I'm Watching You (31 page)

8:00 AM.

Spinnelli looked worried. He had a right to be, Abe thought. They didn’t have shit.

Spinnelli leaned one hip against the conference room table, his bushy mustache bent in a painful frown. „So if I might summarize…“ He lifted his hand and started counting with his fingers. „One, we have two more bodies. Two, one of the lead prosecutors in the city has been attacked twice, once in her own home. Three, it’s open season on defense attorneys.“

„That’s not such a bad thing,“ Mia muttered and Spinnelli cut her off with a glare.

„Four, the captain’s taken calls from Jacob Conti every other hour all weekend because the ME’s office is, in Conti’s words, carving up his son a second time, and five“ – he held all five fingers extended –  „we don’t have a single goddamn suspect.“

Mia shifted uneasily in her chair. „That’s about the size of it.“

„Kristen scratched her attacker last night,“ Abe said. „What about the scrapings from under her nails?“

From his seat beside Mia, Jack shrugged. „I can get DNA for you, but until you have a suspect, I don’t have anything to compare it to.“

Spinnelli stared at the whiteboard in frustration. „Julia found nothing on Skinner’s body? No hairs, no fibers, no nothing?“

Jack shook his head. „Nothing. I did find some debris ground into Skinner’s clothes, mud and some chemical residue from the factory in the dirt. I matched it to the site where we found the bullet, so we can confirm Skinner was there. The vise he used to keep Skinner’s head immobilized was so tight it left an imprint of the model number. Julia was able to stain the skin so I could get a good photograph. It was a Craftsman.“

„Solid as Sears,“ Mia muttered. „On every daddy’s Christmas wish list.“

„I have one,“ Spinnelli grumbled. „Wife gave it to me for my workshop three years ago.“

„I bet half the workshops in Chicago have one,“ Jack said.

„What about the bullet?“ Spinnelli asked.

„We’ve shown it to all the major gun stores in town,“ Mia said. „Nobody recognizes that maker’s mark. It’s too damaged. They also said nobody’s been practicing at their range with homemade bullets. But I was thinking – “

„No,“ Spinnelli drawled and Mia shot him a look that was half annoyed and half hurt.

„Yes. I do that occasionally, Marc,“ she said quietly.

Spinnelli sighed. „I’m sorry, Mia. I know you guys worked most of the weekend on this one. I got a call from the captain’s office this morning. He’d just hung up with the mayor, who’d been getting around the clock calls from Conti demanding we put more men on this case. The mayor wasn’t pleased, so the captain wasn’t pleased. Plus it seems like every defense attorney in town’s called to complain. They say we’d put more cops on the case if the prosecutors were targets.“ Spinnelli clenched his jaw. „That’s just bullshit“

„So you’re in a shitty mood,“ Mia said. „Fine, just don’t take it out on me.“

„Fine.“ Spinnelli raised both brows. „So what were you thinking, Mia?“

Mia didn’t look placated. „Just that if the guy has gone to all the trouble to make his own bullets, and he’s a sharpshooter who’s not practicing at a public range, he’s probably rigged his own target range. He’d need some land to do that so that no neighbors would see him and call the cops. Ever since 9/11, people have been a little skittish about their next-door neighbors playing Rambo.“

„That’s good, Mia,“ Abe said. „If he does own land, his name will appear in deed records. We can cross-reference the list you got from the sandblasting company.“

„But not the florist companies,“ Jack said.

„I’m still mad about that,“ Mia complained. „I looked at florists for hours. All wasted.“

„Are we sure about that?“ Spinnelli pressed. „We’ve got testimony from two kids saying they saw different signs on a white van. Are we sure they’re telling the truth?“

„Mclntyre saw it, too,“ Abe said and Spinnelli shrugged with regretful acceptance.

„And anyway, why would those kids lie?“ Jack asked. „What’s in it for them?“

„Especially since one of them walked right by a police cruiser to deliver the Conti package,“ Mia added. „Mclntyre was sitting right outside Kristen’s house when Tyrone Yates dropped off his box. If they were in cahoots with our guy, they wouldn’t be so bold.“

Abe had a sudden, terrible thought. „
They
might not be so bold.
He
might.“

Mia turned around to look at him, her brows furrowed. „What?“

Abe sat down at the computer and brought up the department’s criminal database. „How did our killer pick those two kids? They came from different neighborhoods, different schools. Did he pick them at random? By chance?“

Spinnelli’s expression was grim. „He doesn’t do anything by chance. He’s too organized. Everything’s connected, every loop closed. Abe, tell me those two boys were God-fearing angels that never gave the law a day’s trouble. Please.“

Abe typed in Tyrone Yates’s name and waited for the computer to respond. And when it did, he sighed. „This boy’s got a yellow sheet as long as my arm. Assault, plead down. Possession, plead down. Et cetera, et cetera.“

Mia went very still. „And what about Aaron Jenkins?“

The only sound in the room was the clacking of the keyboard. „Same. Throw in a few misdemeanor petty thefts.“ He scrolled down. „He turned eighteen four months ago. He’s got a sealed juvie record.“ Abe looked up, saw every eye looking at him. „He set these kids up.“

Jack frowned. „I’m not following you.“

Abe leaned back in the chair, crossing his arms over his chest. „He didn’t just choose these kids at random. I’m sure of it. What if he has some personal beef with these kids? Maybe they did something to him, or to someone else who he wants to avenge. If he hires them, pays them, people will assume they know who he is. They’re bad kids, they have reputations in the neighborhood. Word gets out, and suddenly they are the link to the killer. If somebody wants the killer, they go through the kids.“

Jack shook his head. „But that doesn’t make sense, Abe. Not only do you have one hell of a lot of ‘ifs,’ but if he has a beef with these kids, why not kill them himself?“

Abe shrugged. „I don’t know. Maybe there’s a vigilante code of ethics or something. Maybe whatever they did wasn’t bad enough to warrant his kind of justice, but hey, if someone else does the honors, it’s okay with him. I don’t know. All I do know is right now, this is all we have.“

Mia closed her eyes. „We showed everybody in that neighborhood Aaron Jenkins’s picture. The whole freakin’ neighborhood.“

Jack massaged his temples. „And everybody who has a TV knows you guys are working this case, thanks to Zoe Richardson.“

„She put Tyrone Yates’s picture across the news last night,“ Spinnelli said grimly.

Abe clenched his jaw. He’d missed the news last night. He’d been too busy with Kristen’s attacker. „How did Richardson get pictures of Tyrone Yates?“

Spinnelli ran his hand through his hair in frustration. „She must have been skulking around Kristen’s neighborhood yesterday. She had really grainy video of Yates waiting in the back of Mclntyre’s cruiser. Then they ran the footage of Conti manhandling Julia. ‘A father’s grief,’ Richardson called it,“ he said sardonically. „My wife videotaped it for me, since we were all a little busy at Kristen’s house last night. I saw it when I got home.“

Mia got up to pace. „So between us and Richardson, the identities of those two delivery boys are common knowledge.“

„The kids won’t be able to ID the vigilante,“ Jack said. „Unless they lied to you about what they’d seen.“

„Maybe they did lie,“ Abe said. „Maybe they didn’t. If they did, I want them in here to get the truth. If not, if somebody wants to know who our humble servant is badly enough, they won’t believe those kids and their lives are in serious danger. We know the Blades want to know, badly enough to risk attacking Kristen on a public street. Let’s bring those two boys in for their own protection. In the meantime, I want to know what links these boys to our guy. Kristen wasn’t involved in either of their cases.“

Monday, February 23,

11:30 a.m.

Silence hung over the conference room in the State’s Attorney’s office. Kristen drew a deep breath. „That’s about it.“ She scanned the twenty-odd faces in the room and found most registered shock or dismay. Greg and Lois were concerned.

At the head of the table, John looked tired. It had been John’s request that she tell them about the Friday night attack in her car, the discovery of the Skinner box, the Conti box, the two delivery boys, and her attack last night. She omitted the more personal points, primarily the way Abe Reagan had come to her aid, in more ways than one.

„You’re sure you don’t know who this guy is?“ Greg asked, apparent doubt in his voice and Kristen’s mind abruptly left the topic of Abe Reagan.

„You think I’m keeping it to myself?“ she said sharply, Greg’s words a verbal slap.

Greg grimaced. „You know I didn’t say that. What I’m saying is that this guy knows you. He has personal access to you. There are times he’s probably close enough to touch you.“

„Thank you for painting Kristen such a vivid picture,“ Lois said dryly and chuckles rippled through the room.

Kristen managed a small smile despite the chill that clenched her muscles. „Greg hasn’t said anything I haven’t already thought.“

John cleared his throat „The police have established some basic time frames on each of the murders. Because they believe that the killer has access to confidential court records, each of you will be asked to provide your whereabouts during those time frames. I’ve assured Lieutenant Spinnelli that you all will cooperate fully.“

Angry murmurs reached Kristen’s ears and she held up her hand to quiet them. „So many times we criticize the police for not crossing all the ‘t’s and dotting the i’s. They are trying to do just that, trying to eliminate those of us who have access to the confidential court records John mentioned. Please cooperate with them when they come talk to you.“

John wearily raised his hand. „For the record, I was interviewed by Spinnelli on Saturday for the same reason. When they ask you your whereabouts, just tell them. Remember, everything you’ve heard is confidential. You are not to discuss it outside this room. You are dismissed.“ He pointed a finger at Kristen. „I need you to stay.“

He waited until everyone had filed out, leaving just the two of them at the table. He dragged his hands down his face and sighed. „How was motion hour this morning?“

Kristen raised her brows, surprised at the question. John never concerned himself with motion hour unless she had a major case, and this morning’s cases were fairly routine. „Strained.“ That was an understatement. The defense crowded at the far end of their table as if her very air space was contaminated. „I managed.“

„You always manage. You aren’t going to like this.“

The hairs rose on Kristen’s neck. „Like what?“

„For what it’s worth, I tried to fight this. I took it as high up on the ladder as I could.“ In his eyes Kristen saw weary resignation and her stomach clenched. „Milt got calls all weekend long, as soon as news of Skinner’s murder broke.“ Milt was John’s boss. His involvement either meant reprimand or raise. Kristen wasn’t naive enough to expect a raise. „You’re on administrative leave until this is all over.“

Kristen froze, unable to believe what she’d heard. „Excuse me?“

John sighed again. „No defense attorney in town wants to appear in the same courtroom with you. They’re all prepared to cite physical danger to themselves and their clients. Milt sees this as one big cause for appeal on any case that involves you. You’re to turn over all your cases as of four p.m. today. We’ll split your workload between the others.“

Kristen sat there, stunned. Unable to utter a word.

John pushed himself to his feet. „I’m sorry, Kristen. I told Milt he was wrong, that this wasn’t fair, but in the end it didn’t matter. I feel responsible for this, but there’s nothing I can do.“ He put a tentative hand on her shoulder and squeezed. She barely felt it. „Consider it a well-earned vacation,“ he said lamely. „No, I guess not.“

A well-earned vacation. The very thought mocked. She rose, keeping her legs steady with the force of sheer will. She would be, as always, in control. „I’ll gather my things.“

„Kristen – “ John reached out a hand and she stepped out of his way. His hand dropped and he sighed once more. „Let me know if you need any help.“

„I won’t.“

Monday, February 23,

1:00 p.m.

Abe hated the smell of the ME’s office. On a good day, it had the antiseptic smell of a hospital. He hated hospitals. On a bad day… Luckily Conti hadn’t been dead long enough to call this a bad day.

„We came as soon as we could, Julia,“ Mia said, walking over to the table where Angelo Conti’s body lay. „What’s up?“

„I wanted you to see this.“ Julia joined them at the table. „Conti’s body was in the worst shape of any of them so far. Your guy didn’t just beat him, he pounded him into hamburger.“

„Medium rare, hold the pickles,“ Mia quipped and Julia’s lips twitched.

„Don’t make me laugh. My ribs are still a little sore from yesterday.“

Abe frowned. „Jacob Conti hurt you that badly?“

Julia gave a facial shrug. „A few bruises. It could have been worse.“

„Yeah, Jack could have ripped off his face.“ Mia looked satisfied at the thought.

Julia’s cheeks colored delicately. „Jack shouldn’t have gone after Conti like that.“

„Well, I’m glad he did,“ Mia said.

After a half beat of hesitation Julia admitted, „So am I.“

„You could have pressed charges,“ Abe said.

„I could have, but the situation seemed inflamed enough as it was, what with that reporter filming every move. He’d just found out his son was dead, for God’s sake.“

„His murdering son,“ Mia muttered. „I wouldn’t waste your tears on him, Julia. Angelo Conti died the same way Paula Garcia died, beaten to death with a tire iron.“