Chapter 15 #3
Rodney continued. “And, when that day comes, we’ll be very happy that you have that freedom,” he noted. “Right now, it’s enough that all of us know that you were called here. And obviously there was a valid reason for that. I’m sorry that you are involved again.”
Simon looked at him, then snorted.
Rodney added, “But you know what you’re not sorry about?”
“What’s that?” Simon asked.
Rodney smiled at him. “That you weren’t involved.”
“Yeah, you’re not kidding,” Simon agreed, with a nod. “You would think I would be numb to all this. Instead it just never, ever seems to end.”
“It will end, or at least this one will,” Kate declared, still at his side. “But there will be another one soon enough. I think that’s one of the reasons I do what I do. Just as soon as you think that you’re free and clear to rest between cases, something else happens.”
Simon frowned. “Sounds very … negative.”
“No, not negative, just fatalistic.” She smiled and stood up. “I’ll walk over to the forensics team and see if they found anything interesting. You guys finish this up, and then I’ll take Simon home,” she told Rodney.
“And do what?” Simon asked. “Drop me off?”
“Yes,” she stated, turning to him. “You don’t need to be sitting here.”
“I would like to stay,” he told her, “if for no other reason than to spend time …” He frowned. “I want to say goodbye.” His voice caught on an odd note.
She gave him a quick hug and then headed to the forensic team that was all over the church.
Simon glanced at Rodney and saw the smirk on his face. “She’ll be here all day and likely all night, won’t she?” Simon asked, his tone light.
“Here, … outside, … all around.”
“Figures.”
“She’s already ordered any available camera footage from outside. And, before she starts snapping at me, I’ve got to start looking for witnesses, other than you.”
Simon nodded. “Street cameras are at the junction and in the left parking lot.”
“We’ve called for all those. There’s any number of things we’ll be working on tonight,” he noted, “because it’s still fresh. And, if you have anything to offer, feel free. Although I know that she doesn’t particularly want you to feel obligated to help.”
“If I had anything to offer,” he began, “you guys would be the first to know. Has she told you about that woman who keeps talking to me?”
Rodney turned to him and asked, “No, what woman?” He gave him the shortened version of it. And Rodney frowned. “But what do you do with that, when they are just visions mostly?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “That’s the thing. That’s probably why Kate hasn’t mentioned anything to you guys about it because we don’t really know what we’re supposed to do with it.”
“Good God,” he muttered. “So, this woman is upset and lamenting the loss because she’s infertile? She’s living in Vancouver, but we don’t know what the time frame is?”
“Yeah, … something like that, “Simon muttered, with a smile. “After all those bodies were found in that one building …”
Rodney immediately closed his eyes and then shivered. “Yeah, don’t remind me about that. This was pretty horrific too.”
“So, for this woman, I can’t really say that she’s dead or alive, at least not yet. And I don’t know if she has any connection to this case.”
“With just your visions to go on, I can’t imagine that she would, but you’re right. We can’t take that chance.” Rodney wrote down a couple notes about Simon’s ongoing visions with this one woman. “I’ll, um, I’ll see if anything pops up.”
“Are you expecting something?” Simon asked.
“As a matter of fact, I am.”
“Why?”
“Partly because of the motivation behind this current case, and I’m not talking about the priest. But that whole believe theme, not to mention that the use of gift wrap and decorations is pretty specific.”
“Yet it was also seasonal,” Simon noted. “So somebody with a snarky sense of humor may have thought that was an appropriate ending for somebody.”
“Two of them were wrapped up, and,” Rodney explained, “the one was not. … Two were about poison. The one was not.”
“And you guys have no idea.”
“We have no forensic evidence, way too many phone numbers, not to mention dating apps, which we have to cross-reference, and we’re not finding anything, other than three women who dated all of the dead men, or at least two of the men for sure.
We’ve spoken to several of the women who had recently dated our three guys, but no leads so far.
There’s no payment system involved, and there is an abundance of fake names and fake profiles.
And maybe the fake part got them into all this. ”
“Did you consider that?” Simon asked.
“I think we’ve been questioning everything, but, if you’ve got any insights to offer, we’re always ready to listen.”
Simon laughed. “Whether you want to or not.”
“Yeah. Whether we want to or not,” Rodney agreed, with half a smile. “There are just some things we would prefer not to have to consider, but that’s not an option. So, if you’ve got anything coming and going—”
“Why would you even think about fake profiles?” Simon cut off his train of thought.
“People catfish all the time on these online platforms. And I don’t necessarily mean any of our vics were out there prowling for new dates because, in a way, I think each one was probably as upfront and as clear as he could be about these sex-only relationships.
Still, that doesn’t mean the women were.
The insurance office gossip was that Robert got somebody pregnant. ”
“Ah.”
“So, he may have been upfront and clear about his intentions, but that didn’t mean that the women were really on board for the same thing, even if they supposedly agreed to his terms. I know it sounds pretty harsh, cruel, and maybe even unbelievable, but some women get pregnant and then don’t want to deal with the baby’s daddy.
Though that doesn’t mean that they won’t return at another point and file for child support—even though the man has no idea, which may be why these men have been so strict with their upfront rules. ”
Simon shook his head. “Wow. With these guys, they should have all had vasectomies. Robert supposedly did. Is that something you could check on? Is that a normal part of an autopsy on dead men?”
“No clue. And believe me that I won’t be the one asking Smidge about it.”
Simon chuckled at him. “Still don’t get along with him, huh?”
“I don’t understand how anybody gets along with him,” Rodney admitted. “I mean, just the job he does is enough to freak me out. And I know it’s necessary, and he’s really good at it. Yet even the fact that he’s good at it seems creepy.”
Simon laughed. “And yet—”
“I know.” Rodney held up one hand. “We’re very grateful that he’s good at it.
We are also incredibly grateful for someone in the department who seems to have special powers when it comes to him.
And I don’t want to say he bends over backward for Kate, but it almost seems like it.
That in itself seems somehow miraculous because he’s just not that guy. ”
Simon instinctively looked over at Kate, who was standing still, staring at the stained-glass windows.
“So, all in all, it’s a good thing,” Rodney noted, “because if you have somebody who can make things happen and can, better still, make things happen a little faster than normal, it helps a lot.”
“It does, indeed.” Simon then turned to him. “Outside of this, are you doing okay? Are you all recovered from the beating you took?”
“Yeah, pretty much. It took a little longer than I wanted,” he shared, “and of course the office has been good about making sure I get back into fitness and self-defense training. So that’s taken it out of me too right now.”
“Yeah, and I bet that’s why Kate was back at the dojo and got her ass kicked. Sounds like her instructor was pretty unimpressed that she had let so much slide,” Simon said, with a smile. Just then came a commotion at the front.
Rodney stood up and called out to Kate, who immediately lifted a hand and waved at him. “You stay in here, and I’ll go see what’s up.”
As Rodney headed toward the front, Simon watched carefully, trying to figure out just what was going on. That same little voice in the back of his head whispered, Go ahead and watch, but it’s too late.
“What’s too late?” he asked.
He’s dead.
“I know he’s dead,” he snapped at Sarah. “I’m the one that found him.”
You might’ve found him, but I’m the one who killed him.