Chapter Twenty #3
“Did you know?” he asked Dannie, and his tone said it all.
This wasn’t a game they wanted to play. They’d let him in, and he’d talked them into letting her in. Now, this tainted the case in so many ways.
Dannie had to save himself, so he held his hands up in surrender.
“I just figured it out when I heard his name. I’ve never met him, personally, or seen him. I only knew because he called her desk phone once, and I took a message.”
They both looked at her.
“You should have come clean to us,” Gene said. “We let you work this. The second you saw her on the scene, you should have recused yourself. This just fucked our case!”
She tried to explain.
“It was an amicable breakup. We’re still friends. It was just a problem with our opposite work hours. He works at night…”
They didn’t care.
She dated a victim’s current boyfriend.
That tied her to the case and made her look suspicious. For all they knew, she was trying to kill her and bury the body in a group of others to throw them off.
That might be why they didn’t connect.
Ethan couldn’t believe this.
“Where do you live?” he asked.
Dannie sighed.
Oh, and he knew why.
“A block away from The Tipsy Easel,” she offered.
Well, fuck them sideways. That was the exact area where Gene got shot at, and two victims had been familiar with too. This was getting worse for the cop sitting in front of them.
Under his breath, Dannie muttered something.
“You just fucked us both by not saying something at the crime scene!”
Leah tried to defend herself.
“I know what you’re thinking…”
Oh, she had to have. They were both red. It was looking like they had let the fox into the henhouse after all.
Gene wasn’t having it.
“Go.”
When he stood, he pointed at the door.
“You should have told us the second you knew. What the hell is wrong with this town? The principal of the school lied, and now this?”
There were tears in her eyes.
“I didn’t hurt her. I’m not behind this. Scott and I broke up, and that’s it. Like I said, we’re friends. You can call him and ask,” she offered.
Then why the hell didn’t she tell them? Because they would have asked him.
Point.
Blank.
“You’re off this case,” Gene said, grateful they didn’t share all that much information with the woman. For all they knew, she was the one leaking it.
Or the boyfriend was the one killing people.
This made a mess, and since they didn’t have anything to connect them, but where they went to school, this was a problem.
Standing, she didn’t even put up a fight. Deep down, she knew she should have told them, but she’d just been given access, and Leah knew she didn’t kill the victims.
“Come on, Dannie.”
The man was so pissed.
When he stood up, Gene stopped him.
“Not you. You didn’t lie. She stood over that body, and she knew who she was. In fact, she told us she recognized her. You looked surprised when Ethan said the boyfriend’s name.”
There was immeasurable relief.
“I can work it?” he asked.
Gene was to the point.
“Unless you’re hiding something, because we don’t like surprises like this!”
The man shook his head.
Oh, and his partner was not happy.
“You’re not leaving with me?” Leah asked. “You’re going to let me be booted, and not have my back?”
This was a difficult one, but the facts were the facts. She’d made a mess. She’d seen the picture at Vina’s house, and she said nothing.
Leah could have warned him.
So, he made up his mind.
He shook his head.
“No, Leah. You did this. I’m working this case. I had nothing to do with their deaths. Someone has to represent our town, and that’s going to be me. I’m helping catch this person, and I hope to God you’re not involved.”
She gasped.
“You think I did this? You believe I’m killing people all because I live in a general area, and I dated one person?” she asked.
Instead, he said nothing.
And that said it all.
He was pissed that she risked his reputation on this out of her desire to be included.
“Well, our partnership is over. Fuck that,” she said. “I wouldn’t stay and work a case while you got kicked off, Dannie. You’re not loyal, and that’s a problem for me.”
With that, she walked out, slamming the door behind her. The second she was gone, he began apologizing profusely.
“I didn’t know. I was honest. I’ve seen Vina at the courthouse. I didn’t know she was dating my partner’s ex. I would have mentioned it.”
Gene reassured him.
“You can stop worrying. We saw your face when the name was said. We know when someone’s lying to us.”
He was curious.
“Do you think she’s part of this?”
That was the problem. They had no choice but to investigate one more person, and already, they were waiting for the sun to come up to talk to Robert Fergus—the other liar. This put them behind the eight ball—as in it was rolling at them quickly.
Ethan broke down the evidence they did have.
“Day one, she told us she grew up here. She’s the same age as Vina, who also grew up here. Did you go to school with Vina?” Blackhawk asked.
He shook his head.
“I mean, we all went to the same school, but I’m older. I went to school between Phylis and Vina, if we’re putting us in order of ages.”
Gene was curious.
“How old is your partner?”
He considered the question.
“Thirty-two. She’s a year older than Vina,” Ethan answered, when the man appeared to be doing the math in his head.
Gene was to the point.
“She lives in the circle where a lot of shit went down, she withheld information, and she had a personal connection to a victim. On top of that, this killer knows how to fuck forensics. A cop would know that.”
He sighed.
Yeah, he could see why they were pissed.
Gene wasn’t done.
“Now, we have no choice. We have to add her to our list. If that’s not bad enough, the media has been alerted a couple of times.
That’s something a killer does to stall the investigation by annoying us.
You asked around and said you found out it was a leak by the homicide captain. How did you know?”
He shared.
“I called around, and then I spoke to Mary McGrew, the boss’s secretary. She knows everything. When in doubt, ask the administrative assistant. They know it all. She said he talked to them when they showed up in the office.”
Well, that answered that question.
There was silence.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
It was going to be a long day.
“Put her on the list,” Ethan stated, ignoring his apology.
“We said this person could have DID, and it could be a woman with a masculine personality. Let’s face it, she’s been lowkey trying to slow us down.
She didn’t want to turn this case over, and she has been adamant about helping us.
A killer, a collector, would want to see what we are doing.
That’s customary behavior for a dominant personality. ”
Gene pulled the paper out from under his laptop and wrote her name on the list.
‘Brett Davies
Robert Fergus
Dave Lizney
Randal Crest
Tristan Hevin
Scott Nickerson
Detective Leah Balo’
Then, he showed the detective what they were working with by way of suspects.
“What about the rosary?” Dannie asked. “My partner is Catholic. I know you said the Catholic angle doesn’t help, but…she’s REALLY religious since her father died.”
Gene was making notes on the detective, but again, he went there.
“Like how religious? Christmas Catholic, or mass and communion weekly?”
He was honest.
“Hardcore. She’s always at mass when she has a day off to do it. Once, she went mid-shift. Ash Wednesday, she walks around with the ashes on her forehead.”
Gene glanced over at Ethan.
“What do you think?”
He was to the point.
“Her father’s murder could possibly have fractured her personality. It could have made her take on a masculine personality that was dominant. Her father’s death would explain a lot. Revenge for his death? We’d have to see if these women connected to that somehow.”
Only, Gene didn’t get to answer.
Why?
His phone rang, and on the screen, he saw a very familiar name.
“It’s Greyson.”
Well, that was good timing. Blackhawk had asked him to find any other crimes that matched their victims. Hopefully, he had something because they still couldn’t make this case connect. At the front of the list was going to be the detective.
That was for damn sure.
Maybe he could research the messages next to help them out.
“Get it,” Gene said.
Ethan hit the button.
“You’re up early,” he stated.
Oh, they didn’t have to tell him that it was the ass crack of dawn in Philly.
Greyson laughed.
“Well, you’re up late, or you’ve never been to bed. I know you two nuts. I’m calling because I found some things, and I think they might help you guys out.”
Well, freaking hallelujah.
They needed it.
“What did you find?” Gene asked. “Because we just got sideswiped on the case.”
There was a pause.
“What happened?” he asked.
They told him about the new body, the tongue burn, and how the other detective was involved.
“What’s her name?” Greyson asked.
That was odd.
“Uh, why do you need that?” Gene asked. “Did you find a list somewhere or were you leaving offerings to the Devil for us.”
He snorted.
“I have been called the silver-eyed devil before by a pretty lady I met in…”
Ethan cut him off.
“Grey, we’re fucked and not the fun way we like.
I’m running on a two-hour nap last night, and Gene’s rawdogging it without pain meds.
Can you just tell us what you found? Her name is Leah Balo,” he offered.
“Her father was killed by someone, and he was a cop. Does that play into it by any chance?” he asked.
Oh, shit.
Gene wanted to double-check in case Greyson didn’t look for something.
He pointed at the cop and slid his laptop over so the man could get them any information in the police database.
Just.
In.
Case.
“No, that’s not a name I found, but I may have gotten you something helpful. I found four victims whose bodies were all degloved like that. Two don’t make sense, one is on a reservation nearby, and the last one did pique my interest.”
That had their attention.
“What?”