by Carolina Mac
“Nine times out of ten, murder investigations have more than one suspect. That’s how they get solved. Process of elimination a lot of the time.”
“I’m sure you’re right. And we’re not saying it’s him—just that we want to talk to him.”
“Right—a person of interest.”
“Okay, go with it and use my name.” He chuckled, “I’ll either be a hero or an idiot. I’ve been both before.”
“Stay at the ranch. I don’t want anyone to know where you are when this hits the street.”
“I won’t be back in the city until tomorrow night.”
What’s going on with Scott and Mom?
True to her word, Mary was at the front door of Powell and Associates twenty minutes later. Blaine let her in and locked the door.
Dressed casually in black slacks and a navy blazer, she was without makeup and her dark hair was windblown. She’d hurried.
“Welcome, Mary. Sorry to interrupt your weekend, but this is important, and I want to jump on it.”
“No problem. I’m happy that you called.”
He introduced Misty and left her at the sideboard pouring coffee for the three of them. He mentioned no connection between Misty and the sketch.
Mary pulled out a yellow pad and pen and set her tape recorder on the edge of the desk.
Blaine pointed, “You won’t need the recorder. This isn’t an interview.”
“Okay.” She stuck it back in her purse. “How can I help?”
He pushed a copy of the sketch across the antique coffee table. “I would like this to run in the Sunday edition. He’s a person of interest in the park murders.”
Mary nodded, and her eyes widened. “Like ‘do you know this man?’ That type of a headline?”
“That’s it,” said Blaine. “There will be no story attached because we’re not revealing the source of the sketch. That might put an innocent person in danger.”
“I understand.”
Lopez couldn’t get approval from the Chief, so we’ll run it our way.
“This is what I want you to say,” said Blaine. “Governor Richardson’s violent crime team need your help in locating this man. If you have seen him, or know who he is, do not approach him, call this number.”
“Okay, I’ve got it,” said Mary with a smile. “Short and sweet but with a huge impact. I’ll try for the front page.”
“Good girl,” said Blaine. “Appreciate it.”
“No, I appreciate you giving me the exclusive, and my boss is beyond thrilled that you’re talking to the paper and not to one of the TV stations.”
“I’m sure they’ll pick it up soon enough and run their own version, but that’s what we want,” said Blaine. “I want everybody in Austin looking at their neighbor.”
He walked Mary out and called Lily on her cell.
CHAPTER TEN
Sunday, December 10th.
RACE WOKE with a moan and an overpowering need to stop the amped-up pain in his wounded leg. Half-asleep he reached out his left arm and his cuffed wrist clattered against the bed rail. He let out a roar and hollered, “I’ll get you, kid. I’ll get you for this.”
Twisting and turning did nothing to relieve the throbbing. “Somebody come and do something,” he bellowed.
A nurse blasted through the door and glared at him. “What’s wrong, sir? Do you have a problem?”
“I’ve got more than one,” he hollered, “but this morning, my leg is fucking killing me.”
“Let me see.”
Race thrashed and moaned as the nurse tried to remove the bandage. “Lie still, sir. It will speed things up.” She examined his leg and wasn’t smiling as she re-wrapped it. “I’ll have the doctor look at it the moment he arrives.”
“Give me something for the pain,” Race growled.
“I’ll be right back with meds for you, Mr. Ogilvie.”
The officer guarding the door stuck his head in the room. “Having a tough morning, Ogilvie?”
“Piss off, asshole.”
BLAINE UNLOCKED the door of the Powell Building at seven a.m. and he could hear the phone at reception already ringing. All twenty lines were blinking, and he was the only one there. Carrying a tray of large coffees and a bag of pastries from Starbucks, he hustled down the thickly carpeted hallway. He punched in the security code and opened his office door.
Jesus, I hope Lily gets here soon.
He tore over to his desk and took the first call. “Yep, I know where that is. Thanks a lot.” He wrote down the caller’s name and number, then took the next call.
He was on call five when Lily hurried in, gave him a wave from across the room and took the next call at her desk.
Travis and Farrell weren’t far behind. Blaine hollered from his desk, “Lily will set you up in an office with a pad and pen. Just take as many as you can.”
The team was doing a stellar job, but it wasn’t enough. They were missing a lot of calls. Blaine called a service and had them take over at noon. “That was an insane morning. Give me all your lists and I’ll go over them at home. We’ll get the rest in the morning from the service.”
“You mean we’re getting half a Sunday off, boss?”
“Go home, Farrell, and sleep. You’ll need your strength checking out a thousand leads tomorrow.”
“Jeeze, bro. How could I forget that? All the good leads have to be checked out.”
“I’ll see if Lopez can spare some uniforms to help y’all.”
After everybody left, Blaine stacked up the sheets of calls and slipped them into his briefcase. Then he made two trips to the truck with the baby gifts for Jesse.
JESSE WRAPPED CHARITY in an extra blanket and laid her in the stroller. “Don’t you think it’s too cold to take her out, Brian?”
“No. It’s good for infants to be out in the fresh air, at least for an hour or two a day.”
“It says so in the book,” said Tyler. He leaned down and tucked the blanket tightly around the baby.
“Shit, Ty,” said Jesse, “I think that’s the only book I’ve ever seen you read.”
“Stuff I need to know. We need to do everything right. Charity ain’t some guinea pig we can make mistakes on.”
Jesse chuckled. “Let’s walk to the end of the lane and back. That should satisfy Brian.”
Tyler screwed up his face. “That’s like half a fuckin mile.”
“Be good for you,” said Jesse. “Hold the door for me.”
Charity went right to sleep riding in her new stroller. They sauntered along and were about to turn around at the road and head back to the house when Jesse saw the big black diesel coming.
“Looks like Blacky.”
“It is Blacky,” said Ty. “Ask him for a ride.”
“You ride in with him and get him a beer. I’ll be right behind y’all.”
“Good deal,” said Ty. He jumped in the back seat.
Jesse made it back to the house five minutes later and Tyler helped him up the porch steps with the stroller. Charity didn’t even wake up, bouncing over the doorstep.
“She’s sleeping sound,” said Jesse. “Guess she does like it outside.”
“Blacky brought his girlfriend,” whispered Ty. “She’s a looker.”
“Oh, yeah? I didn’t see her in the truck. Guess I wasn’t looking that close.” He left the baby in the stroller in the hall and strode across the great room. “Nice to see you, Blacky, and who is this lovely lady?”
“This is Misty, Jesse. She lives next door to Mrs. Flores.”
“Welcome to Quantrall, Misty.”
“Thank you. I love your house. Beautiful décor.”
“Thanks, my mother was a designer.”
Jesse fought hard not to tear up thinking about his mother missing out on Charity.
“I sent Lily out to do a little baby shopping,” Blaine pointed at the stack of gifts. “Don’t know what she bought so it will be a surprise to all of us.”
“Open them, Ty,” said Jesse. “I ne
ed a beer.”
Tyler had the first one open when Jesse returned. He grinned and held up a fuzzy gray elephant.
“Thanks, Blacky, she doesn’t have any toys. Not that she’s ready for them, but it was on my mind.”
“You’ve got a lot to handle, Jesse. Are you managing?”
“Oh, yeah, between me, Ty, Molly and Wendy, we’ve got it down cold.”
Blaine grinned. “I’m glad. Had any spare moments to think about the case?”
“A few. Usually at night before I go to sleep, I have a few thoughts.”
“Any insights?”
“I know you zeroed in on the dog connection and checked that out thoroughly—I read most of the reports you sent me, but who checked the bike shops to see if any of the women used the same place?”
“Austin uniforms did, I think, but I never read the reports. Guess I figured Lopez would tell me if anything turned up.”
“Go back to the husbands and see what they say—about the purchase, maintenance, repair.” Jesse shrugged. “The bike thing has been nagging at me.”
“I’ll have the boys do it first thing tomorrow.”
Jesse held up a finger. “One other thing.”
Blaine chuckled. “You’ve been doing more than a little bit of thinking.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“What’s the other thing?”
“Ask each of the husbands the name of the Vet they used.”
ANNIE TOOK THE CALL from Doctor Franklin right after breakfast. “Mrs. Powell, Mr. Ogilvie has developed an infection in the wound and he’s running a fever along with it. I’ve change his medication and the Austin police department has been advised that I can’t authorize the transfer for at least two more days.”
“Okay, thank you for letting me know.”
Jackson looked up at Annie with worried eyes. “Was that about Daddy? Is he worse? What happened?”
Annie knelt down and hugged him. “He’s okay. The doctor changed his medicine, that’s all.”
“I know you’re mad at him, Mommy, but can we please visit him? He’s gonna be so sad without me and without Pye.”
I don’t even want to look at Race. How could I love a person like that? What’s wrong with me?
“All right, we’ll go for a few minutes. Then I have to work at the store.”
“I’ll help you at the store and work super hard, if you take me to see Daddy.”
Annie smiled at him. “Super hard work? Okay. That’s a deal.”
OUTSIDE RACE’S ROOM, Annie paused, spoke to the officer on duty and signed beside her name.
“Your son isn’t on the list, ma’am.”
“He wants to see his father. Can he go in for a minute?”
“I can’t see what it would hurt. Five minutes only. Okay? I don’t want to get into trouble.”
“Thanks,” said Annie. “We appreciate it.” She pushed the door open and Jackson ran across the room.
“Hi, Daddy. I came to visit you. I’m taking care of Pye for you. She’s being good.”
Race opened his eyes and stared at the two of them. He seemed groggy and disoriented.
“You okay?” asked Annie.
“You a nurse?”
What kind of game are you playing, Race?
“Nope. Do you need a nurse?”
He nodded and turned his head to the wall.
Jackson looked up with tears in his brown eyes and Annie hugged him. “Daddy doesn’t feel like having visitors. We’ll come back later.”
BLAINE PARKED his truck in Mrs. Flores’ driveway and walked Misty over to her house. “I hope I didn’t make you late for your reading.”
“No. It will only take me a few minutes to get set up. Thanks for the trip to your friend’s ranch. It’s beautiful out there, and your partner seems like a nice person.”
“Jesse is a fantastic guy and I miss him day to day, but with his bad heart he can’t be involved in anything physical anymore.”
“His baby is adorable.”
“Her mother was a pretty girl.”
“Did you know her?”
“Only slightly. She was a horse trainer at Quantrall for a while.”
He kissed Misty on the porch while her dog whined inside.
“Hoodoo wants out,” said Misty. “I better get that taken care of before my customers arrive.”
Mrs. Flores beamed at Blaine as he walked through the kitchen door. “You made it in time for dinner,” she said in Spanish.
“Si, can’t wait to have a beer and eat some real food.”
AFTER DINNER, Blaine took his second cup of coffee to his room and set up his laptop on the desk in the corner. He entered names and addresses from the phone calls, looked for any that matched up—the same sighting by two or three people—and divided them up for the boys to check out the following morning.
When that chore was finished, he spent an hour on Ken Schofield. Even if he wasn’t the park killer, he was hiding something. Nobody perspired like Ken did without a reason.
Blaine hadn’t had time for a lot of hacking in the last few weeks, but he still had the skills even if they’d been lying dormant.
Forty-five minutes in, he hit pay dirt. Mr. Schofield was into kiddie porn in a big way and he had a huge list of customers. Blaine printed off what he could, then sent an email and handed Schofield over to Ben Charles at Austin PD.
Not a waste of time, after all.
He smiled as he took a hot shower and fell into bed.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Monday, December 11th.
BLAINE WENT OVER the lists of sightings one last time before the boys arrived, marking the ones he thought might be worth checking with a red star beside the name.
Lily never interrupted him while he worked and that was only one of her many attributes as his assistant. Quiet, smart and tireless, she anticipated what needed to be done and started on the task without being told. She refilled his coffee cup and placed it in front of him without a word.
“Sorry about your weekend being wrecked, Lil. I’ll make it up to you.”
“Not necessary. It’s not like I had big plans or anything, and besides, when I joined the team I knew from the outset that crime doesn’t happen Monday to Friday.”
“Good point.”
“How did Mr. Quantrall like the baby gifts?”
“Damn it, Lily, I should have mentioned that right away. He and Tyler loved everything. You did a great job.”
“Tyler?”
“His brother helps him with the baby. Picture two cowboys with a baby book, arguing over what’s best for a six-week-old infant.”
Lily giggled. “Got it.”
Farrell came through the door first with Travis hot on his heels. “Sorry I’m late, boss. Downtown traffic is the shits.”
“No problem. I’ve got the first lists ready for y’all but I haven’t even started to sort through the calls the service took. Hundreds of them.”
“I’ve had more this morning,” said Lily, “but they’ve tapered off.” She held up a new list. “The sketch was featured on the news at six and again at eleven last night.”
Blaine nodded. “Mary figured the TV stations would pick it up from the morning paper. A couple of station managers have already called and voiced their annoyance with me for not coming to them directly.” He smiled. “Love it.”
Once the boys were dispatched with their lists, Blaine called the husbands of the victims and followed up on Jesse’s suggestion about the bikes. He noted where the bikes were purchased—all from different shops, where a couple of repairs had been made, and nothing came together.
He accomplished nothing other than annoying the three men who had lost their wives. All three said they’d given similar information to the police.
Blaine finished with the third husband and strode to the sideboard wishing for something solid to propel the case forward. He refreshed his coffee and was adding cream when his cell rang. Lopez. Hope he’s got something.
“C
alled to give you an update. Ogilvie has an infection in the bullet hole you put in his leg. His doctor won’t release him because he’s running a fever, so we can’t transfer him yet. Another day or two.”
“Okay. He’s cuffed to the bed and madder than the devil in an ice storm. You’ll get the maniac eventually.”
“You should’ve put a couple in his head like your momma does.” Lopez chuckled and ended the call.
Yeah, I should have. Put us all out of our misery.
TRAVIS DROVE AROUND Austin all morning working through his list of sightings and he wasn’t halfway through the ones with red stars. All of them so far had been, ‘well, I thought it was him’ or ‘is there a reward?’ Not one of them had proved to be a solid lead. It was shaping up to be a huge waste of time and Blacky’s money.
By noon he had to stop and gas up his truck. He was starving and close to the office. He called Lily.
Wonder if I should ask her out? I better ask Blacky first. He might not want me rocking the boat.
She answered right away and knew his voice. “Hey, Travis, how’s your list going?”
“Going nowhere and boring as hell. Have you eaten?”
“No time. On the phone, most of the morning.”
“Boss still there?”
“No. He took some of the sightings that came in from the service and he’s checking them out.”
“Want a drive-through lunch?”
“Sure, anything is fine.”
“See you in ten.”
FARRELL WORKED RAPIDLY through his list, trying to get to them in a geographical order that wouldn’t have him retracing his route time and again.
It was almost four o’clock when he arrived at the last address on his list marked with a red star. He’d saved it for last because it was a long way from the others downtown. As he drove to the west end of Austin closer to Zilker park and closer to where the victims lived, his built-in antenna pinged.
He passed by the front of the square brick building and read the sign above the door. Kingsley Veterinary Services.
An arrow pointed around the side of the building and there were spaces marked off for a dozen customers. Farrell parked, strolled around the front, past the neatly trimmed shrubs and went inside.
