G'Day USA (27 page)

He answered out of breath. ‘Ellie. What’s going on?’

‘
Perkins is going around telling anyone who knows me he fears for my safety, that he knows I was set up. And he wants me to turn myself in.’

‘
No, I don’t buy it. Too risky. Let me talk to Shelley and get the scoop.’

‘
I thought her name was Stevie.’

‘
Yeah. Stevie. I’ll call her and get back to you shortly. Don’t do anything stupid.’ He grunted and hung up.

Sounded like he was weight lifting.

And here I was waiting again. But I didn’t have to do
nothing
. Charlie might have more information.

He answered with a groan. ‘What felony do you want me to commit this morning?’

‘
Good morning, Charlie. You still have the number, right? The one I gave you - ’

‘
What, you think I’m disorganized?’

‘
Can you check the location for me? I don’t want that fuck sneaking up on me.’

‘
You’re going to get me fired, mate.’

‘
Only for another day or so Charlie. Appreciate it.’ I listened to keys clicking for a very long, nervous minute.

‘
The number is located very close to you. You just called it, right?’

‘
Yeah, I did. Define close to me?’

‘
Different sectors of the same site. Like rock throwing distance from each other.’

‘
Oh, fuck.’ I pulled myself into the doorway and tried to make myself smaller.

‘
Fuck, indeed.’ There was a bit more clicking of keys. ‘There’s been nothing since then, but it wasn’t very long ago so he can’t be far. Watch your ass, right?’

‘
I will. Thanks again. I promise not to bother you too much.’

I slipped the phone into my pocket. What does a psycho look like? If Charlie was right, and he knew this stuff pretty well, Mr. Nutbags was within a mile of me. Looking for me. Wanting to do me physical harm.

Not if I could help it.

I felt like everyone was looking at me, now. Fuck, I hated feeling like this. All eyes seemed to be accusing me. I wanted to leave the anonymity of the crowds on Venice Beach and head to a hidey hole.

My ass vibrated.

I squeezed out the phone. It was him.

Calling, this time.

‘
Hey, nutbags. You looking for me? You’ll never find me.’

‘
I know where you are right now. I saw you pull that phone from your very tight back pocket.’ The voice was a deep “I’m Batman” kind of voice. It was either electronically disguised or the guy was good at doing voices.

I spun around and looked into the crowd. There were more than a dozen people on their phones. One of them could be Sweeney’s killer. Or not. There were plenty of windows he could be looking from.

‘
So why are you keeping your distance, asshole? You promised grievous bodily harm. You going to break your promise?’

‘
I’m not stupid. There are crowds. When I get you, I’m going to get you alone. It’s just going to be you and me, for an extended visit.’

‘
Candlelight and wine?’

His voice dropped a key and evoked menace. ‘You’re not going to enjoy this visit.’

‘
You have halitosis?’

‘
Bitch, I will make you
wish
you could die. And I’m going to tell you exactly how it’s going to happen.’ He took a deep, shuddering breath.

‘
I’ll make sure you can’t make any noise loud enough to be heard outside the room. And then I’m going to start hurting you. I’m going to make you feel pain in places you never thought pain would be felt. You will think it can’t get any worse, and then it will. You’ll plead for me to kill you to put you out of your misery.

‘
But I won’t. That will be stage one. You’ll soon long for stage one. Because stage two will be ten times worse. The horror you experience will make you regret every self-serving action you’ve ever taken. You’ll realize every person you trod on to get you to where you are now is getting their collective payback.

‘
And then, when it’s beyond what you can humanly bear you will become the apparent victim of self-immolation.’

I swallowed and slipped back in the doorway. ‘I thought you were going to make it look like a suicide.’

‘
Didn’t you catch the “self” part of “self-immolation”? I thought I knew you, Ellie. I guess I was wrong. Selfish, I understand. I didn’t think you were stupid.’

‘
You know me?’

‘
You’re not random.’

‘
Where am I now?’

‘
Why, are you lost? You’re not far from me. I’ll keep an eye on you until it’s dark, and then you’re all mine. I suggest you enjoy the sunset tonight. It’ll be your last.’

‘
Fuck you.’

‘
Eloquent.’

‘
If you know me, tell me your name. This impending doom is apparently inevitable. Telling me who you are shouldn’t make any difference.’

His laugh sounded like gravel in a galvanized tub. ‘I want to see the look on your face when you find out.’

‘
How did you find me so fast?’

‘
You’re not exactly hiding. You haven’t gone more than a few miles from your home. I’m surprised the police haven’t picked you up already.’

‘
So you’re a cop?’

He laughed again. ‘God, no.’

‘
So how did you find me so fast? Tell me.’

‘
You can thank your friend, the crazy bag lady for her assistance. Once I got her going, she wouldn’t shut the fuck up.’

I gripped the phone so tight I was afraid I was going to crack the screen. ‘What did you do to Ann?’

‘
A bit fragile upstairs, isn’t she? I’m sure she’ll be fine. Eventually. Barely a mark on her frumpy body, but her mind may be scarred for the rest of her very short life.’

‘
Listen, you f-‘

‘
Shut up.’ Heavy hoarse breathing filled my ear. ‘It’s not all about you, bitch. You’re just one in a line of victims. Number two. Sweeney was one. Setting you up was almost as fun as seeing the look on his face just as I shot him in his fat fucking head.’ He took a breath. ‘No, there will be many more after you. This is the best fun I’ve had in a very, very long time.’

I heard his shoes, or boots, clicking across a floor. ‘You’re a sick fuck.’

‘
Of course I am. That’s what makes me so fun to be around. It’s not even noon yet. Barely past 11:00. You’ve got seven hours to sort your shit out. I’ll be keeping a very close eye on you for those seven hours, so don’t think you’ll escape.’

The call dropped. I peered out from the corner of the doorway. He could see me, I couldn’t see him.

Lovely.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Ann groaned and held her face as she slowly regained a sense of where she was. She opened one eye and checked if her unwelcome visitor was still there.

She sat up, a bit too quick for the pain in her head. ‘Oh, my goodness. What have I done?’ She wiggled a tooth with her tongue and winced. ‘Ouch.’ Her hand came away from her mouth sticky with partially congealed blood and her lip felt like it was twice its normal size.

She knew the man from somewhere. She’d seen him on the beach before and she thought she’d seen him with Ellie, but she wasn’t sure. Her thoughts were hard to pin to reality. The fog was getting thicker and she fought against it, but inevitably surrendered to the confusion.

M
arty struggled in the backseat against the handcuffs. ‘I have the right to call my attorney.’

Perkins looked up from the confiscated mobile phone and half turned in his seat. ‘Wrong. You have the
right
to
have
an attorney. The phone call - at the station, by the way - is a courtesy.’ He turned back to the phone and logged on to his onboard terminal. ‘Watch the potholes, kiddo. I have a hard enough time typing on this thing as it is.’

Marty slumped back in his eat. Lily had called him names he hadn’t heard her use in years. ‘Hey, these things are really uncomfortable. Are they necessary?’ He leaned forward and tried to relieve the pressure on his wrists.

‘
Serious crimes you’ve been charged with. Obstructing justice, harboring a felon, resisting arrest.’ Stanfield laughed. ‘You’re in pretty good shape for an old guy.’

‘
I haven’t actually been
charged
with anything yet, and after my attorney is finished with you, you won’t be arresting anyone for anything ever again.’

Stanfield looked at Perkins. ‘Is he threatening us?’

‘
Watch the road, kid. I don’t think it qualifies as a threat if he can’t back it up.’ He clicked a couple more keys and dropped Marty’s mobile in a plastic evidence bag. ‘Okay. The phone company should get the call details from this phone shortly. But I noticed a single number with no name attached, incoming and outgoing and at the top of a couple of interesting text messages. They’re going to geolocate that number first.’

Marty banged his head against the window. ‘Fuck. Really? You guys need to leave her alone. She didn’t kill him.’

‘
We know, sir. We’ve already told you on many occasions. That’s what makes this so tragic. If you made the effort to get her to turn herself in you wouldn’t be in the backseat of my car and Ellie’s life wouldn’t be in danger. But you had to be all anti-establishment and now look where the both of you are.’

Marty grunted and sat back lower in his seat. ‘Can’t you take me to the station in Malibu? I really don’t want to go to the Valley.’

‘
Hey, Perkins, the rich man doesn’t like the Valley. What’s wrong? Not good enough for you?’

‘
Leave it kiddo.’ Perkins looked over his shoulder. ‘We’re the station handling the case, that’s the station we take the suspects to. Do yourself a favor and keep it shut.’

C
harlie looked at the incoming request and swore. They’d found Ellie’s new number. Now they’d find Ellie. He didn’t want them to find Ellie.

He sat back in his chair and contemplated losing the request. It would buy her some time. His company had a commitment to provide location information within fifteen minutes. Losing it wouldn’t buy her very much time and it’s likely he’d be taken off the legal intercept desk. All in all a bad trade-off.

But he could warn her before he informed the cops and try and keep her out of their clutches. He used an online messaging service.

“
Your number has been discovered. Geolocation will start shortly. Turn it off, find a new phone and keep your head down.”

He pressed enter and turned back to his task. On an average day he could do it and report back to the police in less than two minutes. Today, for this one job, it would take the full fifteen.

L
ily paced beside the pool, phone to her head, waiting for their attorney to pick up. ‘Hurry up you piece of - ’

‘
Lily? Is that very nice?’

‘
Sorry, I’m a bit upset and you know how much I hate waiting.’

‘
What’s Marty done this time?’

‘
He’s gotten himself arrested.’

‘
Where is he and what has he done?’

‘
It’s a long story. They’re taking him to the Devonshire station.’

‘
The Valley? He’s been taken to the Valley?’

‘
So what?’

‘
Traffic is a bitch today.’ He sighed down the phone. ‘Okay. I’ll head out there now. Do you know why he’s been arrested?’

‘
Obstructing justice, harboring a felon and resisting arrest.’

‘
The resisting part I get. What’s this about?’

Lily sighed and sat at the outdoor table. ‘You know Ellie?’

‘
Oh, shit. Is he hiding her somewhere?’

‘
Not quite. We know her new mobile number and have talked to her a couple of times and he wouldn’t cooperate with the police when they came around. Got kind of belligerent.’ She smiled. ‘It was like when we were first dating in the late seventies and went to all those political rallies.’

‘
Why? For God’s sake, why? And the Valley? Christ. Marty didn’t like Sweeney either, but there’s no cause to hide a killer.’

‘
She didn’t do it.’

‘
Oh, they never do, Lily.’

‘
No, really. I’ve had a good talk with her. She didn’t. There’s someone else who killed Sweeney, set her up and now is trying to get her. I wish she
would
come in.’

‘
Irrelevant at this point. I need to get going. I’m going to miss my lunch for this.’

‘
You can afford to miss a couple of lunches. Call me when you know when he can come home, okay? But don’t rush it. He needs to cool off and I can’t think of a better place.’

The lawyer terminated the call and Lily sat back and tried to remember the name of the private detective. She had to call him off. There were enough problems already.

T
he Killer bided his time. Sunset was in six or so hours, and he had her corralled. General area, anyway. He wanted her on her toes, not sure where he was going to be next. Time to juice her.