The Scorekeeper

by Dustin Stevens

  All that did was that Della was going to pay the ultimate price for it, her youth and naivety having clouded her judgment, her belief in people being her ultimate undoing.

  Just like her mother said it would.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  With the exception of Jackie still working the dispatch desk on the second floor, every person inside the 8th Precinct was standing inside Captain Grimes’s office. With their attention aimed at the door, they waited as the sounds of heels against a tile floor grew closer, culminating with the appearance of Dr. Pia Mehdi.

  Pausing just long enough to tap at the frame, she saw Reed standing on the far end of the desk and entered, her eyes widening just slightly as the rest of the crew came into view.

  “Dr. Mehdi, thank you so much for coming,” Reed said.

  “And I apologize for my repeated calls,” Grimes added. “As I mentioned, this is an unusual situation and – pardon the cliché – truly one that is a life or death situation.”

  Striding into the office, Mehdi pulled up just short of the corner of the desk, filling the space between Billie and Officer McMichaels. Looking to the pair of officers beside her, she glanced back to Reed and said, “My apologies as well. I was en route back from a conference in Tampa. Delays on the tarmac, bad weather along the way, you all know the story.”

  Each of the men nodded. They did know the story, just as Reed recognized the thin veneer of frustration in her voice as she explained.

  In the wake of Reed’s former partner passing, Reed had spent three months under the care of Dr. Mehdi. Making it through no more than a session or two before it became apparent that the traditional approach of having him lay on a couch and bare his soul wasn’t going to work, the doctor had taken to meeting him at the dog park he went to after his shift in the morning.

  An accommodation she certainly didn’t have to make and had never once complained about.

  Most of their time together was spent more in silence than probing conversation, Mehdi seeming to understand Reed’s guilt, both at his having not been there when Riley passed and with his later taking on a new partner.

  Not until he and Billie’s first major solve together did she finally sign off, signifying that he was moving on.

  In the time since, it didn’t appear the woman had aged a day. Somewhere in her early-to-mid forties, she had a heart shaped face and thick hair that hung in curtains on either side of her head. Dressed in form-fitting jeans and heeled boots, she looked like a celebrity that had now moved into the stage of life where the media began saying things like she was aging gracefully.

  “Well, we certainly appreciate you making the trip at this time of night,” Reed said.

  Arching an eyebrow, Mehdi replied simply, “As the captain said, his message stated it was life or death.”

  The words and the delivery both seemed to signal that it was time to move past the pleasantries. Acutely aware of Della Snow somewhere in a box and the amount of time that had already passed, Reed did just that.

  “What the captain probably didn’t share was how unique this is,” Reed said. Pausing just long enough to draw in a breath, he flicked a glance at the officers, each person seeming to be locked onto his every word. “A few hours ago, we were transferred a call from a young woman on the verge of hysteria. She claimed she had just woken up and was trapped in a box with no idea how she’d gotten there.”

  A trench appeared between Mehdi’s eyes as she stared at Reed, her eyes clouding slightly, though she remained silent.

  “And through a lot of digging the last few hours, we’ve been able to determine her name is Della Snow, that she is missing, that someone has been inside her house, and that the box she is in is either very well insulated or is in the ground somewhere.”

  Reed knew the explanation he was giving was painfully thin on details, but there was no need to inundate the doctor with them. Her presence was for a very specific role, one that wouldn’t be aided or inhibited by his going into the minutiae of the house in Grove City or his stop at Bingham’s.

  All it would do was slow everybody down.

  “You say she was able to get a call out?” Mehdi asked.

  “Yes,” Reed said. “Seems that as a part of whatever game our perpetrator is playing, he thought it would be fun to arm Della with a cell phone.”

  This time, Mehdi’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Which is why you called me.”

  It was very much a statement and not a question.

  “It is,” Reed said. “Already I’ve spoken to her a handful of times, and in my extremely limited experience, it seems she’s spiraling fast.”

  Without waiting for the next follow-up question, he told her of the progression Della had already been through, going from fear to anger to resignation in just a short period of time.

  When he was finished, Reed found he was almost out of breath, having shoved out the information as fast as possible. In the wake of it, he played everything back through his head quickly, making sure he’d left nothing out.

  Around the table, the others exchanged glances between him and the doctor, completely absorbed in a conversation they had no way of adding to.

  For a full minute, Mehdi said nothing. Processing in silence, the crinkled brow remained in place as she parsed through things.

  Once she was done, her forehead returned to smooth, her eyes clear as she regarded Reed.

  “So you need me to speak with her, try to coax her to a place where she can assist you?”

  Feeling the right side of his face scrunch slightly, Reed said, “Yes and no. We have more than enough going to keep looking now – as a matter of fact, I apologize in advance but the officers and I will need to be ducking out of here quite soon.

  “It’s more to the fact that I need to make sure she’s okay. Trapped in a box that size, she can’t have more than a couple of hours of air left.”

  Mehdi nodded. “And having a panic attack or worse won’t help anybody.”

  “Nor will letting herself slip into a dream state,” Reed said.

  “Right,” Mehdi said. Again nodding, she considered the information for a moment before locking her gaze on Reed. “Whenever you’re ready, let’s give this a shot.”

  Chapter Forty-Three

  The group had thinned by half, Captain Grimes and the two officers remaining behind downstairs. Deciding that it would be easier for them to work from the interview suite on the third floor, Reed stood at the head of a small white table, a band of black around the outer edge of it. Pushed in tight on either side were a half-dozen chairs, only one being used, Dr. Mehdi seated on the right side of the table.

  With just the back few inches of her bottom on the seat, her elbows and forearms rested on the table, her fingers laced before her. Her mouth was pulled into a tight line, displaying she was already beginning to feel the same strain Reed was under.

  He couldn’t fathom how she would look on the backend of the call.

  Standing opposite her, Reed opted to remain on his feet, gripping the padded seat of the chair before him. A few feet away, Billie sat on her rear haunches staring up at him. On the floor beside her were the small to-go bowls of food Reed always kept in the car, kibble in one, water in the other.

  The food she had bypassed completely, a trail of water droplets across the tile remaining from her most recent drink.

  At some point, he should probably consider replenishing himself as well. Now in his mid-thirties, he didn’t have the stamina he once did, especially when coupled with the permanent graveyard shift that he and Billie had signed up for.

  Still, considering the state of his nerves and the contraction of his stomach, he didn’t trust his body to hold even the smallest morsel at the moment.

  “You need anything before we start?” Reed asked. “Water? Coffee?”

  “No,” Mehdi said, her attention aimed squarely on the intercom calling system on the table between them. “I had plenty of fluids on the plane, thank you.”

  Wh
ether that was true or she felt the same way he did and was just being polite, Reed didn’t pretend to know. Probably some combination of the two, he didn’t press it, instead shifting his focus down to the device between them as well.

  “Ready?”

  “Ready,” Mehdi replied.

  The plan they’d come to was something so thin, it could barely be considered as such. Closer to a loose working agreement, the idea was that Reed would make a brief introduction and then recede to the side. From there, the doctor would draw out as much as she could, letting Della lead the conversation.

  More than anything, they needed to ensure she found her way back to the middle. She had experienced both extremes already in the last couple of hours, and Reed had no doubt she was experiencing massive amounts of pain from the pummeling she gave her enclosure earlier.

  Still, they needed to make sure she stayed lucid and present. That she didn’t allow herself to slip away, her surroundings becoming too much for her.

  Pulling the number up on his cell phone, Reed punched the digits in the call system between them, each button emitting a slight beep. Before the last one, he paused, glancing up at Mehdi. “Remember, last time we talked, she said she only had one bar left.”

  Mehdi nodded without looking his way. “Got it.”

  Responding the same, Reed pressed the last button, holding his breath as the line was silent for a moment. An instant after that, the sound of ringing piped into the tiny room, exceptionally loud in such a small space. One time after another it seemed to echo around them, permeating the air, ratcheting up the tension that was present.

  And with each successive one, Reed could feel his anxiety spiking, fear of what might have happened rising.

  By the fourth ring, already his mind was starting to envision her lying in an enclosed box, her gaze fixed, staring out at nothing.

  On the sixth, he was imagining things far worse, horrors too much to dwell on, the backs of his fingernails flashing white as he squeezed the chair cushion.

  Not until the eighth ring, the moment when Reed was certain it was about to go to voicemail, did it connect, nothing more than the slightest click.

  Followed by silence.

  “Della?” Reed asked, his brows coming together. “Della, are you there? This is Detective Mattox.”

  Still, no response.

  Sweat rose to Reed’s face, his gaze tracking to Dr. Mehdi as she sat staring at the phone.

  “Della, can you hear me?” Reed asked.

  Leaning forward, he could pick up just the faintest gasps. Tiny pulls of oxygen, so shallow they barely seemed like they would be enough to sustain a child, let alone a woman of Della’s age.

  Opening his mouth to speak again, Reed was cut off by Dr. Mehdi’s hand flashing upward. Turned to display her flat palm to him, she held the pose for an instant before leaning in a few inches and asking, “Della? Della, can you hear me?”

  In her voice was a tone that Reed had rarely heard before, certainly not from the doctor. One that was generally reserved for his mother, the cadence was nothing short of soothing as it rolled out.

  “Della? Are you there?”

  The same shallow breathing was the only response for almost a full minute. Slowly, painfully, it began to pick up just slightly, culminating in a sound that Reed hadn’t heard in more than an hour, one that he would have never thought he would actually be glad to receive again.

  A single sob.

  Short and stifled, it was accompanied by a second and then a third. “Mama?” Della asked, the word more of a rasp than a spoken tone. “Mama?”

  His eyes bulging, Reed felt his jaw drop. Using the back of the chair for leverage, he clenched tight, air hissing through the soft cushion in his hand.

  By his side, Billie climbed to her feet, pressing her body tight against his leg, seizing on yet another physiological shift.

  To this point, Reed had been so focused on the case, on the various scenes, on working through all the pieces coming his way, he’d had precious little time to come around on the victim herself. He’d been to her home, had confirmed her identity, but he still had no clue on her personal life beyond the pictures in her bedroom and what Vance had told him of her reclusion.

  Ditto on if she even had a social media presence for him to delve into.

  One thing after another spilled into his mind, each accompanied by more bitterness. In the extreme haste of the evening, he’d been foolish. He hadn’t gone through everything he needed to, was completely focused on the six inches in front of his nose.

  And if the various messages sprawled across the city were any indicator, that was exactly the point.

  Twisting his head to the side, Reed clamped his teeth down, biting back the urge to curse.

  Across from him, Mehdi again held up her palm, signaling for him to remain quiet.

  “I’m here, Della,” she whispered. “Right here with you. Are you okay, baby?”

  Who Della’s mother was, what the relationship there looked like, Reed had no way of knowing. What he did know was that Mehdi was playing it perfectly, that if anybody had a chance of pulling the needed information out, it would be her.

  “I’m...I’m so sorry,” Della whispered. “So, so sorry.”

  Exchanging a quick glance, Reed and Mehdi both leaned in, straining forward, willing the conversation to continue, for more information to flow forward.

  “It’s okay,” Mehdi said. “It’s not your fault.”

  Again, the sound of sobbing could be heard, this time much stronger than before. Receding into a steady current, it fed through the line, filling the airspace, adding to the apprehension already present.

  “It is,” Della said. “It’s all my fault. You were right. You told me not to go, but I did anyway.” Her voice cracked again, the crying picking up.

  So many questions floated to the front of Reed’s mind, each forcing their way to the fore, only to be supplanted a second later by more. One after another they came in, a steady flow, all fighting for supremacy in his mind.

  Right up to the moment when Della cut the call, the sounds of her crying falling away, reducing the room to nothing more than silence.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Two competing emotions roiled through The Scorekeeper. Together, they formed a potent cocktail that had his mind running in opposite directions, unsure whether to be elated or to start planning for contingencies.

  The first part of the call he was listening in on was nothing short of amazing. The sound of Detective Mattox’s voice put on full display how concerned he was. He had the man right where he wanted. He was pulling the strings just as he’d envisioned for so long, tugging them into perfect position.

  Coupling with the sounds of Della Snow, the mangled gasps, the garbled responses, feelings of excitement filled The Scorekeeper, brimming to the top, threatening to come spilling out.

  It was working. Everything had come together, providing him with so much more than he ever could have imagined.

  For so long, he had envisioned it ending with this night. That with the coming of morning light, he would be vindicated, exposing the truth for all to see.

  With each moment, that eventuality crept closer. Right now, every person present was still so stunned, so twisted by the elaborate plan that he’d made, but soon it would start to come together.

  If he wanted, he might even be able to cut the whole thing off right now. He could stop everything before the final crescendo, merely go back to living his life, leave them all guessing at what had started and ended this hellish whirlwind of a night.

  In the aftermath, he could sit right where he was for as long as he wanted. If the mood struck him, he could go and visit Della. On a nice afternoon, he could even drive past Mattox’s farmhouse.

  Except none of those things were what he really wanted. Tonight wasn’t about slipping off into the darkness. It was about righting wrongs, and then returning to his rightful place.

  A place he had earned. A pla
ce he was respected. A place where the stink of this entire situation wouldn’t cling to him forever.

  Those thoughts, those ideas of brimming emotion, filled The Scorekeeper right up to the moment that the woman’s voice came on the line. From that point on, things had taken a turn, pushing all previous notions from mind.

  It was impossible that the woman was who she claimed to be. That much The Scorekeeper had checked and rechecked, the very reason he had been forced to look at Della Snow to begin with.

  Still, the fact that such a thing had even been said, that a woman had been brought forth to pose as her, was cause enough for concern. It could be that they had merely gotten lucky, that the woman had been brought in to talk to Della and seized on the first words the girl said.

  Of course, it could also be because Mattox was making more headway than he’d been given credit for. That they were starting to put things together.

  His mouth twitching slightly, The Scorekeeper began to gnaw at the inside of his cheek, shoving the replicated burner across the coffee table before him. Watching it slide over the polished surface and tumble to the carpet below, he made no effort to retrieve it.

  Instead, he pulled his laptop closer, focusing on the windows spread vertically across the screen.

  The house in Grove City was slowing down, just the random sporadic burst of color indicating that the criminalists were probably wrapping things up.

  Nothing yet at the third stop on the list.

  Which meant The Scorekeeper had a decision to make. One that could ultimately alter everything irrevocably.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  “What happened? Did we get disconnected?”

  Sweat lined Reed’s face as he looked up at Dr. Mehdi, his stomach drawn in so tight it felt like it was rubbing against his backbone.

  Her focus still aimed at the phone between then, Mehdi shook her head slightly. “No.”

  “The battery ran out?” Reed asked.