by Rick Reed
“Judy, did you see which way they left? Out the front? Through to the garage?”
“What difference does it make now, Jack? Who knows where they went or how they left?” Her eyes widened. “Or are you really going to arrest them?” She drew in a breath and covered her mouth. “You are, aren’t you! Well, I’ll be damned.”
“Judy. Please don’t say anything,” Jack said.
“Okay. I think they were going to eat somewhere down the walkway. That ‘friend’ of Dick’s was talking about how you had interrupted his meal.”
“Thanks, Judy. If Chief Pope calls, tell him where I’m headed.”
“Where are you headed, Jack?”
“Into trouble, Judy.”
She pushed the buzzer and Jack and Liddell entered the lobby. Jack wondered what she would do. If she had savings. Family. He wasn’t sure if city employees were on some type of pension plan like law enforcement officers. He’d never thought about it until now. And for the first time he thought about what he would do if worse came to worse He couldn’t just think about himself anymore. He was going to be married. Be a father. And he felt responsible for Bigfoot’s family. He’d just have to do what he thought was right, as he’d always done.
They were on foot on the Main Street walkway two blocks from the restaurant where they’d been two hours ago. Jack felt for his handcuffs. He’d forgotten them again.
“Did you bring handcuffs, Bigfoot?”
“Are we going to need them?”
“We might. Depends.”
“Well, I only have one set. You sure you want to do it this way, pod’na?”
They were half a block from Milano’s when Liddell’s cell phone chirped. The screen read Urgent. Call me. The text was from Chief Pope.
They stopped on the sidewalk and Liddell dialed and punched the speaker button.
“Detective Blanchard,” Chief Pope said in a relieved voice. “Is Detective Murphy with you?”
“I’m right here, Chief,” Jack said. He didn’t like the sound of the Chief’s voice. It was flat. Defeated.
“Our prosecutor says we have no case against Carl Needham,” Pope said.
“He always says that, Chief. We’ll take him into custody and get more evidence.”
“Jack. You can’t arrest a senator from Ohio based on someone illegally entering his office in another state and videotaping the room. You know that would never be admitted as evidence. Dennis James is not a credible person, Jack. It’s over, Jack. We’re beaten.”
Jack clamped his lips together so he wouldn’t respond too quickly, say something he’d regret. He’d never expected Chief Marlin Pope to give up. Liddell’s face was unreadable, but Jack knew from years of experience with this man that he’d go to the wall for him.
“Jack,” Chief Pope said.
“Yes, Chief. I agree with you. We’ll be at Two Jakes soon.”
“The Captain and I will be waiting for you. We’ll talk.”
“Will do, Chief,” Jack said and the call was disconnected. The time for talk was over.
Liddell put the phone in his pocket and turned to head back to their car.
“Where are you going?” Jack asked.
“But you said we’d be there soon.”
Jack said, “I didn’t say how soon. Give me the handcuffs, Bigfoot. You head back to the war room. Tell the Chief you couldn’t stop me. Tell him I threatened you.”
“I’m bigger. No one would believe you made me.” Liddell took the handcuffs off his belt and handed them to Jack. “You can have the pleasure of putting these on him, but it doesn’t matter who locks Needham up. We’re both going down. Too bad we can’t hook Double Dick up too.”
Jack felt both relief and concern at Liddell’s support. Maybe with Liddell there at least he wouldn’t punch Dick in the face. Too many times.
As they walked in Milano’s doors, Tough Tony greeted them with a nod toward the table by the front window where Needham had been sitting earlier. There were two glasses of iced tea sitting on the table in front of two chairs that had been pushed out. Chief Richard Dick sat alone at the table. He saw the handcuffs in Jack’s hand and smiled.
“Have a seat,” Dick said to them.
“Do you want something to eat?” Tough Tony asked them, his angry glare focused on Double Dick.
Jack said, as he’d said to Needham earlier, “I don’t think we’ll be here that long.”
Chapter 53
“Thanks for doing this, Jenny,” Reina Day said. “I’ll owe you one.”
“You’ll owe me more than one. Are you sure you don’t want me to come along? The cops are only trying to protect you,” Jenny had said, but finally gave in and agreed to what Reina had planned.
Reina waited by the phone for the text message signal that the car was there and when it came, she sent Aldo down the street. He’d been dying to confront the establishment about invasion of rights and curbing freedom—his terms for any police action. She watched Aldo approach the police officers. He would be her distraction.
She climbed out a side window of her house and snuck through backyards to get to the rental car Jenny had arranged. This took her back to her high school days, when she would sneak out of the house and go to a girlfriend’s house—usually Jenny’s—to drink beer and smoke cigarettes. Max would come along with her sometimes so that they had something on each other and wouldn’t rat each other out to their parents. The car was right where Jenny said it would be. Reina felt on top of the left front wheel and found the car keys. She got in and found the items she’d requested Jenny purchase. It was all hooked up and ready to go.
She drove to the corner so she could see that the police car was still there and she hadn’t been discovered. Satisfied, she headed toward the meeting place. When she gave Dick the time and place she wanted to meet, she’d lied and told him that after she had her say she’d drop this. She’d waited all of her adult life to tell him what she thought of his cowardly attack on her brother. She had no intention of letting him off the hook.
Dick had demanded that in return for meeting her that she turn over all the documents the family had saved relating to Max’s death. He made her promise they would be quits after this. She lied again and agreed.
She entered Hillcrest Cemetery and parked near the back once again. She synced the small camera to her cell phone and attached it to the rearview mirror. The screen on her phone showed the entire front seat. She hit the record key on the phone and said, “Testing. Testing.” She played it back and saw and heard herself clearly. She tapped the record button again and put the phone over the visor. She would be able to record Dick arriving.
She’d found the camera using the internet and had downloaded the app that would sync the camera and phone. Jenny had gone to Best Buy and the salesman had been more than happy to sell her the right Wi-Fi camera for the job. She wanted to record what happened here and it would all be stored in the cloud. She sent an email to Jack Murphy giving him a sign-in and password to the program on her phone. She needed someone to know what had happened here and why, just in case something went wrong. She planned to kill Richard Dick.
Her father had kept a .357 magnum Smith & Wesson revolver hidden at home. Reina only knew about it because she had watched him hide it. She took the fully loaded gun out of her purse, held it on her lap. It was fitting she finish this in the place where it all began. She felt goose bumps rise on her arms when she thought of nearly being killed here, but she was sure it was Richard Dick who was the killer. Who else could it be? She would kill him for her brother. For her father. Her mother. And for herself. Then she would end it. No more Days. Dick would never be king.
She turned her head toward the row of grave markers where her brother and father were laid to rest. Her mother was to be buried beside them tomorrow. Soon they would be burying her there. Her family, all gone by the violence
of an arrogant bastard.
She heard tires crunching on gravel and looked in the rearview mirror. The black SUV stopped close to her trunk and the driver’s door opened. The man who got out wasn’t wearing a police uniform. He wasn’t wearing the black hoodie jacket she’d seen before, either. He was in a dark striped suit and she recognized him immediately.
She cursed under her breath. “The coward didn’t come himself. He sent his footman instead. I should have known.” She rolled her window down. “Hello, Carl. Where’s Richard? Are you still doing his dirty work?”
Needham leaned in the window, one hand on the sill, the other behind his back. “I really didn’t want this, Reina.”
She felt a sting on the side of her neck. She wanted to lift the gun, but her arm wouldn’t obey. She could move her head. He’d shot her with a paralytic agent. Maybe succinylcholine, a powerful anesthesia used in surgeries.
She felt the car shift, the door open, and she was aware he was lifting her from the seat. Her vision jostled as she was carried. A door opened and she was slung onto a backseat. She was in his car. She saw the gray felt ceiling and the back of his seat. He stuffed her legs in and pushed her further across the seat. She wanted to scream out, but knew it was futile. The medicine would wear off in an hour or so. Would she still be alive in an hour or so?
Needham’s face was over hers again and it wore no expression. That was the most frightening thing of all.
“Comfy?” he asked. “I forgot. You can’t answer. Well, don’t worry. I’m taking you somewhere safe. I’m not going to kill you. You have to answer some questions and then I’ll take you home. We have so much catching up to do, Reina. I always favored you, you know? You were hot in high school and I have to tell you, you’ve gotten better with age.”
She could feel his hand under her skirt, touching her, entering her, and she screamed inside her head.
“Maybe we’ll have time for that later,” he said and took his hand away. His face disappeared and the door shut with a thud of finality.
Chapter 54
Dick pushed his plate of half-eaten food away, stood, and brushed at his shirtfront. He straightened his medals and ribbons and asked, “Are you here to try to arrest me?”
“Not you,” Jack answered and gave Liddell the handcuffs.
Dick smirked and said, “I told you that you’d never read the Miranda rights to me. We need to talk. We can either do it here or in the Chief’s office.” Dick stressed the word chief.
“Where’s Needham?” Jack asked.
Dick’s chuckle was short. “You won’t be seeing him again—Detective Murphy. Nor you, Detective Blanchard. In fact, I have a job for you. Let’s go to my office.”
“We’ll meet you there,” Jack said. Without waiting for a response, he and Liddell walked out of the restaurant.
Outside, Liddell put the handcuffs back on his belt and they began the trek back to their car. Jack was uncharacteristically silent.
“I could sure have used something to eat, pod’na. A last meal.”
Jack was silent.
“I think he was going to buy, pod’na.”
“It’ll be his last meal as Chief of Police,” Jack said. “We’re going to find Needham.”
They walked into the lobby of the Chief’s complex and Judy Mangold held the door open for them.
“You should carry a radio, Jack,” she said.
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Reina Day’s gone missing,” Mangold said.
“Are they sure she’s not in the house?”
Mangold stood with her hands on her hips. “Her detail called Chief Pope and he told them to make entry. She’s not home, Jack, and her car is undrivable.”
The Bankers Box sat on the floor beside Judy’s desk. He hated to admit it, but he was running out of moves—and time. She picked up the box and walked to the exit door. “Oh, and Sergeant Mattingly called for Chief Pope. I didn’t want to tell him where the Chief was, so I said I’d pass it on. Well, I passed it on.”
“Did he say what he was calling about?” Jack asked.
“No one tells me anything. I just step ’n fetch. I better get to stepping. I’m afraid of what I’ll do if I have to talk to that insufferable prick one more time.”
“Thanks, Judy. Good luck.” He and Liddell made their way to the parking area and got in Jack’s car. Liddell drove while Jack called Sergeant Mattingly.
* * * *
Five minutes later, Liddell was pulling into the service road at Locust Hill Cemetery and stopped behind Sergeant Mattingly’s police car. A blue Ford Focus was sitting in front of the police car. The driver’s door of the Focus stood open.
Mattingly came to their window. “She’s gone. Reina’s gone.”
Jack and Liddell got out, walking close enough to the abandoned car to see a big revolver laying on the front seat.
“We heard she slipped past her guardians,” Jack said. “Was she driving this?”
Mattingly was wearing latex gloves and holding something in his hand. He showed it to them.
“I found her phone. He took her.”
“Back up a minute. Who took her?” Jack asked.
“Dick’s buddy. Needham,” Mattingly said and began pacing. “This car was rented by some woman by the name of Jenny Taylor, but this phone is Reina’s. She recorded the whole thing. It’s on the phone.”
“Recorded what, Sarge?” Jack said.
“You can see Needham snatching her from the car. She had the phone on record. He must not have noticed it because you can see him plain as day.”
Jack slipped gloves on, took the phone, hit the key to rewind, and then hit play. He watched Reina talking into a camera. The camera angle was wrong unless she was holding the phone up near the ceiling. He stopped the video, stooped down, and the little black hump stuck on top of the rearview mirror. A pinhole camera.
“How long has she been gone from her house?” Jack asked.
“Half hour. Maybe more. Who knows? The car was rented two hours ago. The team that were supposed to be watching her found a side window open on her house. She could have been gone for a couple of hours before Needham grabbed her.”
“Was she meeting someone here?”
“She was going to meet Dick,” Mattingly said. “Watch the video, Jack. She set this up with Dick. She says so on the video. Then Needham showed up, drugged her, and took her. You can see him doing something to her and she just goes limp. If she’s dead, I’m going to kill that bastard.”
Jack held the phone so they could all see the screen and hit play again. Reina Day was in the driver’s seat with the phone propped on her leg. She hit a button on the phone and said, “Testing, testing.” The screen went blank for a moment and then came back on. She said, “I’m meeting with Richard Dick here at Hillcrest Cemetery in a few minutes. Richard Dick killed my brother, Maximillian Day. Richard Dick killed my father, Harry Day. Richard Dick killed my mother, Amelia Day. And he tried to kill me.”
Mattingly said, “See what’s on her lap now?”
Reina removed a large stainless-steel revolver from her purse and held it between her legs.
She took a breath and said, “For that, I’m going to kill him. I’m making this recording so you’ll know exactly what happened and why. This is me getting justice for my family. The police wouldn’t help and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see they aren’t going to be able to get him now. I’m recording this on the internet cloud and I’ve sent an email to Detective Jack Murphy with instructions on how to retrieve this video in case something goes wrong.”
She turned the gun over in her hands, checked that it was loaded, and rested it on her leg before she continued talking.
“I want whoever sees this to know that I’m not a violent person. I’m not. I’m a doctor. I became a doctor to help people. To fix them.
But Richard Dick can’t be fixed with medicine or surgery or counseling. He’s a disease that has to be destroyed. My father would—”
A crunching sound could be heard on the recording. A car was coming up behind her. On the video you could see a part of a dark black vehicle stop behind her car.
Reina muttered something Jack couldn’t make out, but she was unhappy. She powered her window down as a figure approached her door. “Hello, Carl. Where’s Richard? Are you still doing his dirty work?”
She gripped the gun and held it close beside her right leg. A man leaned in the window and said, “I really didn’t want this, Reina.”
The gun was still in her hand, but his hand punched or pushed on the side of her neck and she went limp. The man leaned over her. The video caught a perfect shot of Carl Needham, still dressed in the expensive suit from earlier. He lifted her limp form easily from the car.
There was a sound of crunching again and the video showed the back of Needham’s legs and then they were gone. A car door could be heard opening and closing and the car backed away. The picture was now of an empty front seat.
“Is that all that’s on there?” Jack asked.
“That’s it. There’s no time/date stamp on the video.”
Jack checked his cell phone. There was an email from Reina Day. It had come in while they were on their way to arrest Needham at the restaurant. “Have you called crime scene?”
“I was waiting for you. You said you wanted this kept on the low and—”
“And with Dick in charge now, there would be little chance of getting a manhunt underway for his best buddy,” Jack finished the thought. “Well, screw Dick and the mayor he rode in on. Put out a BOLO on Carl Needham. He’s driving a black SUV with Ohio license plates. He’s wearing a dark pinstripe suit and is possibly armed and dangerous. Strike that. He’s to be considered armed and dangerous. And you can add that he’s kidnapped Reina Day.”
“Will do, but I want to get out there.”
Jack put a hand on Mattingly’s shoulder. “I’ll keep you involved, but you have to stay here for now and make sure the scene is done right. Call crime scene. We can’t all lose our jobs today.”