Facing Evil
Page 17
“Just and fair. Those are nice words to use when it’s not your little girl. You don’t have children, do you, Detective?”
“No, I don’t.” Lincoln knew from experience where the father was going with his question.
“I don’t either...anymore.” There was a long pause. “But I do have friends, Detective, friends with connections who know how to get things done.”
“Frank, you can’t—”
“Look, Detective, I’m not waiting around any longer for your brand of justice. Good day.”
The phone clicked quietly in his ear. Replacing the handset in the cradle, Lincoln sighed deeply as he dropped his tired head into his hands. The day was going downhill, and it wasn’t even past morning rush hour yet. Rubbing his face with both hands, he felt the coarse stubble on his chin and thought that a quick shave and a wash would do him good. Reaching into the bottom drawer of his desk, he grabbed the toiletry bag that he kept for emergencies just like this, but as he was about to leave the squad room, Abby and Lieutenant Banks returned.
“Well, that’s it. He’s back out in society,” Lieutenant Banks stated in disgust. “Let’s hope this time we can keep tabs on him.”
Lincoln saw her gaze fall on his shaving kit. “I thought I’d go and clean up. We’ve been here for thirty-six hours.”
“My point exactly. You and Abby need to get out of here and take a break.”
Abby had just taken her seat, but she jumped back up in protest. “What?”
“You need to. Both of you. Go, get some sleep and come back at it fresh.”
“I’ll sleep here.” Abby pointed over her shoulder to the back room where there were several cots set up.
The lieutenant stood firmly with both hands on her hips. “No, you won’t.”
“But there are things we need to be doing now, not eight hours from now. I can’t just leave,” Abby pleaded.
“I realize you don’t want to, and I realize just how important this is to you. For that reason alone you shouldn’t be involved with this, but you are...and you still will be after you’ve taken a break.”
“Lieutenant—”
“Detective, don’t make me repeat it, because if I do, it won’t be a request. I don’t want either of you back here until,” she looked at her watch, “after six, understood?”
Abby said nothing, but reached around to grab her leather jacket and then stopped. “I don’t want to go home.”
Lincoln understood fully why she didn’t want to return to an empty house. “Come home with me. Carla wouldn’t want it any other way.” Abby nodded and headed for the doors. Lincoln turned around to follow her, feeling the weight of the folded note and the torn front page of the newspaper in his pocket.
♥
Carla was not surprised to see Abby climb out of her husband’s car. The partners had had their problems over the years, and just like a good marriage, they fixed them and moved on. She had known the rough patch they had hit would be temporary. They were close, but it never bothered her. It helped that Abby was gay, and that they were both too professional to allow a relationship to interfere with their partnership. She knew about Sarah, and Lincoln had phoned her about Buck, but he had neglected to tell her how much of a toll everything was taking on Abby. Carla smiled in greeting even though her heart was breaking at the sight of Abby’s pallor and sunken eyes.
“There’s food on the table, towels in the bathroom, and the blinds are drawn in both bedrooms.”
“Thanks, dear.” Lincoln kissed the top of her head and walked into the kitchen.
Abby smiled, but it was forced. “I’m not really hungry. I’m just going to grab a shower.” She turned toward the spare room.
“I don’t think so, Abby. Get your butt out here and eat something. You’ll feel better.”
“I’m not that—”
“Eat!” Lincoln ordered as he pointed to the table.
She didn’t have the strength or the will to fight him, so she changed course. Nibbling at her food and sipping at her coffee, Abby made no attempt at small talk.
“Abby,” Carla said softly, “I was sorry to hear about Buck.”
Abby’s coffee cup paused in mid-air as she sought the respite of the view out of the window. “Yeah, me too,” she mumbled. “You know, he helped...he saved Sarah’s life while we were at the resort.” She put her cup down and swirled the dark liquid around inside of it.
“Abby, do you want to tell us about Sarah?” Lincoln knew his question might not be appropriate, but he needed answers to the questions weighing so heavily in his pocket. He looked from the somber stare of his partner to the disbelieving glare from his wife.
Abby held the cup in her hand and looked down into its depths, as if searching for answers. Neither Carla nor Lincoln thought Abby was going to answer, but in a low, even tone, she did.
“Where would you like me to start? She has the brightest eyes of anyone I’ve ever seen…they just sparkle with life. And this perfect smile that crinkles her nose...and an infectious laugh. She’s small, but when she’s around, everything around her diminishes in comparison...” She relived a moment in her mind that brought a hint of a smile.
When Abby stopped talking, Lincoln knew this was the time to tell her about the paper, but he just couldn’t do it.
“From the moment I met her,” Abby recalled the bright smile on her face when she held up the beer and the bottle opener, “all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around her and keep her safe. She reminded me of what it’s like to be alive, I mean really alive. No one has ever done that to me, no one.” She looked to her partner for assurance. “No matter what, we have got to find her, Linc.”
“We will, Abby.” He wasn’t sure of that, but he didn’t know what else to say as he watched her get up and go to the spare room.
♥
Her sleep was fitful and tormented as she tossed and turned against the demons of her memories. Abby realized how different her sleep had become since she had met Sarah. The nightmares hadn’t ceased, but they had become bearable. Now her subconscious was pulling her out of the darkness and into a reality that wasn’t any better than her nightmares.
Sitting on the edge of her bed after a few hours of sleep, she struggled to button up her shirt. Her hand, though freed from the fiberglass, ached when she tried to use it. Maybe she should go home for a change of clothes. Home. The thought crashed against her chest making her heart ache. What was home without Buck? Her restored farmhouse would be so empty. Why would she want to go home?
Pushing the thought from her mind, Abby finished getting dressed and went out in search of her partner. She found Carla in the kitchen, but not Lincoln. “Where’s your husband?” Abby asked as she looked outside to see the driveway empty. “He better not have left without me!”
“Don’t worry, he didn’t. You were still sleeping, and he said he had to check out something and that he’d be right back.”
“Did he say what?” She took the offered coffee cup. “Thanks.”
“No, but he said he would be back.”
Abby nodded. Her eyes fell on the phone and she thought about calling the station to see if there were any new developments, though she knew in her gut that if there were, someone would have called them.
“Carla...about not telling you and Lincoln about me owning the resort — I hope you realize it was nothing against you. It was just...it was...” Abby searched to find the words she felt her friends deserved, but Carla stopped her struggle.
“Abby, the past is the past, and sometimes the reasons don’t matter as much now as they did then. You just have to live your life the best way you know how.”
“Meaningful words to live by,” Abby said after a momentary pause.
“Yes, they are.”
“Good morning,” Lincoln said as he walked into the kitchen.
Abby spun around to face him, “Where did you go?”
“I wanted to check out a few things.”
“Such as?”
Abby felt the ache deep inside her chest as she looked at the woman with whom she had fallen in love. She could hear the small giggle that normally accompanied that bright smile and those emerald green eyes. With an unsteady hand, she reached out for the photograph as Carla looked to her husband for an explanation.
“I guess it is,” Lincoln said, noting Abby’s reaction.
“Where did...where did you get this?”
Looking into her dark, tortured eyes, Lincoln wondered if he could tell her. “Abby, can you just trust me with this one?”
“Where did you get the picture?”
“Please, just give me a day to check out a few things. Please.” Lincoln watched and waited, but he knew by the obstinate look on her face that Abby was not going to wait for the answer. “I don’t want to muddy up the investigation with irrelevant information.”
Her brow furrowed. “Fine, I can appreciate that. Just tell me where you got the picture.”
“No.”
“What do you mean no? Why...why not?”
“Because. And you’re going to have to live with that. Now let’s go.” He gave Carla a quick goodbye kiss and moved toward the door.
“What do you know about this picture?”
“Not much more than I did yesterday. Now that’s the end of it!” Lincoln said as he held open the door.
“I don’t think so.” Abby retorted as she stomped out past him.
♥
Lieutenant Banks observed the two walking into squad room still nattering at each other. “Is there a problem?” she asked as she joined them.
“No, not really.” Lincoln hoped his partner would say the same. He wanted to look into this on his own — without the department and without Abby. Abby remained silent, but her eyes bored a hole through Lincoln’s forehead.
“Abby?”
“No, nothing, Lieutenant,” Abby said as she turned and walked away.
“She okay?” Banks asked the moment she was out of earshot.
Lincoln debated his answer. “Depends, Lieutenant. How do you mean that?”
“Cut the song and dance, Lincoln. Is she stable enough to be here?”
“She’s a professional. She wouldn’t be here if she wasn’t.”
“She’d better be. I put my neck on the line by having her back here,” Lieutenant Banks muttered. “She’s your partner, so keep an eye on her.”
“That’s what I do.” As his lieutenant walked away, Lincoln turned his attention to Abby, who was walking back toward him. “That’s what I do.”
♥
With no real new clues or information go on, Abby and Lincoln split up to work from different angles. Abby spent some time with the new team investigating the murders. The detectives were grateful for her input and experience; they knew the cases well, but no one knew them like she did. This gave Lincoln the time he needed to investigate Sarah.
He hunted and searched, finding several small stories and articles Sarah had written, though nothing with the importance of what she had written on Abby. He couldn’t help starting to like Sarah, in spite of her byline on the damning articles. He had to keep reminding himself that if what he was finding was true, then Sarah wasn’t at the resort by accident. But what did that have to do with her knowing Billy?
Lincoln looked across his desk to Abby’s dark head resting on her desk. For the millionth time that day, he felt the heaviness of the newspaper in his pocket. With a silent sigh, he looked out the window. Another day was not that far off, and that meant another day of waiting around. The phone on his desk lit up before it rang. He wasn’t sure if he even wanted to answer it. “Homicide, Detective Quinn.”
“Yes, I’m looking for a Detective Lincoln, I’m sorry I don’t know his last name.”
“That would be me, Lincoln Quinn. What can I do for you?” he asked as he stretched out in his chair.
“My name is Sarah. I’m a friend of Abby’s,” the woman’s voice said politely.
“Sarah?” Lincoln felt like he had been kicked in the stomach as Abby’s head shot up off her desk.
“Yes,” she said hesitantly. “I’ve tried her cell phone.” Sarah didn’t want to think about all the messages she had left with the man who kept answering it. “I know she’s busy, but...but I need to speak to her. She told me so much about you. I knew you would be the one to get a message to her.”
“Lincoln?” Abby’s question was barely a whisper.
“Hello?” Sarah was confused by Lincoln’s silence, and she wondered just how much Abby had told her partner.
“You said your name is Sarah?” Lincoln kept his eyes on Abby, who was looking to him for answers.
“Yes, I need to get a message to her.”
Abby grabbed for the phone, “Sarah!”
Sarah heard the desperation in Abby’s voice and it concerned her. “Abby? Look, I know I’m not supposed to call you, but I couldn’t wait any longer. Please talk to me.”
“Sarah, where are you? Are you okay?”
Taken aback by the urgency in Abby’s voice, Sarah felt guilt and relief flood through her. “Abby,” the feelings she had kept pent up made her voice break, “Abby, what you read...I didn’t know...”
“I don’t care. Just tell me where you are!” She looked at her partner in desperation; he was busy trying to get a trace on the call. “Sarah, I can’t understand you. What? Where are you? Just tell me where you are!” Abby was almost screaming into the phone.
“I don’t...know the...city that well, but I...”
Through the broken sobs, Abby strained to hear what Sarah was saying. Faintly in the background, Abby heard another voice.
“Hi,” Sarah said, but not to Abby. “I know you said that I shouldn’t call anyone, but...”
A gruff male voice said, “Who is that? Who are you talking to?”
Abby’s blood ran cold as she recognized the voice of the person in the same room as Sarah.
“Mr. Daniels, why are you getting—” Sarah’s voice was abruptly cut off.
“Give me that! Who is this?” Billy demanded into the phone. “Who is this?”
Abby looked around, searching for an answer any answer, as long as it wasn’t her voice.
“Abby?” He waited for a response but there wasn’t one. “Abby, is that you?”
“What are you doing?” came Sarah’s questioning voice in the background, and Abby’s eyes pleaded for Lincoln to find her a location.
“I know it’s you, Abby, so you might as well answer me, because I am going to hang up and that will be the last time you ever hear from your precious Sarah.”
Startled by his threat, Sarah stared at her boss and editor, the man who had set her up in this hotel. He had told her she had to hide out until things cooled down and he got her another job, but now she wondered who she was hiding from. “Mr. Daniels, I would like to talk to my friend, please. Mr. Daniels, give me the phone!” Sarah demanded loudly.
“I don’t think so,” Billy said.
On the other end of the phone, Abby heard the sickening sound of flesh hitting flesh, and a sharp cry of pain. She responded instantly. “Goddamn it, Billy, let her go!” Her voice was loud and angry, and she attracted the attention of everyone in the squad room. Ignoring the eyes on her, Abby strained to hear every sound at the other end of the phone, and physically winced when she heard a thump followed by a low moan.
“Sarah! Billy!”
He screamed back at her. “You don’t tell me what to do any more, Abby! I’m in control now, me, not you! I’m calling the shots. I’m pointing the finger at you and there is nothing you can do about it. You couldn’t save the others and you can’t save her, and it’s all on your shoulders, Abby. And when you are left with nothing, you will spend your days thinking of me!” The line went dead.
Abby jumped to her feet so fast, her
chair toppled backward, loudly clanging against the floor. She was standing there helpless, looking over her desk at her partner when Lieutenant Banks walked in the door. “What the hell is going on?” she demanded from the doorway.
“We got him! We got him!” Lincoln yelled as he hung up the phone, waving a piece of paper. “The Webster Arms Motel. Let’s go!”
Banks looked from Abby to Lincoln, “Wait. Where are you going?”
“We found Sarah,” Lincoln said as he rushed to the door.
“We’re sure?” the lieutenant said in astonishment.
“Positive,” he hollered back over his shoulder.
“Then go...and take backup!”
The parking lot was a buzz of activity as Lincoln and Abby left with a handful of other officers. The first call for uniformed backup had already gone out over the radio, but that did nothing to calm Abby’s nerves. Sarah was alone with Billy and he was out of control. The things he was capable of flashed through her mind as Lincoln sped through the city at breakneck speed.
“Jesus Christ, Lincoln, we had this address how long ago?” She braced her body with an outstretched hand against the dash as they skidded around a corner and into the flow of traffic. Horns honked as tires smoked and Lincoln gunned his car through an empty parking lot.
“Not now, Abby!” he yelled as he floored the accelerator and swung back out onto the street, fishtailing back and forth. Seconds turned into minutes as Lincoln wove his way through the morning traffic.
The two story Webster Arms Motel was built next to the main highway almost thirty years previously when Route 15 was the chief road out of the city. Its rooms were still clean and cheap, and that was what attracted its transient clientele. What galled Abby the most was that she’d passed it every day on the way to her house.
Lincoln powered his car onto the highway onramp. “How do you want to run this?”
“I’ll take the front with Decker and Hassle,” Abby named two of the detectives following not far behind them in their own car. “You take Johnson and Webber around back. The uniforms should be there, so they can do a perimeter. Kill the siren. There it is.” She pointed ahead to the white building on the right side of the road. A precious twenty minutes had passed since Billy had hung up on her.