The Third to Die

by Allison Brennan

  “Good question. Maddox sent out a memo to all Spokane cops to be cautious, and Chief Packard instituted the partner ride-along for the duration of this investigation. But where the killer leaves the victims is the key. In Portland, for example, the murdered cop lived in the suburbs, but he was killed in Portland. In Missoula, the cop lived in the county, not the city, but the killer killed him just inside the city limits. They were substitutes for the person the Triple Killer intends to kill. This tells me the location is important to him. He brought Victoria Manners from Spokane to Liberty Lake. Ogdenburg lived there, so he killed him in his own home. The cop—or retired cop—he’s targeting either lives in Liberty Lake or works in Liberty Lake. That’s why we asked your retired officers to come down today. You might hold the key to identifying this murderer and bringing him to justice.”

  Matt nodded to Ryder, who brought up the two primary suspects. “I need to stress that these two men are wanted for questioning only. The FBI is tracking them down now. Both were parties to a lawsuit after a pileup on I-90 in Liberty Lake on March 3, eighteen years ago, took the lives of nine people. Zachary Hamilton lost his wife. She died in the hospital, and he felt that Anne Banks prioritized other patients over his wife, resulting in his wife succumbing to her injuries. The autopsy indicated that no medical intervention could have saved her life, but as we know, grief can twist people’s emotions.

  “McCafferty was sixteen and lost his entire family in the wreck. His case is a lot more complicated because he sued multiple parties. The profiler working the case feels that McCafferty best fits the personality for our killer because of what happened and his age. He was trapped in the car with his dead family, and based on the lawsuit, Dr. Jones believes that an ambulance chaser convinced McCafferty or his guardian—we don’t yet have that information—that others were to blame for the accident. We’ve distributed packets on each man and victim. Look at them carefully. Really think about if you know them. Even if you just saw them once or twice. We know that the killer stalks his victims, knows their routine. Very likely you could have spotted him, though you may have not recognized him. Hamilton has a record. McCafferty does not.”

  One of the cops asked, “Why wait so long? Why these elaborate setups?”

  “Good question. Dr. Jones believes that the killer is of above-average intelligence and killed others along with his intended victim in order to throw the police off his trail, to obfuscate his true motive. And it worked—until now. In addition, we’re looking at any unsolved stabbings in multiple states—we believe that the killer may have practiced or started killing with a different MO because there were no hesitation marks on his first victim, rare in such a violent attack.”

  Maddox said, “I know Hamilton.”

  Matt did a double take. “How?”

  “It was...oh gosh, years ago. Fifteen, sixteen maybe? I can look it up. When I was still in Liberty Lake. The bank foreclosed on his house, he refused to leave. My partner and I had to forcibly remove him. It wasn’t pretty. He was an alcoholic—like you said, he’d been in jail for drunk driving. He’d lost his wife, lost his job, Child Protective Services sent his kid to live with a relative after the second drunk driving arrest because the kid was in the car. His whole world was falling apart, and then he wouldn’t leave the house.”

  That could definitely be a trigger. “Do you know where he is?”

  “No. He was in jail for three days while the house was emptied and all the contents put in a storage locker. The bank paid for the locker for one month, I don’t even know if he claimed his things. He left the area and I never interacted with him again.”

  “We need to find him. There are usually a series of triggers—stressors in someone’s life—that leads them to become a serial murderer.”

  “What about the homeless stabbings?” a cop in the back said.

  “What homeless stabbings?” Matt asked.

  “You asked about unsolved murders, right? There was a series of stabbings a few years back.”

  Another cop nodded. “Detective Whitman caught the case.”

  Maddox said, “Whitman retired a few years back, but I remember the homicides. Three homeless men, stabbed to death in the middle of the night in Spokane, most likely while they were sleeping or passed out. Whitman thought they were thrill killings, possibly more than one perp, possibly teenagers. Little evidence at the scenes, and much of it was contaminated because of the location. No discernible pattern. One victim was killed in the winter, out by the river, and no one found his body for months. The other two were in the summer, about a month apart, found within hours.”

  “I need everything about those murders,” Matt said. “And they just stopped?”

  “Yeah. Three dead over eight, nine months? Nothing since.”

  “If you can pull me the files, and any forensics, and the contact information for the primary detective in case I need to talk to him.”

  “No problem.”

  * * *

  Matt called Catherine as Ryder drove them back to the hotel. “There was a series of three murders, homeless men, stabbed to death, about fifteen years ago. Unsolved.”

  “Hello to you, too, Mathias.”

  He rubbed his eyes and sighed. “Hello, Catherine. How was brunch?”

  “Good. I’ve been back for a few hours.”

  “And Chris? Lizzy?”

  “Well, thank you.”

  “Are we done?”

  “I saw those homicides in my files,” she continued as if they hadn’t attempted small talk. “I was writing up a report about unsolved stabbings. There are three more stabbings of homeless men that I think is the work of the same killer.”

  “You think the three in Spokane is the work of the Triple Killer?”

  “I think it’s possible, but what I meant was that the three in Spokane are connected to three other stabbings.”

  “All the same city?” he asked eagerly.

  “No. Santa Barbara, California. Eugene, Oregon. And Reno, Nevada. All in the two years before Anne Banks was killed.”

  “And nothing in the last six years?”

  “I’m still processing the information, but nothing that matches this MO. All the victims were homeless men, all addicts. The first six victims—the three in Spokane, and the three spread out six years ago—had multiple stab wounds. A lot of rage, very disorganized. There was also a man stabbed to death nine years ago in Bozeman, Montana. Same basic wound pattern. He wasn’t found for months, and the remains were compromised. But the investigator believes that the killer intentionally hid the body, unlike the other similar murders. And while they believe the man was homeless, they don’t know for certain. Only that no one was reported missing of his age and general appearance at that time.”

  “Why would he do that? Could he have left evidence?”

  “Possible. Or the victim connects to him in some way. They couldn’t ID the body because of advanced decomp, though the ME is certain that he was the victim of multiple knife wounds, including a blow that nearly decapitated him. Do you realize how difficult it is to decapitate someone?”

  “Yes.”

  “There is nothing that suggests it’s the same killer. The MO doesn’t match the Triple Killer, but because these murders were all earlier in his life, he may have been experimenting before deciding on his more disciplined approach. However, though TOD was virtually impossible to determine, based on advanced entomology, the ME believes the victim died the first week of March.”

  “March, nine years ago.”

  “Exactly.”

  “You know what I think of coincidences.”

  “I’m going to dig around into these findings a bit more, see if anything else pops. But I’m going to go out on a limb.”

  “You? A limb?”

  “You’re not funny, Matt.”

  But there was a bit of humor in her voic
e, which told Matt that the brunch today with Chris and Lizzy had gone very well, and maybe they could—finally—find a way to deal with Beth’s death.

  He said with mock offense, “You wound me.”

  “While the six homeless stabbings may or may not be the work of the Triple Killer, I’m confident that they are the work of the same killer.”

  “So you’re saying there might be a second serial murder case.”

  “It’s possible. However, looking at these forensics I think it’s the same guy, and the three murders in Spokane were his first. The one in January, he gets a taste for it, but it scares him. He waits. Builds up his courage, then does it again. Twice, close together, only weeks apart. Then he waits. For what? I don’t know. There could be other victims we haven’t identified yet. But I think it was around this time that he started thinking about retribution. About people he felt deserved to die. Starting with Anne Banks. It took him time to build up to that.”

  “You are brilliant, Dr. Jones.”

  “I’m going to send all the forensics to Jim Esteban and put him in touch with the ME in Bozeman.”

  “Great.”

  “And be careful, Matt. You’re now the face of this investigation and if the killer thinks you’re in his way, he won’t hesitate to come after you.”

  * * *

  They were close. Matt felt it in his bones.

  When they were back at the hotel, Matt started going through the lawsuits more carefully, looking at the statements of both Hamilton and McCafferty. “Ryder,” he called out.

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Do we have current addresses on these men?”

  “No, sir. Hamilton left Washington State after he lost his home. I was able to trace him to Montana. He had a job there for a while, then nothing in more than ten years. McCafferty went to college on the East Coast and there’s no record of him returning to Washington. I have headquarters looking for him and working on finding local family.”

  Maddox had sent over copies of the first three crime scene reports of the murdered homeless men. Matt was reading through them when his phone vibrated.

  “Costa.”

  “This is Assistant Special Agent in Charge Bryce Thornton. Is this Special Agent Mathias Costa?”

  Shit. He’d avoided Thornton’s calls for two days because he didn’t want to create a problem for Kara when she went back to LA. He’d thought the email he’d sent on Friday would suffice.

  “Special Agent in Charge,” he said. He’d pull rank early if he had to because he wanted to get out of this conversation as soon as possible. Not just because of his promise to Kara, but because he had a lot of work to do.

  “I’m sorry, sir.”

  “What can I do for you? I’m in the middle of a high-profile investigation right now. Sunday isn’t my day off.”

  “I’ll make it brief. Your assistant inquired about LAPD Detective Kara Quinn the other day, and I was following up.”

  “Did you not get the email where I told you I had what I needed?” Of course he had, but Matt would play this game any way he needed to.

  “Yes, but as I indicated, there are things you should know if you’re working on a joint operation.”

  “We’re not. I spoke to her boss and got the information I wanted. My assistant was just going through channels, which was ultimately unnecessary.”

  “With all due respect, sir, you need to know that Detective Quinn has been under investigation by the FBI twice in the last five years, specifically related to her undercover work. She’s also currently under federal investigation regarding use of force and violation of federal law during her most recent undercover investigation. It’s why she’s been placed on administrative leave—though her boss, Sergeant Popovich, may have told you that she’s on vacation.”

  Matt tensed. He didn’t want to know this information, but he needed to. Yet, why would Thornton be calling him out of the blue when Matt explicitly said he didn’t need anything from him?

  “Explain,” he said sharply.

  “Yes, sir.” Bryce’s kiss-ass tone grated on Matt, but he let him talk. “On February 15, Detective Quinn used deadly force during an undercover sting operation involving an illegal sweatshop in Los Angeles. Witness statements indicated that the suspect was unarmed and complying with orders. Our office was brought in for a possible civil rights violation—the suspect was Chinese American. This isn’t the first time Quinn has used deadly force in the line of duty—nor is it the first time she’s been under investigation.”

  “This information is irrelevant to my current situation, so—”

  “You need to understand that this woman should never have been a cop,” Thornton interrupted. “The LAPD has been cleaning up her messes for twelve years, and this may be the final straw. Any good deeds she may have done during her tenure are washed away by her blatant abuse of authority and continuing violation of state and federal law. The fact that she’s trying to move laterally into another agency while this is hanging over her head is proof she knows her days are numbered.”

  “Excuse me, what position is she up for?”

  Silence. “Your assistant—Mr. Kim.”

  “Did Mr. Kim say we were vetting her for a job?”

  “No, but he is with the FBI Office of Recruitment, according to his file.”

  Very, very interesting. Ryder had been initially assigned to the OOR, even though Matt tapped him directly out of Quantico for the MRT unit. It had to do with how he got paid and a lot of other bureaucratic crap that Matt didn’t care about, but his boss, Tony Greer, understood well. But how would Bryce Thornton know that unless he researched Ryder after the initial inquiry?

  “Thornton, you have it wrong. I’m the SAC of the newly formed Mobile Response Team. You probably didn’t hear about it because we were recently commissioned and work in rural communities. Detective Quinn was a witness in one of my cases, and Mr. Kim was calling to verify identity and credentials.”

  “I see. Well, sir, everything I said still holds. Watch her. And I hope you don’t need her witness statement for the prosecution, because by the time your case comes to trial, she won’t be a cop—and may in fact be in federal prison.”

  Matt ended the call, but he was definitely concerned about what Thornton said. No wonder Kara Quinn said most feds she knew were dicks—Thornton was the definition of a dick. Yet, he must have something to back up his claims. He couldn’t just open a federal investigation without some evidence of wrongdoing.

  Matt itched to call Popovich, Kara’s boss, but he put that aside when Michael walked in, holding out his own cell phone. “Jim has something and needs to talk to you now.”

  Matt took the phone from Michael. “Jim?”

  “We got something. And we’re going to have more, but damn, we’re going to nail him.”

  “I’m waiting.” He shouldn’t snap, but he was still fuming over Thornton’s call.

  Jim didn’t seem to notice. “You get me a suspect, I’ll match him to DNA.”

  Matt nearly did a dance. “You have his fucking DNA? How?”

  “Remember what I said about bathrooms? The guy was good. He cleaned up well, and he poured bleach down the drain. Smart, because we shed a lot of hair when we shower. But he cut himself. He cut himself when he killed Ogdenburg. Might not have even noticed it. I believe he took one of his towels off the rack—and took it with him, because no used towels were found in the house. There was a small drop of blood behind the metal rack. We swabbed it—it doesn’t belong to Ogdenburg.”

  “This is great. Prints?”

  “It dripped. He didn’t touch the bar. Probably grabbed the towel only. The blood dripped from his finger is my best guess.”

  “Have you run it?”

  “What do you think this is, Hollywood? It’s going to take me a couple of days, minimum. But I already sent it to our lab i
n California. Spokane has a good setup, but they’re not equipped to handle DNA, and you said if they can’t do it here, send to our lab.” The main FBI laboratory was at Quantico, but they had a smaller forensics lab in California. “Called, talked to the director, explained that this was the only physical evidence of a serial killer who targets nurses, teachers, and cops. He’s on board. But it’s still going to take a couple days. I have a blood type and basic markers. Type is uncommon—B positive. Less than 10 percent of the population. And I got something else for you.”

  “Shoot.”

  “There’s evidence from the three homeless murders in Spokane. Maddox came by, said you wanted me to take a look at the files. And there is blood evidence that doesn’t match the victims on two of the bodies.”

  “B positive.”

  “Bingo.”

  “Catherine was right. Send her the info. It’ll help with the profile. Thanks, Jim. This is terrific.”

  Matt turned back to the lawsuits, finished up his notes, followed up with Ryder about McCafferty to find out when he left Spokane. If he wasn’t here when the three homeless men were killed, then he wasn’t the Triple Killer.

  Though one was killed in January, and two in the summer. If he was in college, he could have killed if he came home for breaks.

  He planned to meet with Andy Knolls in Liberty Lake that afternoon to discuss each cop who’d attended the briefing and review their cases during the years that overlapped when both Banks and Marston lived in Spokane. All Matt could think about was that the three of them—Banks, Marston, and the potential third cop victim—had all encountered the same person, possibly at different times. Matt also matched up the murders of the three Spokane homeless men—though they occurred the year after Marston left for Missoula.

  When Matt drove into Liberty Lake, he made a detour. He needed to find out what was going on with Kara. He didn’t know that he fully believed Bryce Thornton, but there was no reason for the agent to lie to him. Still, Matt was certain there was more to the story. And he needed to know what it was.