29
Cash watched as Blaisdell Holmes folded her hands together and leaned forward across the elongated conference table, pinched brow marring her normally smooth features. Huizinga and Romanski were there—along with George Standish. He caught her eye and gave her a two-fingered salute across the table, which immediately annoyed her. She pondered for a moment how unfair it was for her to be so judgmental of the guy. But then again… why would a grown man use baby oil in his hair?
“I’ve called this meeting to review the facts. The DA’s office is now involved and it’s become a vertical prosecution case, so the sheriff’s office and CBI will be working closely with them. Given the media attention this case is getting, DA Udoka Adewale will be heading all pressers. She’s being assisted by Deputy DA Euclid. I might add, the media drumbeat, that unfortunate video, and a perceived lack of progress by law enforcement has caused a backlash of adverse publicity.”
A young woman seated near Holmes—presumably Euclid—nodded at the introduction. Adewale was seated next to her. Cash examined the two women. Euclid looked young, but she had the collected manner of someone older. Bright green eyes were shadowed by strikingly dark eyebrows, and a slight dusting of freckles was scattered across her cheeks. The DA, Adewale, was an alarmingly thin woman with high cheekbones and an imperious air about her. Cash had heard she was supposed to be good. She wondered about Euclid’s experience—she looked fresh out of law school.
Cash never liked these meetings in the DA’s office. Like most government buildings, the room smelled musty, the once-white walls a faint yellow, the halls permeated with the scent of old coffee. At least the conference table was new, a shining expanse of oak.
Holmes continued, “I cannot impress upon all of you the importance of your media training at this sensitive time. The country is looking at us. The assumption should be made that everything we say or do in public will be recorded. With social media, anything can be spliced, edited, and taken out of context—therefore any statements we make to the media will be brief and to the point. Longer statements will be left to DA Adewale.”
Colcord shot Cash a pointed look, which she did not appreciate. She glared back at him.
“Furthermore”—Holmes gave a sigh—“I’d like to note that there appears to be a press leak, possibly in the sheriff’s office or CBI. This case will be proceeding on a need-to-know basis. Do not talk about it with anyone outside this room unless absolutely necessary. And when you do, keep a record of everyone you’ve spoken with and the details of the conversation. The Brooksfields’ defense attorney, Caldas, has informed me that someone leaked Margie Brooksfield’s name to the press. There is currently an encampment of reporters and protesters on public land outside of her client’s ranch. This is not a good look, people—and it’s also a safety issue. Sheriff Colcord has been forced to dispatch deputies out there to maintain the peace. Another point on the media—and I can’t even believe I even have to say this: no talk about aliens.”
A cascade of laughs ran around the table. Holmes did not join in, offering the room only a faintly ironic smile as she gazed coolly at each of them in turn. “The alien narrative is already out there, and if it takes flight, we’ll be the laughingstock of the entire country. Any questions about aliens by the press or public should be immediately dismissed as ridiculous—and it should be stressed thatwe are not pursuing that angle. I’m turning this over now to CBI’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Huizinga, who’ll be presenting the autopsy results of the Castillo homicide.”
Huizinga stood to the electric whir of a projector screen sliding down from the ceiling against the far wall. He clicked through some slides briefly reviewing the Grooms murder, then he started in on the Castillo case.
A close-up of a bloated bluish foot appeared on the screen, painting the onlookers with a sickly cerulean glow. The foot and shin were misshapen, as if made of molded putty. He clicked, and a CAT scan of the foot took up half the screen. Cash was no doctor, but she could tell by looking at the scan that the bones in Castillo’s foot had been broken in multiple places, essentially crushed.
“This is Castillo’s left foot. The base of the tibia and fibula, along with the talus, navicular, calcaneus, cuneiforms, and all five metatarsals are fractured. This is exactly what we saw in Grooms’s foot, and it leads me to the conclusion that the same device, an iron-cased torture instrument for the leg and foot called aSpanish boot, was used on Castillo as it was on Grooms.
“However, there was also a second torture instrument used. Trace evidence of iron oxide indicates that there was a metal band secured around the victim’s throat. Perimortem bruising indicates it was there for an extended period of time. Cause of death was the severance of Castillo’s spinal cord. A circular hole consistent with a large screw was bored through the back of the victim’s neck and through his spinal cord. Detective Romanski looked into what could have caused these injuries, and he discovered that an instrument called thegarrote vilwas likely the murder weapon. The use of seventeenth-century torture instruments here would be consistent with the modus operandi of the Grooms murder.”
Dr. Huizinga clicked through to the next slide, and an ancient-looking wooden chair with a metal band looped toward the top—approximately where the neck would be if one was sitting there—popped up. A wicked-looking metal spike jutted from the back of the chair at the same height as the loop. Underneath was the text:Garrote vil., Exposición Inquisición en el Palacio de los Olvidados de Granada.
“This is obviously not the actual garrote vil used, just a picture so you can get the idea. You screw from the other side, and the spike goes into the neck like this—” Huizinga bent to grasp the back of Romanski’s neck, made turning motions with his hand along with squishing sound effects from his mouth.
“Easy there, Doc,” said Romanski, with a nervous laugh.
“All right, Dr. Huizinga. No need for the theatrics. We get the point,” Holmes said. “I’ll state the obvious: That chair is a large device, and thatimplies the killers have a safe house or base of operations somewhere nearby. This is a route of investigation we’re now pursuing. Continue to the next slide.”
“Yes, please do,” Romanski said, rubbing the back of his neck. He cast a rueful smile at Cash behind Huizinga’s back.
Huizinga went on, “The body was disarticulated postmortem—here’s a diagram.”
Cash stared at a schematic of a human body, spread-eagled, with black lines indicating where cuts occurred.
“The limbs were separated at these various articulations through use of a blade to cut through harder bone and cartilage. Efficiently done. The body parts were placed in four identical black nylon suitcases along with large stones and sunk in the bottom of McMillan Lake. I understand forensics is attempting to trace the origin of the suitcases, so far without success. One of the suitcases was found by college students—you’ve all seen the video, I assume. The other three were found by the diving team in various deep parts of the lake.
“Based on Reh’s forensic immersion tables, degree of maceration and putrefaction, bacterial load and osmolarity of the water, temperature, and degree of bloating, all indicate the submergence occurred not long after death. The interval of submergence was no less than eight and no more than thirty-six hours.
“Dissection of the stomach found no evidence of Communion wine or wafers. The body was also not embalmed. DNA, trace evidence, and other investigative methods are ongoing by Detective Romanski and his team but have not as yet turned up any of use.”
Cash shot a quizzical look at Colcord. Why had the body not been embalmed, but the other was?
Huizinga made a small, awkward nod to Adewale and sat abruptly to signify he was finished.
“Thank you, Doctor.” Holmes stood now, clasping her hands behind her back, and began pacing slowly at the front of the room as she spoke. “Based on what Dr. Huizinga has presented, that means Castillo was murdered in late June. Getting back to the Grooms homicide,” she said, “our main suspect so far is Margaret Brooksfield, ‘Margie,’ whom we believe is an accessory. She benefited from his death as the only heir tohis estate worth several million dollars. Furthermore, she’d embezzled almost a quarter of a million from him in the preceding several years to pay medical bills. She was in the vicinity of the cabin around the time it has been estimated the torture of Grooms began. There was movement of funds from his account through hers to an offshore entity called Paradox, and from there, it disappeared into a network of shell companies to disguise ownership—which looks a lot like money laundering. Castillo was the founder of Paradox and served as the chair of its board, and it seems he pretty much ran the show. What’s also clear is Brooksfield did not act alone, judging from footprints, witness observations, and the elaborate, ritualistic nature of the murder. There’s a lot to untangle here, and unfortunately, we do not believe we have enough evidence yet to arrest her.” Holmes turned, gesturing at George Standish. “We’re bringing in Agent Standish to assist with this part of the investigation, as he is a specialist in digital forensics at CBI.”
Cash kept a carefully neutral face as she digested this news.
“Adding to the complication, it appears Castillo is a suspect in the theft of an important Christian relic from a church in Rome—a piece of the cranium alleged to be from Saint John the Baptist. I’ve included more information on that in your reports. How this connects with the two homicides, if at all, is unknown at this time.”
She looked around. “That’s it. Are there any questions?”
After a moment, the deputy DA, Euclid, spoke. “There’s a lot of circumstantial evidence here, but what we lack is some actual physical evidence or eyewitness testimony connecting Brooksfield with either murder. A major question is: Why would Brooksfield participate in the ritualistic aspects of the killing if her motive was just money and to cover up embezzlement? The MO suggests something else must have been going on.”
Holmes smiled for the first time at Euclid. “Excellent question,
Ms. Euclid. And that ‘something else’ is what I’m tasking all of us here with finding out.”
The DA, Adewale, spoke for the first time. Her voice was clear and commanding, and she had a quiet confidence about her that impressed Cash. The table immediately hushed. “Regarding eyewitness testimony, there’s an important point that just came to my attention that even mydeputy doesn’t know about,” she said. “I assigned a PI, Philip Ross, to tail Brooksfield to ensure she does not flee the state. He reached out to me this morning, just before this meeting, and informed me of a fact of significant importance to the case. It appears that Javier Castillo visited the Brooksfield Ranch on the morning of the day before his death for approximately two hours. He got into a visible shouting match with Margie Brooksfield that day. Ross couldn’t make out exactly what they were arguing about, but he described Brooksfield as angry. Paul Brooksfield, the husband, ended up chasing Castillo away with a gun.”
Cash raised her head in surprise. This was big. “We interviewed her with her lawyer present the very next day, and she made no mention of seeing Mr. Castillo. In fact, she vehementlydeniedknowing him.” She had felt sympathy for Brooksfield, especially after learning about her daughter’s illness and their crushing medical debt—even though she had admitted to embezzlement. She had not struck Cash, however, as a likely accessory to murder. But this new bit of news made her wonder.
“Interesting, indeed,” Adewale said.
Colcord leaned forward, arms crossed, blue eyes sparkling with intensity. “Ms. Euclid called for eyewitness testimony. Now, it seems, we have it. Brooksfield saw Castillo the day before he was murdered. She had a serious conflict with him and then lied about it. The victim was, furthermore, threatened with a gun.” He looked around the room. “I propose that we now have enough evidence to bring her in.”
