Hunt Evil, page 17
39
I was in the interrogation room down at one of the NYPD’s many precincts when I was told that Neera didn’t make it.
“I’m so sorry, Shane,” McHenry said quietly, then withdrew his head from the room and closed the door. I was alone again, waiting for my lawyer to arrive, a criminal defense lawyer named Ron Shapiro who Ariel had gotten for me to handle my legal affairs, in particular those that involved clearing my name.
I buried my face in my arms on the gray tabletop and felt warm tears wet my cheeks. Oh God… Neera was gone… Why couldn’t they have let me go see her? She had been awake and died with no one she knew around… Rachel might have been her half sister, but they had hardly known each other. Not like Neera and I had, we had been close. We’d had a real relationship. Oh God, she must have been so scared… In that big hospital room, surrounded by strangers. I should have fought harder to get to see her. Why did I give up so easily? Oh God…
I stayed in that position until there was a light knock on the door and someone entered. Lifting my head and wiping at my cheeks with the heels of my hands, which was awkward to do well as they were handcuffed. I saw Mr. Shapiro standing in front of me. The short, graying lawyer wore an expensive striped suit in a discreet brown color and carried his shiny oxblood leather briefcase. He had a pinched, thin-featured face that rarely smiled and small, sweaty hands that made me think of claws. According to Ariel, Mr. Shapiro wasn’t a particularly likeable guy, but he was one hell of an attorney. He got the work done, just the way you wanted. He always found a solution to your problems. I could use a lawyer like that right now.
“Hello, Shane,” he said in that quiet voice of his and placed his briefcase on the table. “This is one big mess you’ve gotten yourself into.”
He was also someone who went straight to the point. I didn’t mind; from what I understood, lawyers charged by the hour, so the sooner we could get to the reason he was here, the better. I wasn’t in the mood to chitchat with him under the best of circumstances, and certainly less so today.
I sat up in the chair and sniffled, wiping at my nose with the back of my hand. “Yeah, you could say that.”
“I heard about Neera. I’m sorry.” He went around the table and sat down on the chair next to me.
“Thank you,” I said, tearing up again, but I managed to hold them back before they could trickle down my face.
Mr. Shapiro must have noticed because he cleared his throat loudly and opened his briefcase, looking for something. Or pretending to, it was hard to tell. He gave me a few seconds to control myself, then spoke: “They’ve already briefed me on your charges. You’re accused of one count of first degree murder. Are we on the same page?”
“Yes, but I didn’t do it,” I said defiantly, sticking out my chin and puffing up my chest.
Mr. Shapiro regarded me in silence, then said, “Well, your DNA has been found at the crime scene. On your mother’s skin. Saliva as well as skin cells.”
I stared at him. “How’s that possible? I wasn’t there!”
“Do you have an alibi for the night of November 14th?”
“That was the night my mom was murdered?”
“Yes.”
I thought back to that night and I couldn’t remember what I had been doing. It was like a big, black hole in my memory. That’s weird, I thought. Why couldn’t I remember? Could I really have been that drunk?
“Are you sure it was that night?” I asked.
“Yes, that was the night she was strangled and beaten. Where were you that night?”
I exhaled with frustration. “I honestly can’t remember. I must have gone to bed early or something.”
He squinted at me. “It’s less than a week ago, Shane. How can you not remember?”
I shrugged, even more frustrated. “I don’t know! Maybe I was drunk that night and had a blackout.” I nodded to myself, liking that explanation more and more. Yes, that simply must be what had happened. Now that I thought about it, I had actually had quite a few blackouts lately. Which was weird since I couldn’t remember having drunk all that much. But maybe I had and just forgotten about it.
“Uh-huh,” Mr. Shapiro said. “Well, that’s not good enough. Especially since one of your doormen told the authorities that he saw you leave the apartment late that night. You left like you were in a hurry, he claimed.”
“Who said I left the apartment? Whoever it was is obviously lying! I’m obviously being set up again by someone, just like last time!”
“Maybe,” Mr. Shapiro said pensively. “As long as we can prove that you’re being set up, you’ll walk. Because if we can’t, it’s not looking good for you. Your DNA was on your mother’s skin and a witness saw you leave the building just hours before the murder. Not only did you have opportunity since you can’t tell me what you did that night, but you also have a strong motive to kill your mother. I might be able to work with the witness’s statement, but the DNA will be very hard to explain away. You see what I’m saying here, Shane?”
“Yes, I do,” I replied between clenched teeth. “I’m pretty much fucked.”
He snorted. “Unfortunately, yes. Unless you can give me some ideas of who would want to set you up.”
I screwed up my mouth and thought about it. Who would want to see me back in jail? Steve? I couldn’t see why he’d want that, but it was a possibility. I supposed Ariel’s other kids might want to see me back in jail, too, thinking that would give them my share of Ariel’s fortune, but I didn’t think that would work. I’d just be rich in prison. Ari and Sara weren’t that bright, but even they must realize that. So who then?
“I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head,” I said, defeated. “But if you give me some time to mull it over, I should be able to come up with someone.” Given that it seemed I had experienced quite a few blackouts lately, maybe I had met up with people I couldn’t remember and pissed off someone? I did feel as though my memory wasn’t working as well as usual for some reason. There were days I couldn’t remember what I had done for big chunks of it, I realized. Or maybe Larry Levy was setting me up to create even more publicity around the movie. I could totally see him do that. No, wait. With Mom gone, he didn’t have to make the movie any longer, though... He didn’t have to fear her retaliation. Of course, he could have changed his mind and really, really want to make it now. He seemed callous and greedy enough to do anything to make his movies a success, including setting someone up for murder.
“Okay, mull it over,” Mr. Shapiro said, interrupting my thoughts. “I think it would be a good idea to let the psychiatrist you worked with hypnotize you again. It might help you come up with something. What do you say, Shane?”
Dr. Navarro hypnotize me again? I supposed it couldn’t hurt. Maybe she would help me remember things from when I was drunk. Like, what I had done the night of Mom’s murder. Maybe I did leave the apartment, but I hardly went somewhere to kill Mom. If only I could remember what I had done, maybe I could find witnesses vouching for me not having been at the crime scene but somewhere else? Yes, surely someone had seen me somewhere that night.
“Yes, let’s get Dr. Navarro so she can hypnotize me,” I said, eager to do it suddenly. “When can we do it?”
“Let me go and ask Agent McHenry. I’ll be right back.” He got to his feet and left the interrogation room.
He returned just a couple of minutes later. “She can be here in an hour.”
40
I was given fries and a cheese burger to eat for dinner, and by the time Dr. Navarro arrived I was sleepy again. She entered the interrogation room in the middle of me yawning big. My hand tried to shoot up to block my gaping mouth, but it barely reached it due to my cuffed wrists.
“Sorry,” I muttered as she came up to the gray table, gave me a nod, and shook hands with Mr. Shapiro, introducing herself. Then she took a seat in front of me. She was wearing the same clothes as she’d been wearing when I had been at her house a few hours earlier, that form-fitted, blue, belted jersey dress.
“That’s okay, Shane,” she said and gave a thin smile. “It’s been a long day with lots of stress for you. I heard about Neera. I’m so very sorry. I know how much you cared about her. It’s awful. Truly awful what happened to her.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, feeling myself choking up again. Glancing down at my hands on the table, I managed to swallow back the tears, though. There was no time for tears. I needed to figure out who was setting me up.
“So you’re okay with me hypnotizing you then, Shane?” she asked.
“Yes, definitely,” I replied. “The sooner, the better.”
“Okay, great. I think it’s a good idea. We will learn a lot.” She got to her feet. “We will do it in another room where you can lie down. It’s not very comfortable for you on that hard chair.”
“Will they let us do that?” I asked.
“Yes. I already asked. As long as you’re handcuffed, it’s fine.”
I glanced down at my wrists with the silver handcuffs again. A cop had them removed for twenty minutes while I was eating my dinner.
“Okay,” I said and got to my feet as well. Mr. Shapiro followed suit. We walked over to the door the cop who had entered with Dr. Navarro held open for us and left the interrogation room. Another cop stood outside and, together, he and his colleague escorted us to a nearby room with a beat-up canvas couch and a couple of chairs around a table.
“That’s the best we can do,” one of the cops said to Dr. Navarro and nodded at the couch.
“That’ll be fine,” Dr. Navarro said and walked into the room and I followed.
“I will be outside,” Mr. Shapiro said to me, then looked at Dr. Navarro. “Come get me when you’re done.”
“Will do,” the psychiatrist answered, then turned to me. “Please make yourself comfortable on that couch, Shane.” She grabbed one of the chairs and positioned it in front of the couch. I walked over and lay down on it, not bothering to remove my sneakers. The couch was already pretty dirty and the handcuffs would make it very awkward anyway.
Taking a seat, Dr. Navarro pulled out the necklace with the green pendant from the purse that hung from her shoulder.
“Are you ready, Shane?” she asked and smiled warmly. “You comfortable?”
“Yes,” I said and shifted slightly on the couch. It wasn’t great, but it was better than sitting on a hard chair.
She held up the necklace with the green stone thirty inches in front of my nose. “Okay, let’s start then. Please relax and focus on the stone. Put your hands on your stomach and breathe in, then breathe out. That’s right… Breathe all the way down into your diaphragm, Shane. Feel how your belly is expanding, then sinking again. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Expanding, sinking.”
I did as I was told while staring at the stone.
“Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out,” she kept chanting softly.
I kept glancing at the green stone the way I knew she wanted me to, but it was a struggle keeping my eyes open. My eyelids felt increasingly heavy, wanting to go down, down. I blinked, trying to fight the sleepiness, but it became harder and harder. The drowsiness overwhelmed me, and all I wanted was to let myself drift away, fall asleep. But I couldn’t; I had to stay awake so Dr. Navarro could hypnotize me. Why was I feeling so tired anyway? Was I really that exhausted? I must be. I opened my mouth to tell Dr. Navarro that I may be passing out any second and that she should wake me in that case, but I didn’t get that far. All of a sudden, I was just gone.
“Sean. Sean. Wake up, Sean… Wake up.” A familiar voice beckoned me, and I reluctantly opened my eyes. The strong light in the room hurt my head, and I had to blink several times before I could stand it. Where was I?
A kind-faced woman with short, curly, brown hair who seemed familiar smiled at me from where she sat on a chair, gazing at me. She wore a baggy, gray dress and round glasses that made her eyes look huge.
“Hello, Sean, how are you feeling?” she asked. “You’ve been out for a while.”
I looked around the sparsely furnished room we were in. We were alone and there was only a table and a couple more chairs behind the woman. A naked light bulb hung from the ceiling and there were no windows, only empty white-painted walls. It felt like a large closet but without shelves and clothing racks.
“I’m okay,” I said. “Where am I? Who are you?”
“I’m Maria’s sister, Yolanda, and you’re at my house.”
“Maria?” Who the hell was Maria?
“Maria is Mika’s mother. You were at her house earlier, but then you passed out. She called me and asked if you could come stay at my house. You need protection because you killed the blond bitch. You remember? Her friends are after you.”
So this was Mika’s aunt then? No wonder she seemed so familiar. She was a lot classier-looking than her sister. I thought about what she had just said, and then I remembered that I had strangled Mom in an alley a while ago. She had all of a sudden appeared and tried to stab me, but I’d soon disarmed her, taking control of the situation.
Maria waved a hand around the smallish room. “I’m sorry we had to take you down to the basement, but we didn’t want to risk them spotting you through the windows.”
“It’s okay,” I said and pushed myself up into a seated position. “So I passed out at Maria’s house?”
“Yes. And some men came to ask for you. They thought you might be there because Maria is Mika’s mother and they know she’s your girl. She said you weren’t there, but they didn’t believe her. The only reason they left was because one of their friends got shot, and they had to go help him. They told Maria they’d be back, so that’s why she called me to come get you. To hide you.”
“Oh. Thanks. Really appreciate it.”
“She wants to know what happened to the little girl.”
“What little girl?” I frowned at her.
“The girl who was with the blond bitch. Four years old.”
“Oh, that one. She was driving me crazy. I could barely get her to shut up. I sold her to a pedophile I found on the internet. Mom never took her. I was the one who did it. I drugged her and lowered her down to the backyard from the window in her room. I was gonna kill her, but then I figured I might as well make some money on her. So I went to the Dark Web and looked for guys who wanted to hook up with little girls. It took me only a couple of days to get rid of the kid. Super easy. The creep lived in the area where I’d taken her. Over there in the warehouse in Astoria. No one ever goes there, so it was the perfect place to stash her.” I chuckled. “Can you fuckin’ believe he lived just a few blocks away from the warehouse? Couldn’t get any more convenient.”
She licked her lips and it looked like the color had drained from her face.
“Are you okay?” I asked her. I got the sense that she was about to throw up. Was she sick? She’d better not breathe on me or touch me.
She cleared her throat and coughed a couple of times. Covering her mouth, she muttered, “Excuse me,” behind her hand. She wiped her face with a tissue that she fished out of her purse and said, “I’m sorry. I’ve not been well lately.” She forced a smile. “How much did you get for the kid?”
“Ten thousand bucks.” I grinned proudly at her. “I’ve hidden it under my mattress. Well, what’s left of it. I’ve spent most of it already.”
“Wow, um, that’s great!” Her smile looked like it had frozen on her face, and she didn’t sound like she had meant what she had just said. She must be feeling really sick, I thought, and I instinctively tried to shrink away from her.
“I mean, that you got so much cash for her, not that you spent most already.” She cleared her throat and shifted on her seat.
I was about to ask her if she was feeling okay, when she spoke again:
“Did you have to bring her home to use a computer to go online then?”
“Nah. I just did everything on my phone. Much more efficient. I figured out how to log onto the Dark Web on my phone a while ago, so I did everything from my phone. Herman came to pick her up from the warehouse. Around seven in the morning when the streets were still empty. It went very smoothly. Easiest cash I’ve ever made.”
“Ah.” A look of concern fell over her face. “I wonder what’s taking the food so long. I ordered some takeout for you.” She got to her feet. “Let me go see what’s their problem. Feel free to lie down and rest, Sean. You must be so tired after the big party you guys went to yesterday.”
I did feel pretty tired, so I lay down again, stretching out my limbs.
“I’ll be right back,” she said and smiled from the doorway. She left, shutting the door behind her. I hoped they wouldn’t come with the food. I wasn’t in the mood to eat anything, and especially not something she’d touched. I put my hands behind my neck and closed my eyes. I wasn’t going to sleep, just rest until she got back. I was definitely not going to sleep. Just rest a little…
41
“Shane? Shane, wake up. Come on. Wake up, Shane.” Someone was grabbing my arm and shaking me gently. I opened my eyes and blinked against the sharp light in the room. A blurry person sat in front of me, talking to me, touching me. I rubbed my eyes and was soon able to see better. It was Dr. Navarro sitting there on a chair, holding my arm. Her dark eyes were glossy and red-rimmed, like she had been crying.
“Hey,” I murmured. “I fell asleep again? What the heck’s wrong with me, passing out all the time? I must be getting sick or something…” I frowned at the thought of that, then looked at Dr. Navarro. “Did we get to do the hypnosis? I can’t remember.”
She shook her head. “No, Shane. You fell asleep right away. But that’s okay. That’s what I wanted you to do. I’ve been giving you tranquilizers.” She inhaled deeply and reached for something on the floor. When her hand was back up, I saw that she held a small black device in her hand.
“What’s that? And why have you been drugging me?” I asked her, staring at the black thing. It sort of looked like a phone, but I didn’t think it was one. It was too narrow and long in its shape.
