Rules of Honour (17 page)

Rink looked around the apartment, taking in the windows, the thin walls. The only good thing it had going for it was its elevated position, but it was about as defensive as a shoebox. ‘Maybe you should both think about moving.’ Before either man could object, he added, ‘I’m only talking about going to a hotel for a few days, somewhere outside the city. I’ve a couple guys I can bring in. They’ll keep an eye on you while we get on with stopping the killer.’

On the drive over we’d talked about our plan, and Rink had put things in motion by way of a couple of telephone calls. Velasquez and McTeer were employees of Rink, ex-cops, and good guys to have around. They’d helped us during previous dangerous episodes and had proven trustworthy and capable. Also we’d pulled on our mutual friend, Harvey Lucas. Harvey had been conspicuous by his absence at Andrew’s funeral, but he was currently neck deep in a job of his own and could not get away. He had promised that he would hook up with us at first opportunity, in order to correctly pay his respects. When he heard what was happening here he said he’d drop everything, but we’d put him off. He was best placed – being an inhabitant of Little Rock – to look into the situation at his end, despite his offer to hop on the first flight out here. If anyone could track down the current whereabouts of Nicolas Peterson it would be him.

‘When will your friends arrive?’

I looked at Faulks; the poor man was terrified. ‘Don’t worry; we’re not going to leave you alone. Rink’s going to fetch Yukiko and place you in the same hotel. We’ll be there with you the whole time until McTeer and Velasquez arrive. They’re on the way here now and should be with us some time this evening. Hopefully by then our other friend will have found something for us to work on.’

‘We’ll get our things together.’ Parnell stood up slowly, leaning on the arm of his chair for support. It struck me then how fragile and vulnerable these old guys were. Whatever they did forty years ago wasn’t an issue now. They had been acting in good faith, punishing a man who’d escaped justice for his terrible crimes, and didn’t deserve to go through any of this. I realised that my purpose had just altered. First I’d come as an emotional support for my best friend, then changed to a would-be vigilante avenger. Now it seemed I was back to doing something I preferred: I was a protector. The term was more desirable than ‘vigilante’, considering the actions of the killer. In his mind he was serving vigilante justice and more than anything I wanted nothing to do with his type.

Chapter 21

Rink’s cellphone began ringing.

We were on our way out of Parnell’s apartment, ready to flank the old guys as we ushered them to the car. Ordinarily Rink would ignore the call, but he was conscious of having left his mom behind, and from the way he snatched it out his pocket and juggled it to his ear he was fearful something had happened to her. Before he hit the answer button he glanced at the screen. He paused. ‘Unrecognised number,’ he said.

I held back Parnell and Faulks. ‘Give us a minute, OK,’ I said, sending them back into the apartment.

Rink was about to discard the call, but I saw him frown. For all he knew it was one of his mom’s friends calling from their place. He didn’t have either woman’s name stored in his contacts. He hit the green button.

‘Hello.’ That was all he’d offer. I watched his eyes pinch, and he looked at me, shaking his head. ‘No, sorry, I’ve no idea where he is right now. Maybe he’s back at my parents’ house. Last I heard he was going to shower and change after pulling an old man from a house fire.’

Rink listened. He rolled his eyes my way, said, ‘I’m not at home; I’m at a friend’s place. Why do you need to know that? Right. Well, if you’ve already been by my parents’ house you’ll know he isn’t there when he didn’t answer the door. I’m sorry I can’t help you.’ He listened again. A mock joviality came over him. ‘Yeah, sure I will. As soon as I hear from him I’ll tell him to come and find you, Detective Jones.’

Rink held the phone away from his ear and I could hear a raised voice at the other end. I couldn’t make out everything but I think I heard the term ‘bullshit’ repeated more than once – but then again I could have just been filling in the gaps.

Putting away his cell, Rink said, ‘That was your favourite homicide detective looking for you.’

‘What the hell does he want now?’

‘With Takumi dying the investigation has been stepped up. He says you’re a material witness to the crime and requires you to go in and give a statement.’

‘Did he mention the crash I was involved in?’

‘No. The chances are he hasn’t pieced that together yet. Detective radios are usually on a different waveband to the regular patrol cops’ ones. Unless the dispatcher or any of the cops on the scene decided to inform him personally he won’t have heard about the crash. What are the chances they would bother? A traffic collision isn’t in a homicide detective’s remit.’

‘I didn’t tell him or Tyler about the man I saw running from the scene, only that I’d found Takumi and he’d apparently overdosed on insulin and accidentally started the fire.’

‘They’ve probably had a preliminary report from the hospital. You told me that the killer jabbed him in the neck with a syringe; one look at that and the doctors would have suspected foul play. I don’t like the sound of this, Joe. I’d hate to think the cops are trying to set you up for Takumi’s murder. If that happens we’re going to have to come clean.’

‘No way,’ I said. ‘We do that and your mom and those two old guys in there will be arrested. I’m not going to let that happen.’ I made a decision. ‘Fuck Gar Jones! I’m not going in. He can wait until this is over with.’

‘That could cause us more trouble than it’s worth. We’re gonna be hard put staying under the radar while we deal with the killer. It’ll be nigh-on impossible if you’re named as a murder suspect and every cop in San Francisco is looking for you.’

He was right. There was nothing for it. I’d just have to go in, answer Jones’s questions and make sure I didn’t incriminate myself. If he wanted to try anything funny, then I’d just have to deal with it. The detective was only doing his job; misguided in his thinking as he was, I couldn’t hold it against him. When all came to all, we both wished for the same end result: that the murderer preying on the elderly residents of the city was stopped. Only our methods would differ.

‘OK. I’ll go in and speak with him. But not before we’ve got everyone safely out of the way. Come on, let’s get this done.’

Faulks was lurking in the hall, but Parnell had gone back inside the living room. I called out, waved to Faulks and he passed on the instruction to his friend. They both came out lugging overnight bags. After the doors were locked, Rink led the way and I covered the rear.

The book depository dominated the land to the left, with a goods yard extending part way behind Hayes Tower. There were a couple of vans parked in the lot, but I couldn’t see any workers. The rest of the grounds had gone to fallow, dusty and bare, with only a few clumps of weeds capable of eking out a living in the poor soil, and a mound of discarded junk up against a wire fence. Beyond the fence were similar apartment complexes. None was as tall as Hayes Tower – possibly why it had been given the lofty name – but high enough that a sniper could take a position on a roof to pick off anyone leaving Parnell’s flat. I didn’t think the killer had the skills necessary to make a shot though, plus it didn’t fit his pattern. His MO definitely inclined more to the up-close-and-personal-type kill. When looking back at each of the other murders, each had been brutal and nasty. He was driven by a need for vengeance and I guessed that he was the type who took pleasure in doling out pain; shooting someone from a distance wouldn’t cut it for him.

I doubted he was anywhere nearby. After I disturbed his attack on Takumi he had responded quickly, but that was down more to chance and opportunity than it was planning. After witnessing the carnage his attempt on my life had caused, it was probable that he’d headed off to reorganise himself for his next attack. But you never can tell with people driven crazy by a cause. We had to remain vigilant and protect our charges at all times.

As it was, we made it down the stairs without incident. Rink’s father’s car was where we’d left it, untouched. We loaded the old men in the back and had them scrunch low so they weren’t obvious targets. Then we were off. It took us all of two blocks to spot the tail we’d picked up.

‘Don’t look back,’ I told our passengers.

‘Who is it? Is it him?’ Faulks’ words came fast and fearful.

‘If it is he’s got himself a buddy,’ I said.

The sand-coloured sedan had been parked opposite Hayes Tower. As soon as Rink pulled out on to the street, its engine had sparked to life and its driver had sawed on the steering to fall in behind us. On its own it wouldn’t have meant much, the presence of the car being a possible coincidence, but it wasn’t. It just happened to come too soon after Detective Jones’s call to Rink for my liking. Our shadow was undoubtedly cops, sent to Hayes Tower for one of two reasons: either they had learned of the connection between our charges and the murdered men and had come here to bring them in, or they suspected they were next to be hit and were here watching for the killer. I wondered who their main suspects were and didn’t like what I came up with.

‘How’d Jones get your number, Rink?’

‘From my mom. He told me he traced her to her friend’s house. When he told her he needed to speak to you, she gave him my number. You think he had a trace placed on the phone?’

‘Yeah, I do. That phone call was to confirm we were where he expected. I’m guessing that him and his partner are going to hotfoot it over here, and he called in the nearest cops available to back them up. But it looks like we’ve surprised them by leaving so soon. It explains the overreaction of the surveillance team, the way they pulled out so sharply to follow us.’

‘You want me to pull over? It doesn’t make sense to have the cops on our tails as well.’

I knew that I wouldn’t say anything to incriminate us, and trusted Rink, but the old men in the back couldn’t be counted on to keep quiet about the murders. It was unfortunate that we’d pressed them for a possible suspect, because once the detectives started pushing for answers, one of them would blab. Faulks probably. Although such a revelation would let us off the hook, our investigation would be effectively stymied and no way would Rink get payback then.

‘There’s no sense in all of us being grabbed,’ I said. ‘Once you’ve got Faulks and Parnell out of harm’s way, I’ll contact Jones. Best we lose these jokers for now though.’

‘Was thinking the very same,’ Rink said. He smiled into the rear-view mirror. ‘Best buckle up guys, things could get a little bumpy.’

Until that point he’d been driving sedately, obeying the strict speed limit. He dropped gears, pressed the throttle and the small car lunged forward. Glancing in the wing mirror I watched the cops respond. Their sedan was larger and more powerful than ours. I saw its front rise inches as it accelerated in pursuit. The streets here had been laid to concrete, and our tyres rumbled as they struck each connecting section. Rink was soon travelling fast enough that the corresponding thrum sounded like a rapid heartbeat. Despite that there was no way we could outrun the cop car. But what we lacked in power, we gained in manoeuvrability. Rink hit a perfect handbrake skid, taking us ninety degrees so that we sat side on to the approaching cop car. Then he hit the gas again and shot across the opposite lane, entering a narrow service alley. Dumpsters and trashcans were parked adjacent to the buildings on our left, allowing for foot passage down the alley. There was just enough room for us to squeeze through, but no way could the larger vehicle follow. Looking in the mirrors I saw the cop car screeching to a halt, passing the mouth of the alley before it could fully stop. Then it reversed quickly and the cops stared at us barrelling away from them. In the next instant they took off at speed, seeking to cut us off when we exited on to the parallel road.

‘Now,’ I told Rink.

He screeched to a stop, threw the car into reverse and then we were travelling backwards almost as quickly as before. We lost a wing mirror, left a Dumpster rocking in our wake, before we blasted out into the original street once more, causing another car to use diversionary tactics to avoid striking us. The man driving the car hit his horn, shaking his head at our recklessness. With plenty of time to do all that, I didn’t know what he was complaining about. Rink popped another handbrake turn and took off back the way we’d just come towards Hayes Tower. At the first intersection he took a left, slowing down now so that we didn’t attract attention. He travelled three blocks east, before turning left once more. We were now four blocks over from where the cops would expect us to be, and heading in a different direction. As we approached a set of traffic lights they were turning red, and Rink slowed, tucking in behind a UPS van. Just as we did so a police patrol car whipped across the intersection, its sirens shrieking as it headed off to join the hunt for us further downtown. When the lights changed, Rink followed the van across the junction, peeled round it as it began to slow, and took off again at a regular pace.

‘That was almost too easy,’ I said, not believing our luck.

‘They might have tried a little harder,’ Rink grunted. ‘I didn’t even get a chance to do a
Bullitt
down Nob Hill.’

Laughing, I checked on our wards. ‘You OK, guys?’

They both peeked up at me from where they’d scrunched down in the seat. Faulks’s mouth was opening and closing like a fish’s. Parnell chewed at his bottom lip. ‘You two boys are insane,’ he wheezed. ‘You can’t run from the cops like that!’