Thank you to everyone who wrote after the last chapter. You are asking a lot of good questions, but all will be explained as time goes by.
Dead Ringer
Chapter 12
The Name's Bond, James Bond
"A friend came to see me? Which friend? Didn't you get his name? Who let him in?" David Litchfield barked at his Receptionist in annoyance. He had been interrogated by Senior Agent Kimball Cho at the FBI office in Austin this morning and he was in no mood to put up with any more crap. And now someone was allowed into his office without his knowledge.
Jane didn't stick around to listen to the rest, he was about to be caught. Since the way out through the front door to his car was blocked, Jane turned back towards the secret alleyway and entered the hidden space once more. He ran the short length of the path and was then faced with the other small door set into the wall. Listening intently, he tried to determine if anyone was working on the other side. If he stepped out and startled a nurse or patient, a general alarm would be raised and he would never be able to slip out unnoticed. He was sure there had to be a back entrance to this building, but from what he could see so far, it was hidden somewhere beyond the Secure Unit. He had to find it fast.
A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead and off his nose. It was stuffy and hot in this narrow space, no place to stay for any length of time. He calmed his emotions and slowed his heart rate, his ear to the wall. Silence. He waited, just to make sure he was not making a huge mistake, then he gathered his nerve and reached for the light switch on his right hand side, flicking it off this time. The door slid open once again and Jane stepped out. This time he turned to his right and ran without a plan, hoping another hallway would eventually lead to an exit.
As he jogged down the dimly lit hall, a burly man rounded the corner and jolted back in surprise. Medical orderly Fred Corman was heading back to his wing of the hospital when Jane suddenly appeared before him. It wasn't visiting hours, and this guy sure as hell wasn't on staff, so Fred drew himself up to his considerable height and stopped Jane with a hand against his shoulder.
"Sorry buddy, hospital's off limits until 4 p.m. The public isn't allowed back here."
Jane craned his neck to stare at the hand on his jacket, then he stepped away from Fred's touch in indignance.
"I'm here on police business, FBI. Mrs. Rogers let me in to speak to the staff, so if you don't mind…" he said, starting to walk away. He didn't have time for this crap. Fred followed and stopped him again.
"Got any proof G-man?"
"Here!" Jane said, flashing his badge under Fred's uncomprehending nose. The badge looked pretty official to the simple man. He was impressed!
"She knows you're in here?" Fred asked, knowing what a battleaxe that woman was.
"Yes, I managed to pass her scrutiny. And you are?" Jane asked, guessing Fred's job here from his demeanor and uniform.
"Fred Corman, I work for Dr. Litchfield in the Secure Unit, orderly and mechanic. You name it, I do it!" Fred said proudly.
"Fred, nice to meet you" Jane said with a forced smile. This guy was taking up time he didn't want to waste, as he needed to get out of here ASAP and call Cho.
"So, you say you're an Agent, like a spy?" the orderly asked suspiciously.
"Something like that."
"You need anything, you just ask me...I know this place inside out" Fred said with self importance.
"Thank you Fred, I will." Jane took a step away, then came back. "Actually, I'm done with my inspection, and I was told there was a back way out of here? I don't want to upset the patients by going through the building again."
"The Doctor is the only one who uses that old entrance, to bring in patients who might be difficult, if ya know what I mean" Fred said seriously, knowing that some patients fought their commitment to an mental institution tooth and nail. "I'm surprised you were told about it."
"Well, apparently the police can use it too, so if you would be so kind as to show me the way out, I'll let you get back to work Fred" Jane said evenly, watching the time slip away.
"Sure thing Agent. Follow me." Fred started to walk down the hallway, with Jane following, when an angry shout boomed behind them.
"Stop that man!"
Dr. Litchfield had entered his office and found no one there while Jane was trying to make his escape. Who the hell had entered his office? Knowing that the only way out was past Mrs. Rogers, and she hadn't seen anyone wander by, he checked the panelled wall and saw fresh drag marks on the carpet. With a sick feeling, the Doctor hit the rosette on the panelling and ran through the tiled hallway, dashing upstairs to his bedroom. He went directly to his armoire. Opening the doors he shoved his clothing aside and saw that the tail of one of his shirts was stuck in the seam of the back panelling. It had to be that fucking Agent Jane!
Jane had found his hidden disguise closet! If he didn't stop Jane the police would be on his doorstep within the hour. Litchfield ran down the stairs in a panic and lunged for the small doorway at the far end of the hall, hitting the lightswitch while cursing the day he ever came here. The door slid open and the Doctor spilled out, looking for Jane. Ahead of him he saw Fred leading Jane towards the back of the building, to the doorway that would let Jane get away and destroy Litchfield's world.
"Stop him Fred! He's going to get away!" David yelled, running as fast as possible to grapple with Jane. Jane only had one chance to get out, so he bolted away, running blindly down the darkened hallway, not knowing where he was going, but Fred was right on his heels. With no clue what was going on, Fred was loyal to his boss and not this stranger, so he tackled Jane and brought him crashing down heavily onto the gleaming floor. Jane fought him off, shouting at the man to let him get up and prove who he was.
"I'm Patrick Jane, with the Austin FBI office. Get off me!" Jane yelled, trying to get out from under Fred's considerable girth.
"Doc?" Fred questioned, thoroughly confused now as the Doctor jogged over to the two men.
"Hold him Fred. He's a new admission, completely delusional. Got away from me. Thinks he's a secret Agent...don't you Patrick?" Litchfield said as he pulled a syringe out of his white jacket pocket. "Hold him steady Fred, he needs to calm down" the Doctor ordered as he uncapped the syringe and plunged the sedative into Jane's upper arm. Jane now had two men holding him down while he tried to convince Fred to call the police and tell them he was being held against his will.
"It's gonna be alright Mister, or should I call you Mr. Bond?" Fred said kindly, leaning on Jane's upper body, pinning him to the ground. "Nobody's gonna hurt you anymore. No secret Agents can find you here. We're all working for the same team OK buddy?"
Jane gazed up into David Litchfield's cold eyes and saw a smile slide across his face. The drug he had been injected with was working fast, but Jane continued to struggle futilely against its effects, still trying to get out from under Fred's muscular body. While the Doctor smiled down malevolently at Jane, the room started to sway, tipping precipitously to the left, then to the right, like a ship in a storm tossed sea. Nausea overwhelmed Jane as his equilibrium was compromised. He felt weightless, his arms and legs seemingly separate from his torso and unable to help him move any longer. Then, he felt the floor drop out from underneath his body. A chasm opened up and Jane felt himself descending, his body slipping away as he fell, fell, fell into a bottomless pit of blackness. As the sedative took over his mind, Jane's body slackened and relaxed, until all of the fight went out of him. His unseeing eyes lost focus and closed as his head hit the floor with a sickening smack. Fred got up cautiously and lifted one limp arm.
"Out cold Doc" he affirmed. "Where d'ya want him to go?"
"Take him back to the Secure Unit. I need to keep him sedated until I decide whether to let him stay for treatment or send him to a larger mental facility. He's pretty dangerous to himself and everyone else right now. I might have to move him out of here for his own good."
"OK Doc, no problem" Fred said, dragging Jane to a sitting position before he threw his body over his shoulder. Litchfield and Fred walked back to the green hallway where the Doctor used his key pass to unlock the door to one of the empty rooms. He waved Fred inside with Jane still over his burly shoulder.
"Put him on the bed, strip him down to his boxers and put him into a straight jacket. We don't want him upsetting the other patients if he starts attacking the walls" Litchfield said calmly.
"Sure thing Doc."
Fred had done this many times, so he mechanically undressed the unconscious man and handed the Doctor Jane's jacket, vest, shirt, pants and shoes. When Jane was completely restrained in the straight jacket, Fred left to go back to his other duties. To him, this was just another normal, crazy day at the Psychiatric Home.
Dr. Litchfield stood beside the narrow bed and stared down at Jane's slack face, both exhilarated that he had prevented Jane from contacting the police about the disguises, but frightened too. Jane presented a huge problem for the Doctor now. He couldn't let him expose his predilection for attacking young women, both for sex and revenge, and his newfound enjoyment of murder. Mr. Jane had seen too much, knew too much, and no doubt had come to the conclusion that Lynn Michaels' attacker had been found. It would be a small leap to then connect Litchfield with the deaths of Palley, Klein and Moore. The Doctor studied Jane with apprehension. His carefully constructed life here was crumbling around him, day by day, hour by hour. A change of plans was necessary, and fast. But he still had some time to pull off a final flamboyant act, then he would disappear, this time for good. With luck, no one would ever discover his true identity. For now though, he had to deal with Jane. David believed that if no one was ever told what Jane had seen upstairs in the hidden closet, the secrets in this house would remain just that, secret. The FBI wouldn't put 2 and 2 together and connect Litchfield to the murders in Markdale. Now, with Jane's incarceration here at Litchfield Home, he had to adjust his plans, fast.
This cop had to disappear, permanently. How and when that would happen depended on whether the local cops stayed in the dark about Lynn Michaels' rape and death. Sighing with frustration, David Litchfield walked away, taking one last look at his prisoner before he locked the door. No matter what happened, Jane would never leave this place as a free man, ever again.
(FBI - Austin)
There was a message on Cho's desk to call Officer Pam Cruz when he returned to his office. Puzzled by her need to talk again so soon, he dialed her number and waited. A moment later she came on the line.
"Officer Cruz, Senior Agent Cho. You wanted to speak to me?"
"Yes Sir. We have a situation that I thought you should know about. It's Lynn Michaels."
"Did she remember something else about the man who attacked her?"
"Sir, Lynn Michaels has disappeared. We think her attacker came back for her and killed her."
Cho let out a deep breath and sank into his leather chair. "What happened?"
"She's been hiding out at her Aunt's house not far from Markdale. She asked her roommate to bring her some clothes and things from her room yesterday. The roommate says Lynn was doing well, seemed OK. When her Aunt came home from work after 6 p.m., Lynn was gone."
"She could be out with friends, gone to the mall, a movie...how is this a missing persons case?" Cho asked sensibly.
"Not a missing person Sir. There's blood everywhere at her Aunt's house. Looks like she was beaten pretty badly then taken out by the back door. Our local cops were called in by her Aunt Mary and found a trail of blood from her bedroom to the back door, where it stops. She most likely was picked up and carried away."
Cho leaned back, a sinking feeling overtaking him. She'd been tracked and found by the man, again. He just knew it. For whatever reason, the perp felt she presented too great a threat to him.
"Have your people sealed off the crime scene?"
"Yessir...we thought maybe the FBI wanted to step in and take over" Cruz said.
"Good call. I'll get some Agents and a forensic team over there immediately. Have you canvassed the neighbourhood for witnesses?"
"Yessir. Nobody saw anything. We're at a dead end" she said without irony.
"OK, I'll sent out a team right now. Keep me informed if anything else turns up."
"Yes Agent Cho."
"Officer Cruz?"
"Yes Sir?"
"Good work."
"Thank you Sir."
Cho rubbed his eyes with his fingers and stared off into space. This killer was getting bolder or crazier. Lynn Michaels had been a random target, chosen on the spur of the moment. Whatever precautions the killer had been taking for months seemed to be thrown to the wind in his need for bloodlust and revenge. No one was safe now.
(Jane Household - Noon)
Teresa and Anika sat at the kitchen table singing a song about frogs. Anika was well again, and now, full of energy after an extra long sleep.
"Daddy home?" she asked succinctly.
"No sweetie, not yet. He's at work, but he'll be home later, after your nap this afternoon. Then we can play with him upstairs until bedtime."
"Ok...how soon?"
"Not yet" Teresa smiled. Not understanding time certainly had its difficulties if you were a small child. How long from now was 'later'? Really soon, in just a little while, after lunch? After naptime could be a really really long time! Grownups were so mysterious sometimes, KiKi mused. She played with her favorite dolls while she worked her way through a sandwich, chatting in a non-stop stream of childish babble. It was music to Teresa's ears.
After lunch was cleaned up, Teresa checked to see if Jane had called and left a message. Nothing so far, but when Anika got busy with a movie that she loved, Teresa opened the pdf from Wylie to scan the faces he had compiled to see what the man in Markdale might look like without a beard. A wave of apprehension hit her when she stared at two or three of the mockups. Those versions of the attacker looked familiar, as if she could have met someone like that. That was the problem with mockups. Eventually, they could make you think they looked like your own father. She decided to mull that over in her mind while she cared for Anika today. Who had she met that might look like that attempted rapist?
She decided to give Cho a call. Being at home was wonderful, but she needed to know if anything new had developed in the case today.
"Teresa, everything OK with Anika?" Cho asked with worry when he saw who was calling.
"She's fine today, just needed to get a good sleep and some food in her. My curiosity got the better of me. I understand you called Dr. Litchfield in for an interview this morning. How'd that go?"
"Good, smooth. He seemed more perturbed that he had to miss work than anything else. Seems like he cares about his patients and their families. Wasn't bothered by any of my questions. He did say one interesting thing though."
"What's that?"
"I asked him why all of his staff was so new, with no one there for more than 11 months in total. He said about a year ago he seriously considered either closing the hospital and going overseas to volunteer in a third world country, or perhaps selling the practice and the building and going to a larger research facility. Since most of his employees were older, from the time his father ran the hospital, he didn't replace them when they retired. The younger staff members were informed the hospital might be closing, so they moved on to other jobs. Some were fired for poor performance or conflicts with the rules. When he decided to stay, he just hired part-time staff and younger staffers who were told they only had 6 or 9 month contracts. Then if he decided to move on, no one was going to be inconvenienced again. He felt it freed him up to follow his dreams elsewhere."
"Sounds altruistic. Do you believe him?"
"I might after we check his finances. He could just be running ahead of his creditors. Selling the facility would put money in his pockets and provide a payoff to his bankers. We're going to see if his story holds water."
"Jane asked him if Carrie came to visit him the day she died, he said no. Did you address that with him?"
"We went over that and he maintains Carrie never came to the Home that Sunday."
"What if he found her, on the street? What if he took her somewhere, put GHB in her drink and killed her?" Teresa suggested.
"That's dark Teresa" Cho laughed.
"Cho, someone knew Carrie and was able to get close enough to her to drug her and kill her. It had to be someone she felt comfortable with. It's not so far fetched" Teresa said defiantly. She'd had a lot of time to consider all the possibilities over the last two days. No one was above suspicion.
"No, not so far fetched I guess. Heard from Jane today?"
"Not yet. He had a few stops to make today, said he'd call in to check on Anika, so I should be hearing from him soon."
"Good. Oh, and...there's been a development in the Lynn Michaels case."
"Did we catch the perp Cho?"
Cho shook his head reflexively even though Lisbon couldn't see him. "No, we didn't. She's been attacked again, badly. She may be dead Teresa."
"May be dead? Cho, what happened?" she asked with concern.
"She was taken from her Aunt's house sometime between 5 and 6 last night, and it appears she was badly injured. We haven't found her yet, but it's not looking good."
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, then Teresa found her voice.
"Keep me in the loop Cho. If you need me to come in, just say so."
"Will do. Stay with KiKi for now, but be ready if we need you today. Bye Teresa."
Teresa hung up the phone and stared at Anika as she watched her movie. So innocent, so fragile, so deserving of a beautiful life, like Lynn Michaels had deserved. She made a decision and picked up the phone again, placing a call to her trusted baby sitter Martha. The older woman was like a grandmother to Anika and loved to spend time with the little girl. Teresa hoped Martha would be able to come over on short notice. Teresa had decided to drive over to the FBI office anyway, as long as Anika was left in good hands with Martha. A shiver ran through her as she walked over to put her arms around her little girl. Maybe Jane would unearth something that would expose the killer today. She hoped he'd call soon.
