A book project, he thought: Serial Murder: A Cure for Clinical Depression? by Lucas Davenport.
GEORGE ARRIS WAS KILLED ON A RAINY NIGHT IN SEPTEMBER1984 while walking down St. Pauls Grand Avenue toward a restaurant-bar generally regarded as a meat rack. Somebody unknown had fired a single shot from a. 380 semiautomatic pistol into the back of Arriss head, and left him to die on the sidewalk.
St. Paul homicide investigators had torn the city apart looking for the killer, because Arris was only the last of four nearly identical killings, spaced about two weeks apart.
All the victims were younger white men, all relatively affluent, all walking alone at night. All of the killings were within twenty blocks of each other. A racial motivation was suspected, and black gang members were targeted as the primary suspects.
Four different pistols had been used in the killings. Two of the guns had been found.
The first, a. 22-caliber Smith amp; Wesson revolver which had been used in the second killing, was found by a city work crew trying to open a clogged storm sewer a halfmile from the killing. That set off a general inspection of storm sewers, and the second pistol, a. 25-caliber semiauto, was found three blocks from the. 22. Neither of the other two pistols was found.
The lead detective on the case was George Jellman.
JELLMAN WAS RETIRED, AND IT TOOK TWO PHONE calls to locate him. Hes out back, his wife shouted. Ill go get him. She must have been shouting. Lucas mused, because they lived in Florida, which was a long way from Minnesota.
Jellman came to the phone a second later: Davenport, you miserable piece of shit. I never thought Id hear from you again.
How are you, Jelly?
Well, Im looking out at my backyard, he said.
There are two palm trees and two orange trees and a lime treeDenise makes key lime pie from it. Its just a bit shy of eighty degrees right now, and I can smell the ocean. About an hour from now, Ill be hitting golf balls on the greenest golf course you ever saw in your life… Hows it up there?
Cool, but nice.
Right. Nice in Minnesota means the snows not over your boots yet. .. So whats happening?
You remember a bunch of killings you handled back in 84, four guys shot in the back of the head?
Oh, hell, yes, Jellman said. Never got the guys who did it.
Im interested in the last oneGeorge Arris.
Why him?
We got an anonymous letter with the name of the supposed killer.
I bet it aint no goddamn Vice Lord, Jellman said.
Why is that?
Is it? A Vice Lord?
No. Its a bank vice president.
Hah. I knew it. Trust the letter, Lucasif it was a bullshitter, he wouldve said it was a Vice Lord, cause that was on all the media. The Vice Lords did the other three, but that fourth one, that was a copycat.
Are you sure?
Pretty sure. That was the word on the street, though nobody had any names for us. But the word was, the fourth one came out of the blue. That the Vice Lords whod done the shooting had split for Chicago before the fourth one ever happened.
So it was pretty much street talk about the fourth one.
There was something else toothe first three were all up there in the colored section. But the last guy was down on Grand Avenue. You look on a map, it looks pretty close, but you dont see many blacks over there. Not walking on the streetespecially not then, not as tight as everybody was about the first three shootings. And theres WyliesMarket used to be over there. You remember Wylies?
Sure.
They had a surveillance camera in the back of the store, looking at the cashiers cage and the front door, get peoples faces coming in. Anyway, on the film, you can see the street through the window, and we picked out Arris strolling down the street, just a minute or so before he was shot. But there werent any blacks, either before or after.
Huh. Is the tape still around?
Yeah, someplace. Since the case is still open… Did you ever look at the people around Arris? Friends and coworkers?
Oh, sure. Went over to that bank where he worked, came up empty. Hed been dating a few women, but hadnt had anything serious in a couple of years. All he did was work: thats what everybody said. Wasnt interested in pussy, gambling, booze. Just interested in work.
Huh. And he was dead when they found him.
Yup. Never knew what hit him. Probably never saw it coming. Entry wound right below the bump on the back of his head, exit wound right between his eyes.
Exit wound? So howd you know it was a. 380was there a shell?
Yeah, we found it in the grass next to the curb. There was a partial print, but really partialnot enough even to start looking for a match.
Slug fragments?
Yeah, one piece. Hollow point of some kind, nothing that would identify a pistol.
Not much of anything, then.
Nope. Listen, if you want, Ill call Doug Skelly over in St. Paul and get him to run down that tape for you.
Thanks, Jelly. Wish you were still on the job.
Wish I was too, man. I hate this fuckin place.
THE FILE ON ANDREW INGALL CONSISTED OF ONE sheet: His boat had been reported missing on Superior ona clear, fine day with good sailing winds. The Coast Guard, the Civil Air Patrol, and the local sheriffs departments in adjacent Minnesota and Wisconsin counties had done a search. Nothing was ever found, not even a life jacket.
An address and phone number were listed in the town of North Oaks. Lucas punched the number in, got an answering machine, a womans voice. He hung up, dialed Dispatch, had them check the cross-reference index for numbers on both sides of that address, dialed the first one.
Hello? Another woman.
Yes, my name is Lucas Davenport and Im with the Minneapolis Police Department. Im trying to get in touch with Annette Ingall, but all I get at her home is an answering machine.
Oh my God, nothing happened to Toby?
No, no, I just need to talk to her about her husband. Do you know if she works? Where I could call her?
Well, she has a bridal wear boutique downtown…
THE BRIDAL SHOP WAS A BRISK TEN-MINUTE WALK from City Hall, among a cluster of boutiques on Marquette Avenue. Annette Ingall was a tall woman with auburn hair and pale blue eyes; motherly, Lucas thought later, though she was probably five years younger than he was. She did a smiling double take when he walked into the store, and when a clerk came over and he asked for her, she said, That would be me. Can I help you?
He stepped closer and pitched his voice down: I need to talk to you privately for a moment. Im with the Minneapolis Police Departmentnothing happened with your boy, its a completely different matter.
Her hand went to her throat as the smile died on her face. How do you know about my son?
Because I called one of your neighbors to find you, and she said, Oh my God, nothing happened to Toby?
Oh. Okay. The smile flickered back. Why dont you come back to my office.
Ingall led the way through a door into the back of thestore, to a small office cubicle that stuck out into a stockstorage area. There were two chairs inside, and she sat behind her desk and crossed her legs.
Lucas sat down and said, Im investigating the death of Daniel Kresge.
Yes? I read about it.
Lucas picked up the tone. You didnt like him?
No. Not especially. He once made a pretty heavy pass at me, when he and his wife were still together. This was after my husband died, and I was feeling pretty vulnerable.