Glass Houses (30 page)

fifty-four

Birdie popped a piece
of gum. “There's this man I know,” she began as she chewed, “a distinguished FBI agent. We used to have discussions about the differences between the FBI and modern police departments like the LAPD. He said PDs rely too much on forensics, eyewitness accounts, and circumstantial evidence.”

“Key elements to a successful prosecution,” said Anita, shrugging.

“Agreed. But the key word here is
evidence
. How many times does a crime go unpunished because of the lack of evidence? Or wrongfully obtained evidence? What's missing is profiling. He wasn't referring to thick psychological files about complex psycho killers. He was talking about everyday people profiles. He said that detectives often forget the reasons why people murder. He'd always remind me of the three Ws. What, why, who.”

“Leaving out when and where.”

“Precisely. Think back to law enforcement one-oh-one. What are the common reasons people murder?”

“Profit, revenge, jealousy, to conceal a crime, to avoid embarrassment, rage, and there's always homicidal mania—just for the hell of it.”

“My friend's favorite was profit. Follow the money. He used to say that when it came to the everyday, run-of-the-mill criminal mind—not like sexual sadists—that the basics always apply. Base impulses, justification, circumventing, recklessness, flawed behavior. I don't know about you, Anita, but every day my emotions are ruled by one of these basics. But what keeps me normal, what keeps me veering too far from the acceptable norm are consequences. These basics can be ordinary flaws or they can lead to murder.”

Birdie handed Anita the crispy newspaper clipping of the scruffy slumlord.

Anita furrowed her brows in confusion.

“For me, it started on Monday when I went looking for a new story to tackle. My boyfriend and I were in this office when I came across this old clipping. The man's name is Todd Moysychyn. He's a very successful property owner, big portfolio. I've interviewed him in the past and I was curious how his interests fared in the housing crisis. I thought an updated story would be relevant and newsworthy. Little did I know then that this guy would be the key, literally, to the homicide Thom caught the day before.

“What Thom and I did was apply these basic one-oh-one rules to this case. We broke it down to the essential elements. The simpler the better. It's all about the money. You'll see.”

Thom raised the shade covering the dry erase board. Sections of it were covered with taped-up newsprint.

“These are the current, as is, market values for the four houses where the homicides occurred,” said Birdie.

“Moysychyn owned all four houses.”

Westchester: Vermillion Management

Culver City: Ladder Capital

Santa Monica: Mobeck Finance Holdings

Hollywood: Great Western Group

Vermillion, Ladder, Mobeck, Great Western = L.A.

Housing Trust = Todd Moysychyn.

Anita's mouth formed an O.

“Elizabeth has mad computer skills,” said Thom.

“Todd wasn't making enough money on these properties. They were worth more on the open market, but first he had to get rid of the tenants. I interviewed him twice on Tuesday. The first time was at a job site where he talked freely about his dislike for Dominic. He was unapologetic about wanting to make money on property he rightfully owned and Dominic stood in the way. At some point he mentioned his wife was a fan of mine. He invited me to dinner and said it was okay if I brought my newly separated and lonely cousin.”

Thom rolled his eyes and shook his head, not appreciating Birdie's representation.

“I had already been removed from the case,” said Thom. “I couldn't go into his house as a cop. All I could accomplish is a survey and be there as Elizabeth's backup. That's where I collected the cigarette butt George gave you,” said Thom.

“This Todd guy killed Deats? He's Rachel's baby daddy?” said Anita.

“He's the father, but we don't think he killed Deats or any of the others,” said Birdie.

“Like we're meant to believe,” added Thom.

Birdie picked it up. “The dynamic between Todd and his wife, Iris, was odd. He told us she was a mail-order bride come over from China to marry a rich American and that she was very good at spending his money. Believable. Here's where it takes a turn … I wasn't feeling well and Thom escorted me to the bathroom. We took the wrong passage and ended up in a dark hallway. Iris came and directed us in the right direction.”

“There was a dead goldfish in the toilet,” said Thom.

“Not just dead,” inserted Birdie. “Frozen. Still cold to the touch.” We believe Iris put it there as she walked past the bathroom to get us. She had opportunity.”

“Todd likes to paint,” said Thom. “He's a freak. He keeps fish and when they die he grinds them up and uses the … whatever you'd call it in his paintings.”

“He told me he didn't like dead fish,” said Birdie. “The utilization of recycling dead fish is his way of respecting them.”

“That's sick,” said Anita.

“Agreed,” said Thom.

“And this is where Iris piqued our interest,” said Birdie. “She is the only one who had the opportunity to put the frozen fish in the toilet. It was like a calling card.”

“Also, Iris was fascinated with Elizabeth. Couldn't take her eyes off her—”

“—yet when I caught hers, she averted them. After dinner while Todd and I were talking, Thom filched two photos from their refrigerator.” Birdie removed one sheet of the newspaper from the dry erase board. “This one was taken the day they were married at city hall. Her legal name is Li S
Å«
. This is her as a schoolgirl.”

Anita peered at the photos. “Okay. Where are we going?”

“It's coming,” said Thom. “Without the big picture, it won't mak
e sense. We're almost there. I promise.”

Birdie continued. “When we left the Moysychyn's, we stopped on the side of the road to make some unrelated phone calls. A car that looked identical to one we saw in Todd's garage passed us at a high rate of speed.”

“We gave chase,” said Thom. “I called in the plate and it came back Todd.”

“Who was driving?” said Anita.

“We don't know,” said Birdie. “The windows are tinted. But we followed it downtown and saw Jelena Shkatova get into the vehicle.”

Birdie waited a beat for the name to register with Anita. When it did, her eyes widened.

“Jelena could know Todd several ways: one, as her foster parent's landlord. Two, as Rachel's special friend. Three, through her job as a clerk in Dominic's office. As you know from George's report, he worked with a city councilman on housing-related topics. We considered that Jelena could've been spying on Todd's behalf. Also, remember the statement made by Kidd where he reported that Jelena was always on the make for a rich man like her Asian friend. Maybe she marked Todd.”

Again Birdie waited for Anita to catch up. Make the connection.

“Jelena is the killer?”

“Her whereabouts during the TOD window are unsubstantiated,” said Thom.

“For the Lawrence murders,” added Birdie. “We haven't veered into the other three. Back to Moysychyn's wife … the morning after the dinner we began researching Iris.”

Birdie handed a lighted magnifier to Anita. “Look at this childhood photo more closely.”

Anita moved the glass back and forth, concentrated. “The faces of the girls are blurred.”

“Look at the building behind the girls. See the partial of the school seal?”

“Yeah. It looks like … hum, a compass?”

Thom pulled up a website on his laptop. “This is Compass—an orphanage for troubled girls. See this thing that looks like a ship's wheel? It's a Dharma Wheel. It was the official symbol of the school a hundred years ago. Before political correctness, before the symbol changed to a compass. It's the place Jelena lived before she became Dominic and Rachel's foster daughter. She mentioned it when George interviewed her.” He paused for emphasis. “It's also the place Li S
Å«
, aka Iris, lived.”

“Jelena and Iris were childhood chums,” said Birdie. “Iris did not come to America as a seventeen-year-old mail-order bride. She was already here. We believe she scammed Todd.”

“This is all very fantastical,” said Anita

“Actually, it's simple. Iris and Jelena met as girls. They're still friends.”

“How do you know that?”

“Social networking,” said Birdie. “Todd told me Iris was a fan, so I friended her.”

“Which opened up her life to you,” said Anita.

“And her friend's lives. Jelena is prominent in Iris' posts. They're club girls just like I used to be. They have phones, they take photos, videos. This was posted by one of their friends.”

Thom clicked the mouse and the video began.

The two girls, dressed in short skirts and high heels, were standing near the red velvet rope of a club and Iris conducted a mock interview with Jelena.

Iris:
“Greetings, America. I'm here tonight at Club Go-Go in Hollywood with supermodel Lena. Lena, you look fabulous.”

Lena:
“Thank you, Iris. I'm so excited to be here tonight to make my singing debut.”

Thom stopped the video.

Anita cocked her head. “I listened to Jelena's interviews. She spoke with a Russian accent. It's not detectable here.”

“That accent really bothered George from the beginning,” said Thom. “He thought a girl in the states since age eight would've lost it after fourteen years.”

“She sounds like a native. And the other one?”

“We only met Iris the one time,” said Birdie. “She had a definite lilt. Clipped her words. Kept it simple, soft. Her voice doesn't sound anything like what you're hearing on this video.”

“She said something peculiar.” Thom told Anita how Iris knew “shoot” from “chute.” “It's too English specific. She didn't come to America five years ago.”

“And then there's this,” said Birdie.

Thom minimized the video and opened an audio file. “This one came in on Sunday at eleven-thirty-five. Jelena was still at the Lawrence scene.” He hit play:

“Greetings, Elizabeth, I read your article on the Blue Bandits. Perhaps you should look at all the pretty dead fish.”

“This came later.”

“Greetings, Elizabeth. Let me introduce myself. My name is Mayo. It took three minutes to kill four people with five shots. Good numbers, don't you think?”

Thom went back to the video. “Close your eyes and tell me what you hear.” He restarted the video from the beginning.

Iris:
“Greetings, America. I'm here tonight at Club Go-Go in Hollywood with supermodel Lena. Lena, you look fabulous.”

“I'm no expert,” said Thom, stopping the video. “But that is the same gender-neutral voice.”

Anita harrumphed. “A mishmash.” She walked across the office, pulled open the French doors, and stepped out onto the deck.

Thom huddled with Birdie. “She doesn't see it.”

“Can't blame her. It's hard to communicate what we've seen—what we experienced—without sounding like crazy people. Yes, we think Iris, and possibly Jelena, are involved—it's a good working theory because the message has but one purpose. It's a calling card and points attention to Todd's predilection. Would a killer really be that obvious? There are four crime scenes and eight victims. All we can offer is a direction.”

“Like a compass,” said Anita behind them. “Let me show you something.”

She removed another file from her tote and pulled out four 8x10 blowups of the bloody messages. She removed four magnets from the board and stuck up the first one. Across the bottom:
Westchester 4/1.
She put another next to it:
Culver City 4/8.
Then:
Santa Monica 4/15.
And lastly:
Hollywood: 5/13.

Lined up, side by side, the difference between all four messages was very clear. They were all written the same way. Capital D. Lower case letters. But the first three were written by the same hand. The last one was different in the way the letters were stroked.

Anita pointed at the clipping from the article Birdie had written about Jelena and Dominic. “See how she's looking at him?”

“With adoration,” said Birdie.

“Love,” said Anita. “See, I like simple, too. Know what I thought when I saw this photo after reading Thom's case notes? That Jelena was in love with Dominic and when she found out Rachel was pregnant … well, she registered her displeasure by getting rid of the new family and attempted to blow his dick off.”

Thom chuckled.

“You two aren't the only ones who see things differently. Show me again. Only this time, give me more detail.”

_____

Birdie and Anita stood on her front walkway.

“Thank you,” said Birdie. “For coming over and helping Thom. He needs someone on his side right now.”

“I'm very impressed by him,” said Anita. “He has a lot of courage. I'm not sure I'd be able to do it.”

“Do what?” said Birdie.

“Throw the ball to another detective for the touchdown. The work you guys did … the way you approached it … a game changer. Don't worry. I'll see it done to the end.”

Birdie took a step back. “I don't understand.”