Now, as she methodically slid the glass against the taut rope, she heard another strand break away.
How fucking thick is this rope? she wondered.
That thought was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and closing.
Oh shit, she thought, as if she needed another reminder that time was not on her side.
Alex knew that this was something that she could not rush. She took a deep breath, as she recalled an old quote, “Fast is fine, but accuracy is final. You must learn to be slow in a hurry.” Then she closed her eyes and went back to work.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
“What do you have for me, Vee?” Hutch asked.
“Just heard back from the guys over in Waterbury,” she said. “The address is an open field.”
“That’s great,” he replied dejectedly.
“One of the investigators had a plat book and they were able to identify the owner. They took a ride over to his place and showed him the photo, but he had no idea who she was.”
“I appreciate the effort, Vee.”
“We got the BOLO you put out,” she replied. “I know it’s a long shot, but I have my people checking all the local motels and rest stops. If anything should pop up I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks.”
“Hey, if you want any extra help, I get off at four. I can head over that way.”
“I appreciate the offer, but right now we are just grasping at straws. I’d rather have you there if I need something local done quickly.”
“I understand,” she said. “Call me if anything pops up.”
“I will, hon,” Hutch replied. “Talk to you later.”
He ended the call and then walked out into the squad room.
Now that they knew Susan Waltham was in town they were openly pursuing this as an abduction case. That meant there was no need to hide what was going on. Anyone who wasn’t working a shift had been brought in to help. In addition the state police and sheriff’s department were also providing additional manpower to scour the surrounding roads. Because of the amount of time that had passed a BOLO had been issued throughout the entire New England region as well as New York State.
“I just got off the phone with the Vermont State Police,” Hutch said to Maguire.
“I take it they have nothing,” Maguire replied.
“Good address, but it’s an empty field,” Hutch said, as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “They tracked down the property owner, but he’s never seen her before.”
“She’s smart,” Maguire said.
“She’s a fucking psychopath is what she is.”
“Yeah, I’m familiar with the type. How many bodies does she have?”
“That we are sure of? Six,” Hutch replied. “That we suspect her of? Possibly a seventh, but we can’t prove it yet.”
“All local?”
“The majority of them were. A few were from outside the area, but all were in New Hampshire.”
“When was the last one?”
“Confirmed? November of 2012, but we also got notified of a possible sighting back in February of last year.”
“Where?” Maguire asked.
“Some place in Georgia, a run-off from a gas station, but it never amounted to anything. They sent us some video, but the photo was too grainy to say it was her with any level of certainty.”
“Where the hell does a young kid like that get money to go long distance sightseeing?”
“Alex had a theory that the sex ring her mother had been running was a cash operation and that Susan had found it,” Hutch replied.
“That would certainly help, but it’s kind of difficult to believe that she has managed to stay off the radar for as long as she has without help.”
“You think that whoever was in the car is an accomplice?”
“It wouldn’t shock me,” Maguire said, “and it would make a whole lot more sense. You can cover a whole lot more ground with two people. What gets me is that if they made it as far as Georgia why would she come back here?”
“Oh, I can tell you why,” Hutch replied. “She has a longer list of targets.”
“What do you mean?”
“Alex had found a note pad, during the original investigation, that had what she believed was a hit list.”
“Hit list?”
“Yeah, There were a total of nine names on the page,” Hutch replied. “I guess they were the ones that Susan believed had screwed her over. By the time we found it she had already killed one of them. So we notified the remainder of our concerns. Most didn’t take it all too seriously until the second death in November. After that about half of the remaining folks on the list left Penobscot.”
“So you think that’s why she came back, to find the others?”
“It would make sense.”
“But then why go after Alex?” Maguire asked. “I get that the others were personal, but going after a cop is a whole different level of crazy.”
“Hey, wait a minute,” Hutch said, and headed back into the office.
A moment later he returned with a manila case folder and began leafing through the reports.
“What are you looking for?” Maguire asked.
“This is the case folder from the convenience store shooting,” Hutch replied, as he flipped the pages. “Yeah, here it is.”
“What?”
“There was supposedly a blonde haired girl in the store prior to the shooting. One of the witnesses is a teacher, a Mrs. Booker; she thought it could have been one of her students.”
“You think it was Susan?” Maguire asked.
“Maybe she was back for someone else and then got scared that Alex might be able to identify her,” Hutch said. “If she got rid of her quickly, then she could still carry out her original plans.”
“How’d the others die?”
“Well, let’s see, Hannah Kurtz was drowned, Lou Jenkins and Paige Wilson had their throats slit and the rest were all poisoned.”
“Poisoned? Did you see anything unusual when you went over to Alex’s house?”
“No, not really,” Hutch said. “Everything looked pretty much normal. Wait, there was an empty bottle of whiskey next to the note, you don’t think she was poisoned, do you?”
“No, worse than that,” Maguire replied. “If they just wanted to kill her, they’d have left the body. I think she was drugged and then abducted, the only question is why. Have someone go over to her house and secure that bottle. I wanted it tested so that we at least know what we are dealing.”
Hutch turned around and waved Abby over.
“What do you need, Hutch?”
“I need you to go out to Alex’s place and get that whiskey bottle,” he said. “Treat it as evidence.”
“Sure thing,” she replied.
“Captain Blackshear is on his way here now,” Hutch said. “I’ll see if he can get someone to run it over to the lab.”
“I’ll call the colonel,” Maguire said. “I’ll see if he can get his lab ready to run it when it arrives.”
“Then what?” Hutch asked.
“Then we pray like hell to catch a break.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Tatiana knew something was wrong the minute she walked through the front door. Susan was sitting on the couch staring at the television, but it was the young woman’s posture that set off the alarm bells.
Her feet were propped up on the edge of the couch, with her arms crossed tightly in front of her, and Tatiana could see that the muscles of her jaw were clenched tightly.
“Is everything alright?”
“Fine,” Susan replied, without looking up at her.
There are few words in the English language that will cause someone to immediately cringe and seek out the nearest manner of emergency egress, but the word fine, spoken by an angry woman, is at the top of the list. In this particular case things were most certainly not fine.
Tatiana walked over to the kitchenette and poured herself a cup of cof
fee, as she contemplated her next course of action. Unfortunately, none of the scenarios that played out in her head ended well, so she just decided to take her coffee out on the deck and steer a wide berth around Susan until the storm had passed.
Like that’s gonna happen, she thought, as she stepped outside.
They’d been together a little over a year now and, for the most part, that time had been filled with an intoxicating blend of lust and mayhem. Tatiana had been truly enamored with the young woman, both in and out of the bedroom. They had fed off of each other’s vibrant energy; each trying to outdo the other, but lately things had begun to cool off just a bit. It was as if they had finally moved past the honeymoon phase and things weren’t as rosy as they had initially seemed.
In a way Tatiana was jealous of her. They each had an extensive list of victims, but Susan’s was just a bit longer. It was also true that her youth and girl-next-door good looks went a long way toward luring in more victims. People were naturally drawn to her and let down their guard down a lot quicker. It was exciting to watch Susan, but it also served to remind Tatiana how much more work she had to put into achieving the same results.
Tatiana took a sip of coffee, as she stared off across the stream. She watched as an unseen fish caused a ripple on the water’s surface. The tight, concentric rings slowly spread out, growing wider with each moment, until they final disappeared.
Was that us? she wondered. Have we finally spread so far apart that we are about to disappear?
It was an interesting metaphor, but the real world consequences for them were truly frightening. Serial killers didn’t just break up.
Stop over thinking shit, she chided herself. This is just a rough patch; every couple goes through them.
As much as she wanted to pretend this was just a normal part of the relational process, she also knew that her desire for Alex had caused the schism between her and Susan to grow. She wanted to say that this was all about revenge, but she knew that it wasn’t. There was just something about the woman that she couldn’t let go of, even if that meant that it came between her and Susan.
But will she break? she wondered.
In a way her fantasy had coming crashing down to earth after her first chat with Alex. With Susan she had freedom. The two of them were partners in crime, literally. They were like two wild lionesses, roaming the savannah. They did as they pleased, where they pleased, when they pleased and that was very fulfilling, but now her personal desires had them anchored here, like caged animals at the zoo.
She knew she had a choice to make, but it was like asking her to choose her own poison. Did she roll the dice and take the chance that she could have something magical with Alex or did she trade in her fantasy for the familiar and try to repair the fractured relationship she currently had with Susan.
“Fuck me,” Tatiana said softly, as she fished the pack of cigarettes out of her pocket and pondered her choices.
CHAPTER FORTY
“Hey, Momma,” Melody said, as she walked into the salon. “Welcome home.”
Gen jumped up from the couch and ran toward Melody.
“Oh, I’ve missed you,” she squealed, as she wrapped her arms around Melody.
“How was the trip?”
“Oh, it was so much fun,” she replied, as the two women sat down on the couch to catch up. “Gregor’s family is so sweet.”
“I can’t wait to hear all about it,” Melody replied. “Speaking of which, where are Gregor and Wolfie?”
“Wolfie’s still asleep,” she replied, “and Gregor is over at the office catching up on what’s been happening.”
“God he never stops, does he?”
“Nope,” Gen said with a laugh. “He’s my little Terminator-Energizer Bunny.”
“So how was Germany?” Melody asked.
“Amazing! The scenery was incredible. I don’t think I’ve walked as much in my entire life as I did in the last week, which was a good thing because the food was out of this world and fattening as fuck.”
Melody laughed at her friend’s enthusiasm.
“I hope you took plenty of pictures,” she said.
“Ton’s” Gen replied, as she took a sip of coffee. “I felt like a Japanese tourist, plus I wanted to make sure that I got a lot of Wolfie with Gregor’s family.”
“Awesome, I can’t wait to see them.”
“So, what’s been going on here?”
“Well, you got my email about Alex being missing.”
“Yeah, that whole situation is insane,” Gen said. “Has there been anything new?”
“James called me and said that they think she was abducted.”
“Abducted? How? Why?”
“They think it’s a suspect in a prior murder case that she’d investigated.”
“Oh my God, that’s crazy,” Gen replied. “Do they have any leads?”
“Not really. They have a photo of the suspect and a description of the car she is in, but that’s about it.”
“The world is going insane.”
“Yeah, sometimes I miss the little bubble I once lived in,” Melody replied. “Where the only dramatic things took place in the board room.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Gen replied.
“I need some coffee,” Melody said. “Want a refill?”
“Yeah, but I’ll get it.”
“No, you just sit there and relax,” Melody said, as she got up from the couch. “Hand me your cup.”
Gen handed the cup to her friend. “Danke schoen, darling, danke schoen.”
“I will say that it has been a very interesting two years,” Melody said, as she walked over to the serving table that held the coffee carafe.
“That’s the understatement of the year, chicky,” her friend said with a laugh. “I think we could all use a healthy dose of monotony for a change.”
“Yes, but then what would we have to complain about?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Acquisitions, contracts, profits, price to earnings ratio,…… You know; normal stuff.”
“Who would have ever thought that those things would end up being boring?”
“Speaking of not boring, how did things go with your meeting in D.C.?”
Melody handed the coffee cup back to Gen and sat down.
“Interesting,” she replied.
“Oh really? How so?”
“Well, let’s just say that I got the feeling Eliza Cook was auditioning me.”
“Are you shitting me?” Gen said, sitting up straight. “For what?”
“That’s the question I’m wondering about,” Melody replied. “I ran into Peter Constantine and after the usual D.C. foreplay he told me that she wants to meet with me in May.”
“Dear Lord, Melody, this is so not boring.”
“I don’t know. Perhaps I’m reading too much into it. Maybe it’s all just a lot of nothing and she only wants me to write a big donation check to her campaign.”
“Eliza Cook has a bigger war chest than the GDP of some countries,” Gen said with a laugh. “I don’t think she wants nor needs your money.”
“Maybe that’s what scares me,” Melody said, raising her coffee cup to her lips.
“Nothing scares you.”
“Damnit!” Melody exclaimed, as the cup toppled from her hand and fell to the floor, shattering into pieces as it hit the tiled floor.
“Holy shit, Mel, are you alright?” Gen exclaimed.
“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” she said, as she stood up.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get it.”
“No, I got this,” Melody said, as she went back to the serving table where she retrieved some napkins and a small bowl.
“What happened?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. I was working out this week and I think I pinched a nerve in my wrist.”
“I told you that gym is a death trap,” Gen said with a laugh, as she helped pick up the broken mug and put the pieces in the bowl, “but did you listen to me? Nooooo!”
“Ok
ay, Miss Smart Ass, we’ll see how funny you think it is when gravity takes hold of that perfect little body of yours.”
“Hey, redheads are naturally immune to such mortal issues.”
“Uh huh, whatever helps you sleep at night,” Melody said sarcastically, as she walked over and dumped the remnants of the broken mug into the trash. “Just don’t come crying to me when you’re wearing those spandex mom jeans.”
“You know you can be so hateful,” Gen said with a smirk. “I hope Eliza Cook never sees this side of you.”
“Honestly, I think they patterned more than a few Hollywood bad girls after that woman,” Melody said, as she finished pouring herself a refill.
“She has the look, that’s for sure, but you haven’t answered the question. What are you going to do if it isn’t a check she’s after?”
“I honestly don’t know,” Melody replied. “It’s a weird feeling for me. There was a time when I thought I would love to get into politics, but after seeing it close-up I realized how ugly the creatures were that lived in that swamp. Now I’m coming to terms with the fact that I just might be asked to join them.”
“Well, the truth is that most of those people weren’t ugly when they first got there. They allowed that to happen to them; usually through greed and lust for power. The reality is that you already have both wealth and power. Some could rightly argue that government work might even be seen as a step down for you.”
“The question is can I keep from being corrupted?”
“Hey, don’t worry,” Gen replied. “That’s what you have me for.”
“Now I really am scared.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
The chill in the living room had not dissipated by the time Tatiana had come back in; nor had the expression on Susan’s face changed.
If anything, that meant that the situation was even more serious than she had previously thought. She cautiously made her way into the kitchen area to get a refill, but the pot was now empty.
“Hey, I’m going to make a fresh pot, do you want some?”
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