Fallacy (Detective Jade Monroe 3)

by C. M. Sutter

  I chuckled. “Not likely tonight. I need to get started on Mandy. Can Jack join me?”

  He looked around, and I followed his eyes. “Yeah, go ahead.” Clark raked his fingers through his hair. “I think we’ve got this covered.”

  Chapter 58

  “I have to call Amber and bail on dinner—again.” I sighed and took another cleansing breath.

  “You sure you’re okay?” Jack asked. He rubbed my shoulder as we walked out of the post office entrance.

  I nodded.

  Outside, a flood of onlookers stood behind the police tape. Mobile units from the local news stations were setting up. Microphones were jammed in our faces as we tried to get through the crowd of reporters.

  “No comment. We have nothing to tell you yet. It’s early in the investigation.” Jack and I repeated those words until we were in the quiet of the cruiser.

  Todd and Billy were gone. They likely caught a ride back to the sheriff’s department with somebody.

  I made the quick apology call to Amber, something that had become far too frequent. She said she had picked up Spaz, and the doctor told her he’d make a full recovery. I was thankful for that.

  “You know, you should have your family host dinner parties at the station. Maybe you’d see them more often.” Jack gave me a wink and chuckled.

  “That would be funny if it wasn’t the truth.”

  Jack pulled into the station and parked. We entered the building, talked to Jan for a minute, then walked into the bull pen. Clayton sat with Jamison and Horbeck, giving them the condensed version of what took place over the last hour. We needed to speak to Clayton before interviewing Mandy.

  Jack plopped down on his chair with a heave, and I did the same on mine.

  “Did she say anything to you on the way back?” Jack asked.

  Clayton shook his head. “From the little information I gathered from her, those girls are, or were, really messed up. The mom has quite a hold on them.”

  I perked up. “So, Mandy talked about her mom?”

  “Not so much about her. She kept saying how Mama was going to be mad that they’d get home late. I think she’s still in shock.”

  I nodded. “Understandable. It’s bad enough to witness a family member die violently, but I’ve heard twins are particularly close. Regardless, she has a lot of talking to do. So ‘Mama’ is still in the picture, somewhere?”

  Clayton replied, “Sounded like it.”

  “Good, and I’ll bet my bottom dollar she’s the ringleader.”

  I made a fresh pot of coffee and called upstairs. I told John I wanted Mandy Blakely linked up in interrogation room number two.

  “You got it, Jade. How soon?”

  “Give me ten minutes.” I turned to Jack. “You want to sit in on this?”

  “I think you’ll do better alone with her. I’ll be watching from the other side of the glass. Hell—we all will.”

  “Fair enough.” I got up and filled the largest mug available on the shelf at the coffee station. The guys did the same and followed me upstairs. I signed in with John at the desk. “Is she ready?”

  “Ready and waiting, Jade. She seems frantic, though. Good thing she’s linked up.”

  “Thanks, John.”

  I walked into the small interrogation room where Mandy sat. The barren walls were pale green—a color supposedly meant to keep people calm. A metal table separated us. She sat on one side, linked up, and I sat across from her. The only chairs in the room were the ones we were seated on. I placed my coffee in front of me.

  “Would you like something to drink, Mandy? Water or a soda?”

  “Iced tea would be good.”

  I turned toward the mirror and nodded. A few minutes later, a knock sounded on the door. I rose, cracked the door open far enough to reach through, and said thank you. I handed Mandy the can of iced tea with a straw poking out of the opening. She’d have to lean over the can to take a sip. I returned to my seat.

  “We need some answers, Mandy.”

  “Can I call Mama? I’m sure she’s wondering where we are.”

  “You can talk to your mother after you answer my questions. Deal?”

  She looked at the floor and nodded. “Where’s Mariah? Can I see her?”

  “No, you can’t, and I’m not sure where she is at the moment. I’ll be the one asking the questions. First, how did you end up with Larry Taylor’s car and cell phone?”

  She looked surprised then smiled as if that were a foolish question. “Seriously? He didn’t need them anymore. Mama suggested keeping the car since you recognized our truck. And the phone? That was all Mariah. I made the mistake of turning it on to check the time.” A panicked look crossed Mandy’s face. “What time is it now?”

  I glanced at my watch. “It’s seven o’clock.”

  “I need to call Mama.”

  “Not yet. So, are you saying Larry is dead? And how about John Leiter—is he dead too?”

  “Yes and yes. They both are. I thought cops were supposed to be smart.”

  “Who else is dead?”

  She rolled her eyes before she answered. “Daddy and David Smith. Mama was planning for somebody to die tomorrow too, but now that’s not going to happen. She’ll be mad. Mama is scary when she gets mad.” Mandy sipped her tea before she continued. “She’s crazy, you know.”

  “Crazy how?”

  Mandy huffed and tapped her fingers on the table. “It’s a long story.”

  “I have time.”

  “Daddy was a good-looking man, and sweet. He’d never hurt a fly. Mama always thought he was cheating on her.”

  “Was he?”

  Mandy shook her head defiantly. “No—Daddy wouldn’t do that. He was a good Christian man. Mama always said he was trying to kill her, to get rid of her, so he could cheat. One morning, she attacked him with a knife after cutting her own arms. He was lucky she didn’t kill him. Mama told everyone he cut her, but it wasn’t true. Everything Mama said and did was a fallacy. She never had her facts straight—she was delusional.”

  Mandy looked to be remembering something, so I waited.

  “Mama really went off the deep end when Grandma died five years ago. Daddy even had a meeting with the minister about Mama. He wanted her exorcised. He said she talked to demons, but she said she talked to God.” Mandy rearranged herself in the chair and took another sip of iced tea. “Either way, she was crazy and ended up in a psychiatric ward for six months. We moved here a few years back but she still never seemed right in the head. Daddy told us to tread lightly around Mama and to always do what she wanted. It would keep her calm and happy.”

  “And?”

  “And, she really went berserk about a month ago. It was coming up on the anniversary of Grandma’s death, and I think she threw away her pills. Mama is bipolar, you know, and on disability. Anyway, that’s the second time she brought up killing Daddy. She kept reminding Mariah and me that we had to do whatever she said.”

  I shook my head. “Even to the point of killing your own father?”

  “He didn’t know he was going to die. We used antifreeze to get it going.”

  “Who actually killed your dad?” I took a sip of coffee, my eyes locked with Mandy’s.

  “The antifreeze killed him but Mariah mixed it. She cut him up too. She was excited about it. Mama had a lot of influence on her. She convinced Mariah that Daddy was cheating.”

  “Who killed David Smith?”

  “That was Mama. She drilled through his heart first, then she drilled through his brain.”

  “And who killed Larry and John?”

  “I did, but not because I was mean and nasty. Mama was torturing them, so I killed them out of mercy.”

  “What were the men killed with?”

  “John was killed with Daddy’s gun, and Larry was strangled to death. Daddy’s tools were used on everyone, though. He had such a nice selection, and he took good care of them too. Daddy made beautiful metal wall hangings and sold them all ove
r the United States.” Mandy looked up proudly and smiled.

  “Those men were killed brutally. What did that symbolize?”

  Mandy looked back at the table and stared at her hands. “According to Mama, all men that cheated were heartless, brainless, and couldn’t see the beauty right in front of them. Oh, and they didn’t speak the truth—that’s what she said, anyway.”

  “That’s why those body parts were removed?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Where’s home, Mandy? Where’s your mama right now?”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “Don’t you think she’s wondering where you are?”

  “She knows. She watches the news.”

  Chapter 59

  I drummed the table with my fingertips and stood. “I’ll be right back, Mandy. Would you like another iced tea?”

  “Okay, thank you. When can I see Mariah?”

  I gave her a long stare then turned and walked out of the interrogation room.

  The other side of the wall held a small observation area with a one-way mirror, a camera, intercom, and a handful of chairs. I walked in and found detectives packed in there like a can of sardines. The lieutenant was back and found a corner in the small room where he could stand.

  “That girl is bat-shit crazy,” Clayton said.

  I nodded. “It’s hard not to feel sorry for her, but she did kill two people. Sounds like a cross between manipulation and serious brainwashing on Alice’s part.”

  “No matter what, those twins couldn’t have been the sharpest knives in the block,” Jack said. “At twenty years old, they were still letting their mother call every shot in their lives. Did either of them work or even finish high school?”

  “No clue. We haven’t gone there yet, but does it matter? Mandy and Alice will likely spend the rest of their lives in prison.” I leaned against the cinder block wall to think. “How are we going to get Mandy to cough up Alice’s location? She has nothing to gain by telling us.”

  Clark spoke up. “Lay on the guilt. Tell her it’s the last right thing she can do to make up for the deaths they caused. Or, tell her it will be the last time she’ll ever see Alice. She can say goodbye to her mama in person.”

  “You mean take her with us?”

  Clark nodded. “That may be the only way to get the location out of her, Jade. She can lead us right to the front door.”

  Jack agreed. “She seems easily influenced, so it might work. Ease into it, though. You don’t want her to clam up.”

  “Billings, would you mind grabbing her another iced tea? I’ll take a coffee too if there’s any left.”

  “Sure, no problem, Jade.” Billings exited the room and returned five minutes later with a can of iced tea and a hot cup of coffee for me.

  “Thanks. Okay, wish me luck.” I walked out of one room and back into the other. I slid the opened can of tea across the table and dropped the straw Mandy had used earlier into it, then tossed the empty can into the recycling bin next to the door. I took my seat and let out a sigh. “Okay, ready? I have a few more questions for you.”

  She nodded and gave me a wide-eyed smile.

  “Where’s John’s vehicle?”

  “Oh, that’s out in the woods in Dodge County somewhere. I know it was along a creek on a farm path, but that’s all I know—it was nighttime, and I was in the backseat. Mama threw John’s keys out the car window when we left.”

  “Okay. Does your dad have relatives that were close to him? Maybe somebody we can contact for burial arrangements?”

  “Do you guys have Daddy and Mariah?”

  I took a deep breath. “Yes, Mandy, we have both of them. Now, focus, please. Relatives?”

  “There’s Jane—my aunt. She and her husband, Nathan, live in Medford. Daddy talked on the phone with her once in a while.”

  “Their last name?”

  “Phillips—Jane and Nathan Phillips.”

  “Thank you. You know how this goes, right, Mandy? You’re under arrest, and your mama will be too. You’ll go to jail until your trial, then you’ll both go to prison for murder. The chances of you two being in the same prison are slim to none.”

  “Why? I want to be near Mama. It’s my job to keep her happy.”

  “I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way. You’re never going to see your mother again, Mandy—that is, unless you go with us to arrest her. You’ll be able to see her one more time. You can touch her, kiss her, and give her a final hug goodbye. Wouldn’t you want to do that?”

  Mandy leaned over the table and wiped her left eye with the back of her hand, then the right. “Mama was evil and made us do bad things.”

  “That’s true. She should be locked up, so she can’t hurt anyone else. Don’t you want to do the right thing? You’d be doing a good deed for the community, and you can still say goodbye to your mother.”

  “I know, but she’ll be mad that I brought you.”

  “We can handle your mama. I promise we won’t let her hurt anybody.”

  “Can I finish my iced tea first?”

  I smiled. “Yes, you may.”

  Chapter 60

  By the time we left the station, it was nine thirty. Darkness had taken over nearly an hour ago. Clark gave Clayton and Billings the okay to go home. Horbeck and Jamison could fill in, he’d said, but neither were ready to call it a night. They wanted to see this through with Jack and me. We put Mandy in the backseat of our cruiser, her hands cuffed behind her back. Clayton and Billings would follow in the second cruiser with an empty backseat meant for Alice. We strapped on our vests even though Mandy said there weren’t any weapons in the house.

  I looked over my left shoulder at Mandy sitting in the back. She grumbled, and her face distorted with discomfort. Jack had just pulled out of the parking lot onto Schmidt Road.

  “What’s wrong with you?” I asked.

  “These handcuffs hurt, and my elbows are bent backward.”

  “Maybe we’ll give you a break when we get to your house. What happened to the gun you shot John with, Mandy?”

  “I threw it away.”

  “Where?”

  “In the swamp behind the house.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure,” she huffed. “You sound just like Mama. She asked me the same thing.”

  Jack turned right onto Washington Street. “Are we leaving the city limits?”

  “Go west past University Drive. I’ll tell you more when we’re closer.”

  Jack continued on. The headlights illuminated the shoulders of the highway as we passed acres of fields planted in corn and soybeans. Harvest would begin in six weeks, then Halloween, then Thanksgiving. I looked forward to seeing my dad again in a few months. My mind went back to Mandy. She didn’t have a father anymore, and there was no good reason why.

  Jack interrupted the silence. “How much farther?” He adjusted the rearview mirror and looked at her.

  I turned in my seat. “Mandy, Jack asked you a question.”

  “What?”

  “How much farther to your house?”

  “A few miles. I wonder what Mama is doing right now.”

  I glanced at Jack and wondered the same thing.

  Mandy squirmed. “I have to go to the bathroom.”

  I sighed. “You can wait.”

  “Can I go when we get to my house? I drank two cans of iced tea, you know.”

  “Let’s just see how this goes. Are we almost there?”

  “Yes. Turn left on Salisbury Drive, go a few miles, then turn right on Hickory Lane.”

  “Then what?” I asked.

  “Then you’ll see.”

  Jack followed her directions and turned on Salisbury. Several minutes later, he turned right at Hickory Lane. I glanced through my side mirror. Clayton and Billings were a few car lengths behind.

  Jack slowed to a stop. “What kind of crap are you pulling, Mandy?”

  “I’m not pulling anything.”

  “This is a dead-end road.�
��

  “I’m well aware of that. I do live here, you know. There’s a gravel driveway at the end of the road. It takes you to my house a quarter mile back.”

  Jack radioed to the cruiser behind us. “I guess there’s a driveway at the end of this dead-end road. Keep your ears perked and your heads on a swivel.”

  The radio crackled when Clayton responded. “Roger that. We’ve got our eyes peeled.”

  Hickory Lane was a narrow path at best, with tree limbs touching at the center. A half mile back, the pavement stopped, and gravel took over.

  Goose bumps covered my arms, and the hair stood up on the back of my neck. We were on high alert. Jack continued slowly down the gravel driveway while brush scraped the sides of the cruiser.

  I looked back at Mandy once more. Concern covered her face. Jack reached the end of the driveway. A house stood to our right, and a workshop, directly across the driveway, was on our left. Light shined through two windows on the first floor.

  I sighed with relief that there actually was a house back there. “What are those rooms?” I asked as I pointed.

  “The one closest to the door is the living room. The other is the dinette.”

  “Where does your mama usually sit?”

  “On the couch or at the table. Sometimes if she’s really excited about something on TV, she’ll sit close to it on the ottoman. I’m sure she’s watching us.”

  “Call her.”

  “I can’t, my hands are cuffed.”

  “What’s the number?” Jack asked as he pulled out his cell.

  Mandy recited the number, and Jack tapped it into his phone. He looked back at her. “You’re going to tell her we’re with you and coming in. You need to talk to her, and we’re escorting you. Do you understand that? You say anything else and you’re staying in the car and we’re going in with guns drawn. Got it?”

  “Yes, I got it.”

  Chapter 61

  Jack dialed Alice’s number and pressed the speakerphone icon. She picked up in two rings.

  “I’ve been expecting you.”

  “It’s me, Mama, Mandy. I’m outside, but I want to come in and talk to you.”