Killing Kate: A Novel (Riley Spartz Book 4)

by Julie Kramer

Cops Chalk Homicide Mess Up to Inexperience

  Body Outline Kills Murder Case

  No Happily-Ever-After for This Chalk Fairy Publicity like this could do more damage to the police homicide department than when a college student went missing years ago after a Halloween party in a local bar and his murder was mistakenly called a suicide. On a certain level, the public expects occasional police misconduct. They’re even willing to overlook an unjustified shooting if the victim has a violent criminal record and might be deserving of a bullet in the back.

  What they won’t tolerate is police incompetence. That’s the kind of thing that gets cops fired.

  “The chief isn’t acting half as curious about this case as you are,” I said. “And I think I know why.”

  “No, you don’t.” His words came without hesitation, and he seemed to have no interest in hearing my hypothesis.

  “So what aren’t you telling me, Nick?”

  He turned my phone off and looked me in the eye with the same intensity I recognized from his homicide detective days.

  “Riley, the cops didn’t draw the chalk outline around the victim. The killer did.”

  CHAPTER 25

  I worried that parking outside Kate’s house, especially so late at night, might get my car noticed by the neighborhood’s ever curious mother-in-law. When we last spoke, she told me she was going to keep an extra close watch on the block because of a “feeling” she had that the killer might return.

  “We can sort that all out later,” Garnett said. “I need a look/see now. A brief drive-by might even be enough.”

  “Okay, we’re close, that’s it.” I pointed to the brick rambler—now tainted with a deadly past. All dark.

  But sure enough, across the street a couple doors down, a light was burning. I noted to Garnett that it might be best if we remained inside the vehicle.

  “They already arrested a guy she was dating.” I started to fill him in on Chuck, but he cut me off. “Not him.”

  “How do know?”

  But he didn’t answer. “Think back. What do you recall from inside the house? Beyond the specific crime scene. What about the peripheral details?”

  “I didn’t really get the sense that she surprised a burglar,” I said. “No cut screens. And her TV and computer seemed untouched. A knife lay on the kitchen counter where she’d been chopping vegetables. So she didn’t feel startled, like she had to defend herself.”

  “This wasn’t a burglary.” Garnett spoke with a sense of assurance. “He came after her. A stalker. Otherwise he could have grabbed a random victim in a city park. The question is: Why her?”

  We talked about how some murderers often kill in the victim’s home for privacy and to avoid leaving her DNA in their own house or car. Of course, they have to be careful about what forensic clues they may inadvertently leave behind or take away. DNA testing is now so sophisticated that a single cell is enough to confirm an identity.

  “Homicide toward the front of the house?” he asked.

  “Yes, we almost stepped on the crime scene when we came in the door.” I remembered Laura’s revulsion that day.

  “Might mean the victim let her killer inside, right through the front door,” Garnett said. “Or it might mean she was trying to escape.”

  “Either way, he whacked her,” I replied.

  “You’re sure about the cause of death?” he asked.

  “Blunt trauma, according to the M.E. But the cops wouldn’t be more specific.”

  Garnett nodded like that made sense. “Saving the weapon details as something only the killer would know.”

  That ingenuity helps police sort out false confessions.

  Garnett was being coy about why he thought Kate’s killer drew her body outline. I shouldn’t have been surprised, detectives prefer gathering information to sharing it. The opposite of journalists who like to shout news to anyone who will listen.

  He was also reverting from his current security priority in preventing crimes back a couple of jobs to solving crimes. I’d put money down that he missed his days as a homicide investigator.

  “Was the outline paint or chalk?” he asked.

  “It was powdery, just like chalk.” I recalled fingering the white dust on Kate’s floor.

  “I hope the forensics team took a sample.”

  Just then headlights came around the corner, and a vehicle pulled up behind us. Red flashing lights.

  “Just wait,” Garnett said. “Let him come to us. I’ll do the talking.”

  Nearly a minute passed before a uniformed officer carrying a flashlight approached my side of the car.

  I rolled down the window and waited for further instructions. I hoped he’d be content to glance at my driver’s license and not order me to step outside the vehicle for a pat-down. Although it couldn’t be any worse than going through airport security these days.

  From her front porch, the mother-in-law watched.

  “May I see some identification, Ms. Spartz?” The cop must have run my plates, and he probably recognized me from TV.

  Part of me wanted to say, If you know who I am, why do you need identification? He seemed almost gleeful to find me . . . unaware I was aware that the Minneapolis police chief had a price on my head. I was pretty sure the day-off bonus only counted for moving violations, and that parking on a dark street was not breaking any law.

  But before I could get all smart-alecky, Garnett spoke up.

  “You don’t care about her.” He flashed a homeland security badge at the officer.

  Gold. Shiny. An eagle across the top. I vowed to get a closer look at the impressive design. Maybe if he waved it at me later on, in the privacy of my own home, I’d even let him frisk me.

  The cop shined the light from the badge to Garnett’s face. I heard an intake of breath as he recognized my companion.

  “Nick Garnett. What brings you back to town?”

  “Well, an hour ago I would have told you pleasure.” He smiled at me. “But now I’m afraid it’s turned into work.”

  “Anything we locals can assist you feds with?”

  “Actually, it’s going to be the other way around. I’m going to be assisting your office . . . with a murder investigation.”

  He tilted his head in the direction of the homicide house. The officer didn’t react. He’d clearly been briefed about the address’s recent history when he received the call about a suspicious vehicle.

  Garnett opened the car door and stepped out. “See you later, Riley.” His farewell held a hint of regret as he slammed the vehicle shut.

  Then he turned to the cop. “Why don’t I catch a ride downtown with you.” He said it like he was giving an order, not asking a favor. After all, he used to be one of them. One of their best. And the officer didn’t disagree.

  “Hey, what are you doing, Nick?” I said. “We’re on a date.”

  “You’re right. Sorry.” He walked over, leaned through the window, and planted a quick kiss on my mouth. “Duty calls.”

  And the two of them left me parked alone on a dark street reeking of murder.

  I was mad about a couple of things—personal and professional. First, being cut out of the case after giving him an important clue . . . even though I still wasn’t sure what the photo meant, it clearly held significance. Second, even though we were sort of, almost, maybe engaged . . . I was pissed to be kissed like some kind of trophy. It was like he was showing off to that other cop that he had me in his pocket.

  I wanted to follow the squad car, but I knew they’d ditch me by driving down the underground entrance to the cop shop.

  I also wanted to go up to Cheryl Gordon’s house and yell at her for calling the police in the first place, but I was afraid she’d just flex her telephone muscles and redial 911.

  So I knocked softly on her door, and she answered all excited when she turned on the outside light and saw me.

  “Did you see that car over there? I called the police and they took a man off to jail.”

/>   I explained the man was a law enforcement officer and friend of mine and that I was pointing out the crime scene when the flashing lights arrived. Handing her another of my business cards, I reminded her, besides calling the police, to phone me if she noticed anything.

  “Oh heavens,” she said. “You’re so busy, I’d hate to bother you.”

  “No trouble. I’ll make time.”

  CHAPTER 26

  I didn’t want to wait up for Nick because that might make him think I cared about him. But I didn’t want to go to sleep either. That would make it easier for him to sneak under the covers next to me, hoping I wouldn’t notice and might have calmed down by morning.

  I threw a pillow and blanket on the couch for him, determined he wasn’t getting within an arm’s length of me unless I got a straight answer about what he thought he knew about Kate Warner’s murder.

  But over the next couple of hours, I figured it out myself.

  When Garnett looked at my chalk fairy photo, he acted like he recognized something. He must have seen a similar picture before—or a similar crime scene.

  I turned my phone back on, emailing the picture to my computer. Then I printed out a larger version and propped it against the wall by my bed. The quality was much better than I expected. And again, I was struck that the outline around Kate’s body wasn’t the traditional kind you see in police dramas or old crime scene photographs.

  Her arms were distorted. Like her killer had been in a hurry to finish. But that also made the fatal artwork unique. A murderer’s signature. And Garnett had clearly seen it before. Which meant Kate’s killer had killed before.

  A signature is a ritualistic crime scene behavior that goes beyond what is necessary to kill that person. Often, it becomes a clue left behind when slaughter alone is not enough for psychosexual gratification. But sometimes the conduct is designed to mock law enforcement—catch me if you can.

  Garnett had explained the concept of signature in homicide to me once before when I was covering a serial killer story. I didn’t think I’d cross paths with another such madman the rest of my career in news.

  A mass murderer, sure. Their kind snap, killing multiple victims at the same time and place. Spree killing is the law enforcement term; going postal is the slang. Such a rampage murder can happen anywhere people gather. A school. Workplace. Political rally. Church. Family home. The crimes are obvious, nothing subtle about them. And often, the killers add themselves to the death toll, making the cases easy to solve.

  But serial killers are hard to detect . . . and much harder to apprehend.

  I must have drifted off to nightmare land when I heard the door open. I jerked awake in a panic before remembering that Garnett had a key and now stood next to my bed.

  “So tell me what’s going on,” I mumbled before remembering I wasn’t speaking to him.

  “I can’t right now.” He sounded committed, not tired.

  “Then the wedding is off.” I tried to sound like I meant it.

  “Stop talking like that. Neither of us is supposed to tell the other how to do our jobs. That’s always been our understanding.”

  I explained that investigating Kate’s murder was my job, not his. “You’re supposed to be protecting our national security. So unless you can prove a terrorist connection to Kate’s death and that of the other women, you’re out of your game . . . and out of my bedroom.”

  I pulled a blanket over my head to show I meant business.

  He grabbed the covers back so he could see my face or maybe so I could see his. Either way, he wanted to know what other women I was referring to.

  I continued my bluff and he bought it. “The other ones Kate’s killer drew chalk fairies around.”

  “How do you know about them?”

  “I’m a reporter. It’s my job.”

  “I think you’re just guessing.”

  “Well, it looks like I guessed right.” In retrospect, I probably sounded a little too smug. “Because you just confirmed that there are others. And I’m going on the air to report that Kate Warner was the victim of a serial killer.”

  “I’m not sure you have enough to support that story.”

  I conceded to myself he could be right, but didn’t want to say that out loud. “Yeah, well, I have a hot photograph that’s sure to go viral. You just wait and see what I end up broadcasting.”

  That’s when he noticed the picture of Kate’s outline now lying on my nightstand, and realized I was determined to break the story.

  “How about if we both just put this disagreement aside till morning,” he said, “and go back to that book you were reading from earlier at the drive-in?”

  I couldn’t believe he still thought our weekend together would end in a fit of passion. A fit of rage, more likely. “Sure, Nick.” I pulled Black Angel Lace out of my bag and threw it through the bedroom door toward the couch. “Read yourself to sleep out there.”

  Mumbling something about waiting for an apology, he grabbed one of the blankets and disappeared into the hall.

  I almost called out, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” But then he’d crawl under the covers with me and whisper, “Love Story, 1970. Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal.” He might mess up on the actors. Few people remember that both stars spoke the trademark line; she in the middle of the film, he at the end.

  I could use that flub as an excuse to kick him out of bed, but if he nailed the answer correctly, I’d have to let him stay. And he’d certainly want to reenact their dorm room sex scene.

  But part of me still wanted to go to bed mad. So I simply lay there, yearning. Nothing but silence. I could outlast him for sleep because I hadn’t been traveling all day. Then a faint, familiar snore sounded from down the hall.

  I closed my eyes and craved black. Even at night, I never seemed to see total blackness. It’s more like the inside of my eyelids are painted near black with thin fingerprint etchings that sometimes look red and other times look gray.

  Black would be such a relief.

  CHAPTER 27

  He reached Iowa City amid thunder and lightning. Summer storms had flooded the state’s farmland that season, but this latest torrential rain did not deter him.

  He drove through the metal gate, following a narrow road up a hill and around a curve. And there she stood.

  The Black Angel.

  Her wings reached down as if to embrace him. Magnificent among the other grave markers; her blood was his blood.

  He turned off his headlights to avoid attracting attention to his visit. The cemetery had closed hours earlier, and trespassers were discouraged. But a streetlight overhead illuminated the larger-than-life statue.

  The tombstone was the legacy of Teresa Dolezal Feldevert. Local lore had the sculpture, once golden bronze, turning black as evidence of her malevolence.

  Karl knelt on the cement slab at her hem, raising his blurry eyes to the monument’s immortal ones.

  “I have come for your blessing, cousin,” he said.

  A crack of lightning lit up the sky. Then, as if on cue, the rain slowed to a drizzle.

  Carvings on the base showed Teresa to have been born in 1836; her date of death was left blank. The curious take that as proof that she isn’t actually dead, but continues to prey on those who disrespect the Angel. But Karl knew, from his genealogy studies, that she had died on November 18, 1924, at the age of eighty-eight, and that her ashes were buried here under the sculpture.

  When his research found a family connection between the two of them, his life took on a new directive. His cravings now endorsed, he felt free to act. No matter their relationship was distant. He had few living relatives, she had no direct descendants; he might as well be mentored by her ghost.

  Each visit to Oakland Cemetery made him more certain of his path. Proud to claim Teresa as kin, he had established a routine of obtaining her benediction before proceeding on his next calling.

  He stood before the Angel, his arms spread wide, mirroring the
distinctive slope of her wings and pose of her body. Her silhouette dwarfed him; head to ground more than twelve feet tall, towering twice his height. But he was ready to vow another sacrifice at the foot of his master.

  He whispered the next name.

  “Riley Spartz.”

  Deep in his soul, Karl Dolezal knew he had permission.

  CHAPTER 28

  I woke up too scared to scream.

  Seconds passed before I understood I was home in bed. Blankets tangled. Pillows scattered. Somewhere outside, a police siren confused me. My nightmare had something to do with the angel of death.

  I reached for a lamp switch. The picture of the chalk fairy outline was the first thing I saw. And suddenly, I realized the drawing wasn’t a fairy after all, but an angel.

  An angel of death.

  Funny how our minds work while we sleep. Sometimes the answer we’re searching for finds us instead. At that moment, I sensed I had learned something important about Kate’s killer.

  Her murderer fancied himself the Angel of Death.

  I caught myself just then and realized I shouldn’t necessarily assume the murderer was a man. A woman could also be capable of inflicting blunt force trauma.

  All killers leave evidence behind, usually not by choice: fingerprints, DNA, tire marks, witnesses. But this murderer—male or female—deliberately left a clue. A clue that might suggest the killer had an affinity for religion.

  Was the angel wing outline simply a way of showing off? Or was the slayer marking victims like an artist signing a painting? Or an author signing a book?

  Then I remembered Kate’s book, Black Angel Lace, and wondered if its pages held an inkling. Looking around, I realized Garnett had the paperback. Daybreak was still a couple of hours away, so I didn’t want to sneak in and risk waking him. I also wasn’t sure I wanted to share my death angel theory. You have to give to get. I’d already given him a hell of a photo and gotten zip.

  And hours earlier, we had discussed marriage. Could there be a happily-ever-after in our future if we never seemed to be on the same team? We both liked chasing things, but for different outcomes. Him for justice; me for news. Our professions both needed each other’s, but did we actually need each other? Our personalities clashed so much that, deep down, I wondered if I’d be better off married to a shoe salesmen.