The Cactus Killer (The Inglewood Chronicles) (5 page)

Could it really have been
that easy? “We killed someone alright. I’m just not ready to call
this the serial killer.”

“
Did you notice these two
were human?”

I did. Their reflexes
during the brief shootout told me as much. They were able to clip
me, but once they were out in the open, they never stood a chance.
“Well, let’s get out here and get the medical examiner down here to
collect the bodies.”

We were about halfway back
up the mine tunnel when Billy came flying around the corner.
“Sheriff, Ambassador are you two okay?”

“
Yeah we are fine Billy,
though I can’t say much about the guys that took a shot at us this
morning. Their bodies are back a little ways in one of the mining
caverns.”

This didn’t calm him down
at all. “Thank God, you are! I need you both to come with me right
now!”

I looked at him for a
second. “Billy, calm down man. Just what the hell has you all riled
up?”

“
You remember the Alvarez
case?” I nodded for him to continue. “They just found his body
about thirty minutes from here. He was shot up with silver bullets
and a cactus branch was stuck to his face.” 

I made a call into town and
told Chaz the situation. He said he would get Dr. Higgins and the
two of them would go collect the bodies from the mine. The regular
medical examiner, Dr. Donna Tello was already at the Alvarez murder
scene. That is where Elizabeth and I were also heading.

“
It was a distraction, the
two humans! Whoever this guy is knows what he is doing. He sent
amateurs up here to stir up the hornet’s nest while he was still
out there!” I was hot; someone played me good.

“
This certainly is not
good. We have a confirmed dead werewolf on our hands. Whoever this
is, they are expanding their modus operandi.”

Even though she was
slinging out big words, she was right. Knowledge of Full Moon
wasn’t so much a give-away but now the dead werewolf? Yeah, this
guy knows what he is targeting.

As we were pulling up to
the crime scene, I saw Detective Jacobs and Dr. Tello already doing
a preliminary report on the body. I got out of the car and walked
over to have a look. Hector Alvarez, at first glance was shot four
times in and around the heart and twice more in the head. You could
also see the impression that the cactus had left on his
face.

“
Anything that we can use
right away, doctor?”

Dr. Tello was the best in
her field in my opinion. She was middle-aged or so but she still
looked good for her age. I knew Chaz held a candle for her and
whenever given the chance, I would give him grief about
it.

“
Sheriff, maybe; look here
at his face. If the cactus was placed post mortem, there would not
be this level of trauma. I think the killer placed it here first
and then shot him.”

I doubted a wolf the size
of Alvarez would let someone do this without a struggle unless, “Do
you think he was drugged?”

“
Yes, yes I do. Once I get
the body back to the hospital and can run the tests, I will know
for sure. In this instance though, that would make the most
sense.”

“
Thank you, Dr. Tello. I
will be most interested in reading the report.” I then turned over
to Talia. “Jacobs, notice anything off when you got
here?”

“
Yes sir, the victim was
kneeling when I got here. It almost looked like he was praying. I
thought he was still alive until I got over here.”

“
How did you even know
where to look? We are in the middle of nowhere out
here.”

“
A call came in on the tip
line, not even five minutes after you called Deputy Westchester
about the shooting at your house. A male on the other end said he
saw a Silver wolf out in the desert acting weird. Based on the
physical description, I figured it might be Alvarez.”

Anonymous call my left leg.
I would wager my salary it was the killer messing with us. “Is the
tip line call on record?”

“
Yes it is. I will email
you the audio right away.”

“
Good work Jacobs; can you
and Billy escort Dr. Tello back to the hospital? I want to take no
chances that we lose Alvarez’s body.”

With Dr. Tello taken care
of, Elizabeth and I could look over the scene
undisturbed.

“
What are we looking for,
Vic?”

“
Right now, anything that
might give us an indication of what we are dealing with.” I closed
my eyes and calmed my inner self. I opened my senses to the world
and let them take over. Once I got passed the obvious smells like
blood and werewolf, that same musky smell that the man in the cave
had was here too. Not a close smell, but the exact same. I wonder
if it was a type of cologne these guys were using.

“
Hey Elizabeth, come here
for a second.” She had been looking at the spot where the body was
found and gave me a curious look as I hadn’t moved yet.

“
Did you find something
already?”

“
How good is your sense of
smell?”

“
Nowhere near as good as
yours I imagine, but it is quite good for the vampire
community.”

“
Take a deep breath and go
past the blood and werewolf smell. Do you get that musky smell,
like the one from the rifle guy in the mine?”

She did as I asked and for
a few moments she sniffed the air. “It smells exactly like that
guy! Could this be a clue?”

“
Do you recognize it? I
figured it was some sort of cologne or body spray.”

“
It is certainly no cologne
I ever smelled on a man before. I am sorry; I do not know what it
could be.”

Another mystery, but at
least it could be used. I followed the smell for a ways while
Elizabeth continued surveying the scene. Eventually, the smell
stopped cold. It wasn’t replaced with smells associated with a car
or any form of transportation. It just vanished. As I walked back,
I just had to shake my head. This was not going to be an open and
shut case.

A quick tour around the
crime scene brought no new evidence and by this time, it was well
after noon. We hopped back in the car and headed back to the
station.

“
I think tomorrow, as long
as we don’t get interrupted again, we will head over to Elephant
Butte and finally meet with the reverend. I will make a call over
to the EBPD and make sure we have an escort. We don’t know what
might be going on there.”

“
I feel much better that
this case is stumping you as well, Sheriff.” I looked over at her,
I was appalled. “No, do not take it that way. Remember, I have been
around the block more times than I care to admit. If you figured
this out in a few days, well I would have been rather
embarrassed.”

I didn’t think about that.
“Just how long has it been since the first murder?”

I am pretty sure she was
counting in her mind. For a moment she looked like just another
lady who may have had a year or two on me the way her brow
scrunched up as she was thinking. “The first murder occurred in
1978, thirteen years after I took over the southwest.”

“
You’re telling me this guy
has been out there doing this for thirty six years? I thought this
just started happening?”

“
In the beginning, it was
sporadic. After the first murder in 1978, nothing happened until
1981. Then over the next decade a few more would pop up here and
there. Finally, over the past year, it has gotten out of hand. Most
do not know about the early murders and we tried our best to keep
it that way.”

I had a lot more to process
now. Unfortunately, nothing at the station gave me any clues
either. The audio recording of the tip line call was a bust. The
timbre of the voice kept changing, leading me to suspect two people
were alternating taking turns while talking to Jacobs. The voices
were close enough that I doubt anyone else would’ve picked it
up.

I called the mayor and
briefed him on the day. He was happy that two of the suspects were
no longer in a position to cause harm, but the Alvarez murder
really made him nervous.

“
Vic, I think you need to
take over that case too. Maybe if we can learn what Hector was
doing, we can figure out this serial killer case.”

“
You’re right, mayor. If it
is okay with you, I’d still like to go meet with that Pastor up in
Elephant Butte. Those two guys in the mine were zealots and it
might have started with that guy.”

“
That sounds like a plan.
Get up there tomorrow and see what you can dig up and keep on the
Alvarez murder.”

My next call was up to the
EBPD and making sure it was okay that I came and talked to a
potential suspect in an ongoing murder and assault investigation.
The sergeant I talked to had no issues and would provide a deputy
to escort us over. I thanked him and told him I would be up at his
office in the morning.

“
Rough day,
sir?”

I looked up and saw Jacobs
standing in the door. “You wouldn’t know the half of it. I take it
Billy is keeping our VIP occupied right now?”

She came in and sat down.
“Yes sir, they seem to get along quite well actually. He certainly
does have a way with people.”

I chuckled, he certainly
did. “We learned a lot today. The mayor wants us to keep on Alvarez
which means you will keep on Alvarez. Something stinks there and we
need to get an answer.”

“
Of course, I will get to
the bottom of it. Is there anything else to be done
today?”

“
Yeah, go save Billy and
have him do the evening patrol. I’ll take our guest back to the
‘safe house’ and tomorrow; we will get a fresh start on all of
this.”

Fifteen minutes later
Elizabeth and I were headed back to my house. It had been a tough
day and I was ready to forget most of it. Just when I was
daydreaming about my dinner…

“
I think we should go out
to eat this evening. I am tired of being stuck in a house that
smells of cooked meat.”

Grrrr… 

It was weird being in a
Jaguar. Whereas the most current feature on the Mustang was air
conditioning, Elizabeth’s ride had wireless calling, satellite
radio, and a GPS that talked to you. To top it off, she made me
dress up a bit. Vetoed were jeans and a button down and in was a
pair of Dockers and a dress shirt. She said she wanted to expand my
horizons and take me some place cultured. Judging by her cocktail
dress and the sparkling white gold she had on, I was certain I was
in trouble.

“
Vic, you can handle being
shot, religious zealots, and a bullet ridden werewolf. You would
think I was taking you to be tortured! You need to see the world,
my cute little pup!”

Before I could even offer a
rebuttal I saw the sign ‘Welcome to Texas!’ and that was it.
“You’re taking me to Texas? What the hell is wrong with you,
lady?”

“
Oh calm down. To get you
some real food, I am taking you to El Paso. Believe it or not,
there is a place there where I hear the steaks are
magic.”

“
You don’t understand. I am
entering a new territory; I have to get the okay from the local
pack leaders before I go wandering around.”

She rolled her eyes. “You
werewolves slay me. Well you happen to be in luck, unlike you New
Mexican wolves who tend to be isolated and unsocial to the rest of
the world, the Texas pack is in open communication with the
vampires. More specifically, Red Alpha Josh Greenfoot of the west
Texas community, White Wolf and I do quite a bit of business. I
already texted him before we left.”

I knew us wolves in New
Mexico were considered backwoods, but the idea that a pack so close
to us not only was on speaking terms with vampires, but did
business together was news. I guess this is what Argent wanted me
to find out, were other packs more progressive than us?

“
I can see you are
conflicted so let me enlighten you some more. This is why I brought
you down here, to show you the world is not little towns but a big
place. Most werewolf packs in the United States, at the very least
have open lines of communication to the respective vampire
ambassador. I have tried for many years to get the New Mexican
packs to open up to me, but never once did I get a
response.”

“
Are you sure? Mayor Argent
is usually very prompt with his responses to requests.”

“
I do not know, only what I
have seen on my end. However, I am most pleased with my current
dealings and, when this is all over, I would like to extend the
same courtesies to your pack as I do with the rest of
them.”

“
I’m truly sorry that we
had to come to an understanding with such a black cloud hanging
over us. This guy has gotten away too long, but soon everyone slips
and we will catch him.”

I was starving by now and
thankfully we were pulling into the restaurant. I had to do a
double take at the sign, it was called ‘Guy’s Grille’ but it looked
like a five star quality place. The parking lot was crazy and the
wait outside looked like hours.