Aura of night a novel, p.14
Aura of Night--A Novel, page 14
“We have an extra room,” Jean said. “And that will be great.”
“Carole’s room,” Penny said quietly.
“We will find the man who took Carole,” Megan vowed passionately. Then she winced inwardly, glancing over at Ragnar.
We?
She wasn’t an agent. She wasn’t law enforcement at all.
But she was involved now. Past what had happened to her and past a human skull having been delivered to her at her office.
These men had to be stopped.
“Okay, we’re going to move on. But we’ll be seeing you,” Ragnar promised.
Megan hugged each of the women and then followed Ragnar to the door with Hugo at her heels.
Ragnar turned back.
“Oh, besides Mark and Colleen, you’re going to have one of the best guards I know. His name is Red. Red is great, just like Hugo. And he’s got just about every certificate a dog can have, and is a valued Krewe agent.”
“Cool!” Grace said.
“We’ll share our leftover turkey with him, too,” Jean vowed.
Megan smiled, waved, and at last they were out the door. She felt Ragnar watching her as they left.
“What?” she asked.
“You’re smiling.”
“I’m happy. Those are...good people.”
Ragnar nodded but was silent.
“What?” she pressed.
“No. I agree. Those are good women. The streets can be hard. I’ve seen people who have become jaded from the streets. Those women haven’t let the hardness of life or some of the people they might have come across change them from what they are inside.”
They didn’t speak again as they left the hospital and headed to the car.
Joel Letterman had been taken to Krewe headquarters, and Megan knew they were going there.
“There’s a camera in the room where I’ll be questioning him,” Ragnar said as he drove. “I’ll have you in Angela’s office with her, and Jackson will be with me. I need you to listen closely to what he has to say, and tell me what he really means by what he says.”
“I’m not...”
“Not?”
“Perfect,” she said softly. “But I will try, and I’ll tell you what I think.”
“That’s all I ask,” he said.
Megan had been to the offices before. They were interesting. There were floors where there were tech teams, floors where there were forensics and science teams, and then floors where the agents had their offices.
“Are you thinking about your last visit?” he asked her.
“I was excited. I was about to meet an author I admire tremendously. I’m glad my instincts were right, and he didn’t prove to be anything but a good guy and great author,” Megan said.
“I’m glad, too,” Ragnar said lightly. “Anyway, this will be different.”
Ragnar brought Megan and Hugo straight to Angela’s office. Angela was ready for her. She had a chair next to hers behind the desk where they could observe on her computer screen. Her desk was neat and clean, but it was also a desk that belonged to a woman who was dedicated to her family life as well. She and Jackson had an adopted son and a daughter who was now a toddler, and pictures of the little ones sat on both corners. Megan admired the kids when she came in, drawing an instant smile from Angela.
“I don’t know about Victoria, but I do believe Corby will grow up to be an agent. He’s an incredible kid. Victoria is, too. She hasn’t had a chance yet to get into the world. I am, naturally, biased,” Angela said. She greeted Hugo as well with an affectionate scratch on the neck.
“How could you and Jackson have anything but wonderful children?” Megan asked, smiling.
“Hmm, I’ve seen a couple of beautiful celebrities have unusual offspring,” Ragnar teased.
Angela hit him in arm.
“But,” he said quickly, “I know your children and they are terrific.”
They all laughed and then sobered quickly. Angela gestured to the screens. “I’m ready in here. Did you want Jackson in with you or watching from here?”
“Ask him to come in with me,” Ragnar said after a moment’s thought. “He may come up with something I don’t.”
He nodded to the two of them and left. Angela made a quick call to Jackson’s office. Megan saw Jackson as he passed Angela’s office, going to the conference room.
“Okay, Megan. Ready?”
Megan nodded, taking the chair Angela indicated.
Angela’s computer screen was already showing the conference room. The camera was directed on Joel Letterman.
He remained handcuffed. When Angela turned up the sound on the computer, she could hear him complaining, shouting angrily. “You wait! You wait until you hear from my attorney. You will be sued so far up the government’s ass that you’ll all be digging ditches the rest of your lives! This is cruel and inhumane punishment. I have been sitting here—”
“I apologize,” Ragnar announced, coming into the room. “I do believe you’ve been sitting in this room even longer than Grace Menendez was locked in that coffin you buried her in. What, you can’t get it up unless it’s for a woman who is passed out or dead?”
“I get it up plenty when they’re not passed out or dead!” Joel shouted, specks of foam forming at his mouth, his spit landing on the table.
“We’ll need a hazmat team in there,” Angela muttered dryly.
“But you prefer a woman passed out or dead?” Jackson, standing just to the left of Ragnar, asked.
“Wait, wait, wait! I told you. The bitch was a whore. I paid her. She was fine with drugs. She begged for drugs. She’s a junkie, too. She told me it was great to see me because I am young. I had something! And she was willing to play that game. In fact, it was her idea to play the game. She wanted to be buried, and when I dug her up, she’d fall all over me because I was her rescuer. I’m telling you, she was all into it!”
“That’s not what she says.”
“She’s a liar. Who are they going to believe in court?” he asked.
“I think they’ll believe her,” Ragnar said. “Because there have been women killed in such a manner—several women, including one of her roommates.”
“I told you. I didn’t do the roommate.”
“Right. Because you’re lousy at what you were trying to do. I’ll bet the real Embracer would be ashamed at how you mangled such a simple thing.”
“Bull! I keep telling you—”
Jackson looked at Ragnar. “He’s no Embracer,” Jackson said.
“Stop! I didn’t mangle anything. I did everything just right!”
“I don’t think so,” Ragnar said, agreeing with Jackson. “I mean, he didn’t get away with anything, and he dug the hole so shallow it took just about nothing to get her out. I’m sure you were told to dig the hole to bury the coffin deeper.” He stared at Letterman, shaking his head.
“The hole I dug was just fine. The bitch was almost dead!” Letterman cried.
“So, you were trying to kill her,” Jackson said.
“No! Wait! I wasn’t. I—” He broke off, laughing. “We can deal with all this in court. You’ll never know—you’ll just never know.”
“Well, we do know. Rory Ayers and Jim Carver were two of the teachers—originals. We know that.”
“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” Letterman said. “Rory Ayers...bigwig with some company somewhere. The other guy... Carver? Good name, huh?”
“Those are guys who really know how to kidnap, assault, and kill,” Jackson said, shaking his head as he looked at Ragnar.
“They had it together. But you—not so much,” Ragnar said, hands suddenly down on the table as he stared at Letterman.
“Hey. I am plenty together!” Letterman raged. “And you—you’ll just never know. I am admired. I’m more than you’ll ever know. You’ll never know because you’re stupid, and you’re blind. And I’m not saying another word to anyone until I have a lawyer!”
“Fine.” Ragnar shrugged. “This guy is penny ante,” he told Jackson.
“The hell I am! I am the best ever!”
“Best ever at what?” Ragnar asked, snorting. “You just said you were innocent of anything but hiring a sex worker. No jury is going to buy that. Most men don’t bury their dates.”
“Most whores don’t ask!”
“And this one didn’t either,” Jackson said, letting out a breath.
“You are idiots, and I will walk! As I should! That whore should be in jail. Soliciting and making a good man look bad.”
Ragnar just shook his head and turned to Jackson again. “Is someone coming in to get him for arraignment?”
“Yep, within an hour,” Jackson said.
“Okay. See ya,” Ragnar told Letterman.
“Wait! You can’t just leave me sitting here. I have been in this room forever. You can’t—”
“It won’t be long,” Jackson said, heading to the door.
“We’ll make sure you get some water or coffee,” Ragnar told him. “Hey, you’ve got air. That’s more than Grace had right from the get-go.”
With that, Ragnar followed Jackson out of the room.
Megan and Angela remained behind the desk, still watching the screen, the volume low.
Hugo was staring at the screen with a low growl sounding in his throat.
Because Joel Letterman was unaware of the camera. And he was muttering away, his words angry and barely discernable.
Megan could catch the words “assholes” and “idiots” and then an assurance regarding himself: “I was doing it right, I was good, if it wasn’t for the idiots before me. I mean, what were they doing out there in the woods anyway, looking for the cabin, looking for me? The woods are huge! How...how...there are old bits of settlement here and there, and...”
“He’s talking to himself,” Megan explained to the men as they entered. But she glanced at the screen and saw he had gone quiet. He was just staring at his hands.
“Saying anything useful?” Ragnar asked.
“Well, enough to suggest you’ve been right about him being new at this. He’s muttering about the fact that ‘those who came before him’ are the reason he’s where he is now,” Megan said.
“Did you get anything else?” Ragnar asked her.
“Probably what you surmised without me. And he’s right about one thing—we’re not seeing something. Oh. I suppose you might have gotten this anyway, but he knows exactly who Rory Ayers and Jim Carver are. He repeated their names as if he had no idea—but he does. I think he’ll get a lawyer, and he’ll really play the part of a poor young man seduced into sadomasochism. But I also believe he’ll fall on his sword before giving up his mentor. Unless...”
“Unless?” Jackson asked her.
She shook her head. “In his muttering, I thought he might have been getting angry. Because in his mind, he did do everything right. And he might—he just might—suspect someone gave him away.”
“Betrayed him,” Ragnar said.
“Carver or Ayers?” Angela mused. “Or someone else still out here?”
“He really believes we are idiots,” Megan said. “Thinks he’s superior to us all. And he’s also laughing inside because we don’t see it.”
“So. What aren’t we seeing?” Ragnar muttered. “We need to question him again. Megan, he may suspect he’s been betrayed. He can’t know how we found him, so while he’ll keep denying his mentors might have given him up, it is there as a thought. We should push the thought,” Ragnar said.
Jackson nodded.
Ragnar looked at Megan thoughtfully.
“Maybe this time... Angela and Megan.”
“You—you think I should?” Megan was surprised.
“I think the two of you should go in like the ‘good’ cops after the ‘bad’ cops. Find out if he does want water or coffee or something. And this time, Jackson and I will watch from here,” Ragnar said.
“Could work,” Jackson said.
Megan must have shown her concern on her face because Angela quickly reassured her. “You just ask about coffee and anything he might need while he’s waiting. I’ll mention the fact you found him so quickly—something you couldn’t have done without help.”
Hugo whined and set his nose in her hand. Megan stroked him, murmuring, “It’s all right, Hugo.”
She remembered the terror of having been taken.
And she remembered what it felt like to know she had helped save a life.
She smiled grimly.
“I’m ready and willing to get in, listen, and talk,” she assured them. She shook her head. “This is all so unbelievable,” she said. “A network of sick killers.”
Jackson shrugged. “I’m afraid it’s happened before. The ‘Killer Clown’ and the ‘Candyman.’ In fact, there’s a darned good program on the two of them and others. They had a pedophile network going using pamphlets and their own codes, communicating in a way that appeared entirely harmless.” He paused. “What we can’t figure out is how two men—Carver and Ayers, since we believe Boynton was new to this, who are incarcerated with their phone calls being recorded—are communicating to their followers.”
“It’s there somewhere,” Megan said. “Their attorneys?”
“Their attorneys are public defenders,” Angela said. “Their records show them to be sharp attorneys, but lily white when it comes to corruption. Anyway, let’s see what we can do. I won’t actually lie; we’ll just throw out a few suppositions.”
Angela looked at Megan questioningly and then left the office.
“Hugo, mind Ragnar now,” she told the dog.
Hugo whined, but sat obediently.
Megan followed Angela out, not looking back.
She had almost died. Other women had died.
And this had to be stopped.
Nine
Ragnar sat in the chair Megan had vacated, staring at the screen.
“Hey, Megan is going to do all right,” Jackson said.
“She’s a civilian.”
“And she was with you when you apprehended the man. If he hadn’t seen her already, I wouldn’t have let her go in. But she is a surprising woman, Ragnar, with more talents than it seems we know.”
Jackson probably knew there was more to the story of finding Grace. But he was waiting to hear it from Megan. If Megan wanted to share her strange dream, it was her right to choose when. Since she hadn’t wanted him mentioning it to her sister, he thought he should just stay quiet.
“This might be just what we need,” Jackson said. “The guy has a problem with women. I think it will be good to see him respond when it’s two women in with him.”
“Yeah,” Ragnar muttered. He shook his head. “I do think any man who wants to knock out a woman and bury her has a problem with women. And here’s the thing—anyone who wants to do that is sick in my book. But he was also in training by cold and calculating murderers with the same sickness. So, they all need help. But to protect society, there are few people more deserving of being locked up.”
“I’m going on locked up with this group,” Jackson said.
“Keys thrown away.”
“The DA is going after the death penalty for both Carver and Ayers,” Jackson told him.
“Yeah, I keep using that when I try to get them to talk. Jackson, we have no idea how many people are involved in this or how many women have been murdered.”
“They’re in,” Jackson said, indicating the screen.
“Yeah. We’ll sit back on this. And watch.”
It was ironic. Usually, Megan watched. And listened with her extraordinary ability while he or Mark did the talking. It was going to be interesting to be the watcher—seeing Megan in action.
“Ah, well, hell, at least a better-looking pair!” Letterman drawled as Angela and Megan entered the room.
Ragnar saw the man lean back casually and taunt the two women. Jackson was right. Joel Letterman had a low opinion of women.
“Now what?” he demanded. “Are you two transport?”
That or he had coveted a woman and been hurt by her, perhaps crushed and humiliated by what he saw as a lost love. And now, perhaps, he felt they should all pay.
But had he been directed to that particular corner by someone who knew exactly what had happened to Carole Berlin?
“No, we’re not transport. We’re the coffee ladies,” Megan said. “We came in to see if we could get you anything.”
“You!” he said, waving a finger at Megan. “You have that vicious dog.”
“My dog isn’t vicious. He doesn’t like it when people hurt other people. You know, bury them, almost kill them,” Megan said. “But I’m not even an agent. I’m just helping on coffee duty.”
“How nice! I’d love a large porterhouse steak, a twice-baked potato, and some greens. My mom always told me to eat my greens,” Letterman said.
“The man is truly an ass,” Jackson muttered, sitting in Angela’s chair to keep his eyes on the screen.
“That gives a bad name to an ass,” Ragnar told him.
“Despicable excuse for a human being?” Jackson suggested.
“Far kinder to the beast of burden,” Ragnar muttered. They both fell silent, listening.
“We don’t have a porterhouse. We do have water and coffee or soft drinks,” Angela said. “Two officers will be coming; because of the connections to other federal cases, you will be arraigned in federal court.”
“Connections?” Letterman said.
Megan stared at Angela. She was doing an excellent job of pretending to worry about what was being said.
