Daddy's Little Killer (30 page)

"Oh God," I groaned.  "He assaulted
outside the range I established?"

"I'm getting there."

"Please.  Before my perp dies of old
age while I wait for you to sum up what you learned."

Maya chuckled.  "It's good to have you
back, Helen.  Now where was I?"

"Expanded search by four years."

"Oh yes.  I also added the
peculiarities that jumped out and differentiated the fourteen DNA
match cases.  I found three in Southern California – get this,
almost thirty years ago.  All three girls were nineteen,
co-eds at UC San Diego.  The kicker is that the evidence was
collected but because it was so long ago, DNA testing was never
performed."

"Back up," I said.  I still hadn't
thoroughly reviewed the Blevins reports that had been faxed to me,
thanks to Johnny Orion's persistent hovering and near constant
feeding.  "What were those specific case report
peculiarities?"

"A very tall man, wearing a black hood,
threatened to get this – chop off their hands if they fought
him."

"Oh my God!"  I
scrambled for my laptop and tore the hinge open.  My eyes
devoured the first report, Caroline Blevins's. 
Victim identifies her attacker as a white male,
extremely tall, average strength and musculature who threatened to
cut off her hands if she fought him, while at the same time,
taunting her to resist him.
  "Jesus,
that's it.  That's his trigger.  He wants the
fight."

"Uh-huh.  Creepy, huh?  So I made
a quick phone call to SoCal to see if by some miraculous chance
they hung onto their evidence."

"Oh Maya.  I love you, I love you, I
love you!"

"Hold on.  They're going to see if
anything can be collected from the evidence they held onto and if
there is enough, they'll process it for DNA sampling."

"I want you to do it."

"Well, that isn't gonna happen.  It's
their case.  In fact, if you ever catch this psycho, they may
want to extradite him.  California still has an active death
row."

"Not for rapists."

"One of the victims of the sexual assault
died, Helen."

"Shit.  Because of the rape?"

"The sheriff told me that it was a direct
result, a foreseeable consequence of it, so yes, they'd at least
like the opportunity to turn it into a capital offense."

"She committed suicide."

"He wasn't that specific, but yeah, that was
the impression that I got," Maya said.  "I asked him if it
would be possible, if they can get a useable sample, to put a rush
job on it.  He's an old guy, Helen.  I think he might've
been a deputy at the time these rapes happened.  He said to
consider it done, and that he didn't care if California couldn't
afford such an indulgence, he wanted nails in this guys coffin, the
more the better."

"Could you do me a favor?  Shoot the
case numbers from ViCAP to me in an email."

"Love to.  Give me the address."

When we disconnected, Charlie was
staring.  Orion was scowling.  I couldn't imagine why he
looked so unhappy.  My enthusiasm should've communicated that
our case was actually heating up, not going cold.

"Fourteen?"  Charlie's stricken
expression deepened while I appreciated his discreet communication
of its cause.

Orion on the other hand, pounded a fist into
the wall.  "There are more girls out there that he
slaughtered?  I'm gonna find Masconi and –"

"You're going to do nothing of the
kind.  Johnny, you're breaking our agreement.  You
promised that you wouldn't butt into this investigation if I stayed
here until I'm feeling better.  Don't make me decide that that
time has arrived."  It hadn't.

I still felt oddly fatigued in a way I
hadn't experienced before.  When I woke earlier this
afternoon, my symptoms reminded me of the multiple times I relied
on wine to get me through what Rick had done to my life.  In
other words, a simple hangover.  And while I still had only
hazy recollections of yesterday, I couldn't put my finger on what,
if anything would've made me stray from the focus of this
case.  Like I said, it was a surprise to me too, but this
thing really started to matter to me.  I felt like it might be
the anchor that kept me from snapping, climbing the highest
building in the city with a rifle and scope and randomly
contributing to population control.

My limbs still ached, particularly my left
arm around the elbow.  I rubbed it absently.

"You're bruised."

"What?"

Orion was frowning at me.  "Did you
hear a thing I just said to you?"

"You said I'm bruised."

"Before that, Doc."

I glanced at the small purple mark on my
left antecubital fossa.  Maya must've drawn blood.  That
was a pretty standard occurrence when someone had an alteration in
mental status.  Other than a blood alcohol level off the
charts, she would've mentioned it had the results shown anything
else.

"It's nothing."  I continued to massage
the tiny mark absently.

"Since you seem to still be afflicted with
bouts of regression into la-la land, I'll repeat myself. 
You're leaving over my dead body."

Be careful what you wish for, Orion. 
You might get it. 

Chapter 28

I sent Orion on a fool's errand – tracking
down my car – to provide a private moment with Charlie.  We
had some serious plotting to do tonight.

"You probably don't remember me telling you
this, Helen, but your car is across the street in Central
Division's parking building."

"I remember," I said.  "I needed to get
rid of Johnny for awhile.  Listen.  I want you to get
someone to drive my car over to my house.  The realtor dropped
off the keys and the remote for the gate yesterday.  I'm
getting out of here tonight.  I appreciate what Johnny's been
doing, but I can stay with Maya for a couple of days if I really
need to be around someone."  The idea appealed to me. 
"In fact, I think we should put my overnight bag in your car, and
you should deliver me there after our other interview tonight."

"We're meeting someone else?"

I nodded.  "We can't afford to waste
more time."  I confirmed in greater detail what Maya explained
over the phone.  "I appreciate the fact that you didn't blurt
anything out in front of Johnny.  He's too close to this case,
not only because he was a friend of Gwen Foster, but the entire
Bennett family.  I can't believe that wasn't an issue during
the case fifteen years ago."

"Do you think he's right, that Masconi has
been hanging around Darkwater Bay all these years?"

I opened a recently installed program on my
laptop.  "You must swear an oath of confidentiality."

Charlie's expression grew quizzical, but
without hesitation, he made an X over his heart.

"I met a hacker about a year ago who gave me
a site where I could download a backdoor hack he wrote that allowed
him to peek into IRS records.  Don't freak out.  I'm not
planning to use this for any other purposes than verifying
something I've suspected almost from the beginning of this murder
investigation.  It's not like we'd try to use it in
court."

The simple program loaded, asking for
information I recalled from reading the Bennett case file, namely,
Salvatore Masconi's date of birth and social security number. 
I needed the state of the last known IRS filing.  Easy
enough.

In a matter of seconds, the information grid
popped up, detailing the dates the IRS received and processed his
returns.  Last one filed the year before Brighton Bennett was
murdered.

"He would've been incarcerated and awaiting
trial when tax day rolled around," I said.  "See?  His
accountant filed an extension, and then nothing."

"You think Masconi is dead."

I nodded.  "Datello
as much as admitted that he knows it for a fact.  Given
his
close relationship
with the Bennett family, I'm sure he was doing a favor to Frank,
making sure Masconi never hurt another child again."

"Only he was wrong."

"Extremely wrong.  Orion doesn't get
it.  He's so certain that he had the right guy that he can't
fathom there's another perp out there committing crimes.  He's
probably frothing at the mouth to start looking for these
additional girls he believes were slaughtered, but they're not
dead.  That's our advantage in this, and how we're gonna catch
the right guy this time."

"One of the witnesses knows more than she
realizes."

"I'm hoping."

"So ... this second interview tonight. 
Are you hoping that Caroline Blevins can lead us to Candy? 
Taylor has been to the seediest parts of the city, Helen. 
Nobody is cooperating if they know her."

"I do hope Caroline can help us with that,
but no, that's not the second interview.  I need you to call
Harlan Hartley and tell him that we'll be at his farm later
tonight.  Don't accept rejection.  I need to find out why
our guy broke his pattern and went after a thirty-four year old
woman.  I have suspicions, but no answers yet."

"All right."

"We'll leave the bistro after talking to
Caroline and go straight out there."

"I don't think Orion's gonna like
that.  Aren't you concerned about pissing him off?  What
if he tries to jump into the middle of this out of his obvious
concern for you?"

"Where are Thieg and Adams?"

"Taking a little down time.  They'll be
back on at seven tonight.  Picking up where Taylor leaves off
on the search for Candy Blevins."

"Have them watch for Orion.  If he
leaves here looking for me, I need to know it immediately. 
And as generous as the iPhone was, there's no way I'm carrying
around a device he could so easily track through the GPS. 
I'll leave it here before we meet the Blevins girl.  Do you
think you could get something from central for me?"

"Sure.  I can call Sarge and have him
fish something out of the division's supply.  But won't that
allow anybody at central to track you too?"

"Not if he signs it out for your use."

"Good thinking.  I doubt anybody
interested in this mess thinks I've got a clue what I'm
doing.  Hell, they can't send anybody smarter than Flynn Myre
to check up on me?  Like I didn't see through that one."

"Out of curiosity, who has custody of the
keys you found?"

"Forsythe has them at the crime lab."

"That's good.  And you're comfortable
with the security of our evidence?"

"Completely."

"Then I'll see you at seven downstairs."

When Orion returned hour later, he looked
displeased.  "The car is across the street."

"Oh good.  I'm glad someone thought to
remove it from in front of Lowe's house."

"Yeah, swift thinking."

"It's almost seven, so I should probably get
downstairs to meet Charlie."

I grabbed my bag, the oversized one that had
room for my laptop.  If he asked –

"What the hell have you got in that
thing?  It looks like the straps are gonna snap."

"Oh, the laptop.  I thought that if
anything came up in the interview that needed verification, I'd use
the wi-fi to save a little time.  This could be a one shot
deal."

"Hmm."

I almost made it to the door.

"Doc?"

"Yes?" I drawled.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

When I turned around, he waved that blasted
cell phone at me.

The rejection was on the tip of my tongue,
but given his suspicious mood since coming back from the search for
my rental car, I touched the tips of my fingers to my forehead
instead.  "I'd forget my head if it wasn't attached. 
Thanks, Johnny.  See you in an hour."

"I'll be waiting.  Don't be late, or
the deal's off."

"Scout's honor," I saluted.

"Uh, Doc, they don't actually let girls be
boy scouts."

I grinned.  "You know what I
meant."

And I knew what I'd do with the phone. 
He'd show up at the bistro, all right.  I was counting on his
concern over my reaction to an intrusion buying a little more time
before he realized that I left his little tracking device
behind.

Inside the elevator, a satisfied smirk
warred with a sigh of relief.  So far, so good.  Now if
only I could tamp down my irrational hope that the Blevins girls
would provide the breakthrough we needed.  I shook my head at
the good fortune of meeting Charlie Haverston at the crime
scene.  If this didn't get him a detective shield, there was
no justice to be found in Darkwater Bay.

He was waiting for me in the lobby of
LaPierre Tower. 

"Let me carry that for you.  Geez,
Helen.  I'm not so sure about leaving you on your own when all
of this is done."

"I'll call Maya on my way out to the Bennett
farm.  I agree.  I still feel a little too woozy to fly
solo.  At least for another night."

Inside LaPierre Bistro, Caroline Blevins
waited for us.  I was stunned at the physical likeness to
Brighton Bennett and Gwen Foster.  Her petite stature left her
just shy of five feet tall.  Golden blonde hair cascaded past
her shoulders.  Her bones were small and fine, and the almond
blue eyes were so large, they served as the focal point to her
face.

I thrust out a hand.  "Ms. Blevins,
thank you so much for agreeing to meet with Officer Haverston and
me.  I'm Dr. Helen Eriksson."

"What kind of doctor?"  Clouds flitted
over her youthful face.

"Dr. Eriksson is a psychologist, Ms.
Blevins," Charlie said.  He slid into the secluded booth
beside me.  "She's here in Darkwater Bay helping the police
investigate some old cases.  That's her speciality."

"Like one of those profiler people?"

"Exactly, Ms. Blevins," I said.  "I
understand if you're not comfortable answering the questions I
suspect you know I have for you.  But everything you tell me
will be held in the strictest of confidence.  Do you
understand why it is important that I talk to you?"