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Someone had scrawled a name and date in Sharpie below Hottie’s very square jaw.Y. Binjamin. June 12, 2004.
“That was taken shortly before golden boy’s mishap with explosives,” Monck said.
“Where’s Yaakov now?”
“Apparently, being disabled did not agree with him. He killed himself in 2012.”
“Yaakov was twenty-eight. Joe was twenty-three.”
“That tallies,” Monck said, looking thoughtful about what the intel meant.
“Italltallies.” Facts were body-slamming in my brain like protons in a supercollider. “For years Joe is ignored by his father. He holds his brother responsible. Hishandsomebrother. Hishandsomebrother who lost hisleft hand.”
Monck allowed me my rant.
“Eventually, Yaakov kills himself. Guilt eats Avner up. The year after the suicide, Avner and Joe move to Provo. Four years after that, Avner dies.”
Totally pumped, I air-jabbed a finger in Monck’s direction.
“Avner’s death is the trigger. The first killing goes down in 2017.”
“Bobby Galloway.”
“It’shim, Monck. It’s Benjamin. You need to get a warrant to search his home.”
“Based on what? This is all speculation.”
“Pretty freakin’ good speculation.”
“I know the judges here. Every one will require more. Besides, the more I poke at this guy Wall, the more I find questions I want answered.”
“So we wait until another vic dies?” Fear and frustration were turning me churlish. “Maybe Cloke?”
“Take a deep inhale.”
“You sound like a yogi,” I said, sighing.
I knew Monck was right. But he was here, so he was taking the hit.
“I’ll put round-the-clock eyes on this freak,” Monck said.
“And in the meantime?”
Palming both knees, Monck pushed to his feet. “In the meantime, I keep digging.”
31
5:30 P.M.
Partly caffeine. Mostly anxiety.
Every neuron in my brain was firing at warp speed.
I couldn’t concentrate. Couldn’t sit still. Would have preferred a crawl through razor wire to a computer session.
By sheer force of will, I made myself settle at the keyboard. Finished with the dead boaters by five-thirty.
I was starting the Palke report when titanium knuckles whacked my door. Welcoming any excuse for a break, and eager for news, I answered the knock.
