Letters From the Grave

as a hostage.”

  Jake felt total despair, and Tibbs continued, putting a hand on Jake’s shoulder, “Jake, we’ll get this guy.”

  “Yeah. But what about Julie?”

  Tibbs was silent, leading the way back outside.

  Ransom

  The gurney slid into the ambulance with T.W. An IV bottle hung above him and he was awake when Jake came to the back. “Hey, big fella are you gonna be all right?”

  The EMT in the back with him gave Jake a slight nod. T.W. responded, “That puny runt cain’t hurt me bad, Jake. I’ll be back home tomarra, jes’ wait an’ see, if’n the docs don’ kill me.” The EMT mouthed “no.”

  “All right then neighbor, I’ll try to keep an eye on your place while you’re gone if I can.” He was thinking about how to find Julie.

  “Now, Jake. Don’t you worry ‘bout my place less’n you see a large woman with a bible in the front. Go have a beer. They’s a couple left.”

  “Take care, friend.”

  The driver closed the door and sped off with the siren blaring. The problem with severe head blows is that everything can seem normal, then it’s “lights out” in a split second. Jake had seen it in the Army enough to know. He worried for his friend, but he had a much bigger personal concern he had to address.

  Tibbs came up to him. “What now, Tibbs?”

  “Jake, I need to know, what kind of car and what license number?”

  “It’s a maroon Honda Accord with a Texas plate. T-CHR.”

  “Okay, that should be easy to spot. I’ll radio in right now and will get a five-state APB going. It should be easy to spot.”

  “I don’t know, Tibbs. I don’t think he’s stupid enough to drive her car.”

  “Jake, we have to try everything, and see what happens next. We both know where he’s headed with this. He’s after your coins.”

  “Let him come. He can have them, but don’t let him hurt Julie. Heaven has seen no fury like what I’ll bring down on him if he does.” Jake had a more sinister look than Tibbs had ever imagined.

  “Look, Jake. Whatever happens, please keep us in the loop. I’m bringing the FBI in, which we need to do with all hostage situations.”

  “Tibbs, you do whatever you need to do.”

  Jake stood in the front yard when the crime lab people staked out the scene. The police would leave two patrol officers on the property to keep curiosity seekers away. The sky was black and the stars disappeared as storm clouds rolled in. Jake waited.

  Tibbs went immediately to the halfway house to check with Keats. He didn’t expect Ryan to be there tonight, but it was one of the details he had to cover.

  When Tibbs came through the front door, he called, “Mr. Keats?”

  There was no answer, so he signaled for the patrolman in the car to come in with him. He drew his weapon, followed immediately by the patrolman doing the same thing. He instructed, “You take the upstairs.”

  Tibbs walked down the hall, looking in each opening until he reached the office at the rear. Keats was sprawled in his chair with his arms hanging limp down his side. His eyes were open and a red river of blood had dried down the front of his shirt and pants, onto the floor. A large red hole below his chin looked like it tunneled all the way to his spine, carving out his larynx. He was probably paralyzed when the knife severed the nerves at the back of his throat, but didn’t die until all the blood drained onto the floor. The cavern in his neck was open and dry.

  Upstairs the patrolman called and Tibbs came running with his gun ready. Inside the dorm room on the left side of the hall the patrolman was feeling the arm of a very large man, lying on the bed with blood pools on both sides of his head. He’d been sliced from ear to ear with such ferocity that he looked like a guillotine was used.

  Ryan was now operating at a whole new level. Tibbs didn’t need to check either victim. There was no possibility that either was alive. He told the patrolman to follow him back to the street and called for a second crime scene team. Lafayette would need to call in every police asset tonight.

  Jake stood outside his house watching the crime scene team work. His cellphone rang. He didn’t need to look at the caller ID. “What’s up, Ryan?”

  “Hey, Jake. You figured it out quick.”

  “I wasn’t expecting anyone else to call tonight.”

  “You was expecting me?”

  “Stop playing games, Ryan.”

  “All right, Mr. big shot pilot. Here’s the deal. I got your lady. She’s mighty fine, I might add.”

  “That much we all know, Ryan.”

  “What you mean “we”, kimosabe?”

  “I mean the Lafayette PD, the Louisiana State Police and the FBI. You just hit the top of the charts.”

  “You know, Jake. If you wanna go big, go all the way.”

  “You did that, Ryan. You’re dead in twenty-four hours.”

  “Naw, I don’ see it that way, man. I got your lady.”

  “What difference is that, Ryan? The law doesn’t care about leverage. They just want you. Dead or alive, they want you.”

  “You tryin’ to scare me, Ramsey? It ain’t gonna work. I been scart all my live. Ain’t worried no mo’.”

  “Cry me a river, Ryan. What do you want?”

  “Why, Jake. I want you to get you lady back and me on my way to redemption.”

  “There’s no redemption for you, scumbag, there’s only hell, and I hope you get there really soon.”

  “So what ever happened to the great Jake Ramsey, the hero of ever’ thing. The guy that could swim across the Gulf o’ Mexico, if needed.”

  “Stop playing games, Ryan. You don’t have much time to live, and I need my wife back.”

  “Oh, yeah, your wife. She be right purdy, Jake. I think I might have my pleasure with her shortly.”

  “So, she’s alive, asshole?”

  “Yes, she is, and I’ll be requestin’ that you speak a little more civil to those in charge, namely me.”

  “All right, Ryan. Let’s play your game. I want her back, and you want my coins, is that right?”

  “Well, Jake. You see, I figure I earned those coins. I spent time in prison, I lost my daddy and I lost my girl.”

  “Look at it any way you want, you sick bastard. What’s it going to be?”

  “You takin’ all the fun outta it, Jake. I’ll tell you what. You jes’ sleep on it overnight, and I’ll let you lady ripen a bit, then we can talk again.”

  “Talk now you son of a bitch!”

  “Naw. You jes’ think about beautiful Julie with poor ol’ Will takin’ his pleasure. Maybe I’ll call tomorrow – maybe not.” The phone line went dead.

  Jake called Tibbs and filled him in. He hadn’t talked to Julie and had no tangible proof that she was alive. Ryan was gambling with the most precious thing in Jake’s life. If she died, so would Ryan. Julie was Jake’s life now, yet he had to play hardball.

  Jake felt helpless. He was up against a psychopath who had Julie. For the next ten hours, he was awake most of the night thinking about her. He dreamed occasionally about having his hands around Ryan’s throat, but mostly he dreamed about saving Julie, if she could be saved. Ryan had no idea what Jake was capable of.

  Hours passed and he never really slept. Her image, sometimes a ghost, was with him. Sometimes he saw his thumbs, pressing through Ryan’s throat, ripping out his esophagus. Ryan would pay. It was just a question of living or dying in the end.

  The hours passed slowly. At dawn, Jake was inside lying on the couch with his cellphone next to him. He hadn’t slept since the last call with Ryan. When it rang, he answered, “Ryan, is that you?”

  “Well, good mornin’, Jake. Did ya sleep well? Me an Julie, we slep’ real good. Oh, let me poke her. Sorry, I didn’t mean to say poke again, we did that all las’ night.”

  “What do you want, Ryan?”

  “Why, I want my gold, Jake.”

  “Tha
t’s easy, Ryan. You can have it all, just give her back to me.”

  “Well, sir, tha’s possible. Where and how?”

  “You’re the scum bag here Ryan. I’ll follow your instructions.”

  Ryan thought for a minute. “All right then. You come in your truck to Gatorbait park parking lot an we can transact.”

  “You gonna bring her to Gatorbait?”

  “Why no, Jake. I gonna pick up the gold and tell you where to find her, assumin’ I ain’t ambushed or nothing.”

  “Listen to me, Ryan. I don’t have the coins anymore. It’s been too risky. You taught me that.”

  “Where’s they?”

  “Well, that’s the funny part. Your daddy taught me the best place to hide it. It’s offshore in a derelict oil platform.”

  “Naw. You wouldn’t jes leave it out at a unsecure place.”

  “What’s more secure that an isolated island it the middle of an ocean? Kinda like buried pirate’s treasure.”

  “How you gonna get it?”

  “Well, that’s the interesting part. I don’t really know. I can show it to you, but you gotta figure out how to move it.”

  “This is weird, Ramsey. How do I know I can trust you?”

  “You got my wife, idiot. She’s the most important thing in the world to me. You think I care about some coin collection? It’s just a bunch of glittering keepsakes. My wife is my life. If you give her back to me, you can have the coins.”

  “I wanna see ‘em.” Ryan had taken the bait. Jake finally had something going right.

  “All right Ryan, meet me at CHI in thirty minutes.”

  “I ain’t got a car.”

  This was the first solid clue. “So, I’ll pick you up.”

  “No. I’ll walk there, and Ramsey, if’n you call the cops or