First to Die (6 page)

"Single, close to thirty, lived alone in the historical district," I said. "It's the same case that we have right now. Were you there?" I was trying not to interrogate him.

"I found her, Samantha." He lowered his voice and looked down at the floor.

"I didn't know that. I haven't seen the file yet." I was hesitant to ask the next question. "Was the murder similar to the new ones?"

"She was cut up pretty bad. Tortured, yes, but no crazy notes and no sewing skills." He laid the article down on the table. "Is that it, Detective?" That was not a good sign. When Hayes switches to calling me detective, I was heading down a slippery slope.

"Only one more." I stepped back and hid my nervous hands in my pockets. "Did you have any suspects? Do you think it's the same guy?"

"That was two questions, Detective, and the answer is no to both of them." I could tell by the strained look on his face that he was pissed that I was questioning him.

I tried to hold it back, but my mouth won again. "You knew her."

His face tightened up and I could see his jaw popping out on each side as he clenched his teeth. "Yes, we all did. It was a difficult time for everyone." He was now glaring down at me. "Are we done with your interrogation?"

"I'm sorry, Chief." I took a long, deep breath of air and squeezed it out like an over-inflated balloon. "I think while we're at it, we should consider shutting down the festival," I said, hoping that he would agree. "Everybody knows what happened and we can tell them that we need to concentrate on the investigation. Normal procedures." He gazed at me with a bewildered look. "The streets are already blocked off and it would give us a chance to set up vehicle check points for anyone coming or going." His bewilderment turned to the obvious sign of annoyance as he massaged his temples with both hands.

"No, no and no. It's not being shut down."

"But, it would give us a chance to see if anyone stumbles on a few questions and have a look inside their cars." He ran his fingers through his wavy salt-and-pepper hair, trying to brush away my pleading. He narrowed his eyes in an obvious objection.

"No problem." I started to raise my hands in defeat. I caught his bloodshot eyes in a stare. "It's wrong not to do it." I had the proverbial shovel in my hand and was digging myself an enormous hole. "You're worried about what the mayor and council will say about the added publicity, and I don't think it matters," I said, rocking back and forth on my heels. "It’s going to be a hell of a lot safer if we get everyone out of here." The overhead speaker abruptly interrupted Jason as he opened his mouth to speak and summoned him to the reception area. He headed for the door and disappeared. The bastard left me alone. Persuading the chief after he has already made is mind up was a losing battle.

"You have a better way of doing things around here?" Spit hit my face.

"No, Chief, I don't." My pleading eyes turned to panic. "This is a double homicide investigation, not a council vote, and by the time they get their heads out of their asses, we'll have another body." That was the last scoop of dirt that I needed to fit me snugly in my grave.

"Detective, go home and go to sleep, you hear me?" I nodded. He snarled and stormed out of the room. Maybe Stella would be able to calm him down and save my ass. Stella had a way with him. She had been the police clerk for as long as I could remember. She could run him in circles and make him believe anything.

Hayes was scheduled to perform the insurmountable task of damage control at twelve o'clock. Stella would have him back on track before he left and I was sure that he would persuade the city to shut it down. It would be a gathering laced with all the appropriate questions and twisted answers to make you think that we knew exactly what was going on. Jason stormed the briefing room with a file in his hand.

"Open that treasure. Let's see what kind some jewels we can pull out of it," I said.

Jason sat down and opened the door to the past. Everything was the same except the cause of death. She didn't have a knife to the chest. She had a knife to the neck. "They get better with time, more confident," Jason said rubbing his chin.

"He slit her throat deep enough to classify it as a decapitation. She had deep lacerations and it looked like she was impaled with something in her eyes." I shuddered.

"Sick fucker." He clenched his jaw as he kept reading. "No sign of struggle, no sign of forced entry, and no physical evidence." He ran his hands through his dark hair. "I have a feeling that this is the same guy, with twenty years of practice to hone his skills."

"If it's him or somebody else, how the hell are they getting in?" I asked.

"They probably knew him."

"That doesn't make sense. All the doors were locked, including Harper's," I said.

"Edward's back window was open."

"Coincidence. I think it was already open and it stayed that way." I stared at him. “I think he was already in there, hiding and waiting, but there’s no evidence to prove it.

"In all the cases, not one witness." He looked frustrated. "Everyone's already been interviewed and didn't see or hear anything, and that Harper file is pretty damn thin."

"We've got little Billy Randall." I stood up and patted him on the back.

He reached around and grabbed my hand in his and stood up. "Where are you going?"

"Billy. I have to talk to him." I felt his fingers weave into mine. His mind was off the case, and he was staring down at me. My heart was racing and I could feel it throbbing deep in my stomach. I don't know if it was nerves, lack of sleep or excitement, but I was feeling light-headed.

He ran his hand up my arm and rested it at the base of my neck. He pulled me up against his body with his other hand and I felt his soft lips press against my cheek. I was frozen and couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. I felt his lips move across my face and he whispered in my ear. "I..."

Stella knocked once and entered the room. Jason looked up in surprise and tossed his hands in the air. I was relieved that I didn't have to deal with the current intoxicating dilemma. "Hey, Stella." I stepped back and let out a long sigh of relief.

"Sorry to interrupt you love birds." She winked at me. "Couple of the helpless rookies are on a call over in the historical district." She giggled. "Crazy lady Brooks called 911 because she claims someone’s been eating her food and leaving the dirty dishes on the table." She moved around the room and gathered the discarded coffee cups. "These your driving gloves?"

"No." My face scrunched up and Jason waved the suggestion away. Ward and Hayes are the only ones that wear them year round.”

She pushed them to the side. "Dispatch said it's happened twice this week. Didn't think to report it until she saw Poison Ivy on the news this morning." She gave an infectious belly laugh. "I'm sure she's toasted." I heard a snort. "You know what I mean, finished off a few bottles over the weekend."

"Yes, I know what you mean, Stella." I smiled at Jason. "Why does it matter? She calls at least once a week with something outrageous."

"Cause last week, Michelle Connor filed a report stating that everything in her house was moved around when she got up in the morning."

"I'm sure everyone is terrified and ready to pack up and leave at this point." I cradled the files in my arms. "I'll keep an eye on it," I said to Stella and took the first opportunity to exit the room.

I stopped in my office and scribbled the haunting words on the board. I didn't like it. I didn't like anything about it. What the hell did it mean? A riddle, puzzle, sick poem, clues that we needed to find that weren't there? He was clever and calculating. An animal. I wasn't operating at full capacity, with no sleep, and it was affecting my thinking. I needed to walk and catch my second wind. That chat with Billy Randall might lead us in the right direction. I headed down the long hall to the interview rooms and found Cole sitting at the desk.

Chapter 9

I
stood there for about a minute before Cole raised his head to acknowledge me and then looked away. "How's Billy doing?"

"Just missed him. Parents took him home about ten minutes ago." He stared at the file in front of him.

"Why? I needed to talk to him?" I threw my hands up in the air.

"Ward said to cut him loose." He continued to look at his file and avoid any eye contact.

"What? Wait? You're kidding me, right? Did he say where he was last night?" I was pacing back and forth in front of his desk. I felt the heat rise up and surround me.

He finally looked up at me. "At a bonfire down by the river."

"What else did he say?" I put my hand out and he handed me the Randall file.

"Said he saw nothing until he fell on her." He stood up and pressed his finger to his nose.

"Did anyone happen to ask him why the smell didn't stop him from entering the premises and contaminating a crime scene?"

"No, I don't know. Ask Ward." He slid around me and headed down the hall. "He wasn't saying much. He was scared to death," he yelled back.

I headed to Ward’s office. From day one, he had been undermining all of my decisions and sabotaging our investigations, all at my expense. It was obvious what he was trying to do, but nobody stood up to him. "Ward is just being Ward," was not going to fly anymore. I stormed his office without knocking. He was sitting in his chair, facing the back of his office. First lesson. Always sit with your back to the wall. Any fool knows that. I slammed the Randall file on his desk like I was swatting a nasty fly. Ward swirled around like a top.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Sam?" His eyes darted around.

I bent over his desk to make sure that he heard my words. "Don't mess with me anymore."

"Why, so you can make an ass out of yourself and the department?"

"No, so you can stop sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."

"Let me tell you something, little girl. I've been around here long enough to know that you have no idea what you're doing. I'll stick my nose anywhere I want. Now, get the hell out of my office." He threw his arm in the air and motioned at the door.

"Not until you back off and let me do my job," I yelled. "You sent Billy home before I had a chance to interview him,” I shot back. “You know that he was our only witness."

"I interviewed him," He shouted, slamming his hand down on the desk.

"It's not your case." I slammed harder. "Where was he, what the hell was he doing, and why the hell did he just happen to be in that house?"

"Dumb luck, I guess," he yelled back. "You think because you have a fancy degree that you can run the show? You've got a lot to learn, little girl."

"Little girl?" How many times was he going to call me that?

"If you go near another one of my cases, I'm going to Hayes." I edged my way toward the door to leave.

“If I were you, I’d stay away from him,” he huffed. “Understand?”

He stopped me in my tracks. I turned around and strolled back to his desk. “Don’t ever threaten me, understand?”

"You sound like your crazy mother." Bad choice of words.

"You're a miserable prick with nothing better to do than to make my life more difficult. I'm done playing your stupid game, and the next time you say anything about my mother, me or mess with my investigations. I'm gonna shove my fist down your throat and pull your little balls out of your mouth so you can choke on them. How's that for crazy?" I stood solid as the bronze statue in the center of the park.

Ward was out of his chair and roaring toward me like a bull. Ann Kelly was a sore subject, but I'd go to my grave defending her. No matter how crazy she was, she was still my mom. Ward lunged at me with rage in his eyes. I jumped back out of his reach.

"Don't you fucking touch me." I lowered my voice. "Don't think that I don't know the stories about you roughing people up. You get away with it because they're too afraid to press charges. If I hear about it again, watch your back because I'll be there. I'm not afraid of you or your badge."

I didn't take my eyes off of him as I backed out and headed down the hall, and back to my office. All eyes were on me as I passed each division, and I was sure that they’d heard every bit of the standoff. No one said a word as I passed through and found my way to my desk. I sat in my chair for a few minutes to collect my thoughts before I picked up the phone to call Jason to tell him that our only witness had been released by my nemesis. I could hear the briefing room phone ringing down the hall. He wasn't back yet. I called his cell and he finally picked up. He was already on his way back from picking up the crime scene footage from WRIV. I told him everything that happened and he was furious. "Stay away from Ward," he growled. "I'll be back in a few minutes to take care of it. I've had enough of his shit." The call went dead.

Jason stormed the station, threw his jacket at me, and turned toward Ward’s office. I tried to stop him. "He's not worth the paperwork," I said, latching myself to his side. “Please, don't." I begged. "It's going to make it worse. He'll be gone in a few years and there will be no love lost." I pulled him back into our office. "Please let me deal with him. The only fight he has is with me. If you go in there, it will give him more ammunition."

"Sam, I'm done with his shit and I'm not going to allow him to treat you the way he does anymore." He hammered at me. "One more word out of his mouth and he's done." He was quiet, the kind of quiet that he gets when he's ready to pop someone. The scary quiet when someone gets hurt. "One more word." His face was turning red as he rattled on. "One more." The sound of his hand hitting the wall startled me. After a few more paces around the room, Jason settled down in his chair across from mine.