Chapter 36

The coroner made several snide comments about coming out on Christmas Eve, and the growing number of bodies Sakol seemed to be accumulating. Finally, between the look on Sakol’s face and a comment he made, the coroner figured out Sakol wasn’t any happier being involved with everything than the coroner was.

It took a couple hours to deal with Lan’s body before he finally ordered his crew to take the body away. It took about the same amount of time before the police had finished with the two of us.

I was finished before Sakol and I wanted to get back to the strip club and my truck, so I called a cab instead. The taxi dropped me off in front of the club and I headed back to where I was parked. When I was close to the truck, I whistled, and I was surprised when I didn’t see BJ peering out the window at me. When I got to the truck, I saw her curled up in the passenger seat, and once I opened the door, I saw the zip tie slipped over her neck and pulled tight. A zip tie that made it impossible for her to breathe. Somebody had killed my dog; my precious Blackjack and I was positive who.

This was so sickening I turned away and threw up in the bushes. All I remembered was slamming the truck door, putting down the tailgate, and sitting there. A cold hatred filled my mind and the thing I knew I had to do was keep my mind away from the loss of Blackjack. Cold hatred was good, but I had to avoid any happy memories right now.

I’ve no idea how long I sat there until finally I heard my cell phone ringing. When I looked at the number displayed on the caller ID screen I didn’t recognize the number, I answered it. “Matt here.”

The laughter on the other end was cold and evil. His voice taunting as he asked, “Did you find your pooch yet? How’d ya like my Christmas present?” The sound of his voice gave me goosebumps. Hollis continued, “Now listen to me buddy boy, this is the last time I’m telling you to back off. I can do anything I want, and you can’t stop me. Do you hear me? Back off. Your bitch may still be alive, but I know where she is and how to get to her.” His maniac cackle continued, “And tell your little slope buddy I just love to stick slanty eyes with my knife. Both of you leave me alone. Do you hear me? Do you hear me, Preston? I’m ready to kill you next.” His voice had become a hysterical scream by the end of his tirade.

How had he gotten my cell phone number? I growled in my phone, “Listen, you fat cocksucker, you’ve gone too far now. You killed my...” I heard the click of him hanging up on me. The light in the phone hadn’t even gone out when it rang again. I thought Hollis might be calling me back, but instead it was Sakol.

“Matt?”

I went straight to the point. “Blackjack is dead; Hollis killed her.” I gave an involuntary sob.

“Where are you?” Sakol asked.

“At the strip club.”

“Stay there. I’m on my way.”

I considered staying, but now the thing with Hollis was between the two of us. First Sharon and now Blackjack. No. This was now personal. Very personal! If it were possible, I wanted to be the one who found Hollis.

Once I came to my senses, I cut the zip tie off Blackjack, but I left her lying on the passenger seat. Memories kept trying to creep in, but I’d push them away as fast as possible. Not only did I want my anger to stay cold, I wanted the hate for Hollis to build as much as possible. There was plenty of time to remember Blackjack later.

So much for a Merry Christmas to me. Sharon was in the hospital. Jeff was in the hospital. Blackjack was dead and I had no idea how to find Hollis.

I drove around for a while, trying to come up with a plan to find Hollis. I racked my brain, searching for a clue. There are several lighthouses in the Puget Sound area so that wasn’t much of a clue. There must be some way to figure out where he might be hiding. One thought came to mind was to try and find out where he was born, or where he’d entered the service. That might be of some help; that might be a starting point. As I started to roll, I had an idea in my mind, I remembered a friend from the old days, and I wondered what happened to him. I drove back to my apartment and started searching through my desk for an old address book I knew I had. I was positive it was somewhere in my office. Finally, I found it and his phone number. I dialed it and to my surprise, someone answered it right away.

“Bruce, Bruce Frost?” I asked.

“Yes, who’s this?”

“Good evening ... er, I guess it actually is good morning. This is Matt ... Matt Preston. I apologize for calling so late. And by the way, Merry Christmas.”

The voice on the other end of the phone sounded happy to hear from me. “Matt? Is it really you?”

“Yep!”

“Well Merry Christmas to you too. How long has it been? It’s great to hear your voice.”

“I know it’s been a long time, and I apologize for not keeping in touch better.”

“Hey, I didn’t do much better,” said Bruce, laughing as he made the comment. “To what do I owe the honor of this phone call?”

“I need to find out some information.” I told Bruce about Hollis and Price and all the issues involved in the case. I ended up with, “Do you have any way of getting in Hollis’ file and seeing where he was from?”

“Sorry buddy, I can see you’re not having the best of holidays. Give me a number to call you back and I’ll see what I can do.” I gave him my cell number, and he told me he’d try and be back to me as soon as possible. Until then I’d just have to cool my heels.

Blackjack was still down in the truck, and I knew I needed to do something with her soon. I didn’t care it was still dark outside, actually the darkness fit my mood better than if it had been sunny.

After a lot of thought, I decided to bury my sweet BJ in the vacant lot behind the apartment, it just made sense since it had been such a favorite place for her. I settled on putting her under a specific bush, because I thought she’d always liked to sniff that one a little more than any of the other bushes.

I got a large towel and wrapped it around her along with a couple of her favorite toys before I dug the hole. As I was digging, I knew tears were streaming down my face. When I finished digging, I got down on my hands and knees and carefully placed her in the hole. I told her goodbye and then gently covered her up. There was no doubt I was going to miss her. When I’d just put the last shovel of dirt over her grave, Sakol pulled up next to the lot.