Crushed

by Kate Watterson

  “Maybe.”

  “That isn’t a ‘maybe’ right there if he’s the one. Or an asylum. As odd as this sounds, I understand somebody killing a person because of a sex crime so they don’t want to get caught, but this one is all over the place. He has no personal interest, or at least that we can see.”

  “Except in you and Santiago.”

  “Santiago is worried it’s me and I’m worried it’s him.”

  “It might be both of you.” Georgia definitely looked reflective. “Don’t sell my theory short here. He’s intrigued by you, but also trying to tick off Santiago. You are operating under the assumption that people think the same as we do. I can tell you, they don’t. He knows you in some way. It could be someone you work with.”

  It took a minute, but Ellie admitted haltingly, “That’s certainly has occurred to us. I’ve thought cop. I’ve even said it out loud. We’ve also thought military or ex-military. This person knows too much about how to move around and not be seen. He’s visited my condo on numerous occasions now and no one I’ve asked has seen a thing. I think the people he murdered trusted him in some way. Ask yourself why they’d put themselves in that position.”

  “A police officer is possible, or a doctor, dentist, or lawyer? Someone that you should be able to trust with your well-being? He could present himself in many different ways.”

  Ellie mused, “All along we’ve been puzzled about how random the victims are. I’m starting to think once again there’s a tie of some kind. I never thought of health professional. I’ll check and see if maybe they all visited the same office. We were originally thinking it was the same bar, but the older victims I can’t see in a college scene, so I think that’s a dead end. They also were definitely not runners.”

  “I will say it is puzzling to me. Carl is pretty convinced the cases are tied to his now.”

  Ellie considered her friend/therapist with equanimity. “You know, we have the most bizarre friendship ever, right? I meet you because I’m investigating a double murder and now you are pretty involved with the MPD homicide division, including dating one of them, apparently. How is that going?”

  “Carl Grasso is an interesting man.”

  “I grant you that.”

  “I like interesting.” Georgia’s smile was reserved.

  “He qualifies.”

  “He does. I’m undecided on how it will turn out, but I guess if you take no chances in this life you will get nowhere. I think you and I are in the same boat right now. Grantham was pretty grounded. Santiago is not.”

  “And Grasso?”

  “Professional opinion? Not grounded either.”

  Someone knocked on the office door without pushing the button on the light. Georgia said lightly, “I think your ride might be here.”

  Chapter 19

  He visited the grave.

  There had been flowers there but the storm had decimated them, scattering forlorn petals everywhere. He wasn’t at all worried about being seen, he had a good reason to be there. There was an explanation anyone would accept.

  Not that at this time of the morning he expected to see anyone. The mist drifted by in thin veils and the air smelled like turned soil and green grass.

  There was no sense of melancholy, no remorse, no feeling at all as far as he could tell. He stood there and listened to the singing birds trill in the background, his hands in his pockets.

  That first obsession had been like a slow-spreading disease. It wasn’t like he didn’t recognize it wasn’t entirely normal at the time, but then again, define normal.

  It was probably a solid truth that the line between normal and abnormal was very blurry.

  He studied the gravestone with complete detachment.

  Just … nothing.

  * * *

  Metzger slapped down the roster. “I don’t think he’s a cop, but here’s the list and the access code. You two can run it, but I think I only hire the best, so feel free to check. We screen carefully. I’m surprised either of you two goofballs made it.”

  As they walked back toward their desks, Jason said under his breath, “Goofballs? Where the hell did that come from? I thought we were angels with magic air under our wings and he just said goofballs. I’m in shock.”

  He was joking. Metzger was tough, but he was protective of the department’s reputation as good clean cops who worked hard to keep the city safe.

  “That’s because you would have said something much worse.” MacIntosh was studying the list already. “It was a term of endearment. He was being nice for him. All I think we need to do is a profile of physical characteristics and see if any of the witnesses can identify an officer.”

  “They’d better not.” Jason meant it. “I take my job seriously. I don’t want it to be one of us or anyone remotely associated with this or any other department. In a closet somewhere I have a white hat. I can’t find it most of the time, but I have it.”

  “I’d love to see that hat.” Ellie, looking young in a light green sweater that set off her hazel eyes, punched up her computer. “Let’s narrow it down. Height, age, and coloring as components. That should make the search easier.”

  It did. Only seven of them were young, fit, and had brown hair.

  “What about Wright?” She squinted at the screen. “He matches the profile.”

  “He might,” he agreed, leaning over her shoulder, enjoying the fresh scent of her hair. But then shook his head. He was doing his best to not touch her when other people could see them, but hell, he really wanted to even if it was just resting his hand on her arm. “I know him and I can’t see it. I realize people have been fooled before, but not him. I don’t feel it.”

  To her credit, she moved on, accepting his intuitive verdict. “Moreland?”

  “He isn’t smart enough.”

  “Oh, that’s nice to know about a fellow police officer. Khara?”

  “Let me put this nicely, he wouldn’t send you flowers. Maybe he’d send them to me, but not you. He’s really a nice guy, but you aren’t his preferred gender.”

  She caught on. “Oh, I didn’t realize. Fine, okay, but maybe he just considers me competition?”

  “He’s not in the closet, but he doesn’t advertise it. He’s a nice guy, but I don’t think I’m his type, and you sure aren’t either. I’m looking it over and it isn’t anyone on that list, Ellie. We aren’t searching in the right place.”

  “Great. That just leaves the whole world, but in a way that’s a relief. I swear Metzger would be furious with us if it started an IA investigation, even if we were right.”

  “He’d go along with it, though. But we’d have to be really convinced and I’m not. This morning I made calls and no dice on the dentist or doctor connection either. None of the victims saw the same medical professional. Not even a match on any of them.”

  “That’s disappointing. I thought Lukens had an angle.”

  “No clue on the identity of the last victim. I’m worried she was a lady living alone and no one will miss her for a while.”

  “We aren’t exactly batting a thousand, are we? No wonder Metzger is on edge.” Ellie sat back. “I’m on edge myself. Okay, new game plan. What is it? Enlighten me. I’m not coming up with a thing.”

  “I don’t know,” Jason admitted. “I wish I did. Grasso’s case is essentially our case at this point. His murder is tied to us, but won’t give us any insight. She’s a casualty only.”

  “That’s once again not a cheerful thought.”

  “But I’m thinkin’ pretty accurate. Someone somewhere has to know one meager fact we can investigate.”

  “If they do, they are keeping it to themselves.”

  “I realize that.” Jason rubbed his forehead. “Okay, let’s go over the chalkboard again. We have four very different people murdered and left in various parks.”

  “I’m aware.”

  “No clues that lead anywhere.”

  “We are still casting out those hooks without bait.”

&nbs
p; “I don’t disagree.”

  “I told her about last night.”

  “Her?”

  “Lukens.”

  It took him a moment.

  Well, shit. His private life wasn’t very private. “Not a moment-by-moment description, I hope.”

  “Those kinds of comments are what have me questioning my sanity.”

  He, of course, made it worse. “I was kind of hoping on a scale of one to ten I was an eleven, but—”

  Ellie gave him a disgusted look. “I swear I’m poisoning your food tonight. They will never find your body.”

  He truly did try to look contrite. “I’m sorry. What did Lukens have to say about that?”

  “I’m under the impression she thinks it isn’t the smartest thing I’ve ever done, but maybe not the dumbest. I was of the same mind. If you’d stop hovering over me and move about three feet away to the chair by my desk, I would be a lot more comfortable. I think everyone is watching us.”

  He did it, but thought she was being too sensitive. “I just don’t believe our relationship is that interesting to anyone but us. We work together, so we are together a lot. That’s the story.”

  “There’s together and together.”

  That was a point he couldn’t argue. He stopped himself from pointing out he didn’t care what they thought. He did what she asked and crossed his forearms on her desk. “Could you relax?”

  “Maybe if we had a solid lead.”

  “Back to the case? I meant about us.”

  “No, I can’t.” Ellie looked away. “I don’t sleep with anyone casually, which indicates it meant something and I have no idea what it meant. That is throwing me off. Give me space.”

  Fair enough. “I don’t sleep with anyone casually either, so the word doesn’t apply to either one of us. Let’s solve this damn thing so we can move on to whatever is going to happen next.”

  “Not to mention make people stop dying.”

  “That’s why we’re here.”

  “He might know them another way.”

  “You are thinking … what? The gym or something? Sorry, I can’t see the older victims doing that any more than I can see them out for a morning run.”

  “Maybe at church? It seems all wrong to meet a murderer at church, but the world is a very interesting place and stranger things have happened.”

  “That serial killer in Kansas that got away with it for thirty years was an elder in his church. Maybe we should check that out.” It wasn’t a bad idea. “All kinds of people can attend. They don’t ask questions, you just show up.”

  “I’ll call the families and see if we can make a connection.”

  “I’ll check missing person reports. Maybe someone is worried about the drowning victim.” He stood. “My place tonight? What kind of food would you like to poison? Think it over.”

  * * *

  It was a bust all around.

  No clear church ties, no missing person report that matched the last homicide, and Ellie was feeling frustrated and ineffective, not to mention confused on a personal level.

  So what she needed to do was head north and think.

  Not an option.

  Maybe when this was all over.

  The question was whether to just invite Jason to go with her, or if she wanted the argument if she didn’t.

  There would be one. She opted out, stopping by his desk. “I’m tired and hungry.”

  “Invitation or ultimatum?”

  “Just telling you my plans.”

  He shut off his computer. “I’m inviting myself as your resident bodyguard.”

  “We won’t have the most pleasant dinner conversation,” she warned.

  “I consider that par for the course.”

  He would. In other ways, a little distance might not hurt. Unlike Bryce, who had told her outright he felt he was crowding her, Jason Santiago was never going to offer any such apology. His straightforward approach never left you in doubt of where he stood.

  “Fine. I’ll meet you at your apartment.”

  He didn’t agree. “I’ll walk you to your car. We’ll go together.”

  “I don’t need—”

  “We have hours to argue,” he interrupted. “Let’s not spoil that pleasure by doing it now. If we’re going, let’s just get out of here for a while.”

  She couldn’t disagree with that. “I want to walk back through the parks where the bodies were found.”

  “Sounds like a cheerful date. Be right there.”

  True to his word it took him only a couple of minutes and then they headed toward her condo so she could pick up her mail and clean clothes. The hobo existence was getting old.

  Blackie the cat was on her front porch again, right beside another long-stemmed rose. This one was a deep pink and it really spoiled her day, which hadn’t been that great. Jason was already swearing before he even got out of the car and snatched it up.

  “You’re fucking kidding me? It looks like you’ve had a visitor again, and this is exactly why I was so ticked you came home alone yesterday. Ellie, you need to face it that you’re being stalked. Not just a little but a lot.” He got out his phone and took a picture of the rose. “When we catch him, do me a favor and don’t leave me alone in an interrogation room with him. I don’t need to be slapped with police brutality charges.”

  It didn’t thrill her either, but she had to say, “Giving up your white hat would be a bad thing. Not that I’m positive you really have one.”

  “I did make that up.”

  At least he still had a sense of humor. Hers was starting to go south. “Give me a few minutes. All I need.”

  “After I check inside.”

  “I’m perfectly capable of doing that.”

  “I know you are, but I’m not capable of sitting in a car while you go in there alone. Think of me.”

  He wasn’t capable of it, so she’d go ahead and concede that. The sum of his parts did not include letting a female go into a potentially dangerous situation alone.

  She liked that about him.

  So she let him go first yet again. While he roamed around, she took out a shirt, two sweaters and a pair of jeans, and anything else essential, and dropped it all into a tote bag and headed for the door. It was almost as record time as Jason’s packing.

  When she went out the door, he was talking to her neighbor, who was once again retrieving his errant cat. If she wanted to be popular it was much better having a cat around than drawing the attention of a serial killer. She liked Blackie a lot more than the killer. The feline was more than welcome.

  “I asked Nichols to please watch out for anyone near your house.” Jason fastened his seat belt as they both got into the vehicle. “Any car, anything. He seems to get it. He said he’d asked his wife to be really careful and they’d talked with the kids already about ‘bad’ strangers after the smoke bomb thing. I wonder how many parents had that conversation with their kids after my car exploded in a parking lot that is a school bus destination. Now I feel like crap. Maybe I should move. We could both move. I hear Siberia is nice.”

  Ellie understood. “You didn’t blow up your car. I hear Siberia is darned chilly. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I think Siberia must have some good points, but isn’t it just too cold to go around killing people? We’d be unemployed.”

  “Ah shit, nothing ever works out. There goes my little slice of paradise.”

  She carefully backed out of the drive. “How do you think I feel that thanks to me my neighbors have to talk to their children about bad strangers?”

  “They should do that anyway,” Santiago pointed out pragmatically. “Maybe having you next door is doing them a favor and making their kids more aware this world can be an unfriendly place sometimes. Everyone needs to learn that eventually. It’s better early than too late.”

  Considering his childhood, he was telling the plain truth from a point of view that had some heft behind it. “True enough. There’s that place on Appleton that serves Scandin
avian food. I need some comfort in Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes. I vote we stop there for dinner.”

  “Fine with me. By the time we get there I’d eat a piece of shredded tire from the side of the road. Thanks to your propensity for Scandinavian cuisine, the sum total of things in my refrigerator right now are outdated milk, beer if I remembered to put it in there, and a jar of pickled herring. I need to ask Lukens to evaluate why I like that stuff. It’s all wrong. I don’t really eat much fish, I’m not Swedish or Norwegian, and yet I like it. The next thing I know is I’ll be opening a can of sardines.” He sounded peeved.

  Ellie laughed, and that felt good because that rose was an unwelcome grim addition to her day. “I apologize for expanding your cultural horizons. Maybe we can go fishing sometime soon and you can try freshly caught pan-fried walleye. The bigger lakes don’t still have ice. The Wisconsin River is clear and beautiful to paddle. I have a canoe.”

  “I know a woman who owns a canoe and a man who owns a yacht? Seriously?” Santiago shook his head. “I never cease to be amazed at life. That sounds like a date. What did Grasso have to say?”

  She sped up to keep with the flow of traffic. “He’d be there if anything happened, but he’d really appreciate it if we could crack this case.”

  Chapter 20

  They weren’t there.

  He’d watched them come and go. It was a mission to make sure Detective MacIntosh understood he was in charge. He’d taken the time to dismantle the security sensor for the back door when he changed the lock, which had actually been a piece of cake because he’d had a technician show him exactly how to do it.

  People felt safe but they really weren’t from a determined, skillful predator.

  Detective Santiago thought he was tough. He had a street kid edge to him that was familiar because he’d seen it many times. He’d have to be taken swiftly and by surprise and absolutely not given a single chance to defend himself. Planning it was taking some time, but the purest pleasures always did.

  Her kitchen was cleaner than his by far, no dishes in the sink, the counters shining, towel neatly folded over the handle of the oven. He checked the cupboards until he found a vase, filled it with water, and put a rose in it.