J. Konrath - Rusty Nail

“They aired that?”

Bains made a face. I made one as well. At least he didn’t mention the shots fired at Diane Kork’s. When a police officer dischargers her firearm, there’s an automatic IA inquest and a mandatory visit to the department shrink. I didn’t have time for either.

“You’re suspended, Jack. With pay. Report to the commissioner tomorrow at nine a.m.”

“What?” That clocked me from left field. “What’s the charge?”

“Does it matter? Pick one. How about official misconduct? Insubordination? Acting like an ass on CNN? The superintendent wants your job, and it seems like you want to give it to him. I need your badge and gun.”

I was so furious, I could spit. I spoke through my teeth.

“This isn’t a good time. He’s hunting me.”

“Who is?”

“The killer.”

“The killer’s in Indiana, in a coma. Case closed. Take a week off and let this blow over.”

“Bud Kork isn’t the guy we’re after. The guy we’re after came by my apartment last night and gave me another videotape. A videotape of Dr. Francis Mulrooney getting skinned alive.”

The anger melted off the captain’s face. It was replaced with a tired kind of sadness. When he spoke, the venom was gone.

“He’s dead?”

“You remember him?”

“I’m the one who asked him to assist on the Charles Kork case.”

“Well, I’ve got thirty minutes in screaming color of him dying an agonizing, horrible death. And it was dropped off at my house, Captain. I’m a target. You can’t pull me off now.”

Bains didn’t seem to be listening. “Francis was my cousin,” he said in a soft voice. “I used to baby-sit him when we were kids.”

“I’m sorry.” I wasn’t sure what else to say. “He never mentioned that.”

“Did you bring him in on this?”

“I had an appointment with him, but had to cancel. I think he knew someone was stalking him, but didn’t mention it to me. There were some threatening messages on his office phone. The same person also threatened to kill me.”

Bains put his hands on his desk and stared at them, spreading out his fingers.

“I know the suspension is bullshit, Jack. It’s out of my hands. But the paperwork hasn’t been done yet, the official charges haven’t been filed.”

“How long do I have?”

“Two, maybe three days. You can fight it, of course. Contact the union rep. Request a hearing. But you’re being suspended with pay. Doubtful you’d get much sympathy.”

“The super can suspend me for a year after I catch this guy.”

Bains nodded. He looked smaller than he normally did. “We never had this conversation. Go find this animal. And keep your face off the boob tube, or it will be both our jobs.”

I reached into my pocket, placed Mulrooney’s address book on the captain’s desk.

“Did you want to inform his family?”

“I’m part of his goddamn family.”

I waited.

“I’ll make the calls.” Bains took the book.

Back in my office, I gave Benedict the blow-by-blow.

“Bains is a careerist. He’s bucking for commander. He won’t go down with you, Jack.”

“He’s a good cop.”

“He’s a politician. Shit trickles down. If the super wants you out, you’re out.”

“I can fight it. Unreasonable termination. Discrimination.”

“No you won’t. You’re not the type.” He looked at the garbage bag on my desk. “Couldn’t find a purse you liked?”

“I got another video this morning. The graphologist, being skinned.”

Herb winced. I didn’t want to watch the tape again so soon, but I snapped on a glove and popped it into the VCR.

Three minutes into it, Herb excused himself to go to the men’s room.

I made myself be analytical. I freeze-framed on the gloves, to try to read the tag inside the cuff. I freeze-framed on the pliers, to try to see the manufacturer mark. Emotional detachment was impossible, but I owed it to Dr. Mulrooney to do my job as best I could.

By the end of the tape I had no leads, and I was quivering with disgust.

I spent a few minutes trying to calm down, trying to distance myself from the images. The phone rang, scaring the hell out of me.

“Hiya, Jackie. What are you wearing?”

Harry McGlade.

“A frown,” I answered.

“We on for later?”

“Unfortunately.”

“How’s three o’clock?”

“I’m at work.”

“Take a day off. You deserve it. Meet us at Mon Ami Gabi, on Lincoln Park West. I’ve got reservations under the name Buttshitz. You’re bringing a date, right?”

“I think so.” Phin hadn’t called yet.

“Rent a guy if you have to. Or bring that fat partner of yours. Tell him it’s free eats; he’ll come running.”

“Good-bye, Harry.”

“Don’t be late. You’re late, I’ll make sure your TV character gets her own spin-off series.”

He hung up. I searched my desk for aspirin, finding the bottle just as the Feebies walked in. Well, a single Feeb anyway.

He nodded at me, wearing the same gray suit he had on a few days ago. Or perhaps a completely different gray suit that looked exactly the same.

“Lieutent Daniels. How are you?”

I was tired and bitchy and not in the mood to suffer fools.

“Now’s not a good time, Agent Coursey.”

“I’m Dailey.”

“Where’s your partner? Aren’t you guys always side by side, holding hands?”

“He’s ViCAT’s liaison with the Gary Police Department, investigating the Bud Kork murders. And our relationship is purely professional.”

“So you don’t give each other oily back rubs after a long day of securing our personal freedoms?”

His lips twisted somewhere between a grin and a wince.

“I understand. You’re attempting to assert your control over this situation by belittling my masculinity.”

I got wide-eyed. “Wow. You BSU guys don’t miss a trick.”

“Now you’re using sarcasm to undermine my professionalism.”

“It’s like I’m under a microscope. All of those Quantico classes have given you tremendous insight into human nature. What am I doing now?”

“You’re giving me the finger.”

Herb returned, a bit green around the gills. He surveyed the situation.

“Am I interrupting an intimate moment?”

“Special Agent Dailey was just leaving. He’s got a samba band to chase.”

Dailey cleared his throat. “We believe the Gingerbread Man wasn’t working alone.”

That got my attention.

“What do you mean?”

“After careful analysis of the twelve previous Charles Kork murder videos, we’ve deduced the recordings were made on two different camcorders. Each particular brand leaves a unique signature when laying down an electromagnetic control track on-”

I held up my palm. “Spare us the details. What difference does it make if there were two recorders? So he used one for a while, it broke, then he bought a new one.”

“The camcorder recovered at Charles Kork’s residence matches six of the videos. The other six were done on a different machine, an RCA DSP3. The recent videotape that you were sent was also done on an RCA DSP3. It’s an older model, discontinued years ago.”

That was compelling, but not enough to get me excited. “I’m sure they sold thousands of that model. Any way to prove the same camcorder recorded both?”

“Not conclusively. But let me show you something. Do you have a DVD player?”

“Not in the budget this year.”

Special Agent Dailey put his briefcase on my desk and opened the clasps. Sure enough, he had a mini DVD player. It took him a minute to attach it to my TV, and then he inserted a disc.

“This is from one of the RCA tapes. Number seven, which Charles Kork titled ‘Fresh Meat.’ We had it cleaned up and transferred to digital. A videotape is normally an analog signal, so during the transfer-”