The Runaway Reporter (A Police Procedural Mystery Series of Crime and Suspense, Hyder Ali #3) (21 page)

He shrugged as if he was embarrassed by the answer.

She examined him.  He looked much cleaner than the last time she had met him.  She sniffed.  “Is that cologne?”

“Yeah.” He looked away.  “There was a petition circulated in the unit that I had to take a shower or else they’d kick me out. So I was forced to go home.”

“Well, I’m glad you did.”

“You think I’m hot now, right?” He suddenly grinned. “You want to go out with me?”

“Not in a million years, but I want you to do something for me.”

They were behind Danka’s desk, with Danka working on his keyboard.  He pulled up the video from the night of the Riverfield Massacre.

“Go to the end,” she said. The video fast-forwarded. “Stop right there.”

On the screen, Rudy Jr. was smiling and talking to his girlfriend, Nataly, when suddenly there was a telephone call.  He got up to answer it and the next time he reappeared on the screen, he was holding a knife.

Lopez squinted as if in deep thought.

Hyder had said that Nolan was smiling and happy, but then he received a telephone call, after which he went over the kitchen to grab a knife and attacked him.

This was exactly what Rudy Jr. did.

There is a link between the two cases
, she concluded.

“Thanks for your help,” she said and quickly left the unit.

She drove like a madwoman.  There were still a lot of questions, but at least now she had answers to some of them.

She parked in front of Nolan’s house. After ducking through the yellow police tape, she went in.

The place was exactly how she had left it the night before.

There was still a lot of blood on the kitchen floor.

She walked around the scene to determine what exactly happened.  She then went into the kitchen. From her visits to Nolan’s house, she could tell something was missing.

She searched the kitchen area, then moved to the living room. She looked underneath the coffee table, then underneath the side table, and even underneath the sofa, but she couldn’t find what she was looking for.

She then noticed a speck of blood on the living room wall.

She went over.

When Nolan had attacked Hyder, Hyder had managed to grab Nolan’s weapon, which he normally kept on the side table, and he had fired in his direction.  The impact of the shot had forced Nolan to release his grip, which made the knife fly across the room, hit the wall, and fall behind the television.

She removed a handkerchief from her pocket, leaned down, and picked up the bloodstained knife.

She was certain the fingerprints on the handle were Nolan’s, and the blood on the blade belonged to Hyder.

Hyder was telling the truth
.

She dialed his cell phone number, but the operator informed her that it was not in service.  She then thought of something.  She tried the last number he had called her from. After a few rings it went to voice mail, “Hyder, its Marina,” she said.  “I’m sorry about what happened in the Square.  I swear I had nothing to do with it.  Also, I believe you.  I’ve found the knife Tom attacked you with.  Please call me back. I can help you.”

She hung up and sat on the sofa, relieved that she had made some progress in the case.

She was also relieved that Hyder wasn’t a cold blooded murderer.  Maybe that was why Nolan wanted her to find and help him.  He knew Hyder was only acting in self-defense.  But why did Nolan attack him in the first place?  What compelled him to do so?

As she was pondering this, she noticed something in the hall, a box placed next to Nolan’s shoes.

She stood up and went over to it.

Her mouth fell open when she saw what it was.

It was a courier package from Devon Pharma, the very same one she had seen at the apartments on Riverfield Street.

She grabbed it and raced out of the house.

SEVENTY-FIVE

Hyder was on the sofa with Tiny and Dante next to him.  With Tiny’s size, Hyder was scrunched into the corner.  He didn’t complain.  Had it not been for them, he probably would have been in a cell with someone Tiny’s size but named Bubba.

They were watching cartoons, laughing at all the antics on the screen.

Hyder didn’t share their excitement.  He was feeling the stress.

He was still a fugitive. The police were out there looking for him.  Soon all his exits and entries would be blocked.  Even this apartment, which was right now his safe haven, would no longer be that.

Plus, he was endangering everyone’s safety.  DeShawn, Tiny, and Dante were now fully harboring a fugitive. They had become complicit in his escape.

DeShawn was doing it out of loyalty to his sister, something Hyder had not asked for, but was grateful for nonetheless.

But what was he accomplishing by running away?  He was only delaying the inevitable.  Sooner or later the police would find him.  If not here, then somewhere else.

Why not give himself up and stop putting others at risk? He had already done enough damage, why do more?

He put his face in his hands.

He was so confused.  He just wanted this nightmare to be over.

When he pulled his hands away he found Dante and Tiny staring at him.

“You okay?” Dante asked.

“Um… yeah, I’m just stressed.”

Tiny said, “You know what helps me relieve stress? Meditation.”

Hyder couldn’t imagine seeing a giant of a man, crossed legs, with his eyes closed and reciting, “
Om. Shanti. Om
.”

“What time is it?” Hyder asked.

“Past noon,” Dante said.

“I need to pray,” he said.  He needed something to relieve the stress and clear his head.

“Okay, what do you need?” Dante said.

“Where’s your washroom?”

Dante pointed.

After completing his ablution, Hyder asked for something to place on the floor.  Tiny gave him a bed sheet.

Hyder wasn’t sure which way was East.  He wanted to face the Kaaba, which was in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, but he wasn’t sure if they knew either, so he just continued with his prayers. It was his intentions to worship that were more important.

When he had completed his prayers, he found DeShawn watching him by the door.

“Sorry, if I scared you,” he apologized.

“No, it’s okay.”

“I met a lot of Muslims in prison, you know,” he said.  “They tried to convert me, telling me Islam was the way to peace and Muhammad was the true Prophet, and through Islam I could get on the righteous path and all. But man, I tell you, someone of these guys were in prison for the worst crimes imaginable. They were hardcore believers, but were dangerous people.  I was scared of them and stayed as far away as possible. No one messed with the Muslims, you know.  They could end you in an instant.”

Hyder didn’t know what to say.

“Now, I’m not saying Islam is all that bad,” DeShawn continued. “I’m just saying these guys were not following it like they should.  I just don’t think any religion would make you do something that would get you in jail, you know what I mean?”

“I do,” Hyder said. “I remember reading a quote by George Bernard Shaw once, and he said, ‘Islam is the best religion, but it has the worst followers.’ I can’t speak for the people you met in jail, but I can say that Islam is misinterpreted and misunderstood.”

“So are we,” he grinned.  “We ain’t
all
that bad, you know.”

“I know,” Hyder said.  “I really appreciate what you’ve done for me, DeShawn.”

“I really appreciate what you did for Jazmin.”

Hyder nodded, said, “DeShawn, I don’t think I can stay here for long.  Sooner or later the police will come knocking and I would hate for you or Tiny or Dante to get in trouble.”

“Do you need money?” DeShawn asked.

“What?”

“If you need money to get out of Franklin, I can make it happen.”

“You can?”

“Sure, how much you need?”

Hyder didn’t know.  He hadn’t thought of running away.  Where would he go?  Where would he hide?  How long could he even run for?

His entire life was in Franklin.  His mother’s family was here, his friends were here, and even his job was here.  He couldn’t imagine starting all over again. But what other choice did he have?

Hyder looked around and then said, “I was wondering, how do you get your money?”

“Now you’re asking personal questions,” DeShawn said with a smile on his face.

“Sorry, I’m a reporter.  I’m wired to ask these types of questions.”

“You really want to know?” he said.

Hyder shrugged.

“Ah, what the hell, I’ll show you.”

SEVENTY-SIX

Lopez was on Riverfield Street.  The owner wanted to know when the investigation would be over.  He was hoping to do something with the property, even though he wasn’t sure who would rent a place that had multiple murders take place.

Lopez assured him it would be soon.  That was why she was there now.  She just wanted to make sure she hadn’t missed anything.

She went through each apartment until she had what she was looking for.

Back in her Acura, she examined the courier boxes in detail.  One was for Irma Ronston, the other for Brendan Haddon, and the last one was for Rudy Ross Jr. They had all come from Devon Pharma.

She couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary on any of them until she noticed something was wrong with the seal on Rudy Jr.’s address label.  The outer layer looked stripped, as if someone had removed the original tape and then applied a new one.

She quickly checked the box for Nolan. It too had been re-sealed.

Both Rudy Jr. and Nolan’s packages had been tampered with.

She then had an idea.

SEVENTY-SEVEN

DeShawn took Hyder to a warehouse.  It was not far from the apartment.

When Tiny pulled up the metal grill, Hyder saw the interior was filled from top to bottom.

There was a glass shelf filled with jewelry. Next to it on the shelves were laptops, DVD players, cameras, MP3 players, small and large televisions, plus many other electronic items.  There was a section for bicycles, sports equipment, and even weight lifting gear could be seen. In the back were baseball caps, jackets, shoes, and many other clothing materials. It looked like it had everything for everyone.

“Welcome to DeShawn’s Superstore,” he said with a laugh as he waved his arms around the room.

“This is all yours?” Hyder asked, surprised.

“I started it, but Tiny and Dante have been running it while I was gone.”

Hyder went over and picked up a pirated DVD.  “Is everything in here stolen?” He asked. Hyder knew DeShawn had been incarcerated for breaking and entering.

“No, man,” he replied. “We bought them for very, very, very low prices. You could say they were a
steal
.” He laughed at his own joke.

“So, you bought stolen goods?”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“What do you do with the items?”

“We’ve got some retail outlets who like to sell goods at bargain basement prices.  For instance, these razors…” He picked up a pack of eight. “These would sell for… what? Sixteen to eighteen bucks at the brand name stores.  Well, at the stores we distribute to, you can buy these for twelve bucks.  That’s good savings for everyone.  Who can argue with that?”

“Yeah, but the company that they were stolen from will lose money, which means they will lay off employees, so I don’t see how this could be good.”

“What you don’t know is that all this stuff came from employees of those stores.”

Hyder was speechless.

“Tiny, tell him.” DeShawn ordered.

“Theft by employees cost businesses several
billion
dollars a year in America.” Tiny explained.  “It is the number one cause of lost profits.  But how can you blame the employees for what they are doing? With minimum wage what it is, it is no longer financially feasible to survive on the income these employees take home.  If employers compensated their employees up to the standard of living, we would see losses like these decreasing substantially.”

Hyder couldn’t argue with that. Plus, he wasn’t about to argue with someone Tiny’s size.

Hyder walked around the warehouse.

“You want anything, just say so, and it’s yours,” DeShawn said from behind Hyder.

Hyder wasn’t sure what he would do with most of this stuff.  He couldn’t carry any of it while he was running from the law.

He then stopped at a shelf.  He picked up a DVD cover and waved it at DeShawn. “What’s in here?” he asked.

“An employee was dumb enough to get caught on camera taking goods out of the store, so he stole the recording too.” DeShawn laughed. “Some of his merchandise turned up bad, so we held on to the recording, until he settled his account, you know what I mean?”