The Shut Mouth Society (10 page)

“
You will. Anything else?”

“
Yeah, the FBI will arrive in a little over an hour. Get as much of a head start as you possibly can, but don’t fuck up. Also, don’t move either body until they give the okay. It’s going to be their show.”

“
Civil rights?” Evarts asked.

“
Yeah. I hate to bring them in, but I had no choice.”

Evarts bet the chief and city officials welcomed the opportunity to dump some of this political mess onto a federal agency.

“
I better get to work” Evarts said. He turned away from his two bosses and stepped out onto the patio. In the open air, the awful smell grew stronger. Before going to the body, he walked the perimeter of the patio. He knew it had already been examined, but he wanted to look for himself. He found nothing and realized he had been stalling.

As he approached the corpse, the stench made him wince. The forensic team had positioned a six-foot ladder in front of the body so they could examine the remains without disrupting the crime scene. Evarts leaned around the ladder and peered up at the corpse. It hung limp from a cross that had been screwed together from galvanized pipe. Fire had charred nearly all of the flesh, and the loss of body fluid had shrunk the skin to reveal the skeletal form. Despite a monotone coal black hue, Evarts could still recognize the face of his friend, Abraham Douglass.

Evarts turned and walked to the edge of the patio, looking out to sea. Countless evenings he had sat here with Douglass and a glass of scotch to watch the sun set. Never again. He took one deep breath and then another. At first he felt an overwhelming loss, but he was able to get his emotions under control by reminding himself that he had a job to do and that job made him the one responsible for catching his friend’s killers. He told himself to mourn after arrests had been made.

He returned to the makeshift cross and motioned the lead forensic specialist over. “What have we got?”

“
Dead before the burning, but it looks like he was tortured. We found lacerations around the scrotum and face. Appears to be death by strangulation, but I can’t be sure yet.”

“
Any physical evidence?”

“
None out here. Still dusting inside.”

“
Who’s chasing down the galvanized pipe?”

“
Matthew’s working on that, but so far it looks like generic pipe available at a half dozen plumbing supply houses.”

“
It won’t be local. Tell him to make inquiries throughout the L.A. basin.”

“
Greg, that’ll take—”

“
Damn it, I don’t give a shit! Just tell him to do it.”

“
Yeah. Sure.”

The man appeared to be shaken at his outburst, so Evarts patted him on the shoulder and said, “Okay, thanks. You can get back to work.” The specialist started to turn, when Evarts asked, “The lacerations?”

“
Razor sharp. Probably was a razor … or an exceptionally sharp knife.”

“
Find out.” A razor might mean kids, but a honed knife could hold other implications.

When he turned toward the house, Evarts saw Damon alone at one of the atrium doors. He started with a routine question. “Who’s doing the house to house?”

“
Four patrol officers. No one’s radioed in yet. The property’s pretty isolated.”

“
Yeah. What bothers me is that kids don’t leave a clean scene, and that pipe looks premeditated.”

Damon looked over his shoulder to see who was behind him. “The chief hopes it’s kids. I don’t think so.”

“
Professional or cult?”

The deputy chief shrugged. “All the visuals point toward amateurs or a cult, but the lack of evidence looks professional.”

Evarts waved at the scene behind him. “The torture may have been to gain information, not just for cruelty. Douglass was rich. We’d better get someone looking into his financial holdings in case this is a diversion for an identity theft.”

“
Shit. I should’ve thought of that. You check the teams in the house, and I’ll get Haden on it.”

Evarts first headed to the other murder scene. Peter had been strangled in the pantry, obviously caught unawares. The second forensic team had no enlightening information, so Evarts left to check the rest of his teams’ work. He found everyone carefully going by the book. No one wanted criticism from the FBI.

If the perpetrators tortured Douglass for financial access information, they had already cleaned out his accounts. Identity thieves were increasingly controlled by organized crime, and they moved fast. Evarts wanted to eliminate the possibility of either youths or organized crime. If neither could be implicated, it lent credibility to Douglass’s shadowy allusions of the prior night.

He found his key subordinate, Lieutenant Clark, blocking the door to the master bathroom. Evarts nodded toward the room. “Torture site?”

“
Yeah. Only a cursory examination so far. Not enough technicians. I’m keeping anyone from disturbing the scene.”

“
Anything obviously unusual?”

“
No.” Clark looked back into the room. He evidently decided to share his concerns. “Except this is the innermost room in the house, and the scene looks clinical. I, uh, closed the door and yelled. Standish said she could only hear my screams from inside the bedroom.” He looked over Evarts’s shoulder to make sure no one had entered the bedroom. “I know the chief thinks kids did this, but if so, they were better prepared and smarter than the average punk sickos.”

“
I want that in your report. Don’t worry about the chief. He doesn’t want us to look like a bunch of rookies to the FBI.” When Clark nodded, Evarts made a sideways motion with his head. “I want to get a sense of the scene.”

When Clark moved aside, Evarts stepped across the threshold. A straight-back chair sat in the middle of the blood-splattered bathroom. Nothing else looked out of order, except for some apparently crazed destruction. Mirrors had been broken and some toiletries swept onto the floor, but cabinets remained closed, and the walk-in closet beyond didn’t look rummaged.

He saw an open wallet next to the washbasin and a pile of clothes in the corner. He used his pen tip to lift the edge of the wallet. No cash, but credit cards remained in place. He then used his pen to lift the slacks by the belt loop so he could check the pocket. No remote control.

“
Rope?” Evarts asked.

“
Assume they used the same rope to tie him up outside.”

“
Doesn’t look like the closet’s been disturbed.”

“
I walked in there and saw no evidence of a search. Professionals know people keep valuables in the closet, but a youth hate crime still doesn’t feel right to me.”

“
Could’ve been after assets Douglass didn’t keep in the house. Haden’s checking out an electronic theft motive.” Evarts had already started to move toward the bedroom door before adding, “I’ll send a patrolman to guard this door. I want you to rotate between the teams and be ready to help me brief the FBI when they arrive.”

Evarts next went to the library. He had glanced into the room as he made his rounds and saw a few books strewn around, but nothing else to indicate that the library should be a priority. He stood in front of the movable partition and bet the remote unit that had been in Douglass’s pocket now sat inside the safe. Then Evarts remembered that Douglass had used the same remote to summon his servant. He returned to the master bedroom and used his pen to slide open the bedside table drawer. Just as he hoped, another remote sat cradled in a wood trough meant to hold change. He picked it up with his handkerchief and returned to the library.

Although he had pressed all three buttons in sequence, the partition refused to move. He examined the edge but didn’t see any wedge or other obstruction. Standing back, he thought a moment and then tried two-button combinations. The third try worked. That was the easy part. He stared at the stainless steel vault door for several minutes and then walked briskly to the front of the house.

Evarts found Baldwin and Standish still in the small sitting room off the entrance. He said, “This seems to be taking a long time. Any problems?”

Evarts was relieved to hear Standish say, “No problems, but we need a few more minutes.” If she had said ‘We’re about to take a break,’ it would’ve been a preestablished code that meant Standish needed to talk to Evarts out of earshot of the witness.

“
Professor Baldwin, when was Lincoln born? The date.”

“
February 12, 1809. Why?”

“
I want to open Douglass’s safe. I thought he might use it as the combination.”

“
Nice try, but wrong. If he used a Lincoln date, it would be March 4, 1861.”

“
What happened on that date?”

“
His inauguration. Douglass believed that date changed the destiny of this country.”

“
Thank you.” He started to leave.

“
Excuse me, Commander.” Standish stopped his progress. “Miss Baldwin had a date this evening. She said you promised to send someone to meet him.”

“
I forgot. Can you take care of it?”

“
Of course.”

Evarts left, relieved that the question didn’t have more serious implications. He hurried his pace, because he knew the chief would want an update prior to the FBI arriving. When he got to the library, he stared at the large dial that ranged from zero to sixty. He decided to try a four number combination: three, four, six, one. With the last number, he heard a satisfying click, and the handle slid down with almost no effort. Opening the door, he was disappointed to find what he had expected. On the shelf that last night had held the Cooper Union manuscript now sat a remote control. Nothing else looked disturbed.

As he thought through the implications, he heard his boss’s voice behind him.

“
You knew about this?”

“
Yes, Abe showed it to me last night. This is his Lincoln collection.”

“
Valuable?” Damon asked.

“
Exceptionally.”

“
Kind of fits with the teen gang scenario. Professional would’ve gotten the combination out of him.”

“
If they knew he kept his collection in the house. I’d like Professor Baldwin to assist in taking inventory.”

“
Why?”

“
She’s a Lincoln expert. That’s why she was here last night. To look at his latest acquisition.”

“
How long will you need her?”

“
Couple of days I suspect, but I’d like her to take a quick perusal tonight. She’s familiar with his collection.”

Damon thought a moment. “When Standish is done with her. Good excuse to keep her around for the FBI.” He looked at the empty library but still appeared nervous. “Greg, we need to talk in private. Get someone to watch this and meet me in front of the house.”

Evarts put an idle-looking patrolman to the task and walked outside. This rendezvous made him nervous. Had Damon found out about the supposed conspiracy? At first he didn’t see his boss but then spotted him down the lane about fifty feet.

“
What’s this about, sir?”

“
The mayor and the county supervisor are on their way. This is gonna get dicey. Douglass was a substantial figure in the black community.”

“
Abe was a substantial figure in the community, period.”

“
No disrespect meant. He was a substantial figure in our community, but he was a national figure in the black community.”

“
Meaning?”

“
The politicians are worried about the city’s reputation.”

“
And the chief?”

“
I said the politicians, didn’t I?” Damon’s voice had an edge. “Listen, Greg, they want to control communication with the media. This is national news. The chief is the only police official to talk to the press—the
only
one. You need to make this clear to your people. Anyone quoted directly or indirectly will be fired, with a ‘conduct unbecoming’ recommendation to other departments. Got it?”

Evarts sighed with relief but hoped it sounded like frustration. “I’ll make the message clear, sir.”

“
Good. That includes you and me.”

Evarts smiled. “I got that. Don’t worry, I hate the press.”

“
Not as much as you will in a week or two. But there’s more.”

“
Give it to me.”

“
You’re off the case in the morning. Clark will handle it. When the press learns about your relationship with Douglass, they’ll hound you relentlessly. Lead your teams this evening but see the chief first thing in the morning. He’s gonna find you a seminar far away. Even if it doesn’t start until Monday, he wants you ready to leave from the office.”

“
That’s ridiculous. You need me on this case … and I’m a witness.”