Darker Than Night fq-1

by John Lutz

  She was sure it had something to do with the gun, but she didn’t understand the connection.

  Leon Holtzman was hungry.

  The illuminated red numerals on the bedroom clock indicated it was two forty-five A.M. Leon’s stomach had been upset that evening and he’d eaten light when he and Lisa met friends at the French Affaire for drinks and dinner. The mint cappuccino he’d had for dessert hadn’t helped his digestion, as he’d foolishly claimed it would. Lisa had warned him about drinking coffee to medicate a dyspeptic stomach: So what are you, Leon, a doctor? He wasn’t. He should have listened.

  After parting with the other couple outside the restaurant, Leon and Lisa cabbed back to the apartment, bouncing over what seemed like dozens of potholes. Each crevice caused the driver to accelerate and then brake suddenly, as if he were in a series of hundred-foot drag races. At times Leon thought he might lose his small but excellent dinner in the back of the taxi. Once, grim-faced, he’d suggested to the driver that the cab should be equipped with a barf bag.

  It was past eleven o’clock when they arrived home, so he’d taken some expired prescription medicine of Lisa’s to calm his stomach and gone straight to bed.

  Now, less than four hours later, whatever was bothering Leon seemed to have left him, possibly due to the medicine whose brand or generic name he’d have to remember. His normally healthy appetite had returned.

  He glanced over at Lisa’s shadowed form and listened to her breathing. She was obviously sleeping well, and Leon didn’t want to disturb her. He held his breath as he climbed out of bed and located his pants on the chair where he’d folded them the night before.

  The bedroom was dim and he was still disoriented; he had to brace himself with one hand on the dresser as he slipped his left leg into the pants and his big toe found resistance. Almost falling, he cursed under his breath. Fifteen-no, ten! — years ago, he could have put on his pants in a dark room while running. Jumped into his damned pants! That was the young Leon Holtzman!

  Standing up straight, he fastened his belt rather than let it dangle, took another look at Lisa to make sure he hadn’t awakened her, then quietly made his way toward the kitchen.

  He saw right away that the hall was brighter than it should be. Lisa must have forgotten to switch off the kitchen light when she came to bed-again. With what the utilities charged these days! What if he gently woke her up, talking to her nicely, of course: Lisa, honey, I just wanted to tell you, so maybe you won’t forget next time, that you went to bed and left the kitchen light on-again.

  No, that was probably a bad idea.

  Leon was still slightly irritated by his wife’s forgetfulness, distracted as he entered the kitchen.

  He stopped short just inside the door.

  Incredible!

  His mind tried to catch up, tried to figure out if he should be terrified, angry, or both at the sight of the strange man seated at his kitchen table and sipping milk from the carton. Unsanitary! Leon inanely wondered if he should berate the stranger for his thoughtlessness and lack of manners. He heard his mother’s long-ago words: This is how disease spreads, Leon.

  He began to recover from his surprise and stammered incoherently as he took a few steps toward the stranger in his kitchen, who was casually placing the milk carton on the table.

  The man rose to greet him, as if to shake hands.

  Lisa awoke.

  Leon?

  She sensed that her husband was gone even before she reached an arm over to check and felt only cool linen.

  Was he ill?

  He hadn’t felt well most of last night at the restaurant, and the cab ride had made him worse. Cab ride from hell! The subway would have been better!

  She recalled now what had awakened her, a noise from the hall bathroom, or maybe the kitchen.

  So Leon had gotten up and was either trying to find something to ease his discomfort, or he was feeling better and was in the kitchen rummaging about for something to eat. It would be one or the other.

  Lisa decided to get out of bed and go find out which.

  43

  Quinn was on his way to meet Pearl and Fedderman at the park entrance the next morning when his cell phone beeped.

  He slowed his pace but continued walking as he drew the phone from his pocket and held it to his ear.

  Harley Renz answered his hello with “You up for another one this morning, Quinn?”

  At first Quinn thought Renz had somehow found out about him and Pearl and was being a wiseass. Then he realized what he must mean and stood still. “You sure it’s our guy?”

  “That’s your job, isn’t it?”

  A woman danced around Quinn, deliberately grazing his hip, and glared at him for taking up sidewalk space to have a phone conversation.

  Screw you, lady. “Don’t waste my time, Harley.”

  “Waste time? The principals in this little drama aren’t going anywhere. A man and his wife, dead in their apartment on the West Side.”

  “You sure it’s his wife?”

  “What are you, the morality police?”

  “Harley…”

  “Okay, I’m assuming,” Renz admitted. And he gave Quinn an address in the seventies.

  As soon as the connection was broken, Quinn called Pearl and told her his location, then called Fedderman, who was already driving in from Queens in the unmarked to pick up Pearl. The morning was moving fast.

  After replacing the phone in his pocket, Quinn made his way to some shade beneath an awning in front of a luggage shop and waited. There had been no point in walking the rest of the way to the park.

  Which was a shame, he thought; it was a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

  Renz hadn’t been quick enough this time. When Quinn, Pearl, and Fedderman arrived, there were already half a dozen police cars and an ambulance positioned in front of the victims’ building.

  Pearl parked the car half a block down and they walked back.

  “The uniform on the door,” Fedderman said, “I know him. Name’s Mehan and he’ll talk to me if I ask.”

  “Go ahead and ask,” Quinn said. “Pearl and I will go up to the apartment and get started.”

  Mehan was one of those beefy, redheaded guys with a pink complexion that made him look as if he’d burn if he even got near a beach. He saw them approach and without moving anything but his eyes gave them a look-not curious, not even interested, just a look.

  But there was a flash of recognition when he saw Fedderman. “Wha’ say, Feds?”

  “Not much.” Fedderman moved off to the side so Mehan could get a clear look at Quinn and Pearl.

  Quinn flashed his new shield to be polite and Mehan nodded.

  Pearl followed Quinn into the lobby. It was an impressive vista of marble, mirrors, and oak paneling, but there was a faint ammonia scent, as if the floor had just been mopped and disinfected. Another uniform was standing like a good soldier by the elevator. He was compliant; if Quinn and Pearl had made it past Mehan, they were okay to go farther. Security folding like an accordion.

  “You’re lookin’ for fourteen B,” he said to Quinn.

  Quinn thanked him.

  The uniform smiled and nodded to Pearl as she and Quinn waited for the elevator.

  On the fourteenth floor there was another uniformed cop posted outside an apartment with its door wide open like an invitation to the hospitality suite at a convention. This cop, a big curly-haired guy who looked like he should be a country-western singer, recognized Pearl.

  “Stayin’ outta trouble, Pug?” he asked with a grin.

  “You better watch out that I’m not,” Pearl said as she and Quinn moved past him into the apartment. She might have been joking; Quinn never knew for sure.

  Great place, Pearl thought, looking around the living room. Lots of space, high ceilings, new-looking furniture, and the flawlessness of fresh, cream-colored paint. I’ve gotta get painting again in my apartment. The drapes were a pale blue that complemented furniture upholstered a darker b
lue, where it wasn’t brushed steel. Pearl wasn’t one for the modern look, but this place she could live in.

  What she was wondering now was, who died in it?

  Nift, the Napoleonic little ME, was standing off to the side in the living room, ignoring a couple of techs dusting everything for prints. As usual, Nift was nattily dressed, this time in a chalk-stripe black suit that would shame Fedderman when he came upstairs. Of course Fedderman wouldn’t notice. Nor would he notice Nift’s white-on-white shirt and improbably lush silk tie. Fedderman bought his ties in drugstores.

  “Guy looks like a Wall Street asshole,” Pearl whispered to Quinn as they approached.

  Nift had just finished peeling off his rubber gloves. He looked over at Quinn and Pearl and smiled. “Ah, even more detectives.”

  “Fill us in,” Quinn said.

  “Why? Are you hollowed out?”

  “Don’t be such a prick,” Pearl said.

  Nift gave her his imperious look, as if to say, yes, the peasants are still revolting. “You gonna report me for insubordination, Sugar Ray?”

  “She’s gonna report me,” Quinn said, “for dropping you out a window. Don’t waste our time-do your job and give with what you’ve got.”

  Nift grinned at Quinn to let him know he wasn’t afraid. “Didn’t you threaten to do that window thing to me before?”

  “Yeah, but you came around.”

  Nift appeared unfazed, but he did get cooperative. “Two dead in the kitchen, a Lisa Ide and one Leon Holtzman. Husband and wife, or so I was told by others of your ilk. Leon was stabbed three times, Lisa approximately twenty, many of the wounds in erogenous zones.”

  “On both bodies?” Quinn asked.

  Nift seemed to consider going smart-mouth again, then changed his mind. “Only on Lisa. Leon got it in the heart, as she did. But he died fast, and my guess is her other stab wounds were inflicted first.”

  “The killer enjoyed his work,” Pearl said.

  “And who wouldn’t? Anyway, this all seemed to transpire this morning, sometime between two and four o’clock.” Nift absently smoothed his wonderful maroon-and-black tie. Quinn noticed he wore a gold clasp to keep the tie from dangling and getting bloody. “That’s about all I can tell you for sure, until after the postmortem.”

  “Any signs they resisted?” Pearl asked.

  “To speculate would be playing detective, Detective.”

  “Nift, how would you like-”

  “There are only a few defensive wounds on the victims’ hands and arms, not as if they put up what you’d describe as a struggle.”

  “I’d describe talking to you as a struggle. In fact-”

  “Look like the same knife that killed the other married couples?” Quinn interrupted. Sometimes it was difficult to maintain a businesslike atmosphere with Pearl around.

  “The Night Prowler’s knife? Yeah, it could have been. Remember, I’ve only done the prelim, so that’s all I can tell you right now.”

  “Nift-”

  “Let’s go,” Quinn said, gripping Pearl’s elbow and steering her away. After a few steps she jerked her arm out of his grasp and gave him a look he felt bounce off the back of his skull.

  They went into the kitchen to examine the carnage.

  There was the husband on the floor, dead with his eyes open in suspended surprise. There was the wife about five feet away from him, lying on her back in a bed of blood, with her legs splayed and her bared breasts carved by a madman. Her left nipple was missing. Pearl thought she saw it on the floor near the woman’s hip, but it was difficult to know for sure, the way it was coated with dried blood.

  “He’s getting more violent,” Pearl said, feeling bile rise in her throat. Don’t get sick and lose it. Not in front of Quinn. Or Nift. Can’t be weak…

  “Check out the table,” Quinn said.

  Pearl looked to her left and saw an open milk carton.

  She went over and peered closely at it without touching it. “Expiration date’s not for another three days.” She touched the carton lightly now with the inside of her bare wrist. “Room temperature.”

  Two detectives who’d been in a back room, apparently the bedroom, entered the kitchen. One was a seriously overweight guy with a shaved head. His partner was a handsome African American in his forties who looked as if he worked out and lived in a health store. They were Egan’s troops.

  Quinn and Pearl reached for their shields. “We’re-”

  “We know who you are,” the bald one said. He gave Quinn a nasty grin. “I thought you were assigned to juvenile.”

  “I’m Lou Jefferson,” said the black cop. “My partner’s Wayne Frist.”

  Pearl was giving Frist a dead-eyed look. “We all going to cooperate?” she asked.

  Frist looked away as if dismissing her.

  “As long as we’re here together,” Jefferson said, “we might as well make nice.”

  “We already got the victims’ names,” Quinn said, trying to prime the pump.

  “Here’s some more on them.” Jefferson was referring to his notepad. “They owned a jewelry store on Forty-seventh, L and L’s Diamond Emporium. I know it; it’s one of those long, narrow places lined with showcases. They sell mostly diamonds, but also other kinds of gems and jewelry. There are a couple of valuable pieces laying around the apartment, but Wayne and I just finished tossing the bedroom. Nothing seems to have been stolen, but we’ll try to get an inventory from somebody who’ll know.”

  “Lou…,” Frist said, sending an angry look Jefferson’s way. Clearly, he thought Jefferson was being too cooperative.

  “Anybody see or hear anything suspicious?” Quinn asked.

  “We haven’t talked to the neighbors or doorman yet. We just got here about twenty minutes ago.”

  “I’ve gotta get some air before I puke,” Frist said with a sideways glance at Quinn. He eased around a puddle of blood and out the door.

  “He seems so sensitive,” Pearl said.

  Jefferson paid her no attention and addressed Quinn. “You talked to the ME, so he told you about stab wounds and such?”

  “Yeah, he was very cooperative.”

  “For such a dickhead,” Pearl added.

  Jefferson grinned and flipped his notepad closed. “I heard she was kinda rowdy,” he said to Quinn.

  “Oh, she is.”

  Not giving up his grin, Jefferson gave them a little half salute and left the kitchen to join his partner.

  “What a putz,” Pearl said.

  “Forget being testy for a while. What do you think here?”

  “Gotta be our guy,” Pearl said.

  Quinn stooped low and looked at the couple whose marriage had ended so suddenly and unexpectedly. Lisa had been quite beautiful. Leon, the older of the two, with gray hair and beard stubble, had been a lucky man.

  Pearl went to the refrigerator and opened it. “Gift box of chocolates,” she said. “Expensive. Any woman would appreciate a present like that.”

  Quinn stood up, hearing the cartilage in his knees crack. “I’m sure we’ll learn that Lisa loved chocolate.”

  “And she loved jewelry, judging by the wedding ring she slept in and those diamond stud earrings she must have been too tired to remove when she went to bed last night. They look like they cost what a cop makes in a year.”

  “She and Hubby owned the shop,” Quinn said, “so why not?”

  “I wasn’t criticizing,” Pearl said. “I was complaining.”

  There was nothing unexpected in the bedroom. The kingsize bed was unmade, two pillows obviously used and the covers thrown back. It looked as if the bed’s occupants had gotten up in mild haste and expected to return.

  Pearl and Quinn didn’t spend a lot of time there.

  When they returned to the living room, the techs were still busy and Nift hadn’t left. He was talking on the phone near the door. Pearl drifted away and took a short tour of the rest of the apartment, in part to admire the decor.

  When she got back, Qui
nn was standing by the window. Pearl went over and stood next to him, then looked down to see what he was staring at.

  Jefferson and Frist were below, talking to the uniformed doorman, who must have just come on duty, his schedule altered by the murders.

  “I went into the dining room,” Pearl said softly. “There’s a vase of yellow roses in there. Fresh ones.”

  Quinn looked over at her.

  “This is the third murder with at least one yellow rose present someplace in the apartment.”

  “More pattern, huh?”

  “I’d say so. And it’s always possible Mary Navarre, the only roseless victim, received roses earlier and they wilted and she threw them out. I know they weren’t in her trash, but she might have dropped them down to the incinerator.”

  Fedderman entered and walked over to join them.

  “Let’s go,” Quinn said, sounding businesslike.

  “Where?” Fedderman asked.

  “It’s ten o’clock. Frist and Jefferson are down there interviewing the doorman, who was no doubt asleep at the time of the murders and doesn’t know anything. You two start with the neighbors. By the time Frist and Jefferson get done jerking around outside, you’ll be a couple of apartments ahead of them.”

  “Sounds right,” Pearl said.

  The three of them moved toward the door. Nift had just hung up the phone and was standing there.

  Pearl paused in front of him. “Leonard or Robinson?” she asked.

  Nift stared at her. “Huh?”

  “You called me Sugar Ray. Which Sugar Ray?”

  “Oh. I don’t know. Who the fuck cares? Only Sugar Ray I know is Leonard.”

  “I’m Robinson,” Pearl said, and gave his tie a sharp yank so the gold clasp popped off and bounced on the carpet. “Find that or you’ll be a suspect.”

  She was out the door and gone before Nift could get over his shocked anger and think of a counterpunch.

  Anna Caruso stood across the street from the apartment building Quinn and his detectives had entered. She wasn’t noticeable because she was only one of several dozen people gathered in a knot of onlookers that shrank and grew as passersby joined the group and others left.

  There really wasn’t much to see except parked police and emergency vehicles, including an ambulance. What people were waiting to see, Anna knew, was if someone would be carted out and placed in the ambulance either alive or dead. That was how people were. Since the ambulance had been there for some time and there was obviously no rush, the odds were improved that someone inside the building was dead. Anna had heard several of her fellow gawkers speculate that this might be another Night Prowler murder.