Steve Demaree - Dekker 09 - Murder on a Blind Date (10 page)

I had
spent countless hours going over everything I knew about the murders, without
gaining any more knowledge as to the identity of the murderer, so I decided
that I would spend my time from Saturday morning through Sunday afternoon doing
what I normally did. I got up Saturday morning long after the rooster had
awakened his barnyard friends, then got it in gear and shaved, showered,
exercised, ate, and spent time with God. Then I called Lou and asked him if he
was up for some indoor cornhole. He even agreed to drop by Antonio's and pick
up lunch. I refrained from telling him that I had planned to treat him to lunch
at my house. That would give me a couple more days for larder in case God
decided to dump some more snow on our hamlet. When I saw Lou pull up out in
front of my house I wondered if that was the first time he had gotten his 1957
Chevy out of the garage two days in a row. By the time he made it to the front
door I still couldn't think of another time when he had done so.

Lou
arrived at my house smelling good. Well, it wasn't so much Lou, but the food he
had picked up at Antonio's. I was glad I didn't eat at Antonio's everyday,
because if I did I would put back on all the weight I had lost over the last
several months.

There
were no witnesses at my house that day, so Lou and I ate and played like a
couple of boys, flicking peppers at each other, and doing between the legs
cornhole tosses when it came time to play. Neither of us broke anything, so I
didn't have to blame anything on Lou. After a while I kicked Lou out, told him
I had a hot date. He asked me if she was a killer. I told him she was in my
book. Then he turned sad. Thelma Lou was down with the flu and had ordered
everyone to stay away until she recovered. Everyone included Lou, who had to
return home to his jigsaw puzzle, which fittingly was a winter scene.

I took
Jennifer to dinner, where she interrogated me and asked me how many other women
I had dated that week. The smile on my face after I said "none"
lasted only until she asked me how many I planned to date the following week. I
assured her that all the women that agency would fix me up with looked like the
one Jennifer had seen. She had doubts about that, but promised not to follow me
the second time. I was thankful for that. I was even more thankful later.

+++

Lou and I
enjoyed our pastor's message on Sunday morning and discussed it while we ate
lunch together afterward. I particularly liked the fact that I wouldn't have to
drive to
Lexington
and back in a borrowed truck, or inclement 
weather.

+++

As I
opened my back door and stepped into my house the house phone was ringing.
Since my home phone didn't have voice mail or Caller ID I hurried to answer it
before it quit ringing. 

"Is
this Dekker?"

Very few
people have my phone number and the voice at the other end of the line didn't
sound like any of them.

"Yeah.
Who's this?"

"This
is Gruber, down in
Lexington
."

"Gruber?"

"Detective
Gruber, Robbery and Homicide. I understand you have an interest in something
we're working on. Just wanted to let you know we think we've caught the guy. Name's
Monson. Al Monson. We think he did them all."

I wonder
how they figured out the name I used on my dating service application, and if
the phone call was to tell me to cease and desist. I played along to see where
this was leading.

"I
don't think so."

"I
don't think so, either. Turns out we found out this morning who this Monson
really is. Can you tell me your interest in this case?"

"Well,
I guess you could say I'm involved in a couple of ways."

"And
one of them is dating the suspects."

"Well,
two other than that. A week ago yesterday my partner of thirty years was
kidnapped and taken to
Tennessee
. He woke up and found himself
next to a body. It turns out the body was one of the victims who used this
dating service. Another one of the victims was a guy from Morehead who was a
friend of a cousin of the person who took my job in homicide when I
retired."

"I
heard a little bit about that, but since we're knee-deep in bodies in our own
backyard we haven't checked into those two. It looks like you have some
information we don't have. You going to be in
Lexington
anytime soon?"

"Yeah,
tonight. I have my second date through the agency tonight, my third tomorrow night."

"Wow!
You're a busy man. At that pace you'll soon find a killer, or a wife, or a
killer wife."

"I'd
prefer the killer. I already have a girlfriend."

"And
does she know about these dates of yours?"

"She
does."

"Wow!
I wish my wife was that accommodating."

"Listen
if you want to take my place on these two dates, you're more than welcome to do
so."

"I
think I'll pass. I assume this means you'll be at The Cheesecake Factory
tonight."

"That's
right. I'm supposed to meet her at
6:30
."

"Okay.
Listen, I know all about you, about the success you've had over the years. Solved
every murder. That's impressive. We're not that good. We miss one every now and
then, but then we have more murders and a larger area to cover than you do.
We've already talked to some of these people involved with this dating service and
so far we have nothing. Well, nothing that says we're ready to arrest someone.
You want a crack at this? If so, are you willing to tell us what you've learned
if we share with you what we know? Maybe working together will help us solve
these murders sooner."

"Sounds
good to me."

"Be
at Fayette Mall tonight at
5:30
. Drive
in the main entrance. Turn left then turn left again and back into a spot out
near
Nicholasville
Road
. I'm busy
tonight, but Detective Sanchez will meet you. What will you be driving?"

I
described my van. We shared a few other words then hung up.

+++

I called
Sam and asked him for photographs of the victims and the ones they dated. He
told me he was on it. I wasn't sure how Sam came up with everything he did, but
I doubted if it was Google or a message from God each day. I decided not to
worry about how Sam learns what he does. Instead I concentrated on using it to
help me solve each case.

I
refrained from playing cornhole or doing the hula hoop exercise on my Wii
board, so I didn't have to take a second shower on Sunday. I left early enough
to allow myself some extra time for the drive to
Lexington
. When I arrived at the north side of
Lexington
without incident, I breathed a
sigh of relief and hoped that was a sign of things to come. I took New Circle
Road around
Lexington
until I got to
Nicholasville Road
. Since Sunday traffic isn't all
that bad, I was tempted to drive straight through
Lexington
, but was sure if I did I would
hit a bunch of red lights. Besides, I had no idea if anything was going on
downtown to slow me down. Still, I doubted it. Not much goes on in downtown
Lexington
on a Sunday in the winter.

Sunday
Lexington traffic is heavy right after church when everyone heads to their
favorite restaurant before heading home for a nap or something on TV, but by
the time I hit town most people were nestled in their homes. I followed
Detective Gruber's instructions and backed into a spot at Fayette Mall. I
killed my lights, but kept the motor running in order to stay warm. I sat there,
waiting. There was a lot of traffic behind me on
Nicholasville Road
, but only a few cars parked as far away from the
mall entrance as I was. None of them seemed to have anyone inside. Maybe
Detective Sanchez got delayed by traffic. I heard someone approaching from my
left and turned and looked in that direction. An attractive woman in her mid-to-late
thirties was walking toward me. I had no idea where she came from, and figured
she was going to walk past my van. At the last moment she turned and approached
the driver's side of my vehicle. She wasn't wearing a white rose, so I didn't
think she was my date. She stopped at my door. I rolled down the window.

"Lieutenant
Dekker?"

"That's
right. Who are you?"

"Eve
Sanchez, and from the look on your face Mike Gruber didn't tell you that I'm a
woman. He likes to do that to people. Mind if I come around and get in?"

"Please
do."

I used
the few seconds that it took her to walk around to the passenger's side and
open the door to try to calm down. What calmness I had managed to acquire went
away as soon as she slid those shapely legs into the front seat and her skirt
slid up  just above her knee. This woman was rapidly rising up the detective
chart to tie Heather for my favorite detective. As I sat there watching Eve
Sanchez get comfortable I expected to see bright lights hit me in the face and
Jennifer emerge from a car in front of me. I was only slightly more comfortable
when that didn't happen. After all, an attractive woman who wasn't Jennifer was
sitting just a couple of feet to my right. Luckily there was a console between
us, and I didn't expect her to leap over to my side of the van. For a minute I
pictured myself in Lou's '57 Chevy and watching a dazzling young woman slide
across the seat as she said, "Hi, Cy." To keep from speaking in a
falsetto voice I let Eve Sanchez speak first.

"You
look like you've never seen a policewoman before."

"Not
at all. The person who replaced me in homicide is a woman. It's just the
combination of expecting you to be a man, plus having to go through another
date in a few minutes that I don't want to go through is making things seem
like a snowball rolling downhill."

"That's
okay. You're not the first man to stutter the first time he saw me."

"I
didn't stutter."

"So
you're saying that you're completely comfortable, just the two of us inside
your dark vehicle?"

"Okay.
Maybe I get a little nervous around an attractive woman, no matter who she
works for."

"Thanks
for the compliment. Now let's get down to business. Like you said, you'll be
meeting another woman in a few minutes. Tell me what you've learned so
far."

By the
time we finished I felt that she had learned more that
Lexington
cops didn't know than I learned
from her. Although she did confirm that all the
Lexington
victims were murdered in their homes, just inside the
front door. As if someone had shown up and injected them as soon as they
answered the door. And the
Lexington
police had talked to the neighbors in every case, and none of them had seen
anyone. They were pretty sure that all of the murders had taken place on
Thursday, but some of them happened in the morning, while others were murdered
at night. So far they had no idea why the murders took place on Thursday.

Satisfied
that I might be a help in their investigation, she took out a badge and
credentials which said I was a special investigator for the Lexington Police
Department. She gave me a list, including names and addresses of people I might
want to talk to, and I told her I would get busy the next day.

She
smiled and said, "Thanks for your help, Lieutenant. I hope the next time
we meet I don't make you quite so uncomfortable."

"You
don't expect to look so good next time?"

"Oh,
you charmer you. I hope you don't have a wife back home while you're out
meeting all these women."

"No.
Only a girlfriend. And the first time I was here she arrived unexpectedly with
my former partner and his girlfriend."

"Oh,
the jealous type."

"They
said they were here to protect me. And another lieutenant and our medical
examiner were at another table."

"Well,
I hope no one has captured the two of us and is ready to put us on YouTube. But
just in case someone did, should I come around and give you a kiss
goodbye?"

"You
know what they say. No man should arrive for a date with lipstick on him. Now
how about you? Are you married?"

"Only
to the department. But if you break up with your girlfriend and you'd like a
date sometime, you can give me a call. I'd probably be a safer date than the
ones you've found through the agency."

"I'm
not sure about that. But I've enjoyed meeting you. I just won't remember to
tell my girlfriend about you."

Eve
Sanchez smiled, got out of my van, and shut the door. As she turned to walk
away she gave me a sexy wave goodbye and a wink. I watched her walk away. She
looked good walking away. Suddenly realizing why I was there, I looked at my
watch. I had fifteen minutes to make a five minute walk. And not only didn't I
have what it takes to walk like Eve Sanchez, I was glad that I didn't.  

Instinctively,
I turned the radio back on. The Beatles were singing
Paperback Writer.
It
got me to thinking. I needed to watch my step or someone might write about me.
Then I thought that writing must be easier than solving murders, so maybe I
should write during my retirement years. How hard could it be? All I would have
to do would be go to the computer  to write a few words. After a few days I
would have a novel. Everyone would buy it, and I would have a best-seller and a
lot of money. It sounded almost as easy as preaching. But then there must be a
catch somewhere. After all, there must have been some reason that Poe and
Hemingway drank a lot. For the time being I would have to forget about writing.
There was a woman inside waiting on me. I hoped she was better than Bambi
Fontaine, my date from the other night. I wondered how much difference it would
make that I had told mostly the truth about myself this time.