Chapter 18 A Memory Full of Holes #2
“Could be, but so far I haven’t seen anything to prove those words true.” DeCapristo was as vicious as an ant colony whose nest had been disturbed.
“The agent is right. All you have is a vague idea that these murders are connected. I hope you have some solid leads to follow?” Apparently, the old saying about the enemy of one’s enemy was true. Savalle leaned back in his chair, his fingers drumming a rhythm on his desk.
“We do have some leads. As for their solidity, we can’t say anything yet. We’re still waiting for some additional information from our IT specialist.”
“Who, I don’t know. Why couldn’t you use our IT specialist or one from the FBI? Those surely beat somebody working for a precinct?” Savalle asked.
George shrugged. “What makes you think we’re working with somebody from the police?
” They did, but Shireen was better than any hacker from the FBI.
Andi knew this because she had hacked the FBI more than once and had always gone undetected.
The question was simply meant to throw Savalle and DeCapristo off. The chief huffed.
“Fine. So, you’re working with somebody highly qualified. Do you have anything else for us?”
George put the folder with the stolen items on the chief’s desk. “This is a list of everything Suzie Monahan stole at Paradise Home for the Elderly. We already have Officer Kaustrowitz going over it to see if anything stands out.”
Savalle grabbed the folder before DeCapristo could reach it and leafed through it. “It’s mostly knick-knacks. Worthless.”
“In a monetary sense, yes. We don’t know yet if somebody may have placed a more imaginary value on one of these things.”
DeCapristo snatched the folder from Savalle. “I’ll have a look at this as well. To make sure you don’t miss anything.” The implied insult was so childish, George didn’t acknowledge it.
“You do that. It’s always good to have as many eyes on evidence as possible. If you’d excuse us? We have some phone calls to make.”
George didn’t wait for either Savalle or DeCapristo to say anything. He turned and followed Andi out of the chief’s office. “Let’s get back to the hotel. We need to talk to Shireen.”
Andi was very much on board with this suggestion and led the way to George’s Escalade in the parking lot of the precinct.
Back in their hotel room, they got rid of their shoes, made themselves comfortable on the bed and called Shireen.
She accepted the call on the fourth ring, meaning she’d been doing something but didn’t mind being interrupted. “Hello! Just the men I’ve been meaning to call. I assume it’s both of you, George?”
“Yes. And hello, Shireen.”
Andi added his own hello then snuggled into George’s side to hear what Shireen had to say.
“I’ve finally managed to get my hands on the closed files of Judge Dunhill and Trevor Asten. I know it’s not nice to speak ill of the dead, but these two deserved every single hornet sting they got, and I hope they burn in hell forever.”
“I take it they were even worse human beings than we thought?” George started stroking Andi’s cheeks with a feathery touch.
“Oh, much worse. They were the most obnoxious teenagers you can imagine. They did everything from shoplifting to harassing women to shooting pets for fun. When they were seventeen, they beat a Black man so badly, he lost the use of his left hand. And they never ever had to face the consequences for their actions because their daddies made it all go away.” Shireen snorted.
The judge and his buddy were the kind of people she hated with a passion.
“Eventually, the files were sealed after they turned twenty-one, even though they didn’t contain a lot of information to begin with.
Like the names of their victims. All blacked out.
By then, they had found other ways to live out their sick proclivities, or so I assume, because I couldn’t find anything about them on the wrong side of the law after their birthdays.
It’s of course also possible that the judge had it all erased and not just swept under the carpet once he was in a position with enough power to do so.
Their juvenile files were so well hidden to begin with, it’s entirely possible the person doing the erasing simply didn’t find them.
If the whole thing weren’t so disgusting and depressing, I’d say it was lucky for us. ”
“It was lucky for us, and the judge and his buddy have paid for their sins, at least a little bit.” George was usually very firm on the entire concept of due process and innocent until proven guilty, only there was no doubt about the guilt of these two men.
There was also no doubt that they’d gotten away with their crimes until the hornets had spoken their verdict.
Andi could see a certain poetic justice in it.
Dying of anaphylactic shock or choking due to swollen airways or drowning weren’t the easiest ways to leave this planet.
“It’s all we’re going to get, so I’m taking it.
” Shireen sounded determined. “I’m sending you the digitalized copies of the files.
Be prepared to puke. There are also some pictures, though not the best quality.
I’ll keep on digging. Perhaps I can find out more about their victims. It’s a pity that digitalization didn’t exist back then.
But I’m going to send the photos through every accessible database, and maybe a friend of mine is able to find out the names of the victims.”
“Is that even possible after all these years? I could imagine the paper and ink aren’t in the best of shape anymore.” George looked skeptical.
“I cherish my ignorance regarding this specific field. That’s what friends who owe you favors are for.
” The slightly sadistic tone of their IT queen had Andi flinching.
Whoever the poor soul was, they had managed to garner Shireen’s full attention, which wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
She could be like a cat with a mouse, if the cat liked the mouse and wasn’t going to kill it.
“Any additional information would be great, Shireen. We’re traipsing in the dark here.”
“As if that has ever stopped you.” Shireen snickered. “I’m absolutely confident you’re going to crack this case. I’ll call you as soon as I have news.”
The line went dead.
George put the cell on the nightstand, where it almost immediately started buzzing with an incoming email, most probably the promised files from Shireen. His partner didn’t get his cell back. Instead, he started nuzzling Andi’s neck with his nose. “I hate this case.”
Andi closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of George’s skin on his own. “Me too.”
They stayed like this for a little longer, George busying himself with the skin on Andi’s neck, Andi enjoying the closeness that was so new for him. Finally, George lifted his head.
“We don’t have a whiteboard here, but perhaps we can make do with a sheet of paper.” He got up to get said sheet of paper as Andi assumed.
“Don’t forget we need pens as well,” he called after his partner when he left the room. George lifted his hand.
“In my bag.”
Andi grinned and got up to retrieve a leather pencil case from the side of George’s bag.
It wasn’t their usual markers, which were for writing on whiteboards, but the same colors.
His partner came back a few minutes later with an entire block of flip chart sheets.
They put it on their ‘work’ bed because no other surface was big enough.
George got out the black pen and wrote the names of their victims. With the yellow marker, Andi made lines between those who had ties to each other, namely Suzie, Isabelle, and Jagger, and also had a connection to Paradise Home, even if it was twice removed in Isabelle’s and Jagger’s case.
Andi made a mental note to find out if either of the two had ever been inside the retirement home.
Then he thought better of it and sent a quick text to Randy.
This was exactly the kind of thing they had the young officer for.
Judge Dunhill and Trevor Asten remained outside the group, which vexed Andi.
There had to be something. They just hadn’t found it yet.
George had taken the red pen and was writing ‘killer’ even further outside with a thin, dotted line to the word Paradise Home and a huge question mark. After they had put in everything else they knew—which wasn’t much, sadly—they stared at the rather empty-looking sheet.
“Do you remember how we complained about too many suspects during the McHill/Portius/Miller case? I would love to have that complaint now.” George sighed.
“You’re right. Too many is definitely better than none at all.” Andi yawned. “Are we going back to Charleston tomorrow or are we staying here?”
“To be honest, I’d like to stay here. Drive around a bit, maybe back to the lake. Perhaps inspiration hits us. If we drive back, I’ll have to think about my birthday and my family descending on us, and frankly, I’m not ready to tackle that particular issue.”
“You’ll have to eventually.”
“Don’t I know it.” George put the pens back into the pencil case and placed it on top of the flip chart sheets. “What do you want to eat?”