by K. J. Dahlen
"Wow, Micah never missed a beat did he?" Max commented.
"No, I don’t think this was Micah. I think both Lester and Joe died at Richard’s hands."
"What makes you think so?" Nick asked.
Sable thought for a moment. "I don’t know. I suppose it could have been either one of them, but I have a feeling both murders were Richard’s doing."
"Does she say anything else?"
"Only that she hopes Gabriel will forgive her one day for what she did to him."
Nick snorted in disgust. "This doesn’t help us one bit. Except for tying up some loose ends maybe, it doesn’t give us anything else to go on."
"Maybe Abbey’s diary will fill in some of the missing pieces."
"Let’s hope so," Nick said. "We’re running out of time. Whatever the boys have in mind is supposed to happen tomorrow. We still have no idea what that is."
Sable sat down at her desk. She opened Abbey’s diary and began to read it. The first entry was from the day of the fire. Abbey recorded her feelings as she finally faced the truth about Micah and the possibility she might never see her sons again. It was heart wrenching to read but Sable knew she had to. This was the only thing she had to go on. She hoped she could learn enough about Sam and Shawn to try to stop them.
The first newspaper clipping was about a case in Oklahoma City. Earl Weston was charged with aggravated assault and child endangerment. According to the article Earl had been drinking when an argument broke out between Earl and his wife. The argument escalated into violence. Earl began beating his wife. He almost beat her to death when his ten year old son tried to stop him. Earl turned his drunken rage on the boy. It took three police officers to subdue him. There was a picture of Earl in the paper. The police had to use excess force to subdue him.
"Oh, this guy’s a piece of work," Sable commented as she hung the article on a board. "Too bad we don’t know what happened to him."
Nick glanced over at Max. "Run his name through the system and see what you can find."
The next article was from Kansas City. Malcolm Donald was accused of the murder of his own child. Eight year old Leah Donald was found when police intervened in a custody dispute between Malcolm and his wife Janice. The article said the police were called to Malcolm’s home when his wife reported his failure to bring their child back after a scheduled weekend visit. Malcolm wouldn’t answer the door, but the police showed him a search warrant. He had argued the police had no right to break into his home when the police broke down the door. He was arrested when the police found the girl’s body in her bedroom. The newspaper account went on to detail Leah’s condition. She had been strangled and left covered with bloody towels. Malcolm had doused his daughter’s body with gasoline. The police claimed Malcolm had been about to torch the girl’s body. He hoped to perish in the resulting fire.
"Why the hell was he let out of jail? He should have been remanded without bail." Sable taped the article to the board. She picked up the next article. "This one is from West Virginia. Daniel Adamson, arrested for shooting a rival business man while deer hunting. He claims the shooting was accidental."
The newspaper article went into a few of the details about the rivalry between the man and his victim. Daniel Adamson had opened a donut franchise in a small town in West Virginia. His rival, Hugh Clemins, opened another bakery in the same town. Whenever Daniel had a sale, Hugh had a bigger sale. The rivalry became a joke in the town the two men lived in and Hugh was gaining the upper hand. Daniel was angry about the way Hugh was making him look like a fool to his friends. He claimed he would get even somehow. Daniel shot Hugh during hunting season and claimed it was an accident.
The next article was from Ohio. "Ian Noble, charged with arson and murder. He was accused of torching his own warehouse. A homeless man and a fireman died in the blaze. Noble claims he lost everything in the fire as the warehouse wasn’t insured." Sable read more of the article. It claimed Ian was on the verge of bankruptcy and had emptied the warehouse days before the fire. The police had already found the merchandise and were charging Ian with murder stating he knew the homeless man had been staying there and had been responsible for the firefighter’s death.
The next article was another one from West Virginia. "Nolan Sykes owned a junk yard. He had a pair of mean junk yard dogs who mauled a man to death." The article stated Nolan had been charged before about letting his dogs roam the junkyard unsupervised. The victim, Tim Banks, had been at the junkyard to buy parts for his pride and joy, a 1972 Mustang. Nolan had seen him go into the yard, but he hadn’t seen him come out. The article claimed Nolan simply closed the gates and let the dogs out when he closed early.
Sable picked up the next article calling out the name, "Aaron Reiter, central Ohio, ran a scam that wiped out about seventy people’s savings. He was charged with murder when one of the investors came after him with a bat. He claims he was defending himself against great bodily harm when he shot the man at point blank range." The article said Aaron was going to trial for running a real estate scam. He was building a community by investing other people’s money into his venture, but he had failed to get permits for the buildings and water and electrical rights. He spent millions and no one would ever be allowed to live in the houses.
There was one more article stuck in the pages of the diary. Sable picked it up. "Larry Bryce, charged with hit and run vehicular homicide. He was driving drunk when he hit someone walking along the road. He didn’t even stop, just drove off. The man died of exposure because Larry broke both of his legs with his car. The man was found the next morning." The rest of the article claimed it took the police four days to find the driver. Even then he didn’t remember the incident.
After she put the articles on the board, Sable stood back looking at them. Seven men charged with various crimes. More questions came to mind than answers. What did all these men have in common other than breaking the law for their own ends?
"What are you thinking?" Nick had come up behind her.
"I have no idea," Sable told him. "I mean why would Micah take the time to look these cases up? What do these cases have in common?"
"We’ll have to wait and see what Max comes up with. He’s looking up the police reports."
"That probably won’t tell us what we need to know. While he’s doing that, I’m going to finish reading the diary." Sable sat down at her desk. Picking up the book she began to read.
Fifteen minutes later the reports began coming in. Nick attached each report with the newspaper articles. An hour later Sable finally closed the book. She had tears in her eyes at what Abbey had gone through over the years, but she couldn’t let the past influence her. She got up and stared at the board.
For a moment Sable didn’t see the pages on the board, she remembered the words Abbey had written. There was so much pain and despair in the words. Sable could almost imagine what the other woman had gone through, her words were so clear. All the heartache and doubt she had expressed were mind boggling. There had been one incident Abbey wrote about when she almost came face to face with Micah and the boys. She had followed them to Kansas City. She watched as they entered the courthouse. After waiting a few minutes Abbey followed. She had to duck behind a potted plant when Micah turned around and almost spotted her. When she dared to look out at the crowd a few minutes later, Micah and the boys were gone. Abbey wrote that the encounter was a close one. She said she had been spared this time. She had no doubt Micah would have murdered her if he knew she was following them.
Sable thought about the encounter. She knew in her heart Micah had noticed Abbey and remembered her. He would have been looking for her from then. When he came to Chicago, he would have known she would follow him here.
Sable came back to the present. She viewed the board and saw the documents. She knew she had to give her focus to the case at hand. She couldn’t speculate about the past because she knew it might or might not have been true. Maybe Micah found her after he arrived in Chicago. She had a f
eeling she would never find out the answer to that question.
"What did you find out about the cases?" Sable asked Nick.
"Nothing good. All seven men were either acquitted or had charges reversed but all of them died within two weeks in the same manner they committed their crime."
"What does that mean?" Sable asked.
"Ian Noble, charged with arson, died in a fire. Someone burned his house to the ground but the coroner found Ian was already dead before the fire. Nolan Sykes, charged with murder when his dogs mauled a man was found mauled by his own dogs in his junk yard. The police found Nolan was tied up before the dogs were let loose. The man didn’t stand a chance. Someone had kept the dogs on leashes for a few days and cut Nolan before they let the dogs go. The only thing they found in the dog’s stomachs was parts of Nolan. Malcolm, charged with the murder of his own child was found nailed to a tree with his privates stuffed down his throat. From the amount of blood on his body his genitals were removed before death occurred."
Sable held up her hand to stop him. She was horrified by the results. "Oh my god."
"Daddy has been busy over the years," Nick commented.
"The real question is why? I mean why these men?"
"Why not?" Nick asked quietly. "I mean these men were all guilty, even if they were found not guilty in the courts. Each one of these men was guilty in the eyes of man. Their crimes were horrendous. They were never made to pay for them through the courts. If Micah murdered them, he was doing their next victim a favor."
Sable slowly turned her head staring at Nick. She studied his eyes for a moment then asked, "You don’t believe that, do you?"
Nick seemed disgusted. He turned to observe her reaction. "No, not really, but when people commit crimes like these and get away with them, it makes me mad. It shows the judicial system isn’t as perfect as we’d all like to think, but it’s better than having no laws at all. Animals like this need to be locked up and have the key to their cells thrown away."
"But it’s not up to you or me to decide their fate. It’s up to the judge or jury. If Micah murdered these men, he was taking the law into his own hands. Knowing him, he enjoyed dealing out what he would consider justice but it was still murder."
"I need a drink to wash away the bad taste in my mouth this brings to mind, but I don’t think there’s enough whiskey in the state to do that," Nick told her.
Sable raised an eyebrow as she turned back to the board. "I’m still wondering what any of this has to do with Gabriel and why Abbey had these articles stuck away. Whatever the answer is I’m not seeing it."
"Maybe there is no rhyme or reason to it. Remember the fact Micah just liked to kill people. He enjoyed watching people die. He took pleasure in the fact someone died by his hands when he felt the need to kill. This may be only part of his unique killing spree," Nick reminded her.
Sable was quiet for a moment then she raised her head and stared at the wall above the board. "I am his daughter. His blood is my blood. Do you ever worry I may turn out the same way he did? The same way my brothers are?"
"God no; there is no way you would ever kill anyone for the sheer pleasure of watching them die," Nick told her without even thinking about it. "You were raised with love. You were brought up with a sense of right and wrong. You’re horrified by what Micah has done. You could no more be like him than I could."
"But so was he. He was brought up in a home with parents and grandparents. He was born into privilege and money. He had every opportunity given to him so why did he turn out so bad?"
"I don’t know." Nick stated. "We may never know why he still turned out the way he did, but you could never do the things he did. Your brothers were raised by him. They never had a chance but you did. Grace and Gene raised you right. They taught you to be compassionate and caring."
"All Sam and Shawn have known is killing and death. Some father we had."
Chapter Seven
"Let’s separate Greg from his parents. If Sam and Shawn are hoping to find them all together, we aren’t going to make it easy for them," Sable suggested.
Nick agreed. "That might slow them down a little, but it won’t stop them."
Sable glanced at the clock. "I know but we’re running out of time."
"Along with people from their past that could give us information," Nick commented.
"Hang on a minute, maybe that’s not true," Sable said as she reached for the diary again.
"What do you mean?" Nick asked.
"Abbey wrote something in the back of her diary that might tell us where they are staying." She flipped through the back pages until she came to a certain passage. "Here it is. The entry is over a month old. "Micah and the boys are back in Chicago. Lord, I hate the Midwest in the summer time. It’s so hot and humid although the breeze off the lake is wonderful. Micah and the boys have taken up residence in an abandoned house on the waterfront. It’s not much to look at but it provides shelter and is out of the way. Not too many people go out by the old shipyards. They were abandoned for a reason I guess. They are dirty and they stink of fish. At least the place they are in has a roof. The one next door is home for the seagulls. The noise they make would drive me nuts, but the boys don’t seem to mind."
Nick stared at Sable. "Do you know how many places are abandoned by the old shipyards? There are literally hundreds of old buildings out there."
"I know but it’s all we have to work on," She argued.
"Well, let’s go out there and see if we can find where the boys have been hiding." Nick sighed deeply. Looking over at Max he mentioned, "If you find anything out, let us know."
"You do the same. If you find something out there, call it in," Max told them
Nick escorted Sable from the office. As they made their way to the old docks neither one spoke. Nick stopped then turned to Sable and told her, "Don’t take any chances out there. If Sam and Shawn are in the warehouse, we walk away. We can keep track of them from a distance. Agreed?"
"We just go in to verify the fact they’ve been living there. If they aren’t at home, we have a look around and see if we can find out what they’re up to. That’s it. We go in and get out quickly and quietly," Sable verified.
Nick inched his way down the street. They went from building to building looking for any sign of life and had almost reached the end of the street when Sable saw a building that housed a great many seagulls. She reached out a hand placing it on Nick’s arm. She pointed to the building with the birds then drew her finger back one building. "This must be the place."
Nick pulled the car into one of the warehouses. Getting out he grabbed his weapon and led the way down the street to the warehouse in question. Sable followed. watching from the back. She didn’t want anyone sneaking up behind them. They paused and watched the building for a moment before they cut across the last barrier to the building. Moving down the outside they found an opening in the side of the building. Once inside they paused to allow their eyes to adjust to the darkened interior.
Nick motioned for her to go right while he took off to the left. Stepping carefully and quietly Sable made her way to the front of the building. She stepped over boxes and rail beams. Looking to the right then to the left she made her way closer to what would have been an office right inside the front door. Backing against the wall, she paused for a moment to listen. When she heard nothing, she inched closer to the door. Peeking around the door she made sure there was no one inside; she pushed the door open enough to slip through. The door squeaked loudly as it scraped the floor.
There were signs that someone had been staying here. Sable reached for her phone and called Nick’s number. When he answered it she told him quietly, "I think I found it. I’m up front by the main doors."
She snapped her phone closed then regarded the room. There were three sleeping bags on the floor and a small radio sitting on an overturned box. Camping lanterns were scattered beside the makeshift beds. There was an old door they were using as a table and a can or two o
f food sitting on the edge of the door.
Sable moved over to the makeshift table to get a closer look at the items. There was a stack of newspapers on one end. Sable flipped through them aimlessly until one of the newspaper articles caught her eye. The article has been circled in red ink. The article detailed the death of Micah Reardon.
Sable kept looking through the stack of papers. She heard a rustling sound and ducked into the shadows a moment before Nick came through the door. Sable exhaled the breath she was holding. "Man, you scared me to death. I thought you were one of them."
"Did you find anything important?"
"I don’t know yet. There is something here but it’s going to take time to go through it."
Nick turned his head and listened for a moment. "I think our time just ran out. Grab everything you can, we’ll go through it at the office. We have to get out of here now."
Sable holstered her weapon and grabbed the stack of papers. She ducked out the door with Nick right behind her. He grabbed her arm leading her to the shadows of the building. They waited for a few moments then watched as Sam and Shawn strode through the opening Sable and Nick had passed through a few minutes before. When they went directly to the office, Nick and Sable skirted the walls keeping to the shadows and went out the same opening. They went the opposite way and came out the backside of the buildings. Making their way over to the building that hid their car, Nick put the vehicle into neutral. He stepped half out of the car pushing it down the street. When he was far enough away, he jumped back in and started the car. He drove slowly so as not to give their position away, but once they were by the intersection of the main highway Nick accelerated.
"That was close," Sable sighed.
"Too close," Nick commented as he checked the rear view mirror.
"At least we now have more to go on," Sable defended her search.
"Maybe," Nick commented. "But we don’t know if we have anything or not. It could just be a stack of papers that mean nothing."