Dead Even (15 page)

He strained to listen, but the voice had dropped, as if the speaker had realized there was a chance of being overheard. His first inclination was to enter the room and knock the hell out of the asshole bad-mouthing his partner, but better sense prevailed and he stayed where he was, listening. He could only pick up snatches of the conversation, but it was enough for him to realize that Mike had an enemy on the force. Big time. “…falling down drunk … brain fried with booze.” Then the voices turned to whispers again, and he couldn't catch any of the words.

Butch inched backwards down the hallway, then turned and yelled back to a couple of surprised policemen just coming on duty. “Hi. Want me to bring you coffee?” They looked puzzled and nodded. “Sure, if you're heading that way.”

“Coming right up,” Butch said loudly, then began whistling as he continued down the hallway and into the coffee room. He looked at the two officers standing there, who were now discussing the weather. “Good evening, gentlemen,” he said cordially. “Bitch of a night, isn't it?”

Chapter TWELVE

At twenty minutes to seven, Audra and Jason said good-night to Bess, crossed the parking lot, and entered Audra's Datsun. It had been a full evening. Bess had met them for pizza, and she and Jason had hit it off immediately. Bess was a born storyteller, and Jason had sat mesmerized as she told him about panning for gold in Alaska: how her Billy had fought off a grizzly, and of how she had lost two toes to frostbite while bringing gold down out of the mountains on the back of a mule. Bess had a thousand stories about the adventures she and her husband had shared over the thirty years of their marriage. It had been twenty years since his death, but she still kept him alive with her outrageous stories. Audra had long ago given up worrying about their authenticity—she just enjoyed hearing Bess talk about the life she and Billy had shared. If the gentle old woman chose to embellish a little, so what?

Jason had told Bess all about his own family, even down to the fact that his mother survived on welfare. “But I'm the youngest,” he had told her matter-of-factly. “And now that I'm in school, Momma wants to get a job. She quit school when she was thirteen, but she's pretty smart.”

Bess had looked at him and chuckled. “I don't doubt that a bit, son. She'd
have
to be sharp to keep up with you, now wouldn't she?”

“So,” Audra looked over at her pint-sized passenger as he wrestled with his seat belt. “We still have a few minutes. Would you like to take a little drive with me?”

“Sure,” he answered her. “Where to?”

Audra's hand slipped into the pocket of her coat and wrapped around the piece of scratch paper. She didn't need to look at it. “Oh, just around. Nowhere in particular.”

She pulled out of the parking lot onto Vine, turned north and drove to Twenty-Seventh street, then headed east. It was still snowing lightly, but the highway was clear.

At Castlebury, Audra slowed and turned back to the south. The house had to be right in this area. She switched into the right-hand lane, and slowed, peering left through the snow for an address on one of the east houses to get her bearings.

Jason had been chattering nonstop since leaving Pizza Hut. Now he stopped talking and looked at his teacher, aware that she had ceased listening to him.

Audra finally was able to read one of the house numbers. 2422 was only three houses away. She drove slowly down the street, then pulled into the parking lot of a medical building on the west side of the road about half a block down from the address. She circled and parked in the empty lot, where she could get a good look at the house sitting across the street. There wasn't much to see. Large trees rimmed the property, and no lights were burning in the house. She could see only that it was a large, sprawling home which looked like money. Somehow, it wasn't what she had expected.

“What are we doing, Miss Delaney?” Jason asked. “Why are we parking here?”

Audra jumped at the sound of his voice. She had been so intent on locating the address she had almost forgotten about her passenger. “Oh, Jason. I'm sorry. I must have been daydreaming. I—I just thought it would be fun to sit here and watch the snow coming down.” She reached over and shut off her headlights, but kept the car running.

“Can I undo my seat belt so I can see better?”

“Sure,” Audra answered. “But we'll only be here a minute or so, then you'll need to put it back on.”

Jason unhooked the belt and stood up on his knees. He wasn't stupid. He knew his teacher had been looking for something—probably an address. Of what? One of the houses across the street? He glanced at her, and realized her eyes were glued to the house back to the left. The big one with the trees.

“Do you know the people who live there?” he asked.

“Oh—no, Jason,” she said, startled. “I was just looking at the snow on the trees. Isn't it pretty?”

He nodded his head in agreement, not believing her.

A few cars passed by them on the highway, then an ambulance screamed by on its way to Saint Anthony's hospital, which was located close by. Audra still sat quietly, watching the house, lost in thought.

Jason noticed the big blue van come down the street slowly, then turn into the driveway of the big house. Audra tensed, her hands gripping the steering wheel of her car hard. Jason observed the reaction of his teacher, and his eyes went back to the van. Something registered in his brain. He had noticed that van earlier today. Where?

They watched in silence as the automatic door was activated, and the van slowly pulled in the garage. They were too far away to even get a glimpse of the interior of the garage. All they could see was a hint of light.

Jason's eyes flitted back and forth between his teacher and the house. There was no question in his mind now. Miss Delaney was interested in what was going on at that place.

Audra kept waiting for a light to come on in the house, but it remained dark. Slowly she released her grip on the steering wheel, and leaned back in the seat. She felt a little surge of power course through her body.
I know where you live, Howard Simpson. I'm sitting here watching you. And I wish you knew it!

Jason noticed the peculiar look on Audra's face. He touched her arm. “What time is it, Miss Delaney? Shouldn't we be leaving for your house?”

Audra didn't realize how tense she had been until she heard the long shuddering exhale of breath which came from her as she turned to him. “Yes. You're right, Jason.” She looked at her watch. “It's almost seven. We'd better go.”

*   *   *

With the unsettling knowledge that she had been only half a block from the man who had done so much damage to her, Audra hardly expected to enjoy the evening with Mike. But within minutes, he had both her and Jason laughing, and the youngster was clearly taken with him.

Audra sat on the couch watching as Mike let Jason “walk” up his body, then turn a flip in the air. Jason wanted to do it again and again. It pleased her to watch the two of them. Something normal and nice. Decent.

Finally Mike collapsed into a chair and held up his hands in surrender. “Time for a break, Jason. You've worn me out!”

Jason went over and stood beside the chair. “That was fun, Mike. Do you have any kids?”

Mike pulled Jason down on his lap. “No, son, I don't. But if I ever have some little boys, I hope they're all just like you!”

Jason shook his head. “They probably won't be.”

Mike laughed and poked him playfully in the stomach. “Oh, you don't think so, huh?”

Jason looked over at Audra and winked. “I'm what they call a genius, Mike. I can even do high school stuff.”

Mike nodded his head slowly, and scratched his chin as though he was thinking hard. “I see. A genius, huh?” He stuck out his hand. “Well, just let me shake your hand, young man. I don't believe I've ever met an honest-to-goodness genius before.”

Jason giggled and shook Mike's hand. “And I don't believe I've ever met an honest-to-goodness detective before, either.”

“Speaking of that,” Mike said. “I don't suppose I could get you to go in the other room for just a few minutes while I talk with your teacher about ‘detective stuff', could I?”

Jason jumped down from Mike's lap. “Sure. I need to call my mother, anyway.”

“Oh, wait, Jason,” Audra said. “I wanted to speak with her, myself, to let her know it's fine for you to stay here while she's in the hospital.”

Jason hesitated. “Okay, I'll go call in your bedroom. When she's ready to talk to you, I'll holler.” He sped across the small apartment and closed the bedroom door behind him, not waiting for his teacher to respond.

Mike shook his head. “He's quite a boy, isn't he?”

Audra nodded. “And believe it or not, he really
is
a genius!”

“You're kidding! With
his
personality? I thought real smart kids were sort of straight-laced and serious.”

“Not Jason!” Audra laughed. “He's full of it! Loves to tease!”

“Well, I'll be damned,” Mike said. “That little stinker
knew
I didn't believe him, but he just played along. What kind of a family does he come from?”

“A big, poor one. Eight children, no father, and the mother exists on welfare. But she's done a good job raising her children, nevertheless. Jason adores his mother, that was evident this evening when he was talking with Bess. He said that now that he was in school, his mother was trying to find work.”

“Well, she's certainly done all right by Jason. He's a hell of a nice kid.”

“There are two more children at William's in the upper grades, and they are good, hardworking students. Of course they aren't in Jason's league, but then neither am I!”

“He's really that smart?”

“Oh, yes! At Pizza Hut tonight, he picked up
Treasure Island
and just started reading it right off. Of course his comprehension isn't as advanced as his vocabulary because his life experiences are limited. But in math, why he can do problems that are way above
my
head!”

“Forgive me for asking, but what is he doing in kindergarten? Shouldn't he be in an accelerated class of some kind?”

“That's what Bess wanted to know, but Jason's exact words to her were, ‘I want to be with kids my own age, at least for a while. And I don't want everyone treating me like I'm some sort of freak.' He was very adamant on the subject, said he'd lost a friend once by acting too smart, and he liked friends more than anything! So maybe he's right. A lot of true geniuses have a hard time relating to people, stemming in part from always being placed way above their actual age group. He
likes
playing all the silly little games we do. And when he gets bored, he does complex math problems in his head!”

Mike shook his head in wonderment. “Amazing.”

“Not to change the subject,” Audra said, “but what did you want to see me about? Have you learned anything new?”

“No. Not actually. But Captain Markham finally gave me permission to tell you we haven't given up on your boy. After I left you today, I went in and argued on your behalf. He finally relented, so now you know we are still working on the case.”

“But I don't understand. Why didn't he want me to know?”

Mike rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. “Audra, sometimes when people feel they can't count on the system to protect them or get them any kind of justice, they try to handle things on their own. They'll shoot from the hip without thinking about the consequences. Like, call a news conference and try and get it all out in the open, or tell a reporter so they start digging, or harass the person in some way. Things I know you wouldn't do, and I assured the captain of that.”

Audra thought guiltily of her phone call to the radio station, and the others she had made from school.
I've already done it, Mike! Oh, God! I've already done what your captain was afraid I'd do!
She wanted to tell him, but the words stuck in her throat. After he had gone to bat for her, how could she tell him about the calls?

Mike misread the stricken look on her face and came over and sat beside her on the couch. He put his arm around her shoulder. “Hey, now. Don't you worry. If he's the one, we'll get him. You have my word on that.”

She opened her mouth to tell him, but Jason chose that moment to emerge from the bedroom. “Can I come out?” he asked cheerfully. “And Momma says thanks for keeping me, but she was too tired to talk, and hopes you understand.”

Mike removed his arm from around Audra's shoulders. “Well, then, everything's settled and now I don't see any reason not to make popcorn and maybe a little hot chocolate.
Perfect
on a night like this. How does that sound, Jason?”

Audra hated to throw cold water on his plans. “I'm afraid I don't have either one. I'm sorry.”

Mike stood up. “Grab your coats, then. If I have to go out into the wintry night, I want a little company. How about a popper?”

“What?” Audra asked.

“A popcorn popper. Do you have one?”

She shook her head. “But I do have a microwave. We could make it in that.”

Mike shook his head. “Heavens no! Did you hear that, Jason? She wants to take all the fun out of it. No, no. We need a good old-fashioned popper. The kind you put oil in, and it pops the top off! Don't you agree, Jason?”

Jason nodded his head vigorously.

Audra laughed. “Okay. You're in charge, Mike. Where do we find such a popper?”

“Oh, Wal-Mart—Coast to Coast. We'll just have to shop until we find one.”

Audra opened the door and looked out at the snow still coming down. “In this weather?”

“Certainly,” Mike answered her. “No use living in Kansas if you can't take a little snow. It'll be fun.”