The Beholder, a Maddie Richards Mystery (23 page)

“What musical did you watch last night?” Maddie asked Steve.

“We didn’t last night,” his aunt said, again usurping her nephew’s right to reply. “Steve went to visit a sick friend.”

“Someone from work?”

“Nobody special,” his aunt said. “Some girl he—”

”How do you know she isn’t special?” Steve said sharply.

Out of the corner of her eye, Maddie noticed the collar on Steve’s black shirt had darkened from sweat.

“Do you guys watch musicals every Thursday?” Maddie asked, still looking at Steve.

“Oh, yes. Religiously,” Ms. Gibbs answered. “That’s the highlight of our week. On Monday I pick the one for the week and then we start discussing some of the great scenes. By the time Thursday comes we’re bursting with energy. I pick some milk duds up at the store and Stevie makes popcorn. Those movies are so wholesome and much better for him than the gore and sex in today’s movies.”

After lunch Maddie excused herself, but was unable to escape without an embrace from Ms. Gibbs.

Chapter 33

“I’ve got a delicate situation, Lieutenant,” Maddie said when Adam Harrison came into her office; she had called to ask him to join them. Sue Martin and Gil Ortega were already there.

“I’d like to give you my thinking after these two leave. Right now, you need to know what I’m having them do and why. I’m also instructing them to keep the work confidential.”

Detective Ortega gave up his chair for the lieutenant, closed Maddie’s door and stood with his backside against the knob. No one would be coming in.

“Lieutenant, it’s possible that Steve Gibbs, Dr. Ripley’s assistant, is the Beholder. My gut tells me he isn’t, but there’s enough circumstantial evidence that I can’t ignore looking closer. Gibbs is a fragile guy, and his work in the M.E.’s office brings him in regular contact with our detectives. That’s why I want it kept quiet. I’ve instructed Sue to write it up as handling a special assignment for me, nothing more. Before we get into it further, can these two get on their way?”

“Go ahead Detective Ortega, Officer Martin,” Lieutenant Harrison said. “You understand the confidentiality part of this?” They nodded and left.

“Now, Sergeant, flesh it out.”

It didn’t take long for Maddie to fill in the lieutenant on the extent to which Steve Gibbs fit the profile. That Steve got the job with Ripley through a referral from Dr. Knight who was his therapist. That it was possible Steve may have learned that Dr. Knight’s wife was cheating on him. And Steve did fit the description of the man seen walking on Carmen Diaz’s street. She also admitted the department could probably fill the Arizona Diamondbacks stadium with men who would match up with as much of the Beholder profile as Gibbs did.

“We need to learn if Steve has another place,” she told the lieutenant. “Somewhere he’s keeping the victims’ clothes and … breasts. His official address is with his aunt. If he’s guilty, I doubt he would keep his trophies there. I met his aunt and learned that Steve had been with a woman the night Carmen Diaz was killed. If that woman wasn’t Carmen, we need to find her without tipping off Steve. If he’s guilty, I’m hoping he’ll lead Gil and Sue to his other place where we’ll find the evidence we need to close this case. If he’s innocent, he’ll lead them to that other woman, and we’ll be able to verify his whereabouts when Carmen was killed.”

“I like it, Sergeant. It gives us something and there’s meat on the bone. You have my support for the way you’re handling it. Keep a tight rein on this and I want regular reports, verbally for now. Anything else?”

“There’s one more thing, sir,” Maddie said. “I’d like to take a look at Steve Gibbs’s personnel file, and, for the reasons we’ve just discussed, I don’t want to go through channels with a formal interdepartmental request.”

“How do you propose we do that?”

“I’d like you to ask Chief Layton to contact the top person in the right department, and get it without any record of the request.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Maddie hadn’t fully dismissed the notion that if Adam Harrison wanted Carmen Diaz dead because their relationship had gone south, he would know how to copycat the Beholder’s killings or, God forbid, kill them all to hide his murder of Carmen among the other victims. God, this is a dirty business, having to suspect everyone, even a good man you respected.

***

I’ll always remember Carmen Diaz; she had been the best so far, stronger than either of the first two. Feistier, more determined to endure; her will to survive had been glorious. The first one, the black bitch started praying, then hummed some church hymn. Abigail Knight was a coward who gave up once she knew her beauty had been taken. But not Carmen Diaz, she hung on like a bulldog.

Every human has the power I have, but only a few possess the courage to exercise that power. Only a few have the inner strength to take beauty and punish the narcissistic, to slowly bring about their death, and linger to feel the release of their last breath.

I watched my mother’s breasts so often through that keyhole that I can recognize them anywhere. Her size. Her fullness. My power lets me take them wherever I find them.

I had removed one breast totally before Diaz stopped glaring, defiantly, using her eyes to show her rage, her desire to castrate me. She held on through the second breast, not fully accepting her fate until after I had started stealing her face; then she went limp. This is the first art form I have developed in which I can capture the emotion mother said my drawings never did. It took more than two hours for her to die, and I watched her the entire time, studied her. The woman was made of iron. I will always remember her. She was such a great help, her passion, her pain, but mostly her dogged foolhardy determination to outlast me.

***

At two that afternoon, Lieutenant Harrison walked into Maddie’s cubicle and handed her the personnel file on Steve Gibbs.

“That was quick.”

“Priority case.” He shrugged. “You know how that works. The chief made the call while I was still with him, then he headed right over to city hall where they have copies of everyone’s file. His contact went anal on him and was hesitant to let go of the file out without the proper paperwork. The chief had to promise to get it back within two hours. Put it on top of your stack and get it right back to me. If you want any copies, run them yourself and keep them out of the Beholder case file until, if and when, Steve Gibbs matures as a suspect and we go for an arrest warrant. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“One other thing, Sergeant, you don’t need to attend the Carmen Diaz autopsy tomorrow. I’ll be going.”

“Do you think that’s wise, Lieutenant? Why don’t I go? It’s my job.” He started to protest, but Maddie put up a hand, interrupting him. “I’m the officer in charge of the case, sir. It’s my responsibility to appoint the person from the homicide unit who will attend, and, well, sir, you are not going. It will do you no good to watch the body of a woman you cared for going through an autopsy.”

“Sergeant Richards, I’m fully aware that you are the officer in charge of this case. But I am the lieutenant, your boss. If you insist, we will both go, but I will be there.”

“No, sir, you will not. If you don’t back off, we’ll take this to Chief Layton. And, respectfully, sir, we both know that he will side with me.”

My ex is trying to steal my son, Maddie thought, so what do I do? I put the case on hold and pick a fight with my boss.

Chapter 34

“Thank you for meeting me, Dr. Ripley,” Maddie said. “I know we’ll be together in about two hours for the Diaz autopsy, but I wanted us to talk away from your office.”

“Being with a pretty woman is always a pleasure,” the medical examiner said while waving off the menus and ordering two coffees. “But I suspect your wanting to meet had a loftier purpose than flattering my ego. How can I help?”

“In an autopsy do you ever feel compelled to continue probing for something you don’t really expect to find?”

“Certainly,” he said, raising one eyebrow. “In every autopsy there are things which are obvious, requiring only confirmation, things which are likely, and things you expect will be ruled out through procedure, but about which you are less than certain. Now, speaking of things which are obvious, you’ve got something on your mind, and we have an autopsy this morning that requires both of us. Get to the point.”

“I need to know more about Steve Gibbs.” Maddie leaned closer. “Every time I’ve been to your office, Steve has been wearing black clothes. Does he ever wear other colors?”

“Always black shoes, black pants and a black shirt. I kid him some. He tells me he wears black whether he’s at work or not. It’s a little strange I guess, but we all have our idios.”

“Have you met his aunt, Cornelia Gibbs?”

Rip scowled. “I certainly have. That woman treats Steve like he’s in the sixth grade. Sergeant, what’s going on here?”

“Like I told you, I need to learn as much as I can about Gibbs. What other screwy things have you noticed or heard?”

“My God, Maddie!” He glanced to each side of the table and lowered his voice to just above a whisper. “You’re not thinking—are you thinking Steve is the Beholder?”

“No … I don’t know. In some ways, yes, in others, no. Like you said, Doctor, for some things our jobs require we follow procedures till we are certain. Steve fits enough of our profile.”

Maddie had obviously shocked the M.E. It had even sounded incredulous to her and she had said it.

“Well, Maddie,” Rip stammered. “Gosh, I know nothing that would connect Steve to these crimes. I mean—I don’t know. Maybe I’m too close to have a reliable opinion.”

Maddie put her cup down. “He ties knots the same as the killer.”

“So do I. So do maybe half the people in the valley. You got anything else?”

“A domineering mother figure, an absent father.”

“I don’t know what else is on that profile, but that much fits a bunch of people. My own mother, a pretty woman, was a witch. And she and my father divorced while I was a preteen. Christ, Sergeant, half of all marriages today ends in divorce. I might add, at the risk of sounding insensitive, even your own.”

“I know I’m grabbing at smoke here. Still, I have to follow all the leads. Why did Steve leave work early last Thursday?”

“He said he had to see someone. I remember him smiling in a way I’d never seen him smile.”

“Do you know her name?”

“That presumes the person was a woman. Oh My God. Are you thinking that woman could be Carmen Diaz?”

“Have any ladies come in to meet him for lunch? Picked him up after work? Called him at work? Anything like that?”

“No. But that’s no surprise. Steve is very shy around women, even female police officers and city employees who stop in. You must have noticed the way he acts around you?”

“I have.” Maddie grinned. “He is definitely shy around women.”

“When we were kids,” Rip said, “we’d have said, scared shitless.” They both laughed, and then Rip said, “Look, I just can’t believe this. Steve is a quiet man. He’s respectful of everyone. What you’re suggesting, well, it’s just not possible.”

“Well, someone is killing these women. And that someone is likely to appear as normal to those near him as Steve does to you, as you and I do to each other. I was hoping you’d have something that fit, but not really expecting you would. Listen, you need to go on as before. Don’t act any differently toward Steve.”

Rip nodded.

“Is it true that you hired Steve Gibbs on the recommendation of Dr. Mills Knight, the husband of our second victim?”

“Sure is. Milly and I have known each other since pre-med. Steve had been his patient for about two years. Still is, far as I know. Milly gave Steve a letter of reference. Then he called me to follow up. I think Milly is a father figure for Steve. However, I’d probably have chosen Steve for the position even without Milly’s recommendation.”

“I know you need to be on your way,” Maddie said, rising. “I’ll lag behind for a while, and then come to your lab in time for the Diaz autopsy.”

***

Outside, the sun put its hands on Maddie’s shoulders, and she was grateful. It felt good after the chill of her second autopsy in about a week. She had watched Steve Gibbs closely and seen nothing in his actions during the Carmen Diaz autopsy that suggested he had mutilated the woman. And Dr. Ripley, to his credit, had interacted with Steve as if he had not heard her suspicions.

Maddie had fifteen minutes to get to Abigail Knight’s home to meet with her husband. Dr. Knight had tried to get Maddie to come to his office, but she wanted to get him out of his clinical setting and into the scene of the murder of his wife. Mills Knight was wealthy, confident, and the public saw him as a sympathetic figure. Nonetheless, she considered the man as good a suspect as Steve Gibbs.

Clear lines connected Steve Gibbs and Mills Knight. Dr. Knight had been Steve’s therapist for years. And Dr. Knight had recommended Steve for his job. Dr. Knight’s wife became the Beholder’s second victim. Coincidence? Could be. Conspiracy? Could be. Maddie hadn’t fully let go of the possibility that Abigail Knight had been the primary victim, with Folami Stowe and Carmen Diaz throwaways to obfuscate the picture. Could Steve have somehow learned the wife of his father figure was playing around behind her husband’s back? Or could Dr. Knight be diabolical enough to manipulate his patient into murdering his wife?

Had the murder of Carmen Diaz, been a random choice? Or could the Beholder have deliberately chosen the woman Lieutenant Harrison was dating to intensify the department’s belief this was the work of a serial killer? If so, how did the Beholder learn that the lieutenant and Carmen Diaz were lovers, given they had clearly endeavored to keep it private.

Dr. Knight had arrived before Maddie and parked his metallic sea mist green Lexus in the street in front of his own house. Maddie pulled into the driveway, got out and walked toward his car wondering if the good doctor was employing a little psych game: Maddie had insisted he come to the house, so he was making her come to his car.