Apocalypse Island

by Hall, Mark Edward

  “Or for a government that just wants to protect its people.”

  “Now you’re the one talking trash, Rick. Governments rarely do things for the right reasons. Come on, I know you know something, and you also know that the church was involved.”

  Chapter 63

  Jennings thought back to the meeting five years ago with his captain, the FBI guy named Spencer and Father Byrne of the Catholic Archdiocese. Deep inside he knew there was something to what Laura was saying, but he also knew that he’d been warned off. “You’re talking about government sanctioned experiments on human beings, Laura. You’re talking about cover-ups.”

  “Nothing new in that, Rick. What about those radiation experiments on humans back in the forties and fifties? Or the Tuskegee syphilis experiments, or the pesticide experiments of the nineteen fifties, or experiments on insects and animals on Plum Island near Long Island where there’s a goddamn good chance government scientists actually caused Lyme disease. Want me to go on?”

  Jennings did not reply.

  “Our history is littered with that kind of shit,” Laura said, “all done in the name of patriotism.”

  “I’ve heard enough, and I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” Jennings said. “I want to talk about Wolf and his connection to these murders. Right now anything else is a fishing expedition. Christ, he even gave you a location. I should go over there right now and arrest him.”

  “For what?” Laura asked. “For dreaming he’s carrying a dead woman in his arms? That would be just great.”

  “He knows too much. Any other suspect would be in jail by now. You say he’s delusional but I don’t think so. I think he’s one smart son-of-a-bitch. He’s seeing a shrink. Sounds to me like he’s setting himself up for an insanity defense.”

  “Seeing the shrink was not his idea.”

  “This all started back in prison,” Jennings said. “I think he began planning this long before he got out. Fights in the prison yard. Strange spells in the middle of the night. Getting himself thrown in solitary confinement early on. Doing all that ensured that one of the conditions of his release would be psychiatric counseling. He wanted us to cast doubt on his sanity. Yeah, I think he’s one smart cookie.”

  “He’s not the killer, Rick.”

  “No matter, I’ll have a warrant before the day’s over to search his apartment. We need to move on this.”

  “No, Rick—”

  Jennings held up his hand. “He knows he’s a suspect and he must know it’s only a matter of time.”

  “Even if he is the murderer, which he’s not, he’s not killing them there.”

  “Maybe not, but killers always leave evidence.”

  “I’ve been in there, Rick and there’s nothing. Trust me.”

  “You search the place?”

  “No, but I looked around. If you’ll just give me the chance I’ll look around a little more thoroughly. You don’t need to go in there like gangbusters trampling all over evidence. Let me go in alone.”

  “When?”

  Laura looked at her watch. “He’s got an appointment in half an hour with the shrink. I’ll do it then.”

  “He give you a key?”

  Laura frowned.

  “You’re talking about breaking and entering.”

  “He’ll never know I was there.”

  “I don’t like this, Laura. If you blow it, we’ll never get a warrant.”

  “I won’t blow it. Just make sure your spy knows where he is at all times. Which reminds me...”

  “What?”

  “You told me that you were the only one who knew about me. You’ve got a man on Wolf and he’s seen us together...” Laura’s voice trailed off.

  “He doesn’t know who you are,” Jennings said. He averted his eyes and Laura knew he was lying.

  “Thinks I’m just another groupie, is that it?”

  Jennings nodded.

  “Bullshit!”

  “Listen, Laura, I had to tell him. For your own protection.”

  “You should have said something to me.”

  Jennings reddened.

  Laura said, “He’s an amateur.”

  “He’s one of my best men.”

  “I spotted him a mile away. It’s Cavanaugh, isn’t it?”

  “Now how the hell would you know that?”

  “You think Wolf’s stupid? He recognized him, pointed him out to me. Goddamn it, Rick, he’s the asshole that roughed Wolf up. You couldn’t do any better than that?”

  “No one knows Wolf better than Cavanaugh.”

  “Why him? What’s he got to do with Wolf?”

  “He was the investigating officer during that whole manslaughter case against Wolf. He’s the one that brought Wolf to justice.”

  “And he tried to get him for murder. He’s got it in for him, Rick! Christ!” Laura was fuming.

  “He’s a good cop,” Jennings said.

  “Why do I think you’re trying to convince yourself? He’s your friend. You told me he was your friend. His wife left him and he beat the shit out of her. How come he’s still your friend?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “I want to meet this guy.”

  “Absolutely not.”

  Laura glared at Jennings and said nothing more on the subject. She didn’t need his permission to meet Cavanaugh. She knew what the son-of-a-bitch looked like. She’d just walk right up to him some day and knee the asshole in the balls.

  Chapter 64

  “Why do I think you’re bullshitting me about everything, Rick? Why do I think you’re bullshitting yourself?”

  “Don’t push me, girl.”

  “Christ, there’s something freaking weird going on with this whole case and you know it. You’re backtracking because you believe everything deserves a logical explanation, but mostly it’s because you’re afraid.”

  “Not true.”

  “Sure you are.”

  Jennings glared at Laura. “Are you aware of a theorem known as Occam’s Razor?”

  “Sure,” Laura said. “Let’s see, ‘All things being equal, the simplest answer tends to be the right one.’ William of Occam, fourteenth century.”

  “Very good,” said Jennings. “And the simplest answer is that some smart son-of-a-bitch like Wolf is killing these women, and he’s talking about monsters and bad dreams and all that shit so that when we finally nail him he’ll have an insanity defense.”

  “I don’t believe it,” Laura said, but deep down she knew there was something weird about Wolf and this whole case. There was something around him that smacked of weird. Actually her mind was thinking the word ‘evil’ not weird but she didn’t really want to go there with Jennings. He didn’t need any more excuses to yank her off the case and now that she was in it she wanted desperately to stay in it till the end.

  “Understand this, Detective Higgins, Wolf is being watched.”

  “I told you, he’s not stupid.”

  “I know he’s not. If he understands he’s being watched, maybe he won’t try anything.”

  “I thought you wanted to know—”

  “I do, but I don’t want to lose you in the process.”

  “I’m a big girl, Rick. I can take care of myself.” She got up to leave. “I’ll let you know what I find in his apartment.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  “I’ll be careful.”

  Jennings glared at her. “This is what I’ll do,” he said. “I’ll give you a few more days with Wolf, and if you don’t get anything then I’m pulling you off the case. This is getting way too weird for me. Understand?”

  Laura nodded.

  “And Laura?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I don’t want you coming in here anymore.”

  “Sure, Rick.” She knew why and wondered why he hadn’t gone that route from the beginning.

  “From now on I want us to meet at your apartment.”

  “What’s wrong with yours?”

  “It’s
too obvious, but just in case, I do have another place.”

  “Oh?”

  “It’s private, out of the way. The important thing is, nobody knows about it. And I’d like to keep it that way.”

  “Nobody?”

  “Nobody. It’s my sanctuary.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “In case you get in trouble and need a place to go.” He gave her a couple of sheets of paper. The top one was a detailed Google map. The bottom one was a series of numbers.

  “What’s this?”

  “Combination to the door and the security system.”

  Laura looked at the address, raised an eyebrow and said, “Listen, Rick, I’m not going to need this.”

  “Keep it. Never know when you might need a sanctuary.”

  “I never took you as a sanctuary kind of guy.”

  “It’s a place I can go when I need to think. I’ve been spending a lot of time there lately.”

  “Jesus, Rick, you’re scaring me.”

  Jennings frowned. “Nothing to worry about,” he said. “Everything’s under control.”

  Laura leveled her gaze at Jennings. “What the hell’s going on, Rick?”

  “I can’t talk about this now.”

  “OK. Fine. You know, my mother and her husband have a sanctuary.”

  “Yeah, where?”

  Laura hesitated. She wasn’t sure why. “Oh, a wilderness lake. Back woods stuff. Sometimes when Ruben’s away she goes there. It’s peaceful.”

  They were quiet for a long moment, neither saying anything. Finally Laura said, “Please, Rick, talk to me.”

  “A couple of my men were curious and wanted to know who you were.”

  “What did you tell them?”

  “The truth. That you were the daughter of an old friend.”

  “You didn’t tell them I was your private little spy?”

  Jennings glared at her. “Don’t piss me off, girl.”

  “You don’t think Cavanaugh talks?”

  “I’ve known Cavanaugh a long time, and he’s a lot of things. One thing he’s not is unprofessional.” And as Jennings was saying the words he was thinking about Cavanaugh spilling his guts to Robeson.

  “You don’t think roughing up Wolf was unprofessional?” Laura said.

  “Drop it, Laura.”

  But she couldn’t drop it. Her instincts told her not to trust Cavanaugh even a little bit, and she couldn’t fathom why Rick did. “That’s why you put him on me and Wolf, isn’t it? He figured it out. That shrewd son-of-a-bitch figured out who I was. Tell me something. Did he know my father?”

  Jennings did not reply.

  “He did, didn’t he? That’s how he knew who I was.”

  “I didn’t think he’d recognize you, but I underestimated him. Christ, you were fourteen when he last saw you.” Laura was fuming, wanting to speak but Jennings wasn’t through. “Hear me out, girl,” he said raising his voice. “He was wondering why Jack Higgins’s daughter was seen with our number one suspect.”

  “He’s an asshole, Rick.”

  “God damn it,” Jennings said. “If you’re going to work in this department you need to adjust your attitude.”

  Laura began pacing the floor in front of Jennings’s desk. “He’s a bully. He rearranges suspect’s faces.”

  Jennings gave Laura his hardest stare. “He’s staying on you and Wolf and it’s not negotiable.”

  “How well did he know my father, Rick?”

  “What’s that got to do with anything?”

  “It’s never been fully explained to me how my father got caught in the trap that killed him. I’d like to know.”

  “He was killed in the line of duty.”

  “Bullshit! I’ve heard all that before. He got between a suspect and a dead end and the suspect killed him with his bare hands. At least that’s the story I heard. But I’ve always been skeptical. My father was a fucking professional, the best cop this force has ever seen. How did that happen? I also heard that his partner let him down. Is that true?”

  “His partner was cleared of any wrongdoing.”

  “Of course he was. It’s called the blue wall of silence. I’m a member of the club now, remember? Who was his partner, Rick?”

  Jennings silence was answer enough.

  Laura’s voice was a mere whisper. “I thought so.”

  Chapter 65

  Wolf didn’t go home after his breakfast meeting with Laura. He wandered the streets, afraid to look too closely at anything, terrified that he might start seeing shit he didn’t want to see. He stopped at a book store, hung out and read Guitar Player Magazine for half an hour. Despite the madness of last night’s dream experience, his spirits seemed to be on the upswing. He supposed the sanity of real conversation with a real person was good for him. But he was cautious. The fits of depression were like hammer blows, striking when he least expected them and with sudden and devastating force. He’d just bared his soul to a woman he knew absolutely nothing about. He liked her a lot, but he didn’t know her.

  He left the bookstore at 1:45 and arrived at Hardwick’s office ten minutes later with time to spare. He was told by Jane, the congenial receptionist, that the doctor would be five or ten minutes late. He was ushered into a waiting room where he picked up a magazine and began to absently leaf through it.

  “I’m afraid Dr. Hardwick has been called away on an emergency, Mr. Wolf.”

  Wolf nearly jumped out of his seat. Jane had appeared like magic, hovering above him, her narrow, matronly visage frowning down at him. Wolf looked around the room. There were two doors to the waiting room and both were closed. He hadn’t heard a sound. It was as if the woman had materialized out of nowhere.

  “Where did you come from?”

  “Through that door there.” Jane pointed. “I believe I caught you napping.”

  Wolf didn’t think he’d been napping, but decided not to take issue over it. Jane shaped a bland smile.

  “What did you say?”

  “The doctor’s not going to be able to keep his appointment,” Jane said, the smile frozen on her face. “He sends his regrets and wants to know if Monday would be all right. Same time?”

  “Sure,” Wolf said standing. Actually he was major psyched. His weekend was free. He wouldn’t have to hear any more accusations until Monday.

  Chapter 66

  Laura scanned the alley behind Wolf’s apartment building. There wasn’t much to see. Dirty brick walls, fire escapes, soiled windows, barred doors. It occurred to her that alleys were lonely places, dingy ecosystems, the forgotten territories of modern cities. A trash dumpster squatted beneath Wolf’s fire escape landing like a hulking green monster. Nervous, she went over and checked behind it. There was nothing there, of course. Just the same, she didn’t like how its close proximity made her feel. You’re just spooked, girl, she told herself. You’re about to break into someone’s apartment. This is uncharted territory for you. Moving away from the dumpster she felt better almost immediately. Her gaze trailed up to the second floor and fixed on the window at the top of the landing. Everything looked surprisingly normal.

  Her heart still hadn’t settled down following her conversation with Rick Jennings. She’d learned something startling today, something she’d never bargained on when Rick had requested her presence here on this case. Her father’s death ten years ago was in some way connected to this present case. She didn’t know how yet, and she was nearly certain that Jennings didn’t have a clue, but Laura’s instincts told her that it was so, and she would get to the bottom of it, somehow, before it was over.

  And Cavanaugh, the very detective that was assigned to Wolf, the very same detective that had been involved in Wolf’s life for more than five years had been her father’s partner. Coincidence? She didn’t think so. She knew in her heart that he was connected in some way to her father’s death. She’d like to walk right up to the bastard and confront him with it, scream in his face and demand that he tell her about t
he night her father died. But no way could she let her emotions get in the way of her common sense. She needed a tactful way to do it. She’d think of something.

  She stood in the alley for a long time doing deep breathing exercises, listening and watching. Although there was the usual noise of the bustling city beyond, it was muted now, and the alley was quiet, insulated, like a secret chamber at the center of a vast, pumping heart.

  Not wishing to raise suspicions, she’d left her car in an abandoned lot several blocks from Wolf’s apartment building on Sparrow Street. She’d surveyed the front of the building first before walking around and entering the back alley.

  She went to the stairs, stopped on the first step gazing down. She saw the soiled footprints almost immediately, right where Wolf had said they’d be. She got down and inspected them thoroughly, each one individually, as if they were fossil imprints from some long forgotten race of humanoids, and she was the paleontologist responsible for deciphering their ambiguities. Their maker had not been wearing shoes and the feet were quite large, true, definitely not Wolf’s, but to Laura they certainly looked human. At least their shape was human. No animal she had ever seen, short of possibly a gorilla, had footprints this close to human. But there hadn’t been any gorilla sightings in Portland recently, had there? Laura refused to entertain the only other possibility that came to mind. It was crazy, unthinkable. Even so, she pulled her cell phone from the pocket of her coat and began snapping shots of the prints.

  At the top of the stairs she tested the window. It lifted easily. Evidently Wolf had not thought to lock it before going out. There was soil on the sill but no identifiable prints. She threw one leg into the bedroom, shifted her body weight and ducked under the sash and into the apartment. She stood very still as she inspected the room, wary, listening. “Danny?” she called out. “Are you here?” She had no idea what she’d do or say if he answered her.

  Satisfied that she was alone, Laura moved into the room. She saw that the sheets had been stripped from the bed and lay in a ball in the corner. She picked them up and inspected them. They were covered in soil, and streaked with what could only be blood. Wolf’s blood, her rational mind told her, even as she entertained other unpleasant possibilities. Before putting the sheets back down she snapped several shots of the blood. She thought of taking a sample, but then dismissed it. The evidence would not be admissible in a court of law. She was here illegally. But it was enough to get a warrant. When she left here she’d have to contact Jennings about that. Her heart sank at the thought of it.