James Conway - In Cold Blonde

Syd wanted to look around. She drifted out of the living room, down the paneled hallway to another open doorway.

The game room.

It all looked so familiar; the pool table sat in the middle of the room, the bar at the far end. There was a flat screen TV hanging on the wall that wasn’t there eleven years ago, otherwise, it looked the same. Syd walked in.

She wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to do. Unlike Alice, Syd had a lot to lose if she murdered Wood. It would be difficult to put a bullet in his brain, walk out the front door and escape prosecution.

A simple investigation would reveal she was in Orange County at the time of the murder, and there was a phone call on her cell phone to the victim only minutes before he was killed. So she had opportunity.

She was a cop with a gun. Means.

Ryan knew Syd felt sympathy for Alice. Motive.

Was Alice’s revenge really worth Syd’s own life?

“Oh, there you are,” Nick Wood said. He handed Syd her latte, then asked, annoyed, “What are you doing in here?”

“I wanted to see where it happened,” Syd said, watching his face for the reaction.

There was the slightest twitch from one of those bushy eyebrows. “Where what happened?”

“The gang rape of Alice Waterman.”

Nick Wood studied Syd. He’s wondering how much I know, thought Syd. The police killed Alice in Blake Hunter’s home, so Wood knows we’ve figured out the connection between Adam, Colin and Blake. What he doesn’t know is if we’ve seen the video, if we know about his involvement.

“That’s why we were calling you, by the way. We figured out something happened when your son was in high school; we heard you’d made a payoff to one of Colin’s classmates. But we didn’t know who was involved or what happened. If you’d returned our calls, you could have told us Blake Hunter was the third boy. We would have warned Mr. Hunter, sent officers to his house and he’d still be alive today.”

“I’m sorry, but I told you. I was so upset I didn’t talk to anyone the last couple of days. To tell you the truth, my doctor prescribed me some heavy-duty tranquilizers and I’ve basically been in bed. I haven’t called my office or checked my messages.”

“And what about when we first met you in the morgue? I’m sure you suspected Alice Waterman then. If you had been honest with us and told us about the high school rape, we could have saved Adam Devlin’s life, too.”

“I didn’t suspect Alice, then. I mean, it happened eleven years ago, why would I suspect her for killing Colin now?”

“Do you own a gun, Mr. Wood?”

The sudden change of direction threw Nick. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“I’m guessing you do. And I’m guessing you’ve been holed up here, with that gun close by, waiting to see if the Lady in Red showed up to kill you.”

“Why would she have wanted to kill me?” he asked, but with failing conviction. He obviously knew where this conversation was going.

“I’ve seen the video, Mr. Wood. I assume you demanded the video from Blake Hunter eleven years ago when you agreed to buy Alice Waterman out. And Blake gave it to you. But deep down you were always afraid he kept a copy, weren’t you?”

Nick Wood played his last desperate card. “A video of what?”

“You raping an unconscious Alice Waterman right here on this pool table.”

The air seemed to come out of Nick Wood. He sagged against the bar. “Who else has seen the video?”

“Now that you mention it, only me.” Hope flickered in his eyes. “But, sorry, no, it’s not for sale.”

“So you’re here to arrest me?”

“I wish I could. But the statue of limitations on rape is ten years, even for a disgusting animal like you.”

Now Nick Wood looked confused. “If you don’t want money and you’re not here to arrest me, what are you here for?”

“To kill you.”

Wood jumped like an electric current hit him. He stared at Syd, waiting for her to pull her weapon, but she just stood there.

“But I’ve decided to just destroy you instead.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m going to send a copy of that tape to a friend of mine. Before you can say YouTube, your flabby ass is going to be seen on every computer screen in America. Then I’ll send copies to all the television networks. How will your friends and neighbors feel about you raping a defenseless teenage girl? How many of your clients will want to work with a sexual predator?”

“But that was years ago! I was drunk. I told you before, I’m sorry for the way I used to behave. And now I’m impotent, doesn’t that… I mean…” he tailed off as he realized how empty, how meaningless his excuses sounded.

“I want the world to see what you and those boys did to her. I want the world to understand that Colin, Adam and Blake deserved everything that happened to them. Alice killed them as an object lesson for women everywhere. As a call to fight back. And she did something else you’ll read about in tomorrow’s paper. She cut off the cocks of her attackers so that men everywhere would know there is a price to pay for rape. And just so you know, she was on her way over here to kill you, to slice off your useless cock when she was killed by my partner. I was upset at first; I wanted Alice to finish her revenge. But now that I think about it, I’ve decided your punishment may actually be worse. You’re going to become the most hated man in America. Every woman will know your name. Every woman will know what you’ve done. Wherever you go, whatever you do, you’ll be the scummy bastard who raped that poor high school kid. The press will haunt your every step. Paparazzi will be camped on your front lawn. And once the initial outrage is over, and the media moves on to its next victim, maybe, just maybe, some woman out there will finish what Alice started. I want you to think about that, every day; the next woman you meet, the next corner you turn, the next doorway you walk through may be your last. And I hope that whatever woman finally kills you, cuts your cock off first.”

Syd turned and headed out the door, but then she turned back to a devastated Nick Wood. “Or, you could do us all a favor and take that gun of yours, stick it in your mouth and pull the trigger.”

Syd watched Nick Wood’s reaction to see if her words landed. Nick Wood lifted his head, mulling a seemingly once unthinkable option.

Without another word, Syd left.

Ryan desperately wanted to get a few hours sleep so he took the unusual step of turning his phone off. When his alarm woke him at nine-thirty, he opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling.

Decision day.

Ryan stood at a crossroad, his life would change forever today and he, and he alone, controlled the outcome.

Heady stuff.

Ryan had made a lot of decisions on the ride home last night and he knew what he wanted to do, but he was going to need some help to pull it off. He grabbed his cell phone off the night table, turned it on and checked his messages. There were four.

Anne’s message was first. She sounded so fucking happy, he thought. Hard to believe it was all an act. Ryan had no intention of calling Anne back. He’d see her soon enough.

Hanrahan called reminding Ryan to schedule his interview with the Force Investigation Division. Whenever an LAPD officer uses deadly force, they are required to get cleared by the FID. Ryan would call them as he drove to the California Lottery office.

Ryan’s stepbrother, Johnny, called suggesting they meet at Santa Anita racetrack next week so Ryan could look at a promising two-year-old filly. Ryan decided he’d call Johnny back, never.

The last call was Newport Police Detective Alex Cortez, offering his congratulations and wanting to schedule a meeting, hopefully at a bar serving cold draft beer, so he could hear the blow by blow. Ryan liked Cortez and would call him as he drove to the lottery, too.