Gridlock: A Ryan Lock Novel (28 page)

She took it. ‘So? Lots of people write me. You know that.’

‘I found the other mailbox, Raven. I know everything,’ he said.

Her expression didn’t shift but her pupils flared wide. Lock sensed one of her new escorts in the hallway behind them. He jerked his head in that direction. ‘You might not want to be overheard.’

Raven stepped outside and began to close the door, but Lock put up a hand to stop her. ‘Let’s go for a drive. We have a lot to talk about.’

‘And what if I don’t want to talk? Those letters don’t prove anything.’

‘They can go away. I can get rid of them, if you like.’

She glanced back inside the hallway. ‘I’ll just be a second,’ she called, then pulled the door all the way closed. Lock noticed that her feet were bare, and her usually perfectly painted toenails were chipped at the edges.

‘What do you mean you can make them go away? Are you trying to blackmail me?’ she asked, her hand still on the door handle.

Lock grabbed her arm while, at the same time, reaching round for the gun, making sure that she saw a flash of it before he jammed it back under his jacket. ‘If only it were that simple. He has Carrie, and that means you’re coming with me even if I have to kill everyone in that house. Your brother too.’

That Lock had mentioned Kevin, never mind threatened his life, seemed to register with Raven. He felt it as her violet eyes turned black. The truth was he would never have touched Kevin. But he had shifted something in Raven’s mind and that was all he needed. Raven might have craved a protector but she understood much more keenly, on the most base level, the behaviour of a predator.

‘You understand me?’ he asked her, his tone low and level, his eyes never leaving hers.

She nodded.

‘Good.’ He smiled, aware that they might be being watched. ‘Now tell them you’ll be back in an hour. If I even suspect you’ve tipped anyone off, I’ll make good on my promise.’

She started back inside and he made a point of stepping in with her. Once the front door was closed his chance would be gone for ever.

The guy who had answered the door said nothing as Raven threw on a pair of sneakers, and gathered her jacket and bag.

‘I’ll only be an hour,’ she said.

‘One of us should come with you,’ the guy said.

‘He’s a bodyguard. I’ll be safe. Isn’t that right, Ryan?’

‘Of course.’

‘Do I have time to say goodbye to Kevin?’ she asked.

Lock squared his shoulders. ‘He won’t even know you’re gone.’

They left together, the door closing behind them. Lock had no idea if she would see her brother again. But he had no idea if he would see Carrie again either. At least in one regard they were even.

Halfway down the path, Raven stopped and turned to him. ‘I’m sorry about Carrie,’ she said, her eyes watery.

Twenty-four hours ago, he might have bought the line. Now he knew better.

62

The doors sealed with a muffled
thunk
as Lock made sure that Raven sat in the front of the truck, wedged between him and Ty. He glanced at his watch. It was just as well that Raven had put up little resistance. In five minutes the man who had said he had Carrie was going to call back, and if he didn’t hear Raven’s voice, he’d promised that Carrie would be dead by the time the call ended. He’d also said that Lock could listen to this if he wanted, maybe even say a last goodbye. After all, he knew what it was to love someone too.

Ty was driving with no particular destination in mind. That would come with the phone call. Lock told him to head for the intersection of the Santa Monica-10 and the San Diego-405 freeways, which ran east to west and north to south respectively. At least moving forward gave them something to do and made them more difficult to track.

Raven had been silent since they’d got into the truck but now she spoke. ‘You have to understand, I never meant for anything like this to happen. For it to go so far.’

‘You know,’ Lock said, staring out through a windshield that was dotted with raindrops, the first he’d seen since he’d arrived in California, ‘it was Carrie’s idea that I look after you, and that you and Kevin came to us. She made the call to get Fay Liepowitz to represent you too.’

Raven’s hand went to her mouth and stayed there. ‘What do they want?’

Ty glanced over and Lock stared at her. ‘They?’

‘It’s an expression.’

‘Not the way you said it,’ Lock said. ‘Are you saying there’s more than one person involved in this?’

‘I don’t know.’

Lock motioned for Ty to pull over by the side of the road. ‘Pick somewhere quiet.’

Ty pulled tight to the kerb at a spot equidistant between two streetlights. ‘Ryan, take it easy,’ he said.

Lock’s jaw tightened until his teeth were grinding against each other, then he pulled out the SIG and pressed the barrel to Raven’s face. ‘How many are there? How many lunatics do you have out there doing your dirty work for you?’

Raven swallowed hard. ‘I think there are two. Clayton and this other guy.’

Lock’s cell phone rang. Breathing hard, he lowered the gun, and passed it to Ty. He poked a finger into Raven’s chest. ‘Stay quiet if you know what’s good for you. You understand me?’ He clicked the answer button on his cell phone. ‘Lock.’

‘I have some information on that prisoner for you, Mr Lock,’ the voice on the other end of the line said. It was Marquez, the warden from Pelican Bay.

‘Go ahead.’

‘Reardon Galt was here all right. He was released on probation about six months ago. You want me to tell you what this gentleman was serving time for?’

‘Sure.’

There was a shuffling of papers at the other end of the line. ‘Let’s see what we got here now.’

Lock closed his eyes, the phone cradled between chin and shoulder.

‘Huh, this is slightly unusual. Usually he would have gone to at least a lower-level facility first but we had him in the Transitional Management Unit right up until release day.’

Lock knew that was where they usually kept prisoners who would be under threat from those in the general population, most notably prisoners who were leaving one of the prison gangs, an act that carried with it an automatic death sentence on the yard. ‘Do you know where he was from originally?’

‘An inmate’s hometown isn’t the kind of information we have,’ the warden said. Then there was more rustling of papers. ‘Wait. I do have something in here about him having committed a felony or two in Arizona.’

Arizona was where Larry Johns was killed although this might have been coincidence. So Galt had been out for six months – just in time for the rampage to start.

‘So what was Galt inside for? The jacket tell you that?’ He was watching Raven, checking for any reaction to the name. He was not disappointed. She visibly stiffened, her back as rigid as an ironing board.

The warden sighed. ‘You’ll want to keep a real close eye on this lady you’re watching out for.’

It was Lock’s turn to tense as he thought of Carrie. ‘Why’s that?’

‘Lord only knows why he wasn’t serving life without parole. Must have had himself a good lawyer or a liberal judge.’

‘Warden?’ Lock prompted.

‘He was in for abduction and rape. Kidnapped some woman from right inside her own home while her kids were asleep upstairs. Drove her across the border into California from Tempe and – well, you can guess the rest.’

Lock’s blood ran cold. ‘One more thing.’

‘Go for it.’

‘You wouldn’t happen to have a name for Galt’s cell mate before he was released, would you?’

There was the sound of more papers being shuffled. ‘In fact I do. The guy got out a few days ago too. Crazier rap sheet than Galt had. Lots of violence too.’

‘What was his name?’ Lock asked, as a cold bead of sweat worked its way down his spine and into the small of his back.

‘Oh, yeah, here it is. The inmate’s name was Clayton Mills.’

63

They were parked on South Sepulveda, across the street from a drug store, waiting for the phone call from the kidnapper, which should come at any minute. Raven was sandwiched between Lock and Ty, shifting in her seat.

Heavy drops of rain spattered the windshield, exploding on contact with the glass and trailing down like tears towards the lashing wiper blades. Overhead, the sky had darkened, heavy banks of grey cloud folded under each other in every direction. A nearby storm drain was already backed up, water flooding on to the street causing a couple of drivers coming towards the truck to aquaplane.

Marquez, the warden from Pelican Bay, had given Lock a description of Reardon Galt, wished him luck and then hung up. Again Lock thought about calling Levon Hill.

The FBI and the LAPD had far greater resources than he and Ty had: of that there could be no doubt. Despite his run-ins with them, they were one of the most professional and well-run law-enforcement agencies in the country. However, their size and their command structure meant that, in a situation like this, they would be behind Lock and Ty in their speed of response. Also, they were hampered by protocol, and by constitutionally guaranteed things, like Miranda rights and search warrants.

Bottom line: the LAPD, like any police force, was in the business of catching the bad guys and placing them in front of a jury. Lock had only one objective: to save the woman he loved.

His decision was made.

He turned towards Raven. ‘No more lies. It goes no further than this vehicle, but I have to know the truth.’

She started to speak but he cut her off. ‘The truth. You know Clayton Mills. I could see it in your eyes this afternoon. I bet Hill could as well. That was why they wanted to put you two together in that cafe.’

She took a deep breath. ‘I never asked for any of this.’

Rage surged inside Lock. ‘Any of what? Cindy’s head cut off? A cop and his wife killed? Carrie kidnapped? He’s doing it for you. Or his buddy Reardon Galt is.’

‘He did Fairfax for me. That’s all.’

Lock was shocked. ‘That’s all? Fairfax was murdered, and you’re saying he did it for you?’

‘It wasn’t like that. I met Clayton in a club. He was working security for the girls. Fairfax was hassling me, wouldn’t leave me alone. I didn’t ask Clayton to kill him. Clayton was just supposed to frighten him off. But things got out of hand.’

‘So he did kill him?’

Raven nodded, tears streaking her face. ‘But no one knew about it apart from me. Then he got caught on a parole violation for something dumb, and I thought that was the end of it.’

‘Then the letters started?’ Lock prompted.

Raven nodded. ‘First from Clayton, saying how he hoped I was waiting for him. Then his cellmate must have found my letters because he started writing to me too. I thought about telling Clayton but I knew he would have killed him.’

‘So why did you write back? Why didn’t you just go to the cops?’ Ty asked.

‘I was there when Fairfax died. Clayton said that if I went to the cops, he would tell them about it. Tell them that I had practically begged him to kill Fairfax.’ She turned to face Ty. ‘I couldn’t take the chance of going to prison. Not with Kevin to look after.’

‘You think they’re competing for you?’ Lock asked.

Raven scratched a nail across her nose. ‘I don’t know. All I know is that people are being killed and everyone is acting like it’s all my fault.’

Lock stared out at the rain, thinking of Carrie and what she was going through. He’d had a bad feeling about this job from the start, and he’d been right. He hadn’t trusted his instincts and now there was a terrible, terrible price to pay.

‘I need to pee and I can’t wait,’ Raven said suddenly.

‘You’ll have to,’ Lock said. ‘You can go when we get somewhere quieter.’

‘I can’t. If I don’t get out, I’m going to pee in the car.’

Ty glanced over. ‘I’ll take her.’

‘Okay,’ said Lock, grabbing Raven’s arm as Ty opened the driver’s door. ‘Leave your bag here and remember – if you do anything stupid, it’s not just Carrie who gets hurt.’

Ty gave Raven his windbreaker to hold over her head as they made a dash across the waterlogged street towards an International House of Pancakes. By the time they reached the door of the restaurant they were both soaked and Ty pulled her in under the canopy.

‘Listen, you made your choices a while back and now you have to live with them. I’m all out of sympathy for you, so whatever Lock threatened you with, you can double it from me,’ he said.

She stared at him, drops of rain running down her face. ‘You wouldn’t hurt Kevin.’

Something like shock must have flickered across Ty’s face because Raven put a hand on his arm. ‘He’s gonna hand me over to this sicko in return for Carrie, and walk away, isn’t he?’

Ty shook his head. ‘We’ll get you out as well.’

‘I don’t believe you,’ Raven hissed. Taking a small step back, she brought her knee up into Ty’s groin with as much force as she could muster before taking off down the street, water detonating up from the puddles as she sprinted through them.

Across the street, Lock watched Ty go down in agony. He moved into the driver’s seat, but Ty had taken the keys with him.

He reached over to open the door and get out as Raven fled. He’d skirt round the block in the other direction and try to head her off. But as he got out of the truck his phone rang. He jabbed down on the answer button.

‘You have her ready for me?’ the man on the other end of the line asked, as casual as someone ordering a takeout meal. ‘The clock’s ticking.’

64

Lock started towards the alley, then stopped. Alleyways were for someone wanting to hide. Raven knew she had two men looking for her and that if she tried that she’d be found. It might take a few minutes, but it would happen.

She could have easily burst through the doors of the Pancake House and screamed the place down. A black guy chasing her who looked like Tyrone did? Hell, there would have been a line of people to call the cops.

But she hadn’t. Because she was up to her neck in this. Because what she wanted was escape, and people don’t escape in alleyways.