arm.
'Thanks, Henry. I will'
In the car ride back to the office, Al asked, 'Are we in the old west? Why didn't we arrest him?'
'For what?'
'For shooting those kids. That's what.'
'You mean for shooting back at someone trying to kill him. You saw those bullet holes.'
'Well, how about for lying to the police.'
'Exactly what did he lie to us about?'
'We got to do something.'
'Yes, we do. Makinen isn't the one who has been lying. So who else has
been?'
'God damn it. You're right! We go after the girl, Shermon and Kawalski.'
* * * *
_Hands turn over the next card._
A man lies on the ground. His body pierced by ten swords.
_The hands hesitated at the gruesome sight. Slowly they reach and turn off the light._
CHAPTER 7: The Ten of Swords
Vera woke every morning an hour before she had to get her kids up for school. That hour was the time she had for herself. She put the coffee on and rolled out the stationary bicycle. She turned on the TV to her favorite morning talk show. She rode the bike to the sound of the local news and the smell of brewing coffee. Twenty minutes later when she got off the bike, she modeled her body in front of the living room mirror. She held her arms over her head as she examined her midriff for any signs of giving birth to three kids. After passing inspection, she went to the kitchen for her coffee.
Vera heard a noise outside the window. She saw the backs of some dogs fighting over something in back by the alley. _'Did the kids leave the cover off the garbage cans again?'_ she thought as she went to the back door.
She yelled at the dogs but they continued fighting. She saw what she thought was a white kitchen garbage bag between the dog's legs. She turned to put the garden hose on the dogs but it wasn't coiled up by the back door. Her eyes followed the green hose back to where the dogs were fighting. Carefully, she pulled the hose away from the animals. Once it was in her hands, she turned the water on. The dogs scattered with a series of yelps.
Vera screamed and fainted. Her children found her there and called 911. To the protests of his older sister, Vera's teenage son took a couple of Polaroids of the girl's body before the cops showed up. He was suspended from school for the rest of the week when his study hall teacher caught him passing one of the pictures around to his friends.
* * * *
Henry spent most of the day trying to find Jenny Rossetti. At one o'clock that afternoon, he received a call from Nancy, the dispatcher, to go to the police station at Deer Lake Falls. Henry knew something had happened when he saw the BCA, Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, (the state police investigative branch) van parked in back of the station. When Henry entered, he saw Frank.
'Hi, Frank. What are the state cops doing up here?'
'We've got a murder, Henry, a bad one. We're trying to keep things quiet for a while. We need to get as much done as we can before the reporters show up. We'll be in real trouble if we don't have something by the ten o'clock news. If the reporters start a panic, we might never find out what happened.'
'What can I do?'
'I need to find out everything you know about Jenny Rossetti.'
'Damn. I've been looking for her all day. What happened?'
'I trust you, Henry, so I'll tell you what we have. You know this is all preliminary.'
Frank waited till he got Henry's nod in reply, 'Around 7:30 this morning she was found dead in a backyard. She was killed at least ten hours earlier and dumped in the yard.'
Frank paused and gave Henry an inquiring look, 'So, why were you looking for her?'
'She filed a sexual assault complaint against her teacher. I've been checking on it. I thought she was lying. I was going to see if I could find her and find out why.'
'Could the teacher have killed her?'
'I don't see how. I have been having a car drive by the teacher's house every hour or so and he was home last night. I talked to him yesterday afternoon and he wasn't even thinking about the girl at that time.'
Anxious to find out more, Henry continued, 'Come on, Frank. We've worked together before. You know me. What is it about this case? You owe me.'
Frank checked quickly for anyone who could be listening. He said,
'Okay, Henry. You know the people and the area. You might be able to help me get started. Remember, nothing has been verified in the lab.'
He took out his notebook. Referring to his notes, he continued.
'Rossetti's body was found around 7:30 AM by Vera Johnson, wife of one of the Johnsons in the accounting firm of Johnston and Johnson. By the time the local police could secure the crime scene, both she and her children had disturbed the area around the body. The body was found naked and split open from the neck to the crotch with what looked like a chain saw. The lab will be checking on the gouges left on the pubic bone and ribs to see if they can place a manufacturer and model to the saw. The body had also been partially eaten by neighborhood dogs. I checked with the town police and that area of town had been known to have problems with dogs. The paper ran a story last week about a poodle being attack and killed by the other dogs in the neighborhood. The person who killed the girl also washed the body with a garden hose from Johnson's house. During the cursory examination of the body, it was noted the corpse had been bled dry. No significant blood was found in the yard. The degree of blood loss was not consistent with a massive trauma death of a chain saw attack. So here is what we think we know now. Rossetti was murdered by being bled to death some time last evening. Her body was split open with a chain saw either to hide the manner of her death or remove something the killer wanted or needed. The body was then taken to a place where it would be found. Finally it was washed with the garden hose and left for the neighborhood dogs to chew on.'
Henry's only reply was a very quiet, 'God!'
* * * *
At the law firm of Bodonavich, Finch, and Heiminen, James was escorted to a conference room. Sandra Thomas stood to shake hands with him. They tentatively examined each other. The lawyer trying to judge how well the man would stand up in court, the man trying to decide on whether he could trust the lawyer.
Early in their meeting, Sandra decided that Makinen would be one of the
few clients she had who would more than hold his own in any court procedure. The only thing that bothered her was a small shiver that started behind her neck every time she looked at Makinen.
It took her till the end of the meeting before she could place the feeling he gave her. She had brought her children to the State Zoo. They had spent a long, tiring day covering the different exhibits. She had stopped to clean a candy smear from the corner of her daughter's chin when she felt a cold shiver in the small of her back. She looked around. Seeing no one near, she look at the exhibit they were standing next to. On the other side of the visitor fence, she saw the big cat. The tiger was watching them with a studied indifference. As the big predator watched them, the cat stretched displaying her huge claws. The lethal display and casual indifference that could turn in an instant to death increased her uneasiness. As Sandra hurried her children to the next exhibit, she felt those indifferent eyes track their movements.
She again looked again at Makinen. She saw behind the veiled eyes the indifference of a predator who was only held in check by a thin fence of restraint.
Sandra suddenly felt pity for Kawalski and Shermon. No matter what happened in court, they had disturbed the wrong person. She watched the eyes of the predator cloud over at the end of their meeting. A sad smile
