“You could remind them of someone they both knew, hmm?”
“Maybe, or maybe they remember me from the night they attacked me.”
Pierce saw the fear in her eyes as she spoke.
“Let’s sit and talk.”
Val followed him into what looked like a break room and saw that she had interrupted his dinner, had she known it was also his first meal since noon of the previous day, she’d have felt even worse about it. There was corned beef on rye, with French fries, sitting in a Styrofoam carton on a table.
“Are you hungry?” Pierce asked.
Val looked down at the food, and as the aromas of meat and potatoes reached her, she felt a pang of hunger.
“I could go for some of that.”
Pierce tore the top part of the carton away and placed half of the sandwich and fries into it; he then poured soda from his can into a paper cup and slid it all towards Val.
“Bon appétit, and I want you to know that I will look into those men further. They’re already persons of interest in another case.”
“Thank you.”
“For the food? You’re welcome.”
“No, thank you for not calling me silly, or discounting my feelings.”
They ate in silence for a few moments, but then Val asked a question.
“I thought that you couldn’t have dinner with me while my case was still open.”
“I can’t.”
“Then what do you call this?”
“I call it questioning a suspect.”
“I’m a suspect? What’s the crime?”
Pierce smiled.
“I think someone’s stolen my heart.”
Val laughed.
“You’re a charmer, Detective Rick.”
Pierce gazed over at her.
“I’m not the only one, Val.”
CHAPTER 16
The following afternoon, Manny stood inside his garage with the overhead door slid up. He was staring at the suitcase in the trunk of his car, just knowing that he forgot to pack something, but he’d be damned if he could remember what it was.
He heard someone call his name and turned to see his neighbor on the left wave to him, as the man climbed into his car. The neighbor’s name was Perkins, a recent widower who suffered from insomnia. He had moved into the neighborhood six years ago, when the Smiths, Tim and Kate, had moved away.
Manny still missed the Smiths, especially Kate, who would drop by and “visit” sometimes, whenever Manny’s wife and kids were out of the house.
As Perkins drove off, Manny walked out to the curb, hoping to see his brother coming around the corner. Their flight was leaving at three, and what with the way airports were these days, it was a good idea to get there early.
He sighed and looked around. The neighborhood was quiet. It was a warm, Saturday afternoon and many people were off to the beach, on what might well be the last good day for it, or else they were partying with friends or running around doing chores.
A kid rode by on a bike and smiled at him. The boy was a friend of his son, and Manny had known the kid since the day he came home from the hospital. He also knew that the boy was adopted, and knew that the boy had yet to be told about it.
That was the nice thing about living in the same place for so many years; you knew everyone who lived there, and a great deal about what they did. However, Manny made certain that they knew little about him, or he had, until his wife decided to air their dirty laundry in public by filing for divorce.
Yes, he cheated, but so what? He was a man, damn it. Had she really expected him to go decade after decade with just her to stick it in? He took good care of her and the kids, had always done so, and would have continued to do so, but no, she finds out about the hooker in Vegas and suddenly he’s a bad guy. Then, then she goes out clubbing with that slut sister of hers and sleeps with the bartender.
Manny ground his teeth together as he remembered the glee in her voice when she told him all about it.
We’ll see who’s happy after tomorrow, bitch, yeah we’ll see then.
He bent down and ran a hand over the grass in his front yard; he then nodded to himself as he made a mental note to cut it when he got back from Florida.
As he straightened up, he remembered what it was he’d forgotten, and marveled that he had done so. It was the flash drive copy he’d made of Dunham’s murder,
He then thought of Dave and hoped that he wouldn’t be stupid, that he wouldn’t try and get out of killing his wife. If he did that, then he would be forcing Manny’s hand, and he’d have to go to the police.
Manny shook his head at the idea. No, Dave would kill her. He understood that it was the only way.
Manny had looked at all the angles, and the idea to give Dave a tape with Manny commissioning his wife’s murder was the only way to insure that neither of them could harm the other. Dave had seen it too, had understood the wisdom of it, and Manny knew that his wife would be dead within twenty-four hours.
He turned to go into the house just as his brother arrived. Max was younger than Manny by only ten months and the two of them had always been close. So close, that Manny nearly revealed his plans to him, but thought better of it in the end. Close or not, you never know how someone may react to extreme measures.
They loaded Max’s suitcase into the car and Manny went back inside the house to retrieve the memory stick.
“I’ll be right back, Max. I left something in the office.”
Manny went into the office and grabbed the flash drive from the bottom drawer of his desk. He had been gone for barely a minute, but when he returned, he found Dave standing in his living room. He was holding a gun on Max, and he was not alone.
“What the fuck, Dave?”
“Give your phone to my friend.”
“What? No! Fuck Dave, my plan is perfect, don’t you see that? It is perfect, there’s no need for this shit.”
“Hand him the goddamn phone.”
Manny made a face of disgust as he handed his phone over to Jack.
Max Canto stared with frightened eyes at the guns, as a cold sweat broke out on his face.
“Manny, who are these guys? Wh... what’s... what’s going on?”
“It’s all right, Max; it’ll be okay. Dave just wants me to give him something and then he’ll leave.”
Dave motioned with his gun.
“Both of you shut up and start walking towards the back of the house.”
Manny shook his head in irritation. Dave was going to try to scare him into giving up the copy he’d made of the video. That was never going to happen. That video of him killing Dunham was his only leverage.
Still, he did as he was told, and the party of four wound up in the kitchen. They stood two each on opposite sides of the room. Jack stood near the sink, beside Manny, his gun pointed at him, while Dave stood near Max by the breakfast nook.
“You said you put a copy on a memory stick, where is it?”
“It’s in a safety deposit box.”
Dave shook his head.
“You never went to the bank. I know you Manny. I’ve worked with you for years. Good enough is always good enough with you. I’ve never once seen you go out of your way, but I believed you when you said you made a copy and I want it, so where is it?”
Manny stared at Dave and his face screwed up, as if he were going to cry. He hung his head and put his hand to his mouth, as his shoulders shook. He hoped it looked real, as he slipped the flash drive into his mouth; he then swallowed while appearing to wipe tears away.
Pain!
The flash drive was only half an inch wide, but it was two inches long, and the damn thing hurt like a bitch going down, so much so, that when Manny looked back up at Dave, there were real tears shining in his eyes.
“I was bullshitting you, Dave, really, the only copy is on my phone.”
“Nice try, but I know you made a copy, now where is it?”
“I’m serious, the only copy of that video is on my ph
one, and you’ve already got that.”
Jack let out his breath in a sigh.
“He’s not going to talk.”
Dave nodded in agreement. He then stared over at Manny.
“Do you remember what you said to me at the diner last week?”
Manny shrugged. “What’s that?”
“You said that murder solves a lot of problems. You were right.”
Dave shot Manny three times in the torso, as Jack did the same to Max.
CHAPTER 17
TUESDAY AFTERNOON
Pierce, along with his partner Jerold, and Al Finder, were gathered in Lieutenant Coke Dyer’s office.
Dyer was reading a report put together by all three of them, a report about Dave Owens and Jack Murphy. When he finished reading, Coke laid the file atop his desk and spoke to Pierce.
“I can see how you would like them for the murder of Karen Dunham, but why are you so certain that they’re also the guys who abducted Mangieri?”
“Actually, it was Val Mangieri who put me on to them. She happened to be here on Friday when they came in to give statements. She says that they looked at her like they had seen a ghost, looked at her as if they knew her, although she says that she’s never seen them before.”
“That’s it?”
“No, we know that the perps drive a white van with a trailer hitch, possibly a Ford. Murphy owns a van with a trailer hitch, a Ford van. When Mangieri overheard the men talking, she got the impression that they were very close, possibly brothers, and heard one of them referred to as Jack.”
Coke Dyer leaned forward slightly and Pierce could tell that his boss was getting interested. He continued.
“Jack Murphy and Dave Owens grew up together and even served in the same army unit. Murphy is Owens only alibi for the Dunham case, and both men were the last to see her alive. I want a search warrant for that van. I’ll tell the judge that it’s for the Dunham case, but once we have it and go over it, we’ll be able to test the findings against the Mangieri case, and also Al’s missing women.”
Coke nodded.
“All right, yeah, do it that way. A judge shouldn’t have a problem granting you a search warrant based on Dunham. As you say, they were the last ones to see her alive, but one more thing, I—”
The phone on the desk rang and Coke held up a finger, indicating for Pierce and the others to wait until after he answered the call.
Fifteen seconds later, Pierce could tell that it was no ordinary phone call, something big was going down, and by the way the lieutenant kept staring at him, Pierce knew that it must involve him somehow.
Coke grabbed a sheet of paper and wrote down what looked like an address. When the call finally ended, Coke set the phone down and shook his head.
“You’re not going to believe this, but the Maplewood Police just solved your case, both your cases, and Al, they probably solved some of yours too.”
Pierce’s face screwed up in confusion.
“What? The Maplewood cops arrested Owens and Murphy?”
“Forget Owens and Murphy, does the name Manny Canto mean anything to you?”
Pierce nodded, knowing that the name was familiar somehow, but not able to recall from where.
Finder snapped his fingers.
“I know who he is, he works at the same place as Owens, he was also there the Friday night that Dunham was killed, but he said he left work before Owens, and Owens confirmed it. Lieutenant, are you telling us that he killed Dunham?”
“Not just Dunham, it looks like we had a pair of serial killers just like Rick said, but not Owens and Murphy, it was this Manny Canto and his brother, Max.”
Pierce stood.
“I’m going to Maplewood; I have to interview them.”
Coke grimaced.
“That’s going to be a little hard to do.”
***
Maplewood was a suburb situated in the hills just north of the city.
The town was mostly upper-middle class and Pierce took note on the ride through town that many of the homes had shingles hanging in front. It was a community of doctors, dentists, and accountants, whose commute consisted of traveling to the back of their houses and entering a home office.
They arrived at Manny Canto’s residence and Finder summed up the atmosphere with one word—circus.
There were news vans everywhere, as overhead, their counterparts in the air took turns filming an aerial view of the home. People lined up eight deep at the police barricades and they murmured, cried, shouted, and even laughed at the spectacle they were a part of.
After they were cleared to enter, signed in to the scene, and had put on protective gloves and booties, Pierce, Jerold, and Finder entered the home and were walked through it by the Maplewood Chief of Police, Chris Hammond.
Hammond was an older man, nearing retirement, but still vital. He led them into the kitchen and Pierce saw the bloodstained tile floor where the bodies had lain.
“The decedents were supposed to be in Florida this week on vacation. When three days went by with no word from him, Max Canto’s wife became worried enough and gave us a shout. Officer Knox came here to check it out and after getting no answer, he walked around to the rear and peered through the curtains. That’s when he found the two brothers, dead.”
“And you say that they shot each other?” Pierce said.
“Looks that way, they each had a gun in their hands, but we’ll know for certain after the ballistics come back.”
“How were they tied to the murder, to the missing women?” Finder asked.
“As my people went about securing the home and searching for other victims or survivors, they opened the bedroom closet and found the box.”
“What box? Like a cardboard box?”
“No, it was metal and looked like an old gun box, Officer Knox opened it expecting to find another weapon, but instead he found the drivers’ licenses. When we began running them, we came across your murder victim, Detective Pierce, and a bunch of your missing women, Detective Finder. Well, we may be small town cops but we aren’t stupid enough to try and handle this mess alone. I immediately called in the FBI and they sent a forensics team. Since then, this place has been completely dusted for prints, vacuumed for trace evidence, and photographed more times than a wedding. There’s even a backhoe in the yard searching for bodies, but nothing has been found.”
“You made the smart move calling the feds in. It could take their resources to get to the bottom of this,” Pierce said.
“Well hell, we can handle the occasional murder victim, but there were a combination of seventeen licenses and ID cards, and, I assume, seventeen victims and possibly as many crime scenes and jurisdictions. Anyway, after calling the feds, I called your department, and that’s when they finally connected me with your boss.”
“Shit,” Pierce said. “I never noticed that Dunham’s license was missing. Once I saw that there was still money in her purse, I never thought to check to see if anything else might have been taken.”
“Yeah,” the chief said, “It looks like the Canto brothers took them as souvenirs of their crimes. If they hadn’t had a falling out and killed each other, God knows how many more they might have killed.”
“And you say that there were seventeen of them?” Finder asked.
“Yeah, is that more victims than you believed there were?” the chief said.
“Much more,” Finder said, and looked disgusted by the new total. It also meant that he had more parents to notify.
“Where did the feds take the bodies?” Pierce asked.
“They’re at the city morgue, but the rest of the evidence is at the state lab in Hamilton.”
Pierce nodded.
“I want to know if the autopsy finds anything that says they didn’t kill each other. I just find that a bit too handy.”
The Chief shrugged.
“I’m not a big believer in luck or coincidence, but sometimes weird shit happens. Anyway, I’ll send your office an official r
eport later today, and if you have any more questions, call me.”
***
They thanked the Chief, and after giving the scene another look, they walked back to their vehicle.
Pierce just sat there behind the steering wheel, staring at the crowds gathered.
“This was all very fortunate for Murphy and Owens,” he said.
“You’re thinking that they framed the Canto brothers?” Jerold said.
“I don’t know. What I do know is that I would still love to have the lab go over Murphy’s van.”
“You’ll never get a warrant now, there’s no basis for one.”
“I know, Al, but I just find this all a bit too convenient, also, we still don’t know where the bodies are.”
“We don’t know anything right now,” Finder said. “And we won’t until the dust settles on all this. Until then, I guess we just wait and see.”
Pierce started the car and eased back onto the street.
“This place looks like it would normally be a quiet neighborhood, a great place to live.”
His partner, Jerold, looked out the back window at the throng, the news vans, and the police tape.
“It’s a buyer’s market now.”
CHAPTER 18
It was after working hours, and Dave and Jack sat in the van, listening to the news about Manny on the radio. When a commercial came on the air, Dave reached over and shut the radio off.
“So far, so good.”
“Yeah, Dave, but we won’t know anything for sure until the cops go over everything. It still worries me that we never found another copy of that video.”
“It’s there somewhere. I’m sure of it, but I’m also sure that the cops won’t have any better luck finding it than we did. Wherever Manny put it, it’s well hidden.”
Jack nervously tapped the steering wheel with his fist.
“What if he really did put it in a safety deposit box?”
“He didn’t, he doesn’t even own one, remember? We went through his files and there were no receipts, nothing listed but a checking account and an IRA.”
Monsters (A Detective Pierce Novel Book 1) Page 8