Web of Deceit (12 page)

“OK, Captain,” an
eager officer says.

“Elliot, what’s
goin’ on?” Captain Aims says. “Frank’s been keeping me up to date with this
mess that you’ve gotten yourself into. And, now I hear he is on the way to the
hospital, and his rookie partner is the cause. So I walk in, and here you are.
I want answers now.”

Joanna interrupts.
“I don’t know about all the other incidents, but I can confirm that Chip’s
behavior had nothing to do with Elliot, and it was obvious he was helping
Frank.”

“Well, it’s
‘obvious’ that whatever you’ve stumbled onto is bigger than you expected,”
Captain Aims says. “Joanna, go over Frank and Chip’s reports for the last
couple of days and have Elliot fill in the blanks. Everywhere he goes, you be
there. I want answers.”

“Yes sir,” Joanna
replies as the captain storms out of the cell, just missing the arriving
paramedics dispatched for Chip.

“OK, Elliot, my
shift was over an hour ago, and I’m starving.” Joanna says after the paramedics
leave. “So buy me a hot dog from Joe’s stand and explain what’s been going on.”

“Yeah, sure. But
first we have to check the lab for a DNA test.”

“No need; I have
them on speed dial. I’ll call them on the way.”

Beth lays the
newspaper clippings on her cherry desk top in two rows of four, from largest to
smallest. “Bring a chair over and read these clippings while I do a search on
Walter Freeman,” she says to Symphony.

“The lobotomist?
Man! That guy was whack,” Symphony says. “Imagine, paying someone to stick an
icepick in your eye for a less than fifty-percent chance of even being able to
take care of yourself when you woke up.”

“I’m certain it
was more professional than that.”

“No, not really,”
Symphony says in her usual monotone voice. “He would operate on victims in his
home office and then send them home in a cab.”

“How do you know
this?”

“When I was a kid
my parents felt it important I didn’t believe in fictional characters,”
Symphony answers. “Long story short, while most kids were afraid of the boogie
man, I had Walter Freeman to keep me up at night.”

“That’s terrible!”
Beth says, not taking her eyes off the computer.

“What bothered me
most.” Symphony pauses as she places one of the articles in her hand. “If that
was goin’ on publicly, what was goin’ on behind closed doors?” she asks. “I
don’t mean just Walter, but all over the world. As kids we’re afraid to go near
scary-looking people. But we had no problem with friendly, well-dressed people.
After seeing a picture of Walter Freeman, the lobotomist, I woke up.”

Symphony has
Beth’s undivided attention.
This explains a lot.
“So you’re saying the
people who appear like they have it together are the ones you’ve got to watch
out for, right?”

“Yeah, like Mrs.
Freedman.”

“She does have a
certain emotional detachment.” Beth swivels the monitor to show Symphony the
Wikipedia article on “Walter Freeman,” pointing to the blue hyperlink for
lobotomy
.
“At least this monster isn’t the guy we’re chasing. No wonder you’re so screwed
up.”

“Thanks, Doctor
Doyle. That’s comforting news from someone with no secrets.”

Beth pauses and
stares at Symphony for a moment as she slouches in her chair to get more
comfortable.

*   *   *

Symphony reads to
herself, “Escaping Hitler’s grasp, five refugee scientists and their families
arrived by boat yesterday afternoon.”
Hitler?
What year is this?
Where’s
the date on this thing?
 
Oh, here it is
…
1938. Wow, talk about
days gone by.
Symphony moves on to the next clipping. “Missing scientist,”
the headline reads. “Walter Freeman, scientist … refugee has been missing for
three days … last seen at park zoo with family on August 3,1939. Anyone with
information, please contact local authorities.”
Mrs. Freedman probably fed
him to the alligators
.
No, Mrs. Freedman is too young.

“Maybe Mrs.
Freedman is this guy’s daughter, and she added a ‘D’ to her name. People do
stuff like that all the time,” Symphony says to Beth.
Engrossed in the
articles, Symphony tunes the incoming ring from the phone out. The excitement
in Beth’s voice is harder to ignore, but she succeeds.

She continues to
read, “Nazi soldiers are here! … Local farmer finds Nazi in his barn dressed in
uniform, practicing Hitler’s salute and march.”
She reads the next
clipping,
“Missing scientist found! After missing for almost three
months, Walter Freeman was found wandering the park zoo on October 1, 1939.
Claimed his family left without him and he needed to get home. He didn’t want
to miss the 4
^th
of July celebration. Investigation in progress.”

Picking each
article up, she glances through them.
Same
…
Same
…
OK, I know
this
…
Ooh different.
“Is wife of scientist delirious? ... Mrs.
Freeman, wife of recently found scientist, contacted local authorities claiming
the man they found was not her husband and requested help and safety for self
and ten-year-old son. After a brief encounter with her husband, she became very
relaxed and apologized for any inconveniences she had caused, but that she let
a recent nightmare get the best of her.”

“Oh,” Symphony
says aloud as she reads the next clipping, “Obituary—Margaret Freeman died of
sudden heart failure January 12, 1941.”
Next.
“Local scientist arrested.
Walter Freeman was convicted last Tues. June 8, 1949 for unauthorized
experiments on homeless patrons.”
And next.
“Wedding Announcement.”
Blah, blah, blah—ooh,
“Jeremiah Freedman and Margaret Randell were joined
together in marriage on May 7, 1957 at the Freeman estate.”
And, the saga
continues with Mrs. Freedman resurrecting the nightmare.

Beth interrupts
Symphony. “Symphony,” she says, concerned. “That was Elliot. Chip just wigged
out. He shot Frank and tried to take out the witness.”

“He OK?”

“He’s on his way
to the hospital. When Frank called yesterday, did he tell you about Kelly being
abducted?”

“The waitress?”

“Yes, Elliot
thinks the guys that took Sarah are the same guys that took Kelly. He’s waiting
for a test and then he should know for sure.”

“Wasn’t he with
Kelly when she was taken yesterday?”

“Yes, I don’t know
why, but those same guys took Elliot’s tires yesterday.”

“Wow,” Symphony
says. “People think I have a dark cloud. Doesn’t it seem odd that everywhere
Elliot goes, something bad happens?”

“No, when you are
working a case, you take the chance of having things happen all around you.”

“I’m just
suggesting that more is goin’ on here than bad luck, that’s all.”

“Well, there’s
not,” Beth snaps at Symphony. Regaining control of the topic, she says, “Elliot
is waiting on a test, and then he is going with an officer to find the
connection between Chip and the case. How are you doing with the clippings? Are
they any help?”

“Yeah, I think
there’s more goin’ on than these clippings can explain, but long story short,
this guy seems to be an evil scientist that may have worked for Hitler, and
Mrs. Freedman is his daughter-in-law.”

“Yeah, I found
something online that said a W. Freeman was trying to recruit Third Reich
soldiers
in the US, but they couldn’t prove it because all the witnesses died. Could be
the same creep.” Beth’s frustration rises. “This is ridiculous. All this has
done is make it obvious that we have to find Jade. Is there any way we can talk
to her?”

“I doubt she’s
still at Maggie’s, but I do know where Maggie keeps her files. If you keep
Maggie busy, I can sneak in and find out where she’s at. But getting caught is
not an option, so we have to be extremely careful.”

“Relax, I have radios
to keep us in contact, and I’m great at coming up with plans. This will be a
breeze.” Beth glances at her watch. “It’s after dinner time, and I haven’t
eaten anything. You hungry?”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll grab
something on the way.”

“Two hots with
everything, less one onion,” the man behind the hot dog cart says as Elliot
pulls his wallet from his back pocket and pays him.

“No onions,
right?” Elliot hands Joanna, who is standing beside him, her hot dog.

Joanna closes her
cell with a snap. “Nice, you remembered. Anyway, the hair sample’s a match. So
what exactly does that mean?” She takes a bite.

“It means,” Elliot
mumbles with a full mouth, “that the kid Chip just tried to kill inside was not
only involved with abducting Sarah Perkins today, but also Kelly Thompkins
yesterday. Sarah is in the hospital, but we still don’t know where Kelly is.”

Joanna reaches in
front of Elliot to retrieve some napkins from Joe’s cart and wipes her mouth,
removing a smear of chili sauce. “Well, we’re gonna have to go back upstairs
and ask our friend a few questions.”

“Sounds like a
plan, and on the way I’ll catch you up on what’s been goin’ on.”

*   *   *

Bang!

A gun shot echoes
through the halls of the police station as Elliot and Joanna reach the second
floor landing.

“Where did that
come from?!” Elliot asks. Blood rushes to his face as he sprints toward his
only remaining witness. Elliot bumps into a man while squeezing through the
crowd forming outside his witness’s holding cell. “No!” Elliot stares at the
lifeless kid with a bullet exit wound clearly visible on the side of his head.
“What’s goin’ on?!” He slugs the cement wall and winces.

“Elliot?” Joanna
enters the cell and places her hand on his shoulder. “If we’re goin’ to crack
this case, we can’t lose our heads.”

“What’s that
supposed to mean?!”

“Now isn’t the
time for this.” Joanna points at the corpse on the floor. A young,
two-hundred-pound-plus officer kneels next to the corpse.
He’s obviously in
shock
. “Hi, I’m Joanna,” she says to the grief-stricken officer while
bending down next to him. “What’s your name?”

“Jimmy,” he
replies, staring at the kid’s silent body.

“Can you tell me
what happened?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t
make sense, but I’ll tell ya. I was watching Sean through the window … that’s
his name, Sean.”

“Go on,” Joanna
says in a tender voice.

“Anyways, he
started bangin’ on the door and yellin’, ‘Where’s my lawyer; he should’ve been
here by now. I wanna make a phone call.’ So I called the captain, and he said
to let him have another call. So, anyways, he makes his call. Man … I never saw
it comin’.” Jimmy shakes his head.

“What? Jimmy, tell
me what happened next. It’s OK, I’m right here.”

“He called this
number that he pulled out of his pants pocket and said, ‘This is Sean.’ That’s
how I know his name. Anyway, he said, ‘I was told to call this number if I
needed help,’ and it happened just like …” Jimmy snaps his fingers.

“What happened?”
Joanna asks.

“Sean starts goin’
crazy and hollering, ‘No! No!’ He ripped up the number and tackled me to the
floor, grabs my gun, and whacks himself off. I still can’t believe it.” In a
daze, Jimmy’s eyes are fixed on the floor.

“He’s a scrawny
kid,” Elliot accuses Jimmy. “How could he tackle you?”

“I know, man …
that’s what caught me off guard. He had the strength of like seven men.”

“That’s what
happened to Chip,” Joanna says.

“Where did he
tackle you?” Elliot asks.

“On the floor over
there where he made the call.” Jimmy points.

“That’s on the
other side of the room,” Elliot says.

“He didn’t get my
gun until he threw me against this wall and knocked me down. Like I said, he
went wild. There was nothing anyone could’ve done. I fought back the best I
could.” Jimmy defends himself.

“Not enough! No
one died when Chip lost it, rookie!” Elliot shouts at Jimmy.

“Elliot!” Joanna
yells back over her shoulder while she is picking up the small ,torn pieces of
paper on the floor. “If you don’t stay calm, you’re out of here.”

“Look, man, I’m
tellin’ the truth.” Jimmy pleads his case. “Give me a lie detector test or
hypnotize me, I don’t care—you’ll see.”

“OK, hypnotize
him,” Elliot says. “Let’s find out exactly what happened.”

“We can’t
hypnotize him,” Joanna says. “Sean’s lawyer could say we added false memories.”

“False memories?”

“Yeah, it’s …”
Joanna stops in mid-sentence as she places her hand up to her mouth and faces
the officer leaning against the door casing. “Karl,” she says, “get this mess
cleaned up.” She drops the number, scrambled on torn bits of paper, into his
hand. “And, put this number back together. I need an address ASAP. Elliot, we
gotta talk to Captain Aims. I may know what’s goin’ on.”

*   *   *

Joanna glances
between Captain Aims and Elliot. “When I was in school, they taught us
hypnosis, but we were told to use it with extreme caution.”

“Why?” Elliot
asks.

“Go on, Joanna.”
Captain Aims motions Elliot to be quiet.

“If you’re not
careful, you can add false memories. That’s why hypnosis doesn’t hold up under
law,” Joanna says. “The government doesn’t like to use it. Psychologists don’t
like to talk about it, and they all agree that in the wrong hands it could be
detrimental. A well-known hypnotist once admitted he turned a normal guy into a
psychotic and then erased his memory of ever walking into his office.”

“No way. Who was
that?” Elliot asks.

“I forget his name
offhand, but you can Google it. It’s how I came across it.”