With the Eyes of a Killer: A Jessica Roberts Detective Novel

by BJ Wingate

  Tony took a sip of his own coffee and for once he didn’t look pleased with it. “Unfortunately, I agree.” He turned and leaned back against the counter, cup in hand almost forgotten. “What if we get that psychologist to sit in with Alyson and her mother. He could get a feeling about her that way and we aren’t in the picture. At least not directly.”

  Jessica tilted her head a bit thinking. “Not a bad idea. I’ll give him a call and see what he thinks. We might have to get permission from the doctor at the asylum, but it is a good idea.”

  Tony nodded, sipped his coffee again and headed to his desk. Jessica finished about half the cup of coffee, made a cup of tea instead and followed.

  * * *

  The call to Dr. Ferrara went well. He agreed to be in on the conversation with Alyson and Mary Elizabeth and also volunteered to speak with Mary Elizabeth’s doctor about it all and to explain why. All Alyson would be told was that her mother’s doctor had asked to be included in the meeting because of her mother’s mental treatments. That not having him there could undo all the good they had achieved and so on. It sounded good to Jessica at any rate. Now all she had to do was contact Alyson and set it up. Since the ‘Slicer’ had been denied a victim, it was possible she would go out after someone else, and soon.

  Jessica found Alyson’s number in her files and called from her desk. Tony sat across from her listening to her side of the conversation. Alyson picked up on the fourth ring.

  “Hello?” Alyson didn’t recognize the number but answered anyway. Her voice was a little scratchy from having thrown up several times that day.

  Jessica smiled. “Hello, Alyson? It’s Detective Roberts. We talked not too long ago?”

  Alyson nodded. “Oh, hello Detective. I remember you. Is this about my mother? Is she okay?”

  Jessica glanced at Tony. “Yes, your mother is fine. I’ve actually been trying to set up a day that you can go see her. I understand that she didn’t’ put you on the visitation list at the home.”

  Alyson sighed which turned into a slight cough. “No, she didn’t. I tried to go see her and wasn’t allowed to.” She thought for a minute. “Can you really get her to see me? I really want to know that she is okay. She wasn’t the best mother, but she is all I have.”

  Jessica nodded and gave Tony the thumbs up. “I’m working on it. We may have to do it here at the station if that is okay with you? The doctor is being a bit … protective.”

  Alyson sat there for a minute just staring at nothing then she shook her head, coughed again and sighed. “That’s fine. It can’t be today though, I … I’ve been sick all day. If I’m like this tomorrow I’m going to see a doctor.”

  Jessica smiled again. “That’s fine. You take care of yourself. I’ll get it all set up and let you know the day and time. Is that okay?”

  Alyson nodded, one hand on her head. She was going to be sick again, she knew it. “That’s fine. Whenever. Just let me know. I’m sorry but I have to go. Think I’m going to be sick.” With that Alyson hung up and ran for the bathroom again.

  At the precinct, Jessica looked at her phone and cleared the screen. Alyson hadn’t sounded good at all and had hung up on her, but she did have her okay to get a meeting set up. The rest of the day was spent in doing just that, talking to Mary Elizabeth would be the hardest item on the list.

  * * *

  An hour and a half later, Jessica and Dr. Ferrara were seated at a table in the asylum’s conference room with Mary Elizabeth and her doctor, one Guy Guzman. Dr. Guzman was in his fifties and bald. He had blue eyes that were partially hidden behind black rimmed glasses. Next to Dr. Ferrara he looked dowdy and unimpressive. Dr. Ferrara you would never forget meeting. Dr Guzman not so much.

  Jessica let Dr. Ferrara explain wanting to be the one in the room when Mary Elizabeth met with Alyson and how they were going to do it at the station. Throughout his monolog, Dr. Guzman simply listened and nodded. Mary Elizabeth simply looked bored.

  Finally, Jessica glanced at Mary Elizabeth. “Can I ask you a question Mary Elizabeth?”

  The woman in question turned and looked at Jessica. “Sure, hon but let me guess. You are wondering why I refused to see my daughter.”

  Jessica nodded. Dr. Ferrara and Dr. Guzman both listened.

  Mary Elizabeth sighed dramatically. “I refused to see her because she has refused to see me so often in our lifetimes. I felt a little payback was in order, you know what I mean?”

  Jessica frowned. “That’s rather mean of you. I mean she is your daughter after all. Family is family.”

  Mary Elizabeth shrugged. “I never had a lot of good come of family myself.”

  Jessica frowned again. “How so? I mean I know your husband left you when Alyson was a baby but … “

  Mary Elizabeth waved her hand a bit to stop Jessica. “That isn’t it at all. My ex-husband was a lowlife when I met him and, if he isn’t dead by now, probably still is. No. I mean my own family. My mother was, how shall I say this, trailer trash? And my father was never really around. Oh, he didn’t run off like my husband did, he just didn’t stay home too much. Said he was working and making money, but we never seemed to see much of it. We had a house of course. A small one that had seen better days and needed repairs. But he was never there to do them.”

  Jessica glanced at Dr. Ferrara and saw him rubbing his chin as he took in her words. “But is that any reason to ostracize your own daughter? Treating her the way you were treated as a child isn’t exactly fair, is it?”

  Mary Elizabeth suddenly got mad and slammed one hand on the table. “Fair? I didn’t raise her to be a namby pamby person and yet that is what she turned out to be. I wanted her to be strong, to look out for herself. And instead, she barely thinks for herself. She is weaker than milk toast so why should I care what happens to her.”

  Jessica sighed. She was getting a much better picture of Alyson and what she had been through. “At any rate, Mary Elizabeth, we need you to do this meeting with your daughter. Do you agree to it?”

  Mary Elizabeth looked at Dr. Guzman and he nodded.

  “I believe it’s in your best interest, and that of your daughters, to meet with her under the circumstances that Detective Roberts has set up.” Dr. Guzman kept his voice low and soothing. The man might not look like much, but he knew what he was doing.

  Reluctantly it seemed, Mary Elizabeth nodded. “Very well. I’ll do it.”

  Thirty-Four

  Vanessa was angry. Angry that her last excursion hadn’t worked out well. Angry that she had been chased and almost caught. Angry that she just didn’t feel well. Things were not going the way she had hoped and now the police seemed to be onto her? How? She had been so careful. Never leaving tracks behind, never letting anyone get a really good look at her, well, except for that one man but she tried to never look exactly the same any two times other than when she had drained Dukes accounts of cash. She thought about that as well. She still had quite a bit stashed at the storage unit she was renting, as well as some in her car. Well, the car wasn’t actually hers. It was still in his name. She wasn’t entirely sure when the tags would expire but she would need to do something about it later.

  For now, Vanessa needed to let off steam. That man chasing her from the bar had her spooked. She wasn’t sure now what bars would be watched or where it would be safe to go. And that Detective Roberts kept butting her nose in where it didn’t belong. Maybe she was the one that needed to be taken out next. No, that wouldn’t go well. No one liked a cop killer.

  Vanessa arrived at her storage unit and parked her car out back as she was used to doing. She went to the unit, opened it and stepped inside. Closing the door behind her she checked to make sure the money was still secure, and nothing had been messed with. She shook her head and laughed. Talk about being paranoid. She sighed and sat on the one chair she had inside the place. Looking around she saw a place she had designed for herself, a sort of home if you will. Not to live in exactly but to be herself in. She liked it and yet s
he wanted more. Something … better. Something like what Duke had had. That was a home. Some people wouldn’t think so of course but she did.

  Vanessa thought about that. A place of her own. Not a storage unit but a home. Not an apartment either and maybe not a trailer but a house? Could she do that? She shook her head and sighed. Wishful thinking. That was all that was. She got up, changed into a dark blue dress that wasn’t as form-fitting as most of the ones she owned and a black wig that was long and wavy. It had bangs and formed around her face changing her appearance significantly. She applied makeup and chose a bag and light coat to go over the dress then walked out of the storage unit, locked it and walked to her car. Driving out of the place she saw the young man who had rented her the unit at the desk inside watching her leave.

  * * *

  Jessica had the meeting between Alyson and her mother all set up. She had called Alyson to let her know the day and time but with Alyson being sick they had had to set it for the following week. Unfortunately, that gave the ‘Slicer’ a week to claim another victim. Officers were still going to local bars in hopes the killer would show up, but patience was wearing thin, for everyone involved.

  The one officer that had caught sight of who he thought might be the ‘Slicer’ had given a complete report. CSI had gone to the area and checked the alley for any evidence. Only one thing had been found and not in the alley. On the steps of a building close to it, a smudge of dirt showed where someone had hidden, probably when the officer had dashed past the alley initially. She was smart, that was for sure. She had managed to avoid being caught, had gotten away from a trained officer who had been in hot pursuit. Where had she gone? There had to have been a car in the area that she went to but, when the officer had finally back tracked to the street where the bar was, all he had seen was an almost empty street and vanishing taillights in the far distance.

  Jessica and Tony had gone to the area and walked the path both the suspect and the officer had traveled. From what Jessica had been able to tell, on first running from the officer the suspect had darted into the alley and hidden until the officer went past then come back out and, chancy as it might seem, hidden on the step in a recessed doorway. When the officer had walked back to check out the alley, the suspect had then run back up the street, probably gotten into her car and driven off. It was the most likely scenario that she could come up with and Tony agreed with her.

  The officer had apologized for not checking the alley first but what he had done had been logical. He had been alone, no backup and thinking that a woman would not venture into the dark that way, had checked the next street first.

  Jessica had a sketch artist take a picture of Alyson and change it with no glasses, different wig designs and makeup. One of those pictures was shown to Robert Carver, the friend of victim number eight, Calvin Douglas, and he said that that was the woman they had met in the bar the night his friend had been killed. Going farther back, another version of the picture was shown to the bartender where the first victim, Mary Jacobson, had met with a woman who she had left the bar with. He agreed that it could have been the woman he saw with Mary that night.

  More witnesses were found among patrons of the various bars where victims had been taken from. Not all of them could say it was definitely the same person but enough thought it might be to make it more and more obvious.

  Jessica sweated over the decision to hold off for a week on confronting Alyson and yet she knew it was a good idea. Little did she know how right she would be proven to be. Waiting was good and bad at the same time.

  * * *

  Alyson had finally started to feel better after about four days. She still wasn’t quite right so had decided to just stay home for the remainder of the week. On Friday she wandered into the office just before closing to pick up her check and tell the boss she would be back on Monday morning. Going through the drive through teller, she started to put the check into her account. As she dug for a deposit slip, she found 300 dollars in the glove box with them. She didn’t even think about it. Instead, she simply deposited her check and the 300 into her account and went home. She was tired of trying to figure things out. It might be strange to find money in her car, but she wasn’t going to stress over it. Not anymore. If someone were stupid enough to hide money in her vehicle, well, she would simply take what was given and forget the rest.

  * * *

  Jessica got the call as she was getting ready to head to work that morning She had already gotten dressed for work so all she had to do was put her shoes on, grab a jacket and head out the door.

  The storage unit Jessica went to was on the east side. Tony was already there as was Connor Jensen and the CSI team.

  “Tony, what’s going on?” Jessica said as she walked up next to him.

  Tony turned and nodded to Jessica. “We got another one. Vastly different from before yet the same.” He motioned with his head to where an elderly lady was sitting and talking to a uniformed officer. She was crying and her hands were shaking as she talked. Jessica watched for a minute.

  “What do you mean different? Same means another murder or at least that is what I assume. So, the ‘Slicer’ struck again but how different.” Jessica moved a bit to see Connor as he stood up behind the counter.

  Tony looked over at Connor as well. “No bar, not the usual victim, and from what we can tell, totally off the cuff so to speak.”

  Connor walked up as Tony finished speaking. “Tony is right about that. Same knife, same type of cut but not from the back. This one was done from across the counter. Blood spray shows someone was standing there and had moved fast and swung hard. However, they didn’t manage a kill first try. They had to go behind the counter to finish the kid off. And we have no way of knowing why.”

  Jessica pulled on a pair of paper booties over her shoes and walked to the counter. The blood spray did show someone’s hand had been on the counter. “Any prints here?” Jessica said quietly and one of the CSI team shook her head no. “Thanks” Jessica then rounded the end of the counter to see the young man lying on the floor. He was partially sitting up against the back of the counter and blood was spread out around him and down the front of his blue shirt. Standing there she started thinking and looked up at what appeared to be a computer screen. Cameras? Had this kid seen something that he shouldn’t have? For some reason, her suspect had varied what she was doing and taken out a young man just doing his job. She glanced at the elderly woman then walked over.

  “Mam? I hate to have to ask this but are there camera’s here? Are they all over the place? Or just out-front here.” Jessica waited for a minute while the woman focused on her.

  “I … that poor boy. Why would someone do that to him?” The woman looked ready to start crying again.

  “Mam, please. Concentrate. Cameras. Are they all over the site here? Or just in front.” Jessica was trying to be patient, but she wanted this over and done with. She was tired of being called out to see more and more bodies that this one suspect was responsible for.

  The woman nodded, closed her eyes and took a breath. “At first, they were just out here, in front, for the safety of the staff, especially at night but the owner had some put in around the lot too. A couple of our renters had their units broken into, so he wanted the extra security.”

  Jessica nodded. “Does he record it all? And if he does, where are the tapes.”

  The woman looked at Jessica and shook her head. “I don’t know. He doesn’t let us have access to them. Says it’s to keep us honest too. Like he thinks we would steal from him or something.” Her eyes moved toward the counter just as the body was being removed and broke down crying again.

  Jessica gave up and walked back to Tony and Connor. “she says there are recordings from all over the lot, but she has no idea where they are. We need to see those both for in here and for the rest of the facility.”

  Tony glanced at Jessica. “You think she has a unit in here somewhere?”

  Jessica nodded. “I do. I think
she is keeping her ‘secret identity’ hidden in here somewhere, and we need to find it.”

  Tony nodded and Connor watched as the body was loaded into the back of the van. Once that was done, he excused himself and left with the van.

  Thirty-Five

  Two hours after Jessica found out about the cameras at the storage facility, they finally located the owner and convinced him to come and give them the tapes. At first, he refused, stating they needed a warrant. Jessica told him they would get him one, however she might end up getting two, one for the tapes and one for him since they had discovered there was a camera in the women’s bathroom which was against the law. He was there shortly thereafter and gave them full access to the tapes.

  Tapes from the previous three months were taken to the precinct and uniformed officers were assigned to go over them for anything unusual. The first two months were of the office and front parking lot so the last month would be of more interest. Still, Jessica wanted them all gone over and that was being done.

  The date for Alyson’s meeting with her mother was still a few days away but getting closer. Now all Jessica could do was hope and pray that the ‘Slicer’ didn’t decide to go for yet another victim in the meantime.

  * * *

  Vanessa had gone cruising for a new location but hadn’t found anything as of yet. She had visited most of the smaller bars and taverns of the inner city at least once and her experiences with the larger, more sophisticated ones discouraged her from trying that again. Of course, she could always try a different type of look. Maybe office attire, look classy and elegant herself to lure in someone. She sighed. That would mean a change of wardrobe. Most of the things she had now were flirty and downright sexy. If she were going to ‘remake herself’ she would have to do some more shopping, maybe set up a second rack with the new look prominent on it. She nodded her head agreeing to her own idea. Now to decide where to go and shop. She picked up a local paper at a corner box, drove to a remote location she knew of and started looking at ads that were always inserted.