by Greg Herren
He was dead, no doubt about it.
I backed away from the body and stumbled back into my apartment.
Was his killer still up there on the roof?
I took it all in as quickly as I could. His clothes were soaking wet. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a Saints jersey. His hair was also wet, plastered to his scalp. There’d been no pulse, and his skin had been so cold. I shuddered.
I looked up at the sky and tried to remember. It had rained yesterday evening, and sporadically through the night, but I couldn’t pin it down to times. I remembered it raining while I was trying to sleep. I stood up and remembered the noise I’d heard on the roof when I was coming out of his apartment.
Had the killer been up there then?
I swallowed and closed my eyes, holding down the panicky thoughts. No sense freaking about it now, and besides, you don’t know how he was killed, or when. All you know is he’s dead, and his body is on your balcony—and it had to have been thrown off the roof. So the killer has to still be up there.
I wondered if Colin was still down in the courtyard.
Or did he throw the body down to my balcony?
I hurried back into the house while hitting the speed dial on my cell phone for Venus. I went out my back door, and sure enough, Colin was still sitting down there in the courtyard at the table. I waved at him, beckoning him to come up as Venus answered my call. “Casanova.”
“Venus, this is Scotty Bradley. I’m not sure how to tell you this, but there’s a body on my balcony.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone, and then she let out a huge sigh. “I might have known this was going to happen when you turned up at my crime scene. It was just a matter of time, I suppose,” she said with an air of long suffering. “We’re on our way.”
I hung up the phone just as Colin let himself in my front door. I was about to snap at him that henceforth he needed to knock, but I wasn’t in the mood to get into an argument with him. “What’s up?” he asked, yawning. “I don’t think Levi’s coming back.”
“Oh, he came back all right.” I gave him a brittle smile. “His body is out on the balcony right now. Didn’t you hear it land? The whole building shook.”
I could hear a police siren in the distance, and smiled to myself. There was no getting out of this one for him. It’s not like I could call them back and tell them not to come. His face remained expressionless. “You’ve called the police?”
“Yes. They’re on their way.” The siren was getting louder. I was expecting him to make his excuses and get away as fast as he could. He’d talked Mom out of calling the police last night, but there was no way out of dealing with them now. In a way, I was sorry I’d told him I’d already called them.
It would have been interesting to hear his rationale for not reporting the body to the police.
He gave me a funny look and hurried over to the balcony doors. He opened the doors. “Don’t go out there—it’s a crime scene,” I called out after him. He turned around, his face an expressionless mask. “Venus wouldn’t like it. And you remember what she’s like when she’s pissed.”
I expected some reaction from him. His face didn’t change. All he did was nod. “You’re right. We shouldn’t disturb the scene.” He closed the doors again.
“You weren’t up on the roof last night by any chance, were you?” I asked. I kept my voice casual even though my heart was racing.
“The roof?” He shook his head. “I didn’t leave that chair in the courtyard all night—except for when it rained. I sat on the stairs until it stopped. Why?” Realization dawned in his eyes. “You think I killed him, don’t you?”
I shrugged. “It’s not like it would be the first time.”
He looked at me for a few moments without saying a word. His shoulders sagged a little bit, and his head drooped forward almost imperceptibly. He nodded, biting his lower lip. “I think”—his voice was very muted—“it’s probably better if I wait outside.” He gave me a wide berth as he walked past me on his way to the front door.
“Angela called me back,” I said when he was halfway down the hall. “She told me about the uranium.”
He stopped walking, but didn’t say anything or turn around.
“I’m not entirely sure I trust you—or her,” I went on. “But I’m mixed up in the middle of this, and I might as well get paid for it.” I gritted my teeth. “If what she told me is true—well, I guess it’s my duty to help you. But I still don’t understand why you—or Angela—think you might need my help.”
“You knew Benjamin Garrett. You knew him well. He was practically a member of your family.” He turned around and folded his arms. “You—and your parents—interacted with him a lot over the last forty years. You might know something without even knowing you know it.”
“All right. That’s believable. I’ll work with you, all right?” He started to say something but I held up my hand. “But that’s all it means, Colin. I’ll work with you. It doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you, and it sure as hell doesn’t mean I trust you.” I walked over to my desk and sat down at my computer. “You said Levi was twelve? Angela also confirmed that. But why didn’t you mention there was a son, Matthew?”
His facial expression didn’t change. “Matthew Gretsch is dead.”
“It’s right there in The Carthage Courant. Survived by a son, Matthew.” I folded my arms. “What else have you lied to me about?” I gestured to the bandage on his arm. “Was that self-inflicted?”
He walked over and leaned over my keyboard. He clicked on the search engine, and typed Matthew Gretsch, Carthage Ohio into the search box. He hit the Return key. After a few moments, a new list of links popped up. He clicked on the first one, folded his arms again, and took a few steps back.
I looked. It was a death announcement for Matthew Gretsch, dated two weeks after his father’s. He’d been killed in a car accident.
I felt cold. Coincidence?
Before I had a chance to think of anything to say, the buzzer rang. I pressed the Open button and went out the door to wait on the stairs for the cops. It was two uniforms I didn’t recognize. I introduced myself to them, told them where the body was, and sat down on the steps to wait for further instructions. Colin came out and sat down next to me. “Scotty,” he said in a quiet voice. “I would tell you the truth about your uncles if I could, but I can’t. You have to believe me when I say I didn’t kill them. I was trying to keep them alive.”
“You failed.” He put his hand on my arm, but I jerked away from him.
“I know I did.” He went on, “I failed, Scotty. And it almost cost Frank his life, and it could have cost you yours. Don’t you think I know that?” He swallowed. “I couldn’t allow my cover to be blown, and so I had to get out of town. I thank God every day nothing happened to you and Frank—that you made it through that okay. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself…” His voice trailed off. “It killed me having to leave you and Frank, but the job wasn’t done yet, and I couldn’t allow my cover to be blown. So I had to leave the way I did.” He swallowed. “I hated doing it. I hated letting you and Frank, the whole family, think I was a murderer, that everything about me was a lie. That everything we had was a lie. It wasn’t, Scotty. You have to believe that.”
“I don’t know,” I replied. It sounded good. It was what I’d wanted to hear for three years. How many times had I thought about this very moment, when he would come back and explain everything? I wanted to believe him. The Scotty I’d been three years ago would have believed him without a single question. That Scotty would have thrown his arms around Colin and kissed him, gladly welcomed him back into his life.
But I wasn’t that Scotty anymore. That Scotty was gone, and no matter how hard I tried, no matter how much I wanted him to, that Scotty wasn’t ever coming back. Too much had happened. Part of that Scotty had died during that awful Mardi Gras. A catastrophic man-made flood had killed another part of him just five months later.
&nbs
p; “I want to believe you,” I finally said as the silence grew between us. “You have no idea how much I want to believe you.”
“Mom and Dad believe me.” His voice was husky with emotion.
“I’m not them.”
“I was so worried about you both when I heard about the hurricane,” he continued. “I was scared for you both, for the whole family. But I got word from some of the first responders that you were all okay. If I hadn’t, I’d have been on the next plane here, you can be sure of that. I wanted to come anyway. Angela said it was a mistake.”
“Angela,” I replied. I put my head down on my knees. “Of course, she’ll back your story a hundred percent. And you’ll back hers.”
“I guess I can’t blame you for not trusting me.” He swallowed.
“Good.”
“But do you think maybe that someday you might be able to again?”
I didn’t know how to answer that. Fortunately, I was spared from answering by the timely arrival of Venus and her partner, Blaine Tujague.
Venus was wearing a gray wool pantsuit over a blue silk blouse. She looked like she hadn’t slept, and she was holding a cup of coffee from CC’s. Blaine looked like he was sleepwalking. He covered a yawn with the hand not holding a cup of coffee. His hair was messy, and he hadn’t shaved. His clothes looked rumpled, like he’d been either wearing them a long time or slept in them.
“Well, well, well, look who we have here,” Venus said, shaking her head as Colin rose. She held out her hand. “I didn’t think we’d ever see you again, Agent Golden.”
Whatever I was expecting to happen, that wasn’t it. That small part of my mind that I didn’t like had been hoping to see her cuff him, read him his rights, and lead him off to jail. I just stared at her, my mouth open. What the hell did she mean by calling him Agent? “Wait a minute. Aren’t you going to arrest him? Isn’t there an outstanding warrant for him?”
Venus and Blaine looked at each other first. Venus looked at me like I had just started speaking in tongues. Blaine smothered a smile. They both gave Colin a quizzical look. He just shrugged. “I’ve been trying to tell him. He won’t listen to me.”
“Not my problem,” Venus said as she pulled out a notebook from her jacket pocket. “So, what’s going on here? A body on your balcony?” Her voice was all business, but I got the distinct impression a smile was tugging at the corners of her mouth.
“Remember me telling you last night about Levi Gretsch, my upstairs neighbor, and how he’d hired me?”
Venus’s face turned to professional stone. “The one whose grandfather was killed in a similar fashion to Benjamin Garrett? The one we came here last night to talk to?”
I nodded. “That’s who it is, Venus. I was online, drinking some coffee when I heard a loud crash from the balcony. I went and looked, and saw Levi’s body.” I took a deep breath, and told her about finding out from Colin—who didn’t say a word, just let me talk—that the real Levi Gretsch was only a child. “So, we came back here to check on Millie and Velma—I hadn’t seen them all day, and we found them bound and gagged in their apartment.”
If she weren’t a cop, I think Venus would have gladly throttled me right then and there. “And you didn’t call me?” Her voice was dangerously low.
“Millie and Velma didn’t want to,” Colin interrupted. “They’d been tied up all day, Venus, and they were worn out.” He shrugged. “There wasn’t anything you could have done about it last night anyway. Velma had to be in court this morning. They decided to go to bed and decide what to do about it in the morning. Since Levi had a set of keys, we thought it would be best if I just stood guard down in the courtyard.”
“You two wait here,” Venus said, motioning to Blaine. “We’re going to take a look at the body.”
“I’ll make some more coffee,” I offered, and Venus gave me a grateful, if out-of-character, smile. Colin and I followed them back into the apartment. Blaine gave me a funny look as they moved out to join the uniforms on the balcony.
I walked into the kitchen and started the coffee. Colin sat down on the other side of the counter. “You’re sure you never went up to the roof?” I hissed at him. “Because if you did, now’s the time to come clean.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I most certainly did not.”
“And you’re sure Levi didn’t come strolling along last night while the rest of us were sleeping?” I shot back. “You didn’t see or hear anything?”
His face turned red. “I told you, I did not kill Levi,” he said in a controlled voice, but he was gripping the counter so hard his knuckles turned white. He took a deep breath. “What would I gain by killing Levi, anyway?”
“Look, I’m sorry, but you have to admit I have to wonder.” I glanced over at the French doors. “You didn’t even try to talk Millie and Velma into calling the police. You volunteered to stand guard last night. And this morning, his body lands on my balcony.” I thought for a moment. He wouldn’t have had time to throw the body off the roof and then get back down to the courtyard. I’d gone to check on him moments after finding the body.
But all that meant was he wasn’t the one who’d thrown the body off the roof.
And Levi had been dead for hours.
“Okay.” I took a deep breath. “You have no idea who this guy really was?”
“All I know is whoever this guy really was, it wasn’t Levi Gretsch.” Now he folded his arms and gave me a look I didn’t much care for. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to tell Venus and Blaine about the Eye of Kali.”
“Now you’re asking me to lie to the police?” I hissed. “The problem with lies, Colin, is that once you’re caught your credibility is completely destroyed. And why did she call you agent?”
He smiled at me. “I’m working for your government, Scotty—like I was when I was trying to protect your uncles.”
I shook my head. “That doesn’t make any sense to me. You work for Angela Blackledge.”
“I’ve told you, sometimes we’re hired by governments who need to keep a certain distance from the delicate matters we work on for them.” He shrugged. “I can’t tell you any more than that.”
“Of course not,” I said sourly, pouring us both a cup of coffee. Out of habit, I added Sweet’n Low and creamer to his, stirred it, and handed it to him, like I always used to do. As soon as he took it from me, I realized what I’d done and my face burned.
He was grinning at me as he sipped his coffee. “You remember how I take my coffee?” He put the cup down on the counter. He leaned forward onto his elbows, every muscle in his arm contracting.
“I remember a lot of things that don’t matter,” I replied evenly, sipping my own coffee. “But how can we keep all this stuff from them, Colin? It’s called obstruction of justice, and it’s a crime—even if you are working for the government.” I hopped up and sat on the counter. “Uranium, international conspiracy, and espionage—Venus will love hearing about it, I’m sure.” But when I said it out loud, it sounded pretty absurd. In spite of myself, I started laughing.
Why does this stuff happen to me?
“Scotty, this isn’t funny.” Colin’s smile faded into a concerned frown. “The stakes are high. If the wrong people get their hands on the Eye—”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Armageddon. Angela was pretty clear on the phone.” I refilled my coffee cup. “I don’t see how we can keep this from them. But it does sound ridiculous, if you think about it.” But on the other hand, so did identical Russian triplets—and Venus and Blaine had worked that case, too. I felt really tired. The lack of sleep was starting to catch up to me. I downed the coffee and poured myself another cup. “You didn’t see or hear anything weird from the roof? He was obviously killed up there—no one could drag a body up that ladder.” Just thinking about trying it made me queasy. “And someone had to drop it off the roof to my balcony.”
“It dropped from the roof?”
“Well, how did you think it got there? Magic?” I shook my head.
“You didn’t hear the crash when it landed? The whole building shook. I went and looked through the curtains—saw him lying there, and called Venus, and waved you to come up here.” I scratched my nose. “There are only two ways it could have gotten there. Either it was heaved up there from the street, or it was tossed off the roof. I vote for tossed off the roof. So how did they get up to the roof? And why my balcony? Convenience?”
“Maybe they were aiming for the street and missed,” Colin joked.
I just gave him a look.
“Okay, well, it’s not as difficult to get up to your roof as you’d like to think it is,” Colin said hurriedly. “It’s not a far jump from the buildings on either side of you. And if Levi was indeed inside when we went looking for him earlier, it wouldn’t have been too hard for him to get up there.”
Much as I hated to admit it, he was right. New Orleanians never worried about people breaking into the building by crossing the roofs. All the security protections we put into place were to keep people from breaking in from the ground level. And getting down from the roof was relatively easy if you didn’t have a fear of heights. Someone coming across the roofs obviously didn’t have such a problem. Someone could have come across, lured Levi up the back ladder, killed him—
And what? Stayed up there all night through the rain until the time was ripe to drop the body down to my balcony? And then fled back across the roofs?
It wasn’t likely, but Levi himself could have easily gone up the ladder when we came looking for him. He could have been hiding out on the roof.
Who would have known he was up there?
Ugh, my head was starting to hurt again. I poured myself some more coffee.
The French doors opened, and Venus and Blaine walked back in. I poured them each a cup of coffee, and they sat down on either side of Colin at the bar. “No identification,” Venus said after taking a drink. “I’m going to need you to identify the body.”
“It’s Levi, or rather, the man I knew as Levi Gretsch,” I said. “I don’t need to look again.”
“When was the last time you saw him alive?” Venus asked, pulling out her little notepad.
