Deadly Treatment (21 page)

‘Were you followed?’ she asked, not looking back.

‘No. I was careful. I kept checking, and went all over the city before coming here.’

‘Which is another question, how did you find me?’

‘I spoke with your mother,’ Jackie replied.

‘Fucking hell, Jackie, you did what?’ Shannon was beside herself.

‘Your mother, I went to see your mother. She showed me a letter you sent to her; it had this address on it.’

‘Oh fuck!’ Shannon gasped as she sank slowly to the bed. ‘Does he know about her too?’ she almost whispered.

‘No, I didn’t say anything about her — I swear.’ Jackie burst out crying again.

Sitting on her bed with her head in her hands, Shannon had no idea what to do. Jackie had gone, and she’d been left in an impossible situation. Sure, she didn’t want any harm to come to Daniel, but she was torn between the notion of trying to save him and her own desire for self-preservation. One thing was for sure, she needed to settle and focus her thoughts. She reached into her bedside cabinet and pulled out a small bag of coke. Making a small uneven line on the cabinet top, she bent down and took the crystals up both nostrils. As the chemicals worked their magic, she bounced around the room packing all her worldly possessions into a small bag. Like some strange game of
she loves me, she loves me not
— with each item she put into the bag, she quietly said to herself
stay — go, stay — go
.

It wasn’t difficult for her to persuade one of her new-found friends to loan her a car, views of her cleavage and promises of making it worth his while upon her return simplified the job. She threw her bag on the back seat and gave him a peck on the cheek. He waved as she pulled away; little did he know he would never see her or the car again! 

She got as far as Candlestick Park before pulling off the freeway and stopping the car. Frustrated, she repeatedly punched the steering wheel with her fist yelling ‘FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!’ With her frustration yielding, she put the car into drive, went to the next off ramp, and U-turned back towards the city.

She found a parking space in the same street as the school, killed the engine, and then sat there for a while staring at the building not knowing what she was going to do. She so desperately wanted to run, to leave town and never come back, but she just couldn’t leave Daniel, not now, knowing what that man was capable of. The whole situation rendered her almost paralyzed with indecision. Over an hour had passed when suddenly, from the corner of her eye, she saw a man enter the street. That immediately brought her from her daze. Since she’d parked, many other people had passed by unnoticed, but his image immediately set off sirens in her head. Shannon’s heartbeat raced as she instantly knew who it was. She didn’t have to see him to know it was Old Ginger’s associate, the man with the evil eyes. She carefully reached around, found the lever to recline her seat, and slowly lowered herself out of view.

Shannon watched as he took up a position in a doorway opposite the main gate. She checked to see that the time was nearly three o’clock. ‘Oh shit! He’s waiting till school’s out,’ she said to herself. The main door opened, and kids started to ooze from the building as Shannon watched powerless while the man emerged from the doorway, crossed the street, and entered the school. Without any weapons, Shannon was at a loss as to what to do; the man was stronger, fitter, faster, and from what she’d already seen, infinitely more experienced at murder than she was. Precious seconds ticked by as she struggled with what to do; finally, she decided, the hell with it, she would go and get Daniel, or at least she would raise the alarm. As she readied herself to go, the building’s main door flew open and the man came out, escorted off the premises by a security guard on each arm.

Shannon immediately sank back down in her seat as she waited to see what the man would do next; thankfully, he just walked off down the street in the opposite direction. With her senses on overload, she sat bolt upright in the seat and watched him walk; his confident gait made her feel sick to her stomach.

Shannon started the engine and moved the gear lever into Drive; pulling out of the space, she slowly trailed behind him. He rounded the corner and continued down the street. Shannon waited a few moments, and then with her car moving forward at a crawling pace, she turned right. As she took the corner, she looked down the sidewalk; her heart jumped to her mouth; he’d disappeared. Her eyes rapidly flitted all around the street as she frantically searched for any sign of him. Suddenly, she spotted him halfway down the street; he was between a couple of cars and about to cross to the other side.

Instinctively, she gunned the car, jamming her right foot hard to the floor, its rear wheels squealed as it left rubber on the road. It barreled down the street gathering speed as it went; her prey was in the middle of the road staring directly at the oncoming car. To Shannon, the collision was in slow motion; first the fender hit him low on the legs lifting him off the ground and onto the hood. His evil eyes had become wide open and terrified as his face hit the windshield, the impact breaking his neck and crushing his skull. His whole body then flipped onto the roof making a deafening booming noise as he bounced and then flew off the back of the car to land in a crumpled and bloody mess behind her. Shannon didn’t even touch her brakes; she just laughed maniacally as she looked in the rear view mirror and powered down the street. With another quick look back, she turned left at the bottom of the road and made off to the Freeway heading south.

Daniel returned from the bathroom and slipped back into the booth.

‘Feeling better?’ Shannon smiled.

‘Much,’ he replied.

D
etective Rodriguez had arranged for Louise Hughes, the owner of the Mulholland house — or Mulholland hole as it was now — to come to the station; she had arrived while Malone, Taylor, and Erin were in the interview room talking with the tourists. Rodriguez joined them to brief the trio on what he’d learned, which wasn’t much more than they already knew. Louise and her husband Ron had owned the house for a number of years; it was a house that she loved. As part of the divorce settlement, she had accepted the house and enough alimony to keep her comfortable as she picked up the pieces of her life. Detective Rodriguez told them that she’d then begun to cry. She had no idea who would have done that to her house, but she was sure it wouldn’t have been her ex-husband, he loved the place too.

‘Do you mind if we go and talk to her?’ Malone asked.

‘I’ve already asked if she would mind; she says she doesn’t know what more she can add, but she has no objection to talking to you.’

The detective led the way and introduced the trio to Louise. They passed a few pleasantries and sat down.

‘Thanks for your time,’ Malone began.

‘Like I told the detective here — I lived there for years; Ron bought it because I liked the location on top of the hill. I don’t have any enemies that I know of, so I’ve got no idea who would have demolished my house.’ She welled up.

‘Actually, we think you do!’ Taylor abruptly interceded.

All eyes turned to her.

‘Come on, Louise, I can tell by the way you speak about the house that you didn’t like it — you call it a house and not a home, and according to the detective, you’ve hardly stayed in it since the divorce.’

Louise folded her arms defensively in front of her over-inflated; silicon-enhanced chest.

‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ she replied indignantly.

‘Of course you do. I know all too well what it’s like to live in a house and not a home. You were about as emotionally attached to that place as I am to the sandwich I’ve just eaten. Now, we don’t really care how or why you had the house burnt down, but we do care about the people who did it.’

‘I’m telling you, I have no idea who did that to my house, I mean my home. But I sure as hell want you to catch them so I can put this whole thing behind me.’

‘Cut the bullshit lady!’ Erin said angrily. ‘The guys that did your house have got my son, and I want to know what you know… Please.’ In the same sentence, the anger in her voice had changed to a hint of pleading.

‘I tell you, I know noth…’ Louise stopped mid-sentence and her shoulders visibly sagged as Erin’s plea wormed its way in.

‘Okay, okay. You’re right, well sort of. The house did mean a lot to me, but not in the usual way. The place meant the world to my ex, so I knew that taking it would be a great way to get back at him.’

‘Get back at him? According to the mags, I thought it was you that did the dirty on him,’ Erin snipped.

‘Yeah, well for once they actually got it right; I did play away, but not without good cause.’ Her face reddened in embarrassment. ‘We hadn’t been intimate for years,’ she announced. ‘There, are you happy now!’ The room went silent. ‘Yeah, that’s right, he’s gayer than Hudson,’ she laughed.

‘It started off with him asking for threesomes all the time, but not the usual guy fantasies with two girls, if you know what I mean. Then, he was more interested in the guys than in me; pretty soon, I was surplus to requirements. Sure, I was great to have around for parties and red carpet do’s, but that was it; behind closed doors, I slept alone — and he, well, he didn’t. So, yes, I got my needs fulfilled, which was great for him; the press made him a victim, and yes, I literally blackmailed him for his other love, the house. But I had nothing to do with the demolition of the place — I swear.’

After Louise left the station, the four of them sat around the interview room speechless. The detective broke the silence, ‘Well I wasn’t expecting that!’

Had it not been for it all being linked to the abduction of Joshua, the room would have ignited into laughter.

‘You were great there,’ Malone said to Taylor.

‘Yeah, how did you know?’ Erin asked.

‘Let’s just say I know what makes a house a home,’ she smiled.

‘So where to now?’ Erin asked.

The detective stood up and went to the clear glass media board, stuck the identikit pictures of the two men from the cab in the middle and to the left, and then picked up a pen.

‘We know that Joshua was with these two arsonists. And we know that the house was torched by these guys,’ he said, drawing a box in the middle of the board and writing house inside. ‘And let’s say I’m willing to agree that the warehouse is somehow connected.’ Malone gave a satisfied smile. The detective drew another box underneath the house box and added warehouse to it. He connected the two boxes with an upward arrow. To the right-hand side of the board he wrote the name of the toy warehouse owner, above that he wrote Louise Hughes and above that Ron Hughes. ‘Are we all agreed that Louise Hughes had nothing to do with the fire?’ he asked.

The trio nodded their agreement.

‘Okay, so we need to find out how these two guys know these two guys,’ Rodriguez said as he scored a line through the woman’s name, linked the warehouse owner and the actor together, and then circled the two arsonist’s names. ‘Since my officers tell me the warehouse owner has skipped town with the insurance money, it’s going to take some time to find him. So, Hughes is next on the list.’

‘We could also find out what these guys were up to prior to the warehouse fire. Maybe we could liaise with the LAFD and get their reports on other suspicious fires that have occurred over the past few years,’ Malone said, pointing to the bottom of the board. ‘Should uncover something; maybe even find some other house or warehouse owners who’ve skipped town. The more background we get on these guys, the better chance we’ve got of finding them.’

The detective made a note of Malone’s suggestion and then looked at the trio saying, ‘I think it’s time to speak to our favourite actor, Ron Hughes.’

He pulled the pictures off the whiteboard, put them into his folder, and then led them out of the room.