Relentless (Elisabeth Reinhardt Book 1) (37 page)

The room was dark and silent except for the continual soft beeps of the monitoring equipment around the bed. The air had a hint of antiseptic mixed with a heavy dose of
MR. CLEAN
. The blinds were pulled shut. The door to the room was slightly ajar. The hallway outside the room was empty. One lone guard sat dozing in his chair, an open copy of
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
on his lap. It was 2 AM. Marie slumped in a chair by the bed staring at the monitors and the clear plastic tubes coming in and out of the patient immobile under the folded white sheets. She had not awakened since she was admitted several days ago. She’d lost a lot of blood, but several transfusions later she had not regained consciousness. Mr. and Mrs. French were asleep in the waiting room where they’d been since their daughter was admitted. The lines in their faces were etched with anxiety; their eyes were bleak and red-rimmed. Marie thought they would require medical treatment if their daughter didn’t improve.

“
Come on, Monica,” she whispered, “we need your help, kiddo, please wake up and help us.”

The police and the FBI were looking for leads as to where the gang might be staying in Chicago. Monica had been held captive for over 3
0 hours. She could have seen or heard something important. Marie needed to talk to her.  She needed the patient to wake up and help them. Marie leaned forward in her chair and rubbed the girl’s arm talking softly. “Monica,” she said, “it’s safe to wake up. You are safe now. You are in a hospital. Your parents are here. They are worried about you. They love you. You can wake up. No one will hurt you now. You are safe.” She went on in this vein for about 10 minutes when she heard a sound. It was a moan or a sigh. That was a good sign. If Monica was making voluntary sounds that was a very good sign. “Monica,” she continued, “My name is Marie. I’m with the FBI. I need your help, Monica. Please wake up and help me. Please, Monica, I need to talk to you.”

The eyelids flickered, but didn’t open.

“Monica I need you to help me catch those men. Please, wake up and help me.” Again the eyelids flickered and finally opened to reveal unfocused hazel eyes. The patient was disoriented and confused. Marie hastened to reassure her and orient her to her present situation. Within a few minutes, the patient looked around the room, made eye contact with Marie and nodded her head that she was becoming aware. Breathing a sigh of relief, Marie asked Monica how she felt, if she needed water or pain medication; then she began her interview. It turned out that Monica overheard a phone call Jake had made from the motel room when Custer was out getting food and Slim was in the shower. It was to someone named Ray. He called Ray his buddy and said he’d see him soon. They worked out some kind of pre-arranged signal for a pick up somewhere. Ray was to drive to some hospital and find something out for him….something about a garage. She didn’t remember anything else. That was enough. Marie now knew they had to find this Ray person and that he was the Chicago contact who was helping the killers stay out of sight. She stopped at the nursing station to report on Monica’s progress, stopped in the waiting room to talk briefly with the worried parents and strode to the elevator. By the time she walked out of the hospital lobby, Will Schmidt had confirmed that this matched the information they had on Raymond Fisher.

It was
3 AM. In another state, in another hospital room Hattie Raines lay staring at the ceiling, tears running from the corners of her eyes. It was too much for her. She couldn’t make sense of things. She was alive, she knew that, but she felt dead inside. It was too much for her to handle. They told her Earl was dead. How could that be? He was her husband. He couldn’t be dead. That just wasn’t possible. They were married. He was fine, just fine. It seemed just minutes ago he was talking to them FBI people, hollering at them to get off his property. She was the one who told him to let them come on in. She had gotten her husband killed. If those FBI people hadn’t come, maybe Jake wouldn’t have come. Who was it they said shot Earl? One of those boys Jake went around with? Jake had been up there with her in her bedroom. Why was that now? She thought for a minute. Oh it was about that jewelry stuff. That FBI woman took it away somewhere. And that was why Jake was mad at her. That FBI woman said it would be okay. She promised nothing bad would happen. And here all this happened. She shouldn’t have believed that lady. This was all her fault. She tricked Hattie into giving her that stuff and Jake was mad at her cause of it. She wasn’t sure though. She agreed to give that stuff to the lady.  The lady said Jake was maybe the one killing all those girls. It was Jake who had hit her and been so mean to her. He said such mean things to her, horrible hateful things. She couldn’t believe what he’d said to her. He was always such a nice young man. She thought he loved her. He brought her all that jewelry and stuff.

They told her it was cause of Jake she was here in this hospital, he’d hurt her. She’d never been inside of a hospital before. Never even visited one and here she was. All cause Jake got mad at her. Hit her and threw her across the room, she remembered that now. It was unreal to her. She couldn’t believe it. She always loved that boy. She was the only one, really. No one else even liked him very much. She couldn’t believe he’d do her like that… and those horrible friends of his... they were mean to her Earl. One of them shot him. Shot him in his very own kitchen. The kitchen his great, great, great grand-pappy built. It don’t seem right, she thought. How dare they come into Earl’s house and shoot him in his very own kitchen. It’s not right, she thought again.

It was all too much for her. She had no idea what would happen now. Would Jake come back and kill all of them? Would the police catch him and send him to jail? Had he really done all those things that those people accused him of doing? All those things she heard about … them killings and all. Had Jake done all those things? No, she couldn’t believe it. He was a nice boy. Something changed him. Maybe it was being an adventure capitalist. He should have stayed and helped Earl on the farm. That venture stuff was too much for him. She sighed. She didn’t know what she would do now that Earl was gone. Her Earl… they’d been together most of her life now. She weren’t but 13 when they met. He was her life. He told her what to do. She and him, they built a life together on that farm. What would she do now that he was gone? Earl?’ she looked at the ceiling of her hospital room.

“Earl,” she whispered to the ceiling, “tell me what to do, Earl. I need you to tell me.” She closed her eyes and listened for his voice. She listened for his words, his ideas. Earl was always the one in charge. She needed him
. She couldn’t go on without him. “Earl,” she whispered again, “I’m waiting for you. Don’t let me down, Earl, I need you. Come and tell me what to do.” She closed her eyes and waited.

Minutes ticked by. Finally she whispered, “Well, maybe you just ain’t ready, yet. Maybe you’re busy with something else up there. You come on when you get the time, okay?” She never really thought about life without him. Earl was bigger than life, his ideas and his schedules. What would happen to the farm without him? Her children, they were all settled down in their lives and wouldn’t want to come and live on the farm with her. What was she going to do now? What would happen to the farm? The animals? They had to be tended to or Earl would be mad. And what about the crops? They had to be weeded and planted and all or Earl would be mad. What would they do now that Earl was gone and not there to take care of all those things? What would happen to her?

It was too much for her. She turned her head to look around the room. Her children were all there. Slumped over in their chairs like they was little babies. Her four kids. She had good kids, she did. They’d all been upset over her being here. They were all crying for their Papa. Earl, he was such a good father to his kids. Always playing with them and talking to them, teaching them things. Course there was many nights he wasn’t in such a good mood, but that was ‘cause he was just tired, is all. People got grumpy when they worked too hard. And Earl was an old man now he needed more help on that farm. She thought about the farm for a few minutes. Wondered about the animals and if someone was taking care of them, feeding them and all. She’d have to remember to ask them. She was sure one of her kids took care of that. They was such good kids, really. No mother could ask for better kids. She tried to move a little and felt that pain again. It was a real bad pain in her lower area. She didn’t really know what happened to her. She didn’t remember all that Jake had done to her and didn’t understand the doctor, too well. He wasn’t from around here, he talked different. It was English she knew that but she couldn’t get his words too well. Anyway she’d ask her girls. They’d tell her. Her daughters were good that way. They’d help her understand what the doctor said. That’s the way women were. They talked to each other and helped each other. She felt a jolt of fear as she remembered Jake grabbing that paper from the bottom of that drawer – that court paper she taped up under there. He had this crazy look on his face, waved it in the air like some holiday flag. He said it was Reggie he was after. He was happy he had a lead to finally get Reggie. After all these years, she knew the truth. He
was
after Reggie. He did want to hurt her, he told her as much. The child had been telling the truth all along. He was doing things to her. He was a monster and she had protected him. She knew it now. She knew for sure it was true. She had protected him over her own daughter her own flesh and blood. What was wrong with her? How come she did it like that? She was the monster. She didn’t deserve to live. She wished she were shot like Earl and could lie peacefully beside him in the cold ground at the Raines Family Farm. It was over for her. She was ready to die. She had deserted her own little girl, her precious little baby, and let that monster get away with it. She was a horrible mother, a horrible person. Poor little Reggie Lee, all alone with that horrible monster of a cousin and she let it happen, she…Hattie Raines. For the first time in her life, she was consumed with guilt. Grief and guilt. Tears streamed out of her eyes as she turned away from her sleeping kids and wept.

It took Will Schmidt 45 minutes to develop a complete field track on Raymond Fisher. Convicted of ‘murder for hire,’ he had been released a few months back after serving 15 of a 20 year sentence at the Pennsylvania State Correctional Facility in Greensburg. He shared a cell for a year with Jake William Gennett. Fisher is living on Chicago’s South Side with his Aunt Bernadine Grant, who’s nearly blind and his brother JoJo, another sterling citizen who, like his older brother, lived life outside the long arm of law. By the time Marie’s helicopter landed on the roof of the Chicago Bureau of the FBI, Lou and Chester had met with the Chicago Police Department team working on the case and arranged for surveillance teams on the Fisher row-house. A rusted red truck owned by the A & C Oil Company pulled up to the front of a newly painted row-house some 8 houses down from the Fisher’s. Two men in work clothes were fiddling with hoses and fuel gauges. The Broznakov family had been evacuated so that police could use the top floor of the house as a listening post for their cameras and eavesdropping equipment.

On the opposite side of the street, about 4 doors down from the Fisher house, sat an old U-Haul truck. Concrete blocks were stacked where its front tire should have been. The truck appeared to be deserted, but from time to time slight movements were noted. From the front of the truck tiny flashes of light shot out from behind a beige curtain hanging behind the front seats. From the weathered seams of the old truck, whiffs of freshly brewed coffee drifted out. The police knew someone was in that truck, they just didn’t know who. Several calls to local U-Haul Companies revealed nothing. After some research it turned out that this particular vehicle was no longer an official U-Haul truck. It was registered to the owner of a small gas station in Louisiana. CPD was tracking it down. It had been sitting there for over a day before the police arrived to set up their surveillance. The timing made no sense. So far as they knew law enforcement agencies were on the same page.
After some discussion at
Margie’s Place
, it had been agreed that all agencies and organizations would operate cooperatively. That the BAU would compile information and direct activities but CPD and CBI would lead different aspects of the operation, the other parties, Protect and Serve and Chevra Hatzolah would have no official roles but would coordinate their efforts with the officials. It had been agreed that the CPD would take lead on the surveillance and issue regular reports. They couldn’t figure who was in that truck. So far no one had moved anything in or out of it. The tip of a small round antenna, nearly invisible, protruded from the snow in the center of the roof. Other than that there was nothing to indicate what the U-HAUL was doing there.

Around the corner facing the Fisher house sat The Pretty Puppy, a pink mobile dog grooming salon. Barks and yaps could be heard as the van rocked back and forth with excited activity. On occasion, the door swung open and a freshly groomed dog would parade past with bow
s in its hair. It seemed to the stakeout cops there must be a lot of dirty dogs on this street because the van had been there most of the day. The procession seemed endless. From the top floor of the Broznakov’s house, they stared as another sparkling Yorkie, this one with a blue bow in its hair, pranced by. They placed a call to their commanding officer, “Either Petco’s having a sale on dog shampoo or we have another surveillance team out here,” he said.

“Okay,” said his boss, “we’ll send another unit out to check them out. Do you think the perps noticed all this activity on their street?
”

“
I don’t know how they could miss it. It’s like Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade out here.”

Inside The Pretty Puppy, Pablo and T-Max
took turns monitoring eavesdropping equipment while Stella took turns brushing and walking dogs around the block.  Stella owned two dogs a Yorkie and a Wheaton Terrier. Reina had a Miniature Poodle. The dogs thought this stakeout was a great idea. They were happy for the attention and the walks. Dressing them in different costumes, she alternated walking first one dog and 20 minutes later another. Walking down the partially shoveled sidewalks past the U-HAUL, the A&C Oil Company truck and the Fisher house she chatted casually on her cell phone as she took copious photographs.

Inside the Fisher house, the killers were relaxing. For the first time in months, they felt rested and well fed. They were among friends. Their gang was larger. They had a good base from which to operate and they were ready to plot their next move. Slim was delighted
because the drugs were free for the asking. Custer loved cooking good food in a real kitchen. Ray’s aunt was nice and friendly and he enjoyed spending time with her. Her eyes were bad, but her memory was great, as she taught him recipe after recipe. Jake was interested to find out what Ray and JoJo had learned about Reggie. He had called them as soon as he found out Reggie was in Chicago and worked out a deal with them. They started following her around, but had not been able to find out where she lived. She was being escorted to and from the hospital by some kind of service and they had not been able to follow the driver’s evasive maneuvers. They decided that Reggie aka Gina didn’t drive to work so that led them to conclude that she used cabs a fair amount. They clipped a picture of her from the paper began checking out cab companies. At the fourth cab company, a driver recognized her. Pocketing 2 Benjamin’s the driver told them two things. The first was Dr. Gina Reynolds aka Reggie Lee Raines’s address. The second piece of information was a surprise. Jake nearly jumped for joy.

The plan was for them to split up. To minimize risk they would take turns scouting out her condo. They had a variety of uniforms to choose from ranging from pizza delivery man to dishwasher repairman. They were planning their next step when JoJo came
loping down the steps, “Got a call from Wishbone, said he drove by here and that we’ve got stuff going on out there.”

“What kind of stuff,” Jake asked rising from his chair. JoJo motioned to the front window where they parted the curtain slightly.

“Which stuff you talking about?” Jake asked.

“Well the U-Haul for one thing,” Ray commented coming to look out.

“What else?” Jake probed. “Well there was an oil truck there all day. It’s gone now, but I think those folks are away somewhere so I don’t know what the truck was doing there.” The three men were silent for a moment looking out the window.

“Seems busy out there,” Ray commented.

“It’s Party Time,” Jake announced, grabbing his coat and walking toward the back door, “Let’s go!” 

The road in back of the house was an alley, really, unpaved and barely one lane wide. Everyone’s chain-linked fence backed onto it with small indentations in the yards for driveways. In the back of the Fisher’s house, JoJo’s black truck sat in this space. They piled in and headed downtown.

Stella saw it first. Walking Reina’s poodle for the third time that day, she saw them running from the back door past the boarded up sheds toward the alley. She phoned T-Max, scooped up the poodle and raced back to The Pretty Puppy.  Several things happened at once. Pedro and T-Max leapt from the pink van ran to their SUV and sped off. The U-Haul sprang to life and drove off leaving sponge rubber cement blocks squashed in the snow. The officer watching Stella called in the action. Three squad cars were dispatched to intercept JoJo’s truck. Stella took photos of the action, climbed into The Pretty Puppy and drove off.

Unaware that he was being followed, JoJo pulled into an Exxon station. When he saw 2 squad cars and the U-Haul speed by he laughed and reversed directions.
Their first stop was Gina’s condo. Dressed as a UPS man, Slim carried a package up to the 8
th
floor and feigning confusion about the number he walked past her door several times. He noticed that there was a new camera pointed at her door. None of the other doors on the floor had cameras; he also noticed that new bolt locks had been installed. This was enough to convince him that Gina had help, lots of it. With a new respect for their quarry and a heightened level of alertness, he skipped down the stairs to the street. In his apartment, on the second floor, Gil watched Slim on his monitors, notified his team, checked his weapons and moved to intercept Slim at the entrance. The call from T-Max came just in time.

“There are 5 of them
out there in a black Ford truck, probably all armed and dangerous. Do not try to intercept on your own. We’re 8 minutes out.” Gil said “They’re heading uptown” and ran toward his car. Pressing a programmed number on his cell phone he said, “Conference.”

The odd ringtone sounded minutes after her last patient’s session ended. The Chicago
Branch of Chevra Hatzolah was on conference call. “Lost them,” Gil said at once, “they were headed uptown, any ideas where they’re headed?”

“Maybe back to the hospital to see if she’s there.”

“Maybe they’ll wait to see if she goes back to the condo.”

“If these two guys joined up with them, maybe there’s stuff they’re doing for those guys.”

“No, Jake would be in charge. No matter what, they’re on his agenda. I say the hospital.”

“Something doesn’t feel right to me,” Elisabeth interjected,
“something’s off! They aren’t going to the hospital. They know she’s not there. Locations everyone!”

“I’m at Headquarters.”

“Pablo and I are on 94 heading uptown,”

“Sammy and I are with our
protectee,
”

“I’m en route to the farm….”

“Plan B!” Elisabeth commanded just as the door to her office crashed open and a scar-faced man stood in the doorway pointing a Sig Sauer at her.

Elisabeth dropped her cell phone on the floor and kicked it under her desk. “Who are you?” she asked.

“Who were you talking to?” the man demanded.

“N
o one,” she retorted. “I heard voices,” he snapped.

“
You heard one voice,” she said, “mine. Sometimes I talk to myself, that’s what happens when you get old,” she added conversationally.

“Do you know who I am?” Jake
snarled menacingly.

“I believe
I do. You are Mr. Jake Gennett,” she said standing, “and you are here without an appointment!”

Jake burst out laughing, “You are one gutsy old broad,” he said approaching her and said, “Don’t play with me, Lady!”

“Young man,” she said, “I’ve dealt with men far scarier than you.”

“Yea,” he challenged her, “like who!?”

“Like Hitler!” she retorted.

Jake was speechless. This woman had met Hitler? “You’re lying, you didn’t know him,” Jake said.

“Oh, I knew him well enough,” she replied. 

“Yea, well I think you’re lying,” Jake declared, “you’re a lying bitch and I’m gonna cut your throat.”

“Now why would you do that, Mr. Gennett?” Dr. Reinhardt asked calmly, “It doesn’t benefit your situation, does it?”

“It will help me find Reggie,” Jake answered.

“Really? With me dead? How do you figure that?” Elisabeth asked blandly, “I’d be lying in a pool of blood. You’d have blood on your hands, all warm and sticky, and you’d be no closer to her than you are now.”

“Just tell me where she is! Tell me and I’ll leave you alone,” Jake offered.

“We both know that’s a lie, Mr. Gennett. I wish I could help you, but I actually have no idea where she is. She’s a busy woman. An important doctor, you know, very accomplished.”

“WHERE IS SHE?” Jake screamed stalking across the room.

“You know, Jake, I have no idea where she is” Elisabeth shrugged, “She has an appointment for some time this week, let me check that for you,” she said casually. As she moved toward her desk, opened her appointment book and ran her finger down the list of names, she opened a narrow drawer and pressed a pewter button concealed in the molding.

“What are you doing over there?” Jake demanded striding toward the desk shoving her back into her desk chair.

“Just getting my glasses, Jake, see” she said lifting a pair of wire rimmed reading glasses from the drawer. “My, but you’re jumpy,” she observed. Jake grabbed her by the shoulder and was about to smack her when she said, “Wait! I see it now,” Dr. Reinhardt said shrugging him off, “her next appointment is tomorrow at 4. You can have a seat in the waiting room, if you’d like.”

Jake grabbed her and
spun her around. “You think this is some kind of joke, old lady. Well it’s not. You are fooling with the wrong guy. Now, you’re going to tell me where Reggie Lee is,” he growled.

“
Oh, I think you mean Gina,” Elisabeth said helpfully, “She changed her name, you know. She’s called Gina now.”

Jake slapped her across her face. A trickle of blood appeared at the corner of her mouth. Reaching for a tissue she blotted the wound.

“Where is she?” he demanded slapping her again. “Isn’t she at the hospital?” Dr. Reinhardt asked blotting her face with a tissue.

“No, she’s not! She’s not there! She’s hiding!” Jake snarled veins popping.

“Well, no wonder you can’t find her,” Elisabeth answered matter-of-factly, “Maybe you will find her when she stops hiding.”

Jake
raised his fist to punch her, “Oh look,” she said pointing toward the doorway as Slim and Ray appeared. “Looks like your back-up crew has arrived,” she quipped, “Slim and Raymond, I presume.”