Verses for the Dead

31

The headquarters of the Miami Police Department was housed in a large, squat building that — with its tiers of smoked windows, angled up and out in cantilever style — reminded Coldmoon of an air traffic control tower. It was on Northwest Second Avenue, near the skyscrapers of downtown and not far from the city cemetery; he even recognized a few landmarks from their memorable dash to Agatha Flayley’s tomb.

And that wasn’t all he found memorable. Upon being picked up by Pendergast at his hotel, Coldmoon found his partner within a dented yellow cab whose interior odor, not to mention driver, were all too familiar. Pendergast, it seemed, had tracked down Axel and hired him as temporary chauffeur. “He knows the city,” Pendergast had explained as they’d shot westward over the MacArthur Causeway. “And he seems to enjoy this newfound freedom to drive without the usual constraints. I admire a man who takes pride in his work.”

Coldmoon — who was sick and tired of driving them around in the ludicrous Miami traffic — didn’t complain.

After a suitably terrifying ride, the cab pulled up beside the entrance of the Miami HQ with a squeal of poorly maintained brakes. A mob of reporters, journalists, and camerapeople at the main double doors fell back at the sound, and Pendergast got out, Coldmoon following. Axel — Coldmoon still had no idea what his last name was — showed no intention of moving, but instead placed a small black wallet with a gold shield on the dashboard.

“What did you give him?” Coldmoon asked.

“A mere bauble,” came the reply.

Sensing fresh meat, the crowd of reporters now closed back in on them. They pushed through, avoiding eye contact and ignoring shouted questions. One television journalist — a young woman with short blond hair, wide cheekbones, and an expensive-looking outfit — blocked Coldmoon’s way and danced to one side and the other as he tried to pass. He recognized her from flipping channels in his hotel room: she was the investigative reporter for a local news channel. Someone-or-other Fleming — he couldn’t remember her first name. Very attractive, but with eyes as bright as a rattlesnake’s.

“Excuse me, sir!” the woman said, thrusting forward a microphone labeled with a garish 6 as Pendergast paused to look back. “Sir! What can you tell me about the latest victim? Can you confirm a serial killer’s involved?”

Coldmoon removed his cap. “H’ahíya wóglaka ye,” he said. “Owákahnige šni.” And he stepped around her as tactfully as possible.

“What did you tell her?” Pendergast asked as they entered the building.

“Ms. Fleming? I said I couldn’t understand and asked her to speak more slowly.”

Pendergast clucked disapprovingly. “A lie is a lie, even in Lakota.”

“On the reservation the elders had a saying — the only person worse than a liar is a hypocrite.”

“My Cajun grandmother in New Orleans was fond of the same hoary proverb.”

Pendergast walked over to a large front desk and said something in low tones to a uniformed officer. The cop pointed toward a nearby elevator bank. They showed their IDs, signed in, bypassed the metal detector, and headed for the elevators.

“We’re going to what’s known as the war room,” said Pendergast. “It’s where the MPD keep their electronic toys. It gives them access to the most up-to-date real-time information available, along with links to medical and criminological databases. I’m preparing a little worksite of our own, in a less conspicuous area, but this office will do for an initial confabulation. That liaison fellow, Commander Grove, promised to meet us there, along with Lieutenant Sandoval.”

“You really think Pickett will live up to his promise and let us work without interference?”

“We haven’t been packed off to Salt Lake City, have we?” They exited the elevator and made their way down a cluttered hallway. Coldmoon looked at his watch: 3:00 PM exactly.

The war room lived up to its name, bristling with computers and a huge glossy blackboard on casters. Coldmoon looked around. Some of the fluorescent bulbs behind their frosted ceiling panels were burned out, and one was flickering. There was a battered drip coffeemaker on a table in the far corner, surrounded by stacks of paper cups and cans of powdered milk. He could tell just by looking that the half-full pot had been sitting for only a few hours. Too fresh. Despite the high-tech equipment, this felt a lot more familiar than the sleek FBI headquarters in Miramar, where they’d been given the psych profile by Dr. Mars. This place had a lived-in feel, a place where real police work was done, with scuff marks on the walls, a grumbling HVAC system, and no windows. Coldmoon relaxed.

The center of the room was taken up by a rectangular table. At one end sat Sandoval and Commander Grove. Sandoval’s face was studiously neutral, but the commander couldn’t quite conceal his look of interest, even eagerness. And why not — this was a spectacular investigation, one for the books.

“Gentlemen,” Pendergast said, nodding at each in turn. “Thanks to the work of Dr. Fauchet, we now know Flayley was subjected to the same kind of push-choke strangulation that killed Baxter. In short, these were homicides staged as suicides.” He turned to Sandoval. “Lieutenant, anything new to bring to our attention?”

Sandoval stroked an imaginary mustache as his impassive expression turned sour. “That damned newshound Smithback is really riling people up. First he digs up the Brokenhearts moniker, then just this morning he figures out that both Baxter and Flayley saw the same shrink.” He picked up his cell phone and began reading aloud from an online article:

He replaced his phone on the desk in disgust. “We should have found that shrink ourselves, not learned it from a damned newspaper. Just like we should have leaned harder on a possible link between the old suicides and the new murders. That’s on us.”

“At least that reporter doesn’t know the ‘old suicides’ weren’t suicides,” Coldmoon said.

Sandoval nodded. Then he pushed a small remote control on the desk, and the large black rectangle at the far end of the room came to life. Coldmoon realized that it was not a blackboard after all, but an ultra-high-resolution monitor. The screen split into three windows displaying head shots: Baxter, Flayley, and Adler.

“I find it curious,” Pendergast said, “that while all of these supposed suicides lived in Greater Miami, they were killed hundreds of miles apart. And yet the recent Brokenhearts murders all took place in Miami Beach.”

“You think that’s relevant?” Sandoval asked.

“I haven’t the faintest idea.”

Sandoval turned to Grove. “Anything yet on the Adler autopsy files, Commander?”

“We finally broke the logjam,” Grove said. “Our team located her files and morgue photographs. I’ll be getting them within the hour. She was apparently a follower of a country music group, the Fat Palmettos, and she traveled up to North Carolina from Hialeah for a concert that never took place — the lead guitarist sprained a thumb.”

“The Fat Palmettos,” Coldmoon said.

“They disbanded several years ago.”

“We’ll check on them anyway,” said Sandoval. “Meanwhile, our teams here in Miami Beach are interviewing her remaining family, former co-workers, the rest. Nothing of note so far.”

“Any developments on Misty Carpenter and her unusual business?” Coldmoon asked.

“We’ve decrypted her client list,” said Sandoval, “and started interviews. Once again, it looks like she was simply a target of opportunity.”

“Mmmm,” Pendergast murmured. He looked away a moment, his eyes narrowing. Then he glanced again at Sandoval. “Thank you very much, Lieutenant. This has been extremely helpful.”

“Sure,” Sandoval said, gathering his stuff together.

No questions, no second-guessing, no nothing — just pure cooperation. Coldmoon had to admit: Pickett’s word seemed good.

“Commander Grove,” Pendergast said, “now that we have a clearer sense of what we’re looking for, I was hoping the research and external relations departments of the Miami PD — which I understand are your jurisdiction — could cast a net for us. Specifically, a search for deaths, declared as suicides, that match the MO of Baxter, Flayley, and Adler. It’s true we haven’t yet gotten confirmation on Adler, but I think it’s worth searching for additional suicides possibly tricked out to look like murder — don’t you?”

“I do — very good idea.” Grove began jotting notes in a small, leather-bound notebook.

“It will be a rather wide net, and I’m afraid your people will have a lot of work on their hands. You’ll need to search for suicides matching the following characteristics: female, aged twenty to forty, who resided in Greater Miami but died out of state, hung with a knotted bedsheet, and leaving no suicide note. If any autopsies resulted in a conclusion of murder, or even suspicion of it, include those as well. For the time being, to make the search more manageable, you might limit things to states east of the Mississippi.”

“Got it,” Grove said, still writing. “And the time interval?”

“January 2006 to January 2008.”

Coldmoon glanced at Pendergast. With such broad parameters, he figured they’d probably get a list as long as the phone book. Thank God they had Grove and his ability to marshal the data-gathering resources of the Miami PD.

Grove stood up. “If there’s nothing else, gentlemen, I’ll get right on it.”

“We’re greatly indebted to you for this assistance, Commander,” Pendergast said.

“Think nothing of it. Maybe you can give me a tour of Twenty-Six Federal Plaza next time I’m in New York.”

“It would be my pleasure.” And Pendergast turned away as Grove followed Lieutenant Sandoval out of the war room and down the corridor.