“I don't see what you are getting at.”
“Two things. the first one is that he probably picked up toys we left on the sofa.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“When you and I left my house on Monday. You know, when you brought me to get cleaned up…”
“Yeah, yeah, get to the point.”
“There was a doll house on the sofa where Vicky had been playing. It was missing when we went there earlier today...I mean yesterday.”
“I see what you are getting at. I'll check it out. Now go to bed.”
“Be patient and shut up!”
Jerome opened his eyes and looked at her. This petite, young woman with a child, not only was she pretty, but she also had spunk and inner strength he had not seen in many others. “Yes ma'am.”
She smiled at him, and when she did... all he wanted to do was kiss her. She was definitely trouble.
“Get to the point, I'm tired,” he said.
“Man you are worse than my mother without coffee, but anyhow; when I walked in the house yesterday, I noticed how clean the place was and I didn't leave it like that. I also noticed that the toys were missing and if you did not find them in the trash, they are either in Vicky's room or there is a person carrying a bag full of toys. My bet is that they are in Vicky's room.”
“So what?”
“You could get fingerprints from the toys.”
“Yeah, but he wore gloves.”
“Yes, but if he came in without gloves...and if he wanted to put the woman at ease, he was most likely without gloves. If he is as much of an OCD person as I believe him to be, and he saw the toys out of place, he might have picked them up without gloves.”
“Yes, but he or she cleaned everything.”
“Yes, but hear me out. The dollhouse can only be picked up a certain way. Your fingers go under the slope of the roof; on the other hand, when I wipe it clean I usually only think of the surface I see, not under the roof. I was wondering if we could check for fingerprints under the roof, perhaps we could find something.”
“It's worth a try. I'll call Jones in the morning; he can run the prints.”
“No, I don't like him. Please, there is something about him that gives me the creeps.”
“I'll call Tom then. Is he okay?”
“Thank you. It's probably me overreacting, but when your friend looks at me I see hatred. I know it doesn't make sense, but he terrifies me.”
“I think you don't like cops and that's the problem.”
“I don't know where you got that information, but it's wrong. Not only was my dad a cop, but you are a cop, and I like you. I don't like him.”
“Ok. Let's assume that she's unconscious when he brought her in. What do you think happened?”
“Well, that would call a lot of attention to himself no matter what time of the day or night he came in. You see, my mom's neighborhood is upper-middle class. Most people work nine to five. When they get home, they are busy doing homework, preparing dinner, so on and so forth.”
“Continue, so I understand what you are getting at.”
“Simple. My neighborhood is a very low income neighborhood. Those people are usually on Welfare. Do you see what I am getting at?”
“Maybe, continue.”
“In the daytime people are meandering around, or sitting on their porches. In the evening, the behavior does not change. If someone comes in with an unconscious woman, people are going to notice.”
“What about late at night?”
“Drug dealers pay attention to their surroundings. They would recognize any new face or unusual behavior, it's their survival. When he brought in the woman, she was walking.”
Then she slowly got up, walked to him, leaned down, and kissed him on the cheek. “Good night, Jerome.”
Darn! She knew what she was talking about and he had not even thought about any of those factors.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
1 chronicles 16:34
Chapter 16
Jerome opened the file from Mississippi, then he proceeded to download the pictures from his phone to the computer and began looking at the pictures. Other than the victims, there were no similarities. In Mississippi and at Josie's house, the only DNA available had been from the bodies, but in Mississippi, the bodies had been left in the trunks of cars, and at Josie' place, the body was left on Josie's bed.
At Ivonne's house, on the other hand, the job was sloppy and they still had not found the killer's DNA. As much as he wanted to believe it was the same person, he was not sure. In all the other places, the killer had taken care of every detail. At Ivonne's house, the job had been sloppy, as if the killer had been interrupted. If that were the case... Who interrupted? And why didn't this person call the cops?
After looking at the pictures from Mississippi and skimming through the notes, he placed the file in the bottom drawer of his desk. Mississippi was just extra information at the moment. He needed to put together what he had actually seen first.
He had two columns, one for Ivonne's house and one for Josie's place. He pictured himself entering both places. At Ivonne’s, the door had been open and the lights had been off, at Josie's it had been the opposite; the door had been closed and all the lights on. At Ivonne's house the killer had left through the back door and left a trail of blood. The only DNA other than the victim’s, was of those people who lived at the house or those who visited. Then if he looked at Josie's house, the killer had left through the front door and everything had been cleaned. What had Josie said about neighbors?
He then opened on the computer the pictures he had taken, enlarging them so that he could see more details. Josie was right. He remembered seeing the dollhouse on the sofa and a few Barbie dolls next to it when they had gone there on Monday. The pictures showed nothing on the furniture. Did the killer move the dollhouse? It had to be, as no one else was there. The only reason one had to move the toys from the sofa was to sit on it. What did Josie say about making out? Could there be any DNA left behind?
He was sure that he needed to check not only the dollhouse, but also the sofa for DNA and fingerprints, as well as the front door. If the killer had walked in wearing gloves, the neighbors would have noticed. He also needed to go and speak with them. Cops were not always seen on a positive note in that kind of neighborhood.
He started another list of the things he wanted checked before adding to his original list. In both places the women had bled to death in the bathtub. So, assuming it was the same killer, he killed them in the bathroom, the bathtub to be precise, then he moved the bodies to where he wanted them to be found. At Ivonne's house, the body had been left in the bathtub, confirming his theory that the job had been cut short.
At Ivonne's house, it was obvious that the victim was a prostitute; while at Josie's house, the woman wore jeans and a t-shirt. He pulled the Mississippi file up one more time. Although he did not want his own investigation to be influenced by someone else's views, he decided to read the file from cover to cover. The first woman was a well-known prostitute, but the other women were single mothers. The women were all mid to low income. The women had all been decapitated.
He was stumped on this case and, truth be told, Josie was the one solving this case. He had not been able to think of anything else but the sassy woman living at his place, the kisses they had shared, and her sweet child. He knew she was a flirt and this was all a game to her, but he was beginning to hope for things that were not possible. He knew he wanted what Josie offered, and that was the reason having Josie at his place was a dangerous move.
He had never liked the games immature girls played, and now he was falling prey to those same games he had avoided all his life. There was no way that someone as beautiful as Josie could seriously consider a relationship with him, and if she did, it was even more pitiful, as it could never work out between them. Thi
s woman was driving him beyond crazy. His hormones had taken over his body, and now they were threatening to take over his brain.
Jerome stood up in frustration. He needed to concentrate on the case and not Josie. He wished he had someone else help him brainstorm the case. He looked up and saw Jones' desk. As usual it was empty. If he was going to get half the credit for solving this case, the man should at least do half the work. He always seemed to be gone, especially when there was work to be done. This had not bothered him in the past, as Jerome liked his solitude, but right now he needed help. He was having a hard time concentrating and needed a fresh perspective. He also needed this someone to go and interrogate Ivonne. How far away was that resort anyhow? He did not want to go too far from Josie just in case she needed him. He would not be able to forgive himself if something happened to her or to Vicky.
He Googled the address and then he looked at the time. It was only ten o'clock. The resort was a little bit over an hour away and if he hurried he could be back in time to pick the girls up from school at three. It was doable if he hurried.
Jerome disconnected the phone from the computer to get ready to go. As he grabbed the phone, he realized he had several notifications, some were from his mom, others from his sister Alicia. He did not have the time to deal with their drama right now. He ignored the messages, not even bothering to read any of them. Then he decided to send a message to Tom. He needed help with the prints.
“Tom, I believe we need to send forensics to Josie's house one more time. I think we can look for fingerprints in a couple of new places.”
Jerome went to his car, and there was still no response from Tom. As much as he wanted to stay local, he had to go see Ivonne. She might have answers that might lead them to finding the killer. He tried calling Jones, but as usual there was no answer.
As he drove, he looked at his phone.
“No, can't do. Alexandria is having contractions. Call Gaston.” Came the reply from Tom.
Jerome took a deep breath. He had to do what he had to do. Josie didn't like anybody. She did not like Jones and she did not like Gaston. Well he had news for her, he couldn't solve this case alone. Gaston will have to do.
Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
2 Timothy 2:22
Chapter 17
Josie sat at her desk, exhausted, and looked at all the papers she should be grading but did not have the energy to check. The combination of the kids’ excitement and her fatigue had been catastrophic. She had snapped at her students several times today when their behavior had been normal. She knew that kids did not stay quiet and calm the last day before a vacation. Thank goodness it had been a half-day.
She wanted to go home, fall into bed and close her eyes. She wanted to sleep and forget this nightmare. She wanted to wake up to a normal day, where her mother would be at the kitchen table reading her newspaper and drinking coffee instead of vacationing in some sort of resort. She needed her mother right now. She wanted all of these events to be over and done with; better yet, she wanted to wake up from the nightmare and realize that nothing horrible had happened. She did not know how much strength she had left. She just could not pretend to be strong when she was dying inside. She crossed her arms and laid her head on the table. All she needed was a five-minute rest.
Darn! As soon as she closed her eyes, the images were back. When would she be able to sleep again? She stood up and began sorting the kids' papers. She needed to go back to her house. The principal at her school had told them to go once their duties were over. She knew she could go to her home and be back with plenty of time to get Vicky from the after-school program.
She dialed Jerome's number to have him meet her there, but there was no answer. She tried again and again. After the fifth time she sent him a text message, “Jerome, kids are gone and I am on my way to my house. I need to see something. You can always meet me there.”
Jerome was doing 90 on the highway trying to make it back on time to get Josie at three. He had driven all the way to the resort, only to find Ivonne gone. Not one person at the resort knew where she went. Jerome had tried to call Ken Smith, and he had only said that Ivonne was fine, but refused to give up her whereabouts. Then he had been relieved to have made it to the school with ten minutes to spare only to be surprised by how deserted everything looked. He had walked into the school office to get Josie and Vicky only to find them gone. She had left at noon, shortly after the kids had gone. Why was he not informed that they had a half-day? He knew why… She was an independent female with very little common sense. Didn't she realize that there was someone out there who wanted to kill her? He then asked for Vicky, but she had gone with her mother. He grabbed his cell phone to call her and saw all the notifications he had ignored all day today. He opened the texts and saw that besides his mother, sister and Tom, he had a message from Josie. He opened it and felt his heart stop. He ran to his car. This woman was going to be the death of him. Of all places to go, why had she gone to her house? It was definitely not a safe place to be. He could picture mother and daughter dead. She just had to make it easy for the killer. What was she thinking? He was thankful one more time not to be married. If he felt his life shorten by the stress of keeping this woman alive, what would he feel if it were his wife and child? Are you going to be my daddy? No, hell no. He didn't need children. There was no way he wanted this level of stress on a daily basis. When he chose to marry, it would be to a meek and agreeable woman and no children.
When he got to her place, he saw an undercover car and realized that Gaston was there already. At least it was something. He could feel a bit more relaxed and now he took the time to say a little prayer of thanks. Then he looked at the place. This whole neighborhood was a dump. This trailer was so small; it would fit inside his apartment. What did she see in this place?
The door was ajar and Gaston was there, but Josie was not. Gaston was wearing gloves and dusting every surface he could find. Where could the girls be?
“Hey! Gaston, we've already done this. The doll house and door handle were the only things I was in doubt.”
“Sorry, I decided to do it all over again. A new set of eyes can see new things.”
“Okay, did you find anything so far?”
“I hit the Jackpot with the doll house. If Josie was correct, and he sat on the sofa to talk or to make out or whatever, I have his hair as well. I hope it is, anyhow. There were five different strands of hairs. I used the black light and there is plenty of body fluid for us to take DNA from the sofa. Of course, this place was rented with all the furnishings, except the beds, so the DNA could belong to anybody. Now the one place that I found most of the evidence was in the bathroom. He cleaned everything with bleach, but he did not think to clean behind the mirror. The blood had dripped behind it. We can compare the DNA from the body with the DNA from the blood behind the mirror. That part should be easy, and if it matches we can compare those results to the DNA in the different strands of hair. If one of the strands of hair matches the first results, we can assume that one of the other hairs belongs to the killer.”
“Good job! I have to run.”
“Why in such a hurry?”
“She left me a message telling me that she would be here. I need to find her, while she might still be alive.”
“Who? Josie?”
“Yeah.”
“That's Josie alright, stubborn and independent to the core. Any man who happens to tame her without breaking her spirit is going to be one lucky dude.”
“I know this is none of my business, but how do you know Josie?”
Gaston stopped what he was doing and looked through the windows.
Jerome knew that he was at a faraway place. Jerome had enough experience interrogating people that he knew Gaston was ready to talk; he just needed to give him time. Gaston's eyes
were vacant.
“I screwed up. As a teenager, Josie was wild. I had to bring her home several times. All of us at the station were always looking out for her, and instead of bringing her in as the law required, we covered for her. We all felt…er feel responsible for her well-being. Most of the guys my age knew her dad. We had been rookies together, we were together in the academy, we were friends. He was a great guy.”
Jerome was getting impatient. He did not know where Josie was, and this bozo was taking forever to tell his story. As he waited, he kept calling Josie. He had no idea where to go. Her mother’s house was too far to walk to, and she had no car nor money for a taxi. He decided to wait a little while to give her a chance to see her phone. Jerome also wanted to know as much of Josie as was possible. Insight on Josie might give him information needed to catch the killer.
Gaston continued to speak, “My sister had died of cancer. She was diagnosed one day, and two months later we were burying her. My nephew came to live with me, he was a senior in high school. He and Josie started to hang out together and I thought it would be good for both of them. One day Josie shows at my door screaming at my nephew for raping her. Supposedly, they went out to the movies, and he brought her a soda after the movie had started. She did not remember anything after the soda and the next day she woke up with bruises on her thighs and was quite sore. Her mother said that she had come home drunk again, so nobody paid attention to her complaints.
I tried to hear her story, but I was already biased. She had a record of being wild and drunk and my nephew was the only living relative I had left. I didn't believe her and when she never pressed charges, I assumed I had made the right call. Nine months later I learned how wrong I had been.
My nephew moved on immediately. He ran away from the repercussions of his actions, but as with every bully, he did it again. He wasn't so lucky then. Right now he is serving a prison sentence that keeps extending periodically by his own doing.
Jerome was disgusted by the story. Not only did he not listen to Josie, but his negligence caused another young woman to get hurt. He prayed that he was never put in this position, as it took a special kind of person not to have some bias toward someone or something.
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