“You know them?”Porter asked.
“I grew up in Hell’s Kitchen,” Doyle answered, moving around the front of Larkin’s desk to join them in conversation.“Grandma would sit on the stoop in the evenings with other ladies from the tenement and talk about the good old days—about McGrath and Spillane, the old-school gangsters who used to run the neighborhood.Her generation wasn’t very fond of the Westies.”
Larkin lowered the folders in his hands.“Your grandmother approved of mob behavior.”
“It’s not that she approved,” Doyle answered.“That’s just… kind of how it was back then.”
“Hell’s Kitchen was under gang influence for well over a hundred years,” Porter explained to Larkin.“But the violence got real bad after Mickey Spillane was murdered in ’77 and the Westies opened the neighborhood up to working with the Italian mafia.RICO charges didn’t take the Westies out until the late ’80s, though, which is why that body dump sounds like their MO.”
Larkin considered for a moment.“Why, when the neighborhood is only a block or two from the Hudson, would they traverse crosstown to dump the body.”
Porter said, “The Irish mob used to control the dockworkers union.The longshoremen were all from Hell’s Kitchen.It wouldn’t look good to toss vics into the same body of water your neighbor works.”
Larkin raised Wagner’s file next.“Gunshot, execution-style.Body dismembered, placed into a refrigerator, and dumped in the Hudson River.”
Porter’s eyebrows crept toward his nonexistent hairline.“Interesting parallels.”
“Larkin?”Doyle asked with noted uncertainty.
To Doyle, Larkin said, “We’ve been focused on the detailswithinWagner’s death, but not the death itself.The fridge, the brooch—important, yes—but what about the MO of the murderer.Howsomeone kills can also tell a story.Is there a complex psychological urge to do harm, such as the ritualistic serial murders associated with Harry Regmore, Alfred Niederman, and Matilde Wagner, or is it perhaps more indicative of the killer’s associations or past influences.Do they kill not out of known psychopathic lifestyle behaviors, such as stimulation-seeking, impulsivity, or parasitic orientation, but because it’s their job.”
“You think we’re dealing with a street thug and not an organized killer this time?”Doyle asked.
“On the contrary, this individual is fairly organized.And patient.It takes a considerable amount of time to butcher an adult human and then dispose of the remains.But the sender has done business with all manner of monsters, from mission-oriented serial killers to necrophiliacs.Why wouldn’t he also do business with, say, a former mobster.”
“Wagner wasn’t necessarily a ‘mob hit,’ Doyle started.“But is instead reflective of how this individual might have been trained to kill.”
“And the deviation of trash bags to fridge is because it wasn’t ever about making Wagner disappear,” Larkin added.“Silenced, yes, but her body needed to keep the game going ad nauseam.We know from past cases that the sender is framing her killer, and that Wagner’s murder will also eventually point us toward a seemingly unrelated cold case—”
“Barbara Fuller!”Doyle interjected.Animatedly, he said, “That’s the cold case connection.Think about it: Last month, we had to identify Esther from old VHS footage in order to find her killer.But in doing so, we learned her name might’ve actually been Barbara Fuller.Now her killer is dead and the mourning imagery—jewelry, in this case—is bringing us right back around to the name, Fuller.There must be something about her, specifically, that the sender wants us to learn.Something more than her legal name.”
“Why she ran away,” Larkin suggested.“What life did Barbara leave, and why was making ends meet as Esther—existing on the fringes of society—the better option.”
“It might’ve been the only option,” Doyle corrected with noted somberness.
“I’ve no idea what the fuck you two are on about,” Porter finally put in, “but I hope I helped.”
Larkin returned his attention to Porter.“Yes, you were of great assistance.Thank you.”
Porter grunted.
Larkin spun on his heel, returned to his desk, and began to hastily store the last of the cases sitting out.“Actually, Porter, I have one last question.”
“I don’t like feeling used.”
Larkin finished storing the folders, closed the desk drawer, and straightened his stooped posture.Porter had turned in his chair and was staring at him.“You may have my cake batter donut.”
“The stale cake batter donut that’s been sitting on the counter since yesterday morning?”
“Yes.”
Porter mulled over the offer.“What’s the question?”
“The Hudson River was once a significant location to Hell’s Kitchen.It employed much of the neighborhood, which then employed the Westies.”
“That’s right.”
“Do toothpicks hold any sort of significance to the Hudson.Something symbolic, or historic, perhaps.”
