Night Kill (Private Investigator Andrew Knight Mystery Series) (10 page)

She was in a study, a priest’s study. The wooden desk was badly weathered, and the leather chair cracked with stuffing coming out. Both were covered with a layer of undisturbed dust. She was about to enter the sanctuary, when Talia felt a blow to the head. She crumpled to the floor and was out cold.

Andrew followed the first floor hallway up to the doors of St. Ambrose Chapel. The doors were locked. He would have to find another way inside. Andrew backtracked and went outside.

Andrew found a side door. He grabbed the door knob and gave it a twist. It opened! Andrew withdrew his gun and stepped inside. It was a priest’s study. The wooden desk was badly weathered, and the leather chair cracked with stuffing coming out. Both were covered with a layer of undisturbed dust. Andrew walked around the desk when he saw scrawled in the dust the words, ‘Gewalt wirkt Gewalt’.

“Violence equals violence,” Andrew repeated aloud in this time in English.

As Andrew turned towards the sanctuary door, he saw Talia lying on the floor out cold. Andrew knelt down and made sure she was okay. He rose to his feet and was about to enter the sanctuary, when he heard approaching footsteps. It must be the deputies, so Andrew beat a hasty retreat into the sanctuary.

When Sheriff Delsmann didn’t show up at the prearranged meeting spot, the deputies decided to go find her. After searching the dormitory and since the inside door was locked to the sanctuary, they had to find another way inside. That’s when they found this door.

With weapons drawn, they stepped inside. It was an office. Once inside, they found Sheriff Delsmann lying on the floor unconscious. They knelt down and revived her.

Talia awoke a bit groggily. She was surprised to see her deputies.

“Where did the masked figure go?” Talia asked looking around the room.

“We saw no masked figure,” they replied.

“We need to search the sanctuary,” Talia said, finally standing up.

“Are you okay enough to do that,” one of the deputies asked worriedly.

“I’m fine,” Talia insisted. “Let’s go.”

Andrew stood, staring in awe at the majesty of St. Ambrose Chapel. Even though the pews were covered with years of dust and showing signs of decay, Andrew imagined the day they were still brightly stained and filled with the faithful. He felt sad that all of the stain glass windows had been smashed, forever obliterating the dramatic scenes depicted of the passion of our Lord. While researching JFK, Andrew read that Father Oswald and the other priests whom founded this former seminary were from Germany, so that might explain the words written in German. But how did this tie in with the attack on the Higgins family or the missing teenagers for that matter. There were still just too many questions. What Andrew needed were more answers. Andrew started towards the main doors of the sanctuary when he heard the door to the priest’s study open. He immediately dropped to the floor and started to crawl along on his belly beneath the pews.

Talia stepped through the open doorway first with her gun at the ready. Seeing that things were clear, she motioned for the deputies to follow. All three stared in awe at the impressiveness of the sanctuary. Despite the years of wear, it still had a certain sense of spirituality that couldn’t be explained.

Talia led the way towards the altar, but froze suddenly in her tracks at the sound of creaking. She spun around just in time to see one of the massive wooden doors in the back of the sanctuary open just a bit. But no one was there. Talia motioned for the deputies to follow as they went to investigate. They had only taken a couple of steps when the door closed again. Was it a ghost or something more human? Talia wondered. The three of them continued towards the back of the sanctuary. Along the way Talia noted that it looked like someone had crawled along the dusty floor on their belly.

“Knight!” Talia bellowed. The deputies were taken aback by her sudden outburst.

“What?” they answered.

“Andrew Knight is on the grounds,” Talia answered. She pointed wildly at the closed doors. “It was Knight who I saw going into the sanctuary dressed in black wearing a mask. He must have been back to make sure we wouldn’t find the missing teenagers.”

“We saw no one,” the deputies replied.

“We need to find Andrew Knight and arrest him,” Talia screeched.

Andrew rose to his feet once the door closed. The sun was just peeking at the horizon. He started walking along the path that led back to the main dormitory. It was a bit chilly and he could see his breath. The hairs on the back of Andrew’s neck bristled when the sound of the heavy wooden doors creaked open. He turned around and saw Talia along with the two deputies. Their gaze immediately rested upon him. He had been discovered! Andrew took off running down the path that led to the wooded acres on campus instead of the one to the dormitory. He needed to find a hiding place fast.

Talia and her deputies had just exited the St. Ambrose Chapel when she saw Andrew walking up the path towards the main dormitory. He stopped and turned around to look back at them. When he saw them, he took off running towards the woods.

“After him,” Talia took off. The deputies followed.

Andrew had a few minutes head start, hopefully it was enough time to escape or find a place to hide. Unfortunately the woods were sparse and the snow not deep enough to blend in. Andrew practically flew down the winding path and soon came to a small kidney-shaped lake. The woods were thicker at the far of the lake, where there was some open water. There was no other way to go, but across the ice. He started across and had not notice the partially snow covered sign that read ‘Danger-thin ice’.

Talia and her deputies were just coming around the last bend in the winding path that led them to a small lake. She was about to give pursuit, when one of the deputies grabbed hold of her coat and yanked her back. Talia shook free and shot him an angry look. He walked over to the sign and brushed off the snow. The sign warned of thin ice. Talia turned and watched Andrew, who was about half way across the ice. A satisfying smile slowly spread across her face.

“Hey Knight!” Talia shouted above the wind.

Andrew stopped when Talia called out his name. He turned around to look.

Talia cupped her mouth and shouted, “There was a sign that warned of thin ice!”

Andrew heard her. This was not good.

“Don’t move,” Talia shouted. “We’ll radio for help.” Talia turned to one of the deputies. “Call the local fire department and see if they have water rescue equipment.” The deputy immediately did so.

Andrew couldn’t risk being arrested. It would seriously impact his investigation. More over Sheriff Delsmann would certainly come up with some charges to keep him in jail for a long time. Either way she would have him arrested. Andrew looked at Talia standing there all smug. He gave her a salute and headed across the ice.

Talia’s mouth dropped. She couldn’t believe what Andrew was doing. The idiot was continuing across the ice. Was he so desperate to get away from her? Talia almost couldn’t watch and was about to turn away when they all heard it. It started out low and soon came to a thunderous sickening cracking sound. The ice was giving way. Talia rushed to the edge of the lake and stopped.

“Don’t move!” She screeched. It was too late. They all saw the terrified look on Andrew’s face as the ice split open and swallow him up. He was gone in a matter of seconds!

Talia tried to go after him, but the deputies restrained her.

It seemed like an eternity before the local fire department emergency crew arrived. Talia was pacing back forth, impatiently waiting for them to get their ice gear on and airboat ready to go. An overwhelming feeling of remorse suddenly washed over Talia. She never imagined that her lust to have Andrew put away would have ended this way. It was no longer a rescue mission, but a recovery one.

Leslie was still wearing her fuzzy slippers and bathrobe. Her ash blonde hair was swept up and held in place with a red banana clip. She finally had a day off from work at the hospital. On those days it was always her turn to make breakfast.

Leslie had just finished whipping up the scrambled eggs when her daughter Hannah threw open the kitchen door and rushed inside. She was all flushed and panting to catch her breath. Hannah brushed her brown hair out of her eyes.

“Mom,” Hannah gasped, trying to catch her breath from running.

“What is it?” Leslie asked.

“I…I was feeding the horses when this man came stumbling into the barn,” Hannah finally blurted out. “He looked at me and just fell down in the hay.”

“What?” Leslie stammered.

“His lips were blue and his clothes looked wet,” Hannah said.

“Show me,” Leslie said. Before they left, Leslie grabbed the portable defibulator from underneath the sink. She had bought just in case there was ever an emergency and for the fact that they lived out in the country far away from the hospital in Bayport.

When they got to the barn, Hannah led her mom to where the man was laying in the hay on the floor. He wasn’t moving.

Leslie knelt down and put her cheek over the man’s mouth. He wasn’t breathing. Leslie checked for a pulse. There was none. “Go call 911,” Leslie immediately ordered Hannah. She took off like a shot back to the house.

Chapter 5

The airport courtesy van turned into the circular driveway. There were already several cars there. The people from those cars were waiting for the single passenger in the van to arrive home from her trip.

Megan recognized Lisa’s car along with two unmarked squad cars. Megan saw Lisa, Peter, and another woman whom she didn’t recognize waiting for her. She started to panic and it was hard to catch her breath. Something was wrong. Something was wrong about Andrew. Megan started to cry just as the van pulled up along side the other cars.

Lisa walked briskly up to the van and slid open the side door. She saw that Megan was already crying. Lisa grasped hold of Megan’s hand and helped her exit the van. Lisa looked at the Peter and Talia with a nod to retrieve Megan’s luggage. She held on to Megan, whom was trembling uncontrollably with tears just streaming down her cheeks.

“Let’s go inside,” Lisa insisted. Megan just nodded.

Lisa opened the front door and walked Megan into the family room. She had Megan sit down on the sofa. Lisa grabbed a box of tissues from the fireplace mantle and brought them with her back to the sofa.

Peter carried Megan’s luggage into the foyer and set it down. Talia followed closely behind him. Soon the both of them joined Lisa and Megan in the family room.

Lisa had her arms around Megan, whom rested her head on Lisa’s shoulder. From time to time she dried her eyes, but the tears kept coming.

Peter looked at Talia first, then said, “Um, uh, Megan we have some bad…” Peter couldn’t finish he words. He broke down. When Lisa saw her husband, the usually tough guy crying, she started crying too.

Talia sighed deeply. It was up to her to tell Andrew’s wife what happened.

“Missus Knight,” Talia began. “I’m here to inform you that your husband is…” Talia paused. How could she tell Andrew’s wife that he died while begin pursed by her and her deputies. She didn’t force him to do it. Talia pressed on, “That your husband fell through the ice on the lake by JFK Prep. He was there because…” Talia stopped again to collect her thoughts.

“Why was he there?” Megan finally spoke. Talia glanced at Peter and Lisa. The looks they had on their faces told Talia it was up to her to answer, not them.

“Two deputies and I were at JFK to investigate the disappearance of six teenagers on the property,” Talia explained. “We were just coming out of the dormitory when Mister Knight was spotted. He took off running.”

“Why did he run?”

“I had issued an arrest order,” Talia answered.

“Why?”

“Mister Knight had interfered with a previous investigation,” Talia said in her defense. “The orders were if Mister Knight were caught anywhere on the premises of a Sheriffs department investigation, he would be placed under arrest.”

“Why?”

“As I said, he was interfering,” Talia answered. She was angry at being questioned by Megan. It was Knight who was breaking the law that day, not her. How dare his widow have the indignation to question her? Talia shot back, “We gave pursuit and Mister Knight chose to invade us by going across the lake. He was unaware of the sign warning about thin ice. It was not our fault. We broke off the chase. Mister Knight chose to continue.”

“Why?”

“Why do you keep asking me why?” Talia growled.

“Why are you still here?” Megan screamed back. Talia found no support from either Peter or Lisa. It was strange at how, in a room full of people, one could be so alone. She rose to her feet. “I’m truly sorry.” Megan did not answer, but sought out instead, the comfort of Lisa’s embrace.

Talia walked out of the family room and the house. She got in her car and slammed the door shut. They hadn’t recovered Knight’s body as of yet. According to the fire department, the lake at JFK Prep was a spring fed and 30-40 feet deep at the center. With the depth and freezing temperatures of the lake, Knight would only have minutes to get to land and possibly survive. Even then, hypothermia would set in and he’d be dead anyway. Although Knight had shed his coat and he may have been a good swimmer; he would have to get on land and find a way to keep from freezing to death. It sounded too impossible to even believe that Knight could do that. Since they couldn’t locate Knight’s body, Talia had sent a request to have special imaging equipment brought in from the State Crime Lab. Hopefully they would be able to find the body. Unfortunately, it would be weeks before the equipment would arrive, since it was being used by another law enforcement agency in Marathon County. So for now the search for Knight’s body would just have to wait. Talia knew it was rather morbid to just sit by and do nothing, but what else could she do in this case? Talia started the car and drove out the circular driveway.