What Have You Done Page 23

  “Yes?”

  Joyce was standing in the doorway. She was so gorgeous with her mesmerizing eyes, her flawless dark skin, and her hair in braids falling to her toned shoulders. She was wearing an orange nightgown that accentuated her plump breasts. He suddenly wanted to make love to her but knew there was no time. “My African queen.”

  Joyce smiled. “My king.”

  “Did you speak to Vanessa today?”

  “Yes. Poor thing. She’s beside herself. I just wanna hug her and tell her it’ll be all right, but what can I say that I would actually mean? Her husband is wanted for murder. I don’t think she’s fully grasped that yet. Hell, I don’t think I’ve fully grasped that yet.”

  He grabbed the white envelope from the nightstand, licked the glue, and sealed it. “I need to talk to you a minute,” he said. “It’s important. Come sit.”

  56

  Liam was sitting at the kitchen table, slumped over a bowl of cereal, absently running his spoon around the edge of the bowl as the small television propped on the counter next to the stove replayed highlights from the previous night’s Phillies game.

  “It’s your first day of high school. You better get your head out of your ass and finish that cereal before you faint from hunger during second period.”

  Liam dropped his spoon and turned. A smile instantly appeared on his face, and his eyes lit up. “Sean! What’re you doing here? You have class.”

  Sean closed the front door behind him, walked through the foyer and into the kitchen. He hugged his little brother as he ruffled his hair, then sat next to him at the table.

  “Don’t worry about my classes,” he said. “It’s my brother’s first day of high school. That’s a big deal. No chance I would miss it.”

  A sense of relief came over Liam. His shoulders loosened, and his brow relaxed. He took a spoonful of his cereal and then another.

  “How you doing?” Sean asked.

  “It’s weird here without you. Even after two years. It’s just weird.”

  “You know I’m always a phone call away, and Temple is just on the north end of the city. Not that far.”

  “I know. It’s just empty when you’re away.”

  Sean nodded and looked around the kitchen. Dirty dishes filled the sink. “How’s Grandma and Grandpa?”

  “Good. Grandma’s still sleeping. She wasn’t feeling great last night. Grandpa went to the barber. I’ll tell them you came by.”

  “Yeah, you do that.” Sean got up from his seat and made his way to the sink. He turned on the water, grabbed a sponge, and started washing. “So you nervous about today?”

  “Duh.”

  “I could tell. What’re you nervous about? The same kids you went to middle school with will be in your classes. Same kids from the neighborhood will be in the halls. No biggie.”

  Liam brought his bowl over to the sink. “That’s easy for you to say. You were popular. You had a ton of friends.”

  “You do too.”

  “I have a handful of friends, and I’m not popular. People don’t know me like they know you. And if they do know me, it’s because of you.”

  “That still doesn’t answer my question why you’re nervous.”

  Liam leaned against the counter. “It’s just . . . high school. What if I can’t find my locker? Or get it open? What if I can’t find my class, or I’m late because I get lost? What if I walk into the wrong class? That would be devastating.”

  Sean couldn’t help but laugh. He loaded the clean dishes into a plastic drainer on the counter and wiped down the inside of the sink. “Look, I can’t lie. Some of those things might happen, but what I can tell you with one hundred percent certainty is all the other freshmen are having the same concerns. You’ll be fine. And who cares if you get lost or can’t open your locker? By this time next week, you’ll be a pro.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “I lived it for four years myself. I’m definitely right. Trust me.”

  Liam walked around the kitchen table and grabbed his backpack. He stopped when he reached the hallway. “You wouldn’t want to walk me to school, would you?” he asked. “I mean, just to keep me company.”

  Sean folded the towel and hung it over the side of the sink. “Why do you think I’m here?”

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.”

  Without another word, the two brothers walked out of their grandparents’ home and onto the street, big brother leading little brother, a hand on Liam’s shoulder for added support. His rock. His everything.

  The night stretched on. Sean sat on the edge of his bed, waiting for Don to pick him up. It was almost time. His body was numb as the memories of his brother and their childhood infiltrated a mind that was beginning to have doubts. He wondered if things had already gone past the point of no return. Perhaps it wasn’t too late to change the course of his actions. He could turn himself in, save his brother, and end all of this madness. But just as quickly as the optimism came, he batted it away with the reality of this being what it had to be. This was always how it had to be. There was no turning back now. And tonight would put things back in order.

  Vanessa was lying in the bed next to him, her body a tangle of skin and sheets. Perspiration still glistened on her face and chest. She seemed satisfied. At peace. His hands shook as he reached for a bottle of Xanax next to the phone on his nightstand.

  “I can do this,” he whispered to himself, popping two pills into his mouth, chasing them with a glass of water. “I can do this.”

  It was a strange sensation. Sean could feel his overworked and tired mind beginning to collapse in on itself. He knew things were spinning out of control, but he didn’t know how to stop it. The prostitutes. Kerri. Rocco. And now . . .

  “I can do this.”

  Vanessa was sleeping. For a moment, there was no death or murder or future plans to worry about. There were only the two of them in that tiny bedroom.

  Outside, a car horn sounded off. Sean rose from the bed and walked over to the window.

  “Who’s that?” Vanessa asked as she opened her eyes and rolled over.

  “It’s Don. We’re going out for a bit to look for Liam.”

  “At this hour?”

  “I’ve got to do something. Sitting around all day isn’t helping anything.”

  “Be careful.”

  “I will.”

  Sean turned away from the window. “Go out the back way. I can’t afford anyone seeing you going out the front.”

  “I know.”

  He left the bedroom and turned out the light, hiding his most precious secret in the darkness. It was time to go.

  57

  It seemed as if the world had turned in for the night. The streets of Camden, New Jersey, were empty. Storefronts were dark, metal shades were drawn, alarms were activated, and inventory was locked away. Houses and apartments no longer held a window’s dotted light of life inside. Most everyone had gone to bed.

  Sean and Don drove aimlessly through the streets, looking down alleyways, pulling into parking lots, checking bus terminals, and driving through the aquarium campus, searching for Liam. They each sipped a cup of coffee but said little on the ride over the bridge. The few pedestrians who were out this late hurried along the cracked and buckling sidewalks, heads down, hoods pulled up, making it difficult to identify them. Finding Liam in such a city was virtually impossible. But both men already knew Liam wasn’t anywhere near Camden. This was all a ruse.

  Don turned another corner and drove slowly down another dark street. “I thought you said I’d be home by midnight.”

  “Yeah, this is taking longer than I figured it would. Sorry.”

  “We shouldn’t be out here. This isn’t our jurisdiction.”

  “We’re not here as cops. We’re here as family. There is no jurisdiction for family.”

  Don placed his coffee in the cupholder and flipped through the radio, looking for a sports talk show. He wasn’t sure how much time Liam wo
uld need to search Sean’s house and wanted to get himself out of this situation as quickly as possible. They’d agreed that Liam would text him when he was out so Don could take Sean back home. He felt vulnerable here. Exposed. “Where do you think he could be?” he asked.

  “Not sure.”

  “Maybe we should try again tomorrow when it’s light out.”

  “He’ll be hiding in the day. That’s when the rest of the force is looking for him. If we have any chance at spotting him, it’ll be at night.”

  Don found a talk show and sat back in his seat. “You try calling him?”

  “All day, every day. He hasn’t turned his phone back on. Rolls straight to voice mail. Left him a bunch of messages. Nothing.” He turned to his partner. “Look, I know how crazy this is, thinking we can find him by just driving around. I get it. But this is more about me keeping busy than anything else. I need to do something, you know? I can’t sit around and wait for them to call me to tell me they caught him. I’m his brother. I won’t stand down, regardless of what Phillips says.”

  Don nodded and kept driving. He checked the clock on the dashboard. Liam had to have made it to Sean’s house by now. It was just a matter of how long it would take him to find the evidence he was looking for, if it was there at all. So far no text had come through.

  “I appreciate you doing this,” Sean said.

  “No worries. I understand.”

  “Let’s do one more circle around Nineteenth Street, and then we’ll head into Farnham Park. We can split after that. I’ve had you out too late as it is. Joyce is gonna be pissed.”

  “You got it.”

  The DJs on the radio were arguing about the upcoming draft and who they thought the Eagles would pick. Don listened to the chatter until the arguing grew to be too much, and he leaned forward to cut it off. “Can’t take all that yelling.”

  Sean pointed. “Pull up here, and then take a right.”

  Don drove up 19th Street and noticed that most of the streetlights were out. This was heavy gang territory, and the gangs were known to knock out the lights to keep their activities as hidden as possible. On these streets, survival was the number-one priority. Kill or be killed. There was no other way. He thought about that as he drove in the dark next to a serial killer. Liam had to be done soon. Where was his text?

  “In here.”

  Don pulled the sedan into Farnham Park. With the trees hovering overhead and blocking out the moon, it was even darker than it had been in the neighborhoods. He followed the twisting road as they drove up a hill into the main field area next to the Cooper River. What had once been jogging paths and picnic areas were now cracked blacktop with tree roots protruding and dilapidated barbeque pits used more for drug transactions than family fun. This had been a beautiful place once, and the beauty was still there, just below the surface. Don had come to this park many times growing up. It was a way for his parents to escape Philadelphia without having to go too far. Perhaps one day that beauty would return. Right now, all he could see was the blight.

  “Stop!” Sean suddenly cried. “There!”

  Don pulled over and craned his neck to see. “What?”

  “No . . . nothing. Forget it.”

  “Was it him?”

  “No.”

  Sean turned from the window and faced his partner. He was pale, the expression on his face blank. The only indication that he was even breathing came in the form of his bottom lip quivering ever so slightly. “Look,” he said. “We need to talk.”

  “About what?” Don asked.

  “I know.”

  “Okay. What do you know?”

  “More than you think, and I want to get you out of it, but you need to trust me, and you need to do what I say.”

  Don instinctively pushed himself against the driver’s side door. “Sean, what the hell are you talking about?” He tried to make his voice firm but thought he heard weakness in it.

  “I know you dropped Liam off at Father Brennan’s mission after you guys met. Father Brennan called me. I thought Liam might try and hide there when he first started to run, so I’d stopped by and asked him to keep a lookout.”

  “Well, I—”

  “I also know about the extra copy you made of Kerri’s files. The copies you made of Jane’s file with the other girls. You got your hands on so many secrets, and I didn’t want you involved in all that. I just wanted you to go to Kerri’s house, take the evidence that linked her to Liam, and go on with the rest of your life. Why did you have to go snooping?”

  Don could only stare at his partner, the man he’d known longer than anyone else. Longer than Vanessa. Longer than Phillips. Longer than Joyce. Sean had been like a son to him, but now, sitting in the darkness, staring at the man he’d known for so many years, there were no words.

  “I know you know I killed Kerri. We don’t have to pretend anymore. The other day I followed you to Rocco’s place. Been following you around a lot, actually. After you left, I went back and had a talk with Rocco. He told me what he found in Kerri’s files. Said he made a copy on a flash drive and gave it to you. That’s what I need. You give me the flash drive, and I’m out of your life. I’ll leave tomorrow, and you’ll never hear from me again. I’ll be in Mexico or Canada or Argentina or whatever, but you won’t have to ever see me again, and you won’t have to worry about me getting caught. You give me the drive, I let you haul ass out of here, and I’m in the wind. How does that sound?”

  Don took a breath and placed his hands on the wheel. “I don’t have a flash drive,” he said slowly. “What Rocco told you was wrong.”

  “Don’t play with me.”

  “I’m not playing with you. He couldn’t crack the encryption, so we scrapped the idea. What you saw was me coming out of Rocco’s place empty-handed. There is no flash drive.”

  Sean shook his head and began to cry. His sobs were loud against the otherwise silent backdrop of the night in the park. “Don’t lie to me, Don! This is too much as it is. Give me the drive!”

  “I don’t have it.”

  Sean reached into his jacket and came away with his Beretta. He pointed it at his partner. “I don’t want to hurt you. I’m serious. I just want the drive, and we can go our separate ways.”

  Don chuckled. “You really think that’s going to happen? You think I’m going to let you go after all this? You’re done, Sean. You’re going down. Now get that gun out of my face before I shove it up your ass. Who do you think you are, pointing that at me? Lower the gun. Now.”

  Sean was crying harder now, the Beretta trembling in his hand. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Put the gun down!”

  “Give me the drive!”

  “You son of a—”

  In a flash of movement, Don reached for the Beretta. Sean pulled away, back toward the passenger’s side door, and squeezed the trigger. The shot exploded in the tight confines of the car, burying a bullet in Don’s sternum. Don cried out in pain and fear. The pain was more intense than he could’ve imagined. Blood streamed from the wound and pooled onto his lap, then onto the seat.

  “I don’t want to do this!” Sean screamed. “Why did you make me do this?” Don could hardly hear what Sean was saying. His head fell back as the pain intensified. He was certain he was going to pass out. He couldn’t breathe, the bullet undoubtedly having collapsed a lung. The blood was rushing from his wound. He couldn’t stop it. “You killed her because she found out about you and Vanessa,” he mumbled. “You son of a bitch. She found out about the others too, and you killed her for it.”

  “Tell me where the drive is! Please!”

  “That . . . poor . . . girl.”

  Don was losing consciousness. The car smelled of sweat and gunpowder. It smelled like a crime scene. Like death.

  Sean grabbed him by the back of the head and pulled him into a tight embrace. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t want this. Please, you have to believe me. I didn’t want this. I love you.”

  Sean
let go, and Don fell back against his seat. He opened his eyes to face his partner. The pain was fading, which meant he’d be dead soon. Of that, he had no doubt.

  “Please, Don. Where is the drive?”

  “I . . . love . . . you.”

  “Where is the drive?”

  Don closed his eyes.

  “Don! Tell me! Please!”

  Silence.

  Sean screamed as loud as he could. It was a sound that was a combination of fear, sadness, and rage. His body shook violently as he took out a cloth and wiped down whatever he’d touched, then used the cloth to open the door. He climbed out into the cool night air and stumbled around to the driver’s side of the car. He checked his clothes to make sure there was no blood on them. There wasn’t.

  “I’m so sorry,” he mumbled as another set of tears broke free. “Forgive me.”

  And with those final words, Sean emptied the Beretta’s clip into his partner from outside the car to make it look like a gang hit. When the clip was empty and the hammer clicked without firing, Sean stuffed the gun into his waistband, turned, and made his way to the SEPTA station, where he would hop on a train and get back to Philadelphia. In the dead of night, he hurried toward the station, but in truth, there was really no need to. No police were coming. The neighbors weren’t calling anything in.

  The sound of gunfire was nothing new here.

  58

  An hour had passed since Don picked up Sean. Liam stared from across the street, fiddling with the change in his pocket until he was certain no one was around. Sean’s house was dark. There was no movement anywhere. He crossed the road without taking his eyes from the front door. An empty paper cup blew down the street with the help of a brisk wind that accompanied the night. He could hear the sound of an approaching car but figured it was still too far away to be a concern. He kept his legs moving.

  He looked from door to window, first floor to second, confirming there was no one home. Don was with Sean—he knew that—yet he couldn’t stop shaking from the surging adrenaline.