Connections in Death (In Death #48)(50)

“Why?”

“First, right off the top? His reaction when I told him about Pickering was outrage. Some shock tossed in, but outrage. He’s a good liar, no question, but I buy the outrage.”

“Because someone went over his head and took a former Banger out. Someone disrespected the chain of command.”

“That’s it.” Eve banged a fist on the side of her thigh. “Exactly it. One of my detectives goes over my head, I’m going to kick some ass. And that’s what I saw. The idea that maybe someone had. And that would put him out of the hit on Duff because why? Plus, the timing’s too close. She’s dead because she served her purpose, and had a big, whiny mouth on top of it.”

“The other one? Jorgenson. You’re leaning toward him.”

“He’s in the running, and right now leading the pack. He’s got a hot head, and made a point of pushing at Jones while we were there. And he’s got a long sheet, a lot of violence on it.”

She studied his ID shot again. “Still, I need to do runs and get a feel for other lieutenants or up-and-comers. I need to take a look at the case files, see if I can find a close connection in the gang for the ones Strong put away using her CI. And one more.”

Eve stopped, checked the time. “I’m holding you up.”

“I’ve got a couple more. Finish it out.”

“Okay, I get taking Duff out, and quick. But it was overkill. They beat the shit out of her, raped the shit out of her. Pickering, they tranq, then pump full of junk. He probably never felt anything after that first grab and stick.”

“That could come down to basic misogyny,” Mira pointed out. “The former gang member—male—who fought the fight, who did time, wore the colors, is given an easy death. The female who outlived her usefulness, which was primary sex—and there are others to provide that—is brutalized. Just another whore.”

Mira crossed her very fine legs at the ankles. “So, from my scan of your reports, the look of your board, and this conversation, my initial profile would be a true believer. The gang first, last, always. And one with ambition and some clout. Enough to have three men—or two if he joined them—and Duff do what he told them. Enough to have access to the illegals used and planted. He’s impulsive. More thought, more careful thought, would have plugged the obvious holes. But Pickering had to be punished, humiliated, the reputation and trust he’d fought to earn back shattered.

“If he’s not top dog with every intention of staying there, he intends to be. If not Jones, someone who had the additional motive of killing one of Jones’s old friends.”

“And adding some turmoil.”

“Yes, particularly with the second killing—that brutality, the location. Stir up trouble, help put the trouble out—like an arsonist who joins in the fire line.”

“Gain more cred.”

“Yes. Ambitious, impulsive, brutal, and loyal above all to the gang—as he sees it. If, again, it’s not Jones, it’s someone who’s already working to depose him. Women are to be used however he chooses to use them. He may have watched his father or another male authority figure abuse and/or humiliate his mother. If she tolerated it, she’s a whore. If she didn’t, she’s a bitch.”

“Peabody’s digging into a report right now. Jorgensen went after his mother, physically. His sister—military—stopped him.”

Mira’s eyebrows lifted. “That’s certainly interesting, and certainly fits. Attacking his mother, being stopped by his sister? It’s likely he has a very skewed view of women.”

With obvious reluctance Mira pushed off the desk. “I’m going to take a closer look at your reports after I’m done at the—absolutely routine—dentist.” She picked up her coat. “I’ll write up a more cohesive profile once I have.”

“Thanks. And the good luck thing again.”

“I’ll take it. Eve, when you speak to Rochelle, please give her my sympathy. And let her know, though she probably has her own contacts, if she wants the names of grief counselors, I can help there.”

“I will.”

As Mira clicked away on her garden shoes, Eve turned back to her board.

She spent the next hour going over the data Peabody sent her on Jorgenson, picking through Strong’s case files for connections still in the gang to anyone she busted. And after a quick tag, had Strong send her the best guess on the Banger chain of command.

With that, she started runs, played with probabilities.

Glancing over when her comp signaled an incoming, she seized on Harvo’s report.

“All hail the fucking queen!”

She hit her ’link, made the tags, while she worked out the steps in her head. Then swinging on her coat, headed out to the bullpen.

“Officers Carmichael, Shelby, suit up. We’re moving, Peabody. Harvo came through.”

“We got one?”

“Barry Aimes, aka Fist. Reo’s getting the warrant. Dug down into his juvenile for the DNA match on one of the hairs Morris found on Duff. No luck on a second sample. Aimes is only seventeen. Got booted from school for fighting, did a little short time in kid jail for same. And he left his hair on Duff.”

She showed Peabody the image on her ’link screen. “Wears it long, and it’s currently dyed red. He’s got a job listed—stocking shelves at a mini—and a residence. We’ll hit the mini first.”