The Secret Friend

58

Darby received the news from Bill Jordan, the man heading up her surveillance. He was waiting for her on the front steps of the hospital.

Jordan quickly filled her in on the Jaguar and Tim Bryson's last conversation with Mark Lang, an undercover narcotics detective and driver of the second surveillance van. Lang had followed Bryson into Boston. Bryson had entered the club along with his partner Cliff Watts, who had provided the details of the events inside the club's private basement but couldn't explain why Bryson was cuffed and dragged away or how Bryson had ended up on the roof of the second surveillance van. Jordan was taking his men into the city.

Darby stood alone in the dark, hands deep in her pockets as she stared off into the woods, allowing the news to sink past her skin. She had to deal with this. Now.

She left Coop in charge of the crime scene and drove to Boston.

One hand steady on the wheel, the Mustang's engine booming as she tore down the highway, she dialled the commissioner's home phone number.

Chadzynski had already received several updates about the events in Boston. At the moment, details were sketchy. Darby briefed the commissioner on what she had discovered inside the hospital's chapel.

'These Virgin Mary statues you found inside the box are the same ones found on Hale and Chen?' Chadzynski asked.

'They appear to be the same. I'm more interested in the Virgin Mary statue standing next to the altar.' Darby told her about the rags she had found along the floor, the sponge in the bucket of water. 'The statue was spotless. He's been there recently. After we're done with the remains, I want to stake out the chapel, leave a couple of men inside there so we'll be ready the next time he returns.'

'You really think he'll go back?'

'He will as long as he thinks it's safe.'

'Okay, I'll find someone to organize the stakeout.'

'We can't involve Danvers PD.'

'Aren't they already involved?'

'They don't know about the remains. I'd like to keep it that way.'

'Darby, we can't -'

'I know we're playing in their backyard. But the more people we bring into this, the greater risk we run of having the information slip out. If the media gets wind of the remains found inside that chapel and decides to run with it, the man who killed Chen and Hale won't come back. If it's the same man who has Hannah Givens, he might kill her and run.'

'What about Reed's people? How are you going to keep them quiet?'

'We can't. Bill Jordan and some of his men are already working with Reed's people, so we're containing the situation the best we can. Finding this chapel might be the break we needed. I'd hate for us to lose it.'

'I'll talk to Jordan. Call me when you know more about Bryson. I want to be updated at every turn.'

Darby took the first empty parking spot she found on the street and ran the rest of the way, following the red, blue and white lights pulsing like distress beacons over the building rooftops on Lansdowne Street.

The streets were blocked off with sawhorses and cruisers. It seemed as though every emergency vehicle in the city had been summoned to the area. Patrolmen were everywhere performing crowd control.

Darby pushed her way past reporters and showed her ID to one of the patrolmen. A moment later she was snaking her way past cops, firemen and emergency medical technicians until she reached Tim Bryson's body.