Chapter 15:

Tank was desperately fighting to stay calm as Bobby led him deeper into the underbrush. He could hear Shiloh tearing through his car. He prayed that she wouldn't check between the bucket seat and base because as soon as she found the paper he would no longer be useful and he needed time to formulate a plan. His luck did not hold out.

"I found it," Shiloh called. "Do what you've got to do and meet me at the cabin."

"I may be awhile," Bobby called back grinning broadly. Khari felt chills go down his spine.

"You always seemed so normal," Khari observed attempting to draw Bobby's attention away from the purpose at hand.

"Don't I seem normal now?" Bobby asked as he pulled a knife from a sheaf that had been strapped to his back.

"No. Look at you pulling knives out of every body part," Khari stepped back. Bobby had the tip of the long knife at his throat before he saw it move.

"I like knives, I've always liked knives," Bobby said pulling the knife away and stroking the flat surface with thumb and forefinger. He turned the sharp edge to himself and ran his finger along the side of it causing it to bleed. Khari felt his stomach turn but saw his chance.

Khari jumped up and grabbed the branch over his head pushing the whole force of his feet into the knife. He dropped to the ground and started to make another move when he noticed that the knife had been pushed through Bobby's face and torso splitting them in half. Brain matter was mixing with blood and leaking around the shiny edges of the knife. Bobby made a strangled noise and fell to the ground. It occurred to Khari that the movement was as though Bobby had been held up by strings and the strings had been cut. He pulled Bobby's keys and cellphone from his pockets trying desperately not to get sick. He did not win the battle with his stomach.

He turned the phone on and tried to remember Morelli's phone number.

Shiloh hurried to the bus station. She was very cautious to make sure that she did nothing that anyone would recall as unusual if asked later. She breathed a sigh of relief when she reached Locker 175 and sat down to compose herself before opening it. She decided that she could not wait and dialed the combination with a trembling hand. The door swung open and she stared nervously at the attaché case afraid that if she touched it the pressure would set off an alarm. She was being silly. She picked the case up and closed the locker. She walked as slowly and as casually as she could to the Bronco. A police officer was standing by the Bronco and she quickly changed directions. She needed to get somewhere safe and open the case. She needed to know that it was all there.

"Holy shit," Morelli said softly as he hit the button on his cellphone to deactivate the speaker. Stephanie, eyes wide, nodded. Morelli picked up the police radio.

"I need an APB for a Page, Shiloh. Charge is Capital Murder. Female, hair blonde, eyes blue. 25 to 35 years old, 5'4", average build." Joe listened as the dispatcher read back the description and confirmed that it was correct. Joe sighed heavily as he heard the APB go out. He swung the car around and headed for the bus station.

"Any luck?" Morelli asked walking up behind Khari. Khari was seated across the aisle from Locker 175.

"It's gone already. Police are asking around but no one can remember seeing her." He swung his legs around to face them. "She'll have a pretty good lead and who knows where she's going."

"She'll need money," Morelli observed.

"She has money. She'll have planned for this. She's already caught so it's dangerous to stick around and tie up the loose ends...and there are too many loose ends. She can't kill us all." Khari shrugged. "In a way it's a fitting end."

"Trust me, Khari. We'll get her. It's not over yet." Morelli assured him. Khari sat up.

"It's not over yet, you're right. She doesn't know about Bobby. She said that she'd meet him at a cabin." His face fell again. "There's no way to tell what cabin she was talking about. There are probably hundreds of cabins in this area and on the Jersey shore."

Shiloh was walking around the back of the bus station not paying attention to where she was going when she found and gun thrust in her face.

"Give me everything you've got." The man was all narrow lines and wearing a black ski mask. Shiloh sighed heavily.

"You want this first?" she asked lifting her gun to his stomach and pulling the trigger.

"You crazy bitch," he gasped.

"Yea, I am," she said tiredly. She turned to walk away and felt the searing pain in her back of her neck. As she fell to the ground she realized that she'd never heard the shot he fired.

Epilogue:

It seemed that she'd been cleaning Vinnie's office for days and hadn't found what she was looking for. She'd been nervous enough to ask Joe to elope with her to Vegas knowing that in his family there was no divorce. He had agreed and they'd been married but she kept looking. On the day that she was about to give up she finally found the flat, Manila envelope taped to the ceiling in the closet. She sighed in relief as she thumbed through the pictures before throwing them into the trash can and lighting a match.

She watched as the pictures melted and her naked body wrapped around Lester's naked body in ways that would have been impossible to achieve in the flesh. The bastard had tried to blackmail her. He didn't know what hurt more, the demands for money or that he'd brought Vinnie into the deal.

She smiled remembering how she'd carved into his flesh like he was an Easter Ham.

She had been heartbroken to learn that it hadn't been her cuts that had killed him.

There's a follow up story to this called "Trenton Murder Mystery" that I started in 2002 right after this one was complete. It's about Khari, Stephanie and Joe tracking a serial killer with the emphasis on Stephanie and Joe. I'll start posting shortly hoping that posting the story will give me the push I need to finish the final chapter.

Thanks for reading "The Indispensable Tank."

Lex