String of Murder

by brett hicks

  I gestured to the other room with my free hand, and Bobby calmly pulled my hand away from his mouth. I didn’t fight his grip, and his huffed a deeply masculine sound of frustration. His eyes seemed to be distant, he was thinking, and he was thinking hard.

  “Fine, but we will have to talk to her about her mother’s murder. I’ve got your back Julia, I always do, but you need to make sure that we find this animal. If he keeps killing at this rate, how many more girls are going to end up like Avery?!”

  My heart hurt, I knew Bobby was right, and I was being extremely emotional, and extremely protective of the little girl. I knew we had a job to do, and that job was now crossing paths with my every-day off-duty life.

  “Partner, you need to let me meet her. We can try to ease into this, but we need to learn what we can from her, and soon, Julia. You know me, you know I don’t like asking kids about things half as bad as this is, but it’s the job we both swore oaths to uphold.”

  I sighed, and I nodded, conceding his point. Bastard knows my pressure-points well! You bring up duty and service, and I will concede! I was as loyal as any human could be. I took my oaths seriously, and I took protecting the public twice as serious! I didn’t want to drag this up for Avery, but I knew that this little girl might never recover from such a terrible trauma, unless we could bring it up, and draw it out of her like poison, except one that was poisoning her mind and soul.

  “We will go after we finish up here, but you will follow my lead while you are with her, and you will not let her get hurt, Bobby.”

  I pointed at him and Bobby nodded, his massive size made this look almost comical, considering that he was one of the few men who could best me in a match almost half the time we sparred. His strength and his technique were both second to none. Bobby was a very gentle man, a gentle giant if you would. He gave my shoulder a supportive squeeze and winked.

  “We’ll get through all this Julia, together. I will bring Grace over, she is really good with kids. She might be able to help us sooth Avery’s nerves some.”

  I bit my lip and I nodded. I leaned against the door and huffed.

  “Bobby, when the fuck did life get so twisted?”

  He smiled down at me in a cocky- looking manner.

  “For you, about the instant, your momma pushed you outta her…”

  I popped him in the chest and he snickered lowly, proud of himself—asshole!

  “Are you two going to fuck, or can we get back to solving a damn murder?!”

  The thundering fury of our Captain shook the wall and the wood of the door vibrated at my back as he banged violently on the door. I swore to myself and I gave Bobby a conspiratorial smile. He rolled his eyes, and he went rigid, clearly, preparing himself for another run with the ogre, whom I had now fully riled and provoked with my antics.

  Sometimes, I could feel pity for Bobby, of all the crazy he could get saddled with in homicide, he happened to get saddled with my exotic flavor of insanity, and all the shenanigans that came with that! I fortified myself to go and look at the bloody body of Avery’s mom, and I said a secret prayer to the Great Spirit for strength.

  Fifteen:

  Mary Sanders, Avery Sanders’ mother, was thirty-four and she was apparently a professional football player. She was an advocate for women’s rights and equal treatment, and a single parent. The father was not listed on Avery’s birth records, and no one had ever seen a man come to the small apartment.

  Mary was extremely active in the community, teaching a local girls and boys football league, which Avery had played in as well. She had been dead for four days as best as Jasmine could estimate, which seemed to fit with the initial reports we were gathering on the last time Mary had been seen in public, or at any of her activities. The coach of her national colonial team reported her missing this morning, and then the uniforms who were sent to check her apartment found her dead.

  Mary had been posed with her arms crossed over her chest and her legs crossed, right over left. She had many lacerations on her hands from grabbing at the garrote, and she had fought like the devil to dislodge her attacker. This told me that a pro athlete was unable to best her attacker, so the man we were looking for was extremely strong, and he might have some level of training in hand-to-hand combat. Mary was not the type of woman your average male could just handle. Despite all the belief of men to the contrary, women are incredibly strong. Add to that fact that she was attacked in her daughter’s home, she would have fought with the fury of ten men!

  Nothing about this murder made sense to me. The killer was skilled at evading detection, and he was clever enough to pick locks or scale buildings. He was also rational enough to have been wearing gloves since no fingermarks were found that did not match Avery or Mary. No one came here, besides the pair. Avery had lost her entire world when her mother was killed. She didn’t have any other family, and her mother’s people had disowned her years before, due to her premarital conception, and her “loose” lifestyle. She was a modern woman, one who wanted to be her own boss, and her own person. She didn’t bow to the conventions of the normal layperson. In short, Mary sounded like a hell of a woman! She was very similar to me, maybe that was why Avery took a liking to me?

  Jasmine was attentive to Mary’s body, but I could feel the heat of her worried gaze burning a hole into my leather jacket. She had noticed how off I was, and she knew that I had something else brewing in my mind—in my heart. I was grateful that she knew not to make a scene and push for answers in public, but I was beginning to foresee a private encounter in our near future. Sadly, for me, gone were the days where a private encounter with Jasmine was an exciting thing. Now, it was something to dread, and it always left me burning with a desire I wished to extinguish inside my soul.

  With all the chaos surrounding my life now, Jasmine, or love at all, was completely void from my thoughts and emotions. I had a job to do, and I had a little girl to protect! My dance card, as they say, was full for now. Every depraved act I had witnessed in my life had nearly hollowed me out to the sickness that resides inside humanity, then I meet a bloody little girl. I felt like the raw emotions I had buried in my young life were opening, along with the oozing wounds so old and infected. My heart was overly heavy with grief and misery. My faith in human-kind was shaken to its foundations once more.

  The detective in me kept moving, kept analyzing and cataloging information. I checked every seam and every possible entrance into the apartment. I found that the side window into the bedroom had been forced open by the killer. He had climbed out onto the ledge and worked his way around the side of the building facing the skyline. That was a feat that would require an iron will, and a powerful resolve to kill Mary. This was no random death, this killer wanted Mary dead. I stilled had no answer as to why, or for what purpose. His logic, if there was any, eluded me still.

  Bobby was thorough with his own observations. He had also snuck off to squirrel away a sack full of Avery’s clothing. She was likely shopping for an outfit right now, and I couldn’t help but wonder how she would feel about her old clothes now, considering the memories attached. I think she would like to have something tangible, something that reminded her of the loving mother who raised her, but at the same time, that would be a tangible reminder of her mother’s death. Everything in her life had become a desolation, ruin, and chaos. Avery had been torn from the realm of innocence much too young, nothing could ever return this to her. She should have been playing soccer, and slowly discovering her attraction to boys, or girls, whichever she was inclined towards, not witnessing this heinous act.

  My Captain, Dan, was barking at several press figures outside the apartment. Apparently, word was out now that Nexus City had a spree or serial killer. This was going to make our work so much worse! Serial and spree murder brought out every flavor of crazy, even the kinds that scared me! (That’s a pretty short list, folks!) Now we would be threading a needle, keeping the press at bay, and trying to solve multiple homicides while containing the fa
cts surrounding the case. Some detectives could be coaxed into liberating details, for the right number of coins. I was not one of them, and I generally despised anyone who would leak sensitive information. The larger issue with the press, for me, was if they found a photo of Avery somewhere since her mom was a pro football player.

  I called ahead and caught Maria, she was just back from the store with Avery. I told her to keep Avery at the house, that I would be over with my partner and his wife. I didn’t say more since I knew the switchboard operator could hear everything. Bobby rode back with me, on the back of my steam bike. I enjoyed the tense reactions as I felt him squeeze tightly when I took a turn too fast, or when I rode close to another large metallic steam vehicle. I even managed to get a few yelps and yips out of him, this might be the most therapeutic thing I had done all week! Next time I am feeling like all hell has just broken loose in my living room, I am going to scare the living shit out of Bobby again!

  Bobby’s wife was waiting for us. Grace had managed to find a colored steam cab driver, people typically seemed to never stop when a colored person tries to hail a cab. I hate the racist practice, but I am just one very pissy girl, what can I do—besides shooting them? Grace was about my height, maybe an inch shorter. She was a very tall and curvy woman with a generous light coco-bust. I had jokingly told Bobby he was lucky that I didn’t spot her before he did, Bobby didn’t let me near Grace for about a week after that. Looking back on things, I guess I really do seem to scare the crap out of Bobby whenever the chips are down, poor bloody bastard!

  Grace was almond-eyed and she had lush dark lips and an oval slim face. If the Great Spirit had decided on a definition of “perfection” it would have been Grace. She was perfection personified, and she could cook and bake. Her momma had raised her to be a good little homemaker—and I am trying very hard not to sass about such generalities for my gender! I guess I just don’t have that feminine quality that makes most women like to do homey sorts of things. I am more of a shoot, stab, or cuff a criminal, kind of girl. People have not known what to do with me since the day I was born! Well, Brit people that is. The Natives had put a knife in my hand, or a bow, and then taught me how to hunt, then how to kill. If not for that, I wouldn’t even be sitting here on my steam bike now.

  Bobby climbed off my bike as if his tail was on fire and Grace had the last dregs of water on the whole planet! Part of me wanted to huff, but I couldn’t really blame the man, I had just taken him for a very scary ride. For a moment, I just wondered what Jasmine might diagnose me with if I told her how much Bobby’s terror seemed to help keep me functional in extremely bad situations.

  Like every other time before, thought of Jasmine triggered a cascade effect in my mind. One thought, however simple and mundane, turns to a torrent of emotional pain and longing for something so broken, and gone, forever.

  I waved casually to Grace and Bobby went to his wife and pulled her against him tightly. He kissed her like her lips held the antidote to every toxin in the world. Needless to say, he was very thoroughly vaccinated by the time they parted, and very flushed as well. I smiled at the happy couple, and Bobby reluctantly allowed his wife some room to breathe again. Bobby was always amusing to watch with his wife. He was passionate, caring, and he was extremely attentive to her. Grace really couldn’t have done any better, even if some other man had a larger penis and a massive bank account full of coins to match said penis.

  “Julia, good day to you. It’s been a spell since I’ve seen you.”

  Grace said, with her typical Virginia accent. She was a southern belle, though she had been born in the budding city of Richmond, which was one of the oldest settlements in all of the colonies. I nodded to Grace and winked playfully.

  “Well, Bobby likes to keep work wife, and real wife separate, so we don’t plot against him in some diabolical manner.”

  I sassed to her in my typical feisty manner, and she snorted and hummed in agreement. Grace was very easy going, and she seemed to take my behavior in stride. She never tried to make me more “girlish, or womanish.” Grace seemed to get that I am who I am, and I did not need to be fixed. Hell, she even talked to me about girls—my type of girls that is. She didn’t get all sick or freaked either. It was good to sort of have a female friend, of sorts, but we did not socialize as often as either of us would have liked. My work and her work kept us busy. I know she was busy with Bobby when they were both free.

  “So, are either of you going to tell me why I had to drop everything I was doing, including baking pies for service on Sunday, for the banquet after, and tell me what y’all have roped me into?”

  I smiled at her wickedly, and Bobby began to explain the situation for Grace. She listened with a single cocked brow the entire time, and she seemed to soak everything in without changing expressions, or even moving for that fact. Grace was going to be scary as hell once she had a little bobby, or a little grace running around. They would see the “momma look” she was giving Bobby now and then spill all their secrets.

  Grace huffed once, and she shrugged and waved for Bobby to follow.

  “Let’s get this done, those pies aren’t going to bake themselves, unless the steam engine companies have some new invention I’m unaware of.”

  With that, I chuckled and waved in parting, then sped off towards my apartment building.

  Sixteen:

  Maria was sitting with Avery when we came into the apartment. She looked up at me, then to my companions, and she frowned. She looked nervous, my nerves were like wildfire in my veins, and my heart was heavily laden.

  I gave her a reassuring smile, one I could barely feel, or show to her after the scene I had just come from. Bobby stepped in behind me and Grace followed closely after him.

  “Hey Avery, this is my partner, Detective Bobby Richards, and this is Grace, his wife.”

  Avery licked her lips, and she managed to bob her head slightly in greeting. Bobby smiled at her, and he waved casually. I could see it in his eyes, he noticed just how much she looked like Mary, and why I had been so unsettled at the murder scene.

  “Hello Avery, it’s nice to meet you. I’m surprised anyone can handle living with this slob of a person.”

  Bobby said jokingly, but we both knew I was no housewife, nor did I have any aspirations to be such. Avery nibbled at her lip and she looked warily at the two new faces. She was a very smart kid, so she seemed to know that something had changed, that something had happened.

  Grace stepped past us, and she walked over to Avery, and she took her hands and seated herself beside her. She looked into her eyes, her kindly look seemed to sooth some of Avery’s nerves, even if she instinctively knew that this meeting was going to be painful in some way.

  “Hey darlin, how are you?”

  Avery squeaked out, “ Okay.”

  My heart hammered and then clenched in my chest at the pained sound of her shy tone. I had seen her room, she was likely a very spunky, and a very outgoing girl before this happened to her, before her mother had been murdered.

  “My husband, Bobby, and your house-mate, Julia, need to ask you some questions. It’s not going to be easy sugar, but you need to be a brave girl, so we can find the monster who hurt your momma.”

  Avery’s lips quivered, and tears flooded like a burst dam holding back the water flow. Raw agony washed across her features, and she looked at Grace with a mixture of horror and even some relief. She was in some ways relieved that the truth was out. I closed the gap and I crouched in front of her, and I cupped her soggy cheeks gently.

  “Listen to me Avery, I am not going to let anything happen to you, do you hear me? We must talk to you about your mom. The call I got before breakfast, that was my boss. We found your mom this morning, I’m so sorry.”

  Avery leaned into me and grace folded an arm around her small body, and Maria leaned in on the other side, she was also misty-eyed now.

  “Avery, for the record, your mother is Mary Sanders?”

  She moaned and s
obbed at the mention of her mother’s name. I looked at Bobby, and I firmly put in, “This is going to take some time, Bobby. Let’s slow it down for now.”

  Bobby swallowed, and he nodded in agreement.

  “I’ll go put on some coffee, and perhaps some tea for the young lady?”

  Bobby asked, and I gave him a thankful smile, and I bobbed my head slightly, but I held Avery close to mine, as if I was scared, she might shatter and never be whole again if I lost contact with her. Her sobs wracked my body, and I saw the vision of flames, the fires of the past burning my eyes. I felt the sundering pain of the wounds to my face, and I looked on my attacker through a crimson-tinted vision. The vision of the two silhouettes of blue-clad bobbies with their bloody, and gory gun blades filled my entire world.

  My past rushed to me, and my face itched in an agony renewed, resurrected in the cries of my new house-mate. I felt hollow inside, as I had so many years now, but something new filled me, a grim determination to grab hold of this child—to keep the flames from consuming her. My mother was gone, my father was long dead, and all that was left of the child I had been was a wanted poster. All I could do now was move forward, to save another child, spare her the hollowness of a hapless existence of total obscurity. We could honor the dead, maybe even avenge them, but above all, we could find justice wherever she may slumber.

  “Avery, look at me.”

  Heat filled my hardened eyes of chipped blue. Hazel eyes met mine, and the little girl seemed to become trapped in the deep well of my comprehension of her pain—of the sundered life she now existed in, only half a person.

  “The dead cannot come back, but what we can do now is honor them. Do you want to live in fear of this animal who killed your mom, or do you want to help me find him, and lock him away so he can never harm another woman again?”

  Was it fair? Hell no, but this was the truth and Avery deserved the reality of her situation. Avery deserved justice, and I was hell-bent to give it to her!