A Bullet for Carlos (38 page)

The recollection forced a smile; Uncle Dominic’s words of wisdom held a lot of truth. So with that in mind, sometime between now and Tuesday I’d have to figure out a way to bow out of meeting Maxwell. Still, it was damn nice to have someone pay attention to me.
Damn nice.

Fifteen minutes later I was back in the apartment, getting ready for the day. When the phone rang I almost didn’t hear it.

***

Tip got about two
hours of sleep before the phone rang, and rang, and rang. Elena pushed him out of bed. “Get the phone.”

He inched ahead on his knees until he could reach the phone sitting atop the dresser. “Tip Denton.”

“Tip, get in here. We got another one.”

He stood, now as awake as if he had mistakenly drunk Gianelli’s coffee instead of his own. “Who? Where?”

“Not far from you. Up near Champion’s Forest.”

Tip took down the address. “I’m on it. I’ll call when we’re done.”

He turned to Elena. “Baby, you must be bad luck. Every time you’re here something happens.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t come anymore.”

“Don’t jump to conclusions. I said you were bad luck, I didn’t say I minded.”

Tip’s phone rang as he headed out the back door. It was Connie. “What’s up, Gianelli?”

“Renkin call?”

“I’m on my way to get you.”

Chapter 46

Where is Connie Gianelli

T
ico sat on the edge of the patio chair, fidgeting while he waited for Carlos to finish breakfast. Roberto and Paco stood with their arms folded, and Chaparrito paced. All seemed nervous, and rightfully so, Carlos seldom called early morning meetings.

“Did you see how Manuelo looked at us?” Paco asked.

“It was a signal,” Roberto said.

Chaparrito blessed himself and continued pacing.

“Let me go in first,” Tico said. “And let me do the talking.”

Moments later Manuelo opened the door. Tico got up quickly and entered first, followed by the rest of them, Chaparrito last.

“
Buenos días, señor
,” Tico said.

“‘Good morning’ is how we say it in Houston, Tico, or have you forgotten already?”

“I’m sorry. Good morning.”

Carlos leaned back in his chair, one leg crossed over the other. He drummed his fingers on the table while he stared at them. “Where is Señorita Gianelli?”

Tico looked at the others, then responded. “We haven’t found her yet, señor. The last we—”

Carlos waved his hand, dismissing him. “Roberto, do you know?”

Roberto shook his head. “No, señor, I—”

Carlos jumped from his chair. “How long have we been looking for this cop?” He pulled out a cigarette to light but when Tico offered a match he pushed his hand away. “I gave a simple order to find someone, and after all of this time no one has done it. To make matters worse, our men are getting busted all over town, and my club is raided, and all, I learn last night, based on the orders of this Connie Gianelli.”

“Señor,” Tico said. “That is impossible. She’s in Brooklyn, New York. She—”

Carlos moved to him so quickly Tico almost fell over trying to step back. “She is in
Houston
, Tico. Right here, in
this
town.” He grabbed Roberto’s shirt and shook him. “How do I know this? Because I met her last night.”

He crushed out the cigarette he never lit, kicked the chair, then spun around again. “Forget
bringing
her to me. I want her dead.”

Tico’s head was shaking before Carlos finished. “You can’t do that, señor. This isn’t Mexico. You cannot kill cops.”

“She stole from me.”

“We don’t know if she was involved,” Tico said. “All we know is that Sean betrayed us.”

Carlos slammed his fist on the table. “She was his
partner
. And now we know she is under the wing of Dominic Mangini. You think she is innocent?” He shook his head and wagged his finger. “Let me tell you something, mi amigo. There is something between Señor Mangini and this Gianelli woman. I saw it in her eyes when I mentioned the Bronx.”

“What would you have me do?” Tico asked.

“Offer bigger rewards for information on Señorita Gianelli and Señor Mangini. Once we have what we need, we will plan something special.”

Chapter 47

How Many Must Die

I
was waiting at the curb when Tip pulled up. I jumped into the front seat, still a bundle of energy from the early morning run. “Get anything else?” I asked as I buckled up.

“An address.”

“How far?”

“Five minutes,” he said, then, “Have fun last night?”

I paused before answering, then smiled. “Yeah, I guess I did. Surprisingly.”

“You looked damn nice in that dress.” Tip switched lanes, merging into the traffic. “Guess that didn’t come out right. Let me try again. You looked great last night, plain and simple. Had nothing to do with the dress.”

“Thanks, Tip.”

“So what do you think we’ll find today?” he asked.

The image of Patti’s battered body came to mind, and her face. “I hope it’s not like Patti. I’m still having bad dreams about her.”

“I like to try and guess what the scene will look like. I don’t know why but it makes me think differently once I get there. If it’s not like I pictured it, then I dig deeper. I know it sounds crazy, but it works for me.”

“All right. I think we’re going to find a girl, naked, on the bed, with no lips. And she’ll be beaten half to death, then killed with a knife.” I almost shocked myself with the assessment.

“Good, but lots more questions. Is she on her back or belly? Raped? Where are her clothes? How did he get in? Vacuum gone?” Tip smiled. “See how this can go? Agreed it doesn’t do any good for us to guess about this now, but it does get you ready to look for anything out of place.”

“You’re right. What about the computer? Were the doors locked? Windows? Car? Does she have a password? Where does she work? Does this one workout at a gym?”

“Now you’re getting into it. We already have a few dozen questions and we’re not even there.”

We pulled up to the crime scene about ten minutes after leaving the apartment. Half a dozen cars were parked outside, including the M.E.’s car.

“You ready?” Tip asked.

“I hope. Does it get easier?”

“Nope.”

The uniform at the door nodded to us. “Down the hall and left,” he said. “Nasty.”

I walked in first, a handkerchief in one hand and my notepad in the other. We went through Tip’s routine of checking the rest of the house first, entry hall, kitchen, dining room.

“We got wine glasses, wine bottle, nothing cleaned. Little different than the last scene,” Tip said.

“Let’s see how different the body is,” I said.

As we moved toward the bedroom I heard the voices of the crime unit people discussing the details of the case.

I went through the bedroom door two steps ahead of Tip, and even though I had prepared to see another human being naked, and dead, it was still shocking. She was lying face down, with her head turned. Even from across the room I could see her lips were missing. Blood was everywhere.

Why was she lying face down? The others were face up.
“Was she face down when you found her?” I asked.

“Just like you see her,” Ben Marsh, the M.E. said. “We were about to turn her over. Are you ready?”

“Do it,” Tip said.

I stepped closer, mustering enough courage. Despite the preparation I wasn’t ready for what I saw. “Goddamn.”

“Oh shit,” Tip said, and stepped back.

“What’s the matter?” Ben asked.

“Tip, that’s Mena.”

“Son-of-a-bitch.”

“You know her?” Ben said.

I held back for a moment. “We don’t really know her, but we were with her last night at a charity event.”

“Son-of-a-bitch…” Tip said.

I got closer. Somehow knowing this victim, even for a moment, made it personal. Took the sick feeling away and replaced it with anger. “My God, she was gorgeous last night. Absolutely gorgeous.”

Tip was silent for a few seconds, then his jaw tightened and he got a hard look on his face. “Now we can do something about your friend.”

I looked at Tip. “Carlos? No way he did this.”

Tip looked to the M.E. “What have you got so far?”

Ben finished entering some comments into a tape recorder then addressed Tip’s question. “Pretty much the same as last time. Brutally beaten, ribs and nose broken. Vagina torn, so it was likely rape, but there is one big difference—he didn’t use a wrapper this time.”

“So you’ve got semen?” Tip asked.

Ben nodded. “Indeed we do.”

Tip looked around the room, opening drawers, checking the bathroom. “How did we get it so early?”

“Called in by a neighbor,” Ben said. “That’s what Bobby told me.”

“Maybe we got lucky this time.”

“This guy doesn’t make mistakes,” I said. “Doesn’t sound right.”

“A killer can’t control the crime scene,” Tip said. “A neighbor peeks out the window at the right time and bingo, we’ve got a witness.”

“Maybe.” I focused on examining the rest of the room. “Ben, anything else you can tell us?”

“Not yet.”

Tip called to me from the bathroom. “Connie, get in here.”

“Check this out. Clothes in the hamper like before, and a towel. Did he catch her in the shower, too? He’s got to be watching, but from where?”

I spent a while looking through her clothes and make-up. “This lady lived large. She had money. I mean
money.
”

“Did you look at the house?”

“I know. The house is one thing, but these clothes and this make-up and jewelry…”

“We need to find out what she did.”

“If she worked for Carlos, she probably pushed drugs.” I came out of the closet with envy oozing out of me. “I’d cut off a few fingers to get hold of that wardrobe.”

“I’ll ask the lieutenant if you can have it.”

“While you’re at it, ask if I can have the jewelry too?”

“Nah, I’m taking that myself,” Tip said, then looked in the other closet. “Take a look here. Men’s clothes.”

I walked over and checked them out. “These aren’t clothes Carlos would wear.”

“Not a chance,” Tip said. “But somebody spent a lot of time with Filomena. I wonder what Señor Cortes thought about that.”

“I guess we’ll have to ask him.”

Before leaving, Tip talked to the head of the crime scene unit. “Call me when you get everything processed. And don’t forget the computer.”

“You got it. We won’t be long.”

As we left, I grabbed Tip’s arm. “What time did that call come in last night?”

“I don’t know, but we’ll get the details when we get to the station. Why?”

“I was thinking, we left the ball pretty early, but Mena and Carlos were still there. Even if he stayed for another half an hour, by the time he got her home, and…well, assuming it was him who had sex with her…”

“You’re right. Timing is going to be crucial.” He made notes on his pad.

‘What time did Carlos leave the ball?’

‘Anyone see him get home?’

‘What time did call come in about murder?’

‘Time of death, according to Ben.’

“We’re going to nail the bastard this time. This is
our
jurisdiction.”

“Tip, I want this guy as much as you, maybe more, but like I said, there is
no way
Carlos did this.”

“
I
know that, but the district attorney doesn’t. And this sure as shit gives us cause to go after
Señor
Cortes.”

“That’s a dangerous line to cross, Tip.”

“Sometimes I have trouble seeing the lines.”

“Don’t tell me things like that.”

“You said to be honest. You want me to lie?”

I thought about it. “Nah, let’s go get him.”

Chapter 48