The Devil's Elixir

33

By midday, we were firing on all cylinders.

The three of us were still at the police station in La Mesa, finishing up our interviews with the prospects. Villaverde had as many bodies as he could muster out at the bureau’s office working on tracking down Pennebaker. Munro was doing the same with his people in LA. ATF was also in on the act, which was where I was putting my money, but the breakthrough I was waiting for was playing hard to get.

The prospects didn’t have much to say. In more mundane circumstances, that wouldn’t have surprised me. Biker clubs prized loyalty and commitment more than anything. In outlaw gangs, it was like a blood oath. Patch holders did not discuss club business with anyone outside the club, ever. So, normally, I would have put the prospects’ lack of chattiness down to them seeing it as an opportunity to showcase their worthiness to the club they were trying to join, but in this case, there was no club. Not anymore. Everyone in its mother chapter had been wiped out. So I didn’t see why the prospects would still want to protect their sponsors, given that they were all dead. Which told me that what they were telling us was the truth. Walker and his crew knew how to keep things quiet.

None of the local missing persons reports coming in threw up anyone whose profile matched the previous kidnap victims—scientists, chemists, pharmacologists. We were spreading the net up to San Francisco and beyond, across the whole state, but so far, nothing.

We did get one lead, though. Nothing major, but it was something.

It was from the squad car of the deputy who’d gone to pick up Soulpatch/Scrape from the grotto.

These days, more and more squad cars were being equipped with in-car video cameras. It made sense on a whole bunch of levels. Drunk drivers overwhelmingly pleaded no contest when told they were being filmed, resulting in less paperwork and court time. Municipal bean counters loved them—the cameras, not the drunk drivers—since they helped cut down on the tens of millions of dollars paid out in lawsuits on unsubstantiated claims that couldn’t be effectively thrown out without the video records. They were also a great boon in proving probable cause for vehicle searches and seizures, resulting in more confiscated drug money. And cops loved the fact that hardheads were far more reluctant to throw punches at them or even turn belligerent while on camera.

Unfortunately, the cameras didn’t stop the thugs who came after Scrape.

They did, however, allow us a glimpse into what had happened, despite the fact that the shooters had thought of pulling out the rewritable DVD from the overhead-mounted console inside the car. What they didn’t know was that the video system in Fugate’s patrol car also included an integrated hard drive that not only backed up anything that was on the DVD, it also added ten minutes of pre- and post-event footage to it.

It was all there for us, downloaded, cued up, and ready for viewing in high-res color.

We started with the footage from the front-facing camera. It was brief, but intense. The deputy’s car is heading toward the gate of the warehouse. No one else is around. Then a big black SUV, a Chevy Tahoe, turns into the complex and just charges at the squad car. We barely get a glimpse of it as the deputy curses and swerves to avoid it, and the camera angle swings away—then the picture rocks wildly and spins around as the SUV rams the deputy’s car and sends it sliding into a ditch.

Fugate curses again, but from that point on, the footage from the front view camera is useless. Nothing is going on in front of the stalled car. But that’s when the backseat camera comes into play.

The footage from it was far more disturbing.

It starts with Scrape, sliding across the seat, his hand pressed against his shoulder, muttering “Easy” and wincing with pain as he settles back. He doesn’t look great. Then the car drives off and he’s bouncing around back there—then his face goes wild with alarm, the SUV plows into them, and he’s thrown around like a puppet before he pitches forward and slams straight into the impact-resistant glass partition as the car hits the ditch and comes to a standstill.

And that’s when the footage got real bad.

With Scrape looking on, his face tight with terror, a gunshot rips through our ears and a splatter of blood hits the partition as, off camera, the deputy is shot through the head at point-blank range. Then Scrape starts to scream as he frantically squeezes as far away from the door as he can while a figure—unclear at this point—reaches in to drag him out. We hear the scuffle and the banging of Scrape’s boots against the partition and we see the dark figure’s gloved hands latching onto the yelling and screaming biker before yanking him out of the car by his legs. Then the image stays fixated on the ghostly backseat while in the background, faint but audible, some car doors slam shut and the Tahoe screeches off.

After a moment of stunned silence, I said, “Let’s see that again. The part where the shooter goes for Scrape.”

We watched the grim sequence again, looking for a tell that would help us track down the killers. I was hoping we’d get something on the guy who leaned in to grab Scrape—a glimpse of his face or maybe just a reflection of it on something in the car. But most of his head was blocked by the bulky metal frame of the partition. Then I spotted something and hit the Pause button.

“Right there. What is that?”

I went back a few frames and held it there, on an image of the killer struggling with one of Scrape’s legs. He was wearing something dark and long-sleeved, but as he fought to hold down the biker, his left sleeve had ridden up and I could see something around his wrist, between the top of his glove and the edge of his sleeve.

I got the tech to zoom in and enhance it as best he could, and we got a clearer look at it. It was a leather wristband. An elaborate one, about half an inch wide. It seemed intricately tooled, with silver strands and some tiny blue gemstones.

Not exactly a fingerprint, I grumbled inwardly, staring at the screen, puzzled by why they had taken Scrape and not shot him on the spot, and wondering what state he’ll be in when we finally catch up to him.

My deliberations were interrupted by our point of contact at La Mesa PD knocking on the door. Villaverde gestured through the door’s glass inset for the cop to enter and he quickly joined us, his body language telling us that whatever he had to say was important.

“Karen Walker wants to talk to you. She’s on hold. Line four.”

I duly pressed the button and put the call on speaker.

“Karen? This is Agent Reilly.”

“I thought of something else. About Guru’s kid brother, Marty. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it yesterday, but maybe it can help you find him.”

She was obviously serious about earning her immunity.

“Shoot.”

“Marty had a girlfriend. Dani—Danielle Namour. He and Dani were really close and she was devastated when he died. So devastated I wondered if there was more to it, if I was missing something, and I asked her about it. Turns out, she was newly pregnant. The kid was Marty’s. I don’t know, maybe it’s nothing, but maybe it’s not, you know?”

“Everything helps, Karen. Where can we find her?”

“We lost touch not long after the shooting. Maybe she was following Guru’s lead, I don’t know. She didn’t want to have anything to do with us either. I heard she did have the baby. A girl.”

“Karen, where can we find her?” I pressed again.

“Last I heard, she was living down in Chula Vista, working in a high-end fashion store at the Chula Vista Center. But that information’s a couple of years old.”

“Thanks, Karen, that’s great. We’ll talk to her.”

I could hear some relief in her tone. “Like I said, I want you to get the bastards who did that to Eli.”

I ended the call and looked at our POC, who was already heading for the door.

“We’ll get right on it,” he said as he left the room.

I stared at the phone and played the call over again in my head. It might turn out to be nothing, but then again, blood is the thickest of all ties, especially when tragedy strikes. A fact I had just experienced at first hand.

Pennebaker clearly had a conscience.

Maybe it extended to his niece.