Untainted: (Crime Romance: The Photographer Trilogy #3) (2 page)

Even though it was very early on a bright Saturday morning, the crowd was quite sizable as no one seemed able to pass up the chance to stand and gawk at the drama unfolding before them. 

Some people were still wearing pajamas and robes, mothers were hushing their children, and a few stragglers looked like they were just getting home from last night.  Everyone was craning their necks hoping to see something, anything that they could gossip and brag about later online. 

Excitement and fear rippled through the crowd like a rumor impossible to cage once it’s been released. Derrick clenched his jaw as he surveyed everyone standing around watching, feeling a slight flare of anger rumble up through him.  If any of these people actually saw what he had just seen, they wouldn’t be eagerly standing around for more. 

A high pitched wailing and hoarse sobbing came from an ambulance about ten feet away from him parked on the street within the barricades.  The back doors were open and Annie was sitting there, wrapped in multiple blankets with several paramedics hovering around her trying to calm her down. 

Annie was Kate’s baby sister and her sobs ripped at everyone’s hearts as they thought of everything that she had just lost.  Derrick watched her, his face stone cold.  He hadn’t cried yet.  He couldn’t even bring himself to understand what had just happened, let alone allow himself to feel the magnitude of pain creeping up on him.  So he stood there, silent and blank faced.

He didn’t want to feel any of this.

A paramedic draped a thick and itchy blanket over Derrick’s shoulders and tried to wrap him in it, but Derrick just pushed the young man away.  He pulled the blanket tightly around himself, not wanting anyone else to touch him.  He was still standing on the sidewalk when he heard some commotion behind him causing him to turn and look. 

Multiple crime scene technicians were emerging from the front of the building and bringing a large gurney along with them.  Strapped down to the gurney was a large black bag in the silhouette of a person.  Even though it was zipped up and hidden from sight, the smell of death crept out from its plastic and hung in the air leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind as to what it held inside. 

Derrick’s breath caught in his throat and he felt dizzy, suddenly needing to find something sturdy to steady himself.  He grabbed the railing on the outside of the building’s steps and took a deep breath.  He couldn’t stop the images of the last hour from replaying in his mind again and again. 

Real blood isn’t the corn syrup and red dye mockingly used in films.  Real blood doesn’t have that bright red sheen or stay on the other side of a television screen so you can’t smell the coppery scent stinging your nostrils.  Only an hour ago, Derrick had rushed into Kate’s apartment and everything he saw was real. 

The dark red blood pooling beneath the body was real. 

The vacant stare and bludgeoned face that once use to smile was real. 

The pungent odor of dying flesh, vacated bowels, and blood was real.

Detective McCraig had been the first one through the door as he kicked it right off its hinges, splitting the wood.  Detective Snow had immediately followed him and Derrick knew things were going south when he saw her turn away, her face pale and sickly looking, as she leaned her hand against her partner’s shoulder for support. 

Derrick tried to grab Annie right then, knowing she shouldn’t see whatever hell was awaiting them in that apartment, but she was too fast for him.  She flung past all three of them and the scream that followed stabbed at everyone’s heart.  He heard that scream every time he closed his eyes. 

Reluctantly and with fear coursing through his body, Derrick took a few more steps forward until he was next to the detectives and in full view of the crime scene before him.  The apartment he had been in hundreds of times, Kate’s apartment, was unrecognizable.

Almost every piece of furniture had been upended or knocked over.  Shattered glass from a picture frame crunched beneath his feet.  A broken mirror littered the floor a few feet away from him.  A potted plant tossed dirt across the hallway.  They were standing in the entrance to her living room and even with all the surrounding wreckage, the first thing everyone saw was the body in the center of the room. 

Derrick’s feet felt as if they had been glued to the floor, unable to move, as he stared wide-eyed at Annie who had flung herself onto the body and was screaming at top volume.  Her cries filled the silence from the rest of the group as everyone absorbed the scene around them. 

Annie was rocking back and forth while hugging his head against her chest, cradling him. She was screaming again and again for her Uncle Lenny to wake up.  Her voice was frantic and panicked but filled with sorrow at the same time. 

Detective McCraig stepped forward and pulled her up, telling her she couldn’t touch the body, and she threw herself at McCraig clinging to him and crying into his shirt. 

Uncle Lenny was not sleeping.

Uncle Lenny was dead.

CHAPTER TWO

Just because she was in law enforcement and had been at crime scenes before, didn’t mean that she was prepared for the blood bath that she had walked into in the early hours of this Saturday morning.  Detective Elizabeth Snow, who normally went by just Liz, followed the coroner out of the apartment building and then stood on the top steps looking down at the scene below her. 

She wasn’t ready to go down and join the chaos, but glad to be out of the horrors a few floors above her.  For a precious moment, she wanted to stay in her homemade limbo and run from the gore above her and the grief below her. 

She saw Derrick standing to the side at the bottom of the stairs, leaning one hand on the railing to steady himself.  The look on his face was hard to decipher, some combination of fear, guilt, and disbelief.  He just kept shaking his head and staring at the concrete below him, as if he hoped it would cave in and he could drop into a hell he could actually understand. 

Liz felt a pang in her heart for him and she realized that this would always be a part of the job that she would never be comfortable with.  There is no easy way to tell someone that the love of their life is missing and most likely dead.  That you did nothing to stop it. 

She had known that the Photographer was lurking around her and Kate, somehow still just inches out of their grasp.  She had a police cruiser go by Kate’s apartment every 15 minutes for protection and yet the officers had seen nothing. 

They even drove past multiple times while Lenny was being bludgeoned to death.  She felt her stomach flip over again at the thought of the sticky, brown blood all over the floor and walls upstairs. 

She noticed that Kate’s little sister, Annie, was finally quieting down after having spent the last hour, since they discovered the disaster, wailing at the top of her lungs.  She was hysterical over the death of her uncle, which was understandable, because Lenny and Kate were the only family that she had in the entire world.  Now they were both gone.  Lenny was dead and Kate was missing. 

Kate was missing.

Liz closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she thought about the new and budding friendship that she had been forming with Kate. She worked in a profession that was all men and masculinity, so her first female friendship in a while had become precious to her.

She genuinely enjoyed Kate as a person and spending time with her, even though the only time that they had spent together so far was usually related to Kate’s case. Their banter and conversations weren’t always though, and they had gotten to know each other well over the many weeks since Kate’s first attack.

Mike McCraig, Liz’s partner walked up to her after escorting Lenny’s body into the coroner’s van. She noticed dark bags under his eyes and a downward tilt on the corner of his lips. He was not one to show his emotions, so she was fascinated by even this small hint of feeling etched onto his face.

“Coroner found this tucked into the front pocket of Lenny’s pants.” He handed her a plastic bag with a small instant photograph inside.

“Of course, he left a photograph. Fucker.” Liz held it up closer to get a better look.

The photograph was black and white, but Kate’s face was clear as day. She looked terrified and there was duct tape across her mouth.

“You think this means he is keeping her alive? Maybe ransom?” McCraig asked his partner.

“I don’t think this bastard cares about money at this point.” Liz countered, studying the photograph.

“This was taken in her apartment, up against the window. He wanted us to know he didn’t care if people could see him. He’s become brazen, fuck, he might even know that we know who he is now.” Liz handed the photo back to McCraig.

“Liz, I’m going to call the magistrate and try to get us a warrant for Frank’s place. We need more evidence connecting him if we are going to get any magistrate to sign. What do you have?” He asked her, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

“Let’s look into his background. I guarantee you if we do, we will find the link between him and Craig. With that, plus his connection to Lenny, being his assistant and all... I mean, it’s gotta be him!” Liz stammered, trying to pull pieces together in her brain and hoping that they fit.

“Crap, this is going to take a while and time isn’t exactly on our side right now. Kate has already been gone over an hour.” Liz continued, groaning.

“Let’s head over to the precinct now, okay? I will go debrief the sister and boyfriend.” Mike told her and nodded toward the duo.

Derrick was now standing beside Annie, who was still sitting on the back of the ambulance. They were having a quiet conversation, both looking more miserable than the next.

“What are you going to tell them? If I’m wrong, then maybe we should keep the Frank part to ourselves.” Liz told him, biting her lip and doubting herself.

“No, if he tries to contact them, we need to know. We need them to know that he is a potential danger if he shows up suddenly.” McCraig dismissed her idea and then turned, heading toward Derrick and Annie.

Liz nodded, knowing he was right and walked over to their squad car, climbing in.

“Officer McCraig, do you have any news? Anything to tell us where Kate might be?” Derrick bombarded him immediately, his face shining with hope.

The officer looked down and shook his head.

“Not much, but we do have a lead. Frank Bild.” He told the two.

“Uncle Lenny’s assistant?” Annie gasped and Derrick looked confused, unsure if he knew who that was. McCraig nodded.

“We have reason to believe that he is the one behind this. Liz and I are headed back to the precinct now to see if we can get a warrant for his house, see if maybe he brought Kate there. If you hear
anything
from Frank, you contact me right away. Is that clear?” McCraig pointed his finger, warning them.

They both nodded, solemnly.

“Good, go home and get cleaned up. Stay there, I will call and update you with news later. Don’t do anything else, I need you to stay home in case he calls with a ransom demand.” McCraig finished, then turned and walked away to join Liz.

~~~~~~

“Ransom? Is he joking?” Annie said, incredulously, looking at Derrick after McCraig had walked off.

“That bastard doesn’t want a ransom. We all know that. They have to know that, too.” Derrick’s eyes narrowed into slits as he watched the detectives drive off. 

“How long have you known this Frank character?” Derrick turned to Annie, asking in a hushed tone as a paramedic walked past them. 

Annie pulled the wool blanket tighter around her shoulders, as if hugging herself.

“I don’t know, hell, years? He has been Uncle Lenny’s assistant for at least four or five years. I rarely interacted with him, but I’m sure Kate did since she worked for the company. I always thought he was an asshole, but I really never gave him much more thought than that.” Annie mused, quietly, as she stood up and faced Derrick.

“I can’t go home. Not when Kate is out there somewhere. What am I supposed to do? Just sit on my hands and twiddle my thumbs while my fiancé is in danger? Your sister?” Derrick huffed, angrily, fire flashing across his dark brown eyes.

“Me either. Let’s go, I know where Frank lives.” Annie stood up and started walking away from the ambulance, ducking under some crime scene tape to head to Derrick’s car parked down the street.

Parking was limited in Washington, DC, so there was usually a trek between parking and your front door.

“What? How do you know that?” He whispered loudly, catching up to her in a few strides with his long legs and pulling up the crime scene tape for them both to easily go under.

The two rushed down the street to his car.

“I remember driving with Lenny once and he gave Frank a lift home. I know the building, at least. Not sure which apartment it is, but that’s gotta be better than sitting here and doing nothing while my sister is still out there.” Annie said, irritated.

She wasn’t really angry at Derrick, rather lashing out at the entire world for taking everything she loved. All she ever had in this world was her sister and her uncle.

Now they were both gone.

CHAPTER THREE

The precinct was bustling as usual as Saturday afternoon began to creep closer. McCraig and Snow came dashing through the front doors and immediately grabbed every file they had about Kate’s case and sectioned off an interrogation room to use. Pictures and pieces of information were quickly pinned up on a cork board and files filled with history were splayed across the table.

Snow had set up one of the station’s laptops and was searching records while McCraig was going through their original interview of Lenny and Frank from weeks ago. They had interviewed everyone that knew Kate, but since they had no idea what they were looking for, they had not asked the right questions. McCraig grabbed the photograph that they found with Lenny and tacked it up to the board, staring at it intensely.