Tunnel Vision (30 page)

Assuming he was the killer of three people in less than a month, leaving virtually no evidence pointing directly to him, she was sure he wouldn’t suddenly become careless or arrogant enough to keep physical evidence as a trophy. Like Maggie, she was absolutely certain Daryll Chambers was their killer. She just couldn’t prove it conclusively...yet.

Maggie wouldn’t officially be back on duty until Monday, but Brodie promised she could be at the airport when Chambers would be arrested the minute he stepped off the plane. What she really needed was a mindless day off.

Getting up early, she kept a promise she made to Max and the two of them set off for a run through the woods not far from her house. It was two miles to a nearby small lake and she soon fell into a comfortable rhythm as she maneuvered through the trees and light brush that were beginning to leaf out. Occasionally Max would discover a hapless squirrel and chase the small animal up a tree, barking exuberantly before racing to catch up with his owner. Once they reached the lake, she sat down to catch her breath before making the return trip, watching as Max dove into the lake to retrieve sticks she threw for him. She loved spending quiet time with the long-suffering Labrador. He never judged her and always forgave her when she neglected him due to a new case.

In spite of the still cool spring air, by the time her house came into view, sweat soaked her t-shirt. Max collapsed on the back deck and she smiled as the big dog’s eyes drooped, indicating the beginning of a nap. Stripping off her damp shirt and sweatpants, she tossed them into the clothes hamper and slipped into drawstring shorts and a white t-shirt. Fifteen minutes later she was spraying water over the Camaro’s hood. Besides Max, the vintage vehicle was the only other thing she loved. It had begun as a project car before she moved to Cedar Springs and she’d invested hundreds of hours of her time and a considerable chunk of her savings into restoring it. Except for the engine, most of the vehicle was original. She had been forced to replace the engine two years earlier and enjoyed tinkering with the vehicle, which ran better than many newer cars she’d driven. She had been offered fairly serious money for it, but couldn’t bring herself to part with it.

Brodie was chamoising the top of the vehicle when Maggie’s Subaru pulled into the driveway. She was surprised as she watched Maggie step out of the vehicle.

“What’s up?” Brodie asked.

“Nothing much,” Maggie said, shoving her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. “Just got tired of sitting around the house waiting for tomorrow to get here.”

“You’re looking better. How are you feeling?”

“Fine, thanks. Need help?”

“I’m about finished with the outside. You can clean the windows if you feel up to it.”

Grabbing a roll of paper towels and a bottle of glass cleaner, Maggie opened the driver’s side door and began spraying cleaner on the windshield, watching the muscles in Brodie’s arms flex and relax as she moved the chamois over the hood of the Camaro. Working silently, the two women cleaned the vehicle until it sparkled inside and out.

An hour later Maggie followed Brodie into the house. “Would you mind getting some coffee started?” Brodie asked. “Everything’s in the bottom cabinet. I’ll be right back.”

“No problem.”

Brodie returned to the kitchen barefoot, wearing jeans and a UT t-shirt, her dark hair still damp from the shower, as the coffeemaker beeped. When Maggie glanced at her, she smiled to herself. It was obvious from the outline of hardened nipples under the t-shirt that Brodie hadn’t bothered with underwear before dressing.

“Sorry, but I had to get cleaned up,” Brodie said as she took a deep relaxing breath and pulled a mug from the cabinet next to the sink. “Been a long day.”

Maggie looked at her watch. “I should get going and let you get some rest. Big day tomorrow.”

“I wasn’t hinting for you to leave, Maggie,” she said.

“Royce...,” Maggie started. Staring at the ceiling and clearing her throat, she said, “I…um…I wanted to thank you.”

“For what?”

“For believing me about Chambers.”

“The medallion started us looking in the right direction, and you found it,” Brodie said, reaching out and placing her hand on Maggie’s shoulder.

“You’re going to be a good detective. I’ve already told Donaldson that so start thinking about who you’d like to work with as a partner.”

“I wish I could work with you.”

“I’ve got my hands full with Nicholls. You might get lucky and get Romero.”

Maggie laughed, “Is he always such a Don Juan wannabe?”

“Yeah, but he’s a good investigator.”

Maggie turned and rinsed her mug out. “Are we going to be friends, Royce?”

“I hope so. I’d like that.”

“Me too. Well, I’d better shove off. I need to hit the grocery store before I go home.”

As Maggie walked by her, Brodie brought her hand to rest in the small of her back and escorted her to her car. She reached around Maggie to open the car door. Stopping before she got in, Maggie asked,

“Would you pick me up tomorrow?”

Brodie was partially bent at the waist. When she turned her head toward Maggie she found their faces were within inches of one another. There had been a time when being that close to Maggie’s lips would have been more temptation than she could handle.

“Around noon,” Brodie nodded as she

straightened and stepped away from the Subaru. CHECKING HER WATCH, Brodie turned onto

Highway 71 and headed south toward the Austin airport. Hitting the speed dial on her cell, she had to wait only two rings before she heard Nicholls’s voice.

“Where are you?” she asked.

“I’m at the gate waiting for Chambers’ plane,” he answered cheerfully.

“Maggie and I will be there in about fifteen minutes,” she said. “Is the flight on time?”

“The arrival/departure board says it is. See you in a few,” he said as he disconnected.

Nearly ten minutes later, Brodie brought the Camaro to a stop behind a Cedar Springs patrol car parked in front of the terminal. Another glance at her wristwatch told her it was one twenty-five. Another fifteen or twenty minutes and Daryll Chambers would be out of circulation and the citizens of Cedar Springs could fall asleep safely in their beds again. Even though she doubted the events on the university campus had kept many of them awake, she knew the student body had been edgy since the first two murders and they wouldn’t know about the third until the next day when classes resumed.

Brodie and Maggie flashed their badges at the security gate leading to the arrival and departure gates for United Airlines. An airport security officer met them and escorted them to the waiting area where Nicholls was seated, watching planes take off and land.

“I just checked with air traffic control,” he said as Brodie sat down next to him. “He’s on the passenger manifest. The flight is on final approach, actually a couple of minutes early.”

“Let’s try not to scare the other passengers to death as they deplane,” she said. “We’ll just meet and greet him when he enters the waiting area and escort him to airport security for the actual arrest. Understand?”

“Between us and the additional security guards, I don’t think he’ll put up much of a struggle,” Nicholls smiled.

The walkie-talkie held by one of the security guards squawked briefly. The man touched Brodie on the shoulder. “They’re on the ground and it should take about ten minutes to taxi to this gate.”

The three detectives stood up. “Maggie, I want you to stand here in the waiting area where Chambers will see you. Nicholls and I will stand on either side of the ramp entrance. Give us a signal when you see him. Hopefully when he sees you, he’ll be distracted long enough for us to grab him.”

Maggie nodded as they watched the plane roll slowly toward the exit portal. Brodie winked at Maggie as they moved to assume their positions. Just in case things didn’t go as planned, Maggie unsnapped her holster and took the safety off her revolver, resting her hand on the butt of the gun. Slowly, passengers began making their way up the ramp, some pulling carry-ons, others carrying laptops and briefcases. Periodically, there would be a large space between one group of passengers and the next. Maggie tensed every time she caught a glimpse of a younger man, only to be disappointed when the man looked up or came closer to the entrance to the lobby. After nearly fifteen minutes of deplaning passengers, three stewardesses pulling rolling airline luggage walked through the door. Brodie reached out and stopped them before they made it to the waiting area.

“Are there any other passengers on the plane?”

she asked as she produced her badge.

“No,” one of the women answered. “There’s no one left except the cockpit crew.”

She thanked the women and she and Nicholls rejoined Maggie to ponder their problem.

“What the hell happened, Royce?” Maggie asked, clearly disappointed.

“Beats me,” she shrugged. “Let’s check with the airline and see what we can find out. Maybe he changed to a later flight at the last moment.”

At the main terminal for United Airlines, the detectives explained their problem and the missing passenger. The ticket clerk called for her supervisor, who escorted them to his office. After introductions, Brodie explained their situation again.

“We’re here to apprehend a suspect who was scheduled to arrive in Austin on your 1:42 flight from Boston. He was confirmed on the passenger list. Is it possible he changed to another flight?”

“He could have missed the flight. I can check our passenger lists to see if he’s on a later flight,” the supervisor offered. “What’s the name?”

“Daryll Chambers,” she said.

The man punched information into a computer terminal at his desk and checked all flights arriving in Austin the remainder of Sunday and until Monday evening.

“I’m sorry, Detective, but we don’t have a passenger with that name listed on any incoming flight for the next forty-eight hours.”

“How about earlier flights? Maybe last Friday?”

she asked.

More information went into the computer and the supervisor watched as previous passengers manifests ran past his eyes. Finally, he shook his head and said,

“Sorry. No Daryll Chambers or D. Chambers listed on earlier flights going back forty-eight hours either.”

“Can you check other airlines from your

terminal?” Nicholls asked.

“The ones flying in and out of Austin? Sure,” the man said. Minutes dragged by as the man accessed the other airlines one at a time.

“Why do you think he changed his travel plans, RB?” Nicholls asked.

“Who knows? Maybe he’s clairvoyant,” she said with a frown.

“Maybe he talked to his mother,” Maggie

suggested, “and she told him about Ms. Bruce’s call.”

“I’m sorry, Detectives, but none of the airlines servicing Austin has had a passenger named Chambers on any of their past flights or have one listed for any incoming flights.”

Brodie rubbed her eyes and looked at Maggie and Nicholls. “I hate to ask you to go over the passenger lists again, sir, but how about Griffin?” Shrugging, she said, “It’s a long shot, but then this guy is slicker than a greased pig.”

“If he did talk to his mother,” Maggie observed,

“then maybe he won’t come back here at all and head off for parts unknown.”

Brodie smiled, “No, I’m betting he’s too arrogant to leave. After all, we don’t have much on him except hunches and suppositions. Without the key ring, it’s only your word against his. Pretty hard to base a conviction on that.”

“Detective Brodie,” the supervisor said as he stared at his computer screen.

“Yes, sir,” she said.

“A D. Griffin was listed as a passenger on an American flight that came in Friday evening,” the man said.

“What time did the flight land?”

“A little behind schedule. About 8:50.”

“Where did the flight originate?” Brodie asked.

“Looks like a one-way, non-stop from

LaGuardia.”

“That’s him!” Maggie said excitedly. “It has to be.”“What the hell is this asshole up to?” Nicholls asked. “He obviously knows we’re onto him. This is just a sick fuckin’ game for him.”

“Guess we’ll have to regroup,” Brodie said as they walked out of the airline terminal toward their cars.

“It’s a head game now. I hope the three of us are smarter and quicker than he is. Put out an APB on him and make sure they have as recent a picture of him as we can find. Nothing more we can do right now. We’ll start fresh Monday morning and hope no one else dies.”

Once Brodie pulled away from the terminal, she cleared her throat and said, “I think you should stay at my place tonight, Maggie.”

Maggie laughed. “Why?”

“Chambers is back in town and knows where you live. He was probably your attacker and I don’t want to take a chance on an encore.”

“If he’s been back since Friday night he could have already tried again.”

“Humor me. I have kind of a hinky feeling about this whole thing and I don’t like it. I think he knows we’re after him. That makes him extremely

unpredictable.”

“I’ll have to go back to my place and pack a few things. And I need to call Carrie.”

“How’s that working out for you?” Brodie could have slapped herself for asking such a personal question about something that was none of her business. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that.”

“It’s okay. I’ve known Carrie a long time. She’s been a good friend, but I’m sure she wants more than friendship.”

“If you have a chance to be happy, you should grab it,” Brodie said as she kept her eyes glued to the road. “A very smart woman told me that recently.”

“WHAT THE HELL do you mean you’re staying at Brodie’s house tonight?” Carrie demanded. “If you need a place to stay, you can stay with me.”

Maggie took a deep breath and carried the

cordless phone into her bedroom. She smiled briefly at Brodie as she left the room. When she closed the door to her bedroom she said, “You live in Austin, Carrie. Traffic back to Cedar Springs would be hell in the morning.”

“Is she coming on to you, Mag?”

“No!”

“You’re my girlfriend now. Surely you can