AN: Surprise! Another new chapter!
The alarm on Molly's phone went off at 4am, and Joe jolted awake. Molly reached for her phone, to hit snooze, and he took it out of her hand and turned it off. He started kissing her throat before she had a chance to register that she didn't need to go to work. Molly, bit her lip, and with her eyes still closed, and half asleep, she tipped her head to give him better access to her neck.
"Hey sweetheart," he said. "Guess what."
"It's early, and you're going to make it worth my while to wake up?"
"No," he said. "You're way off."
"I give up," she said breathlessly as his teeth grazed her collarbone.
"I love you," he said.
"Show me," she said.
"My pleasure," he said.
When he got out of bed later, she was smiling in her sleep. He kissed her temple and left her cuddling one of his pillows. He went downstairs, to the kitchen, and pulled the basket out of the coffee maker. It was already prepped to go. Molly could only have done it when she was alone in the kitchen the night before. He turned the coffee maker on, and got a travel mug and a regular mug out of the cupboard, and went about making his breakfast. Joe had eaten, loaded the dishwasher and poured himself a fresh cup of coffee for the road, when his mother arrived. When she walked into the kitchen, he poured her a cup of coffee in the waiting ceramic mug and handed it to her as she put her bag down.
"Did you sleep at all last night?" she asked.
"A little," Joe said.
"Where's Molly?"
"She's had no trouble sleeping, but I doubt she's rested. I've reset her alarm for 7:00 because Lester is leaving at 8:00."
"Okay," Angie said. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going out to the crime scene," Joe said. "My phone is on; tell her to call me if she needs me, and I'll be back."
"I will," Angie said. Joe kissed his mother goodbye, and on passing by the sofa, he stopped to look at the man who would probably be his brother-in-law one day. Lester was stretched out, his feet hanging over the side of the couch, and not so much snoring as breathing with emphasis. Lester's gun was on the coffee table. Joe eyed it for a second, and then walked over and picked it up, and slid the television remote into the position the gun had been occupying. Joe went to the end of the sofa that was supporting Lester's feet, and with his free hand, he whacked Lester's feet off of the arm. Lester jolted awake and grabbed the remote saw that it was Joe who'd woken him up, and flopped back down on the couch.
"You're fucking lucky I didn't shoot you," Lester said.
"You're going to find that tricky," Joe said. Lester looked down at his hand at the remote and chucked it at Joe. Joe dodged it and it landed on the carpet with a soft thunk. Lester yawned and motioned for Joe to hand him his weapon back.
"What time is it?"
"6:30," Joe said. "There is another bedroom upstairs. Why the hell are you on the couch?"
"I like sleeping on couches," Lester said.
"You're going to fuck up your back," Joe said.
"It's my knees that are fucked, man. If I sleep on the couch, it's easier to keep things elevated, so I'm not all stiff when I get up."
Lester sat up and resituated himself on the sofa. He was wearing a pair of black boxer briefs and not a helluva lot else. Joe picked Lester's pants up from the back of a chair and tossed them to Lester. "My mom's in the kitchen. Put something on before you give her a heart attack."
Lester stared at the coffee table, willing his brain to start firing. He'd had a long night too. Lester dragged his pants on, picked up a shirt, and shuffled off to the powder room. Joe was putting on his shoes at the front door when he heard Lester say, "Mrs. Morelli! You're looking beautiful this morning. Can I make you breakfast?"
"Can it. Your charm won't work on me, mister," Angie said. "What do you want?"
Joe grinned and walked out the front door to his car.
What he saw at the Cubed Root wasn't even remotely good. The alley had protected the diner and the place that sold the work boots. The empty unit in her building hadn't been so lucky. The entire building was a mostly just a shell, and the bright yellow crime scene tape was jarring against the blackened dingy grey of what used to be Molly's place. Then again, so were the fridges. The fridges that Molly kept locked were charred on the outside, but the contents on the inside of the glass-doored unit were cooked, and shriveled by the heat, but otherwise untouched. The dried flowers were a disturbingly homey touch in the wreckage.
Men and women combed the scene; all but one of them, wearing navy coveralls with CSI emblazoned on the back. The outlier's jumpsuit was a slightly different color and labeled with FBI. He saw Joe and waved to him as he got out of the Jeep.
His name was Kody Leon. Joe had been to the academy with him, and they'd been rookies together. Kody applied for the FBI's Behavioral Sciences program around the same time as Joe was made Detective, and ended up working with their Arson Investigation Unit. He was five ten, with a slim build, pale grey eyes, blonde hair that was almost precisely the same shade of white as the scalp that was visible through it. Thick, long blonde lashes framed his eyes, and he never tanned. He usually dressed in light colored suits, instead of black, because it was too much of a contrast with the rest of his appearance.
"I wouldn't climb into that mess without work boots," Kody called. Joe waited on the other side of the tape, for Cody to pick his way through the rubble. Once clear, Kody unzipped his coveralls and tied the sleeves around his waist. Kody was wearing a white Arctic Monkey's t-shirt under the coveralls. He'd probably never heard of the band before; Kody just liked used concert shirts. He picked them up at yard sales and thrift shops to wear as undershirts. He said that they were infused with positive energy and residual adrenaline and excitement from the night their previous owners acquired them.
Kody shook hands with Joe and motioned for a white, pop-up shelter in the parking lot. Joe could hear the rattle of the portable air conditioning units already banging way in the morning heat.
"You're going to want to be careful with the flowers in those fridges," Joe said.
"Why?" Kody asked.
"All of them are highly toxic," Joe said. "I don't know if the heat will have cooked the poison's off, but you're going to want to be careful. Molly says she has to take precautions with the water when she cleans the buckets. I don't know if there will be fumes or whatever sealed in there."
"I'll keep that in mind," Kody said. "You're out early."
"She's going to want to see this; I want to prepare her for it."
"Don't bring her out today. We're combing through every inch of that mess. I've told them to collect everything that is even remotely salvageable. There's no need to see it like this. Not until she's got some distance on it."
"I'll tell her that when I see her at lunch," Joe said. Kody held open the flap to the tent, and let Joe in. The temperature inside of the tent was cooler than outside, but it was still warm. Kody walked Joe passed people taking pictures of evidence and cataloging it to a small office set up at the back with a folding plastic table as a desk. On it was a Nespresso coffee maker, and a laptop.
Kody sat down on a folding chair and motioned for Joe to take one for himself. "Coffee?" Kody asked.
"I'm set," Joe said and held up a cup of Molly's coffee.
"This is better than the crap you buy," Kody said.
"Molly makes the best coffee I've ever had," Joe said.
"Are you sure about that? Or have your tastebuds just become conditioned to expect garbage, so anything halfway decent is basically ambrosia."
Joe poured some of his coffee into one of the paper cups by Kody's coffee maker and slid it to Kody.
"Jesus, that's good coffee," Kody said. "What does she do to it?"
"Fucked if I know," Joe said. "So what dragged you out of Virginia? I know it wasn't because you missed the smell of Trenton in August."
"Thanks to a detonator my colleagues found in the rubble last night, I'm in charge of this whole show now."
"A detonator?" Joe said. "I thought someone staged a gas leak? Nobody said anything about a bomb."
"Yeah," Kody said. "I'm about 80% sure your girl's landlord built the bomb too. But I doubt he was expecting that disaster to happen."
"Why?"
"I've been working with Cyber Crimes for the last two years trying to track a firebug who goes by the online handle, F4tB0ySl1m. He's not your typical arsonist."
"How so?"
"He doesn't like to set the fires himself. He likes to get other people to do it for him. He gets off on talking otherwise law-abiding citizens into committing crimes, usually involving fire, and then posts the manipulations on the Dark Web. He has a huge following, and we're trying to shut him down.
"A while back he posted instructions on the internet for an insurance fraud scheme that involved a small, supposedly untraceable, explosion that was designed to take out a furnace and water heater. If done correctly, the bomb would be completely undetectable, and it would look like a fault with the furnace. The resulting water damage would allow for a larger insurance payoff without the complete destruction of the rest of the property."
"And that's what our guy tried to do, and he fucked it up."
"Yes and no," Kody said, "Because that's not what actually happens. The device isn't the bomb; it's the detonator. It's hard-wired into the furnace electrics, and it turns the furnace into a biiiig bomb that doesn't arm until power is cut to the building and the detonator's back up battery is engaged. Then it receives a signal from a garage door opener and kaboom."
"Does it require tampering with the emergency cut-offs for the gas?" Joe asked.
"Not usually, no. Someone wanted this fire to burn for a long time, and they wanted it to burn hot. There was accelerant all over the place."
"What kind of accelerant?"
"We have to run the tests still," Kody said.
"And you were able to find the detonator?" Joe asked.
"Yes, because F4tB0ySl1m designed it to be found. He wants these people to get caught. He likes the idea of the mostly moral finding themselves in prison. And us finding the detonator pretty much clears your girl of any involvement in this."
"How do you figure?"
"You ever watch the show Stargate?" Leon asked.
"No," Joe said.
"So there's this advanced alien race, the Asgard. They have to fight these bad guys that they can't beat. They've tried everything, and they are stumped. So they turn to the relatively infantile people of Earth because it turns out that the bad guys can be taken out by human projectile weapons. The Asgard come to Earth asking for help because the Asgard aren't dumb enough to think of making a weapon like a gun and they need someone less advanced to take on their enemy," he said.
"And your point?"
"Her filing cabinets were fireproof, and a lot of the contents survived," Kody said. He brought Joe to a table that had been set up to sort through the papers in the mess. Joe looked at several detailed drawings of floral arrangements and then schematics attached to them. "She does these things she calls dynamic displays. She uses robotics to enhance her designs. Some of this shit is just simple, mechanical engineering, but others? They are really fucking elaborate, but they all have something in common. They are elegant. Yeah, she could build this bomb in her sleep, but this was crudely put together. She's like the Asgard in Stargate, too advanced to do work this crappy."
"What about Molly's landlord?"
"Oh, I'm 90% certain that he's the one who tampered with the furnace. You said in your statement to Eddie that he came to do some repairs on the unit about a month ago?"
"Yes," Joe said.
"That'll be when he set up the device," Kody said, "And the cameras were fried right?"
"Yes," Joe said.
"So were all of her electrics. There was a massive surge of electricity when he cut the power. It took out everything connected to a plug. Still, don't know why it didn't fry the detonator."
"His fault?"
"We found another box in the basement attached to the mains; he's lucky he didn't electrocute himself when he put it on. When he armed the device, it caused the power surge that took out the electrics."
"Strong enough to take down a surge protector?"
"It might as well have taken a direct hit from a bolt of lightning."
"Have you arrested him?"
"They picked him up last night," Kody said. "His name is Ryan Lutz, and Ryan has severely overextended himself in the last eight months. He was in the sort of position where everything was working, but one unexpected expense would bring the whole house of cards down.
When he found out about the problems with the furnace, the insurance company gave him until the first of September to make the repairs, or they were going to revoke his coverage. He went to the bank to get an emergency loan, and they told him to get stuffed. From what we can tell, the repairs to her appliances were legit repairs that would bring them up to code without the cost of a complete replacement, but the furnace was another story. And apparently, the state of that furnace made the fire marshals decide to check to see if his other properties were up to code. Most of them are, but there is at least one other problematic building. If this place goes up in flames before the deadline, then he still gets his insurance payout, to the tune of a couple of million, which would more than cover the cost of the repairs to the other building, if he doesn't rebuild this dump."
"He didn't think it would be a little suspicious that it went up?"
"According to the report I read, the furnace developing a major gas leak was a matter of when not if, and your girlfriend was lucky there hadn't already been problems. My guess is the repairs Rangeman witnessed on their cameras were an honest attempt at a patch job and then F4tB0ySl1m convinced her landlord that insurance fraud was the way to go."
"Any idea on the identity of the victims?"
"No," he said. "And the ME says that dental isn't going to work on the female."
"Why?"
"From the looks of it and the preliminary tox screen, she'd been losing teeth thanks to a Meth problem. What she had left were extracted perimortem," Kody said.
"Perimortem?" Joe said. "Not Antemortem?"
"As in at or near the time of death. Since it couldn't have been accomplished during the fire, we figure her teeth were extracted minutes before she went into the flower shop. We've recovered a pair of pliers from the car, and the ME thinks shards of teeth that didn't burn up in the car fire."
"She would have been in excruciating pain," Joe said.
"Not if they numbed her up real good beforehand," Kody said. "We found a vial of something in the back of the car that we're testing. My money is on it being a local anesthetic. Numb her up, give her something to make her compliant, remove her teeth and send her into the store, blow it up and presto! We need to wait for DNA to identify the body.
The ME says the backlog at the DNA lab is months, even with the federal fast pass. She knows a forensic anthropologist who owes her a favor. She's bringing him in to do a cranial reconstruction so we can try to identify the female vic that way, but it's going to take time."
"I wish I knew the point of the decoys," Joe said. "Do you think Lutz is going to take much convincing to talk?"
"I think if I sneeze aggressively in his vicinity he's going to spill his guts," Kody said. "Do you want to come and watch the interrogation, or do you have to get back to your girlfriend?"
"She's going to a spa with my mother this morning, and then they are going shopping. I'm meeting them for a late lunch."
"How's she holding up?"
"She's upset," Joe said. "She's lost a lot recently, and she was making this place work. The only good news so far is that when she called a new client yesterday to tell them what happened and that she was going to have to cancel a job, they offered to pay her even more so she could rent temporary space to work on their event."
"That's lucky," Kody said. "I'm going to have to ask her some questions. I can do it at your house if it would make you feel more comfortable?"
"That's fine," Joe said. "There is something else you need to consider."
"Her ex? I've only briefly been made aware. Tell me what you know," Kody said. Joe filled him in. "I'll look into him, but stalkers like him would kill her to preserve her beauty at an ideal stage, to save it from being spoiled. Fire is an ugly way to kill someone and not something he would do to her. He's more likely to try to suffocate or poison her. That being said, he'd have no problem burning you alive, so you're in more physical danger from him than she is. Watch your back."
"When are you going to interrogate Lutz?"
"I'm going to head over now," Kody said.
They left the tent together; Joe went to his car and Kody to one of the ubiquitous black SUV scattered throughout the parking lot. As soon as Joe was in the Jeep, he called to check on Molly. Her phone went to voicemail, so he hung up and immediately called his mom. "I'm trying to get Molly," Joe said.
"She's on the phone to her father, the Colonel," Angie said. "It sounds like a serious discussion, but JigSaw says they are discussing the weather and mulch."
"Good to know JigSaw speaks German," Joe said.
"And Mr. Manoso is here," she said.
"What does he want?"
"He's installing a security system. It looks rather frightening. I'm half afraid that lasers are going to cut me in half if I accidentally enter the wrong code."
"Jesus," Joe said.
"He said it's S.O.P. for the residences of family members."
"What did Molly say?"
"Well, she rolled her eyes and said something to him in Spanish. He gave her a look, and she went back to her phone conversation with her father. I know she said she speaks five languages, but I didn't believe it until this morning."
He grinned. "When she talks in her sleep she does it in multiple languages too."
"Meet us for lunch at 1:00," she said. "I'll have Molly text you where we're going."
Joe disconnected and drove to the police station. Kody had beat him there and was in the FBI's war room prepping for the interrogation when Joe arrived. When Joe got to his desk, he was met immediately by Finch, Big Dog, and Carl. There was no trace of their usual smart assery when they approached him.
"The Captain kicked this over to the Feds, but we're not really backing off, are we?" Carl asked.
"Kody is one of us, he just changed his badge," Joe said. "He's lead on this now. It's connected to a case of his and he's not holding anything back. He knows how we feel about this."
"Fucking right," Big Dog said.
"Who's Kody?" Finch asked.
"Someone who isn't going to walk all over us," Carl said. "He went through the academy with Morelli. We'll be kept in the loop. You're not really taking leave are you, Morelli?"
"I am," Joe said. "Molly needs help right now. The only reason I'm here is to watch Lutz's interrogation. I gather it's not going to take very long because he's not exactly a seasoned criminal."
"Oh he's going to be real jumpy," Big Dog said. "He's been in lockup all night with a drugged out biker coming down from his high."
"Molly will be touched," Joe said.
"Well Eddie and Septimus filled us in yesterday, and we figured sending her flowers would be insensitive," Carl said. "You should have said something."
"We were trying to keep it under the radar," Joe said.
Kody came out to the bullpen, still dressed in his Arctic Monkeys t-shirt, only now he was wearing jeans and a tan blazer that looked like it spent most of its life crammed into a gym bag. He waved Joe towards interrogation, and Carl, Big Dog, and Finch trooped after Joe into the observation room. Joe hit the speaker button on the window so they could hear what was going on, and waited for Kody to go into the room.
Lutz was in his mid-forties, starting to grey, with the body of a guy who'd been in construction for a while. He was solid in his neck, back, and shoulders, but a little soft in the belly region. He was wearing a pink golf shirt that looked like it was Lacoste, but on closer inspection, instead of the gator embroidered on the chest, it was a naked green female Orion from Star Trek.
When Kody walked into the room, Lutz stood up, "This wasn't my idea. The thing was only supposed to destroy the furnace, not blow up the building."
"Sit down," Kody said. "Have you been advised of your rights?"
"Yes," Lutz said. "And I told my attorney that I am going to co-operate fully."
"Do you want to wait for him to get here?"
"No," Lutz said. "I want to get this over with so I can go home."
"That's might be difficult. You might get a sympathetic judge who is willing to grant bail, but it's going to be high. None of this city's reputable bondsmen are going to bail you out, and you don't have the kind of dough to pay out of pocket. I know; I've seen your bank balance. My six-year-old nephew has more money than you do, and his allowance is two dollars a week."
"It was an accident," Lutz said.
"I get it, you just tripped and accidentally rigged a detonator to your furnace?" Kody said, "And then what? You accidentally sat on the remote to trigger the bomb."
"It wasn't supposed to blow up the building; just the furnace, and the water heater. The explosion wasn't supposed to be that big. I must have done something wrong. I know it's insurance fraud, but it's the only way I could get the money to replace her furnace."
"Insurance fraud is the least of your worries right now," Kody said, "You're looking at two counts of murder."
"No," Lutz said. "I made sure that place was empty before I did anything. Molly wasn't in, she was next door, at the diner when I killed the power."
"That's interesting because Miss Von Grimmelschaussen said that she turned on the lights and the power quit on her. Are you telling me that she happens to have the world's best timing and she turned on the switch at the precise moment you cut the power?"
"No!" Lutz said, "Okay, I heard her come into the store while I was getting ready to cut the power in the basement. I flicked the switch when I heard her turn the lights on."
"And how did her security cameras not pick you up, going in?"
"I went in through the basement next door," Lutz said.
"According to our building plans, there is no access between basements."
"There wasn't supposed to be, but the tenants who were renting the units before Molly, were using the basement as a grow-op and they cut a hole through the walls. That's why I don't let the renters have access to the basements anymore and installed big steel doors and only I have the keys for them."
"So you accessed the basement through the neighboring building, and you killed the power. Then what?"
"I waited until Molly left, and I went upstairs to check the store. There was nobody inside, and I knew the cameras were down, so I looked in her apartment to make sure she wasn't up there. The place was empty, and I left."
"You said you made sure she couldn't get back in?"
"Yes," he said. "I used heavy duty cable ties to secure the door from the inside, and I left through the way I came in."
"We haven't been able to access the basement yet, so I can't confirm that what you're saying is even possible, but I can tell you that your cable ties didn't work.
About five minutes prior to the explosion, a woman matching Miss Von G's description entered the store. A man matching her bodyguard's description saw her inside, and then returned to the vehicle parked outside of the building. She was standing by the cash register when the bomb went off. The car was taken out by a secondary explosion." Kody put two photograph's down on the table. "Those are their remains. The man in the car was lucky; his death was instantaneous. The woman not so much. She burned to death. The ME thinks it's possible she was knocked unconscious and with any luck it was quick. But it wasn't a pretty way to go."
"No no no no no," Lutz said and covered the pictures with his hands. His eyes were squeezed shut, and he fumbled as he tried to turn the pictures over. "The store was empty, and I locked it down so she couldn't get back in. This isn't my fault. You have to believe me. It's that guy from the insurance company."
"What guy from the insurance company?"
"The French guy! Claude something. I have his card at my house," Lutz said. Kody looked over his shoulder at the one-way glass and nodded to Joe.
"I want a nationwide APB out on Brasseau, yesterday," Joe barked, "I want you to get it to Interpol, the RCMP, and the Gendarmerie Nationale. This is no longer a stalking case; he's wanted in connection with arson, an attempted murder, and a double homicide. Fuck I knew it was him!"
Finch sprinted from the room, and Big Dog ran to the door.
"And while you're at it, I want a hard target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse, and doghouse in the area! Go get him!" Big Dog shouted down the hall.
He came back into the room, and Carl nodded. "Nice, you watched the Fugitive last night didn't you?"
"Nah, I've just always wanted the opportunity to say that."
Joe might have laughed if he weren't resisting the urge to put his fist through the wall. Not only did he not want to get sent home just yet, but he also didn't want the bruises on his knuckles when he saw Molly next.
"Start from the beginning," Kody said, on the other side of the glass. "Frankly, you're not the first guy to get tricked into something like this, and we'd like to catch the guy behind it. If you co-operate fully, and we catch him, we can cut a deal. But you have to tell me everything."
"I knew there were issues with the furnace, but I didn't think they were that bad. I put extra alarms in the basement so that if there were any leaks, Molly would know and get out. When I went on vacation, I told my brother-in-law that if there was a problem, all he had to do was jiggle this one valve, and give it a good knock like you do a computer and it'll start going. Her furnace went out, and instead of doing what I told him to, he called this HVAC guy to come in, and that guy reported the furnace to the authorities. The HVAC guy put a band-aid on the problem, but they told me that I had to have all of my buildings inspected and that Molly couldn't live or work in the building until things were brought up to code.
She's had a rough go of things, and by rights, I shouldn't have even taken the risk of leasing the unit to her in the first place, given her credit history, and the stuff in the papers at the time, but she's…well, she's sweet, and she's pretty. And it turns out she's a really fucking good tenant. I mean she manages to bring business to the park, and, I actually enjoy her company. I can't say that about most of my tenants."
"And the French man?" Kody asked. "How did you get involved with him?"
"I tried to rent a new furnace, and I couldn't because my credit is shit. They wouldn't lease me one, and the bank was no help either."
"So you got desperate," Kody said.
"No," he said. "I went to the insurance company's offices and told them that they should cover the broken unit. It failed and the cost of replacing it was exactly the reason I paid for insurance in the first place. They gave me until September to replace it, and I was going to try another Furnace company to see if I could make instalment payments if they delivered the unit after it was paid for. You know, like layaway? They were good with that."
"So why defraud the insurance company?"
"It wasn't my idea," he said. "This Claude guy approached me at lunch. He said I was getting screwed by his bosses and that the reason I didn't get the payout is that we repaired the furnace in the first place. Because it was functioning, they could turn me down. He said I needed it to fail but in a way that only ruined it and the water heater."
"Why the water heater?"
"Because of all of the water damage it would do to the basement, it would be more money," Lutz said. "He made it sound so easy. I build this thing, and it would flood the basement with so much gas that there wouldn't be enough oxygen to start a fire, so there would be no explosion beyond the first one that would take out part of the furnace and the water heater."
"And you believed him?"
"Not at first," he said. "At first I told him to fuck off, but then he started sending me these emails, and this video of exactly what would happen. I met with him again, and he gave me the plans."
"What made you decide to do it yesterday?"
"It's this heatwave," he said. "He called me and told me that if Molly's AC went down, she'd have to leave the store, and people would think the fire was just part of the failing whatever."
"And the electrical malfunctions?"
"Electrical malfunctions?"
"Her building was experiencing massive electrical surges, strong enough to take out a surge protector and short out her security cameras. It was deliberate; we found the device that would trigger the surge."
"No," he said. "That Claude guy said that all it would do is shut the power down, in a way she couldn't turn it back on. He said if I just tripped the main breaker she could turn it back on and overload the device."
"And people would assume she had faulty wiring in addition to shitty appliances," Kody said.
"It's an old building, and it has a lot of problems. I was trying to stay on top of them all. But she's one tenant, and she was a low priority. Everybody knew that."
"You are aware of the fact that she has one of the best security firms on the Eastern Seaboard working for her, are you not?"
"Yes," he said.
"So when their security assessment requested cameras in the alleyway by her building, why did you deny that access?"
He turned beet red, and became defensive, "If he had his way there wouldn't be a square inch of that place not covered in cameras and alarms and it would have been like living in a prison state!"
"I think you mean police state," Kody said.
"Whatever," he said. "He wanted to run background checks on everyone who works for me. He wouldn't just take my word for it that I'd done it. I mean I like the girl, but you'd think she was the President, the way he was trying to set things up."
"Did it occur to you that he wanted to go to such lengths because she was having difficulty with a stalker?"
"She… What?"
"Her ex-fiancé has been stalking her for some time. But you know that, don't you?" Kody said.
"I didn't know she was in a relationship with anyone until she started seeing that Joe guy."
"Not only was she engaged to be married, but the man was French," Kody said. "And here's what I think really happened. I know your attraction to Miss Von G is deeper than a mild crush because I know the reason you wouldn't let Rangeman put cameras in the alley is so you can fuck hookers who look like Miss Von G, while she's in her store, oblivious to what you're doing. According to her bodyguard, the frequency is greater in the summer months when she wears short sundresses to work every day. I think you came on to Miss Von G, and I think she turned you down. She's a classy kind of woman, and maybe you thought given her financial situation, that she was being a bit uppity for doing so. I mean you took a chance on her, letting her lease the place, given her reputation and history, and now you were out all of this money because of her. She owed you but wouldn't play ball. I think you recognized her ex from the papers, and when he approached you with the plans, you agreed to go along with it, so you could pin it on him if you got caught."
"No, that's not what happened! You can ask her cousin! All of her security cameras record audio, and if she leaves her door open in her apartment, it picks up anything that goes on in there. I have never come on to her. Our relationship has always been professional. Always."
"Except for the hookers, of course," Kody said.
"Yes!" He said. "I swear I didn't know this guy was her stalker. I just thought her cousin and brother were overprotective."
"So you expect me to believe that a Frenchman named Claude gave you this idea and you, a veteran of countless building demolitions didn't recognize a bomb when you saw it? Do you know how made up that sounds?"
"No! I swear it's true! He had a card from the insurance company. If it was her ex, I didn't know! He promised me that it would only destroy the furnace and I never wanted to hurt her."
Kody glanced at Joe through the observation glass. Joe found a picture of Molly with Brasseau on the internet and texted it to Kody.
"Is this him?" Kody asked, and showed him the text. Lutz sagged with relief.
"No," he said. "No that's not him. This guy was blonde with curly hair and really good looking. Like he should be in an old painting or sculpture or something. Look, you have to protect me."
"Why?"
"Mr. Manoso and Mr. Santos kill people. What I did was an accident. It wasn't supposed to be that big of an explosion. It was just supposed to take out the tank. They loved her, and…"
"She's safe at home with her boyfriend's mother."
"You said she was dead!" He said.
"No," Kody said, "I said someone who looked like her, was dead. You were seen taking a working girl who also fits that same physical description, into the alley next to the building that morning. Did you give her keys to the place then? Or before she returned to the store."
"I didn't give her keys at all. I picked her up on a street corner like I always do!" He said.
"You pick the same woman up every time?"
"No," he said. "Whoever comes to the car first."
"Why did you rip out her teeth?" He asked.
"R-rip out h-her teeth?" Lutz asked. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he melted out of his chair in a dead faint.
Kody called for a medic to tend to Lutz and put him back into his chair. While he was being cared for, Kody went back to Joe.
"There is absolutely no way, that this isn't connected to Brasseau," Joe said. "He's involved."
"If you were to start looking at his confederates, who would you look at?"
"Molly said when they were in school they were part of a tight-knit group. They all even went to university together. If Brasseau's working out of some twisted sense of chivalry, and he's trying to protect Molly from some threat, then the only people he's going to trust are from that group."
"I agree," Kody said, "At this point, the theory that makes the most sense is that Brasseau sent decoys into the store that looked like Molly and JigSaw from a distance, and faked their deaths to get rid of the threat."
"Do you think Brasseau is F4tB0ySl1m?" Joe asked.
"It makes sense," Kody said, "If he tried to manipulate the wrong person and they figured out who he was, they would have his nuts in a vice. It would stand to reason they would threaten Molly in some way to make him pay."
"Guys," Carl said, "We forget something, here."
"What?" Joe said.
"If he faked Molly's death to take the pressure off, he's going to want her back so he can take her into hiding with him," Carl said.
"Get to the spa, right now," Joe said. "I want a visible police presence on her at all times. I'm going to talk to Rangeman about stepping up her security even further. We're not taking any chances."