Killer Winter

by Kay Bigelow

  She was brought back to the present by a snow removal truck making its way slowly down the street outside the condo. Its flashing lights seemed bright against the darkening sky. She turned the nearest vidscreen to a weather channel. The storm that had begun moving over the city earlier in the morning promised plummeting temperatures, which was just what the city needed—temps plummeting beyond endurance.

  Later that night, after she changed the sheets for the third time since she’d asked Quinn to leave the condo, she knew it had started snowing again because of the deepening quiet that only came when a major snowstorm came to town. She lay awake listening to the quiet while trying unsuccessfully not to think of Quinn. She kept going over and over their time together. Had Quinn ever really loved her? Had Quinn married her because of what she was, rather than who she was? She wanted to talk to Cots about Quinn, she wanted to know more, but what if she found out things she didn’t want to know? Suddenly, she sobbed heart-wrenching tears and couldn’t seem to stop even to breathe. Her loss was not merely for Quinn, but for trust and love. Every fiber of her being wanted to believe Quinn had loved her, but everything she was finding out about her said she didn’t. She felt the betrayal deep in her soul, and the fact that she couldn’t tell Quinn, that she had to find a way to move forward knowing she’d never find closure, made the pain that much worse. What had been the truth, and what hadn’t? All the lovemaking, all the hugs, caresses, and I love yous…were they just make-believe?

  She finally fell into a troubled sleep with dreams full of Quinn being shot and dying alone on a city sidewalk. In her dream, she was there holding Quinn as she died and hearing her final words. Words said so low she couldn’t quite make them out. When Quinn died, she howled to the sky one word, “betrayal.” She awoke from her dream with her heart pounding an hour later and knew that while Quinn had betrayed her on so many levels, she had betrayed herself as well. At a gut level, she’d known Quinn hadn’t been what she’d seemed to be. There had been other times, other questions left unanswered, that Leah had simply allowed to slide, afraid to rock the boat, afraid to get an honest answer. She’d stuck her head in the sand and gone forward with the relationship anyway, explaining away the lack of communication by using the fact that Quinn was Devarian. She wasn’t sure who she was angrier with, Quinn or herself.

  Leah heard a noise from inside the house. She lay still, trying to figure out what she’d heard. As quietly as possible, she pulled open the drawer in the nightstand next to the bed. She removed the weapon she kept there. She pulled her hand back beneath the covers because it was too cold to leave it outside the comforter.

  She smiled when she heard the refrigerator door being pulled open. While she knew it was possible a killer or burglar would stop to help himself to a snack from the fridge because she’d seen such things occur on several of her cases, she doubted a killer would do so inside her house. She heard whispering but couldn’t make out the words. She knew neither Cots nor Peony could sleep either. She wasn’t the only one Quinn had left with questions, though she knew she was the one who’d been most betrayed.

  My wife is dead, and I probably didn’t really even know her.

  She let the tears flow again until she fell asleep once more, alone and emotionally exhausted.

  Chapter Eighteen

  When Leah woke three hours later, she tried to remember her second dream, but it was already gone. She felt discombobulated and groggy. Her life stretched out before her, empty without Quinn. She felt a depression beginning to settle into her bones.

  Forty-five minutes later, after a shower that helped wash away some of the evidence of her night spent crying, she joined the others in the kitchen. Cots looked like Leah felt, and Peony seemed to be at a loss. Pull it together. Just get this case over with. After sipping her first coffee of the day, Leah said, “We’re going to get the search warrant signed by Judge Tarbor this morning. I’ve already called the judge’s clerk and we have an appointment at nine thirty. We’ll have to leave earlier than usual because of the storm, but I don’t want to wait to get the warrant for the four or five days the weather people are predicting this storm will be stalled over us.”

  Although Scotty’s guy was an option, Leah decided she wanted a backup plan, one that included people with badges. She called the new captain of the Thirty-fifth Precinct. She and Nikki Coleman had been friends since they were in grade school. Nikki had been one of the reasons Leah had entered the police academy. Nikki had gone through the academy two years earlier than Leah, and the stories she told about her life as a cop intrigued Leah. She, too, had wanted to catch bad guys.

  “Nikki,” Leah said when she answered her phone. “I need a favor.”

  “My God, you’re alive,” Nikki exclaimed. “Why does everyone think you’re dead when you’re not? Why didn’t you come by the house? Are you okay?”

  “That’s a long story I will gladly tell you, but not right this minute,” Leah said.

  “You could have at least called to tell me you were alive.” Nikki sounded hurt.

  “It was better for you to not know. Things are pretty weird right now.”

  “I’ll trust you on that for a little while, but not for long. What’s the favor you need?”

  “I need to borrow two or three of your most trusted detectives,” Leah told her.

  “Borrow?” Nikki asked.

  “I need to serve a search warrant. There’s only myself and one young detective working this case.”

  “Which case is it?”

  “The killing field murders.”

  “Drude. I wondered who caught that case after you were killed. You’re close to an arrest? You must be if you’ve got search warrants. Who are you arresting?”

  An alarm went off in Leah’s head. She was, she decided, getting permanently paranoid if she was suspicious of Nikki’s questions.

  “You know I can’t tell you that, Nikki.”

  “I thought we were friends,” Nikki said.

  “So did I,” Leah replied. “Can you help or not?”

  “You know I will. I’ll assign two of my best. Franklin and Taylor. Where shall I have them meet you?”

  “I’ll let them know. Give me their numbers. I have to get the warrant first.”

  “Which judge are you using?”

  “Judge Tarbor.”

  “When are you seeing her?”

  “Ten thirty. Why?”

  “Just curious. I need to let Leigh and Taylor know when to expect your call.”

  After Nikki gave Leah the two detectives’ phone numbers, they cut the connection. Leah sat wondering if she could really trust Nikki. The questions Nikki had asked weren’t all that unreasonable under the circumstances, but still, they were somewhat unusual. She felt bad about lying to Nikki about when the judge was signing her search warrant, but she no longer knew who she could trust.

  At seven fifteen, they began putting on their coats and getting ready to go see Judge Tarbor. After the van had warmed up, they headed toward the main courthouse.

  Before getting out of the van, she said to Cots, “While we’re gone, see what you can find on Captain Nikki Coleman and Judge Sandra Tarbor.”

  “Right.”

  At nine thirty, she and Peony were at the door to Judge Tarbor’s chambers. The judge was waiting for them.

  “Thank you for seeing us, Judge,” Leah said. “This is Detective Peony Fong.”

  Judge Tarbor shook hands with them. “Lieutenant, I’m glad to see you’ve returned from the dead.”

  “Thank you. It’s good to be back.”

  “You said you needed a search warrant.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Leah handed the warrant provided by Commissioner Robinson to the judge and watched as the judge raised one eyebrow.

  “This is already signed by the commissioner,” the judge said, stating the obvious. “Although it oversteps her bounds somewhat, and I’m not sure it would stand up in court.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Th
at’s what I thought.”

  “So you specifically want my signature. That’s fine. Why not go through regular channels?”

  “The case I’m investigating may be somewhat iffy because chain of custody of some of the evidence due to the bombing of the Forty-fourth Precinct. I want all my t’s crossed and my i’s dotted. I don’t want to jeopardize my case in any way.”

  The judge’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Leah. “Why?”

  “I’m not entirely sure that my two arrests won’t, at some point, implicate several other people. When I make the first two arrests in this case, I’m thinking there’ll be a lot of accusations flying about. Robinson’s name might surface.”

  “Which case are we talking about?”

  “The Taconic Park murders.”

  “The case involving the death of Bishop Cohane?”

  Someone else who has heard that Cohane was found in that field. Great. Apparently, there was no secret about it now. “Yes, ma’am. It also may peripherally involve the murder of Quinn Benubrian.”

  “Who is your prime suspect in the bishop’s murder?”

  Leah knew she couldn’t withhold information if she wanted help. “His personal assistant, Joseph Preata.”

  “What have you gotten yourself into, Lieutenant?”

  “You haven’t even heard the half of it, Judge.”

  “What you’ve told me is only half of it?” The judge looked incredulous but interested.

  “The rest involves a city employee, a coven, and a wood chipper.”

  “Well, I can’t wait to watch this one play out,” the judge said, not unkindly.

  “Actually, me, too,” Leah said with a smile.

  “You said the murder of Quinn Benubrian is part of your investigation?”

  “It might be involved, but I’m letting whoever caught the case investigate her murder.”

  “Why?”

  Because Quinn knew people she shouldn’t have known. Because she had secrets. Because I refused to give up on this case and she’s dead. “I have a personal connection with Benubrian.”

  “What’s that?” the judge asked.

  Leah wanted the search warrants more than she wanted to pretend she wasn’t married to Quinn, and more than she was worried about it affecting her career. They were way past that now. “I was married to her,” Leah said.

  “This gets more and more complicated. And more and more interesting,” the judge said.

  “It does.”

  “I need to get to my courtroom. Good luck with the remainder of your investigation, Lieutenant,” the judge said as she quickly signed the search warrant and handed it back to Leah.

  “Thanks. Can I return for the arrest warrants?”

  “Certainly. It won’t hold much stock right now, but I can be trusted, and I’m on your side. Do what you need to do.”

  “Thank you.” She was right, it didn’t help much, but just hearing someone say they were behind her gave her a flicker of hope.

  Leah and Peony walked through the courthouse that was now crowded with attorneys, cops, plaintiffs, and defendants. Before Leah could get back into her coat and scarf, she saw a couple of the waiting cops do double takes when they saw her, but she didn’t stop and they didn’t approach her. It was as if the cops weren’t sure they’d seen what they’d seen.

  In the van, she said, “Cots, do a quick search to see where the chipper is located.”

  A minute later, Cots said, “It’s at the city parks and recreation’s garage. It was taken out of service for repairs when Martin brought it back.”

  “That might be another name for destroying evidence. When did it go out of service?”

  “At the end of the day yesterday,” Cots said.

  “Do you think someone alerted Preata or Martin?” Peony asked.

  “It’s possible, or maybe they’re just being careful because they know we’re looking around. Let’s get a move on it and get to that garage, fast.”

  Cots broke a few traffic laws getting them to the city’s maintenance yard. On the way, Leah called Taylor and Leigh, the two detectives from Nikki’s squad, to have them meet her at the garage. She also let Scotty know where to meet them so he could be in charge of the piece of evidence right from the beginning.

  When they entered the garage, Leah saw a chipper being raised on hydraulic lifts. She found the supervisor’s office. The nameplate on the door said Don Sawyer.

  Inside Sawyer’s office, Leah showed her badge. “Stop work on that chipper now.”

  “You can’t come in here and order me around,” Sawyer said.

  “Don’t make me shoot you.” Leah slammed her hands on the desk, making him jump.

  “Which chipper are you talking about?” Sawyer was obviously stalling.

  “The one on the lifts.”

  A quick look out the office window told both Leah and Sawyer that Peony had already stopped the mechanic from raising the truck too far off the ground. The mechanic was looking toward his supervisor’s office, clearly waiting for orders.

  As Leah and Sawyer headed toward the truck, Leah said, “Let me see the paperwork on that truck.”

  “I don’t have it.”

  When they got to the truck, Peony handed Leah a greasy handheld computer. It was the work order.

  “What are you supposed to do to this truck?” Leah asked the mechanic.

  The mechanic, whose name tag said Brooks, looked to Sawyer.

  “Answer the question,” Leah ordered him.

  “Martin said there’s something wrong with the blades. They’re not cutting the limbs anymore.”

  In one sentence, Brooks had confirmed what Leah wanted to know. The truck was Martin’s.

  “What would you do to fix it?”

  “I’d have to take the whole mechanism apart to find out what the problem is. While I had it apart, I’d clean the blades and the housing. Then I’d have the blades sharpened. Then I’d put the whole thing back together again, good as new.”

  While he was at it, Leah thought to herself, the mechanic would destroy all their evidence. They had gotten to the truck just in time.

  “We’re impounding the truck,” Leah said.

  “You need a search warrant to do that,” Sawyer said.

  “Here you go,” Leah said, handing the supervisor a copy of the search warrant.

  Sawyer made a show of reading the warrant, as though that would change anything.

  While Sawyer was doing that, Leah told Brooks, “Get this thing back on the ground.”

  Leah saw two men approaching them. They had to be Leigh and Taylor. They couldn’t be anything but cops. Scotty came in behind them. “You Samuels?” the first cop asked her.

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m Taylor and the kid is Leigh.”

  “Thanks for coming.”

  “Not much choice in the matter, but glad we can help out. What’re we doing?”

  “I’ve got a warrant to search this truck for evidence in a multiple murder case.”

  Leah knew it didn’t take a particle physicist to figure out how the victims met their demise. She could see it only took Taylor a couple of seconds to get it figured out. Leigh was a few seconds slower and blanched when he realized what it meant.

  “Where are we taking this thing?” Taylor asked.

  “I’ve got a warehouse,” Scotty said.

  “How are we getting it there?” Taylor asked.

  “I think Brooks here will volunteer to get it there for us, if we can find a way of getting him back.”

  “I think we can take care of that,” Taylor said.

  “Hey! Wait a second. Brooks has a job to do,” Sawyer said.

  “This thing is the job you assigned him to do today, so he’ll still be doing his job when he helps us.”

  “He can’t leave the premises.”

  “Don’t make me shoot you,” Taylor said, echoing Leah’s earlier words.

  “Fine. Take him. But don’t be surprised if you find the mayor chewi
ng on your ass,” Sawyer told them as he turned away, clearly someone who watched too many crime shows.

  “I’ll ride with Brooks,” Scotty told them eagerly.

  “Scotty, the moment you find something…” Leah said.

  Scotty didn’t need Leah to finish that thought. He nodded and joined Brooks in the cab of the huge machine. He was grinning like a fool as Brooks moved them slowly out of the garage.

  “What do you really need us for, Lieutenant, since you’ve already served the warrant and the evidence is being moved?” Taylor asked.

  “I want to make sure Scotty is left alone to do his job.”

  “Ah. Protection service. What kind of case you got here?”

  “Multiple murders. The suspect list is long and illustrious.” Taylor nodded. “Are you willing?” Leah asked.

  “You bet. Scotty’s a good guy.”

  “That he is.”

  Leah and Peony returned to the van while Taylor and Leigh got in their car and followed the chipper out of the maintenance yard.

  Cots was focused on his computer screen when Leah climbed into the passenger seat.

  “Find anything?” Leah asked.

  “Maybe. Probably. I’m following up on a few things,” Cots said.

  “In the meantime?” Leah asked.

  “Your judge is clean. Not even a hint of impropriety anywhere in her background.”