Chapter Twenty-Four

When Mosby arrived at the 5th District Station he was shown directly into Jacoby’s office.

“Sit down, Mr. Ellis. You said on the phone you had information on a murder I’m investigating.”

“Yes Detective, I have reason to believe that the murder of Lilly Petulengro is connected to the body that was found in that parking lot.”

“You mean the blonde that was found at Tyson’s Galleria?”

“Yes. Lilly knew something that certain people wouldn’t want known.”

“Hold on. You’re losing me. It’s been a long day. Suppose you start at the beginning – and go slow. Start out by telling me how you know the deceased.”

“I went to Lilly a couple of years ago a couple of years ago for a tattoo. We talked. I liked her. When I went back for a second tattoo we talked some more. She told me a little about where she’d come from. Her family. I think she was lonely. Her husband was dead. She didn’t have any kids. Maybe she thought of me as a son. I kept going back for more tattoos just so I could talk to her.”

Jacoby looked unconvinced. “A sixty year old woman? Seems like an weird playmate for a young guy like you.”

“I spend all my time with fifth graders. I’m a teacher,” he added when Jacoby raised his eyebrows. “It was a relief to have an adult conversation.”

“What makes you think that your friend’s death is connected to the body out in Virginia?”

“A couple of weeks ago I was at Lilly’s. She was finishing up a series of tattoos for me.” Mosby wasn’t quite ready to divulge to the detective that he was festooned with a scene from Genesis. “A black Lincoln Navigator stopped in front of the shop. It was still there when I left.”

“Is that unusual?”

“Let me finish. I called Lilly early Thursday morning after I saw the story about the body they found in Virginia. They’d shown a picture of the tattoo that the dead girl had on her shoulder.”

“I’m still not seeing where this is going.”

"It was a tattoo of a cherub. Just like the one Lilly had done for me the night the Navigator parked in front of her shop. I had done the drawing of the cherub. I design all my tattoos myself. I asked Lilly is she has given that tattoo to anyone else. She told me that a couple came in right after I left. They wanted matching tattoos. The woman saw the sketch of my cherub and wanted one like it. I told Lilly they found a dead woman with my tattoo. I asked her what the woman she gave the cherub to looked like. She said that she was pretty, young, blonde.”

“Even if the Lilly had done a tattoo for the victim – that doesn’t mean the murders are necessarily connected.”

“You don’t understand! When I told Lilly that was the girl they found she said there was something else. The man she was with. The one that got the matching tattoo. She recognized him. It was Senator Stuart Jaffe.”