MemoriesErasedTreachery

by Charlie Richards

  "Oh, yeah. Positive ID. Whoever did this didn't try to conceal identity."

  Patterson scribbled on his pad. "Do you have a TOD?"

  "No, but my guess would be sometime yesterday, since he's still wearing the clothes he had on when he attacked Niqui. The coroner gave me the body being in the water, body temperature won't be accurate spiel," Steppling explained. "Said he should be able to give a better estimate, once he gets the corpse back to the morgue."

  "COD?"

  "Gutted like a fish. Literally."

  "Hmm. Killed here?"

  "Doubtful," Detective Owens interjected. "If, as Steppling suspects, he was killed yesterday, somebody would have noticed the body and called it in before now." Owens shook his head. "This beach and the pier are busy from sunrise until sunset, and then some."

  "No one reported seeing anything out of the ordinary until the body appeared?"

  "Probably carried here on the current from up north. Long Beach, Santa Monica…who knows." Owens shrugged. "We received the call about…" He looked at Roberts. "A little over an hour?" The officer nodded.

  "An hour." Patterson glanced at Steppling. "Helicopter?"

  Steppling took Patterson's arm and tugged him away from the Huntington Beach police officers. "Yep. Thought I'd better fast track it down here before the Corbetts heard about it. They have a habit of taking over--Fed style--and things, people disappear." Steppling watched the coroner and his assistants struggle to retrieve the body bobbing on the incoming tide. "You?"

  "Oh, yeah. Because this involved the possible abduction of the Calderone baby, short of a ride on a speeding bullet, the brass wanted me here, and the issue resolved before the Feebs try to take over," Patterson explained.

  "I hear you. Hell. I'm just glad my former partner and his wife are away on a cruise."

  Patterson frowned. "Why?"

  "Corbett didn't tell you." Steppling chuckled. "Typical."

  "Tell me what?"

  "My former partner married Niqui's other grandmother, Reardon's mom. If Sanderson were here, I would have had to arrest him to keep him from killing your perp."

  "Are you serious?"

  "Oh yeah. That little cutie is his heart," Steppling told him. "Hell. Considering the Corbetts are involved, I have to wonder if one of them did the stiff in."

  "Yeah. I've been wondering about that whole group. Who do they work for?"

  "Forget it. Don't wonder. Take them at face value and move on. Trust me. You'll want to keep them on your side." Steppling lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply. "So what do you think? With the Calderone involvement, body left on display--somebody sending a message."

  Patterson shrugged. "The FBI has us keeping a lid on because of possible syndicate connections. So only the immediate family and their inner circle knew I was pursuing a homicide."

  "Does that include Vincenzo Calderone?"

  "Uh-huh. Vincenzo suspected, but his cousin, Gregorio's brother has him convinced the girls' deaths were a tragic accident," Patterson explained. "Regarding the threat to the baby, no, he definitely didn't know. Until yesterday, none of us knew for sure if anyone would make a move, or when. It's been three years."

  Steppling nodded and sighed. "I guess I should let the Corbetts know. Case closed."

  "Yeah. I'll head back to San Bernardino and touch base with Nilsson and Ryan."

  Patterson shook Steppling's hand, then walked back to Detective Owens. "Will you make sure I get copies of yours and the coroner's reports when they're ready? I'll notify the next of kin." Both nodded and Patterson started back toward the pier. Shuffling across the sand, he called back over his shoulder. "Let me know what you need from me, so we can close this damn case."

  "Will do."

  * * * *

  "Listen." Devin followed Ewyn back into their bedroom. "Let's not get into this until Myce and Tag get the girls out of here."

  "You're right." Ewyn tossed the envelope and document on the bed, snatched his cell off the nightstand, grabbed his robe, and slipped it on. He strolled over to the chairs in the alcove and dropped down on one. "I'll call Mick and explain."

  "Good deal. I'll contact Tim and ask him to contact everybody else. We'll meet at the estate so Gem can be included." Devin slipped into his robe. Just as he picked up his phone, it rang.

  "Patterson. I was about to call Tim and ask him to get in touch with you and--what! When, where?" He dropped down on the chair across from Ewyn. "Shit. I don't know whether I'm pissed or relieved." He shook his head. "Yeah, the estate, two hours? That will work. Thanks." He flipped his phone shut and turned to Ewyn just as Mycelia and the twins came into the room.

  "I'll clean up the mess and lay out their clothes," Mycelia said as she passed through. "Tag will be here within the hour."

  Ewyn ended his call when Kiera ran to him and climbed on his lap. Niqui came over, stood next to the chair, and leaned on his arm. "Hey, sweeties, feeling better?" Ewyn kissed Kiera's cheek and Niqui's forehead. "Did you have a good breakfast?"

  Kiera nodded. "Myce fix waffles sausage fruit 'n milk. Hungry, Ew. Ate it all."

  "Good. What about you?" Ewyn looked down at Niqui. She giggled and bobbed her head up and down. "Well, you'd better go get dressed so you'll be ready when Tag gets here, huh."

  Kiera jumped off his lap, grabbed Niqui's arm, and tugged her over to Devin. "Kisses."

  Devin leaned down and both girls kissed his cheeks.

  "C'mon, Niqui, let's dress. Gonna see puppies." Holding hands, they scampered from the room.

  "Mick said he'd catch up with us when he gets back." Ewyn stood and headed for the door. "What did Patterson have to say?"

  Devin caught up with him in the doorway. His arms circled the trim waist as he nuzzled Ewyn's neck. "Let's get some breakfast," he whispered against Ewyn's ear. "I'll tell you while we eat."

  "I guess our date for an afternoon and evening of loving has been shot to hell."

  "You've got that right." Devin nipped Ewyn's ear lobe. "Rain check?"

  "Absolute."

  Devin explained about their discovery of the marriage license and more copies of the wills.

  "Switzerland. No wonder we couldn't find a record of the marriage," Timothy said. "But why Berne, instead of Geneva, or Zurich."

  "Because it would be the last place anyone would look. You have to remember, this was only a marriage of convenience for Niki. Her insurance against the father coming to claim custody," Devin reminded them. "Consider Niki's background and the type of contacts available to her. She would have had this planned from the moment she decided to marry the bastard."

  Ewyn looked at Christopher. "Is the marriage legal in the States?"

  "Yeah, it's a binding marriage. But you have to register it here in the states, if the wife wants to have her name legally changed," Christopher explained. "I'm not sure of the process or all of the details. My international marriage laws aren't up to par, so don't quote me on that."

  "If there's no record of a name change, Niki stuck it to him again," Timothy scoffed.

  Devin nodded. "Calabria was studying law, he would have looked into it, but Niki outsmarted him by keeping both copies of the marriage certificate. He probably tried to push her to file for the name change, and I bet that's what made her terminate all contact with him. I'll have the name change looked into, just to tie up loose ends." He turned to Patterson. "We have positive ID?"

  "Yeah, and get this. I contacted the family and talked to the father. He didn't seem upset or surprised when I told him what Anthony had done." Patterson sighed. "It was business as usual. He thanked me for calling, didn't ask for details, and said one of his people would arrange for body pick up. Some family, huh."

  "Was it a random killing?" Marissa asked.

  "Doubtful," Patterson replied. "It has all the earmarks of a mob hit."

  "Oh, well. Guess I'll never know who to thank for saving me the trouble, huh," Marissa stated.

  Startled, Patterson whipped around to face her. "Excuse me?
"

  She stood and made direct eye contact with him. "Don't go dumb on me now, Detective, and lose all my respect. You heard exactly what I said." She walked over to Gemma and took hold of her hands. "You can go on your trip with your mind at ease. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you prepare for it."

  "I will." Gemma reached out, hugged Marissa, and whispered, "You should have been a Calderone."

  "Thank you." Marissa laughed and turned to Ewyn. "With Calabria out of the picture, do you still want Niqui to stay over?"

  "Oh yeah. I'm working from home for the rest of the week. Myce will be there, and we did promise them. I wouldn't be able to live with Kieki, if Niqui doesn't stay." He looked at Devin. "Is that okay with you?

  "Not a problem."

  "I'll come over with Korey, this weekend, and take Niqui back with us. See you then." Marissa left.

  "Was she trying to be funny," Patterson grumbled.

  "Not," Christopher stated.

  "But…"

  "Leave it alone, Patterson," Ewyn told him, then looked around the room and sighed. "So, does this rule out CeCe?"

  Everybody groaned. Ewyn smirked.

  "We're home, Ew," Niqui yelled as she bounded into the living room. Kiera giggled.

  Standing at the stove, adding the final touches to dinner, Ewyn grinned. "Did you see the puppies?" The twins skipped into the kitchen and clambered up on the stools, knowing not to come into the cooking area while food cooked on the stove. Without saying a word, Kiera puckered her lips and waited. Ewyn continued working, pretending he didn't see her action.

  "Ew." Niqui sighed. "Kieki waitin', then my turn."

  Laughing, he put the potholder down, came around the counter, and scooped the giggly, squirming bodies off the stools. With one under each arm squealing and wiggling, he ran into the living room, flopped down on the sofa and gave both girls a resounding kiss on their cheeks.

  "Daddy!" Kiera screamed when Devin entered the room. He joined them on the sofa and Kiera scrambled over on top of him. "Kisses, Dev." He placed a noisy kiss on her cheek, hugged her, and settled her on his lap.

  "Did you decide on a puppy today, sweetheart?"

  "Lotsa puppies lick my face crawl on me. I want the brown one like Niqui's dogs."

  Devin looked at Ewyn. "I think she's talking about a Doberman."

  "Oh…noooo," Ewyn groaned and fell back on the sofa cushions. Both girls giggled and pounced on him.

  Two weeks later

  Ewyn sat at his desk smiling and staring at the photo of Kiera and her large Doberman puppy, Samson. He had to admit the housebreaking had come along very nicely. Samson stayed on the estate during the week, Martin handled all training, and he allowed Kiera to participate. His baby-girl was a natural.

  Kiera and Niqui had started Pre School and had adapted to being away from home with a minimum of trepidation. Ewyn attributed the ease of integration into their new environment to Gemma, who had used her influence to get Niqui enrolled in the same private school as Kiera.

  The twins, as both families referred to them, were still under strict surveillance and the joint security measures established to insure their safety. They wore identical GPS tracker bracelets.

  The knock on the door startled Ewyn from his reverie. "Come in."

  A young man entered, dropped several envelopes on Ewyn's in-basket, smiled and nodded, then left. The phone rang as the door closed behind the kid. Ewyn reached for the mail as he pressed the speaker button. "Kelley."

  "Hey, babe. Are you busy?"

  "Not really, why?" He rifled through the envelopes and noticed one with no stamp, no postmark, and no return address, only his name--typed. He pulled it from the pile.

  "Patterson is here with Calabria's file. He wants to go over it with us, so he can close the case."

  "On my way."

  Ewyn left his office, taking the envelope with him. He jabbed the elevator call button, and while he waited, he tore off one end of the envelope. The elevator arrived and the doors slid open to reveal a full car. Not willing to wait for the next one, he turned toward the stairs. Folding the envelope, he slipped into the inside pocket of his sport coat, and took the steps, two at a time. He entered Devin's office and nodded at Roger as he strolled toward the inner sanctum.

  "I guess he's expecting you, Kelley," Roger called after him in his usual snotty tone.

  Ewyn chuckled but refused to acknowledge the comment. Roger did it to agitate him. The jealous bitch. After their first confrontation, Devin intervened and let Roger know he wasn't interested. He explained the relevant facts to the obnoxious twit and advised Roger to focus his talents on the job, if he wanted to keep his position. However, if Roger couldn't accept the situation, Devin would have him transferred.

  Ewyn opened the door and stepped into the inner office. Patterson and Christopher were present. He nodded to both men and joined them at the conference table, seating himself next to Devin, who had the contents of two file folders and several photos spread out before him. One file, labeled Coroner's Report--Case File #72774--Calabria, Anthony Francesco, had the usual sketches of the human anatomy with indicators marking the locations of the injuries to the corpse. Accompanying the sketches were the actual photos of the body and the crime scene. The other folder, labeled Police Report--Case File #72774 with Calabria's name had typewritten notes protruding from it.

  Ignoring the conversation flowing around him, Ewyn reached for the photos, unperturbed by the sight of Calabria lying on the beach, half in and half out of the encroaching tide with his abdomen decimated. The pictures, taken from various angles, clearly detailed the viciousness of the crime. If the photos had been of anyone but Calabria, Ewyn might have felt a measure of empathy. Instead, he examined each photo with coldhearted detachment, brow furrowing, they seemed familiar. But why? Some long ago memory? He couldn't remember viewing crime scene photos before. Or had he?

  "What is it, Ewyn?" Patterson asked.

  Startled, Ewyn looked up. "Huh…what?"

  "The way you were looking at the pictures, it seemed as if you recognized something."

  "No. Morbid fascination, I guess." Ewyn glanced around, noticed Christopher and Devin watching him with identical concentrated stares. Clearing his throat, he said, "Sorry, I zoned out for a while. What were you saying about the report from you contact?"

  He picked up the notes from the other file. He perused the comments by the Huntington Beach police and Detective Steppling, while Patterson repeated what he'd learned of Calabria's background.

  "So, it wasn't a criminal record, but a psychiatric one," Ewyn commented as he put the notes back in the file. "And it's genetic."

  "Yeah. Calabria's mother, in and out of institutions for most of his childhood. The family thought the medication had Anthony's episodes under control," Patterson reported. "More times than not it did, but there were trigger factors."

  "Let me guess," Ewyn said. "Everyone your contact spoke to referred to Anthony as narcissistic, so he had control issues."

  "Got it on your first try." Patterson stood, moved to the wet bar, and refreshed his coffee.

  "It fits," Devin said. "As long as he and Nicole were just friends, no problems. Once she agreed to marry him, then refused to conform to his skewed idea of the marriage contract, the whole love, honor, and obey thing set him off."

  "Yep. My contact managed to get a peek at those sealed records." Patterson returned to the table and looked at Christopher. "Don't know how he managed to get the information, didn't ask, and I don't want to know because I'm afraid it won't be legal."

  Christopher and Devin made eye contact, then grinned before Christopher responded. "Hey, Patterson, relax. You're preaching to the choir here. Besides, he's dead, it really doesn't matter."

  "Yeah, well, Calabria was on the brink of insanity his entire life, and seeing the way his dad controlled and dictated every aspect of his mother's life, he never understood the reason why. He assumed the man…the husband should have all
the control."

  "He picked the wrong woman," Ewyn mumbled and picked up the crime scene photo again.

  "True, but his fucked up mind couldn't grasp that." Patterson started gathering up his files, stopped, looked over at Ewyn, and extended his hand. "I'll need that."

  "Of course." Ewyn handed over the picture. Patterson stood, put the files in his briefcase, and snapped it shut. "Do you think you'll ever find out who did that?" Ewyn asked, nodding toward Patterson's briefcase.

  "Doubtful. He'd been in the water long enough to wash away trace, if there ever was any. Besides the obvious cause of death, the only other marks on the body were a few scratches on his face and a bruise on the forehead. Figure that's how the killer incapacitated him." Patterson grabbed his briefcase. "Calabria's homicide will remain open, relegated to cold case files, but your nieces' deaths and the attempted kidnapping of your baby-girl, those cases are closed." He looked around the table. "I know we got off to a bad start, but it has been a pleasure working with all of you."

  "Same here." Devin stood, shook his hand, and walked out of the office with Patterson.

  No sooner had the door closed behind the two men than Christopher said, "What did you recognize in the photos?"

  "I'm not sure." Ewyn leaned forward, put his elbows on the table, and propped up his chin with his hands. "They seemed familiar, but I haven't a clue as to why. Maybe I saw something similar in the newspapers, on television…" He paused. Nibbling his bottom lip, he shook his head. "That couldn't be right. They wouldn't have shown such detail of a crime scene, would they?"

  "Not on regular television broadcasts. Do you watch the real forensic shows on cable?"

  "I don't watch much television. I might glance at the headlines in the papers, read the sports pages. But the only time I catch the TV news is when Devin is home and watching it in bed."

  "Hmm. Want anything while I'm up?" Christopher went to the wet bar and fixed himself a cup of coffee.

  "No, thanks."

  While he waited for Devin to return, Ewyn retrieved the envelope he had shoved into his pocket earlier. After examining the outside again, he looked inside, extracted a single sheet of paper, unfolded it, and found one typed line centered on the page.