DNAtests had proven that Jau Fei was the killer. Demick couldn’t comprehend what would make a woman want to kill her daughter and then turn her demented or tormented mind on other young girls. As he commenced the news conference, there still seemed to be more questions than answers.
Driving north up I-15, Stacey turned on the radio. A news broadcast announced the dismissal of all charges against Melvin Briggs and ended by mentioning that a brief graveside service would be held that afternoon for his wife and daughter.
A follow-up report cited an anonymous donor who had contributed a large sum of money to the families of the deceased girls. This report followed the news conference, where Judge Demick explained how he’d been under a federal gag order, which had kept him from telling the prosecuting attorney about the government’s undercover operation. He also alluded to the unfortunate plane accident that had claimed the life of Mapleton’s own Captain Bingham, who also had been “involved” in the investigation. There was no mention of chemicals or high-tech espionage, nor any hint to the whereabouts of the enigmatic Melvin Briggs.
Christina insisted that her dad take her to the service that afternoon. She felt a kinship to the body she’d found buried under the shed. Don agreed. Maybe seeing the killer buried would help ease her anxious feelings and bring closure to the strange chain of events.
A handful of people, including Don, Cecily, Kate, Christina and Officer Stacey stood around the open graves. The service was brief. No one cried. Only a haunting emptiness washed over the mourners as they considered the terrible waste represented by the two caskets, laying side by side.
Walking hand-in-hand with Cecily and Don back to the car at the close of the service, Christina turned to her Aunt Kate. “I’d like to stop by and see my mom, if you’ll take me.”
“If it’s okay with your dad, we’ll go right after your appointment with Doctor Wendy.” Don, sandwiched between the two ladies he most loved, readily agreed.
Stacey, meanwhile, walked away from his car, making his way up through the trees. There he waited. Within a couple of minutes Melvin appeared. He looked different in a suit and tie. After striding out into the clearing to pay his respects, he walked back to where Stacey stood.
“Officer Stacey, I expect you’re looking for a few more answers.” “You knew I’d be here.”
“As you knew I would,” Melvin said, smiling. “Let’s find a place
where we can sit. This may take a while.” The two men seated themselves on a shady bench and, without prompting, Melvin began his narrative.
“I met her as I was finishing up my tour of Nam. Her village was raided by the enemy just prior to our arrival. She, along with three other girls, had been raped over and over. We had come too late to stop the other mothers from executing their daughters. They weren’t willing to raise any ‘bastard children’ born of the violated girls. Most of the mothers were already burdened with the care of their own children, having lost their men to battle.
“I happened to be the one who saved Jau Fei from her own mother. She was beautiful. I felt sorry for her, knowing that as soon as my platoon left the village she’d be killed.
“Three days later my unit was ambushed. We’d been behind enemy lines setting up monitoring equipment to track the Viet Cong’s movements. Jau Fei pulled me from the massacre and found a native doctor, who removed the bullet from my butt. She nursed me through my injuries and throughout my recovery. The Viet Cong were just figuring out how to use chemical warfare. I was hit by a bullet contaminated with what the U.S. Army later named the ‘VN three-fifteen’ strain.”
An involuntary smile creased Stacey’s mouth, a grin he quickly squelched. “But why would she kill Leah?”
“I’ll get to that later. Jau Fei attended to my every need until another unit arrived. By then I’d fallen in love with her, but the unit that rescued me refused to bring her out. She was brokenhearted when they put me on the chopper. I felt the loss, too, especially as I lay for two months in a military hospital. They quarantined me for a while before sending me home.
“I didn’t know the determination of this girl, Jau Fei. And I had no idea she’d come for me rather than waiting for me to return for her. Somehow she survived 70 miles of jungle, passing enemy soldiers, friendlies, land mines and poisonous snakes to find me. We were married before they flew us home to complete my recovery.
“I learned later that Jau Fei had the same doctor who treated me give her an abortion. We tried to have children for over six years before we were blessed with Leah. By the time she was two she had long, curly, black hair. She got the curls from me, believe it or not. I continued working for the military, mostly with computers and surveillance. I became the best they had. I officially retired when Leah was ten.
“I was invited to work part-time for a special task force dedicated to tracking a few rogue military men who were killing for hire. By 1994, I was assigned to track your Chief Anderson—he went by the name Oswald then. He’d landed a job as a cop so he could know when someone was on to him. At the same time he was blackmailing a banker to help launder money from the oil companies, then he’d send the funds to his hired hands to do the dirty work overseas. He chose a small-town banker because they’re more easily intimidated and less likely to draw attention. He moved to Mapleton in the latter part of ‘94 to start over again. My family and I followed him here.
“We discovered that the ‘VN twenty-three fifty-two’ strain was being used in Nigeria to kill off a tribe in the delta region. We suspected its use was linked to Anderson.”
Stacey interrupted the account. “I have five of your older disks.”
“They won’t do you any good,” said Melvin. “You can’t get into them without the code I wrote.”
“We’ve already been in two of them. We saw what the chemical did to those people.”
Melvin was shocked. “Who broke my codes?
“Danny.”
“Christina’s cousin?”
“Fourteen years old—as smart as they come.”
“He packs a good wallop, too.” Melvin rotated his jaw back and forth. “I’ll need the disks back.”
“Fair enough. Did one of Anderson’s men murder those chiefs in Nigeria?”
“We’re not sure. Our evidence leads us to believe they were assassinated—we just don’t know by whom. It could have been Bingham. We think he’s the one that got away with the ‘VN twentythree fifty-two’ after his platoon busted an underground lab.”
“It looked like some very bad stuff.”
“It was. Now, let’s see, where was I? Oh, yeah...I was monitoring Anderson, who had a Mexican maid at the time. He paid the woman extra to bring her 14-year-old daughter to the home while she cleaned. Jau Fei must have gotten a glimpse of one of my recordings of Anderson raping the girl. I didn’t realize it until a few weeks ago when I figured out she was after Christina. Jau Fei was going crazy as early as seven or eight years ago. Some type of coping mechanism, I suppose. In her mind, the girl had been violated and needed to be destroyed. Just as her mother wanted to do to her.
“Leah and I had a special relationship. Because I was at home most of the time, she spent a lot of her time with me. Her mother kept a nursery of all sorts of exotic herbs and plants. She’d extract the drugs, get high, then wander from the house; she’d be gone for days. I tried to get her help, but she always refused. She would get violent and—being every bit as strong as me—slam me around. During the last few years she’d beat me once or twice a month. That’s what happened the first night I was arrested for the attack on Christina. I’d asked Jau Fei how she hurt her eye. It was then she slammed me into the corner of the door, before disappearing again. If I’d told you about her, you would never have caught her. I needed her to come back so I could turn her in.”
Melvin swallowed hard, as if seeing again what he was about to reveal. “Just before Leah disappeared, Fei threatened to kidnap her and take her back to Nam. She actually accused me of molesting my own daughter. I admit my work does take me in and out of questionable places, but I’ve never peeked at young girls. She purchased plane tickets and they both disappeared for more than a week. Then Jau Fei returned, alone. I always assumed she’d taken Leah with her to have her mother care for her, but she didn’t. I tried to locate her for more than three years before we gave up.
“I probably should have divorced Jau Fei after Leah disappeared, but I kept hoping she’d tell me where I could find my daughter. And she was buried here the whole time. I’d kept my eyes on the whole world, but didn’t know what was going on in my own backyard.” Melvin shook his head, struggling to hold back the tears. “I think I knew deep down she was dead. I just couldn’t face the fact.”
Stacey had been affected by Melvin’s sad tale. “I’m sorry for your loss. I wish there was more I could do.”
“You’ve done a lot already, but I think that spirited little Christina has done the most. She’s helped me start to heal a wound that’s been festering for five long years.”
Another series of questions came into Stacey’s head. “So you never peeped at the girls? What about the tenants before Don and Christina?”
“No, I’d been reviewing my records to see how the other murders might be tied to Jau Fei. I have monitoring equipment close to each of the locations where they took place. Somehow, she followed me as I set up my equipment. As a child, she learned how to sneak around without being seen or heard. She’d usually be out of the house whenever I was home, except to return late at night to sleep on her bamboo mat in the middle of her room. When I wasn’t home, she’d pace the floors endlessly. The carpets were practically worn through. The noise drove more than one of my renters away.”
“So who’s the anonymous donor that gave money to the victims’ families?”
“Truth be told, Bingham and Anderson both left behind sizeable numbered accounts. My superiors agreed to let me disburse it as I saw fit—inasmuch as the men don’t officially exist.”
“Where did the guy I shot in the woods go?”
“We were keeping close tabs on you, knowing you were in Bingham’s doghouse for ringing his bell like you did. For years we’d been trying to pin down the person who had control of the chemical. We finally assumed it was either Bingham—”Peck” is his real name, as you may know—or Anderson. We put our bet on Bingham, since he was wrapping up a money deal here at the bank. And by all our calculations, he was getting ready to run again. We picked up his blonde girlfriend on her way to Barbados and planned on busting him—until you came along and screwed up our plans.
“The best we can tell, Bingham took the hand gun away from his woman the night Detective Derickson got shot. According to her, she’s the one who laced the bullet with the chemical. Bingham didn’t know anything about it. We think he was only trying to wound your detective so he could get away without being detected. Together, the two of them were responsible for Derickson’s death, so she’ll be locked up for a very long time.”
“What about the rat in the restroom?”
“Christina saw my rat in the restroom the day we suspected Bingham’s woman was getting ready to leave the country. My sources informed me she was in the County Building where I was working as a janitor. She picked up a marriage application and was arguing with Bingham on the phone in the ladies’ room. I followed her to her car before I returned to get my rat. Christina happened to see it pull out when I attempted to retrieve it....Let’s see, you asked where the guy from the woods went.” Stacey nodded.
“Well, we were keeping an eye on Bingham, and all the while he was trying to locate you. He was getting reckless, careless. Anyway, he and Anderson guessed your dog was responsible for the cattle drive. They decided to take a closer look. We sent our men in to make sure you didn’t get hurt, using a well-trained dog to help find you before Bingham’s team did. He wanted you dead, by torture at his own hand, if he could. When the two dogs began to fight, one of Bingham’s men came to investigate. Our men took him out without a sound. When it became obvious that your dog was taking a serious beating, our dog’s trainer tried to call him off, but the mutt failed to respond. He put him down before your dog was killed. It broke his heart. That’s when you shot the other guy. We watched you help him until you passed out. Then we slipped away with both of them.”
“Is he dead?”
“Does it matter?”
“Of course,” insisted Stacey. “If I killed a man I ought to know.”
“He’s just fine.” Melvin was a good liar. He brought a small flask from his jacket and took a drink. “I’m retiring for good this time.” He put the flask back in the jacket pocket and took out an envelope. “Will you give this to your friend Don Rodriguez? Tell him good luck with Cecily. They seem like a perfect match.”
“What makes you think he’s my friend?”
“You spent the night with him in my basement.” Stacey looked surprised. “Like I said, we were right on top of you—literally. We didn’t want you hurt.”
“What’s in the envelope?”
“I have no living relatives. My wife caused Christina and the other girls’ families so much grief. This is the deed to my house. Tell him he can sell it or live in it, I don’t care. I never want to go back in there again. My heart died in that house. Fei sucked the life out of it the day she killed Leah.” Melvin pulled a card from his pocket. “My boss wants you to call him. The pay’s not that great, but you’ll get one wild education.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I’ll go back to Nigeria. Since you’ve seen my tapes, you know what those people are going through. If anyone can use my help, they can. If I can prove that their government is a partner in genocide, I might be able to put a stop to it. I became acquainted with a man named Kin Ro Sawa before he was hung for a crime he didn’t commit. Don’t ask me how I got into the prison to interview him— that’s another story. Kin Ro’s son is trying to carry forward the people’s freedom movement. My boss let me keep a little cash for my covert operation....Say, maybe you could join me.”
Stacey, having been caught up in Melvin’s story for nearly an hour, stood to shake his hand. “One last question. Then why were you peeking into the downstairs bathroom when all that fancy equipment could have done it for you?”
“Everyone always assumes the worst. I fixed the leaking water heater and started the washing machine while I watched for more drips,” Melvin lied. “I know I don’t have much of a personality, but I’m not such a bad guy. The chemical took more than my backside. The specialists tell me I’m a genius in some areas and dumber than a box of rocks in others. I suffer from an obsessive-compulsive disorder—I’m a prisoner to my passions. A goofy idea burrows into my head, it gets stuck there, and I’m compelled to follow through with it. I snoop into anything I get my hands on. I guess that’s why I’m so damn good at surveillance. I knew when I started the washing machine that she’d know I was in the apartment. I just couldn’t help myself. The note said it needed to be started—so I started it. It was the same with my job at the County Building. Demick’s computer was protected by a password and I couldn’t rest until I found out what it was.”
Stacey, preparing to leave, placed his hand in his pocket, then turned to Melvin. “I almost forgot. Barker asked me to give you this. Said you’d know what to do with it.” He dropped a crumpled knot of gold chain attached to a medallion into Melvin’s bony hand and walked away.
Stacey jogged stiffly from the parking lot up to the hospital doors. He couldn’t wait to get to Barker’s room to tell him about his talk with Melvin. And the advantage of being there before Barker’s sister-in-law arrived was worth the pain. That way, if he didn’t like her, he could duck out without being rude.
The elevator door was closing as he rounded the corner. As he raced to catch it, slipping in just as the door was shutting, he caught his foot on the rubber door slides and fell in face first, staying upright by bracing himself against the elevator’s back wall. The door rebounded open behind him. Then he looked up. Inches in front of him were the startled eyes of a beautiful woman, her back pinned up against the wall. She squirmed a bit, and moved to the side—either to get away from the stumble-bum or to let Stacey regain his composure, he wasn’t sure.
“It’s you,” he said. It was the same woman he’d bowled over a few days before. “Sorry, it’s this bad leg of mine.”
“What happened to it?” she asked out of more than curiosity.
“It’s ...a long story. Maybe when you have a day or so to talk about it.”
“I have time.”
“Weren’t you coming to visit someone?”
“I’ll be free in five minutes or so. My sister just wanted me to meet her friend....”