David walked to the back of the room. “Yeah, I’m getting it now.” He walked closer to an area behind the furnace and pushed aside a stack of boxes. “See this metal door in the wall? It’s for an old coal chute. Let me see if I can get it open.” He tugged on the metal handle, stumbling when it opened easily in his hand.
The odor wafting from the dark interior was undeniably that of death. Human or animal? That remained to be determined since there wasn’t enough light to see inside the opening. Maggie’s face scrunched up in revulsion as the smell diffused toward them through the opened door. The blackness beyond the opening was absolute, the odor palpable.
“I’ll go up for the flashlights and make sure the bartender stays put,” Maggie offered.
“All right. Bring the Vick’s too. Have those patrolmen find out if there’s anyone from the Medical Examiner’s office who hasn’t gone deer-hunting.”
59
When Lisa and Jeff came back Saturday, there was still a patrol car parked at the curb, and the security guard’s car sat next to the garage. Quickly deemed ‘robo-cop’ by TJ, the guard circled the grounds and house at regular intervals, effectively protecting the residents from the media.
TJ arrived next, her arms full of Chinese takeout. The rich, spicy odor of ginger and soy filled the room as they busied themselves getting out napkins and plates. The preparations were interrupted when Lisa got a call from Maggie. She put the phone on speaker.
Maggie told them about the suspect, Eddie Wysecki. “We haven’t found him yet, but he may be your killer. We searched his bar and found an old coal chute in the cellar. There were bodies of three women inside it. This should be a field day for the media and take you folks out of the spotlight.”
“Do you think they’ll find more bodies?” Lisa asked.
“They’re still looking. If he’s your killer, he’ll have more bodies stashed somewhere else. Three wouldn’t account for the stats on missing women.”
Lisa, disappointed, rubbed the back of her neck. “No, they wouldn’t.” She’d been hoping with this discovery, it would all be over. But a second killer?
“Do you know who any of them are?” Jeff asked.
“No. And identification could take some time.”
TJ asked, “Do they know if he’s the one who killed Danielle?”
“His car was seen in the area two nights running. Everything points to him, but we don’t have a motive.”
After they ended the call, TJ said, “We’re off the hook. Won’t matter if this Wysecki isn’t our guy. The cops will put it all on him whether they find more bodies or not.”
60
The security guard sat quietly in the back seat as Jeff drove to a late-night appointment, an extra safeguard insisted on by Lisa since there was still a squad stationed in front of the house. The address, on a street southwest of downtown Milwaukee, was in a neighborhood past its prime—if it ever had one. Now it was mostly Hispanic and transient, the houses shabby and ill-kept, a far cry from its beginnings as an oasis for Polish immigrants. Known to be a high crime area, the guard asked why the need to go there so late.
“We gotta go when we gotta go,” said TJ, offering no explanation. “Hope this dude shows.”
Jeff asked, “What’s his name?”
TJ turned on the reading light to get a look at the note Lisa had given her. “The guy is a Raoul Lopez. This says he’s a friend of the missing woman’s brother and is the only person Lisa could reach. Note says don’t expect much of this one.” She turned off the light. “Great. A wild goose chase in a crappy neighborhood. Way to ruin a Saturday night.”
Because of the late interview, TJ had been forced to tell Richard she already had plans with her sister. She hadn’t told him just what those plans were, but promised to meet him the next day. He hadn’t sounded upset with her, but she could tell he was getting suspicious.
At their destination, a dark street lined with aged, two-family homes, TJ and Jeff walked up to a worn out duplex, its siding painted a hideously brilliant shade of blue. They had to walk carefully to avoid the detritus scattered about: broken toys, discarded bottles and cans, fast food wrappers and bags. There were no lights on anywhere in the lower flat as they walked around the side of the house to the entrance of the upper where they’d seen a faint light coming from the front window.
There was no operable lighting on the stairs leading to the upper flat, their only light the small flashlight TJ carried. At the top of the stairs, TJ knocked on the door. No one answered. They hadn’t seen Raoul enter so he might already be inside. She spoke the man’s name loudly, knocked again, and tried the door. It wasn’t locked.
“Maybe we’d better get the guard,” said Jeff before TJ could open the door any further.
“Nah, it’s ok, nobody’s here.” But she handed him the flashlight and pulled out her gun as she walked through the door. “Or maybe not,” she whispered.
A dim light from a TV broke the darkness as the sound of a laugh track came from a small living room to the right of the kitchen where TJ and Jeff stood next to a yellow, Formica-topped table.
TJ called, “Hello, anyone home? We’re here to meet Raoul.”
No answer. They edged carefully into the living room. Still holding the gun, TJ reached over and turned on a lamp perched on a packing carton next to a ratty sofa. In its dim light they saw a small child, maybe four or five years old, curled up on the sofa, knees bent up to the chin, staring at them with fearful, dark eyes. TJ couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl. The kid wore blue jeans and an oversized sweatshirt; its dark hair covered most of his or her face.
Jeff squatted down until he was on eye level with the child. “What’s your name?”
The child didn’t answer, just stared up at them through dark, stringy hair, something gripped tightly under its arm, as if trying to keep it hidden from them.
“Can I see what you have?” Jeff asked softly. Clutching it with both hands, the child reluctantly pulled out a baby doll wearing a tattered pink dress.
He sat down next to her. “She’s real pretty. What’s her name?” The girl hugged the doll to her chest, silent.
TJ left the room to make sure the child was the only occupant of the apartment. The kitchen’s cupboards were empty and the refrigerator held a few cans of beer. The only edible thing TJ found was a package of elbow macaroni. An open garbage can was overflowing and the table in the middle of the room sat under a layer of grime and fast food wrappers. A look in the two small bedrooms revealed more squalor: the beds unmade, sheets gray and unwashed. No one else was in the apartment. Some moron had left the kid alone in this cesspool.
TJ walked back to the sofa where Jeff was offering the girl a granola bar. The child reached for the bar slowly, her eyes never leaving Jeff. She looked as if she feared he might snatch it away from her.
Jeff looked up at TJ while the girl ripped open the pitiful offering like it was a four-course meal. “We have to get her out of here. Someone left this poor kid alone with no food and the door unlocked, for God’s sake!” His face was stiff with anger.
“Seen worse in my time.”
“Call Lisa. She’ll know what to do about her.”
TJ sighed, her sympathy for the girl conflicting with her annoyance at having yet another distraction. “Go out and tell the guard what’s going on. Don’t want to have a problem if Raoul shows up. The bastard.” She sat next to the girl, wondering what to do next. She knew they couldn’t call Lisa. Lisa’s answer would have to follow procedure. And at midnight on a weekend before a holiday, TJ knew what would happen to the kid if they had to do things by the book.
Jeff came back in with Robo, aka Chad, in tow and asked, “What did Lisa say?”
TJ diverted the question. “Tell you about it later. We gotta get her out before Raoul shines around.”
The girl still wasn’t talking but had eaten the granola bar in record time. Her big eyes were on Jeff, silently asking for more food. He told her they had to leave
and they would like it if she would come with them. He promised they would get her something to eat, offering her his hand. The girl stayed put, burrowing further into the sofa.
TJ bent down to the girl’s level and whispered in her ear. Her eyes widened. She followed TJ, hand-in-hand, out to the car. Chad got behind the wheel. “I think I saw some activity down the block. We need to put some distance between us and this place.”
TJ and Jeff got in the back with the girl. The car moved quickly from the curb.
TJ leaned over to Chad, “Take us to 27th and National.”
On the corner of 27th was a brightly lit MacDonald’s. TJ saw Jeff grin as he figured out what TJ had whispered in the kid’s ear.
“Pull in the drive-through,” said TJ. “I’m cravin’ a Big Mac.”
They ordered food—Big Macs and sodas for the adults, and a cheeseburger, French fries and chocolate shake for the girl. TJ hoped the kid wouldn’t puke after eating all that greasy food. They drove away, the girl eager for the food TJ handed her. The fries went first. She’d eaten nearly half of it all before she fell asleep, the milkshake still clutched in her hands.
TJ looked down at her. “Wonder how Eric feels about kids?”
Eric, who’d just come in from Texas a few minutes earlier, was sitting at the island when they walked in carrying the sleeping child. He looked up from his coffee, eyebrows raised in question.
TJ looked at Eric. “It’s a girl.”
His expression giving away nothing, he got up and studied the girl in Jeff’s arms. “About five years old. Neglected, right?”
“Someone left her alone in an unlocked apartment with no food. We found her there when we went to what we thought was going to be our appointment. Someone must have given us a phony address.”
“Put her in your room, TJ. The sofa opens into a bed and the linens are in the chest. I’ll look her over and you can get her settled. Then we’ll talk.”
Eric had a bottle of brandy on the counter when they came back into the kitchen. His face was grim. “All right. I’m a doctor if the kid needs medical attention and we have plenty of room here. If we’re able to help out a neglected kid, that feels like good news compared to everything else that’s been going on.”
TJ smiled, relieved. “Right, taking care of a kid will be good for us.”
He looked doubtful, his eyes dark. “Have you talked to Lisa about this?”
“Nah. Jeff wanted to, but I knew what she’d say. The kid would have been put in a group home, maybe even in detention temporarily until the system could find a foster.”
He raised the bottle and poured himself a generous drink, offering it to TJ and Jeff when he’d finished. “Technically, you’re kidnappers.” He wiped his face with his hands. “And the rest of us are aiding and abetting.”
61
An hour later when Lisa came downstairs to make tea, Eric was sitting on the couch, staring into a crackling fire.
“You’re back.”
He acknowledged her presence with a weak smile.
She put water on to boil then sat next to him. “Eric, we’re all so sorry about Danielle. We feel like we’re the ones who put her in harm’s way.”
“If I’d been honest with her from the start, she’d still be alive.”
“Eric, no one could have foreseen this. No one is to blame but the person who did this to her. We can’t forget that.”
He turned to her. “You know he meant it to be you. I can’t keep you safe anymore.”
“Keeping us safe isn’t your responsibility. You brought us here to your home to protect us. There’s no certainty that Danielle’s murder had anything to do with us. Someone could have been after her—a stalker, maybe.”
He rubbed his eyes. “You’re right. Maybe the cops will get some answers for us.”
“You should try to get some sleep.”
“I don’t think that’s possible.”
62
The next morning, unhappy with how TJ and Jeff had handled the situation with the child, Lisa grudgingly acquiesced to let TJ take the problem to Conlin. She wasn’t sure he could smooth it over for them, but it made sense to ask for Conlin’s help since they’d found the girl in Milwaukee.
Lisa worried that Jeff was feeling too responsible for the child. She knew he was hoping that the Milwaukee Department of Health and Human Services would let him stay abreast of their progress in finding a good home for the girl even though she’d warned him that would be unlikely.
Eric announced, “I’m going to the Waukesha police department to be interviewed, then I’ll go to an office supply place today to pick up a couple whiteboards. We’ll be ready to categorize the women’s habits.”
Lisa poured pancake batter onto a large griddle. “Don’t you think that should wait until they find out more about Eddie Wysecki?”
“He ain’t our guy!” yelled TJ from across the room where she sat reading the Sunday paper. “If he was, there’d have been a lot more than three bodies in that cellar. He’s just a dumbass West Allis barkeep. Where’s he gonna stash all those bodies?”
Jeff pointed quietly to the girl, motioning for TJ to watch her language.
“Sure she’s heard worse,” TJ grumbled.
“I agree with TJ,” said Lisa. “I don’t think he’s our killer either. From what we’ve heard about him, I’m not sure he would have the wherewithal to ferret out abused women, especially such attractive ones.”
“You’re right. The women on our short list are all hot. Wouldn’t have had nothin’ to do with a loser like him,” TJ added.
The child turned out to be a needed distraction. And it seemed like Danielle’s murder was having the opposite effect Lisa thought it would; everyone was even more determined to finish what they’d started. She’d have to try again to find someone who knew the woman who had led them to Raoul’s apartment. That someone may know where the child belonged.
After they’d eaten, Eric said, “I know all of you were hoping to be back home for Thanksgiving, but I think we need to stay here.
The room went silent. “I’ll pick up a big turkey today. Lisa, you can give me a grocery list and I’ll bring home anything you need. And TJ, please invite your sister and her kids. They can stay the night if they want. I’m going to put on a second guard for the weekend. But you’d still have to warn you sister about the risks—even with the beefed up security, they’d have to stay inside.”
Lisa wasn’t sure about the wisdom of bringing anyone into their midst. With Tyler out of her life, and Paige not coming home, celebrating the holiday at Eric’s would be better than being alone. To hell with the fear.
63
TJ drove to Richard’s apartment early Sunday morning, hoping the visit would pacify him. As long as their names were kept out of the story of the Ventura woman’s murder, there would be no need to tell him anything—yet. She wanted her moment, the big moment when she could drop the evidence in his lap–evidence of a crime that both Richard and that prick Wilson refused to acknowledge.
When she arrived, she found him sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper. When he saw her he stood up, taking her in his arms. His kiss, warm and tentative, was almost questioning.
It had been too long since they’d been together. Feeling horny, TJ wanted to go to the bedroom—have hot sex immediately with the ulterior motive of delaying any unwanted discussion. Breaking from the kiss, he picked her up and carried her from the room.
Their lovemaking had an intensity brought on by weeks of abstinence. TJ gasped as he entered her, all the fervor they’d enjoyed in the past adding to the pleasure of the moment. His thrusts were slow, then urgent with built up passion. TJ felt her tension dissipate, wondering why it had been so long since they’d enjoyed each other like this—but her bliss was interrupted by the return of reality when she remembered her purpose in maintaining distance.
Hours later, wearing bathrobes and reading the paper, they decided to stay in for the night.
TJ f
elt Richard watching her. “What?”
“Nothing, just looking. How’s your sister doing?”
Here it comes. “She’s fine.”
“Are you going back there tomorrow night?”
TJ remembered that her cover story had been staying at Janeen’s. “Not sure yet.” Where is he going with this?
“I thought since you usually spend Thanksgiving with her, you might stay there this week.”
He’s fishing. She’d play it cool. “Yeah, probably. But we got invited to one of her friends for Thanksgiving. We won’t hafta cook. How about you, goin’ to your folks’ place?”
“No,I don’t think so. Thought I might go with you this year but since you’re going somewhere else, Justin and his wife invited me over—you too by the way—so I may do that.“
His parents lived in Chicago and Thanksgiving was one of the few times Richard went home to visit. TJ hadn’t met them. By an unspoken mutual agreement, meeting relatives was something they didn’t do, although Richard had met Janeen a few times.
Is he fishing again? She wasn’t sure, but his hint to go along with her was something new. “Too bad. Janeen always asks me to bring you, and I always tell her you’re going to Chicago.” She didn’t extend the invite for him to accompany them to the ‘friends’ house, hoping he’d drop the subject.
She said, “Let’s do something special next weekend. Let’s drive up to the Dells and go gambling in Black River Falls like we did last year.”
Aware that Richard knew a diversion when he heard one, TJ reminisced about how much she’d enjoyed that weekend in the Dells. Before long, he agreed to make the plans. It had been a long time since they’d gone anywhere together, and she was already picturing them in one of those great suites with a hot tub and a king-sized bed. Maybe things would get back to normal for them—she just needed to decide if that’s what she wanted.
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