The Ghost of a Chance (Krewe of Hunters #38.7)

Chapter 5

“Really?” Bruce said, tromping through three feet of waste. “Wow. Okay, I have faith in you, oh, great leader.”

Jackson groaned. “Come on, Bruce. Look, I’m sorry—”

He cut himself off as he reached the area he’d been in the night before.

“Joking, mostly. You don’t need to be sorry. I always thought the Underground Railroad consisted of routes and safe houses to get those in slavery to places where it had already been abolished. I didn’t know—”

“Ah, yes, my friend. You’re right,” David said. “That was the Underground Railroad. And, yes, it was established with all kinds of routes and houses—and some of those routes had to do with old tunnels, as well. Some natural caverns in the earth could be expanded and used even today for all kinds of reasons. When I was a little kid, if we got as far north as DC, some amazing abolitionists were incredibly good and brave human beings, ready to help us on the rest of our journeys. And President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, of course, so the world began its trek to be a little bit better for all human beings in the country. It was a long road, one it seems we’re still on, but I always have hope that we’ll eventually see the value of every living person, regardless of color, sex, and so on. But for today, I’m here to help.”

Jackson pointed at the shimmer of white he’d seen when trying to reach the bank the other day.

“I need to see what that is,” he told David and Bruce.

“Let’s do it,” David said, leading the way.

But he stopped suddenly, standing dead still.

Staring.

Jackson moved up next to him and saw what the ghost had seen, what his phone’s light had picked up last night. Bone.

There was a skeleton stuffed into the wall.

“I…don’t think it’s a recent murder,” David said.

“Maybe not a murder at all. Perhaps someone just got…stuck in here,” Bruce wondered aloud.

But Jackson shook his head. “I believe Kenneth knew about the tunnels and intended to use them when he finished robbing the bank. With his background, I’m afraid that…”

“You’re afraid the bones may have been here for a long time, and there might be more,” David assumed.

“Did you see something else?” Bruce pressed.

Jackson made a face, looking from the man to the ghost. “Gut feeling,” he said simply. “All right, I know I dragged you into a sewer—”

“Jackson, just ribbing you, I don’t care,” Bruce assured him.

“It obviously means nothing to me,” David said. “Can’t smell anything anyway. Not that you dragged me in here at all.”

“So, we have a skeleton. We’re going to need to get forensics and a medical examiner down here.”

“We’ll get our people. Kat Sokoloff is an ME,” Jackson said. “This place needs to be thoroughly investigated.”

“Sewer workers come down here,” Bruce said thoughtfully, looking at Jackson. “But probably not into the walls like the little holes you crawled through. As far as they know, those places just need work.”

Jackson was already heading toward the skeleton.

The remains were not entirely down to the bone, but it appeared as if they had been there for a very long time. To know how long, someone educated in forensic pathology would need to consider the dampness, the temperature, and more.

Scraps of clothing adhered to the bone, but nothing that could tell them immediately about the era in which they might have been worn.

“This is…an ungodly mess,” Bruce said, shaking his head. He looked at the ghost of Captain David Clancy. “Did you—?”

“Did I know about this?” David asked. “No. I think you were saying something about it earlier to Jackson. The Underground Railroad really referred to safe houses and trails that people could take to get to safety. Like these, there were tunnels in certain places, hideouts in the Blueridge Mountains and elsewhere. But I don’t think I ever heard of anyone dying down here. Plus, the tunnels were used during the Civil War. They were a great way to get injured men off the field and to help.”

Bruce looked at the man, nodding his admiration. “You saw a lot of action,” he said softly.

David nodded. “But even in battle, I never got used to killing others. Even someone who thought so little of a man like me. It’s not natural for human beings to kill other human beings. At least, not in my mind. I guess even cavemen went after each other, but I like to believe that human decency is still stronger than any hate group, bringing it back to something as tragic as the Civil War or up to some of the things that happen to this day. Then,” he added with a sigh and a pained expression, “you get the truly sick individuals who can attract their own kind—a man or woman without a shred of common human decency or empathy.”

“I think we may be dealing with something like that here,” Jackson said. “But Kenneth was in prison until he escaped just a few months ago. So—”

“So, he’s been working with someone,” Bruce said.

“And they know about the tunnels,” Jackson added.

“But,” the captain said, “they don’t know about me.”

“True. Our secret weapon,” Jackson acknowledged, nodding.

“Split up now? Take different areas?” Bruce suggested.

“That’s a plan,” Jackson agreed. “If you want—”

“I’ll head south,” Bruce said and shrugged. “Smells just as bad everywhere.”

“Again, it makes no difference to me,” the ghost told him.

Jackson smiled.

Being around a ghost with a great sense of humor was kind of fun.

* * * *

“I think… I’m not sure…”

Billy Mendelson began to talk, then stopped, shaking his head.

“Billy, please. I swear I’ll help you,” Angela told the young man. “You think something has to do with Kenneth, right?”

He nodded slowly, wincing.

“Billy, was he one of the men who broke into your house?” she asked.

“No. I mean, I don’t think so. But…”

It was like pulling teeth, but Angela knew she had to be patient. He was terrified again, and he had been traumatized. She tried to remember every second of what had happened in the bank.

When it began, Billy had been the one to speak. But Kenneth had been down on the floor in front, acting as if he was just another customer.

But he was armed, and he knew how to use a gun.

He certainly watched every move Billy made.

“All right. Kenneth wasn’t one of the two who broke into your home, but he knows who they are. He knows them, is friends with them, is working with them, something,” she said.

He threaded his fingers through his hair, leaning on the table, tears streaking down his face again.

“Yes, he knows them. Or maybe you’re right, and he was one of them. He—he found me after the funeral,” Billy told her.

“But—”

“He put the gun to my head and fired it, just missing me.”

“He threatened you. He made you do what you did.”

Billy nodded.

“Billy, if he threatened your life—”

“Not my life,” Billy protested. “My life now…it’s worthless, it’s just a cycle of pain.”

“Billy, you can get over that. Counseling will help you. Do it for your parents. You have so much promise—”

“No matter how you spin it, I tried to rob a bank and threatened other peoples’ lives.”

“You never meant it, and you never killed anyone. Billy, please, trust me. I don’t have all the answers, but I believe in an afterlife. I know your parents would want you to go on and become the brilliant man everything up to this point has led you to,” Angela told him passionately.

He almost smiled. “You’re a beautiful person, you know that? I don’t mean just the brilliance in your eyes or all that golden hair. You’re really beautiful inside, where it matters,” he said. “I knew that yesterday. I knew you wanted to live, but you would have died before letting anyone else take a bullet.”

“As you might have figured out—”

“You’re a cop.”

“An agent. And you have every right to want to know who killed your parents. We’ll take it to my unit now, and I promise we will not stop, Billy. You went along with Kenneth, which tells me you want to live, too.”

He started to laugh.

“Billy—”

“I told you. I don’t give a damn about my life.”

“Then—”

“You don’t understand. He has Cassie.”

“What? Who is Cassie?”

Tears suddenly ran down Billy’s cheeks again.

“He never should have gotten her. I mean, after it happened, with my parents. When the police came, and I went to the station…they sent me to a hotel for a few days because my house was a crime scene. I was so upset that I called Cassie and…she was supposed to be at camp with a summer college prep group, but the trip was still in the DC area. She came to see me. But when she left my room, she never made it back to her group. She called them to say she was following up on some research, but… I know what happened to her. I know what happened because Kenneth told me. He swore they were holding her. He even put her on video for a minute. They made her call her parents with a ridiculous lie so she wouldn’t be reported as missing. But the thing is, we’re both eighteen, so we’re adults and…”

He broke off, sobbing.

Angela set an arm on his shoulders, trying to calm him.

“Billy, we’re going to do everything in our power to find Cassie. But I need to know absolutely everything you know about what happened and where she might be. Please, Billy. I need you to calm down.”

“They shoot people and think nothing of it,” Billy protested. “The bank job went bad. She’s probably already…”

She wouldn’t let him say the word dead.

“And she may be alive. Help me, Billy. Please, I’m begging you. They’ll keep her alive if they think she can be useful in any way. Please, please help me so I can help you. If there’s any chance at all, we’ll find Cassie.”

He tried to gain control of himself. “They kept putting her on the phone with me—”

“They?”

“Kenneth. He told me if I did everything he ordered me to do, she’d be okay. He would see to it that they let her go. But then the bank heist went to hell and…well, I’m being held in jail, awaiting arraignment, and they’re going to kill her.”

“Give me a second,” she told him. “I’ll be right back.”

She left him and put a call through to Jackson, quickly telling him everything she’d learned.

“We can put a trace on Billy’s phone—”

“You know they’re calling from a burner,” she interrupted.

“But we can get some traces going, see what we can learn and…”

“And?”

He took a breath, likely knowing she wouldn’t want to hear what he was about to say.

“Angela, we found a skeleton—”

“A skeleton? It couldn’t be Billy’s friend Cassie so quickly,” she told him.

“No, it isn’t Cassie. They’re sending people to get the bodies out of the tunnel.”

“Bodies?!” She tried not to scream the word but…

“Three of them, I’m afraid, including the skeleton. Angela, I believe Kenneth knew about the tunnels, too. Figure he was going to use them for his escape route. The skeleton may be decades old, but another victim appears to have been there for at least a year. One man couldn’t have been dead for more than a week. We’re still…”

“Looking. I’m going to tell Billy goodbye and be on my way,” she told him.

“Angela.”

“Yeah?”

“We still need to talk to Kenneth. He may give us something. Maybe—”

“You’re right. Except with a man like Kenneth… I don’t think he’ll give us anything at all. And, Jackson, he’s going to be arraigned. There isn’t enough bail money in the world to let him out. He must have been working with someone, someone who is holding on to Cassie now.”

“And that could be anywhere,” Jackson said. “Angela—”

“I’ll try. I’ll try, and then…”

“I want this kept with the Krewe for now. The captain is proving to be an invaluable asset, and I want to keep it that way. But we have plenty of agents in the city right now, and I have Kat coming to autopsy the bodies. Get what you can—”

“I will. And then I’ll be down there with you,”

They ended the call, and Angela winced. She had to go in and speak with Billy. He needed one of the best defense attorneys they could find.

Returning to the interrogation room, Angela tried to offer Billy an encouraging smile. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this, I promise you. Let’s start with Cassie. I need her full name, Billy.”

“Cassandra Marie Payton. She’s eighteen, beautiful, sweet, and good—all the best things a person can be. You have to find her.”

“We’ll do our best. Everything we can,” Angela promised him. As she spoke, she texted headquarters. They had one of the best tech squads possible, and she knew that because she worked with them all the time.

By the time she left Billy, they’d have pictures and every bit of information possible on the young woman. They’d have scoured her social media.

They’d know what they were looking for and more.

They’d know if Billy and his parents had been set up or if anyone had stalked or harassed them or Cassie.

With all the assurances Angela could give him, she left Billy and spoke to the guards.

In a matter of minutes, she walked into another interrogation room and faced Kenneth.

A man who looked amused to see her.

One who appeared completely confident—despite the fact that he was to go on trial for armed robbery.

“Ah, if it isn’t the sweet little thing who twisted that fool boy around her pinkie,” Kenneth said. “If only that meant it was all over,” he added.

She hadn’t asked for his restraints to be taken off. In fact, he was cuffed, and his cuffs were attached to a bar on the table between them.

She smiled. “Actually, I’m fairly tall for a woman. And as you’ve discovered, I’m not a sweet little thing at all but a federal agent,” she said with a shrug.

“And there you are, exuding confidence. But guess what?” he said, leaning toward her. “You’re going to need to start a whole lot of negotiating here if you want my help—and you are going to need it.”

“Oh, I’m not so sure. I mean, you’re facing federal charges. We’re opening a new investigation into the events at the Mendelson home, so you’ll be charged with murder, armed robbery…so many charges. If you get helpful, well, we are looking at federal charges. With everything you’ve done, it might be in your best interests to do everything you can to get the death penalty off the table,” Angela told him.

He started to laugh again. “You’re going to scare me with the death penalty?”

“If anyone dies over state lines…it’s a federal case. And you know—”

“The death penalty takes forever.”

“Sometimes.”

“You’re a proponent?” he asked.

“Not particularly,” Angela said with a shrug. “But my feelings don’t really matter. What matters is the law. And we’re talking about a human life right now.”

Kenneth shook his head.

“You know, I don’t get it. You’re a good-looking man and not so old yet that you couldn’t serve your time and have something of a decent life. So—”

He groaned. “Don’t you get it yet? That little bastard caused the entire thing. I didn’t break into the Mendelson home. I didn’t kill anybody. That snot-nosed kid threatened to kill me if I didn’t help him rob the bank. I mean, talk about being traumatized and messed up. Lady, you should know by now that trials aren’t always as cut and dried as you think. I mean, you’ve only gotten one side of the story. That kid is messed up. Such a momma’s boy.”

“You’re the one with the record.”

“Yeah?”

“Escaped convict,” Angela reminded him.

“Okay, well, you try being in prison. The kid somehow knew it. That’s why he came after me. I was easy prey for him. Now, if you’re really a decent human being, you’ll care about the girl he’s kidnapped and turned into a hostage.”

“Okay, let me understand this. Billy Mendelson was a straight-A student with an incredible life ahead of him. His parents were brutally murdered—probably by you—”

“Oh, hell no. Don’t go blaming that on me.”

“Back up. Think about it and tell me. Who should I believe? A great kid or an escaped con. Who would you believe?” Angela demanded.

“That’s the point. You’re not seeing the whole picture, or only seeing what you want to see. Billy. He’s weird but smart. So smart. A straight-A student. And after what happened? The poor boy is dealing with so much. But don’t you see? That’s just it. Horrible things happened to him, played with his psyche, and put him in agony. Then he turned that agony into something awful, trying to make other people suffer in the same way he did.”

“I don’t know. In the bank, I was much more afraid that you’d go off than he’d just start shooting,” Angela said.

Kenneth groaned. “Mark my words. He’s got a girl out there somewhere. And I can almost promise you, while you idiots are falling for his stories, that girl is going to die.”