“Josh? Are you okay? Josh?”
When Josh turned to look at her she barely recognized him. She had never seen that combination of emotions on his face before, anger, shame, revulsion, and fear all deforming his facial features into something hideous and frightening. Sarah knew that he was reliving the abuse he’d suffered as a child. It must have been terrible to see the same thing happening to him all over again, and this was so much worse. This was forcible rape. Despite his size and strength he had been victimized yet again. Sarah could not imagine what her husband was feeling. He looked at her as if she had just asked him to solve some impossibly complex mathematical equation.
“Are you okay?” Sarah repeated.
“No. I’m pretty fucking far from okay.”
Sarah pulled him tight, pulling his head down into the crook of her neck, inviting him to cry but knowing that he wouldn’t. His body was as tense and rigid as an iron bar. Sarah turned back to the interrogation room. She wanted to hear what Dale had to say after watching the tape. She wanted to hear his confession.
“The district attorney’s office is willing to make a deal in exchange for your confession.”
“I don’t see anyone from the DA’s office here. And why would they be willing to make a deal if they have this tape?” Mr. Severino asked.
“Ms. Yu from the DA’s office is on the other side of that mirror. If your client is willing to sign a confession, then I’ll bring her in here and we can make a deal. Otherwise, she stays right where she is.”
“But why the hell would she want to make a deal?”
Sarah watched as Dale leaned over and whispered something in his attorney’s ear. The triumphant grin never left his face. After Dale had finished whispering in his ear, his attorney nodded slightly, looking somewhat confused. Then he turned to the two detectives and smiled.
“My client wants you to play the rest of the tape. He also wants to see the hospital records from the couple he is accused of attacking, from the night of the alleged assault.”
The two detectives looked at each other. Sarah felt herself deflate. The bastard had them. She saw the confusion in the lawyer’s face turn to one of smug arrogance as he noted the hesitation in the two detectives. He was still not sure how or why but it was apparent that he now knew that the detectives were hiding something.
“I’m going to subpoena the tape anyway so you might as well show me now.”
Detective Lassiter muttered, “Shit!” and then sneered at Dale who was now sitting back in the metal chair with both hands laced behind his head, grinning obscenely.
Detective Torres turned the VCR back on, starting it from right before Dale’s murder. On the screen, Sarah watched the now-familiar scene of Dale slitting
Josh’s throat, stabbing Sarah in the chest, rushing about, cleaning up the room, changing the sheets, moving the bodies, then kneeling over the bodies and bringing them both back to life.
Dale’s attorney was even more surprised and animated than Sarah herself had been when she’d first seen the tape.
“Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me! This is a fake? You faked this whole thing? I am going to have both of your badges. So, I think it’s safe to assume that there’s no emergency room report?”
“You know there isn’t,” Torres responded.
“Then, we’re done here. You go near my client again and you’re both going to wind up in front of an IAD review board.”
Mr. Severino stood up and gestured for Dale to follow him. Dale reached across the room and held out his wrists. Detective Lassiter looked at her partner and then over her shoulder at the mirror. Somehow the woman’s eyes found Sarah’s through the mirrored glass. Sarah could read the apology in her eyes along with the frustration. The detective turned back around and removed the cuffs from Dale’s wrists. Before Dale could pull away, she grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him close, whispering something into his ear. Dale’s eyes hardened, narrowed, his eyebrows furrowed. When he spoke it was through clenched teeth.
“Go ahead, just fucking try it.”
He turned and walked out the door with his lawyer, grinning all the way. Sarah watched the door close. Finally, she remembered Josh. He was still holding her but his body felt slack and loose.
“What the fuck was that? What the hell just happened? Was any of that real?”
“It was all real?”
“But he killed us. He killed both of us. Look!” Josh pulled his shirt collar down, revealing his smooth white throat.“There’s no fucking wound! There’s not even a scar! So what was that?”
“He killed us but he brought us back. He resurrected us both somehow.”
“Resurrected us? You mean Christ on the cross? That kind of resurrection? You’re kidding me, right?”
“That’s why I couldn’t remember anything. He’s been doing this the whole time, ever since that first night. He rapes me, kills me, and then brings me back.”
“Sarah? That’s crazy. That’s just crazy.”
“Then explain it, Josh! Explain what’s on that tape! Explain the bloody sheets. Explain his fingerprints in our house. Explain his semen inside of me!”
Josh began to calm down. He was staring at Sarah, still breathing hard, still looking confused. But he was convinced that she wasn’t lying, she hadn’t somehow manipulated the tape. She wasn’t crazy.
The assistant DA had been silent the entire time. When Detectives Lassiter and Torres walked in she broke her silence.
“What in the hell were you two trying to pull with that stunt?”
“That wasn’t a stunt, at least not on our part. This is the tape we took from the spy camera in their house. We didn’t alter it in any way.”
“Yes, but you knew what was on the tape. You knew it was a forgery.”
“We knew what was on it but we still don’t believe it’s a forgery.”
“So, you think maybe these two got stabbed to death and then just got up and walked away? Because
if that’s what you’re saying, then I’m going to be speaking to your captain and recommending you both for a psych evaluation and an immediate suspension. So, which is it?”
“Well, how do you explain what you saw on that tape?”
“How about a fake knife, food coloring, and corn syrup? What are you both morons? You can see special effects like that in any freshman film-school class and you’re willing to risk your badges for it?”
“Excuse me, but fuck you! We didn’t fake that tape.” Sarah spoke up.
The ADA stepped up to her. The woman’s anger was plain and undisguised. She wagged her finger inches from the tip of Sarah’s nose.
“I would say fuck you too but you’ve already fucked yourselves and this case with that bullshit tape. Now, it doesn’t matter if you were raped or not because we can’t touch him. You’ve managed to call into question every piece of evidence these two detectives have uncovered. The fingerprints, the DNA, the blood spatter, it’s all useless now.”
“But it’s real!” Sarah shouted.
“Yeah? And so are Jesus and Santa Claus. Stay away from Dale McCarthy and feel lucky that I don’t arrest you for filing a false police report.” She stormed out of the room, leaving Sarah and Josh alone with the two detectives. Sarah winced when the door slammed behind her.
“We fucked up. We fucked up bad,” Torres said.
“Okay, so I don’t know what else we can do here.”
“Are we on our own then?” Sarah asked.
“We’re not going to let that guy keep attacking you. Our job is to protect and serve.”
“But he’s free. He’s out there, right across the street from me. How are you going to protect us?”
“Maybe you should move. Start fresh somewhere new,” Detective Lassiter added.
“Move? We can’t afford to move. With the economy all fucked up we can’t afford to sell our house. We’ve lost over a hundred thousand dollars in equity in our home. And we can’t live out of a hotel until the damn market recovers. We can’t afford to pay for a hotel and a mortgage. We’re trapped. We’re stuck there with that fucking psycho.”
“We’ll keep working on this. We still have his prints and the ones they found in your home. The CSU has been at your house and they’ve gone through Dale McCarthy’s house as well. If he’s been doing the things that we saw on the tape, then he’s bound to have left evidence.”
“But you heard what that prosecutor said. Dale’s lawyer will get anything we find thrown out of court because of that tape.”
Sarah shook her head. It would have been funny if it wasn’t so damn infuriating. They had Dale on video committing rape, sodomizing her husband, and murdering both of them. It should have been enough to put him away for life, but instead it was the very thing that was keeping him out of prison.
“We’ll find something. We’re not giving up. In the meantime, don’t do anything stupid.”
This was addressed directly at Josh. No one could fail to notice the dark expression on his face. Sarah’s husband was unusually quite. He listened to their exchange but his eyes were far away. Sarah knew where he was. She knew how his mind worked. He was try
ing to think of all the ways he might kill Dale and get away with it. Josh wasn’t the type to just shoot the guy down in cold blood and spend the rest of his life in jail, not unless there was no other way. He would want to find a way to do it that would keep him out of jail. After everything that had happened today, he would be the number-one suspect if Dale were to disappear unexpectedly or if his body were to turn up riddled with bullet holes.
“I’m in no hurry to go to the penitentiary.”
Josh’s voice was low and without the slightest inflection. It sounded almost robotic. He turned and walked toward the door. His eyes were still glassy, staring off into space as if he were just peripherally aware of the existence of other people in the room.
“Make sure he doesn’t go after him,” Detective Lassiter said. “He’s not thinking clearly right now. Who would be after seeing that? But that won’t keep him out of prison if he goes after McCarthy.”
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t do anything.”
Sarah wondered if she would really be strong enough to keep him from killing Dale if he wanted to. It was not her physical strength she was concerned about. It was her will. She wondered if she’d want to stop him. Her only hesitation was the thought of Josh somehow failing to kill Dale and going to jail while Dale remained free.
It was after midnight by the time they left the police station. The drive home was tense and silent. Despite the lateness of the hour, the freeway was still full with drivers heading to and from the casinos and nightclubs. Sarah watched as Josh stared at the road. She wondered how
much of the road he was seeing and how much of the videotape. Josh grimaced and punched the dashboard, tears began to race the crevices and lines in his face from his eyes to his chin.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Did it happen? Did th-that—Did that really happen?”
Sarah nodded.
“That fuck! That little fuck! And I go to jail if I kill him? How is that right?”
“It isn’t. It isn’t right at all. But I can’t live without you, Josh. I want us to have kids together and we can’t do that if you’re in prison.”
“But what am I supposed to do? He raped you! He raped my wife and he…he…fuck! He raped me too! Why the fuck can’t I remember it? How come you can and I can’t?”
“I can’t either. I don’t think I’m supposed to remember. I don’t think Dale expected me to. He looked surprised. I think he thought he would get away with it. I bet he’s done this before. He was too sure of himself for this to be his first time.”
“That fucking freak!” Josh punched the dash again.
“So what do we do?”
“We set a trap. We catch him sneaking into the house and we blow his fucking head off.”
“But how does he keep getting in? How did he know we were sleeping?”
Sarah thought about it for a while. She thought about security cameras hidden in the house with Dale on the other end watching them as they slept. She shivered.
“Fuck.”
“What?”
“I know how he’s doing it.”
“How he’s getting in? How?”
“I know how he’s getting in and how he knows when we’re sleeping. He’s already in the house.”
“What?”
“I saw this news special about these teenage girls who would slip into houses after the owners would leave for work and sleep there during the day. Sometimes they would still be there, hiding in the attic or the closet when the owners would come home. They would share the house. The girls would live in it during the day, eating their food, sleeping in their beds, using their shower, and then they’d leave at night. Think about it. It’s the only thing that makes sense. He probably has a key or something. He could have stolen one at any time while that slider door lock was broken and made a copy. He might have even broken the lock. He lets himself in and just hides in the house until we’re asleep.”
“Then he rapes and kills us both and sneaks back to his house. I can’t fucking believe this guy!”
“I could be wrong.”
“No, I think you’re right. That piece of shit is living in our house with us and we don’t even know he’s there.”
They took the exit off the 215 freeway onto Pecos Road. They were now only ten minutes from their house.
“So, how do we catch him? You want to put another camera in the house somewhere? In the hallway?”
“So we can just get more pictures of him fucking me in the ass? No, I want to catch this bastard in the act. No one gives a fuck about those videos.” Josh sneered. “Maybe we just fake it. We pretend to be asleep and see what happens.”
“But what if we fall asleep for real?”
“Then we’re no worse off than we were. But we could always load up on NoDoz before we get in bed.”
“But then what if he doesn’t come? We can’t keep staying awake night after night.”
“We can for a few nights. I don’t think it will take more than that. This guy is obsessed with you.”
Sarah nodded her head. Chills had begun to climb up her back at the thought of Dale sitting across the street, or worse, in her own house, obsessing over her.
They turned into their small gated community and punched their access code into the keypad. Sarah laughed at the idea that this was supposed to somehow keep them secure. Cars regularly sat outside the gate waiting for someone to enter the right code and open the gates so they could follow them in and no one ever questioned them. Besides, the one person who scared Sarah the most was on the other side of the gate.