Joel Goldman - The Dead Man

Kate dropped me off in my driveway. The sky was a mix of sun and clouds, the front yard a quilt of emerging brown grass and retreating gray snow, the sun promising the grass a better day, mild dry air backing up the promise. The weatherman we'd listened to in the car wasn't impressed. He predicted sleet by late afternoon turning to ice by early evening turning to snow by midnight, ending with a day off from school tomorrow.

My cell phone rang before I made it to the front door. Caller ID said it was Quincy Carter.

"Carter, what's up?"

"You got your third look on Tom Delaney."

"And?"

"And CSI found some shredded paper fragments on the floor next to Delaney's body. It was the same kind of paper used for books. Some of the fragments had gunpowder residue on them."

"You telling me McNair ignored that?"

"I told you he's a better cop than you give him credit for. It was in a supplemental report he never saw because it was misfiled. It took me half the night to find the techs that worked the scene, reconstruct what happened, and track down the file."

We both knew that McNair's second look at Delaney's file should have included making certain all the lab work was accounted for but Carter was the kind of cop who'd handle that on his own without bad-mouthing his partner to me. I respected that even if it meant McNair really was a lousy cop.

"Now what?"

"Delaney's file is officially reopened."

"Thanks, Carter."

"No problem. There are some other things you should know."

"Like what?"

"I talked to the detective in Denver that worked Leonard Nagel's case. He said the woman who accused Leonard of rape recanted."

"Then why did he plead? Why wasn't the charge dropped?"

"The DA wasn't sure which one was lying, Leonard or the victim. Leonard's lawyer was a rookie PD, told Leonard the DA could still prosecute. Leonard took the deal rather than risk jail. He registered as a sex offender in Denver and took off. Probably figured he'd left all that behind until Anne Kendall gets murdered. He'd been the subject of one harassment complaint and been threatened with another by the murder victim. He's scared because he hadn't registered as a sex offender in Kansas City. He hears the drumbeats in the hallways and takes off."

"What about the other woman who worked at the institute who filed a complaint against him?"

"I called her last night. She stuck to her story but she said she never felt like he was dangerous, just obnoxious."

"Did you find Leonard's fingerprints on Anne's ID badge?" I asked.

"No. Only print we found was a plain print that could have been made by someone wearing a latex glove."

"Same story with Walter Enoch. Wendy's envelope had glove prints on it too."

"How about that? Enough snowflakes fall and pretty soon you can pack them into a snowball."

"So where does that leave you?"

"I've got a murder victim that made a complaint against a dead guy with a sketchy record and incriminating evidence that the killer could have planted in his desk. It will be a while before we know if there's any DNA evidence to tie Leonard to the murder."

"If it wasn't Leonard, it had to be someone who knew enough about his track record to try and frame him. That should narrow the universe."

"I talked to the HR director, Connie Nichols. She says that records of harassment complaints are confidential but people hear things. Anne might have told someone she was going to file the complaint. That person tells someone or someone else could have overheard them talking about it. Doesn't matter because there's no such thing as a secret."

"What about the boyfriend, Michael Lacey? He knew that Anne was going to file a complaint against Leonard."

"Neighbors tell us they fought like Ali and Frazier," Carter said. "Her parents live in Texas. She called her mom over the weekend, told her the marriage was off, and that she was moving out as soon as she found a place to live."

"What's Lacey say about all that?"

"Nothing. He lawyered up. Not the sort of thing you do when we've got a corpse everyone is ready to hang the murder on. We're getting DNA samples from him and we'll see where that takes us."

"Maybe he's just scared or he's got a lawyer who knows better than to let him keep talking if there's a chance you'll put Kendall's murder on Leonard and close the book. Anything to link Lacey to the other cases?"

"Not yet, but we're looking."

"You've been busy."

"Like I told you, I can use the overtime."

"As long as you don't have enough to do, put Anthony Corliss on your interview list," I said, telling him why Corliss may have decided to walk to work.

"Thanks," Carter said. "You have any other bright ideas?"

"Anne Kendall was missing her engagement ring and the finger it was on. Regina Blair wasn't wearing any jewelry when her body was found. Someone may have robbed her after she fell or, if she was killed, her killer may have been collecting souvenirs. If it was me, I'd want to know if she wore a watch or a ring or a necklace."

"If it was me, I would too. We'll check it out. Listen, I've got to run."

"One last thing. I heard you guys were reaching out to the FBI about a possible task force to work these cases if they're connected. Anything going on with that?"

"Not yet. The feds are dragging their feet as usual. Said they'd get back to us in a couple of days if they haven't closed the Enoch case by then. My lieutenant thinks they might be close. You hear anything about that?"

Now wasn't the time to tell Carter that I had thirty-three hours left on my forty-eight-hour deadline. I could use his help but I had to find Wendy's letter first. If there was anything in it that incriminated me, Carter wouldn't be interested in my explanation any more than Kent and Dolan would be. And, I couldn't rule out the possibility that he was already working with Kent and Dolan and was playing me from the backside.

"The Bureau always says they're close. It's in the manual."

I hung up and opened the front door as Lucy walked into the living den from the kitchen carrying a pad of poster-sized Post-its. She had hung new Post-it wallpaper with more names, notes, and questions around the room, taking down or covering up the now outdated first edition. She peeled off the top sheet of her pad and fixed it over an older sheet. This one was titled SOUVENIRS. The list read:

Tom Delaney

Books

Regina Blair

Jewelry

Anne Kendall

Finger and engagement ring

Walter Enoch

Wendy's letter

"What do you think?" she asked.

Her list proved the importance of a fresh set of eyes. Dolan, Kent, and I had made the same mistake about why the killer took Wendy's letter. We all had assumed it was about me but Lucy's list came at it from the killer's perspective, which changed everything.

"I think it fits, not well, but it fits."

"What's wrong with it?"

"Delaney's books aren't just souvenirs, they're evidence that the killer staged the murder to look like suicide. Another homeless person could have taken Regina Blair's jewelry, just like your friend Vinny said. I agree that Anne's amputated finger is a classic serial killer souvenir but Wendy's letter would make more sense as a souvenir if the killer took the envelope as well."

"Except for one thing," Lucy said. "We didn't pick up on Delaney's books and Blair's jewelry the first time around. Same with Wendy's letter. If the killer took the envelope and the letter, no one would have ever known. I mean Enoch didn't keep an inventory of the stuff he stole. But there's no way we couldn't know the letter was gone if the envelope was left behind, especially since it was the only piece of stolen mail that was opened."