WMC - First to Die Page 4

  Chapter 1 5

  AT THE OFFICES of the San Francisco Chronicle, Cindy Thomas's frantic brain was just barely staying ahead of her fingers. The afternoon deadline was barely an hour away. From a bellhop at the Hyatt, she had been able to obtain the names of two guests who had attended the Brandt wedding and who were still at the hotel. After running down there again last night, she had been able to put together a heart-wrenching, tragic picture- complete with vows, toasts, and a romantic last dance- of the bride and groom's final moments. All the other reporters were still piecing together the sparse details released by the police. She was ahead so far. She was winning, and it felt great. She was also certain this was the best writing she'd done since arriving at the Chronicle, and maybe since she'd been an undergraduate at Michigan. At the paper, Cindy's coup at the Hyatt had turned her into an instant celebrity. People she scarcely knew were suddenly stopping and congratulating her. Even the publisher, whom she rarely saw on the Metro floor, came down to find out who she was. Metro was covering some demonstration in Mill Valley about a construction rerouting that had built up traffic near a school zone. She was writing page one. As she typed, she noticed Sidney Glass, her city editor, coming up to her desk. Glass was known at the newspaper as El Sid. He parked himself across from her with a stiff sigh. "We need to talk." Her fingers slowly settled to a halt as she looked up. "I've got two very pissed-off senior crime reporters itching to get into this. Suzy's at City Hall awaiting a statement by the police chief and the mayor. Stone's put together profiles on both families. They have twenty years and two Pulitzers between them. And it is their beat." Cindy felt her heart nearly come to a stop. "What did you tell them?" she asked. In El Sid's hardened eyes, she could see the greedy first team crime staff, senior reporters with their own researchers, trying to hack their way in and carve this story up. Her story. "Show me what you've got," the city editor finally said. He came around, peered over her shoulder, read a few lines off the computer screen. "A lot of it's okay. You probably know that. "Anguished' belongs over here," he said, pointing at the screen. "It modifies 'bride's father." Nothing pisses Ida Morris off like misplaced modifiers and inversions." Cindy could feel herself blushing. "I know, I know. I'm trying to get this in. Deadline's at…" "I know when deadline is." The editor glowered. "But down here, if you can get it in, you can get it in right." He studied Cindy for what seemed an interminable duration, a deep, assessing stare that kept her on edge. "Especially if you intend to stay on this thing." Glass's generally implacable face twitched, and he almost smiled at her. "I told them it was yours, Thomas." Cindy repressed an urge to hug the cranky, domineering editor right on the bull pen floor. "You want me at City Hall?" she asked. "The real story's in that hotel suite. Go back to the Hyatt." El Sid began to walk away with his hands, as always, thrust into his trouser pockets. But a moment later, he turned back. "Course, if you intend to stay on this story, you'd better find a police source on the inside- and quick." Jl,

  Chapter 16

  AFTER LEAVING THE MORGUE, Raleigh and I walked back to the office, mostly in silence. Lots of details about the murders were bothering me. Why would the killer take away the victim's jacket? Why leave the champagne bottle? It made no sense. "We've got a sex crime now. Bad one." I finally turned to him on the asphalt walkway leading to the Hall. "I want to run the autopsy results through Milt Fanning and the FBI computers. We also need to meet with the bride's parents. We'll need a history on anyone she may have been involved with before David. And a list of everyone at that wedding." "Why don't we wait for some confirmation on that one," my new partner said, "before we go all out on that angle." I stopped walking and stared at him. "You want to see if anybody checked in for a bloody jacket with the lost and found? I don't understand. What's your concern?" "My concern," Raleigh said, "is that I don't want the de58 partment intruding on the grief of the families with a lot of hypotheticals until we have more to go on. We may or may not have the killer's jacket. He may or may not have been a guest." "Who do you think it belonged to, the rabbi?" He flashed me a quick smile. "It could've been left there to set us off." His tone seemed suddenly different. "You're backing off?" I asked him. "I'm not backing off," he said. "Until we have something firm, every old boyfriend of the bride or casualty of some corporate downsizing Gerald Brandt had a hand in could be rolled out as a possible suspect. I'd rather the spotlight wasn't aimed back at them unless we have something firm to go on." Here it was. The spiel. Packaging, containment. Brandt and Chancellor Weil, the bride's father, were VIPs. Find us the bad guys, Lindsay. Just don't put the department at any risk along the way. I chuffed back, "I thought the possibility that the killer could've been at that wedding was what we had to go on." "All I'm suggesting, Lindsay, is let's get some confirmation before we begin ripping into the sex life of the best man." I nodded, all the while fixing in on his eyes. "In the meantime, Chris, we'll just follow up on our other really strong leads." We stood there in edgy silence. "All right, why do you think the killer changed jackets with the groom?" I asked him. He leaned back against the edge of a cement retaining wall. "My guess is that he was wearing it when he killed them. It was covered with blood. He had to get out undetected. The groom's jacket was lying around. So he just switched." "So you figure he went to all that trouble making the slash mark and all, thinking no one would notice. Different size, different maker. That it would just slip by. Raleigh, why did he leave it behind? Why wouldn't he stuff the bloody jacket into a bag? Or roll it under his new jacket?" "Okay," Raleigh conceded, "I don't know. Your guess is?" I didn't know why he had left it behind, but a chilling possibility was beginning to form in my mind. "Possibility one," I answered, "he panicked. Maybe the phone rang or someone knocked at the door." "On their wedding night?" "You're starting to sound like my ex-partner." I started toward the Hall, and he caught up. He held the glass doors open for me. As I walked through, he took my arm. "And number two?" I stood there, looking squarely into his eyes, trying to assess just how far I could go with him. "What's your real expertise here, anyway?" I asked. He smiled, his look confident and secure. "I used to be married." I didn't reply. Possibility two: A fear was building inside me. The killer was signing his murders? He was toying with us? Purposely leaving clues? One-time crime-of-passion killers didn't leave clues like the jacket. Professionals didn't, either. Serials left clues.

  Chapter 17

  THE WINDOW that Phillip Campbell was staring out had a startling view of the bay, but he didn't really notice the sights. He was lost in his thoughts. It's finally started. Everything is in play, he was thinking. The City on the Bay will never be the same, will it? I will never be the same. This was complicated- not what it seemed to be but beautiful in its own way. He had closed his office door, as he always did when he was absorbed in research. Lately, he had stopped catching lunch with his coworkers. They bored him. Their lives were filled with petty concerns. The stock market. The Giants and the 49ers. Where they were headed on vacation. They had such shallow, simple, middle-class dreams. His were soaring. He was like the moguls thinking up their new, new things over in Silicon Valley. Anyway, that was all in the past. Now he had a secret. The biggest secret in the world. He pushed his business papers to the corner of his desk. This is the old world, he thought. The old me. The bore. The worker bee. He unlocked the top left drawer of his desk. Behind the usual personal clutter was a small gray lockbox. It was barely large enough to hold a packet of three-by-five-inch cards. This is my world now. He thought back to the Hyatt. The bride's beautiful porcelain face, the blossoms of blood on her chest. He still couldn't believe what had taken place. The sharp crack of the knife ripping through cartilage. The gasp of her last breath. And his, of course. What were their names? Oh, Jesus Christ, he'd forgotten. No, he hadn't! The Brandts. They were all over the newspapers and the TV news. With a key from his chain, he opened the small box. What spilled out into the room was the intoxicating spell of his dreams. A stack of index cards. Neat and orderly. Alphabetically arranged. One by
one, he skimmed through them. New names… King… Merced… Passeneau… Peterson. All the brides and grooms.

  Chapter 1 8

  SEVERAL URGENT MESSAGES were on my desk when I got back from the morgue. Good- urgent was appropriate. Charlie Clapper from CSU. Preliminary report in. Some reporters: from the AP, local television stations. Even the woman from the Chronicle who had left me her card. I picked at a grilled chicken and pear salad I had brought up as I dialed Clapper back. "Only good news," I joked, as his voice came on the phone. "In that case, I can give you a nine hundred number. For two bucks a minute they'll tell you anything you want to hear." I could hear it in the tone of his voice. "You got nothing?" "Tons of parti als Lindsay" the CSU chief replied, meaning inconclusive prints his team had lifted from the room. "The bride's, the groom's, the assistant manager's, housekeeping's." "You dusted the bodies?" I pressed. The killer had pulled Melanie Brandt up off the floor. "And the box of champagne?" "Of course. Nothing. Somebody was careful." "What about off the floor? Fibers, shoeprints." "Besides the pee." Clapper laughed. "You think I'm holding out on you? You're cute, Lindsay, but I get off on bagging killers more. Meanwhile, I've got someone running that tux jacket under the microscope. I'll let you know. Roger wilco." "Thanks, Charlie," I muttered disappointedly. As I flipped further through my stack of messages, Cindy Thomas's name came to the top. Normally, I wasn't in the habit of phoning back reporters in the middle of an ongoing investigation. But this one had been smart and cool making her way up to the crime scene, yet kind in backing off when she had me cornered in the bathroom. I found her at her desk. "Thanks for calling me back, Inspector," she said in an appreciative tone. "I owed you, I guess. Thanks for cutting me some slack at the hotel." "Happens to us all. But I have to ask: Do you always react so personally at a crime scene? You're a homicide detective, right?" I didn't have the time or heart to get into a battle of wits, so I used Jacobi's line. "It was a wedding. I always cry at them. What can I do for you, Ms. Thomas?" "Cindy… I'm going to do you a favor. When I reach five, maybe you'll do one for me." "We have a homicide, a very bad one. We're not going to play Let's Make a Deal. And if we meet again, you'll find I'm not my cheeriest when I feel indebted." "I guess what I was hoping for," she said, "was to hear your spin on the bride and groom." "Doesn't Tom Stone cover homicide for the Chronicle?" I asked. I heard her take in a breath. "I won't lie to you. I normally handle local interest out of Metro." "Well, you got yourself a real story now. "Marriage Made in Heaven Ends Up in Hell." You're quick out of the gate." "Truth is, Inspector," -her voice grew softer"I'd never seen anything like that before. Seeing David Brandt lying there… on his wedding night. I know what you must think, but it's not just about the story. I'd like to help any way I can." "I appreciate that, but since we've got all these eager people with badges walking around here. We ought to give them a shot? Anyway, you should know that you sneaking your way up to the thirtieth floor didn't exactly get me invited to the commissioner's for brunch. I had tactical responsibility at the crime scene." "I never thought I'd actually make it through." "So we've established we don't know who owes whom here. But since it's my dime…" The reporter's voice went back to a peremptory tone. "I called to get your reaction to a story we're going to break later today. You know the groom's father runs a buy out firm. Our business editor pulled off Bloomberg that they backed out of a proposed agreement at the last minute with the third-largest Russian automaker, Kolya-Novgorod. Brandt was providing up to two hundred million dollars for a significant stake. Kolya's one of those Russian conglomerates taken over by a new branch of black-market capitalists. Without the cash, I'm told it's virtually bankrupt. My source tells me the mood got very fractious." I laughed. "Fractious, Ms. Thomas? I might be getting a little fractious myself." "Apparently, some of the Russians were left hanging with their Uncle Vanyas out." I laughed again. "Conspiracy to commit murder is a federal crime," I told her. "If there's something to it, you should make the call to Justice." "I just thought I'd let you know. In the meantime, you want to throw me a comment on any other possibilities you're looking into?" "Sure. I'd feel safe in saying that they're 'ongoing."" "Thanks." She sighed. "Have you narrowed in on any suspects yet?" "This is what they tell you to ask at the Chronicle? You know I can't divulge that." "Off the record. No attribution. As a friend." As I listened, I remembered when I was a recruit trying to elbow my way in. How the police world had been barred, closed off, until someone had opened up the tiniest crack to let me crawl through. "Like I said, Ms. Thomas," my tone starting to soften, "no promises." "Cindy," the reporter said. "At least call me Cindy. For the next time you get cornered in the bathroom with your guard down." "Okay, Cindy. I'll be sure to keep you in mind."

  Chapter 19

  I DIDN'T WANT TO GO HOME. And I knew I couldn't stay at the Hall any longer. I grabbed my bag, rushed down to the underground garage, and started up my trusty-dusty Bronco without a clear sense of where I was headed. I just drove- Fourth, Third, onto Mission, past the Moscone Center- cafes, closed-up shops. All the way down toward the Embarcadero. I wrapped around Battery, heading away from the bay. I had nowhere to go, but my hands seemed to act on their own, leading me somewhere. Flashes of the murdered bride and groom flickered in my head. Echoes of Orenthaler. I had finally called Dr. Medved, the hematologist, for an appointment. I was approaching Sutler, and I turned. Suddenly, I knew where I was heading. I pulled into Union Square. Without even trying, I found myself in front of the brightly lit entrance of the Hyatt. I badged the manager and took the elevator up to the thirtieth floor. A single uniformed guard sat in front of the Mandarin Suite. I recognized him, David Hale out of Central. He stood up as he saw me approach. "Nowhere to go, Inspector?" A crisscrossing barrier of yellow tape blocked the entrance to the Mandarin Suite. Hale gave me the key. I peeled off a band or two of tape and slipped under the rest. I turned the lock and I was inside. If you've never wandered alone at the site of a freshly committed murder, you don't really know the feeling of restless unease. I felt the dark ghosts of David and Melanie Brandt were still in the room. I was sure I had missed something. I was also sure it was here. What? The suite was pretty much as I had left it. The Oriental carpet in the living room had gone to Clapper's lab. But body positions and blood sites were clearly marked out with blue chalk. I looked at the spot where David Brandt had died. In my mind, I retraced what had likely taken place. They are toasting each other. (I knew that from the half filled champagne glasses on a table near the terrace.) Maybe he just gave her the earrings. (The open box was on the master bathroom counter.) There's a knock. David Brandt goes to answer. It was as if secrets were buzzing in the thick air, alive with whispers. The killer comes in, carrying the champagne box. Maybe David knows him. Maybe he just left him an hour before at the reception. The knife comes out. Only one thrust. The groom is pinned against the door, apoplectic. It happens so fast that he cannot scream. "Poor man went in his pants," Claire had said. The bride doesn't scream? Maybe she's in the bathroom. (The jewelry box.) Maybe she went in there to put on the earrings. The killer hunts through the suite. He intercepts the bride, coming out unsuspectingly. I envision Melanie Brandt- radiant, full of joy. He sees it, too. Was he someone she knew? Had she just left him? Did Melanie know her killer? There's a Navajo saying, "Even the still wind has a voice." In the quiet, confessing hotel room, I listen. Tell me, Melanie. I am here for you. I'm listening. My skin tingles with the chill of resurrecting each detail of the murder. She fights, tries to run away. (The bruises and small abrasions on her arms and neck.) The killer stabs her at the foot of the bed. He is horrified, yet wildly excited about what he has done. She doesn't die immediately. He has to stab her again. And once more. When he is finished, he carries her to the bed. (Not drags. There is no sign of blood trailing behind.) This is important. He is gentle with her. It makes me think he knows her. Maybe he once loved Melanie? He folds her arms on her waist in a restful pose. A princess sleeping. Maybe he pretends that what has taken place is only a bad dream. Nowh
ere in the room do I feel the clinical pattern of professionals or hired killers. Or even someone who has killed before. I'm listening. A ferocious anger rises up in his blood. He realizes he will never see her again. His princess… He's so angry. He wants to lie down with her this one time. Feel her. But he cannot. That would defile her. But he must have her. So he lifts her dress. Uses his fist. It is all screaming at me. I'm sure there is one last thing I am not seeing. Unrevealed. What am I missing? What has everyone missed so far? I step over to the bed. I envision Melanie, her horrifying stab wounds, but her face is calm, un accusing He leaves her like that. He doesn't take the earrings. He doesn't take the huge diamond ring. Then it hit me with the power of a train exploding from a dark tunnel. What was missing. What I hadn't seen. Jesus Christ, Lindsay. Rings! I ran my mind over the image of her lying there. Her delicate, blood-smeared hands. The diamond was still there, but.. Jesus! Is it possible? I ran back to the foyer and brought to mind the crumpled body of the groom. They had been married just a few hours before. They had just completed their vows. But they weren't wearing gold bands. Wedding rings. The killer doesn't take the earrings, I realized. He takes the rings.