Coke Dyer sat in his chair and slowly swiveled back and forth as he read the report on Val’s attempted abduction, along with Pierce’s follow up interview. When he was done, he lay the folder on his desk and spoke to Pierce.
“I think you might just have something here, it’s thin, but it might just be something.”
Pierce leaned forward in his seat, as he sensed he was bringing the lieutenant over to his way of thinking.
“She said that they referred to Chinese women, nearly half of the missing women are Chinese. The first cops on the scene found her cell phone lying in the gutter where she said they attacked her. She says that there are two men, not one, that would help explain why these women were taken so easily, she also said that—”
Coke held up a hand.
“There’s zero proof that the two men who tried to abduct this... Valeria, is it? We’ll there’s just no proof that they have taken other women, although, I’ll grant you, they don’t sound like first timers. Anyway, it keeps coming back to the fact that we have no proof of death, and without that, there’s no proof of murder.”
Pierce grew angry. He was getting tired of trying to convince the lieutenant of something that seemed so obvious.
“They threw this woman into the back of a van and then attempted to pummel her into unconsciousness. Why do you think that is, do you think that they just wanted to take her for a ride around the block? They were going to rape and murder her, and then they were going to dump her somewhere where she’d never be found. Jesus, Coke, how many more women have to disappear off the streets before we do something about it?”
The lieutenant sent him a blank look.
“Whose side do you think I’m on, Pierce?”
Pierce exhaled and leaned back in his seat.
“I’m sorry. I understand that a task force is a big deal, that it’s expensive and drains resources, and... I guess I can understand why you wouldn’t want to go upstairs with this and try to sell it, but still, these guys need to be stopped.”
Coke looked over at Jerold.
“What’s your opinion about this? Do you think we have two serial killers on the loose, or a spate of runaway girls?”
Jerold didn’t even hesitate.
“I trust my partner’s instincts, and I also think this Mangieri girl would be lying in a shallow grave somewhere if she hadn’t gotten away from these dudes with the van. Just because no one’s found their bodies, it doesn’t mean that no one’s died.”
The lieutenant tapped his pen against the edge of his desk.
“Have you wrapped up the Danbury case yet?”
Pierce nodded.
“Yeah, but I don’t think it’s going to trial, the D.A. will probably plea bargain.”
“What’s on your table now?”
“The Robena case, but it’s definitely a suicide, so, there’s no need to investigate.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah, other than a court appearance tomorrow,”
Coke picked up the phone.
“Give me a second alone; I need to make a call.”
Pierce and Jerold nodded and walked outside the office.
“Do you think he’s calling upstairs about the task force?” Jerold said.
“No, he wouldn’t do that on the phone, it must be something else.”
Ten minutes passed. Pierce got tired of leaning on the wall and he and his partner began walking back towards their desks. They were halfway there when the lieutenant opened the door.
“Pierce, Jerold, come on in.”
They went back in, but stood this time.
“Okay,” Coke said, “It’s too early to press for a task force, but I got you the next best thing.”
“What’s that?”
“This Valeria Mangieri, she’s all yours, her case has been reclassified as an attempted murder. You say that the guys who attacked her are also killers, all right then, prove it. The case is yours.”
Pierce grinned.
“It’s really ours? What about SVU?”
“That call I made was to the lieutenant in charge, he says no problem, unfortunately sex crimes are a booming business, and they’re backed up. He was happy to pass it on.”
“Thanks, Coke, this is good, real good.”
“I’m happy that you’re happy, but you won’t be working this exclusively, when other cases come along you’ll have to work those too, understood?”
“Not a problem. We’ll work it like a normal case, but we will find these guys and then we’ll figure out where they’re dumping the bodies.”
“Whoa, I know that you’ve got a hard on for these two to be serial killers, but do not work that angle. Your only job here is to find the men that assaulted Ms. Mangieri, do that, and then we’ll see what we’ve got from there, okay?”
“Yes sir, and thanks again.”
They left the lieutenant’s office and went back to their desks. Pierce immediately opened a new file on his computer with Valeria Mangieri’s name.
Not only had her attackers picked the wrong woman to attack, but they now had the wrong cop chasing them. Pierce wouldn’t stop hunting them down until he had them. He was relentless, and in truth, he’d already been on this case for weeks. He had no doubt that Val’s attack and Jenny Liu’s disappearance were the work of the same men, and he burned with a passion to stop them.
Jerold asked a question.
“So, what’s our first move?”
Pierce stood and grabbed his suit jacket from the back of his chair.
“I want to take a look at the site of last night’s attack.”
“Makes sense,” Jerold said.
They walked out to the elevator. They were on the third floor of a six-story building. Once the doors slid closed, Jerold stared at his partner.
“You look happy,”
“I am. Hell, you know how long I’ve wanted this case.”
“Oh.”
“Oh what?”
“Nothing, I just thought that maybe you’d met somebody. Hell, how long has it been since you got laid?”
“Not nearly as long as it’s been for you.”
“I’m a married man, Rick.”
“That’s what I mean.”
The two of them laughed and got off the elevator in the underground garage.
Pierce looked at his partner sideways, surprised by his perceptiveness. He had met someone, he’d met Valeria Mangieri, and he liked what he saw.
However, she was the victim of a crime he was investigating, and therefore, off limits. Still, once he caught the men that attacked her, he’d have no reason not to see her again, socially.
It was just one more reason to be relentless in his search for them.
The Monsters were now being hunted.
CHAPTER 8
Dave and Manny worked straight through until six o’clock, when Dunham left to go home. Once they were certain she’d left, they ordered in a pizza and took an hour-long break.
“I’ve been looking around for another job,” Manny said.
“Really, but hell Manny, you’ve been here as long as I have.”
“Yeah, but I can read the writing on the wall. Dunham’s got my name on her list, and the word is that she’s planning to lay off one more person.”
“She’s crazy; the place is understaffed now. Wait until we get busy like we always do after the first of the year, then she’ll be forced to hire everyone back.”
“The Bitch? Admit she was wrong? No, if that happens she’ll just hire new people, and pay them less than we’re making.”
“So where have you looked for work?”
“Hell, everywhere, I’ve got so many résumés out that I’ve lost track of where they are. I just hope that I get a good offer before The Bitch lays me off.”
***
On Friday night at eight, Dave pulled the last file from the IN basket and sighed. It had been a rough week of late nights, but once he finished this last piece of work he would finally be caught up
, and was looking forward to another “Boys’ Night Out” with Jack on Saturday.
Their last attempt with Val had been a fiasco and had even made the newspapers, but after scouring the news accounts, they realized that the police had nothing that could be traced back to them.
Dave needed the release of a night out after the last two weeks and he knew that Jack did as well. The nights out were addictive. When it was just the two of them hunting the streets, with no bosses, no wives, no family obligations or deadlines, it was as if they owned the night.
They had their pick from a city full of beautiful women who blithely walked about as if they had nothing to fear, as if a lustful beast didn’t lurk in every man’s heart, but that beast lived, lived and thrived in the Digital Age just as well as it had in the Stone Age.
Dave pulled the story up on his monitor and saw a picture of the detective handling the case, Detective Ricardo Pierce. At the end of the interview, Pierce told the reporter that “The monsters that perpetrated this crime will be caught and brought to justice, it’s only a matter of when.”
Dave nibbled at his lower lip.
Is it really just a matter of time until we get caught?
He then thought how disastrous it would have been, had a cop shown up when Val tumbled out of the rear of the van.
He picked up the picture of his daughters that he kept on his desk. Jail would be horror enough, but to be separated from his girls, his wife, that would be unbearable.
He thought seriously about ending the “Boys’ Night Out” tradition and it depressed him so much that he slumped in his seat, he then opened the last file and went back to work.
Manny leaned on the wall of Dave’s cubicle and smiled.
“I’m all done, how much more do you have to do?”
“I’m almost finished, maybe another twenty minutes or so.”
“You know The Bitch is still here. She probably wanted to make sure that we caught up. Man, a sixty-hour week and we don’t even get overtime. Weeks like this I wish I got paid by the hour instead of being on salary, but just one more week and I get to party.”
“It sounds like you’ve got plans?”
“Hell yeah, my brother and I are headed down to Florida next weekend to party with some old friends from high school.”
“I envy you; I don’t have a week off until next spring.”
“Well, I’m out of here, Dave.”
“Have a good one, Manny.”
Manny left and Dave got right to work. He finished the file, powered down his computer, and grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair. It had been a hell of a week, but it was finally finished.
***
Manny was still outside the building. He’d come out of his home that morning and discovered a flat tire and an empty trunk. He had never replaced his spare the last time he had a flat.
His brother had given him a lift and told him to call him whenever he was done. He had called him well before leaving work, but his brother had yet to show up.
He looked around and thought about how quiet it was. The company had recently moved into the building after they had outgrown the office space they had downtown. The new building was three times bigger for the same money, but there were trade-offs.
While they were technically still in city limits, you couldn’t tell by looking around. The building had been an old toilet bowl factory, built in the 1920’s. The toilet bowl people went bust in the eighties and the place sat vacant and decaying for over twenty years.
A savvy developer recognized the potential the site had and gutted the building right down to its concrete walls and steel beams, for although old, the building had been constructed to last, and had decades of life left in it.
A year of renovations made the building useful again and Manny’s company was one of the first to sign a lease, still, the complex was only half-occupied, and at night it was deserted.
Manny hugged the corner of the building as he tried to stay out of the wind. It was a cool night for early September; the type of night that reminded you that autumn was approaching.
He took his phone out to try his brother again and saw Dave walk out of the building. Manny was just about to walk over and start bullshitting for a few minutes, when Karen Dunham ran out of the building towards Dave.
“Mr. Owens!
Manny stayed at his corner and watched as The Bitch held out a stack of files for Dave to take.
Dave didn’t take them from her, but even from his position, Manny knew what they were.
It was more work. The Bitch actually wanted him to keep working, even though he had been working like a dog all week and was on his way home. The Bitch really was a bitch.
Manny shook his head in disgust, and then realized that he was still holding his phone. He started to put it away, but thought better of it.
Dunham was playing a power game with Dave. She was the boss and she wanted him to know it. Dave would either have to tell her to shove those files or acquiesce and slink back into the building to work until she said he could leave. Either way, it would be quite a show. Manny held up his camera, hit the VIDEO button, and began filming.
Dave pointed at Dunham.
“Where did those files come from?”
“It seems that they were misplaced, but that doesn’t matter, what matters is that you finish them tonight. I won’t have us falling behind.”
It was dark out, and the parking lot lights were off. The lights were on a timer that shut them off at six on Fridays, and turned them back on Monday night, so that no money was wasted lighting an empty lot on the weekends. The only illumination in the parking lot came from a sliver of moon and the light spilling from the front doors of the building, even so, there was more than enough light for Manny to see Dave’s face turn crimson.
“We wouldn’t be behind if not for you; you’ve fired a lot of good people.”
“No, I fired your people. You think that I don’t know that you were in line for this job before I came here?”
“Yes, I was in line for it. I’ve worked here since college, and so what if I trained those people, they were doing their jobs.”
“They had loyalty issues, and they can all be easily replaced, however, in the meantime you will handle their workload.”
Dunham held out the files once more and Dave looked at them through squinted eyes.
“Those files weren’t misplaced. You’re playing games, aren’t you? Trying to see just how far you can push me.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but the fact remains that I need you to stay and work.”
“You fucking bitch.”
“What did you just call me?”
“You heard me. I called you a bitch, everyone calls you a bitch; I’m just the first to say it to your ugly face.”
Manny had to clamp his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing, or shouting out in glee. Dave was giving it to Dunham in spades.
“You are fired! Do you hear that, fired! Don’t bother coming in Monday; you no longer work here.”
Manny’s shoulders slumped.
Oh shit, fuck it Dave, apologize, her bullshit isn’t worth losing your job over.
Dave hung his head. He then called out to Dunham as she was walking back into the building.
“Wait! Ms. Dunham, please come back, I have something to say.”
Manny saw the evil little smile spread across Dunham’s thin lips and it made his stomach turn. She then sauntered back over to Dave. He said nothing, but only stared at Dunham.
“I’m waiting?” Dunham said.
Manny zoomed in with his camera as much as the phone would allow. He figured he was about to see some world-class ass kissing.
Instead, he saw what Dave Owens looked like when the monster in him emerged, and he was not only there to witness it, but also captured it on video.
CHAPTER 9
In an instant, Dave had Dunham by her throat. He sent forth a steady stream of invectives and squeezed her
neck as if he were trying to make his hands meet in the middle. Dunham gripped Dave’s wrists in an effort to pull his hands from her throat, but it was useless, and when Dave lifted her up high enough so that her feet dangled, the sickening sound of her neck breaking ended all resistance. The entire incident took less than fifteen seconds.
Manny kept filming, and in fact, had become oblivious to the camera; his entire being was numb from what he had just witnessed. It was the most violent act he had ever seen, and yet, it seemed so familiar, and then it hit him, he had fantasized about doing the very same thing to his wife on many occasions.
His rage spent, Dave was walking around in a circle, while running his hands through his hair.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!”
Manny finally stopped filming. He moved back around the corner and tried to get his breathing under control. Dunham was dead and Dave had killed her, and Christ, he had the whole thing on film.
He heard a scraping sound and peeked around the corner. Dave was dragging Dunham’s body around to the rear of her car, which was parked near the front door. He then ran back into the building and Manny wondered what the hell he was doing.
Did he run inside to call for an ambulance... maybe the cops?
Dave returned holding a purse, Dunham’s purse. He dumped the contents out by the driver’s side door and looked through the pile by using the light from the doorway. Once he found the keys, he unlocked the door and hit the trunk release.
Manny brought out his camera again and filmed Dave as he lifted Dunham’s body and dumped her inside the trunk. After slamming the lid shut, Dave bent down and gathered up her belongings to place them back in the purse, which he then tossed on the front seat of the car.
Then, Dave just stood there for a moment as if thinking, but an instant later, he bent down once more and started picking up the fallen files. Luckily, the sheets had stayed inside the file folders, but then a gust of wind ripped a page from the folder Dave was holding. Dave chased it, stepped on it, and then watched as it took off again when he went to pick it up.
Monsters (A Detective Pierce Novel Book 1) Page 4