“Feel no pain, feel no mercy, either?” said Milo. “We’re talking big-time cruelty here, Alex.”
“Aaron did find that photo.”
Reed muttered, “Her not paying Aaron was a big-time mistake.”
I said, “Let’s say Simone met Selena at a party, ended up playing sex games with her and Weir, eventually introduced Selena to her family. It could’ve started out as finding a friend a job and earning her father’s approval. But later, when she and Weir devised their plan, Selena was the perfect victim.”
Reed said, “Lives alone, estranged from her family, maybe some secrets of her own… yeah, guess so.”
“Whoever killed Selena used her as a lure. The first three bodies were concealed but hers was advertised, to the point of an anonymous call pinpointing her location. I’d sure like to see Simone’s and Weir’s phone records for the time of that call. Huck’s, too. That would go a long way toward showing who’s dirty.”
“We have any grounds for phone subpoenas, Loo?”
“I’ll call John at eight.”
I said, “The bones in the box were another prompt. If you didn’t find them, no loss. If you did, another step in the game.”
“Also,” said Milo, “playing with body parts coulda been fun.”
“That, too.”
Reed said, “You’re saying Selena was basically a human flashlight, directing us to the Vanders.”
“Who have vanished,” I said. “Meanwhile, Simone hires Aaron to educate us about Huck.”
Milo said, “With Huck in our headlights, we realize the Vanders are missing, start thinking about wholesale psycho slaughter with ol’ Travis as Pol Pot. He obliges by rabbiting. Hell, even if he never gets found, suspicion doesn’t fall on Simone and Weir and she steps into a hundred thirty mil.”
“Hundred thirty-three,” said Reed. “But who’s counting. I can’t even imagine dough like that.”
I said, “I bet Simone can. Especially after Weir clued her in on the size of her father’s estate. My guess is the plan was hatched over a year ago-maybe after they murdered and dumped DeMaura Montouthe in a bondage game that went wrong. That led to finding other street women and setting up the pattern.”
Reed said, “Who’s the boss, Simone or Weir?”
“I don’t know. For Weir it’s probably all about the money. Simone wants more.”
Milo said, “A hundred thirty-three huge ones isn’t enough motive?”
“Sure it is,” I said, “but what makes things really satisfying for Simone is wiping out the competition. We’re talking the ultimate plunder.”
“The interloper who horned in on Daddy and his dough.”
“Daddy, too. For abandoning her.”
“What about Kelvin?”
“Competing heir and too damn talented,” I said. “A genius who gives concerts, meanwhile Simone can’t hold on to a job. Which brings us to the severed hands and the bodies facing east. Theoretically, they could also be misdirects-simulating a lust serial. But why choose those particular trademarks? We’ve got to be talking symbolic value.”
Reed said, “Kelvin’s golden hands.”
“I can see Simone seething about that on long, cold nights. The right hand plays the melody, she’s ending the concert.”
Reed said, “And facing east is looking at Asia, like you said.”
“If Huck’s telling the truth, Simone’s contempt has racial overtones.”
Milo said, “The G-word. Lovely gal, our Simone.”
Reed said, “If you’re right and she’s basically erasing the new family, any chance her own mother’s in on it?”
“I don’t think so. Kelly’s sad but basically passive. And she adores Huck.”
“Evil little girl,” said Milo, “palled up with a greedy lawyer.”
“Redundant,” said Reed.
“You don’t admire Ms. Wallenburg, Moses?”
“I admire her cars. How long before she starts pulling strings to spring Huck?”
“We book him on multiple 187s, forget strings, he’s remanded.” Milo peered through the smudged glass. Huck’s mouth had shut but he hadn’t shifted position.
Reed’s cell phone chirped. A check of the number brightened his face but he squelched the reaction, turned almost comically serious. “Hi… really? Oh, boy… let me write it down… what’s that? Sure. Afterward, yeah, good.” Blushing. “Pardon?” Glance at Milo. “Depends on what the boss says… um, me, too. Yeah. Bye.”
Milo said, “Let me guess. Dr. Wilkinson has nice news for us, plus she wants Indian for lunch, again.”
Reed’s blush deepened. “She got there early with her interns, they used spotlights.” The color drained from his face. “Dogs found four more bodies, Loo.”
“Who besides the Vanders?”
“Two adult Vanders plus two more sets of bones, lots of scatter, hard to say if they were turned in any direction and all the hands seem to be there. Probable females, one skull’s definitely African American, other one’s not clear. Simon and Nadine were easy to I.D. Not that much decomp, they were dumped far into the marsh but left on the banks with their clothes on, wallets and purses nearby.”
He took a breath. “Missing right hands, facing east. Plus they found chicken bones, what looks like old potato salad, coleslaw. Guess there was some picnicking going on.”
“No sign of the kid,” said Milo.
“Maybe someone had pity.”
“Or just the opposite, Moses.”
Reed winced. “Something even worse for Little Mister Golden Hands? Shit.”
“Any way his body could be in the marsh and they haven’t found it?”
“They’re still probing, it might get easier after daybreak. They also got a second cast on that shoe print Dr. Delaware described, found a few others from the same footwear-looks like a sneaker of some kind but unusual, nothing domestic, may not be in the databases. Lab promises to have an answer, either way, by the end of today.”
Clearing images of Kelvin Vander from my head, I said, “Lots of scatter could mean those other two bodies preceded the first three. No trademarks says it did start out as Simone and Weir playing bondage games, dispatching victims for fun. Once they got their rhythm, they adapted their methods for a huge financial scheme.”
Movement on the other side of the glass drew our attention. Huck had rolled so that his back faced us. He curled tighter, hugged himself.
Milo said, “What you said in the garage, Alex-maybe there’s something he can do. You were thinking civic duty.”
“If he’s innocent, he might be open to it.”
“Any point telling him about the Vanders? To gauge his reaction and give him additional motivation?”
“Not if you’re seriously considering enlisting him,” I said. “The emotional firestorm’s too risky.”
Moe Reed said, “Now we’re enlisting him?”
Milo pointed to Reed’s cell phone. “Get on the mini-horn, Moses.”
“Who’m I calling?”
“Your brother.”
CHAPTER 39
Subj: you know
8:32 a.m. PDT
From: [email protected]
it’s me. i know all. can keep a secret. if can afford to.
Subj: you know
8:54 a.m. PDT
From: [email protected]
not there? you got another hour then…
Subj: you know
9:49 a.m. PDT
From: [email protected]
where r u
9:56 a.m. PDT
From: rivrboat38
To: hardbod2673
not important. find way to send $50 thou
10:11 a.m. PDT
From: hardbod2673
To: rivrboat38
ur kidding
10:15 a.m. PDT
From: rivrboat38
To: hardbod2673
don’t hear LOL. do hear gook gook-fucker golden hands. also piano girl also whores for blame me. not nice. hmm… no fifty thou, 100 thou.