by N. M. Brown
‘Possibly, but she was wearing an alarm and the day room was full of visitors. It just doesn’t seem likely.’
‘Did you call the cops?’
‘For what? He served his time; he was just a guy visiting the care home.’
‘How long was Stanton here?’
‘He didn’t stay very long, ten, fifteen minutes maybe, and then he left.’
‘What about the other guy, I think you called him Dale, when did he show again?’
‘He didn’t. Not after that, ever. I guess word must have reached him that Eileen had spent the afternoon with the guy who killed his girlfriend. He never came back after that. I sometimes think that’s why she sits in the day room from dawn till dusk. I think she’s waiting for Dale Sanderson to come back and forgive her.’
‘Lonely life,’ Leighton said, and walked to the exit of the care home. Part of him noted that his own life wasn’t much better. ‘Thanks for allowing me to visit,’ he said as he left.
Chapter Thirty-Five
He had been working on his creation for almost two hours, but finally it was finished. As soon as he was done, he walked into the bathroom, took off his glasses, and stared at his reflection in the mirror. The small box he held in his hand no longer contained his prize; it held new contents.
When he had finished admiring himself, he opened the medicine cabinet, placed the box on the shelf, and closed it once more.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Leighton drove his car beneath the ornamental palms of the Golden Cross Care Home’s therapeutic gardens, and turned onto the dusty main road into town. The town of Lakehead had once been a trading post. It still looked like a frontier town, though the saloons and barber shops had been replaced. Now the town was little more than three parallel streets of glazed shop fronts, and most of those were selling cut-price fashion goods, or local arts and crafts.
As Leighton navigated his way through the small town, he glanced around. Driving down the last street, he eventually found what he had been searching for.
The squat, red brick building was single-storey and had its own small parking lot. It reminded Leighton of a Wild West jailhouse, and he half expected to see barred windows on the side, with the arms of a condemned prisoner stretching out of them toward freedom. Leighton pulled his car into a space and climbed out. The surface of the parking lot was not yet completely unusable, but cracks were beginning to spread across it like veins, and Leighton guessed that by the following summer it would be covered in weeds. A white plastic sign, which hung above the double glass doors of the building, said Sanderson Clinic. The brittle plastic of the sign had been exposed to years of scorching sunlight, and consequently a large crack had split the first word almost in two. Leighton wondered absently how much longer the sign had, before it snapped completely. He avoided the broken sign as he approached the building. Unfortunately, both the doors, and the two large windows, had been smeared white to indicate it was no longer in use.
After attempting unsuccessfully to peer through the opaque glass, Leighton walked around to the rear of the building. Here he discovered nothing more than a square of parched ground, which held nothing more than a large, red, industrial bin. It was red and rectangular like the building. Leighton approached the metal container, and paused for a moment before bringing his hand to the black rubber lid.
Although Lisa in dispatch had only been half-joking about Leighton’s instinct, he sensed death here and he hesitated for a moment. Eventually, the feeling subsided and, having taken a deep breath, he threw the lid open. He found himself looking at a naked torso and some misshapen limbs. He shuddered, before realising that the flesh, was in fact plastic.
It was then that his cell phone rang, and Leighton let the lid drop down on the grim discovery.
He pulled the phone from his pocket and held it to his face.
‘Hello?’
‘It’s me.’
‘Annie?’
‘No, Rochelle. Listen, I know you’ll think I’ve gone nuts, but Danielle is missing.’
‘What?’
‘Nobody’s seen her for a couple of days; I asked the girls who work the same corners as her. It’s like she just vanished overnight. It’s just like Jenna, you know?’
Leighton momentarily considered telling Rochelle about Jenna, but he didn’t want to add to her woes. He also made a mental association with the phrase “vanished overnight” and what the nurse had said about Dale Sanderson. Maybe the killer didn’t only target females.
‘Okay, listen to me. I’m up in Lakehead, but if anything happens, you go to the cops, and if you don’t feel safe doing that then go to anybody you trust.’
‘I’m not freaking out or anything,’ Rochelle said unconvincingly. ‘It’s just not like her. She might be fine. I’m just a bit worried.’
‘I’ll be down in a couple of hours,’ Leighton said softly. ‘I promise I’ll call you then. Okay?’
‘Okay, but I’m going to crash for an hour or two so let it ring a while,’ Rochelle said, and hung up.
Leaving his car in the lot of the clinic, Leighton wandered along the main street. The town of Lakehead seemed cosy, almost cheerful. Although it was only a couple of hours drive from the city, it seemed like another country. There were fewer big names out here and none of the warehouse size depot stores. Even the air was different – it smelled heavier than the fresh breezes of Oceanside – but Leighton liked it. This was the kind of place Leighton had often taken Annie to, on their Sunday drives, ten years earlier. Those were golden days; they would sing loudly in the car and stop for ice cream and laugh at silly things. For a moment, Leighton wished he could step into the past. He wondered if Annie would still like places like this. Probably not.
After he’d peered through all the shop windows, Leighton stopped at a small independent coffee shop. The place felt both homely and familiar – a place where bad things couldn’t happen. But the experience of the Cooper family suggested quite clearly that they could.
As he stepped into the coffee shop a small bell clanged above the door, and Leighton found he was the only customer in the place.
‘Hi there,’ said a cheerful woman. She was wearing a chocolate coloured uniform and was carrying a tray of mugs as she moved behind the marble counter.
‘Hey.’ Leighton smiled, and glanced around the empty tables. ‘You having a quiet day?’
‘Yeah, not bad, we usually get a dip after breakfast, but I need it to get the place cleaned up for lunch.’ As the woman spoke she put down the tray and smoothed her skirt. ‘I’m Leanne. What can I get you?’
‘Black coffee, please.’ Leighton eased himself onto a bar stool at the counter.
‘Sure thing,’ Leanne said cheerfully, and got busy with the large gleaming machine behind her.
As it cranked and hissed like a mechanical dragon, Leighton looked out of the large window to the bright street outside.
‘Leanne, do you know a place here called the Sanderson Clinic?’
‘I sure do, though I think you might be a little young for that place. In any case, it’s shut down. Here’s your coffee.’ She placed a coffee cup and saucer on the counter with a small gingerbread man biscuit on the side.
‘Thanks,’ Leighton said as he snapped one arm off the biscuit and popped it in his mouth. ‘What kind of business did it do?’
‘The clinic? It supplied all sorts of care items for the elderly: walking aids, bath hoists, wheel chairs, all that kind of stuff.’ Leanne checked off each item on her fingers, as if she were reciting a food order. ‘My Aunt Lara is bothered with arthritis and used to get her knee braces from there. Now she has to get my uncle to drive her down to Escondido every six months for them.’
‘Did any of the clinic’s employees ever come in here?’
‘Yeah, some of them.’
‘I’m interested in a guy who used to work there, can you remember any of them?’
‘Sure, you from border control?’ Leanne raised her eyebrows suspicious
ly.
‘No.’ Leighton smiled. ‘Oceanside Police – though I don’t know if that’s better or worse.’
‘You got any ID?’
‘Sure.’ Leighton produced his badge from his trouser pocket.
‘Looks reasonably convincing,’ Laura said, nodding her head. ‘Who you interested in?’
‘Michael Stanton?’ Leighton said.
‘Shit, has he done it again?’
‘You’re the second person today who responded like that when I said his name.’
‘Who was the other one?’ Leanne asked.
‘Eileen Cooper,’ Leighton replied.
‘That poor woman,’ Leanne said, her eyes softening. ‘He destroyed her. In some ways, I think it may have been better if she had died too.’
‘She told me that she blames herself for her daughter’s death. Do you know what she means?’
‘Well, my kid sister was friends with Ronny Cooper – Veronica – in high school. Back then Ronny had just started dating Dale Sanderson, but her parents hadn’t met him or anything. Dale was the nicest guy and a real athlete too, he swam for the school team, and Ronny would watch him train most nights – checking out all those muscles. I think it was just the young love stage, when the rest of the world doesn’t matter a damn. You know what I mean?’
‘Yeah, the best days,’ Leighton said with a melancholy smile. He chuckled into his coffee cup.
‘Anyway, Ella – my kid sister – told me that on the day of the fire, Ronny had called up a couple of her girlfriends to say that some creep from her history class had stalked her to her house. Apparently, he had showed up on her front porch, all bashful smiles, with his glasses on and his hair combed down. Eileen was painting the hallway when he’d come to the door and told her that he was a friend of her daughter’s. She naturally thought that he must be the boy her daughter had been spending every hour with, so she invited him in.’
‘Thinking he was Dale?’ Leighton asked.
‘Yeah exactly. But the thing is, because the house was all covered in wet paint, she told the guy to go on up and wait in Veronica’s room.’
‘Where was Veronica, at home?’
‘No, she had come down into town, to the general store, to pick up some taco shells for dinner.’
‘How far away is their house from town?’ Leighton asked.
‘You mean how far away was their house? It’s nothing but a piece of black dirt now, but it’s only five minutes out of town, on the western side.’
‘So, did Veronica come home to discover a stranger in her bedroom?’
‘Yeah, and that’s when the shit really hit the fan. Apparently, when Ronny showed up, Stanton told her that he had loved her since junior high and they should be together. He even got down on his knees and pulled out a wedding ring for her.’
‘What happened, did they call the cops?’ Leighton asked.
‘They didn’t need to. Ronny was screaming and her dad, Steven Cooper, who had his own lumber yard next to the house, heard and ran into the house. Ronny said her dad dragged Stanton out of their home and threw him into the street. Anyway, that was when she’d called round her friends to warn them about the psycho. But she didn’t need to do that.’
‘What do you mean?’ Leighton asked.
‘He was only ever interested in one girl: Veronica Cooper. A few hours after Michael Stanton was thrown out of the Cooper family home, he showed up again during the night. He was drunk and angry, so he torched the place. Ronny and her dad died in the fire. Some people say he died trying to get to his daughter, but I don’t know if that’s just a rumour. Anyhow, I guess Eileen believes that because she let the psycho into their house, she’s to blame.’
‘It’s not her fault,’ Leighton said definitively. ‘He would have just been rejected another time, and the outcome would most likely have been the same.’
‘Yeah, I can see that, but I guess guilt can stop a person from thinking clearly.’
‘Mrs Cooper told me that Stanton returned here after he’d served his time in jail, is that right?’
Leanne nodded. ‘He showed up here a couple of weeks after he was released. Found himself a job in the clinic, here in town. All the businesses in town got a yellow letter from the parole office, asking if we would be willing to help the guy fit back into society.’
‘Were you?’
‘Hell no! I reckon the clinic was the only place that said yes.’ Leanne shrugged. ‘So that’s where he ended up. He mopped floors there.’
‘For how long?’
‘Not long, three or four months maybe. I guess after his dad died, and he sold the house, he didn’t need to grub around for money anymore.’
‘When did the place close down?’ Leighton asked.
‘Around the same time as he left. I reckon Dale Sanderson decided he deserved something more, or maybe having Stanton resurface had brought it all back again.’
‘Dale? You mean he worked in the clinic where Stanton ended up?’
‘Oh yes, he owned the place, that was the only reason Stanton got the job. Dale told us all that Stanton had served his time and deserved another shot. He said it was what Veronica would have wanted. But I’m not so sure she would have. The place has been sitting empty for more than a year now. It might be like that for years to come. Nothing happens quickly around here.’
At that moment, a group of giggling teenagers came through the door, and soaked up Leanne’s attention with orders of iced lattes and grilled paninis. Leighton slipped a couple of tens under his coffee cup.
‘Thank you,’ he called across the counter, ‘for both the coffee and your time.’
‘Any time,’ Leanne said, as she cut some sub rolls. ‘You take care.’
When Leighton climbed back into his car, he saw that his cell phone screen was illuminated with a message indicating that he had two missed calls. Picking up the handset, he dialled his voicemail and held it to his ear. An automated voice told him the time of the first message then Annie’s voice followed it:
‘Hey, Dad, it’s me. I got your message and I’m still at Lina’s place, but don’t worry about it, I should be home tomorrow night. Okay, hope you’re catching bad guys. Later.’
There was a click, and the automated voice returned to announce the second message:
‘Jonesy, it’s Danny. Listen, don’t freak out, okay. I just thought you should know that Gretsch fired me. He somehow got word of where I was and he called the hospital to check. Somebody at reception confirmed that I’d been here most of the week. He called me on my cell phone, told me to come in next week to go through dismissal procedures.’
Leighton removed the phone from his ear and looked at it as if it had just burned him.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
It was just after 6pm and Gretsch was in the car park, climbing on his gleaming Harley, when Leighton Jones drove into the car park and screeched to a halt in front of him. He sighed as Leighton hurried out of the vehicle, leaving the door hanging open. The captain had been expecting this confrontation and was well prepared for it.
‘What do you want, Jones?’ Gretsch asked as he straddled his bike and folded his arms across his chest.
‘I just spoke with Danny.’ Leighton shouted. ‘You fired him? Jesus Christ, are you serious?’
‘Don’t try to lay this on me,’ Gretsch said with a fixed grin. ‘If you’re looking for someone to blame, try looking in the mirror. This is all your mess, Jones.’
‘Mine? How the hell do you figure that?’ Leighton narrowed his eyes to slits.
‘You were the senior officer, Danny has barely got five years under his belt. What the hell were you thinking?’
‘I was thinking that a loyal officer’s father is dying, and maybe he should be with him. Danny is entitled to be with his family.’
‘That’s not your call to make – thankfully!’
‘Is that what this is about, your bruised ego? You being the boss is all that matters!’
‘He’s be
en fired, Jones, get over it.’
Leighton shook his head in disbelief. ‘Danny’s old man didn’t have insurance. He was fire crew – one of our own.’
‘So?’
‘The family are having to cover the costs of his medical treatment alone. If Danny has no income, it falls to his sister. Is that what you want, to destroy a family?’
‘My heart bleeds, Jones, it really does. Maybe you should’ve considered that before you allowed – no – enabled another officer to put himself in dereliction of duty.’
‘There was no “dereliction of duty”; I was there covering all the shifts, and both the driver classes were taught.’
‘Protocols were ignored.’ Gretsch said the words with real gravitas.
‘Ah.’ Leighton smiled bitterly. ‘The all-important protocols. Well, I’m glad that you now feel in control again. Sleep easy, Captain.’
Leighton turned and walked angrily back to his car.
‘Oh, and before you go,’ Gretsch called.
‘What?’ Leighton asked without turning around.
‘You’re suspended for three weeks. You deliberately filed false reports stating Officer Clark was with you.’
Leighton looked back over his shoulder at the captain.
‘So, you fire Danny for neglecting his duties then you force me to neglect my duties? That makes strategic sense!’
‘I think you don’t need me to fuck up your policing.’
‘So, when another body shows up, or another girl gets abducted, you’ll be happy enough to explain your decision to the media?’
‘That’s not going to happen though, is it? And the reason it’s not going to happen, is because the real homicide detectives have the suspect in custody. His DNA was found on her body. That means you can get back to logging DUIs and leave the real police work to us.’
‘And you can’t figure out how a known rapist’s DNA might end up on a warm, naked body that was dumped on his known route to work? Yeah that’s a real tough one Captain.’