Delusional Page 19

  “So what did you find out?” Toni asked. She was anxious to get to the grocery store.

  “I’m pretty sure that Frank is your Peeping Tom,” he said. “He said some things in therapy and as an ex-cop, well, I just have a strong hunch.”

  “You said something about implicating someone else?” she asked. “Something about the mayor’s death?”

  “Yeah.” He took another sip of his coffee. “And maybe I’m way off base,” he continued, “but I just have a feeling. One of the other guys in therapy said something about one of the warehouses. It’s close to where the mayor was killed. It seems like he keeps things there. Kind of like a lair, do you know what I mean?”

  Toni shook her head. What the hell is he talking about?

  “I think it’s like a murder room. I’m not kidding.” He took another sip of his coffee. “But maybe I’m just blowing it out of proportion. Hard being a therapist and a cop at the same time.”

  “I bet,” Toni said. “That would be tough. Two completely different ways of looking at things.”

  “Exactly,” Charlie said. “That’s why I wanted you to take a look with me. The idiot gave me the keys to the place, and I think some of the stuff he has up on his walls is bizarre.”

  “So you’ve already been there?”

  “Yeah, I went yesterday morning before I called you. He’s out of town with his brother for Thanksgiving, so there’s no worry about him coming back.”

  “I guess I could look,” Toni said. “You said he has drawings?”

  “Yeah, and they kind of spooked me. You worked with personality disorders, right?”

  “Yes,” Toni said. “For several years.”

  “Then I think you’d be very interested in these,” Charlie said. “And there’s no worries about getting a search warrant since he gave me the keys. If you agree that there’s something really wrong with the guy, we can call Detective Carter and have her take a look.”

  Toni thought for a moment. Vicky would still need to get a search warrant. Charlie couldn’t give permission to have the police come inside.They’d definitely need to get a search warrant. Still, the thought of strange drawings intrigued her. “Okay, I’m game. But I only have about a half hour,” she said. “I need to get back to work.” I don’t want him to think I can spend all afternoon with him.

  Charlie tossed a five-dollar bill on the table. “That more than covers our coffee and tip,” he said. “Do you want to leave your car here or follow me?”

  “I’ll just follow you so I can head right back to work. Is it far?”

  “No, only a few blocks. That’s why I picked Jeff’s.” Charlie got in his van.

  Toni nodded and got in her car. I see he’s using the shelter’s van. Creepy. Now why did I think that, she asked herself. She wondered if Vicky had gotten any news about Peter yet. Surely, he would have left by now. But then again, most of the killings took place at night. The only one that didn’t was Linda.

  She followed him a few blocks over to a row of abandoned warehouses. He stopped in front of one and got out. He waited until she joined him. He put the key in the small door.

  As Toni waited for him to unlock the door, she thought about calling Boggs, but decided against it. She was probably in the middle of an interview anyway. She followed Charlie into the building. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim light from the bright sunshine outside. She blinked several times. Something didn’t feel right. She looked around and saw nothing but a large empty room.

  “Where is Frank’s room?” she asked.

  “On the other side,” Charlie said. “This is the only key I have. Come on, follow me.”

  He headed across the room. Toni began following him, but then it dawned on her. Everything began to make sense. She stopped dead in her tracks and felt that sense of nausea overtake her entire body.

  Charlie must have realized that she’d stopped walking because he stopped and turned around. He smiled at her, but then the smile disappeared. He was only about ten feet away. He twisted his ring.

  Crap.

  Chapter 19

  As Boggs pulled into the garage, she was surprised to see that Toni’s VW Bug wasn’t there. She glanced at her watch. It was only three thirty. Her last interview hadn’t shown, so she was much earlier than she thought she’d be. Toni’s probably still at the store, she thought. Bet it’s a zoo in there today.

  She went inside and opened up a beer after feeding the boys. She stretched out on the couch and read the mail. Nothing exciting. She flipped channels, but there was nothing on except soap operas and court shows. She turned off the television and looked at the clock. Almost four. She pulled out her phone and called Toni. No answer. That’s weird. Maybe she’s in line at the store. She waited ten whole minutes before trying again. No answer. She started to panic.

  It’s okay. She repeated this several times as she paced around the living room. She called again. Same thing. Shit. She called Vicky.

  “What’s up?” Vicky asked, not bothering to say hello.

  “I can’t get a hold of Toni,” Boggs yelled.

  “Slow down. Where is she supposed to be?”

  “At the grocery store. She got off work early and she’s not picking up. Is Peter still under surveillance?”

  “He never left his house,” Vicky said. “I’m only about a mile from you. I’ll be there in a few.”

  Boggs continued to call Toni’s cell phone while she paced the living room. After a few minutes she opened the front door and waited for Vicky to drive up.

  “I know something’s wrong,” Boggs said to Vicky as she walked up the sidewalk. “I can feel it.” They went inside.

  “I believe you. Was she going somewhere else?”

  “She went to meet Charlie, then was going to the store,” Boggs said.

  “Where?”

  “Where what?”

  “Where was she going to meet Charlie?” Vicky asked calmly.

  “I, um, I don’t know. Damn it.” Boggs started mumbling. “She writes everything down. I’m calling work.”

  Vicky sat at the island and waited.

  “Sam! Run down and look at Toni’s calendar on her desk. I can’t find her. Okay, I’ll stay on the line. Go!” She looked at Vicky. “He’s going now.”

  Vicky nodded.

  “What’s taking him so long? Damn it.” Boggs paced around the living room again. “What? Okay, thanks. I’ll let you know.”

  “It says Jeff’s Diner, two o’clock,” Boggs said. She was already heading to the garage.

  “No, we’ll take my car,” Vicky said. “I’ve got the radio in case we need help.”

  Boggs turned on a dime and ran for the front door with Vicky close behind. Vicky flipped on the red light on her dash and sped through the streets.

  “Keep trying her,” Vicky said. She pulled her own phone out and called Patty. After filling her in, she asked her to contact Johnnie. “Tell her to run a GPS search on Toni’s phone.”

  “We’ll find her,” Vicky tried to assure Boggs.

  They pulled into the diner parking lot and Boggs jumped out before the car came to a complete stop. Vicky ran after her.

  “Hello!” Boggs yelled.

  The waitress appeared. Vicky flashed her badge. “Did you see a woman come in here around two o’clock?”

  “What?”

  Vicky repeated herself, almost yelling.

  “No need to yell,” the waitress said. “Sure, she and Charlie were here. But they left.”

  “Did she look okay?” Boggs asked, panic in her voice.

  “What?”

  “I said did she look okay?”

  “She looked fine to me,” the waitress replied, looking a little alarmed.

  “Did you see which way they went?” Vicky asked.

  The woman shook her head. “Do you want a table?”

  Vicky rolled her eyes and went outside.

  “What the hell?” Boggs asked. “Where would she have gone?”


  “Do you think that the battery died on her phone?” Vicky asked.

  “No way. I charged both our phones last night,” Boggs said.

  “Then we wait,” Vicky said, getting in her car.

  Boggs got in. “Wait? I can’t just wait.” She slammed the door shut. “We’ve got to do something.”

  “We’re waiting for Johnnie to get a location on her phone,” Vicky said. “It shouldn’t take too long. Not for the feds.”

  “It better not,” Boggs mumbled. She wiped a tear from her eye.

  Toni found herself duct taped to a chair in the middle of this warehouse. The last thing she remembered was turning to run, then excruciating pain. Must have been the stun gun, she thought. She felt the terror, the same terror she was sure that Maggie had felt. But at least she knew what was coming. She wasn’t sure if that was good or not. She saw Charlie about twenty feet away from her. He was kneeling down and it looked like he was praying.

  She prayed herself and tried to blink away the tears. She didn’t want to die. She wasn’t ready for that. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Boggs must be looking for me. Find me, please! She wasn’t sure how long she’d been there, but she already felt achy. But that could have been from the stun gun. She stayed quiet. She didn’t want to disturb Charlie. The longer he prayed, the better for her.

  She tried to figure out what was going on in his brain. She knew he believed that God was speaking directly to him and that he’d picked his victims from the books in the Bible. Maybe that knowledge would help her. And he must feel like I betrayed him, but how, she wondered. He thinks I’m with Jake. The newspaper! They said I belonged to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance. Crap.

  It was as though Charlie heard her. He stood and came to her, his face distorted in a maniacal grin. “Hello, sleepyhead,” he sang.

  “Hi, Charlie.” She chose her words carefully. “You’ve done very well so far. You’ve followed the books in the Bible just like God asked you to do.”

  His eyes got wide and the smile left his face. He blinked several times, as if in an attempt to understand what she had just said. He shook his head. “You are a deviant! Stop talking about God.” His voice was harsh.

  Toni tried to hide her fear. Years as a psychotherapist had trained her well, and she was able to hide all emotions. At least she hoped so. “God told me that you were his special messenger, Charlie. He’s proud of you.”

  “You don’t know anything,” he said quietly.

  I’ve made a dent, she thought. I’ve just got to keep this going long enough. Long enough that he believes me and lets me go, or so that Boggs can get to me. Thinking of Boggs made tears well in her eyes. She had to shut down all her emotions if she was going to pull this off. “I know it was hard work, Charlie.” She hoped that repeating his name would help ground him in reality. She wasn’t sure.

  “Yes, it was very hard,” he said. “But I did it.” He seemed very pleased with himself.

  “God asked a lot of you, but you came through with flying colors. Next is Harriet Ruth, then Rose Samuel.”

  His eyes seemed to dart around the room, looking for something, or someone. “How did you know?” He seemed alarmed.

  “God told me,” she said evenly.

  He stomped his feet. “No! God only talks to me.”

  “You are his special messenger, yes,” Toni continued. She hoped the fear didn’t creep into her voice. “But He told me what you’re doing. And He’s very proud of you, Charlie.”

  He seemed to stand just a little bit taller, she thought. This is working. But she’d gotten ahead of herself.

  “You are the devil,” he screamed. “You are lying to me. You are a deviant and must be cast out with the others.”

  She felt the nausea again and fought to keep herself calm. She saw him digging in his bag. Where did that come from? She saw a syringe in his hand. Oh, no. That’s got to be insulin. At least I’ll pass out before I die. She pushed those thoughts from her mind and racked her brain. There are two lists. “You can’t use that on me, Charlie. That’s the wrong list. God would be disappointed in you.”

  He stopped all movement. It looked like he was stuck, frozen in an odd pose. He looked confused and slowly put the syringe back in his bag.

  “I’m on your side, Charlie. We’re on the same team. How else would I know that you were following the books of the Bible and who your next two people were?”

  He seemed to think about that for so long that she wondered if he’d left her in some way. If maybe his mind had finally gone over the edge. He turned to look at her and seemed to be confused.

  “I think you know because you’re the devil. You’re a deviant.” His voice wasn’t as strong as it had been.

  “No, I’m with you and God,” she said firmly. “Jake is also one of us,” she continued. “You didn’t believe what that lying newspaper said, did you? They are always trying to ruin good people like you and me.”

  This seemed to take him off guard. “I need to pray about this,” he whispered.

  Toni prayed again also. And tried to calm herself. She knew the end, one way or another was close, very close.

  Boggs was nearly frantic, waiting for Johnnie to call. “Call her back,” she urged Vicky. “Call her again.”

  “I just called a couple minutes ago. She’ll call as soon as she gets it. We don’t need to interrupt her.” Vicky’s voice was soothing.

  “Let’s drive around a little bit,” Boggs urged. “I’m betting she’s close by. If she had to drive very long, she would have called me.”

  “That sounds good,” Vicky said. “Won’t matter if we drive some. I’ll just circle around, block by block, okay?”

  “Drive,” Boggs said quietly. “Please.”

  “She’ll be okay, Boggs,” Vicky said as she drove down the block.

  “I don’t think I could go on without her,” Boggs whispered. “She’s everything to me. She’s why I get up in the mornings. Why I breathe. Can you understand that?” There were tears streaming down her face.

  “I actually think I do,” Vicky said quietly. “I finally think I understand how you guys feel about each other. We’re going to find her.”

  Vicky’s phone rang and Boggs grabbed it out of her hand. “Did you find it?”

  “The GPS shows her phone on Fifth Street, somewhere between Clark and Spruce,” Johnnie said. “We’re on our way. Tell Vicky that Patty already called it in.”

  Boggs relayed the information to Vicky. “Hurry, Vic.”

  They flew down the street and Boggs prayed that she’d get there in time. Prayed like she’d never prayed before.

  He fell to his knees and prayed. It took several minutes before he could still his mind enough to pray properly. He didn’t want to make God mad. His entire mission was based on pleasing God.

  He wondered if he could have been wrong about Toni. She knew who was on the list. The list that God Himself had made. He wasn’t sure whether she was one of God’s children or the devil. If he made a mistake, he would be damned to hell for eternity. He had to make the right decision.

  His first answer came quickly. She was not on God’s list. There was no mistake about that. Her name was wrong. So he knew that he could not use the stoning on her. He frowned. He was so sure only this morning. Nothing was making sense to him. He twisted his ring and prayed some more. It took almost five solid minutes of prayer before he realized that she could be on his personal list. He needed to ask her just a few questions and he’d know for sure. Yes, this would be right. He grinned and thanked God for the confirmation.

  Toni realized that she hadn’t felt her phone vibrate for a while. Does Boggs assume I’m still at the grocery store? She began to panic. What if they’re not looking for me? Charlie was still kneeling, and she struggled against the duct tape. Again, the nausea overtook her and she fought the urge to throw up. She couldn’t budge. He’d pulled up the sleeves of her blouse and put the tape directly on her skin. It burned. She looked at the redness of h
er arm around the tape. Oh, great. Who knew I was allergic to duct tape? The absurdity of this thought made her smile.

  She knew that Charlie was making his decision on how to kill her. She was pretty sure that he would kill her, just the “how” was up for grabs. She took several slow, deep breaths. The nausea was gone. She began to pray again, but not begging for rescue. This time she was thanking God for all that she’d experienced in life so far. She thanked Him for bringing Boggs into her life, for Mr. Rupert, Little Tuffy and wonderful parents. She thanked Him for her job, friends and beautiful home. She felt almost peaceful. Is this what it’s like when you’re about to die? But she didn’t want to die. Not yet. So she made a conscious decision to fight as long as she could.

  Charlie rose from his knees and went to Toni. He knew he’d be guided by God and he felt good about that. He knew it was almost time to tell the world all the wonderful things he’d done so far. He couldn’t help but smile. They would all be so proud of him. He felt his chest fill with pride. He was God’s special messenger. He took his gun out of his gym bag and slowly screwed on the silencer.

  Toni tried not to change the expression on her face when she saw him with the gun. At least she wouldn’t get the insulin. She hated needles. She waited until he was finished before speaking. He was pointing the gun at her head.“God is testing you, Charlie. Be sure you make the right decision.”

  She noticed his hesitation. She smiled at him, as calmly as she could.

  “Why did the newspaper say you were in that group?” he asked.

  She wasn’t sure if he had researched it or not, so she chose her words carefully. “I joined while in law school, Charlie. How can we know our enemies if we don’t infiltrate? I was also a secret member of The Women’s Fellowship.” She waited for that information to sink in and hoped that either there was such an organization or that he would believe there was.

  He cocked his head to one side. He’s considering that. What else can I say? She knew that he felt betrayed. Cathy had said as much. “I know you’ve been betrayed, Charlie. The mayor was a traitor to us. You did the right thing.”