Killing Season

by Faye Kellerman

  Within moments, Shanks was surrounded by Ben’s parents and the principal. Mr. Beltran said, “Do you have any ideas about this, Detective?”

  Sam eyed Ben. “We haven’t had a recent rash of slashed tires, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “I’m talking about punks and vandalism. What about those idiots who spray-painted the Palace of the Governors?”

  Ben turned so his hot face wouldn’t be noticed. Sam said, “That was Santa Fe. I’ll check with them. Maybe they’ve had some similar property crimes.”

  “You do that,” Beltran said. “One of the things that makes this community great is the people. If we let them down, what do we have?”

  “A bunch of let-down people,” Sam answered.

  Beltran bristled. “Just find out who did this. It would be a sad state of affairs if the school district had to resort to policing their own property. Let’s not waste any more taxpayer dollars, okay?”

  Shanks kept his expression flat. “I’ll give it my full attention, Mr. Beltran. Last thing I want to do is deal with angry parents.”

  After the principal left, Sam pulled Ben away from the crowd, and none too gently. “Okay, Vicksburg, spit it out!”

  His parents followed. Dad wagged a finger in Sam’s face. “Why are you coming down on him, Sam?”

  “Because he knows something about this.”

  “I don’t know anything!” Ben insisted. “Why are you yelling at me?”

  “I’m not yelling, I’m asking. And I’m asking because you’ve been up to something. You know how I know that? Because you’re always up to something.”

  “Why are you connecting this juvenile act to what I do?”

  “First of all, it’s not juvenile. Juveniles spray-paint. Juveniles key cars. Juveniles even steal cars. But juveniles generally do not slash the tires of random people. And if they do, they don’t slash all four tires. To do that, it takes muscle. It takes time. It takes deliberation. Are you honestly telling me that this was random?”

  “I’m honestly telling you I don’t know who did it. I parked my car and went into my prom. When I came out with my date, my tires were cut.”

  Sam softened his tone. “The uniformed guys handle things like this. I’m a detective. You called me down and you must have had a reason for it.”

  “Actually, Ro called you.”

  “I thought you didn’t see her anymore.”

  Mom said, “She’s been at the house for the last few weekends. They’re doing something that has to do with my daughter’s incident.”

  His own mother was ratting him out. Ben looked around. The crowds had thinned a bit. Haley and Lilly were talking to Ro.

  Sam said, “Should I be talking to Ro? Was she your prom date?”

  “No. I went with Lisa Holloway.” Ben pointed her out. “She was with me the entire time. Maybe she saw something that I didn’t.”

  Shanks eyed him suspiciously. “You stay here while I get a statement from her.”

  As soon as Shanks left, William Vicksburg turned to his son. “What the hell is going on? And be honest because this is scaring the crap out of your mother and me.”

  Mom burst into tears. “What have you gotten yourself into?” She was openly sobbing. “I haven’t suffered enough?” She stepped away and tried to get control of her emotions.

  “Ben, does this have something to do with Ellen’s murder?” Dad didn’t wait for an answer. “You and I are going to have a serious talk.”

  “Dad, I will tell you everything I know.” Ben lowered his voice. “But do you honestly think that this is the work of a sexual psychopath? Slashing tires? C’mon!”

  “Do you know who did it, Ben? And I don’t mean who slashed the tires.”

  Ben knew he meant Ellen’s murder. He was beginning to feel very uncomfortable sitting on the information, no matter how it was obtained. He was going to have to tell Shanks everything. And that was going to happen tonight. “No, I don’t know who did it, Dad. If I did, he’d be dead. But I have some ideas.”

  His mother butted in. “What are you talking about? Ellen?”

  “Nothing,” Dad said.

  “Now you’re keeping information from me too?”

  Dad weighed his options. “He has ideas about Ellen.”

  “About who did it?”

  Shanks was still talking to Lisa. Ben said, “I don’t know who did it. That’s the truth. I have lists of names . . . of who it might be.”

  “And you haven’t told the police?”

  Ben regarded his parents—his father and then his mother. “I got the names illegally.”

  His father licked his lips. “What did you hack into?”

  “I didn’t hack into anything. And if you ask how I got the names, I won’t tell you. I’d rather go to jail—”

  “Ben, stop being so damn melodramatic. That’s Haley’s department.”

  “It has to be Ro,” Mom said.

  “No, it’s not Ro,” Ben lied. “She has nothing to do with anything. She was just there for moral support. I didn’t hack into a computer system. But what I did wasn’t legal.”

  Laura shook her head. She wasn’t buying it. “Where does Ro work, Ben?”

  “Ro works?” Dad said.

  “She does. She got a job when they broke up. And now they’re seeing each other again. They lock the door to his room. They’re in there for hours. And I know it’s not about sex.”

  Ben’s face went hot. “Mom!”

  “What do you do with her, Benjamin?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Six hours every Sunday, you two sit around and do nothing?” Mom was furious. “Where does she work?”

  “She’s a waitress.”

  “Where?”

  “Ask her.”

  “I’m asking you!”

  “She works as a cocktail waitress at the Jackson Lodge.”

  Mom turned pale. “You hacked into the database at the Lodge and found his name in the registry. And you haven’t told us? You haven’t told Shanks?”

  “I don’t know his name, Mom! If I knew his name, I’d tell the world!”

  “Who are you even looking for? Why do you think he stayed at the Jackson?”

  “It’s a long story, Mom.”

  “Then it looks like we’re staying up all night.”

  Ro had materialized. Ben’s mother stared at her. “Lovely dress, Dorothy.”

  “Thank you.” Ro’s eyes were on the ground. Then they looked up at Ben’s dad. “I’m eighteen now. And I’m hiring you as my lawyer.”

  “Done,” Dad said. “What’s going on?”

  She kept her voice very low. “I overheard you, Mrs. Vicksburg, and you’re right. We do have information from the database. We don’t know exactly who we’re after, but we have ideas.” She turned to her ad hoc lawyer. “I didn’t hack into anything, Mr. Vicksburg, because I was allowed to use the computer system when I worked the desk. But I went beyond my duties as a desk clerk. I’ve been printing out data: names of guests starting from roughly six months before Ellen’s murder and going forward. Ben and I have been going through the names one by one by one.”

  Ben’s father was stunned, half in disbelief and half in admiration. He said, “What makes you think that the son of a bitch stayed at the Jackson?”

  “Los Alamos puts its scientists up there because the Jackson gives them discounts. If there’s a scientific meeting that involves more than a couple of people, the lab uses that hotel. There are smaller hotels in the city of Los Alamos, but the Jackson’s the biggest that has a deal with the lab. And since I couldn’t take a job everywhere, I picked the Jackson.”

  “You think he’s a scientist?” Ben’s mom asked.

  “Ben thinks it’s someone with an affiliation with Los Alamos.” Ro turned to Ben. “You haven’t said anything to your parents?”

  Laura was throwing her son dagger eyes. “What . . . is . . . going . . . on?”

  Ben took a deep breath and let it out. “Over the yea
rs I’ve been looking at things that were similar to Ellen’s case.”

  “I know that, Benjamin. What have you found out?”

  “Similar cases that have taken place near other national labs—geographically. I have told Shanks. He knows my theories. But I have no idea if I’m right or wrong.”

  Dad said, “How did you find out that this hotel deals with Los Alamos National Lab, Ro?”

  “It was very high tech, Mr. Vicksburg. I made phone calls.”

  Ben said, “It’s my fault. She did it for me.”

  Ro’s face remained impassive. “No, Ben, I did it for Ellen.”

  Laura’s eyes overflowed. “Oh dear.”

  Ben said, “Dorothy, I’m so sorry I got you involved in this mess.”

  “I’m not sorry at all. But I don’t know where to go from here.” She smiled at Ben’s parents. “I’m open to ideas.”

  “Well, it’s clear you can’t tell anyone without compromising yourself. Furthermore, even if you did tell Shanks, he couldn’t use the information because you obtained everything in an illegal manner. Ellen’s case is still open. We could suggest that Shanks go back and get a subpoena for all hotel registries at the time of the incident. If you figured out some names, he should be able to do the same thing.”

  “Why didn’t he go to the hotels when it first happened?” Laura asked.

  “He did, Mom. He investigated every single hotel in the area and looked at the names of people staying in town around the dates of the abduction. But he didn’t know he was looking for someone associated with the labs. Also, it could be that the perpetrator’s name wasn’t on any local guest list.”

  “Or not in a form he recognized,” Ro said. When Ben glared at her, she said, “The jig is up, Vicks. Just come clean.”

  “What?” Ben’s dad asked.

  “It’s possible he could be using aliases.”

  “Like women’s names,” Ro added.

  “You know this for a fact?”

  “No. That’s why we’re looking at the data from way before and way after the incident. Shanks can’t get access to that data without reasonable cause.”

  “I want to see your files.”

  “Bad idea, Dad. You work for the government. No one would benefit from you being disbarred.”

  “Cut the sarcastic shit.”

  “William, please.”

  Dad said, “Stop trying to stonewall me, Ben, I don’t like it.”

  Shanks was done interviewing Lisa and was walking toward them. Ben said, “We’ll continue this conversation at home.”

  “What conversation?” Shanks asked.

  “Sorry, Sam,” William said. “Privileged information.”

  “What the hell is going on?” When no one answered him, Shanks took Ben’s arm. “You’re coming to the police station. We’re going to have a nice talk, Vicksburg.”

  Ro said, “He won’t admit to anything there because everything is recorded. But he may tell you stuff off the record if he knows what’s good for him.” She smiled widely. “How about if we go to Ben’s house? I’ll make a nice pot of coffee and Mr. Vicksburg—the senior Mr. Vicksburg—can tell us what to say and what not to say so no one ends up in prison.”

  “Just go home, Dorothy,” Ben told her.

  “Uh, let me think about that, Vicks.” She was still smiling. “No.”

  William turned to Laura. “Go home with the girls and I’ll meet you there.” To Shanks: “The kids and I will come with you.”

  “Dad, I have to wait for the tow truck.”

  Shanks said, “I’m impounding your car.”

  “Sam, I have finals. I have to get to Albuquerque.”

  “Take a bus.” He shook his head. “Ro’s right. The kids aren’t going to talk at the police station. Mind if we use your house? That way I can also see what they’ve been up to.”

  Dad put his hand on Sam’s shoulder. His eyes grew watery. “Just like old times.”

  Ben said, “You don’t have to get involved, Dad. I’ll tell him everything.”

  “Maybe I need your father, hotshot.” Ro punched his shoulder. “God, I hate you right now.”

  “Someone slashed my tires and you hate me?”

  “You ruined homecoming by cutting out on my special day, you ruined the winter dance by not going with me, you ruined the spring fling with your slugfest, and now you’ve ruined prom. Grad night is my last hurrah in this godforsaken place. It would be nice to have one event here that you didn’t spoil.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Ben said. “Let me remind you that I saved you from a very bad Christmas Eve and I took you out to a very nice and expensive dinner for your eighteenth birthday. I also gave you exactly what you wanted as far as birthday presents are concerned. And while we’re talking about people spoiling things, guess who spoiled Valentine’s Day?”

  She yanked him aside and whispered furiously, “That was awful. You know how remorseful I feel. Everything I’ve done has been for you because I feel so ashamed. You call yourself a nice guy. Stop it already.”

  Her eyes were pure wrath. “I won’t mention it again,” he told her. “Just go home, Dorothy. I’m trying to save your ass.”

  “My ass doesn’t need to be saved by you. And I’d like to remind you that you weren’t making any headway in your ‘research’ until I helped you out.”

  “All true, but what does that have to do with anything? I don’t want you involved!”

  “Too late for that because I’m already involved!” She hit him again. Abruptly, she burst into tears. “Now JD is taking Lisa to the after party and he’s probably going to bang her.”

  “No, he won’t.” He took her in his arms and kissed the top of her updo. “I promise you he won’t.”

  “Why?” Her eyes were ablaze. “Did you already bang her?” She pushed him away. “Where the hell were you two for so long?”

  “I didn’t bang anyone. All I’m saying is that JD is loyal to you—”

  Shanks broke in. “Sorry to interrupt your little lovers’ spat, but there’s work to do. Shall we go?”

  Ro dried her eyes on the back of her hand. Then she slipped her arm under Ben’s. “Let’s.”

  Chapter 8

  Stewing and feeling violated, Ben said nothing as his father sifted through his carefully constructed files, reading what had been meant for his eyes only. He squirmed and sighed, showing his resentment, but his father was uninterested. Ro held his hand and glanced at him in understanding. At long last, they had reached a truce.

  Shanks, in the meantime, had gone back to the police station to get his own files and they were waiting for him to return. He hadn’t looked at any of the purloined material because as of yet, no one could figure out how to legitimize the files. Shanks knew that if he nabbed someone, he’d have to justify his investigation under oath. The saving grace was the life that all this activity had injected into Ellen’s stalled case.

  William Vicksburg shook his head. “The police can’t use any of this stuff. It was obtained illegally. Who are you two looking at?”

  Ro pulled out Kevin Barnes. “Him.”

  William began to read the data. “He’s not a scientist, he’s a lawyer.”

  Ben said, “An immigration lawyer who works for the government getting visas for its foreign scientists. He was at the hotel on the vernal equinox, Dad. I bumped into him. He smelled dirty—wet and musty—like he had just done some gardening. And this was at midnight.”

  The man paled. “Oh Jesus! We’ve got to tell Shanks.” He wagged a finger. “Son, you are not going to start searching the mountains again.”

  “No one in the area was reported missing, Dad. I don’t think he did anything, although I don’t know that for sure.”

  “So why was he here?”

  “Reliving something maybe.”

  “If this is the guy, I’ll kill him myself.”

  “You’ll have to stand in line,” Ben said.

  Ro said, “No one is killing anyone.” She
turned to Ben. “How’d you find out he was an immigration lawyer? I couldn’t find anything on him except that he’s a lawyer.”

  “George Tafoya told me. He knows him from the lab. He thinks he’s weird.”

  “George Tafoya thinks he’s weird?” William said. “How?”

  “Nothing he can put his finger on.”

  “Get me George’s phone number.”

  “You can’t call him up,” Ben said. “His phone lines might be bugged.”

  “Bugged?” his dad said. “He told you his phone is bugged?”

  “He thinks his entire house is bugged. Whenever we talk, we go out and drive in my car. I told him everything I know about Barnes. He told me to back off and let him poke around.”

  Dad said, “Exactly how many people have you enlisted for help?”

  “Just Ro and George. And of course, Shanks.”

  “What else haven’t you told me?”

  “We think that Kevin Barnes is using aliases,” Ro said. “Specifically girls’ names so he’s less likely to be noticed.”

  “How did he check into the Jackson using girls’ names?”

  “We don’t question things like that, Mr. Vicksburg. It would be bad for business. We just smile and do the job.”

  The doorbell rang. Ben got up. “Must be Sam.”

  “I’ll get it,” William said. “Don’t tell Shanks any of this. I’ve got to think of a way to make this all legal. And certainly do not tell your mother any of it. I’ll tell her in my own time.”

  Ben looked at Ro, who said, “The jig is up, Vicksburg. You’ve been officially outed.”

  “I’m happy to let the experts do their thing.”

  “I wonder if that’s true.” She stood. “Shall we join the others?”

  “I suppose we have to.”

  Ben’s parents were having a powwow with Sam. Haley and Lilly were on the couch in their pj’s, looking very scared. Shanks noticed it. “Might be better if the girls weren’t here.”

  “I want to know what’s going on,” Haley said.

  “Fair enough,” Shanks said. “After all your family and you have been through, you deserve to know. But first let me find out what’s going on, okay, Haley?”

  Lilly tugged on Haley’s sleeve. “They’ll tell us when they know. Let’s continue on with our search for the perfect morp dress.”