Faye Kellerman_Decker & Lazarus 09

by Prayers for the Dead

  “Funny.”

  Her eyes stopped at his dinner plate. “Chinese doesn’t appear to keep well. Let me make you something fresh.”

  “Nah, don’t bother.”

  “How about salami and eggs?” Rina proposed. “Easy to make and guaranteed to drive your cholesterol off the scale.”

  Decker pushed the dish away. “Actually, that sounds great. How’s my baby daughter? Does she still remember me?”

  “With much fondness. You look very tired, Peter.”

  “As always.”

  Rina began to rub his neck. “You’re very tense, Atlas. Why don’t you pass the world onto someone else’s shoulders?”

  “I tried. No one would take it.”

  Rina said nothing, continued the massage.

  “Feels good,” Decker said.

  “Maybe you can juggle some paperwork, put me on the department payroll as your masseuse. Isn’t that how the politicians work it?”

  “Too bad I’m not a good politician.” Decker blew out air. “I’m not a good bureaucrat, either. I’m also lousy at delegating tasks. As a result, I’m swamped with paperwork. My own doing, of course.”

  “Would you like a rope for self-flagellation, or perhaps a cat-o’-nine-tails?”

  Decker smiled. “Where do you know from a cat-o’-nine-tails?”

  Rina hit his shoulder, went over to the refrigerator and took out eggs and a roll of salami. Decker looked at his wife as she sliced and diced. As tired as he was, damn, if she didn’t look good enough to devour. He still marveled at how the gods had smiled on him. Seven years ago since they had met…

  “It’s not that I don’t have my virtues,” Decker said. “In fact, I have many.”

  Rina pushed sizzling salami around the pan. “That’s the spirit.”

  “I sometimes miss working in the field, that’s all. I miss working with Marge as a partner. I’ve teamed her with Oliver. They work well together. But I think there’s friction.”

  “Big surprise. Marge is a straight shooter, Scott’s a slick old goat.”

  “He’s in his forties. That’s not old.”

  “But he is slick and he is a goat.”

  “True.”

  “Is Marge complaining?”

  “No, she’s too much the professional to do that. I should talk to her, find out if she’s happy. Tell the truth, I don’t want to open up a can of worms. I figure if there are real problems, I’ll learn about them sooner or later.”

  “In other words, you’re playing ostrich, burying your head in the sand.”

  “More like…selective ostrich.” Decker smoothed his mustache. “Sometimes, I have to look the other way. Otherwise, you spread yourself too thin.”

  The phone rang.

  Both of them looked at the wall, at the malevolent blinking business line. Rina poured the eggs into the pan and scrambled fiercely. “How about doing some fancy head-interring right now, Mr. Cassowary?”

  “Lieutenant Cassowary.”

  Wordlessly, Rina picked up the receiver, handed it to her husband. He took it, shrugged helplessly.

  “Decker.”

  “It’s Marge. We need you.”

  “Can I finish my dinner?”

  “You may not want to. Just found sixty-plus white male slumped inside an ’86 Buick. Gunshot wounds to the forehead, as well as multiple stab wounds to the chest. The man had ID on him. Pete, it’s Azor Sparks!”

  It took a few moments for Decker to put flesh and bone on the name. “The heart doctor?” He felt a sudden pounding in his head. “Jesus! What happened?”

  “What?” Rina asked.

  Decker waved her off. Marge said, “The car was found parked in the back alley behind Tracadero’s. A busboy was taking out the garbage when he saw that the Buick had the driver’s seat door wide open. He went over to investigate…Oh Christ!…Pete, a stray was on top of him, snout buried in his chest—”

  “I’ll be right over.” Decker hung up the phone.

  Rina handed him his plate of salami and eggs. “You don’t have time to bolt it down?”

  Decker’s stomach lurched. Not the time or the inclination. “It’s bad, Rina. You don’t want to know.”

  “Will I hear about it on the news?”

  “Probably.” Decker grimaced. “Dr. Azor Sparks, the famous heart transplant surgeon. He was found dead in his car…in a back alley behind a restaurant.”

  Abruptly, Rina paled, brought her hand to her throat. Decker regarded his wife. As gray as ash. “Sit down, honey.”

  “I think I will.” She melted into a chair.

  “You want something to drink?”

  “No, I’m…”

  The kitchen went silent. Decker studied Rina’s expression. “Rina, did you know this man?”

  Slowly, she shook her head no. “Not personally. By reputation.”

  “I’m sorry you have to witness such ugliness through me.”

  A baby’s cry shot through the room. Rina stood on shaky legs. “Hannah’s up. It’s like she has a sixth sense…I’d better see…” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Smiled at her husband, but left without a good-bye.

  Decker waited a beat, then slipped on his jacket, puzzled by Rina’s strong reaction.

  Odd.

  But maybe not.

  Homicides weren’t a daily occurrence in her life.

  2

  Tracadero’s was one of the few hoo-hah, nouvelle, chic, posh, pick-your-own-effete-adjective restaurants in the West Valley. Translation to Decker: Pay a lot for tiny portions. He had been there once. The inside had been done up to look like scaffolding. For that kind of money and atmosphere, he could have just as easily bag-lunched it at a construction site. The place was located midblock in a commercial strip of street.

  A long block. As Decker fast-walked through a decently lit back alley, he noticed a pizzeria, a clothing boutique, a guitar store, a pharmacy, a hair and nail salon, and a tropical fish store. The night was foggy and cool, the glare of starlight spread behind a wall of filmy clouds. Yellow crime tape had been stretched across the alley’s main entrances, two black-and-whites nose to nose at the driveways, preventing pass-through traffic. As he came closer to the actual crime spot, the crowd grew dense. Uniformed and plainclothed officers swarming around a bronze Buick. The strong odor of garbage mixed with the metallic stench of fresh blood and excreted bowels.

  Marge and Oliver had already arrived. So had Martinez and Webster, the newest imports to Devonshire Homicide. Bert Martinez came from Van Nuys Substation, having worked Crimes Against Persons detail, Tom Webster was a transplant from Mississippi with ten years of gold-shield experience and a BA in music composition from Tulane. With veteran Farrell Gaynor, they would comprise the team for this case, as major homicides were usually worked in groups of five. Gaynor was on his way, his wife having reported that he had just left. The old man moved like a slug, but had a microscopic eye for details and patience for paperwork.

  Decker reached inside his jacket, slipped on a pair of latex gloves. Marge noticed him first, pushed silk blond hair out of her brown doe eyes and gave a wave. She was a big woman, five nine plus, large-boned and all muscle. Unmarried as well. Not too many guys could compete against her in either the brains or brawn department. The others gave him nods as he approached their huddle.

  First thing up: Clear unnecessary people. Decker said, “Martinez, Oliver, Webster, and Dunn. You stay here. How many cruisers were sent here? Anyone know?”

  “Seven,” someone answered.

  “Four of them are blocking the entrances to the alley.” Decker thought a moment. “All right, the other three loose black-and-whites, start making passes around the area. Use extreme caution if you see anything suspicious. And always call for backup. The rest of you, go back to the barricades and wait for further instructions. On your way out, don’t touch anything, watch where you step. Go.”

  Slowly, the crowd scattered, leaving Decker full view of the car. The driver’s door was
still wide open, legs protruded out, shoes scraped the asphalt. Good shoes. Quality black leather, maybe Ballys or Cole-Haan. They were splattered with sticky clots of blood. Decker advanced, peered inside the car.

  An abattoir. Jackson Pollock in shades of red and brown. He held his breath and exhaled carefully, thankful his stomach was empty. Stab wounds had turned the doctor’s chest into a sieve, bullets had pierced through the great man’s head and neck. Carefully, he touched the cheek.

  “Body’s still warm.” Decker looked at his glove. Wet with blood. He’d have to change it before he touched anything else. He checked his watch. Nine-twenty. “Anyone call up the ME?”

  “Yo.” Oliver ran his hands through a mound of dark hair. His brown eyes flitted through the scene. “Called the coroner’s office, called Forensics as well. They should be here any moment.”

  “What about Captain Strapp?”

  Marge said, “I left a message for him, Pete…er, Loo.”

  Oliver flashed Marge a white, toothy smile. She ignored it and him. Pity because Scott was well built and good-looking. He even had moments that could be roughly defined as charming. Just too few of them and way too far between.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Decker saw a stoop-shouldered man wrapped in a cardigan sweater, inching toward them. Marge followed Decker’s stare, shook her head. “I think you woke him up from his nap.”

  Decker waved Gaynor forward. The man attempted a trot but gave up. His belly was too big, his legs too spindly to carry that much weight while running. Oliver said, “I thought he retired. He should be retired.”

  “C’mon,” Martinez whispered impatiently. He twirled the ends of his Brillo mustache. “Guy’s an antique. Don’t know why the department keeps him on. He doesn’t even help it out with affirmative action.”

  Oliver said, “You know, this team would fail even the most liberal affirmative action qualifications. Too many white males. Not enough minorities. No blacks, Indians, Asians, women—”

  Marge said, “Uh, excuse me—”

  “Hispanics—”

  “A-hem,” Martinez broke in.

  “No deaf-blind paraplegics, no midget cretins, no mentally deranged or morally handicapped—”

  “Look in the mirror, Scott,” Marge said.

  Oliver said, “I don’t know where you fit in, Webster. Man, they don’t make ’em any WASPier.”

  “Enough, Scott,” Marge said. But he did have a point. Tom was Mr. Perma-Prest with his perfect chip of blond hair falling in front of sleepy, bluebell eyes. Most detectives exuded an excitement when starting a case. Webster seemed injected with ennui, as if forced to put up with another hot and humid August day in Biloxi, Mississippi.

  Oliver went on. “Actually, you’re more than WASP, Tommy Boy. You are down-home DWM.”

  “Beg your pardon?” Webster drawled.

  “Dead White Male,” Marge said.

  “Don’t hate me ’cause ahm beautiful,” Webster said dryly.

  Oliver smiled, started whistling “Here Comes Santa Claus” as Gaynor arrived, sweaty and winded.

  “Hey, gentlemen.” Farrell looked at Marge. “And ladies.”

  Oliver said, “We were all wondering why the department hasn’t put you to pasture since you don’t help them with affirmative action.”

  Gaynor said, “I’m elderly. Gray power.” He held his fist in the air. “God, it smells awful.”

  “It is awful,” Marge said.

  “Take a look for yourself, Farrell,” Oliver stated. “If your heart can take it.”

  “Old ticker’s stronger than you’d think.” Gaynor walked over to the car, looked inside, and winced. He slipped on gloves. “Gruesome. It’s definitely the primary crime scene.”

  “I can see why they keep you on,” Oliver said. “Astute powers of observation.”

  Decker said, “Sparks worked exclusively with New Christian Hospital, didn’t he?”

  Gaynor said, “I know he was there a lot. Friend of mine used Sparks a couple of years ago for bypass surgery. It was done at New Chris.” He smiled benignly at Oliver. “One day you’ll know from these things.”

  Oliver gave him a sick smile.

  Decker said, “He must have had his office there, right?”

  Blank stares. Gaynor said, “When I had my angiogram done, it was a hospital procedure. But my doctor had a regular office.” He thought a moment. “But he was a cardiologist not a surgeon.”

  Decker said, “Dunn, find out where Sparks saw his patients when he wasn’t operating. In any event, I want you and Oliver to go over to New Chris, see if Sparks was coming from the hospital. While you’re on your way, make calls and find out who Sparks’s secretary is. If he kept his office at the hospital, tell the secretary to meet you there. I want to get hold of Sparks’s daily planner. Hopefully, nobody lifted it.”

  “Got it,” Oliver said. “I’ll interview all the nurses personally. One by one. In private.”

  Decker stared into space. “Parked in a back alley like this…Sparks wasn’t sightseeing. So what was he doing here?”

  “Parking the car for the restaurant,” Martinez suggested.

  “Then why wouldn’t he have used the valet up in front?”

  “He was cheap,” Oliver said. “Lots of rich people are.”

  “Or it was a carjacking,” Webster added.

  Decker didn’t buy it. A carjacker wouldn’t make his drop in back of a populated restaurant. His eyes traveled back to the car, scanned the corpse. The scene hadn’t gotten any less horrifying. “Could be someone lured Sparks here. Let’s get a time frame for him. Try to reconstruct his day. Go back to New Chris and talk to anyone who saw him. Call me in a half hour for an update. Go.”

  Marge and Oliver looked at each other. Oliver said, “You drive?”

  “I’ll drive.”

  Oliver flipped her the keys, and they left.

  Decker said, “Anyone talk to the valet yet?”

  Martinez said no. “Guy’s Hispanic. Want me to do it?”

  “Yes. Find out if he heard or saw anything. Also the kitchen faces the back alley. Maybe the help heard something.”

  “Si, si, Señor Wences.”

  Decker turned to Webster. “You canvass the block?”

  “It’s all stores, Loo,” Martinez said. “Everything’s shut down at this hour.”

  “How about someone working late in one of the back rooms?” Webster said. “Some soul mighta heard something going down.”

  Decker agreed. “Canvass the block. On your way back, Tom, check all the alley Dumpsters. We’ve got a gunshot wound, maybe we’ll find a gun. We’ve got multiple stab wounds, maybe someone chucked a bloody knife.”

  Webster said, “Odd, Loo. We got gunshot and stab wounds.”

  “Very.”

  “Suggestive of more than one person?”

  “Indeed.” Decker looked around. “This much blood spatter…maybe we’ll find more than one shoe print.”

  Martinez said, “Or a bloody glove.”

  “Man, you jest but somewhere there is a pile of bloody clothing begging to be tagged and filed. Be careful. And before you pick up anything to bag it, snap a picture. Anyone have a camera?”

  “I got a thirty-five millimeter in my car,” Martinez said.

  “Good,” Decker said. “If you got enough film, Bert, take a few pictures of the body for me.”

  “Will do.”

  “Y’always carry a camera, Bert?” Webster asked.

  “The missus keeps one in the cars for spontaneous family shots,” Martinez answered. “I think I’ve got half a roll left over from our Labor Day picnic.”

  Webster said, “Might be a good idea if you took that one in for developing, Bert. Separate the postmortems of Sparks from the family snapshots.”

  “A very good idea,” Decker concurred. “Everyone be sure to cover your butt. It plays well on prime time.”

  Martinez said, “Speaking of prime time, Loo, look who’s coming our way.”


  Decker’s eyes strained in the darkness. Strapp with camera crews in tow.

  “I’ll handle it.”

  “Then we’re dismissed?” Webster said.

  “Unless you want to talk to Strapp.”

  Martinez waved good-bye. He and Webster headed down the alley, jogging away from Strapp.

  Decker turned to Gaynor. “You stay here at the scene, wait for the ME and Forensics. Make sure no one…and I mean no one…screws up evidence. You watch them, Farrell, stand over their shoulders and direct if necessary. No screwups. Not while I’m in charge.”

  “Where are you going, Loo?”

  “I’m going to satisfy Strapp, and hopefully deflect the media. Get the field clear so my detectives can do their jobs. Then, I’m going to notify next of kin.”

  Gaynor patted his back. “Brave man.”

  Decker felt sick inside. “Someone has to take out the garbage.”

  3

  As the captain advanced with the television army, Decker held up his index finger indicating a minute. Strapp held out an open palm, telling the media troops to halt, and said something to a coiffed brunette in a teal-blue silk pants suit. She placed her hands on her hips, and shook her head defiantly. Strapp was not impressed and shot back a response, his face hard, his shoulders stiff. The brunette looked upward, threw up her hands, then went back to her underlings. Strapp approached Decker by himself. Gaynor stood back to guard the body, happy to be out of the picture.

  Because the Captain was a formidable man. He was of average height—a lean man with lean features. But his eyes were knowing, intense. Strapp was a clear thinker and a good problem solver. Deliberate, almost cagy at times. Decker had trouble reading him. So far, the Cap seemed to be a man of his word.

  Strapp said, “Fill me in.”

  “I just arrived around fifteen minutes ago.” Decker smoothed his mustache. “I’ve sent Martinez in to interview the restaurant personnel, Webster’s canvassing the block. We’ve got at least three additional patrol cars making passes through the area. Gaynor’s waiting for the ME and Forensics. I’ve assigned Oliver and Dunn over to New Chris where Sparks operated and attended.”