The Cleanest Kill

by Rick Reed

  “I’ll have to clear this with the Channel Six legal department, Richard, but as for me, I’m onboard with your plan.”

  “Would you care for something?” Dick asked and wiped his hands on a napkin.

  “Thank you, Richard, but no thank you. I have to meet with my boss and between us, I wouldn’t drink a canned soda in this place.”

  He smiled, they stood, shook hands, and she left by the back door.

  He sat long enough to allow her to get out of the parking lot. He hoped she’d say no to a drink or, God forbid, a meal. He wanted to get out of this disgusting, filthy place. He’d picked it because it had been suggested by one of his minions, Larry Jensen, as a quiet meeting spot. After the debacle with Benet Cato’s pit bull, Tilly Coyne, he didn’t want anyone reporting his meeting with Claudine. There were ears everywhere at the police department. Jensen was right about it being quiet, but he felt he’d have to send the suit to the dry cleaner’s and disinfect himself.

  One of the ladies playing cards at a table turned toward him, smiled, and waggled a hand. Her teeth were missing and a bright red wig sat askew on top of her drunken head.

  “Good lord,” he muttered and left.

  Chapter 16

  “Independence Day, 1984, Harry was killed—gunned down in his store.” Sergeant Mattingly took a small plastic evidence bag from his shirt pocket and handed it to Jack. Inside was a spent shell casing. The bag was marked with a black Sharpie. The date: July 4, 1984. Time: 7:34 p.m. The case number was the same one for the homicide/robbery of Harry Day. There was no evidence number written on the bag. It was sealed with red tape marked with the initials t.m.

  “I’ve kept this at home in my desk since that night. It doesn’t have an evidence number because I never put it in evidence. The supplement, my report of the incident, is there in the file I just gave you and I never turned that in to records, either. I’ll explain in a minute.

  “I was a new sergeant when I found Harry murdered. First policeman on the scene. Again. Harry was shot in the back of the head. Point-blank. I think that was the bullet that killed him.”

  Jack manipulated the object in the bag. “That’s a .50 caliber casing.”

  “Yeah. It’s the same type of bullet used on Reina’s car today,” Mattingly said. “And the same caliber of bullet Olson found at Max’s murder scene.”

  They all sat thinking about that.

  “Why did you keep this?” Jack asked, shaking the bag.

  “Let me start at the beginning.”

  Captain Franklin said, “Go ahead, sergeant.”

  Mattingly collected his thoughts and said, “I was working second shift as a motor patrol sergeant when Harry was killed. I already told you about my promotion.”

  Jack said nothing.

  “I’d quit giving Harry any information, but I still stopped by his store now and then like a lot of other cops. I think Harry understood the position he was putting me in and he didn’t pressure me. Harry closed up shop at six o’clock. I’d swing by after he closed and check the building for him.

  “That night, July fourth, all the other shops downtown had closed for the holiday or closed early. Harry stayed open until six like he always did. The city’s fireworks display on the river wasn’t scheduled until nine that night. I had to help with crowd control, traffic, that stuff, so I didn’t get by his shop until after seven.”

  Evansville had a monstrous firework display every Fourth of July. Jack avoided the half a mile of riverfront where it was wall-to-wall crowds of men, women, and screaming kids. He wondered why kids screamed so much and over anything. He was never a screamer. He was always making some other kid scream.

  “Okay,” Jack said.

  “I drove by Harry’s shop at seven-thirty and saw the lights were still on. Harry never left that many lights on unless he was open. I sat there watching and when I didn’t see him I got out of the car. The door was unlocked, so I went in. He had this little buzzer in the back room that would go off if the front door was opened. I could hear the buzzer go off, but he didn’t say anything. I called out to him. Still no answer. I started to go toward the back to see if he was back there and I found him lying in a side aisle up near the front door. He was on his stomach, arms stretched out above his head, and most of his face was gone. There was a smear of blood from the center aisle leading to where his head lay. Someone had shot him and dragged him out of sight of the front door.

  “I got on my WT and called for backup and started clearing the business on my way to the back. Harry had storage back there, a little work area, and a one-person gun range. He worked on guns and would test-fire them back there. I heard a noise coming from the back.

  “I got on the radio again and told dispatch to send backup code three. I yelled ‘Police! Come out with your hands up.’ I was ten feet from the door leading to the back. I damned near shit myself when Olson walked out of that door with a gun in one hand and his badge in the other.”

  “What the hell?” Liddell said.

  “Exactly. I told him to put the gun down and he laughed and called me a rookie. He said he came by to check the store, saw the lights on, came in, and found Harry dead. He said he’d just got there and was checking the store when he heard me come in. He said the back door was standing wide open and the suspect must have fled.”

  “Did you check the back room?” Jack asked.

  “He told me to leave it with him. Said he’d get crime scene and the coroner and I should go back to my duties.”

  “Did you?” Jack asked.

  “Hell no. Olson holstered his gun and got on his radio and called dispatch for crime scene and a coroner. He told dispatch to continue the backup, but tell them to go code one—everything was under control. He must have heard me call for backup.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I called for more cars and had them set up a perimeter. Olson didn’t have the authority to cancel cars or give them a disregard. I didn’t have any suspect information, description, vehicle, direction of travel, but I told the cars we had a shooting at Harry’s and told them to stop anyone suspicious in the area. Olson just stood there the whole time. He was a little shook up, but I thought it was because I still hadn’t holstered my weapon.

  “Olson said if I was staying I should go outside and start an offense report. He said to make it a robbery/homicide. The cash register was on the floor. Boxes of ammo were strewn around like someone had swept them off the shelves. But if someone was robbing Harry, they would have had him open the register or the safe. They wouldn’t shoot him and take a chance on not getting any money and then just throw things around.

  “I told Olson I didn’t think it was a robbery. Nothing appeared to be taken except maybe a few dollars. I know people have been killed for less, but Harry was one tough hombre. He would have put up a fight. He had a carry permit and he wore a nine-millimeter Beretta on his belt. When I found him, the gun was still in its holster. I’d expect to find his body back by the register and not near the front doors, shot in the back, like he’d tried to run. Harry didn’t run.

  “Olson laughed at me. He said some of the guns had been stolen. He pointed out several empty spaces in the gun cases and racks. To me, I couldn’t tell. I told him the cases weren’t broken into. Harry never left them unlocked. Why not smash the glass and take what you want? It was too clean. Nothing was broken. Just some boxes of shells knocked on the floor by the register. It seemed to me as an afterthought. He said I should go be a cop and leave detective work to the professionals.”

  Jack asked, “You think the robbery was staged?”

  Mattingly said, “I think Harry was murdered, plain and simple.”

  Jack was beginning to think the same thing, but then he wasn’t there at the scene.

  “How did Olson know the guns were missing?” Jack asked.

  “Exactly my thinking,” Mat
tingly said. “He claimed he’d gotten there just before me and was clearing the store for suspects. I didn’t see signs of a burglary when I came in. I was worried about Harry. Then I found him dead. Olson would have too. So how come he hadn’t called in the murder? I couldn’t see anything was missing until he suggested it. I still don’t know for sure anything was stolen. And he’d been in the back room. He said the back door was standing open. Why wouldn’t he have started a manhunt? Set up a perimeter?”

  Jack agreed that Olson’s story to Mattingly about how this occurred was suspicious. For one thing, everything Olson did flew in the face of police procedure and common sense. You didn’t go into a building, find a murder victim, and then clear the building without calling for backup. And if Mattingly’s account was accurate, Olson didn’t want Mattingly to go in the back room of the store. Why? Mattingly had an answer.

  “I always thought Olson stole some guns. Harry would have had keys to the locked cases and keys to the doors—front and back. The back door had an audible alarm unless you opened it with a key. I didn’t hear an alarm.”

  “Did you find the keys?” Jack asked.

  “Somebody must have taken them,” Mattingly said, stressing the word somebody.

  “Where did this shell casing come from?” Jack asked and held up the plastic evidence bag.

  “Crime scene was taking their time getting there. Olson just stood around with his thumb up his ass watching what I was doing. I found that casing up under the edge of a shotgun rack. When I spotted it, I told Olson and he came over, got down on his knees and picked the casing up with his bare hands.”

  “Seriously?” Liddell said.

  “Yeah. I offered him an evidence bag, but he just tossed the casing in the trash. He said it wasn’t relevant. He said this was a gun shop and there were likely shell casings all over the place.”

  “Was there?” Jack asked.

  “Harry was a meticulous man. He kept his place spotless. He’d never leave something like that on the floor for a customer to step on or slip on. Anyway, when officers arrived I posted them at the front and back doors and told them I’d make out the offense report. Crime scene got there and while Olson was talking to them I got the shell casing out of the trash and gave it to one of them. I was going back outside and I saw Olson take it from the crime scene tech and throw it back in the trash. I retrieved it and now you have it.”

  “Did Olson know you collected it again?” Jack asked.

  “Yeah. He just smirked at me like it didn’t matter.”

  “Were other shell casings found?” Jack asked. “Or a weapon?”

  “Just one shell casing and that was odd. After crime scene did their thing and the coroner’s office took Harry’s body, Olson asked me for the report. Again, I’d made out two of them, one for me and one for him. Then he asked me to do another sweep inside.”

  Jack raised an eyebrow.

  “Yeah. That’s what I thought. Crime scene had already gone through it, but he insisted. I did a walk-through and lo and behold, a .357 magnum shell casing was on the floor. It wasn’t there earlier and it was in plain sight. He made a big fuss over me finding it and reminded me that he’d said there would be shell casings everywhere. He bagged that one himself. He said he was going to chew some crime scene ass.”

  “Did it get into evidence?” Jack asked.

  “No. I checked a couple of weeks later. I found Olson in the detectives’ office and asked him why he didn’t enter it into evidence. He told me he’d personally taken it to the state police lab.”

  “Was it there?” Liddell asked.

  “I called them. They’d never logged it in. Back in that time, detectives all carried 9 millimeter Smith and Wesson semiautos. Olson had come from the back room where Harry had that little gun range. The casing could have come from there. I think Olson planted it and made sure I found it.”

  “Why didn’t you turn this casing over to crime scene at some point?” Jack asked, meaning the .50 caliber.

  “Stuff has a way of disappearing when it involves the Days’ murders. Or when Olson is involved and Olson and Captain Dick were around for several years after Harry’s murder.”

  “And you’ve been keeping the binder and shell casing all this time? Why didn’t you bring it to me?” Captain Franklin asked.

  “Olson worked for Captain Dick. Dick was still in charge of the detectives’ office when Harry was killed. I had just made sergeant after being threatened to leave Max’s investigation alone. I didn’t get involved officially this time, but I kept track of the case.”

  “When those two retired, why not come forward then?”

  “I was ashamed to be honest.”

  Jack was getting a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He said to Mattingly, “Then when Reina was shot at…”

  “I panicked,” Mattingly said. “I thought I was responsible for not doing more. If I’d kept after the cases maybe Harry wouldn’t be dead. Maybe Reina wouldn’t have been attacked.”

  “You should have come forward,” Captain Franklin said. “But Reina put herself in danger. That wasn’t your fault. I approved the guard you put on her room just in case someone might take a second shot.”

  Mattingly’s face turned a little red. “I guess I took the initiative. Sorry for jumping the chain of command, Captain.”

  Captain Franklin asked, “Do we have anything solid to connect the murders and Reina’s attack?”

  Jack said, “I don’t think we’ve proven the murders are involved with what happened to Reina, Captain. The .50 caliber weapon and a lot of conjecture. No offense, but we haven’t ruled out old boyfriends, ex-husbands, or maybe some disgruntled pregnant patient or a coworker.”

  “That’s why I’m assigning Reina’s case to another team, Jack,” Franklin said. “And before you start complaining, I want to remind you that you already have two cold cases going.”

  Jack wasn’t sure he could take on a third case, but he needed to act upset just for future reference. Murphy’s Law said: Never pass up an opportunity to make your boss feel like a heel.

  “I can see your point,” Jack reluctantly agreed. “But… I want to be kept informed. And if this turns out to even smell like it’s related, I take the case over. Agreed?”

  Captain Franklin said, “I’m not agreeing to anything.”

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” Jack said.

  Mattingly handed Jack the binder. “My notes are in here with everything I had on those cases. Reina’s shooting will be in records before the end of the day. I don’t think anything will go missing this time. If you need anything from me, I’m available any time. Here’s my phone number.” He handed Jack a piece of notepaper with his home number on it and left the office.

  Jack heard the door up front shut and said, “Captain, will you tell the Chief what’s going on? I think I’ll run by Two Jakes and see what’s needed and then we need to take a break.”

  Captain Franklin said, “Yeah. You two need to get some rest. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be one hell of a day. I’ll put a rush on the shell casings with the state police lab.”

  “Claudine Setera was at the hospital,” Jack told the Captain.

  “She’s called here. The Chief is talking to her, but not telling her anything she doesn’t already know. She wants to have a meeting with you two and us.”

  Jack was silent on the subject. He took out his cell phone and called Corporal Morris at the number that had been given him. Morris was in the shower, but his wife said she’d have him call Jack shortly. He hung up.

  “I’m going to have Morris put the .50 caliber casings under lock and key. I don’t think anything will happen now, but then it’s hard to believe that someone would try to kill Reina Day,” Jack said.

  “Good idea,” Captain Franklin said. “And you need to make sure the little paperwork we do have is safe.
Especially what Sergeant Mattingly just gave us. We don’t need all of this getting out before we’re ready.”

  “I’ll put razor wire and Bouncing Bettys around the war room,” Jack said. They all laughed and Jack and Liddell left the Captain’s office.

  “Do you want me to go to Two Jakes with you?” Liddell asked.

  “Why don’t you go home? Kiss the baby for me. Tell Marcie I’m sorry. I’ll be a few minutes and then I’m heading home myself,” Jack said.

  “You’re lucky to have someone understanding like Katie. We both are. This work doesn’t lend itself to good relationships. I’m going to keep my family close.”

  “Yeah. I had a perfect evening planned. Just me and Katie, a bottle of wine, a bottle of scotch, a hot tub, and relaxing. Maybe I can still get home and do that,” Jack said.

  “It’s not that late, pod’na,” Liddell said. “Just go home. Two Jakes can wait. It’s not going anywhere and this case has been stalled for a long time.”

  “We’ll talk to Olson tomorrow,” Jack said. “You’ll have to type up your notes at home for now, Bigfoot. Jake said he got us a printer and stuff, but you know how tech savvy he is.”

  “Yeah. I’ll email a copy to you tonight.”

  Liddell got in his car and Jack went back to the detectives’ office. He called Morris at home again and this time he answered. He told Morris what he wanted and asked him to meet at Two Jakes at six in the morning. To his credit, Morris agreed without asking questions. Jack then called Two Jakes. Vinnie answered.

  “Vinnie, is Angelina there?” Jack said.

  “Been and gone,” Vinnie answered. “Said she would be back early in the morning.”

  “Thanks, Vinnie,” Jack said. “Tell Jake we’ll have four or five guests tomorrow, so…”

  “I know. Lots of bacon and eggs and pancakes. Enough to feed a Bigfoot,” Vinnie said and laughed.

  “I’m headed home, Vinnie. We’ll need a better lock on the war room.”

  “I’ll take care of it.”

  Jack hung up and walked to his Crown Vic.