Nikki Heat: Deadly Heat Part 1

Nikki Heat.

Deadly Heat.

Castle, Richard.

To KB:.

May the dance never end and the music never stop.

ONE.

NYPD Homicide detective Nikki Heat double-parked her gray Crown Victoria behind the coroner van and strode toward the pizza joint where a body waited. A uniform in short sleeves finger-looped the caution tape for her to duck under, and when she straightened up on the other side, Heat stopped, letting her gaze fall down Broadway. At that moment, twenty blocks south, her boyfriend, Jameson Rook, was taking bows at a Times Square press event to celebrate publication of his big new article. An article so big the publisher had made it the cover story to launch the magazine's Web site. Heat should have been happy. Instead she felt gut-ripped. Because his big article was about her.

She took one step to go inside, but only one. That corpse wasn't going anywhere, and Heat needed a moment to curse herself for helping Rook write it.

A few weeks before, when she gave him her blessing to chronicle her investigation into the murder of her mom, it had seemed like a good idea. Well, maybe not a good idea, just a prudent one. Heat's dramatic capture of the surprise killer after more than a decade became hot news, and Rook put it bluntly: Somebody would write this story. Would she prefer a Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist or some tabloid hack?

Rook's interviews were intense and took both days of a weekend. With his digital recorder as sentry, Heat started with Thanksgiving eve, 1999. She and her mom were about to bake pies, and Nikki called her from the spice aisle of the supermarket, only to hear her mother get stabbed to death over the phone while she ran home, frantic and helpless. She told Rook about changing her college major from theater to criminal justice so she could become a cop instead of the actress she'd dreamed of becoming. "Murder," she said, "changes everything."

Heat shared with him her frustration in the quest for justice during the decade that followed. And her shock a month ago when a break came and a suitcase that had been stolen from her mother's apartment the night of her murder turned up at one of Nikki's crime scenes-with a woman's body inside it. The path to solve the fresh homicide of the lady in the luggage put Heat on an unexpected journey into her mother's hidden past. The trail led to Paris, where Nikki was stunned to learn that Cynthia Heat had been a spy for the CIA. Instead of the piano tutor she pretended to be, her mom had used music instruction as a cover to gain access to spy on the homes of diplomats and industrialists.

Nikki learned all this at the deathbed of her mother's old CIA controller, Tyler Wynn. But, spies being spies, the old man had only faked his death to throw her off. Nikki discovered this the hard way when her mom's mentor showed up, gun in hand, to relieve her of the secret, incriminating doc.u.ments Cynthia Heat had died over. Why? Because Cynthia Heat had discovered that her trusted friend, Tyler Wynn, was a traitor.

During the interview, Nikki confessed she didn't have to imagine her mother's sense of betrayal. She had felt it herself when her college boyfriend, Petar, stepped out of the shadows beside Wynn, holding his own gun on her. And, more deeply, as the old spy slipped away with the pouch of d.a.m.ning evidence and a final instruction to Nikki's ex, to kill her-just as Petar had killed her mother.

At that point, Rook had paused his Olympus recorder to change batteries, but really to allow Nikki to gather herself emotionally. When they resumed, she admitted that, in her heart, she'd always a.s.sumed once she captured her mom's murderer, the wound could finally scar over. Instead, everything tore open and bled. The pain didn't lessen, it seared. Yes, she managed to arrest Petar, but the mastermind who called the shots had escaped and gone off the grid. And Petar would be no help tracking him. Not after one of Wynn's other accomplices brazenly poisoned his jail cell dinner.

Heat opened up to Rook with an intimacy she couldn't have imagined a year ago when she got saddled with the celebrity journalist for a research ride-along. Pre-Rook, Nikki had always believed that there were two pairs of natural enemies in this world-cops and robbers, and cops and writers. That belief softened in last summer's heat wave, when they ended up falling in love working their first case. Softened, maybe, but even as lovers, cops and writers would never have it easy. And this relations.h.i.+p constantly tested them.

The first test had come last autumn when the product of Rook's homicide squad ride-along got published as a national magazine cover story, and Nikki's face stared out at her from newsstands for a month. That attention made her uncomfortable. And seeing her personal experiences turned into prose gave Nikki an unsettling feeling about her role as Rook's muse. Was this life they were living theirs, or just source material?

And now with his new article about to hit the Internet with a splash, what were once mere misgivings about going public had erupted into full-blown anxiety. This time it wasn't about fearing the glare of personal publicity, but her worry that it would harm her active investigation. Because for Detective Heat, this case didn't have loose ends; they were live wires, and Nikki saw publicity as the enemy of justice. And at that moment, a mile away in Times Square, the genie was about to come out of the bottle.

Nikki was glad she'd at least held one big secret back. Something so explosive, she hadn't even told Rook.

"Coming in?" Detective Ochoa jarred her back to the present. He stood holding the gla.s.s door of Domingo's Famous open for her. Heat hesitated, then let go of her preoccupation and crossed the threshold.

"Got one for the books here," said Ochoa's partner, Sean Raley. The pair of detectives, nicknamed Roach, a mash-up of their names, led Heat past the empty Formica tables that would have been filled for lunch in a few hours if it hadn't been for the murder. When they got to the kitchen, Raley said, "You ready for a first?" He put his gloved hand on the topmost door of the pizza oven and drew it down to reveal the victim. Or what remained of him.

He-it looked like a he-had been shoved in there on his side, bent to fit, and baked. Nikki looked at Raley then Ochoa then back to the corpse. The oven still gave off a hint of warmth, and the body in it resembled a mummy. He had been clothed when he went in. Remnants of scorched fabric dangled off his arms and legs, and shrouded patches of the torso like a disintegrated quilt.

Raley's look of dark amus.e.m.e.nt faded and he stepped to her. Ochoa joined him, studying her. "You gonna be sick?"

"No, I'm fine." She busied herself gloving up with a pair of blue disposables, then added, "I just forgot something." Nikki said it dismissively, like it was no big deal. But to her, it was. What she had forgotten was her ritual. The small personal ceremony she went through on arrival at every homicide scene. To pause silently a few seconds before going in, to honor the life of the victim she was about to meet. It was a ritual born of empathy. A rite as common as grace before a meal. And today, for the first time ever-Nikki Heat had forgotten to do it.

The slip bothered her, yet maybe it was inevitable. Lately, working routine homicides had become a distraction that kept her from focusing fully on her bigger case. Of course she couldn't share that with anyone on her squad, but she did complain to Rook how hard it was to try to close a chapter when people kept opening others. He reminded her of the words of John Lennon: "Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans."

"My problem," she'd said, "is that death happens."

"Kitchen crew found him, when they opened for lunch prep," began Raley.

Ochoa picked right up. "They thought it was hinky that the oven felt warm. They popped the oven door and found our crispy critter." Roach exchanged self-satisfied grins.

"You do know that just because Rook isn't here, you don't have to guest-host." She held her palms to the oven. It felt warm but not hot. "Did they turn it off?"

"Negative," said Raley. "Cook said it was off when they came in."

"Any idea who our vic is?" she asked, peering inside the oven. The heat damage would make him hard to recognize.

Ochoa flipped to his notes. "We a.s.sume the victim to be one Roy Conklin."

The medical examiner, Lauren Parry, rose up from her lab kit. "But that's a guess until we can run dental records and DNA."

"An educated guess," said Ochoa. Heat read the gentle tease of Dr. Parry, his not-so-secret girlfriend. "We did find a wallet." He indicated the stainless steel prep table and the evidence bag on it holding the disfigured leather block and a buckled New York State license.

"And the weird gets weirder," said Raley, taking a Mini Maglite from his vest pocket and focusing it on the corpse. Heat moved closer, and Raley said, "Weird enough?"

Nikki nodded. "Weirdest." Around the victim's neck hung the laminated ID of Roy Conklin, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Ochoa moved beside her. "We already put in a call to DHMH. Ready for this? The body in that oven is a restaurant health inspector."

"That's definitely a violation." All heads turned toward the familiar voice. And the wisecrack. Jameson Rook strolled in, a vision to Nikki in his perfectly cut navy Boss suit and a purple and white spread-collared s.h.i.+rt-plus the charcoal and purple tie she'd chosen for him. "This joint will have a Grade-B in the window by tonight, you watch."

Heat came up beside him. "Not that I don't appreciate your help, but what happened? Don't tell me you got bored by your big red-carpet event."

"Not at all. I was going to stay for the after-crowd handshakes, but then Raley texted me about this. And thank G.o.d he did. Why hang around for another grip-and-grin when you've got a chance to see..." He peered in the oven. "Hot d.a.m.n. An alien from Area 51."

Roach appreciated the gallows humor. Lauren Parry, not so much. "What's that on your shoulder, glitter?" said the ME. "Out, before you contaminate my area."

Rook grinned. "If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that." But he stepped out to the dining room and left his coat on the back of a chair. He returned just as a pair of techs from OCME were removing the body from the oven. Ochoa handed him a pair of blue nitrile gloves to put on.

"Check out this badge," said Raley. Heat got on one knee beside him for a closer look. Conklin's ID badge and its lanyard showed absolutely no signs of scorching or melting.

Rook knelt with them. "This means whoever killed him must have waited for the oven to cool down or come back later and put this around his neck." Nikki turned and gave him a look. "Hey, not fair. That's your wild conjecture face. Don't tell me you're also going to bust my b.a.l.l.s for a timely summary of facts."

Ochoa, who was standing at the oven, said, "Detective?" Heat stood and followed the beam of his flashlight. In the back corner of the oven, where it had been blocked from view by the body, sat a folded coat. Just like the badge and lanyard, it showed no signs of scorching. Detective Ochoa used a long-handled pizza paddle to shovel it up. When he slid it forward to them, n.o.body spoke. They just stared at the coat and what was on top of it: a neat coil of red string and a dead rat.

Detective Feller had completed his interviews with the cook and the busboy by the time Heat, Rook, Raley, and Ochoa emerged from the kitchen. "Their stories square up," he reported. "They served their last pies at midnight, tore down, closed up at one A.M., came back at nine, and found the vic." He flipped through pages of notes. "No unusual activity in the days prior, no sign of burglary or forced entry. They do have a closed-circuit camera system, but it died last week. No beefs with customers or vendors. As for the health inspector, Conklin's name or photo didn't ring a bell with either one. I held back the info about where you found the ID, of course, but when I asked, generally, if they touched or tampered with the body, it was a double no."

Heat said, "Soon as we rustle up some better head shots from family or DHMH, have them take a look. Meanwhile, go ahead and kick them loose."

Determining exact time and cause of death would be tricky, since a baked corpse corrupted cellular structures and body temps. So while Heat left her BFF the medical examiner to take the body to 30th Street for its postmortem, she plotted the immediate moves for her crew. Ochoa would deploy a team of uniformed officers to canva.s.s the neighborhood with cell-capture copies of Conklin's ID photo. Once the unis got launched, Ochoa would go to Conklin's home to notify family and see what could be learned there. Raley would do his usual spot check for area security cameras that might have caught something. Heat put Detective Feller on a trip to the Health Department to get the victim's employment records and to interview his supervisor about his case work and office relations.h.i.+ps. As for Rook, he offered to be an extra brain at the squad briefing, and Nikki couldn't resist saying, "You flatter yourself, but sure."

When the two of them stepped out of Domingo's Famous, Rook wagged his head in disdain at the gathering of onlookers behind the yellow tape. "You know, Nikki, I can't get over the looky-loos who hang out for whatever macabre thrill they get out of watching a body bag loaded into a van. More like looky-loozahs."

A voice called out from the crowd. "Jameson? Jameson Rook?" They stopped. "Here, over here!" The waving arm belonged to a big-haired young woman in black leather pants and what could charitably be described as f.u.c.k-me heels. She pushed to the front of the rubberneckers and pressed the fullness of her leopard-print vest against the yellow tape. "Could I get a picture with you?... Please?"

Sheepish, Rook muttered to Nikki, "It occurs to me that, after my Times Square thing, I may have Tweeted that this is where I was going..."

"Make it quick." And as Rook headed over to the woman, Nikki added, "You do know this is why Matt Lauer Purells."

Heat waited in the undercover car while Rook posed with not just the one fan, but each of three additional babes who materialized from the crowd. At least he wasn't signing their b.r.e.a.s.t.s this time.

She made a quick e-mail check. "Yesss," she said aloud to the empty car when she saw one from a private investigator she'd been waiting to hear back from. "You about done?" she said as Rook got in the pa.s.senger seat.

"The photo was just the beginning. She wanted me to Tweet the picture myself and add hashtag-ruggedlyhandsome." He put his head back on the headrest and said, "Apparently, I'm trending as we speak."

Nikki started the car. "Remember Joe Flynn?"

Rook sat upright. "That PI. The one who has the hots for you?-No."

"Well, that PI did me a favor and dug through his archives and found some old surveillance photos of my mom. He wants to have lunch."

"I thought you called a squad meeting in an hour about Krusty the Corpse." And then he added solemnly, "May he rest in peace."

Heat drummed her fingertips on the steering wheel, once again feeling the conflict of the daily homicide grind. She did some quick calculations. "We'll tell him it has to be a quick bite."

"OK," said Rook with a side glance at the crime scene. "But no pizza. Just sayin'."

Since Heat and Rook didn't have time to be trapped in a restaurant for two hours of small talk and dessert-tray recitations, Joe Flynn had arranged for a deli buffet in the conference room of Quantum Recovery, his elite investigation service headquartered atop the exclusive Sole Building. He had brought in a charcuterie platter from Citarella stacked with Parma ham, roast beef, Jarlsberg, Muenster, as well as rustic mustards and herbed mayo. They declined the microbrews poking out of tubs of shaved ice and opted for the Saratoga springwater, which their host poured for them.

"You've come a long way from your roots, Joe," said Rook, who munched a cornichon, standing at the huge window looking out over Midtown Manhattan.

"You mean from staking out adulterers at hot sheet motels for a three-hundred-dollar per diem?" He joined Rook and admired the spring day with him. "I'd say fine art recovery has made life a little easier. Plus I don't feel like I need a shower after I cash the check."

Before Joe Flynn climbed to elite ranks and the express elevators that came with them, Nikki's mom had been the subject of one of his adultery investigations-commissioned by Nikki's dad. Worried about Cynthia Heat's increasingly secretive life, her husband hired Flynn in 1999 because he suspected his wife was having an affair. Flynn never found evidence of infidelity, but he did have stakeout photographs of Nikki's mom which could be useful now in her search for Tyler Wynn.

Just as Nikki sidled up beside them, unable to resist the view of the Empire State Building and, in the distance, between skysc.r.a.pers, a sliver of Staten Island, Rook got a cell phone call and excused himself to take it. As soon as the door closed, Joe Flynn said, "Lucky man." Nikki turned to find him staring at her like a beaming hopeful on Antiques Roadshow awaiting the appraiser's verdict. Nikki wished her phone would ring, too. Instead she switched topics.

"I appreciate you digging for those photos."

"Oh, right." Flynn produced a thumb drive from his pocket and rolled it on the fingers of one hand, not teasing but not yet giving it to her, either. "I looked for the man and woman whose pics you texted me last week," he said, referring to the images she'd sent of Wynn and his accomplice, Salena Kaye. "Didn't see them in here." And then he grinned at her again, adding, "Your mother was a beautiful woman."

"She was."

"Just like her daughter."

"Thank you," she said as neutrally as possible.

He finally read the signs and handed over the memory key. "May I ask who they are? The pair you're looking for?"

"Sorry, I'd like to, but it's a confidential police matter."

"Can't blame me for asking. Curiosity comes with the job description, right? Can't switch it off."

Oh, did Nikki hear that.

Heat hoped to find more in those photos than something to spark leads on Tyler Wynn and Salena Kaye. She also sought a clue to solve her big secret.

A few weeks ago, Nikki had stumbled upon a series of strange pencil notations her mother had left embedded in her sheet music. She believed it was a coded message. The dots, lines, and squiggles followed no pattern she recognized. Nikki had Googled Morse code, Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Mayan alphabet, even urban street graffiti, all to no avail. To satisfy her police objectivity, she'd even researched to determine if the symbols were simply shorthand for how to play the music. All she found was another dead end.

She needed help to crack it, but, acutely mindful of its sensitivity-this code could be why Tyler Wynn had her mother killed-Heat knew she had to keep it secret. Absolutely secret. She weighed the notion of telling Rook about it, knowing Mr. Conspiracy would throw his body, soul, and hyperactive imagination into breaking that code. But Nikki decided to hold on to it herself, for now. This wasn't just a secret.

This secret was deadly.

After their meeting at Quantum Recovery, Heat signed her and Rook out at the lobby security desk. She took a step toward the Avenue of the Americas exit but sensed Rook lagging. "Change of plan," he said. "That call? Jeanne Callow, you know, my agent?"

"Gym rat, too much makeup, Jeanne the Machine, that Jeanne Callow?"

He smiled at her snarkiness and continued, "The same. Anyway, I'm going to hoof it to her office on Fifth so we can plan publicity for the new article."

A familiar claw dug into Nikki's diaphragm, but she smiled and said, "No problem."

"Catch up with you at your place tonight?"

"Sure. We can go over these pictures?"

"Um, yuh. We can do that."

Heat drove back to the precinct alone, reaffirming her instinct to withhold the code from Rook.

Nikki shot a tense look from her desk across the bull pen and once again felt torn between her big case and another homicide. The team of detectives she'd called in on the Conklin murder sat cooling their heels because she was late for her own meeting. Desperately trying to get a lead on Tyler Wynn, Heat had thought she could squeeze in this call before the squad briefing but found herself stalled by a gatekeeper. "This is my fourth attempt to reach Mr. Kuzbari," she said, trying not to let her anger seep through. "Is he aware this is an official inquiry from the New York Police Department?"

Fariq Kuzbari, security attache to the Syrian Mission to the UN, had been one of her mom's piano tutoring clients. Heat had tried to interview him weeks ago, but he and his armed goons rebuffed her. She wasn't about to give up. A man the likes of Fariq Kuzbari could well shed some light on a spook colleague the likes of Tyler Wynn.

"Mr. Kuzbari is out of the country for an indefinite period. Would you like to leave another message?"

What Nikki would have liked to do was throttle her desktop with the phone and shout something very undiplomatic. She counted a silent three and said, "Yes, please."

Heat hung up and caught a few antsy glances from her squad. On her way to the front of the room, she started wording her apology for keeping them waiting, but by the time she reached the whiteboard and turned to face them, the homicide squad leader had decided her call and the delay were police business. Screw John Lennon, she thought. Then Detective Heat dove right in.

"OK, so we're looking at Roy Conklin, male, age forty-two..." Heat began, running down the basics from the crime scene. After placing on the board blowups of the victim's ID photo and a color head shot cropped from the Health Department Web site, she continued. "Now, there are a few wrinkles in this death, to say the least. Beginning with the condition and placement of the body. A pizza oven is not involved in your everyday homicide."

Detective Rhymer raised a hand. "Do we know yet whether he was killed in the oven, or if it was used just to dispose of the body?"

"Good question," said Heat. "OCME is still testing to determine both cause and time of death."

Detective Ochoa said, "We did get word from the ME that traces of chloroform were found on the front of the victim's jacket." Heat whipped her head his direction. She hadn't known that. Her mind shot back to a missed call from Lauren Parry while she was in the thick of it with the Syrian Mission. The medical examiner's boyfriend gave Nikki a small nod. Ochoa had her back.

"So..." Nikki picked up her rundown quickly, "it's possible Mr. Conklin was either chemically subdued at the crime scene, or else beforehand, and transported. Until we know COD, we won't know if he went in the oven alive or dead. If he was alive, we can only pray he was totally unconscious from the chloroform." The room stilled as the cops contemplated Roy Conklin's last moments.