CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Sunday, 9 September 2012, 7:00 PM
Annie was surprised when Eddie called and invited her to dinner a couple of days after their meeting at Your Petz. He was funny and charming on the phone, so she gladly accepted. He said he would take her to one of his favorite places, but it was a surprise.
It was still hot so Annie gave a lot of thought about what to wear. She didn't want to hassle with a dress and pantyhose, so she chose a dressy pair of light brown linen slacks, dark brown ballet flats, and a pale yellow ballet-neck silk top. A gold chain belt circled her waist and she wore gold hoop earrings in her pierced ears. Even though it was hot, she felt that it would be cooler to leave her long, auburn hair loose, hanging down her back, instead of bothering to pin it up and hope it would stay put. A small, gold brocade bag with a thin chain strap completed her ensemble. Inside the bag was her badge and a small .22-caliber handgun that she always kept with her.
When Eddie pulled up in front of her home, she locked up the front door and went out to meet him.
"You look great," Eddie said. "Not like Detective Avants, more like the beautiful Annie Avants."
"Well, thank you, kind Sir," Annie said. "I don't have occasion to dress up very often and it was a nice change. Where are we going, by the way?"
"Ah, that's a surprise. Just fasten up and we'll be on our way."
Eddie got onto the 99 Freeway and headed south. When he came to Taft Highway, he turned off.
"Pumpkin Center?" Annie said.
"Yes. Believe it or not, they have one of the best Mexican Restaurants around, Los Arcos. Their shrimp is incredible and it's rarely busy. I think you'll like it."
Annie didn't mention how that particular restaurant tied into her murder investigation. She just thought it was one of life's strange coincidences.
He pulled into a driveway between the block of buildings at the back of where the restaurant was located and parked in front of a fence that surrounded a large house with many trees.
"This is where I live," Eddie said as he came to a stop.
Annie frowned. She remembered seeing the house, but hadn't interviewed anyone who lived there. Red flags started going off in her mind. She knew a deputy had talked to all the neighbors here.
"We did a lot of canvassing in this area during our investigation of Carmen Gutierrez's murder. Did one of our officers talk to you? I don't remember seeing your name when I reviewed the reports of all the people they interviewed."
"I must have been at work whenever they came by. I never talked to anyone," he said.
"Normally, they leave a card in the door with a note to call."
"Ah, that probably explains it. I never use the front door, or even check it. If we look there now we'll probably find their card."
He walked around to her side of the car and opened the door. It was then that she saw the knife in his hand and, before she could grab her purse, he pulled her through the door, which was wedged between the car and the fence, and pressed the knife into her side.
"Now, don't make a scene, Detective Avants. People around here mind their own business, but it will be better for you if you just keep your mouth shut."
He slammed the door shut behind her and walked around the fence line along the side of the property, to the back, where they entered the patio. He reached down and opened the door to the basement.
"Watch your step, now," he said. "I wouldn't want you to fall and hurt yourself."
Annie went down the stairs, thinking furiously about what she could do. As soon as they reached the bottom of the steps, he reached over to a table and picked up a pair of plastic ties that he used to bind her wrists.
"Don't turn around," he said as he flicked on a light and let go of her. She could hear him fiddling with something on the table and remained very still.
She glanced around the basement. There were no windows, just miscellaneous old furniture and a stained cot. She gasped in horror when she saw shelves along one wall full of canning jars. Each jar contained one black widow spider.
"I see you've spotted my pets," Eddie said when he heard her gasp.
"Why are you doing this? What could possibly make you do this?" Annie said, in terror.
"Tit for tat," he replied. "They have to pay for what they did to me."
"Who?" Annie asked.
"The Hispanic bitches who locked me up with spiders when I was a boy," he said. "I know you're not Hispanic, but you're getting too close. And, besides, I like you."
"This is how you show me that you like me?"
"Enough talking for now," he said as he covered her face with a cloth saturated in chloroform. That was the last thing she remembered.
Once she was unconscious, Eddie laid her on the cot, bound her feet with yellow nylon rope, changed the binding on her wrists to the same rope, and sealed her mouth with duct tape, gently brushing her long hair out of the way so it wouldn't get stuck in the tape. He took the earring in her left ear and added it to his collection.
"God bless whomever invented duct tape," he muttered to himself. "This should keep her quiet for a while. I've got other things to take care of."
He left the basement, locked it tight, and walked to the front of his house and across the driveway to Los Arcos.
"Hello Blanca," he said to the waitress. "I guess I'll be dining alone tonight. My date didn't show up. What's the special today?"
After he finished his meal, he moved his car around to the side of the house and parked it next to his other SUV, which was the same as the one he used most of the time, just an older model that he had altered so a passenger couldn't get out. He took the gun out of Annie's purse and quickly shoved it into the waistband of his pants when he heard his neighbor, Okie, walking towards him. He tossed Annie's purse onto the floorboards of the SUV and quickly closed the door.
For the rest of the evening, he and Okie sat on his patio and had a couple of beers, enjoying the end of a beautiful day. I'll deal with the lovely Detective Avants tomorrow, he thought. He called his assistant and said he had some personal business to take care of and wouldn't be in the shop the next day.
CHAPTER FIFTY
Monday, 10 September 2012, 8:00 AM
Tom was surprised that Annie wasn't already at her desk when he arrived at work on Monday morning. He was curious about how her 'date' with the pet shop owner had turned out.
He went to his desk and saw the artist sketches of the perp were all finally there and laid them side-by-side to make a comparison. The other detectives and patrol officers had been in charge of going door-to-door with the sketches and he hadn't really had the opportunity to study them to see if there were any similarities.
He went into the break room and got some coffee, greeted the other detectives, and returned to his desk.
I think I'll give Annie a call and see what she's doing, he thought, and then I'll get to work.
He dialed Annie's home and her cell but didn't get any answer.
That's strange, he thought.
"Hey, have any of you guys seen Annie today? She doesn't answer any of her phones," he said to the other detectives.
They all responded in the negative.
"It must have been one hell of a date," he said and they all chuckled.
He settled down to look over the sketches and a cold finger of fear lanced his stomach. Staring back at him was the face of the owner of Your Petz.
"Holy shit," he said aloud. He logged onto his computer to search for the home address of Eddie Dobbs but didn't come up with anything.
"Where the hell is his home phone number?" he said. Finally he found his notes and there was a home phone listed. He went onto the reverse directory and was stunned to see that his home address was Taft Highway in Pumpkin Center, right behind the Pumpkin Center Market.
Then, with cold chills running down his back, he remembered seeing several cases of rotten tomatoes dumped on the ground next to the dumpster behind the Pumpkin Center Market when he was
talking to people in the neighborhood following the discovery of the body of Carmen Gutierrez.
He ran into the Sergeant's office and told her what he found and that he was en route to Eddie's home. He asked her to have other units go to Your Petz to see if he was there and, if he was, to hold him. Another unit was to go to Annie's home and see if she or her car was there.
"Listen, Tom, I'm sending two other units with you. Don't do anything rash. If his vehicle is there, and you suspect he has Annie, I'll send the SWAT team."
"OK," Tom said. "I'm outta here."
Tom didn't waste any time getting to Pumpkin Center, followed closely by two patrol units. They slowed down when they came to the drive into the back of the parking lot where the houses were located. Tom had the other units stay out of sight in the parking lot of the market until he could check out the perimeter of the house. Everything was quiet.
Tom found two blue Ford Explorer SUVs parked at the back of the property, on the west side, just beyond the entrance to the patio. He looked inside the newest one. Annie's purse was tossed on the floorboard of the passenger seat.
He called it in, requesting that the SWAT team be deployed immediately. He would meet them out of sight of Eddie's home in the large parking area at the west side of the market.
Within minutes, the team arrived.
"I have reason to believe that the serial killer is in the house, or basement, and that he has Detective Annie Avants. We have to be very cautious that he doesn't harm her while we bring him down."
The team members surrounded the house quietly. Tom went to the basement door. He noticed that the lock was unlocked. He announced, "Eddie Dobbs, come out with your hands raised. Your house is surrounded by SWAT and there is no way you can escape."
He heard a crash, then several more crashes, then the sound of a small caliber handgun being discharged and more glass breaking.
With that, the SWAT team bounded down the stairs. When they reached the bottom, they came face to face with Eddie Dobbs brandishing a handgun and surrounded by dozens of broken glass jars from which were swarming large black widow spiders. He raised his handgun and pointed it at the first team member, and that was the last thing he did. Gunfire erupted and Eddie crumpled to the ground, dead before he hit the floor.
"Clear," the leader called and Tom rushed down the stairs. He saw Annie lying semi-conscious on the cot, grabbed her, and rushed back up the stairs. The SWAT team members pulled Eddie's dead body out of the basement to get away from the hoard of black widow spiders that were everywhere.
"Check his body carefully and kill any spiders," Tom said. Ambulances had arrived at the scene and he gently laid Annie on a gurney.
"Close up the basement and call an exterminator immediately," the SWAT team leader called out.
Soon afterwards, a Deputy Coroner arrived to take charge of Eddie's body.
Tom and the paramedics were tending to Annie. Tom cut off the rope around her ankles and wrists and gently removed the duct tape from her mouth. She didn't regain consciousness.
The paramedic said, "I smell chloroform. We don't know how long ago he knocked her out so we don't know how long she'll remain unconscious. We need to get her to the hospital so we can check her for spider bites and any other trauma."
Another team of detectives had arrived by this time and Tom turned the scene over to them as he followed the ambulance to the hospital.
When Tom arrived at the ER, a nurse told him that he would have to wait outside while they examined Annie and someone would let him know what her status was as soon as possible.
"I've got to see her," he said. "She could have multiple black widow bites that are attacking her system even as we stand here."
"We're aware of the situation, Detective. The doctors are going over every inch of her body right now checking for bites. So far, they've found nothing. Please be patient and let us do our job."
Tom knew he could do nothing else. He called Sarge, brought her up to date, and then called Laine and Jesse to tell them what was happening and that the alleged serial killer was dead.
Laine had been called out to the crime scene and already had a pretty good idea of what was going on, but Jesse was stunned. He rushed right over to the hospital to sit with Tom while they waited on word about Annie.
Half an hour later, a doctor emerged.
"We didn't find any signs of bites on her body, but we are doing extensive lab work to see what's in her blood, if anything. We should have the lab results back shortly. She's starting to come around from the chloroform and we see no reason why you can't talk to here as soon as we get her moved into the ICU. We'll keep her a day or two as a precaution."
He turned and went back into the ER and left Tom and Jesse standing there.
"Thank goodness," Jesse said. "If anything happened to Annie I would be devastated."
"Yeah?" Tom said. "Is that why you dumped her for that Indian lady?"
"What Indian lady," Jesse asked.
"Annie said that the two of you were having problems, and then she and Laine saw you at Uricchio's with a young, beautiful Native American woman. She said you sure recovered fast and that's why she decided to accept this creeps offer to take her to dinner. She told me he was pleasant and charming," Tom snorted in disgust.
Jesse was stunned that Annie had been on a date, but he was still amused as he said, "Yes, the woman they saw me with is very young and beautiful and I love her very much. She's my sister, Chianna, and she came to Bakersfield to visit me. She is trying to set me up with her friend, but I'm really not interested. I decided to give Annie some space because she said I was pressuring her, so I backed off for a while."
"Oh," was all Tom could say.
About fifteen minutes later, a nurse came and led them to the ICU where Annie was barely awake.
"Hey, kid, how's it going?" Tom said. He couldn't stand to see Annie so weak and pale.
Annie just grimaced as she tried to smile. "I'll be OK. What happened?"
"Not now, Annie. The doctor said we could only stay for five minutes," Jesse said.
"Jesse?" Annie said.
"Yeah, it's me. Listen, I'm sorry we had a disagreement. The woman you and Laine saw me with at Uricchio's was Chianna, my sister. She came for a surprise visit."
"Oh," was all Annie could say. "I feel so stupid. What happened to Eddie?"
"He's dead, Annie. He's the serial killer. We'll talk about it more later. Now, we have to let you rest. Don't worry about anything anymore, OK." Tom leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "I couldn't stand breaking in a new partner."
"Jesse, you were right about his schedule. He told me he assumed we had it figured out, so he decided to abduct me instead of another Hispanic girl. He said I was getting too close."
Jesse leaned down and kissed Annie on the other cheek. "Take care, lovely lady. We'll sort everything out when you're better."
"Yeah," Annie said, as her eyelids closed and she drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Tuesday, 11 September 2012, 7:00 PM
"Hey, Annie, how're ya doing?" Laine said with a big grin as she entered Annie's hospital room.
"I'm ready to get out of here," Annie said. "They just wanted to make sure I didn't have any spider bites so they did a bunch of blood work and other lab tests. I don't know what all, but I feel poked and prodded enough."
Laine laughed. "Well at least you didn't have to be at the crime scene when we were finally let in to process it. That was the worst crime scene I've ever seen. If I never do another crime scene like that, it'll be too soon."
"What was it like?" Annie asked.
"Creepy. We had to bring in lights because there was only the one bulb hanging from the ceiling. When we lit the place up, I was ready to turn the lights off again. There was broken glass and dead spiders all over the floor and jars on the shelves that weren't broken and contained live spiders. Now, I'm from Texas and we have our share of creepy crawlies, but just being cooped
up down in that basement, knowing what had taken place gave me a real case of the willies, I'll tell ya.
"We videotaped and photographed everything before we even began to collect evidence. Then we sketched the scene and diagrammed where the spiders were laying as best we could. There were too many. It was almost like diagramming blood spatter, I swear.
"We also found leaves and twigs from the many olive trees on the property. They had blown down into the basement over time. That accounts for the leaves found stuck to the back of the first victim's body. The leaves were probably on the cot since she was the first victim.
"The cot you were on was filthy. We took it to the lab to be analyzed for DNA from the three women since each one was probably laying on it the whole time they were there. This guy was a real creep. How on earth did he fool you into going out with him?"
Annie thought about this for a minute before she answered.
"He was funny, and charming. I guess he just played me for all he was worth. I almost told him I'd meet him at the restaurant for dinner, but he said where we were going was a surprise and he'd be delighted to pick me up and escort me. I fell for it. I feel really stupid."
Annie reached over, took a sip of water with ice, and rubbed the cool glass against her forehead.
"Well, you're lucky Tom put two and two together. Has he been in here to see you yet?"
"Yes, he and Jesse staked out the halls until they let them in to talk to me last night for a few minutes, and again this morning. I told them everything I could remember. When I asked Tom if they knew why Eddie was breaking all the jars and setting the spiders free, he could only speculate that he was liberating them or hoping enough of them would bite me or the SWAT members when they came down the stairs. Tom figured Eddie knew he was finished."
"You have had calls from the families of the three women, you know. They all wanted to thank you for catching the man who killed their daughters and wish you well. You're kind of a celebrity now. I'm sure the media is going to be all over you when you get out of here. For the moment, a uniform is posted outside and only a few of us are allowed in to see you."
Cause of Death (Det. Annie Avants Book 1) Page 23