Otter Under Fire (22 page)

“A serial murder’s signature?”

“I supposed you could say that.”

“So when a possible murder happens that looks like it could be by a certain killer, they call you in and have you look at the body?”

“If you know all this, why are you asking me?”

“Just verifying my suspicions, were you ever going to tell me about this?”

“Maybe, probably, eventually…”

“Which of those are most likely?”

“Give me a break, Otter; I’m not supposed to talk to you about this.”

“For how long would that be? Until you solved this and moved on?”

“I’m not moving on. I’m staying. We’ve decided to base ourselves out of here and stick around.”

“Clark was the first one, wasn’t he? Somebody saw something with Clark and you had to come here and follow up on it.”

Joel’s face went stony and he stared out of the windshield.

“OK, I’m going to tell you what I think happened so far and you just nod or shake your head if I’m warm or cold.”

Joel continued to look forward.

“I think that when Clark was killed, you were alerted by whatever means you law enforcement types do for that sort of thing. There’s a reason you think that Clark was a part of this Charlotte person’s web of murders. A Charlotte’s web, now that I think of it—and isn’t that cute? Anyway, you come down to investigate and figure out that somehow Clark was up to his ass in trouble. You need to get to information about him, but you can’t go in and start asking questions because your quarry will break cover and run. So you decide to go in by stealth.”

Joel continued with saying nothing.

“You have an old army buddy that works for the Sheriff’s office and with a little research you find out she has a single friend that worked with Clark and you ask her if she can fix you up. Whether or not she knew what you were up to I will find out later, but she does the job and gets me to go on a date with you.”

Once more, Joel added no comment.

“Fortunately for you, I am willing to blather on about Clark and the mystery because I am baffled by his death and don’t know quite what to do. You continue the charade of just being a friend of a friend who just happens to work at the coroner’s office, but you follow me and question me to get as much data as possible. You don’t really tell me anything, but you get a lot of information. You were hoping that I could give you enough for you and your team to process that could help you catch your killer and close your case.”

Joel sustained his nonstop silence.

“Detective Addison is a blind, isn’t he? You’re the real detective and he’s some kind of decoy. Well I’ve given you all I have to give and you could have just told me all this from the start. I have nothing to hide and would have been happy to tell you what you wanted to know. There’s something else you have to know about me by now. I hate liars and I hate thieves and all this covert crap just pisses me off. Just tell me what you want from me and we can stop this pretense and move on.”

They drove into Otter’s driveway and Joel chuckled.

“Well in for a penny, in for a pound as they say.” He turned to her with another baffled laugh. “First of all, Chris Addison is an excellent detective. He is not a blind and would be insulted you thought so.”

“Ok, if you say so.”

“Secondly, don’t be pissed off at Susan. She didn’t know what I was here for; she believed I just wanted to meet an interesting woman that I could date. I manipulated her into thinking of you when I asked.”

“Probably not as much as you thought,” Otter murmured.

“Probably not,” Joel agreed. “You Arizona women are crazy smart. Anyway, you’re right; Clark’s death had a signature that I verified.”

“So he really was murdered.”

“Yes, he was.”

“What about Marvin Jones?”

“Yeah, him too, he had been friends with Charlotte when they were in high school.”

“But she killed him anyway.”

“It looks like she did.”

“Do you know why she’s killing people?”

“Troy’s digging through records to find out a pattern. So far all we know is that she kills people she knows and some of them are friends or family. She drops off the grid for a while and disappears when another body surfaces.”

“I’ll bet she’s got a secret.”

“That she’s a serial murderer, yeah that would be a great secret.”

“No, I mean she’s killing to keep her secret. She only kills people that she gets to know. They die when they find out what she’s hiding.”

“It can’t be that simple.”

“You know more than I do about whom all she’s killed, but she killed a boyfriend, her parents and her childhood friend. Knowing Clark, he found out who she was and maybe her secret. He was nosy and as you’ve seen, he liked knowing people’s private business.”

“But how would he encounter her?”

“Clark was in sales. He visited our customers and prospective customers. He could have met her anywhere.”

“Great, that could be hundreds of companies.”

“He met her, befriended her somehow and discovered what she was hiding and it got him killed.”

“That’s an interesting theory.”

“Bet you a dollar I’m close. What other reason would she have? She doesn’t act like a normal serial killer. She’s trying to hide. She doesn’t increase her kills, she doesn’t torture, she makes her kills look like accidents.”

“Yes, she does that too, but she puts her mark on them all the same.”

“What mark is that?”

“It’s complicated to explain, she does something unique with the bodies after they are dead.”

“That’s a little creepy.”

“Really, you don’t say?”

Otter put her hand on the car door handle. “If you want to run things by me, I’m ok with that. I’ll let you know if I think of anything else.”

“Otter,” Joel gripped her wrist. “There’s more you should know.”

“Oh, what else then?”

“I did start seeing you because I needed to get inside of AzTech. You’re right about that. But I had my friends come along for the accidental date at the steakhouse because I told them I was moving our operations to Phoenix.”

“I thought you were from Phoenix.”

“We are, but we’ve been everywhere.”

“You’ve lost me.”

“Not yet, I hope. I told them I wanted to move operations here permanently and I wanted them to meet the reason why. They needed to meet the woman I was falling in love with.”

Joseph was asleep when Tempest got back. He looked so cute all chained up naked like a prisoner in some exotic land. She took a couple of provocative pictures of him, got her riding crop, took his gag off and woke him up.

“Wake up sleepy head, time for fun and games.” She said in a sing song voice. He looked at her groggily.

“Damned bitch kidnapped me…” he said sleepily.

“No, you were a willing participant to a point,” she said, smacking his nipples lightly with her crop.

“Let me go, you crazy bitch.”

“Well, I could do that, I could do that,” she said, putting her head to one side, “Or we could continue where we left off.”

“I wouldn’t fuck you if you paid me,” Joseph said viciously.

Tempest sighed and put down her crop. “I was afraid you’d say that. I really was and I’m a little hurt you feel that way. Well, if I untie you, you have to promise me that you will leave and not bother me again.”

“No problem there,” he replied.

“And do understand that I have some incriminating pictures that I will use if you give me a difficult time.”

“Whatever, just let me go.”

Tempest took off her jewelry and then her dress, revealing a very sexy black lace teddy underneath. It emphasized her long shapely legs, flat tummy and beautiful breasts. Joseph let out a sigh.

She picked up her crop and struck a very sexy pose, and then a much sexier dance and Joseph gave her quite a… standing ovation with the only appendage that was free.

“Otter will be home soon, we should get you out of here.”

“Well, maybe I was a little hasty, honey.”

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

“I’m sorry darlin’. I don’t know what got into me.”

“You don’t say.”

“Do what you want with me, OK? But can I make one last request?”

“What would that be?” She asked, casually tapping his inner thighs with her crop.

“Please unchain my cock. I can’t do you or myself justice like this.”

Otter went to Annie’s late Sunday morning to hang out and chat for a bit. Annie’s house was a picture of desert landscaping in the front and a yard full of children’s play equipment on grass in the back. When Otter got there, Annie was watching two of her grandsons, ages 4 and 5, racing around the back yard yelling at the top of their lungs.

“Why do they have to be so loud?” Otter asked her.

“Because they’re kids,” Annie said reasonably. “Kids have to be loud when they’re outside playing. It’s one of the rules.”

“I don’t remember that rule, but I haven’t been around kids in a long time.”

“We can go inside,” Annie said, “I have cold sodas in the fridge.”

“That sounds good.”

“So what’s on your mind?” Annie asked as she got glasses and ice and Otter sat at her kitchen table.

“Why do you think there’s anything special on my mind?”

“Because on Sunday morning you like to make brunch for your friends and all of us look forward to it. You make it all so fancy and I make a point of coming over when I can. If you aren’t making brunch, something’s bothering you.”

“Joel says he’s falling in love with me.”

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know. He’s been so sneaky about everything; even now I don’t think he’s told me the whole story.”

“Well, he has a sneaky job. He may never tell you the whole story. You have to decide how much sneaky you can live with.”

“You know I hate secretive stuff.”

“Yeah, so do I, but there’s little secrets and then there are
secrets
. If he doesn’t tell you about the covert work he does, but he is honest with you within your relationship; it seems to me that would be ok. You guys would have to work it out.”

“Maybe,” Otter sighed.

“Do you want him to be in love with you? Are you falling in love with him? That’s pretty important too.”

“Maybe,” Otter pulled the pack of cards out of her purse. “Let me show you something.”

She laid the cards out for Annie to see.

“You do realize that you’re changing the subject…even though this is very interesting.” She perused the cards for a moment. “He has me as neon. Why do you think that is?”

“C’mon Annie, everyone says you’re like a hippy. Didn’t they have black light posters and all that stuff when you were a kid?”

“Black light posters and hippies are two different decades, little girl. Get your era’s right.”

“But you have to admit the neon fits you pretty well.”

“At least he didn’t hold a grudge when I didn’t do what he wanted.”

“What exactly did he want, Annie? What did he say when he showed you all the stuff he had on you?”

“Let me think now,” she said. Suddenly she flew out the patio door. “Jonathan Michael if you hit your brother with that hammer again, I will blister your butt, do you hear me?”

“Yes Nana,” came a little voice.

“Little monsters,” Annie said cheerfully, coming back in and sitting down. “Just like their dad.”

“He was hitting his brother with a hammer?” Otter said, horrified.

“Plastic toy,” Annie said dismissively, “don’t worry about it. Now where were we? Oh yes, exactly what Clark said to me when he called me into his office. Let’s see…hmmm.”

“Well as close to exact as you can remember,” Otter said cautiously.

“Shhh, I almost have it.” Annie had her eyes closed and she waved a finger in the air like she was directing a symphony. “OK, OK, I remember now.” She opened her eyes.

“Are you sure?”

“Oh yes, it’s quite clear now. He called me into his office and showed me the pages of information he had on me. He pointed a few things out and read them out loud.”

“Were you embarrassed?”

“Pht,” Annie made a hissing sound, “I’m too old to get embarrassed. He showed me all the things he found out about me and told me that he would tell Michael all this stuff if I didn’t help him out.”

“He said he wanted you to help him?”

“Yeah, and that’s senseless. If he just asked I would have-- probably would have, but trying blackmail me is just stupid.”

“What did he want?”

“I asked him exactly that and he said he wanted the passwords into the personnel files. I thought that was strange since he’s higher up than I am on the food chain.

“I told him I didn’t have them, which wasn’t strictly true, and then I asked him if I could have copies of what he found. I wanted to show my family.” She let out a laugh, “You should have seen his face.”

“I imagine.”

“Probably the same look he had when they aimed the gun at him to shoot him. I know that’s inappropriate, but Clark’s greatest weakness was overestimating how much power he had over people. They didn’t like him much.”

“I’d have to agree.”

“So you know for sure he was murdered?”

“Yeah, I think it’s a given now, but don’t tell anyone else yet. There’s a lot more stuff we have to figure out.”

“I think finding the killer would be a top priority,” Annie said matter-of-factly.

Just then the two little boys ran in whooping and screaming. The pack of Annie’s dogs right behind them barking, howling and running crazy. The noise was deafening, but Annie waded in and got nearly everyone calmed down. She sat on the couch for a few minutes and got the younger boy to help her find a program on the television for them to watch. The other boy, the one known as Jonathan Michael continued to run around the room throwing pillows, kicking furniture and singing at the top of his lungs.

“Jonathan Michael,” Annie said sternly, “come here and sit by your brother and me and help us pick out something on television.”

Little Jonathan Michael wasn’t listening; he continued his caterwauling as he skipped around the room.

Annie grasped his little arm as he passed by and made him sit on the couch next to her.

“Jonathan Michael, why can’t you behave this morning? Why are you giving your Nana such a hard time?”

Jonathan Michael sat very still and folded his hands in his lap. He raised his big brown eyes to his grandmother and his expression was angelic.

“You know, Nana, I just don’t fucking know.”

“Sorry to bother you on a Sunday Greg,” Otter said on the phone, “I know we get few enough days off as it is.”

“No problem,” Greg said with enthusiasm. “Whatever I can do for you,”

“When Clark wanted you to give him passwords and tell you about equipment we were buying, did he say which files and equipment he was interested in?”

“He wanted to get into the personnel files.”

“What did you give him?”

Greg chuckled. “The maintenance logs and they were highly doctored. And I gave him some fake files that had stock reports in them, I think.”

“What equipment was he interested in?”

“I’m not sure about that one. He just wanted to know when we bought new equipment. I’m assuming electronics since that’s the only kind of equipment I would purchase.”

“That makes sense.”

“Well, I started thinking and other than computer stuff, we do get surveillance hardware once in a while. Knowing Clark, and all the stuff that’s been going on, I kept an eye out for it.”

“Really, and what did you find?”

“Someone ordered some kind of bugs on the company tab. Since it has to come to me if it’s on the account, I received it and locked it in my closet.”

“Is it all still there?”

“So far, although it looked like someone might have been going through my office yesterday, I can’t really be sure.”

“Do you have any way to find out who ordered it?”

“I know I didn’t and our controller didn’t. We’re the only two who are authorized—other than Michael, of course.”

“When did it come in?”

“Just last Friday, so I haven’t had time to really figure it out. I was going to send it back this week.”

“What would have happened if you weren’t watching for it?”

“It would sit out in receiving on my shelf until I came and retrieved it.”

“Isn’t receiving supposed to let you know when something comes in for you?”

“Most of the time they do, but sometimes they get busy. Every time they’ve called me in the last couple of weeks, I’ve hustled down there to see what they had. There wasn’t anything unusual until Friday.”

“That’s interesting. Can you think of anything else that Clark wanted from you?”

“He wanted me to help him get some software copyrighted and on the market.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I gave him some names and people to talk to. There’s nothing secret about that.”

“Can I get those names from you?”

“Sure, but I don’t know which one he may have contacted or if he contacted any of them for that matter.”

“I can find out, if you can get me the names.”

“Sure, I’ll have the list on your desk in the morning.”

“Thanks for the info.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I have some more stuff I need you to look up tomorrow when you get some time.” She explained what she was looking for. “I think you can find most of it in archives and public records.”

“This is cool, just like being a spy.”

“It’s just research for a theory I have. Thanks a lot Greg.”

“No problem. Have a nice rest of the day.”

“Mitch’s wife is sick this morning, so he’s running her to the doctor before he comes in,” Michael told Otter on Monday morning. “So we can meet for a few minute before the day starts.”

“I brought the cards in case we needed them.”

“Good. Before we start I want to say I enjoyed your speech and that was some remarkable dancing.”

“Thank you sir,”

“You made this company look very impressive.”

“That was my intention.”

“It doesn’t hurt to look good. I appreciate your efforts, and speaking of efforts let’s take another look at those cards.”

They lay them all on the table in order.

“The first thing I found out,” Michael continued, “Is when I talked to my uncle. He was born here, but he speaks several European languages. I asked him about Cal de Lemn. He said it does indeed mean rocking horse, more literally wooden horse.”

“A wooden horse? Maybe a toy horse? Or do you mean like a Trojan horse?”

“That would make sense, don’t you think?”

“So a Trojan horse that is under two elements which are two different things under different environments. Very interesting, but I did wonder about something.”

“What was that?”

“We are looking at Clark’s opinion. We don’t know that we’re looking at who killed him.”

“That’s true, but it may give us some idea who would have a reason?”

They stared at the cards for a moment.