Charity Kills (A David Storm Mystery) (27 page)

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Killer Sought 

Houston
-
Police are seeking the killer of a young woman. A young woman’s body was found
early Saturday morning behind dumpsters used for disposal of waste at the Dome.
No facts have been released as the cause of death and the young woman’s identity
is being held awaiting notification of next of kin. #

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Area Girl Found Murdered

Houston, Texas
- The body of Linda Black was found Saturday morning in Houston. Ms. Black had
apparently been raped and murdered by an unknown assailant. Houston police are
investigating the killing of this Alice girl, but have yet to release any
details of their investigation. Ms. Black was a very popular student and will be
missed by the entire community. Her funeral was held at Restland Cemetery on
March 21, 2001. Ms. Black will rest in her family plot with her parents and two
sisters.

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Notes: This is the
fourth girl killed in four years. She was killed the same way as all the others.
From small town, no family and looks just like Elaine and the others. Sgt.
Hebert came around asking if any of us knew her, told I had seen her around knew
she was volunteer and had seen her going into the VIP club in the center. Show
has also made it clear we were to help with investigation but not to talk to the
press or anyone else. Girls in office are scared so at night we are walked to
our cars or walk in a group. Nobody acts like this is same person, but I think
it is, but who? They have to be out here, they have to be finding these girls
out here. Cops only know she was cute and they had a picture of her they showed
us to see if we knew her. Told them I had seen her but didn’t know her. When I
asked if they thought it was same person who killed the others they acted like I
was nuts.

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DeBuse
Danielle “Sissy” DeBuse, 25

D. DeBuse passed away March the
9, 2002. Funeral services will be held March 14, 2002, at 11 A.M. at Mem. Park
Cemetery in Kingsville, Texas. Ms. DeBuse has no remaining family and will rest
next to her parents Phil and Lois Debuse.

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Houston Unsafe….

The crime rate in
Houston is on the increase as the number of murders, home invasions and car
thefts have skyrocketed in the nation’s fourth largest city. One of the latest
killings involved a young girl from Kingsville last week. Ms. Kitty DeBuse a
1995 graduate of Kingsville High School was found murdered and sexually
assaulted near the Dome complex on Houston’s south side. Police suspect Ms.
DeBuse was killed sometime the night before and that she was found naked with a
deep cut across her neck and throat. Due to injuries, the police doubt the girl
had a chance to yell for help or fight her attacker. Ms. DeBuse if one of many
killing that have gone unsolved in the Houston area. Violent crime statistics
show murder in Houston has increased 10% over the past two years. Ms. DeBuse
worked for Twinco Valve and Fitting in Houston.

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Notes: Fifth girl
in five years, all similar killings I don’t have any clues, I had seen this girl
too, but she was like the rest didn’t know her, only really just seen her. Cops
say the same but no one asked about this, nothing much about on the news or in
the papers only one article from her hometown paper. Almost like...no one
cares...

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Gilmore
Stephanie Anne Gilmore, 25

Stephanie Gilmore will be laid to
rest March 26, 2003. The funeral services will take place at 3 P.M. at Mt.
Carmel Cemetery in Huntsville, Texas. Ms. Gilmore died March 21, 2003, and has
no surviving family.

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Huntsville Girl Murdered

Texas
- A
popular Huntsville girl was found raped and brutally murdered March 21, 2003.
Stephanie Gilmore, a graduate of the Huntsville High School the class of 1998,
body was found near the Dome complex in Houston. Police say a man walking his
dog near the north entry of the complex found the young woman’s body. The
details of her death have not been released pending further investigation. Ms.
Gilmore worked for a law firm in Houston and her body will be brought back to
Huntsville for interment in her family plot. Ms. Gilmore had no remaining family
in the Huntsville area.

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Notes: Girl 6
Volunteer, I knew this one, talked to her a few times. Brunette, slim, cute,
young all the same. Raped throat cut clothes found no shoes or boots… Cops not
saying anything about this girl except how she died... this girl late in season
of show not found till last week.

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Phillips
Leslie Markus Phillips, 25

Leslie Phillips will be put to
rest March 15, 2004 at Aransas Memorial Cemetery at 2 P.M. Ms. Phillips is
survived by her grandparents Jake and Dorothy Phillips of Hallettsville Texas.

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Notes: 7th girl
Nothing in paper yet Detective came to see Ms. Taylor, again I had to tell the
girls and had to repeat no one talks about it or to press. I am going to follow
detective see if he can lead me anywhere, then I will talk to him. I have got to
tell detective I think this is same killer as Elaine and others....

The Trophy Room

This night was going to be a long one after the events earlier at the stadium. Storm and Hernandez were on their way to Tess’s home to see what evidence they could uncover. Traffic at this time of night seemed lighter than usual, or maybe they just didn’t notice how heavy it was, as their minds were elsewhere. The mental image of Tess lying dead and her Madonna smile replayed through their minds as they drove out of town on the Southwest Freeway toward Crabb Tree Road.

The farther they got into the country the darker it got, and the quieter. Neither had said much since they left the scene of the shooting at the stadium.

Storm sneaked a look at Hernandez and could tell that he, like Storm himself, was chewing over how things had gone so terribly wrong. The house was located in an old farming area just south of the freeway where developers had begun to build new homes sprouting up around it like mushrooms. They found the road that led to it, a long gravel and dirt combination that led to a two-bedroom clapboard house with a garage/tool shed behind it. Giant live oak trees hung over the drive as if it were a covered bridge, blocking out all light from the stars and moon. The yard was mowed and everything seemed in its place. The house was small; freshly painted in white with blue trim.

The inside was even neater. Tess’s furniture was modest; a couch, chair, TV and a simple kitchen table and chairs; all looked spotless. The white porcelain in the kitchen and bathroom gleamed. The floors were scrubbed and no dust appeared to be anywhere. Her bedroom was the same; the bed made, pillows fluffed, and the chest of drawers lined with items she probably used on a daily basis all perfectly laid out in order. The clothes in her closet were arranged by type and color, her uniforms on one side, her jeans and casual shirts on hangers on the other. Her shoes were stored in boxes labeled by the type and color with the exception of her boots, both work and cowgirl. Those were all lined up on the floor and perfectly polished.

Nothing they found surprised either of them. From the information Hernandez had retrieved from the FBI profiles, everything fit the model of an organized serial murderer. They would have been shocked if they found things in disarray; after all, this lady was deliberate about the things she had done, or what they thought she had done.

After scouring the living area of Tess’s home they still hadn’t found anything to link her to the other killings, that was, until they entered the second bedroom. The door was locked, but a stiff shoulder cracked the jam. When the door smashed in, they found the other world Tess lived in and all the pieces of the puzzle appeared before them.

Across the room was a clear Plexiglas case that ran the length of the wall and was two levels high. The case sat on shiny chrome legs. It held two sets of clear cubes about two feet by two feet. Each row had four cubes and each cube held a pair of boots, with the exception of the last, which held a pair of running shoes. In front of each pair of boots was an engraved nameplate with the name of the girl they had belonged to. The only exception was the one with the running shoes; they must have been what Peggy was wearing the night she died.

There was a work table and chair with a role of clear plastic sheeting, a material used by workmen to protect floors and furniture from dust and paint spills.

She must have used the sheeting, probably Visqueen, Storm realized, to hide her crime scene.

A dozen combat knives, all in sheaths, arranged on a rack hung on the wall. These knives would be tested for blood and Storm was sure eight of them would be found to have traces of blood from each of the victims. They might even find blood evidence of the girl in Victoria who had disappeared nine years ago.

On the work table was a photo album and a diary. These were the pieces of evidence Storm and Hernandez wanted to look at, even though they both dreaded what revelations they might find.

An individual page had been dedicated to each girl in the photo album. There was a picture of each girl lying in her own blood, her face lifeless. The other picture on each page was of each victim posed with her bare bottom raised and with a large plastic phallic object protruding from her anus.

Although the album assured them that they had the right killer, it didn’t answer the biggest question of all, why? Storm hoped to find those answers in Tess’s diary that lay on the desk. The diary was meticulously kept and dated on top of each page, so he felt he could look for dates near the times of the killings and he would find the answers.

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My Diary
Shannon Teresa Stone

3/16/96
Dear Diary

Today I met a beautiful new girl. She flirted with me and acted interested. She is tall, brunette and gorgeous. Her name is Gail, Gail Ponders. She is a year or two younger than me and told me she had had a relationship in college with another girl. I hope she wants another; Victoria is a terrible place to meet a girl who likes girls, the town is too small and prudish and I am getting lonely.

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3/17/96
Dear Diary

Work was the same today. Nobody takes me seriously, everybody thinks I just got this job because I am a woman and they needed to fill a quota. I am a good cop and I know how to do the job. The other deputies tease me about being a lesbian but I blow them off. They are not sure about me and I don’t say, but I guess they’ll know if I start dating Gail. I called her today and she was so sweet on the phone, she made my heart melt when I asked her to lunch and she said yes. XOXOXOXOXOXO

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3/19/96
Dear Diary

I went to lunch today with Gail. She is wonderful; she laughs and teases and even reached over and took my hand during lunch. She is bright and funny. I asked her out for Saturday night and she said yes. My heart is skipping from the joy at having found such a wonderful girl. The day can be terrible at work, but when I think of her my smile takes over my face.

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3/23/96
Dear Diary

Today I had to arrest a man for beating on his young girlfriend. He had left her with a black eye and bruises on her arms and legs. After I arrested him, she wouldn’t file a complaint against him. The sheriff let him free. Why are girls so stupid, why would she be with a man like that?

But I had dinner with Gail. She looked so cute in shorts and the little top she wore. We had pizza and a couple of beers and went dancing, we giggled and played till after midnight. I get light headed when I am around her. I drove her home and she kissed me good night. It was my wish, to kiss her like that. She kissed me as if she loved me and I hope she does.

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Storm skipped ahead in the diary, closer to the dates of the disappearance of Gail.

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5/3/96
Dear Diary

Gail has moved in with me and we are together all the time now. Her parents hate me; they think I have ruined their daughter. People on the street look at us like we’re monsters. They all say bad things about us behind our backs. It seems to bother Gail more than me, she hates being looked at and ridiculed. She will be fine though our love grows everyday and I know she will be my lover for life. No one can come between Gail and me.

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6/16/96
Dear Dairy

Today was a bad day. Gail stayed at her parents’ home last night and left me alone for the first time since we moved in together. Her parents hate me and I know her friends are trying to break us up. I am not sure but I think her parents had her old boyfriend over for dinner last night trying to show Gail the problem with being in love with a woman. She didn’t come home till this morning, she said she just spent the night with her parents, but I think she is listening to them. She is mine now and nothing is going to change that, even if I have to confront her parents.

Gail is mine.

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6/26/96
Dear Dairy

Gail has planned a trip to the beach in Port Aransas. She says she is going with friends; the same friends who want to break us up. She has been seeing them a lot lately and she has been seeing her old boyfriend again. I won’t let her go. She belongs to me now and she belongs to me body and soul. I will stop her. I will make her understand she can’t leave me. No one can take her from me.

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