The driver moved quickly down the street, heading toward the beach. Once there he cut into the dunes and dropped to his knees. There was no moon and the beach and the water beyond were hidden by an impenetrable darkness that obscured all but the few yards of sand closest to the buildings that faced the gulf. The driver’s left hand tightened on the handle of the large hunting knife. There had been no intention of using it again and he had considered throwing it away. Now it was needed one more time… all because of Harry Doyle. Now it was time for Harry Doyle to die… again.
Harry heard the screen door creak as it was eased back on its hinges. The sound was followed by complete silence. Someone was standing on the lanai, waiting, listening. A faint smile played across Harry’s lips.
“Come on in, Jim. I’ve been expecting you.”
Long moments passed before Jim Morgan stepped into view. His eyes found the shotgun in Harry’s lap, noted his finger resting on the trigger guard.
“Looks like you’re loaded and ready for bear,” Jim said. “I thought I’d come by and help, cover your back in case Joe Hall came at you from the beach.”
“Joe Hall’s not coming,” Harry said. “The phone call Vicky made… it wasn’t for him, Jim. It was for you.” Harry’s eyes dropped to the hunting knife that Jim held along his left leg. “Is that the knife you used on Darlene and Bobby Joe? I was hoping you’d bring it with you. Marty and his boys couldn’t find it when they searched your house and your cars yesterday. Oh, but they did find Nick’s missing. 38s. They even found the suppressor you used.” Harry watched Jim Morgan’s eyes harden. “Altogether they found more than enough evidence, Jim… Blood in the trunk of your patrol car, still more blood on the floor mat of your personal car, even some fibers that we expect will match up with the clothing Darlene was wearing. And of course we have that church bulletin with that wonderfully obscure reference to your work there as a youth minister.”
Jim smiled bitterly and shook his head. “Reverend Waldo just couldn’t help himself. He just had to see that everybody got a title. He didn’t even know who I was. Bobby Joe handled the youth ministers.” He let out a little snort. “All I did was work with the kids one night a week. But I still got a title. Seems like everybody but the janitor got one.”
Jim took a step forward and Harry raised the shotgun, leveling it at his chest. “Not one more step, Jim.”
“Aren’t you going to disarm me?”
“Not yet, Jim. You know how it is. Always give a cop killer a chance to go for his weapon.” He smiled at Morgan. It was a cold, clearly threatening smile. “Not a good chance, but a chance.”
“I was sorry about Nick, but it couldn’t be helped.” He shrugged. “Besides, he wasn’t much of a cop. He was even less of a Christian.”
“Were you sorry about Darlene Beckett?”
Morgan’s face twisted obscenely. “She got what she deserved. I’m sure the Lord’s punishment was even harsher.”
“Why do you think so?”
“You have to ask, after what she did to that boy? I thought the great Harry Doyle could see that. Or are you going to tell me she didn’t deserve to be punished? Are you suddenly some great defender of women who abuse children? Are you, Harry… the same Harry Doyle who was murdered by his own mother?” He shook his head vehemently. “No, she was nothing but a tramp and she used that kid to satisfy her filthy cravings. She deserved just what she got. Reverend Waldo saw that. He couldn’t say it just that way. He couldn’t say right out what needed to be done, but he saw it, he saw it, Harry.”
“Did Darlene remind you of Betty Higgins, Jim? Was that it?”
Morgan’s head jerked back as though he had been slapped. “How did you find out about her?” His voice sounded almost like a growl.
“There were others too, weren’t there, Jim-other abusers at all those foster homes you were sent to one after the other when you were just a little kid?”
Bitterness filled Morgan’s face. “That’s what kids are for. Don’t you know that, Harry? They’re for the satisfaction of sinners. Darlene Beckett understood all that. And… that’s… why… she… had… to… die.” He pressed the knife tighter against his leg. “It was perfect, you know, the way I worked it out. I followed her for weeks-I even saw Nick messing with her. But I waited for the perfect chance. Then she went off with that clown in the cowboy clothes and he took her to that beach at Frank Howard Park. So I followed them in and killed them both.” A small smile flitted across his lips and then disappeared. “I was off duty, but I lived close by. So I went home and changed into my uniform and drove back in my patrol unit. It was a perfect cover if anyone saw me. I loaded her into the trunk and took her to Brooker Creek. I had always intended to dump her body there, no matter where I ended up killing her. I was assigned that area for the whole month, so I knew when the body was found and the call came in-with any luck at all-I could be the first unit at the scene. And, of course, I was.” His face broke into a wide grin. “And I did such a good job I even got an official attaboy from the great Harry Doyle.” He let out a low, soft laugh. “From there on it was a cinch to make the team investigating the case.”
Harry nodded slowly. “Tell me about Bobby Joe. Why did he have to die?”
Jim looked down at the floor and shook his head. “He was the only one who knew about me. He knew I’d been tailing Darlene, because he’d been doing the same thing. He’d started out trying to get back into the good graces of his daddy. But she seduced him, just like she seduced everybody. Later, when he saw that I was tailing her too, he approached me about it. He was worried I’d let his daddy know he was sleeping with her. But I told him not to worry, that she was the one I was after, not him… I guess I knew right then that Bobby Joe might have to go eventually. He was such a little coward he just couldn’t be trusted to keep his mouth shut. He was also the only one who knew I was a deputy. I’d kept that from people at the church; didn’t want the kids I worked with to know. Then one day I ended up pulling Bobby Joe over for speeding. I didn’t know it was him, of course, and I let him go without even a warning ticket. But right then I told him he needed to keep his mouth shut about my job.” Jim let out another small laugh. “You see, I had no desire to kill Bobby Joe. But you left me no choice. When you started in on him, I knew sooner or later you’d break him. He was just too weak… So it was your fault, Harry. You’re the reason Bobby Joe had to die. You wouldn’t fall for Nick as Darlene’s killer, even when I gave you those computer records. You just kept on after Bobby Joe. You knew it was someone at the church and you were like a dog with a bone, you just wouldn’t ease up and take what I handed you on a platter. And that’s why Nick had to die, Harry. He was your fault too.” Jim’s voice began to rise. “I needed you to accept him as Darlene’s killer. But you wouldn’t do that! You wouldn’t accept the evidence I’d put together about the doctored computer records. And that evidence was iron clad. I know it because I doctored those records myself. But they weren’t good enough for you, were they? You just kept insisting Nick was too good a detective to let himself get caught that way. And even after I’d killed him and gave you his bloody shoes and a suicide note to tie it all together, you still wouldn’t buy it.” He tilted his head to the side and his voice became softer. “Why was that, Harry? Why did you refuse to look anywhere else but the church? Did that whore, Darlene, tell you it was someone at the church? Was it a case of the dead talking to you again, Harry?”
“Something like that.”
“You’re telling me that whore came back at me from the other side? Is that what you’re telling me, Harry?”
The lanai door behind Morgan opened and Vicky stepped inside. She immediately dropped into a shooting stance, leveling her Glock at Morgan’s back.
Morgan’s head pivoted and the bitter smile returned. “Hi, Vicky.”