I thought you were out of line. I understand that sometimes you have to do what you have to do and to hell with the system. I’ll do whatever I can, short of losing my job.”

  Delta grinned warmly. She had certainly lucked into getting a partner like Jan. Delta had been more than surprised when she realized they had paired her up with another woman. Many departments still didn’t pair two women together because of some archaic idea that they wouldn’t be as safe or as intimidating. Delta often wondered if they paired her with Jan because they thought another woman might tone her down a bit.

  Well, if so, it was a nice idea. In theory only, of course.

  Looking at Jan, Delta nodded. “Thanks. I wasn’t sure you’d understand.”

  “Don’t get me wrong. I won’t let you put our lives in danger, Del, but I sure won’t let anyone stop us from investigating murders happening on our beat. The last murder stayed with me all night. He’s sick, Del, and I want him off our beat just as much as you do. And if he’s after Connie, then it’s no holds barred. So, count me in.”

  Delta reached over and patted Jan’s hand before checking the beeper on her belt.

  Jan watched Delta’s hand retreat to the beeper. “Is that for Connie?”

  Delta nodded. “In case she comes up with something while we’re out here. I want her to be able to reach me.”

  “God, she thinks of everything. That woman is a genius.” Delta smiled. “Let’s hope so, Jan. Her life depends on that.”

  Pulling out of a park popular with drug dealers, they received a call.

  “S-10-12, you have a possible 2-40 in progress in the parking lot of 31109 West Twelfth Street. Copy?”

  “This is S-10-12; we copy. How many involved?”

  “S-10-12, no number given. Call came from a payphone.”

  Delta turned the lights on and looked over at Jan, who reached for her flashlight. Delta didn’t look forward to intercepting a fight tonight. Some nights, she wished onlookers would just let the guys beat each other senseless. After all, when was the last time any cop got a 2-40 with two women involved? Shaking her head, Delta sighed.

  As they drove up, Delta saw one man pummeling another on the ground. When they stopped, Delta was frozen by the image in front of her. The aggressor was wearing black gloves.

  “Jan, he’s wearing gloves.”

  Before Jan could answer, Delta’s feet were on the pavement and running. This time, Delta said to herself as the suspect tossed the beaten man to the ground and ran away, the little bastard isn’t getting away.

  Winding her way through the parking lot, Delta knew that if he made the cyclone fence surrounding the car lot next to the bar, she would lose him.

  “Damn it!” she yelled, as he leapt onto the fence. Even petty hoods knew that few cops would risk tearing their hundred-and-twenty dollar wool pants climbing after them. Besides, climbing a fence with close to fifteen extra pounds of gear was no easy task, even if one wasn’t wearing expensive pants.

  Inhaling deeply, Delta pushed with all of her might and made one desperate lunge for him before he could get to the top of the fence.

  “Lemme go!” the perp cried as Delta grabbed one sneakered foot. “I didn’t do nothin’, man.”

  Delta ripped him down from the fence and wrestled him to the ground. Wiry and full of fire, he fought and elbowed and clawed until he saw Delta pull her baton. As she raised her baton to come crashing down across the top of his skull, Delta realized he was just a kid. Her slight hesitation gave him just enough time to buck her off. In the next blink, he scrambled to his feet and was making his way across the grass divider when she chased him again and came crashing down on him, full-force, and got him in a full-Nelson headlock, pulling him to his feet.

  “Lemme go!” the kid yelled.

  Delta whirled him around and slammed him face first onto the hood of a parked car.

  “Police brutality, man! I ain’t done nothin’!”

  Grabbing him by the hair, Delta slapped the handcuffs on him before spinning him around to face her.. “Beating somebody up isn’t ‘nothing,’ you little punk.”

  Unexpectedly, a huge smile lit up the boy’s face. “I dunno what cher talkin’ about, man.”

  Jerking him along by his shirt, Delta soon had him back in the bar’s parking lot. As s
oon as they rounded the corner, she sensed that something was wrong. Jan was leaning against the front of the patrol car with the trunk wide open and the victim nowhere in sight.

  “Uh, Delta . . .”

  Delta looked around. “Where is he? What happened?”

  Jan motioned with her head to the back of the car. “In the trunk.”

  Cocking her head in question, Delta pushed the kid over to Jan.

  “Stay here, punk,” she growled, pushing him to the car. “Jan, what do you mean, he’s in the trunk?”

  The boy snickered. “Check it out.”

  Peering into the trunk, Delta heard the boy break into near-hysterical laughter. In the trunk was a dressed mannequin. For a moment, Delta said nothing. She just stood, looking perplexed at the stiff figure laying with painted eyes staring blankly at her.

  Whirling around, Delta grabbed the laughing boy by the shirt and rammed him up against the car.

  “What in the fuck is this about?” She screamed into his face. The laughter ceased immediately.

  “Look, I ain’t done nothin’ illegal. This dude offered me a hundred bucks to put these gloves on and pretend to beat up that stupid doll. It was a hundred bucks, man.”

  Delta did not release her iron grip. Inside, her heart raced, her adrenaline pumped, and her lungs heaved. She felt like the seams of her patience were ripping apart. “What guy?”

  “I dunno, man. He was wearing a hat and dark glasses. I didn’t ask him no questions, man; I just took the gloves and the dough and split.” Delta rammed him harder against the car. Every muscle in her body was in fighting mode, and her right hand kept opening and closing as if she were pumping her own blood pressure. “What else did he say?”

  “He, he said for me to tell the lady cop . . . let me see . . .”

  “Think, damn you!”

  “Del . . .” Jan’s voice cut through the night.

  Delta gave no indication that she’d heard Jan. “What else did he say?”

  “He said to be more . . . more imaginative than that. Yeah, that’s it.

  That’s what he said.”

  “Is that all?” Delta had lifted the scrawny youth off the ground and held him pinned to the car with one arm.

  “Yeah, man, I swear! It was a hundred bucks, man. Easy cash.” The seam tore

  completely open. She wanted to bash Elson’s face in, and she was beginning to take it out on this trembling boy. She wanted to hit something so the fear and frustration building inside her would be released. She wanted to shake this boy until she knew everything that passed between him and Elson. She wanted . . .

  “Del, let him go.”

  In the far recesses of her mind, Delta saw herself holding Elson off the ground, pleading for his life in one instant and laughing at her the next.

  “Let him down, Del.” Jan reached out and touched Delta’s arm. Looking over at Jan as if seeing her for the first time, Delta stared blankly.

  “Put him down.”

  Pulled from her trance, Delta looked from Jan to the scared boy to Jan and back to the boy, who tried grinning.

  “Oh,” Delta said, slowly lowering him to his feet. “Yeah, sure.” Delta released him and turned to Jan, who still had her hand on Delta’s arm.

  “You okay?”

  Delta nodded, feeling her anger subside. Pinching the bridge of her nose, Delta quietly asked Jan, “Take care of him, will you?”

  Jan gently squeezed Delta’s arm and silently moved to take care of the boy, who appeared relieved to have the smaller, quieter cop take over.

  After Jan I.D.’d the boy, she took the driver’s seat and watched as Delta slowly climbed in.

  “You sure you’re okay? That didn’t look so swell to me.”

  Delta turned from her thoughts and nodded. “He’s toying with us. That bastard set us up. It’s as if he’s watching us.”

  Jan turned the car left onto Tennyson. “That’s a pretty scary thought.”

  “Yep. He knows our every move before we do.”

  Jan shook her head. “That’s not all, Del. He made us move. Like pawns on a chessboard, he moved us with that little charade. He’s in charge and he knows it.”

  Delta nodded. “The message for us isn’t to be more creative. He’s letting us know it’s his game and he’s in control.” Delta pulled some change from her pocket. “Pull over so I can let Connie know about his latest ploy.”

  “Maybe it will give her something to go on.”

  “Maybe. And maybe it will scare the shit out of her.” Delta glanced over at Jan, who looked more serious than she ever remembered her looking. “Until Connie can come up with something, we’re playing this hand blind. We can’t make a move until she figures that damn game out. God, I hate this.”

  Jan nodded. “I know. Until then, we just ride it out and do our jobs, okay? We can’t let it get to us.”

  Nodding, Delta stared out the window. From now on, she would have to be cool and show more control. From now on, she would allow him to move her only until she could find her way to the other side of the chessboard. And when she did, she would trade up for a queen.

  Then, they would play by her rules.

  Moments after dealing with the boy and continuing their patrol, Delta’s beeper went off. “Pull over, Jan. I just got a buzz from Connie.” Jumping to a payphone, Delta called Connie at her desk. “It’s me. Whatcha got?”

  “It’s a good thing we started over. We were way off.”

  “How so?”

  “I’ve been fighting this one-horned creature I walked away from the first time I played.”

  “You mean a unicorn?” Delta watched a prostitute cross the street to an awaiting car.

  “I don’t think so. This thing is ugly. I mean, it’s hairy and huge and doesn’t look a thing like a unicorn. It’s gross. Anyway, I’ve done everything I can, but I can’t beat it using the gloves. I don’t think he intends on beating his next victim to death. I’m not even sure he plans on using the gloves as a weapon.”

  “Because?”

  “Elson wouldn’t need gloves. He has a black belt in karate. He could kill a man without even using his hands.”

  “Great.”

  “Don’t worry on that end. I could kick the shit out of him even with his black belt. How’s your night so far?”

  Delta replayed the parking lot scene for Connie.

  “So he really is watching us.”

  Delta nodded. “Yep. Appears that way. Not only is he watching us, he’s got us going out to calls.”

  “Don’t be surprised if you find a bug in your truck or on any of your equipment. Elson is an electronics whiz, and it wouldn’t be difficult at all for him to be patched right in to your radio.”

  “That’s a comforting thought.” Delta peered around the corner of the phone booth and got the chills thinking about him watching her now.

  “He knows we’ve started on the disk for real. His little stunt tonight was just to let us know that he knows.”

  Delta squinted into the darkness. She had been trying to shake the gut feelings bubbling like a witch’s cauldron inside her. Emotions lingered, thoughts paused, images flashed through her like she was viewing two different movie screens. “Con, I get these strange vibes whenever I think he might be near. It’s like I can sense his evil, his insanity. It’s scary.”

  “I’m sure it is. You’ve always been an extremely empathic individual, Del. Maybe you really do ‘tune in’ on some strange level.”

  “Well, I wish I didn’t. It’s invasive.” Delta inhaled slowly and waved to Jan, who was motioning for her to hurry up. “Con, what baffles me is the fact that this guy has so much to offer, yet he would rather ruin lives for some sort of vengeance.”

  “That’s why he’s so menacing, Del. He’s willing to throw everything else aside in order to prove the one thing he couldn’t prove twenty years ago. There’s a lot of anger inside Elson Zuckerman, Delta, and that rage makes him very, very dangerous.”

  “Dan
gerous is an understatement. He sees us, hears us, manipulates us, and we don’t even know where he is. I feel like we’re looking for a specific flea in a room full of dogs.”

  “Don’t go getting all negative on me, Storm. We’ve uncovered a few more clues tonight. That’s why I beeped.”

  Delta watched a man walking his dog down the street. Until Connie’s college pictures of him came from the Institute, everyone on the street was Elson Zuckerman. “I’m listening.”

  “Okay, so far, he’s only hit while you’re on duty.”

  “As far as we know, yes.”

  “His pattern is to strike every third day, and he’s only covered five blocks of your beat.”

  “Give the man credit. He’s done his homework.”

  “Yes, he has. Enough to include you in nearly every facet of the game. I move Dori on the screen, and you move in real life. It’s as if you’re his creation personified.”

  “Well, we’re going to have to find a way to use that to our advantage, aren’t we?”

  “Exactly. You’ve got one more hour left of your shift. I’ll be surprised if he kills tonight. Another pattern of his is to strike between ten and one. You know, he’s such a head case, he’s probably into the `witching hour’ and all that crap.”

  Delta checked her watch. “It’s one-fifteen now.”

  “Looks like he’s giving you the night off.”

  “Good. Are we doing an all-nighter tonight?”

  “I’ve been pounding down the coffee.”

  “Great. I’ll meet you at your place around four-thirty.”

  “You bringing Megan?”

  Delta thought about this a moment. “She’s at her place tonight. I’ll stop by and see if she wants to come out and play. But I’ll tell you, these exams are really tiring her out.”

  “Maybe we should postpone it then. You two need to spend some time together.”

  “Right. Your life is at stake and you want me to go home and try to make my relationship work. Sorry, pal, that’s not how it works. Megan understands.”

  “Does she?”

  “She’ll be fine.” Delta hesitated a moment before asking the question that had been preying on her mind all night long. “You don’t think he’d hurt them, do you?”