DEAD MAN'S JUSTICE - A Place of Evil (Stone & McLeish Thriller Series of Stories Book 2) (22 page)

Chapter 50

The precinct had its own mortuary and forensic laboratory in the basement of the building and also had two full time medical examiners. Finch led Stone down the stairs and had to buzz the M.E. on duty to gain entry. Any visitors, including Detectives and Senior Police Officers, had to be let into the suite and their presence recorded by signature and timestamp. Stone shivered as they passed through the doorway from the relative warmth of the precinct to the fridge-like controlled temperature of the examination rooms.

Stone stayed close to Finch’s heels and buttoned his jacket against the chilly air. Finch asked the M.E., Seth Sussman to open the fridge to see the Jane Doe who had been brought in a few hours earlier.

Sussman clicked open the stainless steel doors and rolled out the table which was at waist height and contained a black body bag labeled JD#5 and the day’s date.

‘You sure you're ready Stone?’ asked Finch.

‘As I’ll ever be.’

Finch asked the M.E., with a raised eyebrow as if to ask
‘Can I?’
and he waved back to mean
‘Go ahead.’
Finch clasped the zip and pulled it down and the bag fell open to reveal the head of a deceased young woman with a pretty face. She had a light brown complexion and shoulder length curly brown hair. Finch thought to himself that it was the most beautiful corpse he had ever seen, he then dismissed the thought as being disrespectful and ridiculous.

Stone stared at the face for some time not really knowing why he wasn’t able to feel emotion befitting the sight of a young dead person. It was a face he knew very well and in a way hoped he would he never see again. He tried hard to find forgiveness in his heart for the terror she inflicted on him and those around him. It was difficult. There was also the evil she perpetrated against Karla Shah, who very nearly lost her life at the hands of the innocent and angelic looking woman, whose face, albeit expressionless, lay dead before him. He took into account the disturbed childhood, the misspent youth, the delusions of wealth and then his thoughts turned to her long suffering father, Chief Parker-Brown, and he found the sympathy he knew he should have felt all along.

‘
Do
you know who she is Stone?’

Finch felt sure she was the woman Stone had talked about. The face they had seen in profile in the dim interior of the
Lincoln on Mac’s photo, skillfully exposed by Tariq at his computer that day in the squad room.

‘Yes.’ Stone said finally with a note of weariness in his voice. ‘It’s Rachel Parker.’

Finch zipped up the bag and slid the drawer back and closed the outer steel door. Finch and Stone made their way back to the squad room in silence.

Mac was surprised to hear the news that the woman had been identified as Rachel Parker,
‘Two birds with one stone,’
he quipped, meaning that the two people who had been responsible for the havoc and mayhem of the last few months were dead and could cause them no more grief. Perhaps now they could get on with their lives, he said. Mac could take a well earned vacation back in the U.K., and Stone could spend some quality time with his daughter.

‘You’re forgetting one tiny little problem,’ said Stone.

Mac frowned while a thought germinated and eventually brought him shuddering back into reality and said, ‘Someone just tried to blow us to Kingdom come.’

‘Just a little, and Alfredo paid the price.’

‘We need to find the bastard who thinks he can mess with us, and I’ve got an idea. I think the device was detonated remotely when he saw someone entering the room, someone was watching, waiting, and I reckon he must have been in the hotel across the road.’

Ramirez was at his desk opposite Finch and they both heard what Mac said.

‘Wooow Mac. Special ops will work with the Fire guys to track down the cause and whoever planted the bomb, even I’ve been told to leave it alone, it’s probably the same guy that put the squeeze on me, my family has had to be put in a safe house. No one wants that bastard more than me,’ said Ramirez.

‘You have numbers for him? What car does he drive? Tell me what he looks like...’ Mac was serious but Ramirez warned him off.

‘Can’t help you Mac, Grolnick would have my badge again if I told you...
speak of the devil and he will appear.
’ Ramirez said the words under his breath.

Grolnick burst through the double doors with an expression like he was going to explode at any moment. He was muttering something to himself, his mouth set angry like he was chewing a wasp. He went up to the wall without speaking and wrote a name at the top in an empty space.

‘Girl number four. Neesha Patel.’ He looked at Ramirez. ‘Get the frigging monster before he strikes again.’ He stormed out of the room and slammed the doors almost breaking the glass.

No one spoke. Everyone stared at the wall with shock and disgust, Ramirez thumped his desk and said they needed to step things up. He shouted out loud to the guys around the
room to get out there and get him something to go on.

Stone felt as if they were intruding and wondered if they could help in anyway but decided against offering. He said ‘We’ll get out of your way
guys; you have a lot to do.’

O’Reilly entered the room and walked over to Ramirez and handed him a photo of Neesha Patel. He told Tariq that he should have it anytime now by email. Tariq said thanks and Ramirez pinned the photo under the girl’s name on the wall.

The office started to hum again with activity, Stone stood up to leave and called out to Mac who was pacing up and down in front of the wall, he appeared to be studying something.

‘What is it Mac?’

Finch looked up and then Ramirez stopped what he was doing.

‘I’m not sure.’ He continued to switch his attention between the photos of the girls
. He looked at one and then the other and went a little closer and said, ‘Tariq?’

‘Yeah Mac?’

‘You got all these on your machine?’

Tariq clicked away and brought up the shots one by one and they appeared on his three screens. ‘Yep. Got ‘em all. What is it?’

‘Not sure yet, I’m seeing a logo, I can see it on two of the girls, on Tamika it’s on her wristband,’ he was turning his head to the side to read something, ‘and on err...Jessica, I think it’s on a pin, look on her blouse.’

Everyone stood up. Stone, Finch and Ramirez went up close alongside Mac.

Tariq rotated and enlarged the wristband from Tamika’s photo and blew up the area around the pin that Jessica was wearing, and he read out a name. ‘It looks like ‘Something Lit something Club’, wait let me just...’  Tariq then adjusted the focus and enhanced the quality in a similar way to when he worked on Mac’s shots from the funeral shooting.

‘Any luck Tariq?’ Mac went over to Tariq’s desk and stood looking over his shoulder at the screens.

‘There...got it,’ he said, and read out the words slowly, ‘...New York State Schools Literary Club.’

‘Mac! How the... you’re a genius man!’ said Ramirez.

Whilst they were reading out the name Stone was studying the photo of Sofia Perez. ‘Guys. Take a look at the book Sofia is carrying, there are some words at the top, they are the same color and shape as the logo on the band and pin.’

Tariq switched things so th
at Sofia’s photo appeared on his middle screen and worked the size and orientation until he had the book dead center. Then he enhanced the exact spot Stone was referring to.

‘Omg. It’s the same Stone. The same frigging name. Look,’ said Tariq.

‘There’s something familiar about that name...can’t put my finger on it though,’ said Stone. He had a finger on his lips in concentration.

‘Google it,’ said Ramirez. ‘See what you come up with, we might get a lead.’

The frisson of feverous excitement across the room was electric. Finch was also googling the name and Mac and Ramirez watched intently as Tariq searched the web.

The hive of activity and intense concentration was shattered when Stone’s cell phone, which was lying on the desk, rang loudly, and everybody almost jumped out of their skin.

Stone said, ‘It’s my wife...God knows what she wants right now.’

He answered the call...and wished he hadn’t.

‘Brad??? Thank God I’ve got you. It’s Laura, I just got a call from the TV Studio, she never arrived. She should have been there hours ago. Brad? I’m worried, worried sick. She’s missing.’

Stone couldn't speak, his brain froze in a blind panic, he had to sit down before he fell down.

‘Are you sure Eleanor? I mean, did you try to call Laura on her cell?’

Mac and the others stopped what they were doing realizing that Stone had a problem; they could see the look of horror playing on his face. Finch asked Mac ‘Who’s Laura?’ Mac whispered, ‘Stone’s thirteen year old daughter!’

Eleanor answered Stone,
‘Yes, over and over, it goes straight to her voicemail. I called the studio and they say she never arrived. What are we gonna do Brad?’

‘I’ll be over right away, stay at home and call me the minute you have any news, okay?’ he wanted to console his wife but he knew it would be patronizing in the circumstances. He flipped off the phone and put it his pocket.

No one spoke.

They had no idea what to say.

‘I’ve got to go guys...hopefully she’ll...’ he couldn't finish what he intended to say. Mac was right behind Stone and as he reached the double doors Stone turned around to add, ‘I’ve just remembered where I heard that name before. Laura is in the same Literary Club.’

After a moment’s silence, the awful news sank in and Ramirez and Finch were speechless. Mac put his hand on Stone’s shoulder. As usual he was with him every step of the way.

‘Come on mate, we’ll pick up the Porsche...we’ll find her mate, don't you worry.’

If anyone could, Mac could.

Part Two

A Place
of Evil

Chapter 51

Stone reached the Taurus first and ran to the driver’s side like he was starting the Le Man’s 24 hour race.

‘Why don’t you let me drive Brad, you’ve got a lot on...’

It was too late, Stone had already started the car and Mac jumped into the car sensing he’d drive off and leave him if he took too long about it. Stone was in top gear and firing on all cylinders, the Taurus was trying to keep up with him. He was driving it as if it was the Porsche.

‘I think we should split up Mac.’

‘What? No, I need to help you find Laura, we’ll go up together.’

‘No. Listen to me. You’re forgetting that someone just tried to kill us, finding this guy, what’s his name? Maloof? Is important, I can’t have that hanging around while I’m trying to finding Laura.’

‘So, what are you thinking?’

‘We split up after we pick up the Porsche, you follow your hunch and go check out the hotel, see what you can find out, and I’ll go home and start from there. We’ll stay in touch via the new cells, and when I’ve found Laura we’ll hook up again and nail the bastard who thinks he can mess with us. Agreed?’

‘Okay. Agreed.’

‘Don’t go doing your Jason Bourne act all on your own, if you have a lead, you’ll need back up, call me and we’ll figure it out together.’

‘What about Ramirez and Finch?’

‘They’re busy enough. We’ll bring them in when the time’s right.’

Less than fifteen minutes later Stone sped down the ramp to the secure underground parking where Guy Randall’s Porsche had been safely stored. Stone switched off the Taurus’s engine and looked at Mac to make sure he understood what they had said.

Stone repeated, ‘Agreed?’

Mac looked around at Stone ‘Sounds like a plan.’

Stone reduced down to cruising speed as he neared the vicinity of his house. He slowed up as he passed the end of the street, and as he thought, there were more network vans and reporters camped outside the front of the house than would be at the forthcoming Super Bowl.

He needed to keep his face off of the T.V., he thought, Maloof might know his name but may not know what he looks like, and for certain he didn’t need him finding out exactly where his family lived. Stone drove around to the street near the back of the house where there was a park and the house had a gate and a path leading to the park. He left the Porsche a safe distance away and made the last fifty yards on foot. The biting December wind was chaffing his face and stinging his eyes but he felt nothing, it didn’t register. He reached the gate and almost kicked it off its hinges.

He opened the back door with the emergency key they always kept in one of those rustproof boxes that was hidden just under the surface in a flower border. He raked his hands around the gravel and found the box. Once inside the house he called out to Eleanor so as not to shock her if she saw him before she heard him.

‘Brad? Is that you?’ she said in reply, hearing his voice unexpectedly. She ran up to him, he was standing in the middle of the kitchen, and she grabbed him so hard he felt his rib cage would collapse at any moment.

Stone and Eleanor had been separated for a year and were contemplating divorce but put it on the back burner for the sake of Laura. School kids, and even close friends, could be vicious, they’ll pick one another other if they think your shoes look funny, tell them your parents are splitting up and it’s all over facebook. No matter what tone and Eleanor’s situation, if their child was in danger and needed their help, their personal differences were soon forgotten.

‘Any news?’ he asked.

‘No. Nothing.’ Eleanor’s pretty face was ravaged by fear and panic. She had been crying so much her eyes were bloodshot and there were tracks of smudged mascara on her cheeks. She had a tissue permanently in her hand and dried her eyes to try to make herself look more presentable.

‘Have the police said anything?’

‘Just that they’re doing all they can and until twenty four hours had passed they can’t treat her as a missing person.’

‘I can guess why all the cameras are here. Vultures, all of them, I suppose we’re all over the news bulletins.’

‘What are we going to do Brad? She’s been gone for hours, there’s no trace of her, she left home at about nine, she called me to say the car had arrived for her and ...’

‘Car? What car?’

‘Well, she took the train first, and then a taxi to somewhere, I don’t know exactly where, and she said the TV network lady, the one who was going to interview her, was picking her up as the studio was so close by.’

‘Network? Taxi? Studio? Don’t you have any idea who this ‘lady’ was or who...’

‘No Brad. I know it sounds stupid now but...’

‘Someone must know. Who else was going? Any of her friends?’

‘She said all of the five prize winners were from different parts of the city, they belonged to this internet club, something Literary...’

‘Five?’ He knew it was five.

Stone stopped her from saying more, he couldn't bear to hear the name, he was hoping against hope that somehow it wasn’t true. That somehow she wasn’t part of the same club as the other girls that had gone missing. He was trying to hold on to something. He paced around the kitchen

‘Did she tell her friends where she was going? I mean she would have been so excited to tell them everything, who’s her best friend?’

‘Amy. You know Amy, you used to take them to ballet, remember?’

‘Of course. Amy. Can we find her, talk to her, she may know something?’

‘She’s outside Brad. She hasn’t left the porch all morning, says she won’t until Laura comes home.’

Stone crept across the lounge staying close to the wall hoping the reporters wouldn't see him. He peeked from behind the drapes and Amy was sitting on the bench cradling her cell phone, no doubt praying that it would ring and that it would be Laura asking what all the fuss was about.

But it didn’t ring.

‘Elle ask her to come inside will you, maybe she can tell us something.’

Eleanor opened the front door, just a few inches and called Amy inside and she stepped into the house. Eleanor managed to open the door just wide enough for her to slip in without alerting the media circus outside.

Amy Anderson was about the same height as Laura and as best friends were prone to do, had a similar hair style, shoulder length straight hair parted to one side, the only difference being Amy’s was blond and Laura’s dark.

‘Hello Mr. Stone, it’s nice to see you,’ said Amy. Her politeness was lost on Stone at that very second he said hello back and told Amy that they wanted to ask her if she knew anything, anything at all.

‘She told me about the interview, she was so excited, but I’ve been away from school since last week and we only spoke on the phone, she didn’t say where she was going,’ explained Amy.

‘Would she have told anyone else? You’re her best friend, I know but, she must have...what about her diary, would she have put it in there?’

‘She doesn’t have a diary Brad, she...’ said Eleanor.

‘Yes she does Mrs. Stone, she writes everything in there, she may have,’ she said turning her head back to Stone.

‘Really? I’ve never seen a diary when I clean her room...’

‘Where is it Amy? You know where she keeps it?’ asked Stone.

‘It can't be in her room I...’ Eleanor tried to say.

‘She hides it.’ Amy looked a little embarrassed to say more in case she got Laura into trouble. ‘I can show you.’

Stone’s optimism rocketed and he summoned Amy upstairs to show him where Laura kept her diary.

As soon as she was in the bedroom Amy went straight to a shelf where Laura kept her school books and picked out a large hard backed book with Astronomy down the spine. Amy took it down and opened it up. Laura had cut out the middle pages of the reference book making it just the right size to fit the diary in between. 

Laura’s was a typical teenage girl’s diary; the outer cover had photographs from magazines pasted all over it. Zac Effron and Chris Colfer stared back at him and Stone wished they knew and could tell him where his daughter was.

Amy handed the diary to Stone but he handed it back saying she should look at it, he didn’t want to invade Laura’s privacy. He told her to go to today’s date and see what she could see.

Amy thumbed through the pages until she got to December and found the page. She read quietly and they could see her eyes moving back and forth across the page.

‘Here,’ she said. ‘It looks like an appointment. It says Prize Giving and Interview 2 p.m. Affinia Hotel, Seventh Avenue, New York.’

Stone reached out and took the diary from Amy and red it for himself. ‘That’s it. Amy...I don’t know how to thank you...’ he ripped out the page and folded it over and put it in his inside pocket.

‘What are you going to do Brad?’

‘I’m going to go there of course. Somebody will have seen her, I know it, I’ll call you okay?’

Stone didn’t waste any time, he kissed Eleanor goodbye, told her he’d be on his cell phone and told her not to tell anyone, especially the reporters outside.

Stone looked into Amy’s eyes and said, ‘Would you keep this to yourself Amy, please? This is just between you, me, and Mrs. Stone?’

‘Sure Mr. Stone, just bring her back for me, I miss her.’

‘Me too,’ said Eleanor, with tears streaming down her face.

Stone was almost out of the bedroom as he said, ‘that’s exactly what I intend to do.’