by K. J. Dahlen
He’d been so busy that he had lost all track of time. When he left the office he’d been in, the station house was almost empty. He looked toward the window and found that it was dark outside. He found a note Jesse had left saying he was going back to the motel, so Sebastian decided to call the hospital and check on Sable.
A few minutes later, he was on his way to the motel. Kelly, the night nurse at the hospital had told him that Sable was doing as well as could be expected. The doctors were keeping her sedated. She told him that the guard was still in place and that Rob had gone home already.
Sebastian realized that he too, was tired. The emotional roller coaster he was on had just about worn him out. He felt good about the picture though; at least they had some idea what the killer looked like. But that too brought a problem. What would Jesse say when he saw it?
When he pulled into the motel’s parking lot, he parked next to Jesse’s sedan. His old blue Pontiac looked rather shabby next to the dark sedan but Sebastian didn’t mind. Carolyn had loved his old blue car. Sebastian smiled as the memories trickled into his brain.
He stopped them before the pain of her loss could filter in and he made his way to the room he was staying in.
As he opened the door, he saw a letter lying on the floor just inside the door. Putting his stuff down on the table, he picked the letter up off the floor and snapped on the light. He didn’t recognize the handwriting, but the letter bore his name. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he opened it.
After reading the letter, Sebastian swore and got up. Marching over to the door between his and Jesse’s room, he banged on the door.
When a sleepy Jesse opened the door, Sebastian glared at him. “Did you see anyone outside my room tonight?”
Jesse frowned. “No I didn’t, but I’ve been asleep for a while. Why? Has something else happened?”
“You could say that. The killer left me a note.” Sebastian watched for his reaction.
Jesse’s eyes widened. “What?” He looked stunned.
Sebastian cleared his throat in disappointment and turned to go into his room, he grabbed the phone in his room. He was dialing Rob’s number when Jesse came into his room. Jesse was putting on a shirt when Sebastian handed him the letter to read.
When Rob picked up the phone, Sebastian didn’t even bother to say hello. “Rob, the killer left us a little surprise tonight. When I got to my motel room, I found a letter shoved under the door.”
“Damn, what does it say?”
“Oh, just that he’s very upset with us. It seems he thinks we’ve somehow, ruined his plans and now he tells me that because of us, he has had to leave town before he was finished.”
“Oh, well isn’t that too bad,” Rob commented sarcastically.
“Yeah well I’m a little worried about where this guy is going.” Sebastian told him. “Or if this is just a ruse to make us think he’s gone.” Sebastian’s mind was contemplating all the scenarios he could think of.
“How is it that he seems to know everything about what we’re doing?” Sebastian speculated out loud. His suspicions about Jesse’s involvement were coming back to the surface.
“What are you suggesting? That he has someone on the inside telling him what we’re doing?”
“I didn’t say that, but as long as you brought it up; is that possible?” Sebastian inquired.
“Anything is possible, but the probability is slim.” Rob sounded troubled.
Sebastian was looking at Jesse and wondering just how he fit into all of this. “I have something to show you in the morning.”
“Do you want me to come over now?”
“No, one of us needs to get some sleep. I’ll meet you at the station in the morning.”
When he hung up the phone, Jesse turned and handed him back the letter.
“I’ve been here since seven.” They both looked at the clock on the wall. It read eleven p.m. “I didn’t notice anything and I didn’t hear anything. I haven’t been sleeping very well, so I took a sleeping aid tonight and it put me right out. I’m sorry.” He knew even to his mind that his alibi sounded weak but it was the truth.
Sebastian didn’t know if he should believe him or not. Was it just another coincidence that the killer came here with Jesse right next door or was there more to it than that? And why did Jesse take a sleeping aid tonight of all nights? “I think for my own safety, I should get a room somewhere else for as long as I’m here. I don’t want to wake up one morning with my throat cut.”
Jesse nodded. “I’ll see you in the morning then.”
He walked back through the connecting door closed it behind him then turned the lock on his side of the door. He wasn’t taking any chances.
Sebastian sat down on the bed again. All thought of getting any sleep tonight were gone. He knew his body was running on empty but his mind wouldn’t let him rest. He picked up the letter again and reread it.
It was like the letter Alec said came for him in New Orleans. The words were cut from magazines and pasted on the paper. Sebastian frowned as he read the letter a third time. There was something odd about some of the letters. He grabbed a pen and spelled out the words that were capitalized that shouldn’t have been. When he finished and read what he’d written down, he didn’t like the message. SABLE WILL DIE TONIGHT.
Chapter Five
Sebastian grabbed his keys and headed out the door. He was going to go to the hospital and check on Sable. As he got into his car, he saw something odd about Jesse’s car. It didn’t register at the moment what was different but something definitely was. He got into his car and headed to the hospital. Even at this late hour, there was enough traffic to slow him down. Patience wasn’t one of his high points when he had somewhere to be. His fingers tapped the steering wheel in an effort to calm down.
He pulled into the parking lot and rushed inside. The halls were quiet and empty as he made his way to the second floor. He opted for the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator and his footsteps echoed in the stairwell. Taking two steps at a time, he opened the door to the second floor cautiously. Looking up and down the corridor, he didn’t notice anything amiss. When he got to the room Sable was in, he didn’t see the guard outside her door.
Sebastian frowned and drew his weapon. Flattening himself against the wall, he peeked inside the room. He could see Sable lying on the bed and there didn’t seem to be anything wrong. He put his gun away and opened the door. He saw a crack of light coming from under the bathroom door. Thinking that the guard was using the facilities, Sebastian approached the bed.
Sebastian’s head exploded in pain as the handle of a knife came down on the back of his head. He dropped to the floor, unconscious.
* * * *
The shadowy figure dragged the detective out of sight of the window and smiled.
He’d accomplished what he set out to do. The only witness that could identify him was dead and he got a bonus. The cop that had tried to destroy him was lying at his mercy. The man squatted down beside the unconscious Sebastian. Thoughts of slitting Sebastian’s throat entered his mind but he thought that would end the game too soon and his plans for Sebastian didn’t include ending the game this soon.
In some ways, the rivalry between the two men made the game more interesting. He hadn’t yet come across a better opponent and over the years, there had been a few good men he had challenged. Then he got another idea. He could leave Sebastian with a permanent reminder of his brush with death. He with merriment as he reached for the front of Sebastian’s shirt.
Ripping open the shirt, he exposed Sebastian’s chest. Reaching for the knife that was never very far away, the man began twisting the handle to expose a secret compartment. From it, he took out a special surgeon’s scalpel and began to carve a design he was infamous for. He couldn’t make it as elaborate as he would have liked, or as deep, after all he didn’t want Sebastian to bleed to death. No, he wanted Sebastian to be able to finish the game. When he was finished, he sat back and looked
at it. Nodding, he thought to himself, it would do. It wasn’t the entire back design he was noted for but then time was of the essence and he didn’t want Sebastian completely out of the game they were playing so this design was just a small reminder of who he was playing against.
The game would continue.
Leaving Sebastian alive, the killer got up and looked out the window of the door. The halls were empty and he knew he had better make his escape while he could. He certainly didn’t want to get caught now. Slipping through the door, he made his way undetected through the hospital corridor and down the stairs. Once outside, he blended in with the shadows of the night.
* * * *
Rob walked up the front entrance of the hospital. Yawning, he pulled open the doors and entered the establishment. Waiting for the elevator, his cell phone began to ring. When he answered it, he frowned. It was the hospital calling. Rob listened for a moment, and then swore. He shoved the phone back in his pocket and looked around. He saw the entrance for the stairs and raced over to the door. Taking the stairs two at a time, he rushed up the steps to the second floor. He pushed open the door and raced down the hall to the room Sable was in.
Stopping at the doorway, he saw hospital personnel working on a figure on the floor. Glancing over the doctor’s shoulder, he saw that the man on the floor was Sebastian. The doctors were trying to stop the bleeding on his chest. Rob looked over at the bed and found a sheet covering Sable’s body. The sheet bore several large blood stains. Rob looked around for the guard he’d had outside the door last night. The door to the bathroom was open to reveal his body lying on the bathroom floor. The blood pooling around his neck told its own story.
“What the hell happened here?” Rob demanded.
The doctor working on him had John Ross MD on his badge, he looked up from the work he was doing on Sebastian’s chest. He glared at Rob. “What the hell does it look like happened here? It certainly wasn’t a picnic.”
Rob stared at Sebastian. “Is he going to make it?”
Doctor Ross nodded. “He’s the only one out of three that will. The other two are already dead. Your killer only cut him superficially. He’s going to have a rather unique scar though.”
Rob stepped over to Sebastian’s body and looked at the killer’s handiwork. He winced as he looked at the design the killer had carved into the right side of Sebastian’s chest. All he could make out of the design was a bunch of squiggles and lines. To Rob the design didn’t make any sense.
* * * *
Sebastian groaned as he began to wake up. His chest felt like it was on fire, and his head hurt like hell. He tried to open his eyes but the light blinded him. For a moment, he didn’t remember where he was. Then he heard a voice calling his name. He tried again to open his eyes. The first thing he saw was Doctor Ross’s face and beyond him stood Rob.
Rob was looking a little grey around the edges.
Sebastian had to ask, “What’s going on?” When he remembered the answer to his own question, he tried to sit up.
The doctor placed a hand on the uninjured left side of his chest and told him to lie still. When he finished taping the gauge on his chest, the doctor assisted Sebastian in sitting up.
Sebastian’s chest and head hurt. For a moment, he couldn’t stand the pain but it lessened after a few minutes. Holding his chest, he looked over toward the bed. “Is she dead?” he asked Rob.
Rob nodded. “Both she and the cop that was guarding her are dead. What happened here?”
Sebastian reached for Rob’s hand to help him to his feet.
Doctor Ross grabbed the chair and told him to sit down.
As Sebastian sat in the chair, he began telling his story, “I took another look at the note the killer left after I hung up from talking to you. There was something odd about the way the some of the letters were positioned, so I grabbed a pen and figured out that the killer left a message within the letter. It said that Sable was going to die tonight. I came over here hoping to prevent that from happening. Man, I didn’t see anything….” Sebastian groaned. “I was going toward the bed when he hit me from behind.”
“Did you see the cop that was supposed to be on guard?” Rob asked.
“No, I thought he was using the bathroom.”
“The killer dragged him in there and let him bleed to death from a cut on his throat,” Doctor Ross informed them.
Sebastian looked toward the bed. “What about Sable?”
Doctor Ross nodded toward her body covered by the bloody sheet. “He must have heard someone coming. He slit her throat as well. You probably didn’t see it at first, coming from the door. The cut is on the other side of her neck. She bled out quickly and more than likely didn’t even know it was happening. She’s been heavily sedated.”
Sebastian remembered something else. He finally figured out what was different about Jesse’s car. His eyes widened in realization. “Rob, you have to warn Jesse. I thought I saw something moving in his car last night when I got into my car to come here. I didn’t put it together until now, but I think there could be a snake in his car.”
“A snake?” Rob frowned. “Are you sure?”
Sebastian shook his head. “No, but I noticed something was different about the car. Part of it was moving and I just thought about it now. Call him and tell him to check his car over really good before he gets into it.”
Rob nodded and reached for his phone to call Jesse.
When Rob finished his call to Jesse, he turned to find Sebastian arguing with Doctor Ross. “What’s the problem?” Rob asked.
Sebastian turned his glare on Rob. “The good doctor is insisting that I stay, and I don’t want to.”
Doctor Ross rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. “You’ve lost quite a bit of blood, and you probably have a mild concussion. You need to be where someone can keep an eye on you.”
Sebastian made a face at Rob that told him to get him out of the situation. Rob chuckled under his breath, then clearing his throat, said, “Doc, how about if we promise that if we notice any change in his demeanor, we’ll bring him right back.”
Doctor Ross wasn’t happy about what they were suggesting but he knew if he pushed it, Sebastian probably wouldn’t come back. “Stop back after you get done for the day and have that bandage changed. If it starts to bleed again, you need to get medical attention right away. You also need to rest at least part of the day.”
After Doctor Ross left the room, Sebastian told Rob, “I don’t think he cared too much for letting me go, but thanks for your help. What did Jesse say?”
Rob shook his head. “Jesse is very grateful to you. He was about to reach for his door handle when he got the call. He looked inside the car and found a snake all curled up in his seat. Not just any snake, this was a cottonmouth. It’s rather a nasty creature, found in the backwater areas and by the way, it’s very poisonous.”
“Our killer is getting braver. I wonder if by killing Sable, he’s telling us that he’s ready to move on to another place?” Sebastian wondered aloud.
“Maybe he got rid of his witness, so he could concentrate on you,” Rob suggested.
“Speaking of the killer, I went back to the tape Callie brought in and I found out what he looks like.” Sebastian sighed.
“What did you say?” Rob frowned.
“I said I know what our killer looks like, and I think Jesse Cooper has some questions to answer.”
“Jesse? What does he have to do with this?” Rob looked even more confused.
“Let’s go back to the station and ask him, shall we? Maybe Alec will have called back. I asked him to check on Nick Granger yesterday. I need to talk to him anyway. I need to know that what’s left of my family is safe. If this killer is after me, he might take them out just for spite,” Sebastian concluded.
Rob helped him stand and assisted him out of the hospital. He helped Sebastian into his car and drove them both to the station house. Rob could tell that Sebastian wasn’t up to working that day, but he wa
s just stubborn enough not to give into his pain. Before they got out of Sebastian’s car, Sebastian reached into the glove compartment for the tape and photo he had last night. In his jacket pocket was the letter the killer had left for him.
Ian and Jesse were waiting for them when they got inside.
Rob assisted Sebastian into Ian’s office and helped ease him onto the sofa.
Ian took one look at Sebastian and almost ordered Rob to take him back to the hospital. He held his tongue when Rob shook his head behind Sebastian’s back.
Sebastian had to close his eyes for a moment once he got settled. He almost asked Rob himself to take him home but he knew he couldn’t give into the pain that threatened to overcome him. Instead, he used the pain he was in and overcame it. He opened his eyes and focused his energy at the case they were working on. “The killer left me a note last night. I found it on the floor of my room.” He took the note out of his pocket and handed it over to Rob. “See how the capital letters form the message within the letter.”
Rob, Ian and Jesse looked at the letter and the message the killer had left. Ian nodded, and then picked up another letter the killer left for Sebastian. “Your partner Alec faxed this letter to us this morning. He said he talked to you about it yesterday and thought you might want to see the actual letter.”
Sebastian took the letter from Ian and looked it over carefully. The killer had done the same thing in this letter that he’d done in the second letter. Sebastian grabbed a pen and began writing. When he was finished, he reread the message. “Damn it,” he swore and handed the message to Ian.
Ian read the message and handed the message to Rob and Jesse. He looked at Sebastian and asked. “What are you going to do now?”