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A/N: I'll be honest. I am used to more reader success with my stories. I'm almost gave up, but I really want to tell this story as unusual as it is. I want to thank Tamasit1 who has offered consistent support. Without that, I would probably have quit. Thanks to Nova Creation, Tony Pepper Fan, gab4eva24, and ulstergirl for reviewing. Your reviews help me to keep going. Sheila

The Darkest Time

Chapter 4

Rhodey picked up his cell. "Happy, everything okay?"

"Sir, I thought I would call with an update. The boss has entered a new phase."

Rhodey sighed. "Tell me."

"I think he is trying to stop drinking."

"I'm all ears."

"He opens a bottle, takes a big swig, and then throws it against the wall. I have had to buy three new cases in the last two days."

"It's a start."

"Last night, he threw a bottle through a Picasso."

Rhodey chuckled. "Take it down and take it to a restorer before anyone finds out he's using a iconic painter for target practice. Make sure the restorer gets paid for their confidentiality."

"Maybe you'd come out and see him, Sir. Maybe you could push him along."

"Happy, you call me back when he stops sending you back to the liquor store. He's not quite ready for me yet."

"Yes, Sir."

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Sikko frowned. "Darlene, I'm not sure you should be working."

She narrowed her eyes. "Why not?"

"You've burned so many bridges and—"

"Doc, I don't think it's so bad." Lester jumped in. "She's doing janitorial for the Methodists on Wednesdays and the Catholics on Fridays. It's a nice little gig. She's never late, and she gets paid weekly. We're swimming in luxuries these days."

Sikko glared at him. "What about her wifely duties? She's had you living like a monk for the last 5 weeks."

Lester nodded. "That's a twist; there's no doubt, but she ain't fighting with me and the house is clean, and she figured out a way to stretch my dollars better. She's got me eating salads, Doc."

"But you're not good enough to share a bed with, are you, Lester?"

Lester screwed up his face and looked away.

"Why are you pushing him? Lester and I are doing well."

Sikko turned his attention to her. "I have watched you manipulate this man for years now. It's sad to see him folding like this."

She glared at him. "So you were happier when he was drunk and mean. All I am trying to do is better his life and mine."

Lester frowned at her. "A man has needs, you know. You've been denying me for too long."

"I am not having this conversation around Sikko."

"This is another way in which she manipulates you, Lester."

Darlene was on her feet. "This is the last time I sit in this office. " She stormed out.

"Lester, you have to take your woman in hand. "

"Doc, she claims she don't remember me. I think she means it."

"It's another trick. You have to take what's yours. What if people around Petunia found out that she's pulling you around by the nose and not sharing your bed anymore."

Lester darkened.

"You get her in hand, Lester, or you're going to become the town sissy."

Lester jumped up. "I never thought of it like that, Doc. I had no idea that she had such a plan."

Sikko watched him leave. This was not a psychological outcome he'd imagined, and it disturbed him. Pepper Potts should be a broken, abused woman by now. Instead, she was pushing a fall down, abusive drunk toward self-improvement. If Lester wasn't capable of destroying her, Sikko would have to intervene.

…………………………………………………………….

Darlene barricaded the bathroom door. Lester had been on a rampage ever since Sikko's office. Nine beers later and he was prepared to take what was his. Darlene had always known that this moment might come and had planned accordingly. She was holding the door closed with a two by four, but if that didn't hold, she was going out the window. She'd already hidden blankets and water. Tonight was supposed to get down in the 30's, but she knew she could survive it if she had to. He threw himself at the door again, and she could feel the door start to splinter. She cursed, and made a break for the window.

…………………………………………………..

Attempts to dive back into the projects had been largely aborted, but Tony was still trying to reclaim his life inch by inch. He started by throwing the last case of scotch off the balcony this morning. Happy had complained about the work it was going to take to clean it up, but his voice carried little frustration. It was the first step to getting his boss back and he would deal with the inconvenience.

Tony started to head downstairs when Jarvis blared Rhodey's arrival. Tony grinned when the Air Force Colonel walked into the room. "Man, you wasted no time. Happy must have called you the minute I threw the last bottle off the balcony."

Rhodey shook his head. "I'm not here about your drinking."

"Rhodey, you got a weird look on your face."

"I just heard from the LAPD. A man walked into the fourth precinct today confessed to Pepper's murder, and the murders of the other three women."

Tony shuddered. "He just walked in and confessed?"

Rhodey nodded. "We need to go down and get the whole story."

Tony nodded, staring off over the horizon.

Rhodey shook him. "Get dressed, Tony."

Tony nodded again. "When I get down there, I plan to kill him."

"Yeah, why do you think they called the Air Force out to transport you? I'm in charge now. We still don't know what we're dealing with, and we're going to just take it step by step."

……………………………………………….

A homicide detective led them into a room with a two way mirror. Tony walked to the window, and stared at the man in custody. He was a balding man in his forties, portly, but very mild looking. Tony knew that this was the kind of man that people walked by every day without a second glance. He turned back to the detective. "He confessed to all of them."

"Yeah, but the kicker was their licenses; he had all of them including Pepper Potts in his wallet."

Tony frowned. "What was his motive?"

The detective shrugged. "He's an animal, pure and simple. He looks harmless, but his mind is full of meanness. He lives for it. If I had my way, we'd collect the evidence. Then take 'em out back and shoot 'em. Men like that don't deserve better."

Tony ran a hand through his hair as he struggled to settle his breathing. "Why Pepper? She was such a good person. There would've been no reason to hurt her."

"He doesn't care if she was good or bad. She was nothing but meat to him."

Rhodey shook his head. "That's enough, Detective. I think we get the picture."

The detective sighed and looked at the floor. "We have a problem, Gentlemen. A problem that we may need your help solving."

Rhodey looked at the detective. "What?"

He gave up locations on all the gravesites except for your Ms. Potts. It's sort of a funny thing really. He seems so eager to spill anything, but he won't give on where he put your girl."

Tony nodded. "He knows I have money. He wants a pay-off."

Detective shook his head. "He has no family. He confessed so I know he doesn't need money for a good attorney. He hasn't mentioned a word about money."

"But he wants to talk to me, doesn't he?"

"He hasn't said anything about it, but we were thinking that it might be worth a shot. I mean, you are the cherry on the sundae: superhero, genius, billionaire. It's got to impress him. Let's get it straight though. If you go in, you're not going in alone. I see the look in your eyes. Me and the admiral here will go in with you."

Tony looked at Rhodey. "What do you say, Admiral?"

"I don't know, Man. You just got…I just don't know."

"It's happening, Rhodey. You can come in or you can watch. That's all I'm asking you to consider."

…………………………………………………………….

The man had a dull look in his eyes when they entered. It was hard to imagine that he'd have the passion for anything at all."

Tony sat across from him; the detective and Rhodey stood behind. "Your name is Darryl, right?"

The man nodded.

"You know who I am, then?"

"You've been on the TV a lot."

"You're claiming that you killed my friend, Pepper."

Darryl frowned. "I thought she was your employee."

Tony closed his eyes for a moment. "She was both, Darryl. I understand that you came in here to make it right for the families of the women you abducted."

Darryl let out a deep sigh. "Well, really I came in because it was time."

Tony struggled with his anger, staring past Darryl at the wire-encased clock on the wall.

"You must really hate me, don't you?"

"Yeah, Darryl, I really do. The truth is that I'd like to reach over and crush your throat with my bare hands."

Behind him, the detective stirred, but Rhodey put a hand on his arm.

Darryl's eyes seemed to shine. "There are better, more satisfying ways to kill me."

Tony pointed a finger in his face. "Don't say another word about it! If you look at me with those dead eyes, and describe what you did to…women and Pepper, I'll kill you and take the jail sentence."

"You don't want to talk about it?"

Tony gripped the table as if steeling himself from lunging forward. Rhodey stepped forward. "Darryl, you haven't told anyone where Pepper is. It's the missing piece. You tell us, and we'll give you anything you want."

"She's not like the others."

"What does that mean, Darryl?"

"I had to send her home."

Tony rubbed his face. "Darryl, she never came home."

"Well, that's where I sent her."

"Where is she, Darryl?"

"At home, like I said, with Sikko."

"Psycho? What do you mean?"

Rhodey scraped a chair in next to Tony and sat down. "Are you Psycho?"

"No, Black man, I'm Darryl."

Tony leaned forward. "Where's Psycho?"

"At home with Darlene and Lester."

Tony slammed his palms on the table. "Darryl, I want Pepper! I want you to give Pepper to me. You can have anything you want. All I want is Pepper."

The man pouted. "It wasn't fair that I had to send her home. She was my favorite one. Did you ever feel how soft her skin is?"

Tony was across the table before Rhodey could react. It took Rhodey, the detective, and two uniforms to pull Tony off. When they looked down at Darryl on the floor, the man just looked up and said, "I was about to tell you my best stories."

…………………………………………………

Darlene showed up the next morning, joints aching from the cold. She wore three blankets around her like a cocoon, and there were dark shadows under her eyes from lack of sleep. Lester laughed when he saw her. She glared at him. "Take me to work."

"You and I got things to work out first."

"Idiot! I get paid today. Take me to work, and I'll cash the check for you when I'm done."

"How much you getting?"

"Enough to keep you in beer at Cubby's for the rest of the week."

"Well, get in the truck then, you little whore."

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

Happy dropped them off at the Santa Monica Pier.

Tony shook his head. "I didn't understand any of that, Rhodey. He didn't want anything from me; aside from the pleasure of seeing my pain."

"He's psychotic, Tony."

"Uh-uh, he's psycho, remember."

"No, he distinctly said he's not. Remember when he said, "I'm Darryl, Black man." I wasn't sure whether to laugh or punch him in the face."

Tony looked out on the ocean. "I had no ambiguity. I want him to die like he killed."

"He said that he sent her home."

"But she never came home."

"Tony, what if he wasn't talking about her home?"

Tony furrowed his brows. "We have to search his home."

Rhodey shook his head. "They've done that, but there's something about the way he said, 'home'. Tony, you won't relate to this because you grew up living in a series of overpriced mansions, but I grew up in a home."

"You're right. You've lost me."

"He sent her home…like the kind of home that defines who you are…the home you can always go back to and find meaning. Tony, we have to find out where he grew up."

Tony nodded. "You're right. Her body is there. It has to be. Let's bring her home."

……………………………………………………………………..

Lester stood outside in the cold, damp of a late fall afternoon. Darlene came out of the bank and counted the money. She divided it carefully. "Here Lester, I have $97.00 for you. I'm keeping 42.00."

Lester shook his head. "It all goes in the community pot."

"Yes, but there is no community pot because I'm not going home with you."

"Don't try me, Girl." Lester stiffened.

"There's enough money there for you to drink taps at Cubby's for about three days."

"You're coming home."

She shook her head.

"No one is going to take you in. You'll freeze to death."

"I'm not your wife, Lester. I'm not even Darlene. I don't know who I am, but I know I'm not going to be your punching bag."

Lester reached for her, but she jumped back. "You touch me, and I'll kill you."

Before he could react, she turned and ran away.

……………………………………………………………………

Friday or Saturday