Irrefutable (6 page)

“She was very upset. I tried to explain that there was nothing going on, but she didn’t believe me.” Alex’s voice quivered.

“You talk about me like I’m not here
now
.” Allyson said, sitting beside him on the couch.

Alex pretended not to hear.

“Let’s look at guilt objectively for a moment.” Liz said. “What is guilt?”

Alex thought for a moment, “Feeling bad for something you’ve done wrong?”

“Guilt is the innate human capacity for self judgment. It serves as a moral compass, helping us to decide between right and wrong. But there are different types of guilt.

There is survivor guilt, in which someone feels guilty for surviving a situation that a loved one did not. It’s common in plane crashes. Then there is the kind of guilt where a person believes they directly caused the death of another. I think that you subconsciously feel the need to punish yourself for her death. Actually, it’s a way to maintain a connection, your way of keeping Allyson alive. If you let go of your guilt, you let go of her. This is why she appears to you.”

Alex sat in silence.

“So if you say guilt is feeling bad for something you did wrong,” Liz continued, “what did you do that was so wrong? Were you having an affair?”

“You know I wasn’t.” A tear rolled down Alex’s cheek.

“What matters is that
you
know you weren’t.”

“For what it’s worth,” Allyson said, “I believe you.”

Alex heard her but didn’t acknowledge her. He didn’t want to seem crazy. “I may not have pulled the trigger,” he said, “but she is still dead. I can’t forgive myself for that.”

“Maybe you should ask her to forgive you. Is she here now?”

“No.” Alex lied. “That’s the thing. I can’t just make her show up when I want to talk to her. She only seems to come around when I have a lot of other things going on.”

“Well next time you see her, ask.” Liz said. “What about Carmen? Does she blame you?”

Alex drew in a deep breath and let out a long sigh. “She’s never come right out and said it, but I think she does.”

“Is that why you find excuses not to be more involved in her life?”

“That’s not fair.” Alex glared at Liz.

“To who, you or Carmen?”

“It’s been just me and her for the last two years. How could I not be involved?”

“Of course you’re there physically, but what about emotionally? Do you talk to her about her feelings? Do you allow her to express her pain? She lost something too you know.”

Alex sat silent, staring at the floor.

“She lost her mother.” Liz said, “She shouldn’t have to lose her father too.”

Chapter Eight

Sean Miller stood in front of Alex’s desk. He was a tall thin man in his late twenties, with sandy, red hair and light blue eyes. To Alex, he looked as if he never saw sunshine. His pale complexion was the result of spending most of his daylight hours in the lab. He had been a forensics technician with the department for three years. Alex was impressed with his dedication. It showed in his work. “I have the report on victim number two. It’s the same guy. DNA matches the first one.”

Alex sat staring straight ahead. “So, it’s starting again.”

“What’s starting again?”

Alex leaned back in his chair and began to twist his wedding ring. “We had a serial rapist four years ago.”

“Oh, I remember hearing something about that.”

“It was a nightmare.” Alex still looked at nothing in particular as he replayed the case. “It ended up being one of our firefighters. He’s doing life now. It’s a little scary because that case started a lot like these. The first two victims had no evidence at all. They found semen in the third.” Alex looked up at Sean. “He attacked four more before we matched his DNA. One of them died. According to the ME, it was an overdose of some
date rape
drug. We probably would’ve never found him if it hadn’t been for the criminal profile and an anonymous tip.” Alex sat staring blindly toward the window on the other side of the room. Alex brought himself back to the present. He looked a Sean, “Did you run a toxicology screen?”

“I did a prelim on both, but they were clean,” Sean said. “Hopefully, we’ll have the results from the needle cap soon.”

“I hope so,” said Alex.

“I can send the blood on both cases to Miami for a comprehensive analysis if you like. If there is a third victim, you might ask for a urine sample. Some drugs will show up in urine much longer than they do in blood.”

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Alex walked across the hall to Lt. Phelps’ office. “We just got confirmation. The last two sexual assaults were victims of one assailant.” He said from the doorway.

“Shit. Close the door.”

Alex closed the door and sat across from him. “This guy is meticulous. He doesn’t leave anything. No hair, no prints, no fiber, but he does leave his DNA.”

“That doesn’t make a bit of sense.” Phelps growled.

“I agree.”

“That’s all I need, another damned pervert out there stirring up the media.” Phelps said in his rough, raspy voice. Alex was convinced that he tore a vocal cord while screaming at his subordinates. The two pack per day habit probably didn’t help.

“Well, I’m actually a little more concerned about the victims, than the reporters.”

“What’ve you got?” Phelps growled.

“Two women in their thirties, both attacked from behind, three days apart, with no memory of the rapes, just being knocked down and then waking up hours later, naked on two different deserted roads. I think we need to get a profiler on this now. We waited too long last time.”

“Those sons-a-bitches cost me my promotion last time this happened.”

“Who did?” Alex furrowed his brow.

“Fucking reporters.” Phelps coughed several times. “Those assholes come up here blaming me for not stopping that bastard before he killed that woman. Like it was my fault.”

“Yea, especially since I was the one working the case.” Alex stared at him for a moment. “So, about the profiler?”

“Fine. I’ll call the Feds.”

“Actually, I’d like to keep this local, for right now.” Alex said

“Who do you wanna use?”

“Well, Dr. Reynolds nailed it before. I want to give her this one too.”

“You know this comes out of the department’s budget. You can’t find anyone cheaper?”

“You get what you pay for sir. Besides, there is no one else.”

“Yea, yea, yea...” Phelps grumbled. “Two hundred dollars an hour, she better get it right.”

“I know it comes out of your check sir, but…I think she’s up to four.”

“Smart ass. Get the fuck out of my office.”

“Asshole.” Alex said under his breath as he exited the room.

_________

“So it’s just the two cases?” Liz asked.

“So far. We need to get a lead on this guy before it turns into another fiasco like we had before.” He handed her the two files, “This is everything we have.”

He smiled as he walked toward the exit. “If I get anything else, I’ll let you know.”

Alex had complete faith in Liz. Her profile four years ago had been right on the money. It was uncanny how she could get so close.
It must be intuition. You just can’t teach something like that.

Liz worked very hard to get to where she was. Her father was in law enforcement and didn’t make great money. He paid for her first four years at the University of Texas, but that’s all he could afford. He raised her by himself. Her mother died of cancer when Liz was eleven.

“I’ll be damned.” Alex said out loud to himself. “That’s why she can put herself in Carmen’s shoes so easily. She’s actually worn them.”

Liz was accepted to medical school at Baylor. She did her psychiatric residency at Belleview hospital in New York. She became interested in forensics, and through her father’s connections, received training in criminal profiling through the FBI, having used it only once, four years ago. Alex could only hope that she would be as accurate this time.

Chapter Nine

Carmen didn’t hear him enter the house. The music coming through her headphones gave no chance for any other sound to reach her ears. She was on her stomach, stretched out across her bed in her favorite homework position, pencil in hand and ankles crossed with feet in the air. She didn’t hear him when he entered her room. He quietly approached the side of her bed, reached out and grabbed her by both ankles.

Carmen screamed. She rolled violently to her left, swinging her right hand that still gripped the pencil, toward her assailant. She felt the point penetrate as it found its mark. Covering her face with her left arm, she heard the pain escape from his lungs. “Shit! Carmen!”

“Dad? You scared the crap out of me.”

Alex ran toward the kitchen sink holding his right forearm to control the bleeding. Carmen followed close behind. “Dad, I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

Alex slowly lifted his hand to survey the damage. Blood slowly oozed from the small hole that penetrated just below the skin.

“Jeez, it’s nothing.” Carmen laughed. “I thought you were hurt. I’ll get you a Band-Aid.”

“It could’ve been worse. You could’ve hit me in the eye.”

“And you could have hurt my ankle, grabbing it like that.”

“Oh, hell. I’m sorry. I forgot about your ankle. It must be better though. You seem to getting around okay.”

“It’s fine dad.” Carmen had a look of disappointment. “It was three days ago, and you already forgot. Even Janet, the nurse at the hospital, remembered. She called me to ask if it was doing okay.”

“What did you tell her?” Alex’s demeanor changed from sympathetic to demanding.

“I told her it was fine. I don’t even walk with a limp.”

“What else?”

“Jeez, Dad. What’s your problem with her? She’s nice.”

“I don’t trust her. She has no concept of boundaries. She tells things that should be kept private.”

“Has she ever done anything to you, given you any reason not to like her?”

“No… she’s just odd. I’m no expert, but I think she’s bi-polar or something.”

“She’s just trying to be a friend Dad. She knows you have your hands full and just wants me to have someone to talk to. Lord knows I can’t talk to you.” Carmen didn’t dare tell him that she had made a lunch date with her.

“I just don’t want you telling her about our private matters.”

“She respects you a lot, you know?” Carmen’s eyes began to tear as she applied the bandage to his arm. “She told me how you felt so bad on my prom night, you were almost sick.”

“I did feel sick.”

“So what‘s wrong with admitting that? Are you afraid of what people will think?”

“Yes, I do care what people think.”

“Why do you put up this wall around you, around us, to keep everybody out? You push away everyone who has ever tried to be your friend. Ever since Mom died, you’ve shut out the whole world, even Rachel.” Carmen wiped a tear as it fell down her cheek. “Why?”

Alex turned away from her. He wiped his eyes to keep his own tears from rolling down his face. “I’m not ready yet.” he said.

“Dad,” Carmen said tenderly, “She’s been gone for two years. She’s not coming back. So, what are you waiting for? The whole world is passing you by. It’s passing me by too.”

“I just didn’t want you to ever think I was betraying your mother’s memory.” Alex said softly.

Carmen looked him in the eye. “So it’s my fault?” She turned and slowly walked toward her room. “Unbelievable.”

“That was nice.” Allyson said. “So what
are
you afraid of?”

Alex stood silent for a time. “I’m afraid she won’t need me anymore.” He said, finally.

Allyson laughed, “She doesn’t have you now.”

“You’re not helping anything either.” he said.

“I’m dead Alex. I’m not real. I can’t help you. That’s why you have such a mess here. If I were still alive, things wouldn’t be like this.”

_________

She saw him from the elevator. His facial hair, well into its second day of growth, his red eyes and disheveled hair, made him look as if he had not slept, or showered for a week. He didn’t see her approach.

“You look like hell.” Rachel said.

Alex looked up from the file on his desk. “Thanks,” he said with an embarrassed grin. “I’ve been up all night. We had a body out on route nine.”

“Really, like a homicide? Tell me about it.”

“Not much to tell, so far. Thirty seven, male from Tampa.” Alex picked up a thin file folder and handed it to Rachel. “He was involved in a domestic battery in Hillsborough County. Evidently, the woman’s brothers took care of him.” Alex made quotation marks in the air.

“Evidently?”

“They had made threats in the past, but he just couldn’t keep his hands off her. He got her pretty bad I guess. She’s in ICU in Tampa. They dumped him just inside our city limits so I was called out.” Alex leaned back in his chair. “Did you realize how far out to the west our city limit is?”

Rachel ignored the question. “So he was killed there and dumped here?”

“That’s the way it looks. So it’s not our case.”

“Good, then you can break away for breakfast.” She smiled.

“I’m not really hungry.”

“Well then drink some coffee. You look like you could use it. I’m buying. Besides, I need to talk to you.”

They walked the short distance to Chelsea’s Diner. It was like any classic train car diner with the rattle of plates and spoons and the smell, a combination of coffee and bacon. They sat across from each other in a booth toward the back, without a window. The waitress quickly took their order.

“I’ll have the
three egg
ham and cheese omelet with hash browns and a side of bacon, and coffee.”

Alex ordered only coffee. He said nothing, but he must have had a surprised look.

“What?” she smiled, “Don’t worry. I’ll work it off in the gym.”

Wow, she’s actually real, unpretentious. Not afraid of who she really is.
He sipped his coffee as Rachel opened a file folder. He couldn’t help but notice how attractive she was. It seemed he was noticing more often lately. Her long, flowing, brown hair perfectly framed the soft features of her face. Her dark brown eyes gave a hint of mystery. She was far different than the blonde, blued eyed Allyson, the type to which Alex had always been drawn. He found himself unable to look away.

“I was looking over the files from the dealership I told you about, looking for commonalities. There are eighty four names on this list, everyone who bought a new car from them in the past six months. A large number of them live in The Cove, not surprising.” She turned the paper where Alex could read it. Several names were highlighted in yellow. Two of those names were circled.

“Nine of them are on the same street, but two of the names from that street looked familiar. At first I couldn’t figure out why or where I had heard them, and then it hit me. They are your two rape victims.” She paused to let it register.

Alex sat, staring at her blankly. His mind was numb after last night’s confrontation with his daughter, and wife, or ghost or whatever she was, then being up all night at a crime scene.

“Alex,” she said finally, “these cases are related. When I first started looking at this security breech, my initial thought was identity theft. A dealership like that is fertile ground for people whose identity would be worth stealing. But, something told me the motive was more complicated than that. I wasn’t sure why, it was just a feeling, but I think this confirms it.”

“So you think our rapist is the one who broke into the files at the dealership.”

“Yes.”

“It would be a strange coincidence, I guess.”

“I think that’s how he’s choosing his victims.” Rachel said.

“If you’re right, if the dealership is his victim pool, that means he’s specifically targeting these women for a reason. But, why?”

“That’s why I came to you. This is
way
out of my league.”

Alex studied the list for several minutes. “We’ve got a profiler working on the rape cases. If these are connected, it could change the whole approach to her theory. I need to show her this list.”

“Have you looked at the names?” Rachel asked, with a serious expression. “If this gets out, if these rapes continue, I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes.”

Alex scanned the file, seeing several names he recognized. “Neither would I.”

_________

“Stop what you’re doing.” Alex said, as Liz answered the phone, “I have some new information that may change everything.”

“What kind of information?”

“I need to see you in person. This is becoming a very delicate situation. When is a good time?”

“You can come now. I can always take a short break if I’m with a patient.”

“I’ll be there in half an hour.”

Alex accelerated to merge with southbound traffic on the Seminole Throughway, only to see brake lights and stopped traffic ahead. He turned the radio to a local news channel for a traffic report.

“Cypress Village Police are investigating the abduction and rape of another local woman, the second in three days. According to sources, both attacks were similar in nature and police suspect that a serial rapist may be active in the area. The Identities of the victims have not been released. In other news…”

Alex pounded the steering wheel. He could not believe what he was hearing. Who had leaked this to the press? Who outside the department knew about them? Rachel was the only person he could think of, other than Janet, but neither of them would talk. Janet was all too willing to talk about herself or her coworkers, but she was very professional when it came to the confidentiality of patients and victims.

Alex wasn’t so concerned with the fact that the news was out, as he was with what Lt. Phelps’ reaction would be.

He slowly made his way to the cause of the delay; construction on the left lane. As he passed the workers the traffic opened up and returned to normal speed.

He entered Liz’s office and waited on the leather sofa. He had to contain the damage. It was bad enough that the news of the rapes was out, but if it became public that the cases were connected to the dealership, there would be a media frenzy that would launch this case to the national network level. He didn’t need that kind of pressure.

The door to Liz’s office opened and a young woman emerged, her eyes red and swollen. She made brief eye contact with Alex before exiting the waiting room. Liz invited Alex to her office.

“So what is this new development?”

Alex handed her the files from the dealership. “Rachel Summers, the Deputy D.A., is working a case at the Mercedes/Lexus dealership where there was a breach in computer security. Some financial files were stolen. At first she thought the motive was identity theft. Then she was looking over my files on the rapes and made an interesting discovery.”

“What’s that?”

“Both of our victims are on this list. She thinks the cases are related. Stealing those files wasn’t about money. It was to find victims.”

“This is interesting.” Liz said, “I felt that the victims weren’t chosen at random, now it seems certain. Our suspect created a pool. These people represent something or someone. They may be a substitute for the person toward whom he feels the need to strike out.”

“I knew this would give you a different perspective.”

“It certainly does. I’ll start working on this.”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but some of the names on there are very influential people. The rapes have already made the news. We can’t let it out that these cases are related to the dealership. Those victims have all been notified. If they learn this is really a list of targets, things could get ugly.”

Liz scanned the file, apparently recognizing some of the names.

“There is something else.” Alex said.

“What’s that?”

“If you look toward the bottom of the third page…”

Liz turned the page. As she scanned to the bottom, Alex knew when she saw it. Liz slowly looked up at him. “Oh my God.”