by Paris Morgan
Joe and Ryan grinned as they waited for me to catch up. “What’s so funny?”
“You’re already starting to sound like a detective, giving out orders and expecting them to be followed.” Joe patted me on the back. “I’m still driving my car over there.”
“Thanks, I think. We’ll drive over there in Ryan’s vehicle that doesn’t smell like day old fries.” Hearing praise from my co-workers was nice, but we hadn’t caught the killer yet.
***
Carl Sanders opened his front door after Ryan held up the badge to the peephole. “May I help you, officers?”
“Yes. We have a few questions about your daily horoscope in the paper,” Joe began.
“Oh, sure. Come on in and have a seat. I’m working from home today since my daughter wasn’t feeling well. What is it that I can help you with?” He took a seat in a chair surrounded by papers, books, and a laptop perched on the ottoman.
“Was there a reason that all the Aquarius horoscopes for the month are the same? Also, do you do the horoscopes for the Ft. Worth papers as well?” I took a seat opposite him on a nice leather couch.
He scratched his head in confusion. “They’re not the same? I send in the dailies a week at a time, and I never put the same thing twice. Otherwise, I’d be out of a job.”
I laid out several of the past few week’s papers. He picked a few up and started reading through each one.
“What on earth is going on?” He threw the papers down and picked up his laptop. “These are the ones I sent in just last week.” He turned his email toward us to look at the dates.
“So if you weren’t the one doing this, how could that have happened? Is it a glitch in the system?”
“No, it can’t be because all the others are correct. You would have to copy and paste each thing into the right section. Why would you do just one month’s sign wrong but get the others correct? It just doesn’t make sense.” He jumped up and started pacing behind the oversized chair.
“Who would have received these from you?”
“The editor, and then copywriters.”
“Could someone have made changes? And would they have had to be there in the building to do it, or would there be a way to do it electronically?” If there was a chance that a camera had picked up the killer making these changes, then we might just have a killer.
“Hold on.” Carl picked up the phone.
“King, I’ve got the police at my house, and they’re wanting to know why we ran the horoscope section with the same Aquarius prediction all month? I have the emails I sent you. How could they have gotten changed? Hmm, I see. Yeah, I’ll let them know.” He hung up and walked back to his seat.
“It was a special request. He had a letter on his desk about three days before the month started with the request that he print it all month so that a friend would be sure to see it before their birthday. There was cash along with the request. He didn’t think it was a big deal, and didn’t keep the letter after it went in the system.”
“Great, another dead-end.” I looked at the other two in frustration. “Thank you, Carl, for your help. If you have anything like this happen again, please give us a call.”
“I’m just sorry I couldn’t help you more. This is such a weird request, and I’m surprised that my boss didn’t mention it before. But I’ve been out a lot with sick kids. You miss out on things when you’re not there on a daily basis.” He showed us to the door. “I hope you catch who you’re looking for.”
“This person knew what they were doing when they set all of this up. It’s no wonder that we’re running around chasing our tails.” Ryan kicked at a pebble that was on the sidewalk. “I’m going to head back to my station. If something comes up, let me know, but I need to make sure we’re doing everything we can from my end.”
With him gone, I was stuck catching a ride back with Joe.
“I’m going to go hang out with the IT guys for a while and see if we can come up with a search that will let us find out who this could be.”
“Knock yourself out. When you get done, go home and take a break. If we get a body they can call us in. The boss will be glad to have us off the clock for a little while.” He stopped at the front of the station.
“You’re not going to come in?”
“Nope. My mind’s overwhelmed, and I need to take a break. I won’t be any good if my brain keeps going in the same circles. We need something new to work on with a threat to pull.” Joe didn’t even turn the engine off.
“Got it. I’ll take your advice and head out after I check on this idea.” The door closed harder than I’d intended, as Joe wasted no time pulling away.
The tech guys were in their own little department on the bottom floor with the older records. The nerds of the department had gone through the same training and made it through their probationary period until they were transferred directly to the computer area. It was like an entirely different world. They even had their own language.
A few catcalls met me as I walked in the door. I sometimes dabbled with computer tech when I was home and needed something for a hobby. Computers were much easier than getting a cat would have been.
“Mac, remember that request I brought you the other day? Have you had any luck on it?” He didn’t even look up as I took a seat next to him.
“Nope. We widened the area, but with only a van to go on, it could take a while.” He shrugged.
“Any chance I could take a try at it? I know kind of what we’re looking for and when. I’d really want a chance to catch this guy.”
“Sure, but don’t tell the boss that you can work one of these things or he might put you down here permanently.” He grinned and logged in on the computer in front of me.
“Do you know how to run the search software?”
“Yeah. I helped on a case last year and learned how to make it do what I wanted then.” I cracked my fingers, ready to get started.
“Have fun.” He turned back to his screen to continue working on whatever it was before I’d interrupted.
Time passed quickly, and it was only when Mac stirred that I realized I’d been analyzing traffic videos for several hours.
I started to log out so that I could follow Joe’s advice and get some rest, when Mac stopped me.
“Hey, don’t log out. I’ll keep running the search for you with the perimeters that you set when I get back from grabbing dinner. It can work while I’m on this other thing and I’ll check on it.”
I got up and stretched, moving out of his way.
“Holy cow, woman. When you said that you knew how to run a search, you weren’t kidding. If we can’t find your guy, then there’s nobody else that could do it.” Mac looked over at me in admiration.
“The robotics team in college might have been one of the things on my resume. I don’t like to flaunt it because then people treat me differently.”
“Totally gotcha, girl. Now go, and I’ll hit you up if I find something.”
He kept shaking his head and staring at the screen in wonder.
Thinking of how people treated me made me think of Jerome. I needed to work off some of my extra stress, and I knew just the thing to do it.
“Laters,” I called as I scanned my badge to leave, but Mac never looked up, forgetting dinner in his hurry to work.
Chapter 11
Jerome’s cottage looked really pretty in the setting sun, but there was no way to tell if he was home since he didn’t have a car. It had seemed like such a great idea to come over, but now that I was sitting here, I was beginning to feel more like a stalker.
What if our guy had another car that he was using to watch each victim with? He would have had to visit each home in something other than the van so that the neighbors wouldn’t be suspicious.
A knock on my window startled me. Jerome was standing at my passenger side door, so I rolled down the window.
“Sorry, I had a free moment. I hope you don’t mind that I popped by.” Cringing as I waited f
or his answer, I realized that it had probably been several days since I’d called him. “You probably thought I wasn’t ever going to call you again.”
“Nope. I’ve been following things and knew that the birthday killer must be the case you were working on.
Jerome opened the door and got in next to me. “I knew this case was bad, and we had only just started dating. I can’t expect you to give up your job or call me every day. If you did, I would be worried that you were a little too clingy. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah…no, not really. I’m frustrated that we’ve worked so hard and this person continues to keep us chasing our tails. Just as soon as we find something that we think will make sense, it’s proven that it has no real connection. I have the one who I want to be the suspect, but it appears he has absolutely nothing to do with this,” I complained.
He didn’t say anything, but placed a hand over mine in comfort or support, I’m not sure which.
“Honestly, I was hoping that you would be home and we could pick up where we left off the other day. Then I realized that I would just be using you to get my frustrations out, and that isn’t the best way to start a relationship.”
“Nonsense. I’m a guy, remember? You can take out those kinds of frustrations on me anytime you want. I’m home, available, and consenting, so why are we sitting in a car?” He grinned at me, waiting for my answer.
“You’re not mad that it’s been a week with not even at text from me?” This wasn’t the kind of reaction I was used to from guys.
“Nope. I had a life before you came around, and while I’d like to see where this goes, I’m not going to wait by the phone for you to call. We’re adults, life happens, and that doesn’t change just because we might be dating.”
“I think you might be the perfect man.” I hopped out and walked to his side of the car, opening the door for him. “Care to help me relieve some stress?”
“I’m so not perfect. You’ll figure that out pretty quickly, but I would love to help you with that.” He took my hand and led me into the house.
The door hadn’t even closed all the way when he pulled me into his arms. For once, I didn’t hold anything back, or try to overthink things. I let go, and could feel how amazing it was to let someone else do the leading for a change.
***
Two hours later, a trail of clothes told the story of how much closer we were.
I propped myself up on my elbow. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Any chance you’ve got food in here, or should we order something?”
He got up and walked over to where his pants had landed and fished out his cell phone. “I’ve got places to eat on speed dial. What are you hungry for?”
“Tacos,” I blurted out, suddenly ravenous for some.
“Soft or hard?” He wagged his eyebrows at the extra meaning.
“Soft and loaded. Better order me four because I could eat a horse right now.”
He typed for just a second before looking up. “The PETA people might have an issue with a cop that eats horses.”
“Well, as long as you don’t tell the papers about it, we should skate right under the radar. Is it okay if I use the shower?”
“Sure, but I can join you if you’d like?”
“Um…” I trailed off.
“You need some alone time? I’ll grab you a clean shirt and use the other shower.” He moved to the closet to find something for me to wear.
“No, I didn’t mean to kick you out of your shower. I’ll just…”
He came back and leaned over, turning my face to his. “It’s all good. I think you wore out the equipment anyway. I’m not as young as I used to be, so I can’t keep going until I have some food. Neither one of us is around other people in their personal space.” He held out a stack of clothes. “Don’t be long. The food should be here in just a few minutes.” He kissed the tip of my nose and walked out of the room toward the guest bathroom.
Crap, now I felt even more like a heel. He was just too good to be true.
I caught a whiff of lovely smells. I needed to shower just in case something else happened. I couldn’t afford to show up looking like I did right now. Showering seemed my best option.
The doorbell rang as I was rinsing the soap out of my hair, so I hurried to get dressed quickly. Reusing my same pants, I’d stuffed my panties in my pocket and decided that commando was better than putting on old ones again. I was going to have to start carrying an extra bag in my car if this became a regular thing.
He rapped on the door. “Food’s here, and they delivered a horse with it just for you.”
A smile lit my face. “Be right there,” I called back.
Raking fingers through my hair would have to do until I could use a comb. I had issues with sharing other people’s personal hygiene stuff. That was how things were passed from person to person, and I so did not need that right now.
As I came through the door, Jerome was placing all the food on the coffee table. “I thought we could watch a movie while we ate, and then see if we were up for round two.” He looked at me to gauge how I was feeling post-sex.
“Sounds good, unless we get another dead body. But food is the most important thing right now.”
He put a comedy on about a woman named Tammy who really could be a life coach. We inhaled the tacos and landed on the couch, snuggled together, leaving the trash where it was, which was difficult for me because I liked to have things clean.
Just relax and enjoy it.
The credits were rolling across the screen, and Jerome pulled me around to face him with a gentle kiss on my lips.
The phone rang right then and we both groaned.
I rolled over and grabbed it as I sat up.
“Yeah?” The clock said it was almost midnight.
“We’ve got another body.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Jerome was sitting next to me. “Duty calls, huh?”
“Maybe we can do this again in a few days.” I scrambled for my boots as I collected my scattered clothing.
“I’ll be around. If I have to go out of town, I’ll let you know beforehand,” he assured me.
A quick kiss and I was gone again.
Why couldn’t death be a little more convenient to my sex life? And it had been really good. Maybe the best I’d ever had now that I thought about it.
***
This same scene wasn’t any different than the other couple of dozen before it, but this time, the mother had found her daughter.
“I came over when she didn’t answer. The first couple of times I tried not to worry, but she’d been planning to come over to get her present. When she didn’t show up or answer, I drove over. I live three hours away, but I just got in my car and came,” the grief-stricken mother cried as she answered our questions.
“When was she supposed to be at your house?” Joe tried not glance at the body as the coroner placed the bag over her.
“When she got off work, she was supposed to head out and be at my house at about eight, depending on traffic. She always calls me when she leaves so that I know when to expect her. She has Fridays and Saturdays off, and we were going to celebrate her birthday tomorrow.” She burst into sobs again.
I had walked around while Joe was asking the questions. “It doesn’t appear to be any different than the others. I’ll go question the neighbors and see if they saw anything.”
Not really expecting anything different this time, I approached the group of neighbors that were gathered just outside the crime tape. “Did anyone see anything earlier today?”
“Not today, but when are you going to take care of that car that keeps parking outside of my house at all hours of the day and night?” A little elderly woman held tightly onto her small dog.
“Which car? Did you file a report?”
“Of course I filed a report,” she responded indignantly. “Several times, but by the time you would get here, it would be gone.”
“What
color was it?” This might be the break we’d been looking for.
“It was a little blue car, couldn’t hold more than two people comfortably. I gave the last officer the license plate number.” She patted the little dog. “Are you going to make sure that he doesn’t come back? It’s having people around that don’t belong that causes things like this to happen to nice people.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll pull the reports, and if I need to come back and get the plate number from you again, will that be okay?”
“I suppose so. At least you seem to be interested. None of the others were, they just thought I was a crazy old lady.”
“I certainly don’t think that, ma’am. We’ll do our best to make sure that you aren’t bothered again.”
I could almost guarantee that the killer wouldn’t be back or park in front of her house again.
“It’s past my bedtime, and Jessie needs her beauty sleep as well.” The older lady walked back to her house.
The others gathered around didn’t say much until she was out of hearing range. “She’s a crazy old lady. She’s always calling the cops or the firemen to come and check out something that she’s seen. We’ve had meetings about her crying wolf, and it was causing trouble for the rest of us.”
“Be that as it may, she might have seen something that could give us a lead on our killer. We have to follow up on everything just in case.”
I stayed and asked a few more questions, but nobody seemed to have seen anything, or they were at work during the daytime. Personally, I thought that the old lady might be the only reason they hadn’t all been robbed or killed already.
“Joe, I think we might have a break. I’m going to go back to the station and pull some reports.”
“Sure, just text me if you find out anything.” Joe was still trying to calm the mother down enough that they could get her to a hotel for the rest of the night.
He seemed to have it under control, so I headed back to my car, ready to pull all the reports and have a talk with one of the patrol guys if they had missed something this big.