Killer Takes All (2 page)

Monday, February 28, 2005
1:50 a.m.

D
etective Spencer Malone drew his 1977, cherry-red, mint-condition Chevy Camaro to a stop in front of the City Park neighborhood double. His older brother John had bought the car new. It had been his baby, his pride and joy until he’d gotten married and had babies to tote to and from daycare and birthday parties.

Now the Camaro was Spencer’s pride and joy.

Spencer shifted into Park and peered through the windshield at the double. The first officers had secured the scene; yellow crime-scene tape stretched across the slightly sagging front porch. One of the officers stood just beyond, signing in those who arrived, noting the time of their entrance.

Spencer narrowed his eyes, recognizing the officer as a third-year rookie and one of his staunchest accusers.

Connelly. The prick.

Spencer took in a deep breath, working to control his temper, the short fuse that had gotten him in too many brawls to count. The hot head that had held him back professionally, that had contributed to the ease with which everyone had bought into the accusations that had almost ended his career.

Hot tempered
and
a major league fuckup. An ugly combination.

He shook the thoughts off. This scene was his. He was lead man. He wasn’t going to screw it up.

Spencer opened the car door and climbed out just as Detective Tony Sciame wheeled to a stop in front of the double. In the New Orleans Police Force, detectives didn’t have set partners, per se, they worked a rotation. When a case came in, whoever was next in line got it. That detective chose another to assist, and the factors involved in that choice were availability, experience and friendship.

Most of the guys tended to find someone they clicked with, a kind of symbiotic “partnership.” For a number of reasons, he and Tony worked well together, filling in the other’s blanks, so to speak.

Spencer had a hell of a lot more blanks to fill than Tony did.

A thirty-year veteran of the force, twenty-five of it in Homicide, Tony was an old-timer. Happily married for thirty-two years—and a pound overweight for each of those years—he had four kids, one grown and on his own, one still at home, and two at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, one mortgage and a scruffy dog named Frodo.

Although their partnership was new, they’d already been likened to Mutt and Jeff, Frick and Frack, and Laurel and Hardy. Spencer preferred a Gibson and Glover comparison—with him being the good-looking, renegade Mel Gibson character—but their fellow officers weren’t going for it.

“Yo, Slick,” Tony said.

“Pasta Man.”

Spencer liked to rag Tony about his pasta gut; his partner returned the favor by addressing him as Slick, Junior or Hotshot. Never mind that Spencer, at thirty-one and a nine-year veteran of the force, was neither rookie nor kid, he was new both to rank of detective and to Homicide, which in the culture of the NOPD made him a mark for ribbing.

The other man laughed and patted his middle. “You’re just jealous.”

“Whatever you need to tell yourself.” Spencer motioned to the crime-scene van. “Techs beat us to the scene.”

“Eager-beaver assholes.”

They fell into step together. Tony squinted up at the starless sky. “I’m getting too old for this shit. Call caught me and Betty in the middle of busting our youngest for staying out past curfew.”

“Poor Carly.”

“My ass. That girl’s a menace. Four kids and the last one is hell on wheels. See this?” He indicated the nearly bald top of his head. “They’ve all contributed, but Carly… Just wait, you’ll see.”

Spencer laughed. “I grew up with six siblings. I know what kids are like. That’s why I’m not having any.”

“Whatever
you
need to tell yourself. By the way, what was her name?”

“Whose?”

“Tonight’s date.”

Truth was, he’d been out with his brothers Percy and Patrick. They’d had a couple of beers and a burger at Shannon’s Tavern. The closest he’d gotten to scoring was sinking the eight ball in the corner pocket to defeat Patrick, the family pool shark.

But Tony didn’t want to hear that. The Malone brothers were legends in the NOPD. Handsome, hard-partying hotheads with reputations as lady-killers.

“I don’t kiss and tell, partner.”

They reached Connelly. Spencer met his eyes and it all came rushing back. He’d been working the Fifth District Detective Investigative Unit, in charge of a kitty of informant money. Fifteen hundred bucks, not that much in today’s world. But enough to be raked over the coals when it turned up missing. Suspended without pay, charged, then indicted.

Charges had been dropped, his name cleared. Turned out Lieutenant Moran, his immediate superior and the one who had placed the kitty in his care, had set him up. Because he “trusted him.” Because he believed “he was up to the responsibility” even though he’d only worked DIU six months.

More like, Moran believed Spencer was a patsy.

If it hadn’t been for his family refusing to accept his guilt, the bastard would have gotten away with it. If Spencer had been found guilty, not only would he have been kicked off the force, he would have done jail time.

As it was, he’d lost a year and a half of his life.

Thinking about it still chapped his ass. Remembering how many of his brothers in arms had turned against him—including this little weasel—infuriated him. Up until then, he had thought of the NOPD as his extended family, his fellow officers as his brothers and sisters.

And until then, life had been one big party.
Laissez les bon temps rouler,
New Orleans-style.

Lieutenant Moran had changed all that. The man had made his life a living hell; he’d destroyed Spencer’s illusions about the force and about being a cop.

The parties weren’t as much fun now. He saw the consequences of his actions.

To keep Spencer from suing, the department had reinstated him with back pay and bumped him up to ISD.

Investigative Support Division. His dream job.

In the late nineties the department had decentralized, taking detective units, such as Homicide and Vice, out of headquarters and positioning them in the eight district stations throughout the city. They bundled them into a multitask Detective Investigative Unit. The detectives in DIU didn’t specialize; they handled everything from burglary to vice to rubber-stamp homicides.

However, for the top homicide detectives—the ones with the most experience and training, the cream of the crop—they’d created ISD. Located in headquarters, they handled cold-case homicides—ones unsolved after a year—and all the juicy stuff as well: sex crimes, serial murders, child abductions.

Some touted decentralization a huge success. Some called it an embarrassing failure—especially in terms of homicide. In the end, one thing was certain, it saved the department money.

Spencer had accepted the department’s obvious bribe because he was a cop. More than a job, it was
who
he was. He’d never considered being anything else. How could he have? Police work was in his blood. His father, uncle and aunt were all cops. So were several cousins and all but two of his siblings. His brother Quentin had left the force after sixteen years to study law. Even so, he hadn’t strayed far from the family business. A prosecutor with the Orleans Parish D.A., he helped convict the guys the other Malones busted.

“Hello, Connelly,” Spencer said tightly. “Here I am, back from the dead. Surprised?”

The other officer shifted his gaze. “I don’t know what you mean, Detective.”

“My ass.” He leaned toward the other man. “You going to have a problem working with me?”

The officer took a step backward. “No problem. No, sir.”

“Good thing. Because I’m here to stay.”

“Yes, sir.”

“What’ve we got?”

“Double homicide.” The rookie’s voice shook slightly. “Both female. UNO students.” He glanced at his notes. “Cassie Finch and Beth Wagner. Neighbor there called it in. Name’s Stacy Killian.”

Spencer glanced in the direction he indicated. A young woman, cradling a sleeping puppy in her arms, stood on the porch. Tall, blond and, from what he could see, attractive. It looked as if she was wearing pajamas under her denim jacket. “What’s her story?”

“Thought she heard gunshots and went to investigate.”

“Now, there was an intelligent move.” Spencer shook his head in disgust. “Civilians.”

They started toward the porch. Tony angled him a glance. “Way to set the record, Slick. Stupid little prick.”

Tony had never succumbed to the Malone bashing that had become the favorite pastime of many in the NOPD. He’d stood by Spencer and the entire Malone clan’s belief in Spencer’s innocence. That hadn’t always been easy, Spencer knew, particularly when the “evidence” had begun to stack up.

There were some who still didn’t buy Spencer’s innocence—or Lieutenant Moran’s guilt. Despite the department’s reinstatement or Moran’s confession and suicide. They figured the Malone family had “fixed” it somehow, used their considerable influence within the department to make it all go away.

It pissed him off. Spencer hated that he had been involved, albeit innocently, in the sullying of his family’s reputation, hated the speculative glances, the whispers.

“It’ll get better,” Tony murmured, as if reading his mind. “Cops’ memories aren’t that good. Lead poisoning, in my humble opinion.”

“You think?” Spencer grinned at him as they climbed the steps. “I was leaning toward excessive exposure to blue dye.”

They crossed the porch. He was aware of the neighbor’s gaze on him; he didn’t meet it. There would be time later for her distress and questions. Now was not it.

They entered the double. The techs were at work. Spencer skimmed his gaze over the scene, experiencing a small rush of excitement.

He had wanted Homicide for as long as he could remember. As a kid, he’d listened to his dad and Uncle Sammy discuss cases. And later, had watched his brothers John and Quentin with awe. When the department had decentralized, he’d wanted ISD.

ISD was the big time. Top of the heap.

He’d been too much of a screwup to earn the appointment. But here he was. Payoff for his cooperation and goodwill.

He hadn’t been proud enough to turn it down.

Spencer returned his attention to the scene before him. Typical college student’s apartment, Spencer saw. Junky, third-and fourth-hand furniture, overflowing ashtrays and about two dozen diet Coke cans littered the room. An all-chick place, Spencer thought. If a guy lived here, the cans would be Miller Lite. Or maybe south Louisiana’s own Abita Beer.

The first victim lay facedown on the floor, the back of her head partially blown off. The coroner’s investigator had already bagged her hands.

Spencer shifted his gaze to a young detective he recognized as being from the Sixth District. He couldn’t remember his name.

Tony did. “Yo, Bernie. You the one who dragged us out tonight?”

“Sorry about that. This is no rubber stamp, figured the sooner you guys got involved the better.”

The young detective looked nervous. He was new to DIU, probably hadn’t handled anything but gangbanger shootings.

“My partner, Spencer Malone.”

Something flickered in his eyes. Spencer figured the other cop had heard of him. “Bernie St. Claude.”

They shook hands. Ray Hollister, the Orleans Parish coroner’s investigator, glanced up. “I see the gang’s all here.”

“The midnight riders,” Tony said. “Lucky us. You worked with Malone yet, Ray?”

“Not this Malone.” The officer nodded in his direction. “Welcome to the late-night homicide club.”

“Glad to be here.”

That brought a groan from a couple of the techs.

Tony shot Spencer a grin. “The scary thing is, he means it. Back way off on the enthusiasm, Slick. People will talk.”

“Kiss my ass,” Spencer said good-naturedly, then returned his attention to the coroner’s representative. “What do you have so far?”

“Looks pretty straightforward right now. Shot twice. If the first bullet didn’t kill her, the second sure as hell did.”

“But why was she shot?” Spencer wondered aloud.

“That’s your job, kid. Not mine.”

“Sexual assault?” Tony asked.

“I’m thinking no, but autopsy will tell the tale.”

Tony nodded. “We’re going to take a look at the other victim.”

“Have a ball.”

Spencer didn’t move; he stared at the fanlike spray of blood on the wall adjacent to the victim. Turning to his partner, he said, “The shooter was sitting.”

“How do you figure?”

“Check it out.” Spencer circled around the body, crossing to the wall. “Blood splatter sprays up, then out.”

“I’ll be damned.”

Hollister weighed in. “Wounds are consistent with that theory.”

Excited, Spencer glanced around. His gaze settled on a desk and chair. “Shooter was there,” he said, crossing to the chair. Not wanting to disturb possible evidence, he squatted beside it. He visualized the event: shooter sitting, the victim turning her back on him, then:
Bang. Bang.

What had they been doing? Why had he wanted her dead?

He shifted his gaze again, to the dusty desktop. It bore a subtle outline, about the size and shape of a laptop computer. “Take a look, Tony. I’m thinking there was a computer here.” The desk’s location supported the theory: the adjacent wall sported both an electrical outlet and a phone jack.

Tony nodded. “Could be. Might’ve been books, notebooks or newspaper.”

“Maybe. Whatever it was, it’s gone now. And, it appears, quite recently.” He fitted on a pair of latex gloves and ran a finger across the rectangular space. Finding it dust free, he motioned the photographer over and instructed him to get a shot of the desk, its top and chair.

“Let’s make sure they dust that area well.”

Spencer knew his partner meant dust for prints and nodded. “Done.”

He and Tony moved on. They found the second victim. She had also been shot. The scenario, however, was totally different. She had been tagged twice in the chest and lay on her back, straddling the bedroom doorway. The front of her pj’s were bloody, a ring of red circled her body.