Evelyn David - Sullivan Investigations 01 - Murder Off the Books (26 page)

“Then run over them. Just get this car moving. Go back and head north on 16th Street.”

Kathleen grimaced. “I don’t know if–”

“Shut up.” Fieldstone turned her attention to Rachel. “Check in the glove box. There should be a map in there. Find us a quicker way to your house or not all of us will arrive breathing. Plus, remember poor Julianna bleeding all over that abandoned office floor.”

Rachel found the map and unfolded it. “Is this…the stain
….It looks like dried blood?”

Fieldstone shrugged. “Sorry about that. My last passenger was terrible at reading maps. When I dumped her, I should have trashed the map too.”

Rachel swallowed hard. “We’ll have to use Dupont Circle again.”

“The physical embodiment of one of Dante’s circles of hell,” Kathleen mumbled.

Fieldstone laughed. “Maybe you’re not as stupid as I think you are.”

“Call 9-1-1 for JJ,” Kathleen suggested. “We’re far enough away that you’re safe.”

“When Rachel gives me what I want, I’ll consider letting you call.” Fieldstone chuckled. “So if you’re worried about JJ, drive faster.”

“Tell me why you did it?” Rachel asked, refolding the map. “Why did you kill Vince Malwick?”

“Vince became a liability and his usefulness ended. Stupid man. Of course he was always stupid, but his new wife made him greedy too. Not a combination that I found suited my purposes anymore.”

Fieldstone sighed, her voice regretful. “When I came to Concordia I quickly discovered what he was up to and improved on his little scam. For a couple of years we had a nice little bonus income. Last spring Vince decided he wanted a bigger cut. I told him no. Then a few months ago he tried to set up a separate deal on the side–expand the operation. The fool was going to bring us both down. Like I said–the man was stupid and greedy. I needed him gone and some extra money for a new start somewhere else. If everything had worked the way I planned, the missing money would have been discovered and tied to Vince’s murder–and your brother would have been blamed for all of it.”

Rachel frowned. “What about Mrs. Lopez and Tia?”

Fieldstone didn’t answer; instead she glanced out the window and noticed their location.

“Don’t miss your turn,” she warned Kathleen, nudging her with the gun. “Get over in the other lane.”

“Watch your blind spot,” Rachel added, tensing as Kathleen jerked the car back at the last moment.

Incensed, Fieldstone grabbed a handful of Kathleen’s hair, pulling hard. “You stupid–”

“Dammit,” Kathleen exclaimed, “I can’t concentrate with that gun against my head. If you’re going to shoot me do it, otherwise back off and let me drive.”

***

“So your girlfriend,” Sam raised an eyebrow at his uncle. “What’s up with that?”

Thayer smiled. “I think I finally found someone who’ll put up with me and all my baggage.”

“She’s hot. I got a glimpse of her when she stalked through the hall.”

Dan furrowed his brow. “Was she upset? Crying?”

Sam snorted. “Hell no. I think she had the cops on the ropes. She looks like she could take the skin off a rhino with a single look. Those kinds are man-eaters.” He shuddered, then grinned.

“That’s Lenore. You described her perfectly. But….” Dan shrugged. “Never mind. This isn’t the time or place.”

Just then the door opened. Mac walked in, surprise evident on his face when he caught a glimpse of Dan Thayer and his nephew in the cage.

“You know you could sit at the table.” Mac gestured to the only other furniture in the room.

“That’s okay. We’d like to think of this as a home away from home,” Dan said, standing up and stretching. He glanced over at his nephew who stared straight ahead stonily. “But Sam was just leaving.”

The young man glanced between the two adults, shrugged and headed out the door.

Looking at Mac, Thayer asked, “Any news from my sister?”

“I think she’s over at my office. I’m headed there now to bring her back. Maybe we can get this mess straightened out, or at least your part of it. But I’ve got a quick question….”

Thayer looked hopeful. “Shoot.”

“How did you hear about the job at Concordia?”

Thayer looked confused. “You mean, who told me there was a job opening?”

Mac nodded.

“I ran into D
re′ last spring at a fundraiser for the homeless. I said I was soon going to be out of a job, and she told me that there was an open slot in the comptroller’s office. I didn’t think I had the qualifications, but she insisted that I shouldn’t let the lack of paper degrees stop me. Told me to get Jack Starling–the guy’s on the shelter’s board and Concordia’s–to write me a recommendation. Dre′ told me that I couldn’t tell anyone that she was involved in getting me the job. She’d have gotten into trouble for favoritism since the job was supposed to have been ad–”

Mac cut him off. “Dre′ is Audrey Fieldstone?”

Thayer nodded. “Sorry. I’ve known Dre′ for years. Her dad owned a farm up in Vermont. Mean son of a bitch, at least that’s what his daughter used to tell me when we’d be doing tequila shots in this hole in the wall bar in Manchester, comparing notes about our different impressions of farm life in Vermont and Virginia. She hated it. I loved it. That last year her dad was dying, she’d have to come up a couple of times a month. It was damn nice of Dre′ to see that I’d turned my life around and….”

Mac held up his hand to stop the trip down memory lane. “Don’t go nominating Ms. Fieldstone for the Mother Teresa award just yet.”

Chapter
35

“Sam told me where the spare key is. We can go inside if you want.”

Carrie shook her head. “No. I think Mrs. Brenner has had enough uninvited guests. Let’s just sit here on the porch and wait.”

“Okay.” Ray sat down on the concrete step beside her. “What did Mrs. Bird say when you called the funeral home?”

“She wanted me to come into work. Apparently the mother cat and kittens are still in the funeral home. Animal Control is there. A funeral is going on. It’s a mess.” Carrie reached down and scratched her ankle. “I told her I wasn’t licensed for animals.”

“I hope you don’t lose your job over this.”

Carrie shrugged. She scratched at her wrist, a red swelling appearing. “Are there mosquitoes out this time of day?”

Ray shrugged. “Not normally but with all the rain….”

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Carrie dug around in her purse and pulled out a pack of gum. She offered him a stick. “How’s your Dad?”

“Okay.” He folded the gum into his mouth and then slapped at a mosquito as it came in for a landing. “Dad’s thinking about getting a second job, delivering milk. It’s another $400 a week for a few hours work in the morning.”

“But you hardly see him now.”

Ray shifted on the step, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, his fingers folding and refolding the foil from the gum.

Carrie put a hand on his arm. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” He looked down at the ground. “He’s just doing what he has to do.”

“Remember that tree-house your dad built? The one with the pirate’s plank?”

“Sure. It’s still in my backyard.” Ray turned his head and grinned at her. “Don’t start with that again. Sam and I 
never
 made you walk it.”

“You said I couldn’t be a member of your club if I didn’t.” She sighed and set her purse down beside her feet. “It wasn’t so bad. Breaking my arm got me out of piano lessons for that whole summer.”

He chuckled. “And since you didn’t fall until you’d walked more than half the length of it, you qualified for the club.”

“Ray?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you like JJ?”

“Sure.”

She frowned. “No. I mean really
 
like
 her?”

Ray grinned and punched her shoulder. “Not enough to ask her to walk the plank.”

***

“There’s Kathleen’s Sebring,” Jeff pointed out. “Pull in behind it and I’ll check it out.”

Tom parked the squad car in front of Mac’s office building and both of his passengers hopped out.

“Well, hell. There’s her cell phone.” Jeff used his key to unlock the car. He reached in and pulled the phone out of the console between the front seats. “Dead battery.”

“Maybe they’re all upstairs–helping JJ stain the floor,” Mac said with a tight laugh. “JJ is very persuasive.”

“Right. You don’t believe that for a minute,” Jeff said. “Rachel Brenner would have been at the police station demanding to see her brother and son if she was able. Something is wrong.”

“Let’s don’t jump to conclusions.” Mac opened the door to the building and the three men entered.

Mac had only put one foot on the staircase, before he heard Whiskey’s howls.

“Oh, God.” Jeff ran up the stairs behind Mac, both men leaving Tom to follow well behind in their wake.

The sounds of Whiskey’s barking were much louder on the second floor. Mac pulled his gun from his shoulder holster and motioned for Jeff to stay behind him.

Mac tried the office door and found it unlocked. Remembering JJ’s bells, he opened the door only a few inches and reached up with one hand and unhooked the string. He carefully handed them back to Jeff who in turn placed them on the hallway floor.

Mac nodded at Tom, who’d caught up with them at that point. He pointed to the other side of the door and Tom took up a position there, his gun at the ready.

“There are three rooms counting the bathroom. Bathroom opens off the back office. There’s an old door in the bathroom that leads outside to a fire-escape. Don’t think it’s been opened in the last fifty years. No other exits.”

Tom nodded again, both hands on his weapon, as he prepared to enter behind Mac.

“I’ll go left,” Mac whispered, pushing open the door.

***

Ray opened the kitchen door with the key, he’d found under the back step. “Come on Carrie, I’m sure Mrs. Brenner isn’t going to care if you use her bathroom.”

“Okay. That old guy with the binoculars was giving me the creeps anyway. Think he’s a pervert?” Carrie walked inside and was immediately greeted by a hungry cat.

“That’s Mr. Freed.” Ray laughed. “Mrs. Brenner’s complained about him before. But even if he is a pervert, I don’t think he’s in any shape to do the deed.”

“Maybe.” Carrie set down her purse on the kitchen table and picked up Snickers. “Are you hungry, baby?”

“You bet,” Ray answered, smiling as Carrie looked up and blushed. “I know. You were talking to the cat.”

She set down the cat and grabbed her purse. “Make yourself useful. Find some cat food for Snickers, while I visit the bathroom.”

“Okay.”

Ray looked down at the cat that was staring at him as if willing him to act. “I said okay. I’ll look and see what I can find.”

He walked over to the pantry and opened it. “Want to split a peanut butter sandwich?”

***

Mac hugged the wall, until he reached the doorway to the back office. Tom joined him on the other side. The door between the two offices was closed, something he and JJ had never done.

Mac pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and used it to turn the knob, preserving any fingerprints that might be there. He didn’t let himself think too much about why he was worried about fingerprints. He had to concentrate on making sure the office was clear before he thought about what he’d seen on the floor as he’d entered the main room.

As Mac turned the knob, Tom indicated he was going first.

Mac opened the door and made sure to push it open all the way against the wall, leaving no room for anyone to hide. The small room was obviously empty.

Mac holstered his gun and indicated that Tom should do the same. He knew from the sounds of Whiskey’s barks that anyone that might be in the bathroom with her would be no threat.

Mac opened the bathroom door.

Whiskey leaped out and knocked him to the floor. She licked at his face and then rushed into the other room.

Tom let out an audible breath of relief. “Glad your dog seems to be okay.”

“She’s not overly concerned about my health.” Mac gingerly picked himself up off the floor, noticing that the phone was unplugged. “There’s one reason we never reached anyone.”

Tom holstered his gun, then leaned over and plugged the phone into the wall. “I don’t think that’s the only reason. I’d better call this in.
Greeley is gonna want to send Fitz’s team over here.”

“Yeah,” Mac grimaced, and rubbed his shoulder. It felt like someone had stuck a knife in it. “Was that blood out there?”

Tom nodded and the two men walked back into the main room to find Whiskey, standing at the main office door whining and walking in circles, and Jeff kneeling on the floor, a bloody cloth in his hand.

“Jeff?” Mac crossed the room and put a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“It’s Kathleen’s.” Jeff looked up, his face stark white. “It’s my Kathleen’s blouse. She had it on this morning. It’s one of her favorites. I gave….”

Mac waited for Jeff to stop rambling and ask the question that was on all their minds.

“Tell me the truth.” Jeff looked back down at the blood stained blouse in his hands and the large stain on the bare floor. He took a deep breath. “What do you think happened? Is Kathleen dead?”

***

She usually found a sense of peace when driving down Rittenhouse Street. But not today. Today, even the leaves on the trees seemed angry–a riot of reds and oranges.

Rachel sighed softly. Peace of mind was elusive when the cold metal of a gun was pressed against the back of your neck. In truth, home as a safe haven had vanished with the break-in a week earlier.

“‘Bout damn time,” Fieldstone groused. “I could’ve driven to Vermont and back by the time Mrs. O’Herlihy got us up Connecticut Avenue.”

“If you hadn’t been waving around that accessory of yours,” Kathleen sniped, “I might not have gotten rattled and missed the turnoff on
Dupont Circle.”

“Well, if you hadn’t braked for every damn yellow light,” Fieldstone shot back.

“Well, if you hadn’t insisted we skip Military Road,” Kathleen responded.

“If you hadn’t been playing cutesy with the traffic cop,” Fieldstone growled, waving her gun, “I wouldn’t have had to make you take a detour. Now, why are you stopping?”

“Stop sign.” Rachel answered for Kathleen, pointing to the red sign on the corner. She glanced down her street and inhaled sharply when she saw Edgar Freed in his scooter chair on his front porch. She prayed that his binoculars were tucked under the blanket covering his spindly legs.

“You can park right here,” Rachel pointed to the spot in front of the Freed house. “I’m right across the street.”

Kathleen pulled into the vacant spot and cut the engine. Rachel hit the automatic door locks and was halfway out the door.

“Wait.” A red-tipped, well-manicured hand grabbed Rachel’s sleeve.

Rachel and Kathleen froze.

“Not here.”

Rachel turned slightly in her seat. “Why not?”

Fieldstone glanced at the invalid on the porch, who shifted his gaze from the car a second too late. “I think we might want some privacy for our little tea party. Pull around to the back. You can park in the garage behind that heap of yours.” The cold, flat tone of her voice brooked no nonsense.

Kathleen started the engine again.

***

Whiskey danced around the closed office door, whining her displeasure that no one was opening it for her.

“Lieutenant, it looks bad.” Mac was using the office phone while Tom talked to Fritz on his radio. “My secretary is missing, along with Jeff’s wife, and Rachel Brenner. You need to put out an APB on Audrey Fieldstone now!”

“I told you–you haven’t given me enough to do that,” Greeley said. “The woman has no police record. No witness has put her at any of the crime scenes. Thayer doesn’t even finger her for the missing money. Fieldstone is a university vice president, member of several charity boards. Hell, she’s a Red Cross volunteer. The mayor gave her a damn plaque last year.”

“Did you at least have Roseanne get me a vehicle description and a tag number so I know what I’m looking for? And we need to get some officers over to Rachel Brenner’s house. Even if you don’t believe me about Fieldstone, you have to acknowledge that Rachel’s kid might be in danger.”

“I believe you, Mac. But I can’t put out an APB.” Greeley sighed. “I’ll send Joanne over to sit on the house as soon as she gets back from lunch. And I’ll send Pete Fiori over to the college and to Ms. Fieldstone’s home. See if he can locate her. And in case we’re both wrong–I’ve got Eddie calling hospitals and clinics just in case one of the missing women had an accident and the other two are hanging around a hospital waiting room, filling out forms.”

“Thanks, you’re a real pal.” Mac hung up the phone, cutting off
Greeley’s elegantly phrased string of profanity.

Whiskey barked at him, demanding his attention.

Mac frowned. “Not now, girl. Just settle down. I’ll take you out in a minute.”

“Well?” Jeff ceased his pacing long enough to ask, “Has Greeley got people searching for that woman from the college? The one you think has Kathleen and the others?”

Mac nodded. He wasn’t really lying to his friend. Greeley did have some people looking–they were just doing it quietly.

Jeff’s cell phone rang and he walked into the other room.

Tom finished his conversation with the crime lab and motioned Mac over to him.

“Listen, Mac. I’m gonna get written up if the lab guys get here and find Whiskey and Mr. O’Herlihy still wandering around the crime scene.” Tom sighed. “I know the guy is freaked about his wife, but
….”

“I’ll get him to take Whiskey out–she’s still wound up from the whole incident anyway. A walk would help both of them.”

“Thanks. Too bad Whiskey can’t talk.”

Mac nodded and walked into the back room to convince Jeff of the merits of his plan.

“Sean, please just stay at home and call me if you hear from your mother.” Jeff looked up and saw Mac. “I’ve got to go.”

Jeff flipped his cell phone closed. “Any news?”

Mac shook his head. “Nothing yet. But I need to wait for Fitz and the crime lab technicians to get here. Can you take Whiskey outside? Maybe give her a quick walk around the block? She’s driving Tom nuts.”