A Fall of Woodcocks (The Birdwatcher Series Book 5) Page 6

  “I don’t like this,” she said.

  “I didn’t expect you would,” Freeman replied.

  “No, I don’t mean Martin coming to you, I mean you being involved at all.” She looked him dead in the eye as she said this and Freeman was stung by her comment, though he didn’t see any distrust coming through in her eyes.

  “What are you saying, Sarah?” She shook her head,

  “This was all a mistake, letting you get involved in the first place.”

  “I’m a big boy, Sarah,” he said, a little annoyed now, “I can take care of myself.”

  “I don’t doubt that you can, but case is different. It’s been the end of the line for so many people and I just thin introducing new people to case is asking for trouble.”

  “We’ve been through all this already, Sarah,” Freeman said trying to sound patient. “I’m going into this thing with my eyes wide open. I’m not working the case in an official, or even unofficial capacity at all.”

  “If Martin knows we talk, and then you go to him, you can bet pretty soon Spalding will know those things too. And that’s assuming that he doesn’t already know.”

  Freeman didn’t respond to this right away. He took some of his drink and sat back in his chair. The idea of half-heartedly agreeing with her came to mind. That way he could come and talk to her again when she was in a better frame of mind. But he didn’t want to be lying to her; there was too much of that in her life as it was.

  “Sarah, there’s no point to us going around in circles and having the same conversations again and again. I’m in this with you now. I came in of my own free will and if I need to I’ll leave of that same free will.” As he finished his speech, Freeman felt his phone vibrating in his inside coat pocket.

  “And what if Spalding has other ideas for you?” she asked as though he hadn’t considered this already.

  “What if he has other ideas for you?” he replied. Sarah opened her mouth as though about to say something else, but then stopped. “None of us is in control of what he does,” Freeman went on. “We can only control what we do.”

  “This is a bad idea,” she said.

  “It’s a bad business; the whole lot of it.”

  As he watched her, he saw Sarah’s upper lip move about as she ran her tongue over her teeth within. She was annoyed but didn’t have anything to say to change his mind and this was her version of biting her tongue. She stood up.

  “This is still a bad idea,” she said, “Goodbye for now.”

  “See ya,” Freeman replied but she was already halfway to the door by now. He watched her until she left and then considered hi drink once she was gone.

  It wasn’t a good idea for him to get involved in this thing. He knew it, could feel it, but he was in now. He downed his drink and left the bar. He walked to streets for a while, thinking about Sarah, Dan Martin, and the case. Dan would have no idea how much of the case Sarah was sharing with him, but he supposed that didn’t really make any difference. All three of them wanted the case closed and as far as Freeman was concerned if that meant with the death of Spalding so be it. It would be the best outcome.

  The moon was up over the apartment blocks and everything seemed calm. It was the kind of night Freeman hated. It was always on nights like these, the quiet and clam ones that the most horrible crimes took place. Hopefully tonight would not be that way.

  Chapter 15

  Despite everything Tyler had been through over the last few weeks, this moment was one of the most nerve-wracking of his life. He stood near the newsstand, leaning against the wall and leafing through a fitness magazine he’d just bought. Across the street was the small car park of the shopping strip where Anna was due to arrive any minute. Tyler had checked out this area already before agreeing on it was her. This part of town was rundown and dying. Though there were security camera’s on the parking they were very old, and even if they did still work (which he doubted) they were so covered in graffiti they couldn’t show anything usable.

  CCTV wasn’t his worry though, nor was it any witnesses who might see them meeting. The trouble was Tyler didn’t know who Anna was, not really. He’d never had the chance to know her before now, to assess what kind of a person she was. He knew now that this had been an oversight on his part. At the time he’d dismissed the idea as he felt if discovered it would look like he was grooming this young girls for sex. If he had engaged more with his fan-sites he might have found the perfect girl—or guy— to use long before now. Someone he knew and could trust. He didn’t like leaving this all to chance. There was also the idea niggling away at the back of his mind that Spalding could have gotten to Anna first and could be setting him up right this very second.

  Tyler shook his head in dismay. If he was being honest with himself, the real reason he’d never interacted with these fans was that he never actually believed he would be in the situation he now found himself. He’d been so confident of what he was doing, he thought he was going to go on living his life and killing from time to time in the shadows for as long as his body allowed him to. Hie ego had never counted on the likes of Dwight Spalding coming along.

  A blue Toyota appeared at the corner and Tyler knew at once by the slow speed it was Anna. There was a reflection on the windscreen so he couldn’t see her properly, but he could see the shape of her head as she looked from side to side for the parking lot she knew was here somewhere. More importantly, he could see she was in the car alone too. Anna made the turn and pulled awkwardly into a spot, her parking not great. She must be very nervous too, Tyler thought. At least that was something.

  Having given her a couple of minutes to compose herself. Tyler checked out the street one last time before folding his magazine and walking across the road. He rounded the car park in an arc so she would see him approach and not be startled by his knocking on the window. When she saw him coming Tyler turned on his biggest smile and waved. She looked at him oddly and then he remembered he was in disguise. He lifted his blond wig to show his natural dark hair and slid his sunglasses down on his nose to show his eyes. Anna smiled and he heard the car doors unlock as she started waving back.

  “Anna!” he said getting into the car, “You don’t know what a help you’ve been!”

  “I’m happy to help Ty... Mr Ford,” she said. She was gushing but doing a stand-up job of trying to hide it. She didn’t want him to think of her as just some air headed kid. He didn’t let on that he noticed.

  “Please, after everything you’ve done for me, I think you can call me Tyler.” She smiled at this.

  “Do you want me to start driving,” Anna asked.

  “Not just yet,” he replied. “Let’s talk a little first.”

  “Okay,” she said and sat back in her seat, her hands clasped together and put down on her lap.

  “You really don’t know that you’ve save my life, do you?” Tyler said after studying her for a short moment.

  “I didn’t do anything really,” she said looking away embarrassed.

  “If it wasn’t for you, the FBI would have picked me up by now. The probably would have killed me and said I shot at them, but even if not, I would be awaiting trial now. All of the fake evidence they’ve concocted would enough to get me on death row.”

  “Why are they doing this to you?” she asked, the injustice hot in her voice and warm in Tyler’s ears.

  “I found out about a series of murders they had covered up, one of their own people killed a lot of people over thirty years.”

  “Why did they cover them up?” she asked. Tyler was sure she was thinking about Malick or Detective Duggan, killers from law enforcement. There had been no cover ups with those two.

  “This man has power, a lot of power. In fact, there is talk of him becoming a congressman at the next election.”

  “Is there nothing you can do?” Anna asked.

  “I’m doing all I can,” he said dolefully. “I need enough evidence that I’m innocent and that he’s guilty. It’s not as easy as i
t sounds.”

  “Well, if anyone can do it, you can,” she encouraged him.

  “Thanks for the confidence, but so far it’s not looking good. Hence your unfortunate inclusion in the mess. Sorry about that,” he said nodding slowly to her.

  “I’m happy to help,” she said. “I know you could never do those awful things the papers are saying. No one who writes like you do could do something like that.” Tyler smiled at her; how simple the world was in her little head.

  “Thank you,” he said and then looking out to the road said, “I guess we better get moving.”

  “Where to?” she asked as she turned the key and brought the car to life.

  “I’ve booked us a couple of rooms in a motel outside of town,” he said.

  “A couple of rooms?” she asked. She sounded surprised and Tyler turned to look at her.

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “Wouldn’t it be better for you to booking into places with me?” Anna said, “I mean, if they are looking for you on your own, wouldn’t it make more sense to be with me than in a room on your own?”

  “I guess so,” he said. Was she after sex too after all her wondered? He studied her a moment and thought then that maybe now. She was just willing to go that extra mile to help him. How innocent she was; the world was going to eat her alive. “I’ll call and cancel one of the rooms.” She nodded at this like it was decision she agreed with. She pulled the car out into the road and Tyler wondered about her. Had he made a mistake in getting her involved. Was she going to be a help or a hindrance now they were together? Only time would tell, he supposed. But she had been right on the two rooms thing. He should have thought of that himself. It just showed how frayed and tired his mind was. If only he’d gone after Spalding much earlier himself.

  No, he though, he couldn’t think like that. He wasn’t to know Spalding knew all along who Tyler really was. Spalding was entertainment and a story for Tyler up to that point. He thought about his book now and the waste it might end up being. Someday it would see the light of day and no matter what people thought of him, they would have to accept how good it was.

  Chapter 16

  Sarah’s phone rang late in the night. For most people this would scare them. They would think a loved one had been in an accident or something like that. For her it was so common an occurrence now, that she just hoped it was something worthwhile waking up over. Her eyes were too bleary to read what the screen was saying so she had no idea who she was going to hear at the other end of the line.

  “Brightwater,” she answered.

  “Sarah, it’s me,” came the grizzled voice of Freeman. “Sorry to wake you, but there’s been another murder you’re going to want to know about.” Sarah’s stomach lurched up into her throat and the first person she thought of was Megan. She knew the young woman was getting out of the hospital this week. Had it happened already, and Spalding gotten to her already?

  “Who?” she asked, her voice trembling.

  “A woman called Amber Sieger,” he said. “There’s another message for you.” This name meant nothing to Sarah and for a moment she thought freeman had made a mistake. Then the part about the message dropped.

  “What does it say?” she asked.

  “Ten more by then end of the month if you don’t bring Sarah back.”

  “The same as the last woman?” Sarah asked, thinking how gruesome the scene must be with all the writing carved into the poor woman’s body.

  “Yeah, it’s sick.” Sarah could tell Freeman was angry at what he’d seen, but she couldn’t tell if he was angry with her for some reason.

  “Spalding knows they could never cave in to something like this,” she said. “This is just more sick games he’s playing.”

  “That maybe so,” Freeman said, sounded very jaded, “but it’s not going to be of any comfort to this woman’s friends or family.”

  “Of course not,” Sarah said feebly.

  “Anyway, I thought you might want to come over here and look at the scene,” Freeman said, sounding a little more like himself suddenly.

  “Why?”

  “There’s some other things here, things you might understand better than we do right now.”

  “What kind of things?”

  “It’s better if you come over and see for yourself,” Freeman said. “I’ll text you the address. Park a few streets away and call me. I don’t want the press to get wind of who you are when you get there.”

  “This could get us both in trouble,” Sarah said. She had a bad feeling about going over to the place.

  “We’re already in a whole of pile of it already,” was Freeman’s reply. She couldn’t argue with that.

  “Okay, I’m on way,” she said.

  It was an hour’s drive to the location, and it was close to 3.30am when she arrived three streets away and parked. She called Freeman and he told her to walk towards the house and he would come and meet her.

  When they did meet, Freeman handed her bag containing a full body white suit.

  “The forensics van is going to be here in a moment. Put this on and then we’ll drive into the site. There are still some press around and I don’t want them to see you.” Sarah nodded and did as she was asked.

  Eight minutes later, with her hood on covering her identity. Sarah walked alone into the house. Freeman followed about a minute later and met her at the top of the stairs. She was worried about what she was about to see; not so much the scene of the murder— she’d seen plenty of that kind of thing before— but rather what else she was going to see. It was unknown and it terrified her.

  “You don’t need to look at the body in the tent,” Freeman said, “What I told you is all there is to it. But, the rest of the room is covered on things more personal to you. I don’t know why this would be the case unless he expected you would somehow win up here at the scene.” Freeman looked though his mask to be nervous, as though he were taking a big chance on Sarah here and he didn’t know if it was going to pan out for him or not.

  “What is it?” she asked, not sure if she wanted to see it first or know what she was going in to.

  “It’s video and photos from the night you mother died,” Freeman said, and the quickly followed up with, “Not the crime scene!” The crime scene was exactly what Sarah thought he’d meant when he first spoke, and she felt the power go out of her legs a little. Perhaps her face went white too and this is what made Freeman add the last panicked part of it. “Sorry,” he said putting a steadying hand on her upper arm. Sarah nodded to indicate she was okay to go on.

  When they entered the room, the bed was covered with a tent and the body of Amber Sieger was not visible. There was a laptop on the window ledge, facing into the room that flickered and was the first thing to draw Sarah’s attention. She took a few steps forward suddenly mesmerized by what she saw, the whole world around her melting away for a moment.

  On the screen, was an image taken from the backyard of the house Sarah grew up in. Her mother was at the sink, steam rising about her as she washed some dishes. She looked happy, a smile across her face, so much more beautiful in life than any photograph Sarah had ever seen. Tears blurred Sarah’s own vision a moment and she swiped them away. When she could see again, her mother was gone from the window. The camera moved about, and then zoomed in through the glass pane of the backdoor. Now her mother stood in the hallway, looking up at something. Her lips were moving, and Sarah recalled this was the night of her prom. Who else would have been in the house with her that night? The mystery lasted only a moment however, when Sarah recalled the picture high on the wall of her parents’ wedding day. She was talking to her husband, Sarah’s Father. By the smile on her face, she must have been talking about Sarah going out to her prom. It made Sarah little happier that her mother had been so contented earlier on the night she died. The tape cut back to the start again, her mother at the sink but Sarah watched the whole thing again, and again before Freeman said,

  “There are some photograph's o
ver here too.” Sarah pulled her gaze from the screen, which turned out to be one of the harder things she’d done in a very long time. Now she saw images taken from all over her hold home, she saw the old furniture, the pictures on the walls—including the one she’d just been thinking about.

  “Do you have any idea what all of this might mean?” Freeman asked her.

  “No,” she said gazing adoringly at the life she once had all those years ago, before her father died, before her mother was taken away from her. If not for those things happening in her life, who knew where Sarah would be by now. It wasn’t likely she would have gone to the police academy, that was for sure. She wanted to be an artist back then, was looking at art colleges on the east coast. As it stood, she couldn’t remember the last time she drew anything that wasn’t a sketch of crime scene she’d been working. It seemed art was something else Spalding had taken from her that night, and it was only now that she understood it. A strange feeling came over her then and she shook her head and tried not to look at anything in the room.

  “What is it?” Freeman asked, the look of concern back on his face.

  “I think...” Sarah started, wondering if it could be true but thinking it couldn’t be at the same time. “I think he wants to make me happy.” Freeman looked from Sarah to the items around the room and back again.

  “Like an apology?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure,” she said. “It wouldn’t be like him though, would it?” She looked to Freeman hoping he might somehow have an answer for her.

  “Nothing is like him,” was the only reply that came, and it was one filled with contempt.

  Chapter 17

  The fire at his last hideout and the death toll that ensued had been a roaring success, even by his own grim standards. His work with Amber Sieger had been very satisfying too and he could only hope Sarah had seen the offering he’d left at that scene for her. Now it was time to take one of the players out of the game, one that had past his usefulness to Spalding. He could admit he’d underestimated Tyler Ford in some ways, but in others he’d gotten everything right down to a tee.