Twisted Hunger

by Marilyn Campbell

  Ellery recalled Brevowski’s warning about stopping Luke from disrupting the plans of the people he works for, but it hadn’t sounded at all threatening. “They’re certainly not going to assassinate us, if that’s what you mean.”

  “Tell me something, Miss Winters, considering how many years you’ve been in politics, how is it that no one’s ever knocked off your rose-tinted glasses?”

  “I am not naïve, Mr. Madigan, I simply choose to believe that people are innocent until proven guilty.”

  “No kidding? I would have sworn you thought I was guilty the minute you met me.”

  She nodded. “True, but that just shows you how perceptive I am.”

  Chapter 20

  Diane had been somewhat concerned over Ellery’s turn-down that morning. With all the stress in her life this weekend, Ellery should have been well primed for spending the day with a female friend. She had even begun to wonder if she had inadvertently done something to make Ellery leery of her.

  Now that she could see where Ellery was spending her afternoon, however, she felt reassured. Personally, she’d prefer to pass the time in a motel room with a sexy companion also.

  She had no idea why Ellery would have lied to her about her plans, but then again, the way some women’s minds worked was often a mystery to her.

  * * *

  Frank Patterson had been in a lot of tight fixes during his long career in law enforcement, but never had the situation looked this hopeless. If he went one way, he could get his throat slit. The other way meant survival, but he’d lose his balls.

  If Harris had not come to him with that cockamamie note about Teddy Jones being a killer, it would never have entered his mind to consider anything so outrageous. But he had, and then Harris’ house was blown up with him in it. Abe asked the name of the witness who may have seen Neuman’s executioner—then the witness suddenly committed suicide. On the surface, the two incidents had no apparent connection to each other, but considering how Neuman was murdered…

  If Jones was some guy who worked at the corner gas station, he would already have been picked up, broken down and incarcerated without bail. But the brother of a state senator, who just happened to be the popular, rising political leader onto whose coattails he had attached himself decades ago? There was no way either of the Jones brothers could even be questioned, without Patterson himself suffering a major loss.

  There was no way Abe could know, of course. But what if he did?

  Once he allowed himself to think about it, a flood of seemingly insignificant conversations came back to him. As long as he’d known Jones, he had shown an unusual interest in murders, particularly those that had some gruesome quality to them, such as missing body parts—especially eyes—and Patterson had always told him what he wanted to know. Even as far back to the days when he was still in uniform, there was a mutilation that Jones had been fascinated by.

  Because that memory was so vague but seemed important, Patterson looked up the old case file. What he discovered had tipped the scales of his belief. There had been an eye witness that time also, a teenage boy who abruptly died of an overdose… shortly after Patterson had told Abe about him.

  There was only one solution that he could think of. He had to take himself out of the game for a while and hope that whoever sent that note to Harris figured out how to finish it without his help.

  He had already arranged for around-the-clock police protection for Harris, for as long as he remained in the hospital. After that, he figured the detective could protect himself.

  His next order of business was to call in a favor owed him by one of his golf partners, who happened to be a respected cardiologist. Within a half hour of making his decision, Patterson was under doctor’s orders to take a medical leave of absence from his job for at least two weeks due to a serious heart condition. The doctor strongly recommended that the sheriff and his wife go somewhere very quiet and not leave their forwarding address with anyone who might disturb his much-needed rest.

  * * *

  Ellery was temporarily spared further discussion with Luke by a talkative driver during the cab ride to the airport, then by the fortuitous lack of adjacent seats on the small plane. Once they landed and rented a car, however, they were alone once again.

  Her concern that he would take advantage of the situation to pressure her about their “relationship” was needless. As soon as they got in the compact car, Luke handed her the file he’d brought with him. “I think I may have figured out something important while we were flying down here. Compare Jones’ detailed bio to the summary sheet of all the murders.”

  She removed those pages from the file. “We already figured out that the senator was in the vicinity when and where seven of the eleven were committed, nine if you count the proximity of the colleges on the first one and his living near Oakland when the third one occurred. Did you come up with another one?”

  “Not exactly. It’s more like another piece to the puzzle. The first victim was a junior in college, like Jones, but that young man was class president at the University of Pennsylvania. The next year, Jones got himself elected senior class president at Yale. And about the time Jones would have been applying to law school, the Harvard political science professor was killed.”

  “Those could still just be coincidences,” Ellery said, frowning at the information on her lap.

  “Stay with me,” he said. “Number four, the one I saw, was committed about a year before he was elected to the city council.”

  “But that man was a construction worker. He had nothing to do with city politics.”

  “I know, but that’s not the connection I see. It’s the timing. About two years before he became mayor was when the black woman was killed near New Orleans. Plus, almost two years before he was elected senator, there were the two murders in Atlanta. Now we have one more following the news that he’ll probably be on the Republican ticket next fall. And it seems almost certain that Levitt’s suicide and Terrell’s fire are connected as well.”

  Ellery shook her head. “Blame it on brain overload or lack of sleep, but I don’t see what you’re getting at.”

  “Every murder occurred around the time Abraham Jones was getting ready to take another step up the ladder. Then nothing while he’s settled in an office… at least not that there’s a record of. I know it’s a stretch, but I think it’s the timing that’s important. Terrell had said timing is usually a clue in hunting down a serial killer, but I think they were looking for the wrong kind of timing.”

  “Okay. I can see how you could make a connection, but it’s a weak one. There just isn’t any logic to it. Except for the two college men and maybe the retired police officer, none of the other victims worked at jobs that had any connection with politics or the law. There’s a marketing analyst, psychiatrist, corporate treasurer, physical therapist, computer programmer and clothing store owner. It looks more like he chose his victims at random based on where he had to be on certain dates.”

  Luke nodded. “I agree, but there still had to be some sort of reason behind his choices.”

  “Motive,” Ellery supplied. “One of the little incidentals needed to prove guilt. And there just doesn’t seem to be one.”

  “Maybe every one of them knew something detrimental about Jones, and he silenced them one by one, as an opportunity conveniently arose.”

  Again Ellery shook her head. “That doesn’t wash. If it were one or two ugly secrets that all those people knew about, the FBI would have found a connection between them. And if it was a lot of ugly secrets… well, there’s no way he could have gotten where he is.”

  “Then look for another correlation. As you said, the FBI investigation shows none of the victims had common bonds, at least nothing obvious.”

  “You mentioned one thing in your notes that they weren’t sure of yet—the homosexual angle. I find it hard to believe, but what if that’s it? Maybe the victims were all people who either had a sexual encounter with him or found out a
bout one, and he killed them and removed their eyes because of what they saw.”

  Luke made a face. “From what Terrell told me, that would suggest some emotionalism on Jones’ part, and crimes of passion are rarely so perfect that the FBI can’t crack them. He would have made a mistake somewhere along the line. Someone besides me would have seen him in a compromising situation.”

  “You may be right, but I’m not completely sure sex can be ruled out. There was something else. I’ve tried to dismiss it, but it keeps coming back. I’m not positive, mind you, but Mrs. Jones… well, she sort of seemed… interested in me one day when we were talking. My mother had insisted that there was something odd about both of them.”

  “By interested, do you mean sexually?” Ellery’s blush gave him his answer. “Well then, maybe I could make a pass at him and see if he accepts.”

  She clucked her tongue at him. “After your little chat with him the other day about me, I don’t think he’d believe you’d suddenly discovered that you prefer men. Anyway, you are not to go anywhere near him.” When he didn’t respond, she nudged him. “Luke, I’m serious. Promise me you’ll stay away from the senator… and his brother, just in case.”

  He grinned at her. “You sound like you’re worried about me. I’ll take that as a positive sign. Another couple hours and I might even get a smile out of you.”

  She purposely gave him a fake smile then went back to looking for a more believable motive for all the murders. She had the feeling that it was right in front of them, but no matter how many times she read the same sentences, she couldn’t figure out what they were missing.

  Not knowing which hospital Terrell was in, Luke first drove to Terrell’s parents’ home and was fortunate in catching Mr. Harris. The ex-football star gave Luke a manly hug. “Terrell said you were out here for a visit, but when you didn’t come by I thought you’d gone back east again.”

  Luke introduced Ellery to Terrell’s father and gave a vague explanation of where he had been. As they followed him into the living room, Luke said, “I just heard what happened to Terrell. How is he?”

  Mr. Harris sighed. “Not good. Some real bad burns, smoke inhalation, a head injury from the explosion. Actually, they said the blast from the initial explosion is probably what saved him. From what they’ve pieced together so far, he might have been thrown away from the source of the fire before it broke out. He’s been unconscious since they found him, but Terrell’s come back from the dead before. His mother is at the hospital now. We’ve been taking shifts so that at least one of us is there in case he comes to. There’s a pretty little lady police officer staying with him most of the time.”

  “Maria?” Luke asked with a smile.

  He nodded. “Nice gal, and strong. Maybe strong enough to hold onto my son. The department assigned an officer to guard him, but she won’t leave. Says she doesn’t believe it was an accident and doesn’t trust the officers on duty to protect him the way she would.”

  “Good for her. We don’t think it was an accident either. But I feel better knowing he’s being protected.”

  They talked for a while longer then Mr. Harris gave him directions to the hospital. As they were about to drive away, Luke remembered something.

  “I’ll be right back,” he told Ellery and left her sitting in the rental car for nearly ten minutes before he returned with something in a small paper bag. He put it in the trunk before getting behind the wheel.

  “What was that?” Ellery asked.

  “Oh, just some snacks… in case we get hungry later.”

  She was positive he was lying—why would he put snacks in the trunk, of all places—but she decided it wasn’t worth making an issue of it. He would probably only tell another lie.

  Besides, she didn’t feel right starting an argument with him while his best friend’s life could be ebbing away. He was keeping up a lighthearted front but while he’d been talking to Terrell’s father, she could see that he was barely holding back tears.

  The moment he pulled out of the driveway, Luke began relating a string of stories about Terrell, his family, his career and the numerous scrapes they’d gotten each other into and out of.

  Ellery didn’t want to have any positive feelings about Luke, but as she listened to him and watched his face, she had to acknowledge that this was a man who understood friendship and loyalty. He was also a man who wasn’t afraid to reveal his emotions. But would he lie about those emotions to get what he wanted from a woman? She knew it was terribly “girly” to be mixing her personal issues in with such a crucial situation, but she couldn’t stop doing it. After all, it was the situation that triggered the personal dilemma.

  He wanted her to believe that he felt more deeply about her than any other woman he’d ever known. An obvious lie, since they barely knew each other. He might have some good qualities, but he was just another one of those men who tell women they love them to get what they want, then they disappear once they get it.

  But you already gave him your body and the answers he needed. Why is he still saying he loves you? And why does he keep looking at you like you’re the only woman on a desert island?

  Ellery ordered the annoying voice in her head to hush. She had enough to think about without trying to analyze Luke’s inexplicable behavior.

  For one thing, his comments about Brevowski were still echoing in her mind. Despite what she had said to him, she knew very well how quickly someone like Brevowski or “his people” would throw her to the wolves if they needed a scapegoat to cover their secretive tracks. She simply had not wanted to think about it.

  If everything went well, she could be coming out of this adventure with some powerful friends. If it went badly… well, there was a wide range of possible endings for her, all of which put a sizable dent in the confidence she needed to continue.

  Once again, she set aside the political aspects and concentrated on her mother. She was almost positive the senator had something to do with her death. To learn the truth about that, one way or the other, she had to take whatever risks were necessary to see this through.

  What she needed was a way to protect herself, so that no matter what happened, her life and her career would be preserved.

  But what about Luke? Why did she feel like it was her responsibility to protect him as well? He was a grown man, intelligent, and had his own reasons for being involved. It wasn’t like he had gotten caught up in the intrigue because of her. If something happened to him, it would be his own fault. She was not responsible.

  On the other hand, if he hadn’t given her the information about The Eye Doctor, she still wouldn’t have known what sort of evidence she was looking for. As much as she hated to admit it, they were now working together, and that meant they needed to be able to trust each other.

  By the time he parked the car in the hospital parking lot, she had made several decisions. “Before we go inside, we need to discuss something.” He shifted in his seat and gave her his full attention. “Are we working together now, or separately?”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Together, I hope.”

  “And do you agree that we’re poking around in a very explosive situation?”

  “I believe I tried to point that out to you earlier.”

  “Then why are you still lying to me?”

  Her question surprised him. “I’m not. You know everything I do.”

  She pursed her lips. “Fine. Then get me a snack.”

  His eyes narrowed with bewilderment again… until he realized what she was getting at. “Oh. That.”

  “Yes, that. What’s in the bag in the trunk?”

  “A gun.”

  Her eyes widened. “A gun? What are you planning to do with a gun?”

  “Nothing, unless one of us is threatened.”

  She sighed and shook her head. “For heaven’s sake. Do you even know how to shoot the thing?”

  “Terrell’s father showed me all I need to know.”

  “Are you aware of the statistics ab
out handguns? A very large percentage of people end up getting shot with their own guns.”

  “Well then, I don’t have to worry since, technically, it’s not my gun.” He paused for her to appreciate his sense of humor but when she only huffed at him, he asked, “Have you got a better idea for how we can protect ourselves if Jones, or Brevowski, or whoever else is in on this, decides that we’ve become a nuisance?”

  She lifted her chin. “I was thinking of writing a letter to someone I know in Congress. You know, ‘If anything happens to me, give this letter to The Washington Post‘. That sort of thing.”

  “In which case, you’ll already be dead. I don’t know why, but that doesn’t make me feel better.”

  “I meant that I would use it as a threat, to keep anyone from harming me… us.”

  He made a face and shook his head. “I’m keeping the gun.”

  “Fine. Just tell me this. How do you intend to get it back to Sacramento? They won’t let you take it on the plane without being licensed to carry it.”

  “I, uh, figured I’d drive back.”

  Ellery sighed. “And when were you going to tell me that? When you dropped me off at the airport? You know, for someone who says he wants to spend the rest of his life with me, you don’t seem to trust me very much.” The one side of his mouth lifted in a half smile, and she sighed again. “That was an observation, not a change of heart.”

  “Either way, you’re wrong. I would trust you with my life. I just thought you wouldn’t want to know about the gun.”

  She had to look away. He wasn’t touching her, but his eyes were reaching inside her mind and telling her all sorts of things she didn’t want to know. “Don’t lie to me again. We need to be able to trust each other.”

  “Deal,” he said and held out his hand for a shake. When she hesitated to accept it, he teased her. “It’s only a handshake, Ellery—an agreement between partners. It’s not like I’m trying to steal a kiss.”

  She felt her cheeks flush as she gave him her hand. It was bad enough that she was afraid to make contact with him, but to have him realize why she had hesitated made it even worse. As she expected, he took advantage of her weakness once her hand was enveloped in his. There was nothing restrictive about his hold, but she was unable to pull away.