Authors: Teri Riggs
“She wanted me to give her Nick’s phone number.” “Why would she want his number?”
“She didn’t say and I didn’t ask. And I didn’t give it to her. I told her I’d be happy to pass on a message to him, but she declined.”
“Did you inform Mr. Campenelli about the call?” “No.”
“Why not?”
“I was sick for a couple of days, then Nick took some time off and I haven’t had a chance to talk to him since he’s been back.”
“Care to make a guess about what Ms. Mixer wanted with your boss?” “I think she felt like she owed Nick an apology for some reason.”
“What reason?”
“I’m really not sure, but I’d guess it had something to do with their confrontation at the dinner.”
“And how long did you say you’ve known Ms. Mixer?”
“I said I didn’t know her. Not until her phone call.”
Kennedy studied the man for a moment. He kept his answers simple and straight. At the same time, he was breathing harder and his skin was glistening with sweat. Perspiration stained the underarms of his dress shirt. Nerves or illness? She couldn’t tell.
“Okay, Mr. Tully. That’s all I have for now.” She stood to leave and hesitated. “Would you be willing to give me a sample of your DNA?”
He pushed back his chair and came to his feet. He ran a shaky hand over his face. “Only under my lawyer’s advice.”
“Thank you. I’ll be in touch if I have any further questions.”
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
KENNEDY TURNED THE MUSTANG INTO THE CLARK COUNTY CORONER’S LOT AND PARKED BEHIND WILDER’S CAR
. Blurry waves of heat rose from the surface of the pavement. Before she’d even gotten her hand wrapped around the doorknob of the Coroner’s Office, it flew open and a blast of cold air hit her. She looked up. Wilder stood in the doorway grinning.
“Did you get the big guy’s DNA?”
“Yeah, I got it.” She pulled the sample out of her purse and waved it at him. “I want the results ASAP.”
“Don’t we all? Hey, you don’t look too pleased with your little sample there.” “It’s just that sometimes this job stinks.”
Wilder grinned. “You just now figure that out?” “No, I guess I’ve always known.”
“You’re thinking Campenelli’s innocent, aren’t you? And you probably had to bite your tongue to keep from telling him you don’t think he’s a murderer.”
Kennedy brushed back some hair that had fallen in her face and cleared her throat. “I not only wanted to tell him I thought he was innocent, I did tell him.”
“Awe, Kenny, are you out of your mind? The camping incident was more than enough to get you in deep shit with the Lieutenant.”
“What can I say? I like living on the edge.”
“Too late”, he said. “I think you’re already over the edge.” “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let’s change the subject.”
“Okay with me.” He removed the lid from the bottled water he was holding and took a drink.
“How’d you do? Did you get
St. Louis
to part with a little of his DNA?” She leaned against the door frame.
“No. The guy’s a giant putz. We’re going to need a court order to get anything from him.” He put the lid back on and tossed the water to Kennedy.
She unscrewed the top, took a long drink. “What reason did he give for not donating willingly?”
“You’re going to love this one. Says it’s against his religious beliefs to give away body parts, including bodily fluids. Oh, and get this. He thinks our lab guys might want to clone him.”
Water spurted out of her mouth with her laughter. “Like one Louis
St. Louis
isn’t enough for the world.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“Maybe it’s time we got together with the DA again.”
“Already gave him a call.” He took back his bottle of water. “You get to talk to John Tully?”
“Yeah. I’m not sure what to think about him. He was either nervous and lying
or still sick. He was pale and sweaty and all fidgety.” Kennedy filled him in on the
interview.
“We’ll pull him up on the computer and see what shakes out.” “How about you. Did you get the AFTER picture?”
Wilder pulled an evidence bag out of his pocket and gave it to Kennedy. She studied the AFTER picture in it. “It’s authentic.”
“You’re right, it’s the real deal. I checked with Sparks and Tenuta on the drive over to see if a body had been found. It was a negative.”
She handed the picture back. “If there’s one out there, we need to find it.” “We will and we’ll find the killer too.”
“Did you drop off the LVTVS film yet?”
“It’s in the hands of the ED. They’ll give us a call when they’re finished
reviewing it. I gave them a copy of Campenelli’s statement to work with and
compare.”
Dr. Hoff stomped toward them, a scowl on the Chief Medical Examiner’s face. “You two gonna stand in the doorway all day letting out my air conditioning or are you coming in? Close the door, I can’t afford to cool the parking lot on my department’s measly budget. Homicide gets all the big bucks.”
Kennedy hadn’t even realized she was still standing in the doorway. Wilder moved back and she stepped inside.
“Is that little goody for me, Detective O’Brien? A DNA sample, perhaps?”
Wilder slapped Kennedy on the back. “Give Jack-Off a kewpie doll. Obviously all those years of school have finally paid off.”
“There’s a wise ass in every crowd,” the doctor said as he took the sample. He looked at Wilder. “I don’t tolerate that nickname from very many people, you know.”
Wilder grinned. “So I hear. How about telling me how long we’re gonna have to wait to get the DNA results back? We’d like Campenelli’s name off of the suspect list sooner, rather than later. He’s getting a little pissed about all the upheaval.”
“I’ll make some calls and see if I can get a rush on the DNA.”
Kennedy recalled the look on Nick’s face when she asked for the DNA sample and flinched at the memory. “Good. I think Campenelli’s close to taking serious legal action.”
“Can you blame the man if he does? It didn’t help that I couldn’t get a more exact TOD on Ms. Mixer to match his cell tower records.” The ME donned a new pair of gloves. “No one likes being a suspect in a murder case and the publicity can’t possibly be helping his bid for mayor.”
Wilder added, “Not unless it’s helping his campaign by bringing the issue of prostitution to the forefront.”
“Any chance you found our missing victim in one of your cold drawers?”
“Sorry, we turned this place inside out and the only thing we found was Stan Johnson’s little black book. He accused the morgue diener of stealing it more than once. It’s been the big mystery around here.”
Kennedy scrunched her brows. “Morgue diener? What the hell is that?”
“That’s Ralph’s official title. A diener is the assistant that helps me with the autopsy and cleans the body.”
“I never knew the man had a title.” You learn something new every day.
Wilder laughed.
“Jack-Off, we need a break in this case. Some decent
evidence.”
“What we really need is to close this one out,” Kennedy added. “The sooner, the better.”
“Maybe you’ll catch that break with this little sample.” Dr. Hoff tapped the tube. “I thought you were bringing me at least two samples. Where’s the rest?”
“Wishful thinking. We’re gonna need a court order for those.” Wilder’s cell phone rang. He unhooked it from his belt and flipped it open. “Detective James.”
Kennedy watched with interest as Wilder nodded and answered, “When?” He paused. “Where?” Another hesitation. “Yes, sir, Lieutenant. She’s with me now. We’re on it.”
Wilder closed his cell phone and hooked it back on his belt. “We’ve found her. The bastard cheated. He left her hidden inside an abandoned building. No wonder it took longer for someone to stumble across her. Let’s rock and roll, Kenny.” He nodded to his old friend. “Catch you later.”
As they were leaving, Kennedy heard Dr. Hoff’s phone ringing. “Guess Jack-Off just got his official call. Lieutenant must want him at the crime scenes from now on.”
“Better than having the Feds called in.”
The
body was found in a small abandoned shop that at one time had been a newsstand specializing in nudie magazines of all sorts. Kennedy could smell the stench of death a full block down from the crime scene. The decaying odor was one of the worst she could remember and she’d smelled some bad shit in her years on the force. She and Wilder passed a uniformed officer in front of the shop with his head stuck halfway down a garbage can, puking his guts out. The guy looked young enough to be a rookie.
“Poor bastard.” Wilder shook his head. “I think that was his left nut he just puked up. Whoa, there goes his right one.”
“You’re all heart, Wilder.” Kennedy pulled out a pair of latex gloves and slipped them on as she passed through the doorway, then approached the dead woman. The body was grotesquely bloated, especially the abdomen, and discolored fluid drained from both her nose and mouth. Flies were buzzing over the body like a squadron of B-52 bombers. It looked like the rats had helped themselves to a few meals.
Kennedy slowly shook her head, worked to keep her voice even. “Poor woman, she’s been here a few days.”
“She’s ripe all right. It doesn’t take long to get potent in this god-awful heat. It’s our missing victim. Her face is pretty distorted, but she definitely matches the AFTER picture.”
“Another day and you wouldn’t have been able to ID her by sight.” “I know.” Wilder made a quick circle around the body.
Kennedy bent down on one knee, careful not to kneel in the fluids surrounding the body. “This has to end. We’ve got to find this guy.”
Wilder watched as she studied the body. “We will.”
“When? And how many other women will he kill before we get him?” “I don’t know. I only know we’re doing our best.”
“Obviously our best sucks.” Kennedy felt the anger bubbling inside her. What the hell are we missing?
“I can’t tell if she was strangled.” She looked up at Wilder, “You?”
He shook his head. “Here, I think that might be a thumbprint. Can’t be sure, though.”
Wilder looked over at the officers in the room. “Who called it in?”
“I did, Detective James. My partner and I.” A uniformed officer stepped up, opened a small notebook and stared at it for several moments. It looked like his watery eyes were having trouble focusing. Kennedy assumed he was fighting back his own urge to hurl. He reminded her of Officer Green from the first prostitute’s murder.
Pulling it together, he spoke. “The owner of the gay porno shop around the corner found her. You know the one with the giant light-up dick hanging in the window.”
Wilder elbowed Kennedy. “They modeled it after my own fine body.”
Kennedy rolled her eyes. The uniformed officer didn’t crack a smile.
Wilder said with a laugh, “Tough crowd. I can’t believe you guys don’t appreciate a little cop humor.”
Kennedy said dryly, “I always appreciate cop humor. When it’s funny.” That got a laugh from the uniform. He looked a little less likely to toss his cookies.
“Now you’ve gone and hurt my feelings.” He turned towards the young officer. “So what did the shop owner have to say?”
“He stated he smelled a strong odor and thought maybe it was his dog that’s been missing for several days. The guy said he just followed his nose. Needless to say, he was shocked at what he found.”
“Anyone else around here see anything?” Kennedy asked, already knowing the answer.
“No, Detective O’Brien. No witnesses yet. My partner is doing the door-to-door. Maybe he’ll come up with something.”
“Don’t hold your breath, Officer. Something tells me we won’t get a lot of takers in the witness department.”
“We won’t get anything if that officer puking his head off in the trash can outside is your partner.”
“It could be Mel, Detective James. He has a pretty weak stomach.”
Unlike you, Kennedy thought with a smile. “Did the guy with the missing dog mention how long the smell’s been around?”
“He said he noticed it Saturday night, thought it might be his missing dog or the garbage from the dumpster. According to him the garbage is always pretty potent over the weekend. Says it became unbearable about one-thirty this afternoon and he knew the trash had already been picked up so he took a look. Dispatch logged his 911 call at two-ten.”
Wilder kneeled next to Kennedy and pulled on his gloves. “Did the killer leave his calling card?”
Kennedy slipped her hand inside the dead woman’s tight shirt. “Bingo.” She opened the envelope, slightly gooey with liquid from the body, and took out a photo. It was hard to believe the woman with the lifeless eyes lying in front of her could be the same smiling, vibrant woman in the photo.