First to Die (5 page)

"Ward, that's enough," Jason snarled at him, sending him back to his seat. "Chief, what do you think?" he said, stifling Ward even more.

Jason was a peacekeeper and avoided confrontation at all costs. He was tougher than a bull, but he didn't like to fight. Only if he had to, and even then, he would try to diffuse the situation with diplomatic conversation. It didn't always work out that way, and on many occasions the poor fool going up against him would get messed up pretty bad. His broad shoulders and his intimidating size kept most people in line. Including Ward.

"I think anything is possible at this point and Samantha is on the right track, but until something else happens—and I hope it doesn't—we need to keep our complete focus on this case. "Samantha, please continue." Chief Hayes pointed his finger at me.

"The two victims that we know of are Stephanie Mason and Jennifer Edwards. Church Street and Court Street in the historical district, two blocks from each other. Both single and living alone, and both in their early thirties." I circled their locations on the map hanging behind me. "No obvious sign of forced entry except for Billy Randall's claim that the Edwards’ back window was open before he entered the premises."

"And that was his invitation to climb right in?" Neville yelled from the back of the room.

"I don't know what he was doing. I haven't had a chance to talk to him yet." I shot daggers at him. He opened his mouth to say something else, but I cut him off.

"Doors secure, vehicles in driveway, personal effects intact and no sign of struggle." I swallowed the last drop of coffee I had in my cup." I have a feeling that we're going to end up with another clean scene, like the Mason house. We'll have more information from the lab and M.E. later in the week."

"Anybody talk to the family yet?" Mitchell asked from the back of the room.

Hayes nodded. "My first stop this morning after I left the scene." He shook his head. "Devastated." He took a drink of coffee.

"Any info on friends? How about a boyfriend?" Mitchell continued.

"Not really. Said she liked her privacy, stayed to herself and worked most of the time." Hayes added. "No boyfriend that they we're aware of."

"What about those lovely engraved poems?" someone from the left side of the room asked.

I walked back to the white board and did my best to untangle the knots in the tightly wound rope that I felt around my neck. "Each body has a special little riddle or poem. He's trying to tell us something, and of course he's going to make it as difficult as possible." I stared at the words. "The first one is letting us know that whatever he's doing, it's going to last a long time.
Blood for blood
, same as eye for an eye. Seeking revenge. For what, I don't know.
No remorse
, that's an obvious one, and he's already plotted his course of action." I turned back to face the crowd.

"Any hits on ViCAP?" Neville reared his head again.

"Does she even know what that means?" Ward started laughing.

"Really?" I bit the rest of my words off to avoid another round of insults with him.

"We've already registered the information from the Mason case in the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program.” I glared at Ward. "There are no similarities, nothing matches. I'll check the Edwards’ information after the meeting." I looked over at Chief Hayes. "It's probably a good time to request an assist from the Feds."

"I'll take care of it," he said, never looking up from the pad of paper he was scribbling on. "Go ahead and finish up with what you put on the board."

"The second one that I put on the board was as disturbing as the first. This guy is definitely an overachiever in the rhyming department. He wants us to see what he's doing, feel their pain.
One by one
, I don't think he has any intention of stopping and the bit with,
beneath the ruins with unheard cries
—I haven't processed that one yet. Not sure if I've processed any of it correctly. I've also searched the Internet for anything that might match the wording from the first one, and again no matches. All these bastards are unique and he could be telling us something completely different. Could be something important or just a sick freak leaving his calling card."

"So, in other words you don't have shit," Ward yelled out again, prodding at my last nerve.

"I can smell a big pile of it from here," I shot back and mumbled, “Asshole,” under my breath and scuffed my boot on the floor. The room erupted into laughter. "Let me know when you figure it out, and I'll get in that line of yours, and kiss your ass."

The chief looked at me with wild eyes, and jumped up from his chair. "Bradford, you and Kelly will lead the case. The rest of you, any and all information will be filtered through them as we move forward. Any questions?" Not a word was spoken. "Great job, everyone, and keep your eyes and ears open," he said, leaving the room.

Ward was the next to get up from his chair. He stomped across the room and pulled the door hard enough to put a dent in the wall. I had embarrassed him, but he’d hit me with the first punch. I could hear him ranting about something as he headed back to his office. The rest followed politely with, “Thank you,” and nods as they left the room. Most of the time, I didn't feel like I belonged to their secret club. The first and only female on the force and I had a detective's badge.

I felt like I needed to do cartwheels off the roof to get them to pay attention and not brush me off with the wave of a hand. I knew that they respected me but I was well aware that they felt that this wasn't a place for women. It didn't matter how well I did or how hard I tried. It never felt like it was enough. I had invaded their boys’ club and they didn't like it.

Jason leaned back in his chair and rested his feet on the corner of the conference table while I organized the file and made a few notes. "Fuck Ward," Jason yelled across at me. I nodded with agreement and continued to write. I peeked up at him a few times and caught a glimpse of him staring at me. I couldn't tell if it was the
I want you
stare or
what the hell is taking you so long
stare.

I finished the initial report and flipped through the stack of papers that Stella had given me and pulled out a flimsy, tarnished newspaper clipping from the
Daily News
. I read the headline and froze. My heart flipped over and shot a pain through the left side of my chest. "Shit." My voice took a dive below the normal depths.

Chapter 7

J
ason rocked back-and-forth in his chair and laughed. "What is it, a death threat from Ward?"

"No, although it wouldn't surprise me. It's an old newspaper article. Come over here."

"Be careful what you ask for," He said, jumping out of his chair like something bit him on the ass. "I knew you'd come around." He slid his fingers along the rim of my pants.

"Stop it." I couldn't help but laugh. "Listen." I picked up the article and read it out loud. "Daily News, RIVERVIEW RESIDENTS CHILLED TO THE BONE, HARPER MURDER RUNS COLD.” The headline was yelling at me and I heard the familiar ringing in my ears.

"I don't remember anything about that." Jason said.

"Me, either, but it's the same time my mom left.”

"I'm sorry." Jason frowned at me.

"I know, but it was a long time ago. I still wonder what happened, but I was too young to understand any of it. By the time I could, nobody would talk about it." I took a long, deep breath.

"I know, I’ve tried to get them to tell me, but I could never get them to talk."

"I appreciate it, I really do." I said.

He leaned in and looked over my shoulder as I continued to read. There was no use fighting him. He had me locked in.

"Okay, listen to this." I said. "Louise Harper thought that a day at the annual Summer festival would be like all the others. Hand-squeezed lemonade, music, and friends. She told her sister, Angie Harper, currently residing in Atlanta, GA, that she was going to participate in the silent auction for local charities and spend the day walking around the artists’ booths. Her plans were to have a quiet dinner at home and go to bed early. She had an interview the next day at a law firm downtown. She never showed up. Louise Harper’s body was found four days later in her home in the historical district, when her sister called the Riverview Police Department and requested a welfare check." I felt the blood draining out of my cheeks.

"I can't believe this." My eyes darted around the last few lines. "They expected to find her at home nursing the flu or too busy to return any calls. What they found on a normal, hot July afternoon four months ago when they entered the house on Monterat Street was frightening and horrific. Four months later, there are still questions and no arrests have been made. Details of the case are being withheld due to the ongoing investigation and Riverview P.D. requests that anyone with information to call their hotline."

Jason was already on the phone at the other end of the table. "Hey, Chief, got a minute to stop by the debriefing room before you head out?" I saw the excitement in his eyes. "Harper Case." His words buzzed around my head like an angry wasp looking for the perfect spot to sting. "Thanks." He dropped the phone back in its cradle and stood there with his hands on his hips, staring at me.

"What?" I looked down to make sure that I didn't have something crawling on me.

"Are we thinking the same thing?"

"Yes." I felt the corners of my mouth flip to the north. "Cooling off period, left town or locked up on other charges." My heart raced. "They evolve. They get more creative. We need to find her file, and I bet Stella slipped that article in with the other papers. She knows everything about this crazy place."

"He's prowling the historical district." He looked at me and shook his head. "He's watching, studying every move we make. To do that, he would have to fit in and not be noticed. No one has seen anything out of the ordinary. He’s right under our nose."

"You should have been a cop." I laughed at him.

"Smart-ass." He turned on his heels and headed for the landline again.

"You always set yourself up," I said.

Jason dialed the reception area. I could hear Stella's high-pitched voice echoing through the line. "Did you plant the Harper article?" His head went up and down with wild eyes. "Was it ever solved?" I heard the no travel through, plain as day. "I'm putting you on speaker."

A loud "dammit" filled the room. "You know I hate that."

"Why didn't you give it to us after the Mason murder?" Jason asked while he moved around the room.

"Because I didn't think there was a connection until I looked at those empty pages you guys are collecting, and now you have Miss Edwards to figure out. Is that door closed?" She lowered her voice.

"I wouldn't have you on speaker if it wasn't." Jason aimed his pen at the phone and hit it on the first try.

"Damn straight." Her voice rattled around the room.

"Same M.O.?" He turned on his heels and looked at me.

"Pretty damn close, if you ask me." I bit my bottom lip.

"Where did you get it?" He was back standing over the phone.

"In the storage room with rest of the cases that no one around here has managed to solve." I heard papers being shuffled around. "Ask the chief about it. She was part of their group. They all hung out together." I heard her clicking on her keyboard. "Including the Randalls. His first wife—can’t remember her name, but the smartest thing she ever did was divorce that heathen and get the hell out of here." She popped her gum.

"Can you bring us the file?" He pressed the button and took her off the speaker and paused at whatever she said. "Good idea." He put his hand over the phone and whispered something back to her before he hung up the phone.

"What the hell was that?” I said. "Neither one of you can be trusted."

"Nothing." He started to walk toward me.

Chapter 8

S
tella was right. Chief Hayes was going to have a heart attack before lunch, and so was I. I was trying to remember where the A.E.D. was hanging, wondering if I had enough wits about me to pay attention to the little electronic voice inside the box.
Where do I place the damn pads?
Complete automated directions and it still made me nervous.

The chief walked in and looked at us both with a raised eyebrow. "Better be good."

"
Daily News
article." Jason waved him over. "I'll let you read it."

I picked it up and held it in front of his tired eyes. He grabbed it out of my hand and I watched his lips move as he read it. His face turned to a strange color of red that I hadn't seen before, and then drained to a purplish gray.

"Where did you get this?" He scowled at me.

"Not sure," I lied.

"I know better than that." He paced the floor.

"Really, I don't know." I firmly said. "It was with a stack of papers." I jerked my head in the chief’s direction so Jason would step in.

"You were here back then. What happened with this case?" he asked the chief.

"Exactly what it says,” he said. “Never found the guy that did it."