Weapons of Mass Distraction (34 page)

“Thought you’d never ask.”

~

For the second time that night, I watched Lorena Vasquez’s confession. This time, I had the murder squad for company, along with Maddox, who returned to the station some time before, and my brother, Garrett. The moment it ended, the room exploded into activity. Lorena’s claims were checked and corroborated, but it was nothing new to Solomon and me. With Junior’s now shaky alibis covering the other deaths, the only thing left to do was find Avril Sosa’s body.

“I don’t hold out much hope,” said Maddox as a team was dispatched to Simonstech the moment the warrant came through. Meanwhile, we were in the squad room, a map between us where we pinpointed the body’s location per Lorena’s description. It was the early hours of the morning and it showed on each of our faces. “Lorena saw this two years ago. She could have mis-remembered details, or maybe the body was moved after that. Even the local landscaping could have changed.”

“No,” I said, jabbing my finger at a map of the building. “This is where they saw Avril’s murder. The only parking lot is out front, and carrying a body there is too risky, especially with people all over the place, thanks to the party. But here, this area is earmarked as a wildlife reserve. It’s unlit at night and there’re plenty of trees for cover. With the party being held on the other side of the building, this would be where I would hide a body. Plus, it was supposed to remain untouched while the landscapers replanted the rest of the gardens.”

“How do you know that?”

“There was a display in the main lobby. I saw it before we interviewed Joseph O’Keefe.” Another thought occurred to me. “The night Lily and I went to Simons’ house, O’Keefe had to be reminded to take his medicine. Want to bet he’s taking Warfarin and that's what they used as poison?”

"I'm a step ahead of you there," said Maddox. "Jim Schwarz's tox panel came back with aconite. It's a fast acting poison. Death can be instantaneous once it hits the bloodstream."

"That explains the thumb tacks on the spin bike's handlebars." They had puzzled me and I was glad to have an answer. "Wait, I've seen aconite before."

"Where?" pressed Solomon.

"At Simonstech. That model in the lobby of the wildlife reserve. They grow aconite on the land, something to do with lab testing. They even had little painted flowers representing it. No one would go on an area overrun with aconite if it's that deadly. I'll bet that's where Avril Sosa is buried."

"That's another tie to Junior." Maddox took a deep breath. “We still have to sit tight until the body is found.”

“Shouldn’t we just go and arrest Junior? Right now? If he gets wind of this, he might run.”

“We have eyes on his house. He’s not going anywhere.”

So, we sat tight. We waited and drank coffee and tapped our fingers impatiently, and when I thought I couldn’t take the waiting any longer, and my eyelids were starting to droop, the call came in.

We met the morgue van as it arrived and I had to look away when the body was unloaded. “You can’t see anything,” said Maddox. “She’s bagged. They found her near aconite. Good call, Lexi.”

“All the same,” I said, facing the wall because I didn’t want to see it by accident. I don’t know why. It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen a dead body before. Maybe I just didn’t want to see another one. Maybe I didn’t want to see what happened to a body after a person spent two years beneath dirt and grass. Maybe it’s because Avril would almost have been the same age as me now, if she had lived.

“Come on. We’ll wait outside,” said Solomon. He gave me a push in the small of my back and we were gone, beyond the claustrophobic walls of the morgue.

“Several possessions came in with her,” said Maddox, joining us a few minutes later. He had them on a metal tray and poked at them with a pencil. “Cell phone, some jewelry. I checked her missing person’s report and the same jewelry is mentioned, but due to the advanced state of decomposition, we’ll need dental records to confirm it’s her. She had this in her hand.” He poked his pencil into a small object and held it up.

“Is that a ring?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“It’s too big for a woman’s hand,” I said, taking the pencil. “Avril was a small woman.” I knocked a little dirt off it with the back of my hand and it swung on the pencil for a moment. Something was scratched on the inside and I squinted at it. Writing. Writing that made my eyebrows rise as my mouth dropped open.

Maddox had his cell phone in his hand and was dialing. “We’re ready to make the arrest,” he told the person on the other end of the phone. “What do you mean, he left already? Follow Carter Simons Junior, and do NOT, I repeat, do NOT lose him.” He looked up at me as I waved my hand to get his attention. “What is it?” he asked, frowning.

“A curve ball,” I said, holding the ring to Maddox so he could read it. When his eyes met mine, I knew he was just as surprised as I was.

Chapter Twenty-One

Carter Simons Junior was yelling at a bunch of uniformed officers in the parking lot by the time we arrived at Simonstech at seven a.m. Unfortunately for him, he also managed to attract a mob of bystanders, employees all arriving to start the day. They stood around looking helplessly bewildered while he went red in the face, pointing, and yelling. That there was a Bobcat digger parked in his reserved parking space probably didn’t help matters a whole lot, but that was the least of his troubles.

“Sir?” said Maddox, approaching him. “Sir, if you could calm down please.”

“Calm down?” yelled Junior, redirecting his anger at Maddox. “Are you kidding? I got here and there’s a friggin’ digger in my space and the gardens are all torn up, with holes and tracks everywhere and crime scene tape. What the hell is going on?”

“I think you know the answer to that, sir,” said Maddox, his voice smooth and strong enough to be heard over the bystander noise.

“Come on inside, son, and let these people deal with it,” said Simons Senior. “They’ll inform us soon enough.”

“They can’t do this. Where’s your warrant?”

“It was served on your night security several hours ago. I assure you, sir, the search and excavation were done legally,” Maddox replied as the night watchman walked over, holding a piece of paper in his hand. Junior snatched it away from him, reading it.

“Excavation?” asked Junior, looking around as if he truly had no idea. “What the hell for?”

“The warrant authorizes them to search for a body buried on the land,” said Simons Senior. “It’s a damn shame. Poor person. It's an outrage someone would do this!” There was a ripple of shock and disbelief through the bystanders as the information was hastily retold. “Carter, son, let these people do their job.” To Maddox, he said, “Anything you need, officer, you just let us know. I’ll be with my staff in the boardroom. Son, we have to help these fine officers do their jobs.”

Junior seemed to admit defeat with a fall of his chest and an angry shake of his head. “Fine,” he said. “Fine.”

“Actually, sir, we can’t let you go inside,” said Maddox, stepping forwards as the two Simons turned to leave.

“What? Don’t you even think about telling me there’re bodies in the building too! Isn’t it bad enough that you’ve torn up the land and turned my family’s company into a circus spectacle?” Junior pointed to the one lone reporter on the sidelines, making frantic notes.

“No, we don’t believe that there are any more bodies here,” said Maddox. His shoulders squaring off as though preparing for battle, which, seeing the fuming Junior, might well have happened. “Carter Simons Junior, I have to inform you of your rights. You are under arrest for the murders of Jim Schwarz, Karen Doyle, and Lorena Vasquez, and the attempted murder of Marnie Vasquez.”

“You’ve got this all wrong!”

“Not even slightly,” said Maddox, standing his ground. “Your plan was complex, but it wasn’t good enough to remain unsolved. You poisoned Jim Schwarz." Maddox looked over at Joseph O’Keefe, who had just pushed his way through the crowd to stand behind the Simons.

"What's going on?" he asked, looking from the two men to Maddox. O’Keefe looked so utterly perplexed, I wondered if his nephew was successful at hiding everything from him. Could he really not know what was going on right under his nose?

“Your nephew used powdered aconite from the land, and his research knowledge, to poison your former employee,” Maddox said, taking in O’Keefe’s shocked looks as the crowd resumed their incredulous whispering. He returned his steely gaze to Junior. “You knew Karen Doyle was fatally allergic to peanuts, and all you needed was peanut oil, something you could buy at any supermarket, and access to something she would ingest. So you bribed a member of her gym for access. All you had to do was pick the lock to her locker and lace her water bottle. You also tried poisoning Lorena Vasquez, but unfortunately for you, she sprained her ankle and stopped running, and wasn’t drinking the coconut water you laced with Warfarin. Unfortunately her daughter drank some. It's the same Warfarin your uncle takes for his heart medication. Isn't that right, Mr. O'Keefe?"

"Well, yes, I do take Warfarin but my nephew would never... he would never..."

Maddox cut him off with a wave of his hand, returning his attention to Junior. "You knew it was only a matter of time before she contacted the police after hearing of her friends' murders, so you opted to stab her instead. The officers searching your house found blood on your sneakers and I’ve no doubt that it will be an identical match to Lorena’s. We have other evidence linking you to her murder.”

Two uniforms stepped forwards, catching Junior by the arms. He struggled, lashing out and yelling for his lawyer, but he was no match for the cops. They had him in handcuffs and tightly gripped his upper arms as he wailed and shouted.

”One more thing,” said Maddox. “Lift your shirt.”

“You have got to be kidding me!” Junior screamed. “You make up this bull and now you want the shirt off my back?”

“I want to see the gunshot wound you sustained when you attacked Lexi Graves in her home,” said Maddox and my heart stopped. “We will match the blood at the scene to you.”

“Go to hell!”

“My lawyer will have my son out before you can pick up your unemployment check,” growled the senior Carter. Behind him stood Joseph O’Keefe, still utterly bewildered.

“Your lawyer will be the only one picking up checks for now,” said Maddox, turning to the older man. “Carter Simons Senior, you’re under arrest for the murder of Avril Sosa.”

“You can’t be serious!” Simons Senior yelled as all eyes turned on him, and more than a few mouths dropped open. O’Keefe seemed totally lost for words.

“Deadly serious,” hissed Maddox. “We have witnesses. We have evidence.”

“There’s no evidence. There’s no damn DNA on the body you dug up to tie Avril Sosa to me!”

“Funny you should mention DNA, since no one said whose body we dug up,” I said, and the two Simons looked just about ready to pop at hearing that.

Maddox grinned, knowing his case was solid the moment we read the inscription on the ring Avril had taken with her to the grave. “That’s where you’re wrong. You buried Avril with your wedding ring. Lovely inscription from your wife. Her parents thought she'd met a nice man, but in reality she met you. At first I thought maybe she was having an affair with your son but once I put the evidence together... Avril crying in the bathroom after your speech at the office party in which you expressed your love for your wife... then there's the video of her murder. It was you Jim, Karen, and Lorena saw. Not your son. Take him away.” Maddox nodded to the uniforms, who marched father and son toward separate squad cars. We watched them being loaded into the back seats.

Solomon nudged me. "Case closed. Do you want to explain all this to Michael?"

I nodded eagerly at the thought of how relieved Fairmount Gym's manager would be now that the gym was in the clear. "You bet!"

"Maddox is waiting for you and I want to talk to the VP. We'll head to the gym after. Good work, Lexi." Solomon moved over to O’Keefe, to talk to him. I held up five fingers as I turned to follow Maddox back to his car, away from the dispersing crowd. Five minutes, that was all I needed to process this.

“Good work, Lexi,” he said as we paused by his old sedan. “That was a good catch.”

“Do you really think it was Junior who attacked me?”

“Without a doubt. His car got a ticket not five minutes from your house right before you were attacked. He took his car to the garage later that day, where we think he’ll try to pretend it was. We’ll play with him a bit, work him up a little, then we’ll run the traffic cam footage of him driving it.”

“Wow.”

“Don’t thank me. Thank Lucas. He found the camera evidence. I don’t know how he hacked in, but since I just signed the agency on as consultants to this case, I can get around that. I only found the ticket.”

“I think I’m still in shock. It’s not just the attack, I thought Junior killed Avril Sosa until I saw that ring. How could Lorena have gotten it so wrong? She identified the son, not the father.”

“They never really saw who killed Avril Sosa,” Maddox reminded me. “They assumed it was Junior when they saw him driving away in the woman’s car. Senior himself just admitted he knew it was Sosa buried back there. When we analyze the video recording Lorena made on her cell phone that night, we’ll know more. I suspect when the video is cleaned up, we’ll see Carter Simons Senior, because they were the ones having an affair. He’s so old!”

"You bluffed!"

Maddox grinned. "It happens."

“Some women like older men, you know. So, she snatched his inscribed wedding ring during the fight and he didn’t realize it was gone until later, when she was buried, and by then, it was too late,” I added, my theory for the ring found on Avril Sosa’s body. “I overheard Junior and his wife talking about getting a new ring made, and that she didn’t realize there was an inscription until her mother-in-law saw the new ring. Senior must have asked his son to commission it. Neither of them could risk disturbing the body to look for the ring.”