South Phoenix Rules (David Mapstone Mystery 6)

She ignored me and slammed the door. It lacked any visible locks, of course. We were essentially prisoners. The backs of patrol cars had changed since I was a young deputy, on my first sojourn into law enforcement before going back to graduate school. In those days, the older cars lacked any protection; suspects just sat in the back seat. The newer ones had rudimentary cage wire to protect the officers sitting in front. Now the prisoner compartment was much more elaborate, and confining, with Plexiglas ahead of us and heavy bars protecting the side windows, to keep suspects from kicking out the glass, wiggling out, and running away. I had seen it happen. Now I just sipped my mocha as Vare drove fast down Fifth Avenue to the Papago Freeway.

“Are you taking us straight to the tent jail?” I spoke through the Plexiglas. She wasn’t driving toward downtown.

“God, how I wish.” And that was all she said.

She drove west, took the 35th Avenue exit, and turned toward the South Mountains until she reached Lower Buckeye Road. A collection of ramshackle houses, tilt-up warehouses, and junkyards provided the scenery. The big county complex was off to one side. I avoided looking that way. The inside of the car smelled; it was better for my stomach not to attempt to pick out the origins of the odors. Robin made the mistake of touching the thick vinyl of the seat and withdrew her hand. Her face was tense, her mouth compressed into a thin line barely holding in emotions. Her coffee sat undrunk, her free hand balled up in a fist.

She had thought she was getting a gift from her lover and had waited to open it until after dinner. She hoped he would be joining her as a surprise. She undressed, lit a candle, and poured a glass of wine in anticipation. The X-Acto knife cut easily through the packing tape. Jax’s head had been covered with a layer of bubble wrap that had made identification impossible until she had pulled it off—and there he was. Robin had told me this story before the cops arrived and hadn’t deviated from it despite hours of Kate Vare’s badgering. I didn’t trust Robin for my own reasons, but she had nothing to do with this crime.

At 51st Avenue, a large field was still left on the southwest corner. I couldn’t identify the crop—maybe alfalfa?—but the view was a time machine into old Phoenix, the place where I had grown up. If you blocked out an ugly brown subdivision a couple of miles south, the vista was magnificent. Green field running toward the rough, treeless mountains in the distance under a vault of pure Western sky. It gave me a moment’s solace. I just watched the land and felt my chest fill with breath. Then Vare jerked the car to the right and we were inside a housing development.

One way in and out, surrounded by an outside wall, curvy streets, look-alike stucco houses with large driveways, big garages, and small front doors. No shade. It was unremarkable for what passed for a “neighborhood” in most of Phoenix, except that it looked mostly un

occupied, with a trail of For Sale signs along the street Vare drove. I saw two PPD units sitting in the asphalt gulf where the street curved north. It held three houses closely sandwiched into the bend. The door to one tan house was standing open, guarded by a uniform.

Vare turned in the seat. “Does your friend recognize this house, Mapstone?”

“She’s got a name and she can speak for herself. Unless you’re arresting us and then we’re not saying a damned thing…”

Robin interrupted. “I’ve never been here in my life.” She took a long draw on the latte and ran her other hand through her tousled hair, pulling it back over her shoulder, trying to tuck part of the strands under her ears. She watched me watch her as the car door opened.

Vare led us beneath the festive yellow tape and into the house. At the entryway, we all put on light blue crime-scene booties. I didn’t like the smell. But we followed her through the narrow entry hall and back into the sunny, high-ceilinged Arizona room. There was no furniture, no drapes. She pointed into the kitchen, where a body was slung over the top of the center island. It was the body of a man, completely naked. Blood had dripped down the counter tiles onto the new floor. It was mostly dry. Robin gave a small animal’s alarm call, covered her mouth, and ran back outside.

“Crime scene’s on the way. Don’t touch anything.” Vare laid her hand on the butt of her Glock.

“Don’t accidentally shoot yourself, Kate,” I said. I breathed through my mouth, which would help for a while, before I started to taste the rotting odor. Thank God it wasn’t in summer. The body hadn’t been here long—long enough for rigor to go away, twelve hours give-or-take as I recalled—but not long enough to putrefy and swell. I kept my distance, walking slowly in an orbit of six feet away. It wasn’t that I hadn’t seen bodies. I just didn’t want the tightly wound living body in the black pants suit to freak out and make me leave.

The dead body belonged to a male about my height with an athletic build. His thighs, calves, and hands were bloody from wounds. One hand was larger than the other. A large pool of blood congealed between his legs, which were slightly open. I stepped around a cordless drill. It had a small, bloody bit in its mouth. Close to the refrigerator, a stained handsaw lay on the fashionable Spanish tiles of the upgraded kitchen. The body was missing its head.

Even in Phoenix, there probably weren’t that many headless bodies at the moment.

“Jax.” I whispered it.

Vare shook her head. “Is that his name? Your girlfriend’s…”

“She’s…not!” Something in my voice actually made her take a step back.

“Well, she’s looking at some major trouble, Mapstone. She’s lying. I can tell it. You can, too—don’t deny it. I can’t tell if you’re lying because I never believe you anyway. You both had better start cooperating.”

I asked her how she had found the body. It didn’t look as if any of the neighboring houses were occupied, so this was no place for a block watch. A tip, she said.

“A tip? From where? What kind of tip?” I turned away from the corpse and faced her straight on, trying not to let my anger take over. It wasn’t easy.

“I can’t tell you that, sir,” she said, wagging a finger at me, emphasizing that last word, leaving no doubt that I was now just a civilian. She had a large gold wedding band on her hand with diamonds in it. Somebody once told me she had three children. I couldn’t imagine. She went on, “Let’s go through it again. Jax Delgado…”

So I went through it again: I’d known him for six weeks, since about the time he and Robin had started dating. She met him at a First Friday gallery exhibit. Lindsey and I liked him and invited them both for drinks and dinner. His grandfather was from Cuba and he’d grown up in Miami. I’d seen him maybe a dozen times, mostly fleeting.

“You’d better notify New York University,” I said. “He’s on the faculty. They’ll have next-of-kin information.”

Vare laughed, showing her prominent incisors. “Mapstone, if you’re telling the truth, you’re a fucking idiot.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time both those things were true.”

The new voice was deep, commanding, familiar. I turned my head to see Mike Peralta filling my vision. Behind him was Robin.

Vare rounded on him. “This is not your jurisdiction. You’re almost ou…” She stopped herself.

Peralta smiled slightly. “Everything is my jurisdiction, Kate. For a few more days, at least.”