by Sandra Brown
“What do you expect to see on it?” Menundez asked.
“You were looking for somebody who was moving through the crowd in a hurry. Maybe we should watch for someone who wasn’t in such a hurry.” That didn’t seem consequential enough to convince them, but that was all Drex was willing to tell them at this point.
“Let me watch the video, then no more favors, I swear. Please.” He looked at his watch. “But decide. I need the face-off with Rudkowski to happen soon. Before he does something stupid.”
“Like put you in jail,” Locke said. “As soon as he sees you, that’s what he’ll do.”
“Then it’s up to me to convince him otherwise.” He split a look between the two. “Cuff me if you want, just let me see the video. Do we have a deal?”
“Yes,” Menundez said.
And simultaneously Locke said, “No.”
“Fifteen minutes,” Drex pleaded.
Locke wavered. “We’ve got to deliver Rudkowski something.” He looked at Talia. “He’s still hot to question you. That may pacify him for fifteen minutes.”
Drex turned to her. She asked, “Will it help you?”
“Honestly, I can’t guarantee that it will.”
She smiled and raised her shoulders. “He’ll track me down sooner or later. I had just as well get it over with.”
When Drex moved, it was as though he’d been spurred. He reached for Talia’s hand and pulled her up and out of her chair. “We’ll get our stuff and be right back.”
Responding to his haste, Talia shot up the stairs, Drex right behind her.
When they reached the landing, she pulled him into the bedroom and slammed the door shut. “What’s your plan?”
“Time’s short. I can’t lay it all out for you now.”
“You mean you won’t.”
“That’s right, I won’t. Listen,” he said before she could argue. “Did that recovered shoe or the untouched bank accounts convince you that Jasper is dead?”
“No.”
“No. If he wants to continue his illustrious career, he can’t afford to leave us alive. I don’t want him sneaking up on either of us like he did on Gif and Sara Barker. I’ve got to draw him out.”
“I understand that, but how—”
“The less you know—”
“Stop that! Tell me.”
He shook his head. “This has to be my thing.”
“Well, in case it’s slipped your mind, it’s also my thing.”
Immediately repentant, he said, “Of course. I’m sorry. That was a dumb thing to say. I made it your thing, didn’t I?”
She gripped his upper arms and shook him slightly. “No, Jasper did. I’ll never get back the year I spent with him, but I’ll be damned before I’ll let him control one more day of my life. Not if I can help it.”
“Help by trusting me.”
“I have to trust myself, Drex.” She flattened her hand against her chest. “I didn’t trust my instincts before. For all the reasons I’ve tried to explain, I suppressed my misgiving and lived with a man who is innately evil. Now, every instinct I have is screaming for me to trust you. But am I in denial again because of my sexual attraction to you? You say you’re a good guy, but you operate outside the law. So do I doubt my instincts, or trust them?”
“Trust them.” He cupped her face. “My methods are dodgy. I bend rules. I break them. But I’m a good guy.”
“Those dodgy methods scare me.”
“I understand. But remember what scares me most? I told you that day you came up to the apartment.”
“Failure.”
“Failure. Failure to catch him.”
There was a hard rap on the door, and Locke shouted through it, “Easton!”
“Be right there,” he shouted back. Then in a whisper, “My worst fear is that Jasper will slip through my fingers, that it will be generally accepted that he drowned, that I’m a crackpot, that the missing button connection is bunk. Then, when nobody’s looking for him any longer, he’ll come back to finish you. I’ve got to end this, Talia, and I’ve got to end it now. You can doubt my methods, but don’t doubt my purpose.”
She looked deeply into his eyes, then nodded, and said huskily, “I do trust in that.”
He aligned his forehead with hers and whispered a heartfelt thank you, then said, “Sexual attraction, huh?” He pulled her to him and kissed her deeply, his hand on her bottom, pulling her close. She dug her fingers into his hair. The brevity of the kiss only heightened the passion behind it.
“Easton!”
Drex ignored the banging on the door but broke the kiss. “One last thing. Rudkowski will try to browbeat you.”
“I can handle him.”
“I have no doubt.” Her gave her a parting kiss, then turned her about and pushed her toward the door. “Show yourself before Locke has a coronary.”
Chapter 35
Locke walked Talia downstairs. Drex asked for a minute in the bathroom. He shut the door and called Mike.
“Who’s this?”
“Me. Forgive my whisper. I’ve locked myself in the bathroom. Any news of Gif?”
“Your swooner at the hospital called me about half an hour ago. They’re moving him into a private room.”
“That’s great news.”
“I thought so.” He passed along Gif’s hospital room number. “I haven’t been able to go see him, though.”
“They’re still holding you at the sheriff’s office?”
“They’re fiddle-farting around. I’m going to kill Sammy.”
“Can’t you talk your way out of there?”
“Working on it. I was trying to give an ex-con a break by renting a car from him. How was I to know that it was stolen? Live and learn. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.”
“Doesn’t look good that you skipped town and left Rudkowski dangling.”
“Our signals got crossed. His word against mine. And the agents who were guarding my house hate him and love the homemade lasagna I took them, so I’m betting they’ll back me. In any case, these guys here have got nothing to hold me on, because Sammy, who fears my murderous wrath, swears that I was oblivious. They’ll have to release me, in time.”
“Any estimate on when that might be?”
“Why?”
“Well, speaking of Rudkowski…” In a rapid clip, overriding Mike’s numerous attempts to interrupt, Drex updated him on the recent setbacks, ending with his arrest. “They don’t have a choice but to take me in.”
“That ass-wipe Rudkowski.”
“True. But I need you to do something for me besides name-calling.”
“Like what?”
Drex made his request. Mike’s response was, “Have you lost your fucking mind?”
“I don’t have time to explain why, or to argue with you about it. I’ve already overextended Locke’s patience. I need a yes or no.”
“You realize that if I do this, it can’t be undone.”
“Nine murders can’t be undone.”
There was a knock at the door. “Now, Easton.”
“You gotta tell me, Mike,” Drex whispered. “Will you do it?”
“It’s your funeral.”
When Mike said that, in that particular grumble, Drex knew he had him. “Thanks. Later.”
He clicked off, snapped up the lock, and opened the door.
Locke was on the threshold. “Who were you talking to?”
He replied with a wide grin. “The hospital. Gif’s being moved out of ICU into a private room.”
Locke took the phone from him. He went to recent calls and pulled up the last number. “That’s Mallory’s number.”
“Okay, so I skipped a step. I called Mike, who told me the news that he got from the hospital.”
“You’re giving me the runaround.”
Drex sighed, looked away, came back to him. “I called Mike to ask if he would bail me out.”
“What did he say?”
“You want it straight
and unfiltered?”
“That would be a welcome change.”
“He asked if I’d lost my fucking mind.”
Drex asked if they could take Gif’s car so Talia wouldn’t be stranded. Locke agreed on the condition that Drex would go with him. Talia would ride with Menundez.
When they arrived at the police department, Locke parked in a designated slot. They reunited with Talia and Menundez at an entrance for personnel. Before they went in, Locke turned to Drex. “You carrying?”
“Yes.”
“You’re not planning to shoot him, are you?”
“Rudkowski? Hadn’t planned to.”
“That’s too bad. But I can’t let you go inside with a weapon. Give it to Menundez.”
Knowing it would be pointless to argue, Drex passed the detective his pistol, saying, “Escort Talia to Rudkowski. Keep him occupied long enough for me to view that video.”
Locke intervened. “You know, typically, the apprehended don’t give the orders.”
”You agreed to give me fifteen minutes,” Drex said.
“I didn’t agree to anything.”
“I need to see that video before I see Rudkowski.”
“You’re not going to talk him out of the arrest.”
“Don’t underestimate my powers of persuasion.”
Locke remained dubious, but he said to Menundez, “Text me which room you’re in. Fifteen minutes or less, we’ll be up.”
Before they separated, Drex reached for Talia’s hand and squeezed it. “Give him hell.” She smiled and squeezed back.
Locke led Drex into a room that had a modicum of privacy. He accessed an available computer and downloaded the security camera video. Drex had noted earlier the time burn-in on the freeze-frame. He fast-forwarded to it, then backed up three minutes from there and started playing. To Drex’s disappointment, the images were no more distinct on this larger monitor than they had been on Locke’s laptop.
“Warned you it was lousy,” Locke remarked as he watched over Drex’s shoulder.
It was. Drex paused and restarted it frequently, zoomed in on still frames, zoomed out, fast-forwarded and rewound so often that Locke said, “I’m getting motion sick.”
“Me too. I could do with a Coke. Got one around here?”
“Forget it. I’m not leaving you alone.”
“I wouldn’t cut out on you. Scout’s honor.”
“You’ve got ten more minutes. I’ve got calls to return.”
Locke walked a short distance away, but still in sight, and got on his phone. Drex paused the video at a certain point and leaned in closer to the monitor to study one of the frozen images. He backed it up, saw the same individual. He fast-forwarded, but slowly, watching even more closely.
Locke returned. “Time,” he said.
Drex pushed back his chair and stood up. “Thanks.”
“Hold it. Did you catch something I should see?”
“Rudkowski’s waiting.”
“Look,” Locke said with irritation, “you can continue bullshitting, or you can clue me to your plan.”
“Plan?”
Locke gave a sigh of exasperation. “Easton, I admire you more than I like you. I think you’re smart, and I think you’re earnest. Menundez has a man crush on you. You appeal to his cowboy-cop ideal. When Rudkowski told us about you, the things you’ve done in the name of ‘duty,’ I thought at first that he had to be lying.”
“All this to say…?”
“I would rather have you at my back, even without a badge, than that guy with one. But I’ve got to know the plan you’re hatching.”
Drex thought too much of Locke’s integrity to continue pretending. “In your situation I would feel the same frustration. But I’m reluctant to discuss a plan that isn’t even close to hatching. It’s still embryonic.”
“I could help, field ideas.”
“When the time is right.”
Still looking vexed, Locke said, “Have you ever met the SAC in Columbia? The one Rudkowski is reporting to?”
“No.”
“Doesn’t matter. Jump the chain. Call him directly. Explain this grudge match between you and Rudkowski.”
“Who has painted me to be a nut case. Even if I could get through to the SAC, by the time I convinced him that I wasn’t delusional and paranoid it could be too late.”
“All right, how about this? I’ll take you in to see our chief. He’s a reasonable man, and he’s had two women murdered in the past two nights. He wants the culprit. Bounce your idea…Why not?” he asked when Drex began shaking is head.
“Because, as reasonable as he may be, he’ll toe the line. While he’s trying to figure out what to do with me, time is running out.”
“Maybe it already has. By now, Jasper Ford may be long gone.”
“Do you honestly think that? If you do, say so.”
“No. I think he’s alive and unraveling just like you say.”
“Okay then. This is the game-winning three-point shot at the buzzer, and I don’t need my own damn team trying to block it.”
“That’s my point, we’re not a team.”
“We are,” Drex said. “I swear.”
Uncertainty in his eyes, the detective asked quietly, “Can you make the shot?”
“I don’t know. I hope so, but I’m nursing no illusions. If I fail, it’ll be spectacular. But it will be my own throat I’ve cut. Only mine.”
“That’s just it,” Locke said. “If you’re put out of commission for good, it’ll be a hell of a waste of talent and guts. I want you to win. I just wish you would play by the rule book.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because he doesn’t.”
“Don’t play dumb, Mrs. Ford. Don’t act like you didn’t know that I wanted to talk to you. You are a material witness in a felony case involving the kidnap and murder of Elaine Conner, as well as the unexplained disappearance of your husband.”
Talia’s only previous exposure to Special Agent Rudkowksi had been the dialogue she’d overheard while hiding in the safe room with Drex. Her opinion hadn’t improved upon meeting him. Since he’d entered the interrogation room where Menundez had ensconced her, Rudkowski had been railing at her, virtually without taking a breath.
As he continued to rant, she kept her expression as aloof as possible, her gaze steady on him. She wasn’t accustomed to the cops-and-robbers environment, much less to being shouted at. Her failure to react with fear and trembling had roused him to become increasingly loud.
Menundez said now, “Ease up, Rudkowski. She’s not a suspect.”
“I’ll determine that.”
Talia seized her first opportunity to get a word in edgewise. “Agent Rudkowski, I’m well aware of the seriousness of the crimes.”
“Are you? Then why have you hampered the investigation by avoiding this interview? You also tampered with evidence.”
“I did no such thing. When I left my house before you served the search warrant, I took nothing from it except a couple of changes of clothing and some toiletries.”
“Your husband’s cookbooks. Menundez here says they filled that shelf above the stove. That shelf was conspicuously empty.”
“I didn’t take the cookbooks.”
“Then it was Easton.”
“He had nothing with him when we left the house. Not even his personal belongings.”
“Then his cronies made off with them. How come? What did they do with them?”
Since Jasper’s cookbooks had turned out to be a disappointing false lead, and therefore irrelevant, she saw no point in either denying the action or defending it. But Rudkowski’s yammering about them was keeping him preoccupied, which was what Drex needed her to do.
The agent propped his hip on the corner of the table, crowding her in an obvious attempt to be intimidating. “What tactic did Easton use to get you to pull a vanishing act with him?”
“No tactic.”
“Come on. He’
s a con man. Did he schmooze you with his boyish charm? Hate to be the one to break it to you, but you wouldn’t be the first to fall for it, you know.”
“He convinced me that my husband is a career criminal and, given the opportunity, would very likely try to kill me.”
He scoffed. “You believed that?”
“If I had a grain of doubt, it was dispelled last night when Jasper killed that woman and critically injured Mr. Lewis.”
“Those crimes have not been attributed to Jasper Ford. They’re relative to nothing. Alleging that your husband was involved is just another of Easton’s wild hares. Had your husband ever met Gif Lewis?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
“Then how did he recognize him to attack?”
Drex had been unable to explain that. She refrained from answering.
Rudkowski cupped his ear. “Come again? I didn’t catch that,” he mocked.
“See what I’m getting at, Mrs. Ford? Easton makes up stuff to support his crazy notions. His claims of a serial killer have no basis, and never have.” He poked his index finger against his temple. “He’s nuts. He’s obsessed with a bogeyman of his own invention.”
She leaned away from him and gave him an unhurried once-over. “Then why are you so unstrung?”
He blinked. “Pardon?”
“I don’t understand your agitation. If you believe that Drex is a mental case, why haven’t you dismissed his wild hares as such, and gone on about your business?”
“Because he’s impeding my investigation.”
“Excuse me,” she said coolly, “but from my perspective, it seems you’ve contributed very little to the investigation of Elaine Conner’s murder and the search for my husband, whether he’s dead or alive, innocent or guilty. By contrast, you’ve spent a great deal of time pursuing Drex and deriding him at every opportunity. If anyone has an obsession, Special Agent Rudkowski, it appears to be you.”
Menundez snickered.
Rudkowski’s whole body inflated with indignation. His forehead broke a greasy sweat. He pushed off the table and, placing his hands on his knees, bent down until his face was level with hers. “You had better watch it, Mrs. Ford, or Shafer, or whatever you choose to be called. I’ll put you in lockup until you decide to cooperate.”