by W L Knightly
“It’s how we started talking. I mentioned that my cousin’s trial had been rigged. I had no idea the can of worms I’d open. I didn’t tell you because I was scared that he would come after me for blabbing.”
“But you didn’t bond with him at work like you said, did you?” Jo folded her arms across her middle. “You said that you had, but that was a lie?”
Tanner shook his head and pointed his cigarette at her. “No. I really worked with him. If anyone said I didn’t, then they are the liars.”
Jake figured he might as well deliver the bad news. “Your boss, Bob Sutter, who wanted me to tell you you’re fired by the way, says that you always worked alone.”
“Yeah, I know. I talked to him. I’ve already got another job anyway. But about working alone, usually I do, but that job, no. Sutter did hire him. He probably just did it for cash. He usually does that. He doesn’t like to pay taxes, especially on someone he doesn’t expect will stick around. He just didn’t want to get caught. I should turn that fucker in to the FBI.”
“What else do you remember?” Jake pegged him with a hard stare.
Tanner tapped his foot nervously. “Fuck, I don’t know.”
“What did he think about your cousin’s incident? Did he sympathize with you?”
Tanner took a deep inhale and blew out the smoke. “I guess you could say that. He said he hated the system. Said all of that crap I told you about, and that was that.” He paused as if he’d had another thought. “Oh,” his eyes lit up, “I remember something. He was married and had a kid. I do remember that. He showed me the photograph of his wife.” Tanner turned red and chuckled.
“What’s so funny about that?” Jo looked at Jake like she couldn’t see the humor in any of it.
He shook his head. “I said she had a nice rack, and he didn’t like that much. He said she was dead.” Tanner held his arms out. “How was I to know?”
Jake was surprised the Hangman didn’t string Tanner up from the nearest two-by-four for disrespecting his wife. “And you said there was a kid. Did he talk about them like either were around?” Jake had a growing idea of who it might be, but he needed more to jog his memory.
“Come to think of it, no. He didn’t really talk about them like they were around. I guess I just assumed the kid was.”
“Boy or girl?” asked Jo.
“A little girl. She had red hair like her mother.”
Jake was growing more desperate because he knew that the man he remembered had a little girl too. “I need you to think, Tanner.” The desperation in his voice got Jo’s attention.
“Do you remember something?” she asked Jake.
He closed his eyes to think on it a moment. “I’m not sure, but I might know of a case where a woman was killed, along with her child. It was a burglary gone bad, I think. I’d have to go and look at the casefiles to be sure, but it’s worth a look.”
“You should go back and muscle that old boss of mine,” said Tanner. Then he took another drag. “Bob Sutter deserves everything he gets for calling me a liar.”
Jake was ready to go back to the office and look for the case he had in mind. He could barely remember, but there was something nagging him about it. “If you think of anything else, you call us. And I wouldn’t run off again. We’ll only find you again.”
“Nah, I’m staying out here. My cousin has a good setup, and she said I’m welcome to stay and help her pay the rent. Her old roommate moved out. Lucky me, I guess. It’s about time something goes right for me for a change.”
“Good luck, man.” Jake hoped the guy wouldn’t need it.
Chapter 16
Jake
They had no sooner buckled their seatbelts when Jo said, “That went better than I thought it would.”
“Yeah, I was prepared for a chase. I’m glad I didn’t have to run.”
Jo laughed as she started the car. “You and me both. I had a feeling Sutter lied. He was protecting himself. I couldn’t help but think that the Hangman is a hypocrite. He takes cash under the table to beat what he considers and unjust system. It doesn’t seem right.”
“That’s how most people are. They never consider what they are doing wrong; just others. If he cared about how he got paid, he would be too conscientious to be a murderer.”
“True. I don’t know why I expected better from him.” She backed out of the driveway.
Jake sighed. “Keep your head up. Justice finds everyone.”
Jo glanced his way. “The Hangman said that in the letter, didn’t he?”
“Yes, but I think I said it first.” He just couldn’t remember the man’s name who he’d said it to.
“What do you mean, you said it?” Jo came to a stop and glanced at him again before turning onto the main road. “Did you remember something?”
“Yeah, I did. I’m not sure, and I can’t remember the man’s name, but what Tanner said about the dead wife and girl sounds too familiar. I’m thinking about a case from a couple of years ago.” He closed his eyes, but he couldn’t quite see the man’s face or remember his name. All he remembered was the man had a couple of inches on him. “There was a man who lost his wife and young daughter. It was around the same time my grandmother passed away. I was out of it for the most part, but I remember feeling horrible for the guy.”
“What happened?”
“It was a burglary gone bad.”
“And you can’t remember the man’s name?”
Jake shrugged. “No, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find. He knew I’d find it too.”
“So, you know who he is, just not who he is?” Jo gave him a sideward look. “That’s almost confusing.”
“Pretty much. Now, all we have to do is find him. There has to be a casefile that I haven’t seen. One that will jog my memory.”
“And you’re sure it’s the man?”
“No, but I want to say that’s who I said it to. And he had lost his family.”
She nodded. “That’s enough to drive any man to do something foolish.”
Jake sighed. “You certainly wouldn’t think he had anything more to lose.” He knew the man had to have grown desperate. “The man I remember was so normal, so beaten down, and broken. I want to say he was a doctor or in the medical field.”
“I don’t understand how you can’t remember this. No offense, but two years ago? I can remember every arrest I’ve made in the past two years if I think about it.”
Jake huffed. “I know. It seems it was a high-profile case too, but—Fuck, I think I blocked it out.”
“Come on, think, Jake. You have to remember.” The desperation in her voice rattled his nerves.
“I’m trying. Do you know what the problem is? I’ve tried to shut this shit out of my head. It’s the only goddamned way I can deal with what I’ve seen.” His tone had grown so harsh that Jo winced.
He never wanted her to hear that side of him. “I’m sorry,” he said, feeling small. “I’m just as frustrated as you are about this case and wish it was easy. I’m trying to remember the name without remembering what happened.”
Jo came to the end of the road and stopped. “I know you don’t want to remember what happened, Jake. I completely understand how it had to have affected you and everyone involved, but if you’d let it in a minute, long enough to remember the names, maybe we could find this asshole and be done with it for good.”
“Don’t you think I want to?” He could feel the name on the tip of his tongue. “I need to talk to the chief. He might have heard of it. He came on just after, I think. It was still in the media.”
“You want to go back to his house? No way. I’m going to the office, and you can call him from there. And he wasn’t even chief at the time of the case, was he?”
Jake stared at the dashboard. “No. But he probably heard about it. They let the suspect walk in the case. He was a young, rich punk.” He closed his eyes, trying harder. “They had tried to pin it on the father at first. His alibi was airtight.”
; “Do you remember his alibi?”
“No.” There were only small windows of memories like still photographs in his mind.
“Maybe Dr. Meadows could help jog your memory?”
Jake was desperate but not that desperate. “Let me think! The father came home and found his wife had been brutalized. She was in their bedroom lying on the bed. The daughter was beside her. The blade had gone in one side of her and out the other. It belonged to the father, who bought it for hunting.”
Jo covered her mouth. “Jesus. That poor baby.”
“The mom and her daughter were believed to have come home from the movies and walked in on the man who we suspected had come to steal weapons. They were never recovered. Only the knife. That was left behind, but there weren’t any prints on it. None but the father’s, who ended up having his alibi. I found the real murderer. And then Mathews let him go free without even a slap on the wrist. He said there wasn’t enough evidence.”
“We have to look into the files again. Or pull more. If we can find that case, then we’ll know for sure. I didn’t see anything in the cases I’ve looked at.”
“I haven’t either. But there were still some of Mathews’s that we didn’t look into.”
“Should we go by his office and see if there are any others we need?”
“Yeah, I’d say that’s a good idea.” Jake eased back in his seat and was glad that she was the one driving. Remembering the case had him shaken, and as he told it, he tried to sound removed from it like he hadn’t experienced it all firsthand.
Jo sat quietly beside him, and by the time they got back to the station parking lot just across from the new courthouse, it was well past lunchtime. “Let’s get the files and go by the house.”
“Sure. You need something from there?”
“No, I just thought we could use a change of scenery, and I do have a few of the cold case files I left there. Maybe one is what we’re looking for.”
Jake nodded. With any luck, he’d crash out on her couch again and not be haunted by the ghosts of his past. Although with his luck, his perfect sleep had probably been a fluke. “I think I will call the chief when we get there.”
He had a feeling the reason she didn’t want to stop off at his place was so the chief couldn’t mention whatever it was he’d been talking about before. Jake knew that she had been defensive about her father and wondered if she really had been given the job because of him. While he wanted to pry, he knew she’d tell him everything in her own time.
They walked into the courthouse and went down the hall to where Judge Mathews’s office was being cleaned out. Linda was there as usual, behind her desk and on the phone. Her eyes lit up when she saw Jake. “Hey,” she said, giving them both a tired look. “What can I do for you two?”
“We’re here to get a few more case records,” said Jo.
“I thought you might be back,” she said. “I knew you had been asking for the past couple of years, so I went a couple past that. They are all in that box.” She pointed across the room. “As for the years before that, I’ve already sent them into the archives, but you can get with the records clerk and find anything you want.”
“When we’re done with these, do you want us to send them over there too?” Jake asked. “Or do you want them?”
“I’m not going to be around. Tomorrow is the last day I’m dealing with any of this stuff. I’m selling my house and getting the hell out of this city. Too many bad memories.”
Jake wondered how many of them were connected to the judge’s crimes. Did she fear for her life too? Had she known about the things he’d done or been kept in the dark? Jake respected her too much to ask. Instead, he gave her his own sympathetic look. “I don’t blame you, and I’m sorry things turned out this way.”
“My son lives in Colorado. Him and his wife asked if I’d come stay with them. They are expecting twins. I’m a little rusty on the home front, but I think if I can do this, I can manage.”
“Congratulations,” said Jo. “Babies will be a lot more fun.”
“And a lot more work,” Linda said with a laugh. “You two take care, and do me a favor, will you?”
“Sure,” said Jake, picking up the heavy box.
“Find that Hangman and rip him to pieces.” The tear in Linda’s eye slipped down her cheek, and she excused herself into the judge’s old chambers.
Jo and Jake went out to the lot and found Jo’s car. “It’s a shame. She’s out of work just like that.”
“She was probably retiring soon, anyway. And I’m sure she’ll get her full package.”
“Yeah, but it’s not about that. It’s about the Hangman’s actions rippling out to fuck everyone involved.”
Jake nearly brought up his own retirement plan but decided to leave it be as they reached the car. “Can we make a detour out to Speed’s?”
“Nope,” she said. “My house, remember?”
He knew better than to argue.
They arrived at the house after picking up pizza, and even though they each ate a slice in the car like two starving pigs, they both stood at the kitchen counter eating another one. “This hit the spot.”
“When was the last time you had pizza?”
“A couple of years.” He shrugged. “They don’t have it at Speed’s, and I think the closest thing I’ve had was your frozen lasagna.”
“Which you loved.” She shrugged as if to say I told you so.
Jake walked to the living room to where he’d dropped the box of casefiles he’d gotten from Mathews’s office. “There has to be a name in one of these that will jog my memory.”
Jo walked over and joined him, picking up a stack of files from a basket near her wall of evidence. “I’ll go through these and see if any of them match your crime.”
Jake didn’t respond. His mind had wandered back to the scene of the crime two years ago. He’d walked into the house and down the hall to where the woman lay sprawled across the bed, stabbed multiple times. Jake had figure he’d used whatever weapon he’d had in his hands at the time, which happened to be the knife he was stealing.
“Jake?” He came to as Jo waved her hand in front of his face. “Hey, stay with me.”
“I’m here, sorry. I guess I’m still trying to remember.”
“That’s not what I meant.” She reached over and put her hand on his arm. “Stay the night. I don’t want to be alone.”
Jake knew the truth was that she didn’t want him to be alone, and while he wanted to refuse her, he wouldn’t. He was much better off with her around. “Okay.”
She settled back and removed her hand, seemingly satisfied with his response.
Chapter 17
Chief O’Connor
Patrick O’Connor heard the sound of his phone ringing from his pocket but waited until he got in his car and was on the road to respond. The only reason was because he hadn’t given up on trying to reach him and because he didn’t need him calling him during his meeting with Michael Young and pissing the man off.
“Dammit Jake, it’s a little late. This had better be good.”
“I’ve been calling you for hours now,” said the detective. “You could have eased my mind by picking up. I thought you were hanging by your neck somewhere.”
“Is that all you called for? If so, I can’t talk. I appreciate you being worried, but I’m fine. Unless there’s a new break or you caught that SOB, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” He slowed the car and pulled into the lot at the Rockford Hotel.
“I just had a question, but it can wait. But the next time you don’t answer when I call, I’m going to show up on your doorstep in a bad mood.”
O’Connor wasn’t bothered by the man’s threats. He had bigger fish to fry. “You show up on my doorstep again, and I’m going to be in a bad mood.” The chief didn’t like that his last visit had turned into a plot to get him to talk. Even though he’d been drunk, he’d had the sense not to tell him anything. At least he thought.
“Have a good night,
Chief. I’ll talk to you in the morning.” Jake hung up on his end, and O’Connor tossed his phone into the seat beside him. He was going to go to the bar and wait on his meeting. He was still upset that he’d let the detectives see him in such a state of drunkenness, but he’d sobered up since and was ready to be on his A-game.
He parked and then gathered his phone and wallet before he walked into the Rockford and made his way to the bar, which he’d only been to on one other occasion. In all the years he’d been married to Callie, he’d never strayed until the one night two years ago. He’d been tempted by one of the first female officers he’d met from the neighboring county. She’d offered to show him around, being from the area, and they had enjoyed lunch together a few times at a diner on the edge of town.
He thought of Carla and how she reminded him of a girl he’d been with in college, though she was a good ten years younger. He had gone there to wait until their rendezvous upstairs, and by the time she arrived, walking through the front door like she owned the place, he was questioning what he was doing there like he was now.
He walked over to the same stool he had sat on that night and waited for the clock to tick down the minutes until midnight. He ordered a beer, and when the bartender poured it, he gave the chief a sideward look.
Yeah, you know me, he wanted to say. He took the beer and turned it up, immediately second-guessing not ordering a vodka.
He glanced at his phone and wondered what Jake had wanted. He had been too short with the man and knew if he wasn’t careful, he’d lose the detective to his early retirement. He’d tried all he could to save Jake. He knew that things weren’t good in his head, and while he couldn’t blame the man for wanting to quit, he was just surprised he would. It didn’t seem like his nature.
Hearing a few people at the front entrance, he turned his head and caught Clay, whose laugh he thought he’d recognized, waiting for the elevator. A young woman who looked like a pro was behind him, and O’Connor’s stomach turned, wondering what he was walking into. He had a feeling that something was up, and that if he wasn’t careful, he’d end up dead before the fucking Hangman had anything to do with it.