The Redeemed

by Jonas Saul

  “No, but when I do, we’ll find him. We owe Hirst that now.”

  Parkman looked down at Vicky’s body. “We owe her that, too.”

  Sarah started away from him, knowing he was right. Another dead cop, and Sarah was involved. There was no way the LAPD would believe she wasn’t involved somehow.

  She made it to their rental before the first siren wailed in the distance.

  Once inside the car, she fired it up and sped away, leaving Parkman to stand alone over Vicky’s dead body.

  Her goal of helping the police and redeeming herself with Parkman was quickly evaporating.

  Unless things turned around, there wouldn’t be enough sand in the world for Sarah to hide her head in.

  Chapter 15

  Mike drove two city blocks and pulled into a coffee shop’s parking lot. He turned around and pulled back out onto the road. After he went a block back the way he had come, he pulled over and waited in an area where the streetlights didn’t reach him.

  While waiting for the girl, if the area got too covered with emergency vehicles, he would have no choice but to leave. The front grill of the van was dented and marked with blood. He needed to discard the vehicle, but not before he dealt with his python.

  If there was a way to kill the girl with the broken foot tonight, he would do it.

  He grabbed a crucifix from the box from behind the passenger seat. While he waited, he took his knife and began to cut a name into the wood. Since he didn’t know her name, he carved “whore.”

  Up ahead, the same car from last night pulled onto Sunset Boulevard, going the other way. The driver was alone.

  The girl with the broken foot.

  He tossed the crucifix across the seat and, leaving his headlights off, got into position to follow.

  The car turned a corner up ahead. When it was out of sight, he flicked the lights on, then turned the same corner. Three blocks up, the vehicle angled into a tiered parking garage attached to a large shopping mall.

  He pulled over and waited.

  What is she doing?

  Half a minute later, her headlights flashed by as she hit the second level. Then again on the third.

  He realized she was driving to the top where she could wait, hidden from street view and watch the action from up there. In less than a minute she would hit the top of the parkade and exit her vehicle. When she looked down, she would recognize his van.

  Mike hit the gas as he saw her headlights flash on the last turn near the fifth level. His heart raced as he neared the entrance to the parking garage. Could he make it in time before she got out and looked down?

  Without checking to see if she was looking, he turned into the entrance of the parking garage which brought him under the protection of the levels above.

  He let out the breath he had been holding. On the first level there were only two vehicles at this hour. The garage had a soft orange glow from the night lights.

  Mike retrieved the gun from the glove box and checked to see if it was loaded.

  He released the brake and started toward the ramp.

  There was irony in ascending toward Heaven in order to kill the meddling woman and send her to Hell.

  Chapter 16

  Sarah reached the top of the parking garage, pulled forward into a spot with the lowest retaining wall so she could look over it, got out and left the car door open.

  She looked down over the mid-thigh high ledge. The shopping mall’s parking garage was too far away to see the building where Vicky had been hit.

  She would wait half an hour and then drive over to pick up Parkman. There would be questions, too many, and the answers would have to be made up, but they’d get through it. They always did. She had faith in Parkman’s plan.

  Nothing moved on the street below. It was nearing four in the morning. In a few hours the mall would crawl with cars. But she’d be long gone by then.

  She got back in the rental, rolled the window down, and turned the car off. A half hour wasn’t too long, but it was long enough for a power nap.

  The soft breeze coming through the window calmed her. A lot had happened in a short while. When she was done in Canada, she had made plans to meet Aaron in Santa Rosa where she was headed to recuperate and let her foot heal. The chance to help Parkman came up and she took it. But not before Aaron, in Toronto, had already bought his plane ticket for California.

  Hopefully the craziness in L.A. would be over soon so she could get home and have some much needed rest and quality time with Aaron. Until then, he would have to hang around with her parents.

  She closed her eyes and rested her head on the back of the seat. A siren in the distance beat rhythmically.

  “Ten minutes,” she whispered. “Maybe fifteen.”

  She drifted off with thoughts of Aaron on her mind and how crazy their relationship was. The only things keeping them apart were murderers, rapists and cannibals.

  Not your average relationship.

  Her lips twitched, attempting a smile as she fell into a light sleep.

  Chapter 17

  Parkman had told two different investigators what had happened, but now they wanted him to tell another man who would arrive at any minute.

  Officers entered the back of the building with probable cause. What would make the driver of the van try to run people over in his attempt to escape?

  Another detective was on the phone trying to ascertain who owned the building as Vicky’s body was loaded into the ambulance that would take her to her last stop before embalming.

  Parkman watched all this in a detached manner. He had been to countless crime scenes in his life and even caused a few himself.

  The hardest ones were when a cop was involved or killed. The looks on the faces of every officer here was a mix of sadness and anger.

  Detective David Hirst was called in. The only reason Parkman was here was because Detective Hirst had requested his help with the priest killings, but they were way off track with that now.

  All Parkman had was the description of a white van with a dented grill. It had been too dark, and Parkman was too busy jumping out of the way of the van to get the license plate.

  An unmarked cruiser pulled up. The lights turned off and the door opened.

  Detective Hirst.

  “Shit, here we go,” Parkman whispered.

  Hirst spotted Parkman and started toward him.

  A man came running out of the back door of the building, coughing and hacking. Another man followed the first, also coughing. Both men dropped to their knees, gasping for air.

  Parkman ran across the gravel lot to see what was going on. Hirst called out from behind him, but he kept going.

  Other officers raced over to help their fallen colleagues. One of the men on his knees got helped up. He coughed a couple of more times, then tried to speak.

  “Dead … another priest.”

  What?

  “Some kind of toxic gas …” the officer coughed. So hard this time, Parkman expected blood, but none came. “A cross.” The cop pointed at his throat. “Just like the other murders.”

  Someone grabbed Parkman’s arm and tried to spin him around.

  “What are you doing here?” Hirst asked. “Come on, Parkman. This is a crime scene and you’re supposed to be out of Los Angeles already.”

  As Parkman let Hirst drag him away, the officer stopped coughing long enough to say, “There’s a girl upstairs. She’s dead, too. It doesn’t—” he coughed into his hands— “look good.”

  Parkman tore his arm out of Hirst’s grasp and stepped closer to the crowd of cops.

  “The girl’s name is probably Evelyn Wynn,” Parkman said loud enough for everyone to hear. “The priest killer called her Eve. Her street name was Mercedes. The reason Vicky Chard was run over was because Vicky knew what the priest killer looked like.” Parkman wiped his mouth and stepped closer to Hirst. “Find the white van, you find the priest killer.”

  Chapter 18

  As he turned on
to the ramp that led to the fifth level of the parking garage, Mike flicked off the headlights. He placed the gun in his lap and maneuvered around the curved ramp, easing to the top slowly, so as not to alert the girl. The night sky came into view as the van leveled out, but the woman’s car was nowhere to be seen. It took him a second to realize he had gotten turned around as he ascended. The van now faced the shopping mall and not the road.

  He turned the vehicle around and started for the other side of the large parking floor. As he cleared a stairwell enclosure, the car came into view. Parked forward in a spot, aimed at the road, it was the only vehicle on the fifth level. The parking garage was higher than any other building within three city blocks. No witnesses would be able to see this high up.

  He stopped the van five feet behind her car. He slipped the gun into his left hand and eased the safety off. It would be terribly disappointing to just shoot her. What he had come up with was genius and he looked forward to it.

  With his left hand out the van’s window, ready to fire if she tried to run, he eased up to four feet behind her Chevy Cruz, blocking her ability to back out. He cut the engine and waited. He could see her head. She didn’t move. He had to be careful, play this right, or it wouldn’t work. She might have seen him when he was approaching and called the police and now she was just waiting to be rescued. She might have a gun and waited for him to exit the vehicle. Or she could simply be asleep, although he doubted that. Luck wasn’t that kind to him.

  Maybe he should just ram her vehicle from behind. With enough force he could push her car through the small cement railing and over the ledge. Had to be at least a fifty-foot drop to the street below.

  It was a woman who was tempted by the snake in the Garden of Eden and it would be a woman who would die by the snake here.

  He grabbed the roll of silver duct tape that had worked so well on Eve’s mouth and opened the van’s door quietly. Mike slipped out of the vehicle, the gun in one hand, the tape in the other. Before he went too far, he adjusted his ball cap lower on his head to cover his face.

  It wasn’t her he was worried about. The girl wouldn’t leave this parking garage alive. But there were hidden cameras everywhere. This parking garage may have a few, recording him right now. The van wouldn’t matter. He would leave the snake with the girl, and he had no further use of the van. The police would find it aflame before sunrise and all evidence linked to him, smoldering.

  With the gun ready, he stepped closer, his finger inside the trigger guard. When he stood beside her open window, he lowered the gun, his lips parting in a wide smile.

  Luck was being kind after all. She was asleep. What a gift. It couldn’t have been better.

  He tossed the duct tape inside her car. It bounced off the center console and came to rest on the passenger seat. The girl stirred in her sleep but didn’t fully wake.

  He took a close look at her face and confirmed it was the same girl from the crime scene last night.

  The best way to wake her up was to shoot her in a non-fatal manner. The only issue was the noise. But with no one around at this hour, it didn’t matter much.

  He switched the gun to his right hand, eased it inside the open window and aimed at the foot with the cast.

  Her face was serene, peaceful. She was probably getting some much needed sleep.

  “Sorry about this,” he whispered. “It’s just not your day.”

  He took careful aim and fired. A hole formed in the side of her black medical boot as she jerked awake.

  What was louder than the gun going off was the woman’s startled scream in his ear before he had a chance to pull the gun back out of the window.

  To silence her, he backhanded her in the mouth.

  Her head rocked back, smacked the headrest and righted again.

  Before she could turn the car on or try to get out, he pointed the gun at her face and said loud enough to be heard over her voice, “Stay right where you are. Don’t move.”

  She writhed in the front seat, but to her credit, she didn’t shout again. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot from being woken up in such a brutal fashion. She stared at him insanely, probably trying to figure out what was happening.

  “Grab the duct tape beside you,” he ordered.

  She continued to stare with those intense eyes, without moving for the tape.

  “Grab the duct tape or I’ll shoot you through the teeth.” He paused, then said one more time, “Do it now.”

  Chapter 19

  Parkman explained to Hirst how he knew Evelyn’s name and why he was there with Officer Chard. They were about to enter the building to view the bodies when a report echoed in the distance.

  “Did you hear that?” Parkman asked.

  “What?”

  “I thought I just heard a gun.” He raised his hand and pointed. “From that way.”

  “Seriously?”

  Parkman met Hirst’s eyes. “Yes. Seriously. And Sarah’s not far. She’s out there somewhere. She took the car to follow the white van.”

  “Okay. We’ve got a dozen officers too many on this scene. I’ll ask a couple units to cruise the area.”

  “Thanks,” Parkman said as he stepped through the door.

  Hirst didn’t follow him right away. Parkman heard him tell a couple of men to get in their cars and search the area. It impressed Parkman that Hirst could describe the rental without having to ask. He must’ve remembered it from the night before when they attended the body on Mulholland Drive.

  Once inside, Parkman wished he had a toothpick. The crime scene was being dealt with carefully because of the toxic gas. Until they isolated what kind of gas it was and how to neutralize it, no one was touching that room.

  But the girl’s body on the floor above was being processed. Parkman watched the crime scene experts do their thing as he grew more upset at how close they had come to stopping the priest killer.

  Hirst joined him. “Come on outside, Parkman. There’s nothing we can do for her now.”

  Parkman followed Hirst, for the first time wondering about Sarah and her safety. Should she be here in Los Angeles with a broken ankle? But negotiating her early exit from L.A. would be impossible. She would stay on until the perp was caught. It was his fault in the first place. What possessed him to think he could ask Sarah to come to southern California within days of almost being killed by a sadistic cannibal in Canada?

  He couldn’t blame Hirst. Doing him a favor should have involved only Parkman, but Hirst had asked for Sarah. Parkman selfishly thought he’d get a chance to work with Sarah and be close to her in L.A. Maybe they could bond again as the incident behind her parents’ home in Santa Rosa still bothered her. He needed her to see his side. He needed her to know that he forgave her and would probably do what she had done if the tables had been turned.

  The distant sky had lightened with the first sign of sunrise and another gorgeous day.

  Parkman walked past Hirst and headed for the road.

  “Where’re you going?”

  “Be right back.”

  At the road, he looked toward Sunset Boulevard, the way Sarah had gone with the car. Why wasn’t she back yet?

  Hirst stepped up beside him. “You okay?” When Parkman didn’t respond, he said, “Waiting for someone?”

  “Sarah said she would be here by now.” He met Hirst’s eyes. “Just getting worried for her.”

  “I heard what happened in Bing’s parking lot. Sorry about how my fellow officers treated her.”

  Parkman wiped his face, exhaustion and frustration setting in.

  Sarah, where are you?

  Hirst put a hand on his back. “Come on, Parkman. There’s nothing we can do standing around. Let’s examine some of the evidence. Maybe we’ll see something new. It’ll be good to keep busy until Sarah comes back to pick you up.”

  Parkman knew that keeping busy wouldn’t keep his mind off Sarah. It would only make him antsier while he waited.

  Chapter 20

  What had s
he done? How could she have fallen into such a deep sleep so fast to have not heard the van approach?

  Then she remembered the weapons Parkman had managed to get. The hammer lay under the car seat on her side. If only she could get to it.

  “The duct tape,” the man repeated.

  Keeping her eyes on him, she felt around the passenger seat until her fingers found the roll. She picked it up.