Ruthless (3 page)

There was another normalcy Jess had been hoping for. It also meant she only had to pay one more house payment before that burden was lifted. There would be some fees involved with the sell, but her equity in the house would take care of that.

“I’ll give her a call back later today.” Jess realized then that both detectives were staring at her. “Oh, sorry. With all that happened, I forgot to tell you. My house in Virginia finally sold. Full asking price.” Thank God for that last part. “The call came Sunday afternoon just before”—she gestured to the board—“this happened.” A splinter of fear needled its way back into her chest.

You have to do something, Jessie Lee. Something that will stop him in his tracks. Fast.

“So.” She walked to her desk to prowl for her glasses. “The hotlines have no confirmed leads on the identities of these women.”

“A few callers,” Harper said, “insist they’ve seen one or the other around their hometown but they don’t know their names. Most of the calls are coming from the Montgomery and Mobile areas.”

“The FBI’s adding an additional layer to the searches in those towns, but it’s like the proverbial needle in the haystack,” Lori added.

“No matches to Alabama driver’s licenses?” Glasses in place, Jess moved back to the case board.

Harper hummed a note of regret. “Nothing yet.”

There was no way to know how much time they had before Spears took the next step, but Jess suspected it wouldn’t be enough. “These women are the right age to be college students. Maybe students from other states. That could explain why we didn’t get a hit with the DMV.”
Damn it. Or new residents of Alabama who hadn’t had time to make all the documentation changes.

“The FBI is checking all databases at their disposal,” Lori mentioned.

That was something. But unless these women had passports or had committed a felony they wouldn’t likely be in any of those databases.

Across the room Jess’s cell clanged. Wouldn’t be Dan. If there was a new development he would just appear at the door. Maybe Lily had news. Her sister was pretty frustrated with the inability of her doctors to figure out what was going on with all these crazy symptoms plaguing her. Jess was damned frustrated herself. Her sister had always been as healthy as a horse. The concept of a serious health issue just didn’t seem possible.

“Carry on,” Jess suggested to her detectives, as she hurried back to her desk.

Lori created the time line and added the notes Harper recommended. The two had been dating for a few weeks now, and thankfully so far the fledgling relationship hadn’t affected their work in any way. Jess hoped it stayed that way. She knew from experience it wasn’t an easy balancing act to sustain.

At her desk she picked up her cell and frowned at the screen. Why would Gina Coleman be calling her? Jess had nothing on the Spears case to give Birmingham’s favorite reporter. As far as Jess was concerned, after the business with the Five case the two of them were even on who owed whom what.

“Harris.”

“You need to get over here, Harris.
Now.
”

Adrenaline kicked Jess’s heart back into that same
frantic pace she’d been suffering most waking hours since Sunday afternoon. “What’s going on?”

“A package was left with the receptionist at the studio. It’s addressed to me but there’s a message on the inside flap that says I should give it to
you
. I don’t know what it is, but it smells dead.”

12:45 p.m., Channel Six Studios

T
he fact that he was the chief of police with a job to do gave Dan no comfort when what he wanted right now more than anything in this world was to protect Jess from opening that damned bundle.

Every part of him howled with the need to do this himself, but Jess would never stand for it and with a unit from the Bomb Squad as well as a dozen other cops including evidence techs standing by, he couldn’t exactly argue with his newest deputy chief.

Deputy Chief Jess Harris had a job to do, too.

The building had been evacuated of Channel Six personnel, including Gina Coleman, who had argued the edict all the way out the door. The experts had examined the box intended for Jess and pronounced it free of incendiary materials and other destructive substances. That assessment made the package’s contents no less explosive.

Bones.

After a thorough analyzing, including digital X-rays and probing, the contents were deemed skeletal remains wrapped in disintegrating burlap and plastic.

Once placed on a trace sheet to ensure no evidence was lost, the bundle had been removed from the cardboard shipping box. With Harper standing on one side and an evidence tech on the other, Jess carefully opened the bundle of fabric. Dan and the rest of those gathered stayed back. The fewer bodies crammed around that table, the less likelihood of contaminating whatever evidence the package contained or represented.

The Channel Six security video showed the delivery was made to the station via UPS just after ten that morning. Detective Wells and Officer Cook had interviewed the clerks at the originating UPS Store. One clerk remembered the guy, who’d given his name as Smith Johnson. Johnson was old with thick-lensed glasses, thin gray hair, and a walking cane. His long sleeves and gloves despite the August heat wave hadn’t triggered the usual alarms. The clerk figured he was just an old man trying to avoid sun exposure.

The return address Johnson gave was just as bogus as the name he’d used.

Detective Wells was standing by at the UPS Store for a copy of the video footage from the security system.

A new rush of frustration rammed Dan. What the hell was Spears up to now? Had he dared to disguise himself and waltz into that store right here in Birmingham so he could personally mail this package to Jess? Wasn’t it enough that he was torturing her with potential victims?

More outrage threatened to consume Dan whenever he thought of the SOB, and it had to be wrestled back. If he
was going to be any good to Jess or this department, he had to keep his emotions in check.

Harper and Jess exchanged a look, and Dan’s attention zeroed back in on the here and now. “Chief,” Harper said with a grim look in Dan’s direction, “you should call Deputy Chief Black.”

Black? Why would they need another cop on the scene? To hell with it. Dan strode to the table. Harper pointed to the newspaper article preserved in a small plastic sleeve that he had placed on the trace sheet next to pieces of crumpled newspaper and ragged burlap along with the first of several small human bones.

Recognition slammed Dan in the gut, and the blood in his veins went cold.
Dorie Myers
. “Jesus Christ.”

Jess stared up at him, her face showing the same shock and confusion he felt. “Do you know the name?”

The dread resonating in her voice made what he had to say all the more difficult. “A third grader who went missing twelve…” he shook his head “… no, thirteen years ago.”

“The Man in the Moon,” Harper said quietly.

God Almighty, this would rip open old wounds in this community that went back decades.

Jess’s breath caught. “Oh my God. I remember that case.”

Though she hadn’t lived here for the past twenty years she would remember the case from before… when she was a kid. Just as Dan did. Like anyone who had resided in or around Birmingham in those days would. He’d been almost ten when the first little girl went missing. His heart felt like a massive rock in his chest.

Twenty little girls had gone missing and were dubbed victims of the so-called Man in the Moon. For two decades he had struck every fall on the night of the harvest moon, like clockwork, and then, thirteen years ago, he suddenly stopped… with Dorie Myers.

This wasn’t Spears’s kind of evil, but it was the work of an equally ruthless monster.

BPD Conference Room, 4:00 p.m.

Mayor Joseph Pratt and all the division deputy chiefs lined the long table in the center of the room. The somber sound of Black’s voice filled the heavy air. Dan’s mind still reeled with this latest turn of events.

Deputy Chief Harold Black headed up Crimes Against Persons. Kidnappings and murders fell under his domain. For nine years after making detective with the Birmingham Police Department, Black had worked the Man in the Moon case. He knew the case. Knew the families involved. Had suffered as much as anyone when the monster couldn’t be found.

Dan stretched his neck and attempted to stay focused on Harold’s briefing. The man was not going to like it when he got the news that this case would not be his this time.

But the cold, hard truth was that all of Harold’s experience with the case couldn’t trump Jess’s uncanny instincts when it came to hunting down killers like the Man in the Moon. This killer or someone who knew him had reached out to Jess, so assigning SPU to handle the investigation was the only reasonable move. SPU had been created for precisely this sort of case. Equally important was the fact that Dan needed Harold working with the FBI on
the Spears case as well as leading the investigation on Ted Allen’s disappearance. Harold couldn’t argue that rationale.

But he would.

“Why ‘Man in the Moon’?” Wells asked. “Was it because the missing children attributed to him all disappeared during a full moon?”

“That was part of it.” Harold stood in front of an elaborate case board he had put together in record time for this briefing. Photos of all twenty children suspected to be related to the case lined the board.

“Each year for approximately two decades a female child between the ages of seven and nine went missing on the night of the harvest or hunter’s moon, the full moon nearest the autumnal equinox,” he explained. “That particular full moon always seems closer to the earth. At some point there was a comment in the media about how it was almost as if the moon got so close to the earth that the man living there reached down and snatched a human child so he wouldn’t have to live alone.” Harold shrugged. “The legend stuck and the unknown perpetrator has been referred to in that way since.”

“Has this sudden delivery after all these years,” Mayor Pratt spoke up, “given us new evidence as to the identity of the monster we’re looking for?”

“Not yet, sir,” Harold admitted, “but our forensics personnel are still analyzing evidence. We hope to have something soon.”

Pratt grunted. “What do you propose to announce to the press?” he inquired with blatant skepticism. “This won’t stay under wraps long, I can guarantee you that. People have waited a very long time to know what
happened to these children.” He surveyed the table, his attention landing lastly on Dan. “This department has enjoyed a lengthy reprieve from this monster but the people, particularly the families still seeking closure for their immense losses, will demand action. How do you intend to handle that, Chief Burnett?”

“This department,” Dan said emphatically, “will do what it always does—everything possible to find the person or persons responsible for these despicable acts. As soon as the remains are officially identified, the family will be contacted and we’ll make an announcement to the press. I hope to do that by six this evening.”

Pratt gave him a look that suggested he wasn’t convinced, then he shifted his holier-than-thou regard to the next unexpected aspect of this development. “Why was this package sent to Harris?” he asked, as if she weren’t in the room and he wasn’t looking straight at her. “She had nothing to do with this case. She wasn’t even here for the better part of the time frame we’re looking at.”

Before Dan could suggest there was rarely any logic to the acts of a deranged killer, Harold interjected, “I’m certain Chief Harris’s recent notoriety has garnered his attention. Sociopaths and psychopaths often crave that sort of attention. He most likely feels a connection of sorts with Chief Harris.” Harold presented an indulgent smile to Jess. “No offense intended, of course.”

“None taken,” Jess assured him. “I’m sure you’ll have your own fan club one day.”

Dan scrubbed a hand over his jaw, mostly to cover the smile her comeback aroused but also to prevent telling Harold to sit down and shut up. “Considering his probable age”—Dan directed this at Harold—“it’s possible
he’s suffering health issues and has decided to reveal himself through the highest-profile deputy chief in the department.”