CHAPTER 9
Early this morning he bought the local newspaper. Impatiently he leafs through it. There it is, a short article on page four. He feels a slight resentment because he didn’t make the front page. But that will change very soon. He smiles.
A FEW DAYS AGO THE DEAD BODY OF A YOUNG WOMAN WAS DISCOVERED IN PIONEER PARK. ACCORDING TO THE CORVALLIS POLICE SHE IS BEATRICE BODINI, A 22 YEAR OLD WOMAN FROM SALEM, A PSYCHOLOGY STUDENT AT CORVALLIS UNIVERSITY. SHE HAD BEEN MISSING FOR THREE WEEKS. THE POLICE ASK ANYBODY WITH ANY INFORMATION REGARDING THIS MURDER TO CONTACT THEM.
Underneath the article is a telephone number and next to it a grainy black and white picture of the woman. He laughs out loud and wonders when the next article will appear. The cops haven’t got a clue what is waiting for them. Time to introduce his next victim to his cellar. He had already made his choice.
After his visit to the campus, Tim hadn’t returned to the office. Instead he had walked in the city park and had been sitting on a bench, thinking about how things would go from here. He had thought about Cameron, about David and about the murder of Beatrice Bodini. Around six his stomach had played up and he had gone for a bite to eat. After that he had gone for a drink in La Bamba. Luckily he hadn’t met anybody he knew, for he had not been in the mood for any company. Around nine he had gone home. No messages on his answering machine. In the middle of the night he had suddenly woken up, bathing in sweat. The nightmare had seemed so real, so vivid. Cam with a torn belly, him holding a bloody knife in his right hand. He tried to get rid of the pictures engraved on his retina as he parked his car at the station. Next to Foster’s SUV he saw a bright red convertible. He wondered who’s it was. Deborah at the reception desk held her hand up in a greeting and went on with her phone conversation that didn’t look to be about work. When he opened the door to the detective’s bureau he saw Foster talking to a slender blonde. Miss convertible?
‘Ah, at last, there you are,’ Foster said, looking at his watch. ‘May I introduce you to Jude McCool, your temporary partner.’ He waved his hand in the blonde’s direction.
‘You can call me Jude,’ Miss convertible laughed as she shook his hand. She had the whitest teeth he ever saw, almost dazzling. She was rather small and looked very self assured. Her black jeans and light blue shirt went very well with her short blonde hair.
‘Tim Sackley,’ he said bluntly.
‘Jude comes from the Springfield office’, Foster added. ‘She will stand in till David is back.’
‘McCool,’ Tim asked with a worried face, ‘as in daughter of?’
She smiled. ‘Yes, senator McCool’s daughter, but I can’t help that.’
Without saying a word, Tim sat down at his desk. Foster looked at him in disbelief, whilst Jude stood there, slightly disorientated.
‘Sackley, you bring Jude up to date with the Bodini case. That has absolute priority. Your other cases can wait for a while. I want to see this solved as soon as possible. How are things going anyway?’
‘I talked to the dean yesterday and inspected her room.’
‘And….. found anything?’
‘Not really.’
Foster looked at him thoughtfully, wished Jude good luck and left the office in a rather abrupt way.
‘Can I?’ Jude asked pointing to the chair opposite Tim.
‘Whatever. I can’t leave you standing all day can I?’
She sat down without saying a word. When she shoved her handbag underneath the desk, Tim handed her the Bodini file. ‘I have to talk to the boss. You can go through this file while I’m gone. It won’t take long.’
She nodded.
Seething with rage Tim ran up the stairs to Foster’s office one story up. He knocked at the door but didn’t even wait for an answer. Arms akimbo he planted himself in front of his boss.
‘Clearly you are not very happy with the situation,’ Foster said as he put down his pen.
‘Talking about an understatement….. if I ever heard one. Why for heavens sake?’ He felt his voice trembling and tried to gain control again.
‘Why what?’ Foster shouted. ‘You should be happy that I found you a new partner dammit. Are you going to take care of this case all by yourself maybe?’
‘Replacement…. yeah, and what a replacement that is. A senator’s daughter. Political appointment no doubt? She probably never saw a dead body up close. And did you see the stupid car daddy bought her?’
Foster ignored the last remark. ‘Let me tell you my friend, Jude McCool has an excellent track record, worked on a few very important cases in Springfield, and with success I may add.’
‘Oh really?’ And why did they let her go then? If she’s doing such excellent work?’
Foster sighed. ‘Because I insisted. Her boss owed me a favor and I called it in.’
‘As long as you know that I’m not going to drag her along with me all over the county.’
‘Yes you will Sackley,’ Foster bellowed, his face all red by now. He jumped out of his chair and planted both his arms on the desk. ‘I am still your boss and you will do what I order you. Understood? And if I see the slightest sign that she is sidetracked, you will have to deal with me and I will take you off the case. No doubts about it. As simple as that.’
Tim understood he couldn’t win, and still angry he stepped out of the office without saying another word. He slammed the door closed behind him.
Jude was sitting at the desk, concentrating on the file when he came back and dropped himself in his chair.
‘How horrifying,’ she said while she was studying one of the photos.
‘Indeed. But when you haven’t seen the body for real, haven’t smelled the rotting, a picture doesn’t even come close’, he snapped. He avoided looking at her and studied his screen intensely. She ignored his blunt remark and asked him if there was an explanation for the wristwatch in her belly.
‘No, not yet.’
She studied the FBI-list David had printed. ‘So you think this is not his first, that he murdered before.’
‘It seems like it, yes.’
‘If we take that as a starting point, there will be more to come. I see that the last comparable murder was three years ago.’
He looked at her and saw a frown on her forehead. He had to admit she was attractive. Although Anna Wickmeyer was taller, she made him think of her. For the next ten minutes she went through the file in silence. Tim typed up his report about the search of Bodini’s room at the University and mentioned the computer and the photo he took to the office. That reminded him he had to check her mails. That seemed like a perfect job for Miss convertible. He shoved Bodini’s laptop to her over the desk. ‘You can check her mails. There might be something interesting.’
She started up the PC. The mail program had no password on it and she went to the inbox straight away. Tim saw her make some notes.
‘Not a lot there. The spam goes to her bin and by the looks of it, that is full.’
‘When did she open her mail for the last time?’
‘Let’s see…, May 14 is the last one. It’s her electronic electricity bill. The one before that is May 7, a conformation from Amtrak Cascades that she can pick up her train ticket in Salem station. The first unopened one is May 19.’ She clicked the header and read out loud: ‘Since you made a subscription to our newsletter, you were chosen to fill out our survey. There are a lot of nice prizes to win. Please click on link below.’ She inspected the rest of the list, ignored the spam and opened a message from Corvallis library: ‘Dear miss Bodini, we are taking the liberty of reminding you that the term for returning your books expires on May 20. Please hand in the material as soon as possible, so we don’t have to charge you any costs. Your library team.’ ‘Nothing of interest for the rest.’
‘Well, that doesn’t make us any the wiser.’
‘Can I see the things that have been taken from her house?’
Tim pointed to a cardboard box next to the desk. ‘For the time being only her handbag
from the bungalow and the photo in her room.’
She took the lid off the box and took out the handbag. It was still covered in white powder. She inspected every part of it. ‘Just the usual stuff.’
‘You could have seen that on the list,’ Tim mumbled.
She looked at him. ‘I know that, but I like to see with my own eyes.’
‘Just in case David and I missed something you mean?’ he snapped. She really was a know it all.
With sadness in her eyes she said: ‘No inspector, that was not what I meant. But if you want me to only look at the lists I will do so. You’re the boss.’ Her voice sounded sarcastic. Without any further comment she put the wallet back in the handbag and put it back in the box. Tim felt like a bogey man, but he didn’t say a word while she studied the list. There was a pressing silence for a while.
‘I’m going to Timberhill in the afternoon,’ he said suddenly.
‘You’re going to Timberhill,’ she repeated. ‘Two questions: what is Timberhill and what do I do in the meantime?’
He sighed. ‘Timberhill is the local sports club. As for your second question, you can look at the cases David highlighted in his list.’
‘In Springfield partners work together on everything,’ she said with indignation.
‘That is Springfield, this is Corvallis just in case you didn’t know. But if you want to come along, feel free. I won’t stop you.’ He handed her the picture of the young man in training shorts. ‘This is the one we have to find.’
She studied it intensely. ‘Can’t be that difficult.’
Obstinate too on top of the rest.
Timberhill was only half an hour’s drive from the station, but the trip felt like an eternity. Jude had her hands in her lap. No wedding ring. She looked through the side window at the office blocks and shops gliding by. After ten minutes they left the dense city center and headed for a greener and open landscape.
‘Nice town,’ she said.
‘I think so too. A bit crowded sometimes but I like it.’ My God, what a stupid answer. They didn’t talk anymore until they arrived at Timberhill. It was a very big complex with all the facilities. From fitness, bowling alleys and swimming pools to football fields. A SUV was about to leave, and he waited till he could park in the vacant bay. They got out of the car and Tim locked up. Jude had to hurry to keep up with him, but he didn’t look back once to see if she followed him. The entrance hall was almost completely walled in glass, and stood at a right angle to the indoor part. Tim went in, Jude followed.
‘Good afternoon,’ he said to the young man behind the desk. ‘Inspector Sackley and…’ he hesitated, ‘and inspector McCool, Corvallis police.’
The man nodded. ‘Adam Sears. To what do we owe the pleasure of a visit from the police?’ he said. His voice sounded very polite. His smile was even more artificial, if possible. Tim took the picture out of his inside pocket and handed it over to Sears.
‘I’m looking for this guy and by the looks of it he is a member of your club.’
Sears held the photo in front of his eyes and studied it. He rubbed his stubbly beard. ‘Hm, he seems vaguely familiar, but I can’t put a name on him. We have over a thousand members you know,’ he added in a firm voice.
‘I can understand that, but maybe you could point me to someone who might know him.’
‘When you look at this man, which kind of discipline would you say he practices?’ Jude asked out of the blue. Tim gave her a sideways glance but had to admit to himself that it wasn’t a stupid question at all. Frowning, Sears looked at the picture again. ‘I would say fitness, maybe weight lifting. He has a very muscled upper body.’
‘Good. Maybe you could take a look at the members list of these two groups? Start with the weight lifters, that should reduce the number.’ Tim heard the triumph in her voice. Sears pushed a button on his PC. ’Forty eight weight lifters,’ he said reluctantly.
‘And did they have to hand in a photo when they subscribed?’
‘Err…, yes, I believe so. They are scanned. Oh, I see what you mean. Come behind the desk, then you can follow on the screen.’ The young man certainly hadn’t been in the front row when the brain cells were handed out. He clicked on the first name on the list. ‘No, certainly not,’ he said. They got lucky with member number twenty five.
‘Can you please print this screen for me?’ Tim asked.
‘Of course. No problem.’ He pushed another key and ten seconds later the printer spat out the page with a loud growl. ‘Sorry,’ Sears laughed, ‘we are in need of a new printer. The boss ordered a Photosmart 4780, but it hasn’t arrived yet.’
Tim took the page out of the printer and thanked Sears for his help. They left the hall and this time he opened the door for Jude and let her go first. It had started raining and they hurried to the car.
‘I have to admit,’ Tim said when they were in the dry again, ‘your question to Sears was not bad.’
‘Thank you’, she said blushing without looking at him, ‘a sudden flash of inspiration I guess.’
They looked at the printed document together. It was in black and white and the picture looked a bit grainy.
‘Jason Trent, born December 4, living in Albany, 30 Orchard Street,’ Tim read out loud. He dialed the phone number next to the address. It took a while before it was answered. A sleepy voice said: ‘Jason.’
‘Good afternoon mister Trent. This is inspector Sackley from Corvallis police.’
There was silence on the other end.
‘Mister Trent,’ Tim repeated. ‘This is…’
‘Yes man, I understood you the first time,’ he said irritated. ‘Are you sure it is me you need?’
‘If you are Jason Trent, yes, then I have the correct number.’
‘If it is about the parking ticket, I was going to pay it tonight,’ he said in a defensive way.
‘No,’ Tim said, ‘I have nothing to do with parking tickets and I don’t care if you paid it or not. I’m a homicide detective. If it suits you, I would like you to come to the station tomorrow morning, lets say ten o’clock.’
‘And why would I do that? Am I accused of something?’
‘No one accuses you of anything mister Trent, but I would really appreciate it if you could come by.’ Reluctantly the man finally agreed.
‘He’s going to have a sleepless night,’ Jude laughed. ‘You think he has something to do with it?’
‘I wouldn’t know. But of one thing I’m sure… he knows her.’
Back in the office he had Susan check if Trent was the proud owner of a criminal record. That was indeed the case. Shoplifting without violence two years ago and a hit and run last year. For the last one the court had confiscated his driver’s license for two months with a twenty days jail sentence. Tim wondered how Beatrice could be involved with this guy. Maybe she had a hidden side to her that nobody knew about. Or was she so naive that she fell in love with the first guy that gave her some attention. Of course she had had to grow up without the good influence of parents, without parental love, without a sense of safety. He put it out of his mind and decided to wait with conclusions until he had spoken to Trent the following day. He studied the forensic report Ed Dolan had mailed him. No traces of blood anywhere, a lot of fingerprints but all belonging to Bodini. He hadn’t expected anything else, but this didn’t bring him any closer to finding out what happened.
‘If you don’t mind, I would like to take a look at her handbag again,’ Jude said, her blue eyes peering into his as if she wanted to challenge him.
He sighed. ‘Go ahead if you really want to. If you find a secret compartment, just shout.’
She smiled when she fished the handbag out of the box. ‘I’m very surprised you didn’t find any contraceptive medication, not in Salem and not in University. She wasn’t a nun I hope.’
He wondered if he would ask her to have a bite to eat with him, but then decided against it. He didn’t dislike her and she was nice and intelligent but he couldn’t accept sh
e took David’s place. But of course, she couldn’t help that, like she couldn’t help being a very influential senator’s daughter. He still didn’t like that. And then the flashy convertible. Well, it would only be temporary. Before he went home he called the hospital. No change in David’s condition.
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