Chapter 31
I reached work at the same time as always, with no traffic delays. I noticed Renz’s car in the parking lot—he had beaten me there, something that would never change. He was just as predictable as I was, and that made for a good partnership. I could finish his sentences, and he could finish mine.
Upstairs, I peeked into the cafeteria and saw Renz pondering his choices at the snack machine. I could hold off until nine a.m. when I got my Snickers bar. I thought about what Kate had said and grinned.
She is a psychic detective, after all.
I called over to Renz. “Need a coffee while you’re pondering?”
“What? Oh, hi, partner. Yeah, thanks.”
I bought the coffee, put a sleeve on each scalding-hot cup, then approached Renz.
“Haven’t decided yet?”
“I decided on one—that cream cheese knot. I think I’ll get the blueberry muffin too.”
“Sound decision. I hope we have more of them today.”
Renz fed a dollar bill into the slot and pressed C6. The blueberry muffin dropped to the door at the bottom of the machine.
“Okay, guess I’m good to go. You aren’t getting anything?”
“No, I’ll wait until later. We need to find out from Bill how the news blast went. If they got plenty of leads, we can pitch in on the interviews.”
Renz nodded as we walked.
“Plus we’ll have to ask the Manitowoc PD or the sheriff’s office if either of them intend to stake out the marina.”
“That’s a tough call, Jade. The marina is within the city limits, which would be the PD’s jurisdiction, and no crime has been committed there.”
“What about Two Rivers, then?”
“They have their own police department, as you well know, and they hid the discovery. There’s nothing in that area to stake out.”
“Well, damn it. Then it should be on the Manitowoc PD. The only thing that leads to the killer is the fact that his boat is kept there. We have the Camry in our custody but don’t have DNA from any victim in it.
We don’t actually have anyone’s DNA that directly links to the killer.
How are we supposed to prove he’s responsible? ”
Renz sighed. “We may not be able to. He’s never been caught in the act of doing anything wrong. All we have on him is the fact that he didn’t take the rental car back to City Rentals.”
I pushed open our door with my foot and placed one coffee on Renz’s desk and one on my own. I sat down, and my grunt made Renz look over.
“You pouting?”
“Well, yeah. After today, we’ll be going through cold case files unless some lunatic starts committing serial crimes.”
Renz laughed then took a bite of the cream cheese knot. “Man, this is good.”
I squeezed my temples, hoping an epiphany would pop into my head, but none did. My desk phone rang, meaning it was an internal call. “That has to be Taft.”
Renz pointed at the phone with his chin. His mouth was full.
I cleared my throat, set the phone to Speaker, and answered. “Agent Monroe here.”
“Jade, it’s Maureen. I’d like you and Lorenzo to come to my office.”
“We’ll be right there.” I hung up the phone and looked at Renz. “We’re about to be pulled from the case.”
“Nah, we have until the end of the day.” He wolfed down the rest of the knot and rinsed his mouth with coffee.
“Then what does she want?”
“No clue, but we better go find out.”
Renz and I walked two hallways to Taft’s office.
I whispered as we walked. “We’re going to be late for the morning updates.”
“Yeah, who cares? Taft leads the meeting, so she’ll be late too.”
When we reached her office, Renz knocked twice. From the other side of the door, she called out to come in.
We entered, and she pointed at the guest chairs. We sat down, and I noticed a folder on the desk in front of her. She rattled her fingertips against it.
“So, do you have enough on this James Smith to convince me to keep you working it with the PD?”
I looked at Renz and waited for him to take the lead. He finally spoke up.
“We don’t, but I was going to make a call to the Manitowoc PD this morning. If they stake out the marina where James Smith keeps his boat, they’ll easily be able to pick him up for questioning.”
“Does anyone have evidence that he committed a crime on that boat?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“Is the marina open twenty-four hours a day?”
“The office and store are open from eight a.m. to five p.m., but by swiping their card at the dock gate, members can get to their boat whenever they want.”
“Then where is the crime?”
“Um.” I had to say something. “The man who rented the Camry is the last person known to have seen Beth alive. He’s on the marina footage in the middle of the night, and Beth’s leg washed ashore several days later. Della’s arm washed ashore, too, but we don’t have footage from a month ago to view.”
“Do you have something connecting him to Della, or is it an assumption?”
“It’s an assumption,” Renz said.
“Okay, here’s my take on the case that’s tied you up this entire week.
A leg washed ashore near Atwater Park. An arm washed ashore a month ago in Two Rivers, and their PD hid that fact.
We have no idea where either crime took place.
If you can connect a crime to that boat today, then you can continue with the investigation.
If you can’t, you’re done, and you’ll begin working this cold case. ”
She passed the folder across her desk, and Renz placed it on his lap.
“Head into the meeting, and I’ll be right there.
By the way, at five o’clock, I want an update.
If you have nothing more than you do now, I’m pulling you, and you’ll take on this cold case Monday morning.
The PD won’t have any reason to consult with the FBI about the case any longer.
Between Milwaukee, Manitowoc, and Two Rivers, they’ll have to decide how to go forward on their own. Am I understood?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said.
Taft tipped her head toward the door. “Go ahead.”
Renz and I pushed back our chairs and walked out. When we were out of earshot, I spoke up.
“I knew she was going to pull us. What case file did she give you?”
Renz opened the folder and cursed. “It’s the damn Michael Lenstein case again. One that’s been cold for ten years, and every one of our agents worked on it and got nowhere.”
I grumbled. “Is Taft mad at us for something?”
“No, but we can’t spend our federal budget on a case that the PD can handle themselves. Even though body parts washed ashore from two different women—and to me, that’s more than a coincidence—we don’t have a shred of proof that James Smith committed either crime.”
We entered our main conference room and took the last two seats. Minutes later, Taft walked in and began the morning updates.
My mind was elsewhere, and it didn’t matter whether I listened or not.
If we were on the James Smith case, then we wouldn’t be working with the team, and if we were working the Michael Lenstein case, we’d also be separate from the team.
We could have gone back to our office so Renz could work on his blueberry muffin and I could get us more coffee.
I was relieved that the meeting lasted only ten minutes. Renz and I returned to our office and took our respective seats.
With my chin propped on my folded hands, I stared at him and hoped he had a plan. “Now what? Is there anything you can think of to advance this case that we can legally do?”
Renz shook his head. “I’m at a loss, Jade. James Smith, if he is the killer, is as slippery as it gets. He covers his tracks, rents cars, has a fake address and likely a fake name. We have no idea who we’re actually dealing with.”
“That reminds me, you have to call Bill to see if their news blast produced any results.”
“Why me?”
“Because you got us into this case, and now, I don’t want to let it go. It’s your fault.”
Renz laughed. “No wonder you’re single.” He dialed Bill and put his phone on Speaker.
I would add my two cents if I came up with any viable ideas.
“Bill, it’s Lorenzo. How did that news blast pan out with James Smith’s photo ID, and is it still being broadcast?”
“It’s strange.”
I piped in. “Bill, it’s Jade. How is it strange?”
“We haven’t gotten any leads. I don’t know about Manitowoc yet, but maybe they’ve had better luck since he keeps his boat there and possibly lives in that area. I mean, the guy has to buy groceries somewhere, doesn’t he?”
“One would think,” Renz said. “I’ll touch base with the Manitowoc PD since I was going to call them anyway about staking out the marina. No idea if they’ll do it or not since the guy hasn’t actually committed a crime in Milwaukee, Manitowoc, or Two Rivers that we know of.”
“Yeah, this is a tough one. Maybe the old saying is true.”
“And what is that?” I asked.
“If you want to kill someone, take them hiking or boating. Death by being pushed overboard or off a steep cliff happens all the time. Dead men tell no tales.”
I huffed. “Or in this case, women. So literally, there were no calls about the news blast?”
“Sorry, Jade, but there weren’t. That tells me something we haven’t considered.”
“What’s that?”
“Maybe he’s a hired hit man and isn’t from around here.”
I laughed. “Who would hire someone to kill two hookers?”
“Stranger things have happened. Just saying.”
Renz ended the call with Bill, and seconds later, my phone rang. That time, it was my cell phone. I didn’t recognize the number, so I cautiously answered and put it on Speaker so Renz could listen in. No one that I didn’t know ever called my cell unless it was someone I had given my card to.
“Hello.”
“Is this Agent Monroe?”
I looked at Renz and frowned. “Who’s calling, please?”
“Agent Monroe, it’s Candy. You gave me your card when you talked to Torrie and me.”
“Right. What can I do for you, Candy?”
“It’s Torrie. I haven’t seen her since yesterday. I’ve called her phone, but it goes straight to voicemail.”
I shook my head at Renz and mouthed the word shit.
“Did Torrie have an appointment? Climb into someone’s car and drive away with him?”
“No. Yesterday was slow. We each had a couple of appointments then ended our day when the night workers came on. Torrie and I talked for a minute, then we parted ways. I saw her walking in the direction of her house before I got into my car.”
“Did you stop by her house at all today? Maybe she’s sick.”
“No, the boss would have known. He’d make her work even if she was sick.”
“Okay. Do you know Torrie’s address?”
“Yeah, I’ve been there before.”
Candy rattled off Torrie’s house number and the street name, then I told her we would do a wellness check. With a promise to let her know what we found, I ended the call.
“What do you think, Renz?”
“It could be anything. She’s sick, overslept, got tired of that dangerous career choice. Who knows?”
“Let’s do a welfare check. It’s only a twenty-minute drive.”
“Yeah, okay. We have to tell Taft that we’re leaving the building.”
“I’ll tell her, and if Torrie is actually missing, we’re going to shut down that street-corner prostitution business once and for all. It’s for the safety of the ladies. Their boss can rot in jail.”
Renz left to pull the car around, and I walked to Taft’s office. I knocked on the half-open door, then she looked up.
“Jade, what is it?”
“Boss, Lorenzo and I need to conduct a welfare check on a day worker who hasn’t been heard from since yesterday.”
“Is that so unusual?”
“According to one of her closest friends, yes. I have a feeling whoever is committing the heinous murders has a reason to target those ladies. Torrie, the one who is missing, works that same corner. Her friend said she left at the end of their day shift. She didn’t leave with a john.
My thought is that maybe he knows the heat is on him and that gas station has cameras.
He might have followed her home then abducted her. ”
“Are you implying that he has a specific hit list?”
“Possibly. Otherwise, he could have chosen a night worker. Dark outside and late at night. All he had to do was pick up any one of them, take them away, and kill them like he did with Beth and probably Della too.”
Taft held up her hands. “Okay, go ahead. Where’s Lorenzo?”
“He went to get the car.”
Taft smiled. “You two are pretty confident in your convictions.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She shooed me out the door. “Call me when you know something.”