The Advocate - 03 - The Advocate's Conviction

by Teresa Burrell

  48

  Sabre sat down in the lobby at the hospital and took a deep breath. Her head was spinning as she thought about who she needed to call. She didn’t have a cell number for the social worker, but Cole was under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court so the hospital would contact the Department of Social Services. Sabre called Bob.

  “Hi, Sobs,” he said.

  “I found Cole.”

  “Is he okay?”

  “He’s alive but he’s pretty sick. Can you reach his mom?”

  “She doesn’t have a phone and even if I could leave a message with a neighbor, I doubt if she could get a ride anywhere. Where is he now?”

  “We’re at Scripps Mercy in Chula Vista. It was the closest hospital.”

  “I’ll go pick her up and bring her there.”

  “That would be so good.”

  “How did you find him?”

  “He was with his father, but I’ll explain it all when you get here. Right now I have to make a couple of phone calls.”

  Sabre checked her messages. JP had called three times and Bailey twice.

  Sabre listened to JP’s messages. The first message said, “Hey, kid, call me when you get this.” The second one, “Hey, kid, I just left Rob Cavitt’s house. I didn’t really learn anything new.” The last one concerned her. “Sabre, I went to World of Hope. Dr. Ric Cavitt is one of the obstetricians on call there, and a very pregnant girl is missing. In light of what Bailey told you, I’m worried. I’m going to try and track the doctor. Call me.”

  Then she checked her messages from Bailey. In both messages Bailey whispered into the phone. “They’re here at my house. The social worker is with them.” The second message said. “I’m sneaking out. Meet me by the canyon, the back side.”

  Sabre checked the time of the messages. It had been nearly an hour already. She called Bailey’s cell. No answer. “Bailey, I just received your message. I’m going to the canyon right now. Call me.” Then Sabre called JP. It rang four times, but he didn’t pick up. “I found Cole. He’s at Chula Vista Hospital. Bob’s on his way there with Cole’s mother. I’ll explain when you call. Right now I’m going to the back opening to the canyon off Boyd to meet Bailey. Call me.”

  Sabre pulled into the paved parking area near the canyon and turned her car around. She thought she saw something move in the bush between her and Boyd Street, but it was raining so hard she could hardly see. She left her lights on for a minute and her windshield wipers were operating at full speed. Two figures emerged from the bushes—Bailey and a tall man in his mid-fifties. Bailey was holding an umbrella over their heads. The man was holding a gun to hers.

  “Open the door,” he yelled. Sabre unlocked the doors. The man yanked the rear door open on the driver’s side. He told Bailey to close the umbrella and then he pushed her inside the car. He held a .22 caliber handgun in his left hand directed at Bailey and reached his right arm out to Sabre, palm open. “Give me your cell phone.” Sabre dropped it in his hand. “Now drive,” he ordered. “Take the 163 south to the 8 east. I’ll tell you where to go from there.”

  Sabre heard Bailey crying and asked if she was okay.

  “She’s fine,” the man said, “but she better stop her blubbering or she won’t be.”

  Sabre ignored the man. “Bailey, did he hurt you?”

  “No,” she said.

  “What do you want from us?” Sabre asked.

  “I want the rest of the videos her little boyfriend filmed,” the man said.

  “I told him there weren’t any more, but he doesn’t believe me.”

  Sabre drove as slowly as she could, trying to formulate a plan. “Speed up,” the man said.

  “I can’t see where I’m going. It’s pouring.” The roads were accumulating water. An eighteen wheeler sped past, throwing even more water on her car. For several seconds she was blinded by the waterfall that drenched her windshield. Sabre entered the 163 freeway going south and then exited on Interstate 8. She still had no plan.

  49

  No one was home at Dr. Ric’s house in Clairemont. JP had walked around the side of the house and even rung the doorbell, but no one answered. So, he drove to Lakeside to Rob Cavitt’s house instead. The long driveway was completely dark. He parked and knocked on the door, but no one appeared to be home here, either. He walked back to his car, retrieved his flashlight, and then went around the house and tried the back door and windows. All were locked. He found another door with a small glass window that led into the garage. He shined the flashlight in the window and peered in. The 1948 Plymouth sat in the far bay; the other two bays were empty.

  JP couldn’t think of where else to look for Mena. He had ruled out her home and friends and feared she was with Dr. Ric somewhere giving birth for their latest sacrifice. Then he remembered Bailey’s other DVD. This was definitely an “emergency.” He called Sabre again, and when she didn’t answer he left another message. Then he drove toward Bailey’s house. It started to sprinkle. JP flipped the windshield wipers on. He had been hearing all week that there was a storm brewing, and now it had started.

  JP dashed up to Bailey’s house to keep from becoming soaked and knocked on the door. He could hear loud music coming from inside. Karen Bailey came to the door holding a drink in her left hand.

  “Well, hello, cowboy,” she said, stretching out the word “hello.” She grabbed him by the shirt with her free hand and tugged, “Come on in out of the rain.”

  JP was caught slightly off balance but quickly steadied himself and stepped inside. “Are you Karen?”

  “Yes. Are you my birthday present?”

  “Not today,” he said. JP swiftly sized up the room. It was a mess, but the way things were piled against the wall it appeared some attempt had been made to tidy up the place. A woman was lying on the sofa, and although she hadn’t yet passed out, he guessed she would be soon. Several liquor bottles were scattered around the room. A half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels lay on the table with an ashtray full of butts. “So you’re celebrating your birthday?”

  “I’m thirty today … over the hill … shit, I’m too young to be over the hill.”

  Another woman walked out of what JP presumed was the bathroom, buttoning her jeans as she came towards them. She stopped and eyeballed JP from top to bottom. “Uh huh,” she said. She turned to Karen. “Who’s the hunk?”

  “My birthday present.”

  “Sorry,” JP said. “I’m looking for Bailey.”

  “Why is everyone looking for Bailey tonight?” Karen said.

  “Who else was here?”

  “That bitch, the social worker.” Karen picked up a cigarette off the table and lit it.

  “What did she want?” JP asked.

  “I dunno. I just told her she wasn’t here and she was ruining my birthday.”

  “Are you sure Bailey’s not in her room?”

  “No. She’s not in her room.”

  “Do you mind if I check for myself?”

  “Knock yourself out. It’s just down the hall on your left.” She stuck her cigarette in her mouth and reached up and ran her fingers across JP’s cheek. “And when you’re done there, I’ll gladly meet you in my room.”

  JP forced a smile and removed her hand. He walked down the hallway, flipped on the light, and checked the room. The deadbolt was locked tight. When he walked back out Karen reached for his arm. “Let’s dance,” she said.

  He spun around, pulling his arm away. “Not today. I’m in a hurry.” He stepped backwards and out the door, tipped his hat and said, “Happy Birthday.”

  JP walked to his car and waited for about five minutes. The rain had let up a little. When he thought he could sneak by unnoticed, he walked around the back to Bailey’s room. The screen was off the window. He pushed the window open as wide as he could, leaving plenty of open space. Putting both hands on the sill he started to boost himself up, but it was slick and his hands slipped. He took the end of his shirt and wiped the ledge off and repositioned himsel
f. This time he went up and lay on the sill belly down. When he reached forward and down to determine if there were any obstacles, he felt the bed directly under him. JP rolled into the room, onto the bed, and closed the window behind him. Then he removed a small flashlight from his jacket pocket. He wasn’t concerned about the noise because the music was so loud, and as long as the hallway light stayed on, they wouldn’t see light coming from under the bedroom door.

  JP turned on the flashlight and looked under the bed for the box of movies Bailey had told Sabre about. It was a big box. He rummaged through them as quietly as he could without taking too much time. He pushed aside Napoleon Dynamite, Mean Girls, Bewitched, Mamma Mia, and several Harry Potter movies before he found Juno.

  JP shined the light around the room until it lit upon a DVD player. He removed the disc from the box, put it in the slot, and hit “Play.” The camera panned the outside of an old home. It was not the “Devil House” or anything JP recognized. The house was situated on a small rise and appeared to be somewhat isolated. The grass was in serious need of cutting and it obviously hadn’t seen paint in several decades. To the left of the house stood a huge evergreen oak tree that towered above the two-story house and billowed out on each side of the trunk shading the entire left side of the yard. The camera focused on the tree for nearly a minute before it circled the house to the right and stopped on a door. The next shot was from inside the house. It looked like a hospital examining room but not as clean. There were instruments and supplies sitting on a counter. The corner of an examining table with stirrups showed in the next few frames. Then the camera zoomed out and showed the entire bed surrounded by a red-brown pentagram. On the wall to the side of the bed was a large drawing of a tree resembling the one outside. Candles glowed throughout the room. The film stopped abruptly and started again outside.

  JP heard a noise. The light was gone from the hallway. As quickly as JP could push the buttons, the DVD player and his flashlight were turned off. He waited in the dark. Since he was quite certain no one but Bailey had a key for the door, he kept his eye on the window as he moved closer to the door to listen. With his ear pushed up against the door he heard the toilet flush across the hall, then the clink of high heels on the tiled floor. He continued to wait until he was sure there was no activity outside the room, and then he turned the DVD on again.

  The film showed three men and a woman leaving the room through an outside door. JP recognized Dr. Ric but not the others, although he thought one could have been Rob, Ric’s brother. The men all appeared approximately the same age, mid-fifties perhaps. The woman looked a little younger. He paused on the woman and decided it looked a lot like the woman driving the VW Beetle he had seen at Rob Cavitt’s house, but he couldn’t be certain. The rest of the film was mostly the ground flying by as the cameraman ran away.

  JP removed the disc from the player, returned it to its box, and stuck it in his pocket. He pushed the rest of the DVDs back under the bed and climbed out the window. Once he was back in his car, he noticed he had another message on his phone. He realized the ringer had been off since his visit to the group home. The call was from Sabre. It said she was going to the back side of the canyon to meet Bailey. He hooked up his earpiece, drove off, and called her back.

  “Sorry I missed your call, kid. I’m on my way to meet you right now. The canyon’s just around the corner. Please call me back.” He paused. “I may be repeating myself, but just so you know, Collicott’s client, Mena has disappeared from the World of Hope. She’s pregnant, about to give birth, and Dr. Ric is her obstetrician. I’m trying to find them before another baby is killed. They’re not at Dr. Ric’s house nor his brother’s. So I went to Bailey’s and picked up the disc she left behind. There are new players on it. I want you to see if you recognize anyone. Please call as soon as you get this.” He hadn’t hung up yet when he reached the parking area for the canyon entrance. “I’m here. Where are you? I’m getting worried. Call me.”

  “Damn it,” JP said aloud. He sat there in the lot with his windshield wipers flapping and called Bob. “Have you talked to Sabre recently?”

  “About an hour ago, at the hospital.”

  “She’s in the hospital?”

  “No, she’s not in the hospital. She was at the hospital with Cole.”

  “That’s right. She left a message saying she found Cole? That’s great! Is he okay?”

  “He’s pretty sick. I just dropped his mother off there.”

  “So what happened?”

  “I don’t know. Sabre said she’d explain when I got there, but when I arrived she was gone. I tried her cell and her home, but there was no answer.”

  “It’s odd that she wouldn’t stay there with him until she knew he was okay. I’ve been trying to reach her, too, but she’s not picking up.”

  “It had to be pretty important for her to leave Cole.”

  “She said she was going to meet Bailey. I’m at their meeting place but they aren’t here. Say, are you busy?” JP asked.

  “I was just driving home. Why?”

  “I need your help. I want you to look at a DVD and see if you recognize anyone. Can we stop at your office?”

  “Sure. I’ll see you in a few.”

  JP put the disc in Bob’s computer. When it started JP pointed out the house. “You’ve lived in San Diego all your life. Do you recognize this house?”

  Bob shook his head. “No. Sorry.” JP forwarded the film to show Bob the room. “It’s like the ‘Devil House’ but with more equipment,” Bob said.

  “Yeah, but it’s not the same room.” JP paused the frame and pointed to an area on the screen. “See the little sitting room area. The other house didn’t have that.”

  “I see. But it has the same satanic symbols, and the same tree.”

  “True.” JP paused the film again. “Here they are. Look at these people. I know who the fat guy is. That’s Dr. Ric. See if you recognize any of the others.”

  “Oh my God!”

  “What is it?”

  “That woman is the social worker on Bailey’s case. That can’t be. Maybe she was investigating something?”

  “Does she look like she’s investigating? I don’t think so. And I saw that woman going to Rob Cavitt’s house earlier today. What’s her name? I’ll call my friend and get an address.”

  “It’s Gillian Lloyd. But that’s not all. I know the tall, skinny guy, too. He’s an attorney. He represents Bailey’s mom in her criminal case and now he’s Apollo’s attorney.”

  JP was already calling his friend in the police department. “What’s the attorney’s name?”

  “I can’t remember. I always call him Ichabod Crane.”

  “Think. Is it Barney, by any chance?”

  “No, it’s Barry. That’s it, Barry … Barry something.” Bob jumped up. “Wait, my client gave me his card.” He opened his desk drawer and shuffled through some business cards. “Barry Betts,” Bob said, as he held up the card.

  JP repeated the name to his friend on the phone. “I need a pen and paper,” JP said.

  Bob handed them to him. JP wrote Gillian Lloyd and Barry Betts on the paper, leaving space for the address as he waited. Another minute or two passed before JP wrote anything else. Then he scribbled the addresses on the paper. “Thanks, Ernie. I owe you one.” He handed the paper to Bob. “Can you run Betts’ directions for me?”

  “Sure,” Bob said as he typed in the address on MapQuest. “But how do you know it’s not Gillian’s we need?”

  “Because that’s Rob Cavitt’s house. I was just there.”

  “She lives with him?”

  “Looks that way.”

  “What the hell is going on here?” Bob stood up and grabbed the directions out of the printer. “Let’s go.”

  “You with me?”

  “You bet.”

  50

  The man with the gun directed Sabre onto the 805 south. The storm grew worse.

  “Who are you?” Sabre asked.

>   “Just drive.”

  “You must be Rob Cavitt, the good doctor’s brother.” Sabre took a calculated guess. He didn’t deny or affirm it. “So, Scott was blackmailing you, too?”

  “Just how much do you think you know?”

  “I know all about the Route 66 gang and your fiasco with the dummy. I don’t know for certain which one of you killed Scott, but I’d guess it was you. You’re the muscle of the group, right? You were always the muscle, the protector, and now you’re still trying to protect your little brother.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

  Sabre continued in an attempt to engage him. “I know that you’re the one who’s going to be charged with murder when this all collapses. They sent you to kill Scott, didn’t they?”

  “That was an accident.”

  “You accidentally beat him to death?” She spoke louder to be heard above the rain that beat down on the car.

  “Scott couldn’t keep his mouth shut. It was a warning that got a little out of hand.”

  “A little? You like to minimize things, don’t you? Is that how you justify killing innocent little children?”

  Rob leaned forward. Sabre could feel his breath on the side of her face. “I don’t kill babies.”

  “They make you do that, too, don’t they? They’re smarter than you and way more educated. They make you do the dirty work. And when it’s time to pay the piper it’ll all come back to you.” Sabre watched him through the rearview mirror.

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about. We each have our part.” He waved his gun toward the overhead sign. “Take the 94 east.”