Chapter Twenty-Two: Looking for Suspects

…

Link and Navi took the carriage back to Watch Headquarters in silence. Neither one was capable of explaining what they had seen and heard from Justine. Navi had worked perhaps just over a hundred homicides so far in her career with this division. She thought she had seen most manners of murder and death there was, but this had certainly taken her by surprise. Every idea she had about the situation was quashed by experience and observation. Even worse, her insight, which had gotten her noticed in Homicide, had no solutions to this new detail.

Link was even more stymied, especially for his first murder case. His expectations of the act itself had been shattered by just one visit to the morgue. Not only was there no bullet to confirm his belief that Yoanna Merrill had been shot by a professional killer, the physical evidence of the very act was almost completely gone. Only the hole in Merrill's chest and a nick on her extracted sternum gave them cause to believe that she had been shot. Where had her organs gone? Even more important, who took them and when were they taken? Link had never gone to the coroner's office before, but he at least understood that a body was always watched from discovery to final delivery to the morgue. The district officers would have never left her alone; Link had even had the duty of monitoring the body before transport a couple time. Once the cadaver transport carriage (often referred to as the "body wagon") showed up, the body would be watched by an officer riding the passenger compartment while the driver took them to the Ice District. Paperwork would be dated and filed to track the body: one copy stayed with the morgue while one would have been sent to Homicide. Link knew of the copy at Homicide; it had been turned in the evening of the incident. He would have to suggest that Navi verify the copies matched. However, even if there was a discrepancy, it would not explain why Yoanna Merrill's organs were missing when Justine had asserted that there would be no way of removing them without leaving marks.

After braving the traffic at the front of headquarters, both officers trudged into the Homicide squad room still heavy in thought. Wheatland watched in bewilderment as Navi moved to her desk and sat down while Link took an interest in the division's identification plaque mounted on the wall halfway between the front door and the hall to the interrogation rooms. He waited for them to start talking, so he was even more perplexed by the fact that neither of them spoke. DI Rusk, DS Grey, DS Charm (Rusk's assigned partner), and DS Jester also stared in surprise by the heavily contemplative expressions on Navi's and Link's faces.

Wheatland decided to stand up. "DS Navi?" he asked.

Navi's response was a little slow, as if she had needed a moment to realize that she was being addressed. "Yes, sir?" she asked.

"What happened at the coroner's office?" he asked.

Navi heaved a sigh. "Someone did defile the body, but it wasn't us," she said. "Justine doesn't even know how, but all of Yoanna Merrill's internal organs are missing."

Wheatland blinked at her. "What?"

"None of us know how, but Yoanna Merrill's organs are all missing. Everything in her body except for bone and muscle is completely gone. And there is no evidence of how they were taken." Rusk and Charm, sitting closest to Navi, raised their heads in response.

"You're serious?" Wheatland asked. "Her organs are just… gone?"

"What's worse, Justine thinks they've been gone for a while. And the body doesn't have any marks to show how or when it was done."

"You sure she's not just pulling your leg?" Rusk asked.

"She called us," Wheatland told him. "She was pissed off because she thought someone in the Watch had done it."

Link turned around and said, "Sir, we should verify the transport request."

"We might also need the officers watching the body to come in for interview, sir," Navi added. "I don't think it's likely, but they may have noticed something that we didn't."

"And to make sure none of them had a hand in it," Wheatland said. He crossed his arms. "Over thirty years on the Watch… and I have never heard of anything like this. Who the hell are we dealing with here?" He shook his head. "Anything else?"

"Well, we know that the shot was an instant kill," Navi said. She pointed to her chest. "A single bullet into her heart. Of course, we can't confirm this without her heart, but the bullet wound and a chip off her breastbone show where the bullet went. She was dead the moment she was shot."

"A perfect kill shot," Wheatland said with a nod. "Either a professional marksman or a ridiculously lucky shot."

"Definitely a professional, sir," Link spoke up. "Whoever shot her had caught her attention first, giving him an opening."

"What's your next move?" Wheatland asked.

"Well, I was hoping something else would pan out," Navi admitted with a hesitant tone, "but we can't avoid it anymore. We're going to have to interview everyone at Merrill's house. We need some kind of suspect, especially now that we have to try finding Yoanna Merrill's organs."

"You think that's related to her death?" Wheatland asked.

"It's possible, sir," Link spoke up. "I mean, I can imagine Yoanna Merrill might have been an accidental target. She may have been shot because she saw the marksman; she blew his shot, but he can't be identified so he killed her. The organ theft could be a coincidence. At the same time, Yoanna Merrill was shot on the one day she had scheduled an appointment for a hair stylist. She was standin' still when she was shot in the middle of a crosswalk with what should have been a bunch of people around her. And, somehow, her organs went missin' somewhere between the East District and the morgue. Whether she was the target or not, too much has happened to her for it to not be related."

"We need a suspect, sir," Navi said. "And we need one soon."

Wheatland returned to his desk and found a small form on the top. He picked up a pen and started scribbling. Then he moved to Navi's desk and handed the small slip to her. "Go to Communications and make the arrangements with Lord Merrill," he told her as she took the slip. "Make sure you get an accurate account of their staff."

"Yes, sir," Navi groaned as she stood up.

"Constable Fieldview," Wheatland said while she left.

"Sir?" Link asked.

"How about your girlfriend?" Wheatland asked. "I understand she knows things about the nobles. Do you think she knows anything about stealing organs?"

"I doubt it," Link replied. "She's a pickpocket, sir. She has friends in… questionable places, but I really don't think that any of them would know about takin' organs from a dead person."

"If they're on the streets long enough, they might've heard something," Wheatland said. "Otherwise, if she can get some word out, something might make it back to her."

Link put on a nervous look. "Sir, we really don't have that kinda relationship."

"You can go see what you can do, anyway. I'll put in a transport request. Go find her."

"Yes, sir."

…

Link took the opportunity to sneak out for a quick lunch while Wheatland was ordering Link's transportation. He was running back to headquarters when he saw Constable White waving him down. After a brief moment where she explained that the Transport division preferred to assign officers by case or division, Link asked her to take him back to the East District. His first stop was Old Stable Road. He doubted that Layla would be on the street looking for pockets after visiting Homicide earlier, so he asked White to just drive past the area she worked while he watched out the window. Neither Layla nor her elderly accomplice were to be found. So, he climbed into the seat next to White and directed her through the roads along the southwest region of the district. This brought him onto the same street as the brothel they had previously chased Layla into, and Link hopped off at a corner some distance from the brothel and told White to circle the nearby blocks until she saw him standing at the corner again. This time, he decided to ditch his uniform jacket as well as his standard-issue pistol into the carriage to avoid drawing attention to himself, leaving him to walk the streets in a plain white shirt and his thick work trousers. He was something of an odd sight, but as long as he could carry himself as something other than a member of the Watch, things would remain calm.

He crossed the street and walked past the brothel to a small delicatessen on the opposite side of the road. Once he was through the open doorway, he took in the scent of fresh meat hanging from the back of shop. He glanced around at the selection of hams, mutton, and cheese in the display case at the counter.

And he listened to the despondent sigh of a young lady seated at one of three tables in front of the shallow bay window overlooking the street. He glanced over to find the young lady glaring at him, her arms crossed instead of holding the small sandwich on the table in front of her.

"Whoop, lovers' tiff." Link glanced back toward the counter to see someone quickly back through the double doors into the meat store at the back of the shop and disappear out of sight.

Link looked back at Layla with an amused grin on his face. "Miss me, darlin'?" he asked.

"No," was Layla's decidedly curt response.

Link took a step forward and pulled out the chair opposite of her. "You don't look happy to see me today," he said.

"You better be careful how you sit in that chair, pal," Layla told him. "I'm in a mood to crush some nuts."

Link let a chuckle escape his lips. "Noted," he said as he took his seat. "Look, I wasn't expecting to be out this way again, but we need a little more help."

"I don't know what else you want," she said. "I already gave you everything we could scrounge up."

"Yeah, but we got another angle to look at. What do you know about organ theft?"

Layla's arms slackened as her glare fell to a bout of confusion. "What?"

Link glanced around. He took note of an older-looking man seated behind Layla with his back turned to them while a young man at the counter was slicing a hunk of roast beef. "Someone stole Yoanna Merrill's internal organs," he said in a lower voice. "Including her brain."

Layla's expression turned bewildered. "Her… are you—are you serious?"

Link nodded. "Yeah, that's about the same response our division chief had," he told her.

"You are serious," she said.

"Of course I am," he replied with a mildly indignant tone. "You think I'd risk my nuts finding you again in the same day?"

"Yeah, for giggles," Layla said bluntly.

Link shrugged in concession of the point. "Yeah, well, this time is different," he said. "We don't know who, how, or why, but when the coroner opened up Yoanna Merrill's body this morning, she found that all of Merrill's organs were missing. Her body was just a large, empty cavity. I was there at the office about two hours ago when she showed me."

"Dear Goddesses, this is serious," Layla said as her shock took surface once more. "Wait… why do you think we know anything about this?"

"Well, it's not I think you know anything," Link said. "My boss thinks, being a pickpocket, you might know stuff happenin' on the streets."

"Not about this, Link."

Link nodded. "I told him the same thing. He doesn't know about the Guild; he thinks you and your friends are just a bunch of petty crooks who like to stick it to the nobility."

Layla gave him a disappointed look. "That's what you're supposed to think, too," she pointed out.

"No, I know you guys are better organized than that," Link said. "That's why I need some help. The Guild has plenty of ears on the streets. If there is somehow a demand for a person's organs, that might be our only lead."

"Link, this is insane."

"Unless someone else on the Watch knows about a similar case, they don't have a clue, Layla."

Layla sighed and covered her face with both hands. She rubbed her face as she thought. "I… I might have to talk to Lance about this," she said as she let her hands slide off and fall into her lap. "This isn't the stuff I get into. But it might be no one in the Guild has ever heard about this, Link. What exactly does a person do with stolen organs?"

"That's the same question we have," Link said. "Among others, believe me. Yoanna Merrill was last seen alive on the streets of the East District, but the coroner says that the condition of her body is almost as if she never had her organs to begin with. I don't know what to do with that information, so I'm operating on the assumption that her organs were taken after she was killed. For now; we'll have to adjust if anything else turns up."

"And you think the Guild might be able to look in places the Watch can't," Layla reasoned.

"With much more subtlety," Link said with a nod. "I'm sure I don't need to mention that this is still an active case. If there is so much as a hint that someone is poking around, we could easily lose our only chance to find whoever did this."

Layla planted one elbow on the table so she could rest her face on a hand. "Wow, Link, you stepped into something big."

"I know. And the worst part is we don't even have a suspect."

Layla cupped her hand over her mouth as she glanced out the window. "Yeah, I'll try talking to Lance about this," she said. "The Merrills don't deserve to have their daughter mutilated like that, and I think he'll agree that the Watch could use a little help on this. But… even if we find something, what can you do with it?"

"If we have just a small lead, we can investigate it," Link said. "The Watch gets anonymous tips all the time. Someone calling in about an unusual sight or suspicious people doesn't have to give their name. That's a detail we can work out later."

Layla shook her head. "Okay, Link, I'll see what I can do."

"Great!" Link said loudly. He stood up from the table. "Hey, can I get a kiss for the road?"

"Why don't you just go kiss the road?" Layla replied in an irate tone, one finger pointing out the window.

"Aw, you're weakenin'," Link said. "Seems like just yesterday you'd've offered to make me kiss the road."

"And touch you again today?" Layla asked. "I'm still not sure I washed off your smug grin from earlier."

"Yeah, you might wanna not do that at headquarters. My boss would've had me arrest you if my partner hadn't said we got a history."

"Oh, great. Your partner's piling on now."

Link grinned. "Actually, she's convinced you're gonna murder me some day."

"Trust me; I've thought about it."

"Good to know; I'll leave some instructions in case I mysteriously disappear." He turned and started out the doorway. Before he was gone, he quickly leaned backward and told her, "Love you!"

"Get out!" Layla snapped after him. Link slipped out the door. Then he started walking to the middle of the window, at which point Layla grabbed the napkin holder on her table and raised an arm as if to hurl it through the glass. Link quickly scrambled to move out of the way and started jogging down the street away from the delicatessen. Layla waited a moment to make sure he was gone. Then she heaved a sigh and set the holder back on the table with a heavy clack.

The man seated behind her began to chuckle. "I'll give him this," he told Layla over his shoulder, "he's pretty persistent."

"I know he's screwing around, but that just makes it more frustrating," Layla answered, not even bothering to look back.

"But at least he can be serious. I don't know what we can do about his little problem, but… I have to admit, it's got my interest. I'll have a talk with some of the other Guild leaders; maybe they know something."

Layla sighed. "Thanks, Lance."

"Hey, it's no problem, kiddo. I've got to admit, I kind of like him. And I doubt he'd come to you about this if he didn't trust you or the Guild."

"I know. But that just makes me worry. Did you hear all that stuff he was saying?"

"Yeah. I know what you're saying; it sounds like he might be dealing with some dangerous people. It means we will have to be careful, too."

Layla leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling. "You know what frustrates me the most about him?"

"What's that?"

Layla felt a touch of heat on her face as she admitted, "He makes me think about him."

…

Link had to wait a few minutes before White picked him up again. Without much else to do, he told her to return to headquarters. They arrived as the sky was showing signs of early evening, although that might have simply been the thick clouds that had been building since that afternoon.

Navi was waiting in the squad room when he appeared. "Wheatland told me where you went," she said. "Did you have to chase her down again?"

"Nope," Link said with a grin. "She was waitin' for me."

"With or without a gun?"

"Trust me, she wanted to listen when I told her what was going on. Whether it pans out or not, well…"

"Constable, as long as we can get some word to come back to the Watch," Wheatland said, "it'll be worth it to get whoever this psychopath is off the streets."

Link glanced over his shoulder, not having noticed Wheatland seated at his desk. "I just hope no one gets hurt looking into it, sir," he said. "I'm gettin' hints that anyone who can remove a person's organs without leaving a mark might be dangerous."

"We knew he was dangerous the moment he put a bullet through Yoanna Merrill's heart, Constable," Navi said. "Anything else is just building up now."

Link nodded. "We got anything else?"

"I spoke with Lord Merrill about an hour ago," Navi said. "He doesn't like the idea, but he was willing to have us conduct interviews with his staff at his house in the Adages. Tomorrow around mid-morning. He has about twenty people on-staff there. I think it's reasonable to assume that no one out at the plantation or the factory had any direct involvement."

Link nodded. "That'd be a long way to travel just to kill her," he admitted. "But I wouldn't count them out, either. We know that at least an accomplice has to be in the house itself. It doesn't seem unreasonable that the perpetrator might be another employee at either place. The plantation, especially; they might have a gunman or two to help guard their crops from wild animals."

"Well, as you said, anyone that can lead us to a gunman will likely be at the house."

"What about the transport form?"

Navi picked up the form sitting aside on her desk and offered it to him. "While I was in Communication, I called the morgue and verified with Teun. Both copies of the transport form have the same times, both signed by Sergeant Marlow from the Graves division. He's clocked out for the day, but he's due here tomorrow afternoon. We'll also have Inspector Keporra come in around the same time."

Link had to figure in his head how much time between Keporra signing off on the body and then Teun's signature when it reached the coroner's office. It was about a two-hour ride, reasonable for the late morning traffic of both the East and Central Districts. "There wouldn't have been enough time for the organs to have been removed if they stopped somewhere," he said. "And I don't see how her organs could have been taken even if they were taken out in the two hours it took them to get to the Ice District. Between stop-and-go traffic and just the way the wagon would've been rockin', someone tryin' to take her organs out definitely should've left marks. Some messy ones."

Navi crossed her arms. "We may have to set aside the organ theft for now," she said. "We don't even have a suspect other than Merrill's House, and trying to fit it with her murder won't really get us anywhere."

"Suppositions," Link said.

"Huh?"

"It's a little game I like to use to clear up my thoughts a bit. I used to do it with Mara. I give a supposition, you either support or refute, and we have a clearer conclusion."

Navi's mouth twisted as she tried to understand why Link suddenly wanted to play a game. "Okay, what have you got, then?"

"First. Yoanna Merrill's murder was deliberate."

Navi shrugged and said, "You've pointed out why she might have been killed even if she wasn't the target. If she wasn't, though, it was a hell of a coincidence that she noticed the gunman."

"Second, Yoanna Merrill was the target."

Navi narrowed her eyes. "I don't see how you can draw that conclusion. You already said she might have been shot because she blew the gunman's cover."

"Yeah, I was thinking about it on my way back from meeting Layla, and I don't think she could have been an innocent bystander. Think about it for a moment. What's the first thing people do when they see a gun?"

"They panic." Link and Navi glanced to the other side of the squad room to see DI Dover leaning on a nearby desk. "Someone shouts 'gun' on the streets, everybody's first instinct is to get to cover."

"Yoanna Merrill was standing still when she was shot," Link continued. "And she even turned toward the gunman. Unless she wanted to get shot, the gunman shot her so fast that she couldn't even get the word out. For the gunman to shoot her that fast, he had to be looking right at her instead of his target; he couldn't react to her catching him otherwise."

"So, your first conclusion at the scene was more reasonable, then," Navi reasoned. "The gunman did something to get her attention so he could shoot her. It was probably someone she knew."

"That was gonna be supposition number three," Link said. "The gunman had to be someone she knew."

"It would be the easiest way to get her attention," Dover spoke up. "You couldn't just shout 'hey, you' on the street. A witness would have noticed, might have even reported it to the district patrol after they arrived."

"No one's come forward," Wheatland spoke up. "It's already been two days."

"Whereas a familiar face might be more reasonable," Navi said. "He would have to go out of his way to get her attention unless he was really lucky."

"I'd say he got lucky," Dover said. "She's dead, he's safe."

"And supposition four would be it was someone in the Merrill House that shot her," Link said.

"Perhaps two someones," Navi said. "If your theory is correct, if it wasn't someone at the house itself, then at least someone at the house would have learned about her schedule and sent word to the gunman. And, by convenience, the gunman could be someone else in the House but just not part of the staff at their home in the Adages."

"That's our best list of suspects," Link said. "We ask them the right questions, we weed out the person who set her up."

"What about her missing organs?" Wheatland asked.

"That'll be our secret for now, sir," Link said. "If the killer somehow removed her organs afterwards, then he likely still has them. Once we have a suspect, the organs will be our key evidence."

Wheatland twitched his neck. "For being so methodical about killing her, you would think the killer would realize we would do an autopsy on her," he commented.

"Well, people get shot in the East District so often," Dover said, "the killer probably thought we wouldn't be investigating this much."

"And, to tell the truth, sir," Link said, "I don't think any of us were expecting this whole issue of her organs to be missing. I didn't even know why we needed to do an autopsy, but it looks like it saved us anyway, because now we have that to keep in reserve when we narrow down suspects."

"I'm still curious as to how the organs were taken," Wheatland said. "Did Justine have any theories?"

Navi shook her head. "Mostly frustration, sir," she said. "She said she'll do some research, but she didn't sound very confident."

Wheatland nodded. "You two might want to clock out early," he said, pointing to Link and Navi with a pair of fingers. "You've got to put together some questions for tomorrow morning. And don't forget; you're also going to be interviewing members of the Watch, too."