"So that's lover boy's name huh bitch!" Cassie's inner dialogue was full of venom and hatred surprising even her.
The big oak door opened a few seconds after the doorbell chimed. Ready with a full on verbal onslaught Cassie was surprised when Gerard opened the door.
"Ah, hey Gerard, Danielle home? I see her car. I thought we'd go to lunch and have a little girl time." Gerard looked confused. Danny hated Cassie, and he highly doubted she would have lunch with what she considered a venomous snake.
"Um, no Cass, she's not." Gerard looked at her without so much as even a smile.
"Oh, no biggie.I'll check with her later. When is she coming home?"
"She's in New York visiting a friend. I'll tell her you came by. She's not back for a couple days yet. I'd invite you in but I have got some things to do, OK Cass?”
Truth was he considered her a shrew and Dominick a milquetoast for marrying her. He no more wanted her company than he wanted a root canal. He started to close the door. Cassie stepped in before he could close it fully. Looking around, she was making sure Danny really wasn't in the house. She turned and looked Gerard straight in the eyes.
"I guess I have no choice but to be the bearer of bad news then Ger." She made her way to the black leather sofa and patted the cushion next to her, indicating he should sit close.
"Really Cassie I've got a lot to do! Please maybe later." he pleaded. He didn't want her in his business and was certainly not going to tell her that he and Danny were separating for a while.
"Oh hon, you’re going to want to make time for this. I've got something to show you! Are you sure Danielle is in New York, let alone by herself?” She was grinning at the thought of lowering the boom.
"Oh Jesus Christ Cass!Fine what is it? What's so damn sure fire hot that you have to make this kind of insinuation? I know you're upset over what happened, but you kind of deserved it don't you think? Calling her the "N" word? What did you think she'd do?" Gerard was gesturing and turning red.
"OK, I'm just going to say it Ger. Danielle is having an affair, and I've got proof right here." She held up her iPhone.
"Fuck you Cassie! Get out!" He grabbed her arm and forcefully pulled her out of the living room to the door.
"Wait Ger, wait!" She pulled away and started the video on the phone and shoved it into his face.
With the big oak door half open and holding onto the doorknob, he grabbed the phone from her hands and started watching the images. Cassie could see his facial expression change into something evil. She started to get the sick feeling that maybe this was not her best idea. Her stomach churning, she decided to leave.
"Keep the phone Ger. I'm going to go now, OK? Sorry to bring you this news" She muttered, trying to sound sweet while squeezing past him and out the door.
Gerard growled at her. His eyes were on fire. "Where the fuck is this place!" he barked loudly, his face contorting as if a demon had suddenly possessed him. Cassie, scared out of her mind, answered back.
"It's one of the apartments above the bookstore on James Street. You know, the one Dominick owns. I'm probably wrong. I'm sure it's innocent. You know, I'm sorry, you're right I'm just starting some shit to get back at her. Ger it'sokay really." she rambled.
"Shut the fuck up! You bitches are all alike!" He grabbed his keys from his pocket and pushed her out of the doorway, making her fall backwards on her ass. Slamming the oak door behind him, he ran to his Bentley in the circular drive slamming his fist on Danny's Camaro as he walked past it shouting obscenities. He left Cassie still sitting on the ground as he peeled off leaving tire tracks on the cement.
Agent Ramirez sat on the small brown sofa in the little apartment above the bookstore. His laptop was balanced on his knees. He had orders from Agent Johnson to keep following the money trail of the trafficking cartel he and Aiden were investigating. The apartment afforded the agent more privacy and quiet than the motel, and he had access to Danny's computers and passwords that allowed him to search several classified sites. He was surprised that she had all this access just to write a magazine. It was dawning on him there was definitely more to Danielle Labouleaux than met the eye. The fact that Agent Johnson seemed to be a bit overprotective of her and afforded her all this access when she was only a consultant slightly bothered him, but he figured he was safer not knowing all the details.
Sometimes ignorance is bliss, and he wasn't going to question his superior's motives. The white board Danny was using for her cold case work was now along the sidewall and had five pictures of half decayed or skeletal bodies. It was gruesome to look at, and it reminded him of his visit to a body farm for one of his forensic classes he took in college. People of all sorts who had donated their remains to science ended up there and were laid out on the ground in different conditions to discover the time line of decay and how the elements affected the progress of it. Time lapse photos were taken to document these necessary, albeit stomach turning, events.
Trying to remove those particular images from his head, Agent Ramirez turned his thoughts to his parents, Mr. Alex and Mrs. Juanita Ramirez. They were immigrants who had worked two and three jobs at a time to put their only son through college, denying themselves the luxuries others had taken for granted to secure a future for their son. Alejandro was the light of their lives. It showed by the shrine they had over the fireplace mantel in their home of his Army and college graduation pictures and his medals and various awards they liked to show off to anyone who happened to come by the house. He was deathly afraid of letting them down. He really needn't have worried. He could have committed the most cold-blooded murder, and they would have stood by him. He would often send money home only to find his parents were putting the money into a bank account with his name on it and not spending a dime. He tried to outsmart them and started paying for things behind their backs like the monthly mortgage payments, and one spring morning Alex Ramirez opened the door and found a new Malibu in the driveway complete with a bow. Often his mother would open the door to the home to find a food delivery service dropping off groceries and yellow roses for her, her favorite.
It was starting to get late. Alejandro could see the sun setting through the window, and his stomach was growling. He was finishing up his report to Lucius and was ready to send it. He had found a crucial link between Angel Faces Network and a money laundering scheme that consisted of several overseas banks. They also had one thread in common, Dr. Gerard Wolfe. The Knight Corporation, which his father had started years before his death, was turned into a multinational empire now headed by Dr. Wolfe, and it seemed to be funding various illegal activities and the Angel Faces Network. It may have even been possibly a front for drug smuggling. He was preparing another email to. This was explosive information, and He wondered if Stone already knew and that's why he had him investigate the good doctor in the first place. If so, he questioned what role Danielle played. He hoped Stone wasn't in over his head. It was hard to miss the palpable sexual tension between the two.
The door burst open with a loud crash, startling the agent so much he dropped his laptop as he stood up quickly.
"Where the fuck is she?" Gerard ran through the small apartment looking for Danny. "Answer me asshole! Where is she?"
"What the hell?" Alejandro yelled back as he scrambled around looking for his gun that he had taken off and put down somewhere.
"Where is my bitch of a fiancée you've been fucking?" Gerard's face was beet red while his eyes glared at Ramirez intensely.
"I don't know what you're talking about. How about we calm down? You're Gerard Wolfe, right?" Alejandro had recognized him from the pictures he found online. "It's OK buddy. Let's talk a minute here!"
"Fuck you!" Gerard caustically said as he continued his tour of the small apartment looking for signs of Danny.
"OK Dr. Listen I'm an FBI agent and I need you to calm down." He was now showing his shield to Gerard. "We're just going to talk OK? Let's just deal. Ms. Labouleaux isn't here and we're not having an affair or a
nything OK?" His voice was beginning to crack. He was still hoping to find his gun. Gerard began to toss the room, throwing the investigation papers all over the floor. Both he and Gerard caught the shiny glint of the agent's gun on the coffee table now that it was exposed, freed from the papers it was buried under. Both men made a dive for it. The table broke into pieces under the weight of the men as they struggled for control of the agent's firearm.
Cassie Hopkins heard the commotion in the hallway of the two men yelling at each other and the sounds of things breaking. She had been no more than 10 minutes behind Gerard but knew exactly where he was headed. She had never heard him cuss like that before. This was a Gerard she didn’t know and in that instant she knew her lust for revenge had taken a very serious wrong turn. There were four apartments on the floor and only one other rented, she banged on that apartment door hoping they would help. No one answered. She ran back down the small hall and stood in front of the doorway to Danny's apartment to see Dr. Wolfe cold cock Agent Ramirez in the back of the head with a gun, knocking the agent unconscious.
"Gerard!" She screamed. He dropped the unconscious agent on the floor and stared at Cassie for a moment still holding the blunt end of the weapon he had just used to bash the agent's skull.
"Oh God, Gerard what are you doing?" Cassie ran to Alejandro, knelt down and cradled his head.
"Did you kill him?" She asked looking up at Gerard who was now pointing the gun at her.
"Get up you stupid bitch! Move it!" Gerard pointing with the gun hand motioned for her to sit on the couch. Obediently she laid the agent's head down on the floor and sat in the same spot he was just sitting in moments before.
"G-Ger, it'sg-gonna be OK, I was w-wrong! Ok? You are r-right I-I'm just a jealous bitch. See, nothing g-going on here! She's n-not even here!"
"Shut the fuck up before I shoot you!" Gerard pointed the gun at her temple. Cassie felt a warm wetness running down between her legs.
"What the fuck am I going to do? I can't shoot him, too damned bloody!" Gerard was talking out loud to himself.
He finally took the time to look around. Picking up some of the papers from the floor he found the words ANGEL FACES NETWORK on some of the documentation on the floor. The whiteboard now caught his attention. The half decayed and skeletal faces were eerily familiar. The locations of where they were found also smacked him in the face hard. Manila, Mumbai, Dallas, Bangkok, Mexico City, all places he had been and all women he had known. His mind raced, and a manic feeling came over him. Danny wasn't having an affair. She had been investigating him and must have known of these killings. Didn't she say she had been in the FBI for two years doing desk work? That lying bitch! He surmised she had been investigating him all along. How could he have been so careless and stupid! Years spent covering his tracks and now to be exposed. He sat back in a chair across from the couch. The simpering cries of Cassandra Hopkins brought him back to reality.
Gerard crouched down over the agent. Picking up the unconscious agent's head, with one swift strong move he snapped the agent's neck until he heard a crack. The agent's head now dangled lifeless from his shoulders while a screaming Cassie had balled up into the far corner of the couch.
"Shut the hell up and stop screaming cunt!" Gerard smacked Cassie across the face hard with his backhand. She let out a squeal and continued her now quiet simpering. Gerard knew killing an agent was bad, but killing the wife of a friend and doctor was going to be a little harder. He needed help. Knowing he couldn't clean up this mess alone, he called the one person who owed him his life. Rob Grady was a mediocre doctor at best, and if it wasn't for Gerard he would have been just another junkie on the streets or in prison. He'd bailed Rob out of trouble multiple times, covering up his drug smuggling and rehabbing him several times. He stayed with him while he detoxed in private, away from the university and the eyes of Rob's parents. Now it was time for another payback. He tied Cassie's hands behind her back with the laptop cord and stuffed her mouth with a dishcloth he found by the sink in the kitchenette. Still holding the gun on her and sitting across from the brown couch, he called Rob on his cell phone and told him the address, giving him the excuse that he found one of the junkie prostitutes overdosing and needed help getting her to the clinic.
Rob arrived within fifteen minutes. He stood in the doorway in disbelief.
"What the hell is going on here? Where's the junkie?" he asked.
"Just get in here damn it!" Gerard now pointed the gun at Rob.
"What the fuck? What did you do? You shoot this guy?" Seeing he had been lied to as a ruse to get him to come, Rob was ready to bolt. Gerard shoved him down on the couch next to Cassie who pleaded with him with her eyes.
"Cassie?"
"Don't talk to her!" Gerard demanded. "Listen you are going to help me get rid of this mother fucker." He pointed to the dead agent. "What kind of doctor are you? Can't you see I didn't fucking shoot him? It’s too fucking messy to clean up!"
"OK Gerard, I'll help. Who is this guy anyway?"
"He's my bitch fiancée’s lover boy!"
"What about her? What are you going to do with her?" Rob petted Cassie on the head as if that would comfort her.
"Just let me deal with that. You just help me get both of them to that new outbuilding at the new clinic."
"It ain't finished yet Gerard."
"I know that! Why do you think I want to go there! How the fuck did you ever make it out of med school! Now just shut the fuck up and do as I say!"
Rob stayed silent. He had seen Gerard angry before, and this time he was also backed into a corner. Rob could tell. He knew not to argue and just get away from Gerard as soon as he could. He had never seen Gerard act this uncontrolled.
"Did you bring your Tahoe?" Gerard asked.
"Yeah.It's outside." Rob confirmed.
"Bring it around to the back entrance of the bookstore. There are back stairs that lead to it. We'll take them out that way. Take her with you now, and don't let her out of your sight. Here take this lamp cord and tie up her feet once you get her in the car. You got tape in there?”
"Uh, yeah I’ve got electrical tape.”
"Good, tape her mouth up and come back here. We'll get this fucker down the stairs." Gerard ripped the cord from the side table lamp and ushered Rob and Cassie out the door.
Rob held onto Cassie by the hair and arm pulling her to the door at the end of the hallway that led to the back steps. Once inside the Tahoe he tied up her legs and taped her mouth shut with the dishrag still in it. He tried to comfort her by promising to release her as soon as they got to the clinic. She just needed to be quiet and a good girl. He locked the doors and went back to the apartment. He knew better than to cross Gerard. He was the only one that had ever seen the cruelty of his handiwork before, helping him dispose of the girls who had threatened to squeal about what the network was really doing.
The two men carried the dead agent down the stairs and threw him next to a crying Cassie. The agent's eyes were wide open and staring at her with the long stare of the dead. Cassie closed her eyes for the rest of the way, knowing her fate was probably going to be the same as the agent next to her. She prayed, heavily hoping that God would not turn a deaf ear to a petty jealous woman. She thought of Dominick and realized how much time she had wasted in her shallowness to see how much he really did love her. She thought of Danielle and the danger she had now put her in. Her mind raced back to the fight at the restaurant and the overpowering need for revenge that overtook her. Now sorry for even instigating it in the first place, Cassie silently asked for forgiveness from everyone she had ever hurt. If the good Lord was willing to see her out of this situation, she was going to be a changed woman. She prayed that God would see her into heaven should she be killed, even though she felt she didn't deserve it.
Cassie heard the crunch of gravel under the tires stop. The back doors were flung open. Rob grabbed her by the ankles and dragged her out of the back, untying her legs so she could walk. Gerard shut the do
ors to the vehicle and led Rob across the gravel path that led to the unfinished maintenance building on the clinic's grounds. The basement itself had been mostly finished, and Gerard led them to the access door for which he had the only key. Dragging Cassie by the arms, her mouth still taped and stuffed with the dishrag, they led her down the stairs into a small room intended for supplies. It was empty now, no shelving or even a chair. Rob shoved her in the room and Gerard shut the door behind her. She could hear something being jammed up against the door that sounded heavy. There were no small windows or even a light fixture yet. She sat down on the cold cement floor and cried.
The two men now grabbed the agent, Rob carrying the head and shoulders and Gerard the feet.
"Damn he's heavy." said Rob.
"Just keep moving!" Gerard barked back. Going through the same entrance as before, he led Rob to another part of the basement, the incinerator room.
"Aw fuck Gerard, really? You're gonna burn him?"
"You got a better idea? I'd like to hear it!"
"Can't we just bury him?" Rob asked knowing it was going to fall on deaf ears.
"Just shut up and help me get some plastic down. We need to cut him up."
Rob found some painters plastic sheeting. Rolls of it were in another area of the basement where the painters had it stored. Gerard returned with two surgical saws, and the two men started their gruesome task.
Removing the agent's limbs and head, Gerard opened the incinerator doors. It would be wide enough for his torso, but stuffing the agent into it was hard work. The dead weight proved to be a small obstacle to overcome, but finally all of the body parts were in. Rob stepped back and mumbled a small prayer to himself for the agent. Someone had to do it. He knew there would be no closure for the agent's loved ones, if he had any. He had made it a habit every time he helped Gerard dispose of a body.
The Body Hunters Page 20