Sarah's List

by Elizabeth Gunn

  ‘I’ve got one.’ He pulled a baggie out of an inside pocket. ‘Henry found it in the driveway and gave it to me.’

  Sarah held it up in the bright sunlight, squinting at the rim, and read, ‘“223 Rem.” OK, twenty-two caliber, and it looks like,’ she squinted again, ‘made by PMC.’ She added it to the satchel of evidence she was saving for Firearms and Toolmarks.

  ‘Right. But. On the outside of the driver’s side door, there are two more fresh bullet holes that don’t quite match the others in size and shape. That’s what I wanted to show you. Shall we step out and look?’

  When they stood together on the hot asphalt outside the driver’s door, he said, ‘Don’t you agree? These entry holes are almost a match, but a little smaller, and see how the metal’s heaped up on one side? You think maybe the same ammo but the second shooter had a different gun?’

  ‘Or the same gun and ammo with a different angle of entry? Fired from a greater distance?’

  ‘I suppose it doesn’t make much difference, they’re still in the door and they didn’t kill anybody.’

  ‘Well, it doesn’t make much difference to us, but it might matter a lot to lawyers sometime in the future. If we get lucky enough to catch this pair of hoodlums and they want to prove both shooters are guilty of murder … So let’s take some pictures of these entry holes, and we’ll give those to Banjo too.’

  She was pleased with him and said so. ‘Very good detective work, Bogey. It’ll take an expert to confirm it – to my eye these look about the same as the ones in back of the van. What’s amazing,’ Sarah said as they climbed back in the van, ‘is that it matches what the coroner said – apparently the driver died from just that one lucky shot through the head that came in through the open window. He had no other wounds that Cameron could find.’

  ‘The ballistics guy hasn’t looked at this yet, has he?’

  ‘No. I got a message from Delaney on my phone – Banjo heard the crime scene was inside the company shuttle and said there was no use trying to dig out ammo in a space as crowded as this one was going to be. Said he’d rather do his chores down at the impound yard tomorrow after the other techs were done.’

  ‘Ah. You think he’d let me keep him company if I promise not to touch anything?’

  ‘We can ask him – he’s a reasonable guy.’

  ‘His name is Banjo? Really?’

  ‘It’s a nickname. He moonlights in a bluegrass band. Don’t worry – he’s very good at his job. And I expect he’ll be glad to let you watch – he enjoys showing off his skills.’

  ‘Good. How do I—’

  ‘I’ll call him and set it up for you. Let’s see, what time is it? I’m due back in Letitia’s office soon to get the stats on Ricky. You want to come along? Shall we take another look at that jacket? I’m not sure I’m ready to give it to Letitia, but I know I don’t want it to go down to the impound yard.’

  ‘Sure.’ He pulled the brown jacket out of the bag and held it up. ‘It’s got bloodstains all over the front but I don’t see any holes. I wonder why it was even along in the van? Surely the driver didn’t need a jacket in this weather.’ As he turned it over his arm, he said, ‘There’s something heavy in that inside pocket – shall I see what it is?’

  ‘Sure.’ She stepped out and put her day pack on the gravel by the bottom step, checking that all the snaps were closed, getting ready to go. She heard the sound of the zipper as he opened the pocket. Then Bogey said, ‘Oh!’ And after a moment, ‘Sarah, come back.’

  When she stepped back up he was sitting in one of the seats with the jacket heaped in front of him. ‘Close the door,’ he said.

  She slid the big door closed, stepped closer, said, ‘What?’

  Bogey lifted the jacket and showed her a banded pile of twenty-dollar bills. And another. And then two more.

  The usual driver had a tidy pile of cash in his coat.

  ‘The first thing we have to do is protect ourselves,’ Sarah said, ten minutes later. ‘Damn lucky we happened to be together when we found this money. Hang on, I’m calling the boss.’

  Delaney’s first question was, ‘How much?’

  ‘Eighty-four hundred dollars.’

  ‘Oh. So not a major bank heist.’

  ‘But quite a bit more than pocket change for a maintenance man.’

  ‘And enough to interest those shooters if they come back around.’

  ‘That’s what I’m thinking. Any word on the chase?’

  ‘We got an all-points out, everybody’s looking. They went to ground fast. No trace of an old Dodge Ram pickup with the license numbers your gardener saw.’

  ‘And here we sit with the money they must be after.’

  ‘Anybody see it but the two of you?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Keep it that way. Put the money back in the jacket pocket where you found it, zip it up and wait. Hang on a minute till I see who’s around to send … yeah, Ray and Ollie can come and collect it.’ Thumps and voices, then he was back. ‘OK, they’re on their way with a receipt which you will all sign before they take the cash. You got that?’

  ‘Sure. But listen, boss, I expect that tow truck to be turning in here any minute, and you know how they are about not wanting to wait—’

  ‘Sarah, listen to me. If that tow truck driver gets there before our guys, tell him you just found what looks like a pipe bomb and you’re waiting for the disposal guys to come and disable it, so he should stay back in the driveway and wait until the experts handle this thing.’

  ‘OK. Good idea.’ Brilliant, actually.

  ‘How wrecked is that vehicle, can you lock it?’

  ‘Uh … I suppose so.’

  ‘Lock the doors and don’t open for anybody till our guys arrive. Text me when they get there. Stay frosty, the guys are on their way.’

  ‘Ten-four,’ she said, falling back on the old code because it sounded sufficiently laconic. Don’t I always stay frosty?

  She told Bogey, ‘Delaney says lock up. This vehicle’s got the new system, but we still need the keys. Have you got them?’

  ‘No. You mean you don’t?’ He looked at the empty ignition switch. ‘Who else would have – maybe Henry?’ He looked across the yard to where the gardener had been replanting a cactus. The spade stood alone, stuck in the dirt near the sprawled plant. ‘He must have gone to coffee. Shall I go find him?’

  ‘No! We’re sticking together till this money’s gone. I’ll phone Letitia.’ She asked Letitia to send Henry out with the keys. ‘Right away, please,’ she said, making it urgent but not, of course, panicked – Detective Sarah Burke did not do panic.

  She dithered, though. It was not possible to pace in the small space afforded by the Econoline, but she sat down and got up repeatedly and looked at her watch a dozen times in ten minutes. But then, oh damn, the tow was at the gate – but before she could jump out and head him off he was cut off by one of their old maroon unmarked Crown Vics, making a snappy turn through the open gates alongside the tow truck. Two sets of screeching tires, and there was Ollie’s genial grin showing in the Ford’s driver’s side window.

  Ray jumped out of the passenger side and hopped on the running board of the banged-up tow truck, in a padded vest and gloves and some kind of crash helmet, looking like Mad-Dog Raimundo, Taker of Crazy Risks. Sarah watched as he gave the driver a quick-and-dirty about the possible pipe bomb. She watched him urge the driver to wait there while he and his partner got this murderous little nuisance cleared away, and saw the driver’s expression change from whaddya-want to whatever-you-say. Ray jumped off the tow truck and back into the department Ford wearing his Mad Dog smirk.

  But now here – oh rats, rats! Here came Henry trotting with the keys – too late, wrecking the story! – but Bogey erupted out of their ruined vehicle and ran to him, waving his arms in a wait gesture. He grabbed the keys and said something sharp that sent Henry sprinting in alarm back to the entrance of Fairweather Farms. It was amazing how fast they all became shameless liar
s in support of the imaginary pipe bomb, and how well it was working.

  Ollie pulled their vehicle up tight against the crime scene tape and the two detectives sprang out of the car. Ray carried a first-aid kit he’d grabbed off the wall by his workstation, with a big red ‘Caution’ sign he must have pulled out of storage and plastered on the side during the trip. Sarah slid back the side door and let them in just ahead of Bogey, who waved the keys over his head, then lowered them and said, ‘Do we still need these?’

  ‘Sure,’ Sarah said, ‘lock up while we count. Then we’ll give them to the tow truck driver when we turn the rig over to him. Ollie, you got the receipt?’ They all signed and then settled down to the counting job. When they finished they put the money and receipt back in the pocket of the brown windbreaker, zipped it up and dropped it into the fresh evidence bag that Ray held open. He closed it, stapled it, attached a label with the date and time and they all initialed that.

  ‘There, by God, that ought to secure the chain of evidence,’ Ray said, and put it in the trunk of his car.

  As he climbed out of the van, Ollie said, ‘All due respect, but isn’t this kind of a big whoop to raise over such a puny amount of cash?’

  ‘If it weren’t for the chase I’d agree with you,’ Sarah said. ‘But one man is dead and two or more shooters are on the run, so …’ She turned her hands over. ‘We don’t know yet what the connection is to the shooting, but there has to be one. How else do these few dollars get so much juice?’

  FOUR

  Monday afternoon

  ‘Well, here you go,’ Letitia said, handing over a Manila folder, ‘the whole nine yards on Ricky Lopez.’

  ‘Let’s see. Birth certificate, social security. Medicaid? You don’t pay a living wage?’

  ‘We pay about ten percent above average for these jobs. But Ricky had a live-in mother and there’s a hoard of needy relatives who move in and out, so he was on food stamps and AHCCCS.’

  ‘I see. Tip declaration – they still pay taxes on their tips?’

  ‘Right. Banks get bailed out but service personnel pay taxes on tips. We don’t stand over them and count the change, needless to say.’

  ‘Uh-huh.’

  ‘Still makes you mad, I see. Me too. But the law’s the law. Look, they even faxed me a copy of his birth certificate,’ Letitia said. ‘That was a surprise.’

  ‘Because he was born in Pima County?’ Sarah said, looking at the document. ‘You thought he was an immigrant?’

  ‘No, I knew he was local,’ she said. ‘But his age – forty-two! I thought he was somewhere in his mid-fifties. I wonder why he looked so old?’

  ‘You didn’t get all the facts about him when you hired him?’

  ‘I didn’t hire him. When the time comes to staff a new place the company sends a professional team, they notify the local unemployment office and run ads on social media, and in about a week they hire the whole crew, check the records and start the training – hold classes on company policies and benefits, issue uniforms, put them all on a bus and tour a couple of our other facilities. Meanwhile I do three days’ intensive brief of department heads and then they start training staff.’

  ‘It sounds very efficient.’

  ‘It is. Premium Eldercare has been building these places for over twenty years and they’ve pretty well smoothed out the rough spots.’

  ‘OK. So where’s his driver’s license?’

  ‘Here.’ Frowning, Letitia pulled a printed copy out of a basket by her elbow and laid it on top of the pile. Why does she look so distraught?

  Sarah studied the picture, briefly thinking, He did have a nice face. She scanned the rest of the picture for a few seconds, then sat up suddenly and stared at Letitia. ‘Did you know his driver’s license had expired?’

  ‘Of course not. I’d never have sent him out in the van if I knew.’

  ‘But you knew it this morning when we talked, didn’t you?’ Sarah said, remembering, getting angry. ‘That’s why you pulled that silly caper about Amanda having the day off. She was here in the morning, wasn’t she? And you sent her somewhere out of my sight.’

  ‘I thought I just needed a little time to get to the bottom of the license situation,’ Letitia protested. ‘I told her there must be an extension on file, a temporary license to carry while he corrected some problem. When I asked Ricky, he told me he was fine to drive. I said Ricky would never play a trick like this on me, there must be something in his wallet – have you found that, by the way?’

  ‘No. Usually we look for that early on, but there was so much blood, and the van was heating up fast – so we said we’ll get it out of his pants when we get them from the coroner. But see here, Letitia, this is a homicide investigation, serious business. It’s a crime to lie to the police in a homicide case, an obstruction of justice!’

  Which was perfectly true and also total bullshit, Sarah thought, watching sweat break out on the manager’s upper lip. If I had a dollar for every lie I’ve listened to in this job I could retire.

  But she was seriously annoyed that Letitia had caused her to waste time, trying to find out why Amanda came and went in her job. Angry at herself too, for letting Letitia think, even for a few hours, that a police investigation could be manipulated.

  ‘What else are you lying about?’ she demanded. ‘Did Ricky have a record? Is Lopez even his real name?’

  ‘Yes, of course it is – Ricky was thoroughly checked out, like everybody else on the starting crew. He was a totally respectable citizen – his license only expired three weeks ago. He tried to renew it then, but he failed the eye exam. So he was saving up for new glasses, he intended to get them next payday and then renew the license.’

  ‘Sounds like you knew all about this.’

  ‘No! As soon as I heard about the accident, I told Amanda to call for Ricky’s records, and that’s how I found out about the license and his glasses. I should have checked properly before asking Ricky if he’d drive the van, but we were desperate for a driver. The next thing I knew I was getting chewed out by the Phoenix office for having a driver with an expired license.

  ‘I told Amanda that someone must have known. And Amanda said that she bets Henry knows. Because she knew, we all knew, that Henry and Ricky were buddies. They worked together before, at one of our smaller Premium Eldercare places on the east side. So I called Henry in, and Amanda was right – Henry knew all about Ricky’s license problem.’

  Letitia looked at her ceiling light and took a breath. ‘I was furious, of course. Henry’s been my right-hand man here and I thought I could trust him with anything. I told him that and you know what he said?’ Her eyes blazed indignation; she needed a scapegoat and had just fastened on one. ‘He said, “You didn’t ask me before you sent him out in the van, and once he was gone I thought you were better off not knowing.” Is that a lame excuse or what?’

  ‘So that’s why Henry’s in such a bad mood.’

  ‘Yes. He hates being put in the wrong. Plus he’s really devastated about Ricky getting killed. And even though it’s illogical he blames DeShawn for not being in the van where he belonged.’

  Sarah sat back, glanced at her notes to get reoriented, and said, ‘What else can you tell me about Ricky as a person? Was he good at his job? Did you like him? Why would anybody want to kill him?’

  ‘You bet I liked him – we all did.’ Letitia’s chin quivered and she closed her eyes; when she opened them and tried to go on her voice broke. ‘It must be just a terrible mistake – Ricky was a real sweetheart.’

  Sarah waited a couple of heartbeats before she asked, ‘Henry called him a muffin; is that what he meant?’

  ‘Yes. Ricky will be sorely missed around here. Not just by the staff – all the guests depended on him too. He had the perfect personality for a place like this.’

  ‘Kind, you mean? Compassionate?’

  ‘All of that. Ricky had … empathy, is that the word I want? A special knack for dealing with this particular clientele.’
>
  ‘You mean Fairweather Farms is different from the rest of the chain?’

  ‘A little bit, yeah. It was built for the top of the market, has all the amenities and it’s not cheap. It’s designed for quite successful people to retire to. These movers and shakers get to a stage where they need some things managed and they can afford it – so lucky, you might think. But retirement for some people … it’s kind of love/hate. This may be hard to understand, but they’re used to doing things their own way, so sometimes getting helped makes them grumpy.’

  Tell me about it, Sarah thought, remembering her mother’s dour face at last night’s dinner.

  ‘And dissatisfaction can turn into depression in just the blink of an eye.’ Letitia was warming to her subject now. ‘I think of it as the bear in the nearby cave, always lurking, ready to pounce.’

  ‘But you’re saying Ricky had special tricks to fend off the bear?’

  ‘Yeah – well, not tricks exactly – he just had a knack for putting himself in other people’s shoes, knowing what would make them feel better.’

  ‘Like what?’

  ‘Oh … like one day here when Millicent’s dementia was worse than usual, and she kept saying she wasn’t hungry, Ricky wheeled her over to the dining room, saying, “Madge is making her chicken noodle soup today just for you, Millicent – she remembered how much you liked it before.” And talking so sweet, you know, about Madge in the kitchen cutting up the mushrooms for the special soup, that by the time he was tucking that napkin on Millicent and spooning it into her we all wanted chicken noodle soup, and Madge was out in the kitchen telling the dishwasher she made this soup special for Millicent.’

  ‘But she didn’t …?’

  ‘She makes it every Tuesday,’ Letitia said. ‘Rain or shine.’

  Sarah’s phone dinged. She saw it was Delaney and stepped out in the hall to pick it up. ‘How’s it going on the chase?’ she asked him. ‘Any sign of the shooters?’

  ‘No, they must have holed up someplace. I’ve got all cars looking but – what?’