by J. D. Robb
She’d eliminate the females, except one of them might have acted in collusion. Dead low on the list, she decided, but it felt too soon to eliminate.
All of them knew the vics’ location. None of them had alibis for the time in question. All of them knew and/or interacted with the vics. All of them had access to drugs and could easily put their hands on the protective gear.
She picked her way through the data on each suspect, added to her notes, her board. When the sweepers’ initial report came through, she pounced. More paint flakes, some black fibers from the window casing, some hairs—no roots. All sent to the lab.
None of the victims’ ’links had been found on scene. So he’d taken them. Taken the ’links, she mused, but not the money. Fibers on the windowsill, footprints in blood. So he’d only sealed his hands, or worn gloves.
And walking through the blood, that was just stupid. Amateur hour. If they found the shoes, they had him.
First kill, she thought. She’d make book this had been his debut.
Time to circle back.
She walked out to Peabody. “I’m going back to the scene.”
“Okay. I’m not getting anywhere anyway.”
“No, you keep at it. I’m going to talk to Louise after, then work from home.”
“I’m serious about getting nowhere.” Peabody huffed out a breath, shoved at her hair. “I’ve talked to the top costume shops—and some costume and theatrical makeup designers in the city. What I get is, sure the skin color’s no problem; hair, no big; nose, teeth, you bet. But the eyes? Every one of them tells me if they used apparatus like that—to make them bulge out, or appear to, and turn that red—it would hamper vision. Same with the jaw.”
“It was dark, even with the streetlight. Middle of the night. Maybe the wit exaggerated some.”
“Maybe. A couple of the people I talked to were all juiced up about it, trying to figure out how to make it work. I’ve got them promising to experiment, see what they can do. But nobody’s got anything like this. Not in any sort of mask, or doable with makeup and prosthetics. Nothing that would allow the person wearing it to see clearly, speak, or laugh the way the wit described.”
“Keep at it anyway, because it is doable, as it was done.”
“What if he’s some kind of freak?”
“Peabody.”
“I didn’t say demon or monster. Like a circus freak, you know? A contortionist or a freak show type. He looks like this—or something like this and he just pumped it up.”
“Circus. That’s an angle. I’ll work that at home. Not bad, Peabody.”
“You’d kick my ass if I said monster.”
“Keep that in mind if you become tempted,” Eve warned, then headed out.
She thought of makeup, freaks, altered appearances as she drove—and had a brainstorm. “Contact Mavis Freestone, pocket ’link.”
Contact initiated.
“Hey, Dallas!” Mavis’s pretty, happy face filled the dash screen. “Say hi to Dallas, Bellorama.”
Instantly, the baby’s chubby, grinning face replaced her mother’s. “Das!” she cried with absolute joy, and pressed her wet lips to the screen of the pocket ’link.
“Yeah, hi, kid. Kiss, kiss.”
“Slooch!”
“Right. Smooch.”
“Make the sound, Dallas,” Mavis said offscreen.
Eve rolled her eyes, but complied with a kissing sound. Bella squealed with yet more delight.
“Playtime.” There was some shifting, giggling, then Mavis came back on behind the film of Bella’s slobber. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to Dallas?” Mavis demanded.
“I didn’t have time. It was—”
“We’re going to chit some serious chat about this.”
“Okay.” With Mavis, it would be okay. “But later. I need you to—can you wipe your screen off? You look like you’ve been licked by a Saint Bernard.”
“Oh, sorry. So what’s the up?” Mavis asked as she whipped out a cloth and polished the screen.
“I’m going to send you a sketch, and I need you to get in touch with Trina, show it to her.”
“Why don’t you just send it to her?”
“Because I’m busy.”
Mavis angled her head. Her hair, a curling mass of gold-streaked red today, bounced. “Coward.”
“I’m a busy coward. I don’t want her giving me grief because I didn’t rub some shit on my face, or in my hair. Or listen to her tell me I need my hair cut or whatever. I’ve got something hot, and she might be able to help.”
“Give me the goods. So I finished my gig on the vid,” she said as Eve ordered the sketch accessed and sent.
“What vid?”
“Nadine’s vid—your vid. The Icove Agenda. It’s mag to the nth they wanted me to play myself. And the chick playing you? Man, they made her a ringer. I got wigged when I—Holy shit on a flaming stick!”
“Shit,” Bella echoed happily in the background.
“Oh hell—hello,” Mavis muttered. “I swore in front of the baby. But holy you know what, this is too totally scary. I’m scheduling my nightmare right now.”
“Sorry. I need to know what it takes to make somebody look like this.”
“A pact with Satan?”
“With makeup and prosthetics, and that stuff. Trina knows that crap.”
“I’ll be passing it on—and getting it off my ’link just in case it has the power to materialize.”
“Come on. Other angle. You did some carny work.”
“Back in the day, sure. Always plenty of marks at a carny.”
“Ever see anything like this? Freak show–wise.”
“I saw plenty of mega weird, but nothing like this. You wouldn’t ask unless it—he—whatever—killed somebody. He looks like he’s born to kill. Jes—jeepers,” she corrected. “I got bumps of the goose all over. I’ll tag Trina now, so I don’t have to wig alone.”
“Thanks. Let me know.”
Eve pulled over at the curb in front of the crime scene.
She unsealed the door, used her master. And stood inside, left the lights off. Not as dark as it would’ve been, she thought. But there was a streetlight, enough for some backwash.
Still, he’d had to know which mattress each vic slept on. He’d moved with purpose, with a plan despite the ferocity.
She moved straight through to the back, opened the window, climbed out.
And yeah, the building across the street had a good view of the window, the sidewalk, the recycler. Eve imagined the killer dancing and spinning in the spot of the streetlight, laughing.
Spinning and dancing up the street, Cynthia had said. So he didn’t care about being seen. A vehicle nearby? Or a hole to crawl into. His own place?
If he’d taken a cab, the subway, a bus? Even in New York somebody would’ve reported it. All of the lab rats lived within blocks. Both of the doctors and Arianna had vehicles.
Eve turned back to the window. He jimmies it, she thought—quiet now. No dancing and laughing, not yet. Climbs in.
She followed the steps, easing in, sliding down to her feet—left fibers behind. Opens the satchel for the protective coat.
Some boxes in here, she noted, and tidy piles of old materials—but he doesn’t bump into them. He’s been here before. And he walks right into the front.
As she did, the door started to open.
She had her weapon out, trained. Then hissed when Roarke stepped in.
“Damn it.”
“I’m the one with a stunner aimed at me. I get to say, ‘Damn it.’ ”
She shoved it back in the holster. “You’re not supposed to pick the lock on a crime scene.”
“How else would I get in? Your vehicle’s outside, and the seal’s broken. I knocked like a good civilian, but you didn’t answer.”
“I was out the back window.”
“Naturally.” He stood where he was, looking around. “What an unholy mess. The crime-scene records never have quite th
e same impact.”
Since he was here, she’d use him.
“He jimmied the window, rear, quietly stepped around the stuff back there—in the dark or near dark. Not much would come through the window—it’s grilled—from the streetlight. But he doesn’t wake them.”
“He’d been in here, and back there, before.”
“Yeah. Knew just how to navigate, and knew where each one slept. Leads with the bat.” She swung. “Cracks Vix across the side of the head where he lay. He’s the lucky one. I doubt he ever woke up. Changes to the knife.” She mimed switching hands. “Puts it into Bickford’s chest—two blows, and another in the gut. Fast. Bickford might’ve made some sound, tried to call out, but his lung’s punctured. Now it’s time for Darnell.”
“She’d have woken, don’t you think?”
“Bash, slice, movement. I think she woke up before he’d finished with Bickford. Got up, either tried to run or tried to fight. He uses the bat, breaks her kneecaps. Maybe she screamed—nobody heard—or maybe she just passed out or went into shock. But he went back to Vix, beat him into jelly. Blood’s flying everywhere, bones snapping, shattering. He put the protective gear on in the back room, but blood’s on his face. It feels warm, tastes hot. He loves it. He wants more, so he goes back to Bickford with the knife and stabs and hacks. Over eighty times.”
Eve shifted. “She tried to drag herself away. See, the blood’s smeared on the floor there from her knees, from her trying to pull herself away. But she’s in terrible pain, in shock, in hysterics. He’s laughing now because this is so much fun. Just better than he’d ever imagined. And now it’s her turn.”
She could see it, all but smell the blood.
“He says her name. I bet he said her name, and his. He wanted her to know him. It’s face-to-face, it’s his hands on her throat so he can feel her pulse going wild, then slowing, slowing, slowing while her eyes bulge and her body beats itself against the floor. While that pulse stops, and her eyes fix, and her body goes limp.”
“Christ Jesus, Eve.”
“That’s how it happened.” Inside she was as cold as the images fixed in her head. “That’s close, anyway. He’s not done. It’s too funny and thrilling. He doesn’t use the knife. He takes a scalpel out of his satchel because he takes pride in the work. Now he makes a point. An ear, an eye, her tongue. They’re a trio, aren’t they, like the monkeys. Hear no, see no, speak no.”
“Evil,” Roarke finished. “Because he is. What you’ve just described is evil.”
“Maybe, maybe even to him. But he likes it. Likes the taste of evil, the smell of it. He just can’t get enough, so he breaks the place up, what little they had. Destroys it. He stages them against the wall. Then he uses their blood to leave us a message.”
Roarke studied the wall. “It took time to do that. His letters so carefully formed. Not dashed off, but clearly printed. He gave it some thought.”
“He’s so clever, a real joker. Dr. Chaos. I bet he slapped his knees over it.”
She paused a minute. “Arianna said something. How they’d found their quiet. Especially Darnell. That addiction steals the quiet. That’s what he brought back. The unquiet. The chaos. So that’s the name he picked.”
She walked away, into the back. “He takes off the protective gear. Turns it inside out to keep the blood off his clothes, and he climbs back out, shuts the window. He laughs, and he dances, just so full of the fun of it he can’t contain it. He stuffs the gear in the recycler, properly disposing of it like he tells us to do with the bodies. A little clue, so we’ll be sure to find it. And that has him doubled over with laughter. Then he dances away, high on the unquiet. Dr. Chaos had the time of his life.”
“Did you learn any more from this re-creation?”
“Maybe. Yeah.”
“Then you can tell me about it over the drink I find I want very much right now.”
SEVEN
Eve looked around the bar as they went in. Quiet and cozy, with a neighborhood feel, she observed. A couple of guys sat at the bar, deep in their brews and conversation. She bet they were regulars, bet the seats of the stools all but carried the imprint of their asses.
The bartender, bright, young, female, joined in with them, idly swiping the bar with a rag as she laughed at something they said. A couple sat at a table—had a first-date, drink-afterwork-to-see-how-it-goes look about them. Another four had a booth, scarfing down bar chips while they held one of those quick, coded conversations of intimate friends.
Roarke took a booth, smiled at her over the table. “Satisfied?”
“About what?”
“That you won’t have to arrest anyone in here.”
She smiled back. “You never know.”
She opted for a beer when the waitress came over, and Roarke held up two fingers. “Now, as we’re a bit early, tell me what you learned back there.”
“It was the girl. It was Jen. She was the primary motive. He wanted her to see what he did, how he killed the others, took away what mattered most to her in the cruelest way. She was the easiest kill of the three, but he saved her for last because she was the most important. Then he killed her with his hands, so she could see his face and he could see hers. The others didn’t matter as much, except for their connection to her. He wanted her, and she said no—or worse, didn’t see him as a man.”
“He didn’t rape her. I looked at your board.”
“It had gone past sex or rape as power and control, and he got off on the killing. But taking the body parts—they’d seen or heard something he couldn’t afford them to talk about. Whatever it was, it was recent.”
She waited until the waitress served the beers. “See that group over there.” She lifted her chin toward the booth of four. “Two guys, two girls. But they’re not couples.”
“Aren’t they?” Roarke said, enjoying her.
“Look at the body language. They’re tight, but it’s not sexual. Pals. And they never run out of conversation. Blah, blah, blah. They talk all the time, hang all the time. When they’re not together, they tag each other. He took their ’links because he got that, he knew they connected that way when they weren’t together, and had to conclude they’d talked about whatever they’d seen or heard via ’link.”
“All right.”
“He worked alone. He doesn’t connect, he doesn’t have that closeness with anyone. So that bumps the two female suspects down the list for me. It wasn’t Arianna Whitwood or Marti Frank. They may know something, may not know they know it, but this one had to have all the fun for himself. He’s smug, and a show-off, which is why I like Billingsly just on principle.”
“Arianna said no to him,” Roarke pointed out.
“But he still believes he can get her. She’s also on his level. How humiliating would it be for a man like that to want an addict, a squatter, a nothing, and be rejected by her?”
“That’s a great deal for a second look at the crime scene.”
“But not enough. Here’s Louise and Charles.”
Roarke stood, greeting Louise with a kiss, Charles with a handshake.
As Charles, former licensed companion turned sex therapist, slid in beside his wife, he grinned at Eve. “How’s it going, Lieutenant Sugar?”
“I’ve got three bodies and a short list of suspects. It could be worse. Sorry,” she said to Louise. “Insensitive.”
“No. We both deal with death all too often, but at least I come into it when there’s still a chance.”
“You look tired,” Roarke commented.
“Long day. Good day,” she added, “as I didn’t deal with death.”
Both she and Charles ordered a glass of the house white.
“What can I tell you about your short list of suspects?”
Eve drew out the sketch, laid it on the table. Puzzled, Louise leaned closer. “We’ve still got a month till Halloween.”
“This is who the witness saw outside the crime scene.”
“It’s a hell of a disguise,”
Charles commented. “Why would anyone want to dress up, be that noticeable when doing murder?”
“Maybe it added to the thrill. We’re not having any luck on replicating the disguise, and Mira says it’s unlikely he could tolerate the jaw—broken or dislocated that way.”
“Now you have two doctors telling you that. This is extreme.” Louise tapped a finger, tipped in pearly pale pink, on the sketch. “There would be airway blockage, difficulty breathing, speaking, eating. There should be considerable swelling, but I don’t see any in this sketch. The pain would be enormous. And the eyes certainly aren’t natural. Not just the color. Hyperthyroidism can cause the eyes to bulge, but I’ve never seen anything that severe. And the skin? I’d diagnose multiple organ failure at worst, anemia at best. He had to fake all this.”
“Hey, I saw that guy.” The waitress paused as she served the wine.
“When?” Eve demanded. “Where?”
“Last night. Well, this morning. You don’t forget a face like that,” she added with a laugh.
“Exactly what time? Exactly where?” Eve drew out her badge, laid it next to the sketch.
“Oh. I guess he wasn’t just a weirdo. I had the late shift last night, so I didn’t leave until after two. I live on Jane, right off Greenwich Street. I did some yoga when I got home. It relaxes me. I don’t know exactly, but it was probably about three fifteen, three thirty or thereabouts, when I finished. I heard this weird laughing, and went to the window. I had it open, and I saw this dude here sort of skipping down the sidewalk across the street. You see all kinds, you know, so I didn’t think anything of it. I saw him jump up, swing on the pole of the streetlight, waving this black bag. I just thought, weirdo, shut the window, and went to bed.”
“Which way was he going?”
“East, toward Eighth, it looked like. What’d he do?”
“Enough so if you see him again, contact the police.” She hitched up a hip, dug out a card. “Contact me.”
“Sure. Wow, a lieutenant. Homicide. Wow. He killed somebody?”
“Yeah. I’d like your name and address.”
“Sure. Sure.” Once she’d given it, the waitress hurried away.