“That famous gut talking again, eh Alex?”
Startled, Alex stood just as Kellan Arthur reached him.
“How goes it, Kel?” Alex asked. “Seen my rookie anywhere?”
“If you mean that rather green guy in the blue tie and un-ironed shirt, he’s still puking over by the patrol cars.”
“I remember those days,” Alex whispered, more to himself than to Kellan Arthur.
“So do I,” Kellan agreed, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Let me guess, Danny tried to make you vomit every chance he got?”
“What tried? He had me puking within an hour. Reggie lasted two days before I got him. This makes twice in a week though.”
“Well, he always did believe in trial by fire. I Always thought the uniforms handled the grunt work. Danny didn’t get that memo. So, what’s the story?”
Alex reviewed the known facts with Kellan Arthur in brief.
“And you think this is related to the stripper we found out back of the motel?”
“Same M.O.” Alex confirmed. “This one was allowed the dignity of wearing her panties. Could be a copycat. Last one showed no sign of sexual assault. I highly doubt this one will either. No obvious bruising on the inner thighs. And, just like the last one, killer left us a little calling card on the body.”
Alex handed him a carefully-bagged index card.
“I can’t really read it in this light,” Kellan said. “Shine me a light over here.”
Alex directed his flashlight on the card, allowing Kellan to read it.
“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Colossians 3:5. So, we’ve got ourselves some religious nut on our hands. Great!”
“Careful there, Kel.” Alex admonished. “He’s not a religious nut. He’s a confused person, twisting the Bible’s meanings to justify his very ungodly actions. He’s perverting the sacred word of God to serve a very ungodly master. He’s not religious by any stretch of the imagination. What we have here is simply a nut.”
“Sorry, Alex.” Kellan said, “You know I didn’t mean anything by it. I love me some Jesus Christ, yanno. I just meant, well, like you said, we got us a nut doing his dirty work in the name of some supposed god. I’d still say he is religious. Terrorists are religious, Alex. They believe in what they’re doing. Terror is their religion. For this guy, he prays to the god of murder and thinks him the ruler of the universe.”
“Yeah,” Alex said, “Point taken. Whatever this is, he believes in what he’s doing. And has justified it. And we can’t assume this prayer vigil is over.”
“Alex, I hope I didn’t offend you. I know you’ve been going to church and, I’ve wanted to tell you I’m really proud of you. You’re a good man. I mean that.” His serious demeanor lightened just a touch. Patting Alex on the head, Kellan continued, “I want to be just like you when I grow up.”
They both chuckled.
“I know you weren’t playing judge, Kel. I just wanted to make sure we keep our justice blinders on. We have to go on facts and not make too many assumptions. Religious or not, we are cops. We can’t judge, professionally-speaking anyway. That’s somebody else’s job, whether we’re talking Religion or Justice.”
“Not what Danny would say. Danny would say you make those assumptions. You make those judgments, but keep an open mind as facts come in. And you’ll learn to give voice to them without giving them too much thought.”
Alex joined in as Kellan Arthur finished the thought, “You have to follow the facts, but the facts usually match up to the gut.”
“Wonder how many others got that line,” Kellan asked, smiling.
“If my calculations are correct, about half the remaining force.” Alex pointed toward Reggie Brooks. “And at least once, that message has been passed on to the next generation.”
Kellan gave a soft grin before directing his attention toward the dead body.
“I feel bad for her,” Kellan said, his voice filled with a somberness Alex hadn’t heard from him in some time.
“Me too,” Alex whispered, directing his attention back to the body. “We’ll get you a blanket soon, Honey.” He knew she wouldn’t hear him. But, somewhere between here the gates of Heaven, he hoped that maybe she looked back long enough to see the respect with which her physical remains were being regarded.
“Such a young thing,” Kellan said. “So much she could have done. You ever think that, Alex? You ever look at the body of a child or young person like this and, I don’t know what to call it, envision their life as if their life were flashing in front of you? The life that could have been, ‘if only’?”
“Yeah,” Alex nodded, in the midst of the mental picture show of a past to which Alex would never be privy and a future young Gloria would never get to know.
“Who is killing young girls, Alex? Who is targeting prostitutes? I know they break the laws, but who is playing God here? As a cop, we want justice, but as a man, something in me wants answers. The dad in me wants to give them a hug. Something else in me wants to punch this guy for picking on young girls.”
“Too early to connect the two, Kel.” Alex said. “We have to follow the facts. Your gut and mine say the same thing. They’re connected. We play it like it is. But we leave it open to the facts. We could have anything here. A copycat, a contest, or a serial killer.”
“I know. I just—“
“You just want to know who is killing lost souls before they can be rescued. I know. So do I. And when we find whoever it is, we’ll have a good old-fashioned ‘Come To Jesus’ with him and educate him on what Jesus really would do. And when we’re done, we’ll educate him on what a Texas Daddy would do.”
A distant siren distracted Alex just as Kellan was about to reply.
“Hold that thought, Kel.” Alex mumbled, looking toward where he perceived the sirens to be originating.
In seconds, a patrol car pulled up, turning its sirens off, leaving its lights flashing as it neared the crime scene. It parked, but the officers inside did not exit. Behind the patrol car, two dark sedans parked and two men exited from each.
As Alex approached the group, he recognized Josh Sutton panning the area in search of the officer in charge. Moe’s nephew, Josh looked nothing like the child his uncle likely envisioned. As Josh had recently started dating Alyson, his presence conjured something slightly more threatening, much like a father might feel anxious upon meeting his daughter’s new beau. To be sure, Alex liked him. But, it was the principle of the matter. With Lisa’s Uncle Stephen gone, the duty of protecting his daughter passed to Alex.
If it was this way with Alyson, Alex often thought, his sanity was all but guaranteed not to survive meeting Christina’s first boyfriend. Though his height was exaggerated by expensive-looking leather dress shoes, Josh lowered his gaze to meet Alex’s.
“Hoped I’d find you here, Captain Mendez.”
“Josh, please. Formality? Call me Alex.”
“Sorry,” Josh said, shaking his hand. “Never sure how to handle these situations. The Navy man usually kicks in and I have to fight the urge to salute my superiors and click my heels together, throwing my shoulders back in the interim.”
“Well, if you’re anything like your uncle, you’ll figure it out in no time.”
“What have we got?” Josh asked.
Alex noticeably blanched.
“No offense, Josh, but we’ve got a murder victim we discovered less than 20 minutes ago. How’d you get here so fast and, while we’re on the subject, why are you here in force?”
“Alex, I’ve been ordered to take over this investigation.”
“What do you mean take over? Ordered by who? Not by me and not by Chief Steelman at this hour!”
Alex could feel frustration wrapping its unwelcome arms about him. The antithesis of Alex, Josh seemed cool, focused. Nothing like the unsure rookie persona Alex had created in his imagination moments ago.
“Alex,
I’m just following orders. And they came from the Dallas office. Yes, they were vetted by Steelman. This morning, actually. Before this discovery. All I can tell you is that we’re looking at something big. We don’t know if it’s a serial killer, a competition, a sleeper cell of some sort or just a lot of copycat killers out for glory seeking, but we have victims across the state matching this M.O. The bureau’s been chasing this down since before I joined. We’ve got murders in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Waco, Denton, College Station, Huntsville, Texarkana, Nacogdoches, Tyler, and now two in Longview. As far back as the 1990’s. All with the same M.O. Same calling cards. Evidence suggests a connection. We are working all angles on this.”
“Boss?”
Alex hadn’t heard Kellan Arthur walk up, so he flinched at the sound of his voice.
“Kellan,” he said, taking a deep breath. “FBI Agent Josh Sutton. You remember Moe, right? This is his nephew.”
“Keeping it in the family eh?”
Shaking hands, Josh gave a courteous smile to Kellan, never once breaking his air of professionalism.
“Alex, I’m not here trying to play territory games with local LEOs. Am I going to have your support on this?”
“You mean, am I going to just step aside and let a rookie FBI agent lead an investigation in territory with which he’s unfamiliar on orders of an entity to which I have not spoken?”
“Alex, I—“
“Josh, two days ago, I had a major spitting contest with two local police departments when the first victim was found. She was found in a wooded area of unclear jurisdiction. I convinced them that Longview P.D. has more resources, more manpower and therefore the best chance of catching this guy. Now, you’re asking me to turn tail and run from a case for which I fought so hard?”
Brushing a hand through his hair, Josh, looked toward the body.
“Fill me in?”
“Going to answer me?” Alex asked.
“Y’all can’t just come in here and take over!” Kellan protested, causing Alex to raise a hand to silence him. Several startled officers gazed in their direction before returning about their various duties. When Kellan shot a disapproving glance, Alex merely nodded and motioned toward the dead body.
Walking alongside Alex, approaching the victim, Josh reassured him again that Chief Steelman had, in fact, verified the orders.
“All I can tell you, Alex, is that I’ll be handling things from here with Special Agent Cade Foster over there. The tall guy who looks like the Terminator joined SEAL Team Six. Either one of us will be the point of contact. The Bureau technically gave it to me, but Cade’s a good man. If I’m not around, you can count on him.” He pointed to the agent who’d been driving the car from which Josh had exited. He was, as Josh had described him, imposing.
“What about the other two?”
“The dark-headed man is Agent Craig Porter. The redheaded woman is Special Agent Kinsley Arena. Quite the firecracker, that one.”
“Easy there, Ace,” Alex said, giving a gentle slap on the chest, “You’re still seeing my wife’s cousin you know.”
Josh laughed. “Alyson’s met her. Actually ‘firecracker’ was her word. I agree, though. Whatever you do, don’t let her get on a roll talking. She has the right to remain silent, but she does not have the ability. Great agent, though.”
Josh bent down to examine the body. Carefully, he pulled two latex gloves from his pocket and fit them on.
“Wow,” he whispered to himself.
“You know, Josh, I’ve been doing this for some years now and, in my experience, I don’t think ‘wow’ is quite the reaction people are going to need from you.”
His concentration remaining on his examination, he replied, “Sorry, not what I meant. A knee-jerk reaction, I guess. This is just like the others. Well, the others I know of. Denton, Dallas, Texarkana and Tyler.”
“What do you mean?”
“See this?” Josh said, pointing to something on her neck. Alex moved closer to the body. And then he saw it. A slight bruising, barely visible in the dark of night. Something Alex had missed in his initial processing.
“Was she choked?” Alex asked. “There’s only bruising on one side.”
“No, look closer.” Josh said, suddenly slipping into full-on investigator. “The bruise surrounds a puncture wound.”
“Okay, that I saw.” Alex said, though he wasn’t sure he’d really noticed. “I wrote it off as an animal bite or something. She has a history of drug use. Could be she decided to shoot into a more direct spot.”
“It’s not. And unless I miss my guess, you’ll find traces of Coke in her system.”
“Coke? Cocaine? How do you know?”
“No, Coke. Coca-Cola. Oh, it’s not the same stuff you and I drink over the counter, but traces of Citric and Phosphoric acids will be found in her blood along with the real reason for the injection, Hydrofluoric Acid.”
“Hydrofluoric Acid? Never heard of it.”
“Highly corrosive. Absorbed right through the skin. Injection seems a bit harsh, really. I figure the Citric and Phosphoric are there to throw people off. Or, maybe a safety precaution in case it gets spilled on him? A reagent. Maybe diluting it. Maybe to act as some sort of stabilizer for the other. I’m not a chemist; but if anyone had touched this body without the knowledge of the presence of hydrofluoric acid, you’d be needing a new medical examiner. At least two M.E.’s have died from autopsying the victims of this guy.”
“Got ourselves a little homegrown terrorist,” Kellan said, cocking his lips to the side as he spoke.
“It would appear so,” Josh confirmed. “Something to that effect anyway. Not sure he fits the typical terrorist bill. But definitely a very sick man who targets strippers and prostitutes and thinks that God told him to do it. And apparently gets off on the idea of collateral damage.”
“So, Josh, with all these cases, has the guy left no clues? No prints or anything?”
“Wipes the bodies clean, so it would appear. Not of blood, but somehow of prints. Not even a glove print. Our best forensic specialists have even tried to trace indentions in the bruising only to be thrown off. Most of them are naked; some are semi-clothed like this one. We’re not sure why he takes the clothes of some but not of others. Each one is displayed differently, though most of them are as brutal as this one. Some worse. I think the display isn’t so much a part of the ritual as just some sick form of art, maybe. Cade believes it’s random placement. He may be right.”
“How does he have time to do all of that? This body is still warm. Granted, she’s gone, but he can’t have gotten that much of a head start.”
“Any witnesses?” Josh asked.
“No, not that we’ve seen so far. It’s a pretty secluded area. None have come forward from the first one either. He picks a time of night that most people are home, even the party crowd, it would seem.”
“Between you and me,” Josh said, his voice possessing a hardness Alex hadn’t heard out of him before. “I’m not a pessimist by any means, but I am a realist. The only way we’re catching this guy is if somebody gets lucky and gets away.”
“Kellan,” Alex said, “I need you to contact the M.E’s office. If Tabby hasn’t started the autopsy on the first victim yet, I need you to apprise her of the situation. Tell her to use extreme caution. Whatever this guy is, he seems bent on causing damage. I want everybody in or near the crime scene issued gloves if they’re not already wearing them. Anyone that touched body number one is under my order to see a doctor immediately. Should we wear masks too, Josh? Is this stuff deadly by air?”
Josh shook his head. “Alex, at the risk of starting an argument, you are right that Longview’s resources dwarf that of most local towns. But I’m sure you’d agree that the FBI’s resources will dwarf Longview’s to the same degree.”
Alex pursed his lips and took a deep breath.
“Josh, you’re right. And I trust your uncle, which means I trust you by default. But you can’t cut me out
of this. I’m from here. I know this land better than you, end of story.”
“Alex, we always try to utilize the knowledge and experience of local LEO’s.”
“And I am not just any local Law Enforcement Officer, Josh. You said it yourself. Experience. No matter your resources, I have more experience than you. A lot more.”
“And I’ll utilize that as well, Alex. I just don’t need, to use your words, another spitting contest. We both want the same thing. There’s things I need that you have and there’s information that you need that I have. SEALs are trained to work as a team. I don’t know any other way to work, honestly.”
“So, which one of us is lead?” Alex asked, regarding the young man suspiciously.
“Who needs a lead? We’re both leaders. I’m leading the agents with me. You’re captain of the local LEO’s. In the end, this guy’s going to federal prison, Alex. So, it doesn’t matter which of us catches him. And if he strikes in Tyler or any other area, I’ll work with those LEO’s too. To the same end. As I said, they taught us to work as a team. You benefit from my strengths, I benefit from yours. We watch each other’s back and cancel out each other’s weaknesses. Our mission is the same. Grab the boat and let’s get it.”
“Grab the boat?”
“Sorry.” Josh chuckled to himself. “SEAL thing. I just mean…” he extended his hand to Alex.
Raising a curious eyebrow, Alex took Josh’s hand in his. Their grips were mutually tight.
“Partners?” Josh asked.
“Partners.” Alex nodded.
Chapter 3
Wednesday, October 12
4:47 a.m.
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