Daddy's Little Killer (39 page)

Orion frowned.  "No, that was the God's
truth.  You're right.  It doesn't add up.  Why would
he try to kill you after getting what he wanted?"

"Oh my God.  I really am getting too
close.  He knew we were looking for Candy Blevins."

"Candy?  What for?  She's a
complete psycho, Doc.  Even if you can find her, which will be
extremely hard to do, believe me, she's not about to be
cooperative."

"Oh, we found her all
right," I murmured.  "Uncuff me, Johnny.  For better or
worse, it seems like we're on the same side." 
This time
.

He dug the key out of the pocket of his
jeans and passed it over to me.  "Have you talked to her
yet?"

"Not possible.  Sometime between ten
and eleven last night, Candy Blevins was murdered."

Orion slammed the heel of his hand against
the steering wheel.  The sound of flesh against metal
reverberated in the darkness.  "Murdered in what manner?" he
finally broke through the soft hum with a question.

"Like Gwen.  Like Brighton.  Like
the first Gwen Bennett I suspect.  Why doesn't Harlan Hartley
like you, Johnny?"

"Who?"

"Vinnie's only living relative. 
Although, I'm not sure Hartley is a blood relative now that I know
the truth about Vinnie."

"I've never met the man, Doc."  His
fingers flew off the steering wheel at my doubtful stare. 
"I'm not holding anything back at this point.  You already
know the big secret."

"Somehow I doubt that."  Rather than
launch into the laundry list of my complaints about being kept in
the dark, I revealed the content of my interview with Harlan
Hartley.  "So you see, if he's really Vinnie's uncle, either
he's related on the Bennett side of the family or he knows who the
perp in this case is and related to him."

"You lost me.  Why would Hartley be
related to the man we're trying to catch?"

Oh.  That.  "Vinnie's parents
weren't Eugene Bennett and his wife, Johnny.  In fact, I don't
even think there was a Eugene Bennett."

"Then who's his …"  Orion's voice
died.

"Gwen Foster, who you know was a victim of
rape and got another gift in the bargain."

"Vinnie.  That's why you asked me about
her baby."

"Yes.  She never confided that
information to you?"

"No."

The faint green light from the dashboard of
the car illuminated the set of his jaw, the bunching muscle that
ticked.

"I'm sorry.  I had to basically
threaten Hartley to get him to level with me, Johnny.  This
was a secret that they were all willing to take to their
graves."

"Can you blame them?  Jesus, Doc. 
Vinnie is special."

"What does that even mean?"

"He's a sensitive kid.  I'm sure that
news of Gwen's murder has crippled him as it is, but learning that
his biological father is a rapist?  That Gwen was really his
mother?  He'd die if he learned the truth."

"We may not be able to prevent it from
happening, Johnny.  Things like this have a way of coming out
in court."

"You're assuming we'll catch him." 
Orion pulled a cigarette from his breast pocket and lit it. 
He exhaled a cloud of spicy smoke out the window.  "Why would
he go after Gwen a second time?  Or Candy for that
matter.  Is Carrie even safe?"

"I'm sure Carrie isn't in any danger. 
As to why he raped Gwen again, I don't know.  Candy's murder
was a necessity.  I think she might've become this guy's
partner, Johnny.  In fact, I think Candy may have offered
Carrie up to the guy as an alternative."

"Raped
and
murdered Gwen," Orion
corrected.  "He slaughtered her just like all the others,
Doc."

I sucked in a deep breath.  Orion
didn't know the rest.  "No, he didn't kill Gwen, Johnny."

"I was there.  I saw her.  It was
like Brighton all over again.  Don't tell me –"

"We have conclusive evidence.  Gwen
Foster was murdered by someone smaller and weaker than she
was."

"Candy."

"That's what I suspected, though I doubt
we'll ever know for certain unless this guy makes a full confession
when he's caught.  With his love of playing psychological
games, I wouldn't count on it."  I noticed the landscape of
Downey whizzing by the speeding car.  "Where are we
going?"

"A safe place where we can piece together
the bits of this we haven't shared yet, Doc.  If the game is
over from this guy's perspective, the last place you should be is
somewhere he'd think you might go for refuge."

"My house."

"My penthouse.  Central Division. 
Dr. Winslow's home.  If he's the one behind that attempt on
your life outside Datello's office, he made a stupid mistake."

"Why?  If he'd been successful, I'd be
gone and it would probably look like Datello was behind my
murder."

"Yeah, but if he failed, he just lost the
easiest way to track your movement that he had."

In a way, our perp had done me a
favor.  Unfortunately, he was far from done making sure I was
out of the way.

Orion drove into a residential alley and
pulled up behind a modest bungalow.  "Let's get started. 
I have a feeling that we should probably check the news before we
do anything else.  If the vehicle is identified as the one you
rented, it'll be all over the media.  I want to know who is
rushing to announce your death."

He seemed up to speed with where my thoughts
were heading.  Either someone at Central Division was dirty,
or he was the very perpetrator we were hunting.  The memory
loss I experienced on Thursday bothered me again.  Had the
killer tried to set Jerry Lowe up in some way?  Did that
explain why I was found in my car outside his house?  Hardy
and Weber were being blackmailed.  Maybe our guy wanted to
make sure Lowe understood the stakes better than he had in the
past. 

Flynn Myre popped into my brain again.
 Could blackmail be the reason such an inept fool was allowed
to claw his way into the ranks of Darkwater Bay detectives? 
Something intangible tickled at the periphery of my
knowledge.  Something that didn't fit, that just wasn't quite
right.

I sighed, nearing defeat, followed Orion
into the house and slumped into a chair in the living room while he
dug in another for the remote control for the television.

"What is this place?"

"My parent's home."

"You weren't lying about them Monday
night."

"No.  What about you?"

I shrugged.  For all intents and
purposes Wendell had to remain dead to me.  "What's the point
of lying about ancient history?"

"A suspicious answer from one of the most
guarded women I've ever met."

The news broadcast blared into the modest
space and postponed further discussion of my psychological
tendencies to share as little as possible.  Orion already knew
too much as it was in my opinion.

The explosion was lead coverage, a live
report from the scene.  I recognized a few faces in the
background.  Jerry Lowe.  Don Weber.  Chris
Darnell.  I glanced at Johnny.  "Did you call Darnell
before you came to the car?"

"No need.  Whenever something like this
happens –"

"Darkwater Bay has a history of car
bombings?"

"A major crime with media on scene right
away," he amended, "Chris shows up to do damage control and make
sure that the police department doesn't do or say anything stupid
that will compromise the investigation down the road.  So far,
I only see the usual suspects."

"I should let Charlie know that I wasn't in
the car."

"Hold off on that, Doc.  I know he's a
good guy and has worked this case like a pro.  In fact, he's
pretty much put the entire homicide squad to shame.  But he's
still part of that system at central.  Anything he knows is at
risk for discovery by others."

"Right."

"I'll let Chris know you're alive.  It
might buy us a little more time if we let them think you didn't
survive."

"It's probably obvious that the car was
empty, Johnny."

The news desk broke into my argument. 
"We interrupt this story to bring you live coverage of yet another
apparent bombing in the greater metro area tonight.  We're
receiving reports from Beach Cliffs that –"

"My house!"

Orion pulled out his phone and dialed. 
"Chris, it's Johnny.  What the hell is going on out
there?"

I listened with rapt interest to Johnny's
half of the conversation while experiencing my first hint of true
mourning this week: the loss of my earnest money on the Beach
Cliffs house.

"She's not in the car or in the house. 
She's safe, Chris.  I promise.  Helen is sitting less
than  ten feet away from me right now.  Someone seems
determined that she dies."  Another pause.  "Yeah, she
knows everything.  Mostly everything.  I haven't
explained the hierarchy at OSI yet, but that's hardly the pressing
issue.  I need you to do something for me."

Orion outlined his plan to Darnell. 
"Only Winslow and her most trusted assistant can know what we're
doing, Chris.  Promise me that no one else is aware that we're
playing a ruse to buy time and anonymity for Helen.  She's
close.  I can feel it."

Was I?  Somehow the threads I once
believed were being pulled together seemed to disintegrate in my
fingertips now.  This rapist and killer managed to stay ahead
of me by at least one step at every turn.  In the
psychological game, he was clearly winning.

Orion disconnected the call.  "Chris is
on it.  He'll make sure that the announcement of your death is
made from the house on Beach Cliffs."

"Why is this good news?"

"He'll think he won.  He won't be
expecting your work to continue.  Chris suggested that we set
up a task force to solve your murder out at OSI headquarters and
include people from Central Division.  The state police can
keep tabs on our current suspect pool a lot easier that way."

"I doubt that any of them will balk at the
idea.  They couldn't spy hard enough to stay up to speed on
what I've been doing this week."

"There you have it.  Meanwhile, you and
I need to decide what comes next in this case.  You may not
feel like you're close to solving it, but the perp is convinced
enough to try to kill you, Helen.  We're missing something
important in what we already know."

I agreed.  "The escalation seems to
have developed after I talked to Carrie Blevins.  He knew that
I made the connection between the murders and possible survivors.
Question is, how did he know I talked to her?"

"Right.  What does that mean?"

I ignored the paranoia in his question. He
wasn't a suspect anymore, whether he believed me or not. "Probably
that talking to Carrie would lead us to Candy which would expose
his identity if she could be coerced into confessing her role in
Gwen Foster's murder."

I paused.  "Then there's Rodney
Martin."

"What about him?"

"I'm aware of four people who knew that I
was the top candidate Hardy would try to recruit to Darkwater
Bay.  Hardy, Weber, Darnell and the man who brought me onto
their radar, Martin.  I seriously doubt that Hardy and Weber
talked about their plans to anyone but each other."

"They didn't tell Chris they acted on the
idea," Johnny said.  "He learned you were here after I called
him on my way home from Gwen's house Wednesday morning."

"So if this guy knew about it before I
decided to come to Darkwater Bay, in advance far enough to send
Kelly and Varden to Washington, that leaves Rodney as the leak in
information."

"And now he's missing."

"Forsythe told me that the evidence they
found in his house indicates strongly that Rodney Martin is
dead."  I detailed the conversation and included the bit of
information about the missing keys.

"Is that why you went to Datello's
office?"

I nodded.  It was mostly the
truth.  That would have to suffice.

"May I see the keys?"

I dug them out of my pocket and passed them
to him.

"These are pretty low tech for a guy who has
motion detectors around his office building, Doc.  These look
like those you'd find for a home safe, one designed for keeping
documents from being charred in a fire."  He glanced at
me.  "What led you to Datello for these?"

"A hunch."  A convenient excuse. 
It didn't really matter.  Johnny was right and I knew
it.  "I see your point."

"So what next?"

"I think this guy has targeted the Bennett
family, Johnny."  He hadn't spent as much time focusing on the
missing person's cases as I had.  Orion's goal was finding a
witness that could point to the suspect, not curiosity about how
all of this had begun.  He was shocked that there had been a
missing Bennett girl long before Brighton and hadn't linked
Brighton's murder to Gwen's rape, apparently.

"I need to talk to Harlan Hartley
again.  It's the only hope I have of learning why their girls
became this guy's obsession."

"Helen, this is the truth.  I have no
idea who Harlan Hartley is or why he gave you the impression that
he doesn't think much of me when you met him last night.  I
knew Frank.  Gwen and I were close for a long time.  I
met Dennis during the investigation into Brighton's murder. 
Obviously Vinnie and I know each other, but to my knowledge, that's
the entire Bennett family."

"I believe you.  Let's go see if a face
to face with Harlan offers any information."

Chapter 37

Hartley opened the door with a snarl. 
"You again."

Johnny wisely stood beside the door out of
sight.  He waited until Hartley appeared before stepping to my
side.

"Mr. Hartley, it's vitally important that we
–"