Chapter Thirteen Brad #6
“Maybe you don’t, but I know what you did.” I fought the last screw. “Why’d you kill Sophia?”
“What?” His face went red in the mirror. “I didn’t kill that bitch.”
“Bitch, huh?” I finally got a good grip on the screw and twisted hard. It let go, and the only thing that held the grate in place was my hand. “In my experience when a suspect uses terms like hate toward a victim, there’s more to the story.”
“Get out of my head!” He hit the wheel.
“Did she dump you? Is this a bruised ego?”
“Fuck you, Detective Stone!” He held up my license. “I know where you live. I know your age. And I know you were married.”
“And I know you killed Sophia. What happened? Did she dump your pathetic ass? Why’d you kill those girls?”
“What? I didn’t . . . Ahh!” He screamed and sped up. “You know you’re dead, right? Like you aren’t going to make it out of this alive.”
I waited for the perfect moment, as I knew things were going to happen fast.
“If my fate’s sealed anyway, why not tell me? What’d I miss?”
“Miss,” he muttered. “What did I miss, you mean? Every time that girl was left alone, another man would hit on her. I got text messages to show proof she was a little whore. Then that night, two men this time trapped her in the coat room. They said something that upset her, and-and-and,” he stuttered, “and I tried to help, but she never listens to me. I had to make her listen to me.” His gaze moved up in the mirror and latched on to mine.
“What choice did I have? She wouldn’t stop shouting, and I needed her to shut up.
I didn’t mean to kill her, but she just wouldn’t stop talking. ”
“So, you did kill those other girls, too, right?” C’mon, give me something.
“You think I killed the—” Suddenly, his shoulders went stiff, and he shifted in his seat. I saw a car coming toward us and waited for it to get closer.
It was time.
I let the grate drop, pushed my arms through the opening, and wrapped them around his neck. I pulled hard. I knew this was my one and only chance, as I couldn’t risk him getting close to where his buddies waited.
The truck swung to one side and then the other. I struggled to keep a tight grip. It came down to him or me, and I wasn’t about to die in a beer truck.
He tried to pry my hands from his neck, and the truck swerved crazily. I lost my grip when the truck flipped on its side. We hit hard, and I was thrown against the beer kegs.
A loud, high-pitched noise drove through my brain like a nail gun to the ears.
I fought to open my eyes, and when I did, the light matched the intensity of the noise.
I did a quick evaluation of myself, and all things considered, I was all right.
I stumbled a few times but soon made it to my feet.
The truck was a mess, beer was everywhere, and I felt the broken glass as I fought my way out.
The impact had blown open the back doors.
My legs were like rubber as I wobbled toward the front of the truck. I needed to see if he was still alive.
I jumped up on the wheel and looked down into an empty cabin.
“Shit!” Blood stains on the empty seat and bloody handprints told me he was injured. I looked around the ground near the truck. As the sound of sirens approached, I started to track his footsteps.
“Stone!” Captain yelled as he flew from his car.
“I’m fine.” I held up a hand. “The fucker got away,” I snarled, beyond pissed he gave me the slip. I was better than that. “He killed Sophia.”
He nodded, then left to get things started. “I need a five-mile perimeter of this area,” I heard him yell.
Kennedy came flying up with Officer Smith. The car had barely stopped before Kennedy rushed to my side. “They got him less than a mile back. You okay?”
“Yeah. They got him?”
“Yeah, he got past Stanley.” He gave me an odd look just as Officer Stanley joined us.
He rubbed his lips as he looked me over. “Sorry, Detective, he got by me. I didn’t even see him.” I glanced at Kennedy, who shook his head at me.
“Go fill Captain in.” I nodded with my chin toward Cap’s squad car.
“Copy that.”
When he left, Kennedy handed me a water bottle. “He didn’t see him.” He rolled his eyes as he repeated Stanley’s words. “He could hardly have missed him. What’d he do? Step aside to let him pass?”
I turned to watch Stanley as he moved slowly toward Captain, and something odd passed through me.
Stanley was young, smart, and quick. To think he didn’t see a man running toward him made the hair on my neck go up.
I hated to think badly about a fellow officer, but my gut told me that it was odd.
But I had bigger shit to deal with first.
My phone rang, and I answered it without looking at the ID. “Stone.”
“Hi, Detective Stone, it’s Rudy Vamp. Remember me from the impound yard?”
“Yes, of course I do, Rudy. You have something for me?”
“Yeah, well I was going through that Ram and found something.”
I held up a finger to Kennedy so he wouldn’t walk away. “Okay, I’m listening.” I tapped the screen and moved the call to speaker so he could hear.
“I think I might know who ran your partner off the road.”