Bannerman's Law (11 page)

“
Thank you. What could Huff tell you
?”

“
Well
.
.
.”
Lesko hesitated.
“
He said the evidence,
so far, points to the same guy who killed the other six.
More or less the same pattern
.”

Ba
nn
e
rm
an thought he heard doubt.
“
More or less
?”

“
They think he snatched her Sunday morning, killed
her, then waited till dark to dump her. The others were all snatched at night. This one also had heroin in her
system. There was something funny about that but he
wouldn't tell me what
.”

“
Can you guess
?”

More hesitation.
“
Probably none of the others did
.”

“
Lesko
,”
Bannerman frowned
,
“
what's bothering you
?”

“
I'm not sure. Something
.”

“
Would you do me a favor
?”

“
What
?”

“
Talk it over with Katz. Then call me back
.”

A pause. The voice dropped.
“
Bannerman
.
.
.
don't
start that shit
.”

“
Okay, then.
Think
it over. What could it hurt
?”

An audible sigh. But no answer.

“
This is for Ca
rl
a. Maybe you owe her one. For
Elena
.”

“
Don't start that shit either
,”
Lesko said quietly.
“
Whatever she did over in Spain, she enjoyed it
.”

“
For me, then
.”

A long silence.
“
You being good to Susan
?”

”
I think so. I'm learning
.”

A grunt. It sounded, Bannerman thought, like
me too.
“
You gonna be around
?”

“
At my office
.
I'll stay until you call
.”

”I didn't say I'll talk to…never mind. What I'll do is think
. For myself.”

“
Thank you
.”
He saw Susan, blower in hand, asking
with a gesture if he was through.
'
‘
Hold on. Susan wants
to talk to Elena
.”

“
Me first
,”
he said.
“
Let's see how much you're
learning
.”

Bannerman stepped into the bedroom where he could finish dressing without appearing to listen. But he did.
And he watched.

Susan.

Even in the terry robe she now wore, her long brown
hair plastered, still wet, against her face, Susan was the loveliest woman he
'
d ever known. So clean and fresh.
Especially inside. And the way her body moved as she
spoke. Animated, yet graceful, like a dancing cat. He loved
to watch her at any time but especially in the morning.
And especially before she woke up. When she slept, she almost always had this little smile. It was there when she
made love as well. And also whenever she beat him at anything. Tennis. Scrabble. Doing the Sunday crossword.

Coming home in the evening, he still had trouble believing that she'd be there. That she wouldn't, one of these
days, ask herself what she'd gotten herself into. But, as
Molly had said, if she hadn't asked herself that a year
ago, after he had, twice, almost got her killed, maybe she never would.

She was talking to Elena now. Whispering. Something
private. Probably about Elena's efforts to have a child.
Lesko had given up arguing against it but there had been
two miscarriages already. Still, Banne
r
man had to smile
at the image of this great brute of a man being called
home every time Elena's temperature went up one degree.

Lesko, no doubt, had just as much trouble believing
that he and Elena were still together after a year. That this
elegant and very wealthy woman seemed to love him and admire him, and need him, all the more with each passing
week. And that he'd been able to forget that it was Elena, in another world, another lifetime, who had ordered the death of his partner.

Except that the partner, David Katz, was not altogether
dead. Lesko, in his mind, had clung to him. Still talks to
him. They all knew it. They understood it
. You
spend ten years with on
e
partner, day in and day
out, and before long you're like Siamese twins. You finish
each other's sentences, you think as a unit. One partner
dies, leaving an empty seat, and you find yourself
still
talking to him, asking what he thinks. Except in Lesko's case they mostly argue because Lesk
o
has never quite
forgiven Katz for being dirty. Or himself for not realizing
it in time.

It sounded crazy, Banne
r
man realized, but it's not so
unusual. Widows do it all the time. People pray to dead
saints.

None of this, however, had made Lesko any less sensi
tive about it. Even though Katz's presence had been useful
on several occasions. Wel
l,
not Katz exactly. And
certainly not his ghost. Katz had become, through years
of habit, a sort of alter ego. Someone to bounce ideas off
of. A subconscious, really, that occasionally saw and heard
things that Lesko might otherwise have missed. That could
be a considerable asset if not denied. Bannerman had tried
to persuade him of that. So, in fact, had Elena. But lis
tening to Katz was one thing and admitting it was some
thing else. Bannerman
’s
request, that Lesko
talk it over
with Katz, would have gotten his head bitten off were not
the Atlantic Ocean between them. What it meant was
.
.
.
let your mind flow. Pretend he's still in that seat. Toss it
around with him.

No, it doesn't,
Bannerman muttered to himself.
It
means ask him.

“
Paul
?”

Susan, holding the phone toward him.

“
For you. It's my dad again
.”

”I know what bothered me
.”
Lesko's voice. A touch self-conscious. More than a touch defiant.

“
What was it
?”

I thought about it. By myself
.”

”
I know. That's what you said you'd do
.”
Bannerman
glanced at the ceiling.

“
Just so we're clear on that
.”

“
We are. Absolutely
.” Even if Katz isn’t.

Lesko seemed to want to say more. Drive the point
home a little harder. But all Bannerman heard was the
sound of his breathing.

“
When I talked to Huff
,”
Lesko said at last,
“
he kept saying
‘
this
guy
.’
”

Banne
r
man shook his head.
”
I don't follow
.”

“This
guy
,”
Lesko repeated.
“
Huff only said it when
he was talking about the guy who killed
Carla's
sister.
Not when he was talking about the guy who killed the
other six
.”

Bannerman frowned.
“
You're saying he doesn't think
they're the same man
?”

Lesko didn't answer.

“
Is it just
,”
Bannerman asked,
“
that the pattern is a
little different this time? That it was done on a Sunday. And that heroin was involved
?”

“
Maybe
.”

“
Lesko
.
.
.
what else
?”

”I think it's not the same guy. And I think Andy Huff
knows damned well it isn't
.”

Bannerman was silent for
á
long moment.
“
Why
?”

“
You're going to start with why
?”
Lesko sputtered.
“
First you ask me to talk to fucking Katz and now you want to get rational
?”

Bannerman suppressed a smile.
“
What I want are your
instincts
,”
he said quietly.

“
If I followed my instincts, you would have been in
the hospital the first time you came within a mile of my
daughter again
.”

”I know
.”
Bannerman closed his eyes. Someday he'd have a conversation with Lesko in which he did not be
come homicidal on the subject of Susan becoming in
volved with him. God forbid that she should
become pregnant. Which they'd been talking about. A lit
tle. He'd have to tie Lesko down, sit Billy Mc
H
ugh on
his chest, before he told him.
“
Lesko
,”
he said patiently,
“
tell me what you think
.”

“
Huf
f’s
sure. He
knows
it's not the same guy
.”

He was repeating himself. Bannerman waited.

“
If that's right
,”
Lesko finished his thought,
“
which is a big
i
f,
you tell me. How could he be that sure
?”

Ba
nn
e
r
man hesitated.
“
He must have a suspect. For
the others, I mean
.”

“
Keep going
.”

“
They've had him under surveillance. When Lisa Ben
edict was killed, Huf
f’s
suspect wasn't anywhere near
.”

“
You said it. I didn't
.”

“
But you agree
.”

Lesko grunted. The equivalent of a shrug.
'
‘
Or else the
real killer called in to say he didn't do this one. That
happens sometimes
.”

“
So you think we're dealing with a copycat
.”

“
Maybe. More or less
.”

“
Why are you hedging
?”

“
There are three kinds of copycats
,”
Lesko told him.
“
One is another psycho and the chances are he also picks
a victim he doesn't know. The second is someone who reads the papers, has a specific victim in mind who fits
the profile, and sees this as a way to pull it off. The third
is your basic crime of passion. Guy loses his head, strangles a woman, then uses what he knows about the serial
killer to cover his tracks. Except most times it doesn't
work because the cops usually keep some of the details,
like teeth marks or mutilation, for example, out of the
press
.”

Bannerman nodded, thoughtfully.
“
But if it
was
a
copycat
,”
he asked,
“
the two task forces will look for
him just as hard, won't they
?”

“
They'd say yes but they won't. Priorities
.”

“
Would you
?”

“
Same way. First things first. The copycat wil
l
keep
because th
e
chances are he won't kill again and the other
guy will.

Bannerman said nothing. But he understood.

“
Bannerman
?”

“
Yes
.”

“
What are you going to do with this
?”

”I don't know. Maybe nothing. It's not
.
.
.”
Ban
nerman stopped himself. Too late.

“
Not your field. Not your basic assassination or car
bombing
.”

“
Lesko
.
.
.”

“
Cheap shot. Sorry
.”
L
e
sko tried to sound sincere. Nor
did he wish to invite a rebuttal that asked how what he
was doing for the B
r
ugg family of Z
u
rich differed from
what Ba
n
ne
r
man had done for a dozen or so governments.

“
Ba
nn
e
r
man
?”

“
I
'
m here
.”

”
I think of anything else, hear anything else, I'll call
you
.”

“
I'd appreciate it
.”

“
In the meantime, you want my advice, don't say any
thing to Ca
rl
a. She's fucked up enough already. Me, I'd
let her bury her sister and then get her back to Westpo
r
t
.”

”I agree. But thanks
.”

“
Later on, I'll call her. Tell her I'm sorry
.”

“
That would be nice. Thank you
.”

“
Meanwhile, you take care of Susan
.”

“
Sure. Kiss Elena for me
.”

“
Like hell I will
.”
Lesko broke the connection.