Twisted Hunger (7 page)

Terrell’s conclusions had been completely accurate. There was simply no pattern from which to formulate any theories. So why did Luke think he could help?

Because I saw her face… and survived.

He looked over the names of the other file folders on the table and pulled out the one titled
Witnesses’ Statements
. It included a variety of things, from transcriptions of phone tips to interviews with people who had last spoken with the victims or recalled seeing the deceased talking to a stranger prior to the murder.

Based on the interviews, in five of the cases it was deduced that the victims may have willingly gone somewhere with their murderer. In two of those cases, an unknown woman was mentioned but the descriptions were very different and neither sounded like the woman Luke had seen.

The only statement from someone who claimed to be an eye witness to one of the murders was the one made by Pablo. Even though the cops had dismissed his story, the report had been kept on file.

Luke read over the statement Pablo had given and could understand why it had been dismissed. He had made the psycho prostitute sound like a cross between Wonder Woman and Tammy Faye Baker, and he had made up an elaborate, hand-to-hand combat scene from which he had barely escaped with his life.
Jesus, Pablo. She probably killed you because of your insulting description of her.

The truth was, she had seemed somewhat attractive and not all that sleazy. Even to a scared teen, her clothes had looked classier than what one would expect to see on a back-alley whore.

For the first time in twenty-one years, probably because he had worked so hard to block it out, it occurred to him that the woman may not have been a real whore, but a woman from a higher station pretending to be a hooker to lure one particular man who might be attracted by that disguise.

Could the whore he’d seen and the two female strangers mentioned in the other statements be the same woman? What if she simply used a different disguise for each of her victims? What if she really was a professional assassin?

He slumped back in the chair. He had arrived here thinking he could do something to help because he had seen the whore’s face, but if she were a pro, or even just a master of disguises, the odds against his being able to identify her had now multiplied by a few million.

Chapter 4

Terrell guided Luke into an interrogation room down the hall from his office and set several thick mug shot books down on the table. “Like I told you last night, there are some politics involved in a case like this. And a lot of media. You may be feeling all gung ho, but I don’t want to see you being interviewed on the six o’clock news and ending up dead by eleven.

“For the time being, the best thing is not to admit you’re here about any murders. To explain why you’re looking at mug shots, I said you’re a friend of a friend who came to L.A. as a tourist and got robbed by a prostitute.” As Luke sat down and opened the first book, Terrell shook his head. “You know this is probably a waste of time.”

Luke shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s my time to waste until one of us thinks of something more worthwhile.”

Several hours later, Luke came to two conclusions. First, Terrell was absolutely right about the value of his looking at mug shots of known prostitutes and females with arrest records for violence. On the positive side, though, he was more convinced than ever that he would recognize the woman’s face, even if she had been wearing the disguise of a whore.

Unable to forget about the FBI’s theory, he was wondering if there was such a thing as a mug shot book of professional assassins when Terrell came in.

“There’s someone I want you to meet. The police artist is in today on another case, but he said he had time to work something up for you… if you think you’re up to describing the woman you saw that night.”

He physically stopped Luke from racing out the door. “Whoa, cowboy. Remember, you keep your mouth shut about what you saw until I’m sure it’s worth it for you to stick your neck out. For now, we’re holding to the stupid tourist story. I’ll introduce you as Charles Brown.”

Luke smirked. “Charlie Brown? Is that the best you can do? If I have to be a cartoon character, why can’t I be Peter Parker?”

“Don’t get pushy. The name fits the picture. Now I’m warning you, be careful of everything you say.”

After Luke swore he wouldn’t deviate from the story Terrell had made up, they went to the room where the police artist was shading an area of the sketch he was doing for an elderly woman.

Luke was interested in the process, but he could see that the woman didn’t really have a clear picture in her own mind, so it made it nearly impossible for the artist to get the image transferred onto paper.

When it was finally Luke’s turn, Terrell introduced him as Mr. Brown and gave the artist the rehearsed explanation. As soon as Terrell left Luke alone with the artist, he began describing the face that had haunted him for twenty-one years.

Creating the sketch was as fascinating to Luke as it was eerie. He soon found himself asking as many questions as the artist did of him. The more he complimented the artist’s profession and talent, the more helpful the man became.

When the sketch was completed, the artist asked, “Are you sure about the jawline?”

“Positive,” Luke replied. “Why?”

“It seems a little broad for the rest of the face. I hope you’re not offended by this, but are you also certain that your prostitute was a woman?”

Luke tried to look ashamed and nodded. “It was not one of my finest hours, but I’m sure she had breasts.” He clearly recalled seeing rounded flesh above the tight-fitting bodice. “I gathered from the detective that there isn’t much that can be done about my being robbed, but this has certainly been a real learning experience. I wonder if you could do me a huge favor?”

The artist angled his head rather than agreeing automatically.

“Could you draw me another picture of this same woman, but as she would look after twenty years of normal aging?” When the man hesitated, he explained, “I’m a teacher. My students would be very interested to learn about this, especially the artistic ones. It’s certainly more productive than spray painting graffiti on walls. I think they’d be really interested in the process.”

“A lot can happen in twenty years. You’d have to give me a scenario to go on.”

Luke gave that some thought and decided that if the woman was still up to her old tricks, she’d have to be in pretty good shape. “Let’s say nothing out of the ordinary happened, no serious diseases, disfigurements or big weight changes. If she simply aged like an average woman, what would she look like today, I mean, twenty years from today?”

The artist was finishing up the second sketch when Terrell returned to get Luke. They thanked the artist for his time and went back to the interrogation room with the two sketches.

“Why two?” Terrell asked.

Luke pointed at the younger version. “That’s the woman I saw in the alley. No question.” He tapped the aged version. “And that’s what she would look like today, if she aged normally and didn’t have anything drastic happen, like an accident or an enormous weight gain. It was the artist’s idea to change the hairstyle to a more contemporary one.” He briefly related what he had told the artist to get him to draw the second one.

Terrell sat down with his long legs stretched out in front of him and his hands folded over his flat stomach. His mouth moved from side to side as he glared at Luke.

“
What
?” Luke asked and sat down in another chair.

“I was sure you couldn’t come up with a definite description. Not after all this time. If you were some guy off the street who came in here with this story, I’d have you thrown out as a nut-case.”

“But you
know
I’m not nuts. So what do we do next?”

Terrell leaned forward and spoke in a low, serious tone. “What you do next is get on a plane back to Charlotte while you still can.
I
keep looking for the killer and some kind of hard evidence that would hold up in court.”

“But I saw her, and I can still identify her. I could—”

“You could get yourself killed and that’s about it. We once assumed she had a friend on the inside who alerted her about Pablo’s testimony. Then Pablo ended up in a box. If the same woman is responsible for Neuman’s death, she may still have the same friend. And now here you are, giving her description to the police artist. You shouldn’t have asked for the second sketch.”

Luke frowned. “I didn’t think it would matter.”

“The problem with this case is we have no idea what matters and what doesn’t.” He sighed. “Let me put it another way. Even if she didn’t come after you first,
and
we caught her,
and
you went to court as an eye witness, a good defense attorney would tear your testimony apart. Too damn much time has passed for anyone but me—and the killer—to listen to you. It’s just not enough for you to risk coming forward now.” He picked up the older version sketch. “Believe me, this drawing could be a big help. Maybe not in court, but you’ve given me an idea of the face I’m looking for, and that’s a hell of a lot more than I had before.”

Luke rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know what made me think I could do more.” He got up and walked around the table. “Look, if you don’t mind, I’d like to stick around for a few more days. I can’t go back to Charlotte without visiting the family, and I’d really like to take another look through that file. I just can’t believe someone could commit that many mutilations and not leave a single clue behind. Even a pro must make mistakes once in a while. Maybe a fresh, non-professional approach would come up with something no one else has thought of.”

Terrell wasn’t happy about it, but he couldn’t deny his friend the time he asked for. “Okay, but you have to do something for me. I’ve gotten roped into filling a chair at a thousand-dollar chicken dinner in Sacramento this Saturday. I was told I could bring a date.”

Luke grinned. “Isn’t this rather sudden, sweetie? What will Sergeant Maria say?”

“Don’t be a smartass. Here’s the situation. Senator Jones is throwing an AIDS research fundraising banquet. It’s one of his pet charities, but it’s also time for him to start beating his political drums to get some attention from the Republican Party. Apparently he wants to appear liberal on personal freedoms and conservative on crime control, so he sent some complimentary tickets to the heads of several police and sheriff’s departments with a request that each send a number of officers to represent California’s law enforcement community.”

“Sounds delightful,” Luke said sarcastically. “How did you get to be one of the lucky ones?”

Terrell grunted. “Turns out Jones specifically asked Sheriff Patterson to send the detective in charge of Neuman’s murder because of the possible homosexual tie-in.”

“I don’t suppose it occurred to the senator that pulling you away from the case might get in the way of solving it. Anyway, wouldn’t you rather ask Maria?”

“Yes, but she got picked for a seat too, so we could all drive up together. Apparently, they wanted to get a sampling of as many minorities as possible. With me, they cover the African-American sector, and with her, they’ve got both a female and a Latino.”

“Well, I was hoping to get a look at her. I guess crammed in your Toyota for several hours is as good a way as any.”

“It won’t be that bad. I have approval to use a squad car to make the trip. The senator wants to see a fleet of police vehicles around the banquet hotel.”

“Oh wow. Can we use the lights and siren on the way there?”

“If you’re going to keep being a smartass, I’ll make you sit behind the grill the whole trip. By the way, I almost forgot. You’ll have to rent a tux.”

Luke rolled his eyes. “Great. It sounds like I’m going to end up being a tourist after all.”

Chapter 5