Chapter 48
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
With a lot of luck and friendly guards at the ferry, Jane made it to the city in less than an hour. She kept Gina on the phone. News that Jane was on her way put Phillip in a good mood.
The police escort to UW Medical Northwest shaved off a ton of time, though she worried that Phillip might decide waiting didn’t fit his master plan.
Why had he let his targets leave though? Why bring in Rapp?
What game was he playing now, and did he even realize he might be controlled by someone else? Who the heck was pulling his strings? Because it was more than the Mazzucas, no matter what Williams said.
She arrived without a protective vest or weapons, which she left in the trunk of her car against protocol. But she had more important things to worry about.
Fortunately, she hadn’t taken any major wounds from Williams, that twerp, and Raine had given her steady texts on Dash’s status as well as Jenn’s condition. Thanks for looking after Sullivan, Jane sent her.
You’re so weird. Call her by her first name. That last text from her cousin calmed her. Made her smile.
“You find death coming for you funny?” Gina asked, clearly nervous and trying not to show it as she met Jane near the hospital.
“I find it hilarious.” She noted Diego hovering nearby. “What are you holding there?”
“We want a closeup view. Put this on.” He handed the small camera and mic to her, and she attached it to the collar of her sweater since it looked like an ornamental pin.
“I like this.” So would Hal.
“Thanks.” Diego flushed at the praise. Then he jumped in for a quick hug. “Please don’t die.”
“I won’t.”
Jane was touched until Gina added, “And don’t get Rapp killed.”
“Aw, I knew you cared.”
Gina huffed. “Go on. Be safe.”
Jane hurried to the front of the building and held up her arms, showing herself weaponless. After lowering her arms, she said into a radio one of the SWAT guys had handed her, “I’m here and unarmed.”
“Enter,” Rapp answered.
Good. He was alive. Walking slowly, she entered, noting the locations of the small, weird mystery tanks inside, hooked up to wires that disappeared into the walls. The door swung shut behind her, leaving her in the lobby with Rapp and Phillip.
Phillip sat at a desk, a semiautomatic resting in front of him.
Rapp sat on the floor, his legs splayed and resting back on his hands.
Jane had the feeling she’d interrupted an interesting discussion. Rapp didn’t appear upset, and Phillip was smiling.
“What did I miss?” She walked near Rapp but stopped when Phillip lifted a hand. “Where do you want me?”
“That’s what I like about you, Jane. You’re a pleasure to work with.” Phillip pointed to a nearby chair off center of the middle of the floor. “Please, sit there. And know if you did sneak a weapon in, I’ll shoot him in the head before you get off a round.”
“Understood.”
He smiled. “Excellent.” After she settled, he asked, “Where were you?”
During her travel from the island, she’d debated on whether or not to tell him the truth. She’d decided he’d appreciate her honesty. “Well, it’s been an exciting night.” She felt Rapp’s attention narrow on her.
While she explained everything that had happened, she waited for Phillip to chime in with some detail. He didn’t.
She finished with, “Sullivan’s at the hospital now, and we don’t know if she’ll make it. Her new boyfriend seems a decent sort. He cared about helping more than he did about saving his own skin.”
“That’s a good quality in a partner,” Phillip agreed. “My parents were like that.”
“I heard amazing things about your dad,” Jane agreed. “And everyone loved your mom. The florist next door to her bakery couldn’t say enough about her or her baked goods.”
Phillip grinned. “Ah, Mrs. Knof. She’d pretend to be cranky, but she always gave my mom a fresh bouquet to start the week, free of charge. She was such a nice woman.” Unexpected tears filled his eyes. “It’s been so long since I’ve been around nice people.”
Rapp caught her eye, but she didn’t need him to tell her Phillip had held on this long for some reason. He now had an excuse to end things since she’d finally arrived.
“Phillip, how can I help you?” Jane asked.
“Just by being here, you’re helping. I called a reporter the other day, and I told him everything.
How the FBI covered up a serial killer—that’s me.
I also gave him my name, so don’t blame anyone on the task force for giving me up.
This spectacle … I imagine it’ll be hard to hide this.
Although I bet you could if you wanted.”
Jane shrugged. “I don’t much care. My job isn’t about PR. It’s about protecting lives. And I know he doesn’t care.” She nodded to Rapp. “Or he’d have fired me on day one. I don’t play nice with others.”
“Seriously. She’s not kidding.” Rapp chuckled.
Phillip glanced from Rapp to Jane. “I like you both. He’s got military training. You can tell.”
“I know.”
Rapp sighed. “Hard to hide proficiency from a fellow expert.”
“Thank you.” Phillip had to be the nicest—well, only—serial killer Jane had ever met.
“Phillip, can I ask you a question?”
He glanced at his phone before placing it back down. “Go ahead.”
“Did someone tell you to do all this? Or did you hear it from God or someone inside your head?”
He paused for a moment then broke into laughter. “Oh, wow. Thanks. I needed that.” He let out a loud breath. “So that’s what you thought? That I was looney tunes? Bats in the belfry?”
“Hey, you’re killing people and on a mission. It’s not farfetched to think you had a ‘higher’ purpose.” She glanced up, as if looking to a higher power.
“Fair enough. Yes, Jane. And Gunther. He told me I can call him that.”
Yes?
“An actual human being, alive, not a god, whispered certain truths to me. He set me on my path. Sure, you’ll all call me insane and say I’m dealing with grief and other traumas I’m obviously suffering.
But Mike Stevens’ name came from my special friend.
I had to work to fill in the others around him, so that you wouldn’t see the true victim until it was too late. ”
“But we know about Kaminski and the Mazzucas now,” Rapp confessed. “I told you that.”
“You did, and I appreciate that knowledge. I also appreciate that you haven’t been sharing everything we talked about with the group outside.”
Well, they hadn’t been until Jane had arrived. Diego and Gina were getting all this in real time.
“I told you once, Jane, that I am Justice. And I am. I’m not crazy or grieving. Well, maybe I am. But that grief cleared my vision, enabled me to see that not everything is in black and white. We’re all shades of gray.”
She scoffed.
Phillip frowned. “What?”
“I just had this conversation with my cousin. She says I’m too black and white, that I need to see that the world exists in shades of gray. But I think that’s just an excuse to allow yourself to break rules that should remain unbroken.”
“Interesting. And wrong.” Phillip stood.
She saw Rapp tense, but he remained still.
“I learned a lot in the Army. My family dedicated itself to service. I tried to be the best soldier, the best medic, son, and student. I admit, something in me broke when my parents died, because we all know they might have been saved if some scum hadn’t butchered them for parts.”
“But Phillip, that crime ring was under August Kaminski’s leadership. He’s the one you’re really mad at,” Rapp said.
Jane still didn’t understand why Phillip was determined to punish everyone but his grand-uncle, who deserved his wrath. He’d even forgiven his cousin, who had actually crashed into his parents.
“That’s what you all think. You don’t really know.”
“And you do?” Jane asked gently. As much as Phillip acted like he had all his ducks in a row and a clear focus, his actions were those of someone with a few screws loose.
He hadn’t gone to the press when he’d learned about the organ harvesting.
He hadn’t contacted any authorities. Hell, he hadn’t even contacted the FBI to get help.
Instead, he killed innocent people under someone else’s directive.
“Who gave you your marching orders?” Rapp asked.
Phillip studied him and Jane, shaking his head.
“You still can’t see it. But then, you don’t have to.
I’ll die, and you.” He looked at Rapp, “You’ll go back to missions overseas.
” To Jane he said, “And you’ll go back to fighting crime at the Seattle field office.
You both think you’re helping. And to an extent you are.
But when it all comes crashing down, you’ll finally start to see what I’ve been saying. ”
He motioned to the room to Jane’s right. “If you hurry and get in there, you might escape the blast. But you have to be quick. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.” He laughed, a sound bordering on hysteria.
Then she noticed the device in his hands. Some sort of trigger.
Rapp rushed her into the small, empty closet just as Phillip waved goodbye.
A blast of heat threw her and Rapp against each other and the wall.