FiFty Fifty

Chapter Thirty Four

transportation truck.
In none of them had Haloperidol featured or been part of the haul.
'Zip on the robberies,' said Bloch.
'What about drug dealers?' asked Kate.
'Nah, Haloperidol is not a recreational drug. There's no high. No buzz, either.
It's not exactly a downer. More of a knock-out punch. It messes you up. Turns people into a pile of paranoid jello.'
'But I thought every kind of drug was on the black market, surely.'
'Not when it's so readily available with the right pharmacist. You hand over a fake prescription and five hundred bucks and you're lit.'
Swiping the document away from her phone screen, Bloch then accessed the second file. Inside was an email and video.
'There's a ViCAP hit,' said Bloch. 'Looks like NYPD are investigating this as a hate crime. An Indian pharmacist and a cashier were taken out last month. There's video.'
Mercifully, the video had no sound. This was a public coffee shop, and there were customers all around. It looked like security camera footage from a large chain store of pharmacies. Kate recognized the branding on the counter. Someone dressed in black leathers and a crash helmet entered the store, moved away out of shot then walked casually up to the pharmacist at the counter and took an axe to his head. Flinching, Kate looked away and mouthed the word, 'Jesus.'
When she opened her eyes, she found an old lady at the next table looking at her strangely.
'Look at that,' said Bloch, pointing to the screen.
Rewinding the video with a turn of her finger on the screen, Bloch played it again. The cashier saw what had happened to the pharmacist and made a wild run for the front doors. Only they didn't open, not one inch, and the cashier slammed her head into the glass, cracking it. She bounced back off the doors and fell to the ground. The figure in black was upon her in seconds. Two blows to the back of the neck with the axe. Then the figure moved out of shot to the right- hand wall, the doors opened, and they left.
It was one thing seeing the aftermath of violence. It was quite another to see it happening, even if it was just on a large phone screen.
'I don't think this helps,' said Kate, shaking her head. 'It's probably nothing to do with our case. I can't see how it relates.'
Bloch went back to the email, read over the notes that accompanied the video. 'This is important. I think this could be Frank's killer,' said Bloch.
'How?' Kate shook her head again, this time in disbelief. 'Why do you think

that?'
'I need to do some more digging. But there's something here. I can feel it. Did
you see how she moved?' asked Bloch. 'She?'
'She. That's a woman. You can tell by the hips. A confident woman. This was no racially motivated crime. For a start there's no graffiti, no message left. Dumb racists who are violent and stupid enough to kill always have a message from some group or cult.'
'Plus, she killed the cashier. The cashier was white.'
'Nation First, the KKK, or whatever white supremacist group you care to mention, have no qualms about killing white people if they have to. But in this case, they didn't have to. She planned to kill the cashier. Look ...'
The video played, and Kate watched the figure more closely this time. It was clear to her now that it was a woman. The figure moved out of camera shot as soon as she came into the store.
'There. She came in, and the first thing she did was lock the sliding doors. So when the cashier saw what she did to the pharmacist, the cashier would run headlong into the doors, only they wouldn't open as she expected. She could've left the cashier alive. She didn't. Nothing was taken from the pharmacy. No cash. No drugs. The killer used a blade. The axe is perfect for this. Heavy enough to cause massive damage, but light enough to wield and conceal.'
'Why not use a gun?'
'Guns leave rounds behind. Rounds can be traced. Plus, it's noisy and it draws a lot of attention. Professional killers. Real pros. They get up close and personal with hits after a while. This woman ...' said Bloch, pointing to a frozen image of the figure in black on the screen. 'This woman has killed before. She didn't even run from the pharmacy desk to the cashier. She walked. Took her time. No panic. If ...'
'If what?'
Bloch studied the screen for a long time then said, 'I'd say she enjoyed those kills.'
The waitress brought over a meatball sub, filled with marinara sauce. Kate's salad and fries came next and Kate pushed the food away. Her appetite had left the building. Bloch picked up the hoagie and bit into it. Marinara sauce dribbled over the side of her mouth and she wiped it away with a napkin.
'I thought you were hungry?' said Bloch.
Kate flipped her the bird. Bloch smiled.
'I still don't see how it's related to the Avellino case,' said Kate.
'Well, it might not be. I need to check the sales records and stock reports for