by W L Knightly
“Sounds great,” said Jake, clapping his hands together. “Thanks for helping out.”
“I just thought I’d put him to work for us since we have such a big day.”
“Big day? Is this a surprise or something? I heard you whispering most of the morning. You never whisper into the phone around me.”
Jo turned a bright pink. “I wasn’t whispering. I was just hoarse this morning. There must be pollen in the air.”
“Must be. So, what’s the surprise?” He sat down in his chair as Sam got up and walked to the door.
“Trust me. You’re going to like it. I wish I was able to stick around.” He glanced at his phone. “I better get on it. You two have fun.”
“He makes it sound like we’re going fishing or to an amusement park. What’s this about?”
The phone rang before she answered him, and she held up a finger for him to give her a moment and picked it up. “Is it ready?” she asked the person on the other end. A brief pause gave Jake an opportunity to try and listen in. “Thanks, we’ll be right down.”
“Well? Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” It wasn’t like their job didn’t have enough surprises already.
Jo waved her hand. “It’s not that big of a deal. I just had Kevin help me out with a complete mockup of the Bodin crime scene. I want to see if there’s any way that Kendra could have committed the crime herself, or the other young man. He’s about Kevin’s size, and you’ll be our Hangman match. Surely, one of us should be able to recreate the crime and give us some clues as to what kind of suspect we’re looking at.”
“That really does sound kind of fun, considering why we’re doing it.”
“It just keeps getting at me, you know? I can’t help but think something’s off about this case. And meanwhile, I had the chief put some of the men on searching for the Hangman’s latest hideout. They are working with the cops in Idaho, just across the state line. There are a lot of places around there that have campsites, and if we can get a heavy show of force over there, maybe they’ll push him back this way. Especially now that I know my father’s back in town. If he’s gone out of state at the moment, he’ll be back soon enough.”
“I’d say he’s back already. Has Kevin found out anything about the cellphone call? Where the call came from, according to towers?”
“He said he had something to show me. Let’s go down to his office. Maybe we’re both in for a surprise.” She rose from her chair, and Jake followed her to the forensic lab.
Kevin waited in the first hallway. “I thought I’d meet you out here. We’re actually going into this room.” He opened the first door to the right, and they followed him inside. “This is where we usually set things up like this, and lucky us, it’s roughly the same size as the storage unit. I’ve even made large prints of the blood spatter to help us out with the chair and floor around the place where Judge Bodin was sitting.”
The room was not a perfect replica in many ways, but it was close enough that they could do what was needed. The pulley system was not an exact match to the Hangman’s rigging, but it was to the one the copycat used.
“This looks great,” said Jo. “Thanks for pulling this all together.”
“It’s my job,” said Kevin. “Besides, I’m just as excited as you are to see if you’re able to lift Gary.”
Jake laughed. “We’re using Gary? I’d like to see that too.” Gary was a bit husky, and if the pulley helped Jo hoist him, it would mean Kendra was most likely able to lift her husband. And certainly, Timothy could.
“I also want to check the spatter patterns,” said Kevin. “I found Rohypnol in his system. It’s not the same drug our man usually uses. This one paralyzes. Which is another way his wife might have been able to carry out what she was doing, depending on if this works or not.”
“I still can’t see it, but convince me.” Jake stepped back and waved his hand to gesture Jo toward the pulley.
“I’m not convinced either. But I thought I’d humor her. Plus, this is going to be funny.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket, and a few seconds later, Jake could hear a voice on the other end from where he stood feet away. “Hey, Gary, come down to the service room.” He hung up the phone.
“You mean Gary doesn’t know?” Jake couldn’t wait to see the look on the other man’s face when he found out what was about to go down.
“No,” said Kevin with a smile. “But he owes me. He’s been up to his usual practical jokes around the office again, and this is about the only way I can get back at him without putting myself on his level.
Jake shook his head and laughed. “Poor guy.”
“Poor guy?” asked Kevin. “I went around the office with chocolate on the seat of my pants for the whole afternoon, and when I left, he didn’t tell me. I went to my friend’s for dinner that night and was treated like I had shit my pants. My friend was humiliated.”
Jo covered her mouth and giggled. “Sounds like the man’s a legend. We should do pranks.” She gave Jake a teasing grin.
“Yeah, well, he’s been pulling them long enough, and now it’s my turn for payback.”
“You wanted to see me,” asked Gary a moment later when he stuck his head through the door.
“Yes, come on in. We could use a little dead weight.”
“Very funny,” said Gary. “What’s all this?” He glanced around at the setup. “This is the Bodin scene?”
“Yes, and you get to play the lead.” Kevin grinned like a snake.
“Does that mean I get to murder you?” asked Gary with a sinister grin.
Kevin looked a bit off put, but he shook his head. “No, it means you get to play dead, something you usually do at your desk Monday through Friday.”
The two men laughed, and it was clear they really liked each other. Gary had always been a good guy as far as Jake knew, with a good sense of humor and the ability to take as good as he gave.
While it was funny to watch, Jake couldn’t relate. He was used to working alone. He wondered if his replacement had been a man, would they have become friends like Gary and Kevin? Would there be office pranks and in-jokes, instead of awkwardness and sexual tension?
“So, let’s get you in this harness,” Kevin said, putting his hand on Gary’s arm. “We’re going to make sure we don’t hurt anything important, so if you feel like at any time we should stop, you need to speak up. We wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable.” Jake could tell that Kevin was going to love every minute of it.
“Whose lifting me?” Gary looked at Jake. “You won’t have a problem, Jake.”
“Jo is doing it. We want to see what size our suspect is. If it makes a difference at all.”
“With the right leverage, it’s possible she could lift me on those pulleys, but I’m not sure she’ll have enough ground with this length of rope.” Gary seemed confident in his theory.
Jo stepped up and kicked off her shoes once they had him strapped into the harness. She made sure she got a good grip on the rope and strengthened her stance by parting her feet. “Is this the same length we took from the scene?”
“Yes,” said Kevin as he turned toward Jake. “And again, the room is the same size, so we’re in scale.”
Jo planted her feet and struggled with the rope. The only way she could get enough strength was to walk away from the scene toward the nearest wall. But even then, she couldn’t lift him more than a couple of inches, and there was no way she’d be able to hold him long enough to tie it off.
“There’s no way she did this alone,” said Jo, looking at her hands. “She didn’t do this. If Gary was struggling in any way, it would make it even harder. You know, a hanging man has to fight a little.”
“Assuming he wasn’t totally out of it. But I think even then, you’d have some natural resistance. The body is going to fight for survival to a degree. There would be some involuntary movements.”
Jake walked over and took her hands in his. “You need gloves.”
Jo shook
her head and gave him a look of disappointment. Whatever she had thought, she didn’t have much hope left. “Even then, I couldn’t budge him. And there’s not enough ground to use for leverage, even with the pulley.”
“Could you do it?” Kevin asked Jake.
He took the rope from Jo. “Let’s find out.” He braced himself for the weight and parted his feet a bit too.
“Could you hurry up? This thing bunches.” Gary tugged at his harness.
Jake pulled the rope, and the man lifted without much of a problem. It took a lot of strength but wasn’t anything like Jo’s attempt. “Yeah, that’s a big difference,” he said, looking up at the man as he dangled. He let Gary down slowly.
“It’s your height,” said Kevin. “I’m pretty sure that your height difference and your strength is what is helping it along. You’re able to choke up on the rope a bit higher than her. It gives you the ground you need to get the job done.”
“Well, I know Madden had a lot of height and weight on me,” said Jake. “He’s definitely capable, but I just don’t think he did it either. I think we’re missing something though. There’s nothing saying that she didn’t hire someone, and now that we’ve ruled this out, I think we need to see what Sam finds out and work from there.”
“Why are you thinking it’s the wife?” asked Gary, taking off the harness. “Because she showed up at the scene?”
“No,” said Jo. “It’s because we learned her husband was having an affair with another man. We figure if she had found out about it, maybe that’s motive for killing him or having him killed. I just wanted to rule her out. I think we did. She’s the same size as me.”
“So, we’re not looking at her for the murder, but maybe an accessory. We need to get back to the station and see if Sam’s had any luck reaching the Bodins’ old neighbors.”
Jo nodded. “I’ll make sure and call a few of Bodin’s old colleagues at the firm he was with back in Olympia. Someone must have known or suspected something. Maybe they know of a close friend of his. Maybe a boyfriend he left behind. A past failed relationship.”
Jake remembered something from the Hangman’s first murder. “Didn’t we find that Elliot Gaines had male lovers? Maybe there is a connection somehow?”
“I don’t remember running across that name,” said Jo, who narrowed her eyes as if she were thinking back. “But I can surely find out. We still have those case files, and I’m pretty sure they haven’t been tampered with.” She and Jake exchanged a look, and he couldn’t believe she brought it up. Especially since it was certain her father had been the one to have the older case files removed.
“Thanks for setting this up, Kevin,” said Jake. Gary cleared his throat as he stripped off the rigging before Jake could acknowledge him. “And thank you, Gary, for allowing us to use you as our guinea pig.”
Gary limped to the door. “I wish I could say it was my pleasure, but my balls have had better days.”
They shared a laugh, but Jake knew it was time to get back to business. There was someone out there besides the Hangman who might kill again. At least he knew the Hangman’s targets. This copycat? Total wildcard.
As they said their goodbyes, Kevin shook his hand. “Hey, there’s something you need to consider. These crimes are really gory. Maybe whoever did in Bodin just saw an opportunity to have a little fun.”
It was a gruesome possibility but not unlikely.
As they walked out of the office, Jo caught up with Jake. “Hey. What do you think about what he just said? Do you really think this could be someone out for a thrill kill?”
“It’s possible. We need to look into some of our more violent offenders. Then there’s your brother.”
Jo stopped in her tracks, and Jake stopped and turned to see she wasn’t amused. “You really think my brother would be stupid enough to try something like this?”
“Considering I know him better than you and he’s pulled stunts like this before, yeah. I think it’s worth talking to him.”
“I don’t think we have a reason to talk to him. Other than the fact that you want to piss off my father.”
“I don’t want to piss him off, Jo. But you know that if he was anyone other than your brother, if he were just some other psychopath who is a known murderer—”
“Never convicted,” she added. Jake could understand her attitude. It couldn’t be easy to admit your brother was a killer.
“This wouldn’t be a problem,” he finished. “We’d talk to him and get to the bottom of it, not to accuse but to make sure we could rule him out. This is no different. We need to get this done, Jo. You need to face him sometime. It might as well be now.”
“Fine. I’ll go. But only after you buy me lunch.” She stormed past Jake and headed for the parking lot.
Chapter 10
Kyle
With the boredom of his hotel room getting to him and the fact that his father still hadn’t let up about leaving town, Kyle decided to pop in on Kendra and see how she was holding up. Knowing things were still emotional with the funeral announced for the following day, he decided popping in would only make him look like less of a suspect.
He pulled into their drive, parked the car, and then walked up the pathway to the front door. He knocked and was shocked to see Kendra when the door opened. “Oh, hey. I didn’t expect you to answer. Didn’t you have a maid?”
“That was back home before we moved,” she snapped. “And you had better be glad it was me who answered. Tate’s mother is here. The last thing I need is for her to find out about you now. She’s already in here packing up half of my house to take home with her.”
“I’m just a friendly law student stopping by to give my condolences since the man I aspired to be like has passed away.” He kept his voice low and wished she’d invite him inside.
“You’re playing games, and I’m dealing with the worst time of my life? Go home, Kyle.” She lowered her voice. “I told you, it’s over. It’s not how you want it to be.”
“I know that, and I accept it. But at least let me be here as a friend, Kendra. I care about you. I love you.”
Her eyes went wild as she ground her teeth so hard that he could see the muscles feathering there. “And that’s why you can’t be here.”
Kyle didn’t like where this was headed, but he thought it best to reassure her. “Hey, I’m just letting you know I’m here. When this all settles down. You said you were scared of me showing up on your doorstep, and here I am to show you it’s not a terrible thing.”
“Leave, Kyle. Before I call the cops and get a restraining order. There have already been plenty of them around asking me and my neighbors what’s going on around here. I’m sure this little visit has congregated an audience. I don’t need anyone asking questions about who you are to me. It’s done. It’s been done. You’re no longer welcome in my life. I don’t know how to make it clearer to you.” She shut the door in his face, and Kyle stood there a moment, his nostrils flaring as he punched the door with the side of his fist.
“Fucking bitch,” he muttered as he stared at the door. “I should have killed you both.” He stormed down the drive, got in his car, and sped away, letting the tires squeal and leave a nice rubber stain on the concrete.
He drove across town and thought about going to the golf course. Knowing that Bodin had left his car there, there were bound to be cops asking questions. And not wanting to seem suspicious to anyone with a change of habit, having another drink there might not be a bad idea. But only if there weren’t any cops there.
He took the exit to the Rockford and found a place to park. If he was going back to that dull golf course, the least he could do was snort a few lines and wait until his usual time.
No need in breaking habits.
Chapter 11
Jake
“It’s good to see the two of you in here together,” said Ruth Anne.
“Well, thank you for your support of our partnership,” said Jake. “But don’t give her any ideas. I’m no
t coming back full-time.” Part of the reason he hoped to retire was that they might have a shot together if they weren’t coworkers, but he wanted to kick himself for even considering it.
“Don’t be so sure,” said Jo. “I might work some charms on you yet.” She gave him a wink.
Ruth Anne let out a cackle that would have made a witch proud. “You better watch this one,” she said. Then she turned and went to the kitchen with their empty plates and his money after Jake put down the tip.
“She’s onto you,” he said with a grin. “Are you ready to go?”
Jo gave him a weary look. “Not particularly, but I don’t think I’ll ever be. You know, when I was a kid, I always wanted a brother or a sister. I thought a sister would be fun to do things with, like have tea parties and paint our nails. My mother would try her best, but it wasn’t like I ever had anyone to tell secrets to. I never thought about having a younger brother, like Kyle. Anytime I thought of a brother, I imagined him older, the protective type. I never bargained for Kyle.”
“You wanted the hero brother. That’s what everyone wishes. I’m sorry you got the raw end of that deal.”
“Yeah, me too. But you know, I think I can face him. It’s like you said. I need to get it over with. The first time was awkward, so I know this won’t be any different, but I know I need to face him.”
“No time like the present,” he said, rising from the booth. He offered her a hand, and she took it as she got to her feet. “It’s going to be fine. If he gets out of line, I’ll be happy to punch him.”
“Like a protective older brother?”
He didn’t want to be compared to a sibling. “More like a furious husband.”
Jo smiled ear to ear, but she let that one go without a verbal response.
As they drove across town, Jake wondered if he could make his feelings any clearer. He needed her to know how he felt, but they had a long time to go before repairing the damage he’d done. He’d been the one to undo the progress, not that there had been much made where they were concerned.