A Necessary Evil(59)

His shoulders slouched, and he brought his weapon down to his side. Feeling his pulse in his throat, he lowered his chin to his chest. The warehouse was obviously empty.

“Damn it,” Kurt muttered under his breath.

“No sign of him?” Lonnie asked as he crossed the threshold and walked up to Kurt.

“Obviously not. Crap.”

“I thought you had a hunch.” Lonnie shoved his gun back into its holster.

“I did. This is the only one of Frankie’s properties that is abandoned. When I saw the condemnation order in the court records, I thought for sure…well, I was wrong.”

“Don’t feel bad, man,” Lonnie said, not taking the opportunity to rib Kurt as he normally would. “The man knows how to cover himself. I couldn’t find any properties outside the city limits that seemed a likely hideout. He’s pulled it off.”

“I can’t let him get away with it again,” Kurt blurted as he kicked a rock across the warehouse floor.

“Get away with what again?” Lonnie’s eyebrows were furrowed in confusion.

As soon as Kurt saw the curious look on Lonnie’s face, he realized what he’d accidentally said. He wanted to suck the words back in like a Hoover, but it was too late. The last thing he needed was to explain to his partner why he had been covering for a murderer for nearly forty years. Lonnie knew Frankie had, in all likelihood, killed Julian McAllister, but he had no idea Kurt had known about it all this time. Maybe he would understand, but what if he didn’t? Kurt didn’t want to find out what would happen if his partner decided to report what he’d learned to the lieutenant, or worse, Internal Affairs. He didn’t think Lonnie would do that to him, but he wasn’t about to risk his pension, and maybe even his freedom, to find out. He had to think of a believable response quickly.

“Nothing specific. I’m just saying…he’s always been one step ahead of the law, and he’s never been prosecuted for a crime, even though everyone knows he does whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and however he wants.”

Lonnie looked at Kurt for a few seconds, just long enough for Kurt to worry he hadn’t been convincing enough. Then, thankfully, Lonnie nodded. “Tell me about it. But don’t worry. You know the old saying. We only have to be lucky once, but the bad guys have to be lucky every single time.”

“True.”

“Let’s do a sweep of this place, just in case, but then we should head back to the precinct and see if we can find this slick SOB.”

When Kurt had done a thorough once-over of the warehouse and he and Lonnie were convinced Frankie had never had Collin McAllister there, they climbed back into the cruiser, and Lonnie drove them back down to the department.

Upon their arrival, Kurt lowered himself slowly into his chair. His back was acting up again, as it usually did when he was under a lot of stress. It felt like a dozen tiny knives were stabbing him just above his tailbone. Then he remembered Lonnie’s special stash of Percocet.

“Hey, Lonnie,” he called over toward his partner.

“’Sup, Whiskey?”

“You got any more of those…”

Lonnie turned and smiled at Kurt. “Ain’t bad, are they?”

“They’re okay,” Kurt said. He really did love the pleasure in a pill. “My back’s hurting pretty badly. Long day already.”

“Sure thing, buddy.” Lonnie opened his desk drawer, retrieved the pill bottle, and tossed it across the office. “Just keep them.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I don’t need them anymore. And that old back of yours isn’t getting any better. Just promise me you’ll go see the doctor soon. Okay?”

Surprised at his partner’s seemingly genuine concern for his physical health, Kurt nodded. “Yeah. I’ll call him first thing Monday morning.”

Lonnie gave Kurt a thumbs-up and turned back to his computer screen. “Any other thoughts on how we can find Cartwright?”

Kurt opened the bottle and shook out one pill. As he was about to put the lid back on, he paused, then shook out another pill. What the hell? He threw them back and dry swallowed them both. “I have no idea. He could be anywhere. It might be time to cut our losses.”

“No,” Lonnie said. “I know what I said earlier, and yes, McAllister deserves what’s coming to him, but the truth is we can’t let him continue to do whatever the hell he wants to do. He thinks he owns this town. If we give up now, if we don’t stop him once and for all, he’ll just keep committing crimes, and we’ll keep pretending we don’t know what he’s doing. You can’t give up now, man.”

Kurt propped his elbows on his desk and rubbed tiny circles into his temples. Lonnie was right. He knew it. There was no way he could let Frankie do what he had planned. But Kurt had no idea how to find Frankie before he could torture and kill Collin McAllister, like he had done to his father nearly forty years prior. He was as helpless to stop Frankie now as he had been then.

His mind wandered back to the last conversation he’d had with his former best friend before they became virtual strangers. It was 1983, and Kurt had recently returned home from his two-year tour in South Korea. He had been honorably discharged after his four-year initial enlistment contract. Kurt and Frankie hadn’t spoken one word to one another since the day he’d left for basic, and though he missed his brother, they’d ended things on very bad terms. But how else was Kurt supposed to react upon finding out the boy he grew up with turned into a man capable of torturing and killing someone?