Family Ties Mystery Series Box Set

by James Kipling

  “I know, baby,” she attempted to sound soothing. “I know. But you’re still alive and I’m here now, and we’re going to get through this.”

  “Unfair,” Kelly whispered. “Logan was about…to propose…she didn’t know yet…everything was perfect…now she’s gone…and it’s not fair.” Dr. Mathis lowered her head and wiped her eyes with a tissue.

  “Who was this man Morgan was seeing?” Hazel asked gently.

  “Logan Peters,” Dr. Mathis replied. “His father was the owner of the building they’re in. Wonderful young man, so caring. He would have made a wonderful husband for Morgan.” Dr. Mathis turned to Hazel as if she had something else to say, but froze and stared at something behind the detectives. The distraught expression on her face vanished, and one of hatred quickly took its place. Hazel looked around to see an older man standing in the doorway. She recognized him at once: David Mathis, one of the premier defense attorneys in the state. Tension filled the room as the two glowered at each other.

  Mr. Mathis was the first to break off the glare, going around the detectives to the opposite side of the bed and kneeling down beside it.

  “Kelly,” he said, ignoring his ex-wife. “Sweetheart, it’s Daddy. How are you, baby?”

  Kelly’s animosity towards him quickly became apparent as alarm buzzers on the monitoring equipment went ballistic. Within seconds two nurses rushed into the room, one heading straight for Kelly while the other demanded everyone leave the room. “But that’s my daughter!” Mr. Mathis protested angrily, but the nurses weren’t interested. Despite his attempts to resist, he soon found himself standing outside the room with everyone else while the nurses quickly stabilized their patient.

  “I can’t believe they won’t let me in to see my own daughter,” he huffed angrily, causing Dr. Mathis to snort loudly. ”Oh please,” she snapped. “You’ve been so busy with your perfect new life that you haven’t bothered to see the girls in years. Not until one is murdered and the other is in the hospital do you bother to show up, and then you expect what, respect? Love and adoration?”

  “I’ve been there for them every step of the way,” he snarled, taking a step towards his ex-wife. “When they needed money for law school, I was the one signing the checks. And I didn’t see you shelling out any money for that apartment either!”

  “Money! That’s all that matters to you, isn’t it?” Dr. Mathis spat. “Well, let me tell you, money can’t buy you memories. Those cost time, and time was always too precious for you to waste on your family. All those nights you left us home alone for your whores, and then you left us for good so you could have a shiny new family with your bimbo. Small wonder your daughters want nothing to do with you!”

  “Do you see what I have to deal with?” he complained, looking to the detectives for support. “She’d just as soon throw a skillet at me as let me in the house after the divorce, but now it’s my fault I never came by for Sunday supper.”

  “Don’t you dare try and throw all this on me! And quit trying to get everyone on your side. These police officers saw who was at Kelly’s side first! I wasn’t the one home screwing his whore while his daughter was in surgery!”

  Seeing Mr. Mathis was about to lose control, Owen quickly stepped in between the combative pair and put a warning hand on the man’s shoulder. “This solves nothing,” he said calmly, “and you winding up in jail for assault on your ex-wife won’t help us find the person responsible for this.

  Mr. Mathis yanked his arm free and glared at Owen. “You want to know who is responsible for this? Take a good look at her then!” he spat nastily. “If she wasn’t such a vindictive bitch none of this would have happened!”

  This is getting ugly. Hazel was about to call for Officer Laganosky to remove Mr. Mathis from the hallway when a nurse emerged from Kelly’s room with a furious scowl.

  “Keep your voices down before I call security!” she snapped. “This is a hospital, not Jerry Springer!” She fixed a stern glare on each of them in turn. Satisfied she’d gotten her point across, she relaxed slightly and turned towards Dr. Mathis and Hazel. “She’s stabilized and asking for you two, BUT,” she added quickly, “if her blood pressure spikes again I’ll have to ask you to leave at once. She’s been through a lot, and she’s a tough young lady, but her body can’t handle any additional stress on it now, understood?” They nodded their understanding, and the nurse stepped aside to allow them both into Kelly’s room. Hazel shot Owen a look before closing the door, and he gave a quick nod before heading after Mr. Mathis.

  Dr. Mathis resumed her position beside Kelly’s bed as Hazel moved towards the foot. She cast about in her mind for the right words to help ease their pain. “I want you both to know, nothing you could have done differently would have prevented this.” Dr. Mathis turned her head away, but Hazel saw a flicker of hope appear in Kelly’s eyes, and so she went on. “It isn’t like the movies, where the killer secretly hopes to get caught and leaves clues, or he’s stupid and can easily be tripped up. This guy, he’s sick but he’s also extremely intelligent and methodical. I don’t mean to sound callous, but if it weren’t for your neighbor interrupting things, you’d be dead and once more we’d have nothing to go on.”

  Dr. Mathis turned to face Hazel, her eyes wide with sudden understanding. “The man from the news reports, the one they call The Slitter, it was him?” she whispered fearfully.

  “We can’t say for certain, but so far everything points to him. If it is, then Morgan was his fourth victim. I only hope Kelly can help us make sure there isn’t a fifth. Tell me, did Morgan have a lot of friends?”

  “Everyone is …WAS…Morgan’s friend,” Kelly said. “Morgan was always well-liked.”

  “But,” her mother added, “Morgan only ever associated with them at school or work. She wasn’t a homebody and rarely had people over. She preferred to go places.”

  Hazel made a mental note of that. “Was she a fighter? Would her attacker have a hard time subduing her?”

  “Oh yes,” Dr. Mathis nodded vigorously. “She would have fought hard.”

  “One last question then, and I’ll leave you two alone. Evidence supports that our killer didn’t break into the apartment, and Kelly verified that the security system was armed when she came home. Is it possible he knew the security code? Is there anyone you can think of other than Kelly and Morgan who would know the security code to the alarm system?”

  “Her father knows it, as do I, but that’s all. Well, Logan does but he would never do anything like this.”

  “Of course not,” Hazel assured her. “I just have to look at this from every angle, that’s all.” She stood up and placed a hand on the doorknob, pausing to think of the right thing to say. Expressing sympathy never came easy for her. “I want you both to know I am so sorry this has happened to you, and I promise I won’t rest until we catch the guy.” She pulled a card from her pocket and set it on the rolling table by the window. “If you remember anything, anything at all, please call me.”

  She closed the door behind her and looked down the hall to see Owen still talking to a very agitated Mr. Mathis. Even though she’d never met him before, she’d heard enough stories to have developed a healthy dislike of the man. He was arrogant, which was typical of those in his profession, but it was more than that. She’d heard he was the sort to always throw someone else under the bus for his own actions, and after seeing him blame his wife for their daughter’s death, she believed it. There were other stories floating around about him as well, stories that suggested he was dirty, that he’d only won so many cases because he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty.

  He didn’t seem pleased to see Hazel coming to join them. “Why are you wasting time harassing me?” he spat in her direction. “Why don’t you go do your job and catch the bastard that murdered my daughter?”

  “We ARE doing our job,” Hazel replied coolly. “Asking you questions is part of it, as any lawyer worth his paycheck should know.”

/>   “You better watch that attitude, sweetheart,” he warned. His eyes narrowed as he took a step towards her. Just like Brooks, she thought dryly.

  “No attitude here,” she said. “I just think you should stop fighting us and help us do our job, so another young woman doesn’t end up murdered.”

  “Cops,” he spat, clearly disgusted. “None of you can do a damn thing right. There’ll be ten more dead daughters before you idiots catch the guy.”

  He stomped off, practically knocking over a nurse who got in his way as he rounded the far end of the hall. Hazel motioned to Officer Laganosky. “Make sure he doesn’t go back into Kelly Mathis’s room unless she asks for him in person, understood?

  Officer Laganosky gave a thumbs up and headed back towards Kelly’s room. Hazel and Owen headed outside and made their way towards the parking lot. On the way, Hazel pulled out her phone and dialed her stepfather. He answered on the second ring.

  “Hey Dad,” she said evenly, aware that Owen was watching her out of the corner of his eye. “Listen, could you have someone follow David Mathis? We’re just leaving the hospital after talking to Kelly Mathis, and there’s something not right about that guy.” He agreed without asking for details and hung up. Hazel wished she could have asked him if he had any news about Nate, but knew he would have told her if he had. Slipping the phone back in her pocket, she looked over at Owen. He quickly averted his eyes and got into the car, but not before she caught him sizing her up. What is he hiding? She wondered once again, but knew it was pointless to ask what was on his mind. Eventually she’d figure it out for herself.

  Chapter 4

  Back at the station, Hazel sat at her computer flipping through an endless database of criminals that matched their killer’s personality profile. Ruthless, sadistic, all with violent pasts and plenty of criminal activity. There were too many unanswered questions to narrow down the field. How was he getting in? How was he watching these women? Did they know him? And if so, for how long? She was no closer now than she had been when the first body surfaced.

  Her desk phone rang. “Hanson,” she answered.

  “You’re going to want to come down here,” Lisa told her.

  Hanging up, she saw Owen speaking with Brooks. She got up from her desk. She didn’t need Owen downstairs with her. She walked down the stairwell alone, grateful that she was alone for a change. It gave her time to reflect on everything that was happening around her.

  Making it downstairs to the coroner’s office, Lisa stood over the body, her hair tied back as usual. The smell of the room was worse than the hospital ˗ sterile and stuffy. She felt like she was suffocating and disliked tight spaces. Lisa looked up and pulled down her mask so she could speak.

  “Morgan was tortured like the others,” she said. “But she fought against him, that’s why her torture wasn’t as bad as the other women. He killed her faster and he didn’t get to live out his fantasy.”

  Hazel wrapped her arms around her chest and shook her head. “So he’s going to want to kill again, and soon, to make up for his fun being spoiled. Why couldn’t you have just told me on the phone?”

  “Because there is another thing I wanted to talk to you about. Something Jacob was telling me.” Lisa hesitated before going on. “You and Owen were together?”

  “Yes, why does that matter?”

  “It must change how you two work together. Aren’t you afraid that those feelings will come back? It will cloud your judgment the moment that happens.”

  Hazel shook her head. No one knew what had happened, and then again she didn’t want anyone to know. It was too painful to remember everything, but she was right. It did cloud her judgment. Being around Owen was difficult, but she enjoyed it. She loved being around him and the feelings she had for him before were still there. She just had to pretend that they weren’t.

  “I am fine. And as for my brother being concerned, he shouldn’t be. Everything is fine between him and I, and nothing bad will happen.”

  Lisa gave her one of those looks, as if telling her that she didn’t believe it.

  She continued. “Well, you’ll be happy to know that not all the blood found at the crime scene belonged to the Mathis sisters. It seems we have our first real hard evidence. I’ve already got forensics running the DNA. No matches have come up yet, but when it does, you’ll be the first to know.”

  For the first time in days, Hazel smiled. “You don’t know how happy I am to hear that.” She felt like dancing all the way to the door but settled for a brisk walk. “Be careful,” Lisa called out as Hazel left the room.

  Owen was in the stairwell waiting for her.

  “Is everything alright?”

  She nodded, but knew she couldn’t lie to him. She never had the ability to lie to him. It was as if he could read into her emotions and decipher what was wrong with her. With everything that was going through her mind, she wondered why her head hadn’t exploded.

  “Lisa confirmed Morgan fought back and he killed her faster than he wanted to. I think he left that apartment angry and frustrated, and I think he’s going to kill again soon to make up for it.”

  She attempted to push past Owen and continue up the stairs, but he caught her wrist and pulled her around to face him. “I wasn’t asking about the case. I was asking about you.” He took a step closer to her. “This is me you’re talking to. Stop trying to be strong for five minutes and tell me what’s going on. I can see in your eyes how distraught you are. Don’t think for a minute that you can hide that from me.”

  “You heard my stepdad,” she replied, taking a step back. “I need to stay focused on this case for now. And right now all I want to do is go back through the list of previous suspects and have another go at them.”

  “And what good will that do?”

  “Might turn up some new information.”

  Owen signed and shook his head. “Where would you like to start?”

  “Richard Barnes, the husband of the first victim.”

  Going back upstairs together, it was difficult for Hazel to stay quiet. She wanted to say something, to get everything off her mind, but she didn’t want to burden Owen with anything else. She was worried about Nate, and she wanted to know where he was and what he was doing. She needed to know that he was safe.

  Her stepfather stood in the hallway speaking to Jacob and Percy. When he saw Hazel and Owen, he gestured for them to come inside. Shutting the door behind them, Hazel held her breath hoping for good news. She was about to be disappointed.

  “Nate is nowhere to be found,” her stepfather said tersely. “And I still don’t know who the mole is. Nate’s assignment on Ciervo wasn’t common knowledge, but word on the street is that whoever ratted him out had all the details.”

  “What type of evidence was Nate after?”

  “The kind to make him go away for a long time. Prostitution, murder for hire, drug distribution, you name it. He’s even involved in human trafficking and child prostitution.”

  “Who has he killed?” Percy asked.

  “Benjamin Reynolds and his wife, Joyce, including their five year old son, Samuel, and five year old daughter, Ashley. They were found in their home ˗ all strangled ˗ and dead for a while. We believe Cecily is part of it due to this photo,” he said handing it to Hazel.

  Hazel shook her head. “That’s Benjamin’s heart with a knife stabbed through it. He removed it after he’d killed him.”

  “Then we also have the Smith family,” her stepfather continued in a grave voice. “Harvey and his wife, Emilee, along with their daughter, Carly. The heart was also taken and stabbed with the same model knife. Then the last family was found nearly a year ago. That was Charles Harper and his wife, Veronica, her son Andrew and their son, Charles Junior.”

  “Why would he go after these people?”

  “We don’t have the answer to that. However I have a PI that got me the information I needed on this case and the bread crumbs led back to him. W
e have talked to him obviously, and it was before Nate went in. He is very intelligent.”

  “No one who knew Nate was there has done anything suspicious,” Jacob said. “I looked through everything and it all adds up.”

  “I don’t know,” their stepfather mused. “I can only just pray that he returns home. Now, all of you get back to work. If anything else comes to my attention I will be sure to inform all of you.”

  They all walked out of his office. Hazel and Owen walked into hers to grab the files she needed. “I’ll drive,” he said. “You’re too distracted right now.”

  She reluctantly allowed him to drive and as they were beginning to leave, Hazel felt a twist in her stomach but it quickly passed. Owen opened her car door for her and she slipped inside. She handed him a file. “This is where we’re going,” she said, pointing to the address.

  As they began driving through traffic, Owen glanced at her sideways. “Where is your partner?”

  “I don’t have one,” she said simply. “I haven’t had one in several months.”

  “What happened?”

  “He was in a car accident and ever since then I’ve been working on my own. I prefer that. Being on my own makes everything easier.”

  “Yeah, it is easier being alone sometimes. However, sometimes you need someone there to help.”

  Ignoring the last part she asked, “Don’t you have a partner?”

  “I have a team, but we don’t work closely. We theorize together and that’s about it. Anyway, is there anyone in your life?”

  “No. I have been too busy to be in a relationship. What about you?”

  He shook his head. “I haven’t met anyone that is worth my time. A lot of the girls who like me are a little off. There has only been one to get my attention and there is no way I can have her.”

  Pulling up to the house, Hazel sat there an extra moment. She wondered who he was talking about, and knew it wasn’t herself. That had stung slightly but she quickly hid it and got out of the car to walk up to the front door. There were gorgeous rose bushes at the front of the house and it was faced nicely with dark brick.