Cause of Death (Det. Annie Avants Book 1) (23 page)

Saturday, 1 September 2012, 11:00 AM

"Hey, come on around back," Tom said when he answered his front door to Laine and Noelle.

He picked up Noelle and carried her to the building at the back of his home that housed his pottery supplies, kiln, and the kick wheel he had built himself several years before, as well as two electric wheels.

"I'm glad to see you're both wearing jeans and t-shirts.  Clay gets on everything. Sometimes I have to stand outside and hose off before I can go into my house," Tom laughed.

"Well, this is going to be fun.  They just started making little things out of clay at Noelle's school and she loves it.  It's nice of you to show her a real pottery studio.  Who knows, maybe she'll become the next great master potter," Laine said as they entered the studio.

"Wow, this is nice.  I didn't know what to expect, but this is very professional looking.  What do you usually make?"

"I throw a lot of larger planters and a friend of mine makes macramé hangers for them.  Then we sell them to local nurseries or private buyers.  Word gets around.  Unfortunately, as much as I love throwing pottery, I don't have a lot of time to spend in my studio."

"That's an impressive looking kiln in the alcove outside.  Did you build it yourself?  It doesn't look like something you can just go out and buy," Laine asked.

"Yep, I sure did.  It's a catenary arch kiln and I built it one brick at a time.  I can fire up to Cone 12 in it, which is about 1200 degrees F.  It's wood-fired and I run it a lot in the winter because it keeps the studio warm.

"Noelle, come here, let's cut you some clay.  Here's a plastic apron you can put on."

Noelle followed Tom to a small table set up for her.  "I love clay," she said.

Tom laughed, "So do I, Noelle.  It just feels so good.

"This clay in called Sandstone Buff.  I buy it from Quyle Kilns in Murphys and of all the clays I've used over the years, it's my favorite."  He cut a chunk off for Noelle and placed it on the table.

"OK, Noelle, the first thing you want to do is knead it like this."  He showed her how to push and turn the clay.  "This makes it easier to work and gets out any air bubbles."

Noelle did as she was shown, while Tom and Laine sat on stools at her table and watched her little hands work the clay.

Tom cut a couple of larger pieces for him and Laine and they kneaded their clay also. 

"What we're going to do is build a pot by hand, using coils.  Take a piece of your clay, about this big", he showed her a piece about the size of a golf ball, "and start rolling it between your two palms on the table to make a long rope.  Like this. . ."

He demonstrated and all three of them set about making a long rope.

"Next, take the coil and start, well, coiling it to make the bottom of your pot."  He started Noelle's coil and then let her do it herself.

"Make sure you keep the coil close, with no gaps.  If you need to, wet your fingers and rub a little water on the sides of the coils to help them stick to each other.

"When you get the bottom as big as you want it, tuck the coil under the pot and make sure it's sealed good and not lumpy. Smooth it out if you have to.  Then, wet the outside coil - like this - on top and begin with a new coil to make the sides of your pot.  Kind of squish the coils a little together as you go. When we get the pot as high as we're going to build it, we'll smooth the sides down and make sure there are no gaps."

All three of them worked building their pots, watching Tom carefully to make sure they were doing it right.

"I'm like Noelle," Laine said.  "I love the feel of the clay, and the smell."

"I'm finished," Noelle said.  "It's big enough for Kool-Aid now.  When can I take it home?"

"Well, we'll smooth it out a little and make sure it sits flat so it doesn't tip over.  Then, tomorrow I plan to cook all the different items I have ready in the big kiln.  That will take a couple of days.  When it's finished, and cooled off, I'll bring it to your Mom and she can take it home to you.  How does that sound?"

"Great!  Thank you!"

"How are you doing, Laine?"  Tom asked.  "That looks pretty good and you've already smoothed it out nicely."

"I'm finished.  I don't want to make it any taller.  Just a shallow bowl is fine for now.  I'd really like to learn how to do it on the wheel."

"That's doable.  It's not hard to learn.  We can do wheel work another time while Noelle builds a whole collection of coiled vessels.

"For the moment, if we're done here, I have a suggestion.  Noelle, do you think your Mom will let us all go to John's Incredible Pizza?  Hmmm?  Or maybe Chuck E Cheese?"

"Oh, oh, Mom, can we go to John's Incredible Pizza?  Please.  I love to go there.  There are so many games and things to play."

Laine laughed.  "Well, it's not the most nutritious place to eat, but they do have plenty of different buffets to choose from.  I say, let's get outta here and go eat until we pop."

Within ten minutes, they were cleaned up and out the door, on the way to an afternoon of pizza gluttony.

After their incredible pizza, Tom drove Laine and Noelle back to his house so she could collect her car.

"It was fun today," Laine said to Tom as he walked her and Noelle to their car.  "Noelle just loved messing with the clay and you're really good with kids."

"Yeah, Noelle is a great little girl.  You can be proud of how she's growing up."

"Thank you.  It hasn't always been easy, but she's the center of my life."

Tom paused, and turned to Laine.  "Listen, Laine, I enjoyed today very much.  I was wondering if we could see each other again, maybe go out to dinner or something?"

Laine hesitated a second before she answered.

"I'd like that, Tom.  You're a special kind of guy and I'd enjoy spending more time in your company."

"Hey, what about me? I like Tom, too," Noelle piped up.

Tom and Laine laughed. 

"Of course, I want to see more of you, too, little lady.  You're a lot of fun to be with.  Look at all the games you won at John's Incredible Pizza.  I have to have a chance to try again, right?"

"Right," Noelle said as she ran to the car and got in.

"Well, the boss has spoken," Laine said.  "Thank you for a wonderful day, Tom."  She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"My pleasure, Laine, and we'll plan something soon.  I'm looking forward to spending more time with the both of you."

"Me, too.  Bye for now."

Laine left and Tom stood there for a moment.  "I hope I'm not starting something I'll regret later," he said as he walked back up the path to his front porch.

Saturday, 1 September 2012, 5:00 AM - 7:00 AM

The man yawned and stretched as he woke up. 
Ahh
, he thought. 
It's time to take my latest guest to her final resting place.  She's practically dead already, so it's not fun anymore.

He already knew where he was going and it was a little further than the last two ladies.  This time he had picked out a beautiful orange grove on Pepper Drive just south of Breckenridge Road.  There were some houses nearby. but he didn't anticipate anyone observing him at this time of day.

After a quick breakfast and cup of coffee, he went down to the basement to look at Maria.  For all intents and purposes, she appeared dead.  She had already had her 13 spider bites so there was nothing left to do.  With a pillow, and little resistance from Maria, he smothered her.

He laid her on a rug on the floor and rolled her up for transport.  He didn't need any mess in the back of his SUV.

After checking outside to make sure no one was around, he carried Maria up the stairs and put her in the back of his SUV.

His main concern with this site was that there was a lot of soft dirt along the roadway so he really didn't want to drive on it and leave tire tracks.  In addition, he wore slip on shoes so he could take them off and walk into the orchard in his stocking feet. 
That should give them pause
, he thought.

When he arrived at the site, he was glad to see that no one was about in the house nearby or the orchards.  "I guess they're all taking the weekend off," he said out-loud.  "What do you think, sweetheart?  Are you going to be lonely?  Will they find you soon?"

He stopped his vehicle down the street from the house, being careful to stay on the black top.  He slipped out of his shoes and carried Maria into the orchard, about three rows up from the roadway.  He unwrapped her and laid her nude body on her back in the soft dirt next to the trees.  He had removed the rope from her ankles and wrists and the duct tape from her mouth before he left his house.  "Bye, my dear," he said as he turned to leave.  "I hope you're in a better place now."

He returned to his vehicle, still noting that no one was around, made a u-turn, and went home.

Here we go again
, Annie thought when her phone rang at 7:00 PM and the caller readout said it was Sgt. Collins. 
I don't know if I can deal with another body.  This whole thing is getting out of control and we don't have a decent lead.

"Hello."

"Good evening, Detective Avants," Sgt. Collins said.  "I'm afraid I'm going to ruin your evening.  Another body has been found in an orange grove off of Pepper Drive, south of Breckenridge Road on the east side."

"Am I right to assume that the body is probably that of our latest missing person, Maria Ortiz?"

Sgt. Collins expelled a heavy sigh.  "I'm afraid that's what it looks like, Annie.  The first responders had a photo of Maria in their unit and they said it appears to be her.  One of them confirmed she was deceased, called it in, and then they roped off the area.  A Deputy Coroner, Deputy DA, and Laine and her crew are heading that way.  I'll let you contact Tom, OK?"

"OK, Sarge.  I was dreading that I would get a call like this."

"I know.  It's difficult.  The Sheriff, as well as the Mayor, are getting worried about a general panic.  This will just make it worse.  First thing Monday morning, let's have a meeting and see where we stand."

"Right, so for now, I'll call Tom and then head out to the crime scene.  There isn't a lot of day light left.  We'll probably have to bring in portable lights and a canopy to keep the crime scene secure overnight so Laine can finish her work in the daylight."

"I'll make sure someone brings out the lights and canopy right away, as well as extra patrol units to start talking to the neighbors.  There are a few houses close by where they can start, but that's about all that's in the area.  It's not a well-traveled road."

"OK, I'm outta here.  We'll regroup on Monday morning."

Annie called Tom to meet her at the crime scene and then headed out.  The sun was just about ready to set and she knew the crime scene would be difficult to process.

When Annie arrived at the crime scene, Deputy Coroner James Schillings, was already there examining the body, which was laid out flat on its back like the other two.  They had erected a canopy over the victim and were already using the portable lights.

There were no bindings around her wrists or ankles, but there were marks that would be analyzed more fully by the pathologist at the morgue.

"Hey, Deputy Schillings" Annie said as she cautiously approached where he was working.

"Hi, Annie.  This looks like a carbon copy of your other two ladies.  Lividity is fixed and rigor mortis is almost fully set.  She's probably been dead between 12 and 18 hours.  There are blowflies swarming around, but no eggs as of yet.

"I've done a cursory exam of the front of her body.  Like the other two, she has pierced ears and the left earring is missing.  Maybe it's here somewhere, maybe not.  It appears she was transported in some kind of rug or heavy blanket and there are fibers stuck in the feces on the back of her hips.  We packaged all the fibers for evidence.

"When I examined the back of her body, I didn't find anything remarkable except for the fibers and the somewhat fresh feces, which probably resulted from her sphincter muscle relaxing when she died.  There wasn't much, which indicates that she probably hadn't eaten in a few days.

"I'm going to take her to the morgue now so the forensic pathologist can do a more thorough exam.  You can pick up the samples of her blood and urine and other bodily fluids at the morgue to send off to the tox lab in Philly.

"Note, of course, that she also has several bites on her lower torso which appear the same as the ones we've seen before.  I won't be surprised if they're black widow bites and we find 13 of them.  Whoever is doing this is one sick SOB."

Tom arrived in time to hear the deputy's recount of what he found and began taking his photos.

"Annie," he said, as he shook his head.  "I don't look forward to going back over and telling Mr. and Mrs. Ortiz that we've found their daughter.  I don't look forward to taking Mr. Ortiz to the morgue to identify the body."  He shook his head in disgust and turned around to return to his Jeep.

Annie followed slowly, obviously distraught about this turn of events.  The identity of all three victims was now known, but they didn't have a reason why these women were being targeted by this person.  What was the connection with the spiders?

When she caught up with Tom, she said, "Do you think we should talk to the pet shop owners again?  We've talked about doing this before.  Maybe they've had time to think about this situation and will remember something else."

"Yeah, that's a good idea, and the Army/Navy Surplus Stores also.  Monday, you can take the pet shops and I'll go to the Surplus stores.  Maybe we'll be lucky.  They'll have heard about this victim by then and it may shake up their thinking."

"Sarge wants us to come in early Monday morning so the three of us can review all three cases and see what we can figure out.  The autopsy will most likely be Monday morning also.  We can go out after that," Annie said.

They walked over to where Laine was standing with Jesse, waiting for Deputy Schillings to move the body so she could start her crime scene investigation.

"Hi Annie, Tom," she said.  "I won't be able to get a lot done tonight, but there are deputies who are going to stay here and keep the scene secure.  We'll be back at first light to do a thorough search.  I'll look around tonight and see if I can find boot prints or tire tracks, and whatever is obvious under the lights, but that's about all I'll be able to do."

"Well, do the best you can, Laine," Tom said.  We'll talk to you Monday afternoon to see what you came up with.  Right now, we've got to go break the news to Mr. and Mrs. Ortiz."