Upside Down

45

When Manseur arrived at Captain Suggs's door, the chief detective was talking on his telephone. He motioned for Manseur to sit down while he finished his conversation. Manseur caught sight of what looked to be a phone log with some of the names highlighted in yellow, and he knew how Suggs had made the connection between the two cases.

Trying not to eavesdrop on what sounded like a personal conversation, Manseur let his eyes wander to the only framed picture on his boss's desk. It was a portrait of Suggs's German shepherd, Heinzie, who was a dreadful, constantly molting animal with severe gastric problems and the charm of a piranha.

Suggs dropped the phone into its cradle and turned his cold eyes on Manseur.

“Nothing on the Porter girl yet?” Manseur asked.

Suggs didn't answer the question. Manseur noticed that the tops of his chief's ears were turning crimson. “So, how's the Trammel case coming? I'm getting calls from all over on it. You haven't requested help.”

“Haven't needed any yet. It's still preliminary.”

“You look at the Trammels' room at the guesthouse?”

“Nothing there. I sealed it for the time being.”

“Did Trammel make any calls from the guesthouse?”

“No sir.”

“He have a cell phone?”

“His took a bath in a pothole. Hers was there, but the last number she called was U.S. Air. The techs are supposed to try and retrieve the stored numbers from the chip, if they can. They're backed up.”

“I see. What did the Rover yield?”

“They just started going over it. But anything useful was burned up. Body's been autopsied.”

“And?”

“Burned up too. Not much to go on. No I.D. Some dental work. Head crushed in, neck broken manually afterward. Homicide. Looks like a professional job.”

“That's your take now?”

“Like I said earlier, there were at least two vehicles, so at least two people involved. Maybe our stiff's the driver, maybe the partner. It looks like it could be a professional hit and the killer covered his tracks. Or something else. Hard to tell with what I have to work with.”

“Motive?”

“None that's obvious yet. Trammel was a U.S. marshal. Who knows?”

“You notify next of kin?”

“Not yet. His friend said he thought Mrs. Trammel had a sister living here and that the Trammels were going to see her today. I hoped to get that this morning from the marshals office, but it's Saturday. I asked the clerk at the guesthouse to call me if anyone inquired about them. If they were supposed to see the sister today, she'll call their guesthouse. The staff at the guesthouse will forward any inquiries to me,” Manseur said.

“Well, we withheld the Trammels' names until notification,” he continued. “The friend, that P.I., called a pal of the Trammels' in North Carolina who is supposed to come in today and handle things until we locate Mrs. Trammel's sister. I haven't spoken to him yet. He's supposed to call when he gets in.”

“Are you saying that you're at an impasse?” Suggs asked.

“At the moment all I can do is wait for everything to come in. I don't see anything breaking before Monday. Bond will be back, and we can hit it hard,” Manseur answered.

Manseur had held Suggs's stare since the conversation started. He noticed beads of sweat had gathered over his chief's upper lip-a sign that he was nervous. Manseur tried to imagine how his superior was going to play this. Suggs didn't know Manseur knew that the cases were linked, because Manseur didn't have the Porters' telephone records which established their link to the Trammels. He didn't believe that Suggs could afford to inform him of the connection yet. He knew Suggs had no solid reason to take the Trammel case away from him, unless he exposed that link and could justify taking the case on some pretext, as opposed to having Manseur, Tin Man, and Doyle working as a team. Down deep, Manseur was enjoying Suggs's discomfort. He wondered how Winter Massey's appearance would affect his comfort level.

“Have you considered the possibility of old enemies? Perhaps this might be connected to that mess last year Trammel was involved in.”

“What thing is that?” Manseur asked, feigning confusion.

“The shootout between the marshals and the FBI, with Manelli? You might consider revenge. Maybe some gangster spotted him?”

Manseur managed a look of surprise. “The Sam Manelli thing? You mean that's the same Trammel? It never occurred to me, and the P.I. didn't mention it.” He touched his palm to his forehead.

“You didn't know it was the same Trammel?”

“No. It could explain some things. Like you just said-it's a motive.”

“An obvious motive,” Suggs agreed.

“Mob revenge. A mob angle,” Manseur said. “There was another marshal who was wounded. What was his name?”

Suggs seemed to be leading Manseur close to the Porter case. Maybe he was trying to trap Manseur, believing that his detective must have already made the Trammel/Massey connection, and possibly even knew what the Porter/Trammel connection was.

“Massey,” Suggs said, “guy has a reputation for attracting violence. He killed three men in Tampa, years ago…”

“Who were trying to free a drug lord in the federal courthouse.”

Suggs nodded. “And here, fourteen months back… Well, you know all about that one.”

“He still out of North Carolina, you think?” Manseur took the casebook from his pocket and made a show of turning pages slowly as though he was reading through his notes. “Jesus,” he said, tapping a page with a fingertip, “sure is. Winter Massey. I can't believe I didn't put it together.”

“After you speak to Massey, I want to be filled in on his plans. If that marshal goes off on some sort of vendetta and creates any sort of havoc… I won't stand for that. You warn him about that. Be firm.”

“I'll sound him out. Maybe he knows who might still want to pay Hank Trammel back for all that…”

“Unpleasantness,” Suggs said, wiping the sweat from his upper lip. “Just keep me in the loop, Manseur. Whatever you get, pass on to me. If you talk to Massey or the missing sister, I want to know what they say ASAP.”

“Soon as I talk to them. Frankly, Chief, I have some other cases that I need to check in on. I thought this one was in limbo at the moment. I've been running without sleep.”

“Do what you can. Being Saturday and all, Monday should be when you can get your teeth into this one. Okay, no biggie. Just keep me in the loop and if you need anything, just ask. We have to wrap this one up. Big brother looking over our shoulders and all that happy crap.”

“I will,” Manseur said, standing. “How's the Porter/Lee case coming?”

“Tinnerino and Doyle are working it from several angles. They're getting closer to the girl.”

“Someone told me the BOLO said she's armed and dangerous.”

“We have reason to believe that is the case.”

“But you have the murder weapon.”

“She could have another weapon. It's extremely possible she had help. Maybe an older boyfriend. You're familiar with the Charlie Starkweather case from the fifties.”

“So you think some Starkweather-type boyfriend might have given the kid another gun?”

“That's what Tinnerino thinks.”

“Was the silencer found with the gun?”

“Silencer?” Suggs's eyes opened wide. “Who said anything about a silencer?”

“The M.E. on the Rover stiff mentioned the Porter and Lee wounds had strands of steel wool in them. Naturally I assumed it was from a silencer, since steel wool is commonly packed inside the baffle sleeve to absorb sound. The gun that killed Porter and Lee was a. 380 automatic, wasn't it?”

“A Taurus.”

Manseur knew they'd have the serial number, which would make it difficult for anybody to swap the weapon with another, nonthreaded piece. Ballistics had matched the gun to the bullets. “Must have been evidence that a noise suppressor was attached to it. I bet the inside of the barrel is threaded.”

“I'll look into it,” Suggs said.

Manseur stood. “I'm sure Tinnerino and Doyle know how unusual it is for a twelve-year-old to have access to that sort of equipment. I'd love to know who the girl's accomplice is. I'm betting you'll find out he's a professional.”

Manseur walked from the room, wondering if he should have dropped that silencer information on Suggs just yet. At least Suggs was on notice that he'd have to be very careful about what happened from that point out. It would give his chief something else to occupy himself with. The more pressure that was put on Suggs and his detectives, the freer Manseur would be to work under their radar.