Sins of the Past

by Julia Derek

  Kelly Anne stared at the Duchess, in shock. Jamie had broken up with the Duchess because of her? How was that possible? She was a nobody and everyone loved the Duchess. All the guys wanted her, and all the girls wanted to be her.

  “Do you think it’s cool to go around flirting and offering yourself up to taken boys?” the Duchess demanded to know. “I don’t. I think it’s very, very bad behavior that should not be tolerated.”

  “But I didn’t do anything!” Kelly Anne’s voice was trembling as she kept walking backwards. The Duchess and her posse were closing in on her. They would hurt her. It was written all over their faces how much they wanted to hurt her. She didn’t want them to hurt her. She kept walking backward, backward. Walking, walking.

  “All we did was talk about the play. He came to me. I have no idea why he did that.” Her voice was coming out in a terrified rush. “I was just being polite.”

  The Duchess let out a scornful laugh. “You were just being polite? Do you expect me to believe that? Huh?”

  “Yes. It’s the truth. I swear I—” She let out a surprised scream as she tripped on the top flight of the stairs behind her. She fell all the way down to the bottom of the long set of stairs. She hit her head against the stone floor there, mercifully dying before she could feel the pain of her shattered skull.

  * * *

  Chapter 17

  Wil clicked on the image of Diego’s mutilated body on the ground near the tunnel’s opening to see when it had been posted. She wasn’t very familiar with Pinterest boards, but she assumed there would be a place somewhere that said when images were posted. Or pinned as Pinterest called it. All she could find was a number that said 2, which was followed by a W in the bottom right corner beneath the image. She frowned lightly. Did that mean it was put up two weeks ago…? There were several pins on the Pinterest board in addition to the one of Diego’s mutilated body. Wil scrolled through a few of the others and checked the numbers and letters under those. One said 17 W, another said 42 W. A third said 1 Y. She kept checking other images and came to the conclusion that it seemed the numbers and letters were in fact timestamps, the W signifying week and the Y year.

  As she was about to check who the Pinterest board belonged to, her eye caught what appeared to be another gruesome pin. She peered closer at it, concluding it was indeed gruesome. It was of a hanged man in a tie and dress shirt. The image showed the man from the chest up with a thick rope behind his head. His chin was pointed downward and to the left. It wasn’t immediately obvious that the rope also went around his neck, but it definitely did, Wil discovered as she studied the image. And then she saw that the words Revenge is sweet were written in the comments section under the image.

  Hmm. Who the hell is this man? Wil wondered. A white, average-looking man, he appeared to be in his fifties. His hairline was receding and what hair was left on his head was gray. She checked to see when the image had been added to the board. According to the number and letter in the right hand bottom corner, it had been pinned six years ago.

  She scrolled up to the top of the board to see who it belonged to and found the name M Dalton there. It stated that there was only one board under M Dalton’s account, and that there were one hundred and twenty-four pins total on that board. M Dalton followed sixteen people and fourteen followed M Dalton.

  Wil kept looking through the other images. Judging from the majority of them, she believed the owner to be either female or at the very least a gay male, as the pins had a definite feminine tinge to them. Many consisted of baby clothes, flowers and desserts. Some were of celebrities and others of hairstyles, yet others of puppies and kittens.

  A minute or so later, Wil bumped into a third gruesome image that clashed starkly with the other ones. This one consisted of a car wreck. It looked like a bomb had shattered the vehicle. Just enough of it was left for anyone to be able to make out that it had in fact been a car once upon a time. In the comments section below, the words Revenge is sweet were written. When Wil checked the timestamp, she saw that this photo had been posted six years ago as well.

  She went through the rest of the images and could find nothing else similarly gruesome and/or with the words Revenge is sweet in either the comments section or as a caption beneath. She clicked on the followers link to see who was following M Dalton and found nothing of particular interest. She also clicked on the people M Dalton followed. Nothing offbeat stuck out to Wil at a first glance.

  She grabbed her cell phone and speed-dialed Larry. He answered after several rings.

  “Wil, what’s going on?” he said by way of answering, sounding depleted. “I was in the middle of talking to Natasha. I still haven’t managed to convince her that Tiffany should spend the holidays with me this year.”

  Natasha was Larry’s ex-wife. The two were often fighting over stuff regarding their daughter. As much as Wil adored Tiff, she couldn’t say that she envied her partner’s life. There was so much fighting going on over the girl, and it was draining Larry. Wil couldn’t wait for the day when Tiffany turned eighteen. Hopefully Larry would get more peace then.

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Wil answered. “I’m keeping my fingers crossed she’ll give in. Don’t give up.”

  “That will never happen. What’s up?”

  Wil explained in detail what she had found on the Internet.

  “Damn,” Larry exclaimed when she finished. “It seems there’s a connection between those three images then.”

  “Yeah, it sure does.”

  “Does the photo of Diego look like it’s one of our crime scene photos?”

  Wil’s eyes went to the computer screen and she took another look at the photo in question. “I’m not one hundred percent sure. Could be. But it could also be someone having snapped it with a smartphone right after Diego was killed. Smartphones have great cameras these days. All I can tell you is that it does not look like the photo was taken in a hurry. Whoever took it was not worried about getting out of there quickly. It’s a very clear, deliberate image.”

  “Maybe the person who took it has a lot of experience taking photos.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Are the other two images as clear and deliberate as the one of Diego?”

  Wil scrolled through the images on the board until she found the ones of the hanged man and the car explosion. She took a moment to study them.

  “I can’t say if they were taken by the same person,” she said, “but they are very clear. Which makes me think they are crime scene photos someone got their hands on.”

  “We don’t know for sure the other two images are of a crime,” Larry pointed out. “Could be a suicide and an accident.”

  Wil stared at the images. “I really doubt that. I suppose the hanging could be a suicide, but not the car photo. When you see it, you’ll agree with me. That’s no accident. That car exploded for some reason. Anyway, the fact that all three images are marked with the words Revenge is sweet further indicates that these were the results of someone getting even and wanting to commemorate that. All crimes, in other words.”

  There was some rustling on the other end of the line. “You’re probably right. Revenge is sweet… Hmm. How did you find the photos in the first place?”

  Wil ran a hand through her spiky blond locks. “I had finished speaking to Kate about the latest in the investigation—she’s not familiar with Nilsen & Nilsen or any of its workers, by the way—and then moved on to tell her about Diego’s gang involvement and the possibility of his death being some kind of belated retaliation. I told her that I didn’t think she had reason to be worried about retaliations against her and the children, as that would have happened before they offed Diego. Then I kept thinking about Diego and revenge, so I just Googled the words. That’s how I bumped into the one of him. I’m really curious to find out more about this M Dalton.”

  “We should have one of the techs look into it. I’m sure we’ll find out all kinds of stuff when they’re done with it.”

  “
Absolutely. If we’re real lucky, it’ll take us straight to our perp.”

  Larry yawned big. “We should be so lucky.”

  Wil copied the Pinterest address and sent it to their main tech at the NYPD with a short note to find out whatever he could in regards to M Dalton and the Pinterest board.

  “You know,” Larry said, “I think we can rule out this having anything to do with the Latin Devils. The name M Dalton doesn’t exactly sound Spanish. Not to mention, if it was done by a Devils member, you’d think they would have written Revenge is sweet in Spanish.”

  “Yes, that is a good point,” she agreed and looked at the photo again. “Why would they write it in English? Those guys are usually extremely proud of their heritage. Hmm. I doubt they were trying to send someone a message, either, as it’s not easy to find these photos.”

  “Unless the images were posted by someone else on M Dalton’s Pinterest board to send M Dalton a message… Someone in the Latin Devils. Maybe M Dalton has some kind of connection to Diego Martinez. That would explain why the message is written in English and not Spanish.”

  “Yeah, but why would M Dalton let the pins of the car and the hanged man stay on the board in that case? I can buy that someone from the Devils pinned the photo of Diego on the board, and that maybe the owner hasn’t seen it yet. M Dalton doesn’t seem to be particularly active on Pinterest, so it’s definitely plausible.”

  “Didn’t you tell me that the words Revenge is sweet were written as comments on the old images and not as a caption as it was on the one of Diego?”

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “Well, maybe the first two images were posted by M Dalton and the one of Diego by someone else. By someone in the Latin Devils. I like the idea of someone in the Latin Devils for our perp.”

  Wil had a sip of water and chuckled lightly. “Yeah, I can tell that you do. Of course, if it’s a gang member who wanted to send M Dalton a message, why was the knife dropped near the body, having no prints on it? A one-of-a-kind knife traceable to Nilsen & Nilsen? Are you suggesting that Nilsen & Nilsen is involved with the Latin Devils?”

  “Maybe they are. Or maybe someone from the Latin Devils stole the knife from the store and dropped it by mistake. If it was a gang member who did it, he or she would surely have worn gloves so there would be no prints. Most gang members have a record and they know their prints would have shown up in the system were something to go wrong, hence the precaution.”

  “That’s an interesting theory. What about robbing Diego of all his valuables?”

  Larry clicked his tongue. “Most gang members aren’t that rich. Why leave the body with money and other valuables that can be pawned?”

  “Hmm.” Wil stifled a yawn. “Hey, let’s continue this discussion after we hear back from the tech department and know more about who this M Dalton is. I’m beat and need to crash. It’s been a long day.”

  “Tell me about it. And mine’s not over yet. I need to get back to Natasha before I hit the sack.”

  “Good luck with that.”

  “Thanks. I’ll need it.”

  * * *

  Chapter 18

  Kate wished her mother-in-law a good night and hung up the phone, still reeling from all that she had learned about her murdered husband. It was almost midnight when Sofia had returned the call that Kate had placed to her immediately after she finished talking to the female detective.

  She replayed parts of the conversation she’d had with Sofia in her head:

  “Diego was so ashamed of his mistake,” Sofia had maintained over and over in that rich, accented voice of hers. “He loved you so much and didn’t want to risk losing you. He was sure that you would think badly of him if you knew.”

  “Why would I think badly of him?” Kate had asked, but as the question was out of her mouth, she realized she already knew the why: Diego had been right to worry about what Kate would think of his past. Once in the early stages of their courtship they had watched a movie about Latin gangs, and Kate had gone on and on about how awful she thought those criminals were. How she would never ever want to have anything to do with such monsters. She had been rather emphatic in her statements, unforgiving of the why someone became a gang member, primarily because of how the movie had presented the kids. It had definitely not been sympathetic toward the gang members, only toward the victims of the gang’s violence.

  She didn’t really think the issue of gang participation was so black and white as she had stated that night, but she never bothered to bring up the matter again. She never told Diego that she didn’t think only monsters became gang members, but that some ended up in gangs for reasons other than being criminally inclined.

  Not that Diego himself ever spoke of gangs after that night.

  But despite knowing already, Kate wanted to hear what Sofia had to say about the why her son hadn’t shared with Kate the reason he’d become a gang member. She repeated the question when Sofia didn’t immediately answer.

  “Because Diego had no good reason to join the Latin Devils,” her mother-in-law began. “He only did it on a dare from his friend whose brother was a gang member when he was very young and very foolish. He felt the need to prove that he was not scared of robbing a store, so he did. And then it became another store, and another store until he was too deep in with the gang to back out. One day he was just part of them. Once you’re part of a gang like the Latin Devils, it’s almost impossible to leave and still be alive. Diego’s father and I didn’t even find out about what he was up to until he had already been a member for two years. His sister knew for longer, but she didn’t want to tell on him.”

  “Detective Cooper told me he got out because you and Antonio gave the gang lots of money,” Kate said, her voice small. “Is that true?”

  “Yes, that’s how we managed to get our son out of the gang.”

  “How much money?”

  “Twenty thousand dollars.”

  “Oh. Wow. Well, I’m glad you helped him get out.”

  “He was our son and we knew he had made a terrible mistake. How could we not? He was a good boy who did something stupid. We had to help him.”

  “Do you know what he did during his time in the gang? I mean, did he do… anything else besides robbery?” The thought that she might have been married to a brutal, violent man made Kate sick to her stomach suddenly. What if he had murdered people?

  “Kate, no, he didn’t do anything really bad like killing or beating up people. He was usually only the lookout when he didn’t participate in the actual burglaries.”

  “How can you be so sure he didn’t do anything worse than that? I know he doesn’t have a criminal record, but what if no one ever caught him doing something… something really bad?”

  Images of what she had seen those gang members do to some people in that movie they had watched came back to her, and the nausea in her stomach doubled in intensity.

  “He would have told us,” Sofia maintained. “His father and I pressed him really hard because we wanted to know exactly what he had done while a gang member. What made him get mixed up with those bad people. He broke apart and told us everything. I know when my children are lying to me. And Diego told us the truth.”

  Kate chewed on her lower lip. She had so many questions. Was there anything else she didn’t know about Diego’s life that she should know about? She asked Sofia that.

  “No, querida,” Sofia had answered softly. “That was his only secret. I understand why you feel betrayed, but we all honestly thought keeping it a secret was for the best. He went through hell to get away from them. He is done with them.”

  “What do you mean he went through hell? I thought you said you bought his freedom. How is that going through hell? From what I’ve heard about gangs, it’s usually very hard to get out.”

  Kate could hear Sofia inhale a deep breath. “We wanted to spare you the details of how we finally managed to get Diego out of the gang. But now that you ask me and I made the mistake of saying that he we
nt through hell to get out, I must tell you everything. We didn’t only pay the money to get him out. The money was in an attempt for them to go easy on him. Because, to get out, Diego also had to endure a beating. And the beating nearly killed him. They broke practically every bone in his body. I’m sure you have seen some of his scars.”

  Kate covered her mouth with her free hand, nearly hyperventilating into it. “Oh, my God…” she whispered. “He told me the scars were from a bad car accident when he was a teenager.”

  “He was never in a car accident. The scars on his body are from the beating. He was in the hospital for months before he recovered.”

  “Oh, my God,” Kate said again, lowering her hand. She couldn’t imagine all the pain Diego must have gone through to rectify his mistake. If only she hadn’t said so many judgmental things about gang members that night, maybe Diego would have dared confessing his entire past to her, the good and the bad. She felt terrible now. Selfish and petty. “I’m so sorry to hear that he went through all that, Sofia. And that you had to go through it with him. It must have been awful knowing that your son would be beaten so badly.”

  “Yes, it was awful. But we also knew it was the only way he would ever be free from the gang. We didn’t have a choice.” She cleared her throat and her voice suddenly changed, becoming hard, almost accusatory. “So, you see, Kate. You have no reason to worry about anything. Any retaliation from the gang. Diego and our family made sure of that. Made sure his past wouldn’t affect his future. We don’t believe his death has anything to do with the gang. Like you said, it’s probably just someone who wanted to rob him and things escalated. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go now. It’s late and I’m tired. Will you please give my love to Anna and Luis?”

  “Yes. Yes, of course.” With those words, they had ended the call. Now Kate was sitting on the couch in her living room with the phone in her lap, staring into the dark night through the window before her. Why was she feeling as though Sofia hadn’t told her everything about Diego and his time in the gang? Why had Sofia seemed so guilty, wanting to get off the phone all of a sudden? It wasn’t like her mother-in-law at all. Were Sofia and her husband and the sister hiding something from Kate? Maybe they did know that Diego had killed or badly hurt someone, but the cops never found out, which was why he didn’t have a criminal record. The more Kate pondered this possibility, the surer she felt this was so. Maybe the past had caught up with Diego at last. A voice from the past whom Diego had hurt somehow. Kate supposed she couldn’t blame Sofia for not wanting the truth to get out about her son, especially if there was no reason for Kate and the children to be worried now. It had been clear from the get-go that Sofia had not felt good about having to admit that Diego had been a criminal basically. She probably was blaming herself for what had happened to him. Kate knew that she would be blaming herself were Luis or Anna to get mixed up with such bad people.