Stolen Lives: A Detective Mystery Series SuperBoxset (64 page)

“A guy gave me a hundred bucks to come and give it to you.”

Even before Cooper unfurled the crumpled paper, she knew what it was. A shiver traveled from her hand to her spine when she opened it and saw the scribbled red crayon. Cooper sprinted out of the alleyway and looked down the street both ways, searching for the pair of beady eyes that had followed her.

“Whoever he was sure had an interest in you,” the woman said, shouting from the alleyway. “He wanted to know how you were, if there was anyone with you or not. You must have done one hell of a number on him to make him come all the way out here.”

Cooper crushed the paper in her hands and turned on the woman in the alley, gripping her by the collar and shoving her against the wall. “Where is he?” But the old hag only shrieked a blood-curdling cry, and Cooper backed off, hobbling away as a few of the workers from the kitchen spilled into the alley.

Cooper managed to move quickly for six blocks before the pain in her calf slowed her pace. She dipped behind a collapsing brick wall on the side of the road outside of an old recreation center and caught her breath. She checked the dressing and saw that her calf had started bleeding again. She quickly rewrapped the wound, flipping the bloodied side of the bandage out in hopes of keeping the wound semi-clean, and checked the road behind her to see if anyone had followed.

Once the coast was clear, she uncrumpled the piece of paper and flattened it against her palm. The killer had given her an address, one she had been familiar with earlier in her police career. It was where she’d shot Douglas Mavin, the only suspect she’d ever killed in the line of duty.

***

The neighborhood hadn’t improved in the ten years since she’d last visited. Crime rates had only worsened, and the gangs in the area had completely taken control. The crime was so bad that the residents didn’t even bother to call the police anymore. It was only after a dead body turned up that the authorities were contacted.

The address the killer had given her was to an old strip mall that was in front of the back alley in which she and Mavin had faced off. The stores had long been abandoned, and all that remained was dirt and items unwanted by looters.

Glass and debris crunched under the weight of Cooper’s boots as she stepped into the remains of an electronics store. She waded deeper, pulling the revolver from her waistband and keeping her eyes peeled for anything that would tell her where the killer was hiding.

The high-pitched din of a cell phone spiked her heart rate, and she nearly shot the phone as she turned. She found the old flip phone amid a pile of discarded boxes. The small boxed screen was lit up, and the number across the interface simply read “unknown.” It was a prepaid model judging by the look of it. She flipped the cell open and pressed it to her ear, keeping the revolver aimed in front of her with one eye on the pistol’s sight and the other scanning her periphery. “Where are you?”

“I’m everywhere, Detective. I’ve planted myself in your mind, and I have festered and grown into something that’s taken hold of everything you hold dear in your life.”

Cooper remained quiet, trying to determine from the background noise whether the killer was in the building. She knew he had to be close. He would have had to keep a visual on the phone to know when to call. “There isn’t anything that’s left in my life that you can take.”

The killer laughed. “Detective, I was pulling your strings long before you even knew about me. Every time you’ve come up against me, you’ve lost. You haven’t been able to save anyone that I wanted to kill. That’s not going to end anytime soon.”

The deeper Cooper moved into the building, the more she began to realize the killer wasn’t there. She weaved between empty aisles, and it wasn’t long before she was at the entrance to the inner hallway that connected the rest of the stores in the strip mall. The hinges of the doors squeaked as Cooper exited the electronics store.

“You’ve never listened, Detective.” The killer’s words cut sharp like the tip of a knife, enunciating every syllable, digging deep into Cooper’s eardrums. “That’s always been a problem of yours. It’s plagued you both in your professional and personal life.” The killer drew in a deep breath then exhaled loudly into the phone. “But I must say it’s one of the reasons I was drawn to you.”

The air inside the hall of the old strip mall was stale and musty. Yellowed and faded papers covered the floor. Most of the windows to the storefronts were shattered, their shelves bare and empty like the electronics store. Naked mannequins flashed their bodies, some disfigured with graffiti, which also decorated the walls and benches inside. “I stopped caring about whatever sick reason you chose me the moment Beth died. I don’t give a shit what you want. All that matters now is putting a bullet through your head.”

The killer laughed. “Abandoned all of law and order, Detective? That’s good. Very good. You’ve reached an understanding of the world only a few others before you have grasped. My earlier offer still stands. Expose the governor, and we both get the ending we want.”

“I don’t give a shit about what you want!” Cooper white-knuckled the phone, the thin thread of patience severed. “I’m not going to do your dirty work. It’s only a matter of time before—”

“You won’t find me, Detective, unless I want to be found.” He scoffed. “Even with the resources of the FBI and the Baltimore Police, you couldn’t find me until I gave you the clues you needed. And it’s going to stay that way until you give me what I want. And you and I both know you’ll do it. Chaos and vengeance are your scales of justice now, and I’ve finally given you the strength to do what you’ve always wanted. Kill.”

“There’s only one life I care about taking.”

“I know. And that’s why I wanted to bring you back here to where you first got blood on your hands.” The killer paused. “Beth and I spoke quite a bit during our time together. She told me about the phone call the two of you had after you shot and killed Douglas Mavin.” He clucked his tongue. “You never know how heavy a life can weigh on you until you’ve taken one yourself. Believe me, I can sympathize. The first time is always nerve racking. It takes courage to kill something that’s still breathing, that has a conscious mind, that thinks and speaks like you do.” A sense of wonderment filled the killer’s voice. “There’s no other sensation like it in the world.”

Cooper stopped in the middle of the hallway, the revolver in her hand lowered to her side. The sun cooked the inside of the strip mall like an oven, and she smelled the rotten stench of death nearby. It was a smell that never left you once you experienced it, the decaying flesh of a human being. “Where are they?”

“Ah, so you’re getting closer.” The killer chuckled. “You had to have been wondering what other motives behind this visit could have been.” He sighed. “I knew you’d be resistant to appeasing my demands, so I thought I’d offer you a little incentive. Head to the gaming store at the end of the hall.”

Cooper’s gait shifted from walk to jog, and she kicked up old papers stuck to the floor. She saw the store sign, and the sight broke her into a sprint.
He couldn’t have gotten the girls. That was impossible.
But still the heightened fear in the back of her mind only exacerbated her haste as she skidded to a stop in front of the closed game store. The bottom of the door was stained red, and the handle was smeared with blood.

“Afraid of what you’ll find, Detective?” the killer asked, a smile hidden by the anonymity of the phone.

Cooper gripped the bloodied door handle, the crimson smear still wet from the heat of the building. She felt the slippery, metallic slime on her fingertips as she pulled the door open and the stench of death blasted her face. She dropped the phone, nearly vomiting the breakfast from the soup kitchen. She covered her mouth and nose with the collar of her shirt, her free hand clutching her leg as she hunched over, gagging.

The back of the game room was dark, but the sunlight that spilled in from the hallway illuminated a lifeless hand that stretched from the shadows. Cooper stepped toward it, keeping the door open so what light it offered could brighten her path. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, the lump attached to the hand took shape, and she saw the outline of a man. A hole in his chest had sprouted a dried well of blood that had pooled next to his ribs. His eyes remained open, staring into the dark ceiling above.

Cooper knelt and pressed her finger against his neck, checking for a pulse, the body still warm. In the darkness, she could barely make out the features on the man’s face, but after examination, she saw that it wasn’t anyone she knew. She stood, and as she gazed further into the darkness, she realized dozens of bodies lined the floor, a sea of corpses. She went to each body in turn, praying that the next face she saw wouldn’t be one of the girls, or even Tim, knowing the loss of both parents would cripple her nieces to the point of mental collapse. But after checking every body, every pulse, every face, she returned to the front of the store, guilt ridden with relief that the victims weren’t anyone she knew.

Cooper hunched over and finally puked her breakfast, feeling the acidic burn of the vomit and the foul taste on her tongue. She stumbled backward, weak, wiping her mouth, and smacked into a counter that she clutched to steady herself. She eyed the phone she’d dropped on the ground. She picked it up and pressed the device to her ear. “Why?”

“To send a message.” The killer’s voice dropped an octave. “Despite what vengeful hate you feel toward me, there is over twenty years of law enforcement programmed into you, and it’s not something that goes away willingly. I killed those men and women to show you what I can still do, what I’m truly capable of. Every single one of those people died within the past twenty-four hours. I can go anywhere, Detective. Do anything I want. And unless you do what I tell you so you can come and stop me, I’m going to continue killing people. Eventually I just may get to someone else you care about.”

The call ended and Cooper released her grip on the phone, which landed in the pile of vomit near the door. She gazed at the lives taken because of her. A wake of death followed her everywhere now. And the only way to make it stop was to play the killer’s game.

Chapter 7

Night provided the needed cover as Cooper hid in the bushes outside the offices of the Maryland Department of Corrections. She was forced to keep her distance, at least one hundred yards from the main entrance, to retain her anonymity from the dozens of officers that made their way in and out of the complex.

Despite the number of convicted criminals that the building was charged with tracking day in and day out, the security of the facility was minimal. It was just a place for the probation officers to come and push those papers across their desks. But out of all the officers she watched come and go, there was only one that caught her eye.

It was pushing ten o’clock when Officer McKaffee waddled out the sliding glass doors and into the parking lot. She was surprised he’d stayed so late, though from her interactions with him, she judged that it was more likely that he’d fallen asleep at his desk than actually working.

Luckily, McKaffee had parked near the back of the parking lot, and just when he arrived at his car, Cooper made sure the coast was clear and then sprinted from cover. She jammed the end of her revolver into the fat of McKaffee’s back and covered his mouth before he screamed. “Get in the car and drive or I’ll gut you like the pig you are here and now.”

McKaffee broke out into a lake of sweat almost immediately. He nodded and reached for the door handle. While he lowered himself into the driver’s seat, Cooper sat in the back, keeping the gun aimed at his head.

“You’ve got some balls showing your face here, Cooper.” McKaffee eyed her in the rearview mirror, the perspiration on his face growing thicker. “You come to kill me like you did Farnes?”

Only two people in the world knew that was a lie, so she used the fear to her advantage. She pressed the end of the barrel’s revolver into the back of McKaffee’s head, and he shuddered. “I know about the drug ring. Farnes told me everything.”

“Look, I don’t ever touch the drugs.” He pleaded with her through the mirror. “I never hurt anyone.” The big man trembled, the fat folds on his neck quivering. “Christ, Cooper, it’s nothing to kill me over.”

“You do what I say, and you might make it out of this alive. Now drive.”

McKaffee started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. The whites of his eyes were bright when he looked into the rearview mirror, staring down the end of Cooper’s pistol. “Where the hell am I going?”

No matter how Cooper weighed the options, there was only one way that she was going to meet the killer face to face, and that was by making sure the dark deeds of the governor were brought to light. “I know Quentin Farnes has people laundering the money from the drug deals and that he receives a cut for keeping a stranglehold on law enforcement.” She stayed below the line of the window, making sure no one could spot her from the outside.

McKaffee finally pulled out of the parking lot and drove down the empty highway. The headlights illuminated the road refractors on the pavement, and the car’s speed connected them in a blurry line of reflected light. He scoffed. “Everyone knows he’s dirty. The reason no one’s been able to prove it is because he has his hands in everyone’s pockets. Or at least the pockets of everyone that could really do anything about it.”

“You’re going to take me to every money-laundering location of his in Baltimore, and we’re going to steal his cash.”

McKaffee turned around in his seat, his eyes wide, pupils dilated with fear. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“No. I’m just trying to get his attention.”

McKaffee took a long breath and released it slowly, muttering to himself that he was going to be okay. But when he stopped at a red light, the large man looked as if he was going to pass out from stress. “He’ll kill me, Cooper. He’ll fucking kill me just like you.”

“If you don’t take me to those laundering spots, I’ll kill you.” She cracked the steel of the pistol against the back of his skull, and he winced. “You do this with me and you still might have a chance at getting a lawyer or witness protection.” She leaned in close, whispering in his ear, her hot breath tickling his skin. “Or I can end your pathetic existence right here and now.” She leaned back, lining up McKaffee’s skull in her sight. “The choice is yours.”