For My Brother (11 page)

Chapter 20

Nina had put her blue light on the top of the car and she used her horn at intersections. They were moving through traffic quickly, but Jason couldn’t shake the feeling they were running out of time.

His phone rang, and it showed the lieutenant’s cell phone. Jason decided he better pick up.

“Strong.”

“This is Lieutenant Banks. I requested you in my office ten minutes ago. Where are you?”

“We’re in the car.”

He rolled his eyes at Nina.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Detective. Why are you two not sitting in front of me right now?”

Jason sighed, and tried to come up with a short version of a long story.

“We have a lead on where the four missing persons might be.”

“Four!”

Jason realized they hadn’t yet told the lieutenant about Dexter Hughes.

“Uh, yeah. We discovered a fourth missing person who was tied to the same case.”

“Nice of you to share.”

“Sorry, Lieutenant. We felt a need to follow up immediately on this lead.”

“Where are you? And don’t say in the car.”

“We’re on our way to the home of Betty Jarvis and her son, Donnie.”

“How did you get their names?”

This conversation just kept getting worse. Jason braced himself. “Devin James.”

“The reporter!”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And how did he get onto them?”

“Apparently, he wrote a story some ten years ago that helped him make a connection.”

A long silence on the other end, followed by a question that caught Jason by surprise.

“Do you need any backup?”

“As of yet, we don’t know what we’ll find. I’ll call immediately if we need support.”

“Very well, Strong. You’d better be right.”

The phone went dead. Jason looked at his phone, then at Nina. “That went well.”

*******

Donnie pulled the gun away from the back of Ed Garland’s head.

“Well Ed, it seems it’s your lucky day also. You’ve played and won.”

Ed said nothing, and Donnie thought the man may have passed out.

Donnie spun the chamber repeatedly, each rotation causing the girls to jump, as he walked around to the other side of the table. He stopped behind Chelsea Burt, continuing to spin the chamber as he stood there.

Chelsea began to sob uncontrollably. Donnie spun the chamber twice more and pulled back the hammer. He could tell the girl was saying something under her breath but could only barely make it out.

“Please no…please no….please…”

Donnie laid the gun against her skull, and the girl instinctively leaned away from him. He reached out and grabbed a chunk of her hair, pulled her back toward him, and squeezed the trigger.

*******

Nina steered the car off I-10 and headed west toward the farm. They came to the address in just a few minutes. Kicking up a trail of dust, they sped up the lane toward the house. Jason could see no movement as they approached.

*******

Click!

The sound caused Chelsea to jump, and she let out a whimper. Donnie stood back. Three had played and all three had won. Something began to gnaw at the back of Donnie’s brain. Something he fought to suppress, to keep from distracting him. He chanted to himself to keep his focus.

Finish the job, finish the job, finish the job.

Feeling a growing anxiety, he hurried around behind Suzanne. Donnie had purposely chosen her last, hoping she might be spared. She had been Billy’s girlfriend, and Donnie had known her well, even had a crush on her.

Now he stood behind her, and looking into the reflection on the china cabinet across the room, he could see the face of the last person to play the game. It now looked as if the odds were stacked against her, and he could see the realization in her eyes.

Suzanne was staring right back at him in the cabinet glass. Her eyes looked directly in to his, and she spoke to him as a friend.

“Donnie, you know me. You know this doesn’t have to happen. You have the power to stop now, no one has died, and no one needs to die.”

Donnie slowly shook his head. He knew he had to finish, or all this would be for nothing. He couldn’t face the possibility that none of this accomplished its purpose, and for that to happen, Suzanne had to play.

He broke his eyes away from her stare, rolled the chamber three times, pulled back the hammer, and laid the gun against her head.

“No! Donnie, no!”

Her voice reverberated around the room as he pulled the trigger.

Click!

Donnie had braced himself for the gun to go off. Now his head spun from the silence. Nobody moved, Chelsea still sobbed but without making any noise. Suzanne let out a sigh, and Donnie caught her look in the china cabinet. The relief on her face was obvious but Donnie also saw something else. Was it sadness for him?

Donnie stood there, the gun in his hand, and tried to make sense of what just happened.

All four played and no one died. Everything I’ve done to bring about this moment was for nothing. It hasn’t changed anything. Billy is still the only one who is dead.

Donnie couldn’t grasp the fact everything was over. He didn’t feel relief, nor did he feel like he had accomplished something wonderful. The thought Billy might now be at rest did not help.

Donnie reached onto the table and picked up the five bullets still standing in the middle. One by one, he put them back into the gun’s chamber. The eyes of everyone at the table grew wide.

But he didn’t aim at anyone. Instead, he took the keys to the handcuffs and threw them on the table where the bullets had been. Everyone’s focus went to the ring of keys while Donnie walked away, through the back door, and out to Momma’s grave.

*******

Nina stopped the car next to a van parked in front of the house. Both detectives got out. Nina took a quick look, cleared the van, and the two detectives walked onto the front porch. Jason knocked on the door.

“Help! Help us!”

Both detectives drew their guns, Nina pulled open the screen door, and Jason kicked the front door in.

“Police!”

When the two detectives came through the door, it took them a few seconds to let the scene before them sink in. It was clear their suspect was not in the room.

One of the girls screamed. “He went out back.”

Jason looked toward the back door. “Is he alone?”

“Yes.”

“Is he armed?”

“Yes.”

“Is there anyone else in the house?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

Jason looked at Nina. “Call it in. I’m gonna see if I can find him.”

Jason ran back out the front door.

*******

Donnie stood at the foot of Momma’s grave. Something wasn’t right. He could feel it inside. He’d done everything Billy had told him, but nothing had changed. Billy was still the only one who died from playing the game. Donnie had put these people through all this, and nothing changed.

Donnie started to doubt the entire plan.

Maybe the whole purpose was revenge for his brother. Or maybe I’d never heard Billy at all. Was all this my own idea? Was it me who couldn’t accept the death of Billy? Had I been the one who needed the others to play?

Despair washed over him as the questions weighed him down. He was alone now. No Billy. No Momma. No purpose.

*******

Jason had just stepped off the front porch when he heard the explosion of a gun being fired. Still with his weapon drawn, he came around the side of the house but didn’t see anybody. He ran up the side of the garage and stuck his head around the corner.

“Oh no!”

*******

Nina heard the gunshot but didn’t know where Jason was. She left the kitchen through the back door, crossing over to the side of the garage. She crept along the wall and peered around the corner.

Under a large oak tree, Jason was kneeling over a young man, his fingers pressed against the man’s throat. He looked at Nina and shook his head.

A loud banging echoed from the garage wall. Both officers went to the back door of the garage, weapons drawn. Again, Jason kicked the door open, and the two rushed in. They trained their guns on the surprised face of Devin James.

Epilogue

Jason got off the elevator on the second floor. Lieutenant Banks had made it clear he was to stop by her office before going upstairs. He had taken a few days off after the Jarvis case, but he knew the time was coming when he would have to face Sarah Banks. That time was now.

She was sitting at her desk going over some paperwork when he knocked on the doorjamb. She looked up and removed her glasses.

“Come in, Detective. Shut the door behind you.”

He closed the door but did not sit down. Instead, he leaned against the door he had just closed. He suspected it made him feel better to be close to an exit. She didn’t waste time.

“I expect any detective working a case for me to make themselves available to me whenever I see the need. I also insist on being kept in the loop about the cases they have been assigned by me. I do not like being kept in the dark.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Having said that, I consider a detective’s gut instinct to be his or her best tool in solving difficult cases.”

Jason shifted from one foot to the other but didn’t say anything.

“You followed your gut and put the victims ahead of a department protocol. As a result, lives were saved.”

The lieutenant stood up and extended her hand.

“Excellent work, Detective Strong. And thank you.”

Jason stepped forward and shook the lieutenant’s hand. “Thank you, Lieutenant. I appreciate it.”

Jason turned and left the office. On his way out, he saw Nina Jefferson sitting at a desk. He stopped.

“Hi, Nina. You finishing up the file on Jarvis?”

Nina looked up and gave Jason a sheepish grin. “Uh…no. That’s done. Actually, Lieutenant Banks asked me to join her team, and I accepted.”

Jason just stared at her for a minute, before breaking into laughter. “No kidding? Well, good luck.”

“Thanks. I’m going to miss working with you.”

Jason laid his hand on Nina’s shoulder. “The feeling is mutual. See ya around, Detective.”

“Bye, Jason. Tell Vanessa welcome back.”

Jason rode the elevator up to Homicide on the third floor. When the doors opened, a familiar sight, one he’d been missing for awhile now, greeted him.

Detective Vanessa Layne sat at her desk reading a file. He walked up without her noticing. “Good morning.”

She looked up and smiled at him.

“Hey, JD. How’s it going this morning?”

“Fine. Just fine.”