Suspect

by Robert Crais

  “We can’t affirm they’re from the man you saw, but a man with white hair was in that vehicle at some point in time. The DNA from the follicles didn’t match anything in the CODIS or DOJ data banks, so we don’t know his name, but we know he’s a Caucasian male. There’s an eighty percent chance his hair was brown before it turned white, and we are one hundred percent positive he has blue eyes.”

  Orso arched his eyebrows, smiled even wider, and looked like a happy scoutmaster.

  “Starts adding up, doesn’t it? Thought you’d like to know you aren’t crazy.”

  Then the happy scoutmaster face dropped away, and Orso rested his hand on the file box.

  “Okay. The case file here is arranged by subject. The murder book contains the case evidence Melon and Stengler thought was the most important, but isn’t as complete as the file. You’re the man with the questions. What do you want to know?”

  Scott wanted something to trigger more memories, but he didn’t know what that thing was or what it might be.

  Scott looked at Orso.

  “Why don’t we have a suspect?”

  “A suspect was never identified.”

  “I knew that much from Melon and Stengler.”

  Orso patted the file box.

  “The long version is in here, which you’re free to read, but I’ll give you the CliffsNotes version.”

  Orso sketched out the investigation quickly and professionally. Scott knew most of it from Melon and Stengler, but did not interrupt.

  The first person suspected when a homicide occurs is the spouse. Always. This is Rule Number One in the Homicide Handbook. Rule Number Two is “follow the money.” Melon and Stengler approached their investigation in this way. Did Pahlasian or Beloit owe money? Did either man cheat a business partner? Was either having an affair with another man’s wife? Did Pahlasian’s wife jilt a lover, who murdered her husband as retaliation, or did his wife have Eric murdered to be with another man?

  Melon and Stengler identified only two persons of interest during their investigation. The first was a Russian pornographer in the Valley who had invested in several projects with Pahlasian. His porno enterprise was financed by a Russian Organized Crime element, which put him on their radar, but the man made better than a twenty percent profit with Pahlasian, so Melon and Stengler eventually cleared him. The second person of interest was tied to Beloit. The Robbery-Homicide Division’s Robbery Special group informed Melon that Interpol had named Beloit as a known associate of a French diamond fence. This led to a theory Beloit was smuggling diamonds, but the Robbery Special team eventually cleared him of criminal involvement.

  All in all, twenty-seven friends and family members, and one hundred eighteen investors, business associates, and possible witnesses were interviewed and investigated, and all of them checked clean. No viable suspect was identified, and the investigation slowly stalled.

  When Orso finished, he checked his watch.

  “Anything I’ve said help your memory?”

  “No, sir. I knew most of it.”

  “Then Melon and Stengler weren’t holding out on you.”

  Scott felt his face flush.

  “They missed something.”

  “Maybe so, but this is what they found—”

  Orso tipped his head toward the file box as Cowly interrupted.

  “—which means this is where Bud and I begin. Just because Melon and Stengler zeroed out, doesn’t mean we will. Just because it’s in these pages, doesn’t mean we accept it as fact.”

  Orso studied her for a moment, then looked at Scott.

  “I have Shin and his burglar, I have you, and I have a dead police officer. I will break this case.”

  Joyce Cowly nodded to herself, but did not speak.

  Orso stood.

  “Joyce and I have work to do. You want to look through the files and reports, here they are. You want to go through the murder book, there it is. Where do you want to begin?”

  Scott hadn’t thought about where to begin. He thought he might read his own statements to see if he had forgotten anything, but then realized there was only one place to begin.

  “The crime scene pictures.”

  Cowly was clearly uncomfortable.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  Scott had never seen the crime scene photographs. He knew they existed, but never thought about them. He saw his own version of them every night in his dreams.

  Orso said, “Okay, then, let’s get you going.”

  13.

  Orso took a hanging file from the box, and placed it on the table.

  “These are the pictures. The murder book has copies of the most important shots, but the master file here has everything.”

  Scott glanced at the file without opening it.

  “Okay.”

  “The pictures are labeled on the back with the relevant report and page numbers. Criminalist, medical examiner, detective bureau, whatever. You want to see what the criminalist said about a particular picture, you look up the report number, then go to the page.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  Scott was waiting for Orso to leave, but Orso didn’t move. His face was grim, as if he wasn’t comfortable with what Scott was about to see.

  Scott said, “I’m okay.”

  Orso nodded silently, and passed Cowly coming in. She had stepped out, but now returned with a bottle of water, a yellow legal pad, and a couple of pens.

  “Here. If you have any questions or want to make notes, use these. I thought you might like some water, too.”

  She was staring at him with the same grim concern he’d seen in Orso when her cell phone buzzed with an incoming text. She glanced at the message.

  “Central Robbery. You need anything, I’m at my desk.”

  Scott waited until she was gone, then opened the hanging file. The individual files were labeled AREA, BENTLEY, KENWORTH, TORINO, 2A24, PAHLASIAN, BELOIT, ANDERS, JAMES, and MISC. 2A24 had been Scott and Stephanie’s patrol car. It felt strange to see his own name, and he wondered what he would find. Then he considered Stephanie’s name, and forced himself to stop thinking.

  He opened the AREA file first. The photographs within varied in size, and had been taken in the early hours of dawn, after the bodies had been removed. The Kenworth’s front bumper hung at a lifeless angle. The Bentley’s passenger side was crumpled, and bullet holes pocked its sides and windows. Firemen, uniformed officers, criminalists, and newspeople were in the background. The white outline of Stephanie’s body held Scott’s attention like an empty puzzle begging to be filled with missing pieces.

  Scott glanced through the pictures of the Bentley next. Its interior was littered with broken glass. So much blood covered the seats and console it looked as if the interior had been splashed with ruby paint. The floorboard in the driver’s well was a deep, congealing pond.

  The interior of the Kenworth told a different story, as it was undamaged. Brass shell casings from the AK-47 were scattered over the floorboards and seats, and sprinkled the top of the dashboard. The interior was littered with scraps of paper, a crushed Burger King cup, and several empty plastic water bottles. Scott knew from Melon that these things had been removed, examined, and linked to the truck’s owner, a man named Felix Hernandez, who had been in jail for beating his wife when his truck was stolen from Buena Park.

  Scott didn’t bother to look at the Gran Torino. It had been found eight blocks away beneath a freeway overpass, and, like the Kenworth, had been stolen earlier that day for use in the murders.

  Scott quickly turned to Pahlasian and Beloit, examining each closely, as if he might see what it was about one or both that had led to their murders.

  These pictures had been taken at night, and reminded Scott of the lurid black-and-white
photographs he had seen of mobsters machine-gunned in the thirties. Pahlasian was slumped over the console as if he had been trying to crawl into Beloit’s lap. His slacks and sport coat were so saturated with blood Scott was unsure of their color. The broken glass Scott had seen in the daytime picture now glittered from the camera’s flash.

  Beloit was slumped in the passenger seat as if he had melted. The side of his head was missing, and the arm nearest the camera was hanging by ropy red tissue. As with Pahlasian, he had been shot so many times his clothes were saturated with blood.

  Scott spoke aloud to himself.

  “Man, somebody wanted you really dead.”

  The next folder contained pictures of Stephanie. Scott hesitated, but knew he must look at them, so he opened the folder.

  Her legs were together, bent at the knees, and tipped to the left. Her right arm lay perpendicular to her body, palm down, fingers hooked as if she was trying to hold on to the street. Her left hand rested on her belly. Her body was outlined in the predictable manner, though the pool of blood beneath her was so large the outline was broken. Scott flipped through her pictures quickly, and came to a photograph of a large irregular blood smear labeled B1. B2 showed elongated blood smears as if something had been dragged. Scott realized this was his own blood, and just as suddenly realized he had turned from Stephanie’s folder to his own. The amount of blood was amazing. There was so much blood he broke into a prickly sweat. He knew he came very close to dying that night, but seeing the amount of blood on the street made his closeness to death visible. How much more blood could he have lost before he would have been in the picture with a white line around his body? A pint? Half a pint? He flipped back to the first picture of Stephanie. Her pool of blood was larger. When the picture blurred, he wiped his eyes and took a picture of Stephanie’s body.

  Scott closed the photo files, walked around the table to calm himself, and stretched his side and shoulder. He opened the bottle of water, took a long drink, and studied Orso’s poster-sized diagram of the crime scene. He snapped a picture of it, checked his picture for clarity, then returned to the file box, feeling uncertain and stupid. He wondered if he was deluding himself by pretending he might remember something to help catch Stephanie’s killers and silence her nightly accusations.

  He took out random files and spread them on the table. Auto-theft reports on the Kenworth and the Gran Torino. Statements from people who heard the shooting and phoned 911. Autopsy reports.

  Scott saw a file labeled SID—COLLECTED EVIDENCE, and paged through it. The file contained reports analyzing the physical evidence collected at the scene, and began with a list of collected items that went on for pages. The work the SID criminalists put into compiling this amount of detail was stunning, but Scott wasn’t interested in endless forensics reports. He knew what happened that night was about Pahlasian and Beloit. Someone had wanted them dead, and Stephanie Anders was collateral damage.

  Scott found the stack of reports and interviews concerning Eric Pahlasian. There were so many interviews with family members, employees, investors, and others they stacked almost five inches thick. Scott checked his watch, and realized how long Maggie had been locked in her run. He felt a stab of guilt, and knew he had to get back to the training facility.

  Scott went to the door, and found Cowly on the phone in a cubicle against the far wall. She raised a finger, telling him she’d be off in a second, finished her call, then put down the phone.

  “How you doing in there?”

  “Good. I really appreciate you and Detective Orso letting me see this stuff.”

  “No sweat. I was just on with Central Robbery about your Mr. Marley. They’re working a line on a crew laying off stolen goods at a swap meet. Some of the goods match up with things stolen in the area.”

  “Great. I’ll let him know. Listen, I have to get back to my dog—”

  “Don’t mention the swap meet.”

  “What?”

  “If you call Marley. You can call him if you want, but don’t mention we’re working an investigation at the swap meet. Don’t say those words. Swap meet.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Cool. Someone from Central will call him about his burglary. The swap meet thing isn’t his business.”

  “I get it. My lips are sealed.”

  “You have a picture?”

  Scott was confused again.

  “Of what?”

  “Your dog. I love dogs.”

  “I just got her yesterday.”

  “Oh. Well, you get a picture, I want to see her.”

  “You think it would be all right if I took a few files with me? I’ll sign for them, if you want.”

  Cowly glanced around as if she was hoping to see Orso, but Orso was gone.

  Scott said, “It’s the Pahlasian stuff. I’d like to read it, but it’s a phone book.”

  “I can’t let you take the murder book, but you can borrow the file copies. We have them on disc.”

  “Okay. Great. Those are the files I’m talking about.”

  He followed her back into the conference room. She frowned when she saw the files and folders spread across the table.

  “Dude. I hope you weren’t planning to leave this mess.”

  “No way. I’ll put them back before I leave.”

  Scott pointed out the towering Pahlasian file.

  “This is what I want. The files Detective Orso took from the box.”

  She grew thoughtful, and Scott worried she was going to change her mind, but then she nodded.

  “It’s okay. Orso won’t have a problem unless you lose something. The handwritten notes aren’t on the disc.”

  “When do you want them back?”

  “If we need something, I’ll call you. Just put the rest of this stuff back before you leave, okay?”

  “You got it.”

  Scott returned the folders to their proper file hangers, and was fingering through the hangers when he saw a small manila envelope in the bottom of the box. It was fastened shut by a metal clasp, and had a handwritten note on front: return to John Chen.

  Scott opened the clasp and upended the envelope. A sealed plastic evidence bag containing what looked like a short brown leather strap slid out, along with a photograph of the strap, a note card, and an SID document. The strap was smeared with what appeared to be a reddish powder. Melon had written a note on the card: John, thanks. I agree. You can trash it.

  The SID document identified the strap as half of an inexpensive watchband of no identifiable manufacturer, item #307 on the SID collection list. A note was typed across the bottom of the document:

  This was collected on the sidewalk north of the shooting (ref item #307) as part of general recovery. Appears to be half of women’s or men’s size small leather watchband, broken at hinge. The red smears that appear to be dried blood are common iron rust. No blood evidence found. Location, nature, and condition suggest unrelated to crime, but I wanted to check before I dispose.

  Scott tensed when he saw the band had been collected on the north side of the street. The Kenworth had come from the north. Shin’s building was on the north.

  The photograph showed the leather strap with a white number card (#307) beside it on a sidewalk. Scott went back to the master evidence list in the SID file, looked up its reference number, and found the diagram showing where the watchband was found. When Scott saw the diagram, he felt as if his heart was rolling to a slow stop. Item #307 had been collected directly beneath the roof overlooking the crime scene where Scott had stood that morning and touched the wrought-iron bars that striped his hand with rust.

  Scott took out his phone and photographed the diagram. He took a second picture to make sure the image was sharp, then returned the remaining files to their proper hangers.

  Scott studied the rusty
smears, and thought they looked like the rust he’d gotten on his hands. He wondered why Melon hadn’t returned the envelope to Chen, and decided it had fallen between the hangers. Melon had probably forgotten about it. After all, if the broken strap was trash, it wasn’t worth thinking about.

  Scott put everything back into the file box exactly as he had found it except for the watchband. He slipped it back into the envelope, put the envelope in his pocket, and picked up the Pahlasian files. He thanked Cowly on his way out.

  14.

  It was late afternoon when Scott returned to the training facility. Almost a dozen personal and LAPD K-9 cars crowded the parking lot. He heard barking and shouted commands behind the building, as dogs and handlers trained.

  Scott parked opposite the office end of the building, and let himself into the kennel. Maggie was on her feet in the run, watching for him when he opened the door as if she knew it was him before she saw him. She barked twice, then raised up to place her front paws on the gate. Scott smiled when he saw her tail wag.

  “Hey, Maggie girl. You miss me? I sure missed you!”

  She dropped to all fours as he approached. He stepped inside, scratched her ears, and grabbed the thick fur on the sides of her face. Her tongue lolled out with pleasure, and she tried to play-bite his arm.

  “I’m sorry I was gone so long. You think I left you?”

  He stroked her sides and back, and down along her legs.

  “No way, dog. I’m here to stay.”

  Budress came along the runs from the office.

  “Got all sulky when you left.”

  “Yeah?”

  Budress rotated his right arm.

  “Shit, man, I’m gonna be sore. That dog hits like a linebacker.”

  “She was into it.”

  They had worked on bite commands and suspect-aggression earlier that morning, with Budress playing the suspect. Leland had come out to watch. Maggie was hesitant at first, but remembered the military command words, and her USMC training had quickly returned. She would focus on Budress at Scott’s command, and watch him without moving unless Scott ordered her to attack or Budress moved toward Scott or herself. Then she would charge for his padded arm like a heat-seeking missile. It was the only part of her exercises she seemed to enjoy.