by Lee Goldberg
“Hell no. I’m retiring in a few weeks,” Duncan said. “I’m not going to press my luck.”
Eve shrugged and pointed to Ross. “Okay, you’re with me. Let’s do this.”
The line of patrol cars surged into the mobile home park, splitting off and going up the various streets, while the last two vehicles blocked the opening to Topanga Canyon Boulevard.
Deputy Ross pulled in front of Coyle’s carport, blocking the Corolla from leaving, and another patrol car rolled up from the other direction so they were nose-to-nose. Two more cars came up behind them. Eight officers emerged silently, guns drawn, Eve taking the lead.
Four deputies fanned out around the mobile home as Eve, Ross, and two others went up to the front door. One of the deputies came forward with a battering ram and, on Eve’s signal, smashed open the door, which crumpled like it was a single sheet of aluminum foil.
Another deputy tossed a flash-bang grenade into the mobile home. They ducked back as the grenade exploded, throwing out blinding light and deafening sound but not shrapnel. The grenade was designed only to cause disorientation and not to create any damage.
The first two deputies spread right and left, covering the two sides of the living room, while Eve and Ross went up the center toward the kitchen and the short hallway beyond.
Eve edged around the first door and spotted Coyle rising in bed, groggy and disoriented. She rushed up to his bed and whipped back the sheets with one hand to make sure he didn’t have a weapon within reach. He was shirtless and wearing black boxers.
“Police. Show me your hands,” Eve commanded. Ross was behind her, also targeting Coyle.
He raised his hands. Coyle was pale, with a few lonely hairs on his scrawny chest, his body dotted with several skin tags. She didn’t see any cuts or bruises on his body that would indicate he’d been in a violent struggle. But nobody with a slashed throat, or multiple stab wounds in their torso, can put up much of a fight.
“Why are you here?” he asked, appearing dazed and confused. “What’s going on?”
Eve said, “Stand up, face the wall, and put your hands over your head.”
Coyle did as he was told, facing one of the Planet of the Apes movie posters and lobby cards that Eve now noticed were all over his walls.
Eve tossed his pillow aside, just to make sure there wasn’t a gun underneath, then holstered her weapon. “Turn around slowly and keep your hands on your head.”
Coyle did as he was told. Ross kept his gun trained on him. A different man faced them than the one who’d turned to the wall. In the intervening seconds, Coyle’s grogginess had dissipated and he seemed unnaturally relaxed, even amused.
He smiled at Eve. “Good morning. It’s always nice to wake up to a pretty face.”
She wanted to punch his crooked teeth out. “I’m Detective Eve Ronin, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.”
“I thought I recognized you. You’re the Deathfist cop. I’m in my underwear and I’ve got a celebrity in my bedroom. It’s a dream come true.”
“We have a warrant to search your home and car.”
“What are you looking for?”
“Evidence related to the assault and suspected murder of Tanya Kenworth and her two children, Caitlin and Troy.”
“I don’t know them and I’ve never hurt anyone in my life. I’m a lover, not a killer,” Coyle said. “Can I get a selfie with you?”
There was a slimy, flirtatious tone to his remark, which she assumed was meant to sexualize and belittle her in some way. It wasn’t working. All he’d managed to do was come across as creepy, which didn’t help sell his innocence.
In the hallway, she heard a deputy report on his radio. “We have secured the lone occupant and cleared the premises.”
“Where were you on Wednesday and Thursday?” Eve asked.
Coyle made a show of thinking back, his hands still on his head. “I was home sick on Wednesday. Must have ate something on Tuesday that disagreed with me. Thursday was my day off. I felt better so I went hiking.”
“Where?”
He looked her in the eye and his smile seemed to widen. “Topanga State Park.”
It was clear that Coyle was well aware that Eve already knew that and it pleased him. She figured this was his way of gloating to her face about the beating he gave her on the hill.
“We’re going outside,” she said. “Keep your hands on your head until I tell you otherwise.”
Coyle walked barefoot out of his room, his hands on his head. As they stepped out, Eve peeked into the other bedroom. It obviously belonged to his mother and seemed untouched since she’d died. It even smelled like perfume.
She followed Coyle and Ross down the hall, through the open kitchen and living room, and outside, where two more deputies were waiting.
“You can lower your hands,” Eve said, confident that Coyle didn’t present a danger to anyone right now. She saw the CSU van moving in. “Is there anything you want to tell us about before we start going through your house?”
“I didn’t put the toilet seat down and I might not have flushed the last time I used it,” Coyle said. “We’re in a drought, you know, and I’m doing my part. I wasn’t expecting guests. Sorry about that.”
“Where are the keys to your car?”
“On the kitchen counter,” Coyle said. “Oh, and if you’re done admiring my physique, could you bring me some clothes?”
She liked that he wasn’t comfortable being nearly naked in front of her and his second attempt to sexualize the situation didn’t give her any incentive to make him feel any better. In fact, it encouraged her to prolong his discomfort.
Eve glanced at Ross. “Put Mr. Coyle in the back seat of a patrol car where he’ll be warm and can protect his modesty.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Eve went back into the house to start looking for evidence. The kitchen and living room were basically one space separated by a countertop. There was a pink easy chair, a bloated black vinyl recliner, a 1970s-era couch, an antique coffee table, and stacks of DVDs piled on the floor in front of a big-screen TV that was almost as wide as the trailer.
She went back to Coyle’s bedroom and regarded his collection of Planet of the Apes posters and lobby cards as she put on her gloves. The artwork was all from the original movies from the late 1960s and early ’70s, not the later remakes. It was still a kid’s room and not a man’s bedroom.
There was a T-shirt, jeans, and socks on the floor beside the bed and some loose change, half a roll of breath mints, and a wallet on the bureau. The mirrored sliding closet door was open a crack and Eve saw the toe of a hiking boot on the floor inside.
She slid open the door to get a better look at the boot but was distracted by what was hanging among the shirts and jackets inside: a big, furry ape suit, complete from head to toe. It didn’t look like a real ape but rather one of the distinctive “ape men” from the original Planet of the Apes movie.
Now Eve knew that she actually saw a beast on the hill: it was Coyle in this costume. This proved it, but only to her, because she didn’t tell anybody else what she saw up there. That was a mistake. Because she’d been afraid of being mocked, now the suit was simply a bizarre discovery rather than a key piece of evidence.
Why did he come back for his sleeping bag in an ape suit? Was he wearing it when he was watching the house? Was he wearing it during the murders?
“That’s bizarre,” Nan said.
Eve turned to see Nan standing behind her, all suited up in Tyvek and carrying a camera and an evidence collection case.
“Have you ever come across someone obsessed with apes before?” Eve asked, stepping aside to give Nan a better look at it.
“Nope, but I’m willing to bet my salary that there’s traces of semen in that suit.”
“Yuck,” Eve said.
“But that’s only hypothetical because I can’t test it. An ape costume is not among the items listed in your warrant.”
“Did you find any
unidentified fibers at the crime scene that might have come from this costume?”
Although the ape suit wasn’t explicitly covered in the warrant, the collection of fibers from the suspect’s home that might match fibers collected at the crime scene was within the broad scope of the search.
“Not that I’m aware of,” Nan said. “But we’ll collect a fiber from it just in case.”
Eve squatted beside the pair of hiking boots, picked up one of them, and showed Nan the tread. “Does this look familiar to you?”
“Yes, it does. These are definitely the same shoes the killer wore in Tanya’s house, but that doesn’t mean it’s the shoes. We won’t know until we examine them for any fluids or carpet fibers unique to the crime scene.”
Eve set the shoe back down where she found it, stood up, and moved to the bureau, where she began opening drawers while Nan photographed the closet. The warrant gave them the authority to look for anything that might tie Coyle to the crime scene, from something as large and obvious as the murder weapon and bloody shoes to anything that might have belonged to the victims or come from the home, including blood, hair, fibers, and other material.
The top drawers were filled with underwear and socks. The bottom drawer was filled with small knickknacks and souvenirs of all kinds, including a Golden Gate Bridge key chain, a SpongeBob pencil eraser, a clamshell, a pearl earring, ceramic chopsticks, a pocket watch, a miniature Chinese teacup, a dream catcher earring, a Space Needle spoon, a gold tie clip, a hula girl shot glass, a mood ring, and a souvenir chip from the Berlin Wall.
“I’ve seen that earring before,” Nan said, looking over Eve’s shoulder.
“Which one?”
“The dream catcher,” Nan said. “It’s part of a set. There was one just like it in Tanya’s bedroom.”
“He kept it as a souvenir?”
“It’s possible. If it’s hers, we might be able to get her DNA from it.”
Eve felt a flutter of excitement in her chest, not only because this could tie Coyle to the house, but it also cast everything in the drawer in a new light. Now she wondered where everything else in the drawer came from.
Nan read the expression on her face. “We’ll take pictures of every item in the drawer and log it all.”
“Thanks,” Eve said.
“It’s what we do,” Nan said.
A thought occurred to Eve. She left the room, squeezed past another CSU tech in the hall, and went into the kitchen, where she started opening the cupboards and drawers. The pantry was full of canned foods, like chili and SpaghettiOs, boxes of sugary breakfast cereal, a canister of Pringles, a box of Ritz crackers, and an opened box of Oreo cookies.
She opened the doors under the sink, took out the garbage can, and began carefully sorting through it. There were empty soft drink and beer cans, fast-food wrappers from Taco Bell, some fried chicken bones, and a greasy, torn box from KFC.
Duncan came up behind her. “Found anything?”
She put the garbage can back under the sink and stood up. “You need to go see Coyle’s bedroom closet.”
“What for?”
“I don’t want to ruin the surprise.”
He headed down the hall and she went into the living room, squatted down in front of the TV, and began examining his stacks of DVDs. His collection included a lot of porn, a lot of action movies, and every Planet of the Apes film, the Planet of the Apes TV series box set, and all the episodes of the Return to the Planet of the Apes Saturday morning cartoon.
She picked up his DVD of the first Planet of the Apes movie, the one starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall. The box was worn and scratched. When she opened it up, the disc fell out, the clips that held it in place broken off long ago.
“Wow, an ape suit, that’s a first,” Duncan said, coming up beside her. “But being an ape freak isn’t a crime. We need something that links him to the murders.”
“The treads of his hiking boots match the prints CSU lifted from the scene and he has an earring that could be half of a matched set that belonged to Tanya.”
“I was hoping for something more definitive like the knife, some bloody clothes, or a Hefty trash bag full of body parts.” Duncan squatted beside her and picked up one of the DVDs off the floor. “I don’t think Gangbang on the Planet of the Apes is part of the official canon, in case you were wondering.”
“What I’m wondering is why I don’t see the first Planet of the Apes DVD that he bought at Walmart. The only one here is this old one.” Eve held up the box in her hand. “I also don’t see the Doritos or the Ding Dongs. They aren’t in the kitchen and the wrappers aren’t in the trash.”
“How about bananas? You’d think he’d have a bunch of those.”
Eve ignored the remark. “You don’t think it’s odd that they aren’t here?”
Duncan sighed and rose to his feet, one of his knees cracking. “He could have eaten the Doritos and Ding Dongs Wednesday night and tossed the wrappers with everything else he got rid of.”
“What about the DVD?”
“He could have given it to somebody as a gift,” Duncan said, rubbing his right knee. “Maybe there was a birthday at the office or something. You’re focusing on niggly stuff that doesn’t matter and you’re missing the big picture.”
“I’ve got a picture for you,” Nan said. Eve and Duncan turned to see Nan carrying a tiny digital camera in her gloved hand. The camera was neon pink and made for a child, who’d decorated it with stickers of flowers and butterflies. “I found this under his bed.”
Eve and Duncan went over to her.
“He’s a little old for a toy like that,” Duncan said.
“I don’t think it’s his.” Nan turned the camera, showed the screen to Eve and Duncan, and pressed an arrow-shaped button that enabled her to scroll through the images.
There was Cleve in a bathing suit on a swim dock at a lake, throwing a jubilant Troy into the water . . . Troy licking a melting ice cream cone . . . Caitlin in a bathing suit, grimacing as a wet golden retriever shook itself off next to her . . . Cleve and Troy roasting marshmallows over a campfire.
Eve didn’t need to see more. It was Caitlin’s camera. It had to be.
She looked at Duncan. “Definitive enough for you?”
“It will do for now,” he said.
She knew what he meant. The camera proved Coyle stole something from Tanya’s house, but it didn’t prove that he killed the family. But it was certainly enough to put him in a cell while they looked for more evidence.
“Can you hold up that camera for me?” Eve asked. Nan did as instructed and Eve took a picture of the camera with her phone. “Thanks. Please send me the photos from the memory card as soon as you can.”
“I’ll be glad to,” Nan said.
Eve started to go and then had another thought. “I’d also appreciate a rush on the DNA test from that urine sample collected on the hill.”
Duncan winced, and Eve knew immediately that she’d made some kind of mistake, but she didn’t know what it was.
Nan lifted her chin and looked down her nose at Eve. “I got your message about the piss the first time you asked.”
“I’m sorry—” Eve began, but Nan cut her off.
“My team is meticulous and thorough, Detective. That’s why the evidence we collect is strong and holds up in court. We’ll go as fast as we can, but when you rush, you make mistakes. I don’t rush.”
“Understood,” Eve said, pocketing her phone.
“I’m aware of the urgency of every investigation and I’m capable of prioritizing the processing of the evidence that we collect accordingly.”
“I didn’t mean to suggest otherwise.”
“Uh-huh,” Nan said. “I’d appreciate it if you’d hurry up and arrest the suspect. Oh, and when you do, be sure to read him his rights.”
Eve held up her hands in surrender. “Point made.”
Actually, the point had already been made three times before, but Eve feared Nan might go o
n to make it a fourth and fifth time if she didn’t firmly declare defeat and display her submission.
Eve lowered her hands, walked outside, and went straight to the patrol car where Ross was standing guard over Coyle.
She opened the back door of the patrol car. “Get out.”
Coyle got up and stood in front of the open door. “You didn’t bring me something to wear. I feel naked out here like this.”
“I’m sure you’d prefer your ape suit.”
“That would be nice,” Coyle said. “Be a good girl and go get it, then we can take a selfie.”
“Should we use Caitlin’s camera?” Eve asked. Coyle didn’t have a comeback for that, though she waited one long second for one, looking him in the eye. “You’re under arrest for the murders of Tanya Kenworth, Caitlin Kenworth, and Troy Kenworth. Turn around and place your hands behind your back.”
Coyle did as he was told and Eve slapped on the cuffs.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
After Eve read him his rights, Coyle cheerily invoked his right to remain silent as if he were ordering a Happy Meal. She put him back in the patrol car but she didn’t rush to have him taken to the station for booking. Duncan’s comment about the evidence troubled her.
It’ll do for now.
Eve went over to Duncan, who stood outside the door to the trailer. “Would you mind taking Coyle through booking and processing?”
“I’d be glad to,” he said.
“But before you do, I’d like you to work your smoke and mirrors again on the ADA and a judge. Do you think, based on finding Tanya’s earring and Caitlin’s camera in his place, that you can get a warrant to swab Coyle’s genitals for traces of DNA from his victims?”
“That won’t be a problem. Are you thinking that Coyle raped Tanya and things got out of hand?”
She shrugged. “We don’t have a motive yet for the break-in and murders. Rape could be it and her DNA could tie him physically to one of the victims if we don’t find their bodies.”
“At the very least, the swabbing process will humiliate him, which might yield some benefits,” he said. “You sure you don’t want to be there for it?”
