Forgetting Jane (24 page)

“What happened to her? Elias?” Jane swiped a tear from her cheek.

He cleared his sore throat. “She asked me to drive her home from the hospital. It was against my better judgment for her to go back to her apartment, but she insisted. I believed she was safe, but that wasn’t the case.” Eli felt the wetness on his face. He was crying. He couldn’t help it. It had been four years since he had spoken about what happened.

“What happened to her?” she repeated in a whispered sob.

“I checked out the apartment before she entered. Everything looked locked up and safe. Elise thanked me and went inside. I was heading back to my squad when I heard a crash. I ran back to her apartment and knocked on the door. She didn’t answer, so I kicked the door opened and saw her lying on the floor holding her face. There was broken glass around her.

“Her husband was standing on the other side of the room with a gun in his hand. It was pointed at me. He was released on bond the day before. No one had notified the station that he was out.” He wiped the blurriness with his palms. “It happened so fast. As I drew my gun, her husband pulled the trigger and it hit me in the shoulder. I got a shot off, but by then Elise stood up between us. My bullet hit her chest.”

Jane got up and went to him. Eli felt he wasn’t deserving of her, and tried to push her away. She wasn’t deterred and wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight.

He couldn’t hold it together any longer. Eli wept hard like he did when his mother died. But this time he wasn’t alone. Though his failure as a cop and as a decent human being was exposed. What did she think of him?

Eli held onto her tight as he rode his own emotional roller coaster. Everything inside him hurt. He couldn’t control his tears either. It took a few minutes to regain his composure. He pulled away from Jane and finished what he started.

“I couldn’t sleep anymore, unless I was shit-faced. I drowned myself in alcohol to forget. But the look on Elise’s face as she fell to the floor was burned in my memory.” He walked around the table to put some distance between them. “I was put on suspension until I got some help. So I left and came here. Jane, I don’t want to hurt you. I can’t…”

“Elias, I know if you had a chance to change what happened, you’d do it. You had no idea what Elise was thinking or why she got in between you two. Forgive yourself. It was an accident.” Jane reached out to hold him but he stepped back.

“Jane, I need time. I can’t wrap my brain around how I feel right now about you. It’s hitting me too hard—too fast. I don’t know if I can live up to anyone’s expectations.” He grabbed his jacket and charged out of the house.

“Eli,” she called out to him. She tried to follow him to the truck, but he jumped in and took off before she could stop him.

E
li banged against the steering wheel as he drove back to the station. His heart was about to burst out of his chest. The pain, confusion and bashing memories of his past; he barely contained his growing madness.

As bad as he looked, he needed to get out of that house. He was able to think clearly away from Jane. He had slept and his temper was on a short leash. Sticking around would only cause a fight.

The look she gave him stabbed straight through his chest. He should have stayed clear of her, but his heart and groin didn’t obey.

Their situation was complicated to begin with. Sleeping together made their circumstances more twisted.

Damn. He needed to clear his head. Caffeine.

He stopped at the Coffee Barn and grabbed a large cup. He pulled over to the side and took a large sip. He hoped the brew would erase some of the burnt taste in his mouth, the pain from his chest and ease the memory out of his head.

As he took another sip, his cell phone went off. “Chief McAvoy.”

“Chief, this is Dr. Farley. Do you have a minute to stop by the hospital? I’ve completed my exam on the victim.”

“I was heading your way now. I’ll be there in ten.” He hung up and threw the gear into drive.

With his coffee in hand, he quickly made his way through the hospital and down the elevator to the coroner’s office.

Dr. Farley was outside of the examination room talking to an intern.

“What did you find?” Eli’s throat was scratchy from downing the hot coffee.

“I have to show you.” As the coroner pushed the door open, Eli saw the woman’s damaged body on the table, covered with a sheet. “How’s your stomach?”

“Fine, why?”

He flipped back the blue sheet, which exposed the victim from head to toe.

Eli took a step backwards as the stench of heavy iron filled his nostrils. Her head was smashed in and some sort of brain matter seeped out of where her left eye once was. His stomach fought in protest with the good coffee and the bad decayed odor. “Yeah, I’m good.”

“I took scrapings under her fingernails, skin and hair samples and bagged it. But this, I couldn’t bag.” He turned the body sideways, which showed the marred side of her torso. “Poor girl. She was cut up with a knife, here and here,” Farley pointed out. “Possibly a midrange hunting bowie. But these small words, they were carved with a small utility knife.”

Eli’s stomach wanted to revolt as Farley read each word out loud. “This one’s for you Chief.”

Eli’s jaw hurt from clenching his teeth tightly together.
Fuck! “
What else?” Eli choked out.

“Her cheek. I tried to clean it up as best as possible without losing any viable evidence.” He turned her head where the skull wasn’t caved in. “Here,” Dr. Farley pointed to two fragmented words dug into her skin.

“I can’t make it out. What does it say?” Eli tried to get close without touching the victim.

Dr. Farley handed him a magnifying glass. “Now look.”

As soon as Eli peered through the glass, he sucked in a breath in shock, and almost dropped it into the victim’s head.

It read,
Jane’s next
. Eli’s body tensed up into a tight panic. He looked at Farley. “I read that correctly?” He really didn’t want to hear the answer.

“Yes, but there’s something else. I found this to be a little odd.” He separated her hair along the hairline, exposing her scalp. “I don’t know a lot about how women dye their hair, but I think rinsing it is important. The way the color was caked on her scalp isn’t normal. Did you find anything like this on the Jane Doe victim?”

“I wasn’t told of anything strange found on Jane’s scalp. But Jane Doe’s hair was colored black. I just assumed she did it herself before…now I’m going to check. Thanks, Doc. Keep this information to yourself until State comes.”

“State’s taking over?”

“Yes.” He quickly left the lab and headed up to the main floor of the hospital. He had Dr. Rollins paged. He waited near the emergency room.

Rollins denied any knowledge about color on Jane’s scalp. He promised to call Eli as soon as he asked the nurses, who assisted him with Jane that night.              

Eli agreed and left the hospital.

As he approached his truck, he found it keyed on both sides. “Of all the petty crap, Caroline.” Eli saw her car in the parking lot and headed back into the building.

He walked up to the receptionist and demanded to speak with Caroline.

“She never made it into work. Her shift started an hour ago. Some of us assumed you still had her in jail, or somewhere else.” She blurted out a quick laugh but covered her mouth.

“Did anyone call her?” he snarled.

“I did. But she isn’t answering her cell or her home phone.”

“She was released last night. I’ll go check out her house.” Eli strode off. As much as he hated Caroline, if something had happened to her…

The receptionist stopped him outside the sliding doors. “Chief, Caroline never misses work. She really is trying to save her money to get out of this town.”

“Do you think she would leave town now, without telling anyone?”

“Possibly, but I doubt it.”

“All right. I’m heading over to her place now. Call me if she shows up or you hear from her.”

Eli headed straight to Caroline’s trailer. He knew she was pissed off when he released her, but he didn’t think she had it in her to take off, and not without her car.

The trailer was dark. He checked the windows and the door. They were locked. Eli peered into the small window next to the entrance and saw her cat eating out of a toppled box of cat food.

Caroline might be a crazy bitch and narcissistic, but one thing he knew she wouldn’t do. Leave her cat and all her belongings. How ironic that he’d be worried for her.

Eli headed back to the station when the radio chirped. “Chief, come in.”

“What’s up, Cindy?”

“The transport for your father is here. They’re waiting in your office.”

“Tell them I’ll be right there. Who’s on patrol?”

“Right now, it’s Beth and Tom.”

“All right. Radio them to keep their eyes open for Caroline Weaver. She didn’t show up for work and she isn’t home.”

“Really?” He heard a note of surprise in Cindy’s voice.

“Radio them.”

“10-4, Chief.”

As Eli pulled up to the station he saw the mayor getting out of his black Regal.
Damn
. He was the last person Eli wanted to see.

“A quick word with you, Chief McAvoy.”

It was never a quick word when it came down to the mayor. “What is it, Mayor?”

“I heard about the other victim. I demand to know what you are doing about this. I’ve gotten calls since early this morning from concerned citizens. I want answers,” he said tapping his cane against the cement walkway.

“State is taking over. Once they get here, then you can have a chat with them. In the meantime, Mayor, I have work to do.” Eli walked away as he left the old man grumbling on the sidewalk.

Eli didn’t look back when the mayor called out his regrets for appointing him as chief.

Eli ignored the barb and went inside. He stepped into his office and closed the door.

He shook the two officers’ hands, bantered a little while looking over the transfer papers and then signed them. He then graciously led them back to the cell where his father was held.

“Did you find my girlfriend and her truck?” James demanded as he took a step back from the bars.

“No. You didn’t mention anything to me about a truck. What is it?”

“How the fuck should I know, I can’t remember everything. It’s a truck and it’s…gray, I think.”

“A gray truck. Where did you leave it?”

“We ditched it off the…Fuck, I can’t think of the road. Nadia drove it in the ditch. Stupid bitch. I wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for her.”

Eli eyed his father. “I’ll make sure to look for the truck.” Eli’s tone was less than convincing.

“Damn it. I’m not making this up. Her name is Nadia and it’s her gray truck,” James shouted as the two officers stepped forward and shackled him from wrists to ankles. “I’m telling the truth.”

For the first time, ever, Eli actually believed what came out of his father’s mouth. “I said I’ll check it out.”

James nodded. Then the man broke down right in front of him. “Elias, I’m—”

“Don’t,” Eli interrupted. “It’s too late.” He walked out to avoid looking at his old man.

He closed the office door and turned his back away from the window. After throwing his jacket onto the coat rack, Eli needed to focus his attention to something else.

He pulled out the folder of the dead women’s photos and carefully studied each picture. Eli could tell if there were any similar markings on their heads, like the recent victim. The dirt marked up the bodies to the point that he couldn’t distinguish slashes from the dirt stains.

According to the coroners’ reports, the victims had slash marks on their arms and legs. About half had battered and unrecognized facial features. Though the deaths were caused by either loss of blood or strangulation.

Damn
. The coroners. Why hadn’t he thought about them before?

If he wanted any more answers, he had to call the three coroners who were involved in the old cases. As he picked up the phone, his hand paused midway. “What the hell am I doing?” He dropped it back down and leaned back against his chair.

State was taking over this case. It’d be better to wait for them. But it could be too late by then and another victim could surface.

His hand hovered over the phone again. It wasn’t like him to drop things. He had to finish this to the end. Eli had to do it for Jane.

He made his phone calls to the three coroners’ offices. Two had passed on and the current coroners had no information. The third had retired and moved to Arizona. After much heated debate with his replacement, Eli managed to get a contact number for the retired doctor.

Eli immediately called and thanked the high power when the doctor answered.

“Dr. Banner, can you remember anything about those cases?”             

“At one point, we thought all the murders were done by one person. But as we tried to link the murders to each other, they weren’t all the same. Some victims were bound by their wrists and ankles, some weren’t. Some had many identical markings to confirm the connection, while others had severe bruises. Some victims had their nipples removed.

“Right before I retired, there were a few victims that were brought in with rope burns around their necks and slash marks down their arms and legs. The older deaths were much cleaner, more like a mercy killing. Whereas the later victims died more barbarically, beaten with total malice.”

“Were there any odd substances you or the other coroners found on the victims?” Eli asked.

“Nothing I can remember. But a few had severe vaginal and anal tears, as though they were raped repeatedly. Their heads were also bashed in, which was the cause of their deaths. But most of them weren’t touched sexually.”

“Thanks, Doc—”

“Wait a sec. I remember Dr. West mentioning a couple of his victims had dark dye on their heads. At the time, I didn’t bother checking the victims for hair color. Women do that all the time, I didn’t think it was suspicious.”             

“Do you remember when that was?”

“The seventies? It’s been a long time, Chief. I’m not sure exactly of the date.”

“Was there any follow up with the dye by Dr. West’s office?”

“Like I said, they were women. Most of them dyed their hair. So, I think he thought the same as I did.”

“Thanks for your time, Dr. Banner.”

“Good luck and I hope you catch that bastard.”

Eli hung up the phone. His mind whirled with the information the doctor had given him.

Eli studied the pictures again, separating them into two stacks. One pile with no marring of their faces and the others beaten.

He took a step back and realized all the brutalized victims were from the past twenty years, possibly a little more. In the earlier cases, which stemmed as far back as forty years, the bodies weren’t beaten like the newer victims were, just like Dr. Banner had disclosed.

Then it hit him like a train wreck. There might be two killers. One older than the other—one was the master and the other was the student. That had never dawned on him. “Holy shit. There are two.”

Eli made a few more phone calls to the retired police chiefs who were involved in the old cases. One of the officers who handled three different cases in a span of five years said that the killer left no clues. It was as though he knew every movement they made. They did have a witness, a farmer outside of town. But by the time they reached him, he died in a tractor accident. Was it co-incidental? Eli thought otherwise.

They went as far as putting decoys out for a month, but they weren’t picked up.