DEATH STILL (Det. Jason Strong (CLEAN SUSPENSE) Book 7)

by John C. Dalglish

  Vanessa’s eyelids creeped open. “What’s what?”

  “Those pages on your desk, what are they?”

  Vanessa sat bolt upright. “What pages?” She answered her own question by picking up two sheets of paper.

  Jason sat down and waited for her to finish reading. She suddenly didn’t appear quite as tired. Her eyes flashed up to his. “Bingo!”

  “Awesome! Why bingo?”

  “This is a case report from Dan Carpenter.”

  “Detective Dan Carpenter of Hondo? That Dan Carpenter?”

  Vanessa’s head bobbed up and down. “He had a case where a woman was tied to a chair and held hostage. The woman said her kids came home from school and spooked the guy.”

  “Did they catch him?”

  “No, but here’s the kicker. The woman met the man when he asked about her home, which was for sale. She said he’d stopped by four times, each time in a different car.”

  “Did she give a description of the guy?”

  Vanessa held up the second sheet of paper for Jason to see. “Look familiar?” The sketch was a near double of theirs.

  “I’ll say. We should bring Banks up to speed.”

  Right on cue, the door to the lieutenant’s office opened, and she leaned out. “You two got a minute?”

  The two detectives stared at each other as the lieutenant went back into her office. Jason said it for both of them. “That woman is creepy.”

  *******

  Lieutenant Banks sat quietly while her detectives filled her in. When they were done, she ran what they’d said through her mind. “So what’s your next step?”

  Vanessa sat forward. “I need to call Carpenter to see if he’s got anything else that can help us.”

  “Okay, and then?”

  “We’ve still got rental outlets we haven’t visited.”

  Banks shook her head. “You guys could spend days going to all of those agencies. Let’s get help covering some of that ground.”

  Vanessa was all for that. “Okay, how?”

  “Two things. First, fax the sketch of our guy to all the rental agencies, even the ones we’ve visited, and see if we get any calls. Second, we’ll hold a news conference tomorrow morning. We’ll get the sketch in the papers and maybe dig something up from the public.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Jason nodded his agreement, and Banks looked at her calendar. “Ten a.m.”

  It wasn’t a question. Jason and Vanessa answered in unison, “Yes, ma’am.”

  Chapter 7

  Marcus sat slumped in the driver’s seat of his rented car, watching the home of Barbara Lind. A blue Toyota Camry sat in the driveway this morning, presumably the husband’s car, and Marcus had to wait for him to leave.

  Marcus was up early and in position to make sure he saw Mr. Lind leave. Anxious to get the next set of pictures for his album, Marcus had found it impossible to sleep. Now he was aggravated he had to wait.

  Hurry up, Mr. Lind. Your wife and I have an appointment.

  As if he was listening, Barbara Lind’s husband appeared at the front door carrying a briefcase. He leaned back inside the door to kiss his wife, then hurried to his car. Two minutes later, he was gone, and Marcus felt his pulse surge.

  Wait a few minutes, make sure he doesn’t come back, then it’s time.

  He could hear Barbara now. “Oh, you just missed my husband!”

  *******

  Jason had only been in one press conference with Sarah Banks. A missing persons case more than a year ago. He’d never seen anyone handle the press the way she did. Ignoring those who thought they were important, like Devin James from the San Antonio News, she presented her report and made her exit.

  She wasn’t one for taking questions, especially if they were concerning something she didn’t want to talk about, and she could end a press conference in a flash. Jason thought it was fantastic.

  Neither Jason nor Vanessa liked the ritual of a press conference, and both avoided them like the plague, mainly because it usually meant they were being pulled from working a case to attend.

  Jason was aware there were times when the public needed to be informed, and that their help could be crucial for law enforcement, but he wished the top brass would leave the detectives out of it. After all, the big shots were paid for doing public relations, he was paid to catch criminals.

  The press conference this morning was like most. Jason leaned over to Vanessa, whispering, as they stood on the podium behind Lieutenant Banks.

  “I was hoping Sandy had scheduled me for a dental surgery.”

  “Yeah, I was trying to get a hysterectomy scheduled for this morning.”

  They shared a laugh, which caused Banks to stop talking and look behind her. The two detectives looked at the floor like a couple kids caught passing a note.

  Banks returned to her statement, pointed at the copies of the sketch for the press to take with them, and ended the conference. Jason nudged Vanessa when she didn’t notice Banks headed for the door.

  The entire conference lasted eight minutes.

  Outside the pressroom, Jason grinned at Vanessa. “I love that woman. Eight minutes!”

  *******

  After waiting a half hour, Marcus started his car and drove the two blocks to the Lind driveway. At the door, he knocked twice. Heels reverberated on tile, a deadbolt turned, and the door opened. He smiled wide. “Good morning, Barbara.”

  “Mr. Green. You just missed my husband!”

  “Oh, what a shame. Not to worry, I just want to take some photos of the outside. My wife is very interested.”

  “That’s fine. I’m getting ready to go out, so excuse me, but feel free to walk around the house and take pictures.”

  “Thank you, Barbara. You’re very kind.”

  “You’re welcome.” She shut the door, and he heard heels walking away, but not the sound of a deadbolt turning.

  She’s beginning to trust me.

  Letting himself in through the side gate, he took a photo of the kitchen window, then one of the back of the house. As he came around the far side, he spotted Barbara Lind through her bedroom window. She was sitting at a makeup table.

  Making sure his flash was off, he slowly raised his camera and took several shots. One with her hands applying mascara, brushing her long eyelashes forward, curling them up. Another as she put on lipstick, slowly brushing her lips with the glossy red stick. The last photo he took was of a brush running through her silky long hair.

  His heart beat faster, his breathing turned rapid, and his mouth went dry.

  Beautiful photos. Such...beautiful...photos.

  She stood up, causing Marcus to withdraw from the window. As he got to the front of the house, she was just coming through the front door. “Did you get your pictures?”

  He set his camera on the front seat of the rental and got in. “Yes Barbara, I did.”

  “I hope your wife likes them.”

  “I think they’re perfect.”

  *******

  The phone rang twice before being picked up. “Hondo Police.”

  “Detective Carpenter, please.”

  “May I say who’s calling?”

  “Detective Vanessa Layne, SAPD.”

  The phone clicked as she was put on hold, and less than two minutes later, she heard a familiar voice.

  “Vanessa! Long time, no hear. How are you?”

  “Good, Dan. You?”

  “Oh, you know, small town means lots of parking tickets and loose dogs. How’s that no-account partner of yours?”

  “Good. I’m still propping him up for the brass, but some things never change.”

  Dan’s booming laugh forced Vanessa to hold the phone away from her ear. When he finished, his voice turned serious. “Did you get my report on the kidnap case?”

  “Yeah, Dan. The sketch was a dead-ringer for our guy. Is the case still unsolved?”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  “Did you get DNA?”

 
; “No. What about you?” His voice rising with hope.

  “We had an unidentified hair, which gave us a profile.”

  “Did you get a hit on the database?”

  “Afraid not.”

  He sighed. “You got anything else?”

  Vanessa looked at her notes. “There’s two things you might find interesting. First, your victim reported different cars with each visit of the abductor. They were probably rentals from an Enterprise agency near the airport.”

  Vanessa could hear paper shuffling on Dan’s end.

  “Hold on, I need to write this down.” The shuffling stopped. “You got the info on the agency?”

  Vanessa gave him the address and phone number along with the clerks’ names before continuing. “Secondly, I noticed in your report, the victim said the man was looking to buy her house, right?”

  “Yeah. He showed up four times, I believe.”

  “Well, our victim was also selling her home. You might follow up on other homes for sale in the area.”

  “Good stuff, Vanessa. I’ll let you know what I find.”

  “Any time, Dan. Take care.” She went to hang up, but the Hondo detective stopped her.

  “By the way, I heard Jason is a new dad.”

  “That’s right. A baby girl.”

  “Tell him congrats from me, will ya?”

  “I sure will, Dan. Bye.”

  *******

  The pictures slowly dropped out of the little Polaroid printer. Way too slowly for Marcus.

  These are some of my best work, yet.

  When the photo of Barbara applying her lipstick came out, his heart started to pound all over again, remembering the thrill when he took the shot.

  Tonight, he didn’t need to hurry. She wasn’t going to get up and catch him. He could take his time, staring as long as he wanted, before adding them to the album.

  He cracked open a beer and sat back to enjoy the rest of his evening.

  Chapter 8

  Jason sat down at his desk and picked up the newspaper. The sketch of their guy covered half of page one, above the fold. A bold headline asked the question ‘Do you know me?’

  Apparently, not many people did.

  The tips coming into the hotline had been few and far between. At least, the ones worth investigating. It was common to get calls from a select group who always seem to have seen the latest sketch.

  Jason didn’t know if it was the reward money, the possible notoriety, or a genuine desire to help solve a crime that made these people call.

  Regardless, the station was familiar with the ‘regulars’ and weeded them out when possible. All of the leads with solid content had been followed up on and they still had nothing.

  Vanessa came out of the elevator, giving Jason a hopeful look. He shook his head. “Nada.”

  She collapsed into her chair. “What is this guy? A ghost?”

  “If he is, he’s not the friendly kind.”

  Jason re-opened the case file again. I must have missed something.

  *******

  Barbara Lind finished buttoning her skort. The half-skirt, half-shorts getup was her favorite tennis outfit. Her husband, Dave, had left for work forty-five minutes ago, and she had a match with her best friend in an hour.

  Going into the kitchen, she filled her cup with the last of the coffee and turned off the coffeemaker. After dumping in some hazelnut creamer, she stirred it quickly with a spoon and picked it up to go into the living room.

  The doorbell rang. Setting her cup down, she went to the front door and opened it.

  “Mr. Green,” She swung the door wide. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning, Barbara. Sorry to bother you again, but my wife has me on another mission. I don’t suppose your husband is home?”

  “No, he’s already left for work.”

  “I was afraid of that.” He seemed to hesitate, as if trying to find the right way to proceed. “I feel terrible asking, but could I take a few quick pictures of the inside?”

  “Well…” Barbara could usually trust her instincts, and she didn’t sense any danger from Larry Green. He’d been neatly dressed and polite each time he’d stopped by. “You’ll need to be quick. I’ve got a tennis date in less than an hour.”

  “No problem. Just the living room, kitchen, and the basement. My wife usually redoes bathrooms and bedrooms, whether they need it or not.”

  He came through the doorway, and Barbara closed the door behind him. “The living room is this way.”

  Larry Green followed her into the room where she’d left her coffee and began snapping photos. She watched as he turned several times, getting each corner of the room, even getting her in a couple.

  He pointed. “Is the kitchen that way?”

  “Yes.” She carried her coffee with her.

  He led the way this time. When she followed him in, he immediately turned and took a picture of the doorway, with her still in it.

  “I’m sure your wife doesn’t want photos with me in them.” He waved off her concern.

  After a few more shots of the kitchen, Barbara went over to a door at the far end of the room. She opened it, flipped a light switch on, and pointed down the stairs. “There’s not much to the basement. It’s not finished, and we use it mainly for storage.”

  “That’s fine. Just a couple pics and I’ll be out of your hair.”

  He seemed to be waiting for her to lead the way, but Barbara stepped away from the door. “Go ahead. I’ll wait here.”

  He seemed unsure. “Oh, okay.” He went past her and started down the stairs. “Be right back.”

  She could see the flash bouncing off the walls, and after several photos, Mr. Green reappeared at the bottom of the steps.

  “Is the water heater in this closet?”

  There were two closets in her basement, and she couldn’t tell which one he was referring to. She started down the steps. “Which one?”

  “The one at the far end.”

  She stopped. “No, I don’t think so. I believe it’s in the one under the stairs.”

  He started up the steps toward her, and she backpedaled to the kitchen door. She started to stumble, and he reached for her. “You okay?”

  She caught herself and made it into the kitchen. “Yes, thank you. I’m a klutz on stairs.”

  He came through the doorway, stopping to turn off the light switch, and smiled at her. “Thanks, again. I’ll let you get to your tennis game.”

  Barbara followed him to the door, let him out, and went to get her racket. Checking her watch, she realized she was going to be late.

  *******

  Jason and Vanessa sat opposite each other in the conference room, scouring their case file, looking for anything they might have missed. They had moved in there to avoid the noise of the squad room, and neither had said much all morning, so she was startled when he spoke.

  “Didn’t Dan Carpenter say their victim’s house was for sale?”

  Vanessa sat bolt upright.

  Jason eyed her suspiciously. “Did I wake you?”

  “No, of course not.” She rubbed her eyes. “At least, I don’t think so. I don’t remember ‘cause I was sleeping.”

  He grinned at her. “Do you remember my question?”

  “I do, and I think he did say that.”

  Jason flipped a page in front of him. “The Childs’ home was for sale, but not through a realtor. Who was selling the Hondo victim’s home?”

  Vanessa searched the report Dan had sent her. “I don’t see it. I’ll give him a call.”

  While Vanessa called Dan Carpenter, Jason pieced together what it would mean if the house in Hondo were also a For Sale by Owner property.

  It would be much easier to bring realtors into the loop and ask for their help, than it would to reach out to every homeowner selling their own home. Jason knew the number of owner sales in the Greater San Antonio area would be in the hundreds, if not over a thousand.

  Vanessa hung up and looked at Jas
on. “They were selling it themselves.”

  “That’s what I figured.” Getting up and going to the dry erase board at the end of the room, he picked up a marker and turned to look at Vanessa. “Let’s go over what the cases have in common.”

  He started to write. “One, neither woman was raped. Two, both women were tied to a chair. Three, multiple vehicles were used. And fourth, both homes were for sale by the owners.”

  Vanessa examined the list. “It’s probably safe to assume both would have been murdered, if not for the first victim’s kids.”

  Jason wrote ‘murdered’ as his fifth point, then circled number four. “I think this is our link. If he’s targeting someone, it is likely to be the homes for sale by owner.”

  Vanessa nodded. “Makes sense. Now what?”

  Jason put down the marker. “Let’s fill Banks in, then we can look into how many homes are for sale by owner.”

  “Oh, great. I bet that’s a small list!”

  *******

  Barbara Lind wiped her face, and then her racket, with the white towel she’d brought with her. She and her friend Tina had just finished forty-five minutes of tennis, and a break from the afternoon West Texas sun felt wonderful.

  Barbara guzzled cold water from her bottle, relishing the cool wetness on the back of her throat. She held the water bottle against her forehead. “You’re too good, lady!”

  Tina, taller and five years her junior, smirked at her friend. “Not for long. You’re better every time we play.”

  They sat at an umbrella-covered table, letting the light breeze cool them before going back for a final set.

  Barbara took another drink. “I think we may have a buyer for the house.”

  “Really? That’s great.”

  “Yeah, he’s been by three times now.”

  “Wow. You only just put the sign out, didn’t you?”