Chapter 107: Wrong Target

She walked down the hall and opened the master bedroom door.

Lying back against the leather headboard was Calvin Wang, the registered tenant of Apartment 1001.

His chin rested on his chest, and both hands had been positioned around the handle of a serrated hunting knife pressed into his sternum.

To a casual glance, the scene had been set up to mimic a self-inflicted wound...

Lola called in the medical examiner and a field unit over her radio, then walked back into the living area, her eyes fixed on the suspect.

"Coroner is 5 minutes out," Lola said evenly. "Start talking now, or every charge stays at the top of the sheet."

The suspect looked over at Jude, who remained seated on the sofa, then let his shoulders drop.

"I didn’t break in to kill anyone," the man said, looking down at the carpet. "Cased the building 2 days ago. Saw 1001 was usually empty during the day. 40 minutes ago, I took the drainage pipe from the 9th-floor exterior ledge and stepped over the balcony railing... that’s when I bumped the ceramic pot outside the glass door."

Chen pulled out his notepad, writing down the details.

"I was working on the study lockbox when Wang came home early," the suspect continued quietly. "He caught me in the hallway and started yelling for the building guard. I panicked, pulled the hunting knife from his display case, and drove it forward. After he dropped, my clothes were covered in blood. I grabbed a clean shirt and sweatpants from his dresser, bagged my old clothes, took the service car down, and dropped the bag straight into the compactor bin behind Building B. Came back up to wipe down the floors and set his hands around the grip so it looked like suicide. Right when I was finishing up, the courier knocked on the door."

He looked toward Jude. "Walked right in and caught every mark."

At Lola’s signal, Chen took 2 patrolmen down to the service area.

10 minutes later, Chen returned carrying an evidence bag with the bloodstained clothes recovered from the compactor, completing the chain of custody.

As the forensic unit took over the bedroom and Chen moved the suspect out to the elevator, Lola walked Jude onto the landing, shaking her head.

"First delivery routes across Queens, now a courier vest in Riverview Towers," Lola said, crossing her arms. "Hardly expected you to take up shipping logistics."

"Keeps the afternoons structured," Jude said. "Good for situational awareness."

"You saved the squad at least 2 days of processing," Lola said. "The coroner would have flagged the angle of entry and hesitation marks eventually, but that usually takes 36 to 48 hours. By that time, the unit would have been bleached and the suspect across state lines. You handed us the weapon, the clothes, and the confession on the spot."

Jude checked the time on his watch. "If we’re wrapped up here, I still have 3 parcels left on the manifest."

"Wait, hold on," Lola said, catching him by the arm as he turned toward the elevator.

"I need an assist on something bigger. You saw the bulletins this morning? Gregory Vance was found dead in his brownstone early today. Less than 24 hours before that, Marcus Sterling, head of the Beacon Relief Trust, was found the exact same way."

Jude stopped, looking back.

"Every non-profit director in Manhattan is calling the mayor’s office, and the commissioner gave our task force a 72-hour window. The issue is forensics: sweeps on both sites turned up nothing. No forced entry, clean wiping, and the street cameras along a 2-block perimeter were looped. No prints, no traces."

She looked at Jude. "Could you look at the scenes with me? 10 minutes. If there’s residue our teams missed, you have the eye for it."

Jude sighed. "If someone entered those rooms, there’s evidence. Let me finish my remaining deliveries first. Give me an hour, and I’ll call your cell."

"Deal. Call me as soon as you clear the route," Lola said, nodding.

They rode the elevator down together, walking out past the patrol cars idling along the driveway.

A small crowd of residents stood behind the cordon, watching the officers pack their equipment.

Jude took the key fob from his pocket and pressed the release button.

A short double chirp sounded from the curb.

10 feet away, the daytime running lights came on across the front of the black Rolls-Royce Cullinan.

Jude opened the door, climbed into the driver’s seat, gave Lola a brief wave through the glass, and pulled out into the cross-street traffic.

Behind him along the sidewalk, the patrolmen and the crowd watched the vehicle clear the entrance.

"Wait a second," a tenant near the tape muttered to the building superintendent. "Is that driver running package drops out of a Cullinan?"

Lola stood on the curb, shaking her head with a faint smile.

5 minutes later, stopped at a light on Madison Avenue, Jude reached over and picked up the next box from the passenger seat.

The label caught his attention:

Recipient: Voyager Animation Studios — Executive Suite, 14th Floor.

Voyager Animation Studios was the production house Jude had acquired 2 weeks earlier...

Since leaving executive management to its chief director, Evelyn Chen, and securing production funding for their theatrical pipeline, he had allowed the team to operate independently.

"Talk about perfect timing," Jude said.

He guided the Cullinan to the loading zone outside the commercial office tower housing the studio, tucked the parcel under his arm, and stepped through the doors into the ground-floor lobby.

He had walked 3 paces across the polished stone floor toward the elevator bank when a man in a burgundy tailored suit came quickly out of the central lift, talking into an earpiece without checking the path ahead.

The man’s shoulder caught the side of the parcel in Jude’s hand.

Jude didn’t move. The counter-momentum spun the man half a step back, his loafers sliding against the floor.

The man pulled out his earpiece, his face tightening as he pointed a finger directly at Jude.

"Look where you’re walking!" the man snarled. "Do you know how expensive these clothes are?! Pay attention, or I’ll make sure security never lets you into this building again!"