Blood Reckoning

by C. M. Sutter

  When I heard doors open and close, I glanced back at the scene. The county ME, Dave Mann, had arrived. There wasn’t too much of a guess about Erik’s time of death, which had happened within the last half hour or so, but there was a chance that before he took the body back to the autopsy room, Dave could tell us something about the weapon used. I returned my focus to the 911 caller, Don Reddig, who said he took the early-evening bus to work every night. That time was no different than any other until he saw the blood pool next to the man he thought was sleeping. He said he called 911 immediately and backed out of the shelter.

  “Did you see anyone milling around the shelter as if they were there to watch what was unfolding?” Renz asked.

  Don shook his head. “I was so alarmed, I didn’t even notice. I was just hoping the police would arrive before anyone else stepped into the shelter.”

  “Did anybody walk out of the shelter when you approached it?” I asked.

  “No, and I only passed one person who was walking toward me on the sidewalk.”

  “Can you describe that person?”

  Don frowned at Renz. “Sorry, but no. He was wearing a gray hoodie. That’s all I remember.”

  “Okay, that helps.” I glanced at both sides of the street and saw plenty of opportunity for cameras that might face the bus shelter. I excused myself and went to talk to the rest of our team and the officers who were already there. As far as I was concerned, the local precinct should have their detectives follow up on camera footage. We needed to focus entirely on finding out who’d killed Erik and the others. In my opinion, the people calling the shots were eliminating their own to keep them from talking if they were ever apprehended. That meant Cole and Lucas, wherever they were, were likely in imminent danger too.

  I called Taft, updated her on what we had, and gave her my suggestion about having local detectives work the camera end of the investigation. I told her that a man wearing a gray hoodie had walked toward Don Reddig as he approached the shelter and could be a person of interest. She said she would call the district’s police chief and give him our recommendations.

  After hanging up, I headed toward Dave. Renz met me at the shelter and said he’d given Don his card in case he remembered anything more.

  I pointed my chin at the ME. “Know anything, Dave? Is it a gunshot?”

  “Nope. No stippling or gunshot burns on the clothing, and from how the wounds are shaped, I’d go with a large knife as the weapon.”

  “Wounds? There was more than one?”

  “I’ve found two entry spots where the blood is heaviest on the sweatshirt. One between the ribs and into his left lung, likely to disable him quickly, and the other right into his left kidney.”

  “So the killer sat on his left side as if he were another rider waiting for the bus?” Renz asked.

  “That’s the way I see it.”

  “Okay, good. If that man in the gray hoodie was actually in the shelter and sitting on Erik’s left side, and nobody else entered or exited, then we know he’s the killer. There’s a chance that the cameras along Downer might be able to follow him to a house or a car,” I said.

  “What are we going to do about that?” Renz asked.

  “Maureen is taking care of it since we already have our hands full with this investigation.” I turned to Dave. “We’re going to need his cell phone.”

  “There isn’t one, only his wallet and some change.”

  “Damn it. Then we need to bag whatever is in his pockets and take it back with us.”

  Dave took care of that and handed the bag to me.

  “Thanks.” I pulled Renz aside. “Have you noticed anyone in the area showing too much interest?”

  He shook his head. “I’ve already thought about that and told the rest of the gang to watch the crowd. So far, the onlookers seem like typical gawkers.”

  “Okay. I think a few of us should head back. Maureen said the phone warrants are in. We need to start comparing them to each other. It’s the only way to get leverage. If we find something incriminating from the fifth of May or first thing the morning of the sixth that’s between the attorney, the assistant, and the mayor, well, that’s real evidence that they’re hiding something. First one to cough up the truth gets the best deal. Ten lives were lost because of whatever that truth is.”

  Renz rounded up our team and told Tommy and Fay to come with us. The rest stayed at the scene to help out as necessary. Taft would call Kyle as soon as she wanted them back.

  Chapter 45

  “Looks like Agent Monroe and a few others are leaving.” Jacob stared out the windshield with interest.

  He and Evelyn sat in the car across the street in a food market parking lot and watched the commotion unfold. The police buzzed around like a swarm of bees, and when the FBI showed up and took over the scene, the police surrendered their command and adopted the role of lowly minions.

  Evelyn huffed. “The typical chain of command like in all things. It’s time for the little guy to stand up for what’s right, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

  “Amen to that, honey. We probably have a long night ahead of us since Agent Monroe is getting into that cruiser with the other three. She doesn’t appear to be going home yet. We’re going to need someone else to watch her until she leaves for the night and then follow her home. I’ll call Micah as soon as they arrive at wherever they’re going. He can take over after that. We have too much to do tonight, and it’s imperative we get it done without interruptions. Payback will begin tonight to those who deserve it.”

  Jacob pulled out of the lot and followed several car lengths behind the cruiser as it headed south. Once they reached the southern suburbs of Milwaukee, he was pretty certain of the agents’ final destination. He’d done his research. They were going back to the FBI headquarters in St. Francis, and he would tell Micah to meet them across the street from the entrance to the compound. Jacob would forward Jade’s photograph to Micah’s cell phone so he’d know exactly who to follow. After that, they’d part ways, and he, Evelyn, Cole, and Lucas would meet on the block where the attorney lived. That night, two more people would be checked off their kill list.

  Chapter 46

  We were back at our headquarters by seven o’clock. With our supper of vending machine sandwiches in front of us, we sat at the conference room table with the printed-out phone records belonging to Michael Kent, Julie Beckett, and Douglas Blake. We were about to compare all the records from the beginning of May until the present. With records for the mayor, attorney, and assistant spread out before us, we looked for any matching phone numbers and connections. We’d circle every number that showed up on the records as matching the written ones. We needed to make a connection between the three on the same dates and relatively close to the same times. That would give us the connection, but to what, we still didn’t know. By playing one person against the other, though, we were sure somebody would talk.

  It didn’t take long to find that a flurry of calls to each other had come in after eleven p.m. on May fifth. The above-average number of calls lasted through the next few days then tapered off to a typical level between the mayor and Julie Beckett and less frequently between the mayor and the attorney.

  I leaned back and stared at the ceiling. “It’s obvious that the attorney and the assistant made something disappear that the mayor didn’t want to go public. After the second week of May until now, there aren’t any calls between the two. Douglas Blake and Julie Beckett worked hand in hand during that time but not again since.”

  “Yeah, great. Now all we have to do is find out what they were covering up for the mayor,” Tommy said.

  “Whatever the mayor did was bad enough to cause someone to commit murder, including murdering the mayor’s own daughter. Wouldn’t you think he’d be forthright about knowledge of possible suspects?” I asked.

  Renz rubbed his chin. “Not if it incriminated him. Think about it. The Kent’s are one of the most well-known families in the entire state
. Not only is there the family legacy to uphold, but they’re wealthy, influential, and he’s the city mayor for God’s sake. So—”

  “So not revealing the people who killed his daughter, his attorney’s mother-in-law, and his personal assistant’s dearest friend is worth keeping quiet over?” Fay shook her head. “What is this world coming to?”

  I tapped the sheet of phone records in front of me. “I’m thinking it’s about self-preservation. All three of them could end up in prison for whatever the crime was. Were there text messages, too, or just the phone records?”

  “No text messages that we can find right now,” Renz said. “They’ve all been deleted. It’ll take time to pull them back. At least, that’s what John in Tech told Maureen.”

  “Damn it. Okay, what’s bad enough to murder for?” I asked.

  Fay spoke up first. “Money, betrayal, and causing the death of a loved one.”

  I looked at Renz and Tommy. “You guys have anything to add to that?”

  “Well, there’s several kinds of betrayal, as in marriage betrayal and business betrayal,” Renz said.

  “True, but what Fay just said makes me curious.”

  “Which part?” Tommy asked.

  “About causing the death of a loved one. The mayor has more money than God, and his extended family has already tried to extort money out of the will. That didn’t go anywhere. Michael Kent doesn’t have a business partner per se, and Marie wouldn’t be a likely candidate for an extramarital affair. She’s pushing sixty and not at all sexy if you ask me.”

  “So, the mayor goes to the fundraiser and, what, drinks too much?” Fay asked.

  Tommy nodded. “Yeah, Paul said he had to cut him off before the end of the night.”

  “Right,” Renz said. “So he leaves drunk late at night but only has a few miles between Silver Shores and his house. It would be easy enough to see if there were any accidents reported along that stretch of road that night.”

  “But we’ve checked the mayor’s driving record, and nothing came up,” Fay said. “He’s never been arrested for anything.”

  Renz slapped the table so hard I felt the vibration. “That’s it! That’s the cover-up. He hit somebody with his car when he was drunk and caused either their death or irreversible injuries. The victim was either in a car, or they were a pedestrian who was hit by the mayor’s vehicle. There’s no other explanation.” Renz jerked his chin toward me. “Pull up Michael Kent’s DMV records and see what kind of vehicle he owns.”

  I did and saw that he owned two cars, a 2018 BMW 5-series sedan and a 2019 Volvo wagon. “I’d put my money on him being the driver of the BMW. The mayor has to look sharp in public. Marie looks more like a Volvo wagon driver.”

  “Either way, if he had a damaged car and needed to get it repaired under the radar, then he likely had Doug or Julie pay for it with their own credit card and then gave them cash. We need to check their bank records then pull up Carfax reports on both the BMW and the Volvo.”

  “On it,” Tommy said. “I’ll check the Carfax, and Fay, you pull up Julie and Doug’s bank records and check for any payment going to an automobile repair shop.”

  I was excited and felt we were close to solving the mystery—at lease about the cover-up, but we still needed to find out who the person was that the mayor had wronged.

  After paying to see the report, Tommy entered the BMW’s VIN into the Carfax website. “I’ve got it! There was a front-end repair made on the sixth of May at the BMW dealership in Whitefish Bay. The report shows the car is owned by Marie Claremont Kent.”

  “Marie’s maiden name probably throws people off, and they don’t realize she’s the mayor’s wife,” Fay said.

  I added my opinion. “And I bet the vehicles are in her name because the mayor is a high-risk driver due to his drinking problem.”

  Renz high-fived us. “Okay, let’s tie all of this together and see who paid the bill.”

  I offered to pull up the lawyer’s bank records while Fay pulled up Julie’s. “The payment might not show up until June’s billing cycle, so check June too.”

  Fay nodded as we both tapped our laptop keyboards and pulled up the bank statements. I scrolled through Doug’s payments made via check, credit card, and debit card through May—nothing to the BMW dealership.

  Fay yelled out. “Here it is! Julie Beckett made a debit card transaction to the BMW dealership in Whitefish Bay on the sixth of May.”

  “Okay, just to cover our asses, make sure she doesn’t own a BMW herself,” Renz said.

  I pulled up her DMV records and saw that she owned a two-year-old Lexus SUV. “Nope, no BMW listed for her.”

  Renz reached for the landline phone on the table. “Time to question the three of them again. Their choice—either the nearest police station or in their home, but somebody is going to tell us what we want to know tonight.”

  Chapter 47

  “Are you in place?”

  “Yes. We’re in the bushes along his garage. How soon should we expect you?”

  Jacob glanced at the map on his phone. “We’re following him, and he’s only two blocks from his house. We’ll be there in a minute. As soon as he pulls into the garage, slip in and grab him out of the car. Don’t let him yell or honk the horn, so move fast. Evelyn and I will take care of the rest.”

  “Got it. We won’t let you down.”

  Jacob stopped and waited at the end of the block as Douglas Blake turned in to his driveway. Once the attorney’s vehicle cleared the garage door, Jacob pulled ahead and parked two houses away. He and Evelyn exited the car, rushed to the garage, and ducked under the door. When they saw that Douglas was restrained by Cole and Lucas, Jacob nodded to Evelyn. She crossed the garage and pressed the button on the wall, lowering the overhead.

  Jacob walked to the writhing man and asked if he knew who he was.

  “Of course I don’t know who you are, you psycho! What do you want from me? My money, my car? Take them both, just leave me alone.”

  Jacob punched Douglas in the gut, doubling the man over. He gasped for air.

  “Your money and car mean nothing to us. The only thing I want from you is your life. I want to watch you die. You covered up the mayor’s sins, and his life went on. You denied he did anything wrong on the night of May fifth. You helped hide all evidence of his crime, and he walked away scot-free. Five long months have passed, and my wife and I thought about how we would avenge the deaths you caused. The only way was to make you suffer the same pain we felt and end your life as well. It’s God’s plan. We’ve prayed over it for months, and righteousness will prevail.”

  “What the hell are you talking about, all this religious blabbering? I have money and expensive watches in the house. You can have it all. Just leave me alone.”

  “Material things mean nothing to us. You’ve already taken our most precious assets.” Jacob closed in until he was only inches from the attorney. Evelyn joined Jacob and stood at his side. With a quick glance at Cole, Jacob nodded, and Cole pulled back Douglas’s head. Jacob slid his knife out of its sheath, and it glistened from the garage’s overhead light.

  “No, no! You can’t kill me. I’ll give you anything you want.”

  “You’ve already taken everything we’ve ever wanted.” With a swift swipe, Jacob slashed the attorney’s neck wide open. He moved aside as the blood sprayed outward with every heartbeat Douglas had left. Within a minute, the man went limp, and Cole let him fall to the floor.

  “God’s will was done. Grab the garage remote from his car and let’s go.”

  Evelyn pressed the wall button, they all ducked under the door, then Cole pressed the remote to lower it. He tossed the remote into the storm drain, then they climbed into Jacob’s car and drove away.

  “One down and one to go.” Evelyn patted her husband’s shoulder. “I can feel the cloud of darkness begin to lift.”

  Chapter 48

  Renz tried the attorney’s number for the third time and finally gave up. “Maybe h
e went out to dinner with friends or is meeting with a client and silenced his ringer.”

  “Then let’s try Julie Beckett,” Fay said. “They both share equal guilt.”

  Renz dialed her number, and it went directly to voicemail. “What the hell? It’s a Tuesday night, and tomorrow is a workday.”

  “So what should we do?” I asked. “We have proof that they called each other and the mayor on consecutive days and nights, but that in itself isn’t a crime. We can’t go in with guns blazing and arrest them for—”

  “Yeah, for what?” Tommy asked.

  “That’s the problem, but we can make innuendos. We don’t know what the crime was yet, but they don’t know that. Maybe we can scare them into talking,” I said. “I for one would like to stop the murders as soon as possible.”

  Renz frowned. “You can’t possibly want to sit on their doorstep until someone comes home. Maybe it would be better to wait until morning when we know they’ve gone to work. They can’t hide from us there.”

  “I even called Rebecca Kam to ask where Doug is, but she’s in Chicago until tomorrow so she doesn’t know. She’s there to deal with some of her mom’s estate.”

  “In Chicago?” Renz asked.

  “Properties Sheila Kam co-signed on years ago, I guess.” I pointed my thumb over my shoulder. “I’ll see what Taft wants us to do. I need some exercise anyway.” I walked the hallway to Maureen’s office and fired off a quick text to Amber saying I’d be home when I got home and not to wait up. At Maureen’s door, I saw her packing it up for the night. It was almost eight o’clock. I gave her a quick update, telling her we’d discovered multiple calls between the three of them on the night of May fifth and then more during the next week but still didn’t know what they were covering up.