by Bill WENHAM
I just nodded glumly as he sauntered away across the grass, just leaving us standing there. I looked after him and saw him join up with another guy standing beside a golf cart. Good place to meet, Lieutenant, out in the open my eye, I thought. It was just a good opportunity for him to get a round of golf in.
I shrugged my shoulders as Ellie asked, “So what now.”
“Right at this moment, Babe, I haven’t got a clue,” I told her. “Everything the Butler has ever said or done has pointed us directly at Cervantes and the death of his bride. Something is awfully wrong with this picture, El, as the Chief is telling it to us. I mean, look at what the lousy bastard did to Petrocelli, for God’s sake. All that glass in his body was exactly the same as in the girl’s body. It’s just too much of a coincidence, that’s all.”
Ellie looked thoughtful for a few moments
“Could he and his brother have faked their own deaths somehow, maybe?” Ellie asked me, “Survived the explosion?”
“It’s possible, I suppose, El, but the Chief just told us the bodies were blown to bits, didn’t he?”
“But their ID wasn’t, Hon. That’s a bit strange, isn’t it? I mean, if the explosion was that violent, wouldn’t everything be blown to bits as well? I suppose it’s possible that one set of ID might just survive the blast intact, but two of them, Sandy? That’s stretching believability a bit too far, don’t you think?”
I pondered on that for a moment or two.
“Dammit, I think you’re right, Ellie my love,” I said, “And now we have to ask ourselves what possible reason they’d have for faking their own deaths, don’t we?”
“Elementary, my dear Sherlock. To be able to change their identities, of course.”
“Of course,” I agreed and gave her a big hug. “Rather than putting us off, if we’re right, this actually confirms we’ve been on the right track all along, doesn’t it? The trouble is, though, the Butler is leading us along by the nose, and pretty well anywhere he wants us to go.”
Ellie said, “After his display of marksmanship, he would have to know we’d check him out with the military and he’d also know what it is we’d have been told by Ft. Bragg.”
“He’s still out there, El, I’m absolutely sure of it, but not as Cervantes. That was the whole purpose of the fake death exercise. We have to find out what it is he calls himself now.”
Ellie suddenly gripped my arm. “Sandy, there wasn’t just one faked death. There were two of them! Emilio Cervantes and his brother, whatever his name is. What if they’re in this thing together?”
“Oh, shit, Ellie,” I said. “You’re right. Of course you’re right. So it’s not the two of us up against one madman at all, is it? It’s the two of us against the two of them, and both of them possibly psychopathic killers. We know at least one of them is, don’t we?”
Ellie nodded.
“That’s true, Lover, but I think you’re forgetting something else. Two against two should be fairly even despite their fancy training, but they have another enormous advantage over us, pal.”
“And that is?” I asked her.
“They already know who we are and as you so rightly pointed out, we haven’t got a clue who they are. We know who they were but we have no idea who they are now, do we? The only thing we have going for us is hopefully they don’t know where we are yet.”
“Uh, huh,” I said, “And I think from now on, rightly or wrongly or until it proves itself to be different, we’re obliged to always assume we’re dealing with two of them all the time.”
Ellie reached for my hand as we arrived back at the Jeep.
“Somehow, Sandy, we have to outsmart them. If they were both with Delta Force, even as trainees, you’ve got to know they’re damned good. They wouldn’t have even been selected for training if they weren’t. That’s one elite outfit, Hon, and they don’t take just anybody. They’d be good at everything. Weapons, explosives, hand to hand, communications, you name it and you can bet your ass they can do it. Even if things were even and we knew who and where they were, we’re still no match for them experience-wise. We’ll just have to try to outthink the bastards.”
“That’s my girl,” I said, as I turned her around and kissed her right in the middle of the golf club parking lot.
“Verry interesting,” the Butler said, in an excellent imitation of Arte Johnson’s German soldier character from the old ‘Laugh in” show, “but schtupid!”
The police Chief had been so obvious and so easy to tail. As soon as the Butler had seen him walk directly over to the eighth hole upon arrival at the golf course, he knew he’d be meeting someone there.
The Butler’s diligence was rewarded a few minutes later when he saw Spicer and the Todd woman walking across the grass to join him.
As they walked, oblivious of his presence a couple of hundred feet away, he followed them with a portable recorder and directional mike. Occasionally he would stop and swat at a ball with the clubs he always kept in his car. Then he would casually stroll along after them.
Later, after he’d taken down the license plate number of Spicer’s Jeep, he permitted himself a small smile as he got back into his car and drove away. If nothing else had been achieved, he now had a lead on Spicer’s new address via the DMV.
When he and Raphael played the tape back of the Chief’s report they shook each other’s hands and laughed. Things were falling into place very nicely indeed. Next, when they listened to Spicer’s and Ellie Todd’s deductions, they were even more pleased.
It was time for Spicer to receive another message from the Butler, with a clue, and perhaps a couple of red herrings thrown in to keep them on their toes. This message wouldn’t be phoned in to the Precinct either. It would be delivered directly to them at their new home. That should be something to give them cause to sit up and take notice.
Be advised, Detective Spicer, the hunt is now on again, and guess who the targets are!
Chapter Sixteen
“Oh, my God! Oh, Sandy, oh, my God!” Ellie cried frantically from the front hallway.
We had rented a fully furnished two bedroom apartment in a nondescript building in the suburbs and Ellie was standing at the front door of it and shaking like a leaf. The door had the old fashioned mail delivery slot in the door and Ellie had apparently just picked up something that had just been pushed through it.
As I rushed up to her, wondering what the hell was wrong; she threw her arms around my neck and sobbed against my chest.
“Oh, Sandy, Sandy, hold me tight…please.” she cried tearfully.
As I held her, I could see she held an envelope in her right hand. The end of it was just visible out of the corner of my eye.
It had the black edged border normally associated with funeral announcements, remembrance cards or sympathy messages. I gently pried it from her fingers and led her into the living room, where I eased her down into one of our rented armchairs.
Printed on the envelope were our names.
Detective Lysander Spicer and Police Officer Eleanor Todd. All very correct and formal except it didn’t say ‘Lieutenant’, I noted.
It said ‘Detective’, the rank I’d held when my shots had unfortunately caused the death of the Butler’s bride to be.
Ellie watched with wide tear filled eyes as I carefully opened the envelope. I was unconcerned about obliterating any fingerprints. I knew the Butler wasn’t dumb enough to leave any. He never has done so far so there was no reason I should think he’d start now.
I eased a CD out of the envelope and removed its paper cover. Someone had printed across the face of it with a black marker, ‘The new rules of the Game!’
“We should play this, Ellie,” I said gently to her.
“I know,” she said, “and I know it’s unfair of me to keep falling apart like this, but I thought we were safe enough here. It just shook me up, that’s all. To think he was actually standing outside our door when I picked that up is enough to give me the creeps.”
“We don’t know for sure, El. As a matter of fact, I think for him to deliver it personally would be highly unlikely. He isn’t that stupid. I’m sure he paid some kid to drop it off and the kid is long gone too by now, believe me.”
“I do believe you and you’ll never know how glad I am that you’re here with me.”
I looked at her and she favored me with a wan smile.
“Play it, Sam,” she said, in a very poor Bogart impression, and forced the small smile into her usual grin.
“Okay, El, thanks,” I said. “Like it or not, we need to hear what’s on this thing, don’t we?”
“Don’t mind me, lover,” she said, wiping at her eyes on the sleeve of her dressing gown, “but don’t you dare stray too far aware from me either, hear?”
“You’ve got it, Hon,” I said and got up to put the CD into our player, one of the few things of our own in the apartment. I pressed ‘Play’ and sat down to listen.
At least it didn’t go ‘Bang’, but I guess it did the next best thing. It scared the daylights out of us. It was a long, detailed and rambling message, but every word held our undivided attention. It was also delivered in a perfect impression of the rich tones of Sean Connery and it began;
“Well, now, Detective Spicer, and you too, Officer Todd. As you can see by what I’ve printed on this CD, it is a new game with new rules.
The first rule is this. I win. That is a given because I always win.
The second rule follows the first. If I win, then naturally, you lose. That is also a given. And of course, the losers die. Naturally. Or perhaps unnaturally, depending on my mood at the time.
So now we all know what the outcome will be, let me go over some of the directions for playing this game of ours..’
First of all, I would like you to trust me.”
As the voice on the CD said that, Ellie snorted and spluttered. The Butler, however, must have anticipated such a reaction since there was a momentary pause in the message. His next words shocked both of us. It was as though he was right in the room with us and had actually heard Ellie’s reaction.
“Please don’t overreact, Officer Todd, when I ask you to trust me. I give you both my solemn promise not to attempt to harm you in your own home. After all every creature needs a hole somewhere to hide in, doesn’t it?
In any case, I could have destroyed both of you this morning if I’d wanted to. Two well placed shots through that mail slot and you would both have been gone. Or better yet, how about on the golf course, right in front of your Police Chief? At any time too, I could have rigged your Jeep to explode when you turned on the ignition.
But none of those things have happened, or will happen. Not yet anyway. Please do not misunderstand me either. I do intend to kill you both, that too is a given, but it will be in my own way and in my own time. So you can sleep easy for a while, if you can, because, for the moment, at least, you are both safe.
It was very clever of you, and for the first time, I might add, to finally figure out there are two of us playing the role of the Butler and…’
I lunged forward and hit the pause button on the CD player, startling Ellie.
“Hang on here; let’s just hang on here a goddamned minute, El! I’ve got it! I know this guy has got to an entertainer of some kind, an actor, magician, impressionist or something like that. I’d bet my bottom dollar he’s got to be one of those. He’s just got to be. Look at all these perfect accents, Ellie, English, Irish brogue, and now Connery for God’s sake, and he’s good too. The lousy bastard has been trying to tell us all along he’s a goddamned actor. He even talks about the two of them playing the role of the Butler.”
“I think you’re right, Lover,” Ellie said, “But let’s hear the rest of it now, okay?”
I got up and pushed the ‘Play’ button and the Connery voice continued.
“As you also assumed, and correctly so, my brother and I faked our own deaths at Ft. Bragg. Not too difficult to achieve and far simpler than going through all the rigmarole of trying to get ourselves discharged. So a couple of other guys had to stand in for us for the big bang - big deal!
Now, for the rest of the directions, and you’d better follow these very carefully.
Clue number one; Even though my brother and I have new identities, we still use our old family name, Cervantes. However, unless you give some thought to it, you will not recognize it. It is the same but it is not. Is that enough of a puzzle for you?
No? Then try this. My brother’s name is also the same but is also not, and neither is like the other.
Have I lost you? I surely hope not, since unraveling these clues is the only way you will ever find out who we are now and that will lead you to where we are now.
Oh, and by the way, we are planning to travel. You have a choice. You can either sit at home trembling in your boots and jumping at every shadow or you can solve the clues and come after us. Maybe we will kill a few more cops along the way, just to keep our hand in and keep you interested.
We will also send you a postcard. Look out for it!
The CD, with its Sean Connery voice, ended abruptly as Ellie and I sat staring at the now silent CD player.
“He says he won’t kill us here, Sandy,” Ellie said, her eyes filled with tears, “and dammit, I know it’s stupid but I desperately want to believe the crazy bastard.”
I sat there just as stunned as she was. I’d thought, with all our precautions, we were safe here and just how wrong was that. Should we, or even could we, trust a psychopath to keep his word, especially when he’d sworn to kill us both?
My first thought was. Grow up, Sandy! There is no Santa Claus. There is no Tooth Fairy, and crazy psychopaths don’t keep their words. You can bank on it! As he’d said on the CD, that much was a given.
Rather than giving us a sense of safety and security, his words had just added to our feeling of vulnerability, which had obviously been his intention all along.
Regardless of what I’d said to Ellie, I knew he’d been right outside our door. He had to have been to have known about the mail slot, and we, particularly me, had no goddamned idea he was out there.
Christ! How safe was that?
He’d said he was going to kill us and although I had no doubts about his intentions, I didn’t think he’d do it just yet. I believed he’d want to put on a big act of some kind for the final showdown, the final curtain. Setting fire to our home or just blowing us up didn’t seem to be his style somehow. He’d want us, and again particularly me, to suffer badly, and also be where he could see us and enjoy it all.
I was certain now this next game of his would be one of cat and mouse with us. Or more correctly cats and mice, since we now knew we had his goddamned brother to contend with as well.
I went over to Ellie’s chair and took my tearful lady in my arms to comfort her and in doing so, comforted myself. Since we’ve been going together, I’ve sometimes wondered if we really love each other. Or whether the shared danger, terror if you like, and a total reliance upon each other has created a close enough bond to simulate it. Perhaps, after living with that day after day, we were just too used to it to want to change anything. I knew I would lay down my life to save her and would give everything else I had just to be with her.
If that was love, then I loved her and loved her dearly, but then perhaps this ‘love’ thing was just another nice and convenient word to use after all. She’d told me right at the onset her prime reason for being with me, and she’d made no bones about it, was that she wanted my protection. Jan had done the same thing with Wayne and where had that got them?
I shook my head angrily. Dammit, the Butler was already playing games with my head and we’d only just gotten his latest message.
We heard nothing more from the Butler after that for over three weeks, nothing at all. And then we got the postcard!
It came right through the mail slot, just like the CD had done. It was postmarked, ‘Jacksonville, Florida’
I’d called the Chief
at the Precinct right away, as soon as I’d received the CD. He was shocked to hear from me and asked me what the hell I thought I was doing. I was violating all the careful security measures that he’d put in place for us, he told me.
Then I told him about the CD!
I heard him gasp at the other end of the phone.
“You mean he actually saw us together on the golf course?” he said incredulously.
“Not only saw us, Chief, he heard us as well. He hears every goddamned word that any of us ever says. He knows about our place here too, obviously. He even poked the goddamned CD through our own front door here, for Christ’s sake! And he knows about the Jeep too. I don’t think there is anything at all he doesn’t know about right now.”
“But how can that be?” the Chief said, “We were all so careful.”
I didn’t think it was perhaps the best of times to tell him I thought the Butler had just followed him to the golf course. I sure as hell knew he hadn’t followed us! Once he was there, spotting our Jeep would have been child’s play for him and would have led him easily to our address.
He asked me what I planned to do and I told him we had some ideas we wanted to follow up on and to think about for a while. He asked me what they were but I deliberately and pointedly changed the subject.
I left him pondering about that and very possibly wondering how all his carefully planned security measures had come apart at the seams.
Three weeks later when the postcard arrived, I called him again.
This time when we spoke he wasn’t his usual loud and blustering self. I guessed the three weeks had given him time to come to the conclusion that he’d been the one at fault. He wasn’t the kind of guy to admit being wrong but at least he wasn’t blaming us for it.