LLOYD, PAUL R. (10 page)

“Well, thanks for stopping by.”

Detective Lawson made his way to
the front door. “Goodnight.” He turned around. “And hey, I don’t have to like
you. You were a scumbag twenty years ago, but you did the right thing the other
week when you called the police about the body out back. Took guts for you to
make the call knowing you’d be the first suspect.”

“Am I still a suspect?”

“Not since your girl… I mean
ex-girl cleared you.”

“Any leads?”

“We’re working on it.”

***

Micah wiped tears from the new
girl’s cheek. The sun shined in a clear blue sky above the meadow.

 “They’re finding me now.” More
tears began to roll. The new girl had a sparkling chocolate complexion and
tight curly black hair. She wore a red miniskirt jumper with a white blouse.

The first girl giggled. “I want you
to meet my friend Glory.”

“You haven’t introduced yourself yet,”
Micah said.

“You know me. I guess you could
call me a heartless woman.” Both girls giggled.

“That would make me a heartless
girl, too.” The new girl wiped another tear but managed a toothy grin.

Micah shrugged. “I can’t go around
calling you Glory and you the ‘heartless one.’”

“My name is Virginia Meyers. You may
call me Ginny.”

“Ginny and Glory, it’s nice to see
you.” Micah extended his hand to shake. He heard buzzing and gazed up. The sun
made him squint so he closed his eyes.

When he opened them, the room was
dark except for the light of a new day streaming in through the back bedroom
window.

The buzzing continued so he made
his way to the window in time to see Ahlman Brown circling high above. Ahlman
spiraled down to a level equal with the second story window. He pointed down.

Micah dropped his eyes. Gathered
outside the fence of his backyard in one corner stood a police officer and two
people Micah assumed were from the neighborhood. One was a woman dressed in a pink
and white running outfit. The other was a man who wore blue jeans and a yellow
tee shirt.

The police officer gestured into
Micah’s backyard while conversing with the people. Micah focused on that corner
of his yard just inside the fence where the police officer and the others
stood. A large brown trash can reflected the dull street light. Two feet and
legs stuck out of the can.

Micah Probert fell back a few steps
from the open front door of his house. He was surprised at how painful a poke
in the chest from the finger of Detective Lawson could be.

“That your handiwork in the
backyard?” Lawson poked Micah again with his pointing finger and hand jutting
out from his blue plain clothes polyester and wool suit.

“No.” Micah backed up another few
steps.

“But you know about it?” Lawson
pushed past Micah, almost knocking him off his feet. Two Naperville uniformed
officers followed him.

“I woke up a few minutes ago and looked
out the window.” Micah straightened up and hoped his anger didn’t show on his
face.

Lawson moved to within an inch of
Micah’s nose. “Why didn’t you call the police this time?”

“Told you, I just woke up” Micah
stood his ground despite feeling the rise of blood to his face and his neck
muscles tighten. “When I looked out my bedroom window, I saw a police officer
with two people staring into… at… the… body.” Micah sensed his voice rising out
of control.

“She’s in your trashcan. You want
to explain how she got there?” The detective had no problem raising the volume
of his voice to match Micah’s.

Micah sat down hard on a kitchen
chair with his head down as he forced his voice softer. “It’s not my trashcan.”

“Right.”
Lawson turned away.

Micah focused on Lawson’s back. “It’s
a brown can. My trash cans are green. They’re in the garage. Check for
yourself.”

One of the uniform officers bent
over to position his face up against Micah’s, almost touching. “You know the
person in the can?”

“No.”

The uniform officer straightened
up. “How do you know? You haven’t seen her.”

“You’re right, I haven’t. I just
assumed.”

Detective Lawson pulled a pair of
handcuffs from somewhere in his suit. “Micah Probert, you have the right to
remain silent…”

Fritz the cat
strolled into the room in front of the pioneer ghost. The ghost shook her head
while shedding a tear. Fritz added his own sad “meowr.”

***

Micah stared at the man in a business
suit standing with a cop outside the lockup. The suit did not have a wrinkle
which struck Micah as odd until he realized it wasn’t off the rack. The man’s
hair was dark brown except for some gray at the temples. When he smiled at
Micah, wrinkles appeared around his eyes and mouth.

Next to the man, a cop, tall, young
and malevolent-looking, jammed a key into the cell door lock. “Come out, Mr.
Probert.”

Micah’s eyes widened. “Aren’t you coming
in?”

“You’ve made the two-million-dollar
bail, Mr. Probert,” said the officer.

Micah opened his mouth but the man
in the suit held the palm of his left hand up to indicate he should remain
silent.

 Outside the police station, the
man led Micah to a stretch limousine. The driver held the backdoor open as
Micah climbed in.

The car sped off.

“Smart springing me at night. No
reporters.” Micah buckled his seat belt.

The man crossed his legs and
relaxed into the corner of the limo seat. “Your father would not have wanted
you in jail for three days, but I thought it best to wait for a quiet moment to
secure your release.”

“Any problems with the money?”

“No. Your father’s bank, your bank,
is efficient.” The man extended his legs without coming close to the back of
the front seat in the stretch limo.

“I hate to pull money out of the
account.”

“It’s not like you’re touching
principal. You’ve hardly withdrawn any of your income for the year.”

“I don’t need much, Ashford. Where
are we headed?” Micah leaned forward, his elbows on his knees.

“Oak Brook. I’ve taken the liberty
of renting and furnishing a house for you.”

“In three days?”

“Thornby and Rogers is thorough to
the least detail. It’s why we always win.”

“This case may be a challenge. They
found the body in my backyard. I’m a convicted felon. Not likely to get a fair
trial in DuPage County, Illinois.” Micah sighed and leaned back on the seat.

“Despite the county’s record for
railroading innocent people, you’ve nothing to worry about in this case. The
charges will be dropped in a few days if not sooner.”

“You think so?”

“It wasn’t your trash can. It was
stolen from a local hardware store early on the morning of the murder. The girl
was killed somewhere else and dumped in your backyard.”

“Did she have her heart cut out?”

“The police have not released any
official information. The local paper quoted two witnesses who said her chest
was ripped open and there was a gaping hole.”

“Makes her the second victim like
that in my neighborhood.”

“Yes, I know about the first one.
You found the body and reported it like a good citizen.” Ashford placed his arm
across the back of the seat.

“A serial killer is loose.”

Ashford held up two fingers with
his left hand. “Two serial killers, Micah.”

“Two?”

“In addition to your heartless
girls, two other females have been found murdered in the forest preserve in the
town north of Naperville … Warrenville, I think it’s called. Those girls were
raped. Both were strangled, but they didn’t lose their hearts.”

“Any suspects. I mean besides
myself.”

“The second serial killer, the
rapist, made a mistake. A forest preserve police officer stumbled upon him
while he was burying the second body. The killer wacked him over the head and
buried him alive in the grave with the girl’s body. Because he was on top of
the dead body, he wasn’t buried deep. He came to in time and had the presence
of mind to dig his way out. He must have had an air pocket.”

“Did he identify the killer?”

“He did not identify your photo. In
fact he hasn’t identified anyone yet. He’s still recovering, and while it
wasn’t dark at the time, he didn’t get a good look at the killer. Police have
his approximate height and weight. They know he is Caucasian. That’s about all
they have at this point. You don’t match the description.”

“Four young girls murdered in a few
weeks.” Micah shook his head.

“Yeah. The police are under a lot
of pressure right now. They don’t like having to admit you’re not one of the
killers.”

“The girls were all teenagers weren’t
they?” Micah made eye contact with Ashford.

“The rapist has a penchant for high
school seniors. The heartless killer goes for younger girls.”

“Virgins?”

“What? Yeah, the younger ones. I
guess so.” Ashford waved his hand in a way that made Micah feel like he was
dismissing the idea of virginity as irrelevant. “You never know today. The
killer didn’t rape the younger girls. He stripped them and cut their hearts
out.”

“Why would a person kidnap a middle
school girl and kill her but not touch her?” Micah leaned back in his seat and
stared out the car window.

“Someone not doing it for sex.”

Micah observed the lights of the
large houses passing by. He admired what he could see of a mansion with
Victorian towers and a wide front porch in the dark as the driver made his way
up a long driveway. “You have taste, Ashford.”

“Your father would have approved, I
believe.”

Micah remembered to wait for the
limo driver to open the door before he clamored out. Ashford handed a crisp one
hundred dollar bill to the driver. “That’s for the ride.” Ashford handed the
driver an additional five one hundred dollar bills. “These are to keep your
mouth closed about bringing anyone to this location.”

“What location?”

“Exactly.”

“Thank you, sir.” The limo driver
climbed back into the car and drove off. Micah turned to the house and followed
Ashford inside.

“You furnished this in three days?”

“There are companies that provide
such services, yes.” Ashford handed a set of keys to Micah.

“Servants?”

“Don’t know how long you’ll be here.
I arranged for a maid service to come in once a day to tidy up. If we need
more, I’ll have Dylan contact a service.”

“Of course. Where is Dylan?”

“Asleep in one of the guest rooms.
I’ll get him. He can drive us back to the hotel.”

“You don’t want to stay?”

“No, the press expects to see your
high-powered legal defense team at the hotel. I’m hoping they expect to see you
also. At any rate, Dylan and I should be leaving.”
Ashford climbed the wide winding staircase and disappeared into one of the
rooms. He returned a few minutes later with a thin young man in a crumpled
business suit.

“Dylan, nice to see you again,”
Micah said.

“And you, too, Mr. Probert.”

Ashford and Dylan headed toward
what Micah assumed was the kitchen. He followed.

Ashford stopped before entering the
kitchen. “By the way, you have the keys to the Jaguar. Enjoy. You purchased it
so it’s yours to play with. However, you’ll need to stay out of site of the
press. No wild driving.”

“You bought a Jag in three days?”

“No, you bought it this afternoon
for cash.”

“I guess I have been spending my
income.”

“Just a bit of it, Micah. You must
learn to live up to your means.” Ashford smiled and disappeared with Dylan into
the garage.

Micah jumped when the doorbell
rang. He ran to answer it and discovered Bob and Barbara waiting.

Barbara brushed back her red hair to
reveal the sparkle in her green eyes. She pushed past Micah into the Oak Brook
mini-mansion. “Won’t be much of a celebration, but what do you expect when our
favorite perv gets away with whatever they decided you didn’t do?”

Bob wore his usual blue jeans and
flannel shirt despite the warm weather. He reached up and patted Micah’s
shoulder. “You were right about Peevy not wanting to come, and Ahlman Brown
said he would respect your wishes to stay away. Our teenage staff went home
because it’s a school night. So you’re stuck with us.”

Micah shrugged. “To Barbara’s
point, I’m innocent. And now it’s official. I’m no longer a suspect.” He closed
the door.

“You’re all over the news. We were
jazzing you.” Barbara took Micah’s arm. She wore a red dress that previewed
lots of cleavage and thigh.

Micah caught a wisp of wild flowers
as she took his arm. “Let’s get this tiny celebration off the ground. Grab
something to eat and drink.” He led the way into the dining room.

“Quite a spread.” Barbara picked up
a paper plate and some plastic utensils. “You as rich as the news people say
you are?”

Micah headed for the kitchen. “Beer
and soda in the kitchen.”

Bob followed Micah. “What kind of
beer, Barbara?”

“Whatever. Euro if you have any.”

“German, English or Guinness?” Bob
asked.

“Guinness isn’t a beer,” said
Barbara.

“Guinness it is,” said Bob.

The three of them sat in the
classic cherry dining room chairs around the food while Chicago blues played
softly on the sound system.

Barbara pulled the stout bottle out
of her mouth. “So Micah, how come you didn’t want to invite Ahlman Brown? He
would’ve come if you hadn’t said anything. Besides, he’s an angel.”

“Angels don’t drink beer.” Micah
bit into a sandwich.

“Isn’t why you didn’t invite him.”
Bob took another bite of his sandwich. “Besides why wouldn’t angels drink beer?
Jesus turned water into wine.”

“Ahlman is no angel. He beat the
crap out of me. He is some kind of strange creature but no angel.”