Sloan never flinched. Lets go, Lucas said. And to Sloan: Have you got an hour, in an hour or so? To go over to ODells place, and look around?
Sure.
LUCAS AND SHERRILL WALKED DOWN THE STREET TO a cop hangout, got sandwiches, and Sherrill said, I hope I can get past this wise-mouth stuff with you. Ive been a wise-ass ever since we got together, and Im having a hard time getting off that wavelength.
Ill recite you a poem sometime, Lucas said. It makes women feel all gushy and tender; they roll right over on their backs.
You just did it to me.
What?
Wise-assed me. I heard you read poetry. I alwaysthought it was neat. Now you wise-assed it.
Yeah. He looked up at her, serious now. Im sorry I wise-assed it. I do like poetry, and I do like reading some of it to women.
Say a poem to me.
He thought, and then said, slowly, It was Din, Din, Din you limpin lump of
Get the fuck out of here, she said. You did it again.
We gotta do something about this, he said, grinning at her. I really am serious. Weve got to have at least one honest talk. Penalties for any wise-ass remarks.
Tomorrow night. For dinner.
Tomorrow, he agreed.
Sherrills phone rang, and she took it out of her purse, listened, and handed it to him: Rose Marie. Christ, she knew right where to call.
Lucas put the phone to his ear. Yeah?
I didnt interrupt a tender moment, did I?
Yeah. I was about to bite into a cheeseburger.
I called Towson about your memo. He wants to meet.
Its too soon.
No its not. Im sending a copy over for him to read. You should get over there at two oclock. Frank is gonna go along. From the memo, I dont think were likely to get her unless she kills somebody else. So you guys are gonna have to figure something out.
LUCAS DROPPED SHERRILL BACK AT THE OFFICE, picked up Sloan, and they walked together over to ODells apartment building. The security guard recognized Sloan and sent them up.
The basic problem is, if you go down in the elevator, you cant get back up without a key card, Sloan said. Even if you have a key card, theres a monitor camera in the elevator, so a guard might recognize you… not that they spend a lot of time looking at the monitor, Sloan said, as they got in the elevator.
So she gets off at another floor…
Nope. Cant get off at another floor. If you get in at the lobby, you can go to any one floor. If you get in at any other floor, you can only go down to the lobby. Unless you have a key card.
How about the fire stairs?
The doors are locked in the lobby and the skyway. From those floors, you cant get in without a key, you can only get out. And you cant get out on any floor except the lobby or the skyway, even if you have a key.
A key, not a key card, Lucas said.
Thats rightlike a Schlage.
How close do they track the cards?
They know how many each person is signed out for. ODell had three, two for herself, and one for her father, who lives way the hell out in South Dakota. We found her two cards, and her father still had his when he was here to pick up the body. So that was all of hers. But somebody else in the building? Who knows? There are almost three hundred cards out. I suppose we could try to find all of them… Id guess a few are missing. The problem is figuring out how the McDonalds might have gotten one.
Huh. If it was all arranged ahead of time, were fucked anyway. What if she had to do it off the top of her head? Maybe a days thought?
Sloan shrugged. You figure it out.
They got off on ODells floor, and Lucas stood with his back to the door of her apartment. She went down first, then she had to get back up to kill her.
Right.
Lucas looked at the elevator: Even if shes got a key card, theres a problem coming back up to kill ODell. She cant guarantee the guard wont look at the monitor out of sheer boredom, if he sees movement on the screen. If he does, shes dead meat. Hes just seen her leave, and now shes going up to kill somebody. Therefore…
She doesnt use the elevator, she uses the stairwell, Sloan said. She has a Schlage key for the door in the skyway. She signs out of the building, runs across the streetto the skyway, goes up, walks across the skyway to the skyway fire door, uses her Schlage to get into the stairwell, walks up here. Where you have a problem: she cant get out of the stairwell. Theres no key at all thatll get you out of the stairwell onto another floor. You can only get out in the skyway or the lobby.
Lucas worked on it for a moment. Like this, he said finally. She knows she doesnt have the votes to make a real deal with ODell: she claims shes got them, but Bone says she didnt, and she knows she doesnt. Shes come here specifically to kill ODellshe knows that when she gets here. She cant just sneak up and do it, because she doesnt have any key. She doesnt have anything. So she calls ODell to talk about making a deal, and her only purpose is to get into the building. So she gets out of the elevator, and right when she arrives, before she talks to ODell, she walks over to the fire door, opens it, takes some duct tape out of her purse, tapes the lock, walks down the stairs to the skyway, opens that door, tapes it, and then comes back up here and rings the doorbell.
ODell answers it, they talk, the deal falls through, and she leaves. ODell sees her into the elevator, and she goes down through the lobby and signs out, Sloan said.
Then she runs across the street, comes up into the skyway, goes in through the taped door, runs up the stairs, knocks on the door, and boom. She has to do it theneven though she knows well look at herbecause she cant count on the tape being left on the door for more than a short time.
Which explains something, Sloan said. ODell told Louise Compton that there was somebody at the door, which meant that she didnt know who was at the door, which meant that she didnt know whod be arriving. She wasnt expecting anyone, like a boyfriend. There was no easy explanation for that knock, at least not in her mind.
So Audrey shoots her, checks her to make sure shes dead, runs back down the stairs, carefully pulling the tape off the locks… and goes home.
Fuckin cold, man, Sloan said.
Sheiscold. I wonder if she was cold enough to wash the sticky stuff off the doors when she pulled off the tape? Shed need acetone, or something, Lucas said.
They were both staring at the fire door. Sloan reached out to the doorknob, pulled the door open, bent forward to look at the lock tongue, then knelt. Lucas squatted beside him.
Looks like sticky stuff, Sloan said. He tapped his index finger next to what looked like gray tape residue.
Wonder how many movers have gone in and out, using tape?
Up this high? None. Thats why the elevators so big. And I think this stuff would wear away, if the door was opened and closed on it enough. So its probably fairly new.
Lets get Crime Scene over here, Lucas said, standing up. And lets get a search warrant ready, see if we can find some tape at her place that matches this sticky stuffif the lab guys can make a match like that.
On the way back down in the elevator, Sloan said, Its a reach.
Shesa reach. She looks like Old Mother Hubbard and shes really the Wicked Witch of the West.
THE HENNEPIN COUNTY ATTORNEY, RANDALL TOWSON; his chief deputy, Donald Dunn; and Richard Kirk, head of the criminal division, met with Lucas and Frank Lester, deputy chief and head of the investigative division.
Youre telling us shes a serial killer, Towson said.
Everything points to it, Lucas said. Im not sure we could prove it to a jury.
Make the argument.
