by Kieran York
“If you need anything, just give us an alert.”
“Thanks, Rach.”
“And wear that wire Tom gave you. It’s back up, just in case.”
“Just in case,” I repeated as I prepared the wire to be activated.
Driving to the Carleton home was a slow trip. Attempting to process the day, and the weeks, seemed difficult. Viciously beating someone’s property is rage. If it were the message or not, I took a message away. Someone would love to make my life turbulent.
The Carleton’s home was dark, with drapery drawn. I examined the areas surrounding their property. Behind the trash, there was an overgrown field.
Turning the corner, I noticed the tall man in t-shirt and shorts. I parked in front of a neighbor’s house, and watched. The man hadn’t noticed me. He was going over a fence, and through a field toward a shed. Once he had entered the shed, I pulled up photos of Andrew, and I was certain it was him. Although I didn’t know how much property the Carleton’s owned, I knew the area could be adjoining the back of their home. However, it was between two other homes. Beside the shed leaned a covered boat. Its shape was similar to the one believed to have been used in the Perrault murder. I knew for certain that it had only appeared recently. It hadn’t been there before. And why would the boat be against someone else’s shed? Or did the Carleton’s own the land directly behind theirs – reaching clear back to the next street.
I called Rachel, and she quickly zeroed in. She reported, “The plot is owned by R. Carleton.”
“Contact Officer Jill Timoteo. Give her my location, tell her if she is driving a squad car, she should leave it a couple blocks away. And tell her to stay undercover. Give her information, and I’ll have my wire live. You may need to call the police in.”
“You’re sure it’s him.”
“Sure, enough to want him off the streets for a couple hours.” I watched as the man exited, and then reentered the shed. I was fairly certain he hadn’t seen me.
Within twenty minutes, Jill appeared. I gave her all the information I had. “You stay in the back. Give the police the coordinates, and updates. I’m going to talk to him before he takes off. Once he begins to run, we might lose him. Cover me.”
I stood, pulled my gun from its holster, and walked slowly in the direction of the approximately fifteen square foot shed. I yelled, “Andrew Carleton!” as loudly as I could. “Get out here now.”
The door creaked as it opened slightly. A shot was fired. Luckily, I had ducked and dived the moment I saw the crack in the door. The bullet ricochet past my shoulder. I heard it skittering on the ground behind me. I’d opened fire the moment my body hit the ground.
“Get off my property,” he hollered.
My mind was processing several probabilities at once. Guess one, that was my best guess. He wouldn’t have opened fire if he weren’t guilty. He was guilty, but he’d had help. He knew that Wen and Glenda would be venturing out on that morning, at that exact time. Guess two, Dr. Curtis Rhodes had coupled up with the ex-cop. He had told Andrew the exact time Wendell and Glenda were leaving.
If I didn’t confront Andrew now, with my guesses, he would walk. Both he and Doc Rhodes would skate away on all charges. They would have the time to either clear one another, or to escape.
It was a risk I had to take. I pulled myself up, and leaned behind a tree. Following my gut hadn’t always worked. I was counting on it working this time.
“Andrew, you’d better talk with me. Dr. Curtis Rhodes has implicated you in the murder of Wendell Perrault. Drop your weapon and come out. You want to do any deal making, now’s the time. If you don’t step out, throw your weapon down, and drop to the dirt, I’ll assume Doc Rhodes’s confession was correct. You lead him into perdition. You are the 1st degree capital murderer. You planned it.”
As the door opened wider, I saw his face becoming whiter. His voice sounded jittery, “I didn’t plan anything.” This allegation had taken him totally by surprise. I knew the name of his partner, and I knew Andrew’s crimes.
“Come on, Carleton. You pillaged the rifle that killed Perrault. And you and Doc Rhodes were thick as thieves.”
That was all he needed to hear to convince him. Enforcers are not anxious to do time. Cops have very bad prison experiences. He probably needed an underwear change.
“Andrew, I’m trying to give you a chance here.”
His weapon was slowly reaching toward the air. He stepped nearer. “I’m not guilty.”
“Look, I’ve got you pinned in place. Okay, as soon as backup arrives, I’ll let them know you were the shooter and the planner in this conspiracy to committee murder. You didn’t want your mom to be cheated of her lawsuit money. Doc Rhodes had worked there. Although he didn’t like the Perraults, he wouldn’t have killed them. Unless the opportunity presented itself. You were the flipping opportunity. And he was willing to pay to have them killed.”
“He planned it.”
“Drop your weapon,” I repeated. Some inside sigh was released. My scenario was spot on.
Slowly, he let the weapon fall to the ground with a soft thud. I walked to it and gave it a kick. I motioned for Jill to come out. She held her gun, training the barrel toward him.
He looked back up at me. His face pinched with the pain of being had. “You fuckin’ called the cops already.”
“I did. Officer Timoteo, I’ll hold your gun and cover him, while you cuff him.” To Andrew I said, “Down, hands behind your back.” I watched as he went to the ground, stomach down, hands behind him. He knew the drill. And he might have known that if he hadn’t behaved, I might very well have put a bullet through his lung. Just like he did to my partner.
Jill’s face beamed. She had him lace his fingers, and she snapped her cuffs on his wrists.
Two squad cars had arrived, and Andrew Carleton was walked to an awaiting vehicle.
“Thanks,” Jill uttered.
“You’re welcome.” I reached for her trembling hand. We shook hands.
As arrests go, it doesn’t get any easier than that. Not much gunfire exchanged. A confession heard by me, by a police officer, and it was recorded by my wire. Nope, it just does not get much easier.
I rushed to my vehicle, I put my phone on speaker. “Rachel, explain everything to Tom. We just got the killer of Wendell, and your shooter. He’s being arrested now. I’m on my way to Perrault Cosmetics. In about fifteen minutes, send Tom there.”
My foot was heavy as I drove to Perraults. When I arrived, I activated the wire I was wearing. I ran through the hall, and burst into the lab.
“What?” Rhodes shouted.
“A man named Andrew Carleton is being arrested for the murder of Wendell. He will be booked and will be giving his side of the conspiracy to murder. Your name was mentioned. You want to tell me about it, so that you’re on record now.”
“I had nothing to do with this.”
“He just told me it was your idea. You are going down for this, unless you talk.”
He nervously touched his collar. “He said that I did it?”
“That’s what he said? Why would he lie?’
“No.” His eyes batted, and his lips trembled. “Of course, not. He approached me after the trial. He’d lost his job. Carleton was angry at the Perraults about how his mother was treated. He said she was accused of being a malingerer. Dishonored.”
“He called you?”
“I can’t remember. But we talked a few times. All I did was give him the time that Wendell and Glenda would be leaving the house. I didn’t shoot Wendell or anyone else. Nor did I recommend it.”
“But you paid him. And after, he wanted more hush money.”
“He borrowed money from me.”
“Curt, I think your bank records will prove that you withdrew cash at various times.”
Curtis wiped his hands across his face. He was flustered. Finally, he said, “I didn’t pull the trigger.”
“I’m an attorney and it doesn’t matter if you pulled th
e trigger. Conspiracy to commit murder gets you nearly the same charge, and verdict. However, the jury decides. I suggest you be cooperative with the prosecution.”
A flurry of police entered, guns drawn. Tom approached me. I tapped my wire. “Did you get it all?”
“Loud and clear. Good work, Trevar. You better go tell your client who killed her husband.”
While Dr. Curtis Rhodes was being rounded up for his questioning in a small interrogation room, I found Glenda in her office. “What in the world is going on?”
“Trevar Investigators just solved your husband’s murder. We apprehended one of the killers earlier. With the help of a policewoman named Jill Timoteo. The term ‘ironclad case’ comes to mind.”
Glenda began to sob. “It was Curtis?”
“Curtis, and Olga Carleton’s son, the cop.”
Her face blanched. “An officer?’
“Well, an ex-officer. He was the one at your gates that you told me about. At that time, he was scouting the area. Maybe he wanted to inflict pain on you. He was fired by Miami’s police department for his white supremacy affiliation. He and Doc Rhodes were in collusion. I’m not certain of the ringleader, but they conspired. I’m guessing that was why Rhodes needed money. Hush money. Whatever he had already given Andrew, must have been spent. Andrew wanted more. A fresh blackmail bank withdrawal had to be made by Rhodes, and his account was empty.”
“Curtis was such a secretive man. I never knew much about his private life.”
“Just out of curiosity – what was the cover-up about? What was Curtis covering up, and what was Wendell covering up?”
“I’d hoped you won’t ask me. Now I feel obligated to tell you.”
“You just are obligated to pay us our final bonus installment for the capture of your husband’s killer.”
“But I also owe you the explanation. When Wendell purchased Rhodes Cosmetics, he wasn’t aware that there had been animal testing. Rhodes Cosmetics had indeed been using animals in his research. Because Wendell had always denied it when asked by press, he chose not to admit to it, even though Perrault Cosmetics had nothing to do with it. He thought they would think he was a liar and covering up. So, Curtis was allowed to stay on working for us. And Wendell never told about the animal research. I call it torture. I only found out about it after going through Wendell’s belongings. And in turn, for Curtis’s silence, Wendell never mentioned his falsified credentials.”
“It went far back? And it was a matter of keeping the reputation clean?”
“Wendell knew how I felt about taking care of animals. And Wendell also felt that way. He just didn’t want Perrault’s name besmirched even though he’d never done it, he had covered the prior owner/lab.”
“While you’re writing the check to Trevar Investigators, I hope you’ll make one out to provide for the welfare of animals.”
Her lips turned upward. “It is my favorite charity. I’ve been heartbroken since reading Wendell’s final letter. He said that it was the only dishonest, or dishonorable thing he’d done in his life. And it was. It was.”
“I understand, it would be difficult for you both. Now you can make it better.”
She opened her computer. “I just dropped a quarter million bonus in your firm’s account. And five million in the animal rescue account. Beryl, I hope you have a charity that gives you so much satisfaction as mine does me.”
“Yes, I think my partners are in lockstep with the suggestion I’m going to be making. Pixy. It would be nice to start a memorial in her name. Something that would assist women like Pixy.”
Pensively, she breathed deeply a moment. “I hope you’re sure that this Carleton and Dr. Rhodes will be charged, and found guilty.”
I stood. “They both confessed. Even as we speak, both parties will be insisting that their lawyers file motions to sever. They won’t want to be tried together. They’ll be going after one another to claim the other was leader of the pack. And they’ll both spend the rest of their lives in prison. Or maybe they’ll both be executed. The State could perform a two for one special execution.”
I gave her a nod. Her eyes became bleak. “My husband died because a miserable man hated him. I loved Wen, I truly did. And I’m so lost now.”
I went around to her side of the desk and my arm looped her shoulders. “I know that he loved you. And I know you felt that love. You’ll be fine, Glenda.”
She patted my hand. “Beryl, thank you. And please thank your partners. I’ll forever love Rachel for saving my life. Please tell her that if there is anything I can ever do for her, to call me.”
The remainder of my afternoon was spent in Homicide Division Headquarters. Tom, the prosecutors, and I sat going over each revelation, each clue, and each happening. The wire was a slam-dunk conversation with both Andrew Carleton and Dr. Curtis Rhodes.
I opined the probability of Andrew’s parents having been aware of the killing. They were shady folks. Coupled with Andrew being fired for his racially motivated, brutal crimes against people of color, it was a pretty strong statement. If not white supremacy being part of the Carleton’s lives, they were undoubtedly cozy with the Klan.
Tom asked, “Why did you call Officer Timoteo?”
“I promised her that if I captured Carleton, she could cuff him.”
Bewildered, his voice had the jitters. He wanted to yell at me. “She’s brand new in Palm. She has only been a uniformed officer here ten minutes. You’re up against a killer, and you call her!”
“No one could have wanted Andrew jailed more than she did. He was a bent cop. He is a racist. Chances are he’s a sexist. And the chances are 100% to .001% that he’s also anti-LGBT.
My reasons for the selection of Officer Timoteo could not have been any clearer, more meaningful, nor could they have been any more appropriate. A cop, an African American lesbian cop got the collar. The coward perp was brought down by an African American woman. The message was implied. Sisters wins!
“Just dues,” he declared. Tom then began laughing. I’d seen him laugh before, but he was nearing hysterics. On the way to the door, his arm circled my shoulder. Then he gave my back a gentle slap. “You’re okay, Trevar,” he sputtered.
I wouldn’t break his moment’s glee by telling him that I wanted a total win for our team, and a total loss for Andrew. He had nearly killed my partner. Rachel deserved an all-out win.
Arriving back at the yacht just before dusk, I waved to a couple of officers that were surveilling our ship, and marina parking area.
Telling the story of the takedown of Perrault’s murderer, and the brewing anger of Andrew when an African American lesbian cuffed his white supremacist fists, was pandemonium. We laughed heartily for several moments.
Summer finally said, “I was going to moan that you hadn’t called me instead of Timoteo. Now I get it.”
We went over all that happened during the day. Although Summer hadn’t had a sighting of the elusive Ryder, she was guessing he was in a fixed position. His father had him on a short lease. And probably had a dozen pit bulls guarding his son’s door.
I told them that Tom had a search warrant ready to go. Only he and the Chief Prosecutor had knowledge of it. When the forensic reports were returned, and there was enough evidence for an arrest, orders would be given to execute that order. There would be a dozen armored cops hustling through the doorway of John Hodges palatial home. I’d found the home obscenely showy.
Finally, the more difficult task was to find Ryder’s whereabouts. This would be a bit trickier. I had a feeling that his pal was implicated in some way. With Javier, was it only petty robbery of a woman, along with teenage pranks? Or was it the whole enchilada? My conjecture wasn’t the strong gut feeling I sometimes had. If there were to be a showdown, I couldn’t use the ploy about Ryder’s buddy turning on him to save himself. The images on the CD showed the killing being done by only Ryder. But was Javier around the corner?
Corners are deceptive. They have been known to cheat even the
most aware viewer. No matter what, I wouldn’t stand for Pixy being deprived of her due justice.
No matter the cost.
The past twenty-four hours had allowed a bluff to generate two confessions. Hard evidence hadn’t existed. I’d like to think it was the chaos of their guilt. As well as my interpreting their faces, and searching their nerve centers. I watched for the nervous veins that beat from a chicken-shit’s artery. The number of blinks per minute from the eye. And something that set alarm bells ringing through my body.
Reality recedes, and then once again rolls. The honest version was that either Dr. Curtis Rhodes, or Andrew Carleton, could have denied my allegation. But they did not. They greedily fought to be accomplices. Second in command rarely went to death row. Greed could nearly always be counted on to trip up criminals.
Naturally, knowing this trickery also won me cases in a courtroom. Summer often accused me of bamboozling my opponents. That was part of her reason for bringing up at least one attorney joke after every case.
I recalled last humor. Summer’s chortle exploded when she told it. It went like this: What does sperm and lawyers have in common? One in twenty-five million makes a decent human being. She had doubled over laughing. I had not. I was not in the mood for humor at that time.
And these two cases? There would be no humor for these two current cases. They were both too personal. Taking down Carleton and Rhodes was quick. Painless. But watching Rachel struggle for life the first day after she’d been shot – that was the worst of pain.
Speculative, but I imagined finding Ryder would be one of the most difficult showdowns of all. It was directly in our path.
Chapter 17
Morning had overtaken the night.
After Summer and I had breakfast, she went for her run on the beach. Tom Powers then called and issued instructions to hightail it to Police Headquarters. There, I would sign my officially prepared statement of yesterday’s events.
Naturally, the remainder of the Perrault investigation would fall in the hands of the prosecutors. I was on the sidelines. It was my hope that both Olga and Rex would be found guilty of aiding and abetting, if not conspiracy to murder. I’d seen the curtains of their home twitch as their son was arrested. And I’d put my bet on the fact that Rex had driven the speedboat - the getaway rig.
