by M. Z. Kelly
“Do you know why?” She turned to me. “Why I wanted to spread Mom’s ashes here?”
“Because it’s beautiful?”
“Yes, but …” Her gaze drifted out to sea. “Mom and I came here once. It was to get away from my dad when I was little.”
“It must have been a wonderful time.”
She smiled, her eyes brightening. “Those were the best days of my life.” She looked back out at the ocean. “I think Mom thought the same thing.”
We walked on until we found a deserted bay north of the city to spread the ashes. I let Lindsay have the honors, but helped out with mom’s ashes at the end. We held hands, said a prayer, hugged and cried.
On the way back to the trolley, I asked Lindsay about Mom, since I never knew her. The only time I’d seen her alive was when she was in a vegetative state in a nursing home. “What was the thing you remember most about her?” We stopped and I turned, meeting her eyes. “The best thing.”
Lindsay’s eyes misted over. She took my hands. “She was…” Her words drifted off as the tears came harder. “Mom was the kindest person I ever knew. She loved me unconditionally and would do anything for me.”
I hugged Lindsay, knowing that our mother had also loved me. She’d let me go as a baby, knowing that she’d never be able to see me again. Mom had loved me so much that she’d given me up for adoption, probably knowing it was the only way to save my life.
After Lindsay was gone, Bernie and I walked back up the street. I glanced over at the bay where the ashes of my mother drifted in the afternoon sunlight. Both my parents had been the victims of violence, and my own life in many ways had been defined by that violence. What Lindsay had said about making a difference in the world came to mind. Sissy and her friends were out there somewhere and I knew I had to find them. I’d spent my life trying to make a difference, one life at a time. It was time for me to walk that path again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“The Rendering will begin tomorrow night,” the man in the blue hood says.
He terrifies Grace. Beneath the hood she can see his eyes. She knows that he’s sizing each of them up, maybe deciding what will happen to them. Grace remembers watching the news about some girls being kidnapped and held prisoner for years in a house. Could that be happening to her?
The man continues, “Tomorrow night you will each be given an opportunity. Your fate will be in your own hands.”
“What’s a rendering?” Maddie says. Grace can see the defiance in her eyes. She thinks the girl is very brave.
“It’s a process of choosing,” the second man says, the one who had come into Grace’s room. “It’s a contest.”
“A contest for what?” Maddie asks.
The man laughs, comes over and stands in front of Maddie. “You’ve got a lot of spirit.” He looks over at the other man. “She’s going to be special.” He reaches down, tries to touch Maddie’s cheek but she pulls back.
“These are the rules,” the other man says. “The Rendering will begin at midnight. You will each be given one hour before the pursuit begins. There are places to hide, but each of you must decide what is best for you. The girl who is found will be chosen for…” He hesitates, apparently choosing his words carefully. “…something very special.”
Grace and the other girls are taken back to their rooms and locked in. After her captors leave, she slides down against the door listening. Several minutes later she hears the sound of movement from somewhere in the house before a door closes.
After moving over to the wall where she’s talked to Sissy before, Grace calls out, “Are you there?”
She hears the soft cries before Sissy says, “I’m scared.”
“We’re all scared,” Grace says. She remembers how brave Sissy’s friend, Maddie, was in the presence of the men. She knows that she also will need to find some inner strength. “But we have to be brave.”
“What…what do you think they’re going to do to the girl…the one who’s caught?”
Grace sighs. She thinks she knows what will happen but she doesn’t even want to think about it. “I don’t know, Sissy. We just have to hope for the best.”
There’s more crying. After a long time, she hears Sissy saying, “I just want to go home to my mom.”
Grace touches the wall, wishing somehow Sissy could feel her presence. “I want you to think of me as your big sister, Sissy. Whatever happens tomorrow, I’ll be there to protect you. I promise.”
Several hours later the crying stops. Grace thinks Sissy might be asleep. She knows that she also needs to rest for whatever is to come. Her eyes close but sleep doesn’t come. She thinks about numbers, the odds of her being in this place and time.
Grace remembers reading somewhere there are odds that can determine the likelihood of certain events occurring, even life itself. The calculations sift through Grace’s mind. She sees a one followed by a string of hundreds of zeros representing the chain of events, the odds that any one individual’s ancestors lived long enough to reproduce, going back to the earliest beings, and ultimately resulting in her own birth. She knows that the odds of being alive are infinitely small and that life itself is a miracle.
After the numbers float away, Grace calculates the odds of another event. She knows that the odds of her surviving what lies ahead are very small. She also knows that what is to come will be both a numbers game and one of focused determination. Grace clears her mind, knowing that, despite the odds, she has to find a way to escape.
CHAPTER THIRTY
I called Buck after spending most of the day with Lindsay and learned nothing new was breaking on either homicide or the kidnappings. I decided to call it an early day and headed home to the Stardust.
When I entered the retirement home I saw that Morty was in the main plaza with Natalie and Mo. My friends had Bubba with them so I brought Bernie over. I let the two dogs out onto the adjacent enclosed patio before going back over to my friends.
“Morty gave me an acting lesson this afternoon,” Natalie told me. “I mentioned them blue hood guys to him and he knows ‘bout ‘em.”
“Who are they?” Mo demanded. She seemed even more distraught, short on patience.
“I don’t know them personally,” Morty said. He smiled, pulled out his cigar. He puffed out invisible smoke and patted his white hair into place. “Just heard a few rumors over the years.”
“What kind of rumors?” I asked.
“The group goes back a couple of decades, from what I know.” He tapped his cigar with a finger, depositing invisible ashes in the air. “According to what I heard they were involved in terrorizing young women. There was even talk about some of the girls disappearing.” He puffed again. “Haven’t heard much about them in the past few years until Natalie mentioned it.” He motioned to Natalie with his cigar. “By the way, your friend has great acting chops. I think she could even be a star.”
“Morty’s a great teacher,” Natalie gushed. She met Morty’s gray eyes. “Hey, maybe we should write a TV script together. Something about an older detective who works with a younger female partner, kicking butt and taking names.”
Morty grinned. “Why don’t you come up to my apartment later. We’ll work out the details.”
I was thinking Morty had ulterior motives as Mo said, “We gotta do something to break this case open, Kate. Me and baby sis are gonna go lean on that boy Sissy was seeing tomorrow. He’s gotta know something more.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Mo put her hands on her wide hips, leaned into me, and raised her voice. “You got any other bright ideas? Cause if you don’t the two of us are gonna go shake some trees until a guy wearing a blue hood falls out and I find my niece.”
Mo was obviously desperate but I didn’t want them acting on their own. “Okay, but let me go with you both.” I turned back to Morty. “Is there anything else you can tell me about the Blue Hoods?”
“Just that they supposedly played games with thei
r victims.”
“What kind of games?”
“Don’t know exactly. I’ve heard rumors about them maybe hunting the girls.”
“Lordy, no,” Mo said, shaking her beefy head. “I’m gonna have a breakdown just like my sister before this is all over.”
After Morty walked away and Mo went upstairs to lie down, I warned Natalie about her acting coach. “Morty’s a nice guy but I think his libido might still be on overdrive. I’d watch myself if I were you.”
“Not to worry. I know how to handle myself around older men.”
I’d seen her around older men, including an eighty year-old guy named Clyde she was married to at one time. I then remembered she was seeing the DA who’d worked the Derek Shaw homicide. “How are things going with Tom Kincaid?”
“We had dinner the other night and then went up to his place but we just faffed about. He didn’t even try to bump the uglies with me.” She sighed. “Seems like it’s been donkey years since I did the deed.” Her hazel eyes held on me. “Do you think maybe I’m losing me touch, Kate. I’m not getting any younger, you know.”
I laughed. “The last thing you’re losing is your touch. “You’re gorgeous and funny, and any guy who can’t see that is blind or gay.”
“I don’t think Tom’s gay.” She yawned. “I’m a little clapped out. Think I’ll rest for a bit before working on that script with Morty.”
“I’ll see you in the morning. We can all got see Josh Robbins first thing.”
***
As it turned out I wasn’t able to go with my friends to talk to Josh Robbins. Before turning in for the night I got a call from Buck telling me that the sex crimes detectives from the mainland were coming to the station first thing in the morning. I met up with Natalie and Mo the next morning and explained my predicament.
“Me and baby sis will take on Robbins ourselves, then,” Mo announced. “I’m gonna turn him upside down until I shake out what he knows about Sissy.”
“I’ll put some lumps on the dirty lizard,” Natalie added. “He’s gotta give up the goods for his own good.”
“You both need to be careful,” I said. “Robbins is just a kid but he looks like the type that could cause a lot of trouble. And I don’t want you two getting arrested for something you’ll later regret.”
“The only thing we’re gonna regret,” Mo said. “Is not doing everything we can to help Sissy and her friends.”
I huffed out a breath in frustration, knowing it was useless to argue with them. “Okay, just let me know what you find out.”
***
Bernie and I joined Buck and the rest of the taskforce in a conference room at the police station just after eight. The two sex crimes experts from the mainland were already there.
“I don’t have to tell you all that with the media coverage these crimes have been getting, the pressure on us is growing by the hour,” Lieutenant Sloan said. His baggy eyes were red rimmed, his tone even more subdued than yesterday. He motioned to the mainland sheriff’s detectives. “Mike Penny and Jess Heywood have gone over the video we found at Aster’s house, so I’ll let them give us all an update.”
After introductions Penny began the discussion. He was tall, gaunt, and bald. The detective was probably in his forties with a thin gray moustache.
“We’ve analyzed the DVD and it looks to be authentic. We think it was probably made several years ago by someone holding a video recorder, so there were at least three subjects involved in the attack. We’ve compared the men in the hoods with your two recent homicide victims and the physical characteristics of the attackers roughly match your victim’s sizes and builds, although it’s impossible to definitively say if they were the ones involved.”
His partner Jess Heywood took over. He was at least a decade younger than Penny and spoke in a crisp manner that made me think he might have been in the military.
“It’s a best-guess estimate at this point, but the victim looks to be in her late twenties, early thirties. The attack appears to be something orchestrated, rather than spontaneous. There’s nothing in the room to indicate where the woman was being held. As you know, each man took a turn with the girl before the strangulation occurred.
“Attacks, such as this one, are usually carried out by younger men, working together. The motivation is to terrorize the victim before the actual murder. That process forms the basis of the perpetrator’s signature. It’s likely these men have done similar assaults in the past. This could be one in a series, maybe going back months or even years.”
“We’re having our crime lab people analyze the video frame by frame,” Penny said. “If we get anything definitive we’ll let you know right away.”
Buck mentioned the hoods the men wore. “There have been rumors about a secret sex club or cult on the island for years. I don’t know if anyone with your unit has knowledge of such an organization or whether similar attacks have occurred elsewhere but it’s something worth checking out. The group supposedly calls themselves the Blue Hoods.”
“I talked to an older man who’s been on the island for years,” I added, thinking about what Morty had told me. “He’s also heard rumors about a secret sex club. From what he knows they supposedly got together and played some kind of games with women.”
“We’ll run it all past the other detectives and get back to you,” Penny said.
Before they left Sloan asked, “Just so I’m clear, if these types of attacks generally are done by younger men, wouldn’t that suggest that Aster and Brill weren’t involved?”
Heywood answered. “It’s a mitigating factor. Both attorneys were in their fifties, so even if the attack occurred sometime in the past five years, they’d both be outside the typical age range for these types of crimes. It would be atypical for them to have been involved, but, as you all know, in the real world when it comes to sex crimes there’s nothing normal or predictive about the perpetrators.”
After the sex crimes detectives left, Sloan turned to Buck and me. “I want you both to head over to the mainland today, try and rundown Derek Shaw’s mother. It might be that she’s been avoiding us because she knows something. We need to catch a break, so lean on her.”
“Anything on the security screener?” Sloan asked, turning to Spencer and Baxter.
“Nothing,” Baxter said. “We’re going to set up on Green’s apartment all day since nothing else is happening.”
“Let’s move on this,” Sloan said. “The clock is ticking and I’m afraid time’s running out for those girls.”
***
I was excited at the prospect of spending my day with Buck. I had visions of us taking the Catalina Express to the mainland, maybe bonding while on the trip. I’d even conjured up visions of some old movie I’d seen where a couple had met on a ferry and fallen in love. In my version of the movie, there were chocolates and strawberries and kisses between glasses of champagne.
I decided I was a total idiot. Here I was fantasizing like a school girl over someone I’d just met and didn’t even know if he was in a relationship.
Lieutenant Sloan then completely popped my fantasy bubble when he told us we could catch a ride with Penny and Heywood who’d come over to the island on a helicopter. He told me that Bernie could stay with him for the day if I wanted. I decided to take him up on the offer. Bernie had never been partial to helicopters and it looked like Sloan could use a best friend, even if it was only for a day.
We landed at Santa Monica airport and caught a ride with the two detectives to the local sheriff’s substation in Marina Del Rey, where we picked up an unmarked car. Our day had been all cop talk and transportation with nothing personal coming up.
We found Derek Shaw’s mother’s house on Franklin Avenue in Burbank. A teenage boy answered the door and told us that his mother was at work at the local post office. After a short drive we met with the woman’s supervisor who arranged for us to meet with Shaw in a private office.
Claudette Shaw was around forty-five and hea
vyset. Her eyes were a beautiful caramel color and her unblemished skin glowed, even under florescent lights. I imagined that Shaw’s mother had been stunning when she was younger. There was nothing stunning about her now, including her personality.
“What this about?” Shaw demanded, after introductions. “Why you coming here interrupting my day, letting my coworkers know the cops wanna talk to me?”
“I left several messages on your phone,” Buck said, placing his Stetson on a chair next to him. “You never returned my calls.”
“I don’t got nothing to say. What the hell this about, anyway?”
“It’s about your son, Derek.” Buck said, his voice softening. “First I want to say I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Sure you is.” She cocked her head, giving my partner a measured look. “You never knew Derek and could care less about him. So don’t come ‘round here acting like you’re all sorry and stuff.”
Buck seemed unfazed by her attack. “As you probably know, the girl who was charged in Derek’s murder, and two other girls, were kidnapped after her attorney was shot in the courthouse a few days ago.”
“I hope she’s dead. I don’t give a shit what happened to her.”
“That might be the case, but something’s come up during our investigation that we need to ask you about.”
Shaw crossed her arms, titled her head. “What’s that?”
“One of the girls had a friend who said that Derek was looking for girls, maybe as part of the sex trade business or for prostitution.”
“What? That’s a load of bullshit. Derek…”
“You need to level with us,” I said, raising my voice and deciding to do some of the leaning Sloan had wanted.
Her beautiful eyes focused on me like a pair of darts. “I am leveling with you. I don’t know nuthin ‘bout no sex trade. My son was a good boy…” Claudette Shaw finally showed some emotion, her eyes filling with tears. “I won’t have you making up shit, ruining his reputation.”