by Lisa Regan
“I’m calling this in,” Noah whispered in her ear. “State Police can get a SWAT team out here in twenty minutes.”
“I’m not sure we have that long,” Josie mumbled. “But do it.”
From the Palazzos’ living room came quiet sobs. Josie peeked around the doorway to see that Sebastian had lowered the gun to his lap, but not relinquished it. She spoke in a gentler tone this time. “Sebastian, I want to come in there and talk with you, but I need you to put the gun down and kick it over to me. Can you do that?”
“You think I’m stupid?” he yelled.
“No, not at all,” Josie said. “I’m just worried about you. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”
“Why shouldn’t I? I have nothing to live for now. My son, my wife. I tried everything, and it wasn’t enough. She lied to me, you know. After everything I gave her, she lied to me. Betrayed me.”
“I’m so sorry,” Josie said. “But Mr. Palazzo, really, I’d feel much better if I could see your face. If we could just talk to each other, face to face. No guns.”
His hand shot up again but this time, he aimed the gun at the photo of Faye and pulled the trigger. The gunshot boomed inside the house, its concussion bouncing off the walls. For a few seconds, Josie heard only silence, then the sound rushed back. Sebastian was muttering something. She couldn’t quite make it out.
“Sebastian,” she called.
Behind Noah, the uniformed officer rushed through the door, gun at the ready. Noah signaled him to hold.
Turning back to the living room, Josie watched Sebastian lift the gun again and empty the magazine into the photo of his wife until her alluring smile was nothing but a cluster of bullet holes. Once pressure on the trigger failed to launch any more shots, he tossed the gun aside and began to rock back and forth. When the ringing in her ears subsided, Josie heard his words.
“She got what she deserved. She got what she deserved. She got what she deserved.”
Josie used her index finger to point toward the living room, signaling Noah to move in. The uniformed officer followed. Josie rushed forward, zeroing in on Sebastian’s gun and kicking it even farther from him.
“Hands up,” Noah instructed him.
Slowly, Sebastian lifted his palms. Something silver sparkled against the skin of his right hand. Noah kept his pistol trained on Sebastian while Josie leaned in for a better look. It was a necklace with a charm that said #1 Mom.
Josie said, “Your son gave that to your wife as a Christmas gift, didn’t he? He bought it at the holiday shop at school, you said. You also told us it had been stolen.”
As she spoke, Noah motioned for the uniformed officer to come closer. Together, they got Sebastian to his feet and cuffed his hands behind his back. His head lolled on his chest. The necklace fell to his feet. “It was stolen,” he replied.
Josie picked it up. “Is this a duplicate?”
“No. That’s her necklace. I found it in Virgil Lesko’s house. It was maybe a week before the bus crash. I went there to drop off his dying mother’s medication from the pharmacy as I had done at least a dozen times as a courtesy to him. I felt badly for him because his mother was dying.”
“Where was it?” Josie asked.
“In his bedroom. His mother was in a lot of pain that day. She got sick all over herself. I walked in right as it was happening. I knew she had been prescribed some anti-nausea medication, but Virgil couldn’t find it. He said to look in the bathroom but it wasn’t there. I called to him and said it wasn’t in the bathroom and he said to check the dresser in her bedroom. I was flustered—she was so sick—and I just started opening doors. I didn’t even realize it was his bedroom and not hers until I was standing in front of the dresser and there were no pill bottles. There was a wallet and a belt and some loose change and with the loose change, there it was—the necklace. It was right there with his things! That’s when I knew. I knew it was him. I didn’t know what to do so I took it. I went to the next bedroom, which was the right one, and found the pills. He was so consumed with getting her settled and cleaned up, I didn’t have a chance—I didn’t talk to him. I didn’t know what to…”
He stumbled and it occurred to Josie that he might have been drinking, although she hadn’t smelled alcohol on him. Or had he taken something? Something to help him work up the nerve to kill himself? To Noah, she said, “Call an ambulance and let’s get him seated here.”
The uniformed officer grabbed a piece of the couch and righted it, testing it to make sure it wouldn’t topple if they sat Sebastian on it. Satisfied that it would take his weight, he helped Josie lower Sebastian onto it.
“Sebastian,” she said. “What did you take? What medication did you take tonight?”
A lazy smile curled his lips. “I’ll never tell.”
Noah put his cell phone back into his pocket. “Ten minutes,” he said.
Sebastian used his chin to motion to the necklace twisted around Josie’s palm. “You keep it. You have kids?”
“Sebastian,” Josie said. “What did you take tonight?”
“If you had kids, you would know,” he went on, oblivious.
Josie looked at the uniformed officer. “Go search the house for any prescription pill bottles.”
He nodded and sprinted for the door.
Sebastian said, “When you have kids and your wife has an affair, it’s worse. So much worse. And Virgil Lesko. A bus driver! What did she want with a bus driver? I had my own damn business. Was it because I sold the pharmacy? I think she started the affair after that. I knew all along. I could tell. She acted differently. She didn’t think I paid that much attention to her, but I noticed everything. Every little thing. I just couldn’t figure out who it was until I saw the necklace. Before that, I had even hoped I was wrong. I told her what would happen if she ever cheated on me.”
Noah said, “What would happen?”
Sebastian looked up at him. “I told her if she ever cheated on me, it would be the end of everything. Everything. I told her I could never handle that. Not that. She was my whole entire world. I did anything she asked. I worshipped her like a goddess. I gave her my life, and she said this was what she wanted. She didn’t want New York City anymore. She didn’t want these superficial assholes with flat abs but nothing in their brains. She wanted a regular life. A normal life. A family. I gave her all of that. But I told her, I said, she could never cheat. If she cheated, it would just be total destruction. The apocalypse.”
Josie said, “Is that why you killed her? And Krystal?”
He went perfectly still and lifted his eyes to meet hers. What looked like genuine confusion rippled across his face. “What?”
“Total destruction,” Josie said. “That must have meant killing Faye, and who knows? Everyone else she considered a friend? Krystal Duncan? What about Gloria, Dee, and Heidi? Where are they, Sebastian?”
“What?” He blinked. “No. No, no, no. I didn’t—how could you think that I would… I would never kill anyone. I would never hurt anyone.”
Noah said, “But you did.”
Sebastian’s head whipped in Noah’s direction. “What are you talking about?”
“The day of the bus crash. You hurt someone that day, didn’t you?”
Josie watched Sebastian’s face crumple as his mind slowly put the memories together with Noah’s accusation. A sob wracked his body. “I didn’t mean it. I never meant for him to get on the bus. I just wanted him to be fired, to be humiliated like I was. I knew he would go to the bus depot to clock in. I never thought for a minute that his supervisor would let him drive in his condition!”
Josie looked at Noah, who explained, “The records from Abt and Defeo show that on the day of the bus crash, Sebastian created a prescription for Virgil Lesko for oxycodone. The prescribing doctor was a guy who had passed away a few days earlier so his license hadn’t yet been flagged. Sebastian used that doctor’s license to put the prescription through. It was marked as delivered.”
“I di
dn’t mean it!” Sebastian howled. “I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt. Virgil was having an affair with my wife! I had delivered his mother’s medication for months. I was good to him, and he betrayed me.”
Noah said, “Was Virgil drinking when you got there?”
Sebastian looked up, eyes glassy with tears. “No. He wasn’t. But I could see he was upset. I was just going to put the crushed oxy into his coffee or something, but he was visibly upset. I tried to get him talking so he wouldn’t catch on to what I was doing, and he started saying all this stuff about his son being a stalker or something. He made me promise not to tell. I told him that I understood. I understood that kind of betrayal because Faye was having an affair. He didn’t even blink! He was so fake, telling me how sorry he was, how I could always come and talk to him. The audacity! I couldn’t believe it. He always kept vodka at the house. That was his thing. I suggested we share a drink. I could mix it with fruit juice. He always had that for his mother.”
Josie said, “But he had to drive the kids that afternoon.”
“Yes, of course,” said Sebastian. “It was very hard to convince him, but eventually, I did. I made the drinks, mixed the oxy into his, but I’m telling you, I only meant for him to get caught drunk by his supervisor and get fired. That’s it. No supervisor in their right mind would have let him drive in his condition.”
Josie said, “But the supervisor wasn’t there that day because his wife was having a baby.”
“I didn’t know!” Sebastian cried. “I didn’t know!”
Sirens sounded from outside. The ambulance. Josie looked at Noah. The silent flood of communication between them lasted only seconds. They could tell him that he’d gotten the wrong man; that it wasn’t Virgil Faye had been having an affair with, but Corey.
If only, if only.
If only Sebastian hadn’t gotten the wrong man. He wouldn’t have convinced Virgil to have a drink and dosed him with oxycodone before sending him on his afternoon bus route. But would it make a difference at this point if Sebastian knew the truth? Did they have anything to gain by telling him?
Noah said, “Mr. Palazzo, where are Gloria, Dee, and Heidi?”
Sebastian shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“What did you do with them?” Josie asked. “Where did you take them?”
“I didn’t take them anywhere. I didn’t take anyone anywhere!”
The uniformed officer skidded into the room, an orange pill bottle in his hand. “Here,” he said. “It was in the room leading from the house to the garage. Anti-anxiety medication, looks like, prescribed to his wife. Empty.”
The front door banged open and two EMTs burst into the house with a gurney. She and Noah gave them a full report and waited for them to leave with Sebastian. Standing outside on the Palazzos’ lawn, Noah turned to her. “I’m not sure he’s our guy.”
Josie felt that old tickle of discomfort she got when the puzzle pieces of a case weren’t fitting together quite right. “Me either,” she said.
Noah held up his phone, which showed an incoming call from Mettner. He swiped answer and listened. His phone volume was set high enough that Josie could hear Mettner’s words from where she stood.
“I’m at the supermarket in Southwest Denton where Ted Lesko was supposed to be working an overnight shift. He’s not here. He was a no-show. Boss called his phone but he’s not answering. He said it’s not like Ted to do something like this because he owes his dad’s attorney so much money.”
Josie met Noah’s eyes. “Tell Mett we’ll meet him at Lesko’s house.”
Chapter Forty
Josie hopped into the passenger’s seat of Noah’s vehicle. It took almost ten minutes for Noah to thread his way through the crowd of press, onlookers, and now a state police SWAT truck that had gathered in front of Sebastian Palazzo’s house. The Lesko house was only a few blocks away, just as Gloria Cammack had told Josie and Gretchen when they first interviewed her. Mettner’s vehicle was already parked in front. He got out as they pulled up behind him. Unlike most other homes in this area, the Lesko place was only one story, sprawled across two acres. It had gray siding, a narrow porch, and a one car-garage that, as Mettner had previously reported, had a partially caved in roof covered with blue tarps. A single bulb next to the front door cast a weak circle of light that barely reached the edge of the porch but even from the sidewalk, Josie could see that the front door was ajar. Beyond it was only inky darkness.
Beside her, Noah sighed. “Well, after the night we’ve already had, I would expect nothing less. Let’s get some flashlights, and after the scene at Palazzo’s, we should probably wear our vests, too.”
They popped their trunks and used the flashlight apps on their phones to dig out the necessary gear. Luckily, since Josie and Noah were married, they always carried gear for one another in their vehicles. He pulled one of Josie’s bulletproof vests from the depths of his trunk and handed it to her, together with her extra flashlight. Once all three of them were suited up, they formed a line and moved quietly across the lawn to the front door. Mettner took the lead, pausing at the door to announce themselves and call for Ted. There was no answer.
Josie watched the beam of Mettner’s flashlight pan across the entryway before he stepped inside. She followed, using her own flashlight, positioned just under her pistol, to sweep the opposite side of the room. The first thing she noticed was the smell of blood, vomit, and something else. It was death, she realized, as Noah glided past her, leading them into an open area on their left. Josie knew what they were going to find in that room before she followed him.
He called out, “Bodies.”
She and Mettner stepped over two prone forms as they trailed Noah, each of them leapfrogging the other as they cleared the entire house. Once they were satisfied there were no immediate threats, they went back through the house, using gloved hands to switch on some lights. As they came back to the room with the two bodies, Josie said, “Get the ERT out here.”
Mettner took out his phone, swiped, scrolled, swiped again, and put it to his ear. He stared at the ugly tableau before them until his face turned a pale shade of green. Josie motioned for him to go into the other room, and he immediately obeyed, gulping and then talking into his phone.
She took a step closer to the bodies, noticing that both were male, face down, their hands bound behind their backs with duct tape. Both had gunshot wounds to the backs of their heads—right to the brainstem—with black stippling around the holes, indicating that the gun had been pressed against their skin when the killer fired. Noah stood beside her and pointed to the man with the curly brown locks, now soaked in blood and brain matter. “That’s Ted Lesko, isn’t it?”
“I believe so,” said Josie.
“And that?” Noah pointed to the other man who was taller and thinner and whose shiny shaved scalp was now covered in blood spatter.
Josie sighed. “My money’s on Miles Tenney, but it will be up to the medical examiner to make a positive ID.”
Noah said, “This isn’t the killer we’re looking for. This was a professional hit.”
Josie nodded. “Looks that way. Maybe Miles came to Ted looking for a place to lay low and Cerberus or whatever other outfit he was into for money caught up with him. I’ll wake up Drake and have his team get over here instead of ours.”
“Yeah,” Noah agreed. “Our ERT is pretty overworked right now.”
“Mettner,” Josie called, walking into the kitchen. “Cancel our team. We’re going to get the FBI’s evidence response people out here. We think one of those bodies belongs to Miles Tenney.” She stopped when she saw him standing still, phone at his side, staring at an empty insulated food delivery carton on the table. Ted had likely been using it for Food Frenzy deliveries to keep the food as fresh and as hot or as cold as possible until it was delivered. Josie raised a brow. “Mett? What’s wrong?”
“Come over this way,” he told her. “I’m not going to touch anything
since this is a crime scene, but you’ll want to see this.”
Josie walked over and stood beside him where she had a better view of the inside of the insulated bag. It wasn’t empty after all. In the bottom of it were four vigil candles.
Chapter Forty-One
It was almost four a.m. by the time they all reconvened at police headquarters: Josie, Noah, Mettner, Gretchen, the Chief, and even Amber, who had a press nightmare on her hands thanks to the chaos in West Denton the night before. For once, she wasn’t tapping away at her computer. Instead, she sat at her desk, her chin resting in one palm. She still wore the clothes she’d had on almost twenty-four hours earlier except now they looked wrinkled. Someone had made coffee in the first-floor breakroom. Now the four detectives sat at their desks, drinking from old ceramic mugs. No one spoke. There was too much to process and none of them had slept in what felt like days.
Chief Chitwood emerged from his office, striding over to their desks, red-faced. Loose white hairs floated around his scalp. “I just got off the phone with Drake. He’s got a preliminary positive ID on the bodies at the Lesko residence. Just as you suspected, Quinn and Fraley. It’s Ted Lesko and Miles Tenney, and yes, Drake believes that was the work of Cerberus. Miles had a few superficial stab wounds to his arms and one shoulder, which look to have been sustained before death. His face was pretty bruised up. Drake thinks that someone other than Cerberus roughed him up at his apartment right before you and Palmer showed up there. That would explain why his blood was found there. He must have been on the run but it looks like Cerberus caught up with him.”
“Or a similar organization,” Noah muttered.
“Could be,” Chitwood agreed. “Regardless, the FBI is taking point on the murders of Miles Tenney and Ted Lesko.”
“What about Gloria, Dee, and Heidi?” Josie asked.
“Drake says that Ted and Miles hadn’t been dead for very long. Cerberus probably came late at night, did what they had to do, and got out fast. They wanted Miles. They got him. There’s no reason for them to have gone after Dee, much less take Heidi and Gloria as well.”