“Was she alone?”
“No. I started to go outside, call out to her, thinking she’d forgotten where she was going. Being upset about her husband. But then I saw she was with someone. She was with a very fancy lady. Beautiful coat with fur on the collar,” Isaacs added, brushing his fingers down the front of his apron to demonstrate. “Long black coat, brown fur trim. Very nice. I think I’ve seen the fancy lady once or twice before, but not that coat.”
“You saw the woman before that day?”
“Once or twice. I know my neighborhood, I know my people.”
“Is this the woman?” Eve offered Ava’s photo.
“Yes, yes, this is the woman poor Mrs. Custer was with that morning. Such pretty hair she has. I remember, it was a very sunny day, and the sunshine seemed to bounce off her pretty hair. She wore shades. As I said, it was a very bright day, but she’s very striking. I’m sure this is the same woman. They walked right by. Mrs. Custer looked so sad and tired. She came back, by herself, a couple hours later. Maybe more, we were busy. I thought, ‘Poor little thing-Mrs. Custer-she’s been crying.’ I gave her some pop treats for the children.”
She hit the lot next, a small, overpriced two-decker.
“This sort of lot won’t have security discs for two months ago,” Roarke reminded her. “And their records won’t include license number, make, or model. It’s just the time in and out, the fee, the slot.”
“They’d have tag number, make, and model for reserved parking. No way Ava would cruise around looking for a parking spot. Not someone who plans, who researches. She’d book one. Scanner reads reservation number, and to reserve you need to verify tag number.”
“Well now, you’re right about that.”
“She’d’ve done the same thing for the Custer stalking and hit. She’d be thinking of her own convenience, and never seriously consider we’d get here. I put her vehicle here, I put it there, it adds weight. You’ve got a new assignment.”
“I’m going to be talking to auto lot owners. With her vehicle number I could find it quicker myself.”
“Channels. Pristine chain. We take the long way. I’ll drive. You get started.”
She closed herself off for twenty minutes back at Central. She shut her door, closed everyone out while she sat, feet up, eyes closed to walk herself through the steps, the stages, the routes.
With a glance at the time, she made another call. “Mrs. Horowitz, Lieutenant Dallas. I have a couple of questions.”
“Of course.”
“Mrs. Anders attends a lot of functions-balls, parties, and so on. Does she ever attend costume types-masked balls, fancy dress, that sort of thing?”
“There’s a fancy-dress gala in October every year.”
“Where does she keep her wigs?”
“All the costume pieces she has made or purchased are kept in storage on the third floor.”
“Does she own a red wig?”
“I believe she owns a few, in different shades and styles. I haven’t been in the storage area for some time.”
“Thanks.”
Eve ended transmission, and placed another to APA Reo.
Then she called in the team.
In the conference room, Eve paced while Baxter brooded into his coffee and Roarke passed the time on his PPC. Peabody, with no new visible piercings, huddled together with Trueheart. EDD had yet to arrive. Cher Reo entered next, the pretty blonde with the Southern drawl and the raptor claws in court.
“Hello, gang.” She nodded at Eve. “Let’s hear the pitch.”
“We’re not all here. Feeney-” Eve narrowed a stare at him as he strolled in with McNab. “You’re late.”
“You want it fast or you want it right?”
“I just want it. Status, EDD first.”
Feeney took out his notebook. “Pill dispenser, vic’s, opened and reprogrammed the morning Ava Anders left for St. Lucia. None of her prints inside or out. Office ’links, Anders Worldwide. No transmissions to or from Suzanne Custer during the last six months. Same for the home and personal ’links we were given access to. Security discs recovered from Custer apartment show no unusual activity. Remote recovered from Custer apartment is extreme. Custom job, specific for the system at Anders’s residence. We found two uses. One use six weeks ago, and one the morning of the Anders murder.”
“Ava test drove it.”
“Be my take. Disposable ’link, dead as disco. Those type don’t hold transmissions much over twenty-four anyway. If they do that. And this one’s cheap shit.”
“You’re telling me you got zip?”
“I didn’t say zip.” He stretched out his legs, crossed them at the ankles. “Every electronic byte leaves an imprint. A smudge anyway. You go in right, and you can finesse. We got what you could call echoes. ’Link’s a piece of crap, but crap can be manipulated. We need to process the echoes, tune them up, sort them out. Something’s there. Give us a day or two, and we’ll pull it out.”
“Good. Peabody?”
“Adult toy items matching those at the Anders crime scene were purchased by Suzanne Custer, or earlier by Ned Custer. All but the ropes were obtained by her at Just Sex. She purchased the ropes, with cash, at Bondage Baby. Custer also obtained, by doctor’s prescription, lotrominaphine, the medication found in Thomas Anders, as well as six pressure syringes. Four syringes were also found in the bag recovered from the Custer apartment, as was the partially used prescription of the tranq. She’s wrapped.”
“And yet,” Reo commented, “Murder Two.”
“It’ll be worth it,” Eve told her. “In Interview, Suzanne Custer stated that at Ava Anders’s suggestion the two women entered into a bargain to kill each other’s husbands. Reportedly, Anders recorded their promise.”
“That’s dumbass,” McNab put in. “Why incriminate yourself on record?”
“If Ava ever recorded her own statement, she’s long since wiped it. But I’ll bet she’s got Suzanne’s tucked away for leverage.”
McNab nodded. “Not so dumbass.”
“Three days after the Custer murder, Anders waylaid Custer on Custer’s way to her usual Monday morning marketing. Custer and Anders were seen together, and today identified by Isaacs, Jerome, the market’s owner.” Eve pointed a finger at McNab before he could speak.
“Yes, dumbass, but we’re dealing with a woman who never believed we’d have any reason to tie her and Suzanne Custer together. And if we asked? She could easily claim she’d dropped by to pay her condolences.
“So moving on. Custer further stated that Anders informed her Anders had killed Ned Custer-and gave all details to same. And it would soon be time to complete the bargain. According to Custer’s statement, Anders used threats and duress to obtain her agreement, while Anders drove into New Jersey, to a rest area. A security tech at same has identified Anders and her vehicle, corroborating Custer’s statement. At that time, Anders gave Custer the disposable ’link, and described how Thomas Anders was to be killed.”
“You’re going to get a lot of she said/she said here, Dallas,” Reo commented.
“Yeah, so we’ll need to make what Custer said stick. We need those echoes cleared, Feeney. Custer did not, as Anders instructed, dispose of the ’link, the remote, the discs. Anders lied about her husband’s sexual proclivities.”
“Prove it,” Reo demanded.
“Your job. But, she told both Custer and one Petrelli, Bebe, that Thomas Anders was a sexual deviate, and a pedophile. She indicated same to a Gordon, Cassie. There is no evidence this was true. In fact, there is weighty evidence it was not. Ava engaged a licensed companion for several months. There is no evidence Thomas Anders used LCs or engaged in extra-marital affairs, as Ava claims. Let her prove it,” Eve added.
“After receiving the news that her husband was dead,” Eve continued, “Ava ordered a tasty breakfast, ate same, dressed, and groomed meticulously. She didn’t wake her friends, but took a shuttle home alone.”
“I just don’t like her.” Reo examined her nails. “I don’t like Ava one little bit.”