by Hill, Casey
‘Daphne Angelo, twenty-four, lived alone. Neighbors say she was a wannabe actress.’ She led Todd and Bradley down the hall to the tiny apartment where half a dozen uniforms milled just outside the door, then left them standing by the entrance to the apartment.
‘Well, that was illuminating; she’s obviously still pissed at you over Ralph,’ Bradley muttered as he tossed his now-empty cup into a nearby trashcan. He pulled on a pair of gloves and turned to Todd. ‘Ready?’
Todd took a moment to mentally steel himself for what he was about to see. ‘As ever.’
By the time they emerged from the building, it was after lunch , but both Bradley and Todd had lost whatever appetite they’d had when they awakened that morning.
The ride back to the lab was silent, completely devoid of the normal dark, morbid jokes or witty banter that usually accompanied a ride from a crime scene. Todd didn’t think even a good sense of humor would be able to keep them all sane by the time this was done.
They’d both seen their fair share of violent, gruesome deaths. The difference was, the motive was usually fairly clear, especially in the extreme cases. Battered wife takes pickaxe to abusive husband. Jealous spouse runs over wife fourteen times. Todd’s mind immediately went to the one they’d been working when they’d gotten the call about Holly. Gangs and drug dealers sending messages via executions and dismemberments. Rape victims killed so they couldn’t identify their attackers. Robberies gone bad. There’d even been a man who’d claimed an alien overlord had commanded him to stab three prostitutes to death and mutilate their corpses.
All of these cases had some obvious motive. Money, sex, anger, insanity. The victims had some sort of connection either to their killer or to each other. Todd couldn’t see the motive or the pattern in their current case.
Six dead in the last two days. The two couples at the beach, the police officer and the girl from the apartment just now. Three men, three women. All of varying ages. One in her own home; three left where they’d been murdered; two moved to a secondary site.
Todd was still mulling it over when they arrived back at the lab.
Emilie was at her computer when he and Bradley entered. The smile she flashed their way was less brilliant than usual, and Todd knew it had to do with the fact that she like them had left late and been called in early.
He’d been wondering how long it would take for the horror of what they saw to break through the redhead’s bubbly persona. It always made him a little sad when the newbies hit reality, but it was necessary. Most of them didn’t last long afterward, but he hoped that Emilie would be the exception. She was a sweet girl and good at her job. If she could get through this case, she’d make it all the way.
Also already in the lab was cyber crimes expert, Peni. This morning, she was looking decidedly comfy in a pair of gray cut-off sweats and a red tank top. With her running shoes, she looked more like she was preparing for a workout rather than examining equipment for the next few hours. She snapped on a pair of gloves and grabbed a bag from one of the new bins – the cameras they’d just taken from the latest crime scene.
‘Hmm . . . new toys,’ she commented, examining them.
‘So they’re not the same as the other ones?’ Bradley’s tone was more serious than normal.
Todd wasn’t surprised. There was something about seeing a young woman boiled like a lobster and set out on display that tended to take the humor out of the situation. This girl’s death had been much more drawn out than Holly’s. And while there was always the off chance that she’d already been dead when her head was put in the water, he seriously doubted it. The autopsy would show for sure.
‘No.’ Peni turned the bag over in her hands a few times before passing it to Todd.
He took it, half-listening as she explained the visible differences between the equipment. Then he carefully dusted the outside for prints.
‘All have the capability of sending the video footage to a receiver.’ Peni tucked her long legs up underneath her. ‘So I feel pretty safe in assuming that he did the same with this video that he did with the other, and sent the data to an email address. The larger of the two cameras from the first crime scene is specifically designed for long shots, which explains why there had been a tripod set up. The camera from the interior of the truck is smaller, cheaper. The further away it is, the more the quality of the picture deteriorates. The one you have here, my guess, is about halfway between the two. But, if I’m not mistaken, it’s going to be a bit more expensive than either of the other two.’
‘Why’s that?’ Todd carefully removed the casing to check inside for any trace evidence.
‘Because that casing is designed to withstand some water exposure,’ Peni explained.
Bradley swore, raking his hand through his hair. ‘He wanted to make sure it wasn’t ruined when he drowned her.’
CHAPTER 11
Reilly and Daniel sat in silence in the upstairs Tampa PD reception area as they waited for Todd, both lost in their own thoughts.
Reilly felt sick, the coffee and bagel from earlier now roiling in her stomach. She’d dealt with countless murderous nut-jobs in the near-decade she’d been in the job. None of them had ever torn a victim in half and then boiled another one. Vacation or not, she would offer whatever help she could to get this bastard.
Daniel had claimed one of the two nearby chairs while Reilly had chosen to sit on the far end of the waiting area couch. They sat in silence, watching the news story break in a special report on the TV close by.
The handsome, dark-haired, on-the-ground reporter wore a plastic expression as he relayed information from the street across from an apartment building. In the background, a half-dozen or so uniforms could be seen milling about outside.
‘At this point, we’re still trying to separate fact from fiction, but what we do know is that a young woman from this apartment complex was found dead early this morning and, judging by the seemingly excessive presence of local law enforcement, it’s safe to say that the police suspect foul play. This raises the question, are the streets of Tampa safe?’
When Todd entered the lobby, he frowned at the television for a moment before diving right in. ‘Six bodies, and enough forensics to keep twenty people busy for a year.’ He looked from Reilly to Daniel. ‘So whatever this is about, I really don’t have time—’
‘Sit down, son, please.’ Daniel’s anger from the night before had since melted away. He turned away from the TV. On screen, the reporter was attempting to question an annoyed-looking Detective Julie Sampson as she climbed into her car. ‘And you know what it’s about.’
‘Dad, I get it. I want to find Holly’s killer as much as you do – it’s why I kept you in the loop about this new find. But you know I can’t break protocol.’ Todd sat on the open end of the couch. ‘Not if I want to stay on the case. Bradley’s watching me like a hawk as it is.’
‘Just talk to us.’ Daniel leaned forward, elbows on his knees, palms pressed together. ‘I spoke to Alice earlier. She wants me on the case.’
‘Dad . . .’ Todd shook his head as if wrestling with his conscience, but then, with a sudden efficiency that surprised Reilly, he quietly ran through what had happened since the day before: the cop and couple found this morning, then the poor girl from earlier, drowned in boiling water, and the cameras found at two of the crime scenes. As he spoke, Reilly found herself watching him, surprised by the maturity with which he was handling himself. She could see a lot of his father in him.
‘Bradley has a computer whiz from cyber crimes tracking down where the footage was sent. She’s found an email address registered to Thailand, but is still running the IP addresses to see if she can get a point of origin.’ Todd stared at his hands. ‘What I can’t figure out is why the cameras? I understand the cop. That was unplanned, bad luck, probably. But why kill two at the beach, then snatch two more and kill them somewhere else in a completely different manner?’
‘How were the two at the beach killed?’
Reilly asked.
Todd looked up, appearing startled to see her, almost as if he’d forgotten she was there. ‘The medical examiner hasn’t started on the autopsies yet, but unless there’s a complete shock in store for us, I’d say the woman died from a chloroform OD, the man from blunt force trauma to the head. I bagged a pretty blood rock. I also pulled a couple of fibers from their mouths that I think are going to match ones Dr Kase found in Hol— . . . the other victims’ mouths. Kase said they were likely from a towel soaked in chloroform.’
‘Maybe you’re looking at three unintentional murders while in the process of committing the first one . . .’ Reilly mused.
‘You think the couple at the beach might have been an accident?’ Daniel asked.
‘Having not seen the evidence, I’m can’t be sure, but . . .’ She turned to Todd. ‘The killer goes to the beach to find his victims and happens upon the first couple. He tries to knock them out, but there’s a problem, something goes wrong. Maybe he uses too much chloroform on the woman, maybe not enough on the man and has to hit him with something. But he needs live ones for what he wants, so he waits for another couple.’
Todd shrugged. ‘Could explain why there was no camera at the beach site. He never intended to commit a murder there.’
‘Which also means he could’ve made mistakes there.’
‘She’s right,’ Daniel said. ‘As detailed as two of the crime scenes have been, the murders he didn’t intend to commit would probably be where the perp would slip up. You need a profile on this guy,’ he said to his son, leaving Todd in no illusion that he was already working on it. Once a profiler, always a profiler. ‘It will at least help you figure out what evidence is the most important, prioritize what you look at.’
He looked again at Reilly. ‘Knowing what we know, anything else hit you off the bat?’
She thought again for a moment about what Todd had told them. ‘If the police officer and the couple on the beach were unintentional, the murder weapons – especially the rock – will be the most likely to hold any clues to his identity because usage would have been impulsive, unplanned.’
‘So while he’s organized and detail oriented, he doesn’t plan for contingencies,’ Daniel added, his mind fully focused on the killer’s probable motives and intentions. ‘While most likely not his first crime, he’s still relatively new to the game.’
‘Not his first rodeo . . .’ Todd whispered absently, then shook himself out it. ‘Sorry, just something Bradley said before.’
‘The locations with the cameras, the planned ones, those are going to tell us what he’s really about,’ Reilly theorized. ‘And why what he’s doing is important enough for him to make a record of it.’
‘Staged,’ Todd said. ‘Both locations, the bodies, everything looked like he’d put it all into place. Like he was setting up a scene for maximum dramatic effect.’
Daniel stood up and put his hands on his hips as he paced, a look of intense concentration on his face. ‘I don’t think there’s going to be any connection between the victims other than the two couples’ relationship to each other.’
‘Why so?’ Todd asked.
But even as Daniel said it, Reilly figured it out. ‘If the killer had originally tried to take a couple before Holly and Aaron, then they had been a crime of opportunity.’
Daniel nodded. ‘Agreed. With Holly and her boyfriend,’ . . . a muscle in his jaw twitched when he mentioned his goddaughter’s name . . . ‘how they died seems to be more important than who they were. He would’ve had to take the time to set everything up before finding his victims. And with the other, the boiling victim, if already he knew she lived alone, he could take more time to set things up after he got into the apartment.’
Reilly nodded this time, adding to Daniel’s budding profile. ‘If he’s taken this much time and care to set up those deaths, he might not be keeping them just for himself. Maybe he’s hoping for an audience?’
‘It would take quite an ego to do that,’ Daniel said. ‘Someone who’s sharing isn’t going to stay quiet very long.’
‘You think he’s going to start bragging?’ Todd asked.
‘Wouldn’t surprise me.’ Daniel stopped and faced the pair on the couch. ‘You’ve got the usual white male, late twenties to late thirties. Highly creative with a flair for the dramatic. He’s not trying to hide or be subtle. Arrogant. High IQ with an eye for detail, but acts impulsively when something unexpected happens. After that mistake with the couple at the beach, he took a chance waiting for another more suitable possibility. Same applies with killing the cop. So he’s willing to take risks to get what he wants.’
‘A dangerous combination.’ Reilly ran her hand through her hair.
‘Doesn’t matter.’ Todd’s voice had taken on an unfamiliar hard note. ‘He killed Holly. Alice won’t need your help, Dad. I’m going to find him.’
Despite herself, Reilly was impressed. She’d heard it said that a man’s true character was found in adversity and, if that was the case, then Todd Forrest was turning out to be something more than she’d originally thought.
‘I think I’ve got something.’
Much later, at the lab, Todd turned to look at Emilie as she spoke, his eyes bleary. It was late in the evening after a very long day and spirits were flagging.
‘The gloves found at the apartment earlier, I found some skin flakes.’
‘We have DNA?’ Todd felt a wild hope rise in his chest but Emilie’s forehead wrinkled and his heart sank. Of course not. It couldn’t be that easy.
‘Not necessarily. The inside of the gloves had a fine dusting of powder consistent with latex gloves, so anything inside the black gloves was most likely deposited there from the outside of the latex ones. The skin flakes were on the outside of the black gloves.’
‘It’s the victim’s skin then,’ Bradley cut in.
‘Again, not necessarily.’ Emilie nervously twisted a strand of hair around her finger. ‘The skin appears to be old. Also, while the gloves themselves are damp, the flakes show no exposure to moisture.’
‘So where did they come from?’ Todd asked.
‘That’s just it.’ Emilie shook her head. ‘I’m not sure. I’m running the DNA now, but even if we do get a hit, I won’t know how that person connects to the case. Killer, accomplice, victim . . . unless I find something else, I don’t know how much help it’s going to be.’
‘Great,’ Todd muttered.
‘And there’s something else.’ Emilie frowned. ‘The amount of moisture still present in the fabric of the right-handed glove indicates that the fingers and at least part of the hand itself were in the water.’
Bradley’s mouth flattened into a thin line. ‘He held her head under.’
‘You’re telling me that while drowning the victim, our perp stuck his hand into boiling water and held it there?’ Bradley stared at Emilie.
‘It’s the only way to explain why the fabric was still wet,’ Emilie said. ‘Common sense says he would’ve yanked his hand out, but the fibers show thorough saturation. The glove was held in the water for a considerable amount of time before it was removed.’
Silence fell after Emilie finished. It was Todd who finally said what all of them were thinking, ‘Who the hell is this guy?’
As darkness fell, Reilly sat alone on the deck at the beach house, listening to the waves lap the shore. After their return from Tampa, and following the information from Todd, Daniel had retired to his study to work on a basic profile for the investigative team.
Her cellphone buzzed and she bit her lip as she looked at the display. Taking a deep breath, she answered the call.
‘Hey, Dad . . .’
‘I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for days now.’ Mike Steel’s voice held no accusation, but that didn’t stop her from feeling a stab of guilt. ‘And when I couldn’t reach you on the mobile phone or the one at your flat, I tried your office. Imagine my surprise when they told me that you were on leave and in Florida! Wh
at’s going on, honey?’
Wincing, she quickly filled her father in on the work incident back in Dublin and her subsequent enforced leave. ‘I didn’t want to ruin your holiday by worrying about me when there was nothing to worry about. So after a few days lazing around, I got bored and I decided to get some sunshine.’
‘OK, but why didn’t you call me anyway? You could have hooked up with me and Maura here.’
‘Well, it’s just that there are direct flights from Dublin to Orlando, and none to Cali. Not to mention I wasn’t sure where you’d be . . .’
She knew it was a lame excuse. The truth was that the idea of tagging along on Mike and his girlfriend’s West Coast road trip held little appeal.
‘And in any case, the doctors told me I needed peace and quiet, so Daniel’s beach house sounded perfect.’
‘Forrest? The FBI fella who was your lecturer?’
‘Yes, he’s a friend. And he’s going through a tough time at the moment.’
‘And divorced too, as I recall?’ There was obvious disapproval behind his tone and Reilly’s eyes widened as she realized what he was getting at.
‘What? Dad, no, don’t be stupid, Daniel’s old enough to be my father. It’s nothing like that. We’ve always kept in touch and, like I said, it was an easy option. How’s life cruising down the 101?’ she asked then, hoping to change the subject. ‘Did you visit Hearst Castle?’
‘We didn’t get that far actually,’ he told her. ‘Went down as far as Monterey and then decided to come back and stay local for a while.’
‘Oh? Back home in Marin County, you mean?’ It was where the family had lived when Reilly was growing up.
‘Yeah. Maura loves San Francisco, and she hit it off with Mack’s wife at the retirement party. So we thought we’d rent a place here for a while. One of the boys said they might be able to fix me up with a couple of small jobs – handyman stuff, you know.’