The Game Changer
Page 15
Jessie’s eyes lit up. “I wonder if that’s what she meant when she said that death had found her again. It seems I can remember an article that I read at the time that suggested some unusual things had happened to her and her roommates.” Jessie stifled a yawn. “Her stalker must be somewhere in Rocky Pointe.”
“Or here,” Matt added to the conversation. “If she’s here, he would want to be nearby. Nice work both of you. It looks like two or three different cases have somehow found a common link. It gives us a lot more questions to think about and answers to find. Is Irwin still paying Mallory, or is someone else doing it, and why? How does our past case fit into this?” Matt looked at them both. “Let’s keep a lid on this for now. We need to think it through before we tell Henderson our theory.” Matt yawned. “What did you see this time?”
“She was walking across a vast open expanse. She headed for what appeared to be a safe place to shelter herself and the baby. It looked like maybe a small rock or sand formation of some kind.”
“It will be like finding a needle in a haystack. The desert area is vast. I’ll ask Balasco if he knows of any rock formations in the area.”
“I’m wondering, with Mallory’s troubled life, if he could come up with all of this on his own. I could see blackmail, but who else is involved and how do you both fit into it?” Jeremy looked at them both.
“While you’re figuring this all out, remember there’s a body of at least one other woman somewhere. I’ll leave you boys to your collaborations. I’m finally tired. Good night, you two.” Jessie caught Matt’s wink at her and smiled back at him. She went to her room, yawning all the way.
****
The next morning, Matt and Frank cleared the hurdles with Henderson and Balasco and headed back to the resort. Henderson was following behind with Tony. They wanted to see the dog work. This time Matt had called Jessie and had given her the heads up.
“How do you want to go about this, Frank? You’re the handler, and I want you calling the shots. Don’t let the others force you into anything that’s not right for you and your dog.”
“Yeah, I think I got the situation.” Frank gave him a wise look. “But I’m pretty particular when it comes to my dog and I know what’s best. Believe me, I won’t let him push me into anything. I’ve worked with a few law enforcement agencies over time, and I found a way to work with all of them—which hasn’t always been easy.” He chuckled, his eyes crinkled at the corners.
“You’ve got to know there’s a lot of male ego in law enforcement.” Matt joked with him, smiling.
“There’s no doubt about that.” Frank grinned back at Matt. “I think we should start the track at Jessie’s place. You said he had been there. Radar may pick up one of their scents. It’s worth a try. We might at least get the direction he drove when he left the area.”
“Sounds good to me. I’m looking forward to seeing Radar in action again. The last case was eye opening. I admit I’m a bit of a skeptic. I want to see if he does it again.”
“Even I can’t guarantee that he will, but he still surprises me all the time with how good he is.”
Chapter 18
Everything hurt. What the hell had happened to him? He tried sitting up and groaned. How long had he been slumped over like this? He looked at himself in the rearview mirror. Jeez, his face looked like it had been through a meat grinder. Dark, sunken eyes, wild, uncombed hair standing on end, and dried blood plastered on his shirt. Was it his? He looked like he had been on a binge. Had he? He raked his hand through his hair. He didn’t recognize himself. If only he could remember. Think. What had he done? Long scratches stretched from his forehead to his chin. Scratches covered his hands. Who had scratched him? He frowned in concentration.
Wave after wave of panic pulsated through his body—first from the not knowing, but then they built even higher as the flashbacks played through his mind. The feel of her flesh bruising as he pounded it without mercy, the snapping sound of her bone, and the pleas for him to stop filled his hazy memory. He covered his ears, but it didn’t block out her screams. Who was she? Not Jessie, please, not her. “Make them go away. Please, make them go away,” he yelled, hitting the dash with his fist.
The windshield had clouded over. Sweat beaded on his forehead and trickled down his chin. A strange rumbling erupted from his stomach as he fumbled for the door handle. With a groan, he staggered a few feet in the darkness, doubled over, and vomited. Gulping for air, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and gagged at the vile smell. He walked a few steps in the darkness and then fell against the hood of the car. In the cool dark cover before dawn, he slid to the ground, and collapsed in a smelly heap. The desert was silent with only the sound of the crickets to keep him company. There was no traffic on the road. No one to see him. His body relaxed and his head came to rest against his folded arms.
“When was the last time you took your meds?” The voice in his head thundered at him.
“I can’t remember.” He rocked back and forth where he sat.
“They’ll be mad at you. You know they will. They’ll beat you like when you were a kid.”
“Stop talking to me. I don’t want to hear you. I’ll fix everything, they’ll never know.” His eyes became flat, his body was rigid.
“He already knows, and he’s mad as hell, you idiot,” the voice taunted him.
“I hate when you call me names. I don’t have to listen to you. Do you hear me? I won’t listen to you.” He stood up and flailed wildly at the air with his hands. “Get away from me…Get away from me.” He knew now what he had to do. He lifted the hood of his car, changed his shirt, cleaning up the best that he could, and sat down to wait. He hadn’t seen any cars for a while, but the fewer cars, the better. All he needed was one. Be patient Billy-Boy. He smiled.
The sun was climbing in the sky when someone finally stopped. A man in a business suit stepped out of his car. “Looks like you could use some help. What seems to be the problem?”
“The dang thing overheated.”
“You’re lucky I came along. I don’t usually take this route back to town,” the man said.
“You wouldn’t happen to be carrying some water on you, would you?” He saw the man nod.
“I always carry some, just in case. Cars overheat all the time out here.” The man smiled at him.
“I should have prepared better, but I’m new to the area.” Mallory shook hands with the man.
The man nodded at him and walked to the back of the car to open the trunk where he kept several bottles. Mallory came up behind the man and hit him, taking him by surprise. He groaned and staggered. Eyeing the lug wrench in the man’s trunk Mallory grabbed it and hit him again on the back of the head. The man went limp and fell to the ground. A pool of blood puddled on the sand. Mallory tried not to look. He closed the trunk, got in the car, and left.
It was a beautiful car. Mallory looked around at the interior. One day, he would own something like this and wear one of those fancy suits. Jessie would be sitting right next to him. He had hated to hurt the man. Adriana had been alone too long, and he had to get back to her.
He needed the car. It was the only way. He had to hurt the man, he had to, he repeated over and over as the tears fell from his eyes.
Chapter 19
“He’s on to something,” Frank called back to Matt, as Radar started toward the road in front of the resort. “I’ll let him go far enough to make sure of his direction and then we might have to go by car for a few miles. At which point, I’ll let him back out and see what he does.”
“Okay, Frank, you’re in charge.” Matt followed behind with Henderson, Balasco, and Jessie.
Frank stopped. “You guys might want to follow behind me in your cars with lights. It might keep it a little safer for the dog as he follows the scent.”
“We can do that.” Matt nodded.
“I’ll walk with Frank.” Jessie stood beside him.
“Let’s move it out.” Henderson started for h
is car.
“Radar, let’s get to work.” Frank gave the command and the dog moved forward, head up, sniffing the air for a bit until his nose went down to the ground. He started trotting at a steady pace along the road heading out of town.
Jessie fell into step with Frank and the dog. “Adriana came to me in my dreams last night. She’s out there, and Mallory hasn’t found her yet.”
“Did you see anything that might help—a landscape, or mile marker?”
“Not much.” She shook her head. “I only saw her. She was alive but afraid. It was her second night out in the elements. She’s pregnant; we can’t forget that. All I could see was a small rock formation. I remember thinking it seemed out of place in a desert location. Radar appears to be working it.” She pointed at the dog.
“He’s doing an excellent job.” Frank smiled at her. “He’s tugging on my arm. He seems to be in a bit of a hurry.” Radar came back to them. “What’s up, fella? Do you want me to move a little bit faster?” Radar took the length of the line and pulled harder. A couple of miles out of town, Frank stopped, and Matt pulled up beside him. “Let’s put him in the car, go about five miles, let him out, and see what he does.”
“Sounds good.” Frank, Radar, and Jessie got in the backseat.
At five miles, Frank let Radar out, and after he had scented, he continued in the same direction. “He’s still working it.” Frank broke into a brisk walk as the dog pulled on the line. The track went on for another three miles. Radar paused suddenly. Up went his nose, and he started pulling harder. “Radio Matt and tell him he’s on to something, but I don’t know what side of the road we’re looking at.”
Jessie nodded and made the call. “Look, Frank, over there.” She grabbed his arm, “Is that a car on the side of the road? Right there?” Jessie pointed at sunlight bouncing off something, maybe metal, a ways up the road.
“It could be, let’s see if he takes us there.” The closer they got, the harder the dog pulled. Jessie broke into a run when she saw the car and something lying on the ground. “Matt, there’s a car. Oh goodness, hurry! There’s a man on the ground. We may need help.”
Matt sped up and pulled off the road by the car. Henderson followed him closely. Matt jumped out of his car and squatted beside Jessie and the man, feeling for a pulse. “We have a pulse, faint, but it’s there.” He nodded at Balasco, who was already calling for an ambulance. Matt noticed the pool of blood behind the man’s head. “Jess, get the bottle of water out of my car. See if you can find something clean to pour it on and make a cold cloth for his head. It’s warm out here.”
Jessie went to the car and found both. She poured the water over the bandanna she found in the car. She ran back to the abandoned car and handed him the wet cloth and the water. “Will he make it?” She squatted beside them, her eyes on Matt’s face.
“I don’t know, but if we hadn’t gotten here when we did, he surely would have died.”
She watched Radar. He kept pacing back and forth, sniffing at the trunk before he finally sat down. “Did you find something, fella?” Frank patted the dog’s head. “Good boy, Radar, good boy.” He gave him a treat and water.
Henderson looked inside through the car’s wide open door. “Wow, what a mess.” There’s blood on the steering wheel and junk everywhere. Whoever left this, wasn’t very smart. He left his keys in the car. Tony, get a crime unit up here to go over the scene. I’ll call it in to the Agency to put a rush on the evidence you send them.” He pulled on a pair of rubber gloves.
“Henderson, if you’ve got the keys, could you open the trunk?” Balasco called out to him. “The dog has hit on it. I want to make sure there’s no one in there.”
Henderson moved to the back of the car and opened the trunk. “We might want to have this towed to the Agency when your guys are done and let our team go over it too. At least one of our victims has obviously been in the trunk of this car. This car is like the one Maria described to us.”
“There isn’t a body, but we have a woman’s shoe which could belong to either one of our victims.”
Jessie watched Matt, Balasco, and Henderson at work. Her eyes kept returning to the quiet man lying on the ground willing him with her every thought to live. He was too pale and had lost some blood. The wailing sirens were closing in fast. She sat down beside him, fanning the air around him with Matt’s clipboard, trying to keep the flies away from his face. He made a sound, startling her, and she jumped. “Matt he’s groaning. Do you think he’s coming around?”
Matt squatted down beside him as the man tried to move. “Sir, lie real still. You don’t want to make your injuries worse. We’re not going to harm you. The ambulance is on its way.”
“He, he hit me…” His faint voice trailed off. “Big man…said he needed help, stole my car.” He groaned again.
“Don’t try to talk, sir.”
“Please don’t leave me.” He grabbed at Matt’s hand. “My wife, my kids, the number is in the wallet.”
“I’ll take care of it for you, sir.” Matt pulled the man’s wallet from his pocket. He wrote the number on his notepad, along with Rodney Owens’ name and address, taken from his license. The ambulance pulled up beside Mallory’s car. Matt watched them remove the stretcher. “They’re here to help you.” Matt stood up and noticed the man trying to reach for his hand. “I’m not leaving, but I’m getting out of their way so they can work at getting you home to your wife and kids.”
Jessie was impressed once again. Matt went the extra mile to reassure the man. She watched as the paramedics worked on him. They brought a backboard to keep him immobile, which they slipped carefully underneath him. They lifted him and the board onto the stretcher. They checked and reported his vitals to the doctor. A drip line inserted into his vein began the flow of a drug cocktail that a physician from the trauma unit prescribed to stabilize him enough to transport.
Matt walked beside the stretcher to the ambulance. “I’ll be at the hospital to see you in a while.” The man blinked at him. “We’re going to get the man who did this to you.” The man blinked again, and tears slipped out of his eyes. Matt grabbed his hand. “You work hard at getting better and we’ll work hard at taking care of this.” Matt placed the man’s wallet near his hands. He watched them lift the stretcher into the ambulance and close the door. It took off the way it had come.
Jessie watched a weary-looking Matt walk over to Frank and Radar.
“It’s a darn shame when someone stops to help what he thinks is a stranded motorist to be attacked and left for dead.” Frank refilled the water bowl in front of Radar.
“What do you think we should do? They’ll be here to process this before long.” Matt patted Radar’s head. “Jessie saw Adriana last night. I think we need to keep looking.”
“I know. She told me. I would like to let Radar take another sniff of one of her items and see if he does anything. He’s had a little time to rest, and he drank plenty of water.”
“Let’s do it,” Matt talked to Balasco and Henderson about continuing the search.
Henderson scowled at them. “You both go with the dog. I’m going to stay here and make sure they don’t bungle this crime scene up. You radio me the minute you find something if you do. But, I doubt you will.” The agent walked away. “Watch where you step,” he snapped at one of the officers getting out of the car that had just arrived. “This is a crime scene and don’t forget it.”
Tony winked at Matt. “I’ll be happy for a little space from that one, but I feel sorrier than you know what for my poor crime unit.”
****
“Let’s go find her.” Matt walked over to Jessie.
“I hope we can before Mallory does.” She gathered her hair, pulling it into a ponytail.
“We’re ready.” Frank attached the line to Radar. He took out one of the shirts Adriana’s husband had given them and placed it near Radar’s nose. “Find the girl, fella, let’s bring her home.”
Radar’s routine began. His nose w
ent up in the air, and he started sniffing. His tail began to wag, and he took off, moving at a good pace. Jessie continued to walk with Frank, and Matt followed with Tony in the car, lights flashing to warn any traffic.
About thirty minutes into the new track, Radar crossed the two-lane road and headed along a dirt road that wound through a vast open expanse of cactus and sand. Jessie talked with Matt and kept him apprised so that Matt could turn down the same road.
“Is he still working it?” Jessie watched the dog pause and sniff the air.
“He sure seems to be.” Frank started walking when the dog pulled harder on the line. They moved farther off the main road. Radar was getting more excited and pulling harder on the line. Another thirty minutes passed, and then Jessie saw what appeared to be a small formation of rocks in the distance. “Frank, look over to the left. Do you see those rocks in the distance? It might be what I saw last night.”
“I see them. We’ll find out soon enough if she was ever there. He’s pulling hard. I’m going to be sore tonight.”
“He’s veering to the left.” Jessie’s voice sounded excited. “Hold him up. Matt’s going to have to walk this and so is Tony. The car can’t go out there.”
The car pulled up beside them, and Matt rolled down the window. “What’s up?”
“You’re going to have to walk this next part. He’s headed out through the sand toward the rocks or whatever that is over there.” Frank pointed in the direction. “Jessie saw them in her head last night. I should probably give him some water and take it from there.” Frank poured water into the bowl and placed it in front of Radar. He took a few laps but then trotted to the end of the line and began pulling. “He wants to go. I think he’s on to something. We need to keep moving.”