Part 38 (1/2)
Olivia reached for the gla.s.s and picked it up.
She glanced at Sergeant Payne. He was holding both his hands palms outward. The gesture was clear: I wash my hands of you. I wash my hands of you.
f.u.c.k you again.
I will drink this drink and I will keep my mouth shut.
The drink had a strange, heavy, but not unpleasant taste. Something like a martini. Something like a martini.
”What do you think, La.s.siter?” Coughlin asked.
”Interesting,” Olivia said.
”Don't take more than two at one sitting,” Wohl said.
”I won't.”
”I presume there were sufficient quant.i.ties of that bodily fluid for DNA?” Was.h.i.+ngton said.
”Plenty,” Sergeant Payne and Detective D'Amata said at the same time.
”I asked Dr. Mitch.e.l.l to see if there was any saliva,” Amy said.
”You think he licked her, Doc?” Slayberg asked.
Was that a bona fide question, or homicide humor?
”I think he may have spat on her,” Amy said. ”If so, that would confirm my first guess about this man.”
”Which is?” Was.h.i.+ngton asked, softly.
”That he gets his satisfaction from the humiliation of his victims.”
”Victims, plural?” Wohl asked. ”You think he's done this before?”
”I think he has. For one thing, with the exception of killing the victim, which may have been-probably was-accidental, I think things went as he wanted them to go, as he planned them to go.”
”Why do you say that?” Wohl asked.
”Those plastic things he used to tie her to the bed. That and the knife. People don't usually carry things like that around. He brought them to the apartment, intending to use them.”
Wohl grunted agreement.
”Let me put it this way,” Amy said. ”Psychologically, this guy is the opposite of Isaac 'Fort' Festung.”
Who the h.e.l.l is that?
”Fort Festung?” Coughlin asked, visibly surprised. ”What's his connection with this?”
”Bear with me, Uncle Denny,” Amy said.
”Your show, sweetheart,” Coughlin said. ”Handle it any way you want.”
”When I was at Martha Pekach's party, she told me that David was upset because he'd gotten another postcard from Festung. I guess he's been in my mind since then. He's another interesting character, psychologically speaking.”
”Harry,” D'Amata said, chuckling, ” 'interesting character, psychologically speaking' is doctor talk for miserable slimeball. ”
Wohl chuckled. Amy smiled at D'Amata.
Why do I know that if Inspector Wohl had said that, Amy would have snapped his head off?
”How, Joe, and why did Festung kill that girl?” Amy asked.
”Mary Elizabeth Shattack,” Coughlin furnished.
”He beat her to death,” D'Amata said. ”With his fists.”
”Why?”
”He didn't like her?” Wohl asked, mock serious.
”Screw you, Peter,” Amy said.
”She left him,” D'Amata said. ”He couldn't take that.”
”She was his possession,” Amy said. ”And when she misbehaved-announcing she had found someone else-that was unacceptable behavior, and he punished her. Like you whack a dog with a newspaper when he p.o.o.ps on the carpet.”
”Sweetheart,” Coughlin said, ”you're losing me.”
”And then he stuffed her body in a trunk and just left it there,” Wohl said. ”Where are you going with this, Amy?”
”I believe the phrase you policemen use is modus operandi,” modus operandi,” Amy said. ”They're different here.” Amy said. ”They're different here.”
”Explain that to me. I'm a little dense this time of night,” Wohl said.
”Let me have a shot, if I may, Amy,” Was.h.i.+ngton said. ”You are saying that Festung regarded Miss Shattack as something worthless that he could deal with-in this case, discard-in any way that pleased him at the moment. An empty cigarette package, so to speak.”
”Right,” Amy said.
”And the Williamson girl?” Matt asked.
Amy ignored him.
”Which suggests to me that Festung has an enormous ego,” she said.
”Which would also explain the postcards,” Wohl said. ”Festung is making the point with his postcards that he can do whatever he wants to do, and there's nothing we can do about it. 'We' being the police, representing society.”
She ignored him too.
”Are you suggesting, Amy,” Was.h.i.+ngton asked, ”that the Williamson girl was in some way important to her killer?”