MASS MURDER (66 page)

Loud shouts drifted up from the grounds below
.
The police had heard the shot
s
and were trying to get into the tower
.

“
Put your gun down
, Detective.”

The monk’s eyes said it all. He would kill Grosvner even if it meant losing his own life. And he would enjoy doing it.
Giorgio
had to make a choice, and the thought made him sick to his stomach. He was about to lower his gun, when Frances’
gaze shifted
s
uddenly
. H
is
eyes grew wide
and his face distorted into a look of abject horror
.

“What? No!”
he screamed.

He raised his gun with a fierce cry of pain and fired
wildly
at something behind Giorgio. Giorgio
ducked
as the bullets whizzed past him
. He raised his own gun
and fired twice, hitting
Frances
in the chest
. Frances was thrown
backwards into the window frame
. The boards gave way with a sickening crack, and the young monk
fell
away from the building
in an awkward arc
.

Then, s
uddenly, all went quiet
.

With the threat gone, Grosvner lumbered over to Giorgio
as if asking for forgiveness
.
Giorgio reached out and
gave him a hug
.

“Good boy, Grosvner,” he said
.
“Good boy.”

With a deep sigh, Giorgio went to the window to look over the edge
where things were
eerily
silent
.
Three squad cars stood head to toe along the driveway with their lights flashing
.
Monks an
d officers stared speechless
at the iron priest
.
Giorgio followed their gaze to where Father Frances had been speared like a fish on the rai
sed
sword
in the priest’s hand.

When a
sudden
cold chill
swept over him
,
Giorgio
turned
to find the boy standing about five feet behind him
.
This time, the boy showed the hint of a smile
. Giorgio was just about to say thank you when a second image materialized next to the boy. It was the misty outline of a tall monk.
Father Wingate.
The monk appeared to place a languid arm around the boy’s narrow shoulders
as if he owned him. The boy
tried to pull away
, b
ut the monk held him tight. They stood together in a strained tableau before the monk forcibly turned the boy away
.

Giorgio flinched forward
, but Christian Maynard and Father Wingate de-materialized before his eyes.
A moment later, Rocky appeared in th
e doorway, listing to one side.

“Looks like I missed the theatrics,” he said weakly.

Giorgio glanced
at his brother, but once again, he wasn’t referring to the ghostly images.  Giorgio looked
back at the gruesome scene below
where Mulhaney was already shooting pictures of the dead Father Frances
.

“
Yeah, well, looks like
Frances won’t be taking a curtain call.”

C
hapter
Forty
-Three

Giorgio and the family were just arriving home from church
when Swan pulled up to the curb
.

While Giorgio had taken the last couple of weeks off to be wit
h Angie, Swan had put the final

pieces of the investigation together
.
The look on Angie’s face as Swan ambled up the drive though, made Swan raise his hands in surrender.

“I’
m only here to make a report.”

“Then why don’t you come in?” she said with a skeptical smile
.

Grosvner greeted them all at the door, bristling with enthusiasm
.
After a lick here and a lick there, he followed the kids upstairs
.
Giorgio and Swan disappeared into the living room while Angie headed for the kitchen.

“How’s Angie?”

“She’s doing okay,” Giorgio answered
.
“We’re all taking it slow
.
I’ve had to help out around the house a bit.”  He gave a shrug as if vacuuming and doing the laundry were no big deal
.
“The kids have been great though
,
and I’ve even become a little fond of Mrs. Greenspan
.
”

Swan laughed
as he
planted himself on the sofa
.
Giorgio took his favorite chair
.

“How’s the arm?”

“Good,” Giorgio replied, flexing his right hand
.
“Good enough that Angie ignored me last night when I tried to use it as an excuse to get out of doing the dishes.”  They both chuckled
.
“
So, anything new on the case?”

“A couple of things
.
Apparently
Dorman
was part of Anya Peters’ scheme
.
Dorman
had the same job as Colin Jewett
at another catering company
, meaning he’d take a regular break during the event to pass off the drugs and collect the payment
.
B
ut
he was starting to cause trouble
.
He wanted more money and more control over the operation
.
Peters decided it was time for him to go and got him to enroll in the conference on the pretense he was going to pick up another drop.”

“And Poindexter was hired to get rid of him?”

“
Not exactly.
Poindexter is her brother.”

Giorgio’s eyes opened wide. “Hell, I
didn’t see that one coming.”

“Poindexter
is
the shipping manager for the produce company,” Swan continued
.
“He handled all the scheduling
.
It’s a big company and they have satellites all over the basin, including one only a few miles from the Mexican border
.
The drugs would be shipped north hidden in boxes of lettuce
.
Poindexter was in a perfect position to orchestrate the drops without raising suspicion.”

“What about Father Frances?  Or should I say, Danny Marino?”

“We did some checking on both him and Jack Brye, that guy you pointed out in the college yearbook.
Brye actually
was
a priest
…”

“A
nd Marino killed him in order to take his identity
,
”
Giorgio interrupted him.

Swan threw up his hands in supplication
.
“Why do I even bother?”

“I ask myself that all the time,” Angie interjected, entering with
a tray of cheese and crackers.

Angie put the tray onto the ottoman just as Rocky came through the front door with a bunch of flowers
.
He sauntered into the living room, gave the flowers to Angie, gave her a peck on the cheek
,
and swiped a hunk of cheese o
ff the tray all in one movement.

“Thank you, Rocky,” Angie smiled, taking the bouquet
.

“He only wants to stay for dinner,” Giorgio sneered.

Angie disappeared into the hallway chuckling as Grosvner came lumbering down the stairs
.
He made a beeline for Roc
ky who stooped down to pet him.

“So, what else did you get?”

“
W
e contacted your old department in New York
.
Some guy named Frank Mangano was murdered there about seven months ago
.
According to the street,
Mangano murdered Marino’s father when he was just a kid
.
Looks like fifteen years later, son
takes revenge
.
The police arrested
a
guy named Jacko Galiano
who
fingered Marino
as the shooter. B
ut Marino had already been killed in a car accident the night
before
Mangano was killed
. S
o the case was closed.”

“Wonder how they managed that sleight of hand.”  Giorgio leaned forward to grab a cracker
.

“Frances said something that night just before he went over the edge
.
He said if he didn’t get

a
way
,
or die in the process, his uncle would kill him.”

“Marino’s uncle announced his intention to run for Mayor
just last month
.
I suppose i
f
his nephew had been arrested for
Mangano
’s murder
, it would have derailed any chance he had of winning.”

Grosvner had rolled over now to let Rocky rub his stomach. “Obviously they staged the kid’s death,” Rocky added
.
“Then the uncle exiled him.”

“That’s what we think,” Swan agreed
.
“We can’t prove it
,
and of course the uncle denies any connection to Mangano’s murder or his nephew’s disappearance
. B
ut the kid’s mother says that her son disappeared the same day Mangano was murdered
.
The family told her he drove his car off a cliff the night befor
e, even produced a charred body. B
ut she said the next day someone came and picked up some of his belongings.”