Chat - Archer Mayor [101]
“If he already had the Taser,” Willy asked, “why did he need a cartridge?”
To Joe, the question didn’t have much weight. Every cop has to take at least one practice shot with a stun gun before it’s officially issued. He was therefore surprised that Spinney had an answer.
“When it was stolen, the Taser didn’t have a cartridge. That’s one of the reasons it caught my eye. And since, as we know, every cartridge of that brand has a traceable serial number, he didn’t want to just go out and buy one—not considering the use he had in mind.”
“All right,” Joe said, getting up from the windowsill and walking over to the coffeemaker. “So much for the Taser. What about the chemicals that Hillstrom’s tox screen dug up—the fentanyl and the DS . . . DM . . .”
“DMSO—dimethyl sulfoxide,” Spinney finished for him. “Both it and fentanyl are used by vets, especially large-animal vets. The Leppmans have horses, and Leppman himself is the one who rides the most. I made a discreet call to their stable, pretending I was shopping around, and got chatty with some woman up there. I couldn’t get a lot of details, but I dropped Leppman’s name, and she told me he was like a groupie, hanging around, asking questions and learning how everything’s done. I specifically asked about vet visits, and she said the same thing applied—he loved grilling the vet and learning the ropes. So he had access and probably had or got knowledge.”
“Why hit both guys in Brattleboro?” Sam threw out.
“And why move one of the bodies and dump him out of town?” Willy added.
A silence filled the room momentarily.
“Because Brattleboro’s not near Burlington and Shelburne?” Joe suggested without much conviction.
After another pause, Willy shrugged. “I can live with that,” he conceded. “Why the river?”
“If the logic works for one, why not both?” Joe countered. “For all we know, the original plan wasn’t to have either one of them found in a motel room. Could be Brattleboro was chosen because of its distance, and the river so that not even Bratt would be pinned down—it would also make it look like an accidental drowning.”
“Meaning something went wrong?”
“Could be. We certainly know both crime scenes were almost antiseptically cleaned up,” Joe said. “What was Leppman’s office like?” he asked Lester.
Spinney leaned back in his chair, by now feeling much less self-conscious as someone who’d dropped the ball. “I almost hate to say this, since I really do like the guy, but it was spotless.”
“I’ve got a question,” Willy asked generally. “Whatever happened to Oliver Mueller? I been out of the loop for some of this, but weren’t we all hot and bothered about him at some point?”
Sam answered that one. “I put him on the back burner. He was looking good for a while—same kind of profile as Leppman, maybe better, with a history of violence—but he had alibis for both killings, and witnesses, too. I haven’t written the report yet, but I’ll spell it out there.”
Joe took a long swallow of his coffee before finally announcing, “All right. We need to see about a search warrant for Leppman’s computer before we put him in a room for a talk. And before all that, let’s track his past movements—where he was when Nashman and Metz were killed being the big ones. Bring in extra help if you need it. Put everything about him under the scope. When that conversation takes place, I want all questions already answered and that warrant ready to be used. He needs to know that the only reason he’s there is to confirm what we already know. Everybody good with that?”
Predictably, Sammie answered for them all. “Good, boss.”
Chapter 24
Joe raised his glass and addressed everyone more or less gathered around the table, which really meant Leo, who was propped up in a rented rolling hospital bed nearby.
“To old returnees and newcomers alike,” he toasted, nodding toward Lyn and her daughter, Coryn. “May you forever be welcome at our table, and may you forever stay out of all ditches. But if you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do, then speedy recovery and consult