Chapter 39
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
“You know, I was beginning to think you’d never find me.”
“I still don’t know where you are,” Jane said. “But I know we didn’t get to finish our discussion. You had more to tell me.”
“Have you ever lost anyone, Jane? Can I call you Jane?”
“Sure. And yes, I have.” She needed to keep him talking while she let Rapp know she had Phillip on the phone. Yet she was loath to pull out her cell if he could see her, worried he might stop talking. She could try to hide her actions but couldn’t chance making him suspicious.
“I lost my parents in that horrible crash.”
“But you didn’t go after the person who hit them. And that puzzles me.” Not that she wanted to give him a new target, but there had to be a reason Phillip had no interest in Anton.
“Oh, I did. At first. But the kid had just turned sixteen and was drunk off his ass. He’s my cousin several times removed, if you can believe that.”
“Really?” Maria had been wrong. Phillip did know about his relation to the Kaminskis.
Phillip tsked. “Please, Jane. Give me some credit. I was a medic in the Army, did you know that? I served and planned to continue to serve once I left the service. I’d finish at UW and go on to medical school.”
“So I heard.”
“I’m intelligent. I get that from both of my parents.”
Jane could feel his terrible grief in the pregnant pause. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“I think you mean that.” Phillip sounded both sad and elated at the same time.
“It’s refreshing to know that not everyone in law enforcement lies.
” After a pause, he continued, “I couldn’t kill my cousin.
No matter how Uncle Kyle and my dad felt about Mom’s family, they’re blood.
Heck, Dad was the one who instilled that loyalty in me. ”
“He was a healer, Phillip. And so were you. ‘Do no harm.’ Isn’t that the first rule of medicine?”
“Yes, it is. And those doctors, nurses, and medical people broke it when they killed my parents. They could have survived the crash. But not what was done to them in that excuse for a clinic where they were butchered.” His breathing grew choppy.
“That was wrong.”
“It was. I tried to let it go when my parents were killed. I would have probably. Maybe. I don’t know. But when I found out that they were used for body parts, and that the police and FBI covered up the crime, I had to fight back. That’s not right. That’s not justice.”
“You’re right. Completely.”
He sat with that a moment. “Thank you.”
“But Phillip, you’re killing innocent people to get revenge. Why do that? You’re not punishing the guilty.”
“But I’m making sure people know. It took you so long to realize it’s all connected. We had to make you see.”
“Who is we?”
“He tells me what to do. I do it.”
“Who is he?” Was Phillip delusional or did he have an accomplice? “And how do you know who to punish, Phillip? Why Dr. Ryan Daniels and Dr. Julie David? Anna Field, Tom Polsun, Mike Stevens, Tony Alvarez? Those were people just like your parents who have families left crying over them.”
“They’re gone for a greater purpose. So that we remember, so that these mistakes won’t ever happen again.”
“Please, Phillip. Come in. Stop hurting people. It’s not too late. We’ll get your message out.”
“I’m not done yet, Jane. There are four more who must die.”
Clearly, Phillip wasn’t well. She took her phone out, deciding to chance that he might see her.
“Ah-ah-ah. No calling anyone else while we’re talking. That’s rude, Jane.”
Bingo. The video feed was live, which also answered how he’d known she would be the one on the other end of the line. She tucked her phone back into her pocket and looked around the bakery as if just now spotting the obvious video camera.
She waved at it. “Apologies.”
“Accepted. Hey, I’m waving back at you, though you can’t see it.”
A polite killer. How nice.
Maybe he’d appreciate a helpful, polite FBI agent. “What can I do to help you stop killing, Phillip?”
“Nothing. What’s done is done. It’s a travesty, but we can make things right. I can make them right.”
“Is he telling you to do this?”
“He doesn’t have to. We’re all God’s children.”
Jane didn’t know what to believe. At turns, Phillip sounded incredibly intelligent then off his rocker. Was he acting alone? “Phillip, did you call this in to let the FBI know about your work?”
“About Justice, you mean?”
“Yes.”
“I cannot know his plan. I am the arm, the tool he uses to make it right. Aunt Maria really misses my mom, you know?”
Jane rolled with the change in conversation. “I know. I met your aunt and uncle. They’re very nice people.”
“They are. I’m sorry this will hurt them. But it can’t be helped. And it’s so much bigger than me.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Phillip laughed. “I like you, Jane. I’m sorry about our fight in the garage. I don’t like hurting women.”
“Then don’t.”
His tone changed, lost all warmth when he said, “But I will. I’m coming for the others. If you get in my way, I will end you. For I am Justice.”
He disconnected.
She stood there, thinking about all he’d said and didn’t say. One thing struck a chord. A small, perhaps coincidental turn of phrase or not?
After calling in to get forensics on the scene, she turned off the recording she’d started the moment she’d dialed the flip phone.
With any luck, they’d get something useful from it.
And she’d figure out if he’d meant to drop that major clue or if he’d done it by accident.
“It’s a travesty, but we can make things right. I can make them right,” Phillip had said.
Echoing the exact same wording his uncle had used.