But, as always when her darkness surfaced, she pushed it back down and answered the phone. Thinking about the problem didn’t make it go away, and who knew? Maybe having Curtis out of custody would prompt him to make a call that would point them right to a smoking gun.
Didn’t seem likely, but a girl could always hope.
* * *
As Had drove up to Cedar Rapids, he found himself wondering what kinds of smells would greet him this time. The City of Five Smells hadn’t disappointed him last time, and he had a feeling as the summer went by, the scents would only get more and more… interesting.
It hadn’t been too hard to figure out where Curtis had dropped off his load of fertilizer. The call to the trucking company he worked for had been even less trouble than Had’d thought it would be. Apparently having an employee being looked at for multiple homicides made companies want to cooperate.
So now Had was pulling into a warehouse, looking around the enormous grey structure for what might pass as an office space. There had to be some place where the truckers went to check in before offloading their hauls.
And sure enough, on the far side of the structure was an area with a couple of spaces labeled “visitor” and enough glass windows to allow light to seep in for the poor souls stuck inside. An air-conditioning unit chugged away in one of the openings, dripping moisture onto the hot asphalt. It was late afternoon, pushing into evening, but the heat had yet to dissipate from the paved surface. Had could feel the warmth creeping through his boots as he walked toward the office.
Pushing the door open, he heard a bell go off, more than likely to alert the staff that there was a visitor. A wizened old woman looked up from her copy of Good Housekeeping to peer at the intruder.
“You’re not one of our truckers. What do you want?”
Aha. Another challenge. Had walked toward her desk, a grin on his face.
“I’m Officer Hadderly, but you can call me Had. Just had a couple of questions I wanted to ask you.”
“Oh, you’re that boy that called earlier. Talked to my boss,” she said, her lips puckering up in thought. Judging by the amount of wrinkles radiating out from her mouth, this was someone who had spent more than her fair share of time out in the sun.
Had was sure there were all kinds of interesting stories waiting to spill out of those lips of hers, if he could just warm her up a bit. Or maybe cool her off. Even with the air conditioning unit whirring away at full blast, the metal of the warehouse must have been acting like a heat magnet. It felt like it was still 90 degrees in here. As if she heard his thought, she picked up a wet cloth and pressed it against her cheeks.
“It sure is hot this summer, isn’t it?” Had sympathized with her.
“Oh, please,” the woman snorted and waved a hand. “This isn’t half as bad as that summer back in ’89. That heat wave just about killed me.”
“I don’t remember that. I would’ve only been about three or four.”
“Huh,” she said, squinting at him again. “You sure you’re old enough to be a cop?”
“Oh, sure. Well, I mean… I guess so.” Had shrugged his shoulders, still smiling at her. He gave her a wink. “Are you flirting with me?”
“Pshhh.” Her face was gruff, but unless he was imagining it, Had was pretty sure there was a twinkle in her eye. “I’m too much of a shriveled up prune to be flirting with a young buck like yourself.” She looked him up and down. “More’s the pity.”
Had blushed and decided he’d better get on with the investigation part of what brought him here. “I just wanted to ask about a shipment of fertilizer that was dropped off by Curtis Howse.”
“Oh, Curtis!” The woman’s face lit up. “How is that rascal?”
“Um. Good, as far as I know.” Had didn’t want to lie, but he certainly didn’t want to get into what Curtis might be up to with someone that was at least a good acquaintance.
“That’s great. Good family man, that Curtis.” She shuffled some papers around and pulled out a stapled packet of sheets. “Here it is. He was only in a bit ago. Haven’t even had time to file this little booger.” She cackled as she scanned down the page. “What did you want to know?”
“Just if there was any discrepancy between what was listed in the manifest and what actually made it into the warehouse.”
“Oh, checking into some big fertilizer bootlegging scam?” she chuckled as she pulled up something on her computer. “Let’s see.” She moved her face in closer to the screen, tromboning a bit until she seemed to get the focal point right. “Hey. Look at that. It’s off by one bag.”
“Any way to know if that was before or after it was offloaded?” Had asked.
“No way to know for positive, but let me check and see who signed for it.” She scooped back up the manifest and looked down at the signature. “Oh, it was Billy. He’s pretty good about checking the stock when it comes in. Now if it was Carl, that little punk…”
“So, you’re pretty sure that the bag went missing after the shipment was dropped off?” Had pressed, wanting to make sure he was getting this right.
“Well, like I said, there’s no way to know for positive, and it’s only one bag.” She brushed an imaginary speck of dust off of the screen in front of her. “But I’ve never known Billy to make a mistake like that. He’s as careful as they come.”
“Thank you, ma’am. That was really helpful.”
“Oh, don’t call me ma’am. Makes me feel old. I’m Ruby.”
Had smiled at her. “Thanks, Ruby. I really appreciate it.” He moved toward the door. This was information he wanted to get to Coop as soon as possible. It wasn’t enough to clear Curtis, but it was enough to make them really reexamine.
As he stepped back into the heat, Had put a hand up to shield himself from the sun that was reflecting into his face from his car windshield. In another hour or so, the sun would go down, but right now it was doing its best to take out his eyesight.
He stumbled out in the direction of his car, unable to see any obstacles that might await his feet in the badly poured asphalt, when he heard a scraping on the ground behind him. Maybe Ruby’d taken more of an interest in him than he’d thought. As he began to turn around to see who was there, a sharp pain blossomed behind his right ear, stunning him and sending him face first into the scalding blacktop.
Had rolled over as a shadow fell upon him, the form above silhouetted by the sun behind. The last thing he saw was what looked like a bat, speeding right toward his face.
And then everything went black.
* * *
Joshua stretched and yawned, allowing the luxurious feel of his muscles tensing and releasing to give him some comfort. That was, until he saw Reggie watching him from across the table. Then he curled himself back into his normal slouch over the paperwork in front of him, embarrassed that she had seen him in an exposed moment. He reached down to rub Bella’s fur as a way to cover it up.
Why he should feel that way about it, he had no idea. All that he knew was that he did. This girl affected him in ways that he could neither control nor completely understand. She was young enough… not to be his daughter, that would be way too weird. But a niece, maybe? But young or not, inappropriate or not, he could not stop thinking about her.
She caught his attention and poked her finger at the whiteboard they had been using to pin up their evidence. Right now, most of what was there was related in some way to Curtis Howse, but Joshua was doing what he could to rectify that.
Reggie’s finger was right on top of the photograph of the torso, the latest of the crime scenes they’d found. “So, this is the one that was booby trapped, right?”
“Right.”
“And it was right next door to where Curtis dropped off his shipment of fertilizer?”
“Also correct,” Joshua affirmed.
“Had’s out there now, checking on the shipment,” she murmured. “But after some checking, I was able to find several railways that lead directly into Cedar Rapids. A
couple have been around forever.”
“Okay, so that fits in with the whole pattern so far, and it also means that King’s Man could have had easy access to Cedar Rapids.” Joshua moved up to the murder board, pointing at another piece of evidence. “But where would he have gotten his hands on the fertilizer?”
“He could have stolen it out of the warehouse,” she answered. “He’s a hobo. It’s not like they’re historically opposed to the five-finger discount.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, but his heart wasn’t in it. “It just seems like way too much of a coincidence that he would happen to steal the same stuff that Curtis was carrying. And then there’s the whole diesel angle.”
There was something missing here. Some piece of this puzzle that was eluding him, and it was driving him insane. Like an itch that couldn’t be scratched.
“I keep getting this sense that there’s something obvious here that we’re not looking at,” Reggie said, echoing his own thoughts. “Like if we could just get our heads out of our asses, we’d see it.”
Joshua nodded. This girl was sharp, there was no doubt about it. He wished she weren’t. His wife had been the same… way too smart for her own good. Able to see things that Joshua never could.
Not that having that ability had done anything for her when it mattered the most.
Shaking his head, he put the thoughts of his family aside. Not for the guilt that kept coming up every time he looked at the beautiful young cop beside him. But because it wasn’t helping him get anywhere closer to their killer.
“Where are you hiding?” he whispered, brushing his hands over the map.
“What was that?” Reggie asked.
“Nothing.” He stared at the map, the pins marking the pieces of flesh that made up all the past victims, wondering when the next one would appear. More information. They needed more information. “Have we had any luck with any of the other hobos?”
Reggie blew out past her mostly closed lips, catching a strand of hair on her forehead in the stream of air. “No. Word’s gone out that we’re looking at King’s Man, and they’ve all clammed up. He seems to be a pretty popular guy.”
“What the hell are we missing?” he growled, frustrated at their lack of progress.
The young cop opened her mouth, about to speak, when Agent Cooper’s phone rang from across the room where she was working on her own suspect. Bella perked up at the noise and barked once, then settled back down, her job apparently done. Coop picked up the cell and swiped the screen to answer.
“Agent Cooper.”
Joshua watched as she listened to the voice on the other end of the line. Whatever was being said was having a profound effect, as her face went whiter than he had ever seen it before. She looked up, making eye contact with him, and whatever it was that had spooked her was plastered on her expression; a poster on a construction wall that had bled out all its colors in a rainstorm.
“Yes. We’ll be there in three minutes.” She pressed the end button and moved the hand holding the phone toward her pocket. Once there, it was as if she couldn’t figure out how to get her hand inside. She groped and pushed for a moment, then placed the phone down on the desk in front of her.
“What is it?” Reggie asked. “What happened?”
“It’s Curtis. He killed himself.”
CHAPTER 20
As Sariah walked behind Officer Chance on the way over to Curtis Howse’s hotel room, she watched as Joshua played with Bella. She was even more playful than usual tonight, grabbing the leash between her teeth and playing tug of war, growls slipping between her clenched teeth. At one point she managed to almost trip Joshua, an occurrence that would have had Sariah in stitches at any other moment.
A weight had settled down onto her shoulders and seemed to have no interest in moving any time soon. It had started the moment Officer Chance had called, and it was getting heavier with each step she took toward the hotel room that had, up until just a little while ago, contained a living, breathing soul.
The fact of the suicide was a mixed thing for Sariah. On the one hand, it confirmed what she had suspected. Curtis was guilty. There was no other reason that he would have taken his life.
But the other part of it, the part that had caused her to almost pass out when the call came and that was now creating knots in her shoulders, was that she knew how hard she had pushed him. Whatever Curtis was guilty of, his death raised as many questions as it solved. She had not expected the case to end like this.
What this must be like for Joshua, she had no idea. They had found the man that had killed his wife and children, but he had taken his own life before he could really get any closure. She risked a glance at the former agent, but he appeared fine. A bit puzzled, perhaps, but just fine.
It had to be some kind of delayed reaction. Had and she should make sure and watch over him with an extra amount of vigilance tonight.
As for Had, Sariah had no idea where he was. She’d called and texted, but there hadn’t been any response. It was possible that he was just in a dead zone, but it was getting late, and she could really use him here. If not for his sharp eyes and keen mind, then for his enthusiasm. When she was feeling low, there were few people that could lift her up quite like he could.
Even as she thought that, Reggie reached out a hand, resting it on Sariah’s shoulder and giving her a quick squeeze. She seemed to have Had’s talent for spotting pain and the same desire to help it go away. While she wasn’t as energetic as Had, she had been a brilliant addition to their group.
“You ready to go in there?” Reggie asked.
What Sariah wanted to say was no, but not wanting to see the results of her words wouldn’t make them any less real. And sooner or later, she was going to have to deal with this. Might as well be sooner. Get it over with.
“I’m fine,” she said, moving forward and leaving Reggie’s hand behind.
And then Officer Chance was swinging the hotel door wide, and Sariah was pulling up the crime tape and walking inside. There, dangling from a rope that had been attached to the ceiling with an eyebolt, was Curtis Howse.
“He left a note,” the officer said, not making eye contact with Sariah. She could understand that. It was hard enough to stay present during a typical murder investigation. When someone took their own life, it could strike that much closer to home. Who hadn’t thought of how much easier it would be to just check out from time to time?
She moved over to the desk, where the note had been printed in neat, almost obsessive, handwriting. The pen had been placed with precision, at a 90 degree angle to the side of the page, centered over the top.
Mi Querida Lourdes,
I’m so sorry.
This wasn’t my plan. Not to go like this. I only did it because I knew how much worse your lives would have been if I hadn’t. You would have lost everything that was important to you, and I couldn’t stand being the reason that happened.
You’ll be taken care of, I promise. I have life insurance, and since I took it out over five years ago, they have to pay up, even though I’ve ended things this way. I checked. So don’t worry about that part. Believe me, it’s better this way.
I know you’re mad at me, and that’s okay. You be as mad as you want. Just know that I did it all for you and our family.
You wouldn’t have a day’s peace for the next ten years if I didn’t do this. I can’t really explain, but the police would’ve swarmed over our house and never given you a second to be alone and unworried.
I hope someday you’ll forgive me.
Con cariño,
Curtis
The phrases echoed in her ears, loud as a jet engine but quiet enough for her to feel each sound separately, distinctly. Would have lost everything that was important to you. Wouldn’t have a day’s peace. Swarmed over our house. All phrases that Sariah had said to him, almost verbatim.
She might not have been the one to string Curtis up, but she had pretty much put the rope in his hands and told him it might
be a good idea.
He was a murderer. The man had killed dozens of people, chopped them up and spread them around the country in a grisly game of cat and mouse with law enforcement. Sariah had to remind herself of that.
And yet, he had a family. A wife. Children.
Right now, Sariah was having a tough time reconciling those two opposing sides of the man. She wasn’t sure it was something she would ever be able to figure out.
* * *
Joshua stared at the note over Coop’s shoulder. Once more he was struck by a sense of wrongness about the whole situation. He pointed at the piece of paper.
“You noticed the Spanish phrases at the beginning and end?”
“Yes.” Her voice wavered for a moment, then firmed up. “What about them?”
“It doesn’t feel right.”
“What are you talking about? He killed himself. He left a note.”
“That’s my point,” he replied. “It’s like I said before. It’s too easy.”
“Easy?” It was clear that he had struck a nerve with her. The normally composed agent seemed uncomfortable in her own skin, shifting from foot to foot. “There is nothing easy about this.”
More self-pity. Yikes. Time to nip that in the bud.
Almost as if Bella could hear his thought, she started nipping at his shoelaces. That dog had the worst sense of timing in the world.
“Spare me,” he growled at Coop, pulling his shoe away from Bella with a warning look. “Your remorse is as uninteresting as reading the phone book while playing cricket. I’m talking about the case.”
“The case is solved.”
“Bullshit. It may feel nice and wrapped up, but that’s part of the problem here. Humpty is a loner. He doesn’t care about anything but the killings and the puzzle.”
Agent Cooper stared at him, the muscle at the side of her jaw clenching and unclenching. “How much evidence do you need before you realize that this is it? It’s done. It’s finished.”
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