by Kay Bigelow
“If you want to stay involved, you can have your team search the living quarters of Joseph Preata and the home of Frank Martin. You’ll need search warrants, though. My search warrant only covered Martin’s chipper.”
“Of course I want to stay involved. Where are they now?”
“They’re on their way to you as we speak.”
“I hope you’re right about all this, Leah. Arresting a priest is serious business in this town,” Nikki told her. “Regardless, though, I’ll send my teams out.”
Leah laughed. “He did us a favor and bragged in true villain style. He admitted to all of it, in front of me and my detective. I’m not worried about being wrong.” She hung up after saying she’d check in shortly.
“Are you okay?” Leah asked Peony.
“I think so. Is there any way we can keep it a secret I was bested by a priest?” Peony asked with a grin.
“I’ll see what I can do, but I make no promises.”
“Boss, you’re bleeding pretty bad from the gash on your cheek. We need to get you to a hospital,” Peony said.
“No hospital,” Leah said. She hated hospitals. She’d spent way too much time in them as a rookie cop with a beat. There was too much pain and death in hospitals. She wanted nothing to do with them.
“At least let Cots clean you up and put a bandage on the cut so you look a little less like some sort of space pirate. That, or we can go to the hospital on the way back to the precinct to have it stitched up.”
“Neither of those options are viable. Let’s get to Nikki’s house and wrap this thing up.”
As they headed to the van and Cots, Leah was glad this case was finished. She would probably have to testify at Preata’s and Martin’s trials. After that, there was a good chance she’d no longer be a cop, and she wasn’t sure that would be a bad thing. She simply didn’t know whether she still wanted to be a cop. She knew she needed time to process Quinn and everything related to her, but she didn’t even know how to begin to do that.
Chapter Nineteen
“We’re not going anywhere until you let me look at that wound,” Cots said when they got back to the van.
“It’s nothing. I’ll take a shower when we get home,” Leah said, waving him off.
“No, you’ll let me look at it and clean it now or we’re going to the hospital. Those are your choices here, Leah.”
Leah sighed. Why did these two think they could order her about? I’m not a fragile flower afraid of a little pain and blood. She wouldn’t go to a hospital so she let him clean the wound, but she wasn’t happy about it.
“You need BodyBound or you’ll have a scar,” he told her.
“I’m not going to the hospital,” she said emphatically. “Scars add character.”
The only place to find BodyBound, though, was at the hospital. It hadn’t yet been released for use by the general public. The doctors’ lobbying groups made sure of that.
“Let me try something I read about a while ago. They’re called butterfly stitches. You’ll still have a scar, but it won’t look as bad as if we do nothing now,” Cots said.
“Where did you read about them?” Leah asked.
“What does it matter? You only have three choices. You can go to the hospital or you can have butterfly stitches.”
“What’s my third choice?” Leah asked.
“I have a needle and thread in my kit,” Cots said.
Leah didn’t see that she had three choices at all. The mere thought of needle and thread made her nauseous. Butterfly stitches it would be.
“How long will the stitches take?” Leah asked, capitulating without seeming to.
“About a minute and a half.”
“Then do it.”
Cots was right. It did take less than two minutes to apply the stitches. It didn’t hurt as much as the cleaning had, and that was a good thing. After he finished, he sat back to admire his work.
“Don’t do anything that puts a strain on those stitches. If any of them come loose, I’ll drop you off at the hospital. Understand?” he asked sternly.
Leah gave a single nod of understanding. She wasn’t sure what would dislodge a butterfly stitch, but she knew it wasn’t anything she wanted to test.
Cots had just finished cleaning up his doctor stuff and putting it all in his kit when several squad cars pulled up to the Martin house.
Leah had a short conversation with the sergeant in charge, directing him to look for anything at all that connected the men, as well as anything else that seemed out of place. She could only hope at this point there weren’t any cops who felt the need to hide evidence because of their personal beliefs. The case was no longer hers to keep to herself.
When she returned to the van, she told Cots to take them to Nikki’s precinct house. As they neared the precinct, Cots said, “I need to do some grocery shopping. Call me when you need a ride home.”
Leah laughed. His reluctance to be around cops mirrored her reluctance to be near a hospital. She sent him on his way.
When she and Peony walked into the squad room, it became deathly quiet. She hadn’t expected a marching band, but this quiet was disconcerting.
“What’s going on? Are we in trouble?” Peony whispered, concern lacing her voice.
Before Leah could answer, a buzz began. She knew they were talking about her and Peony, but she wasn’t sure why.
Nikki motioned them into her office.
“You’re quite the celebrities,” she told them after Leah introduced her to Peony.
“Why?” Peony asked.
“Why? Let me count the ways. You captured the killers of fourteen people by yourselves, without help from the department. One of the men you arrested was a priest and the acting bishop, who apparently killed his predecessor. I say again, I only hope you know what you’re doing, Leah. By the way, you look terrible.” Nikki looked her over.
Leah glanced down and, for the first time, noticed the blood on the front of her blouse. She must have bled more than she’d realized.
“Did you go to the hospital or see a doctor?”
“Saw a doctor.” She elbowed Peony when she was about to interject.
“He did a piss-poor job of fixing that gash,” Nikki said. “I’ve got a clean blouse in my drawer. Why don’t you put it on?”
From the tone of Nikki’s voice, Leah knew it wasn’t really a question. It was an order.
Nikki handed Leah the clean blouse, and she headed for the bathroom to change. Once there, she glanced in the mirror and immediately understood why Nikki had wanted her to change. She looked like she’d been hit with a plank of wood. She quickly stripped out of the bloodied blouse and stuffed it into the recycler and watched it disappear down the chute. Next, she took a handful of towelette packages and one by one opened them and cleaned the residual blood off her face, neck, and chest. After she put Nikki’s blouse on, she at least looked somewhat presentable.
“Have you started interrogating them?” Leah asked Nikki when she returned to Nikki’s office.
“No. It’s your case.”
“We got a confession from Preata at the scene, but we hadn’t read him his rights yet.”
“He gave you a spontaneous confession?” Nikki asked.
Leah glanced at Peony, who shrugged.
“He had a gun to Peony’s head. I guess he thought it gave him the upper hand and he’d get away from us.”
“That was pretty stupid of him, wasn’t it?” Nikki asked.
“Yeah, it was,” Leah said with a grin, which caused the wound on her cheek to ooze. She winced and went to wipe at it, but Nikki stopped her.
“Nasty cut there,” Nikki said again, handing her a bandage and a roll of tape. “You really ought to go to the hospital and get BodyBonded.”
“I’ve got stitches. That’s all I’m going to do about it. Let’s get this show on the road.” Leah motioned toward the door.
“Who do you want to talk to first?”
“Preata. I want him to c
onfirm what he told us at the house.”
“He’s in Interview One.”
Leah and Peony left Nikki and went toward the interview room. There were even more people in the room than before, and several called out praise as they walked through. Leah simply nodded, and Peony looked bemused.
“Do you want to try your hand at Preata?” Leah asked when they got to the interview room.
“Really?” Peony asked.
“If you’re up to it.”
“The son of a Drularian she-dog had a gun to my head. Of course I’m up to it.”
Leah smiled. “Let’s go, then.”
They neared the interview room, and Leah stopped. “Help me put this bandage on. I don’t want to be distracted by blood oozing down by cheek.”
Peony was quick and efficient and had the gauze bandage over the wound in seconds. She taped it down and stood back. Leah was surprised at how efficient she was and how gentle.
“Thanks,” Leah said. “Let’s do this.”
At the door to the interview room, Leah said, “Recording on. Lieutenant Leah Samuels and Detective Peony Fong conducting the interview of Joseph Preata, who has been read his rights and declined representation at this time.”
When they entered the interview room, Leah knew both an oral and a visual recording of the interview were being done. She was surprised Preata didn’t start screaming for an attorney right away. His injured wrist was resting in his lap, but he didn’t complain about the pain or ask to see a doctor.
“Mr. Preata, my name is Lieutenant Samuels, and this is Detective Fong. First, I want to confirm Detective Taylor read you your rights. Is that correct?”
Preata nodded.
“Let the record reflect Mr. Preata has nodded.”
Leah nodded to Peony to take over the interview.
“Can I get you something to drink?” Peony asked politely.
“I could use a cup of coffee,” Preata said.
When the coffee was delivered moments later without Peony or Leah having left the room, Preata didn’t question how someone had known to deliver the coffee to him.
“Mr. Preata, you stated you told Mr. Martin it was God’s will he kill the members of the coven of witches and Bishop Cohane. Is that correct?” Peony asked, her voice a little shaky as the adrenaline caused by having a gun pointed at her head by the man sitting across from her began to dissipate.
“No, it is not. It’s true I told him it was God’s will he take his daughter out of the coven. When she refused to leave, I suggested he do something about it,” Preata said, his eyes as cold as the Arctic in January.
“I see. Mr. Martin doesn’t seem particularly bright. Did he get your meaning?”
“No, of course not. I had to explain it in detail to the cretin.” Preata’s disdain for Martin was clear.
“That must have frustrated you.”
“It was beneath me to have to deal with such stupidity, yes.”
Leah wished the man would do something stupid himself so she could hit him.
“What did you do?”
“The only thing you can do with people like him. I eventually had to describe it to him in detail before he understood my meaning.”
“That must have been painful for you.”
“You have no idea how painful. In the end, I had to tell him the coven needed to die so there wouldn’t be just one victim. He hated women enough it wasn’t hard to convince him it was God’s will.”
“Did he believe you?”
“Of course he did. I’m a priest.” Preata looked at Peony like she was as stupid as Martin.
“How did he kill the women?” Peony asked.
Leah could see her knuckles were white where she had her hands clasped in her lap, but her expression didn’t show a thing.
“He put them into his chipper. I didn’t see him do it, I just saw him put the bodies in the truck.” He rolled his eyes like they were wasting his time.
“What truck?”
“He had a little truck attached to the back of the chipper. He used that to move the bodies to the chipper.”
“How in the world did you convince the bishop to go to the field?” Peony asked, changing the subject.
“He wasn’t any smarter than the cretin.”
“What do you mean?”
“It was easy to convince him his presence at the coven’s meeting would turn those girls around and return them to the bosom of Christ and the Church.”
“Did you tell Martin to leave evidence of the bishop in the field?”
“Certainly not. Why would I do that? I was hoping he’d erase all evidence of the bishop’s existence. I didn’t want him ever to be found. If you found something to identify him by, it was Martin’s stupidity rearing its ugly head one more time.”
Peony worked him until they had all the details. Preata’s eyes blazed with the fury of the zealot, and Leah wondered if being caught had snapped something in his brain.
“I was at the scene to make sure Martin didn’t lose sight of what God and I wanted him to do. The bishop tried to stop him, but he was convinced he was doing God’s work and the bishop was a devil in disguise. Still, he didn’t want to kill the bishop. In the end, I had to do it myself. And there wasn’t a cop in sight during the whole thing. Beautiful.” Preata laughed.
“The whole thing?” Peony asked innocently.
“That’s right.” He leaned forward as though to confide in her. “Do you know how lucky we are to have so many cops willing to look the other way for a bit of money?” He laughed, his eyes unfocused. “Hell, when I found out a piece of the bishop was found, I even had one willing to blow up a bunch of other cops. He barely took a breath before he took the money I offered him, and that meant I didn’t have to worry about the evidence anymore. ’Course, I asked another cop, too, as a backup, but she ended up backing out. Too bad she didn’t die with the others.”
Leah, who was standing in the corner behind Preata, nodded at Peony. Just like that, they had the connection Leah’s instincts had said was there all along. Their job was almost done.
“Oh, one last question. Why did you kill Quinn Benubrian?” Peony asked, without looking at Leah.
Preata looked at Leah when he answered. “Stephan Grandini, the former head of the Grandini family, had been a long-time supporter of the Church and of my career in particular. When the Church and the people running the business side of the city work hand in hand, it’s a big win-win. He’d done me a favor when I was younger. When one of Stephanie’s people called Monday and said she needed a favor, I refused at first because it’d be too dangerous. I was told it was either Benubrian or me. Apparently, Benubrian stepped out of line, was refusing to play by the rules. She’d been supplying information to keep us all in the loop, but the little game they were playing with you backfired and you tossed her to the curb. That meant she wasn’t valuable anymore. I mean, she still had her way of giving us something, but it wasn’t enough. Plus, Stephanie’s man said she knew about what had happened in the field. I couldn’t figure out how he knew, but he had the details. So I could hardly refuse his request, could I?”
“What did he ask you to do?” Leah leaned against the wall, letting it hold her up, hoping she didn’t look as shaky as she felt.
“Kill Quinn Benubrian. I already knew from killing the old man what it felt like to be God, so I had no qualms about doing it again. I approached Quinn on the street outside her office. It was easy. God was there in my hand when I pulled the trigger.”
Leah indicated they needed to leave the room. She was close to pulling her weapon out and putting it to the priest’s head. She wondered if they would ever find out why Grandini had really ordered the hit on Quinn. Peony, pausing long enough to take the cup Preata had drunk from, followed Leah out of the room. Scotty could use the cup to verify any of Preata’s DNA he found on the chipper or, with luck, the weapon Preata held on Peony was the weapon used to kill the bishop and Quinn.
“What made you ask abo
ut Quinn?” Leah asked as they stood in the hallway.
“He was in a confessing mood. I thought maybe we’d get lucky and he’d know something about Quinn’s murder,” Peony said. “I didn’t think for a minute he was directly involved. And for him to just come out with the info on the bombings…” She shook her head, looking truly baffled. “I mean, wow. The guy seems to have lost his mind.”
“Good work, you two,” Nikki told them as she came around the corner.
“You heard?” Leah asked.
“Yeah. Half the precinct’s in the observation room. Come to my office.”
“I’m going to go find something to eat,” Peony said and walked off.
Leah waved and followed the captain back to her office.
“Tell me what’s going on with you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve never been one to not take credit where credit’s due.”
“To be honest, I’m exhausted. This hasn’t been the easiest case to deal with, and there’s personal shit going down in the middle of it.”
“You mean with your wife being killed by Grandini?”
“You know?” Leah was shocked to the bottom of her boots.
“My friend, almost everyone knows. And they respect you enough to keep your secrets secret.”
Leah was close to tears at hearing Nikki’s words.
“By the way, that’s some detective you’ve got working for you. I thought you said she was a rookie. She conducted that interview like she’d been on the force for years,” Nikki said.
“She’s a natural. You should put in a request to have her reassigned to your house.”
“I’ll do that before someone else tries to snatch her up. How about you? Do you want to work here?”
“What I’d like to do is interview Martin, get some dinner, go home, take a shower, and go to bed,” Leah said, evading the question. She had no idea where her path would lead once she left the building.
Nikki nodded, seeming to understand. “He’s in Interview Two. And I know an evasion when I hear one.”
Leah gave her a tired smile before leaving her office and looking into the bullpen. “Peony.” Leah saw her surrounded by a gaggle of detectives when she walked out of Nikki’s office.