“So I need to remember that there is absolutely no reason for me to know anything about this truck and act accordingly?” Lou clarified what her position was supposed to be.
“Correct.” Max answered concisely.
“Does Caroline happen to be one of those agents you activated?” She asked.
“And Peter Carpesh.” He confirmed but could still sense her nerves. “It’s going to be fine. You are more than capable of dealing with this in the best possible way.”
Lou blew out a breath. “I’m glad someone thinks so!” She chuckled, making Max smile.
“I know so, Detective.” Max’s tone was far softer than usual, and Lou could hear the tenderness in his voice. In that instant she felt a thousand times lighter than she had before she called him.
“Am I gonna have the chance to get drunk in Vegas?” She was only half joking.
“I’ll see to it if you like.” He hadn’t meant to sound devilish when he said that, it just came out that way.
Lou’s eyebrows went up instantly, and she felt her face flush. “Uh... I better get back in there.” She suddenly felt guilty for flirting at such an inappropriate time.
“Right.” Max composed himself as best as he could. “Keep me posted, Detective.” He told her then hung up.
“Wow!” He heard Abby say from behind him, and he spun around to see her and Joe grinning. “What was that all about?”
“What?” Max tried to act stoic.
“Oh for Pete’s sake, Max!” Joe snorted. “I may not know what the hell you were talking about, but even I caught the subtext of the end of that conversation!”
“I meant no disrespect, Joseph.” Max smoothed out his shirt, only realizing that it was silly to be smoothing a sweater. “Lou is your daughter. I should....”
“My Dom...” Joe stopped him before he could say anything else. “You are the finest man I have ever known. You could be the only man in existence that I could deem worthy of Lou.”
“With how that must have sounded...” Max felt so extremely awkward.
“It sounded like it’s long overdue!” Shevaun butted into the conversation from the hall, also grinning from ear to ear. “Oh how I wish I could have seen her face when you said that!” Lou’s mother laughed, Joe and Abby joining in.
“Oh dear.” Was all Max could come up with as he took a seat.
“Relax!” Shevaun sidled up next to him, pinching his blushing cheeks. “You have our total blessing! You’ve had it for some time now!”
“This is a delicate situation.” Max tried to explain.
“Sure it is, but you cannot blame us for having fun with it where we can get it!” Shevaun grinned. “We will all behave and stay out of things. You two will deal with it in your own time. Right now you’ve both got bigger fish to fry from what I gather with tonight’s events.”
“And this weekend’s.” Abby reminded.
“Right.” Max agreed. “But... since we are on the topic, perhaps you could lend me your advice on something?”
Max figured no one would know Lou better than her mother, so he took the uncomfortable opportunity to ask her advice as to how to respond to Lou’s comment that morning about missing him. Shevaun had agreed with him that it was a very big move on Lou’s part, and she was frankly shocked that Lou had been so bold. After he got Shevaun to stop giggling over it, she set to thinking on the matter and promised she would come up with some ideas before Lou got home. He told her that Niko was working on an idea and suggested that she check in with him to see if whatever Niko had up his sleeve was way off base or not. No sooner than Max suggested it, Shevaun was out the door and off to call Niko. It was a lovely break in the bedlam of an otherwise dire evening. Now his mind was back to Lou and what she was currently dealing with. He sat back down at the coffee table and turned the volume back up on Dillon’s comms. Right now Max had to focus everything he could on helping them get through the night with their case. If they didn’t get through, there would be no trip to Las Vegas for any of them.
It was no surprise that Vanessa Sturn had clammed up after demanding an attorney. Lou got clearance from Vinny and the powers that be to transport her to Lost Hills for the time being, but Lou was in no hurry to get there. Lady V and her undoubtedly well-paid lawyers could sit and rot for all she cared. She’d get there when she damn well felt like it.
“The last of the extremely criticals are being transported.” Dillon informed her. “They’ve set up a sort of triage area on the side near the garages.”
“Any of the other girls lucid enough to give a statement?” Lou asked him.
“Not yet but the medics are working on the three that were in the romper room so maybe before they’re shipped out.” Dillon was being hopeful.
“Did we identify the three that were hanging in there? Who’s the guy in the box? Or the pig that was in the playpen?” Lou wasn’t sure she wanted to know who they were.
“We got a wallet off the playpen scumbag.” Dillon checked his notes. “Alan Schwartzel is his name. Accounting executive at one of the big studios.”
“He got a wife wondering where he is?” Lou wondered who would marry such a pig.
“Apparently, from his begging that we don’t tell her where we found him.” Dillon scoffed. “I’d like to be the one to call her if you don’t mind?”
Lou grinned at him. “Have fun! What about our box guy?” She asked as they headed for the triage area. “We sent a deputy in the medivac with him to get prints. I’ll be shocked if that one makes it. We haven’t found any clothes or other personal effects that might belong to him, but the initial search of the place hasn’t even really started.”
“Let’s get all the victims out of here first.” She suggested. “What about the butler or whatever he is? The Australian guy that answered the door?”
“Oh, he ain’t sayin’ a thing.” Shippley told them as he reappeared. “Demanded a lawyer and is sittin’ in the back of a cruiser. You okay with me having him sent back to our house?” He asked. Lou hesitated to respond, afraid of what the man might divulge under pressure. “You should also know he’s stopped speaking English and has taken to Mandarin now. We got a call in for a translator.”
Lou thought for a moment, and as she opened her mouth to speak, someone poked her in the side as they walked past her. “So sorry Detective!” One of the Ventura Special Enforcement Bureau apologized, grabbing her hand as a gesture of remorse. When Lou looked up at his face she clearly saw him nod, a movement she took instantly to indicate to her it was alright for Shippley to take the man into custody. “I didn’t mean to mow you over!” He chuckled.
“Don’t worry about it.” Lou smiled at him. “Go right ahead, Shippley. I appreciate all your help here.”
“It’s the least we can do.” He ran his hand over his spit shined bald head. “This is a mess that I have no idea how you guys are gonna sort out. Especially that weird ass truck in the stable.”
“For all we know that’s some kind of kink-mobile.” Dillon joked.
“After tonight, nothing would surprise me!” Shippley wasn’t joking. “We’re trying to get the Coroner vehicles in undetected, so we can keep all this under wraps.”
“Christ, we do not need any press getting wind of this.” Lou cringed at the thought.
“No shit.” Dillon agreed.
“I’ll be out front waiting for the Crime Lab people.” Shippley told them. “Yell if you need me.”
“Thanks, for everything.” Lou made sure to make eye contact so that Shippley knew she meant it.
“Anytime, Lou.” He smiled at her. “Never a dull moment with you, that’s for sure!” He laughed as he walked away.
“If he only knew.” Dillon muttered under his breath, causing Lou to snort with laughter.
When they arrived at the triage area, Lou stopped in her tracks. Besides the three girls they pulled out of the basement, and the oth
er three they rescued from the stable stalls, there were seven more girls laid out on sheets in the driveway. A few were urgently being treated by medics, others just laid there not moving, staring at the sky.
“What the hell?” Lou asked, noticing all but the girls from the basement were wearing the same type of girlish nightgowns. It struck her that they reminded her of the costume the girl that played Wendy wore in Peter Pan. That is except for the blood stains. “Where did the other girls come from?” Lou asked anyone.
“The Tactical officers found four of them locked in some other rooms upstairs. Two we just pulled out of crates stuffed in one of the garage bays.” A medic turned and answered her but when Lou looked at him, she realized it was Frank in an EMT uniform.
“What...” Lou started to ask. “...never mind.” She waved her hand at him, and he grinned.
“Let me know if I can be of any assistance, Detective.” He winked at her then went back to treating one of the girl’s feet. It looked like she had walked a mile through shards of glass.
“Here’s Caroline.” Dillon announced as the coroner van pulled past them and down the dirt path towards the stables.
“We better get back over there.” Lou sighed. “Hey, guys...” Lou spoke loudly, directing her voice to the medics. “Make note of anything these girls say, whether it makes sense to you or not, please. And thank you.” As she did with Shippley, she looked each of the six medics in the face to make sure they knew she was grateful. She was met with slight smiles and nods, but there was not going to be any joviality with what they were dealing with. It was a house of horrors, and they hadn’t even scratched the surface of what had gone on there.
“Four of them are ours.” Dillon whispered to Lou as they walked back to the stables.
“The medics? I mean I saw Frank.” Lou asked him.
“Yes, besides Frank.” Dillon confirmed. “Pierce can try to read them, see if they have anything related to our messy business trapped in their heads. He’ll let us know if they do and we can have Frank give them a once over.”
“I’m glad someone is thinking.” Lou huffed. “Not sure what the hell I would do without you.”
Dillon looked down at her as they walked side by side and smiled. It meant everything that she trusted and appreciated him. He knew it was a miserable situation, but he also knew it wasn’t going to be their last. The fact that she truly trusted him now only meant that their work together would get better and stronger as time went on. He was lucky as hell.
“Hey, girlie.” Lou greeted Caroline as they reached the stable.
“Hey, yourself.” Caroline said as she stepped into a clean suit then gave her pal a dubious look. “What the shit happened here, Lou?”
“Bitch has a tricked out dungeon in the basement.” Lou grabbed the clean suit Dillon handed her and started to put it on. With the floodlights in place, Lou could see the horror far too clearly for her liking. She reminded herself to breathe through her mouth and get on with it. “Just saw more girls they pulled out of some rooms upstairs and a couple boxes in the garage, it seems. Looks like after they were used up or broken, they got dumped out here.”
“And there were four girls chained up out here alive too?” Caroline couldn’t believe what she was asking.
“Yeah.” Lou shrugged, zipping up her suit. “Don’t ask me anything else because I can’t make sense of it. Let’s just get through this part, okay?”
“Sure.” Caroline understood and smeared the menthol rub that Dillon offered under her nose then smeared some under Lou’s like a best friend should. They exchanged weak smiles then got down to business. “We’ll start with the closest stalls first and work our way through?”
“Sounds like a plan.” Lou took a deep breath through her mouth and followed Caroline in.
It took them over an hour to get through each stall where bodies had been left to rot. Sixteen girls in all had been murdered in some horrendous manner or another. The preliminary methods ranged from asphyxiation due to manual strangulation, blunt force trauma, exsanguination due to multiple stab wounds, you name it, they died from it. The times of death ranged from anywhere between eight weeks to three days, and that was all Caroline was going to be able to give them for the time being. It was going to take a lot of time and a couple more transport vehicles to separate the bodies and get them all back to the morgue.
When Lou’s phone rang, she was grateful to get out of the stables. “Donovan.” She answered.
“Sorry to disappoint.” Niko wisecracked, knowing she was hoping it was Max instead of him.
“Hilarious.” She tried not to grin. “What’s going on?”
“Just wanted to give you a head’s up that we’ve got several of our people from the Crime Lab coming in addition to the ones among the coppers.” He told her. “One of them is going to tap into the main server there so Connor can siphon as well as sterilize data if needs be.”
“That’s a relief.” Lou had been wondering what was going to pop up when they got into Vanessa’s computers.
“I’m booking you a massage in your room in Vegas.” Niko added. “You’re gonna love my gal.”
“Don’t fricken’ tease me right now!” The thought of a massage was heaven to Lou.
“I would never do that.” Niko grinned. “I take massage very seriously! Ask Abby.”
“I’m in then.” Lou wasn’t sure she would ever make it to Vegas at this rate. “Okay, I gotta get inside now.”
“Hang in there, kid.” Niko tried to be encouraging.
“You’re sounding more and more like Vinny.” She told him. “Wow!” He grinned, knowing that underneath the attempted insult was a very high compliment. “Thanks! Talk to ya later.”
Lou smiled and hung up. She and Dillon hadn’t been in any other room in the house beside the basement, and it was high time they made their walk through. “Let’s get in there.” She told Dillon as soon as she got back into where he and Caroline were talking.
“Let’s go.” Dillon nodded. “See ya later, Doc.”
“Not if I see you first.” Caroline still found a way to flirt, despite the gruesome venue.
Lou and Dillon stripped off their clean suits and dumped them in the collection hamper before heading back to the main house. The Queen Anne Victorian estate was a beautiful place that evoked images of a fairy tale family living under its roof. You could almost smell apple pie baking when you looked at it if it weren’t for the smell of decomp in its stead. No one could have ever imagined it was a house of horrors behind the Dickens-esque facade. When they reached the back door, they grabbed new suits to cover their clothes and covered their shoes with the blue booties. Preserving the scene was a priority at this point, and no one went in without proper precautions. Everything on the ground floor of the ten-thousand square foot home was perfectly ordinary and amazingly beautiful. They cut through the kitchen and the butler’s pantry, past the enormous round formal dining table that looked like a cross between King Arthur’s round table and something the first empress of France would have had. It was gaudy and gorgeous all at once. When they reached the top of the stairs, Lou couldn’t help but pause to look out at the lights scattered all over the back of the property.
“How the hell could someone live in this beautiful place knowing there were lives discarded out back like trash?” She asked, not expecting an answer.
“How can anyone ever understand why a sociopath does what they do?” Dillon answered her question with his own. “There’s no way to answer why here, Lou. You know that far better than I do.”
“I guess.” She acknowledged and continued down the hall to the first of the seven bedrooms upstairs. A deputy stood off to the side to let them in, and Lou noted the double cylinder deadbolt on the bedroom door that had been kicked in. The heavy duty locks required a key both inside and out. “All the rooms bolted like this one?” She asked the deputy.
“Yes, Detective.�
�� He answered. “All but the master suite.”
She nodded, and they proceeded to go in. The room was decorated for a little girl, complete with canopy bed, a dressing table and a rocking chair in the corner. It was all frilly white and sunshine yellow with dozens of stuffed animals neatly arranged on the window seat. One would have thought a girl of no more than eight or nine lived in the room, save for the shackles affixed to each of the four bedposts. The white paint on each of the posts was chipped and scraped where the captive yanked and fought to pull her chains free. The cute frilly bedspread had blood stains and smears where the girl’s wrists and ankles would have been. She had fought, a lot, and by the varied shades of the stains, she had repeatedly gashed her wrists and ankles in her struggle to break from her bonds. The next four rooms were duplicates of the first, only in shades of pink, blue, green, and lavender. The same furnishings, the same stuffed animals, the same rocking chair and the same chains, shackles and blood stains. A variation on a theme, just like the nightgowns they and Hunny Trainor, had been wearing.
The problem was that Hunny had been found over thirty miles away and was made to look like she had committed suicide in a storm drain. Her condition, so bad that they assumed she had been homeless for a time. It made more sense now, having seen the girls shackled in the stables. But how did she get so far away? Why stage her death when there were bodies tossed out and piled up without a care or concern here on the property? It didn’t make sense. It also didn’t make sense that Vanessa Sturn and her houseboy were the only two running the household. Then there was the bloodmobile. Who did that belong to and where did it come from? How many more were out there? Lou wished so badly that she could get five minutes alone with Lady V, but that was not going to happen unless Max and the Aegis had some amazing magic to work there too.
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