Level Five

by Carla Cassidy

  He nodded, a hollowness creeping through him, the hollowness of a loss so incredible it threatened to undo him. He shoved it away, refusing to embrace it, refusing to give up.

  After Colette had left and Frank stepped outside, Jake looked at Teddy. “She looks like Maggie Black.”

  Teddy nodded. “We’re already looking for connections between all of the missing women who resemble Edie.”

  “You won’t find any connections between the victims,” Jake replied. “He picks them strictly because they fit a particular physical profile, not because they go to the same hair salon or hang out at the same bars.”

  “Probably true, but you know the way to catch a serial killer is sometimes by sifting through the minutia of the victims’ lives.” Teddy waved his hands impatiently. “Besides, we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. I’m still hopeful that Edie just went off someplace after the spat you two had and she’ll turn up any time.”

  “Yeah, right. She left without her purse, without making any arrangements for Rufus and just happened to toss her cell phone someplace on the property before she took off without her car.” Jake’s frustration spilled out.

  “This isn’t a case of a pissed off girlfriend just walking away. This is a crime scene. Somebody has taken her and we don’t have a clue where to even begin to look for her. We need more men. We need a fucking task force.” He felt as if he were shattering from the inside out.

  Teddy laid his big hands on Jake’s shoulders. “Pull it together, partner. We’re doing everything we can. Late last night I talked to Chief Decker about our concerns that there might be a serial kidnapper working the area. He promised to look at our files on Maggie and Paula and assess the situation.”

  The tension that had ridden Jake’s shoulders ebbed slightly as Teddy dropped his arms back to his sides. “You know as well as I do that there’s no way to hurry things, no spells or chants that we can do that will make her magically appear. It’s procedure and grunt work, it’s phone calls and false leads. And by the way, I got a call a little while ago. So far nobody has accessed any of Edie’s accounts. No new charges have appeared on any of her credit cards. Is it possible she had a wad of cash stashed somewhere here in the house?”

  Jake frowned and sank down at one of the kitchen chairs. “I suppose anything is possible.” Once again he was struck by how little he’d known about the woman he loved. “I was only here for three nights a week. I don’t know what she did the other four days. I had a couple of shirts and pants hanging in her bedroom closet and used her bathroom. I have no idea what cash she might have had on hand. Hell, for all I know she had set up identification under another name.”

  A surge of unexpected anger rose inside him. He’d always suspected that Edie had secrets, secrets she wasn’t willing to share with him. Did she have a lover he’d never known about? Had she called the person the minute she’d hung up from Jake? Had the mystery man come to pick her up?

  As painful as it was to consider such a thing, it wasn’t as painful as thinking of her in the hands of a man who had already kidnapped two women who had never been seen again.

  As Teddy went back outside, Jake rubbed at his red, gritty eyes. Sleep had been impossible the night before. He’d drifted off once and had suffered such horrendous nightmares of Edie when he’d jerked himself awake he had gotten up, refusing to allow himself to sleep any more.

  How had Frank Merriweather managed to survive three long years? It had only been three days for Jake. Already he felt on the verge of a breakdown.

  Wearily he rose from the table. He needed action, knew that sitting here thinking too much wasn’t good for him. He went out the back door, the mid-afternoon sunshine hot on his shoulders.

  In the time since they’d discovered that Edie’s phone was within a mile radius of the house, they’d checked the back yard, the side yards and along the road in both directions from her house.

  In Jake’s gut he felt that the phone was in the woods. The area was overgrown with underbrush and new spring weeds beneath the gnarled tree trunks. It was a primordial place that was home to all kinds of wildlife. It had seen little human presence.

  It was easy to see the area that had already been searched, the brush had been tamped down and the tall weeds broken or cut by a scythe Art Conrad carried at his side.

  Sweat shone on Art’s face as he offered Jake a grim smile. “Like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

  “And calling the phone won’t do any good now,” Jake replied. “I’m sure the battery has gone dead.”

  “If it’s out here, we’ll find it. But, if we don’t find it here we still have most of a full square mile to search.”

  “It’s here,” Jake replied. “I know it sounds crazy, but in my mind’s eye I can see the perp standing over Edie and grabbing the phone from her pocket and hurling it into these woods.”

  Art offered him a grin. “Doesn’t sound crazy. We all get those mind eye things. That’s what sometimes solves crimes.”

  “I found something.” It was Frank’s voice, filled with a simmering excitement.

  All the other men ran to where he stood pointing to a low branch on a tree. Nestled in the crook of the branch and the tree trunk was the cell phone.

  Adrenaline shot through Jake as Teddy pulled on a plastic glove and reached for the phone. “I need an evidence bag,” Teddy said. “Maybe we can pull some prints from it.”

  “It will take hours to get that done,” Jake said impatiently. “Besides, you know this guy is too smart to leave behind any fingerprints. Let’s get it on the charger and at least check to see who called her in the twenty-four hours before she went missing.”

  Teddy nodded and as a group they all followed him into the house where Edie’s phone charger was on the small built-in desk in the kitchen.

  A sudden case of claustrophobia struck Jake as they all angled for a position near the charger. Teddy placed the phone on the charger as Art thanked the neighbors who had shown up and instructed them to go home. The only civilian who remained behind was Frank.

  Jake knew the first dozen or so calls would be from his cell phone.

  And after that, hopefully a clue would lead to Edie. God, he wanted that so badly he could taste it. He could feel a fragile hope stir inside his heart, a hope he was afraid to acknowledge, afraid to embrace.

  A big hand fell on his shoulder. Frank Merriweather’s eyes were filled with compassion. He had fought the long, hard war that was just beginning for Jake. He knew the horrors to come.

  For the next several minutes Jake heard only the pounding of his heart in his ears. He knew the others were talking but he couldn’t hear them. He could hear nothing but his own fear, the faint beat of a sliver of hope and the need to find something to bring Edie home.

  As they waited for the phone to power up Frank’s hand remained on Jake’s shoulder, as if to anchor him and keep him from spiraling down into an abyss of darkness.

  When there was enough power on the phone, Teddy, still wearing the gloves, picked it up. Jake moved away from Frank and closer to Teddy. “Check the calls she received,” he said, as if Teddy needed to be told what to do.

  Teddy began to check the numbers in the queue, reading them off aloud. “Jake. Jake. Jake.” He read off at least a dozen Jakes and then frowned. “There’s a 212 area code number.”

  “That’s New York City, has to be her agent or editor,” Jake said.

  Teddy looked at the next number and then frowned and cast a quick glance at Jake.

  “What?” Jake’s heart banged hard against his ribs.

  “The Skylark Motel.” Teddy punched the button a number of times and then looked up at Jake once again. “There are several calls on here from the Skylark Motel.”

  “The Skylark Motel?” Jake repeated the words slowly. All the blood seemed to rush from his head. All the cops knew that particular motel. It was nothing more than a den of dope dealers and hookers. Who would possibly be calling Edie from there?


  Teddy dropped the phone into an evidence bag and handed it to Art. “You and Kincaid get that back to the station and into the tech’s hands.” He turned to Frank. “You stay here with Jake. I’ll check in later.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Jake replied. “I have no intention of sitting tight. I’m going with you.”

  Teddy frowned. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “Yeah, well I don’t give a damn what you think. I can either ride with you or I can take my own car. One way or another I’m going to the Skylark Motel.”

  “Just remember you have no authority here,” Teddy said minutes later when both men were in his car.

  “I don’t need any authority, I just need answers.” Jake rubbed the center of his forehead where a headache had blossomed and banged as dark thoughts flittered through his brain.

  “Is it possible maybe Edie was interviewing somebody at the motel for a new book?” Teddy asked.

  “She would have told me.” Jesus, the Skylark Motel? Who on earth would have been contacting Edie from that dump? Who would she be talking to there?

  Did she have some kind of a drug problem he didn’t know about? He dismissed the idea. He’d been around addicts and there was no way Edie showed any signs or symptoms in the three days a week they were together. But what about the other four days?

  Was she seeing somebody else? His heart cringed at the very thought. Did she have a lover she met whenever she wasn’t with Jake?

  Secrets. In the course of an investigation usually secrets were uncovered about the players. The upstanding father who was addicted to porn, the mother who popped pills and drank the day away. The perfect family, who behind closed doors experienced all kinds of abuse. Men embezzling from their companies, women with young lovers on the side. There were always secrets when you peeled back the protective layers people wrapped around themselves.

  What secrets were they about to uncover about the woman he loved?

  He’d always known that Edie had private areas in her life that he wasn’t aware of, but to what extend would those secrets shatter his very soul?

  By the time they reached the motel, Jake was sick to his stomach. It had been years since Jake had been at the motel. The last time he’d been a patrolman called out for a disturbance. Certainly the years had not improved the property.

  The thought of Edie coming here to meet anyone made him ill. Edie…what secrets did you have? What couldn’t you share with me about your life?

  They pulled up in front of the office and got out of Teddy’s car. A faint nausea tormented Jake as they entered the small building.

  The room smelled of sweat, burnt coffee and filth. A fan stirred the fetid air in the direction behind the counter where a guest book lay open. It looked as if it hadn’t been touched in the last millennium. Beside the book was a bell and an old corded phone.

  Teddy hammered his fist on the bell, the ring piercingly sharp in the silence. A middle-aged man in a filthy yellowed wifebeater appeared at the desk, wiping what appeared to be mustard from his mouth. “What are you trying to do? Break my fucking eardrums?”

  He looked from Teddy to Jake and sighed. “Cops. I can smell it on you. What do you want?” There was a controlled belligerence in his eyes. It was obvious this man had enjoyed plenty of quality time with cops in his past.

  “I’m Detective Teddy Burrows and this is Detective Jake Warner. We’re looking for a missing woman.”

  Jake pulled a photo of Edie out of his wallet and held it out. “Have you seen her? Her name is Edie Carpenter.”

  The man frowned and shook his head. “What would an uptown girl like that be doing in a dump like this?”

  “That’s what we want to find out.” Jake picked up picture and replaced it in his wallet. “Before her disappearance she got several phones from here.”

  Teddy asked the phone number of the phone on the desk. It matched the number that had shown up on Edie’s cell phone. “Who uses this phone?”

  “Everyone,” the manager replied. “As long as it’s a local call, I let any of the residents use it for brief periods of time. My clientele doesn’t exactly have the funds to own cell phones.”

  “You have a list of names of the people staying here?” Teddy asked.

  “Yeah, right. I keep it next to my records from my 401K,” the man said sarcastically. “You both know what kind of place this is. People come and go, as long as the rent is paid I don’t want to know nothing else. If you want to know who is staying where, then you’ll have to do it the old fashioned way. Knock on doors.”

  Moments later Jake and Teddy walked back out into the hot, humid air. The odor of piss and vomit clung to the building like old paint.

  “Maybe we should call for some back-up,” Teddy said as they stood just outside the office. “You know these units are filled with dope addicts and probably a couple of wanted felons.”

  “I’m your back-up,” Jake replied and pulled his spare gun from his ankle holster. There was no way he wanted to wait for back-up to arrive, no way in hell he wanted a bunch of officers to sit around and formulate plans while precious minutes ticked by. If an answer was here, Jake wanted it now.

  In several more hours dusk would arrive, portending another night without answers. He wasn’t sure he could survive another night. And then he thought of Frank, who had endured three long years of endless nights.

  He realized at that moment that he could survive whatever was to come…for Edie. No matter how long it took, no matter how many false leads and dead-end paths, he wouldn’t stop until he knew what had happened to the woman he loved.

  Chapter 24

  The ding of the microwave woke Edie. She roused herself to sit up and fought back tears. She’d been having the most wonderful dream. She and Jake had been at the table beneath her bright blue umbrella on her deck, eating pizza and drinking cold beer. Rufus ran around the table seeking any succor from a surreptitious handout.

  Love had surrounded her. It had shined from Jake’s eyes as he gazed at her. It had licked her hand as Rufus stole a piece of crust. She’d been warmed by the love, embraced by it. And then the microwave had dinged.

  The room was hot and she felt a weakness of body, a weakness of spirit. The small amount of food he was giving her had begun to take its toll. Her stomach rumbled most of the time. She dragged herself to the bathroom often to drink from the sink, knowing that it would be easy to get dehydrated in this hot prison.

  She wiped beads of sweat off her upper lip as she gazed at the door expectantly. It was impossible to guess what might happen today. If he didn’t have to go to work then he’d have hours to spend in here with her. There was no question that he held all the control.

  It was relatively easy for her to understand how captives came to both fear and need their captors. She ate only when he fed her. After hours of isolation it would be easy to understand how a woman would come to both dread, and yet in some perverse way, need to interact with the perp.

  Human contact, whether pleasurable or painful, was better than hours of aloneness. Edie certainly wasn’t at that place yet.

  It was with sheer dread that she waited for the door to open and Anthony to enter. There was a little part of her that understood when Colette had told her that for a moment when her kidnapper had let her go, she’d been afraid of freedom, wondered what she’d done to displease the man who had held her for so long.

  Anthony held the control for now, but somehow, someway Edie had to figure out how to shift the control, not only to keep herself alive, but to buy herself time to figure out a way to escape.

  The sound of a key turning in the lock tightened every muscle in her body. The door opened and Anthony stepped into the room. He was dressed as he always was, in a pair of stained jeans and a T-shirt, but this time he carried with him a sack from McDonalds and a large drink.

  Her mouth watered at the scent of fresh French fries. She wondered if this was a new form of torment. Would he grab his chair and
eat the food in front of her?

  To her surprise he walked over to her and handed her both the bag and the drink. “I wasn’t sure what you’d like so I got you a chicken sandwich with fries.”

  “I love McDonald’s chicken sandwiches,” she replied.

  Was it already lunch time? Had he overslept this morning and then driven off to get her lunch? She held the bag closed until he gestured for her to go ahead and eat.

  As she unwrapped the sandwich he pulled his folding chair into the room and sat in his usual place, just out of her reach but close enough that he could explode off the chair to beat her senseless if he so desired.

  It was impossible to gauge his mood. His features remained passive as she ate the meal. When she was finished, remembering the lesson she’d already learned she carefully folded the sandwich wrapper, flattened the French fry bag and the bag that had carried the food.

  “I knew you were the one who would understand,” he said. A smile of satisfaction curved the corners of his mouth.

  She pushed the folded papers toward him. “There’s no point in wasting perfectly good paper.”

  “Exactly.” He leaned back in the chair and continued to gaze at her thoughtfully.

  He looked perfectly at ease and relaxed but Edie knew his posture might be deceiving. She hadn’t seen coming the slaps he’d delivered to her face on the first night. And the night before, she’d had no clue to prepare her for his kicking fit.

  She held his gaze, her heart thumping wildly, shooting flight or fight adrenaline through her. Unfortunately the self-survival adrenaline was wasted. She could neither fight nor flight from this place.

  Doomed. She was doomed to die here as she knew others had before her. A wild sense of hopelessness clawed up inside her, attempting to get free. She willed it away, remembering all the things she’d learned from Colette. She couldn’t give up, not until she drew her very last breath on this earth.

  “All I ever wanted was to be seen, to be heard.” His voice was deceptively soft.