Alex Delaware: Evidence Part 46

They entered the house. The door closed.

Milo said, "This changes everything."

During the drive back to the station, he reached Dave McClellan, the head coroner's investigator, asked if Lara Rieffen's a.s.signment to the turret murders had been scheduled routine.

McClellan said, "She screwed up?"

"No, I just need to know, Dave."

"Don't have the schedule in front of me, I'm at City Hall trying to impress city council members. Why do you need to know?"

"Who do I talk to about the schedule, Dave?"

"Now you're scaring me-tell me the truth, did Rieffen screw up in some major way?"

"Is she a screwup?"

"She's new, tends to be a little lazy."

"She gave the opposite impression at Borodi, Dave. Made herself out to be Eager Annie."

"Maybe she likes you."

"The burden of charm, story of my life. Where can I get hold of the schedule?"

"You're not going to tell me why? All of a sudden, my gut's churning."

"It could be nothing, Dave."

"Now my bowels are loosening," said McClellan. "Call Irma, my administrative aide. She knows everything. Wish I did, too."

Irma Melendez took thirty seconds to come up with the answer: A C.I. named Daniel Paillard had been next up for the Borodi call.

"He didn't take it, Lieutenant Sturgis? My record says he did."

"Lara Rieffen did."

"Her?" said Melendez. "How come?"

"I thought you might know."

"I have no idea, Lieutenant. The two of them must've worked something out-maybe Dan had an emergency. She doesn't volunteer for anything."

"Not a workaholic?"

"That's putting it mildly."

"Where can I find Paillard?"

"He's off today."

"Give me his cell and his home landline, please."

"Dan did something wrong?"

"Not at all."

"Good," said Melendez. "Him, I like."

Daniel Paillard was at Universal Studios with his girlfriend.

"This is a big deal?"

"Probably not," said Milo, "but tell me about it."

"Nothing to tell," said Paillard. "She came to me the day before, said she needed time off next week, was I willing to swap. I said sure, why not."

"What day did she need time off?"

"She never said."

"She never collected on the trade?"

Silence.

"Dan?"

"I guess she didn't," said Paillard. "I guess I forgot-looking a gift horse, you know? Am I in trouble? I mean it was between the two of us."

"You're not in trouble."

"I mean, I'd been working my a.s.s off for weeks, all those gang shootings," said Paillard. "When she came to me, I didn't see any problem long as the job got done-did she screw up?"

"Is she a screwup?"

"She's green," said Paillard.

"Do me a favor, Dan. Don't tell her about this conversation."

"She's in some other kind of trouble?"

"Not yet," said Milo. "Be discreet, Dan, and I will be, too."

"Yeah, yeah, sure," said Paillard. "She's green, maybe a little lazy, that's really all I can say about her."

Milo swung his desk chair around, faced me. "Lazy rookie but she makes herself out as gung-ho. A faker like Scoppio. She processed the bodies, made comments about Doreen's clothes being cheap. That takes on a whole new flavor now."

I said, "Rieffen trading shifts the day before the murder says she knew Backer and Doreen would be up in that turret. Doreen lived with her and Scoppio, so that's no mystery. If Scoppio's our Port Angeles hoodie, we've got fifty grand of motive. But the scene's always reeked of personal to me, so it could've gone beyond the money. Kaplan said the three of them looked grim when they were together. Maybe the gloss was off the relationship."

"Threesome gone bad."

"Possibly because threesome had turned to twosome."

"Doreen threw her roommies over for Backer," he said. "Old flame reignited. So to speak."

"Backer and Doreen were paid by Helga to blow up Teddy's palace, scoped the scene and found the turret a fun place. Ned Holman saw them use it two months before the murders, they could very well have turned it into their private party spot, could've even taken Rieffen and Monte up there. Either way they'd be easy to track. The scene's always pointed to two killers. Now we've got a new pair."

"Rieffen's involved in the murder, makes sure she's a.s.signed to the scene. Cute. The obvious reason is monkeying with evidence, as in concealing any record of her presence and Scoppio's. She was up there before I arrived, Lord knows what she did during that time."

I said, "One thing she didn't conceal was the s.e.m.e.n stain on Doreen's leg. On the contrary, she called it to your attention and that makes me wonder if she was playing head games. Backer always used condoms, we've a.s.sumed he made an exception for Doreen. What if he didn't and the s.e.m.e.n came from someone else?"

"Monte chokes out Doreen then abuses her corpse? Why would Rieffen point out the stain? And why not wipe it off right at the murder?"

"Maybe Monte didn't want her to. Proud of himself, playing his own head game. On her own, Rieffen might've been more cautious. Or she thought it was fun, too. In either case, she knew the stain would be gone by the time the body got to Jernigan. That's exactly the kind of high-risk adrenaline rush psychopaths crave. Rieffen takes control of the evidence, making herself look sharp-eyed in the process. Then she finds a quiet moment at the crypt and destroys the evidence, making the rest of the coroner's staff look incompetent."

"It's not enough that I succeed," he said. "You have to fail."

"Antisocial, self-aggrandizing puffery at its finest, Big Guy."

"One speck of DNA could've screwed the deal-if anyone would bother to a.n.a.lyze the stain. But she's a G.o.dd.a.m.n C.I., would know how to do it right."

"No reason to a.n.a.lyze DNA," I said. "The way the bodies were posed, the obvious donor was Backer."

"Speaking of Backer, maybe we're talking foursome down to twosome. They all knew each other. One shot to the head, Desi's out of the picture, they get the storage key. Leaving Doreen to deal with two armed baddies, piece of cake subduing her. Rieffen trains the little gun on her while Monte jams the big one. Then he strangles her, delivering an incredibly demeaning coup de grce. Then they reposition the bodies."

"They left Backer's I.D. in place, but took Doreen's because she'd lived with them, could be traced to them."

"Rieffen and Monte living with a pyro, and Monte's copping the fifty G's says they knew about the plot. What if the foursome was a business arrangement, Alex?"

"They were all involved in the fire," I said.

"Eliminate Backer and Doreen and the share doubles."

"Foursome," I said. "Two other kids were suspects in the Bellevue fire. Kathy Something, I forget the boy's name."

He s.n.a.t.c.hed up his pad. "Kathy Vanderveldt, Dwayne Parris. Lindstrom said they turned out fine, she went to med school, he went to law school."

"Lindstrom never actually met them, she's relying on the previous agent's notes. What if Kathy and Dwayne planned careers in medicine and law, but fell short? A C.I. deals with the human body but works under a physician's supervision. A paralegal-who tells people he's a lawyer-has to answer to an attorney."

"Wannabes, they change their names ... the Feds being their usual thorough selves miss it." He faced his computer. "Okay, let's see what we locals can come up with."

He called up a series of high school reunion sites, found one that offered yearbook photos for a fee, zeroed in on Seattle. Plugging in kathy vanderveldt struck gold at Center High. After confirming that Dwayne Parris had been a member of the same cla.s.s, he used his own credit card to pay for the shots and printed.

Black-and-white shots, but clear enough.

Younger versions of the two faces we'd just seen carrying groceries.

Kathy Lara Vanderveldt had smiled warmly for the camera. Member of the science club, the nature club, Future Physicians of America.

Dwayne Charles Parris had maintained a narrow-mouthed stoicism. An average-looking kid, in every way, with bushy dark hair worn low over his forehead. Varsity hockey, Model U.N., accounting club.

I said, "She's using her middle name as her first, he's Carlo as in Italian for Charles. Wonder where he got Scoppio."

"Maybe it means something in Italian."

It did.

Explosion.

Milo said, "Monte go boom."

He kept searching, starting with kathy vanderveldt. No criminal record on file, same for Dwayne Parris, but a five-year-old account of the Vanderveldt-Rieffen family reunion was featured in The Seattle Times. Serious human interest, because a hundred fifty-three people had partic.i.p.ated. Page-wide group photo, Kathy nowhere to be seen but a small child with the same name sat in the front row, beaming.

Milo said, "Little cousin makes it to the party but Big Kathy doesn't, because she's using an aka. She's running from something bad, but no record?"

I said, "It's possible that whatever she's running from never made the files. As in her own lost years."

"Another teen eco-terrorist who kept it going?"

"And whose career somehow got derailed. Doreen conned the FBI, but Lindstrom did say she'd tossed them a few bones. Minor stuff, but everything's relative, to the Bureau minor could mean big buildings aren't blowing up. What if Doreen's info implicated Kathy and Dwayne seriously enough to screw up their educational goals and force them underground? Kathy and Dwayne figured out who'd betrayed them, but Doreen and Backer didn't realize that. Years later, the four of them reconnect in L.A., agree to collaborate on a torch job. Shades of the Bellevue fire that killed Van Burghout, but now they're getting paid serious money. Kathy and Dwayne go along with it until they figure out how to get hold of the money. After that, Backer and Doreen are history."

"Reunion of the nature-hiking eco-pyros," he said. "Okay, it's time to have a go at Gayle's ego."

CHAPTER.

39.

Special Agent Gayle Lindstrom met us at a pizza joint in Westwood Village, not far from the Federal Building. College student clientele meant oceans of cheap beer on tap, not much in the way of decor.

Milo talked, Lindstrom listened, growing steadily more tense with each revelation. When he finished, she said, "Those two. Oh, c.r.a.p."

"Kathy and Carlo are your buddies."

"They're names in a file."

"You made it like they turned out sterling. She's a doctor, he's a lawyer, all that's missing is an Indian chief."