Delta Stevens 2: Storm Shelter (25 page)

Delta reached over and squeezed Connie’s hand. The two women grinned hopefully at each other. “This is major clue number 2. One more strike, and he’s out.”

“Let’s hope so, because we haven’t much time.”

As Gina grabbed the change and headed out the door, Delta peeked at her watch.

No, there wasn’t much time. In less than seven hours, he would hit the streets again, stalking some innocent individual who had done nothing wrong except fit into his psychopathic plan of revenge. In seven hours, he would brutally take the life of someone she was sworn to serve and protect.

In seven hours, she would come face to face with Elson Zuckerman.

Jan scrutinized Delta before shaking her head. “Wait a minute. Could you run that by me once more?”

Delta nodded. “After we figured out the timing of the murders, we went through all the papers and cut out anything that had a final engagement or showing or sale or whatever. While Megan and Gina did that, Connie kept playing the game. All night, she had Dori pushing these boulders out of the road. But the only place she could push them was straight down the narrow path she was on. Connie figured that the boulders might be the equivalent to bowling balls.”

“So, of the three bowling alleys on our beat, you came up with Dino’s? How come? The only Dino I know of is the Flintstones’ pet dinosaur.”

Delta grinned. “Not this one. Megan did some excellent research that showed Deino, spelled D-e-i-n-o was one of the immortal Gorgon sisters. According to Greek legend, the Gorgons were these three ugly sisters who had to share one eye and a tooth between them.”

“Rough life.”

“Do you want to hear this or not?”

“I’m all ears.”

“The Gorgons’ job was to protect the nymphs who guard this pair of winged sandals.”

“You mean the ones the F.T.D. Florist wears?”

Delta hit her forehead with the palm of her hand. “God, Jan, you and your kids watch too much T.V.”

“Well, are those the sandals or not?”

“Yes, they are.”

Jan shook her head. “Now that’s all well and good, but I don’t think old Dino named his bowling alley after some toothless witch.”

“Of course he didn’t. But Elson doesn’t care about the origin of the name. He’s been over every inch of our beat. He can turn practically anything into a Greek myth if it’s close enough. And he had to stretch for Dino’s because Deino is only occasionally mentioned by writers as the third sister. Megan cross-referenced everything she had until she came up with Deino spelled with an `E’.”

Jan nodded. “I guess if he didn’t care about the spelling of gryphon, he wouldn’t much care about the spelling of Dino’s.”

Delta nodded. “Exactly. He was also banking on us not being able to pull up the reference on a little-known mythological figure. Fortunately, Megan and her professor have made great strides together. He helped point us in the right direction.”

Jan sighed. “God, Del, what planning this must have taken.”

“Yep. We figure he’s been mapping this out and plotting for a few months.”

Jan nodded. “He’d have to have. It’s all so linked together.”

“And in doing so, he’s created a pattern in the killings that enables

us to play along. Every twist and turn in the game has been intricately planned on the street beforehand. He has a routine that he
has
to follow in order for the game to parallel his actions.”

“And part of that routine is that he’ll strike again tonight?”

Delta nodded. “All of the pieces are finally fitting together.” As she rolled into the parking lot of the bowling alley, Delta pointed to the sign below the flashing blue Dino’s sign. “See Dino’s sign?”

Jan read it aloud. “Last night for co-ed leagues. So?”

“So, every time he’s murdered, it’s been someplace where it was the last day of something. It was the last day of the carnival, and the last open day of Troy’s pharmacy. ”We called Matt Ein at Omega’s and found out that the ax was stolen on the last day of sign-ups for a big game hunt in Africa. I don’t think this is a coincidence."

Jan shook her head. “Hardly. But what about the chauffeur? How does he fit into this scenario?”

Delta leaned back in the seat. “That one was a little tougher for Elson. Mrs. Griffin’s statement said she was called by a man wanting to donate a large sum of money to the A.I.D.S. foundation, of which she’s the chairwoman. She saw this man, collected what later turned out to be a bogus check, and returned home. One minute later, the chauffeur was dead and she was left wondering why.

“That makes two of us.”

“What Connie thinks is that Elson didn’t know where she lived, so he had to find a way to follow her. He must have scoped her out a long time ago. I’m telling you, Jan, he’s been in River Valley a long, long time and has really done his legwork. He found out where Mrs. Griffin lived and he killed her chauffeur just like that.”

“But how does that killing fit into the time scheme?”

Delta licked her lips before answering. “That one was almost so obvious, we missed it. “The chauffeur bought it on the last day of the month.”

Jan whistled and shook her head. “Your brain cells must be on overload.”

“Way beyond. I’m exhausted. Everyone’s just about on empty at this point. If we don’t get a major break in this case soon, I don’t know how much longer we can continue at this pace.”

Jan glanced back up at the sign. “So, today’s the last day for the coed league and that fits into his pattern. Now, what is it he’s after?”

“Since Dino’s and her sisters’ job was to protect the winged shoes, Connie thinks bowling shoes fit into the game plan quite well.”

“Shoes? The man is going to murder tonight for a pair of shoes?”

Delta nodded sadly. “Pathetic, huh? Dori pushed the boulder into the lair of one of the gorgons. One of the mortal Gorgon sisters was named Medusa.”

Jan’s eyes lit up. “Medusa! Now I remember. My kids and I saw that Harry Hamlin movie a long time ago. What was it called?
Clash of the Titans
, I think. Medusa is that woman with snakes for hair.”

Delta smiled. “Yep. She had hair of snakes, tusks for teeth, claws, and wings.”

“She didn’t look like that in the movie. I mean, she was ugly and everything, but I don’t remember any wings.”

Delta simply shook her head. “we’re talking Greek mythology here, Jan, not Hollywood.”

“Oh, sorry. Go on. How did Dori finally kill Medusa?”

“The myth has it that looking at Medusa’s eyes turns people into stone. Perseus, the hero of the story, had to sneak up on her and kill her from behind. Dori did the same and strangled Medusa with a golden rope we’d won earlier in the game.”

“Ah. Helen’s ribbon.”

“Exactly.”

“Then what?”

Shrugging, Delta played with her baton. “That’s as far as Connie’s gotten. We killed the gorgon, but the winged shoes never appeared. We think we might have missed something along the way.”

Jan nodded and reached across to touch Delta’s hand. “How’s Connie holding up?”

“Barely hanging in there.”

“I can’t imagine what this must be doing to her. Day in and day out of playing some morbid computer game? It would drive me nuts.”

Delta nodded. “Maybe tonight will be the last of it.”

Jan eyed Delta suspiciously. “I don’t like the way you say that.”

Delta shrugged. “What can I say?”

“You plan on taking him out, don’t you? No, don’t answer. I don’t want to hear it if it’s true. You know how I feel about that, Del.”

Delta stared out the window. “He’s toying with the people I love most, he’s snapped a little girl’s neck, and he’s terrorizing people who are counting on us to keep them from harm. And what will the courts give him when we catch him? A free ride to the loony bin for a couple of years. He’s already beaten the system, and he knows it! They won’t send him to the chair, and he won’t get a life sentence like he deserves because his defense will be that he’s played so many of these games he can’t distinguish fantasy from reality. Remember the Dan White Twinkie defense? We’ll bust our humps to haul him in, and those idiot judges will send him to some fancy medical facility until Elson decides it’s safe to act sane again. don’t tell me you can’t see that.”

“Of course I can see that. But that doesn’t make you his judge and jury.”

“No? You saw what he’s done to those people. You watched as they lifted Helen’s body onto the gurney. Suppose she was one of yours? Suppose they decided—”

“Stop. You can’t rationalize just blowing him away, Delta. You just said our job is to protect people. Well, hard as it may be to believe, that includes people like him. Our job is to catch him—alive, if possible— and let the justice system do their job. If he’s a threat, a real threat, then we take him out like we would anyone else who was threatening harm to someone. But don’t appoint yourself executioner out of some skewed sense of loyalty. That’s not your responsibility.”

“No, but it’s my duty.”

“You’re not a killer, Delta Stevens. I know what you’ve had to do in the past, but you’re not a murderer. If you go after him, you’re no different than he is.”

Delta shook her head. “I disagree. He’s a cold-blooded killer who is after my best friend. If I get to him before he gets to us, you know I’ll take him down. My mind was made up long ago. Period. End of story.”

“I won’t be a part of an execution, Del.”

“I understand that. You can walk away if you need to, but I’m going to do what I think needs to be done.” Delta stared out the window and watched a group of teenagers walk into Dino’s. “I’m getting that feeling again.” Reaching for the mike, Delta was stopped by Jan’s firm grip.

“Del, I know how important it is for you to stop this bastard, but don’t do anything you won’t be able to live with afterwards.”

Delta nodded, not taking her eyes off the glass doors to the bowling alley. “Trust me, Jan. I won’t.”

“Promise me.”

“I promise. Can we get a move on now? I’ve got some crazy feelings going on in my gut.” Pressing the button down on the mike, Delta told dispatch they were at Dino’s and to await a call for back-up.

“Come on,” Delta said, getting out of the car. As they headed to the back entrance which led to an alley, Delta saw that the door was propped open by a Coke bottle.

“I don’t like the looks of this,” Delta whispered. Looking hard at the beam of light shining through the six-inch opening the bottle allowed, Delta’s interior alarm rang loudly.

He was in there.

She knew it. She could feel it. And she hated him for it.

It was the same sensation that haunted her at the carnival. There was an evil essence that permeated the very air around them whenever he was near. It created a thickness, a sort of invisible cloud that passed through her, touching off the intricate alarm system she lived by.

“Want to split up?” Jan asked, reading Delta’s mind. “You take the front, I’ll stay here and let you run him out to me.”

Delta nodded. “We’ll make it look like a routine check, so we don’t scare everyone. Call for back-up just in case.”

Jan nodded and did so. “And Del?”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful.”

Scooting around the corner, Delta thought of Miles. Weren’t those her last words to him?

Nodding to herself, Delta shuddered and pushed open the glass doors.

Walking into the bowling alley, Delta’s nose was immediately accosted by cigarette smoke. Young and old alike had cigarettes hanging from their mouths, and it didn’t matter if they were bowling or playing video games.

Bells from the games filled the air and mingled with the crashing of bowling balls creating an eerie cacophony.A thin blue haze of smoke hovered like storm clouds, as overweight bowlers puffed madly between frames. As her eyes moved like an eagle’s in search of prey, Delta felt him watching her. Like the haze of smoke, his dark presence loomed.

Yes, he was there, and he knew she was as well. She was not foolish enough to think that her presence would make a difference to him. It probably turned him on. Maybe that’s what this was truly about; he was finally living the games he’d spent a lifetime playing.

Delta shrugged off the revulsion she felt just from thinking about him. Yes, he had planned very, very well for his revenge. Even if he was caught, what jury wouldn’t think him insane as he prowled about killing people like some ancient warrior? He had already manipulated the system to his favor. He could exact his revenge and pay the very small price of a few years in a mental institution for the criminally insane. It was a brilliant strategy.

Scanning the small crowd of midnight bowlers, Delta did not see a man who was as small-framed as Elson. If he was there, he was out of her visual range. Looking around the perimeter of the alley, Delta noted five different exits he could leave through. It was possible he had already left, but she doubted it. For this game to work for him, he had to follow through with duplicate actions or the computer aspect of the game would no longer matter. He had to complete the next level.