The Cruelest Cut (32 page)

Jack and Liddell had been standing outside Liddell's car when Franklin had called. Jack walked a little distance away and called Katie's cell. It went immediately into her voice mail, indicating that the phone was turned off. Could mean she was still in class, or a meeting, but Katie never turned her phone off. Maybe on vibrate, but never completely off. He dialed the number for Principal John Spanner.

“Just a moment, Detective,” Spanner's secretary said. There was a click, and Spanner came on the line.

“Detective Murphy,” Spanner said. “So good to hear from you. Wonderful news, isn't it?”

“What are you talking about?” Jack said, confused.

“I thought you would be celebrating, Detective Murphy,” Spanner said.

Jack started to grow concerned, and said, “Celebrating what, exactly?”

Spanner's tone changed, not quite so jovial. “Why, the fact that the killer has been caught. It is great news, isn't it?”

Jack felt his blood turn cold. “Where's Katie, Mr. Spanner?”

“Well, she's on her way to police headquarters, I imagine. You sent for her, didn't you?”

Jack punched off and dialed Captain Franklin.

“Captain, did you send someone to bring Katie to headquarters?” he asked as soon as Franklin answered.

“No,” Franklin answered, and then catching the serious tone in Jack's voice asked, “What's going on?”

Jack told him and hung up.

Seeing the look on his partner's face, Liddell said into his phone, “I've got to call you back. Yeah, get them started. Okay.” Then he hung up.

“What is it, Jack?” he asked.

Jack ignored him and jumped into the driver's seat, peeling out and leaving his partner standing in the middle of the road. Jack wasn't planning on obeying any traffic laws, or any other law for that matter, until he was sure Katie was safe. Better that Liddell was not in the car during this trip so that he wouldn't have to testify against him later.

His mind raced ahead to the school, planning what he would do when he got there, finally coming to the conclusion that he'd better get the troops in on this. He pulled his phone from his pocket, and it rang in his hand.

“What the hell are you doing, Jack?” Liddell asked.

“Katie's not at school. She may be in trouble.”

“What do you need?”

“Get me some troops. I'm on my way to her classroom,” Jack said.

“I'm on it,” Liddell said, and hung up.

 

Several red lights and blaring horns later, Jack thanked God that he hadn't run over anyone or crashed during the mind-numbing ride to Harwood School. Out of habit, he had scanned traffic all the way there, looking for anyone driving unusually recklessly, or too carefully, or for anyone that looked like Katie or an unmarked car, or anything that seemed out of place. His mind was in overdrive, his senses taking everything in at a time when most people would have tunnel vision, because cops trained themselves to function differently. An adrenaline dump would send a normal person into a form of shock, triggering the fight-or-flight syndrome. But he wasn't most people.

He spotted Katie's car in the school parking lot, but then reminded himself that if someone had picked her up she would have left it behind. He also made a mental note of every car in the lot, and nothing jumped out at him as not belonging or being out of place. He squealed to a stop at the front doors of the school and jumped from the car. His cell phone ringing startled him, and he swore.

He looked at the cell phone display and recognized the number. He forced himself to stop and take a couple of deep breaths before answering.

He punched the on button, “What is it, Eddie?” he said, trying to keep his breathing normal.

“Jack?” It was Katie's voice.

Jack's throat constricted, but he forced himself to speak calmly. “Katie, are you all right?”

The voice that answered was not Katie's. “Katie's not able to talk right now, Jack,” Eddie said.

“Eddie, you son of a bitch,” Jack began, but Eddie yelled into the line.

“That's right, hero!” Eddie said, and chuckled mirthlessly. “I'm the son of a bitch that's going to screw your old lady.”

Jack bit back his anger and said, “Eddie, let me talk to Katie.”

“No, I don't think so, Jack,” Eddie said.

“It's me you want, Eddie, not anyone else. Let's get this over with. I'll meet you anywhere you say. Let her go and you can have me.”

“Well, let me think about that,” he said, and then immediately responded, “NO! How's that, motherfucker?”

Just keep him talking,
Jack thought to himself. He knew that time was running out, but if he could just keep him talking, he could maybe figure out where Eddie was. Find him. Kill him.

Katie's voice cut through the silence. “Don't do what he asks, Jack!” she yelled, and then came sounds of struggling and a scream. The phone went dead in his hand.

He held the phone to his ear feeling helpless as he said, “Hello? Hello?” into the dead line. Maybe Spanner was wrong. Maybe Katie was still inside somewhere. It didn't sound like the call was coming from inside a car, or outside.
So maybe, just maybe
, he thought and jumped from his car and rushed across the front playground. He ignored the screams of children as he rushed in the front doors, and from somewhere in the back of his mind he realized that his gun was in his hand. Maybe the sight of a man running into a school with a gun in his hand was what was frightening them.

Halfway down the hall to Katie's room he bowled over Principal Spanner, who had just come out of an office.

“Detective Murphy?” Spanner said while getting up from the floor. “What are you doing?”

He was looking at the gun in Jack's hand. Jack ignored him and rushed down the hallway. Katie's room was the fifth, or was it the sixth, on the right?
Damn!
he thought.
Which room?

He decided on the fifth, and positioned himself near the door, gun held at combat ready, barrel pointed out at a downward angle, only needing a few inches to acquire a target. He took some deep breaths to steady his shaking hands, and then used his foot to ease the door inward.

He bladed his body against the door frame, sweeping the room with the gun barrel, finger outside the trigger guard. It wouldn't do to shoot some kid, and with the Glock .45 it only took about two pounds of pressure to pull the trigger. He'd practiced this so often he was on autopilot, except that he wasn't concerned with the police department policy of yelling “Stop” or “Freeze, police,” and would go right to the part of shooting the bastard until he ran out of ammo.

The lights were on, but her room was empty. He knew it was her room because her purse was still on the floor beside the desk. Then something touched him on the back. He spun, bringing the gun barrel into the wide-eyed face of Principal Spanner.

“No one goes into this room except police,” Jack said, and holstered his weapon.

Spanner swallowed loudly and croaked understanding. He took a key and locked the door behind them, then seemed to stagger. Jack helped him to a bench in the hallway.

“Put your head down, sir,” Jack said, gently helping him put his head between his legs. After a few moments Spanner sat back upright, his complexion as blotchy as if he'd run a marathon.

“What the fuck is going on?” Spanner hissed between clenched teeth.

Jack told him, and Spanner shakily resumed the position with his head down.

Charlie and Mike were having coffee at the local Donut Bank when they heard the run come out at Harwood School. “Get in the car! Get in the car!” yelled Charlie, and they ran to the unmarked unit. Charlie had the car in gear before Mike had shut his door, and rocketed forward with such force his door slammed shut, nearly taking his fingers with it.

“Listen up, Mike,” Charlie said, breathing hard. “When we get there, just let me do the talking. You back up whatever I say, understand?”

Mike didn't understand, but he knew that their jobs were probably on the line, so he agreed.

They were only a short distance away. As Charlie slowed and pulled down a side street paralleling the school, he hoped with all his heart that they would be the first to get there.
Why did I have to get stuck with a rookie?
Charlie thought, ignoring the possibility that he was the one to blame for their predicament.

“Maybe it's just some missing kid, or something,” Mike suggested.

“Dispatch said ‘kidnapping,' idiot,” Charlie yelled, and Mike looked thoroughly chastised, making him feel even surer that it was the rookie's fault.

 

John Spanner's color was coming back, and he was anxious to answer a few questions for Jack.

“The man came to my office,” Spanner was saying.
The killer was in my office.
Spanner turned pale. “He said he needed me to call Katie Murphy to my office. He said the killer had been caught and we could all relax now.”

“Describe him,” Jack said.

“About your height, slim, muscular, dark long hair. He looked like he might be working undercover or something. I don't know, maybe thirty years old. Could be younger. I'm not good with ages,” he said.

Jack nodded understanding. It was a perfect description of Eddie.

“He acted like a cop. He was wearing a sport coat and jeans.” Spanner looked at Jack, and his eyes were misting up. “I'm so sorry, Detective Murphy. We all love Katie. I would never have called her if…” His voice trailed off, and he looked down at the floor.

“Did he show you credentials?”

“A badge?” Spanner turned red in the face. “Well, no, actually. He just seemed like a policeman. You know? He was very confident, smiling even.”

I'll bet he was,
thought Jack.
The bastard walked right into her school and took her. He had her called to the office so he could catch her away from everyone.

“Which direction did they leave? Did you see a car?” Jack asked.

“He met her at the doorway of my office and led her down the hall toward her classroom. Her kids had just gone to lunch,” answered Spanner.

“Did he touch her?”

“Well, he did take her arm, like maybe he was helping her for some reason.” Spanner looked ashamed. “He was forcing her out, wasn't he? He must have threatened her when he leaned over and whispered to her.”

Jack wasn't surprised. Eddie must have threatened to kill Spanner or some of the kids if she didn't leave with him. Katie would have gone willingly to save her children. She knew about the killings, and she was probably smart enough to figure out who he was.

Jack's phone rang.

“Jack,” Captain Franklin said, into the line. “I've got several detectives on their way out there. Liddell told me what happened. What have you got?”

Jack told him.

“What do you need?” Franklin asked.

Just then two men came running down the hallway, faces flushed with excitement. They showed their badges and said they were just outside when they heard the run come in. The older one explained that they were the surveillance team. Jack had seen him around the office recently, and it shamed him to think that Katie's life had been left to men such as these. He ignored them and turned his attention back to the captain.

“I need Katie back, Captain,” he said, and closed the phone. It suddenly felt like the whole world had collapsed. Why hadn't he made her leave town? Or, at least, hired some guys that he trusted to stay with her? Better yet, stayed with her himself? If anything happened to her, he would never be able to live with himself. And at that moment he realized that he still loved her. More than anything in his life. More than his life.

The two plainclothes had wandered down the hall. They weren't in any real trouble from the brass because they had been officially relieved of the detail. But they were in deep shit from the rank-and-file cops who would never forget that they had let another officer's wife be abducted by a killer. But for Mike, who had little experience with such things, and had dreamed of getting into some action as a detective, the look of deep hurt and loss on Detective Murphy's face was not something he wanted to remember. He blamed himself for not standing up to Charlie and insisting they hang around a little longer. Instead he had driven to a donut shop and stuffed his face. It was their fault.

Jack walked down to them and noticed chocolate icing smudged on the younger man's shirtsleeve. “There's nothing you could have done. He pretended to be a detective and then walked her right out of here,” Jack said, although he knew that it was their fault. They might have seen Katie leaving with Eddie if they had been doing their job. But his dad had always told him, “Fix the problem, not the blame.” Blame wouldn't bring Katie back. He needed every policeman available, and such as they were, he needed them to work on this. He looked at the two shame-faced men and knew they'd never make the same mistake again. But even though he instinctively knew all that and also, that Double Dick was to blame, he would still have taken great pleasure in smashing both men's faces bloody.

“Can you start talking to the teachers and kids? See if someone saw Katie leaving? What kind of vehicle she got into?” Jack asked the men.

“We're on it,” Charlie said, glad to have something to do, and they went with Principal Spanner to gather up the teachers.

Jack's phone rang again. His arm felt like lead when he answered.

Eddie said, “There's a neat little clock, in the schoolroom it stands, and it points to the time, with its two little hands.”

Jack jogged down the hall and caught up with Spanner, silently motioning for him to unlock the door to Katie's classroom. “What do you mean, Eddie?” he asked. Spanner unlocked the door and stood back while Jack donned a pair of latex gloves and entered the room.

“Don't fuck me around, Jack,” Eddie said. “You know the rules. If you solve the riddle you get the prize.”

“What's the prize, Eddie?”

“You'll get to know exactly when she dies,” Eddie said. “But I'm gonna have me some fun first,” he added with a chuckle, and the line went dead.

Jack closed his phone and looked around the empty classroom, Eddie's taunting words bouncing around in his mind. The rational side of him said the best way to help Katie was to remain calm and think this through. There was probably no reason to worry about prints.

He looked behind him, over the doorway, and saw the large white-faced clock. The glass had been smashed, and the hands were stuck at twelve o'clock. He glanced at his watch. It was one forty-eight now.
The answer to Eddie's riddle,
he thought.
Katie has until midnight.