Chapter 110
S AMPSON AND I HADN’T BEEN to Massachusetts in a few years, not since we’d chased a madman killer named “Mr. Smith” in a case code-named Cat and Mouse. Mr. Smith had probably been the most cunning of all the psychopaths we had tracked to that point. He almost murdered me. So not a lot of happy memories for us as we rode in Sampson’s car from DC toward the Berkshires.
On the way, we stopped off for an out-of-this-world dinner and some congenial bullshit at my cousin Jimmy Parker’s restaurant, the Red Hat, in Irvington, New York. Mmm, mmm good. Otherwise, this trip was all business. We went alone, with no backup. I still wasn’t sure what I planned to do if I found the Butcher. If we found him; if he hadn’t already fled.
We listened to some old Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu tapes on the road and didn’t discuss Michael Sullivan much, not until we reached the end of the Connecticut Turnpike and crossed over into Massachusetts .
“So what are we doing here, John?” I finally broke the ice on the subject.
“Chasing the bad guy, same as always,” he said. “Nothing’s changed, has it? Guy’s a killer, a rapist. You’re the Dragon Slayer. I’m along for the ride.”
“Just me and you, huh? No call to the local police? No FBI in on this? You know, we just crossed a state line.”
Sampson nodded. “I figure this time it’s personal. Am I wrong about that? Plus, he deserves to die, if it comes to that, which it just might. Probably will.”
“It’s personal all right. It’s never been more personal. This has been bubbling over for a long time. It needs to end. But ?”
“No buts, Alex. We need to put an end to him.”
We rode along in silence for another few miles. But I had to talk this out a little more with Sampson. We had to set some kind of rules of engagement.
“I’m not going to just take him out ? if he’s up here. I’m not a vigilante, John.”
“I know that,” said Sampson. “I know who you are, Alex. If anybody does. Let’s see how it plays. Maybe he’s not even here.”
We arrived in the town of Florida, Massachusetts, at around two that afternoon; then we went looking for the house where we hoped to find Michael Sullivan once and for all. I could feel the tension really building inside me now. It took us another half hour to locate the place, which was built on the side of a mountain overlooking a river. We watched the house, and nobody seemed to be there. Had someone tipped off Sullivan again?
If it had happened, who would have done it? The FBI? Was he in Witness Protection after all? Was the FBI watching his back? Were they the ones who told him we might be coming for him?
We drove into the town center and had lunch at a Denny’s. Sampson and I didn’t talk much over our eggs and potatoes, which was unusual for us.
“You all right?” he finally asked, once the coffee had arrived.
“If we get him, I’ll be better. This has to end, though. You’re right about that.”
“Then let’s go do it.”
We went back to the house, and at a little past five a station wagon turned into the drive and parked right in front of the porch. Was this him? Finally, the Butcher? Three boys piled out of the back; then a pretty, dark-haired woman got out of the driver’s side. It was obvious that she and the boys got along well. They roughhoused on the front lawn; then they trooped inside the house.
I had a picture of Caitlin Sullivan with me, but I didn’t need to look at it. “That’s definitely her,” I told Sampson. “We’re in the right place this time. That’s Caitlin and the Butcher’s boys.”
“He’ll spot us if we stay here,” Sampson said. “This isn’t Cops, and he’s no dumb crack head waiting to be caught.”
“Yeah, I’m counting on it,” I said.