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9
Pepper said, “We aren’t going to do anything for the moment. Kirra Mandarian isn’t our focus. We just wanted you to see the picture we’re seeing. We need you to think about what she’s likely to do next.”
Jeter sounded infinitely depressed. “I haven’t a clue. I’m beginning to believe I don’t know her as well as I thought.”
Pepper said, “Don’t worry about it. It’s Grissom we’re here for. I can’t indict Grissom on the state charges—that’s up to Hailstock. But the interstate drug charges are mine—and I’m going to fillet him. This isn’t about penny-ante bags of marijuana or cocaine, it’s about a massive distribution network working directly with a foreign cartel.”
She saw Jeter was distracted, more than likely still thinking about Kirra Mandarian, feeling blindsided, maybe blaming himself for not seeing what was in front of him. She gave Savich a small headshake and backed up. “Jeter, tell us about Kirra and her uncle, Leo Mandarian. He seems like a real stand-up guy. I picture this macho man wrestling crocodiles and trekking through the outback, killing scorpions and snakes with his bare hands.”
Jeter laughed and waved his hand. “Yep, pretty close. He’s a celebrity now, particularly in Australia and Japan, of all places, a famous survivalist. He leads clients on expeditions in the outback, took Kirra out with him while she was there. He and his team—all of them hard-asses—taught her all about survival and how to fight. I’ve seen her fight, and believe me, she’s fearless. Leo comes to the States twice a year to see Kirra and she travels to Australia twice a year if she can. I even traveled there with her once, stayed with them at Leo’s house in Port Douglas. They took me on what they called a little camping trip to see some pretty scenery—at least that’s what they told me.” He shook his head. “There were times I thought I was going to die. Looking back on it now, though, it was great.
“I like Leo, he’s down-to-earth, a person you know you can trust five minutes after you’ve met him. Actually, Leo was here two months ago. Let me add, he raised Kirra well. They’re very close, there’s a bedrock of love and trust between them.”
Pepper gave him a wonderful smile. “It sounds like he was the perfect person to save her again, after you did. Will you tell us one of his adventures?”
He cocked his head at her, smiled. “My favorite is the hair-raising time Uncle Leo fell into a sinkhole with a dingo and Kirra had to cut off a sturdy tree branch with a knife to save him. Best part? He came out with the dingo tucked under his arm.”
Pepper said, “Was the dingo grateful?”
“Nah, the dingo tried to bite Leo and took off, shaking himself.” He sat forward, looked at each of them. “Thank you for the time-out. Here’s the truth. I can’t imagine Leo going along with Kirra planning anything like this. And it’s hard to imagine she would have told him, either. Above all she’d want to protect him.”
Griffin folded his hands on the scarred tabletop. “All right, Jeter, now help us understand her. We know you were one of the detectives who worked her parents’ murder case.”
Jeter took a drink of his water, settled back. “At the time, I worked under lead detective Amos Judd, who trained me, now retired.”
Pepper said, “Trained you? You must have been a new recruit. How did you get the case?”
Jeter said, “I’d been a beat cop for a couple of years when Detective Judd spotted me, evidently liked what he saw and encouraged me to take the detectives exam. As a new detective, I was all gung ho to take on my first murder case, especially after I saw what happened there that night. Judd let me run with it.
“Maybe because it was my first murder, it stuck with me. Sometimes I still dream about it and always, I wake up wishing with everything in me I’d solved it, but I didn’t.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t just the casual brutality of it, but because of the little girl. The killers shot Mr. and Mrs. Rendahl in their bed. I’ve always hoped they were asleep. We knew they had a young girl, Allison, who’d been mature enough to call 911, but she wasn’t in the house, dead or alive. I was the one who found her huddled and bloody in a small cave in the woods, wouldn’t have found it except for the blood trail. A bullet struck a branch and a shard had cut her arm, and a bullet had grazed her head. She was in shock, fought me tooth and nail until I convinced her I was there to help her, then she didn’t want to let me go.
“To this day Kirra can’t remember much of anything from that night, other than waking up when she heard footsteps on the stairs, seeing two men, calling 911, and running.”
Savich said, “I understand Judson Rendahl was an artist, spent a good deal of his time with his easel on the shores of the Potomac, painting boats of all kinds?”
“That’s right. And he did portraits. He wasn’t famous then, barely sold enough to keep food on the table for his family. His wife worked only occasionally at a grocery store when her health permitted. She had a severe heart problem. The point is there was hardly anything worth taking in the house, and if it was a home invasion or a robbery gone bad, why kill a twelve-year-old girl who couldn’t identify them? Why burn down the house? It didn’t look like a random killing, it looked like murder for a reason.
“When Kirra was older, I finally spoke to her and Leo. I told them it was clear her father was desperate for money, with her mom as sick as she was. Though Kirra hated hearing it, it was clear the only thing that made any sense is her father must have crossed some people he shouldn’t have. He saw something, overheard something, had proof of something they didn’t want known, and he tried to extort them. I found out he had no insurance, so I can understand if blackmail was the only way Rendahl could get enough money for his wife’s care. Kirra didn’t want to believe it, but she and Leo finally came around because the house had been torched for a reason. The killers were probably at the house not only to kill the Rendahls, but to find whatever her father might have been using for blackmail. When Kirra ran, they didn’t have time to search for it, decided to torch the house and everything in it, make sure whatever it was Rendahl had burned in the fire. Of course to this day Kirra doesn’t have any idea what her father could have had to use for blackmail or known that it would lead to such a horrific consequence.”
Savich said, “That makes a great deal of sense. Rendahl couldn’t have even considered what could happen or he wouldn’t have tried blackmail.”
Griffin said, “And in the end there was no closure, no justice. Can you imagine how Kirra felt? How she’s felt all these years?”
Jeter said, “Lousy and furious and committed to finding the bastards come to mind.”
Pepper said, “What bothers me is why the killers wanted to murder a twelve-year-old kid. Talk about overkill.”
Griffin said simply, “Either the killers were hired and it was simply a job to them to kill everyone in the house or they were psychopaths and killing was a great game, gave them pleasure. Either way, it must have burned them when Kirra escaped.”
Jeter said, “One of them did go after her in the hospital. Her nurse came by and screamed loud enough to chase him off. We arranged for a guard for her after that, until Leo came and took her back with him to Australia. Now, you want to hear something ironic? In the fourteen years since Rendahl’s murder, his paintings have become quite valuable. Nothing like a dead artist killed in a gruesome way to draw the attention of collectors. Today, Kirra has a couple of million in a trust from sales. I believe Leo also added to her trust, so she’s in good shape financially.”
Savich said, “Do you think Kirra might have determined Elson Grissom ordered the murder of her parents fourteen years ago and that’s why she went after him?”
Jeter shrugged. “How on earth she could find anything to implicate him after fourteen years, I can’t imagine. Believe me, at the time I turned over every rock, talked to dozens of people. I got nowhere. And why wouldn’t she tell me if she had? Nothing Eliot Ness gave us has anything to do with Kirra’s parents.”
Pepper said, “If she’d had actionable proof Grissom was involved, she wouldn’t have had to send us that envelope. I’m with Griffin, I can’t imagine how it would feel, never getting closure, or justice, for your own parents’ murder. It could be she thought she didn’t have another choice.”
Griffin said, “Maybe what shoved her over the edge was her belief Grissom ordered Josh Atwood killed. I can’t wait to meet her.”
Savich said, “I can’t either. Now, Jeter, do you agree Porte Franklyn’s commonwealth attorney, Simon Hailstock, will be a problem?”
Jeter laughed. “Problem’s an understatement, Savich. They call him Mr. Lowball at the station because he has his attorneys plea-bargain most every case that could lead to a trial. And the good Lord help any of his prosecutors who go to trial and lose. He’s always saying, with great pride, I might add, that the justice system here in Porte Franklyn should be a blueprint for cities all over the US. Needless to say, our cops can’t stand him. And if any attorneys refuse to live with his dictates, they’re gone fast.”
Pepper said, “I don’t see how Hailstock can avoid taking Grissom to trial. He’s got buckets of evidence, no way any competent prosecutor could screw it up. Well, I suppose he could try to find a way to wiggle out of trying Grissom if Hailstock’s in his pocket.” Pepper sat forward, her incredible blue eyes focused on him. “Has Kirra told you exactly what Hailstock plans to do with all the evidence against Grissom?”
“Not yet.” Jeter wondered how he could get Pepper’s cell number. Maybe he could ask for her card. “Kirra said she’d call me after she and her boss have another meeting with Hailstock this morning. She’s not optimistic.”
Savich said, “I’ll tell you what, Jeter. We’ll be meeting with Kirra later this morning. We have no reason to tell her we suspect she might be Eliot Ness. We want to hear what she has to say, what her plans are. Trust me on this: we have no wish to do her harm. I know you’re worried about her, but I’m going to ask you to hold off talking with her about what she’s doing or whether she’s Eliot Ness until we think it’s time. Are we agreed?”
Jeter streaked a hand through his hair, cursed low. “It doesn’t make me happy, but as long as I don’t see her risking her life, I’ll hold off. It’s still hard for me to believe she’s out there doing this, being like fricking Wonder Woman, but yeah, I can see it.”
