Killer Karma

27

Hamada rang the bell at Irah’s house, but Cole knew neither he, Razor, nor Darrell Wineright expected anyone to answer. One of the Richmond District uniforms with them carried a ram. Hamada stepped aside and was motioning to the officer with the ram when to all their surprise, the door opened.

A small oriental woman stood in the opening. “Miss Carrasco not home.” She started to shut the door.

Hamada caught it and, holding up his ID, introduced himself. Then he pulled out the search warrant. “I have a warrant to search this house. Please stand aside.”

She kept pushing against the door. “Not come in. Miss Carrasco don’t like.”

“This paper says we can.”

She held on for another moment, then released the door and turned away. “I go call Miss Carrasco.”

In one long stride, Hamada caught her upper arm. “No…you don’t call Miss Carrasco.” He led her into the livingroom. “What’s your name?”

“Mrs. Dien.”

“Mrs. Dien, why don’t you just sit here while we work.” He pointed at a chair. At the same time he sent a glance at Razor and Wineright that said: Watch her.

“I clean,” she said, pointing at a vacuum cleaner sitting in the doorway to the dining room.

“Not today.”

They pulled on latex gloves and fanned out through the house.

“Upstairs,” Cole told Razor.

Razor tapped Hamada’s shoulder. “Why don’t we take upstairs. I think we’re more likely to find goodies in her personal space.”

Hamada nodded.

A uniformed officer came with them. Their brows went up at the books and tapes.

Even Razor blinked in surprise. “She has been studying us,” he murmured to Cole.

Then they saw the curio cabinet. “Souvenirs?” Hamada said.

Cole told Razor where to look for the rook.

Razor pointed it out to Hamada. “There’s the trophy piece Lamper mentioned.”

“Bag it.” Hamada tried the door. “Locked.”

“Luckily I brought these.” Razor pulled a lock pick set out of his pocket, and shrugged when Hamada’s brows rose. “I figured there was a chance we’d find locked drawers.”

Especially when a ghost reconnaissance warned him about it.

Razor ignored Cole’s wink and went to work on the lock.

Cole peered into the catch basket under the shredder. Mrs. Dien had not cleaned up here yet. Maybe good luck for them. Something new had been added since yesterday. “Razor, check out the green stuff here.”

Once the cabinet door was open, Razor came over and lifted off the shredder. Reaching in, he pulled out a narrow strip of bright green paper with black lettering that formed the bottom three-quarters of U.S. Postal Service Delivery Confirmation Receipt. He held it up to Hamada. “Interesting. I wonder why she shredded this.”

Hamada looked around from bagging the rook. “Let’s piece it together and find out. Maybe she mails her burglary loot to her fence. One burglar back East used to do that. Bag the trash.” He frowned back at the cabinet. “I wonder where all this other stuff comes from.”

Razor put on a thoughtful expression. “You know, it looks to me like what the Old Spice Burglar’s been taking. Don’t you think?” he asked the uniformed officer.

The officer stared at the shelves. “Yeah. But I thought Old Spice was a man.”

“Maybe we’ve been wrong.” Hamada’s frown deepened. “If she took souvenirs from Dunavan and Benay, it’s going to be hell finding them. Let’s check the desk and the rest of the room first.”

“Puzzle box,” Cole said.

“I wonder.” Razor stepped back to the curio cabinet.

Hamada raised his brows. “Do you see something?”

“No, but…you know, if I killed a cop and wanted a souvenir, I’d take his badge. That can’t be left out where Mrs. Dien might see it, though and this is a puzzle box.” Razor lifted out the box and shook it. They all heard the rattle inside. “My sister had one of these things. She kept her diary in it, thinking no one would be able to read it. She underestimated how determined a little brother can be. It took me three months, but I finally solved it.”

Cole grinned. “You’ve always been a great liar.”

“Let’s just hope…” Razor began prodding. “…this one goes faster.”

Pulling up the memory of Irah opening it, Cole described her actions to Razor. He thought he gave the directions clearly…but the box stayed closed. Razor tried again…also without luck.

“We could just smash it,” the uniformed officer said.

Razor closed his eyes. “Wait. I think… There!”

The drawer slid out. They stared at the butterfly pendant and star.

“Son of a bitch,” the uniformed officer breathed.

“Is that Dunavan’s?” Hamada asked.

“That’s his number. And Benay’s apartment was full of butterfly stuff.”

Hamada nodded. “We’ll see if her girlfriends recognize the necklace.”

While they bagged the box and its contents, Hamada pulled out his cell phone and called Lieutenant Madrid. After disconnecting, he gave Razor a grim smile. “It’s quite a party downtown. Lamper’s baring every corner of his mightily troubled soul, so now Willner, Burglary, an ADA, and Fraud are also hanging on every word. Dennis is wearing a path to Judge Barbour’s chambers. She just finished signing a search warrant for the Flaxx offices and computers. If we leave Wineright to finish searching here, Madrid will have Galentree meet us at Embarcadero Center with Flaxx office and the arrest warrants.” He paused. “So Dunavan was right about everything. Too bad he won’t be there to put the cuffs on them.”

Cole grinned.

Meeting his eyes, Razor said. “I think he’ll be with us in spirit.”