“Your other friends—the ones you were with tonight—are they all women?”
“No, there is usually six of us—three and three.”
“So would you consider the members of your group couples?”
“No. We are all just good friends and sometimes friends with benefits.”
Holly nearly choked and had to cover it up with a cough. “Excuse me, tickle in my throat. She said pointing to her throat. Where was I? Oh yes—Do you and your friends ever go to any of the other local bars?”
“Why all these questions about me? I wasn’t raped, Vicki was.”
“I am just trying to be thorough. Can you answer the question please?”
“Yes, sometimes we go to other bars, but mainly The Doo Dive.”
“Can you please tell me the names of the other bars?”
“I really don’t know what significance that question or any of your other questions have on my roommate getting raped! You need to go to the hospital and wait for her to wake up. If she wakes up.” She said as she started to cry. “I’m done talking to you if that is the kind of fucking questions you’re going to ask.”
“One more question, and I will leave.” Holly pressed on.
“Fine, what is the question?”
“Have you or any of your group of friends ever mentioned Vicki not wanting to go to the bars, but wanting to stay home while you were at the bar?”
“I don’t know, maybe, but just within the context of our group. It isn’t like we announced to the world that she is a wall flower and would rather stay home alone.”
“Thank you for your time, you have been more helpful than you could ever know.”
Brock had just finished up in the living room and caught the tail end of Holly’s questioning. “I can’t wait to hear what that was all about.”
“I think I may have a new angle. I will fill you in back at the house.”
“O’Malley.” Brock shouted.
“Yes, Detective McClellan.”
“Give me a call when the vic wakes up…if she wakes up.”
“Yes sir.”
Brock and Holly crawled back into bed at 3:00am. Brock spooned against Holly’s back pulling her in tight to his body. “I am ready to hear your new angle Cavanaugh.”
Holly smiled, as she had come to enjoy Brock calling her by her last name. “I am not certain and I don’t have the files or the whiteboard memorized, but I am willing to bet that the three vics who had never been to a bar also had a roommate. And I will take it one step further to guess that their roommates did frequent the bars.”
“That would definitely be something big Cavanaugh. I can’t wait to get to work now and see if your theory is correct. In the meantime, we need to get some sleep.” Brock kissed the back of Holly’s neck before drifting off to sleep.
It was 6:00am and Brock’s phone was going off again. “Damn it, can’t a guy get any sleep? Hello.”
“O’Malley here.”
Brock rolled onto his back and tried to clear his head, “Yeah, did our vic wake up?”
“She didn’t make it.”
“Fuck! Why the hell couldn’t that news wait until I get into the damn precinct O’Malley?”
“Sorry, I thought you would want to know.”
“No, I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to take it out on you. Thanks for the phone call.”
Holly guessed it, “She didn’t make it did she?”
“No, she didn’t.” He replied, “I’m going to need a coffee IV today to stay awake.”
“I’ll buy you an espresso at Starbucks on my way to work this morning. Will that help?”
“It might get me to 9:00am.”
As promised, Holly walked in looking too damn good with espresso in hand. Brock was already at the whiteboard seeing if Holly’s theory was accurate. Just as he was taking the cup from Holly, Captain Lewiston walked in.
“I understand there was another rape last night.”
“That would be correct Captain.”
“I also understand that the vic didn’t make it.”
“Again, that would be correct Captain.”
“The Mayor will have my head McClellan, we need an arrest and we need one today! Do you have any suspects yet?”
“I have one, but I am not ready to arrest the guy.”
“If you have one, you had better get his ass in here and question him.”
“We are really close Captain, I can feel it. Just last night talking to the last vics roommate, Cavanaugh here was able to determine that the vics who had never set foot in any of the three bars had roommates who had! None of the other vics had roommates—they were the ones to go to the bars. We just need to contact these three and talk to them or their roommates.”
“Today McClellan—I want an arrest today.”
“I don’t even know where to find my suspect.”
“Do you have a name?”
“Yes, but…”
“If you have a name, I want to see an arrest—period!” He said as he walked out the door.
Brock slammed his fist down on the desk in frustration. “Shit!”
He then pulled out his cell phone and dialed O’Malley who picked up on the second ring, “O’Malley.”
“Detective McClellan here—I need you to find a suspect and pick him up for me.”
“What’s the name?”
“Eric Walker. Good luck, because I don’t even know if that is his real name.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Turning to Holly, “We need to interview the roommates of these other three vics as soon as possible.”
“I just got off the phone with vic number one’s roommate and I am meeting her at 1:00pm on the college campus.”
“I’ll take vic number four then and whoever is done first will interview vic number eight’s roommate.”
“I think that vic number eight goes to the same college as number one if my memory serves me, I’ll see if I can’t contact number eight and either get an interview before or after my other one.”
“Great—let’s get this guy. He crossed the line last night and went from rapist to murderer.”
Holly was able to arrange the other interview for 2:15pm and headed out for the college for the first one. She arrived early and sat on a bench to observe students sitting in the grass studying together while others gathered in small groups just talking. “Are you Detective Cavanaugh?” She heard someone ask.
Holly turned to her left to see a young woman with glasses staring at her. “Yes, I am. Would you be Jen Schaefer?”
“That would be me.”
“Please, have a seat.”
“I don’t know how much help I can be to you detective, I wasn’t home at the time of the rape.”
“Let me be the judge of that. The night of the rape, can you tell me where you were?”
“Oh, my God, am I being accused of having something to do with the rape?” Jen said jumping to conclusions.
“No, not at all, I am just trying to get as much information about that night as possible. Can you please answer the question?”
“I went to a bar with some friends.”
“Which bar would that be?”
“That was so long ago, it was either The Brew Hogg or O’Donnell’s, no wait—it was The Brew Hogg.”
“What makes you so certain of that?”
“We were celebrating Jamie’s birthday and her favorite bar is The Brew Hogg.”
“Think really hard before answering my next question. Do you ever recall mentioning at the bar that you had a roommate who doesn’t do the bar scene?”
“I honestly don’t know—I guess I could have. Like I said that was a long time ago.”
“Here is my card—if you can think of anything else, please give me a call. Thank you for your time.”
Brock met with vic number four’s roommate only to discover that she had also been to The Brew Hogg quite a bit, however she didn’t recall ever mentioning her roommate while
she was ever there. As he was heading back to the precinct, Officer O’Malley called to tell him that he had picked up Eric and had him in custody waiting for him in an interrogation room and he was not a happy camper. “I’m ten minutes out—be there as soon as I can.”
Brock arrived at the precinct and headed to the room with the two way glass to get a look at who Officer O’Malley brought in to see if it was the man from The Brew Hogg last night. “Can anybody tell me what the hell I am doing here please?” The man screamed as he paced around the room like a caged animal.
“Is that him?” O’Malley asked.
“Yeah, that’s him. I’ll see what I am able to find out from him.”
Brock opened the door and Eric glared at him as Brock instructed that he have a seat at the table.
“You! What the hell am I doing here, and who the hell are you?” Eric said as he recognized Brock.
“Have a seat Mr. Walker, and I will try to explain everything.”
“Somebody better do a hell of a lot of explaining to me or I am calling a lawyer.”
“You are not currently under arrest Mr. Walker, a lawyer won’t be necessary. I do have to ask you how old you are though.”
“I’m twenty-two. Why is that significant?”
“If you were under age, I would have to have one of your parents here.”
“Again, why the hell am I here? And who the hell are you?”
“Mr. Walker, I am detective McClellan and I am here to ask you questions relating to a series of rapes that have occurred over the past year and a half.”
“Rape? I didn’t rape anyone.”
“Can you tell me what time you left The Brew Hogg last night?”
“I don’t know. I guess shortly after you and that girlfriend of yours. What the hell were you doing there? Did she set me up? Is that why I’m here?”
“Did you leave with anyone?”
“No.”
“Where did you go when you left?”
“I went home.”
“Did anyone see you arrive at home?”
“No. I live alone.”
“Where were you last Tuesday night?”
“Hell if I know! I can’t remember that.”
“I need you to try. Think back to events that happened last week and see if you can’t remember from that.”
“I don’t know—I really don’t know.” He said running his hands through his hair in frustration.
There was a knock on the door and when Brock opened the door, O’Malley said, “We got word from the coroner that the last vic may have scratched the perp—she had skin cells under her fingernails. He sent it to the lab and they are running the DNA now, but won’t have an answer for at least 48 hours.”
“Tell them to put a rush on it—I need that information sooner if possible.”
“They tell me that timeframe is a rush.”
“Thanks O’Malley.”
Brock closed the door and walked back over to Eric. “I need you to strip down to your underwear.”
“What? No! Last I checked I wasn’t under arrest. I am a free man and I can walk out of here.” He said getting up from the table and heading for the door.
Brock reached over and grabbed Eric by the wrist and pulled his arm behind his back. “Eric Walker, you are under the arrest for rape and murder of Vicki Harrison.”
“Murder? You said you were questioning me for rape, when the hell did I murder anyone?”
“Last night. The girl that was raped died early this morning.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Eric Walker, You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?”
“Yes, but I didn’t rape anyone and I sure as hell didn’t kill anyone! I would like to see a lawyer now.”
“That is your right. Do you have an attorney in mind or shall I call the public defender for you?”
“I don’t have one.” He said as he buried his face in his hands.
Holly arrived back at the precinct just as Brock was reciting the Miranda Rights to Eric. “Did he really do it?” She asked Captain Lewiston.
“We don’t know for certain—he’s not talking.”
Brock walked into the side room to find Holly talking to Captain Lewiston. “He wants an attorney. I’m not convinced that we have the right man Captain. I was watching his reactions as I questioned him and I just don’t think he did it.”
“Then why did you arrest him?”
“To buy us time. The coroner found skin cells under the fingernails of vic number eleven—skin cells of our rapist and now killer. The lab is running DNA right now, but it’s going to take up to 48 hours. I had asked him to strip down to his underwear earlier to see if he had any visible scratches on his body, but he refused and I had to arrest him to hold him here.”
“I will go to Judge Thorsten and get a subpoena for a body search. Now that he has lawyered up, he gives us no choice.” Captain Lewiston announced.
Brock looked towards Holly, “What did you come up with Cavanaugh?”
“Vic number one’s roommate hung out at The Brew Hogg, and vic number eight’s roommate hung out at The Doo Dive, so we do have a definite connection with all of our vics to the three bars, and we now have a definite connection for those who had roommates to them as well. This information leads me to believe that our rapist is a regular in all three of them.”
“And he is a regular who no one suspects either. He seems to be able to find out a lot of information without setting off anyone’s inner alarms.” Brock surmised.
“He is also strong. Several of the vics fought back only to end up getting raped anyway. He must work out or have taken some sort of a self-defense class.”
“Or teaches a self defense class—not too many guys take a self-defense class.”
“Maybe he has military background—that could explain it too.” Holly added.
“That is just too many maybes and we are running out of time. These rapes are happening closer and closer together with the last two occurring only nine days apart.”
An hour later, the public defender was in the interrogation room with Eric when Brock walked in with the subpoena. “Here is a subpoena that stipulates that your client needs to strip down to his underwear.” Brock said handing it to the attorney.
The attorney reviewed the document and nodded his head, “Mr. Walker, it appears this is an order handed down from Judge Thorsten requiring you to strip so that your body can be examined for scratch marks.”
Eric proceeded to remove his shoes, socks, shirt and pants. Brock instructed him to raise his arms and turn around slowly. “Thank you, you can get dressed now—you are free to go.”
“That’s it?” Eric asked incredulously.
“Yes, that’s it—you are free to go.” Brock repeated.
“I’m no longer under arrest?”
“No.” Brock said as he walked out of the room.
Holly met him in the hallway, “I’m sorry.”
“It just means we didn’t get him yet. We will get him, you can count on it.”
“It’s been a long day and you hardly got any sleep last night. Why don’t you head home.”
“Not your home?” Holly asked.
“No, you need to get some sleep and I don’t think you will do that if I am with you, plus I’m don’t think I’m the best of company right now.” Brock replied.
“Can I call you tomorrow?”
“Yes, but go home and get some sleep for now.”
As soon as Brock left, Holly headed over to Captain Lewiston’s office and knocked on the door seeing him inside at his desk. “Come in.”
“Captain, I was wondering if I could have a word with you.”
“What can I help you with detective?”
“I would like to put together an undercover t
eam and I want to be the bait.”
“Have you spoken with Detective McClellan about this?”
“No, I don’t think he would approve sir.”
“So why do you think I should?”
“I know I can get this guy sir, I have had extensive training in self defense and he would be no match for me. I am certain of it.”
“You seem pretty confident.”
“I am sir.”
“Do you have a plan?” He asked.
“Not yet sir, but with your approval to move forward, I will come up with one by Monday morning.”
“Let me guess, Detective McClellan isn’t to know about this ‘little project’ of yours.”
“I think that would be best sir. He told me about what happened with his first partner when he first joined the force and I think that it would bring up too many memories for him if he knew that I was putting myself in harm’s way.”
“He told you about that? I have to say, I am a bit surprised.”
“Yes sir, so if you would, I would really like this opportunity to catch that bastard.”
“I want you in my office first thing Monday morning with your plan. If I think that it will work, I will want you to run everything by me. Do you understand?”
“Absolutely Captain, I appreciate your willingness to at least listen to my plan.”
Holly headed home and started running scenarios through her mind while trying to figure out how she could make it all work without Brock finding out. He would be furious with her when he found out, but if it ended up with the perp locked up—it was going to be well worth it.
The next morning Holly headed to the gym to teach her weekly self defense class. She always looked forward to it, but especially this week with all that had happened in the last seven days. It was here where she allowed herself to work out all frustrations and clear her head. The fact that it was also an excellent cardio workout didn’t hurt either.
She was headed home to shower when her phone rang. “Cavanaugh.”
“Holly, its Brock.”
“Was there another rape?” She asked as she slowed her car down in case she needed to turn around.
“No, I was just calling to see if you wanted to get together. I was thinking about taking the boat out on the lake and asking Luke and Brooke to come along.”
Seal It With A Kiss (McClellan Trilogy) Page 11