Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Thank You
Booklist
Missing Rita
(Mystery Thriller Suspense novel)
James Kipling
Mystery Thriller Suspense Publications House
Missing Rita(Mystery Thriller Suspense novel)
Copyright 2015 James Kipling, Mystery Thriller Suspense Publications House
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Chapter One
Tracy looked at her ceiling before turning on her side again, and tried to get some sleep. She squeezed her thighs together and felt the sweet ache that was coming from it. Out of sheer frustration she reached under her bed and took out her favorite toy. She lie on her back again and spread her legs apart; she directed the toy towards her privates and switched it on. The much-anticipated vibration was absent and she felt anger before sitting up and trying to adjust it. The “on” switch clicked for a second and third time, but it did not vibrate.
“Batteries!”She threw it against the wall and listened to the cracking sound it made before it tumbled down to the floor. It lay next to the plate of food that was also in pieces thatshe hadn’t bothered to clean up. The frustration annoyed her and she reached for her phone. There were no missed calls or text messages and the sudden lonely feeling that settled in her stomach was almost palpable. This made her reach out for her teddy bear and she hugged it close to her chest. Hunger pangs flared up in her stomach and brought her attention to other things. She immediately dialed for a pizza delivery.
She looked at the time and felt bored; she had a few more hours to kill before reporting for work at 11:00 pm.
She got out of bed and decided to do a little cleaning as she waited for the pizza to arrive. She looked around at her surroundings and loved how her apartment looked. It was small but tidy (when she wanted) and she was proud of that. She broke into song as she busied herself and was distracted by a knock on the door. She slowly walked towards it and started wondering whether she had eaten that day. She only had a night robe on as she walked towards the door.
“Pizza delivery,” a young man with a helmet tucked under his arm announced. He wore a plastic smile on his face that she could tell was forced.
“How much will it be?”
“$15.99.”
“What?” Tracy asked. “The last time I checked it was $14.99.”
“Look lady, I don’t make the rules. I’m just the delivery boy.”
“I only have $14.99,” she insisted.
They both glared at each other for some time, Tracy feeling helpless and the pizza boy hopeless.
“Why don’t I blow you and give you “$9.99?” Tracy asked with a weird smile on her face.
“Look ma’am, I am married.”
“Nothing is written on stone, young man.”
“But if my wife found out,”he started to complain but Tracy was already on her knees fidgeting with his belt and waiting for him to resist.
The pizza boy stood his ground and let her do her thing on him. He had taken a few steps forward so that no-one could walk in on them from the dirty, deserted hallway. He shut his eyes tightly and could not believe his luck. He thought of how he would have to pay the extra money on her behalf. He tightened his grip on his helmet and did not give her a warning when he was about to explode.
He watched as she pulled back and spit his semen on the floor before throwing him a dirty look, yanking the pizza from his hands and walking back into the apartment. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and locked the door after him.
“Same time next week?” the pizza boy asked from the other side of the door. She wanted to hurl an insult at him but the whiff of hot pepperoni pizza distracted her and she decided to take care of her hunger first.
Tracy devoured the pizza but that was an understatement –– she attacked it. She could hear the footsteps of the pizza boy walking away and a smile appeared on her face. She felt like a conqueror. She had not paid for the pizza and went on to eat all of it.
After a few minutes of basking in her conning glory, she got to her feet and walked towards the bedroom. She then got to her knees and from under her bed took out a small wooden box that had a lock at the front but was not locked. She threw it open and took a peek inside; there were several pictures of different people in it staring up at her. She took them all out, placed them on the floor and spread them out evenly. Some of the photos had newspaper clippings attached to them and she placed those aside on a pile to her left.
She then looked at the other side and could not keep a boiling anger from stirring inside her. She went in search of the pizza box and took out the last few slices from it. She returned to the bedroom floor and looked down at the many photos that were at her feet and sat down slowly. She made a random pick of one of them and held it in midair. She stared at it continually for a minute longer before taking a bite from her pizza.
“You are next, dear,” she said before letting out a girlish giggle and placed it aside. She threw a glance at the old and dusty clock before getting to her feet and walking towards the bathroom. She had about an hour to prepare before heading off to work. As she got to the bathroom door she looked back at the mess on the floor, her gaze settling on one particular photo she had singled out. A murderous look appeared on her face and she stared at it for a second longer before heading into the bathroom to take her cold shower.
*****
Detective Lohan was in his favorite strip club enjoying a lap dance from his favorite stripper.He felt the phone vibrate and took a look at it before answering it reluctantly.
“Lohan,” he announced.
He listened to what the person on the other end of the line said before saying, “I will be right there.”
He shifted his gaze back to the stripper still perched on his lap and let out a half smile.
“I am sorry, Ginger, I have to go.”
“Already?” Ginger asked with a disappointed look on her face. He was one of her regulars and a very good tipper.
“I’ll be back tomorrow,” he said before taking a few dollar bills and placing them between her cleavages in her bra.
“Promise?” she asked with a pouting look on her face.
“Promise, sweetheart,” he said before placing a comforting pinch on her chin and getting to his feet. He started for the door, knowing very well another call would come if he delayed.
His suspicions were right. While he was held up in traffic, another call came through his cell phone.
“Yes, sir,” he said on the phone and listened keenly to his boss giving instructions.
“I am on my way there, sir,” he said and nodded his head in agreement with what he was saying.
Lohan got to the crime scene in well under ten minutes and spotted the local police team already present. He parked a good distance from it before pocketing his cell phone and getting out of the car. A few of his colleagues from work saw him approach and waved him over to where they were st
anding.
“What do we have here?” he asked after arriving where the rest of the team were.
“Right this way, Lohan,” his close friend from the office said and started leading the way towards where various lab analysts were taking photos and a few samples of the floor and walls.
“Here we are,” he said and pointed to a woman’s lifeless body sprawled on the floor. Her mouth was slightly open and there was blood oozing from the side of her mouth.
“She sure is a pretty thing,” Lohan said and moved closer to where the crime had been committed.
She was tall with a mass of black curly hair on her head; her chocolate complexion stuck out and glowed even after death. She had on a nurse’s uniform and seemed just about to leave for work.
“That she is,” his partner, Sam replied and they both had a sad look on their faces before getting on with their work.
“Her name is Rita Sutter,” Sam explained, making different references to a notepad he held in his left hand.
“She was a nurse at the St. Mathews Memorial Hospital just a few blocks from here.”
Lohan automatically blocked all else that Sam was saying and slowly bent down to have a closer look at her. He immediately noticed a tan line on her ring finger but no ring. He returned his gaze to Sam.
“Married?”
Sam checked his notes and answered, “Recently divorced.”
“That explains the tan line on her finger,” he said before taking another closer look at her.
“Where is her other earring?” he went on to ask and pointed to her left ear.
The blank look on Sam’s face confirmed what Lohan suspected and he immediately got to his feet.
“Excuse me!” he shouted to the forensic team. “Please watch out for an earring that is missing from the victim’s ear.”
He was about to say something else when his phone rang in his pocket. He buried his hand in it and hoped it was someone he could ignore. The name that was displayed on the phone screen made him leave the room and take his call outside.
“Hello,” he said after going outside.
“Hello, Edward,” a female voice said on the other side of the line. “Why were you taking so long to answer my call?”
“I am at work, dear,” he replied and knew he was well on his way to an argument.
“Funny,” she sneered. “I have just been told you were down at Whiskers.”
“Whiskers?”
“Yes, Whiskers,” she said. “The strip club.”
Lohan went silent for a few minutes before remembering his wife had recently adopted a habit of trailing him.
“Can we please do this later? I am working, Gina,”he replied with utter disgust in his voice.
“There won’t be any later if you don’t come home straight from work,” Gina interjected.
“So you are threatening me now?”
“Edward,” Gina said in a warning tone. “Do not try me, I would rather you go and speak to your regular stripper Ginger in that way...”
The phone went dead just as Edward was trying to figure out the right words to say to her. He shook his head lightly. He wished he would not have picked up her call and his mind raced back to the last time he ignored her call. Her voice was still echoing in his mind and it had completely thrown him off balance. He tried to collect his thoughts before returning to the case at hand, and slowly took out a pack of smokes from his pocket.
The familiar scent of the smoke caressed his cravings and calmed his nerves. He tried to clear his head before putting out the cigarette and walking back into the house. Sam was busy taking notes and his face lit up when he saw him walking back in.
“We may have a possible lead,” he said before pointing to a blood-stained picture in an evidence bag.
“What is that?” he asked, trying to look at the photo and back at Sam.
“We found it on the floor in the victim’s room,” he said and tried to talk some more before noticing that Lohan was not paying any attention to what he was saying.
“Are you alright, man?”
“Phone call from Gina,” Lohan replied before taking a very deep breath and looking at Sam.
“You should try having a smoke and clearing your head,” Sam advised and saw how his friend was suddenly nervous. Lohan made him grateful he was still single.
“I just had two,” he replied before placing his hand over his head, and began walking around the room. He concentrated on nothing in particular before shaking his head and walking back to where Sam was standing.
“O.k.,” he said, “I am good now.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, man,” Lohan answered before shrugging his shoulders and walking back to stand over the dead body.
“You said you have something for me?”
“Yes, I do,” Sam replied before showing him the bloodstained photo that was now securely in an evidence bag.
“Who is that?” he asked curiously before taking a closer look at the photo.
“We found the photo lying on the bedroom floor,” Sam answered. “I should hand it over to the lab techs to dust it for prints.”
“Have them make a few copies of this,” he said. “We will need to ask the neighbors about her.”
“O.k.”
Sam walked out of the room with the picture in hand and left Lohan to carry out his investigation by himself. He had worked with him for a few months now and knew he needed his space to work.
Lohan looked around the room and could not help but admire the thoughtful décor. The place was not big but she really knew how to make it look homey. With Gina completely pushed out of his mind now, Lohan felt more relaxed and focused and resumed his walk around the place. He put on his detective hat and his spectacles for scrutiny.
“Sam,” he called. “Was there any sign of forceful entry?”
Sam was by Lohan almost immediately with his notepad still perched in his hand.
“No, there was not,” he answered.
“That can only mean a few things,” Lohan answered. “She must have known her slayer.”
“Either that or her slayer must be a very good lock picker.”
“We will have to dig more in her past to find out whether there was anyone in her life who wanted to kill her,” Lohan said.
He looked again at the crime scene and was more than certain there was nothing else he could do on the first day. He waved Sam over and watched as he obediently walked over.
“I think I’d better head on home,” he said with a sad look in his eye. “We’ll pick this up tomorrow.”
Sam simply nodded and completely understood that as much as they wanted to, they could not solve the mystery on the first day.
“I am sure we will have a good lab analysis on her and the house,” Lohan went on to say. “We’ll start questioning the neighbors tomorrow...”
“Alright, boss,”Sam answered and watched as he began heading out the door. Logan said “hi” to a few people who were still trying to take samples in the house. He walked over to his car and dreaded the ride home. He looked forward to nothing in particular and relaxed more in his seat. He knew Gina all too well and was expecting a phone call from her any minute now. His suspicions were confirmed when his phone started to light up and Gina’s number appeared on the screen. He debated whether or not to pick it up but knew he would be in trouble if he didn’t.
“Yes, honey,” he said.
“What time will you be home?”
“I am still working,” he answered in a very calm voice. “I don’t know what time exactly I will be home.”
“You had better get your ass home in the next half hour,” she warned before hanging up the phone.
Lohan held the phone at a closer range and felt his heart beat faster as he pondered his next move. He looked at the time on his cell phone and placed it aside before starting the car and driving on into the darkness.
His thoughts were again scattered and he could not make up his mind on what to
do next. His mind raced back to the days when he thought he was in love with Gina and wondered how things got to this point.
“You cheated on her, that’s how you got here,” a voice in his head murmured and he settled in his seat even more as he drove on. He saw the neon sign glittering from a distance and started looking around for a parking spot.
He got out of his car after placing his cell phone on the dashboard and heading over to the building.
He was immediately greeted at the door by a waitress. “Lohan, back so soon?”
“Yes, yes,” he smiled. “I have unfinished business here. Is Ginger preoccupied at the moment?”
“She was busy but will be done soon,” the waitress replied. “Can I get you someone else?”
“It’s o.k. I’ll wait for her.”
The waitress was just about to walk away but was stopped dead in her tracks by Lohan.
“The usual, please.”
“Coming right up,” she replied with a warm, lovely smile on her face.
Lohan took a quick look around the room and spotted a comfortable place and walked over to it. It was a secluded corner and he knew that Ginger would spot him there once she was done with her other client.
“Honey, I am home,” he said and walked over with a slight spring in his step.
*******
Ryan woke up as usual that day and began his daily routine of preparing his kids for school. He looked at his cell phone and wondered why his ex-wife had not called him back. He had a tight schedule that day and could not spend any more time with the kids. He tried to place a call to her for the millionth time but it went straight to voicemail.
“Trevor! Stacy!”He called out to his kids who he had assumed were already up. “Breakfast!”
He was in the kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee in his hand and took a few sips from it as he threw a glance at his wristwatch. He would be late for work if he did not make his kids hurry up. He went into full charging mode and stormed up the stairs toward their bedrooms.
Mystery: Missing Rita: (Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Suspense Thriller Mystery) Page 1