Run For Your Life, page 12
“Any more going on with the drive-by shootings lately?” I needed to give my brain a five-minute break and talk about something else.
Royce shrugged. “The main players who were literally calling the shots are behind bars. That much, we already know. Tracking down the rest of them is on Narcotics, but at least there haven’t been any shootings in the last two days. What I have heard is that the ones behind bars are staying tight-lipped and nobody has thrown any of the others under the bus yet to get a better deal.”
I stared out the window at the night lights passing by and wondered where my sister was. “We’ll see if they change their minds after a few weeks in lockup.”
We were back at the station by nine o’clock. It had been a long day that didn’t give us the results we’d hoped for.
“Go home, Mitch, and call your sister. See if Ben came by and picked up the kids, then find out if he was confronted about the cheating. My guess is that he won’t be sitting at the Thanksgiving table in two months.”
I agreed, but as Royce talked, I wondered whether Marie would be sitting at that Thanksgiving table with the rest of us or not.
Chapter 28
Running and tripping through the soggy marsh grass was exhausting. Marie hadn’t eaten anything since Friday morning and survived only on the several bottles of water she’d been allowed to drink during her abduction. Her legs felt like limp noodles as she stumbled through the long grasses that wrapped around her ankles like ropes and pulled her to the ground. In the dark, she couldn’t see where she was going or if danger or help were ahead. She cried as she trudged on.
Why couldn’t I have come out onto a highway?
The place where they were being held was about as remote as possible.
I should have headed for the road. Marlon had to have come from somewhere.
As she second-guessed herself, she looked back in the direction she’d come from. Was it directly behind her, or had she stumbled around in circles? Marie wasn’t sure anymore and continued forward. She had no idea whether she was heading deeper into the coastal low country with areas of marshland and saltwater rivers and creeks. She was far from Savannah and even farther from home. That much, she knew. She needed to get to dry ground, but she didn’t know which way that was.
Marie wondered if Devon would be punished for her escape and prayed that he wouldn’t be. Without his encouragement to act, she would still be in her own barrel of hell and would have likely died. And who was the Liza woman Devon spoke of? Marie asked God to help her find someone she could trust, someone who had a phone, but her fear of Marlon nearly paralyzed her. Since she hadn’t seen his face, he could be anywhere or anyone. And she would have no idea whether some helpful person she came across was actually friend or foe.
She searched for lights to her left, right, and straight ahead but saw nothing, and the area behind her was as black as ink too. Although her energy was fading fast, she had to continue on. Marie sat on the marsh grass, breathed in the crisp night air, and looked up at the sky. She closed her eyes.
I just need a few minutes to rest.
Chapter 29
I headed home. I was beat, and Gus was probably ready to burst at the seams. I made a mental note to buy self-feeding and watering dishes right away and install that doggy door over the weekend. I didn’t deserve a dog if I couldn’t keep him comfortable and happy.
As I drove, I called Meg. I needed to know if Ben showed up and what was said between him and the family.
“Hey, Mitch.”
“Sorry I didn’t call earlier, Sis. I’m just heading home now, and I’m dead tired. How did it go with Ben?”
“Not good. I’m already at my wit’s end, and he hit my very last nerve when he came for the kids. Damn him. He may not be guilty of Marie’s disappearance, but he’s acting like he’s a victim in all of this. I can’t even believe his audacity. That man drives me crazy.”
I sighed. “Well, once Marie is safely home, she can decide if we ever have to deal with him again, and I’m definitely going to pay him a man-to-man visit outside the confines of the city jail.”
“So, anything new?”
“We’ve made a little progress. We found the owner of that green Civic that Liza picked up Devon in. He actually called it in as a stolen vehicle.” A thought shot through my mind like a lightning bolt. “What if—”
“What?”
“Nothing. I was just wondering out loud.”
“Well, what the heck was it?”
“A memory of something said by the man who saw the Civic pull into Devon’s driveway. He said he couldn’t see the driver, meaning there’s a small chance that it wasn’t Liza, but then it had to be since she’s missing too. Don’t mind me, Sis. I’m overworked, under slept, and I’m not making any sense. Although he’d never seen Liza face-to-face, Devon wouldn’t have climbed into that car with someone else. Never mind. I’m rambling. I’ll stop by after work tomorrow, but I still think the kids should stay home from school for the time being.”
“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
I ended the call and wondered how Liza got that car, but knowing her risky behavior, it wouldn’t have surprised me if she’d stolen it. But why? I checked the time then made a quick call to Dan Jacobsen before it got too late.
“Sorry to bother you at this time of night, Dan. It’s Detective Cannon.”
“Not a problem. How can I help you?”
“I should have asked this question earlier, but I had so many things on my mind that it slid right past.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Do you know a woman in her mid to late twenties named Liza Montclaire?”
“Liza Montclaire, huh? It’s not ringing a bell. Hang on. I’ll ask the wife.”
I waited on the line as they spoke in the background. He came back less than a minute later.
“Sorry, but neither of us know that name. Should we?”
“Not necessarily, but she may have been the person who stole your Honda. Any chance that John or his wife would know her?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Okay, I’ll check in with him tomorrow. How about the names of those buddies who used your car?”
“Sure. Besides John, there’s Joey Coltrane, Lee Fisher, and Gary Hall. They’re all in the coastal area.”
“Great. Thanks again and good night.”
I was home minutes later and took care of Gus right away. He grumbled as he waddled to the patio door.
“Sorry, buddy. This won’t happen again. I’m ordering your self-feeding and watering bowls tonight for delivery tomorrow, and by the weekend, you’ll have that doggy door too.”
After letting Gus back in, I watched as he took the two-step ladder to the couch, spun twice, and settled in. I grabbed a beer and my laptop, got comfortable on the recliner, and ordered his bowls. While on the computer, I opened a map of the greater Savannah area and enlarged it to include Garden City and Talahi Island, where the Honda had been stolen from Dan’s lean-to. I printed the map and, with a red pen in hand, took a seat at the kitchen table. I circled Garden City, where Marie lived, East Henry, the street that Liza lived on, Devon’s house, my own house, and Dan Jacobsen’s weekend retreat on East Point Drive, where the car had been taken from. The locations were spread out, and I wondered if that was a deliberate act to keep a specific area from being looked at too closely.
Nothing adds up. Liza didn’t know I was going to bail on her and have Devon go in my place.
I walked out onto the backyard deck and looked at the night sky. I wondered if my sister could see that same sky wherever she was. I hoped she could.
We’ll get you home soon, Marie. Just hang on a little longer. And if Rue is with you, he’ll make sure you stay safe.
My mind took me back to Ben and his girlfriend and the fact that SVU couldn’t find anything incriminating about either of them. So why was Marie chosen? None of it made any sense.
Who have I wronged lately that wants to take revenge on me?
I was the one who was supposed to accompany Liza to that scavenger hunt, not Rue. Since I hadn’t been able to find anything at all online about it, I wondered who had known it was taking place. I needed to look at that invitation again, but I’d given it to Royce, and the last time I’d seen it, it was in his office.
Tomorrow, I have to get to the bottom of this. Everything leads right back to me, and I need to figure out why.
Chapter 30
Devon drifted in and out of consciousness. He had taken a severe beating to the head.
“Wake up, asshole.” Marlon threw water in Devon’s face, waking him for the fourth time. “Tell me where the woman went and tell me now. How did she get out of the barrel? She’s been in there for two days, and suddenly, she makes a miraculous escape? I’m not buying it.”
Devon sputtered. “And I’m not selling anything. Does it look like I climbed out of this barrel, helped her get away, and then climbed back in? I may look stupid in your eyes, but I guarantee you, I’m not crazy. I would have gotten Liza out, and then the three of us would have escaped.”
Marlon laughed. “What a hero.” He punched Devon in the face again, reopening the cuts he’d already sustained, which had started clotting. “Tell me how long ago she left.” He cocked his head and grinned. “Maybe I can catch up, have my way with her, shoot her in the head, and then leave her for the animals to peck at.”
“Who are you anyway? What have we done that’s caused you to torture us like this?”
“Like I said earlier, it’s none of your business who I am. Now answer my question.”
Devon spit blood onto the barrel’s lid. “She got away right after you left. With any luck, she found somebody who let her call 911. The cops are probably on their way as we speak.”
“Doubt it. I wasn’t gone very long before I remembered I hadn’t put the tape back over your mouth. I’m thinking if your friend in the other room dies, you might become more honest.”
“I am being honest.”
Marlon nodded to the person standing against the wall, just beyond Devon’s sight. “Kill the bitch.”
“Wait, what? You aren’t going to kill anyone! I’ve told you the truth. I don’t know how Marie got out. Hell, I can’t even see where she was in the other room. She probably knew if she didn’t do something, she’d end up dying here, wherever here is.”
“So you’re saying she didn’t try to help you get out before she took off?”
“No, I didn’t even see her.”
“Liar! Go ahead and shoot the other one.”
Marlon’s accomplice pushed off the wall and walked away. Seconds later, a gunshot rang out and then one more.
Marlon slapped his hands together. “There. It’s over, and her blood is on your hands, Detective Rue. How does it feel to be responsible for somebody else’s death? You lied, and she died. Now, it’s time to find Marie Cramer, whose fate is also in your hands.”
“No!”
The door slammed, the car drove away, and there was nothing left. Devon yelled out to Liza anyway, but she didn’t respond. He was alone, fearing the worst, and surrounded by nothing but silence.
Chapter 31
I nearly leapt from my bed. The nightmare was so real. Gus grumbled that I’d disturbed his sleep. He readjusted himself and began snoring. I sat up, reached for the glass of water on my nightstand, took a long gulp, and replayed what I’d just witnessed in my dream. Marie, Devon, and Liza were all shot and killed by a faceless man who would never be caught or prosecuted. He was a ghost, like so many others I’d dealt with in my sleep.
“It was only a dream,” I whispered to myself, yet it was so realistic. “We always catch the bad guys. Always.”
I glanced at the time on my phone—6:22 a.m. Close enough to seven o’clock that it warranted getting up and starting my day. I planned to spend an extra fifteen minutes showering my pup with attention—something he needed badly.
We went through the same morning ritual we’d done every weekday for as long as Gus had been my dog—I would go downstairs to start the coffee, and while it brewed, I’d shower and get dressed. After coaxing Gus out of bed, I’d shoo him out back, fill his dishes with fresh water and kibble, then have breakfast. That morning was no different from any other except that I didn’t feel rushed.
I reminded myself to look at that invitation again if Royce hadn’t thrown it out. I wanted to review the cases over the last year or two where Rue and I had been instrumental in capturing a murderer and testifying in court, but I would focus primarily on the cases where I had a more significant role. I would also look at cases where this particular week was an anniversary of a capture, a conviction, or a sentencing and see if any of those criminals began their jail or prison term during the last few weeks of September. Anniversaries of something life-altering often played a role in revenge crimes.
After eating breakfast and giving Gus plenty of playtime, I headed to work. Unless something popped in the search for Marie, Devon, and Liza, I would likely spend most of my day digging through closed-case files, looking for somebody who had it out for me. The kidnapper was out to get me by destroying the people I cared about most, my family and friends, and there was a good chance that in their mind, I had done the same thing to them sometime in the past.
I arrived at the station before eight o’clock, called SVU for updates, and when they told me there weren’t any, took the hall to Royce’s office.
“What’s on the agenda, Boss?”
“Catching murderers would be a good start.”
“Fresh out of murderers right now, but I’d sure like to catch kidnappers.” I noticed the invitation still lying on his desk. “Mind if I take that back?”
“Nope, go ahead.” Royce sighed. “How’d it go with Ben yesterday?”
“Not good according to Meg. He’s playing the victim.”
Royce huffed. “As if he had any idea what a real victim goes through. You have a plan for the day?”
I scratched my two-day stubble. “Yeah, finding out who wants to destroy me through my loved ones.”
“You think that’s what this is about?”
“There’s nothing else it can be. It isn’t like Devon and Marie have anything to do with each other, or Liza, for that matter. I’m the only common denominator. I’ll go through my cases over the last year, maybe two, and see if anything that stands out went down at this time in the past.”
“Anniversary revenge?”
I shrugged. “It has to be. I also need to ask the guys who’ve used Dan’s Civic if any of them know Liza Montclaire.”
“I don’t follow.”
“She’s a risk-taker and a little left of normal.”
“Meaning?”
“She could have stolen the car.”
“And then kidnapped herself? Things don’t work that way, Mitch.”
“Maybe she stole the car days before that and somebody was following her. They struck after she picked up Devon.”
“That still doesn’t add up. If they were after her, they wouldn’t want interference from a passenger. If they’re after you, they likely knew Devon’s address wasn’t yours.” Royce leaned back in his chair and groaned. “Honestly, I have no idea what the kidnapper’s motivation is.”
“Well, I have to physically do something since only wondering isn’t solving the case.”
Royce tipped his chin toward the door. “Go ahead, then. I know where you’ll be. Meanwhile, I’ll call Patrol and see if there’s been any sightings of that car or any older green Civics. I wouldn’t trust going by the plate number Mr. Jacobsen gave us. Plates are swapped out regularly, you know.”
“I know that all too well.” I slapped the doorframe and walked out. It was time to get busy.
I spent the next few hours separating files of the known crazies from the others, although in my mind, any murderer was already crazy. Over a two-year period, six possible cases fit the revenge scenario. Each one had multiple family members who’d vowed to seek justice against law enforcement, even though their family member or friend was the cold-blooded killer. I would have to take notes of each date mentioned to see if there was an anniversary of something that happened during this week a year ago or longer.
It was after ten when I saw Royce again. He popped his head through my half-closed door.
“How’s the search for answers going?”
“Slow. Get anything out of Patrol?”
“Nah. Couldn’t get to the right people earlier, but I’ll try again in a bit. Guess they’re lending the county police a hand. Directing traffic coming in and out of town. The ambulances and cleanup crew need a designated lane.”
I wrinkled my brow. “Why? What happened?”
“A multicar pileup on Johnny Mercer Boulevard on Whitemarsh Island.”
“Isn’t that a divided highway?”
“Some is but not all of it. A couple of serious head-on collisions and a few more crashes that weren’t life-threatening.”
“Fog-related?”
“Not sure. All I know is that four ambulances were needed at the scene, and there’s a ton of debris scattered across the road.”
“Sounds bad. Hope there’s no fatalities.”
Royce gave me a somber nod. “Me too.”
I watched as he headed down the hallway, then I dug into the first police folder belonging to Ronny Longrove, a crazy husband who went off the rails and murdered his wife over an unauthorized purchase shown on a grocery receipt. It took a week, but we finally found him living on the streets and impersonating a homeless man, which in a sense, he actually was at that time. We were watching the homes of him and his family, and he likely knew it. I remembered his ranting about how he would get me one way or another. What I doubted at the time was whether he, or his likeminded acquaintances, had the mental capacity to act on those threats. The folder, like most, was two inches thick, so after filling my coffee cup, I began taking notes. Even though it was tough, I had to stay focused. The last thing I wanted was to review six cases of mentally unstable murderers who might or might not have had anything to do with Marie’s abduction. I couldn’t imagine the outcome if someone like those six individuals had her in their custody. Chances were slim that she would be alive, and the same went for Devon and Liza.
