Chapter 6:
Khari trailed Joe into the apartment noting as he walked through the foyer that everything looked as calm and cool as it always had. You would never know that someone had just been killed here. A pudgy uniformed cop stepped forward.
"Joe," he said patting the taller man's back. He nodded to Khari. "This the guy who knows the deceased?" Joe nodded.
"Khari Kaplan this is Carl Costanza. Carl is one of our newest homicide detectives." Khari shook his hand.
"Car-he, what kind of name is that?" Carl asked.
"Nigerian," he answered calmly. Khari noticed a physical change in Joe as he slipped from casual friend to cop mode.
"Where's the body?" Joe asked. Khari shivered at the mention of a body.
"Bedroom. This one is nasty. Jack the Ripper never did better," Carl said. His conversational tones didn't hide his desire to retch.
"Merda, slice and dice?"
"Yea," Carl confirmed. He nodded to Khari. "You may want to hang back while we cover the body to the neck. It's not pretty. We'll need you to identify."
"Shit, not again," Khari mumbled.
"What did you say?" Joe asked.
"Nothing," Khari grumbled. Joe and Carl stepped off together. Khari looked around the living room and noticed a picture of three little boys on the mantle. He walked over and picked it up. He stroked the heavy wood frame. Khari remembered the day that it was taken like it was yesterday. He and Lester had been six and they'd only recently met the 8 year old Ranger. Lester's 12 year old sister, Angelita, had taken them on the subway to Coney Island.
"We're ready for you," Joe's voice was so unexpected that Khari nearly dropped the picture. He placed the frame back on the mantle taking a last look at the two little Hispanic boys and the mountain of a boy that he'd been. He'd been over 5 feet tall and 100 lbs at the time. He was painfully aware of how much bigger than the older boy he was but Ranger had convinced him that size was an advantage and he never doubted the Ranger.
Khari took a deep breathe and followed Joe into the room. Everything was red. He turned to run from the room but Joe steadied him.
"Keep breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. Only way to stay calm." Khari hadn't noticed how tense Joe and Carl seemed to be. Both were standing straight and seemed to be holding themselves above the room. Khari followed Joe's advice and breathed in and out slowly. The blood and tissue that had been splattered didn't look real. His breathing slowed as he convinced himself that this was one of Lester's jokes...a set up. Lester never did have a good sense of humor.
"What was Stephanie doing here?" he asked the question but barely recognized the voice as his own.
"I don't know what she was doing here today. As far as I know they had no plans to meet. Lester set Steph up with a trainer at the gun range and put her in a martial arts class. He was helping her get side jobs doing bodyguard work. It was just damn unlucky for her to be here today," Joe explained. He shook his head. "I just don't know how she falls into these things."
The words were garbled to Khari. He had spotted the lump on the bed that had been covered with a black silk sheet. As he stepped forward he realized that the sheet had been dark blue. The blood had turned it black as night. He turned breathing raggedly. He closed his eyes and focused on the breathing.
"In through the nose and out through the mouth," he heard Joe chanting. It wasn't working anymore. He could smell the blood now. He stepped closer to the bed and opened his eyes. Lester's arm was pulled taunt, one wrist cuffed to the brass headboard. He was smiling and looked happy. His last moments hadn't been traumatic. Khari sighed. He could tell Lita that Lester had died quickly. His body straightened sharply. Lita. He would have to tell her yet again that she had lost someone that she loved.
"It's him," he said as he turned to walk from the room. He stopped not turning to look at the two cops. "I'll call the family." He couldn't have them hearing this over the phone. He would leave for New York now.
Shiloh was outside of Lester's building leaning against Stephanie's Honda CRV. She stared impatiently up at where she thought Lester's balcony might be.
"Are you going to wait until he comes out? The ambulance isn't even here to take the body to the morgue. They could be in there for hours." Shiloh asked. She cringed inwardly at how irritated she sounded. She looked back to see that Stephanie wasn't looking at her. She was staring sadly at the steering wheel.
"Do you want to go home, Steph?" she asked softly. She seemed to shake herself away from the sad thoughts and managed a small smile.
"You know, I really didn't think about it at the time but Lester said that he was going to have to leave town. He said that he had too many 'conflicting interests' on his tail. I just laughed when he said that. I figured that he knew how to take care of himself. I wonder what happened." She stared up as though she was focusing on the very window. "Ranger was my mentor first. He introduced me to Lester. I wanted to make a change and he said that Lester could help me. Now they're both dead. I feel like it's my fault."
"How could it be your fault?" Shiloh asked. She turned to watch for a reaction. Why would a friend have survivor's guilt unless she had a hand in the murders? Stephanie just sighed and hung her head a little lower.
"Things like this seem to happen around me."
"Oh, well, I'm sure this has nothing to do with you," Shiloh assured her absently. Khari emerged from the building and she hurried over to him.
"What's going on?" she asked excitedly.
"Lester was chained to the bed and gutted like a fish. It's a mess up there," Khari said. He looked rather pale under his ebony skin and the sunlight caught beads of sweat on his face.
"What do we do now?" Shiloh asked. Stephanie came up behind her.
"Is Joe coming down?" she asked peering around him.
"Nah. He's going to be up there for a while with the forensic team," Khari said turning to her. He led her over to a bench in front of the building and pushed her down lightly. He sat next to her and took her small hand gently.
"What were you doing here, Stephanie?" he asked softly.
"Joe came to see me this morning. He said that Ranger had been killed with steroids and I recognized the name. I know that Lester has been using those kinds of steroids since I've known him. He says that they're more powerful than the regular stuff and help him build mass. I came over here to talk to him. I guess I just wanted to know if Ranger used it too. He laughed and said that Ranger was killed and that he knew he was gonna die and had asked Lester to watch the man who had probably killed him. Lester wouldn't tell me who it was. He said that I did not have the willpower of a Lorena Encinas. I asked him who that was. He said maybe next time he would explain but that I needed to go as he was meeting someone. He hugged me and kissed me on the forehead and said to go home to my 'Solamente amante.'" By the end her eyes were glassy and her hands were folded in her lap. She was sitting up very straight. "I'll bet he was meeting Lorena Encinas and she was the one who killed him." Tank smiled gently.
"I doubt that. She died several years ago," he said softly. "She went to the grave without telling anyone that in 1942 she saw her brother, Louis, kill Jose' Dias. Instead she went to a jail leaving her husband and infant son." Stephanie's eyes were wide. "It's what led to the 'Zoot Suit Riots' in Los Angeles. Many of the Latino girls are encouraged to emulate how far Lorena went to protect her family."
"Wow," Stephanie answered her eyes wide. "He's right. I am no Lorena Encinas. If he'd told me right then who he thought killed Ranger I would have told Joe before I left the parking lot. Wouldn't have mattered if it was my own mother." she hesitated. "Maybe it would have mattered if it was own mother. It would have mattered with Joe too. I'm always jumping to conclusions. I need to think things through. What we did today was a huge mistake. I wouldn't blame Joe if he wanted me to pack up and leave before he gets home."
"Deep down he understands," Khari assured her. "You just have to give him time to think it out himself." He sighed again wondering how he'd react if someone who was supposed to love him accused him of hiring a hit man. Not good, he decided. They all looked up as the ambulance pulled up and Joe and Carl stepped out into the sunshine. Joe looked around trying to adjust his eyes to the bright light and then strode over to them. He took one look at Stephanie and went to his knees wrapping his arms around her.
"Merda," he whispered pressing his face to Stephanie's as they wheeled the stretcher to the ambulance. Lester was in a body bag but Joe could still see him as clearly as if he were in front of him. Stephanie started to pull back when she heard the wheels on the pavement.
"No, don't look, Cupcake," he whispered. "I need to know that you're not going to see that."
"Okay Joe," she responded. He felt her lashes brush his cheek as her eyes closed. They sat there until the ambulance pulled away. After a few minutes Joe pulled back and brushed away the tears that were spilling down Stephanie's cheeks.
"It's time for you to stop grasping at straws and for us to get down to business," he informed her. He looked up at Khari. "I'll help you with the inside stuff that you wouldn't otherwise have but you're going to have to talk to the sources who won't talk to me. I've been digging but I've only gotten so far before hitting a brick wall."
"You think this is connected with Ranger's death?" Khari asked.
"Hell, yea, don't you?" Khari hadn't suspected otherwise since he'd heard that Lester had been killed.
"Yea. First thing to do is to find out who met him after Stephanie. He was expecting the person because he got rid of Steph to see her. It has to be a her because he was handcuffed to the bed..." Stephanie cut him off with a discreet cough. Everyone looked at her.
"Doesn't have to be a woman," she suggested. Khari laughed.
"I don't think that Lester would have let a man handcuff him to the bed," he scoffed.
"He might have," Stephanie said. Her voice was low and eyes wide. Joe started to speak and then closed his mouth.
"He wasn't though, was he?" Khari asked. Everyone but Stephanie seemed locked in confusion. She sighed heavily.
"He was gay," she supplied. Mouths dropped open.
"But..." Shiloh began.
"No way," Khari said. "I would have known. He would have told me."
"He didn't want anyone to know. He made me swear that I would never tell anyone." Stephanie said realizing that she had betrayed his trust. He wasn't likely to care now that he was dead.
"Are you sure?" Joe asked.
"How would I be sure, Joe?" she asked starting to get angry. "I just know what he told me. Sure, he hit on a lot of women but he was all an act. You seriously don't think he'd be a success at what he does if he was sleeping with as many women as he pretended to sleep with?"
"Shit," Khari said falling to the bench stunned. You grow up with a guy, bleed with the guy, shower with the guy, and...he allowed his train of thought to derail right there. He would not think that Lester was looking at him in THAT way. It was too creepy.
"You know anything else that I should know, Steph?" Khari asked testily.
"N-No," she stammered. Joe stepped in front of her.
"Give her a break. Before he died it wasn't any of your business what side of the fence he was on," Joe crossed his arms and scowled. Shiloh started fingering her gun. This could get nasty. She broke in.
"We need to focus on what we're gonna do next," she said nervously.
"I don't know what you guys are doing but I'm going to New York to talk to Lita. I hate to say it, Stephanie, but I think you're full of shit. Lester was running some kind of game up under you. I don't know why he would tell you that he was gay when I know that he's not." Khari stood. Joe stepped in front of him blocking his way to the parking lot.
"Are you calling my girlfriend a liar?" he asked, dark eyes menacing.
"I guess I am, Morelli."
"I suggest that you apologize to her now," Joe said standing taller. Shiloh and Stephanie stood back watching the men preen. Shiloh pulled her Glock out of her shoulder holster and walked over to Khari. She pointed her gun at Joe's crotch.
"I suggest that you step off or you're gonna lose something you don't want to lose." She turned to Khari. "And I suggest you get over wondering how many times Lester checked out your ass and we get down to business. If we're going to New York get in the car. I'll drive the first leg." Khari started moving slowly to the car and Shiloh put her gun back in the holster.
"We'll call you," she called back to the stunned Stephanie and Joe.