Falafel Jones - The Kewpie Killer (25 page)

Eddie picked up the certificate. “Where?”

“In the box, Signature of Funeral Service Licensee or acting as such.”

“Signature’s illegible, all I can make out is a capital ‘D’, but wait a minute, this address is familiar.” He handed me the paper. “Raquel, isn’t this where we met Dragoni?”

Dr. Evangilista said, “That’s it. Dragoni, the fire breather. He’s the one I gave the body.”

We drove back out to the burial site. Dragoni wasn’t in sight, so Eddie approached the trailer. I lagged behind while Eddie knocked on the. After a few moments, it opened and Dragoni stuck out his head. When he saw Eddie, he stepped outside, shut his door and came down the steps. He sat in the canvas chair in front of the trailer and looked up at Eddie.

“Mr. Dragoni, You must know we dug up the grave out back and I’ll bet you know what we found.”

Dragoni tilted his head.

“We just spoke with Dr. Evangilista. We know he let Orazio go and he told us he gave you Agnese to bury.”

Dragoni cleared his throat and said, “All I did was bury a body – legally. Check the paperwork. Read the law.”

I asked, “What about the stone listing both names.”

Dragoni said, “A legal memorial.”

Eddie said, “You knew about Agnese’s charm bracelet. Do you know how Orazio got his hands on it?”

Dragoni coughed into a blue handkerchief and then said, “All I know is Agnese took Orazio from his first love, Rosa. Then the whore cheated on him with anybody that would have her.”

Eddie asked, “You know where Orazio is now?”

“No.”

“Any ideas on how to find him?”

Dragoni shook his head and reached under his chair for his bottle of rum.

Eddie’s phone rang. He looked at the display and then put the phone to his ear. “Yeah, Jennie…”

“Good…”

“What…”

“You’re kidding…”

“No, that’s OK. Yeah, thanks.”

He put his phone away and said, “DNA from the female corpse out back shows a familial match with Leonardo, but it’s not his mother. It’s his Aunt Rosa.”

Dragoni began another coughing fit but this time, he started to choke. I opened his rum bottle and helped him drink some. When he recovered, he said, “You can’t tell that from a test, they’re twins.”

“Yeah, we can. Only one sister had a broken leg.”

“You telling me that was Rosa I buried? You playing me?”

Eddie said, “I’m telling the truth. DNA says the body’s female and related to Leonardo. Agnese and Rosa as twins have the same DNA but only Rosa had a broken left leg. You buried Rosa.”

Dragoni’s head swung side to side in denial. “No, Orazio would never hurt Rosa. He always regretted leaving her for Agnese.”

“He killed the wrong sister.”

“But how? Why?”

Eddie stared at Dragoni for a moment without saying anything. Then he turned and walked back to his car. I followed. We drove for a while in silence.

“Now what?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Still trying to make sense of this…”

“Where we going now?”

“Station. No place else we have to be.”

“I think we need to find out what Pops knows about this.”

“What do you mean?”

“He acts like he really loved Rosa. I can’t imagine him not knowing about this but it also makes no sense that he would know and keep quiet.”

Eddie said, “Yeah,” reached for his cell, punched up the speakerphone and dialed.

The phone rang a few times and then I heard, “Carlyle here.”

Eddie asked “Mr. Carlyle or Detective Carlyle?”

“One step from Patrol Officer Carlyle. Tell me you got something for me.”

“Maybe.”

Eddie told Robby about the DNA results and both agreed they needed to talk to Pops again. They decided Robby would bring him in and they’d have a conference call when Eddie and I got back to the station.

When we arrived, Eddie and I settled into one of the interview rooms and waited for Robby’s call. Even though I expected it, I jumped when the phone rang.

“Franklin.”

“Detective Franklin, Detective Carlyle here with Viktor Popslowski. I’m recording this interview. Go ahead.”

“Mr. Popslowski, we’ve dug up the grave of Agnese Medici. The body there isn’t hers.”

Nobody said anything. For a moment, I thought we lost our connection. Then Robby asked, “Well, Mr. Popslowski, did you know that?”

I heard a sound like a fist against a table. Then someone started sobbing.

Robby said, “You knew that the body was Rosa’s didn’t you.”

The sobbing stopped and Pops said, “Yes. We thought it was the only way to keep them safe.”

Eddie asked, “Keep who safe?”

Pops said, “Agnese and Leonardo after poor Rosa died.”

“Explain.”

I heard a deep sigh, a pause and then Pops said, “One night, that night, just after a show, we didn’t even have a chance to change out of costumes. Orazio confronted Agnese about her lovers. He said he would kill her. She believed him and ran out leaving Leonardo behind. She came to our trailer, to Rosa and me. She decided to leave Orazio forever but first, she needed to get Leonardo.”

Pops went silent. I heard water pouring and Robby said, “Here.”

A moment later, Pops started talking again. “We decided it was safer if Rosa went for the boy instead. Orazio always had a soft spot for her. Agnese and I waited outside. As soon as Rosa walked in the door, she screamed and I knew we made a mistake. The twins wore the same costume and he was already furious with Agnese. He must have attacked Rosa, thinking she was his wife. I ran in and found her dying with a knife in her chest, Orazio lying unconscious but breathing on the floor, an empty pill bottle in his hand. Leonardo stood there watching. I called for an ambulance and tried to save Rosa.”

Eddie asked, “Did you tell Police the dead woman was Rosa?”

“No. Orazio wouldn’t have hurt Rosa unless he thought she was Agnese. When I heard the paramedics suggest Orazio might survive his overdose, I lied. I said the dead woman was Agnese. I didn’t want him to kill both sisters.”

“Did Leonardo know which sister his father killed?”

“Leonardo knew they looked alike. He used to say he had two mommies, but he could always tell them apart. I think witnessing the murder and the fear his father would learn Agnese was still alive ruined Leonardo’s life.”

“Did you know Orazio was still alive?”

“We suspected but didn’t know for sure. All I knew was that his body was missing and I never saw him since that night he killed Rosa. Agnese believed him when he said he would come back from the dead. She changed her life and kept watch over her shoulders till the day she died. She made Leonardo afraid he would come back for her.”

I heard a knocking sound over the phone and Robby said, “Come in.” There were some muffled sounds and then Robby said, “Franklin. They found something on the hospital videos. Four hours before the killing, in the north lot, we’ve got Orazio exiting a red and yellow camper van with Florida plates. He comes out, raises a TV antenna on the roof and then goes back inside. A clear shot. Then ten minutes before and immediately after the code blue, we’ve got a shot of someone who looks like him coming out the van and going back in. You can’t make out the face but it looks like the same guy. Gotta be him. Plates lead to Oscar Mendez with a Florida driver’s license. We’re going to look for any local activity. I’ll have someone email you his address and a copy of the video.”

Eddie said, “We’ll check it out at this end,” and disconnected the call. I followed him to his desk, where he logged onto his computer to find Robby’s email waiting. Eddie printed out the license and registration information, then picked up his phone and made a call. “Let’s go,” he said, “back up’s meeting us there.”

We ran to Eddie’s car and he hit the lights and siren. When he got close to Oscar AKA Orazio’s address, he turned them off. A few minutes later, he parked behind a Patrol car sitting in an empty lot. I looked at the print out Eddie made. Oscar’s license and registration both showed his address as 1101 Magnolia. We were there and I saw nothing but a mailbox.

Eddie hit the padded dashboard with his fist. “Damn.” Then his phone rang.

“Franklin… ”

“Yeah… ?”

“OK. Dead-end here too. An empty lot… ”

“Yeah, you too.”

Eddie put his phone in his pocket, “Carlyle says there’s no New York address for this guy. Orazio drove a camper van so they’re going to canvas the campsites near the fairgrounds. I hate sitting around feeling like an idiot. Let’s go.”

Eddie put the car in gear and drove down the block. When I turned to see if the patrol car followed us, I spotted a red and yellow camper parked in a driveway.

“Eddie, stop.”

“Why?”

“Think I see something.” He jammed on the brakes and the patrol car behind us screeched to a halt.

I looked at the print out of Oscar’s information. “Back up.”

Eddie backed up a foot and the patrol car driver got the message. We reversed and stopped six houses away, at 1107 Magnolia, a small single-family home in a modest neighborhood. Oscar’s license plate matched the red and yellow camper van parked in front.

“Damn it. Misdirection.” Eddie hit the dashboard again. I said, “Probably gets his mail at the empty lot and if he’s caught, it easy to explain the error. Sometimes 7s look like 1s.”

Eddie got out of the car and sent one officer around the back of the house. I looked at the house and spotted some movement through a window.

Eddie drew his gun and said to the cop still in the patrol car, “I saw someone in the front room. Radio your partner, tell him to count to ten and take the back. You and I’ll take the front. Raquel, stay here.”

I didn’t want to stay by the car but by the time I got the courage to approach the house, the two officers came out the front door. One said to the other, “I still don’t get it. How can the place be empty? No one came out the front.”

The other cop, “Don’t look at me, he didn’t come out the back either.” The two cops split up and walked the perimeter around the house from different directions.

I walked up to the front door and looked inside. Eddie stood in the middle of the living room with his hands on his hips. I joined him.

“Look at this place,” he said. “like a cross between a museum and a magic shop.”

Old circus posters covered the walls and small tricks alternated with books on shelves. I saw a few pieces of larger apparatus including a Zig Zag box in a corner.

“Did you look in these?”

“What? You think he’s hiding in a magic box?”

“Maybe.”

“Already looked. He’s gone. Vanished.”

Eddie kicked at the Zig Zag box. “What is this thing?”

“A woman enters the box and the illusionist inserts two blades to cut her in thirds. Then the middle section slides to the side to make it appear she’s actually cut into three pieces.”

“And that’s entertainment?” Eddie started thumping his feet on the floor. “Maybe a trap door… ”

I pointed to a coffee table on a small rug. “Try here.”

“Where? The coffee table? Why there?”

“If there’s a trap door, it has to be hidden and when it’s closed from underneath it has to hide itself. That rug would cover a door edges nicely, besides, there’s a magazine on the floor next to it. Like maybe, it slid off. Try lifting the table by one end.”

Eddie leaned over and tried to lift one end of the table. It didn’t move.

“No, the opposite side.”

Eddie stood erect and gave me a look. I knew he was thinking, “Why didn’t she tell me which end the first time.” So, I said out loud, “The magazine was at that end. I thought it was obvious.”

He rolled his eyes, but I felt good because I realized I knew him well enough to read his expressions. He bent his knees and lifted the table with a grunt. It pivoted on a hidden hinge to reveal a dark opening in the floor. “Geez, you can be a pain in the ass but boy, I’m glad you’re right about this.”

Eddie took a flashlight from his pocket and started down a ladder lining the hole in the floor.

I said, “I’m coming.”

Eddie hesitated, then reached for his ankle and produced a gun. “Ever use one?”

“Dad’s club had a range in the basement. He used to let me shoot his .22”

“OK. Florida has liberal gun laws. Here, just don’t shoot me somewhere we’ll both regret.”

I followed Eddie down the ladder into a dark tunnel. We walked about 100 feet before we encountered another ladder. Eddie whispered. “Wait here,” and began to climb. When he got to the top, he pushed up the door covering the tunnel. I tensed and aimed my gun at the light coming into the opening. Eddie made a sudden move and exited the tunnel into whatever waited. I held my breath and listened but heard nothing until the door opened wide and Eddie said, “OK, Raquel, it’s safe. Come on up.”

I climbed the ladder and exited the tunnel into a large shed with a dirt floor. Tire tracks led to the door but I didn’t see any vehicles.

Eddie said, “He’s gone.”

We exited the shed into a wooded area behind Orazio’s house and walked back through the yard to the two officers we left behind.

Eddie stationed one of them at the front door and the other in the woods near the shed. He and I went back into the house for clues indicating where to look next. Eddie lowered the coffee table once again covering the tunnel opening. “Don’t want anyone falling in the hole. Speaking of hazards, can I have my gun back, please.”

I gave it to him handle first. “Lucky you said, ‘please’.”

“Always polite to women, especially when they’re armed.”

I bent over and picked up the magazine on the floor next to the coffee table. “Hey, Eddie. This isn’t a magazine. It’s a magic catalog.”

“You mean it does tricks?”

He made me smile. “No doofus, it advertises apparatus magicians use.”

“Welcome to the modern world. Now, even a magician buys his stuff mail order.”

I thumbed through the pages. “No, not buys, sells. This is a catalog for Mendez Magic with an office at 1107 Magnolia.”