“I’m for that,” CJ said.
Trish nodded. “Me, too.”
“Whoever you bring in has to be fully vetted,” CJ said. “This leak has to stop.”
“Let me do my job, CJ.”
“The way I see it, everybody’s been doing their jobs,” CJ said, his voice taking on an irritated edge. “This guy is getting the information anyway.”
“We’re working on it.”
“Well, you’d better work harder!” CJ yelled.
Stella put her hand on his arm. He took a breath and calmed himself. “I’ve lost count of the number of women he’s killed, and now he’s threatening every woman even remotely close to me. You’re lucky the guy left Lisa alive.”
They stared at each other for a few seconds before Dan responded. “Have you finished venting?”
CJ didn’t say anything.
“One question is,” Dan said, “why did he leave Lisa alive?”
“Maybe because he’s a cop and he can’t kill another cop.”
“We’re not so sure he’s a cop, now,” Dan said.
“What do you mean. I saw him, saw the uniform?”
“We believe he was wearing Lisa’s uniform. She was left in the bed, just two doors down from your room, by-the-way, in only her underwear. Her uniform was gone. He left behind, though, the garb of a hospital nurse.”
“That’s how he got close to her,” Stella said. “She thought he was a nurse.”
“Right. After changing into her uniform, he visited CJ and then left the hospital. We actually have a witness who saw him go out shortly after that. Didn’t get a much better view of him, unfortunately.”
“That certainly confirms it wasn’t Clark. He couldn’t have gotten into Lisa’s uniform, but the man I saw could have.”
“Right.”
“What about the guards who were with me when I was hit with the drug?” CJ said. “Stratton was going to interview them. Do you know anything about that?”
“Yeah. Both guards remember the incident; neither can recall who the individual was, more concerned with their charge, that being you. We also tried to figure out who else might have been a witness to it, but no luck there.”
“The blue code of honor,” CJ said.
“What’s that?” Trish said.
“No officer will rat out a fellow officer,” CJ said.
“That’s stupid.”
“It’s a constant debate across the country, very heated at times; however, it may be that code that saved Lisa’s life,” CJ said.
“I thought you just determined that it wasn’t a cop,” Stella said. “He stole her uniform and he’s too short to be Tommy Clark.”
“Still doesn’t mean that he wasn’t a cop, just not Tommy. One thing he told me was to stay out of cop business. ‘Stop meddling,’ were his exact words.”
Dan nodded. “Only a cop would say that.”
“Or the partner of a cop,” CJ said.
Everybody looked at CJ.
“What are you saying?” Stella said. “You think the partner of a gay cop is doing this because somewhere along the line you wronged his partner?”
“I don’t know. The notion only just now came to me. I’ve been thinking for a while that there are two people, that the perp has a partner. It just never occurred to me that they might be life partners.”
“A husband, husband team?” Dan said. “It’s certainly an angle that can’t be ignored.”
“Do we know if Tommy Clark is gay?” CJ asked.
“We know very little about Clark. Sexual persuasion is not something that’s noted on personnel files.”
“Was Lisa sexually violated?” CJ asked.
Dan shook his head. “No. It doesn’t appear so, but we haven’t received the final report as yet. The fact that he left her underwear on tells me sex wasn’t his intent. He only wanted the uniform.”
“And to show how close he could get to me,” CJ added. “He wanted to show how close he could get to anybody.”
Silence filled the room for a time as everyone digested what had been said.
“Officer Kramer!” CJ blurted. “Is there a chance he knows about her? Has anyone checked on her?”
Dan pulled out his phone again, found the name in the contact list and hit Call.
After a long interim when it didn’t seem like she was going to answer, CJ said, “Is she married, live alone? Do you know?”
Josh walked in just as Dan held up a finger. “Officer Kramer, this is Detective Payne. Is everything alright there?” He listened and then held his hand out, thumb up.
CJ, Stella and Trish all relaxed. Josh pulled up a chair and sat.
“The perp made a run on Officer Bowers tonight,” Dan continued, and then went on to detail what took place.
“No,” he said. “We don’t want you breaking cover. Bowers will be okay once the drug wears off.” He then explained that it wasn’t Tommy Clark and the theory that it may still be him with a partner, possibly gay. “We still need your eyes and ears in there, but be very careful. See if you can learn from others in his division as to his sexual leanings, cop to cop chit-chat kind of thing. It’s strictly a theory, a weak one at that, so tread lightly. The Feds are still digging into his background. Am hoping to learn something later this morning.”
He went on to assure her again that Lisa Bowers was going to be fine, and to call him in the noon hour and they’d exchange updates.
When he hung up, Stella said, “She’s not alone, is she?”
Dan shook his head. “I know she’s not married but I heard a male voice ask who it was, so she must have a boyfriend.” To Josh he said, “How are things going down there?”
“They’re sealing off Dad’s room. Waiting on the forensics team to finish up with the room in which Officer Bowers was found. Agent Platt is keeping an eye on it all.”
“Good. You’re going to stay with these guys, is that right?”
“For the duration.”
Chapter 52
At 6:00 Agent Stratton walked in. Nurses had already been in and out preparing for getting rid of their charges.
“You’re both being taken out of here in thirty minutes.”
“Is the hospital okay with that?” Stella asked.
“They’re thrilled. They want the police disruption gone, so the sooner for them, the happier they’ll be. For you all, we need something with which we can have better control. This is just too wide open. We’ve secured a safe house west of the city, about twenty minutes away. We’re working with Chief Rague to put together a team of officers to maintain around the clock surveillance in six hour shifts. Each one is being closely vetted.”
“Do you know if Clark has any idea he’s being looked at?” CJ asked.
“We believe he’s still in the dark; however, our focus is no longer on him. Other than the time he’s taken off, nothing else has pointed to him.”
“What about the background check?” Stella asked.
“I’ll have that this morning, have had New York people working on it, but I think it’s a dead end.”
“New York?”
“That’s where he grew up,” Stratton said, “and where he lived until he joined the academy and later took the job on the Tucson Police Force.”
“You’ll find something,” CJ said. “I’m certain of it.”
“I know you want Clark for this, CJ, but there’s just not enough there. We need to put our efforts into figuring out who it is, not wasting it on who it probably isn’t. Just so that you know, I had a set of eyes on his apartment building last night from the time he got home from work until this guy showed up in your room. Clark never left the apartment. I pulled the surveillance fifteen minutes ago. Like I said, it’s a dead end. Once I have the report, I’m certain that line of investigation will be history.”
“Does Dan know you’re quitting on Clark?”
“We just talked about it. He’s pulling Officer Kramer out. Would rather use her on the safe house detail.”<
br />
CJ wasn’t pleased, but he refrained from making any more comments. He liked Clark even more as the serial killer and was convinced that the partner, however the term partner was defined, was the perpetrator who took down Lisa Bowers. He looked over at Josh who’d provided no input into the conversation. He held no expression as to whether he agreed or disagreed with the senior agent. Of course he’d agree. He was too junior as yet to have his own mind. He was just a body the bureau utilized to meet their missions as they came about. He also realized that although he’d been officially loaned from Denver, Josh had done nothing but guard his family. Was Stratton being nice when he made the request to Denver or was it a means of keeping him in the loop but out of the way because he was too close to the players and too junior to be of a benefit. He’d certainly want the best senior agents he could get playing this game. And Josh probably didn’t mind because his number one priority was his sister; let everyone else run around Tucson chasing a serial killer.
Stratton’s phone chirped. “Stratton,” he said into it. “Thanks.”
To the group in the hospital room, he said, “Your chariot is in-route. Am told your clothes have been picked up, CJ, so you don’t have to wear the prom dress out of here.”
“Thanks.” CJ hadn’t even thought about the hospital gown.
“How’s the shoulder doing?”
“Either it’s getting better or the pain killer has been improved. I feel that I could actually use it except that they’ve got it so strapped down. How is Lisa doing?”
“She’s semi-wake. As with you, they administered Romazicon.”
“What is that?” Trish asked.
“They call it a benzodiazepine antagonist. A big term for a drug that will counteract the Rohypnol.”
Stratton’s phone chirped again. After he answered it he left, saying he’d be right back.
Josh got up and went to his sister, asked how she was feeling. CJ watched them as they interacted, proud of them both, glad that Josh had come, wishing that it’d been under different circumstances, wondering if there was anything he could do to counteract Josh’s anger. Maybe I need an anger antagonist, CJ thought.
It was actually closer to an hour before they were rolled into the elevator. When they came out of the elevator CJ realized they were being taken out through the morgue. “Are there still press outside?” he asked of Stratton.
“You have no idea. They’re lined up around the parking lot as though the president was having a Mideast summit in here. We’re not even sure this is going to work, though we have agents standing by to intercept and block if it appears there’s going to be a chase.”
The van door was open, the wheelchair lift down. CJ was wheeled in first, against his demand that he could walk just fine.
“You stay in this chair or we leave you to the vultures,” Stratton said, pointing out to a couple of satellite trucks visible in the near distance.
CJ remained seated as the lift rose. Someone grabbed his chair from behind and pulled him into the van. “I’m Joseph Foronda,” said the guy as he navigated him into place. “I’ll be you all’s constant companion nurse for the next thirty hours or so.”
When Trish was in, along with Stella and Stratton–Josh left them to follow in his car–and the van was moving, Joseph continued his introduction. “You all can call me Joe. Although the hospital was real glad to discharge you, the administrators thought it prudent to maintain your medical care through tomorrow morning, just to be sure there are no unforeseen medical complications.”
“They just want to be sure we don’t make off with the wheelchairs,” CJ said.
Joe grinned. “Well, yeah, there’s that too, along with concerns over liability should you all have relapses, fall out of the chairs, or exert yourselves playing bingo.”
“Where're you taking us, to an old folks home?” CJ asked.
Joe laughed. “Sorry for the bingo reference. I’m also an on-call nurse for several senior care facilities. Little inside joke. I should be a little more politically sensitive. Not the first time my mouth has gotten me in trouble.”
CJ decided this guy wasn’t going to be so bad. “You’re not in trouble as long as you let me out of this wheelchair when we get wherever we’re going.”
“Not a problem. You get dizzy and fall down, you’re back in it. We straight on that?”
CJ nodded and grinned at him. “Straight as a reformed alcoholic in a twelve-step program.”
“You know a bit about that?”
“No! no. A joke I picked up from a client one time.”
“I hope it’s a joke cause if I catch you with alcohol, you’ll be back in the chair. It doesn’t mix with the crap you have in your system.”
CJ nodded. “Gotcha.” A couple fingers of Jack Daniels sure would have hit the spot.
Chapter 53
The safe house was a ranch style on ten acres of desert cactus at the base of Gates Pass, west of the city. “The owners, or past owners in this case,” Stratton said as they pulled up a long, dirt drive, “were an elderly couple who passed away, one right after the other, back in November. The kids live in the Seattle area and have pretty much ignored the property until this last month when they hired someone to clean it out and prepare it for placing on the market. The state it is currently in, I’m told, is almost perfect for us. Four bedrooms and a big kitchen. We won’t have provisions until later in the morning.”
“Any idea how long we’ll be here,” CJ asked.
“Wish I could answer that. This guy doesn’t let the moss grow around his feet, nor around yours. Speaking of that, I’ve had a fresh set of eyes pouring through your case files and records since and before you left the force, looking for anyone who could be holding a grudge against you. He's Agent DeBonski of Phoenix. Sometime today he’s going to come here and sit with you and Stella. He’s going to bring what he’s learned from the files and start picking your memories.”
Good, CJ thought. Maybe something will come to light that proves Tommy Clark is the one. In response to Stratton he only nodded his head.
Stella said, “I think before your agent talks to us we need to get some sleep. It’s been a long night.”
“I’ll tell him not to come before 3:00.”
As they pulled in CJ recognized Dan’s Tahoe. An older, non-descript car was parked next to it. Agent Crosby, Janet Crosby was how she was introduced, stopped the van at the bottom of a convenient wheelchair ramp.
“We got lucky,” Stratton said. “The husband half of the couple was wheelchair bound for the last ten years, so the house is wheelchair friendly.”
Dan came out and down the ramp, followed by a female police officer. “Is that Officer Kramer?” CJ asked.
“Good guess.”
Two more government-looking cars pulled in as CJ and Trish were being pushed up the ramp. CJ recognized Agent Crane but not the other in an obvious fed suit. Another car pulled in and parked facing out, not government issue. Josh got out.
“Looks like you got away clean,” Crane said, after everyone was in the house and gathered in the living area.
Stratton introduced the new face, Agent Brown, from Phoenix. One more Phoenix agent was on his way, plus a small team from Washington, DC would arrive in the afternoon.
“This case has been elevated to the highest level,” Stratton said. “As a result all the stops have been pulled. Expense accounts are wide open. We have to get this guy and we have to get him fast.”
Joe returned from inspecting the bedrooms. “We've got linens but I still need to make up the beds. Patricia gets the master bedroom because the bed is suited for someone disabled." He looked at Trish. "That's where you’re heading right now, with a light sedative.”
“I can’t wait,” Trish said, her head bobbing with exhaustion. “I don’t think I need the sedative.”
“Never-the-less,” Joe said. “You two,” pointing to CJ and Stella, “I’m assuming you’ll be together.”
Stella nodded.
<
br /> “Bedroom two, right next door. I'll let you make up your own bed.” Joe swung Trish’s chair around. “Let's get to it. Bodies don't heal without rest.”
CJ didn't think he'd be able to sleep.
CJ’s eyes popped open. He listened while looking around the darkened room. A muffled exchange of voices from beyond the closed bedroom door, along with Stella’s light snore next to him, reminded him where he was. He relaxed and rolled his head to see the bedside clock. 1:42. He eased to the edge of the bed and swung his feet to the floor, pleased that there was no dizziness, only minor pain in his shoulder, none around the bandages on his head.
After doing his business in the bathroom, including removing the bandages binding his arm and then splashing water on his face, he joined the agents in the dining room where they’d set up an office with laptop computers, large monitors and a printer. Stratton was on one laptop, another new FBI face on the other. The new face glanced up, nodded, and returned to his task.
“You’re looking better,” Stratton said.
“Feeling better.”
“Sit down,” Joe ordered, appearing as if by magic. “Let me take your vitals. How’s the shoulder feeling?”
“Great,” CJ said as he sat down.
To Stratton CJ said, “What did you find out from New York?”
“Like I expected, dead-end. No police record, not even a sealed one. Went to academy, graduated in ’09 and joined the Tucson force. Squeaky clean.” He rose from his chair and headed toward the kitchen, dropping the report in front of CJ along the way. “You’re welcome to read it. There are sandwich makings, so help yourself.”
“Sit still while I get your blood pressure,” Joe said.
CJ slowly paged through the report until Joe was done.
“You’re looking normal,” Joe said. “Normal is good. Let me see your eyes.” When CJ turned his head, Joe looked from one eye to the other, back and forth a couple of times, then shined a light and did it again. “Much better than this morning. Still, no bar fights and no pulling your gun and shooting people.”
Deserving of Death (CJ Washburn, PI Book 1) Page 24