There’s no doubt. Same MO, same gun, same guy. The ballistics only underlined what we already knew.”
McCaleb nodded.
“I wonder why the guy picked up the brass if he knew the lead would be there. What was he using?”
“Nine-millimeter hardballs. Federals. Full metal jacket. Picking up the shells is just good practice. On my case, the shot was through and through and we dug the slug out of a concrete wall. He probably was guessing-maybe hoping-it was too mashed up for a ballistics comparison. So like a good little shooter, he picked up the brass.”
McCaleb nodded, noting the disdain in her voice for her quarry.
“Anyway, it doesn’t really matter,” she said. “Like I said, watch the tapes. We’re dealing with one guy here. You don’t need ballistics to know it.”
“Did you or the LAPD take it any further than that?”
“What do you mean, Firearms and Ballistics?”
“Yeah. Who has the evidence?”
“We do. The L.A. caseload’s a little heavier than over here. We agreed, since our case was first, to hold all of the evidence. I had F and B do the regular routine, you know, look for similars, et cetera, but they drew a blank. Looks like just these two cases. For now.”
McCaleb thought about telling her about the bureau’s DRUG-FIRE computer but decided the time wasn’t right yet. He’d wait until he had reviewed the tapes and the murder books before he started suggesting what she should do.
He noticed Winston check her watch.
“You working this by yourself?” he asked.
“I am now. I caught the lead and Dan Sistrunk partnered it with me. You know him?”
“Uh, was he one of the guys in the mausoleum that night?”
“Right, the Hatch surveillance. He was there. Anyway, we worked this one together and then other things happened. Other cases. It’s all mine now. Lucky me.”
McCaleb nodded and smiled. He understood how it went. If a case wasn’t solved by the team quickly, one player got stuck with it.
“You going to get any flak for giving me this stuff?”
“No. The captain knows what you did for us on Lisa Mondrian.”
Lisa Mondrian was the woman found in Vasquez Rocks. McCaleb thought it was unusual that Winston had referred to her by name. It was unusual because most cops he knew tried to depersonalize the victims. It made it easier to live with.
“The captain was the lieutenant back then,” Winston was saying. “He knows we owe you one. We talked and he said give you the stuff. I just wish we could pay you with something better than this. I don’t know what you’ll be able to do with this, Terry. We’ve just been waiting.”
Meaning they were waiting for the shooter to strike again and hopefully make a mistake. Unfortunately it often took fresh blood to solve old killings.
“Well, I’ll see what I can do with it. At least it’s something to keep me busy. What was that you said on the phone about it being three-strikes stuff?”
Winston frowned.
“We’re getting more and more like these. Ever since they put in the three-strikes law in Sacramento. I don’t know since you’ve been out of the life if you’ve followed it. But the law says three felony convictions and you’re out. Automatic life without parole.”
“Right. I know about it.”
“Well, with some of these assholes, all that did was make ’em more careful. Now they wipe out witnesses where before they’d just rob. Three strikes was supposed to be some kind of deterrent. You ask me, it just got a lot of people killed like James Cordell and the two in that market.”
“So you think that’s what this guy’s doing?”
“Looks it to me. You saw one of the tapes. There’s no hesitation. This scumbag knew what he was going to do before he even went up to that ATM or into that store. He wanted no witnesses. So that’s the hunch I’ve been following. In my spare time I’ve been going through the files, looking for stick-up men with two or more falls already under their belts. I think the man in the ski mask is one of them. He used to be a robber. Now he’s a robbing murderer. Natural evolution.”
“And no luck yet?”
“With the files, nope. But either I’ll find him or he’ll find me. He’s not the type who’s going to suddenly go square. And judging by the fact he’s shooting people for a few hundred dollars, he’s decided that under no circumstances is he going back to the cage. That’s for sure. He’s going to do this again. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened yet-it’s been two months since the last one. But when he does, maybe he’ll fuck up just a little and we’ll get him. Sooner or later, we will. I guarantee it. My victim had a wife and two little daughters. I’m going to get the piece of shit who did this.”
McCaleb nodded. He liked her outrage-fueled dedication. It was a full turn away from Arrango’s view of things. He started gathering up the documents and tapes and told Winston he would be calling her after he looked over all of the material. He told her it might be a few days.
“No sweat,” she said. “Whatever you can do we can use.”
When McCaleb got back to the Taurus, he found Buddy Lockridge sitting with his back to the driver’s-side door and his legs stretched across the front seat. He was idly practicing a blues riff on a harmonica while reading a book opened on his lap. McCaleb opened the passenger door and waited for him to move his legs. As he finally got in, he noticed Buddy had been reading a book titled
“That was pretty quick,” Buddy said.
“Yeah, there wasn’t a lot to say.”
He put the stack of reports and videocassettes on the floor between his feet.
“What’s all of that?”
“Just some stuff I have to go through.”
Lockridge leaned over and looked at the top sheet. It was an incident report.
“James Cordell,” he read out loud. “Who’s that?”
“Buddy, I’m beginning to think-”
“I know, I know.”
He took the hint, straightened up and started the car. He asked nothing more about the documents.
“So, where to now?”
“Now we just go back. San Pedro.”
“I thought you said you needed me for a few days. I’ll stop asking questions, I promise.”
There was a slight protest in his voice.
“It’s not that. I still need you. But right now I need to go back and go through some of this stuff.”
Buddy dejectedly tossed his book onto the dashboard, dropped the harp into the door pocket and put the car into gear.
He decided that the best way to do it would be to go through the material chronologically. That meant the Cordell case came first. He went through the stack, separating out the reports regarding the Gloria Torres killing
