Richard Montanari (58 page)

    'Does
he carry a second piece?'

    
My
God,
Jessica thought, her heart in free fall. She was betraying one of the most
important people in her life. She wondered how Kevin would handle the same
situation if someone was asking these questions about her. 'Sometimes.'

    'Today?'

    Jessica
told the truth. 'I don't know.'

    'Does
he pack anything else?'

    Diaz meant
knives, spray, knuckles, batons. 'No.'

    Diaz
processed it all. He looked out over the burgeoning mass of people, then back
at Jessica. 'You know him better than anyone. I know you are close. I know this
has to be hard for you.'

    Jessica
said nothing.

    Diaz
handed her a card. 'That's my cell on the back. If you talk to Kevin, have him
call me.'

    Jessica
took the card, said nothing.

    'You
know this is going to move forward, right?'

    'I
know.'

    'It's
better for everyone if he walks in the front door.'

    Diaz
hesitated a few moments, then turned and walked away.

    A few
minutes later Josh Bontrager emerged from the crowd.

    'You
okay, Josh?'

    'No,'
he said. 'I am
not.'

    'What's
wrong?'

    Bontrager
bowed his head for moment. 'He was my partner, and now he's dead.'

    'Josh,
he wasn't really your partner. You were paired with him for one case.'

    'Doesn't
matter. Today he was my partner. Today I let him down.'

    Jessica
knew what he meant. She had certainly let Kevin Byrne down today.

    'And
I didn't even like the guy.'

    Jessica
left Josh to his thoughts for a few moments. She then filled him in on
everything that Diaz had said.

    'That's
ridiculous,' Bontrager said.

    'I
know.'

    'What
are we going to do?'

    'I'm
going to try to find him before they do.'

    'I'll
go with you.'

    'No,
Josh. I can't ask you to do that.'

    'Well,
with all due respect, I don't remember you asking. It's something I'm
volunteering for. Okay?'

    Jessica
lowered her voice as a pair of CSU officers walked by. 'Josh, there's a good chance
I'm going off the reservation here. There's a
very
good chance I'm going
to lose my job tonight. Maybe worse.'

    Bontrager
took a few steps away, looked out over the scene. The medical examiner's blue
and white van came rolling up slowly. They would soon be loading Dennis
Stansfield's body into the back for transport. Bontrager turned back. 'Remember
my first days on the job?'

    Jessica
remembered them well. They'd been investigating a case that eventually took
them up the Schuylkill River into Berks County. Josh Bontrager had been on
temporary assignment. 'I remember.'

    'Kevin
wasn't too crazy about me at first, you know.'

    'It
just takes a little time for him to warm up to people.'

    Bontrager
looked at her, offered a smile. 'Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania may not be a
hotbed of intellectuals, but we do know people,' he said. 'I knew right away
what a closed group this is. I was the new guy, and a really inexperienced guy
at that.'

    Jessica
just listened. She had gone through a brutal initiation period herself.

    'In
those first few months I made a lot of mistakes.'

    'You
did fine, Josh.'

    'No,
it only looked that way. I can't tell you how many times Kevin took me aside and
showed me the ropes. How many times he covered for me.' Bontrager put his hands
in his pockets. He looked across the cemetery. 'Nobody wanted me to have this
job. Not really. I heard all the jokes, you know. All the stuff said behind my
back. People thought I didn't, but I did.'

    Jessica
remembered well the hard time Josh had gotten. It was always bad enough for the
new guy in the unit, but doubly so for Josh Bontrager, considering his
background.

    'You
toughed it out, Josh,' Jessica said. 'You've earned the right to be here.
You're a damned good detective.'

    Bontrager
shrugged. 'Well, it was you and Kevin who went to bat for me back then. I
wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you guys. If I lose it all tonight, I
can live with that.'

    'It
might get worse than that, you know. Much worse.'

    Josh
Bontrager looked at her. Sometimes, with his clear eyes, open smile, and
seemingly untamable cowlick, he looked like a kid, some country boy who'd got
off 1-95 at the wrong exit and wandered into the city. Other times, like right
at this moment, he looked like a homicide detective with the Philadelphia
Police Department.

    'The
Amish have an old saying,' Bontrager said. "'
Courage is fear that has
said its prayers
."' He drew his Glock, checked the action, holstered
it, snapped it in. 'I've said my prayers, Jess.'

    Jessica
glanced at the crime scene, then back. 'Thanks, Josh.'

    'I'm
going to lock my car,' Bontrager said. 'I'll be right back.'

    As
Josh walked across the street, Jessica thought about what Byrne had said.

    It's
always been about the music.

    Before
she could make a mental list of their options her phone rang. It was David
Albrecht. She answered.

    'David,
now is not really a good—'

    There
was static on the line. 'What's going on?' he asked.

    'What
do you mean?'

    'I
heard the call go out. Is there another victim?'

    'What
do you mean, you heard the call go out?'

    'I
heard it on the police radio.'

    'You
have a scanner?'

    'Well,
yeah,' he said. 'Of course.'

    Jessica
hadn't considered this. It made sense. 'Where are you, David?'

    'I'm
following Detective Byrne.'

    Jessica's
pulse spiked. She waved Bontrager over. 'You're with Kevin?'

    'I'm
right behind him. He was parked near the hotel. I saw a woman in the van. I
thought you guys were together. I followed.'

    'Where
are you?'

    'Hang
on,' Albrecht said. 'Let me check my GPS.'

    A few
agonizing seconds passed.

    'We're
on Bells Mill Road.'

    Bells
Mill Road cut through the northeast section of Fairmount Park, traversing the
Wissahickon Creek just west of Chestnut Hill.

    'Do
you know where he's going?' Jessica asked.

    'Not
a clue,' Albrecht said. 'But I kind of like it that way. This is so—'

    'Which
way are you heading?'

    'We're
going east. Northeast, technically. My GPS says we're coming up on something
called Forbidden Drive. Is that the coolest name of all time or what? I think
I'm changing the name of my movie to
Forbidden Drive.'

    'David,
I want you to—'

    'Hang
on.' A loud blast of static. The coming storm was playing havoc with the
signal. 'He's slowing down. I'll call you right back.'

    
'David,
wait.'

    Dead
air. Jessica hit the button to call right back. She got David Albrecht's
voicemail.

    She
told Josh what Albrecht had said.

    'He's
on Bells Mill?' Bontrager asked.

    'Yeah.'

    'Where
do you think they're going?'

    'I
don't know.'

    Jessica
put the location into the Google Maps app on her phone. Seconds later she had a
map of the area. She really didn't know anything about that part of the park.
She fished out her keys.

    'Let's
get on the road,' she said. 'We'll figure it out on the way.'

    Bells
Mill Road was a two-lane blacktop that spanned an area between Ridge and
Germantown Avenues. At its western end, where it became Spring Lane, there were
houses, but as it made its way into Fairmount Park it became wooded and dark.
As Jessica and Bontrager drove, the night was cut only by the headlights of
their car.

    On
the way Josh Bontrager dialed David Albrecht's number twenty times, getting his
voicemail each time. At the same time Jessica speed- dialed Byrne's cellphone
with the same result.

    'Maybe
Kevin left his phone somewhere,' Bontrager said.

    Jessica
thought about this. 'No. He turns it off sometimes, but he always has it with
him. He's just not answering.'

    Bontrager
went silent for a few moments. 'Don't all phones have some kind of GPS in
them?'

    Jessica
didn't know about all phones. 'What are you saying, Josh?'

    'If
we could slip through a warrant, maybe we could get a fix on Kevin's phone.'

    Jessica
had thought of this. But it meant bringing someone into the loop. There was no
doubt in her mind that an APB on Kevin had gone out. Police were looking for
him and his vehicle. If she reached out to someone to help find him, she would
be taking the chance that it would leak, and it would all end badly.

    She
looked at her watch. It was 10:24. Time was running out. She had no choice. She
knew who she had to bring into this. She called Michael Drummond.

    'Michael,
it's Jessica Balzano.' 'Hey, Jessica. How are you?' 'I hope I didn't wake you.'

    'Not
a chance. I'm stuck at a Halloween party,' he said. 'What's up?'

    'I
need a warrant for a cellphone track.'

    Drummond
was silent for a moment. 'What do you have?'

    Jessica
told him the bare minimum.

    'Who's
the target?'

    Jessica
had no choice here, nor did she have a cover. 'Kevin Byrne.'

    Once
again, Michael Drummond fell silent for a few moments. 'This is about your
serial?'

    Jessica
knew she was now on the record with this. If she lied, it would all come down
around her.

    'Yes
and no.'

    'Spoken
like a true politician. But I'm going to need a little more if I'm going to get
a warrant. You know it has to go through the chief.'

    All
search warrants related to a homicide case had to be approved by the chief of
homicide in the district attorney's office.

    Jessica
had no choice. 'He might be in some trouble, Michael.' Jessica heard Drummond
take a deep breath, exhale slowly. 'I'll need his phone number and his
carrier.'

    Jessica
gave him the information.

    'I
don't know if I can get this through at this time of night.'

    'I
understand.'

    'Let
me see what I can do,' Drummond said. 'Where are you?' Jessica told him.

    'Are
you alone?'

    'I'm
with Detective Bontrager.' 'Hang tight. I'll call you back.'

    Jessica
clicked off her phone. She stood in the middle of the road, in the impenetrable
country darkness. The road stretched into the gloom in both directions. Dark,
forbidding, unknown, silent.