Untitled Kristeva/DID Story: Part 29

The young blond man peered from one badge to the other, seeming vaguely confused. "Minot Police Department...?" he said.

"You're Ace Pauley, right?" Kristeva asked, he and Devetko still holding up their badges.

"Yyyeah," the blond man said, frowning. "Did I do something wrong?"

"You're not in any trouble. We just want to talk, is all."

"About what...?"

"Just some details that might be related to the Mitchell Barnes case, but might not."

Ace blinked. "You're sure I'm not in trouble--? I was told I wouldn't get in trouble for any of that..."

"If you didn't do anything wrong, then you have nothing to worry about," Devetko said; Ace opened his mouth, but Kristeva spoke up before he could say anything.

"What he meant to say was, if everything you said at the trial was true, then you have nothing to worry about."

Devetko frowned this time. Ace, for his part, brightened and took a step back, opening the apartment door wider.

"Oh! Okay then! Sure, I'm good to talk, I guess. Come on in. Sorry about the mess, I'm just in the middle of something."

"A whole lot friendlier than Mitch," Devetko whispered as they stepped inside.

"Not too much brighter, though," Kristeva whispered back, but his voice trailed off when they reached the main room of the apartment. They halted in the entryway and stared at what was presumably the coffeetable, except that it was hardly visible, its surface covered with an assortment of...what looked like the guts of numerous electronic devices.

"In the middle of something...?" Kristeva echoed, looking around at the mess.

"Yeah--sorry about that. Still tweaking a few things." Ace opened a small closet, pulled out a sheet, and draped it over the disassembled pieces. "Don't want 'em getting all dusty, it's not like I'm in a sterile environment or anything." He gave what he must have hoped was a winning smile, then gestured for them to follow. "It's a little bit cleaner in here if you want to sit down or anything."

He led them into a small kitchenette*/dining area and pulled out a couple of chairs from under the counter, which itself was strewn with various items. The only clearly recognizable thing was a computer tower and monitor, some sort of gibberish all over the screen.

Ace gestured at this, noticing their stares. "Just coding some stuff. I hope to afford my own server soon, or maybe I can make my own. Then things'll really take off."

"Things--?"

"Well--yeah. The Internet?" He stared back at them for a second or so, then continued. "The Internet is where it's at. At least, where it will be. Just wait, in a year or two everybody and their grandmother will be online, and they'll be doing everything there, like shopping and dating and, well, whatever people do all day long, you know?"

Kristeva shrugged. "We just search databases, is all."

"Well, yeah!--that too. Just wait. Soon everything'll be online and all you'll have to do is click a mouse and BAM!--there it is..."

"Or more like, creak creak creak, fifteen minutes later there it is, if you're lucky," Kristeva murmured to Devetko.

"...and everybody's job'll be a hundred times easier, just wait, soon you probably won't even have to leave your house to do anything, all you need to do is log on and there the world is, at your fingertips." He gestured at the humming computer, smiling, then lowered his arms and turned back to them. "Oh--right. You didn't come here to yap about this, I know. Just keeping myself busy ever since...well...you know." He made a slight face, then pulled out a stool and sat on it. "I figured I should probably get my life on track, find something more responsible and, uh, productive to do, right? Though I figure anything is more productive than hanging out with Mitch." He gestured at them this time. "But anyway. Shoot. If I can help with anything...though I thought that whole thing was over with."

"We're just following up on a few details that might be related to another case from a while back. We don't have any reason to believe you intentionally withheld anything, but thought there might have been some details they didn't go over in court."

Ace frowned. "Details...? I did tell everything I knew, at least, I think I did. Mitch and that bad cop guy are behind bars and all, right...?"

"Did you know Officer Jenner personally?" Devetko asked, looking through some papers.

"No...not really. I mean, I saw him around now and then, it was kind of hard not to, with how much Mitch kept in touch; and I knew Mitch was talking with somebody in a, what do you call it, position of power?--but he was never clear on who that was, never even told us it was a cop. All he said was it was somebody who could get things done, you know, like make people disappear if he needed to." He made another face and shook his head. "Anyway. Most of us just figured he was yanking our chain, you know?--Mitch could always talk big, but never really did anything big, well, until..." He shrugged and looked down at his hands.

"So you'd seen Jenner around but just didn't put two and two together," Kristeva said.

Ace peered up at him, biting his lip. "Well...in, uh, retrospect, I guess it makes sense that he was the guy in a position of power, right? But like I said, we figured Mitch was just telling stories. He was like that. Sometimes I thought maybe, I dunno, he'd gotten in some kind of trouble and had to report back to this cop guy, and he just didn't want to tell us, but when I think about it that doesn't really make sense, Mitch would've just bragged about something like that. I guess it was kind of dumb of me not to put two and two together, yeah. But, well, in my defense, they didn't really seem to get along that much."

Devetko lifted his head and both he and Kristeva stared at Ace inquiringly until he started to fidget a bit. "Get along?" Devetko prompted.

"Oh. Yeah. I mean, Mitch acted all cocky going to talk to him and stuff, but then when they were actually talking--and I'm sorry, I never heard anything they talked about--he kind of, I don't know how to describe it, well, you ever see a puppy that's pissed all over the carpet...? He kind of looked like that whenever they talked. That cop guy, Jenner or whatever, he never looked particularly threatening or anything, but that was how Mitch acted when they talked. Jeez." He grimaced. "Now it's obvious he was the guy! How could I have been so dumb...? I guess I just didn't want to believe it was a cop, you know? I have no problem with cops, never really have, I mean, the worst thing I ever did was drink before I was twenty-one, and trespassed a little in that stupid house, but that was all, none of that shit--sorry--stuff Mitch did."

"Stupid house." Devetko flipped a page. "You mean the abandoned house Mitch and his gang hung out in on Saturday nights, right?"

"Yeah, well, except it wasn't really a gang or anything like that, Detective. Really we were just there to get plastered and listen to Mitch yap about whatever. And cripes, did he ever yap. Always waving his stupid little book around and blathering like he knew it all. Jeez, why did I hang out with that moron..."

"Stupid little book..." Devetko said, and turned another page, and only then did Kristeva realize he was actually looking at a file.

"The Satanic Bible," he said, and the other two looked at him. "In the court transcripts it was mentioned how he would read from it and claimed to follow its philosophy. A false claim, by the way, since it doesn't advocate animal mutilation or murder."

"Yeah," Ace said. "I mean, I don't know shi--um--anything about that kind of stuff, but, well, after this all blew over, I looked the thing up, just to see what it was about, since I didn't really get it at the time, but I read it, and it was all weird and stuff and wasn't at all like anything I'd like to follow, but at the same time, it wasn't really like the stuff Mitch kept preaching, you know? I remember at the time I figured he was pulling all of this stuff out of his a--um--out of thin air, and well, maybe I was right."

"Maybe not," Kristeva said, earning another look. "Something that was never made clear in the court transcripts was the ownership of this house you all met in."

"Oh. It was really abandoned, I remember that, 'cause Chief Bowen mentioned it, he got a search warrant for the house because Mitch was trespassing and didn't really own it."

"Did you ever have any other issues with police coming to the house? Police besides Officer Jenner?"

Ace opened his mouth, then shut it. Blinked. "Uh...no. Not when I think about it. Wow...sounds kind of crazy now! I mean, sometimes we'd blast music there at all hours of the night, and then there was the weird shi--um--stuff that Mitch would do, like one time he killed this cat..." another grimace "...and stuffed it under the floorboards...sorry...don't want to think about that too much. I knew I should've stopped going there when he got into that crazy animal stuff. Oh!" His head abruptly popped up and he pointed at Kristeva. "I knew your name was familiar! You were on that news thing a while back--and you're that guy who investigates dead animals and stuff! Right?"

Devetko turned to look at Kristeva, who didn't even bother trying to hide his own grimace. "Yeah...and other things. I guess it didn't occur to you that maybe Jenner had a hand in keeping everyone else away from the house, did it."

Ace's eyes grew wide. "Oh! I mean--yeah, I guess that makes sense! No wonder he kept stopping by but not doing anything about us being there...wow! 'Cause he was in on it?" He shuddered. "God am I glad I got out of that life! I hate asking it, 'cause I know there's probably nothing you yourself could've done, but, how does somebody like that even get on the force, anyway?--I mean, don't they test you guys or something...?"

"Some people are just good at gaming the system." Kristeva raised his eyebrows and looked at Devetko, since he'd been about to say something similar, and hadn't expected his partner to beat him to the punch. Devetko didn't even look up from his files, so he turned back to Ace.

"Yeah...I guess," Ace said. "Kinda get the feeling that's what Mitch would've wanted to do, well, if he'd been smart enough." He noticed Kristeva's look and shrugged a little. "I know I'm not too bright, Detective...never said I was...but I can pick up a thing here and there. Like these computers. And yeah, I know, I never did anything useful with the info, but anybody could've seen Mitch had some screws loose." He frowned. "Makes me wonder what the fu--um--what this Officer Jenner guy saw in him, you know?"

Now Devetko looked up, and Kristeva could tell he'd thought the same thing. "That's actually what we were about to ask...if you had any idea why Jenner would single out Mitch to work for him."

"'Work for'...?"

"Officer Jenner was employed in a secondary line of work as an enforcer. You'd probably know it better as a hitman."

Ace's eyes went round. "Holy shit."

"And considering his connections and all, it just strikes us as odd that Mitch is the best he could do in terms of recruiting somebody."

Ace frowned. "Well...maybe he wasn't the best? I mean, if there's a cop in on it, then maybe there's some guys you missed?--some guys higher up than Mitch? No offense, I'm not saying you're stupid or anything. Maybe Mitch was just, I dunno, the easiest guy to catch? I mean...maybe that cop guy hired him because he's stupid...?"

Silence. Kristeva and Devetko stared at him so long that he started to fidget, and actually turned to the nearby computer and punched a few keys, not really looking at the screen, as if to give himself something to do. "It was just an idea," he piped up after a moment.

"Actually not a very bad one." Kristeva frowned a little now, the other two looking at him. He shrugged. "You saw him, you really think he would've been stupid enough to employ Mitch on accident?"

"You think Mitch was meant to get caught all along? Jenner ended up in prison, too."

"But that was something different, wasn't it?" They looked back at Ace, who was looking from one of them to the other. "I mean...yeah, that cop ordered Mitch to shoot that lady, but that thing with that other lady and Kinnie, that was just bad luck, right...?"

"He didn't know Kinnie was going to show up." Devetko said this as if just realizing something, and flipped through the pages; Kristeva finally leaned to the side to peer at it and realized it was at least part of the trial transcripts. "He even admitted it on the stand," he went on, stopping on a page. "'Lt. Kincaid wasn't part of the plan.' He really didn't intend to shoot him, at least not that night. Ms. Cooper was his target, and he claimed he only went after her because she seemed to possess some knowledge of the case, even if she said it was 'psychic knowledge.'" He turned a page. "July Lockett was the only original target."

"Two birds with one stone?" Kristeva suggested. "Use the opportunity to get rid of July to get rid of Mitch as well. The question is, why."

Devetko nodded toward Ace. "He already gave a theory."

Ace blinked. "I did--?"

"'Maybe there's some guys you missed,'" Devetko said, "'some guys higher up than Mitch.' Maybe not just higher than Mitch, but higher than Jenner, too. Jenner said he was just a cog in the machine, meaning somebody else is running things. Letting the little cog take the fall can draw attention away from where it really matters."

Kristeva made a face. "Shit...I was wondering why Jenner caved so easily when he was caught. Pleading guilty and testifying for the prosecution and everything? That part of the case never made sense to me. He was too helpful. Because he was drawing attention away from somebody, himself." He snorted and pushed Devetko's folder shut. "He practically told us so himself...I just didn't catch the meaning. Should've known the asshole was still up to something."

A clacking noise drew their attention back to Ace, who was typing a bit manically on the computer. "Sorry," he said sheepishly when he noticed their attention, "nervous habit." He shoved the keyboard back and turned on his stool, fiddling his fingers instead. "I was just thinking, you know, if that Jenner guy wasn't the one in charge, well, who does that leave?--somebody even higher up than that? Who would that be, even?--another cop? I don't think I'd ever believe it'd be Kinnie, I mean, yeah, he's a little weird, but not murderer-weird. So...who else? Sheriff Rhoades? Chief Bowen...?"

"I really doubt that," Kristeva and Devetko said at once, and looked at each other, both frowning; Kristeva belatedly realized he'd been defending Rhoades, and he suspected Devetko was defending Bowen, though he had no idea why either of them would be doing this, and he could tell Devetko was thinking the same thing. They deliberately looked away from each other, saw the uneasy look Ace was giving them both, and Kristeva felt his ears grow warm.

"Well..." Ace slowly drew the keyboard back toward himself. "I mean, I wasn't saying it was them...just...I dunno...thinking out loud, you know? Maybe it's somebody else, maybe not even a cop at all, I don't know. I don't think I know anything."

"You've actually been pretty helpful," Kristeva said, hating how it sounded more like a backhanded compliment than anything, but Ace perked up a little anyway. "We might have more questions in the future but I think that's it for now."

"Okay. I'm glad I could help, I mean, if I really did. Oh..." He stood up as they did the same, and wrung his hands a little. "Um...seeing as there's probably still somebody out there involved in all this...do you, I dunno, think I might be in any danger or anything? I mean...even Mandie went into hiding somewhere, Kinnie told me, he said he could do the same for me if I wanted it but I didn't think I needed it back then since Mitch and that cop were in jail..."

"Kinnie hid Mandie--?" The words popped out of Kristeva's mouth before he thought about them; Devetko frowned but the confused look that flitted through his eyes made it clear this was news to him, too.

Ace blushed. "Well--I mean, I figured you knew? After the trial. She was freaked out about the whole thing, and Kinnie said he helped her find someplace safe to live. I don't think it's too far away or anything, but I have no idea where it is, so maybe he did a good job. He offered to do the same for me but since Mitch was put away I figured I was safe! You think maybe I should look into it after all--?"

Kristeva took a breath, made himself think this time, and let it out. "No...there's no reason to think you might be in any danger at the moment. We're just following up a cold case. Might not even be directly related." He ignored the sideways look Devetko gave him. "If the situation changes we'll make sure to let you know. You just...keep doing whatever this is you're doing with these computers, all right? Keep yourself out of trouble. We'll get in touch if we need to know anything else."

"Okay then...like I said, I don't think I have anything else, but I'll be right here, I guess." His face lit up. "Unless I really get things going and get a bigger place! Might need more room for my server..." He'd been turning to the computer, but turned back again, and hurried through the main room of the apartment. "Oh! Let me show you out...watch your step...and feel free to stop by any time, I'm not going anywhere just yet..."

On the landing, Devetko made a point of stopping by the elevator, as he had before on the way up, but Kristeva headed for the stairs instead. They fell into step beside each other and started heading down.

"Pussy," Devetko muttered.

"Any particular reason you're so quick to jump to Chief Bowen's defense...?" Kristeva said.

"Any particular reason you're doing the same for Sheriff Rhoades...?"

"Rhoades is an asshole, and I'm pretty sure he has loads of ulterior motives, like shipping me off to languish in the MPD, but I seriously doubt he's in league with a Satanist hitman."

"And I could say the same about Bowen, except leave out the asshole and ulterior motives parts."

"Considering that Bowen's the one who shut down the original case, are you still so ready to say he has no 'ulterior motives'...?"

"Word through the grapevine is that Rhoades shipped you off to the MPD to keep an eye on Kinnie after that whole Jenner fiasco. What was that you were saying about motives, again?" Kristeva's expression soured. "So the word through the grapevine is true, then," Devetko added.

"Whatever Rhoades's motives in shipping me off to the MPD, no, I never had any intention of spying on Kinnie for him. Where exactly is this grapevine you've been listening to, by the way...? Because it'd sure be nice to know why everybody there has hated me from the start."

"You're not as wonderfully subtle as you like to think you are. A cop gets transferred from one station to another with no real explanation, rumors are going to fly around. So if you never had any intention of doing what Rhoades asked, why did you go along with it?--because it hardly sounds like you're a fan of his, either."

"Take a look what Kinnie's reputation is, and then look at my reputation, and you should have your answer, since you're so astute and all."

Devetko opened his mouth, then shut it and looked back ahead. "Oh."

"Translation, please?--just so I know you're on the right track."

"Kooky Kinnie, who's always looking into weird cult cases," Devetko said, "and you, the guy who investigates dead animals."

"Guess you're right, and I'm not too subtle after all." He skipped a step, just to make Devetko have to do the same to keep up. "Rhoades and I have our history...I won't get into it. Let's just say he had plenty of reason to want me out of there."

"You seem to have a lot of history with people."

"Keeping an eye on Kinnie was just the most convenient excuse. Oh, sure, he probably wanted me to do that, too. And I admit I jumped at the chance. Not to spy on Kinnie or the MPD, though. It's just that the MPD has better resources than the Sheriff's Department."

"Kinnie's focus on ritual crimes." Devetko frowned. "You really think that's what's behind all the dead dogs and farm animals?"

"Singer's report kind of makes it clear, doesn't it? I figured you were past the doubting stage, by now."

"That still doesn't explain why you think the sheriff deserves the benefit of the doubt."

Kristeva rolled his eyes and gave an exaggerated sigh. "Well, how about this one, then. He's the guy who felt somebody had to keep an eye on Kooky Kinnie because obviously, all these reports about cults are just bullshit, and anyone looking into such stuff is giving the department a black eye. If you really think Rhoades had me looking into this to make sure nobody found out too much, you're overestimating his interest in the matter. He thinks Kinnie's as big a crackpot as anybody. Still have him pegged as the grand Satanic pooh-bah, now?" They turned a corner and kept heading down. "And how quickly you forget that even Jenner said Bowen had a hand in keeping the entire case quiet."

"I figured you were smart enough to understand the why, when Mark Kincaid was more concerned about Kinnie's welfare than anything. And what were you just saying about crackpots?--yes, I've seen the looks they give you. Apparently Mark had some experience with that look. Did you stop to think that maybe the reason Bowen doesn't want anyone looking into this too much is exactly because people call our lieutenant 'Kooky Kinnie'...?"

Kristeva slowed down and stopped several steps from the bottom. Devetko didn't notice this at first, and halted only when he reached the bottom step, turning to frown up at him.

"What?"

"Footsteps." Kristeva looked at the floor, up at the stairwell behind him, and then down again.

Devetko waited a moment, then sighed and put his hand on the railing. "Mind sharing...?"

"Kinnie wasn't Jenner's original target, we know that already."

"Huh...? What's that have to..."

Kristeva waved his hand impatiently. "Bowen is good, Rhoades is good, let's just go with that, all right? I don't think either one of us really believes they're tied in with things even if they haven't been the most upfront."

Now Devetko rolled his eyes. "Believe what you want, but don't go speaking for me, I can make my own decisions."

"Fine, then. But anyway. What you just said about Mark knowing that look..."

"And I think that has a lot more to do with why the case was kept quiet than the chief being involved in some weird devil cult..."

"I'm actually agreeing with you here, all right?--let me finish?" He paused long enough for the other detective to barely suppress a scowl and cross his arms. "Mark knew this cult shit wouldn't be taken seriously. Bowen knows this cult shit won't be taken seriously. Me, I know it won't be taken seriously, I just don't care. Kinnie...I don't know what the fuck Kinnie knows about or not, but he doesn't seem to care what effect it might have on his reputation."

"He did sign those prison forms," Devetko said.

"Something Bowen would've been super-pissed about, if he'd known. Bowen didn't even like him going to visit Jenner himself." He glanced up the stairs and then down again. "Kinnie might not have been the original target but he definitely was one, it just wasn't his turn yet. I don't know why yet, maybe he's more useful alive than dead. Still with me?"

A shrug. "Why not."

"Jenner mentioned how that could change, though. He said not following in his dad's footsteps was the reason he could end up dead. It was just a matter of time."

Devetko was silent. It was hard for Kristeva to read his facial expression in the dim light of the stairwell. "Mark was trying to be careful," he said after a moment. "He knew the way the case was perceived could ruin everything. Kinnie..."

"Kinnie's not so careful. He's never cared how the case is perceived, as long as it ends up solved. At least, that's what I assume, since I can never get a fucking read on him." He jumped the last few steps, landing beside Devetko, who let go of the railing and took a step back. "Know who else wasn't careful?--I'll give you one guess, he was off the cuff and not by the book."

"Being by the book doesn't seem to spare people from ending up dead, either."

"Well...maybe Mark wasn't being so careful anymore."

"So even if Kinnie hadn't interrupted Jenner's date, he would've ended up dead at some point."

"And still might. Not that I'm worrying about him too much at the moment, I think he can take care of himself. And Bowen's done a good job keeping everything quiet." Devetko's expression started to sour, but that wasn't why Kristeva fell silent for a moment. He looked back up the stairs, then at the door in the lobby ahead. "Shit."

"What now?" Devetko's voice was just as sour as his face.

Kristeva bit the inside of his mouth, then started for the entryway. "When I had Scott and Trace...some coworkers of mine from the Sheriff's Department--look through the county records to see if they had any info on the Singer case. Nothing that we didn't already have at the MPD. But they dug up Mark's part of the case, the raid where he found Kinnie."

"There's no way that info isn't also at the MPD."

"I know, I just wasn't looking for it at the time. That's just it, though. They were looking for Singer's case. They found Mark's case. He wasn't mentioned in it, but Tracy said the info on the Kincaid raid came up when she did a search for Singer's name."

Devetko shrugged. "If Singer's name was included in the search terms, yeah, of course it would bring up Mark's case since the two are related." The two of them stopped and stared at each other for a moment. "Shit," Devetko said.

"The city and county and state were involved in that raid," Kristeva said. "We had jurisdiction, but everybody helped out. So of course the Sheriff's Department has its own files."

"No particular reason to hide Singer's role in the case in plain sight, though, is there?"

Kristeva continued staring at him a moment or so more, chewing on the inside of his cheek, then resumed walking, albeit slower now. "So, okay...Rhoades was trying to keep things quiet, too. But it only makes sense if you include Bowen in the mix."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression they don't care for each other very much...?"

"Rhoades doesn't care for Bowen. I don't know what the chief thinks, maybe you're on a better wavelength with him." He noticed Devetko roll his eyes but ignored it. "Looks like they're in bed together on this matter, though. You still think Kinnie's welfare is the only reason--?"

"I never said it was the only reason. Just that for Mark, it was probably the main reason. Bowen and Rhoades, I can't speak for them. I'm kind of surprised you haven't picked up on the double meaning of what Jenner told us, though."

"Double meaning--?"

"Not following in his dad's footsteps. And throw in what you said about July while you're at it. Taking too long to do what she was supposed to. Kinnie said this Melissa lady tried to go after him first, then gave up and went after Mark. In the Jenner case, yes, Kinnie wasn't the intended target." He started fiddling with his umbrella. "He sure was the target back then, though."

Kristeva's face screwed up. "Shit...he really didn't follow in his dad's footsteps." He sighed and stepped aside as a couple of people entered the apartment building, then they passed through the foyer. "Unethical or not," he added, "I sure wish we could have a talk with Kinnie's shrink."

"Why not just ask him all this weird shit yourself? Didn't stop you from going into lovely detail about Mark's death the last time."

"I've heard stories that Kinnie has his snapping point. I'd really rather not see it for myself. I know I already mentioned the letter opener..."

"If a letter opener has you this scared, you have bigger problems than this case." Fwoomp--the umbrella popped open as they stepped outside. Kristeva held up a hand to shield his eyes from the rain. "And so what was your next idea, if not that? We seem to be running low on leads to follow up on..."

"I get the feeling we're just going to be spinning our wheels for a while. Comes with working cold cases. Think you might get too bored...?"

"I didn't get in this line of work to keep myself from being bored. If you have nothing else in mind, I have some papers I need to fill out."

Kristeva snorted and lowered his hand, giving up on keeping dry. "I have plenty in mind...just that it might be even more dull than filling out papers. Up to you, though. I can go solo if you want."

The silence this time was especially awkward, and he could tell Devetko had somehow seen through the comment, if the way he paused before opening the car door and looked at him was any indication. Kristeva returned the stare, ignoring how drenched he was getting. It must have only been a few seconds but this felt like it went on forever.

Fwoomp. "Somebody has to bail you out the next time you inevitably piss off somebody in charge," Devetko said, and disappeared inside the car.

Kristeva opened his own door. "I'm driving, then."

"I'm in the passenger seat already."

"Just saying."

"Shut up and get in the damn car."

Kristeva did so, sitting down abruptly enough that raindrops spattered against the other detective and he made a face; they both gave each other the finger at the same time. "Soon we'll be finishing each other's sentences," he said, and the look he got in response made him decide not to push his luck any further as he started the car.