FIFTY-SIX
Jessica and Maria parked on Third Street, around the corner from Byrne’s second-floor apartment. Jessica did not see her partner’s car, but that was not unusual. Sometimes he was forced to park more than a block away.
Within a minute they were in front of Byrne’s door. Jessica knocked, listened. Silence. She knocked again. They heard no movement within.
Jessica took out the key, gently slid it into the lock, turned it. She opened the door an inch. ‘Kevin?’
No answer.
The apartment was dark. The only light was from the green digital clock on the kitchen stove. Jessica flipped the switch, and three lamps came on. The apartment was exactly the way she had seen it the last time she had been there.
‘Kevin?’
Nothing. She edged over to the bedroom. Empty. The bathroom was empty, too.
‘Jessica,’ Maria said.
Jessica crossed the apartment. Maria was standing at the dining-room table. There, neatly arrayed, were three things Kevin Byrne never left home without. His weapon, his shield, and his cell phone. Next to Byrne’s phone was a blue flip phone Jessica had not seen before.
She picked up the blue flip phone, navigated the menu.
There were two text messages: One was the address of St Simeon’s. The second message made her blood run cold.
IF YOU ENTER THE BUILDING THE BOY WILL DIE.
What boy?
Jessica then picked up Byrne’s cell phone. She knew she was invading his privacy, but she had no choice. She checked his voicemail messages, and she was right. Eighty percent of the messages were from her. Then she saw an SMS message with a photo attached.
The subject read: how u lik me now???!!!
The accompanying picture was of a young black boy tied to a chair. Jessica looked closely at the boy’s face. She knew who it had to be. Gabriel Hightower.
She looked at the last number Byrne had dialed. She wasn’t familiar with it. Or was she?
‘Do me a favor,’ Jessica said.
‘Sure,’ Maria replied.
‘Could you run down to the car and get my portfolio?’ Jessica handed the keys to Maria, who was out the door in a flash.
Jessica launched the browser on her phone and did a reverse lookup on the second-to-last number Byrne had called. It was an all-night pharmacy around the corner. She did the same thing for the last number, but hit a dead end. There was no listing.
Maria returned with Jessica’s portfolio. Jessica opened it, pulled out the contents. She soon found the item she was looking for. It was a photocopy of a piece of paper they had found in Danny Palumbo’s backpack.
Jessica put the paper down on the table, with the maddening feeling that what she was looking for was right in front of her but she could not see it. None of the numbers lined up.
She closed her eyes for a moment, recalled going into Danny’s room at Loretta Palumbo’s rowhouse. The answer was there. Why couldn’t she see it? She recalled the neatly made bed, the empty closet, the magazines arrayed on the shelves, the acrostic number puzzles of which Danny Palumbo was a fan.
Jessica opened her eyes, glanced back at Danny’s handwritten square of numbers, looked diagonally, and saw it. It was the same number as Byrne’s last phone call. Danny Palumbo had this phone number in his possession.
Jessica looked again at the picture of Gabriel Hightower, and the last piece of the puzzle snapped into place. She crossed the room, found the box containing the framed photograph. She held up the picture of Byrne with Marcus Haines next to the picture of Gabriel Hightower. There could be no mistake.
Gabriel Hightower was Marcus’s son. Marcus had taken a bullet meant for Byrne. That’s why Byrne was doing all of this.
Jessica put the photograph down. She had no choice. With a trembling hand she picked up Byrne’s phone, hit redial, calling the last number Byrne had dialed.
In a moment the phone was answered.
‘You’ve reached the voicemail of Dr Sarah Goodwin …’