Chapter Four
"Hi, Viv," Danny said, taking off his coat.
"Put your coat back on. We're taking four NYPD officers with us and we're doing a four block search for Covall."
"Four blocks starting where?"
"The gallery. Jack described Covall perfectly. Tyler says we're to look at abandoned buildings where squatters might hang out, flophouses, and single room only hotels. He thinks if we find Covall, we'll find Jessica."
"All right, let's go," Danny turned and walked into Martin and Sam.
"Where' re you going?" Martin asked.
"I'll explain in the car. Everyone is wearing a vest on this excursion," Viv proclaimed.
They started their search, one FBI agent with one police officer. The rain had let up a bit but there were large puddles everywhere. Sam and her partner, Officer Adam Jenkins, headed off towards the east. They showed Covall's photo to everyone they saw. Room to room searches of each building were tiring as well as frustrating. As they stood outside a four flight abandoned building, Jenkins walkie-talkie went off.
"Robert Covall, Jr., armed and dangerous, arrested and in custody without mishap at Manhattan South,"
"That's great, but we don't have Jessica," Sam said as she turned to walk up the stairs.
Opening the door into the dark hallway, she gagged on the smell, looking on the floor for the source, turning on her flashlight. That's when she saw it, the pool of blood droplets.
"Viv, it's Sam, I think we have the building. We're on B and 4th," Sam Nextelled Viv.
"Stay put until we're all there, Sam."
"Will do."
Officer Jenkins undid the small leather strap that held his service revolver firmly in place. He pulled off his cap and ran his fingers through his short blonde hair.
"Relax, Adam, we're just waiting for a few minutes."
The rest of the team arrived and Sam walked into the building again with Adam right behind her. Holding her flashlight, she pointed to the blood trail with the beam on the floor and then on the stairs as they proceeded up as quietly as they could. The blood drops stopped on the third floor. Sam tried the door, but it was locked. She stepped back and pulled out her gun.
"Take the door down," Viv ordered quietly, easing her gun from its holster, slipping her flashlight on top of it.
"We don't have a warrant," Martin argued, doing the same.
"No, we have blood evidence. Now do it," Danny snapped, his hands holding his gun tightly.
Adam took a step back and kicked the door in. Immediately they rushed in flashlights and guns at the ready and all stopped when the tableau was revealed in front of them. The bloody footprints on the floor, the chair with the duct tape beside it, and the drops of blood on the floor, and the girl, dead in the bed and covered in blood.
"Call it in, guys," Viv directed.
"This is Officer Jenkins, requesting coroner and CSUs at 330 Avenue B off of Fourth Street."
The police officers stayed at the scene, but tried to not compromise the evidence, Viv recused the FBI agents from the scene. They stood outside the abandoned building quietly while she made some calls.
"Van Doren."
"It's Johnson. We found Jessica Lambert murdered in Covall's apartment. NYPD has Covall in custody."
"We need to talk to him about Jack."
"Yes, and I think Tyler should handle the interrogation."
"Good idea, I'll call the hospital and get a message to him."
"Did you call Anne or Maria yet?"
"No."
"Fine, I'll do it," Vivian said with a sigh.
"Thanks, I'll see you shortly."
"Right," Viv said, hanging up her phone.
"Well?" Danny asked.
"Let's get back to the office. We have a lot of paperwork to do."
"This phone message just came in. If you need to use a phone, I can let you use the one at the nurse's station." A nurse whose tag said 'Suzie' remarked.
"Thanks, ah, Suzie," Tyler said, reading the note from Van Doren.
He smiled briefly and then looked at his watch. Father Walker was coming back in the afternoon. Plenty of time. He sat in his chair and watched Jack sleep.
11:30am
"Tyler?" a voice said from behind him.
"Glenn?"
"Good to meet you. How is he?" Glenn asked, looking at Jack.
"Sleeping solidly, right now. His doctor wanted me to page him when you got here."
"Okay, I'll wait here," Glenn said, settling into the chair.
Tyler returned a few minutes later and they waited for the doctor to arrive. They didn't have to wait long.
"Hi, I'm Bill Randolph, Agent Malone's attending."
"Glenn Bradley, FBI," he stood extending out his hand.
"Okay, well, let's do this," Dr. Randolph said.
"Jack, wake up. I need to talk to you," Glenn said, loudly.
Jack opened up his eyes, although his left eye was still swollen, and looked at the three men in front of him.
"No," he replied softly.
"I need for you to tell me how you got hurt."
"No," Jack said, looking at the ceiling and then shutting his eyes as the images came flooding in.
"Jack-" Glenn started.
"NO," Jack shouted in a loud voice, drowning out the others.
Dr. Randolph looked at the monitors and pressed the call button. A nurse came in.
"30ml. of Dipravin, stat," he ordered.
The nurse left quickly as Jack started to pray.
"Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus," He started, slowly.
Glenn stepped back as Tyler felt for Jack's right hand, gently.
"Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen."
The medicine was added slowly to the intravenous drip and Jack fell asleep.
"Given his weight, he should be out for ten hours, give or take."
"He wasn't scared by what he saw, but rather by what he heard," Glenn remarked.
"NYPD has the man in custody, and the FBI found the missing girl dead in his apartment," Tyler replied.
"I would guess, then, that Jack was present at her murder. It would explain why he's praying for forgiveness," Glenn said.
"Then I have come at the right time?" Father Walker remarked, walking further into the room.
"I don't envy you. He disavowed the Catholic Church when his mother died. Last year, he seemed to find his faith. Now I'm not sure," Glenn said.
"What's happened?"
"We believe that Jack heard a woman being murdered," Tyler stated.
"I've cleared my schedule for tomorrow. I'll be here until I'm not needed," Father Walker said, sitting in the chair near Jack.
"I sedated him for ten hours," Dr. Randolph mentioned.
"We'll see," Father Walker said.
"I have to interview the suspect. I'll be back," Tyler said.
"I'm here," Father Walker repeated, returning his energies to Jack as the other men all left the room.
"Viv? It's Tyler, can you meet me at Manhattan South for the interview?" he asked, standing at the nurse's station, using their phone.
"Sure Tyler, if that's what you want."
"Yes, Viv, I want you there."
"See you soon."
"Bye."
"Bye."
Tyler walked into the men's room to wash his face with cold water. Feeling a little more on his game, he walked out into the hallway and then stepped on the elevator, heading for the ground floor and ultimately a taxi. Getting the taxi was easy, but it took them almost 20 minutes to get to the precinct house. He checked in on the first floor and headed up to the room they said was going to be good for an interview. Det. Delbrizzio stepped into the room and held out his hand.
"Hi, Agent Simpson," he said.
"Please, call me Tyler."
"Tyler, I'm Frank."
"My colleague, Vivian Johnson, is going to sit in. She's a friend of Jack's and I thought it might help him."
"Whatever, this is your interview, I'm just listening."
"Great."
The two men stood for ten minutes until the door opened. A skinny, sweating, man entered the room and sat down. Tyler started the tape on the mini-disc recorder.
"Are you Robert Covall, Jr.?" Tyler asked.
"Yes."
"What do you like to be called?"
"R.C.."
"Okay, R.C., I'm Tyler Simpson from the FBI. This is Frank Delbrizzio of the NYPD. I'm here to talk about Jessica Lambert. So what happened on Tuesday?"
"You don't want to talk about Mr. Ness?"
Tyler paused, his mind racing trying to follow the conversation. He smiled and focused again on the man in front of him.
"No, not yet, I want to talk about Jessica. She had a gallery opening. She left and never returned. What did you know about that?"
"She left the gallery for fresh air. Rufies can do that to you."
"How did she get Rufies?"
"I put them in her wine."
"You were at the opening?"
"Yeah, she hires me sometimes as a handyman. The gallery's got a lousy toilet; expensive, but pure crap."
"How long have you known her?"
"Six months, I guess."
"So what happened after she walked out of the gallery?"
"I escorted her to a nice place," R.C. replied, smiling.
"I'm sure you did. About what time was that?"
"Eleven, eleven fifteen."
"Then what did you do to her?"
"I brought her home."
"And did what?"
"Well she wanted to have sex, so we did."
Vivian slipped into the room.
"This is Agent Johnson, my associate."
"She's with Mr. Ness, isn't she?"
"Yes. Now, I'd like to talk to you about Wednesday."
"Nothing happened Wednesday, we just slept in," he said with a leer.
"Got it, then why did you go to the gallery on Thursday?"
"I needed money."
"So what did you do?"
"I took her keys and went into the gallery to steal the money from the cashbox."
"Was there someone already there?"
"Some poof assistant."
"What happened?"
"I killed him."
"Then what happened?"
"I planned on going to score but Mr. Ness walked in and he changed everything."
"Mr. Ness is about five foot eleven, 185 pounds, black hair, and black suit?"
"Basically."
"Let the record show suspect is identifying Agent Malone."
"Yep, that was his name. Although he called me Al and I called him Mr. Ness."
"What happened when Mr. Ness arrived?"
"I shot him."
"After that."
"We went back to my apartment to meet Jessica."
"She was still alive?"
"Sure."
"Then what happened?"
"Jessica and I made love while Mr. Ness watched."
"Wow, you're a real ladies' man. For hours this happened?"
"No, he interrupted us. He's a Catholic and I had to put him into his place. Then I finished with Jessica. She was tired."
"When you say you finished with her, what do you mean?"
"I ceased her."
"What about Mr. Ness?"
"I knocked him around. He made me mad. I was coming back to do him when you found me."
"Okay, thanks," Tyler said, turning off the mini-disc player and slipping it into his coat pocket before leaving the room with Vivian walking behind him.
Tyler stood leaning back against the wall, his eyes shut.
"Did I just hear a threat against a Federal Agent?" Vivian asked.
"Yes, you did, but more important you heard of the murder of a woman, the kidnapping of a Federal Agent, and the assault of said agent."
"Jack needs to tell us his version."
"Yeah, but he's been sedated. The doctor doesn't expect him to wake up for at least ten hours. Let's try to do the paperwork on this guy for now, okay?"
"Sure. Who's with Jack now?"
"Father Walker."
"I spoke to Maria and Anne."
"You'll get heaven points," Tyler said, rubbing his tired eyes.
"Maybe, Maria was Maria but I bet Anne will be at the hospital tomorrow."
"Okay, thanks. Let's go back to your office and type up the notes."
Saturday 2am
Jack woke up briefly and then fell back asleep after seeing Father Walker asleep in the chair next to him.
8:00am
"Father, we need to work with him. Can you give us ten minutes or so?" the nurse asked.
"Sure."
Father Walker left Jack's room in search of a toilet and then a cup of coffee. He missed the brunette walking by him.
"Miss? Mr. Malone is with his nurses. You can see him in a few minutes," a nurse called from her desk.
"Oh, okay…" Anne said and sat down outside the room.
Twenty minutes later, two nurses left Jack's room.
"If you want to go in, you can. He's asleep," one of them said as she passed by.
"Thanks," she said and walked in.
Viv had told her of his injuries but she wasn't prepared for the bruises. The room was silent except for his breathing. The top sheet rested just across his sternum; his St. Jude and gold cross were quietly laid out. He was pale, bruised, and somehow looked very small. She sat in the chair and touched his right hand, being careful with his broken finger.
Father Walker walked in ten minutes later.
"Hello."
"Hi," Anne replied.
"I'm Sean Walker,"
"I'm Anne Cassidy,"
"I'm happy to meet you. Jack has spoken of you, often."
"How is he?" she asked, tears streaming down her face.
Father Walker put his hand on her shoulder.
"He'll be fine. Physically he was shot, beaten, lost a ton of blood, and had several fingers broken, as you can see. We both know that is not what's troubling him."
"No, he wants to save them all," Anne remarked, wiping her eyes.
"I don't think he was able to save her."
They stayed with Jack, listening to him breathe, watching him fight his sleeping demons until he woke up at noon.
"Hi," Father Walker said.
Jack looked at him and at Anne. He closed his eyes for a few minutes and then opened them.
"I need to walk," Jack said softly.
"Sure," Father Walker said, helping him out of bed and into his slippers.
"So am I naked as a J-bird?" Jack asked.
"Uhm, it's possible. Hang on, here's a bathrobe," Anne said, finding one in the closet and helping him into it.
"Thanks."
"How do you feel?" Father Walker asked.
"I'm tired. I want to go home. What day is it?"
"Saturday." Anne replied.
"Did anyone call Maria?"
"Yes, Vivian did, right before she called me."
"I'm sorry."
"Come on, Jack, let's take a walk," Father Walker said.
Jack slowly got to his feet and headed out the door. The three of them walked the hall that circumnavigated the floor, resting at each corner, before finally getting back to the room. Jack stood at his bed, mulling something over.
"Father?"
"Yes, Jack."
"Did you and I pray together?"
"Yes."
"Did I confess?"
"You refused."
Jack nodded and undid his bathrobe. Anne gently took it off and then helped him get into bed. She pulled the sheets up to his shoulders and kissed his sweaty forehead. In moments he was asleep.