Surrogate Evil, page 13
Officer Moore reached into her uniform shirt pocket and brought out a piece of paper and a pen. “I’m assuming you can read, you prick.” She aimed her flashlight on the paper, and after a minute, Sully read and signed it. He was so mad, Lee could see his hand shaking. Then he tossed it at her.
“Here you are, bitch. And don’t try to plant any phony evidence. I’m going to be right beside you.”
“Damned right you’ll be right beside me. And keep your little boy-grabbing hands where I can see them. You make a move on me and it’ll take a tow truck to pull my boot outta your ass.”
“I wish she was wearing a wire. I’m not catching everything,” Diane whispered. “She seems a little over the top. Think Sully is going to catch on?”
Lee shook his head. “Moore’s with the gang unit, and there’s nothing more dramatic than teenagers on the edge. Results are what count, and she’s getting exactly the kind of reaction we want.”
Sully waved the female officer, a foot shorter than him and probably forty pounds lighter, toward the front door.
“You first, Sully,” Moore ordered. Sully suggested something about Officer Moore’s sexual preferences, but he stepped inside the screened porch, followed by the officer. They continued on into the house, and were only partially visible through the windows.
“Now we wait,” Diane said.
Lee hated to be out of contact with Officer Moore when she could be the subject of an attack—if Sully was a kidnapper—but he couldn’t risk coming up closer to the house and being seen from the inside. The ground had been cleared out to a distance of about a hundred feet in every direction—a good fire prevention strategy—so there was no cover, especially with the generator-powered outside lights.
An uneventful twenty minutes went by—apparently Officer Moore was checking everywhere, not just in a place where a four-and-a-half-foot boy could be hidden in one piece—then Sully led the way as they came back out onto the porch. Sully watched while Moore aimed her flashlight all around the enclosure, which held only an outdoor café-size metal table and two chairs, then the two came outside.
They walked all the way around the outside of the building, Officer Moore directing her flashlight along the ground, searching for openings in the foundation and the roof, as well. When the two appeared again, after checking the sides out of view of Lee and Diane, Sully spoke.
“Told you I haven’t got a damn thing to do with that missing kid. You come back here again, you’d better have the sheriff and a legal warrant. Then you can waste his time, too, and piss everybody off.”
“Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Sully, but don’t think you’re off the hook. Not until I get every piece of property you own checked out. You don’t think I know about your Albuquerque apartments? Hell, I may even check out your station in Tijeras.”
“Knock yourself out. I’m going inside.” The man turned and stepped back onto his porch. He’d just shut the screen door behind him when Officer Moore, who’d been looking around the yard, suddenly whistled.
It was so loud, Diane flinched, and so did Lee.
“Hey, dickhead. One more spot. Pop the trunk on your Camry so I can have a look.”
“I should make you get another warrant,” Sully said, but he came back outside. Removing the key chain from his pocket, he thumbed the remote. There was a tone, and the trunk popped open a few inches.
“Okay. Now stand still.” Moore walked over, lifted the truck up with the rim of her flashlight, then directed the light inside. She stepped closer and took a closer look.
“Full-size spare. Good thinking. Flares and chains, too. Bet you need them in winter sometimes, getting to the highway from here. Have a pleasant evening, Mr. Sully.” She walked to her vehicle, climbed inside, then started the engine and drove off quickly, spraying gravel.
Sully waited until the dust had drifted away, then walked over and closed the trunk on the Camry. Next, he inspected his car windows, perhaps concerned that they had been struck by flying gravel. He mumbled some obscenities that Lee couldn’t hear, then flipped a finger in the direction of the retreating taillights. “Bite me!” Sully yelled at the top of his lungs.
Sully started laughing, and his amusement continued all the way into the house. A minute later, the outside floodlights were turned off.
“Now what?” Diane whispered to Lee.
“The night is young. If he has the Klein boy hidden somewhere he might just want to go check on him.”
“But not if he thinks he’s being watched or set up. He may come back out now with a light and search the surrounding forest for spies. Us.”
“Good point. Let’s get back to the vehicles. You stay there and get in contact with Officer Moore on the cell phone. I gave you the number, right?”
“Yeah. You going to come back here and play cat and mouse?”
“Sully doesn’t come across as the Navy SEAL type, and besides, I have the advantage at the moment.”
“More than one. So let’s get moving before he grabs a shotgun and a lantern.” Diane stood up, grabbed his hand, then tripped over a branch.
“Oops.” Lee kept her from falling by pulling her against him and held her close for a second to steady her. “Let me lead the way, okay?”
It took only about five minutes to reach the vehicles. Lee picked an easy route, and because it was so dark, only other vampires or men with flashlights could pose a threat to them now. They encountered neither.
Diane was already calling Andrea Moore when Lee started back to Sully’s. He ran uphill, treading lightly and uninhibited by the need to conceal his half-vampire speed and agility. None of that Hollywood vampire turning-into-a-bat fiction was really possible, though shape-shifters capable of turning into wolves or wildcats were as real as vampires. Lee knew that firsthand. Until he’d met Diane Lopez, his only goal in life had been to hunt down and kill the Navajo skinwalkers who preyed upon innocent Navajos, like Annie, his schoolteacher wife.
He hadn’t seen, or sensed, a shape-shifter in human, wolf, or mountain lion form for more than a year now, but the last pack he’d done battle with along the Rio Grande Valley had nearly killed both Diane and him.
In less than a minute Lee was back in position, watching Sully’s house for activity. He was farther back now, not needing to be as close so Diane could hear and see, as well. If Sully did come out again, Lee wanted to have enough room to move fast and avoid the beam of a light.
Five minutes later, the generator came back on, and a moment later, the floodlights. Sully came out, wearing a hooded sweatshirt, baseball cap, and carrying a handgun and powerful flashlight. He stepped off the porch, directed the light slowly around the area, sweeping the darkness of the surrounding forest and searching for movement. A rabbit froze as the beam passed her by, then took off into the brush as soon as the light moved on.
Lee ducked behind a tree well before the light reached him and waited. Satisfied, apparently, Sully checked to make certain nobody was beside the house, then he checked the car, even getting down on the ground and looking beneath. Maybe he was searching for a tracking device.
Sully went back inside, turned off the generator, then came out. He locked the inside and outside doors, then climbed into the Camry, placing the pistol under his seat. Then he drove slowly away.
Lee was on the phone immediately. “Lay low, Diane. Sully just left in his car. I’ll be coming down the hill as soon as I hang up.”
“Thanks for the warning,” Diane said. “I can see his headlights in the distance.”
Lee ran quickly, already knowing the route to take. When he reached Diane, she was standing beside her pickup, looking in his direction.
“It’s me,” Lee said, coming close enough so she could see him clearly even under the starlight.
“I heard you, barely. Thanks for giving me a heads-up. It gives me the creeps sometime when I turn around and see you standing there.”
Lee moved toward his SUV. “Must be the Indian in me. We know how to move silently.”
“It’s not just the Indian,” she commented. “You lead, I’ll follow. Headlights are okay, right?”
“Yeah. As soon as we get rolling, I’ll call you.”
Lee didn’t need the headlights, of course, but once he got within Sully’s sight, Diane’s lights would illuminate him anyway, so he’d be using them. But right now, he had to get close enough to see whether Sully went north or south at the highway. He started up the vehicle, drove quickly out of the arroyo, then raced east down the gravel road.
When he topped the last hill before the mile-long, straight stretch to the highway, Lee could see Sully pulling out, headed north. He got on the phone immediately and relayed the information to Diane. She acknowledged, and he noticed her headlights in his rearview mirror.
Lee turned on his own lights now and raced to the turnoff. Three minutes later he had Sully’s car in view again, so he let off on the gas and slowed to fifty-five. Sully was going the speed limit on this stretch, so he had to pace him.
Lee plugged his cell phone into the headset so he could drive easily now and still talk to Diane.
“Think he’s going to one of his properties in Albuquerque, maybe to check on the boy?” Diane asked.
“Could be. He checked all around his place to see if anyone else was lurking around before he left. He wanted to make sure he wasn’t being followed.”
“But he knows there’s a vehicle behind him now, right?”
“I’m far back enough so he can’t make me, but, yes, he’s got to know he’s not the only one on this road.”
“If he turns, then break off. I can take the chase up from there,” said Diane.
“Agreed,” Lee said. “Why don’t you call the Bureau and see if there’s anything they can add to Sully’s background? His financial situation and so on. Also, ask if they’ll compare his photo to any unsolved child predator reports in other communities—those that have a sketch or description that might fit.”
“I can do that. Hanging up now.”
Lee continued to follow Sully for another ten minutes, then watched as the man pulled off the road to the right and came to a stop.
Diane was available, and he got her right away. “He pulled off the east side of the road and stopped. I’ve got to pass him. I’ll go on by, then pull off myself. If he comes by me again, I’ll let you know. Wait for him to start up again, and don’t let him get behind you.”
“Gotcha, Lee. I see your taillights, so I’m going to pull over now. Watch him from your side, if you can.”
“Okay.” Lee quickly put on a baseball cap, backward like the current teen style, then turned up his collar and found a radio station playing obnoxious rap. He slowed a bit, rolled down his window, slumped slightly in his seat, then cruised by Sully’s parked car. He watched the car as long as he could with his eyes, but didn’t turn his head.
As soon as Lee got to the next curve, he pulled over, turned off his lights, then climbed out of the SUV quietly and looked back down the road. Sully was sitting there, alone in his car. Five minutes went by, then Sully pulled out onto the road again, turning on his lights.
Lee waited, then, as Sully’s lights began to reach his location, turned away, hunched over, and pretended to be throwing up just in front of the SUV.
Sully was no good Samaritan; as a matter of fact he speeded up as he passed Lee doing his act.
Once Sully was down the road a few hundred yards, Lee jumped back into the SUV. Diane was coming up from behind now and he let her pass. “I’ve got him now,” he heard her say as he picked up his headset. “What were you doing, answering nature’s call?”
“Naw, pretending to be a hurling rapper.”
“Sorry I asked.”
“Thought that might keep him from looking too closely.”
“Would have worked for me.”
They continued to follow Sully’s car, Diane now leading, until finally Diane spoke again. “He just turned left, up Quail Run. I’m going on past him without making the turn, then pull over like you did before. If he’s trying to ditch me, this’ll make him think it worked.”
“He knows Glover, maybe that’s where he’s headed,” Lee responded.
“I’d like to know what they’re going to be talking about. You think he’s going to ask Glover to check up on Officer Moore? Try and find out what’s going on?”
Lee thought about it a moment, then decided to turn and follow Sully. If Sully stopped at one of the other homes on Quail Run, he’d see, and if the suspect went all the way to Glover’s, Lee would still have a reason for being across the street. He lived there.
“I’m going home. Not as likely to arouse any suspicions doing that, and maybe I can eavesdrop on Sully if he’s really headed for Glover’s.”
“Okay. I’ll hang around by the highway for a while and stay in touch. Both of us shouldn’t return at the same time. That’ll look strange,” Diane said.
Lee drove up Quail Run several car lengths behind Sully, who was going just over the posted speed of 15 mph. Lee could tell he was being watched via the man’s rearview mirrors, but if his presence was making Sully paranoid at the moment, too bad. Sully slowed to a crawl, then pulled in behind the Jeep in Glover’s driveway.
Sully stayed in his car, and Lee could see Glover looking out his living room window at the white Camry as he drove up, pulled into his and Diane’s driveway, then stopped and climbed out.
Lee walked up to the front door of the house and fiddled with his keys, watching Sully’s car. Glover had moved out of view.
Lee opened the door, went inside, turned on the living room lamp, then walked into the kitchen area, disappearing from view of the front living room window. He continued into the utility room just beyond, ran quickly out the back door and circled, inching his way up to the west side of the house, crouched low. Once he reached the corner of the building, Lee stopped. From here he could finally see what was going on in front of Glover’s place.
Sully opened the driver’s side door and Glover came out, hurrying to the car.
“What the hell you doing here, Sully? Don’t tell me your moron mechanics screwed up my pickup. It was supposed to be delivered this afternoon.”
“No, no. That’s not it,” Sully said, climbing out of the vehicle. He turned and looked toward Lee’s front porch. “I got a visitor tonight and I need to talk to you about it.”
“Let’s go inside. The guy across the street is a troublemaker.”
Sully’s laugh was nervous. “Not for long, I’ll bet. You’ll take care of him.”
Glover slapped Sully on the head, likely a throwback to his high school bully days. “Shut up, asshole. Just get inside.”
Lee reached down to his pocket and switched his cell phone to vibrate as he watched the two men climb up the small porch and go inside Glover’s house. Glover took another look outside, toward their front window, then turned on his porch light.
Lee sprinted across the road, leaped the low fence around Glover’s yard, then inched up to the corner of the house. He considered keeping flush against the wall and hoping he could find a window to listen at, then decided he’d be in full view once either man came back outside.
Wishing for a second he could shape-shift into a jaguar, like a skinwalker, Lee settled on his vampire-enhanced athletic ability. Jumping flat-footed, he grasped the edge of the roof, then did a slow, careful pull-up, easing onto the fiberglass shingles and lying flat. He then stood and quietly walked, step by step, until he was above the living room window. Flattening once again, Lee lowered his head over the edge and noted that the window was open about four inches.
“Stand still. If you’re wired or somebody attached a bug to your clothing, this scanner will pick it up.”
“Where the hell did you learn all this James Bond crap, anyway? Never mind, I don’t want to know,” Sully said.
“You’re not as stupid as you look. You’re clean.”
“Then talk to me, Glover. What’s going on?”
“They don’t know shit, Sully, how could they? If that cop had anything you’d be handcuffed in the back of her car and there would be a crime scene van in your front yard. She’s just grasping at straws, trying to break a big case and get promoted to sergeant or whatever.”
“Maybe. But I don’t believe in coincidences. Do you?”
“Remind me to scan your car before you leave. Last thing we need is for you to be seen with me. You didn’t leave anything at your house that would lead to me or suggest I had the merchandise, did you?”
“No, no, everything was pristine or I wouldn’t have allowed the search. I’m keeping the deal. No money, no merchandise.”
“You screw around with me, you’re dead, Sully. Until I get the rest of the cash, you get nothing. I put my life on the line to get this for you, and I’m not taking any chances.”
Lee thought his heart stopped for a moment as he heard the words. Though the term used had been “merchandise,” it sounded to him like Glover was implying that he had kidnapped the boy and was selling him to Sully. And if the Klein boy was the merchandise, where was he being kept?
CHAPTER 10
Lee felt his phone vibrating, but wasn’t exactly in a position to answer it. He needed to continue listening to Sully and Glover in order to get a lead to the “merchandise.”
“Things are getting too hot now, Newt. Life in prison isn’t on my career path. Everything has to be put on hold.”
“Probably a good idea. But that doesn’t mean you can hold off on my money. This was all your idea,” Glover answered. “You placed the order months ago, and a few days ago I had the opportunity to grab the merchandise. Don’t screw with me unless you want your entire world to go up in smoke. Or worse.”
At least two minutes went by before Sully spoke again. “I’m supposed to get a check deposited tomorrow, then I’ll start withdrawing cash. When you get the next five thousand, then I can see … what I’m paying for, right?”
“Yeah. It’s your funeral if something goes south and you end up being identified later on. But you try anything, like going to the cops now—boom,” Glover said.
