Unhinged

by Findorff, E. J.

  Apparently, from what I had seen on that day, only some of it had been thrown away. And here the rest of it was, but something didn’t look right.

  This had been what I used to call the ice cream wall. When the refrigeration worked, the freezer-burned blocks were stacked three feet deep from the floor to near the ceiling in bricklayer fashion, measuring five feet left to right, frozen over with a solid sheet of ice. If I didn’t know about the Dumpster, I’d say no one had ever bothered with this stuff, and the managers had never cared about getting rid of it. It seemed more of a pain to chip it out, so they just let it stay in an igloo.

  It took a little time for my nose to adjust to the new smell. I started to remove the somewhat flattened ice cream cartons and threw them behind me. I heard a noise, and rats scooted out around my feet and dashed out the door. I continued on, however, eventually able to see what was behind the old unwanted ice cream containers. My stomach turned. I saw bones. My eyes began to water as I took out my penlight and flashed it over a skull and ribs.

  I stared at the decomposed body, still wearing the clothes Paulina had been wearing when she disappeared. I imagined a frozen Paulina behind that wall of ice cream slowly defrosting in the Katrina water. After the water drained, the whole strip mall had caught fire but was put out before the back of Dixie-Mart was destroyed. No one had bothered to check for bodies.

  Then the guilt came as if it were waiting for me to be at my weakest. If I had done any number of things differently, she could still be alive. Was this destiny? I was born at a particular time, worked at a certain store, and went out with a girl who wound up dead at sixteen. Had all the cosmic forces come together to lead us to that fucking Dumpster?

  It felt as if I had spent hours hovering over Paulina’s body. I checked behind me to make sure no one had entered, and my neck cracked. I closed my eyes.

  I wanted to report my finding immediately, but I couldn’t. I was off the investigation and wouldn’t be allowed to participate in the events following my revelation. I would probably even be scolded if not booted off the force. But I also had to think of Spider’s mental state and what he might do if he saw this on the evening news. The best thing to do was leave her for now. No one could know until I was ready.

  I had finally solved the mystery of Spider’s first apparent victim, my fiancée’s sister, and there was no one I could share it with. I missed Ron as a confidant, and I couldn’t tell Jennifer I had found Paulina yet. I’d probably catch hell for it later, but I knew she wouldn’t be able to leave her sister there.

  As I sat in my car in the Dixie-Mart parking lot, I wondered how the hell Paulina’s body had ended up behind the wall of ice cream. The crime was committed after Dixie-Mart had closed. There was no report of a break-in that night, and it was impossible for Spider to have sneaked her in the next morning. No. Spider had to have had inside help—someone with a key and the alarm code.

  A manager.

  I thought about who Spider had been tight with, and Donny Packard came to mind. Everyone had considered him a cool manager, an adult who could hang out with the kids, and he was the one who hired Spider, along with Paulina and me. In fact, he had done all the hiring.

  It dawned on me that he had always hung out with Spider when I wasn’t around. I’d see them in the aisle together or in the break room, chatting like good chums. The other manager and assistant manager hated the punk reject. They called him the freak or the mutant. I also remembered that Spider usually wasn’t scheduled with the other managers.

  I left for Packard’s house, tempted to call in my hunch, but I couldn’t include Dorrick on this one. Was it my inexperience, ego, or hatred of Dorrick that tempted me to withhold information? I didn’t know. It just felt right in my gut. My plan was to question Donny and see if I could trip him up, then call in my anonymous tip to Bienvenue.

  I remembered where Donny lived because of a Halloween party I attended. He had dressed as Zorro and kept sticking people’s butts with his plastic sword. His sexuality made sense now. He had never tried to hit on any of the women at the party, despite their willingness to flirt. He stayed with his male friends, getting them drinks all the time. To my knowledge, he never had a girlfriend, either.

  I arrived in Bucktown. It was just short of entering Orleans Parish—David Duke country as was scribbled on some of the establishments’ restroom stalls. Packard lived walking distance from Deanie’s Seafood, one of my favorite places for soft-shell crab.

  His street was paved but had no curbs, allowing the grass to meet asphalt. Several houses had reelection signs up for President Vorhees. If the Klan’s ex-Grand Wizard, David Duke, was running again, he would certainly win the popular vote amongst the older locals.

  As I approached Packard’s home, I saw the windows of his modest stucco house rattle as if a door had been slammed, but no one was leaving through the front entrance. A dog began barking wildly, and I had a sinking feeling that someone had just gone out the back door.

  Instinctively, I looked for movement in the cars parked around me, but all was quiet. I jumped out with my gun in hand and ran to the front door, fearing that this was another escape. I checked the door to see if it was open; then I banged hard, making the windows vibrate again.

  “Donny, open up. It’s Decland.” I scanned the neighborhood again for anything suspicious. The smell of dog shit and freshly cut grass hung in the air.

  Ten seconds passed before I heard someone coming to the door. “Who is it?”

  “Decland, from Dixie-Mart.”

  The door opened. Donny stood there in a blue T-shirt and sweatpants. His sideburns had gone from pointed to square, level with his earlobes. “Deck, buddy. What brings you to Bucktown?”

  Without saying another word, I entered the house and ran into the bedrooms first, checking the closets. I had to make certain that Spider wasn’t still around. I could hear Donny in the living room asking me what was going on, but I could tell it wasn’t the unsure tone of someone who was in the dark.

  I paid no attention to him as I searched the bathroom and broom closet; then I saw the back door and looked out the window. The gate was taking its sweet time to creep closed.

  Donny stared at me, and I knew what he was thinking. He had a guilty look that wasn’t easily disguised.

  “What are you looking for?”

  “Spider. I know he’s been here.”

  “Spider? That crazy serial killer? I still can’t believe we ever worked with him. Why would he be here?”

  “I found where you and Spider left Paulina. Can I check your freezer?” I waited for his reaction.

  “Why? Why are you doing this?” He approached me. I raised my gun, and he raised his hands. “Whoa. There’s no need for that. C’mon, man, we used to work together. What am I going to do? You’re a cop.”

  “Exactly. Open the freezer and start taking everything out of it. Now.” I knew I wasn’t following proper police procedure, but I was desperate. I had come this far and had to know if Spider had sought sanctuary here.

  Without a warrant, any evidence actually found would be tossed out in a court of law. But I didn’t want to think about that. I was here, and it was all unfolding before me. Besides, if I didn’t check now, Donny would surely get rid of every trace of Spider after I left. In my mind, I didn’t need police procedure. It was now or never. Fuck my badge.

  Donny swallowed hard and opened the freezer door. Frosty air came shooting out, exposing TV dinners and wrapped meats. He started taking out the items, throwing them near my feet. As he got to the last of the merchandise, I saw two little medallions wrapped in aluminum foil, one on top of the other.

  “Let me see those.” I holstered my weapon, and he threw them to me. I ran my thumb across one of them, making a line through the thin film of frost.

  Donny sprinted to the front door, but he was stopped before I could react. It seemed that Agents Dorrick and Zachary were following me after all and entered Donny’s house at just the right moment
.

  “Where are you going in such a rush, Mr. Packard?” Dorrick held Donny with one arm twisted behind his back. “Cuff him, Zachary.”

  I walked into the living room and tossed the frozen nipples on the coffee table by Dorrick’s leg. I waited to get either a congratulations or a new asshole. “I don’t suppose your boys waved hi to Spider as he was escaping,”

  Dorrick looked at me, then indicated with a nod for me to follow him outside. When we were both standing on the lawn, he got in my face with a menacing growl.

  I stood as motionless as a French Quarter mime, unblinking, immune to his drama-queen tirades.

  He circled me like a drill sergeant laying into one of his troops. “This is it. You fucked up the capture of Gene Lotz for the last time. You searched this house without a warrant, questioned a suspect without any witnesses. You’ve totally compromised this investigation. Even if we caught Spider now, most of the evidence would be inadmissible. You are the worst cop I’ve ever come across.”

  “I fucked up the capture? You arrogant piece of shit. You’ve been the problem from the start.” I wondered how far I’d have to go before I crossed a line and got sucker punched. A man of Dorrick’s power usually thought that the rules didn’t apply to them.

  Dorrick’s voice dropped to barely a whisper. “You are so lucky I can’t dispose of you. At least not right now.”

  That statement sent a chill up my spine, but it had to be an idle threat.

  He backed off a couple of inches and resumed his tirade, turning red in the face. “We had this house on stakeout. We were about to move in when we saw you enter. Thanks to you, Spider escaped out the back.”

  “If you had the place covered, he wouldn’t have gone anywhere.”

  Dorrick opened his mouth to speak but shut it quickly.

  “Are you making this shit up as you go?” I had some momentum. “What I think is that you knew I’d keep investigating and you followed me. I showed up here, and Gene Lotz’s spider sense starts to tingle and he jets, leaving Donny holding the bag. What I don’t understand is how Spider knew to run before I even pulled the car up to the curb. It’s like he had a premonition or . . . a warning.”

  Dorrick sized me up for a moment. “If you would have told someone—anyone—that you found out where Spider was hiding, then we would’ve had him. And I call that a fuckup. You fucked yourself, Detective. You hear me?” Then he faced the front door. “Zachary, get out here.”

  Agent Zachary came out as ordered, standing near me with his arms folded. “Sir.”

  “Take Detective Dupree to the office and put him in detention. Then come back here. When the warrant arrives, I’ll begin in the house.” Dorrick turned, showing us his back.

  He was right in one respect. I had fucked this up so badly that even though Dorrick had to wait outside until the warrant came, any court monkey would be able to tear this search and seizure to pieces.

  “You’re not going to put cuffs on me, are you?” I whispered, trying to be his buddy. Agent Zachary was a nice guy; it was obvious. I thought maybe it could be to my advantage. He made sure that Dorrick was facing the house and put his cuffs away, holding me by one arm as if I were his date.

  “As long as you don’t do anything to make me have to subdue you. You’re not under arrest in the traditional sense as far as I know. The bureau will need a debriefing about how you found Spider’s hideout, and if any charges for obstruction or hindering are warranted, they’ll be brought against you at a later date.”

  “I’m still waiting for the first hearing I was threatened with. Are these going into my permanent record?” I laughed as I shook my head.

  I eased into his Celica and strapped myself in. I thought about Jennifer and Spider, both in the same city. Who knew how close to her he was now. I also wondered how long I was going to be detained. Perhaps I could find an ally in Agent Zachary instead of trying to trick him. I hoped he was still young enough to have values and a conscience. Doing the right thing could still mean something to him. I had to get him out of the mode of lackey and into the category of freethinker.

  “What’s your take on the case?” I asked. A Dave Matthews song was playing low in the back speakers.

  “Gene Lotz is one sick individual. Maybe the worst in terms of child abuse that I’ve studied or come across.”

  “Yeah, I’ve read about some pretty sick fucks in my time. What he’s doing to these people is horrific, but there have been some worse cases.”

  “A couple may be worse,” Zachary said, seeming to warm up a little. “Lotz’s built-in survival mechanism has been strong to this point, but now I fear his urges are getting the best of him, and once he can’t satisfy his cravings anymore, he’s going to self-destruct. His childhood was too traumatic, too damaging.”

  “What? The cigarette burns? The beatings? His mother told us his father abused him, but nothing that hasn’t desensitized us as a society. I mean, every convict has an abuse story in one form or another.”

  “How can you discount what she admitted on the video?”

  My jaw dropped. Zachary’s inexperience had just let me in on an important piece of information.

  “You didn’t see the interview tape of Greta Lotz? I thought you were present with the deputy director and Agent Wayne when they taped her?”

  “No. I wasn’t made aware of any video. I can’t believe that bastard taped a statement without my knowledge.”

  Zachary paled. “Maybe I’m speaking out of turn. I assumed it was common knowledge. Her tape gives a lot of insight into Spider’s psychological development.”

  “Can I view this tape? You can set me up when we get to your office.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t. You’ve been barred from any and all contact with anything or anyone having to do with this investigation. I wouldn’t have even mentioned the video if I knew you weren’t aware of it.”

  “Great. In the meantime, my girlfriend’s probably the next victim on his list.”

  “Maybe I can put you at ease. I think it’s safe to tell you that we have a man watching her. He’s keeping his distance, respecting her privacy. He’s there to make sure she gets around safely. We’re hoping Gene Lotz does go after her; then he would be apprehended for sure. Whether you like it or not, your fiancée is bait.”

  I didn’t like hearing that, but having a Fed watching her did make me feel better. I made a mental note to go see Gene Lotz’s mother again when and if they released me. If I couldn’t see the tape, then I’d just have to get my information firsthand.

  When we arrived at the field office, I was put in the same interrogation room, minus my guns.

  Agent Zachary returned with a Coke and set it on the table. “An agent will stop by in about a half hour to get you something to eat if you’d like or let you use the facilities. Agent Dorrick and I will speak to you when we return. Try to make yourself comfortable.”

  I waved and smirked as he shut the door. This was just perfect.

  Who believes in history repeating itself? I do. Here we were again, just like a family reunion. Uncle Dorrick, the family bully who was on my ass again, Cousin Zachary, quiet and compliant, and me, the rebel punk who always embarrassed the family.

  Dorrick stood in a corner with his arms folded like a prison guard. It was a position from where he could observe the whole room and also a position of no escape if I decided to drop him. My mouth was unusually dry, and I felt a little sick, wondering if there would ever again come a day when I would simply go home, grab a beer, and veg out on the couch. I guessed James Bond cool wasn’t in my genes.

  “Donny Packard told us you found Paulina. Why didn’t you let someone know?” Dorrick’s demeanor turned 180 degrees from when we had last spoken. Of course, we were being recorded again for official records.

  “Has anyone pulled her out?” I asked. “I want to know exactly what happens to her remains. And don’t tell her parents just yet. You should let me tell Jennifer and then let her tell her parents.”r />
  Dorrick pushed himself off the wall and sat on the edge of the table in a fatherly manner. “Detectives Bienvenue and Landeaux pulled her out. One of our agents is searching the crime scene, although Katrina water and the animals didn’t leave much. There will also be an autopsy. You see, we work as a team, law enforcement and the bureau. I’m curious. How did you figure out where Paulina’s body was?”

  I noticed how Dorrick changed his tone and intensity when it suited his needs. I truly wanted to piss him off. “I’m psychic, I guess. I used to have a tarot-card table in Jackson Square.”

  “Don’t crack wise,” Dorrick said like an old-time private dick in a bad movie, unfazed by my humor. “I’ll make sure you never see the light of day again.”

  “Now you’re being a drama queen.” All I had left was my ability to irritate him.

  He only returned a dead stare, waiting until I was ready to cooperate.

  I certainly didn’t like being on the other end of an interrogation. “It just clicked. I was remembering that night, and I got a hunch.”

  “A hunch, huh? Like Marcy Latner was a hunch? You invaded another crime scene, possibly contaminating it. We’re trying to keep you out of the press, as much for your benefit as for ours,” Dorrick said as if he were doing me a favor. “No one needs to know that you messed up again. Can you imagine the protests when people find out the NOPD let a serial killer escape time and time again? It’s unheard of. It’s a shame you have a problem with authority like your ex-partner. If you obeyed your superiors, you would have the makings of a good detective.”

  “You see it your way. I’ll see it mine.”

  “There is no your way. You’re not on this case anymore. We’re going to find out from Packard where Lotz is hiding, and we’re going to pick him up. We’ll do whatever it takes, but he’s not going to escape again because you won’t be anywhere near him. I’ve talked to your captain. You’re off the force. And I’m sure after a formal inquiry and investigation, you may even see jail time for obstruction.”