Requite (23 page)

I nodded.

Hank and I followed Jake’s father down the hall. The room held two patients. It was divided by a thin curtain providing nothing more than visual privacy. A nurse attended to Jake in the right side of the room. He shared the room with an older woman. She sat up in bed and stared at Hank and I.

The nurse came to us. “Are you from the police department?”

I nodded. “Lieutenant Kane. This is Sergeant Rawlings.”

“He’s been asking for the police. He’s awake now. Try to keep him calm.”

“No problem. Thank you.”

She went to the woman that shared the room. “Martha, would you like to go get something to eat? These officers need to speak with Jake here.”

She agreed.

“You guys have about twenty minutes while I take Martha down to the cafeteria.” The nurse took the woman from the room.

“I’ll let you guys talk with Jake in private,” his father said. He closed the door as he left.

We went to the side of the bed where Jake lay.

“Jake, I’m Lieutenant Kane and this is Sergeant Rawlings. Are you feeling up to talking with us?”

He scooted up in his bed. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of the police since I woke up and saw everything on TV. I couldn’t call because they won’t let me have a phone, I can’t leave this bed because of the damn I.V. Every time I try telling someone I want to talk to the police, they just sedate me.”

His words slurred. He sounded drugged.

“Okay Jake, before we start getting into that, can I ask you what you know from the last couple days that you’ve been in here?” I asked.

“Everything. What happened and who did it.”

“From what you saw on the television?” I asked.

“Yeah, but that’s not how I know who was behind it. I knew it was Tom Spearman.”

“How?” Hank asked.

“He gave me this.” Jake started taking the gauze from his head.

“Jake, you shouldn’t be taking that off,” I said.

He ignored me and continued unwrapping. Stitches spelled the word
murdering
on his forehead.

“Why did he do this to you?” I asked.

Jake stared down. He let out a long breath. “Because I deserved it for what I did.”

“Were you involved in the car accident?” I asked.

He continued staring down and nodded.

“Tell us how it happened, Jake,” I said.

He sat quiet for a moment, rocked his head back and looked at the ceiling. “Jessica and I spent the day at the beach drinking with some friends. I drove us back to her house after. We took all back roads. I guess I didn’t realize how much I drank. I passed out and veered into the other lane. Spearman was coming in the other direction. He swerved to avoid us and went off the road. Their car hit a tree.”

“You left the scene of the accident?” Hank asked.

Jake shook his head. “I wish I would have.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“We pulled over and got out. I went to their car. A woman was trapped inside. She was in bad shape. The car hit the tree on her side. The guy had got himself out and was trying to pull his wife from the wreckage. His head must have gone into the windshield. He was all covered in blood. He screamed for us to call 9-1-1.”

I pulled my notepad from my pocket to write what he told us.

“Did you?”

“Jessica stayed at our car. I yelled for her to make the call. When I saw her on the phone, I thought she was calling 9-1-1.” Jake scooted himself up further in the bed.

“She didn’t?” I asked.

Jake shook his head. “She called her dad. He showed up a couple minutes later. It was only a few miles from his house. I was still trying to help the guy get his wife out of the car. It was no use. She was crushed between the tree and dash. They would have needed the Jaws of Life or something to have gotten her out. Jessica’s dad yelled down to me to come back up to the street. I told the Spearman guy that help would be there any second and ran to see what her dad wanted.”

“No one ever called 9-1-1 did they?” I asked.

“I thought Jessica did. She didn’t.”

“What did the judge want?” Hank asked.

“He asked me what kind of shape they were in. I told him that I didn’t think the woman would make it. Then he told me to go kill the guy.”

I jerked my head back. The response caught me off guard. “What?”

“He went to the trunk of his car, opened it and pulled out a tire iron. He handed it to me, put his arm around my shoulder and told me I had to kill the guy if I didn’t want to go to jail. It would have been my second driving under the influence offense. I was drunk, caused an accident, and the woman was going to die. He said the best lawyer in the world wouldn’t be able to get me off. I was guaranteed to do prison time.”

“So the judge told you to kill Spearman, and you just went along with it?” I asked.

Jake put his head in his hands. “I didn’t have a choice. My life would have been over. I could either go away for killing his wife, or kill him and get away with it.”

“So you tried killing Spearman?” Hank asked.

“I thought I did. I walked back to him at the car. He was still trying to help his wife. He turned and looked at me right before I hit him.” Jake looked down. “I hit him so hard. There was blood everywhere. When he quit moving I pushed him back into the car. When I got back up to the street there was another car behind Jessica’s dad’s BMW.”

“Who was it?” Hank asked.

“I don’t know, but they had to have seen what I did.”

“What kind of car?” Hank asked.

“A blue four door. Hyundai, I think.”

I wrote it down. I knew who the car belonged to—the Millers. I saw it at their house.

“The people never got out of the car?” I asked.

“No they just sat inside. Jessica’s dad talked to them for a minute or two and they drove away.”

“You didn’t ask him about it?”

“I did. He just told me not to worry about it.”

“When did you find out Spearman didn’t die?” Hank asked.

“A week or so later. I was interning at the hospital and unknowingly walked into his room. He leapt from his bed and tried coming after me. I ran, but he saw my name badge. I lived in fear that he’d turn me in or come after me once he got out of the hospital. He never did. Jessica’s dad did some digging. Spearman told the police that he got ran off the road, but they didn’t believe him. He never mentioned what I did or my name. Nothing more ever came of it until a few weeks ago.”

“What was a few weeks ago?” Hank asked.

“Jessica’s dad said that someone was parked outside their house. He got the plate number and had it ran. It belonged to Spearman. Then Jessica and I saw him by the college a day or two later. He knew who we were. He was watching us.”

“You should have come to the police and taken responsibility for what you did. You had to know if this guy was stalking you that there was a chance he’d try to get revenge,” Hank said.

“I wanted to. I was ready to accept the consequences. Jessica’s dad forbid it. He said that he wouldn’t let me do that to his daughter?”

The nurse gave the door a tap as she entered. “I’m going to need to check on Jake. It’s time for his medication as well.”

“We’re done here. Thank you.” I looked at Jake. “We’ll be in touch.”

I flipped my notepad closed.

“Am I going to go to jail?” Jake asked.

“I’d recommend getting a lawyer,” I said.

Hank and I left the room. We’d be speaking with Jake again in the near future.

Roger Richwood stopped us in the hall. “What did he want to talk to you about?”

“I’m going to let him tell you. I’d call your attorney after that.”

He stood there looking confused, and then entered Jake’s room.

We headed toward the exit. I stopped and grabbed a soda from one of the vending machines. I dialed the captain to fill him in on the details Jake provided. There was no answer. I hung up just as Hank and I got to the parking structure. Our two unmarked gray cruisers were parked side by side. I went to the driver’s door.

“Bostok not in his office?” Hank asked.

I glanced at my watch. It was a quarter to six. “He may have taken off for the day already. I’ll try his cell in a minute.”

Hank leaned against the door of his car. “What do you think will be the charges against him?”

“The kid just confessed to attempted murder and a pile of other things,” I said.

“None of which can be proven. Unless he takes the stand and tells the same story he just did, he could walk. Everyone involved is dead other than him.”

I unlocked the cruiser. “We’ll find some evidence.” I thought about it for a second. “We already have it actually. The judge’s BMW is at our station. Jake said that Casey handed him the tire iron from the back of his car. I’ll get Rick and Pax on it in the morning.”

Hank nodded his head.

“Do you want to grab a beer and a burger with me at Lefty’s?” I put my elbows up on the roof of the car and popped open my soda. I waited for his response.

“Can’t. I have plans.”

“Plans huh? Like what?”

“Just some stuff Karen and I have been doing on Tuesdays.”

“More dancing, Tinkerbell?” I pulled in a mouthful of cola.

“No, that’s usually on the weekends. Tuesdays are our Yoga classes.”

I choked on my soda. “Geez, Hank.”

The End