The Killing Room

TWELVE

Located on Race Street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth, St John’s Hospice was established in the early 1960s as a ministry to address the needs of the Center City homeless. Next door was the Good Shepherd mission, a live-in program for medically fragile men.

Called ‘Father John’s’ on the streets, St John’s Hospice provided food, clothing, shelter, and in winter was often the only lifeline to Center City homeless men in need. And while most homeless men were penniless, some did have money coming in — military benefits, pension benefits, welfare benefits — so St John’s also operated as a mail drop.

When Jessica and Byrne parked on the corner of Twelfth and Race Streets there were men lined up halfway down the block, reaching almost to the corner of Thirteenth Street, perhaps fifty in all. They were of all races, sizes, and builds, different in many ways, but they all carried the same weight on their shoulders, the same yoke of despair. They huddled close to each other to deflect the biting wind, cupping cigarettes in hands. In the time it took for Jessica and Byrne to get out of the car and lock it, three more men queued up.

Jessica slipped on her gloves, considering that there were two different ways to go about finding out if any of these men were, or knew of, a man named Boise. They could split up, with Jessica taking one end of the line, Byrne taking the other, interviewing each man separately, gathering and collating a ton of information that would probably be completely useless and, to an almost certainty, incoherent.

The other way was the preferred way, even though it was a bit less scientific, and a lot less by the book.

‘Hey, Boise!’ Byrne yelled.

A few of the men in line looked over, but Jessica noticed that only one of them nervously looked around, signaling that he might be the guy they were looking for. Oily hair, ratty jacket, stained Levi’s, somewhere in his twenties, although with the homeless it was always wise to deduct ten to twenty percent, considering what life on the streets did to one’s appearance. When the man saw Jessica and Byrne standing across the street he instantly made them as cops. He stamped from one foot to the other, eyes shifting from the man in front of him to the entrance to the mission, and back. He butted his cigarette against the wall, pocketed it.

Jessica caught Byrne’s eye, and directed his gaze to the jumpy guy at the back of the line. Byrne slowly worked his way around a parked delivery truck. When he emerged at the other side, now standing about twenty feet from the man in line, the man noticed. When Byrne stepped off the curb, the man turned and bolted down Race Street, full stride, rounded the corner onto Thirteenth. As Byrne took after the man, Jessica cut up North Carmac Street.

In the end, it was a good thing she was chasing after two men with virtually no aerobic conditioning. She came around the corner and saw Byrne at the end of a dead end alley. The man was there too, leaning against the wall, as was Byrne. Both were out of breath. The guy looked like a junkie, so his being out of shape was understandable.

Jessica approached, gave Byrne her when-are-you-gonna-start-hitting-the-gym look, but remained silent on that matter.

When the two men had somewhat recovered, Jessica sidled up to the homeless man, asked, ‘How ya doing?’

‘Never better.’

‘Why did you run?’

The man stood up straight, caught the last of his breath, or all that he was going to catch. ‘I’m a health nut,’ he said. ‘I like to get my ten miles in before lunch.’

Jessica believed the nut part. Byrne stared at the man until he realized he had to answer the question.

‘Why did I run? Look at me. I’m like a chew toy to you guys.’

He had a point. ‘What’s your name?’ Jessica asked.

The man shook his head. ‘Look, officer, I don’t want no trouble.’

‘Did you kill someone?’ Jessica asked.

The man recoiled. ‘Kill someone? I didn’t do nothin’.’

‘Then you’re not in any trouble,’ Jessica said. ‘What’s your name?’

The man stared at the ground, remained silent.

‘Trust me on this, these are the easy questions,’ Jessica said. ‘I keep the hard ones down at the Roundhouse. Right next to the holding cells in the basement. I have the feeling you know the place I’m talking about. Question is, ever see a guy like you after seventy-two hours in the box? Like Dawn of the fucking Dead.’

The man continued to look at his feet, which Jessica noticed were clad in two different brands of old running shoes. One Reebok. One Nike.

‘My name’s Boyce,’ he said. ‘Thomas L. Boyce.’

Jessica glanced at Byrne. That’s why there was no ‘Boise’ in PCIC. His nickname was Boycie.

‘Do you know a man named Daniel Palumbo?’ Jessica asked.

Boyce looked up, a light in his eyes. Maybe this wasn’t about him. ‘Danny? Yeah, I know Danny. Good dude, man. But I ain’t seen him in a while. What did he do now?’

‘Mr Palumbo is dead.’

The light went out. ‘Dead?’

‘I’m afraid so,’ Jessica said. ‘Was he a friend of yours?’

‘Friend?’

Jessica was getting impatient with Mr Thomas L. Boyce. And she knew that if she was getting impatient, Byrne was about to blow. ‘Do I need to speak louder?’

‘No. I can hear okay. I’m just, you know, a little freaked out. Danny’s dead? Can’t believe it.’

‘How did you know Danny Palumbo?’

Another pause. ‘Let’s just say we have mutual acquaintances.’

‘Let’s just say a lot more than that.’ Jessica said. ‘Did you know Mr Palumbo when he was a police officer?’

Boyce looked pummeled. ‘What are you talking about? Danny was a cop?’

‘He used to be, yes.’

‘Wow.’

Jessica believed Boyce had not known this. ‘When was the last time you saw him?’

‘Two weeks. Right around there.’

‘Can you be more specific?’

‘I lost my BlackBerry, okay? Things kinda blend together for me.’

‘Where did you last see him?’

‘Around, you know? On the street.’

Jessica just stared.

‘Okay. We scored. Then we hit this gallery over on Venango. But that’s the last I saw of him. Swear to God.’

‘Did Mr Palumbo have any kind of problems with a dealer?’ Jessica asked. ‘Someone who might have wanted to do him harm? Maybe someone he owed money to?’

‘We don’t get a lot of shit on credit, if you know what I mean. It’s pretty much cash on the barrel head for me and guys like Danny.’

‘What about other people on the street? Is there someone Danny had trouble with?’

‘Not really. Danny pretty much kept to himself. I mean, if he got pushed around he would push back, but he didn’t go looking for trouble. Not Danny. He was a floater.’ Boyce looked down the alley, back at them. ‘He gave me something.’

‘What do you mean?’ Jessica asked.

‘Last time I seen him, Danny gave me something.’ Boyce pointed to the bulging plastic bag on the ground at his feet. ‘Do you want to see it?’

‘Yes,’ Jessica said.

Boyce knelt down, opened the plastic bag, which was really three plastic bags, one inside the other. The bags had been twisted and knotted so many times they had begun to rip. After moving some things around inside, Boyce slowly dug to the bottom. He finally pulled out a grease-stained burgundy nylon knapsack. One of the straps was torn, and had been rather inexpertly mended with a bright orange thread. Boyce put the knapsack on the ground, then tied the plastic bags together again. He picked up the knapsack, but did not unzip it.

‘This bag belonged to Mr Palumbo?’ Jessica asked.

‘Yeah.’

‘And why is it in your possession?’

Boyce went twitchy, perhaps anticipating something bad, something he hadn’t considered. Like a robbery charge. ‘He told me he wanted me to, you know, watch it for a while.’

‘Did he say why?’

‘He didn’t. I just figured he was going somewhere where his stuff might be, you know, at risk.’

Jessica looked at the battered and stained bag. She couldn’t imagine it or its contents warranting any heightened measures of security. But one man’s treasure, right? ‘Did he say where he was going?’

‘No.’

‘Did he say when he might be coming back for this?’

‘No. He didn’t say.’

‘Did he ever ask you to watch his things before?’

Boyce shrugged. ‘Can’t say that he did. I mean, not a whole lot of people trust people out here, you know? Danny and me were tight and all, so I guess he thought his stuff was safe with me.’

‘Did you open the bag since he gave it to you?’

‘What? No, man. It ain’t my stuff. I got no business going in there.’

Jessica didn’t fully buy into the code of the street, but for some reason she believed Thomas Boyce.

‘We’re going to need to take this with us,’ she said.

‘Yeah,’ Boyce said. ‘Sure. I mean, I figured.’

He handed the bag to Jessica, who took it with a gloved hand, held it by the end of one of the straps.

‘Do you remember what Danny said to you?’ Byrne asked. ‘The very last thing he said?’

Boyce thought about this for a few moments. ‘When he was walking away, up Tenth Street, he turned and yelled something to me. I was a little high at the time, and I remember it was kind of weird. But that was Danny, you know. He was always on about the devil this, the devil that.’

‘The devil?’

‘Yeah. He was a believer.’

‘He believed in the devil?’

‘Well, you believe in God, you believe in the devil, right?’

‘What about you, Mr Boyce?’ Byrne asked. ‘Do you believe in the devil?’

Boyce laughed, but it was a nervous sound. ‘Shit, man. I got plenty of my own demons, right? I don’t need someone else’s, church or no.’

‘We may need to talk to you again,’ Jessica said. ‘Where can we get hold of you?’

‘Have your people call my people. We’ll do lunch.’ Boyce shook his head. ‘I’m homeless, man.’

‘Do you stay at shelters a lot?’

‘When there’s a bed. There ain’t always a bed. Plus, them places are dangerous. You might want to mention that to the mayor the next time you see him.’

Jessica knew that a lot of homeless men did not like going to shelters, which they considered, rightfully so, to be risky. Especially the city-operated shelters. Not to mention that most shelters wanted their men to get into some kind of recovery program. The combination of these two things made most homeless men prefer to be out on the street. But some nights, code-blue nights — when the temperatures dropped below freezing — there wasn’t much choice.

‘I’ll tell him next time we play tennis,’ Jessica said. Boyce smiled. It wasn’t pretty. She handed the man her notebook and pen. ‘Write down the places you stay.’

Boyce hesitated, then took the pad and pen. ‘Sometimes I stay at St Francis Inn,’ he said.

Jessica knew the place. Located in Kensington, it was run by Franciscans on a fully volunteer basis. They also operated a thrift store and an urban center.

Boyce wrote down the name and general addresses of three shelters in North Philly. Jessica looked at the list. Surprisingly, the man’s penmanship was legible, almost elegant.

While Jessica put her notebook away, Byrne took out his camera phone.

‘Mr Boyce,’ Byrne said.

Boyce turned to face Byrne. Byrne took the man’s picture.

‘Oh, now, that’s got to be some kind of violation of my civil rights,’ Boyce said.

Jessica took out a business card, handed it to him. ‘Have your attorney contact me. In the meantime, if you think of something else, or you remember what Danny said to you on the last day you saw him, please give me a call.’

Boyce took the card, looked into Jessica’s eyes. He fashioned what he probably figured was a charming expression. ‘Do you think there might be like a reward or something?’

Jessica was suddenly downwind from Thomas Boyce. She wanted to move on. ‘There may be something in it for you. But that offer is only good for a few days.’

This, of course, was not true. There was no statute of limitations on homicide, and a tip that came in ten or twenty years after a murder would be followed up on. Boyce did not need to know this.

The man perked at the possibility of a cash stipend. ‘I’ll ask around. I have an erudite and learned circle of acquaintances. You never know.’

‘You never know,’ Jessica echoed.

With that, Thomas L. Boyce picked up his plastic swag bag, backed away from Jessica and Byrne a few paces — just to make sure it was okay to leave — then turned and walked up the alley.

‘You meet the most interesting people on this job,’ Jessica said.

When Boyce was gone, Jessica and Byrne returned to the car. The line into St John’s had disappeared, reduced to just a few men in the small courtyard. The rest were now inside.

Jessica unzipped the knapsack, and gently deposited the contents onto the hood of the Taurus. What she and Byrne saw were the sad remnants of a discarded life — a dirty pair of Levi’s, a ball of sweaters and T-shirts. It all had that monkey-house smell of body odor and disinfectant. There was a gray-bristle toothbrush with a broken handle, a small bar of soap wrapped in a paper towel, a few pamphlets for local shelters and free clinics. What they did not find was a reason that put Daniel Palumbo in the basement of that church. While Jessica went through the pockets of the Levi’s — all empty — she glanced at Byrne. He was standing at the back of the car, his distant stare in place. Of course, with Byrne, it was probably an inward glance.

Byrne took out his phone, dialed, put it on speaker. Soon there was a click.

‘Hey, Kevin,’ Bontrager said over the speaker.

‘Where are you, Josh?’ Byrne asked.

‘I’m over at St Adelaide’s. We’re just wrapping up.’

‘You’ve searched the whole place?’

‘Everywhere.’

‘Did you go up in that bell tower?’

‘Yeah,’ Bontrager said. ‘Nothing up there.’

‘Could you check it again?’

Pause. No detective liked to be told they had not done a thorough job, but Josh Bontrager held Byrne in such high esteem, he wasn’t about to question why. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘What am I looking for?’

‘Not sure,’ Byrne said.

‘On my way.’

Through the tinny speaker on the cell phone they could hear Josh Bontrager walking across the small church, up the steps. They heard the creak of the door as he pushed it open. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘I’m in the bell tower.’

‘What do you see?’

Another pause. ‘There’s really nothing here. There’s some straw and sticks on the floor. I’m thinking it was an old bird’s nest.’

‘Anything else?’

‘Nothing I can see. Sorry.’

Byrne closed his eyes for a moment. He opened them. ‘Are there any gang tags on the walls, any carvings?’

‘No tags,’ Bontrager said. ‘Let me check for carvings.’

Another minute or so passed.

‘No. Nothing I can see anyway. The walls are pretty dirty. Nothing recent. Do you want CSU to take a bunch of photos up here?’

‘Not yet. What about loose stones?’ Byrne asked. ‘Are any of the stones loose?’

‘Let me check,’ Bontrager said. ‘I’m going to put the phone down for a second.’

They heard him put it down, heard him moving around the small space. After a full minute he came back on. ‘No loose stones.’

Byrne walked a few paces, turned back. ‘Check right near the top. Check the stones along the soffit.’

‘I’m going to have to climb on the sill,’ Bontrager said. ‘If you hear a scream fading into the distance, that’s me falling out the window.’

Both Jessica and Byrne smiled at this.

They once again heard Bontrager put down the phone, heard the sounds of exertion as he climbed on the sill. There was another thirty seconds of virtual silence. Then:

‘Oh, hello.’

Jessica glanced at Byrne. He was transfixed. Bontrager came back on the line.

‘Guys? There is a loose stone.’

‘Did you pull it out?’

‘Yes.’

‘Was there something behind it?’ Byrne asked.

‘Yes,’ Bontrager said, his voice now alive with the excitement of discovery. ‘You guys better get down here. I think this means something.’

‘We’re on the way,’ Byrne said.

Jessica, wondering what she had just witnessed, picked up the knapsack, walked to the back of the Taurus, put it in the trunk. It hardly took up any room. Everything that Daniel Palumbo had accrued in his life fit in one tiny corner of the trunk of a midsize car.

As Jessica got behind the wheel, and they headed toward the church, she was suddenly overcome by a debilitating sadness. All she could think about was Loretta Palumbo holding that plastic cup, the cup her son used when his life was new and full of promise.

The scene outside St Adelaide’s looked nothing like it had four days earlier. If you didn’t recognize the departmental sedans parked out front, and didn’t notice the new doorjamb and padlock installed on the door, you would have no way of knowing anything had recently happened there. Certainly not coldblooded murder.

When they stepped inside, Josh Bontrager was leaning against the far wall. The room was powdered with the black dust used by CSU for latent prints.

‘What do we have, Josh?’ Byrne asked.

‘Take a look at this.’ Bontrager proffered a small clear evidence bag. Inside the bag was a portion of an old prayer card.

These were small rectangular cards handed out by Catholics during funeral wakes, visitations, memorial services. Sometimes they were given out as ‘thank you’ cards after the funeral or memorial service, or sent to those unable to attend. The card Bontrager had found was old from the look of it, perhaps a 1950s or 1960s vintage. Jessica had a small boxful in her house from the various family members and friends who had passed. There was very little chance that she would look at her collection of prayer cards again, but there was no chance she could ever throw them out. It just wasn’t done.

Jessica flipped the bag over. The torn card was from a funeral held on 20 January 1966 at St Damian’s Church.

Jessica handed the card to Byrne. He examined it closely.

‘This was behind the stone?’ Byrne asked.

‘Yeah.’

‘How was it positioned?’

‘It was leaning against the back. Up against the stone facade on the outer wall of the tower.’

Byrne didn’t have to ask if Bontrager had handled it carefully by the edges. Josh was a pro.

‘St Damian’s,’ Byrne said. ‘Do you know it?’

‘No,’ both Jessica and Bontrager replied.

‘I took some pictures of the area around the stone,’ Bontrager added. ‘It looks to have been recently pried loose. CSU is up there now.’

Byrne thought for a few more moments. ‘What exactly did the caller say again?’ he asked Jessica.

‘One God, seven churches.’

‘Churches.’

‘Yeah.’

Byrne held up the prayer card. ‘I think we should take a ride over to St Damian’s,’ he said. ‘Just to say we did.’

As Byrne got on his cell phone to get the location of the church, Jessica put the evidence bag containing the card on the floor, knelt down, took out the camera, took a close-up photograph of the new find. She handed the evidence bag to Bontrager. ‘Let’s see if we can get the lab to hump this.’

‘You got it,’ Bontrager said.

As Jessica and Byrne returned to the car, Jessica had to wonder what, if anything, they were going to find at the second church.