by Blake Banner
“He and Luis were shot at about three o’clock this morning.”
She stared at us like we were insane. “Shot? That’s ridiculous! There must be some mistake. Why would anyone…?”
I shook my head. “The medical examiner identified them both.”
Her head snapped around to look at me. “The ME? Frank…”
I nodded. “He seemed to be fond of them.”
She was stoic. I guess you learn that as a doctor. But you could see the pain in her face as the inescapable nature of what had happened dawned on her. She wasn’t going to wake up from this. It wasn’t going to turn out to be a bad dream, a misunderstanding, or a mistake. It was real. Her eyes were resentful, turning red as they flooded with tears.
“Why?”
I repeated the morning’s ongoing refrain. “That’s what we want to find out.”
She stared at me, then at Dehan. “You mean it wasn’t a mugging?”
Dehan shook her head. “The motive isn’t clear, Elizabeth. We are going to need help. Are you up to answering some questions?”
She nodded, staring at her hands in front of her on the table. “Of course. Where are they? Is Luis dead too?”
“Luis is in a bad way, but as far as we know, he is still alive. He’s here. So is Sebastian.”
“Elizabeth.” I paused a moment, not exactly sure how to frame the question for her. “As far as you know, were Sebastian and Luis involved in anything…” I paused again. She was frowning at me, wondering where I was going with my question. “Anything risky or dangerous? Anything that could have made them enemies, targets for somebody?”
“Like what?”
I shrugged. “This is a hospital. You tell me…”
She shook her head. “No! Nothing. Of course not! He was dedicated, committed, very serious. He wouldn’t have done anything stupid. Neither of them would.”
Dehan leaned her elbows on the table. “Think carefully before answering, Elizabeth. It may have been something that to them seemed harmless or unimportant, but to somebody else…”
She left the words hanging. Elizabeth sat looking at her for a moment. Then her eyes drifted. Dehan waited, then asked, “What is it?”
She shrugged. “It may be nothing and I don’t want to get anyone into trouble…”
I smiled, but it must have looked sad and tired, because that was how I felt. I said, “More trouble than they are in already?”
She studied my face, then gave a sigh that shuddered. “I guess you’re right. As I say, it may be nothing, but Luis…” She sighed again. “Luis was hanging out a lot with a girl, Lynda, she works at the pharmacy here, in the hospital.”
Dehan sat back in her chair, frowning. “OK…”
Elizabeth hesitated some more, uncomfortable with what she was doing. “She mentioned a few times to Luis that the pharmacist is not exactly meticulous in how he keeps his records. One night she was joking about getting some Cialis for the boys. Luis pretended to get excited about what else she could get. I didn’t think it was funny. Neither did Sebastian.” She sighed again, shrugged, spread her hands. “It’s nothing! It’s just that Seb and I never really liked her much. She’s a bit wild. Luis is a bit wild, too, and they kind of sparked each other off. We thought she was a bad influence on him. But I’m pretty sure he would never actually do anything.
“She’s Australian. She says that back home, she has a degree in chemistry. Maybe she has, I don’t know. But here she can’t practice. I don’t know exactly how legal her position is. Anyway, I guess it’s possible that she and Luis may have been taking stuff from the pharmacy and selling it. I really don’t think so, but it’s objectively possible.”
She stopped, covered her face with her hands, and shook her head. “That sounds so awful! And I have no grounds whatever to make such an accusation, other than, I don’t really like her much, and she’s a bit crazy and out there. She’s probably a perfectly decent person.”
I nodded that I understood. “If there is nothing in it, they have nothing to worry about. What’s her surname, do you know?”
“Graham, Lynda Graham.”
“And she is Luis’ girlfriend?”
She shrugged. “Kind of, not exactly. They hang out together, go out together sometimes. I know they sleep together. But it seems to be a pretty open relationship. I think there is or was another guy in her life, but I don’t know anything about him.”
Dehan grunted, then asked, “What do you know about Angela Rojas?”
“Angela?” Again she looked surprised at the question. “Not a lot. I met her a couple of times socially. I know she was like a half-sister to Seb and Luis. Why? What’s she got to do with this?”
“Can you think what they would have been doing outside her house at three in the morning?”
She stared at Dehan for a long moment, and you could tell she was seeing the scene playing itself out in her mind. “Is that where it happened?”
Dehan nodded. “Yes.”
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. After a moment, she said, “No, not really. At least, I don’t know what Seb was doing there. Luis is a real party animal. I don’t know where he finds the energy. He used to drag Seb along all the time, but Seb and I had talked about it, and he’d decided to pull back a bit. He couldn’t afford it, for one thing, and he couldn’t take the pace. The fact is we were both finding Luis and Lynda hard work.”
I asked her, “How about Angela? Is she a party animal?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. She didn’t strike me that way, but she might be.”
“I’m sorry to have to ask this, Elizabeth, but, to the best of your knowledge, was either of the boys having an intimate relationship with her?”
She winced a bit, like I’d hurt her feelings. “No, at least, I know Sebastian wasn’t. I don’t know about Luis. But like I said, I think it was more like brothers and a sister. They’d known each other all their lives. They grew up together. I think their parents were friends or something.”
I looked at Dehan. “I think that’s all we need to know for now…” Dehan said, “There is just one more thing. Sebastian was driving a Toyota Corolla…”
Elizabeth frowned. “A Toyota?” She shook her head. “Seb’s car is an old VW Beetle. He called it his project. It’s at the mechanic’s right now... I guess that’s one project he’ll never finish…” She stopped, steadied herself, took a deep breath. “Luis drives a second or third hand Ford Probe. I don’t know whose Toyota that was. Maybe they borrowed it from somebody.” She glanced at us each in turn. “It looks like there was a lot about them both that I didn’t know…”
She pulled out her cell and called her mother to come and collect her. Two minutes later, we watched her walk out of the café, holding it together until she got home. Then everything would fall apart. Then she would allow the full horror, the full, inescapable reality of it to hit her. Dehan puffed out her cheeks and blew, then rubbed her face with her hands and ran her fingers through her hair. It was an eloquent combination of gestures, and expressed pretty well how I felt myself.
“Well, Detective Stone,” she said, and slapped her hand on my shoulder, “it’s looking like the boys were playing fast and loose with the pharmacy, and Lynda, the pharmacist’s assistant. I say we take her downtown and ask her a few tough questions, whaddya say, partner?”
“I say it’s looking like one to Detective Dehan and nil to Detective Stone. But it’s early yet. I say we make like cannibals and grill this girl.”
She suppressed a laugh and shook her head. “Nice. That’s nice.”
As we crossed the café toward the door, in search of the pharmacy, she was still chuckling and repeating under her breath, “Make like cannibals, and grill this girl…”
We made our way out to Pelham Parkway and found the pharmacy in Building One. There was a pretty young girl behind the counter. She was in her early twenties, tall and blond, with mischievous eyes which smiled as we stepped in.
“Good
morning!” She said it with that curious, antipodean sing-song.
I smiled back. “Hi, we are NYPD Detectives.” I showed her my badge. “I am Detective Stone, this is my partner, Detective Dehan. Are you Lynda Graham?”
Her face became wary. “Ah…yeah… Why?”
Dehan gave a small, not unfriendly laugh. “Was that a yes, Lynda?”
“Yeah, I guess it was. What’s the problem?”
“We need to ask you some questions about Luis Irizarry and Sebastian Acosta. We’d like you to accompany us to the station.”
“Oh, shit! Look…” She glanced over her shoulder toward the back of the shop. I figured her boss was in there. Her voice dropped. “Me and Luis? I don’t know what he’s told you but we just hang out? We’re friends?” She had that Australian trick of making statements sound like questions. She looked from me to Dehan and back again. “I don’t know anything, I mean, I don’t know…”
She trailed off. We waited a moment while she stared at us. Finally, I said, “Lynda, this is a murder inquiry, and we would like you to come down to the station to answer some questions.”
Her jaw literally dropped. She gaped at me. “Murder? Holy shit!”
I gave a humorless smile. “What did you think it would be, Lynda?”
“Ay? No…! Nothing! I didn’t… I don’t know… Murder?”
SIX
It was thirty minutes past nine in the morning. We’d been going for six hours after just three hours sleep. I wasn’t sure if my backache had given me a headache or if it was the other way around, but they both ached. We sat opposite Lynda in interrogation room three. I sipped strong black coffee and thought about organizing my thoughts.
Dehan got there first.
“When was the last time you saw Luis, Lynda?”
It occurred to me as she asked it that Lynda was still under the impression that it was Luis who had been murdered. I glanced at Dehan and realized that she was aware of this, too. She held Lynda’s eye while Lynda stared at her and swallowed three times without saying anything. Dehan cocked her head on one side.
“Is there a problem, Lynda?”
“No… Um… I’m just thinking? Um, last night?”
Dehan frowned like she was confused. “Are you telling me or asking me, Lynda? When was the last time you saw Luis?”
“Last night.”
“At what time?”
“Oh, um…like, eight o’clock? Maybe a bit later.”
“Where did you see him?”
“Him and Seb? Come over to my place for a few beers?”
“Where, Lynda? Where is your place?”
“Victor Street. It’s like White Planes and Morris Park, where they meet? Just kind of there.”
“And who else was there?”
“No! I mean, nobody. I mean, you know, a friend might have dropped in…” She began chewing her lip. “But it was just me and the guys…” She grinned at me and then at Dehan.
I asked her, “Who dropped in?”
“Um, maybe Jack? I’m not sure, you know, we got pretty maggot.”
“You got what?”
“Maggot, off our faces, wasted…”
“Drunk.”
“That’s the one.”
Dehan put both hands palm down on the table and stared at them like she was wondering what they were doing there. “Let me see if I’ve got this straight, Lynda. Eight or eight thirty, Luis and Sebastian turn up at your place on Victor Street, and the three of you settle down for an evening of drinking. You all got very drunk and maybe your friend Jack paid a visit.”
“Uh-huh…” She looked at me with her eyes, then back at Dehan.
“How long did they stay?”
“Few hours. Like I say, we got pretty mag… pissed, drunk.”
I leaned forward on my elbows, grinned. “So you had good fun. It was a good evening.”
She liked that and smiled back. “Oh, deadest!”
“So how come Jack didn’t stay?”
“Um…” Again her eyes swiveled, first to Dehan, then back to me. “He was…um…”
I gave a small laugh and raised one hand. “Lynda, stop.” She closed her mouth. “Between us, Detective Dehan and I must have over thirty years experience doing this job, in the Bronx. How many liars do you think we have interviewed in this room over that time? If it were just two a week—and believe me, it is many more than that—that would be over three thousand. And just about every one of them was a better liar than you. You are a really bad liar, Lynda!” I laughed in a kindly, uncle-ish kind of way. “That’s not a bad thing. That’s a good thing, right?”
She nodded.
“Now, listen to me, you are probably not in trouble. If you are, it’s probably not serious trouble. But keep bullshitting us and you will certainly end up in real bad trouble. So, quit stalling and tell the truth. You understand me?”
She looked like she understood me, but wasn’t necessarily convinced.
“Well, Jack doesn’t really like Luis much? I mean, I am really sure that he would not do anything. I mean, I know he wouldn’t. But like, when he saw Luis was there, he just chucked a fuckin’ spas and left.”
Dehan pinched the bridge of her nose. “Chucked a spas?”
“Yuh, fuckin’ wobbly right there! I mean, who fuckin’ needs it, right? I told the fuckin’ dickhead to buzz off and go home.”
“He got mad and you told him to leave?”
“Too right.”
“And he left?”
“Yeah.”
“What time would that be, Lynda? Please don’t tell me you were maggot and you don’t know. This is a murder enquiry. Make an effort.”
She gave me a sheepish smile. I gave her a wink.
“Well, I suppose, we’d had a few grogs by then, so it would have been after ten? Maybe half ten, half eleven…?”
Dehan’s face was tight. “What does that mean? Half ten, half eleven…” She shook her head. “What does it mean?”
I smiled. “It means ten thirty or eleven thirty. Lynda, I’m having trouble with something. See if you can help me. Do you drive?”
“Back home, yeah.”
“You don’t own a Toyota?”
“No.”
“So, if Luis and Sebastian are,” I smiled, “off their faces and totally maggot, how did they drive to Hunts Point in a Toyota Corolla?”
“I don’t know, honest to God, I don’t.”
“OK, Lynda. Let’s talk about something else.” I scratched my chin and realized I needed a shave. “How long have you and Luis been stealing drugs from the pharmacy?”
Her eyes went like saucers, the blood drained from her face and she started shaking her head. “No! No! No way! No! Not me! You got the wrong person! I never done that! No way!”
I ignored her and pressed on. “How about Jack? Did he buy the stuff from you? Is that why he dropped in, to collect the merchandise?”
Her voice had become shrill. “No! Look! This is bollocks! I ain’t stupid! How fuckin’ stupid would I have to be to do that?”
I continued to ignore her. “How about Angela? Did she distribute the stuff in Hunts Point?”
“Who?”
“I told you you’re a terrible liar, Lynda. Cut it out. Tell me the truth. You had a deal going, you and Luis, Jack and Angela. How much were you netting a week?”
“Stop it! You are wrong! This is bullshit!”
“Was Sebastian involved?”
“No! Look—nobody was involved! It just didn’t happen! Check with the fuckin’ pharmacy, for God’s sake! There are no missing supplies!
I nodded. “We plan to. Where can we find Jack? Has he got a surname?”
“Oh, that’s fuckin’ ace! He’s going to love me, isn’t he? Sending the fuckin’ Jacks round!”
Dehan sighed. “Jacks?”
I smiled at her. “Jack Law, the cops. Why would he have a problem with the law coming ’round?”
She looked at me like I was crazy. “You know anyone who actu
ally welcomes you when you turn up unannounced? ‘Oh, hey, look! Put the kettle on, it’s the fuzz!’”
“So where can we find him?”
“Look at me! Minding my own fuckin’ business, I have a couple of grogs with some mates, and next thing, you’re trying to frame me for drugs trafficking and fuckin’ murder!”
“Take it easy. Nobody is trying to frame you. What’s his surname, and where can we find him?”
“Fuckin’ strewth!”
Dehan spoke softly, “Lynda…”
Lynda stared at her.
“Jack…?”
“O’Brien. Hunt Avenue, 1719 B.”
“Cell phone?”
She recited it. Dehan wrote it down and said, “You’d rather we didn’t tell him who gave us his name and address?”
She narrowed her eyes and spoke with something like venom, “Oddly enough!”
Dehan shrugged. “You cooperate with us, we’ll cooperate with you.”
She glanced at me, then back at Dehan. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“All we want is to find out who did this killing. We are not interested in anything else. We certainly don’t want to cause unnecessary problems for you …”
She looked as though a black mamba had just offered her a cup of tea and a biscuit.
Dehan went on, “Jack O’Brien got a job?”
Lynda thought about this for a long time before answering. “Not that kind…” She sighed. “No. I don’t know what he does. I’ve bought mull, um… weed, from him sometimes.”
Dehan nodded bobbed her head. “So think about this really carefully, Lynda. If we check the stores and the pharmacy, and if we get a warrant to search your house and Jack’s, are we going to find drugs missing at the pharmacy, and those same drugs at your house or at Jack’s?”
“No! Fuckin’ do it! Please!”
I drummed on the table for a moment. “So, what exactly was the relationship between you and Luis?”
She shrugged. “We were mates.” Then she smiled at me. “Mates with privileges.”
“How about you and Jack?”
“Same kind of thing, only he thinks it’s more. He does this whole fuckin’ jealous macho number on me.”
