J. Jance - Hand of Evil

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“You must have seen something,” Ali returned.

Driving West on Thomas, Ali turned off onto a side street and then threaded her way through a neighborhood until she reached an almost deserted parking lot at Encanto Park. Once she turned off the engine, she focused her attention on Crystal.

“Please tell me,” Ali said.

Crystal gave a resigned shrug. “Well, the guy who gave me a ride from Flagstaff pulled over there at Mund’s Park so we could…well, you know…do it. And we were, or at least I was, when all of a sudden he started cussing and said, ‘We have to get the hell out of here. Something’s wrong.’ By the time I sat up, he was already hauling ass. I thought there were cops coming or something, but when we drove away, all I saw were three guys standing there in the headlights. They were sort of standing in a circle, and one of them was holding something. It looked like a baseball bat, but I’m not sure. Then I realized there was someone else there, too, a fourth guy, only he was lying on the ground. I could see he was covered with something that looked like tar, but it was probably blood.”

Ali nodded. “What happened then?” she prompted.

“I was scared,” Crystal said. “I just wanted to take off and get as far away from there as possible. Curt said we had to call nine-one-one.”

“Curt?” Ali asked.

Crystal nodded. “That’s his name, Curt. I had a cell phone and so did he, but Curt said we shouldn’t use them. Instead, we drove across the freeway to a gas station. There was a phone booth out back. While Curt made the call, I went inside and hid in the restroom. I was afraid they’d seen me when we drove past and that they’d come there looking for me-for us. When I came out, Curt was gone and so was his car. I didn’t see the guys with the bat, but they could have been there. I knew I couldn’t hang around the gas station any longer without people asking questions, so the minute I could, I made a run for it. That’s when I broke into the house. I stayed there for a while, but it was cold and I was hungry, so I finally called my dad.”

“Could you identify the vehicle the bad guys were driving?” Ali asked.

“No.”

“So you don’t know how they left Mund’s Park or which way they went?”

Crystal shook her head. “While I was still in the restroom, I heard the sirens. I knew Curt must have gotten through because the cops were already there. And a little later, while I was hiding in the house, I saw the helicopter land and take off.”

“If you knew the cops were there, why didn’t you talk to them?” Ali asked. “Why didn’t you tell them what you’d seen?”

“Because I knew they’d want to know who I was and what I was doing there.” Crystal’s voice cracked. “And because I knew they’d tell my dad,” she said with a sob. “You won’t tell him about me, will you? Please?”

The tough-talking, smart-mouthed Crystal seemed to have disappeared completely, leaving behind a girl who was little more than a child-a scared, lost child. She broke Ali’s heart.

“Somebody needs to tell him,” Ali said softly. “But I won’t if you don’t want me to.”

CHAPTER 9

Ali put the Cayenne in gear and pulled out of the parking space.

“Where are we going now?” Crystal wanted to know.

“Back to the hospital,” Ali said.

“Do we have to?” Crystal asked.

“Yes, we have to,” Ali returned. “In case Sandy needs us. Now tell me again about the guys you saw at Mund’s Park-the ones with the bat. Would you recognize their faces?”

Crystal hesitated before she answered. “Probably not,” she said finally. “We were driving pretty fast when we went past them. I only saw them for a second or two.”

Crystal’s momentary pause had already alerted Ali’s natural lie-detecting system. She suspected that everything Crystal had said after that pause was a fib, but for the moment Ali seemed prepared to let that statement go unchallenged.

“From what you did see, would you say they were older or younger?” she asked.

“Older, I guess,” Crystal returned. “Maybe a couple of years older than my brother Richey.”

You did see them well enough after all, Ali thought. She said, “So they might have been in high school then, or maybe even in college?”

Crystal nodded.

“What about Curt, the guy who gave you a ride?” Ali asked.

“What about him?”

“Is it possible that he saw the attackers better than you did?”

“I suppose,” Crystal agreed reluctantly.

“We need to find him,” Ali said.

Crystal stiffened in her seat. This time there was no hesitation at all. “Why?” she demanded. “Why do you need to find him?”

“Because Curt is a witness to a crime,” Ali responded firmly. “An eyewitness to an attempted homicide, and so are you. Maybe Curt got a better look at the bad guys’ faces than you did. Maybe he’d be able to recognize them. In any event, the cops working the case are going to want to talk to both of you. In order to find the men who tried to kill Kip Hogan, the detectives will need your help.”

By then they had arrived once more at the hospital garage.

“I can’t,” Crystal insisted. “I know Curt’s first name, but that’s all. And I don’t know how to find him, either.”

“What kind of a car does he drive?”

It was almost as though Ali’s questioning had toggled some kind of switch. Crystal immediately retreated into her shell. She shrugged and didn’t answer. While they’d been at the park, Ali had felt she was making progress with Crystal-as though she was getting somewhere. Now she wasn’t.

“What kind of car?” Ali insisted.

“I don’t know,” Crystal answered angrily. “And I wouldn’t tell you if I did. I mean, he could get in trouble, too, couldn’t he-for being with me like that?”

“Yes, he could be in trouble-and most likely would be,” Ali conceded. Big trouble, she thought. “No matter what the boys at your school may say, having oral sex with a minor-and you are a minor, by the way-is a crime. What you and Curt did together, even if it was consensual, makes him a sexual predator. I’m sure he knew it was wrong, and so did you. Otherwise you wouldn’t be so worried about your father finding out.”

She glanced at Crystal, who stared straight ahead and didn’t reply.

“Even so,” Ali continued, “let’s give the guy some credit. Curt was still willing to do the right thing-at least as far as calling in and reporting the assault on Kip was concerned. He went to the trouble of driving across the freeway to that gas station and placing the nine-one-one call. What we need for him to do now is come forward and tell the cops anything else he might know. And regardless of whether or not your father finds out about what you and Curt were doing, you need to do the same thing, Crystal. You need to talk to the investigators and tell them what you saw.”

“No,” Crystal insisted. “I won’t talk to them. I don’t have to. And I don’t want to go into the hospital, either. You go see Sandy. I’ll just wait for you in the car.”

Ali couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that in the space of a few minutes-the time it had taken to drive several city blocks-Crystal Holman had managed to do another one-eighty, from a tearful little girl to a recalcitrant, hostile teenager.

“No,” Ali replied simply. “You’re not waiting in the car.” Ali climbed out of the Cayenne and then reached into the backseat to collect her purse and computer bag, both of which she slung over her shoulder. Then she walked around to the far side of the car and opened the passenger door for Crystal. “You’re coming with me,” she said.

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