The Skin Collector (35 page)

Inscrutable, dangerous.

Pulaski peeked inside the memorial service room again. The walls were painted dark green and lined with chairs, enough for forty, fifty people. In the center was a table, draped in a purple cloth; a simple urn sat on it.
The visitors were four men, ranging in age from late forties up to their seventies, he judged. Two women seemed to be spouses or partners of two of the men. Wardrobe was what you’d expect – dark suits and dresses, conservative.

It was odd. He’d been told there was no viewing or service. Just someone to collect the remains.

Yeah, suspicious.
Was
it a setup?

Bullet in the head?

On the other
hand, if it was legit, if plans had changed and it was an impromptu service for the Watchmaker, this’d be a real coup. Surely somebody here had known Richard Logan well and could be a source of info about the dead mastermind.

Okay, just go ahead and dive in.

Street cop, beat cop, goin’ to a funeral in the sleet cop.

He walked up to one of the mourners, an elderly man in a dark suit.

‘Hi,’
he said. ‘Stan Walesa.’ He’d rehearsed saying, and responding to, the name over and over (he’d had Jenny call him by it all last night), so he wouldn’t ignore somebody’s calling him ‘Stan’ during the set. Or, even worse, glance behind him when somebody did.

The man identified himself – Logan was not part of his name – and introduced Pulaski to one of the women and another man. He struggled to
memorize their names, then reminded himself to take a picture of the guest list with his cell phone later.

‘How did you know him?’ A nod toward the urn.

‘We worked together,’ Pulaski said.

Blinks from everybody.

‘A few years ago.’

A frown from one of the younger men. Right out of
The Sopranos
. ‘You worked together?’

‘That’s right.’

‘Closely?’

Be tough. ‘Yeah. Pretty close.’ His gaze said,
What’s it to you?

Pulaski recalled everything he could about the crimes that the Watchmaker had run. His plan wasn’t to claim outright that he’d been a partner but to suggest that he’d had some mysterious dealings – to whet the appetite of anyone who might want to get a piece of the Watchmaker’s ongoing projects after his death.

Containers, shipments, insider trading …

Less is more, more is
less.

People fell silent. Pulaski realized that classical music was streaming from invisible speakers. He hadn’t heard it earlier.

To get the conversation going Pulaski said, ‘So sad.’

‘A blessing, though,’ one woman offered.

Blessing, Pulaski reflected. He supposed that, yes, rather than spend most of your life in prison, a fast, relatively painless death was a blessing.

Pulaski continued,
‘A couple years ago, we were working, he seemed healthy.’ He could actually picture Logan from that time. He
had
seemed healthy.

Those present exchanged glances once more.

‘And so young,’ the undercover cop added.

Something was wrong. But the oldest one of the mourners leaned close and touched Pulaski’s arm. A smile. ‘To me, yes, he was young.’

The visitors eased away. One, he noticed, had
left the room.

To get his gun?

This isn’t going well. He turned back to the older man but before he could speak another voice intruded. Soft but firm. ‘Excuse me, sir.’

Pulaski turned to find a large man, in a dark suit, looking him over closely. He had silver hair and dark-framed glasses. ‘Could I speak to you for a moment?’

‘Me?’

‘You.’

The man extended his hand – a very large, calloused
hand – but not to shake. He pointed and directed Pulaski out of the room and up the hallway to the left.

‘Sir,’ the man said, ‘you are?’

‘Stan Walesa.’ He had a cheap ID that he’d hacked together himself.

But the man didn’t ask for any identification. His eyes boring into Pulaski’s, he rasped, ‘Mr Walesa. You know some people occasionally come to services in hopes of getting something.’

‘Getting
something?’

‘It ranges from food at the reception afterward to selling insurance or financial programs. Attorneys too.’

‘That a fact?’

‘It is.’

Pulaski remembered he was supposed to be playing the tough guy. Instead of looking nervous and saying that was terrible, he snapped, ‘What’s that got to do with me? Who are you?’

‘I’m Jason Berkowitz. Associate director. The family in there thought
your behavior was a little suspicious. You were claiming to know the deceased.’

‘What’s suspicious? I did know him.’

‘You claim you worked with him.’

‘Not claimed. I did.’ Pulaski’s heart was pounding so hard he was sure the man could hear it. But he struggled to play the wise guy.

‘You don’t seem like the sort who’d work with Mr Ardell.’

‘Who?’

‘Blake Ardell.’

‘And who’s that supposed
to be.’

‘Not supposed to be. He is,
was
, the man whose service you’re crashing.’

‘Crashing? What the hell does that mean? I’m here about Richard Logan.’

The assistant director blinked. ‘Mr Logan? Oh. My. I’m so sorry, sir. That’s Serenity.’

‘Serenity?’

‘The name of the room across the hall. This room is Peace, Mr Ardell’s service.’

Goddamn. Pulaski thought back. The fellow at the front door
had told him to turn right. He’d turned left.

Shit, shit, shit. Fucking head injury. If this’d been a drug set, he might be dead now.

Think smarter.

But act the part. ‘One of your people, I don’t remember who, sent me to that room.’

‘I’m so sorry. Please accept our apologies. Our fault entirely.’

‘And names? I’ve never heard of naming rooms in a funeral parlor. You ought to have numbers.’

‘Yessir, it’s a little unusual. I’m sorry. I do apologize.’

‘Oh, all right.’ Pulaski grimaced. He nodded back. Then paused, recalling the curious expression on the faces of the mourners when he’d mentioned working with the deceased.

‘One question. You said I didn’t seem like the sort who worked with this Ardell. What’d he do for a living?’

‘He was an adult film star in the seventies,’ Berkowitz
whispered. ‘Gay. The family doesn’t like to talk about it.’

‘I’d guess not.’

‘That’s the room with Mr Logan’s remains.’ He pointed to a small doorway.

Serenity …

Pulaski stepped through it and into a small room, twenty by twenty. There were a few chairs, a coffee table, innocuous landscapes covering the walls. Also a bouquet of subdued white flowers. And on a velvet-draped table, similar to
the one holding the urn of late porn star, sat a brown cardboard box. This would, Pulaski knew, be the Watchmaker’s remains. Beside it stood a round, balding man in a dark business suit. He was making a mobile phone call. He looked at Pulaski briefly, with curiosity, and turned away. He seemed to speak more softly. Finally he disconnected.

Inhaling a steadying breath, Pulaski walked up to him.
He nodded.

The man said nothing.

Pulaski looked him up and down – keep it blunt, keep it tough. ‘You were a friend of Richard’s?’

‘And you are—?’ the man asked in a soft baritone, with the hint of a Southern accent.

‘Stan Walesa,’ Pulaski said. The name almost seemed natural at this point. ‘I was asking, you’re a friend of Richard’s?’

‘I don’t know who you are and I don’t know why you’re
asking.’

‘Okay, I worked with Richard. Off and on. I heard he was being cremated this morning and I assumed there’d be a service.’

‘Worked with Richard,’ the man repeated, looking the officer up and down. ‘Well, there is no service. I’ve been retained to bring his remains back home.’

Pulaski frowned. ‘A lawyer.’

‘That’s right. Dave Weller.’ No hands were proffered.

Pulaski kept up the offensive.
‘I don’t remember you from the trial.’

‘Mr Logan was not my client. I’ve never met him.’

‘Just taking the ashes back home?’

‘Like I said.’

‘That’s California, right?’

The only response was: ‘What are you doing here, Mr Walesa?’

‘Paying respects.’ He stepped closer to the box. ‘No urn?’

‘Not much point,’ Weller said. ‘Richard wanted his ashes scattered.’

‘Where?’

‘Did you send those?’

Pulaski looked at the bouquet, which Weller was nodding at. The officer tried to looks somewhat, but not overly, confused. ‘No.’ He stepped to the vase and read at the card. He gave a bitter laugh.

Inscrutable.

He said, ‘That’s pretty low.’

Weller asked, ‘How do you mean?’

‘You know who that is, who sent them?’

‘I read the card when I got here. But I don’t know the name. Lincoln Rhyme?’

‘You don’t know Rhyme?’ Lowering his voice: ‘He’s the son of a bitch who put my friend in prison.’

Weller asked, ‘Police?’

‘Works with the police.’

‘Why would he send flowers?’

‘I think he’s gloating.’

‘Well, that was a waste of money. Richard’s hardly going to be offended now, is he?’ A glance at the box of ashes.

Silence.

How to behave now? Man, this acting stuff was exhausting. He decided
to shake his head at the unfairness of the world. He looked down. ‘Such a shame, really. When I talked to him last, he was fine. Or at least he didn’t mention anything, like chest pains.’

Weller now focused. ‘Talked to him?’

‘Right.’

‘This was recently?’

‘Yeah. In prison.’

‘You’re here alone?’ Weller asked.

A nod. Pulaski asked the same question.

‘That’s right.’

‘So there’s no funeral?’

‘The family hasn’t decided.’ Weller looked Pulaski up and down carefully.

Okay, time to go with the less …

‘Well, so long, Mr Weller. Tell his family, or whoever your clients are, I’m sorry for their loss. I’ll miss him too. He was an … interesting man.’

‘Like I said, I never met him.’

Pulaski pulled on dark cotton gloves. ‘So long.’

Weller nodded.

Pulaski was at the door when the lawyer
said, ‘Why did you really come here, Mr Walesa?’

The young officer stopped. He turned back. ‘“Reall”Y? What’s that supposed to mean?’

De Niro tough. Tony Soprano tough.

‘There was never going to be a memorial service. If you’d called to see when I was picking up the remains – which you did, since here you are – you would have learned there was no service. So. What do I make of that?’

Pulaski
debated – and made a show of debating. He dug into his pocket and produced a business card. Offered it to the man with a gloved hand. He said, ‘Give that to your clients.’

‘Why?’

‘Just give it to them. Or throw it out.’ A shrug. ‘Up to you.’

The lawyer looked at him coolly, then took the card. It had only the fake name and the prepaid mobile number on it.

‘What exactly do you do, Mr Walesa?’

Pulaski’s gaze began at the lawyer’s bald head and ended at his shoes, which were nearly as shiny. ‘Have a good day, Mr Weller.’

And, with an oblique glance at the box containing the Watchmaker’s ashes, Pulaski headed for the door.

Pulaski, thinking: Yes, nailed it!

The unsub, however, had not left as much evidence in the town house as Rhyme had hoped.

And there were no other solid leads.The phone call about the intruder had come from an anonymous source. A canvass of the area, to find witnesses who’d seen the intruder, had yielded nothing. Security video cameras in two nearby stores had recorded a thin man in dark coveralls, walking with his
head down and carrying a briefcase. He’d diverted suddenly into the cul-de-sac. No image of his face, of course.

Mel Cooper had run an analysis on the bottle and found, naturally, only Rhyme’s and Thom’s fingerprints, not even those of a liquor store stocker or a Scottish distiller.

No other trace was on the bottle.

Sachs was now telling him, ‘Nothing significant, Rhyme. Except he’s an ace
lock picker. No tool marks. Used a pick gun, I’m sure.’

Cooper was checking the contents of the evidence collection bags. ‘Not much, not much.’ A moment later, though, he did make a discovery. ‘Hair.’

‘Excellent,’ Rhyme said. ‘Where?’

Cooper examined Sachs’s notes. ‘It was by the shelf where he spiked the whisky.’

‘And very good whisky it used to be,’ Rhyme muttered. ‘But a hair. Good. Only:
Is it his, yours, mine, Thom’s, a deliveryman’s?’

‘Let’s take a look.’ The tech lifted the hair from the tape roller and prepared a slide for visual observation in the optical microscope.

‘There a bulb?’ Rhyme asked.

Hair can yield DNA but generally only if the bulb is attached.

But this sample, no.

Still, hair can reveal other facts about the perp. Tox and drug profiles, for instance (hair
retains drug-use info for months). And true hair color, of course.

Cooper focused the microscope and hit the button that put the image on the high-def monitor nearby. The fiber was short, just a bit of stubble.

‘Hell,’ Rhyme said.

‘What?’ Sachs asked.

‘Look familiar, anyone?’

Cooper shook his head. But Sachs gave a soft laugh. ‘Last week.’

‘Exactly.’

The hair hadn’t come from the unsub
but from the City Hall murder case of the week before, the worker killed fighting with the mugger. The beard stubble. The victim had shaved just before he’d left the office.

This happened sometimes. However careful you were with evidence, tiny samples escaped. Oh, well.

The mass spectrum computer screen came alive. Cooper focused and said, ‘Got the toxin profile: tremetol. A form of alcohol.
Comes from snakeroot. There wasn’t enough to kill you, unless you drank the whole bottle at once.’

‘Don’t tempt me,’ Rhyme said.

‘But it would have made you very, very sick. Severe dementia. Possibly permanent.’

‘Maybe he didn’t have time to inject the whole dosage into the bottle. You know, it’s the dosage that’s deadly, not the substance itself. We all ingest antimony and mercury and arsenic
every day. But not in quantities that do us any harm. Hell, water can kill you. Drink enough too quickly and the sodium imbalance can stop your heart.’