The One That Got Away (27 page)

“I don’t know exactly.”

“The 911 call came in fifty-two minutes ago,” one of the Napa detectives said.

“He made Zoë chloroform herself, then he knocked me out cold. I don’t know how long I’ve been out, but I had just closed a file on my laptop. It’ll be time stamped.

“Where’s the laptop?” the other detective said.

“In my room,” Jarocki said, pointing to the rear of the house.

The detective dashed off.

“Did you see a vehicle or anything?” Greening asked.

“No. He came in through the back of the house.”

The detective returned with Jarocki’s laptop. He fired up the computer and read off the time stamp on the file. Greening checked his watch. The Tally Man had up to an eighty-five-minute head start. That meant the prick could be halfway to Tahoe or in San Jose by now.

Would he travel that far? He hadn’t with Laurie Hernandez. He’d grabbed her and killed her in San Francisco. The first time he’d snatched Zoë, he’d driven her and Holli less than an hour from the grab site. It was more than likely that wherever he was taking Zoë, he’d gotten there by now.

“This guy likes to work close to home,” Greening said to the detectives. “There’s a good chance he’s in the area. We need to canvas commercial districts, farms, rail yards, anywhere secluded and with low security. He likes room to work and areas where no one can hear the noise.”

The detective who’d retrieved the laptop jumped on his cell and walked into another room.

Greening pulled out one of Ogawa’s business cards and handed it to the other detective. “Call him, please. Tell him the Tally Man could be bringing her back home, and they should be looking for a probable kill site there.”

“Sure thing,” the detective said and followed his colleague.

“What else can you tell me?” Greening asked Jarocki. “What did he look like?”

“I didn’t see much of him. He was wearing a ski mask, so I didn’t really see his face, but he was big—six-one or six-two. He was also strong. Not Muscle Beach big, but just strong. Something weird happened though that didn’t make sense to me.”

“What was that?”

“After she made the bargain to go with him quietly in exchange for my life, he tossed her a chloroformed rag to knock herself out with. Just as she raised it to her face, he pulled off his mask.”

“Did you see what he looked like?”

“No, he kept me on his blind side, but he wanted Zoë to see him. She recognized him, Inspector Greening. I saw it in her expression, and it’s the only thing that explains her last words. She said, ‘You. Mall. Phone Thief.’ ”

Greening’s heart skipped a beat. She was talking about the perp she’d taken down at the mall. The son of a bitch must have stolen a phone to put himself face-to-face with Zoë to see if she remembered him from Bishop. The balls on the bastard.

“Thank you, Doctor. You’ve been very helpful.”

He pushed himself to his feet and waved the paramedics back, then tore through the house to find the detective on the phone to Ogawa. He took the phone from the guy.

“Edward, she saw his face. It’s a phone thief she took down at the Golden Gate Mall. I’m going over there now. Make some noise for me with their security.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

“This is our break. I think we’ve got him.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Zoë came to. It had happened again. Her past was her present. She was trussed up in a confined space in the dark, her hands and feet both bound together, this time with her arms behind her. A blanket covered her.

She was in his hands—again. Surrendering to the Tally Man to save Jarocki had seemed like the right option at the time. Now it seemed like a dumb, impulsive one. She could only imagine what Jarocki would say to her if she ever saw him again. “Control your impulses, control your life.” She hadn’t and now the Tally Man controlled her. Flashes of Holli hanging from a hook in that workshop filled her mind, and closing her eyes couldn’t shut them out. She’d gotten away then, but not this time. She would end up like Holli and Laurie Hernandez and all the other women. A scream rose in her throat, looking for escape.

Keep it together
, she thought.
You aren’t the person you were then. Twice he’s tried to kill you, and twice he’s failed. You’re a two-time survivor of the Tally Man. You’ll survive this
.

The scream sank back down inside her, but not the fear. Nothing was assured. She was a long way from safety. Yes, he’d failed on his previous attempts, but this could be the time he succeeded. If she wanted to survive, she had to keep her shit together. If she stayed strong, stayed determined, and believed in herself, she’d make it through. If she lost her grip on any one of those, she’d likely be killed.

Her breathing had been fast and shallow, but with effort, it was returning to normal. She helped it with long, slow mouthfuls. Each inhale sucked oxygen into her brain. It would make her sharper and mentally agile.

When she was calm, she told herself, “Time to see how bad it is.”

She flicked her head around until it was free of the blanket.

Two things were different from before. She was in the back of a moving vehicle, instead of a shed, and this time, she wasn’t drugged. The chloroform had knocked her out, but it hadn’t doped her up. She still had her wits. She still had a chance.

How long had she been out? Minutes? Hours? She pulled herself up as best as possible to peer through the windows. They were tinted, but it was obvious it was still night.

We can’t have gotten very far
, she thought—and hoped.

She heard a snarl, and a pit bull peered over the backseat at her. She recoiled from the dog.

“It’s OK, Brando,” the Tally Man called in a soothing tone. “Hey, you awake back there?”

She felt like saying nothing in some hope of maintaining an advantage but saw none. “Yes.”

“OK then. Brando won’t hurt you if you behave.”

The dog leered at her.

Has anyone told the dog that?

“We’ve still got a ways to go, so try to settle in for the duration.”

Settle in?
Zoë thought. He’d abducted her in order to kill her, and he was making it sound like they were on a cross-country jaunt. Maybe this was how he saw it—that there was nothing wrong with what he did.
How do you fight that type of crazy?

The dog dropped down from sight.

She wasn’t about to sit back and enjoy the ride. She needed to use this time to plan her escape. She needed information.

“Is Dr. Jarocki OK, Brad?” She used his name, thinking that using his name would create some bond between them.

“Don’t call me that. That’s not my name.”

“You want me to call you the Tally Man?”

He snorted. “That’s a damn fool label the media invented. Morons. I have no dumb identity to hide behind. I am who I am and nothing else.”

“What do I call you? What’s your name?”

“Marshall Beck. Now, no talking please.”

“I need to know. Is he OK, Marshall?”

“Dr. Jarocki?”

“The man who was protecting me. You said you wouldn’t hurt him.”

“Him? Yes, he’s fine.”

She hoped he wasn’t lying. She’d have no way of knowing.

As if reading her thoughts, he said, “I said I wouldn’t hurt him, and I didn’t. I am a man of my word.”

The honorable killer
, she thought.
How pathetic
.

“I don’t harm good people.”

The remark puzzled her.
So, he harms only the bad?
Did that mean she and Holli were bad? How had that been determined? This confirmed Greening’s belief that the Tally Man operated to some warped moral code, punishing those who didn’t meet his standards. There might be something in that she could use against him or to buy her more time.

“Does that mean you think I’m not good?”

“Zoë, this isn’t a topic for discussion.”

“You’re going to kill me, and I don’t know why.”

“That’s disappointing. I thought you had changed. I’ve seen how you live your life now, and how you traded your life for your friend. It looked promising, but if you don’t know why you’re here, maybe you haven’t changed after all,” he said with seemingly genuine regret. “Now, quiet please.”

Yes, quiet was good. She needed the time to formulate an attack and defense.

She hoped Beck was telling the truth about Jarocki. His survival meant he could raise the alarm. It would be the slender thread that connected her to the SFPD. They’d be searching for her, which was a start. She needed to pile more things in her favor.

She didn’t know how far he was taking her, but she needed to keep him on the road. Wherever he had his torture chamber, it was bound to be secluded. Once he got her there, it was game over for her. But if she could keep him traveling for longer than he intended, it increased the chances of them running into a patrol car or roadblock. She knew only one way of doing that.

“Marshall.”

“I said quiet.”

“I know, but I want to make a bargain with you,” she said.

“We’ve done that. I didn’t kill your friend, the doctor.”

“I know, but I want to make another. Remember, killing Dr. Jarocki would have gone against your code. I saved you from that mistake. That has to be worth something.”

“You have nothing to offer me, Zoë.”

“Then call it a request. Just hear me out. It’s important.”

Beck was silent for a long moment. “What is it?”

“Is Holli dead?”

A longer silence came from him this time. “Yes.”

The confirmation hurt. She felt it twist up inside her. Her friend was really dead. She closed her eyes, and tears leaked out.

“I’d like you to take me to where you buried her.”

“What makes you think I buried her?”

“I don’t know what you did with her. I don’t care what you did. I just need to go to her final resting place.”

“Watch your tone, Zoë.”

“Sorry. It’s just that it’s important.”

The engine note dropped, and Zoë felt the SUV slow. He pulled off the road and stopped. She didn’t know whether to take this as a good sign or not.

Without the road noise underneath her, the world was eerily quiet. She listened for vehicles and heard only the sound of the SUV’s idling engine. The scenic route they were taking would be the death of her.

She heard him move in his seat. “Why is it important?”

“I let down my friend when I escaped, and I let down myself when I didn’t try to save her. Those things have been eating me up ever since. They’ve poisoned me and destroyed my life. Nothing brings me pleasure. I can’t remember the last time I was happy. You’ll finish what you started, and that’s OK. I’m not sure I can ever come to terms with what I did, but the one thing I have to do is visit my friend’s grave so I can apologize. I have to atone.”

It wasn’t just a line she was using on Beck to buy time. She meant every word. Yes, she was hoping to delay his plans long enough for a rescue, but all this would end one of two ways. Either Beck killed her, or the cops killed him. However it happened, it would rob her of her chance to apologize to Holli—and that just wasn’t acceptable.

“I applaud you, Zoë. I am very conflicted about you. You show great honor, but it won’t save you from your punishment. What it does do is buy you a favor. Your friend is buried, and yes, I can take you there.”

“Thank you,” she said.

“It does mean a much longer journey.”

That was just fine with her.

The shopping center was in darkness. Greening stopped his car on the sidewalk in front of the north entrance. A mall cop was waiting for him.

“Inspector Greening?” the guy called.

“Yes.”

“I’m Jared Mills. Your colleague told me to expect you.”

Ogawa had done his job. He was a real door kicker. It didn’t matter what it was—red tape, an obstinate witness, or another law enforcement agency—his bark always forced people to bend to his will. Before Greening had reached the Carquinez Bridge, Ogawa had called him to let him know he’d find someone waiting for him.

He slipped through the door, and Jared locked it behind him.

“This way. I’ve got everything set up for you,” Jared said and led Greening through the mall. “This is about Zoë, right? She’s a friend. Is she OK?”

“It’s about the phone thief from a week or so ago. Do you know anything about it?”

“I know everything about it. The guy cut me.” He touched his chest. “Until I’m healed up, I’m working the graveyard shift.”

“So you know who this guy is?”

“Oh yeah, we’ve got his name and address. I gave your partner the information. I also have our security feed teed up for you.”

Jared took Greening into a cramped security booth on the upper level. A dozen screens displayed various live shots of the mall. With the mall closed and no movement on the concourses, the feeds looked as if they were on freeze frame. Greening took a seat next to Jared, who handed him an arrest report. His gaze went straight to the arrestee’s box, which listed the guy’s name as Leroy Porter. Finally, the Tally Man had a name.

Jared pointed at the screen in front of him. “This is Zoë taking this guy down.”