by ML Gardner
“I’m not Stewart?” I repeated slowly, my thoughts garbled and cloudy.
“Stewart doesn’t exist.”
The fear enveloped me again, made my heart race; my hands felt cold. “Then who am I?”
“I don’t know. When I was a nurse at the hospital we used to call patients like you John Doe. Just until we could find out their real name.” She shuffled to the door. “Please! You must leave now!”
With a bag in hand, she peeked out the door.
“C’mon. You have to go now.”
Charles was waiting in the car. Cecile opened the door, shoved me in and handed me my bag.
“Listen to me very carefully, Charles. Take him to town. Drive straight there and don’t stop. Walk him into the Sheriff’s office, don’t make a big deal about it but tell them you found him on the street and he doesn’t know who he is. Give him this when you get to town.” She pulled a wallet out of her apron and held it out to Charles, watching him slip it in his pocket. “Do you hear me, Charles?”
He nodded.
“Repeat it back to me.”
“Drive to the town. Take him to the law. Don’t stop. Tell them I found him.” He gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles. Cecile hugged her plump waist and sighed.
“Go, Charles, go!”
He started the engine and as we passed the house, I saw Elizabeth in the upstairs window, staring down.
Charles drove erratically, looking over several times in concern. “You okay? You don’t look so good.”
“I don’t feel so good.” I bent over with a terrible wave of nausea as Charles swerved down the road.
“You ever remember your name?”
“No.” I held my head over my knees with the beginnings of a splitting headache.
“What do I call you?” Charles watched me for too long and heard the blaring of a horn from an oncoming car. He jerked the wheel quickly back into his own lane, causing me to slam into the door with a grunt.
“John Doe. That’s what the old lady said they call me,” I said when I righted myself in the seat again.
“John. Okay, I’ll call you John.”
“Where are we going?” I looked up, squinting at the road before us.
“To the law. Gotta get you to the law.” Charles scrubbed his face with his hand, straining to remember everything Cecile had said. When he looked up, a shaggy black dog stood in the middle of the road, staring at them. He began barking at the oncoming car, but refused to move. Charles yelped and swerved to miss him, mowing down a sign in the process.
After skidding to a stop and nearly ending up in a ditch, he gripped the wheel, his face hanging in fear and shock. He got out and looked around. The wooden sign was splintered to oblivion and he turned in circles trying to get his bearings.
Wringing his hands and whimpering like a child, he got back in the car and started out again.
“Get him to the law,” he repeated out loud. He looked over at John, who was slumped over in the seat, passed out. He reached to push him up and sailed right past the green sign with the arrow pointing to Rockport. He turned left at the next intersection and didn’t stop until he crossed the Boston city limits.
“So it was him. Charles was Elizabeth’s father. He pulled you from the ocean and brought you home.” He liked being able to put the pieces together.
“I know you want to hear the rest of the story, how we came to Paris and how I turned Gina in and all…but I could use a break.”
“That’s fine. Are you finished?” Sloan nodded to his plate.
Aryl had eaten a scant few bites. “I am.” He looked Sloan over. “You must be so tired.”
“There is one time I can recall that I was more tired than this. Though I think I was more emotionally taxed than physically exhausted.” He smiled and the lines were exaggerated around his eyes.
“Trying to make things right with your wife?”
“No. That was hard, don’t get me wrong. But the only way out was to lay it all on the line. Tell her everything. I did, even though half of it scared her half out of her wits. I told her about work, the fact that I was on the cop killer’s list…everything. I even took her to New York to talk to Detective Goodwin and he swore on a bible that the mistress alibi was a called in favor.”
“If that didn’t exhaust you, what did?”
“Why, my date with the cop killer, of course. The day we met face to face.”
He smiled without humor.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
In Plain Sight
It was just after the New Year when Cap called me into his office. I tried to be professional. But truth was, I still held a grudge for being accused of being the cop killer and hauled in. And starved, I recalled as I sat down with a cool gaze.
“What can I do for you, Captain.” To say I didn’t hold a tone of sarcasm was a lie.
He squirmed in obvious discomfort. Things had never really been the same between us, though not for his lack of trying.
“Ah, Sloan. I was talking to the team I’ve got working this case and we came up with an idea to catch this guy once and for all.”
“I’m dying to find out,” I said.
He cleared his throat. “Sloan, we sent the last two men on the list out of state. Far…out of state. That leaves you.”
“In that case I retract my statement.”
He laughed, trying to ease the tension. “Sloan. I want you to be a part of this. I want you to help catch him. I feel bad for what happened and even though I don’t condone what you were doing, I know what this would mean to you.”
“Do you, Captain?”
“I’d like to think I do. And I know that even though you’ve been cleared, it would be justice for you to be the one to drag this scumbag in.”
“I’d like nothing more. What does it require of me?”
“We want to use you as bait.”
I didn’t say a word and my expression didn’t change.
“Now, Sloan, I know what you’re thinking. But we’ll have everything set up. There will be several of us there, hiding in your house. All I need you to do is send Maggie somewhere safe.”
“Won’t he be able to sniff out a trap if all of a sudden Maggie’s not there? Not that I want her to be,” I added quickly.
“We have that covered. We have someone on her way. She isn’t an officer but works privately. Her name is Delilah. She looks enough like Maggie that she’ll pass for her through the window.”
“How do we make the switch without being obvious?”
“Easy. You’ll take Maggie out to dinner after we’re sure that he’s following you. She’ll go to the restroom, where her replacement will be waiting in an identical outfit. Delilah will return to your table and you’ll leave at once. After you’re gone, one of our officers will escort Maggie wherever you want her to go until it’s over.”
“How will you know he’s following me?”
“We have an idea of who this is, Sloan.”
“Ah. Are you going to let me in on it?”
Captain shook his head slowly. “I will tell you that when we busted you, thinking it was happening from the inside, we were right. Just not about you.”
The whole thing had me twisted into knots.
“Alright, Captain, this guy’s not stupid. Especially if he’s one of us. What makes you think that he’s gonna fall for this.”
“Because we’re throwing him off our trail.”
“Isn’t that supposed to work the other way around?”
He tossed a piece of paper across his desk. “That’s a copy of what we’re about to leak to the media. It should be on tomorrow’s front page.”
I mumbled out loud as I read. Boston Serial Cop Killer trail leads to New York. Several officers sent to make an arrest…
“Those officers will be hiding in your house. They’ll slip in when we’re sure he’s watching you at dinner. Me. You. The special team…we’re the only ones who know this. The entire precinct thinks those officers
are heading to New York,” he said, taking the paper and waving it around for emphasis. “So. Are you with us?”
“Do I have a choice?” The chance to reign in the cop killer was what I’d been living for. But knowing I’d be running into one of our own…well that stole the joy right out of it.
“Of course you do, Sloan.”
I blew out my breath and nodded. “I’ll get Maggie ready.”
He pulled a wrapped parcel out from behind his desk. “Here’s the matching outfit for Maggie to wear. I guessed her size. If I was wrong, apologize for me. Stay by your phone. If you’re not here at the office, stay at home until I call you and tell you to take Maggie out to dinner.”
“Where?”
“I’ll tell you that when I call you.” He stood up. “I’m not giving this bastard any chance of getting away again.”
I walked out of his office feeling like I had a target on my forehead.
“Everything okay, Sloan?” Fred scampered up, concerned. “Yeah, kid. Just another day in the life.”
“What’d Cap want?”
“To tell me about the officers we’re sending to New York.”
“Isn’t that strange? I guess he thought we were close to finding him and decided to beat feet outta here.”
I shrugged. “Say, kid, you got some aspirin? My head’s pounding.”
“Sure thing, Sloan. I’ll be right back.”
Fred broke off and I made my way to my office. Just when I got to my door, I turned, feeling eyes on me. Felix looked down quickly. I dropped the wrapped outfit on my desk and went back out into the main room. Felix was sitting there with a smug smile as I approached. I leaned on the left side of his desk, affording him little room to move.
“What’s so funny, Felix?” I asked with a broad smile.
“Nothing.”
“Really? Because you look awfully entertained.”
“Well.” He sat back, “I was going to wish you luck.”
“With what, Felix?”
“Well, I heard they were shipping the next two guy’s outta here. Keeping the location under lock and key. That just leaves…you.”
“Yes, it does.”
“Are you worried?”
“No. Word is he’s taken off for New York.”
“That’s a lot to bet your life on, Sloan.”
“What’s that suppose to mean.”
“Nothing.” He leaned back in his chair again. Oh, the urge to tip it over was all consuming. “I guess I’ll just say good luck. And, if it doesn’t work out so well, can I have your office?” He finished with a snicker.
I lunged and grabbed him by the shirt, shook him a few times and then did what I’d been dying to do for so long. Threw him a punch that sent the chair flying backwards. He went spilling out of it and rolled ungracefully. I stood and straightened my shirt just as Captain came out of his office yelling, “What the hell is going on?”
It was four days later, a Saturday night, that Captain called me.
“Take Maggie to Angelica’s Italian. You have a reservation at eight o’clock tonight. Don’t forget to have Maggie wear the outfit. At nine exactly Maggie needs to go to the bathroom and stay there until an officer comes for her. You leave immediately with Delilah.”
I felt a cold shiver. This meant he’d begun following me. For how long, I wondered. I hung up the phone and my eyes were pulled to the window, wondering if he were watching me right now.
I called Maggie into the living room and sat her down close to me. Even though it was hard, I didn’t mince words. I owed her at least that. And I know it took everything she had to hold it together. She gripped the sleeve of my shirt while I explained what was going to happen and that I needed her to go to her sister’s in Jersey for a few days. I showed her the outfit and told her that she would be leaving this very night. Then I kissed her and said, “Be brave, doll. I’ll see you soon.” I could only pray I wasn’t lying.
Later at dinner I had to remind her to act natural. “Stop frowning, sweetheart. Put on a smile, okay?”
I could tell she wanted to hurl a breadstick at me, but she did good and made an effort. We struggled through dinner, trying to make it look like we were eating and making small talk.
I kept my arm on the table to keep an eye on my watch. Time was dragging painfully slow. I didn’t look forward to tonight, but I did want Maggie on her way to her sister’s, safe under a police escort.
I looked up at her. There were stress lines on her forehead and creases around her frown. Worry had aged her ten years in the last couple of hours and it was my fault. It would be a wonder is she stayed with me after this.
I glanced down at one minute to nine.
“It’s time, doll.” I smiled at her. “Now don’t worry, okay? I love you. I’ll see you soon.”
She couldn’t hug or kiss me goodbye. That would be obvious. She held my eyes for the longest time, struggling not to cry and then left her seat without a look back. I watched her and let out a sigh of relief when the ladies room door closed. A few minutes later, Delilah slid into Maggie’s seat. I had to remember that we were being watched and tried not to look at her too much. She did resemble Maggie but had better keep her head down on the way back to the car just to be safe.
“What was Maggie’s mood before I got here?”
“Tense.”
“Then let’s keep it to polite conversation? Set the tone and I’ll follow along.”
“I’d be delighted,” I said with a smile and took a sip of wine.
“That went off perfectly. Your wife did wonderful.”
I raised my glass. “Let’s hope the rest of the evening goes as well.”
“I suppose we should get on with it.”
“I suppose we should,” I said and tossed my napkin and held my hand out for her as I would my wife.
By the grace of God it started snowing. The skies opened up on us with thick white flakes just as we stepped outside. Delilah turned her head down and toward me. I put her in the car and ran around to my side.
I started the car and pulled out into the road. I stole a look over my shoulder and saw another vehicle slip in behind me, turning on its lights after a delay.
I settled in for the drive home with the sickest of feelings.
When I got home there was no sign the other officers were inside. I ushered my wife’s look alike inside and turned on a few lights for show. The officers were gathered in the bathroom and wouldn’t disperse about the house until the lights were off.
We normally went to bed around ten and we spent the time making sure to walk past the window every now and then. Just before ten I stretched and faked a yawn near the open curtains in the living room and then reached to close them.
I turned off lights slowly, trying to follow mine and Maggie’s normal routine. I stood by my home office for ten minutes and then turned that light out, too.
The officers crept out of the bathroom under the cover of darkness. One in the kitchen, one in the living room by the door and another by the backdoor.
Delilah bunched up a blanket to form the image of Maggie and pulled off her wig, sticking it at the top of the covers. When I asked her why, she said in case he peeked in my bedroom window to make sure we were in bed. I looked up and saw the gap in the drapes. Then she hid in the closet.
I crawled into bed with my loaded pistol in my hand, and waited. It was all I could do to not watch the window. I could hear my breath echoing in the room.
I was afraid, not only of how the night would unfold, but absurdly, I was afraid I’d fall asleep. With my heart racing like a jackrabbit there was little chance of that.
Even after three hours of silent patience, my heart hadn’t slowed down.
I heard a noise and held my breath. Was it coming from the kitchen? No, the backdoor. I wondered if the officers heard it, too, and were moving into position. They assured me they would get him before he ever got to my bedroom.
When the door very slowly began to move, I won
dered where the hell the officers were. I tried to control my breathing so as to not give myself away. I lay perfectly still and couldn’t hear anything over the blood coursing through my ears.
I could feel his eyes on me from the doorway.
Then he was inside my bedroom.
At the foot of the bed he cocked his gun. I heard that.
I couldn’t scream and risk him running out. I had the absurdly rational thought that he must have come in through the bathroom window, and why didn’t I think to lock it.
I could make out his shadow moving toward the bed.
He leaned down and it was now or never. I pulled the gun out from under the covers and fired.
I heard a yell from the other end of the house and footsteps running. Whoever had come to kill me was now slumped over my legs. Delilah stepped out of the closet.
One of the officers threw himself into the room with his gun at the ready as I turned on the bedside lamp. We both stared at the man dressed all in black laying face down on my bed. It looked like he’d taken a cloth sack, painted it black and formed it to hide most of his face. The other officers joined the first and we simply stared, disbelieving that it was really over.
“I’ll call Cap and tell him it’s done. Can I use your phone, Sloan?”
“Sure, in the kitchen.”
One of the officers and I turned him over and he let out a moan that scared us both to Sunday.
“He’s still alive.”
“Barely,” I said, watching the red splotch on his shirt grow.
“Well, let’s see who this is.”
I got off the bed while they worked the mask off his head.
“I can probably tell you who it is,” I said as I turned to look. “Daniel…Fred?” All my air left in a rush and I stared at him in shock. Fred. The kid I teased about being a good dog and a green as the grass rookie. Fred. If anything ever made less sense, I couldn’t think of it. He stared back at me with no feeling or emotion. Just stared. Then he let out a long wet breath and died.