Shadows of Deceit by Mell Corcoran (grave mercy .TXT) 📕

Caroline looked past Vinny and saw the detectives assigned to the case heading their way.

“Here comes Cagney and Lacy. I’m sure they will fill you in.” She finished her sentence with an eye-roll, clearly expressing her dislike for the detectives.

“Ah crap. I forgot they were on call.” Vinny turned around to meet the detectives and took an authoritative stance that made Caroline grin.

Two female detectives walked up the path, both flipping through their notepads and scowling like they were looking for a fight. The pair did in fact resemble the characters from the television series that ran for the better part of the nineteen-eighties. Detective Sara Rochelle had cropped jet black hair and an extremely thick Brooklyn accent. She had joined the Sheriff’s department after working vice on the East Coast for seven years and despite having glowing recommendations on paper, it was well known that she left Brooklyn to avoid being caught up in a serious internal affairs fiasco. Off the record, Vinny’s captain had warned him that Rochelle had a reputation back East for pushing the envelope with suspects, just dancing on the edge of police brutality. Nothing could ever be proven and no one ever filed a formal complaint against her but Vinny didn’t trust her all the same.

Detective Lydia Barnes was the taller of the two and had impossibly short bleach-blond, spiky hair. As usual, she looked like she spent all her spare time working out at Muscle Beach down in Venice. She was extremely tan and had a very masculine physique. Vinny was certain she could crush his head like a walnut simply by clapping her hands. He was really glad the captain had told him in confidence that she was gunning for a transfer to the Special Enforcement Bureau. Neither detective liked Vinny or Lou and they made no secret of it. He was sure it fried both of their asses that he had made lieutenant and was now their superior. A fact that was clearly confirmed as Rochelle completely ignored him and directed her attentions to Caroline.

“What have you got for me Devereux?” Rochelle’s thick accent only accentuated her annoyance.

Caroline cocked her head and looked at the woman with disbelief. Not acknowledging Vinny as an individual was one thing, but snubbing her lieutenant was wholly unprofessional and insubordinate. Rochelle simply stared at Caroline waiting, totally oblivious to how her behavior was inappropriate.

Caroline finally rolled her eyes at the stubby woman which made Vinny think she must have had a headache from all her eye-rolling. “I already relayed my findings thus far to your lieutenant. I’ll forward my report when it’s done.” Caroline turned her back on Rochelle, grabbed a set of fresh booties and pulled them over her shoes. “Nice to see you again Lieutenant DeLuca.” She winked at him before she moved back into the house to continue her work.

“Morning Lieutenant.” Barnes stepped up and addressed Vinny directly, clearly trying to make up for her partner’s major faux pas. “So far we have deputies responding to a silent alarm that was triggered at approximately 5:21 a.m. The security company informed dispatch that the residence was equipped with full surveillance for the entire property. The live feed streams directly to their facilities and is supposed to be monitored twenty-four-seven. However, the feed was blacked out or otherwise disabled at around 1:07 a.m. Unfortunately, no one at the monitoring facility noticed it until the silent alarm was triggered.” Barnes flipped through the pages of her notebook before she continued. “They are cooperating and sending us all of the footage they have for the past several days and we are meeting with the chief security manager once we are done here.”

“The source of the alarm?” Vinny ignored Rochelle completely and

directed his questions to Barnes.

“Well that’s a mystery in itself.” Barnes ruffled the top of her spiky head. “When Lopez and Gearhard entered the premises the alarm system was not only disengaged but completely dead. No power to any of the control panels or the cameras, which explains the black out. Our techs are looking at it right now but no wires were cut and the back-up battery is in-tact. There is a lot here that isn’t making any sense right off the bat.”

“Like what?” Vinny really wanted a cup of coffee right about now. “The house is totally clean. No furniture, bare floors vacuumed

clean, not a piece of lint or dust anywhere. The kicker is that security for the community had no clue the resident moved out. They have the current resident listed as Casius Arcano, with a regular in and out pattern morning and evening. Other than a large cocktail party at the residence last Saturday, there have been no visitors or deliveries to this address since then. Nothing has deviated out of the norm and they say he is very friendly with the guards. Last entry for him was coming in Friday evening at 6:32 p.m. like usual. There have been no movers in or out of the entire community for any resident in over a week. No trucks other than UPS and FedEx that could possibly have cleaned this place out. The watch commander for the community is all over this.”

Vinny considered the implications of what Barnes was telling him. “Those two gates the only way in or out of here?”

“Yes sir. Well, I guess you could do a hike up the canyon but no way in hell could you move furniture out that way or bring in a crew and all the equipment needed to get this place so spotless. Forensics is coming up with nothing anywhere in the house so far. Not one single fingerprint, not on a knob or even the faucets. This place was scrubbed clean and recently.”

Vinny nodded in understanding despite really not understanding how all this was possible. “Devereux is putting time of death between late Friday night and early Saturday morning so clean up had to take place after that. Cutting those heads off made a royal mess, no two ways about it, but someone wanted things neat and tidy for us.” Vinny looked back at the bodies and tried working it out in his head.

“We don’t know they were decapitated here.” Rochelle’s condescending tone oozed out of her. “That’s pure speculation. They could have been dumped here.”

“Despite the glaringly obvious conclusion an experienced homicide detective would make given the volume of blood you can barely avoid tripping over when you walk into this place, I don’t recall ever factually concluding they were decapitated here, Detective Rochelle.” Vinny looked at her hard then turned his gaze on Barnes. “Did I, Detective Barnes?”

“No sir.” Barnes shook her head, much like a dog would wag her tail in anticipation of a treat. “Your only assertion, sir, was that a mess would have been made and that someone wanted things tidy.”

Vinny nodded. “That’s what I thought too. Thanks for clearing that up for me. It’s called deductive reasoning, Detective Rochelle. You should try it sometime.” He gave Rochelle a scowl then looked past her as he noticed a large figure coming up the driveway. “Go get updates from the forensics teams while I deal with whoever this is. I want a full report on everything before you take off to meet with that security manager.”

“Yes sir.” Barnes turned on her heal and headed down the cobble path with an almost robotic determination. Rochelle muttered something under her breath, shoved her notepad into her jacket pocket then slumped after her partner without another word.

With the heavy-duty lighting set up to illuminate the house, Vinny could only make out the black silhouette of a behemoth headed towards him. Squinting against the glare and forgetting the blue paper booties on his feet, Vinny stepped out the threshold and met the approaching man on the porch. A porch, Vinny noted, that was the size of his entire backyard. “Lieutenant DeLuca? Sir?” The man stretched out his hand to Vinny. “Yeah? Who’s asking?” Vinny squinted to get a good look at the fellow, hesitant to accept the offered hand.

“Sir, I’m Detective Dillon Cole. I was instructed to come here rather than the Bureau.” He continued to hold his hand out, certain that recognition would kick in any second.

“Oh! Yeah!” Vinny promptly shook the man’s hand and noticed that despite only being a few inches taller, the man seemed huge to him. “Right, sorry. I forgot I told them to have you meet me here. I figure we could hit the ground running, see how you do.”

Dillon Cole was a carefully chiseled slab of heavy duty stone. As solid and imposing as a mountain. He stood six-feet, three-inches and instantly reminded Vinny of a Roman gladiator, the way he was built. With a sharp jaw and keen green eyes, Vinny got the impression right away that this guy would be excellent protection for Lou on the streets. It didn’t hurt that Lou would probably only make it to his elbows as far as height went. The image made him chuckle to himself.

“Alright.” Vinny got back to business. “Let’s show you what we got, make the rounds then you’ll give me your impressions. We’ll go from there.”

“Yes, Sir.” Dillon retrieved a small, leather-bound notebook from his inside jacket pocket and immediately began scribbling notes.

Vinny couldn’t help but notice that Dillon was not looking at the paper as he wrote. It made him a little jealous. That talent could come in real handy when his wife, Vera, was dictating orders. He had reviewed Dillon’s file briefly the day before and vaguely remembered that he had recently moved to Los Angeles from Washington State where he worked in some small town station for several years. Cole seemed a little young for having been there that long and first impressions made him more of a military man to Vinny than a tree-hugger cop. Dillon’s precise movements and respectful demeanor just didn’t jive with country lawman.

The newcomer wore a tailored navy blue suit and crisp white shirt with a simple gray and navy striped tie. His shoes were high-end lug- soled lace ups, not the standard cop shoe to be sure, which Vinny found to be a smart move. Dressing to impress and not sparing expense when it came to taking care of your feet were two things Vinny appreciated. It was also probably impossible to buy a decent suit off the rack given the man’s hulking build.

“OK sport, let’s take a look, shall we?” Vinny turned and started to head back into the house when Dillon gently pulled him by the shoulder. “Sir?” Perhaps it would be wise to re-boot.” Dillon grabbed two sets

of blue booties from the box and handed one pair to Vinny. “Those two detectives tracked a lot of dirt up here. Better safe than sorry, don’t you think?” Vinny looked down at his own feet and realized he still had the old ones on.

“Ah geez! I need coffee.” He ripped off the soiled foot covers, took the new pair from Dillon and pulled them on. “Nice catch sport. I appreciate it.”

“No problem Sir. I realize it’s very early and you are spread thin. I am fully briefed on the situation with Detective Donovan and am looking forward to meeting her. I am also aware that you are expecting you’re first child so I’m certain sleep is a rare commodity for you these days. Congratulations by the way, Sir.” Dillon’s sincerity made Vinny pause.

“Thanks. Thanks a lot sport.” So far Vinny was liking candidate number eight. Only