The One That Got Away (34 page)

Authors: Simon Wood

Tags: #Drama, #Suspense, #Fiction, #Psychological, #Mystery & Detective, #Private Investigators, #Thriller, #Adult, #Crime

She reveled in his pain. It was what he deserved. Despite the trauma he’d suffered, it was fair payback for what he’d done, but it wasn’t enough. Not yet.

She picked up the dead cop’s pistol and pointed it at him through the windshield. He was still flailing in pain, oblivious of her. That wasn’t good enough. She wanted him to see this coming.

“Tally Man,” she yelled.

He stopped flailing and looked directly at her, then the gun.

Good. She wanted to see fear and terror in his eyes, the same fear and terror that she and all his other victims had suffered at his hands. She wanted him to know the misery he’d put her through.

“How does this feel? Are you scared? I hope this hurts as much as you hurt us.”

“You still don’t get it, do you? I was right. I changed you. I made you better. Admit it.”

He’d love to believe that. It disgusted her that he could even think that. “I changed me.”

He grinned. “Zoë Sutton, my success story.”

She was wasting her time. He’d never understand. “You succeeded at nothing. It’s time for your punishment. This is for all the women you hurt.”

She opened fire. The blasts within the confines of the car deafened her. The windshield deflected the first two bullets, but the hole they left in the glass made a clear path for the shots that followed. She stopped firing when his body fell still against the hood of the cruiser.

In that moment, Zoë was lost. Her life had been on hold for so long, weighed down by this monster’s invisible presence, and now he lay dead. It was over. She was free. It was astounding that the resolution was so simple in its execution. All it had taken to stop the Tally Man were a few gunshots. In her mind, he’d been more than a man, bigger and more powerful, but the bullets had proved he was human, after all. It didn’t seem possible that it was over. All she could do was stare at Marshall Beck’s dead body—all his contempt and hatred gone with him.

The cruiser’s engine fluttered, then caught itself just before stalling. She wasn’t going to die here in the blaze. She put the cruiser into reverse and it shuddered back. Marshall Beck, the Tally Man, slid from the hood and into the flames. She turned the car around and drove out of the fire.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Zoë’s dad appeared in the doorway to her bedroom, with her younger brother. “What’s next?” he asked.

Zoë finished writing
Bedroom
on the three cartons in front of her. “These boxes here, the mattress, and the box spring.”

They started with the box spring. She squeezed past them to help her mom wrap and pack all the crockery in the kitchen. In spite of how little she owned, it seemed to be taking forever.

“I’m so glad you’re coming home,” her mom said with a smile.

“Just until I get myself back on my feet.”

“For as long as you like, sweetie.”

It had been a long three weeks since her showdown with Marshall Beck in Burnt Ranch. With Greening and Ogawa chaperoning her, she’d spent two days with the Trinity Sherriff’s Department, giving statements and helping to pinpoint the graves of the Tally Man’s victims. They’d unearthed them, and DNA testing had confirmed that the grave Marshall Beck had identified as Holli’s was correct. Greening and Ogawa brought her back to San Francisco after the Trinity County District Attorney’s office confirmed they wouldn’t be filing charges against her for killing Marshall Beck.

If she thought she’d be returning to the quiet life, she’d been dead wrong. The media made that impossible. Jarocki put her up at his Napa home until the fervor died down, but even after it had, it was impossible to move back to her home or job. Too many people wanted to talk to the Tally Man’s only surviving victim. She quit her job at the mall and gave notice on her apartment. Jarocki offered her his place long term, but suggested that maybe it was time to reunite with her family. It had been a tough call to make, considering how she’d shunned them, but they welcomed her with open arms. It made the guilt of pushing them away sting even more. Now they were here, helping her move. She didn’t know how going home was going to be, but she didn’t know how anything was going to be from now on. It was all unwritten. “It’s all potential,” as Jarocki had put it. The specter of the Tally Man no longer bound her. She found that kind of freedom scary.

“Hello?” Greening stood in the doorway. “Is it OK if I come in?”

“Yes, of course. Come in.”

He entered the kitchen.

She looked at him in his jeans and T-shirt. “Are you here to help us load up?”

He smiled. “No, there’s only so far I’m willing to go as a public servant.”

“Should have known. This is my mom, by the way.” She introduced him to her mom, then her dad and brother as the two carried her box spring out the door.

“I know you’re busy trying to move, but could I talk to you for a minute?” he said.

Zoë turned to her mom.

“I’ve got this,” her mom said. “You talk.”

For privacy, Zoë walked Greening outside and halfway down the second floor walk. They watched her brother and dad manhandle the box spring down the stairs and over to the U-Haul.

“How are you doing?” he asked.

It had been a mixed few weeks. Her emotions had been sent on a roller coaster ride, so many lows and highs. The highs of her family’s acceptance and finally being free of the Tally Man’s grasp. The lows of accepting Holli’s death. Killing Marshall Beck should have been a guiltless task, but taking a life, no matter how justified, was hard on the soul.

“OK. Dr. Jarocki is helping me deal with the fallout from all this.”

“Good. I’m glad,” he said. “Happy to be leaving?”

“Happy to be getting away from the noise.”

He nodded. “I can understand that. Where are you going?”

“Home with my parents. San Jose.”

“Did you go to Holli’s funeral?”

She nodded. Holli’s parents had invited her. “It was on Tuesday in Sacramento. It’s where she was from.”

“I bet that was tough.”

It had been, especially when Holli’s mother had hugged her after the service and whispered, “Thank you for returning our daughter to us.”

“My parents came. It made it a little easier.”

“I’m glad to see you’ve reunited with them.”

As hard as it was to do, she was glad too. She’d missed them.

“Any news on the other victims?”

Greening shook his head.

Holli was the only one of the Tally Man’s victims the police could identify. The identities of victims
I
,
II
, and
V
were still a mystery. Beck had kept no records, so their identities had died with him. While she knew many of the cops were glad she had put the Tally Man down, some would have liked him to have been taken alive in order to find out who he’d buried at the Palomino Ranch.

“What happens now?”

“The remains will be kept as evidence for now. We know where Beck lived and worked over the last few years, so we’ll cross-reference missing persons in those places with his preferred victim type, and go from there.”

“That’s a long shot.”

“Yes, it is.”

“And if you’re not successful?”

“The bodies will be released for burial.”

“As Jane Does?”

“Yes, as Jane Does.”

It was the worst of outcomes. Not only had Beck robbed these three women of their lives but also of their identities, resigning their families to a lifetime of purgatory. Maybe she’d been wrong to kill him. Killing him had given him a victory.

“If that should happen, will you let me know? Someone should be there to mourn these women.”

“Sure.”

Zoë’s mom came out of the apartment with a box marked
Kitchen
. She glanced their way and smiled.

“I need to get back. We want to be on the road by noon.”

“Of course, but just one more thing. What’s the future hold for Zoë Sutton? Back to grad school? Another mall-cop job?”

She smiled. “I don’t think so on the school idea. It’s not me anymore. Mall cop, definitely not.”

“So, no plan then?”

“Not this minute, but one will appear.”

“I know it will.” He pulled a folded letter-size envelope from his back pocket and handed it to her. “And it has.”

“What’s this?” she said, peering inside.

“It’s an application to be an SFPD police officer.”

She looked at him in surprise.

“You said to me you wanted to make a difference and wanted to protect people from another Tally Man. Here’s your chance to do that. Zoë, you can be anything you want, and if you want this, it’s the right time to do it.”

His conviction and faith astounded her. She had so little in herself that it was hard to accept anyone else’s. “Don’t you think my misdemeanor convictions will get in the way?”

“No. Not when you consider you’ll be the only applicant to say she stopped the Tally Man.”

She smiled but shook her head.

There was no smile from him. “There are people backing this if you want it.”

“People like you?”

“I’m one, Officer Martinez is another, and so is the SFPD’s top brass, but forget me and everyone else.” He tapped the envelope with the application inside. “Answer this simple question: Do you want this?”

Her answer was simple—she did.

The end

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank Jerry Boriskin, PhD, of the Veteran’s Administration for all his time and help on the issues of post-traumatic stress disorder. As always, thanks goes to Special Agent George Fong (retired) of the FBI for all the cop-stuff help. And special thanks to Thom Futrell for all the fight lessons. Zoë couldn’t have won without you. My undying thanks to Joel Arnold, Bonnie Moebeck, Kristi Thomas, Jeff Hall, Mick Tolley, Brad Ellis, Laurie Hernandez, Rick Sobona, Gregory Solis, Karen Haldane, Judy King, Tom Fisher, Seán Dwyer, Dinah Ortiz, Michaela Shannon-Sank, and Craig Cook, who volunteered their names to be part of this book. Finally, thanks to my wife, Julie, Jenna and “The Girls,” and Anh Schluep for their critical eyes, support, and patience throughout this book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A former racecar driver, licensed pilot, animal rescuer, endurance cyclist, and occasional private investigator, Simon Wood is also an accomplished author with more than 150 published stories and articles under his belt. His mystery fiction, which has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, has earned him the prestigious Anthony Award and a CWA Dagger Award nomination. In addition to
The One That Got Away
, his books include
Accidents Waiting to Happen
,
Paying the Piper
,
Terminated
,
Hot Seat
,
We All Fall Down
, and
No Show
. Originally from England, he lives in California with his wife, Julie. Curious people can learn more at
www.simonwood.net
.