Code 61

TWELVE

Sunday, October 8, 2000

12:16

“Hello? Is anybody here?” came from the front doorway. A woman's voice.

I was on my hands and knees, with a small Mini-Mag flashlight, side-lighting possible wipe marks on the dining room floor. I scrambled to my feet, and headed for the door.

Borman, who'd been in the music room, beat me to the door by seconds.

“Yes?” I heard him say, in a deferential tone.

Her voice got closer as she said, “I own this house. Could you direct me to whomever is in charge?”

“Uh, sure,” said Borman. In two sentences, she'd let him know she was important, and he wasn't. Not bad.

I came around the corner from the dining room, and saw two women in the atrium, beginning to advance past Borman. I could see how Borman had been intimidated. One of the women seemed to be about twenty-five or so, the other I would have guessed at thirty-five, max, if her driver's license data hadn't said she was forty-three. Both were quite fit, slim, with Jessica Hunley about three inches taller than her completely leather-clad young companion. But the remarkable thing was the younger one's hair. It was absolutely metallic-looking, starting with a lemon yellow at her forehead, and sweeping back through lime green, blue, red, and ending in purple. It shimmered iridescently. Arresting, so to speak.

I resolved to be just a bit harder to intimidate than Borman. “Hi. Name's Houseman.” I stuck out my hand. She didn't have much choice, and we shook. Strong. “You must be Jessica Hunley.”

“Yes.”

There was a momentary silence, so I took what advantage I could, and thrust my hand toward the other woman. “Deputy Houseman… ”

“Tatiana Ostransky,” she said. “I'm with Jessica.” Her handshake was cool and firm.

Jessica started the game with me. “Deputy? I would have hoped the sheriff would be here.”

“Two reasons,” I said. “First, I'm the department investigator. Second, Edie was his niece. He has other things to do today.”

That surprised her.

“So, you're the one in charge here?” Nice, wide, absolutely insincere smile.

“You betcha.”

She fixed me with a gaze that told me she knew just exactly what I was up to, and that she thought she could beat me at that game any time she chose. Cool.

I gestured toward the parlor. “If we go in there, I can give you some information.”

I was curious as to why anybody coming to the house wouldn't have been at least announced, if not delayed, by the two reserve officers outside. As we headed in toward the parlor, I saw them coming around the side of the house. Bored, they'd apparently decided to check the perimeter.

In the parlor, nobody sat.

“What,” asked Hunley, “is he doing in the kitchen?” She pointed to the lab tech, who was staring back at her.

As part of my answer, I opened my old leather briefcase, and fished out her copy of the search warrant. I handed it to her, and said, “We're executing a warranted search of this premises. He's one of the lab technicians.”

A search warrant lists the premises with the greatest specificity, and explains very tersely why the place is being tossed. In this instance, the exact wording was “evidence material to a homicide investigation.” Knives were also listed, along with bloodstains.

Jessica Hunley took out a pair of reading glasses from a case at her belt, and read the search warrant over very carefully. She was dressed in loose-fitting olive slacks, made with a microweave fabric, a white jersey turtleneck with the sleeves pushed up, and black leather shoes that appeared to be almost as soft as gloves, that zipped rather than tied. Her brown hair was tied with a white band in a short ponytail. She seemed to be a perfect match for the house. Refined. The glasses made her appear more interesting, if such a thing were possible.

She abruptly removed the glasses, and handed the paper to her companion. “I wasn't told this was a homicide case,” she said. Her tone was completely noncommittal.

“Don't feel bad,” I said. “We weren't, either.”

“Is there a suspect?”

“Yes,” I said. Silence. I wasn't going to tell her who, of course, and apparently she wasn't going to give me the satisfaction of asking.

“So,” she said, changing the unspoken subject, “where is everyone?”

“Well, most of them have been put up in area motels for last night, but they should be allowed back in here sometime this evening, I think.”

“Most of them?”

“Well,” I said, “all but Toby. Toby's in jail.” I do love my job.

Jessica's mouth opened slightly, but before she could say anything, Borman picked that moment to glance out the window and announce that the reserve deputies were now outside. Not his fault, but any immediate reaction I was hoping to get from Jessica was forever lost. I sure would have liked to hear what she was going to say.

Judging from the way Borman was looking at Tatiana of the shimmering hair, I'd say he probably wouldn't have heard Jessica at all.

The main result of Borman's announcement was that all four of us glanced out the window. I checked automatically for Jessica's car. I couldn't see quite all of it, because both reserves were standing around it, but it was the BMW Z8. I'd never seen one before. It struck me that, although completely modern, the car went with Jessica Hunley just as the old Mansion did.

“I'm glad you got here when you did,” I said to Jessica. “We're going to need somebody to unlock the third floor for us.”

“Why? It's only unlocked when I'm here. There couldn't have been anything to do with this… this killing. Not up there.”

“Well, like they say, a lock only keeps an honest man out,” I said. “Let's just agree it's supposed to be locked while you're away.”

“Let's say it's supposed to stay locked when I say it is,” she said, and reached into her slacks pocket, and produced a remarkably small cell phone. She dialed, while saying, “I'm calling my attorney… This is Jessica Hunley. Is he in?” There was a brief pause. “Yes, it's me. I'm at my house above the river,” she said. “There are some local cops here with a search warrant. Get up here now.” She spoke in a near monotone, and if I hadn't been party to what was actually going on, I would have thought her completely unconcerned. She terminated the call and put the phone back in her pocket. She looked at her watch. “He'll be here in ten minutes,” she said. It was a statement of fact, not an estimate.

Well, he either had to be a local or a damned good swimmer. I was anxious to see which of our local attorneys she had so thoroughly wrapped around her finger. “We can wait,” I said. “We have lots to do yet, before we go up to the third.”

She moved to hand the copy of the search warrant back. “No,” I said, “that's yours. We're required by law to either leave it with the owner, or post it on the premises where the owner can easily find it.” As she folded it, I asked, “Do you have the only key to the third floor?”

To my surprise, she said, “I think I'll wait for my attorney to be present before answering more.”

“That's fine,” I said conversationally, “but you really don't need to do that. You're not a suspect here.”

“Anyone,” she said, “can be sued.”

Ah. Right. Absolutely right. I had a feeling that Jessica would qualify as a very deep pocket.

I asked her and Tatiana to please remain in the parlor, and told Borman to stay with them. No complaint from him.

I went to the kitchen, told the lab tech to keep going, and then went up to the second to give them the news.

As I walked down the hall, I saw there were two yellow chalk marks in the blue and red and gold Oriental carpeting. I couldn't see anything particularly different between the areas inside or outside the circles, but I knew they'd found something. All three of them were in the bedroom across the hall from Edie's. By the clothes scattered about, I assumed it was the room of one of the males.

“Hester, got a second?”

“Sure.”

I told her what was happening downstairs.

“Crap.”

“Right,” I said. “You should see Jessica Hunley and her buddy Tatiana.”

“Why?”

“A tad more… oh, sophisticated than we're used to. She drove the Z8.” I grinned. “I think Borman's wondering if he can take Tatiana home as a war bride.”

“Like you're not susceptible, Houseman,” she said, raising one eyebrow.

“Well, Jessica's more my age, but I don't think she bakes.”

“A cookie factory would make a fine dowry,” she said. “Watch yourself.”

Hester was right, of course. “ 'An attractive member of the opposite sex can influence you, without your being aware,' ” I quoted from my Academy days. “Although it never seems to work for me.”

She laughed. “You're hopeless.”

“What did you find here?” I asked.

“Possible stains in the hall, a possible wipe-up stain on the floor beside Edie's tub, and lots of SPF fifty sunscreen, and makeup in the guys' rooms, as well as the gals',” she said with a chuckle. “Really light shades. Some really nice Victorian clothes, and lovely old-fashioned jewelry. Applique tattoos. Nice CD players. Not much else. No weapons-not yet, anyway. Nothing to indicate anything sinister at all.” She glanced around. “We have three more rooms to go. There are tons of nooks and crannies… ”

I told her about my conversation with Chester. She asked if he'd be any real help, and I told her that we'd just have to wait and see.

She'd apparently been in the main kitchen downstairs just before I'd returned.

“You know how many knives there are in a kitchen like that? Knives that could be a murder weapon?”

“Lots, huh?”

“We've seized sixteen or seventeen, so far, to send to the lab. We may never know which knife was used.”

When I got back to the parlor, Tatiana was sitting on a davenport, with her legs pulled up onto the seat, so that her chin was almost resting on her knees. Her arms encircled her leather-clad knees, with the wrists crossed about halfway between her knees and ankles. Everything she owned was pointing at him. The light through the window was doing great things to that hair. She was saying, “… and you've really been in high speed chases?”

I'm not certain what Borman was about to say, but when he saw me, he caught himself and said, “Well, a couple of times.” Between her posture, her shimmering hair, and her feigned interest, he was totally wasted. I honestly think that, if she'd asked to see his service weapon, he would have handed it over. He might have unloaded it first, but he would have done it. I made a mental note to keep those two as far apart as I could.

“We don't encourage chases,” I said. “Of any kind. Too dangerous.” He caught my meaning, I think, but without a bucket of ice water, I was not going to get his undivided attention.

“My attorney will be here in a moment,” said Jessica. She smiled sweetly.

Borman's walkie-talkie crackled and hissed to life. “Eight, there's an attorney out here, says he's supposed to talk to the lady with the great car.” Knockle, the older reserve. I nodded to Borman, who keyed his mike and said, “Let him in.”

A few seconds later, the front door opened and I was surprised to see both Junkel and Koch, of Junkel amp; Koch, Attorneys at Law, enter as a group. Or, more correctly, as a firm. Both were definitely not dressed in their court clothes, Junkel in jeans and a sweater, and Koch in shorts, sandals, and a polo shirt.

“Gentlemen,” I said, “come on in.”

They looked past me.

“Over here,” said Jessica Hunley. “This man has told us we can't leave this room.”

Not quite true, but both Junkel and Koch hurried over to her, and gave me obligatory dirty looks as they passed. I looked over at Borman.

“Gonna be a long day,” I said.

As things progressed, and they did so fairly rapidly at first, the true clout of Junkel and Koch became apparent. First, because I knew Junkel was rumored to be under consideration for a seat on the Iowa Appellate Court, and because Koch had been a state senator and was rumored to be being groomed as a possible gubernatorial candidate for 2002. Second, they were both known to be extremely wealthy. And third, after they'd talked with Jessica for a few seconds, they asked me for the phone number of the county attorney. As Koch called him, Junkel scanned the search warrant copy I'd given Jessica. While I was busy thanking God that Winterman was the issuing judge, I could hear Koch begin to have the county attorney jump through hoops. After a few seconds, he handed me the cell phone. “The county attorney would like to speak with you,” he said.

“Carl?” My prosecutor sounded a little worried.

“Yep?”

“Carl, we might have a problem. I mean, if that third floor is locked, and she has the key, and there isn't really any way the door has been pried or anything, I think that it might be a good way to defuse the situation if you people just didn't go up there today.”

All in one breath.

“I don't think that Judge Winterman will agree with that, Mike,” I said.

He sighed. “Let me be the judge of that. Do you realize who those attorneys are?”

“Yep.” I tried to keep things to one-word responses, since Junkel and Koch were listening.

“I don't think that if we piss them off, Carl, that they will let the search go unchallenged. We don't want to lose the case by having the search declared invalid.”

“Won't happen,” I said.

“You sure?”

“Yep.”

There was a pregnant pause. “I'm hoping, here, that you know something I don't.”

What were the odds? “I do.” I knew that Edie was supposed to have a key of her own.

“Boy, Carl, I hope you're right.”

I couldn't resist. “Me, too. Catch you later.” I broke the connection.

Attorney Junkel looked at me. “You're in charge?”

“Deputy Houseman, at your service,” I said.

Attorney Koch, who had been conferring with Jessica Hunley in a muted voice, turned and looked at me very closely. “Aren't you…?”

“Yep,” I said. “It was me.” I gave him my best smile. About ten years ago, I'd arrested his nephew for third-degree sexual abuse, a felony, after he'd allegedly gotten a girl drunk and had sex with her after she'd passed out. After a little bargaining between the county attorney and Attorney Koch, the kid had pled to a charge of serious misdemeanor assault. Got a $250 fine. Not my idea, and I'd been told at the time that Attorney Koch thought I was being “obstructionist” and “vindictive” by arguing against the plea bargain. All I'd said was “He screwed her after she passed out; he didn't beat her up.” I'd lost the argument, of course, but I'd had the satisfaction of scaring the little shit. Scared his nephew, too, by the way.

There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that we had to go to the third floor, and no doubt in my mind that we'd get up there. Just how we were going to get that done, on the other hand, was something else again.

I excused myself, saying I was going upstairs to check on the progress of the team on the second floor.

“Team?” said Junkel.

“Yeah. There are officers and lab techs on the second, conducting the search.”

“I think I'd like to go up there,” he said, “and see just what they're doing.”

“Not a chance,” I said. “Borman?” He obliged by tearing his eyes from the two women for a second. “If anyone who isn't a member of the search team tries to go to the second floor, arrest them for interference, and call me right away.”

“You bet.”

I looked at the four other people in the parlor. “Nobody to the kitchen, either. Just the restroom on this floor. If they need a cup of coffee or anything from the kitchen, you'll have to get it for them. Within reason.” I smiled at Jessica pointedly. “We wouldn't want him fixing supper.”

Jessica glanced at her watch. “He may have to, if this takes much longer.”