So Simple, page 16
“How would you feel if I was hurt?” he asked.
Faith blinked, surprised by the question. “Well, I would prefer if you weren’t hurt. There’s no need for it. There’s no need for anyone to get hurt.”
“How would you feel if I hurt your dog?”
She blinked again, and a thrill of fear ran down her spine. “If you hurt my dog, Thomas, you have my word that I will make things as hard for you as I possibly can. So will my partner, who’s on his way right now.”
Thomas chuckled. He set something against the wall, and when he walked away, she saw it was an aluminum baseball bat. Dried blood stained the end of the barrel, and another thrill of fear ran down Faith’s spine. “Yeah,” he said, “I figured. After all, the dog’s more important, right?”
He looked at Faith, and though he smiled, the malevolence in his eyes was palpable. “Don’t worry,” he said, “I don’t hurt dogs. They don’t know any better. They can’t know any better. Knowing better was bred out of them so humans wouldn’t have to worry about bigger, faster and stronger predators outcompeting them for food.”
He turned toward the nurse and said, “but people? Yeah. I’ll hurt people.”
Faith looked around for something she could use to try to free herself. She saw that the wires at the end of Turk’s wire cage had sharp edges. It would be difficult, but maybe she could cut through her bonds. At the very least, she could keep him talking until Michael arrived.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked, lifting herself to a seating position and scooting close to Turk.
“Don’t worry,” Thomas said again. “I’m not going to hurt your dog. He should be worried about you, not the other way around. Of course, he is worried about you, isn’t he? Because you trained him to be. I’ll bet he doesn’t give a shit about me. Not that anyone would. Why would they?”
She hesitated before saying this, but Thomas would be in FBI custody by the end of the day no matter what, and she hoped to reach that point without seeing another woman murdered. “Kevin cares about you,” she said. “He told me so.”
Thomas laughed loudly at that. He threw his head back and guffawed until tears rolled down his face. “Oh man,” he said when his laughter finally faded. “Kevin? That’s funny. Did he act all down-to-Earth too? Hands in his pockets, all ‘aw, shucks’ like?”
“He told me he offered to give you a place to stay. He told me he let you use the business address.”
“Did he tell you what he wanted me to do to stay with him? Or what I had to do to use the business address?”
He looked at Faith, and she saw pain mixed with hate in equal measure in his eyes. “He’s going to be the last one. I’m going to take care of all of these evil women who prefer dogs to people, then on my way out of here, I’m going to pay Kevin a little visit. I have special plans for that old creep.”
“Thomas, these women are innocent. They’ve done nothing to harm you.”
"Those are two separate statements, Special Agent," Thomas replied, stepping to the nurse and lifting her head to look at her wide, trembling eyes. "The first one is not true. The second one is, but that's neither here nor there. I already took care of the people who hurt me when I was younger. Now, I'm just teaching people a lesson. Of course," he grinned at the nurse. "You won't be alive to apply it.
The nurse whimpered, and Thomas laughed. “God, they’re always so afraid. It’s funny. I almost thought about leaving her alive a little longer to see how far she’d go to save her own life, but I don’t know. It’s not like I’m going to accept any of her offers, and I’m pretty sure she’d just go right to sex. Women seem to think that having tits is a superpower.”
“Thomas,” Faith said. “These women have not hurt you. This isn’t revenge, and it’s not justice. It’s murder.”
"I was a good kid," Thomas said, ignoring her. "I was kind. I was respectful. I was hardworking and intelligent. I don't understand why no one wanted me." He looked at Faith. "I was sent from foster home to foster home, and I never harmed anyone until that whore at the last home. I thought if I behaved well, someone would eventually want me. I thought for sure that someone would eventually decide I was worth a little human decency.
“But no one did. No one wanted to adopt me. Do you know what that’s like, Special Agent? Do you know what it’s like to know that you’re so completely unloved and unwanted, so worthless?”
He fell silent a moment, then said, "We got a dog one year. This was just after I had come back to the home after another foster family decided they wanted to adopt a girl because they thought boys rebelled too much. I remember thinking that finally, I would have something to love me, something to see me as worth its time and energy. You know what the dog did? Same thing your dog did. Looked at me, decided I was a piece of shit and growled at me until I backed off. That hurts like a bitch, especially when you're a child. That's when I realized that no one was ever going to love me. I would have to love myself. And I do. No one else might, but I love myself. I think I'm pretty damned spectacular, to be honest."
Faith rubbed the ropes on the back of her wrists against a sharp end of wire and said, “There’s no need to kill anyone else. You’ve made your point.”
“I’m not making a point, Special Agent,” he said, “I’m killing people who prefer animals to humans.”
He headed for the bat, and Faith thought quickly. “It’s not about the dogs, is it, Tommy? You’re upset because you feel that other people get more love than you do. That’s why you hurt Hannah Peterson so badly, isn’t it?”
Thomas’s shoulders tensed. His hands clenched into fists, and Faith saw his arms bunch tightly with muscle. “Yeah,” he admitted softly. “Yeah, that pissed me off.”
“This won’t make you feel better,” Michael said. “Trust me. You won’t gain anything by hurting someone else.”
“Sure I will. I feel a lot better now than I did before Ruth Decatur.”
“Who’s Ruth Decatur?”
“She was the first. I killed her under the bleachers and left her body there. That was three years ago.”
“There’s still time to tell your story, Thomas,” she said. “Don’t you want people to know why?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said, lifting the bat just as the ropes around Faith’s wrists snapped. “They’ll figure it out soon enough.”
Faith rolled onto her knees, taking care to keep her wrists together so he didn’t see that she had freed her hands. “Thomas, think about what you’re going to do. If you kill that girl in front of me, I’ll—”
“You’ll be following her soon enough,” Thomas said. “Don’t worry.”
Cutting the ropes around her ankles without being seen was very difficult. Fortunately, Turk somehow figured out what she was doing. He approached her and carefully began to chew at the ropes. Faith prayed that Thomas wouldn’t turn and notice.
He didn’t. He was too focused on what he was about to do. He grinned and leveled the bat. The nurse whimpered as the barrel of the bat touched her temple. Thomas drew the bat back, shoulders bunching. Thinking quickly, Faith asked, “What’s her name?”
Thomas stopped and looked at her with a frown. “Her name? Why?”
“If you’re going to kill her,” she said, “you should at least know her name.”
“It’s Kelsey,” he said. “Kelsey Thompson. Why?”
The last cord around Faith’s ankles snapped. “No reason,” she said. She looked over Tommy’s shoulder. “I told you I was calling for backup.”
Thomas frowned and turned toward the door. Faith got to her feet and rushed him. He heard the noise a second too late, and Faith wrapped her arms around his waist and drove him backwards. He stumbled, but infuriatingly, he managed to keep his feet. Faith felt like a child wrestling an adult.
"Let go of me!" he said, more irritated than afraid. He lifted the bat, and Faith was forced to release him and roll out of the way to avoid getting her head smashed in.
She stood, then immediately ducked when he swung. The barrel sang through the air, and Turk started barking uncontrollably and chewing at the chicken wire near the handle of his cage. Thomas glared at Faith and swung again, then kicked at her. She dodged both blows and sent a hard right hand into his jaw.
A jarring pain shot up her arm at the blow, and she cried out and pulled her hand back. Thomas grinned malevolently at her. “I’m twice your size,” he said, “you’re not going to hurt me.”
“Think about what you’re—”
She had to dodge another blow with the bat before she could finish that statement and decided it was a waste of time to ask him to think about what he was doing. She launched herself at his knees just as he swung again, and this time, with his momentum going the other way, she was able to throw him off balance and drag him to the ground.
Turk continued to bark fiercely and chew at his cage. Kelsey screamed, the noise muffled by her gag. Faith tried to roll on top of Thomas, but he set the bat down, lifted her by her waist and tossed her off of him. She tried to sit up, but he rolled on top of her and grabbed her arms. She twisted and writhed, but his weight held her still. With a cry, she brought her knee up hard into his back. He winced but didn’t move. She brought her knee up again, and he bared his teeth. With a growl, he wrenched her arms high and crossed them. He wrapped a massive hand around both of her wrists and gripped hard, forcing both of her arms away from his face.
He lifted his hand, and she steeled herself for the blow, but when it landed, the sheer power of it still stunned her. Her whole body seemed to shake, and her ears buzzed. Her head swam, and she felt herself go limp. When he released her wrists, her arms fell harmlessly to the ground.
She felt his weight leave her waist and watched dimly as he stood above her. He lifted his foot and gently, almost tenderly, pushed her head to the side with his toe. She felt him press his heel against her temple, lining up the blow he intended to kill her. She saw Turk’s frightened face in his cage.
Thomas lifted his leg.
With a snarl of rage and terror, Turk bit down hard. The chicken wire snapped, and the lock to his cage sprang loose. He leapt out of his cage like a lightning bolt and jumped at Thomas.
She heard Thomas cry out and turned her head with an effort to see Turk’s jaw clamped on the inside of his thigh just below his groin. Thoms hit Turk over and over, but Turk held on, growling and biting harder with every second.
She forced herself to a sitting position, preparing to fight to protect Turk. Turk yanked hard, dragging Thomas to the ground and leapt at his throat.
“Turk, heel!” she cried.
Turk stopped and stared at her, stunned. Thomas looked at her with equal surprise.
And the door burst open, and Michael and three Fargo police officers sprinted down the stairs. Michael covered Thomas with his gun and said, “Move, and I promise you I’ll only have to fire once.”
Turk rushed to Faith’s side and began licking her face. Her senses slowly steadying, she laughed and pushed him off gently, then pulled him into a bear hug. “Good dog.”
She heard a sniffling sound and looked up to see Thomas’s lips trembling as he wept softly. The police officers pulled him to his feet and led him up the stairs while the remaining officer untied Kelsey.
Michael helped Faith to her feet and held her while a wave of dizziness passed through her. She looked into his eyes, and a warmth spread through her. Another wave of dizziness hit her, and she decided she’d have to deal with those emotions later.
“I owe you two now,” she said.
“You owe me so many I’ve lost count,” he replied.
She chuckled, and before she could stop himself, she kissed his cheek. "Thank you."
He gave her an unreadable look for a moment, then said, “Yeah. Don’t mention it.”
She grinned. “I won’t.”
He stared at her a moment longer, then rolled his eyes. “Same old Faith.”
“Bold like my name?” she suggested.
“Sure. Whatever you need to tell yourself.”
The officers tried to yank Thomas to his feet, but when they saw the injury to his thigh, their eyes widened. One of them looked at Turk and muttered, “Jesus.”
“Yeah,” his companion said. “Let’s get our killer some help before he meets the Man Himself.”
“He won’t be seeing Jesus anytime soon,” the first officer said, pulling out his radio. “He’s taking a different highway to the afterlife.”
Whatever Thomas Cowell’s final destination, he wouldn’t reach it tonight. Turk had bit him pretty badly, but not as badly as it appeared at first glance. He would recover, and he would stand trial for his crimes. His loved ones’ victims would finally have a chance at closure.
Faith wondered, not for the first time in her long career, if getting closure was a good thing. Would it help the families to see the face of someone who showed no remorse, no guilt at all for taking the ones they loved? Or would it only make things worse to know that monsters wearing human faces walked in the light as easily as they prowled through the shadows?
Then she thought of West. West had been kind to her. He had been sympathetic. He had been mild-mannered, and even a little awkward. She was a trained investigator, and she had never known that the man she sat across from had tortured dozens of people to death.
So yes, it was better to know.
“Can I go home,” Kelsey asked. “I want to see Max. Is he all right?”
“Max is fine,” Faith said. “He’s with your sister. And as soon as you’ve been treated for your injuries, we’ll take you to him ourselves.”
“You’re getting treated too,” Michael said. “You have the hardest head in the Bureau, but you still need to get checked out.”
Faith started to protest, but a wave of dizziness overcame her. She stumbled, and Michael caught her and gently lowered her to the ground.
Michael rode with her on the way to the hospital. He said nothing, but his expression said everything.
She squeezed his hand. “Hey. You did good back there.”
He managed a sad smile. “It’d be nice if it felt good every now and then.”
“I feel good,” Faith replied.
“That’s because you’re insane.”
Faith chuckled. “Well, don’t blame me. I’ve been hit in the head a lot.”
Michael stared at her a moment. Then he chuckled. “How’d I get stuck with you?”
Faith smiled. “I got lucky.”
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
There was nothing on Earth purer than the love dogs had for their owners, Faith thought. She and Turk watched as Max, the little bulldog puppy Kelsey had adopted a few weeks ago, ran exuberantly toward her. He tried to leap into her arms but ended up tumbling end over end. Kelsey laughed and picked the unharmed puppy up, lifting him into a tight embrace. Max pressed his head against Kelsey’s, an almost human expression of relief in his eyes.
“He’s been so worried about her, Jessica Thompson said next to Faith’s side. We couldn’t get him to eat all day yesterday. If that man had killed her, he would have killed Max too.” She turned gratefully to Faith. “Thank you so much. If you hadn’t stepped in when you did, my sister would be dead.”
Faith smiled. “Don’t mention it. Just doing my job.”
Turk snorted, and Jessica grinned down at him, then dropped to her knees and wrapped him in a bear hug. "And thank you too, big guy!”
She began massaging his neck, and Turk’s eyes half-closed as he savored the attention. Faith chuckled as she looked down at her nearly nine-year-old puppy.
Nine years old. He would reach that age in a few months. When he did, Bureau policy would require him to retire. Standard procedure was for him to be sold to a civilian family and another dog to be assigned to her, but she knew that she would have no trouble convincing the Boss to let her keep him.
But he wouldn’t be on duty anymore. He’d be a house dog and do nothing more exciting than join Faith on her daily runs.
She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. On one hand, he would be safe, at least once they found Doctor West, which she believed was inevitable. On the other hand, she knew Turk wouldn’t understand why he was being left with babysitters when she was going on missions with some new dog. He wasn’t a puppy anymore, but she didn’t think he realized that. He would want to help, and it would be very hard for him to accept that those days were behind him.
Unless Faith retired with him. She could move to the Midwest and use her pension and savings to start a classic car auto garage like she’d always wanted to do. She hadn’t ever thought of the future enough to think about it with any seriousness, but now she thought very seriously about it.
Would it be so bad to just leave the life behind and head somewhere nice and calm with Turk? She was still young, barely into her thirties, but she had seen more than anyone should have to see in their lifetime. Maybe hanging it up wouldn’t be such a bad idea. No more worry. No more fear. No more seeing people bludgeoned to death. Just a girl and her dog enjoying wide open spaces and the smell of grease and gasoline.
“Thank you so much, Special Agent,” Kelsey said, still holding Max as she walked over.
Faith smiled at her. "Faith, please. After what we've been through, I think we should be on a first-name basis."
Kelsey giggled. “Yeah, I think you’re right. Anyway, this is Max.” She turned her puppy around so Faith could see him. “Max here was so brave when that bad man tried to take Mommy. He fought his little heart out, didn’t you, Max?”
Max barked in agreement, and Faith grinned and reached up to scratch him behind his ears. “Good boy, Max.”
Max’s tail wagged excitedly, and when Kelsey set him down to meet Turk, he barked proudly. Turk dipped his head and gave Max a formal bark in return. Max trotted forward, curled up in front of Turk’s paws and promptly closed his eyes, falling fast asleep. Turk looked down at the sleeping bundle, then back up at Faith, confused.
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