Kill The President's Women (Joe The Magic Man Series Book 2) (22 page)

Joe remembered he had read Old man Bees’ thoughts at the moment and they were thoughts of admiration for Alice’s tits.

Joe drifted into Mr. Bees’ thoughts as he slept. The old man was dreaming of solving a crossword puzzle in the paper.

“What are you doing Mr. Bees?” Joe asked.

“Huh, who are you?”

“I’m Joe Mann, and I’m helping the FBI to find out who was in that car.”

“Not more questions, dammit.”

“Just relax Mr. Bees and we’ll walk your dog past that car again.” Joe put him in a trance and Mr. Bees’ mind immediately went back to the scene. He relived the moment, with Joe in his mind reliving it with him, and Joe could see what Mr. Bees had seen and heard that day. Joe listened and looked attentively; the experience was more or less what Mr. Bees had reported to the authorities but Joe got a little more of what Mr. Bees thought he had heard.

Little but crucial.

Joe told Mr. Bees he wouldn’t remember this dream in the morning and asked him to go back to his crossword.

Abel got out of bed, put the light on and wrote down what he had observed in Mr. Bees’ dream. He tinkered with the idea of popping into Alice’s mind to tell her the news but he had promised her he’d never get into her dreams again. So he thought he’d go visit Andrew Johnson and get him to confess to the two murders.

Abel put the lights out and got back into bed thinking.
“Come on Joe, let’s go make Agent Burrows’ day by helping her catch a killer.”

He laser-focused his mind and in no time, he had found Andrew Johnson.

When Abel entered Johnson’s dream, he was swimming in his indoor pool and thinking that he could lose weight this way, instead of trying that dreadful diet Ann kept preaching.

“Mr. Johnson!” Joe shouted exaggeratedly in his dream. “Can I have a minute of your time, please?”

“What? Who the hell are you?”

“I’m Joe Mann and I work with that psychic, Alice you met today.” With a statement as simple as that, Abel had Johnson under his spell

“Oh fuck! You’re a ghost.” He struggled and managed to get out of the pool. “Stay away from me, I know nothing!”

“Come now Mr. Johnson, we both know you hired someone to kill your mother and brother.”

“What? NO!”

Joe thought he’d play the man’s mind after what he had done; he needed to be taught a lesson. “By the way they’re both happy up there but they’re very disappointed in you.”

“Oh my God, this can’t be happening.” He stumbled backwards and fell then tried to get up but couldn’t. He held his hand up as if to keep Joe from getting any closer. “Tell my mother and brother I had nothing to do with their murders; I’m shit scared I’ll be next.”

The man seemed to be telling the truth so Abel said, “Then relax and tell me who you think did it and why you would be next?”

“I honestly don’t know! I don’t think it’s my younger brother or sister that did it, or that they’d even want me dead.”

Joe
had to be sure so he quickly went through Andrews’ mind and found he was telling the truth: he knew nothing and was actually scared he would be next.

“Okay Mr. Johnson, then we’ll have to find out who this killer is. That’s why Alice the psychic asked me to check you out. Do you think your wife would have any idea?”

“No, she’s equally scared. And please tell my mother I didn’t do it!”

Joe thought,
if I could talk to your mother, I’d ask her who killed her.
“I will, you just get back in the pool, Mr. Johnson and forget all about this meeting.”

Andrew yawned and strolled back to the pool. With Joe already forgotten, he was wondering what healthy food Ann would have for him after his workout.

Ann Johnson then,
Joe thought.

Abel concentrated on her and in seconds he was in her dream. She was shopping with a friend (who was trying on some shoes), when Joe walked up to them.

“Mrs. Johnson?”

“I am Mrs. Johnson,” She confirmed.

Joe led her to an office, and pointed to a ringing phone.

“Hello, who is this?” she asked, after she had picked up the phone.

“Never mind who I am, you just tell that man there with you, what you know about the murders.” She was under Joe’s spell now and he had her in a relaxed mood, under the impression that she was talking to a shrink.

“Oh, okay what do you want to know?”

“I know you’re hiding something and it would be better for you if you just told me who you think killed your mother-in-law and brother-in-law.”

“I think… it was Daddy.” She sounded like a disappointed child.

“Your father killed them?!”

“Yes, he wanted me to marry Andrew, and then I could persuade Andrew to pay Mammy’s healthcare bills.

Joe quickly read all her thoughts about why she thought it was her father who had done the two killings. When he was done, he gently placed her back in the shop admiring the shoes, and she was soon laughing with her friend again.

Abel shot out of bed, put the light and paced his bedroom restlessly, trying to make sense of it all. He looked at the clock; it was 2:55am. He wished he could call Alice but they had agreed there would be no phone calls just in case someone in the FBI still wanted him dead and traced the call. He had to keep his identity a secret at all cost!

It was too early to make contact with Alice and he knew the business with Mr. Bees would be of more importance to Agent Campbell. The revelation that Andrew Johnson wasn’t the killer would be readily acted upon by Agent Burrows. He checked his notes ready to report to Alice, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt the need to get into Alice’s dream and wake her up.

Alice heard Joe’s voice calling in her head; she hadn’t been sleeping soundly because she was fretting about the bombers, so she awoke instantly.

“What is it Joe?” She glanced at the clock. 3:04.

“I’m really sorry for contacting you in your sleep but I thought it too important not to.”

“That’s alright,” Alice said and got out of bed leaving the light off, because Joe could see everything she could see. “What’s happened?”

“Get your note book out, I’ve got information for Campbell that he’ll want to hear ASAP. And no, I don’t think Mr. Johnson is the killer, I think it was his father-in-law who killed them both. So write this information down and then call Campbell immediately.”

Alice wrote everything down and didn’t hesitate to dial Campbell’s number, even if it was 3:10am.

He answered on the second ring. “Yeah,” he groaned into the phone.

“I think Joe might have come up with something, it’s what Mr. Bees might have heard the driver saying on the phone.”

“Tell me what Joe said.” He sat up in bed hoping that Joe had seen the number plate.

“Joe said it was just as Mr. Bees told you: he couldn’t see the car properly and the grass was hiding the number plate. But... Joe kinda saw the driver although he held his hand in front of his face. Of course, it was Mr. Bees who saw him but it was too brief for him to register…

“I get it, Alice. Go on.”

“Joe managed to see the man; he was in his mid-30s with jet black hair and a thick moustache. He also heard something the man said on the phone.” Alice checked her notes. “He answered the phone saying he had been there waiting for an hour, and then he said, ‘I got three Kentucky Fries but they’ll be cold by now’. That’s all Joe heard because Mr. Bees was calling his dog and hurrying off.”

Campbell was out of bed by this point, taking it all in. “Is that it?”

“Joe thought you could find out where the driver bought those fries. And he also did well with the cold case. He says…”

The phone went dead without as much as a thank you. Alice sighed.
She didn’t know if she should wake Burrows or leave it until morning, then she thought playfully,
I’m up so why should she sleep
?

“What’s up?” Burrows also answered the phone on the second ring like it was office protocol.

“Joe has had a very busy night and he had to wake me up to tell Campbell what he found out and I think Campbell’s on the phone to head office right about now so I thought I’d just let you know what’s going on.”

“What’s so important that Campbell would phone in at this time of night?” Burrows was up on one elbow, as Alice filled her in.

“Hmm,” she grunted when Alice was done about Mr. Bees, “I don’t think he’ll need us until morning, he’ll get a list of the outlets and I expect we’ll be checking them out first thing this morning.”

“It’s already morning,” Alice said, unable to resist the joke.

“You know what I mean, Alice.”

“Yeah sure, and the other good news is: Joe thinks he knows who killed the Johnsons.”

Burrows sat up. “Did Joe find out who he hired?”

“Andrew had nothing to do with the murders.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Alice could picture Burrow’s shocked face. “You’d never guess who Joe thinks did it.”

“Just tell me.”

“Joe interviewed Ann Johnson and she thinks her father did it so she and Andrew could get married and help finance her mother’s health care bills.” There was no reply from Burrows and seconds later, Alice had to ask, “Hello, you haven’t passed out, have you?”

“Joe got that from Mrs. Johnson?”

“You can’t hide secrets from the Magic Man,” Alice said proudly.

Again, that tingling sensation crept up Burrows in the face of the enormity of the Magic Man’s powers.

“You’re saying Mrs. Johnson’s mother is ill and her father carried out the killings so his daughter could marry into money to help out?”

“Joe says we should go interview the dad and he’ll get into his dreams to find out for sure.”

Burrows shook her head. “Well I didn’t see that one coming.”

“What do you think we should do?” Alice thought it was a good plan to go see Ann Johnson’s dad so Joe could get into his dreams and get a confession out of him.

Burrows looked at the clock; it was 3:31am. “Go back to sleep and we’ll talk it over in the morning.”

The phone rang shrilly, interrupting Alice Timberlake’s loving embrace with sleep. She shot a look at the clock. 6:30am.

“Yeah?” she answered.

“Are you up?” Burrows asked.

“I am now, why?” Alice made to get out of bed.

“We’ve got a lead and we’re moving in ten; we’ll have something to eat on the way so move it, girl.”

“Ten minutes? You gotta be joking,” Alice said then realized she was speaking to a dead phone; Burrows had hung up on her.

Pee first!
she said to herself as she raced off to the bathroom.
Even Carl Lewis couldn’t get ready in ten.

Dead on the ten-minute mark
, Burrows was knocking on her door. Alice grabbed her coat and opened the door. There was no one there. She stepped out to see Burrows getting in the car.

“Leave the key on the counter and get in!” Agent Campbell shouted out of the open window of the car.”

Alice was all flustered after she dropped the key and got in the car. “So what’s the rush? Have we got a plane to catch?”

“Those Kentucky Fries paid off,” Campbell declared. “We were able to trace the place where the driver bought them.” He nodded to her in his mirror. “Tell Joe he did well again.”

“Oh, that’s good. I’ll tell him.” Alice was pleased that Campbell was pleased. “And that’s where we’re heading now?”

Burrows half turned to talk to Alice over her shoulder. “First, Agent Campbell called it in last night, and our boys started checking the Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets in this area and believe it or not, the one nearest to us is a drive in which is open 24/7. It’s only a 30-minute drive from here so our boys got there, had a look at the CCTV and bingo, our driver ordered four to go.”

“About time we had a bit of luck,” Campbell chimed in.

“Yeah,” agreed Burrows. “And not only did we get the number of the car but we were able to trace it to the owner. It’s parked outside his house as we speak.”

It was a lot to take in, and the excitement of the two agents was rubbing off on Alice. She thought,
Four Kentucky Chicken Fries, one for him and one each of his three passengers.

“So are we going to the KFC or to his home?”

“At the moment we’re waiting for orders,” Campbell said. “We’ve got the driver and his house under surveillance and we’re doing a background check on him and his family. His name is Alfred Hassan.” He swung a corner and said, “Keep an eye out for a diner; we’ll have something to eat while we wait.”

There was silence for a moment and Alice took the opportunity to ask. “What about the cold case, are you leaving that on hold?”

Campbell glanced at her in the mirror. “This is top priority Alice, so forget everything else.”

Burrows spoke over her shoulder again. “I’ll phone my boss later, the detective in charge of the case will take it from here. I was only the profiler on that case.”

They found a diner and were halfway through breakfast when Campbell’s phone rang. “I’ll take it outside.”

Alice started to eat faster for she had a feeling that when Campbell came back in, his words would be a variation of “Let’s go”, if not the very words themselves.

“He’s happy with Joe,” Burrows said in between mouthfuls, “because HQ told him this is the best lead they’ve got. And I think we’re the ones to follow up on this Mr. Alfred Hassan.”

Campbell came back in, all smiles; he chucked money on the table and said. “Okay, let’s go.”

Just like I thought,
Alice said to herself.

They were in the car in no time, and as soon as they had got the car moving, Campbell told them. “They’re going to keep watch on Hassan until we get there.” he was smiling to himself. “That was Frank Brubaker on the phone. It seems whoever was in charge up there called him in early, with the news of this new guy Alfred Hassan, and he wants us to interview him, and for…” he was going to call her Mrs. Timberlake but stopped himself, “and for Alice to get Joe to find out what he can about this guy.”

“That makes sense,” Burrows said with a smile. “If you got a secret weapon, why not use it? Joe could find out the truth in minutes, where this guy could tell us a pack of lies and half-truths and it would take us days to sort it out.”