Final Act (28 page)

“I might be able to do that
, he’d probably ask for more than
a meal though
.”

“I can manage it.  When do you think we can meet again?”

“Tomorrow morning.  The same place and time.
”

“Appreciate your forthrightness Hazel.  You know, if people were as cooperative and helpful as you are, the crime rate would be sure to fall.”

“Never mind the flattery, I don’t need it. 
I was raised by good parents. I know right from wrong.
”

“
Understood.”  H
e passed her his card wrapped in a $50 bill. “For phone calls
if you hear any rumours or spot this dark clad person again
,” he said.
 

Exhausted, Roger hailed the first empty cab and went home to bed. 

***

“
Good news,
Shirley
”
,
Kate said, “
We’ve
got a break.  I just got a call from a concerned citizen.”

“
A
nd
?”

“
It was a very informative dialogue I had with Mrs
. Rogers
.  She’s a
senior citizen
who had left the province to visit her daughter and granddaughter in Toronto.  She returned home
a little more than a week ago.  Took her time reading through her stack of newspapers, came across the story on Jeffrey Stone’s murder an hour ago, says
said he has a
cabin
a
mile up the road from her
.
”

“Where does she live?”

“
About two kilometres past Peggy’s Cove
, on a dirt road, only two dwellings, hers and down the road a piece, a cabin.
”

“Why would Jeffrey Stone buy a rundown
shack? Surely h
e could afford something better.”

“
Because he
was hiding something.
Mrs. Rogers gave me
the civic
address
;
I’ll
start the paper work for a search warrant.  Once it
’
s ready, we’ll head out to interview
to her;
Withers and a couple of men from the incident team can follow us in the van and search the cabin.  I better inform Gordon
.
”

Two
hours later, Kate and Shirley sat across from Mrs. Roger at her red and white Formica table eating peanut butter cookies and sipping tea.  The woman was obviously pleased to find herself in the middle of a murder case
. 
Shirley
wiped the crumbs from her face and hands,
slipped her notebook out of her bag, entered the date and time, and waited for Kate to begin.

“Tell me when you first noticed Mr. Stone?”

“It was in the spring,
over
two years ago now.  I noticed the green Land Rover first.  It started travelling up the logging road quite regularly.  I made it a point to be out at the mailbox the next time I thought it would be going by.  He smiled and waved.  Tall, man, big mane of gray hair.”

“Was anyone with him?”

“No.  He stopped by one weekend and told me he had bought the property and was fixing it up for him and his fishing buddies.  Didn’t recommend I visit as the property was swampy
, he d
idn’t need to tell me that
,
I never go down there.”

“You mentioned no one was with him
, none of his fishing buddies, anyone at all?”

“Oh yes, dearie.  There w
ere people alright
, not fishing buddies, a f
emale,
very young,
pretty, blonde.
”

“
Yes, first it was the blonde, next it was a dark haired young girl, must have been her cousin.
”

“Did they come together?”

“No, first it was the blonde one.  Then I didn’t see her anymore but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t there.  I don’t hang at my window all day.”

“When was the last time you saw her?”

“Let’s see.  It was in the
winter
time, two years or a bit more.”

“So did Mr. Stone keep coming regularly after that?”

“Oh yes
, s
een him going by
with the dark haired skinny looking kid.  It’s probably got nothing to do with his death but when I heard the police were looking for any information, I thought I should call.”

Kate thanked Mrs. Rogers for her cooperation and assured her the information she gave would help them with thei
r investigation. 
She informed her that her statement would be typed out and a constable would bring it out to her for signature.

Standing on the front porch, Kate and Shirley saw the police van heading back to the city.  They wasted no time getting to their car.
 

At the precinct,
Kate, Shirley and Withers sat together in the multi-purpose room
,
eyes glued to the TV.  The search of the cabin had turned up a tripod, camera, but no film. 
Darkness was descending and the techs were on the phone to arrange keig lights. 
Getting ready to leave with evidence bags containing articles of
female
clothing, hairbrush, make up and various toiletries, Withers came to a full stop in front of the fireplace.  Placing the bag on the floor, he crouched down on the hearth and looked
up
the
chimney.  Four DVD’s were perched on a makeshift
brick
ledge three feet from the opening. 
The techs were still at the cabin pulling up floor boards.  They were told to call the precinct if they found anything else of interest.

Eyes glued to the DVD, Kate asked if anyone recognized the girl.  Th
ey all responded in the negative.

“She can’t be more than 15
-16
years old.  Obviously wasn’t coerced, she seems to be a willing participant.”

“Doesn’t make it any less of an offence, though, does it”, Shirley remarked.

“Damn right it doesn’t.
We f
ind the
parents of
this young girl and
we may
find
the killer
.”

Withers popped in the last DVD. A tall, skinny girl with freckles; s
he too was a very willing participant.

“Shirley, drop their pictures into our system and see what turns up.”

“Will do.”

“
Do you think
we’ve got a female killer, Kate”, Withers asked.  “A mother out for revenge.”

I can think of t
wo
mothers of teenage daughters. 
Catherine, and Eleanor; I checked on Philip’s daughter, she has lived with her mother for the past five years in California.  The other two should be come under scrunity but w
ho knows
, t
hey could be kids of someone not ev
en connected with the theatre.
One thing I do know, we’re getting closer.  Gordon was murdered because he was a pedophile.”

“I know someone who has a sister that age, Kate”, Shirley said.  “When I interviewed Brenda, Stone’s protégé, she mentioned her.”

The phone rang and Withers picked up. 

“The two taxi drivers who went to Catherine’s home are downstairs.  I’ll handle it.”

Kate and Shirley went back to the office and together wrote up the report, e-mailed it to both the Chief and Gordon. 
Thirty minutes later,
Withers dropped by to inform them about his interview.  The driver
to first arrive at the home picked up his fare at the entrance to the hospital.  He said the passenger was wearing a long dark coat and a surgical mask covered the bottom half of the face.  He said his passenger never spoke, just passed him a note with the address written on it.  Thought it could
have been a male or female.  The driver who arrived at 4:30 gave a perfect description of Eleanor Sutton-Gray. 

Kate looked at her watched. 
Time to go and eat, she was famished.  She’d do Chinese takeout and call Roger from home.

Chapter
15

The stalker shivered in the
cold
wind
but kept
Hanya’s office
window in view
patiently
waiting for the
light
to go out. 
A slick sheen of sweat
sucked the thin plastic gloves tighter
to the
tense
hands.  A quick glance to
back entrance way
to make sure it was still clear. Yes, no traffic. 
Only three cars in the parking
lot
b
urnt out bulb in the
overhead light
at the entrance.  The time was right. 

A
rustling
sound from the woods by the left bank
, s
omething was moving.  Resisting the urge to run, the dark figure slipped further back into the darkness.  Where was Hanya?  She should have been making her way across the lot to her car by now.

The sound
was
closer.  This time t
wigs
snapped
underfoot
then a
small animal, moving too fast to identify, brushed
against
the stalker’s legs. 
T
he
n the third sound, the one
so
patiently waited for, the
sound of footsteps on asphalt
. 
Watching the heavy woman making her way towards the parked cars, the stalker waited until she was a few feet away from her vehicle, then slipped the gloved hand into the pocket of the oversize black coat, pulled out the gun, took aim, and fired. 
Hanya went down.
 

Seconds after the
trigger was squeezed, something heavy crashed into the back of the stalker’s legs. 
The impact knocked the stalker to the ground and the gun went flying.
S
prawled on the frozen ground, the killer
listened.
It was quiet. 
The killer
rose, ran out of the wooded park
,
leaving the gun behind.

Hanya couldn’t stop shaking.  She lay under the front fender of her car willing herself to be still. 
Her heart was pounding so hard she couldn’t hear anything
.  She started to raise her head
but
stopped
, whoever was out there might be
waiting for her to make a move.  She turned on her left side
, reached into her bag and pulled out her cell.
 

The dial tone screamed into the silence.  Then she heard
a noise -
approaching footsteps.  She prayed for courage.  She could see the shoes of the killer at the back of the car and as she watched the feet approaching the side, she was calm, ready
.
 
When your times up, that’s it. 

“For God’s sake
Rev.
Hanya, what
’s wrong?
”

She looked up at
John
, her least favourite student, who stood towering over her.  She lifted her face off the asphalt and
lifted her hand
.
Seconds later she was on her feet, shaky feet, but she was standing.
 

“Can you help me back to my office?   I’m feeling a bit weak.” 

“
T
ake my arm and lean into me.” 

As they
entered the lit hallway,
he drew a sharp breath.

“Your face, it’s burnt.”

“It
’
s what happens
to people
John
,
when
they dive onto asphalt and roll themselves to a parked car. 
Someone took a shot at me.  I need to call the police.”

Whether the news spun him into action, or the fear of a killer out there in the dark,
he
had her on the second floor landing in no time flat.