Killer Dreams Ch. 56-60

Captain Mike Cullen, St. Paul Robbery/Homicide Commander POV

Regency Condominiums, Shepherd Park Neighborhood, St. Paul

Saturday, October 16, 2021

"Need another beer, honey?"

I smiled as Dani came out onto the deck of our fourth-floor home overlooking the Mississippi River with another Surly Furious IPA. The fall bird migration was past its peak, but there was plenty to see with good binoculars. Once in a while, the trail would offer up the toned ass and tightly-bound tits of a young jogger, as long as I didn't get caught watching. "Sure. Sit with me? Soon it will be too cold for me to enjoy the view."

"The days are getting shorter, but I love the cool air when I sleep." Dani was a senior Emergency Room nurse at United Hospital. We'd met twenty years ago when I was on downtown patrol. My partner and I brought in an underage rape victim, and Dani was the tiny spitfire of a nurse who took care of her. It was love at first sight; I proposed a week later, and we married soon after. Our daughter was in her first year at Arizona State, so we sold our big suburban home and bought the condo a few months ago near our downtown work. The short drives to work meant more relaxation time, and the underground heated garage meant no more shoveling snow!

Our schedules were nuts, so we made the best of what we had together. Dani sat in my lap, leaning against my shoulder as I kissed her dark-red hair. "Sorry I didn't wake up when you came home this morning."

"That's all right. You needed the sleep." She wasn't kidding. I'd worked my ass off on the Book Killer case, and I was praying for a quiet weekend. Naturally, my phone rang. I picked it up, groaning as I looked at the caller ID. "Work?"

"Sort of." I hit the answer button and brought it to my ear. "What can I do for you, Talia?"

"I'm sorry to bother you on the weekend, Captain, but I made my decision. I'm resigning from the force, effective immediately."

Damn. "Is there any way I can talk you out of this? It can't be that bad."

"No, sir, and it is that bad."

I let out a sigh. "Fine. Turn in your letter of resignation on Monday morning, and we'll handle all the personnel stuff first thing."

"Captain, I might be out of town by then. Can I hand it to you in person? Today?"

We had another ninety minutes before we had to head out to dinner and the Wild game. "Sure. Can you come by my place? I'm on my second beer, and my wife just woke up."

"I can be there in twenty minutes. Thank you, sir."

I hung up the phone and set it back on the table, finishing the last of my old beer with a few gulps. Dani looked up at me. "Talia Devine? The one I met at the Labor Day party?"

I nodded. "Detective Devine got caught messing around with a suspect and disobeyed my orders to stay away from him. She's suspended pending an IAD investigation, but it sounds like she's giving up."

"She must love him to risk this much," she whispered.

"I hope so. Talia's thrown away her career for this guy."

"Is he still a suspect?"

I shook my head. "That's the funny part. We caught the guy who did it, and her boyfriend was innocent. All she had to do was keep off his dick for a few weeks, and she'd have been fine."

"He must have a dick like yours," Dani said as her hand moved down to my crotch. "I couldn't resist it or the guy wielding it."

I groaned. "Talia will be here in twenty minutes."

"Like that's not enough time?" She sat up, giving me a toe-curling kiss before heading back inside with a sassy sway of the hips.

"Red-Headed Kryptonite," I said as I got up to follow her. "I'd follow that ass anywhere."

She was in the shower when Talia arrived, so we ended up at the kitchen table. I could tell she was devastated as she handed me the manila envelope with her resignation letter. "What's the hurry?"

She hung her head. "IAD has embarrassing surveillance video from when I went north to investigate the burner phone. They don't want the scandal, so they offered to bury the whole thing if I quit by Monday. If not, I'll lose at the hearing and could lose my license."

I looked at her letter. "I'm sorry it ends this way, Talia. You're a good cop."

"I was. I should have listened to you instead of my heart."

I put the letter back and set it on the table. "What should I tell everyone about your decision?"

"Just that I didn't want to fight the charges."

I could see something was bothering her. "What's on your mind?"

"My gut tells me we missed something," I confessed. "My informant told me two men were involved in Allison Decker's death and disposal, but we only know about Michael Klinesmith. And isn't it a bit convenient for him to confess to one murder while leaving evidence connecting him to three others?"

"Maybe he jumped before he finished his confession. Maybe he heard we were getting close."

"And maybe there was more than one person involved in these murders." She sat back and let out a breath. "Fuck it. Tracy Hardin's death is not my monkey and not my circus."

"What is next for you?"

"I'm meeting with Detective Pierce to turn over my thoughts on the Decker case, and then I'm going to go somewhere and get my mind right." She got up to leave.

"Good luck, Talia."

"Thank you, sir. I learned a lot from you." She walked out the door, leaving the envelope behind.

I made a phone call. "James, your partner just quit," I told James Maloney.

"God dammit! She didn't even talk to me first?"

"I'll explain later, and I don't want you saying anything about it until I make the announcement Monday morning. She brought something up that has me thinking. We never found any direct evidence tying Klinesmith to the Hardin murder except the whiskey glass and the necklace, right?"

"Yeah. We couldn't exclude Michael, but that was it."

"Tracy's gut was telling her Michael had an accomplice. Did she tell you?"

"She thought the suicide was convenient."

She was right. "I want you to look for an accomplice on Monday. Keep it quiet. I don't want the heat from reopening an investigation that everyone in the state wants to stay closed."

"Got it, boss. See you Monday."

Dani came out of the bedroom a few minutes later, looking hot in jeans and a T-shirt with a Kaprisov Wild jersey over it. "Did she leave already?"

"Yeah. I'll get ready to go." We had dinner downtown before watching the game from a suite with a few of Dani's coworkers. It went into overtime, and with drinks and getting out of the lot, it was after midnight when we got home.

Naturally, my phone rang right as I was falling asleep. It was the desk Sergeant. "Cullen," I answered.

"Captain, there's been a shootout in Edina with multiple officers injured," she said. "One of them is Detective Devine."

I was sitting up instantly. "Devine? What is she doing in Edina?"

I put it on speaker while I reached for clothes. "They are still figuring it out, sir. A Minneapolis homicide detective and an Edina Sergeant were all hit and transported to Fairview Southdale."

"Any word on her condition?"

"The watch lieutenant in Edina said they found her in a dungeon, raped, then shot in the head. He wants to know what our Detective is doing in his city without him knowing about it."

Dani gasped as she heard the news. "Jesus."

I shoved my badge and gun onto my belt and headed for the door. "I'm on my way. Cullen out."

I had the flasher on as I raced for the freeway. I called Assistant Chief John Fordham and Detective Maloney as I drove. I asked them to notify the St. Paul brass and her fellow Detectives. Detective Devine knew everybody in the department, and word of the shooting would spread like wildfire.

Edina was a first-ring suburb less than twenty minutes west of me on the Crosstown Freeway. The hospital looked like a cop convention with press coverage; I parked and walked in. "Who's in charge," I asked the officer at the door.

"The brass went into the waiting room over there," he pointed.

I recognized a few people in the room, including the Minneapolis Police Chief and the Lieutenant running their Homicide desk. "How are the officers," I asked.

"Sergeant Edwards will be fine; she had a through-and-through in the thigh. Edina detectives are talking to her now. Detective Pierce took rounds to the vest and one to the shoulder. It fucked her shoulder up and collapsed a lung. She's still in surgery," the Chief said.

I could sense no one wanted to say the next part. "What about Detective Devine?"

"What I heard isn't good," the Chief said. "She took a 5.56 bullet to the right temple. She's still alive, but it is too soon to tell if she will make it. I'm sorry, Mike."

I couldn't believe it. "What the fuck was Devine doing in Edina? I talked to her maybe seven hours ago." I didn't say anything about her resignation. "She was heading over to talk with Detective Pierce about the Decker case. She was suspicious about the confession and thought a second person was involved in the Decker murder, but what does that have to do with Edina?"

"We are still figuring it out. There wasn't a formal notification, and I didn't authorize anything," the Minneapolis Lieutenant said. "We found an observation post on the adjoining roof that Detective Pierce set up. Our best guess is that Talia was on an undercover meet that went south. Pierce was crawling out the door when the first units arrived on her Officer Needs Help call. Edwards led a team down the stairs to a bondage dungeon. In the exchange of gunfire, Edwards got hit. It looks like Talia took a stray round from her rifle."

"Blue on blue?"

He nodded. "They found Devine hanging naked from a cable in the middle of the room. It looks like he raped her and sliced her back up. He was about to set the place on fire to cover up the murder of Lars Anderson."

My eyes did one of those cartoon things where they fly out of your head and open wide. "LARS? I thought he was back in Sweden already!" I took a breath. "He came into the office to talk with Detective Maloney on Tuesday about the case."

"You won't believe who the killer is then," the Chief said. "Thomas Brickline."

It hit me like a truck. "Klinesmith's father-in-law? The guy who sold his company for three hundred million dollars Thomas Brickline?" They all nodded. "This changes everything."

Our conversation was interrupted when Talia's parents entered the room with one of the St. Paul Police chaplains. I introduced myself, but I couldn't tell them more than what we already knew.

The hospital waiting room couldn't hold the cops from three departments, so the vigil extended to the parking lot. Sandra Edwards was out of surgery first; she would stay a day for observation. Just before four in the morning, we got word that Molly Pierce was out of surgery and stable. The surgeons had to glue and wire the bones of her shoulder together and patch her lung. She was still unconscious and was facing a long rehab.

It was a long night. Nothing is worse than not knowing; when a cop goes down, we all feel the pain. As the other departments left, the Saint Paul contingent grew. Chief Tonya Robbins and Assistant Chief Fordham had joined my group of detectives in the waiting room.

Her parents wanted to know why she was working a case while on suspension. "I don't know," I told her. "Talia's stubborn. She won't let something like that stop her from solving a case."

Tori Thompson stopped crying into Craig's shoulder as she thought of something. "She always was stubborn," she replied. "She'd sit at the table for an hour before she'd eat her green beans."

I could see it. "To answer your question, Talia remains a Saint Paul Detective. The disciplinary process is confidential. She remains a City employee unless a Board terminates her for cause."

"Good," Craig said.

It was after seven before a doctor finally emerged. He didn't look happy, but I'd seen enough to know he wasn't going to say she was gone. "Mr. and Mrs. Thompson? I'm Doctor Wallace, Chief Neurosurgeon on staff. Can I speak with you in private?"

"They can stay," Craig said.

"It was touch and go, but she's made it this far and is out of surgery," he replied. "She got lucky; the bullet struck here," he pointed to a spot about an inch above his right eyebrow, "and traveled along the outside of the skull to exit above her ear. The impact sent multiple bone fragments into her temporal lobe. We were able to remove them, which is good. She was lucky. If the bullet hit her head a fraction of an inch to the left, she wouldn't have made it here."

"What now," Craig asked.

"We put her into an induced coma, and we lowered her body temperature to reduce the chance of further brain damage. Our concern now is swelling. The gunshot was like a hammer blow to the head, leaving her with a severe concussion. We are using diuretics to reduce the swelling, and we removed an area of her skull around the wound to let the brain expand a little. We will see how quickly her brain heals over the next few days."

"When will she wake up?"

"I don't know, and her condition remains critical. We have neural activity, which is encouraging, but I can't rule out permanent brain damage until she awakens."

Tori was shaking with sobs. "Can we see her?"

"I'll take you back for a moment. We'll be moving Talia to Intensive Care in a few hours." He looked at the cops in the room. "There's nothing more you can do here. She can't have visitors other than immediate family until she's out of the ICU."

Doctor Wallace took them through the doors, and I pulled my bosses into a nearby vestibule. "We need to get our story together," I said. "It's highly likely that Thomas Brickline was involved with the serial killings, if not the killer himself. We've got two dead and three cops in the hospital."

"How do you want to play it," John Fordham asked.

I'd been thinking about this all night. No way in hell would I tell anyone about the resignation letter now. I was going to rip it up as soon as I got home. "Detective Devine was working with Detective Pierce to get information from a confidential source. I faked her suspension as part of the investigation so the source would work with her."

"She slept with a suspect in a murder investigation," the Chief objected.

I shrugged my shoulders. "David Hardin wasn't the killer. Does her love life matter now? We get in front of this, or we get run over by it."

The Chief shook her head. "So Detective Devine is a hero?"

"It's a smart play," Fordham said. "We don't even know if she will survive, much less return to duty status. What is the point in ruining her reputation now?"

The Chief reluctantly agreed. "Put together some information soon because the press will be all over me for a statement. I need to talk to Minneapolis and Edina first, so we're singing from the same music."

"Look at the bright side," I said. "The FBI didn't break the case. We did."

She laughed at me. "Get some sleep, Mike. The Doc is right; there's nothing we can do but pray."

The vigil was already breaking up when I got to my car, and the television stations left when they found out none of the cops had died.

Dani was waiting for me when I got home, and I clung to her as I fell asleep.

Chapter 57

Laura Brickline's POV

Treasure Cay, Bahamas

Sunday, October 17, 2021

The morning sickness was worse than most days.

The cook saw how green I was when I came to breakfast and made me a banana smoothie. My appetite returned by the time a hung-over Lisa came down at eight. Dad had flown out yesterday afternoon after having us sign the paperwork for the family trust. We would all be multi-millionaires as soon as Lana signed the papers for our lawyer, so Lisa wanted to celebrate. She'd partied late into the night with some rich kids she'd met and suffered the effects of too many rum drinks. We had eggs, toast, and bacon by the pool as the sun rose over the beach.

We didn't expect a police helicopter to crash our relaxed breakfast.

The dark-blue helicopter came in low over the water, flaring out to land on the beach below the beach house. It landed in a cloud of dust and sand as we scrambled to keep things from flying away in the gusts of the rotor wash. Four men jumped out, two in the uniform of the local Police and two in suits. The four walked into the pool area as the helicopter lifted off again.

The older man in the suit approached the table. "Laura and Lisa Brickline?"

"Yes, Officers?"

"Special Agents Riggs and Gibson, FBI," he said. The uniformed officers were already moving past us to the house. "These men have a search warrant for your father's room."

"He's not here," Lisa said. "He flew home yesterday for some business emergency."

"I know," Agent Riggs replied. "Can we go inside and speak in private?"

I looked around; the officers had gone inside with the servant. "We're alone."

"Fine. May we sit?"

I waved to the two other chairs at the table, and the men sat down. "I wasn't aware the FBI's reach extended to the Commonwealth."

"We maintain a field office in Nassau," he said. His face changed to a practiced expression that meant bad news was coming. "We are here to notify you that your father, Thomas Brickline, died last night in a shootout with police."

It felt like a punch in the gut. My jaw dropped, and my hand moved to cover my mouth. Lisa let out a strangled cry as her arms reached for me. We embraced each other as the words echoed through our heads. I couldn't form words for a while. "How?"

"I'm not at liberty to say," he replied as he took out a notebook. "When did you last see your father?"

"I'm not at liberty to say," I replied evenly. "Lisa, pack your stuff. We're going home."

"We need you to answer our questions," Agent Gibson said.

"Really? Am I under arrest? Oh, wait, I can't be because the FBI doesn't have jurisdiction here. You have no more right to ask me questions than any guy walking the beach."

"We are here with the Bahamian authorities," he objected.

"And if they want to talk to me, I'll get a LOCAL lawyer and tell him the same thing. Go, Lisa." She got up and fled from the table before either of the agents could stop her. "You fucking bastards. You know what my family has been through, and THIS is how you tell me my father is gone?" I stood up and slapped my palms on the table. "FUCK YOU."

"Miss Brickline, you need to calm down and sit down. We have many questions."

"My husband was a County Prosecutor. I know more about the Law than you might think, so this is what I have to say to you." I gave them the double bird. "Sit and spin, or arrest me. Either way, I'm not answering a fucking question until I have a lawyer by my side." With that, I turned and walked into the house.

I went into Lisa's room first, locking the door behind me. She had her suitcase out but was standing there with her shoulders shaking. "He's gone, isn't he."

"I'm calling home." I had my phone out and was calling Lana a minute later. She picked up but didn't say anything right away. "Lana? It's Laura."

"Do you know?" She sounded like she'd been crying, and I could hear the wind, so she was outside.

"Some FBI agents showed up, but they didn't say anything other than Dad died in a shootout with police."

"They're here now with a search warrant, dozens of them, and they've kicked Margarite and me out of the house! It's horrible!"

"Have you contacted a lawyer?"

"Misty Butz picked Dad up at the airport last night to finalize the paperwork, so I called her when they arrived. She said it's criminal, so Hardy Smacken is on his way with some associates."

Good. Baer, Butz, and Smacken would protect her. "Don't say anything. We'll be back as soon as I can get a flight."

"Hurry," she told me.

"Don't say anything to anyone but family, not even your friends, and especially not the press," I warned her. God, I'd learned that lesson after Michael came under suspicion. "Listen to your lawyer and stay out of sight."