by LS Sygnet
“So Bay View sent somebody down to investigate and they found the holey jogger here.”
“Holy?”
“As in a hole where his heart used to be. You wanna see it? It’s pretty cool,” Maya grinned.
“Incorrigible,” I said. “You seem to be struggling to cope with this one, my friend.”
“Not really,” she said. “We don’t see many of these is all. I don’t think Bay View Division has ever seen something like this. Billy had to steer some of the Lookie-Lous away before they tossed their cookies all over the crime scene.”
I noticed the blood leeching into the shoe covers on my feet and backed away.
“Yeah, we’re not worried about tracking his blood and guts all over the place at this point, cupcake. Like I said, CSD has already done their thing. We were just hanging around for the green light from all these el jefes floating around before we wrap this one up.” The last was spoken a little too loudly and directed at my husband. “He ain’t gettin’ fresher, Orion.”
“Before he comes over here and brains you for being a pain in the ass, did you check his liver temp yet? Any idea on time of death?”
“He’s not even waltzing close to rigor right now.” Louder, “Yet another reason to get this underway.”
“So… less than six hours?”
Maya glanced at her wrist watch. “We were here probably an hour after this reported odd flash of light. I’d say time of death was probably right after the eyewitness saw whatever he saw. Since it’s not quite midnight yet, I’m thinking right around nine o’clock for this one.”
I rose from the squat and peered over the wide lip of the wall. “Is that the building where the call came in from?”
“Yep. Some swanky nursing home type place. Hell, if I knew they evolved into that, I wouldn’t have been so freaked out about the possibility of getting sick enough to die, Helen. Check out the digs. Apparently that’s what our guy was doing when somebody surprised him.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Forsythe’s team already collected the evidence,” Maya explained, “but the guy had the strap from a pair of binoculars clenched in one fist, and right under here –” she pointed to the lip of the wall that was partially concealed by some sort of ventilation dome, “was where they found the sniper’s rifle. Given the MO of Sanderfield’s killer, I don’t suppose it’s much of a stretch to think this could be the same guy.”
“Hmm,” I nodded absently while I peered at the darkened high rise across the street. “Nursing home, you said?”
“Something like that. Why? Is that important?”
The description matched the place Wendell described. “Hanging Gardens Assisted Living,” I said. “Your vic in the hit and run worked there.”
“Ha!” she barked. “Then I was right! All of this is related.”
I thought of ancient philosophies, butterfly wings flapping in India and the connectedness of all things. Was everything in Darkwater Bay connected to everything else? It hadn’t seemed so at the time, yet here we were, back in the very tight radius of a recent crime spree in Darkwater Bay. The man at my feet probably had answers that would’ve helped us tremendously. Another dead end.
“Did he have identification on his body?”
Maya stared over the wall beside me. “No, but we’ll try to scan his prints into the system when we get him out to the morgue. What’re you thinking, Helen?”
“Did you know that Sanderfield’s step father lives right over there?” I pointed at the building.
“You think somebody’s intent on wiping out the rest of the family?”
“No, but I do think that Sanderfield and those closest to him were probably part of the human trafficking ring. Please don’t repeat that to anyone.”
Maya nodded and glanced at the ledge of the roof. “See that right there? You can see myocardial fibrous tissue in the spray from the exit wound. Hell, you’d think we were in the middle of a war zone. I haven’t seen anything like this since my residency,” she said.
My eyes drifted to where she highlighted the grisly evidence of a violent crime. “Who carries around a weapon capable of a kill shot like this? Fifty caliber. That’s a very large handgun. And nobody heard the shot. The silencer for a gun that large would be as long as the barrel of the gun.”
“Can’t exactly claim it was a concealed weapon, eh?” Maya chuckled.
I frowned. It would be exceedingly difficult to conceal a weapon that size, and whoever shot our alleged sniper had to have been very prepared to take his shot, since the victim was armed as well. No time to assemble the silencer and the gun before approaching the man. So how did he get here without anyone noticing?
“Did they find any identification on the victim?” I asked.
Maya shrugged. “Honey, you already asked me that. I said we’d try to scan his prints. As for those,” Maya squatted again and lifted one of the limp hands. “Check this out, Helen.”
I peered at the smooth skin where ridges should’ve been. “Acid?”
“Something burned them off, and it wasn’t so recent that we’re seeing signs of a cause. Of course, with digital printing these days, if he was in the system, we can probably get something from the palm or the side of his hands. He focused on altering the end two-thirds of his fingers. It doesn’t speak highly of his law-abiding character, that’s for sure.”
“Did Darnell direct evidence collection?”
Maya’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I can call Ken. He’ll tell us what CSD has if you think Johnny’s keeping you out of the information loop, Helen.”
“I don’t think that’s going to be an issue.” My eyes drifted back to where my husband still remained huddled with Darnell and Crevan. Darnell’s thoughts on someone with military sniper skills registered in my brain again. If this guy really was former military, between OSI and the bureau, his identity might well be concealed if they determined who he was. Couldn’t have the military looking bad after all. Not in the current political climate.
“Well, it’s another case of no question,” Maya said.
“Excuse me?”
“As in the cause of death,” she said. “Sanderfield, that orderly and now Holey Jogger. We’ve had far more obscure causes of death roll in on a gurney, Helen. My job is easy on this one.” She raised her voice again, “That is, if I can ever get him to the morgue.”
Johnny turned toward us and scowled. He muttered something to his companions and stalked across the roof. “Is there a problem here, Dr. Winslow?”
Her lips twitched. “I’d like to get the man into cold storage at least before he finishes decomposing. What’s the hold up here? CSD already processed the scene. Why am I waiting to have the body released?”
“Special Agent Levine has requested that we wait until he arrives.”
“From Washington?” Maya growled. “You’re willing to risk compromising evidence because the head of this little FBI presence –”
“You didn’t tell her?” Johnny interrupted.
“We weren’t talking about my issues,” I said with a shrug. “But, if you want, so be it. Maya, David came back to Darkwater Bay. Well, he was here. He went back to Montgomery to continue the investigation into Senator Sanderfield’s campaign finances. He’s on his way here now. In fact, I’m surprised he hasn’t arrived yet. I assume he got the call before Johnny did.”
“He should be here within a few minutes,” Johnny said. “I don’t imagine we’ll have skeletal remains within half an hour, will we Dr. Winslow?”
“What’s with the formality, Orion?” Maya bristled and rose to her maximum height. “Have I displeased the almighty –”
“Get down,” Johnny hissed. He grabbed my arm and yanked me away from the ledge.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Someone’s in that apartment across the street, and we’re illuminated by all these damned lights.” He made a slicing gestured toward Crevan. The rooftop plunged into darkness a second bef
ore I peeked around the broad chest blocking my view. Sure enough, a faint light flickered across the street in the assisted living.
Mentally, I quickly tallied the number of floors. Ten. Six apartments from the left, five from the right of the building. Whoever was watching us was just right of the center of the assisted living. “Do you think it’s him, Johnny?”
“Of course I do. Jesus, I should’ve never let you come over here.”
“Let her? Excuse me, Orion, but did you get zapped in the head again, or have you forgotten who your wife is?” Maya’s irritation swelled instead of abating. “And who the hell are you so worried is watching us? For all we know, some reporter conned his way into some old goat’s apartment so he could get a better view of our activities over here.”
Johnny didn’t answer. His fingers bit into my upper arm and dragged me across the rooftop. “Get her home.”
In the blink of an eye, I was thrust into the custody of my brother.
Johnny turned into Maya’s wrath. “Get this body out of here now.”
“What about the very Special Agent Levine? Thought I could stand to wait another thirty minutes for his arrival.”
Anger flashed in his eyes, just as plain as day – at least to me – even though we were all shrouded in darkness now. “Would you like to be removed from this case, doctor? No? I didn’t think so. Agent Levine will have to live with seeing the crime scene photos.” At Crevan, “What the hell are you still doing here? Get Helen home, and stay there with her until you hear otherwise.”
“But –”
Johnny silenced me. “I don’t want to hear it, Helen. Go home.”
Crevan had the decency to hurry me away from the rooftop without yanking, dragging or making even a feeble attempt at apologizing for Johnny’s odd behavior. I suspected it was because he agreed. This particular crime scene was no place for me, not if Lyle Henderson was watching us. Still, anger simmered that so soon after our agreement, mine to be honest, Johnny’s to be open minded enough to listen before barking orders, was tossed aside. He has his patterns of behavior. I have mine.
“We could go up to that apartment right now and find out for sure if he’s been paying attention to what happened tonight, Crevan.”
“I don’t have a death wish. You heard him, Helen. He wants you home.”
“And you heard him as well as I did. Henderson was watching us. For all we know, his accomplice could be over there watching too.”
“This murder complicates everything. If Lyle had a conspirator before tonight, I’m pretty sure that alliance was broken when somebody else murdered the assassin.”
I stopped halfway down the stairs and wouldn’t budge. “Of course. Jesus, I can’t believe it didn’t even occur to me before now. Crevan, this is exactly the time that we should approach Lyle Henderson. He’s got to know that whoever killed Sanderfield on Sunday was about to kill him tonight! He knows that he’s expendable in this operation. We have to talk to him.”
“Let Johnny handle it, Helen.”
“We can’t. Don’t you see? I’m the last person he’d ever expect to come knocking on his door. This thing could end once and for all in the next ten minutes! Please! Don’t let Johnny’s ridiculous paranoia about my safety prevent you from doing what you know needs to happen. You’ve been a detective for what, twelve, thirteen years now? You’ve been doing this job longer than I have by far. Surely you see that I’m right.”
He gritted his teeth. “I don’t disagree with you, but I’m following orders, and we’re going home. Now.”
“You’re my brother. I don’t want to hurt you, Crevan. And I promised Johnny that I’d stop taking stupid risks and going off investigating on my own.”
“You don’t have the legal authority to investigate anything anymore. Have you forgotten? You gave up the badge, Helen.”
“Then I’ll call Shelly Finkelstein and get another one. I’ll partner with Tony Briscoe for God’s sake, but I won’t avoid doing what needs to happen right now.”
“He’ll kill both of us,” Crevan said. “Please, Helen. Don’t put me in this position.”
“You think I won’t toss you out of my way and go over there alone? I will. Family or not, you won’t stop me. And we’re wasting time.” I pushed past him and started running down the stairs.
Chapter 30
He barely slipped inside the elevator doors before they closed. Crevan glared at me. “Helen –”
“If you’re not here to back me up, then go. Go now. I’ll handle the fallout with Johnny. On second thought,” I whipped out my cell phone.
“If you tell him you’re here, he’ll go berserk, Helen. Put the phone away. We’ll do this together, and I’ll take the blame.”
My eyes narrowed. “He’d never believe you, but I wasn’t planning on making a confession to my husband. I was gonna call my dad for backup.”
“Oh that’s just fantastic, fucking brilliant, Helen. Call someone who not only doesn’t have the authority to question a suspect, but should be serving a life sentence in prison himself.”
“Maybe he should be,” I conceded, “but not for the crime he was convicted of committing. I know more about what happened now than I did before. If I’m not incentive enough to spook Lyle into tipping his hand, if he’s not already scared shitless that his partner or partners are trying to kill him now, maybe the sight of Dad will really put the fear of his God into him.”
The elevator chimed, announcing our arrival on the tenth floor of the Hanging Gardens Assisted Living.
“This is the worst idea you’ve ever had,” Crevan scolded. He crowded my back when we stepped off the elevator. “And I’m the cop here. I should go first.”
I ignored him and counted doorways in the hall. My finger extended. “That’s the one right there.”
“Helen –”
A soft snick drew our attention in the opposite direction.
Crevan drew his gun. I pushed it down to his side.
“Calm down. Nobody’s here. With all the activity across the street, somebody probably just peeked out a door to see who was out here.”
“We shouldn’t be here.” Crevan twisted his gun hand free. “This is a mistake, Helen, probably a very dangerous one.”
“Well, I disagree, and I’m not leaving.” Before he could stop me, I reached the destination and rapped sharply on the door. “Lyle Henderson, open the door.”
Nothing.
Crevan rolled his eyes, and nudged me out of the way. “Mr. Henderson, it’s Crevan Conall from OSI. We’d like to speak with you for a moment if we may.”
Another door creaked down the hall. It struck me as odd that such an upscale building had so many creaky joints. It seemed almost metaphoric for the inhabitants of the building.
No sound came from within the apartment.
“He’s probably asleep, Helen. Either that or we’ve got the wrong apartment –”
A door swung open behind us. Crotchety old woman with a type of walker I’d never seen before appeared. She rolled her assistive device into the hallway, maneuvered herself into the small padded seat on it and stared at us in silence.
“Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to return to your apartment,” Crevan said in his most stern and officious tone. In my opinion, it was far from intimidating, but my brother was apparently the recipient of the soft heart when we were in the womb.
“I’m not going anywhere, young man. If you’re here to talk to Lyle, I plan to know exactly why.”
My interest spiked. “And why is Mr. Henderson’s business of interest to you, ma’am?”
“Name’s Tilly,” she said, “and I don’t suppose you’ve got any right to ask me questions, leastwise not anymore, missy. I read the news. You retired. With good reason from the looks of it.” Her eyes zoomed in on my belly.
“I’m a consultant now, Tilly. Or should I call you Mrs.…?”
“Miss.” She stopped and chuckled. “Marple. Yes, you may call me Miss Marple if Tilly is too
informal.”
Crevan grinned. “Do you know if Mr. Henderson is home tonight?”
“Sure,” she nodded. “I’ve been watching this place like a hawk since I came home and heard the shouting match.”
“Keep trying to get in there, Crevan,” I said. “I’ll talk to Tilly.”
“Helen –”
“Don’t argue!” I turned my attention on the old woman. “Could I trouble you for a glass of water? I’m feeling a little queasy and I think a drink my help settle my stomach.”
“Just put on the tea kettle,” she said. “That’s better for the stomach for a woman in your condition.” She clicked her tongue in disapproval. “Shouldn’t be out here all pregnant like that anyway.”
She rose and rolled the walker back into her apartment.
“Helen, this is a really bad idea.”
“She’s probably older than Lyle, and she’s not particularly mobile. What do you think she’s planning? Hemlock in my tea?”
“Leave the door open, and for God’s sake, be careful!”
Tilly was already pouring hot water over two teabags by the time I reached her kitchen. The spacious apartment offered another view – hers better than Lyle’s that overlooked more high rises. Tilly had an unobstructed view of the bay.
I whistled softly. “Nice digs, Tilly. This place must cost a fortune.”
“My first husband invented the wheel,” she said with a wry smile.
I felt my face warm.
“And, I’ll have you know, I’m not anywhere near Lyle’s age.”
“My apologies for the assumptions.”
“You’re not here to make small talk with me about wise investments or how swanky the palace is. You want to know what Lyle and his pal were twisting their vocal chords into knots about earlier.”
“Exactly how much earlier did you hear this fight?”
“Oh, I’d say about six hours ago.”
“That early?”
She nodded. “I wouldn’t have noticed, but I decided to take dinner down in the dining room tonight, so it was about six when I came back up here. My friend Elizabeth wanted to have cocktails after we dined, you see, so I humored her and sipped some sherry while she pretended that her bourbon was watered down. It never is. Old bat drinks like a fish and thinks nobody’s wise to the truth.”