Letting You Down (An Allie Down Mystery Thriller Book 4)

by PJ Fernor

  I nodded to the woods.

  “That’s what happened in your case?” Johnny asked.

  “In our case, it was the girlfriend of a guy who owed money to this company. We got a confession out of someone that works for the company. Now he said he attacked the woman to scare her, but he did not kill her or cut off her hand.”

  “And you think that’s what happened here?”

  “Possibly,” I said.

  “Well, Allie, I hate to pop your bubble, but you’re wrong here.”

  “What?” Ben asked.

  “That man on the ground over there…” Johnny shook his head. “He’s not involved in any loans.”

  “How do you know?” I asked.

  “Because his name is Harold Boron,” Johnny said. “That guy is squeaky clean. He owns a small house right in town and has a hunting cabin that’s been in his family for sixty years. No wife, no kids, no debts, nothing. He drives an old truck he repairs himself, and… you know what? He doesn’t even own a TV. He’s all about the world and nature.”

  “How in the world do you know him?” Ben asked.

  “I saved his life,” Johnny said. “Harold had a heart attack a few years ago. Of all things, I was driving home and I saw this guy near the side of the road, just walking, and boom, down he went. I thought he was drunk until I got to him and realized it was more serious. Since he didn’t have anyone, I followed the ambulance to the hospital and stayed with him. He cleaned up his diet and all that after the heart attack. Doctors wanted him to slow his life down a little but he refused. I guess he had some genetic heart issues or something. I don’t know. I think that’s maybe why he never had kids. He didn’t want to pass that on.”

  “And that’s the guy back there?” I asked.

  “No doubt in my mind,” Johnny said. “That’s why they called me. Someone must have recognized him. I just talked to Harold a few weeks ago. I can promise you there is nothing in his life that would warrant some loan company to kill him and cut off his hand.”

  “What about family? Friends? A girlfriend?” Ben asked.

  Johnny kept shaking his head. “No way. He has no family. I don’t know about friends… but… why him?”

  I looked back and groaned. “You know what happened?”

  “What?” Ben asked.

  “I bet he had another heart attack,” I said. “There’s no other signs of trauma besides his hand. Even if he was tackled and had his hand cut off… why didn’t he fight back? He’s a man of the woods and all that. He would have known what to do. I’m sure he had a knife or pepper spray on him. You know?”

  “That’s a great point,” Johnny said. “Harold was tough. Life tough, you know? He didn’t get strong from exercising. He got strong from doing things.”

  “So you think he was attacked and then his heart gave out?” Ben asked.

  “I’m just saying things right now,” I said. “Because if this guy really is Harold Boron and Harold Boron has zero connection to IY Green…”

  I looked at Ben.

  Ben understood where I was going.

  “He is Harold Boron,” Johnny said. “And he has nothing to do with the company you’re pinning your other murder on.”

  “So that means I’m back to square one,” I said.

  Johnny stepped toward me. “Good news is that I’m here. Let’s grab something to eat and talk about it.”

  Johnny winked.

  He started to reach for my hand and I smacked him away.

  “Don’t touch me,” I said. “Don’t ask me out either. I have someone in my life.”

  “You do?” Johnny asked.

  “Ben,” I said.

  “What?” Johnny asked.

  “Yeah, hey, hello,” Ben said.

  “Sorry,” Johnny said. “You two… together?”

  “Is that a problem?” Ben asked.

  Johnny showed his hands. “Not at all. My heart just got crushed. You’ll have to excuse me for a moment.”

  Johnny turned, shaking his head.

  I looked at Ben.

  Ben looked at me.

  It was the first time I publicly acknowledged our relationship.

  It felt good to do.

  Chapter Forty

  “Harold Boron,” I said as I got back into the car.

  “Johnny Barby,” Ben said as he started the car.

  “Small world sometimes.”

  “Let me ask you this,” Ben said. He looked at me. “Do you believe Johnny?”

  “About?”

  “About Harold.”

  “I listen. I hear.”

  “You don’t believe.”

  “I need to see and believe for myself,” I said. “Do I trust Johnny? Of course I do. If he says Harold is clean, I do believe it. That doesn’t mean we aren’t going to try and connect some dots. There’s a bigger picture here, Ben.”

  “I know that,” he said as he started to drive. “If Harold really has nothing to do with IY Green…”

  “Then we’re in a big mess,” I said. “That implies something really bad. That means IY Green sent Jerry to attack Jessica. That Jerry was telling us the truth that he went after her to send a message to Calvin. The message was clear on what to do. With the hopes that Calvin would get spooked and pay up.”

  “Right.”

  “It also means someone, what? Stumbled across a shocked Jessica and cut off her hand?”

  I watched as Ben swallowed hard. His Adam’s apple dipped down and back up.

  His jaw tightened.

  “And that same person then stumbled across Harold in a park at sunset and attacked him? Cut off his hand? Meaning… maybe this person didn’t even intend to kill Jessica and Harold. This person just wants to… collect severed hands…”

  Ben shivered. “Yeah, I don’t like that theory at all, Allie Down.”

  “Well, you better cozy up to it. It might be the best one we’ve got. We can still put a lot of pressure on Anthony and Giovanni. They’re scum. They ordered someone to attack Jessica. They committed a crime. Same with Jerry. He already confessed it to us.”

  “So, we have a couple moving pieces to this case then,” I said. “We might be chasing two criminals down, Ben.”

  “We’ve done it before,” he said. “We can do it again. Right?”

  “Right.”

  “Hey,” he said. “Mind if we take a quick detour? I want to show you something.”

  “Yeah, sure,” I said.

  “We’re going to my house for a minute.”

  “Your house? Is everything okay? Did you get a call about your father?”

  “No, it’s not that,” Ben said. “He’s fine. As good as he can be right now.”

  We reviewed the same details over and over on the ride to Ben’s house.

  If we were dealing with two criminals here, we needed to go back through both crime scenes and find more clues. Someone collecting hands… they were trophies.

  It made me begin to wonder if Jessica and Harold weren’t the only ones.

  Before my mind could go too far off the deep end there, Ben pulled into the driveway of his house.

  “I need you to come with me,” he said.

  “Oh?”

  “We have to be quiet. I don’t want Dad to hear us.”

  I grinned. “Are we sneaking around like we’re teenagers?”

  “I never got to do it with you before, Allie Down,” Ben said. “I always wanted to. Here’s my chance. Don’t ruin the fun for me.”

  He got out of the car first.

  Sadly, there was nothing fun about sneaking around with Ben.

  His father was probably napping, resting his poor, aged and confused mind while Alzheimer’s slowly took him away.

  It still pained me to think about.

  We entered the house and a nurse stood up from the living room couch.

  Ben put his pointer finger to his lips and the nurse nodded.

  “Just forgot something,” he said in a loud whisper. “Don’t mind us.�
�

  Ben took my hand and led me to the steps.

  “What are we doing here?” I asked.

  “You’ll see,” he said.

  My heart gently raced as we climbed the steps to the second floor of the house.

  At the top landing, there were five doors to choose from.

  Ben grabbed the door handle of the first door on the right.

  He looked at me and smiled as he opened the door.

  Before he turned on the lights, I could see what was waiting for me.

  The sunlight gave that away.

  I slowly put my right hand to my mouth.

  I was staring directly at the whiteboard.

  My whiteboard.

  The One.

  Ben put his hand to my back. “I couldn’t just leave it to waste, Allie Down. I know what this means to you. I know you can’t stop thinking about it. I know you won’t stop thinking about it.”

  “You set this up for me?” I asked, stating the obvious.

  “Yes,” Ben said. “And, look…” He walked to a table. “This is an old table I put up here. And I put some cork board pieces on the wall too. There are pens, pencils, markers, tacks… everything you need. I moved the bed to the other side of the room so you have the entire floor to think, pace, and talk to yourself.”

  “Ben…”

  “I have a key to the house for you too,” he said. He put his hands out. “It’s not some kind of commitment thing, okay? But if you ever need to see this or work on it, you’ll have a key. I’ll make sure the nurses and my father know you’ll be coming and going. The room will be off limits too. Except for you, of course.”

  I slowly moved across the floor to an old desk chair and touched it.

  I felt like crying.

  Ben knew what this meant to me and he went out of his way to set this up. He made a room in his house for me.

  My eyes looked to the whiteboard again.

  All my work and information were still there. Perfectly intact.

  I slowly turned and Ben stood a few feet away, his hands in his pockets.

  “Why?” I whispered.

  “The truth? I believe in you, Allie Down. I believe in everything you’re doing with this case. I believe you’re going to crack this open and catch this guy. And you’re going to save a lot of lives when you do it. And I know without you working on this, there are a lot of people in danger. I couldn’t win your heart all those years ago. But maybe I have a shot now.”

  This guy was going to make me cry.

  And I didn’t like to cry.

  I moved closer to him and reached up to gently touch his face.

  “I know everything in this room is dark, scary, bad, and deadly… but this is the most thoughtful and romantic thing anyone has ever done for me, Ben.”

  Ben met me halfway for a kiss.

  He was the comfort I so desperately needed.

  After our kiss, he hugged me.

  I took a deep breath.

  When I backed away, Ben took my hands with his.

  I looked at my left hand and his right hand.

  “I know,” Ben said.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You’re looking at our hands. I know what you’re thinking. And we’re going to solve this case too. Together, we can do anything.”

  I smiled.

  Ben may have been the only person to actually understand me.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Ben tossed me a marker through the air.

  I caught it and lifted an eyebrow.

  “Let’s get to work,” he said.

  “What?”

  “We have two cases here, Allie Down,” he said. “We have work to do.”

  “Ben. Stop. You are not getting involved in The One.”

  “Too late,” he said as he looked around the room. “I gave you a room in my house. I think I’m just as much a part of this as you are now. It’s got me upset too. Just so you know. Thinking about what that guy did to you and Lo. What he said. The way he manipulated you.”

  I sucked in a deep breath. “How about we work on Jessica and Harold’s murders first?”

  “Okay,” Ben said. “Let’s do that instead.”

  I rolled the marker in my hand and diverted my attention from the whiteboard to the cork board wall that was blank.

  “My fear is that there is no connection between Jessica and Harold,” I said.

  “Right. That’s an honest fear to have. As you said, we have to keep digging.”

  “Johnny said Harold has no family or friends,” I said. “But he knew Johnny.”

  “From saving his life.”

  “So, I’m supposed to picture Johnny Barby as the kind of guy that would save someone’s life and then check up on that person?”

  “I know. It doesn’t seem logical. But maybe if Harold really was alone, Johnny found a soft spot in his heart.”

  “I don’t think Johnny is capable of having a soft spot in his heart,” I said.

  “Then we go with what we have,” Ben said. “We know that Jessica was attacked by Jerry from IY Green. At the orders of Anthony and Giovanni. While she was hurt or dazed or even knocked out, someone cut off her hand and moved her body off the trail. Now we have Harold. A man who had a heart attack once before. He was out walking the woods just before sunset. Let’s assume that’s the time frame here. Someone could have attacked him, which triggered a heart attack. Or maybe the guy had a heart attack while walking.”

  “And someone stumbled across his body?” I asked. “If that’s the case, then this killer needs to put down the knife and buy a lottery ticket.”

  “Very true,” Ben said. “So maybe we need to figure out who else was in the park around sunset. Someone had to have seen something. Maybe the killer went to the park to attack someone…” Ben’s eyes moved toward the open door. “Dad?”

  I turned around and Ben’s father stood in the doorway.

  Wearing oversized black pants with black, fuzzy slippers. He wore a black t-shirt with a dark flannel over it. He looked cozy. And he was smiling.

  “I thought you were sleeping, Dad,” Ben said. “And you’re not supposed to take the stairs.”

  “Says who?” Ben Senior asked. He looked at me. “See how they treat me here? They bring in these people to tell me how to live in my own house.”

  “Your house?” Ben asked.

  “Hey, I raised you,” Ben Senior said. “Don’t talk back to me. I can still punish you.”

  “That I would like to see,” I said.

  Ben Senior pointed at me. “I always liked you, Allie. You were always sneaking by the shop when you were younger. You know my son had a crush on you, right?”

  “Did he?” I asked.

  “Dad,” Ben said.

  “Oh yeah,” Ben Senior said. “Big crush. Everything was Allie this and Allie that. He was always so worried about you. You were going with that one character. Tommy. Right?”

  “Yes, I was,” I said. “That was a long time ago.”

  “I never liked that one,” Ben Senior said. “You would have been happier with my son. But he never had the guts to say something.”

  “It wasn’t the right time or place, Dad,” Ben said. “Plus…” Ben shook his head. “Why are we having this conversation?”

  “Because you told me I’m not allowed upstairs,” Ben Senior said. “I’m not a child.”

  “I never said you were, Dad,” Ben said. “You have to be careful. Because…”

  “I know,” Ben Senior said. He touched the side of his head. “Never know when the old head is going to lose itself, right?”

  “Well, you look great,” I said. “I’m happy to see you. Sorry if we woke you.”

  “I wasn’t even sleeping,” Ben Senior said. “That nurse down there, she just talks and talks. The last time I heard someone talk that much it was Ben as a teenager, rambling on about you, Allie.”

  I laughed.

  “I think we’re done here,” Ben said. “That’s enoug
h embarrassment for one day for me.”

  “Not at all,” I said. “Let’s keep going. I’m sure you have plenty of stories, right, Mr. Welloski?”

  Ben Senior looked around the room. “Yeah, I think we can paint this over the weekend for you, Barb. It won’t take long.”

  “Excuse me?” I asked.

  Ben Senior looked at me. He smiled big. “You know, I’m really sorry about Henry. I tried to tell him to cool it with the drinks that night. I shouldn’t even be saying this to you. It pains me to see him gone. And you alone. But I’m always here to help.”

  I looked at Ben.

  Ben frowned.

  “Dad, let’s get you downstairs.”

  “I have to get the paint ready,” Ben Senior said to me.

  I swallowed hard. I nodded. “Okay. The paint is downstairs, okay? Everything you need is downstairs.”

  “This’ll be a good room for you, Barb,” Ben Senior said. “You’ll get to paint and heal.”

  “Yes, I will,” I said.

  Ben guided Ben Senior out of the bedroom, and I followed.

  I understood why Ben didn’t want his father upstairs because he now suddenly couldn’t walk down the steps the right way.

  Ben had to basically carry his father.

  The nurse gasped when she saw us.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said.

  “You can leave now,” Ben said.

  “Mr.-”

  “I said out,” Ben growled.

  The nurse’s face turned white.

  I wanted to feel bad for her but how could I? Her one job was to make sure Ben’s father was safe.

  The nurse left and I stood near the steps as Ben got his father settled.

  After a few minutes, Ben emerged from the bedroom and sighed.

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “For what?” I asked. “You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just…”

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said. “Let me make a few calls. I need someone here. So I can drive you back to the station.”

  “I can get a ride,” I said. “Or I can stay.”