Deadly Consequences Read online

  “Down over there, to the right, by the end of the lagoon.” Rafe pointed.

  “Oh, yeah, right. I got a little twisted around,” Lombardo grunted.

  “That’s because we went tearing off after those kids so fast, we don’t even know for sure if there is a body.”

  “There’s a body. If the M.E. is here, there’s definitely a body.” Lombardo took off his suit jacket, slinging it over his shoulder. “The loot’s going to be impressed when she sees how quick and clean this all went down. All we gotta do now is wait till the body’s dug up, book those assholes and then we’re ready for our close-ups.”

  “I think you’re trippin’, dude. I got a bad feeling this isn’t going to go down as easy as you think,” Rafe said.

  Lombardo chuckled and loosened his tie. “And I can’t believe its frickin’ ninety degrees at two in the morning. In May for cripes sake. Unfrickin’believeable. But it’s a damn good night, so I ain’t going to whine about the heat.”

  “Thank God for small favors.” Rafe grinned.

  Lombardo whistled one of his favorite Sinatra tunes, enjoying his good fortune as they walked along the edge of the lagoon. He picked up a stone and skipped it across the water, watching it ripple. He looked forward to wrapping things up and going home, opening a nice bottle of Chianti, heating up some leftover pasta from Bruna’s in the microwave, and slipping a Tony Rome movie into the DVD player. Hell, he was off tomorrow, if he wanted, he could drink a whole bottle of wine and watch a second movie.

  “What the hell, man? What kind of shit did you get us into now?” Rafe nudged Lombardo with his elbow.

  “Whaddaya talkin’ about?”

  “Damn it, Lombardo, this isn’t our case is it?” Rafe stopped to glare at him. “Don’t try and spin this. I got two eyes and I can see. Why you keep going and messing with Sam’s cases? What is wrong with you?”

  Lombardo followed Rafe’s gaze. His eyes narrowed. Sam Black had arrived on the scene and she had Alec Winters with her. “Ain’t nothin’ wrong that I can’t fix.”

  Sam ran her hands through her hair. “Who would do something like this?” Her body shuddered. “It’s bad enough he killed the woman, but chopping off her leg? There are no words to describe what I’m thinking right now.”

  Alec’s face had a grayish cast. “We don’t see something like this too often,” he admitted. “Hell, we don’t even know if the woman is dead or alive.”

  “Unless he has medical training, it’s likely your vic died of a combination of shock and blood loss.” Matsuda offered. “I’ve had amputations come across my table, but usually they’re post mortem and done to make disposing the body easier or identification harder.”

  “He wanted her to suffer.” Sam stared at the empty grave. It was a rage killing, pure and simple. If it was a killing. Alec was right. They had no way of knowing if the victim was dead or alive. She turned to Alec. “We need to keep looking.”

  Sam instructed the uniforms to fan out, extending the search for the UNSUB to include areas where he may have buried remains. She frowned, letting her gaze wander over the boathouse and concession stands. It was possible that the perp was still on zoo property. There were too many places to hide, too many places the UNSUB could wait until morning, blending in with the crowds to make his escape.

  “Detective Black.” One of the officers raised his hand. “I heard over the radio that the UNSUBS have been taken into custody.”

  Her head swiveled in his direction. “Where did you hear that?”

  “He heard it from me.” A voice boomed from behind them.

  Sam clenched her fists, feeling her body tense. “Lombardo,” she hissed through gritted teeth. She watched him swagger down the grassy patch, a satisfied grin on his face.

  “Rafe and I wrapped things up nice and tight for you, Sam-I-Am. Good thing too. While you and lover boy were ditzing around over here, the punks were getting away.” Lombardo swung his jacket over his right shoulder. “There’s no reason for you and Alec to hang around.”

  Anger throbbed in her temples. Lombardo was becoming a real pain in her ass. “Dispatch said security apprehended a group of teenagers on the grounds, and were holding them. If I’m not mistaken, these are the same kids who reported finding the victim, so do you want to explain to me exactly how you and Rafe managed to apprehend them?”

  “Sam.” Lombardo smiled and tossed his arm over her shoulder, speaking to her as if she were a child, “The kids ran. They’re guilty. The case is closed.”

  She shrugged his arm off and looked him straight in the eye. “It’s my case, my call. What the hell are you even doing here?”

  “Call came over the radio, and we were in the neighborhood. It being a Saturday night and all, we decided to lend a hand. Far as we knew, Alec was still on vacation.” He leaned in close, whispering so only she could hear. “You want to waste taxpayer’s money and turn this into a three ring circus, that’s on you. But do you really want to make a scene in front of all these officers, Sweetcheeks?”

  Fuming, Sam jerked away, knowing he was right. She didn’t need to air their differences in front of an audience. Until recently, she never had a problem with him. He was a decent enough cop. Mid-forties, old school, from his taste in music, to the tailored suit and tie he wore each day. Word at the precinct was that since he’d put in his twenty, he was looking to go out in a blaze of glory, waiting to catch that one big case that would get his name in the headlines

  Lombardo resented her for one reason. She was Alec Winter’s partner.

  In the ten years that Alec worked out of the 18th Precinct, he’d earned a reputation as a playboy cop, media darling, and homicide dick extraordinaire. He became a magnet for sensational cases, attracting national attention.

  Sam’s trouble started six months ago, after a cable TV producer approached Alec, offering him a lucrative deal to base a series on Alec’s life and a position as a series consultant. Alec turned the offers down, but since then Lombardo was convinced that Alec was his ticket to a big city homicide cop’s trifecta – a glossy book deal, stints on the late night talk shows, and all the women he could handle.

  In Lombardo’s fantasy world, she was the only thing standing in his way.

  A nerve twitched over her eye. She could feel the gaze of the officers on them while they waited for their orders. Sam grabbed Lombardo’s arm, pulling him off to the side. “Let me tell you something Jay Lombardo. If you want to make a fool of yourself and your partner, that’s on you, but you are not going to bring me down with you. You want to help work this case, you do what I say. Do we understand each other?”

  He smirked. “Whatever you say, Sweetcheeks, it’s your funeral. Oh, and don’t expect me to send flowers.”

  Lombardo brushed past her, knocking her off balance. She grabbed onto his suit jacket, yanking him back.

  “Hey,” he slapped her hand away. “Don’t wrinkle the jacket.”

  Knowing everyone was still watching, she forced herself to smile. “One more thing, detective. Call me Sweetcheeks again and you won’t be able to pee for a week.”

  For a minute, she thought he was going to haul off and slug her. She raised her chin, daring him to try. To her surprise, his scowl faded and he broke into a grin. “Sam Black, you are one crazy broad, but at least you got balls.” His face hardened. “Too bad I’m going to crush them.”

  Sam averted her eyes as the limb was loaded onto a gurney. The severed leg was harder to look at than a dead body. She didn’t know why, it just was.

  “Holy frickin’ crap,” Lombardo’s jaw dropped. “What the hell is that?”

  “It’s a chicken leg, Lombardo, what the hell do you think,” Sam snapped. Just because she told him that he could stay and work the case didn’t mean she had to stoop to his level. “That is our victim,” she said without looking at the gurney.

  Lombardo’s jaw dropped. He swung his head left and right, scanning the area. “You’re shittin’ me right? Where’s the rest of her?�
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  He looked dumbfounded. Sam snuck a quick glance at the severed limb, rubbing her arms against a sudden chill. If a jaded detective like Lombardo was shocked, they truly were dealing with a monster.

  “That’s all we’ve got.” She told him, unable to resist a quick jab. “You still think it’s a good idea to call off the search, hotshot?”

  Lombardo puffed out his chest, his eyes measuring her. She held her ground, returning his stare. Without saying a word, he hooked his thumb in his pocket, and stomped towards the gurney for a closer look.

  Sam watched him go, wondering why she agreed to let him stay. He was going to make the investigation that much harder. Pressing her palms against her eyes, she shook off her irritation and walked over to Matsuda. “Can you tell how long ago the leg was amputated?”

  Matsuda shrugged. “Best guess, within the last twelve hours. With this heat, decomposition escalates. I’ll know more after it’s on my table.”

  Unidentified victims were her Achilles heel. “I don’t suppose there’s any way to make an ID…from that?” Sam gestured towards the limb, gnawing on a thumbnail. She hating thinking that somewhere in the city, a family waited at home, worrying about a loved one. Based on experience, nothing was worse than the anxiety of not knowing,

  “The chances are slim, but not totally impossible.” Matsuda peeled off his latex gloves. “We can get DNA from her toenails, which won’t do much good if her DNA isn’t in the system. Of course, you could get lucky and get a match to a missing person.”

  “If the amputation is less than forty-eight hours old, a report won’t even be filed yet. Damn it,” Sam swore. She didn’t understand a system that worked against victims.

  “Or, there’s one other way.” Matsuda glanced back at the leg and shrugged. “If she was ever treated by a podiatrist, it’s possible we can identify her from the records. There’s even a chance we could get a match by marks from objects her foot came in contact with, like shoes and ground surfaces.”

  Sam glanced at Alec. They both knew the odds of getting a positive ID were slim to none.

  “Do we even know for sure if it’s a she?” Lombardo interrupted. “Could be one of them she-males that like to dress like dames. Could be why someone whacked her.”

  “No.” Matsuda cringed at Lombardo’s crude choice of words. “It’s a female.”

  Tuning out the conversation, Sam crouched, moving her flashlight over the ground. Portable floodlights had been set up, but the glare reflecting off the wet grass made it difficult to see.

  “No blood splatters,” she observed, leaning her arms on her thighs. “What time does the zoo close, anybody know?”

  Rafe spent the last half hour looking uncomfortable. He hadn’t said a word since he and Lombardo arrived on the scene. “Pretty sure they close at six,” he said, “Around eight and a half hours ago.”

  Frowning, she tapped her fingers against her thigh. The location had to have meaning to the UNSUB. The burial wasn’t random, there was a reason he picked this spot.

  The killer was sending a message, but she had no idea what it was.

  Alec knelt down on one knee beside her. “What are you thinking?”

  “I’m wondering how the hell he pulled this off.” She raised her eyes, staring off into the darkness. “There’s too much we don’t know. Too many variables.”

  “You know what I think? You were doing fine until Lombardo showed up. You’re letting him distract you. I’m sensing some pretty heavy hostility between you two. You want to tell me what’s going on?”

  “Later,” she said with a tired smile. This wasn’t the time or place to tell Alec he was the reason Lombardo wanted to nail her to the wall. “I’ve put off talking to the teenagers because I don’t want Lombardo to be right.” She raised a hand, massaging the stiffness in her neck. “Makes me wonder who’s the bigger fool, him, or me?”

  “You’re not a fool, Sam,” Alec said. “You’ll get this.”

  “I hope so,” she said, nodding towards the victim. “For her sake.”

  Lombardo watched Sam head down the path, a smug look on his face. “Hey,” he tossed his jacket to Rafe. “Hang on to that a minute, will ya?”

  Rafe caught the jacket with one hand, and cast a furtive glance towards Matsuda. The M.E. had his back turned, hunched over the gurney. “What are you up to now, Spaghetti Man?”

  “Don’t go getting’ your knickers in a knot Madre Teresa.” Lombardo shoved his hand in his pocket, and pulled out a plastic bag. “Alls I’m doing is makin’ sure we all go home sooner rather than later. I got a nice bottle of wine, a good plate of pasta, and a Sinatra flick waitin’ for me at home.”

  “You’d be better off with a good woman waiting for you. Might make you a better man.”

  Lombardo stooped down and lifted something from the ground. “Ain’t nothing wrong with my manhood.” He leered with a wink. “And I know plenty of good women.”

  “You ever get your mind out of the gutter, man? I’m talking about a nice girl, not a bed warmer. My wife has lots of friends. You should let her fix you up.” Rafe tapped his foot and looked around. “What did you say you were doing?”

  “Gimme a minute and I’ll show you.” Lombardo opened the plastic bag and dropped something inside. “No disrespect to your sainted Maria, but see this is where you and me are different. Good-looking Latino guy like you, I can understand you wanting to plant your seeds and watch them grow, you know what I’m saying? Me on the other hand, I’m the original Italian Stallion”.

  “No, man, you know what you are?” Rafe said, “a cerdo.”

  “You’re just jealous on account that nobody is raggin’ on me to take out the trash or draggin’ me to church on Sunday. Toss me my jacket.”

  “With pleasure.” Rafe threw the jacket back to him. “You going to tell me what you found?”

  “Yeah, I’ll tell you.” Lombardo grabbed his suit coat, stuffed the plastic bag in his jacket pocket, and threw his arm over Rafe’s shoulder. “Let’s take a walk first.”

  Five teenagers stood off to the side at the far end of the lagoon. Even from a distance, Sam could see the boys were sullen and defensive, the girls, wide eyed and frightened. They were flanked by two officers, one on either side. One of the boys watched her approach and raised his chin in a belligerent manner. His dark eyes spiked with attitude, and she knew he was trying to intimidate her.

  Sam raised her brow and returned his stare, keeping her gaze locked on his. Her eyes narrowed. She knew the kid’s type. A macho man, who wasn’t above smacking his girlfriend around when the mood struck. The kid buckled first. He kicked a loose pebble and dropped his eyes, stuffing one hand in his pocket while, draping the other around his girl.

  Sam’s stomach sank, realizing the group was one girl short of an even half dozen. Kids that age were notorious for thinking they could get away with murder. Maybe this time, one of them took that expression a little too literally.

  She headed towards them, keeping her eyes trained on the leader. Deciding to push the kid’s buttons, she stepped right up to him, stopping less than a foot away. “Where’s your buddy’s girl?”

  Up close, the boy was scrawnier than he seemed from a distance until one noticed the sinewy muscles beneath his tattoo-covered arms.

  “You don’t have to be all up in my space, man.” The kid took a step back, his lips curling as he looked her up and down. “I ain’t deaf, yo.”

  “First off, don’t call me man, you got that?” She sent him a steely gaze and took two steps forward, close enough to see the sweat forming on his brow.

  He backed up, waving his arms. “Yeah, yeah, all right, it’s cool.”

  Sam jerked her chin towards the tallest kid in the bunch, the one without a girl by his side. “I asked you where your buddy’s date is.”

  “He couldn’t afford one,” the third boy snickered, exchanging high fives with the leader.

  Sam moved to the left, placing her hands on her hips. “Is that right? So
you’re telling me these ladies with you are working girls?”

  “He better not be sayin’ that,” one of the girl’s spoke up, shoving her elbow into her dates stomach. A shiny rhinestone tiara perched on the top of her head. “You take that shit back right now, or my brother will kick your ass.”

  He threw his hands up in the air. “Calm down, bitch, no need to be gettin’ all nasty.”

  Sam raised her brows and addressed the girl. “You let him talk to you like that?”

  The girl folded her arms across her chest. “Hell, no I don’t. This loser is trying to act all tough because he’s so scared he’s ready to shit his pants. Please, don’t be listening to them, they all crazy.”

  “Okay.” Sam nodded. “So I’ll ask you, what were you doing here after the zoo closed, and why isn’t that guy with his girlfriend.”

  The leader poked the girl in the arm. “You don’t gotta say nothin’. We already gave our statement to that moron cop, not that he listened worth shit.”

  “That moron cop isn’t in charge. I am,” Sam said. “So you’re going to repeat your story as many times as I need you to, starting with your names.”

  “See that?” The girl turned to him with a smug expression. “The lady is in charge, and she sure as hell has more balls than all of you put together.” She turned back to Sam. “His name is Manny, and I’d be happy to explain things to you, Ma’am, because after tonight, I don’t want nothin’ to do with these losers. I don’t want my momma throwing me out of her house, least not ‘till I’m done with school. I have aspirations.”

  Sam hid a smile. “What’s your name?”

  “I’m Cassie, and I didn’t want no part of this, but I got, what’s the word? Sucked in,” she said proudly.

  “Okay, Cassie, tell me what happened.” Sam listened to the girl’s story, but her gaze skirted over each of the teens. Body language often told a different tale, but perhaps more important, she examined their appearance.

  Cassie sighed, a long-suffering sound that she must have picked up from her mother. “It’s like this.” She paused to glare at the boys. “It’s prom night. A bunch of us were supposed to get a room and hang out, and, you know, go to Great America in the morning. But these jokers here, they decided it would be more fun to hide out in the zoo overnight. Stupid.” She rolled her eyes.