KATE
The full effect of Tyler's testimony hit Kate like a dump truck.
Detective Tyler alleged Frank Avellino was being drugged against his will, so someone could take control of his affairs and his money. Then he confirmed a recent power of attorney had been executed in favor of Alexandra and Hal
Cohen.
It looked awful. It looked like Alexandra had manipulated her way into a
position of trust by drugging her father. Another step closer to his fortune. Dreyer didn't ask anything else. He sat down.
He let the implication of Tyler's testimony float around the courtroom like a
bad smell – a gaseous vapor that would descend on the jury as a fine mist, and stink up their clothes, and their opinions.
Kate could sense the tide had turned against Alexandra. She needed to blow this cloud of suspicion away, right now, before it poisoned the jury against her client. She had to do something, and whatever it was she needed to do it right now.
The legs of her chair barked against the parquet floor as she shot her seat back. Her heels came together and braced beneath her. She placed her hands on the armrest of her wooden chair, ready to spring up, but her mind was blank.
She'd prepared for this trial like nothing else she'd ever done. She knew every word of every deposition, every document down to the page number in the trial bundle. But the toxicology report coming in today had been an unexpected curve ball. Suddenly that trial bundle, her strategy, her prepared cross-examination questions, everything felt alien now instead of familiar and practiced.
The power of attorney document was already in the bundle. It hadn't meant much before now. It wasn't that important. But with evidence that Frank Avellino was being drugged into submission around the same time the power of attorney had been executed – well, that threw everything into a new light. A mundane legal document that had been signed by her client now looked sinister. The whole trial bundle was now new territory. Each document could be a time bomb, waiting to blow up in her face.
She was about to stand up. All eyes on her.
When she stood she would need to ask a question. A good question.
Something to quell the brush fire of imagination that now swept through the jury. There was only one problem. She didn't have a question. Her mind was blank.
Sweat bled through her skin like she was a peach being crushed by the heavy silence. Even if she did think of a question, she now couldn't be certain the panic wouldn't strangle her before she could ask it aloud.
A strong hand took hold of her wrist. She turned. Bloch was holding her, drawing her closer into a whisper.
'Buy some time. Get a short continuance. I've got new information,' said Bloch, and she angled the large screen of her cell phone toward Kate. The screen display read, 'Two New Files Shared to Dropbox.'
Before she forgot what she was going to say, Kate rose.
'Your Honor, we request a short continuance.'
Stone looked lazily at the jury, and then the clock on the wall behind them. 'Looks like we've had a long day. Ten o'clock tomorrow morning, ladies and
gentlemen,' he said, and stood up. The courtroom gathered itself to stand as the judge made his exit. Eddie and Harry remained seated the whole time. Kate could almost feel the shade being thrown at those two by the judge as he made his way to his chambers.
'What have you got?' asked Kate.
'I've no idea. Not yet,' said Bloch. 'It might be nothing. Or it might be a new lead on Frank Avellino's killer.'
It took five minutes to deposit Alexandra in an Uber. Kate and Bloch couldn't wait until they got back to Kate's apartment so they found a quiet corner in the Corte Café on Lafayette and sat down with coffee. Bloch ordered a meatball sandwich. Kate, a chicken salad. With fries.
Since they were handed the toxicology report that morning, Bloch had been busy. She'd maintained a close relationship with several law enforcement agencies and various precincts in the New York area. The feelers went out ten minutes after she'd read the toxicology results. Word got around that Bloch needed help and all New York's finest and available hands went to work. It didn't matter that Bloch was now a private detective, working for a defense lawyer. She was a name, and her father had been too. NYPD look after their own. She asked them to look for any pharmacy or pharmaceutical wholesaler robberies in the last year.
The first Dropbox file revealed the results of the search.
There had been thirty-seven robberies of interest. Most of them on pharmacy premises, but two were wholesalers and there had been one hit on a
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
Haloperidol and take a look at the pharmacist. He was the main target. Have to be sure this wasn't a revenge hit for him prescribing the wrong meds or something. I doubt it. All the same, I'd like to rule it out. There's something else though, relevant to this case.'
Kate waited patiently.
Bloch took another bite of the sandwich. Swallowed it down, wiped her mouth and said, 'You remember a few weeks ago – motion day? We saw a biker. All in black. A woman. She cut us up and then burned a light right around the corner from here.'
'Come on. That's nothing. Coincidence.'
Bloch used her tongue to dislodge a crumb of hoagie that had become stuck in her teeth. She took a long drink of coffee, leaned back and said, 'I've seen her a few times since that day. Black leathers. Black helmet with a tinted screen. I saw her last night.'
'Where?'
'Across the street from your apartment.'
Kate froze, her mouth open, then she broke into easy laughter.
'You almost had me, there. Come on, Bloch. You're reading too much into
this. Why would anyone be watching us?'
Bloch didn't look like she was joking. She put down her sandwich and put
Kate straight.
'If I was on trial for a murder I committed, I'd be watching the lawyers too.
Both sides. Making sure no one figures it all out, and if they get too close – bam.'
Kate thought for a moment, said, 'You don't think this case has anything to do with what happened to Eddie Flynn's investigator?'
'I can't say for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised.'
The conversation trailed off as Bloch ate her hoagie, and Kate picked at the fries. They finished and together made their way back to Center Street. It was dark now, with no wind, but the temperature was already below freezing and falling fast. Bloch had parked in Leonard Street, and it was time to head back to Kate's apartment together and do some serious preparation for tomorrow.
As they passed Hogan Place, Kate saw Dreyer standing outside with his assistants. They were huddled into their overcoats, their breath misting in the cold, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. Their conversation petered out as they saw Kate and Bloch approach. Kate didn't acknowledge Dreyer – she kept her head down and moved past them. No sooner had they moved out of earshot, Kate heard Dreyer mumble something and it was greeted with a chorus of derisory laughter. She didn't doubt the laughter was aimed at them.
It didn't seem to bother Bloch at all.
They stopped at the cross walk for Leonard Street, and Bloch hit the button. This part of Center Street was one-way – all the traffic coming from their left. A truck blew by, and then some cars. On the other side of the crosswalk Kate saw a woman, heavily pregnant, with a big red coat bulging over her stomach. The woman laid a hand on her stomach, protectively, in the manner some pregnant women find comforting. The gesture made Kate smile. That kid was already loved and it wasn't even born yet. A man with gray hair and a cashmere coat came and stood beside the pregnant woman. The man hit the crossing button again, angrily, as if the traffic light system would only work for him.
A car stopped in front of Kate, at the stop line. Beyond the car, a bus came to a stop. The light changed. Kate and Bloch began to cross the street.
So did the pregnant woman, and the gray-haired man.
Kate and Bloch passed the car. Before they reached the bus, a sound began to roar off the buildings, vibrate through the blacktop before finally landing in Kate's chest. The noise increased – the volume rocketing – and suddenly Kate knew what it was.
It was a high, mechanical whine accompanied by a base roar of throttle.
A strong arm thrust out in front of Kate, across her chest, holding her back. Bloch had stopped dead, just before the front of the bus. Kate looked to Bloch, then she heard the explosion of sound from a blast right in front of her.
Something dark shot past the bus, the pregnant woman screamed and fell back onto her behind, clutching her stomach, her legs splayed out. The gray-haired man fell forward, first onto his knees, then flat on his face. He didn't put his arms out to arrest his fall, and there was a wet crunch when his nose hit the blacktop. Kate's mouth opened but no sound came out. She could still hear that roar and looking to her right, she saw a motorcycle, with a rider all in black, mount the sidewalk and drive straight into Collect Pond Park.
The arm that restrained her disappeared as Bloch ran after the motorcycle. Kate looked back at the scene in front of her. The doors of the bus opened and the driver got out. He went straight toward the pregnant woman who was still screaming. Kate moved forward toward the man lying face down.
'Oh my God, are you alright? What happened?' she said, kneeling, her hands shaking, her heart pumping. She touched the man's shoulders, and then recoiled as a pool of dark blood spread from beneath him.
Footsteps behind her, coming up fast. Suddenly Kate was surrounded. She fell onto her side, pushed out the way by a man in a suit. She looked up, saw it was Dreyer and his assistants. One of them turned the gray-haired man over, and that's when they began to shout in panic.
The hilt of a knife jutted from his throat. His eyes were open and lifeless, his face a bloody mess. His nose sat at an odd angle, flattened to the right against his cheek by the fall. Kate's stomach heaved, and she covered her mouth and got up.
Bloch came charging back and knelt down beside Kate.
'The rider got away,' said Bloch.
One of the assistant DAs got up to help the pregnant woman, trying to calm
her, for the baby's sake at least. Someone, Kate couldn't tell who, was on the phone to a paramedic.
Dreyer turned toward Kate and said, 'This was my witness. We were waiting for him to come in and be deposed.'
'Who is he?' asked Kate. 'His name was Hal Cohen.'