“What is that?”
He opened the folder. “This happened last week.”
I looked at the picture. A dead man sat at a table with a frozen expression of shock. I recognized him instantly.
Johnny Cupcakes.
Similar to Romeo, he wore a gown, wig, and makeup. This wig was different. Bold red curls were stacked on the sides.
The white gown was less elegant than Romeo’s, yet royal. Diamonds adorned the rich fabric around the bosom. Sapphires and rubies decorated the sleeves. Elaborate white ruffles piled around his neck.
Very aristocratic. Elizabethan even.
Johnny Cupcakes held a fan in one hand. A wooden stand was in front of him. A silver tray of cakes, cookies, and pies piled the table. They appeared close to falling off.
I checked the bottom of the image. There were cookies and candy bars all around his feet.
I picked up the next image up and studied it. “Paradise has a serial killer?”
“That’s my theory,” Detective Treadway said. “I told my command that this guy would keep on killing. The problem is. . .no one cares because—”
“The victims are gangsters.” I tossed the picture to the other side of the table. It slipped over to Viktor. “I just don’t understand why he keeps dressing his victims up like famous queens.”
“Shit.” Viktor checked out the picture. “That’s Johnny Cupcakes. We’ve been looking for him all week.”
“Well, we’ve found him.”
The detective quirked his brows at me. “Famous queens?”
“Romeo was dressed like Marie Antoinette.” I shoved my plate away from me. “Johnny Cupcakes is done up like Queen Elizabeth I. The gown is very Elizabethan—the ruffles and materials.”
Viktor handed the picture back to me. “Elizabethan?”
I assessed the image again. “And there’s the fan. Elizabeth would keep a pomander to ward off foul smells. She was also sentimental about her jewelry.”
I touched the odd diamond ring on Johnny Cupcake’s finger. “If the killer is true to the theme, then that ring will hold a miniature enameled portrait of her mother, Anne Boleyn.”
Detective Treadway took out his notebook and wrote this down. “I’ll have them check on this. And. . .so. . .this is a queen?”
I looked at them in shock. “Of course it is another queen. The red wig gives it away. Come on, guys. She wasn’t just the Virgin Queen. She was a red head.”
Viktor and the detective both looked at me as if I were crazy.
I held out my hands. “You both know who Queen Elizabeth I is. Right?”
Viktor nodded. “Sure, boss, but not the whole Virgin Queen stuff or the fan and ring. . .I mean. I don’t remember any of this in the history books. Especially, the part about her never having fucked.”
“I’m sure she had sex. However, she was unmarried so her court kept this fantastical idea of her being pure and untouched like the Virgin Mary. The state of Virginia was named in her honor.” I shrugged. “However, there’s tons of gossip on all her lovers—Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Earl of Essex, and the Duke of Anjou. . .”
I stopped talking and glared at them. “Why are you both looking at me like that?”
“I didn’t know all of that.” Viktor returned his attention to the game.
I went back to Treadway. “Where was Johnny found?”
“In his bakery, Piece of Cake. The East Paradise location.”
Johnny Cupcakes had been the Diamond Syndicate’s first washer. My mother had convinced him to launder our money through his bakery. When he did, they had him open up a new Piece of Cake bakery in each section of the city.
Detective Treadway cleared his throat. “There are also other things connecting both victims.”
“Go ahead.”
Detective Treadway pulled out two photos. Each image displayed a blood stained piece of paper. “The killer put a torn out bible verse in Johnny Cupcakes mouth. Right under his tongue. The same is true with Romeo.”
What is going on?
I squinted my eyes at each image. “They don’t look like they’re the same, but it is hard to tell.”
“The saliva from their tongues made it hard to read. However, forensics were able to make out the words.” Treadway pulled out his notebook. “Johnny’s verse is from Ezekiel 16:49. ‘Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.’”
I considered the verse, but wasn’t sure what the killer wanted us to know. “And what about Romeo?”
Treadway flipped the page. “This is from Matthew 5:27-28. ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.’”
I touched my chin. “We have a murderer with a religious purpose, shedding the earth of gangsters.”
Viktor folded up the paper and set it on the table. Worry creased his forehead. “This could get out of hand.”