The Viking Funeral

Chapter 13

ALEXA GOT OUT of her department-issue Crown Victoria in front of Mark Shephard's house, where Shane was waiting. "I really don't have time for this," she said. "I'm trying to get the budget stuff finished and take over down there." She was dressed in a tan skirt and green blouse. Her lustrous black hair was pulled back, clipped with a barrette glinting in the late-afternoon sunshine.

He was standing by his Acura, which was parked nearby. In the backseat, jumping around with boundless enthusiasm, was Officer Krupkee, a one-year-old German shepherd he'd just borrowed from the West Valley Drug Enforcement Team. He let the dog out of the back of the car, took his leash, and led him toward the driveway.

"We need to go through the house. You need to be here," he said, ducking under the yellow crime-scene tape, which was still strung up, moving around to the back door so the neighbors couldn't watch him break in. He was walking ahead of Alexa so she couldn't stop him.

He was already on the porch, lock pick out, when she finally caught up to him. Officer Krupkee was jumping around, barking and sniffing wildly.

"What's this about? Is that a drug-enforcement dog?" Alexa's questions were apprehensive.

"Meet Officer Krupkee, West Valley Canine Hall of Fame. He's discovered more drugs than Dow Chemical."

"Shane," she said ominously, "why are we bringing a drug dog into Mark's house?"

"You remember the Vikings, that old Sheriffs Department club, or whatever it was?"

"Yeah, sure. Guys who had tattoos on their ankles and held court in the street."

"I went to Commander Shephard's autopsy. He has one of those on his ankle."

"Not when I was dating him."

"Then it's more recent than that," Shane answered stiffly.

He pulled the photo he took at the autopsy out of his jacket and gave it to her. He'd had it developed at a Photo-Mat an hour earlier.

She gave it a quick glance, then handed it back without comment.

He stuffed it away and began feeding his picks into the back-door lock. He finally got them in, but his hands were sweating. When he tried to turn the lock, his fingers slipped, or maybe it was Officer Krupkee tugging and jumping in circles at the end of his leash; whatever the reason, the picks fell out of the lock onto the wooden porch. Shane bent down to retrieve them and started over again.

"What's the second thing?" she asked as he went back to work on the dead bolt.

"He had marijuana in his bloodstream," Shane said, avoiding eye contact while working on the door.

"Mark didn't do drugs."

"Go tell the ME."

She was silent, considering this. Then: "So, now we're over here with a DED to do what?"

"Alexa, I know this isn't going to go down well between us, and I really do regret it, but I think it's possible Mark Shephard knew Jody wasn't in that urn on Lauren's mantel, and that's why Shephard is dead. I think Jody's undercover unit may be going bad, and I think it's possible Mark knew what Jody was doing-maybe tried to stop it."

"Think, think, think… Isn't Shane a thinking policeman? Of course, a little evidence would sure be nice."

"And you can stow the sarcasm, okay? I'm not trying to run down the memory of your friend."

She was pissed; he could see it even in her sharp movements.

Mercifully, he finally got the back door open, and they walked into the house, Officer Krupkee leaping around at the end of his handler's chain like a demon possessed. Shane reached down and unhooked the leash. The dog took off, running around the kitchen, sniffing, pawing; then, unrewarded, he dashed toward the living room while Shane followed. Alexa was a few feet behind.

"We're looking for his stash, is that the drill?" she asked.

"If Shephard used drugs, he would probably have a stash here somewhere," Shane admitted. "When I used to work drug homicides, way back before I became the leading department kook-a-boo, I found that hypes would often hide confidential stuff with their works: hot merchandise, murder weapons, dirty pictures, right there next to their happy bag."

"And that's what we're looking for?"

"If somebody forced Mark to smoke a joint before killing him, this place will be clean. We need to know either way."

"Why?"

"Alexa, stop chewing on my foot, okay? I need a witness. You're it. If I turn up anything and I'm here alone, they'll probably say I planted it. My word is about as good as a junkie's promise right now."

Suddenly, Officer Krupkee started barking. Shane and Alexa went into Mark Shephard's bedroom and saw the dog sniffing and pawing at the heating grate in the wall down by the floorboards, across from the bed.

Shane looked at Alexa, whose face and features were tense. He dropped down on his hands and knees. The screws on the vent were loose, so he began pulling them out with his thumb and fingernails. One by one, he extracted them while the leaping, barking dog jumped and lunged around, eager to help, pawing and growling at the heating grate.

"Good going, Krup," Shane said. "Alexa, lock him in the bathroom, will ya?"

She grabbed the chain, dragged the dog off. Shane heard her give the dog a "sit/stay" command. Then he heard the bathroom door close. He waited for her to return before pulling the heating grate away from the wall. She kneeled and they both looked inside.

Shane could see something way in the back of the exposed opening. He put on a pair of rubber gloves, reached into the small hollowed compartment, and pulled the contents out of the wall. What came first was a large black metal box, about a foot long and six inches high. Shane set it down in front of them and glanced over at Alexa, who nodded. He opened it and inside found a very sophisticated high-frequency radio of some sort. It was set to 367.23 on the UHF band. The radio was turned off. Shane looked up at Alexa, who nodded again, so he turned it on. The batteries were working, but nothing was broadcasting: static hissed. He switched it off.

"Ever seen one of these before?" he asked.

"No… Looks scrambled. I don't think it's department-issue."

Shane peered back inside the opening in the wall, took a penlight out of his pocket, and shined it inside. There was another box in the hollowed-out vent. He pulled it out. This one was mahogany, or some kind of polished wood, and was much smaller. He lifted the lid, and inside was what looked like a few rocks of cocaine, some marijuana, and a bag of pills.

"Shit," he heard Alexa say under her breath.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, but didn't risk a look at her. Instead, both of them just stared at the box.

When he finally looked up, he saw nothing on her beautiful face, no expression of any kind.

"I think we can go see Chief Filosiani now," Shane said. "I finally have something to show him."

"He's out of town until tomorrow, at a police chiefs' conference in San Francisco," she said softly.

"Tomorrow then, as soon as he gets back. Set it up." Shane took out his camera and photographed the heating grate. He and Alexa bagged the radio and wooden box, then loaded them both into the trunk of her Crown Vic. She got into the front seat, and after Shane put Officer Krupkee into the back of his Acura, he went to her driver's-side window and squatted down so he could look in at her.

"Alexa, we can't let this destroy us. I don't want this to wreck what we have."

"It's not you, Shane… I love you. It's me." Then without saying another word, she drove off.