Ghostly hostage, p.21
Ghostly Hostage, page 21
Franks pet the cat gently. "Todd's car is out front. Wherever he went, he's either driving something else or walked there."
Angus nodded. "The hospital is within walking distance. So is the nursing home he has listed on his board. It's worth checking out both places." His phone dinged with a text message, and he pulled it out. He almost ignored it when he saw it was from Lance, but he caught sight of some of the words in the message and paused to read it.
The ghosts followed Todd. He's at the Fairway Mall. He's got a bunch of syringes in his pocket. Eve following him. Bethany, Ray, and George on their way to assist her.
"He's at Fairway Mall." Angus turned to Franks. "Let's go." He hurried out of the apartment, careful not to trip over anything. The last thing he needed was to fall into a pile of whatever was on the floor. Once out the door, glanced at Franks. "Tell forensics the place is theirs. I'm calling Captain Marshall."
"On it." Franks hurried to the forensics unit parked in front of the complex.
Angus quickly dialed the captain.
"Young?"
"Cap, perp is currently at the Fairway Mall. I'm told he has a pocket full of syringes. Our ETA is about five minutes. Can you alert mall security and send them a photo of Todd Anderson?" Angus pulled the keys to his car out.
"As we speak. You have someone with eyes on him?" Captain Marshall asked.
"Not officially, but I trust my source." Angus bit his lip, praying the captain didn't ask for more information.
There was a long moment of silence, then the captain sighed. "Okay. Get there. I'll have officers on the way. Is the subject armed?"
"Not sure, but if those syringes are full of what I think they are, it could be worse." Angus started the car as he saw Franks running toward him.
"Go, I'll call and head that way myself." Captain Marshall ended the call.
Franks slid into the seat. "Go."
Angus didn't have to be told twice. He hit the gas and sped out of the parking lot, lights and sirens both on. "Cap is calling the mall, but I don't know what they'll do. Anyone approaching him is at risk."
Franks reached over and turned up the police radio attached to Angus's dash. They seldom used it or even had it up loud enough to hear. They heard several officers being dispatched to the mall and a description of Todd Anderson was given along with a warning to approach with caution.
Angus parked outside the mall doors, not even bothering to find a parking spot. He grabbed his handheld radio from between the seats as Franks recovered his from the glove box. They both ran for the doors. Once inside, they didn't have to guess which way to go. Screams echoed through the mall from the east end. "That's got to be him." Angus ran through the mass of confused people. For a weeknight, the mall was more crowded than he'd expected.
"By the jewelry store." Franks pointed as they ran.
Angus looked that way. About twenty feet in front of him, he saw Todd grab a woman, push the needle into her neck, then push the plunger. He didn't even bother pulling the needle from her as he let her drop to the ground. Angus heard Franks call dispatch and tell them to have paramedics aware he was probably injecting them with succinylcholine. Angus wasn't sure what they could do to counteract the drug, but he prayed there was something. He saw two other people on the ground. He couldn't let Todd grab another. "Police, freeze," he yelled as he lifted his gun.
Everyone around him stopped moving, but as soon as they realized he was aiming the gun at Todd, they continued to run. Good, that was what he wanted them to do. A few people kneeled on the floor beside those who had been attacked. One started CPR as others cried for help. Angus kept his focus on Todd as Franks moved to block Todd's other escape route. Angus took a couple of steps closer, trying to get all the victims behind him.
Todd lifted his hands in the air, but in one of them, he held a syringe. "You want to be the next to die?"
"No one else needs to die. Put the syringe down. It's over," Franks said.
Todd shook his head. "It's only over when I say it's over."
Angus had to do something. Paramedics couldn't come in to help until they had Todd in custody. Every second mattered. "Drop the syringe, Todd. This is over. No one else needs to get hurt."
Todd's gaze moved back and forth between Angus and Franks.
A few other officers appeared with guns drawn, while even more helped evacuate people left in the area. "There's no getting away, Todd. Make this easy and just drop the syringe." Angus didn't want to shoot him. He wanted him to pay for what he'd done.
Todd shook his head.
Angus wanted him alive. He wanted answers. He needed to know why Todd did this. Why kill so many people? And why in the world did he pick that drug to do it? How did he even know of the drug? It wasn't one commonly talked about, even in most medical circles. He kept the gun on Todd and took another step forward.
"Stay back." Todd suddenly jammed the needle into the side of his neck.
Damn it. Now what was he supposed to do? If he didn't shoot him, he'd press the plunger and die from the drug, but it was just as likely that if he did shoot, Todd would have time to get enough of the drug into him to be deadly. He didn't have time to worry about it. Angus took the shot, his gun going off at the same moment Franks had.
Both bullets hit, taking Todd down. Blood ran from the two chest wounds as Angus approached the body. He pulled the syringe from Todd's neck, noticing fluid still in it. He had no idea how much had been injected into Todd, if any at all.
Todd stared up at him, blinking but silent.
"Why?"
Todd smiled, then closed his eyes.
Franks pulled on a pair of gloves he'd taken from his pocket. "We need to cuff him. He's still breathing."
Angus didn't have gloves. He'd worn the ones he'd had in his pocket while back at the apartment and hadn't thought to replace them. He carefully helped Franks roll Todd so they could cuff him. Franks searched him, pulling out at least a dozen more capped syringes from Todd's pocket.
"Here." Captain Marshall was at their side, holding open an evidence bag.
Franks made sure there was nothing else in Todd's pockets. He pulled Todd's wallet from his back pocket and dropped it in another bag. "Thanks."
"How are the others?" Angus looked back to see medical teams working on the innocent victims that Todd had attacked. He was glad to see the rest of the shoppers had been evacuated. Officers were unrolling crime scene tape across the mall's main corridor.
"One dead, the others are being worked on, but it doesn't look good." Captain Marshall sighed. "You two know the routine. You're on leave until this is investigated. Get your paperwork to me as soon as you can."
Angus met Franks' gaze as they both nodded.
"I'm going to have to hire more detectives just to cover you two after a shooting," Captain Marshall complained. "Go, I'll handle this."
Angus frowned as he watched the paramedics work on Todd. It was impossible to tell if he'd live. This investigation was going to be a nightmare if all those names they'd found at Todd's apartment were all victims. He hated that he'd be sidelined for a while and not working on the case.
"Why does it always end with a shooting? Now I have to sit down with that shrink again." Franks tore the gloves off his hands and tossed them in a nearby trash can.
"He's not so bad. Better than the last guy they had." Angus made his way toward the exit. "He didn't have a clue what we face out there. I don't know where they found him. I'm glad the chief fired him."
"Me too, but I still hate sitting down and talking about my feelings." Franks made quotation marks with his fingers when he said feelings. "And why do they always ask about my personal life? What does that have to do with work?"
Angus agreed, but he did what he had to do to keep his job. "Let's get back to the station. If I can't work, I have plenty of stuff to do at home. I'd like to get my old place rented sooner rather than later."
"You got a lot to do?" Franks asked as they watched one of the ambulances speed out of the parking lot.
"Just a lot of small things. I'm going to hire a professional cleaner to come in. Mom said she'd do it, but I'd rather hire someone. I still need to clean out the garage and do some yard work. I'm hoping I can find someone at the station looking for a place. I'd rather rent it to someone I know."
"Someone has to be going through a divorce and looking for a place." Franks shrugged.
"Sad but true." The divorce rate for cops was high and it seemed as if there was always someone going through the pain of leaving their wife and looking for a new place to live. He saw one of the local media vans pull into the parking lot. "Let's get out of here before they get unloaded."
"Agreed." Franks hurried to their car. Once there, he got in as soon as Angus hit the unlock button. "A lot of families are about to face a huge nightmare. This is going to open up a lot of old wounds."
"I don't even want to think about it. Anyone who questioned how their loved one died will want to find out if Todd worked with them. I don't know how they can prove it one way or another. I'll know more once I talk to Lance, but if sux doesn't stick around in the bloodstream, it may be impossible to know. They'll have to go off Todd's list. Beyond that, I don't think there's much they can do." Angus started the car and slowly weaved his way past the emergency vehicles around him.
"I wonder if his ghost stuck around?" Franks stared out the window at the mass of flashing lights.
"I doubt it. Mom says that evil souls don't get a choice to stick around."
"I thought that was suicides." Franks glanced over at him.
"Both don't get a choice, but evil ones are consumed by a black mist, from what the ghosts tell us." Angus relaxed as he pulled out of the parking lot and merged with traffic.
"That's scary." Franks rubbed his arms. "But I guess it's good the evil ones aren't left here. Imagine if an evil one attached to your mom or Lance."
"Right?" Angus had thought about that before. "Mom's had crazy ones attached to her. That was bad enough." He focused on the road as they made their way back to the station. Once there, they'd have a ton of paperwork to fill out, then he'd schedule a meeting with the shrink before heading home to Lance. At least the end of his day had a reward. Now that he lived with Lance, he would always look forward to going home. It was nice knowing someone was there waiting for him for a change.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Lance glanced up from the report he was working on as Sam walked in and slumped down in the chair in front of Lance's desk. He looked exhausted with circles under his eyes, and his hair a mess as if he'd run his fingers through it repeatedly throughout the morning. "If it's bad news, I don't want to hear it." Lance turned away from the computer to give Sam his full attention.
"Then I won't tell you. I'll just sit here and cry." Sam leaned his head back on the chair and closed his eyes.
The week had been crazy. They'd just caught up on the backlog of autopsies after being held hostage to find out they were going to have to work on several bodies that were being exhumed. Thankfully, not all the bodies Todd had claimed to kill were being exhumed. Several families didn't want the heartache of digging up their loved ones. Once they found out that the drug thought to have been used probably wouldn't still be traceable, they chose to just let their loved one rest. After all, nothing they did now would bring them back.
Those who chose to have their family member's body exhumed hoped to be able to tell if the cause of death listed was actually what caused the death. It took time to get a court order to exhume a body, but soon enough those bodies would be worked into his schedule. It wasn't something Lance looked forward to. "On a scale of one to ten, how bad is it?"
"Ten, maybe even higher." Sam opened his eyes and stared at Lance. "Kathy isn't coming back. I just got off the phone with her and she's decided to stay with her sister."
"Shit." Lance slumped. "I really hoped she would come back."
"You and me both, but I can't blame her for quitting. She's around retirement age. We were going to lose her soon anyway, but how the hell am I supposed to replace her? The woman I have working out front right now cries over the phone while talking to families. She claims she can't help it. I'm going to have to list the job opening now. This means we'll have to weed through all the death-obsessed applicants who just want to work with the dead."
Lance groaned. The last time they hired was for Carrie's position. It had taken them weeks to find her after interviewing a ton of men and women who were only interested in seeing the bodies. "Maybe it won't be so bad if you stress it's an office job."
Sam raised a brow.
"Okay, wishful thinking. Damn, I'm going to miss Kathy. Is she coming back to say goodbye at least?" Lance rested his arms on the desk.
"Nope, she's asked Carrie to pack up a few things to send to her and donate the rest to charity. She feels horrible for leaving us, but she said she's still having nightmares over what happened. I can't blame her for moving on. I wouldn't want her here knowing it was messing with her head just to show up at work every morning." Sam closed his eyes again.
"Yeah, I agree, but it's a blow. I really liked her. Seeing her first thing in the morning made my days start better. Hopefully, we can find someone else who is as good with the families as she was."
"Someone who doesn't cry," Sam murmured. "At least Kyle is coming back on Monday. He's on restricted duty, but he can assist. Just no heavy lifting." He opened his eyes and sat up straighter. "I'm working on plans to remodel the front office and make the place more secure. We don't have the budget for it, but I'm meeting with the mayor later this week to beg for funds. If she won't give us something to help, I'll cut costs where I can to get it done. I can't have the employees here at risk. This showed us how weak our security is."
"It's the morgue. One would think we wouldn't need much more than a few locked doors and alarms." Lance shook his head.
"Ideally, I'd like to hire two more medical examiners. One for days and another for nights. I'd like to have three shifts. With Brayden here, we could split an afternoon shift, but I'd love to have two of us on each shift. After the hostage situation, I'm not comfortable leaving Mack here alone at night. We've seen a huge increase in the number of bodies coming in over the last year. The city is growing, and we need to as well."
"Good luck telling the mayor that." Lance rolled his eyes, knowing the budget for that was never going to be approved.
"All I can do is try." Sam's phone beeped and he glanced down at it. "I have to go. There was a stabbing across town. Mack will be in early to do Todd Anderson's autopsy. Harold's coming in to assist since none of us can be involved in his case. It's so frustrating not being able to do my job."
"This will be over soon, and we can get back to normal. At least they aren't telling us we can't work on any of the exhumed bodies." Lance stared at a scratch on his desk, lost in thought. He finally raised his gaze and shook his head. "I just can't imagine this place without Kathy. Carrie's got to be upset by the news."
"She is, but she agrees it might be what's best for Kathy. We spoke before I came in to tell you. She already knew. Kathy told her a few days ago when she asked Carrie to help pack her things but swore her to secrecy until she called me. I'll call Kyle and tell him in a bit. I've got this temp scheduled through this week, but I'd like to get a job notice out this afternoon if I can and start interviewing as soon as possible." Sam stood. "I'll be back as soon as I can." He waved as he headed out the door.
Lance sighed as he stared at the paperwork on his desk. He wanted to be home with Angus, even if that meant emptying boxes and putting things away. Even cleaning Angus's old house held more appeal than being at work did today. No matter how badly he wanted to leave, he couldn't. They were short-staffed already, and he still had a full autopsy to get through before he could call it quits. He reached for his phone, figuring a call was better than nothing.
"Hey, I was just thinking about you," Angus answered.
"Good things, I hope." Lance smiled just hearing his voice.
"Considering I was changing the sheets on the bed, you can imagine they were good ones." Angus's voice was husky.
"Do not get me aroused while I'm at work." Lance laughed, already having images of his own float through his mind of the things they could get up to in bed.
"Then I'll just have to wait to tell you about them tonight. How's your day?" Angus asked.
"Sam just told me that Kathy's not coming back. That sucks, but other than that, it's just another day. You got any news yet on when you'll be back to work?"
"I'm out at least a week, then it's up to Dr. Berry on if I'm ready to come back. I got an appointment to see him tomorrow. I hate psych evals, but I'm not complaining. This gives me time to get my place cleared out so I can get it up for rent. I'll put a notice on the board at work first. See if I can get someone I know in there before offering it up to strangers." There was a short pause. "I'm sorry about Kathy. I liked her. It will be strange not having her around."
"Know anyone who might want her job?" Lance asked.
"Not off-hand, but I'll think about it," Angus said.
"Also, Cel dropped by this morning. We're cooking on Saturday this week. She wants to throw you a sort-of house housewarming party since you just moved in. I figured why not? We all need a break. She wants me to cook her peanut butter-pork tenderloin." Lance wasn't sure it sounded that great, but so far, Cel hadn't taught him to cook anything bad. He was willing to give it a try.
"Peanut butter and pork?" Angus laughed.
"Yeah, that was my initial reaction too. We can always order pizza if it's horrible. Anyway, do you want to give Franks and your parents a call and invite them to come over? Cel's coming over at eleven to help me get things going, but we won't eat until four or five."
"Sure. I'll have Dad make us something for dessert," Angus told him. "We're going over to visit Jared on Sunday. His father is leaving rehab next week, so I figured we better get a visit in before things get busy."
"Tom is finally coming home? That's great news." Tom was an officer who had been shot earlier in the year. It was a miracle he'd survived. Franks, Angus, and Lance had befriended the officer's young son while he'd been in the hospital, taking him out to movies and playing ball with him to help give his aunt a break while she cared for him. It had been a shock to them all when the boy was able to see Betty. Once they knew that Jared could see ghosts, the other ghosts had joined them when they visited him. Lance was pretty sure Ray and Bethany dropped by to visit with him often. "How's he doing?"
