Lucy peeled the foil from the tin and inhaled. ‘Mmm. Thank you. Is there a fork?’
Royce handed her one. ‘Sorry. It’s one of those spork things. I guess they’re worried you’ll stab yourself.’
‘No problem.’ She dug in. ‘You’re sure there’s nothing in your car?’
‘No boxes,’ Gwyn said. ‘Royce and I checked twice.’
‘She didn’t tell me anything,’ he said. ‘But she got so pale that I wouldn’t let her do it alone. Do we need to have the bomb squad check her car?’
‘I don’t think so. I’ll let them know you looked already. This probably isn’t a bomb either.’
‘Are you all right, Luce?’ Gwyn asked.
‘I’m okay. Just . . . overwhelmed. Thorne stayed with me until the cops came.’
‘I know. He called to check on me before he went back into court. He said you were in good hands with the cops.’ Gwyn’s chuckle was dry. ‘And that statement alone shows what a fucked-up day this really is.’
Lucy laughed, then realized how much she’d needed to. ‘The day Thomas Thorne felt safe with the cops . . . mark it on the calendar.’ Abruptly she sobered. ‘The bomb squad’s coming out. I think we’re clear. I gotta go.’
‘I have to be getting back,’ Royce said. ‘Come on, babe. I’ll take you to work.’
‘Walk her in, will you, Royce?’ Lucy asked. ‘Make sure she’s safe.’
‘Hey,’ Gwyn said, waving her hand in Lucy’s face. ‘I’m down here.’
But Royce nodded soberly. ‘After all this? You bet. What about you? Who’s making sure you’re safe?’
Fitzpatrick. But even though she felt it was true, she wasn’t about to say that out loud, so she gestured to all the police cruisers. ‘They are, so don’t worry.’
Gwyn reached up to hug her hard. ‘Come tonight,’ she whispered fiercely. ‘I think I need to see that you’re safe more than you need to be there. So please, indulge me.’
Lucy hugged her back. ‘After all this? You bet.’
Monday, May 3, 1.35 P.M.
Stevie pounded on Brandi Bennett’s apartment door again. ‘Mrs Bennett,’ she called loudly. ‘Please come to the door.’
‘Maybe she’s not home,’ JD said.
‘Her car’s outside,’ Stevie said.
A door opened behind them and a middle-aged woman stuck her head out. Her expression was dour. ‘She’s home.’
Stevie gave her an encouraging smile. ‘Thank you. And you are?’
‘Dorothy Camellini.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘You two cops?’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ Stevie said. ‘I’m Detective Mazzetti and this is my partner, Detective Fitzpatrick. How do you know Mrs Bennett is home?’
Dorothy’s brows shot up. ‘Mrs Bennett? I had no idea she was married. Her husband must either be very dead or very forgiving.’
‘What do you mean?’ JD asked. ‘And how do you know she’s home?’
‘Because the walls are paper thin. I could hear them in the back room, just before you knocked, then they went quiet. Trying to wait you out.’ Dorothy’s mouth tightened. ‘They do things in there, all day long. Her and those men. Sometimes all night. Things.’
Stevie leaned closer. ‘You mean sexual things?’ she murmured.
‘Yes. It’s disgusting. They’re making porn in there.’
JD was unsurprised. When he’d seen ‘modeling’ on Brandi Bennett’s business license, it had been the first thing he’d thought of. ‘They might think we’re Vice.’
‘They may wish we were,’ Stevie murmured. She pounded on the door again. ‘We are not Vice,’ she called loudly. ‘Now all your neighbors know that too.’
Abruptly the door opened and a young woman appeared, clutching a short silk robe around her very augmented body. Her face was caked thick with makeup, her blond hair teased within an inch of its life. There was a fresh hickey on the side of her neck. ‘Thank you,’ she snapped. ‘Now all my neighbors know the cops are after me.’
Stevie looked over her shoulder to where Dorothy watched, wide-eyed. ‘We’re good, ma’am. Thank you for your help.’
Dorothy gave Brandi a snide look before closing her door firmly.
Brandi looked at them defiantly. ‘If you’d opened your door when we first knocked,’ JD said mildly, ‘we wouldn’t have kept banging. May we come in?’
‘No you may not,’ she said nastily. ‘Please hurry, I’m very busy.’
I’m sure you were. But JD kept his voice mild. ‘You’re Mrs Brandi Bennett?’
Her lip curled in contempt. ‘Only until that prick of a husband of mine signs the divorce papers. Did he send you? Asshole. Tell him he’s not getting these back.’ She lifted her breasts high, and when she dropped them they didn’t bounce at all.
Whoa. Okay. JD wondered if Brandi had given Russell Bennett his Rolex. ‘He wants them back?’ he asked carefully and she sneered.
‘He wants everything back. I don’t get back the gifts I gave him. No, sir. Asshole.’
‘The Rolex,’ JD said and she nodded.
‘I even had it engraved.’ She huffed, pouting. ‘So if you’re here because he said I stole something, he’s lying. These’ – she grabbed her breasts again – ‘are the only things I walked away with, and you can tell him that he’s not getting ’em back. Asshole.’
‘We get the picture,’ Stevie said. ‘But we’re not robbery detectives. I’m Detective Mazzetti and this is my partner, Detective Fitzpatrick. We’re Homicide.’
Brandi’s pout abruptly disappeared, her jaw going slack. ‘H-h-homicide? Why?’
‘We have reason to believe Dr Bennett is dead,’ JD said.
Brandi’s lipsticked mouth worked like a beached trout. ‘Russ? Dead? When?’
‘When was the last time you saw your husband, Mrs Bennett?’ Stevie asked.
‘Three weeks ago,’ Brandi murmured. ‘At his divorce attorney’s office.’ The shock slid from her eyes, replaced by panic. ‘I didn’t do it. I swear.’
‘We didn’t say you did,’ JD said. ‘We’re just gathering information right now. Can you tell me if Dr Bennett had any distinctive moles or scars?’
She nodded numbly. ‘Yeah. He had a mole on his back, near his shoulder blade. I kept telling him to have his partner remove it. It was disgusting.’
It was enough of an ID to get a warrant for Bennett’s apartment, JD thought. ‘Who is your husband’s partner?’ he asked, taking out his notebook.
‘Leon Renquist. He does mostly faces. Did my nose. Russ was the breast man. He only did faces when Leon went on vacation.’ She tried to look over JD’s arm to see what was being written in the notebook, but he lifted the notebook higher and she scowled.
‘Did Dr Renquist ever do any procedures on Dr Bennett?’ JD asked.
She nodded. ‘Once. Some bitch broke Russ’s nose and Leon fixed it for him. Gave him some more cheekbone and shaved his chin while he was at it. I used to be mad at the bitch that broke his nose, but if I met her today, I’d give her a medal.’
Go, Lucy, he thought. ‘Because Dr Bennett was—’
‘An asshole,’ Brandi supplied helpfully. ‘I swear I didn’t kill him. Lots of times I wanted to, but a whole hell of a lot of other people wanted it too. Looks like somebody finally wanted it enough. Did it hurt? When they killed him, I mean. I hope it really hurt.’
JD had to clear his throat. The lady wasn’t the brightest bulb. ‘Mrs Bennett, when did you and Dr Bennett separate?’
Brandi looked away, an angry flush heating her cheeks. ‘About two months ago.’
‘Why?’ he asked. Stevie had stepped back, giving him the lead.
‘He came home early one day. That damn doorman. Ratted me out.’
‘Mr Herrigan told Dr Bennett that you had a lover in the condo?’ JD clarified and she nodded angrily.
‘Like the asshole didn’t have his share of women. I mean Russ, not Herrigan. Herrigan couldn’t get any from a blow-up doll, he was such a troll. I knew about Russ’s women, I
just didn’t care. But what was good for the goose wasn’t good for the gander.’ She faltered. ‘Or the other way. I guess he’s the gander. Anyway, it must have hurt, because you’re not sure it’s his body. Whoever did it must’ve worked him over good.’
‘But that wouldn’t have been you,’ JD said, and her cheeks darkened further.
‘No. I have an alibi. I’ve been here, shooting movies because the prick cut off my credit cards and cleaned out my bank account.’
‘Who might have wanted to hurt Dr Bennett?’ JD asked. ‘Besides you?’
Again she sneered. ‘Any one of the six women he was doing on the side. Russ had a real addiction to sex. Couldn’t get enough. But any woman who bedded him wanted his money. The guy sucked in bed. And not in the good way.’
JD had to fight the urge to clear his throat once again. ‘Do you have names?’
‘No, but Herrigan will. They all have to sign in with the little weasel. I think he used that sign-in sheet to get favors from Russ. Russ tipped him very well. I don’t think Herrigan ever had to make a threat. Russ took care of his buds. Just not his wives.’
‘So you get no settlement from the divorce?’ Stevie asked.
‘I signed a pre-nup.’
‘Sometimes the pre-nup allows for a settlement of cash or assets,’ JD said.
She glared. ‘I know that. Do I look stupid? But Russ wouldn’t agree to that.’
‘You married him anyway,’ JD said. ‘Why?’
‘Because he was rich,’ Brandi said, as if JD was the stupid one. ‘I figured I could sock away a nest egg to tide me over till I got a new sugar daddy, but the asshole found my stash and cleaned me out of that too. That’s why I’m doin’ porn. I got nothin’.’
Interesting. When she got agitated, Brandi had the same little twang that Lucy Trask did. Lucy’s was just more refined. ‘Where did you meet Dr Bennett?’ he asked.
‘At my high-school graduation party,’ she said, daring him to comment. ‘I was eighteen. He was visiting his parents and dropped by to see my uncle who was letting us use his place. I flirted, one thing led to another and we did it in my uncle’s wine cellar. After that, Russ moved me to the city, set me up with a real nice place. Took me on trips to his ski chalet and his beach house on Hilton Head and bought me presents.’
‘Where did you go to high school?’ JD asked and her eyes flashed contempt.
‘Little town in the middle of nowhere.’ She lifted her chin. ‘And I’ll never go back.’
‘Anderson Ferry,’ JD said quietly.
Brandi nodded grimly. ‘Like fucking Mayberry. Nothin’ to do but sit on the front porch in a rocker and scratch your ass. I was eighty before I was eighteen.’ She grabbed the doorknob. ‘I didn’t kill the sonofabitch, but when you find out who did, give ’em a big ole wet kiss from me.’
She started to step back, but JD put his hand on the door. ‘One more question. Did you know of any injuries Dr Bennett had? Any broken bones?’
‘Yes. He skied into a tree in Montana. Broke his arm.’
‘Scary for a surgeon,’ JD commented. ‘He needed his hands to function.’
She shrugged. ‘He got a good doctor. Sports guy. All the ball players use him.’
‘You remember his name?’ Stevie asked.
Brandi’s lips curved mirthlessly. ‘They must’ve done a real number on his face. You’re asking about scars, broken bones. His doctor was Hampton. Hodgins. Started with an H. Can I go now? I’ve got work to do.’
‘Yes,’ JD said, ‘but we’ll want to talk to you again.’
‘I got nothin’ to hide. Literally.’ She slammed the door in their faces.
Stevie knocked on Dorothy’s door and it immediately opened, the neighbor’s eyes wide. ‘Here’s my card,’ Stevie said, handing her one. ‘It’s got both my and my partner’s phone numbers on the back. If you see anything, hear anything, please let us know.’
Dorothy nodded. ‘Are they allowed to do that?’ she whispered. ‘You know, make movies like that, in an apartment? Next to decent people?’
‘They have to be licensed,’ Stevie told her. ‘We’ll make sure the right people check into them. Thank you for your help.’
They waited until they were back in the car before Stevie whistled quietly. ‘The doctor seems to have had quite a fascination with women from his home town.’
‘Lucy, Gwyn and Brandi,’ JD agreed. ‘Maybe there are more.’
‘I never would have guessed that Brandi and Lucy were from the same hometown.’
‘I thought they might be. Brandi’s voice has a similar cadence to Lucy Trask’s.’
Stevie frowned. ‘No way. Lucy sounds nothing like that woman.’
‘Not normally. But when she was upset this morning, she sounded a little like that.’
Stevie was regarding him with a mixture of respect and curiosity. ‘So I learn something new about you both. You’ve got a good ear.’
‘Thanks.’ He waited, but she said no more. ‘What did you learn about Dr Trask?’
Stevie’s expression became thoughtful. ‘That she can lose her composure.’
He thought of the tremble in Lucy’s voice when she’d called about the box. She’d been rattled, as anyone would be. But she’d kept her cool. And she called me.
‘She can and did. Why is that surprising?’ He sounded annoyed and didn’t care.
Stevie’s smile was knowing. ‘I’ve worked with Lucy on maybe fifty cases and I’ve never seen her so much as break a sweat. I’ve certainly never seen her upset until today. But she’s entitled. Most people would have cracked, but she didn’t. That she let you see her vulnerable, well, that’s just . . . unique. So, where to now?’
Mollified, JD started the car. ‘For now, let’s go check out the box in Lucy’s car, then get a warrant for Bennett’s condo. We’ll need something for the lab to do a DNA. Then we need to talk to his partner. He might know who wanted to see Bennett dead.’
‘My money’s on one of the six women he was cheating with,’ Stevie said. ‘Or the first ex-wife. A woman scorned and all that. Plus there’s the whole heartless thing. Ripping out his heart is a hell of a metaphor for betrayal. I bet Herrigan will sing like a bird when he finds out Bennett is dead. We’ll have those six names in ten minutes.’
‘I give Herrigan less than five to spill all.’ JD merged into traffic, thinking about Bennett and his heart, or lack thereof. ‘The missing fingers and the broken bones feel like torture, like maybe he had something someone wanted. But taking his heart . . . It was done post-mortem. That’s not torture.’
‘Like I said, it’s a metaphor. A statement. It’s personal.’
‘And it’s personally targeted at Lucy Trask,’ JD said grimly. ‘Why?’
‘She knew the victim, grew up in the same town.’
‘As did at least two of Bennett’s other women.’
‘But why would he hate Lucy Trask?’ Stevie frowned. ‘It doesn’t make sense.’
JD sighed. ‘Unless she’s hiding something, like Hyatt said.’ He didn’t want to believe that. ‘She’s seemed upfront, though.’
‘Maybe she doesn’t know what she knows. Maybe Bennett didn’t either. Seems that a man who was that concerned about himself wouldn’t last too long under torture.’
‘He would have caved. Maybe he did. Maybe this killer just likes to maim. Bennett has no heart because he was a betrayer. But the tongue . . . That was done while he was alive. Without a tongue he couldn’t tell them what they wanted to know.’
‘Also a statement?’
‘I think so. He either said or didn’t say something that he should have.’
‘We need to know what that was. Especially if that mark was a number “I”.’
‘Especially if he’s picked Lucy Trask to be number two.’
Stevie sighed. ‘We’ve told her to be careful, and she’s not stupid. Nor has she ever struck me as a woman who would take unnecessary risks.’
‘No,’ he murmured. Which would be good f
or her safety and potentially bad for me. Because mixed in with the interest he’d seen in her eyes had also been an apprehension that he didn’t understand. It had almost bordered on fear. But that he’d deal with later. Number one priority was ensuring Lucy Trask did not become number two on a sadistic killer’s list. ‘But she’s his target.’
‘I know. We could put her in a safe house, but I’d rather have her close by to help us with the forensics.’
‘What about police protection?’
Stevie shook her head. ‘Not likely. If she were a witness against the mob for the state, then maybe, but not for this.’ She shrugged when his frown deepened. ‘Look, I don’t like it any more than you do. Let me call Hyatt, give him an update. Maybe he can give us a few more bodies to do some of this legwork so we can find this guy faster and Lucy won’t need protecting anymore anyway.’
Not likely. ‘Ask him if Lucy can go with us to notify Bennett’s parents.’
Stevie considered it. ‘By now we should have the faxed affidavits from her hotel and the university saying she was in California the past two weeks. He might go for it.’ Her brows lifted. ‘And then she’d be with us. Voilà, police protection.’
JD inclined his head, saying nothing.
She smiled at him. ‘Way to work the system.’
‘I learned a thing or two in Narcotics,’ JD said mildly. ‘If Hyatt balks, tell him that three of Bennett’s relationships were with women from his hometown. There’s something there. Maybe Lucy can help us find it. Tell him she could be a consultant. At no charge to the department, of course.’
Stevie’s smile widened to a grin. ‘Now you’re getting cocky. She can be our native guide into the wilds of Anderson Ferry and point out all the lions and tigers and bears, oh my.’ She grimaced. ‘Sorry, Cordelia’s been on a Wizard of Oz kick. We’ve watched it four times in the last two weeks. I hear Munchkins in my sleep. Gives me a twitch.’
JD chuckled. ‘I doubt we’ll find lions, tigers or bears across the Bay Bridge, but at least Lucy can point out a place for decent crabcakes.’