Let It Burn (32 page)

An agent came up to me and told me to put my hands on my head, just as they had done to Paige. It was all still an underwater dream to me, but I knew enough to cooperate, and a moment later I felt the cold sting of the handcuffs being put on my left wrist. Before he could do the other wrist, I heard a voice from behind us telling him to let me go.

The handcuff was removed. The agent pushed by me to assist his teammates in securing the area. There were at least seven, maybe eight vehicles now, with their headlights blazing from both ends of the street. The whole scene lit up in sudden bright clarity like a nighttime movie shoot.

I still hadn’t made the connection. How all of this could have happened. How Grayson and Paige could end up here, first of all. Here on this lonely back-alley street that I had only discovered myself a matter of hours ago. Then a whole goddamned team of FBI agents, right behind them.

But of course, I knew that voice behind me. The familiar voice of the agent who ordered me uncuffed. I turned to see her face.

“It was you,” I said to FBI Agent Janet Long. “You set me up.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

It was my first time inside the McNamara Federal Building. The FBI occupied the twenty-sixth floor. Everything was gleaming and immaculate. The room I sat in was worlds away from the old Detroit precinct interview room, where you’d find food wrappers, coffee stains, and a wobbly table and chairs that should have been put out on the street years before.

I sat there with my hands folded together on the table. The door opened. Agent Fleury came in. Janet’s partner. I didn’t look up.

“How are you doing?” he said. “Can I get you anything?”

I didn’t answer.

“Look,” he said, sitting down across from me and putting his leather portfolio on the table. “You have to understand something. This is a person who brutally killed seven different women in seven different states. Now possibly eight women in eight states, if the information you’ve developed is correct.”

He sat there and waited for me to say something. I didn’t.

“I’m really curious, Alex. What did you think we were going to do? Just sit around and wait for something to fall in our laps? After we’ve been working on this guy
for years
?”

He opened up his portfolio, took out a piece of paper, and slid it across the table. I didn’t bother looking at it. I was reasonably sure I knew what it was anyway.

“For the record,” he said, “this was my call. Not Janet’s. The law is very clear on this point. We contacted the judge. He verbally approved the warrant. We don’t have to have it in our possession. We only have to know it’s on the way. So that part was covered.”

“Is the GPS tracker still attached to my truck?” I said, finally speaking up. “Or are you going to track me all the way back to Paradise?”

“The device has been removed.”

“You said this was your call.”

“Yes.”

“Was it your call to have Janet take me for our little walk around downtown, so you’d have the chance to attach it?”

“Once again, Mr. McKnight … I mean, here’s where I should apologize for the deception, but I’m not going to, because sometimes the ends really do justify the means. In this case, it’s not even close. It’s the easiest decision I’ve ever made. I’ll sleep like a baby tonight.”

“I would have brought him in,” I said. “What else did you think I was going to do?”

“There were two of them. You were unarmed. If I gave you those odds, knowing the stakes, would you take them? For anyone else?”

“Are we about done here?”

“Just about. You care to tell me how you figured out where they were going to meet?”

“You guys are supposed to be the smartest group of law enforcement officers in the world,” I said. “I’m one ex-cop in a truck. If I were you, I’d be embarrassed to ask that question.”

He smiled at that one.

“I knew you’d get somewhere,” he said. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to leave it alone, and I knew you’d find a way to the end of the maze. I
knew
it. That’s why I scrambled to get that GPS on you. You’ve gotta give me credit for that much.”

“Good hustle, Agent Fleury. The two of you will richly deserve your big raises.”

“She thought you were really going back home this time, Mr. McKnight. She was sure of it. I guess that means I know you a little better than she does.”

He folded up his portfolio. Then he stood up.

“For what’s it worth,” he said, “you helped us catch a serial killer. I will always be thankful to you for that. No matter what you say to me.”

Then he left the room.

I sat there a while longer, looking out the blinds at the darkness. I knew it was beyond late now. I didn’t even bother looking at my watch.

The door opened again. Agent Janet Long came in and sat down across from me.

“It would save time if you guys talked to me together,” I said. “You don’t have to send in a parade.”

“Stop it,” she said. “I’m sorry for the way this worked out.”

“Why are you sorry? Everybody wins. All you had to do was play me like a drum. Which I guess must have been pretty easy, seeing as how I never would have suspected it.”

“It wasn’t my idea.”

“Yeah, I know. Your partner copped to that.”

“I’m pretty sure I told you to go home, too. More than once.”

“You did.”

“And I’m pretty sure you promised me you would.”

“I’d have to review the tape,” I said, “but you’re probably right.”

“I wasn’t straight with you, Alex. I admit that, but you weren’t straight with me, either.”

“Can we stop?” I said. “I don’t want to do this anymore.”

“Fine with me. You want to talk about what happened?”

“To be honest,” I said, “it’s still just a blur to me. How did Ryan Grayson and Tanner Paige show up?”

“I was hoping you could tell me.”

“They must have followed me. The old-fashioned way, I mean. I’m sure they didn’t have a GPS device they could trick me into carrying around.”

“I thought we were going to stop.”

I raised a hand in surrender.

“Wait a minute,” I said. “Of course they followed me. It was easy. The last time I talked to them, I told them I was staying in a motel on Michigan Avenue. They already knew what my truck looked like.”

“You didn’t notice them on your tail?
All day?
”

“I guess I was preoccupied.”

“You realize, they forced our hand and almost blew everything. If Grayson didn’t have his safety on…”

“Are you serious? Is that why his gun didn’t shoot?”

“For once, thank God for clueless gun owners who have no idea what they’re doing.”

“They promised me,” I said. “No more stupid behavior.”

“Yeah, I guess lots of promises got broken this week.”

“So what’s going to happen to them?”

“Grayson and Tanner have both been charged with obstruction. Grayson’s also been charged with unlawful use of a weapon. Which is a lot better than attempted murder. I’m sure he’ll get a good lawyer and end up with probation and a fine.”

“What about Darryl King?” I said.

“We’ve got him for aiding and abetting, which I imagine will get dropped, but the state wants him for all of the parole violations, and I’ll be honest with you, they still like him for the murder of Detective Bateman.”

“Maybe he’ll confess again. For old times’ sake.”

“As far as Tremont King goes … Well, that’ll be a project and a half right there. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.”

“I imagine. Has he said anything?”

“Not a word.”

I nodded at that. We both sat there.

“My partner did thank you,” she said.

“He did.”

“It’s a good night, Alex. I hope you know that.”

“I think you’ll have to ask me that tomorrow.”

“Fair enough,” she said. “I’ll call you?”

“Okay.”

We both sat there for a while again, looking at each other. Then I got to my feet. She took me to the elevator and showed me to the main entrance. We said good night. We didn’t touch each other. I was pretty sure we never would again.

My truck had been brought over from the apprehension site, or whatever you would call that place now. The keys were on the front seat. I started it up and drove out of the lot.

I went right to Mrs. King’s house. The place was completely dark. I saw a note taped on the front door. It was for me. An FBI agent had come to tell Mrs. King what had happened. Her sister had come to take her away for a while. She’d call me the next day.

I sat in the truck for a while. Then I drove back down to the main streets and tried to find a bar. They were all closed now. It was after 2:00 a.m.

Eventually, I went back to the motel. I lay on the bed with my clothes on, looking up at the ceiling. After everything that had happened that day, I didn’t even want to sleep. Then I closed my eyes and the day beat me again.

*   *   *

My shoulder hurt like hell the next morning. A souvenir of my little tussle with Darryl King, which should have been more than enough excitement for the night right there.

I got up and took a hot shower. Then I checked out of the motel.

I gave Leon a call to tell him everything that happened. He was just as amazed that an amateur had been able to follow me all day long, which certainly made my morning. When I was done with Leon, I called Tanner Paige. He spent the first minute apologizing. Literally saying, “I’m sorry,” about twelve times in a row.

“I didn’t know he had a gun in the car,” he said, when he finally moved on from the apologizing. “I didn’t know he was going to run right into the middle of everything like that.”

“Sounds like he was pretty lucky,” I said, “but I still don’t get why you guys were—”

“Following you, I know.
I know!
He was the one following you all over the place, you realize. Then he finally called me last night. I kept telling myself, I was just going along with him to make sure he didn’t get himself killed or something, but I gotta admit, Alex, I guess I was just as curious as he was to see what this guy looked like. If he was really the man who killed Elana.”

“Well, you’ll probably never get a chance to ask him to his face. Not now.”

“I know. I guess it really is time to move on now, too. I never want to live through something like these past few days again.”

“You were released last night, I take it. What about your brother-in-law?”

“Yeah, they held him a little longer. He has a bunch of hearings to go to in the next few days, but he’s home now, at least. I’ll go see him, make sure he’s okay.”

“I was just going to call him.”

“Give him a day,” he said. “I think he’s pretty shaken up. He’ll probably be at his lawyer’s office all day anyway.”

“Okay, fair enough.”

Tanner Paige apologized a few more times. Then he thanked me and wished me a good trip back home.

I tried calling Mrs. King. Her cell phone was apparently turned off. I wanted to see her, but I didn’t think I could stand one more minute in the city. I’ll catch up with her on the phone, I thought. I’ll probably come back down, too, as soon as I figure out how I can help.

That made me think of Detective Gruley in Houghton Lake. It was finally time to call him back. I was thinking maybe I could stop in at his post on the way home, too. Explain everything in person.

I looked across the street one more time, at the vacant lot where Tiger Stadium once stood. It seemed like a fitting farewell, at least for the time being, as I pulled onto the road and made my way to the freeway.

Something wasn’t right. It was that feeling you get, when you leave the house and you
know
you’ve forgotten something, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

North to the edge of town. Eight Mile Road. That feeling still there.

Then I saw the exit for Twelve Mile. I pulled off the freeway.

I was in Southfield now. I thought back to that trip I had made this way, all those years before. Detective Bateman and I, coming up to see Elana’s parents. I went west. It was right off this road somewhere. I flashed back on the conversation I had with Ryan Grayson and his brother-in-law in the bar a couple of days ago, after I rousted them at the end of the street. He was still living in the same house. In fact, he even offered to let me stay there.

I found the side road that led to Grayson’s house. I drove down the long driveway. It was the same big house, just as I remembered. Except not quite. As I got closer, I saw that the lawn needed cutting. I saw that the windows all needed cleaning and the white columns on either side of the door needed a good pressure-wash. Grayson’s green minivan was parked out front. Next to that was Paige’s cream-colored SUV.

I parked behind them and got out. A few seconds later, Tanner Paige came out the front door. He was carrying a box.

“Alex,” he said. “What brings you out here?”

“I was on my way home. I just thought I’d stop by.” I looked up at the house. “You’re seriously telling me he lives here all by himself now?”

“Ever since his kids moved away. Then his wife left. Yeah, it’s kinda sad now, after all the things that used to go on here. All the parties and everything. This place was a real hot spot, back in the day, when Ryan’s father was ruling the world. Now it’s just…”

He looked up at the house, just like I was doing. Then he opened up his trunk and put the box inside.

“I’ve got to take this stuff over to the lawyer’s,” he said. “It’s a bunch of old news clippings from Elana’s murder. The lawyer thought he should have them, just in case.”

“Just in case what?”

“He’s pretty sure Ryan will get off clean, but just in case he runs into a judge that doesn’t understand his state of mind…”

Paige looked down at the box and shook his head.

“He’s really been hurting, Alex. This past week has been so hard on him.”

“So let me just ask you something,” I said. “About yesterday…”

“It was insane, I know. Apparently, Ryan followed you from your motel to, wait, let me get this right, to Darryl King’s house, then to the library? Is that right?”

“Yes.”