by W L Knightly
Jake was confused. “Would you rather I left you in the lake?” He gave her a narrowed look, and she rolled her eyes.
“No, I meant the carrying me home part. I was fine, but you kept insisting and apologizing. It was quite pathetic really. And I didn’t know what to say at the time.”
“But you’ve got plenty to say now?” He could easily slip back into his hard-ass role like when they first met if she kept it up. He often wondered if he should have just stayed in it. “Well, excuse me for being a gentleman. You are so confusing. I do something nice for you, and you get mad at me. You think I’m stomping on your choices. Well, all I was trying to do was be a nice guy. I figured you’d want to go home and get some rest, clean up or something.”
“Or something.” She threw her hands up in the air. “I wanted to work on the case. I wanted to spend my evening with you.” She gave him a look like he was the dumbest man on the planet.
Jake closed his eyes, feeling just like he was. Shit. She had really wanted to spend the fucking day with him, and instead, he shipped her back home and wasted a chance to relax and spend the day with her. So much for stepping back from the case. Those things did have a way of sucking you back in. What was worse, she was right to be angry because he hadn’t given her a choice. He’d insisted she go home and rest because he assumed what had happened was too rough on her.
Things were quiet and awkward for a moment, and then it got worse. “You totally underestimated me.” She let out a long breath. “Whatever, I’m over it.”
He didn’t believe that for a minute, but he’d play along. “You left your cell phone in my truck.”
“Good thing, or it would have been at the bottom of the lake. Did I tell you that when I was in the water, I think something brushed my arm?”
About a hundred times, he wanted to say.
“I’m pretty sure it was a snake. And then there was this slimy stuff.” She made a face. “Some kind of plant matter. Don’t ever let that happen again.” She looked up and pulled her lips in tightly as if she knew she had been rambling.
Jake let out a long breath. And there it was, the rest of her tirade. He supposed it could have been much worse. At least she was speaking to him. “Look, I’m sorry, okay? Do you even want to know what I found out about the case?”
“Sure,” she said, reaching for her cup of coffee. “Come on into my office and have a seat, Detective.” She stretched out her foot, and suddenly, his chair moved on the other side of the desk.
“Are you sure you’re not mad at me?” She had always referred to it as their office.
“I’m positive; I’m preparing for when this case is over, and I have the place to myself, and you’re not around to underestimate me.”
“Okay, I’m sorry,” he said with a harsh tone. “I was a miserable shit. Most people would tell you it’s nothing new.” He sat down and looked across at her.
She met his eyes but looked away. “And you know you totally broke the rules yesterday. Rules you put into place.”
“I had to talk about the case. I remembered the man’s name was Madden. Which you helped me remember, thank you very much.” He was going to give credit where credit was due, even if it was by accident. “But seriously, if it means that much to you, I’ll take you fishing again if you want.”
“Ha!” she belted. “Me get in another boat with you? I’m not sure that’s ever going to happen. Do you know how hard it was to get the smell of that water out of my hair? My first fishing trip might just be my last fishing trip.”
Before he could say anything else in his defense or that she sounded like a total girl, the door opened, and Chief Milner stood there with her face pale and red splotches around her eyes as if they’d been stained with tears. “I’m afraid I have bad news,” she said.
Jake got to his feet. “Are you okay? What is it?” He had a feeling he already knew.
“It’s Chief O’Connor. He was found in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town. I’m afraid he was the latest victim of the Hangman’s wrath.”
Jo’s face twisted in horror, and she covered her mouth as if she might cry.
“I just saw him yesterday,” said Jake. “Are they sure it’s him?” It was a stupid question, but he hoped there was some kind of mistake.
“There was a positive ID. He was found by the owner. Sam was called out to check on it. He’s in pretty bad shape himself. So, you better get down there. I’m holding off on telling the others. He said you’d appreciate that.”
“Yeah, you might want to call a meeting and tell them what’s going on. They are going to want to come down, but that will give me a little time that I need.”
She stepped away from the door with a nod. “I’ll handle it. You be sure you get this bastard. I don’t want any stone left unturned.”
She stepped out and disappeared down the hall. Jake turned toward Jo, who had a single tear in her eye. “Dammit. We were so busy fucking around, we let the Hangman get to him.”
Jake understood how she felt and couldn’t believe he’d taken a day to go fishing instead of staying on the hunt, but if he hadn’t, he might not have unlocked the mental block. “It’s not our fault. O’Connor didn’t want us hanging around him, and besides, we had no idea what he was mixed up in.” He walked around and pulled Jo into his arms. He closed his eyes and thought of how scared the chief had been. He’d known the killer was close. He’d spent his last hours fishing and doing God knows what at the Rockford. Jake should have kept a better eye on him, but he was too mixed up trying to figure out the case.
Jo took a big breath and stepped back away from him. He had never seen her so upset, and yet, she was trying to fight it. She took a couple more as if she were trying to stop herself from crying. “We have to get down there. Sam’s alone.” She wiped her tears, and Jake handed her a tissue from the colorful box on the desk.
“It’s okay to cry. I’m not going to think you’re a wilting flower if you do.” He didn’t think it would do her any good to hold it in. He had enough pent-up emotion for the two of them.
“No, but the others will know something is up. I don’t want anyone asking questions on the way out. Come on.” She put her hand on his arm. “Let’s go.”
He led the way out, and while he didn’t run, he walked with determination and purpose, knowing the scene was going to be ugly.
The ride over to the warehouse was awkward between them, and Jake knew that whatever he had built it up to be in his mind was just an illusion.
As they pulled up to the building, Sam was waiting outside. As Jo stepped out, Sam met her.
“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” he said when Jake joined them. Sam wasn’t wearing his usual joking smile. Instead, he was weary-eyed, and his hair was standing up like he’d raked his hand through it one too many times, perhaps to pull it out.
“Is it bad?” she asked.
“Not as bad as some of the others, but it’s the chief, so I guess it’s much worse.” Sam’s voice broke, and he already appeared to be red-faced from emotions.
“I’m so sorry you had to be the one to find him like this,” said Jo.
“Someone had to. I guess hanging around Dannie’s desk doesn’t always pay off. I might not have been around to take this call if I hadn’t been, but you know, I am kind of glad I was here for him, even though there isn’t a damn thing any of us can do for him now.”
“We’ll do all we can,” said Jake. He stepped toward the building, and Jo followed with Sam in the rear.
He jogged up next to Jake. “No disrespect, but what exactly are you two doing? Have you found anything? Are we any closer to finding this asshole than we were a week ago?”
“Yes,” said Jake. “We’re doing all we can.” He tried not to take offense from what was said, but it was hard not to. He tried to understand his friend was hurting.
Sam had a lost look in his eyes. “What would the Hangman want with the chief? He’s the best man I know.”
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��We all have our pasts, Sam. Sometimes, they come back to haunt us, I guess.” He didn’t want to go too into it with him. He was afraid that Sam might say something to Dannie, who would tell the entire unit.
“You’re saying the chief did something bad to deserve this?” His voice was tinged with anger. “That’s impossible.”
Jake knew he needed to choose his words carefully. “I’m saying the Hangman thought that, not me. And for the record, I don’t think the anyone deserves something like this.” He walked inside and found the building was not sectioned out in rooms like he expected. Not quite in the center of the room, there was a space where the light shined in from the sky, and there hung the chief. The rope he hung from looked a bit different than the others. He was also nearly too high to reach.
Sam shined his flashlight on him to help out but looked away.
“How are we going to get up there to get him down?” Jo looked around the room.
“It’s almost as if the asshole wanted it to be hard to do.” Sam cut off the light and put it back on his belt.
“We’ll manage,” said Jake, who was becoming too numb to the process. “Let’s get our photos first. I want to document everything.”
“Look at this,” said Jo, pointing down at where they stood. “We’re walking over the damned gameboard.” The light wasn’t good, but good enough to see the dark stain of blood. They all stepped back, and Sam pulled out his flashlight again.
“This is a change,” said Jo. “I guess there was no wall handy, so he used the next best thing.”
“S-honesty?” Sam looked down at the word, shining his beam of light on each letter.
“It’s dishonesty,” said Jo, pointing toward the floor. “See the other two blanks. The Hangman thinks the chief lied to him.”
“What the fuck is this?” asked Jake, looking down to the floor with his own light in his hand. “Another noose? There are two chairs also. This is new for the Hangman.”
He meant Madden, but he kept the name to himself. He looked up at the pulley system and then down at the short platform. Then he moved the light and shined it on the other chair.
“I’ve never seen him use anything like this,” Jake said. “There’s blood on that chair too. The drop pattern shows it dripped from above, so I don’t think it was from Chief. There would be some sort of direction showing. We’ll have to see if we have multiple samples.”
“If there was another victim with the chief, then where are they?” Jo shook her head like she didn’t understand. “Why not leave that body with his?”
“Maybe he’s not dead,” said Sam. “Maybe wanted to keep us guessing. Or just maybe, he wanted to show us he’s not finished?”
“Maybe he took the person with him for another time? We should search this place and make sure they aren’t here.”
“Do you think they could have gotten away?” Sam asked, shining his light across the room at the darkened corners where nothing but old boards and boxes were stacked.
Jake wondered if that was possible. He might already have the senator’s son and could be holding him hostage. “I’m pretty sure if someone is missing, we’ll find out soon enough. Until then, we’ll collect the blood and see what the evidence says. Get Kevin down here. I want him to have a jump on the others. I have Milner holding them off until I give word.”
“Sounds like the best course of action. You’re about to have a lot of angry cops to deal with. They’re all going to want justice, and I’m not sure how good that will work out for you or Jo.”
“What’s that mean?” asked Jo. “We’re doing all we can.”
Sam lifted his hands. “I know that. I’m just saying, they are liable to fuck something up trying to get answers.”
Jake shook his head. “I can handle them. I have in the past. And I’m not going to put up with anyone’s bullshit in the process.”
“I’m not either,” said Jo.
“I’ll go call. You two okay for now?” Sam had already begun walking away when he asked.
Jake waved him on. “We’ve got it, thanks.”
Jo watched him walk away, and then she kept her voice low. “So? What do you think the other noose means?”
“I think he has someone else. He’s probably holding them somewhere. Maybe he’ll lead us to them. I’m not sure.”
“What did the chief tell you? You got up and went fishing with the man, and from our experience, I know it gives you a lot of time to say things that you need to get off your chest.”
She really had no idea about that because he hadn’t been able to say the things he’d wanted to say to her. And now, he never would be able to after her fall into the water. She had come up changed, a baptism of reality that it would never be anything other than professionalism between them. He looked up at the chief and let out a breath. “He told me why the Hangman wanted him.”
“What did he do? You mean he was really involved with the Hangman?”
“He wasn’t sure why specifically, but just that he had done things. He had let things happen. He said getting his transfer here was one of the last dirty dealings he’d done. He’d come to get away from all the horrible shit he’d done back in New York.”
“So, do you think there is a New York connection?” She snapped another photograph of the room around them.
“I don’t know. But he wasn’t proud of his wrongdoings. He said the Hangman must have known about it.”
“There should be something else. Unless in this case, it was only personal.”
“He didn’t say. But I don’t think he knew exactly.” He didn’t know if he should mention the chief’s night at the Rockford. He might have gone there to have a fling, and if so, Jo didn’t need to know it. He didn’t want to taint his memory, and besides, he was no one to judge. He’d spent a night or two in the Rockford many years ago.
Jo snapped another photo and put her phone away. “I think that’s it. I’ll get those downloaded back at the office.”
Jake looked up at the chief and let out a long breath. He was a good man and friend, and now all he could do for him was make sure that he solved this case. “I’ll call Milner and tell her it’s okay to inform the others. Kevin will still have a good head start to do his job without them coming around. Let’s rope off this part of the floor. We don’t need anyone else stepping all over the evidence.” He looked at the bottom of his shoes and knew he’d never get the bloodstains out of his mind.
Chapter 29
Jake
Jake, Jo, and Sam searched the building as Kevin took over doing his investigation and collected evidence with Gary.
“There’s nothing else,” he said, turning off his flashlight.
“Wait,” said Jo. “Look.” She shined her light on something near the door. “That’s blood.”
“She’s right,” said Sam. “I’ll go and get something to flag it.” He ran over to where Gary and Kevin were collecting, and Kevin handed him a handful of flags.
“There’s more here.” She followed it out to the back of the building. “Look at that. Fresh tire tracks?”
He squinted to see. “Yeah, someone drove through the tall grass. It’s pressed down.”
“I’d bet that by this, he took the second man with him.”
“He parked around back in case someone passed by.” The Hangman wasn’t a fool. He knew the road was busy and that anyone could happen by, see a car, and stop. Including the owner, who was lucky he hadn’t been around when he dropped in to check on the place.
“The others are here,” said Sam, marking the blood drops. “I’m going to go warn them about the scene. They should know what they’re walking into.” He left to go out front, and Jake and Jo were left alone. “I still haven’t been able to find the casefile, and I looked for it all night.”
“What about the house where the woman and her daughter were killed?”
“I drove by there after the trial. The man had moved away.” He had thought about driving out to it but wasn’t sure he wo
uld remember exactly which house it was.
“Maybe he’s come back? If he’s making the crimes all about his family, then maybe that’s where he’s staying.”
“Like fuel to his fire?”
“I’ve seen stranger things. A man I pulled over for speeding had his wife’s ashes in the passenger seat. Not in an urn, either. Dumped out in a big pile. He claimed he was taking her out for their anniversary. He even had the seatbelt buckled.”
Jake gave her a sideward look.
“I know it’s weird, but my point is, grieving men do strange things. Do you remember where the house is?”
“I think, as long as it hasn’t changed any.”
“Then we should go.” Jo looked across the room.
“I’m not going to leave until the chief is cut down. I want to help.” Jake felt like he owed it to the man.
“I understand. It shouldn’t be long now. You need to find out when Kevin wants to do it.”
“The sooner, the better.” Jake looked across the room where the first officers on the scene were holding their hats over their hearts. One hurried out of the building, and the sound of retching echoed in the distance.
Jake walked over, and the rookie, Lang, walked up to him. “Why haven’t you caught this motherfucker? He’s gotten to the chief now. He was a good man, and he deserved better. He gave me a chance when no one would, and now look.” He pointed up to the man. “You need to stop this!” He broke down with tears, and Jake felt horrible for the young cop who probably hadn’t really lost anyone he respected as much as the chief.
Sam walked over and pulled Lang away. “Hey, come on, man. Let’s get some air.” He patted the man on the back and led him out.
Jake looked around the room to see if anyone else had anything to say. He was met with a few hopeless looks but nothing else. He turned to Kevin, who hadn’t stopped working, bagging evidence and giving Gary directions. “Are you almost done? I’d like to get the chief down from there.”