Midnight Rambler

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

“I'm sorry this was a dead end,” Theis said.

Pulling his wallet out, Theis placed a snapshot of a young woman in a cap and gown on the desk, then got back on the computer. I stopped in the doorway.

“Who's that?” I asked.

“Danielle Linderman,” Theis said.

“Ken's daughter?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You going to look for her on Coffen's database?”

Theis mumbled yes, his fingers tapping the keyboard. I came around the desk to get a better look at the photograph. Danielle Linderman bore a strong resemblance to her father, with a pretty, intelligent face and soft hazel eyes. The faces of scores of missing kids were stored in my memory, and I added hers to the group.

“Good luck,” I said.

I found Linderman in the reception area. He'd gotten Coffen's cell phone to work and was scrolling through the address book while pressing a hanky to his face. Lowering the hanky, he displayed a nasty gash running the length of his chin.

“Did the receptionist do that?” I asked.

He nodded grimly.

“Did you arrest her?”

“You're goddamn right I did,” he snapped. “So help me God, if I find out that little bitch knew what Coffen was doing, I'll ruin her.”

I didn't reply. More than likely, the receptionist didn't know that her boss was a predator. Coffen ran a respectable business and had a public face. That was the person she knew. Hearing he'd been killed, she'd snapped.

“How did you make out?” Linderman asked.

“We found photographs of Skell's victims on Coffen's computer, but nothing that will lead us to Jonny Perez,” I said. “Any luck with the phone?”

Linderman reapplied the hanky to his face. “So far, every number in the address book is a client's.”

“Who was he trying to call?”

“Another cell. I'm having the number traced.”

I had traced cell numbers before. It could take days to track them down.

I went outside to my car. Looking at the victims' photographs had reminded me how much I'd cared for those young women. It was hard to believe that I'd never speak with any of them again.

Opening the passenger door, I knelt down so I was eye level with my dog. Buster propped a paw on my shoulder and licked my face. I did everything I could not to cry.

I got behind the wheel and spent a few minutes massaging my leg. It was starting to feel better; the injury I'd suffered from my jump was just a sprain. I watched an ambulance carrying Coffen's body go past the building. In my wife's religion, the spirits of the dead never leave this earth. I imagined Coffen's ghost hovering over the ambulance, mocking us as we tried to unearth his dark secrets.

My cell phone rang. I took it off the dash and looked at Caller ID. It was Claude Cheever. I didn't want to talk to him and let the call go into voice mail.

My last encounter with Claude was still fresh in my mind. While Claude had been accusing me of sleeping with Melinda I'd heard another accusation as well, which was that he'd suspected it for a while. Which meant that all the honorable things he'd said about me in front of the police review board had been lies.

The phone rang several times over the next few minutes. Each time, Caller ID said it was Cheever. Finally I answered it.

“What do you want?” I said by way of greeting.

“Melinda was just on Neil Bash's show, talking about your affair,” Cheever said.

“Is that what you called to tell me?”

“No, no, calm down, buddy. I'm on your side.”

“You weren't the last time we got together.”

“I found Jesus and saw the light,” Cheever said. “You were right. Melinda was abducted from her apartment yesterday.”

You were right. I hadn't heard those words in a long time.

“What brought you to that conclusion?” I asked.

“While Bash was interviewing Melinda, he asked her where she was calling from,” Cheever said. “Melinda told Bash she was at home. I was driving near her apartment and decided to pay her a visit. I banged on the front door, looked through the back slider, and talked to the next-door neighbor. Melinda hasn't been home since yesterday. I didn't like it, so I called Bash's show.”

“You called Bash? Jesus Christ, Claude. Bash is part of it.”

“Don't worry. I've called Bash's show plenty of times. He knows me.”

“Why do you call his show?”

“For kicks. I go by a pseudonym: Sex Hound. Anyway, Bash let me talk to Melinda. Now, I'm going to tell you something in confidence, and you can't repeat it.”

“I'm listening,” I said.

“I had a fling with Melinda,” Cheever said. “Lasted about a month. Sex every day, sometimes twice a day. She was a goddess. We had a special language all our own.”

I shook my head in disbelief. I couldn't imagine Melinda and Claude in bed together, even with the shades drawn and the lights turned out.

“When I talked with Melinda I used a few of our code words, and she realized it was me,” Cheever continued. “She told me she was being hurt, the fucking bastards.”

Claude paused to compose himself.

“Jack, I want you to help me rescue her.”

“How do you plan to do that?” I asked.

“I'm going to pay Bash a visit and make him tell me where she's being held.”

“What about the police? Or the FBI?” I asked.

“They'll only slow us down,” Cheever said.

I knew exactly how Cheever felt. Had I visited Trojan Communications without the FBI breathing down my neck, I could have made Coffen cough up Jonny Perez's address. It wouldn't have been pretty, but I could have done it.

“Count me in,” I said.