Carolina Rain (19 page)

Standing at attention, he saluted and spoke, mimicking an enthusiastic minister at a funeral for one of his deceased flock.

“Sleep well, my friend. The world will miss you and all you brought to it. So long, Max Tucker.”

CHAPTER-24

Manny watched the spring green of South Carolina go by the window as the FBI’s black SUV sped north on Highway 31 toward Wilmington with Sophie behind the wheel, Josh riding shotgun, and Manny in the back.
Dean and Alex we
re following with the other truck.

Several golf courses to
the
east caught his attention and he felt a yearning he hadn’t experienced since his first partner was killed some
sixteen
years
earlier
. He actually wondered what it would be like to play golf again.
It had always been a tension release for him, but the fact he was
teeing it up
when Kyle Chavez had been shot nine times at a domestic had soured the pleasure the game had offered him
—e
nhancing his already dangerous workaholic tendencies.
Maybe
he was finally getting over it
,
or it was just simply
the spell
Myrtle Beach
held over
anyone bitten with
the golfing
addiction
.
There was no place quite like The Beach to play golf.

Kyle’s face floated from some obscure region of his deepest memories, then smiled and winked in
his
unforgettable style. The man had possessed one of
the
best grins on the planet and it was good to remember it
once in a while
.

Waiting for the familiar wave of guilt that always accompanied thoughts of Kyle, he looked at his hands
,
but nothing happ
ened. He inexplicably felt free
from the
old
self-serving condemnation. Could old demons be taught new rules?

Josh reached back and touched
Manny
on the arm, bringing
him
back to the present.

“You dreaming, Williams?”

“Nah. Just enjoying the view. Golf courses are beautiful.”

“Not if you’ve seen my game.
It’s a bitch in fox’s
clothing.”

“That I’d pay to see. You
r
golf game,
that is
,” said Manny.

“Me
too
,” said Sophie with enthusiasm. “
You can take us all out to the course and I could wear some of those short skorts and tight tops with the really cool color-coordinated visors. Not to mention, I’d get to see all of your putters, drivers, and balls
.
”

“I’m really not sure what to do with you, Lee. Just drive,” sighed Josh, smiling just the same.

“Yeah, I get that a lot
,
and yes sir.
Does that mean I don’t get to see your
. . .
equipment?
”

“
That’s exactly what it means.
Anyway, I’ve sent for all of Max’s files, including videos of all of his
latest
sessions with the doctors, including
the doctor
he killed. Plus all of the
media
information
listening and watching
him in his cell.
Rounding out all of that
, anything else we had on him at the Bureau and
from
his previous employers.”

“How about access to bank accounts, credit cards, cell phones, and what he did with his
I
nternet time in the psychiatric hospital?”

“I’m working on that
too
. I
t could be a day or so.”

Looking intently at Manny with those ice
-
blue eyes, Josh cocked his head. “How’d you know he had access to a cell phone? I mean that’s not on the rights menu for those folks.”

Manny shrugged. “It stands to reason he had some source of contact to the outside world and
,
as bright as he is, there would be no way to cover his tracks with the limited
I
nternet usage the patients are given. I wouldn’t just research the phone records of the guard
that helped him escape. There could have been any number of people he influenced to let him use their phone
s
or he may
have
even found a way to steal one.”

“Good point,” said Josh. “He would have needed a method to access the money he gave to the guard. And how in hell did he get money into the hospital?”

“Who knows for sure? How do drugs and weapons get into prisons? It can always be traced to some outside help
,
but who has the time to really dig into
that
unless something like Max’s escape comes up? We’ll find out, eventually, but it may not help find him,” answered Josh.

“I’m more concerned with what else Argyle might have taught him, especially regarding how to disappear
,
how
to get what he wants the most
.
”

Manny
ran
his hand through his hair. “There are a million ways to laund
er
money and hide bank accounts
,
and all of that tangled mess might not
get
sorted out
. N
one of that
bother
s me as much as his motive. What the hell is he up to? Is it just as simple as a little revenge on Josh or me or the rest of us? Is that really it?”

“I hate it when you start asking these kinds of questions,” said Sophie.

“Yeah,
I have to agree with her.
What the hell
are
you thinking?” asked Josh.

Staring out the window, Manny frowned. He wasn’t sure what he was thinking. He only knew the situation with Max felt out of balance, not in line with how he
would guess
the man’s actions should be. Max’s
stage
of violence had escalated to a level that Manny wouldn’t have suspected
. N
ow
he
was not only a fugitive from his sentence regarding his conspiracy with Argyle, but he was wanted
for a cold
-
blooded murder. Max T
ucker and that kind of killing didn’t add up.

He looked back to his friends. “I’ll let you know when we get the files and videos. Let’s just say I think we’re missing some pieces that might make this puzzle a little more complete. And unless I miss my guess, Max will be underground for a while if he’s going to emulate his teacher at all. He’s got to get organized and that
could take days
. I know I’ve been out of it for a
couple of months
.
I’m sure of that much. Besides, we’re down here to help the Wilmington Police Department figure
out what’s going on with their G
oddes
s of L
ove.”

“Yeah. We’ve got a meeting in about an hour. They’ve brought in some of the North Carolina State Police detectives and forensic folks to help, if Alex and Dean need them.”

“That’ll be interesting, seeing if Alex wants help. I think he believes he’s got something to prove. But according to the department’s shrink
, h
e’s
handling the loss of
the hand quite well
,
so maybe I’m off base,” said Josh.

“I think he’ll be fine. He’s a realist and will deal with the facts and not anything else,” said Manny.
“And he’s looking forward to his new automated prosthesis.”

“Yep. And I think Dean will help keep him in the right state of mind. He’s also a lot tougher than most Dough Boys. But don’t tell him I said that. He might think I like him or something,” said Sophie.

Leaning against the seat, Josh twisted in Manny’s direction and turned his hand palm up. “So, do you have a preliminary profile of our Aphrodite conjured up in that brain of yours?”

Nodding, Manny cleared his mind and quickly
, from memory,
went over the files the New Hanover County’s
s
heriff’s
o
ffice had put together
.
It seemed some things never changed.

The bodies of the first three victims had identical stare
s that could only be described
as haunting. They had identical rigid positions and the scalpel work
was
meticulous
. . .
eerily artistic and not really work for her.

He shook his head. He wasn’t answering Josh’s question,
he knew. I
nstead
doing more
mental
mapping to an end road he
hadn’t really traveled
.
Aphrodite was a different breed of killer.

“We’ve seen some killers in our time together
only
I’m not sure this type has really ever seen the light of day, at least that we know of. We’ll get into it more when we meet with the others but I think she’s only in it for the pleasure. I don’t believe she has any other agenda. Argyle, Jenkins, the killers for hire in Miami, including our friend Destina Flores, the Justice Club, and even Caleb all had some type of
twisted
agenda that at least in part, unleashed the beast, so to speak.
I’m
not so with this one.”

“What makes you say that? I mean, isn’t she just a sick bitch that decided to step out and show the world who she is? She named herself
,
for God’s sake,” said Sophie as they exited
SC-9 and hit B
usiness 17 toward Wilmington.

“True, she did name herself, but not for the reason you might think.”

He leaned forward and put his hand on the seat Josh was sitting in.

“
I think s
he has found something she may have always
yearn
ed
for
, at least in the way her mind works. She’s been looking for something special. Something that triggers a response in her psyche that she’d never fathomed. An emotion. You can tell because she’s not doing anything to the bodies
to
create a sense of detachment from re
ality
.
Caleb Corner. . .” he glanced for a moment at Josh, found no reluctance, and continued. “Caleb,
for instance, would decapitate his victims. It was a way for him to not really perceive them as humans, in a twisted way.
She’s slow, methodical, patient.
I think she enjoys being with them.
Again, we’ll get into this more at the meeting, but the fact she has adopted the Aphrodite
name and
symbol
seems to imply that she’s discovered that emotion: love
.
Not like we think of it, but her own perception.
”

“Damn, Williams. Are you saying she loves her victims?” asked Josh.

Shaking his head, Manny sat back and glanced out of the window again.

“No, not her victims
so much
. She’s arrived at the best possible state for most of us and the worst for people like her
. . .
she loves what she’s doing and is willing to do whatever it takes to recreate that euphoria.”

CHAPTER-25

“I need your advice,
O
ld
W
ise
S
age of all that is Crime Scene Investigating
. . .
and being married since Moses crossed the Red Sea can’t hurt, either,” said Dean Mikus, smiling at Alex sitting in the passenger seat.

“Nice suck-up approach. If it’s about your wardrobe, I’m all in. I think our cat could give you some pointers. Paisley and plaid just doesn’t
—
”

“No
, it’s
not about my clothes, or my beard, or my boxers that
match my so
cks, thank you very much. I
t’s something else.”

“Oh shit. More freaking images I don’t want to have r
unning around in my head. Your b
oxers and so
cks
match? Seriously? You’re more warped than I thought. Even
beyond
wanting to be a CSI
.
”

“Yeah, well, don’t forget, you’re a CSI
too
.”