by C L Hart
“You want me, Billy. Name the place and I will be there.” Lieutenant Banks shot her a glare, but it didn’t stop her. “Just tell me where Sarah is.”
“No, not yet.” Billy started to laugh. “But I will when I’m done with her.” The phone line went dead.
Looking to her partner, Abby said tersely, “Tell me you got that, tell me we have his location.”
“It’s a cell phone. Trace is trying to do a GPS grid search, and someone else is getting me the number.” Lincoln spoke into the phone. “Okay, hang on. He’s on the East Side, somewhere near Liberty Square.”
“Let’s go people,” Lieutenant Banks ordered. “I want it on the radio and I want it now…all cars moving in that direction. Get a description of any vehicle he has access to. Let’s go, move it.” The room erupted into a flurry of activity as the detectives raced for their vehicles in search of a madman. Within moments the only ones left in the room were Abby, Lieutenant Banks, Lincoln — who was still on the phone — and a handful of detectives.
The lieutenant stood beside Abby’s desk. “Don’t play games with this psycho, Abby. You’re not going to use yourself as bait.”
“What if that is the only way to get Sarah back? How many months have we spent trying to get him, only to come up with nothing but a body count that keeps rising?”
“That isn’t the point,” Lieutenant Banks said as she glanced over at Lincoln.
“Yes, it is the point. He has a friend of mine and I’m not going to just sit here...” Abby couldn’t finish the sentence, but it didn’t stop her mind from seeing the predictable outcome.
“This has become too personal between the two of you. It has to stop.”
“And what would be your suggestion?” Abby asked.
“He is waging a personal vendetta against you. We have to find out why.”
Abby’s gaze fell to the floor, “I know why,” she said quietly, but no one heard her as Lincoln’s hand shot in the air and he called to his partner.
“Abby!” He waved her over as spoke quickly into the phone. “Okay, go ahead.” He clicked the end of his pen and wrote down the cell phone number he had been waiting for. He paused as he looked down at what he had written, “That can’t be right.” The voice on the other end spoke. “But that is not possible.” He looked at Abby and Lieutenant Banks. “Check it again! I don’t care, check it again!”
“Lincoln, what’s the problem?” his lieutenant asked.
“You’re sure. Okay,” he said into the phone before he hung it up. “The phone Billy called from was a cell phone.”
“We knew that,” Abby said, puzzled by her partner’s behavior. Lincoln looked directly into Abby’s face, “Your cell phone.”
“What?” she asked in confusion, looking to her phone sitting on her desk.
“The call came from your cell phone.”
“How’s that possible, Detective?” Lieutenant Banks reached over and picked up Abby’s cell phone.
Abby picked up the handset from her desk phone. She said nothing as she punched in a series of numbers. The phone in her ear rang, but the one in the lieutenant’s hand did not.
“Surprise,” Billy’s voice cooed on the other end.
“You son of a bitch. You want to play a game, Billy. Well, I don’t.” Abby hung up the phone.
“Abby?” Lincoln asked.
“What? I’m not going to play this on his terms. The only way we have any chance at all to catch him is to turn things in our favor, which means we have to keep him too busy to think too much. When he’s angry, that’s when he’ll fuck up.”
“That’s a pretty big gamble, Detective.”
“If anyone has any other suggestions, I’m open to them.” She waited, but neither of them spoke. “How the hell did he get my cell phone?” Abby searched her memory, but couldn’t come up with an answer.
“Does it matter?
“No.” Her face drained of what little color it had as she looked at her partner. “But that could be why I haven’t heard from Sarah. She would have called my number and gotten him instead.”
Lincoln thought about that for a moment. “Why wouldn’t she have tried you at home?”
“I don’t know. Helga did say that she’d given my number to Sarah, so I just don’t know.”
Abby’s mind whirled with unanswered questions. Forcing herself to focus, she looked up at her partner. “Pinpointing a cell phone’s location takes too long, but we can get a grid on it.” As if on cue, the substituted cell phone rang.
“First, we need to find out what number this is, and how he switched it. Get back on the phone, Linc, and do a back trace.” Abby picked up the phone, paused to collect herself, and then clicked it on. “What, Billy?”
“Don’t ever do that again!” His temper was raging.
“Do what?” Her voice was calm. “This?” She hung up again. Abby looked at the clock on the wall and an idea lit her features. “It’s six,” she said abruptly.
“Yeah, so?” Lincoln said.
“The clock in Liberty Square — I heard it chiming in the background. We need cars down there — a lot of cars, making a lot of noise, because I can hear through the phone. Don’t you see? I’ll be able to hear them!” It was a risky move, but no more so than what she was about to do as she opened the cell phone and then closed it, silencing the ringing once more.
“I know what you’re thinking. You want a perimeter of sirens.” Lieutenant Banks turned on her heel and moved quickly toward her office.
“You lost me,” Lincoln said as he put up his hand and spoke into the phone, “I need a back trace on...” He read off Abby’s cell phone number. “Call me back with all numbers.” Returning the receiver to the phone cradle, Lincoln turned back to his partner just as her cell phone rang again.
“As the police cars get closer to Liberty Square, they will systematically warble their sirens and I should be able to hear them on Billy’s phone. The different sirens will tell me which direction.” Abby flipped open her ringing phone and then closed it again.
Lincoln watched her as she hung up on Billy again. “You’re taking a big chance that he’s gonna keep calling.”
“He has to. What’s the game to him, if I don’t play? Trust me, he’ll keep calling until I answer. If we can keep him off balance, he may make a mistake.”
“Or we will,” cautioned Lincoln.
She knew he was right, but she didn’t have the time or options to try anything else.
“We’re set, Abby,” Lieutenant Banks called from her office. “It’s in your hands now.” The PA speakers in the squad room crackled to life, allowing everyone to hear the conversation between the dispatcher and the radio cars.
The cell phone rang again; this time she answered it. “What, Billy?” she said sarcastically, hoping to infuriate him further.
“I know what you’re doing, Abby, and it isn’t going to work,” Billy said calmly.
“Oh do you? What’s that?” She gave her lieutenant a thumbs up; she had heard the first siren faintly in the background. The commander spoke into her phone, watching and waiting for Abby’s reaction.
“You’re trying to make me angry.”
Abby looked to her lieutenant and shook her head; no siren sounds. “Why would I do that, Billy?”
“Because you think I will make a mistake.”
Hearing the siren through Billy’s phone, Abby gave a thumbs up. “A mistake, Billy?”
The lieutenant and Lincoln continued to watch and listen as Abby shook her head, then suddenly nodded sharply. “You said it yourself, Billy — you don’t make mistakes.”
“I don’t. Anything you’ve found — I’ve left it for you.”
Abby’s eyes opened wide and Lieutenant Banks heard the siren even before Abby indicated that she’d heard it, too. Speaking into the phone, the lieutenant began to narrow the area being searched for Billy Ward. Using the distant sounds of the sirens and the different tones the sirens made, the marked and unmarked poli
ce cars drew closer to Billy’s location.
“But you have made mistakes, Billy, lots of them.”
“I don’t make mistakes, Abby.”
“Don’t you? I think you do. Wasn’t that your thumbprint on that pop can we found?”
“You think that was a mistake?”
Billy’s laughter grated on Abby as she tried not to think about what he could have already done with Sarah.
“That was no mistake. That was just a can I picked up when I was at a corner store. My lawyer explained that.”
Billy rambled on, his words barely registering as Abby strained to hear the short sounds of the sirens as the dragnet closed in.
“Because I went shopping, does that make me a murderer?”
“We both know you’re a murderer, don’t we, Bi—” The siren blast was so loud, Abby almost dropped her phone. Lieutenant Banks quickly gave orders over the phone.
“Hey, what is this?” Billy’s voice changed as he saw the unmarked police car driving up beside him. “What the hell? You set me up, you bitch! You goddamned bitch! This is not how you play the game. Fuck you, Abby, FUCK YOU! This blood is on your hands, too!” he screamed into the phone just before it clicked off.
Throwing the cell phone to her desk, she and Lincoln ran into Lieutenant Banks’ office. “Tell me we got him,” Abby pleaded. Banks held up her hand and Lincoln and Abby could only wait as the dispatcher relayed the information through the phone to the waiting lieutenant.
“We’ve got him,” Lieutenant Banks said.
Lincoln put an arm around Abby’s shoulder. “We got him.”
Abby showed no sign of relief as she waited for news from her commander. “Yes, but is Sarah with him?”
“He’s what?” Lieutenant Banks said in disbelief into the phone. “Is she there...is she in the van?”
Abby heard the little voice in her head the moment she saw the change in the lieutenant’s features.
“Read him his rights and bring him in.”
“What?” was the only word Abby could manage.
“His van’s empty,” Lieutenant Banks said, her voice ringing with disappointment as she looked at Lincoln in apprehension.
Abby closed her eyes, hoping to hide her frustration and fear, but when she opened them again, she saw the silent conversation being exchanged between her boss and her partner. “What?”
Lieutenant Banks hesitated, then answered, “He’s covered in blood.”
Chapter 14
Billy sat calmly inside an interrogation room, his foot up on the table and a broad smile plastered on his face. He now wore a green jumpsuit, courtesy of the evidence lab, but his hands and face still showed traces of blood. His blue eyes sparkled with life as he gleefully watched his reflection in the glass, knowing he was being watched.
The officer who had brought him in stated that Billy had been very cooperative, almost helpful. When questioned about Sarah, he just smiled at the glass, and asked “Sarah who?” Numerous times, they asked him if he wanted his lawyer, but he said no, that he had done nothing wrong.
Abby couldn’t stop looking at the blood on his hands. The very thought that it could belong to Sarah was more than she could stand, and she had to be forcibly led away to another room. Lincoln sat with her, but they exchanged few words.
“Abby, we don’t know that it is Sarah’s blood,” he said quietly.
Abby said nothing. It was like someone was sucking the air out of her.
“He’s playing a game. I’m sure she is all right.” His optimism was met with an icy stare.
Abby looked solemnly at her partner. “Ah yes, Billy has such a good history with women.”
“I’m just trying to stay positive, that’s all.”
“I know,” she mumbled, picking at a burn mark on the tabletop. The moment the door opened and Lieutenant Banks walked in, Abby jumped to her feet. “Just give me two minutes with him and I’ll get some answers,” she growled.
“As much as I would like to, you know I can’t.”
Abby looked at her commander, noting her expression. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“We’ve got to kick him loose. We’ve got nothing to hold him on,” Lieutenant Banks said in disgust.
“What do you mean, nothing to hold him on? That sick son of a bitch has Sarah and you want to let him go?”
“Look, Abby, I don’t want to let him go, but what do we have? So he paid her bill and he mailed a postcard. It’s just a postcard.”
Abby threw up her arms in disbelief. “This is insane! We know he has her and we have to let him go? What about the blood? He is a serial murdering rapist, and he is covered in blood. That must count for something.”
“Alleged murdering rapist. If he actually had a record for any of it, we could hold him, but he doesn’t,” Lieutenant Banks said in a tired voice. “Either way, it’s not human blood. We can hold him for twenty-four hours, but that’s it.”
Abby had been leaning against the wall, her arms crossed defiantly over her chest. Now she straightened. “Not human?”
“It’s animal blood.”
“Animal blood?” Abby looked perplexed as Lieutenant Banks flipped open a file folder.
“Yes, we just got the preliminary back.” Abby looked at Lincoln, but he only shrugged his shoulders. “What’s his explanation?”
“We haven’t asked him.”
“Well, why don’t we?” Abby pushed off from the wall and headed for the door.
“Keep it professional, Detective, not personal. You’re not even supposed to be wearing that badge yet.” Lieutenant Banks stepped in front of a very determined Abby. Abby silently moved past her and walked out into the hall. “Don’t let her do anything stupid, Lincoln.”
“Oh, like I can control her,” Lincoln said as he followed Lieutenant Banks out of the room.
Detective Stanfield rapped on the interrogation room door before she walked in. She nodded a greeting to the two officers before turning her attention to Billy Ward.
He gave her a broad smile. “Looking good, Abby. Your little rest at Gold Creek did you wonders.”
She ignored him as she pulled out a chair. Lincoln came in behind her, followed closely by Lieutenant Banks.
“Oh, I’ve got everyone’s attention. This must be important.”
“Where’s Sarah?”
He turned and smiled at her question. “How are old Günter and Helga? Such a delightful couple.”
“Where is Sarah?” Abby kept her tone level, not wanting him to know how desperately she wanted the information.
“Hmmm, I’m not sure. It’s a free country. I’m sure she could be anywhere.”
Refusing to rise to his baiting, Abby looked down at the dried blood on his hands. “Where did the blood come from?”
“Oh, this.” He turned his hands over and opened his palms. “I had a small accident.”
Abby put her elbows on the table and looked across at him. “It’s not your blood, Billy, so where did it come from?”
“You got your cast off. How does the hand feel?”
His questions and comments were so polite and deceptively civil, that it grated even more so on Abby’s nerves, and she had to force herself to remain calm. Rising from the table, she pushed her chair back, but left her hands resting on the back of it as she leaned down toward him. “Where is the blood from, Billy?”
The smile slowly slid from his face and he looked up at Abby. “I told you, I had an accident. Sometime last night.”
“What kind of accident?” Lincoln asked.
“I think I hit something,” Billy said slowly, tilting his head.
“You got all that blood from hitting ‘something’? Come on, Billy, you can do better than that.”
“What can I say — it was a bloody mess. I think it was a dog, a really big dog. Might even have been a wolf.”
Abby’s heart thumped and she felt a cold chill come over her as the air slowly escaped her lungs. No.
Lincoln saw the
change come over his partner before he realized what Billy’s words might mean.
“Yeah, I didn’t even see him, poor bugger. I nailed him full force with my car.”
Abby drew herself up to her full height, but Lincoln grabbed her before she could get any closer to Billy. “Abby, you don’t know.” He felt her power under his grip. “Abby!” He held her. “Get him out of here!” Lincoln hollered to the two other officers as he pushed Abby up against the wall.
“What? What did I do? It was an accident, I didn’t even see him.”
The laughter that followed echoed in Abby’s head.
The prisoner was hustled out of the room as Lincoln fought to restrain Abby. Pushing her hard into the wall, he struggled to get her to look at him. “Abby, you don’t know.”
“Get off of me!” She pushed with everything she had and Lincoln couldn’t hold her.
“Abby...wait!” He raced to catch up to her as she ran through the station and out into the parking lot. “We’ll take my car. It’s faster than your Jeep.”
They tore out of the parking lot and raced toward Abby’s canyon home, lights flashing and sirens wailing. Silently, she rocked back and forth, her eyes glued to the road in front of her. She tried not to think about what was waiting for her, or worse, what wasn’t waiting for her. Abby closed her eyes and envisioned Buck’s happily wagging tail, accompanied by his playful howls, as he waited for her to come home. All she could hope was that he was there waiting for her now.
They raced past Liberty Square and Abby barely looked at the clock that had told her where to find Billy. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she now knew why he had been out there. Soon they were the lone vehicle on the winding road to her house. Lincoln slowed down on the last sharp corner before Abby’s driveway. A heartbroken sob broke from Abby’s chest as she saw the mound of silver and black fur lying in her driveway. Oh God, no — no.
“Stop, stop the car,” she cried as she clawed at the door handle.
Lincoln barely got the vehicle stopped before she was scrambling out the door. His chest ached as he watched his partner stagger toward her beloved pet. Her cry of anguish made Lincoln’s shoulders sag as he watched his partner crumple to the ground to embrace her dog. He knew that there was nothing he could do to ease her pain.