by D. L. Line
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look around through the window. Still no movement. He took a glass cutter from the kit, applied it to the window with its suction cup, and cut a small circle in the window, close to the latch. Once that was accomplished, he turned to the kid and pointed with his free hand for him to open the window, then climb through and into the basement.
Bradley had to hang on tightly to the kid to get him though the window with as little noise as possible. He could tell that the bourbon and Percocet were starting to work their magic as the kid wobbled, dangerously close to falling over as his feet touched the basement floor. Bradley backed into the window behind him and guided him to a pile of laundry in the middle of the floor in front of the dryer, adding the kid’s red Bearcats T-shirt before arranging the pile with his feet so the kid could lie down and pass out. He used the flashlight briefly to look over the rest of the basement, noting the locations of several large piles of boxes. It was all too perfect.
One last touch. He removed a Glock and silencer, identical to his own, and a wallet from the pocket of his jacket, swapping the kid’s for a new one that contained his own authentic Michigan parole card and driver’s license, and put it into the back pocket of his now-unconscious hitchhiker. The Glock fit perfectly down the back of the kid’s pants. He slipped the kid’s wallet into his own jacket, scanned outside for movement, and climbed out the window.
Sitting on the ground up close to the house, he removed the three envelopes from his pocket and worked quickly. He laid the envelopes out flat, grabbed all three by the clasp end, and shook the pool chemicals into the Brylcreem. The chemical reaction started immediately, and the envelopes grew hot in his hands. He leaned into the window far enough to Frisbee the packets, one by one, into the piles of boxes around the perimeter of the basement. Then he ran like hell toward
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the woods in the opposite direction from his car. He stopped behind a tree just long enough to catch his breath and watch the flames in the basement burst into life, spreading an eerie glow around the foundation of the house.
He only had to walk a half mile back into town, find the rental car place, and hit the road again. He’d head north to Elizabethtown and find a place to crash for a few hours. He had all of his belongings in his pockets, including his handgun and enough cash to purchase anything else he would need. And then it was on to Virginia to finish this thing once and for all.
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Chapter twenty-six
Terri awoke with a start. She was disoriented and unable to remember falling asleep. Since the darkness outside offered little assistance regarding the time, she attempted to roll over to check the time on the clock next to the bed. Finding that she was pretty much pinned to the mattress, half under a sleeping Jen, she contented herself with turning only her head to see the clock. Five twenty-two a.m. Staying right where she was seemed the most appealing plan, but her bladder was going to make that impossible. She slid out from under Jen as gently as she could and offered her pillow up as a suitable replacement. Jen hugged tight to the pillow, mumbling, “Mmm, smell good,” or something like that, and continued sleeping.
Terri walked softly around the end of the bed and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her before turning on the light. Wincing as the bulbs came on over the medicine chest, she raised one hand to shade her eyes until they became accustomed to the brightness. Catching her own reflection in the mirror, she looked hard at herself, making special note of the dark circles under her eyes. “God, Terri, you look like shit.” She knew that exhaustion was taking its toll on her, but there’d be time to rest when this was all over.
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Terri finished in the bathroom, turning out the light before she opened the door. Jen was still fast asleep, but she’d managed to kick her covers off and was curled up like she was cold, despite the sweatpants and T-shirt that she was wearing. It was warm in the house, in contrast to the cold outside, but Terri decided to pull the covers back over her anyway, tucking her in with a kiss to the top of her head. Terri really wanted to climb right back into the bed, but hearing that Bobby was up, she pulled Jen’s purple hoodie on over her tank top, took her gun from the drawer of the night table, and slipped the P-228 into the large pocket on the front of the sweatshirt. She went downstairs to the kitchen and found Bobby toasting a bagel and waiting for the coffee to finish brewing. He looked up from the toaster and registered her appearance with a bit of surprise and concern. “God, Terri, you look like shit.”She registered his comment with a grimace, but had to agree. “I know. I’ve had this same conversation with myself already, thank you.” She rubbed her face with both hands, still trying to clear some of the cobwebs. “I just need some rest.”
Bobby offered her the bagel he’d been preparing, but she declined it and took a seat at the side of the large table. “No, thanks. How long till coffee?”
“Just a couple more minutes.” He was still watching her with concern. “Terri, you should go back to bed. The sheriff will be back in an hour. I can cover until then.” Bobby had agreed to take the night watch, leaving Terri with the day shift, both backed up by the local sheriff.
“Nah, I don’t think it’ll help anyway. I feel like I could sleep for the next week and it still wouldn’t be enough. I’ll just dose with some coffee and try to keep moving.” It sounded good in theory, but her body just wouldn’t cooperate. She
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crossed her arms on the table and laid her head down, not sleeping, but not quite awake either.
“You might want to be careful there…don’t want to fall asleep and bang your head on the table.”
Try as she might, she didn’t have the energy for a witty retort, so she satisfied herself with an evil, tight-lipped, don’tgo-there glare. He just smiled as she let her head fall forward onto its resting place on her arms. She probably would have stayed that way for a very long time, but startled awake as the phone went off in her pocket. She sat up to remove the offending device, noticing that the caller ID indicated that it was the office. She flipped it open. “Agent McKinnon.”
The voice on the other end was a familiar one. “Terri, it’s Dave Stansfield. We’ve got some news.” She sat up a little bit, shrugging off the sleepiness and urged him to continue.
“There was a fire in Bowling Green, Kentucky, last night that you need to know about.”
Terri was confused. “Okay. What does that have to do with anything?” Terri was trying not to be terse with Dave, but she was too tired to give it much effort.
“Apparently, the house was owned by an employee of NoVaGenEx, and the fire department found a body in the basement. It was pretty mangled in the blaze, but physical description and the contents of a wallet identified the victim as one Bradley Allen Davis of Ann Arbor, Michigan. It would seem that your perp managed to get loaded and torch himself in his own fire.”
Terri was floored, to say the least. “Are they sure it’s him?”
“Yep, the basic body type, you know, height/weight stuff was right. The fire got most of the rest of anything else we can use.” Terri wrinkled her nose as she realized it meant that
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the coroner had nothing left to determine hair and eye color.
“The wallet was damaged, but they found most of a Michigan driver’s license and a parole card. It sure looks like him. Well, more like a pork roast now, but it used to look like him.”
She swallowed hard as the image of a burnt and mangled corpse planted itself in her head. “Did they do any lab work?”
“Yes to that one too. High concentrations of alcohol, THC, and oxycodone. No wonder he passed out. Coroner thinks the combo would have killed him even without the fire. They won’t finalize the report until the DNA stu
ff comes back, but you know the drill. Two to three weeks for results.” She was well aware that DNA testing was still slow, but the other things would be enough for the coroner to make a preliminary report on identification and cause of death.
“Thanks for the info. Has McNally seen it yet?” Terri was hoping to avoid that conversation for at least a couple more hours.
“No. He’s in meetings this morning, so he probably won’t get it until ten or eleven. Unless you want me to call him.”
“No, please don’t call him. We’ve still got some things to finish up with here and Bobby’s been up all night. I’d like him to get some sleep before we drive back.” Terri was getting antsy and ready to end the call. “Call me if you have anything else. Oh, and fax the report to the number that I left on my desk, would you? Thanks, Dave.”
“Hey, no problem.”
She muttered an additional thank-you to Stansfield and snapped her phone closed. Bobby was incredibly patient during the call, but jumped as soon as she was done. “Davis is dead?”
Terri nodded and answered his question. “It would seem that way.” She filled him in on the details that Stansfield had given her.
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“You’re not sure?”
“I should be. The evidence is all there, but I can’t help but wonder…” She paused for another moment, searching for the right way to voice her concerns. “Bobby, it’s just this: Davis has been meticulous about everything he’s done. No clues, no hints, no stray fibers, nothing to tie anything to him except the numbers, and those only meant something to him and Jen. He managed to keep us in the dark for weeks, remember? And now, on the eve of his grand finale, he pulls a Marilyn Monroe and gets so hammered that he roasts himself in his own fire. Doesn’t that sound the least bit off to you?”
“It does seem off. A little too convenient. Are you thinking decoy?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m thinking.”
Terri stared out the window at the barn, shrouded in fog that reflected eerily in the moonlight, and tried to fill in the blanks. Movement on her left caught her attention, and she looked up to see a sleepy Jen standing in the doorway. Jen yawned and scratched her head, adding more crazy features to her already-interesting bed hair. She came into the kitchen, rubbed Bobby lightly on the back, and leaned over to give Terri a kiss.
Bobby said good morning and asked, “How’s your head?”
Jen didn’t bat an eye. “Great, how’s your ear?”
He shot it right back at her. “Couldn’t be better.”
Terri just stared at them before she covered half of her face with one hand. “Oh, God, you two. Please don’t start this already.” They both smiled their warmest smiles at her as she stared back with her one uncovered eye. Jen was the one who broke the moment with a question.
“Why is it still dark outside and why are we talking about Marilyn Monroe?” She left the question in the air as she went
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to get coffee. Bobby told her the news about the fire and the body, but left Terri to fill in the details since she’d been the one on the phone. Jen seemed a little puzzled. “And we’re not happy about this why?”
“Terri thinks it’s bogus. You know, criminal-mastermindfakes-own-death-for-dramatic-climax kind of bogus.”
“That’s really twisted and sick. But it is kind of clichéd. So does that mean the FBI officially thinks this thing is over? And what exactly does that mean? Will they make you two go back to the office?” Jen was getting more and more agitated with each question. “Oh, oh, maybe they could just tie me to a stake in the front yard and slap a big ol’ red bull’s-eye sticker on my forehead. You know, like that poor goat in Jurassic Park. Except he didn’t have a sticker. Well, maybe he did, and we just didn’t get to see it. Oh, and I guess there’s no tyrannosaurus either, but hey, we have a chain-smoking homicidal whackjob arsonist to fill in for that part.” She finally ran out of breath. Bobby just stared at her in amazement.
Terri immediately shifted into nobody-messes-with-mygirl mode, turning to take Jen’s chin with one hand, forcing her to make eye contact. “Jen, look at me. No one is going to tie you out in the front yard, either with or without a sticker. I’m not going anywhere, and I really don’t give a shit what McNally has to say about it. Bobby should probably go, but I’m here until I get a DNA report from Kentucky that tells me I’m wrong and Davis is really dead.” She turned to Bobby, silently asking what he would do.
He became the picture of resolve, looking directly at Jen as he answered and pointed at Terri. “She stays, I stay. Simple as that. You two are going to need me since we lose the sheriff patrols when McNally calls. I can take the hit. It’s way better than the alternative.” He switched his attention to Terri. “Also, I’m supposed to be keeping an eye on you. McNally said so.”
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Jen mouthed a silent “thank you” while Terri took his hand and expressed her gratitude out loud. He waved them off with an “aw, shucks” look. “Besides, there’s free porn on the radio here. I’m not going anywhere.”
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Chapter twenty-seven
Bradley took his time driving through Kentucky. He stopped, as planned, for a nap, but he was so juiced from his success with the fire that he made it all the way to Lexington. There was still seven hours’ worth of expressway between him and his goal, plus an hour or two for stops, but he’d bought himself some time with the body switch in Bowling Green. He also knew that DNA testing took a couple of weeks and that the FBI would certainly figure out what really happened, but he’d have his problem solved by then. The feds would call their people back, and everyone would be happy that he was gone. Except he wasn’t really gone. This was still too easy.
v
Bobby and Terri were working at the kitchen table when the dreaded phone call from McNally came. It was close to ten thirty. Jen had earlier excused herself to get some work done in her office, but Terri knew it was more of an attempt to give her and Bobby some space to work their “g-man mojo.”
Jen always had a way of putting things that brought a smile to Terri’s face, but she wasn’t sure she had the mojo to pull this off. Not this time.
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When the call came in, Bobby offered to do the honors, but Terri declined, reasoning that she wanted to face McNally sooner rather than later, and that she’d feel better once it was done. She paced the floor as she explained her theory about the body switch. Every now and then she caught Bobby’s eye and could see even his normal patience was reaching an end. She tried to telegraph her reaction to let him know what was happening on the other end of the call. With one final “Yes, sir, I understand,” Terri snapped her phone closed and set it on the table.
“He said we get forty-eight hours. He also said there’s not enough here to justify local backup, so we need to cut them loose. If nothing has happened by noon Friday, we’re supposed to head back to the office. I guess that’s something.”
“Terri, it’s more than something. At least he was willing to listen to you.”
“Well, it wasn’t easy. And believe me, that leash that he has around my neck just got a lot shorter.” It suddenly struck her that Bobby was up, and hadn’t gotten any sleep, except for a short nap, since before he took the watch the previous night.
“You should get some sleep before tonight, don’t you think?”
He opened his mouth, no doubt to protest, but closed it again. “I suppose you’re right. I’m kind of doing the walking dead thing here. Just a few hours, though, okay?”
Terri was surprised he was willing to do that much, but he had to be exhausted. She certainly was, and she’d managed to squeeze in a few hours of rest the night before. “Okay, I’ll get you up, say, around four o’clock. It’ll still be light outside
, and I’ll try to have some kind of an action plan pieced together by then.”
Bobby scratched his head and yawned. “Are you sure about this? I can sit up long enough to work some details out. It’s really no big deal.”
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“No, Bobby. I know by now what you would do in this situation, and I don’t think Davis is a broad daylight kind of guy. No, please get some rest. I need you alert later.”
Bobby poured his cup of coffee back into the pot and started for the stairs. He stopped in the doorway and turned to face her. “If you two decide that you need to work off some tension, please keep it down. I’ve had enough details to hold me for a while.” He didn’t give her a chance to answer as he trudged through the living room and up the stairs to the guest room. Terri knew right then and there how exhausted he really was if that was the best shot he had to throw at her. She only had a minute to think on that before Jen returned to the kitchen, crossing to the counter to refill her coffee. “Did you finally get him to go to bed?”
“Yes, he finally gave in.” Jen leaned back on the counter and studied Terri’s face. Terri met her gaze and said, “I know what you’re thinking, and I’m fine. I actually got some sleep last night. I’ll be fine.”
Jen brought her cup of coffee to the table and sat. She raised a hand to Terri’s face, stroking her cheek lightly with her thumb. “You know, I’m the false bravado gal here. You don’t have to do that for me.”
Terri took the hand from her face and kissed Jen’s palm.