Bad Karma

by Dave Zeltserman

  “Where’s Susan?” Shannon asked.

  “She’s giving me a few minutes so we can talk privately.” Daniels forced a smile. “What a day yesterday, huh?”

  “Yeah, what a day.” Shannon reached up and found the button controlling his morphine flow and pushed it several times. “What happened to the great almighty Vishna?”

  Daniels smile turned hard. “He doesn’t look all that almighty now. You did a good job revealing what was behind the curtain, and an even better job bruising that sonofabitch up. I think you even knocked him out for a few minutes. If your shoulder hadn’t been shot up you would’ve killed him.”

  “But you arrested him?”

  “We will. Right now we’re holding him, and he’s giving the impression of cooperating with us. Your friend, Mike Maguire, told us about the porn films you found. That sex shop has been shut down and all the DVDs confiscated. The Feds are involved now.”

  “Paveeth admitted to making those porn films with Carver and Linda Gibson?”

  “Yeah, he has, but he’s denying any knowledge of their murders. Maybe when you get out you can sit in on some of the questioning.” Daniels lowered his voice, edged closer to Shannon. “He’s claiming he had nothing to do with that dungeon—that those Russians took over once Carver and Gibson were killed and started making their own films without his knowledge.”

  “That’s bullshit. What did he think that dungeon was for?”

  “Discipline.” Daniels shrugged in response to the look Shannon gave him. “His word, not mine.”

  “Yeah, right, he was shooting the video when I went down there.”

  “I know. I saw the video and it clearly shows that you acted in self-defense. No charges are going to be brought against you.”

  “Thanks. What do you know about the Russians?”

  “According to Paveeth, Carver brought them in to distribute their films. Supposedly they used the opportunity of Carver being killed to take a more active role in the operations. To hear Paveeth tell it, he was a virtual prisoner to them.”

  “Any idea yet who they are?”

  Daniels shook his head. “I’ve got a feeling the Feds do, but they’re not saying anything. My gut’s telling me that they’re part of some nasty international porn ring.” He paused, rubbing a thick hand across his jaw. “Bill, we found other videos they made. As sick as you can possibly imagine. These bastards were making rape and torture videos. In three of them they killed the girls. Those videos are enough to get Paveeth a lethal injection, but we’re keeping quiet about that for now. He’s trying hard to sell those two dead Russians down the river and pin the whole works on them and we’re letting him think we’re buying it, see if we can get more out of him about Carver and Gibson.”

  A dull throbbing started behind Shannon’s eyes knowing what they had in mind for Susan. He asked whether one of the women killed was a redhead who could’ve looked like a young Meg Ryan.

  Daniels thought about it and nodded grimly.

  “She had tried to leave the cult,” Shannon said . “She complained to someone I know that Paveeth was a false prophet. I guess they found her. What about the other cult members?”

  “A few of them scattered, including Alvin Guthrop. We’re looking for him now. Duane Sweenski’s here in the hospital. They’re trying to see how much of his face they can save. We’re going to be charging him with whatever we can when he gets out. We’re holding the women we picked up as material witnesses. Most of them are in pretty rough shape and being held here in the psych ward. I’ve talked to the DA and we’re going to consider them victims, regardless of where they were in the hierarchy.”

  “What about Melissa Cousins?”

  “She was one of them who was pretty messed up. She’s here now, but we’re letting her mother transfer her to a hospital back in Portland.”

  “What’s been in the news so far?”

  “We’ve caught a break on that. Thanks to that compound being so remote and True Light having stayed under the media’s radar we’ve been able to keep this quiet. We’ll be giving a press conference in the next few days after we’ve sorted everything out. You can get as much credit as you want or we can leave you out of it. Your choice.”

  “Did you talk to Mike?”

  “Yeah, I did. He doesn’t want any attention.”

  “Neither do I. There’s a guy in Denver named John Rude. Credit him with giving you a key tip that led to you uncovering the porn ring.”

  “Any truth to that?”

  “Yeah, he helped me out. The guy’s dying of cancer, and for whatever reason, it’s important to him to get his name in the papers.”

  The morphine had kicked in. Shannon let his eyes close. Daniels was saying something but his voice had become a soft drone. Before drifting off he realized what the police lieutenant was asking him. He wanted to know how he knew something was hidden in the speakers. He tried telling Daniels that Linda told him about it, but he realized that his lips weren’t moving. Then everything seemed to fade away.

  It was hours later when he woke up again. Susan was with him. The surgeon who performed his shoulder reconstruction came in and explained to him what had been done. The doctor thought the surgery went as well as they could’ve hoped for, but they wouldn’t know how much strength and range of motion Shannon would get back until after nine to twelve months of physical therapy. Shannon drifted off again after that, holding Susan’s hand.

  That evening Eli stopped by for a visit. His long face was more somber than usual and showed deep lines of worry along his forehead and around his eyes. They mostly made small talk, Eli trying to get his long body comfortable in one of the hospital chairs while Susan joined them, sitting next to Shannon on the bed while holding on to his hand as if for dear life. Shannon got a genuine smile out of Eli when he finally told him what the clue mit vergnugen meant.

  “I told you that was more than a lucid dream,” Eli said.

  “I’m beginning to think you’re right.”

  “So why’d the idea of that upset you so much before?”

  Shannon shrugged as much as his wounded shoulder allowed. “I think it was because when I finally had the opportunity to look for my mom and my old partner, Joe DiGrazia, I blew it. I couldn’t see past my case to what was really important to me.”

  “Bill, you’ll have other opportunities. If you did it once you’ll be able to do it again.”

  Shannon nodded halfheartedly. He felt Susan squeeze his hand harder. She changed the subject, asking Eli for ideas about where they could go on vacation once Shannon’s shoulder healed.

  “Now that he’s got two pints of my blood in him, don’t be surprised if Bill wants to make a pilgrimage to Yankee stadium,” Eli said with a wry grin. “I’d also expect him to give up his vegetarian life style and start ordering pastrami on rye.”

  “Vai is mir,” Shannon said.

  Eli’s grin sharpened. “Where’d you pick up Yiddish?”

  “No idea. Must be those two pints of your blood running through me.”

  Eli hung around until Shannon’s eyelids started to droop, then he let himself be chased out by Susan but not before threatening to return the next day. The hospital had brought a cot into the room for Susan, but instead of using it she balanced herself on the edge of Shannon’s hospital bed, and with her arms and legs draped across him, settled in for the night. With Shannon it was more like a light switch being turned off. One moment he was barely conscious of Susan’s soft breath against his face, then nothing until the next morning when the nurse woke him to change the dressing on his shoulder. Susan’s face crumpled a bit when she saw what his shoulder looked like under all the bandaging, but she forced a brave smile for his sake.

  Monday was a better day for him. He felt more alert, and while he had a persistent, dull throbbing ache in his shoulder, he didn’t have to resort to pumping in as much extra morphine as the other day. Keeping to his word, Eli returned later that morning bringing a wheatgrass-mint-pineapple
juice for his friend. Susan left them to run some errands, and Shannon gave Eli the full story about what happened at True Light. As Eli listened, his long face grew ashen and an intense sadness overwhelmed his eyes. “What you and Susan have gone through, first with Winters, and now this. What a horror show. But it’s because of you that True Light has been shut down. All those girls who’ve been victimized there now have a chance. You did a lot of good but at some point you need to find peace for yourself.”

  Shannon tried smiling. “Yeah, well, I’m going to have nine to twelve months where I’ll have no choice but to do just that.”

  “You need more time than that, Bill. You’ve already suffered through enough violence for several lifetimes. I’m hoping you finally give up this PI work.”

  “We’ll see,” Shannon said. “The damn thing might just be in my blood, though.”

  “If that’s the case, then you should have no problem. Most of whatever blood you had you left behind at that fercockta cult.”

  After Eli left, Maguire stopped by for a visit. His round face flushed a deep red as he recounted how he had rolled Shannon’s car to the gate so he could use it to boost himself over the iron fence surrounding True Light, then turned even redder when he talked about what he saw once he got inside the compound. “None of this has been in the news yet,” he told Shannon. “It’s like nobody fucking knows about it except us.” He hung around a little while longer, mostly talking about how good a team they made and how it would be a waste if the two of them didn’t go into business together when Shannon was up and around. He had brought several of his prized PI books with him and left them with Shannon. These included Hammett’s Red Harvest and two more recent books that he claimed were fucking amazing and brought the PI novel up to a whole new level: The Guards by Ken Bruen and The Long-Legged Fly by James Sallis. Shannon told Maguire he’d read them and get back to him with his thoughts.

  When Susan came back she had a package for Shannon from the university. Inside was Taylor Carver’s thesis. Shannon spent the afternoon reading it. The thesis was written as a fictional novel with an English Masters major named Culver as the protagonist. The “hero” hooks up with a beautiful but screwed-up freshman who was sexually abused by her father for years. Culver later befriends an out-of-work Indian chemical engineer. Over beers they cook up a scheme to have this chemical engineer start a cult which they’ll fund by making ‘voyeur’ porn films using the cult’s brainwashed members and Culver’s girlfriend, who Culver is able to manipulate by playing to her low self-esteem and her pathological need to degrade herself. In this fictional account, they end up opening hundreds of yoga studios in shopping centers around the country to fund the cult’s operations and line their own pockets, at which point Culver publishes a book detailing all this, making a mockery of suburban America and its bourgeoisie culture. The tone of the book was cruel and smarmy, and gave Shannon a good impression of what Carver was all about—a heartless sonofabitch who got off on showing the world how superior he was to everyone else. It also confirmed his thoughts about Linda Gibson. She had no chance in life, not after the way her parents abused her both sexually and emotionally. It left her too vulnerable to a predator like Carver. When he was done reading the thesis he had the urge to load himself up with more morphine, but resisted it. He knew if Paveeth had gotten his hands on Carver’s thesis, he’d have a good motive for wanting Carver dead. It could very well explain why Carver and Gibson were butchered the way they were.

  That evening Eli came by for another visit, and later Emily stopped by. Her head was bandaged up, and she stood hands on hips, shaking her head sadly at Shannon.

  “A couple of geniuses we are,” she said. “Let ourselves be banged up and shot at by a couple of dumb thugs.”

  Shannon couldn’t disagree with her. That night he had the nurse disconnect his morphine drip. “I don’t think this is a good idea,” she tried telling him. “It’s too early for this.” Shannon told her he wanted to wean himself off of it sooner rather than later. He had a mostly restless night, but was able to doze off for several hours.

  Pauline Cousins called him on his cell phone the next morning. She seemed genuinely surprised to hear that he was in the hospital. “Nobody I’ve been talking to at the Boulder Police mentioned a word to me about it,” she said. “I would’ve called you sooner but I’ve been running around like crazy the last two days trying to arrange for Melissa’s transfer.”

  She stopped by shortly after her call, her face melting into a sad smile when she saw Shannon bandaged up. “I owe you so much for what you did for Melissa,” she told him. She took out her checkbook and asked how much he wanted. Shannon shook his head, told her that one of the perks of working for himself was being able to take on certain cases pro bono. “Besides, what happened at True Light intersected with another case which I’m being well paid for.” Pauline stood her ground, insisting that she pay him something, and Shannon suggested she could contribute to a fund for families of police officers killed in the line of duty that he’d set up in Joe DiGrazia’s memory. Without blinking an eye she wrote out a check for ten thousand dollars. On her way out she kissed Shannon on the cheek and told Susan that she had a good man.

  “Don’t I know it,” Susan said.

  After she left, Shannon realized he owed Devens a call. The lawyer seemed surprised to hear what Shannon was telling him. “There’s been nothing in the news about it,” he said. “Are you okay?”

  “Better than okay,” Shannon said, laughing sourly. “Already been pumped up with a fresh supply of blood and should be getting a new shoulder out of the deal.”

  Devens’ voice sounded strained as he told Shannon he’d stop by at the hospital and talk further with him. “But that’s it, huh?” he asked. “The police are going to arrest this cult leader for the Carver-Gibson murders?”

  “That’s what it sounds like.”

  When he got off the phone, he lay brooding. Susan sensed his uneasiness. She kissed him hard on the mouth and told him she’d be back soon. While he waited Devens came by. The lawyer grimaced seeing him. “Christ, you look like hell,” he said, shaking hands with Shannon’s left undamaged one.

  “Hearing compliments like that does wonders for one spirits.”

  “I’m sure it does.” Devens pulled up a chair. “I talked with my assistant DA friend. They’re planning to give a press conference Friday night to fill in the media on what’s been going on at that cult. They’re going to leave Carver and Gibson out of it for the time being. As long as this Anil Paveeth is cooperating with them they want to give the illusion of not trying to tie him to the murders, but they do plan on charging him soon. This should put a stake in the heart of that lawsuit.” Devens took his wallet out and handed Shannon a check. It was for twenty-five thousand dollars. “I’ve explained the situation to my client and everything that you’ve done. He wants to pay you this as a bonus. This suit could’ve wiped him out, and anyway, the twenty-five grand was what he was expecting to pay in legal costs if this went to trial. At least it should help while you’re rehabbing.” Devens took a small gift-wrapped box out of his briefcase and left it on the table next to the bed. “A small gesture from me.”

  The lawyer left. Shannon couldn’t help feeling a sense of uneasiness, as if something wasn’t quite right. He looked at the gift-wrapped box Devens had left behind. Even something as simple as opening that box was beyond his current capabilities, but he knew that wasn’t what was behind his uneasiness. He wasn’t feeling sorry for himself. There was something else nagging at him. Something that didn’t quite fit with this Carver-Gibson-Paveeth puzzle.

  Susan came back a short time later with a big grin across her face. Accompanying her was Eddie with his chess set. Eddie gave him a quick look up and down and asked what happened to his shoulder.

  “I got shot.”

  “By that cult you were asking about?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You on painkillers now?”

  “Nope,
off of them.”

  “Good, you got no excuses then if you lose.”

  They played five games with Shannon winning the first four, and the fifth ending in a draw. Eddie was beaming after the fifth game, taking the draw as a moral victory. After the games, Shannon told Eddie that the girl he’d been looking for was probably dead. “I’ll get a picture and see if you can ID her, but I think they caught up to her.” Eddie’s face darkened as he took in the news. “Boulder’s not the same town it used to be,” he said.

  After Eddie left, Susan unwrapped the box Devens had left behind. It was one of his Navajo storytellers. Shannon couldn’t get over the feeling that the clay figurine was trying to tell him something.

  ***

  Wednesday morning Shannon decided it was time to leave the hospital. Susan tried arguing with him that three days was too soon. “Hon, they want you here three weeks!”

  Shannon was insistent, though—partly because of his uneasiness, but mostly because he didn’t want Susan cooped up in that hospital room any longer, and she wasn’t going to leave as long as he was there. One of the doctors tried to persuade him to stay longer, saw it was useless and instead worked out an arrangement for Shannon to come in each day to have his shoulder examined and his dressing changed. The doctor wrote him a prescription for Oxycontin, which Shannon tossed into the garbage on his way out.

  Chapter 16

  Daniels escorted Shannon to the interrogation room. Sitting around the table was Anil Paveeth, his lawyer, the DA of Boulder County and a couple of men who Shannon assumed were FBI. Paveeth with his bruised face and jail-issued denim clothing looked small sitting there and had lost all traces of the aura he’d had when Shannon first saw him in his private sanctuary. He also had the look of every scared con who was trying to cut himself a deal. When the ex-cult leader recognized Shannon he started to nod as if the two of them were close friends. Daniels asked his lawyer whether he had any problem with Shannon sitting in. The lawyer traded a few whispers with his client, then said it was okay with them. Daniels shook his head sadly at Paveeth, and said, “Anil, I know you’re saying that you want to cooperate, but I don’t think you’re being completely honest with us.”