Camden packed his own lunch Monday morning; Emma was not up yet. He was worried she was falling back into a depression and it was his fault. But he would deal with it like he always did. She would come around like she always did.
~
Jack and Toby headed to the station early Monday morning. Jack had Tyler’s computer, and he hoped the other two had been dropped off by now. “Morning, Bryce,” he greeted as he walked into the office.
“Morning. Tessa will be right back.” Bryce pulled a couple of papers from a pile on his desk. “I pulled some strings … the other two autopsies were finished over the weekend. They found the same thing: traces of poison in their systems. The coroner is baffled and still running tests to discover what kind. Whatever it is, it sure works quickly. It seems that each one of the victims––I am calling them victims now––were healthy right up to within twenty-four hours of becoming ill.” He paused. “Did you find out anything on the weekend?”
“Yeah. I talked to Tyler’s mum. She gave Tyler’s computer to his friend, Jason. I picked it up from him. Tyler had a password on his email, so we’ll have to send it down to the I.T. department to crack it.”
“Good work … hi, Tessa,” Bryce welcomed Tessa back, then added, “The other two computers were dropped off Saturday.”
Jack continued: “Now Tessa is here, I did find out something that might be of interest to the case. Tyler’s friend mentioned Tyler had been ecstatic that night––said he had met a girl at the gym. When I got home I went over my notes, and there it was, right in front of me: Caitlin had told me her sister had been excited about meeting a nice guy at the gym. I didn’t think at the time to ask her what gym, but I’ll give her a call later to see if she knows the name.”
“That is excellent news, Jack,” Tessa commented. “At least, we have something to go on now. Let’s see if the others had any affiliation with a gym.” Tessa sat down on the loveseat in the corner of Bryce’s office––one of the perks of being a captain. Toby jumped up beside her and crawled onto her lap.
“Jack, she’s a looker … invite her over for lunch … you can go over the case with her … come on, Jack … just look at her!”
“Toby, what are you doing? Get off Tessa’s lap!” Jack looked embarrassed.
Tessa laughed and stroked Toby’s back. He purred loudly and looked at Jack. “He’s okay, Jack––really,” she added to assure him.
They spent the next half hour discussing what they knew and some of their speculations. “Why don’t we take the files and study them in one of the meeting rooms?” Bryce suggested. “That way we can spread out the papers and what pictures we have and try and make some sense of it all.”
“Actually I have a few errands I must make this morning; would you mind going over these this afternoon?” Tessa asked, looking directly at Jack. She gathered the files and stuffed them in her briefcase.
Jack had no idea what came over him at that moment. A thought popped into his head and the words were exiting his mouth before he could stop them. “Unless you have a lunch date with someone, why don’t we look at the files at my place when you’re done your errands? I’ll put together a bite to eat for us and then we can get to work. Maybe by then we’ll have something more from the I.T. department on the emails from the other victims’ computers.” Jack ripped a piece of paper off his notepad and wrote his address on it. “Do you know where this is?” he asked, handing her the paper.
Tessa looked at the address. “Yes, I know exactly where you are. I don’t have a luncheon date; it would be lovely if we had a bite to eat together.” She reached over and gave Toby a scratch behind the ears.
Toby tilted his head. “Oh, she has divine fingers! I could get used to them massaging me every night. How about it, Jack?” Toby glanced up at Jack, purring loudly.
“See you guys later,” Tessa said as she gave Toby a final pat.
~
Owen didn’t have anything particular to do Monday morning. He’d had a rough weekend, sleeping most of Saturday, recuperating most of Sunday, and finally having his first decent meal in three days Monday morning. Owen decided to hit the gym before heading to the office; he needed to get back into a routine. Before leaving the apartment, he remembered he hadn’t checked his emails over the weekend. Maybe Diana had a change of heart; he could only hope. He turned his computer on.
While it was firing up, he went into the bathroom and opened the drawer where he kept his pills. He popped one of the tranquillizers into his mouth: he’d been taking them since Diana left. When he returned to the living room, he clicked on his email. He had forgotten about the previous nasty one. He noticed one of the subject lines: ‘ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME.’ Owen clicked on it. “Dear Owen: you are still being very, very naughty. I told you what happens to very naughty people. Did you think about it? Did you ridicule someone today … ignore someone just because … blame someone wrongfully? Were you nice to someone … really nice? Did you help someone today, just because … really help? I doubt you even gave my message a second thought. Oh, believe it … you are so pathetically naughty that I can’t stand it! You might still be able to turn this around and do something about it. I am being generous giving you another warning … but it is still up to you to seek reconciliation. If you don’t, retribution will come your way … and don’t forget all those selfish, naughty friends of yours who are just like you. Pass this on to them so they can get help too … for every friend you try to save the retribution on yourself might be lessened … you know the drill … six to ten, maybe you won’t die … one to five, you will … signed: 666.”
Owen didn’t have time for such nonsense. He sent the email to the recycle bin and then emptied it. He grabbed his bag and headed to the gym. Owen knew he had to apologize to the employees there; he’d been a real jerk the other day, especially to the guy who served the drinks.
Camden was happy to see Owen come in shortly after lunch. He greeted him with a nod of the head as he passed by. Owen came up to the counter. “Hey man, sorry about the other day; I’d had a terrible day. Hell, I’ve had a bad few months. It wasn’t right for me to take it out on you.”
Camden was surprised at the apology. “That’s okay,” he replied. “I understand; we all have bad days once in a while.” He paused. “Would you like me to have a smoothie ready for you when you finish your workout?” he asked.
Owen looked puzzled. “You’d do that for me?”
“Sure. I like to provide this service. I know how thirsty you guys are after a vigorous workout.”
“Well then, sure … let me think … make it a strawberry/pineapple.”
“No problem. Large?”
“Yeah, I didn’t have lunch.”
When Owen was finished his workout, Camden had his smoothie waiting on the counter. Owen paid––no tip––thanked him, and left. Camden smiled, not even bothered by the fact that Owen hadn’t tipped. He had only felt a twinge of indecision when Owen had apologized so sincerely, but the feeling had passed quickly.
Owen drove straight home. By the time he reached his apartment the smoothie was finished. On his way in he tossed the empty cup into the dumpster by the back door.
~
Tessa rang the doorbell at twelve-thirty. Toby raced to the door, followed closely by Jack, who gave Toby a gentle shove with his foot. “She can’t get in, old man, if you don’t move out of the way.” Toby moved. Jack opened the door.
Tessa stepped inside and quickly scanned the living room. “How lovely,” she commented. “Not exactly what I pictured.”
Jack was puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“Well, it’s pretty neat for a couple of old bachelors.”
They both laughed. Toby purred loudly.
“Let’s have a bite to eat before we go over the files. Lunch is on the table.” Jack pointed to the kitchen. “Lead the way, Toby.”
They returned to the living room after lunch. Tessa pulled the files from her briefc
ase and laid them out on the coffee table. One by one she opened them. Jack came and sat down beside her; Toby jumped up and sat on the end of the coffee table. He wanted a cat’s-eye view. The pictures of the four young people were heartbreaking to look at.
Tessa pointed to Tyler and Brianna first. “The only thing we know that these two have in common, other than the way they died, is they both belonged to a gym. She was a school teacher; he worked in a machine shop. She, according to her sister, was quite responsible; he, according to his mother, had a history of being irresponsible. She had her own house; he rented. I think we need to determine if the other two belonged to a gym, and then find out which ones. That’s our strongest link, so far.”
Jack mentioned that neither Tyler’s mum nor Brianna’s sister knew the name of the gym. He offered to call around and ask the different gyms in town if any of the victims were on their membership lists. “I actually know a young fellow who works for the one just down the street; I can start by asking him if he recognizes any of these names.”
“Good.” Tessa set her pencil down and pulled out her cellphone. “I’m going to call Bryce and see if they have been able to find out anything from the other computers.” She stood and walked over to the window. “Looks like you have company, Jack.” Tessa walked into the kitchen for privacy.
Jack opened the door before Camden could ring the bell. “I have a guest who saw you coming up the walkway,” Jack explained when he saw the puzzled look on Camden’s face.
“I was on my way home and thought to stop by. If you’re busy, I could come another time.”
“Oh, no; it’s okay. I was actually just talking about you.” Jack stepped aside and motioned for Camden to come in. “I was wondering if you would know any of these names as people who might attend your gym?” Jack said the names of the four victims as he and Camden made their way to the couch.
Camden furrowed his eyebrows as pain shot through his head. He shook his head slowly. “No, none of those names are familiar. I’ll double-check tomorrow and give you a call.” Camden was standing beside the coffee table. Toby stood, arched, and hissed at him.
“Whoa!” Camden jumped back. “What does your cat have against me, Jack?”
Jack shooed Toby off the coffee table. “Over to your couch, old man; you shouldn’t be so rude to my guests.” He turned to Camden. “Sorry about that; I don’t know what gets into him sometimes.”
“I’ll tell you what gets into me––people like him! Can’t trust him––don’t trust him, Jack. I know things. He’s playing around with a poisonous plant. Don’t believe him if he tells you these people aren’t members of his gym; check the facts with someone else, Jack.” Toby glared at Camden and then turned his back to him and stared out the window.
“You working on a case, Jack?” Camden pointed to the files. “These the people who’ve been in the news?”
Jack realized Camden shouldn’t be looking at any of the information laid out on the coffee table. He quickly closed the files. “Sorry friend, you needn’t see this stuff. And yes, we are working on that case.”
Tessa walked into the room. Her eyes told Jack she had something important to tell him. Camden also noticed the look, and even though he would have loved to hear the information, he knew it wouldn’t be divulged in front of him. He headed over to the door. “Looks like you guys are busy; I’m going to go home.” He saw himself out. Jack waited for the door to close and then turned and asked Tessa what she had found out.
“All of the other computers had the same emails on them, but like Lauren’s, the I.P. address could not be traced. So we have another similarity connecting our victims.” She reopened the files. “Was that your friend from the gym down the street?”
“Yeah … said he didn’t recognize any of the names but when he goes to work tomorrow, he’ll double-check and give me a call.”
“So we have two connections now, and the emails are definite confirmation we are dealing with a serial killer. But the victims are so random.” She paused and pulled out her pencil. “Okay, let’s see what else they have in common: they are all in their mid to late twenties. None of them was married, were they?” Tessa flipped through the papers.
“I believe Lauren was married but separated, and Emily had just gotten engaged,” Jack informed.
Tessa continued. “Okay … Emily was a nurse in a nursing home; she had little or no family around, but she did have a devoted fiancé. Lauren was a legal secretary, just went through a messy divorce, and was new in town.” She tapped her pencil on the pad of paper. “Why three women and one guy? I could maybe squeeze out that all the women were in professional-type jobs, but Tyler doesn’t fit in there with them.”
Toby jumped down off the back of his couch and came over to Tessa. He sat looking up at her adoringly. “How do I tell you there are going to be more victims? How do I show you guys what I know?” Toby jumped up onto the arm of the chair she was sitting in. He rubbed his head on her shoulder and purred loudly. She reached over, absentmindedly, scratched behind his ears, and then returned to her profiling.
“Now we know all four victims received the same emails…” Tessa rustled through the papers in Lauren’s file and pulled out copies of the ones sent to her … “let’s take a good look at this first one. The killer puts in bold letters in the subject line ‘just for you’––and, he calls them by name.”
“He?” Jack questioned.
“Yes, Jack––he!” Toby sat up at attention as Tessa continued.
“I am going to consider the killer male, for now, Jack. There are not many female serial killers out there. Now, where was I? Yes, he calls each victim by name, which tells us he knows them all somehow. Then he goes on to tell the victim they are naughty, and not just naughty, but very, very naughty. Then he asks them if they know what happens to naughty people.”
“His explanation for what they are naughty about, though, is not really being naughty,” Jack pointed out. “I don’t think there is a person on earth who has not ridiculed or ignored or blamed someone for doing something they didn’t do.”
“Yes, to those of us who are normal, so to speak, those things would not be very, very naughty, but to our killer they are because he is the one who has been ridiculed, ignored, and wrongfully blamed. We are looking for someone with very low self-esteem and possibly someone who changes jobs quite often because they can’t cope with even the most common aggravations of the workplace. At the workplace he is probably very much a loaner. Maybe, at first, he tries to fit in but always fails because when the least little thing goes wrong and he is to blame, he does not consider it his fault. It’s always others doing it to him.
“He wants them to think about when they have been nice or have helped others because obviously they have not ever been nice or helped him. He calls them pathetically naughty because he, himself, feels pathetic.”
Jack studied the letter. “But here he tells them they can do something about it, they can turn it around and save themselves and even their friends who are like them. He wants them to pass the email on to their friends?” He paused. “Yet, it seems he doesn’t give them time between emails, which means something is escalating inside him.”
“I agree. The perp doesn’t give his victims time to repent. Look at the dates on these two emails Lauren ran off: they are only three days apart.”
“But he says that for every friend they try to save their retribution will be lessened,” Jack mentioned.
“No Jack, he says it might be; there is a big difference here between will and might. And he follows that up with maybe you won’t die. The killer doesn’t care what they do; he knows they are not going to forward these emails to anyone. He knows, in fact, his victims won’t do anything about the emails and he is probably counting on the fact they are going to just delete them. He doesn’t say what will happen to them if they send it to six to ten people because the killer does not care.”
Tessa was silent for a few mi
nutes as she studied the letter. “I don’t understand his signature, though. 666?”
“That’s the Mark of The Beast in Christianity, isn’t it?” Jack offered.
“Yes, but why would the killer use that––I can’t figure the significance. I’ll have to think about it and come back to it later.”
“There is a possibility this guy could work in a restaurant or a bar,” Jack suggested. “Since the victims were all poisoned, the poison would have had to get into something they ate or drank.”
“Good point, Jack. Wasn’t Tyler at a bar when he got sick?”
“I believe so.”
“But I think he was the only one, though.”
“I keep coming back to the gym: both Tyler and Brianna belonged to a gym. They serve food at gyms, don’t they?”
“Usually just drinks.”
Toby’s ears perked up at the mention of drinks. He wondered if the powder Camden was grinding up could dissolve in liquid and not leave a taste in someone’s mouth so they wouldn’t finish their entire drink.
“You know there is a possibility if we could get into the residences of the deceased we might be able to find a clue as to what gym they attended, and maybe some other clues as to a common denominator between them all,” Jack threw out.
“You’re right, Jack. Great idea. I’ll call Bryce to get us clearance to go into the victims’ homes. Now, let’s look at this second email the killer sent Lauren. It starts off with ‘are you listening to me,’ once again in bold letters. He asks them what they are doing about the things he says they are naughty about. He doubts they even gave the first warning a second thought, but says they can still seek reconciliation. But he doesn’t really care if they do or not because this is his last warning; there won’t be anymore because their fate, in his mind, is already sealed. The second email is not really necessary; it’s just a formality for him. His victims’ fates were sealed the minute they were not nice to him or blamed him for something he may well have done but won’t admit to.
Are You Listening to Me? : A Detective Toby Mystery (9781927899403) Page 17