Conviction: Book 3 of the Detective Ryan Series

by Andrew Hess

  That’s unusual. She never leaves a crime scene early. He wondered if he should follow her, but knew she was either going back to the station, or back to the house. Either way, it would be difficult to see what she was up to without drawing attention to himself. Instead, he waited for his next move to fall into his lap.

  After hours of watching the police and the fire department walk in and out of the flower shop, they decided to leave. Only one car was left on patrol. Of course their attention was on anything but the store, figuring there wouldn’t be anyone stupid enough to try anything with a squad car parked out front.

  Pulling his car around to the back parking lot, the Puppet Master got out and started looking around the back of other buildings in the strip of stores. Slipping between two buildings, he carefully made his way back to the florist, ensuring the two officers did not see him.

  Maneuvering his way inside the door, he ducked down to keep out of view of the windows. Crawling on his forearms, he made his way to the back, finding the remains of the office with ease. Getting to his feet, he scanned the room and found the filing cabinet filled with video tapes. He sorted through the pile with his leather gloved hands, ripping the labels off of each one until he found what he was looking for.

  He pulled the tape and placed it under his shirt. Knowing it would be impossible to exit through the front door with the two cops sitting in the car. He was lucky to blend in with the burnt building, the night sky, and the lack of street lighting. He doubted he could pull it off again. His only chance was a backdoor escape.

  Taking a deep breath, the Puppet Master readied himself to make a run for his car. He kept the keys in his hand in preparation. Another deep breath and his feet moved from a walk to a brisk jog. His body hit into the emergency bar, knocking the door open. There was no alarm, but that didn’t stop him from breaking into a sprint to his car. Once he was inside, he took a deep breath and glanced around, wondering if someone was watching. After noticing the shop’s back door closed behind him, he doubted anyone was coming after him.

  “Now to make sure no one ever sees this tape.”

  Driving back to the Mid-Hudson Bridge, the Puppet Master pulled his car to the side of the road and left it next to the bike path. Stepping over the barricade, he took in the beauty of the night with the bridge lights glowing up above him. It was calming to be up there alone. No cars, bikers, or runners to get in his way.

  A part of him wanted it to be over, to live a normal life again. He wanted to be free, free to be himself again. But the urge for revenge was too great. He needed to hurt Ali Ryan as much as she hurt him. It was her fault he was sent down the path of the unforgiven. To right the wrong of an injustice.

  He looked down at the tape. “It began with Ali Ryan, it will end with her too.” Smashing the tape across his knee, the plastic cracked in half. His fingers pulled at the tape, drawing as much of out from the spindles as possible before he tore it from both sides. Taking one piece in his hand, the Puppet Master threw it as if he were throwing a Hail Mary Pass in the final seconds of the “Big Game.” He saw it land in the distance. Wrapping the tape around the plastic, he set a piece on fire with his lighter and flung it like a Frisbee into the water.

  “Good luck, Ali. You’ll need it.”

  Chapter 18-Ali

  I entered the house carrying the box the lieutenant gave me. Amanda’s car was still out front, when I walked in. Normally, she would be in bed or getting ready for work by eight or nine in the morning. Instead, she was sitting on the couch watching T.V.

  “Morning,” I said as I walked past her.

  “Morning? That’s what you say after being out all night?”

  “Morning, sunshine?”

  “What the hell, Ali? You had us freaked out this morning.”

  “I was working the case. Someone set fire to the flower shop we were trying to get evidence from. I was hanging around to see if there was anything salvageable.”

  “You could’ve called or texted James to let us know you were okay.” She was beginning to sound more like our mother. We were both thankful she didn’t know about the last month or neither of us would hear the end of it.

  “I was too focused on what needed to be done. Besides, I told James last night where I was.”

  “Yeah and that you’d be back home in a bit.”

  “In my defense, I never specified what constituted a bit.”

  “You’re an ass,” Amanda said as she finally let a smile slip out. “So what are you doing home? Did James scare you away from the crime scene?”

  “No, he pulled his macho, territorial, B.S. stating it was in his county and under his jurisdiction. Then called and ratted me out to Esposito.”

  “Serves you right.”

  “Whose side are you on?”

  “His,” she joked while putting the box down on the ottoman.

  I took a pillow from the couch and smacked my sister in the face with it. She retaliated with a shot of her own. Before she knew it, we were in a full wrestling match with her stomach pinned to the seat cushion with me sitting on top of her.

  Taking my cuffs from my belt, I restrained my sister’s arms behind her back. “That should hold you.” Taking the pillows in hand, I repeatedly delivered blow after blow to the back of her head.

  “What the hell? Not fair, Ali.”

  “Life’s tough; get a helmet.” I smacked the back of her head one more time with the pillows for good measure.

  She struggled to get up, but found her restraints kept her from doing so. “Come on; let me up.”

  I felt around my pockets for the keys. I gave my sister the “oh shit” look. “I-I don’t know where it is.”

  “Cut the crap, Ali. I have work in less than two hours.” Pulling the keys from my pocket, I unlocked the cuffs and returned them to my belt. I could see her attention turn towards the box. “What’s in it?”

  “Homework,” I replied. “Lots and lots of homework.”

  “What kind? Maybe I can help you.”

  “Sorry sis, this one is all for me. I’ve got three cases worth evidence, statements, and interviews to go through. Hopefully something will help me with the investigations.”

  “Investigations? As in multiple investigations?”

  “James and I are working on finding out who dropped off the flowers and who went after the flower shop. But I’m also looking into Rodney’s case to see if I can help him.”

  Amanda jumped to her feet, throwing her arms around my neck, pulling me into a tight embrace. “Thank you, she whispered.

  “Don’t thank me yet. It’s going to take a lot to get the charges dropped. If not, we need to get him the best defense we can.”

  “So you believe his innocent?”

  “I think someone intentionally set him up to look like he did it. I’m going to make sure that someone gets what’s coming to them.” I sat down on the couch and pulled the box closer. I closed my eyes and started to rest.

  “Why don’t you sleep in the bedroom?” Amanda asked.

  “I don’t know. I just feel more secure out here.”

  “Suit yourself, but I’ll be leaving in a bit.”

  I could hear my sister talking for another minute or two before the exhaustion dragged my body into a deep sleep. It was the first time I slept without having a dream about Matthew or his death. In fact, it was the first time I slept without a single nightmare.

  I woke hours later, feeling more refreshed than I had in a long time. Maybe it was because I wasn’t feeling the loneliness of sleeping in a bed without feeling Matthew next to me. Taking a deep breath, I could smell James. It was as if he was right next to me, wrapping his arms around me. That’s when I realized I was wrapped in the blanket he slept in every night.

  Reaching down, I opened the box finding the files piled to the top. I knew it would take me all day just to read through each file and debated on enlisting James’ help. Matthew’s name was on the top file. It called out to me, begging to be read. I pic
ked it up, flipping the folder open, and skimmed through the report.

  I blinked back tears by the time I turned the page. It wasn’t just any file I was reading. The information in it was the statement I gave regarding what happened. It was the raw, emotional state I had been in when I spoke to Captain Braun. I had been so quick to jump to conclusions and turned on Rodney with ease. There was nothing but regret and a desire to take back every word I read on those pages. I broke an important rule, probably one of the biggest rules of being out in the field; don’t let your emotions get in the way of doing your job. I violated that rule the moment I saw blood spilling from Matthew’s chest.

  I couldn’t peel myself away from the file. Minutes turned into hours, yet I still kept reading that one file repeatedly. I was fixated on my own words. The bitter and harsh words I said, wishing at the time I could’ve said them to Rodney, were the same ones I wanted to take back and erase.

  When the front door opened, I jumped to my feet grabbing my gun from the table. Holding it out, ready to fire, I watched as James dropped back against the wall. His hands were held shoulder length apart at his head.

  “Ali, it’s me,” he said in panic.

  I lowered my weapon and placed it back on the table. “What the hell are you doing home so early?”

  “Early? Ali, it’s after six o’clock.”

  I glanced back at the cable box under the T.V., sure enough it read six-twenty. I guess I read that file more than I thought. “Sorry, I must’ve lost track of time.” I could see his eyes relax as he walked towards the couch. Knowing he would start asking questions about the files, I decided to pester him with some first. “What happened with Ms. Lambert?”

  “After hours of trying to get her to calm down, no thanks to you, I got her to cooperate enough to know all the tapes were kept in the store.”

  “What about seeing anyone suspicious hanging around her store last night before she locked up?”

  “Other than our visit, there was no one else out of the ordinary, and she didn’t remember seeing anyone hanging out by the store last night either.”

  “So we have no leads from the store. Was there anything on the delivery driver?” James shook his head. “So our two leads are now destroyed and laying in the morgue?”

  “You look like you’re working on something big.”

  “Esposito gave me everything he could from the Campus Killer, Dr. Cain, and Rodney’s cases. We think there might be something we can use to prove Rodney’s innocence and maybe find a lead we can use in the process.”

  “How far have you gotten?”

  I took the file with my statement and held it up for James to see. “Kinda got hung up on this one for the last few hours.”

  “Let me take a look at it.” He reached for the folder, but I pulled it away from him. “Ali, if you’re having trouble with it__”

  “It’s the statement I made the night of Matthew’s shooting.”

  James’ hand fell to his side. “Let me help you with the rest of the files. Together, maybe we can get through the box by morning.”

  I focused on the Campus Killer files, but found nothing that supported the theory of another killer or that someone helped Nick DeFalco. I had hope that James would find something when he browsed Claire’s files, but everything seemed to point in her direction.

  I slammed the files down. “None of this makes sense. There’s nothing here that points to another person. Nick and Claire knew their victims. They both had access. Nick stole the ID cards of his victims which gave him the access into their dorms. Claire had access to the drugs that sedated her victims.”

  “Did you ever recover those ID cards?”

  I thought about the searches we conducted at DeFalco’s apartment and the house we found Amanda in. “We never recovered them.” I moved towards the window and stared outside.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “There was something off about the day we took down DeFalco. Rodney was taking my sister to the train station, but got a call about seeing the suspect at the bus terminal. He went to check it out, but it was a false sighting. She was taken hostage. Her abductor contacted me and gave me the directions to find her, but also told me where to meet him. Rodney and the lieutenant took officers to find Amanda while I went to the meet location.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “What if the person pulling the strings believed DeFalco had worn out his usefulness? What if he took Amanda as a way to make sure I took out the only person that could link him to the murders.”

  “So you think this mystery guy was working with DeFalco; why? What did he hope to gain by helping him kill DeFalco?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe Claire can shine some light on that.”

  “You wanna make another trip out to the jail tomorrow?”

  “We’ll need to clear it with Reed and Claire’s attorney first, but I think it’s our best shot.”

  “What about Rodney?”

  “I have an idea that might help his defense, maybe even get him cleared of all charges. I just need to get my hands on the files first.”

  I turned to find James had disappeared into the kitchen. I could hear him rummaging through the fridge, moving bottles and food containers aside. He returned a minute later holding two beers.

  “I thought we could use one after going through all this shit.”

  We ripped off the caps and saluted each other as we collapsed onto the couch together as James picked up the remote. He turned on the T.V. and turned it to some random movie he stumbled across.

  “Are you serious?” I ripped the remote from his hand and kept searching for something better to watch, settling on an episode of Law and Order.

  “Do you ever turn it off?”

  “Turn what off?”

  “Being a cop. Do you ever just let it go and be normal?”

  Taking a sip from the bottle, I turned to James. “I did. I tried to keep those two parts of my life separate, but that’s been nearly impossible for the last year. I don’t know if I could ever go back to that again.”

  James leaned closer to me. “You can never go back. You can only move forward.” I didn’t know what he meant. Was he referring to keeping my personal life separate from my career, or was he talking about moving on from my life with Matthew and focus on a future with him?

  “I think it’s getting late. We have a long day tomorrow and should probably get some sleep.” I knew what James wanted. He made that obvious since the first time we met. I was the one he wanted, but couldn’t have. I patted him on his thigh as I stood up. Taking the box of files with me, I told James goodnight and entered the bedroom.

  I found Amanda passed out on the bed, curled up with the comforter and pillows. She must have snuck in earlier in the night. She looked peaceful snuggled up in the bed, I didn’t want to wake her, by forcing her to give up the pillows and blankets. Instead, I sat on the floor next to the bed, pulling the files out of the box. I wasn’t ready to let it go. There was no way I could sleep until I had a way to prove Rodney’s innocence.

  After an hour of combing through files, I saw footsteps outside the bedroom door. It stopped right outside as the knob slowly turned.

  James stood there in a pair of pajama pants. “What are you still doing up?” He saw me searching through the files. “Come on, Ali, I thought you were going to give it a rest and go to bed.”

  “You know I can’t. I need to know the truth.”

  “Then take it back to the living room and I’ll help you.”

  I knew he was trying to appease the guilt that was drowning my sub-conscious, but the offer was genuine and I was happy he wanted to help.

  Chapter 19-Ali

  The sound of the front door slamming shut woke me. I knew it had to be Amanda leaving for work and decided I should get up too. Pinching the corners of my eyes with my fingers, I blinked until the room came into focus. I was laying on the floor with an arm draped over me.

  Shit we must have fallen asleep
while reading the files. I tried to think back, remembering James had tucked a few pillows from the couch behind his head. I remembered seeing him look so comfortable and knew it was only a matter of time before he fell asleep. A half hour later, he was asleep and I had crawled over to him with the blanket.

  Realizing what happened, I shoved his arm off of me and moved back to the couch to collect the files. As I placed them back inside the box, I had a sneaking suspicion someone was watching. It was the same feeling I had repeatedly felt over the last year. Quickly opening the walk-in closet, I found the moveable panel and climbed a stepladder to hide the files in the attic.

  When I returned, James was walking towards the bathroom, letting out a big yawn as he passed. “Morning,” he grumbled. The way he looked at me seemed like he didn’t remember our late night cuddle session. For that, I was grateful. He emerged moments later knocking on the bedroom door. “Everything all right?”

  “Yup. I just wanted to get a jump on the day.”

  “I can be ready in about a half hour.”

  “Sure, I’ll let you know when I’m ready.” I closed the door and began to peel off my clothes from the night before. Wrapping a robe around me, I exited the bedroom and turned the corner, walking into James again.

  “Sorry, I was just about to…were you going to take a shower?” I could see him looking me over as if he were undressing me with his eyes.

  There wasn’t much to remove. One pull of the robe’s belt and he would get an eye full of what he wanted. I was already catching a bit of my own show. I couldn’t take my eyes off of James’ chiseled muscles and six pack abs. He stood without a shirt, and only wore a pair of basketball shorts.

  “Um yeah,” I replied while trying to keep from drooling. “You can go first if you want. I mean, it’s your house.”

  “Ali, you’re my guest.”

  I refused and insisted he take his shower first, adding I needed to contact the District Attorney’s office to arrange the meeting. I let out a sigh of relief when he agreed, noting this was one of those rare times he decided not to fight me on something trivial.