MURDER TAKES TIME

Chapter 57

Things in Common

Current Day 

Frankie got home from another miserable day of getting nothing done. He did without wine again—he’d had too much of late—but he brewed a great cup of espresso and lit a smoke to enjoy it with. Long ago he realized he had too many vices to quit all at once, so he opted for control of them one at a time.

The “Things in Common” chart had moved to a prominent place on his living room wall, the space compliments of his ex-wife. As he stood before his ever-evolving chart, he studied the progress.

Common Links:

Shot in head and heart—All victims

Something in hands when came home—All victims

Single—All victims (Were they gay?)

Frankie paused. Four guys killed and all single. Was he missing something? Was this some sexual deviant? He went to the table and pulled the files. 

Tommy Devin, the second one, was single. No sign of girls in the apartment. Nothing in his address book. Neighbors didn’t remember seeing any girls visit. He made a note. 

“Could be gay.”

The next file was on Renzo Ciccarelli, the first one killed. Single. No girlfriend. 

Did I screw up? Are these guys all gay? 

He leafed through the folder. Copies of Penthouse were found in the closet. That was something, but it didn’t say much. He laid down Renzo’s file and reached for Nino’s.

Nino Tortella. Single. Engaged. 

Phew. Frankie breathed a sigh of relief. Hope it was a girl. 

As he looked deeper, all indications were that Nino was straight. He hurried to Donnie Amato’s file. 

Donnie Amato. Single. Divorced. Good. Wife filed for reasons of infidelity. Even better. 

Donnie seemed to be anything but gay. Thank God for small favors. 

Last thing he wanted was a city in turmoil over a bunch of gay bashings. 

Back to the chart.

Torture—Three were. Tommy wasn’t. (Why?)

This one baffled him. Why not Tommy? Why the others, but not him? He wasn’t even the first, so it wasn’t that the killer was escalating. Frankie put a big question mark alongside his name.

Rat shit—Found at all crime scenes—but not rats. 

So far, only Nino’s had an actual dead rat. Frankie shook his head. This was weak. He was forcing it, trying to make it fit, and he knew in his heart it just didn’t feel right.

Abundance of DNA—All.

Frankie looked at the rest of the evidence. Most of it was spotty. Baseball bats used on two, but not the other two. Pictures turned down at Nino and Tommy’s house, but others had no pictures in the room. All werekilled in their homes, though. He wrote that in the “All” column. He stepped back and studied more. He felt sure there was a mob connection, but he couldn’t prove anything on three of them, and only suspected on two. The other two were clean.