Expert Witness (39 page)

That, Liz thought, was promising. “Give me the addresses of the last two.”

Liz took them down. When she was done, all she could do for a second was stare at the information. In the next minute, she was dialing Arnson.

“You won’t believe this. The red Toyota? It’s registered to Daniel Young’s secretary but the address is his place.”

San Diego Freeway South

Isaiah Wilson adjusted his Bluetooth earpiece. He would never get used to wearing such a thing, but it did have its place. Peter Siddon’s voice was coming over loud and clear.

“Yes, Peter. I think it’s a good idea to go home. No. Don’t wait for me. I’ve seen Xavier, and there’s nothing to worry about. Josie Bates? No, I doubt she’ll bother either of us ever again. All will be well. I promise.”

Isaiah signed off. For the first time in many years he was at peace. Now there was only one last stop to make. There were two ladies he wanted to see one more time.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE:

Josie Bates’ House, Hermosa Beach

Hannah dashed for Archer’s phone, and Daniel Young was following after. She caught it on the third ring.

“Hello?”

“Who is it?” Daniel was so close Hannah could smell him. She turned away and put hand over her free ear.

“Yes. Yes. Okay. I don’t care. Just tell me as best you can.” Hannah turned back to Daniel and whispered: “Do you have something to write with?”

Daniel had a pen. He rushed into the kitchen. Hannah heard him rummaging for paper, and he heard Hannah begging.

“No, don’t hang up. Just say it once more. Please.” Daniel was back, pen and napkin at the ready. “Okay. Yes. The Santa Monica Mountains. Does it have a name? Okay. Okay.” Hannah motioned to Daniel and he started to write as she spoke
. Mile marker 3
.
A turnout by the rock with the purple graffiti
. Then what?
Walk in a ways.
Straight. If I hit the river it’s too far
.  That was it. The woman on the other end of the line was done.

“Who are you? What’s your. . .” Hannah asked, but the woman had hung up. Hannah twirled on Daniel.

“She said she spoke to Josie and to the other lady. They’re in some kind of little house or something up in the mountains. Oh my God, this girl talked to them. They’re alive.”

“It can’t be? Really?” Daniel grabbed her hands and Hannah let him.

“Yes. Yes. We’ve got to call someone. Call Detective Driscoll,” Hannah said as she disengaged and picked up the phone again. Daniel put his hand on it before she could dial.

“I know the place. I know the rock. I cycle up there. Come on, I’ll take you.”

Hannah pulled back, “No, we need to call Liz.”

“A minute could make all the difference. My car is right outside. We’ll call her on the way,” Daniel insisted.

“Okay. Okay.”

Hannah left everything behind. She forgot about Mrs. Crane as she rushed out of the house. There was only one thing on her mind: Josie.

“Where? Where’s your car?” She called to Daniel and he pointed just down the street as he grabbed her wrist.

“This way.”

 He pulled her along as they ran then flung her toward his car. She threw herself inside, closing the door as Daniel fired up the engine. While he checked traffic, Hannah used Archer’s phone to dial Liz’s number but the line was busy. She rang off just as Daniel Young made a U-turn at the light and sped off toward the freeway unaware that his speed and his car had been tagged.

Liz Driscoll’s Car, Hermosa Beach

Liz was still on the phone when the car went by her. She wouldn’t have given it a second thought had she not seen Hannah sitting in the passenger’s seat. Though she couldn’t see clearly, it looked as if Daniel was driving.

“Idiot,” Liz muttered. She couldn’t believe he was helping Hannah run from the county people. Hannah made a big mistake dragging him into this, and she wasn’t doing herself any favor either. Liz didn’t have Hannah’s cell number, so she called Daniel’s as she pulled out into traffic.

He answered on the first ring.

Daniel Young’s Car, San Diego Freeway, North

“Yes?”

Daniel Young put his hand to his Bluetooth and pushed it further into his ear. He glanced at Hannah who was busy with Archer’s phone as she redialed the woman who had called.

“Detective Driscoll. Yes, we know where she is. Santa Monica Mountains.”

Hannah looked up, those green eyes of hers so hopeful. Not only was Daniel her white knight, but the cavalry was coming, too.  He smiled at her then looked back to traffic and eased over into the carpool lane. It was the perfect time of day for this to all end and he was the perfect person to make it happen. He had almost forgotten Liz Driscoll on the phone. He touched his earpiece again.

“It’s the 3-mile marker near the graffitied boulder. Yes. Yes. That’s the one. We’ll see you there.” He ended the call, smiled broadly and said to Hannah. “Looks like you were right. You’re going to see Josie Bates.”

“I can’t believe it. Thank you so much. Thank you,” Hannah breathed.

Unable to reach the woman who had called, Hannah started to dial again, punching in Josie’s number, positive that this time Josie would answer. All she had to do was push the button and Hannah would tell her they were coming.

Hannah put Archer’s phone to her ear and listened to Josie’s distinctive ring. It echoed not just in her ear but all around her.  The sound was coming from the back seat of Daniel Young’s car.

Liz Driscoll’s Car, San Diego Freeway, North

Liz tossed her phone on the seat beside her. She couldn’t believe what had just happened. Young hung up on her.  She put the pedal to the metal and kept Daniel Young in sight.

Forest Lawn Cemetery, Orange County

Isaiah Wilson walked across the green lawn, past the headstones and toward a mausoleum. Well, hardly a mausoleum but a monument to Janey nonetheless. To the left of Janey’s monument a modest headstone inscribed with the name Susie Atkins.

This was his last stop. He needed to be here with his two girls who would have been women today if Xavier Hernandez had not happened upon them.

“Josie Bates can’t hurt anyone anymore,” the reverend said to the gravestone and the monument.

Then Reverend Wilson began to cry. Retribution was not all it was cracked up to be.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR:

The California Mountains

Daniel was not happy. Hannah should have been slower given the backhand he dealt her when she recognized Josie Bates’ ringtone. Oh, he had tried to explain, but Hannah Sheraton was no dummy. She attacked him, endangering them both. He had to hit her. It felt right and good because it ended any pretense.

Between the woman who called Archer’s phone, this little slut, and Erika, this whole thing had just gone to hell in a handbasket. How could he have been so stupid? He had taken Josie Bates’ purse and briefcase out of the red car and thrown it into the back of his own so Gay wouldn’t see them. Now Bates’ stuff was jumbled up with his personal accouterments: his bike, his helmet, his flashlight and backpack. Thinking about that miscalculation made him so angry he hit Hannah again for good measure a second later.

Luckily, they were on the freeway when he did. Cars were going too fast for anyone to really see what happened. Even if they did, this was Los Angeles. Drivers would leave Mother Theresa bleeding on the shoulder rather than get involved.

At the turn off, Daniel hit the gas and took the road to the 3-mile marker in record time. He careened into the cul de sac under the rock and slammed on the brakes. Flinging himself out of the car, he ran to the other side, ripped open the passenger door and went after Hannah as she tried to get over the back seat. He pulled one leg; she kicked with the other. He dragged her a few inches; she screamed and railed and clutched at the headrests and the slick leather upholstery.

“Get out of there. Let go!” he ordered.

Daniel grabbed her jeans and yanked her backward with one hand. With the other he pried her fingers off the back of the seat, aware of her smooth, young skin, the scent of her hair, the flash of her eyes. Oh, he was an exceptional man to be able to appreciate these things even now, in the heat of battle, in this epic war of wills.  Dazed as she must be, he had to admire that she still fought, grunting, grappling and kicking as she tried to stay out his reach. But she was simply putting off the inevitable because Daniel was tall, strong, and truly ticked off.

“Damn you. Stop it.” With one last lunge he had her, lifting her high as he pulled her out of the car. Holding her tight, Daniel slammed the door shut with his foot.

“This won’t work,” Hannah snapped.

“Oh, yes it will.” Daniel pushed her and she staggered off the road and into the forest. “I’ll take the chip out of Archer’s phone. No one will know that woman called. Liz Driscoll doesn’t know where we were going. . . ”

“She does. I heard you tell her,” Hannah cried.

“You are stupid,” he muttered. “I was talking to dead air.  She doesn’t know anything. When you disappear I’ll tell them you were hysterical about being put in foster care, and that you were screaming about finding Josie Bates. I’ll tell them you were delusional and that it wouldn’t surprise me if you hurt yourself. Everyone knows you’re a cutter. They’ll believe me.”

“Archer won’t. Billy and Burt won’t!” Hannah whirled on Daniel. Facing him was preferable to being herded in front of him. “Is Josie alive? Is she?”

“Why don’t we just go see?”

Daniel Young raised his arm and pointed. When Hannah didn’t move he drew back as if to strike her again, and Hannah scrambled away, walking backward, watching for an opening to make her escape.

“Why did you do this?”

“Because Josie Bates ruined me,” he said flatly. “Turn around.”

“No!” Hannah screamed and then she screamed again. “Help me. Somebody help me.”

Hannah bolted, hoping to lose herself among the trees, but Daniel was faster still. Scooping up a big branch, he hit her as she cried out. Again and again she screamed for help; again and again he struck her. When Hannah was on the ground, lying in the leaves, rolling over thistles and into the undergrowth, she fell silent and put all her energy into warding off the blows.

“I was someone and she took it all way. She deserves what she got and worse,” Daniel raged.

“You’re crazy!” Hannah found her voice and reached for his club at the same time.

“Shut up!” He swung again and the wood cracked against her forearm.

Hannah cradled her arm as she pulled into a ball. As long as he didn’t hit her head, she had a chance; if she could keep him engaged, she had a chance.

“Why Erika Gardener? What did she do to you? ” Hannah cried.

She hunched her shoulders, flinching as she readied herself for another blow. It never came. The mention of Erika had given him pause.

“She didn’t want to marry a liar. I wasn’t a liar. Josie Bates made it seem like I was. She found a mistake on my university records that showed I hadn’t completed my last courses.  She said I was a fraud. She said whatever came out of my mouth should be given no more attention than the braying of a donkey. The judge let her attack my character and my intelligence. I loved Erika, and she left me because of what Josie Bates said in that courtroom.”

As quickly as Daniel had fallen into his reverie, indulged in his self-pity, he snapped out of it and remembered where he was. His handsome face hardened, his eyes narrowed. He grabbed Hannah and yanked her to her feet.

“I wasn’t an expert anymore; I was a laughing stock.” Daniel pushed her.  “That way.”

They pressed on. Hannah looking for any opportunity to escape, and Daniel knowing he would never allow that. Finally, he called ‘stop’. Hannah blinked. There was nothing but trees in front of her. She stared, unsure of what he wanted her to see. Using his piece of wood to push the hair away from her ear he whispered:

“It’s not exactly a beach house, but I think Ms. Bates got used to it.”

That’s when Hannah saw it: the ancient cement building with the locked metal door. Her stomach lurched. Slowly she looked over her shoulder, unable or unwilling to acknowledge the horrid truth until Daniel grinned at her. That’s when she understood that Josie had been locked away like an animal.

“You’re sick,” she whispered.

“No. I’m smart.”

That was it. Hannah couldn’t look at him any longer. Raising her hands, she pushed Daniel Young as hard as she could and ran.

“Josie! Josie!”

Hannah cried out, praying to hear any sound from inside that place. All she heard was Daniel’s cry of rage as he caught her by the hair and pulled her off her feet.