Rising Darkness (6 page)

Alex thought that the meeting with Jess Lydell had gone pretty well. He had managed to rattle her cage a bit and ask some deeply probing questions. Well, at least he had managed to make her feel extremely uncomfortable and make her talk about her husband’s infidelity and show her the pictures. He knew that she had seen the pictures already, but it was nice to rub her face in it.

He knew that she had something to do with Tracy’s death. If she did not do the murder herself then she hired it to be done by somebody. He had pretty good instincts and he could read people pretty well. It was a given in his line of work and he had seldom gotten a lead on anyone as strong as what he felt when he talked to that woman.

Jess Lydell was beautiful, even if you were comparing her to a Hollywood starlet. She was tall and leggy, with big luscious breasts, curves for days, an amazingly sweet smile and adorable facial features. If she had not been so intelligent and so ambitious to make something of herself on her own merit then she easily could have gone into the world of modeling and made a killing that way too. It was easy to get distracted by her beauty when talking to her, which was probably the reason why she had been so successful. She was one of those insanely gorgeous women that it was impossible to say no to.

Alex had to work extra hard to keep the focus of the interview solely on her. She was instantly put off guard when he began to question the circumstances surrounding the infidelity of her husband. In fact, she had ordered him to leave, but Alex was just getting comfortable.

“In due time. Right now we are going to have a chat. You are going to answer the questions I ask or I will make sure that all of this evidence finds its way into the police department. Now either you or your husband had something to do with the death of Tracy Payton.”

“That is simply not true. I found out about the affair; the PI I hired showed me those photos and I was horrified, but I was not totally shocked. This is not the first time that Robin has been unfaithful. I am aware of his indiscretions. He has a long list of them. None of them have ended up murdered.”

“Well, maybe on this one you just snapped. Any particular reason you have not talked to him at all about any of this? He wasn’t even aware you had hired a private investigator or that you had this evidence on him. You would think that is the sort of thing a wife might mention to her husband after she catches him in the act of infidelity.”

“Our marriage is a bit strained. I have been working my way up to talking to him about this. I was debating on whether to file for divorce once and for all or if I want to give him one more chance. I know he is using again; when he is not using then he is the most trustworthy man I know. But when he is on that drug it’s like sex becomes a drug and one woman won’t begin to satisfy him.”

“Well, if either of you had anything to do with Tracy’s murder then I will find it out. It’s really just a matter of time.”

With that he was out the door. He had upset her quite a bit and he could see that she was almost on the verge of tears when he walked out the door. Alex had never considered himself sadistic, but when it came to suspects who might have murdered a great lady like Tracy then it all came out of him a bit.

He stepped off the elevator to the parking garage at the third floor and walked towards his car. It had taken forever to find a space earlier, but now that the day was basically over and people were leaving half the parking lot was empty.

Alex was looking forward to going home and having a few cold ones in his Jacuzzi. He felt that he was off to a good start with the investigation. Both Robin and his wife had made valid points about the cops not investigating this sort of thing, but Alex knew that they had pretty much targeted Joe for the murder. He was the easiest target, he was rich and quasi-famous, and the people wanted him to fry for it. That was often all it took with a case like this.

It was up to him to dig up some new and compelling evidence before the wheels were set too far in motion to prosecute Joe and send him to prison. He did not have a lot of time. He could see this moving to trial within a month.

He pressed his key fob and heard his car unlock down at the bottom of the parking garage. He hated parking garages with a passion. It was just the clumsiest way that he could see to house a bunch of cars. It usually took him forever to find his car and when he did find it then it was always a huge let down to see how far from the door he had really parked.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he almost did not hear the engine roaring behind him. The keys in his hand jingled softly, echoing off the loud echoes that were rampant in the parking garage, but he could see no one else on his level.

Alex stopped a moment and looked around. For some strange reason he had the feeling that he was being watched. He glanced around and saw no one. It was a thing that he’d always had every time he was in a parking garage. He felt like he was just on display and that there was someone behind every car or behind every huge concrete post that held the next level overhead above him.

He was almost halfway to his car when he heard the tires squealing behind him as the gas was hit. Alex whirled around just in time to see a car barreling towards him at full blast speed. He was not sure how he found the superhuman agility to leap out of the way, just narrowly missing being hit by the roaring automobile. He landed hard on the concrete, busting his shoulder so hard that he thought it may have been out of socket for a few seconds as he tried to regain his feet.

The car slammed on the brakes and turned around. It was going to try to get him again. Alex saw now that the car that had just tried to run him over was a van. It was painted totally white. It had no windows except for on the front of the car. He had no idea who or how many people might have been in that van. Whoever it was wanted him dead. There was no doubt about that.

He wasn’t sure if he could make it to his car in time before the van got to him. It was a long run, but it was about equal distance to the door. There was nowhere for him to run and hide. He had to think of something and he had to think fast.

The van floored the accelerator and came rushing towards him again. Alex knew that if he ran it would just run him down. He couldn’t outrun the van, even in the parking garage. There were not a lot of places to hide. He was just going to have to trick the driver and out maneuver it until he could get in his car and get out of here, or the security guards saw what was happening and came to assist. He was not sure which would be quicker.

He waited until the van was almost on him and then he dove again to the side, careful not to land this time on his hurting shoulder. He hit the hard pavement and continued to roll until he was on his feet again. This time he was not waiting to see where the van was. Alex saw the break he had been given and he was going to take it. He ran towards the end of the parking lot.

In seconds he was inside of his car. He felt secure for a second, but he knew that the van was going to come after him again. He felt a little safer in the car, but he knew that the van could still crush him in there if it really wanted.

Glancing in his rearview he saw nothing. The van was gone. It had vanished. Had it decided that he was too safe in the car? Did the driver figure that they were out of time here and that security would be all over in a few minutes? He wasn’t sure what to think. Alex just sat there for several seconds trying to catch his breath.

The threat was gone for the moment. Was it Robin? Jess? Had Jess called in a favor that quickly to teach him a lesson? Was that even possible before he had got out of the building?

It had to be Robin. He was scared that Alex was getting to close to putting the cuffs on his wife. He might be without his meal ticket if he let that happen. What if it was neither one of them? Could there be someone who was following him? Was there someone else they had not even thought of?

He had to know.

****

“So, there is nothing on the security footage? No license plate on this car? You didn’t find any tire tracks there at all? That thing was burning rubber, Max.”

Alex sat back down frustrated. He was in the office of Max Caulson, the chief of police. He had decided to stir things up a bit by going to the law enforcement professionals that he hated. He figured that maybe if they caught a whiff of what he was on the verge of uncovering it might get them to reconsider their position and he might even get a bit of help before he ended up getting himself killed.

“No, Alex. There is no evidence there except for the video footage. We will put out an APB and have everyone keep their eyes peeled, but it’s not exactly a unique looking van. There has to be a million of these around. And you want to know the secret to an all-white van? You can paint it anything you want. That van could be completely tie dyed by now or it could have every single color of the rainbow painted all over it. Who knows? We can’t go by that.”

“I realize all of this,” Alex said. He was getting pissed at being given the runaround and he was getting pissed at the contempt that he was picking up in the chief’s voice. “But I was almost murdered here and I get the suspicion that you couldn’t care less.”

“Alex, we have the footage and we have the van description out. That is all we have to go on. We don’t have any reason or any evidence to back up your claim that Robin or Jess Lydell had anything to do with this.”

“Did you check her phone records? See who she called? Did you check his? Does Robin have an alibi since the time I left him?”

The chief sighed deeply as if he was getting so sick and tired of talking to Alex. It was evident that the chief and everybody else on the force had made up their mind on who they wanted for this thing and it was Joe Payden. Anything else that Alex was dropping into their world was just going to mess that up and they could not allow that.

“I know why you are going to all of this trouble. You are trying to save your buddy. But I hate to tell you the man is guilty as sin. We all know it and the evidence is going to convince the jury to send him away for a long time.”

“Wow, can’t believe you just came right out and admitted it. I’m not going to let this go. I know my friend is innocent and I will get to the bottom of this.”

Alex stormed out of the office and into the warm spring night. He was just reminded of exactly why he did not practice criminal law. It was worse than corporate law with all of the unscrupulousness that went on with it. Only in criminal law someone lost their entire life and not just their money. The entire justice system was a sham and Alex was wondering what it said about him to have practiced it for fifteen years. He was getting closer to hanging up his hat on it every single day.

He was still not remotely convinced that Robin and Jess were innocent, not by a long shot. He was going to put the screws to the both of them.

Joe listened as Alex finished telling him the whole story. It was like something out of a horror film or something. Someone had tried to kill his best friend. And if they had succeeded Joe would have felt partly responsible. Alex was trying to help save his life after all, but things were getting too dangerous. When was enough going to be enough? Maybe there really was no way to beat this thing, but just hope that he got a good jury who was unbiased against him and that he could have a fair trial. The jury had to see past all of the circumstantial evidence that the state had collected against him.

Joe looked around, thankful that his girls were not awake yet. That was a trait that all the women in his family seemed to share—they were all deep sleepers and hardly anything could disturb them before they caught at least nine hours. It was ridiculous. He himself could not remember when he had slept longer than six hours in a night. He had too much energy and he had too many things that he wanted to accomplish every day. There were not enough hours and if his body would function on less sleep he would gladly let it.

“I want you to call this thing off,” Joe said. He had reached a decision.

“What? What are you talking about?” Alex asked.

“It’s getting too dangerous. If there is someone now after you then they know you are investigating this and that you must be getting close. Something you did scared them enough to try to get you out of the picture.”

“Ok, that is what I want. I want to flush these assholes out of hiding. Eventually they will give themselves away. That is the idea,” Alex said.

“I know, but it’s getting too dangerous. I can’t’ let you continue to put your life on the line for me,” Joe said.

“Joe, you are my best friend. I would do this in a heartbeat no matter what. I am not going to let you rot in jail the rest of your life for a crime that I know you did not commit.”

Joe smiled weakly. He was touched by Alex’s loyalty. The man was a great friend and Joe considered him to be the brother he had never had.

“I know how you feel. I appreciate it, but I can’t let you continue to risk your life to save mine. If something happens to you then I would never be able to live with myself.”

“Joe, I am doing this with or without your blessing. I’m not going to just let it lie. You will lose this case if it goes to trial. You know that right?”

“I do, yes.”

Joe sat back down on the couch and tried to relax.

“So, you really think that Robin Lydell attacked you in the parking garage?”

“If not him then it was someone who works for Jess Lydell,” Alex said.

“Ok, so we need to tail them both?”

“I was thinking of that, but I’m sure they will pick up on it. They have the resources available to stay a few steps ahead of us at all times,” Alex said.

Just then Alex’s phone rang. He saw that it was the PI Dyer calling him.

“Speak of the devil,” Alex said as he answered the phone. Joe was looking forward to the updates to find out what new info Dyer had uncovered.

“What? What is it?” Joe asked. He could see the color fading from Alex’s face. His skin was ashen now. Alex looked as if he might puke all over the floor. There was something bad happening on that phone call and all Joe could do was wait until Alex regained his bearings enough to tell him what was wrong.