The Harbinger Collection: Hard-boiled Mysteries Not for the Faint of Heart (A McCray Crime Collection)

by Carolyn McCray

  “Yeah. Kent not only caught the gangbanger serial killer but another five of the gang.”

  “Pretty, typical right though? Par for the course?” Paggie asked, stroking his arm as he got into bed.

  “Yah, but then there was the other Buzz Kill murder.”

  All the sleep seemed to go out of Paggie as her lips formed a perfect circle. “Was it as bad as the last one?”

  “Worse,” Ruben said with a shake of his head.

  “From what you described, how could it be worse?” Paggie asked.

  “You don’t want to know,” Ruben said, patting her arm. “Go back to sleep.”

  “Are you sure you are okay?” Paggie asked, kissing his bicep. “You seem off.”

  Ruben shrugged. “Oh and did I forget to mention that the whole thing is going to be taped by ‘Infinite Justice?’”

  Paggie sat up in bed. “You mean the one with Bridget Fairweather?”

  “That’s the one.”

  Paggie’s face beamed. “Oh my gosh. That’s my favorite show.”

  He guessed if you were a meter maid, you’d be fascinated by Bridget and her show filled with smoke and mirrors.

  “It won’t air until after the case is closed.”

  “Oh,” Paggie said, sighing then brightened. “I’d love to see my man on the TV though.”

  Ruben cringed. His performance hadn’t exactly been his best. Hopefully they would edit around it. He kissed Paggie on the forehead. “And maybe someday you will, but let’s get some sleep? Shall we?”

  Paggie didn’t lay back down. Instead she gathered the covers at her chin. “I had a pretty busy day too.”

  “How so?” Ruben asked, already ready to doze off. Humiliating yourself on camera really took it out of you.

  “I found a body today,” Paggie said, her tone going up into little girl territory.

  Ruben sprang upright. “When? How? Where? Why didn’t you call me?”

  “Okay, in order. This late afternoon. I was handing out tickets on Meadowview and noticed a car parked illegally in an alley. And I did call you but it went to voicemail and when I called the station, Glick said you are busy with the gangland case.”

  Ruben pulled her into a hug. “I’m so sorry. You should have told him it was an emergency.”

  “But it wasn’t. It was a little freaky and disturbing, but there’s nothing you could have done about it. I found the woman, called it in and gave my statement.”

  “Do they know what happened to her?” Ruben asked.

  “The officer said that it looked like an overdose, but they wouldn’t know for sure until after the autopsy.”

  Ruben hugged her tighter. “I’m so, so sorry. You shouldn’t have to see anything like that.” He tried hard to shield that aspect of his job from her. She just wasn’t cut out for the gruesome stuff. She still got nightmares if they watched Friday the 13th.

  Paggie leaned her head onto his bare chest. “I hope it’s okay, I mentioned your name. The officer said if it was ruled a homicide, he’d give you a call.”

  “Of course, of course. Again, I wish you’d told Glick why you were calling.”

  “I just thought if I had to give my statement again, it could be to you.”

  “I’ll make sure of it,” Ruben reassured her.

  He tucked her under his arm and laid back down, kissing the top of her head. “Now rest.”

  “I’m not sure if I’m going to be up to the catering tasting,” Paggie said. “I don’t know when I’ll get my appetite back.”

  Ruben shushed her. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll figure it out.”

  “But with the wedding coming up so soon…”

  Right now that was the least of Ruben’s concerns. “Just get some sleep and we’ll talk about it in the morning.”

  Paggie snuggled against him, laying her palm on his chest, playing with his hairs like she did whenever she was nervous. He laid his hand over hers.

  “Everything’s going to be okay,” he whispered, but with the Buzz Kill’s latest murder fresh in his mind, Ruben wasn’t quite sure that was true.

  * * *

  Nicole leaned against her desk as everyone assembled for Kent’s briefing. It wasn’t really to deliver a profile, they were way too early into the case for that, but for him to give them some direction on how to continue the investigation.

  Officers and street patrolmen alike filed in. A Harbinger-run briefing was like the opening of Cirque de Soleil show on the Vegas strip. Everybody, but everybody wanted to be there.

  Faces she hadn’t seen for months were piling in. Especially after yesterday. Nearly single handedly, no one really cared about her contribution, an entire gang had been taken out, had upped Kent’s stature even more. Everyone wanted a piece of the profiler.

  At the back of the room, the television cameras were being set up. Bridget was fussing with her red suit, trying to get her cream blouse to open at just the right amount of cleavage. Just south of Katie Couric but north of Cinemax at Night.

  Although Bridget looked like the type that might give Cinemax at Night a try if this gig didn’t work out. She was going to be on screen, damn it, come hell or high water.

  Ruben was off to the side, frowning. Apparently he still couldn’t comprehend how Kent attracted this kind of crowd. Normally a briefing of this insignificance would get maybe a handful of detectives with maybe a few patrolmen who were looking to work their way up to their gold shield. And if Ruben led it? Maybe some of the girls from the crime scene unit.

  He was their Prince Charming. Kind of like law enforcement groupies. That was not enough for Ruben though. He wanted a crowd like this, filled with high level officers, the mayor and police chief. Her partner probably had wet dreams about it.

  Not that he was a bad guy, but Ruben really liked positive reinforcement rather than conjecture and conniving. He liked real, solid, fact-based police work. And he wouldn’t be wrong. Kent was simply a showman, even though he wasn’t trying to be.

  Which is what burnt Ruben the most. Kent came by it naturally.

  Nicole watched as Ruben straightened his tie, eyeing the cameras. She’d heard through the grapevine that his first meeting with the crew hadn’t gone exactly according to plan. He’d been caught behind the curve and Tandy said that Bridget had made Ruben look like a tosser. Nicole wasn’t quite sure where the mid-west officer came up with the British slight, but Nicole knew what he meant. Ruben could really get his back up if he was embarrassed.

  Nicole hated to tell him, but she seriously doubted if Ruben was going to get much air time at all. A kind of good news, bad news thing.

  She studied her partner’s body language. His posture was ramrod straight. His head had been shaved this morning and his beard, perfectly groomed. He’d picked a dark suit, light shirt and striped tie.

  The guy was ready for the cameras today.

  His jaw was also clenched in a way that it only clenched when he thought about Kent. Nicole feared that Ruben was going to try something this morning to redeem himself from last night.

  Not a good idea.

  Ruben was probably going to challenge Kent or something even more stupid. If Ruben would just let go of competing with Kent. Ruben was a great cop on his own. He did really solid police work. And got about the amount of kudos you would expect for being slow and steady.

  It was Ruben’s need for acknowledgement that undid him. Nicole had long ago given up trying to share the spotlight with Kent. Just like the gangland take down.

  She had rescued Kent, but did that show up in any of the papers? Would her name ever be spoken in reverent tones as Kent’s was? No, and it never would be. So be it. As long as she learned at his side and helped take down some of the most ruthless serial killers in the world, she was content.

  If only Ruben could see it her way.

  The cameras only seemed to exacerbate Ruben’s sense of competition.

  As the minutes ticked by and the room got restless. Bridget was doing a lot of eye
rolling and looked at her wrist watch.

  Yah, honey, get used to it.

  Then the doors to the back of the room burst open and Kent strode through along with Jimmi and Joshua. It was like he had his own backup band. The room oohed as he entered, making a path for him. Much like she imagined that the Romans did for Caesar.

  With a flourish, Kent made his way to the murder board, which he promptly turned around, leaving only a blank slate.

  “Today I was going to give some lame ass briefing on how little we knew about Buzz Kill, however with the help of the crime lab and morgue, I think we might have blown the case wide open.”

  The room took a collective gasp. Breaking cases wide open seldom happened. Police work was usually at about Ruben’s pace. Slow and steady. You crawled your way to the resolution.

  But to this crowd, if Kent said it, it might be true. Bridget especially looked eager to hear more.

  Jimmi handed him several photos. The first two were pictures of the first two victims…before they were hacked to death.

  “As you can see, these woman have many traits in common. Too many in common to be a random picking.”

  Ruben stepped forward, “But we ruled out a familial connection.”

  Why couldn’t Ruben just keep his seat?

  “That we did,” Kent stated. “But we never counted on adoption.”

  Ruben’s expression soured. “Neither victim was adopted.”

  “No,” Kent ceded. “But victim number two’s grandfather was. So there was no paper trail to connect the two families.”

  Ruben’s frowned deepened so much that Nicole feared it would leave scars. Why did he challenge Kent? Kent was a lot of things but unprepared he was not. If he said the victims were related, then they were. Perhaps distantly, but related.

  Her partner’s cheeks flushed. “And what does that have to do with the case?”

  “Oh, just everything,” Kent said playing to the camera. He nodded to Joshua.

  “I noticed some similarity between gene clusters of the two victims,” the morgue attendant explained. “Not enough to make a familial link, since they were generations apart, but enough to tell me there was a connection.”

  Kent nodded, taking over. “As we know the first victim is the one usually the closest to the killer personally. We also know that there is usually a trigger for the serial killer. Many times a death that launches the killer into his cycle.”

  The room murmured its agreement.

  “So I had Jimmi search the obituary listing for the six months that proceeded the killings for another victim with similar phenotype.”

  Jimmi stepped forward and put up a picture of a woman who could be the victim’s third sister, only about thirty years older. “This is Tanya Wyant. She died exactly three months before the first killing.”

  “So we think Buzz Kill is a relative of the first victim?” Glick asked.

  “Supposedly she died without a husband, children or living parents, but Jimmi is digging into her history, trying to find the buried connection between her and the other two victims. This can’t be a coincidence.”

  Ruben snorted. “So not exactly wide open then.”

  Kent turned on his heel to face Ruben. The profiler cocked his head.

  Nicole cringed. This was not going to be pretty.

  “Let’s see, we are only three killings into a serial killer who has switched up MOs and left absolutely no forensic evidence so far, yet we have just uncovered a link that gets us into the mind of the killer before he started killing. I’d say that’s pretty wide open.”

  Bridget called out from the back of the room. “Does this help you in any way in regards to victimology? Can you tell us who will die next?”

  “If I knew that, I’d be waiting on her doorstep, now wouldn’t I?”

  The room chuckled.

  Bridget did not seem impressed. “I meant did it help you hone onto the next victim’s sex or type?”

  “No,” Kent said, “But based on their over correction to a Latino male, I think they are going to swing back to a woman, but this time middle-aged and red-headed.”

  “How did you come to the conclusion?”

  Kent shrugged. “A hunch.”

  “We can’t warn the entire city’s red headed population based on your hunch,” Ruben piped up, his tone bitter to Nicole’s ears. For her partner’s sake she hoped that the mics didn’t pick that up.

  “No, but we can take much more seriously any reports of any red head going missing or complaining of being followed than we would have last night.”

  How Kent always managed to do that. Pivot around any criticism and look all the better for it.

  Ruben backed down, finally as Kent brought the briefing to a close.

  “We’ll be adding more as we dig into Tanya’s family history. For now be ready for Buzz Kill to strike soon. Perhaps even tonight. Pay particular attention to any peeping tom reports or stalking complaints. We’ve got to get ahead of this killer.”

  The room agreed in unison and then began breaking up. The mayor, a portly older gentleman, along with the Police Chief, another good ole boy, came forward. The mayor shook Kent’s hand rather enthusiastically.

  “Fantastic work,” he gushed. “Simply fantastic. To have a break in the case this early.”

  “It’s just a break though,” Kent stated. “Catching Buzz Kill is going to take way more than that.”

  “Funny you didn’t mention that during the briefing,” Ruben huffed.

  The Police Chief glared at Nicole’s partner. “You’ve filed all the paperwork for the gangland killings?”

  “We just need Nicole’s statement to the shooting team.”

  Thanks for throwing me under the bus, Ruben, Nicole thought, but didn’t let that enter into her tone. “Which I was going to give right after the briefing,” she said with a smile. The Chief smiled back. He’d always liked her for some reason.

  * * *

  Kent watched as Nicole expertly navigated the political waters that churned in the aftermath of the conference. She was so good at the nicey-nice stuff. Kent on the other hand was doing his best to melt away into the crowd that was bleeding from the room.

  That is how he backed into Glick. The Captain was never a big fan of the politics game of the department.

  “Captain.”

  “Quite the show you put on there,” Glick stated. “But don’t you always?”

  “I figured the television crew that you sic’d on me, needed a nice sound bite. Should make for a good promo.”

  Glick tilted his head. “You never fail to surprise, Harbinger. I expected to find you at the foot of my bed last night, throwing a hissy fit.”

  “What can I say?” Kent said. “I’ve grown so much under your leadership.”

  “And there it is,” Glick said. “Nice to know you’re still in there.”

  “I do need a favor though, think of it as payback for the camera crew.”

  Glick frowned. Kent could only imagine what the captain was thinking. Luckily for Glick, Kent’s favor was case related.

  “I need both an undercover and uniformed officers in every biker bar tonight.”

  “Why?” Glick said, his eyes narrowing to a slit. “Another hunch?”

  “You could call it that,” Kent replied. “But we are coming up on Lucky 37s deadline. Plus have them look for non-traditional biker types.”

  “Because?” Glick asked.

  The old man was a lot sharper than he appeared.

  Kent shrugged, trying to get from under the conversation. He did not want to have to tell the captain about missing Lucky 37 last night. “Let’s just say I have a feeling that meeting me may have caused Lucky to evolve.”

  “Great job,” Glick said, his tone slathered with sarcasm.

  “But you’ll put the men into the bars?” Kent confirmed.

  Glick tossed a glance over his shoulder. “With the cameras rolling 24/7? How could I not?”

  Okay, so maybe Bridge
t and her crew were going to be good for something.

  * * *

  Joshua stood there. Still in shock. He’d thought he’d seen the best days of his life already. Come on, catching Kent and Nicole in the parking lot that night? That shot right up into his Top 5. Then helping catch Wallflower with his pollen analysis. Again, Top 5 with a bullet.

  But this? To have Harbinger openly credit him with helping to break the Buzz Kill case? That was just crazy good. Like he was going to have to steal the tape from the camera crews kind of good. And to think that vote of confidence from Kent might end up on television.

  He was going to have to expand his top 5, it was getting a bit crowded in there.

  “So, you’re the Joshua that Special Agent Harbinger was talking about?” a tall blonde, Bridget Fairweather, the host of Infinite Justice, asked him.

  Holy crap. She was one of his heroes.

  Joshua cleared his throat trying to get his “Unsolved Mysteries” voice down pat. “Why yes, Bridget, I am.”

  Wow, did he just say that?

  “You are also the morgue attendant who was arrested for stealing two uteri a few years back, aren’t you?”

  Oh, Bridget loved to spring those “gotcha” questions. He should know he’d seen every episode of the show.

  “Yes, I am,” Joshua answered proudly. He had nothing to hide. “I also helped break open that case. I led the team to the killer’s lair.”

  “You did?” Bridget asked. “I didn’t see that in any of the papers.”

  Joshua smiled. “You can’t trust everything you read, or see on television,” Joshua said, poking Bridget in the ribs. Well, actually she was too tall for that, so he ended poking his elbow into her hip. Oops. “Can you, Bridget?”

  “You were also instrumental in tracking down Wallflower, weren’t you?” Bridget asked, tipping the microphone toward him.

  “Yes, I realized the pollen samples that Dr. Rodden examined were quite different than he reported.”

  “So it is safe to say that you are an integral part of Harbinger’s team.”

  “Oh, I am more than that,” Joshua said. “I’m more like his partner.”

  “Really?” Bridget said, her eyebrows going up. “I thought Detective Usher was his partner? There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around this matter.”