Deadly Consequences (4 page)

Frowning, she tapped her fingers against her thigh. The location had to have meaning to the UNSUB. The burial wasn’t random, there was a reason he picked this spot.

The killer was sending a message, but she had no idea what it was.

Alec knelt down on one knee beside her. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m wondering how the hell he pulled this off.” She raised her eyes, staring off into the darkness. “There’s too much we don’t know. Too many variables.”

“You know what I think? You were doing fine until Lombardo showed up. You’re letting him distract you. I’m sensing some pretty heavy hostility between you two. You want to tell me what’s going on?”

“Later,” she said with a tired smile. This wasn’t the time or place to tell Alec he was the reason Lombardo wanted to nail her to the wall. “I’ve put off talking to the teenagers because I don’t want Lombardo to be right.” She raised a hand, massaging the stiffness in her neck. “Makes me wonder who’s the bigger fool, him, or me?”

“You’re not a fool, Sam,” Alec said. “You’ll get this.”

“I hope so,” she said, nodding towards the victim. “For her sake.”

Lombardo watched Sam head down the path, a smug look on his face. “Hey,” he tossed his jacket to Rafe. “Hang on to that a minute, will ya?”

Rafe caught the jacket with one hand, and cast a furtive glance towards Matsuda. The M.E. had his back turned, hunched over the gurney. “What are you up to now, Spaghetti Man?”

“Don’t go getting’ your knickers in a knot Madre Teresa.” Lombardo shoved his hand in his pocket, and pulled out a plastic bag. “Alls I’m doing is makin’ sure we all go home sooner rather than later. I got a nice bottle of wine, a good plate of pasta, and a Sinatra flick waitin’ for me at home.”

“You’d be better off with a good woman waiting for you. Might make you a better man.”

Lombardo stooped down and lifted something from the ground. “Ain’t nothing wrong with my manhood.” He leered with a wink. “And I know plenty of
good
women.”

“You ever get your mind out of the gutter, man? I’m talking about a nice girl, not a bed warmer. My wife has lots of friends. You should let her fix you up.” Rafe tapped his foot and looked around. “What did you say you were doing?”

“Gimme a minute and I’ll show you.” Lombardo opened the plastic bag and dropped something inside. “No disrespect to your sainted Maria, but see this is where you and me are different. Good-looking Latino guy like you, I can understand you wanting to plant your seeds and watch them grow, you know what I’m saying? Me on the other hand, I’m the original I-talian Stallion”.

“No, man, you know what you are?” Rafe said, “a cerdo.”

“You’re just jealous on account that nobody is raggin’ on me to take out the trash or draggin’ me to church on Sunday. Toss me my jacket.”

“With pleasure.” Rafe threw the jacket back to him. “You going to tell me what you found?”

“Yeah, I’ll tell you.” Lombardo grabbed his suit coat, stuffed the plastic bag in his jacket pocket, and threw his arm over Rafe’s shoulder. “Let’s take a walk first.”

Five teenagers stood off to the side at the far end of the lagoon. Even from a distance, Sam could see the boys were sullen and defensive, the girls, wide eyed and frightened. They were flanked by two officers, one on either side. One of the boys watched her approach and raised his chin in a belligerent manner. His dark eyes spiked with attitude, and she knew he was trying to intimidate her.

Sam raised her brow and returned his stare, keeping her gaze locked on his. Her eyes narrowed. She knew the kid’s type. A macho man, who wasn’t above smacking his girlfriend around when the mood struck. The kid buckled first. He kicked a loose pebble and dropped his eyes, stuffing one hand in his pocket while, draping the other around his girl.

Sam’s stomach sank, realizing the group was one girl short of an even half dozen. Kids that age were notorious for thinking they could get away with murder. Maybe this time, one of them took that expression a little too literally.

She headed towards them, keeping her eyes trained on the leader. Deciding to push the kid’s buttons, she stepped right up to him, stopping less than a foot away. “Where’s your buddy’s girl?”

Up close, the boy was scrawnier than he seemed from a distance until one noticed the sinewy muscles beneath his tattoo-covered arms.

“You don’t have to be all up in my space, man.” The kid took a step back, his lips curling as he looked her up and down. “I ain’t deaf, yo.”

“First off, don’t call me man, you got that?” She sent him a steely gaze and took two steps forward, close enough to see the sweat forming on his brow.

He backed up, waving his arms. “Yeah, yeah, all right, it’s cool.”

Sam jerked her chin towards the tallest kid in the bunch, the one without a girl by his side. “I asked you where your buddy’s date is.”

“He couldn’t afford one,” the third boy snickered, exchanging high fives with the leader.

Sam moved to the left, placing her hands on her hips. “Is that right? So you’re telling me these ladies with you are working girls?”

“He better not be sayin’ that,” one of the girl’s spoke up, shoving her elbow into her dates stomach. A shiny rhinestone tiara perched on the top of her head. “You take that shit back right now, or my brother will kick your ass.”

He threw his hands up in the air. “Calm down, bitch, no need to be gettin’ all nasty.”

Sam raised her brows and addressed the girl. “You let him talk to you like that?”

The girl folded her arms across her chest. “Hell, no I don’t. This loser is trying to act all tough because he’s so scared he’s ready to shit his pants. Please, don’t be listening to them, they all crazy.”

“Okay.” Sam nodded. “So I’ll ask you, what were you doing here after the zoo closed, and why isn’t that guy with his girlfriend.”

The leader poked the girl in the arm. “You don’t gotta say nothin’. We already gave our statement to that moron cop, not that he listened worth shit.”

“That
moron
cop isn’t in charge. I am,” Sam said. “So you’re going to repeat your story as many times as I need you to, starting with your names.”

“See that?” The girl turned to him with a smug expression. “The
lady
is in charge, and she sure as hell has more balls than all of you put together.” She turned back to Sam. “His name is Manny, and I’d be happy to explain things to you, Ma’am, because after tonight, I don’t want nothin’ to do with these losers. I don’t want my momma throwing
me
out of
her
house, least not ‘till I’m done with school. I have aspirations.”

Sam hid a smile. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Cassie, and I didn’t want no part of this, but I got, what’s the word? Sucked in,” she said proudly.

“Okay, Cassie, tell me what happened.” Sam listened to the girl’s story, but her gaze skirted over each of the teens. Body language often told a different tale, but perhaps more important, she examined their appearance.

Cassie sighed, a long-suffering sound that she must have picked up from her mother. “It’s like this.” She paused to glare at the boys. “It’s prom night. A bunch of us were supposed to get a room and hang out, and, you know, go to Great America in the morning. But these jokers here, they decided it would be more fun to hide out in the zoo overnight. Stupid.” She rolled her eyes.

“Anyways, we hid, and let me tell you, that’s not easy to do all dressed up like this.” She glared at her friends before looking back at Sam. “Now this next part is a little illegal, but under the circumstances, I hope you’ll understand. They brought along a blanket and some bottles of wine. We wuz gonna hang out here by the lagoon, and maybe see if we could take one of the boats for a ride. Then Jerk-Off over there,” she pointed to the tall boy, “who by the way, does
not
have a girlfriend — he was just hangin’ with us on account of him being my boyfriend’s brother—decided he had to take a leak. CeCe went with him to see if they could get into the bathrooms, and
that’s
how she tripped over the shoe.

“She starts screamin’ and freakin’ out so the rest of us go to see what’s up. I could tell right away, on account of the shoe stuck in the ground all weird, and shit, that somebody buried down in there. That’s when I wanted to call the cops.” Cassie sighed again, slumping her shoulders.

“She wudda called too,” Manny said. “We was trying to talk her out of it, tellin’ her we didn’t need to get messed up in this shit when that security dude showed up. Shit — now he tryin’ to take all the credit, struttin’ around like he all that.”

As much as Sam wanted a quick resolution, she believed the girl’s story. Not only did the account ring true, but she saw no evidence to suggest they were involved in the crime. Manny and another boy had stripped down to white t-shirts, but wore dress shoes and tuxedo pants. The third was clad in a black dress shirt, both girls wore fancy heels and formal dresses. None of the teens bore any sign of dirt marks or blood splatters. There were no defense wounds anywhere on their bodies. Unless the kids brought a change of clothes, and had managed to find a shower, she didn’t see how they could have pulled it off.

She thanked Cassie and gestured to the officers. “I want to review the zoo’s surveillance tapes to make sure their story checks out. Even if it does, the zoo may want to press trespassing charges.” Her gaze settled on Manny. Guilty or not the kid was trouble. “I know it’s hot, but I don’t want these kids outside. Get them into the van and keep an eye on them.”

Leaving them behind, Sam wandered to the edge of the lagoon. From where she stood  the lagoon seemed to stretch as far the John Hancock building, ending in a breathtaking view of the Chicago skyline. She remembered spending long afternoons here as a child, paddling across the lake in a rowboat, surrounded by family. The memories were fierce and bittersweet. Back then, she took everything for granted. Life as a child seemed like an endless summer to bask in and enjoy.

Until she grew up, and reality came knocking, hard, swift, and cruel.

Life changed the day her sister disappeared. Melanie’s disappearance remained a mystery; the awful truth was that they might never know if she was dead or alive. Sam swallowed hard, blinking back her tears. The severed limb was a cruel reminder that her sister’s remains could be buried anywhere, and anywhere was proving impossible to find.

She rolled her shoulders, suddenly exhausted. Footsteps crunched in the grass behind her. Sam didn’t bother to look over her shoulder. She knew Alec had come looking for her.

His fingers grazed her shoulders, kneading away the kinks. “You okay?” he asked.

“You don’t need to keep asking me that, Alec. I’m fine.”

“I don’t know about that. Hot night, bad storm, full moon. You might be thinking of the night Melanie went missing.”

She leaned into his touch, gazing up at the sky. “I hadn’t noticed the moon.”

“You’ve been a little preoccupied.” He dropped his hands, and picked up a stone, tossing it into the water. “Was Lombardo right? Do you like the kids for it?”

She watched it skip, wishing life was simpler. “No.” Her smile was wan. “But that means we’re back at square one.”

“I figured as much.” He cocked his head to one side. “You want to get to it?”

“Honestly? I’d rather be in bed with a glass of wine and my cat,” she laughed, taking one last look at the water. With a sigh of regret, she turned away, heading back towards the scene.