by Robert Ellis
The name was meaningless, but still, it set off a—
Matt let the thought go and got out of his seat to open the carry-on bin overhead. As he turned, he caught a man two rows back staring at him. The stranger appeared nervous and quickly dropped his gaze, but Matt was still recovering from those four gunshot wounds and couldn’t afford to look away. Instead, he did the same thing he’d been doing since he was released from the hospital. He committed the man’s face to memory. Something about his appearance seemed familiar, but Matt couldn’t place it and quickly sized the man up: late thirties or early forties, three maybe four inches shorter than six feet, a tough call because he was still sitting down. In spite of the belly, he seemed thin and soft and out of shape, with black wavy hair, dark-brown eyes, wire-rimmed glasses, and a complexion so pale and colorless it stood out.
Once Matt had the image locked in his mind—a practice his shrink had called a textbook case of paranoia—he grabbed his briefcase and leather jacket, made his way up the aisle, and exited the plane. The gate was more than halfway down the terminal, and Matt was grateful for the chance to stretch his legs. As he walked past the shops and restaurants, he never looked back for the man he had just seen on the plane. He let it go and breezed past security.
Agent K. Brown turned out to be easy enough to spot, and Matt’s guess proved right. She was a she in her late twenties, holding an eight-by-ten card with his last name written across the front and offering a warm, gracious smile as they shook hands.
“Kate Brown,” she said. “Good flight?”
“Not bad. The story broke.”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
She pointed toward the sign to baggage claim, and they started walking.
“We keep an apartment here in the city for long stay over’s, but something’s come up. I heard from Doyle that you didn’t get much sleep last night. I hope you don’t mind if we take a short drive.”
“I’m fine,” he said. “I’m still on California time. What’s happened?”
“Dr. Stanley Westbrook, a profiler from the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, wants to brief us first thing in the morning.”
Matt winced. They already knew who they were looking for, and he wondered what a profiler could contribute this far into the investigation. The murders didn’t begin with the Strattons. They began nineteen months ago with the horrific death of Millie Brown.
“Okay,” Matt said. “So where are we going tonight?”
“Doyle and my boss, Wes Rogers, you’ll meet him tomorrow, he’s the special agent in charge of the Philadelphia office. They want you to walk through the crime scene before the briefing tomorrow with Westbrook. They want you to get a feel for what happened.”
Matt didn’t say anything. He was anxious to see the Strattons’ home, and glad that he wouldn’t have to wait until morning.
They reached baggage claim, found Matt’s flight on the information monitor, and walked down the line to the carousel on the end. As they waited, Matt gave Brown a quick glance. She was easy to look at—her shoulder-length hair a mix of blond and light brown that was either natural or very well done. Her eyes were a vibrant blue that sparkled even in the harsh fluorescent lights of an airport. Her body, too well drawn to be hidden by her open ski parka or the dark-gray slacks and matching jacket that no doubt was the uniform of the day. But what struck Matt most was Brown’s presence, her angular face that broadcasted her obvious strength and intelligence.
She came off true, and his first impression was that he liked her.
He looked away as he heard the first bag hit the conveyor belt with a heavy thud. He wondered what had happened in Brown’s life that lured her into law enforcement. Was she following a parent’s footsteps? Or was she wounded and looking to heal by spending the rest of her life chasing ghosts and righting wrongs?
After a short wait, Matt’s duffel bag slid down the ramp and onto the belt. But as he walked over to grab it, he looked up and caught that man staring at him again. The one he’d seen on the plane just a few minutes ago. Even worse, the man had his cell phone out and was pointing it at him. It seemed clear that he wasn’t using the phone. He was faking a conversation while either recording video of Matt or taking his picture.
Matt hoisted the bag over his shoulder and followed Brown toward the exit. He was thinking about the hit man his father had hired to kill him. The man Matt had shot to death on top of Mount Hollywood. Turning back to the baggage carousel, Matt gave the man with the cell phone another hard look. He was still pretending to talk to someone. Still pointing the device at him as if using the camera.
Matt turned away. The read he’d made on the plane felt righteous now. He could depend on it. He had a new shadow, and it had followed him to Philadelphia on a cold night in early December. A man with ultra-pale skin who looked like he spent most of his time in the dark. The shrink in LA could call it paranoia if he liked, but Matt would treat it the way his gut told him to. It was all about survival. All about being the first one to shoot. All about dominoes falling down one after the other.
He checked the .45 holstered beneath his down vest and leather jacket and followed Brown out the door. The air was raw, and the hard wind burned his face. Ready or not, his arrival in the City of Brotherly Love felt like a wake-up call.
CHAPTER 5
The drive to the murder house in Radnor would only take about twenty-five minutes. Brown gave Matt a manila envelope and spent most of the time briefing him on details unrelated to the case. The keys to the apartment he would be staying in were here, along with the password to the Internet, information about parking in the neighborhood, and the access card that would open the security gates and doors to the FBI’s field office at 600 Arch Street. When Matt asked about the password to the FBI’s website and the chronological record he had been given access to before he was shot, Brown told him that Doyle and Rogers would take care of everything tomorrow morning when they gave him a desk and the keys to a car.
Matt checked the road behind them and saw only darkness. He had been keeping an eye out for the odd-looking man with pale skin ever since they left the airport. No one was following them, and he turned back and gazed through the windshield. They were passing a train station and gliding down a hill. Once they came out of the curve, Brown made a left at the light onto County Line Road.
“It’s halfway up the next hill,” she said in a quiet voice that shook a little.
Matt could feel his stomach beginning to churn. When he spotted the long line of patrol units parked before the stone wall and all the video cameras and reporters crowded onto a small patch of lawn on the other side of the street, the anticipation was almost overwhelming. Brown pulled into the drive and stopped as three cops dressed in black uniforms stepped forward with flashlights and rifles. They wanted to see Brown’s ID, and they asked to see Matt’s as well. Matt handed over his new badge and ID and thought he saw something change when the cop read his name. It was in his eyes as he passed the badge back.
It was recognition. Knowledge. Baylor.
They lifted the tarp and waved them through. Brown pulled past the carriage house, continuing down the drive until they reached the Strattons’ mansion on the left. She popped open the trunk, and they climbed out of the car. While she unlatched a kit and fished out a pair of vinyl gloves and a flashlight, Matt stopped to take in the building.
“The cop that took your badge,” she said. “He knows you. He knows who you are.”
It was the flaw in Doyle’s plan to hold back Baylor’s name in the murder of an entire family. Once they saw Matt’s face, once word got out that he was here, everyone would know exactly who they were looking for.
Brown passed over the flashlight and gloves and seemed shaky.
“You okay?” he asked.
She nodded. “Just cold.”
The exterior lights were lit up along the drive, yet all the windows in the death house were dark—the Strattons’ mansion more than just a bit eerie. Matt took in
the property and remembered seeing two mailboxes on the street by the entrance. Guessing that the carriage house and the mansion were built sometime in the 1800s, both appeared to have been heavily remodeled in the last ten years. The carriage house would have been a horse stable and barn, while the mansion was divided into two sections with four entrances. The first door opened to a small wing and was probably meant for the live-in staff. The more grandiose entrance off the long porch would have been the main entrance just as it was today.
“Where do these two doors in the middle go?” he asked.
“The first opens to a hallway, the kitchen, and a second set of stairs.”
“And this one?”
“The house manager’s office.”
Matt glanced at the carriage house, then turned back to the mansion and took a guess. Two families living in two separate homes, but within close proximity of each other. At least five gunshots had been fired, maybe more. As Doyle said when he first described the crime, it would have been a night of total chaos. A night when Dr. Baylor came to punish another physician and blew his mind.
Matt turned to Brown. “I’m assuming people live in the carriage house, and that they were home, right?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“It’s only sixty feet away, Kate. It’s hard to believe that they didn’t hear anything. The gunshots. The kids screaming and shouting for help. Things got crazy in there. It had to be a loud night.”
“No one heard anything,” she said.
“How old are they?”
“Early fifties. A middle-aged couple. Empty nesters. The time of death was 11:35 p.m. They were watching TV and didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary.”
“Eleven thirty-five,” he said. “What do you mean?”
“Stratton wore a pacemaker. At 11:35 p.m., the box shut down and he was flat lining. According to the medical examiner, everyone was killed within an hour of Stratton’s death.”
Matt could almost see the expression on Baylor’s face as he shot five innocent people with his gun. The joy and satisfaction. The doctor’s sick mind leaking out of every pore.
He let the image pass and switched on the flashlight as he sensed movement in the darkness. There was a large pool and spa on the right side of the house. When he panned the flashlight into the yard beyond, he noticed three more cops in black uniforms, carrying rifles and guarding the perimeter. Deeper into the yard he could see a pond partially iced over and another home he suspected had been part of the original estate. A small gatehouse built of stone and set along a quiet tree-lined road. As Matt spotted the stream and bridge and wrought iron gate, he couldn’t help imagining how peaceful the carriage ride would have been as the horses led the way around the pond and up the slope to this beautiful colonial mansion built on top of a plateau halfway up the hill.
“How did Baylor get in?” Matt said.
“There’s no sign of forced entry. Either the front door was open—and according to the house manager, it often was—or he waited for someone to come home and followed them in.”
“There’s no live-in staff?”
Brown shook her head. “Three day workers clean the house and take care of the grounds. The housekeeper doubles as the family chef. Once she makes dinner and cleans up, she’s out. Most nights that’s around eight thirty or nine.”
“Then where does the first door on the end lead to?”
“A one-bedroom guest suite. Same thing on the second and third floors.”
“Let’s go inside.”
Matt started walking toward the main entrance. Brown followed him onto the porch, then stopped as they reached the large glass door.
“What is it?” Matt asked. “What’s wrong?”
“I read about you,” she said quietly. “The things that happened to you, and the things you did. You received the Medal of Valor.”
Matt didn’t say anything.
She cleared her throat lightly and seemed nervous. Those blue eyes of hers were all over his face.
“Doyle specifically asked me to wait outside,” she said. “County detectives processed this crime scene. Their techs shot enough pictures to fill two murder books, and they recorded everything they saw and everything they did on video. You’ll see it all tomorrow. It wasn’t until they found Baylor’s fingerprints that we became involved. Tonight Doyle wants you to take a walk-through on your own. No one seems to know why Baylor murdered these people where he did. Doyle wants your opinion.”
“Where were the bodies found?”
“I’ve been ordered not to say anything. He’s looking for a first impression.”
She pointed to the lockbox attached to the door. “The key’s in there. One-eight-seven, that’s the combination to every lockbox so nobody forgets. I’ll be waiting in the car. Take as much time as you need.”
He wondered if she realized that one-eight-seven was the penal code for homicide in California, but didn’t ask. Instead, he watched her cross the lot as he slipped on the vinyl gloves. A light snow had begun to fall that reminded him of the ash drifting down on his home in LA. He wondered if the house was still standing, and if the coyotes that slept beneath his deck were still alive. Four pups had been born last spring and had survived the grueling heat of summer.
Matt blocked the thought out and took a deep breath, then punched in the combination to the lockbox. Removing the key, he unlocked the door and returned the key to the lockbox. He paused for a moment, trying to quiet his mind and his imagination. Then he turned the handle and pushed open the door. As he stepped over the threshold, he was greeted by the pungent smell of rotting blood. The foul odor seemed to permeate the entire foyer, and he almost choked before covering his nose with his hand. He panned the flashlight across the massive staircase and along the wall. When he spotted the switch panel, he turned on the lights.
CHAPTER 6
Matt pulled his hand away from his nose, forcing himself to get used to the harsh odor. As he moved closer to the staircase, he could tell that the stench was emanating from either the second or third floor and drifting down into the foyer like a toxic cloud of death. And the ghosts were here—lots of them. He could feel their presence in the stillness of the house, the silence, the finality and fate of the five people who had once lived here, but were gone now and never coming back.
The lights to the foyer on the first floor were lit, the rooms dark. Matt didn’t bother looking for light switches as he made his first sweep of the layout and searched for anything that might stand out. To his right was a small sitting room with French doors opening to the pool. Directly ahead was a library with an entrance to the living room. Beyond the library he found a sunroom that spanned the length of the house and gave way to a formal terrace. Matt stepped into the living room, noting the high ceilings and another set of French doors that opened to the pool. A rich dusting of fingerprint powder seemed to coat every piece of furniture and doorknob in the room. He gave it a second look, then returned to the foyer and followed the hallway to the very end. The doors on the left opened to the house manager’s office and a powder room; on the right, a large dining room and kitchen. Matt shined the flashlight across the dining room table and through the doorway into the kitchen. Every room that he’d seen so far included a fireplace, and he guessed that he would find fireplaces in every room upstairs as well. But what struck Matt most about the building was the extensive woodwork. The paneled walls in the library that continued into the foyer and up the wide staircase. The ornate moldings and the fireplace mantels that were obviously carved by hand.
The woodwork stood out because he had never seen anything like it before and guessed that the art had been lost, and no one knew how to do it anymore.
But even worse, Matt guessed that no one probably cared.
He let the thought fade and tried to shed his disappointment. The first floor was clear. There were no signs of a disturbance. Although Matt’s initial walk-through had been brief, he hadn’t seen any blood or anything that seeme
d out of order. As he moved to the staircase and started up the steps, the harsh odor stiffened and became oppressive. When he reached the second-floor landing, he moved the beam of light over the walls and carpet, felt his chest tighten, and froze.
He had reached his destination and needed a moment to get a grip on himself. It wasn’t easy. His eyes swept over the pools of dried blood on the floor, the spatter almost completely masking the paint on the walls. A single gunshot to the chest could never account for what he was seeing. For some reason he couldn’t explain, he thought of Jackson Pollock, an artist who spattered paint on a canvas to create remarkable works of art that seemed bigger than life. Now, seeing it in blood, breathing the horror and stench into his lungs, he wondered if Baylor was trying to make some sort of demented statement.
A thought buoyed to the surface, then sunk back under before Matt could reach it. The idea felt like it might be important, and he realized that he needed to take a deep breath and settle down.
He remembered the crime-scene photograph Doyle had shown him in Los Angeles and moved closer to the pools of blood. A table and lamp had been dragged across the landing and pushed against the stair railing. Matt understood at a glance that Baylor had chosen this spot to stage the murders. But like Brown had said just ten minutes ago, the question was why? Why in a house this big did the doctor want to murder this family on a second-floor landing?
There had to be a reason, a purpose. With Dr. Baylor there was always a reason and a purpose.
Matt stepped closer and knelt down, panning his flashlight across the wall. There were three holes in the plaster about two feet off the ground. These would’ve been made by crime-scene techs as they removed the slugs and entered them as evidence. Matt thought about that photograph again. Stratton’s corpse, along with his two daughters’, had been found leaning against the wall, with their clothing removed and holding hands. Stratton’s naked wife had been laid out on the floor directly before them with her legs spread open. Her thirteen-year-old son was draped over her body as if they had been making love.