The Night Stalker_ A Novel of Suspense - James Swain [98]
“I want you to answer my questions,” I said.
Cheeks nodded violently.
“You destroyed Abb Grimes’s slippers and his sleeping medication. Why?”
“Didn’t want them coming up at trial,” he gasped.
“Because they showed he was crazy?”
“Yeah. Didn’t want him copping an insanity plea.”
“Why did that matter?”
Cheeks rolled on his back, and stared at the revolving ceiling fan above his head. “If a jury saw those slippers, and knew he was taking some crazy drug, they’d pity him. I wasn’t going to let that happen.”
“You wanted him to die.”
“Damn straight. I saw what he did to those girls.”
“What was the sleeping medication called?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Stop lying.”
More water came up, and Cheeks puked it across the pool. The sliding door opened, and the stripper clopped out in her plastic high heels.
“You okay, sweetie?” she asked.
Cheeks fell back on the stairs. “Just having a chat with my friend.”
The stripper looked at me, then back at him. “You know this guy?”
“We used to work together.”
“I called the police,” she said.
“Fuck,” he said under his breath. Then in a normal voice, “Thanks, honey. Now go back inside so we can finish our talk.”
The stripper clopped inside, and the slider closed behind her. I didn’t have much time, and I grabbed his arm. “I want to know the name of that drug.”
“I told you, I don’t remember.”
“Want to go for another swim?”
Cheeks stared at me, and saw I wasn’t kidding. He gave it some thought.
“It was some experimental drug that was being used for people with insomnia,” he said. “Some weird name beginning with a Z. I asked a doctor I knew about it. He said it produced a hypnotic effect in some patients, and gave them delusions.”
“Piper Stone figured this out, didn’t she?”
“Yeah. She confronted me when I was in the hospital. She was a smart kid.”
“Last question. Why did you frame Jed with his son’s abduction?”
“It didn’t start out that way,” Cheeks said. “When we got the call that Sampson was missing, everything pointed to Jed. So that was the direction I went.”
“It was the wrong direction. Someone else snatched that kid.”
“I know,” he mumbled.
I pulled myself out of the pool. I was going to meet the cops outside, and let them hear my side of the story first. A guy I’d once busted had told me this was your best chance to get the cops to believe you. Cheeks looked at me as I started to walk away.
“We need to get our stories straight,” he said.
“Our stories?” I said.
“Yeah. You know what I mean.”
“You think I’m going to lie for you?”
“Why not? I’ll tell them we were having a disagreement, and I don’t want to press charges. In return, you don’t mention what I did.”
I considered dragging Cheeks back into the water, only I was too damn tired. Instead, I walked outside to the front yard, and waited for the police to come and arrest me.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
The police sirens were faraway and sounded like a baby’s cry. I took out my Colt, and laid it onto the roof of my car. I’d never gone swimming with my gun before, and had no idea how much damage the water had caused. Seeing that my gun was about to be taken away from me, I supposed it didn’t really matter.
I got my cell phone from the car and punched in my wife’s number at work. Even though Rose was in Tampa, she was still the most dependable person in my life, and I was relieved when I heard her pick up the phone.
“Rose Carpenter,” she answered.
“Hey, honey,” I said.
“I was just thinking about you.”
“I’m in trouble and need your help.”
“What’s wrong?”
“The police are going to haul me in, and I may need to post bail. I hate to ask you this—”
“Of course I’ll bail you out of jail. What happened?”
“I got into a brawl with a dirty cop.”
“Are you all right?”
“Never felt better in my life.”
“What will you be charged with?”
“Assaulting a police officer, possibly breaking and entering.”
“Oh, Jack, this sounds serious.”
The sirens were getting closer. I stepped away from my car, and stood in a neutral pose on Cheeks’s front lawn.