Hunt Evil, page 14
Sucking in as much oxygen as I could make myself, I forced myself to calm down. When I felt I had more control over my voice, I repeated, “The police, or the FBI actually, told me they’ve taken my kid sister here. She was hurt. She’s four years old and was kidnapped. Neera Friedman. You might have heard about it on the news. There’s been a manhunt, trying to track her and my mother down. I—”
The woman held up a hand, signaling me to stop talking. Then she pointed to a bank of elevators and said, “Take the elevator to the second floor. I think your sister is in the OR at the moment. The authorities are up there. You won’t be able to miss them.”
“Thank you,” I called out to the woman as I was already halfway to the elevators. Only when I was inside the first car that arrived did it fully sink in what she had just told me.
I think your sister is in the OR at the moment.
That meant they must be operating on Neera, which was not good. What had happened to her? Oh God, please let her be okay… She’s just a little girl.
I burst out of the elevator when it stopped on the second floor, looking left and right in search of Agent McHenry. I soon spotted him standing near the wall about twenty yards away, talking to a doctor.
I ran over there as fast as my legs could carry me. They both turned in my direction as I approached, going silent. Their somber expressions confirmed my fear that Neera was in bad shape.
32
“Shane,” McHenry said, taking a small step to the side as I nearly crashed into him.
“Where’s Neera?” I demanded, breathing shallowly.
“They’re operating on her,” the other person said and only then did I notice that it wasn’t a man, but a very masculine-looking female doctor. “She’ll be in there for a few more hours.”
“Oh God,” I panted, wiping my forehead with the back of my hand. “Will she be okay? What happened to her?”
“She was raped,” the doctor said. “We hope so. It’s too soon to tell.”
“Raped?” I croaked, feeling nauseous. “She was raped…?” I covered my face with my hands and felt like crying out loud. “Oh my God…”
A hand was placed on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry,” the doctor said. Someone grabbed me by the arm and gently led me somewhere. I didn’t care where I was going in that moment; all I could think about was the horror Neera had gone through, and how I should have prevented it from happening in the first place.
“Have a seat, Shane,” Agent McHenry urged me quietly.
I reluctantly removed the hands from my face and saw that I was in a room where there were lots chairs alongside the walls, like a waiting room. It soon dawned on me that it must in fact be a waiting room. A couple of people, an old woman and another much younger who was pregnant, sat there, staring at me with fascination. I let the agent guide me onto one of the many empty chairs.
“Would you like some water?” Agent McHenry asked, standing in front of me. “Coffee?”
I shook my head and rested my forehead in my hands, elbows on my knees. I stared emptily before me, still processing the terrible news. Someone was saying something to Agent McHenry, who nudged me and said, “Here. Take this.”
I tossed him a quick glance and saw that he held a water bottle in his hand. Exhaling, I took it. My mouth was dry. I could use some water. Like a zombie, I unscrewed the top and chugged the bottle’s contents, then handed the bottle back to McHenry.
“How did you find her?” I murmured hoarsely, leaning back against the wall now.
“Garbage collectors found her in the trash. The dumpster is located in Astoria, not that far from where we found your mom. It’s amazing that’s she’s still alive. She was in bad shape, badly beaten.”
I closed my eyes and a renewed wave of nausea mixed with anger surged through me. What monster would do this to a child? And why? Why Neera? I suddenly remembered that Steve had had her shoe, and that he was missing now. His key had been on the ground next to Mom. It had to have been his key.
“Can you please take a look and verify that it’s really her?” the agent asked.
I opened my eyes and gazed at the picture on his iPad. I gasped. It was definitely Neera. A badly beaten Neera, just like he had said. I took a few deep breaths to control the ever-growing nausea in my stomach, then I turned to look at McHenry. “Yes, that’s her. Do you have any idea how long she was in that dumpster?”
“Not that long. Less than twelve hours. Someone would have seen her. The freshest trash hasn’t been in there long. And some of her wounds are recent.”
“I know who did it.”
Agent McHenry’s dark eyes widened. “You do? Who?”
“A guy named Steve Brezinski. Someone I thought was a good friend. Clearly, I was wrong.”
“How do you know he’s behind it?”
I told the agent about the shoe and the key and how Steve had had plenty of opportunity. How weird he had behaved recently. Plus, both Mom and Neera had been found within practically walking distance from his house.
“You should’ve told me sooner,” Agent McHenry hissed between gritted teeth, his nostrils flaring with nuisance.
Yes, I should have, I thought, wanting to bang my head into the wall. I should have called him the second I spotted the shoe and maybe Neera wouldn’t be in such bad shape now. I should have never let Steve out of my sight. I should never have befriended a weirdo like him in the first place. At the very least, when he confessed he was a transvestite, I should have known he wasn’t normal. I should have figured he was a creep. What normal dude was a cross-dresser? The bastard had played me all along. It was all my fault that Neera was kidnapped and abused, at the brink of death.
“Give me his address,” the agent continued.
“He’s gone. I mean, he’s not at home. He hasn’t been there since yesterday during the day. I just came from his house. He’s not in the apartment either. The super let me in and we checked.”
Agent McHenry’s face hardened. “Did you call him?”
“Of course. Millions of times. I’ve texted him too. He’s not getting back to me.”
“We can track his cell phone. Hopefully he still has it with him. What’s his number?”
I gave McHenry Steve’s number. He called someone and instructed them to track the number.
“We’ll know where at least the phone’s located shortly,” he said.
Rachel appeared in the doorway to the room then, her face flushed and her black hair disheveled.
“There you are!” she exclaimed, walking into the room. She was wearing pink sweats under her open coat, a look I had never seen her in except for at home. “I’ve been looking for you all over.”
She stopped before us. “How’s Neera? I heard she was in the OR.”
“It’s too soon to tell,” McHenry said, echoing the doctor.
“Really? Oh no… What happened to her?”
I let the agent explain; I could barely stand the thought of what the poor girl had been through, never mind talking about it.
Rachel shook her head and sighed throughout his story, tsk-tsking here and there.
“The good news is, it looks like we know who did it,” McHenry said.
“Their crazy mother did it obviously,” Rachel snapped. She had crossed her arms over her chest and thrown her coat on a chair. “Even I could figure that one out.”
“No, it doesn’t look like it’s Mom,” I inserted. “She’s been dead a few days and Neera was found with more recent injuries. You texted me to tell me about Mom yourself. Did you forget?”
Rachel looked confused. “She’s been dead for a few days? Really? I thought she had just been killed. That’s what it sounded like when they reported it on the news last night. Who killed her anyway? Someone killed her, right?”
“Yes, she was murdered,” McHenry confirmed. “For now, we’re assuming it’s the same person who abused Neera.”
“My friend Steve,” I filled in.
Rachel stared at me with disgust. “That lanky man who looks like he’s never seen the sun?”
I hadn’t thought of it, but that was an appropriate way to describe Steve; his skin was exceedingly pasty.
“Yes, that’s the guy. He was at the funeral for Ariel.”
She nodded, pursing up her mouth as she gazed out the window. “Yes, I remember him. He always struck me as a creep.” Her eyes found me again and she glared at me, “What were you thinking hanging out with such a creep?”
I sighed, at a loss for words. She was right; what had I been doing with a creepy weirdo, a transvestite like Steve? Then I remembered how he had helped me catch Mom.
I told Rachel as much.
“But now I’m wondering if he did it because he had something personal against Mom,” I added. “He did seem to know an awful lot about us. Me and her, I mean. What she had done to me and who I was. He was extremely eager to help me. Few people would do that.”
Had he been planning something against both me and Mom all along?
33
“Did they find him?” I asked Agent McHenry. He had just disconnected a call with someone who had called him. It had sounded like they were discussing the whereabouts of Steve’s cell phone.
McHenry put away his phone inside his jacket. “They’ve tracked the location of his cell phone. It’s in east downtown Manhattan and it’s moving. They believe it’s on the subway. Keep your fingers crossed that Steve’s with his phone.”
I bit my lip. I doubted he would be with his phone. Someone as shrewd with the internet and technology in general must realize that the authorities would track his cell phone. Damn it. Surely, he’d placed the phone in a subway car and gone somewhere completely different himself. Given my texts and extreme amounts of calls to his phone, it was impossible for him not to know that everyone was after him now. Steve was no dummy. What I couldn’t figure out was why he was doing this to me. What had I done to him to deserve this? More important, what had Neera done to him? She was just an innocent little kid, for Christ’s sake!
Oh, if only I hadn’t decided to take him down on my own… Would I ever learn that it wasn’t as easy as I thought to hunt down evil?
Almost four hours had passed since I arrived at the hospital and Neera was still in the OR, being operated on. Apparently, her insides had been torn from repeated rapes and the doctors were desperately trying to piece her back together. It was still too soon to tell if she was going to make it.
I was pacing the floor in the waiting room, oblivious to all the people who came and went. Rachel sat curled up on a chair, chewing her nails down to the quick. None of us could eat anything, barely drink. All I could think of was how much I wanted to kill Steve for what he was doing to me and had done to Neera. Why did he have to drag her into everything? Why couldn’t he just have gone after me? Let me pay for whatever I had done to him?
It took another thirty minutes for McHenry’s phone to ring again.
“McHenry,” he answered, then listened for several seconds. “Okay, thanks,” he said after some time, then, “I’ll be right there.” He disconnected the call.
“Who was that?” I asked, having stopped in front of him.
“They’ve located the phone. Steve was with it.”
My chin dropped in shock. “Really? Wow, that’s awesome!” Maybe I had overestimated his brightness. “You going to see him?”
“Yes, they’re taking him to the field office. I’m heading there right now.” He got to his feet and grabbed his coat.
“I’ll go with you,” I said, walking after him.
“No, you can’t come with me, Shane. We’ll handle this. You should stick around here and see what happens with Neera. She’ll need you when she comes to.”
“Fine,” I grumbled. “But please call me as soon as you have updates. I need to know why he did this.”
He placed a hand on my shoulder. “I promise I will contact you as soon as I know more. Please do the same with Neera. I want to know how she’s doing.” He shook his head and sadness colored his thick features. “No kid should have to go through what she’s been through.”
With those words, he left the room and I went to have a seat next to Rachel.
“How are you doing?” I asked her.
She sighed listlessly. “Okay, I guess. You?”
I shrugged. “Can’t really say. Too many emotions mixing inside me right now. As long as Neera will be okay, I’ll be all right. I’m glad the bastard was with his phone.”
“Me too.”
We remained there in silence for the next few minutes when a doctor appeared in the doorway. He scanned the people in the room, his gaze landing on us.
“Are you here for Neera Friedman?” he asked.
I nodded and shot to my feet. “Yes. How is she?”
“The operation is over. She made it through, but she will be asleep for another three hours. At least.”
I clutched my hands in prayer and pressed them to my lips. Thank God… Rachel got to her feet as well and we embraced hard, smiling with tears of gratitude on our cheeks. Neera would be okay. She would be all right after all. Thank God.
“Can we see her?” I asked the doctor, letting go of Rachel.
“No, she’s still under observation. You won’t be able to see her until tonight. At the earliest. I suggest you go get some rest and have something to eat. She won’t go anywhere. Come back tonight.”
Rachel and I looked at each other.
“What do you think?” she asked me.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said resolutely. My phone sounded in my pocket then. An incoming text. I fished it out to see who had contacted me.
It was Dr. Navarro.
Dear Shane, I just saw on the news that your mother has been found murdered and your sister is at the hospital. I hope she’s okay. If you need to talk, I’m here for you.
All the best, Anita
“You know what?” I said to Rachel, putting the phone back into my pocket. “Why don’t you stay here while I go talk to the psychiatrist that Steve referred me to. She might know why the hell he did this. It’s worth a shot.”
“Okay,” Rachel said and grabbed my hand. “Just make sure you keep your phone near all the time in case something happens with Neera. I want you back here then. She needs you. I need you.” She squeezed my hand.
I gave her another hug and promised that I would keep my phone in my hand all the while, then I left the waiting room. On my way out the hospital, I called Dr. Navarro.
She picked up on the second ring.
“Hey Shane,” she said, sounding happy and a little surprised. “How are you doing? How’s your sister?”
“She made it through surgery and will be asleep for a few more hours. I’m okay, but I wanted to talk to you a little bit. Could I come over to your house or your office right now?”
“Sure. I was hoping that you would ask. I’m at home, so come by here. Do you remember the address?”
I told her that I had it programmed into my phone and that I would be there within an hour.
I hurried out of the large hospital and searched for the nearest subway station. It didn’t take long before I had found one that had express trains that would take me to Brooklyn in a heartbeat.
Less than an hour later, I was ringing Dr. Navarro’s doorbell.
34
The small Latina was wearing a blue belted jersey dress that complimented her curvy figure. Her round face was more tanned than I could remember and she had no makeup except for some brownish lipstick. Her long dark shiny hair that she typically kept pulled back in a loosely tied ponytail or knot flowed freely over her shoulders, making her appear more relaxed, even younger. She was giving me one of her toothy grins. She wasn’t a pretty woman, but still appealing due to her warm personality that seemed to light her up from the inside. Opening her arms wide, she pulled me close to her soft chest and embraced me. She smelled of lavender and fresh bakery.
“Shane, oh Shane,” she exclaimed as she let me go. “I’m so glad to see you finally. It’s been a while. Come in, come in!” She ushered me into her apartment that was as warm and colorful as she was. Her small gray cat was curled up in a corner of the red couch. She removed the cat and motioned for me to have seat there.
“Can I get you something to drink? Eat? You look skinny.” She drank me in from top till toe with a light frown on her low forehead. “I have muffins that I baked. Why don’t I bring you a few?”
“Sure. And some water would be good,” I said.
She nodded. “Make yourself comfortable and I’ll bring you everything.”
She disappeared into the adjacent kitchen and I took a seat on the crushed velvet couch, checking my phone. I could hear the psychiatrist rummage around in the kitchen, opening and closing cabinets and drawers. I shot Rachel a quick text in the meantime: Any updates on Neera?
She responded instantly: No. She’s still asleep.
I put the phone beside me on the couch and watched Dr. Navarro return to the living room with a square wooden tray on which there were a big glass of water and a plate with four muffins. Her cat rubbed itself against her leg as it passed by. She placed the tray in my lap.
“Since there is no table for you,” she said and grinned. “Is it okay?”
“Yes, perfect,” I replied and took the tray from her, adjusting it on my lap.
“Enjoy,” she said and walked over to a brown wingback chair facing the couch sideways.
I felt her watching me as I drank the water and stuck a muffin into my mouth. Only then did I realize how hungry I was. I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten, but it must have been close to twenty-four hours ago.
“How are the muffins?” she asked me, placing her small bare feet on a footstool and wiggling her toes, circling her ankles. “I hope you don’t mind. My feet cramp up sometimes if I don’t move my feet. Bad circulation.” She sighed. “It’s not easy getting old. Don’t ever get old, Shane.” She smiled at me.
