No Mercy--A Mystery

by Joanna Schaffhausen

  “What happened to put you in the chair?” Reed asked from his spot in the hall.

  Both McKinney and Hopkins turned to look at him. “Black ice,” Hopkins replied, his gaze almost defiant. “I’d been out eight days last January, and I take the usual exit off the Pike when bam—” He slammed one fist into his other palm. “All of a sudden I’m upside down at the side of the road, crushed like a tin can.”

  Reed looked to Hopkins. “I don’t think we’ll need to ask any more questions. Thank you very much for your time.”

  “What? That’s it?” McKinney stepped out into the hall, his arms spread in aggravation. “I came all the way down here.”

  “Sorry. He’s not our guy.” Reed turned and Ellery fell into step beside him.

  “We still have three names.”

  “I have a plane to catch.”

  Behind them, Hopkins’s voice echoed down the hallway. “You wanna watch yourself out there. I never saw it coming.”

  * * *

  Ellery had a mug shot for their next target, Aaron Butler, a white guy who had served an eight-year sentence for forcibly raping both his teenage cousin and her friend. He’d been seventeen at the time but was tried as an adult, which put him at thirty-five years old now, or squarely in the rapist’s demographics. His crime had an extra element of cruelty to it that made him a good match to Reed’s profile. Butler had tied one girl to a tree in the nearby woods while assaulting the other right in front of her. His weapon of choice was a knife. Ellery had already performed the usual checks available to her and come up empty. Butler had been released on parole ten years ago and was no longer in the system. Reed used the FBI resources to find an address for him over near the Roxbury Crossing T stop. The Orange Line connected easily to the Red Line, the rapist’s preferred hunting zone.

  Ellery circled until she found a place to idle, next to a hydrant that had been dug out of the snowbanks. Across the street, Butler’s building had bars on the first-floor windows and crumbling brick at the top. No pretty flags or Christmas lights here. The only decorations were the strings of power lines tacked along the outside of the building.

  “We don’t have cause to search his apartment,” Reed reminded her as they sat there with the roaring of the heater.

  “I know it.” The dashboard clock read past three P.M., and Reed’s flight loomed large over the approaching evening.

  “So then what’s your plan?”

  She didn’t have a plan. She just wanted to lay eyes on the guy. As Richard Hopkins had proved, sometimes that was enough. “I think,” she began, and then stopped when the apartment building door opened to reveal a large hulking white man wearing a dark coat and Patriots beanie hat. “I think that’s him.”

  From the quick, athletic strides he took down the street, Aaron Butler didn’t have any trouble moving his legs. “Park the car,” Ellery said, opening the door. “I want to see where he goes.”

  She slammed the car door on Reed’s protest and half-jogged down the road in pursuit of the disappearing Butler. The sidewalks hadn’t been cleared in all spots, forcing her to zigzag in and out of the street, around the thigh-high snowbanks until they reached the cleaner, wider main road. Butler had his cell phone out, checking it every few feet. He had not even glanced backward in her direction. She followed him another block, until the sharp-angled concrete facade of the Roxbury Crossing T station came into view. She heard rapid footfalls behind her and turned to find Reed had ditched their car and caught up. “He’s on the move,” she said, pointing to where Butler was opening the door to the station.

  Reed patted his trousers. “I don’t have the fare on me.”

  She tugged his arm and dragged him into the street. “We can both use my pass. Come on, hurry.”

  Both using her pass meant sliding them through as one unit, Reed pressed so close that she felt his breath at her ear. “This is illegal,” he informed her as they squeezed through the turnstile.

  Ellery couldn’t be bothered to answer as the train lumbered into the station. “There he is.”

  They entered the same car as Butler but used different doors, observing him from the opposite end. Ellery found herself missing the days when everyone left stray newspapers on the subway. They would have provided a convenient cover. Butler didn’t seem to notice them, though. He stood holding on to the pole even though there were seats available. He’d stuffed his hat in one pocket and put in a pair of earbuds, and his attention remained glued to his phone.

  The subway car stopped abruptly, sending all the passengers lurching forward. Butler grabbed the pole higher, steadying his balance, and the move revealed a black leather bracelet ringed with large shiny metal studs. “Did you see that?” she asked, not taking her eyes off Butler. “It’s on his right hand.”

  Reed’s answer was low and tight. “I saw it.”

  “This could be him.”

  “We don’t know that yet,” Reed said, but he sounded like he was trying to convince himself, not her.

  When they reached Downtown Crossing, Butler bounced out of the car and onto the crowded platform, forcing Ellery and Reed to fight the tide of people pushing onto the train. “This is where you change for the Red Line,” Ellery said, craning her head to try to catch sight of Butler amid the crush of commuters. She spotted him heading for the street exit, not the Red Line. “There he goes.”

  They followed Butler into the shopping district and drew up short when he stopped at a small bakery with a cupcake sign out front. SPRINKLES, it read. “Maybe he’s hungry,” Ellery murmured as they slowed their approach.

  “Smells delicious,” Reed replied, sniffing the vanilla-scented air.

  Ellery peeked around the edge to peer in the glass storefront. She saw Butler behind the counter, putting on an apron as he grinned and gestured at one of the other workers. “He’s working here.” Ellery turned in a whirl and bumped into Reed. “He works in a bakery. Do you know what this means?”

  “Yes. He might very well taste sweet. Ellery, wait—!”

  “I promised you a coffee.” He reached for her but Ellery had already pushed open the heavy glass door to the shop. Ellery entered the store with purpose, but then halted at the threshold like she was entering a crime scene. She scanned the bakery from left to right, taking in the buttercream walls, the display counter that spotlighted a colorful array of cakes and treats of all sizes, and the crowd of chatting customers lined up at the counter and bumping knees at the handful of two-person tables. “You wait for seats,” she said to Reed, who had materialized right behind her. “I’ll order.”

  She got in line without bothering to ask him what he wanted. Instead, she bobbed and weaved behind the row of people so she could get a better look at the people working at the counter. There were at least two men back there, but they all wore black baseball caps emblazoned with the company logo and she couldn’t see their faces. Ellery waited impatiently, shifting from foot to foot, until she got to the front of the line. “What can I get for you?” A perky blonde with big eyes and a ponytail coming out of the back of her baseball cap greeted Ellery with a wide, white smile.

  Ellery looked beyond her to the people filling the orders. The guy she wanted to see was busy at the coffee machine, his back to her. “I, uh…” She put her hands on the counter and stood on her tiptoes for a better look.

  The blonde took a step back at Ellery’s aggressive behavior. “The lemon custard cake is on sale,” she said hopefully, gesturing at the display. “It’s totally yummy.”

  “Him,” Ellery said, pointing at the large man. “What does he recommend?”

  The girl gave her a puzzled look but dutifully turned to her colleague and called out, “Aaron! This lady wants a recommendation from you!”

  He emerged from out of the shadows and Ellery’s stomach turned over as she got her first up-close look at Butler. Big, like a linebacker, Wendy had said, and this man definitely fit the type. Butler stood over six feet tall and his hands were the size of oven mitt
s. He had broad, muscular shoulders and biceps that strained his gray T-shirt. His eyes met Ellery’s and she saw him freeze under the intensity of her gaze, his expression instantly hostile. She didn’t back down; she held his stare openly. He looked her over, very slowly, and then dismissed her as no concern, his posture relaxing, his jaw going slack. “Yeah, can I help you?”

  “I think—I think you already have.” She ordered two cupcakes, one vanilla, one chocolate, and a pair of coffees—whatever would get her out of the line and back to Reed as quickly as possible. She had no appetite. Adrenaline had zapped every instinct but the need to get him.

  She set the food and coffees on the petite table and took her seat, meanwhile keeping her watchful gaze on Butler’s every move. She tracked him around the shop as he brought out coffee or pastries for people and bused the tables clear of dirty dishes. He showed lithe, economical movement as he worked in and out of the cramped spaces. Ellery was so caught up in following him that she had momentarily forgotten Reed was with her.

  * * *

  Reed had also sized up Butler and clearly had come to the same conclusion: this could be the guy. His whole body went on alert, vibrating energy like a tuning fork. He kept his gaze averted from Butler, but Ellery refused to give Butler an inch. She didn’t care if he noticed that she was staring. Back behind the counter, Butler reached into the case and withdrew a pair of fluffy, frosted cupcakes. He looked like he belonged at a tea party, and he didn’t appear cognizant of their keen interest in him.

  “This doesn’t actually prove anything yet, you know,” Reed cautioned her, but his voice was tight.

  “I know. But I was thinking.” She swallowed because she knew he would hate the plan, that he would try to change her mind.

  “What?” Reed stole a glance at Butler, too. Maybe she had a shot at this after all.

  “Wendy said she thinks that she would recognize his voice. We could bring her down here, let her hear Butler say a few words. If she IDs him, then we finally have something we can take to Manganelli. We’d have proof.”

  Reed absorbed her proposal with a slight frown, but he didn’t immediately nix it. She could see his mind whirling as he considered all the possible problems. “It wouldn’t be legal proof,” he said after a minute. “This wouldn’t stand up in court.”

  “It wouldn’t have to. Manganelli could investigate and get the real proof, evidence that would put him away for good. This guy took trophies, Reed.” She kept her voice down but her tone was urgent. “You know as well as I do they’re probably sitting in his bedroom right now. All it would take is a warrant to bust him, and for that, we just need probable cause. A voice ID from the victim would provide that, easy.”

  “You’re forgetting one detail,” Reed said grimly. “If he’s the guy, he would recognize her, too. What’s he going to do when she walks through that door?”

  Ellery thought back on the warm, smiling Wendy in the photograph from before the rape, and compared her mentally to the new pared-down, hardened woman with the shaved head and neck tattoo. “I don’t know that he would recognize her,” she said finally. “But it’s easy enough to put her in a hat and some dark glasses. It’s not like he’s expecting her.” Sure, there was a risk, but a small one, as far as Ellery could see. More important, the payoff could be huge.

  Reed leaned back in his chair, pulling away from her and their shared plan. She felt him slipping and she shifted closer, the feet of her chair scraping loudly against the floor. “Listen,” she said, practically crawling across the table to him. “Listen to me. This is our chance. This is how we can nail this bastard, right here, right now. I can go get Wendy and be back in an hour. By nighttime, he could be locked up and off the streets and women can go to sleep without worrying he might come through their window with a knife!”

  “Shh.” He held up his hands and looked around guiltily, as though someone else might have caught wind of what they were saying. She remained stretched across the table, right in his face, prepared to argue further. He relented with a sigh. “Okay,” he said softly, and she eased back in her seat. “Okay.” He pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll just go ahead and cancel my flight—again. You go find Wendy. I’ll make sure Butler doesn’t take off in the meantime.”

  She resisted the urge to grab him and kiss his cheek. “Thank you,” she said in a rush, already rising from the table. “This will work. I know it will.”

  * * *

  In reality, it took Ellery ninety minutes to track down Wendy Mendoza and explain the plan. She’d found the woman living out of a suitcase at a Motel 6, her life growing closer to the edge of oblivion. “How do you know it’s him?” Wendy asked when Ellery gave her the news. She hadn’t moved from the bed, where she lay with an open bag of chips and a half-full bottle of cheap white wine.

  “We don’t know. That’s why we need you.” Ellery couldn’t understand why the woman was dragging her feet now. “All you have to do is come to the bakery and tell us if anyone seems familiar. I’ll be with you. Agent Markham will be there. You’ll be totally safe, I promise you.”

  Wendy stared blankly at the television while she considered. “All right,” she said finally. “Let’s do it.” She heaved herself off the bed, looking older than her years. “Just let me pull myself together.”

  Ellery tossed her a blue-and-white-striped beanie hat. “Use this, just to be safe. We don’t want him recognizing you.”

  Ellery waited in the parking lot, chewing her thumbnail and watching for Wendy to come out of her room. Night fell on the city like a blanket, dark and complete, despite the early hour. Ellery had about given up hope when the young woman appeared out of the shadows and climbed into her car.

  Wendy disguised herself with a bulky winter coat, the beanie hat, a scarf, and a pair of red-tinted glasses. Her fingers bit into the leather seat but her voice was determined when she said, “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

  They didn’t exchange many words on the way back to Sprinkles. Ellery had only told Wendy that they thought her attacker might be in the café; she didn’t reveal anything further about which man they suspected or whether he could be a customer or an employee. Wendy’s identification, if she could make one, needed to be as clean as possible if Manganelli was to use it to secure a warrant. For her part, Wendy seemed strangely calm, her eyes fixed on the road ahead, as though she were already imagining her way into a better future. Ellery felt her plan coming together as she pulled the car to a stop about half a block from Sprinkles.

  “Okay, remember what our goal is here,” she said, turning to Wendy. “We just want you to hear the voices inside to see if you recognize anyone. We’ll go in and order a coffee. We’ll sit with Reed to drink it, and you just keep your ears open for anyone who sounds familiar. If you hear him, point him out to me quietly, and then we can alert Detective Manganelli.”

  Wendy nodded. “I can’t believe this is almost over,” she murmured in wonder.

  “Let’s hope so.”

  The two women entered the shop, which had dropped off in business since the earlier part of the afternoon. Perhaps a dozen customers remained, chatting and eating their sugary confections. Reed sat among a smattering of empty tables, with a fresh cup of coffee in front of him and an open newspaper in his lap. He looked up immediately at their entrance, his jaw set and his gaze wary. Ellery raised her eyebrows at him in question, and he inclined his head slightly in the direction of the counter. Ellery exhaled when she saw Aaron Butler busily restocking the display case with fresh cupcakes.

  Ellery didn’t want to taint the identification by rushing Wendy straight up to the suspect. “I’ll go order,” she said quietly. “You join Reed, okay?”

  Wendy seemed more frightened now, moving stiffly across the room to where Reed sat. Ellery ordered yet another coffee that she wouldn’t drink, this time from a buxom brunette, and tried not to look at Butler. Would he get suspicious at seeing her again? Maybe she should have put on a hat as well. A lump of tension started ex
panding in Ellery’s stomach, rising like dough. “Those are for here,” she told the woman at the counter. With any luck, Butler would be the one to bring them out to the table. Ellery paid the bill and went to rejoin her party.

  Reed looked up with some concern. “Wendy’s feeling a little anxious,” he said softly.

  “I don’t hear him,” Wendy said, sounding panicked. “I don’t hear him!”

  “Just give it a moment,” Ellery replied soothingly. She dragged over another chair and sat by Wendy for support. “We just got here.”

  “But you know he’s here, right? You know it’s him?” She looked around wildly, about as subtle as a rhinoceros at ballet class.

  Ellery shushed her. “Breathe,” she said. “Listen. Let us know what you hear.”

  Wendy fell silent again, her hands balled up in her lap. Ellery looked at Reed across the table, and his eyes said, This is not a good idea.

  Relax, she told him silently. We’ve got this.

  The next few moments unfolded almost as if in slow motion, as if she expanded her consciousness into several simultaneous planes. Peripherally, she saw Aaron Butler approaching with the coffee cups on white china saucers, saw how they looked like doll toys in his large hands. He was coming, getting bigger, taking over her whole perceptual field. Wendy’s hand jerked under the table. “Ladies,” he said, and that’s all it took, that one word like a bullet to the brain. Ellery had just enough time to think oh my God this is it before Wendy was in motion on the other side of her, rising from her seat.

  Ellery turned around to reassure her and found herself looking down the barrel of a revolver. GUN. She had to swallow back the word and all her instinctive training. “Wendy, don’t.”

  “It’s him, it’s him, it’s him…” The gun wavered in her hands but she had it pointed right at Butler.

  “What the fuck is this?” Butler stood with the hot coffee in his hands, coffee that could be a weapon at this short distance. Behind him, the other customers started murmuring to each other in fear. “Lady, you got a serious problem!”