Murder A La Carte

by Nancy Skopin

  “Absolutely.”

  She set her drink on the bar and picked up her purse. Giordano took her hand and led her into the foyer. Her heart raced as they climbed the stairs. He drew her into the master bedroom, downed the last of his drink, and kissed her fingertips.

  “This is the playroom,” he said, pulling her close and thrusting his stubby tongue into her mouth.

  Nina allowed the kiss and then leaned away, placing a hand on his chest.

  “There are a couple of things you should know about me,” she said. “I need to be on top.” Giordano smiled. “And I’m into bondage.” His eyebrows rose as she opened her purse and took out four lengths of soft rope. “I hope you’re not afraid of being restrained.”

  Chapter 30

  Jim pulled up behind me at 2:11 a.m. He got out of his car and joined me in mine.

  “What’s happening?”

  I pointed out the house and Nina’s Celica. “She’s inside with a guy she met at the Village Pub. I have no idea who he is, but I’d be willing to bet he’s going to regret meeting her.”

  “Should we call the cops?”

  “And tell them what? We have no evidence that she’s the killer. Besides, he may not be a victim. Maybe she just wants to get laid.”

  “So, now what?”

  “I’d like to stay here until she comes out, but there’s no telling how long she’ll be in there. Keep an eye on the front door. If she hasn’t come out by 3:30, call Jack and Elizabeth and give them directions. If she comes out with blood on her dress call the cops and then call me. I won’t be able to sleep anyway.” I reached out and touched his arm. “Thank you for doing this, Jim.”

  “No problem,” he said, giving my hand a pat, then went back to his own car.

  I pulled into the marina parking lot at 2:40, shut off the engine and sat in the car, thinking. I considered unlocking the office and sending a quick e-mail to Michael, asking if he could try to hack into the Village Pub’s computer network and access their security monitors. Of course, if Nina’s date for the night survived there would be no reason to ID him. If he didn’t, I’d know soon enough who he was. It would be all over the news.

  I got out of the car and walked Buddy around on the lawn while he did his business. Then we trudged down to the boat.

  I took off my clothes, climbed into bed, and closed my eyes for a minute. When I opened them again the sun was shining through the portlight curtains. I checked the bedside clock. It was after 8:00. I dove for my purse and checked my cell. I had two new voicemail messages. The first message had come in at 4:06 a.m., and was from Jim. “She just came out of the house and her dress looks clean. Jack and Elizabeth are going to take it from here. Call me back after noon.”

  No blood on her dress. Could I have been wrong about Nina?

  The second message was from Elizabeth and had been left at 4:51 a.m. “Hi, honey. We followed her to a sweet little cottage on Douglas Avenue in Burlingame. She has climbing roses. Do killers garden?”

  I took a long, hot shower and then started coffee, scooped kibble into Buddy’s dish, and ate some yogurt while the coffee dripped into the pot. After two cups I felt slightly more alert. I got dressed and took Buddy for a walk. After disposing of his morning offering I unlocked the office and checked my e-mail. I had one from CIS with the background on Nina. I printed it out and stuffed it in my purse. I had to meet J.V. at the airport.

  I made it to SFO before his flight arrived and, after we met up at baggage claim, I explained what was happening and walked him to the Hertz desk. J.V. wanted to spend the day with Scott, but he was up for a night shift watching Nina. I suggested he rent a Camry or a Civic, in order to be inconspicuous.

  “I have done this before, Nicoli,” he said, with a gentle smile.

  “Sorry. I keep forgetting you’re a PI.”

  I followed J.V. to the Brewster’s house and collected the prepaid cell and charger from Scott after J.V. presented him with his new iPhone. Scott seemed happy to see his uncle and was delighted with his new cell phone. He gave Buddy a long hug before we left, and was openly disappointed that we weren’t going to be spending the day with him, or at least that Buddy wasn’t. I reminded myself how much I was doing for this kid, and tried to get over the fact that he missed my dog. Besides, soon he would have his own dog to love.

  Buddy and I set off to meet Lily in Burlingame where she was watching Nina’s cottage. My shift didn’t start until 12:00, so I’d be early, but I didn’t have anything more important to do and I was sure Lily would be happy to be relieved.

  I drove to Douglas Avenue and spotted Lily’s van. I parked behind her and called her on my cell.

  “Any activity?” I asked.

  “Nope. She’s probably asleep. I hear she had a late night.”

  “She didn’t get home until almost five. You can leave if you want.”

  “Okay. Have fun.”

  I hunkered down for what I guessed would be a very boring couple of hours. As Lily drove away I began to think about what I would do if Nina didn’t attempt to kill anyone in the next few days. I could probably recruit Jack to let me into her house while she was at work, so I could search for evidence. I can pick a lock, but Jack is much faster and in a residential neighborhood speed counts. If I found proof that Nina was the killer I wouldn’t be able to take it to the police, but at least I’d know I was on the right track.

  After watching the house for almost an hour my sleep-deprived brain remembered that she knew what I looked like. I pulled a baseball cap out of my glove box and stuffed my hair up underneath it, put on my sunglasses, and slumped down in the seat.

  Another thirty minutes passed before I remembered I had the background report from CIS in my purse. I dug it out and began reading.

  Nina Jezek had been born at San Francisco General Hospital. Her mother’s maiden name was Anezka Kamila Sedlak, and her father was Kazimir Miklos Jezek. They were both Czechoslovakian. Kazimir and Anezka had immigrated before Nina was born, and she had grown up in Pacifica, on the California coast, attending grade school and high school there.

  She’d received a scholarship and had earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Georgetown University in Washington D.C. During college she’d worked at a Round Table Pizza. After graduation she had accepted a position as a junior editor with Georgetown Magazine, and had worked there until she was twenty-seven. She had been in the Bay Area for a visit on her birthday when her father had committed suicide.

  I flipped to the page that showed her financial history. Nina’s father had named her as the sole beneficiary of a substantial life insurance policy. After his death she had moved back from D.C. She had initially rented the cottage on Douglas Avenue, but six months after signing the lease she had purchased the property.

  I set the report aside and tried to picture Nina’s life. She’d done well enough in school to receive a scholarship to Georgetown, and upon graduation had been offered what I was sure was a coveted position on campus. Then three years ago her father had taken his own life while she was in town, and on her birthday. Then she’d moved back to California. Why? To be near her mother? I glanced at the report. Anezka Jezek was still living in the house where Nina had grown up. She would be in her late fifties. Maybe they were close. What was hard to understand was Nina taking her degree in communications and going to work as a swing shift data entry clerk at the Redwood City Police Department. Why not find a position where she could make use of her degree and earn a decent salary? The only reason I could think of was that she wanted access to the databases.

  Her priorities had changed when her father killed himself. If he had molested her as a child she might not have felt safe living near him. Also, if she was an abused child she might be acting out a lifelong fantasy of getting even, except that her father was dead, so she would need to find
someone else to punish. I wondered if she had actually killed her own father and made it look like a suicide.

  I finished reading the financial report. Six months ago all of Nina’s savings had been transferred to a numbered Swiss account.

  I glanced up at the cottage. The drapes had been opened, but Nina was nowhere in sight. Her Celica was still parked in the driveway.

  I read the rest of the background, but there was nothing more interesting than a parking ticket she had received in Sunnyvale last month. That stirred something in my memory, but it was fuzzy. I needed a nap.

  At 1:45 I called Jim and told him where I was. His Volvo rolled up the street at 2:14. I called his cell.

  “She’s awake,” I said, “but no activity so far this afternoon. You get any sleep?”

  “Some. How are you doing?”

  “I’ve been better. Thanks again for doing this, Jim. You’re a prince.”

  “Yes, I am.”

  Chapter 31

  Nina had no problem getting Giordano out of his clothes and onto the bed, and only a little trouble fending off his attempts to undress her before she tied his wrists and ankles to the bedposts. When she was certain he was secure, she’d slipped off her dress, shoes, and undergarments, and placed them on a chair. Watching her, Giordano had quickly developed an erection. Then Nina took a pair of latex gloves out of her purse and watched Giordano’s hard-on soften.

  “What are you doing?” he’d asked.

  “I have some questions, Fredo.”

  She’d removed the switchblade from her bag and Giordano had begun thrashing around on the bed, trying to loosen the knots.

  “Every time you don’t answer honestly, I’m going to cut you. This knife is coated with garlic. Garlic is an anticoagulant, so wherever I cut you the blood won’t clot. You’ll just keep bleeding. Is that clear?”

  “What the fuck do you want, you crazy bitch?”

  “I want your client and supplier lists. I want to know about all the perverts you sell children to, and the ones you buy them from. If you give me the lists I might let you live.”

  “You can go to hell.”

  “You first,” Nina said, and sliced his thigh.

  Giordano squealed, lifting his head to see the blood oozing from the wound.

  “You see how that’s bleeding? If I cut a little higher I might accidentally nick an artery. Where are the lists?”

  Less than an hour later Nina had Giordano’s client list and a list of men and women in other countries from whom he purchased children for his customers. She saved them on a CD and erased the files from his computer. She tried not to think about what happened to the children when Giordano’s clients tired of them.

  He’d told her where his security room was, and she had removed the surveillance video discs and disabled all of the cameras. There would be no record that she had ever been there.

  When she had everything she’d come for, Nina stabbed Giordano in the heart and watched him die. Then she showered in his bathroom, carefully cleaning the drain afterwards. She dressed, donned a fresh pair of latex gloves, and went downstairs to the laundry room. Placing the towel she had used in the washer, she added bleach and turned it on. When the laundry was in the dryer she collected her belongings, entered the code to turn off the alarm, and was out the door shortly after 4:00 a.m.

  Chapter 32

  Buddy and I arrived back at the marina a little before 3:00 on Saturday afternoon. I opened the office and dropped Nina’s background report on my desk, checked my e-mail and voicemail, and then walked down to the boat, determined to get some sleep.

  Bill had left me a voicemail message saying he was at the office, but would be free for dinner. J.V. had called asking what time his Nina shift would be tonight. I called J.V. first and told him I’d meet him at Bill’s house at 9:30. Then I called Bill and said that dinner sounded great, but I’d have to make it an early night.

  “Are you working again tonight?” he asked.

  “I have to. Sorry. Till-tapping bartender. I thought I might need a second pair of eyes, so J.V. is coming along.”

  I caught what might have been a sigh, or maybe it was just my overactive conscience.

  “We haven’t had much time together lately, have we,” I said.

  “It’s okay. Do you want to go out for dinner, or should I get take-out?”

  “I have to hit the road at 8:30, so take-out makes more sense.”

  “Any preference?”

  “Whatever you want.”

  “I like the sound of that.”

  Bill arrived at 6:45 and we shared the Crouching Tiger’s spicy Sichuan & Hunan take-out with Buddy. I was feeling tense and guilty, but tried to make up for it by seducing Bill before I left to meet J.V. After that he was happy to stay on the boat with Buddy while I went out.

  I stopped at the office and went over the Nina-watch schedule. J.V. and I would work together tonight, but tomorrow he would take a shift by himself. I extended the schedule through Wednesday afternoon. If we didn’t have anything on Nina by then, I’d ask Jack to let me into her house while she was at work.

  After inserting J.V. into the schedule I sent it as an e-mail attachment to Elizabeth, Jack, Lily, and Jim. I called Jim, waking him up, and he told me that Nina had spent an hour and a half at the RCPD that afternoon. That was weird. It was Saturday.

  Elizabeth and Jack had watched Nina until 8:00, when Lily took over, so I called them and suggested they check their e-mail.

  I printed a copy of the schedule for myself and one for J.V.

  J.V. was waiting outside Bill’s house when I pulled to the curb, and a non-descript Camry was parked in the driveway. I got out of the car and gave him a hug.

  “How did it go with Scott today?”

  “Great! We went to the San Francisco Zoo. You ever been there?”

  “Many times. Which animals did Scott like the best?”

  “Monkey island.”

  “I love Monkey Island. Did you see Bill today?”

  “Nope. House was empty when I got here. Why?”

  “I forgot to tell you the subject we’re watching is an RCPD employee. Bill doesn’t know about the surveillance.”

  “Do you think that’s a good idea, him not knowing?”

  “For the moment, yes. If my suspicions about her are confirmed I’ll have to tell him, of course.”

  I called Lily’s cell and J.V. stood by waiting to hear the plan for tonight.

  “Hi, Nikki.”

  “Hi, sweetie. What’s Nina up to?”

  “She left the house a few minutes after eight, drove to San Francisco, and parked on Twenty-Fourth Street in Noe Valley. Sat in her car for forty-five minutes, and then drove to a neighborhood grocery. Before she got out of her car she put on a red knit cap and a pair of horn rimmed glasses. She’s inside the store now. I didn’t think she could get in too much trouble in a grocery store, so I’m waiting in the parking lot.”

  “Call me when she comes out,” I said.

  “Will do.”

  I turned to J.V. and said, “We have a little time to kill. Lily says Nina is at a grocery in San Francisco.”

  I followed him into the house and we sat in the living room, going over the schedule. I had him down from 8:00 to 10:00 tomorrow night.

  “When are you flying home?” I asked.

  “Monday morning. Eight to ten tomorrow is fine.”

  Lily called at 9:40. She was on the road again, driving south on Highway 101. She promised to call as soon as Nina stopped somewhere, and mentioned that she had heard sirens as they were pulling out of the grocery store parking lot.

  “Fire engine, EMS, or police sirens?”

  “Only you would ask a question like that. How the fuck should I know what
kind of sirens they were?”

  “It was probably nothing.”

  She called again at 9:55 to say that Nina was home and had closed the curtains after entering the house. Excellent.

  J.V. and I hopped in the Camry and drove to Burlingame. I called Lily as we pulled up behind her van.

  “No activity,” she said.

  “Thanks, Lily. Have a good night.”

  J.V. and I sat across the street and half a block down from Nina’s cottage until 1:30 a.m. Then I called Jim and told him where we were.

  I saw the midnight blue Volvo approaching at 1:55, so when my phone rang I assumed it was Jim and didn’t check the display.

  “Right on time,” I said.

  “Nikki, it’s Lily. I’m watching the news. You know that grocery store in Noe Valley that Nina went into?”

  “Yeah.” I felt an icy sense of dread twist through my stomach.

  “A guy was killed there tonight. Stabbed, at approximately 9:35.”

  The silence stretched between us, then my phone made a clicking sound and I knew Jim was trying to call me. “Hang on a sec, Lily.” I switched to the incoming call.

  “Jim?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Can I call you right back?”

  “Sure.”

  I reconnected with Lily. “Did you get his name?”

  “Oscar Rossi. Forty-two years old. And get this, they showed a picture of his home on TV. It’s right across the street from where Nina was parked before she drove to the store. I thought you’d want to know.”

  I scribbled some hasty notes. “Thanks, Lily. Get some sleep. You’ll have to make a statement to the police tomorrow. You can tell them you saw a woman running out of the store and heard sirens. Give them her description and license plate number.”