Santa Ana, California
They jumped into the BMW because Thomas always insisted on driving. He claimed Shadowhawk was too reckless and drove too fast. He was only forty-three, but sometimes he acted like an old man. Hell, she was thirty and felt twenty-one.
In a lot of ways they were polar opposites. He handed her a slip of paper as was their usual routine. It was the address of the tow company that had the Schiffs’ Cadillac. She punched it into the GPS. He had a big fear of getting lost.
“Did they mention anything else?” she asked.
He pulled up to the street and waited for the audio to tell him which way to turn. “Just that the keys were in the ignition and the car was left running. It was out of gas.”
By taking side streets, it was forty-five minutes later when they entered a Westminster industrial area. They located Leo’s Towing, and parked behind a highway patrol car. As they walked toward the uniform, they flashed their badges.
Once close enough, they introduced themselves. Officer Brinks was fresh out of diapers. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but the kid did still have the remnants of teenage acne.
“What can you tell me?” Thomas asked.
The young officer appeared nervous. Shadowhawk felt bad for her earlier thoughts. Her rookie days had been filled with self-doubt.
He referred to his pad. “I interviewed Mr. Leonard White, the owner of this establishment. He got a call at ten, uh, 2200 hours Saturday night from a security guard at Westminster Memorial Park to pick up an abandoned car.” He looked up from his notes. “That’s a cemetery, sir.”
“Ah.” Thomas nodded. “Thank you, Brinks.”
“Since the automobile hadn’t been picked up by…” He referred to his notes again. “Closing Monday, he approached the car in an effort to get the registration out of the glove box. A foul odor was emitting from said vehicle.
“He backed away without touching it further and called 911. At 1030 hours, I was dispatched to this address. When I noticed the vehicle was a white Cadillac, I remembered the BOLO and returned to my cruiser where I pulled out my clipboard. I located the notice from Monday. Since the license plate number matched, I called it in.”
“Have you touched the vehicle, Brinks?” Shadowhawk asked.
“No, ma’am.”
“Good job, Brinks,” Thomas added.
The kid beamed. “Thank you, sir.” He stuffed his pad back into his pocket. Shadowhawk kept the high five to herself.
A short, greasy looking fellow stood nearby with a grin on his face. He was missing a front tooth. The top of his head was bald, and what was left of his hair was pulled back into an inch long ponytail. It had to be Leo, the owner of this fine establishment.
She knew how this kind of business worked. These junk yard dogs paid the owners who called them to tow cars from their parking lots. Old Leo here must pay a good chunk of change, there were quite a few nice cars waiting for their owners to figure out what happened. The longer the car sat there, the more the prick could charge. There was the tow fee plus the ‘per day’ charge and all that had to be paid in cash. No cash, no keys.
He appeared eager to see what was making that awful stink. Everyone thought they wanted to see a dead body, but the reality wasn’t so cool. Then again, this guy seemed way too excited at the prospect. He was all but salivating. He was sending out a seriously creepy vibe. She found herself retreating several steps.
Thomas, who stood six-foot-five in his stocking feet, turned to the little bug, who hit him just above his navel. He reminded her of Danny DeVito in that old sitcom, Taxi.
“Mr. White, if you could just go back to your office, someone will be in to interview you later.”
“But–” He pointed toward the trunk of the Cadillac.
“Thank you,” Thomas said, firmly.
“Yeah.” He put his chubby hands on his hips. “But I thought, I mean, since I called you guys–”
Thomas interrupted. “And we truly appreciate that.”
She couldn’t believe this scumbag was trying to take on Thomas when he was in badass mode. Her partner stared Slimy down until he finally gave up and headed across the lot. It was easy to see why no one had smelled the car before, it was parked at the furthest spot in the junk yard.
“Shadowhawk, you want to get us some gloves from the back of the car? Make sure Brinks here has a pair.”
The young man stepped forward and puffed up his chest, but she kept her grin to herself. When she returned, she handed out the latex gloves, then waited for Thomas to make the call.
He looked at the rookie. “Okay, Brinks, you want to do the honors?”
“Sir?”
“There’s a trunk release inside the car. Why don’t you go and open it for us?”
“Yes, sir.”
They stood back a bit, knowing the smell that would escape. Thomas was being smart by having the kid out of the line of fire. If she had to bet, he had yet to see his first decomposing body. It took a few minutes before he located the button. When he did, the trunk popped open about a foot. She pushed it the rest of the way up and stepped away from the noxious fumes.
“Son of a bitch.” The cadaver was male, but other than that, it was anyone’s guess. The body was bloated beyond recognition, resting in a thick soup of bodily fluids and fecal matter. The COD was no doubt the shotgun blast to the face, which was a mass of pulp.
Before anyone could stop him, Brinks stuck his head in between them. She couldn’t say whether it was the fumes or the display, but he was there one second and gone the next. She had to give him credit, he almost made it to the street before he collapsed to his knees puking his guts out.
“Oh, that’s gotta hurt. Shit, he’s gonna have some pretty bad bruises on his knees tomorrow,” she said.
“Poor, kid.” Thomas shook his head. “I remember my first, it was not as bad as this one, but it still left an indelible mark.”
“Yeah. My first was pretty gnarly, but not this bad either. It was a homeless guy struck by a train, one half of him flew right, the other half was found in some bushes on the left side of the tracks. It happened sometime around dawn. I was first on the scene, so the kill was relatively fresh. It was a few years before I’d seen a seriously decomposing corpse like this.” She noticed Brinks seemed to have had enough and was trying to stand.
They both ran over.
“Whoa there, cowboy, easy.” Shadowhawk put her hand under his left arm.
Thomas grabbed the right. “Slow down. No need to rush things.”
Brinks mumbled something without looking up.
“What’s that?” Thomas asked.
“I want to die,” he said with a raspy voice.
“Oh, hell, it just feels like that now. You’ll get over it,” she added.
He shook his head and attempted to stand, with their help he made it to his feet. “I’m so embarrassed.” He kept his eyes glued to the ground.
“Hey, it’s a damn right of passage. The first DB for anyone is a bit of a shock. They show you pictures in the academy, but it doesn’t really prepare you for the real thing.” Thomas patted the guy on the back.
“Yeah, but hurling like a little girl. I’ll never live it down.”
“I’m not going to say anything. You, Shadowhawk?”
“Hell, no. I’ll take it to my grave.” She bent over so he couldn’t see her smiling face.
Brinks straightened up and attempted a smile himself, but it kinda fell flat.
“Look, buddy, there’s no avoiding it in this job. You are going to see your fair share of DBs.”
Brinks glanced up at Thomas. “Dead bodies?”
“Right.” Thomas’s eyes cut her way. “We’ve all been through it, but neither of us had it as bad as you. This was a particularly nasty one, hell the smell alone.”
The kid clutched his stomach and they grabbed hold of him again. He swallowed and looked at them meekly. “I’m okay.”
“It’s fine if you’re not, but just warn me will ya? These shoes are Italian and I’d rather not have to throw them away. I don’t carry an extra pair around.” Thomas grinned at him to let it be known he was kidding.
The kid’s smile reached his eyes this time. “Did you puke at your first scene?”
“Well, no, but I’ve seen plenty that have.”
“Me too,” she said.
“But you puked, didn’t you? I mean, being a woman and all.” He looked at her pleadingly.
“I am not,” she said with a straight face.
Brinks expression turned confused as he checked her up and down.
She slapped him on the shoulder. “Just screwing with ya. I’m more woman than you can handle, let me tell ya.”
“So you think you’re all right now?” Thomas asked.
Brinks nodded, though his complexion still lacked color.
“Okay. Why don’t you mark off the scene with tape, making sure the trunk is far from prying eyes. Once things start hopping around here, we’ll draw more people than flies on shit. Then call in the cavalry. Get forensics here, call the county coroner, get me a couple more uniforms to guard the scene, and get one of our guys to tow the car back to the garage. Think you can do all that?”
“Yes, sir.”
He’s baaack. Shadowhawk wanted to slap him on the back, but thought better of it. He might find it a bit condescending.
“I guess we should talk to Mr. White,” Thomas said.
She gasped. “Do we have to?”
Thomas patted her shoulder. “Yeah, we kinda do.”
“Ugh. I don’t even want to breathe the same air.”
“Come on, we’ve met worse human beings.”
“That’s an insult to the entire human race. Besides, I don’t remember meeting, smelling, or even talking to worse.”
“Why, Detective Quinn, I do believe you’re exaggerating.”
“I sure as shit am not.”
He raised his brows. “Well suck it up, we’re going in.”
She did her best Vanna White impersonation, waving her entire arm in his path. “You first.”
He grabbed her arm and pulled her along. “You’re sure in fine form today.” They walked across the hot asphalt.
She plastered a large, toothy smile on her face. “Thank you.”
“It wasn’t a compliment. Seriously, what’s up with you? We’ve faced worse than this little gnat.”
“Yeah, but the killers we’ve put away, even their neighbors said they never would have suspected. But this guy, he’s so skeevy, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had bodies stacked in one of those seven-foot long chest freezers.”
“Shh, we’re here.”
They started up the stairs to the office and knocked on the door. “Mr. White, do you have a moment?”
“Yeah, come in,” White yelled.
They stepped into a tiny room that felt like a sauna. A fan rattled on top of a metal file cabinet. It appeared to be on it’s last legs as it pushed warm air around. The small enclosure smelled like bad BO and feet.
A fly landed on a half-eaten sandwich and went to town. The imp sat on a high stool, his feet dangling, kicking at air. As if waiting for a customer, he remained in front of a Plexiglas window with a slit at the bottom for receiving cash.
Shadowhawk noticed a chest freezer lining one wall and elbowed Thomas in the ribs. He looked down, annoyed and she crooked her head and eyes toward it.
He leaned down and whispered, “Behave.”
She shrugged and faced the witness. Thomas stepped into the office, then retreated just as quickly. Shadowhawk was dying to ask if it was the smell, the heat, or both? He ended up standing outside the open doorway next to her.
Slimy’s eyes rounded. “There was a dead body in there, wasn’t there? Did it look gross? Was there more than one? Sure smelled like it.” He cackled. “What did it look like? Why didn’t you let me see?”
“Mr. White, we’ll be the ones asking the questions,” Thomas snapped back. She couldn’t help but feel vindicated.
“You mean you didn’t look in the trunk?” she asked in the sincerest voice she could muster.
White hesitated before an ‘oh shit’ expression crossed his face. It disappeared in the blink of an eye, but it was too late. Busted.
White jutted his jaw. “I watch TV, I know not to mess with a crime scene.”
She tilted her head to the side. “But how would you know it was a crime scene if you didn’t look?”
“I, ah, the smell. Like I told that cop.” His words tripped over themselves.
“Aw, come on, not even a tiny peek? Hell, I would have been curious.” She glanced at her partner. “Wouldn’t you, Thomas?”
Without replying, Thomas kept the veil on his expression as he watched the witness.
“Well…no. I didn’t want to get in trouble.”
“So after forensics dusts the car for prints, yours won’t be there?” she asked.
His eyes went wide as he glanced from Thomas to her.
Idiot didn’t think about that.
“Okay, I might have taken a peek. After all, I didn’t want to call the cops if it was just a dead dog, you know? Wouldn’t want to waste your precious time. You guys have important stuff to do.” White nodded.
“That was very thoughtful of you. CSU will be in to fingerprint you,” she informed him.
He swallowed hard. “Am I going to jail?”
If it were up to her, the answer would be yes. She didn’t quite know what he was guilty of, besides being despicable, but she was certain it was something. She’d love to get her hands on that ancient computer of his and search the sites he’d visited.
That would tell her what kind of shit he was into. Her bet was bestiality, but that would be a case for animal control. The image of the little vermin locked inside in a dog cage flashed though her mind and she almost laughed out loud.
Instead she gave him a stern look. “I don’t know. Did you touch anything other than the trunk release?”
“No.” He all but shouted. “Well, I may have touched the trunk. Couldn’t really see anything unless I pushed it up a little, you know? But that’s all, I swear.”
She pinned Thomas with a ‘told you so’ look, he returned it with a resigned ‘you win’ glance. Satisfied, she nodded for him to continue with the interview.
“Can you please tell us how you came into possession of the car in question?” Thomas asked.
White visibly relaxed. “I got a call from the security guard over at the cemetery. Went and picked it up. No big deal.”
“Do they call you often to pick up cars?”
“I don’t know, I guess not, but sometimes people leave their cars after a funeral. To go with someone else I guess, then they don’t get back before they lock the gates. That’s when the security guard calls.”
“How much do you pay him?” She couldn’t resist.
White stared at her, then back at Thomas. “I don’t have to answer that, do I?”
Thomas ignored him. “What happened next?”
“Just dropped the car off in the lot and went about my business. Weekends are kinda busy, so I forgot about it. Then I come across it still sitting there and thought I should give the owner a call. But when I got close, I smelled something awful.”
“Have you ever come across a body in a car before?”
“Nope. But I watch movies.”
“Do you know these people?” Thomas showed him the picture of the Schiffs.
“No. Who are they?”
Thomas pressed on. “What happened next?”
“You already know that, I popped the truck, then called you guys.”
“Okay.” Thomas handed him his card. “Call if you think of anything else. Someone will be in to fingerprint you.”
Thomas was halfway down the stairs when Shadowhawk said, “And don’t leave town.”
The little worm’s worried expression was priceless.
She caught up to her partner.
“You’re so bad,” he said, walking.
She made sure he was able to see her big toothy grin. “Thank you.”