Dead and Hating It Read online

  “That’s okay,” Kurt replied. “I’m a good listener, if you ever need to vent or just talk.”

  “Thanks.” Tonio smiled at him then said, “Okay, let’s get this show on the road. Do you want the mattress, if not the frame, Kurt? And how many chairs? I have a couple in my room so there’s somewhere for Brody and Jon to sit when they come-a-calling.”

  Brody rolled his eyes. “He makes it sound like he lives miles from here, not right next to us. I’m sure we can find a usable bed frame for you, Kurt. It really does help you feel more like this is home if it looks like one.”

  “Maybe we should have brought some of my photos from the apartment,” Kurt suggested.

  “I’ll be right back,” Brody replied. “I expect the room to be empty, except for what Kurt wants, when I return.”

  “Hell of a way to get out of moving duties,” Jon muttered when Brody disappeared. Then he and Tonio began taking most of the furniture to a room across the hall, being careful not to drag any of it. “We don’t want the borders downstairs to think there’s ghosts up here,” Jon said, laughing.

  “What if someone comes up here? Won’t they wonder why it looks like someone’s living here?” Kurt asked.

  “So far, the only time anyone does come up has been to get rid of another piece of furniture,” Jon replied. “My guess is, since we’re at the far end of the attic, they figure our rooms are crammed with junk already so they leave whatever in one closer to the stairs.”

  By the time Brody got back, all that was left in the room was a tiny table, two chairs, and the mattress, set on a bed frame they had scrounged from one of the other rooms. It had even been dusted and cleaned of the cobwebs that had festooned the corners by the ceiling.

  Brody had found a portfolio in Kurt’s closet, he said, and filled it with every photo hanging on the walls of the apartment. Now, he spread them out on the mattress so everyone could take a look.

  “If you all want some, go ahead,” Kurt said. “There’s way too many for this tiny room.”

  “These two, please,” Tonio said, picking up ones from a photo essay about the theater where Tonio had worked that Kurt had done two years ago.

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea,” Jon asked him softly.

  Tonio frowned. “You mean because they’ll remind me of David?”

  “Well that, too. I was thinking more about your death. I wouldn’t want one of the parking lot behind my building where I was murdered.”

  “Who’d have a picture of that place except maybe the crime scene team,” Brody teased, giving Jon a hug.

  There was a photo of the river that Kurt had taken the day he and George met. He stared at it, shaking his head. “Why did I let him into my life,” he murmured.

  “You couldn’t have known what would happen,” Brody replied. “I’m sure he, I presume you mean George, came across as a very nice, caring man until the end.”

  “He did. That’s why I fell hard for him. Now look at me.” He swept his hand down over his body.

  “From where I’m standing, he’s not half bad,” Tonio whispered to Jon.

  Kurt overheard him nonetheless and ignored it. He wasn’t in the mood to be admired by another man, if that’s what Tonio was doing. Never again he vowed, before realizing it wouldn’t happen anyway. Not when he was stuck being a ghost until he could move on.

  “Do you want me to put this up on your wall?” Brody asked, tapping the river picture.

  “No!” Kurt replied adamantly. “These two, though…” He pointed to two city scenes.

  Brody went to get some double-faced tape—”Don’t ask why I have it. I sort of amass…junk, “—and soon they were hanging on the wall over the table. He and Jon picked out four they liked, and the remaining ones went back into the portfolio, which Kurt asked Jon to store under the bed.

  “Now what do we do to keep occupied,” Brody said, leaning against the doorjamb.

  “I’m going for a walk,” Tonio replied, easing past him.

  Brody sent Jon a worried look but said nothing other than that he and Jon might try to get to the next level in the game they were playing. “You’re welcome to watch,” he told Kurt.

  “Thanks, but no. I need to do some thinking about how to—”

  “Kurt, let Mike do that. It’s what he’s trained for,” Brody told him.

  “How did you know what I was going to say?”

  “It’s like that with all of us who get stuck here after we’ve been murdered. We want to figure out who did it, if we don’t know, and how to prove it if we do. As I said, leave the proving to Mike.”

  “You’re right. Maybe I’ll take a walk, too, to get to know the neighborhood.”

  “Sounds good. We’ll see you later.”

  * * * *

  While the ghosts were fixing up Kurt’s room, and Sage was at his office, Mike set to work trying to find out what he could about George Neville. It would take time, he knew, as he had his own cases to work as well.

  The moment he returned to the station, he did a search for driver’s licenses and found three in the name ‘George Neville’. One he immediately eliminated as the man was fifty-six. Of the two remaining ones, one was a man with dark brown hair, age thirty-two, the other was a blond and thirty-six. Given what Kurt had told him about his ‘George’, Mike decided the blond better fit the parameters. He was interested to note the man had gotten his license only three months prior to meeting Kurt.

  He texted Brody, telling him he was emailing a copy of the license which he should show Kurt, to confirm he had the right one.

  Gone for a walk, Brody texted back. Will show him when he returns.

  Mike let him know that was fine. Then he dropped the fingerprints and the items he’d taken from Kurt’s apartment off with Paul, the department’s fingerprint expert. Paul would get the ones off the comb and toothbrush, then compare them with what Mike had lifted from George’s place. After eliminating any belonging to Kurt, he’d run the rest through the AFIS database to see if he could get a hit. With that done, Mike headed out on a call, well aware there was a chance not all of the remaining prints would belong to George, despite where he’d found them. A few of them could belong to other people, George’s friends or acquaintances, who might have touched the underside of one of the kitchen counters or the shelves in the living room and bedroom.

  It will be interesting to see if George is his real name. I could be way off base as it is, and this is the first time he’s killed someone. But if not, and his prints were found at another murder scene, or somewhere connected to a victim….

  * * * *

  “Are you following me?” Tonio asked when he approached Kurt, who was looking at a display in a shop window, a few blocks from the boarding house. “If you are, don’t.”

  “I’m not,” Kurt protested. “I want to get to know the neighborhood.” He smiled ruefully. “Not that it means I can go shopping, or have dinner at one of the restaurants.”

  “Yeah, eating doesn’t happen,” Tonio replied. He grinned momentarily, saying, “At least it saves on food bills.”

  “I’m not sure that’s a plus, all things considered.” Kurt stared morosely at the shirt displayed in the window. “Saves on clothing bills, too, but I’d really like to be able to wear what I want. I’m lucky Brody convinced me to see if I could wear these jeans, since when I died I was swimming in the nude.”

  “Oh, boy. So you came back naked, I take it.” Tonio chuckled. “Good thing no one could see you but us.”

  “No kidding. I took a bus from the morgue to my place. I don’t think the driver would have let me on if he could have seen me.”

  “Why the hell were you at the morgue? Is that where you came back?”

  “Nuh-uh. I was by the river, where they found…found my body.” Kurt shuddered. “I hitched a ride in the ambulance since I wasn’t about to walk all the way back to town. I didn’t know I could have flown.”

  “Nice perk, isn’t it?” Tonio replied with brief s
mile.

  “I guess.” Kurt sighed. “I hate this. I hate being dead and still here. At least you’ve got a good reason to stick around. I’m stuck here until Mike can prove George murdered me and I don’t see that happening.”

  “It might. He does know what he’s doing. Once he finds him he can go from there.”

  “If he finds him,” Kurt said. “What if he’s right? What if George isn’t his real name?”

  “He has the fingerprints. If George, or whoever he is, has been printed before, it will give him a start.”

  “I hope so.”

  Tonio began walking away, then paused. He remembered what it was like, right after he’d died, not knowing anything about what to expect until Brody and Jon had taken him under their wings. “Look, if you want some company…”

  “You don’t mind?”

  He shrugged. “It’s probably better for both of us. If I keep walking on my own I’ll work myself into a real funk.”

  “As I said earlier,” Kemp replied, “if you want someone to talk to, I’m willing to listen.”

  “It wouldn’t change anything. I’m dead, he’s not, and he’s found someone new. Oh, he still cares for me, he says, and he’s glad I’m still here, but it’s hard.” Tonio took a deep breath. “Come on, I’ll show you the rest of the area and you can quiz me about the ins-and-outs of ghost-hood.”

  “You might change your mind. I have a lot of questions.”

  “Ask away.”

  So Kurt did, and Tonio answered them to the best of his abilities.

  Chapter 5

  Mike got back to the station house just before his shift ended. He might have gone straight home if he hadn’t wanted to find out who the fingerprints from George Neville’s apartment belonged to.

  “Did you get any hits on what I gave you?” he asked, taking the chair beside Paul’s desk.

  “None belonging to George Neville, your suspect, per se, but…” He brought up the information he’d found. “To begin with, as you know, when someone gets a driver’s license in this state, they have to give their thumbprint, so we have one for the license belonging to Mr. Neville. I found two in the set you gathered from your suspect’s apartment, one full, one a partial and ran them. They belong to one Gordon Norris and…”

  “And?”

  “Here’s the kicker. He’s also known as Gerald Nivens.”

  Mike nodded, saying, “But not George Neville.”

  “No. You suspect seems to be living a double, not to say triple life.”

  “Why were his prints in the AFIS database to begin with?” Mike asked.

  “He’s wanted on suspicion of murder in two states, New York and Alabama.”

  Mike puffed out a breath. “Do you have the details or are you leaving it up to me to find them?”

  Paul grinned. “What do you think? I’ve got more than enough to keep me busy until hell freezes over as it is.”

  “And I don’t? Okay. Give me what you do have and I’ll take it from there.”

  Paul printed out the information, handing it to Mike, who thanked him then went across the hallway to the squad room. He rapped on Lieutenant Price’s door, hoping he was there. Price called out, “It’s open,” so Mike went in.

  “Got a minute?” Mike asked. When Price nodded, Mike said, “I have new information on the Foster case. The one Len is, or was handling if he hasn’t closed it out already.”

  “He has. What info, or do I want to know?”

  “Probably not, but if it’s all right with you, I’d like to reopen the case.”

  Mike went on to tell the lieutenant what Paul had found out about the man who most recently had called himself George Neville.

  When he finished, Price was frowning. “Okay. If you’re correct, and the fingerprints definitely say you are, this Neville, or whatever his real name is, is possibly a triple murderer now, which makes him a serial killer.”

  “Exactly.” Mike paused, looking Price dead in the eye. “I’ve talked with his last victim, Kurt Foster—well with Sage’s help. He’s confirmed that Neville murdered him.”

  Price smiled dryly. “Why am I not surprised?” Since he knew about Sage’s abilities, and had approved his working for the force, although without anyone but him and Mike knowing he was, he obviously wasn’t the least bit startled by Mike’s disclosure.

  “Then I can reopen the case?”

  “Yes. As always when you and Mr. Crewe work together, you’re going to have to find proof that didn’t come from the victim.”

  Mike laughed. “I think that’s a given. All right, I’ll get on it, and thanks.”

  “No problem. Now get out of here. I’m about to head home and you should, too. Start on it in the morning.”

  Mike promised he would, then, as soon as he was back at his desk, he sat down to read over the information Paul had given him—contrary to the lieutenant’s order that he go home. He’d barely started when Sage called.

  “Are you planning on working late?” Sage asked.

  “Maybe?” Mike chuckled. “Why?”

  “I wanted to know if I should start making dinner now, or wait.”

  Mike debated before saying, “I’ll be home soon. What I was going to do, I can do there. It has to do with Kurt’s murder. I’ve officially been given permission to take over, or more to the point, reopen his case.”

  “You found something new?”

  “I’ll tell you when I get home.”

  * * * *

  Much to Sage’s obvious dismay, Mike insisted they wait until after dinner before telling him what he’d found out about George Neville.

  “This is what I know so far,” Mike said an hour later, when they’d settled in the living room with their coffees. He took the printouts Paul had given him from his briefcase. “George Neville’s fingerprints matched those belonging to a man named Gordon Norris, and a second man named Gerald Nivens.”

  “What? Seriously?”

  “Yes. Gordon Norris was the prime suspect in the possible murder of his lover, who fell, or was pushed, down the stairs at his home. Norris disappeared right after the police brought him in for questioning and released him, as they had nothing concrete to hold him on at that point. That was four years ago. Two years later, Gerald Nivens vanished after his lover walked into a crosswalk and was hit by a car trying to beat the red light.”

  “I take it there was a question of whether he pushed, instead,” Sage said.

  “Yes. There were two witnesses who swear he was standing at the curb seconds earlier then seemed to trip, and took a couple of steps to right himself, ending up in front of the car. They said there was a man directly behind him who appeared to reach for him and then quickly walked away in the ensuing pandemonium. One witness gave the police a vague description of him. It matched Nivens, as much as possible considering how sketchy it was. When he was interviewed by the police, of course he denied being anywhere in the vicinity, saying he was with a new friend at the time. One he implied was also a new lover, as he’d broken up with the presumed murder victim two days earlier. The police were unable to confirm that, as the name and address Nivens had given them for his ‘friend’ was bogus. When they returned to talk to him again, at his apartment, it had been vacated, just as George Neville did at his place.”

  “George, let’s keep calling him that for convenience sake. George has a definite pattern.”

  Mike nodded. “Love them and leave them dead when he gets tired of them.”

  “Meaning, now, he’s out looking for his next victim. I don’t think it has anything to do with his getting tired of them.”

  “I agree. He likes the thrill of gaining their complete trust, then murdering them when he has it, making it appear as if their deaths were accidents or possible suicides in the case of Kurt and the man Nivens was involved with.”

  “Now all you have to do is find him before he strikes again,” Sage said.

  “Exactly. I’m going to dig deeper, tomorrow, to find out more about each o
f his other persona, for lack of a better word.”

  “I think aliases works better,” Sage replied with a wry smile.

  “Okay, aliases it is.”

  “Won’t most of that information be in the reports the police put together at the times of the murders?”

  “I hope so,” Mike said, crossing his fingers. That rated him a hug from Sage before they turned the TV on to see if there was anything worth watching.

  * * * *

  “Where the hell are they?” Brody grumbled, meaning Tonio and Kurt.

  Jon grinned. “If they ran into each other, maybe they stopped for a drink.” When Brody flipped him off, Jon shook his head. “They are adults, albeit dead ones. With luck, Tonio took up Kurt’s offer and is talking about what’s going on with him.”

  “We know what that is. David and Vern and the fact Tonio feels shut out, now that they’re together as a couple. Not that I can blame them—or him for being hurt. After all, he did stick around because David as much as asked him to.”

  “As much as?” Jon smiled. “David practically begged him to, but that was then, this is now, and things have changed in his life.”

  * * * *

  “That’s where it happened,” Tonio said, pointing up at the bridge above the stage. He was showing him because Kurt had asked him to.

  “I’ve never been backstage at a theater, so I don’t have a visual. Maybe I’m being a bit bloodthirsty, but after what I’ve been through, it’s kind of, well, not nice but at least a relief to know others…you’ve been there, too.”

  “I get it,” Tonio replied. He and Kurt had seen as much of the neighborhood around the boarding house as Kurt could stand before saying he was getting majorly depressed that he’d never be able to do the things he used to. “Like eat out, or walk down the street hand-in-hand with someone I care about. Oh, hell, sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” Tonio replied, understanding why he’d apologized. “I’ve resigned myself to the fact that’s not going to happen for me, either.”