by Paris Morgan
“Mr. Fox, we’ll run those through the system and see what departments they worked in. I’ve also compiled a list of those we’ve let go in the past six months who might have had a reason to hold a grudge.”
The secretary slid those papers toward me, and I took the time to look through them before responding.
“All these on the list are men. Aren’t there any women who left the company? I’m going to need that list going three years back of either sex. Also, any complaints that were filed against the dead in regards to bad work ethic, sexual harassment, eating someone else’s lunch, etc.”
Mr. Hamilton started to speak, but I took great pleasure in interrupting him. “I will also need the same thing for Simon’s family since the company opened. This could be a grudge that was carried down from generation to generation. I’ll need to check all angles.”
“The Green Bay Police Department may trust you, young man, but you don’t get to call the shots around here,” he sputtered angrily at me.
“I’m sure that Detective Jesse Burns’ family will be comforted by your willingness to help. This is a classic motive for serial killers, and they make a small offense grow until that’s all that fills their minds. Obsessive behavior can be transferred to others once their primary targets have been neutralized.”
“Are you threatening my company, young man?” He shook a fist in my face.
“Of course not. I just want you to be aware of how these types of things play out. I mean, we’ve seen people bomb companies for much less, and I’d hate to find your body hanging from the rafters somewhere.” I shrugged. “It’s not my call, though. If I can’t find the killer in the next couple of days, I’ll have to go home. I just hope that I have enough information to make a difference before then.”
My chair slid across the floor as I scooted back from the table to leave.
“Sit, please,” Mr. Hamilton huffed, falling for my bluff. “Margaret, please help Mr. Fox with any information that he needs. If you feel that it’s sensitive, just make a note and I’ll review it before it’s given to him.”
He turned to me, trying to stand as tall as he could, but falling short by inches for intimidation. “Young man, if you haven’t concluded your search in forty-eight hours, I’ll personally walk with the guards to make sure that you are off the premises.”
“Understood. I’ll use my time wisely.” I tilted my head to acknowledge his cooperation. “This is my top priority right now.”
“See that it is.” He swept from the room with the other managers following in his wake like frightened little ducks.
“This should be fun,” I mumbled under my breath.
“You have no idea. He really has it out for you now. If Mr. Simon’s lawyers hadn’t made it clear that he needed to give you access, you’d still be cooling your heels in that hotel,” Margaret informed me.
“Thanks.” I grinned. “Time’s ticking, so let’s get as much done as possible.” I loved a challenge, and I was certain that Urban Energy’s files were going to be very interesting.
“Follow me.” Margaret led the way to an office back in the corner of the floor.
Chapter 12
Leslie
I was swamped after another day at work with more reports that needed filled out, but all I could think about was Flora. I hadn’t heard from her since I’d gone up to help Ryan, and I was anxious to hear how things were going.
Stuck as numbers started to look the same, I decided that I should call her up to see what was going on.
“Leslie?” Her voice whispered at me.
“Why are you whispering?” I asked suspiciously.
“My roommate isn’t home, and I keep having these nightmares again. I should have called you, but I just couldn’t handle having the night invade my daytime hours.”
“You know that you’re always welcome to call me twenty-four-seven. Do you need me to come over?” I was exhausted, but I’d get in the car right now if she needed me. “Is this about the killer?”
“Don’t come over. Having you here won’t make a difference. I’m not sure if it’s about a killer. I keep having the same dream, only I get a little further each night. It’s like I want to see what happens, but in the end, I know that it’s all going to go wrong.”
Mentally, I thanked whoever was listening that I didn’t have to move from my chair. “I’ve had those kinds of dreams. They always seem real.”
“Ah, sweetie, this one already happened to someone. I’m seeing it from their perspective. I can tell that it’s in the past because of the way it moves on the screen, like its all yellow and faded, yet I think it was in the last few years. This person has it playing in a loop in their brain so much that it’s become part of them.”
“Tell me about it.” I feared that Flora was communicating with our killer and she didn’t even know it.
“I walk into this room expecting to talk to my sister, but she’s not there. I know she’s been having a hard time lately. She’s lost her job because her company downsized. No one else will hire her, and she’s been really depressed. She’s joined this group that claims to help others, but so far, nothing has made a difference. I can feel the panic start to set in, and I begin to run through the house. I reach the back door and everything stops.” Flora was breathing heavily, as if she’d just run a race.
“This person went to stay with the sister because they were afraid that she was going to do something she couldn’t undo. The parents both had fulltime jobs and thought that having a younger person around would be the best way to inject the sister with some happiness. I haven’t seen the last of the dream yet, but I know how it ends.”
“She kills herself,” I finish for her. “Suicide. That’s why all of these murders have been made to look like suicides. She’s recreating the scene again and again to the people who hurt her sister.”
“Yes, and each night the anger grows. I don’t think she’s going to be happy after she’s inflicted her version of justice. It feels very volatile, just waiting for someone to push her over the edge.”
“Flora, is there any indication of how tall the person is or what their name might be?”
“Let me think…” Flora murmured. “I would say she’s a little shorter than me, so about 4’9 or 5 foot. I think the dead sister’s name is Heather? Does that mean anything?”
“Not at the moment, but I'll check with Ryan. It might be the link we need to find our killer. If nothing else, we can search the files for people who died in the last three years with that name. Flora, you're a doll.”
“Oh, you wouldn't think so if you could see the inside of my head. It feels so dark some days that even a small amount of light barely gives room to the darkness.”
“Is there anything we can do to help make it better?” I felt really bad that our case seemed to have taken over Flora's life and was causing her so many problems. “When will your roommate be home?”
“Tomorrow. It’s a good thing you called because I was starting to panic at the thought of going to sleep tonight. Now, I'll pay more attention for something else that might help you.”
“Flora, don't do anything that isn't necessary. Can you be trapped in your dream?”
“Leslie, you're so sweet to worry, and honestly, I have no idea. I've never had dreams like this before. Occasionally, I've had one that lasted a night or two, but never over two weeks. If this is your killer, they have a strong psychic vibe to send this kind of signal out every night. When someone has this kind of pain and anger, it makes the vibes much stronger, but I don't think she's sending these out on purpose.”
“Do you feel safe?”
“I must have been sending out vibes on my own, because I think I just needed to talk. You've helped so much, and if it catches this killer, then the sun will shine all on its own. Sweet dreams to you, Leslie.”
After we hung up, I debated on calling Ryan. I hadn't heard from him in a few days. Last time we talked, he was getting more frustrated as people continued
dying while he sat around waiting for the killer to drop in his lap.
Following my instincts, I called him anyway. “Ryan, are you still up?”
“Yeah. I've been working with Margaret all day poring over these files. When her boss said that I only had forty-eight hours, he meant it.”
“Margaret?” I felt silly asking the question, and realized that I was slightly jealous. If this is what Jerome felt like, I guess I could sympathize.
“Where are you?”
“Oh, I didn't have a chance to call you earlier. It's all been pretty fast-paced around here. I had a meeting with the head of the Northwestern section of Urban Energy. He didn't want me to access their records, but Simon's lawyer put a little pressure on and paved the way for me to search the files. I'm not having much luck, but I'm printing out all those that might match so that when I leave in thirty hours, I can go ahead and keep working.”
“I have a name for you to run—Heather. I know it's not much, but it could help narrow down the results. She would have been an employee in the last three years who was let go. Flora's been having dreams, and that's the only name she came up with. I'm going to check deaths during that time as well. It seemed that she was also going to a group. It could be Simon's for that same reason.”
“Leslie, this is wonderful. I mean, I don't know how Flora could have known that, but I'll take it if we can find this person. I might even take her out for a meal when it's all over.”
“I'll keep digging, and hopefully, something will break.”
“Yeah, I think it's going to be my eyes from looking at these records. I'm going to have Margaret run this last name before we leave for the night, then I'll come back in the morning to see if it matches anyone else.”
“Take care of yourself, Ryan. You can't catch the bad guys if you're so tired that they walk right by you and you miss it.”
“You're right. I'll tell you if I find her.”
“Same here.”
“Night.” I sat there for a moment, overwhelmed that we might actually be making progress, but I was hiding from what I needed to do. I picked up the phone again and dialed Jerome. “Hey, are you still up?” I wanted to hit myself. “You wouldn't have answered if you weren't, huh?”
“That's probably true,” he chuckled. “So what's got you up at this time of night?”
“Feeling guilty for not being honest with you about what's going on right now,” I confessed.
“No worries. I know that you've been busy on a case. We'll make the time to get some dinner.”
“That's not it. I am on a case, but I have a hard time when someone’s trying to control me. I tend to push the other way. You were just protecting yourself. I want us to go to dinner tomorrow if that's okay with you?”
“Looking forward to it.”
“Yay! So, you don't hate me?”
“Of course not. Why would you think that?”
“Well, I haven't been the best datee so far. I can bring flowers to show I'm sorry?”
“Ha-ha. No, just bring yourself and we'll call it good. Don't blame yourself. We just have to learn each other’s quirks and which buttons not to push.”
“Is that even possible?”
“Nope, but we'll have as long as it takes to find out the basic stuff.”
“Thanks. See you tomorrow.”
“Night, Ms. Boxe.”
“Night.”
Feeling as if a weight had been lifted, I closed things down for the night and headed to bed guilt free.
***
I dreamt that my phone was ringing and I answered it. “Hello?”
“I found her!” Ryan yelled in my ear, jarring me awake.
“Huh? Ryan, what’s going on?”
“I found her, Heather Sandford. She was let go because of downsizing. She was an art designer, and they had someone come in to give an appraisal of ways to save money. They had outsourced this firm of statistical and Human Resources, where they made the calculations and then sent someone to put the pink slips on desks. No one in the main offices knew who was let go, so they didn’t have to make the choice themselves.”
Fully awake now, I glanced at the clock, which read 4 a.m.
“We stayed up all night going through the records. Each murder matches to someone who worked on the team that produced those results. The murdered ones in Madison are the ones who did the actual letting go with Human Resources. Simon’s group tried to help her out after she lost her job, and when her boyfriend left her, she felt hopeless.” He sounded so excited.
“Does she have a sister who could be avenging her?”
“Yes, and her family is located in Texas. I’ve sent you a text with her parents’ address. They may be able to give you a current phone number that we can trace.”
“Did you get any sleep?” I knew I’d only had a few hours, but I was going to guess that he hadn’t taken his own advice.
“Nope. I was too excited when you gave me that name. Tell Flora I’m going to take her out to dinner and apologize.”
“Well, I’ll make sure to have the smelling salts ready for when she faints.” I grinned at his enthusiasm. “Did you find a reason why she would hurt Jesse?”
“Once I had a name to trace, I was able to find her through police records here. He’d been called to her home when they found her dead. I’m sure the sister blamed him for not saving her. We’re rounding up a team right now to go to the house and see if we can find anything there.”
“Right. I’ll head in and see if I can find someone who can make a house call to the parents. We don’t have a real reason, but maybe they’ll be willing to talk to us anyway.” I swung my feet over the side of the bed to get dressed. “I’ll call you when I have a location, but it may be late morning.”
Trying to explain over the phone wouldn’t be as easy as driving up there and seeing who was still in the station. I checked my ankle holster and body harness. I had a feeling it was better to be safe than sorry.
The station appeared deserted when I arrived, but detectives weren’t normally hanging around unless something was going that required more than patrol officers could handle. As luck would have it, Nick was still there, having been called in for something.
“Can you stop what you’re doing right now? I’ve got an urgent home visit and need backup.” I stopped directly in front of him.
He looked up, “Aw, crap, it’s you. Why should I help you out?”
“Because I didn’t report you for taking either set of my flowers, so you owe me. Plus, you’re going to want to hear this one.”
“You sure that you don’t want to call Joe so you have someone you trust watching your back?” Nick crossed his arms, waiting on my reply.
Shaking my head in exasperation, I grabbed a chair and straddled it using the back to rest my arms on. “Listen here, butthead. I’ve trained right alongside men and women, all races and styles. The only problem I have is when someone isn’t honest with me. Now, was what you did frustrating? Hell yes. Does it affect you doing your job? I don’t think so, but that’s up to you. If it’s a problem, then you need to decide right now, because it’s going to be a long road to retirement if we can’t work together. What’s it going to be?”
“Seriously, you’re not going to hold it against me?” Nick appraised me.
“No. Everyone makes mistakes, and when you’ve got two girls, I’m sure they can be quite expensive. Just promise me this, you’ll never steal from people that you work with again. Deal?” I held out my hand, waiting for his response.
He grabbed it and squeezed it tightly. “Deal. Let’s go catch some bad guys.”
I nodded and got up. I needed to let the desk sergeant know where we were headed. “Here, put this on.” I tossed him a vest.
“Do we really need these?” Nick asked with disdain.
“Yep, suit up. We have no idea what kind of mess we’re about to walk in to.”
He threw up his hands in surrender. “You’re the boss of this operation.”<
br />
“I guess I kind of am. Thanks.”
Now that we’d both made up, Nick couldn’t stop talking. I guess the fact that I knew he had two girlfriends meant he felt comfortable sharing all of the details, but thankfully, it wasn’t sinking in completely.
“I know that you’re only supposed to date one person at a time or you’re considered a cad.”
“Most people call it being a jerk, but whatever.” I followed the locator to a nice family neighborhood.
“It’s just hard to find someone who can’t actually love you, and I don’t want to go with one when it might be the opposite person I need in my life.”
“Look, dude, whatever makes you happy, okay?” I slowed down to read the house numbers. “I think this is the one.”
I checked my watch; it was only five in the morning. Not exactly the perfect time for a house call, but this way, they might be caught off guard enough to give us some answers.
Nick rang the bell after adjusting his badge onto his vest. Anyone looking out the peephole could see that there were cops at the door.
The outside light came on and the door opened just a fraction. “Is everything okay, Officers?”
“We’re looking for the parents of Heather Sandford. We need to ask you some questions. I know it’s early, but it’s urgent.”
An older man opened the door all the way, his white T-shirt and striped pajamas fit the cliché. “Uh, yeah. Come on in and have a seat. I’m going to go get my wife. We’ll be out in just a minute.”
“Honey?” His wife came out wrapping a robe around her, stopping short when she saw us in her living room. “What’s happening?”
“They’re here about Heather, honey.” He gently led her to the recliner. “How can we help you, Officers?”
“Do you have another daughter by any chance?” I could see two girls in a few of the photos on the walls.
“We do, Nancy. Is she okay?” Mrs. Sandford clutched her gown in a worried gesture.
“As far as we know, ma’am. They came up in regards to a related investigation, and we needed to know if you’ve seen either one of them lately?”