Deadly Treatment (30 page)

Once the message ended, the female voice kicked in again and gave a Scott a few options, repeat it, return it, save it, or ditch it — all at the touch of a numbered key. For some reason, Scott hit the save button. The second message started immediately.

‘You were rather rude to me on our last call, but I’ll put that down to shock. I waited for you both at your house last night, but
you were obviously delayed. Anyway, I thought you might like coming home to a warm house, so I put the fire on.’

There was a pause

‘Now that I know I’ve got your attention, we need to talk about the return of my memory device. We all know I will get it from you and it will be better for all of us if you return it sooner rather than later.’

The message ended with a number they could call him on and the words: ‘If you choose not to call me back, rest assured what has happened up to this point is only a fraction of what the future will hold.’

Scott hit the replay option and let Vince hear the message.

‘Arrogant bastard!’ Vince fumed and hit the recall option.

‘You took your time; I’d almost given up on you, and that would have been a bad thing,’ Elwood said when he answered the phone.

‘Are you
one of the guys in the photo?’ Vince asked.

‘What?’ Elwood asked somewhat bemused.

‘Cut the shit. We know who you are, and we know you were caught with your pants down. Now, you’ve made us homeless and unemployed, and it’s time you paid for it. We will give you back your precious flash drive, but we want $1 million in cash for its safe return. We’ll give you a call back to tell you where and when, but it’s best you go straight to the bank now and get it. And, if we have any other bouts of bad luck, the price will go up. Get it?’

‘I don’t think you realize how much trouble…’

Vince hung up and switched off the phone.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ Scott yelled.

‘I dunno, it just came to me. Anyway fuck him. Let him stew for a while and we’ll see what he’s got to say.’

Scott’s mouth was wide open.

‘Don’t worry about it; you never know, we could make a mint out of this.’

He smiled, started the car, and headed back to the motel.

S
ince returning from the airport, Daniel hadn’t ventured from his room. Taylor had stopped Malone from going in to talk to him saying that he would surface in his own good time.

The house phone rang and Malone snatched it up and gruffly said hello.

‘Hi Malone, Detective Rodriguez here. Just a couple of things…’

‘Don’t you ever give it a rest, detective? I’ve told you everything that happened; shit, as far as I can remember — second by bloody second.’

Rodriguez let him finish.

‘Ahem, I wanted to tell you that we’ve found some files in Harrison’s office that relate to the arsons he ordered, not only of the house and the warehouse, but of heaps of others. Seems like Vince and Scott have been very busy — and they’re very versatile. Everything from a recent office fire on Palm Boulevard in Culver City to a factory in Burlington; in fact, the records go back years — do you remember a fire at a shopping mall construction site?’

Malone struggled to recall the story.

‘It doesn’t matter; it was these guys that did it. Anyway, I’ve got our forensics team going through the paper trail. So far, they’ve told me that one name has come up a few times an…’ He checked his notes ‘Elwood. I don’t know if he’s got anything to do with Joshua’s disappearance, but you seem to have the ear and trust of Erin so could you ask her if the name rings any bells.’

‘Sure, Elwood you say?’

‘Yep, thanks. Oh, and one more thing, you didn’t happen to see Harrison’s cellphone anywhere did you?’

‘I um, no,’ he stammered.

‘Alright then, I didn’t think you would have, but I had to ask. The killer’s probably taken it with him, hopefully  he’ll leave it on for a few minutes, and then we’ll be able to trace it. I’ll keep you posted. Bye’

Malone hung up and paused for a second,
Did Rodriguez just give me a heads up
?’ he wondered, then immediately double checked to make sure the phone was off. He’d seen enough crime shows to know that cell phones were traceable.

‘What the hell are you doing sniffing around my staff?’ Natalie Nalder fumed. The good looking blonde was standing over Gerard Paxton’s desk stabbing her finger in his direction as she spoke.

‘Ms Nalder how nice to see you, I don’t recall us having a meeting today…’

‘What are you trying to do? Did you think I wouldn’t find out about you interviewing members of my team? Unlike you, my guys are loyal!’

‘If they’re that loyal, why are they talking to me?’ Paxton replied calmly.

‘I’m warning you. Keep your grubby fingers off my guys or I’ll go above you and get you stopped.’

She stormed out of his office.

‘Always a pleasure,’ he called after her.

Nalder’s visit was bittersweet; it ruled out one of his replacement candidates — there was no room for honesty and integrity in the person he was looking for — the upside was his list and interview workload just got smaller.

E
lwood had been in this line of work for far too long to be annoyed by Vince hanging up on him. He smiled to himself as he got out of the SUV and went into the motel reception office.

The bell above the door rang out loudly but the manager didn’t look up from his magazine.

‘How are you today?’ Elwood asked cheerfully.

A few beats later, the manager reluctantly looked up.

‘I have a couple of friends staying here and they told me to swing by and meet them, can you tell me what room they’re in?’ Elwood told him Scott’s name as it was his credit card the room was booked under.

‘Can’t give you that information, guest’s privacy and all that. Anyway they’re out.’

Elwood pulled back his sleeve and glove to check his watch.

‘Ah, I must have beaten them here. If I could just wait in their room…’

‘Not a chance. Now if there’s nothing else, I’m busy.’ The manager gave a fake smile and returned to his magazine.

Rudeness, Elwood’s pet hate. Slipping his hand into his pocket, Elwood withdrew a pen-shaped syringe and in one fluid motion, he stepped forward and grabbed the manager’s head with his left hand and sank the needle of the syringe into his neck with his right. The contents of the syringe raced through the manager’s bloodstream and clotted in the heart causing instant cardiac arrest. The manager grabbed his chest with both hands and crashed to the floor dead. Elwood gave a nod of approval as he considered how effective his new toy had been and made a mental note to pass on his appreciation to the drug company that had supplied it.

He rounded the counter and dragged the body of the manager into the back office before he checked the register for the room number. Two keys hung from a hook; he grabbed one of them and made his way to the room.

Scott, Vince, and Joshua returned to the motel, Scott jumped out of the car to get the room key. The bell on the reception door chimed, but the manager wasn’t there to greet him. Scott waited for a few beats before ringing the counter bell. There was still no response, so shrugging his shoulders, Scott leaned over the counter and pulled his room key off the hook and returned to the car.

‘What took you so long?’ Vince asked. Scott shrugged his shoulders again.

‘Manager wasn’t there so I had to get the key myself.’

‘Just can’t get good service from a one star motel anymore.’ Vince joked as he drove to the space in front of their room and parked next to a black SUV.

With a smile on his face and his hand on the car door handle, Scott haphazardly glanced at their motel room door, bizarrely it was slightly open. In a micro-second his brain had registered the entry and raced through the list of possible suspects that could be waiting inside. Motel management and staff were immediately rejected; paying and staying bought you secrecy and privacy. Which left thieves, the cops, or worse still the killer on the phone — none of the options sounded good.

‘Shit – GO!’ Scott yelled.

Vince didn’t stop to ask questions, he wrenched the gearstick to reverse and stamped on the gas pedal. In thick plumes of smoke, the eighteen-inch wheels of the big Chrysler squealed like nails down a chalkboard as they struggled to gain purchase on the tarmac; the car juddered backwards before Vince stamped on the brakes then slammed the car into Drive. As the car fishtailed out of the lot, Scott saw a dark-suited man rush from their room and jump into the SUV.

They flew out of the Motel and took a left onto Glenoaks Boulevard narrowly missing two cars. Vince looked in the rear-view mirror and saw that both cars had come to a screeching halt side on, with both drivers leaning aggressively on their horns. Then, his view was filled with the large SUV that came bouncing out of the motel lot and onto the street behind them.

‘Take the next left,’ Scott shouted; he knew the streets around the Valley like the back of his hand; he also knew that provided he kept his cool, they’d be able to lose the SUV.

Vince weaved in and out of traffic, the Chrysler performing well under the pressure of speed and fast cornering.

‘Keep your head down,’ Scott called out to Joshua who was craning his neck to look out the rear window. The SUV was starting to gain on them.

‘Next left and the third right,’ he instructed Vince who obediently did as he was told. They were headed towards town. With the increased danger of passing a squad car, and potential for gridlock, Scott knew it was risky, but he also knew of a few alleys that they could duck down and escape.

They raced past shops and car yards, offices, and corner stores, turning this way and that, and squeezing between other road users, all the while the SUV was closing the gap.

‘Hard left over there,’ Scott said, pointing at an alleyway across the road.

Vince tugged on the wheel heavily and the back end of the car kicked out; they skidded over the median line in front of a huge white rig. They ducked down the alley as the truck jack-knifed behind them, its trailer filling the street and almost blocking the way for the SUV. Unfortunately for Scott and Vince though, Elwood slammed on his brakes and mounted the curb, managing to round the blockage and speed on after them.

As the Chrysler exited the alley, once again Vince checked his rear view mirror and saw the SUV fill the entrance.

‘Fuck, he’s good,’ he spat out.

‘Look out!’ Scott yelled.

As they came out of the alley, they swiped an old Buick, the sides of both cars crumpled in an almighty crash. The Buick spun out, but thankfully, the heavier Chrysler stayed on course.

‘Shit!’ Scott shouted as he looked back at the accident. ‘Cops.’

A blue and white parked on the side of the road had seen the whole accident, its lights and siren flicked on, and it pulled away from the curb to race after them. Unfortunately for the cops inside though, they came past the alley at the exact moment the SUV flew out. The SUV T-boned the squad car and in a mass of shattered glass and twisted metal, both cars were rendered dead.

Vince and Scott both whoop-whooped and laughed as they looked back and saw the cops pull the killer out of the SUV.

In his office in Chicago, Gerard Paxton hung up the phone and shook his head. He hated being disturbed by trivial matters. To most people, writing off two vehicles, speeding, reckless endangerment, and borderline attempted murder of two law enforcement officers would be something of grave concern, but for Paxton, with a couple of phone calls and a credit transfer of funds, the charges weren’t just dropped, they never happened.

With his daily workflow routine interrupted, he chose to take a break and read the latest report from Elwood. Relaxing back in his leather chair, he mulled over a few ideas. It was time to put some pressure onto Vince and Scott. He picked up the phone and made a call to the IT department, and then he called Elwood.

‘It’s me; yes, I took care of it all… I’ve read your latest report: very sloppy leaving that motel door open and being discovered by Scott and Vince. I expect better from you! Anyway, from what I can see, they seem to have the home field advantage. I’ve come up with a way to change all that. I think you’ll be hearing from them very soon, so I suggest you get yourself prepared. Let me know when you’ve got it all sorted out, and I’ll send the corporate jet for you.’

He told Elwood the plan and then rang off.

Vince drove north for just over a half-hour before stopping at a rest stop and diner. With the adrenaline almost completely subsided both he and Scott were feeling drained and in need of nourishment.

‘I’ve been trying to work out how he found us. The best I can come up with is that he must have some way of checking on credit card usage,’ Scott said.

‘Sounds possible. Guess we should go cash only for the moment,’ Vince replied.

They quickly discussed their limited options before Scott said turned to Joshua and said, ‘you and I are going to go into the diner to get something to eat, and we’ll wait while Vince runs an errand. We’re going to be around other people and I need you to behave. Do you understand?’

Joshua nodded. Since seeing the man with the Corvette leave his home late at night and the stories that Scott had told him about his mother being happy now that she finally had some freedom, Joshua had latched onto Scott. He still didn’t trust Vince, but when it came to Scott, he felt a sense of protection.

‘I’ll go and swap this car over. Any preferences?’ Vince asked.

‘Maybe something that blends in easy, like a Jappa?’

‘Good idea. I’ll swing by the bank on the way back too and get some float money. I won’t be very long. Give it twenty minutes and order me a burger and fries.’