by J. M. Dabney
“I have a theory.”
It was by unspoken agreement that Bradford or Mac would never make it into any report—officially or unofficially. Some would think my loyalties were skewed, but Bradford had saved my ass plenty.
“We’ve run out of theories, proceed.”
“As you know, if you’ve asked around, all our victims were regulars at Epiphany. I’ve had an anonymous tip that all of them were seen leaving the club with an unnamed suspect. But Andy received a threatening phone call. We traced the call to a store near the fifth victim’s residence.”
I took the seat beside Andy’s and leaned forward to rest my forearms on my knees. I paused my train of thought to check Green’s receptiveness to the theory. The man seemed interested.
“When descriptions were compared, they’re two separate men. I believe that the actual killer has someone who lures the victims from the club for whatever reason, with sex or drugs. Someone who fits in, who’s younger or more charming. Later, after the deed is done, our killer enters the apartment through a door his accomplice has left unlocked.”
I’d done a lot of thinking after speaking with Bradford that morning, and all the pieces fell into place with the news of the second perp. The way the killer entered the apartments without force. How he took the victims by surprise. I was a bit pissed with myself for not thinking of it sooner.
“You’re not going to give me your sources, are you?”
“They spoke with me under the promise that I would keep them out of it. And I don’t plan on breaking that promise.”
“Continue.”
I straightened and relaxed in the chair, without thinking about it, I laid my right hand on Andy’s leg. Touching Andy seemed so natural. The only reason I noticed was Green clearing his throat. The way Green looked away like he hadn’t fucked who knows how many men over the years, like he was uncomfortable with open displays of affection. Fuck him, I didn’t care. I’d sensed Andy’s unease the more I spoke, and I wanted to calm him—put him at ease as much as I could.
“According to the reports from the first three murders, there was evidence of consensual sex, but on examination of evidence, no used condoms were found at the scenes. We thought the killer removed the evidence as he wiped down the surfaces. He was careful, but now I believe that the partner covered his own tracks before leaving.”
“What would the partner get from this?”
“Thrill. Sex. There’s been partnerships like this before. One person acts as the bait and one perpetrates the crime. Some people get off on killing. Has the shrink come on to work up a profile?”
“Generic as fuck, white male, thirty to forty-five, someone who doesn’t draw a lot of attention. You know, doesn’t give off the psycho vibe.”
“Partner is under thirty, white male. Killer fits more with the profile. An informant said the killer was careful.”
“What about the cop angle?” Andy asked.
Green’s face was mottled red with anger. No one wanted to think a cop was involved, and I was keeping that information to myself until I got a look at the books and the evidence. My next stop was a visit with Donnelly.
“It can’t be a cop,” Green vehemently protested.
“Why not? He’d know our procedures. What forensics to destroy so as not to implicate himself. If not a cop, maybe a former one.”
“The profile fits you, Clancy. You’re an ex-cop. You worked the first three killings.”
I couldn’t resist laughing and shook my head.
“Ray’s been with me the last two killings.” Andy’s indignation in my defense made me smile.
“Clancy did say there was a partner, do I need to ask about your whereabouts?”
The threat was there in every word and no matter how ludicrous the idea, it was too close to a possibility. We didn’t fit the physical descriptions, but eye witness statements were notoriously flawed. It was common knowledge that everyone perceived someone based on bias. You could ask one person what happened, and they’d give one statement while the person beside them would have a completely different one.
“I’ll let that pass. Andy’s life has been fucked up by this so keep your bullshit to yourself. You might not like me and you probably think I took that bribe y’all charged me with, but you know I was a good cop, whether you want to admit it or not.”
“A good cop who’s friends with mobsters and lowlifes. Your jacket before your eighteenth birthday was setting you up for a life of crime.”
I’d never lied about my life before, and I wouldn’t start now. I’m not ashamed of what I’d done, yeah, I knew it didn’t fit the profile. I was raised in a loving home. Both my parents were around until my dad’s death, but that didn’t mean I hadn’t loved the excitement of the criminal element. The adrenaline rush I’d received. I did what I did, but I’d been clean for decades.
“You want to find your boyfriend’s killer, Green, then you’re going to have to trust me.”
“Can I ask Mr. Shay some questions?”
“You need to ask him that.”
“Mr. Shay, take me through the night you came home again.”
I sat there and listened, I was as enraged hearing it repeated as I was the first time Andy told me. He had come so close to becoming a number on a file and a picture on a board.
The questions were standard eyewitness inquiries. Andy didn’t provide anything new, but I’d thank him later for leaving out names when Green tried to trick Andy into giving up my sources.
“How did you come to be in the care of Mr. Clancy?”
Andy glanced at me and smiled, I gave his knee a squeeze.
“When I wasn’t getting help and no one was interested in finding Francis’ killer, I watched the news and there was mention of the previous murders. With some research I found Ray’s name. I called him, hoping he could help me—keep me safe.”
“Is that what you’re doing…keeping him safe?” Green aimed the pointed question at me.
The bastard didn’t faze me. I could knock out his teeth without a second of regret, so I didn’t care what he thought about Andy and me. We hadn’t exactly had the conversation about what was between us, and I tried not to hope for too much.
“The half-assed protection detail fell down on their fucking job. Someone broke in the apartment and left threats. What are your theories on the new messages? ‘Come back to me.’ And Andy received a phone call where the presumed killer said that someone was his.”
Green’s face went ashen and he suddenly looked way too nervous.
“What’s going on?” Andy asked.
“The last three crime scenes. We suppressed evidence.”
“What evidence?” I demanded.
Green produced plastic bags with red evidence seals. The writing was block style and wouldn’t work for a handwriting analysis, but I read each word. My confusion grew message after message. The killer was asking for me just as Bradford had alluded. I was supposed to come back to him and a sickness built in my stomach. I’d assumed in some way the killer knew me and that he wanted to play a cat and mouse game, but the last three killings were to bring me back. There was even an image I remembered quite clearly with the date permanently etched into my mind. The one that lost me my job, but this one was from a different angle. Although, the stranger was built like me, it clearly showed that I wasn’t the one making the deposit.
“What the fuck is this, Green?”
My hands shook, and Andy saved the photos and letters from being crushed in my rage.
“The photo was left at the crime scene of Mr. Shay’s roommate’s murder.”
“You knew this and you could’ve brought me back.”
I surged to my feet and turned away from Green. Popping him one wouldn’t accomplish anything but making me feel better. It wouldn’t get me back on the case.
“It could have easily been you committing the murder to con your way back onto the force. You worked the cases. You knew the details.”
“You know
that’s bullshit, Green. You know how many people would kill to drop my name on a murder. They would’ve done it in a heartbeat.”
I stared out through the opened blinds. I tried to bring my anger under control, but it seethed and bubbled up from the pit of my gut. I’d paid for something I hadn’t done, and they’d had the evidence to prove it.
“I’ll make you a deal, Clancy, you help us find our murderer and his partner, then I’ll go to the higher ups to get you reinstated and your record expunged.”
It was blackmail. It was also a low blow. This past six months I’d wanted nothing more than to have this chance to get my job back, but the department was so broken did I even want to be a part of it anymore?
“I’ll need access to everything.” My voice sounded terrifying even to me. It was a level of anger I’d thought I’d left behind in my youth. I wanted to hurt someone—break something. I turned slowly back to Green to find Andy watching me. Andy’s expression was one I hadn’t seen before, and I couldn’t quite interpret it.
Green pointed to the corner and I glanced in the direction to find two file boxes.
“That was made up with everything we have, including your files from the first murders. Donnelly has been instructed to give you whatever information you need, but I’m sure he would’ve done it without permission.”
The rest of the conversation was stiff, and I clenched my jaw so much it was sore. I grabbed the two boxes and Andy preceded me out of Green’s office. When we made it to my car I stowed the files in the trunk, instead of going home to dive into the cases, I led Andy across the street to the coroner’s office.
“Ray,” Andy’s voice was quiet and tense, and the unspoken question in it was clear.
“I’ll be fine. They knew I didn’t take that fucking bribe and they just let it go.”
Andy grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop, tugging me into a side hallway. The dim corridor afforded us some privacy. His slender arms raised and his hands cupped my cheeks.
“But it’s out there now. You can have your job back. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“I thought so…”
“What is it?”
I lowered my forehead to rest on his as I tried to calm my breathing. Andy didn’t deserve my temper, and as long as it was in my power, I’d never hurt him.
“If these are the people I worked with and they could sell me out like that, can I trust them to watch my back?”
“I guess that’s something you’ll have to decide, but until then, they gave you the files you wanted. That has to mean something.”
I nodded as I used my curled fingers to nudge his chin until he tilted his head back. This wasn’t the place, but I needed this one thing. I heard his breaths quicken and I watched his gaze flit from mine to my mouth. His lips trembled and I quickly sunk the fingers of my left hand into his hair. I slammed my mouth onto his and didn’t give a fuck we were a few doors down from the morgue or that anyone could see. This kiss, this brief moment, was what I required to center myself.
A clearing throat and then a chuckle broke us apart, and I turned my head to find Donnelly grinning.
“Hello, Ray. You know, the morgue really isn’t the place to spice up the sex life.”
“Shut up, Donnelly.”
“Do I get introduced?”
“Andy, meet Donnelly, Donnelly, meet Andy.”
I put distance between Andy and myself as they exchanged greetings with a brief handshake.
“You do know, I’m a helluva lot more handsome and financially secure than Ray, right?”
I grunted as Andy laughed, and I didn’t like the batting lashes Andy gave Donnelly. Donnelly might look like the absent-minded professor type with his wrinkled scrubs and doctor’s jacket, but he had that too handsome thing going for him. He wasn’t much older than me and his wrinkles were the attractive sort, not the ones that looked like you hadn’t slept in a decade.
“I think I prefer Ray, but I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Might be a keeper, Ray. Green called.”
“Yeah, got time for some questions?”
“For you always, did you want a look at the newest body?”
I didn’t miss the sick look that came over Andy’s beautiful face, and I almost refused until Andy spoke up.
“Do you have an office I can wait in?”
Donnelly led us to his office and set up Andy with a mug of coffee. I dropped a quick kiss to Andy’s upturned lips before we left. I spent the next hour checking out Gideon’s body after we went through Donnelly’s reports. The damage was so much more brutal than normal. Yes, the bodies and scenes were bloody, but every injury was normally precise and made in an almost ritualistic way. But Gideon, he suffered a lot more damage. This spoke of an anger far removed from the calculated killer I had observed from the cases I’d worked.
I’d seen him a couple of times over the last few years and the beautiful and elegant features were pulverized. Bones broken so badly that his body was misshapen.
“What the hell happened?”
“Seems our killer took out a lot of rage on this young man here. The beating was pre-mortem.” As Donnelly spoke he pointed out and recounted injuries. “Every bone in his face was crushed. His ribs were broken and one had punctured his lung, and according to my findings, the genital mutilation was done while he was still alive. If the fucker hadn’t finished him off, my opinion is the young man here would’ve died within an hour of his injuries.”
“What the fuck is going on, Donnelly?”
“Ray, if this guy isn’t stopped, I’m going to have a lot more occupied drawers.”
I nodded as Donnelly pulled the sheet back over Gideon and slid the slab back into the wall and closed the door. I hated what this meant, our killer was losing control and when that happened, patterns changed. Before this I was sure Andy was in danger, but now that I was in the loop, I was even more determined to protect Andy. The killer was out of control and the scariest part was, he had help to feed his madness.
19
Andy
There was no way I was going into that morgue to look at Gideon’s body, and I was glad when nobody protested me staying behind. Just seeing Francis’ was enough for me. In Donnelly’s office I was able to see the papers Ray had been reading, and the notes the killer left on the flesh of its victims. Where’s my Ray of sunshine. Bring him back to me. Couple those with what the killer said to me and the other notes, and it made sense.
It wasn’t me the killers wanted, it was Ray, and I was an obstacle for them. That thought had me shivering so violently I almost spilled the coffee Donnelly gave me.
Ray wasn’t gone very long and when he came back to the office with Donnelly, I could tell by his face he was just as shaken over all this as I was.
In the car Ray said he was going to pick up dinner and then go over the files. While I knew that time wasn’t on our side, I also knew if we, namely Ray, burned out before the killer or killers were brought down nobody won.
“Can we stop one more place before we go back to yours?”
Ray gave me a side glance, shrugged and agreed. “Where did you want to go?”
“I’ll give directions. All you have to do is trust me.”
He smiled and I wanted to slide into his lap and lick his grin so badly. But he was driving and I valued my life.
Twenty minutes later I had Ray pull into the parking lot of an abandoned building.
“Andy, why are we here?” He came to a stop at the front and turned to me.
“You have to trust me, remember?” I got out and waited for Ray to follow me.
I wasn’t going through the front door because those had long ago been sealed up. I walked around back where a faded red door was. Years ago it was an employee entrance, now it was where only I went through.
“Life is stressful, Ray. Francis and I were always scraping by. We worked hard and while he was able to blow off steam by going to clubs or playing video games with me, we both often wanted t
o get away.” The door stuck for a second as I opened it but one more pull and it gave way.
“We didn’t have the money to take grand vacations or even rent a car to drive anywhere, so one day he and I decided to walk. We pretended we were explorers.” I shrugged and could feel my cheeks burn. “We were dorks, but it was fun. One day we were passing here and there was this girl, about nineteen, and we saw her come in here.”
I took Ray’s hand as we walked through a back room toward a set of decrepit doors.
“We scared her when we came in, and by the looks of her she was homeless. But Francis and I told her we didn’t want to hurt her. We gave her twenty bucks and told her what we were doing. She thought we were funny and the three of us became friends.”
“What happened to her?” Ray asked as we pushed through the doors to a large opening.
“She died. She left us a note one day saying while being in the oasis gave her happy moments, the pain was too much. She killed herself in front of a hospital with my number in her pocket . They called me, but I was ready for it.” My heart hurt thinking of Lily. I’d lost so many people in my life, why?
“I’m sorry.”
This wasn’t about grieving, it was about an escape so I shrugged it off. “Come on.”
I pulled Ray’s hand eagerly as we entered a sectioned off area of the building. The three of us were the only ones who ever came here, so it was frozen in time from the last time we were here.
“Welcome to the Lily Pad Oasis, Ray. Where the world goes away and your imagination is your vacation,” I said with flourish.
Ray pushed back the large blue tarp. I followed him in, knowing the batteries for the lighting and sound were likely still good I clicked the switch. White fairy lights surrounded the top and by the gasp Ray let out, he was amazed at what he saw.
Lily, Francis, and I spent a long time making it the perfect escape. We scavenged things, and Francis and I ended up spending some money on the place. It looked like a mini rain forest. The switch that lit the lights turned on a small water fall and a radio that played Caribbean music.
