The Dead Man

Chapter Thirty-eight

Milo squeezed my arm. "You owe me for that stunt you pulled in the elevator."

"More like you owe me," I said.

He nodded and grinned. "I know."

I filled Lucy in as we walked back to the institute, taking the long way around to the front entrance where reporters swarmed Milo. He and I exchanged shrugs and I left him to work his magic.

"You think Leonard killed Anne or was he running because everyone thought he did and he was afraid of getting busted for not registering as a sex offender?" Lucy asked when were inside the lobby.

"I don't know."

"Is there anything to connect him with Blair, Delaney, and Enoch or is this a stand-alone murder?"

"He hacked into the dream project files but I don't know if he saw their videos. That's all I've got so far."

The lobby was crammed with cops and people waiting for the elevators. Each time one opened, the crowd grew as those passengers joined the throng, finding their friends, hugging and crying, trading can-you-believe-it for I'm-not-surprised.

Nancy Klemp was on duty at the front desk, implacable and unruffled by the chaos around her, answering questions and giving directions.

"What's the latest?" I asked her.

"Ms. Fritzshall went on the PA and told everyone to go home. Said to take the day off tomorrow and come back strong on Thursday. We've got six elevators and eight floors of people. Gonna take forever to clear everyone out of here. I wouldn't be in a hurry to get upstairs unless you feel like walking."

"What happened with Anne's boyfriend, Michael Lacey? Is he still in the conference room?"

"I haven't seen him leave."

Lucy and I navigated through the crowd to the conference room. The door was open. Lacey was slumped over the table, his head on his folded arms. A uniformed cop stood in a corner. Carter tapped me on the shoulder from behind. I hadn't heard him approach.

"You did good out there," Carter said.

"I was too old and too slow. What about him?" I asked, pointing to Lacey.

"I told him he could hang out here until the TV trucks take off. He doesn't want to deal with the cameras."

I stepped farther down the hall away from the door, drawing Carter with me. "You satisfied about Leonard?"

He opened his jacket and pulled out an evidence bag, holding it up for me. Anne Kendall's Institute ID badge was inside the bag, the gold chain smeared with blood.

"We found this hidden in Leonard's desk. That satisfy you?"

"Makes me feel better. Doesn't make me feel good. Lacey have an alibi?"

"Says he was home and fell asleep watching TV. Thought she was working late. Woke up this morning and she wasn't there. Said he started making phone calls and then got one from the gal at the front desk."

"That's thin. Were they getting along?"

"So he says. We'll check it out," Carter said.

"Does that mean you aren't satisfied or that you're just running the traps?"

Carter smiled. "McNair is satisfied, but he's easy. I'm harder to please. Lacey says that Anne told him about her sexual harassment complaint against Leonard. He could have forced her to take him to the institute and used her ID to get in the building, killed her, and planted the ID in Leonard's desk, figuring that plus the complaint would be enough to put the stink on Leonard."

"On that theory, Leonard turning out to be an unregistered sexual offender was an added bonus."

"Better to be lucky than good. Could have gone down that way, but my money is still on Leonard," Carter said. "This Lacey doesn't seem the type. He was blown away when we told him she was dead. I know that doesn't mean much but it felt real to me."

"You interested in another take?"

"Why not? I could use the overtime."

"Let's go upstairs to my office."

"Are you kidding? Have you seen how many people are in line for those elevators?"

"Wait here. I know a short cut."

I found Milo surrounded by a throng of reporters, peeling him away long enough to ask how to summon his private elevator to the loading dock. He pulled out his iPhone, tapped in a number, and smiled.

"Phone activated. It's on the way. How about that?" he said, turning back to the cameras.

The eighth floor was empty when Lucy, Carter, and I reached my office except for the crime scene techs poring over Leonard's workstation. I described the dream project for Carter, walking him through the deaths of Blair, Delaney, and Enoch, and the increasing pattern of violence culminating in Anne's murder.

"You got a whole lot of nothing, you know that," Carter said.

"I don't have a guy who harassed one of the victims, ran when the cops showed up, and had the victim's bloody ID squirreled away in his desk, which, I might add, is the dumbest place he could have picked to hide a souvenir. That's enough for McNair but not for you. I do have three dead people, four counting Anne Kendall, and a lot of questions that nobody seems interested in asking."

"You say that McNair took a second look at Delaney's and Blair's files?"

"So he says."

"Then he did. He's a better cop than you give him credit for. My boss is going to need a good reason to let me or anyone else take a third look."

"Anne Kendall isn't a good enough reason?"

"Not without more proof that Delaney and Blair were homicides and not without something to tie them to her and Enoch. You know how this works. But as long as we're talking, tell me why Kent and Dolan have such a hard-on for you?"

"What did Dolan tell you?"

"Not much. His mother didn't teach him to share. He had a look at the closet in the sub-basement and went back upstairs. All I got from him was that you were damaged goods."

I had taken a chance on Carter and if I was going to make it pay, I had to go all the way with it. If he took this on, he'd find out about my personal connection to Walter Enoch's murder and would shut me down for trying to sandbag him. He listened as I rolled out the rest of it, telling him about Wendy and my movement disorder. He nodded, asking the right questions at the right time, leaning back in his chair when I was finished, letting out a deep sigh.

"You are the king of the clusterfuck, you know that?"

"Wouldn't be any fun if it was easy," I said.

"This is McNair's case."

"You're his partner, not his butt boy."

"He's not going to like it if I make him look bad."

"McNair doesn't need any help with that."

"My lieutenant won't like it if I get in a pissing match with the feds over one of their cases. Especially if he finds out you're behind it and the feds are putting your tit in the wringer. Doesn't do much for your credibility."

"I can handle Kent and Dolan. And if all four deaths are related, you've got an exclusive claim to three out of four. Your boss can take that to his boss, let the brass run interference."

"All that aside, you've still got a whole lot of nothing. Why would I want to hike up my pants and step in that?"

"To get it right."

Carter studied me, weighing his career. The phone on my desk rang, the name on caller ID reason to hope for the first good break of the day.

"It's Frank Gentry, the institute's IT director. He's been doing some work for me on this."

"Go ahead," Carter said. "Take it."

I picked up the receiver and listened as Gentry told me about the results of his additional research on the dream project video files. I thanked him and hung up.

"Leonard Nagel didn't access Delaney's, Blair's, or Enoch's dream videos," I said.

"That helps my case against Leonard but it doesn't help yours," Carter said.

"So who did access their videos?" Lucy asked.

"Other than Anthony Corliss, Maggie Brennan, and their two research associates?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Just one other person. Milo Harper."