He was still trying to catch his breath when the door opened and Grover came in. “Thanks for coming in on such short notice.”
Unlike the time they were there before, when Maxi snatched her hand away from him, she left it holding his. He wanted to tell her how much that meant to him, but since he couldn’t, he showed her by lifting his thumb and running it over the back of her knuckles.
Grover was all business as he sat and pulled out a folder, he opened it and removed two pictures that he slid across the table. “Do you recognize this man?”
Billy scanned the images. A young male. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Fairly non-descript.
Maxi studied the photographs as well before shaking her head. “No.”
“His name is Isaac Tully. We picked him up for a B&E this morning. He was fingerprinted and his prints matched the partial we were able to pull off the cardboard box that was delivered to your office. We cross referenced facial recognition technology from the security camera outside your building the day of the break-in and we can put him on your street at six-forty five a.m.”
“Who is he?” Maxi asked as she continued looking at the pictures. “How does he know me?”
“He’s been in and out of trouble for the past four years. The reason his prints weren’t in the system when we originally ran them was because his priors were all when he was a minor and they’d been sealed. He turned eighteen four months ago and hadn’t been picked up for anything since. We still don’t know what his connection to you is and he’s not answering any of our questions. The second we brought up your case he lawyered up.”
Shit. If the kid had a lawyer there was no way Billy could get in to question him. He wanted five minutes alone with him, that’s all, and now that would be impossible. Not to beat the shit out of him, to talk to him. His Spidey-senses were telling him this guy wasn’t anything more than a common thief. He didn’t have any better feeling about this suspect than he had about Carter.
“What about the pictures from the gym? Does he have a computer? Did you find anything on it?” Maxi sounded skeptical.
“We’re working on it. He doesn’t have a known address, but you know how tech savvy kids are these days. There’s internet cafés and even the library has Wi-Fi.”
Maxi seemed unconvinced and Billy had a feeling that she wasn’t any more sure that this kid was the mastermind behind her break-in, hacking, and dead poultry delivery than he was.
Grover must’ve read their uncertainty. “He’s our guy. We have fingerprints connecting him to one crime and surveillance footage that puts him at the scene of the other.”
“You had Carter’s computer and thought that he was the guy,” Maxi pointed out.
“We picked Carter up off a tip. This is different. Tully was being booked for the same offense.” He gathered the file and photos. “Thanks for coming in and looking at these. I’ll call if we need anything else.”
Billy could see that the man didn’t appreciate Maxi’s observation.
Grover stood and opened the door. “Officer Myers will show you out.”
As they followed behind the officer Billy grew even more anxious to speak to Nate. His instincts were telling him that they’d once again gotten the wrong guy. He was sure that this Tully kid had sent the birds and even broken into her apartment, but he had a feeling there was more to the story. No way was this kid the mastermind behind all of it.
When they made it outside Billy pulled out his phone. Normally he’d try to find a quiet place away from Maxi to have this conversation, but he didn’t want to waste time. It turned out it didn’t matter since the call went straight to Nate’s voicemail.
After leaving a message he put his phone back in his pocket. “Do you want to go check on Charlie before heading home?”
“Yeah.” She nodded.
There were so many things that Billy wanted to ask her, starting with why she’d seemed so unsure about Tully. And he would, once they’d made sure that her dad was doing okay they’d go back to her place and he would start lining up some ducks.
Chapter 24
Billy stood at the stove stirring the vegetables in a pan. When he heard steps behind him he glanced over his shoulder. “Are you hungry?”
“Starving.” Maxi ran her fingers through her damp from the shower hair as she walked into the kitchen.
They’d arrived home half an hour ago from Charlie’s and Maxi had immediately retreated to her room. Whenever she had a long day, she took a second shower at night and then put on her sweats and “slippies.”
Opening the cabinet he grabbed two plates and filled them while Maxi took care of their drinks and silverware. They moved together in the small space like a choreographed dance. And he guessed it was. They fell right back into the routine they’d established before they’d gone to Harper’s Crossing. A routine that he hoped they’d be performing for the rest of their lives.
They sat down and ate in comfortable silence. Billy waited until Maxi leaned back and stretched her hands over her head, indicating that she was done before speaking.
“What do you think about this Tully guy?” He wanted to ease into the subject.
Her shoulder lifted. “I don’t know.”
He moved a piece of chicken on his plate with his fork. “You seemed like you weren’t convinced that he was really the one behind all of this.”
With a sigh, she said, “I’m not.”
“Why not?” It was difficult to keep his tone casual but he tried.
“I’m just…I don’t know…”
“You were sure it wasn’t Carter, and I get that because you knew him. But you said you’d never seen this Tully kid. So why are you so sure that it wasn’t him?”
“I just am.” Her answer was clipped as she abruptly stood and took her plate to the sink.
Grabbing his own dish, he stood and followed her, keeping his tone even and calm as he pushed further. “Okay, what makes you so sure? Is it a feeling or is there something that you’re not telling me.”
Her shoulders dropped and she hung her head down. “I don’t know.”
He knew her too well to think that she was trying to play games, to be coy. She would never do that. So that made him even more confused at her answer. “You don’t know if there’s something you’re not telling me?”
After setting the dish down she turned and he was struck by the sea of confliction swimming in her baby blues. Leaning back against the edge of the countertop, she took a deep breath. “Yes, there are things that you don’t know, but I’m not even sure that they’re related to the case.”
“Why don’t you tell me and then we can figure that out together.”
Pushing off the counter she brushed past him as she crossed the room to the couch. “It’s not that simple.”
Billy was doing his best to stay calm, cool and collected but this conversation was pushing all of his hot buttons. He hated being lied to, even if it was by omission. If it were anyone else he would probably have just walked away. He didn’t want to help people that weren’t upfront and honest, he’d done that enough in his life. But this wasn’t anyone else. This was Maxi. She didn’t pull punches and she didn’t lie. Not to mention the fact that he was so in love with her he couldn’t see straight.
Since asking her questions seemed to be agitating her and it wasn’t getting them anywhere, he decided to try a different tactic. “Something is off with you. Something is bothering you. Something is upsetting you. I noticed it before we went to that poetry thing, in the hospital when we were talking about Samuels, and tonight at the station.”
Maxi didn’t confirm or deny his assessment. She simply crossed her arms and remained silent.
“I know that you don’t want to tell me whatever it is that you’re not telling me and I respect that. I’m sure you have your reasons and I’m sure they’re good ones. But do you remember what you told me at the station when I said that you shouldn’t have seen what you did at my mom’s?”
For a moment her
brow furrowed in confusion before a glint of understanding flickered in her eyes.
His phone buzzed in his pocket but he ignored it and continued, “You told me that you were glad you were there because thinking of me facing that alone broke your heart. Well, I feel the same way. Seeing you face this alone is breaking my fucking heart.”
Her lips pursed and her eyes dropped to the floor.
When she looked back up he saw a determination that hadn’t been there before. “Do you remember that cubby that’s tucked in the back corner of the equipment room?”
She was changing the subject. He couldn’t let her do that, this was too important. He started to walk towards her. “Maxi, I really think we need to talk about—”
Her hand rose, and he stopped. “We are. Do you remember the cubby?”
His mind was racing, trying to make sense of what she was saying. It was trying to put the pieces together. But he stilled it. This was her story to tell and he was going to trust her to tell it her way.
“Yeah.” He nodded.
“When I was little I liked to hide in there. I pretended that I was a princess locked in a dungeon or a tower by the evil queen. I would stay in there for hours waiting for my prince to come and save me. I had coloring books, Legos, and Barbies, to keep me occupied. It was my favorite place in the gym to play. Sometimes I used to fall asleep playing in there.”
She took a shaky breath as she uncrossed her arms and shook her hands out. Unshed tears filled her eyes and she smiled ruefully. “Sorry, I’ve never really talked about this out loud…to someone I know.”
Seeing her getting this upset had all kinds of alarm bells ringing in his head and protective impulses raging through him. He wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her that she was safe and that he would never let anyone hurt her, but he knew that she needed to tell her story and he needed to hear it.
After a few more deep breaths she continued. “One day I fell asleep, I’m not sure how long I’d been in there but when I woke up, Damien was in the equipment room with a girl. They were having sex. I didn’t know that’s what they were doing then, I was only eight. But I knew it was something I wasn’t supposed to be seeing. I didn’t make a sound because I was scared that they would catch me and tell my dad.
“At first I was just scared because I didn’t want to get in trouble, but then it changed. He changed. He was laying on top of her, kissing her and then he put his hand around her throat and…” Maxi’s lip trembled. “And she started hitting him. I couldn’t see her face, but I heard her choking and her arms were flailing and…I didn’t do anything. I was scared if I did he would hurt me. She started kicking him and he…he kept choking her.” Tears were now falling down Maxi’s face.
Billy moved closer to her and ran his hand up and down her back that was trembling beneath his touch.
“He kept doing it…until she just stopped moving. Then everything got really quiet. All I could hear was his panting. Until he freaked out. He yelled fuck and pulled up his pants. Then he picked her up and ran out the back door that led to the alley.”
Billy had never liked Samuels but now he wanted to kill him.
His phone buzzed again, but he ignored it.
“I’m so sorry that you saw that, that you were so scared.” He continued rubbing her back.
She gulped. “That was the night he disappeared. I remember Lloyd being furious because he was the biggest name he had and the fight that he had coming up was going to put Gianni’s Gym on the map. But, I was relieved. I did my best to put the whole thing out of my mind and I did a good job. Every day that passed I thought about it less and less until…I just forgot about it.
“Then, he showed up again when I was twelve. Right when you started there. Flashes of that night started coming back to me when I saw him, when I smelled him. I thought about telling my dad, but I honestly wasn’t sure if I’d imagined the whole thing. It felt real to me, but I wasn’t sure. And Lloyd was so happy. I didn’t know what to do. I just tried to stay away from him.
“Then a couple of weeks after he came back I was up on the roof, I went up there to do homework and just think, and I heard a car screech in the alleyway. When I looked over the side of the building I saw Damien carrying an unconscious girl in his arms and the night that I thought I’d been imagining came back to me in vivid detail. I knew for sure then that it was real. It had really happened and it was happening again. The trunk was popped and he put her inside, shut it and ran to the passenger’s side of the car and jumped in and they sped off.
“I was shaking and terrified and,” she took a breath, “I doubt you remember this but you came up there as I was heading down and you saw me.”
“When I caught you smoking?” That was the only time he remembered her being up there.
“Yes, but I wasn’t smoking. You asked me what was wrong and then you noticed the butts on the ground and asked if I’d been smoking. I nodded because I thought it would explain why I looked scared.”
He pulled her into his arms and he felt his phone buzz again. He ignored it.
She melted against him as she continued, “That night the phone rang in the middle of the night, my dad answered it. It was Lloyd saying that Damien had been in a fight at some bar and he’d been arrested. He was in jail and before he made bail the guy died. My dad said that it looked like Damien was going to go away for a long time.
“I never told anyone what I saw. I was too scared the first time and then the second time he was already going to jail. But I followed his case and when I heard that he was eligible for parole I knew I had to do something. I was a scared kid when those things happened, but I’m an adult now. Damien needs to be behind bars and I knew if he got paroled and I didn’t tell the police what I’d seen, if anything happened it would be my fault. So, I went and spoke to the DA about testifying at his parole hearing.”
The hairs on Billy’s neck stood up as his phone started buzzing again. “When?”
“About two months ago.” Maxi sniffed.
“Right before these incidents started happening.” Billy said aloud what he was thinking.
She nodded against him. “But I kept calling to make sure that he was still in jail. That was the call that I took, it was the prison confirming that he hadn’t been released.”
Seconds after the buzzing stopped, it started again and Billy pulled the device out of his pocket. He’d missed several calls and texts from Nate. He’d asked him to look into Samuels when he’d seen Maxi’s reaction to his photo on the TV. It had been a hunch at the time, but now he was sure that there was a connection.
“I need to take this,” he answered the phone. “What do you have?”
The connection was breaking up and he could only hear every other word. Billy placed his hand over his ear and moved around the apartment, but it just kept going in and out.
“The best reception is out on the patio,” Maxi motioned to the sliding glass door off her living room.
“Are you going to be okay?” As important as it was for Billy to talk to Nate, Maxi’s well-being was more important.
“I’ll be fine. I’m in my Fort Knox apartment. I’m safe.”
He wanted to insist that she come out on the patio with him or for her to stay where he could see her, but he knew that wouldn’t go over well. As she moved back into the kitchen he stepped out onto the patio and Nate’s voice came through clear as day.
Chapter 25
Maxi’s hands were shaking as she rinsed off the dinner dishes in an attempt to distract herself from what she’d just done. She’d told Billy the secret that she’d kept for so long. Finally saying it out loud to someone, other than a lawyer that didn’t know her from Adam, was scarier and more liberating than she ever could have imagined. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off of her and at the same time she was pretty sure she was going to throw up.
Thankfully, she had a few minutes to compose herself. When Billy needed to step outside to take the call, she could see that
he felt bad about it, but she was happy that he’d gone to the patio. What she’d just done was a lot to process and she appreciated not having an audience.
Her phone buzzed and her heart sped as she reached for it. This was the first night that her dad was home after being in the hospital and he was alone. She’d given him strict instructions to call if he needed anything, or if he felt any pain or nausea or a headache, just anything. Her brain immediately filled in several dire scenarios all ending with her racing her dad back to the hospital.
When she saw the message her shoulders dropped in relief but her heart sank at the same time. It was Jana asking if she was home. She really didn’t want company but since her friend lived across the hall it’s not like she could really lie to her. She typed back a quick yes. Her phone instantly lit up again with an emoji of clapping hands and then a message that said Jana was coming up the elevator now with a ton of groceries and she just realized she didn’t have her keys so she was wondering if Maxi could unlock her door for her.
Maxi breathed a sigh of relief. She loved her and had missed her this week, but tonight was full enough without adding someone else to the mix. On her way out she grabbed the spare key that she kept for her friend’s apartment and paused for a moment. She thought about telling Billy that she was going to run across the hall, but the call he was on seemed important. Also the guy that had broken in was in custody and she remembered that he’d told her that she was safe here because there were cameras at all the entry points.
Note to self: Stop being so paranoid.
Shaking off the paranoia that she’d developed over the past two weeks she stepped out into the hall and made quick work of unlocking her friend’s door. She debated waiting in the hall for Jana to help her with the groceries, but decided that she’d check to see if Billy was still on the call to let him know what she was doing.
All He Wants Page 20