“It seems he’ll only talk to you and hasn’t spoken a word since he said so.
He says he wants to talk about
‘
the others.
’
”
“What others?”
“He wouldn’t say, but you know he’s
no
altar
boy.”
“Could be
nothing.
Typical
for his profile. He still thinks he’s in control. We’ll get to him when the rest of this is over. And Josh?”
“Yes?”
“Bring extra clothes; thi
s thing is going to get worse.”
Chapter
-30
Mike Crosby sat on the edge of his leather sofa, fingers knitted together between his knees, staring at something on the hardwood floor that only he could see.
Manny touched his shoulder
,
and Mike glance
d
upward, arresting Manny’s eyes for the briefest of moments. But it was enough. Fear, anger, pain, and confusion were undoubtedly Mike’s closest confidants. He’d been through a lot; maybe more than a person should have to go through in this life
, but h
e’d
never seen
him like this.
Manny sat beside him. “How’re you holding up?”
“Kind of a dumb question for
a
hot-shot
detective, don’t you think? And why are you here, Williams?” asked Mike. The strain in his voice
was
as palpable as trees in a forest.
“I asked because I care. I think you know why I’m here.”
Mike rubbed his bearded face with both hands, still not looking at Manny. “I didn’t shoot the sick
prick
next door. But I won’t lie. I wanted to. Blake Harris got what he deserved.”
“Why would you say that? He did his time, right?”
Mike got up and walked to his kitchen table, picked up a DVD case parked beside two empty whisky bottles, and handed it to Manny
,
still refusing
to
look him in the face. Manny wondered what he was hiding. It was something more than the clandestine drinking.
“What’s this?”
“Open the cover.”
He did. There was a pornographic image of two men and a woman on the front, but no title.
“
Warped
, but probably not against his parole to buy this crap
.
”
“I got it in my mailbox, even though it was sent to him. I was just going to give it to him, unopened, but I knew his background, so I thought I’d check it out.”
“And?”
Mike let out a breath. “It’s a rape and snuff video.”
Manny
instantly felt surprise and disgust ripple through his body.
He slammed the DVD
shut,
threw
it on the floor
,
and smashed it with his shoe.
“He’d go away for a long time with that in his possession.” Manny stood up and moved closer to Mike. “So you confronted him? That’s what the argument was about?”
Mike nodded. “He denied it was his. He laughed and then thanked me. He said even if he’d bought something like that, I’d bailed him out by opening it. Then he suggested that I was the one
who
was a pervert
, t
hat all cops have something to hide
,
and this was my thing.”
“Then what?”
“I knocked him on his ass.” Mike stood straighter, head still bowed. “He screamed that he was going to sue me. I told him to go for it, kicked him in the face, and walked out.”
“What time was that?”
“I’ve been over this with the blues.”
“Just humor me.”
“Whatever. About 11
p.m.”
“What was he doing when you left?”
“Bleeding and swearing, but he was alive
. . .
and no
,
I didn’t go back and shoot his ugly ass. He isn’t worth going to prison.”
“The
ME
thinks he was shot between 2 to 3
a.m. Did you hear anything?”
“No,” said Mike, looking at his feet.
Manny put his hands on both sides of Mike’s face, pulling it up so they were eye to eye. Mike started to fight it and stopped. Manny spoke in a hushed voice, one
filled with
understanding
. “I know you’re not telling me everything. There’s something else.”
“No
. . .
there isn’t
. . .
I
. . .
”
“Mike, I’m just trying to help, get you out of here
,
and up to the hospital to see your dad.”
The tears welled in Mike’s eyes, his face twisting with brief, but powerful
,
emotion.
“How is he?” he whispered.
“He’s hanging in there, but he needs to hear your voice.”
Mike broke away from Manny and sat back on the couch, shoulders heaving accompanied by loud sobs that might have
been
pent up for weeks or months.
Only Mike knew for sure
.
He finally looked up.
“I
. . .
I couldn’t sleep again and was drinking pretty hard. Sometimes the booze gets Lexy off my mind, but then there are the dreams.” He wiped the tears from his beard. “Anyway, I thought I heard something a little after two, but I was pretty blitzed by then
.
”
“Heard what?”
Mike li
c
ked his lips. “A gun shot, but it could have been anything
,
so I let it go. A few minutes later, I heard the degenerate’s door open and close.”
“How do you know it was his?”
“The walls in this place are like paper
. . .
and maybe I was honed in on him
. H
ell
,
I don’t know for sure. I thought maybe he was headed out for a good time or something
,
and I wanted to nail him for a parole violation.”
“You thought that, even though you were drinking pretty hard?”
“I know. It sounds crazy, but it’s true. It was like instant sober, almost.”
“What did you see?”
Mike turned away, tapping his foot on the floor. “A woman. I saw a tall woman walking down the hall, away from his door.”
Manny’s pulse stepped up a notch. “Did you get a good look at her?”
Gavin’s son bit his lip.
“
The hallway isn’t well
lit
. . .
I’m not sure
. . .
”
“
Al
l
right. W
hat do you think you saw?”
Mike tugged nervously at his beard. “She looked kind of familiar and then she was gone. So I went out on the balcony to see if I could see her leave
.
She came out the front walking close to the building,
then
she
moved
under one of the streetlamps.”
“Familiar?”
“I need a drink.”
“
No more drinks.
Talk to me.”
“I could have sworn it was my mom.”
Chapter
-31
“This is not going the way we thought it would,” said the short woman with the powerful body and platinum
blond
hair. She sipped from her vanilla latte as the two women sat in a secluded booth
in
Mack’s Coffee Emporium. “What do you want to do?”
The taller woman seated on her right smiled. “Things are pretty much going the way we hoped they would. Crosby not being out of the picture is the only thing we’ve not counted on.”
She scanned the other woman’s face. “And that will most likely take care of itself.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“She’ll handle it. Have faith. Remember that we’re all in this together
,
and she won’t let us down,” answered the tall woman.
“I remember. I just hope Stella does,” replied the
blonde
.
“What does that mean?”
“Let me lay this out for you. He saw her. He knows who shot him. If by some miracle, he makes it, and without brain damage, we’re all going away for a long time.” She put her hand flat on the table. “Ballistics will eventually match the gun used at each crime scene. Even though we used hollow point ammo, they’ll probably still get enough fragments to put it together, which was part of the plan. We want them to think one killer is at work here. Crosby still breathing could ruin all that.”
“But won’t they think Stella was the shooter?”
“Probably. But because she offed that pervert
at the Royal Life
, it puts a strain on the time line of the other two we took care of last night. Dropping off a gun to each other is a lot easier than doing
these three
pieces of shit alone,
especially
in a five
-
hour period.”
“Four shootings. Don’t forget Crosby,” added the tall woman.
“Whew. Busy night. But given the locations, the
LPD
is
going to think it was
feasible
. They’ll believe it to be a spree thing,” said the
blonde
.
“Williams might not think that way.”
“If not, we’ll deal with that if, and when
,
we have to,” answered the
blonde
. “He’s good, but we’re better. For example, these wigs
. . .
b
etter to be safe than sorry.”
The tall woman grinned. “Always wanted to be a redhead. I think my ex would have liked it too.”
“Men are so easy. A little leg, a little boob, some lace, or maybe leather, and they trip over their dicks to do whatever you want, just to get
laid
,” answered the
blonde
. “And so far, it’s working for us.”
The tall woman reached for the hand
of
her partner. “Be strong and hang onto the vision. Stella was with us from the beginning
,
and she’ll hold up her end. Okay?”
The
blonde
nodded. “It makes me nervous, that’s all.”
“Al
l
right. Now I have to go drop the gun off at our spot, then
go to my
dentist appointment.”
“What? You still have the gun?” asked the
blonde
, a trace of panic in her voice.
“Yes. I picked it up after you dropped it off
, a
fter you and Stella were finished with your little meetings. What’s the problem?” questioned the tall woman.
“What time was that?”
“About 12:30 a.m
.
, d
uring my dinner break. You’re freaking me out. What’s wrong?”
“I picked it up at about 10:30, after Stella was finished
with Ashcroft
,” the
blonde
whispered, harsh emotion straining her face. “You’ve had it ever since 12:30?”
“Yeah
. S
o?”
“According to the police scanner, the first officers arrived
at the Royal Life
about 6 a.m. The CSU reported that the
psycho
she
took care of was killed between 2
:00
and 3
:00
this morning.”
“So what did she shoot him with
?—oh
shit.”
Pointed reality dawned on the tall woman as unavoidable truth slapped her across the face. The two women sat in stunned silence.
Finally the
blonde
spoke.
“
The
y’
re going to know there are two guns involved in these
shootings
and
two guns most like
ly
means two shooters.”
“That’s not the worst. What if the gun she used is registered to Gavin or her? They’ll know she had access to it.”
“Damn it. Let me make one thing clear. I’m not going to prison because she acted like a twit.”
“What does that mean?”
The
blonde
woman sat back in the booth, crossing her legs. “It means, after tonight, the
re
’ll only be two of us left.”