Chapter 18
“Son of a bitch,” Dover spat as she stood from inspecting the body laid out in the middle of the lacrosse field.
She stepped outside the tent surrounding the newest victim and scanned the crowd pressed against the security fence.
Each person gawking at the crime scene had an aura of color surrounding them.
She studied them all hoping for any indication that the person who killed the man was one of them.
“Son of a bitch,” she growled again. Nothing unusual grabbed her notice as she peeled the Tyvek suit off.
At least she didn’t have to worry about any students staring out the windows.
School had been released for the summer at the end of last week.
The only way the body was discovered was because a lone security guard happened on it early in the morning doing his rounds.
“Dr. Olmstead, the head of the school, is waiting in his office for you,” Danny said walking up to her. “The security guard didn’t have much to say. He was pretty shaken up. I sent him with patrol to the office to make a formal statement. Bianchi said he’d handle it.”
“Thanks, Danny. I’ll go speak to Dr. Olmstead as soon as—” she stopped mid-sentence seeing the medical examiner jogging toward her. “There he is.” Even standing in the middle of a crime scene, she felt a rush of adrenaline seeing Sean hurrying toward her.
“Sorry I’m late. Damn car wouldn’t start this morning. I had to bike in,” Sean said when he reached them.
“Don’t you live in–”
“Cambridge, yeah. Hence why I’m late. I’ll find you when I’m done.
” Without looking back, he stepped inside the tent.
She noticed the tension ease in the leader of the crime scene collection team.
They had been standing around waiting for Sean also having cleared around the area earlier.
She left them to hash it out while she spoke to the head of the school.
“Dr. Olmstead?” she asked when she finally found his office.
“Yes. Please, come in,” the tall man said with a gesture of his arm.
She guessed he was in his mid-fifties, with graying hair and signs of crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes.
He was also almost vibrating with anxiety.
“I can’t believe this. We’ve done everything to make this a safe learning space. How does this happen?”
“Have a seat, Dr. Olmstead,” she said with a deep sigh.
She sat in one of the chairs across from his desk.
After several moments of hesitation, he came around his desk and took the one next to her.
She pulled out a notebook from her pocket.
“Have you noticed anything unusual? Anyone that looked out of place last week?”
“No. No, I don’t think so. No one brought anything odd to my attention.”
“Anyone hanging around outside the lacrosse field?”
“No, but the games are always open to the public. The season finished a month ago though.”
“Can I show you a photo of the victim to see if you recognize him? Just a close-up of his face,” she quickly added when he flinched.
“Of course.” She opened her phone and handed it to him. The man in the picture looked more like he was taking a nap. She had cropped out the ugly marks where he had been strangled.
“No, I don’t recognize him. He’s not any of the staff, and if he’s a parent, he’s not one I’m familiar with. Do you have his name? I can have the admissions clerk come in and search the database.”
“Not yet,” she said, taking her phone back. “Do you recognize the names Terrence Oldman, Ian Moore, Jack Dawson, George Goodwin, or Trent Alleman?”
He shook his head.
“Who has access to the field?” she continued.
“Everyone on staff has keys to the building. There’s a crash door leading out to the fields.”
“Thank you, Dr. Olmstead. That should be all for now. If I have any further questions, I’ll contact you.
” Dover set one of her business cards on the desk.
“If you remember anything, no matter how insignificant, please contact me.” She stood, and he stood to walk her out.
“One of my officers has your security guard’s keys.
He’ll return them as soon as the crime scene is released, and we clear out. ”
“Yes, okay. Thank you.”
She left him watching after her as she walked out the door. Sean had just stepped out of the tent and was taking his Tyvek suit off. He looked as hot as she had felt emerging from the tent earlier.
Actually taking a better look, she realized it wasn’t just the temperature. The sweat made his T-shirt stick to him highlighting every ripple of his torso.
“Your mouth is hanging open,” Danny said next to her.
“It is not,” she exclaimed, maybe a little too loudly. She heard a rumble of laughter and debated smacking him. That would only draw attention, so she chose to ignore him. She found the medical examiner sexy. Whatever.
“Shut up,” she snarled, making Danny laugh even more. The noise must have traveled because Sean looked up and smiled.
“I was just coming to find you,” he said, walking toward her. “Looks like he died between ten and midnight. I’ll know more this afternoon. He was wearing this.” He handed her an evidence bag. Inside was a medallion she had come to dread. Flipping in over, she held it closer to her face.
“We’ve also got a name,” he continued. “Tony Russo. He was in the system. Got sent up for theft. He was on parole.”
“I’ll head back to the office and see what I can pull up on Mr. Russo,” Danny said.
“Yeah, I’ll see you,” she said distractedly. She barely noticed when her partner disappeared through the far gate. “Is this St. Nicholas?” she finally asked.
“According to Google, yes,” Sean answered. “Santa Claus or in this case patron saint of repentant thieves maybe?” She flipped it over several times as she studied it. Then with a frustrated sigh, she looked up at him.
“What do these mean?”
“I have no idea. I’ll leave the detection up to you.
” He gently took it out of her hands. “I can drop this at the lab on the way to the morgue. This guy will get priority when we get him back.” He nodded to the men standing next to a gurney, and they entered the tent.
A few minutes later they left, awkwardly rolling a body bag across the turf.
“I should be ready to start around two.”
“Thanks, Sean. I’ll see you then.” She walked back to the tent to find the crime scene team finishing up. “Anything?” she asked Jillian, the person in charge of the team.
“Not really. We’ll put a rush on it though.
Sean said he’d drop the medal with the techs when he got back.
They can start on it immediately,” she answered.
Dover liked when the middle-aged woman was assigned to her crime scene.
It meant nothing would be missed. She was still model pretty but could also crack a proverbial whip at her team.
“I appreciate it. Something has to break soon. We can’t keep coming up empty-handed.
” Jillian nodded her agreement and turned back to her team.
Dover watched for several more minutes before deciding there was nothing more to do here.
Danny already had a team doing door-to-door interviews, but so far, nothing had turned up.
With no one left to check on, she walked to the gate. There was a young officer standing in front of it with a snarl on his face. It broke into a smile when she approached. Quickly, he unlocked the gate and ushered her through before locking it back up.
“I’ve had to keep it locked to discourage the hangers-on,” he explained.
“Good idea. Make sure the head of school gets the keys back when the scene is clear.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he answered, making her feel years older than she was.
Ignoring it, she climbed in her car. The drive back to headquarters gave her a chance to think.
This made victim number six. The only things they had in common were the method of death, being last seen in a bar, and the medallion each wore.
If they could just catch a break at one of the bars, it might be the lead they needed.
She knew Danny would already be calling around hoping to trace his last known location.
He would canvass the area where the victim was last seen while she attended his autopsy.
Their boss would be waiting for an update as soon as she arrived.
It was turning into another long day, and it had only just begun.
Her partner was hanging his phone up when she walked into the office. She watched from where she perched on the corner of his desk as he jotted down several notes. He handed her a file and picked up his notes.
“Anthony Mateo Russo, twenty-five years old. He got in some minor trouble as a juvie. Got sent up for two years for boosting cars as an adult. His parole officer said he was living with his mother while trying to get a job. He thought he had a chance as a mechanic, said he was good with cars,” Danny began.
“Obviously.”
“I was waiting for you to do the death call. I told the boss we’d bring him up to date when we got back.”
“Yeah, I guess we should go.” She stood from his desk. He followed her to the car, and they headed across town. “What else did you find?”
“Not much yet. I’m hoping his mother knows where he was going last time she saw him. We might need to ask that before telling her about his death. Dex is waiting to run down video as soon as we have a place.”
“Good idea. Are victim services meeting us there?” she asked.
“I told them to wait outside for us. We don’t want it to look like we’re rushing the house. Hopefully he was only into cars, but you never know.”
They reached a small house in one of the rougher parts of town.
It couldn’t have been more than a thousand square feet in size with peeling paint and a patched roof.
She would bet it was still an object of pride based on the flowerbeds that lined the house.
The yard was also clean and neat. She stepped out of the car, meeting Danny on the sidewalk.
“Mrs. Russo,” Dover asked when an older woman answered the door. She guessed this must be Tony’s grandmother. “I’m Detective Addams, and this is Detective Gallagher. We’re with the Boston Police Department. May we come in?”
“Gloria,” the woman shouted over her shoulder before turning back to Dover. “Are you here about Tony?”
“Yes, ma’am. May we step inside?” Danny asked. The woman opened the door, and they slipped inside the house. It was as she expected. Neat, warm, and inviting.
“Mom, what’s going on?” a woman not much older than Dover asked, stepping into the entrance.
“Ms. Russo?” The woman nodded. “May we sit down?” Wordlessly, she ushered them to a floral couch that had to have come straight out of the seventies. They sat down, and the women took the two armchairs. “When was the last time you saw Tony?” Danny continued.
“Two nights ago. He said he was going out with some friends to a bar in the north end,” the younger Ms. Russo said.
“Do you know which bar?”
“Sbarra. He said he might just crash with one of his friends since he had an interview the next morning. Why, what’s happened?”
“Can you give me a list of his friends?”
“If you tell me what’s happened.”
“Ms. Russo,” Dover cut in. “I’m so sorry to have to tell you, but we found Tony deceased this morning.” She watched as the older woman cried out and clutched the younger’s hand.
“Give me your book,” the younger woman hissed. Danny handed her his notebook and pen. She hastily scrawled something on it before handing it back. “Those are his friends. Tell me what happened.”
“We don’t have all of the details yet, but I promise to keep you informed as we get more information. There is a liaison outside who would like to introduce themself. They will make sure to answer any questions you might have. May we have them come inside?” Danny waited for them to nod then got up.
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Dover said again.
“Just tell me you’ll find out what happened,” the younger woman said. She now had her arm around the older woman as she cried into a handkerchief.
“I will do my very best. That, I promise you.”