Murder Stalks (8 page)

“
Does he represent our
district?” Tony shifted from one foot to the other. Work was
waiting for him and chatting with the Chief of Police was wasting
time, precious time that could be spent catching a
killer.

“
No, he’s the Majority
Leader in the Senate.”

Tony stood silent for a moment. A bead of
sweat trailed between his shoulder blades. The day had just started
but already it had turned south. That name was associated with a
case, a recent case. His mind raced over the data gathered during
the last two days. Kelsey’s murder had taken its toll. Normally
Tony knew every case inside and out. A brief mention of a
government official in Angela Longfellow’s background came to mind.
Why had he forgotten the senator?

“
The Longfellow case. Her
second cousin was a senator,” Tony replied, a dull ache forming in
the back of his neck.

“
Is a senator,” Randall
shouted. “Why wasn’t I informed that the first victim’s cousin is,
not was, a senator? Why couldn’t he be some hick from Arkansas who
had no political sway?” The chief’s voice echoed down the hall and
a few heads turned to see the ruckus.

“
We put it in the report.”
The response was lame, and Tony cringed, knowing Randall’s anger
was peaking.

“
Report?” Randall yelled.
“What good is a damn piece of paper when the information is this
sensitive?”

Tony looked around. They were still in the
public area of the police station, not a place to be talking about
a case. No reporters would be skulking around the station at this
time in the morning, at least that’s what Tony hoped. However, a
prickle of caution raised the hairs on the back of his neck. They
needed to move.

“
Sir, can we go down to
the conference room?”

“
Damn it, Santos, I
don’t—“

“
Chief Randall, let’s
move.” Tony grabbed the man by his arm and dragged him down the
hall. He ran his badge through the security device, keying in the
code before he pushed through the thick door separating the public
area of the police station from the work area.

The indignation on Randall’s face told Tony
he needed to talk fast. Directing the chief into the last
conference room, Tony held his breath waiting for Randall to get
settled before he began detailing the team’s findings.

“
Chief, the evidence on
the Longfellow murder,” Tony paused, not sure how much he wanted to
tell the chief, “is pointing to some troubling
conclusions.”

“
Of course it’s troubling.
It’s a murder investigation.”

Tony blew out a slow breath. “From the
evidence we’ve gathered, we believe our suspect has done this
before.”

“
Evidence? What evidence?
As far as I know, you and your boys didn’t come back to
headquarters to analyze any evidence. How can you make these wild
claims?” The chief’s red cheeks puffed out and beads of sweat
glistened on his forehead. “Damn it, I don’t want a serial killer
in my town.”

Tony laid his briefcase on the table. He
stalled for time, popping open each latch, letting the sound echo
off the naked gray walls of the conference room. Rex, Janice, and
Michael had worked with Tony on the case until eleven. Tony had
stayed until one, shuffling papers, trying to make some sense of
the information the team had gathered.

It wasn’t much, but there were some striking
similarities between the Longfellow murder and Kelsey Ingles’ case.
The precision used to execute each crime led the team to conclude
Angela Longfellow couldn’t have been the first victim for this
particular killer. The ‘A’ and the ‘S’ carved into each victim
meant this guy would keep going until he finished his message. Of
course Randall had left the building at three-thirty so he didn’t
know that eighteen and twenty hour days were taking place.

“
Chief, after going over
all of the data last night, my team and I, and yes we were here
late, all agree that the suspect is an expert at what he
does.”

“
He could be a tourist,
only here for a few days.” A light of hope shone in Randall’s eyes.
As much as Tony hated admitting it, this killer was theirs.
Juniper’s finest would be the ones to fix the problem.

“
We thought about that
angle, it doesn’t fly.”

“
Damn it, Santos, I don’t
want this mess here. I don’t want some psycho preying on the
citizens of our city. The media is going to eat this up. Revenue
from tourism will go down. The mayor will get angry, and I’ll lose
my job.”

“
So far, we haven’t let
the media know that the two murders are related.”

“
How’s Danny taking it?”
Randall’s tone changed. His shoulders slumped, giving him the
appearance of an exhausted old man.

Tony let out a sigh. Hell, he felt old too.
He walked around the conference table and raised the blinds to gaze
out towards the ocean. How had life gotten this complicated? Wives
weren’t supposed to be murdered. How could a man work when he had
to fear that his wife was being raped and left for dead while he
was putting out a fire or helping an old lady after a car accident?
Tony’s fist hit the window, the glass shook and flexed but didn’t
break.

“
He’s devastated. I talked
to Chief Scott last night. Danny is taking a leave of absence. He’s
going to stay at his grandmother’s house in Oklahoma for a few
weeks. Scott didn’t know if Danny would come back.”

“
Damn tough.”

Silence engulfed the room. Tony remembered
the last time he had seen Danny and Kelsey together. They had been
at a pool party to celebrate Marissa’s birthday.

Marissa. He still had to tell her about
Kelsey. A knot formed in his stomach. How would she take it?

The chief’s voice cracked through the
silence, bringing Tony back to their current situation. “Where do
you go from here?”

“
There’s a debriefing this
morning. We’re going to do more questioning this afternoon and then
we’ll meet again before we break for the night.”

“
Any idea on a
suspect?”

Tony turned to face Randall. How had his job
gone from challenging to incredibly difficult in one day? He had
trained for this type of work. His degree in criminology and the
justice system proved he was competent, but at some point the
killers and other criminals had outstripped the police department’s
capabilities. Solving this case would be an incredibly difficult
task.

Tony longed for the days when the cases were
easier. It was more than the lack of evidence that had left him
dissatisfied. Kelsey’s face haunted his memory, causing a burning
pain deep in his chest. Was he up to this task?

Squaring his shoulders, Tony stepped
forward. “We’ve got a preliminary profile. We’re calling in a favor
and having Jackson Spade, over at the FBI, review our logic.”

“
What have you got so
far?”

“
I’d rather wait until we
talk to Jackson Spade.”

“
Just give me something,
anything, so when the mayor calls I can tell him that we have a
preliminary profile.”

“
Dang it, Chief, forget
the mayor. He’ll tell the press then everything we have will be
made public. Don’t give him anything concrete.”

“
You seem to forget who
has the political clout to fire me. I need something, and I’ll make
him promise to keep it quiet.”

“
Please, the mayor keep
quiet?”

“
He’ll do it for me. The
mayor doesn’t want to be blamed for a criminal escaping. I’ll
remind him that the public may want news, but they want killers
caught too.”

“
Fine. This isn’t
definitive, but we believe the suspect is a white male,
intelligent, and he’s a smooth talker. There were no marks on the
doors or windows at either scene. He’s a charmer. Both of these
women were smart enough to know not to let a stranger in, yet they
did.”

“
When Jackson calls, I
want to know what he says.”

“
Yes sir.” Tony watched as
Chief Randall walked out of the conference room. Stress would
either bring you down, or set you up for a fall. Tony needed an
outlet for his stress. He would have to find some time for a
swim.

Lost in his thoughts, he jumped when a loud
noise sounded behind him. Tony snapped his head up and spun around.
Rains stepped into the room and nodded a greeting before asking,
“So where are Rex and Janice?”

“
Haven’t seen them. I want
you and Janice back at the apartment complex asking questions
today.”

The door to the conference room cracked
open. With his head downcast and his eyes averted, Rex entered the
room. Choosing to stay silent, Tony observed Rex, wondering what
had changed since yesterday. Normally you couldn’t shut Rex up in
the morning.

“
Good morning,” Janice
said as she breezed into the conference room.

“
Morning,” Michael
replied.

“
Hi,” Rex said, his eyes
not quite meeting Tony’s.

Tony cleared his throat, wishing that they
were gathered under another circumstance. “The pressure is on.
Chief Randall received a call from Senator Turner this morning.
It’s just a matter of time before the media attacks. I want to go
over our profile again before we head out. Janice, you and Michael
will be canvassing the apartment complex and the Ingles’
neighborhood.”

“
Anything specific?”
Janice asked.

“
See if anyone’s memory
jump-started during the night. Maybe someone has been out of town
for a few days. Interview them and ask if they’ve seen anyone
suspicious over the last few weeks.”

Tony turned to Rex, watching for his
reaction. Nothing. Rex sat with his head dipped down, no eye
contact and no quipping statements to lighten the mood. His
behavior was off. Something had happened.

“
Are we sure about the
profile we developed?” Michael asked, interrupting Tony’s
thoughts.

“
Yeah, we’re sure,” Tony
answered. His confidence in their assessment of the evidence was
growing. “Most serial killers escalate their violence level as time
progresses. This guy seems fairly violent already.”

Rex’s looked up, making eye contact for the
first time. Tony reigned in his surprise. Rex’s eyes were bloodshot
and dark smudges made them appear sunken, but his trademark smile
flashed for a moment, making him look like the Rex Tony knew him to
be.

Rex’s shoulders relaxed. He grasped a pen in
his left hand and started clicking the top, an annoying habit, but
one that assured Tony that everything was fine in Rex’s life. His
best friend looked like hell. Later, Tony committed to finding out
what was up, but for now he was happy Rex was starting to act close
to normal again.

“
I think we need to put
the force on alert. Look for men sitting on side streets in cars.
Anyone suspicious needs to be questioned. I know this might be
overkill, but we have to stop this guy.” Tony’s stomach flopped as
he remembered the way Kelsey Ingles had looked, her body bruised
and battered.

Tony listened as Janice and Michael debated
their suspect’s profile. Why did they think this guy was
intelligent? Tony wondered. How smart could you be if killing was
your way of life? Tony and Rex hadn’t mentioned the Ashley angle to
either Michael or Janice. At the time, Tony had held back, not
wanting everyone to think he had cracked up. But after the initial
shock wore off, he still didn’t want to divulge the
information.

Unusually quiet, Rex leaned back in his
chair, not contributing to the discussion on their profile. His
face was stoic, and his emotions were closed off. Rex was hiding
something. Tony’s gut reaction was to pull Rex out of his chair and
shake him.

“
I’m ready to get out
there and canvass the neighborhoods,” Janice said as she stood,
clearing off the table in front of her.

“
Sure, I’ll be right with
you,” Michael replied. He picked up his material, filing it into
his briefcase.

“
Michael, I know you guys
in Dallas saw more murders than we do down here. Do you remember
anything like this while you were there?” Tony asked.

“
No, nothing at all.”
Michael closed the case and turned to go.

Tony looked out the window towards the
beach. Why was this happening in his town? There would be more
victims unless they found a way to stop this guy. “Thanks guys,
keep your cells on. And this room is now our war room.” To
emphasize his point, Tony took the pictures of Angela Longfellow
and Kelsey Ingles and pinned them to the wall. “Now there’s no
avoiding what this guy is capable of. We stop him before he does
this to another woman.”

The room was quiet after Tony tacked up the
photos. Janice stared for a long moment at each picture. With her
back held straight and her gait purposeful, she followed Michael
out of the conference room.

The tension in the room grew as Tony stared
at Rex over the long central table. When Rex looked away, Tony
closed the door, giving them privacy. He pushed the seat next to
Rex back, and stretched out.

Rex picked at a piece of paper and toyed
with it. Placing it on the table, he pushed it away and averted his
eyes. The thick tension increased the pressure on Tony. He wiped
his hand across his brow, searching his brain for the right
words.

“
You’re going to try to
figure out what’s wrong with me, aren’t you?”