Justification for Murder (30 page)

S
affron had a hard time screaming with her mouth taped shut. So did the other two women, but they were all trying. After a few minutes Saffron managed to stop, her chest heaving every time she breathed. Still hyperventilating, she looked at the blond woman. Her eyes were closed. While she whimpered, she rocked back and forth slightly, as if she were in a trance. Large black mascara tears dripped down her cheeks. The woman with the short hair had also managed to stop screaming. Her eyes were wild with fear. She started moving in her chair, unsuccessfully trying to get loose.

Saffron could not stop playing the images of what Keith had just done to himself in her head. Every time she closed her eyes she saw the large man pulling on his own flesh and slicing it with the knife.

The knife
, she thought.
Could I? Oh my God, no way. There’s no way I can
.

She stood still, trying hard to not look at Keith bleeding on top of the other man. But she couldn’t stop thinking about the knife. She tensed all her muscles and took a tiny jump toward Keith. She kept jumping for what seemed like minutes, only closing the distance a foot or two. Saffron was afraid to look at the other women, knowing that they would be staring at her in horror and frustrated that she couldn’t explain to them what she was trying to do.

She maneuvered around Keith’s legs and smeared his blood on her trail. She finally reached the other side and looked around for the knife. It was sandwiched between the two bodies. Only the black, rubbery handle was visible. She inched as close as the legs of the chairs would let her and extended her hand as far as she could, but the knife was still a couple feet away.

The smell of blood filled her nostrils, and she thought about the Onion Man at the coffee shop dying on top of her. She shivered and shook her head to push the image away. But when she closed her eyes, she saw Harper pointing the rifle at her and pulling the trigger. The click made her heart stop again, as if it had just happened. Tears filled her eyes, and she would have given anything to have a hand to wipe them away.

She needed to get the knife. She started rocking the chair from side to side and finally got enough momentum to tip her over the two men. She fell awkwardly on top of the older man’s shoulder, just far enough for her not to be able to grab the knife. Saffron curled her fingers on the man’s vest, but they slipped over the stiff canvas material. She grunted and felt tears reappear again, but this time they were of frustration.

After a few more futile attempts at grabbing the clothing, she pushed her body forward in little spurts, carrying the chair with her. The odor of blood made her mouth taste like copper. She swallowed hard a few times and kept inching away. She finally was close enough to touch the handle of the knife. Her fingers were caressing it, trying to pull it free, but then the man below her grunted. Her heart leapt out of her chest. She remained still for a few seconds, waiting for him to do or say something, but he didn’t.
At least he’s alive
, she thought and pushed herself to get just a little closer so she could grab the knife.

Saffron finally got enough grip to pull it from underneath Keith. Then the door to the basement opened and she froze, almost losing hold of it. If they found out what she was trying to do, she was sure they would shoot her once and for all. She turned the knife toward her and carefully started sliding it inwards between her wrist and the armrest. She felt it cutting her skin but she went on. By the time Tyler was halfway down the stairs, she’d managed to hide it completely.

“What the hell?” he asked when he saw the chairs where not where he’d left them. He ran down and saw the pile of three bodies and two chairs. “What did you do?” He sprinted toward them. He pulled Saffron off first in one hasty move. She now faced him and had her back to the other women.

Tyler saw the blood on the floor and lifted his foot as if he had stepped on dog poo.

“What did you do?” he repeated, now yelling at Saffron.

Her eyes widened, showing a lot of white. He just stared at her. Then he pulled the tape off as hard as he had done it the first time.

“Tell me.” he demanded.

“He…he…” she started, but she didn’t have the words to explain what they had just witnessed.

He gave up on her and bent over to Keith. He tried to move him but had much more difficulty than he had with her. Tyler finally rolled him over, and saw the bloody hole in his chest.

“Oh my God.” he said. His face turned white with horror. He moved away a few steps and tried looking away but was mesmerized with repulsion.

“What did you do to him?” he asked, but he knew exactly what had happened.

S
affron didn’t hear the steps on the stairs and was startled by Julia’s voice.

“This is the last one,” she said.

The woman walking in front of her stopped in her tracks. Julia almost bumped into her. “Move,” she said. But the woman didn’t. Julia pushed as she descended behind her. Before reaching the bottom she also stopped.

Saffron had to crane her neck to see them. The woman who had drugged and kidnapped her seemed frozen in place. Even in the dim light of the basement, Saffron could see the blood had drained from her face. Julia took a tentative step forward and then asked, “Is he dead?”

Tyler nodded from the opposite side of the room.

“Is this what happens?”

He didn’t answer. He wiped the blood from his hands on his pant legs and then passed both through his hair, leaving a light crimson trail behind. He looked around as if he were thinking about what to do next.

“Tyler, is this what happens with the treatment?” Julia yelled at him, still keeping her distance.

“What treatment?” Saffron heard herself ask.

“Shut up,” Julia and Tyler yelled in unison.

Julia stood there with her hands on her hips, waiting for an answer.

“We have to get him out of here,” he said to her.

“He’s over three hundred pounds. We’ll never be able to get him up the stairs,” she protested, looking up at the wooden steps.

Tyler rolled Keith on his stomach. Then he grabbed his ankles and tried pulling him, but the body didn’t move much. “Help me. I can’t look at him anymore.” His voice was strained for the first time.

“You, move over there,” Julia said to the woman she’d brought downstairs, pointing to the opposite wall. “I need to see you, and if you do anything stupid, I’ll shoot you.”

The newcomer, a beautiful Indian woman with long black hair, had both hands and feet tied together. She passed the two occupied chairs and didn’t stop until she reached the wall. Saffron turned her head toward her. The woman didn’t utter a sound, but in the darkness of the room, the yellowish sclera of her eyes dimmed a little.

When Julia was comfortable she could watch her while moving Keith, she walked toward the body and grabbed one ankle. Tyler grabbed the other, and they both pulled. It took them a full minute, but they managed to move him to the east wall, leaving a trail of blood behind.

Out of breath, Tyler said, “You’re right. We’re never going to be able to get rid of this body. We need to burn the place down.”

“Where are you going to take us, then?” Saffron asked.

“Shut up,” he said.

“You’re going to burn the place down with all of us inside?” she asked, feeling more scared than she thought possible. She heard in her mind the click of Harper’s rifle, and for the first time she wished the chamber hadn’t been empty. “That’s insane. Why?”

“Because you’re all already dead anyway, okay?” Tyler said.

Saffron couldn’t see everybody, but she felt the temperature drop ten degrees as the news settled.

“Just because we’ve seen you? We don’t have to say anything. Just let us go,” she pleaded.

“Don’t be stupid,” he spat her way.

“Tyler, maybe we should just let nature take its course,” Julia said, looking at Keith. “It’s going to happen anyway. Why do it ourselves?”

He looked at the floor for a few moments. Then he shook his head. “We can’t. We don’t know how long it’s going to take. Besides, what if somebody finds them first?”

“Is this what’s going to happen to us?” Saffron said, her voice trembling as she suddenly realized what he was saying. “What did you do to us?” she asked, not able to move her eyes from Keith’s body.

“We tried to cure you of cancer,” he yelled at her, his voice was strained.

“But I don’t have cancer,” she said, confused.

“Don’t you know anything? Every trial needs two sets of subjects. We tested on both: people with cancer and people without.”

“I don’t understand. I don’t think I’m part of this research. I was never prescribed any medication.”

“Nobody did,” Julia interjected. “I exchanged some titanium markers for ones that looked identical but instead had the medicine inside. Dr. Leavenworth inserted them when you had the biopsy done.”

Saffron wished she had a free hand. She wished she could use it to cup her breast and tell it that everything was going to be okay. But her hands were still tied, and now they trembled. She felt the butt of the knife pressing against her palm and wished she could use it to get free and kill this woman.

“But then it’s not too late. Just take it out,” Saffron said, as if offering a way out they may have not thought about.

“The device that contains the medicine dissolves once it’s inserted in the human body, releasing the medication into the affected area.” Julia looked at Tyler, sadness in her eyes. “Once it’s dissolved, there’s no way to remove it.”

“It was supposed to cure people,” Tyler said. “We never knew about the adverse reactions until people from the trial started dying…this way,” he said, looking down at Keith. After a few moments, he shook his trance off and said, “Come on Julia, I’ll tie the new one. You go get the gasoline cans.”

“You don’t want to do this. You can’t possibly burn us alive!” Saffron yelled, pushing her body off the chair, but not really able to go anywhere.

“But tape her mouth before you go, so I don’t have to hear her anymore.”

Julia remained there, her expression blank, but her lips were trembling. “I don’t think I can,” she said in a whisper. “I can’t burn them alive.”

“Julia,” he said loud enough to make everybody in the room jump. “We’re going to save millions. We are so close. I swear to you, we’re close. Qiang just called me and told me she believes she knows what the problem was. She’s got a breakthrough. We’re going to save the lives of millions of people with breast cancer, I swear to you.”

D
arcy called Saffron one more time and just asked her to return the call. Then, when the car was roaring on the highway, he decided to call Alton Lane again. The call went directly to voice mail without ringing once.

“That’s weird,” he said, hanging up.

“What?”

“Lane. I think he has nothing else to do all day but spy on everybody else. I would have expected him to call me right after I left him the other message. Now the call goes straight to voice mail.”

“Maybe he’s busy. Or he’s going after little squirrels and doesn’t have coverage.”

“Yeah, maybe.” The nagging feeling wouldn’t go away.

They rode the rest of the way in silence. When they got to the station, Darcy stopped the car by the main entrance. Sorensen turned to him, eyebrows arched.

“I have to check out what’s going on with Lane,” Darcy said. “Something’s not right.”

“Suit yourself. I’ll work on the warrant for Warren.” Sorensen lifted his body out of the low seat and, closing the door, said, “You better be be back when we go arrest him.”

“Wouldn’t miss it. Quick round trip, I swear.”

He turned the radio on and sped away. About forty-five minutes later, he pulled into Alton Lane’s private road. Before driving all the way to the house, he left another message, not wanting to get shot for entering his property uninvited.

The sun had started its descent, and now it kissed the top of the trees. It was hot but dry, and the shade felt good as he slowed down in the driveway. He inspected the house over the windshield of his car. He didn’t see any curtain move. Lynch got out of the car and rang the bell. Soft chimes reverberated through the empty house. He tried again, but before the noise had died the second time, he had already started walking away.

He patrolled around the perimeter of the house, looking both inside the windows and out into the woods. He listened for noises, but only foliage dancing with the wind and a few squirrels climbing trees disturbed the peace of the woods.

Darcy thought about Lane’s calls. Something about cars, something about a gun. The messages seemed strange. He stopped. A gut feeling made him pull his phone out. The screen showed one bar. He went to voice mail and listened to Alton’s last message. He cranked the volume as high as it would go.

“Detective…Car again…Checking…hang up… gun...”

“Gun,” Darcy repeated. He listened to it again. “
Hang up
and
gun
” were said by a different voice. He was sure of it.

He dialed Sorensen’s number, but the one bar disappeared and the call dropped after the first ring. He tried again while he finished circling the house and headed back to his car. He put the phone back in his pocket and searched for his second clip of ammo in the glove compartment. Darcy checked his gun and put it back in his holster. Then he walked through the woods toward Johnson’s house, hoping to find Alton somewhere along the way.

The terrain was uneven and the soil was still a little moist, even though the day was warm. Darcy slipped and managed to hold on to a trunk before falling. The surface was rough and it scratched his palm. He steadied himself and proceeded. Two large scratches turned pink under the dermis but didn’t bleed.

Through the trees he saw Johnson’s house appear. Lane was right: there was a light blue SUV parked in the driveway. He walked a few more feet but stopped before leaving the tree line. Still no bars on the phone. He opened his stance and watched for a few seconds.

The SUV appeared empty. The doors were closed. The house seemed quiet. There were no lights inside. He walked along the tree perimeter to check the back. He still found nothing. He retraced his steps so he could watch both, the driveway and the house. After a few moments, the front door opened, and a woman walked out. He almost ducked out of reflex but instead hid behind a large tree and watched. She was too far for him to see her well. He strained his eye and wished he had binoculars.

Her stride was resolute. She didn’t look around, just walked straight forward, grounding each step and moving her arms as if she were marching. She vanished behind the SUV. Lynch wondered if she was going to get something from the car, but a second later she reappeared and continued walking straight down the driveway toward the main road.

After a few seconds she disappeared from his line of sight. Darcy waited, wondering if she was going to come back. But then he heard a car. A black Tesla appeared on the private road and headed toward the house. The woman was driving it.

She parked behind the blue SUV and before she got out, the trunk popped. She pulled two red gasoline cans out of it and walked back to the house, carrying one in each hand.

As soon as the door from the house closed behind her, Darcy pulled out his gun, left the protection of the trees and ran toward the car, trying to stay low so she wouldn’t see him if she looked out the window. He hid behind the car and peeked into the trunk. There was one more can. He then ran behind the SUV and finally made it all the way to the side of the house.

He backed himself against it, and concentrated on slowing his breathing. Then he walked quietly along the wall toward the first window. When he reached it, he moved slowly toward it, increasing his view inside the house. The glass was dirty with dust from the inside and soil from the outside, but he could still see clearly enough. The dining room table was pushed to the side. There were no chairs anywhere he could see. There was a trapdoor in the floor, propped open.

Fuck, I can’t believe we missed that
, he thought to himself, remembering the thorough search he had done with Sorensen when they first came to Harper’s house.
I thought California houses didn’t have basements
. He shook his head, trying to not get too worked up for having missed it.

The place was deserted. He couldn’t see the woman. He ducked under the windowsill just in case and walked to the next window. He got a better view of the kitchen and the trapdoor, but besides a dark hole and a few steeps, he couldn’t see anything else.

Darcy crept around the perimeter. The bathroom window was translucent. The bedroom windows had the curtains drawn, but he could still see a little around the edges. Then the front door opened again, and he froze. He heard footsteps on the porch, down the steps, and then the walking sound died over the soft ground. He walked toward the corner of the house and peeked, trying to see what she was doing.

She reached the car, pulled the remaining can, closed the trunk, and walked toward the house again. He hid behind the wall and waited to hear the front door close behind her.