“Where the light is out?”
“I don’t know. It was, like, dark dark. But I saw something sparkly. It was a handbag. I walked over and opened it up. It had a wallet in it.”
“It was just lying there?”
“Yeah. I figured someone dropped it. Some drunk chick or something, you know? I took the wallet out and then tossed the handbag into the woods.”
“Did you see Stacy Shaw?”
“No.”
“What about anyone else?” Jack leaned in. “Was there anyone around?”
“Nobody.”
“No one? Not even on the way out?” Jack’s voice had dropped down to a low rumble.
“Some gutter bum.”
“Describe him. How tall?”
“I don’t know. My height, I guess. It was dark, so it was hard to see. And I wasn’t trying to memorize him or nothin’. He had a green Army jacket.” Two Point nodded. “Yeah. And a ponytail.”
Alex Hernandez.
“Was he walking away or toward you?”
“Don’t know. I saw him earlier in the parking lot. Only one car there—slim pickin’s.”
“Okay, then what?” Jack asked.
Two Point put his head down. “I looked through the wallet. The lady had written a PIN on her library card, so I thought she might use the same one for everything. I decided to try the ATM.” He looked ashamed. “It didn’t work. After that, I went to hide my stash and then went home.”
“But…” Jack prompted.
“But I screwed up. When I went to my stash, I forgot the wallet was in the pocket of Jay’s jacket, and you know the rest. The cops found it and blamed Jay.”
Jack looked around the parking lot.
“You’re gonna go with me, right?” Two Point asked. “No cop’s gonna believe me. J-Dog don’t trust them either. He’s right. They’re not doing anything. They’re not even looking for the guy who really killed that lady.”
“Because you served up Jay on a silver platter,” Jack said. “Look at it from their side. They have the ATM picture, showing a guy in Jay’s jacket. The wallet’s in Jay’s jacket. He has her blood on his shoes. Then Jay confesses and says, ‘Yeah, it was me. I stole it.’ They don’t need to look for anyone else. You gave them everything.”
“But I never even saw the lady. Maybe the cops planted some evidence? You ever think of that? They planted it. How else did blood get on my shoes?”
“She cut her foot open, you idiot. You must have stepped in her blood on the hill when you found the handbag. With DNA testing all they need is a trace amount.”
“You have to tell the cops the truth,” Two Point begged.
“I don’t have to do anything.” Jack gazed at the open window of his Impala. Something Two Point had said a moment ago was nagging at him…
Then it hit him.
“Wait a second,” Jack said. “You went to your stash, but you didn’t put the wallet there. So you went to your stash with something else. What was it?”
“Nothing.”
Jack grabbed Two Point’s shirt and yanked him forward.
“What the hell, Stratton?”
“Shut up and listen. I’m in no mood. You give me the runaround and I’ll smack the crap out of you right now. Victor said you’ve been boosting from cars. The night Stacy was killed, did you rip off a car in the parking lot?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe, nothing. Yes or no?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of car was it?”
“Green.”
Jack waited.
Two Point’s shoulders crept up. “It had four doors.”
“Make? Model? Plates?”
“How am I supposed to know?” Two Point shifted his weight from one foot to the other so fast it looked as if he had to run to the bathroom.
“What did you steal?”
“I don’t remember.”
Jack’s eyes blazed. He shook Two Point so hard his teeth rattled.
“Okay, okay. It was just a GPS.”
“Do you still have it, or did you pawn it?”
“I haven’t touched any of my stash since this all went down. In case the cops were following me.”
“Where’s your stash? Take me there.”
“What? Why? I’m not telling the cops I was stealing—”
“Yes you will.”
“I can’t. The cops would know I violated my probation. What do you want with the GPS anyway?”
Jack’s hand tightened into a fist.
Two Point shook his head. “No way, Stratton. You can threaten me all you want. I’ll tell them I found the wallet but I’m not taking you to my stash.”
Just then there was a rustle from behind the nearby trees, and Replacement appeared. She walked right up to Jack. “It’s in the Grangers’ shed. I’ve seen him put stuff there. He hides his stuff behind some paint cans in the back. In a milk crate.”
“Shut up—” Two Point started to say, but Jack yanked him forward so they were nose to nose.
“Get this straight,” Jack growled. “This kid is Chandler’s replacement. You know what that means? It means what you do to her, you do to Chandler. You give her any lip for giving you up, ever, and I swear the whole neighborhood will put in you in a box. Do you understand me?”
Two Point nodded.
Jack turned to Replacement. “Thanks, kid. I guess your sneaking around isn’t all bad. But right now I think you should head home.”
Replacement looked up at Jack and her cheeks flushed. Then she dashed back into the trees.
Jack turned to Two Point. “This is how this works. Shut up. I’m not explaining. You’re giving me what you took from the car in the parking lot. It’ll back up your story. Got it?”
Two Point nodded.
“Move.”
Two Point’s stash was indeed in the Grangers’ back shed. They were an elderly couple, and the husband was in a wheelchair. They probably hadn’t entered the shed in years.
Two Point pulled the shed’s warped door open. Creaking on rusted hinges, the door scraped on the floor and swung wide. Two Point walked straight to the corner.
“You’d better pray it’s here,” Jack said.
Two Point reached behind some old paint cans and pulled out a green milk crate filled with an assortment of loot: a car stereo, cell phones, CDs, some expensive-looking sunglasses. On top of it all was a GPS.
“No way,” Jack said. “It looks like this day isn’t that cursed after all.”
Two Point handed Jack the GPS. It tipped forward and a stream of water poured into Jack’s palm. Two Point looked up at the basketball-sized hole in the roof. “Crap. It must’ve rained.”
Jack stared down at the GPS in his hands. Water continued to drip out of the machine. The GPS looked new, except for the water. Jack turned it over. There was a sticker on the back.
LIBERTY CAR RENTAL. SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK.
A current surged through Jack’s body.
30
You Do Think I’m Stupid
Jack strode through the doors of the police station with Two Point in one hand and the GPS in the other. Like a treasure hunter with his prize, Jack held his head high as he marched up to the front desk and asked for Detective Clark.
The desk sergeant called the detective, and after a few minutes, a weary-looking Detective Clark walked through the door.
“This is Tommy Martin,” Jack said proudly. “Jay’s brother, the one with the APB. He stole this GPS,” Jack placed it on the desk, “from a car in Hamilton Park the night Stacy was killed. There’s a sticker on the back—it’s from Liberty Car Rental in Schenectady. I bet it was Michael Shaw who rented that car. He must have rented a car and come back and killed his wife.”
Detective Clark looked down at the GPS as though it were a pipe bomb. When he looked up at Jack, the grin Jack expected was not on his face.
“Wait here.” Clark walked over to a man in a suit. Jack thought he recognized the man from the night
Jay was arrested. The two spoke briefly, then Clark handed him the GPS and came back to Jack.
“Come with me.” Clark motioned for two uniformed officers to follow him, then led Jack and Two Point down the hall toward the interrogation rooms.
Jack wasn’t eager to go back inside those rooms. “Can we talk in your office?” he asked.
“You.” Clark pointed at Two Point. “In there.” He motioned for one of the cops to accompany Two Point into a room. “Make sure you pat him down,” he added.
Then Clark walked to the next interrogation room and held the door open for Jack.
“I’ll take that as a no,” Jack mumbled as he entered the room.
“Up against the wall,” Clark said calmly.
“What for?”
“Just do it.”
Jack assumed the position. Clark patted him down, then gestured for Jack to sit in the chair.
“Start right after you left me.” Clark’s words popped with clarity.
Jack was confused. Detective Clark’s face was turning crimson, and the vein at his temple throbbed. He thought Clark was going to be so happy that he’d solved the case that Clark would file a motion to have an official Jack Stratton Day. The last thing he’d expected was for Clark to look as if he was about to explode.
“I got home. My dad picked me up after you called him, and he gave me a long lecture. Then Tommy called. He’d heard Jay was in the hospital and he wanted to confess.”
“And he offered you the GPS as proof?”
“No. I was asking how he found Stacy’s wallet—”
“Jay Martin stole Stacy’s wallet.”
“No he didn’t. Tommy found it. At the hill right near where I found her body. The thirteenth bench. It was in the handbag. Tommy took the wallet and threw the handbag into the woods. Robyn, the homeless lady, found it when she went to the bathroom.”
“How’d Tommy get the GPS?”
“Tommy’s been stealing from cars around Hamilton Park. He stole from one that night. The way I figure it, Michael Shaw rented a car in Schenectady and drove back to Fairfield. He only used the hotel as an alibi. So he parks and waits in the woods to kill his wife. Tommy comes along and boosts the GPS from the rental car.” Jack leaned back in the chair, crossed his arms and legs, and grinned. “Proof.”
Clark’s vein continued to throb. “Wait here,” he said. He and the policeman left.
It took Jack a second to realize why the cop didn’t wait with him this time. He was eighteen and no longer a minor.
Jack waited.
And waited.
After at least half an hour of waiting, he tried the door. It was locked.
Jack pounded on the door until a policeman opened it up.
“Where’s Detective Clark?”
“He’ll be back when he gets back. Keep it down or we’ll have to come in and restrain you.”
“Restrain me?”
“Yes.”
“You said, ‘when he gets back’? Did he leave? Like leave the station?”
“Just wait,” the cop said gruffly. He shut and relocked the door.
Jack went back to the table and sat down. He didn’t know what Clark was up to, but he did trust him. He folded his arms on the table and laid his head down.
The door to the interview room opened.
Jack sat up and rubbed his eyes.
Vargas strutted in with a look of disgust on his face. A uniformed policeman followed him. The policeman stood against the door while Vargas walked over to the table and set down the evidence bag with the GPS inside it.
“Nice try, Stratton. It didn’t work.”
“Did you try to plug it in?” Jack asked, confused. “It was filled with water, but you can check the memory card or something, right?”
“I’m not talking about that,” Vargas snapped. “You do think I’m stupid, don’t you? I’m talking about your ruse.”
“My ruse?”
“You think slapping a fake sticker on this GPS and a false confession is going to screw up my case? It won’t.”
Now Jack was completely confused. “Fake sticker?”
“Clark believed you, you know. He drove all the way out to Schenectady. He checked with Liberty Car Rental and had them pull all the car rental records. Not only did Michael Shaw not rent a car, but they’re not missing any GPSs.”
Jack stared blankly at the table. His heart went so cold his chest hurt. “I don’t understand.”
Vargas put one hand on the table and leaned down so he could put his face right near Jack’s.
“That can’t be right,” Jack stammered. “Did you check the travel records on the GPS? Did you pull the memory card?”
“The damn thing’s filled with water. Our IT guys said the memory card is ruined. No one’s getting any data off that thing, which I’m sure you know.”
“I don’t get it,” Jack muttered in disbelief.
“What? What was that?” Vargas laughed. This time it was real. He laughed hard. “Oh, you are priceless. I think Clark might be right. You may just be a gullible boob. The sticker’s fake.”
“There has to be another explanation.”
“Get real, Stratton. And what’s Shaw’s motive for killing his wife?”
Jack sat up. “Maybe he killed her for the money?”
“Money? If he planned to kill her for money, he did a lousy job. Do you know how much life insurance they had? None.”
Jack rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “Maybe he… Maybe he just went crazy? It doesn’t make sense.”
“That I’ll agree with. Your theories are crazy. Michael Shaw was in Schenectady the whole night. You know how I know that? Facts. Michael Shaw called Stacy from Schenectady on his cell phone. There’s a record of that call, and it bounced off the cell tower in Schenectady.”
Jack sat for a moment, racking his brain. “I think I can explain that. There’s this phone app. Shaw works for the company. It can call—”
Vargas kicked the chair across the room. “Shut up, Stratton!” he roared. “I just brought a grieving widower back in here today because of you!” His lip trembled.
Jack thought it was from anger until he looked at Vargas’s face. The detective’s eyes were moist.
“And I leaned hard on him. I accused him,” Vargas continued. “Do you know what Shaw did? He cried. Real tears. Do you have any idea what that felt like for me? It tears at you. But I did it because it’s my job, and I had to re-interview him because of you and your damn fake evidence. You made that necessary. You’re trying to frame a man whose wife was murdered, you piece of garbage.”
“No,” Jack said. “The sticker’s not fake. It’s not. Shaw could have—”
“Shut up. There’s always an answer with you but not anymore.”
“Listen. Why would someone put a fake sticker on a GPS? I’m telling you—”
“You have the right to remain silent.” Vargas took out his handcuffs. “I suggest you use it, because I don’t want to hear anything else come out of your mouth.” He held the handcuffs out to the policeman at the door.
The cop took them and walked behind Jack.
As Vargas continued to read Jack his rights, he felt as if the whole world had just shifted. His head spun and his breathing was labored.
Vargas picked up the chair he’d kicked over and set it back down at the table. “I’m charging you,” he said. “You’ve impeded a police investigation.”
Jack’s breath hitched.
“You were warned to stay away from the investigation by a law enforcement official, yet you continued to impede my investigation.” He tapped his chest with his thumb. “I’m also having you charged with being in possession of stolen property.”
Were J-Dog and Two Point playing me all along?
Jack’s mouth ran faster than his spinning head. He spoke before he thought it through. “If you think I faked the GPS and the sticker, how can you charge me with stealing it? Wouldn’t it be mine?”
Vargas�
��s chair scraped across the floor as he shoved it into the table. “Congratulations on flushing your life down the toilet. You could have gone into the Army like you said you wanted. But no. You chose the wrong path. Now no Private Stratton. No Detective Stratton. Now you are, and forever will be… just Jack.”
The door shut with the finality of a coffin lid.
31
Consequences
His father hadn’t spoken a word since he picked Jack up at the police station. But as they drove home, Jack saw the strain in his face.
When they reached a red light, his dad finally broke the silence with a sigh. “You disobeyed me.”
“I’m sorry, Dad. I’m really sorry. I wish I hadn’t.”
“Why? Why would you leave?” Ted tapped the steering wheel with one finger.
Jack ran down everything that had happened. The phone call from Tommy, finding the GPS, talking to Clark, getting arrested. “But I’m telling you that sticker’s not fake. It’s not, Dad. It has streaks on it from the water, too. I looked when Vargas brought it back in.”
“But the car rental place isn’t missing any GPSs. And they have no record of Michael Shaw renting a car.”
Jack leaned his head against the window. “I can’t explain it. But Dad—”
“Right now we need to let things cool down.” His father sighed again, but this time it was longer, sadder. “Even if we do manage to work things out, I think you need to re-think going into the Army.”
The words cut Jack to the core. “What? Why?”
“You don’t listen to orders very well, and the Army is all about following orders.”
Jack’s shoulders slumped.
“It’s your decisions lately, Jack. Time and again you’re just rushing in. You act without thinking of the consequences.”
“I had to do something. What was I supposed to do?”
“You should have called the police. You put yourself in a dangerous position.”
“I’m going into the Army. That kinda puts me in a dangerous position twenty-four seven.”
His father frowned. “Smart-ass comments won’t help.”
And Then She Was GONE: A riveting new suspense novel that keeps you guessing until the end Page 26