The Other Path

Chapter 31

"Wriggo's staff dragged their feet enough, but they finally came through," Kate announces. "They sent a list of customers for those spears going back six months. There were ten within the last 30 days. Six of them were for companies that run expeditions. They're regular purchasers. That leaves four possible suspects in four different counties, Orange, Rockland, Dutchess, and Westchester."

"Road trip time?" Rick inquires.

"Not yet. I want to check them out first, see what kind of history they have with spears and whether they'd have a motive to take out Menkin."

"I'd think that anyone in his party would have a motive to take out Menkin. But you want some help?" Rick offers. "I could do it from the loft. You know that surprises sometimes pop up from my subscription archive service that don't appear on your background check."

"You have a point," Kate acknowledges. "I'll give you the names, and then we can compare notes."

"Over lunch, perhaps," Rick proposes.

"If the timing works out. Let's just get the digging done."


Rick's face appears as Kate's cellphone sounds an alert, and he spares no time for a greeting when she accepts the call. "Kate, I thought you'd want to hear this right away. The spear-buyer from Westchester County, Irving Frank, lost his six-year-old son in a school shooting. And get this, the rifle the shooter used was transformed into an automatic with a kit bought from Wriggo. A bill went to the Senate to outlaw the online sale of those kits, but Menkin blocked it. As a parent, I'd say that was motive in spades."

"You don't have to be a parent for that," Kate agrees. "So Irving Frank has method and motive. But we'll have to tie down opportunity. The commute from Westchester County's about an hour. And Menkin was killed around seven in the morning. So Frank would have been fighting the start of rush hour."

"Unless he used a boat," Rick points out. "I found an article about a whole group of voters from Menkin's home state who paddled up to his yacht in kayaks to urge him to support a child tax credit. It would have lifted a bunch of kids out of poverty. He talked to them and offered some crap about family values. Then he voted against the thing."

"Real sweetheart of a guy," Kate comments. "But his record gives the voters the right to toss him out of office, not kill him."

"Except that with his war chest, tossing him out of office would have been almost impossible. If I were Frank or one of the kayak parents, I'd have been tempted to spear him myself," Rick confesses. "But I wouldn't be dumb enough to do it where Kate Beckett would be leading the investigation."

"Do you want to pull out of this one?" Kate asks.

"No. But I'm hoping the killer turns out to be a bad guy, not a grieving parent."

"I have to follow the evidence wherever it leads. You know that, Babe. But you don't have to go to see Frank with me."

"I'll go," Rick decides. "But I'm hoping we find something that proves he didn't do it."


"Joe Menkin," Irving Frank spits out. "I can't even pretend I'm sorry that he's dead. He might as well have pulled the trigger on my son himself. I hope he suffered."

"He probably died too fast," Rick responds.

Kate sends her husband a warning look before turning back to her suspect. "Mr. Frank, Senator Menkin was killed with a spear. You purchased that type of spear. Why?"

"Why?" He waves toward the window of his home. "I live in the middle of the woods. We're overrun by deer. They're overpopulated to the point of starvation. So they strip the bark from trees and eat anything I try to grow in my garden. I can't get on the road at night during rutting season without risking crashing into one. But since Jimmy died, I can't stand to go near a firearm. And my wife wouldn't allow one on our property. So I use a spear, and I donate the venison to a homeless shelter. And, much as I would have loved to take that sonofabitch Menkin out myself, Detective, I don't kill people – with a spear or anything else."

Kate draws a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Mr. Frank, I wish I could take your word for that, but I can't. Where were you at seven o'clock yesterday morning?"

"At my son's old school. I'm an architect. I understand building layouts. I was training the teachers in possible escape routes as part of the shooter avoidance plan. You can check. The school has everyone who comes in on video now, and there's a guard and a metal detector at the entrance."

"Wow!" Rick exclaims as he and Kate get back into her newly assigned unit. "You could almost feel the waves of anger and grief coming off that man's body. But I don't believe he killed Menkin."

"I have to check his alibi anyway, but I don't believe he did either. Which, assuming he was telling the truth, leaves us with three other possible suspects. We can probably question one more today."

"We could try Zorn Beckwith," Rick suggests. "He's in Rockland County, on the way back to the city. He fought for a solar field on the site of an old garbage dump there. Menkin was part of a group that tried to throw every possible obstacle it could in the way of the project. And he was working on blocking another one. Not as strong a motive as a dead child. Still, people do get obsessive about their causes. But I guess no one knows that better than you."

Kate swallows. "Yeah. All right. Let's go interview Beckwith."


With a slight smile, Zorn shakes his head. "So the old bastard finally bit the dust. Not exactly a loss to humanity. I'll admit that I'm flattered you consider me a suspect. I had a couple of dreams about taking him out. One of them would have made a pretty decent movie."

"You're a movie-maker?" Rick asks.

"I'm an environmental engineer. But I've always loved movies. I made a couple of videos promoting green energy when I was in college. Getting a video out to be seen was a lot of work back then. But now, you can shoot one on a phone and upload it almost instantly. There's a lot of junk out there but also some very insightful messaging."

"I'm sure that's true, Mr. Beckwith," Kate allows. "However, what we're here to talk to you about is your purchase of a spear of the type that killed Senator Menkin. Why did you buy it?"

"Really? It was one of those? My interest isn't the spear but the carbon steel alloy it's constructed from. It's supposed to be particularly resistant to the types of stresses a heat pump that I'm designing experiences. Before I went through the hassle of prototyping, I wanted to test it out in ways outside the usual standards. I have it in an environmental chamber in my lab." Beckwith pulls his phone from his shirt pocket. "I can show you some time-lapse video if you like."

Rick grins. "Cool!"

Kate looks on as Rick watches the spear being pelted with Beckwick's secret solution and bombarded with swirling air and bright lights. "We really need to get back to the precinct now. I have to put in my report. Thank you, Mr. Beckwith. That was very interesting."

Rick gives Beckwith a thumbs up before following Kate out.