“Seems like it,” Avery said as she sped through the narrow lane O’Malley had made for her.
She picked up speed quickly, heading for the toll plaza and Chelsea, waiting on the other side. The cleared lanes helped immensely and by the time her speed had reached fifty, she saw the car pulled over to the side of the bridge in what served as a thin breakdown lane, a pad of sorts along the edge of the bridge allowing for problematic or stranded motorists. Sure enough, she saw someone standing on the other side of the protective cables. The figure looked abnormal but that was only because it was actually two bodies: Barry Kechner and Heather Ellis.
“You good?” Avery asked, reaching for her door handle.
Kellaway nodded as she opened her door and instantly went for her Glock. She did not pull it but kept her hand resting there, light and ready to move at a moment’s notice. Avery felt her muscles twitching to do the same but she knew it would be a mistake. If she was taking the lead on this, Kechner could not see her in any sort of defensive position.
When they stepped onto the pavement, the bridge was eerily quiet. Kechner and Heather Ellis stood about ten yards ahead of them, both clinging to the rails at the far edge of the bridge. The drop to the Mystic River below might not kill her, but it would probably hurt her enough to make it impossible to swim to shore. Avery looked to their hands, both clinging to the rails. One sudden movement or even just a sweaty palm, and they’d both go falling in an instant.
Avery walked slowly. She could feel Kellaway behind her like some weird gravity that kept her grounded.
“Barry Kechner?” Avery asked. She didn’t shout, but raised her voice enough to sound as if it were booming across the quiet bridge. The chilled air carried it to Kechner, who had already turned in their direction at the sound of their engine coming to a stop behind his car.
“We’re fine here,” he said. His voice sounded soft and almost pleasant. He might have been anyone out for a morning stroll.
“Who is that you have with you?” Avery asked. When the question was out of her mouth, she took two more steps forward. He was now about six yards away, the rails between them. Another few steps and she’d be able to reach out and grab Heather Ellis.
Avery could just barely see Heather. She was wearing a hoodie, the hood pulled up. All Avery could see of her was one brown eye, curly brown hair spilling outside of the hood, and a sharp pointed nose.
“Just a friend,” Kechner said. “I’m helping her. We’ll be done in a minute.”
“Well, you see, you’ve parked your car on the side of the bridge. And it’s technically illegal for you to be standing over there on the other side of the rails. Not to mention…it’s very dangerous. You need to come back over here to the pavement, okay?”
Kechner looked at her with an almost childlike expression. He was looking at her as if he thought she was an idiot. She guessed him to be about fifty-five, maybe pushing sixty. He wore a stocking cap, a puffy black coat, and work boots that were planted firmly on the lower rail, the toes hanging out over empty space.
Kellaway came up beside Avery and gave her a questioning look. You mind? that look seemed to ask. Avery gave a quick, curt nod and Kellaway slowly stepped forward. She did not look nervous but she was certainly a far cry from confident.
“Mr. Kechner, why have you brought Heather here?” Kellaway asked. As she spoke, she took a small baby step forward and then another—both so small and seemingly insignificant that it appeared as if she had hardly moved.
“She wants to be here. She—”
“NO!” Heather Ellis screamed. “No I don’t! Please help me!”
At the interruption, Kechner placed his hand on Heather’s. For only split second, his hand had been free, his body perched over the water by only leaning against the rail. Avery thought if a strong wind came by, it might have thrown him off balance just enough to send them both plunging over, two hundred and fifty feet to the frigid water below.
Again, Kellaway took another baby step and then one daring large one. She had closed to within less than five yards of them now. Avery took another step forward as well and slightly to the right. If they could end up bookending Kechner and Heather, they might get out of this without anyone dying.
“Step forward one more time,” Kechner said, “and I’ll push her. I’d be doing her a favor, you know? She needs to be over this fear.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Avery said. “But look…your car is still blocking the lane and we need you to move it.”
“I’m not stupid,” Kechner said. “I know why you’re here. I suppose you know about Lawnbrook, Costello, and Saunders, too. Don’t you? You want to arrest me?”
“I don’t know,” Avery said. “We’ll have to talk it all out and see.”
He knows I’m lying, she thought. He knows he’s in serious trouble and that makes him all the more dangerous.
“No talking,” he said. “She’ll be my last. And I’ll go with her.”
He turned and looked at them and Avery saw not a single flicker of fear. He truly thought he was helping his victims, perhaps taking them out of a world where their fear controlled them.
Several things happened in the three seconds that followed; it all felt as if it were in slow motion but the weight of it made it also feel fluid and uncontrollable.
Kechner pounded his fist into Heather’s hand and pushed her. Her body went tilting forward. She let out a scream, flailing for a rail that was too far away from her grasp. As she tottered forward, her body giving way to gravity, Kellaway launched herself toward the railing. In doing so, her right arm slammed into Kechner while her left reached out and grabbed Heather. She barely caught her, snagging her by the hood of her sweater. It stopped the forward momentum just enough for Kellaway to pull her backward. The sound of the fabric of her hoodie tearing was impossibly loud.
As Heather grasped the rail again, Kechner drew his fist back and caught Kellaway in the side of the face. She stumbled back and when she did, Kechner grabbed her right arm and pulled it hard toward him. Kellaway was again slammed into the railing, letting out a groan of pain.
Avery opted not to draw her Glock, feeling that she’d need both hands as she dashed forward. By the time she got to the rail, Kechner had grabbed Kellaway by the hair and chin, hauling her over the rail. The moment Avery reached them, Kellaway’s feet were in the air as she toppled over the rail. She screamed as her body went flailing toward the water.
Avery screamed and applied a headlock on Kechner from behind the rail. He struggled against her but she tightened her grip, choking him out. The leverage of the rail between them worked to his advantage, though. He pressed against it, pulling her closer to him.
“Heather, can you crawl over?” she said, hissing through her effort of keeping Kechner immobile.
But Heather was paralyzed, starting down at the water. Avery followed her gaze and saw something that made her heart swell: Kellaway, clinging to the bottom edge of the lower level of the bridge. The edge didn’t allow much room for her to pull herself up, but she was carefully moving herself to the left, toward a thick cable that she could cling to and hopefully use to scale back up to the rails.
“O’Malley!” Avery screamed. “O’Malley, we need help!”
That moment of distraction was all Kechner needed. He slammed his head backward, the back of his skull connected solidly with Avery’s mouth. She felt her lip burst and tasted blood right away. She released her grip and stumbled back.
This time, she acted quickly, not making the mistake of leaving her Glock holstered. She withdrew it and aimed right away.
Kechner was clasping Heather’s wrist, trying to pull it away from the rail. Heather shook and trembled as one finger after the other was pried up.