Don't Touch (2 page)

Her clothes were soaked with blood but there
was no puddle underneath. He looked around nothing was really out
of place, no struggle. She wasn’t killed here. Thomas looked over
his shoulder. “Stand up and look at this.”

Doing so Jackson let out the breath he was
holding. “Tell me that’s not a circle.”

“I can tell you, but it would be a lie. Let’s
hope it’s a coincidence and not something more.”

Prince looked around for any signs that it
was some kind of weird ritual. “Yeah that’s all we need right now,
a whacked out redneck ritual killer running around Lake
County.”

They both swore and quickly finished up so
they could get back to the station and confirm their suspicions.
Sitting in their shared cubicle the computer screen came to life.
Tom pulled up his chair as his partner started to search through
the archives for old cases.

It only took seconds, from over a year ago an
identical case they had worked popped up. Opening the file they
read about twenty-six year old Sandra Tate’s demise. She was found
in her home by her brother, seven stab wounds in a circular
pattern.

It was a cold case no leads ever came from
it. He didn’t want to think it but in his gut he knew it was true,
Jackson Prince was once again on a possible serial killer case. He
turned to his partner. “You tell him.”

Thomas glanced toward their supervisor’s
door, “Not only no, but hell no.”

“Come on he likes you, Tom. I’m the one he
has issues with.” He smiled trying to urge the other man on.

“I’m guilty by association. Besides you know
exactly what he’ll say. Quote, two bodies is a coincidence, three
is a possible serial, and four is don’t breathe a word till some
idiot leaks to the press, unquote.”

With a sigh Jackson settled down in his
chair. He knew Tom was right, there was no way Heinz would go for
it. Not until enough people died. Still it didn’t hurt to check
this previous case. The two victims shared way too many
similarities.

Lord got up and put on his jacket. “Come on I
can see the hamster running. Let’s go talk to the Medical Examiner.
It’ll be faster than waiting for the reports to be sent over.”

Upon arrival they were directed by the front
desk to an Andy Sipowicz look-a-like. “Ah, detectives! Got your
call. I took the liberty of pulling an older file for you to go
with this one. When your girl came in my Spidey senses started
tingling as I remembered this one.”

Jackson didn’t like this. Either this guy was
on the ball or Fate was setting him up for something. From the
looks of the ME it was the second choice. “Did you do the first
victim’s autopsy?”

The doctor nodded his head. “I worked with a
colleague on the case. If you’ll look at the notes there, both of
the ladies had the left cornea removed. It wasn’t a perfect job as
in a surgical procedure. But it was carefully removed, post
mortem.

Both were stabbed with what appears to be a
large kitchen knife. Wounds matching the one found at each scene,
and the wound pattern seems to be the same. Nothing notable on
Hilliard’s blood and toxin screens. Naturally, I don’t have the
results for our new lady, Tina Kissinger as yet.”

Jackson flipped through the older file. “Hold
on, we found a victim from around the same time a year ago. Sandra
Tate.”

Dr. Flak took them to his office and pulled
up the file on the computer. “There it is three months later than
Jillian Hilliard. “That was when I worked by myself for a while.
And we were kind of backed up. I’ll print that file for you as well
but it reads almost word for word like the other two. You might
have a busy boy on your hands.”

Thomas rubbed his eyes; they were going to
have to take this to Heinz. “Dr. Flack, how similar are the
cases?”

Barney didn’t blink he laid out the autopsy
reports side by side. “Could be twins.”

Jackson shuffled his feet. Looked at the
coroner and shook his head. “Dr. Flak, until this is confirmed
absolutely I do not want you to say a word about this to
anyone.”

The ME nodded then with a sigh Jackson pulled
his cell and started dialing. Thomas snatched it shut. “Are you
nuts? He’ll have yours in a sling calling him with this. I’ll go
back to the station and talk to him face to face. You go talk to
witnesses, family or something.”

The older medical examiner cleared his
throat. “Listen, I don’t know if this has to do with anything
but... When the first vic, Jillian Hilliard, came in something
happened. The colleague spoke of kind of flipped out. This person
is not the kind to just trip out like that. Maybe Dr. Reign can
tell you what happened.”

The partners shared that look, the one that
said they both thought someone was kind of off kilter. “The doctor
didn’t tell anyone what happened?”

Barney looked at him the memory of that day
was obviously difficult. “Dr. Reign is… was one of the best in the
field. Yet refused to utter a word. Then when Ryan was released
from the hospital, just became a recluse. Never leaving the
house.”

He pulled off a sticky note and jotted down
the address. “Listen, I don’t know if Ryan can help or not but if
you find out what happened that day. Let me know.”

Jackson took the address. “We will. Keep us
informed of any new findings.”

Armed with copies of the files Lord caught a
ride back to the station to deal with Heinz while Prince started
talking to the families. Yeah he was the typical alpha male, liked
to be in charge, stubborn to a fault, temperamental.

Rough around the edges he may be but when it
came to the families he was soft spoken. Able to calm nerves, and
ease fears, leap buildings in a single bound.

A woman opened the door when he knocked, her
eyes red from crying. “I’m sorry to bother you ma’am. I’m the
investigator for your daughter, Tina’s, case. Would it be alright
if I asked the family some questions?”

The woman nodded stepped aside. Inside were
the victim’s father, sisters, and boyfriend. All in shock and
various stages of grief. Sitting in the offered chair he began as
he always had. Unlike most who had been at this a long time it
wasn’t just words, he meant them. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

Hours later Prince had spoken to each member
individually. Nothing had come up on the radar with the interviews.
On a whim he pulled his notes on his laptop from the previous death
they had worked, Jillian Hilliard.

The women were both white and brunette,
that’s where it ends. One blue eyed one brown. They were a year
apart in age twenty-five, twenty-six. Different schools, churches,
neighborhoods. Adding in the third case Sandra Tate, blonde hair,
hazel eyes and was visiting a nearby college friend.

It seemed they had an enigma. Jackson hated
enigmas. With a blinding headache he went back to the station.

Thomas sat at the computer with a deep frown.
That was never a good sign. He looked up at his newly arrived
partner. “We have to gather more positive proof before we start
stacking the bodies on one killer.”

He shrugged; it was the reaction he had
expected from the Captain. Only if it had been Jackson to break the
news the reaction would have been much more volatile. Maybe it was
better that Tom had talked to Heinz. “Other than the method of
operation the guy has these girls may as well be from London,
France, and Japan. You find anything else?”

Thomas pursed his lips. “No, want to check
out this M.E.? Maybe he’ll remember something that wasn’t in the
report. It says here that Reign was the primary until the collapse.
That’s when Flak was brought in the next day.”

Jackson let loose a weighted sigh, this case
was gathering holes not filling them in. “So, that means any
findings from the first guy probably never got put in the report.
With the commotion it would be easy for something to get
missed.”

Tom confirmed with a nod. “Right now we have
no solid leads. Maybe Dr. Reign can give us something to start
connecting the cases.”

As Prince searched for the sticky-note with
the address, several thoughts crossed his mind. The doc could have
information but the doc is possibly crazy. To top it off the
coroner’s reports make this look like some kind of ritual killing
thing. This was turning out to be the case of the year.

With a grunt Jackson tossed Tom the keys.
“You drive, I just went migraine.”

It had been months since she had ventured
outside of her lawn. Ryan didn’t understand what was happening to
her at first. Since the incident on her last day at work, she has
tried to make sense of it. Or at least find out what it was and how
to stop it.

She sat at the computer nursing a cup of
cocoa, February in Florida was the dead of winter. It would be up
in the seventies in another week but right now it was in the
forties. Ryan was searched the net for the gazillionth time.
VISIONS, VISIONS BY TOUCH, PSYCHIC were the search words she used.
The screen blinked and an all too familiar list popped up. Near the
bottom of the page was something different from the last search.
“The Circle.”

Expectations low she clicked the link and
waited. The site came up and had all the usual. Tarot, crystals,
books, psychic readings. “Usual BS, I could have just gone to
Cassadaga for that.”

Cassadaga fancied themselves the psychic
capital. Might be, the entire town was palm readers, mind readers,
astrologists, numerologist, you name the psychic brand and there
was a store front for it. In the past they have had to block the
town off on Friday the thirteenth and Halloween due to all the
traffic and weirdness.

Just as she rolled over to exit the page she
saw a flashing box. “Have a question about your gift? No, I have a
question about my curse though.”

She typed in a brief description of her
problem.
When I touch stuff I see things. Am I crazy?
Ryan
added her email addy and hit send. She sat back and felt the sting
of tears. How much more can she cry? Every day for the last who
knows how long now, she cried.

“This is ridiculous.” As she moved the mouse
to close the browser her mailbox blinked with a new message.

Hi Ryan,

My name is Barbara. I have a gift like yours,
it is called psychometry. Or object reading. You can see bits of
others lives by touching things they touched. Especially when the
emotions are strong.

Ryan blinked psycom-a what? Object reading?
Barbara went on to explain the positive and negative hands, one
leaves an imprint the other can read it. Ryan shook her head and
clicked reply. “I don’t care how it works. How do I turn it off?”
Send. A few minutes later.

You can’t turn it off. You can learn to
control it. Which hand is your positive hand? The one you “see”
with. It is usually the hand you write with. Use the opposite one
more until you get control of your gift.

“Get control, I want it gone.” She screamed
furious. She hadn’t been able to go anywhere or even touch another
person without some kind of vision haunting her. Angry, she signed
off and paced the floor.

The detectives pulled up into the driveway of
an old Victorian home on the lake. Not many of these homes lasted
through the ages but this one had been kept pristine. The
detectives walked up the porch and noticed the furniture was
covered in plastic sheets.

Maybe the good doctor was gone on holiday, or
playing a round of golf. Thomas knocked on the door. When door
opened a crack, he held up his badge. “Good afternoon, I’m
Detective Thomas Lord and this is my partner Jackson Prince, is Dr.
Reign home?”

Ryan stepped back and wiped her face then
opened the door a bit wider. “I’m Dr. Reign, is there a problem
detective?”

Jackson stepped closer to the door. “Dr.
Ryan
Reign?”

Her eyes narrowed a bit. “Yes, Dr.
Ryan
Reign. Want to see my drivers license, Detective Prince
or should I give it to his lordship?”

Thomas stepped in with a warm smile as
Jackson opened his mouth to toss back a smartass retort. “That
won’t be necessary, Dr. Reign. I apologize we were uh… under the
impression that…. Well that’s not important. What we’re here for is
to ask you about one of the last cases you worked on.”

She tilted her head a bit and glanced at the
folder. “Which case?”

Thomas opened the folder where she could see.
“The murder of Jillian Hilliard.” The men watched as every bit of
blood drained from her complexion. Ryan swayed and caught the door
to stay upright. Jackson reached a steadying hand and she jumped
back away from him.

“Don’t. Don’t touch me. I’m… I’m sorry I
can’t help you.” She slammed the door. Ryan leaned against the oak
and slid to the floor sobbing hysterically as the vision she saw
that day replayed its self. Only now it was worse she had a name to
go with the horror she had to witness.

Jackson shook his head as Thomas headed down
the steps behind him. “I don’t understand, Jack, you were only
trying to keep her from falling.”

“I don’t’ think that was it. Every drop of
blood drained from her body when you opened that file. What ever
happened to her that day has that lady terrified.”