Blood Reckoning

by C. M. Sutter

  “I was just coming down to speak with you guys. I think you’ll need to talk with Mr. Blake and Ms. Beckett face-to-face.”

  “That’s what Renz suggested, but neither answer their phones.”

  “Then we’ll haul them in for questioning in the morning then go directly to the mayor’s mansion and question him as well.” Maureen tipped her wrist. “You four go home. I’m sure the rest of the team already did. Everything will come to light tomorrow after talking with them. They’re in this together, and we’ll play them against each other.”

  “You sure?”

  “I’m sure. You’ve all been putting in twelve-hour days.” Maureen turned off her office light and closed the door. She pointed her chin toward the end of the hall. “Tell everyone to shut it down. That’s enough for tonight.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  I returned to the conference room and passed along Maureen’s message. Tomorrow, we would surprise Douglas Blake and Julie Beckett at work, and if they weren’t cooperative there, we’d escort them to the nearest police station for taped questioning. I looked forward to going home and plopping down in my bed. Although the case was local, it seemed even more draining than when we were on the road in other states. Because of the number of people killed and without knowing a solid motive for the crime, or even who’d committed the murders, I was exhausted.

  If I was lucky, I would get eight glorious hours of uninterrupted sleep, and we’d call the case a wrap tomorrow then move on to the next one.

  Chapter 49

  Jacob wiped the blood from his hands onto Julie’s pants. She was the second person to die that night, and his feeling of elation was well worth the wait. God would forgive him if he repented. He knew that to be true. Jacob was well-versed in the writings of the Bible.

  The call he’d been anticipating was coming in from Micah, and that call would tie everything together and set the final play in motion. After speaking at length with Evelyn about the owners of Silver Shores and the bartender, Paul Lawrence, they’d decided not to kill them. They hadn’t deliberately sided with the mayor and likely didn’t even know about his crime. They’d only provided the venue and the booze that allowed the mayor to make his fatal error that night. Three people were responsible for that cover-up, and two were already dead. Jacob stared at Julie’s body riddled with knife wounds, spat on her, then answered the call from Micah.

  “Is she home?”

  “Yes, she just pulled into her garage. There’s two other cars there, one in the garage and one outside. I took pictures of both plate numbers.”

  “Good, so do your due diligence and find out who they are. I don’t believe Agent Monroe is married, but find out for sure. I need to know who else lives in that house. Whoever it is that Jade Monroe loves the most will die tomorrow. She needs to feel the pain just like the others did. We could have completed this mission days ago if the FBI hadn’t interfered, so call me as soon as you know who those vehicles belong to.”

  “I will, and tomorrow morning, I’ll snatch one of them for you if you like.”

  “We’ll do it together after I find out who they are, then we’ll tie it in with the final plan.”

  Jacob ended the call and turned to his helpers, Cole and Lucas. They had completed their mission that night. Jacob and Evelyn thanked them for jobs well done, and they said their goodbyes. They might never meet again, and Jacob suggested the men move on to another city where they would be safer.

  They parted ways with wishes of good luck, then Jacob and Evelyn drove home. Tomorrow would be the grand finale, but they needed one more person in their custody to make it all worthwhile.

  The call came in more than an hour later. It was Micah again.

  Jacob cleared his throat before answering. “What did you find out?”

  “Good news. The car in the driveway belongs to the agent’s sister, who happens to be a detective at the Washburn County Sheriff’s Office.”

  Jacob laughed. “This is just getting better and better. And the other car?”

  “Another detective from the sheriff’s office but not related to the Monroe sisters.”

  “Then we need to focus on the sister. Given the fact that Agent Monroe has much farther to drive to work than the other two, I’d imagine she leaves first every morning. We’ll be there waiting and might have to deal with the sister and the other woman if they drive to work together, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Be at my house by six a.m. tomorrow. It looks like we’ll be driving to North Bend early in the morning.”

  Chapter 50

  “Why did you park outside, Amber? I thought it was Kate’s week to drive.” I bit off another piece of my cream-cheese-slathered bagel and washed it down with a gulp of coffee.

  “Jack wants to go over my yearly review before everyone shows up, and Kate has a dentist appointment at one o’clock anyway.”

  “Got it, and good luck with the review.” I grabbed my purse and briefcase and headed to the garage door. “Tell Jack it better be a good one, or I’ll come after him.”

  Amber laughed. “I doubt if he’s afraid of you. When it comes to one-on-one combat, he can easily take you, Sis. Sorry, but it’s true.”

  I feigned hurt feelings then grinned. “Maybe so, but I have seniority over him. He can’t change that.” I waved goodbye, raised the overhead, and backed out of the garage with hopes that the Milwaukee traffic wouldn’t be a nightmare that Wednesday morning.

  Luckily, without a traffic bottleneck slowing me down on the freeway, I was at work by seven forty-five. We needed to organize our plan of how to approach Douglas Blake and Julie Beckett, and both would have to be confronted at the same time. We couldn’t risk either of them calling the other to give a warning that we were there.

  Renz spoke up. “According to Douglas Blake’s website, his office doesn’t open until nine a.m. By the time we finalize our plan and get to city hall, it’ll be close to nine o’clock.”

  Taft agreed. “Where exactly is Mr. Blake’s office?”

  “Somewhere downtown, so the police precinct will be the same for both city hall and the attorney’s office.”

  Maureen continued. “Okay, split up and go to city hall and the attorney’s office, take Mr. Blake and Ms. Beckett to the downtown precinct, and question them there. Make sure you arrive at the police station at the same time so they see each other. That in itself will cause one of them to start talking right away.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Tommy said. “After one of them starts singing like a canary and we find out how the mayor is involved, we’ll hit his residence. He may very well be arrested today and taken into custody if it’s warranted.”

  Maureen held Mike and Carl back. Once we knew what was going on, they would be dispatched to the mayor’s residence and wait for the rest of us to arrive.

  We left our headquarters at eight thirty and took two cruisers. It would be a fifteen-minute drive to downtown Milwaukee in the morning traffic, then we’d have to park wherever we could snag a spot and go through security at city hall. Renz, Tommy, and I were tasked to that building, while Fay, Kyle, and Charlotte took the attorney’s office, which had a private parking lot.

  Once we had passed through security and reached the administrative wing which housed the mayor’s office, I called Tommy’s phone and told him that they should enter the attorney’s office—we were in place.

  We were instantly stopped by the gatekeeper, but with badges in hand, we continued past her. We reached Julie Beckett’s office, pushed open the door, and found it empty. We turned back.

  Tommy took the lead at the gatekeeper’s desk. “Where is Julie Beckett?”

  “She isn’t here,” the woman hissed. “She never came to work today, and she didn’t call in either, but you barged past me before I could tell you that.”

  I gave Renz a frown when I remembered that we couldn’t reach her the night before either. Right then, Renz’s cell phone rang. He talked for several seconds then hung up. He jerke
d his chin toward the outer hallway, and we followed him out.

  “That was Kyle. He said the attorney hasn’t shown up for work this morning and his staff can’t reach him.”

  “What the hell is going on?” I asked. “We couldn’t get ahold of him last night either.”

  “Okay, we need to go to their residences and see if they’re home. There’s the chance they’re both on the run if they know we’re close to finding out the real story of May fifth. Let’s go.”

  I called Kyle as we walked to the parked cruiser. “Kyle, you guys need to go to Douglas Blake’s house and see if he’s there. He might be on the run. We’re heading to Julie Beckett’s house too. I imagine Renz told you she wasn’t at work. Keep us posted.”

  I hung up and climbed into the back seat. Tommy peeled away from the curb just as I slammed the back door. We reached Julie’s house twenty minutes later and headed up the sidewalk. Tommy gave the door several hard raps, and we waited longer than it should have taken for anyone to answer—unless they were avoiding the cops. I jerked my head at the guys.

  “I need your help at the garage door.” They followed me to the overhead, where I pointed at the small decorative windows at the top of the door. “Give me a boost and don’t drop me.” I stepped on Tommy’s entwined fingers and grasped Renz’s shoulder as they boosted me up long enough for me to see inside the garage. “Damn it, guys, her car is inside.” I stepped down, and we returned to the front door and pounded again. Nobody answered. “What do you think? Should we kick in the door?”

  Renz rounded the house with Tommy and me on his heels. He pushed up on every window that he passed. I’d hoped for a slider patio door but no luck. Julie had French doors with sheer drapes over them. We couldn’t open the door or see inside unless we broke one of the window panels.

  “One piece of glass is cheaper than breaking down a door,” I said. “I think we need to do an emergency wellness check.”

  “I agree.” With his jacket on to prevent glass cuts, Tommy hit the pane of glass nearest the door lock with his elbow. The glass fell to the floor, and he reached in and unlocked the door. The thought of breaking into somebody’s home that easily and quickly was unnerving, especially since it was obvious that Julie didn’t have an alarm system.

  We stepped over the glass and called out to her but didn’t get a reply.

  “Don’t touch anything,” Renz said. “This entire house could be a crime scene.”

  We called out again with guns drawn as we divided up and cleared each room. It didn’t appear that there was a forced entry or an altercation until I reached the master bedroom.

  “Oh my God! Guys, get in here.” Renz and Tommy had been clearing the opposite end of the house.

  Julie lay on the floor inside her bedroom, half in the walk-in closet and half out. She had been brutally murdered, possibly with a knife, and had what looked like stab wounds all over her body. From the position she lay in, it seemed that the perp could have been lying in wait in the closet and attacked her when she opened the door.

  “Shit,” Renz said as he and Tommy rounded the corner. “I better warn the others. There’s a chance that Douglas Blake may have met the same fate.”

  Kyle answered Renz’s call on the second ring. From the conversation we heard when Renz set his phone on Speaker, they were looking at the throat-slashed body of Douglas Blake lying on his garage floor.

  “Damn it,” Renz said. “Secure the scene. I need to call Taft and update her. Meanwhile, call the ME and Forensics, tell them we have two crime scenes, and ask if they can get extra manpower to pitch in. Stay put, and we will too. Taft needs to contact the police and have them secure the mayor’s house. She’ll likely send Mike and Carl there as well.”

  “I’ll make the call now. We should probably get the local PD involved too.”

  “Yep, go ahead and have a couple units come to our location.” Renz ended the call and dialed Taft, who said she’d send the PD and our agents to the mayor’s mansion immediately.

  Chapter 51

  We backed out of the bedroom to avoid contaminating the scene. I offered to stay behind while Renz and Tommy canvassed the neighborhood to ask if anyone had seen suspicious characters or heard unusual noises last night or early that morning. I watched out the window for the police to show up. Our forensic team and either Dave Mann or a tech from the medical examiner’s office would take longer to arrive.

  I paced back and forth in the living room. It was obvious that the killers of now fourteen people were all one and the same. It had to be a fairly large group in order to have someone available anytime day or night to commit the violent murders that had taken place over the last five days. That number stuck in my mind.

  Why is five a common denominator in those murders? Five homeless people killed, five loved ones of people connected to the mayor killed, today is the fifth day from the initial murders, and the fifth of May was when something happened that started this shitshow in motion.

  My mind flashed back to the newspaper article I saw yesterday when we were searching the archives. I hadn’t read beyond the headlines, but I remembered the article was written several days after May fifth. “Damn!”

  Maybe the seventh or eighth?

  It was about five siblings who’d drowned in a lake, but I hadn’t read where the drownings took place or what the victims’ names were. I needed to find that article and read it.

  Dave would know. He’s the medical examiner.

  I called his cell phone even though I knew he was probably driving to our location or to the attorney’s house. Thankfully, he answered right away.

  “Dave Mann here.”

  “Dave, it’s Jade. I have a super important question to ask you, and you’re going to have to remember back to May.”

  “Okay, I’ll do my best, but can’t it wait? I’ll be at your location in ten minutes.”

  “You’re coming here?”

  “Yes, I thought there was a dead body there.”

  “I’m sorry. Yes, there is. I didn’t know if you were coming to our location or the other one.”

  “Oh, well, what do you need to know that can’t wait for, now, eight minutes?”

  “Only one thing until you get here.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Do you remember the drowning incident of those five siblings in May, and were the bodies brought to your office?”

  “Yes and yes. It was a tragic accident. They were trapped in the family vehicle, and none of them were able to escape.”

  “Are you able to access those reports on the computer in your van?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Okay, that’s all I need to know until you get here. Thanks.”

  That had to be it. The death of those five brothers and sisters had to be the reason for all the murders—it was revenge, retaliation, whatever one wanted to call it. The mayor must have caused the accident but only if it actually happened on the night of May fifth in that short two-mile distance between Silver Shores Resort and the mayor’s estate. I pulled up the map of the city on my phone, looked for a lake in that area, and found one. It wasn’t a large lake, but all that was necessary was for it to be deep enough to submerge a vehicle and drown everyone inside. I was about to look for the article online when two squad cars screeched to a stop in front of the house. I had to pocket my phone and address the situation at hand.

  The officers banged on the front door, and I turned the knob with my sleeve and allowed them in. Gloves were plentiful in the cruiser, but I needed to remain inside until Renz and Tommy were back. I showed the officers my ID and led them to the master suite, where Julie’s body lay.

  “The medical examiner and forensic team are en route. Go ahead and give the perimeter a thorough look, scour the street, and wrap the yard in tape.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  I nodded a thanks, and as I watched out the window for Dave, I saw Renz and Tommy on the opposite side of the street, knocking on doors.

  Min
utes later, the medical examiner’s van pulled up to the curb. All I needed Dave to do was show me how to access the family’s records if he was even permitted to do that. If not, he might remember or could personally look up the date he’d written down as his best guess for a time of death.

  I stood at the front door and waited while he got his supplies from the back of the van. Dave approached me with a head tip.

  “She’s right this way,” I said. “Any idea when Forensics will show up?”

  “They’re about ten minutes behind me.”

  “Then we have a little time, right? They have to take pictures before you move the body.”

  He scratched his head. “What do you need to know about those drownings, Jade?”

  “Where that lake was and when you called the time of death. Also, the family’s last name.”

  He sighed. “Okay, let’s go back to the van so I can look it up. I can’t let you access the records yourself, but I can email you the autopsy reports.”

  “That’s all I need, and I sure appreciate it.”

  I stood at the curb and kept silent while Dave logged on to his records database and looked up the information.

  “Okay, here we go. It’s harder to determine TOD in drowning cases, but you know that.”

  I nodded.

  “I went by what the parents told me as in when the kids were expected back from church camp. They were supposed to be home on the night of May fifth, but they didn’t show. My autopsy report reflects that the TOD for the kids could fit in that two-day time frame. They were discovered on the afternoon of May seventh.”

  My heart pounded harder. “And where were they discovered?”