Jack Daniels Six Pack

by J. A. Konrath

  Though Herb and I went by the book, there might be prosecution problems because this wasn’t our jurisdiction. But I had more immediate concerns.

  Bud Kork lay on a hospital cot, handcuffs locking him to the bed frame. White gauze swaddled his head like a turban. Cotton packed his nose, and a piece of tape stretched across the bridge. Two shiners encircled his eyes, and his mouth hung open, revealing decades of dental neglect in muted browns and yellows.

  Dr. Murphy pulled back the sheet and the hospital gown, exposing the marks on Kork’s pale, sunken chest. The scars were in the shape of three-inch letters, forming the word sinner. The word was repeated eight times on his chest and abdomen in raised pink skin.

  “I’m guessing this came from branding.”

  “It was. We found the branding iron back at his house.”

  That wasn’t all we found, so I had an idea of what to expect as the examination continued.

  “Help me turn him over, Lieutenant.”

  He pushed Kork’s shoulders, and I pushed at the hip. Kork flounced onto his belly. His back was a road map of pain. There wasn’t a single patch of unmarked skin from his collar down to the backs of his knees. It looked like a buffet of chopped, congealed lunch meat, knotted and discolored.

  “Most of these marks appear to be self-inflicted.” Displeasure bunched up Dr. Murphy’s face. “Some kind of many-tailed whip with barbs on the end.”

  In Kork’s bedroom closet we’d found an old toolbox full of implements. These scars would match the cat-o’-nine-tails he owned.

  “Down here, along the thighs, the pattern is different.”

  The rusty wire brush, used for stripping paint.

  “These X’s here, here, here, and here are burn marks.”

  Another branding iron, in the shape of a cross.

  “And these puncture marks appear to be from nails.”

  We hadn’t found any nails in his mutilation kit, but they’d probably turn up.

  “Let’s put him on his back again. There’s more.”

  We flipped Kork over and his head lolled to the side. He snored softly.

  “Brace yourself for this, Lieutenant. I’ve been an MD for sixteen years, never saw anything like it.”

  He pulled down the sheet, exposing Kork’s groin. I winced.

  Bud Kork had no genitalia. His penis and testicles were missing. A small brownish nub of scar tissue poked out of the nest of gray pubic hair.

  The doctor dropped the sheet. “It gets worse. When I saw the mutilation to the genitals, I ordered a pelvic X-ray.” He pulled out the chart at the foot of the bed. “Take a look.”

  I stared at the X-ray of Kork’s pelvis and thighs. It appeared to be covered with white scratches.

  “See all of those lines? Between two and four centimeters long? There are forty-three of them.”

  “What are they?”

  “Needles.”

  I stared at Kork in disbelief.

  “He’s got over forty needles embedded in his groin, rectum, buttocks, and thighs. See the dotted lines here? Those are ones that have been in him for so long, his body is breaking them down. The pain must be unimaginable.”

  I recalled how Bud Kork walked, like every step hurt.

  “Any idea when he’ll wake up?”

  “Could be in ten minutes. Could be next year.”

  I gave the doctor my card. “It’s very important you call me if there’s any change. Or when he regains consciousness. Besides all those dead kids we found in his cellar, he’s a prime suspect in a current homicide investigation.”

  “When he wakes up, he might not remember where he is or what happened. Head injuries are fickle.”

  I offered a grim smile and shook the man’s hand. “I’ve dealt with something similar before. Thanks, Doctor.”

  I stepped out of the room and asked the officer to contact the team at Kork’s house and put me in touch with Sergeant Herb Benedict. After a burst of static and some chatter, Herb came on.

  “Hi, Jack. You’re missing a real circus here. Over.”

  “Perp’s out, will be for a while. How’s the search? Over.”

  “No camcorders, no videotapes. Guy didn’t even have a TV that worked. No black gloves or hunting knives either, over.”

  The killer in Diane Kork’s murder video wore black leather gloves and used a hunting knife.

  “Anything at all, Herb?”

  “They’re removing the thirteenth body now. Plus, there’s some weird stuff.”

  “On this end too. When you’re done, pick me up.”

  “I’ll be there soon. Out.”

  I’d left Herb on the scene because Gary PD broke the Kork story, and there were now more reporters in this town than residents. So far the hospital had kept them out, which suited me fine. I’m sure Bains was already cultivating an aneurism about the fire last night. If he saw me on TV, his head would explode.

  I went back to the waiting room and watched CNN. Two guys in disposable paper suits and air regulators hauled another body bag out of Kork’s house. The top graphic read Horror in Indiana, and the rolling caption along the bottom of the screen told how this was the home of Bud Kork, supposed father of Charles Kork, the infamous killer known as the Gingerbread Man.

  The scene cut away to some footage from two years ago, the day we closed the Gingerbread Man case. My face came on, full screen, and I said something about justice being served.

  The graphic flashed my name, Lieutenant Jack Daniels, in large letters, and then went on to explain how the event turned me into a television star on the series Fatal Autonomy.

  I wondered if the superintendent watched CNN.

  Mercifully, my big face was replaced with some awful tragedy happening in the Middle East. I buried my nose in a Woman’s World magazine and waited patiently for Benedict to arrive.

  He did, twenty minutes later.

  “There’s a horde of reporters out there, Jack. Maybe you want to take a back way out? Or wrap a sheet around your head?”

  “Doesn’t matter now. I was just a sound bite on CNN, and they’ll replay it every forty minutes until this all blows over. Let’s just get out of here. It’s doubtful anyone will recognize me anyway.”

  Herb and I stepped outside into a thick sea of reporters, cameras, and crews. Someone yelled, “It’s Jack Daniels!” and the mob closed in and swallowed us up, chattering and shoving.

  “Lieutenant Daniels, did you make the arrest?”

  “Lieutenant Daniels, have you spoken to Bud Kork?”

  “Lieutenant Daniels, how does this compare to the Gingerbread Man case?”

  “Lieutenant Daniels, you look like you’ve lost weight. Is it the stress?”

  Herb tried to pull me through the throng of bodies, but the throng refused to budge. With no other options, I finally held up a hand and yelled, “I’d like to make a statement.”

  Everyone shut up.

  “I’m not in Gary because of Bud Kork. I was visiting the Blessed Mercy hospital to have elective surgery.”

  “What kind of surgery?” eight or nine networks shouted. “I was having my foot removed from a reporter’s ass. I don’t want to have surgery again so soon, so please let us through.”

  They let us through. When we finally reached the car, Herb grinned at me.

  “I’m guessing they won’t air that.”

  “Who knows? Fox might. I don’t really care. My hand hurts, my lungs hurt, and we still have nothing at all on this case. And I smell like dead people. I just want to get home.”

  Herb motored out of the parking lot and followed the signs to the expressway.

  “We just took a very bad man off the streets, Jack. Should be happy about that.”

  “He’s crazy. He’ll spend the rest of his life in some cushy institution, being scrutinized by ViCAT chuckleheads. He was doing a fine job punishing himself. We could have left him alone.”

  “Punishing himself?”

  I gave Herb the condensed version. He looked ap
propriately ill by the end of it.

  “He cut off Little Willy?”

  “Right at the root.”

  “And the twins?”

  “Lefty and Righty, both.”

  Benedict shuddered. “Jesus. That’s who they belonged to. Cops found a set of genitals wrapped in foil, in the freezer.”

  I made a mock-serious face. “Herb, you know what that is, don’t you?”

  “No. What?”

  “It’s a cocksicle.”

  He didn’t laugh. Maybe my timing was off. Comedy is all about the timing.

  “Guys don’t find castration funny, Jack.”

  I nudged him with an elbow. “That’s because it’s like getting a lobotomy.”

  “See? Not funny.”

  But I still had more material.

  “In a way, I kind of feel sorry for Bud. I mean, where does he put his hand when he’s watching TV?”

  “Not all men grab themselves when they’re watching TV.”

  “Or when they’re driving?”

  Benedict looked down, noticed he was adjusting himself. He turned a shade of red normally seen on valentine cards.

  “I wasn’t grabbing.”

  “What were you doing? Frisking yourself?”

  He went sheepish. “Just checking to make sure they were still there.”

  Benedict merged onto the expressway. When his blush faded a bit, he changed the topic.

  “We found some seriously awful things at Kork’s place. In the barn there was a locked wooden box, with tiny holes punched in it. When we opened it, the inside was covered in scratch marks. He kept people in there.”

  I shuddered. “Jesus.”

  “This guy’s a monster. Sort of makes sense why his son turned out the way he did. Can you imagine growing up in a house like that?”

  “I don’t even want to try. It’s not my job to understand these kooks. It’s just my job to catch them.”

  “Doesn’t understanding them make catching them easier?”

  “Sure. Next time I see a guy who has sinner branded all over his chest, I’ll place him under arrest.”

  “Want to hear the weirdest thing we found? In the bathroom. The bathtub. Filled to the top.”

  I bit. “With what?”

  “With urine. Kork must have been peeing in that tub for years.”

  “That’s disgusting.”

  “Gets worse.” Herb made the Mr. Yuck face. “Next to the tub was a bar of soap and some piss-soaked towels. Apparently, he’s been taking baths.”

  I massaged my temples. This had officially become too freaky for me to adequately process.

  We spent the remainder of the ride trying to gross each other out, and by the time Herb dropped me off at home I’d decided to give up food forever.

  Back in my apartment, Mr. Friskers ran away from me when I entered. Must have been the death smell. I checked for messages (none), and drew a bath into which I dumped every oil, salt, and soap I owned. I’d just climbed in, bubbles up to my ears, when the phone rang.

  I let the machine get it.

  “Jack, it’s Latham.”

  I vaulted out of the tub, almost met my death slipping on the tile floor, and snatched up the phone, out of breath.

  “Latham? Hi! I just got in.”

  “Hi yourself. How are you doing?”

  Stinky. Alone. Depressed. Freezing. “Great. I’m great. How about you?”

  “Good. Job’s going well. I love the new condo. How’s your mom?”

  “Still in a coma.”

  “That’s awful. I’m sorry.”

  “Can we get together?” I bit my lower lip. I was so cold, my knees were knocking together.

  “Sure. That would be nice. The thing is, though, I’m seeing someone.”

  If he’d cut my heart out of my chest with a cleaver it would have hurt less. I squeezed my eyes closed and tried to sound upbeat.

  “That’s great. What’s her name?”

  “Maria.”

  “Maria. Great. Great name. Is it serious?”

  “We’ve been dating for a few months, and I just asked her to move in with me.”

  Latham had asked me that same thing, but I turned him down, because I am the Queen of All Who Are Stupid.

  “Well . . . that’s great. I’m happy for you.”

  “I’d still like to see you, though. To catch up. Touch base.”

  Screw me until I can’t stand up? Instead I said, “Yeah, that would be nice.”

  “I’ll give you a call in a few days?”

  “Yeah. Sure. Sounds good.”

  “Bye-bye, Jack. Great talking to you.”

  “Yeah. Same here.”

  He hung up.

  I stood there a moment, teeth chattering, and then moped back into the bathtub.

  It was my fault that he was with Maria. Just like it was my fault my mother was in a coma. She’d been living with me, and a criminal I’d been chasing broke into my apartment and took his wrath for me out on her.

  I wondered if Bud Kork had a branding iron that said fuckup.

  After a long soak, which still didn’t get all of the stink out, I crawled into bed and stared at the ceiling, knowing I’d never be able to fall asleep.

  So I didn’t even try.

  Chapter 24

  DR. MORTON TRIES to scream, but he can’t—his mouth is full.

  Chapter 25

  SLEEP NEVER CAME.

  I crawled out of bed at six a.m., hacked up some black gunk from my lungs, forced myself through a hundred sit-ups, and showered. I’d spent all night watching the Weather Channel, and there was enough meteorological evidence to suggest that today would be partly cloudy, with a high of seventy-five.

  I dressed in a gray Ralph Lauren pantsuit, a black short-sleeved blouse, and some two-inch heels I picked up at Payless. It would take me a while before I wore nice shoes to work again.

  I also put on just a small spray of L’Air du Temps. I’m not a perfume kind of gal, but I wanted to cover up the smell of decay that still clung to me. I was supposed to meet up with Harry McGlade tonight. If I stank, he’d be vocal about it.

  After feeding the cat, who still avoided me, I searched the pantry for foodstuffs and found some cranberry granola bars. Mom loved them. I hated them. But I was starving, so I forced one down.

  I stuck another one in my pocket, disengaged the alarm, and opened my door to leave. As I did, a small package that had been leaning against the door fell inward.

  Same brown envelope as the one delivered to me at work.

  I tugged out my Colt, looked left, right, then hurried down the hallway to the stairwell.

  There wasn’t anyone to chase.

  I went back into my apartment, nudging the envelope in with my toe. Then I found some rubber gloves under the sink and carried the package over to the kitchen table. I slit it open with a bread knife and dumped out the obligatory unlabeled black VHS tape.

  Such a small, harmless, everyday item. Yet it filled me with dread.

  The first tape had been wiped clean of prints, but hope springs eternal, so I only held the video by the very edge in my gloved hand. I brought it into the bedroom, put it in the VCR, and let it play.

  This one began with a close-up of a man’s bare chest. He was sitting on a chair with his hands behind him, probably tied or cuffed.

  A black gloved hand, with a long black leather sleeve, used a box cutter to open him up from nipple to nipple. The screams were so loud they distorted the audio. Then the hand came back into frame with some pliers.

  The granola bar jumped around in my stomach. I hit the Fast-forward button, watching this poor guy get his chest, then his back, peeled in triple time. When the atrocities finally ended with a deep slash across the carotid artery, the killer stepped behind the camera and zoomed out, revealing the man’s head.

  No burlap bag this time. The victim’s face was clear. And worst of all, identifiable.

  Dr. Francis Mulrooney. The eccentric, gentle handwriting e
xpert. A man whom I considered a friend.

  The tape ended, reverting to blue screen.

  Anger came first. Then sadness. Then, like a slap, fear.

  The killer had murdered Diane Kork and Francis Mulrooney, two people involved in the Gingerbread Man case. The killer also knew where I lived.

  When I received the first tape, I took it to be a boast by the perp. Look what I can do, and you can’t catch me.

  This second tape was more than a boast. It was an obvious threat. He was saying You’re next.

  I placed the tape and the envelope into a fresh plastic garbage bag, and headed for Mulrooney’s office, keeping a careful eye on the rearview mirror. Why did it seem like every looney in Chicago knew where I lived? Did they give out my address at Serial Killer School?

  The day was partly cloudy, I’d guess it at seventy-five degrees. Score one for the Weather Channel.

  The graphologist’s office was on Fifty-ninth Street, at the University of Chicago’s Hyde Park campus. I took Lake Shore Drive south, a twenty-minute trip, exiting at the Museum of Science and Industry on Fifty-seventh, following Stony Island to Fifty-ninth. The campus area covered about five square blocks, wooded and peaceful and brimming with coffee shops and used bookstores and academic activity. But south of Stoney, and west of Drexel, the neighborhoods turned very bad very fast, with high crime rates and Emergency Stations every few blocks—phones that linked directly to 911.

  I parked next to a hydrant and entered the old brownstone where Mulrooney worked. A fat security guard sat behind a round counter. He had a squashed appearance, with several chins, and resembled a bullfrog perched on a toadstool. I flashed my gold, my earlier anger and fear stored safely behind a cloak of cool professionalism.

  “Where’s the office of Dr. Francis Mulrooney?”

  “Second floor, last door.” His voice was high and whiny, ruining the frog motif he had going for himself.

  “Is it locked?”

  “Probably.”

  “Can you open it?”

  “Sure.”

  We took the elevator, a small space that could carry five people, four if they were as rotund as my security guard friend. Someone had scratched some swear words into the stainless steel panel next to the buttons. Even our highly praised bastions of education weren’t immune from folks who thought “shit-breath” was high comedy. Why didn’t vandals ever quote Shakespeare? I’d love to see graffiti in iambic pentameter.