by Jessie Cooke
“No, just some guy. He stopped us in the alley out behind the bistro when we were getting dinner and he asked Dahlia her name. I didn’t like the looks of him and I told her not to trust him but he had money and juice and she needed a fix. She took him back to the house. I didn’t go back that night cause I knew what they were gonna be doin’. I’m not a peeper.”
“So Dahlia took this guy back to the house and they had sex. Then what?”
He shrugged. “I ain’t seen her since. I guess she moved on. I went back to get my stuff but that guy was there. He was unloading something out of his car and I didn’t want him to see me so I took off. The guy gave me the creeps and I heard he was asking about me on the streets…looking for me or something. Anyways, when I went back a few days later he was gone and the police had the house all taped off.”
“Bennie, where is this house?”
“Over off of Magnolia. It sits back in the alley. It’s been empty for a long time. Me and Dahlia didn’t do it no harm.”
“I believe you, Bennie. I really just want to find Dahlia. You think you could describe the guy you left her with?”
“He was about…”
“You don’t have to do it right now. I want you to talk to her brother.”
He got the suspicious look. “You didn’t say nothing about me talking to a cop. You promised me shoes…”
“You don’t have to talk to him. I’ll still get you the shoes. I just wish you would. He doesn’t want to do Dahlia any harm. He cares about her a lot.”
“Is he coming here?”
“He will if I call him, or you and I can go to him and stop at the Walmart on the way, if you don’t mind riding on the back of my bike.”
Bennie looked down at his feet. The bottoms of his socks were filthy and holes were worn through in places. Running his hand through his grisly beard he said, “Only if I get some whiskey.”
As a firefighter Collin had been out on so many calls where the old vets with PTSD got drunk and killed someone or themselves. He hated to perpetuate that in any way, but this was important, so he gave in. “Okay, Bennie, shoes, sleeping bag, and whiskey. Will you go with me now?”
He nodded slowly. “I guess I ain’t got much else going on tonight.”
25
The old man smelled so bad that while Collin was filling Noah in on what he’d told him so far, Ava slipped into the bathroom and put Vicks in her nose. He was sitting on their couch while they waited for Hayden and with all the questions Noah had for him, the primary thought on the PI’s mind was that they were going to need a new couch. The other Skulls had left, not anxious to be there when Hayden arrived, but Collin had stayed. The old guy was sipping the whiskey Ava insisted on putting in a glass, and staring down at his new shoes. Collin had taken Aiden into the den and they were playing a video game. Noah wanted to interview the smelly old guy himself, badly, but Ava gently reminded him of the damage he could do to Hayden’s case if he talked to him off the record. Grudgingly, he had called Hayden.
“What?”
“I don’t know why you can’t say hello like a normal person.”
“I’m reading a bedtime story to my daughter, Noah. What’s up?”
“I’m sorry, really. But while Ava’s brother was out helping me look for Ciara tonight, he just might have stumbled on a guy that can give us a description of the Valentine Killer.”
“Motherfucker!” in the background Noah heard, “Daddy!” and “Hayden!” almost simultaneously. “Sorry,” he heard him say to his wife and daughter. He handed the story off to Lulu and took the call from another room. “So who is this guy?”
“His name is Bennie, he’s homeless and I think he’s a drunk.”
“Sounds promising.” Noah could almost hear him rolling his eyes.
“Don’t be so sarcastic, we’ve had worse witnesses.”
“You think this guy is legit?”
“He says that he and Ciara were squatting at a house on Magnolia.” Noah paused, mostly for effect and Hayden said:
“I’m listening.”
“He says Ciara took the guy to the house and he also saw him there the next day taking something out of his trunk.”
“His trunk? He has a description of his car too?”
“I’m honestly not sure what all he has a description of. Ava is making me wait for you to talk to him.”
Hayden laughed. “This is why she’s the brains of that operation.”
“Yeah, yeah…just get your ass over here, the guy is stinking up my house.” Hayden knew as well as Noah did that that was the least of his worries. He would rather focus on what was right in front of him than think about Ciara being with that murderous slime ball and imagine all of those scenarios.
“I’ll be there in twenty,” he said before hanging up.
While still waiting, Noah went into the den and said:
“Hayden’s on his way. Collin, you can go ahead and take off. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your help, and please tell the other guys the same.”
“Not a problem,” Collin said. Aiden frowned, like he didn’t want Collin to leave. When Collin came out, he had Aiden with him. As soon as Ava saw how her boy was staring at Bennie she looked at Collin and said:
“Don’t leave yet. I’m going to pack Aiden a bag. I’ll call Ma and let her know he’s coming. You don’t mind dropping him off, do you?” Aiden was grinning and Noah knew it was because he’d been aching to take a ride on Collin’s Harley. Noah was surprised she didn’t suggest Collin take one of the cars, but at the door, she did lecture…and even threaten…her brother, to take care of her boy. As she was coming back into the room Noah was saying:
“So, Bennie, how long have you known Dahlia?” Ava cleared her throat too loudly. Noah gave her the I’m just making conversation face.
Bennie shrugged. “I don’t keep track of time very good. I guess I’ve known her for a few years. She’s always been good to me. I got beat up real bad once and she took care of me. She’s a nice girl.”
Noah felt a lump in his throat. She was a nice girl when she didn’t have junk in her veins. His poor little sister just never had a chance in life and he blamed himself for a lot of it. “Bennie…”
“Would you like another sandwich?” Ava jumped in and interrupted him. Noah gave her a hard stare but she just glared back at him. Bossy damned woman. He just about to open his mouth again and get himself into trouble when Hayden knocked on the door.
“I’d like that, ma’am,” Bennie said. “Thank you.”
Noah went to let Hayden in while Ava went to make the sandwich. “Has he said anything?”
“Not really, he’s too busy staring at his new shoes.”
He smirked and said, “Well, the professionals are here now.”
“Fuck you.” Hayden chuckled as he slipped past Noah and headed into the living room. Noah gave him the same hard stare that he had given Ava. It had the same effect on him, which was virtually none. They were killing his tough guy image. After introductions were made Hayden said, “Bennie, can you tell me about the last time you saw Dahlia?”
The old man nodded. “We were getting some dinner behind the Bistro…”
“I’m sorry, the Bistro?”
“Yeah, that one downtown by where they found me. We were talking while we were eating and she was talking about quitting the dope. She hadn’t had any for a while and she was hurting, but she said she wanted to quit. I ain’t never touched that stuff.” He picked up his glass of whiskey and took a drink. Afterwards he looked at the glass and said, “We all have our poisons, I guess.”
“So where did this man come in?”
“He just appeared out of nowhere and come up and asked Dahlia her name. She told him and he said he thought she looked like a girl he used to know named Celia. Dahlia was suspicious of that and we started to leave but he said he had some juice and he’d be willing to share it. I told him I didn’t do the stuff but I could tell Dahlia really needed it bad. She told him
she had a place they could go and I knew she was taking him back to the house.”
“Did you happen to see what this guy was driving?”
“Not that night. I stayed away from the house so they could do their business, but the next day when I went over there to get my stuff he was there. He didn’t see me. I hid and watched him taking something out of the back of his car.”
Hayden and Noah exchanged a glance and then Hayden said, “Did you see what he took out of the car, Bennie?”
“I saw it. I’m just not sure what it was. It looked like a shower curtain or something.”
“Was it folded up or did it look heavy, like something was inside of it?”
“It was rolled up and he was carrying it in his arms. It didn’t look heavy, though.”
“What about the car, Bennie? Do you remember what kind of car it was?”
“I don’t know a whole lot about cars. I haven’t owned one since before I went in the army. It was blue and it had four doors. It was really shiny with a lot of chrome.”
“What color blue, Bennie? Was it light like sky blue or dark like navy blue…?”
“It was dark, almost black but blue.”
“Can you tell us what the man looked like?”
“He was about your size…” Hayden stood up. He was about an inch shorter than Noah, which made him about six foot two. The old man looked up at him and said, “Nah, he wasn’t as tall as you.”
“But he was built like me?”
The old man took in Hayden’s bulky frame. “Nah, he was smaller too.”
It was killing Noah. Getting information from the old guy was like pulling teeth. He knew that it was a damned good thing Hayden was a hell of a lot more patient than him. While Bennie thought about how big the guy was, Ava set his sandwich down in front of him. He picked it up and took a big bite with his toothless gums and as he chewed it Hayden said, “Why don’t we come back to how big he was. Maybe you can tell us about the rest of him, like what color was his hair?”
“I don’t know.”
“You didn’t see his hair?”
“He didn’t have any to see. Can I have another drink, ma’am?” Ava looked at Hayden and he gave her a little nod before asking Bennie:
“He was bald?”
“Yep. That man was bald as a cucumber. Maybe that’s what made him look so strange, he was white as a ghost and his head and face were as smooth as a cue ball.”
“Do you remember what color eyes he had?”
“They were black,” he said, definitively.
“You’re sure they were black?” Hayden asked. “Since it was dark could they have been dark blue or dark brown?”
“No, they were black for sure. They reminded me of those two lumps of coal them kids used to make the snowman…”
“The snowman?” Hayden asked.
“Frosty,” Ava said.
“Yeah, that’s the one. They sit real close together next to his nose too and make him look like a rat or something. His forehead was real big, or maybe that’s just the lack of hair. He was just a real funny-looking guy.”
“What kind of clothes was he wearing, Bennie?”
“He had on some snooty-looking suit and shiny shoes.”
Hayden led him back through everything again, getting an approximation on the height and weight. If Bennie was to be believed, the guy was pretty slight in his build. That might explain why he only grabbed prostitutes and addicts; they were easier to handle.
“Bennie, would you be willing to give a description of this guy to my sketch artist?”
Bennie made a face, Noah thought. It was hard to tell under all of that hair around his nose and mouth. “That red-haired guy said I just had to talk to one cop.”
“You don’t have to talk to anyone,” Hayden said. “But it sounds to me like you’re really fond of Dahlia. I think we might be able to help her if you can help us find the man she was with that night.”
Bennie hesitated and drained his glass before saying, “Alright.”
Hayden praised his willingness to help and they talked about where Hayden would pick him up in the morning. Noah doubted that Bennie would show up, but as it was, if the guy he was talking about was their killer, he had given them more information than they had been able to get in over a decade. As Hayden was on his way out to take Bennie “home,” Noah asked:
“Are you going to have the CSIs go over that part of the alley where this guy first showed up?”
He nodded. “But don’t get your hopes up over that. If Bennie’s timeline is accurate, that night happened over a month ago.”
“If it was a month ago…”
“Don’t, Noah, don’t let your head go there right now, okay? Let’s take this one step at a time.”
“I’ll try.” Noah thanked Bennie again and when he closed the door behind them he leaned into it for a minute. His gut told him that the guy Bennie was talking about was the Valentine Killer. Noah wanted that to be true because it brought them a step closer to catching the bastard. But if it was true, it meant the man took his sister. The only thing that kept him sane when he had that thought was that he knew that the killer didn’t keep his victims. He killed them quickly and left them to be found. If he took Ciara, he would have killed her by now. If he knew she was Noah’s sister he would have been proud to show off what he’d done. Noah had to hold onto that thought. The other possibilities were just too much for him to consider.
26
Three days after Hayden actually convinced Bennie to sit with the sketch artist, they were ready to start circulating it. The department was giving a press conference and Hayden’s captain was going to put Ciara’s picture out there too and label her as a “missing, endangered person.” While they were doing that, Noah was heading downtown to meet Jace and some of the guys to start passing the photos out there. He wanted to find the bastard, but he also hoped that knowing what the psycho looked like might save the life of another woman like his sister.
He was backing out of the driveway as Collin was pulling in on his bike. Noah stopped and waited for him with his window down, but instead of coming over and talking to him, he opened up the passenger door and got in. “Good morning,” he said with that Kelly grin.
“Morning. Can I help you?”
“Nope. I’m here to help you. I was going to go downtown with Jace and the guys, but I thought you might need some moral support.”
Noah was touched. As he backed out onto the street he said, “Thank you, Collin. I appreciate the help.”
“Not a problem, but while we’re driving, I need some advice.”
“You want advice from me?”
“Yeah, crazy, huh?” Collin and Noah used to be really good friends. Things changed somewhere about the time Noah started sleeping with his sister. Noah thought he also still blamed him for the whole Brian thing. Things between them were better than the night they’d hooked up at the police station, but still strained. Noah hoped someday they could get back to where they used to be.
“Okay, shoot.”
“You know that Aiden’s teacher and I…”
“Yeah, I know.” He didn’t want the details. For some reason it seemed borderline incestuous to him, and he was also still hiding it from Ava.
“I’ll spare you most of the details, but the bottom line is that even though I flirted with her when I picked Aiden up, I never had any real intentions of asking her out or anything. Then, I ran into her at 911 and one thing led to the other…she’s entirely different outside of school.”
“She’s an adult. She has a right to a personal life.”
“Yeah, that’s what I told myself. The sex was pretty good and under other circumstances I would have called her for another go around. But I kept thinking about Aiden and if it didn’t work out I didn’t want him to suffer somehow. I just didn’t know her well enough to know if she’s the type to hold a grudge, you know?” Noah nodded and he went on, “She called me a few days after and I agreed to meet her for
lunch. When I got there she unleashed on me about what a selfish pig I was for having sex with her and then never calling her back. I tried explaining to her that I wasn’t looking for a relationship and I apologized but that only seemed to make her angrier. So I finally just took it and when she was finished I left.”
Noah couldn’t help it, he laughed. He remembered those days well and he was surprised at how glad he was they were over. “Maybe next time you’ll tell her up front before you fuck her.”
“Maybe,” Collin said with his brows drawn together, “but the thing is, I worry this chick is unstable. I got a text from her later that same day apologizing for her rant. I didn’t respond to it. I got another one a few hours later calling me an asshole again. It got so bad that when I went to the club the next day, my phone was buzzing every fifteen minutes. I finally blocked her.”
Noah pulled into a parking garage downtown and as he was finding a space he said, “Okay then, problem solved, right?”
“I wish. Last night she started texting Sean.”
He put the car in park and pulled out the keys. “How did she get Sean’s number?”
“I think the same way she must have gotten mine, from the school records. It’s not right, Noah. I’m not sure what to do about it. He blocked her too, but there are still a lot of us left to go through. What if she calls Ava?”
Noah laughed again as they got out of the car. “That’s what you’re really worried about, isn’t it? Ava’s wrath scares you more than anything.”
“You’re one to talk. You’re more scared of her than the rest of us.”
Noah stopped and pushed the button for the elevator to the street. “The difference is I’m worried I’ll do something stupid enough to lose her. She’s your sister, and your family is tighter than any family I’ve ever known. She might be pissed at you, but she’ll get over it.”
“They’re all pissed at me right now. I was surprised Sean even called me, but it was mostly just to tell me what a fuck-up I am…again.” They rode the elevator down and when they stepped off onto the street Collin said, “And then there’s Ava, who is sticking by me…but now this. She gets all screechy and pinched up when she’s mad. She’s like a little pterodactyl or something. I hate when it’s directed at me.”