by Lolah Lace
Tracy took the elevator downstairs and walked through the dark parking lot. The sun hadn’t risen just yet. Tracy’s breath blew in the cold air. At least it stopped snowing, she thought.
Having these days off was just what she needed. She couldn’t wait to spend the holidays with her family. She reached her car and opened the passenger door to put all her bags in. She grabbed the snowbrush off the interior floor.
Tracy was stuck. She fell into her car. A black leather gloved hand reached into Tracy’s car and grabbed hold of her neck.
*****
Tami stood at the kitchen sink of her townhouse washing dishes by hand. Mike was there, they had reached a turning point. She wasn’t afraid to give herself to him wholly. Her self-doubts were no longer prevalent. She somehow knew he would be there forever.
Mike entered the kitchen covered in snow, which he had been shoveling. She had also directed him to shovel the walkway of the old lady that lived three doors down.
“Is it snowing that bad?” She asked.
“It’s really coming down.” Mike planted a cold kiss on her cheek as he removed his coat. “There’s been another murder.”
“What?”
“I got the call when I was outside.”
“Where?”
“A nurse at Edward’s Hospital was strangled and stabbed.”
“Strangled, it’s connected? The others weren’t strangled.”
“JT and I are going to question some of the hospital staff today. I know you have the day off.”
“Yes, this is my case too.”
“Do you want to tag along? The more the merrier.”
“Of course.”
*****
Evidence was gathered at the scene of the crime. The day was long, but they questioned as many the hospital staff as they could. Some of the staff was off, which meant they would have to make house calls or question them on a later day depending on their relationship with the deceased.
The next day the case led them to the place Tami least expected, her close friend Patricia’s house. After Detective Turner grilled the hospital staff it was clear that Patricia’s husband, Dr. Bob Ziewicke, was the last person to see Tracy alive. Tami decided to sit in the truck and wait outside as Mike and JT questioned Dr. Ziewicke. It was too awkward for Tami and knowing Dr. Ziewicke seemed to be some sort of conflict. It wasn’t a big deal. She knew Mike and John would be professional and thorough. She also knew they wouldn’t be charmed by his good looks and intellect.
Mike and John stood near the couch in the spacious Ziewicke home. Dr. Bob sat next to his wife Patricia on the couch. Brittany was perched at the top of the stairs where the detectives couldn’t see her.
“So you just left the hospital and went straight home?” John inquired.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you wait for her?” John asked because that would have been the gentlemanly thing to do.
“I had three surgeries that day. It had been a very long day. I had been there for fourteen hours. I guess I just wanted to get home.”
Mike had a bad feeling about the doctor. He decided to be more direct. “You also knew another young woman that was murdered, Keisha Evans.
“I met her once, but I can’t say that I knew her. She was my daughter’s roommate at college.”
“You didn’t know your daughter’s roommate?” John spoke his thoughts aloud.
“I work a whole hell of a lot. I’m a doctor, as far as I know that girl Keisha had only been here in this house once.” Bob looked over at his wife, Patricia.
“Yes just the one time. She was over for dinner, and we never saw her before or after that. I mean, I saw her in pictures and on Brittany’s Facebook page but never in person.”
“I was under the impression that Keisha’s boyfriend was arrested for the crime.” Dr. Ziewicke brazenly asked the detectives.
Mike and John glanced at one another. What an obvious attempt to deflect attention from himself.
“We are not able to share information in an ongoing investigation. We have to question everyone. You were overlooked the last time around.” John said just to rattle him.
“Overlooked.” Dr. Bob chuckled. “Am I considered a suspect?”
“No sir.” JT quickly replied.
“What about Tracy Washington?” Mike asked. “Has she ever been over to your house?”
“No. I only know her as a coworker. I don’t know that much about her. She has two kids. I only know that because she brought them to a hospital fund-raiser. There was a silly rumor that she claimed to be married but is not. Honestly, that’s all I know about her and that’s just gossip.”
Patricia gave Mike a hostile eye roll. She knew what Mike was implying, and she didn’t like it. Mike looked over at John.
JT reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out one of his business cards. “Doctor if you think of anything you give us a call.”
“Sure.” Bob stood and took the card. He glanced at it and followed John and Mike to his front door. He didn’t bother to watch them walk down his driveway.
Mike got in the driver’s seat of his truck and slammed the door shut. John sat in the passenger seat. Tami was seated in the back. She leaned forward as Mike backed out the driveway.
“What happened?” Tami eagerly asked. She needed all the details.
“It was pretty uneventful.” Mike answered.
“Do you think it is him?” Tami wanted to know, but then wished she hadn’t asked the question.
“Well that cat gives me the creeps. He seems so rehearsed?” John honestly added.
“Bob is a vicious flirt, but he’s no killer.”
“Vicious flirt.” Mike grunted. “Ha, a pretentious prick is more like it. You really can’t be objective. You’re best friends with his wife.”
“I can be objective. It’s part of my job to be objective.” Tami’s words were laced with malevolence.
Mike turned his head from the road in front of him to give Tami a look. She scooted back into her seat.
“Hey if you two are going to get into a lover’s quarrel you can do that off the clock.” JT joked.
“I am off the clock.” Tami corrected.
“JT, we are cool.” Mike added.
“I vote we go back to the station and see what we can dig up on this doctor.” JT offered.
“I think that’s the best idea ever.” Tami voiced from the backseat.
Mike took his eyes off the road to gaze over at JT. “Yes I think that is the best idea ever.” Mike smiled.
They took a trip back to the Hinsdale police department. Mike had started working out of JT and Tami’s neighboring police station. It was just more convenient for both suburbs to work together. Mike’s superiors had okayed it. Everyone just wanted the Zebra Killings solved ASAP.
The detectives made themselves comfortable in the conference room they now occupied on a daily basis. John and Tami sat quietly with cups of half-drunk coffee on the table in front of them. There were lots of pictures and reports scattered across the table. The victim’s pictures were plastered on a huge bulletin board pressed against the wall. They all had been there the entire day going over the evidence and rereading witness statements.
“What number you working on?” JT surveyed the coffee cups sitting before him.
“This is cup number six.” Tami yawned.
“You should go home and get some rest. It doesn’t take three people to sit here, look at the evidence, and come up with absolutely nothing.” JT said.
“She gets to go home but not me?” Mike spouted.
“Hell naw, not you Crane. I don’t care if you get your beauty rest.”
Tami knew JT was just being considerate, but going home would make her look weak.
“I still have life in me. Let’s brainstorm. There’s Bob Ziewicke. His wife never told me about the sexual harassment charges against him.”
“Why would she?” John asked. “It was four years ago. That’s a
rather embarrassing thing to share about your husband.”
“True, but we’re friends. Seems like she would’ve mentioned it.”
“Married people have secrets. There’s no guarantee she knew about it.” John said.
“Secrets.” Mike mused. “So this is what I have to look forward to when we get married.”
Tami cut her eyes at him.
“She doesn’t like it when I talk about matrimony.”
“I can see that.” JT snickered.
“I don’t like when you talk about matrimony in the workplace.” She smirked.
“Thanks for clearing that up.”
“Even though he fits the profile I don’t think it’s him.” Tami refused to believe the mastermind behind all these gruesome crimes was a man she knew.
“At this point, I don’t know what to think.” JT said.
“Well it’s getting late. I have to take a ride out to Oakbrook and check in with my captain. We will pick this up tomorrow bright and early.” Mike started removing his trash and tossing it into the garbage can in the corner of the room.
CHAPTER 29
The customers were scarce in the Studio Pictures video store. There were only two shoppers browsing in the new releases section. There were three employees on duty. Misty was standing behind the counter checking in movies. Jason was in the action adventure section vacuuming the carpet.
Brian was walking around straightening up the videos in different aisles. Misty had her cell phone lodged between her ear and her shoulder.
“Mom, I’m not staying out all night.” She huffed into the cell. Brian was within earshot listening in. “I thought you might want to know. Whatever, I’ll see you in the morning. Bye.” Misty hung up the phone. She put her cell on silent. She knew her mother would call several times. She wasn’t in the mood to have never-ending parental warnings for the next twenty-four hours.
“Are you still coming over?” Brian asked worried that Misty might stand him up.
“Of course. I do what I want.”
*****
Word got around in the Ziewicke household pretty quick. Brittany told her brother their father was questioned by the police. Brian had done his time in college and moved back home where he occupied the basement apartment. It was a very orderly bachelor pad. His place was more or less a studio apartment with the only separate room being a small bathroom.
Misty had been spending a lot of time with him lately. It was better than being at her house where everything reminded her of her twin sister. She sat on Brian’s couch in front of the TV. She watched as Brian opened the refrigerator. She just wanted to get wasted. She wanted to numb herself of her pain, and Brian was just the person that could help make that happen.
“I thought I had some.” Brian turned back to look at Misty with the fridge door wide open.
“That’s okay. I’ll take whatever you have.”
“I can go to Meijer and get some.” Brian closed the refrigerator door.
“You don’t have to.”
“It’s okay I can go. What time do they stop selling liquor?”
“I don’t know maybe like one-thirty.”
Brian glanced down at his wristwatch. “It’s one-ten. So I’d better hurry.” Brian grabbed his keys off the TV and his coat off the couch.
“Be careful in the snow.”
“I think I’ll be okay.” Brian grinned. “I’ll be right back.”
Brian put his coat on as he walked out the separate entrance door.
*****
Mike was gone; Tami and John decided to stick around just a little longer. Tami knew Mike would meet her back at her plac,e and she preferred to have him waiting there for her. She wasn’t afraid of the Zebra Killer, but she was smart enough to take a mental note that he knew where she lived and what car she drove.
She knew that these were things that Dr. Ziewicke would know about her, but she refused to let that thought cloud her judgment. If he had stabbed all these young women to death that would mean she was the worst detective in the history of crime.
She poured over the evidence once more before she would retire for the night. She sat at the table reviewing evidence. She was happy to see that JT was still there.
“I’m leaving soon. I’m going to read over some of these statements then I’m out of here.
“Did Mike finish up in Oakbrook?”
“He texted. He should be finishing up soon.”
“Good. I don’t like you being alone with this crazy asshole still on the loose.”
“I can take care of myself.” She thought of her Glock, her Ruger and her second Glock.
“You sure can.” JT agreed. He knew Tami was tough but he also knew how deranged the Zebra Killer obviously was. He knew too that Tami fit the victim profile.
Tami stood and stretched her arms high above her head. She strolled across the room and let her tired eyes gaze out the window.
“Is it still snowing?” JT asked.
“Yeah. We have about three hundred pounds of snow to clean off our cars.”
“Wonderful.”
“You know what. I need to get going.”
“I’m going to clean up our mess and walk you out.”
“I’m going to get started brushing the snow off my car. I will see you out in the parking lot.”
“Okay, I will be right out there.”
Tami’s brained was fried. She was depleted for the day. She left JT in the conference room and grabbed her coat and purse. She took the elevator down to the ground level. The station was almost completely empty, and the parking lot was just the same. Tami approached her car and swiped away some on the snow by her driver’s door to prevent it from falling inside the car when she opened it.
She hopped inside and started the car then reached behind the seat and grabbed the snowbrush. She climbed out while the car was running. She used her snowbrush to start removing the piles of snow that covered the hood, trunk, and windows.
*****
Misty sat in Brian’s basement apartment and waited for him to return. She made herself comfortable putting her shoeless feet up on the couch. She started feeling antsy so she got up to look around. She walked a few steps over to the refrigerator, opened the refrigerator door and closed it. She opened the freezer and eyed a half-gallon of Oberweiss chocolate ice cream.
Misty removed the ice cream and slammed the freezer door. She took the lid off before she opened a drawer in search of a spoon. She rummaged through a messy drawer of condiments, old batteries, loose keys, stale candy, a flashlight and something else.
Misty’s hazel eyes zeroed in on the object stopping her dead in her tracks. Her head turned to look at the door that led outside then back into the drawer. She reached in and grabbed the item that had blatantly held her attention. She slipped the small object in her front pants pocket.
Backing away from the open drawer, she quickly headed to the couch to grab her purse. She searched for her cell phone. When she dug it out from the bottom of her purse she remembered it was dead. Her eyes scanned the room and landed on Brian’s landline. She reached for the cordless telephone located behind the couch on one of two wooden crates.
Misty picked up the phone. She tried to recall the numbers and hesitated twice before dialing. She lifted the receiver to her ear. She waited for someone to answer. The separate entrance door to Brian’s apartment opened. Brian saw Misty on the phone. She noticed him and slammed the phone down quickly.
“Did I scare you?” Brian walked in closing the door behind him.
“No.”
“Who were you calling this late?” Brian asked.
“My mom. I had to let her know I would be late.”
Brian shook his head and put the bag from the grocery store on a small table near the refrigerator.
“Oh okay. You alright?”
“Yeah I’m fine. I just got to go to the bathroom. I’m like full of liquid.” She tried to sound casual.
“You know Meijer’s stops
selling liquor at two am”
“Oh that’s good. I got it wrong. You made it.” Misty ambled past the couch and into the bathroom. She closed the door behind her.
Brian started to empty out the recycled plastic grocery bag. He removed the potato chips and a single bottle of exotic fruit Anchor Mystic champagne. Brian stopped when he noticed the ice cream on the counter and the open drawer.
Misty paced back and forth in the tiny bathroom. Perspiration formed all over her body. She sat on the closed toilet seat then she stood and began to pace again. Her mind was working overtime.
Brian stood by the two crates. He raised the phone receiver and dialed star 69. The phone rang three times, and then someone’s voicemail clicked on.
Misty paced in the confines of the bathroom. She stopped and looked at herself in the mirror. She wiped the sweat from her face with the palms of her hands. She mumbled incoherently to herself.
BANG! BANG! BANG! Three knocks on the door made her jump out of her skin.
“Hey Misty, you okay in there?” Brian’s voice belted out from the other side of the door.
“Yeah! I’m fine.” Misty flushed the empty toilet. “I’ll be right out.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Uh-huh.” She turned the faucet water on but didn’t bother to wash her hands. After a few seconds, Misty shut the water off. She stood quiet and motionless for a few more seconds until she decided to open the door.
She slowly walked from the bathroom and into the open floor plan. Brian was sitting on the couch pretending to be engrossed in the TV. He diverted all his attention to her.
“You alright?” He asked noticing Misty walking toward him holding her stomach.
“No, actually I’m not feeling too hot.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I think it’s my stomach. It could be cramps.” That was the only thing she could think of.
“You want to lie down?” Brian extended his arm to the bed on the other side of the room.
“No. I think I should go home.”
“You sure?” He asked.
“Yeah my stomach is tore up.”