Let It Burn

by Steve Hamilton

  “Good hustle, Agent Fleury. The two of you will richly deserve your big raises.”

  “She thought you were really going back home this time, Mr. McKnight. She was sure of it. I guess that means I know you a little better than she does.”

  He folded up his portfolio. Then he stood up.

  “For what’s it worth,” he said, “you helped us catch a serial killer. I will always be thankful to you for that. No matter what you say to me.”

  Then he left the room.

  I sat there a while longer, looking out the blinds at the darkness. I knew it was beyond late now. I didn’t even bother looking at my watch.

  The door opened again. Agent Janet Long came in and sat down across from me.

  “It would save time if you guys talked to me together,” I said. “You don’t have to send in a parade.”

  “Stop it,” she said. “I’m sorry for the way this worked out.”

  “Why are you sorry? Everybody wins. All you had to do was play me like a drum. Which I guess must have been pretty easy, seeing as how I never would have suspected it.”

  “It wasn’t my idea.”

  “Yeah, I know. Your partner copped to that.”

  “I’m pretty sure I told you to go home, too. More than once.”

  “You did.”

  “And I’m pretty sure you promised me you would.”

  “I’d have to review the tape,” I said, “but you’re probably right.”

  “I wasn’t straight with you, Alex. I admit that, but you weren’t straight with me, either.”

  “Can we stop?” I said. “I don’t want to do this anymore.”

  “Fine with me. You want to talk about what happened?”

  “To be honest,” I said, “it’s still just a blur to me. How did Ryan Grayson and Tanner Paige show up?”

  “I was hoping you could tell me.”

  “They must have followed me. The old-fashioned way, I mean. I’m sure they didn’t have a GPS device they could trick me into carrying around.”

  “I thought we were going to stop.”

  I raised a hand in surrender.

  “Wait a minute,” I said. “Of course they followed me. It was easy. The last time I talked to them, I told them I was staying in a motel on Michigan Avenue. They already knew what my truck looked like.”

  “You didn’t notice them on your tail? All day?”

  “I guess I was preoccupied.”

  “You realize, they forced our hand and almost blew everything. If Grayson didn’t have his safety on…”

  “Are you serious? Is that why his gun didn’t shoot?”

  “For once, thank God for clueless gun owners who have no idea what they’re doing.”

  “They promised me,” I said. “No more stupid behavior.”

  “Yeah, I guess lots of promises got broken this week.”

  “So what’s going to happen to them?”

  “Grayson and Tanner have both been charged with obstruction. Grayson’s also been charged with unlawful use of a weapon. Which is a lot better than attempted murder. I’m sure he’ll get a good lawyer and end up with probation and a fine.”

  “What about Darryl King?” I said.

  “We’ve got him for aiding and abetting, which I imagine will get dropped, but the state wants him for all of the parole violations, and I’ll be honest with you, they still like him for the murder of Detective Bateman.”

  “Maybe he’ll confess again. For old times’ sake.”

  “As far as Tremont King goes … Well, that’ll be a project and a half right there. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.”

  “I imagine. Has he said anything?”

  “Not a word.”

  I nodded at that. We both sat there.

  “My partner did thank you,” she said.

  “He did.”

  “It’s a good night, Alex. I hope you know that.”

  “I think you’ll have to ask me that tomorrow.”

  “Fair enough,” she said. “I’ll call you?”

  “Okay.”

  We both sat there for a while again, looking at each other. Then I got to my feet. She took me to the elevator and showed me to the main entrance. We said good night. We didn’t touch each other. I was pretty sure we never would again.

  My truck had been brought over from the apprehension site, or whatever you would call that place now. The keys were on the front seat. I started it up and drove out of the lot.

  I went right to Mrs. King’s house. The place was completely dark. I saw a note taped on the front door. It was for me. An FBI agent had come to tell Mrs. King what had happened. Her sister had come to take her away for a while. She’d call me the next day.

  I sat in the truck for a while. Then I drove back down to the main streets and tried to find a bar. They were all closed now. It was after 2:00 a.m.

  Eventually, I went back to the motel. I lay on the bed with my clothes on, looking up at the ceiling. After everything that had happened that day, I didn’t even want to sleep. Then I closed my eyes and the day beat me again.

  *

  My shoulder hurt like hell the next morning. A souvenir of my little tussle with Darryl King, which should have been more than enough excitement for the night right there.

  I got up and took a hot shower. Then I checked out of the motel.

  I gave Leon a call to tell him everything that happened. He was just as amazed that an amateur had been able to follow me all day long, which certainly made my morning. When I was done with Leon, I called Tanner Paige. He spent the first minute apologizing. Literally saying, “I’m sorry,” about twelve times in a row.

  “I didn’t know he had a gun in the car,” he said, when he finally moved on from the apologizing. “I didn’t know he was going to run right into the middle of everything like that.”

  “Sounds like he was pretty lucky,” I said, “but I still don’t get why you guys were—”

  “Following you, I know. I know! He was the one following you all over the place, you realize. Then he finally called me last night. I kept telling myself, I was just going along with him to make sure he didn’t get himself killed or something, but I gotta admit, Alex, I guess I was just as curious as he was to see what this guy looked like. If he was really the man who killed Elana.”

  “Well, you’ll probably never get a chance to ask him to his face. Not now.”

  “I know. I guess it really is time to move on now, too. I never want to live through something like these past few days again.”

  “You were released last night, I take it. What about your brother-in-law?”

  “Yeah, they held him a little longer. He has a bunch of hearings to go to in the next few days, but he’s home now, at least. I’ll go see him, make sure he’s okay.”

  “I was just going to call him.”

  “Give him a day,” he said. “I think he’s pretty shaken up. He’ll probably be at his lawyer’s office all day anyway.”

  “Okay, fair enough.”

  Tanner Paige apologized a few more times. Then he thanked me and wished me a good trip back home.

  I tried calling Mrs. King. Her cell phone was apparently turned off. I wanted to see her, but I didn’t think I could stand one more minute in the city. I’ll catch up with her on the phone, I thought. I’ll probably come back down, too, as soon as I figure out how I can help.

  That made me think of Detective Gruley in Houghton Lake. It was finally time to call him back. I was thinking maybe I could stop in at his post on the way home, too. Explain everything in person.

  I looked across the street one more time, at the vacant lot where Tiger Stadium once stood. It seemed like a fitting farewell, at least for the time being, as I pulled onto the road and made my way to the freeway.

  Something wasn’t right. It was that feeling you get, when you leave the house and you know you’ve forgotten something, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

  North to the edge of town. Eight Mile Road. That feelin
g still there.

  Then I saw the exit for Twelve Mile. I pulled off the freeway.

  I was in Southfield now. I thought back to that trip I had made this way, all those years before. Detective Bateman and I, coming up to see Elana’s parents. I went west. It was right off this road somewhere. I flashed back on the conversation I had with Ryan Grayson and his brother-in-law in the bar a couple of days ago, after I rousted them at the end of the street. He was still living in the same house. In fact, he even offered to let me stay there.

  I found the side road that led to Grayson’s house. I drove down the long driveway. It was the same big house, just as I remembered. Except not quite. As I got closer, I saw that the lawn needed cutting. I saw that the windows all needed cleaning and the white columns on either side of the door needed a good pressure-wash. Grayson’s green minivan was parked out front. Next to that was Paige’s cream-colored SUV.

  I parked behind them and got out. A few seconds later, Tanner Paige came out the front door. He was carrying a box.

  “Alex,” he said. “What brings you out here?”

  “I was on my way home. I just thought I’d stop by.” I looked up at the house. “You’re seriously telling me he lives here all by himself now?”

  “Ever since his kids moved away. Then his wife left. Yeah, it’s kinda sad now, after all the things that used to go on here. All the parties and everything. This place was a real hot spot, back in the day, when Ryan’s father was ruling the world. Now it’s just…”

  He looked up at the house, just like I was doing. Then he opened up his trunk and put the box inside.

  “I’ve got to take this stuff over to the lawyer’s,” he said. “It’s a bunch of old news clippings from Elana’s murder. The lawyer thought he should have them, just in case.”

  “Just in case what?”

  “He’s pretty sure Ryan will get off clean, but just in case he runs into a judge that doesn’t understand his state of mind…”

  Paige looked down at the box and shook his head.

  “He’s really been hurting, Alex. This past week has been so hard on him.”

  “So let me just ask you something,” I said. “About yesterday…”

  “It was insane, I know. Apparently, Ryan followed you from your motel to, wait, let me get this right, to Darryl King’s house, then to the library? Is that right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then down to Michigan Avenue somewhere, then up to that corner of Warren and Grand River. Then, what did he say, you went somewhere else after that, before coming back…”

  He looked up, like he was playing it all back on a tape recorder.

  “Yeah, back to the Kings’ house, he said. Then back to Michigan Avenue. Then back to Warren and Grand River, for God’s sake. Or something like that. I might have the order mixed up. I think he was running out of gas at that point and he almost lost you, but then you went and ate somewhere, and that’s when he called me.”

  “So you went to meet him,” I said. “So you could keep him company while he stayed on my tail.”

  “I believe I’ve already apologized for that, but yes. That’s what I did. Like I said, I thought I was looking out for him, because I sure as hell couldn’t have stopped him, but anyway, you went to a hardware store. Then you went back to that corner, for like the third time that day, he said. Although that was the first time I saw it, of course. I was thinking, why the hell would you come here? Then you walked down by where the railroad tracks went over the road. Ryan was getting really anxious then. He figured you were up to something important.”

  “I still don’t get it,” I said. “Why did he go to all this trouble? He put his whole life on hold so he could follow me around all day?”

  “He was convinced you’d lead him to the man who killed his sister, Alex. I mean, after what you told us yourself … That’s what he thought, and you have to admit, in the end he was right.”

  I stood there looking at the house, waiting for it to make sense.

  “You really didn’t know he had a gun,” I said.

  “I had no idea he even owned one, no. I swear.”

  I took a few steps toward the front door, then came back.

  “Wait a minute,” I said. “Why did he choose that exact moment to come down the street?”

  “I don’t know. I’m trying to remember. The two of you were running, right? You and Darryl? Running back to the tracks?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s what made him go. He figured something was happening. I tried to stop him, Alex. I really did, but he was out of his head at that point.”

  “He knew that was Darryl I was with? Even though he’d hadn’t seen him in years?”

  “I think he was just assuming, yes.”

  “Then when Darryl’s brother came out of the woods…”

  Paige just stood there, looking at me.

  “How did he know?” I said. “How did he know that was the man?”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Alex.”

  “He was ready to kill him. He was that sure.”

  I looked back at the house, one more time.

  “It doesn’t add up,” I said. “Unless…”

  “Unless what?”

  “Unless he already knew Tremont King.”

  He thought it over for a moment.

  “Oh my God,” he said. “Of course. That would make it all work, wouldn’t it…”

  “It would, yes.”

  “That son of a bitch.” Paige reached into the wheel well of his trunk and brought out a tire iron.

  “Put that down,” I said. “You stay here. I’m going to go inside and talk to him.”

  Paige pushed by me and grabbed the handle on the back of the minivan. Then he raised the rear door.

  “What are you doing?” I said. Then I saw what was inside the vehicle. The backseats were folded down. There was a plastic drop cloth spread out on the floor. There was something else, wrapped in more plastic.

  A body.

  “No need to go inside,” Paige said. “Ryan’s right here.”

  Before I could even react to what I was seeing, I heard the sound of that thing moving in the air, behind my head.

  Then I was out.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Sounds. Movement. I’m rolled one way, then back the other way. A wave pushing me toward shore, then pulling me back.

  No. I’m in a vehicle. I’m lying down, feeling the momentum of the turns. I’m on plastic. It crinkles every time my weight is shifted.

  A voice.

  “Hey, Alex. How’re you doing back there?”

  God, my head hurts so much. I can’t move. Why can’t I move?

  “Settle in, buddy. We’ve got a little drive here.”

  My hands. I can’t move my hands. I try to open my eyes, but everything is too bright and spinning too quickly. It makes my head hurt twice as much.

  I’m trying to sit up. I have to sit up. I have to get out of here. I have to remember what happened and then I have to get out of here.

  My hands are behind my back. Why can’t I move my hands?

  God, my head hurts.

  The vehicle swings into a big curve. I’m rolling right. I hit something. More crinkle of plastic.

  I open my eyes.

  I see three other faces. Then two. Then one.

  I focus on Ryan Grayson. His dead eyes staring at me.

  Then I’m out again.

  *

  I opened my eyes again. I didn’t know how much time had passed. The vehicle wasn’t rolling me from side to side anymore. There was just the steady hum of an engine maintaining a straight, level speed.

  I tried to speak. A groan came out.

  “Alex, is that you?”

  I couldn’t make words anymore. I’d forgotten how.

  “We’re almost there.”

  I tried one eye. Just the right eye squinting open. I saw Tanner Paige behind the wheel of the minivan.

  “I’m glad you’re aw
ake, Alex. Finally. This would have been a whole lot better with someone to talk to.”

  My hands. I still couldn’t move my hands.

  “I apologize, by the way. I know that doesn’t make it one hundred percent better, but I hope it helps. I’m really, really sorry.”

  I tried to sit up again. It was impossible.

  “I was starting to like you, Alex. I thought we were really on the same wavelength, you know? I really liked Arnie, too. I hope you realize that. I’m not a monster.”

  My hands are tied behind my back, I thought. I’m tied up in the back of this minivan, and Tanner Paige is driving it somewhere.

  I opened one eye again and saw the dead body of Ryan Grayson next to me, haphazardly wrapped in the green plastic, the face exposed through a gap at the top. Bloody and bruised, the nose broken, the front teeth knocked out.

  It’s only the women he kills with knives, I thought. The men, he just bashes their heads in.

  So why am I still alive?

  “He kept in touch with me all those years, you know. He was a good guy. Ryan and I even went up there a few times. We’d always take a ride on his boat. Did he tell you that? You were there, too, right? Did you take the exciting ride on his boat?”

  I looked up and saw the sunlight coming through the windows. It was still daytime.

  “Mostly we just talked a lot, and I think it was good for both of us. Made us both feel less alone, I think, and for him, it was always a good reminder, too. Getting that confession was the highlight of his career. I’d always tell him how much it meant to me. I knew that made him feel good. I was happy to do that for him.”

  My ears were still ringing. Every sound had an edge to it. I tried to shake my head … Big mistake. Don’t do that.

  “If they hadn’t released Trey’s brother, none of this would have happened, you realize. That’s where all the trouble began. Right there with that cockamamie decision. That’s what got everybody all stirred up again. The last time Arnie called me, he said he probably shouldn’t say anything yet, but he had to talk to somebody. He said you were trying to cast some doubt on the confession. Which didn’t make him happy, but then he said he was getting the old files out and going over them. I guess he drove down and looked at the old confession, too. On tape, I guess? That was the day before Arnie passed.”