Gnosis (30 page)

“Sounds like a solid plan to me.”

Even in a pair of cut-off jeans and a ratty University of Kentucky T-shirt, hair pulled back tight in a ponytail, her face streaked with dirt, Barbara Tanner looked much better today than she did the last time Dantzler saw her. Life and hope had returned to her eyes, and judging by the big smile on her face, sorrow and despair had vanished.

She had, Dantzler sensed, weathered the storm surrounding the death of her boss about as well as possible. Good for her.

Barbara invited the two detectives in, asked if they wanted something to drink—they declined—and apologized profusely for the mess in the house and for her sloppy appearance.

“I’m cleaning places that haven’t been touched in years,” she said. “It’s simply dreadful, the dirt and dust and cobwebs I’m finding. I should be horse whipped for neglecting things this long. It’s unforgivable.”

“You look really good,” Dantzler said.

“Oh, I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am,” Barbara answered, beaming. “When Mr. Rogers died, I was scared to death about being out of work. At my age, in this terrible economy, I thought it would be really difficult finding full-time employment. But you know what? I had three job offers the day after the funeral. All of them with really good, respectable firms. I couldn’t believe it.”

“That speaks volumes about your reputation within the legal community,” Dantzler said. “Have you made a decision yet as to which offer you’ll take?”

Barbara nodded, said, “I begin work Monday at Adler, James, and Young. Doing basically what I was doing for Mr. Rogers, but with a bigger paycheck and better benefits. I really lucked out, didn’t I?”

Adler, James, and Young—Sean Montgomery’s firm. No doubt Sean had a big hand in this deal.
“Getting someone with your talent and experience,” Dantzler said, “I would say they also lucked out.”

“Well, I’m just very thankful. It goes to show good things sometimes come out of bad situations.”

“Listen, Barbara, I need to ask you about a guy who may have been one of Colt Rogers’s clients. If he was a client, it was probably a long time ago. Twenty, twenty-five years, maybe.”

“What’s his name?”

“I only have his first name. Kevin.”

“Hmm. Let me think. Off the top of my head, I can’t remember any clients named Kevin. Do you know what he looked like?”

“Big, strong, heavily muscled. Had a hot temper and wasn’t good at controlling it. He came into the office once and directed some serious threats at Colt.”

“You know, that does trigger a memory. But the man I’m thinking of, well, Mr. Rogers represented him just prior to when I began working at the firm. I only got in on the tail end of their association, so I really didn’t know him. But the man I’m thinking of—his name wasn’t Kevin. His last name was Stone, but . . .”

“Ah, shit,” Milt yelled, slapping his palm against his forehead. “Kevin Stone—why didn’t I think of him? Went by the name Rocky.”

“Yes, yes, that’s him,” Barbara said. “Rocky Stone.”

“The name sounds familiar,” Dantzler said. “But I can’t quite place it.”

“He was a local kid, a boxer,” Milt said. “Pretty damn good fighter, too. Light heavyweight. I saw him fight once at the Continental Inn, back when they used to hold professional matches there. Knocked his opponent out in the second round. Johnny Richards was dead on when he said Colt Rogers had every right to be afraid. Rocky Stone was one tough gorilla. Crazy, too. He once got into an altercation in the Continental Inn bar and it took five cops to get him under control. They said he was slinging those guys off like they were raindrops.”

“What happened to him?” Dantzler asked. “His boxing career, I mean?”

“Hell, who knows? It’s no secret boxing is a crummy, dirty racket run by crummy, dirty people. My guess is he got used, abused, and taken advantage of as long as he could make some unscrupulous promoter or trainer a few bucks. Once he was no longer a financial asset, he got pitched out like dirty laundry. Rocky Stone—damn, hadn’t thought of him in ages. He had some real potential, could have been a big-time contender under the right circumstances.”

“If I’m not mistaken he ended up going to prison,” Barbara said.

“He did,” Milt said, nodding. “Got pinched for armed robbery up in the Cincinnati area. He and another guy robbed a string of pharmacies, took cash and drugs, maybe shot up one of those places. If I recall correctly, he got hit with a pretty long stint.”

“Is he out now?” Dantzler said.

“I don’t know, but I’ve got to believe he is.”

“Was Colt Rogers his attorney?” Dantzler asked Barbara.

“I think he was. Yes.”

“We need to find out all we can about this guy,” Dantzler said. “And if he has been released from prison, we certainly need to speak with him.”

“I’ll check the records,” Milt said, writing in his notepad. “Get all the paperwork, speak with his PO and try to nail down an address.”

“Good.”

“Do you think he might be the one who killed Mr. Rogers?” Barbara said to Dantzler.

“I don’t know. But from what you and Milt have been telling me, and given his past criminal history, he’s definitely a person of interest.”

“Well, I certainly don’t want to wish ill of anyone, but if he is the man who killed Mr. Rogers, I hope he burns in hell forever.”

Milt laughed out loud. “Come on, Barbara. Don’t hold anything back. Tell us how you really feel about it.”

*****

“I’ve got a good feeling about this,” Milt said when they were back in the car. “Rocky Stone is mean enough and crazy enough to be a shooter.”

Dantzler was less enthusiastic about the possibility. The lion in his path was the twenty-nine-year gap between the first set of killings and the recent murders. In his mind, he couldn’t build a bridge that would connect them. And even if Stone did murder Colt Rogers and Devon Fraley, it didn’t lock him in as the shooter of those two kids in Eli’s barn. But if he was the shooter, why would Eli keep silent all these years? Why would he spend his life in prison for a thug like Stone? There were too many questions yet to be answered before Dantzler’s excitement matched Milt’s.

Still, they now had a focus point—Rocky Stone—and that’s better than nothing.

Yet—

“I don’t know, Milt,” Dantzler finally said. “There are a lot of dots that need to be connected. I wish I were as positive as you are.”

“You’re a negative prick, and always have been. You and Dan were a lot alike that way, damn prophets of doom, the both of you.” Milt chuckled softly. “Not at all like me, Mr. Positive.”

“Yeah, you’re a real sunbeam of joy, Milt.”

“Think about it, Ace. This could turn out to be the ray of sunshine we need in order to solve this sucker. Certain elements do fit. Rocky Stone is a convicted felon, he’s violent and . . .”

“You’re jumping ahead of yourself, aren’t you? We don’t even know if he’s out of jail. For all we know, he could still be locked up. Or if he is out, he could be living a thousand miles from here. Hell, he might even be dead. No, Milt, I’ll keep my excitement in check until more facts are known.”

“His name fits, too,” Milt added, undaunted by Dantzler’s skepticism. “Think about it. From what you told us after reading the Bible. You said the name Stone was one we should be looking for. Well, you got it.”

“Yeah, that part I like,” Dantzler admitted. “But for it to work, if we’re going by what Eli told us, then we’ve somehow got to link Rocky Stone to the obituary page. If we can’t do that, then it’s just a weird coincidence.”

“This is no coincidence.”

“Once we do make the connection—if we
can
—then we’re still only halfway home. Our next step would be to link Stone to those two kids who were killed in ’eighty-two. Again, if we can’t make the connection, this whole thing falls apart faster than a cracked egg.”

“Thanks, Ace.”

“For what?”

“Taking away all my sunshine.”

“Welcome to the dark side, Milt.”

*****

Back at the station, Dantzler spent a few minutes briefing Captain Bird on what he learned from talking with Johnny Richards and Barbara Tanner. Bird was skeptical but intrigued. He remembered Rocky Stone as an up-and-coming boxer, but had only a vague recollection of his criminal activities. When told that Stone spent a long stretch in prison for armed robbery, Bird shrugged, went back to filling out forms, and mumbled something about not being surprised that a former pugilist ended up in legal trouble.

After leaving Bird’s office, Dantzler joined Milt, Eric, and Scott in the War Room. Milt had already brought the two younger detectives up to speed before Dantzler walked in. Scott was excited about the news, Eric wasn’t.

“We’re heading up a blind alley on this one,” Eric said. He was standing by the coffee pot, holding an empty cup. “I’ve been through those obituary notices five times and there is no one named Stone anywhere to be found. If this Stone guy killed Rogers and Fraley, then we’re looking for two shooters, not one.”

“There is only a single shooter,” Dantzler said. “I don’t like Stone as a candidate for the two most recent murders or the first two.”

Milt said, “Stone kills those young kids for who knows what reason. Maybe it was a drug thing, maybe it was something else, maybe they just pissed him off. But he kills them and gets away with it. Fast forward a few years and he gets pinched for the armed robbery thing, goes away for almost twenty years. That’s plenty of time to build up a lot of hatred and resentment toward the attorney who couldn’t save your ass. He gets out, thinks about it a little bit, maybe adds a little booze to boost his hate level, decides it’s time to settle old accounts. He kills Rogers. Fraley, the poor temp, overhears his name, or maybe she knew he was coming in, so Stone has to take care of her too. What’s so difficult to believe about that?”

“Milt, if I had ten dollars for every maybe in that speech, I’d buy myself a steak dinner tonight at Malone’s,” Eric said. “It will take some serious evidence before I’m convinced Stone killed those two guys twenty-nine years ago. And I doubt we’ll find it.”

“Know what’s missing from your scenario, Milt?” Dantzler said. “Eli Whitehouse. How does Rocky Stone fit in with Eli? Why would Eli go to prison for a nobody like Stone? Give up his freedom, his family, his congregation? It makes no sense.”

“Like you said from the start, Eli did it because he’s afraid. Not for himself, but for his family. Rocky Stone is, as we all know, a scary dude.”

“But why did Stone kill those two kids?”

“Hell, Jack, I don’t know. That’s what we’ve got to find out. We need to make the connection.”

“There is no connection, Milt,” Eric said.

Milt ripped a piece of paper from a legal pad and stood. “Let me call Stone’s parole officer, see if I can come up with an address. That will at least answer the question regarding his whereabouts.”

“Why didn’t the guy use his cell phone?” Scott asked, after Milt left the room.

“A dinosaur like Milt never thinks cell phone first,” Eric said.

“Can’t imagine thinking otherwise,” Scott said, shaking his head.

Ten minutes later, Milt came back into the room, waving the paper like a flag. “Stone lives on Alexandria. Let’s go pay him a visit, Ace.”

“We’re
all
going,” Dantzler said. “Everybody wears a vest. Stone is obviously a force to be reckoned with, so we’re taking no chances.”