Hunted - 4
Part 4 of a 4 part mystery copyright 2023
A gentle knock at the door and Bix's voice brought Jill out of the bedroom.
“I saw you taking stuff down to your car,” Bix said, “so are you leaving?” He gave Jill a sad look.
“Tomorrow or maybe Sunday. Traffic will be lighter. Thanks for all your help.”
“I’ll miss you.”
“Only because I look like Joni. You were in love with her. That’s why you were so lenient about the rent.”
He shrugged. “Sometimes I paid part of it.”
“These are your cameras and mics?” She handed him a bag.
“Just the cameras. It’s not what you think. I was trying to watch over her. She had guys up here who could have killed her.” Bix pulled the bugs out of the bag and laid them on the coffee table as though they were unclean. “I never listened in.”
“I think she never let the killer up here. He was someone she knew from when she was in acting school.”
“I could only protect her here, not when she went out.”
“Don’t do it again, the cameras. Make contact with real people.”
“Where?”
“Coffee shops, internet cafes, theater groups. There are lots of places you can meet girls.”
“Joni was special.”
“I’m beginning to see that. She could have run from all this, especially after Caty disappeared, but she did not lay it on me, another burden. I wish she had.”
“She was independent,” Bix agreed.
“And she’s still with me in a way. In my dreams.”
“There is one more thing.”
“What?”
“Can you take her cat with you.”
“Huh? I never saw a cat.”
“She left it with me. . . a lot. It’s downstairs now. The city is no place for a cat.”
“Sure, I'll pick it up before I leave. I need a cat.”
****
That evening Jill had gotten Chinese again from down the street. Take out was the only good thing about the city. She heard Hank’s distinctive knock and went to let him in. He was holding the bags of food she had bought with her credit card and carried them straight to the kitchenette. Must have waylaid the delivery boy and tipped him.
“You came back. Did Nico make bail?” she asked as she got out plates.
“Ten minutes after he got his call.” Hank sat and took the cup of coffee she pushed toward him.
“He didn’t do it.” Jill emptied the cartons on two plates and gave him chopsticks.
To her surprise Hank was good with them and took a big bite of honey chicken. “Someone did and it was not an isolated incident. The autopsy on Caty says she was strangled with a piece of rope. She was weighed down with what I’ve been told is a curtain counter weight.”
Jill gave a deep sigh. “From a theater. Any word on the staring guy.” She was surprised she could eat as they discussed the murder.
“The school would not give me the time of day since he is still on their rolls but not active. I’m waiting for a court order.”
“The guy in the RR jacket could be the Richie who called years ago. Maybe that's why Joni stopped coming to see us, to make sure he never visited the farm.”
“You're good at putting things together. I have a tech working on tracking him down other ways. If you are not going to a hotel, I’m parking on your sofa.”
“Okay. I’ll make the popcorn. The cable is still on. You don’t have to stay up with me.”
“I would rather.”
Once they finished eating and were settled watching a movie, Rear Window, she turned to him. “Are most voyeurs murderers?”
He looked at her, the screen, then her again. “This isn’t about the movie, is it?”
“No, the cameras.”
“I would say not. Their high is staying secret, an observer.”
“So I am betting, not Bix.”
Hank thought a minute, then shook his head. “It does explain how he pops up in the nick of time.”
“I think he was trying to protect her and me.”
“Possibly. Odd, however many times you watch a movie it’s still suspenseful because you think it might turn out differently.”
“Same with life.”
Hank blew out a breath. “Yeah, so many girls trade themselves for comfort.”
“Joni wasn't working for a pimp.”
“It’s still human trafficking even if it’s high class, even if she is putting herself out there.”
“I think the staring guy was stalking them, and she was trying to help Caty.”
He glanced at her. “That's how I read it too. Life is made up of many little choices that lead you to a point where you have to commit to something.”
“You’re right. You can always turn back until you get to a certain point. That’s what I kept telling Joni. But maybe she could not turn her back on Caty.”
“So why did she stay, especially after Caty disappeared?”
“She had a plan.”
“What plan?”
“In the dream she died before she could tell me.”
He groaned and slid down under the blanket.
Several hours later Hank realized Jill had been gone longer than a bathroom visit. “Where are you going?” he asked when she appeared in her usual jeans and flannel shirt plus a jacket.
“To the park. I had another dream.”
He pulled on his jacket and shoes and walked with her. “Setting yourself up as bait is no answer.”
“You are with me. Just fall back when I get there. I think this guy haunts the same area every night.”
“You have your knife?”
“And a dog collar I saved out of Caty’s box of bondage toys.”
He whistled when he felt it. “That might save you.”
“After I get to the Belvedere, I’m going up the steps and across the plaza.”
“That’s unsafe because of the railing. It’s only thigh high. I heard they mean to replace it with something taller.”
“You’ll be with me.”
“I get it. You are hunting him now. We both must be insane.”
“No, he’s the one who’s insane. We cannot let him do this to anyone else.”
“God, I hope this works.”
It was like in her dream except she had on jeans and a jacket with a hunting knife in her belt when she heard the running steps behind her. Also she was faster than Joni. Se just hoped Hank could sprint. Someplace in the distance she could hear a siren, but Hank would never have called for backup yet. It might spook the murderer. It must be some other tragedy.
She could hear the guy wheezing now as she ran up the steps with her pursuer panting behind her. She leaped the black railing and let her hands slide down to the base of one bar. Maybe he would forget where the fence was.
The pursuer cried out as he hit the railing and plummeted onto the rocks below.
But his impact had loosened the grip of one of her hands. Now she was dangling in mid air and could not pull herself up with one hand. Then Hank appeared and grabbed her hand, then her jacket, and dragged her hand over hand back to the safety of the courtyard. He hugged her then for long minutes while a police car pulled into the area below and killed it’s siren. Another car followed it.
“We should go down,” she said.
Hank looked puzzled. “No, that’s my boss getting out of the second car. He won't appreciate this plan or the way you caught the guy. We should go back to your apartment.”
They spent the rest of the night in Joni's bed, locked in each others’ arms now that the long suspense was over. Jill pillowed her head on Hank's arm. She felt she had done what was right by her sister. But what about Hank? Could she just leave him now after what they had shared. Not just a night of love, but the whole investigation?
****
In the early morning hours Hank woke up still trying to figure out how his boss knew to go to the park. In the relief of the moment he had not stopped to wonder if someone else had been tailing RR. If anyone had fingered the suspect, Hank would have been told, at least should have been told.
While the coffee was brewing, he made another thorough search of the apartment and turned up a bug under the coffee table. He went into the bathroom and turned on the water. The landlord would have told them if the police came back, so it was someone who knew how to pick a lock. Someone who also knew when he and Jill were gone. That someone also now knew he had spent the night. He'd finished wrapping the mic for disposal when his phone rang.
“That kid in the photos?” Margie, his clerk whispered.
“Yeah, you found him?”
“His name was changed to Phelps when his parents divorced and he went to live with his mother.”
“I need to talk to her.”
“She’s dead. Strangled about three years ago, maybe because she sold his guns. He got off because the DA could not make a case. Until recently he lived with his dad. He’s been on anti-depressants most of his life.”
Hank nodded, then realized Margie could not see that. “Those meds shut down something in the brain that prevents you from becoming a murderer, the social center.”
“His name is Richard Roth. His dad is Captain Roth,” she whispered.
“Jesus, Margie, you better forget all this and never tell anyone you told me.”
“Roger that. They just brought him in.”
“To the station?”
“No, the morgue. Last night he fell off Belvedore Cestle in Central Park. Same place that girl was strangled. Tragic accident.”
“Like I said, forget you ever knew this.” He hung up and went out into the kitchen to find Jill mixing scrambled eggs. It was such a normal comfortable thing for her to do he went and hugged her again.
“What was that for?” She turned in his arms.
“For being brave. The guy who killed Caty and Joni is dead.”
“I sort of figured that, after that fall.”
“Most of the shooters that randomly massacre school kids and crowds are on anti-depressants as he was.”
“Apparently the drugs don’t work. An army of terrorists homegrown with no motives at all. So that was this guy’s problem?” She poured the eggs into a skillet and stirred them.
“Yeah, he just didn’t have a gun.”
“I wanted to know why. That may be too much to ask.” She stirred the eggs for a few minutes, then turned them out into two plates and handed him one.
Hank placed his plate on the table, trying to decide if he should tell her everything. She might be safer not knowing. “The why doesn’t exist. He just wanted those women and he could not have them.”
“The dress Caty wore when she died. What size was it?”
“Twelve.”
“She borrowed it from Joni. He thought Caty was Joni. That’s why Joni stayed, to try to trap him.”
“Then you appeared and rocked his world,” Hank said.
“He must have thought he was seeing a ghost.”
“Are you okay with things as they are?”
“Do I have to go to the station?”
“No, I recommend leaving town as soon as you are able, but call me before you start out.”
“Of course I will.” She handed him some toast.
Hank ate to try to seem normal and watched Jill, wishing this was their real life, not just a moment in time that he would forget, maybe even regret. But the more he watched her the more he was certain he would never forget Jill Heyer even if he tried.
****
The next morning Hank came to the apartment to say goodbye. Jill had her back pack sitting in the entry. She was just emptying the fridge.
“You solved the case. You should be rolling in glory now.” Jill’s voice trembled a little as though this parting would be difficult. She poured a bit of milk down the sink and tossed the carton.
Hank came to stand beside her. “No, I’ve been fired and this time it’s permanent. At least Personal says so. I may get my pension someday, but I am persona non grata in the New York police force.”
Jill grasped his arms. “Why did he fire you?”
“Why does he ever?” Hank shrugged and leaned on a kitchen chair.
“Because of me. I was taking too much of your time.”
“No, he says because I stayed here with you, the relative of a victim. That was my choice.”
Jill tilted her head. “How did he know that?”
“We didn’t find all the microphones. There was one under the coffee table. It was planted after my search.”
“So your boss took the case away from you.” She paced the small area, working it out.
“He fired me, so someone else has to finish my work. Big deal. It’s all paperwork from here on. Though I'm sure it will go into the unsolved drawer.”
“He fired you so he could stop you investigating.”
“You’re pretty smart.” He looked away from her intense expression.
“Normally he would want to advertise cracking a double murder case, so there has to be a more compelling reason not to.” She walked over and hugged him.
Hank’s resolve crumbled. She deserved to know. “There is. The guy who committed the recent two murders and tried to kill you started by killing his own mother. His last name was Roth. Richard was my chief’s son.”
“Oh. Your boss heard me talking about the pictures and knew you would figure it out, a compliment in a way.”
Hank shrugged. “Backhanded as always.”
“Where to now?” She still clung to him.
“I can’t get a job in this city. Besides, they impounded my car. It pays to be the chief. No need to go back to the office or my apartment. The only one who will miss me much is my ex-wife.”
“Really? Why?”
“No more alimony payments. Maybe now she will marry the guy who has been living in my house with her.”
Jill laughed and rested her cheek against his chest. “Come to Falls Bend with me. We’ll get some sheep and you can work the farm.”
Hank laughed. “I know nothing about that.”
“No one is an expert at farming. Maybe you can sign on as deputy with the local law. They’re always looking for someone.”
He looked down at her expectant face and smiled. “Oh, why not? Besides Falls Bend has other attractions.”
“Pack a bag.”
“I have my stuff with me. I was going to buy a train ticket if I didn’t get a better offer.”
“Super!” She kissed him with longing. “The jeep is loaded. Just one more stop on the way downstairs.”
He gazed down at her. “Ah, you realize that I am hoping you will marry me at some point?”
“Everyone in Falls Bend will be expecting it. Yes, I will marry you at the soonest opportunity.”
He let her go and she picked up her bag. He hefted his large tote and back pack down two flights to Bix’s place.
When Bix answered the door he didn’t seemed surprised to see Hank.
Jill gave him an envelope. “Here is an inventory of the furniture I’m signing over to you. Maybe you can sell it or rent the place as furnished. I left he linens and dishes.”
“I’m overwhelmed. I had not thought of renting it furnished. Here is the cat.” He turned, picked up a carrier and handed it to her with a bag of food. “Hardly seems a fair trade.”
“Depends on your point of view.”
****
Hank made the trip to Falls Bend with Missy on his lap except when it was his turn to drive. Then she curled up with Jill as though she had always known her. In a way she had.
After ten hours of driving they unloaded the car and were now standing in the kitchen watching Missy explore her new home. Hank turned to Jill. “Do you think you’ll have any more dreams?”
She came to hug him. “No, I had one last night. Joni and me were in a canoe and rowing to the far side of Falls Lake. That is not something my sister and I ever did. She got out, but pushed the canoe back and pointed to the side we had come from, then smiled and faded into the woods.”
“She’s letting you go,” Hank said in awe.
“Wish we had not wasted so many years.”
“We are not going to waste another minute. This is just the beginning for us.” Hank embraced her and kissed her as Missy twined about their feet, hoping for dinner.