Finn had no choice but to call the police and report Macy as missing. He also informed Detective Burns that the man responsible for killing Matthews and kidnapping Macy and Kat was Benny Grossman. Even though he wasn’t one hundred percent sure about that. The detective demanded he come into the station for questioning. Not going to happen. But he still needed everyone he could think of looking for Macy.
Grossman must have known he would check his storage locker. Why else would he have left his phone behind? And why play games with him? What the fuck was he up to?
He drove back to Macy’s apartment building and Talwar used the key fob to open the door to the lobby. Pete was still sitting behind the desk, his nose buried in a book.
Finn strode up to him. “We need to talk. Ms. Winthrop is missing and it’s all your fault.”
“Dr. Macy?” the kid said, concern etched in his features. “I don’t understand. She was here with you this morning. What happened?”
“That lunatic got to her because you didn’t let me look at that security footage when I asked nicely. I have to tell you, Pete, this time I’m not going to ask nicely. Show me the fucking tapes!”
“Yes, sir.” Pete got out of his seat and went to a room behind the desk. He came back with three disks and popped one into his computer. He turned and angled the monitor so Finn could see along with him. “I’m worried about Dr. Macy. She is such a nice lady.”
Ignoring him, Finn watched the display of the grainy black and white tape playing. At this rate it was going to take days to watch. He didn’t have that kind of time. He rested his hip on the desk. “You must have watched these, right?”
The kid nodded.
“I don’t want to see every person coming in and out of this building the last three days. I only want to see the one where Ms. Johansen comes in and who comes in and leaves afterward. Preferably the same day. Do you remember anyone coming or going that you didn’t recognize?”
“Well, of course. Lots of people go in and out every day. I don’t know every single person in this building. There are more than four hundred apartments.”
Finn was losing his patience. “Pete, just skip to anyone you thought looked suspicious or unfamiliar.”
Pete glanced at Talwar who was standing at Finn’s side. He then raised a finger and pointed at him. “I never saw him before. That is until he ran out of the elevator and out of the building about an hour ago.”
“Never mind him. He’s with me.”
“Okay.” He started fast forwarding then stopped and started rewinding. “This woman looks odd if you ask me. She kind of looks familiar but then again not so much.”
“I’m not interested in any strange women. I’m only interested in men.”
“Okay. I just mentioned her because she was walking funny and dragging that big purple roller bag.”
“Focus on the men, Pete.”
“Okay.”
He started running the tape forward again. But something made Finn pause. “Wait. Go back. Did you say purple roller bag?”
“Yes. It was bumping against the tile floor and making all kinds of noise. She was having a hard time keeping the bag upright. Later I found a wheel in the hall by the elevator bank. It must have fallen off. No wonder she was having a hard time.”
Could the purple roller bag the kid was talking about belong to Macy? If so, who was dragging it out of the building? Not a man, according to Pete, but a woman. Could it have been Kat?
“There she is.”
Finn watched the beefy looking woman with the curly hair dragging the bag through the lobby. It definitely was not Kat Johansen. He couldn’t be sure, but he felt as though he had seen this woman before. “Can you zoom in on her face for me?”
“Sure.” The kid worked magic with his fingers and then froze and blew up the image.
“Holy fuck!”
Hearing Finn swear, Talwar looked over his shoulder at the picture but gave a little head shake. He had never seen Benny Grossman in person.
But Finn had. And this woman looked just like him. In fact, he would swear it was Benny wearing a wig and women’s clothing. But why?
Maybe so he wouldn’t be recognized on the security footage. That had to be it.
“Print out that photo for me and call Detective Burns. Send him a copy. Tell him Benny Grossman was here and he may have had something heavy in that suitcase, like a body.”
“Holy shit! Are you serious? You think Ms. Johansen could have been inside that bag?” The kid looked like he might piss his pants.
Hopefully, it wasn’t a dead body. Kat’s dead body. But he wasn’t feeling very optimistic right now. “Yes, I’m serious.”
Benny did not want to take any chances that someone may have heard Macy’s scream in the storage unit so he put the gag back on her. After dumping Kat’s body onto the concrete floor, he stuffed Macy into the same suitcase he’d used to transport Kat. She was passed out cold. He just hoped she didn’t wake up until after they reached their destination. He had the perfect place to kill her. Plus he could film the entire thing. What a nice memento that would make. That way he could watch the act over and over again. His cock twitched with excitement.
His plan was working out nicely even if he’d had to make a detour along the way. The new plan was even better than the first one. He was surprised he hadn’t thought of it sooner. He entered the Willis Tower and took the elevator to the floor of the TV studio. It was Sunday, which meant there weren’t quite as many people in the building as there were on weekdays. Most of them were tourists and with him dragging a suitcase along behind him, even though it was a nuisance with the missing wheel, he didn’t look out of the ordinary.
He unlocked the studio door, dragged the bag inside and relocked the door. He took the hall toward the set and opened the double doors. He flipped on the row of switches on the wall, illuminating the room and let out a breathy sigh. Yes, this was going to be perfect.
The snow was really starting to come down now. There were already several inches of the white stuff on the ground, which caused the roads to be pretty slippery but still passable. Finn’s phone buzzed as he was driving. He recognized the number of the Chicago P.D. “Hello?”
“Mr. Finney, I don’t like what you’ve been doing. So stop playing detective and get your ass down to the precinct this minute.”
“No can do. Macy is missing and I intend to find her before she ends up dead.” Just saying those words made him sick inside.
“Let the police do their jobs. We can’t have people sticking their noses where they don’t belong and compromising crime scenes. Do you hear me?”
“I hear you. Now you listen to me. Benny Grossman has Macy and I want her back! Alive! Did you get that computer printout of him dressed like a woman?”
The detective sighed into the phone. “Yes. And my guys ran the photo through our system and we got a hit. It’s not Benny Grossman. It’s a woman by the name of Jessica Bowers. They’re trying to locate her as we speak. So I need you to come into the station so we can talk.”
Fuck. Of course it was Grossman. The man didn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. But he needed to get to this woman Jessica Bowers before the police did. He had to find out if she knew how to reach Grossman. “I think we have a bad connection.” He disconnected and called Luke Remington.
“Find out whatever you can on a Jessica Bowers. She apparently has a record. And she may have a connection to Grossman. But what I really need first is for you to find her. See if you can locate a cell number for her so we can track her down now before the police find her. Let me know the minute you have a location.” Without another word he ended the call. Hang on, Macy.
Remington called Finn back with a location for Jessica Bowers. The address was a shoe store on Michigan Avenue where he was told she was employed. Finn was thankful there wasn’t much traffic as normal. He arrived within three minutes of the phone call.
When he walked into the trendy retail store featuring pricy designer shoes and handbags he didn’t need to ask the man behind the counter if Jessica Bowers was there. He recognized her immediately.
She was definitely a woman although she did resemble Grossman. Could she be his sister? Jessica was waiting on a customer and chatting wildly.
“Those shoes were made for you, girlfriend.”
“They were, weren’t they?” the little blonde said twisting her foot this way and that. “I’ll take them.”
“Jessica Bowers?” Finn said, interrupting her sale.
She glanced up, surprised. “Who wants to know?”
“My name is Daniel Finney and I need to ask you some questions. Is there someplace we can go to talk that’s more private?”
The woman placed a hand on her hip. “Whatever Benny has done this time I don’t want to know. I am not taking the fall for him ever again. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m working.”
“Is Benny your brother?” he asked as she boxed up the designer heels.
“Cousin.” She looked at the blonde in the chair. “I’ll meet you up front.” She started walking toward the counter.
Finn took the box of shoes from her hand. “Let someone else cash her out.”
“Hey. What do you think you’re doing? I’m on commission.”
“Not right now you’re not. You can do this my way or you can do it down at the police station.” Not that he planned to take her to the police station, but she didn’t need to know that. She hadn’t even asked to see a badge or inquired if he was actually a policeman.
She glanced around the store as if she was afraid someone had overheard. “Fine.” She grabbed the box from him, took it to the counter. After a few words with the man who had been standing there when Finn had entered the store she walked back to him. “There’s a lunchroom in the back we can use.”
“Thank you.” Finn followed her behind a curtain, through hundreds of shoe boxes all stacked neatly on shelves, and through a swinging door. There was a small refrigerator, sink and a microwave. Not much of a kitchen but then again, it was supposed to be a shoe store.
“I’m trying to locate Grossman. I have reason to believe he’s kidnapped at least two women. He may have killed them. I think he killed his girlfriend for sure.”
Jessica shot him a skeptical look. “Candy? I’ve been trying to call her for days now. I’ve been holding a pair of shoes for her for over a week. She promised to pick them up last Friday.” She slid into one of two chairs at the tiny parlor table. Finn took the other chair.
“You don’t seem that surprised that your cousin may be a murderer.”
“Nothing would surprise me after the things he’s done. I tried to warn Candy about him. I told her to leave him after the first time he beat her up, but she wouldn’t listen to me.” But then her face turned to sorrow. “Poor Candy. She may be stupid but she certainly didn’t deserve to die. I still can’t believe Benny would do something like that. He said after his mom saw him strangling that baby kitten as a child he would never hurt another living being. Although I knew that was a lie. He’d enjoyed hurting that poor kitten. Every time he talked about it his eyes lit up.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“Nope.”
“Please think hard. A woman’s life is at stake. A woman I happen to love.” Saying he loved Macy felt natural to him now.
He took out the photo of Grossman dressed as a woman. Now that he’d seen Jessica Bowers the resemblance was striking, at least the facial features. The same brown eyes and hair color, the same high cheekbones and thin lips. Although Grossman looked poured into women’s clothing, Jessica simply had an athletic build. She wasn’t thin, but she wasn’t overweight either. He would say she was thick around the middle and very muscular.
“I honestly don’t know. I haven’t spoken to him since that night he told the cops that the drugs in my car belonged to me and not him. I’m in trouble now all because I gave him a ride home when he was too drunk to drive. I plead not guilty but I still have to go to court next month.” She made a bitter face. “I have never used drugs in my life.”
She wrung her hands together. “I always knew there was something wrong with him. He was always coming around, borrowing money that he’d never pay back. I guess I’m just too nice to say no. But not anymore. Not after what he did this last time.”
Finn took out Grossman’s cell phone. “Is this the number you have for him?” He rattled off the number from the display and she nodded. “Any other phone numbers to reach him?” She shook her head.
He unfolded the printout of Benny Grossman and slid it across the table. “Any idea why he was trying to look like you?”
Her mouth dropped open as she picked up the photo and studied it. “Oh my God.” Her mind seemed to be going in a million directions. “Oh my God,” she said again.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I just don’t know. Our mothers used to tell us we could pass for identical twins when we were growing up. Sometimes we would switch clothes as kids and pretend I was a boy and he was a girl. But we were children then. Why would he want to dress like a girl at his age? It doesn’t make sense. Unless . . .”
“Unless . . . what?”
She shook her head. “Someone broke into my house several weeks ago. I thought it was Benny. There was no sign of forced entry and I had given him a key a long time ago. But he swore it wasn’t him. All that was missing was some cash, some of my clothes and my passport. Which reminds me, I keep forgetting to report the passport as stolen.”
Her passport? Why would Grossman need his female cousin’s passport? Although he could easily get through airport security as a female and then simply disappear off the face of the earth.
“Why did you suspect Benny as the one who stole your passport and clothing?”
“When we were in our teens, someone had broken into my family home and stolen things of mine. Some of my mother’s jewelry, money, things like that. Months later I found one of the necklaces that had been stolen in the glove box of his car. He swore he didn’t steal it, that someone was trying to frame him. I have to tell you, I never believed him. But I think I was more afraid of turning my back on him than letting him get away with stealing from me.” She sighed. “He is a loser, if you ask me. I mean he’s bright. He knows a lot about computers and he has a great job, but he’s still a loser. You know what I mean?”
Finn nodded. “I need to find him. If there’s anything else you can tell me . . .”
“Like I said we haven’t spoken in a while. I just don’t trust him. Every time something went missing, whether it was from my house or my storage unit, I knew he had a hand in it. And while I was willing to let that stuff go I drew the line when he lied about those drugs. Now I may have to pay a hefty fine to stay out of jail, according to my attorney.”
Finn digested everything Jessica had told him and was about to leave when something she said niggled at his brain. “You said you had some things missing from your storage unit?”
“Yes. A few brass lamps, some old clothes. He probably took the brass items to the salvage yard and got paid cash. I had no idea why he would want the clothes. Honestly, I was only saving them in case I lost a few pounds and could wear them again. They certainly wouldn’t fit him.”
“How would he get into your storage unit? Don’t you need a key or passcode?”
She bobbed her head up and down. As kids we always used the same passcodes for everything. Our birthdays. January fourth. Nineteen seventy-four. One, four, seven, four.”
That was exactly the code he had used for Grossman’s storage unit. “How is it that you and your cousin have the exact same birthday?”
“I don’t know how but apparently our mothers, who are sisters, by the way, both went into labor the same day.”
Finn found that to be an odd coincidence, and he didn’t believe in coincidences. Grossman and Bowers had the same birthdate and looked like twins. But right now he couldn’t care less.
“If you think that’s weird, both our mothers died on that same date, only one year apart from each other.”
Finn swallowed thickly. “How did they die?”
“My mother died first, fell down the basement steps and hit her head. She went into a coma and never woke up. And my Aunt Mary died a year later. Apparently she’d gone to bed and left the gas stove on.”
Jeezus. “Jessica, where exactly is your storage unit?”