The Killers Amongst Us: Chimera Dawn Chronicles (19 page)

SHAW
followed Frank and Jim into the interview room. He
took a seat at the desk. Gyp sneaked into the room and crawled under the table.
Shaw’s mind fixed on the time of the call to Amy. It would be within ten to
fifteen minutes after the attempt on Johno’s life. He was also reminded that
Ted was separated from the crew the night of Johno’s accident, and turned up
with his feet bare.

Shaw looked over at Frank “Lock the connecting door and go
and get your prisoner. You can take his cuffs off. Jim, you wait outside.”

Shaw waited, chewing the top of his Biro. He flicked the
corner of a closed buff folder on the desk which was stacked with sheets of
blank statement papers. The door opened. Frank ushered his prisoner into the
room. Shaw placed his Biro to one side of the folder.

“Please, take a seat,” said Shaw.

“Are you gonna tell me why I’m here?”

Shaw ignored him, picked up the file off the desk, opened it
and studied the blank sheets. He closed the file and set it down.

“Well now. I just need to ask you some questions. I know
most of the answers, so answer truthfully and then we can all go about our
business I’m not recording our interview and you’re not under caution. You’re
just helping with our enquiries. But anything you do say to help us with our
investigations that we could repeat in court. What were you doing in LA?”

“Research, why do you need to know?”

He’d seen that look before when someone had something to
hide. His eyes displayed a mixture of questioning and fear. Fear of what the
folder could hold.

“Just answer the questions. What research and where?”

“Well there’s the
LA Times
record office. And then
the Public Reference Library. I’m just doing research for a book I’m going to
write.”

“What’s the subject?”

“It’s private. You’ll find out when it’s published.”

Him being evasive and using an indignant tone gave the
impression that the book was a lie.

“It doesn’t matter. Where were you staying?”

“The Globe motel.”

“Alone?”

“Yes, alone. Amy wasn’t with me if that’s what you’re
thinking. Ask her Aunt Mary.”

“What about this morning, what were your movements up to
arriving back here?”

“Like I said, I was at the public library after the
newspaper records’ office, until around eleven thirty this morning. Then I went
to see if I could catch Amy at the hospital for lunch. I knew she went for
lunch with Louise around time I arrived. Besides, I wanted to find out how
Johno was progressing. I phoned her from the outside the Medical Centre, but
she was on a bus going to her Aunt Mary’s.”

He was finally opening up. It was time to press a button to
see how he’d respond.

“What did you talk about?”

Ted pushed back in his chair.

“Wait a minute, what’s all this got to do with what I said
with Amy?”

Shaw couldn’t be sure if his response was out of concern, or
he needed time to concoct a story.

“Just need to know what you had planned, that’s all. I
thought you were supposed to be seeing her tonight?”

“Well, I was, and that’s what we talked about. I told her I
had to come back to see the guy working on my home. In fact, because of your
gorilla here, he’ll probably not be there to show me how to work my new
security system. Anyway, I said I’d be back on Tuesday to bring her home.” Shaw
detected his demeanor change from puzzled, to as if he’d hoped that he’d worked
out why he was there. “Oh, I get it. Is that what all this is about?” He
laughed and shook his head. “This is a joke right; the sort of stunt I’d pull.
You’re teaching me a lesson for letting her down by not seeing her tonight. It’s
the Dad’s thing, right?”

Shaw kept a poker face, picked up the file once more and
studied the contents.

“Come on you guys, the joke’s over.”

“I’ve not finished yet, humor me a little longer. This dog
of yours, Polly. Where is she?”

His smile disappeared with the change of subject.

“I gave her away.”

“Why?”

“She frightened Amy and Polly was starting to get vicious in
her old age. I’d even taken to putting a muzzle on her.”

“Who did you give it to?”

“Don’t tell me someone’s made a complaint? I gave her to
some neighbor who rented the cabin next to mine for a vacation. Said he had a
car wreck yard in LA and she would make a good guard dog. I’m sure he said his
site was on Brook Street. It was hard letting her go, but I did it for Amy. I’d
had Polly for six years.”

Shaw didn’t respond, but fired his next question.

“When was Polly last at the vets?”

“Oh, God, no, I hope you’re not going where I think you are,
’cause you’re wasting your time. Don’t say that you’re thinking it was Polly
who killed the vet. She was gone by then, ask Amy.”

“And she would know would she? If I remember right, she was
at a sleepover with Louise on Thursday.”

Ted squirmed on his seat.

“For God’s sake, I took the dog to the vets last Wednesday
for a vaccination, before I handed her over to her new owner.”

“So she didn’t stay over at the vets?”

“No, we were in and out in five minutes.”

“And you wouldn’t lie to me? After all, I’m the sheriff and
your girlfriend’s dad.”

“Exactly.”

“Oh, that’s right, you don’t lie. Like when you said that you
were going home to fetch your tent on Friday. So, if Amy could put me straight
about your dog, how would she know Polly wasn’t there if she slept at Louise’s
house on Thursday?” Amy’s said nothing about you giving Polly away. You’re
saying that after six years, you wouldn’t be upset enough to tell her. That’s
bullshit.”

“Listen, I’m not lying. I needed to be sure he was keeping
her. We agreed if he couldn’t handle her I’d take Polly back and he’d let me
know over this next week, I was keeping it a surprise for Amy. Thinking about
it, Amy wouldn’t know, because I kept Polly in the back yard. The guy took her
Thursday Morning. Why don’t you just ask him? His number is on my cell under
the name of Jamie.”

“Don’t worry, I will.”

“Good, because then you’ll find out that I’m telling the
truth.”

Ted developed a smirk and held up his hands, showing Shaw
his palms.

“Okay, you’ve got me, guilty as charged. Amy slept at my
home on Thursday evening.”

Shaw felt anger welling inside and rose from his chair. The
urge was there to hit out. Instead, he grabbed the buff file and stormed to the
door.

“You think this is a game? Lock him back up in his cell.
We’ll carry this on later,” Shaw said.

Shaw took a seat at his desk in the office, drumming his
fingers on the surface, when Jim and Frank entered.

“He still thinks it’s all a joke and you’re teaching him a
lesson just because he’s slept with Amy. He said if you don’t get to the punch
line soon, he’ll sue your pants off, Amy’s dad or not,” said Jim. “Where do we
stand legally?”

“He’ll know it’s not a joke when the FBI arrests him. Then
he’ll have more on his mind than suing me. As for the legality, Frank read him
his Miranda rights when he picked him up for resisting arrest, so we can hold
him for twenty-four hours. If it wasn’t for us being able to hand him over to
the FBI, we’d have to drop Frank’s trumped up charges and let him go, or Frank
could be in trouble. Telling him we can use what he says voluntary in the
course of helping with enquires is a way around Miranda if needs be, but it’s
not as good as a recorded statement.”

Frank sat down in front of Shaw. He stroked his chin stubble
and then tapped his lips with his finger.

“Spit it out,” said Shaw.”

“It’s his word against mine, so I don’t give a damn about the
legality if it helps to find Amy. But is that what’s this is all about, venting
your anger because he’s made a fool of Amy? Or, is there some purpose to it all
for me sticking my neck outside the law?” Frank said.

Shaw realized that when he’d asked them not to accept
excuses and to bring him in that it was said in anger and with some force. He
needed to shoulder some of the responsibility for Frank’s improvisation.

“To be honest, I wasn’t expecting you to smash his
taillight, but it’s my fault, because I said not to take any excuses. One
thing’s for sure, you can’t ever do anything like that again.”

“Good thing I turned off my Car-Cam and didn’t write a
ticket,” Frank said and laughed. “So it never happened.”

“Okay, but to answer your question, it’s both anger and
purpose. Look at what we’ve found and where it could lead us. He was outside
the hospital just after the attempt of Johno’s life. He was the last to talk to
Amy and he knew she was on the bus heading to Mary’s. We already know about
Johno’s accident, but until we speak to him, we don’t know what took place. Now
consider that if what happened to Johno at the ravine wasn’t an accident, we
would need a motive. That same motive we could apply to what happened today
with Johno at the hospital. It could be something to do with a drug debt, or
say computer fraud. Bearing in mind that Ted was alone that night at the Lake.
He could have followed Johno and pushed him over the ravine and hightailed it
back, thinking he was dead. Then, we have Amy. She could have guessed what Ted
is up to with them being close. Hell, for all I know he could have told her
all. He could be say trafficking drugs, or running an internet fraud. He’s
older than the rest of them. He doesn’t work at a day job and he visits LA
regularly. And to top it off, he uses an alias.” Shaw looked up at the ceiling.
“Hell, he could have seen Amy as a loose end and kidnapped her, or worse—”

He brought his fists crashing down on the desk.

“Whoa, don’t go there,” said Frank

“Don’t go there? I’ll put a bullet through his skull if he’s
harmed Amy. He’d better hope for his sake that’s not how it played out and she
does turn up at some shopping mall.”

“So what now?” Jim asked.

SITTING
at his desk, Shaw dropped his head in his
hands. His thoughts were jumbled as he searched for Jim’s answer as to what
they should do next. The notion that Amy could be in the hands of abductors,
vied with the idea that she could be sat in a coffee bar somewhere, reading a
magazine. He knew that his last image of her didn’t make sense. Amy was too
responsible. She had to have got off of the bus for them to have found her
phone. It was a ten-minute walk to Mary’s house. Losing her phone was a good
enough reason for her not to phone Mary. There again, Amy would have phoned
Mary from a public phone, even if she had got back on the bus when it returned
for her to look for her phone. There was time for her to have walked to Mary’s
house, explained the problem, and then returned to wait for the bus. Not
phoning Mary only made sense to him if she had a change of heart about going to
Mary’s, and say another bus had come along. Maybe it wasn’t a bus, but someone
she knew? Someone like Ted who knew where she would be. That thought stuck in
his mind as if it were branded there.

The office phone rang. He looked at Frank and pointed to the
phone. Frank picked up the handset and put it to his ear.

“He’s busy,” Frank said. “Who is it calling?” Frank held out
the handset to Shaw. “Logan’s on the line, LA homicide.”

He grabbed the handset.

“Any news?”

“Yeah, are you sat down?”

Shaw went numb. An ice-cold shiver passed through his body.

“What’s happened?”

“It’s not a homicide. So take some comfort from that.”

“What is it? Has she been in an accident?”

His entire being shook with anticipation of the answer, and
dreaded the worst.

“There’s good reason to think she’s been kidnapped.”

“What!” He pushed his back into his chair. “Kidnapped, by
who, why?”

“Look, we can’t say for certain, but there’s enough circumstantial
to alert the FBI.”

“Oh, no, shit, no. Why my Amy?”

“Look, here’s what we have. We’re having to make
assumptions.”

He desperately tried to push thoughts to one side that Amy
could be trussed up somewhere, desperately calling out for him. Shaw pounded
his temple with the ball of his palm as he listened.

“We think there’s a connection to the attempt on her
friend’s life at the hospital, especially after talking to the bus driver.”

“What did he see?”

“He remembers her getting off the bus, from her photo the
officer showed him. Said he watched her in his nearside mirror as he drove off,
and she walked over to an ambulance parked before the stop.

“Why look in his nearside?”

“Don’t take this wrong. I know she’s your daughter, but
she’s a stunner. I’ve seen the photo.”

“Yeah, yeah. Get to it. What else?”

“I had a detective scour where they found the phone, and he
found an empty syringe. He went straight down to forensics and explained Amy’s connection
to you. John, jumped straight onto the tests. Just a minute, I have the
detectives report here. We thought she could have been taking heroin as a
possibility.”

He agonized over the syringe, wondering if it had held
heroin. As devastating as that prospect would be, he would rather have that
picture, and her wondering off in a stupor, instead of her being a kidnap
victim.

“Here we are. He tested the residue. It’s a strong
tranquilizer that causes a temporary paralysis effect. Can’t pronounce the
name, but he said it would be strong enough to put a horse to sleep.”

“Yeah, but how do you know it was used on Amy.”

“Come on, you know how it works. There’s no such thing as
coincidence until proven otherwise. The stolen ambulance. Amy’s friend. The
result of the tests.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Shaw sighed, choked at how events were
unfolding.

“John says he’s taken a swab from the needle to see if he
can come up with a DNA sample, but it will take time. Anyway, the FBI is taking
it seriously enough to contact all air chopper support in California and to
have them look for the ambulance. We have the roof number of the one stolen.”

He fought his emotions. This was no time to lose control. He
realized that he needed to find an inner strength, to be able to help to get
Amy back. It was time for Detective Brett Shaw to surface and not the alcoholic
masquerading as a small town sheriff. He was half-way there already with the
drinking. Now he just needed to push the boundary.

“What makes you think they’ll want to ransom her?”

“Come on, think about it. If they wanted her dead, they’d
have done a drive-by.”

“Kidnapping just doesn’t make sense. How are we going to get
a sample of her DNA when she isn’t here?”

“Forgot already? We’ll have to get a partial parental sample
from you. Have a look at her hairbrush and see if there are any hairs with
roots.”

“Yeah, sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”

“Understandable.”

“I’ll see what I can find and come down tomorrow. I’ll be
staying at Mary’s”

“No, I need you to stay there. The FBI is at Mary’s now,
setting up wiretaps. They’re on their way to see you now. Maybe two or three
hours and they’ll be there. They can see to getting the samples to us for DNA
tests. Have you questioned her friends yet?”

“No, it’s next on the list.”

“You could start with someone called Ted.”

“Why?”

Pins and needles surged through his body at the mention of
his prisoner’s name.

“Because he was the last to have a conversation with her
around the time she was on the bus. I tried the number we took off her cell
phone, but the line’s dead”

Shaw lifted the box lid holding his prisoner’s belongings.
The small amount of charge he’d put in the battery to his cell phone must have
run out, because it was dead. He knew if he told Logan right away that he had
him in custody, he’d have the FBI interview Ted. If the FBI agents recognized
him from his wanted photo as Stewart Harvey, then that would be him gone, along
with anything he may know about Amy going missing.

“Ted’s Amy’s boyfriend. I’ll make enquiries and get back to
you.”

“Brett, I know this isn’t easy, but hang on in there and
keep busy to keep your mind on other things. We’re going to do everything we
can at this end.”

“I know. Let me know if there are any developments.”

Shaw closed the call. Jim and Frank both had shock written
all over their faces.

“Sorry,” said Jim.

“Me too,” said Frank.

Shaw knew that Logan was right. It was time to get busy. No
amount of words of sorrow, or despondency was going to get Amy back. The clock
was ticking before the FBI would be arriving on his doorstep.

“Thanks, but no time for feeling sorry, we’ve got work to
do.”

He picked out Ted’s cell phone from the box and connected
the charger. He scrolled through the contact menu until he found Jamie’s name.
He opened the number and scribbled it down. Shaw passed the note to Frank.

“That’s the car wreck guy’s number. Phone it and see if
Ted’s telling the truth. Then phone Tanya and Oliver and have them to come
here. You can interview them and see what you can find out. Get them to give
you other names of Amy and Ted’s friends and contact them to come into the
office. Get a hold of the of the Globe motel manager in LA. Find out all the
details of Ted’s stay, and see if he knows of any meetings with visitors.
Lastly, I’ll leave Ted’s phone on charge, but don’t answer any calls. I want
you to make a list of all incoming and outgoing call numbers and all his
contacts. Then turn the phone off and take out the memory chip. I’ll get back
here as soon as I can.”

“Where are you going?” Jim asked.

“I’m going to Ted’s cabin.” He rummaged in Ted’s personal
effects and pulled out his house keys, together with the key on the chain.

“Don’t you need a search warrant?” Jim asked.

“Yeah, that’s your Job. I don’t have time.”

“I ain’t never had to write out a request for a search warrant.
What do I do?”

“Judge Parker’s your Uncle, right.”

“Well, yeah.”

“Right then, put on the family act. Tell him about his alias,
and that he’s suspected of kidnapping Amy. Give him the details and ask him to
help you write it out ’cause you don’t want to look stupid in front of me. Oh,
and ask him to include his vehicle and phone.”

“What if he says no?”

“I’d phone your mom and ask her to put pressure on him, all
sisterly, brotherly. Whatever. I’m going in anyway. Phone me on my cell phone
either way. Now come on, let’s get busy, no time to waste.”

“What’s this,” said Frank, and picking up Gyp’s trophy rag
from the desk.

“It’s just a rag that Gyp brought home.”

Gyp jumped up at Frank, barking.

“The preppers wear these when they’re out hunting. It’s
burnt at the edges,” said Frank. Maybe he picked it up when we saw him
rummaging near the vets.”

“Whatever, just leave it there,” he said, and headed out to
his car.

He opened the door to his car and Gyp ran through his legs,
diving on his seat and into the back. Shaw climbed onto his seat and turned the
key in the ignition. Shaw hooked his arm over his seat and reversed. He turned
and glanced in his rearview. Gyp was sat bolt upright and their eyes met.

“So I guess you want to know what we’re going to find, boy. Fifteen
minutes and we’ll both know.”