If youdisliked Mavin before...

Ch. 8

Gotcha

Why does the freaky stuff always happen at night? Danny thought with growing agitation. He was, once again, trapped in a car with Mavin, who was negotiating another series of streets leading to secluded places where not even rats seemed to exist. It was already dark, past the hour that Danny should have gotten off work, and the department did not look very kindly on overtime.

Mavin's new letter, safely tucked away in a plastic back and already scrutinized for prints, had been typed. All that was on it was directions, and was signed 'cordially, yours truly.' Danny was curious as to what Farrone would make of it once she saw it. He liked her assessment of the killer. It was far more poignant than the cliché Castle had coughed up.

Mavin was quiet as they drove, but his mouth was turned up in a partial grin that had the affect of being like an insect trying to burrow into Danny's flesh. Danny shifted and arched his back for another pop of his vertebrae, the fourth time since Mavin had picked him up. Danny's muscles were not only refusing to unknot but seemed to actually be tightening. He tried to ignore Mavin's smirk but it hovered like a gnat out of the corner of his eye.

" Something amusing you Mavin?" Danny finally asked. It was getting harder and harder to keep his mouth shut.

" Depends," Mavin replied.

" On what?"

" On what we find?" He looked at Danny. " Too early for another body."

Danny narrowed his eyes at Mavin. " So, what, it's a trap? We're going into a trap?"

" Maybe, maybe not. Even traps have a purpose besides making us miserable. Sometimes they're keys."

" Keys to what?"

" Finding the next body."

Danny thought back to Farrone talking about the killer seeking out sites in advance.

" But," Mavin went on; " sometimes it's just a message, a tease, something to rub in our faces."

Danny tilted his head back in frustration and passed both hands over his face. " What the hll are you talking about, Mavin?"

" Just wait until we get there," Mavin said, then fell silent.

They arrived to the address five minutes later. By the size of the building and the tall chain-link fence surrounding it, the place must have been some sort of warehouse. They pulled up in front of it and Mavin hopped out without even closing the door. He went to the entrance, pulled at the chained gate, then began moving around it into an alley on the right.

" Keep your eyes sharp, Messer," Mavin called back.

Since Danny had yet to share Mavin's enthusiasm, he moved slower. Grabbing his kit and taking out his flashlight, he followed after Mavin, shining the light in all directions. The darkness of the night was thick, broken here and there by the security lights protruding from the wall of the warehouse.

Mavin stayed ahead of Danny, a misty form partially swallowed by the darkness, distinguishable only by the piercing beam of his light as it darted madly about. Danny had no idea how Mavin expected to find anything, or even what it was they were supposed to be looking for.

Danny sighed and decreased his steps even more. He kept his light toward the building. Was this the next sight for the killing? Or did the killer have bouts of randomness just to keep things interesting? He came to what looked like a pile of junk, but closer inspection revealed the clutter of renovation equipment and then some. The Hangman seemed to prefer fix-me ups.

The renovations, however, must have been for the building next door, since there was clutter piled along the side of the neighboring building as well. The junk by the fence included two levels of scaffolding not quite tall enough to reach past the fence, plus a few empty paint cans.

Danny moved closer to the junk by the fence, shining his light into the deeper shadows beneath the scaffolding. Nothing. He then climbed onto the creaking structure to the first level, searching it over for scribbles in blood or some note. His light passed over the wall of the fenced building, and Danny caught something swaying slightly from one of the lights. Danny brought the light back, squinting at the small, misshapen object. He stepped onto the next level, leaning forward with one hand clutching the chain-link.

The object began to take familiar shape in Danny's mind, and his stomach flipped in alarm.

" What the hll?" he whispered, widening his eyes. " Hey Mavin! Maybe you should get back here!"

Running footfalls echoed sharply off the walls, coming closer fast. Mavin soon appeared out of the gloom, panting heavily.

" What, what? What'd you find?"

" Looks like a severed hand from where I'm standing."

Mavin moved around the scaffolding to shine his light upward. " Think you can reach it?"

The hand was swinging in front of Danny. The space between the fence and the building wasn't that great, only a few feet. But the hand was a little higher than the fence, and the scaffold wasn't that tall.

" Come on, Messer. It's an easy reach. Just step up on the railing and lean forward."

Danny looked down at Mavin in disbelief. " Why don't you. You're taller."

Mavin grinned. " Yeah? Well you're lighter. It'd handle your weight better than mine. Besides, you're the forensic. You're supposed to be handling this kind of thing."

Danny knew he wasn't going to win this argument. He set his kit and light down then pulled out a latex glove, yanking it onto his hand with unconfined animosity. He wanted to argue that they probably should wait until morning when the place opened, but by then the evidence could become contaminated and useless. Beside that, Mavin would only respond with some smart A-- remark.

Placing his ungloved hand on the chain-link, he stepped onto the first railing where the top of the fence was now below chest level. It moaned in protest, shuddering slightly. Looking down, Danny was surprised to see three feet of space between the fence and the scaffold, easily hidden by the lack of proper light. He leaned forward despite his unease and stretched as far as his arm would allow, with a hand-span between him and the severed body part.

" Come on Messer, reach," Mavin urged like some deranged coach pushing him to do the impossible.

" I can't, Mavin," Danny growled. " It's too far. We need to get into the place."

Mavin shifted and sighed with frustration. " Messer, I don't care if you have to pop you arm out of the socket, you need to get that hand. If you don't some punk is going to see it, think it's cool, and take it home. So stop whining and step on that second rung."

Fury welling up in Danny's chest, he reluctantly did as Mavin suggested. He stepped onto the second railing, moving him a little higher above the fence. He leaned on the top of the fence and reached out, reaching forward precariously. His fingers grazed the hand, but it kept bouncing off the tips away from his grasp.

Then he shifted, just slightly, and his feet slipped clean away from the rail. He fell chest first onto the fence, then lost his grip and fell between the scaffold and fence, landing on his outstretched left hand. Pain tore up his arm, joining with the pain radiating from his chest. Danny sucked in a sharp breath through gritted teeth, rolling onto his side and hugging his agonizing wrist to his agonizing chest.

" Ah crap!" he hissed. " Crap, crap, crap!"

" Hey Messer, you okay? Messer?"

Danny waited until the pain subsided before he replied, but was never given the chance when a hand gripped him by the shoulder of his jacket and began hauling him out in successive jerks, aggravating the pain. Danny scrambled forward just to make it stop, then rolled onto his back once he was out from under the scaffold.

" Ah man that freakin' hurt," Danny moaned, swallowing hard. Then, to his great annoyance, he felt Mavin's shoe digging into his ribs.

" Come on, Messer, get up. I don't have all night."

Danny knew he should have been shocked by Mavin's insincerity, but he wasn't. Neither did he listen to Mavin. He stayed where he was, still waiting for the pain to ease just so he could breathe easier.

" There is no getting that stupid hand, Mavin," Danny said coldly. He turned his head to see Mavin move over to the front of the scaffold and study it over.

" Now don't be getting all pessimistic on me, Messer. There's always a way. You just weren't using your head." Mavin then began poking around the clutter about the fence and the neighboring wall. Danny rolled onto his other side and carefully pushed himself up with his good hand. Then, clinging to the fence, he pulled himself onto his feet, wincing from another rush of pain.

" Mavin," he said, his teeth gritted once more. " What're you doing?"

" Innovating."

Danny turned to glare questioningly at Mavin. Mavin paid no attention as he was climbing the scaffold with a stick in one hand and a scrap of wire in the other. Danny looked up to watch Mavin form the wire into a loop, then twist the end around the stick. He then reached out, snagging the body-part in the loop, then snapping his arm back hard to pull the hand from the light and send it flying over the fence and go skidding across the paved ground.

Danny looked from the hand, then to a smirking Mavin. The older detective held up the stick. " Innovation, Messer. You really need to think on your feet better."

Had Danny's wrist not hurt, he would have jumped onto the scaffold and punch Mavin in the throat. Instead, he took as deep a breath as his aching chest would allow, then moved over to the hand and picked it up carefully.

" Bring my kit," he said, turning the bloodied and mutilated hand over. It was so bloated and stiff that it was difficult to say whether it had belonged to a man or a woman.

Mavin came over, setting the kit down beside Danny and holding out a plastic bag. Danny dropped the hand into it, smearing blood on the bag's sides. Mavin held it up and shined his light on it, making its mutilation all that more grotesque.

" Blood's still wet. This must have been recent."

Danny let out a tired breath. " Great."

" We need to call this in, get people to comb this place over."

" I thought you said it was too early for a new body?"

Mavin shrugged. " Maybe the game changed."

Danny inwardly cringed at the word 'game.' He was starting to hate that word.

" But first," Mavin said. " We need to turn this little beauty in."

Danny cringed again. Mavin had the worst choice in words.

Mavin started heading back to the car, but before he did, he turned to Danny.

" Oh yeah. Looks like there's some kind of substance on the railing. You might want to get a sample."

" You think?" Danny snapped viciously. Taking up his kit in his working hand, he went back to the scaffold and stepped onto the second level. The pain was tolerable now, unless he moved in the wrong way. But he became distracted from it by the sensation of his back feeling strangely exposed. He instinctively turned, his eyes darting upward to windows as black as empty eye sockets. He was acting out a pointless desire, a brief attack of paranoia with no basis except a feeling. Annoyed with himself, he shook his head and turned back.

Still using one hand he took a swab and rubbed it along the rail. Whatever the substance was it allowed the swab to glide frictionless over the rail. Danny held the swab up, letting the wan light reflect off the glossy stuff. Looking back at the rail, he saw the same glossy shine smeared the length of the rail.

Danny's heart plummeted, his gaze shifting back to the swab. His jaw tensed so tightly that his teeth could have cracked.

" A trap," he murmured, his hand shaking with both fury and dread. " It was a freakin' trap."

NOTE

'Tis a short chapter, I know. Sneak peek - Aiden in the next chapter, and she has something important to say.