Sketch of a Murder

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The ringing phone near Michael's head jolted him from a restless sleep. Groggily, he answered. "Yeah?"

"This is Dawn. The Avenger left a letter taped to my door."

Abruptly and fully awake, he shot out of bed and began snatching clothes from hangers and drawers. "Tell me!"

Quickly Dawn related the contents of the letter. "I'll see you in Mount Vernon at the High Hat Lounge."

***

Sergeant Slowater veered off from in front of Michael, intercepting Dawn before she'd wended her way across the room. "How'd you get inside? We've had a deputy on the door since shortly after you phoned."

The reporter gave her a wry smile. "Privileged information that isn't relevant to your investigation."

Scanning the interior of the nightclub, Michael spotted Dr. Hutchinson entering. "We've got to get busy. You going to wait for us?"

"I'll be right over there." Dawn pointed towards a booth in the far corner. "I brought the letter with me this time."

With a brusque nod, he spun and hurried across the dim room. Like a barge through still waters, he cleaved a path through the knot of law enforcement personnel clotted around the back hall entrance.

The ME was already in the enormous bathroom by the time they finished getting gloved and booted up.

Westin lay against the wall, a hand towel draped across his groin. Above the vivid red bandana gag, his upper lip had been split open. His nose had a flattened look to it. "Bet he's missing some teeth," Michael remarked quietly.

"You think?" Nita smarted off. "What gave it away? The look of his right cheek?"

He shot her a hard look before returning his attention to the victim. "Poor sonofabitch."

"Don't feel too sorry for the bastard." A Skagit County deputy snapped from where he squatted next to Dr. Hutchinson. "The asshole got back what he did to that college girl he raped. Bastard knocked a couple of her teeth out, broke her nose. Her face looked like she'd run into a meat grinder."

A trickle of dried blood snaked down the side of Westin's face from a small hole in the left temple.

"No exit wound. Left temple, instead of the right one, this time. Must be ambidextrous. Switches sides as easily as baseball players switch teams," Dr. Hutchinson announced from his position next to Westin's head. He stood up and motioned for his men to bag and tag the corpse.

"What do you make of it, Dr. Hutchinson?" Michael asked as he followed the doctor out of the bathroom.

The medical examiner peeled off his latex gloves as he stepped into the hallway. "Killer's getting bold."

Nita shouldered her way out from behind the broad shoulders of the two men. "Yeah. First time The Avenger's used an office in a business that was still open."

Dr. Hutchinson nodded. "Funny thing is, I'd bet this killing had more rage behind it than the others. There's almost a feeling of loss of control in there." He tilted his head towards the bathroom. "See you at autopsy at 1000 hours, Sergeant." He strode away to supervise the loading of the body.

Michael headed towards the rear of the lounge. "Come on. Let's see what Dawn has to say."

Eyes sweeping the bar, he walked with long-legged strides. Our 'esteemed colleagues' might think my people are a bunch of losers, but they do a damn good job and nobody has to ride herd on them. More than what a lot of lieutenants can say about their people.

Dawn looked up from her cup of coffee as he slid into the booth. Nita perched on the outside edge of the bench seat and snagged the plastic-protected page from the center of the table.

Dawn studied Michael's face. "Did you suspect Westin might be on the Must Kill list?"

"We were totally unaware of Westin." Nita tossed the page to the table's center.

Lower lip caught between her teeth, Dawn hesitated before asking, "Is it true SCaT was only formed to get the heat off Governor Marleton?"

He dropped his eyes, scooped up the page. He'd never been able to bad mouth folks. "The governor was quite concerned with the..."

Sergeant Slowater smashed a fist into the tabletop. "Oh, fuck a duck! Cut the bullshit, Lieutenant." She swung her head towards Dawn. "SCaT is nothing more than a scapegoat. If this killer isn't apprehended it's our heads that will roll."

Dawn's eyebrows climbed up her forehead. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh." She snarled as she lunged to her feet, glaring at Michael. "If you want to sit here playing footsie with the enemy, be my guest. I'm out of here!"

Dawn watched as Nita shoved through clumps of people, not even trying to go around them. She settled against the sticky vinyl of the booth. "Guess she isn't happy to be a part of the governor's elite team," she said with air quotes. "So...I'm still the enemy." She sighed. "Do you think she'll ever see me any other way?"

She sounded so wistful that he hesitated before answering. "I don't know."

Dawn scooted out of the booth. "You know where I'm at."

He tilted his head back to look up at her. "Doesn't it worry you that The Avenger knows where you live?"

"Lots of people know where I live, and those who don't, can find out easily enough." She shifted her eyes to somewhere behind him. "The bad guys can always find you. If they want to." Looking down at him, she shook her head. "You know that. Good night, Mike."