Ten Plagues

“You do now.” Paul’s voice was cold, pure cop. “To withhold information that could lead to his arrest makes you an accessory—an accessory after the fact to murder. You could do serious jail time for that, understand?”

“I’ll see to it that I’m in charge of all phone orders until this is over,” Mr. Guthrie said. “And we’ll both cooperate with the police any way you ask.”

“Howie, what’s the deal?” The intern slid her hand up Howie’s arm.

Mr. Guthrie patted the hand. “We’ll be fine.”

Keren and Paul exchanged a long look, then Keren nodded her head. “We’d appreciate it. He’s kidnapped another woman.”

“And she’s going to be found dead,” Paul added. “Killed by this maniac.”

“And covered with my locusts?” Mr. Guthrie swallowed hard.

“No, he’s not up to that yet. Right now he’s reenacting the plague of beasts,” Paul said brusquely.

The two “scientists” looked suitably sickened.

CHAPTER TWENTY

O’Shea was on the radio when they got back to the car. He sounded exhausted and about fifteen years older than he had before this case started. “We found the next vic. She’s in the same park where he dumped LaToya.”

Keren started driving. “How bad?”

There was a long silence. “Bad.”

She thought he wasn’t going to say anymore. “You have to see it for yourself. I’d say he brought a plague on the beasts.”

“Did he get in the petting zoo? We had extra security on it.”

“No, he isn’t interested in a frontal assault. He was more creative than that.”

“We’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“Use the siren. We’re not holding this site a second longer than we have to. The press is all over us and there’s a crowd gathering.”

“On my way.” Keren clapped the light on her roof and hit the siren.

“Wilma.” Paul buried his face in his hands. “God, I’m sorry for what I said. Forgive me.”

He lapsed into silence and Keren looked at him. When she saw his lips moving, she knew he was still praying, and she thanked God for that. It was exactly what he needed.

It was what she needed, too.

“Plague of beasts,” Paul said. “He managed it.”

“Well, he’s an artist after all. He’s bound to have a good imagination,” Keren said, resorting to a cop’s black humor.

Wilma lay on her back near the spot Caldwell had left LaToya. Keren couldn’t see her, though. She was covered with dead birds and squirrels and rabbits. Caldwell had sprinkled poison birdseed and pellets on her, and little animals had been feasting themselves to death all night. They had piled up on her and were scattered across the park in all directions.

The police had established a perimeter, and Keren had to gather her courage before she could duck under the yellow tape.

Paul laid his hand on her back, and she looked at him. She saw his vulnerability.

He couldn’t hold her gaze, so he looked away before he admitted, “I’ve got to get out of this, Keren. When you’re done with me here, I’m going back to the mission. I’ll help any way you need, but I’m not going to ride along with you, investigate with you anymore. I can’t bear this.”

Keren nodded. She agreed he needed to go back to his own life.

They walked toward Wilma. Some of the animals were still alive, fluttering and twitching from the poison. Keren said to O’Shea, who stood near the vic, “What killed them? Could we save the ones still alive?”

O’Shea shook his head. “It’s arsenic. We had a vet called to the scene immediately. He said the effects are irreversible once they’ve eaten the poison.” O’Shea pointed to the area, surrounded by cops. “We’re having a terrible time keeping some of the bolder animals, like squirrels, from running out here and grabbing the poison. We have to get the crime scene work finished so we can get it cleaned up.”

Keren tread carefully as she got near Wilma. The ground was so covered with dead animals that she had to nudge them aside to step on the ground. She shuddered when cold fur and feathers brushed her ankles. She slipped her foot under a squirrel and pushed it gently aside and was surprised at the lack of rigor mortis. She looked at the medical examiner crouching over the body.

“Have you examined these animals?” she asked.

The ME looked up, and Keren was taken aback. Through clenched teeth, Dr. Schaefer growled, “I’m busy, if you don’t mind, Detective.”

Keren came up beside Dee and, careful of the little creatures that had fallen before this sick cruelty, knelt beside her friend. “I’m not trying to tell you how to do your job, Dee. This is getting to me, too.”

Dr. Schaefer’s head dropped for a second, then she seemed to find something deep inside herself to draw from. Her shoulders squared, and she looked Keren in the eye. “Sorry. That wasn’t meant for you.”

“No problem. I dish it out as often as I take it. I know how it is.”

They worked in silence, gathering evidence.

A crowd was building around the park. A press corps shouted questions to anyone who got too close, and they had to bring in extra police to hold back the crowd.