Shadows of Doubt (6 page)

“It was a bad day. You’re wearing the socks.” Her mother eyeballed her over the rim of her cup and sipped slowly.

“It wasn’t that bad. Ok, it was bad enough.” Lou plopped into the chair across from her mother and picked up the cup of tea that was waiting for her. “I got nothing. We got nothing.” She paused to take a sip and savored the warm comfort as it flowed over her tongue. “The captain gave us today only to find a legitimate reason to keep her, which we didn’t. So now we have to pass it back to LAPD since she was their jurisdiction to begin with.”

“You know my feelings about the LAPD. No offense to the officers, but the bureaucrats there, well never mind.” Shevaun was clearly disgruntled. “I understand the socks now.”

Lou chuckled and looked at the manila envelope that she had put on the coffee table. The message she had gotten from Caroline that evening had been a little vague. Caroline had said that the degraded saliva on Angela Talbott had been annoying her so she ran some searches to see if she could find anything to help explain things. Caroline had indicated that she found something odd and would leave a copy of her findings for Lou on her desk since she herself was leaving early because she had an engagement that evening.

“Caroline called me while I was in with the captain. Left a message saying she might have something but it was already too late. I picked this up from her office on my way home.” Lou set her cup down, grabbed the manila folder and pulled out the file.

“Oh coroner stuff! You know how much I love those things.” Her mother grinned and nestled down into the chair with a cheery grin.

Lou went through the file with her mother snuggled into the seat across from her with wide eyes as though she were a small child being read a bedtime story. The victim was a Marjorie Scott and had been found on October twenty-seventh, just after dawn in Lake Balboa Park. The crime photos showed the woman laying face up, naked with limbs carefully arranged. Her legs and ankles were set tightly together and her arms were resting snugly at her sides. The palms of her hands were upturned so that you could clearly see the gashes in each wrist. What you couldn’t see was any blood, at all. Though the death had been ruled as a suicide, there were obvious holes that didn’t seem to matter to the investigating officers. No clothing found at the scene, no tool or weapon used to make the wounds, no evidence as to how the woman got to the location, nothing. A lot of obvious, gaping holes. The coroner assigned to the case had ruled it a suicide with exsanguination from self-inflicted wounds to the wrists. There was evidence of scarring to the wrists from a from a previous suicide attempt which was in the woman’s record from when she was seventeen. The LAPD detectives had put in their report that the lack of clothing or ID was likely the result of theft given the numerous vagrants that were known to roam the park regularly at night. They also explained away the body being staged under the tree next to the lake as being another random vagrant’s disturbing the scene of the suicide. It was so bloody thin that it made both Lou and her mother grunt and groan at the report.

Marjorie Scott had been a recent transplant from Chicago with no family or ties to speak of. She had been working as a massage therapist for a less than reputable massage parlor in Studio City for only a few months. Her presence in the universe seemed to be so insignificant that neither her employer, landlord, nor any one of her acquaintances had ever bothered to report the woman missing. Given all of that and the statements gathered, it actually was understandable how the investigators let things go as suicide along with the coroner’s findings. It was all plausible when stacked up, which is why it stuck and ultimately got the case closed. Aside from the lack of blood at the scene, the body being face up when it was placed and the fact that no one gave a shit about the woman, there was nothing to tie Marjorie Scott and Angela Talbott together. But it was one single line in the the coroner’s report that made Lou understand why Caroline pulled the case file and passed it to Lou. Traces of amylase were found at the wound on the left wrist. Said trace was too degraded to extract any DNA or even determine whether it was human or animal.

“Now that is a coincidence isn’t it?” Lou’s mother said, even more wide eyed than she had been before.

“Don’t start doing the conspiracy theory thing on me yet, Momma. There are a thousand reasons why the saliva could have been degraded.”

“Well Caroline obviously thought it probative enough to pull the case for you.” Shevaun was clearly thinking on the same lines as Caroline Devereux had been. “Why don’t we call her and ask her? It’s not that late, she’ll still be awake.”

“Mom, she’s at some charity thingy. I am not going to call her tonight on this.” Lou considered the situation. “I’ll call her in the morning to get her take, then if she’s planning on backing me, I’ll take it to the captain.”

“You could go down there and bring her those croissants she loves and schmooze her into backing you up.” Lou’s mother was a brilliant extortionist when it came to knowing people’s culinary weaknesses. She had the best bakeries and restaurants on speed-dial for just that reason. It worked like a charm when she was hitting up deep pockets, fund raising for her church.

“Okay, now that you’ve made me hungry, lets put this away for the night and go raid the fridge.” Lou pulled the file together and stuffed it back in the envelope.

“Oh goodie!” Her mother clapped her hands happily as she sprang up from her chair. “I brought one of those chocolate cakes home from Romano’s!”

“Did you eat anything with nutritive value today?” Lou sometimes wondered who was the parent and who was the child.

“Of course I did!” Shevaun perched her hands on her hips and gave Lou a scolding look. “I had an apple martini and fried mozzarella sticks for lunch. That’s fruit, grain and dairy!” She spun around with conviction and bolted out the door, yelling as she ran down the hall. “Last one to the kitchen does the dishes!”

Lou rolled her eyes and grinned but didn’t bother to race to the kitchen. Her mother always cheated when they raced and Lou was always last and always got stuck with the dishes.

Max sat comfortably
on the pewter couch sipping from his glass as he listened to Agent Martin Gilroy ramble his report. The man stood in front of Max looking every bit the wanna-be Hollywood playboy complete with horribly over-done highlights, a fresh coat of spray tan and clearly over-priced, over-grunged clothes. To make matters worse, Gilroy had brought his assistant Vito with him. The greasy looking man stood near the entry door with his arms crossed over his chest and a look on his face that made him appear like he had eaten bad clams for lunch. Max supposed the man was trying to look imposing but he simply came off looking like an extra from a Soprano’s episode that spent more time at craft services than at the gym. Max barely glanced at Gilroy as the agent continued to pontificate about how tight he had the west side running and how everything was smooth as silk, blah blah blah. Max glanced at his watch then to Frank who stood in the back corner of the living room, stoic and brooding. With the slightest lift of Max’s index finger, Frank nodded and pulled the phone from his pocket and proceeded to type on its miniature keyboard. To his credit, Max noted that Vito had picked up on the signal and shifted his stance. When the knock on the door came several minutes later, Vito looked to Max with eyebrows raised and Max nodded to him to open the door. Gilroy never broke from his dissertation as four very large men in impeccable black suits entered the suite, saluting Max without a word. The four men stood shoulder to shoulder a few paces behind Gilroy. Vito tried to move to the side, clearly out of his element.

“What of Carpesh’s inquiry? Max interrupted Gilroy finally as he set his glass on the coffee table.

“Who?” Was all Gilroy said.

“Peter Carpesh. Our man at the Coroner’s office.” It was only then that Max bothered to make eye contact with the man.

Gilroy strained a moment. “I don’t know that I received an inquiry from any Carpesh.”

“You did. Three actually.” Before Gilroy could speak, Max cut him off again. “You are being relocated, effective immediately.”

“What?! But... You... Now wait a minute Julian...”

Before he could blink, let alone utter another syllable, Max was off the couch, in Gilroy’s face and had him dangling with one hand by the throat. “That would be Dominor Julian, you incompetent, self-important toad.”

Vito jerked but stood where he was as he visibly began to shake. The man could only watch as his charge was being manhandled.

“Now I could very easily, and with great pleasure I might add, pop your head off like a soda cap right this instant. But since I am very fond of the décor in this suite, these men will escort you, and your unfortunate troll here, out. A jet is waiting to take you immediately to your new station where you will be assisting the agent in charge.” He let go of Gilroy and turned before the idiot hit to the floor with a solid thud. “If I so much as hear you blinked in the wrong direction, you’re next assignment will be to fish your head out of your own ass.” Max turned his attention to Vito this time. “As for you, I strongly recommend you pick your employers more carefully in the future. Frank will see you out.”

Frank appeared out of nowhere behind Vito and firmly took the man by the arm. The four well-suited men yanked Gilroy to his feet and dragged him out the door while Frank followed with the unlucky Vito. Martin Gilroy was a moron on so many levels that it upset Max deeply that such a twit had ever been given a position as an agent. Correcting his error, Max had arranged for Gilroy to be shipped directly to Alaska and the agent stationed there had assured Max that Gilroy’s existence would be made a living hell, albeit a very frozen one.

As for Vito, it had been another brilliant display of bad judgment for Gilroy to hire an outsider without Council vetting. After some checking, they had learned that Vito had come into Gilroy’s employ several months ago, was new to the area from Brooklyn with no family on record. Max could trust that Frank would give Vito a good enough crack to the back of the head that it would give medical feasibility to the amnesia Vito was about to suffer. It was messy, it was so unnecessary, and it would sure as hell never happen again.

Glancing at his watch Max noted that he had approximately twenty minutes before an instant-replay of recent events would take place, only with a few different cast members. There were several more agents on schedule this evening. Max was looking forward to it. He was seriously pissed now.

Caroline took another bite of the fresh baked croissant and considered
the situation carefully while she chewed slowly, savoring the flaky goodness. It was an excellent bribe, but really unnecessary.

“I don’t know what I can tell you here Lou.” She took a sip of coffee to wash down the rest of the croissant. “I’ll put whatever I can in the report to help but the bottom line is it’s weak as hell. Degraded saliva on two bodies found three months apart does not a serial killer make.”

“I know! I know!” Lou was exasperated and she was running out of time. “I know it’s weak but it might give me just enough to convince the Captain to let me follow up on this and not have to hand it over to LAPD.”

“Lou, you also have to consider that the other case belongs to LAPD. To them its closed and long put to bed.” Caroline eyed the pink box where the other half-dozen croissants waited, quietly whispering her name. Instead of giving in to their call, she shoved the box to the other side of her desk and focused on Lou. “Fat chance in hell they are going to let you keep a case that should have been theirs in the first place, then hand over a closed case based on some suspicious drool. It would be different if I could come up with something to explain why the saliva was degraded and the explanation was consistent for both of the bodies. You get what I mean?”

Even though she hated what she was hearing, Lou nodded in understanding. “This is almost as weak as LAPD’s theory on how Marjorie Scott wound up near the lake with zero blood anywhere. I know they are going to pull the same crap with Angela Talbott and just write her off too.” She sighed with resignation. “Well, thanks for trying. I better get this over with.”

Muttering some choice expletives under her breath, Lou stood up and opened the pink box she had brought for her friend. She quickly snatched one of the baked goods and stuffed half of it in her mouth as if to mask the bitter pill she was having to swallow.

“Hey!” Caroline protested. “Indian giver!”

Lou grinned as she chomped on the croissant, waving to her friend and headed out the door.

Captain Sam Davidson
was a no-nonsense man who walked the line between cop and bureaucrat with precision and grace. He knew when to go to bat for his deputies but also knew how to reign them in to keep things neat and tidy for the bean counters. Lou had managed to talk her way into seeing him before he left for a meeting at City Hall, which explained his being dressed in full uniform. The military-sharp man sat behind his desk and listened to her intently as his keen blue eyes carefully scanned through the files she had handed him before she began her report. His weather beaten face was expressionless as he listened. When she finished laying out her case, she could read nothing from him. She simply stood silently for several long moments and watched her silver haired superior mull over the data.

“Sir, if I could just get the okay to requisition the full file from LAPD rather than hand over this case.” The silence was too much; she started on him again. “If I could get a closer look at this, I’m sure I can find a solid link between the Scott and Talbott women.” Lou tried to not sound desperate.

“What does your partner think about this?” Davidson never looked up from Caroline’s report as he asked.

“Sir, your orders yesterday were for us to wrap it up for LAPD so we could hand it over first thing this morning. I didn’t bother DeLuca with the information the coroner gave me because I wanted to make sure it was staying in house before bringing him in.”

Davidson’s sapient blue eyes peered up at her from beneath his bushy pewter eyebrows. “So, if I am reading this correctly, the only thing you have with these cases is unidentifiable amylase? Degraded saliva?”

She shifted slightly but stood her ground. “It’s the fact that the saliva on both victims is exactly the same in its unidentifiability, Sir.” Okay, so now she was making up words. This had gone so much smoother in her head.

“Detective Donovan, I can see where you are going with this but I have to say, this is quite a stretch here.” He began to put all the documents together neatly then placed them back into the folder. “The first victim could have been munched on by a rabid squirrel for all we know. Or those ducks!” He slammed his fist on his desk with a heavy thud, startling her. He was patronizing her now and she knew it. “Those ducks are mean over there! One attacked my grand-kid last summer!”

“Sir...” Lou gritted her teeth at his poking fun.

“As for our victim from the alley...” He cut her off cold. “Detective, you and I both know that was more than likely a rat. We just do not have any justification to withhold the Talbott case from LAPD; it’s their jurisdiction. Then to hit them up for records on a closed case because of spit? Spit that the coroner states definitively that she cannot narrow down a species for. Without even that much you are completely screwed in finding a source for it. Christ, they could turn around and blame us with mishandling evidence as far as Talbott goes.”

“Yeah but if I had more time I could...” She was definitely sounding desperate now.

“Its making a case out of spit and chewing gum, almost literally! The District Attorney would laugh you out of his office!” He leaned back in his chair and looked at her flatly. “Lou, you’re a good detective, a smart one. I know you think you are seeing something here but you’re not. Even if there is something here, it’s for LAPD to handle. Pack it up and hand it over.” He glanced down at his watch and cursed under his breath. “Now that I am ten minutes late for my lunch meeting, dismissed Detective.”

“Sir. Yes Sir. Thank you for you’re time Sir.”

Deflated, discouraged, and angry, Lou left her captain’s office and headed back to Homicide. He was probably right but she didn’t have to like it. Then there was the fact that she just had a gut feeling and couldn’t shake it. By the time she got to her desk and sat down, she was flat out sulking. It was several moments before she noticed her partner was making a painful attempt at sitting Indian-style in his chair. His eyes were closed and he was rolling what looked like two silver golf balls around in his left hand. The balls even appeared to be making some sort of chiming noise.

“What the hell are you doing?” She asked him.

Vinny didn’t flinch at her question. He continued without pausing but peered at her through one eye before closing it again. “I am meditating.”

Lou blinked rapidly several times. “You are what?”

“I am meditating!” He took a deep breath and kept rolling the humming balls in his hand.

“Vinny, what the hell are you doing?” She was seriously trying not to laugh at this point.

He stopped, unfolded his legs, pausing briefly to work out a cramp in his hip, then planted his feet firmly on the ground. With a huff, he rolled his chair up to the desk and slammed the silver balls down on the blotter. After looking around to see who was within earshot, he leaned in and looked her square in the eye.

“Vera’s pregnant.” No beating around the bush on this one. He picked up the silver balls and carefully placed them into a satin lined box then put the box into his desk drawer. When he looked back at Lou he noticed she had turned a few shades of pale and hadn’t yet blinked. “Yeah, no shit!”

“Holy crap, Vinny!” Was all Lou could come up with.

“My sentiments exactly kiddo! You know she’s twenty years younger than me so now she’s on this kick to get my stress levels down and get me all healthy and shit for when the bambino arrives.” Vinny scrubbed his hands over his face. “She also wants me to take the exam.”

“When? How? I mean...” Lou flopped back in her chair completely dumbfounded by her partner’s news. “You mean the Lieutenant’s exam?” She was still stuck at the part about the baby.

“Yeah. I didn’t know how to tell you. Any of it. Christ I’m 50 for crap’s sake! Do you realize I’ll be 78 by the time the kid gets outta high school? This is nuts, Lou!” He blew out a long breath. “Top that off with you goin’ off doing something with Caroline and not telling me. Everything is just screwy, and weird. I’m freakin’ out over here!”

“Oh crap, Vinny! I wasn’t doing anything behind you’re back! I just didn’t want to drag you into something until I had something to drag you into!” Lou gave him an apologetic look and was really glad she had decided to keep him out of her fishing expedition. He didn’t need any sideways glances in his direction if he was going for a promotion. “Now when is Vera due? And shit, are you happy? Is she happy?”

“Yeah, yeah! She’s over the moon about it. But its a major rethink I gotta be doing on my end. I mean you’re my partner, my friend, my best friend’s niece! I got a responsibility here too. And riding a desk permanently... Shit, Lou.”

Lou smiled at her partner. Boy, had he worked himself into a tizzy over all this. It was so like Vinny to put his own forthcoming baby after his sense of duty to Lou and her uncle. That would certainly change once the little rugrat arrived, though. She would miss having him as a partner but he bossed her around so much anyway that having him as her lieutenant wouldn’t change things much. It suddenly occurred to her that the poor guy must have passed up the exam a few times so he could stay with her on the streets. It was time for some changes and she was going to shove his chicken-shit, petrified ass in the right direction, starting now.

“Okay, I took the train in so you gotta drive me home.” She got up and started gathering her things. “We can cut out early and miss the rain. Besides, Mom’s got Romano’s chocolate cake at home.” She grinned as his eyes lit up at the mention of chocolate cake.

As he hurried to gather his things he looked up at her suspiciously. “You gonna tell me what you were doing in the captain’s office?”

She tossed the manila folder at him that contained Caroline’s data. “You read while I drive. We can talk about that and the rest of it over cake and coffee.”

“That sounds like the best offer I’ve had all day. Is this something that Shevaun would call “juicy”?” He tossed her the car keys.

“I thought it might be, but its looking pretty damn dry.” Lou paused a moment and took a deep breath. She had to force that feeling in her gut to let go so she could move forward. “Okay, let’s go, partner.”

The coffee table
in the middle of the suite had been turned into a mini-command center with Max at the helm sitting in the white leather armchair. A dual-screened communications hub sat back at the far end of the table so that he could talk to more then one person at a time while having complete access to the touchscreen system in front of him. On either side of the touchscreen were mini-systems that were both controlled by the single wireless keyboard Max was currently abusing. With the thump of a key he switched from one system to the other and processed the data that flashed across both screens with lightning speed.

“Dominator...” Abby’s face pouted on one of the communication screens while his Aegis Council sat around the conference table staring at him from the other. “I don’t understand.”

Max felt the vein on the side of his head twitch ever so slightly and set the keyboard down on the table next to him. It had been an infuriating twenty-four hours but he had made up his mind on how he was going to rectify the situation and make some drastic changes. Now it was a matter of figuring out how to get it done, and fast.

“Abigail.” His tone was nearly a growl. “Disconnect this transmission, go into my office, secure the room and then establish a new connection from my desk. How difficult is that to process?” He wasn’t being intentionally curt with her, he just didn’t want, nor did he have the time, to go through her usual ‘not comfortable fiddling with your stuff’ crap again. He needed her to step up, and step up right now.

Clearly wounded, she bowed her head before cutting the transmission without a word. Once that line was officially dead, he turned to the other screen and looked at the men.

“So it’s seriously that fucked up?” Finn asked again.

“Lets put it this way...” Just as Max started to elaborate, Frank walked into the room with a silent nod. “I had an emergency video conference with the Senatus Imperium at four this morning to get official sanction for five terminations. I obtained all five but with the clear understanding that they must be carried out by the letter of The Law. You all are well aware that means they must be carried out by the Aegis Council.”

Things got very quiet in the conference room. When a soft knock broke the silence, Frank opened the door to the suite to find a crisply dressed bellman waiting with a service cart. Frank stopped him short and handed him a large tip before ushering him back the way he came. He rolled the cart in and up next to the coffee table himself.

Max’s expression brightened instantly at the sight of the absinthe service, complete with fountain. “Frankie, sometimes you are just my hero.”