The Chilling Spree (20 page)

“This has happened before?” 

“Yeah,” he said.  “There’s a Baptist
church that organizes protests outside gay friendly establishments
on a pretty regular basis.”

“We should be looking at them too, at least
superficially.  If one of them stalked Kyle Goddard and took
advantage of an opportunity to attack him, his death might have
nothing to do with anyone associated with Pan Demon.  We
should talk to whoever organizes those protests as soon as
possible, Johnny.”

He cleared his throat.  “Well that
shouldn’t be too hard, Doc.”

“You’re being reluctant.”

“It just got really complicated again.”

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“The church,” he said softly, “it’s Crevan’s
church.”

“Oh God.”

“His dad is pretty involved in some of the
protest activities.”

I cradled my forehead.  “Just can’t be
simple, cut and dried out here no matter what, can it?”

“We knew things might get a bit sticky for
Crevan, Helen.”

“Confronting his father as a potential
person of interest in a murder investigation is a bit beyond the
scope of sticky.  This is the same man who made my friend feel
like shit over something as simple as divorce.”

“I know,” Johnny said.

“And you can’t tell me that he didn’t raise
Crevan and never suspect the truth.  No parent lives in that
kind of denial.”

“Sweetheart, you haven’t met Aidan Conall
yet.  I’m not certain, but I think it’s a distinct possibility
that this guy invented denial.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t tell Crevan about this
development.”

“And let Aidan blindside him with the
inevitable confrontation?  No way, Doc.  He’s our
friend.  I won’t do that to him.  I can tell you a couple
of things that are givens in this situation.  Number one,
Aidan will lay into Crevan as if he orchestrated the entire
thing.  And number two, there’s no way in hell that Aidan will
cooperate with us if he gets even a mere hint that one of his
fellow Baptists is being accused of anything illegal.  This
guy believes that the first amendment of the constitution was
written specifically for
his people.
”

“Christians?”

“No,” Johnny said.  “Only Baptists are
real Christians.  The rest of us idolaters are hell bound
along with atheists, homosexuals, abortion advocates, drinkers,
drug addicts–”

“You realize that you’re making a very
strong motive for why someone would specifically want it to look
like someone affiliated with Pan Demon is guilty of murder, don’t
you?”

“Yeah,” Johnny muttered.  “Whole new
can of worms now, Doc.  I cringe to see how Aidan reacts to
you.”

“Why?”

He stared at me hard.  “Because I’m not
sure which one of you will win the battle of iron wills.”

It seemed like Johnny remembered more than
he realized.

Crevan’s reaction wasn’t unlike mine had
been.  Both hands plastered to the sides of his face. 
“Shit.”  Pacing commenced.  “Are we sure that Kyle
Goddard was part of the mob outside that club in –?”

Johnny waved the police report in front of
him.  “No doubt about it.  The ringleaders from the
performers who incited the violence from the protesters were Kyle
Goddard and a guy by the name of Robert Tippet.  They paid
their fines and that was the end of it.  Your dad’s group of
merry little protesters ended up being cited for a bit more,
property damage in excess of ten grand, setting vehicles on fire,
and physical assault on three patrons of the club who tried to
prevent them from destroying cars.”

“Christ.”

“Crevan, where were you while all of this
was happening?” I asked.

“I believe, if memory serves, Tony and I
were finishing up the paperwork on the mess at Uncle Nooky’s Bar
and Grill.  We closed that case on what, Wednesday
morning?  The demonstration and bit of civil disobedience
happened on Friday night.”

“Was Aidan at this disturbance?” I
asked.

“No,” Johnny said.  “He was in charge
of the peaceful protest that took place at the parade Saturday in
Darkwater proper.”

Crevan continued to wear the wax off the
tile floor in the division squad room.  I felt an urge to step
into his path and soothe away an odd anxiety that I suddenly shared
with him.  Why?  I couldn’t begin to explain it beyond
the odd sense of empathy that began to plague me shortly after I
moved to this wretched city.  Maybe the fog was eating rusty
holes in my normal steely resolve. 

I succumbed to the urge.  I gripped his
shoulders.  “Hey, this is OSI’s case officially.  Let
Johnny and me handle your dad, Crevan.”

“Helen, I don’t need the two of you
protecting me.”

“I really hate to ask this question, but on
some level,
any
level, do you think it’s possible that Aidan
suspects the truth about you?”

He laughed wetly.  “Are you nuts? 
If he had a clue, there would be a headstone erected with my name
on it, announcing the day he buried the son he always wanted but
never got.”

“Are you suggesting that he’d kill you for
being –?”

Crevan slapped his hand over my mouth. 
“Let’s not get carried away and forget that these walls in
particular have ears.”

On cue, Briscoe lumbered into the squad room
with a box of lard-fried pastries of some sort.  He tossed the
box on Crevan’s desk, flipped the lid and dug in.  “What did I
miss?”

“Nothing,” Crevan said. 

“Something,” Johnny scowled.  “We have
reason to believe that a likely person of interest in Goddard’s
murder could be affiliated with the protesters from Foundation’s
Baptist Church.”

Briscoe’s sugary heart attack froze in mid
air.  “How the hell did we leap from this Underwood guy to a
local bein’ the perp?”

“Goddard was cited for being an instigator
of that riot during Pride Week,” Johnny said.  He tossed the
file onto the desk with a huff of disgust.  “I can’t believe
we wasted all this time zeroed in on people who probably had
nothing to do with the crime beyond being convenient scape
goats.”

“Wait a minute, Johnny.  That boy’s
body was still found in an area that not just anybody would’ve had
easy access to,” I said.  “Security is tight for events like a
concert on the scale of a band as popular as Pan Demon.”

“Helen, my father is on the board of
directors for the Darkwater Art’s Council,” Crevan said.  “He
would pretty much have access to anything that happens at the
Center for Performing Arts.  Nobody would stop him, nor would
they question him.”

“So now we’ve leapt to your
father
being a suspect?”

“Now hold on there just a second, Helen,”
Briscoe said.  “Puppy ain’t sayin’ his daddy is a cold blooded
killer.  If he has access, pretty much anybody he trusts
implicitly could’ve gotten in that place same as he would’ve.”

“Well I guess that rules me out as a
suspect,” Crevan muttered under his breath.

Johnny and Briscoe didn’t hear him.  I
did.  I wrapped my arms around him for a quick hug. 
“Screw him and his weird xenophobic ideas. 
I
trust you
implicitly.”

“Thanks, Helen.”

“We all know you ain’t nutty like Aidan,”
Briscoe said.  “Don’t worry about it, Puppy.  We’ll get
to the bottom of this mess.”

“I want you to stake out the marina, Tony,”
Johnny said abruptly.  “I want to know the second Theo
Goddard’s boat arrives.”

“Aw, c’mon, Johnny.  You could put
uniforms on that –”

“Not with Belle Conall sniffing around for
information.  I want this as low key as possible.  Don’t
worry.  Crevan will tag along for company.”

“I will?”

“Yes,” Johnny said.  “Don’t
worry.  If I have to clear it with Finkelstein, I will, but
she’s aware that OSI is taking the lead on this one.  The
Goddards could conceivably be back in town before we expect
them.  I know if I had a kid running around town while I was
off on a pleasure cruise and the Coast Guard hailed me, I’d be
hurrying back home double-time.”

He waited until they left the squad room
before addressing me directly.  “Did you have to hug him?”

“Who, Crevan?”

“No, Briscoe.”

“Johnny –”

One hand raked through his hair and was
accompanied by a hissed curse.  “I don’t understand why it
pisses me off when I see you touch another man.  It’s like an
echo in my head, Helen.  I can’t make out the words, but my
gut doesn’t like how it feels.”

“Maybe we should talk about some of the
specifics of what you endured from me over the past few months,” I
said.

“Again, my gut’s not so fond of that
idea.”

“Johnny, after I was shot, you planned to
move in with me to look after me while I was recovering.”

“It didn’t happen?”

“No, but it wasn’t your fault.  For
now, let’s just say that I had a serious case of stubbornness and
leave it at that.  What I will tell you is that I withdrew
from everything and everyone.  In fact, my life pretty much
revolved around some very nice Napa merlot and my bottle of pain
pills.”

“Is that why you look a little wan?”

“I’ve actually gained weight, but it wasn’t
without another battle.”

“Let me guess.  Me.”

I nodded.  “But I was very angry with
you, with your high-handed approach to the problem.  I said
some things that weren’t very nice.”

“What kind of things?”

My chin dipped about to navel level. 
“I told you that I hated you.”

“I see.”

“But I don’t, Johnny.  I never
have.”

“I have some holes in my memory, Doc. 
I’m not stupid.  Remember?  Not blind either.”

Some of his smug hubris surged out from his
chest.  I laughed softly.

“I know you love me.  That’s not where
the doubt comes from.  I guess I’m just not sure that you love
me more than you love your options.”

“I was a faithful wife.”

“Uh-huh.  And now, you’re footloose and
fancy-free as the old saying goes.  Maybe you’re thinking you
shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

I groaned.  “How many adages can you
pack into one accusation?  Johnny, I’ve never been –”

“Let’s not have this discussion right now,”
he said.  “I suspect that a little more privacy will be
required.  How about if we focus on sorting through this
latest mess instead?  I think we should talk to Aidan Conall
as soon as possible.”

“Is there an office where we might find him
working this afternoon?”

Johnny grinned.  “You glossed right
over what Crevan said about him, didn’t you?  Aidan Conall is
not a nine-to-five kind of guy, Helen.  He’s a board member, a
philanthropist, a manager of the family’s very old, very large
endowment that consists of heaps of cold hard cash.”

“Why on earth is Crevan a public servant if
his family has that kind of money?”

“I believe that is yet another bone of
contention between father and son,” Johnny said.  “It seems
that their ideas on the definition of public service are about as
polar opposite as everything else.  Crevan wanted something
with a more immediate impact on helping others, and Aidan has
always believed that the trenches belong to those bred for
sweating, not the fine folks who can afford to pay others to
dig.”

“Lovely.  You realize, you’ve painted
an image of someone I can’t imagine ever liking.”

“And I’d rather that you know what to expect
before you meet him.  Somehow, I think it might lower the risk
of verbal warfare and bloodshed if you know what we’re about to
confront.  C’mon, Doc.  No time like the present to find
the fine man and talk about some of his moral philanthropy.”

“Why do I have the sinking feeling that most
of his good works cost him very little cash?”

“Because you’re a very gifted profiler,”
Johnny hooked his arm through mine.  “I’d suggest we avoid
mentioning Crevan at all, and if Aidan is as pissed off about this
divorce as Crevan’s behavior would indicate, Belle is definitely
out of bounds.”

“What a mess.  I hate to be the one who
actually says this, Johnny, but don’t you find it a little odd that
all of this seems to in some way relate to Crevan?”

“He didn’t know our victim.”

“No, but his father’s affiliation with a
group that might’ve targeted him strikes me as odd.”

“What, now Crevan is being framed?”

“Of course not.  It just seems odd that
all of this is happening right before the divorce hearing. 
And then there’s Belle, in her ever present pink power suit,
lurking in the shadows, threatening with her poison pen.  Now
all of a sudden, there’s a link to his dad.  I just find it
unusual.”

“And you don’t believe in coincidences.”

“Have I been yammering on about that
again?”

Johnny grinned.  “No, I think I
remembered something else about you.”

I tugged his massive frame to a halt in the
middle of Downey Division’s parking lot.  “Promise me
something.”

“All right.”

“If you remember something that makes you
feel confused or unsure about how much I love you, you’ll talk to
me before you react.”

“Helen, if there’s something you think I
won’t take well, it would probably be better if you tell me
now.”  His finger smoothed over my abused lower lip.  “I
already know you think it’s the worst thing ever.  If you
really trust me, why won’t you open up to me about whatever it was
on your own this time?”

“Later,” I whispered.  “I promise I’ll
try.”

Aidan Conall was not what I expected. 
Yes, the familial resemblance between father and son was very
strong, certainly unmistakable.  What I hadn’t anticipated was
the thorough dissection of me that ensued the moment that Johnny
and I were shown into the foyer of the Conall estate.  It
wasn’t literal, more of the eyeballing variety.