DEAD BY WEDNESDAY (15 page)

Chapter Seventeen

The kid didn’t put down the gun.

Robert knew he had one last shot. “Don’t do this to Carmen, Raoul. Don’t let her lose another brother. She won’t be able to take it. She’s given up everything for you. Don’t make her regret it.”

Raoul’s arms were shaking so badly that Robert was scared the gun was going to go off accidentally.

“I think they might have messed with Carmen’s car. They said stuff about her.”

Now that got his attention.

“What kind of stuff?” he asked.

“We were just kidding,” the taller one said. “We meant no disrespect, man.”

Based on that comment, Robert could pretty much figure out what they’d said. That pissed him off. But if they were responsible for Carmen’s car, Raoul was going to have to pull him off them.

“Carmen Jimenez’s brake lines were cut. I want to know what you know about that.” He watched their faces closely and he could tell that he’d surprised them.

“We sprayed the car with paint and JJ broke the window,” one of them said. “We didn’t do anything with any brake lines. I wouldn’t even know how to cut a brake line.”

“They might be lying,” Raoul yelled.

He didn’t think so. “If they’re responsible,” he said, “then they’ll be prosecuted. Trust me on this, Raoul. They won’t get away with it. It’s not your job to take the law into your own hands.”

It took another thirty seconds of painful silence before Raoul lowered his arms. Robert’s heart started to beat again when the boy dropped to his knees and laid the gun on the ground. He pointed his finger at the boys. “Stay right where you are,” he said. He got close enough to kick Raoul’s gun far out of reach. Then he reached out his arm and grabbed the boy and pulled him tight into his body.

“It’s going to be okay,” Robert said, his voice close to Raoul’s ear. “It’s all going to be okay.”

* * *

A
N
HOUR
LATER
, Raoul and Robert walked into the apartment. Carmen met them at the door. She wrapped her arms around her brother and held him.

Robert stepped back. He’d called her as soon as he could, but then it had taken another hour to get things straightened out. Beat cops had arrived within minutes of Raoul putting down his weapon. It still made Robert queasy to think how differently things might have turned out if another cop had arrived before he had.

Raoul might have been shot, might have been killed. Carmen might be mourning the loss of another brother.

“I’m sorry,” Raoul said, wiping his nose with his sleeve.

“I know, honey. Tell me what happened.” She led him over to the couch, where they sat, side by side. Robert took the chair and listened while Raoul told his sister about the bullying that he’d been enduring and how it had all culminated in the alley.

Robert had already heard the explanation once at the police station. Raoul’s account of what happened in the alley matched what the eyewitness had called in. The other boys had started it. Raoul had attempted to finish it, once and for all.

“You should have told me,” Carmen said, her voice soft.

“I couldn’t. I knew you’d want to help but it would only get worse.”

Carmen nodded. She was wise to the world of teenagers and probably realized that what he was saying was true.

“Then the stuff with your car happened and I knew they knew where we lived. They had to be stopped.”

“I understand,” she said. She turned to him. “Any reason to believe that they’re responsible for the damage to my car?”

“They admitted to the spray paint and breaking the window. Flatly denied messing with the brakes. I think they were telling the truth. Plus, they were both in school on Monday. Every teacher takes attendance and they didn’t miss any classes. I don’t think they had an opportunity.”

“So they are just a bunch of cowardly bullies,” she said.

“Yeah. They won’t bother him again,” Robert said before she could ask. “I spoke with them and their parents. They’re already lawyering up to make a plea bargain on the vandalism charge. I guess they’re worried about football scholarships. Anyway, I made it very clear that if one hair on Raoul’s head is harmed, that the police are going to be looking in their direction. I think both the kids and their parents got it.”

She smiled at him. “Thank you,” she whispered. Then she turned back to Raoul.

“Where did you ever get a gun?” Carmen asked.

Robert sat forward in his chair. This was the only part of Raoul’s story that hadn’t made sense.

“Some guy gave it to me,” he said.

“Some guy?” Carmen questioned.

Raoul nodded.

“Some stranger just gave you a gun and you took it?” Carmen asked, her voice heavy with suspicion.

This time Raoul shrugged. “I gave him twenty bucks.”

Robert forced himself to keep quiet. The gun had been registered to a Martin Olsen from Oak Park who had reported the gun being stolen from his car over a year ago. There were no prints on it besides Raoul’s.

Was it possible that some guy had stolen it and resold it? Sure. Stolen goods got converted into money for drugs every day. It was the banking system that lots of people were familiar with.

But something just didn’t seem right. And Raoul had not copped to being involved with the shooting at Speedy’s Used Cars even though Robert had once again asked him about it.

Robert had called in a few favors with the state’s attorney’s office, and Raoul would not be prosecuted for possessing the stolen gun. JJ’s and Beau’s parents, likely wanting similar leniency for their sons, hadn’t pushed in the opposite direction.

“I’m sorry, Carmen,” Raoul said. “I never meant to worry you. Can I go to my room now?”

Carmen kissed his cheek and nodded. “We’ll eat something in a little bit,” she said.

Robert looked at the clock on the wall. Half past six. He’d left Sawyer a little more than two hours earlier.

He waited until he heard Raoul’s door close. “I’d like to stay but I have to go,” he said.

“Of course. Robert, I don’t know how to thank you. I don’t know exactly what happened in that alley but what I think is that I have my brother because of you.”

He shook his head. “I didn’t do that much. He really didn’t want to kill those boys. He’d just boxed himself into a corner.”

Carmen’s eyes filled with tears. “A gun. In my wildest dreams, I’d never have considered that he’d have a gun. I’d like to get my hands on that person,” she added.

“Nobody forced him to buy it,” Robert said, keeping his tone neutral.

She frowned at him, then shook her head. “You’re right. The responsibility lies with him. I know I’m too quick to cut him some slack. It’s just that when I think of how close I came to losing him, I just can’t stand it.”

He wanted to tell her his suspicions about Speedy’s Used Cars but he just couldn’t. Not tonight. She’d been through enough. Robert reached for her hand. “It’s over. Forget it.”

“No. I need to say something. I lost one brother and today, I almost lost another one. I would have. Whether he’d killed those boys or they’d killed him. Either way, I’d have lost him.”

“He’s lucky to have you. In lots of families, this would have caused a huge blowout. But you listened. You gave him a chance to explain.”

She sighed. “I wanted him to know that he could tell me anything. You know, it’s a terrible burden to have to hide things from those who love you. I know, better than most.”

Was she hiding something from him? Robert rubbed his chin. “I’m not sure I understand.”

Carmen got up and started to pace around the room. “I made a mistake when I was not much older than Raoul. A big mistake.”

She looked miserable. “Honey, that’s in the past. You don’t need to tell me.”

She stopped. “I have to tell someone. I have to. It’s killing me.”

She was scaring him. “Okay. I’m listening. Please, just sit down. Talk to me.”

She sat in the chair across from him. “My junior year of high school, I fell in love with a boy who loved football more than he loved me. When I got pregnant, all he could see was his hopes and dreams ending. He didn’t want me or the baby.”

The bastard. “What happened?”

“I couldn’t tell my parents. I just couldn’t. They’d worked so hard. Hector had already split off from the family, had gone his own way with the gang. That had almost killed them. I couldn’t disappoint them again.” She clasped her hands together. “My mother barely spoke English and my father worked at a minimum wage job. But still, they had dreams that their children would have a better life.”

“What happened?”

“I hid my pregnancy. And every day, I tried to do something so that I’d lose the baby. I jumped off chairs. I turned cartwheels in gym class. I ran miles on the track at school. And eleven weeks into my pregnancy, my wish came true. I miscarried. I never told anybody.”

His heart broke for the young girl she’d been. “I’m sorry there was nobody there for you,” he said.

“It was almost exactly thirteen years ago. On January 18.”

Robert did the calculation and realized that the day he’d knocked on Carmen’s door, the day she’d been crying, had been the eighteenth. “You were just a kid, Carmen. A kid faced with an adult circumstance. And everything you did probably had nothing to do with you losing the baby. It probably just happened.”

“I guess we’ll never know. And that haunts me. I was a kid trying to handle an adult situation. Raoul had to make an adult decision today. I’m just thankful to you that he didn’t have to do it on his own.”

Neither of them would ever have to be on their own if he had his way. But now wasn’t the time to tell her that.

“What I’ve learned over the years is that none of us can go back,” Carmen continued. “Raoul can’t go back to being the kid he was before he threatened to kill two boys. He can’t go back. A person can only go forward. Thanks to you, he’s got a future to look forward to.”

She stood up. “I have a future to look forward to,” she added. “Now maybe you understand a little better why I waited thirteen years to be with another man. In some sick way, I was punishing myself, repentance for my sins, if you will. I had done something very wrong. I denied myself pleasure or love because I didn’t think I deserved it.”

He felt his soul rip for the youth she’d lost. “You so deserve it,” he said.

She rubbed the back of her hand across his cheek. “I know. It’s amazing. I know it now. You helped me see it.”

He wished he didn’t have to go. But now that they had a lead on the serial killer, everybody would work all night if necessary. He stood up and put his coat on. “I’m sorry, but I really do have to go. I’m needed back at work. I want to talk to you about something but now isn’t the right time. I just can’t do it right now.”

“I understand,” she said and wrapped her arms around his neck. She pulled his face toward her and soundly kissed him.

And he let himself drink in all the goodness that was Carmen Jimenez.

When they stopped kissing, he rested his forehead against hers. “Now I really wish I didn’t have to go to work.”

“We could go out in the hallway and make out again,” she said, humor in her tone.

“Don’t tempt me,” he said. He lifted his head. “I don’t want to put a damper on things but you know, we still don’t know who messed with your brakes. You and Raoul need to continue to be vigilant about your safety.”

“We will. We aren’t going anywhere tonight. No need to worry about us. Mrs. Minelli is taking Raoul to school. I’ll catch a cab to work.”

He kissed her again. “Okay. Good night.”

* * *

B
Y
THE
TIME
Robert caught up with Sawyer, he’d interviewed Barry Taylor and two other staff members who lived in the same general vicinity. “What do you think?” Robert asked.

“I think Mr. Willow was right,” Sawyer said. “Barry Taylor is an odd duck. Well, he was more right than you might imagine.”

“I don’t get it.”

“We got his permission to look around his house, and I think maybe the only thing he takes vengeance on
is
ducks. He carves them, paints them, mosaic-tiles them, you get the picture. Every room of his house, there are ducks. The artwork in his house, all ducks.”

“So maybe that’s why he didn’t play well with the other instructors? They were human?”

Sawyer smiled. “It’s a possibility. I have to admit, when I saw the carving tools, I got a little excited, given that our guy likes to take home body parts for trophies. That’s why I asked permission to search. The guy didn’t even hesitate.”

“Could he be doing the killing somewhere else?”

“Of course. But here’s the kicker. He doesn’t have a car. He said he didn’t, that he didn’t even have a driver’s license. I was able to verify that with the State. I also took the time to talk to a few of his neighbors after I left, and they have never seen him in a car. He rides his bike everywhere.”

“Our guy has a car or use of a car,” Robert said, shaking his head. “He’s spreading bodies out all over the city. Not doing that on a bike.”

“I think we can scratch odd guy number one off the list. Anyway, the other two staff members that I spoke to seemed pretty normal. One has a teenage boy and I could tell the killings had been especially upsetting for him. The other had been traveling recently and was happy to show us his passport, which verified that he wasn’t even in the country when the killings started. What was interesting was that when I asked both of them if there was somebody on staff who had stood out as odd or different, they both said Douglass Sparrow. That he was a real loner.”

“Maybe he was afraid that Barry Taylor was going to start carving him. You know, ducks today, sparrows tomorrow,” Robert suggested.

Sawyer rolled his eyes. “Keep your day job,” he said. “Come on. Let’s go. It’s going to be a long night.”

* * *

D
OUGLASS
S
PARROW
LIVED
three blocks from where victim number three had been found. That didn’t necessarily mean anything since all the other victims had been found miles away.

They knocked on the door of the small brick home and waited. They both had flashlights out and on. It had been dark for hours, and Sparrow evidently didn’t believe in porch lights. The temperature had once again dropped and was now hovering around zero.