“I can copy our notes, I see you have a stack of phone calls to make,” he said nodding at the list of pink notes on my desk.”
“Thanks. That would help,” I said plopping down and starting to sort through them.
Dan headed off with our notes and I sorted through the stack. Only four were really pressing. One in particular peaked my interest. Captain Cox from IUPUI had called.
I called him back immediately.
CHAPTER THIRTY-F OUR
“IUPUI Campus Security, how may I direct your call?”
“Captain Cox. Detective Bartoni returning his call. It says urgent.”
“Oh yes detective. They have found Leigh Leonard’s car. It was parked in the hospital lot. The captain is over there right now.”
“Can you get a message to him? Tell him we are on our way.”
“I can do that. The roads are really bad. The campus is going to close down at 8:00 p.m. This is only the second time we have ever done that.”
“We’ll be there just as soon as we can make it.”
“They found her car?” Dan said coming back with a stack of papers.
“Yeah. Captain Cox is over at the hospital parking lot. We need to get over there as quickly as we can.”
“What about our meeting with the other two detectives?”
“I’ll handle it; you go get the car, assuming you can still move it and I’ll be right down.”
Dan headed off and I went to the conference room. The captain was still talking to them when I stuck my head in.
“Listen. We have a lead we need to follow up on right now. Here are sets of reports for each of you. Glad to have your help. You can read over those and we will be back just as soon as we can,” I told them.
“It’s already five-thirty,” LeRoy said, looking at this watch.
“Good, you can tell time,” the captain said before I could respond, “Read the reports and get up to speed. I want you to hit the ground running as fast as your little legs will carry you. The perp doesn’t care what time it is and our missing student's is running out. Anything else Detective LeRoy?”
“Just making an observation, that’s all.”
“Well, it’s noted. Now get to work. Bartoni, call me if you find anything of value. I’ll pass it along to these two.”
“Got it,” I said, slipping into my coat and pulling my gloves on.
I wrapped my scarf around my neck and face and went to meet Dan. Standing on the sidewalk I couldn’t see him anywhere. The wind whipped the snow into the part of my face that was exposed and made my eyes water. I was just about to go stand inside when I saw him fishtailing around the corner. The roof had a good ten inches of snow on top of it. This was just horrible weather.
It took almost forty-five minutes to go the five miles to the hospital parking lot. A Jeep Cherokee was idling behind a huge blob of snow. I assume a car was someplace underneath. How they ever spotted it was beyond me.
“You made it faster than I expected,” the captain said as I got out.
“Really? It took us the best part of an hour to get here.”
“Hell, it took me twenty minutes to get from security to the lot.”
“How did you ever find her car?”
“We looked up her assigned space. Her car wasn’t there but neither are many of the cars here. Anyone with any sense stayed off the roads. Patrolman Larkins noticed that the door was open and that didn’t make much sense. He checked out the plate and we found it belonged to the missing student. Half the inside of the car is full of snow. I doubt you will get much off the car.”
“Did anyone mess around with the inside?” I asked.
“Nope. Just looked and called it in. We do know what a crime scene is,” he said kind of sarcastically.
“I didn’t mean anything by that. I was just making sure we can match anything we find.”
“No one has messed with the car. At least from security,” he assured me.
“Dan, call the station and tell them we need a car towed to the crime lab. And tell the captain we won’t be making it back anytime soon.”
“Should we close the door?” the captain asked.
“Don’t see any reason to at this point. I doubt you could get it closed anyway.”
“If you don’t need me anymore, I’m heading back to security.”
“Thanks for the call. Hopefully we will get something off the car.”
“Good luck with that,” he said as he climbed back in the Jeep.
Four wheel drive. Why don’t we have something like that instead of sending us out in one of those lightass-ended Dodge Chargers? I could see Dan talking to someone on his cell phone. From his antics I would imagine it was the towing company either telling him no way in heck were they coming out or else they were telling him in would be sometime in July before they could get to us.
I actually thought about trying to see if I could get into the other side of the car but the snow was piled up to the bottom of the window. No way would I get the door open. I decided the only thing to do was go sit in the car and turn the heater up. We were in for a long wait no matter what.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Leigh could faintly hear a voice or else she was dreaming. All she could remember was trying to get into her car. Someone had offered to help her dig out and then everything went black.
She tried to move and discovered she couldn’t raise her arms or legs. What was going on? Where was she? Leigh tried to focus her eyes but a bright light was shinning right in her face. She rolled her head to one side and closed one eye. She could see a sink with shelves above it. Music was playing softly in the background.
Where am I and how did I get here. And why can’t I move my arms or legs, she wondered. Squinting, she raised her head and was shocked at what she saw. She was strapped on a table and was totally naked.
Nothing made sense. Why would she be strapped down and why was she undressed? How did she even get undressed? She couldn’t remember anything like that.
“I see you are trying to figure out what’s going on. Well, don’t worry about it too much. Actually there is no use worrying at all. Nothing you can do will change the outcome,” a man’s voice said from behind her head.
She rolled her head back as far as she could but whoever it was standing there was too far back for her to see.
“What is this all about? You intend to rape me and kill me?” she asked.
“Hopefully if all goes well, none of that will happen. I will carry out my experiments and if all goes as planned you will be allowed to go.”
“This isn’t about rape?”
“No. That is insulting. You think I can’t get women without having to resort to this?”
“Then why am I naked and why am I strapped down like this?”
“I told you. It’s for the experiment.”
“What experiment? What are you talking about?”
“I have chosen you to help me become famous. I am an inventor and I need subjects to help refine my invention,” he told her.
“I’m missing something here. You want me to help you with an experiment so you can become famous. What about me? Will I get to be famous as well? I mean, if you succeed shouldn’t I get something for helping you?”
This was totally unexpected. What was she doing? Trying to talk him out of performing the experiment?
At last he replied, “I am the inventor. You are only the test subject. I’m sorry but this is my time of glory,” he told her.
“Okay, listen to me a minute. Do you know who I am? Do you know who my father is?”
“No. What has that got to do with anything?”
“My name is...”
“Stop,” he shouted, “Who you are is irrelevant.”
“Leigh Honeycutt. Look it up on the internet. My father is worth billions. I could help you get some real money so you could have the right kind of facility. You could have actual sanctioned trials, ones that would be accepted by the medical board. Not stuc
k in some garage or whatever we are in,” she told him.
“You mean he would pay a reward to have you returned?”
“No, you’re missing the point. I could help you get funding. Not a ransom but real financing help. My father could set you up in a real laboratory. What you are doing now isn’t going to help you become famous. This will land you in jail,” she told him confidently.
He hardly knew what to say. She wasn’t pleading and begging for her life, instead she was offering to get him the financial help he needed to do this right. He felt dizzy trying to comprehend what she had just said.
Leigh was hoping he was actually considering what she had said. She used the Honeycutt name because he really was a billionaire and they did have a daughter named Leigh. If she could get him to focus on money she just might find a way to get out of this situation.
She knew he was crazy and unless she could convince him she would really be able to help, she would never get out of there alive. This guy had to be the same nut who had killed the other two girls she had read about. She knew she would have only one shot at this. She had to get it right.
“Why don’t you look up Honeycutt on Google and see what it says. See if he isn’t one of the richest people in the whole state. I can get him to do anything if I ask. I can help you. With your brains and my connections, it couldn’t miss,” she said.
If he would only bite.
“Your father really is the Honeycutt that owns the NFL football team and half the city?”
“Honest. Look, check it out for yourself. Do you have a computer?”
“Not here. I do at my house.”
“Too bad. Mine is in the car, or I think it is,” she told him.
“What’s your father’s first name?” he asked suddenly.
“Aaron. Aaron Honeycutt. Check it out. I’m telling you that we could do this together. It would give me something to do and my dad would be proud as well. Think of what it could mean. What equipment have you ever wanted? What kind of staff? Money wouldn’t be an object so you could spend more time refining whatever your invention is.”
“No way would you help me.”
“Why not? You haven’t hurt me in any way. You didn’t rape me or torture me. So I’m naked; it’s not the first time. We all are naked at one time or the other. This is no big deal,” she said matter-of-factly.
“I don’t know, I just don’t know. I mean I basically kidnapped you and you are saying you won’t hold that against me?” he asked.
“Big deal. It’s only kidnapping if you hold them against their will. I’m offering to help you. That’s not the same thing.”
“Geez. I don’t know what to do. I mean why would you help me? I don’t get it. You’re trying to trick me,” he suddenly shouted becoming agitated.
“No. No I’m not. If this invention of yours works will it make the world a better place?”
“I think so. Yeah, I guess it would.”
“Then why wouldn’t I want to help? Anytime someone figures out a better way we should embrace it. That’s all I’m really doing. It will be your talent and brains that pulls this off. Think of how many wonderful things are lost because the little guy can’t get the money he needs to develop his invention. Then some big company comes along and either steals it or buys it for pennies and he ends up with nothing for all his hard work.”
“Oh man. I just don’t know. I mean, how would all this work out? I don’t know,” he whined more than anything.
“Look, why don’t you think about it. I don’t mind waiting. It’s snowing so hard I would have to spend the night someplace anyway. Just get me some covers and maybe something to put my head on. I’ll just lay here until you think this through,” Leigh told him.
“Oh man. I just don’t know. This is crazy. I don’t know, I really don’t.”
“Check out the internet. That will show you I’m telling the truth about who I am and what I can do to help you. Then we can talk. Just get me some covers, I’m getting really cold.”
“Damn,” he said and started looking around for things to put over her.
Finally he had covered her and placed her rolled up shirt under her head.
“I’m going to check my computer. Don’t even think about trying to escape. If you do...”
“I get it. Go. Check it out and then we can talk about how this can be put together.”
He opened the door with some difficulty. Snow was making it hard. He was glad he had a four-wheel drive GMC even if his place wasn’t very far away. He started the SUV and went a few feet before stopping. He got out but didn’t close the door. Carefully making his way back to the door, he suddenly yanked it open.
Leigh was just lying there, just like he had left her.
“Everything okay? That was fast.”
“I’ll be back, I forgot something he said and headed back to his car.
CHAPTER THIRTY-S IX
By the time I got home it was going on midnight. My butt was dragging. I wanted to drink a glass of wine and take a long hot bath but I couldn’t work up the energy to even open a bottle of wine.
I dropped my clothes by the side of the bed and slid between the sheets. Yikes, they were pretty nippy with nothing on. It didn’t seem to matter in the grand scheme of things. It was the last thing I remembered.
When the alarm went off, I rolled out of bed and rushed to the bathroom. It was so cold I could actually see my breath in the house. I had to pee so bad my teeth were floating so that was the first order of business. I closed the bathroom door and turned on the shower. At least it would help knock some of the chill off.
I looked in the mirror before it steamed up and did not like what was looking back at me. I was sort of hoping someone else was standing in front of me but it wasn’t so. No wonder I haven’t had a date in over a month now. I looked like death warmed over.
I brushed my teeth. At least my breath wouldn’t gag a maggot. I jumped in the shower and washed all my necessary parts. I considered shaving under my arms and my legs but decided the heck with it; I wasn’t impressing anyone at the moment.
I dried off and made a mad dash to the closet to get my clothes on. Black jeans, what a shock, since I have twenty pair exactly alike. I dressed as warmly as I could. I didn’t know what the day would bring but I doubted I would be sitting at my desk much.
I rummaged around and found a couple of stale Pop-Tarts and a Diet Coke and headed for the TR6. I stopped with my mouth open. It was gone. Well, it was there but buried in snow was up to the door handles. No way was that doodle bug going to get out of the driveway. Heck, what driveway? It was gone too.
My phone did its little happy tune in my pocket and I dug it out. It was Dan.
“Hey Bartoni, I’ll bet you are snowed in big time.”
“I’m certainly not going to take that bet. What’s up?”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes or so. I got us a four wheeler. Now we can get anyplace we need to. See ya in ten,” he said and hung up.
I might just have to keep this boy after all. Where he got the vehicle I didn’t have a clue. He could have stolen it for all I knew. I decided I wouldn’t ask where he got it and let him just tell me. If he felt like it. It would be bad form to have to arrest your partner for grand theft auto.
Sure enough ten minutes later he pulled the big honkin’ thing into the drive way.
“This thing is great,” he said by way of greeting as I climbed in and fastened my seat belt.
“Thanks for coming to get me. I would never have gotten out of the driveway let alone all the way to the station.”
“That little rascal would have just adisappeared if it hadn’t stopped snowing.”
“The city is going to be a mess. I hope people are smart enough to take the day off. There will be no place for anyone to park.”
“Hey, they can’t take the day off. They have to chase that almighty buck. All we have to do is chase bad guys,” Dan quipped.
He seemed in a cheery mood. Figu
res. Give a guy a four wheel drive vehicle and they are happier than a pig in mud. Hell, it’s close to the same thing anyway. I have to say, I was impressed at the way we got through the piles of snow. It only took twenty minutes to get to the station. The same trip had taken me almost an hour last night coming home.
We waited and burned time until LeRoy and Marcus finally showed up. By then I was on my third Diet Coke and second Snickers. Everyone took care of the pre-meeting business and we finally actually got started.
“Okay, we both read your notes and talked about them last night. The thing is, unless I missed something, you really don’t have a heck of a lot to go on,” Marcus said.
He was always blunt and to the point. That’s okay with me. I don’t like dancing around much either.
“You are absolutely right. Unless the car of Ms. Leonard turns up something, we are woefully short on solid leads,” I confirmed.
“If she is actually missing and if it was the same person involved,” LeRoy added.
“I’m pretty sure she was abducted if that’s what you mean. Few women leave their purse and computer in a car with the door open. She was abducted,” I replied.
“But we don’t know that for a fact,” he insisted.
“Yeah, we do, LeRoy,” I said sarcastically.
He didn’t answer but rolled his eyes. Obviously he had been hanging around Farmington way too long. He was starting to act like him. I decided I wasn’t going to deal with him being an ass.
“Look LeRoy, you don’t want to be here, that’s fine with me. You are acting like Farmington more and more. I don’t need that with everything that is on my plate. If you can’t work with me, you can take a hike. I would rather operate with three than have someone putting up road blocks,” I said.
He looked at me and then over at Marcus. Marcus just sat there passively. He wasn’t about to get caught in the middle and I didn’t really blame him. Well, I sort of did. He could have nodded his agreement or something.
“Okay, Bartoni. But don’t expect me not to mention it if I see we have overlooked something important,” he replied.
FROSTBITE -Angie Bartoni Case File #2 (Detective Angie Bartoni Case Files Book 1) Page 11