Cause of Death (Det. Annie Avants Book 1) (16 page)

When Annie and Tom returned to their desks at the Detective Bureau after their journey to Roseville, the first thing they saw were copies of the missing persons report for Maria Ortiz.

"Oh, no," Annie said, "Not another one."

Tom looked over his copy.  "She fits the profile of Gabriela Lozcano and Carmen Gutierrez.  We need to talk to her parents and the three Abeyta sisters who were with her when they met the man Maria stayed there with and see what they can tell us."

"I'll talk to the Sergeant and make sure we have people out talking to Maria's neighbors and anyone at El Mercado Latino that might have seen them.  He bought the girls drinks, so the bartender may remember him and can give us a description also," Annie said.

"Right.  I'll call the parents right now, set an appointment for tomorrow morning at 10 AM, and tell them to make sure the Abeyta sisters are there.  We need to get their description of the man and any other information they can give us.  Also, let's put Sarah on alert so she can go over there right away and make a sketch - actually three sketches - one from each girl done separately, and from the bartender if he remembers anything," Tom said.

"Well, there's nothing more we can do tonight and it's been a long day," Annie said.  At least we have a name now for Gabriela Lozcano.  I'll talk to Doc on Monday and find out when her body is scheduled for release to her family.  He may also know by then when Carmen Gutierrez's body can be released."

When Annie arrived home, she saw the light on her answering machine flashing.  It was a message from Jesse.

"Annie, hi it's Jesse.  I just heard about the new missing girl from El Mercado Latino.  This may not be significant, but I see a pattern to when the girls go missing and when their bodies are dumped.   Give me a call as soon as you get in, no matter how late, OK?"

Annie dialed Jesse's number and was surprised when he picked up immediately after only two rings.

"Hey there, Geronimo," Annie said.  "What's up?"

"Haha, funny, Annie," he said, laughing.  "I charted the time-line of what's been happening and here's what I've found so far.

"Gabby - do you have her full name now? - was last seen on August 3rd by the truck driver, Stetson Maddox.  Her body, as well as Doc can tell, was left in the vineyard on August 12th and found on August 13th.  Carmen Gutierrez went missing on August 13th in the evening.  So, if it's the same perp, he dumped Gabby the night of August 12th and abducted Carmen the evening of August 13th."

"Gabby's full name is Gabriela Maria Lozcano.  I'll bring you up to date on her history as soon as I get my notes typed up," Annie said. 

Jesse continued, "Doc thinks Carmen's body was dumped on August 22nd in the early morning hours.  It was found several hours later.  Now, a new girl has gone missing on August 23rd.

"To recap, there were approximately nine days between when Gabby was last seen on August 3rd and when her body was allegedly dumped on August 12th.  The second victim, Carmen, was last seen the day after Gabby's body was found, on August 13th.  Carmen's body was found nine days after she was abducted, on August 22nd.  Now, a third girl has disappeared the day after Carmen's body was found.

"To follow this pattern, if this is indeed the work of the same person, the body of the third victim, Maria Ortiz, should show up sometime on September 1st.  If she does, another victim might disappear on September 2nd."

"Oh, Jesse, that's a scary thought.  And we have no leads on who the perp might be so we can stop him.  Tom and I are going to talk to Maria's parents and the three Abeyta sisters tomorrow morning and get sketches made of the man they talked to at El Mercado Latino.  When Sarah finishes with her sketches, she'll give them to the PSO who will make sure each deputy on all the shifts has a copy so they can be on the lookout for him.  Maybe someone will even recognize him, who knows?"

"After you visit the parents of the new missing girl, give me a call and let me know what you found out.  I have a real bad feeling about this and I'm afraid she is right now going through what the other two suffered."

"We should be back in the office by 1:00 PM.  I hope that Sarah can meet with the three girls and get some sketches done right away.  The media is getting impatient and starting to throw barbs at the way we're handling the case and people are starting to panic, especially in the Hispanic community.  I don't blame them.  I wish we had more to go on, but no concrete leads have surfaced yet.  It's frustrating."

"You can only do so much, Annie," Jesse said. "I'll wait to hear from you tomorrow.  Maybe something else will turn up in the meantime."

Saturday, 25 August 2012, 10:00 AM

Annie and Tom arrived promptly at 10 AM at the modest home of Hernando and Lucette Ortiz, located on Bates Avenue just off E. California and Larcus Avenues.  Their home was within walking distance of El Mercado Latino.

When they entered the home, they were pleased to find that the three Abeyta sisters were already there.  Everyone, as to be expected, was upset and extremely worried about Maria.

Annie and Tom assured everyone that the Sheriff's Office was doing everything they could to find Maria and determine what happened after the three sisters left her at El Mercado Latino.

"What we really need right now," Tom said, "is a detailed description of the man you were talking to.  We have the descriptions you gave to the deputy who took the original report, but it was second-hand, told to them by Mr. & Mrs. Ortiz.  Ladies, what we hope you can do is talk to our sketch artist, individually, and help her make a drawing of what the man looked like.  Can we set up an appointment for Sarah Freemont to come here and talk with each of you?"

The three girls nodded their heads.  Annie went back outside and called Sarah to set up an appointment for 1:00 PM.  They didn't want the three girls to have a lot of time to compare their memories of what the man looked like before Sarah had a chance to get their unique impressions.

When Annie returned to the living room, she said, "Sarah Freemont will be here at 1:00M.  She will work with each of you separately to make a sketch of how you remember the man.  It is important that the three of you do not discuss what you remember in the meantime.  We don't want your individual impressions of the man to be mixed up with the impressions of your sisters.  Do you understand?"

"We've already talked about him a little bit, and described him to Mr. & Mrs. Ortiz, but what you are saying makes sense.  We won't discuss him any further," Marta, the oldest of the three sisters, said.

"Good.  Everyone remembers different things and the smallest memory can be very significant," Tom said.

For the next hour, Tom and Annie talked to Maria's parents about their daughter and went over the information on the missing persons report.  They didn't have a lot more to add and were very fearful that their daughter had fallen into the hands of the same man responsible for the disappearance of Gabriela Lozcano and Carmen Gutierrez. 

After interviewing each girl separately to get their statements, Tom and Annie took the three sisters to El Mercado Latino and had them point out where the five of them sat and where the man had purchased their drinks.  They said the bartender on duty at this time wasn't the same one who served them when they were there with Maria.  As far as they could remember, his name had been Fernando.

By the time they drove the Abeyta sisters back to the Ortiz residence, Sarah Freemont had arrived and was ready to talk with each sister about the man who was last seen with Maria.

Tom and Annie returned to El Mercado Latino that evening and talked to the bartender named Fernando.  He remembered the group, because the girls came often.  He didn't pay much attention to the man with the girls as they were very busy and he declined to work with Sarah to make a sketch.  He said he didn't have a good enough recall of the man to be very useful. 

They asked Fernando if he remembered when the sisters had left and how much longer Maria and the man had remained.  He remembered looking at the clock when the girls got up to leave and said it was about 10:00 PM, but he didn't pay attention to when Maria and her escort left.

When Joseph answered the knock on his front door at 5:00 PM, it surprised him to see Detectives Avants and Weston standing there.

"Hi Joseph.  Sorry to drop in on you like this.  We have a problem we hope you can help us with.  Can we come in for a moment?" Tom said.

"Of course, please excuse my manners," Joseph said, as he stepped aside.  "Please, come in.  You are welcome in my home."

Annie and Tom entered and Joseph led them to a comfortably furnished living room.

"Can I get you a glass of water or coffee?  I don't have much to drink.  I don't drink alcohol or soft drinks and I'm all out of juice."

"No, we're fine," Tom said.  "Relax, Joseph, have a seat."

They couldn't help but notice three terrariums that had tarantulas in residence.

Joseph saw their glances and appeared a little uneasy.

"You know we have two deaths with numerous spider bites because you were part of the autopsies," Tom said as Annie gingerly walked over to look at one of the terrariums.

Tom could see her shudder and tuck her hands securely under her arms after wrapping them around her body.

"Yes," Joseph said.  "That is terrible.  No one should abuse people or animals that way."

"During our investigations, we visited several local pet stores to see if we could find out who would buy spiders and keep them as pets.  We're trying to understand the mindset of someone who would collect spiders.  At two of those shops, we were surprised to see your name come up.

"Maybe you can help us understand the fascination some people have with spiders."

Joseph hesitated before he answered, and fidgeted in his chair as he watched Annie staring at his pets.

"Hmm, this person, this man or woman who did this to these girls, doesn't love spiders or think of them as something special.  He abuses them and uses them for his own needs and then kills them.  Much the same way he kills the girls."

He got up and walked over to the terrarium that held the smallest tarantula and lifted it out.

Annie backed as far away from him as she could as Joseph let the tarantula crawl up his arm.  "This is Buster," he said.

"I think I'll wait outside," Annie said, as she hurried to the door and left.

Tom smiled.  "Annie doesn't care much for spiders," he said.

"You see, that's the problem, Detective Weston," Joseph said.  "This spider is like one of my family.  It's like having a kitten or puppy.  They respond to kindness and attention, but most people don't see them that way."

"How did you get interested in having spiders as pets?" Tom asked.  He really hoped Joseph didn't ask him to pet Buster as he crawled up Joseph's shirt sleeve.

"All my life they've intrigued me," Joseph said.  "Of course, I don't mess around with the poisonous ones.

"One year when I was about 12 years old, we went on vacation and wanted to go up to the Gold Rush country.  We headed towards San Andreas.  I believe it was at the end of August, right before school started.

"En route, we went through a town at a lower elevation called Valley Springs.  During certain times of the year, the male tarantulas migrate from one side of the road to the other searching for females.

"That year, they were in full migration as we passed through Valley Springs.  I was fascinated.  So we stopped.  My dad assured me that they weren't dangerous and picked one up and held it in his hand."

"Here," he said, holding it out to me.

"Reluctantly, I took it and, as they say, the rest is history.

"When we got home, we visited a pet store and he bought me my first set up.  I've had at least one tarantula ever since.  I even got into trouble in college because I forgot one was on my shoulder and went to the cafeteria to get something to eat.  Poor Mrs. Harris, one of the servers behind the counter, almost had a heart attack and they had to call 911.

"I didn't mean to frighten her and I was afraid they would make me get rid of my pet, but they said I could keep it as long as it stayed in my room, preferably in the terrarium.  I apologized profusely to Mrs. Harris the next time I saw her and she forgave me."

"Yeah, we heard about that," Tom said.  Did you ever deliberately frighten anyone with your spiders?  Perhaps someone you were angry with or to play a joke on someone?"

"No," Joseph said, "these are not 'things', these are living creatures, just like humans, and deserve respect.  They are not something you use against people.  Are you thinking I had something to do with these murders?"

"No Joseph, we don't have any suspects at this time.  We're just trying to understand the fascination some people have with spiders and figured you could help us out."

"Oh, OK," Joseph said

"Thanks for your information, Joseph.  It's been very enlightening.  I can see the difference in the outlook of someone who appreciates spiders and someone who uses them to harm others."

"You're welcome, Detective. I'm glad I could help.  If you have any more questions, you know where to find me."

When Tom returned to their car, Annie asked him, "Well, what do you think?"

"I think he loves the damned things.  At this point in time, he's not on my suspect list."

Then, he started to laugh.

"What?" Annie said.

"You should have seen your face when he lifted that tarantula -
'his name is Buster'
- out of the terrarium.  You turned as white as a sheet and your eyes got big and round,
'I think I'll wait outside'
.  I can't wait to get back and tell the guys that big, bad Detective Avants is afraid of a little spider named Buster."

"Don't you dare," Annie said, swatting him with her notebook.

He started the car and pulled away, still laughing.