The Chilling Spree (23 page)

I slugged Johnny’s shoulder playfully. 
“So you used me.”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass if you hate him or
not, Doc.  It just wasn’t an expedient approach with
him.  If at some point, we find that he’s lying about the
statement he gave me, I’m gonna let you take the gloves off and go
at him any way you want.”

“I love you.”

“Do you forgive me for not letting you in on
the secret before now?”

“I get it.  If I didn’t feel
sufficiently reprimanded before Conall showed up, he’d have read it
immediately.  By the way, who is Kathleen?”

“His wife,” Johnny chuckled.  “I
suppose to Aidan’s way of thinking, to compare you to his beastly
mother-in-law was the worst insult he could hurl without being
profane.”

“Huh.  Let’s hope Crevan takes after
his maternal grandmother then.  What do you need me to do
today?”

“Be available if I call.  The Goddards
aren’t back yet, but I’d like you to come with me when they
arrive.  Other than that, I suspect you’ll want to be at the
hospital.  Chris said they might let Devlin go home this
afternoon, that he’s bouncing back faster than expected.”

“And you’re really fine with him coming home
with me?”

“Us,” he whispered.  “Yeah, I’m fine
with it.”

“Did you work all night?”

“Hmm, we went over all of the witness
statements from the protest in October.  I’ve got Crevan and
Tony talking to people involved in the protest getting alibis for
the two timeframes we’re considering for Goddard’s murder.”

“Johnny, you know that I don’t think you
need my help to close this case, right?”

Fingers skimmed up my left arm.  “Are
you sure about that, Helen?”

“Absolutely certain.  I’ve been more of
a hindrance on this case than a help.  Please believe what I’m
about to say, Johnny.  You might have a few months of fuzzy
recollections, but your instincts are just as sharp as ever. 
You’re a great investigator.  Don’t ever doubt it.”

“You still breezed into town and
accomplished more in six months than we did in fifteen years.”

“Dumb luck.  And I didn’t do it
alone.  You had all the pieces that led right to Jerry Lowe,
Johnny.  You were the one who stopped Nick and Kim
Jackson.  I did what I came here to do.”

“Datello?”

I nodded.  “We’ll talk about why that
was so personal for me another day.  Just know that when they
went after you, nothing was going to stop me from getting
him.  He crossed a line I couldn’t accept.”

He cupped my cheek and kissed me
softly.  “Helen, even if I never remember another thing, I
think I’m gonna love getting to know you all over again.”

“Will you call me when you take a break,
even if there’s nothing going on with the case?”

“Yeah,” Johnny said.  “Like I said,
Tony and Crevan are looking at the protesters.  I’m gonna talk
to Madden’s manager this morning and find out how long he and the
entourage plan to stay in town.  I figured we might be able to
wring a few more days out of the group since the victim was his
nephew.  He might want to stick around for the funeral. 
Rham Goddard called last night and let me know that Madden met with
him. He’s staying out on the island somewhere.  Sounds like
the guy’s pretty torn up about the murder.”

“I hope he’s not merely a good performer,
Johnny.”

“I’d like to talk to Underwood with Chris
too.  Do you think that’s a bad idea?”

“Not at all,” I said.  “In fact, I’d
like to observe that conversation, Johnny.  I got more bravado
from him than anything else.  I’m curious if the alpha dies
when he’s confronted with two who are a hell of a lot more dominant
than he is.  Plus, there’s a history between him and
Chris.  I bet it’ll evoke some responses that I wouldn’t
otherwise see.”

“I’ll call with the time,” he said. 
Johnny slid his fingers through mine.  “This feels good, Doc,
like there’s hope after all.”

“About us?”

“Everything,” he said.  “Even if I
don’t remember what I lost, knowing you still believe in me
matters.  I don’t know why, but it matters more than anything
else.”

“We’ll get through this, Johnny.  No
matter what.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“I know I said that I don’t intend to stick
around, but I was talking about this job.  Can’t you see that
I need you?  I want sane and normal and calm.  No more
monsters and demons.”

Johnny’s arms tightened around me.  “I
want that too.  I mean, the normal and calm, stable, coming
home to you.  I know it seems crazy because I really don’t
remember what we had, but I feel things, Helen.  They’re so
strong, and knowing that you want to be with me…”

“Does it help you make sense of something
that was confusing?”

“Yes,” he rasped.  “I know in my heart
that I need you to help me through this.”

“Even if I’m a pain in the ass who doesn’t
know how to follow orders?”

Johnny chuckled.  “Especially
that.  It’s weird.  Whenever you defy authority, I feel
such bone deep fondness, even when it pisses me off.  That’s
why I followed you to Dunhaven.  Tony said –” he stopped
abruptly.

“It’s all right, Johnny.  Tony does
know some facts.”

“Tony said that I knew you were up to
something before you left Downey Division.”

“You should’ve confronted me.  We
wouldn’t be in this mess if you had.”

“Then again,” Johnny said, “it might’ve been
exactly what you needed for the final push that resulted in
Datello’s arrest.”

“It would’ve happened, should’ve happened
without you getting hurt.  I don’t think I can ever forgive
myself for that.”

“I’ll settle for a promise from now on,” he
said.  “No more running headlong into danger.  You go in
with a team, preferably me and more armed officers than can be
mowed down by the bad guys.”

“Deal.”

At least until the next wild idea hit
me.  If some cell in Johnny’s brain knew me at all, he had to
realize that it was only a matter of time before my impatience sent
me hurling out of control again.  The fear of losing him was a
little too fresh in my mind now, though.  Stupidly, I thought
that was enough.

The drive from Central Division to
University Hospital was long enough to lull me into a sense of
false belief that I was capable of changing a pattern of behavior
that landed me and others in danger more often than not.  Dare
I say I felt optimistic when I pushed the door to Devlin’s room
open?

He dropped the newspaper into his lap. 
“Look who the cat dragged in.”

“How are you feeling this morning?”

“Like somebody went fly fishing in my guts.
 They tell me I’m setting some kind of record for recovery
after major surgery though.  Doctor says that he might spring
me out of here tonight instead of tomorrow morning.”

“Really?  Dev, that’s great!”

“So I figured we needed to have a serious
conversation before he comes in here with my walking papers. 
Chris said that if you weren’t serious about taking me home with
you –”

“We were absolutely serious, Devlin. 
Johnny brought it up this morning again, that we’re expecting you
to recuperate at home with us, not anywhere else.”

“So I guess either he’s come to his senses
or is starting to remember you, huh?”

“A little of both, I think.  At least
he’s not insanely jealous anymore.”

“If this is what you want, I’m happy for
you, Helen.”

I slumped into one of the chairs beside the
bed.  “I haven’t lied about how I feel about him,
Devlin.  Whether he remembers it or not, nobody has ever quite
understood me the way Johnny does.  That’s still there.”

“Do you feel guilty about his memory
loss?”

“Of course I do, but that’s not why… well,
you know.”

“I hope he doesn’t screw this up.”

“It’ll be fine, Devlin.”

“So.”

“Yes?”

“Tell me how fucked up my case is without me
steering the boat.”

“You’re never gonna let that go, are
you?  OSI was determined to take that case, Devlin.  And
on a scale of one to ten, with ten being perfection and one being
screwed up beyond repair, I’d say we’re sitting at a kind three
right now.  Not because of Johnny.”

I brought him up to speed before his surgeon
came in with the good news.  Devlin was coming home today.

Someone once said that without sorrow,
mankind could never truly appreciate joy.  I’ve always thought
that was bullshit, personally.  We could do without bad
news.  At least for a few hours.  People, being the
wretched sort that we are, however, seem to thrive on
conflict.  As I thought about my momentary lapse of reason,
those few hours where I experienced optimism, Crevan’s sober voice
echoed in my ears.

“
We need you in Downey.  I realize
it’s not convenient since you just got Devlin home from the
hospital, but Tony and I are convinced this is related to the
case.”

Johnny was driving his OSI issue
sedan.  My foot pushed against the floorboard with
impatience.  The drizzle that appeared in late afternoon
turned to freezing rain after sunset.  The streets were coated
with a layer of black ice.

Devlin assured both of us that he was fine
with being left alone for a few hours.  I made him down two
Percocet before agreeing that he didn’t need to have a nurse
summoned. 

“Where is this place?”

Johnny’s white-knuckle grip on the steering
wheel didn’t relax.  “Business district in Downey.”

“And it’s a bar?”

Johnny glanced quickly right.  “Doc,
didn’t Crevan explain why he knows this is related to Goddard’s
case?”

“No.  He said we needed to meet them at
a bar called The Cockpit, which I assume is some aviation themed
–”

“It isn’t, and it’s not merely a bar. 
It’s a night club.”

“Oh.”

“The same one where the protesters got out
of hand in October.”

“
Oh
.”  The Cockpit took on a
whole new meaning.

“I’d imagine that Aidan’s outrage resulted
in the great protest part two.”

Crevan hadn’t been specific.  Audibly
shaken, yes, but he hadn’t offered more details beyond certainty
that this was linked to the Goddard case.

“This could be what propels the case
forward, Johnny.  Maybe the questions Crevan and Tony asked
the protesters today prompted the guilty party to make a
mistake.”

“We can hope,” he said.

“Is something other than the case bothering
you?”

“Not really.”  One hand left the
steering wheel and groped for mine.  “I am okay with Mackenzie
being at the house, Doc.  Sometimes though, I catch him
looking at you.  It’s my problem.”

“I can’t control how other people feel,
Johnny, but I hope you know that I’ve made it very clear to him
that all I have to offer is friendship.”

“It helps,” he said.

I observed while Johnny slowed the car and
drove slowly into a packed parking lot.  “Busy for the middle
of the week.”

“Yeah,” he said.  “It’s packed like
this most nights.”

“I don’t see any burning cars or protesters
picketing.”

“That’s what’s got me worried,” Johnny
said. 

We gingerly picked our way across the icy
parking lot toward the building.  “Maybe the weather had a
role in dispersing an angry mob.  God knows, I’d rather be
anywhere than out in this stuff.  So much for no snow in
Darkwater Bay.”

“Technically, this isn’t snow,” Johnny
grinned down at me.  “And we need to have a serious
conversation about sensible shoes.  Whoever painted a rosy
picture of mild winter lied.”

“I believe that yarn came from the lips of
the ever reliable Johnny Orion, while he was trying to convince me
that this is a wonderful place to spend the rest of my life.”

He swung the door to the night club
open.  “Well in that case, this beats the hell out of winter
in D.C.”

A thick somber atmosphere sucked the levity
out of our conversation.  Johnny’s eyes roved over a crowded
room filled with silent men.  “This is unexpected.”

Crevan met us a moment later.  “This
way.”

“Crevan, what’s going on?” I asked as we
followed him down a corridor away from the patrons.

“We’ve got another victim.”

“Ah, hell,” Johnny groaned. 

It was obvious why Crevan believed the cases
were related.  The depths of that relationship were about to
be revealed.  He swung open a door marked with a placard that
read
dressing room
.  Hanging from plumbing pipes that
transected the ceiling was a very young man, a single silk scarf
stretched taut by the weight of his limp body.

Blood dripped from his toes.  My eyes
followed the red streaks northward to where his genitalia had been
crudely removed.  Prosthetic breasts were attached to his
pectoral muscles, and a single word was carved superficially on his
abdomen. 
Abomination
.

Crevan cleared his throat.  “Coroner
and CSD are on the way over.”

“Do we know his identity?” Johnny asked.

Briscoe appeared behind us.  “Oh yeah,”
he said.  “Meet Bobbi-with-an-I Tippet.”

“As in Robert Tippet, best friend and
co-conspirator of Kyle Goddard?” I spun around and impaled Briscoe
with the shock I felt.

“One and the same.  You see why we
can’t operate under the delusion that this is a coincidence,” he
said.  “Ain’t no way, no how that this is some random
thing.”

Johnny inched closer to the body for a
better look.  “Not much blood.  Whoever did this to him
must’ve left the message after he was dead.”

“Same for the other wound, Johnny,” Crevan
said.  “I don’t know how we could possibly think this isn’t
about what happened in October.  It’s got to be one of Dad’s
nutty friends.”

“We need evidence, Crevan.  Off the
record, I tend to agree.  I’m sure your dad sounded the alert
that they were being persecuted before you and Tony made a single
phone call today.”