The Perfect Woman (34 page)

              Karen gesture to keep it down. “ You know why we‘re here, it‘s to find Lisa's killer.”

              Peewee rolled his eyes at her. “ What if Maggie finally figured it out, what if there isn‘t a killer, what if that girl just ran away.” Karen shook her head , apart of her never believe to hear those words come out of his mouth, after all he was the one that dragged into this case begging to find the truth. “ And here we are in the freaking rain, looking for a ghost, ” He pulled out the photo of Janet. “ Maybe she ran off on her own too, maybe all this was for nothing, months and months of hard work and it was all for nothing!” 

              “ Maybe she got homesick, have you called her husband?” It took her a few seconds to remember the history. “ Stupid, question. Still doesn’t hurt to call to see if she’s back.”

              “ Can‘t,” He brushed the droplets of rain falling from the edge of roof. “ what if she is there?”

              “ Then you should be happy she found peace.” Karen placed her hand on his shoulder.

              “ I‘m tired of people leaving, Karen.” His words drenched with sadness, knowing how it felt to lose a close friend, see another cut herself out of his life, in his dark hour Maggie had come into his life at the right moment, at the right time.  her burden allowed him to find some balance. His need to find Lisa was just to see one broken soul find some happiness back into her life, even if it meant he would never find his again. 

              Before he could utter another word, a young hooker came walking up to them, she had a hello kitty umbrella that was protecting her from the rain, her pink her stood out in the night, as did  the rainbow socks. She smiled at them as she passed them by. “ You two looking to buy?” She said with a wink.

              Karen could see it a mile away, this girl was a fresh body, not a lot of miles added to her, just enough to call her a street virgin. “ No where not, but maybe you can help us with something?”

              “ If it’s sexual, it’s going to cost you.” She placed out her open palm, gesturing them to pay before they went any further.

              “ Sadly, I wouldn’t be able to afford you on my salary.” Said Peewee who was telling the truth.

              Karen walked up to the girl and showed her the photo of the Janet Morales double, hoping one of these girls here would recognize who it was. “ Have you ever seen this girl before?”

              The young girl flipped Karen off and spat in her face as she turned to leave. “ Get lost, wasting my time with some bullshit, I‘m here to get paid not talk.”

              Karen was at her point, the milk of mother’s kindness wasn’t coursing through  her body at the moment, too much on her mind, too much on her shoulders. She raced behind the girl, who was half way down the street, grabbing her arm and thrusted her to the spray painted wall, causing the pink hair girl to drop her umbrella. “ We’re not pigs, we’re private detectives !” The rain itself wasn’t enough to drown Karen’s screams, Peewee ran towards hoping to defuse anything that could get out of hand. “ Now, look at this photo, do you remember this girl.”

              “ Take it easy.” The young woman yelp, frightened to see the demon in Karen’s eye.

              Karen shook the girl once more in anger, knowing getting violent could bring some unwanted help from her fellow co-workers. But right now she wanted this little pink haired twat to fear her, beside it was a little pay back for being spat on. “ When I ask a question, you answer, is that clear?” The girl shivered from Karen's grasp, she managed a short nod just to clarify she understood. “ Good.” Karen said with a smile, pulling a the photo of the real Janet Morales. “Look at this photo, do you know who this girl is?”

              The pink hair girl nodded her head. “ That’s Lulu.”

              “ We got a name,” Peewee patted Karen’s back, startling her a bit, she never saw him come up behind her. “ Now we just have to find her.”

“ You won’t,” They both stared at her waiting for an explanation. “ She’s dead, they found her body dumped at some rail road tracks, she O.D.” Those words were the worst devastating blows either of them could hear.

              “ Did you know Lulu, personally?” Peewee asked her, as Karen released her grip.

              “ Yeah, we worked the streets together.”

              “ Did she tell you anything?”

              “ Na, Lulu was selfish, she would keep everything on the down low.”

              “ He must paid her well to keep her mouth shut.” Karen muttered to Peewee as she walked away from the girl.

              “ It’s a dead end, isn’t it?” He asked her, knowing the answer to his question.

              Karen walked up to the girl once more, the young pink hair hooker flinched as Karen reached into her pocket, handing her a few bucks for her troubles. “ Is there anything else you can give us?” The young girl just shook her head. “ You got a name?”

              “ Jasmine.” She stuttered, Karen reach down over to grab her umbrella, handing it back to the rattled girl. “ Thank you.” She grabbed it and took off running down into the dark alley, never turning back.

              “ The hooker who happens to look like our victim, ends up dead, why don’t I believe that’s just some sort of freak coincidence.” Peewee kicked a can on the street, sending it flying into a puddle of water. “ This fucker is real, he’s not just a ghost.” Peewee stared down the streets, feeling less at ease and more in fear, knowing somewhere out there laid a serial killer hell bent in not being stop by any means. “ Wasn’t sure if I was right or not to start with, maybe it was just something I was forcing to paste together. Not anymore.”

              Karen tugged on his jacket, getting him to snap out of his daze as they walked back towards the car. “ We go back reading the diary, that son of a bitch has to be somewhere in those pages. Peewee, We’ll read all night if we have to, but we will find him.”

Chapter 69

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

The end of the heat was a pleasant welcoming, after what was a busy past week, so many things interlocking with this man’s fate. But alas he was coming closer in accomplishing in his goal to cure the madness inside of him, turn a new chapter in life and finally being able to let go of the demon that was held inside him for so many years.

              He sighed as he entered his apartment to find his bloody clothes still on the floor, he meant to clean up before he left, but there was such little time, the Detective was calling. He picked up piece by piece and began to toss them in the bathtub, to give them a scrub down. He knew he should of done this at the studio were he had more privacy but the last thing he wanted to do was risk driving with a car full of bloody clothes.

              He was about to toss his pants in, when he felt something bulgy from the pocket. “ I almost forgot about you.” It was the phone he took off Maggie Donner. She had seen her daughter and the beauty she became apart of, but she just couldn’t understand. It was all over her head, she used words like freak and monster, the common reaction, to a common fool. She had no clue the beauty that Lisa had given her sisters and the inner peace he had brought her daughter, something Lisa’s mother could never give to her. He even told her the story how they met and the way they fell in love with one another at first sight. All of it was for Lisa, she loved her mother and that was the only reason he held back from ripping Maggie’s jaw off as she screamed those obscenities at them.

              He was about to destroy the phone, only to catch himself at the last minute as he saw the phone flashing with seven missed calls, he checked the voicemail to see who it was. “ Mag’s, it’s me, where are you? I just stop by your job, they said you haven’t shown up for three days, what's up with that? Let’s get together right now and have lunch, I got some great news, we’re getting closer in catching the bastard, call me back.” There was something about the caller's voice, he had heard it before, he just couldn’t put a face to it just yet.

              “ This could be a problem,” His mind wander of disposing of Maggie tonight. “ Let’s not be too haste.” He sat down on the floor to ponder what action should be taken, only to have that cut short as the phone in his pocket began to ring.

              He answered without saying a word. “ We have a problem.” The voice on the other side, sounded winded and scared.

              “ I already know.” He simply said.

Chapter 70

The Road Travel Thus Far

Looking for the hooker led them to a dead end and a dead witness. But it gave them hope and life once again. The moment they returned home, Peewee began to read the diary non-stop. Karen poured herself coffee as she lurked through the archives of information they had on every suspected victim. Pushing through the night and the into the rising sun. They had no attention to stop, not until they found something that led them down another path.

              “ This is interesting.” Peewee said out loud to himself, grabbing Karen‘s attention. “ Listen to this.” He cleared his throat before reading page one hundred and twenty-five in Cindy Hall's diary. “ Casey, that’s all the wind says, can’t figure out why the wind so infatuated with this sweet flower.” He bit on his lip knowing he heard this before in another page.

              “ Just say it.” Karen said, knowing that mind of his was gnawing at something.

              “ The wind, it’s not the first time she said that.” Peewee flipped back through the pages, until he stop on sixty-eight. “ The wind howled like a demon, it does not want to be followed, or seen, but who can follow the wind, it has no shadow.”

              Karen chugged down her cup of coffee, trying to subdue the yawn that was working it’s way up. “ Sounds like a poem, except, for the first one you read. It sounds like she’s describing someone's feelings.”

              “ What lies ahead for us.” Peewee scrolled  back to where he left off, reading the new pages  ahead, until he came across another short poem, with the word
storm.
“ A storm came, like lighting, like fire, brighten the day,  pouring life to broken soil, that had no flowers to bloom, no joy to give, now this field gives it all to mother earth.” Peewee flashed the book at Karen’s heavy eyes, pointing at the day on the book. “ Want to take a guess when that happened?” He said to her with a mischief grin. “ On this beautiful day in March, forever March 3
rd
.” Peewee slammed the notebook on the table. “ She just fucking confessed to everything.”

              It took Karen's sleepy mind a few seconds to remember that day. “ Son of a bitch.” Karen blurted out. The day the page was written, was on the same day when Cindy rapist had been murder in his home. Her poem was just a mere confession that she had met their charming man and perhaps even witnessed him commit the act of murder. “ This is the proof we need.” She clapped her hands to rejoice.

              “ Still doesn’t give us any detail who he is, all we got is Cindy confirming she was with him at the time.”

              “You’re half right there, all we need is …“ It struck Karen out of the blue, but she couldn’t believe it as it crossed her mind. “ Oh my fucking God, get out of here.“ She jumped from her seat with joy, stomping her feet on the ground, she was lucky the old wood didn’t give underneath her.

              “ What, what?“ Peewee shouted at her, wanting to be filled in. Karen could only  shake her head at him for being so clueless, “ What, am I missing something?” He begged to her.

              “ Buddy, it‘s all in the poem on page one twenty-five! ” She smiled hoping he would make the connection, but he did not, he just shrugged his shoulders waiting for her to explain. “ The wind howls the name Casey, You mentioned her the first time we met, it was Klecko’s case.”

              “ No.” Peewee said throwing his hands in the air, trying to deny it. “ Casey ran on her own, her parents testify to it.”

              “ Then they’re lying.”

              “ Why would they?” Peewee asked.

              “ Because my friend, parents suck.” Half of that steamed from her own trouble past that she knew all to well. But that was a debate for another time. Karen ran over picking Peewee off the ground, swinging him like a child in her arms. “ That’s our lead my friend, that’s our golden ticket.”

              “ You know, I’m kinda liking this!” He said with a devilish grin, before being put back down.

              Karen let out a sigh of relief, knowing she was getting closer to the truth, she could smell it. “ We dig up what we can on Casey, find an address for her parents and we get to work.”

              Peewee knew what that meant. “ It’s going to take some time.” He warned her.

              Karen ran over to her closet, pulling out some nice pressed outfits they always kept for special occasions, with a little something on the side, that something being faked badges. Flashed these on the streets and everyone would think you worked for the NYPD, they looked one hundred percent authentic. Something that cost them an arm and leg to get their hands on, but you dig deep enough in New York City and you could have anything your heart desired. “ Then we better get ready, because we’re going to have to pull off one heck of an act.” The good times were back.