No Mercy (31 page)

Lindsey put her head on his chest and the officer could see by Sharyn Wilkerson's eyes that she wanted to speak to him in private. He pushed the nurse's button, and it took another five minutes before someone came to his room. When Nurse Lorin came, the officer asked her to escort Lindsey to visit Chapman, Baker, and Powers so he could speak with Lindsey's mom.

“OK,” Lindsey replied, “but make sure I'm far enough away so I don't hear you talking about me.”

“Ahh,” Healey replied with a laugh. “Some of the old Lindsey is still there.” One of her gifts was her hearing. While she did not have perfect pitch hearing, her hearing skill only complimented her eidetic memory.

Justin Healey could see by Sharyn Wilkerson's face that while she was concerned, she was not happy.

“I don't know whether to say thank you for staying away from Lindsey the past year or be angry with you for getting yourself shot with Bud,” she said. The officer had a puzzled look on his face as Lindsey's mother sat down in the chair next to his bed and spoke again. “There was no stopping her once she found out Bud was critically injured and you were shot.” She looked away, then back at the officer, who was waiting for her to continue. “Is she in danger? Be honest with me.”

“Sharyn,” the injured officer replied, “her life will never be normal. I believe her gifts were given to her for a purpose. When I first met the little twelve-year-old girl I knew her life was going to change lives.” He hesitated as he spoke again. “When the Music Club Murders started and we found the connection to Face of Fear, we had been watching the house, and someone has never not been far behind when you took her out. There was a bounty on her, but it was canceled after Cronin was killed. There has never been any evidence or indication that she has been in any danger since this case began. Our details watching her have simply been a precaution.”

Sharyn was silent as she looked at the officer. He was getting frustrated with her silence, so he spoke again. “We have stayed out of her life, Sharyn, as you requested. We get it. Bud and I, we love her, but we understand. We will honor your wishes.”

Sharyn looked away toward the door and back at the officer. “She's getting older and she's getting stronger. She loves both of you as well, and I know it's just a matter of time before she insists to be in your lives. Please, as she gets older, try to respect my feelings as much as possible. I don't want to lose my only child.”

“I understand,” he answered.

“You understand what?” Lindsey said from the door. Sharyn looked at her watch and realized twenty minutes had gone by quickly.

Healey looked over at her.

“I was telling your mom how I understand how much you mean to her.” He looked over at Nurse Lorin to thank her for escorting Lindsey to the rooms.

“No need to thank me,” the nurse replied. “I just love hearing someone recite the entire Declaration of Independence to me. All I said was all men are created equal and women disagree, and she corrects me and tells me the whole thing.” She put up her hands with a half smile as everyone laughed.

Healey looked at the teenager and thought
, It is good to see Lindsey again.

“Tell me about your school,” Healey said.

“Well,” Lindsey answered, “I graduated high school this year and I'm in my first semester of college.”

Not bad for a fourteen-year-old girl
, Healey thought. “And?” he said. “Are you still going to be a judge?”

“Yes,” she replied. “I have to finish school and get my master's by the time I'm twenty-one. I want to be a detective while I work on my law degree. I want to practice law and then become a judge by the time I'm thirty-five. This will give me time to help people as a policewoman and a lawyer.” Healey looked over at Sharyn, who had the look of concern on her face again.

“You know, Lindsey,” Healey said, “there are many ways to help people.”

“Yes,” she said, “there are, but it is my destiny. The lord has told me”

Healey decided it was time to change the subject. “How is Monte doing?” Monte was the King Charles Cavalier owned by Lindsey, and the father of Rachelle's dogs.

“He is doing great,” Lindsey said with a smile. “I taught him to read this past year.”

Healey looked over at Sharyn before looking back at Lindsey. “Excuse me?”

The teenager started laughing as she spoke. “You're so silly. Dogs can't be taught to read.”

The officer let out a sigh of relief because he would put nothing past Lindsey Wilkerson. He asked,

“How is Bud doing?”

The smile left Lindsey's face as she said, “He will be fine. He is in my prayers. He will be OK.”

“Yes,” Healey answered, “he will.” He could see how traumatic Bud's injury was to her, and he decided it was time for a nap.

“He will be OK, Lindsey, especially with him in your thoughts. I'm getting sleepy.”

“OK,” Sharyn Wilkerson replied. “We have to go anyway. I'm sure we will be seeing you again soon.”

Officer Healey thanked her as she left the room to give Lindsey some private time with the man who had saved her eighteen months earlier. Lindsey walked over to him and put her hand on the side of his head. She closed her eyes and he watched her lips move ever so slightly.
She is praying for me
, he thought. After about thirty seconds she opened her eyes and he spoke.

“It will be OK, Lindsey. I know it will.”

She looked at him, smiled, and replied, “I trust you.” She kissed the top of his forehead and left.

He was emotional as he watched her disappear into the hallway. He remembered the last time she said “I trust you,” when one of O'Connor's men had a gun at her head in her bedroom. He saved her then, but hearing her say it again put pressure on him like he had never felt before.
You are something special, Lindsey Wilkerson
, he thought.

Deborah walked over to Bud as she stroked his hair.

“I better get back to Paul,” Rachelle said. She kissed Deborah good-bye and touched Bud's hand as she returned to her room to find Correctional Officer Janet Gates waiting for her.

Janet Gates stood up and told her they needed to go somewhere and speak privately. Rachelle looked at William Lance and he gave her the OK sign that he would continue to stay with Paul until his father arrived. She looked at her iPhone and noticed a text saying Anthony Powers would be arriving within thirty minutes.

Rachelle and Janet went down to the cafeteria and got a cup of coffee and found an open table after searching for a few minutes. Janet took a sip of coffee and began to speak.

“I don't know why I'm getting involved, but I am. You told your sister last night that you failed when it came to Paul. Then you hung up. She needs to know what you meant.”

Rachelle seemed confused but answered Janet.

“I have known Paul for a few years now, and it was always a flirtation relationship up until eighteen months ago. I fell in love with him, and everything was wonderful except for a few rough patches here and there. Then all this. I thought it was all over and we could move on, talk about marriage, kids, have a couple of dogs . . . oh damn, the dogs, I have to let them out.”

“Wait,” Janet replied. “I will take care of the dogs for you when I leave here. Just, please go on.”

Rachelle pulled out an extra key to the house and gave it to Janet as she started to speak again. “My life the past two years has been consumed by Paul when I'm not working at Z Pita, or writing or visiting Madison. Even when I'm there, I know he lives above the restaurant. Someone sent Paul a tape of me leaving a message to his father telling him he needed to take care of Paul because it seemed like I couldn't do it. Well, it made Paul suspicious of me, and I can't tell you how much it hurt. I know he's a cop, but I need him to separate our personal and private lives. He apologized, but it did make me realize that maybe I have failed in my personal relationship with him.”

Janet Gates let out a long sigh of relief, which prompted Rachelle to ask her what it was about.

“Rachelle, your own sister thought you did something crazy like being involved in trying to kill Paul when you said, quote, ‘I have failed.' How can you hold something against Paul or think you have failed because of a message sent to him? Do you hold it against your sister that she sent me here?”

“No,” Rachelle answered.

“OK,” Janet replied, “then stop these insecure feelings about Paul.”

“I guess,” Rachelle answered, “I am insecure when it comes to him. I love him with all my heart, but our life hasn't exactly been normal and I can't remember the last time he did anything romantic unless I initiated it.”

“Don't you think you are being a little selfish? Is this about you or the two of you?”

Rachelle shook her head. “I understand what you are saying. I guess I really need to think about all this when Paul is out of the hospital. The important thing is he needs me while he is here.”

“No,” Janet said, “he needs you, period.”

Rachelle smiled and got a text that Anthony Powers had arrived in the room.

“Go,” Janet said. “Just give me directions to your house so I can take care of your dogs.”

“Thank you,” Rachelle answered. “I live at the top of Prospect Street in the village of Port Jefferson,” she said as she wrote directions down. “The dogs' names are Wes and Craven, and Wes will be happy to see you while Craven will be suspicious for a while.”

“Wait,” Janet said. “You named your dogs Wes and Craven?”

“Yes,” Rachelle said with a laugh.

Janet shook her head. “And you want to have a normal life? Girl, you are in a dream world.” And she laughed.

Rachelle got off the elevator and greeted Anthony Powers with a long hug when she got to the room. He wanted to know the whole story about what happened at the mall.

Detective Lieutenant Cronin was going over the photos and the report that Lynagh had given him. It still wasn't making much sense to him. He called Gina and asked her if Paul had kept a folder of notes for himself as the case progressed. She brought him a folder that was about a half inch thick with handwritten notes from Paul. His notes were detailed, and he had lines that connected from the Face of Fear investigation to the Music Club Murders. The lines showed names that were connected to both. He even wrote notes on the lines from one case to the other, with explanations as to the reason they were connected.

Cronin was fascinated with the details that Paul wrote. He studied the names one by one. Rachelle had a line from Face of Fear to Music Club Murders with the explanation,
Friend of Deborah, Paul Powers’s lover, would not leave Deborah’s side, writer of cryptic messages on Twitter
. Bud Johnson—
Lead investigator, antagonized Simpson, shot Kyle Winters and Jason “Jack” O’Connor at the Lance mansion.

Cronin continued to read., Jason “Jack” O'Connor—AKA the
Voice, FBI agent, masterminded to have the Winters brothers eliminated, gain control of ransom, now in Bedford Hills Prison
. Detective Lieutenant Cronin—
Game changer, manipulator, dangerous, controversial, great detective
.

He continued to read the rest of the names from his notes, which included Lindsey, Sherry Walker, Deborah Lance, Justin Healey, and George Lynagh. Paul Powers had to have spent hours writing in such detail on the connection of everyone between the two cases. Even ADA John Ashley and attorney Al Simmons were on the list. Anthony Powers, Deborah Lance, William Lance all had spots on his chart with lines showing the connections. Linda Tangretti showed—
Fun mom on twitter, Patty’s cousin, from Face of Fear to killer and leader in Music Club Murders
.

Cronin's eye went to Robert Simpson's name:
From lover of Deborah Lance, employee of William Lance, affair with Patty Saunders, responsible for killings of Officer Dugan, Kate Summers, Michelle Cartwright, and Alicia Hudson, and embezzled money to pay for the bounties of Priority 1 Task Force
. Cronin shook his head with great pride at the work Powers had done.

“Gina,” he called out, “why did you have this file?”

“He wanted me to type it up for him,” she answered. He looked back on Powers's chart and saw a name on the Face of Fear chart that showed an arrow to the Music Club Murders with a question mark and the words
insurance fraud
. Cronin's eyes became intense as he kept reading the name with the question mark and the line that was unfinished leading to the Music Club Murders. He sent a text to ADA Ashley asking the whereabouts of the person named and what he was doing now and where he lived.

“Where's Lynagh?” he asked Gina.

“Home resting,” she answered.

“Give him another two hours, then tell him to get here within the hour.” He waited at his desk, expecting ADA Ashley to call him, and he wasn't disappointed.

Only ten minutes had gone by when the ADA gave him a call. “Detective Cronin, are you sure you want to do this?”

“John,” the detective answered, “he needs to be paid an informal visit. We still have Tangretti and Branca out there somewhere. We can't do anything with the fat man because he is in custody; my team is down to O'Malley and Lynagh. Powers was on to something here. We have to see it through. Can you get the information for me?”

“Yes,” Ashley replied. “Give me two hours, pain in the ass.” Cronin smiled as he pushed the
end
button. Gina walked back in to inform Cronin that Paul's father was on the line to speak to him and the detective lieutenant told her to put him through. His conversation with Anthony Powers was brief, however when he finished his call, he asked Gina to come back in. “Gina, get my source over at Verizon communications on the line for me as quickly as possible”

Rachelle had her head down on Paul's bed when he put his hand on her head and moved his fingers through her hair. He looked at his father and said, “I'm OK, Dad. It was close, but I'm fine. It's Bud I'm worried about.”

Anthony Powers looked at Rachelle with her eyes closed. “What about her?” He pointed at her. “Is she going to be all right? She has been through a lot with you, Son. Is this what you want for her?”