Authors: Paizley Stone
Dan and Roy sat talking over coffee in the break room, while they waited for Laura, and Dan was nervous. “Do you think we ought to call her to make sure she’s okay? I thought she would beat us in here this morning.”
“You’re kind of sweet on her, aren’t you, Murf?”
“Maybe a little bit. Does it show?”
“It sticks out all over your goofy face when she walks in the room! And you’re always getting her coffee and stuff.”
Dan looked worried. “Do you think she knows?”
“I’ve teased her about it.”
“I don’t stand a chance, do I?”
Roy shrugged his shoulders. “Three years ago, she found her ex in their bed with another man. She’s been pretty bitter ever since.”
“Wow, I would think so! How long had they been together?”
“About five years.”
“And she had no idea that he was bi-sexual?”
“No, it was a complete shock. She still gets an HIV test every few months, and then she’s a bear to live with until she gets the results back.”
Dan knew he was treading on an area that was none of his business, but he was concerned. “It’s been negative so far, right?”
“As far as I know everything is okay, and I’m sure she would tell me if it wasn’t. We’ve been through a lot together, and we’re pretty close. Damn shame it happened to her that way, she really loved the guy. So, don’t take her rejection personally, Murf. She may never be ready to trust again.”
“Great, her statements about me being sensitive probably aren’t helping my case.”
As Laura walked into the office, she could smell fresh brewed coffee and hear familiar voices in the background. Both men went silent when she stepped into the break room. “What are you two up to? You don’t have to stop talking on my account.”
“Murf and I were wondering if you were alright, because you didn’t beat us in this morning. If you hadn’t shown up soon, we were going to call. Get the lady some coffee, Murf!”
Dan gave Roy a dirty look. He knew he should have kept his mouth shut about his feelings. Roy was just sitting there laughing, and Laura was watching them both with a suspicious eye. “Am I missing something here? You two look like you’re up to something.”
Roy looked at her teasingly. “Maybe Murf and I are planning a surprise birthday party for you.”
“Funny! Number one, it isn’t my birthday. Number two, if you tell me then it isn’t a surprise.”
“Damn, you’re good! That’s why you’re the Lead Detective, and we’re your lowly slaves.”
She took the cup of coffee from Dan and sat down looking at her partners warily. “Are you two ready to work, or are we going to play games? Burns, do you have the files ready to go?”
“Yes, and I’ve been looking at the Butt Men. The only thing they have in common is that they’re all blue collar workers. It might be nothing, but it’s all I could come up with.”
Dan was desperately trying to take the focus off of his conversation with Roy. “It might mean that our killer only has access to blue collar workers, and isn’t involved with corporate people. Or, possibly there is more domestic violence in blue collar homes?”
“Or, maybe corporate people have an image to uphold, and it isn’t reported as often. Good start guys. Let’s take that theme and try to develop it, since we don’t have much else. We know that he uses a different kind of rope at each crime scene. I’ve assumed that it was so he couldn’t be traced to a specific brand at a specific store. Can we link the type of rope to the profession of any of the Butt Men?”
“Security guards don’t usually have rope connected with their work.”
“Good point, Murphy. What about the rest of them, Burns?”
“These guys are all over the place, one is a janitor, one a garbage man. The carpenter might use rope for a hoist, or something, but I just don’t see a solid connection to any of these guys.”
The three of them sat there quietly, thinking and looking at the files. Suddenly, Dan got an idea. “If the guard hadn’t been shot, would we have connected him to that group of buildings? Or, when we got the DNA back, would we have just seen the domestic violence report and lumped him in with the others?”
“Good question, Murf. See, I told you he would be good for our team.”
“You’re right, Burns, he impresses me more each day. My question is whether it was planned that way. Since it was the guard’s butts found at the scene, were we meant to find the guard dead? Just how far do we think this lunatic is taking the game? What if he knew the guard was patrolling and intended to kill him there, so we would find the link to his DNA.”
“You both have far more homicide experience than I do, but didn’t Dr. Foote say he thought the guard surprised the killer?”
Laura was impressed again by Dan’s comprehension of the facts about the case. “Yes, that’s what he told me at the scene. But what if the surprise was a timing issue? Maybe psycho boy was expecting the guard to show up, but he was early, and that didn’t leave enough time for the killer to complete the crime like he wanted to.”
“As usual, one of your brilliant leaps. If you stick around long enough, Murf, you will be amazed at the things she comes up with. So, you think the killer might have known the guard’s schedule and planned to kill him?”
“Perhaps he did. We have three connections with this one crime scene. The guard’s butts connect him to domestic violence issues, just like the men in all the other cases, and the scene itself, because of his body being found there. None of the other men have had anything to do with the scenes. The victim at that same scene had a key on her ring that opened the lock on the freezer at the next scene, which we found almost a month later.”
Roy was shaking his head in frustration. “Okay, so none of the other crime scenes have linked to anything else, and now all of this. Why?”
“Maybe he’s bored and wants to escalate the game?”
Dan squinted his eyes and swallowed hard. “Or, Peterson, he wants to connect with you now! He let go of his old love for a new connection with you!”
Roy gave him an angry glare. “Murf, don’t even think that way!”
Laura smiled at Dan’s perceptive reasoning. “No, he’s thinking exactly what I’m thinking.”
“And so am I!” They all looked up in surprise to see Captain Rutledge standing there. “I’m not happy about this turn of events. We’re dealing with a dangerous predator here, Detective Peterson. I want you to start carrying a tracking device on your person at all times, as well as keeping us informed of your every move.”
“Don’t you think that’s a bit drastic, Sir?”
“No, I don’t, this guy is after you! He has made that clear in his little love letter. If we knew who his next victim was, what would you tell her to do?”
“I hate to admit it, but you’re right.”
“Then I don’t want any more arguments. I’m having Ralph set it up so that it isn’t leaked out to our friend, since we don’t know what area he works in. There have been almost one hundred employees who have transferred into different departments around this city in the last fifteen months!”
“That’s more than I would’ve guessed, Sir. Maybe that corruption shake down from a couple of years ago had a bigger effect than I thought. I’ll get with Ralph first thing in the morning.”
“No, he’s on his way in here right now. Once I realized how difficult it was going to be to narrow this field down, I decided it couldn’t wait until tomorrow. Burns, have we run Tamara Hastings’ prints?”
Roy replied quickly. “Yes, Sir, we have, and nothing came up in the system.”
“I was afraid of that. We don’t even know what state this guy came from. It almost seems impossible to me that in this day and age a woman could just show up in a city, without a trace of where she came from. Did she transfer a driver’s license?”
Roy looked through the file and shook his head. “She didn’t have one on her. All we found was a card she had made up with her current name and address on it, and I checked with the DMV. They’ve never heard of her.”
The Captain was getting frustrated. “So, we don’t even know if that’s her real name? What about a car registration?”
“She took the bus, according to her roommate.”
“Damn it, Burns, what do we know about this roommate?”
“Nice lady. Has lived in the same apartment for five years. All she knew was that Tamara was afraid of her ex and didn’t want to be found.”
“Well, that’s not working out real well for her, is it? She’s dead, and somehow that guy found her. Why can’t we work backwards and find him? Look, people, I don’t mean to be insensitive here, but my head is on the proverbial chopping block right now. The Commissioner is on my case, and I’m afraid of where this guy is headed! We need to get a solid lead on something. The eighth body just showed up this week. We have about three more weeks before the eleventh of the month, which means he’s stalking his next victim right now, and it could be Detective Peterson. I know I don’t have to tell you how urgent this is!”
Laura thought he was overreacting. “Sir, I don’t think it’s me. If you read the letter, he says he is dedicating the rest of the bodies to me. At some point I may be the next one, but for right now I think I’m safe.”
Captain Rutledge got a very stern look on his face. “You think so? Well, tell me, do you think there’s a possibility that the next seven bodies after hers were dedicated to Tamara? He can kill you and still dedicate the bodies to you, Peterson! He could be looking for his next freezer right now! I personally don’t think anyone is safe! We need to get this guy soon, and you need to be extremely careful from now on!”
He walked out of the break room in a huff, leaving the three of them sitting there staring at each other. Laura had never seen him that upset before. They were all quiet for awhile, and she was the first to speak. “The Captain is right. We really need a break, because this guy is stalking the next one right now, regardless of who it is.”
Dan got up and left the room in a hurry. Laura wondered what was wrong and was going to follow him, but Roy grabbed her arm. “Let him go. He might need a moment by himself.”
“Why, is something wrong?”
“Yes! You know that he’s crazy about you, and now it looks like you might be the next victim. Don’t you think he’s just as scared as the rest of us right now? Maybe more.”
“You’re right, he probably is. How long has he been with us, maybe eight months? And most of that time has been spent dealing with our psycho buddy. That’s a tough way to break into a new department.”
“Not only that, he’s infatuated with a certain detective on our team and afraid she will be taken away from him. So, is the feeling mutual?”
She looked at him like he was insane. “What feeling?”
“Don’t skirt the question. How do you feel about him?”
She softened a little bit. “He’s one hell of a sweet guy, but he’s too young for me. You know what I went through with Alan. I may never get over that one.”
“Does age make that much difference? I think maturity counts more, and he has that cornered pretty well.”
“Yes, he does. I’m amazed at the things he comes up with. He’s very intuitive in his own way and will be a great Lead Detective some day. I just hope this case doesn’t do him in before he reaches his stride.”
Roy smiled thoughtfully. “I recommended him for our team, because Murf used to be a partner with my best friend, until he retired. Butch had nothing but praise for the kid and knew he wanted to become a detective, so he put a bug in my ear. He thought Murf would do us proud.”
“I’m sure he will, and I think he has already. He really is a welcome addition.”
“Yeah, and you really like him too.”
They stopped talking when they saw him coming back to the break room. “Sorry to bail on you guys, had to make a bathroom stop.”
“That’s okay, Murf; we solved the whole case while you were gone.”
“Really! What happened?”
“Dan, he’s just pulling your leg. We were waiting for you to come back, because your insights have been extremely valuable lately.”
Dan had an angry scowl on his face. “That’s not funny, Burns! This is serious! Laura is in big trouble here. We need to do what we can to protect her, not make jokes!”
Roy was taken aback by his reaction. “Simmer down, Murf! I am taking this seriously. You’ve known me long enough to know that I make jokes to ease tension. No one wants to catch this guy more than me.”
Dan’s shoulders dropped, and he sat down in his chair. “Sorry, I guess my nerves are just getting frazzled. This case is like treading water for hours at a time.”
Everyone looked up when they heard footsteps approaching. “Knock, knock.”
Laura got a big smile on her face. “Hey, Ralph, I guess you’re looking for me.”
“Hi guys, can I borrow your lady friend for a little while?”
“I think we can spare her, huh, Murf?”
“Yes, thanks for coming in on your day off, Dr. Foote. We need to make sure she is as safe as possible.”
“My pleasure, gentlemen. Are you ready, my dear?”
Ralph and Laura headed down to the lab in the basement. He watched as she stood in the elevator quietly biting her lip. “Are you going to be okay?”
“You know me, Ralph. I will get through all of this. The nice part is that the next case after this one has to be a piece of cake, comparatively. We have been going in circles, until these last two scenes connected to each other, but the connections don’t tell us anything about who the killer is.”