Castles in the Closet
Chapter 9
Mop's tendrils dripped with brown liquid. "Kate is really upset. She spilled her coffee in her office and while she was using me to get it up she was muttering and slamming things."
Why?" Maggie asked.
"Wastebasket told me that from what he was able to figure out, Dr. Lanie called Kate with the results of the analysis of the food from the Russian Market. It showed that one of their meat pies was in Jones' stomach. Kate got the warrant she wanted, but the minute her people took everyone in and completed their search, the Feds swooped in. They took all the evidence and took over questioning the suspects. Kate just kept saying 'square one,' over and over while she was cleaning." Mop hunkered on his wet head. "The only thing good about it is Kate will probably call Rick. What else can she do?"
"She could call Agent Danberg," Broom suggested.
"I suppose she could," Mop agreed slowly, before swirling a tendril. "maybe she'll call both of them."
"Sounds like she might have other things to worry about," Broom noted. "You hear all the phones ringing out there? There are usually two times when that happens: when there's a sniper or when there's a mass shooting."
Maggie fell against Broomie. "Oh Master Cleaner!"
"So what happened?" Maggie asked, her cloth trembling, as Mop was returned from the Men's Room.
Mop shook out his damp tendrils. "They just needed me in there because the floor was wet. A lot of cops have been washing up. But Towel Dispenser told me that some of the cops were throwing up too. As near as he could understand from what they were talking about to each other, some guy opened fire on the skaters at a place called Rockefeller Center. He killed a lot of people including children. The cops in there were cursing about it being too easy to get automatic weapons. From what Dispenser heard, the shooter killed the victims very fast and then ran off before the police could get there to catch him."
"Did they think he was a terrorist?" Broom questioned, his straws quivering.
"Dispenser didn't say anything about that," Mop replied. "Neither did the cops who were in the Men's Room when I was cleaning up. They were just talking about dead children."
"Boomer wasn't whistling tonight," Maggie observed sadly, when the occupants of the cart had been returned to the closet.
"I don't see how he could, considering what was going on out there," Broom responded. "Board needed two brothers to hold all the pictures of the victims. Board said they got a picture of the killer from a security camera. Did you see it? I've never seen a human with that look in his eyes before. It was scary. Board said they still don't know who he is."
"Did you hear what Wastebasket said when Boomer dumped him?" Maggie wondered. "He told me that Rick came right into Kate's office. They didn't pretend to argue or anything. Rick said he understood how upset Kate must be because she used to go skating at Rockefeller Center with her mother. He told Kate he used to take Alexis there too. Then he just asked what he could do to help."
"Right," Broomie continued. "Board said Kate took Rick over to see the pictures and the time line. She asked him if he could think of anything the cops and the FBI didn't. He just stared for a while. Then he took pictures of the boards with his phone and told her he'd work on it. Board said Rick looked around to make sure none of the other cops were watching and then he squeezed Kate's hand and said he was going to his office to hug Alexis. Then Kate whispered she'd try to talk to him later, but unless they got a break in the case, she couldn't leave the precinct. Then he whispered back that he understood, and left."
"Espresso thinks Kate stayed in her office last night," Maggie related. "She went into the break room early this morning to make a triple espresso and she was wearing the same clothes she wore yesterday. He thinks Ryan and Esposito and some of the other cops stayed too. They were all making strong coffee. A volunteer brought in a big box of muffins for them. That's why I was cleaning up crumbs."
"Did you hear anything new about the shootings?" Broom queried.
Maggie swayed on her base. "Nothing good. The cops and the FBI still have no idea who the shooter is. From what I was able to hear, they got nothing from facial recognition. They put the photo on all the news stations and out on the internet. That got them more calls and emails than they could handle. That's what the cops who stayed were doing all night, following up on calls and emails. But so far they haven't received anything that's led them anywhere. Master Cleaner help them!"
"It sounds different out there," Broomie noticed. "Broom, do you think something's happened?"
"Yeah, the noise is moving away from us, like the cops are moving to the boards," Broom replied. "I guess when someone needs us to clean up something, we'll find out."
Mop fluttered his tendrils as Broom, Broomie, and Maggie were returned to the closet. "What happened?"
"Espresso said someone kicked the vending machine," Maggie explained, "really hard. Everything came out and the chips and cookies broke all over the floor. It was a real mess."
"But it gave Espresso time to tell us what's been going on," Broom added. "Someone saw the picture of the shooter on their computer and recognized him as their next door neighbor, Thor Larsen. The story the cops got was that Larsen had a little girl named Anna, who was a skater. She was really good. Everyone who knew her thought she'd go to something called the Olympics. But there was an accident. Another skater fell on the ice and slid into her. The blade of the other skater's skate slashed Anna's throat and she died before anyone could do anything. The neighbor thought Thor was handling Anna's death all right, until he saw Thor's picture. Then he called the tip line. The cops think Thor must have gone crazy with grief. Espresso told us a couple them said they could understand how that could happen. But they still have to catch him. They searched his apartment for clues to where he might have gone and they're watching it in case he returns, but they don't think he'll go back there. They've done what they usually do with killers. They tagged his credit cards and his bank accounts. The unis and detectives are talking to everyone they can find one who might know where he went, but so far there's no sign of him."
"Do you think Rick could help track him down?" Maggie wondered. "He's found things the cops couldn't find before."
Broom rattled his bristles thoughtfully. "I don't know, but I'm sure he'll try."
