Kay Scarpet - Cruel And Unusual Part 33

aI donat believe there can be a question about that."

aThen the a.s.sumption was that Waddell was going to die,a I pointed out.

aChrist."

Wesley flinched. aHow could anyone be certain? The governor can intervene literally at the last minute."

aApparently, someone knew that the governor wasnat going to."

aAnd the only person who could know that with certainty is the governor," he finished the thought for me.

I got up and stood before the kitchen window. A male cardinal pecked sunflower seeds from the feeder and flew off in a splash of blood red.

"Why?" I asked without turning around. "Why would the governor have a special interest in Waddell?"

"I donat know."

"If itas true, he wonat want the killer caught. When people get caught, they talk."

Wesley was silent.

"n.o.body involved will want this person caught. And n.o.body involved will want me on the scene. It will be much better if I resign or am fired - if the cases are screwed up as much as possible. Patterson is tight with Norring."

"Kay, weave got two things we donat know yet. One is motive. The other is the killeras own agenda. This guy is doing his own thing, beginning with Eddie Heath."

I turned around and faced him. "I think he began with Robyn Naismith. I believe this monster has studied her crime scene photographs, and either consciously or subconsciously recreated one of them when he a.s.saulted Eddie Heath and propped his body against a Dumpster."

"That could very well be," Wesley said, staring off. "But how could an inmate get access to Robyn Naismithas scene photographs? Those would not be in Waddellas prison jacket."

"This may be just one more thing that Ben Stevens helped with. Remember, I told you that he was the one who got the photos from Archives. He could have had copies made. The question is why would the photos be relevant? Why would Donahue or someone else even ask for them?"

"Because the inmate wanted them. Maybe he demanded them. Maybe they were a reward for special services."

"That is sickening," I said with quiet anger.

"Exactly."

Wesley met my eyes. "This goes back to the killeras agenda, his needs and desires. It is very possible that head heard a lot about Robynas case. He may have known a lot about Waddell, and it would excite him to think about what Waddell had done to his victim. The photographs would be a turn-on to someone who has a very active and aggressive fantasy life that is devoted to violent, s.e.xualized thought. It is not farfetched to suppose that this person incorporated the scene photographs - one or more of them - into his fantasies. And then suddenly heas free, and he sees a young boy walking in the dark to a convenience store. The fantasy becomes real. He acts it out."

"He recreated Robyn Naismithas death scene?"

"Yes."

"What do you suppose his fantasy is now?"

"Being hunted."

"By us?"

"By people like us. Iam afraid he might imagine that he is smarter than everybody else and no one can stop him. He fantasizes about games he can play and murders he might commit that would reinforce these images he entertains. And for him, fantasy is not a subst.i.tute for action but a preparation for it."

"Donahue could not have orchestrated releasing a monster like this, altering records, or anything else without help," I said.

"No. Iam sure he got key people to cooperate, like someone at State Police headquarters, maybe a records person with the city and even the Bureau. People can be bought if you have something on them. And they can be bought with cash."

"Like Susan."

"I donat think Susan was the key person. Iam more inclined to suspect that Ben Stevens was. Heas out in the bars. Drinks, parties. Did you know heas into a little recreational c.o.ke when he can get it?"

"Nothing would surprise me anymore."

"Iave got a few guys who have been asking a lot of questions. Your administrator has a life-style he canat afford. And when you screw with drugs, you end up s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g with bad people. Stevensas vices would have made him an easy mark for a dirtbag like Donahue. Donahue probably had one of his henchmen make a point of running into Stevens in a bar and they start talking. Next thing, Stevens has just been offered a way to make some pretty decent change."

"What way, exactly?"

"My guess is to make sure Waddell wasnat printed at the morgue, and to make sure the photograph of his b.l.o.o.d.y thumbprint disappeared from Archives. That was probably just the beginning."

"And he enlisted Susan."

"Who wasnat willing but had major financial problems of her own."

"So who do you think was making the payoffs?"

"They were probably handled by the same person who originally made Stevensas acquaintance and sucked him into this. One of Donahueas guys, maybe one of his guards."

I remembered the guard named Roberts who had given Marino and me the tour. I remembered how cold his eyes were.

"Saying the contact is a guard," I said, "then who was this guard meeting with? Susan or Stevens?"

"My guess is with Stevens. Stevens wasnat going to trust Susan with a lot of cash. Heas going to want to shave his share off the top because dishonest people believe everybody is dishonest."

"He meets the contact and gets the cash," I said. "Then Ben would meet with Susan to give her a cut?"

"Thatas probably what the scenario was Christmas Day when she left her parentsa house ostensibly to visit a friend. She was going to meet Stevens, only the killer got to her first."

I thought of the cologne I smelled on her collar and her scarf, and I remembered Stevensas demeanor when Iad confronted him in his office the night I was looking through his desk.

"No," I said. "Thatas not how it went."

Wesley just looked at me.

"Stevens has several qualities that would set Susan up for what happened," I said. "He doesnat care about anyone but himself. And heas a coward. When things get hot, heas not going to stick his neck out. His first impulse is to let someone else take the fall."

"Like heas doing in your case by badmouthing you and stealing files."

"A perfect example," I said.

"Susan deposited the thirty-five hundred dollars in early December, a couple of weeks before Jennifer Deightonas death."

"Thatas right."

"All right, Kay. Letas go back a bit. Susan or Stevens or both of them tried to break into your computer days after Waddellas execution. Weave speculated that they were looking for something in the autopsy report that Susan could not have observed firsthand during the post."

"The envelope he wanted buried with him."

"Iam still stumped over that. The codes on the receipts do not confirm what wead speculated about earlier - that the restaurants and tollbooths are located between Richmond and Mecklenburg, and that the receipts were from the transport that brought Waddell from Mecklenburg to Richmond fifteen days prior to his execution. Though the dates on the receipts are consistent with the time frame, the locations are not. The codes come back to the stretch of I-95 between here and Petersburg."

"You know, Benton, it very well may be that the explanation for the receipts is so simple that weave completely overlooked it," I said.

"Iam all ears."

"Whenever you go anywhere for the Bureau, I imagine you have the same routine I do when traveling for the state. You doc.u.ment every expense and save every receipt. If you travel often, you tend to wait until you can combine several trips on one reimburs.e.m.e.nt voucher to cut down on the paperwork. Meanwhile, youare keeping your receipts somewhere."

"All that makes good sense in terms of explaining the receipts in question," Wesley said. "Someone on the prison staff, for example, had to go to Petersburg. But how did the receipts then turn up in Waddellas back pest?" I thought of the envelope with its urgent plea that it accompany Waddell to the grave. Then I recalled a detail that was as poignant as it was mundane. On the afternoon of Waddellas execution, his mother had been allowed a two-hour visit with him.

"Benton, have you talked to Ronnie Waddellas mother?"

"Pete went to see her in Suffolk several days ago. Sheas not feeling particularly friendly or cooperative toward people like us. In her eyes, weare the ones who sent her son to the chair."

"So she didnat reveal anything significant about Waddellas demeanor when she visited him the afternoon of his execution?"

"Based on what little she said, he was very quiet and frightened. One interesting point, though. Pete asked her what had happened to Waddellas personal effects. She said that Corrections gave her his watch and ring and explained that he had donated his books, poetry, and so on to the N-double-A-C-P."

"She didnat question that?" I asked.

"No. She seemed to think it made sense for Waddell to do that."

"Why?"

"She doesnat read or write. Whatas important is that she was lied to, as were we when Vander tried to track down personal effects in hopes of getting latent prints. And the origin of these lies most likely was Donahue."

"Waddell knew something," I said. "For Donahue to want every sc.r.a.p of paper that Waddell had written on and every letter ever sent to him, then there must be something that Waddell knew that certain people donat want anyone else to know."

Wesley was silent.

Then he said, "What did you say is the name of the cologne Stevens wears?"

"Red."

"And youare fairly certain this is what you smelled on Susanas coat and scarf?"

"I wouldnat swear to it in court, but the fragrance is quite distinctive."

"I think itas time for Pete and me to have a little prayer meeting with your administrator."

"Good. And I think I can help get him in the proper frame of mind if youall give me until noon tomorrow."

"What are you going to do?"

"Probably make him a very nervous man," I said.

I was working at the kitchen table early that evening when I heard Lucy drive into the garage, and I got up to greet her. She was dressed in a navy blue warm-up suit and one of my ski jackets, and was carrying a gym bag.

"Iam dirty," she said, pulling away from my hug, but not before I smelled gun smoke in her hair. Glancing down at her hands, I saw enough gunshot residues on the right one to make a trace element a.n.a.lyst ecstatic.

"Whoa," I said as she started to walk off. "Where is it?"

"Whereas what?" she asked innocently.

"The guna Reluctantly, she withdrew my Smith and Wesson from her jacket pocket.

"I wasnat aware you had a license for carrying a concealed weapon," I said, taking the revolver from her and making sure it was unloaded.

"I donat need one if Iam carrying it concealed in my own house. Before that I had it on the car seat in plain view. "

"Thatas good but not good enough, "I said quietly. "Come on."

Wordlessly, she followed me to the kitchen table, and we sat down.

"You said you were going to Westwood to work out," I said.

"I know thatas what I said."

"Where have you been, Lucy?"

"The Firing Line on Midlothian Turnpike. Itas an indoor range."

"I know what it is. How many times have you done this?"

"Four times." She looked me straight in the eye.

"My G.o.d Lucy."

"Well, what am I supposed to do? Peteas not going to take me anymore."

"Lieutenant Marino is very, very busy right now," I said, and the remark sounded so patronizing that I was embarra.s.sed. "Youare aware of the problems," I added.

"Sure I am. Right now heas got to stay away. And if he stays away from you, he stays away from me. So heas out on the street because thereas some maniac on the loose whoas killing people like your morgue supervisor and the prison warden. At least Pete can take care of himself. Me? Iave been shown how to shoot one lousy time Gee, thanks a lot. Thatas like giving me one tennis lesson and then entering me in Wimbledon."

"Youare overreacting."

"No. The problem is youare under reacting."

"Lucya"

"How would you feel if I told you that every time I come visit you, I never stop thinking about that night?"

I knew exactly which night she meant, though over the years we had managed to go on as if nothing had happened.