The Other Path

Chapter 19

"What are you looking for?" Rick inquires as Kate turns to the last pages of the file.

"The form to turn a homicide over to a squad. And uh-huh, here it is. This case didn't just go cold for the 12th. It went cold for the squad. But it dates back before Chief Simmons was in charge. A Chief Rumsey signed off on taking it. I don't think I've heard of him. Maybe he retired when Chief Simmons took the reins. But if he's familiar with the case, I want to talk to him. And I want to speak with a Detective Craddock too. He headed up the investigation out of the 12th just before Montgomery was promoted to captain."

"When was that?" Rick asks.

"Eighteen years ago. It would also have been just before Roy caught me down here looking at my mother's file."

"Busy year."

"Yeah, it was. And a lot of the records still haven't been digitized. But the personnel records are online. I should be able to track down Craddock and Rumsey if they're still around."

I wouldn't mind returning to the bullpen while your eager fingers fly over your keyboard," Rick confesses, "at least until I stop sneezing black. The precinct really should think about air filtration down here."

"Good luck trying to talk Gates into fitting that in the budget."


Rick sets a fresh mug of coffee on Kate's desk. "Find anything?"

"Rumsey moved to Florida. The department's current address for him is a nursing home, Golden Hours."

Rick grabs his cell from his jacket pocket. "Golden Hours in Florida. Kate, it's a memory care facility. Even if you can reach him on the phone, I don't know how much you'll get."

"I may not have to try. Craddock isn't that far from the city. His address is on Long Island – but a lot closer than the Hamptons."

"Can't you just call him?"

"I will to set up a meeting. But I think I can learn more face to face. Are you in?"

"If Leah's doing all right with Mrs. Flavin, I would enjoy a trip through the salty breezes of New York's finger to the world."


"The Slasher Murders. I never thought I'd hear about that case again," Craddock confides, waving Kate and Rick to seats on a lived-in couch. "Of course, it dates back to before we could do much with DNA. We never had any fingerprints we could identify, and no fringe group took credit for the murders. The victims didn't know each other, and we couldn't find any other connection."

"Except that they all worked for human resources," Rick interjects.

"Right," Craddock agrees. "I looked into that. But they didn't hire or fire any of the same people. I interviewed a lot of the employees they terminated but didn't find any reasonable suspects. There was nothing I could get a handle on. I was hoping the Homicide Squad would have better luck, but I guess not."

"You said you interviewed the people they fired. How about the ones they hired?" Rick asks.

Craddock's salt and pepper eyebrows rise. "No, I didn't talk to them. Why would someone they hired have a motive?"

Kate gives a quick rundown of Meredith Ramirez's murder. "So you see, I'm wondering if your Slasher Murders had to do with offering cult members a way out."

Craddock slowly nods. "It's an interesting theory. I can't remember anyone bringing something like that up before. It's been a long time. But some of those hires may still be with the companies connected to the murders."

"Whether they are or not, I can start tracking them down," Kate declares.

"If a job was a road to freedom," Rick adds, "they aren't about to forget it."


Kate and Rick are almost back at the 12th when her cell sounds an alert. "You want me to get that?" Rick asks.

She sighs. "No, I set that alert for one thing, the squad. I'll check it as soon as I find a place to pull in. But we've probably got a body. I think our cold case is going on hold."

After parking at a gas station, Kate surveys the message on her phone. "It's a body. And it's on the Upper East Side. You want me to drop you at the loft before I go up there?"

Rick checks his watch. "You probably should. Leah should be done at Mrs. Flavin's by now. So it will be either celebration or comfort time. Either way, I can lay out a spread for dinner while you do your detecting. Give me a call when you have the bloody details?"

"If I can. The squad tagged this as the highest priority. That means a big player is down, and we have to cram in as much investigation as possible before the press gets wind of it."

After a short drive, Kate double parks in front of the loft building to let Rick out. He holds the passenger door open for a moment. "Hey, good hunting."

"Thanks. See you later."


From a block away, Kate realizes the crime scene is at the Palomar Building. It's one place in New York she doubts even Rick has been. Twenty-two-year-old David Palomar took the social media world by a storm. After starting his company while he was still in high school, he built it into a powerhouse rivaling Twitter and Instagram. The Palomar Building only went up last year, and security is rumored to be air-tight. So much for rumors.

Kate shows her badge at the door and waits while a guard confirms her identity and gives her a hologram inscribed pass. Another guard at the elevators scans her pass before she's allowed to take the car that only stops on the 16th floor.

Chief Simmons himself motions to Kate as she reaches her destination. "The victim is David Palomar. I'm sure you understand what a circus this case will be once word of his death gets out. And chances are it will be on Trembler within the hour if it isn't already. So we have to tie it up fast."

"I understand, Sir. Is that Dr. Clark Murray at the body?"

"You know him?"

Kate swallows, recalling the evidence Murray developed about her mother's death. "Yes. He's probably the best ME in the city."

"More like in the state," Simmons opines. "But I'm glad you're already acquainted. It should make working together easier for you."

"Yes, Sir. I should go talk to him now."

Murray looks up, slightly startled as Kate approaches. "Detective Beckett, I wasn't expecting you."

"I've only recently started working with the Homicide Squad, and Dr. Perlmutter was ME on my last case," Kate explains. "So Simmons brought in the big gun on this one."

"I don't know that I can tell you more than Dr. Perlmutter or Dr. Parish could, at least at this stage," Murray confides. "Mr. Palomar was garotted. It would have been very quick, and he would have been completely unable to cry out for help."

"Have you determined the time of death?" Kate queries.

"That I can tell you. This building is precisely climate-controlled, allowing for minimal variance in the drop of his liver temperature. He died this morning, between eleven and noon."

"And how are you just examining the body now?" Kate wonders. "How could no one realize he was dead all that time?"

"I suspect, Detective, that's something you'll be finding out."