Serial Separation (22 page)

Chapter 57

The light coming
in the bedroom windows woke us.

I hadn’t
realized how much I missed being with Lisa. It had been weeks since she spent
the night with me, and we both made up for lost time. Neither of us got much
sleep, between making love and talking.

I almost had to
carry Lisa into the shower, but, once there, we picked up where we left off
last night. We didn’t make any detours after we showered, although we both
wanted to.

However, now I
was rushing to bring Lisa back to her dorm and still make the task force before
nine. We made the short drive to her dorm. Lisa was sitting close and breathing
in my ear.

“Lisa, do you
want me to head back to the apartment?”

She bit my ear. “That
would be nice, but no. I just want you ready for the next time we’re together.”

Earlier, I
expected her to question me about who stayed overnight with me, but she only asked
her name and what she looked like. I was hesitant telling her, but there weren’t
any additional questions. Maybe the thoughts of another woman made an
impression.

She added, “When
will I see you again? Tonight’s New Year’s Eve.”

“I would like to
think I can get away, but I know we are going to be busy checking out
waterfront properties. I really can’t say about tonight but can we make
definite plans for Friday night?”

She was slow
responding. “Friday night is fine, and if you find that tonight works, just
call me at the dorm. I’m not going out. Oh, I forgot to tell you . . . Jeremy
and Dottie got engaged the other night. He popped the question when they went
out to dinner.”

Smiling, I said,
“I’ll take your forgetting to tell me a compliment.”

“I meant to tell
you, but there were so many other more important things to settle . . . I guess
you just made me forget.” Then she blew in my ear.

After I parked
the car, we walked to her dorm. We kissed again but not like last night. We
looked at each other one last time—she looked like she had the glow back.

“Call me,
Scotty, if things change for tonight. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

I could tell
neither of us wanted to part for even a few minutes.

* * *

I was glad to
make the office before nine. Colleen looked nice again, in what I expected was
another new outfit.

“Good morning,
Colleen.”

She smiled when
she realized I noticed her outfit. “Good morning, Scott. Mike wants to see you
and Mercedes. He’s in the conference room with Mercedes.”

“Thanks,
Colleen. You look very nice today.”

“You’re always
my hero. Thanks.”

When I opened
the door to the conference room, Mike stopped talking with Mercedes and changed
his attention. “Good morning, Scott.”

I responded,
closing the door behind me. “Good morning Mike, Mercy.”

“Good morning,
Scott,” Mercedes said, looking at her watch.

Her red hair
hung down across the front of her white sweater, but I saw the corner of her
mouth raised in a smirk. I offered, “I had something to do this morning; sorry
I’m a little late.”

Mike pointed to
a seat near them. “Mercedes has a list of all the properties that are currently
available. We were just going over how to check them.”

I pulled a chair
over near them and sat down. It was strange how the fragrance of gardenia wiped
out my other thoughts.

I rescued myself.
“Mike, I have some information regarding the case.”

Mike must have
noticed. “What, no coffee? Why don’t you get a cup and we’ll start.”

I got up and
Mercedes followed. I held the door for her, closing it behind us. I followed
her to the coffee area. She looked good in that sweater and tight black ski
pants. I suddenly wished Lisa and I were indeed going skiing this weekend.

Mercedes poured
her coffee and then poured a cup for me.

Then, she broke
the silence. “Mike and I talked about the other night. We got some things
straight. We’re okay. That is, in case you were wondering.”

I took the cup from
her and felt the warmth of her hand. “That’s good.”

“Scott, about
the time at the cabin . . . I’m still waiting for an answer.”

“Do you want an
answer now or can it wait until we’re alone?”

“Scotty, an
answer now, or then, will do.”

I finished
preparing my coffee and last night’s images with Lisa came to mind.

“Let’s wait
until we’re alone.”

She was close,
blocking my path. She smiled, looking at me over her cup. “That will just have
to do.”

I felt like I
was being manipulated again. In that split second, I realized how foolish I’d
been, and things would be different from now on. It must have been my lack of
experience with women that gave Mercedes the ability to manipulate me.

Lisa’s behavior
those past few months had made me more susceptible to someone else’s advances.
She turned and I followed her to the conference room. She waited until I opened
the door. I would have to pay more attention to those little traps.

* * *

When we were
seated back in the conference room, I repeated what I had said to Mike. “I have
something that might help with the case.” I stood up and tapped the blackboard
next to ‘JJ Johnston Next.’

“Mike, I learned
this through Lisa. Jason’s cousin, Jeremy Johnston was kidnapped back in early
November. They share the same nickname, and it could have confused the
kidnappers.”

Mike took a long
drink of his coffee. “Go ahead, you have my attention.”

I noticed
Mercedes was also paying close attention. “His story went something like—he was
kidnapped by a gang on Friday night, held all weekend, and tortured by either
three or four women. Anyway, late Sunday afternoon another female arrived just
before he thought he was going to be . . . well . . . killed.”

I continued.
“They went away for what seemed to him over an hour and when they came back he
was taken off this platform and put into a car. He was still blindfolded, tied
up, and naked.”

My lips were
dry, and I needed some more coffee.

“After they
drove for about thirty minutes, they dumped him in the Medford woods. He
managed to get untied, and some college kids picked him up. They thought it was
a hazing, but when he showed him the marks on his body they got him clothes and
took him to Kenmore Square.”

Neither of them
interrupted me while I spit out the story. When I stopped to take another sip
of coffee, Mike responded. “Scott, this might be extremely helpful. You said he
thought it was about a thirty-minute ride?”

“Yes, that’s
what I heard. However, I think we need to get Jeremy in to tell us the story
directly.”

Mercedes added,
“So what you’re saying is, the kidnappers picked up the wrong guy, put him
through his paces for the entire weekend, then just let him go?”

I took a deep
breath, looking into her eyes. “It looks like that is just what happened. It
gives the appearance that the kidnap details got confused and the wrong JJ got
picked up. Their names are so similar; it’s easy to see how they kidnapped the
wrong guy.”

Again, Mercedes
questioned, “Why let him go . . . why not just kill him? It looks like they
made a major mistake.”

I offered,
“Well, if this was their first kidnapping, and no one had been killed, it might
have been easier to let him go. If it had happened after they killed someone,
they would have just added him to the others. That’s what I speculate anyway.”

Mike added,
“That is a pretty good bet, Scott. One of the things you will learn in
investigation work, it’s the mistakes that help law enforcement solve crimes.
If no mistakes are made, it makes solving the crimes extremely difficult. This
was a major mistake.”

He continued.
“They might also do something to correct it . . . if they knew Jeremy was
telling his story now, it would seem likely they would go back after him. We
need to bring him in for questioning right away.”

Mike rose, cup
in hand. “You’ll have to excuse me; I need to bring Paddy up to speed on this
development. In the meantime, Mercedes, why don’t you discuss the list of
properties with Scott? Then decide how you want to cover them.”

Mercedes heard
him, but she didn’t respond. She was staring at the right hand side of the
blackboard.

I filled the
void. “Okay . . . we’ll go over the properties.”

Chapter 58

The fragrance of
gardenia reminded me of being close to her. However, Mercedes and I went over
the list of available properties her dad’s office had provided. We divided the
pages between us, focusing our attention on properties that fit a more remote
location. We each reviewed our listings and made comments on them.

Each property on
the list was originally targeted to have direct access to the waterfront. We
both learned quickly that these descriptions were to enhance the sale or rental
of the respective properties. Consequently, if there were pictures, they
focused on the building, not the waterfront access.

Most of my notes
indicated a need to physically visit the property. I focused my attention on
the listings but could tell Mercedes was trying to get my attention. At one
point, she left the conference room, returning with filled coffee cups. I could
tell she had added perfume.
Focus, Scott, focus . . . things need to change
. . . they have to
.

We exchanged
lists, reading what the other had said about the properties. I realized she
noted the same thing on her listings.

“Well, Mercy, it
looks like you made the same notes I did. We’re just going to have to
physically check out the properties. I only noted two properties that I
considered appropriate waterfront access.”

She responded,
“I thought I made it clear to my mother, the properties needed to be right on
the water. However, they must have had the same problem we’re having—you just
can’t tell from the listing.”

I suggested,
“Maybe if we plot them on the map by the address, we can see whether they have
direct access or not.”

“You’re right,
Scott; we could do that, but most likely we’re just going to have to check them
out.”

Mike came in,
sat down, and picked up our marked sheets. “How’s it going?”

Mercedes
responded, “Mike, these listings aren’t much help. They focus on the building
more than the waterfront access. It’s going to take visiting them to determine
if they could be a match for what we’re looking for.”

Mike nodded,
looking at the listings and notes. “I reviewed what you told us about Jeremy’s
kidnapping with Paddy. He’s calling a meeting at two o’clock with the entire task force to go over what we have—and this new development. He also wants to get
an update on how the Lowell P.D. is doing regarding Jason Johnston. Before I
announce it, do I understand you two are planning to check out these
properties?”

* * *

My mental note
was pulsating in my head:
Focus Scott, focus . . . things need to change . .
. they have to. I know I can do this.

I thought it
might be fun to see how she would react when the shoe was on the other foot. Looking
over at her, I could tell she was already mapping her strategy.

She was faster
responding to his rhetorical question. “Mike, there’s not really any other way
to get an idea about fit. If we can narrow down the buildings to a respective
number, we would have a better chance of catching them.”

“I understand,”
he replied, “but tell me how you plan to do this. Do you start this afternoon,
tonight, tomorrow, or what? It would make more sense to have a consistent view
of the properties. Spreading them out across several task force members, or worse,
to outside resources, would not give us a consistent viewpoint.”

We didn’t
respond, so he continued. “Don’t get me wrong, we appreciate your ability to
help with the investigation, and, Mercedes, your perspective is respected.”

The way she
looked at Mike, I wondered whether she was trying to read something into his
praise.

“Thanks, Mike, I
think I do have a picture of what these women would be looking for. I say we
start this afternoon.”

I heard the key
word in her response—“We.”

I questioned,
“Isn’t visiting these places after dark going to be a problem?”

Mike offered,
“Why don’t you get a start after the meeting today and call it quits when it
makes sense. Tomorrow’s Friday, so why don’t you both just meet somewhere and
resume where you leave off?”

I asked, “Do we
come back here tomorrow afternoon since its Friday, and Jason might be either
in custody, or worse?”

He quickly
offered, “If Jason isn’t in custody tomorrow night, the Boston P.D. will
increase patrols. They will be looking for any suspicious activity along the
waterfront.”

He pointed to
the listings. “My thoughts would be to take any buildings you find that fit
what we’re looking for and drive by tomorrow night to see if there’s any
activity. If you spot anything, you know how to reach me. Do not, however, get
involved in what might be going down. It could be very dangerous, and we’re not
looking for heroes.”

I looked at
Mercedes to see if she was agreeing with this or not. She didn’t give any sign
either way. Mike resumed. “If that makes sense, and you don’t have any
questions, we will be meeting Saturday morning to go over status.”

I looked at
Mercedes, and she nodded finally.

I said, “Sounds
fine.”

“Okay then. Why
don’t you two map out a plan as to how to visit the properties. Just note, that,
at two, we will be meeting to go over this and how everything else is
progressing. Scott, you should also be aware that Jeremy is going to be brought
in for questioning. Paddy is trying to get authorization to bring him here.”

“One other thing—I’m
assuming you two are okay doing the property site reviews together. If either
of you have any problems, we can work out another method.”

We looked at
each other, and then back to Mike—both of us nodded.

I can do
this: Focus Scott, focus . . . things need to change . . . they have to
. I
kept thinking to myself. I could almost sense Mercedes was already working her
alternate plan.

* * *

The two o’clock meeting started on time. Who would have expected anything else with Paddy
leading it?

“Lowell P.D. is
having some problems locating Jason Johnston,” said Paul Brosque. “An informant
indicated he could be headed to Atlantic City for New Year’s. He also told us his
gang has a large quantity of illegal drugs and weapons.”

He continued.
“The police are going to raid the gang’s headquarters tomorrow, no later than midnight, on drug possession charges. If Jason’s still there, they will have him; if he’s
in Atlantic City, we’ll just have to pick him up when he returns. At least he
will be alive.”

Paddy offered,
“Tomorrow is Friday. We all know their routine is to kidnap their targets on
Friday evening. We have to anticipate there will be an attempt to kidnap him,
and we would like to catch them in the act. However, if we’re correct, neither
Jason’s gang, nor the other gang, is going to do this peacefully. We need to
find where they drop these men.”

He looked over
at Mike. “In addition, Mike wants to update everyone on the search for
available buildings. Mike?”

Mike stood,
heading to the blackboard. “As we indicated earlier, we’re looking for a
currently vacant waterfront building that is potentially remote. With the help
of some real estate professionals, we have a list of all the currently vacant
buildings. Mercedes and Scott are reviewing the list and will be visiting those
locations to see if there are any suitable for weekend murders.”

He pointed to
the map. “They will be starting their visits later today, going into the
evening. They will try to determine the most probable facility, or facilities,
and tomorrow evening they will focus on those buildings for any suspicious
activity.”

He stopped,
holding up his hands. “If they spot questionable activity, they will alert me
to investigate. They are not to take any action on their own. We want both of
them involved, providing a consistent evaluation, or yardstick. Mercedes has a
good idea of the type of facility outlined in her profile.”

He looked at
Paddy, adding, “In conjunction with their activity, the Boston P.D. will also
have increased patrols targeting the waterfront.”

Paddy stood.
“We’ve learned that a young man was kidnapped in early November and released.
He had been taken on a Friday night and dumped at a building. During the
weekend, he was tortured by several women and, to his surprise, released late
Sunday. We believe the women realized they had the wrong person and decided to
release him. They drove to Medford and released him there still tied up and
naked.”

He walked to the
blackboard. “The most interesting thing is that he is Jason Johnston’s cousin—Jeremy
Johnston. Their nicknames are both ‘JJ.’ We speculate the communication between
the women and the kidnappers got confused because of the similarity. We’re
going to bring Jeremy in for questioning. Maybe he can shed some light on where
he was held and, hopefully, something more about these women.”

He looked at all
of us. “Any questions?”

Since there were
no questions, he added, “Our next scheduled meeting will be Saturday morning at
nine o’clock. If anything develops requiring an earlier meeting, we will get in
touch with you. I want to thank all of you for your help, and a special thanks
to Mercedes and Scott for their efforts. We’re further ahead with these young
folks involved. . . I’m glad to have them here with us. Be safe out there.”