Presumed Guilty: (A Jefferson Winter novella) (8 page)

‘We know what went on.’

‘No, you
think
you know what went on. Which is a whole different ball game. If you actually knew, then you would have caught this guy by now. You haven’t, therefore you don’t know.’

‘So, what do you think happened?’

‘A courtship.’

Yoko waited for Winter to expand on this. He didn’t. Instead, he walked back to the living room. She stood alone in the bedroom for a second, then followed.

The kid was playing to the gallery and, since she was that gallery, and she was here, and she didn’t have anything better to do for the next five minutes, she decided to humour him.

‘This is where Act One took place.’ He said. ‘This is where he asks Alice out on a date.’

‘
Asks her out.
’

Winter turned and glared at her. ‘It’s your turn to speak only when spoken to. If you want to catch this guy, that is.’

‘And you’re that sure of yourself.’

He nodded. ‘Yes I am.’

Yoko dipped her head slightly in a gesture of mock contrition that was filled with sarcasm. ‘Please continue.’

‘This is where he asked Alice out.’

He watched her closely when he said this. Yoko stood completely still, mouth shut tight.

‘When she arrives home, he’s waiting here for her. Alice comes into the living room and he uses a stun gun to incapacitate her.’

‘Not a Taser?’

Winter shook his head. ‘Remember, this is about wooing her. He wants to get up close and personal. With a stun gun he needs to be right next to her. Close enough to smell her. A Taser would be too impersonal because he’d be too far away.’

Yoko nodded. ‘The first three victims had injuries that were consistent with a stun gun. We haven’t had Alice’s autopsy report yet, but I’m not anticipating any change to Valentino’s MO. Not at this stage. What happens next?’

‘Next, he uses duct tape to gag Alice. The last thing he wants is for any neighbours to hear any suspicious noises. Then he cuts Alice’s clothing off.’

Yoko raised an eyebrow and shook her head slowly from side to side. ‘We haven’t seen any evidence of that.’

‘He cuts the clothing off because he needs Alice naked before the effects of the stun gun wear off. Have you tried to undress someone when their arms and legs are bound with duct tape? It’s impossible. So he cuts off her clothes. It’s the only explanation.’

Winter stopped talking and stood completely still, a distant look on his face. ‘Okay, the reason you haven’t found any evidence is because he takes the damaged clothing with him. He feels guilty. He feels that by ruining Alice’s clothes, he’s somehow disrespecting her.’

‘Given some of the other things he does, I’d say a few ruined items of clothing isn’t that big a deal.’

Winter sighed. ‘Yes, but you’re not the unsub. You look at this crime scene and all you see is violence and hatred.’

‘And you don’t?’

‘What I see is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is what the unsub sees. For him, this is all about love.’

‘You have got to be kidding.’

A slow shake of the head. ‘I’ve never been more serious.’

He moved to the bathroom and stood in the doorway.

‘I carry her in here and place her gently into the bath. I’m moving quickly because I want her dead before she wakes up. If she wakes up that would spoil everything. This has nothing to do with her suffering and everything to do with my pleasure.’

Yoko noted the change from third person to first and it was impossible to stop the shivers running through her body. The kid’s face had changed, too, the muscles tightening, the eyes narrowing. It was almost as if he was turning into a different person right in front of her. The overall effect was creepy.

‘I slash her femoral artery because that’s the most efficient way for her to bleed out. Then I hack her heart from her chest. I use a big knife because it’s fast and efficient. I want to get this part over and done with as quickly as possible so we can get on to the real fun.’

Winter snapped out of his trance as suddenly as he’d gone into it. He smiled at Yoko. ‘By the way, he doesn’t eat their hearts. I was just messing with you there. You think he keeps them as trophies, right? You think that’s how you’re going to nail him?’

Yoko nodded.

‘Well, there you go, something we agree on. I’m also guessing that in your scenario he gets them out of the bath and takes them straight to the bedroom.’

Yoko nodded again.

Winter sucked in a sharp breath that whistled between his teeth. He shook his head. ‘I’m afraid, you’re wrong there. Now that he’s asked her out, and she’s said yes, we move on to Act Two. Going steady. The first thing he does is get Alice cleaned up. He washes the blood away then he gives her a bath. He soaps her down, washes her hair. He spends ages on her hair.’

‘Then what?’

Winter went quiet long enough for Yoko to wonder if he’d heard the question. His eyes took on that faraway look again.

‘Now we hang out for a while. I dress her up in some casual clothes. Some sweats and a T-shirt. We watch some TV. Reruns of
Friends
, that sort of thing. Chick TV. We chat and chill and have a good time. I do her hair. Brush it through and blow dry it because I want her to look her best later. Then we make out. We quickly move from first to second base. For third base we move into the bedroom. Somewhere along the line we pass the point of no return and consummate the relationship.’

Yoko felt sick, the room felt too small. Part of it was the fact that the bathroom was claustrophobically tiny, but mostly she was completely creeped out by this kid. It took a lot to shock her, but right now she wanted to be as far away from him as possible.

‘How did you know about that?’ she asked. ‘We were very careful to keep that out of the press.’

He snapped out of his trance, looked at her like he couldn’t quite work out who she was, then said, ‘You told me.’

‘I’m sure I didn’t. It’s the sort of thing I’d remember.’

‘You did, you just didn’t realise.’

‘Explain.’

‘It’s common knowledge that he cuts out their hearts, so I asked myself what could be worse than that. I came up with a couple of theories, then, when we were chatting back in the interview room I used your reactions to lead me to the correct answer.’

‘Not buying.’

‘Because you don’t give anything away? Because you keep those cards tight to your chest?’ Winter shook his head. ‘Agent Tanaka, I can read you like a book. Anyway, let’s move on to Act Three. Prom Night.’

Winter glanced up at the holes in the ceiling as they walked into the bedroom.

‘What do you think happened here?’ he asked.

‘He dressed Alice in a prom dress and strung her up from the ceiling.’

‘Okay, but why do that? That’s the really interesting question. Why?’

‘He was making a statement. He wants people to sit up and take notice. He’s playing to the crowd.’

Winter shook his head. ‘Wrong, wrong and wrong.’

Yoko grabbed him by the arm and spun him around so that he was facing her.

‘Okay you little shit. Listen to me, and listen good. I brought you here because I thought you might be able to help us. God knows why I thought that, but I did. Now, so far all I’ve heard is a whole load of subjective speculation. Maybe you’re right, maybe you’re wrong. See, the problem with speculative bullshit like the sort you’re dishing up is that we won’t know if you’re right until Valentino’s in custody, and, by then, who cares?’

He smiled a smug smile. ‘Get it all out there, Agent. Do I detect a chink in your armour? A crack in the ice maiden’s frozen exterior?’

‘Either give me something useful, or we’re leaving and Bubba’s going to have a new best friend to cuddle up to later.’

‘Okay, before I tell you how you’re going to solve the case, I need something from you.’

Yoko’s eyes widened in disbelief. ‘You’re negotiating with me!’

He nodded. ‘And the good news is that it isn’t that big an ask. All I want is to go along for the ride when you arrest this guy. Unless you count this morning, I’ve never seen an actual arrest. And that one doesn’t really count since my view of events was skewed by the way that cop was forcing me to eat the carpet. I’m curious to see how it goes down.’

‘No way.’

‘In that case, come find me when victim five turns up and we can discuss this again. Let’s see if that changes your mind. I’m betting it will. There’s nothing like a fresh corpse to give you a new perspective.’

She glared at him. ‘I’m already in all sorts of trouble because of you. How much more trouble do you think I’d be in if I shot you? I’ll tell you. No more trouble. In fact, Dumas will probably be first in line to shake my hand.’

‘But what about poor Bubba? Won’t he get lonely?’

Yoko glared some more, then headed for the door. She was shaking her head and cursing under her breath. Winter started slow-clapping in time with her footsteps.

‘Bravo, Agent Tanaka! Nice bit of acting. Now, how about you get back over here so we can solve this case.’

She stopped in the doorway, did a smart about-turn, then walked back.

‘What gave it away?’

‘You over-cooked it a little. There’s no way you’re going to blow your cool like that. You’re way too much of a control freak. “You little shit”, that’s the sort of thing Dumbass would say.’

Yoko nodded. ‘Yeah, you’re right.’

He held out his hand. ‘I tell you how to catch this guy, you take me along for the ride when you arrest him.’

She stared at his hand for a second, then shook it.

‘Promise and cross your heart?’

‘Don’t push it.’

Winter walked over to the middle of the room and looked up at the hook holes in the ceiling.

‘You said earlier that the bad guy strung Alice up from the ceiling. I take it he did the same thing with the other victims too.’

Yoko nodded.

‘And I’m guessing this was one of those details that you cops love to withhold from the media.’

Another nod.

‘And your average woman weighs, what? A hundred and sixty pounds, give or take? That’s a lot of weight to be hanging from the ceiling. The hooks were pretty big, right? And they were screwed into the joists. They’d have to be to hold the girls up.’

‘The hooks were fairly substantial,’ she confirmed. ‘And, yes, they were screwed into the joists.’

Winter nodded to himself like this was all making sense. ‘Have you tried to screw a hook into a solid piece of wood? It’s hard work. And I’m talking about a small hook here. Hooks the size this guy used, that’s going to be harder still. You’re going to need to drill pilot holes.’

‘But a drill’s going to make noise. Someone would have heard something.’ Yoko shook her head. ‘None of the neighbours at any of the crime scenes mentioned hearing a drill.’

He smiled. ‘A cordless drill set on a slow speed won’t make that much noise. That said, I’m kind of with you on this one Agent. I don’t think he used an
electric
drill, but what about a hand drill? Yes it’s going to take longer, but it’ll still get the job done. This guy’s got plenty of patience. There’s something else you can add to your profile.’

Yoko stared up at the ceiling. She was imagining the unsub standing on a chair, working slowly and methodically with a hand drill. What the kid was saying made a lot of sense.

‘Did you see Alice?’ asked Winter.

She nodded.

‘And all the girls were slightly above average height? Five-six? Five-seven?’

Another nod.

He disappeared from the room, leaving Yoko to wonder what he was up to now. She heard him rummaging around in the kitchen, heard the clink and clang of banging metal. He returned thirty seconds later with a large pot and placed it on the floor directly beneath the hook marks.

‘Stand on the pot,’ he said.

‘Why?’

‘Because you’re too short.’

She shrugged. Ask a stupid question. She kicked off her shoes and stood on the upturned pot, feeling ridiculous.

‘Close your eyes and picture Alice when you first saw her. Try and see her as clearly as you can. Every detail. Where were her arms? Where was she looking? Were her legs together or apart?’

Yoko hesitated, and Winter said, ‘Just humour me.’

As soon as she closed her eyes, it was like she was reliving that awful moment from this morning all over again. There was Alice Harrigan all dressed up for the prom. Skin the colour of porcelain. Eye’s wide and unfocussed.

She took a deep breath and tried to push past the horror, tried to picture the scene from Valentino’s point of view.

She noted the way Alice’s head was bowed, and the way she was cradling her left hand in her right.

She noted the way her feet were placed.

She noted how the overall picture was one of supplication, like a pilgrim standing before a saint.

She noted how Valentino had made Alice appear weak so he would appear more powerful.

She also noted how this case was getting under her skin more than any other case she’d worked in a long time, and blamed Jefferson Winter. Dealing with the sorts of monsters that she dealt with, every day you added more scar tissue to your soul. Do this long enough and your soul ended up completely covered.

The thing with scar tissue was that it stopped the pain getting through, and that was a good thing. The novocaine numbness at her core was what made it possible to do this job without going crazy.

But this kid had somehow managed to scratch through that toughened rawhide exterior. Just enough to make her soul bleed a little. Yoko wasn’t sure whether she should hate him or thank him.

‘Open your eyes and stand exactly how Alice was standing when you found her.’

It took time, but eventually Yoko reached a pose she was happy with. She stood there under Winter’s scrutiny, her left hand cupping her right, her head bowed slightly, feeling even more ridiculous and self-conscious than ever.

Winter nodded to himself like he approved of what he was seeing. That faraway look was back on his face, and for a brief, terrifying moment Yoko could almost believe it was Valentino standing in front of her. Then he spoke and that broke the spell.

‘You know, I hate nicknames, but you were right about calling this one Valentino. He really is an old romantic. A real charmer.’

‘Can I get down?’

‘Not quite yet.’

He moved closer and gently took her arms in his hands. Yoko flinched and resisted, and he whispered that it was okay, that she should trust him. He was talking to her like he was comforting an injured animal.

She was surprised at the tenderness in his voice. She was even more surprised that she was actually buying what he was saying, that, for now at least, she did trust him. He lifted her arms up, kept lifting until they were high enough to duck underneath. He let go and her arms draped down over his shoulders.

‘Relax,’ he whispered. ‘You’re dead, remember.’

Yoko exhaled and let her body go limp. Her hands came to rest on the top part of his back. Her head came to rest on his shoulder.

He smelled of five and a half hours spent in a police interview room, and she reckoned she probably didn’t smell much better. She felt vulnerable, being this close to him. At the same time she felt safe, wanted. It was a peculiar contradiction that she didn’t understand.

‘What do you do at proms, Agent Tanaka?’ he whispered in her ear.

To start with she didn’t get what the kid was driving at. And then it all became clear. For a split second she saw the world through Valentino’s eyes.

‘You dance,’ she whispered back.

Winter started humming a gentle slow-dance melody, and for a while they swayed together in time with music that only they could hear.