In Plain Sight

by R E Gauthier

  Doc straightened his glasses and proceeded.

  “Certainly Mack, our killer is showing a behavior we see in what we call retribution killers, in layman’s terms that’s a killer who seeks revenge on a past wrong or a perceived wrong or see their victims suffer at a time when they believe their lives are perfect or they are happy. Cynthia Trenton was about to be engaged to be married to her college sweetheart, Natasha Beardsley and her husband were expecting their third child; she had told him the night before her body was found. And Katherine Montgomery had just had a huge promotion in her career. All of our victims were happy and our killer wanted to snuff out their happiness when she killed them.”

  The impressed look on Detective Norman’s face was evident from her position and the rest of the taskforce looked satisfied with the explanation as well.

  Doc then continued to tell everyone about the significance of the cut mouths, the tongue cut of Kate and the word bitch written in the sand. Explaining that they were looking for a woman, who killed, mutilated and degraded these women out of rage and revenge, two very personal emotions, leading them to surmise she knew her victims.

  After Doc had ended his presentation, Kelsey rose and addressed the room, “Are there any further questions or areas you’d like us to clarify before we continue with discussing our possible witness?” Kelsey asked everyone.

  Immediately many individuals began to speak at once, so she had to indicate they’d have to speak one at a time.

  Spending a good chunk of time they discussed why they thought the killer had to be a woman, noting that the three women all attended an all girls’ school. Nikki had explained that until further evidence was found they only had this connection for all three victims. Kelsey noted that the killer wasn’t particularly strong because methods of subduing the victims were used instead of using brute force to just render them unconscious. Their killer wanted to watch them die and she wanted them to watch her kill them. Many of the members of the taskforce didn’t believe a woman could be capable of such a heinous and brutal crime. She had reassured them that the fairer sex could have enough rage and vengeance to perpetrate this crime and that male oriented and directed serial killers’ theories were being debunked routinely.

  Doc and she went as far as to tell them about the distinct psychosis their killer must be suffering from to be able to kill victims she had got to know and had inserted herself into their lives somehow. Doc even suspected that they may in fact be looking for a woman suffering from disillusions and dissociative personality disorders.

  Chomping at the bit to get to her theory of their possible witness she pounced when everyone looked satisfied with their explanation for their current killer’s profile.

  “I would like us now to direct our attention to the elephant in the room since this morning and that is a possible witness.” She said as she glanced at all the tired faces, they had been going at since lunch and everyone looked ready to drop. She knew they needed to get this out there so they could move forward with the investigation portion of this case.

  “We won’t have any definite answers until we get the results back from the lab about the carpet swatch of the stain I found this morning. But we do know that Katherine Montgomery had a live-in girlfriend and that night they had gone out to a celebratory dinner with co-workers. We also know that they had a huge fight and the girlfriend stormed out telling Miss Montgomery she was leaving her.”

  Nikki indicated she wanted to interrupt her here.

  “We only have a first name for the girlfriend because no one knew her last name, but Miranda isn’t a common name and we see that we also have a Miranda Gauthier, pronounced Gow-TYey as a neighbor questioned after the murders in the Summit apartment building. Detective Worley do we have anymore leads on the last name of the girlfriend?”

  “No, we have found no one who knew her last name but she had moved in only months ago and was from out of town,” He said going over his notes.

  “Could this Miranda Gaw-thier be our killer instead of our witness?” Detective Freeman asked.

  Kelsey hid her smile when he obviously butchered the pronunciation of the last name and then answered his question with a question of her own.

  “Detective Freeman why do you assume this woman could be our killer?”

  “Well a stupid dyk...I mean she was angry at her girlfriend and broke it off with Miss Montgomery and she lived next door to Cynthia and Jeremy she had motive and opportunity.”

  She felt Nikki’s ire before she saw the look she shot down at the red-faced detective, Nikki of all people being an open lesbian didn’t look kindly on anyone referring to a woman as a dyke. Her own anger bubbled up as well because the detective wasn’t just a misogynistic bastard he was also a homophobic prick. Calm down Kelsey, she told herself.

  “I don’t think we should be leaping to any conclusion in our investigation as to the fact that Miranda Gauthier is our killer for a number of obvious reasons. Number one reason is that we have no reason to believe this Miranda, who is Miss Montgomery’s ex-girlfriend and Miranda Gauthier are one in same. Not until we can talk to her. I won’t go into the flaws in your theory considering motives for all of the victims. She doesn’t fit the profile and we don’t force a possible suspect into our profile based on sexuality of the fact she had a fight with one of our victims. Until we have found this woman and can ask her about her knowledge and relationship to all of our victims we have no reasons to believe she is anything more than a potential witness.” She knew that everyone would have problems not wanting to jump to the conclusion because she and Nikki had also jumped to the same one earlier that morning after she found the stain in the closet.

  “Why is it okay for you FBI Profilers to leap to conclusions when you formulate your profiles and theories but when someone else does it’s a mistake?” Detective Freeman asked, looking angrier than he had all day.

  Taking a few deep cleansing breaths, Kelsey tried to settle her annoyance, when she really wanted to throttle the arrogant man instead.

  “Detective Freeman I will caution you here, because we are including you as a curtsey to your investigation bureau but we will not take this obvious lack of respect lightly. We can terminate our inclusions of all outside affiliations today so that we can solve this case without further disruptions.” She didn’t like letting her anger fly but her patience had snapped.

  “As Liaison Officer of this case, I’ll caution ALL of the investigating detectives from each jurisdiction; that any further cause of delays with rude comments or snide remarks will result in us closing your involvement to investigating leads and witnesses where we delegate. Do I make myself perfectly clear?” Rachel stood up now addressing everyone with a stern look.

  A mumble of ‘yes Ma’am’ and nods were her answer.

  Kelsey smiled, she now wished she had done what she had wanted to do originally and that was to brief her team, brain storm and then give them their profile, theory on the witness and then ask them to go investigate each case with those in mind. Should’ve, could’ve, and would’ve beside the point, they now had dealt with the issue and she hoped it would be the last time they had to.

  She stood and began to walk around the room to finish her theory on the witness’s identity.

  “My theory is that Miranda was still in the condo when Kate and the killer arrived and before she could leave, she hid in the closet and then she saw Kate being killed and mutilated by our killer. The spot where I found the stain had a direct view through refurbished shutter closet doors. I couldn’t get into the spot myself but I can imagine a petite woman or child being able to fit there and not be seen. Kate had no children but her Ex is described as petite; she could have fit there.” Glancing around the room she saw a few people looking dazed, the briefing had been going on long enough so she decided to stop here.

  “If she is our witness why hasn’t she come forward, SSA MacGregor?” Detective Norman asked.

  “I can’t begin to answer that question, but
Doc could you give everyone an idea why someone who witnessed this gruesome murder may not come forward?”

  “Certainly Mack, we sometimes see witnesses not coming forward because of fear of being the killer’s next target or we also see it in cases such as this, where the killing was so heinous and brutal, the witness may in fact be too traumatized. I would caution us moving forward in locating this woman to do so with such care to make sure we don’t spook or further traumatize her.”

  “That is why I have decided that I will personally take on the task of finding Miss Miranda Gauthier and requesting she come here personally so we can question her about any involvement with our victims. We know she knows our first two victims but I don’t want some beat cop or bumbling detective asking her over the phone if she knows the other victims.” Kelsey said, knowing full well the detective comment wouldn’t sit well, but she had to make it clear she didn’t want anyone stepping out of line. Before leaving she gave everyone their own tasks. The detectives in the original cases were to go back and re-interview all their witnesses and family members of the victims to ask them specific questions about Kent Place School and if their victims had problems with any teacher or student there. Grumbles arose with this announcement but she needed to delegate. Isn’t that how Rachel had put it? She then dismissed everyone asking Nikki, Rachel and Doc to hang back so they could discuss their plans.

  “So we have got our detectives off chasing down any new leads while we’ll see if we can piece together each crime scenes, why not say we meet back here tomorrow morning and go over each scene with a fine-tooth comb. In the meantime Nikki I’ll need you to help me try and track down this Miranda Gauthier.”

  “Sure Mack no problem but I have already tried all the usual means, she doesn’t drive so no driver’s license, I couldn’t even find a state issued ID card, she has dual citizenship but I need to get a warrant to gain access to her Canadian Identification Information. We have nothing at all in any system to give us a definitive description of her and this Miranda woman here in Baltimore is like some ghost, no one knows her enough to give us a good description. We have brown hair, blue eyes but one says no not blue they were green. She’s described as plain and ordinary by a few people but one said she was a very smart, intuitive and attractive woman.”

  “She certainly is a mystery but you know how I love a good mystery?” Kelsey said winking at her best friend. “Doc do you think you can check with some of your Psychologist friends and see if they are treating a trauma patient fitting our Miranda Gauthier? Maybe someone is treating one who has had a complete psychotic break in the last six weeks.”

  “I was thinking that myself Mack, you really don’t need me when you are quite capable of doing an in-depth behavioral profile on our killer and you were only playing when you said you didn’t know why our witness may not come forward. You’re an excellent Profiler and you know it.”

  “Doc I need your eyes and brains to keep me going in the right direction besides this is a team effort and we all help keep us doing what we know and do best, find our suspects and bring them to justice before they have the chance to hurt anyone else.” She didn’t want her colleagues to know she wasn’t feeling all that confident these days or that her mind wandered in different directions, if they weren’t here she may not be able to solve this case at all.

  She then asked Rachel to get a BOLO out on LEO to see if anymore cases involving zip ties, slitting the throats and mutilations had been reported. Concerned that they could have potential additional cases or victims, she wanted to make certain the Law Enforcement Online Service would flag cases that may have gone unnoticed. She asked that they also include crimes where unique neck bruising had been found.

  They discussed more on her theory about the Dim Mak strike. She had found while doing a search on unique killing methods. Dim Mak was ancient martial arts and is depicted as a secret body of knowledge with techniques that attack pressure points and meridians, said to incapacitate or sometimes cause immediate or even delayed death to an opponent.

  Rachel begged off so she could run and catch the small window of opportunity to call her husband, Richard in China on assignment and Doc said he needed some fresh air, leaving her alone with Nikki.

  “Mack I found out that Miranda Gauthier is a children’s book author.” Showing Kelsey a website she found on her tablet. What do you think Detective Freeman would say about that?”

  Looking over the photos of children books and smiling at some of the titles she giggled.

  “Some bullshit about it taking all kinds of women to be a serial killer: lesbians, mothers, grandmother and…What an ass, can you send me that info?”

  “Sure no problem, you don’t think she could be our killer do you?”

  “We have to follow the evidence Nikki and even though Detective Freeman’s theories are flawed there would be many who would follow the same train of thought down that rabbit hole.”

  “Well it’s a good thing we have our very own Agent MacGregor to ferret out the truth.”

  Chapter Six

  “To surrender your heart is to surrender your body.”

  Kelsey stood looking out over the Inner Harbor and mentally thanked the Justice Department for putting the taskforce up in the Regency Hyatt Hotel. Of all the places they could have stayed while in town and investigating this case; this hotel was certainly the best. They had rented the top floor conference and meeting rooms and the entire floor below was designated for the members of the taskforce. She had the largest suite on the floor and had a wonderful view of the harbor and the Baltimore skyline. Nikki had emailed her the information on how to contact Miranda Gauthier. Nikki had used all her resources but could only come up with an email for the author’s literary agent Jessica Harrington. She had quickly sent off an email requesting that the agent contact her by phone as soon as she could and that it had to do with an ongoing FBI case. Her musings were interrupted by her phone ringing.

  “Hello.” She answered her phone with more formality than she usually did, but she didn’t recognize the displayed number. Thinking it could be the literary agent she had contacted about Miranda Gauthier.

  “Is this Special Agent Kelsey MacGregor?” a man’s voice asked tentatively.

  She had been expecting Jess Harrington, the literary agent and this was most certainly not her. Who the hell is calling me?

  “Yes this is she, who am I speaking with?” She said cautiously because the man wouldn’t be calling her for business if he didn’t know who she was; it wasn’t like she gave out her phone number to anyone.

  “I am a reporter with the Baltimore City News and I am looking for a statement...”

  Ending the call immediately and then blocking the phone number from calling her again, she blew out an angry breath. How in the hell did he get her phone number? Fuming now, her meal sitting in her stomach like a stone, she growled into the empty room. The first thing on tomorrow’s agenda would be to formulate a media release in the form of a press conference, she hated to have to deal with the media but it’s better than them hounding her or the other members of the taskforce for information or worse, making up their own news about the case.

  After the disturbing phone call, Kelsey called her grandmother, making sure she wouldn’t be calling during her favorite shows. She had asked Kelsey how she was and told her she had dreams seeing her searching for something. She told her she had a premonition that soon she would find what she need to find. Without going into much detail she told her she was on a case but that she promised she would make it home. They talked more about Nanna’s dreams and she thought how she had missed hearing her grandmother’s rich Scottish brogue. I’m glad I will get to see her soon.

  She had given Rachel’s advice much thought over the course of the day and the conclusion she reached is that she might as well get it over with. She couldn’t keep running from her family and her emotions. Maybe if I get this dealt with I can focus better on this case. She did feel a small weight come off he
r shoulders after she hung up the phone. She and Nanna had made plans for the weekend and smiled when she remembered the excitement she heard in her grandmother’s voice. She had missed Nanna most of all and although it had only been six months since she had visited her nonagenarian grandmother, she always wished she could spend more time with her.

  While she waited for a reply to her email, she decided to do a Google search for the author Miranda Gauthier. She looked at some of the books the author had written and smiled when she read the titles. ‘Little Kachina goes to School’ ‘Kachina learns to write her ABC’s’ all the children’s book titles were about very young children growing up, through the eyes of a little dog named Lachine.Miranda Gauthier obviously loved children and she wondered if the woman had any of her own. The page didn’t have much personal information, except that Miranda had grown up in New Jersey from the age of 7 after moving from Québec, Canada. She loved nature and had many hobbies. She was an avid birdwatcher, hiker, paddler and camper and when she wasn’t in the woods she was drawing and painting nature from wherever she was at the time. Kelsey also learned from a posted interview with the author that she loved music, dancing, yoga and body weight training. She ate organic and healthy foods and loved to travel when she had time. Many of her children’s books were written in scenic locales around the world like Switzerland, Australia, Africa and South America. Wow she’s a world traveler; it may not be easy tracking her down after all.

  An hour or so later she checked a few more pages with interviews and then she found a blog by the author. It was titled Miranda in Motion. She scanned the blog for more information and found out she had a cottage in rural Quebec where she went to write and relax. There were photos of a serene lake, birds and deer. Kelsey realized she hadn’t found one image of the woman. She tried searching on the Google Images and found only photos of scenic vistas, nature and book covers. Now that is odd, why would an author not have photos of herself anywhere?