Deceitful Moon (34 page)

But that
is
the question,
isn’t
it? Was Ross killed because she got too close to one of the Justice Club members
,
or was
it
some random coincidence?

Sophie and Agent Corner respected his wish to spend some time away to think. He worked better when he could step back and escape the hurricane.

For the second time that night, he watched the ME roll away the body of someone he cared about. Ross hadn’t been close
to him
like Stella, and there would be no kiss this time, but she’d worked hard to climb a ladder still regarded as men’s work
:
a
legacy she’d leave for other women cops to follow
. L
egacies were sometimes all folks had
, if they were fortunate
.

Manny ducked under the tape and walked slowly down the alley
. He
stopped at the place where her
gnawed
body had been
discovered
.

The CSU’s other team had done
its
preliminary processing
,
but wanted to come back in the morning to finish when the light was better. They’d found no bullet casings
or
guns
,
but would give it the microscop
ic
treatment in a few hours. Meanwhile
,
they’d left the large portable floodlights to drive away some of the darkness
,
at least on the outside.

The dark
-
red splatter was evident against the pale bricks of the building where Ross must have been standing when she was shot. The pattern climbed the wall a few feet, indicating a high-powered weapon or that the source of the shot came from a lower angle. That
evidence
, and based on the
first
entry wound
at
her temple, indicated the killer was shorter than Ross. That ruled out someone as tall as Evelyn Kroll and jived with the description Frank gave
—
although Manny
guessed
Frank would have agreed that the woman was
orange
if Manny had
asked
.

Closing his eyes, he tried to conjure the scene that took place just before
Ross
was killed.

She
must have been
up against the wall,
the
gun at her head, and standing at an angle that would cause a blood spatter
pattern
like the one on the wall.

He moved to the
blood
-
covered bricks
and stood about where she would have.
Ross
would
’
ve had to
look
straight ahead while the killer stood a
t a
forty-five
-
degree angle on her right. He moved into the shooter
’
s position, trying to squat about the right height.

Stepping away, he guessed the killer was
a
bout five-foot
-
six
. And he got a sense
—
for no particular reason, other than he felt it
—
that she was strong, in shape. A gym
addict
?

Stella had worked hard to get in great shape over the last few months, and it was obvious Evelyn stayed in
condition
. Maybe there was something there. He made a note to
investigate
Stella
’s
gym
.

If it checked out, and Stella and Evelyn worked out at the same
place
, maybe that’s where things got started and someone might recognize others
in the Club
. It was worth a shot.
Then again, maybe it was a coincidence. The old saying about throwing enough shit against the wall and some
sticking
came to mind.

He stood scanning everything in the twenty-foot lighted area like an eagle looking for a trout. After a few minutes, nothing jumped out to say
hey, look at me
. . .
until he turned to leave. One of the biggest rats he’d ever seen strolled leisurely from the pile of junk and garbage on the opposite side of the alley into the edge of the searchlight. It stood on its hind legs
,
and he swore it winked at him. Hanging from the rodent’s mouth was Ross’s small handbag. The strap had been torn and hung limply to the ground, looking like it had been dragged to
hell
and back. He crouched on his haunches and studied the animal; it didn’t back away, but stood still, sizing up Manny. A little weird for a rat to be this composed, but then again, they could be as aggressive as a caged tiger, and for no apparent reason.

He was suddenly
struck
with one of those feelings that he’d grown to trust.

“I need that bag,
buddy
.”

The rat dropped to all-fours and back
ed
up
two
steps, purse still cl
e
nched in his teeth.

“We can do this the hard way or the easy way,” said Manny, pulling his Glock from the holster.

The rat seemed to sense the danger and stood again, baring its teeth, dropping the bag
.

Manny took two steps toward the
monster
rodent from the Abyss and yelled. It scurried away, out of the light’s range. He started to reach for the bag,
then realized
he needed latex gloves for two reasons: evidence and rat
saliva
.

Where
is
Alex when you need him?

Looking around, he placed an old
rusted
pot on top of the purse and went back to the patrol car
where two
officers
guarded
the entrance to the
alley
.

Borrowing a pair of gloves, he
pulled
them on and retu
r
ned to
the alley
.

As he picked
up the bag
, something fell out
,
and
the object
se
n
t his thoughts in a different direction.

Why did
Kathy
Ross have two cell phones?

Chapter-60

“We didn’t find her,” said Sophie
,
slapping the forensic lab’s conference table. “It looked like she’d been there, but the place was pretty neat and clean. I hate neat and clean.”

“Why? Because that means she’s organized?” asked Manny.

Her face soured. “That too, but I can’t keep my place picked up, mostly because of my husband, so I’m thinking of booting his ass.” She winked at Josh sitting across from her. “Are you
a
neat freak? I bet you are
.
”

“Can we stay on
task here?” said Manny, shaking his head. “What else did you three get from her apartment?”

“Not much,” said Josh. “We took her laptop and an e-book reader, but the CSU will have to send
out
another team.”

Alex rubb
ed
his
stubble
. “Yeah, like we don’t have anything else to do
,
even
r
ougher
with
Dana
out of commission.”

“There are two
Fed
teams coming up from Detroit this morning to help out for the day, so that will let us take a step back and look at what we have,” said Max.

The group around the table looked tired. Talk about
d
éjà
v
u
all over again. It reminded Manny of the cruise ship investigation. But they were a tough bunch
,
and Chloe seemed to fit right in
. “
Not to mention
,
we
’
re all running on no-sleep mode
”

“That too,” said Josh.

“Tell him about the clothes,” said Chloe.

“OH MY GOSH,” blurted Sophie. “How could we leave that out? I’m so jealous. The girl must have spent everything she had on that stuff. Designer skirts, bags, jeans, and what a rack of shoes. Pumps, stilettos, flats, even jogging shoes that cost $150 a crack. The heifer!”

“Did any of you geniuses think about bagging the heels because of the tap dancing on
the victim’s backs?”

“Of course,” said Josh, a little indignant. “They’re on a table in the lab. All ten pair.”

“We’ve save
d
the best for last, though. Alex
,
this is for you,” grinned Sophie, flipping something like leopard skin at the CSI. “This should go with your collection.”

Alex held the thong panties up with both hands and stared.

“She had the finest collection of underwear and lingerie I’ve ever seen,” said Chloe. “And
Sophie
thought no one would appreciate it more than you.”

The room grew as silent as a morgue, then Max started to snicker. Chloe and Josh followed suit. Sophie co
vered her mouth with both hands
and swiveled away from Alex.

Manny felt his lips tremble, strangled his composure, and then it happened. He started to laugh, and then roared. Sophie fell out of her chair, clutching her stomach. The Feds
lost it
. like they were prompted by an unseen conductor.
.

He
watched as Alex’s lip began to quiver
.
The CSI
dropped the panties, laying his forehead on the wooden
table’s
surface. Then he began to howl
, h
is laughter louder than the rest.

After a minute
,
Manny sent the tissue box around the table. Nothing like mass hysterics to create bonds.

“Okay. I needed that,” said Alex.

“We all did, I think,” agreed Manny. “Now
,
let’s get back to work.”

“Before we do, I need to tell you that Argyle’s here and locked down in your county facility.”

“That was fast, but the sooner the better.”

“They put him on the
basement
level
in isolation
, still shackled, and guards at every exit and entrance.” Josh grinned. “We did the overkill thing because we’re the Feds and we can.”

“Does he still want to talk to me?”

“Don’t know
. He still
hasn’t said a word since he bit the ear off one of my agents in Miami.”

“What a
warped
bitch,” said Alex.

“We’ll worry about him later,” said Manny.

He called
Buzzy
in
,
and she plopped down, wearing her customary pink, this time a skirt
with
two layers and enough jewelry to start her own store, smacking a large piece of fresh bubble gum.

“What’d you find on Ross’s memory card?”

“Let me just say first
t
hat I’m going to miss her. I didn’t know her too well, but she was always nice to me. I know you guys worked with her
,
so I feel your pain.
”

“Thanks
,
Buzzy
. We’ll miss her too, but for now we need to find out who did this and why
.
S
o
. . .
”

“Oh
, yeah
. Okay. I found lots of stuff. It wasn’t too hard to pull the numbers because there wasn’t much damage to the
m
icro SD card. One of the other techs had a
phone
exactly
like
hers
so I swapped ‘em out and said the magic words.”

“What does
‘
lots of stuff
’
mean?” asked Manny.

“I ran all of the phone numbers she’d called or
that
had called her against the report generated by the recovery software and eliminated the ones that
had
anything to do with the department. Then I got rid of any texting that didn’t need to be there. I cleaned up some other numbers, like to her family
,
and was left with nine numbers. They are probably pay-as-you-go jobs
,
so I started calling them.”