Blindside(21)

Ed said they had no leads. Just a body that had been strangled with a ligature. In this case, he thought it was some kind of wire.

Ed said, “Screwed up the victim’s neck pretty bad. Deep laceration, but it didn’t sever any arteries. The poor kid choked to death. He was dead at least twelve hours before someone from a restaurant next door noticed the body jammed up against a wall behind a row of parked cars. The kid’s family is devastated.”

Every homicide detective knew the feeling, talking to a family who had just lost someone. Death notifications were one of the worst parts of the job.

Ed fumbled with the keys, then we ducked under some yellow crime-scene tape across the doorway.

As soon as we stepped into the apartment and I saw the two TVs and all of the computer equipment, I knew this was related to the missing Natalie Lunden.





CHAPTER 27


IT’S ALWAYS A surreal experience to be in the apartment of a dead person. Their life is told in the belongings they left behind. Secrets are held in correspondence and emails. Even their TV viewing habits might be looked at. Anything that could give a detective a hint of what led to the homicide.

Cops like to say a good homicide detective is born, not made. The gift has more to do with the determination to keep looking at things until they make sense. With all the new forms of communication, from instant messaging to email, investigations have changed dramatically. More opportunities to catch a killer also means much more information to pore over. Cases, at least more complicated cases, take longer.

I believe experience is what makes a good detective. Varied experience, not the same one over and over. Experience is a tricky thing. You never realize how important it is until you gain it. The ultimate catch-22.

This was a very nice two-bedroom apartment most professionals would kill to live in. Somehow a twenty-four-year-old computer whiz had found a way to pay for it.

Ed proceeded to brief me as we walked through the apartment. He said, “We found an airline ticket to Estonia.”

Immediately I thought about the wire from Danske Bank in Estonia that paid for Natalie Lunden’s apartment. Things were starting to pop.

Ed continued, “The victim had a Long Island Rail ticket to Hempstead in his pocket.”

“A fairly big town. I think it’s the biggest in Nassau County. He have relatives there?”

Ed said, “I spoke to his parents, who live in Hicksville. They weren’t expecting him. Of course, they’re in shock. The only thing they could think of was that his grandmother has a house in Hempstead she lets him use. I looked up the address. Good place to lie low. It would be hard to connect it to him.”

I said, “You think he had a change of heart about the trip to Estonia. Maybe he was running.”

Ed finished my thought. “And whoever he was running from caught him. It’s possible. We have some grainy surveillance photographs that show him leaving Penn Station with a couple. A well-dressed white woman and man in their thirties. Not enough to make an exact ID. But the surveillance cameras downstairs show what may be the same couple visiting the building earlier that evening. Excellent images, but not a single match in our system, and they may have been visiting someone other than Payne. This one really has us stumped.”

“No drug connections?” That was usually the first and most likely reason for a homicide in New York.

“No, nothing. He’d been in school until eighteen months ago.”

“His parents pay for this apartment?”

“Nope.”

“Interesting.”

“And confusing. I can’t find what the kid did for money, but he was doing okay.”

“I’d say so.”

I had told him I was looking for a witness. Technically, it was true. I had been waiting for the next question.

Ed said, “What’s the connection between the witness you’re looking for and Payne? Can the witness help me on this homicide?”

“Truthfully, I don’t know. But if I ever find her, it will be one of my first questions.”

“What kind of case is she a witness to?”

“Ed, this is gonna sound weird coming from me, but I can’t talk about it.” It was embarrassing to tell one of my brother cops something like that. The FBI did that kind of shit all the time. That’s why none of the local cops worked with them much. I didn’t like saying it to a fellow detective.

But he took it in stride and we continued exchanging a little information and looking through the apartment again.

Finally I said, “Okay, Ed, I’ve seen enough. Will you keep me in the loop?”

“Sure, no problem. Will you do the same?”

“As soon as I’m authorized, you’ll hear the whole story. For now, I have to shift my focus to another witness.”

“Down here in Manhattan South? I have a lot of contacts.”

“I think I need to go to Columbia first. Last I heard she was registered there.”

Ed said, “I seem to recall you having a little trouble at Columbia not that long ago. Will they let you on campus? They’re not known to help the police much.”

“I have a few contacts. I need to find this girl. I’ll see what I can pick up on her and if she knows anything about your victim.”

“Is this witness’s name a secret, too?”