Samantha walked to the sink and washed her hands and face.
The door opened. Dr. Murphy entered. He looked over at Daniel and Adam. “Sam, we are going to try and bring Daniel out of the coma. I have reduced the dosage of his medication. Barring complications, he should be awake later today.”
“And Adam?”
Dr. Murphy just shook his head. “The bullet is pressing on the spine now and he can’t go through another surgery. The likelihood of paralysis is at least 90%. But I don’t think he will ever regain consciousness.”
Sam blinked back tears.
“I’m sorry, Sam. He is just too small and weak. Right now the only thing keeping him with us is the machines. But there is a slim chance. Maybe a miracle. I don’t know. There’s nothing else we can do but wait. Unless you want-”
“No, absolutely not. He will get better, Dr. Murphy. I have to believe that.” Samantha walked to the door. “Please keep him out of pain. We will move Adam if Daniel wakes up, right?”
“Yes, that would be best. I’ll get him moved.” Dr. Murphy left.
Samantha walked down the long hall to the doctor’s lounge. Her thoughts were clouded and troubled. She couldn’t let Adam go. How was she going to tell Daniel?
She decided to put it in the back of her mind and concentrate on something she could control. She walked in the lounge to find JJ, Stevens and Kirkland waiting for her. “Okay, everyone, looks like we’ll be here a day or two, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get some work done. Kirkland, I need you to get an update from Morgan. Also, I need a US map, pencils, a yard stick and highlighters. JJ, call Cameo. I need her here. Then call the cabin. I need everyone except Mom and Karen here. Tell them nothing is wrong. Stevens, get the files in here. We need to start on that. Any questions? Good! Let’s go.” Samantha took off her jacket and threw it across the couch.
Kirkland walked to the other side of the room and called Morgan. “Agent Morgan, this is Agent Kirkland. Deputy Director Thomas needs an update. Please call asap.”
Chapter 16
Morgan answered his phone as he was walking back to his car. The morning had been very eventful for the whole team. He’d only been at the girls’ graves for a few minutes. He had sent the team in various directions but decided to bring Agent Ford with him. She was new and she was pretty. “Morgan here.”
Kirkland answered, “Good. Have you been to the dump site?”
Morgan winced. “Yes, Kirkland, we only arrived at the site a few minutes ago. Tell Samantha I will update her within the hour.” He hung up and walked back to the rest of the team. “Okay, everyone, we need to start gathering information. Ford, make sure this entire area has been gone over by CSU. Max, I need you and CJ to go to the ME’s office and see where they are on the ID of the other two victims. Tara, follow up on the first victim. We need to find out everything we can. Maybe that will tell us how this guy finds these girls. Also, Max, detail the wounds and the type of tools used. I need everyone back at the office in three hours.”
Morgan walked to his car. He was sure he did what Samantha would do. He had to make sure he did not screw up this case. It was too important.
Morgan reached the car and got inside. Okay, I have the entire team in different directions. Now what do I do? What do I usually do? I need to get everything set up at the sheriff’s office. Yeah, that’s it.
Morgan was startled by a tap on the car window. Tara was standing just outside. Morgan rolled down the window. “What is wrong?” he asked, annoyed.
“Oh, nothing, I just need to catch a ride with you back to town. Is that okay?” Tara was fumbling like a school girl.
“Yeah, sorry. Get in.” Morgan cleaned off the passenger seat.
Tara opened the door and waited for him to finish.
After she got inside, Morgan turned and headed for town. The ride seemed to take forever. Neither of them were speaking.
Tara broke the silence. “So what do you think about Samantha’s new job?”
“I think it’s a lot of responsibility, but if anyone can do it she can.” Morgan turned the car onto the main highway.
“Well, do you know much about it? I mean, she didn’t get a chance to tell us. Oh yeah, have you heard about her brother and nephew?” Tara snapped her fingers. “How are they?”
“Actually, I know as much as you do. Why would you think I knew more?” Morgan was almost angry.
“Well, we thought there was something between you two.” Tara was fumbling again.
“We thought.” Morgan looked hard at her. “So you guys have actually been discussing this?”
“Not so much as discussing it; just casual conversation. But you have to admit you spend a lot of time with Samantha.” Tara smiled and turned towards the window.
“Wonderful, just wonderful. So what you think I slept my way into this job?” Morgan scowled.
“Now, that is a new one. I thought only women could do that.”
They both began to laugh.
“But you did right?”
Morgan looked over at her.
She was staring at him with no expression on his face.
He stopped smiling. “No, I did not. I do have seniority, you know, and management experience.”
They both fell silent.
Morgan was shaking his head, not saying a word. He was furious. If she only really knew what he was capable of, she wouldn’t talk like that.
They reached town and drove the short distance to the sheriff’s office. There was a huge crowd in front of the office. There were reporters and dozens of others. Morgan and Tara got out of the car. A deputy ran over to them.
“What the --?!” Morgan pulled the car to the side of the road.
A deputy ran up to his car. He was out of breath.” I’m sure glad you’re here. This place is crawling with reporters and people from town. They want to know about the Handyman Killer.”
“The Handyman Killer? Where did that come from?” Morgan was yelling. “Deputy, you need to clear these people out.”
“They won’t leave until we tell them something.” The deputy said pointing towards the crowd. “Someone told them we found three bodies so far. All killed the same way.”
“Whoa, who told them that? We have no evidence yet! For all we know, they might’ve died of natural causes and someone left them there. We don’t know anything yet, so we have nothing to tell them.” Morgan slammed the door of the car. “Tara, go inside and gather everyone. I’ll try and defuse this out here.”
Morgan walked to the front of the group. “Can I have everyone’s attention please? I am Agent Morgan with the FBI.”
The group started yelling questions and accusations.
“Is it true there are three bodies?”
“Are there more?”
“Is it the same killer?”
“Whoa, hold on. We have no evidence to support that there even is a killer. We have no idea that we have a serial killer on the loose. I will say there has been three women found and that is all we know right now. As soon as we have something, we will release a statement. Now I need all of you to please leave.” Morgan was holding his hands in the air, waving to the crowd to go away.
“If there is no serial killer, why is the FBI here?” someone yelled from the crowd.
“We are here as a courtesy to help the sheriff. That is all for now. Please let us work.” Morgan turned and walked into the office. Every eye in the room turned to him as he entered. “Sheriff, I need to speak to you in your office.” Morgan was trying to keep calm. He followed the sheriff into his office.
The sheriff began. “Listen, before you start, I have already told my men they are on strict orders not to speak about this case to anyone outside this office without my permission.”
“You do realize what your men have started. Now the killer, if there is in fact a killer, knows we are looking for him. There is no telling what he will do. He could kill again or simply hide and we could never find him.” Morgan was furious. “Not to
mention you have sensationalized him.”
“Is that bad?” The sheriff asked, starting to pace his office.
“We have no way of knowing. we have no profile. We have no evidence this is the same man. Please we need evidence. Without an investigation we can’t convict someone if we do find them.”
“So what do we do? Pretend this is not real and I don’t have three women in the morgue?” The sheriff glared at Morgan.
“No, absolutely not, but you can’t just spout off to the media. You are going to cause a panic and we have no cause. These women could have been the only ones and could have been there for years. They could be related. It could be a family annihilator. Or a dozen other reasons as to why they were killed without it being a serial killer.” Morgan was yelling. “We have to salvage this, the team will be here in three hours. Can we at least get set up and ready for them?”
“Fine, I will clear the conference room.” The sheriff stormed out of the room.
Morgan glared out at the people in the room. Stupidity really makes me angry, he thought to himself.
Chapter 17
Morgan threw himself into getting ready for the information the team would be bringing in a few hours. Everything had to be organized. They were going to have a flood of information to go through.
At least that is what he hoped. So far his first case had not gone as planned. So many things were running through his head. He had a dozen questions and he had only himself to answer them. Unless he called Sam and admitted defeat.
That would be a last resort. He didn’t want her taking over this case.
Tara came back into the room. She had found out about the last victim. “Morgan” she began, “the last victim is a 20-year-old white female, brown hair and eyes, five ft 7 inches tall. She’s from Arizona. Her parents reported her missing nine months ago. They heard from her one time about five months ago. She wouldn’t tell them where she was. She has a cousin in California. Near Sacramento. The cousin says she called almost a year ago and said she was coming but never showed up. Her name was Angela Houston. The sheriff’s office in Arizona is sending the missing person’s report, but he said there was not much to tell.” Tara paused before she spoke again. “It’s like she disappeared shortly after she left home. No bus or plane tickets.”
“She was hitchhiking.”
“Hitchhiking? What makes you so sure?”
Morgan turned towards the large dry erase board he had set up for the team. He walked over and started writing. “Do we have a picture?”
Tara stepped forward and handed him Angela’s picture. She was a pretty girl and only a child.
“Well, it is a start.”
The phone rang.
“Morgan, it’s CJ. The preliminary findings of the ME are definitely homicide. All three victims were killed with the same type of nail gun and were wrapped in the same industrial plastic. Looks like it was cut from the same roll. All three are missing thumbs and digits. They are about 20 to 30 years old. There are a few odd things. All three girls had their heads looking to the right and arms across their chest. And two of them had their chest almost crushed postmortem. Oh yeah, ligature marks around wrist and ankles and gagged. There are several types of injuries so the actual cause of death is not known.
Morgan said, “He tortured them. Probably for months or longer.”
“Must have been,” CJ said. “That’s all we have right now. Also, we really need some help on this. I don’t think this ME has ever dealt with something like this.”
“Okay, I know just the one. Ask her to preserve what she has. Make sure you get pictures and signed preliminary findings. You stay there and ask Max to bring what you have to the sheriff’s office.” Morgan hung up the phone. He was finally feeling like he was in control. He walked over to Tara. “I’ll be back in an hour. I am going back to the where we found the girls. I think we’ve missed something.”
Morgan started the twenty mile drive out of town. He picked up his cell and called Tara. “Tara, find out who owns the land where the bodies were found.”
“Okay. So what do you see out there? Anything you notice?”
“Well, there’s one main road and it’s only a few miles out of town before there’s no houses, no businesses, no nothing. Not much of anything that can be seen from the road. I’ve already counted at least a dozen smaller dirt roads leading off of this one. It would be easy to bring someone up here and bury them.”
“But why here?” Tara asked. “And where was he playing with his victims? If he did keep them for months and take his time with them, where was he? Maybe we need to see if there are any nearby homes or shacks someplace where he could be secluded and take his time.”
“Let’s stick to finding who owns the land first.”
“Okay.” Tara sounded unsure.
Morgan hung up the phone. He reached the road that led to the girls. He parked the car as close as he could and got out. Walking around the freshly dug graves gave him chills.
There were no markers on the graves, nothing to let anyone know there were bodies buried here.
How were they discovered? Morgan was frustrated. Someone had to know something or have seen something. He took out the camera and squatted down to take pictures.
He heard a branch break behind him. He stood and turned.
“You know we already did that, right?” Agent Ford was standing behind him, smiling.
“Yeah, well, never hurts to be thorough.” Morgan turned back to the graves. “Did you notice anything that would’ve tipped you off that the bodies were here? Anything that would let you know there was a burial site?”
“No, but the deputy said there was an old abandoned house about five miles north of here. Maybe there was a graveyard there?” Agent Ford folded her hands and walked over to Morgan.
“But then the bodies would be there if he did not want them discovered. We need to get a map of this area. There’s a reason why here. We just have to find it.” Morgan was sure of himself for the first time since this case started a few hours ago. “Okay, Ford, did you get everyone organized here. CSU, sheriff deputies, pictures, forensics…”
“Yes, everything that we can do here is done, for now at least. I still have two deputies stationed here just in case.” She pointed to them.
“Good, let’s get back and see what we have.” Morgan walked to the car with Ford behind him. “Samantha wants an update by this evening.” Morgan turned to find Ford smiling at him. “What, did I say something funny?”
“Samantha, is it?” Ford smiled.
“Oh God, not you, too.” Morgan was angry.
“Whoa, slow down I was just kidding. Geez, you’re touchy. By the way, it’s Amelia, not Ford. Since we are a team and all.” She smiled.
“What?”
They rode the rest of the trip back to town in silence.
Chapter 18
CJ gathered all the information he had and gave it to Max. “I will start on the pictures and have them to you soon.” He told Max as he walked out of the morgue. Max got outside and started to the car. His attention was caught by a man standing a short distance away. He was rocking back and forth, mumbling.
Max started towards him and the man ran away.
Max shrugged. He turned to get in the car and was hit in the back of the head. On the ground beside him, he saw the offending object. It was a rock, and there was a piece of paper wrapped around it. Max grabbed a glove from his pocket and picked it up. Bleeding and a little dizzy, he reentered the morgue.
As the doors slid open, Max could see that CJ was helping the ME gather all of the information for ID. Dental imprints were the only resource left on these two victims. They had been dead for over a year at least.
CJ turned as Max entered.
It must be a sight, Max thought. He was holding his hand against his head and blood was dripping down his elbow.
“What the---?” CJ ran over to Max. “What happened?”
“Well, it looks as if we have
pissed someone off. Look.” He showed CJ the rock with the paper still wrapped around it.
“Get over here and sit down. Let’s have a look.” Carla, the ME, shuffled him to an exam table. “Not bad, but it will need a stitch or two. How about some liquid stitch?” She began to fumble through drawers to find what she needed.
Max nodded. “Sounds good. Always a good day when there’s no needles involved.”
CJ took the rock from Max and laid it on a nearby table. He removed the paper to find a note. He read the note aloud. “You took my property. I want it back. ALL of it. They are MINE.”
Max grabbed his cell and called Morgan. “Morgan, we have a problem. Someone just threw a rock at my head. Yeah, well he left a note too.”
“Get it to forensics and get here as fast as you can. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, took a couple of stitches, but I’m okay. See you in five.”
CJ walked over to Max. “You ready to get this guy?”
“Do you have to ask?” Max grabbed his jacket and the two headed to the sheriff’s office.
When they arrived, there was a low murmur in the office. People were scared and angry. The entire building was flooded with families of missing children and young adults.
Max raised his eyebrows. It didn’t take long for the circus to start, he thought. He spotted Morgan by the far wall, leaning against the wall. Max pushed his way through the crowd to reach Morgan. “Morgan, we don’t have enough people to handle this. We’ve got to call Samantha and ask for help.”
Morgan scowled. “Yeah, I know. I’ll make the call.”
Max breathed a sigh of relief.
He watched Morgan leave the building.
Chapter 19
Samantha had turned the doctor’s lounge into a makeshift office. Sam had lost count of how many people were in the room. All of her sisters except Karen, Cameo, Kirkland, and JJ. She was sure JJ was floating around close by. It was a good team. Cameo was getting the computers set up, Kirkland had hung the US map and assembled the team’s items. Voices were rising and everyone stepping over each other.
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