Chapter 31
SHAW’S hand hovered over the telephone handset. The call from the FBI could be bad news about Amy, or it could be something as simple as the need for directions. The clock was ticking. He needed to know how much time he had left. He took a deep breath, lifted the handset and dialed the number on the note pad.
“Agent Goodwin, FBI.”
“Sheriff Brett Shaw, Breakers Pass. You called earlier. Do you have some news for me on Amy?”
“Sorry, I think we’re at crossed purposes here. I’m based in Washington DC. I was calling about your criminal record search on one Stewart Harvey. I traced your password and the IP address back to you.”
Shaw sensed heat rising in his cheeks. He loosened his tie and unfastened his top shirt button.
“Just a moment, my other line’s flashing.”
Shaw held the handset away from his face and covered the mouthpiece.
“What’s wrong?” said Frank.
Shaw shook his head, put the phone to his ear and uncovered the mouthpiece.
“Sorry, what was that name again?”
“Stewart Harvey.”
“Oh, yeah, I remember. Traffic stop. Guy had a soft tire. Deputy phoned it in for a routine check. His computer was down.”
“Did he get the vehicle details?”
“No, he’d not committed any offence. Deputy helped him change his tire and sent him on his way. Deputy said the guy was going to Sacramento to visit relatives for the week.”
“Did he say what type of vehicle it was?”
Shaw chewed on his bottom lip.
“Just a minute he’s here. I’ll ask him.”
He pressed the hold button.
“Damn it I’ve crossed the line on this big style. I’ll have more than a medical to worry about.”
“What do—”
Shaw interrupted Frank, putting a finger to his lips, and then released the hold button.
“It was a blue Chrysler Aspen, probably around a 2008 model.”
“Thanks, but take more care next time. His file was flagged to phone us. If he passes your way again, bring him in for questioning and contact me on this number.”
“Sorry, will do.”
He dropped the handle on the cradle, then rolled his eyes to the ceiling.
“What was all that about?” Frank asked.
“Our prisoner. I did a criminal record check under his real name and it flagged my search to the FBI.”
“How are you gonna get out of that?”
“I doubt I will get out of it when the time comes. All I can do is to get out of the scumbag what I can and then hand him over to the FBI agents when they arrive. I’ve just got to hope that what I found at his cabin will be enough for them to understand and to overlook matters.”
The shortwave radio crackled with static.
“Red Fox One to, Blue Leader. I have our package, signed and sealed, over.”
Shaw picked up the microphone and pressed the talk button.
“Okay, get back here as soon as you can, Blue Leader, out.”
“Guess that’s your search warrant. What did you find?”
“It would take too long to explain. You’ll gather what it’s about in the interview,” said Shaw. “Listen, when we go through and interview him, it’s going to get a little crazy. I need you to trust me and to go along with me. It’s not going to be like any interview I’ve ever done, but Amy’s life could be at stake. I want you to stand at the side of him.”
“You got it, as long as you don’t start beating on him,” Frank said.
“Follow me. You get the prisoner and put him in cuffs.”
Shaw walked through to the cells, picking up an empty plastic shopping bag from Jim’s desk on the way, then peeled off into the interview room. He set the plastic bag down on the desk and waited. Shaw chewed on his fingernail, snatching his hand away from his mouth as the door opened. The prisoner walked through the door, cuffed with his arms behind his back. He was wearing a frown.
“You’re gonna be toast when my attorney’s finished with you,” he said. “This game has to be over.”
“Looking forward to it, and yes, the game is over,” Shaw said.
So you’re releasing me?”
“No, I have some more questions for you.”
“Yeah, well I’m not saying anything until I’ve talked to him. I want a phone call.”
“You’re forgetting something.”
“What?”
“This is Breakers Pass. Up here, we need to improvise, so no phone call. Now sit down.”
“This is bullshit. You can’t do that.”
Frank gripped the prisoners shoulder, forcing him to sit on the edge of his chair. Shaw picked up the plastic bag.”
“Do you know what’s in here?”
“It looks empty to me.”
Shaw set him his best detective stare.
“Well, see now, the bag is filled with the answers, just ask Frank. He’ll tell you he first became acquainted with it in Vietnam. Nine out of ten times, the CIA’s prisoners told them what they wanted to know after a few sessions with it over their head, and fastened tight around the neck. The tenth, well ... some were stubborn. You get the picture?” He drew a finger across his throat.
“You wouldn’t dare. Anyway, what am I supposed to know that’s so important?”
“Well now, Mr. Stewart Harvey, you’re already dead, or at least Ted Carter is. I’m sure his mom will vouch for that. So who’s gonna know if we slip up and forget to remove the bag.”
His prisoner’s jaw dropped. He bent over and looked down at the floor, shaking his head, and shuffled his feet on the floorboards.
“You were the last one to talk to Amy before she went missing. What have you done with her?”
He snapped upright and looked directly into Shaw’s eyes. His look was one of complete surprise.
“What ! What do you mean done with Amy? Where is she?”
Shaw wasn’t buying his apparent surprise.
“Now it’s you that wants to carry on the game. I’ll ask one last time, where is my daughter?” Shaw rose from his seat, resting the knuckles of both hands on the desk, and leaned forward. “Answer me, damn you.”
“I don’t freakin’ know anything. Only what I told you.”
Shaw charged around the desk, grabbed Frank’s gun from his holster, and dug the barrel hard on his prisoner’s temple. His prisoner pulled away, tipping the chair, and he crashed to the floor. Shaw straddled him, grasping his neck with one hand, and holding the gun to his forehead.
“I said this is no game. I’ve seen the gold cross and chain hanging over the photo of Gail, ya scumbag. It wasn’t found with her sneaker and iPod. That can only mean one thing. You were involved in her kidnap, and now you have Amy. Now talk. What’s your connection to the kidnapers?”
Shaw thumbed the trigger back. His prisoner’s eyes bulged, then he choked out a reply.
“Wait, I’ll tell you. You’ve got it wrong. Gail Harvey ... Stewart Harvey ... do you get now? Gail is my sister. I don’t know anything about Amy going missing. Let me go, I want to help you find her. For God’s sake, I love her.”
Shaw tightened his grip on the prisoner’s throat, and gritted his teeth. Frank grabbed his wrist.
“Okay, that’s enough. His lips are going blue,” Frank said.
Shaw’s entire body shook. He released his grip on his prisoner’s throat, and used the desk to lever himself upright. His prisoner coughed and spluttering.
“Sit him on the chair,” said Shaw.
Shaw walked around the desk, and flopped into the chair, staring blankly at the wall opposite. He knew that for a brief moment he’d lost control.
“What do we do now?” said Frank.
“What, oh yeah. I want Stewart here to start at the beginning,” Shaw said, and handed the revolver back to Frank.
Chapter 32
SHAW pushed back on his chair in the interview room, then rose to his full hei
ght.
“Let’s take five,” he said, and walked to the door.
He waited outside the door for Frank, and closed the door as he joined him.
“I need to get my head straight before we listen to what he has to say,” Shaw said, as they walked through to the office.
He took a seat at his desk and Frank sat opposite.
“What do you need to get straight?” Frank asked.
“My old boss is right. I’m too close to events. I should turn him over to the FBI and be done with him. If putting a gun to his head won’t get him to confess to having anything to do with Amy going missing, what more can I do? To be honest, right now, Amy is my only interest.”
A tear rolled down his cheek. He lowered his head to cover his emotion from Frank, resting an elbow on the table, then spreading his hand across his forehead. It wasn’t enough to hide the tears that followed.
“She ... She’s all I’ve gotten and I’m not there for her.”
“Don’t beat yourself up,” Frank said.
“Damn it, I need a stiff drink.”
“Like hell ya do, pull yourself together, stop sniveling and man-up. I guess it had to come out sometime, but ya need to suck it up. I don’t think I’d have kept things together as long as you, so it’s no shame.”
Chair legs scraped on the wooden floor. Footsteps creaked on the floorboards across the room and then returned. A hand squeezed his shoulder. Shaw removed his hand from his brow and looked at Frank. The furrows across Frank’s temple, and the look in his narrowed eyes, spoke a thousand words.
“Here drink this black coffee,” said Frank. “And then tells me what ya found at his cabin, and who this Gail is that he says is his sister. Maybe I can put a different slant on things.”
Shaw gulped down the coffee in one, swiped his arm across his eyes, then took a deep breath.
Frank listened intently as he briefed him. He started with the events that day back in 2008, and onto what he’d found at the cabin.
“That’s some serious shit,” said Frank. “But why hide it from the public? People may have come forward with information. Never did trust any of the federal agencies. Still, getting back to Ted, I mean Stewart; I see where you’re coming from with the crucifix and chain. Best we get back and see what he has to say.”
“What day is it?” Shaw asked.
Frank shook his head.
“God, your mind’s really messed up. It’s Monday, why?”
“Well, Amy aside, if he had anything to do with Johno falling off the cliff, and he was barefooted, wouldn’t he have lacerated his feet?”
Frank stroked his chin.
“Sure would. Thinking about the pine needles alone, they would have made a mess of his feet. I’d not thought of that. They wouldn’t have healed by now.”
“What about his car, did you check it out on the inside?”
“Yeah, there was nothing unusual.”
“No surgical clothing or masks?”
“No, nothing like that and I did a thorough search. Incidentally, all the numbers on his phone are to Amy except for the one to the vet’s on Tuesday last week.”
“What about incoming?”
“All from Amy.”
“Okay, let’s do this.”
“Wait,” said Frank “I know you’re the detective, but I watch CSI. Can’t we get details of his movements from his cell provider with a warrant? Let’s say he does know about Amy. He could have visited where they intended to keep her hidden.”
He knew that could be a possibility.
“Well, in California, we don’t need a warrant to take details from his phone under extraordinary circumstances, thanks to the Governor vetoing a bill back in two thousand and twelve. That’s why I didn’t have a problem when I asked you to note all his calls. But as for his movements, we’d have to give his phone to the FBI when they arrive, for their forensics to sort out and to download the data.”
“Just a thought,” said Frank. “You sure you’re up for this?”
“There’s never a right time. Let’s go.”
They arrived at the interview room. Frank unlocked the door and entered first. The prisoner was resting his head on the table. He lifted his head and straightened his back.
“I’m going mad here. For God’s sake, tell me about Amy.”
“We don’t have the answers, or you wouldn’t be here,” said Shaw.
“Have you phoned her Aunt Mary? Like I said, that’s where she was headed on the bus when I spoke to her before my battery died.”
“I’ll tell you about Amy after you’ve explained about what I found in the cellar back at your cabin.”
“Listen, you have to let me go. I’ll help all I can. Hell, I’ll even turn myself in to the FBI after we’ve found her.”
Shaw would have thought his pleading pathetic, if it wasn’t for the tear running down his prisoner’s cheek. There again, maybe the moistness in his eyes was regret at having been caught out and arrested. Shaw softened his tone.
“Just tell me your story. You’ll feel better if you share it with someone.”
His prisoner bowed and shook his head, and then looked up at the ceiling. He lowered his gaze and looked directly at Shaw.
“You were the original detective on the case, weren’t you?”
“Yeah, I can hardly forget.”
“Sorry about your wife. It must have been hard for you and Amy.
Shaw was frustrated, but didn’t want to show his feelings.
“Yeah it was hard. It must be hard for you to have lost a sister.”
His prisoner let out a faltering sigh, His bottom lip quivered.
“Worst day of my life. I was the one who found her sneaker and iPod.
“What, on your own?”
“No, Dad was with me.”
“Go on.”
“We had the FBI around to our house. They were all nice and sympathetic to start with. Collected photographs. Set up a wiretap. Took statements. The usual I suppose. Dad went mad the day after, when he tried to set up an appeal on TV and the channels gave him the run around. He wanted to set up a web site for Gail, but the agents told him there was a complete media blackout. Then agent Summers visited and it all went to crap. I’d just come back from the park, after I’d found her chain and cross under a park bench next to the lake. I was going to hand it in to the FBI, but I overheard Dad arguing with Summers in his man cave. Summers threatened him if he didn’t do as he told him, and to back off. He said he’d have the IRS on his back for his Swiss bank account, and he’d have him arrested for fraud. Said they’d throw away the key. They had the iPod and sneaker, and after the way he spoke to Dad, I didn’t think they’d need it, so I kept her crucifix as a keepsake. Dad ordered the FBI agents out of the house. That was the last I saw of them.”
“What about your mom, did she know about the threats?”
“Mom had a breakdown and spent six months in hospital, so I doubt she knew which way was up. Six months after she came out, she got pregnant with my sister, Lauren. After she was born, Mom was paranoid that someone would kidnap her. Then we had another visit from Summers. Showed me his badge at the door. Agent Summers, NSA.
“You mean FBI?”
“No, he’d changed agencies. Anyway, I listened in on their conversation. Seems Dad had been doing his own investigating. Same old Summers. Same old threats if Dad didn’t hand over his file.”
“And did he?”
“Yeah, Summers walked out with it under his arm. After that, Dad said the family should move abroad. Mom was keen to move because of Lauren. They decided I should finish high school and join them later, so Nan came to stay with me. A week after that, three sedans pulled up outside our home. Summers was in charge of a team, and he had a search warrant. They ransacked the place, cuffed us both and took us for questioning. Unlike you, they weren’t as rough and let me call Dad’s attorney, and he sprung Nan and me.”
“So what happened then?”
“It was crap. W
e moved back to Nan’s home, but she kept up the bills on the family home. I knew they were watching me. Long and short is, just after I graduated, Dad’s attorney got a message to me with a phone number. I gave the agents the slip, and phoned him from a public phone box. He told me what he’d found with patterns of other girls going missing, and I decided to pick up the baton and to search for Gail. I moved out of Nan’s and rented an apartment. That’s when I slipped up. I managed to get into Summers’ files at the NSA twelve months back and printed them out. I took them to Nan’s cabin here in Breakers Pass. That’s what you found at the cabin.”
“What do you mean slipped up?” Shaw asked.
“When I went back to the apartment, guys in suits had the place surrounded. I visited a friend’s mom, sold her a sob story and begged her to let me stay. He’d died just after we graduated. Anyway, I stole his birth certificate, and used the college computer to steal his identity. I cleared his death from the local registers and national credit registers. From there, getting a driver’s license and everything else was easy.”
Shaw shook his head. He understood why he had no landline or internet connection at his cabin. He was smart. Too smart. Smart enough to be mixing some truths with outright lies.
“What’s your assessment of the files?”
“Most it is details of local leads from investigations. I don’t have a clue what the section with Egyptian hieroglyphs, symbols, and pictures of Pharaohs is all about. That’s what I was researching at the library. If you’ve seen the command structure, you’ll have seen it goes to the top and beyond these shores. Trouble is, the file’s a year old and they’ve plugged the window of entry. There are some interesting lines of investigation though. I could show you. I have tons more stuff on the computer. All I know is that there’s an order to have all the cases marked as cold cases, and to have all the files removed from the local police divisions. The first Monday of every month, they hold an agency meeting at the MUPU in LA. I just wish I could bug their meeting room.”
“What’s the blue pin in the map for?”
“I took it from some GPS coordinates scribbled on one of the pages with some doodles. Under that was written “CONOP 8888.” I haven’t figured that out yet. Listen, everything I’ve done, I did it to find my sister. What would you have done?”
The Killers Amongst Us: Chimera Dawn Chronicles Page 21