Chapter Nineteen #5
Heading back over to Ethan, he clued him in to what had gone down.
“Doctor Fuentes is locking it down,” he stated. “Anything going forward is need to know, and no one in this fuck-ass town needs to know.”
On that, he agreed.
Ethan looked relieved.
Only, he didn’t get time to say anything. Both cops were headed back toward him.
Now, it was time to give them busy work until they could research this woman and figure out what the hell was going on here in Damascus.
“I’ve gotten you a conference room. Our boss was up, and he wants you to have the one close to where his office is. He’s going to head in early to make sure you’ve got everything you need. I told him we didn’t have ID yet. That gives you some time.”
As for the man heading in…
That wasn’t necessary.
Really.
Leah kept her voice down.
“The reporters were talking to the beat cops. Apparently, someone called it in to their main office about a body. It was anonymous.”
Gene was curious.
“Did they say when? Because they were here RIGHT after us,” he said, knowing that all three people from the city ME to the two detectives, had been here before them.
Leah shook her head.
Great.
That didn’t help them.
With how quickly the bodies were being dropped, trying to chase that lead by visiting the reporters’ home base would waste time.
Time they didn’t have.
“We need to divide and conquer, and keep it all close to the vest,” Gene admitted. “Ethan and I are going to head to the conference room to work through the victimology, and we need a favor.”
Dannie waited.
“What?”
He gave them busy work to buy them space to work.
ALONE.
“We need to figure out where she was taken. Chances were, seeing her clothes that were dumped in the sack in the bushes, she wasn’t out partying with friends.
She was wearing casual things. Can you visit her house, see if she has a husband or a live-in lover, and go from there?
Was there a missing person report on her? ”
Leah shook her head.
“No.”
Gene knew that likely meant she lived alone. It was the middle of the night. Surely someone would miss her.
“We can do that,” Dannie offered.
Gene continued.
“It was Saturday yesterday,” he offered, looking at his watch. “So, she likely wasn’t taken from the courthouse. I’d start with her home and then go from there. You’ll know where to find us if you locate where she was taken.”
Dannie was making notes.
Gene wasn’t done.
“Get it done as soon as you can because once that name leaks, and I don’t doubt that it will, we have all kinds of issues,” he admitted. “The media will be all over her home, asking uncomfortable questions.”
Oh, for sure.
“Once we figure out what happened to her, what's next?” Leah asked, trying to play well with others.
When she got there, Dannie had already warned her that she wouldn’t get a second chance with the Feds.
Trust and believe she was going to be on her best behavior.
“Meet us at the conference room after you get any information. By then, we’ll know the basics. Then, we’ll regroup.”
Both detectives headed out, and when they were gone, Gene glanced over at his partner.
“It’s going to be a long night.”
Oh, Ethan was aware.
The clock was ticking before the killer took the next victim—if he didn’t already have them.
* * * Blackhawk & Cantrell * * *
Vina Beede’s
Apartment
Sunday
Four Thirty A.M.
When they pulled up, already, both cops knew they were going to be at the location where the fourth victim was taken.
How did they know?
Well, maybe because her car was in her driveway on the outskirts of town, with the door wide open.
The trunk was also open, and inside, there were bags of groceries.
Snow-covered ones.
“I think we found where she was taken from,” Dannie admitted, as he parked behind the vehicle with his high beams on to illuminate the scene.
Leah agreed.
“Yeah, it looks like she was getting back from grocery shopping, and she was grabbed.”
That was pretty evident.
Getting out of Dannie’s vehicle, they headed toward the car and checked it out. The car was off, and nothing was inside the actual vehicle—which made sense since they’d found her purse and clothing at the scene.
There were two bags in the trunk, and that made them curious. They hadn’t found the keys, so the two detectives moved toward the woman’s house.
Pulling gloves on, Dannie touched the doorknob that led to the woman’s kitchen and turned it.
The door wasn’t locked.
As soon as the door gave way, both detectives pulled their sidearms and entered the home.
On the kitchen counter were two more bags and the keys to her car.
“It looks like she came in from grocery shopping, put her things down, and went back out for more,” Leah admitted.
Yeah, that’s exactly what it looked like.
Dannie pieced it together.
“It’s pristine in here. So, I’m going to say he or she grabbed her outside while she was about to take in more groceries.”
Leah agreed there.
Reaching into the one grocery bag, Dannie pulled out the receipt and checked it out.
“It’s saying she was at the store around five,” he stated. “That’s the checkout time.”
Leah considered it.
“Did she go anywhere else, though?” she asked.
He didn’t recall any more bags in the car, but the trunk groceries.
“I don’t know, but it gives us a little bit of a trail. We know the store and the time she left it.”
That it did.
When he showed her, she pointed at the name of the business.
“That’s the local market that’s owned by that little old man,” she stated. “I go there to get the best produce.”
It was where he shopped, too. Damascus had a few places to shop, but this market was closer to his girlfriend’s apartment.
“She was taken AFTER the agent was shot at,” he said, going back over yesterday’s incident.
Leah thought about it.
“The market is only a few blocks from where the agent was shot at,” she admitted. “Maybe the killer tried to off the agent, ran, popped up again here, did the deed, and went back under.”
That could be.
“We’re going to be proactive. After we leave here, we’re going to the market owner’s home, and we’re waking him up. Maybe he can get us some security tapes.”
She laughed.
“I don’t think they’ll have security,” she said. “In Damascus? Really?”
Yeah, it was a long shot, but with the two Feds, he’d rather do more than less. Leah had already given them a bad taste in their mouths.
“We should look around,” he admitted.
That worked for her.
Together, they moved around the woman’s home, and in the living room, there was a picture of Vina sitting in some man’s lap.
“That must be a boyfriend,” Dannie admitted, because there’s not really a lot of men’s things around the place. “This is definitely a chick’s home.”
That it was.
When he showed her, Leah said only one thing.
“That’s too bad.”
Yeah, it really was.
Pulling out his phone, he began rattling off a text, and that had his partner’s attention.
“Who are you texting at this time of the night?” she asked.
He showed her.
“My girl. I’m telling her to be REALLY careful if she goes out tomorrow. I don’t like how the agent was shot at there, this market is around the corner, or how the pub and store are there too. That makes me twitchy. We haven’t connected the women, so what if this is random?”
On the first part, she agreed.
“Wouldn’t they tell us it's random?” she asked. “You know, with their great profiler and all?”
He pointed at her.
“Don’t start with them, Leah.”
She just rolled her eyes.
When he was finished texting his girl, he tucked away his phone, and they kept moving. Only, he heard his phone and pulled it back out of his pocket.
Steph was texting him, and that was odd that she was up at this time of the night.
‘I won’t go anywhere tomorrow. Text me when you’re coming by. I miss you, Handsome. You and me and a weekend off when you have some time. Love you. Steph.’
Well, at least that was handled.
“She’ll be staying in,” he said, not sharing anything else about the text.
“Lucky her,” Leah admitted. “Too bad these women didn’t do the same thing.”
Yeah, he was aware.
As they wandered around, the bedroom was clear, but when they headed into the powder room downstairs, they saw something that they hadn’t expected.
Oh, fuck.
“The killer came back,” Dannie said, pointing.
On the bathroom mirror, tucked into the trim around the glass, was a Polaroid, and on it, there was the victim. She was staring lifelessly into the lens, and her mouth was open. They could see the burn on her tongue.
“Well, shit,” Leah admitted.
Dannie took a picture and saved it so the two Feds could see it. Chances were, they’d have to send a tech team here to dust for prints.
“Wait,” he said, staring into a little bowl on the counter. In it, there were rings and jewelry.
Reaching for something, he picked it up, and there was a rosary.
“This isn’t the first rosary,” Dannie admitted.
Leah whistled.
“So could this all be religious?” she asked.
He had no idea.
But on day two, that was a huge problem, and he knew it.
* * * Blackhawk & Cantrell * * *
Somewhere In Damascus
Same Time
Hunt Concluded
He was proud of himself. Not only had he dropped a body a couple of hours ago, but he managed to grab the next person right from her bed.
Wasn’t she shocked as shit?
Well, he did like making a statement.
Today was a productive day, if he did say so himself. It was bang, bang, bang, and he was already back at his hidey-hole to take care of business.
Post nap.
Oh, he wanted to be refreshed to enjoy the job at hand.
Thank God the place he brought them was still in the family, and he could come here and do his best work.
Because he had no choice.
The voice in his head was getting stronger, and stronger, so he to comply. With each little piece of him that slipped away, he knew it was only a matter of time.
There were so many voices anymore.
Male ones.
Female ones.
He was so lost in them that he didn’t know who he was, or if he was ever in control in the first place.
Hell!
He didn’t know if he was a voice, himself, and one of them was the real person.
It was all a jumble of chaos.
As he placed her in the cage, she whimpered through the gag he’d put on her so she couldn’t make noise.
Oh, she’d have her chance.
They all did.
“Just hush up, and don’t be a problem,” he whispered. “If you make him mad, he just enjoys it.”
She had tears in her eyes.
“Say you’re sorry, and that you shouldn’t have done what you did those years ago. Say that you repent. It’s for the best,” he whispered, as if he thought the man couldn’t hear them.
Oh, he could.
Already, in his head, there was laughter.
Sick.
Twisted.
Laughter.
The cacophony of it filled his mind and scared him.
The mean one was there, and like always, he was watching the whole thing go down. He was, after all, in charge.
She tugged at her bonds.
“Don’t do it,” he said. “Trust me. He’s vicious when he needs to be. I forgive you for what you did, but he doesn’t. He hates you,” he said, and then he began looking around like he was approaching.
Because he was.
That rage was in control, and it was taking over.
“He’s coming,” he whispered. “Hope he takes a nap, so you have more time.”
Because when he showed up…
No one was safe.