Rise of a Phoenix: Rise of a Phoenix (3 page)

“OK, detective,” called a familiar voice. The grey-haired man was in his late forties but still had the style and bearing of a much younger man.

“You’re clear to go in,” he said smiling, treating her just as a grandfather might treat his granddaughter.

“Did you find anything?” McCall was hoping that the killer had left something, but she already had a bad feeling about this case.

“Not really. Son-of-a-bitch is smart, put her in an alley, put it like this we have too much data.” the newcomer gave her an uneasy smile.

“Thanks, Jim. Oh say hi to Denise for me, will you?”

He waved and left with the rest of the CSU.

“OK.” McCall turned to her two colleagues. “We need to do a canvass of the area, I want to find something that this bastard may have left.” She motioned for her colleagues to go to the further end of the blocked alleyway, while she went back to try and mentally reconstruct how he may have got ‘Jane’ there. She reached the entrance of the alley and realized that all the onlookers had gone, obviously leaving once the body had been taken.

Looking round the entrance, she imagined a vehicle pulling up and stopping, then went though the movements of a person getting out and walking along the alleyway, assessing what he may have touched or banged against, trying to envisage the scene, and what he might have encountered.

“Why here?” she thought aloud. “What’s so special about here?”

As Sam stared down the breadth of the dark brittle-stoned passage she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. As she slowly opened them she was ready, taking her time, checking for something,
anything
.

“Sometimes things are in plain sight,” her father used to say. So she stopped for a second as the thought of her dad brought a small unwelcome distraction to the moment. She shook off the memories and proceeded down the alley.

There was nothing.

Damn it,
she thought. Who was this guy? Suddenly she had this feeling of not being alone. She turned to find at the alley’s entrance there was a tall dark figure, silhouetted by the bright sun behind him making an identification impossible. All she could make out was a long coat that flapped in the breeze of the large truck that powered past. Moving towards the figure, she drew out her badge and held it up.

“Hey excuse me can I talk to you?” she yelled out. “Hey you!”

But the figure remained motionless. Something seemed wrong about this guy, whoever he was. Suddenly something jammed up against her leg, and there was a loud screech as she kicked a ginger cat who had only been trying to be affectionate. She looked down, shocked at what had just happened, but when her focus returned to the figure he was gone.

“Stupid animal!” she screamed, running in pursuit of the man. Reaching the mouth of the passage, she burst out, half expecting to see him running or a car speeding away. But there was nothing, just passers by suddenly turning at the sight of McCall. He had completely disappeared. Who hell was he and where did he go?

THREE

The midday sun was hot and stifling, which caused the bustling traffic to crawl across the city, ice cream vendors worked hard to supply the needy crowds that had gathered in the streets. Within the coolness of the Grand Central Station thousands of commuters hurried to find their platforms. As she headed for the exit, Susan Black nudged her way through the endless wash of motivated people. Pushing the brass door rails of the wood-and-glass doors Susan was suddenly taken aback by the sudden change in temperature, as the startling heat slapped her in the face.

Stepping into the street, she headed for the coffee shop that sat under the Park Avenue Viaduct. She smiled to herself as she noticed a few heads turn, and detected appreciative glances. She was a sexy forty-year-old woman, her long blonde hair flowing attractively in the wind, her grey business suit hugging her neat slim body, accentuating the alluring curves. Men’s mouths dropped open, even some women stared in admiration, and she lapped up the attention. As she entered the coffee shop one man paid her special attention. This blond-haired man readjusted his sunglasses to get a better view, then picking up his cell phone, he pressed the speed dial and waited.

“Yes,” the voice on the other end of the line was soft but the tone was like nails on a chalkboard. The dark haired man shivered at the sound of the voice in his ear.

“I have just seen something I think you will like,” he said. There was a pause.

“Can you bring it?”

The blond man smiled,

“Sure, I’ll pick something up for you.” He disconnected the call and put the cell phone into his jacket pocket and waited.

Susan lived only a couple of blocks away so she decided to ‘walk off’ her long journey, and the hours of sitting; it was good to be back after a two-week business trip to Canada. As she waltzed down the busy streets, the sound of the wheeled suitcase rattled on the hard concrete, warning people to make way for her. She was not far from her apartment building when she stopped at an alleyway and listened: a faint sound emanated from the depths of the dirty alley. Moving slowly closer, she strained to make out the sound.

What was that? An injured animal? She moved nearer to the noise until she realized it was the sound of a crying child.

“Hello, are you hurt?” she asked. Releasing the grip on her case she edged in further until she found a little girl sitting in an old cardboard box, which was large enough to hold a freezer or some other large object. Susan knelt down just in front of the child, and at her.

“Hi, are you lost, do you need help?” She didn’t reply. “Where’s your mummy?”

Before Susan could turn round, she felt her body seize up as the taser bit into her back and she passed out.

The next day Detective McCall headed to the precinct, still wondering whose body it was at the entrance of the alleyway. The day before, after examining the scene of the crime, the rest of the time was spent chasing missing persons files and hoping Tina, the Medical Examiner, had come up with something. McCall hated to drive in the mornings as the traffic was its usual nightmare, but what else could she do?

Suddenly her radio crackled to life.

“Hey, McCall, if you are on the way to the precinct, don’t bother, we are needed at Central Park. We are at the Bethesda Terrace.” It was Tony and he did not sound happy.

“Why, what’s up?” McCall was almost afraid to ask.

“We got another one, the son-of-a-bitch has struck again.”

This time another voice spoke, it was rougher, deeper and more authoritative: the Captain.

Bethesda Terrace was a late 1800s wonder, the two-level courtyard displaying a mix of red and white brick, beginning with the smaller forecourt on the upper level, to which on either side two large sandstone staircases came down to give entry to a weathered underpass. This made the place look as if it had once belonged to a castle or a cathedral. A magnificent fountain loomed at the other end of the fantastic courtyard. This was intended to be a place of dreams, a place for people to come and lose themselves in another time.

The park was awash with police putting up crime-scene tape and barricades, the press in their droves setting up tripods and getting video cameras ready to go on air: a media circus.

Sam pulled up her car as close as possible and surveyed the chaos.

“Well, so much for keeping this one under wraps,” she said to herself, getting out of her car. McCall gave her gun a reassuring tap and then moved forward towards the tape.

Cameras flashed and microphones were thrust in front of her face, and people were begging her for a statement, but she just shrugged them off, treating them like an unwanted infection.

Passing the cordoned-off area, she moved freely, checking to make sure nothing out of the ordinary stuck out. A voice called out for her as she walked down the weathered sandstone steps, and looking round McCall saw the rest of the team and headed towards the crowd of plain-clothes officers, two of whom were Tony and Tooms. They were speaking to a very tall African-American man. This man was well over six feet with broad shoulders, wearing a blue suit that fitted tightly enough to advertise his large muscular arms but not tight enough to constrict his movements.

As she approached she nodded to Tony and Tooms, and then acknowledged her superior, saying

“Morning Captain.”

“McCall.” He returned the greeting. “This is getting out of hand.”

She noticed a blue cloth covering something on the ground by the large sculptured underpass opposite the large fountain near where they stood. The group moved over to where they found Tina crouched in front of a covered corpse.

“Hi, Doc,” They all said to her. Concentrating hard, she just raised a hand and waved in response to their greetings.

“So, Doc have you got a cause of death?” the Captain asked causing Doctor Franks turn round to face him.

“Well, I’m not sure how she died,” the attractive M.E replied,

 “But I know ID is going to be a bitch.”

As she said the words, she unveiled the corpse to reveal a woman. Her naked body looked trim and athletic, and unlike the last victim she was intact except for one small detail.

“Well, it’s definitely your guy,” Tina continued.

“Blood drained from the body just like last time but as you can see the head has been removed, and not just the head but also the neck all the way down to the collarbone.”

 Even the unflinching Captain had to look away.

“We need to catch this bastard and fast,” Brant almost growled the words, “Before we have a full blown panic on our hands. Come on, let’s move, people.”

“OK, Tony, you check for CCTV footage, they must have picked something up,” Sam McCall instructed.

“Tooms, can you grab some uniforms and talk to as many people as you can, someone may have seen or heard something. Thanks, guys.” She looked round at the layout. The detective had to admit it was brilliantly staged: no buildings for miles and a road that ran right next to the steps. Getting witnesses would be nothing short of impossible.

The two men gave each other a quick knuckle-bump and left. Sam walked over to Tina, who was just finishing the location paperwork.

“Hey, you OK?” McCall asked the ME.

“Yes, I’m fine.” Tina paused as McCall gave her friend a meaningful look. “Well not really, something’s bothering me about this case.”

McCall was puzzled. During all the years they had known each other this was the first time see had seen the ME spooked by what she had seen.

“What’s up, Tina? It can’t be getting to you, you’re tough as nails.”

The ME smiled at her and placed a reassuring hand on McCall’s left arm.

“No it’s not getting to me, I’m just thinking, how he is doing this? Now we have seen some sick perps in our time. But when sick meets brilliant, then we got a problem.”

McCall gave her a quick smile.

“We will catch this guy, don’t worry,” and with that the M.E left for the morgue.

McCall waited an hour for the CSU to complete their normal crime-scene evidence collection; once they were finished, Jim Burke- the lead investigator of the team, strolled up to McCall with a clipboard in one hand and a sandwich in the other.

“Hi, kiddo,” he said with a smile like a granddad greeting his granddaughter.

“Hi, old man.” They hugged like old family friends who had not seen each other for years.

“How you holding up?” he asked, a concerned look upon his face.

“I’m doing great, it’s just this case is tying everyone in knots.” He nodded in agreement.

“Yeh, this is one smart SOB,” he said, trying to be polite but failing.

 “Both crime scenes we have found nothing! Don’t get me wrong, we found stuff, but nothing out of the ordinary. Lots of tread marks, millions of fibers, I’m just hoping the smart bastard gets too cocky and slips up—they normally do.”

“I hope so too, old man,” she said in response, unable to prevent the doubting tone in her voice.  They embraced once more, and then she was alone to walk through in her mind the events immediately prior to the body drop. She looked around. The best entrance point was definitely on the road by the large steps she had entered by. At the top, beside the road, she ran through the events, acting them out as best she could.

“OK,” she spoke to herself. “Stop the car, get out. I look around, make sure everything is clear.” She accompanied the thoughts with appropriate movements, using her imagination to lead her.

“OK, coast is clear; I move down the steps, I’m nearly at my goal.”

She reached the bottom of the steps and turned the corner. To her surprise she found a man crouched on the ground where the body had been.

 “Hey, can I help you?”she shouted to the figure.

The man rose up and turned towards her. He was tall and wore black from head to foot. She noted that he was handsome, and his clean-shaven chiselled jaw was curved into a smile, and his eyes were masked by a pair of dark Oakley sunglasses that hugged his face. He did nothing at first, then simply put his right hand over his chest and gave a small bow. Then he left.

She was too stunned by his brashness to follow, instead shouting:

 “Hey! No! You stop right there, Mr.!” But he just carried on up the steps to her right on the other side of the courtyard. She started to follow him but even though his pace had not quickened he remained well ahead of her.

“Hey, you! Get your ass back here!” Sam yelled after him, but he carried on as though nothing was amiss. Suddenly, just as she was in reaching distance of him, apparently out of nowhere a horse and carriage darted between them, blocking her from her quarry.

“Police, move ... NOW!” she yelled, holding up her badge. The carriage driver quickly whipped at the steed and they took off. McCall looked around, but the mystery man was nowhere to be seen.

“OK, this guy is really starting to piss me off,” she thought to herself.

Detective Sam McCall clenched her fists and screamed to the sky, as if to blame someone up in the heavens for sending this man to torment her.