I tried calling Mrs. King. Her cell phone was apparently turned off. I wanted to see her, but I didn’t think I could stand one more minute in the city. I’ll catch up with her on the phone, I thought. I’ll probably come back down, too, as soon as I figure out how I can help.
That made me think of Detective Gruley in Houghton Lake. It was finally time to call him back. I was thinking maybe I could stop in at his post on the way home, too. Explain everything in person.
I looked across the street one more time, at the vacant lot where Tiger Stadium once stood. It seemed like a fitting farewell, at least for the time being, as I pulled onto the road and made my way to the freeway.
Something wasn’t right. It was that feeling you get, when you leave the house and you know you’ve forgotten something, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
North to the edge of town. Eight Mile Road. That feeling still there.
Then I saw the exit for Twelve Mile. I pulled off the freeway.
I was in Southfield now. I thought back to that trip I had made this way, all those years before. Detective Bateman and I, coming up to see Elana’s parents. I went west. It was right off this road somewhere. I flashed back on the conversation I had with Ryan Grayson and his brother-in-law in the bar a couple of days ago, after I rousted them at the end of the street. He was still living in the same house. In fact, he even offered to let me stay there.
I found the side road that led to Grayson’s house. I drove down the long driveway. It was the same big house, just as I remembered. Except not quite. As I got closer, I saw that the lawn needed cutting. I saw that the windows all needed cleaning and the white columns on either side of the door needed a good pressure-wash. Grayson’s green minivan was parked out front. Next to that was Paige’s cream-colored SUV.
I parked behind them and got out. A few seconds later, Tanner Paige came out the front door. He was carrying a box.
“Alex,” he said. “What brings you out here?”
“I was on my way home. I just thought I’d stop by.” I looked up at the house. “You’re seriously telling me he lives here all by himself now?”
“Ever since his kids moved away. Then his wife left. Yeah, it’s kinda sad now, after all the things that used to go on here. All the parties and everything. This place was a real hot spot, back in the day, when Ryan’s father was ruling the world. Now it’s just…”
He looked up at the house, just like I was doing. Then he opened up his trunk and put the box inside.
“I’ve got to take this stuff over to the lawyer’s,” he said. “It’s a bunch of old news clippings from Elana’s murder. The lawyer thought he should have them, just in case.”
“Just in case what?”
“He’s pretty sure Ryan will get off clean, but just in case he runs into a judge that doesn’t understand his state of mind…”
Paige looked down at the box and shook his head.
“He’s really been hurting, Alex. This past week has been so hard on him.”
“So let me just ask you something,” I said. “About yesterday…”
“It was insane, I know. Apparently, Ryan followed you from your motel to, wait, let me get this right, to Darryl King’s house, then to the library? Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“Then down to Michigan Avenue somewhere, then up to that corner of Warren and Grand River. Then, what did he say, you went somewhere else after that, before coming back…”
He looked up, like he was playing it all back on a tape recorder.
“Yeah, back to the Kings’ house, he said. Then back to Michigan Avenue. Then back to Warren and Grand River, for God’s sake. Or something like that. I might have the order mixed up. I think he was running out of gas at that point and he almost lost you, but then you went and ate somewhere, and that’s when he called me.”
“So you went to meet him,” I said. “So you could keep him company while he stayed on my tail.”
“I believe I’ve already apologized for that, but yes. That’s what I did. Like I said, I thought I was looking out for him, because I sure as hell couldn’t have stopped him, but anyway, you went to a hardware store. Then you went back to that corner, for like the third time that day, he said. Although that was the first time I saw it, of course. I was thinking, why the hell would you come here? Then you walked down by where the railroad tracks went over the road. Ryan was getting really anxious then. He figured you were up to something important.”
“I still don’t get it,” I said. “Why did he go to all this trouble? He put his whole life on hold so he could follow me around all day?”
“He was convinced you’d lead him to the man who killed his sister, Alex. I mean, after what you told us yourself… That’s what he thought, and you have to admit, in the end he was right.”
I stood there looking at the house, waiting for it to make sense.
“You really didn’t know he had a gun,” I said.
“I had no idea he even owned one, no. I swear.”
I took a few steps toward the front door, then came back.
“Wait a minute,” I said. “Why did he choose that exact moment to come down the street?”
“I don’t know. I’m trying to remember. The two of you were running, right? You and Darryl? Running back to the tracks?”
“Yes.”
“That’s what made him go. He figured something was happening. I tried to stop him, Alex. I really did, but he was out of his head at that point.”
“He knew that was Darryl I was with? Even though he’d hadn’t seen him in years?”
“I think he was just assuming, yes.”
“Then when Darryl’s brother came out of the woods…”
Paige just stood there, looking at me.
“How did he know?” I said. “How did he know that was the man?”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Alex.”
“He was ready to kill him. He was that sure.”
I looked back at the house, one more time.
“It doesn’t add up,” I said. “Unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Unless he already knew Tremont King.”
He thought it over for a moment.
“Oh my God,” he said. “Of course. That would make it all work, wouldn’t it…”
“It would, yes.”
“That son of a bitch.” Paige reached into the wheel well of his trunk and brought out a tire iron.
“Put that down,” I said. “You stay here. I’m going to go inside and talk to him.”
Paige pushed by me and grabbed the handle on the back of the minivan. Then he raised the rear door.
“What are you doing?” I said. Then I saw what was inside the vehicle. The backseats were folded down. There was a plastic drop cloth spread out on the floor. There was something else, wrapped in more plastic.
A body.
“No need to go inside,” Paige said. “Ryan’s right here.”
Before I could even react to what I was seeing, I heard the sound of that thing moving in the air, behind my head.
Then I was out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Sounds. Movement. I’m rolled one way, then back the other way. A wave pushing me toward shore, then pulling me back.
No. I’m in a vehicle. I’m lying down, feeling the momentum of the turns. I’m on plastic. It crinkles every time my weight is shifted.
A voice.
“Hey, Alex. How’re you doing back there?”
God, my head hurts so much. I can’t move. Why can’t I move?
“Settle in, buddy. We’ve got a little drive here.”
My hands. I can’t move my hands. I try to open my eyes, but everything is too bright and spinning too quickly. It makes my head hurt twice as much.
I’m trying to sit up. I have to sit up. I have to get out of here. I have to remember what happened and then I have to get out of here.
My hands are behind my back. Why can’t I move my hands?
God, my head hurts.