4th of July

Chapter 62

THEY WERE CARRYING THE bodies out of the house just as I arrived. I parked between two black-and-whites on the lawn and looked up at a stunning glass-and-redwood contemporary.

The gaping crowd parted as paramedics bumped down the steps with the stretchers, then slid the two body bags into the open maw at the back of the EMS van. Although I didn’t know Annemarie and Joseph Sarducci, I was swamped by unspeakable sadness.

I edged my way through the mob and up to the front door, where a uniformed officer was on security detail, at ease, with his hands behind his back.

I could tell he was a pro because he gave me both a warm smile and a cold eye. I took a chance and badged him.

“The chief’s inside, Lieutenant.”

I rang the bell.

The first bar of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons chimed.

Chief Stark opened the door, and when he saw that it was me, his jaw tightened.

“What are you fucking doing here?” he said, biting down on his words. I put my heart into my reply, because it was true.

“I want to help, damn it. May I come in?”

We stared at each other across the threshold until finally Chief Stark blinked.

“Anyone ever tell you that you’re a persistent pain in the ass?” he said, stepping aside so that I could enter.

“Yes. And thanks.”

“Don’t thank me. I called a friend of mine on the SFPD. Charlie Clapper says you’re a good cop. He’s right about half the time. Don’t make me sorry.”

“You honestly think you could feel sorrier than you do right now?”

I walked past Stark through the foyer and into the living room with its wall of windows facing the water below. The furnishings were of a spare Scandinavian variety: clean lines, flat woven carpets, abstract art, and although the Sarduccis were dead, I could feel their presence in the things they’d left behind.

Even as I mentally catalogued everything I could see, I noticed what was missing. There were no cones, tags, or markers on the ground floor. So where had the killer entered?

I turned to the chief. “Mind running the scene for me?”

“Bastard broke in through the skylight upstairs,” said Stark.