Terminal Three
The next morning Kevin was back to his usual stressed out self, getting less than four hours of sleep the entire night. Thoughts about how easy it was for a maniac to get into his house flooded his mind. He even had a nightmare in the brief time he managed to sleep, of him and Brian walking into the house only to find Scott Wilson waiting for them sitting at the kitchen table playing solitaire.
Scott said exactly the same thing to Kevin as he did on the answering machine, the only difference being now he was right in front of them. Brian looked horrified; he kept glancing back at Kevin with a questioning look on his face.
“How could you put me in this situation?” He kept saying over and over as Scott laughed in the background.
On the couch lied a bloody sheet with a human form underneath. This time when Kevin pulled the sheet away it was neither a rubber doll nor Sheila Tamry but his own father. That was when Kevin woke up with a start, the clock in Howie’s living room reading 4:45 am. He wasn’t able to fall back to sleep at that point.
So when he walked into his office and saw Rob sitting there waiting for him, he felt ready and energized to fight for the right to stay on the case.
Rob was the head of Kevin’s FBI office and one of his father’s best friends. He was a hard man to please and wanted everything done to the letter. Many times he and Kevin butted heads on the way things were done, much the same way he and his father would have butt heads, Kevin would frequently find himself thinking as he would storm out of Rob’s office after an argument.
“Hi Kevin.”
“Hey Rob.”
“Kevin…look I’ll get right to the point.”
“I don’t want to be taken off this case!” Kevin said placing his coffee on the desk before Rob was even able to say what he wanted to say.
“I am aware of that.”
“Well, good because I have worked long and hard on this.”
“I know that Kevin, but now things have changed. This guy feels like he knows you.”
“Even more of a reason to stay on don’t you think?”
“What would you do if let’s say a serial killer let himself into Howie’s apartment? Would you let him stay on the case?”
Kevin took in a deep breath, “If I felt like he was making progress yes.”
“And have you made progress?”
“What? Yes we have made progress. We have found Sheila’s body; we have managed to put our suspect’s prints on things belonging to most of the victims. You know damn well we have made progress!”
“Relax Kevin…I just think that maybe we should let Tyler handle things from now on.”
“Tyler doesn’t know this case like I do.”
“You can fill him in.”
“You wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t my father’s kid.” Kevin said disgusted as he walked away from the desk and stared out the small window separating his office from the rest of the world. He could see Howie talking to Maria and Ariana both occasionally peering towards the door, probably all curious to see who would win this round.
Rob ignored that last statement, “Matt told me about what you had him do.”
Kevin turned back towards his boss who motioned for him to have a seat.
“You are afraid this guy is going to go after Nick aren’t you?”
“Of course not.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I just…after seeing the Tamrys I had to make sure Nicky wouldn’t do the same thing.”
“Kevin…you are a smart guy. You know this guy is making things personal and here you have a little brother around the same age as the girls being taken. You are afraid because you KNOW this guy is making things personal and you think he knows about Nicky…don’t deny that.”
Kevin looked down at his desk, “Yeah I’m a little scared.” He then looked up to face his boss, “I mean, it’s not out of the question he would do something like that.”
“Which means you are scared…that he already knows.”
“Of course I am.”
“All the more reason to take you off this one.”
“I think its all the more reason to keep me on.”
“Sorry Kevin…you’re not winning this one you chose to step over the line when you had Matt do that to your brother. You’re not thinking clearly anymore. It’s gotten out of hand with this guy, today you are just going to brief Tyler on what’s been going on. Go over the case from start to finish with him, make sure he understands everything.”
“This is bullshit!” Kevin sneered as he placed his hands on his head in disgust.
“And Kevin…you are right about something, you are your father’s son and Kevin…your dad would want me looking out for you.”
Kevin looked up at Rob and shook his head, “You’ll never catch him now.”
“You underestimate Tyler.”
Rob stood up, “Meet with Tyler, and I’ll give you your new case tomorrow. For now stay away from your apartment. We are going to be monitoring it very carefully.”
He opened the door as Howie was standing right outside,
“Good morning Howie.”
“Morning Rob.”
“Oh and Kevin, I’m sorry.”
“No you’re not,” Kevin said as if he was in high school fighting with his dad all over again.
Howie closed the door behind Rob, “So I take it that didn’t go well huh?”
Kevin smacked his lips, “Well you can say that Scott Wilson is officially not our problem anymore.”
“He took you off the case?”
Kevin nodded in disgust, taking another sip of his already cold coffee.
Howie sat down and sighed, “Would it be horrible of me to say I’m not all together unhappy about that?”
Kevin shook his head, “Nope, it was a hard case and now it’s not my problem anymore so you know what? Fuck em’ I’m done with baby killers for now.”
Howie laughed knowing that even though those words just came out of his best friend’s mouth he would be obsessing about the lose of this case for days. Suddenly a look of horror crept up on Kevin’s face making it appear that there was a man with a machine gun behind Howie.
“What?” The Latino asked alarmed quickly standing up and twirling around just in case.
“Lisa called me last night and I never called her back.”
“Good Lord you just aged me about 20 years because you forgot to call your girlfriend?”
“No, you don’t understand D…she called saying she was lying naked while talking to me, I didn’t even finish listening to the message. I was preoccupied.”
“Understandably so…ooh ouch so the tech guys heard it by now huh?” Kevin ignored that even though he would be made fun of incessantly for days because of that phone call.
Kevin nodded, “Man she is going to hate me.”
“Better call and make things right.”
Kevin picked up his cell phone and dialed Lisa’s number, knowing she wasn’t home yet and kind of glad about that too.
He waited until her machine picked up and swallowed before he spoke, “Uh…hey baby…listen…I got in late last night and wasn’t able to give you a call. I’m not at my place I’m staying at Howie’s…long story…anyway…I miss you so give me a call when you get this.”
Tyler walked into Kevin’s office just as he was hanging up the phone, a quiet uneasiness suddenly swirled into the air making Howie stand up and head towards the door, “Well I have paper work to do…I’ll catch up with you later Kev.”
“Hey Tyler, have a seat.”
“Kevin I’m really sorry about this.”
“I know…it’s not your fault…so what do you want to know?”
“Well for starters…did you get any sense there was another victim?”
“No, why?”
“Because the lab analyzed that sheet and it was real blood but it didn’t match any of the victims. I have a feeling there’s another dead girl out there.”
Kevin sat back in his chair, for the first time a little relieved that this wasn’t going to be his problem anymore. He watched Tyler straighten up in his chair staring at the papers Rob had sent him concerning the case.
“His prints didn’t match at any of the phone booths that Howie checked either huh?” Kevin shook his head.
Tyler sighed and sat back in his chair, “I don’t want this case Kevin…it’s going to be a bitch and a half.”
“It’s a tough one Tyler, but I’m sure you can handle it…what were you working on anyway? So I know what I’m in for.”
“Bank robber case, it’s kind of boring actually, but I guess after dealing with this one, boring might be a good thing.”
“Maybe.” Kevin said smiling but behind that smile was disappointment. His father used to gloat that in the thirty or so years he was on the force he never once got taken off a case. Here Kevin was barely wet behind the ears and he already had a huge case taken away from him because his safety was feared and he had crossed over some damned line.
“I just hope this guy doesn’t take a liking to me like he did to you.” Kevin looked back over to Tyler as he continued to write down notes.
“I hope so too Ty.”
Tyler stood up after a few more seconds and shook Kevin’s hand, “Well I’m going to try to figure out what my next move will be, talk to you soon.” Kevin nodded and watched as the guy who stole his case walked out of his office.
Once gone, Kevin closed and locked his door. He didn’t want to be interrupted. He was angry because he deserved to stay on this case. Without him finding the clues no one else did they’d still be at square one. Then there was Scott Wilson himself, who for whatever reason, actually was contacting him. There had to be underlying reasons there.
During his time at the academy, he enjoyed his profiling class. At first he thought that was what would suit him best, being a profiler and trying to figure out why the bad guys did the things they did. It fascinated him, the articles and interviews he saw of people who actually were able to crack cases solely by putting themselves in the killer’s shoes. No doubt his teacher would say that maybe part of the reason Scott Wilson was trying to contact Kevin was because subconsciously he wanted to get caught. People like that always make mistakes in hopes of getting caught.
He closed his eyes and rubbed at them with the heel of his hands, “Why am I caring? It’s not even my damn case anymore!” He said a little more loudly then he wanted to.
Of course if he had to put himself in the killer’s shoes he would also have to stop a second and put his own shoes on. Maybe he had purposely sabotaged his chances of being on this case by bringing his little brother into it.
Thoughts of what he did to Nick crossed his mind. Had he crossed the line by doing that? It was true; he was terrified that his little brother was going to be taken. It was a fear he had every since his first morgue visit.
Nick out of all the Richardson children was the most naïve. Even Brian and AJ as kids would never have let some random guy walk away with them. Nick was different, more innocent than the other two. Maybe a lack of a father made him that way? Or maybe the way his older brothers watched him like a hawk and kept him sheltered made him feel safe enough to trust a total stranger, whatever the case the second he heard about this child killer he pictured his baby brother.
Perhaps Kevin sabotaged himself to keep his brother safe?
His cell phone chimed making him jump. He picked it up and slowed down his breathing a bit.
“Hello?”
“Kevin.” It was Lisa her tone firm and distant, not a very good sign in Kevin land.
“Hey Lee, look I’m really sorry I…”
“Kevin, look…I don’t think this is going to work out. We are too different you and I.”
“That’s not true baby.”
“Yes it is… we’re in two different places in our lives right now. You are too into your work and I am never home. That doesn’t add up.”
“But my case just lightened, now I’ll have more time. The case I was on was horrible Lisa.”
“I need to go…I have some stuff over your place…”
“Wait…can’t we just maybe have dinner to talk about this?”
“Kevin…”
“Please?” There was a long pause. He could picture her biting on her bottom lip as she thought about what to do next. He didn’t want to give her the chance to dump him so he continued.
“Please Lee! For me, I know I’ve been a real butt head but I promise you I’ll make it up to you. Let me take you out to dinner when you get back. Just you and I, a bottle of wine…maybe a walk before a shower and finally bed. If you hate me after that than I promise you’ll never have to see me again.”
He heard her breathing slow which was a good sign. Slow breathing meant calm and calm meant no longer angry.
“Okay fine…” She finally said. He heard the smile on her face as she twirled the phone cord in her hand.
“Excellent…so when are you coming home?”
“Tomorrow”
“Then how about tomorrow night? I’ll pick you up after work?”
“Sounds good. You know where to find me…”
“Terminal three?” He said laughing. The place they would always meet followed by a night of intense love making.
“Terminal three.” She giggled.
He clicked off the phone and smiled. Yes maybe he did sabotage himself; he thought as he grabbed some of his random notes on Scott Wilson and happily tossed them aside, never thinking he’d ever need them again.
I'll be back on Friday with another chapter of this. Thanks to those of you who have been reviewing. Reviews are always greatly appreciated :D
