“We don’t do cab service here. You have to call.”
“We’re not here for a cab. We’re here for one of your cabbies,” I said.
Kang and I made our introductions to the man.
“Did one of my guys do something wrong? Which one was it?”
“Actually, we think one of your guys can help us with a case. What’s your name?” I asked.
“My name is Rod Warner,” he said, pulling up his jeans. “I’m the shift manager on duty.” He had Popeye forearms, except his tattoos were faded.
I produced Piper’s picture and showed it to Warner. “Her name is Piper Taylor, and her body was found Sunday morning on Mount Tamalpais. A witness tells us that a Yellow Cab picked her up in Sausalito on Saturday and drove her and a friend to Muir Park.”
“How can this witness be so sure it was one of our cabs? There are other cabbies out there with yellow cars.”
“This witness gave our victim the number for your cab company.”
“Oh.” Warner rubbed the stubble on his chin. His fingernails and cuticles were stained with grime, yet clearly bitten down, which grossed me out more than a little.
“The call should be in the log book. Follow me.”
Warner led us to a small office that looked more like a junk closet. There were stuffed filing cabinets that couldn’t close completely and stacks of banker boxes filled with what I could only imagine was crap. “Have a seat,” he said as he pointed to two mismatched plastic chairs. “I’ll be back with the book.”
Honestly, I wanted to douse the chair in hand sanitizer. The place disgusted me—especially his desk, which had a layer of everything old piled high on it. There had to be at least five empty coffee cups bunched together—one being used as an ashtray.
A few seconds later, Warner returned and sat in the cracked leather seat behind the desk. “All righty,” he said as he flipped through a large, plastic binder. “Saturday… Saturday… Okay, here we go.” He ran is stubby finger down the page. “Ah ha. Got it. Pick up at Sausalito pier in front of the Naturally Sweet store.” He looked up at me. “That sound about right?”
I nodded. “You got a name?”
“Yeah. Vitaly Scherbo. Russian guy. Been with us for about six months. Looks like he hasn’t been around since.”
“Is that normal?”
“Some of these guys work a few days out of the week and that’s it.” Warner ripped some paper off an old McDonald’s bag and wrote a phone number and address down. He offered it to me, but I motioned for Kang to grab it.
We thanked Warner for his time, and I called Vitaly as soon as we exited the building. An old woman answered.
“Phone’s no good. Let’s hope the address is real,” I said as I pulled the car door open.
24
It was a forty-minute drive across town, again. Vitaly’s address was in the Inner Richmond neighborhood. His place of residence was on 18th Avenue between Geary and Anza—smack dab in the middle of San Francisco’s Russian community.
Old row homes lined the street. The address led us to a light blue one that had a unit on top and one on the bottom—Vitaly’s. Kang knocked on the door and took a step back. We waited a bit before he knocked once more, this time louder. I moved over to a curtained window to see if I could see inside, but the material was too thick and pushed tightly against the glass.
“Looks like he’s not home,” Kang said.
“Either that, or he doesn’t want to talk to us.”
I tried the latch on the wooden gate that separated Vitaly’s building from the next. It was open.
“We don’t have a warrant,” Kang reminded me.
“We just want to talk.” I pushed it open and entered the narrow space between the two homes. Behind the house was a small fenced yard with a few stubbles of grass making a go at life. A narrow slab of cement masqueraded as a patio and hosted a couple of beach chairs, and a bunch of empty Vodka bottles surrounded an overturned milk crate that played table to an overflowing ashtray.
“Looks like somebody had a party,” Kang said from behind me.
Vitaly had the curtains drawn at every window, so I couldn’t see inside from the yard, either. “This guy allergic to the sun?”
I stood off to the side of the glass door and knocked on it. A beat later, we heard the front door slam. We both spun on our heels and raced back to the front in time to see a man running away.
Kang and I gave chase and gained on him fairly quickly. I picked up the scent of stale alcohol being left in his wake. He was probably still drunk.
He cut across the street to the other side and was nearing busy Geary Boulevard.
“Vitaly,” I called out, “we only want to talk to you.”
He didn’t respond and continued running, now pushing people out of the way. He rounded the corner onto Geary. We followed and were both almost in reach when I heard Kang call out, “It’s okay. I got him.”
Before I knew it, I had blurted back, “You mean like last time?” With that, I lowered my head and put everything I had into a leap forward. I hit Vitaly in the back. Both he and I tumbled to the ground. Thankfully, he cushioned my fall.
I rolled onto my feet and turned in time to see Kang fall onto our guy. His knee went right into Vitaly’s back, pinning him to the ground.
Within seconds, Kang had slapped a pair of handcuffs on him. He looked up at me when he finished, still breathing hard. “You had to be the one to catch him, huh?”
“It’s more like I was the first one out of the starting blocks, so naturally, I was closer to him.”
Kang shook his head and yanked Vitaly to his feet. I looked him in the face. He smelled like urine, but his breath was what sent my head reeling back. “Why’d you run?”
“Piss off!” he spat.
Kang spun him around, and we proceeded to walk him back to his house.
“Listen,” I said, “you’re not in trouble.”
“Why the fuck you enter my property, huh?”
“We have some questions to ask you. That’s it.”
When we reached his building, we sat him down on the curb. “Vitaly, if we take the cuffs off, will you stay put?”
He let out a breath of air and nodded.
Kang uncuffed him, and I watched Vitaly rub his wrists.
“We don’t care why you ran. Whatever the reason, we’re not here for that. We understand you work for Yellow Cab.”
He nodded.
“Last Saturday, do you remember picking up this girl in Sausalito?” I showed him Piper’s picture.
He shook his head.
“Take another look. It’s important.”
I watched him focus on the picture, and once again, he shook his head. “I don’t remember this girl.”
“Do you remember picking up anybody in Sausalito that day?”
“No. I don’t pay attention to my fares. Fuck them. What do I care? Just pay me and get the fuck out.”
Vitaly was a young man, maybe in his late twenties—probably a functioning alcoholic. Wouldn’t surprise me if he had been drinking that morning. He lowered his head, giving me a bird’s eye view of his thinning hair. It was hard to tell if he was lying or if he really couldn’t remember.
“Hey, look, a girl is dead. Why don’t you try a little harder?” Kang said, his voice heightened with irritation.
Vitaly continued to stare down between his legs with his mouth sealed tightly.
Why not help? What’s the problem? “You remember her, don’t you, Vitaly?” I questioned. “We know you had nothing to do with her death, so help us out. She was an only child. Did you know that?” I knew he didn’t, but sometimes guilt can be a big motivator. Unfortunately, Vitaly continued to hide behind his Iron Curtain of emotions and resisted my attempt to tug on them.
I knelt down and handed him my card. “Call me if you remember anything, okay? It’s important we find out what happened to her.”
“We done?” he asked.
“Yes, we’re do
ne,” I answered.
Vitaly stood up, and we watched him head back to his apartment. After he slammed his door shut, Kang turned to me. “You think maybe he’s the—”
“The killer? I don’t think so.” I rested my hands on my hips and twisted my torso from side to side. All that driving around had made my body stiff.
“We know he picked up Piper. He might have been the last person to see her alive. Maybe we should bring him in for more questioning.”
“On what charge?” I asked.
“No charge. We’re questioning a potential witness, except we take a really long time to get him his coffee so that sitting in that room starts to gnaw on him. He’ll talk soon enough.”
I liked Kang’s thinking, but it was risky. Vitaly could completely clam up in that sort of environment and never trust us. Once that happens to a witness, forget about them saying anything, short of it being beaten out of them. “No, we have to do this on his turf, where he won’t feel threatened.”
Kang studied me for a minute before nodding. “All right. I’ll put a patrol car outside in case he feels like taking a walk.”
25
The plan was to circle back to Vitaly’s apartment later that night, after he’d had a chance to sober up more but before he had a chance to start his next binge.
“You want to hang out at the precinct while we wait, or shall I drop you off at home and pick you up later?” Kang asked.
I opted for home. It was nearly four in the afternoon, and the kids would already be back from school. “Just give me a ten-minute heads-up before you come by.”
I watched Kang drive off before turning and heading up the walkway to the house. Before I hit the porch stairs, the smell of something delicious awakened my stomach. If there was one thing Po Po was good at—definitely better than I ever would be—it was cooking. She had learned the same way most women from her day and age had learned: by watching and helping their mothers in the kitchen.
Po Po had an encyclopedia of Chinese dishes memorized in her head; not a single one existed on paper. Where she grew up, pens and paper were scarce commodities. They’d had no choice but to remember everything. Po Po also had a finely honed palate and could identify almost any ingredient in a Chinese dish—a remarkable ability. Our stomachs were lucky to have her.
“I’m home,” I called out as I walked into the house.
As usual, my loyal daughter was the only one to greet me at the door. Maybe I should get a dog to increase those numbers. I gave Lucy a hug. Afterward, she grabbed my hand, and we walked toward the kitchen. The smell inside the house was divine and caused a watery flash flood to drench my tongue.
“How’s everything?”
“Everything fine. Ryan upstairs doing homework, and Lucy help me make dinner.”
Hmmm, maybe Lucy will be the one to carry the tradition on and memorize over a hundred recipes. “It smells wonderful.”
“I make scallops and mushroom rice, oyster chicken, melon soup, and steamed pak choi.”
My knees weakened upon hearing the menu. I’ll admit it; I frickin’ love Chinese food, and not because I’m half Chinese, but because it’s frickin’ awesome. When I was growing up, my father—the proud Irishman—had very little say in what we ate; that was my mother’s domain. But every once in a while, he’d sneak into the kitchen and whip up his favorite, shepherd’s pie.
I peeked over Po Po’s shoulder for a look into the pot, but she backed me off with a long wooden spoon. “Not ready. Ten minutes.”
I had learned early on not to argue with her about cooking times. Even if the dish looked finished, ten minutes often meant the difference between good and food porn.
I sulked and looked at my watch—it was ten to five. To pass the time, I headed upstairs to see how my other child fared. Lucy grabbed the back of my shirt and walked in step behind me, all while mumbling. I had no idea what she was saying or who she was talking to. Whenever I asked her who she was talking to, she smiled and asked me a question. I don’t think she was even aware that she was talking. My luck, Ryan’s constant joking that she’s probably talking to an evil spirit that will appear one night from a pool of black guck will surprise me and come true.
Ryan was in his room, shockingly. I had gotten so used to him being upstairs in the media room. I imagined in a few years, he’d be asking if he could make that his bedroom, which would be strange considering my office was up there and I might cramp his style.
“Whatcha reading?” I asked, standing at his doorway with Lucy. He was on his bed, lying on his stomach. I had noticed he was reading more these days.
“It’s the autobiography of Bruce Lee. Did you know he was born in Chinatown?”
“I did not.” I did. He’s one of Hong Kong’s biggest heroes.
“And he had a dojo in Oakland.”
That I did not know. “The book sounds interesting.”
“Yeah, my friend Christian lent it to me. I met him in judo class. Maybe I can start taking kung fu classes, too.”
My boy was becoming quite the martial arts enthusiast. He had already been involved in judo for over a year now and had even won a couple of small tournaments at his dojo.
“Is there a school nearby?”
“I dunno. I’ll ask at the dojo and let you know, okay?”
“That sounds perfect. But right now it’s time for dinner, so table that book and come downstairs.”
Dinner that night lasted for forty-five minutes, longer than usual, but the conversation was good and so was the food. Afterward, Lucy rushed over to the couch and started playing games on her tablet. “Uh huh,” I said. “Did you finish your homework?”
She remained quiet, pretending she didn’t hear me.
“Lucy, don’t make me ask you twice.”
“Awwww, Mommy,” she groaned.
“No games until it’s finished. Understood?”
“But I’m tired.”
“Next time, do your homework as soon as you get home, and that way, you won’t have to worry about it later.” I grabbed the tablet out of her hands. “You’ll get this back when I see your homework finished.”
I watched her stomp her tiny feet up the stairs before I turned to her brother. “And what about you?”
“All done. I’ll be upstairs reading.”
Awesome!
By the time Po Po and I finished clearing the table and doing all the dishes, it was nearing six thirty, which was more like eight for her. Her eyes looked tired, and I knew she’d had a long day. Still, at seventy-one years of age, she was pretty active—and she was up every morning at five thirty.
“Let me finish wiping the counters,” I said before taking the cloth from her hand.
“I help,” she insisted.
“Nope. Get out of here.”
She nodded. “Okay, I take a bath now.”
Since she had fixed an amazing dinner, cleaning up was the least I could do. I’m so glad we have a dishwasher. After I had finished in the kitchen, I retired to my office to give my case more thought.
As always, I made a pass over all my notes and the case files for the three victims as a reminder of what I already knew. Sometimes looking at the information with a fresh head helped me to see things differently. That wasn’t the case that night. As much as it felt like we were making progress, my gut told me otherwise. So did the headache that lingered near the base of my skull.
I still had a little trouble buying the idea that my killer was a woman. Typically, serial killers were white males. It’s not that women didn’t kill—they do. They just don’t fit neatly into what has long been regarded as the profile of a serial killer. Times were changing though. A case I had worked in Detroit a few years back was proof.
I pulled out my phone and pulled up the suspect’s picture. It was grainy, and the angle was typical of most surveillance cameras, a top down visual. She didn’t look like a killer, but the good ones never do. Who are you? Why are you killing people?
It was a little aft
er eight, and I was still lost within my thoughts, when I received a call from Tucker, the newbie agent.
“Agent Kane, it’s Agent Tucker. Sorry to bother you at home, but the early evening news didn’t feature our mystery woman.”
That didn’t surprise me. None of the news stations had reported on the crime. Only a couple of small papers had made mention of Piper’s death: the Marin Independent Journal and the Sausalito MarinScope. To most of the media, her death wasn’t newsworthy enough. Translation: It wasn’t sensational enough to move papers or spike ratings.
“That sucks.”
“Yeah, well, I called a bunch of them back, and now they have all promised to feature it on the late news.”
“Oh? What made them change their mind?”
“I hope you don’t mind, but I gave the case a nickname, something they could sell.”
“What name did you give them?”
“The Cotton Candy Killer.”
26
Vitaly Scherbo slouched on his couch. Sweat had soaked his shirt, and his bouncing legs showed no sign of losing their beat as he drifted in and out of his thoughts. A bottle of vodka he had removed from the freezer stood unopened on the small coffee table in front of him. The icy frost that had once covered the narrow bottle was nothing more than a tiny moat circling the base.
For three hours the bottle had stared at Vitaly, urging him to indulge one last time. It was always one last time. He didn’t want to drink, but the pain he felt inside wouldn’t disappear, and only the clear elixir from his homeland had the strength to dull it, if only for a few hours.
Vitaly had come from a well-to-do family; his father had made his fortune in aluminum after the fall of Communism. While his older brothers had been anxious to involve themselves in the family business, Vitaly had preferred psychology over the production of goods for commerce. He had dreamed of becoming a psychologist, a profession that hadn’t been highly sought after in his hometown of Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Therefore, it hadn’t been a common pathway at the universities where he had lived.
[Anthology] Abby & Sei Thriller Starter Page 9
