This was a day of firsts. His mother was alert and connected to reality, and he had not one, but two test subjects. He hoped to keep them in the trial for a very long and interesting time. And he had called in sick for the first time in his entire life. He let the manager at the pharmacy think he was upset by Lori’s death and told the head of the science department at the community college that his back had gone out and hinted that it might be the result of teaching too many labs on the hard floors. Just the idea of a worker’s comp issue made the professor encourage Dremmel to take off as long as he needed.
Now he was doing exactly what he wanted-running a serious experiment with two beautiful women and nothing connecting him to any of the recent crimes. He had slipped Patty Levine away from her complex after he put up her groceries, fed the cat, and moved her personal Jeep to a Walmart lot three blocks away. It was a risk to leave the unconscious detective for the few minutes it took to move the Jeep, but he thought it would pay dividends in confusing the cops when they tried to figure out where she was or what had happened. She didn’t regain consciousness until she was secured. He used a lot less of his homemade chloroform a few hours ago when he dosed her again. He wanted her up and awake soon.
He looked at the clipboard that held the data sheets for both women. Stacey was becoming quite regular in her habits based on the dosages he had been administering. Patty’s chart was blank, but he intended to start her on the heavy, powered Ambien with some hydrocodone this evening. He wanted both the women on different drugs to see the effects. He didn’t have the time or resources to test each drug on each subject.
His mother appeared in the doorway but was unable to roll up the steps.
“What are you looking at, William?”
“Data on an experiment I’m running.”
She beamed. “How interesting. You’ll have to tell me all about it.”
“I will, Mom, after we eat.”
“You’ve made a lot of eggs and pancakes for just the two of us.”
“I’m trying to bulk up a little, so I’m gonna eat all day long while I work in the darkroom. If I let you stay up and in the family room, will you promise to let me work?”
“I promise. Will you spend a little time with me later?”
“We can watch Jeopardy!”
She clasped her hands. “Just like we used to. That’s great.”
He smiled back at her, but something about her voice and her manner made an ancient memory flash through his brain. It felt like a faded image reflected in a mirror. It made no sense, but he felt its power over him.
His stomach turned as he stared at his mother, smiling contently in her chair.
John Stallings was a little worried about Patty when he couldn’t get her on the cell phone and the secretary at the D-Bureau told him she hadn’t been in yet. He didn’t want to be seen in the office yet as he considered how best to explain what had happened. He had a couple of leads he could work without being officially back on the Bag Man case anyway. He hoped that Rick Ellis would come forward and explain everything himself.
Now Stallings was at Patty’s little condo in the southeast part of the city, where a lot of the college students lived. The neighborhood had an arty vibe to it as he imagined Greenwich Village did or some sections of New Orleans. Her modern, plain condo building seemed out of place among the older, Southern-style houses with porches and tin roofs. As he pulled into the small lot he immediately noticed Patty’s county-issued Freestyle in a spot closest to her door. He didn’t see her Jeep anywhere.
Stallings slowly marched up the walkway, looking to see if there was any activity around any of the other condo units. He knocked on Patty’s door and waited, then knocked again and called out, “Patty, it’s John.” Then he called her again, but the phone went directly to voice mail. That was odd for Patty, who always wanted to stay in contact and was too conscientious about work to just ignore calls.
He turned to leave, dialing the office again to see if the secretary could reach her. He couldn’t think why she’d be ignoring his calls, but anything was possible. As he reached his car he stopped, looked up, and was surprised to see Tony Mazzetti getting out of his county Crown Vic.
Mazzetti said, “What’s wrong, Stall, need another source of info for your TV pals?”
Then without consciously knowing he would do it, Stallings punched Tony Mazzetti in the face so hard it knocked the larger man off his feet and onto the sidewalk.
Forty-two
Tony Mazzetti held his eye with his left hand, even though it didn’t ease the pain in any way. “What the fuck, Stall?”
“You run that mouth of yours and don’t expect to get hit?”
“Not a sucker punch.”
“I was standing in front of you and hit you in the face. That’s not a sucker punch.” Stallings offered a hand to help Mazzetti to his feet.
Mazzetti grunted as he took it and slowly rose. Blood pulsed through his head and seemed to circle his left eye, where the blow had struck hardest.
Stallings said, “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Looking for Patty.”
“Why?”
“Whaddya mean ‘why’? I just am.”
Stallings looked him up and down, then said, “Are you two a couple?”
Mazzetti hesitated on his answer mainly because he had no idea how Patty felt about it.
Stallings turned away and said, “Aw shit. I think I’m gonna be sick.”
“I was worried because I couldn’t get ahold of her.”
“I couldn’t either.”
“And the office hasn’t heard from her, so I came over to check. We were supposed to see each other last night. But…”
Stallings looked at him like he expected him to finish his sentence.
“But I fell asleep.”
“You stood up a girl like Patty. You really are an asshole.”
“Should we call in that she’s missing?”
Stallings thought about it, then said, “Is she missing or just avoiding us? It can cause a lot of shit to call in a missing person if she’s not missing.”
Mazzetti looked at Stallings and realized that was hard for him to say. For the first time he saw some of the dilemma Stallings faced the day his daughter went missing. He didn’t want to overreact either. There was no indication that anything bad had happened to Patty. Then he felt his stomach turn. That was the same thing he had told dozens of worried parents over the years, and he knew it wasn’t necessarily true.
Stallings’s phone rang and he had it up to his ear in a flash. “Stallings. Yeah. Really? Where?” That was the only part of the short conversation that Mazzetti heard.
“Was that Patty?”
Stallings shook his head. “No. A dealer named Ernie who has some info on the Bag Man. I need to go talk to him.”
“You’re not even on the case anymore.”
“Look, Tony, I didn’t make the call to Channel Eleven. I know who did. He used my phone. But it wasn’t me.”
“Even if I believed you, the L.T. makes those decisions.”
“She’s not around, and I’m going to talk to this guy. Then I’m gonna find Patty.”