“O-okay, sorry,” he said, looking a little confused as he pulled away.
I rolled my eyes. He didn’t appear to be any older than twenty – he was a baby – and what was he expecting? That I would climb in the front seat and thank him for coming to my rescue? Pathetic.
I put him out of my mind and surveyed the street. It was empty at this hour, but a thumping rhythm from the bar told me that it was still open, although it was not very well lit. There was an alley behind the bar that had been the dumpsite for the first body. I don’t know why I thought it would help, but that’s where I was planning to go. I walked cautiously towards the end of the building and peered around the corner. The further I got from the door, the quieter it became as the music faded. My boots clicked in the darkness. About a hundred feet back, I could see a dumpster; beyond it to the right the alley extended into the shadows.
I glanced back behind me to make sure no one was there. I didn’t really know whether the alley was an area the public was allowed to access, or if it was reserved for use by the frontage businesses. Either way, I didn’t want to be seen. Just as I was about to round the corner, the bar door burst open. Music and light poured into the street, and a drunken couple stumbled out. I froze in my steps, shrinking into the blackness around me. I was glad that my clothes were dark. A car pulled up to the curb, it was the same Uber that I had just gotten out of. The noisy couple got into the back, and I thought I saw the driver glance up at me. I jumped back around the edge of the building and hurried toward the dumpster, keeping close to the wall as I went. The car pulled away again. Either the driver hadn’t seen me after all, or he didn’t care.
When I reached the dumpster, I scanned the alley to its side to make sure I was alone. It was eerily dark and quiet. The faint, pulsing music from the bar did not make its way back here. A streetlight on the far corner of the alley flickered sporadically, humming as it provided quick spurts of dull orange light that only seemed to make the night darker around it. I walked around, placing my feet carefully to quiet my footsteps. This was a desolate place. Despite the dumpster, the ground was strewn with garbage and broken glass. There was an old, stained mattress on the ground. At first, I wondered if that was where he had left his first victim; Julene Daily the newspaper had said her name was. I reminded myself that the police would have taken it as evidence if it had been, but I walked over to it anyway. The stains seemed to be yellowish, definitely not blood.
I kept walking, but there wasn’t much else to see. I chastised myself for coming here in the first place, what had I been expecting to find? The killer lurking around? Another body? I shook my head. Well, it hadn’t been a completely worthless trip, at least. It gave me an idea of how he viewed women. He thought of them as trash that he could use and dump on the side of the road. Julene had been a prostitute who worked the streets in this general area. I supposed that I would head back to the bar and walk around for a while.
Just as I was turning around, the light sputtered on again, and two things caught my attention. There was something drawn on the ground a dozen feet from me, and there was a distinct noise from behind me. I spun on my heel, grabbing my knife from my bag and brandishing it in a quick, practiced motion as I faced the back wall of the line of buildings. I looked from side to side, squinting into the darkness but seeing nothing.
“Who’s there?” I called.
There was only silence in response.
I strained my ears, trying to place the sound I’d heard. After a full minute, I lowered my knife. Perhaps I had imagined the noise. I turned my attention back towards the drawing on the ground and walked over to it. It was hard to tell in the trembling light, but it appeared to be a picture of a flower. I turned my phone on and shined it at the ground. Something was written there. It said ‘RIP Jewel.” I looked at the ground sadly. This must have been where he’d left her, crumpled and dirty, discarded on the side of the road like a doll no one wanted anymore. Well, someone had loved her. I bent over the flower and placed my hand on it tenderly.
From behind me, I heard a small, hesitant voice.
“Did you know Jewel, too?”
Chapter 11
Harmony was the personification of a wounded bird.
She had come up behind me, softly, feather-light.
I had been so absorbed in the drawing that I hadn’t hear her approach. I jumped at her voice, pivoting around quickly, the knife still in my hand.
The girl stumbled backward, throwing her arms up to protect herself, barely managing to stay on her feet in the spiked heels she wore.
“It’s okay,” I assured her, lowering the knife. “I won’t hurt you. You just scared me. I didn’t know Jewel, but I very much want to find out who did that to her. Did you make this?” I slowly tucked the knife back into my purse and gestured to the ground.
“Yes,” she said, taking a tentative step closer to me again. “It was just so sad. Jewel was my friend. She didn’t deserve what happened, but nobody cared. She was just gone, and nobody cared.”
Her bottom lip trembled and her huge eyes filled with tears.
“Well, it sounds like you cared a lot… um, what’s your name?” I asked gently.
She bit her lip and glanced around nervously, her eyes darting back and forth in the shadows as though someone was watching her on an unseen camera. “Har… Harmony,” she whispered.
“Hello, Harmony. I’m Emily,” I introduced myself softly. “Even though I didn’t know Jewel, I care that she died. You’re right that she didn’t deserve what happened. I want to find the man who did it. Do you think we could talk for a few minutes?”
“I… ummm… well… I can’t really talk right now,” she finally stammered. “I need to get back.” She nodded her head toward the street the bar was on.
“You’re working, right?” I guessed. “What if I paid for your time? Then your boss wouldn’t care, would he?”
Her skittish movements calmed slightly and her eyes focused on me. She was strung out, clearly high on something, and afraid of even the wind that swirled in the alley.
“O… okay... Wait,” she said suddenly, “you’re not a cop, are you?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Then why do you even care?” she asked suspiciously.
“Because I care about all women,” I said, “I wish I could have helped Jewel, but if I can find the killer, maybe I can help another girl like her.”
“Okay,” Harmony said, accepting my reasoning.
“Why don’t we go into the bar and I’ll buy you something to eat?”
Her big eyes widened. “I am hungry.”
I led her inside the dimly lit bar and we took a seat at a table that felt sticky. I quickly put my hands in my lap to avoid touching anything, but Harmony seemed completely unphased by the atmosphere.
“What’ll it be?” a hoarse voiced asked.
The woman serving us had a face that was just as strained as her voice. I couldn’t tell if she was thirty or fifty. Hard lines ran across her cheeks and brow, dragging her features down and giving her a permanent scowl. I felt badly for her.
Harmony looked at me, as if waiting for my permission to speak. My heart lurched in my chest now that I could see her up close. I could tell she was young, possibly still a teenager, but life had hit her hard. She looked worn down. Too-big eyes sunk into a drawn face. Her smile was painted on with bright lipstick and glitter sparkled from her cheeks, but she was sad.
“Get whatever you’d like,” I said with a smile. “I’ll just take a water, please.”
“Can I have the burger and fries?” Harmony asked as though it were a question for the waitress.
“Coming right up,” she droned before walking away.
“So, how did you know Jewel?” I asked once the waitress had gone.
“She was my friend. We looked out for each other as best we could. I should have been able to help her that night, but… I…” more tears began to flow again.
Putting my hand on he
r forearm, I said, “It’s not your fault. No matter what happened, the man who killed her is entirely responsible for what he did. We can’t control what happens to us, but he could have controlled himself.”
“I just should have done SOMETHING,” she said, overemphasizing the last word.
“Did you see it?” I asked.
She squeezed her eyes shut, as if trying to block out the image, and nodded her head.
“Did you talk to the police already?” I asked, holding my breath and hoping against hope that maybe I’d found a new witness, with new information.
“N-no, I’m sorry!” she cried. “I wanted to help but, but police don’t like people like me. And I’m not really allowed to talk to them anyway, my boss would get mad at me – even if he knew I was talking to you! And… I was scared.”
Her eyes were brimming with tears and she buried her head in her hands.
“Harmony, it’s okay,” I said, “you didn’t do anything wrong! If you feel like you can talk to me now, then you’ll be helping and you never have to talk to the police at all. Do you think you can do that?”
Harmony nodded her head and looked up from her hands.
“Good,” I said, reaching across the table and putting an assuring hand on her forearm, “thank you for trusting me, I promise it’s going to be okay. Can you tell me what happened?”
“We were both working that night. I took – well a job, and I was around the block in the guy’s car. When he was done, I just walked back. Jewel and I usually hung in front of the bar, especially after a job, so we’d know we were okay. Anyway, when I came around the corner there was a guy talking to Jewel. It was weird, because usually, guys pick us up in their cars and we go somewhere else. But this guy had parked and gotten out to talk to her. I knew something was wrong,” she said sadly.
“What made you think that?”
“I dunno, just the way she looked. Scared. It was just a feeling at first. Then I saw him pull out a – a gun,” Harmony said, casting her eyes down to the table. “Jewel tried to run, but he grabbed her hair and hit her. Then, he took her into the alley.”
She was speaking in a low monotone now, her body wilting under the combination of pain and guilt.
“What happened next?” I asked, carefully choosing my words so as not to say anything that would imply she should have acted.
“I panicked. I should have screamed… I… I should’ve gotten help. But I didn’t. I just stood there across the street. I couldn’t move. After a while, I don’t know how long it was really, I heard her screaming. The man came running out of the alley and jumped in his car. I ducked behind the stairs in front of the big brick building across the street over there,” she pointed out the window. “I hid until I heard him drive away. Then I ran to the alley as fast as I could. There was blood everywhere, and Jewel was dead.”
“I’m so sorry, Harmony,” I said, “but if you’d done anything differently, you’d probably be dead, too. You couldn’t save her.”
“You don’t think I failed her?”
“No. You couldn’t protect her then, but you’re helping her now by talking to me. Did you get a good look at the man?”
“No,” she said, wiping her nose with the napkin from the table. It was too dark and I never saw his face. I know he was taller – maybe six foot. And I know he drove a blue car.”
“What kind of car?” I asked. It was unlikely the name would mean anything to me, but I figured I could look it up later.
“It was just a normal car. You know, four wheels, four doors, blue. I don’t know much about cars. It wasn’t a fancy sports car or anything.”
I had to tread carefully. I wanted to press for more information, but I was afraid that if I did, she’d shut down altogether. There simply had to be more! What were the odds of randomly running into this girl, not just a friend of the victim, but a witness to the murder – and a witness the police hadn’t found – this had to be the hand of Fate! She had to remember something more! “Was their anything else, Harmony? Maybe something that stood out about the man’s clothes, or the car?”
“Well,” she said, scrunching up her eyebrows and turning her eyes skyward as she thought, “there was the license plate.”
How could she forget that she knew the plate number? That was a jackpot! “Great! You got his plate!”
“Well, no.” she clarified. “I tried, but I couldn’t read it, but I do remember that the rear plate hung funny, like it was on an angle and about to fall off. That’s all I can remember. Sorry.”
Tears were welling in her eyes again. She must have seen my face fall a little as she told me about the plate. The license number would have been a solid lead, but this detail was something. Maybe not something that I could search on a computer, but it was more than I had before. I sensed that Harmony was at the limit of what she could handle for the night anyway.
“You have nothing to be sorry for!” I said. “You’ve given me some great information. How much do I need to pay you?”
“A hundred is fine,” she answered.
“So would a thousand cover the whole night?” I asked.
Her eyes went wide and she nodded. “That would actually be too much. Five would be plenty for a whole night… but you don’t have to do that,” she added.
“It’s the least I can do, Harmony. I’m going to give you the thousand, and you can keep the extra five hundred for yourself. You’ve really helped me. I am going to find this guy, and I’m going to get justice for Jewel.”
Her dark eyes looked uncertain, but when she nodded, there was a glimmer of hope in them.
I counted the money under the table and slipped it to her as discreetly as I could. The last thing I wanted was for her to get beat up, or worse, if someone knew she had the money. In all likelihood, she’d spend it on drugs, but that was none of my concern. I just wanted to try helping her. Hopefully she’d do better than I was giving her credit for.
Armed with at least a little more than I’d come with, I left the bar, a sour smell clinging to my hair as I stepped into the night air. My plan hadn’t changed, but there was nothing more I could do tonight and I decided it was time to head home. As soon as I could, hopefully tomorrow, I’d take some time to look at the locations that he’d struck since Jewel and do my best to get out in front of him. I knew the kind of woman this man was after, and I didn’t think I’d have any trouble fitting the description. I hadn’t expected him to have a gun since he’d killed with the knife. That was an extremely valuable piece of information. I’d have to let him get close before I could act. No matter – he would still get what he deserved.
The Uber pulled up to the corner and I was relieved to see a woman behind the wheel. After the last driver, and my conversation with Harmony, I was in no mood to deal with another man. One wrong look or coarse remark and I just might snap. The ride home was quiet, but at one point, I glanced up to see the woman looking at me in the mirror. She quickly averted her gaze, telling me that I had not been imagining it. I was puzzled, but she kept her eyes on the road for the rest of the drive. When we arrived at Kate’s house and I got out to pay, I saw her looking at me again, tight-lipped, eyebrows slightly raised. I realized she was judging me. Maybe she thought I was a prostitute because of where she had picked me up. I couldn’t really blame her. I’d had the same thoughts about some of the women at the bar. I would have to do better. Women had enough problems in this world without tearing each other down.
I walked up the steps to the front door as quietly as I could since I could see that Kate’s upstairs window was open slightly. I crept to my room and settled into bed for what was left of the night, feeling more relaxed than I had earlier.
The next morning came early, but I forced myself out of the warmth of my bed to go say hello just as Kate and Norah were heading off for the day. I must have looked as tired as I felt because Kate immediately asked if I’d had any trouble sleeping that night. I was afraid she might have heard me coming home, so I told her th
at I’d been restless and gone for a walk. From her reaction, I guessed that she hadn’t heard anything, and that her question had been based purely on my appearance.
“Restless after your date, hmmmm?” Kate said with a raised eyebrow as she helped Norah with her backpack.
“That was certainly part of it,” I replied with a smile.
Norah jumped right in to poke some fun at me. “Aunt Emily’s in loooooove!” she crooned.
I gave her a playful whack with the kitchen towel and shooed them out the door. I was looking forward to having the house to myself for a while so I could get to work researching where and when the rapist had struck and trying to figure out a pattern.
Thus far, his attacks had all taken place along the rundown northern edge of the city. I was glad that he had a definite comfort zone, but it was still a big area. Hoping to just somehow find myself in the right place at the right time was not likely to work, but at least with the information from Harmony I had a shot of recognizing his car if I saw it.
Using the internet, I researched where all of the bodies had been found. I was able to find fairly specific locations for some of the victims, but others only had generic information reported, like an intersection. I spent quite a while exploring the street views of the dumpsites I was sure about, then I spent time looking into the areas surrounding the less specific sites.
I began to get a strange feeling as I continued my research. The news reports had made this man out to be messy and spontaneous; they’d said that he went for low risk targets because he was inexperienced. I was getting a completely different feel. His victims obviously weren’t random – some of them looked like they could be sisters – and neither were the locations he’d chosen. It wasn’t easy to find a place in the city close enough to grab a victim and secluded enough to kill them. This man had done exactly that – seven times. Except for Harmony, he’d left no witnesses, no DNA, no evidence of any kind. He was methodically planning these attacks. He was smart. He was controlled when he needed to be.
Evil Unbound- Death's Mistress Returns Page 18