the back door. “A few light tool marks. Nice job. This was jimmied in advance. It’s a good lock, damn near pickproof. Our perp wouldn’t leave it for the last minute.” She walked back to the front of the store to stand by the window. “He chose this place because he knew he’d find the old man out there by the lamppost. That says stalking, planning.” She opened her hand to show him a single red rose petal. “Found it in the doorjamb. The nun was in here, too. The perp must’ve taken her flowers with him, but he missed this.”
It was a leap to pin the nun’s presence on a flower petal, yet Riker would go along with her on that. And now the paralytic made more sense to him. “So our perp sticks Albert with—”
“A medi-dart. Animal Control uses that same paralytic to bring down wild dogs. So the perp would’ve fired his dart gun from in here. He’s nowhere near Albert when the drug kicks in.”
“Okay.” It was a stretch, but— “I’ll buy that. So then he hustles Albert in the door before the old guy can hit the sidewalk.” Just being neighborly. “And along comes the nun, lookin’ to meet up with her nephew, and she gets this far.”
Mallory glanced at the stain that might be Albert Costello’s blood. “The old man’s out cold on the floor. She can’t see him. But she sees our perp through the window, or maybe he’s standing in the doorway. She knows him. That’s why he reaches out and drags her inside. And then, before he can kill her . . . she screams.”
Riker grinned. “Yeah, sure she did.” Hell she did. A lot could be gotten from the physical evidence, but, for damn sure, evidence madeno noise, no screaming, not so much as a whisper. The sarcasm should have pissed off his partner, but no. Her eyes lit up like scary green candles, advance notice of his impending humiliation.
He would never learn.
Mallory turned to the open door. “Our guy goes to a lot of trouble to cover up what he’s doing in here with Costello. Grabbing the nun, a witness who can place him on the scene—that’s chancy, but she’s right there. Reaching distance. Why would he risk going outside to snatch a blind kid off the street? And you know Jonah hasn’t gotten as far as this store before something startles him.” Arms folded, she faced her partner. “The boy can’t see, but he hears his aunt scream. It surprises him, scares him. Nothing else fits with the kid dropping his cane out there on the sidewalk and leaving it there—yards away from this store.”
Okay, maybe the evidence could scream. Riker nodded. “So . . . no cane in the kid’s hand when he comes through the door, lookin’ for his aunt. Maybe the perp doesn’t know Jonah’s blind.”
“Or the boy can tie him to the nun. She knew her killer.”
Maybe the nun knew their perp, but Riker let that part slide on the off chance that his partner was holding out on him, setting him up for another fall. A hard call. It could be that she just loved this theory enough to marry it.
The detectives left by the rear door to stand in the alley on a large square of cement piled with the store’s discarded shelving and bags of trash. But there was room enough to park a car, even a van, and there was privacy for a double kidnapping. The rusty metal overhang would’ve sheltered the scene from the high windows, and a view from the lower ones would have been blocked by a dumpster.
“The perp cut out the nun’s heart to match the MO for the other kills,” said Mallory. “He figures we probably won’t make a connection to a mugging victim, the original target, but why risk it? So today he came back to finish off Albert Costello.”
—
TRAFFIC ON THE BRIDGE was light. The stranger walked ahead of him on the footpath, walking fast, and Albert was being left behind. Hey, he had not come all the way out here to take a stroll by himself. He had to hoof it to catch up. The younger man stopped behind a wide section of the steel framework,
It was a leap to pin the nun’s presence on a flower petal, yet Riker would go along with her on that. And now the paralytic made more sense to him. “So our perp sticks Albert with—”
“A medi-dart. Animal Control uses that same paralytic to bring down wild dogs. So the perp would’ve fired his dart gun from in here. He’s nowhere near Albert when the drug kicks in.”
“Okay.” It was a stretch, but— “I’ll buy that. So then he hustles Albert in the door before the old guy can hit the sidewalk.” Just being neighborly. “And along comes the nun, lookin’ to meet up with her nephew, and she gets this far.”
Mallory glanced at the stain that might be Albert Costello’s blood. “The old man’s out cold on the floor. She can’t see him. But she sees our perp through the window, or maybe he’s standing in the doorway. She knows him. That’s why he reaches out and drags her inside. And then, before he can kill her . . . she screams.”
Riker grinned. “Yeah, sure she did.” Hell she did. A lot could be gotten from the physical evidence, but, for damn sure, evidence madeno noise, no screaming, not so much as a whisper. The sarcasm should have pissed off his partner, but no. Her eyes lit up like scary green candles, advance notice of his impending humiliation.
He would never learn.
Mallory turned to the open door. “Our guy goes to a lot of trouble to cover up what he’s doing in here with Costello. Grabbing the nun, a witness who can place him on the scene—that’s chancy, but she’s right there. Reaching distance. Why would he risk going outside to snatch a blind kid off the street? And you know Jonah hasn’t gotten as far as this store before something startles him.” Arms folded, she faced her partner. “The boy can’t see, but he hears his aunt scream. It surprises him, scares him. Nothing else fits with the kid dropping his cane out there on the sidewalk and leaving it there—yards away from this store.”
Okay, maybe the evidence could scream. Riker nodded. “So . . . no cane in the kid’s hand when he comes through the door, lookin’ for his aunt. Maybe the perp doesn’t know Jonah’s blind.”
“Or the boy can tie him to the nun. She knew her killer.”
Maybe the nun knew their perp, but Riker let that part slide on the off chance that his partner was holding out on him, setting him up for another fall. A hard call. It could be that she just loved this theory enough to marry it.
The detectives left by the rear door to stand in the alley on a large square of cement piled with the store’s discarded shelving and bags of trash. But there was room enough to park a car, even a van, and there was privacy for a double kidnapping. The rusty metal overhang would’ve sheltered the scene from the high windows, and a view from the lower ones would have been blocked by a dumpster.
“The perp cut out the nun’s heart to match the MO for the other kills,” said Mallory. “He figures we probably won’t make a connection to a mugging victim, the original target, but why risk it? So today he came back to finish off Albert Costello.”
—
TRAFFIC ON THE BRIDGE was light. The stranger walked ahead of him on the footpath, walking fast, and Albert was being left behind. Hey, he had not come all the way out here to take a stroll by himself. He had to hoof it to catch up. The younger man stopped behind a wide section of the steel framework,
Similar Books
