Scrabble Spells Murder
Chapter 13
13.1
Fran opened her eyes and waited for the fog to clear from her head. When it did, she realized she was being carried. It took her a minute before she remembered... Vincent, he was the Hacker.
Who would have suspected him? He had been working for the San Francisco Police Department for many years now. Everyone liked him. He had always been so polite and went out of his way to help anyone with a computer problem. He had an outstanding, unblemished record over the years. Never had there ever been a problem with his work or his attitude. Fran knew he had not missed a day of work since he had been hired.
So what makes a person flip out this way? What had sent him over the edge? Did he really harbor such an extreme hatred for Robert Ironside after all these years? Enough to turn him into a murderer?
Fran wondered why some criminals who felt wronged by the chief started killing people around him instead of just going after him. She understood San Francisco was Ironside's town, at least the chief considered it as much when it came to protecting the citizens of the city, but did they really think they were hurting him by murdering innocent people?
Surely, despite his rough, gruff demeanor, he felt it when an innocent man or woman was killed but didn't these low-lifes realize that it only made the chief more determined to catch them and put them behind bars? The California prisons were full of inmates who thought they could punish or outsmart Ironside.
Fran realized the darkness that engulfed her was not a semi-conscious state. Vincent was pointing a flashlight in front of them, lighting their way. She could hear him sloshing through the water. Glancing down, she saw a very large rat run past them, squealing as it went. It scampered away as he passed it.
Fran realized they were in the sewer beneath the city. She covered her nose and mouth to minimize the stink. She had not yet let Vincent know she had regained consciousness. She wished she had something to clobber him with. Her purse had been left behind, which meant the gun also had been left behind. Fran had nothing but her bare hands. She had taken self-defense classes. They had taught her how to use her hands when nothing else was available. She would just have to make do.
As Fran prepared to strike Vincent, he suddenly dropped her from his shoulder to the floor of the sewer. "Really, Officer Belding? Did you really think I would not notice your limp body become more rigid? You have been awake for about ten minutes now."
"What are we doing in here, Vincent?" Fran asked as she got to her feet.
"You should know the answer to that. I need to avoid your boss. He wouldn't have any ideas that I brought you down here. We can travel to my next man cave through here."
"It may stop Chief Ironside but it won't stop Sgt. Brown or Lt. Reese or Officer Whitfield either. You can't possibly believe you can get away with this."
Vincent stopped and shoved the flashlight in Fran's face. She used her hand to shield the light from her eyes. "You really think Ironside is going to charge in on his white horse and save the day, don't you?"
"He always does. Your days of freedom as you know it are nearly over," Fran responded.
Vincent Mortimer put his head back and laughed. "You don't get it, do you? You are as good as dead right now. Ironside doesn't have a clue where you are. I picked you because he needs to be taught a lesson. He cheated in our game. He will pay for not following the rules of the game."
Still trying to keep the light from shining in her eyes, Fran put her hand out in front of her to block it. "This is no game, Vincent. Two people have died because of you. You are facing a murder one charge. If you turn yourself in..."
"If I turn myself in... what? I still would go to prison for the rest of my life. I have nothing to lose, Belding. So stop with the lectures!" he shouted at her.
Further down the sewer...
Ed perked up his head when he heard a man yell. He had heard Fran's name yelled by someone further up ahead. Within just a minute Carl came running up to him.
"Did you hear that? It sounded like our Hacker is up ahead."
"Yeah, I heard it," Ed replied. "It also means that Fran is still alive. We better find her while she still is or the chief is going to kill both of us."
"It came from that direction," Carl said as he pointed down the sewer. Both men took off in the direction of the voice.
Vincent realized that he had raised his voice to the point that he certainly could be heard from a distance in the sewer. He grabbed Fran by the hair and yanked her forward.
She began to fight him. "Let go, Vincent! You are hurting me!" she shouted.
Ed and Carl...
"That way," Ed told Carl and then led the way.
"Shut up, Belding." Mortimer's voice was deadly quiet. "If any of Ironside's people find us, I promise you will be the first to die."
"Ed! Eve! Over here!" Fran shouted.
Vincent stopped, let go of Officer Belding and hit her in the jaw with his gun. She dropped down unconscious into the sewage below. He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.
Fran's voice had carried back to Ed and Carl. They began running all out towards the sound.
Both men were covered in sewage and were soaking wet from the knees down. Neither gave it a thought as all that was on their mind was to rescue their fellow officer.
Vincent put his gun behind his back in the waist of his pants. Balancing Fran Belding over his shoulder, he made a couple of turns and then stopped below a manhole. He set the unconscious officer down, reached up and pushed the cover from the hole.
Mortimer walked over to the wall of the sewer and picked up a rope he had placed there. He smiled at his foresight that his prey might very well be knocked out when they arrived at this point.
Grabbing both of her wrists, he tied them together. Vincent tied the other end of the rope to his belt and then pulled his body through the manhole. Once again above ground, he untied the rope from his belt and sat down on the ground; placing both feet on the other side of the manhole, he pulled Fran Belding up until he could see her. Taking her by the shoulders, he pulled her out of the sewer. Vincent quickly recovered the manhole and surveyed his surroundings. He was in the alley behind the empty house that he had taken possession of. The owners were on vacation in Europe and were not expected back for a couple months. It was a perfect place to operate for the time being. He picked Fran up and headed for his new hideout.
Carl placed a hand on Ed's forearm to stop their progress. "Do you hear anything?"
Sgt. Brown listened for a moment and then shook his head. "Not a thing."
"Either he knocked Fran out or he killed her and left her behind," Carl said.
Ed gave him a look and said, "Don't even say it. Let's split up again and see if we can find this guy."
13.2
Ironside waited impatiently for either Ed or Carl to return. He had hoped that Fran was still alive but he did not have much confidence that the Hacker would have allowed it. He was desperate for a kill that could be credited to him. The two officers that lost their lives had only been reported to the media as having been killed on the campus. He has purposely kept the details from the press so as to not cause a panic in San Francisco. He had enough to deal with without hysterical citizens calling the commissioner's office and demanding protection.
Ironside wheeled his chair over to the desk where the computer system was sitting. He recognized the brand of the computer. It was the same system that was used throughout the police department. Dell... he remembered it because of the backwards 'E' in the name.
He had already begun to wonder if someone at Headquarters had been responsible for the hacking. So far they had not been able to connect anyone to the breach of security.
He looked over the Dell computer. He knew it would be wrong to assume just because it was the same kind of computer that they used at Headquarters, that it pointed to someone there. Dell was the choice of computer for many businesses these days. Yet Ironside could not take his eyes off of the computer screen.
He had no idea why he could not look away from the screen. Something about it bothered him but he could not explain why.
"Chief," Eve called out to him.
Ironside looked up at his police officer. "Yes, Eve."
"I spoke with the woman who owns this apartment building. She could not give much of a description of the man. She said he was in his late twenties to early thirties. She could not tell me what color his hair was. He always wore a baseball cap. Same problem as for his eye color. She never saw him without sunglasses. She said he even wore them at night."
"Sounds like he did not want to be recognized," Ironside observed. "How long has he been renting?"
"She said he only rented the place last month. It is a furnished apartment. Everything is owned by the landlord except the computer system."
"He wasn't living here," the chief said.
Eve looked around the living room. "How can you tell that?"
"I took a look around. There are no clothes in the closet. Nothing in the bathroom... no food in the kitchen. No, he used this apartment to hack into my computer and to lure Fran here."
Eve watched her boss. It always affected him when one of his officers was in danger. No one outside of Ed, Mark and herself would know it. They had worked with him long enough to be able to read him... well, at least as well as he allowed. The chief was quite good at masking his feelings when he wanted to.
"Oh, I had not checked. I was busy talking to the owner of the apartment building."
"Where is the woman now?" Ironside asked.
"Right outside. I told her you might want to talk to her yourself."
"Bring her in," he ordered.
Eve promptly left his side and went out the door.
13.3
Ed was soaking wet and the smell of the sewer was getting to him. This was not exactly a place he cared to search. He should consider wearing heeled boots. He chuckled at the thought. Eve might be able to get away with that but the chief would never let him. He would have sent him down anyway.
After checking the section of the sewer he was in, he turned into another section only to run into Carl. Both men lost their footings and fell into the muck on the floor of the sewer.
"I don't believe this!" Carl shouted. His face was wrinkled into a look of disgust. He looked at his hand that was covered in the waste from the floor. He walked over to the wall and wiped his hand down it.
Ed stood up. "I wonder if I smell as bad as you do."
Carl turned and said, "Take my word for it, you smell worse. What do you say we get out of here? I can't stand this stink much longer."
Ed shook his head. "Let's double back and see if we can find a manhole leading to the street. They could not be in any better shape than we are. Maybe they left a trail that we will be able to follow."
"You can't be serious. Do you know how many manholes lead to above? They are every few feet apart!"
Ed looked back at Carl. "Do you want to be the one to tell the chief that we did not try?"
Reese gave him a look of surrender. "No, and I am not going to be the one that tells him we could not find Fran either." He followed Ed down the sewer.
They had sloshed through the muck for thirty minutes checking out every manhole they came across before Carl grabbed Ed's arm. "We could do this all day. We don't know exactly where they were when we heard them shouting."
"I am not ready to give up yet," Brown said.
"Come on, Ed! We can check the neighborhoods on the surface. Let's get out of this stinking place!"
Reluctant to leave but knowing Carl was right; there was nothing else they could do here, Ed nodded. They headed back in the direction from which they came.
13.4
Vincent dragged Fran in the house by way of the back door. He could not understand why Ironside's team was considered as the best in the department. He had gotten away from Sgt. Brown without much trouble at all.
Although Lt. Reese was not officially on his staff, Ironside was always requesting that he be assigned to his office when a big case came up and he had gotten away from him just as easily.
He opened the door to one of the bedrooms and dropped her on the floor. No sense in getting all the crap that she had on her on the clean bedspread. Mortimer walked over to the windows and checked each one of them. The boards that he had screwed in place were secure. She would not be able to get out while he was away.
He entered the bathroom and removed a towel and washcloth from the cupboard and took them back to the bedroom and dropped them on the bed. He looked down at Fran before leaving the room.
Locking the door from the other side, Vincent realized that Fran would need something to change into. It would not do any good for her to take a shower if she had to put those stinking clothes back on.
He went upstairs and checked the master bedroom. He had already checked out the people who lived here. The woman was about the same size as Fran. He walked over to the closet and opened the door. He discovered it was a rather large walk-in closet. Clothes lined both the right side with men's and left side with women's. At the back there were shelves of shoes both masculine and feminine. To the right side there was a section for folded clothes.
Mortimer checked out the items there. They seemed to be all women's clothing. He selected a jogging suit and removed it from the shelf.
Going back into the bedroom, he rummaged through the dresser drawers. He found undergarments and added those to the clothes he would give Fran to wear. He looked back at the closet but decided she would not be in need for shoes since she was never going to leave this house alive.
Vincent left the master bedroom and took the clothing back to the basement bedroom. After unlocking the door, he stepped inside, threw the clothing on the bed, stepped back and once again locked the door.
Mortimer walked into the den. It was time for another Scrabble clue. Maybe this time Ironside would not cheat knowing that Belding's life would be the price he paid if he did. Vincent knew it would only control him for so long as Ironside was not stupid. He would know that Mortimer could not allow her to live as she could identify him. This would make Ironside desperate... no, not desperate... far more dangerous. He would be relentless in his pursuit to find Fran Belding.
13.5
Fran opened her eyes. What was that horrible odor? She looked down at herself and cringed. Realizing that the smell was coming from her own body, Fran stood up and inspected herself.
She noticed a towel, underclothes and a jogging suit that were lying on the bed. She looked around the room. She realized she was in a basement somewhere as the windows were near the ceiling. They had been boarded up. She could not see out.
Deciding to test the strength of the boards, she hurried over to the closest window. Pushing a chair underneath it, she stepped up onto it and reached for the window. Fran pushed and pulled on the boards. She noticed that they had been put into the cement with screws. She knew she would never be able to pull those boards off of the windows. She jumped down from the chair and walked over to the bed.
First things first, she grabbed the towel and washcloth in her right hand and the jogging suit in the left. There must be a bathroom around here somewhere or Vincent would not have left this for her.
She noticed a partially closed door in the corner of the bedroom. She walked around the bed and went to the door. Opening it completely, she found what was a rather large bathroom for the size of the bedroom she was in. Fran stepped into the bathroom and immediately checked the window. It was also boarded up with heavy screws into the cement wall.
Knowing there was nothing she could do about her predicament at the moment, she decided that a shower was definitely in order. Belding opened the shower door and turned on the water. When she had it at a temperature she knew would be comfortable, she removed her clothes, threw them onto the floor and stepped into the shower.
Fran faced into the shower sprayer. The warm water felt good as the muck from the sewer began rinsing down the drain.
She cleaned herself with shampoo that was in the shower stall. Upon completing her shower and washing her hair, she grabbed the towel and began drying her hair and then herself. She looked in the drawers on the sink vanity and found a hair dryer. Fran plugged it into the electricity and dried her hair. Finally she put on the clothing Vincent had provided her.
She threw her dirty clothes into the corner of the bathroom. Fran then went exploring her surroundings to try to find a way out.
13.6
Robert Ironside paced back and forth in his office. He was not happy with the results of the rescue of Fran Belding. The only good that had come out of it was that Ed and Carl had heard Fran call out to them. He did not know why the Hacker chose to let her live, but he knew it would not be for long.
"Eve, has either Ed or Carl called in yet?" the detective asked, though he knew the answer to the question.
Eve knew that her boss was anxious for news of Fran's whereabouts. Yet, she knew he was asking a question in which the answer was no different than the last time he had asked. "Chief, you are in the same room as I am. The phone has not rung."
Mark came out of the kitchen with a cup of coffee in his hand. He set it down on the table. "Have a cup of coffee. They will call in as soon as they know something."
The door to the office opened and the detectives walked in and came down the ramp. Ironside watched them intently, waiting for a report. When neither officer was forth-coming immediately, he barked at them, "Did you find out which manhole he came out?"
Carl looked to Ed to give him the bad news. Brown almost sighed as he knew he was the one who would have to report the news to his boss. "No, I am sorry, Chief. Unfortunately we were unable to determine which manhole he exited."
"There must have been something at one of those manholes. After trudging through that stuff, he had to have left a trail."
"Chief, we checked every manhole in the vicinity. We found no trace that he had taken Fran out of the sewer," Carl reported.
"Then you must be wrong about him leaving the sewer in that area. He must have gone further down." Ironside's voice showed definite impatience and frustration.
Ed shook his head. "No, sir, we would have heard him," Ed insisted.
"Well, which is it, Ed? He either went further down the sewer or you must have found a trail leading out of the sewer," Ironside insisted.
"We checked all of those in reasonable distance. I am sorry, Chief. We could not find him. We just can't be sure which manhole he came out," Ed said.
"Then try the ones that are not in a reasonable distance," Ironside growled.
Ed and Carl looked at each other before Ed said, "Yes, sir."
The computer screen behind them turned on and the computer set off a noise that sounded like a siren. Everyone turned and looked at the screen.
"Suppose that is another clue?" Eve asked.
Ironside shot her a look and said, "Suppose we don't suppose and take a look."
Eve said nothing as she knew the best thing to do when her boss got in one of these moods was let him blow off steam.
Everyone moved over to Ironside's computer and stared at the screen.
Good evening, Chief. I have allowed Fran Belding to live for the time being. However, you know I must kill her in order to keep my identity from you. Yet, I am a fair guy. I am going to give you a chance to redeem yourself for cheating... for you to give her a chance to live a little longer.
So here is how we are going to proceed. Miss Belding will remain alive only as long as you return to the rules. If you break them again, you will be fishing her body out of the bay.
Since you have no idea how many people I intend to kill before I fade into obscurity, you will have no idea when I will end her life.
So, Chief, you will go under the Golden Gate Bridge, and I do mean under it, to pick up the next clue at precisely midnight... tomorrow night. It will be under water in an empty bourbon bottle. You do like bourbon, I believe. Sorry I had to empty it but I am afraid the paper on which the clue is would be too soggy for you to read.
You will go alone and go into the water and retrieve the bottle with the clue. I know you can swim. If I spot any cops... and that includes your staff, I will kill Officer Belding. Following is a map which will direct you to the spot.
Remember, if you want to keep your officer alive, do exactly as I say and do not cheat.
The map appeared on the screen. Ironside hit the print button and printed it before clearing the screen. He folded the paper and put it in his suit coat pocket. He looked up and saw the looks his staff was giving him. "No, none of you will see the map. You will not follow me. I am going alone and it is not open to negotiation."
Ironside turned his chair towards his bedroom, wheeled away and shouted over his shoulder, "Get out of here and go home. I am going to bed. And take a show before you come back here."
TBC...