Chapter 7
Kate slammed her pen on her desk and glared at the whiteboard in front of her.
Rodney raised his eyebrows, and she just shrugged. He noted, “Something’s not making you happy.”
She snapped, “I just can’t see any particular reason for any of this. I mean, outside of everything superficial that connects these guys, I don’t see anything. No one person worked with all three victims, which I thought was a shoo-in as to why these victims were picked.”
“We have a whole bunch of nothing,” Rodney muttered.
“Yeah, we do. We don’t even have a list of girlfriends.”
“I am still going through the phone records,” Rodney noted, turning to her, “and they’re taking a bit of time, but I’m not seeing anything crossover on dating or anything of that nature.”
“Oh snap,” she said. “That would have been a really good thought, but it didn’t even occur to me.”
He laughed. “That’s why we’re a team.”
She nodded. “I was focused on a completely different angle, the workplace, but that dating angle’s good too. Yeah, keep following that trail, focusing on the details for that.”
“This case seems to be bothering you a lot,” he noted, as he studied her.
“It’s not that it’s bothering me so much,” she began, “but … I saw that poor man on the autopsy table. John was young, strong, in his physical prime. He had a good job with so much ahead of him, and yet he’s dead.
Why? Then there’s our victim Kurt, with the sister allowing a drug overdose to stand in for her brother’s cause of death without an autopsy, caving to the pressure from her jerk husband.
She actively participated in that and went along with a quick burial to put the shame of it all behind her. ”
Kate tried to shake off her frustration, not sure she could. “It adds to the whole distressing scenario, and I’m left to wonder whether anybody even cared about these victims, or were these guys all so isolated that they seemed to be easy targets?”
“Oh, now that’s an interesting point,” Rodney stated. “I hadn’t really considered that they might be looked at as targets.”
She shrugged. “Despite all the women they each saw, these guys remained isolated, … all of them. We’re still waiting to hear more on John Smith, the first one, which hasn’t been helpful to date.
Then Kurt, who died two years ago, had family who didn’t seem to have his best interests at heart.
Now Robert Blake, the new one from today, we don’t know anything about his next of kin yet.
However, so far, it looks as if nobody was truly close to him either,” she shared.
“So, let’s bounce around some ideas,” Rodney suggested.
“Okay.” Kate began, “I think they are all connected, but, rather than one killer, we have multiple killers because these two on top of each other kind of rules out that one person could do it.”
As Colby walked into the bullpen, he noted, “That’s an awful lot for just one person to pull off that fast.”
“Unless they weren’t alone,” Kate added.
Colby nodded.
Kate pointed out, “If it were more than one person, that would be more feasible. … Yet I get what you’re saying. It’s not terribly likely to be the same killer, is it?”
“No,” Colby stated. “It’s not terribly likely, but we aren’t that far into the investigation yet. Keep an open mind. You need to—”
“I know,” she mumbled, standing up. “I’ll go canvass the neighborhood regarding John, our first victim, while we wait for the reports coming in from Robert’s death, just found this morning, yet may have happened the previous night.”
Colby gave her a wave and a nod and took off for his office.
Kate frowned, then sighed, now turning to Rodney.
“We may need to talk to Kurt’s neighbors, about our victim from two years ago.
We already have similarities,” she confirmed, “but we don’t have the right information to connect these, outside of the fact that a pretty specific MO is involved, which makes it very weird.
” With that, she added, “I’m heading over to John’s apartment and will talk to anybody and everybody who’s around. ”
“At our initial visit,” Rodney reminded her, “all those women told us how John was a really good person.”
“Yeah, I hear you. And we did speak to a lot of John’s neighbors on that floor. Maybe first I’ll hit the coffee shops around the corner, and the gym that he went to,” she added, then faced Rodney. “You don’t have to come. None of these will be anything particularly inspiring.”
“Right,” Rodney agreed. “In that case, I’ll stay here and keep working on these phone lists.”
“That would be great because, if we could come up with anybody who’s connected to both of the recent deaths—”
“Or all three,” Rodney interrupted, “that would be huge.”
“Yes,” she confirmed. “You work on that, and I’ll be back in a bit.
I’m just too frustrated to sit here and twiddle my thumbs while I try to figure out another angle.
Better I’m out in the field doing something.
At least then I’ll feel as if I’m getting somewhere.
” With that, she took off but stopped at the doorway and called out, “And since it’s already three o’clock … ”
“Right.” Rodney chuckled. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She nodded as she headed to her vehicle. She drove to where they had already spoken to both the property manager and John’s neighbors to get her bearings. From there, she found the neighborhood gym and the closest coffee shop.
As she walked into the coffee shop, she looked around and smiled.
It was neat and clean, probably doing a decent business during the day.
Yet right now it was definitely more on the dead side.
She crossed to the front counter and ordered coffee.
She held up a picture of John Smith. “Do you recognize this guy?”
The woman looked at it, smiled, and nodded. “Absolutely. He’s a regular here.” She laughed. “He’s great fun to be around, always has a laugh and a joke for everyone. Why are you looking for him?” When Kate held up her badge, the woman shook her head. “Oh no.”
Kate nodded. “Yeah.” She paused to let the woman settle with that news, then asked, “And your name?”
“Minnie,” she whispered. “He’s one of those really good guys. The kind you want to come in every day because he’s a breath of fresh air, always has a nice word to say. He doesn’t bitch and complain. He always makes you feel special,” she shared, followed by a heavy sigh. “What happened to him?”
Kate paused, then replied, “He was murdered.”
At that word, Minnie’s face went pale, her eyes went round, and she gasped in horror. “Seriously?”
Kate nodded. “I’m sorry. He was found dead in his apartment.”
Tears flooded Minnie’s face, and she muttered, “That’s unbelievable.” She stared off in the distance, trying to hold back more tears, and shook her head. “He will be sorely missed.”
“That’s good to hear,” Kate replied. “Nobody should go to their death with people completely forgetting them.”
“That won’t happen here,” Minnie stated. “He was always really friendly and kind. The women here loved him.”
“You too?”
She nodded. “Yeah,” she confirmed, more tears spilling. “I loved him. He was a hell of a good person to have around.”
“How many of the women working here right now or even among your customers would know him?”
Minnie glanced around, suddenly more uncomfortable than she had been at the beginning.
Kate explained, “I am just trying to get a feel for his personality, what he was like with people.” She leaned in closer and lowered her voice. “I understand from his office and his neighbors that he was a bit of a ladies’ man.”
Minnie laughed. “That he was, but it was always respectful, you know? He never got in your face, and he never tried to touch or grab. He wasn’t that way at all.
He was always just—” And the tears once again came to her eyes.
She brushed them away and shook her head.
“God, this is so hard. Can you excuse me for a moment?” She quickly dashed into the back, and it was a few long moments before she came back.
Kate had taken a seat and was just sitting here, waiting to see if Minnie would return or if maybe she needed to go home.
If so, Kate would contact her at another time.
Minnie did eventually come back, with a box of tissues, her eyes red-rimmed, and with a man who had a truly sorrowful expression on his face.
“Is it true, … about John’s death?” he asked.
Kate nodded. “Yes, it is. I’m sorry. And you are?”
“Max, the manager here.” He shook his head. “Wow, I mean, that is not what I expected.”
“What do you mean?” Kate asked.
Max sighed. “John was one of those bigger-than-life guys. He worked out all the time, was watching what he ate. He never seemed sad. If ever somebody should live forever, it would be him.”
“Can you share the details?” Minnie asked Kate. “About how he died?”
“Not right now. My investigation is still underway.”
Max grimaced. “Yeah, it figures. You know the saying, the good die young,” he suggested. “Whenever you meet or hear about somebody you really admire and who always has a smile for everybody? That, … that was John.”
“And was his smile bigger for the women?” Kate asked Max.
“Oh, absolutely.” Max chuckled. “He was very much a ladies’ man, and, as long as he didn’t bother the ladies, it was okay with everybody.”
“So he never became a problem, did he?” Kate asked.
Max turned to Minnie, still dabbing her eyes, and she shook her head. “No. He set more than a few hearts aflutter. If he had asked out half a dozen of the women here, I think probably all of them would have said yes. He was just that kind of a guy,” she shared.
Max nodded. “I have to agree with that,” he added, with a wry look.
“He definitely had the ladies eating out of his hand, but he was a good tipper, he was respectful, and I never had any problems with anybody here. So, there didn’t seem to be any issue with John, no need to reprimand him or to even ask him to ease up on the flirtations,” he told Kate.