CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The errand before the errand was as simple as it could get. They went to Dr. Zola’s house, explained to her the situation, and she packed a bag and got into Claire’s car. She was taken to the precinct to give a statement, and then they would decide on the next course of action from there.
Once the doctor was in safe hands, they went to talk with Mrs. Castellano.
She lived in one of the poorer areas of the city, showing no signs of any wealth that might have come from a payout from the police.
Her house was a single-level dwelling with one broken window on the right side.
The doorframe had some wood attached, showing that it had likely been kicked in at some point.
They parked out front and noticed the car sitting down the street with someone sitting in the driver’s seat. The house was being watched in case her son returned there, or he was hiding out there and ventured out.
He’ll see that a mile away. A new car like that sticks out like a sore thumb on a street like this.
They exited the car and opened the rickety wooden gate that gave access to the path curving left and right toward the door. Alison knocked when they got there. An unintelligible shout came from inside, and the tone suggested the person would get there eventually.
When Mrs. Castellano opened the door, she looked Claire and Alison up and down before talking.
"I've already spoken to the cops and told them everything I know. He’s not here.
Please stop wasting my time, and you can tell that cop down the street that he can leave.
I don't know where my son is, and if I did, I wouldn’t tell any of you. Have a good day."
Claire held out her arm to stop the woman from closing the door. She took out her badge with her other hand, showing it to her. "I’m Special Agent Martinez. We’re not here to talk about Tommy. Well, not fully. My colleague, Dr. Payne, would like to ask you some questions about Arturo."
Mrs. Castellano winced at the name. Something had struck a nerve.
"Please, Mrs. Castellano," Alison begged. "I believe you when you say your son wouldn’t come back here and that you don't know where he is. You love your son, and maybe you would hide him, but he’s not made contact with you, has he?"
Mrs. Castellano made a clicking sound with her tongue. "I haven’t heard from him in two weeks. Is it really true? Did he really do what they said he did?"
"It looks like it," Alison said. "I wish I could tell you differently, but they found some pretty damning evidence in his apartment."
The woman nodded, letting out a long breath through her nose.
"He always had his problems. They both did.
I don't want to lose him, but he makes it so hard! I thought he was done. I really thought he had gone clean. Why can't he just…get his act together! I’m his mother, and I grieve him more than Arturo. He’s the one still alive, and he causes me so much more pain. "
"That’s hard," Alison said. "Listen, I completely understand if you don't want to talk with us, but I only want to get to the bottom of what is happening, and I think there’s more to this still. We won't take up much of your time, and if you want us to leave at any point, you can say that."
She thought about it for a few seconds. "For a start, you can drop the Mrs. Castallano. He was just as bad as Arturo, God rest his soul, but it was never my name. You can call me Lizzy, and I’m making tea. You don’t get to refuse my hospitality if you’re coming in."
Lizzy stepped out of the doorway and walked into the house.
Alison and Claire quickly followed. The inside of the house was far worse than the outside.
The wallpaper was peeling, the paint was chipped, and the carpets were all stained.
The living room furniture looked like it shouldn’t be used ever and should be burned.
Instead of a kitchen table, there was patio furniture.
Claire and Alison chose the patio furniture when they got to the kitchen. It looked the cleanest of any furniture.
The house was in disrepair, but Lizzy still took pride in her appearance.
She wore a long floral dress that covered her ample frame, stockings underneath, and a pair of fluffy slippers.
Her hair was combed and tied up into a neat ponytail with a pink scrunchie.
She’d applied a thin layer of makeup that made her look a little younger.
She turned her back on them as she prepared some tea for them.
"Were they close?" Alison asked. "Arturo and Tommy?"
"Yeah." Lizzy stopped working for a moment and let a breath out through her nose.
Then, she went back to work. "They were always close since they were kids. If Tommy weren’t the way he was, he might have become a cop, too.
He has this darkness in him, and Artie always had a light.
They were always polar opposites, but they were always together, as much as they could be after Tommy went to prison for the first time, and the second, and the third, and… well, you get it."
Lizzy turned and brought a tray of tea and cookies to the table. She sat down with them as if they were three friends chatting.
"He visited Tommy a lot in prison?" Alison asked.
"Religiously," Lizzy told them. "He was always a good brother. He would have done anything for Tommy. The only thing he couldn’t do was get him to stop. Whenever Tommy got out, it was only a matter of time before he would be back in. I guess he’s outdone himself this time."
Lizzy looked resigned. She expected it—the only difference was the severity of the crime this time.
Claire took the lead with the tea, pouring out three cups. She also helped herself to a cookie.
"I know you’ve spoken to the police about Tommy, and we don't need to hear any of that again, but I would like to talk to you about Arturo. When he died, Tommy did change, didn't he?"
"No, I don't think he did," Lizzy said. "A mother always knows. I think he had most people fooled, but not me. I don’t know why he acted like that. Don't get me wrong, it was much better than him getting into trouble all of the time while in prison, but it was all an act."
"Do you think he might have wanted to get some justice for Arturo?" Alison asked.
Lizzy looked at her, and Alison knew there was something to that story.
"I don't know what he was thinking," Lizzy replied. "I asked him about it once, and he said something about why he was acting the way he was, but it was a lie. He didn't want to talk about it, and I knew better than to push him."
"You sued the police after Arturo died," Alison said.
"I received bad advice," Lizzy said. She picked up her cup, her hand shaking slightly.
Alison didn't say anything, letting the woman have some space to expand on that comment. When she didn’t, Alison pushed.
"Why did you really sue them?" Alison asked.
"I already told you," Lizzy said.
"You’re not as good at fooling people as your son," Alison said. "What are you scared of?"
"What? I’m not scared of anything. Maybe you should go," Lizzy said.
"I’m not going anywhere," Alison said. "There is something here, and I want to know what it is."
"Is my son going to jail?" Lizzy asked.
Alison nodded. "They’re looking for him now. I think they will catch up with him. I’m sorry."
"Then I can't say anything," Lizzy said.
"What is it?" Alison asked. "You’re scared for Tommy. Why?"
"I can't talk about it. I signed things back then. It’s just better this way."
"Ma’am, I work for the FBI," Claire said. "If there’s a problem, if you’re scared of something happening to your son while he’s in prison, I can help with that. I can make this a federal matter."
Lizzy looked to Alison as if for confirmation, and Alison nodded.
"If there is something you can tell us that will help with this investigation, then we can help you.
I promise you that. I have contacts back in California in the FBI, and Special Agent Martinez works for the FBI here. We will protect you and your family."
"If there’s no investigation, then they won't kill him," Lizzy said.
"They won't kill who? Tommy?" Alison asked.
"That's why I dropped the case against the department," Lizzy said.
"I got a call, late one night, a male voice. He told me that if I continued to sue the department and waste everyone’s time, he would make sure that something happened to Tommy in prison.
I don't know, maybe he was making it up, but there was something about the way he said it.
I believed him. I didn't see any point in the case.
It was the lawyer who pushed me after I spoke to him, but what good would money be if Tommy was gone, too? "
"So, someone called you to get you to drop the case?" Claire asked. "Do you know who they were? Were they police?"
"I don't know," Lizzy said. "I thought it might be…
I don't know. Before Artie was killed, he was scared of someone, something.
He called me about two weeks before he died and said that someone was after him.
I think he had been drinking, I don't know.
He sounded terrified. He said he was worried and that he loved me, and then he hung up.
I tried to call him back, but he didn't answer his phone until the morning, and when I spoke to him, he said he was confused or something, but I could hear that he was still scared.
He told me to forget about it, but I couldn't, and then he got killed. "
"You sued them because you thought it might be connected?" Claire asked.
"I mentioned it to my lawyer, and he said something about negligence.
If Artie was sure people were after him, he should have been taken off the streets, but when the investigation happened, he hadn't told anyone what he told me.
I don't think the case would have gone anywhere, but then I got the phone call. "
"And you thought that whoever was after Arturo might be coming after you?"
"I don't know what I thought. I wasn’t thinking straight with anything back then, but I remember feeling scared. Whoever it was, they meant it, and if they were the same person who threatened Artie, then he would have known they meant it, too."
"Someone from the police?" Claire asked.
"It has to be if they wanted the investigation dropped," Alison said. "The only question is what he knew."
"How does that connect to what Tommy’s doing now?" Claire asked.
Alison shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe it doesn’t connect. Maybe we’re looking at two separate things here. We don't know if Tommy knows about any of this. Arturo would have gone to visit him, but would he have admitted fearing for his life to him?
"I don't know," Lizzy said. "I never spoke to Tommy about it. I never spoke to anyone about it until now."
"Maybe Tommy was threatened, too," Claire suggested. "Someone threatens him, and he changes his behavior. Then, when he gets out, he goes after the person who threatened him? That’s what all of this is? Does that even make sense?"
"No, it doesn’t," Alison admitted. "We have two puzzles that don't fit together, and I think the only person who knows if they fit or not is currently on the run."
"I know he’s going to prison for the rest of his life, but I don't want his life taken from him," Lizzy said. "You promised me that you wouldn’t let anything happen to him. I know he has to go to prison, but please don't let him die."
"I promise that we will do all we can to protect him," Alison said.
It felt weird for her to be promising the protection of a serial killer.
Lizzy reached out and took Alison’s hand. "Thank you. And bless you."
"Thank you for talking to us," Alison said. "If you hear from Tommy at all, call me or Special Agent Martinez. We will bring him safely, okay."
"Okay." There were tears in Lizzy’s eyes.
"We can show ourselves out," Alison said.
They left the house, glancing down the street at the cop still sitting there.
"What now?" Claire asked.
"Now, we wait," Alison said.
***
Alison lay on the motel bed, looking up at the cracks in the ceiling. They were the perfect metaphor for the case. One spot with all the branching cracks that led to nothing. Her phone lay on the bed beside her as she spoke to Derek. Their nightly calls helped to ground her and reset her thoughts.
"I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, and I don't even know if it is bad news, but Morris Bridges was moved to solitary confinement today after a fight with another inmate," Derek said.
"And the other guy?" Alison asked.
"A hospital bed," Derek said. "From what I heard, the move to solitary is more for his protection than anyone else’s. There’s a worry about retaliation. I’m in contact with the prison, and I’m trying to have them keep Morris away from everyone else, but I can't guarantee I can make that happen."
"As soon as we have Tommy in custody, I can fly back there," Alison said. "I only hope they catch him quickly. If it takes too long, I can fly back to speak with Morris and then fly back here to wrap things up. I just think there are some complications, and I don't know if they’ll come to light."
"What complications?" Derek asked.
Alison didn't know what the complications were yet, and she knew that Derek would safeguard them.
However, if law enforcement was negatively involved in the case and it came out, she didn't want to say anything that might affect a future court case—the fewer people who knew about the intricacies of the case, the better.
For now.
"Honestly, I can’t talk about it. It’s sensitive, and I made a promise. And I only know the surface of it all. This case was already connected to the past, but I think it’s even more tangled. When it’s all done, tangled or untangled, I can talk more about it."
"Oh, I did get a possibility with the soil. There is a construction site over in the industrial district that is building a new warehouse, and they’ve been working continuously.
They hired one of those machines that heats the ground so they can dig to lay foundations.
Your guy might have picked up the soil from there.
He could get some fresh stuff that would have been nice and warm. Unless you have something already."
"No, nothing. Not a lot of soil is sold commercially at this time of year. He could have bought it a while back or dug it himself and kept it in a warmed garage, but that’s a lot of forward planning.
Maybe he’s capable of that, but the surveillance photos only go back a month.
I’ll check out your find—just send me over the address. "
A hurried knock at the door.
"Hey, I’ll call you back. I have someone at the door."
"All right," Derek said warmly.
Alison ended the call and went to the door. She found Claire on the other side of the door, pupils wide, but a frown on her lips.
"They found him," Claire said. "Captain Kent is on his way to pick him up now.