“I never liked that no one cared about Delilah,” Justine said. “The cops just figured that Negro prostitutes got what’s coming to them. They never even bothered to look at who might have done it.”
“The files show their lack of interest,” Seth said. “You should know that, since that time, the City of New York has tried, on a number of occasions, to determine what happened to Delmer and Delilah. They’ve posted awards and even paid for Mitch and me to consult with their Cold Case Division.”
“Did you solve it?” Billie whispered.
“I might have if I’d had all of this information,” Seth said. “I didn’t even know that their throats were cut. The file says they were beaten to death. R.J. told us that no white mobster could have gotten away with beating to death an African-American bouncer and a dancing girl at the Savoy. Someone would have stopped him.”
Seth shrugged.
“This makes a lot more sense,” Seth said. “Who buried Delilah and Delmer?”
“Di,” Louise said. “She paid the coroner for the bodies and the burial. We all went.”
“But not Panteli?” Seth asked.
Louise shook her head. The room became heavy with malignant sorrow. Lost in their own thoughts, the woman looked down at the ground.
“What did the knife look like?” Claire asked.
Billie and Louise described the exact knife that had flown at them from the cubbyhole.
“Know it?” Ruby asked.
“We just found a knife that looks like that,” Seth said. “In Carl’s apartment.”
“See,” Justine said. She looked at the other women. “I told you. Di would never have gotten rid of that knife. She kept it for insurance.”
“From whom?” Seth asked.
“Panteli Jr.,” Ruby said at the same time that Louise said, “That possessed child.”
Rather than respond, the women nodded. They fell into an uncomfortable silence. They seemed relieved when Seth and Claire thanked their host and her friends. At the door, Louise hugged Seth.
“You’ll work this out,” Louise said.
“I will do my best,” Seth said. “Thank you. It takes great courage to look at the past with clear eyes. I am grateful to all of you.”
Louise nodded.
“I just have one more thing,” Seth said. “Think about talking to the police. My friend Oscar is in Di’s old apartment right now. I can hear his voice. He will not ignore you or make you feel dumb. His mother was a prostitute during the war, too. He will have only respect for you. As I do.”
Louise said nothing in reply. She hugged R.J. and closed the door. Standing in the hallway, Seth watched the chaos of forensic services in Carl’s apartment. He looked at the door to Che’Linda’s apartment, where Bernice was resting.
“Well?” Seth asked Claire and R.J.
“We thought you might know what to do next,” Claire said with a laugh.
“Do you still have the Filofax?” Seth asked.
Claire pulled it from the band at the back of her skirt. Seth nodded.
“I think that’s next,” Seth said. He looked at R.J. “Do you think we can get home without getting into trouble?”
“Maybe,” R.J. said with a grin.
“I love your optimism,” Seth said.
They took the elevator to the lobby. They had just stepped out of the Bethune Towers when Seth’s phone rang.
“Seth!” Ava said. “I can only talk for a minute.”
Seth stopped walking. Claire’s scowl asked who was calling. He mouthed “Ava.” Claire nodded and moved away to give him some space.
“Go,” Seth said.
“Seurat sent you letters from prison,” Ava said.
“Spammy and Squishy called earlier today,” Seth said.
“Good — then you know,” Ava said.
She stopped talking.
“I know that there are some number of letters from a psychopath. I’ve never read them,” Seth said to encourage her to speak. “Seems like a good thing for my mental health. I don’t think I’ve even seen them. Did you have to read them?”
“That’s why I’m allowed to call,” Ava said.
She fell quiet again. He could only hear her breathing. He was about to speak when she cleared her throat.
“Listen,” Ava said. “We found a code in the letters.”
“The man has the IQ of something like 35,” Seth said. “It can’t be much of a code.”
“I’ll just read what we found,” Ava said. “I am coming for you and your missus this time. One last before hell. You’ll never see me coming.”
“Well, isn’t that exciting,” Seth said.
“Seth!” Ava said. “Your life is in grave danger. He confesses to being there when the raven was killed. In fact, we think every letter is a confession of a murder! He’s very dangerous. And you were just held hostage.”
“I have a lot to tell you,” Seth said.
“Seth! You cannot be working this case!” Ava said.
“I’m not,” Seth said.
“Then what are you doing?” Ava asked.
“I’m working on Delmer and Delilah,” Seth said, sheepishly. “We found something important. Oscar and his team are bringing it in.”
“Promise me that you’ll be very careful,” Ava said.
“Yes, ma’am,” Seth said. “You, too. Listen, Panteli Jr. seems to be Seurat’s father and in the center of all of this.”
“According to the NYPD, he’s gone missing,” Ava said.
“Just watch your six, Ava,” Seth said with a grin. “I’m not there to watch it for you.”
Ava laughed at his suggestive tone. Special Agent Lithus’s voice could be heard in the background, and Ava cleared her throat.
“I’m heading home now,” Seth said. “R.J. and Claire are with me. We’ll stay in.”
“Good,” Ava said. “I’ll do the same.”
“Oh, I got a cat,” Seth said, lightly.
“A cat?” Ava’s voice rose with surprise.
The line went dead. A moment later, Ava texted.
“Spammy.”
“It figures,” Seth said out loud.
He was about to put his new cell phone away when he looked at it. R.J. grabbed the phone from Seth’s hand. R.J. took out the battery, stepped on the phone, and threw the whole thing into a nearby trashcan.
“Thanks,” Seth said. After updating Claire and R.J. with what Ava had said, he said, “What’s our best option to get home in one piece? We’ve got the mob to look out for, Seurat’s wife, and anyone who admires the guy.”
“Subway,” R.J. said.
“Mob still in the taxi union?” Seth asked.
R.J. nodded.
“What about one of those services?” Claire asked.
“You never know who you get,” R.J. said. “They could be waiting for us to call right now. We’re best on the subway, where there’s lots of anonymous people around.”
Seth nodded, and they started toward the nearest subway station.
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Twenty-Two
After sending a text to Seth, Ava scowled at Special Agent Stan A. Lithus. He pointed at her scowl.
“None of that,” Special Agent Lithus said. “You’re sequestered. It was generous of me to let you call him at all.”
“Right,” Ava said. “Telling my husband that his life was in danger is really big of you.”
“He’s the great O’Malley,” Special Agent Lithus said. “He was in Củ Chi, or so he says.”
Ava took a step toward Special Agent Lithus but was restrained by Nelson. She saw Special Agent Curtis lift an eyebrow at Federal Agent Lithus. Bob stepped between her and Federal Agent Lithus. Nelson turned Ava around, and they walked down away from the scene.
“I’m done,” Ava said. “I can’t do any more.”
Nelson looked at his watch and said, “I think we’re all done. Your room?”
“Give me fifteen minutes to
shower,” Ava said.
Nelson nodded. He walked Ava to her room and disappeared. Ava took a fast shower. Unable to face real clothing, she changed into her flannel pajamas, opened her door a crack, and sat on the couch. She was there only a moment before Nelson and Leslie arrived, bearing gifts. Nelson brought his magnificent microwave popcorn, and Leslie had a warm pan of box-mix brownies. The brownies were made in the microwave, so they were high on one side and flat on the other. Fran came a moment later with a large pepperoni pizza.
“Spammy’s feeling guilty,” Fran said. “He ordered this for everyone.”
“And you only got one?” Ava asked.
“Bob has another one,” Fran said with a wink. “I’ll be right back.”
Bob came in as Fran was leaving. He was carrying a pizza and a smaller box on top.
“This is a special gift from our beloved Spammy to you,” Bob said.
“Does it explode?” Ava asked.
Bob grinned.
“Special Agent Curtis ripped Spammy a new one,” Bob said.
The younger people in the room gawked at him.
“What?” Bob asked. “Don’t people say that anymore?”
“Not really,” Nelson said.
“Why would that be?” Bob asked. He gave the small box to Nelson.
“It’s a little graphic,” Leslie said with a nod.
“Gross,” Ava said.
Bob shrugged.
“Chocolate cake,” Nelson said, peering into the box. “Enough for all of us to have a bite.”
“Perfect,” Ava said with a grin.
“Herr Spams-a-lot is very sorry for maligning your husband,” Bob said. “He said that he was just, and I quote, ‘tired.’ Turns out Special Agent Curtis is a bit of an O’Malley expert. He was reciting off things that I’d never heard before.”
“Oh yeah?” Ava sneered, not willing to give up her anger. “Like what?”
“Like Seth has single-handedly brought home more MIA soldiers than anyone else,” Bob said. “I knew that he worked that detail, but I had no idea.”
“He’s friends with Nguyễn Làm Chinh, now, you know after the Carving Knife case?” Ava asked. Everyone nodded that they knew what she was talking about. “Together, they’ve found all kinds of people. Seth even found a mass grave of North Vietnamese. He’s been working in Afghanistan, too. Buried train cars full of people. He consulted with a team to find a few mass graves from the Soviet days. It’s important to him that people’s remains are returned to their families because his brother Saul was lost to him for such a long time.”
“That’s what Special Agent Curtis said,” Bob said. “He also said that if Spammy wanted to go into the Củ Chi tunnels, he’d take him right now. Because he was sure that Spammy didn’t have the balls to do it. Even now when it’s just a museum.”
“Wow,” Ava said.
“Spammy apologized and told me to apologize to you,” Bob said. “I honestly think he feels like he screwed up. And . . .”
“And?” Ava asked.
“I know you don’t want to hear this, but he really is under tremendous pressure,” Bob said. “He’s got a lot of people to manage, and the pressure coming down is hard and swift. That Special Agent Curtis is only here to look over his shoulder. Even that’s a lot of pressure.”
“I understand what you’re saying, Bob,” Ava said. “But he acts like it’s Seth’s fault that we have to do this.”
“He does act like that,” Leslie said.
“It’s possible that he thinks that,” Bob said.
“But look at what’s happening,” Nelson said. “At every turn, we’re finding that Seth and Mitch did their jobs and that this whole thing is some kind of last chance to show off.”
“He’s right,” Leslie said. “The new forensic findings are only finding more evidence that Seurat is guilty, not less. And no one’s tricked by this change in his blood. They were able to get a court order for his physical specimen and took a bone core from his hip, hair, fingernails, skin, and semen. Someone from the CBI left right after lunch. They should be back by now. With everyone geared up to do DNA, it’s probably already started. Plus, they’ve added the Goon’s murder, since he confessed to it in the letters. They’ve already talked to the Goon’s family and have permission to bring him up again. They’re pretty sure they’ll find Seurat’s DNA on the Goon’s remains.”
“They have a team of cryptographers coming in from the CIA to look at those letters,” Nelson said.
“Seth says that Seurat’s IQ is low, really low. Seth said ‘35.’” Ava said.
“Yeah, but Seth also beat Kaczynski at chess,” Nelson said.
“I was just thinking that,” Leslie said. “Anyone know what Seurat’s IQ is?”
“92 on first testing; 87 last year,” Nelson said, reading from his laptop computer. “Serial killers are not that bright in general. You know, we think of 100 as average. Most serial killers are less than that and even that’s skewed by McVeigh at 145 and Kaczynski’s IQ of 165. Before you ask, the mean IQ for serial killers is 95 with a median of 89. The IQ of serial killers who use multiple methods to kill is 98. But Seurat was disorganized. These crimes have so much of his DNA on them because he was so filthy.”
“92 or 87,” Ava said. “ That’s well below average. How can the code be so hard?”
“It’s likely he had help,” Bob said. “Imagine how many prisoners would love a chance to get an appeal under the guise that Seth had botched their investigation, too? Seurat would be the hero of his cell block.”
“You know, he wrote most of those letters when he was in the general population,” Nelson said. “They stopped when he was sent to an ADX.”
“So that fits,” Leslie said, gesturing to Bob. “He goes into solitary and can’t work the code.”
“Now there’s a cheery thought,” Ava said, bleakly.
“I insist that we eat,” Bob said. “The food is warm, and the company is good. We can talk about all of this when we’re full and buzzed.”
Bob held out a paper plate with pizza on it, and Ava took it. Bob passed out pizza. A few minutes later, Fran came in.
“You will not believe this,” Fran said.
Everyone turned to look at her.
“O’Malley and his friends found the murder weapon,” Fran said. “Of Delbert and Delilah?”
“What murder weapon?” Bob asked. “I thought they were beaten to death.”
“Turns out that Panteli Jr. beat Delilah and her brother, but our very own Cigarette Killer slit their throats,” Fran said.
“That’s impossible,” Ava said. “He was something like five years old.”
“Four years old and some change,” Fran said. “The knife has his fingerprints. There’s blood on the blade and up in the handle. They’re confident that this is the weapon that was used to kill Delilah and Delmer.”
“How could they possibly know that?” Ava asked.
“Seth found some witnesses who were there that night. He convinced them to testify,” Fran said. “So forensics is working the site when these women come in. They say that they want to give testimony about what happened to their friend Delilah and her brother. 1, 2, 3, and there are four witnesses. So Spammy looks even worse tonight. We should all say a little prayer for our friend Spammy. He may be looking for a job soon.”
Ava scowled. She fell silent as the others talked. Fran took a bottle of red wine out of her purse, and Bob got out what was left of the bourbon. Ava ate pizza and drank wine while she listened to her friends chat. To her surprise, she started to feel a little better after eating.
“So where are we with our puzzles?” Ava asked after everyone’s eating slowed and they were all comfortably relaxed.
“We should know in the morning if Seurat did something to change the DNA of his blood. My guess is that he had a bone-marrow transplant, but we haven’t found any documentation to confirm that,” Leslie said. “But forensically, everything indicates that he did. These witnesses
of Seth’s remember Seurat as having a blood disease when he was child. He was very sick. Jail records state that they were keeping him alive with weekly blood transfusions. So it’s likely that he needed a bone marrow transplant.”
“This wife of his is actually his cousin,” Nelson said.
“According to the witnesses in Delilah’s case, Seurat was Panteli Jr.’s kid,” Fran said with a nod.
“The NYPD gave us open access to their site,” Nelson said. “I was able to pull down the wife’s DNA and it’s definitely a familial match to Seurat’s old DNA. So you have to ask yourself — is the Panteli family behind Seurat’s new found denial of what he once was so proud of?”
“I wonder if this knife is why,” Ava said. “Let’s say Panteli Jr. knows that Di has a weapon that can incriminate him in this old murder.”
“Not him — Seurat,” Bob said.
“I guess that’s one thing we have to figure out,” Ava said. “Why is Panteli Jr. interested now?”
“We could ask him, but he seems to have disappeared,” Nelson said.
“What?” Ava asked.
“According to the NYPD, the Panteli family put in a missing person’s report. He simply disappeared and is presumed dead. And get this.”
Nelson leaned forward.
“According to our friend in forensics, Inspector Dekay, Panteli Jr. is supposed to have picked up Seth,” Nelson said. “I saw the tape. This old guy is questioning Seth in an interrogation room. Seth doesn’t seem to know what he’s talking about. The more the guy escalates, the more Seth laughs. Seth seems quite high, by the way.”
“Shit,” Ava said.
“Seems to be something Panteli Jr. gave him, so maybe that doesn’t count against sobriety,” Nelson said.
“Time will tell,” Ava said.
Leslie and Fran gave Ava sympathetic looks.
“Anyway, someone says something out in the hall,” Nelson said. “Panteli Jr. says something like, ‘What?’ and goes to look. That’s the last time he’s seen. He’s not on any other surveillance video. Nothing. And no one’s seen him, and he hasn’t used his credit cards or bank accounts. He’s just gone.”
“Weird,” Leslie said.
The Cigarette Killer Page 17
