by Jessie G
“What’s that?”
“Leftovers for whenever you get around to eating.”
The polite thing to do would be to say thank you, but the idea of Alaric packing him a lunch was more than Davin could process. There was no way he could effectively do his job if he was tied up in…whatever…Alaric was doing and that pissed him off. And if he was going to walk out the door angry, he didn’t see any reason why Alaric shouldn’t feel the same way.
So, he said, “Are you going to stand at the door and blow kisses too?”
Alaric tipped his head, which made his whole sleep-rumpled look even sexier, and smirked. “If you had the time, I’d blow more than kisses, Detective.”
Then he laughed, flipped him off, and shuffled back toward the bedroom. Floored by the visual, Davin watched him and realized Alaric was going to get back into his bed. Of course, he was. It was three in the morning. Why would he leave when he already made himself at home?
“This is getting old, Detective.” As had become their routine, Everly was already waiting at the crime scene.
“Yeah.” They both stared at the body lying face down in the sand. At least the uniforms were actively searching the area, doing their job so he wouldn’t have to give any pep talks tonight. “Let’s roll him.”
As they knelt in the sand, something Alaric said was nagging at him. “Doc, didn’t you say Terence Bennett had no drugs in his system?”
“I said he hadn’t been roofied. None of them had.”
“What about other drugs? The recreational kind? Any of them?”
“It’s been a pretty mixed bag across the board. Some coke, heroin, pot, but there isn’t a pattern there.”
“Except they were all using?” Broad as it may be, it was pattern that linked them together.
“Yes, at some point, they were all using.”
“At some point…but not necessarily on the night they died?”
“Correct. We found trace amounts in their systems, but not enough to indicate they used before they died. Why?”
“I know Terence had a regular habit of taking whatever drugs were available and you found the stash of Oxy in his pocket.”
“Which only proves that he was planning on eventually.” Everly considered his words and added, “Maybe with whoever he was hooking up with.”
“It’s possible.” More than possible, actually. Terence was always searching for his next high; wherever he was, whoever he was with, whatever he was doing.
“But?” Everly asked when he didn’t continue. “Come on. I can see the wheels turning. What’s bothering you?”
“The timeline. For six nights straight, this guy has been able to pick out a new victim, wine and dine them, and then convince them to roll around in the sand with him. And for six nights straight, you and I have been called at the same time and your time of death hasn’t fluctuated more than a few minutes in either direction.”
“Serial killers like their routines.”
“You’re right, they do. But routines require planning. All along, we’ve theorized that he met his victims the night he killed them. That somehow, against tremendous odds, he found six men who fit his specific type in looks, age, sexual preference, and kinks who would also be willing to go off with a complete stranger. His requirements narrow the pool extensively. Yet he found six of them in a row to throw caution to the wind on his very precise schedule.”
“You think he knows them already?”
“Yes.” There were too many variables to believe they were victims of opportunity. “All of the witnesses we spoke to remember the victims clearly, from the clothes they wore to the drink they ordered. They gave more details than we wanted and all of them came up blank when asked about a second person. Did they connect with anyone? No. Did they leave with anyone? No. How’s that possible? How is he pulling off this magic seduction without being seen?”
“By arranging it all in advance?”
“Exactly!” Davin looked down at the man he couldn’t save. “They met before tonight. Maybe their shopping carts bumped in the grocery store or their eyes met across a busy coffee shop. Whatever. They met before. Struck up conversation. Flirted. He invites them out to his favorite club. Then something comes up. He’s going to be late, but they wait. Eagerly. So eager that when he finally shows up, they happily rush out to meet him.”
“That’s why your witnesses never saw him.” The response was slow and thoughtful, not doubtful exactly, but Everly wasn’t entirely convinced yet. That was okay. The more Davin talked this out, the clearer it would become. “But why send them into the club in the first place?”
“So we would spend all of our resources interviewing every possible witness in every possible club in Miami.” If he was going through all the trouble of planning a very elaborate string of murders, why wouldn’t he add an equally elaborate ruse? Gaining his victim’s trust was the win and fooling the police would be the bonus. “He’s been playing us all along.”
“Detective, I don’t mean to get off topic, but something’s different tonight and I’m hoping it means you finally got a good night’s sleep, but I fear I know you better. What did you do? Please don’t tell me you’ve turned to energy drinks. They aren’t very healthy and…”
“No.” Mortified to realize the evening Alaric forced upon him worked so well that it was noticed by the medical examiner, Davin rushed to cover. “Just sleep, I swear.”
“Okay, that’s good.” Everly hesitated, nodded, still not convinced. “So, uh, why were you asking about their drug habits? How does that fit into your theory?”
“If you have a regular habit and you're planning to get laid, then the two would go together. Yet these six men chose not to get high on the night they were killed. Why?”
“Because they thought they were meeting a cop.”
“Right.” Bringing his two theories together was good. Now he just had to prove it. “He planned their deaths to the last detail and manipulated us in the process.”
“So, all this…” Everly waived a hand around the crime scene. “Is what?”
“Smoke and mirrors. I need to go back and look at all the correspondence again. Somehow, some way, he’s making arrangements with his targets.” And the only way they were going to stop him was intercept the next one before it was too late.
“Go, the body’s mine anyway.”
The noise level in the pit had reached a fever pitch as Davin doled out orders. Cell phones, emails, social media, computers, cameras…everything had to be looked at again. Then he called each family personally to ask if they’d consent to another search of their loved one’s home. If that wasn’t enough, two couriers were bringing him all the local newspapers from the past month.
“Newspapers?” James had asked when he explained the plan.
“He’s communicating with them somehow, making arrangements. He’s clever, and while I’m hoping to find something on their phones or computers, we have to look at every obscure angle.”
“But newspapers?”
“Classified ads.” He took the coffee someone offered as he prepared to dig in with the rest of the team. He never asked them to do anything he wouldn’t do himself and they needed every pair of hands they could get until the killer was found or the angle exhausted.
When a dozen pizzas were delivered just before noon, he was just as surprised as everyone else. At least until he saw the name on the receipt. If his team hadn’t fallen on them like rats at a smorgasbord, he might have pitched the boxes out their tenth-floor window. Instead, he scrounged around for his cellphone and headed off in search of a few grateful words that wouldn’t sound insulting.
‘Thanks for the pizza, you annoying bastard’ was probably not the right thing to say.
“Detective Monroe!” Halfway to the conference room, Davin turned to find the Hargroves stepping off the elevator and walked back toward them. It was the least he could do when he still had their son lying in the morgue.
“We’re sorry to barg
e in—” Mrs. Hargrove began, her voice so soft, it was hard to hear.
Mr. Hargrove was more direct. “Have there been any new leads?”
Ignoring her husband completely, she begged, “—but when can we take our boy home?”
Davin’s heart twisted as they talked over each other, their eyes begging him to make everything better. He wished that were possible, but even bringing Jeremy’s killer to justice wasn’t going to fix this for them. With a guiding hand, he turned them toward the lounge and when they refused his offer of a beverage, he sat with them.
“Those crime techs are searching the house now, but we couldn’t stay to watch. What’s going on?” Mr. Hargrove nodded toward the door. “What are they looking for out there?”
“I think your son knew the man who killed him.” There was so much he wasn’t allowed to say, at least not until the case was closed, but he refused to lie. Especially, when they might know something that could help. “Was he seeing someone, even on a casual basis?”
“Well…uh…you know, we didn’t really agree with his lifestyle.” Mr. Hargrove stammered and offered a quick apologetic grimace toward his wife. “So, uh, he didn’t…couldn’t share those kinds of details with us.”
Davin understood regret and hated to hear it in the older man’s voice. In a perfect world, they would have accepted Jeremy just as he was, and by doing so, it was entirely possible they could have prevented what happened to him. He didn’t say that, of course, nor did he think he had to. They knew they lost their chance, there was no need to compound their guilt.
“I think he was on one of those dating websites.” Mrs. Hargrove avoided the surprised look her husband shot her and added, “He talked to his brother about it.”
“Do you know which one?”
“No, I’m sorry, but I can ask Mark. He might know.”
Though he sat with the Hargroves for a few more minutes, Davin’s mind was racing. A dating site was the perfect place to search for a specific type of man. Just enter your criteria and get an entire pool of potential victims to pick from.
How many more were on their killer’s list?
Chapter Six
Alaric
Alaric was sitting in his office, futily rereading a report for the tenth time, when Dante called. “Davin wants to know if Terence was on a dating website. Do you know?”
While he couldn’t say for certain, he wouldn’t be surprised. After all, Terence had been whoring his way through two continents for years and he wasn’t discerning. A website would only make it easier. “Didn’t they take his computer?”
“You know they did, but they haven’t found anything in the browser history. He also wants us to allow the crime techs back in Terence’s apartment.”
“Did you give him permission?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Why the hell would you say no?” Alaric shouted. “Are you trying to make his job harder?”
“Because I don’t know what they’ll find,” Dante shouted back. “If we do it ourselves, we can give Davin anything that would help his case.”
“And hide anything that might hurt our family?” Alaric couldn’t believe his father would even consider interfering with a police investigation, much less one where Davin was the lead. “Dad, this guy killed six people! Are you really willing to break the law to save face?””
“No, I’m not trying to save face or make anyone’s job harder. I just thought if Terence was hiding anything, it might be related to what happened to Davin eight years ago. We don’t want that in the MDP’s hands, do we?”
“What we want doesn’t matter.” Alaric didn’t appreciate being manipulated and it didn’t matter if his father was right. Davin was determined to catch this killer at all costs, even if he had to pay personally, and would be pissed if they interfered. “I’ll take care of it.”
He was getting ready to hang up when he heard Dante ask, “Did you tell him?”
“It’s not the time, Dad. He’s got enough on his plate.”
“I know. I know. It’s just… Asking Davin to find Terence’s killer is too much.” In Dante’s narrow view of the world, he believed Davin was doing this for them and that couldn’t be further from the truth. As a decorated detective, he couldn’t choose who to stand for and just forget the others and Alaric knew, even if Terence was the only body in the morgue, Davin would still do his best. “He shouldn’t have to bear that burden, Ric. How do I fix this for him?”
“That’s not your job.”
“My job? We love Davin like a son, you know we do. We never stopped.”
“I know.” Hearing it didn’t make him feel like they were commiserating because whatever they felt didn’t come close to what he was feeling. He was the one who failed Davin, not them, and he was the one who had to fix it. “And I’ll bring him home.”
“I know you want to, but…eight years is a long time.”
“What are you trying to say? Do you think eight years is long enough for us to stop loving each other? No.” He absolutely refused to believe that he was the only one who had been waiting for this second chance. “That would never happen. Not in eight years. Not in a hundred.”
Hearing the choked sob from Dante made him grip the phone tighter. “I don’t know what to do with this hate, Ric. We loved you all the same, didn’t we? My heart hurts, but I don’t know if it’s because Terence is dead or because of the horrible things he did to us before he died.”
“It’s both. You loved us equally. I don’t know what happened to Terence, what switch got flipped in his head, but you and Mom are not to blame for anything he did to anyone. Especially to me.” They weren’t perfect parents by any means, and he found it hard to forgive some of their mistakes, but being a Bennett came with a world of opportunities. It wasn’t their fault Terence used his to become a monster.
“Davin needed us, and we failed him.”
“I have to believe it’s not too late.”
Hanging up without another word, Alaric sifted through his contacts until he found Davin’s number and then shot off a quick text. If he wanted another chance with the man he loved, there couldn’t be any more secrets between them.
“Why are you out here?” Alaric asked when he saw Davin leaning on the hood of his car outside Terence’s apartment building. “I gave the super permission to let you in.”
“Just figured I’d wait for you.”
Alaric knew he was pushing the line—if not completely crossing it—when he asked Davin to meet him instead of sending over the crime scene technicians. He expected Davin to lay into him for asking too much again—for flouting the law and interfering with the case before giving him a laundry list of rules to preserve the evidence. What he hadn’t expected was for Davin to wait for him.
“Thank you.” Davin shrugged as if it were no big deal but otherwise made no move to go in. Uncertain why they were standing in the afternoon sun, Alaric asked, “Are you all right?”
“I’m tired, Ric.” There was no misunderstanding that while he might be physically tired, it was the emotional toll that was breaking him down. Davin would not truly rest until he got justice and he knew how to energize himself until then. But that only went so far, and Alaric fully intended to be there when he hit the wall.
“I won’t apologize for being at your place.”
“No, apologies aren’t your style.”
“And I won’t apologize for the pizza. You needed to eat. Your team needed to eat.”
“They were grateful.” Davin rose and hooked his sunglasses on the neck of his shirt. “Let’s get this over with.”
Falling in step beside him, Alaric warned, “You should know that Terence was in hiding for over a year. The super said someone was paying the rent and the utilities in cash, but we have no way of knowing who. Other than reports of increased erratic behavior, we don’t know where he was, who he was with, or what he was doing.”
“Erratic how?”
“Drugs, booze, sex—name a vice
and Terence had to have it. The specifics didn’t matter.”
“Why?”
“Honestly, I don’t know, and I don’t care. He was always angry, persecuted, and lashing out. I’d have written him off a long time ago if I didn’t have to run interference for my parents. Dad didn’t want Mom or Bethany to know just how bad things had gotten.”
“Claire would have known. She’s too perceptive not to know.”
“That didn’t stop Dad from trying to protect her, especially from the harsher details.” Alaric resented his father for a long time, but he understood Dante’s motivation. Given the chance, he would put Davin in a bubble so no one could hurt him again. “And Beth was afraid of him.”
“Did he… Do you know if he hurt her?”
“No, and I’ve asked, trust me. Beth said he always looked like he was sizing her up and it made her skin crawl.” When Davin only nodded, Alaric took a chance and added, “She told me once that she didn’t like the way Terence looked at you. That he was jealous.”
“He wasn’t jealous of me.”
“He was jealous of us.”
Davin shrugged. “Oh, well, that excuses everything.”
“It wasn’t meant to be an excuse.” Far from it. Alaric knew there was no justification for the damage Terence caused or for his failure to stop him. “Terence wasn’t right, and I was always a step behind. No matter how many fires I put out, I couldn’t get ahead of the blaze.”
“Ric.”
“Stop.” Alaric didn’t deserve Davin’s empathy and couldn’t let him continue. “He was flaunting his escapades in my face and I still chose to believe there was a line he wouldn’t cross.”
“I know you’re the oldest, but by how many years? Two? Dante never should have put that burden on you in the first place, especially when you were younger.”
Davin wasn’t saying anything Alaric hadn’t thought himself, but they weren’t helpless kids anymore. He had resources now that were going to blow Davin’s mind, tools he designed specifically to stop bad guys like Terence. If his father had used their tech company for the right purpose, he might have been able to stop Terence years ago.
