by PJ Fernor
“Settled?” I asked.
Giovanni pointed to the pictures of Lisa and Tyler. “I will make sure nobody goes near them. Or anyone from Calvin’s family. He will have to face his demons on his own. Now, you must realize our company is in a very tough position. If we drain Calvin of all he’s worth, it’ll make us look evil. The man just lost his girlfriend. As you can imagine, we’re facing some big challenges. But… if I have The One, those challenges won’t bother me one bit.”
“Do you realize what you’re asking me to do? Or implying that I will do?”
“Yes,” Giovanni said. “It matters as much to you as it does to me. And when I have The One, you know proper justice will be served. There won’t be the fanfare of cameras, news stories, articles, and then the TV series and movie. It will be honest justice. He will be silenced. Properly.”
“You should just do it yourself,” I said. “I can’t believe I’m even saying that.”
Giovanni walked to the trunk of my car and crumbled up the pictures of Lisa and Tyler. He threw them to the ground and stepped on them.
“If that’s what you want, so be it,” he said.
“I’ll find them and protect them,” I said.
Giovanni smiled. “You’re too far behind me, Detective. Now make the right decision.”
He turned and walked back to his car.
When he opened the door, he paused and stared at me.
Was I really going to walk side by side with someone like Giovanni?
As much as it made me want to be sick, I knew it might have been my only choice and chance at getting to The One.
“Detective,” Giovanni said. “Another good faith payment… you might want to take a ride over to Gorm Street. There’s an old train bridge there. Good luck with what you find.”
Giovanni disappeared into his car and shut the door.
The car moved around me and I stood alone.
Still holding my gun.
I looked down to the ground at the bent, messy pictures of Lisa and Tyler.
I had a murderer to catch before they struck again and took another hand.
And now I had Giovanni wanting to make a deal over The One.
Logic told me to call Ben, talk to Laura, and just walk away.
I looked back to my car and nodded.
I already knew what I was going to do next.
Chapter Fifty-One
Heading over to Gorm Street was the only option.
It also put me near the very edge of my technical jurisdiction.
I knew that if by some chance I crossed city or county lines, I wasn’t going to stop anyway. Whatever was connected to The One I would break rules to find.
Just like with Giovanni.
I had not made a deal with him, but he thought we did. Well, he assumed we made a deal. My silence was not an approval on my end. I was not the kind of detective to make dirty deals like that. It put me in a difficult position.
If Giovanni felt there was a deal in place, he would leave Calvin’s family alone.
That’s what my silence was for.
To protect two people I didn’t know and never met.
And if in the process of that I could work the case and find The One, then even better.
I drove and kept looking at my phone, knowing I should call Ben.
I could throw all the information at him and have him…
Do what?
I smiled.
I already knew what Ben would tell me to do.
His advice would be to take it to Laura.
Since we were told to not work on the case, anything big like Giovanni’s statements, should have gone through Laura first.
At the same time, wasn’t it Ben who set up the whiteboard for me? It was in his house. Waiting. All that work I had done… and it seemed that maybe Giovanni was able to do more. My resources were limited. His weren’t. I wasn’t sure what he wanted me to do about The One.
Other than obsess about it. Which he knew I was doing.
My thoughts spun and swirled as I drove toward Gorm Street.
It was more of an old industrial area than anything else.
Rusted factories stuck up into the sky as old memories. Warehouses and offices with a lot of windows that were once the enjoyment of kids and teenagers. Every single window was broken thanks to rocks. Back before kids and teenagers took their mischievous hormonal anger to the internet, social media and video games.
I figured it would only be a matter of time before developers would come this way and propose a plan to revitalize it. Take one of the old factories, gut it, clean up the outside and make it into a rustic looking apartment complex. Level other buildings and throw in some stores and a shopping center.
The factories all had history. From coal to steel to manufacturing. At one time, there was a light bulb factory that employed a good portion of the area.
Those days were no more.
So much changed, so fast, with more changes always on the way.
I checked my mirrors to make sure I wasn’t being followed.
I didn’t trust Giovanni for a second.
I was going by my gut, which rarely let me down.
The look on his face when I told him Victor was dead seemed real. The shock. Hurrying to call Anthony. My theory of connecting Anthony and Giovanni to the three murders seemed thin at best now.
Then there was the way Giovanni spoke of The One.
He mentioned an illegal gambling event.
I marked that into my memory and would mark it on the whiteboard.
The One lured Giovanni’s niece. Well, it wasn’t The One directly, that wasn’t how he operated. He had people like Dr. Jerry do the dirty work.
Anger began to rise up through my stomach as I turned down Gorm Street.
I saw the old, steel bridge cast against a clear blue sky.
I drove slowly, looking left to right.
An eerie sense of deja vu hit me because I thought of the other bridge. Where all those young women and girls were hanging around, trying to survive.
And just like that bridge, as I passed under it, I saw someone standing against a cracked, stone wall.
There was graffiti all over the wall. Odd shapes and pictures. Bubbled letters of vulgar language that I didn’t even want to whisper in my mind.
The young woman standing there looked at me.
I kept driving, trying to play it cool.
As soon as I passed her, she crossed the street, trotting without looking left, right, or in my direction.
When she crossed the street, she walked up the sidewalk a few steps and turned her head for a second. She looked right at me and I met her eyes and knew what she was thinking. And what she was going to do.
She licked her bottom lip and jumped to her left, cutting between where the bridge ended and some thick brush began.
“Shoot,” I whispered as I pulled my car to the side of the road and jumped out.
I made sure I had my keys, my phone, and my gun.
This could have been a big time setup by Giovanni.
Maybe he’s the killer after all. And he’s just playing into my emotions. And I’m going to run through that brush and someone is going to attack me and cut off my hand…
I couldn’t change it.
If Giovanni was telling the truth, then this information about the Gorm Street bridge could help with The One.
I jumped into the brush with my forearms leading the way.
The brush cleared after a few steps and I saw the young woman to my left, running toward one of the old buildings.
“Stop right there!” I called out. “I’m a Detective!”
I cringed.
That was dumb to say.
She wasn’t going to respond to police authority at all.
Which she didn’t.
She kept running.
I kept chasing.
The dirt ground gave way to choppy pavement.
The young woman ran along the side of the buil
ding.
Green vines hugged the building as though Mother Nature was trying to pull the thing down to the ground.
I lost sight of her when she cut around the building.
I reached for my gun, just in case I made the turn and something bad was waiting for me.
My arms and legs pumped hard. I took deep, heavy breaths.
At the corner of the building, I dug my feet into the pavement and came to a hard stop.
I put my back to the building and took two breaths.
I turned and pointed my gun.
Before I could say anything, there was no sight of the young woman.
I thought for a second I was going to end up in the old building, chasing her around, but then I saw her on the ground.
“Are you okay?” I called out.
The young woman spun around, sitting on her butt, her hands in the air.
Her jeans were ripped, blood on her knee, and she looked like she was crying.
I slowly approached. “Are you alone?”
“For now,” she said. “Please help me.”
“Did you fall?”
“I tripped,” she said. “I looked back for you and lost my footing.”
“Anything broken?”
“No,” she said. “I have to get out of here. Right now.”
“Why?”
“Just please help me,” she said.
The way her voice crackled told me the pain and fear she felt had nothing to do with the small cut on her knee,
I looked around.
She was genuinely terrified at the moment.
She shut her eyes and began to cry.
“Please, please, please,” she whispered. “Please help me. I don’t want to get hurt…”
She reached for my leg and began to hug it.
“Please don’t leave me to die,” she begged.
As she started to shake, I reached down and touched her hair.
My heart pounded inside my chest.
She looked up me and mouthed the word please.
All I could do was nod.
Chapter Fifty-Two
As I parked my car outside the apartment building, I thought about what I was actually doing. I had to remind myself I didn’t live alone.
Lo would be home soon.
That meant…
I turned my head and swallowed hard.
“You don’t have to do this.”
I reached across the car and grabbed Wendy’s hand and squeezed it. “I know. But we talked, right? You’re going to help me so I can help you. Right?”
Wendy looked at me and nodded. “Yes.”
There was no way I was going to stand next to the old factory and talk to Wendy. And I wasn’t going to take her to my car and linger around that area. I made sure she had no weapons, drugs, or anything that could hurt me. Or hurt Lo.
On the drive here, I stopped and got us some drive-thru fast food.
Wendy ate like she hadn’t eaten in days.
She looked it too.
Her face had the beginning look of that sunken appearance.
Her eyes were an almost golden color. The hazel popped when light hit her eyes. There was still a lot of life in those eyes. She had her hair pulled back in a sloppy ponytail. Wearing a hoodie with the ends of the sleeves torn up. She kept shivering so I had the heat running on full blast.
I was about to break out into a sweat and she was still shivering.
“Just grab your garbage and follow me,” I said.
Wendy nodded and exited the car.
I managed to get her into the apartment without bumping into Miss Kesslier.
Everything I was doing was wrong.
Talking to Giovanni. Taking his advice. Bringing Wendy here.
But if these were baby steps toward catching The One…
When I shut the apartment door and locked it, it was time to get answers.
“Talk, Wendy,” I said.
She clutched the greasy paper bag tight and turned to face me.
She nodded. “What do you want to know?”
“Giovanni. Does that name mean anything?”
Wendy shut her eyes and nodded. “Yes.”
I stepped closer to her. She was young. She looked to be Lo’s age. Just like the girls under the other bridge.
Chills moved through my body.
“How old are you, Wendy?”
“Nineteen.”
“Is Wendy your real name?”
She nodded.
“How do you know Giovanni?”
“He found me,” she said. “He said he was looking for his missing niece. I have no idea what he’s talking about.”
So Giovanni was telling the truth.
That was good. Maybe.
“He found you,” I said. “What does that mean?”
“There were others,” she said. “Other girls I know. He’s been talking to them all. We thought maybe he was undercover. Trying to get information from us. But there’s no way he’s a cop. If he is, he’s the worst one ever. Nothing about him is sneaky, you know? He just shows up, asks questions, demands answers, and then leaves. He’s rich though. I think. He’s always dressed nice. Says he can pay us. But he wants information.”
“What kind of information, Wendy?”
Wendy shook her head.
“Wendy, we had a deal.”
“I…” She crumbled up her food bad. “I better throw this out. Where’s the garbage can?”
She turned and I lunged for her.
I grabbed her arm. “No. Do not play this game.”
Wendy looked back at me. Tears in her eyes. “You’re after him too?”
“Who?”
“The One.”
My hand shivered as I squeezed tighter on her arm. “You know who that is?”
Wendy nodded. “I have an idea.”
“An idea? You’re working for him? You’re one of the girls?”
“I guess you could say that,” Wendy said. “Things have been a little quiet lately. Are you the detective that broke everything up?”
“Something like that,” I said. “Wendy, I have to find him.”
She shook her head. “You can’t. Nobody can.”
“Try me,” I said. “Have you seen him? Do you know what he looks like? Who does he hang around with? What kind of vehicle does he drive? Anything can help…”
Wendy’s teeth began to chatter.
She wasn’t cold anymore.
Just afraid.
“I can help you,” I said. “I helped one of the other girls. I can do the same for you. But I need you right now, Wendy. You know what he does, right? You know that at any second it can happen to you…”
“I know,” she said. “And I wish I could tell you everything about him. But I can’t. I don’t know much of anything.”
“Tell me what you know,” I said.
“He’s my height. He wears all black. Like a suit. He wears a black hat. Like a fedora or something. A fancy type hat. His voice is deep. Mean. Commanding. He always has bodyguards with him. Really big guys. They’re so big they could probably beat him up but they don’t. He’s powerful.”
“What about features? His eyes? Nose? Mouth? Lips? Scars? Anything, Wendy…”
“He’s not what you think,” she said. “I mean, you know, my height, but he’s wider. He kind of looks maybe fat but it’s not that. It’s strength too, you know?”
“Okay. That’s good. That helps.”
“No it doesn’t,” Wendy said. “Nothing helps. You’ll never get to him. And if you do, it’ll be too late. He’ll just kill you.”
I released my hold on Wendy. “You should probably patch up your knee. How about a hot shower? Some fresh clothes?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” I said.
I showed Wendy to the bathroom and got her some of my clothes to change into.
They weren’t the kind of clothes a nineteen-year-old wanted to wear, but it was better than tattered, bloody jeans.
When she turned on the shower water, I hurried into the living room to call Ben.
The second he answered, I started talking.
Telling him everything.
After two minutes of talking without stopping, I finally did stop to catch my breath.
“You did what?” Ben asked.
“Ben.”
“Allie Down. I thought you were going for a drive to think.”
“So did I.”
“Now you have some girl in your apartment? What about Lo?”
“What was I supposed to do? Leave her? Ben, she met him. She met The One.”
Ben sighed. “Okay. I get it. Just be careful. Keep your phone next to you and call me. Text me. I don’t know. Between this and Laura…”
“Laura? What’s wrong with her?”
“She’s livid right now,” Ben said. “That we don’t have more for her. She wants this case closed yesterday.”
“So do I,” I said.
“I can’t believe what’s going on,” Ben said. “One second we thought we had something worked out and now it’s… not. And you’re dealing with Giovanni and The One and this Wendy girl. I trust your judgement, Allie Down, but is there any chance Giovanni is The One and he’s just playing with you?”
“I’m not saying no to anything, Ben. But I have to trust my gut. I can handle this.”
“I don’t doubt it for a second,” Ben said. “I’m just giving you a warning that Laura is really upset. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her like this. Can’t say I blame her. Three murders so quick. Hands cut off. It’s making news and will keep growing.”
“More eyes on our small town and us again,” I said.
“Exactly,” Ben said.
“Then let’s go back to the beginning,” I said. “We have to compare all three murders and find something. Or maybe we should consider having Laura give a warning to close all parks and recreational areas after dark.”
“That’s a tough one,” Ben said.
“I know. It won’t happen. It was just a passing thought. Look, I have to get going here, Ben. I want to keep talking to Wendy.”
“Remember what I said,” Ben said.
“My phone is with me at all times.”
“I’m going to pace around until I hear from you again.”