Seal It With A Kiss (McClellan Trilogy) (13 page)

Holly lay across Brock’s body as she just held him and whispered, “I’m so sorry. How long ago did that happen?”

“It seems like yesterday, talking about it and all, but it was nine years ago. He left a wife and two little kids behind.”

“You must have been devastated. I can’t even begin to imagine what hell you went through.”

“Yeah…‌it was rough. I blamed myself even though deep down I knew there wasn’t anything I could have done to prevent what went down. I made life hell for everyone around me too. Luke and Sam finally got tired of it after six months and beat the crap out of me. They told me that if I wanted to feel pain they would make me feel pain.”

“Oh my God—they didn’t…”

“Oh, yes they did. I looked a hell of a lot worse than I felt when they were through with me, but they made me realize that the pain his family felt was nothing like the pain that I felt blaming myself when there wasn’t any good reason to. You can say they ‘saved’ me from myself. It was a really dark time for me and they made me see the light.”

“I am so glad that your brothers were there for you.” Holly said as she kissed his neck.

“Wow, aren’t you glad you asked?”

“Actually, I am. I want to get to know everything about you. I am sure this is just the tip of the iceberg to unraveling the true Brock McClellan.”

Brock laughed, “I’m an open book. If there is ever anything you want to know, all you have to do is ask. Let’s get some sleep.” He said as he kissed her on the forehead.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Brock and Holly had barely been gotten any sleep when his phone started to ring. He reached across Holly’s body and grabbed it off the night stand. “Hello.”

“Detective McClellan this is Mary from dispatch, there has been another rape.”

Brock sat up, “Let me get something to write with.”

Holly pulled out a pad of paper and a pen from the nightstand drawer and handed them to Brock. “Okay, I am ready—What is the address?”

“It’s at 1822 Whitelawn Rd, Unit #403.”

“I’ll be right there.”

“Would you like me to call Detective Cavanaugh?”

“No, I will let her know.” He said as he hung up.

“Another rape?” Holly asked.

“Yeah—we better get dressed and get over there.

“Should we drive separately?” She asked.

“That would probably be best.”

Brock and Holly arrived on the scene to find that the ambulance was just leaving. Walking into the apartment they were met by Officer O’Malley. “The roommate came home and found the vic unconscious on the floor. She was beaten pretty badly—still unconscious when she left in the wagon.”

“Our perp has never gotten this violent before, I wonder what was different with this vic than the others.”

“The roommate is pretty shook up. I don’t know if you will get much out of her.”

“Thanks O’Malley.”

“Cavanaugh, I think that you should interview the roommate, and I will take a look around. It appears as though there was a pretty good struggle over there.” He said pointing in the direction of the living room.

Holly approached the roommate who was sitting at the kitchen table. “Jackie? Hello, I am Detective Cavanaugh and if you don’t mind, I need to ask you some questions.”

Jackie nodded her head. “What time did you arrive home?”

“It was just after midnight…‌I remember because the alarm on my watch goes off on the hour and I was about a block away at that point.”

“Great detail. May I ask where you were tonight?”

“Sure, I went to the Doo Dive with a bunch of my friends.”

“The Doo Dive?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t your roommate go?”

“She doesn’t do the ‘bar scene’—she never has. We are like night and day.”

“Do you and your friends go to the Doo Dive a lot? In other words, would you be considered a regular there?”

“I would say my friends and I go there once every other week or so. I don’t know if that makes us regulars though.”

“Your other friends—the ones you were with tonight—are they all women?”

“No, there is usually six of us—three and three.”

“So would you consider the members of your group couples?”

“No. We are all just good friends and sometimes friends with benefits.”

Holly nearly choked and had to cover it up with a cough. “Excuse me, tickle in my throat. She said pointing to her throat. Where was I? Oh yes—Do you and your friends ever go to any of the other local bars?”

“Why all these questions about me? I wasn’t raped, Vicki was.”

“I am just trying to be thorough. Can you answer the question please?”

“Yes, sometimes we go to other bars, but mainly The Doo Dive.”

“Can you please tell me the names of the other bars?”

“I really don’t know what significance that question or any of your other questions have on my roommate getting raped! You need to go to the hospital and wait for her to wake up. If she wakes up.” She said as she started to cry. “I’m done talking to you if that is the kind of fucking questions you’re going to ask.”

“One more question, and I will leave.” Holly pressed on.

“Fine, what is the question?”

“Have you or any of your group of friends ever mentioned Vicki not wanting to go to the bars, but wanting to stay home while you were at the bar?”

“I don’t know, maybe, but just within the context of our group. It isn’t like we announced to the world that she is a wall flower and would rather stay home alone.”

“Thank you for your time, you have been more helpful than you could ever know.”

Brock had just finished up in the living room and caught the tail end of Holly’s questioning. “I can’t wait to hear what that was all about.”

“I think I may have a new angle. I will fill you in back at the house.”

“O’Malley.” Brock shouted.

“Yes, Detective McClellan.”

“Give me a call when the vic wakes up…‌if she wakes up.”

“Yes sir.”

Brock and Holly crawled back into bed at 3:00am. Brock spooned against Holly’s back pulling her in tight to his body. “I am ready to hear your new angle Cavanaugh.”

Holly smiled, as she had come to enjoy Brock calling her by her last name. “I am not certain and I don’t have the files or the whiteboard memorized, but I am willing to bet that the three vics who had never been to a bar also had a roommate. And I will take it one step further to guess that their roommates did frequent the bars.”

“That would definitely be something big Cavanaugh. I can’t wait to get to work now and see if your theory is correct. In the meantime, we need to get some sleep.” Brock kissed the back of Holly’s neck before drifting off to sleep.

It was 6:00am and Brock’s phone was going off again. “Damn it, can’t a guy get any sleep? Hello.”

“O’Malley here.”

Brock rolled onto his back and tried to clear his head, “Yeah, did our vic wake up?”

“She didn’t make it.”

“Fuck! Why the hell couldn’t that news wait until I get into the damn precinct O’Malley?”

“Sorry, I thought you would want to know.”

“No, I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to take it out on you. Thanks for the phone call.”

Holly guessed it, “She didn’t make it did she?”

“No, she didn’t.” He replied, “I’m going to need a coffee IV today to stay awake.”

“I’ll buy you an espresso at Starbucks on my way to work this morning. Will that help?”

“It might get me to 9:00am.”

As promised, Holly walked in looking too damn good with espresso in hand. Brock was already at the whiteboard seeing if Holly’s theory was accurate. Just as he was taking the cup from Holly, Captain Lewiston walked in.

“I understand there was another rape last night.”

“That would be correct Captain.”

“I also understand that the vic didn’t make it.”

“Again, that would be correct Captain.”

“The Mayor will have my head McClellan, we need an arrest and we need one today! Do you have any suspects yet?”

“I have one, but I am not ready to arrest the guy.”

“If you have one, you had better get his ass in here and question him.”

“We are really close Captain, I can feel it. Just last night talking to the last vics roommate, Cavanaugh here was able to determine that the vics who had never set foot in any of the three bars had roommates who had! None of the other vics had roommates—they were the ones to go to the bars. We just need to contact these three and talk to them or their roommates.”

“Today McClellan—I want an arrest today.”

“I don’t even know where to find my suspect.”

“Do you have a name?”

“Yes, but…”

“If you have a name, I want to see an arrest—period!” He said as he walked out the door.

Brock slammed his fist down on the desk in frustration. “Shit!”

He then pulled out his cell phone and dialed O’Malley who picked up on the second ring, “O’Malley.”

“Detective McClellan here—I need you to find a suspect and pick him up for me.”

“What’s the name?”

“Eric Walker. Good luck, because I don’t even know if that is his real name.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Turning to Holly, “We need to interview the roommates of these other three vics as soon as possible.”

“I just got off the phone with vic number one’s roommate and I am meeting her at 1:00pm on the college campus.”

“I’ll take vic number four then and whoever is done first will interview vic number eight’s roommate.”

“I think that vic number eight goes to the same college as number one if my memory serves me, I’ll see if I can’t contact number eight and either get an interview before or after my other one.”

“Great—let’s get this guy. He crossed the line last night and went from rapist to murderer.”

Holly was able to arrange the other interview for 2:15pm and headed out for the college for the first one. She arrived early and sat on a bench to observe students sitting in the grass studying together while others gathered in small groups just talking. “Are you Detective Cavanaugh?” She heard someone ask.

Holly turned to her left to see a young woman with glasses staring at her. “Yes, I am. Would you be Jen Schaefer?”

“That would be me.”

“Please, have a seat.”

“I don’t know how much help I can be to you detective, I wasn’t home at the time of the rape.”

“Let me be the judge of that. The night of the rape, can you tell me where you were?”

“Oh, my God, am I being accused of having something to do with the rape?” Jen said jumping to conclusions.

“No, not at all, I am just trying to get as much information about that night as possible. Can you please answer the question?”

“I went to a bar with some friends.”

“Which bar would that be?”

“That was so long ago, it was either The Brew Hogg or O’Donnell’s, no wait—it was The Brew Hogg.”

“What makes you so certain of that?”

“We were celebrating Jamie’s birthday and her favorite bar is The Brew Hogg.”

“Think really hard before answering my next question. Do you ever recall mentioning at the bar that you had a roommate who doesn’t do the bar scene?”

“I honestly don’t know—I guess I could have. Like I said that was a long time ago.”

“Here is my card—if you can think of anything else, please give me a call. Thank you for your time.”

Brock met with vic number four’s roommate only to discover that she had also been to The Brew Hogg quite a bit, however she didn’t recall ever mentioning her roommate while she was ever there. As he was heading back to the precinct, Officer O’Malley called to tell him that he had picked up Eric and had him in custody waiting for him in an interrogation room and he was not a happy camper. “I’m ten minutes out—be there as soon as I can.”

Brock arrived at the precinct and headed to the room with the two way glass to get a look at who Officer O’Malley brought in to see if it was the man from The Brew Hogg last night. “Can anybody tell me what the hell I am doing here please?” The man screamed as he paced around the room like a caged animal.

“Is that him?” O’Malley asked.

“Yeah, that’s him. I’ll see what I am able to find out from him.”

Brock opened the door and Eric glared at him as Brock instructed that he have a seat at the table.

“You! What the hell am I doing here, and who the hell are you?” Eric said as he recognized Brock.

“Have a seat Mr. Walker, and I will try to explain everything.”

“Somebody better do a hell of a lot of explaining to me or I am calling a lawyer.”

“You are not currently under arrest Mr. Walker, a lawyer won’t be necessary. I do have to ask you how old you are though.”

“I’m twenty-two. Why is that significant?”

“If you were under age, I would have to have one of your parents here.”

“Again, why the hell am I here? And who the hell are you?”

“Mr. Walker, I am detective McClellan and I am here to ask you questions relating to a series of rapes that have occurred over the past year and a half.”

“Rape? I didn’t rape anyone.”

“Can you tell me what time you left The Brew Hogg last night?”

“I don’t know. I guess shortly after you and that girlfriend of yours. What the hell were you doing there? Did she set me up? Is that why I’m here?”

“Did you leave with anyone?”

“No.”

“Where did you go when you left?”

“I went home.”

“Did anyone see you arrive at home?”

“No. I live alone.”

“Where were you last Tuesday night?”

“Hell if I know! I can’t remember that.”

“I need you to try. Think back to events that happened last week and see if you can’t remember from that.”

“I don’t know—I really don’t know.” He said running his hands through his hair in frustration.

There was a knock on the door and when Brock opened the door, O’Malley said, “We got word from the coroner that the last vic may have scratched the perp—she had skin cells under her fingernails. He sent it to the lab and they are running the DNA now, but won’t have an answer for at least 48 hours.”

“Tell them to put a rush on it—I need that information sooner if possible.”

“They tell me that timeframe is a rush.”

“Thanks O’Malley.”