What
will I
tell Jen? How
will I
explain to
my
daughter that
my
chosen profession had
. . .
had
. . . ?
One more step. He hesitated. If he took the next stride, his world would surely forever change. If he didn’t, insanity would embrace him and never let him go. The second option seemed better, safer. But he’d never worked that way. It was too late to change now.
Sergeant Detective Manfred Williams
took the next step.
Chapter-63
Josh stood
i
n the
dewy
yard
outside Manny’s
home
, his body language speaking volumes.
The
corpse
i
n
side
the house
sang a song
Josh had
hoped he
’d
never have to hear. It was bad enough this was happening to his good friend, more than bad, but to fly where Manny was flying right now was unthinkable.
An image of his
own
wife came to him
,
and he shuddered.
Turning to the agents,
he spat
questions
at them
fast and furious.
“How in God’s name did th
is
happen
?”
“We don’t know. He was there after one security check, and a half
-
hour later, he was just gone. His cell was open
,
and his shackles were lying on the bed. The door had no damage
,
l
ike he had a key or something,” said
Paul Pridemore
,
the agent in charge of Argyle’s transfer
.
Josh’s eyes narrowed. “A key?”
The agent shrugged. “There was no evidence of tampering, of attempting to pick the lock. The door is old, but well kept.
It’s like the damn thing just swung open for him.
”
“Security cameras?”
“The one in his cell wasn’t being monitored because we were in the block so often.
The other’s showed nothing.
”
“I’m lost here. Say I can buy into him somehow getting out of the restraints and even some brilliant scheme to get out of his cell. How in the
hell
did he get out of the facility?”
“There’s an emergency door at the other end of the cell block and he just walked out.”
“I told you to put guards at every exit and entrance.”
“We did. One of the locals had that one covered.”
“
Damn it.
Why didn’t the alarm go off?”
Pridemore looked to the early morning sky. “It couldn’t.”
“What?”
“The
c
ounty
d
eputy said it
has a manual switch and someone must have inadvertently turned it off.”
Josh rolled his eyes. “The worst psychopath this city’s ever seen
,
and
you
don’t have
your
shit together. Unbelievable.”
Chloe motioned for him to come with her. Her face grave, even for
a
s
pecial
a
gent
who’s seen a thing or two.
“What?”
“There’s something not right here.”
“You think?”
“That’s not what I meant. The time frame is messed up.”
“What do you mean?”
She inhaled a controlled breath. “Say he got out of the cell and out the door within five minutes of the half
-
hour checks
,
and t
hat’s being generous. The jail is
five
miles from here. So he would have had to steal a car
. A
ssume he didn’t want to be seen in his orange jumpsuit, so a change of clothes was in order. Then get here
to
. . .
to
. . .
do what he did
and
then
leave. The first units arrived
four
minutes after the dispatcher call.”
The way Chloe said what she said sent a fresh supply of dread to the very center of his bones. He looked up from the moist grass.
“Not much time.”
“Not onl
y that, it
’
s 6:35 and getting
lighter. This street has been canvassed by three teams of cops and agents. How come no one saw a car in front of the house?”
“You know what you’re saying?”
“Ye
s
. I do. I think he had help. It’s the only thing that makes sense. If there was a car and clothes waiting for him, he would have gotten here at least fifteen minutes sooner
, w
hich would’ve given him time to pull this off and
then
hit the road
,
barely
. A
nd might explain why the emergency door
’s
alarm was off.
”
“Shit.” What Chloe said rang true the way those truths do when you try to ignore their incessant nagging.
He
f
rowned
. “But how would
his
help
er
know when he was going to get out
?
”
“I’m not sure. Maybe they followed the wagon from the airport. Some previous plan? Hell, I don’t know.”
“Police ban
d
radios could have picked up something, I suppose. Or
the help
er
was a cop.”
“Or that,” agreed Chloe.
“Pridemore said it looked like maybe he had a
key, or something. We need to
—
”
Chloe elbowed him as Manny emerged from the front door. Head down, holding something in his hand. Josh caught the look in Chloe’s eyes, and he thought she was going to lose it. But then again, he wasn’t far from
H
eartbreak
C
ity either. In fact, he was at the check-in desk.
This job
does
things to people, good people. Manny, and at an even higher level, Louise
,
doesn’t
deserve this.
Sophie and Alex were close behind
Manny
, both wearing puzzled, despondent looks
.
Max moved over from a group of agents and stood near as the three Lansing cops stopped in front of Josh, Manny turning the object in his hand over and over.
“What can we do for you? Just name it
,
”
said Josh, struggling to
control his voice.
Manny looked up
. R
emnants of tears
stained his handsome face.
Josh watched as
Chloe fought to maintain her poise, losing the battle; Max cleared his throat and turned away. Josh felt the world crash around his shoulders
, his mind screaming.
Manny’s face softened. He put his hand on Josh’s shoulder and
,
with the other hand
,
held the object, a folded piece of paper, out to him.
“It’s not Louise.”
Chapter-64
Argyle stepped on the accelerator of the year-old Chevy Corvette and quickly hit eighty. He hadn’t driven a vehicle like this in over six months
, and
the feeling was amazing. He reached ninety
,
and the mile markers on eastbound I-96 blurred past. At 120, he let off the gas and dropped to the speed limit. He’d hate to kill a cop this early in the morning, but it
w
ould
make the day more interesting. Not as interesting
a morning
as Detective Williams and the rest of his clueless
associates were experiencing
right now
, but a good one nonetheless.
He wanted
and
needed to see the look on Manny’s face when he realized the body wasn’t his wife’s
—
which he’d do as soon as it was safe to tap into the camera feed coming from the
D
etective’s living room. They might find it before he got that opportunity, but he doubted it very much. And there was always the note to spice things up.
The dead deputy had been useful, she’d even been pretty good in the sack, but all good things
must
come to an end
. . .
for her, at least.
He rolled the window down and
welcomed
the warm, late-summer air that
carried
a hint of fall. It was good to be in control, to have the world, especially the law enforcement
realm
, dancing on a string
. S
everal strings actually.
What had they
expected?
Had
they really
thought that
putting
me
away
c
ould be that easy, that
I had
been that sloppy?
I’ve
always
been
ahead of them.
It was like
taking candy from a first
-
grader.
A
sparkling
,
red convertible BMW
Z4 pulled up
a
longside the Corvette and slowed to match his pace. The
forty
ish
blonde
smiled, raising her cup of coffee, toasting his choice in vehicles. He smiled and tipped his imaginary hat. She laughed, did the universal sign for call me, and then sped off, most likely expecting a chase.
On another day, the pleasure would be his, not so much hers. But he had places to be
and
a few details to wrap up before he returned to Lansing to finish what he’d started.
If only
I
had more time
. . .
William
s
’s wife
was only
the first step on a stairway that went
for
forever
.
He knew the game, th
is
chase, couldn’t last
an eternity
, but each moment, each hour he caused them to fear, to worry, hell
,
to hate
,
was like dope to a junkie
. He’
d relish every ounce of emotion he created. And no one could do it like the
G
ood
D
octor. No one.
The time would come to end this and to move on to the next game. The question
was
, would anyone be ready for him
—
and when? He grinned.
Not in this lifetime.
Looking at the clock on the dash, he realized he was ahead of schedule. Maybe he did have time to play.
“Lucky you, my fair maiden,” he
sang
, pressing the pedal to the floor. “Lucky you, indeed.”
Chapter-65
“What? Not Louise? I don’t get it. Who is it?” said Josh, mouth
hanging open
.
Manny flipped open the note. “I’ll read this in a minute. The body belongs to a
c
ounty
d
eputy
,
who was also
a former
patient in Argyle’s practice.
S
he was the one guarding the emergency door. He shot her in the head with her own weapon.
”
Manny sighed
. “
Since Argyle was employed by the State to work in the prisons, sometimes he would have law enforcement folks assigned to him who had traumatic situations come up in the line of duty. Apparently
,
this one was more than grateful for his counseling.
”
Chloe looked at Josh. “That confirms what we were just talking about. We felt like he had help.”
Manny raised his hand. “I still don’t know where
Louise
is, but if the note is telling the truth, she’s not
. . .
well
,
she’s alive.”