by Unknown
What the hell, he thought, it's just for the night. He kept the volume on his CD player as loud as he felt was safe. He moved the small night table to the wall beside the door. He unpacked his minicomputer, set it up on the table, and plugged it in. He went into the hall with a small tape recorder, lifted the receiver off the phone, and taped the sound as he dropped a quarter into the slot. When he got a dial tone, he dialled the Time of Day and then hung up. He went back to his room. The halfway house was almost empty, everyone was at work at that time of day. He looked at his watch.
Ten minutes. He had ten minutes. He had to take the chance.
He went back to the hall, unscrewed the cover of the phone, found the external line into the phone, and unplugged it. If the phone was tapped they wouldn't even know it was momentarily out of service. He worked quickly. He detached four coloured wires leading to the small magnet in the phone and attached one wire to the 'in' screws of the radio component he had made at Daisyland then the others to the 'out' side. The component successfully acted as a conduit between the external line and the line of the phone. He plugged the external line back in and quickly slipped the cover back and screwed it into place. He stepped back into his room and closed the door.
It had taken seven minutes.
He opened his suitcase and removed a city map from a pocket in the top of the bag and spread it out on the bed. There were four crosses marked in red on the map. He smiled and refolded the map and put it back in its pocket.
He was ready.
Stoddard looked grey, her mouth slack and her eyes swollen from lack of sleep. Her grey-black hair was straggly and had not been combed for several days. The female guard, a slender black woman with her hair pulled back and held by a barrette, led her out of the cell and towards the visitor's room.
'Listen, I heard you talking to your daughter on the phone,' the guard said. 'Sorry about that, I was standing there and couldn't help overhearing you. I heard you tell her not to come, but she's here.'
'What!'
'Ma'am, I got a daughter and a son and if I was in your shoes, they'd come whether I liked it or not. Stop here a minute.'
They stopped at the check-in desk while the guard unlocked a drawer and removed her bag.
'I got some powder and lipstick and a comb in here and a little mirror,' she said. 'Why don't you do a little repair job on your face. Make both of you feel good.'
'I don't want her to be here.'
'Well, she is, honey, so give her a break.' The guard handed her a small compact, a mirror, and a comb. Edith took them haltingly, stared in the tiny mirror, and shuddered. She started to dab her face with powder.
'Here,' the guard said, taking the compact, 'let me do that.' She started working on Stoddard's face.
'What's your name?' Stoddard asked.
'Cheryl Williams,' the guard answered: 'Used to work in a beauty parlour before I decided to become a cop.'
She powdered the pallor away, put a thin line of lipstick on Stoddard's lips, and combed her straggly hair back, then took off her own barrette and, pulling Stoddard's hair tight, slipped it on. She stepped back and admired her work.
'There,' she said. 'You put a smile on and she'll leave here a lot happier than when she came.' She held the mirror up so Stoddard could check herself out.
Stoddard smiled for the first time in days. 'Thank you,' she said.
'Sure. Tell her the food's good. They seem to worry a lot about that.'
When Edith Stoddard entered the small visitor's cell and saw Venable and Angelica, she stopped cold, her shackled arms dropping stiffly in front of her and her eyes blazing with fury.
'I told you, I didn't want her…' she started, but she didn't finish the sentence. Angelica, overwhelmed at the sight of her mother in the drab prison clothes and handcuffs, rushed to her and wrapped her arms around her.
'Oh, Mama!' she sobbed. 'I love you. Please listen to Ms Venable. We need you, Mama. I need you.' She clung to Edith Stoddard, her shoulders shaking as tears suddenly flooded her face.
Stoddard looked at Jane Venable, her face clouded with anger, but finally her eyes closed and her lips trembled and tears crept from her closed eyes.
'Oh, Angel,' she said in a shaky voice. 'I love you so much.'
'Then please, please listen to Ms Venable. Please do as she says. Please trust her.'
Stoddard pushed her daughter away and fixed a hard stare at her.
'Now, Angie, you listen to me. I know what I'm doing. You trust me.'
'I want you to come home,' the young woman sobbed.
'Well, that's not going to happen, dear. You must adjust to that. You're going to have to spend a little more time with Dad and keep his spirits up.'
Angelica suddenly pulled back from her. 'And who keeps my spirits up, Mom? You just sit here and do nothing. You let them write about you in the papers and everybody at school says you must be guilty because—'
'I am guilty, Angie. Get it through that thick little head of yours. Let me handle this.'
'Fine,' her daughter spat at her. 'Handle it, then. And the hell with the rest of us.' She whirled around and banged on the door. The guard opened it and she left the room.
Edith Stoddard sank into a chair. 'Why did you do that? What possible reason could you have for doing that to both of us?' she asked Venable.
'Edith, look at me.'
The older woman slowly raised her eyes, eyes filled with anger.
'I found the room, Edith.'
Stoddard said nothing. The expression in her eyes changed from anger to fear.
'I found the room in the closet, you know the room I'm talking about.'
Stoddard said nothing.
'How long did Delaney keep you in this kind of bondage?'
'It wasn't like that.'
'Oh, come on! I saw the handcuffs, the leather straps, the whips, the corsets, the garter belts. How long were you in sexual bondage to Delaney?'
Stoddard turned away from Venable.
'Do they have to know?'
'Who? Vail? Parver? The police? It's significant evidence in a murder investigation, I can be disbarred if I don't report it. And even if I didn't tell them, somebody's going to tumble across that closet just like I did, carpenters or painters redoing the room. How did this start, Edith? Did he make you do these things in order to keep your job?'
'They don't have to know,' she said, turning to Venable and pleading. 'They don't have to know you found out.'
'What about the gun?'
'The gun? Oh yes, the gun…'
'Would you like me to throw it in the lake? Hell, Edith, I'm your lawyer, not your accomplice.'
Stoddard slumped in her chair. 'Why didn't you mind your own business?'
'This is my business. What do you fear, Edith? Are you worried about what your husband and daughter will think? You were a bonded slave, for God's sake. You think I can't make hay out of that? We can beat this rap, Edith.'
'Never!' Edith Stoddard glared at her angrily. Venable stared back at her just as hard.
'If you think I'm going to let the state put you away for twenty years to life, you're out of your mind. I have a responsibility to you and the court.' She sat down facing Stoddard and reached for her cuffed hands, but Stoddard pulled them away. 'Edith, listen to me. Even if we don't go all the way to trial, I'll be able to bargain very strongly in your favour with this information. Martin Vail is a very smart lawyer. He'll see the possibilities, too. But I must tell them, do you understand that?'
'Not if I fire you.'
'Even if you fired me, I'd have to give up this knowledge.'
'So the whole world will know…'
'The police and the district attorney will know. And, yes, it will make the press - there will be a police report. So what do you have to lose? Let me fight the good fight, Edith. I don't want you to go to jail at all.'
Stoddard stared at her for several long moments, then said, 'You don't understand. At first it was humiliating, but then...'
<
br /> 'Yes?'
'But then I began to look forward to it. I wasn't a slave. I began to look forward to the times I'd go over there and he'd come out of that closet in that garter belt and hand me the handcuffs and I would hook his hands over his head to the headboard and do whatever I wanted to him.'
'You don't have to tell me this, Edith—'
'I want to tell you,' Stoddard said, cutting her off. 'Don't you understand, I haven't had sex with my husband for more than ten years. Ten years! There were no other men, I didn't cheat on him. I… I just considered… it… part of my job. One of my duties. And when it was over, I whipped him. I whipped him. "You bad boy," I'd say, and I'd take the whip and he would bend over and I would give him several hard lashes across his backside. It was like getting even for all the humiliation. You understand what I'm saying, Ms Venable? I enjoyed it. What do you think the prosecutors are going to think about that?'
'The prosecutor will never know,' Venable said emphatically. 'You don't have to tell them anything. We will bargain this out. You will never testify.'
Edith Stoddard stood slowly and walked to the door and tapped on it. Officer Williams opened it. As she left, Stoddard turned to Jane and said, 'You betrayed me, Ms Venable.'
Rudi Hines had manipulated the clean-up schedule so as to arrive at the billing office in City Hospital at five minutes to three. The billing office worked from six-thirty to two-thirty on weekends and usually everyone was out of there before three o'clock. Nobody ever worked overtime. But on this day the manager of the department, Herman Laverne, was still in the office on the phone. Hines immediately panicked but decided to go ahead with the usual procedure.
God, get out of here before three.
Laverne looked up as Hines shuffled in. Hines, wearing coveralls, was slightly built with short red hair under a Red Sox cap turned backwards. The bucket was on wheels and Hines directed it into the office with the mop. It rattled past Laverne, who cupped his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone.
'I'll be outta here in a minute,' he said.
Hines nodded, went to the back of the room, and began mopping the floor, all the while watching the screen of one of the three computers in the back of the room. That particular computer had a modem and was left on all night to receive bills, order confirmations, or messages. The clock on the wall crept closer to three o'clock and Laverne was still yapping on the phone.
At exactly three o'clock, Vulpes typed FONCOM into his mini-computer and immediately got the dial tone of the hall phone. He held the tape recorder up to the small mike built into the machine and pressed play. The sound of a quarter dropping into the phone slot played into the mike and from there to the phone. In an instant he had a dial tone. He dialled 555-7478. It rang once and then the word CONNECT flashed on the screen. He typed DIRCOM into his machine and the screen went blank.
Across the street Morris heard the phone operate, heard the coin drop, and then heard the dial tone.
'He's on the horn again,' Morris said. He turned on the monitor. Solomon put the paperback novel he was reading aside. They listened to Vulpes dial. The phone rang once and as soon as it was answered, there was a hum on the line.
'What the hell's that?' Solomon said.
'Sounds like he got a bad connection.'
'Can't you do something with all that stuff you got, you know, get it on another frequency or something?'
'What do you mean, another frequency? We got a bug in the damn phone. He dialled wrong or got a bad connection.'
In his room, Vulpes began talking to the computer on the other end of the line as soon his screen went blank.
At City Hospital, Laverne was about to leave the billing office when he heard the computer beep.
'What's that?' he said, half aloud, and walked back to the computer. Rudi Hines stood back against the wall, eyes staring at the screen, terrified, squeezing the mop handle with both hands.
HYDRA, FOX IS FREE. The message appeared on the screen.
'What the hell is that?' Laverne said. 'Hydra? Fox?
Some hackers must be screwing around.' HYDRA? 'This is ridiculous.' Laverne snapped.
HYDRA?
Laverne leaned over the keyboard and typed: WHO THE HELL IS HYDRA? AND WHO ARE YOU?
In his room, Vulpes immediately typed DISCON and the program returned to READY. He sat and stared at the computer for several seconds. Someone must have come in and seen the computer screen. Vulpes would not try again. Everything was ready. If Hydra was there, the message was clear. Vulpes was free. That was the only reason for the call.
Across the street in the loft, Solomon was getting nervous.
'Why isn't he hanging up?'
'Maybe he's stupid,' Morris said.
'What's he doing, sitting over there listening to a dead line?'
'I don't know what the hell he's - '
The line suddenly went dead.
'There. Stupid schmuck finally figured it out,' Solomon said. He picked up his paperback and started reading again.
In his room, Vulpes unplugged the minicomputer, put it back in the toolbox, and returned the night table to its place. He looked at his watch.
Three-ten. Time to go.
And at the hospital Laverne muttered. 'Just some crazy kid hackers,' as he headed out the door. And to Hines: 'Be sure the door locks behind you when you finish up.'
Hines nodded and watched Laverne go. Hines sighed with relief. It was all right, Laverne was annoyed but not concerned by the message from Fox. Fox was free, that was all that mattered. The clock on the wall said 3:20.
Only six more hours.
Ten minutes later Vulpes left the halfway house. Morris dialled Grosso.
'Present,' she said.
'Fox is out of the den. Heading towards the Loop.'
'Keep me on the line,' she said.
Morris watched the corner. The grey Mustang drifted into sight, turned, and drove past the listening post. A block away Vulpes climbed the stairs to the elevated train stop.
'He's taking the el,' Grosso said a moment later on the phone. 'We're on foot. Call traffic and tell 'em not to bust our car. We'll contact Icicle as soon as he lights somewhere.'
'Rodge. Over and out,' Morris answered.
Grosso and Dobson followed Vulpes to a three-storey open-atrium mall in the downtown section. Vulpes seemed to be in no hurry. Grosso stayed half a city block behind Vulpes while Dobson tracked him from the opposite side of the atrium. Occasionally Grosso would enter a store and snoop around while Dobson kept Vulpes in view. Dobson stopped occasionally and window-shopped, watching Vulpes in the reflection of the store window. When Grosso was back on track, Dobson would enter a store. They both wore beepers and each had dialled in the other's number. If either of them lost Vulpes or got in trouble, they would simply push the send button and immediately beep the other. They were a good team: cautious, savvy, alert.
Vulpes strolled the first floor of the mall, engrossed in window-shopping, occasionally stopping and watching the shoppers. The mall was crowded. Winter sales. Vulpes went to the second floor of the mall, entered an ice cream store, and came out with a hot fudge sundae piled with whipped cream and sprinkles. He sat on a bench and ate it slowly, savouring every bite. He went to a record store and bought two CDs, then went to a men's clothing store, where he bought a black turtleneck sweater. He rented a copy of Sleepless in Seattle from the video rental store, then went to a one-dollar movie theatre in the mall and bought a ticket for Schindler's List. He got a hot dog and a Coke at one of the food counters that surrounded the entrance to the theatre and sat at a small table eating. Dobson and Grosso rendezvoused out of his line of sight.
'Shit, I saw that picture,' Dobson complained. 'It's three hours long!'
'Well, you're about to see it again,' Grosso answered. 'And don't talk about the movie while it's on. I hate people who tell me what's going to happen.'
When Vulpes finished eating, he checked his watch and went into the theatre.
'I
'll get the tickets, you get the popcorn,' Grosso said.
'I'm getting the short end of the deal,' Dobson complained.
'For a change,' Grosso answered, and headed for the ticket window.
Stenner was waiting at the county airport when Vail and St Claire landed from their trip to the Justine Clinic.
'I brought Jane with me,' Stenner said, adding, almost as an apology, 'Didn't want to leave her by herself.'
'How about the house guard?' Vail asked.
Stenner looked at his watch. 'Just coming on now.'
He opened the back door of the car and Jane peered out. Vail smiled when he saw her. The tension that had ridged his face with hard lines seemed to ease a bit.
'You okay?' he asked, climbing in beside her.
'Of course. Hey, Mr DA, I wanted to come, okay?'
'I'm a little stressed out. Sorry,' he said. 'Let's swing by the office on the way home, Abel.'
She wrapped both arms around one of his arms. 'You can relax. Your bad boy is sitting in the movies as we speak.'
'The movies?'
'Our two best tails are baby-sitting through Schindler's List,' Stenner said, driving away from the airport. 'If he stays for the whole show, they'll be getting out about now.'
'And he has to be in by ten,' said Venable. 'That's a little over an hour from now.'
'What did he do before the movie?'
'Went shopping, rented a movie, ate some ice cream.'
'Him and his damn ice cream,' said Vail. 'How about phone calls?'
'Morris says nothing significant.'
'Get him on the phone,' Vail said.