by Tim Kizer
“I think we’ll have time to return the car. Enterprise has an office just two blocks from the bus station.”
“Great.”
Nick looked up the Enterprise office at Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport and found that it closed at eleven tonight.
There would probably be taxis waiting in front of the bus station. They would have to leave no later than a quarter to eleven.
Chapter 23
1
At eight o’clock, as they approached Lake Charles, Louisiana, Nick texted Harry: “Have you talked to your friend?”
The killer replied a minute later: “Yes. He’ll join us.”
Nick asked: “Where are we going to do it?”
“Baton Rouge.”
“We could do it in the woods near Spanish Town Park. It’s a few blocks from the bus station. Look it up.”
“OK.”
“Do you or your friend know that area?”
“No.”
“Do you have a knife?”
“Yes.”
“Will you let me borrow it?”
“Sure.”
Nick took his charger from his bag and plugged it into his phone and then into an outlet.
“What did he say?” Holly asked.
“His partner is going to join us.”
“Is his partner on this bus?”
“He didn’t say.”
“You think you can handle two men?”
Nick nodded. “Yes.”
“Do you know karate?”
“I studied martial arts when I was a teenager.”
“I’ll help you.”
“Do you know karate?”
“No. Are we going to kill his friend, too?”
“I think we have no choice.”
Holly nodded. “Okay.”
Nick’s phone vibrated. Another text from Harry: “Come over here. I need to talk to you.”
Did his partner hear us discuss killing them?
“He wants to talk to me.” Nick pocketed his cell, walked to where Harry sat, and slipped into the seat next to the killer.
“What’s up?”
Harry leaned close to him and whispered, “How are you going to get Holly to that place?”
“I’ll take her for a walk,” Nick whispered back. “You and your friend will come with us.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll tell her your name is John.”
“Okay.”
“What’s your friend’s name?”
“Charlie.”
“Is he on the bus?”
“You’ll meet him in Baton Rouge.”
Did that mean Harry’s partner would be waiting for them at the Baton Rouge bus station?
Nick asked, “Did you delete the pictures?”
“Yes.”
“You should start locking your phone with a passcode.”
“Yeah.”
“When we’re done with Holly, you’ll have to get new phones.”
“Why?”
“She sent your numbers to one of her friends.” This piece of information would surely earn him some points with Harry. “You know the police can track you through your phone, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Are your phones disposable?”
“Yes. Is yours?”
“Yeah.”
Apparently Harry hadn’t done a reverse lookup on his phone number yet.
“Thanks for the heads-up, man.”
Nick looked around and then whispered in Harry’s ear, “You want to know who killed Veronica?”
“Who?”
“Me. I killed her.”
“Nice.” Harry smiled.
“Do you remember what she looked like?”
“Yeah.”
“She was hot, wasn’t she?”
“Yeah. Did you fuck her?”
“No. I was in a hurry. I had less than fifteen minutes.”
“Right.” Harry smiled. “Nice job, man. I want to hear all about it when we're done with Holly.”
“Sure.”
“By the way, what happened to your knife?”
He must mean the knife I used to kill Veronica.
“I threw it away after I killed Veronica.”
Harry must realize that keeping the murder weapon was risky.
“Do you know who Holly gave my phone numbers to?”
Should he tell Harry the truth?
Nick shook his head. “No.”
“Can you find out?”
“I’ll try.”
“Did she send the pictures to that person, too?”
“It’s possible. I’ll ask her.”
“Thanks.”
Did Harry want to track down whoever Holly had sent his phone numbers and the pictures to?
“Do you have any other questions?” Nick asked.
“No.”
“See you later, man.” Nick got up and went back to his seat.
Chapter 24
1
Eric McCormick’s text message about Veronica came at 2:51 p.m. Detective Chris Falcone debated for half an hour before calling the bus company and asking them for a list of passengers on the 12:05 p.m. bus from Dallas to Houston.
He received the list twenty minutes later. There was only one Veronica among the bus passengers, Veronica Mendez, and her destination was Houston. Falcone dialed Veronica Mendez’s number, but his call went straight to voice mail, which most likely meant that her phone was off. He called again fifteen minutes later, with the same result.
Falcone contacted the phone company and asked for the location of Mendez’s cell. He was told that the woman’s phone had been off since two in the afternoon and its last known location was Buffalo, Texas.
The Buffalo Police Department informed Falcone that no murders had been reported today.
At half past five the phone company sent Falcone an update: Mendez’s phone had been connected to a cell tower in downtown Houston from 5:04 p.m. to 5:06 p.m. and a call had been made from it to the Houston bus station. Falcone figured the call had been placed by Veronica Mendez.
Falcone dialed Mendez’s number, and his call went straight to voice mail again.
When Falcone told him about the call to the Houston bus station, McCormick said it might have been Veronica’s killer who had made it.
“Why would he call the bus station?” Falcone asked.
“What time was the call made?”
“Five-oh-four.”
“How long was it?”
“About a minute and a half. What time did your bus leave the Houston station?”
“Five o’clock.”
“The phone wasn’t moving during the call. It was connected to the same cell tower the whole time.”
“Do you know the location of the cell tower?”
“Downtown Houston.”
“Thank you, Chris.”
“You’re welcome.”
Falcone hung up, then called Veronica Mendez and got voice mail again. He thought about leaving Mendez a message, and decided against it. The killer might have her phone, and the detective didn’t want him to know the police were looking for her.
2
The phone wasn’t moving during the call.
The bus hadn’t left the station at exactly five o’clock. It had departed at a few minutes past five.
Had it departed before 5:04 p.m.? Probably.
Veronica’s suspected killer hadn’t held a cell to his left ear for a minute and a half shortly after they left the station, Eric was sure of that. But he might have put the phone to his right ear.
If it wasn’t Veronica’s suspected killer who had called the bus station, then who was it?
Maybe Veronica was alive after all?
When they arrived in Beaumont, Eric texted Holly: “Did he talk on the phone between 5:04 and 5:06?”
Holly replied: “No. Why?”
“Someone called the Houston bus station from Veronica’s phone.”
“Maybe it was Veronica? The Buff
alo PD said they found no body.”
The fact that the Buffalo police had found no body made Eric feel slightly better. He had reason to hope that Veronica was alive.
And then Ralph sent Eric a message containing evidence that Veronica had been murdered, by the man they suspected of killing her.
Veronica hadn’t called the bus station.
Who made the call?
Maybe the killer had a partner?
The killer’s partner might have been on the bus to Houston.
Thank God, he and Holly hadn’t spoken in Buffalo while Veronica’s suspected killer was away.
The killer’s partner hadn’t boarded this bus in Houston, but he might have driven to Beaumont and gotten on it there.
Eric straightened up and scanned the passengers for someone who hadn’t been on the bus when it left the Houston station.
Unfortunately, Eric didn’t have a photographic memory, and if someone had boarded the bus in Beaumont, he couldn't for the life of him tell who it was.
Eric sent Holly and Ralph a message: “I think he has a partner. His partner might be on this bus, so be careful.”
Maybe the killer’s partner had disposed of Veronica’s body? He might have put it in the trunk of his car and dumped it somewhere between Buffalo and Houston.
Eric texted Ralph: “I think his partner disposed of Veronica’s body.”
Why had the killer’s partner called the Houston bus station?
Why had he made the call from Veronica’s phone? Perhaps he had tried to impersonate Veronica to make it look like she had gotten off the bus in Houston.
Maybe the killer’s partner was a woman? Maybe she was his lover?
Chapter 25
1
“What did he say?” Holly asked.
“He wanted to know how I’m going to lure you to that place. He also asked if you’d sent the pictures to anyone.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I said you might have sent them to one of your friends.”
Nick opened Google Maps on his phone, looked up the Baton Rouge bus station, and memorized the directions to the woods near Spanish Town Park. They would go north on Twelfth Street, turn right onto Laurel Street, turn left onto Fourteenth Street, turn right onto Main Street, and then turn left onto Fifteenth Street. The spot he had picked was just north of Spanish Town Road.
Twelfth, Laurel, Fourteenth, Main, Fifteenth, Spanish Town Road.
“When are you going to kill him?” Holly asked. “When he grabs me?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t wait until he pulls out a knife, okay?”
“Okay. I won’t let him hurt you, Holly.”
Nick could sense her nervousness. Perhaps she doubted he could protect her.
He would have loved to tell her about the scumbags he had killed with his bare hands in the Middle East, Afghanistan, and other parts of the world, but he couldn’t: that information was classified.
“Is he going to let you borrow his knife?”
“Yes.”
“He might have more than one knife.”
Nick nodded.
“I’m sure his partner has a knife, too,” Holly said.
Nick nodded again. “We have an advantage over them.”
“What is it?”
“The element of surprise. They don’t know that you and I are working together.”
2
As they crossed the bridge over the Mississippi River, Nick texted Harry: “Don’t forget the knife.”
Three minutes later the bus rolled to a stop at the Baton Rouge station.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is Baton Rouge,” the driver announced. “We’ll be here for thirty minutes. If you’re getting off here, be sure to claim your luggage and don’t forget your belongings.”
Passengers began to rise. Nick glanced at his watch. 9:55 p.m. The car rental office at the airport closed in one hour and five minutes. He didn’t care if he could make it there in time, though, because he was not going to rent a car.
Nick put on his cap and got out of his seat.
As he stepped off the bus, the driver said, “Nice fanny pack.”
Nick pulled the bill of his cap down: he needed to hide his face from the station’s security cameras. “Thank you.”
He stood near the baggage unloaded from the storage compartment.
“My husband has one just like yours.”
Holly got off the bus and they went into the terminal.
There was a glass-walled restaurant inside, whose entrance faced the departure gates. It was filled with customers, most of whom were the passengers from Nick’s bus. They stood outside the restaurant, and Nick messaged the killer: “Are you going to get back on the bus when we’re done?”
Was Harry’s partner at the station?
Nick waved to Harry when he came into the terminal. The killer had a small satchel slung over his shoulder, and Nick guessed his knife (or knives) was in it. He wasn't wearing a cap or sunglasses. How careless of him.
As Harry walked to Nick and Holly, he was followed by the husky guy in the Bob Marley T-shirt, who had sat across the aisle from Nick on the bus to Houston. Was he Harry’s partner?
“John, this is Holly,” Nick said to Harry.
“Nice to meet you.” Harry shook Holly’s hand.
“Holly, this is John.”
“This is my friend Charlie,” Harry said, introducing the man in the Bob Marley T-shirt.
Charlie shook Holly’s hand.
The guy was Harry’s partner. He wore no cap or sunglasses, either.
Charlie sat in the second-to-last row on the bus to Miami and couldn’t have heard their conversations even if he had the sharpest ears in the world.
“Holly and I are going for a walk,” Nick said. “You want to join?”
“Sure,” Harry replied.
They walked out of the terminal and headed toward Twelfth Street, which ran between the bus station and the vital records unit. The sodium-vapor lamps cast an eerie light on the station parking lot, where half of the space markings had faded to invisibility. A cool breeze blew in from the Mississippi River, rustling the trees.
As they approached Twelfth Street, Nick saw that the lights were on in the vital records unit’s garage.
“There’s a cemetery two blocks from here,” Nick said when they turned the corner. “Holly wants to see it.”
“Are you afraid of cemeteries?” Holly asked.
“No,” Harry said.
“Me, either,” Charlie said.
“Do you watch The Walking Dead?” Holly asked.
“No,” Harry said. “I think it’s boring.”
“Do you like zombie movies?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s your favorite?”
“Dawn of the Dead.”
“The remake?”
“Yes.”
Harry tapped his phone a few times, and a moment later Nick received a message from him: “Yes.”
Harry wanted to get back on the bus after they killed Holly, which meant he planned to spend only ten minutes having fun with the girl.
Laurel Street was well lit and lined with one- and two-story houses. Outside a white bungalow with a picket fence, two middle-aged men sat in plastic chairs smoking cigarettes.
Holly asked Harry, “Where are you headed?”
“Orlando,” the killer replied. “You?”
“Miami. Are you planning to visit Disney World?”
“No.”
“I love Disney World. I love Disneyland, too.”
Charlie said, “I think they’re greedy. Their tickets are expensive as hell.”
When they crossed Thirteenth Street, Nick asked Harry, “Have you ever been to Baton Rouge?”
“No.”
“I believe they have riverboat casinos here,” Holly said.
“I’ve never been to a riverboat casino,” Charlie said.
“Do you like to gamble?” Nick asked.
“
Yeah.”
“I read about a guy who lost a hundred and twenty million dollars in Vegas. What a moron.”
“Jesus,” Harry said. “A hundred and twenty million? That’s insane.”
“What’s your favorite casino game?” Nick asked Charlie.
“Poker.”
“I love slot machines. There’s a slot machine called Megabucks. It has a jackpot of ten million dollars, and somebody wins it every year.”
They reached a road barely wider than a car, and Nick looked at the street sign. It was Fourteenth Street.
“This way.” Nick pointed left.
The section of Fourteenth Street between Laurel and Main Streets was flanked by commercial buildings, one of which had a secluded parking lot where Nick thought they could kill Holly without being seen.
At the next corner they turned onto Main Street.
Chapter 26
1
As they walked past the bus station parking lot, Eric noticed an unmarked white panel van among the three vehicles sitting in it. Although he was nervous as hell and in no mood for sex, it occurred to him that a van like that was a convenient place to have sex. The interior of the van was too dark for Eric to see if there was anyone in it.
They turned right onto Twelfth Street, and as they reached the next corner, Eric remembered that he had seen a similar van at the rest stop in Beaumont.
If he wanted to kidnap someone, he would have gotten a panel van. Buffalo Bill had a panel van in Silence of the Lambs, didn’t he?
The killer’s partner might have a van.
The van in the bus station parking lot might belong to him.
Maybe it was the killer’s partner’s van I saw at the rest stop in Beaumont?
Eric’s heart began to race.
The killer’s partner might be tailing them.
He looked back and saw no one following them.
The killer’s partner knew where they were going, so he didn’t have to follow close.
As they passed two men smoking cigarettes on Laurel Street, Eric touched the cross pendant underneath his T-shirt to make sure it was still there. The pendant had a camera inside it that could record up to two hours of video. He had started recording when the bus arrived at the Baton Rouge station, and he was going to pull the pendant from inside his T-shirt when Nick was about to attack Holly. Eric was worried that the video would be too dark and it would be impossible to tell who was who and what was going on. He wondered if Nick would mind if he switched on the flashlight on his phone.