by PJ Fernor
Of course, right on cue, I watched as Chucky struggled to climb up the hill.
“I better go save him before he ends up falling back and breaking his neck,” Ben said.
Ben skidded down the hill on his heels and offered a hand to Chucky.
I kind of enjoyed watching Ben use his strength to help Chucky.
I guess I was becoming that woman. The one who fawned over her boyfriend.
Boyfriend.
Ben’s my boyfriend, right?
“Oh, that’s a son of a gun of a hill,” Chucky said as he wiped his brow. “I should have stayed down there and called you again, Ben. Wasn’t sure where you were.”
“We drove as fast as we could,” he said. “What’s going on here?”
“One of the Effler grandkids found the body this morning,” Chucky said. “Everyone feared it was a family member, but it’s not. If you look over on that other ridge, you’ll see a small clearing…” Chucky pointed. I looked and nodded. “That’s a notorious spot for kids and teenagers to get into trouble. They like these woods for whatever reasons. There’s a pathway down to the lake too. You can walk right along the shore and around. And from where the main property is, nobody would ever know. We’ve busted a lot of parties up around here before. Strange enough, it’s been quiet for a while. Until now.”
“You brought us out here for a party gone wrong?” I asked.
“No,” Chucky said. “The guy in the water is not a teenager. And I don’t think he was here to party. He’s got a nasty gash on the back of his head. He was attacked and drowned in that lake. Half his body is still on shore.”
“No offense, Chucky,” I said, “as much as I like watching you climb that hill, we have a bigger case here…”
“And I’m telling you the case just got bigger,” Chucky said. “The guy is missing his right hand.”
My heart sank.
“What did you just say?” Ben asked.
“You heard me.”
“You didn’t tell me that on the phone?” Ben growled.
“I didn’t see him yet,” Chucky shot back. “One of my guys called to say it looked like an attack. Made me think of Harold. That’s why I called. I just got down there myself and saw it. That’s why I was trying to get back up here to find you two.”
“His hand is missing?” I asked.
“Cut off. Looks just like Harold.”
I looked at Ben and began my descent.
I lost my footing right away and threw my arms out for balance.
I basically just slid down the hill with dirt and rocks kicking up behind me.
When I regained my footing on flatter ground, I felt dozens of pebbles in my shoes.
Ben met me a second later and we started to jog toward the water.
“I feel like hitting that guy,” I said to him. “Not telling us that right away.”
“Same,” Ben said. “But there’s nothing we can do about that.”
“This is the third person, Ben,” I said.
“I know,” he replied.
An officer greeted us, hand out. “Listen. You can’t touch anything.”
“Get out of the way,” I snapped and walked around him.
I knew how to maneuver around a crime scene.
When I saw the body in the water, I froze for a second to take it in.
It was right at the shoreline of the lake.
The body was face down, in the water from about his chest up.
The back of his head was torn open.
“Got hit in the head,” I said.
“Just like Harold,” Ben said.
The man’s face was in the water so I wasn’t able to look at him.
His left hand and arm were in the water.
His right arm was out of the water.
And his hand was missing.
I grabbed for Ben’s arm and felt chills roll through my body.
“It’s the same scene,” I said.
“Yes, it is,” Ben said in a cold voice.
I noticed the way he stared at the man’s body.
Ben was officially nervous.
I was too.
I carefully approached the body some more, watching each step of mine, making sure I didn’t compromise anything that could have been evidence.
I looked to my left and up the pathway that Chucky had pointed out.
“So up there there’s a landing and clearing and it goes out to a side road,” I said. “Right?”
“I would assume,” Ben said.
“And from that road…”
“It’s anywhere you want to go.”
I looked around some more.
“We need to figure out who this guy is and start from…”
Something caught my attention.
I took a few steps to my left and crouched down.
“Ben,” I said. “Come here.”
“What is it?” he asked.
“His arm,” I said, pointing to the man’s left arm. “Look at his forearm.”
“I see. What about?”
“Tattoos.”
“Yeah, I see them.”
I looked back and up at Ben. “I know those tattoos.”
“What? How?”
I stood up and swallowed hard. “Last time we were at IY Green. The guy that came into the office. Those are his tattoos.”
“Allie…”
“This guy is Victor… and he works for Anthony and Giovanni.”
Chapter Forty-Six
“Not that I would ever question you, Allie Down…”
“Then don’t,” I said to Ben. “That’s Victor.”
“The tattoos are the same?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I memorized his and Jerry’s. Just in case something came up.”
“Like this?”
“No. I thought maybe someone would have seen their arms that could have put them at the murder scenes.”
“Jerry already confessed to attacking Jessica,” Ben said.
“I know,” I said. “It doesn’t hurt to know too much, Ben.”
“I’m not saying that at all,” he said. “What if Jerry was playing us? He gave us a little and then…”
“Jerry didn’t do this,” I said. “He’s being held for his attack on Jessica.”
“What if he called Victor to warn him? What if Anthony and Giovanni traced the call?”
“And, what, told Victor to meet them here?” I asked.
“Anything is possible at this point,” Ben said.
I glanced down at Victor’s arm again. Then I looked at the gash on the back of his head.
A soft breeze kicked up and ripples danced across the water.
It made Victor’s head bob in the water, also making his hair float freely in the water.
All as his skin rotted…
“I don’t know what to think right now,” I said. “We need to regroup and refocus or something.”
“Allie, just answer this,” Ben said as he touched my arm. I looked at him and nodded. “Do you think Anthony and Giovanni did this?”
“Of course I do,” I said.
“They stage a copycat kill.”
“Copycat?”
“They know Jessica had her hand cut off,” Ben said. “Maybe they ordered it to happen…”
I snapped my fingers. “Ben. They’re spooked. Jerry flipped on them. He saw the writing on the wall and came to talk to us. He told us he attacked Jessica but he did not kill her. Because Victor was the one who did it. I bet Victor was the real tough muscle.”
“Keep going,” Ben said, nodding. “You’re on to something.”
I looked at Victor again and then walked away.
I waved for Ben to follow me.
“So Victor was the tough muscle,” I said. “Meaning he did the hard stuff. The kills…”
“Kills,” Ben repeated. “Meaning we might have a lot to look into.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But for this case, Victor is the muscle. That means Jerry showed up and attacked Jess
ica. He left her there. He thought his job was done.”
“Victor then showed up and cut her hand off,” Ben said.
“Right,” I said. “And then Jerry got nervous when we showed up so he came to talk to us. In his mind, he figured hitting a woman is less than killing her.”
“Scum,” Ben said.
“Agreed,” I said. “But now Anthony and Giovanni get worried. About Victor. What if he turns? He knows everything. He knows the kills.”
Ben looked back and stopped walking. “So Anthony and Giovanni did it.”
“It makes sense,” I said. “They could have easily lured Victor down here.”
“They cut off his hand to make it look like Jessica’s murder and…”
“There’s one huge issue there, Ben.”
“Which is?”
“Harold.”
“Right. Harold. Our squeaky clean guy who ended up with a gash to the back of his head and his hand cut off.”
“Unless…” I snapped my fingers again. “Unless… what if Harold saw something?”
“Meaning?”
“What if Harold was there the night Jessica was attacked? What if he was in that park? Maybe he saw something. Maybe he didn’t. He could have just been there.”
Ben let out a long breath. “That’s possible. Anything is possible.”
“It’s either that or he has some kind of connection to IY Green.”
As Ben and I stood at the bottom of the hill, Chucky appeared at the top of the hill with a small group of people.
“We better get moving,” Ben said. “Let them process the scene.”
“I’m staying for a bit,” I said. “I want to see Victor’s face and know for sure.”
“Okay,” Ben said. “Let’s keep talking this out.”
We walked along the south side of the lake.
When you put the murder scene behind us, it almost felt romantic. Two people walking along the lake on a cold day, enjoying each other’s company.
Except we were talking about some gruesome stuff.
“We should have enough to go after IY Green hard,” Ben said. “With Jerry’s confession and now Victor’s death. I don’t think there’s a thing they could do now.”
“Except get their lawyers involved,” I said. “And I’m sure they have people higher up than us on their secret books.”
“You really think that?”
“I’d bet my life on it. I wouldn’t be surprised if some shady judge tells us to go somewhere else. That we’re going to hurt the reputation of a good business. All that nonsense.”
“True,” Ben said. “This is it, Allie Down. It makes sense. We just have to pin it on them.”
I heard a noise behind me and turned my head to see Victor’s body about to be moved.
I spun around and hurried over, covering my mouth as his lifeless body was lifted from the water.
His lips and cheeks were puffy, his eyes open and milky, his skin wrinkled and ready to peel right off his skull.
My stomach did a flip and I shook my head at the sight of him.
“That’s him,” Ben said to me.
“Definitely Victor,” I said.
“Now what?” Ben asked.
“I need to drive and think,” I said. “I’ll meet you at the station?”
“Are you sure?” Ben asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “Let me run through everything we talked about. I’ll meet you there in a bit. Don’t worry about me.”
Ben and I climbed the hill carefully, then went our separate ways.
He was going to talk to Laura and fill her in on everything.
I let him leave the dirt parking lot first so I could purposely go the opposite way.
I went around the back side of the lake and road, where Victor had arrived from.
There were police officers at his car.
I waved and kept driving.
At the main road, I crossed over, wanting to stay on the quiet back roads so I could focus on my thoughts.
My drive was peaceful for about five minutes.
Right up until I noticed a car following me way too close.
Chapter Forty-Seven
I found a spot to pull over and I grabbed my phone and touched my gun.
The car pulled over to the side of the road right behind me.
Even if I called Ben right then he was a good five to ten minutes away.
But he would still be my backup plan.
I threw my door open and stepped out of the car and drew my gun.
My right hand holding the gun, my left hand clutching my cellphone with Ben’s name on the screen.
Behind the wheel of the car was a man wearing black sunglasses and a black hat. He even had a black beard to complete his look.
His hands were at ten and two on the wheel and he didn’t make a move.
Before I could call out for him to step out of the vehicle, the back driver’s side door opened.
Out stepped Giovanni.
Wearing a nice suit, he peeled the sunglasses off his face, slowly closing the arms, and reaching into his suit jacket to tuck them away.
He looked at me and lifted his hands to show they were empty.
“Now, now, Detective,” he said in a rough, mean voice. “No need to get so violent so fast, is there?”
“When someone is following me that close…”
“I had to get your attention somehow.”
“A phone call would have worked.”
“I don’t like phone calls.”
“You don’t like having records of things,” I said. “Right?”
Giovanni grinned for a second.
Then, the same nasty scowl climbed across his face.
He stepped toward me and I kept my gun ready, just in case.
“Do I need to call for backup?” I asked.
“You tell me,” Giovanni said.
“Why were you following me?”
“We need to talk,” he said.
“That much I can agree upon,” I said.
“Look, Detective, I’m not carrying any weapons,” Giovanni said. “I’m not here to hurt you. Or hurt anyone. That’s not my business.”
“For some reason I don’t believe you.”
I slipped my phone into my pocket and kept my gun in my hand. “Let’s talk, Giovanni. Are you here to discuss Victor?”
“Victor?” Giovanni asked. “Are you going through our entire employee list? Trying to accuse us of murder again?”
“Don’t play dumb with me,” I said. “One of your guys already flipped. We know what happened to Jessica.”
Giovanni held up one finger. “You’re wrong again, Detective. You’re putting two different situations together. That’s not fair to do.”
“You really expect me to believe you didn’t kill her?” I asked. “Cut off her hand? What about Harold? Did he witness what happened?”
“Harold?” Giovanni asked, shaking his head.
“Or better yet… what about Victor? Your own guy.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand what Victor has to do with anything here,” Giovanni said.
“You’re kidding me, right? I just came from the crime scene. Where Victor was murdered.”
Giovanni’s face dropped. “Excuse me?”
“Drop the routine, Giovanni,” I said.
“Victor is dead? Dead as in…”
“Hit in the head, drowned in a lake, and his hand cut off,” I said freely.
Giovanni stepped back. “No. That can’t be true…”
Giovanni took out a cellphone and made a call to his brother.
I knew that because he cried out Anthony’s name and told him what I said.
Giovanni put the phone on speaker.
“Tell it again, Detective,” Giovanni said.
“Victor is dead,” I called out.
“What?” Anthony yelled. “How?”
“Like that woman,” Giovanni said. “Missing his hand. He’s gone. Anthony, he’s really
gone. Go find out more. Make sure she’s not tricking us.”
“I promise you, there’s no tricking here,” I said.
I studied Giovanni’s movements.
He really had no idea what happened to Victor.
And he was really upset about it.
Which threw all of our theories out the window.
“Anthony, let me call you back later,” Giovanni said. “The detective and I are going to work on some details and I’ll be back. Find out more about Victor. I need to know the truth.”
Giovanni hung up on his brother and looked at me.
His eyes seemed to flash.
From caring to cruel.
He lowered his head a little and stepped toward me.
All I had to do was lift my gun a few inches to get him to ease back.
“What did you do to him?” Giovanni asked.
“Excuse me?”
“You showed up to our office and accused us of killing that woman. You couldn’t help yourself. You had to make your point, didn’t you? We told you the truth but that wasn’t good enough. Now you’ve gone and killed one of our men.”
“I didn’t kill anyone, Giovanni,” I said. “You got Victor killed.”
“Don’t say that!” Giovanni roared.
He moved toward me and I lifted my gun some more.
“You said you wanted to talk, so talk,” I said. “If not, I’m going to call for backup and see where this ends up.”
“You brought death and murder to my company,” he said. “This is your fault.”
“Not even close,” I said.
Giovanni was telling the truth.
And I felt rattled from the inside out.
I stood my ground, keeping a careful eye on not only Giovanni but also the driver of his car.
“I am willing to forgive and forget,” Giovanni said. “Quite easily.”
“Oh yeah?”
“As long as you help me.”
“Help you?” I asked. I laughed. “Help you with what?”
Giovanni stepped closer once more.
The look of evil that washed over him made me shiver.
Then he whispered three words…
“We’re all his.”
I froze and felt the color drain from my face.
Giovanni nodded.
He was The One.
Chapter Forty-Eight
I pointed my gun at Giovanni’s chest.