Mortal Crimes 2

by Various Authors

  *

  Everyone was gathered at the kitchen table when Kasey and Jay walked in the back door of the Atwood house. Everyone but Sherry.

  Breakfast smells and light conversation filled the air. George buttered a stack of toast. Artie, with an armful of plates and utensils, was setting the table. Marianne transferred an impressive mound of scrambled eggs from frying pan to platter. Even Danny was busy separating and folding sheets of paper toweling to use as napkins.

  Kasey and Jay had not eaten breakfast. Neither seemed to have the stomach for it.

  “You two’re just in time,” Marianne said. “Sit. Eat before it’s cold.”

  “Batteries not included,” Danny muttered.

  “Where’s Sherry?”

  “She hasn’t come down yet. Run up and get her, sweetie. Tell her it’s ‘Last chance.’” Marianne pushed a coffee mug into Jay’s hand.

  Kasey turned to Jay.

  “Go on, I’ll be okay.” He sipped the coffee. “Toast looks good. All of a sudden, I’m hungry.”

  “Mr. King,” Marianne said, pulling out a chair for Jay, “if you don’t mind my asking, what’s your sign?”

  As Kasey passed through the dining room, she caught a glimpse of her wedding photograph on the credenza. She quickly looked away. Not from pain or sorrow as she would have in the past. But because Kevin was no longer a part of her current life. Whether or not he would approve of Jay did not matter anymore. Only she, Kasey Atwood, could make that decision.

  At the top of the stairs, Kasey knocked lightly on Sherry’s door.

  “I’m not hungry,” Sherry called out.

  Kasey opened the door. Sherry was on her side, her ravaged back exposed. When she heard the door creak, she quickly flopped over on her back in an attempt to hide the marks. A look of pain filled her eyes.

  “Sherry, you can’t stay hidden away forever. You’ve got to eat. Artie’s downstairs. He’s come to look out for you and the others.”

  Sherry turned on her side, pulling her knees to her chest. “Artie is nothing against someone like him.”

  “Who are you talking about? Lucas Cage?”

  “Artie is good. Cage is evil. Good is no match for evil.”

  Kasey felt an icy chill. Sherry, like Dianne, was usually so strong, levelheaded, and more often than not, tough and cynical. What did that animal do to make mush out of such strong woman? This frightened girl lying in a tight ball, a tangle of strawberry-blonde hair across her face, was no one Kasey knew.

  “Do you think Artie could do to another human being what that monster did to me…and laugh afterwards? Do you think Artie could kill without taking a moment to reflect upon it? The man that did this to me has no conscience. No feelings. We might as well be slugs under his shoes for all he cares.”

  “He’s human, Sherry. Cold and heartless, but as human as you or I. Which means he can be stopped. He’ll just go on hurting people if he isn’t stopped.”

  Sherry buried her face into her pillow. Her body shook with silent weeping.

  “What did he threaten you with? What does he have on you, Sherry? Did he threaten to expose you, to tell what you do at the clubs?”

  “Do you think I care about what people think?” The words were muffled by the pillow. After a moment Sherry turned her head toward Kasey, but she kept her eyes closed. “I don’t care about me.” A tear slipped from beneath her eyelid and rolled across the bridge of her nose.

  Kasey sat on the edge of her bed and lifted the hair from her face. “Tell me, Sherry.”

  “He swore he would douse everyone in this house with gasoline and make me watch each of them burn alive. You, your ma, Danny, everyone. He would do it. He would enjoy every minute of it.”

  A grotesque picture of a fiery body—her mother’s body— writhing in agony sprang into Kasey’s mind before she could shut it out. That’s what he wanted her to see. That’s how he got control and used it.

  She stroked Sherry’s long, silky hair. “Honey, he’s going to kill me—try to anyway—whether you speak up or not. He has to kill me; I know too much.”

  Sherry sat up and grabbed Kasey’s hand. “That bastard.”

  “And if he kills me, think what that would do to Ma.” Kasey saw a hardness come into Sherry’s eyes. “The only way to stop him is to tell the police that he forced you to lie. Show them what he did to you and why. We can’t let dirt like that run our lives. Will you do it? Will you go to the police?”

  Sherry squeezed her eyes shut again.

  “Will you?”

  “Yes. Damnit, yes.”

  Kasey hugged her; and when she started to rise, she felt something hard beneath the covers.

  “What’s this?” Kasey questioned, tossing back the sheet. The 20-gauge shotgun, like a wood-and-steel lover, lay alongside Sherry. “I don’t think you’ll need this.” Kasey cracked it open and removed the shells.

  On her way out, Kasey paused. “Sherry, did you tell Cage that Ma had a vacant room to rent?”

  “Oh, God, no. I never laid eyes on him until after he rented the room. I knew he was shit the moment I met him.”

  Kasey closed the door. She wondered how he’d known about the room.

  *

  Jay was finishing off a triangle of toast smothered in fresh peach jam, trying to concentrate on the daily horoscope Mrs. Atwood was reading to him from the paper, when Kasey come into the kitchen.

  “…and expect the unexpected today,” Mrs. Atwood was saying. “Family matters are strained.”

  He looked at Kasey expectantly. She gave him a thin smile, crossed to the coffeepot behind him, poured a cup, then turned and said quietly, “She’s going to do it, Jay. She’s going to talk to Loweman.”

  Jay wanted to hug Kasey, but instead he merely nodded. This was the first real break they’d had.

  Without looking at her, Danny tapped Kasey’s arm. When she turned, he pressed a white swan-shaped origami into her hand. The paper was lightly smudged with bacon grease.

  “Thank you, Danny,” she said. “It’s beautiful.”

  The wall phone rang, and Artie Brown, closest to it, answered. He cupped a large hand over the receiver and said, “Mr. King?” He held the receiver out to Jay. “For you.”

  “It’s probably Brad,” Jay said to Kasey, rising. He took the receiver. “King, here.”

  “Hello, Your Majesty. Hey, man, how’s it going? Guess you finally found my little surprise last night. Took you long enough.”

  Jay turned his back to the others. “I found it,” he said, as evenly as possible.

  “If I know the Atwood household, you’re in the kitchen with that screwy bunch staring a hole in you. We need to talk. Take a ride. Get into that fancy silver car of yours with the speaker phone and start to drive. Head back to town. For your own sake don’t get the cops involved. At least not until you’ve heard what I have to say. I’ll be in touch.” There was a pause, then, “Oh, and make sure Kasey is with you.”

  “I don’t want Kas—” The line went dead, cutting him off. Jay waited until he heard the dial tone before hanging up. “Business,” he said, looking around the room. “I have to go. Mrs. Atwood, thanks for the coffee and toast. And the reading.”

  Kasey went out with him. At his car he said, “It was Cage. The bastard wanted to know if I’d found his little surprise.”

  “Jesus.” She stopped him before he got into his car. “Is that it?”

  “No. He wants to talk. He said to head back to town and he’ll call back on the car phone.”

  “I’m coming with you.”

  “No, I can’t put you in jeopardy, too.”

  “Damnit, Jay, do you think he’s going to just forget about me? Whatever he has to say concerns me as much as it does you.”

  Jay sighed. She was right; they were in it together now. He felt a sharp stab of contrition for getting her involved in the first place. Because of something that happened twenty years ago, a madman was out to get them all.

  He went around the
car and opened the passenger door. “Give me a minute to get out of these clothes,” she said.

  “No time. Get in.”

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Jay drove. They had just reached the main highway when the car phone rang.

  “We’re on the road, Cage,” Jay said, answering the speaker phone. “Go ahead.”

  Instead of Cage’s gruff baritone voice, a weepy, childlike one came through the speaker. “Jay?”

  “Dianne?” Jay looked at Kasey. “Dianne, where are you?”

  “Jay, please do whatever he says. Don’t let him hurt me anymore. Darling, I love you. I don’t ever want to be without you again. Please…” The connection was filled with static and interference. “…please, Jay.”

  Jay pounded the steering wheel with a fist. “Dianne, where are you? Is he with you now?”

  Jay heard a surprised cry, like a yelp; then, “Yes, I’m with her. We’re right here together, cozy as two scorpions in a nest. Why don’t you come out and join us? You and that pretty sidekick of yours. I figured you wouldn’t mind if your wife stayed with me for a while, since you’ve been too busy fucking her friend to care about anything else.”

  “Don’t hurt her, Cage.”

  “Oh, I’m afraid it’s too late for that. Some things just can’t be helped. She brought it on herself, though. She’s a real tiger. I’m not without one or two battle scars myself. But you know what? I think she likes it rough. Don’t you, babe? Especially in the sack. Yeah, I think so. We both like it rough. Guess that makes us pretty compatible, doesn’t it? At least in that department. Though we don’t seem to see eye to eye on much else.”

  “What do you want?”

  “A trade. You for her. I believe our whirlwind romance is winding down. The fight’s all out of her; and, Jesus, whiny broads really get on my nerves. Kasey Atwood will be the mediator. You both come out here—”

  “Kasey isn’t—”

  “Shut up! It’s not up for negotiation. You got that? The two of you come here. You stay and your wife goes home with your girlfriend. I won’t lie to you, Mr. King-of-the-hill; I intend to kill you. But who knows, I might give you a sporting chance. I’ll work something out, something that will give me the—how should I put this?—the maximum satisfaction. Yeah, that’s it. Maximum satisfaction for having to wait all these years for my payback.”

  “Where?”

  “No hesitation? No argument? Noble.” He chuckled. “I must admit I wasn’t sure you’d want her back. Thought you might just decide to let me take care of her for you—you know, clear the way for you and the little house dickette. Guess you have some scruples after all.”

  “You crazy sonofabitch—”

  “Watch your mouth, asshole. As long as I have the upper hand, you watch your mouth.”

  Jay heard a commotion in the background, heard Dianne cry out, then silence.

  “Cage!” Jay yelled out.

  “Yeah, I’m here. Your wife took a notion to try to leave without permission. Can’t have that, now, can we? Not that she’d get very far.” Cage chuckled again. “Okay, listen up, I have a place out in Cold Springs at the end of Pioneer Trail. It’s a humble abode, nothing like yours. Your wife hasn’t warmed to it yet, and somehow I feel she never will. Ah, well.” His voice hardened. “Look for my Camaro. I don’t have to tell you that if you bring anyone else out here, meaning the law, I’ll kill her. And I assure you it won’t be a quick death. The main highway is fifteen minutes away. I can see it from here. If I think you’re trying to pull a fast one, she gets a taste of the knife again. Only this time it won’t be a little initial carving. Fifteen minutes is a long time when, well, no matter what your present feelings are toward your wife, somehow I don’t think you’ll want that on your conscience.”

  Jay heard Dianne scream in the background. More a cry of anger and frustration than one of pain.

  “Be right with you, babe.” A pause, then, “Oh, King, one more thing. Bring a million dollars in fifties and hundreds. Don’t tell me you can’t raise that kind of cash on the spot, ‘cause I know better. Get it from the club. If you’re not out here in sixty minutes—one hour—your wife goes under the knife. And believe me, Kingshit, it won’t end there. I’ll come after you and Kasey and every last person you both care about. Have I made myself clear?”

  “Clear.”

  Jay disconnected. He quickly dialed his house. The line rang six times before the machine picked up. He listened to his own voice instructing the caller to leave a message, then he identified himself and urged someone, anyone, to pick up. When no one did. Jay disconnected and dialed Dianne’s cellular number.

  *

  The cellular phone rang once.

  Cage sat on the edge of the mattress, pressed the on button, and waited until he heard King’s voice asking for Dianne before he spoke. In a singsong voice he said, “Time is ticking away, King. Don’t waste it on foolish tactics.” He looked over at Dianne, who was curled into a tight ball in a corner of the room, just inches from him. Her usually perfect hair was mussed. Mascara smeared around her eyes and a drop of blood stood in the corner of her swollen mouth. She was naked, clutching a tattered blanket in front of her.

  “I want to talk to her again,” Jay said.

  Cage rubbed his forehead at a point between his eyes where the pressure was centered. The pain increased by the minute. Lately, the headaches were there when he woke up; and no matter how many pills he took, they seemed to get worse with each passing day. He had little patience for this bullshit.

  “Twelve o’clock, King. Don’t be late. Every minute past noon will be marked with my trusty knife—like a notch in time—on the flawless face of your lovely wife.” Cage stroked Dianne’s cheek with the flat side of the blade. She jerked away from him, cursing. He laughed, disconnecting the line and tossing the phone on the bed.

  *

  Kasey waited in the car, her nerves on edge, raw. Thirty minutes earlier, Jay had gone into the club to get the ransom money from the main cashier cage. She didn’t expect Jay to have a problem getting the money. Cage had done his homework, knowing exactly how much cash the club was required to keep on hand. If someone hit a big payoff before the money could be replaced, Jay was out of business.

  She repeatedly glanced at her watch, obsessed with the ticking minutes. The swan origami lay in her lap. Kasey began to nervously work at the folds. When she pulled out a fold, she saw a postage stamp. Curious, she began to carefully unfold it. The swan was in two parts, an envelope and a note sheet. It was addressed to Lucas Cage at a post office box in Reno. The note read. Do it. Now!

  Kasey jumped with a start when the door suddenly opened. Jay tossed two gray canvas bags into the backseat and climbed into the car.

  “I was beginning to worry,” she said. “How’d it go?”

  “I got as much as I could. It’s almost all there. There’s a lot to be said for ready cash. Yanick showed up, demanded to know what was going on. There was no problem once I told him what I was doing and what the money was for. I can trust him to not call the cops.”

  She handed him the note and envelope. “Does this mean anything to you? Danny must’ve gotten hold of it somehow while Cage was in the house.”

  “Someone wants him to do something and they want it done now. With Cage it could mean anything.” Jay started the car and drove away, heading for the freeway.

  “It was postmarked two days ago. He must have picked it up yesterday while he was still at the ranch.”

  “Then it’s a sure bet it has something to do with us. Me.”

  Something in the hand-printed note seemed familiar to Kasey. Was it the way the i was dotted or the bold slash across the top of the t or the shape of the o? “Jay, does anything about it look familiar to you? The formation of the letters? The size or spacing?”

  Taking his eyes from the road, he glanced at it several times, then shook his head. “No. Does it to you?”

  “Yes, there’s something.”

  “
Shit,” Jay said, hitting the steering wheel with the palm of his hand. “How did he get Dianne out of the house with three bodyguards and a housekeeper in attendance? How?”

  “Try the house again,” Kasey said.

  Jay dialed. The answering machine picked up on the fourth ring.

  “Maybe I should take a quick run by?”

  “There’s no time.”

  Jay glanced at the clock on the dash, then accelerated. “You’re right.” He shook his head. “Brad’s disappeared. No one at the club has seen him since last night around eight or nine. He didn’t sleep in his room.”

  Kasey remembered how intoxicated Brad had been at dinner. Intoxicated and upset. His disappearance was either an act of defiance directed toward his uncle and Kasey or Brad was deep into the conspiracy. She hoped it was the former.

  As they drove toward Cold Springs, Kasey prayed Dianne was still okay.

  *

  The surveillance van sat across the street from the house. Frank Loweman remembered it from the last time he was out here. He pulled in the back way and parked beside a Honda Accord in the small graveled lot.

  He left his car and went to the rear entrance. The heavy metal gate stood open. He went through, looking for a sign of Dianne or Jay. The first thing he noticed was the absence of any men guarding the property. The pool sweep made swishing, sucking noises as it glided along the stone edge. He cautiously entered through the glass slider, which stood open. The alarm system was not activated. Something was wrong. Dianne couldn’t be that rebellious. She had been scared, really scared, since the bomb threat. That much Loweman knew for certain.

  Loweman pulled his service pistol and moved warily through the dining room to the kitchen. He found the first body there. The dead man sat at the table, slumped forward, head on the glass top, the murder weapon, a cord from some electrical appliance, still wrapped around his neck.

  He backed out, being careful not to touch anything. Moments later, he found the second body in the master bedroom.

  After checking the man for vitals and finding none, he hurried back through the house. He had to call this in to the station and report what he’d found. Two dead. Where was Jay and Dianne, he wondered? And where were the third bodyguard and the housekeeper?