Erased (24 page)

“Of course, I’ll do whatever I can to help. But I want you to know that I don’t believe what’s on the news. I don’t believe Sara could really kill somebody.”

“Really? Why is that?”

“It’s just not in her nature. You’d have to know her. Sara was the kindest, most caring person I’ve ever met.”

“Is that so? I thought you two were having problems. Didn’t you leave her, Mr. Murphy?”

Scott took a moment to respond. “Look, something happened to Sara a few months back. She wasn’t herself.”

“A few months back. You’re talking about August, right? Isn’t that the month that you were separated?”

“Yes. Sara had been working very hard. She was stressed and tired all the time. I guess she was under more pressure than I realized. She went to an office party one night and she never came home. She called two days later and said she never wanted to see us again.”

“Why would she do that? Had the two of you been having other problems?”

“No, not at all. I thought Sara had everything she wanted. She used to say that her life was perfect. Then, that day when she called… it was almost like she wasn’t herself. She was talking strange, speaking very slowly. She sounded weird.”

“Is it possible that she was using drugs?”

“No. Sara hates drugs and she hardly ever drinks. I’ve only known her to be drunk once and that was an accident.” Scott sounded miserable and Brandy felt guilty about making him relive the experience.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Murphy. I have to ask these questions. Can you think of anything else that might explain Sara’s erratic behavior? Was she on any medications?”

“No. To be honest, I thought someone might have done something to her, like someone had drugged her or something. I tried to talk to her about it but she hung up on me. I called the police and explained the situation, but they couldn’t do anything. She wasn’t technically missing, and she’d said she wanted to leave me.”

 “Did you know that Sara had been living at your home in Mill Valley?”

“No. I waited for three weeks, thinking Sara might come back home, but she never did. Sara’s mother had been very supportive throughout the whole thing. She finally said I should just move up here, and I did. I thought it would be best for the family. I haven’t been back to the house since I left.”

“This might sound strange to you Scott, but I have reason to believe that Sara might have been involved with a terrorist group.”

Scott laughed. “Why would you think something like that? That’s ridiculous.”

“How about her friends? Did Sara have any friends that seemed strange?”

“No. First of all, Sara didn’t really have any friends in the Bay Area. She grew up here in Sonoma County and all of her friends are here. We had dinner with the neighbors a few times, and with her boss, but that was it. She didn’t know any terrorists or drug dealers, or anything like that. She hardly knew anybody in the San Francisco area. Sara was happy giving her time and energy to her family. She was the best mom you’ve ever seen.”

“I see. Scott, when I was trying to track you down I spoke to your ex-employer. She said they had been holding a check for you.”

“Oh, crap! My stock plan! I completely forgot. Everything got so crazy when I was moving up here, that it completely slipped my mind. I was trying to get our stuff moved, get Bree into the new school…I can’t believe I forgot that. Thanks for reminding me. I’m supposed to have four thousand bucks coming my way.”

“Thanks for your time, Scott.”

“Will you call me if you find her?”

“Of course.”

Brandy hung up and dropped her head into her hands. Lee watched her with a sympathetic look on his face. “Tough phone call,” he said.

“Yeah. The poor guy never saw this coming.”

“For real? There must have been some sign. What did he say about the drugs?”

“Sara Murphy was clean. Practically a teetotaler. She had the perfect little family and the perfect life. There was no reason for her to go off the deep end.”

“Maybe he’s lying.”

“Could be, but I don’t see the reason. I really don’t think he’s involved. He’s been living with the in-laws for the last couple months.”

“Really?”

“We could investigate it, but I’m pretty sure he was telling the truth.”

“Then what happened to Sara Murphy?”

“I don’t know. Wrong place, wrong time? I can’t believe there’s a connection between her and this assassin.”

“What about her past, her criminal record?”

“I don’t know. I don’t believe it. Maybe somebody broke into the FBI’s database and altered her records…”

Lee leaned forward, stroking his chin. “I suppose that’s possible. It would take some pretty big balls to hack the FBI. For the sake of argument, let’s say you’re right. What’s your theory?”

“Somebody set her up. They put her up on that roof as a distraction. They probably drugged her to get her up there. Whatever they did, they weren’t messing around. Framing someone for murder is tough enough, but they got into her credit cards, her bank accounts, even her criminal records. Whoever did this had some serious resources.”

Lee clicked his tongue against his teeth. “I can’t even follow this anymore. I’m lost. But I’ll be interested to see how it pans out.”

Brandy’s phone rang and she almost jumped out of the chair. She pulled it out of her pocket and gazed at the screen. Her eyebrows went up.

“What is it?” said Lee.

Brandy held up her phone, showing him an image of a stocky, light-haired man in his fifties. He was wearing desert camouflaged military fatigues and carrying an Ares Shrike 5.56 automatic assault rifle. The background was desert. The photo could have been taken just about anywhere, but the backdrop led Brandy to suspect it was Iraq.

“Guess who this is,” she said.

“Is that Jack Reeves, the guy who got blown up today?”

“Yeah, only his real name isn’t Jack Reeves. It’s Malcolm Stryker. He’s an assassin.”

Lee’s jaw went slack. “Christ.”

Chapter 40

Konrad’s .45 was a heavy caliber handgun, and at point blank range, it made a big hole. Blood sprayed Konrad’s face and arms. The bullet passed through Brian’s body and splintered the wood in the office wall behind him. Brian slumped to the floor. Blood gushed out of his chest and pooled on the concrete floor around him. Gurgling sounds came out of his chest.

Konrad turned his dark gaze on Sara. “Why do I always have to clean up everyone else’s messes?” he muttered.

Sara’s heart was hammering, the sound of the gunshot still ringing in her ears. She had regained some of the feeling in her limbs and she managed to push herself up to her knees. She grunted as she moved. She raised her eyes to stare down the barrel of Konrad’s .45.

“Just tell me one thing,” she pleaded. Her tongue was thick, dry; her voice cracked as she spoke. It was the lingering effect of whatever drug Brian had given her. Sara looked past the barrel, into Konrad’s cold eyes. “Did Scott really leave me? Is my family safe?”

Konrad’s gaze shifted and a grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Stryker really messed you up, didn’t he?” He tilted his head in consideration. “All right. Here’s the truth: I didn’t have anything to do with it. Stryker’s the guy that messed your head up. He did it for a bitch named Paolini, a senator. You wanna know why?”

Sara nodded.

“Her company’s stock was about to go south. She runs ELS, that company that makes those video games and smart phones, all that garbage. Problem is, their factories in China are full of ten-year-old kids. They work fifteen, sometimes twenty hours a day. They literally fall down dead on the factory floor. That moron Fortress got video of it all, and he was about to blow the whistle.”

“So you killed him.” Sara said. “Why?”

“It’s my job,” Konrad said flatly. “Well, technically it was supposed to be your job. I did Fortress though, because you blew the whole operation.”

“Your job is to kill people?”

“It’s what I do. It’s what I’m good at.”

“Not that good,” said a voice up in the rafters.

Konrad took a step back and raised his gun. “Stryker?”

“Who else?”

“Son of a bitch.” Konrad spun around, scanning the darkness overhead. There was a flash of shadow and he fired three shots in quick succession. Two holes appeared in the roof, and narrow beams of light came streaming down. The third bullet ricocheted off a steel beam. It whistled through the air and made a tiny explosion of dust and concrete when it hit the floor.

“Nice try,” Stryker’s voice said. He had moved, but Sara couldn’t tell where.

Konrad was frantic. He glanced at Sara and then back up at the roof. “What do you want?”

“I want the briefcase back,” Stryker said. “I want my money.”

Konrad’s eyes lit up. His gears were working. “So that was it. I wondered why Paolini wanted you dead. Were you blackmailing her, Stryker?”

There was a long silence. There was a clicking noise up there somewhere, and Konrad fired another shot. He looked worried. “You’re making this hard, Stryker. Why don’t you just come down here and talk about it?”

“I’m done talking to you,” Stryker said. His voice was loud, close. Too close.

Konrad wheeled around as Stryker launched himself from the roof of the Suburban. They went down in a heap, rolled, and came up facing each other. Sara scrambled out of the way.

Konrad raised his gun to fire and found the slide was missing. He stared at the naked barrel. The gun was worthless without the slide. Stryker smiled as he held it up.

“You weren’t going to shoot me, were you Konrad?”

Konrad roared. He threw the gun at Stryker and rushed him, arms and legs flailing in a series of powerful, calculated attacks. Stryker used his forearms to fend off the blows and countered with a sharp uppercut to Konrad’s jaw. Konrad spun with the momentum and then lashed out with a roundhouse. Stryker danced back.

Konrad wiped a trace of blood from his lip. He smiled as he drew a dagger from behind his back. It was a “push knife,” a short weapon with a T-shaped handle and a broad, gleaming blade. Stryker reached down and pulled a long, thin stiletto from his boot.

The two men fought like wild animals, grunting and growling as they danced back and forth. Their movements were a blur. Their knives flashed, clanging as the blades struck. Sara found herself edging backwards, around the side of the Suburban. It was a subconscious movement at first, until she found herself staring at them from around the corner. Then she realized that they weren’t even watching her.

Sara took advantage of the distraction. She edged back towards the passenger door. She kept a wary eye on the two men. They were completely engaged. Neither of them so much as glanced at her.

Sara held her breath as she stealthily opened the door. There was a low clicking sound but it was covered by the sound of fighting. She kept her head low and slid inside. She crawled over the center console and climbed into the driver’s seat.

She glanced up at the rear view mirror and saw Stryker and Konrad still going at it like rabid dogs. There was blood all over both of them.

Sara glanced down and saw the briefcase on the floor in front of the passenger seat. Her mind flashed back, and she stared wonderingly at it for a moment. Was that really the briefcase? Was that what everything was about? If it was, then it was the proof Sara needed to redeem herself. She leaned over and pulled back the soft leather flap. Inside, she saw a laptop computer.
Movies,
Konrad had said. There were supposed to be movies. They must have been on the computer, she realized.

Relief washed over her. Sara could go to the cops now. She could prove what it was all about, that she’d had nothing to do with any of this.

She reached for the ignition and turned the key. The engine roared to life. She bolted upright in the driver’s seat and slammed the SUV into drive. Sara stomped on the throttle, peeling out in a semicircle as she angled for the tall sliding door. It was closed, but that wasn’t going to stop her. She braced herself with both hands on the wheel and plowed straight into it.

There was a shrieking sound as the Suburban tore the aluminum door apart. Metal anchors snapped and ripped out of the wall, and the tracks bent outward. The door came down in pieces, falling around the front of the Suburban. A large piece of sheet metal rolled underneath the vehicle and Sara heard a god-awful grinding sound as the five-thousand-pound SUV tore it to shreds. One long piece caught on the axle and trailed after her, throwing off sparks as she bounced out of the parking lot, across the meridian, and turned up the Embarcadero.

Sara glanced back as the piece of metal ripped free and went bouncing through traffic. That was when she saw Konrad’s head pop up in the cargo area behind the rear seat. He snarled and leapt forward.

Chapter 41

After contacting Scott Murphy, Brandy and Lee hit a wall. They had nowhere else to go with their investigation, so they agreed to knock off early for the day. It was by pure coincidence that Brandy stopped by the Wolf House Coffee Company on her way home. She figured it might be a good peace offering for Matt. She felt bad about being out so late, and about being gone again on Saturday.

Matt was used to having to share Brandy’s time with her job, but she could tell he thought it was getting out of hand. Or maybe it was just the guilt that was gnawing at her. Either way, coffee sounded like a good fix for the moment.

Brandy stepped up to the counter and placed her order just as Konrad came into the building. Brandy didn’t even notice him. Konrad scanned the room and then walked outside and circled the building. Brandy’s coffee was ready the moment Konrad stepped outside. She paused at the counter to place lids on the cups, and then walked out the front door just in time to see Konrad’s Suburban pulling away from the curb.

The tires chirped as he gunned it into traffic. The car he cut off had to lock up its brakes in order to avoid crashing into him. The driver let out an angry blast on the horn.