“I must go now. I cannot answer all your questions. Please keep her close and never allow her to be alone with her teacher or any of the Hindels.”
“You mean Rafael or Lawrence?”
“No, Seelah, she must be protected from all the Hindels.”
“But….” she began then stopped as Chandra disappeared from her sight.
“I don’t understand her last warning.” She looked at Jack as he hefted their luggage to his shoulder.
“Why, what did she say?”
“That we need to protect Jenny from all the Hindels. I thought just Rafael and Lawrence live in the parish.”
The mess they had come upon when he and Donavan checked out the cave flew into his mind. “I think Chandra just gave us some very important insight into what we are dealing with, Seelah. I wish I had known about this before she left, because I would like to thank her.”
“I think you’re at long last seeing the real Chandra.”
“Yeah and I’m startin’ to feel like a heel for the way I treated her.”
“You know what they say, love,” she kissed the side of his face, “it’s never too late to learn.”
Chapter Twenty Three
When Jack pulled into the driveway, he saw Donavan walk out the front door. “Wonder where he’s bound for?” He turned off the engine, stepped out of the truck. “Where you goin’ in such an all fired hurry?”
“You need to start paying more attention to your cell phone,” Donavan called out as he walked towards him. “I been trying to call you for almost 45 minutes. I was coming to get you.”
“Why? Somebody robbin’ the parish bank?” Jack met him halfway.
“No, it seems one of the girls, who works at the Gentleman’s Elite Club, got worked over pretty bad. She’s at Saint Anthony General in I.C.U.”
“Can she identify her attacker?”
“She’s unconscious. I guess one of the customers had a date to meet her and when he knocked on her door she didn’t answer. He went to the manager and together they went up to her room and found her all beat to shit.”
“Give me a minute to carry in our luggage and let Seelah know what’s goin’ on and I’ll go with you.”
“You need to make it fast. I should have already been at the hospital. They said she may not make it.”
“All right, let me get done here and we’ll be on our way.” He hurried back to the truck and to Seelah. “We got a call, babe. Soon as I get our stuff inside I gotta go.”
Seelah slid her feet to the ground. “What’s going on?”
“A girl got beaten up out at the Gentleman’s Elite Club.”
Barbara met them at the door. “Let me take that for you, Jack. I know you need to get going.” She took the luggage, moved out of the way for Seelah to come in.
Jack dropped a quick kiss on her mouth then turned to leave.
“Jack, wait a moment.” She reached out, halting him. “The woman was with Rafael Hindel. He’s the one who beat her.”
“You sure ‘bout that?” He spun around.
“Yes, Jack, I can see it. He beat her until she doesn’t even look human.”
“Why? Can you see what set him off?”
“Men like Hindel don’t need a reason. He beat her just to hurt her. He’s evil!”
“I gotta go. Keep the doors locked while we’re gone. And look into your crystal ball before opening it!”
“Stop worrying, Jack. We know what to do.”
“Just makin’ sure. The son of a bitch knows you’ll be able to tell us who did this, so he’ll be thinkin’ ‘bout comin’ for you.”
“Jack, just go on.” She shooed him away. “Don’t you think if I felt any danger, I wouldn’t let you out of my sight?”
“You gotta point. We’ll be back as soon as we can.” He waved to her over his shoulder.
“Jack, when I say we need to go, I mean we need to go now, not an hour from now.”
“If you’re through bitchin’ I got some info for you.” He slid into the seat, pulled the door closed as Donavan backed out of the driveway.
“What’s that?”
“Seelah said, the one we’re after for the attack on the girl’s none other than our ole friend, Rafael Hindel.” He lit a cigarette, waited for Donavan to begin thanking him for solving the case. When he remained silent, Jack turned in his seat to look at him. “Ain’t the least bit surprised at this?”
“No, Jack, I’m not. We saw Hindel at the restaurant with Christina Crawford, which means, he went to the club, which means, he had access to the girl we’re on our way to see.”
“Right.”
“Granted, he had no way of knowing we’d all run into each other tonight, but the fact remains, we got him being at the scene.”
“How so? For all we know he coulda picked her up at her place.”
“It’s easy enough to check.” He grabbed his cell-phone from the dash, hit the button to scan the names on the list.
“I hope to hell you ain’t callin’ Christina Crawford. If you are, all you’re gonna do is tip Hindel that we’re on to him. You know he’s at her place.”
“He won’t be there. Too soon into the game. He’ll want to come off as the complete gentleman before he makes his move.”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’ve used this little ploy yourself.”
“Maybe I have.” He chuckled as he saw the look of surprise crossing Jack’s face. “I haven’t always been a family man.”
“You never cease to amaze me.”
“Hello, Christina. I hope I’m not disturbing you. This is Detective Hays calling.” He listened to her reply then laughed. “No, I’m not calling to apologize for Detective Olivier’s remarks, although I am sure I should. Yes, I agree, he does tend to say just what’s on his mind.” He glanced at Jack.
“Ask her how lover boy’s holdin’ up. If he can even get it up.”
“What was that, Christina? I had a little interference on my end.” He pushed the phone against his chest. “Will you shut the hell up?”
Jack flipped the third finger at him, grinned as Donavan glowered back.
“The reason I’m calling, is I need to ask you a question. I know you spent the evening with Rafael Hindel. No, I know that’s none of my business. Who you spend your time with is of no concern of mine. Yes, I agree with you. But…if you will give me just a moment, I’ll explain why I’m calling.”
“Little on the defensive, ain’t she?”
“I need to know if Mr. Hindel picked you up at the club.” He held the phone away from his ear while she screamed her anger. “I’m sorry. Yes, I agree that was a poor choice of words. However, if you will calm down and let me begin again, I’ll get to the point. That’s better. What I meant to say is, did Mr. Hindel meet you at the club before taking you out to dinner?”
“Hell, I coulda done better’n that!” Jack didn’t bother to halt the laughter in his voice.
“I have a reason for asking you this question, Christina. I am not interfering in your business. I thought you and I have become friends. Friends don’t speak to each other like that. Now, take a deep breath and answer my question. Thank you, that’s all I needed to know. Have a good evening, Christina and again, I’m sorry for having to bother you.” He turned off the phone, tossed it back on the dash.
“So, did he pick her up at the club?”
“Yep. We can place him at the scene.” Donavan pulled into a parking space.
“Christina didn’t seem too hot on answering your questions.” He reached for the door. “Gramps must be one hell of a wooer. I don’t know why a woman who looks like she does, would want anything to do with his decrepit old ass in the first place.”
“That decrepit old ass is loaded. Christina Crawford earns her living by stripping for a room full of those decrepit old asses! Need I say more?”
“I can’t see anyone bein’ that hungry.”
“You’re not earning your living by taking off your clothes, Jack.
”
“No,” he snickered. “but I bet I could!”
“You wouldn’t have the balls and you know it, you crazy bastard!” Donavan stepped from the jeep.
“Detective Hays, hold up there,” a voice called out.
Donavan turned as a uniformed officer walked towards him.
“We just got word the woman brought in from that strip club expired about fifteen minutes ago.”
“Was she able to ID her attacker?”
The officer shook his head, looked away.
“God damn it!” Donavan breathed. “Have they moved her to the morgue yet?”
“They’d just finished gettin’ her ready as I left. So I’d say they already have.”
Donavan smacked a hand against his shirt pocket to make sure he had his small camera. “Come on, Jack. I want to get there before they get started on her.”
“Thanks, Roberts.” Jack nodded to the officer.
“It’s started. By this time next week, we could be looking at three or four more bodies.”
“This don’t make sense. Why would Hindel put himself at the scene? Hell he has to know we’re gonna check on him.”
“After we get through here, I want to go to the club and see what we can turn up. Yeah, I agree with you, putting himself at a murder scene doesn’t make any sense. Even though he’s a wily bastard, I’m anxious to know how he plans to slip out of this one.”
“Simple, he’s gonna go with ‘prove I did it’. Rafael thinks he’s invincible. The laws don’t apply to him.” Jack could already feel his stomach tighten as they stepped from the elevator.
Donavan growled, “That’s what Jonathan thought, right up until his ass got fried. It’s just a matter of time until we get Rafael, too.”
“I hope he don’t stack up the whole parish before that happens.” Jack wiped a shaky hand across his forehead.
“You still haven’t gotten used to coming here, have you?”
“I doubt if that will ever happen. God damn place gives me the creeps!”
“Remember to breathe through the mouth and step out if you feel yourself getting faint.” Donavan pushed on the swinging door.
“Yeah, I know the routine, Donavan. Remember?”
“Perkins,” Donavan held out a hand to the man tying a leather apron around his waist. “I see you’re already hard at work.”
Perkins finished tying the apron, reached out his hand. “Somebody worked her over pretty good.” He nodded to a covered body lying on a stainless steel table. “Without a doubt, you got a rage-killing with this one.” He whipped off the sheet to uncover a well-proportioned female.
When he saw the extent of damage done to her face, Jack stepped back from the table. “Good Christ!” He covered his mouth. “He hit her so hard the entire left side of her face is caved in.”
“Took a strong person to do this much damage. When I first saw her I thought she’d been hit by a truck.”
Donavan stepped up to the table and with complete calmness snapped off some close-up pictures.
“I know it has to be done, but god damn, do you have to be so nonchalant about it?” Jack gave him a sour look.
Perkins moved back out of the way to allow Donavan room to work.
“This doesn’t bother me at all, Jack and I’ll tell you why.” He continued to snap off pictures as he moved around the table. “I’m going to make a copy of every picture I take here, then, when the timing is right, you and I are going to pay Christina Crawford a little visit.”
“If you want my opinion on that idea, I vote we hold off until we know for sure what we’re dealin’ with.”
“Ain’t she a stripper at The Gentleman’s Elite Club?” Perkins spoke up.
“Yeah, this woman was one of her co-workers,” Donavan told him.
“No shit?” Perkins stared at him. “I always thought that was a pretty upscale place. Is that where she got attacked?”
“That’s where she got attacked and murdered,” Jack said.
“This is going to sound heartless, but you can bet your ass when this hits the papers, every wife in the parish is going to be dancing a jig in the streets.” Perkins unwrapped a package of different instruments to line them up one by one on the small Mayo table. “They’ve been trying to get that place closed for years!”
“When this hits the papers, it’s gonna rile more than just wives. It’s gonna get a lotta people thinkin’!”
“About what?” Perkins reached for a pair of long-handled tweezers.
“About who did this,” Donavan told him.
“I don’t know why that should cause a ruckus. Murder isn’t all that foreign to the parish. When you mix booze and naked broads, you have to expect something like this.” Perkins tweezed a short dark hair from the woman’s navel to place it in one of the many jars arranged on the table. “I don’t know how true it is, but I’ve heard the girls do a lot more for the gentlemen than take off their clothes.”
“Oh,” Jack threw up his hands, “there’s a fuckin’ bulletin.”
“Just trying to be of help.” Perkins scribbled on a small label, placed it across the jar and then capped it. “The way you two are acting, you’d think we have another Hindel massacre on our hands.” When they remained silent, he looked up. “You aren’t serious?” He waited for a smile that didn’t come
“We are, but you know enough to keep that to yourself. It seems Rafael Hindel showed up at the club last night. Now, all we have to do is tie him to the girl.” Donavan placed the camera back inside the case.
“Wait a minute,” he gave them his full attention, “are you telling me Rafael Hindel murdered this girl? What the hell are you basing that on?”
“We got our reasons,” Jack spoke up.
“That’s obvious. Look, just because Lawrence is a nut and his dad was a nut, doesn’t mean Rafael Hindel’s a nut for Christ’s sake.”
“Perkins, you and I have known each other for a lot of years. Right?”
“Of course. But that don’t…”
“I think you know I would never jump to conclusions in a case.”
“That’s right, I do, but…”
“If you’d shut the fuck up and let Donavan say what he wants to say, you could find out what you want to know.”
“Thank you, Jack.” Donavan grinned over at him. “Now, as I said, unless I got more than theory going here, I’m not going to zero in on one person.”
This time Perkins waited to hear him out.
“We’ve been investigating the Hindels for some months now. Starting with the disappearance of the two teens.”
“That’s right, the estate is the last place anyone saw them. I forgot about that. Even so, this is a whole different ball game, here. This girl’s been beaten to death.”
“Can I finish?” Donavan asked.
Perkins spread his hands. “Go ahead.”
“After the two teens came up missing, we started keeping a closer eye on the Hindels. What we found, is they got a lot more going on out there than people know about.”
“Such as?” Perkins pulled a stool over close to the table.
“For one thing people are living in the cave, again. That and some evidence we took from the estate involving the kids, came up missing from a locked evidence room.”
“Can you prove the Hindels did it?” His tone held both surprise and fear.
“We’re working on it. The night the evidence came up missing, we got Rafael and Lawrence on video at the station. In addition, the outside video showed a man entering the department at the same time. Does that sound like mere coincidence? I don’t think so. Now, we have Rafael present at a murder scene. Do you still think we’re jumping to conclusions?”
“Sounds like you got a lot of circumstantial evidence to me.”
“What the hell do you want, Perkins,” Jack stepped forward, “Hindel caught on camera beatin’ her brains out?”
“That would sure tie up any loose ends. All I’m saying, is with Hindel’s mone
y, you’re gonna need a lot more than theory.”
“I think you’ve been inhalin’ too much formaldehyde,” Jack told him, his eyes scanning the body on the table. “What the fuck…,” his breath caught and he stepped back, “am I seein’ things or is that there?”
Perkins got to his feet to get a better view. “What are you seeing?”
“Jesus Christ! What do you mean, what is he seeing? Are you blind?” Donavan stepped closer to the table, pointed at the woman’s groin.
“How the hell did I miss that?” He grabbed a pair of magnifying glasses off the table. “Who would shave a pentagram in their pubic hair?”
“Someone who wanted to be sure it got seen.” Donavan cast a quick glance at Jack. “You can bet your ass it wasn’t her! Still think it’s all circumstantial, Perkins?” Donavan pulled the camera back out of his pocket to snap off a close up picture of the shaved pentagram.
Perkins’ head shot up. “Are you implying the killer did this?”
“I’m not implying anything, god damn it! I’m telling you,” he punctuated each word with a jab of his finger, “this…is…Rafael…Hindel’s…calling-card!”
“Now just hold on a second.” He laughed outright. “You’re trying to make me believe that whoever killed this woman, took the time to shave a pentagram on her crotch?”
“Perkins, you ignorant fuck! He might as well have signed his name.”
“In all my years of practicing forensics, I got to tell you, I’ve never seen anything like this!”
“You’re seeing it now,” Donavan told him. “Rafael Hindel’s obsessed with letting us know it’s him. What does the mark of a pentagram mean to you?”
“Hell I don’t know.” He thought for a moment. “Oh yeah,” he slapped a hand to his forehead, “all those Lon Chaney movies. Means someone’s going to be attacked by a werewolf.”
“That’s right.” Jack gazed at him.
“Jack, I thought you got off the sauce.” A wide grin spread across his face. “If you’re going to stand here, with a straight face and try to convince me Rafael Hindel’s a werewolf, you better start going to those meetings again. Because it’s a sure fact, you ain’t cured!”
“What’s your excuse for my thinking the same thing?” Donavan asked. “Didn’t you learn anything from the Jonathan Hindel nightmare?”
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