Chapter 25
Dover was exhausted. She had been running around for twelve hours now without much to show for it. Sean had prioritized the autopsy, but it didn’t tell her anything she hadn’t already figured out.
Death was caused by strangulation. He was also beat with a whip before death. The rest was caused after he was dead. That was at least a little good news in the middle of the horror.
The incident room was slowly emptying out as most of the extra support left for lives outside of the police station.
She felt like she had been wearing the same clothes for days and wondered if anyone else felt the same.
Knox had shown up around dinner time with an armload of sandwiches which he handed around to everyone staying on.
“I’ve got something!” Detective Jones burst in the room. She knew he had spent the day trying to run down the bar Mr. Hansen spent his last hours in. “The bartender remembers him. Said he was boring a woman to death at the bar half the night.”
“Did you get a description?” Danny asked, moving to the boards.
“Blonde, thin, about five foot eight. He guessed her age between twenty-five and thirty. He said he remembered carding her just to be safe, but he can’t remember her name,” Jones continued.
“I got a copy of the video from their cameras. I’ll start going through it. ” He left the room for the video lab.
Dover stood at the back of the room looking at the boards in front.
What was she missing? They had bodies, but no specific type.
They had a matching means of death, but no answers on exactly what the strap was.
They had staged dumps, but nothing that tied the scenes together other than they were all private schools.
If every school had been parochial, the saint medallions might make sense, but one was a science academy owned by one of the universities.
There were a few things in common, however.
All of the victims were men, they had been left on sports fields, and they were all last seen in a bar. Though never the same bar twice.
And then there were the medallions they wore. It was apparent that they were placed there by the killer, but what did they mean? Each one represented the business the men were in. No one, however, knew more than that.
Identifying where they came from had been a bust, as had finding any trace left behind on them. Were they simply a red herring to keep them chasing their tails?
“What am I missing?” she mumbled.
“Nothing,” a deep voice said behind her.
“Where have you been hiding?” She checked her watch realizing it had been hours since she lost saw him.
“I’ve been in one of the empty incident rooms working on a theory.”
“A theory about what?”
“I was studying the locations of the bars your people marked. I know they were looking for commonalities in them, but they’re overloaded at the moment. So, I took that information and expanded on it. I just finished adding the most recent one. I think I’ve found something you and Dex should see.”
“At this point, I’ll look at anything.”
“Okay, I’ll find Dex and meet you next door.” She watched for a moment as he headed down the hallway. It seemed like he now had the run of the building.
With a sigh, she walked to the room next door. Inside, maps were hung at the front of the room. There were lines drawn on them and a list of facts spread across the closest tables. He really had been working hard on something.
Next to the maps were a set of numbers in dry erase marker on a board. She had never been good at math, and they looked as familiar as Sanskrit. Staring at them for a few minutes, she tried to make sense out of what they were. The answers didn’t line up with anything she knew.
“Those are probabilities,” Knox said as he walked in the room.
Dex followed on his heels. “Let me explain. I started by marking all of the bars based on what your people had already done. Then I began trying to triangulate them, but that didn’t really work.
So, I thought I’d try to determine how they were chosen. ”
“There’s nothing we’ve found that link any of them together,” she said.
“I focused on what would make them appealing to our killers. To begin, I wondered how transportation would play into it. I studied the option of driving to the bars.
“Parking around most of these is a nightmare. If you can find a garage, it costs a fortune and would require dragging someone several blocks. There are also cameras in front of most of the buildings and in the parking garages. I don’t see that happening.”
“So someone would have to wait in the car and pull up where the cameras didn’t see them,” Dex observed. “That shores up our two unsubs theory. I also don’t see a woman being able to drag someone the size of Goodwin that far. Or any man for that matter.”
“Right. I thought the same thing. I, then, went back to the bartenders who remembered a blonde woman, and none of them said she came in with anyone that they could see. Nor did any of the patrons I talked to.”
“Damn. Have you considered changing professions?” Dover asked, truly impressed.
“Thanks, but I think I’d rather stick with teenage attitudes than serial killers.
Though, they’re not that different. Anyway, let’s assume at least one of them has a vehicle, but they don’t travel together to the bar.
That leaves a cab, which is expensive and easy to trace.
A rideshare is a possibility, but I’d argue it’s also too expensive and traceable. ”
“That leaves only two other possibilities. A bus or the train,” Dex said.
“These numbers show the likelihood of each mode of transportation. The one with the highest probability is the train. The bus has a lot more stops to navigate, but it’s possible.
The train makes more sense though. I traced it from each bar to the possible stops hunting for which stops they have in common.
There is only one.” He pointed to the train map.
Both Dover and Dex leaned in for a better look.
“That station is down the street,” she said after a few minutes. “It’s the one someone coming to police headquarters would get off at. Shit, there are schools, businesses, and a ton of housing within that station service area.”
“I didn’t say it was going to close the case,” Knox growled.
“But it will help build it when we catch the accomplice. Or partner? I don’t know at this point,” she admitted. “That is really good work. Thanks.”
“If we get something on the camera at the last known for Hansen, we may be able match it to footage at that station,” Dex added. “It would be much easier to find a needle in that haystack rather than all of the Boston area.”
They stood in silence as they contemplated the map that centered around a T station not a block from where they stood now.
Was it just possible that at least one of the unsubs had been right under their noses the entire time?
If they could just get a hit off the video footage from the latest bar, they might have something to work with.
“If the medical examiner’s times of death are correct for each victim, that should narrow the amount of train station footage we have to comb through,” Dex finally said.
“Especially based on any footage from the bar. We should be able to pin down the time in that station to within a twenty-four-hour period before each death.”
“Let’s wait to see what Jones and the tech guys find on those tapes first,” she pointed out.
“I don’t want to spend more resources chasing something that we can’t be sure of.
It pisses me off, though, that she could be right under our feet, and we missed her all this time.
If nothing turns up, you really might have to start tailing people from the crime scene. ”
“With any luck, Jones will find something we can use. Then you can have the pleasure of telling this unsub how pissed off you are in person.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
“Hey,” Danny said, sticking his head into the room. “Damn, someone’s been busy.” He studied the maps and figures for a couple of minutes before shaking his head. “Looks like Greek to me. Tech found something.”
Her gaze met Dex’s gaze and then Knox’s before it slipped away. Quickly, they followed Danny next door. Her heart was racing. What if this is what turned this case on its head?
“It’s still grainy, but we’ve got your blonde. I followed up with the bartender. He verified that’s who he saw. We’re trying to clean up the image, but I didn’t want to wait around,” Jones said. He handed a photo to Dover. Dex and Knox crowded next to her as they stared at the image.
“Hmm,” Dex mumbled almost to himself.
“Yeah, it does,” Knox agreed. “But I can’t be sure.”
“Does what?” Dover asked. Knox pulled his phone out and flipped through the photos. Finally, he turned it around for her to see. She could only gasp at the image in front of her. “There’s no way. He would know. Wouldn’t he?”
“What is it they say? The wife is always the last one to know?”
“But this isn’t just anyone’s husband. This is my brother’s girlfriend. You’re wrong,” she added for emphasis. But was he? Knox had shown her a photo of Brooke walking down a sidewalk while looking over her shoulder. It was timestamped the day they followed, and subsequently lost, her in an alley.
“Maybe,” Dex agreed. “Let’s see what we think after we get the enhanced image. It wouldn’t hurt to check with Fox on her movements over the last couple of weeks anyway.”
“All right, I’ll give him a call. He should be off work by now.”
Edmund had been waiting at the townhome when Fox arrived that morning. He couldn’t begin to calculate the number of times he had counted to ten.
At least he was finishing the floors in the attic. After today, he should be done with the top floor. The crew was installing counters on the second floor. That only left a little finishing work that the site could handle without him.
He was ready to get on with his life. With any luck, Brooke was moving out at that moment.
With any luck, she wasn’t wrecking things on her way out.
He wouldn’t be surprised if she did, however.
Her temper knew no bounds. But, if Ethan was waiting for him at the end of the day, it would all be worth it.
His life was slowly starting to rearrange itself back into something he recognized. Now if he could just get this remodel done, he was home free.
“It’s not cool enough in here,” Edmund complained suddenly dragging him from his thoughts.
The man had sat most of the day in a soccer chair watching him.
He was sullen today for some reason, which made him quieter than usual.
Fox wasn’t complaining. As creepy as the man was, he was much better when he wasn’t talking.
“I haven’t adjusted the air yet since I’m still finishing the floor. You can set it to whatever you’re happy with once I’m done. I’m not leaving until this is finished.” He leaned back over as he pounded the new wood floor into place.
“Is that the stain I picked out?”
“It is. I verified it with Heather before ordering and again once it arrived. She has the order you signed if you need to check.”
Edmund made a dissatisfied grunt and sank deeper into his chair. Fox had a prepared answer for every problem the man could possibly perceive with the job.
Most of the answers involved the designer and her notebook of signed paperwork. Any change in design choices had to go through her first. For some reason, Edmund didn’t seem to want much to do with her.
Fox could feel his glare trained on him as he worked his way across the room.
It was a larger space than it had appeared to be originally.
He would ask what it was going to be used for, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
Edmund made his skin crawl enough as it was without delving into what he did for entertainment.
He was debating how to convince Edmund to return downstairs so he could finish when the man’s phone rang. Looking up, Fox could only wonder who had made him scowl the way he was at the screen. It was the first time he could remember Edmund accepting a call.
“What do you want?” he snarled. After a few curt responses, he hung up. He stood and stared at Fox.
“Everything all right?” He sat back on his knees taking a break.
“It’s nothing. Just something I need to take care of.”
“Oh, okay. Well, I hope everything works out.” Fox couldn’t care less if things worked out for Edmund or not. It just sounded like the right thing to say.
“It will. Are you going to be here tomorrow?”
“No. I plan on staying tonight until this is finished. The crew can do any touch-ups before they clear out tomorrow. Heidi will be by in the afternoon to look at everything with Joey. As for me, I’ll finally be out of your hair for good.
” He checked his watch. It was past quitting time and most of the crew would have already headed out.
Edmund made another of his disgruntled grunts and turned on his heel.
Without saying another word, he stomped down the stairs.
Fox listened until his footsteps could no longer be heard.
With a sigh, he returned to the floors. Finally, he could work in peace.
If he never ran into Edmund again, it would be too soon.
“Hey, bud,” Joey said a few minutes later from the top of the stairs. “I think I’m going to call it a day. You coming? I saw his grace leave.”
“Nah, I’m going to finish this up. The sooner I can be done with the job, the better.”
“I hear you. This one’s been a hell of a thing. I’ll see you around.”
“Thanks, Joey. Don’t forget, I still owe you that beer.”
“No chance of that.” With a last wave, Fox turned his back on his foreman. Just a little bit more, and he could be done. Then he just had to run to Bailey’s and pick up Ethan.
It had been a relief when she had agreed to pick him up. An even bigger one when she found him still at the school. He would convince her to join them for dinner before heading home. Yeah, his life was starting to shape up just fine.