Claire Gulliver #06 - Carnage Goes Coastal (17 page)

“Well as it turned out, getting their pictures won’t help us much as the men we wanted to talk to are now dead. But I was able to accumulate some other data that could be helpful.

“Since there are several of us already involved with this case I’m thinking we should pool our information and then together determine the best strategy for proceeding. I’ve reviewed this situation with both my superiors, one at Homeland Security and the one at the CIA. They both are committed to assisting us however they can. We all realize, though it’s highly unlikely, this whole case could end up pointing back to some case I’ve worked in the past. The Company is having someone review files of those cases for new activity or loose ends. They’ll notify me if they find anything suspicious. Meanwhile, I’m thinking we’re going to have to crack this case ourselves.”

Lieutenant Russo looked decidedly uncomfortable at that news. He cleared his throat twice, squirmed in his seat, and then admitted, “Frankly, I’m a little overwhelmed by the scope of this case. Bayside is just a little town and our police force is small. While we sometimes handle armed assault cases, they’re usually drug related. It doesn’t take much skill to figure those out. And in most of those incidences we call on our neighboring communities to work with us. This seems a bit more complicated, probably requiring more manpower than we have.” Lieutenant Russo was apparently no longer concerned about being the officer in charge.

Jack looked from Lieutenant Russo to the stoic face of Agent Hu, who gave no hint of what was going on behind his dark eyes.

Jack suggested, “Well, I think for now we shouldn’t worry about who is going to do what. First we need to decide what we need to do, and then we’ll figure out between all of us, where we can get the help to get it done. Okay?”

The Lieutenant looked visibly relieved and Agent Hu gave a slight nod, so Jack pulled his notebook out of the backpack he had toted around all day and thumbed through the pages. “Okay, one incidental, but shocking thing I learned, was when Claire passed the bug they found in Karen’s pocket off to the woman leaving the hotel it seemed a successful way to misdirect the men following Karen. However, the two men who were killed here apparently followed the white van and somewhere down the Four-oh-five Freeway they sideswiped the van, forcing it into the path of a tanker truck entering the freeway from the Long Beach Freeway. There was a horrendous accident which closed the freeway for the entire night. Several people were killed, but I don’t know the details as I haven’t had a chance to talk to the highway patrol officer handling the investigation as yet.

“I believe this is the SUV that caused the accident.” Jack pulled one of the pictures out of the pile in his backpack the technician had handed him as he raced out of the security office to head for the airport. “It left the hotel behind the white van. I was able to get this picture of the license plate and I obtained the name of the owner from the Department of Motor Vehicles. Is this man the same as one of the men you now have in your morgue?”

Lieutenant Russo nodded grimly.

“Okay, someone needs to contact the highway patrol and get them involved. We should get that SUV in custody and run some tests to see if we can get paint chip matches to the white van.”

“I’ll get someone on this in the morning.” Lieutenant Russo made notes on his own book and took the pictures from Jack. “I’ll make copies of these.”

“Neither Karen nor Claire know they inadvertently caused this accident, so please don’t mention it to them until I get a chance to tell them. And I need to know more about the fatalities before I tell them.”

The Lieutenant nodded.

“Rafe Seville at the Crown Plaza told me two men had been in earlier asking to check the film. Here are copies of their business cards.” He handed them the photocopy he got from Rafe’s secretary. “Rafe told me he called Wade Hampton at the Hampton Security Associates to verify these men were who they said they were. Rafe said he actually knew Wade, and Wade confirmed these guys worked for him. That made me immediately suspect Wade Hampton has something to do with this, especially since his company is based in New York and the first two assaults against Karen happened in New York. Seville’s a good guy and offered to call Wade again, but I didn’t want anyone to alert Hampton of my suspicions.”

Hu and Russo both nodded their agreement.

“When I talked to my boss I learned that Wade Hampton is ex-CIA and he left the agency under some very shady circumstances. Apparently the Feds have been keeping an eye on him since. There has never been anything they could actually charge him with, but they feel he’s been suspiciously close to a few cases they have been working on. My boss suggested that Wade’s involvement in this case might be enough cause to obtain a warrant to search his records?” Jack looked directly at Terry Hu.

Hu nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“I’m very concerned as to whether or not Karen is now out of danger. I mean, if this guy, Hampton, is in the business of putting contracts out on people, how many more assassins could be out there trying to do the job these two men failed to complete?”

Karen and little Jack moved back into Claire’s house the following morning. Karen said the baby was happy to be back in his own bed and to have his familiar routine operating again. Jack and Claire arrived about eleven-thirty that morning. Claire wore dark glasses so the bright sunlight wouldn’t hurt her eyes. Her head was still pounding, but she felt much better than the day before. She was walking with a lurch because she still wasn’t used to the height of the cast on her left foot. She too, was glad to be home, and anxious to get back to work. She was worried about the tasks stacking up at the bookshop, but she had promised the doctor she would stay home and take it easy for at least two more days.

When she got up from her nap about three she was surprised to find Jack was entertaining in the living room.

Jack stood up as she entered and guided her over to the sofa where he had been sitting. “Claire, this is Dave Britter and Marty Rodriquez. They will be with us for a while.”

Claire nodded, sitting on the sofa. Dave looked to be in his thirties, nice looking, his complexion was the color of coffee with cream and he looked very fit. His voice was melodious and his manner conveyed a sense of competence. Marty was bigger, taller, more muscular and he had a swarthy complexion. He had a big moustache and bushy dark hair. His dark eyes were very alert, watching everything. He didn’t say much, leaving the talking to Dave and Jack, but Claire sensed he would be a good person to have around in an emergency.

Karen was sitting on an occasional chair near the fireplace and like Claire she wasn’t talking, just listening and looking carefully at her dad and the two men.

“All right, that’s about it. Does everybody understand the plan?” Jack looked at each person and even though Claire hadn’t registered any of it she nodded her head. “The security company will be here at eight in the morning to install the new alarm system, but as with anyone who arrives at this house, I expect you to check their identification to make sure they are who they say they are.”

The men nodded and stood up as soon as they saw Jack stand.

“We’re going next door now to meet the neighbors. I don’t want Mr. Murphy mistaking either of you for bad guys, as we’ve already seen what he does to the bad guys.” Jack couldn’t keep that satisfied smile off his face. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” The three men trouped out the front door leaving Karen and Claire looking at each other.

“How are you feeling, Claire?” Karen asked with a touch of anxiety.

“Fine, I’m fine, just a little dim. But actually, my headache is much better right now. I think that nap in my own bed helped. How are you doing?”

“Not so well,” Karen admitted. “I think I got a little complacent. I know we talked about being vigilant. Truly I thought I was prepared for anything, but I have to admit I wasn’t. I was scared to death, Claire. Thank God, you were there and took charge. And thank God for the Murphy’s. I had no idea Mr. Murphy was guarding the neighborhood. I mean they’re very nice people and Mrs. Murphy always comes out and coos over Jack whenever she sees us outside. But really I thought of them as just a nice old couple. But not anymore!”

“So what was your dad saying about those two men? Who are they? What are they doing here?”

“You weren’t listening, were you? They’re our new bodyguards. They’ll take turns shadowing me and Jack. Dad said besides these two, he hired two off duty policemen to alternate watching the house through the nights. He says he doesn’t know if anyone else is going to be after me and until the police learn more about those two men, he wants me to be protected.”

Claire nodded, relieved to have other eyes help watch over Karen. One thing she had learned was she wasn’t capable of keeping them safe.

It was later that evening when Jack came into the living room where Claire was thumbing through a travel magazine, listening to soft music. “I asked Karen to join us, as I have new developments to tell you both.”

Claire nodded, putting down her magazine expectantly. Jack sat down beside her and kissed her. “How are you doing? Head still hurt?”

She shook her head. “Not much right now.”

Karen came in. “What’s up Dad? What did you want to talk about?”

“Is the baby down?” Claire asked.

“Yep, went out like a light. He was ready.” Karen smiled, as she was wont to do whenever she thought about the baby.

“Where’s Marty?” Jack looked around.

Claire shrugged. “He went out a few minutes ago. I suspect he’s checking outside. I’m still getting used to him being here, but Tuffy-Two has adapted already. He doesn’t even bark at him when he comes in and out. But he does run for the door when he hears him. I think he’s decided he’s part of the family.”

Hearing his name the dog looked up from where he was lying with his head on Claire’s foot.

“Well, I talked to Lieutenant Russo a little while ago. He told me he confirmed with the highway patrol that the white van which picked up the women you saw at the Crown Plaza, the one which transported the woman you planted the bug in her tote bag, was in an accident later that night on the Four-Oh-Five Freeway at the intersection of the Long Beach Freeway.”

Both women looked at him with concern on their faces.

“Was anyone hurt?”

“How did it happen?”

Jack said reluctantly, “I’m afraid there were fatalities.”

Claire and Karen made sounds as they sucked in air, their mouths open with shock.

“The van carried six women picked up from the Crown Plaza, and the driver. Five died immediately, one died being transported to the hospital and one died at the hospital the next day.” He hurried on wanting to get all the bad news out. “Additionally, the driver of the tanker truck entering the freeway from the Long Beach Freeway was killed, as was the driver of the car following just behind him. The freeway was closed for several hours while they cleaned up the mess. A total of nine died, it was one of the worst accidents they’ve had on that freeway.”

The women looked frozen with horror.

Finally, Claire said in a soft, squeaky voice, “How? How did it happen?”

Jack dreaded telling her, but he said slowly, “Witnesses reported a dark SUV driving in the lane next to the van suddenly swerved into the side of the van, pushing it into the path of the tanker truck. The other drivers were so busy avoiding the collision they didn’t have time to see where the SUV went. Nobody was able to get its license number.”

They all stared at each other. The soft music continued to play. The dog continued to doze.

“It was Tan Jacket and his friend, wasn’t it?”

Jack nodded. “The police are looking for that SUV now. They think it might have been left in one of the airport long term parking lots when those two men flew to San Francisco. I provided them with the license plate numbers I located on the security films from the Crown Plaza. When they find the SUV they’ll compare paint chips to make certain.”

“I did that! Oh, dear God, I killed all those people.” Claire looked up in horror.

“Claire, listen to me. You did not kill anyone.” Jack’s voice was gentle, but firm.

“But I did. That woman was having a good time with her friends. They were talking about their trip to the beach. They didn’t expect to die. Why would they? I only slipped that bug in the woman’s tote bag trying to divert Tan Jacket’s attention from Karen.” Tears sprang to Claire’s eyes as she wailed, “I didn’t even think of any harm happening to her or her friends. I wasn’t even thinking I could be killing her.”

Jack moved closer and put his arms around Claire. “Claire, it’s not your fault. How could you expect these people to be so ruthless, so unconscionable that they would run that van off the road without even checking to see if the person they wanted was inside? It was monstrous. They were monsters.”

It was several minutes later, when Claire had wiped her tears away and blown her nose, that both she and Jack noticed Karen still sitting in her chair. Her arms were wrapped tightly around herself, her face stark white, her eyes dull with shock.

“Karen? Karen, are you all right?” Claire jumped off the couch and hurried over to her.

Karen shook her head. “No, no I’m not all right. I may never be all right again. Nine people died because those men thought I was in that van. And six died in my apartment building, maybe more, I don’t know. And all this is because someone is trying to kill me. When will it stop? When will enough be enough?”

Jack pulled her up from the chair cradling her in his arms. He rocked her, muttering in her ear, “Baby, Baby it’s not your fault. These are seriously bad people. They seem willing to go to any lengths to get to you. They don’t seem to care how many people they destroy in the meantime.”

Jack snaked one arm out and captured Claire, pulling her into the embrace. They heard the door open as Marty entered the house and quickly moved through to check out the back. Tuffy-Two seemed to understand something was wrong and he pushed up close to their combined legs, trying to join their group hug.