Silent Justice (26 page)

“He probably changed his clothes,” Hank said. “Perhaps they’ll find his other clothing at the Cochran house.”

“I’ve been in touch with them,” Rod said. “They didn’t find anything. He could’ve thrown them out somewhere. That’s always a possibility, but I wanted to fill you in.”

“Okay, thanks, Rod. Appreciate it.”

“That’s not all.”

“I’m listening,” Hank said.

“We checked the pistol removed from the Cochran house and I believe there’s no mistake. It’s brand new and appears never to have been fired. I can’t tell a hundred per cent, because as you know, they test fire it at the factory and then clean it up. But if it was fired recently, Thorburn did a good job of cleaning it. There’s no residue on it at all.” Jameson paused and took a breath. “And the chamber is completely full.”

Hank frowned. Jameson had supplied him with some interesting information, but until the body of the last victim was located, there was no solid evidence showing the gun in question was the one used in the shooting.

“Thanks for the info, Rod. Anything else?”

“That’s it for now. I’ll let you know if we find anything I think you should know about. It’s going to take awhile to process the scene.”

Hank thanked him again, hung up thoughtfully, and went back to the paperwork.

He looked up a few moments later when Detective King came into the precinct and ducked into Diego’s office. He was surprised King was back so soon and hoped they had located the bodies of the two victims.

Hank waited patiently until King left Diego’s office, then frowned when the cop went into the break room. Hank sat back in his chair, crossed his arms, and waited.

Two minutes later, King appeared again, a faint smile on his face as he approached Hank. He dropped into the guest chair and leaned back, stretching out his legs. King took a slug of his coffee, sat the cup carefully on the edge of Hank’s desk, and leaned back again, folding his arms.

Hank looked at King and frowned impatiently. “So, what’s going on? Did you find the bodies?”

King shook his head. “We never found any bodies, Hank.”

“No bodies? Then why’re you back here so soon?”

King uncrossed his arms and leaned forward. “Because Paul Patton and Ira Toddle are both alive and doing well.”

Chapter 47

Thursday, 5:17 p.m.

JAKE SAT SIDEWAYS, one elbow on the table, and looked over at Annie. His wife was turned in her chair, watching Virginia Thorburn hold the pistol firmly in front of her, its barrel toward them.

The woman didn’t look any more of an expert with a gun than her son, but at least Virginia held the weapon steady as she stared coldly down the sights toward Annie.

Annie looked back at her and spoke in a calm voice. “Mrs. Thorburn, you might as well give up now. The police will be here to arrest you soon, and you’re going to make things worse for yourself.”

Virginia Thorburn glanced toward the door and didn’t answer.

Jake spoke. “You did a brilliant job, Virginia. You had everything figured out perfectly, but you blew it.”

The woman glared at Jake.

“Before you kill us, tell me the reason for all this,” he said. “What’s in it for you?”

Virginia moved half a step closer, aiming the gun toward Jake, her eyes narrowing. “Adam’s a burden and a complete waste of my time. He’s twenty-one years old and still hanging around for me to take care of.” Her lips tightened and she shook her head. “I’m not about to babysit him the rest of his miserable life.”

“And so all this was your plan to get rid of him?” Annie asked. “Frame him for two murders and get him thrown in prison and out of your hair?”

“I expected the kid would get shot,” Virginia said. “That’s why I gave him the gun. I hoped he would either get killed by the police or kill himself.”

“That’s the best idea you could come up with?” Annie said. “Couldn’t you just tell him to leave?”

Virginia smiled. “It goes a little deeper than that. My dear dead husband had quite a chunk of change handed to him when his mother died. Unfortunately, except for a small amount, the idiot put it in a trust account to cover Adam’s ongoing care. My husband named me as executor if anything happened to him, but I couldn’t get at it for my own use.” She let out a guttural chuckle. “That is, unless something happened to Adam.”

“And then we threw a monkey wrench into your plans,” Jake said.

She shrugged a shoulder. “It doesn’t matter. You two are an annoyance, but once we get rid of you, the plan will continue.”

“We?” Jake asked.

Virginia laughed. “I had a little help.”

Tires crackled on gravel and Jake glanced toward the window as a car pulled into the driveway. It moved forward out of his view, the engine died, and a car door slammed.

Virginia moved toward the door, swung it open, and stood back, her eyes still on her captives.

The screen door opened and a man stepped into the room, a grim look on his face. Jake’s eyes bulged. It was Dr. Zalora.

The doctor glared at Jake, then at Annie, a deep frown on his face. He looked at Virginia, perplexed. “What happened?” he asked.

Virginia pointed an accusing finger. “They figured it out.”

Jake glared at Dr. Zalora. Why was he involved in this, and what did he hope to gain? As if in answer, the doctor touched Virginia on the arm and spoke in a soothing voice. “It’s not too late, darling. We can easily get rid of them.”

Jake and Annie exchanged a glance. It was finally making some sense. Virginia and the doctor were having an affair, and they had teamed up to dispose of Adam and gain control of his trust fund.

The doctor glared at Jake with cold eyes then turned to Virginia and held out his hand. “I’ll take the gun.” He laughed and winked at her. “You killed two. I’ll kill the next two.”

Virginia passed the gun to Zalora. The doctor wrapped his hand around the butt, placing his finger firmly on the trigger. He looked at Jake. “I prefer not to do it here, but if you try anything stupid, I’ll shoot both of you here and now.” He sighed. “It’ll make more of a mess that way, but the end result will be the same.”

“If you’ll permit me one question,” Annie said, looking at Virginia, “how could you have killed Nina White? Your neighbor, Mabel, said you were with her.”

Virginia chuckled. “I was with her all right—until she passed out.” She laughed. “That woman never could hold her booze, and she never knew I left long enough to take care of a little business.”

“But why kill Nina White and Raymond Ronson? They were two people Adam liked.”

The woman shrugged. “No particular reason. It had to be someone Adam knew, and those were the only two he ever talked about. He unknowingly led me right to them.”

“Why’d you kill two?” Jake asked. “Wasn’t one enough?”

“It should’ve been, but the police failed to track Adam to the swamp and shoot him down. I had to give them another reason to get serious about finding him.”

“But you’re the one who warned him to run,” Annie said. “Why?”

“Because I didn’t want him caught.” She raised her voice and spoke through gritted teeth. “I wanted him dead.”

“And so you killed two innocent people.”

She gave an evil chuckle. “It’s their own fault for being so friendly with a psychopath like Adam.”

“The only thing is, he’s not the psychopath here,” Jake said. “You are.”

Dr. Zalora’s eyes gleamed. “That’s not what the police think. They’re convinced he’s stark raving mad, thanks to my professional opinion.”

Virginia laughed. “And a few drugs.”

Annie leaned in and seemed about to leap forward, but Zalora waved the gun and glared darkly. “Sit down.”

Annie sat back and crossed her arms. “So Adam’s not a sociopath?”

Dr. Zalora glanced at Virginia, a wicked twinkle in his eye, then he laughed long and loud. When his face finally sobered, he said, “He’s only as crazy as the drugs made him. You’d be surprised what a mix of certain medications can do to a person.”

Jake jumped to his feet. “So, you drugged him and that made him crazy enough to kill two other people?”

Zalora smiled and sighted down the barrel toward Jake. “That was a bonus. The icing on the cake, you might say. I never expected that, and it was a pleasant surprise.” His voice took on a menacing tone. “Now sit down.”

Jake dropped back into the chair. “And the purpose of the roses in the victim’s mouths?”

Virginia shrugged. “Just a little more evidence against Adam.”

“That’s enough talk,” Dr. Zalora said. “We have to get this finished.”

“I agree with you,” Jake said. “It’s time to get this cleaned up. I need to go home for a little nap.”

Dr. Zalora frowned. “You’ll get your nap. Both of you. For the rest of eternity.”

Jake stood and reached into his shirt pocket. “I recorded everything,” he said, pulling out a small recorder. He looked at it. “It’s amazing how well this thing picks up conversations.”

Dr. Zalora moved in a step and glared. “Too bad you won’t be able to use it.” He held out a hand. “Give it to me.”

Jake dropped the recorder back into his pocket and took a step forward, now only five feet from the deadly weapon pointed toward his head.

Annie looked at Jake with alarm. “Jake, sit down.”

“You’d better listen to your wife,” Zalora said.

Jake stretched out an arm and spoke calmly. “Give me the gun.”

“Stay back,” Zalora shouted, his finger tightening on the trigger.

Annie screamed. “Jake. Sit down!”

Jake kept his hand out and took another step.

Dr. Zalora growled and squeezed the trigger.

The gun went click, click.

Jake moved in, grabbed the pistol, and with one punch, he knocked Dr. Zalora to the floor. Virginia gasped and moved back against the wall, staring down at her accomplice, her mouth and eyes wide.

The doctor lay stunned a moment, then groaned and shook his head to clear his senses. He looked up at Virginia in confusion.

Annie was unable to speak, her mouth gaping open as she watched.

Jake reached a hand into the pocket of his pants, then removed his fist and opened it, palm up. “Are you looking for these?”

Virginia’s expression didn’t change from one of shock as she stared at the fistful of bullets in the palm of Jake’s hand. “How? What?”

Jake shrugged. “Simple. After I realized you were the killer, I went to the kitchen pretending to get some more cream in my coffee. I did a quick search, checked a couple of drawers, finally found the gun in your handbag, and removed the bullets.” He laughed. “Oh, I could’ve nabbed you right there, but I wanted your confession first.” He tapped his shirt pocket and smiled. “And now I have it.”

Virginia watched helplessly as Jake loaded the gun, sat down, and trained the weapon their way.

Jake chuckled. “I’m having a great day. How about you?”

Annie was finally able to speak, so she dug out her cell phone and dialed 9-1-1.

Epilogue

DAY 5 - Friday, 2:25 p.m.

ANNIE RELAXED in the living room of their modest house, curled up in her favorite chair, trying to catch up on some of her studies. Jake had taken the day off as well and had parked the Firebird in the sun, washing and polishing it to a dazzling shine.

Annie found it hard to concentrate on her reading, and she tucked the bookmark into her manual on police procedure and set it on the stand beside her chair.

She glanced out the front window. Hank had called a little earlier and said he was going to drop by to get their statements regarding the capture of the killers. She eagerly waited to see what he had to say about his interview with Virginia Thorburn and Dr. Zalora, but more than that, she was concerned about Adam.

The young man had been subjected to a devious and heartbreaking plot, and whether or not he would be prosecuted for kidnapping, he faced some hard times.

Annie stood and moved closer to the window when Hank pulled his car in behind the Firebird. The cop got out, spoke briefly to Jake, and exchanged a laugh with him as the two guys headed for the house.

The pair were still chuckling about something when the front door opened and they stepped inside. Annie went over and leaned against the doorway between the living room and lobby. “What’s so funny?”

Hank looked at her and grinned. “Hi, Annie. Jake was telling me about the little trick he pulled with the bullets.”

“Yeah, it was a barrel of laughs,” Annie said dryly. She motioned toward the front room. “Come on in, Hank.”

Annie went back to her chair and snuggled up while Jake and Hank sat on opposite ends of the couch. Hank set his briefcase between them and laid his arm along the back. “It’s been a busy day. I’ll go back to the precinct a little later and finish up, but for now, I’m taking a break. I’m on official police business anyway. I need to get your statements.”

“Did you listen to the recording?” Jake asked.

Hank nodded. “It was muffled in a few places, but overall, we could make out everything that was said. Callaway said he could clean it up, and it’s going to go a long way toward building our case against the two of them.”

Jake chuckled. “That was an idea I got from Annie on our last big case.”

Hank winked at Annie. “You’re teaching him well.”

“He has the occasional good idea,” Annie said with a smile.

Jake gave a mock laugh and changed the subject. “Tell us about the interview with the two scumbags, Hank.”

“The interviews weren’t much of a challenge. Once we split them up and confronted them with the evidence and your recording, it didn’t take much prodding to get the rest of the details. Especially from Virginia Thorburn. She tried to blame it all on the doctor at first, but soon broke down and spilled everything.”

“What about the interview with Dr. Zalora?” Annie asked.

“Zalora got a lawyer immediately and tried to cut a deal. Claimed Virginia was the instigator and responsible for both murders. Which might be true, but it doesn’t matter. He was totally complaisant with the whole thing. So we didn’t budge. There was no need to make any kind of deal with him, especially since Virginia was so forthcoming.”