Daddy's Little Killer

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

 

I sent Orion on a fool's errand-tracking down my car-to provide a private moment with Charlie. We had some serious plotting to do tonight.

"You probably don't remember me telling you this, Helen, but your car is across the street in Central Division's parking building."

"I remember," I said. "I needed to get rid of Johnny for a while. Listen. I want you to get someone to drive my car over to my house. The realtor dropped off the keys and the remote for the gate yesterday. I'm getting out of here tonight. I appreciate what Johnny's been doing, but I can stay with Maya for a couple of days if I really need to be around someone." The idea appealed to me. "In fact, I think we should put my overnight bag in your car, and you should deliver me there after our other interview tonight."

"We're meeting someone else?"

I nodded. "We can't afford to waste more time." I confirmed in greater detail what Maya explained over the phone. "I appreciate the fact that you didn't blurt anything out in front of Johnny. He's too close to this case, not only because he was a friend of Gwen Foster, but the entire Bennett family. I can't believe that wasn't an issue during the case fifteen years ago."

"Do you think he's right, that Masconi has been hanging around Darkwater Bay all these years?"

I opened a recently installed program on my laptop. "You must swear an oath of confidentiality."

Charlie's expression grew quizzical, but without hesitation, he made an X over his heart.

"I met a hacker about a year ago who gave me a site where I could download a backdoor hack he wrote that allowed him to peek into IRS records. Don't freak out. I'm not planning to use this for any other purposes than verifying something I've suspected almost from the beginning of this murder investigation. It's not like we'd try to use it in court."

The simple program loaded, asking for information I recalled from reading the Bennett case file, namely, Salvatore Masconi's date of birth and social security number. I needed the state of the last known IRS filing. Easy enough.

In a matter of seconds, the information grid popped up, detailing the dates the IRS received and processed his returns. Last one filed the year before Brighton Bennett was murdered.

"He would've been incarcerated and awaiting trial when tax day rolled around," I said. "See? His accountant filed an extension, and then nothing."

"You think Masconi is dead."

I nodded. "Datello as much as admitted that he knows it for a fact. Given his close relationship with the Bennett family, I'm sure he was doing a favor to Frank, making sure Masconi never hurt another child again."

"Only he was wrong."

"Extremely wrong. Orion doesn't get it. He's so certain that he had the right guy that he can't fathom there's another perp out there committing crimes. He's probably frothing at the mouth to start looking for these additional girls he believes were slaughtered, but they're not dead. That's our advantage in this, and how we're gonna catch the right guy this time."

"One of the witnesses knows more than she realizes."

"I'm hoping."

"So... this second interview tonight. Are you hoping that Caroline Blevins can lead us to Candy? Taylor has been to the seediest parts of the city, Helen. Nobody is cooperating if they know her."

"I do hope Caroline can help us with that, but no, that's not the second interview. I need you to call Harlan Hartley and tell him that we'll be at his farm later tonight. Don't accept rejection. I need to find out why our guy broke his pattern and went after a thirty-four year old woman. I have suspicions, but no answers yet."