“COD?”
“Wait until I get her on the table for cause of death. It’s scheduled for two hours from now. I want to be sure about this one. She was strangled twice, at least. From the bruising, I’d say once to subdue her and get her to the room and once to kill her, I think. But he might have been bringing her in and out of consciousness. Or, he might have strangled her to unconsciousness a few times. Two very distinct strangulation marks. One set was from a rope and the other one from his hands. But I’m not sure about COD. It could be strangulation or blood loss. From the spatter pattern, he cut her some before she died. Looks like he really wanted to hurt her. However, most of the mutilation was post.”
“Strangulation matches the second victim,” Mann said.
“Same MO but he came prepared this time. Highly unlikely he found the cord at the scene, according to the Super. She was definitely strangled and restrained with a small rope”
“What about the bra?”
“All of her clothes were cut from her body including her bra. This bra, the one she was wearing when she was found, wasn’t hers. It was a full cup size and a couple inches larger than the other one. My guess is the killer brought it with him.”
“What purpose?” asked Mann.
“Are you kidding? I don’t have the slightest idea. We also found tissues stuffed in the bra.”
“She stuffed herself?”
“No, that was done postmortem and definitely the work of the killer. I mean, this was a nicely built girl and who uses tissues anymore? This wasn’t some teenager. There are too many prosthetics that look better and are easy to get, especially for a nurse. Besides, her bra would have fit correctly without the stuffing. Nope this was definitely a message from the killer.”
Mann was silent for a moment as he thumbed through the pictures. Keough, familiar with the way Mann worked, waited for the lieutenant. Finally, Mann looked back at Buchanan. “What do you think?”
“The theatrics of the scene strike me.”
“Theatrics?”
“The scene was laid out carefully. The killer needed a place to do his deed but then he didn’t try to hide the body. He had time. He had to be there for an hour, depending on how quick he was with the cutting. But for all that, he didn’t hide the body or dispose of it in any way.”
“What are you getting at?”
Buchanan picked up a picture and looked at it. “The internal organs are all arranged as though they are being inventoried. It was almost clinical, without any passion, as though it was more of a science project. It’s the bra that is important. He wanted us to see a stuffed bra on that girl.”
“Anything else?”
“He cut out the larynx.”
“Their larynx?” Keough said, looking puzzled.
“The voice box. The Adam’s Apple,” Buchanan said, pointing at his throat.
“You don’t mean he doesn’t just slash their throats? You mean he actually cuts out their voice boxes?” Keough asked. “What does that tell you?”
“Not a thing, except the obvious that the mutilation tells me he might have some anatomical knowledge. He might be a doctor, another nurse, something like that. The basic organs, they come out with the slice and dice. But the voice box – who even thinks about it? And I’ll tell you something else. He’s taking them with him.”
“He takes the larynx with him?”
“It wasn’t at either scene. I just found out about it on the Yeck murder. The original autopsy listed only a deep mutilating knife wound, as though he had thrust the blade in and twisted it. My people screwed up. Once we had the second girl, we went back and checked. It was actually missing.”
Mann was still focused on the doctor that was supposed to have made a house call at Jeanne McIntosh’s apartment.
“Time of death?”
“Between four and nine, last night.”
“Do you know if the CSU guys got lucky with prints?”
“Nope everything was wiped again.”
“Wiped? You don’t think he used gloves?” Keogh asked, surprised.
“He wants to be close to his victims,” Mann said, almost to himself. “He wanted to touch them.”
*
Hearing the soft rap on his door, Mann looked up from the pile of papers on his desk. Degget was standing in the doorway. He had cut his hair and shaved his beard which lessened the impact of the scar. He wore a suit and a tie with a picture of Bob Marley on it. Even standing in the squad room, Mann could sense tenseness in his stance. The watchfulness had nothing to do with nerves over a new transfer.
“Come in, Detective.” Mann motioned the man to a seat.
“Thank you, sir. I hope I’m not bothering you.” He handed Mann a file folder.
“Not at all. I understand that I have pulled you for a while,” Mann said, flipping through the personnel folder. Davis had greased the transfer, dealing with Walsh as an uncle more than as a cop.
“Yes, sir. They were looking for somewhere to dump me.”
“Go see Detective Kydd. She’ll set you up. Any problems, you see me,” Mann stressed.
“Thank you, sir.”
Degget stood up and left the office. Degget had found his hiding place and Mann was one step closer to Angelino.
Chapter 23
“Please wait over there, Ms. Seymour,” the voice from the darkness said.
Andrea joined three other women and two men. Two of the women were chatting but everyone else stood quietly, staring down at the stage or out at the audience. Squinting through the footlights, Andrea could barely make out the three people sitting in the theater.
Glancing at the three women, she tried to decide which parts the other women had won. The older woman was obviously the mother. That left her and the other two women for the sisters. Two unimportant roles and Gwen, the character who was in virtually every scene and all but carried the play.
“Don’t even think it,” she mentally cautioned herself.
“OK,” came a voice from the audience, “can we have some chairs please?”
Stagehands quickly put out nine chairs in a circle on the stage. One of the men and the older woman walked over to the chairs. Hesitantly, the other four followed. On the seat of each chair was a copy of the script. None of the actors touched the scripts or made any effort to sit down. They were all deciding what to do when the three from the audience appeared from the wings and walked over.
“OK,” the tallest of the three men said, “let’s get started on this. Sit for Christ’s sake. I hope you have all heard of me or are smart enough not to admit it.”
“Hi Henry,” the older woman said, laughing.
“Hi Martha. Martha and I are old friends. I have had the honor to direct her in several plays and she knows exactly how to get on my good side so just follow her lead and you’ll be fine. These other two suits are the money men. With any luck, you won’t see them again until opening night.”
The two men looked at the director, neither sure whether he was kidding or not.
“We are going to do a quick read through today. I want to hear how this thing sounds before I decide on any rewrites. I’ll have that done by mid-week and then you have until Monday to get your lines down before we start into major rehearsal.”
Jack pulled a paper out of his jacket pocket and unfolded it. “OK. Parts.”
Each actor tensed as Jack began to list out who would play which role.
“Michael, Smitty. Martha, the mother. June, Debra. Alex, David. Andrea, Gwen. Diane, Isabel.”
Andrea suddenly remembered to breathe and let out a great rush of air.
Martha laughed and the director looked over at her. “You have just been given the lead in what is sure to be this year’s Tony award winning play and that’s the best you can do?”
Chapter 24
“So, I can trust Mann?” Degget sat across the kitchen table from Brant Davis.
“Of course, you can, you stupid boy!” Ruby said from where she stood doing up the
dishes.
“I’m sorry, Aunt Ruby, but it is hard to tell who to trust,” Degget said. “Everybody seems to have a hidden motive. All these years, you’ve never really talked about the Lieutenant.”
“Oh, Gregg’s got an agenda, all right, but it isn’t hidden. He wants Angelino, probably more than you do.” Ruby tossed a dishtowel to her husband. “Dry these dishes and tell him about the video tape”
Davis heaved to his full height and picked up a plate out of the rack. “You know Mann made his name when he was still in the bag, right? He had been on patrol for about six years. I was about three months in and still riding with my first partner.”
“I sort of heard the story. He arrested some dirty cops but there were some questions about it, wasn’t there? Something about him being dirty or involved?”
“No,” Davis said, “there was no question about it. It was a good bust. Mann just had the bad luck to bust a very connected cop. Mann was clean. Unlucky, and a little stupid, but never doubt that Mann is a righteous cop. All the bullshit that settled on Mann came from the Commissioner at the time trying to cover his ass. The rest came from Mann’s obsession to nail Angelino.”
“Tell him how it really happened,” Ruby said.
“On the day in question, Mann was on his day off,” Davis began.
*
Gregg Mann was down at the Beaches with his wife and two sons. The baby, Wayne, was still in the stroller but Rick was running around as they wandered along the boardwalk that bordered the sand. Gregg had his new video camera out and was trying unsuccessfully to get some video of his wife. “Just concentrate on the boys,” she insisted.
Mann stepped onto the hot sand and started to video tape Rick as he jumped along the boardwalk, trying to only hit every third board. As Mann swept the camera across the boardwalk, three men caught his eye. Two of the men were pushing the third into a warehouse across the street. Just before they disappeared into the building, Mann caught a glimpse of the guns.
Mann reached for his pocket but he had forgotten his new cell phone back at the apartment. He quickly scanned the boardwalk. He finally saw the patrolling officers well up on the pier that jutted out into the lake.
“Honey, there’s something going on in that warehouse,” he said to his wife.
“What are you talking about?”
“There are a couple guys with guns that just took a third guy into that warehouse. Go get those guys,” Mann said, pointing out to the pier. “Give them my badge number and tell them I’m in plainclothes and unarmed.”
Mann ran across the road and looked at the side of the building. A stairway ran up the side of the building to a door and a window. Another door from the alley was set twenty feet back from the bottom of the stairs. He tried the lower door but it was locked. A transom window was open a few feet down the alley. He dragged a couple crates over and slipped through into the warehouse.
Mann could hear the voices and the scrape of a chair on cement. To his left, a staircase ran up to a loft area with storage and a small office. He went for the high ground, silently mounting the stairs. Almost at the top, he crouched down and watched the men. Bringing the video camera up, he used the zoom to get a closer look. He clicked on the record at the same time.
One of the men, Mann labeled him Number One in his head, had a revolver pointed at a kid sitting in a chair. The kid looked about twenty years old and was crying. The guy with the gun was talking too low to be heard but the tone was as menacing as the gun. The second man, Number Two, had his gun out but seemed nervous and kept looking toward the front door. He reached out and pulled on the arm of Number One who just shook it off.
“Where the hell is my coke you little snot?” Number One suddenly shouted. “I know you grabbed it up and ran. I want it back.”
The kid in the chair sniveled some response that Mann couldn’t catch.
“Are you bullshitting me? You better be telling me the truth.”
The kid said something else and reached into his pocket.
“Easy,” said Number One. He motioned to Number Two who dug in the kid’s pocket and pulled out a small object. Mann thought it was a key.
“OK, we got it. Let’s get out of here,” Number Two said, almost pleading.
“Yup, we’re out of here. But first we get rid of this problem.”
The kid must have realized what was going to happen because he tried to launch himself off the chair to his right. The gun went off and hit the kid in the left shoulder, spinning him around and knocking the chair over.
Without thinking, Mann stood up and shouted, “Stop, Police!”
Both men opened fire on him. He ran up the stairs and tried the office door but the knob wouldn't turn. As a bullet lodged in the door beside him, he made a decision and threw himself at the window to the right of the door. He crashed through the glass and hit the railing. He tucked himself around the video camera and rolled down the stairs.
Hitting the pavement knocked the wind out of him. Two men burst out through the side door under the stairs. Expecting a bullet any second, Mann heard running feet and two voices.
“Freeze, police!”
Mann heard the two men from the warehouse shout, “Police, undercover.”
The two uniforms weren’t having any of it. “Put your guns down now!”
The suspects put their guns on the pavement and raised their hands. “Its OK, We’re undercover. That’s our suspect,” Number One said, pointing at Mann. “I’m going to reach for my badge.”
“Don’t move!” the older of the uniforms shouted, coming forward quickly. “Keep your hands on your heads.”
A third cop skidded to a stop at the top of the alley. While the newcomer pulled his gun, the older patrolman approached the two guys and holstered his. “Davis, you cover these guys. Jefferson, cover the guy at the bottom of the stairs.”
“I’ve got them, Mike.” Davis assured his partner.
The two guys were kneeling on the ground when Mann’s wife arrived with the boys in tow. She started into the alley and Jefferson blocked her way. “That’s my husband! He’s a cop. Is he hurt?”
Mann finally got his breathing under control. “We need an ambulance. There’s a guy shot in the warehouse.”
Mike looked at Mann’s wife and kids. Making a quick decision, he stepped back from the suspects on their knees. “Jefferson, check it out.”
Jefferson ran into the warehouse and they heard him shout, “Man down!”
Davis used his shoulder radio to call for an ambulance. Davis’ partner walked up to him. He showed him the ID from the two kneeling suspects and pointed to one name. “Get the Lieutenant down here. We are deep in it. This is going to be way beyond our pay grade.”
Before the Lieutenant could arrive, Mann started to give his story. When he mentioned the video tape, Number One started shouting.
“That video is part of our investigation. I don’t want anyone touching it, in case they erase it. You understand, Officer?” he asked pointedly, looking directly at the older man in uniform. “I don’t want anyone to accidentally erase that tape.”
“I understand totally,” replied the older cop.
He popped out the tape. “Officer Davis, are you witnessing this?”
“Uh, sure Mike,” Davis said, clearly not understanding what he was witnessing.
“Officer Mann. Do I understand correctly that removing this small tab will prevent the tape from being erased?”
“Yes, sir,” Mann said.
Mike snapped the small piece of plastic off the tape. “There, that should take care of any of your concerns.”
“Do you know who and what you are screwing with?” Number One asked.
“I know exactly who you are. And I am guessing this tape will prove exactly what you are.”
*
“Mike showed me what it took to be a cop, that day,” Davis said. “Luckily, he missed most of the fallout. That was reserved for Mann.”
“That was Commissioner
Anders’ son, wasn’t it?” Degget asked.
“Yup. Mann had gone and videotaped the Commissioner’s son shooting a kid over a drug deal. Felony attempted murder. Would have been murder if Mann hadn’t told us about the kid in the warehouse when he did. As it was, the vic almost bled out before the ambulance got there. Jefferson saved him.”
“What happened to Mann?”
“The Commissioner tried to do everything he could to discredit Mann. Perhaps, he thought that would help get his son off or maybe he was just pissed. But nothing was getting his son off. He went down and did some serious time. By the time the investigation was finished, the Feds were involved and he ended up doing Federal time too. But the damage had been done, Mann was tainted. That wasn’t the worst of it.
“Anders’ partner, Billy Jones, knew he was going down. He wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box but he did know if anyone was going to fall hard, it wasn’t going to be the Commissioner’s kid. And there wasn’t much defense against the video tape. Billy wasn’t a bad guy, just greedy and easy for Anders to manipulate. He rolled over on Anders and the whole operation. That meant that Angelino’s new organization was going to take a big hit. He had just come to power, having eliminated most of the competition. There were still some very fresh corpses around and Jones knew too much. Angelino had Billy killed.”
“That hit Gregg hard,” Ruby said.
“Why? The guy was dirty, right?”
“Guess you had to know Billy,” Davis tried to explain. “Like I said, he really wasn’t a bad guy. He just got in way over his head and didn’t know how to get out. Gregg felt responsible in some bizarre way. Don’t get me wrong, Billy wasn’t an innocent but he shouldn’t have been killed like that. Gregg was really pissed off that it happened. He has wanted to get even with Angelino ever since. He knows the dirty cops, the deaths, they all stem from the drug money. Angelino is the one that Gregg will chase forever. It cost him a lot.”
“And what the Italian bastard didn’t take, the bitch Gregg was married to did,” Ruby said. “She figured Mann should have played the game so he could have moved up into the big jobs. She saw herself as the Commissioner’s wife some day and wanted Mann to play along so he could move up. When they got together, Mann talked about being Commissioner some day. For Mann, it was just talk. He was a cop but she wanted a bureaucrat. She soon realized he was never moving very far…not far enough for her. She took the boys and poisoned their minds.”
Two Graves (A Kesle City Homicide Novel) Page 9