by David McLeod
‘What can I get you, doll?’ the waitress boomed from behind the counter.
‘Black coffee and an aspirin,’ Shannon replied in a voice several decibels quieter.
Smiling, the waitress slapped a mug down, filled it to the brim with thick java, and moved on to the next customer. Shannon picked it up and held it in both her shaky hands, choosing to move her face to the mug rather than risk spilling its scolding hot contents all over herself.
After several hits of coffee, a modicum of normality gradually crept back into her head, and she began to take in some of her surroundings. The café was filled with suits, and the food coming out looked more like lunch than breakfast; at least it’s not dinner, she thought to herself. She’d almost completed a full scan of the room when her eyes fell on a man reading the San Francisco Chronicle. Instantly, the air was sucked from her lungs, and she let out an audible gasp. It wasn’t the man who caused the reaction, but the headline on the front page:
LAWYER BLUDGEONED TO DEATH AT HOME!
‘Are you okay, honey?’ the waitress asked.
‘Wha.. Sorry, yes, yes, I am. Just got a slight burn from the coffee,’ she said trying hard to act normally.
‘Our coffee’s not for the faint-hearted. Can I get you some milk or anything else, hun?’
‘Actually, can I get this to go?’
With the coffee in her hand, she walked to the newsstand at the end of the block and bought a paper; then she scurried back to the bedsit to read it. To her relief, the sensational headline had touted a rather lackluster news article. Opening with loose and basic details about the murder: quiet suburb, early hours of the morning, violent and senseless murder, blah, blah, blah. It then moved on to some of the highlights of Old Ginger’s life: highly respected, generous contributor to this and that fund… Then the story just petered out. It announced that due to the ferocity of the attack, the SFPD were looking for a very violent and motivated individual, which intimated they were looking for a male, but ended with the usual — police are asking for anyone who saw anything or could help with their enquiries to please call their 1-800 hotline. She dropped the paper and let out a huge sigh of relief.
Of course the cash wasn’t going to last very long, but Shannon knew how to open up connections — new-found friends who wanted the same things from life that she did: fun, freedom, and of course, escape. Escape from some of the demons of the past, but more importantly, escape from the here and now, a chance not to judge or be judged, a chance to just…well…be. She would, of course, be immediately accepted; how could she not be; after all, aside from the last two years, most of her life had been about being seen and fitting in.
‘Shannon?’ Daniel repeated.
‘What?’ she asked a little startled.
‘I asked how your day was.’
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, ‘my mind was on other things.’
‘I figured.’ He smiled, and then his tone changed. ‘You were telling me this morning about the man with the evil eyes. Who was he? Why did he want to take me?’ he asked directly.
Shannon took a slurp of her Oreo shake, and then told him a very abridged and very censored version of their blackmail scam. She omitted the murder of Ginger and danced around the details of the murder of his father, DC, saying that Ginger ordered a hit on him, a job that the man with the evil eyes took care of.
When she’d finished, Daniel was shocked.
‘What? Ginger had my dad killed?’ Daniel asked flabbergasted. ‘So did you go to the police? Is he in jail?’ He was suddenly filled with anger and rage.
‘Calm down, Daniel. I think we should change the subject for the moment.’
Shannon reached across and took his hand. Daniel composed himself a bit, then excused himself and went to the bathroom.
As he walked away, Shannon thought about the man with the evil eyes, and she was immediately back in her bedsit in San Francisco.
‘I’m so sorry; I just didn’t know what to do?’
Shannon had no idea how her friend Jackie from the woman’s refuge had found her, but there she was, standing in the bedsit’s doorway — frightened, apologizing, and begging for forgiveness.
‘He had my children and…’
‘Stop Jackie – Stop!’ Shannon interrupted. ‘I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about. Come in, and for god’s sake, calm down.’ Shannon ushered Jackie into the room and curiously checked the corridor both left and right before closing the door and following her in.
Jackie was pacing around the tiny room.
‘He had my kids and said he was gonna do horrible things to them unless I told him all I knew.’
‘Who did, Jackie? Who had your kids?’ Shannon tried to make eye contact with her friend.
‘I knew he meant what he said; I knew he would hurt my babies.’ Jackie continued to pace and blabber.
Shannon had heard enough; she grabbed her by the shoulders and stared right at her.
‘Jackie!’ She yelled. ‘Who are you talking about? Who had your kids?’
Jackie came to an abrupt standstill.
‘I don’t know his name; he was just this big, no-necked man. But it was his eyes that were the worst thing; they were full of hate, unnatural…’
‘Evil,’ they both said in unison.
Jackie was agape.
‘How did you know?’ she asked.
It was Shannon’s turn to be frightened. She quickly moved to the window and looked down at the street, fervently scanning for any sign of him. Flustered, she looked back at Jackie.
‘What exactly did you tell him?’ she asked sternly.
‘He wanted to know where you were. I, I told him I didn’t know. Which is true, I didn’t. How did he find me, Shannon? How did he know we were friends?’
Shannon’s mind was racing; internally, she was asking all the same questions — and more to boot, but first, she needed to know what Jackie was sorry for.
‘Jackie…look at me… You said you were sorry. What are you sorry about?’
‘He said he had my children, and unless I told him what he wanted to know, I would never see them again. He kept asking me where you were, and how he could get hold of you. I kept telling him I had no idea where you were. That you had left the refuge saying you were never going to come back. But he wouldn’t stop. He had question after question, and with each one he threatened my children…’
She stopped mid-sentence, and looked directly at Shannon.
‘I told him where Daniel was.’
Shannon went pale and her legs felt like lead. She sank down to the bed.
‘I’m sorry, Shannon, but he had my children. He…’
Shannon raised her hand to get her to be silent.
‘Shush Jackie; let me think.’
Images of that night with Ginger and the man with the evil eyes flooded her mind. She thought about his strength, how easily he had disabled her partner DC, his powerful grip making DC’s veins bulge and balloon up like a network of rivers about to burst their banks. But most of all, she thought about those eyes, black as the dead of night and cold as a mortuary slab. How he stared unconnectedly at her as he thrust the needle into DC’s arm and plunged the poison into his blood stream.
‘Please forgive me,’ Jackie sobbed.
Suddenly, Shannon jumped up to the window again and desperately scanned the city street.
‘Were you followed?’ she asked, not looking back.
‘No. I was careful. I kept checking, and went all over the city before coming here.’
‘Which is another question, how did you find me?’
‘I spoke with your mother,’ Jackie replied.
‘Fucking hell, Jackie, you did what?’ Shannon was beside herself.
‘Your mother, I went to see your mother. She showed me a letter you sent to her; it had this address on it.’
‘Oh fuck!’ Shannon gasped as she sank slowly to the bed. ‘Does he know about her too?’ she almost whispered.
‘No,
I didn’t say anything about her — I swear.’ Jackie burst out crying again.
Sitting on her bed with her head in her hands, Shannon had no idea what to do. Jackie had gone, and she’d been left in an impossible situation. Sure, she didn’t want any harm to come to Daniel, but she was torn between the notion of trying to save him and her own desire for self-preservation. One thing was for sure, she needed to settle and focus her thoughts. She reached into her bedside cabinet and pulled out a small bag of coke. Making a small uneven line on the cabinet top, she bent down and took the crystals up both nostrils. As the chemicals worked their magic, she bounced around the room packing all her worldly possessions into a small bag. Like some strange game of she loves me, she loves me not — with each item she put into the bag, she quietly said to herself stay — go, stay — go.
It wasn’t difficult for her to persuade one of her new-found friends to loan her a car, views of her cleavage and promises of making it worth his while upon her return simplified the job. She threw her bag on the back seat and gave him a peck on the cheek. He waved as she pulled away; little did he know he would never see her or the car again!
She got as far as Candlestick Park before pulling off the freeway and stopping the car. Frustrated, she repeatedly punched the steering wheel with her fist yelling ‘FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!’ With her frustration yielding, she put the car into drive, went to the next off ramp, and U-turned back towards the city.
She found a parking space in the same street as the school, killed the engine, and then sat there for a while staring at the building not knowing what she was going to do. She so desperately wanted to run, to leave town and never come back, but she just couldn’t leave Daniel, not now, knowing what that man was capable of. The whole situation rendered her almost paralyzed with indecision. Over an hour had passed when suddenly, from the corner of her eye, she saw a man enter the street. That immediately brought her from her daze. Since she’d parked, many other people had passed by unnoticed, but his image immediately set off sirens in her head. Shannon’s heartbeat raced as she instantly knew who it was. She didn’t have to see him to know it was Old Ginger’s associate, the man with the evil eyes. She carefully reached around, found the lever to recline her seat, and slowly lowered herself out of view.
Shannon watched as he took up a position in a doorway opposite the main gate. She checked to see that the time was nearly three o’clock. ‘Oh shit! He’s waiting till school’s out,’ she said to herself. The main door opened, and kids started to ooze from the building as Shannon watched powerless while the man emerged from the doorway, crossed the street, and entered the school. Without any weapons, Shannon was at a loss as to what to do; the man was stronger, fitter, faster, and from what she’d already seen, infinitely more experienced at murder than she was. Precious seconds ticked by as she struggled with what to do; finally, she decided, the hell with it, she would go and get Daniel, or at least she would raise the alarm. As she readied herself to go, the building’s main door flew open and the man came out, escorted off the premises by a security guard on each arm.
Shannon immediately sank back down in her seat as she waited to see what the man would do next; thankfully, he just walked off down the street in the opposite direction. With her senses on overload, she sat bolt upright in the seat and watched him walk; his confident gait made her feel sick to her stomach.
Shannon started the engine and moved the gear lever into Drive; pulling out of the space, she slowly trailed behind him. He rounded the corner and continued down the street. Shannon waited a few moments, and then with her car moving forward at a crawling pace, she turned right. As she took the corner, she looked down the sidewalk; her heart jumped to her mouth; he’d disappeared. Her eyes rapidly flitted all around the street as she frantically searched for any sign of him. Suddenly, she spotted him halfway down the street; he was between a couple of cars and about to cross to the other side.
Instinctively, she gunned the car, jamming her right foot hard to the floor, its rear wheels squealed as it left rubber on the road. It barreled down the street gathering speed as it went; her prey was in the middle of the road staring directly at the oncoming car. To Shannon, the collision was in slow motion; first the fender hit him low on the legs lifting him off the ground and onto the hood. His evil eyes had become wide open and terrified as his face hit the windshield, the impact breaking his neck and crushing his skull. His whole body then flipped onto the roof making a deafening booming noise as he bounced and then flew off the back of the car to land in a crumpled and bloody mess behind her. Shannon didn’t even touch her brakes; she just laughed maniacally as she looked in the rear view mirror and powered down the street. With another quick look back, she turned left at the bottom of the road and made off to the Freeway heading south.
Daniel returned from the bathroom and slipped back into the booth.
‘Feeling better?’ Shannon smiled.
‘Much,’ he replied.
Chapter 30
Detective Rodriguez had arranged for Louise Hughes, the owner of the Mulholland house — or Mulholland hole as it was now — to come to the station; she had arrived while Malone, Taylor, and Erin were in the interview room talking with the tourists. Rodriguez joined them to brief the trio on what he’d learned, which wasn’t much more than they already knew. Louise and her husband Ron had owned the house for a number of years; it was a house that she loved. As part of the divorce settlement, she had accepted the house and enough alimony to keep her comfortable as she picked up the pieces of her life. Detective Rodriguez told them that she’d then begun to cry. She had no idea who would have done that to her house, but she was sure it wouldn’t have been her ex-husband, he loved the place too.
‘Do you mind if we go and talk to her?’ Malone asked.
‘I’ve already asked if she would mind; she says she doesn’t know what more she can add, but she has no objection to talking to you.’
The detective led the way and introduced the trio to Louise. They passed a few pleasantries and sat down.
‘Thanks for your time,’ Malone began.
‘Like I told the detective here — I lived there for years; Ron bought it because I liked the location on top of the hill. I don’t have any enemies that I know of, so I’ve got no idea who would have demolished my house.’ She welled up.
‘Actually, we think you do!’ Taylor abruptly interceded.
All eyes turned to her.
‘Come on, Louise, I can tell by the way you speak about the house that you didn’t like it — you call it a house and not a home, and according to the detective, you’ve hardly stayed in it since the divorce.’
Louise folded her arms defensively in front of her over-inflated; silicon-enhanced chest.
‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ she replied indignantly.
‘Of course you do. I know all too well what it’s like to live in a house and not a home. You were about as emotionally attached to that place as I am to the sandwich I’ve just eaten. Now, we don’t really care how or why you had the house burnt down, but we do care about the people who did it.’
‘I’m telling you, I have no idea who did that to my house, I mean my home. But I sure as hell want you to catch them so I can put this whole thing behind me.’
‘Cut the bullshit lady!’ Erin said angrily. ‘The guys that did your house have got my son, and I want to know what you know… Please.’ In the same sentence, the anger in her voice had changed to a hint of pleading.
‘I tell you, I know noth…’ Louise stopped mid-sentence and her shoulders visibly sagged as Erin’s plea wormed its way in.
‘Okay, okay. You’re right, well sort of. The house did mean a lot to me, but not in the usual way. The place meant the world to my ex, so I knew that taking it would be a great way to get back at him.’
‘Get back at him? According to the mags, I thought it was you that did the dirty on him,’ Erin snipped.
‘Yeah, well for once they actually got it r
ight; I did play away, but not without good cause.’ Her face reddened in embarrassment. ‘We hadn’t been intimate for years,’ she announced. ‘There, are you happy now!’ The room went silent. ‘Yeah, that’s right, he’s gayer than Hudson,’ she laughed.
‘It started off with him asking for threesomes all the time, but not the usual guy fantasies with two girls, if you know what I mean. Then, he was more interested in the guys than in me; pretty soon, I was surplus to requirements. Sure, I was great to have around for parties and red carpet do’s, but that was it; behind closed doors, I slept alone — and he, well, he didn’t. So, yes, I got my needs fulfilled, which was great for him; the press made him a victim, and yes, I literally blackmailed him for his other love, the house. But I had nothing to do with the demolition of the place — I swear.’
After Louise left the station, the four of them sat around the interview room speechless. The detective broke the silence, ‘Well I wasn’t expecting that!’
Had it not been for it all being linked to the abduction of Joshua, the room would have ignited into laughter.
‘You were great there,’ Malone said to Taylor.
‘Yeah, how did you know?’ Erin asked.
‘Let’s just say I know what makes a house a home,’ she smiled.
‘So where to now?’ Erin asked.
The detective stood up and went to the clear glass media board, stuck the identikit pictures of the two men from the cab in the middle and to the left, and then picked up a pen.
‘We know that Joshua was with these two arsonists. And we know that the house was torched by these guys,’ he said, drawing a box in the middle of the board and writing house inside. ‘And let’s say I’m willing to agree that the warehouse is somehow connected.’ Malone gave a satisfied smile. The detective drew another box underneath the house box and added warehouse to it. He connected the two boxes with an upward arrow. To the right-hand side of the board he wrote the name of the toy warehouse owner, above that he wrote Louise Hughes and above that Ron Hughes. ‘Are we all agreed that Louise Hughes had nothing to do with the fire?’ he asked.