Checkmate (Caitlin Calloway Mystery Book 2) by Mavis Applewater Page B

canblame them. I can talk to the neighbor again. Maybe she sawsomething that day and didn’t think it was important.”
    “You can try, but I’m thinking she told us everything andenjoyed doing it. We got nothing,” CC said. “I can’t take anotherlecture from our esteemed attorney general on what does and doesnot qualify as probable cause.”
    “Seriously? Coakley scolded you?”
    “Scolded, spanked, and—” Max added.
    “Hey.” CC cut him off. “The deal is we need to find out whathappened, without blowing the case. We’ve all been through this fartoo many times to count.”
    The three of them sat there stony faced, seemingly awaitingdivine intervention. Mulligan’s face skewed as she took anotherlook at Annie’s cell phone.
    “Maybe we don’t need to look at Mrs. Stern’s GPS,” she saidquietly. “Maybe we could just look at Annie’s.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “Almost every cell has a GPS,” Leigh said. “And Annie didn’tlike to drive. Still she had a routine to follow that involved thefamily. If we follow where the nanny was, perhaps we can findsome of Mrs. Stern’s stomping grounds.”
    “Good call. Let’s go see Wayne.”
    Leigh seemed pleased by the compliment. She held the celltightly as they made their way over to Wayne’s lab. Fortunately, theCrime Scene Unit was just down the street.
    “Why are you so fascinated by Annie’s belt?”
    “I’m not.” CC shrugged. “It’s just that I noticed the suit jacketwith her stuff. It was hanging in the closet. Why not take the belt?Then again maybe the brother took it back or she didn’t take it withher. Or she did and I just didn’t notice it.”
    “I doubt that there is very little that goes unnoticed by you,Calloway.”
    “Sucking up? I like it. Thinking about making a move?”
    “It’s no secret how screwed up the budget is,” Leigh said. CCliked that Leigh was direct with her answers. “Do you know Krassowski?”
    “That dick?”
    “My partner.”
    “Oops.”
    “No oops. He is a dick and a whole list of other things my mother would never approve of my saying,” Mulligan said. “Word is there might be a spot opening in homicide. It’s a move I wouldn’t object to making. Besides who wouldn’t want to ride with the woman who bagged Jeffrey Charles West?”
    “Why is everyone talking about him today? Look, Max turned him over to the Feds,” CC said. “He was the one who ran the sick bastard’s prints.”
    “Rumor has it that was because you asked him to.”
    “Hey, he was a gold shield. Me, I was still a lowly foot soldier.”
    “What tipped you off?”
    “With West?” CC rolled her shoulders. “It was outside the Garden. A Celts game had just let out. We lost, so the crowd was surly. West looked like everyone else. Stocky guy with a hoodie. Thing was, he had his hand attached to his jewels and he was muttering. I brought him in on a PC and followed a hunch.”
    “What was he muttering about?”
    “It’s a wonderful life.” CC laughed. “That’s all the guy did was quote lines from the movie.”
    “ It’s a Wonderful Life ? With Jimmy Stewart?”
    “Yeah. West wouldn’t shut up, but he never said anything, like his name or why he was wandering around Boston with his hand on his nuts. All he did was quote lines from the movie. I’ve heard that he did the same thing during his trial. Had a kid a few years before that and named her Zuzu Petals. The guy was seriously fucked up.”
    “Zuzu Petals West?”
    “A line from the movie, I think. Like I said, the guy was seriously screwed up. When we busted him we found his manifesto. It was a bunch of papers with all of Jimmy Stewart’s lines from the movie. It was tucked into a copy of Catcher In The Rye.”
    “I heard Florida couldn’t wait to fry him.”
    “Can’t argue with his sentence,” CC said. “He was one sick bastard. Wayne, tell me you have good news.” She greeted the tech who had a way of making her life easier.
    “Calloway.” Wayne, the