“We were wrong,” she said. “You didn’t kill Asher Glick because you owed him money. You killed him because he had come into your shop. You gave him your name, told him you were Bloom, told him where you were supposedly from. He probably asked more questions about your youth. You would have done your homework, given all the right answers, but Glick knew you weren’t Bloom. Your bad luck was running into someone who knew the real Arvin Bloom when he was a boy, knew you weren’t him, knew he was dead.”
“You probably made up a story,” said Mac. “A good one, but not good enough. He had told you about the morning minyan. You promised to be there and bring evidence that you were telling the truth about your story.”
“You got him alone,” said Stella. “Improvised, killed him and tried to make it look like a ritual killing. And then when we came to you as a suspect you were afraid we’d dig and find out you were a fraud. So you decided to kill again, another Jew, in the same ritual way, a victim with whom you had no connection. The Hebrew words in chalk had no meaning. You probably got them off the Internet. Then you found…”
“…a good person to take the fall,” said Mac. “Joshua.”
None of the three investigators said a word for a full minute. Stella sat unblinking, looking at Moser. Aiden’s arms were crossed as she eyed Moser with disgust. Mac laid his palms flat on the table.
There was a knock at the door and Jane Parsons entered. She was wearing her white lab coat and carrying a single sheet of paper, which she handed to Mac, who read it and then handed it to Stella, who, in turn, handed it to Aiden. Jane looked at the bleeding man, but seemed to have no reaction.
Moser showed no interest in what was going on. If he went to trial he would be convicted. The evidence was overwhelming. He would go to prison. That was a certainty. He might even get the death penalty. If he made a deal and confessed to avoid the death penalty, he doubted if they would let him survive more than a few weeks or months in prison, but he had a good deal to make. Even without the evidence Eberhardt had turned over to the police, Moser knew enough—names, dates, events—to cause havoc. They couldn’t let that happen, couldn’t let him go public. He would either have to escape within the next few days or be killed.
Mac looked at Jane. She looked tired. They were all tired and hot and sweaty.
“Thanks,” he said.
Jane smiled. She had been doing that more often recently. Then she left the room.
“Good news,” Stella said, looking at Moser, who couldn’t keep from looking up.
They’ve decided to come through for me, Moser thought. He would be back on the street before the day was over and then he would have to hide before someone put two bullets in his head.
“We’re removing the charge of murdering your wife from the list of charges,” Stella said.
Moser’s mouth tightened slightly under the bloody pad.
“Want to know why?” asked Mac.
Silence.
“Because,” said Aiden, “the woman you killed in your bedroom wasn’t your wife. She was your sister.”
Moser probably wouldn’t even be safe in an isolated, guarded, secured location, the kind where they put mob hit men who talk to save their lives, have someone ghostwrite their largely invented memoirs, watch television and stay alive. It was worth a try.
“I want to make a deal,” Moser said.
“We don’t have the authority to make deals,” said Mac.
“Find me someone who does,” said Moser.
“What do you have to deal with?” asked Aiden.
Moser looked at them individually with a tilt of his head and a ghastly smile and said, “Thirty-seven assassinations for a government agency, assassinations in nine countries, most of them in Korea, North and South.”
“One question,” said Aiden. “Why cabinetmaking?”
“It’s a perfect meditation,” said Moser. “Creating objects of utility and beauty with your hands touches the soul and confirms the wonder of the universe.”
“We ran your sister’s fingerprints and came up with a match for a Lily Drew from Cleveland,” said Stella. “The Cleveland police found your aunt and uncle. We’re going to have them identify you. You used your sister as a front and when you decided to run, you killed her. Anything you want to say, Evan Drew?”
Mac and Danny had peeled away the identities of the man, enough to find the core.
Evan Drew, a.k.a. Peter Moser, a.k.a. Arvin Bloom sat silently staring at the pale wall, where he made out a face in the plaster, the face of an almost skeletal man, mouth open, crying out. He had seen such things all over the world, mostly in bathroom floors. He did not ask but he was sure others did not see the haunting images.
“I need a doctor,” said Drew.
The interrogation was over. Less than an hour later word came that the district attorney’s office was not interested in making a deal with Evan Drew.
Sitting in a holding cell, Drew began to rethink his options. There were few. There may not have been any.
14
IN THE MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS he had lived in the neighborhood, it was the first time Rabbi Benzion Mesmur had been in St. Martine’s Church, which was no more than a five or ten minute walk from his synagogue and less than that from his home. Father Wosak had invited him for coffee and cookies, which, the priest assured him, had both been purchased at Kauffman’s Kosher Bakery.
“If you’d prefer that I come to you…” the young priest had begun when they spoke on the phone.
The rabbi knew from the tone that he was deferring to the older man’s age and his position in the community.
Wosak had made the request in Hebrew. He had also given Rabbi Mesmur a choice of times that would not interfere with his duties.
The old rabbi, in a black suit on the hottest day of the year, had walked to the church with two members of his congregation, both of whom were over seventy, both of whom had asked him to allow himself to be driven. The rabbi had said, “No, thank you.”
The two men who had accompanied the rabbi remained outside when their rabbi entered St. Martine’s.
After they had finished their coffee and cookies, the priest said, in English, “I have a request.”
The old man waited.
“I’d like our congregation to pray for Asher Glick at this Sunday’s service,” Father Wosak said.
“You don’t need my permission,” said Rabbi Mesmur.
“I do,” said the priest.
“Then you have it,” said the rabbi.
“My sermon on Saturday will be on Jesus the Jew,” said Wosak.
Both men thought about Joshua in the hospital, Joshua who outwardly said he could bridge the massive canyon of belief between the two religions, but inwardly knew he was a false prophet.
“And the other one?” asked the rabbi.
“We’ll pray for Joel Besser too,” said Wosak.
Rabbi Mesmur stroked his beard once and nodded.
For the next twenty minutes the two men discussed the meaning of God’s destruction of the sons of Aaron, who had come too close to the altar. Their interpretations were remarkably close.
A sound beyond the priest’s sanctuary door made him rise and say, “Excuse me.”
Rabbi Mesmur also rose and followed the priest to the door.
Stella had volunteered to tell the two men about catching the murderer and about the motive for the crime.
When the two clergymen stood in the open door looking into the church, they saw Stella alone, kneeling before the altar, hands clasped, head down in prayer.
Father Wosak closed the door and the two men left Stella to her prayer.
At five p.m. Danny Messer handed the paperback book through the bars to Kyle Shelton. Kyle had asked if it were possible for the book to be brought to him from his apartment.
“Thanks,” said Kyle.
He was freshly shaved, hair combed back, orange prisoner uniform unwrinkled. Kyle stood straight. Stoic. Military. Kyle Shelton, former PFC,
who had served in an infantry unit in Iraq, had found a comfort zone, Danny thought. Danny’s comfort zone was his work. Danny found it ironic. The very thing he loved the most had taken him to the edge of a breakdown.
There was someone sleeping, or trying to sleep, in one of the two bunks behind Shelton. The man in the bunk was covering his eyes with his left arm to keep out the sun.
The air-conditioning had been turned down to save money, or perhaps the system was overworked. It must have been about ninety degrees in the cell. The dampness and heat had brought out the worst of the smells of the cells—long-dead cigarettes that lingered, human sweat that was a cacophony of alcohol and lingered for days, essence of vomit, and the hint of something or someone who had died.
The heat had laid out the man on the bunk, but Shelton was not sweating; not a spot of perspiration darkened his prison uniform.
“Ever read this?” asked Kyle.
He held up the book, The Conquest of Happiness by Bertrand Russell.
“No,” said Danny.
Kyle opened the book, found what he was looking for and read: “Life is not to be conceived on the analogy of a melodrama in which the hero and heroine go through incredible misfortunes for which they are compensated by a happy ending. I live and have my day, my son succeeds me and has his day, his son in turn succeeds him. What is there in all this to make a tragedy about?”
Kyle closed the book, held it up and said, “Thank you.”
Danny nodded.
“You like to take a look at this when I’m finished with it?” Kyle said.
Danny said, “Yes.”
At five p.m. Detective Donald Flack, hands at his sides, stood in front of the isolated cell in which Drew sat on the lone cot, looking at the wall. He did not acknowledge the presence of the detective.
Flack’s ribs stung with sudden pain unless he walked slowly and didn’t move his arms too much. Even a deep breath caused him to wince. The pain was worse than it had been during most of the time since Drew had run into him. The ribs were bruised, but some of them were the same ones that had been broken by another killer on a day as cold as this one was hot.
Neither man spoke. There was nothing more to say. Flack had come only to show that he had not been hurt by Drew’s rush at him in the shop. The detective, stone-faced, looked at the man who had come very close to killing him—and there was little doubt that Drew would have killed him if he had taken a shot. The man was an assassin who, if he were to be believed, had murdered thirty-seven people. Flack believed the big, paunchy man with a monk’s large bald patch and graying hair. Flack remembered how quickly the man had moved in his shop to take down both Rossi and Flack.
Drew didn’t seem to notice Flack. He might have been faking it, but from the look on the prisoner’s face, Flack thought that the man was crawling into himself. Flack had seen it before, but he knew it wasn’t always safe inside that shell. One multi-murderer had told him about going into the shell but being driven back out by the sound of an ocean of agonized voices.
Drew smiled almost to himself and reminded Flack of someone else: Norman Bates.
After five minutes, Flack walked away slowly, hiding the pain in his chest.
Drew was thinking in Korean, trying to remember the name of the labor leader he had killed in Thailand. He did not know why he felt the need to remember, but he knew it was not because of guilt. If he were to find peace for even a short time, he would have to remember. If he were to remember, he would be able to meditate, but he couldn’t. This had never happened to Evan Drew before. He couldn’t control it. If only he remembered the man’s name, he could go back to his meditation. He could see the man inside the restaurant. The man had been laughing, chopsticks in hand, when Evan Drew had shot him through the window.
The name suddenly came to him, but the relief he hoped for didn’t come. He now had to know the exact number the man had been on the list of his killings.
At five p.m. Stella Bonasera sat in her living room, a glass of iced tea in her hand, the air conditioner turned up.
She looked at one of the paintings on the wall. George Melvoy had admired her paintings. He had intruded, changed the meaning of her space forever. She felt no anger. Melvoy was getting better, but he was going to suffer, at least until the Alzheimer’s erased the memories of loss and pain.
She didn’t want him to suffer. He was a proud old man who had suffered enough in his life. He didn’t need Stella’s anger. He didn’t need Stella’s forgiveness. She looked at the painting that she knew Melvoy had moved slightly when he brought the poison.
Stella had bought the painting in Antwerp two years ago. The painting was bright, a black road with thick fields of yellow flowers growing on both sides, the sun just setting in the distance; a glowing object was moving toward the sun, which would never set. You couldn’t tell by looking at the painting, but the glowing object was a human being.
No deduction here. The painter, Mary-Celeste Kouk, had told her. Mary-Celeste was emaciated and wide-eyed and wearing a pair of very worn jeans and a red shirt with long sleeves and a John Deere logo. Stella was certain the shirt covered the clear evidence of the painter’s drug habit. Mary-Celeste set up her paintings on the banks of a canal next to a bridge.
“The painting comes with a secret,” the woman had said. “That glowing orange dot was me. Now it is you.”
Stella was on a long flight toward the sunset. She found comfort in this and the iced tea.
At five p.m. Aiden and her friend Karen Dukes, who worked in the ballistics lab, were having dinner at a Japanese restaurant on Second Street.
This was a rarity in both of their lives, a night out in which they could have ethnic food and go to a movie, a comedy. Neither woman could watch horror or superhero or street gang movies. They could eat slowly, talk about anything but work. Then they would see the movie. Aiden could not remember which Wilson brother was in it or who the other star was. It didn’t matter as long as it was funny or even tried to be.
Aiden’s motto for at least the next few hours was “Forget the day.”
“What’s that?” asked Karen when Aiden reached over to pick up her soup spoon.
Aiden looked at her hand. The first finger on her right hand was red and swollen.
“Splinter,” said Aiden.
“It’s in there?” asked Karen.
“It is,” said Aiden, starting her soup.
“You should have it taken out,” said Karen.
“I took antibiotics,” said Aiden. “It should take care of a possible infection. If not, I’ll take it out.”
“You want it to stay inside you?” asked Karen.
“Yes,” said Aiden.
“In the name of heaven, why?”
“To remind me of something,” said Aiden. “The soup is good.”
“Very,” said Karen. “What’s in your finger?”
“A very small splinter of bloodwood.”
At five p.m. Jacob Vorhees was asleep in Juvenile Detention. He did not dream. He dared not dream. He had gone to sleep thinking not of his family, but of Rufus. Later, in the relative safety of a therapist’s or social worker’s office, he might be able to talk about what had been done, what he had done. For now, however, he could think only of the dog.
At five p.m. Danny Messer was home showering. He had been given two weeks’ mandatory leave with pay and with the possibility of an extension.
He had to see Sheila Hellyer for half an hour every day for those two weeks. That was fine with him.
The tremor was gone. Hot water beat soothingly on his head and down his back. He heard himself humming, surprised that he was looking forward to the next two weeks.
He had promised himself that someday he would read War and Peace. Now would be a very good time, but then again, the Mets were opening a home series with the Cardinals tomorrow night.
At five p.m. Joshua lay in his hospital bed trying without success to understand what had happened to him. They had given him shots of
morphine for his pain. Suddenly he experienced an epiphany. His way was not religion. He had served it badly and it had served him badly. It was not his calling. He needed a cause, a real-world cause, a new group of the devoted young around him. If Communism were the least bit viable, Joshua would have become a Communist at that very second.
Animal rights. That was it. He smiled and imagined all the abuse taken by cows, ducks, horses, chickens, turkeys, seals, whales, pigs, even fish. I’m a vegetarian, he thought. From this moment, I’m a vegetarian. He closed his eyes.
At five p.m. Jane Parsons and Mac Taylor were sharing a pizza at a hole in the wall with three tables. Most of the trade was pizza by the slice to go.
They had both agreed on double cheese, onions and anchovies.
There was a ceiling fan spinning and wobbling dangerously, providing almost no relief from the heat of the ovens, which added to that of the air coming in through the open door.
The plan was to finish the pizza and the Diet Cokes and get back to work. Jane had DNA orders piled up at least two inches high. Mac had the gun Evan Drew had used. He planned to send e-mails to Interpol which, in turn, would send the request to its 184 members around the world, asking if they had any unsolved murders from before eight years ago involving two shots in close proximity to the back of the head with bullets from a small-caliber gun.
Someone behind the counter was shouting to someone behind him to make a large sausage-and-onion to go. Jane and Mac were silent as they ate. Then, pizza finished, she put her hands together and touched them to her lips, saying, “Tell me about your wife.”
Talking about Claire was not easy. Usually he simply didn’t do it, but in this loud, hot pizza shop he began talking. He was surprised that it didn’t hurt. He was surprised by Jane’s attentiveness. He told her things that he had not told anyone, including himself, since 9/11.
Outside it began to rain and, for a few minutes at least, it was cool in New York.
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Blood on the Sun (CSI: NY) Page 20