Charity Kills (A David Storm Mystery) (21 page)

“The next type is the
hedonist.
This is the killer with the sexual appetite. They enjoy killing and they think their victims deserve to die. They enjoy the hunt as much as the kill. Some kill fast, others slowly, to enjoy the torture and humiliation they inflict on their victims. They also enjoy abusing the body after the kill. The Son of Sam liked killing young couples found necking in parked cars, making one watch the death of the other. Jeffery Dahmer enjoyed necrophilia and cannibalism.

“Next is the
gain motivated
type. These are the hit men, people who kill for money. I don’t think ours is that, so moving on we come to the big one—the
power and control
killer. They kill to gain power and control over their victims. They probably had been abused as a child and been left to feel powerless or they might be shunned by society for their lifestyle or some abnormality, mental or physical. They abuse their victims sexually, either before or after they kill them. They are not motivated by lust as much as revenge and they want to humiliate their victims by sexually degrading them.”

“So,” said Storm. “Where does this leave us?”

“Well, number one, I think we all have to agree this killer is the organized type, right?’ said Hernandez.

“Damn straight. I think we all agree on that,” said Grady.

“I also think our killer is a hedonist and/or the power and control type,” said Alisha.

“We know our killer is careful and organized,” said Russell.

“And our killer likes to degrade the victims, i.e. the anal rape,” said Alisha.

“Obviously, our killer must look normal and fits in,” said Hernandez.

“The killer has definitely found a hunting ground,” added Grady.

“Yes, and the killer either knows these girls or appears trustworthy,” contributed Storm. “Maybe the killer is someone in authority, like a big wheel at the show.”

“Or a cop, a bartender, or anyone that is fixture out there,” agreed Russell. The idea had not crossed his or anyone else’s minds before Hernandez’s report—their focus had primarily been on the sleaze dog officials who always had a girl around.

“Possibly,” said Storm. “This puts a whole a new spin on the cases. That’s why this group is so great. What else do we have?”

“Let’s walk through what we know about the killer, like they do on the cop shows on TV, and see where it takes us,” suggested Grady.

“All right. Given Alisha’s breakdown of the ‘how’ the murders were committed, we probably have someone who has medical training or Special Forces training in how to cut the throat, hitting a major artery and severing the windpipe quickly and efficiently,” Storm theorized.

“Yes, and they didn’t get that knowledge from the Internet. Also, they used something seriously sharp, like a scalpel or a boning knife,” chimed in Alisha.

“Although these girls weren’t very big, the killer still had to be strong enough to subdue them without a lot of struggling since they didn’t have any defensive wounds,” said Storm.

“That indicates they trusted the killer,” suggested Hernandez, “which means they had to know them pretty well.”

“Although we still haven’t found where Leslie was killed, and the other crime scenes were clean. The killer is meticulous, careful, and cleaned up after themselves,” put in Storm.

“In order to have had access to Leslie, at least, they had to have been in or around the stadium Saturday night,” added Hernandez.

“The only people who had access to the VIP rooms that night were big wheels and their guests,” threw in Russell.

“That’s not entirely true, Russell,” said Storm.

“Who else?” said Russell

“The employees—waiters, bartenders, janitors, hell, even the cops working the door,” said Storm. He looked at Russell. “Can the employees get people into that room?”

“Sure. They’re not supposed to, but I’ve seen the cops and committeemen working the door let in single girls if they are cute,” said Russell.

“It’s a place to meet and greet and party and the more cute single women the better. I saw that for myself the other night,” said Storm.

“Unfortunately, none of this gets us any closer to a killer,” commented Grady.

“No, it doesn’t, but it could help eliminate pretty boy philandering husbands like Joe Dresden,” said Storm. “Guys like Joe don’t have to kill a girl; they can just ditch them when they’re through. His girls are toys to be used and discarded.”

“That narrows the field,” said Hernandez, lifting his eyebrows as if amused with the thought of how eliminating one man might actually do that.

“Now that we’ve agreed we know we have a serial killer and even have a quasi description of the type, my big question is why?” said Alisha.

Everyone seemed to be in agreement that there had to be an underlying common element to the killer’s need to kill these particular women, though what it was still a mystery, and why only one girl a year?

“What else do we have?” asked Storm.

“We have a cover-up,” said Russell.

Each of the other team members sat still for a minute, as if trying to think of what to add. The elephant in the room was out. Everyone had been thinking it, but no one wanted to be the first to say it.

“Who is covering these murders up and why?”

“Well, the Show for one,” said Grady.

“Who else?” asked Storm

The police?” asked Hernandez.

“Why?” asked Storm.

“It’s in their best interest to hide it if they can’t solve it. The Show is big and they can’t or won’t have the public thinking their venue could be dangerous,” said Hernandez.

Storm looked at Alisha, “You think the cops are covering this up, too?”

“It looks that way to me, maybe not intentionally but all the same, yes,” said Alisha.

“In my research into the girls’ files I saw two other things that bother me,” Hernandez volunteered. “I guess this is as good a time to throw them out on the table. Detective, there is something else. Did you or any of cops at the scene ever find the girls’ shoes?”

“Not that I know of, why?” asked Storm. He thought of his earlier hunch. Leslie’s shoes had not been found with her clothing.

“When I was telling you about serial murders and the hinky kinks there is one thing I left out, one in particular, and that was, most of them keep trophies of their kills. I didn’t notice it at first when I went through the files, but I did when I kept looking at the similarities from each report. In the list of personal items found in connections with each girl there were always bloody clothes found, their purses were always found with money still in them. So robbery wasn’t a motive. But in each case there was never a mention of shoes of any kind. I think the killer is keeping their shoes, or boots in this case, as the trophy. With everything else that connects the way these girls were killed, it adds to the support that this is the same person.” Hernandez took a breath as he looked around the room, seeing the acceptance of what he had said register on the faces of the others.

“And I think our killer picked these girls for all the reasons we already concluded but I think the killer knew them all well enough to really ‘know’ these girls, and I mean pretty well, and none of them had much family. Each and every one of them only had like one or two family members left in the world. The killer is picking the prey very carefully, the killer stalked them.” With that said, Hernandez sat back and let his theory sink in.

The room got even quieter as they each digested what they had heard. It was Alisha who was the first to speak. “OK, so we think Sergeant Hebert knows more than he is telling, but who else is involved in sweeping these murders under the table?”

“The mayor’s office,” said Storm, and he told them about his visit with Lieutenant Flynn that morning and Vern Nagel’s proprietary interest in his progress.

“Do they know you know about the other girls or do they know we might?” asked Hernandez.

“No, I don’t think so. I haven’t said a word to anyone, except Joe Dresden, about them yet,” Storm.

“Have any of the rest of you caught anyone sniffing around?” asked Storm.

“Chu asked what Grady and I were doing today at the station earlier than I would normally be there,” offered Russell.

“What did you tell her?” Storm.

“Told her we were going over his old vids for his retirement.”

“Did she buy it?”

“Think so, she didn’t ask anymore.”

“Did she talk to you, Grady?” Storm turned to the cameraman.

“Nope. Although, she did ask when I was retiring. Guess she wants to dance on my grave or buy me a cake.” That broke the tension and everyone had a good laugh. “OK, so where do we go next?” he asked.

“Did you have any luck at the girl’s apartment?” Hernandez asked, turning to Storm.

“Zip. But I did bring along some photos that look like they might have been taken last year at the Show. Wanted to see if Russell recognized anybody.” With that he handed the photos to Russell, while the others looked over his shoulder.

As he looked at the pictures he asked Storm, “How did it go with Dresden today?”

“He said he knew two of the other girls and admitted he had been with them. He is one scared piece of crap.”

“He should be, he is candidate numero uno, isn’t he?” said Hernandez.

“He is right now, but I’m not sure he’s good for it,” said Storm.

“Why?” asked Grady.

“Alisha said the girls were murdered by someone who knew what they were doing. Their throats were cut in such a way they couldn’t scream and they didn’t fight back. Joe Dresden is a pussy. He never was in the military or even played any contact sports. I doubt he’s ever played anything but pocket pool or ‘hide the trout’ in high school. He is a pretty boy dilettante who married for money and the freedom to play golf every day.”

“But that doesn’t totally rule him out,” said Hernandez.

“No, but he says he only knew two of the other girls.”

“You can’t believe everything you hear from a guy like him, so I don’t think that rules him out for sure,” argued Hernandez.

“No, but it does if we can prove he didn’t know all seven of the girls. He sure didn’t look like he recognized the others, with the exception of the gag reaction to the morgue photos.”

It was then Russell broke in. “There is something else you need to know, Storm. When you went out to Joe’s office Ellen saw you and the exchange you had with Joe. She called me and began giving me the third degree, like ‘who are you, what were you doing in Joe’s office’ and so on. At first I didn’t think it was a big deal but damn, she hasn’t called me in years and now here she was on the phone asking me about you.”

“Did she say anything that would make you believe she knows anything or knew Leslie?” asked Storm.

“Yes, actually she did, she called the girl a slut, she told me I was just as bad as Joe and I knew what kind of sluts that hung around out there and what they were looking for,” replied Russell.

Russell quickly tried to add humor as looked around the table and asked with feigned innocence, “Do any of you think I would keep company with soiled doves?”

A collective groan was heard from everyone and smiles again appeared on all their faces.

Storm caught Alisha eyes and asked, “Do you think a five-foot-five about one hundred-fifty pound woman could have done this?”

Alisha thought a minute. “No, where would she have gotten the training and knowledge to kill someone like this? Plus, these girls were all pretty tall, probably at least as tall as most females. It would have been almost impossible for her to subdue them, hold them down, and kill them without one of these girls scratching her and there has never been any skin found reported under any of the girls’ nails.”

Hernandez spoke up. “Storm, we never saw her on any of the disks, and didn’t Dresden tell you he went in with Leslie and a bunch of other people? If his wife was there he wouldn’t have been in the bathroom getting laid.”

“Are you going back to see Joe again?” asked Russell.

“Probably, but right now he isn’t high on my list to go see again, why?” replied Storm.

“Well, I think you may have to ask Ellen where she was the night Leslie was killed. We didn’t see her on the security disk, but does she have an alibi?” asked Russell.

Each collaborator considered the possibility but moved on.

“OK, if not Dresden and not his wife, then who?” asked Alisha.

“If we are right and all these girls were killed because they were around the Show, then we have to assume that the killer has had access to the Show for at least the last seven years,” Storm commented.

“Are we sure they were all involved out at the show in one way or another?” asked Russell.

Storm looked around the room. All shook their head in the affirmative. “It’s my guess we do,” he said, “but I’m going back to the Show offices tomorrow to check for any records on the six other girls. I’m also going to ask for any video tapes that might still exist on the nights the other girls were killed and see where it leads.”

“Shit!” yelled Russell. “You know that will tip our hand.”

“Only tip off those who are trying to hide the facts and we’ve got to know for sure if the killings are related. I know I’m putting myself out on a limb, but I have to take the chance to get concrete proof of what we feel in our gut is true.”

The room got eerily quiet.

“What do we do then?” asked Russell.

“Keep yourselves out of it for now. Stay quiet and don’t let anyone know we have met or talked. If anyone takes a fall for this, it will be me. All of you have a great deal more to lose than me, especially Pancho,” said Storm.

Storm knew, and he knew the others were in agreement, that this was a big step and all hell could break loose, but it was the right step to take. If there was a conspiracy, then the proverbial shit would hit the fan by tomorrow and there would be nothing they could do to stop it except to get a yellow slicker and duck.

For now Storm was on his own. God, tonight it would be hard to sleep, but then he thought, get over yourself, Storm, old buddy, people have been writing you off for years, so what’s the big freakin’ deal now?