Pitfall (23 page)

“It was on that second message I left you. When I was calling from the landline.”

He grew agitated. “I never got that.”

“Not your fault. The line there was bad.” I turned my attention back to the sheriff. “Hopefully those discs will have something you can use for Eli Cross’s arraignment and conviction. I’m not sure what’s on them, maybe nothing; I didn’t have the luxury of time to check. But I hope it’s enough.”

“They weren’t on you when you were brought in,” Hardesty said gruffly.

“You’ll find them on Level Six, in a plastic box at the nurse’s station, mixed in with some others. I managed to slip them in there after I was tortured.”

Shock and anger flooded Seth’s face.
“Tortured?”

“Yeah. They might have recorded the session. I’m not sure.”

Hardesty’s visage darkened. “Who tortured you?”

“Eli and Charles Cross. Charles did the deed, but Eli gave the orders.”

In staccato sentences they asked me about the particulars. I filled them in. When I finished, Seth said, “I guess that explains your other hand, and the third-degree burns on your chest.”

“This all makes sense now.” Hardesty clicked off the recorder. “That night you beat up Blakey Sinclair and Chet D’Angelo in the Time Out bar, I was so tickled they’d been handled, and by a government geek no less, that I never bothered checking your credentials; your badge and driver’s license seemed proof enough. By the time I got around to it and found out there w
as
no EPA employee going by the name of John Fields, it was too late. You’d disappeared. Now I know you were trapped inside that rat hole.” He grew brisk. “From what you’ve just said, it looks like we’ll be adding even more charges to Mr. Cross.”

“You’d better,” Seth growled. “I hope he’s in jail so long his face rots off.”

“You could say I’ve been real busy the last couple of days with that nest of snakes you unearthed. There’ve been a ton of arrests. I’ve hardly had time to eat, but I finally got the chance to ask the staties to run a make on you, Mr.  Brenner.”

“Really.” I cocked my head. “Find anything interesting?”

“I did. It seems I underestimated you. Badly. When all this craziness broke, I received a call about you; several calls actually.”

“From who?” But I knew.

“Friends of yours. High-placed, I take it. They urged me to consider the idea you used reasonable force in dealing with the threat.”

“I’ll just bet they did.”

“But I needed no coercion; in my opinion you did exactly what you had to do. No more and no less. So no charges will be filed against you. The Feds won’t either.”

That was good news.

“And I’m sure whatever evidence you managed to secure will help. I’ll let the Feds know what to look for right away, as they’ve already found other evidence at Cross’s home. They asked me to let them know when you woke up, but I wanted first crack.”

Seth sounded harsh. “There’s no way he can skate on any of this, right?”

Hardesty puffed out a short grim laugh. “No, he’s behind bars, and not surprisingly has been denied bail despite his expensive lawyers. That poor dead girl’s hollowed-out body on the operating table pretty much sealed it for him.”

Seth’s look was amazed and horrified. He hadn’t seen that part in his search for me.

“Plus don’t forget about your own testimony, Mr.  Brenner,” Hardesty said. “We hope the other men and women held prisoner will testify, but you’re our star witness. And after Mr. Cross gets done answering federal and state charges, if there’s anything left of him he’ll find himself in Judge Sanders’ courtroom. And I promise him an experience there he’ll long remember. But that’s enough for the time being.” The sheriff tilted his head. “Anybody tell you you look really bad?”

“Yes, but I never tire of hearing it.”

“Got some other news you might like,” Hardesty said. “Earlier when I was told you were waking up, I took the liberty of making a call downstairs to the lobby. You up for it?”

“Up for what?”

“You’ll find out. I don’t think you’ll mind. Might even make you feel better.” I must have looked totally lost as he said, “There’s somebody here who’s been mighty worried about you. They’ve been checking on you every day, and chomping at the bit to see you.”

“Who, already?”

Hardesty’s eyes filled with barely suppressed humor; who’d have figured him for such a scamp? Stepping over to the door he opened it, and cocked a thumb. “Her.”

Into the room walked Shelly Thornhill along with a shy and towheaded little boy holding her hand.

Astonished, my sandpaper voice filled with shock.
“Shelly?”

One hand flew to her mouth as she gasped at my appearance, her eyes shining with barely controlled tears. When she spoke, her voice was weak. “Hi.” Forcing a smile, she put her hand on the boy’s head. “I’d … like you to meet my son. Ronnie, say hello to Mr.  Brenner.”

He muttered a hello, grinning in embarrassment, and buried his face in her side.

I had difficulty in believing what I was seeing as they slowly began walking closer. Relief and joy flooded me.

“You’re alive.” I barely managed to get it out. “But Boneless said you were—”

“Dead?” She shook her head, cutting me off. “It wasn’t for his lack of trying.”

“What do you mean?” My voice lowered to a rumble. “What did he do to you?” I could feel my old friend rage starting to rise.

Stepping over to a wooden chair against the far wall, she rooted around in her purse. “Just a minute, please. I’m sorry. All of this has been very hard on Ronnie.”

I didn’t doubt that a bit.

“I just wanted you to see he’s okay.” Pulling out a coloring book and crayons, once more she smiled down at her boy. “Aunt Rachel is outside, baby. She’ll take you down to the cafeteria. You can get a Coke there and some chips, and color in your book until I come to get you. Okay, sweetheart?”

Nodding, he started to go toward the door, his hand in Shelly’s, when suddenly he stopped and looked over his shoulder at me. Then turning abruptly, he broke loose from his mom and ran back to me.

Leaning up and over, he carefully hugged my right arm. “Thanks for not letting that bad man come and get us, Mr.  Brenner. I hope you feel all better, real soon.” Grinning shyly, he ran back to his mom.

Everyone in the room was speechless. At last I managed, “You’re welcome.”

Shelly reached over his head, opened the door, and spoke a few words to someone in the hall. As he left it shut silently behind him. She walked back to the foot of the bed. “I hope you didn’t mind that.”

“No, not a bit. I love kids. And who’s Aunt Rachel?”

“My sister-in-law. She’s been really great with all this. With everything that’s happened, Ronnie’s been having bad dreams …”

He wasn’t the only one. “Tell me what happened. All of it.”

She paused, and then said, “That night after I left you, I went home. I’d already gotten the car’s trunk packed earlier that afternoon. I only had a few last minute things to do, and then it was just a matter of the two of us getting out of Harrisville before Eli knew it.”

Getting out of Dodge was more like it.

“I was in the living room, shoving our picture albums in a box, when I heard our dog barking. She never does that unless a stranger comes around. I pulled back the curtain. A GeneSys staff car had just parked in our drive, and two of Boneless’s probationary troops got out, dressed in civvies. I knew we were in trouble when I saw them carrying some P-90s they’d been issued cocked and locked. Somebody must have tipped them off that you and I had been speaking.” She shook her head. “Maybe Alicia Bancroft saw me slip you the paper. I don’t know. But now they were here, and it was like they didn’t care who saw them.”

Hardesty’s studied calm folded, his face turning grim. “That’s when you should have called me.”

Shelly turned to him. “There wasn’t time, Elgin.” Looking back at me, her voice broke. “Mr.  Brenner, I knew those men. They knew I had a four year old little boy. I’d shown them his picture. We’d even talked about what our kids were interested in. Sports, school plays … you know, normal things.”

Like those men knew anything about normal.

“And now they’d come to kill us.” The words seemed to rip from her soul. “How? How could they do that? We worked together. I don’t understand …” Her words trailed off.

I wanted to comfort her and tell her it was all right. But we just waited as she collected herself. She swallowed hard, and looked up, her eyes flashing.

“So I killed them first.”

“You killed who?” I wasn’t sure I’d heard her right. Realization dawned. “You mean the guards? You killed
both
of them?”

“Both,” she repeated, looking very serious indeed.  “I told you that night I’m a good shot. I keep a Ruger nine millimeter for home defense. I’d already put it in my purse because we were leaving. When Bob Tanner and Phil Dietz opened the car doors and started toward the house, I got my gun out and slammed in a full magazine. As they came up on the front porch I jerked open the front door, and saw they weren’t even going to give us a chance. They obviously underestimated me because they stood together. They’d already started to lift their guns up toward me to take aim, so I pulled up the Ruger from beside my leg and emptied it into them right to left.”

I just gaped.

“Somehow they didn’t get off a single shot.” Her tone was filled with wonder. “I took them by surprise, I guess. Ronnie didn’t see it, thank God, but he surely heard it.”

Two hostiles dead with no return fire. That was some fine shooting. “Atta girl,” I said, even as Hardesty scowled at me. “Annie get your gun.”

Grinning, Seth gave her a thumbs up. “Wow, lady.”

She managed a small tired smile in return but looked spent with the telling. Seth motioned to a padded visitor’s chair against the wall, which she wearily accepted.

I turned to Hardesty, who looked like he’d bitten into a sour persimmon. “So where exactly did you come in to all of this?”

“As I said, Captain Bovard contacted me, right after Mr. Delacroix’s phone call. I was just getting my deputies mobilized when not even ten minutes later I got a call from young Shelly here, telling me she’d just killed two gunmen on her front porch.” He looked at her. “Those are jarring words, even coming from someone you
don’t
know.”

His gaze returned to me. “I raced out to her place, the county squad not far behind. When I arrived, she proceeded to tell me the wildest yarn I’d ever heard: kidnapping, torture, murders, black market organ harvesting, who knows what else. All topped off by who it is you really are, Brenner. She told me you were in big trouble, outnumbered and outgunned. That you were alone and needed help, like now.”

Seth nervously shifted his weight back and forth from one foot to the other, swearing softly under his breath. I knew he was ticked at having been almost too late to help me.

“Forget it,” I said to him. “You made it, and that’s what counts.”

Hardesty ignored that. “I gotta tell you, I almost took her away right on the spot. I thought she was crazy. But with Captain Bovard’s call, and then two dead guys carrying GeneSys identification sprawled on the ground next to the staff car with their weapons right beside them, I guess you could say I gave her the benefit of the doubt.”

That was only right, but I kept my own counsel.

“Against my better judgment I woke up Judge Sanders—which he
hates,
by the way—and had him cut a warrant on GeneSys. On the way there I called the Captain back, and told him to come fast, and to bring company. Which he did. The Feds have been there since that day, going through everything with a fine toothed comb.”

Now regarding her, the sheriff gave the woman a tough look. “And it’s a good thing your nosy neighbors are night owls, Shelly. They corroborated your story. Self defense, cut and dried. Bottom line is, you skated on this. Barely.”

In my book a miss is as good as a mile, but I kept quiet.

“Just don’t make a habit of killing people,” he went on. “Especially in my town.”

Her answer was faint. “Don’t worry, Elgin, I won’t.”

“At any rate, I hope you two are done wreaking havoc in my jurisdiction. You know how that aggravates my ulcer.”

“Yeah,” I said with a straight face. “I hear it’s like a bing cherry.”

“Are you
ever
serious, Brenner?”

“Only when absolutely necessary.”

Before he could reply, Shelly slowly pushed herself up from the chair and crossed the room. I watched her until she was standing next to my bed, opposite Seth. Ever so gently she put her silky feminine hand on my right arm, the same one Ronnie had hugged. Her eyes widened as she looked up at Seth. “He’s so hot.”

That’s what all the ladies say, I almost joked, but again kept my yap shut.

“Touch of fever,” the big man rumbled.

“It’s nothing. Really,” I said. Her soothing touch had coursed like healing waters through me. Screw the docs, I felt better already.

Leaning closer, she began, “Mr.  Brenner, I, um …” Her finely sculpted features were lined with apprehension. There was something else there too, deeper. She nervously licked her lips as she remained close to my bruised and battered face. Her eyes seemed huge and filled with tender care and affection as they swept over my torn and broken body.

“I called the hospital and asked about you, several times a day. They said you were in critical condition, and couldn’t have visitors. But yesterday they downgraded you to serious.” She stumbled a beat. “So, are you serious? I mean … are you feeling better?” Her tone strongly suggested a double meaning.

“Some,” I said.

“I’ve been so worried about you. I couldn’t eat or sleep.” Her words tumbled out in a rush. “You’re not like anyone I’ve ever met before. The things you did for
strangers
—and all alone. Do you even realize …?” She paused, looking at me in wonder. I was taken aback and disconcerted at her remarks, and she smiled slightly. “May I call you John?”

It was all I could do to nod.

“I was wondering, after you’ve recuperated that is, if you’d like to come to my house for dinner. I make a great pot of chili.”

“I like chili,” I managed to say. “With cornbread.”

“Cornbread it is, then,” she said. “That’s still not enough thanks for your keeping Boneless from coming after us. I was no match for him, but you knew that, didn’t you? You saved us all.” She paused again. I could see the wheels turning as she added, “Of course, your wife is welcome to come too …”

“I’m not married,” I said, adding, “Not anymore.”

She lowered her eyes, hiding the glimmer of a smile. Then looking up and quietly clearing her throat, she forged ahead. “So anyway, about dinner? Are you sure?”

Clearly she wasn’t used to doing the asking; that seemed natural. She had the appearance of someone who’d just gambled their last dollar on a very long shot as she searched my face in guarded anticipation, waiting for my reaction.

Wanting to lay her fears to rest, I answered, “I’d like that. A lot.”

She looked surprised and pleased at my words, and again awarded me a small smile. “Really?”

“Really.”

Her smile widened. “Well … good. My number’s in the book.” Once more she cleared her throat in embarrassment as she withdrew and turned to leave. “I need to get Ronnie home. Thanks again.”