A Killer's Game

by Amy Andrews

  Reaching into his sleeveless flannel shirt pocket, the driver said, “sure,” as he handed Verde a Marlboro and offered him a light.

  Verde took a deep drag and exhaled, blowing billowing smoke into the wind. “Thanks, man. I’m gonna go on a break. You have yourself a good night,” he said as he tipped his hat to the driver, and walked right out the door, and into the busy, lit up nocturnal streets of Miami.

  CHAPTER TWO- NIGHT OUT

  A hundred miles away from Miami, on the opposite coast of Florida, The Naples Homicide Division sat atop their bare back barstools, at a long and glossy, thickly shellacked high-top table near the stage, in the neon lit sports bar. The table was littered with drinks, and appetizers, ranging from chips and salsa to crab cakes. It was a Thursday night, but they were there to support one of their own.

  Detective Ethan Layne played lead guitar in his local rock band, Epitome. They were a largely popular band, that played classic to modern heavy rock tunes. If not for his addiction to the thrill of his day job, Layne would play full time. It was what he loved to do, and he had a guitar in his hands ever since he could remember. He certainly looked more like a rock star, than a homicide detective.

  Of the six members of the Division, two of them looked as if they didn’t really belong in the seedy bar environment. Layne’s partner, Detective Brian Wilshire, was dressed as usual in a suave designer suit with his perfectly coiffed dark blonde hair, that would be better suited sipping his fine cognac in the Ritz Carlton lobby bar. Lieutenant Sara Whitten, well, she looked like she belonged in a library, or a court room. She was beautiful, but stern looking with her jet black tailored business suit, white collard button down shirt, and her auburn hair pulled tightly back, and piled atop her head. The glass of Chardonnay in her hand completed the look. The only thing she was missing was a pair of spectacles hanging around her neck by a thin metal chain. Those that knew her, however, were not fooled by her looks. She was a tough cookie underneath her demure exterior.

  Detective Lenny Shane had the most seniority on the team, as Lead Detective, and sat there pitching back a bottle from his half empty bucket of Bud, while he and the newest recruit, Detective Kate Leopold, talked intently over the blaring juke box music. He had been offered the Lieutenant position some years ago, but declined. He wasn’t the paper pushing, monkey suit, politically correct for news briefings kind of guy. He belonged out in the field. Detective Lenny Shane’s partner, Detective Bobby Thorne, sat at the end of the table, keeping to himself, and his whiskey on the rocks.

  As they took their positions on the stage, the four man band was a diverse looking group, between eighties hair band, alternative grunge rock, and punk rock. The crowd broke into a cheer, as the overhead lighting dimmed, and the stage lights cast an eerie glow on the band. They opened their first set with a bang, by playing Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy.”

  While the rest of the team watched Layne manipulate his Schecter guitar with awe, and talked amongst themselves, Thorne bobbed his head to the beat, and sang along with the lyrics like it was his own personal mantra. He wasn’t really that into watching the band, but he did like listening to them. He was more into people watching. He particularly liked to watch and observe people he knew. Their body language often said a lot. He sat there through the entire first set, sipping on his whiskey, and inconspicuously watched the members of his team interact with each other.

  For instance, he could tell that Layne and Leopold had the hots for each other by the way they kept looking at each other, and glancing away when the other one noticed. He could also tell that Detective Shane was like a very protective Father figure to Detective Leopold, by the way he kept giving the evil eye to any guy that looked her way that didn’t meet Daddy’s approval.

  At the end of the first set, the band took a twenty minute break. Detective Layne approached the table where his fellow comrades were seated. “Hey guys,” he said cheerfully, “thanks for coming out.”

  His partner, Detective Wilshire offered up a fist bump. “Fucking awesome, man! You guys rock!”

  Detective Layne smiled, “thanks man.”

  “Lieutenant,” Detective Layne said, acknowledging his boss, Sara Whitten, giving her a wink.

  “Detective,” she reputed, as she smiled and raised her Chardonnay glass to him.

  Layne walked past Thorne, behind and in between Shane and Leopold, giving them a hug. Looking at Shane, Layne joshed, “it’s not too loud for you is it, old man?”

  Shane narrowed his dark chocolate eyes at Layne and smirked as he fired back in a humorous tone, “Old man or not, I can still take your ass, you long haired hippie. And no, it’s not too loud.” Shane followed his statement with a nice long chug of his ice cold bottle of beer.

  “Who’s calling who a long haired hippie?” Layne joked, as he gave Lenny’s shoulder length salt and pepper pony tail a light tug.

  Lenny just rolled his eyes, and laughed. Pulling a Bud out of his bucket, he popped the top off and handed it to Layne.

  Still keeping his arm around Leopold, Layne planted a quick peck on her cheek, and gave her shoulder a light squeeze. “I hope you stick around until after the next set,” he whispered to her, then walked back towards the stage, giving Thorne a slightly harder than friendly pat on the back as he walked by. He had wanted to get with her from the first moment he saw her as a rookie at their Headquarters, or (HQ). He figured two years was long enough to pine. He needed to man up, and go after what he wanted, or he would never get it.

  Kate Leopold was caught completely off guard by the searing heat that radiated out from her core. She sat there completely befuddled, and couldn’t speak a word. Layne, interested in her? Maybe she was just reading something into it that was not there. Didn’t matter anyway. It would take all of her willpower to stay away from him, if that turned out to be the case, but now was not the time. She just got her Detective shield. Mixing business with pleasure didn’t seem like a good idea at this point in time. Maybe after she got a little more time in.

  Shane leaned over to Leopold and said, “he’s a good catch, that one,” nodding in the direction of Detective Ethan Layne.

  Leopold’s olive skin blushed and said, “and why would you be telling me that?”

  “Just in case you were wondering,” he said.

  Leopold took a long swallow of Bud, and looked at Shane, trying to be completely believable, and said, “well, thanks for the 411, but I wasn’t. Wondering, that is.”

  Shane smiled and tipped his Bud in a toast and said sarcastically, “yeah, okay.” He was a Detective, with a lot of years under his belt. He didn’t know who she thought she was fooling, but he could read right through the bullshit.

  Detectives Shane, Wilshire, and Lieutenant Whitten stayed through the end of the second set, then left for the evening. Detectives Leopold and Thorne stuck around, moving in closer to each other, from opposite ends of the table.

  While Leopold had sensed a bit of unease between the rest of the team and Thorne, she couldn’t figure out why. He was perfectly nice to her. Charming, even. Maybe it was something that happened between them before she joined the team? She didn’t want to pry, so she didn’t ask.

  While Layne and the rest of the band continued entertaining the crowd, Thorne and Leopold made fun, light, casual conversation. Leopold actually quite enjoyed his company. She didn’t like the way it made her feel guilty, with Layne glaring at them. More so directed at Thorne, than her.

  Thorne pulled his phone out of his pocket, and Leopold saw that he had two missed calls.

  “Hey,” he said to Leopold in an elevated voice, placing his hand on her shoulder. “You stay here, I gotta go return a phone call real quick,” He excused himself, and Leopold watched as he went outside,

  Turning her attention to the entertainment, Leopold noticed Layne smirk, as if in victory, because he must have thought Thorne had left for the night. Leopold returned a shy grin to Layne’s wide smile.

  Watching and admiring Layne
’s talent, she didn’t even have to look back to know that Thorne had re-entered the bar. She saw it in Layne’s face, as his smile disappeared, and his eyes threw daggers. Thorne approached Leopold at the table, but did not take a seat. Layne took a break from banging his long dark hair around, to watch them. He could see that they were in deep discussion about something. Layne wanted to know what it was about, so he signaled his lead singer, Corey, with a nod of his head, for a quick five minute break after they finished their current song.

  The band finished the song, and Layne approached the table as Leopold was gathering her things and paying her tab.

  “Where you guys going?” Layne asked, while gently placing his hand on Leopold’s wrist, trying to keep her there with him.

  Thorne glanced down at the gesture, raised his eyebrows, and spoke up, “I got a call from the Lieutenant. Apparently, there’s a state wide BOLO for an escaped convict from Miami -Dade. They need all available personnel, even the Homicide Division, so Leopold and I have to leave. Now. The Lieutenant, Shane, and Wilshire are already headed to the station for a briefing. The Lieutenant knows that you can’t leave right now, but she said to tell you to go home after the gig, get some sleep, and report for duty first thing in the morning.”

  Layne sighed deep. “Fuck,” he grunted, as he rubbed the back of his neck. Not even acknowledging Thorne’s presence, he released Leopold’s wrist, he said, “Be careful out there, Leopold.”

  “Always,” she responded.

  Layne got back up on the stage for the remainder of the fourth set. This gig couldn’t get over fast enough. He loved playing music, but if his team needed him, he needed to be there.

  As the band started their next song, Layne watched Thorne and Leopold walk out into the night, with a defeated sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach; although, he couldn’t quite figure out why.

  CHAPTER THREE- THE STRUGGLE

  Exiting the bar, Detective Bobby Thorne offered to drive, because he didn’t want to ride in Detective Leopold’s bright red smart car. He thought the things looked like a roller skate with wheels, on steroids. Not to mention the fact, that cramming his six foot plus frame inside of it, would be like cramming your foot in a shoe that is three times too small.

  Leopold turned to Thorne. “So, do you want to just follow me back to my place, so I can drop my car off and ride into the station with you? I don’t want to leave my car here, and it’s on the way.”

  “That won’t be a problem,” he said.

  “Okay then,” Leopold said, abruptly making a bee line for her little red roller skate.

  Thorne jumped into the driver’s seat of his Hunter Green Jeep Cherokee, and sat there with fuming thoughts running through his head, while he was waiting for Leopold to put it in reverse, and get going. Now that he had a few moments alone, and didn’t need to keep up the rouse, he could allow his Mr. Hyde to come out. First of all, he really didn’t like to be social, but in order to keep up appearances, he attended this function tonight. It just wouldn’t look right in the eyes of the rest of the team, if he didn’t. Normalcy, and fitting in were crucial.

  Although he wasn’t buddy-buddy with anyone on the team, the one person that he knew had a problem with him, was Layne. Detective Layne really had it out for him, and had no qualms about displaying his dislike or distrust, which couldn’t have been made more obvious tonight, unless he were to put a flashing neon sign on his head.

  Thorne never gave Layne a solid cause for his feelings, but Thorne had to admit to himself, that they were not unfounded. He would give Detective Layne props for that. Maybe Layne just had that natural gut cop instinct, and could see through his charade. He once overheard Layne telling his own partner, Detective Lenny Shane, to “watch his back, because there was something about the guy he didn’t like.” Maybe it was just because he thought he was after “his girl.” Good cop.

  Regardless, he had been working and planning too long, and too hard to have someone fuck it up now. Whether Detective Layne was on to him or not, he was forging full speed ahead. Besides, Detective Layne was otherwise occupied at the moment, and he didn’t have the time to afford the distraction from his plan. From his real target. The one whose heart he wanted to rip out. Figuratively. Well, literally too, but that would just be too merciful, so he would settle for figuratively.

  His partner, Detective Lenny Shane, was the one he was after. Observing the team and their out of office relationships tonight made him giddy. An evil grin spread across his face at the thought of getting a two for one. Let’s see how both Detectives Shane and Layne like his next move. A feeling of satisfaction spread through him, as he turned the ignition key, and followed the little red smart car.

  #

  Back at HQ, Lieutenant Sara Whitten briefed the entire team, except for Detective Layne, who was still playing at the bar.

  Handing out a photo and description of the escaped convict to each of the Detectives, she said, “As we’ve already discussed, we are each going to split up into each of the territories I gave you, and patrol those. If you see the suspect, call it in, and approach with caution. We do not know if he is armed. Leopold,” she said, turning to face the newly shielded Detective Kate Leopold, “I want you to tag along with Detective Thorne. I’m not comfortable sending you out alone just yet.”

  This elicited an eyebrow raise from both Detectives Shane and Wilshire. Lieutenant Whitten, cocked her head at them and said, “Detectives? Do you have a problem with the orders I’ve given?”

  Turning slowly back towards the Lieutenant, Detective Lenny Shane said in his deep, gruff voice. “I am Lead Detective, Lieutenant…Detective Leopold could come with me?”

  The Lieutenant thought about it for a minute, and tapped her finger on the photo she held. “Detective Shane, I know you recognize the man in the photo. Do you really think it’s a good idea for Leopold to be tagging along with you?”

  Detective Shane looked down at the white glossy floor and drew a deep sigh. He did recognize the man in the photo, but he wasn’t the only one in the room who did. He was looking at Robert Verde, serial killer. It was one of his first big arrests on the force nearly twenty years ago. Looking down at the photo, Lenny saw that Verde had the same soulless look in his grey eyes, as he did way back then. His hair had turned from dark brown to a salt and pepper color, but it was the same guy. His face just had more lines and wrinkles now.

  Recognizing the insinuation in his Lieutenant’s voice, Detective Shane ran his hand over his thick salt and pepper mustache, and said, “no problem with the orders, Lieutenant.” Grabbing a piece of Wrigley’s gum out of his shirt pocket, Detective Shane popped it into his mouth, and chewed aggressively on it.

  Even though Detective Thorne was his partner, Detective Shane didn’t trust him completely. Something was just…off about the guy. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but it was a feeling he couldn’t ignore. He never let on to anyone about this feeling, always keeping it professional. Years of being a Detective taught him that a feeling was just a feeling. It wasn’t evidence. Until he had something to back up his gut, he would just keep his mouth shut, unless he wanted to get a date with an internal affairs hot shot. Besides, if you were on to someone, it was always best not to let them know about it. If they think no one is looking, that’s when they tend to get sloppy and make mistakes. Mistakes that land you in prison, like Robert Verde, serial killer of young women.

  “Good,” the Lieutenant said. “I want you all back here tomorrow morning. Drink some coffee or some energy drinks, or something, because we will all be pulling all nighters.” Dismissing them with a wave of her hand, the team filed out of the briefing room, and out into their vehicles to start their area canvas search for the escaped convict.

  #

  Thorne and Leopold jumped into his Jeep Grand Cherokee, where Thorne carefully placed the photograph on the center console, where he could admire it.

  A wrap on the Jeep window made both Thorne and Leopold jump. It was Shane,
motioning for the window to be rolled down. What the hell does he want now, Thorne thought. Forcing a smile on his face, he rolled down the window.

  Bending down, Shane peered into the Jeep. Looking past Thorne, directly at Leopold, he said, “I just wanted to say, ‘be careful out there, kid.’”

  “Thank you, I will.”

  “And you,” Shane directed to Thorne, “you better keep her safe.” It wasn’t a request, more like a threat. “That’s all. You can go,” he said, as he motioned them on.

  Pulling out of the precinct, they headed South on US41. Reaching the intersection of US41 and Collier Boulevard, they continued heading South. There were only a couple of ways that someone coming from Miami could get to Naples, and this was one of them. Although, if he were lucky enough to run into the suspect, Thorne had no intention of apprehending him. More like aiding him. He would keep that little tidbit of information to himself for the time being, thank you very much.

  They drove for ten miles past the main intersection, deeper into the remote stretch of highway.

  Leopold had never been out this way before, and the remoteness of it made her feel like she was in a horror movie. Images of the car breaking down along side the road, accompanied with a chain saw wielding lunatic flashed through her brain. She shifted uncomfortably in the passenger’s seat, and placed her hand on her Glock for some reassurance.

  Breaking the silence, her voice cracked as she spoke, “You have a full tank of gas, right?” Leaning over, she took a look at green iridescent glow of the instrument panel for herself.

  Keeping his attention placed on the road, “F,” he said dully , “means full, not fill, as far as I know.”

  Detective Leopold eased back in her seat, and stared out the window, keeping her left hand on the butt of her gun. Thorne didn’t seem quite as talkative or quite as amiable as he had been earlier this evening, at the bar. He was being so intense. She had never been paired with him before, so maybe, she thought, this was his “work personality.” If so, she was grateful that he wasn’t her usual partner. She was almost willing to bet that he wasn’t like this with Detective Lenny Shane, or else he would probably get his ass beat.