BODY IN THE BOX a gripping crime thriller full of twists

by E. R. FALLON

  Tulia noticed him and said with a smile, “Hi, Dino. How are you?”

  “I’ve been better.”

  “So have I,” Tulia said with sad eyes.

  Dino figured it was too late to change his mind about visiting Terry. The nurse wheeled him into the room and left him at the side of Terry’s bed opposite Tulia.

  “When you want to come back down, just tell one of the people at the front desk,” the nurse said, gesturing toward the hallway. “And I’ll come get you.”

  “Thanks, uh, Ms. . . .”

  “Tracy,” the nurse offered.

  “Thanks, Tracy. Do you think I might be getting out of here tonight?”

  “Probably. But you’ll need someone to come pick you up, or you’ll need to call a cab.”

  Who could he call?

  When Tracy left, Dino wheeled closer to Tulia. “I bought you this.” He handed her the soda.

  “Thanks, Dino,” she said. She drank the soda quickly and then said, “I didn’t even realize how thirsty I was.”

  “Crying makes you thirsty,” he said.

  She looked at him curiously.

  “I know from experience. Has he woken up again since the last time?”

  Tulia looked at her hand over Terry’s still one and shook her head.

  “Jimmy was here for a while. My sister just came by and picked him up. He’s staying with her tonight.”

  “Terry’s going to get better.”

  “The doctors seem positive, but all I can do is pray.”

  Dino patted Tulia’s hand and Terry’s together. “You’re going to make it,” he said to his partner and best friend.

  After leaving Terry’s room, Dino looked at his phone, which he’d taken with him without Tracy’s knowledge. The battery was finally dead. He slowly wheeled over to the nurses’ station, and one of them looked up as he approached.

  “Is Tracy around?” He looked up at the desk.

  The nurse shook her head. “I can page her, if you want. Are you supposed to be on this floor?”

  Dino attempted a smile to win her over. “I’m visiting my friend on this floor. He was shot. We’re both police officers.” He didn’t want to get Tracy into trouble so he left out the part about her wheeling him upstairs. “Do you mind if I use your phone?”

  The nurse sighed and grabbed the telephone receiver from the base. She handed it to him over the desk. “Okay, but you can’t talk long. I’m going to have to dial the number for you.”

  Dino gave her the number.

  “Area code?”

  “It’s local.”

  She nodded.

  “It’s ringing. Thanks.”

  “Just let me know when you’re done,” the nurse said as she took a seat in front of a computer.

  Dino cleared his throat as the phone rang. After four rings, Rebecca picked up.

  “Hello?”

  “It’s me again, it’s Cooper.”

  “Hi. I didn’t recognize the number.”

  “I’m using the hospital phone.”

  “Your battery’s dead?” Sometimes she knew him too well.

  “Yeah.”

  “Is everything okay? How’s Terry?” She sounded worried.

  “Everything’s fine, Rebecca. Terry’s all right. That’s not why I’m calling you. Tulia’s still with him, and the police commissioner is going to visit him soon, so I figured it was a good time for me to make an exit. I don’t want me and my chair getting in the way.”

  “Do you need a ride, Cooper?”

  “Yeah. How did you know that?”

  He could hear her yawning on the other end.

  “I just knew.”

  “You’re psychic, right?”

  She chuckled a little. “No. It’s female intuition. Men don’t like asking for help.”

  “You’re right, we don’t. I respect female intuition.”

  “I’m sure you do, Dino.”

  He could imagine her smiling on the other end of the line.

  “I’ll tell you what, Rebecca.”

  “What?”

  “Let’s use some of that female intuition of yours to track down Lev’s parents. I want to prosecute them for leaving their son in the park two years ago. They didn’t just forget him. They left him on purpose.”

  “I do too. But Chris McKnight told me that with cases like this one, when suspects might be in a country where it’s all too easy for them to hide — well, you can send their posters to the local police stations, some of which don’t even have computers, especially in the remote villages. And you can plaster their faces and names online. But in cases like this, most of the time they’re never caught.”

  “Two whole years had gone by since they abandoned their ill son in the park, and as far as they knew they were in the clear, so why did they only leave recently?”

  “We won’t know until we ask them.”

  Dino could hear her breaking down, fighting back tears. Then she couldn’t hold them back any longer. Now was the moment he could support her.

  “I’m so sorry,” he said.

  She stopped crying. “For what?”

  “For what happened to Lev.”

  “Dino, it isn’t your fault.”

  “I know that. What I’m trying to say is, I know how you feel because I feel the same way.”

  For a moment, there was silence on the other end. Then she said, “Thanks. That was kind of you to say.”

  Dino could feel the nurse watching from where she sat in front of the computer and he knew he better get off the phone.

  “What time do you think you can come get me?” he asked Rebecca.

  “They’re really kicking you out. I’m the only person you know who has access to a car at the moment, aren’t I?”

  Dino laughed. “No. I want to see you. Your car is just a small bonus.”

  “I’m leaving my place as we speak. You know, maybe you can help me with the paperwork after all, now that you have a little free time on your hands. I had to bring it home because there’s so much of it.”

  He smiled at her wit. “Sure. If we work at your place, I’m all for it.”

  “My place?”

  “Yeah. Maybe that’ll get you to stick around after. I’m not the type to run out on a woman.”

  “Perfect. I’ll be stuck with you, and I’ll have to feed and bathe you, I’m sure.”

  “Hey, I’m not that injured!” Then he whispered, “I have to hang up now. The nurse needs her phone back. I think I’m trying her patience.”

  “Maybe she’s checking you out.”

  “I don’t think so. I’m wearing a blue and white nightie. At least they let me put my pants back on.”

  Rebecca laughed. “See you soon. Wait, where should I pick you up?”

  “Out front. I’m going to check out now. Then I’ll get them to wheel me outside.”

  “It’s cold. Wouldn’t you rather wait inside?”

  “Nah. I’m sick of the inside of this place. I could use the fresh air.”

  “Welcome back, Cooper.”

  Dino handed the phone back to the nurse and thanked her. She begrudgingly paged Tracy for him. Dino thought she probably knew Tracy hadn’t followed the rules, and he hoped Tracy wouldn’t be reprimanded because of doing him a favor.

  Tracy arrived and wheeled Dino into the elevator, back downstairs to the ER where he signed the discharge papers. They let him borrow a pair of scrubs because his own clothes had been soaked through with blood, both his and Terry’s. These they put in a plastic bag marked ‘Patient Belongings.’ They also gave him crutches.

  Tracy wheeled him out of the sliding doors, next to a bench just outside of the ER entrance so that the staff could keep an eye on him from inside. She told him she didn’t like the idea of leaving him out in the cold, but since he was so stubborn she wasn’t going to try to convince him otherwise. He thanked her.

  Tracy shrugged. “I’m just doing my job.”

  “I know you are, but doesn’t it feel g
ood to have somebody thank you? I’m a cop, as you know, and I’d sure like to have somebody thank me once in a while.”

  She nodded at him and seemed uncertain about her reply.

  “My second ex-wife was a nurse,” he said.

  “Your second ex-wife?”

  “Yep. But I’m not trying to hit on you. I’m in a serious relationship with someone.”

  Tracy smiled and shook her head. She went back inside, and when she was gone, Dino breathed in the evening air. It was cold and he shivered a little through the fabric of the hospital scrubs. He tried to tell the time by looking at his phone, but remembered that it was dead.

  He waited for the sirens of an incoming ambulance to stop and then he took a good look around him at the city he called home, the city where he was born and raised. It was a place he knew he could never love, for there was too much misery and pain.

  The bright lights of the tall office buildings looked like stars from this distance. A car backfired, and then a voice far away in the dark shouted to someone, “What did you expect?”

  Dino answered quietly to himself. “I just want one night where nothing bad happens.”

  Rebecca’s car pulled up in front of the emergency entrance. He waved at her. She left the engine running and stepped out. For once, her hair was not up.

  “Think that’ll fit?” she asked, gesturing to his wheelchair.

  “I’m not taking it.”

  “Are you sure? Can you walk?”

  “Yeah, with a little help,” he said with a grin.

  “I like your outfit, by the way. All right, let me wheel you over here, Doctor Cooper. Doctor Everhart has a full body checkup scheduled for you. Even doctors need to take care of themselves.”

  Dino played along. “Where are you going to perform my checkup?”

  “At my apartment,” she said. “Can you even, you know, with your foot injured?”

  “I don’t need my foot for that,” he said. He liked how she didn’t blush.

  Rebecca took control of the chair handles and wheeled him toward the passenger side. She opened the door, took his bag from his lap and put it in the back of the car along with his crutches. Then she helped him scoot onto the seat.

  He settled in the warm car comfortably. It felt good to be out of the cold. She started to close the door and Dino touched her arm. He gently pulled her toward him and stared into her eyes.

  “What are you doing?” she said with a laugh.

  “I wanted to see you up close.”

  “Is this close enough for you?”

  Dino shook his head and kissed her. “Nothing will ever be close enough for you and me.”

  Rebecca gently pushed him away. “Dino, I’m blocking the ambulance entrance.”

  “We better move, then. We wouldn’t want you to have to give yourself a ticket, officer.”

  Rebecca rolled her eyes.

  “I’m sorry I was wrong about Henry. Thanks for saving my life, by the way.”

  Rebecca smiled. “You’re welcome.”

  She got into the car and yawned.

  “Maybe this is that one night,” he whispered to himself as she drove away from the hospital. He looked out the window and saw a hospital staff member wheeling his chair back inside.

  “What was that you said just now?” she said.

  “Oh, nothing. I was just talking to myself.”

  “Don’t do that too much, or else I might have to take you back to the hospital.”

  He chuckled.

  Her phone beeped, and Dino knew she had been paged by the station.

  “I can wait in the car while you run inside,” he said.

  “No. With you and Terry out, it could take a while. I better drop you off at my apartment first.” She sighed.

  “Everything okay?” When she didn’t answer, he said, “Rebecca?”

  After a moment she said, “I keep thinking how I could have done things differently.”

  “With Terry?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I know what you mean. I keep thinking how I could’ve done things differently in that room.”

  They came to a silent agreement that it was what it was.

  A few minutes into the drive to Rebecca’s apartment, she started humming along to the radio, and the sounds made Dino feel drowsy.

  “Maybe Jake’s not dead, Rebecca,” he said.

  “Who?”

  “Jake Riley. Henry told me he let go of his hand in Times Square. But I bet that’s BS. Heck, even in those days, there were cops around that place.”

  “But what else could he be but dead? I mean, the kid disappears for, what, thirty years? And during all of that time, no one reports seeing him, and he doesn’t tell anybody who he is. If he’s not dead, then where is he?”

  “I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.”

  “Jesus, Cooper.” Rebecca turned to look at him and nearly missed a red light. She slammed down on the brake and the car jerked forward.

  “What’s wrong?” Dino asked, staring straight ahead, watching the traffic light.

  The light turned green and she moved the car forward.

  “You’re injured. Terry’s injured. Don’t you ever stop to rest?” she said after a while.

  “Never.”

  “I’m like that, too,” she admitted.

  “I know you are, that’s why we have the jobs that we do.”

  “I suppose you’re going to want to talk to Henry Riley again.”

  “You bet I am,” Dino said. “I’m going to find out what happened to his brother, even if it kills me.”

  “It almost did.”

  * * *

  They’d found Henry Riley’s bag, with the medical instruments he’d bought online, in a dumpster behind the Second Avenue House. The district attorney had charged Henry with the kidnapping and manslaughter of Lev Ilyin. The legal aspects of Jake Riley’s long-ago disappearance were more complicated.

  The DA had spoken to Henry Riley’s lawyer, and Henry had said he would plead guilty to the charges against him, including the attempted murders of Terry and Dino, to avoid a longer prison sentence. Once Henry’s leg had healed, he would be spending most of the rest of his life behind bars, which Dino thought was a small punishment.

  After the story of Lev Ilyin was made public, someone had set up a fund in his memory and thousands of dollars in donations had poured in from all across the country and the world, meaning that there was enough money to give Lev a proper burial and a marked resting place in a cemetery. After years of dealing with unhappy endings, these gestures of kindness had improved Dino’s view of the human race.

  A state victim’s assistance group that he was familiar with had agreed to carry out the funeral arrangements. Dino felt better knowing that young Lev’s body would finally be removed from the cold unit at the city morgue.

  A state forensics team had dug up half of the sparse, garbage-strewn beach that outlined Newark Bay where the stench of the oil refineries permeated the waterfront. In the late afternoon they’d uncovered a box close to the rocky part of the shoreline near where the barges were docked, just like Henry Riley, after their latest conversation, had promised Dino they’d find.

  The box contained a red baseball cap and a photograph of two young boys who looked like brothers. The older one was definitely the more serious of the two, and there was a distant quality in his green eyes. The younger boy had dimples and a carefree smile that was a bit too trusting.

  Divers from the police department would soon drag the bay, in the slight hope that they might find Jake’s remains nearby.

  That was unlikely. After all, it had been over thirty years since Jake’s brother Henry had taken him to the spot on the beach after coming home from the circus. He’d clubbed Jake in the head with a jagged rock he’d found in the sand. Henry had dragged Jake’s body out to the bay and released him into the water. Jake Riley was never seen again.

  The city was more dangerous now than it was in those quieter da
ys. But back then, it was easier to keep secrets, easier to hide. And, in the end, it was Jake who had led them to Lev, and Lev who had led them to Jake.

  * * *

  At the station, Dino sat at his desk, with his leg propped up on another chair. Terry was still in recovery and was doing better each day.

  An empty cup of Starbucks coffee rested on Dino’s desk. Dino glanced to his left and smiled. Rebecca was chewing on the end of her pen. It was one of the habits he found most endearing about her.

  Dino hobbled on one foot as he got up, pushed his chair in, and then gathered his coat.

  Rebecca turned around to look at him. “Where are you going?”

  “To visit my mother. I haven’t seen her in a long time. I haven’t been a very good son.”

  “Can you drive with your toe like that?”

  Dino shrugged. “I’ll manage.”

  “Are you sure? I can drive you.”

  “I don’t think you want to meet my mother just yet. She knows about us, and if she sees you she’s going to want to meet you. She’s not going to let you wait outside for me. She’s Italian. She’ll meet you, and the next thing you know, she’ll convince us to hurry to the altar.”

  Rebecca blushed. “You told your mother about me?”

  Dino smiled and waved goodbye.

  Dino hopped down the wide steps of the station on one foot. He walked with a slight limp, and always would. He refused to use a cane.

  It was nearing the springtime, and if he searched through the thick mass of buildings, and through the layers of steel, brick, and smog, he could see a portion of the sun that made the city seem a little less bleak.

  Car horns created a type of street song in the rush-hour traffic, and someone ran through a red light. But he kept looking forward and up, at the steeple of St. Ann’s that shone in the sunlight.

  THE END

  CHARACTER LIST

  Detective Rebecca Everhart is a tough and blunt detective with a family background in law enforcement. She loves the surprised look on a criminal’s face when such an attractive woman arrests him.

  Detective Terry Jackson is a hardworking by-the-book detective, and a family man, but lately his family life has been anything but normal. Just what is that big secret his wife is hiding from him? There’s also the conflict he has with his highbrow father, who never liked cops even though his son became one.