by CM Sutter
“There’s nobody here, is there?” Andy asked.
“Nope. The house is locked up tight, and according to our contract, the owners moved out of state. At least that’s the way it’s written on our service agreement. I don’t think it’s legal for the Realtors to keep a vehicle here. They’re the only ones with access to the house or garage,” Harry said.
Andy chewed on that information for a minute. “Yeah, we better give them a call.”
Joseph paused. “What about the barn?” He stared at Harry.
“What’s going on with the barn?” Andy asked.
“There’s a really bad smell coming from it, and a car like that in the garage? It doesn’t feel right.”
“Smell?” Andy’s eyes darted around. “You mean like meth lab smell?”
“No, not like that—like death.”
The three cautiously checked all of the house doors and peeked through the windows. They didn’t want to be surprised by anyone who might be there that wasn’t supposed to be. When all seemed safe and they’d found no evidence of anyone lurking around, they headed toward the barn. The odor got stronger as they approached.
“Holy crap, I smell what you mean,” Andy said. He covered his nose with his sleeve and shoved the barn doors open. The stench overwhelmed them, and they backed out.
Joseph vomited against the side of the building. “I’m not going in there. I think we should call the cops.”
Chapter 36
We gathered around the small corner table in the bull pen. A pot of coffee was halfway through the brew cycle, and it wasn’t going fast enough for my liking. I gave it a glance—six more cups before the beep would indicate it was full. I had all of four hours of sleep last night. My mind was in constant motion, running like a gerbil on a wheel—as usual. My eyes burned, my brain was a ball of fuzz, and we had nothing to tell the lieutenant.
“So, you missed him by a couple of minutes, Jade?”
“I guess so, sir, but I wouldn’t have known it was him even if I was sitting at his side. We don’t have an actual description. All we have is a general idea of his size and that a weird-acting guy was sitting at Eddy’s Tap for a few minutes.”
The lieutenant leaned back in his chair, causing it to creak, and focused his eyes on the ceiling. He let out a long sigh. “Let me guess—no cameras at Eddy’s Tap?”
I answered. “Unfortunately not.”
“What about forensic evidence, guys? Do you think there’s a gopher’s chance in hell of coming up with anything at Stanley’s?”
“In all likelihood, sir, not really,” Kyle said. “According to the staff, there were a good forty people in the bar area and fifty more in the restaurant that probably sat at the bar prior to eating dinner.”
Dan added, “From what the bartenders and the waitress could remember, our guy didn’t order or handle anything.”
“No video of the bar area?”
“Nope.”
The lieutenant filled his cup and took a gulp. “This is a nightmare, a damn nightmare. How did he know where you were last night, and why would he target you, Jade?”
“Sir, I have no idea. I’m guessing maybe to create more fear within our own department. Maybe he only picked me because I’m female. He could have thought I’d be more intimidated by him than a guy would.”
“Well, until we catch the maniac, I’m putting a deputy on you twenty-four, seven. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“When the media gets wind of this—”
Peggy, our weekend dispatch officer, interrupted, “Excuse me, boss, there’s a call on line two. They said it’s urgent, and they wanted to speak to the person in charge.” Peggy closed the door behind her as she turned and left.
“Give me a second, guys.” The lieutenant picked up the receiver and pressed the button for line two. “Hello, this is Lieutenant Clark speaking. How can I help you?”
The lieutenant abruptly sat up straight, his back involuntarily stiffened. He motioned for a pen and paper. I grabbed both off my desk.
“Yes, the address again. A gold Infinity and you said the listing agent is who? Got it. Don’t touch anything and don’t leave the scene. We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” He hung up. “Son of a bitch, get Peggy back in here.” Clark stood and headed for his office.
Dan ran out of the room and grabbed Peggy. She came back in as the lieutenant was strapping on his shoulder holster. “Sir, what can I do for you?”
“Peggy, call every patrol unit that’s east of town.” He handed her the piece of paper. “Get them to this address yesterday—go.”
“Gear up. Let’s roll. Something suspicious is going on at a property listed by Melissa Mately. Somebody ring up Jason and Doug. Tell them they’re on call.”
“Boss, the gold Infinity is her car.” I swore under my breath as we strapped on our hardware.
“Let’s move. Can this weekend get any worse?” The lieutenant was out the door before the rest of us.
Jack looked at me as he holstered up. “I’m afraid it just might”—he looked at the clock—“in about fifteen minutes.”
We jumped into the first cruiser in the lot and took off. Ten minutes later, we passed Eddy’s Tap along the highway as Jack drove east, our lights flashing and the siren singing. He had the gas pedal pressed to the floor.
My head spun back to look at the bar. “Shit, didn’t Mike Cole say that weird patron was at Eddy’s on Tuesday evening?”
“That’s exactly what he said.”
“And Adriana said Melissa hadn’t been heard from since Tuesday night, correct?”
“Yep. So you’re thinking our killer was on his way to the house on Oriole Lane to meet with Melissa and stopped at Eddy’s first for a beer?”
“It makes sense to me. He had to pass the bar anyway. That guy has to be our killer.”
“He stops and has a casual glass of beer before he kills someone? That’s more than twisted.”
As Jack drove, I secured my hair into a ponytail with the elastic band on my wrist. “Jack, everything about this psycho is twisted. We’re going to have to interview Mike and Abe again. There has to be more about him they remember.”
Jack exited the highway and turned left onto Oriole Lane. About a half mile up the road, we found the long driveway with the For Sale sign in front of it and turned in. The driveway widened near the garages, offering a good number of parking spots. The groundskeeper’s vehicle was near the walkway at the front of the driveway. Four sheriff’s patrol cruisers sat behind and to the right of their vehicle. We rolled in with the forensic van and two unmarked black cruisers.
“Boys, what do we know?” Lieutenant Clark asked as he got out and slammed the car door. Jack and I exited our car right behind him, and Kyle and Dan were already at the back of the van, grabbing their supplies.
“Lieutenant, there’s a suspicious smell coming from the barn. The garage has an abandoned vehicle inside,” Deputy Silver said.
“Okay… Deputy Lawrence, stay behind and get the groundskeepers’ statements. Somebody call the realty office now. We need to get this house opened up. Jade, get on it.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
“Sir?”
“Yes, Deputy Silver?” Clark stopped and turned.
“The smell is really bad.”
“Got it.”
I called Realty World and talked to the first person that answered the phone. Apparently, Leon Erikson was the lucky recipient of my call. I told him to get to Oriole Lane now. It was a police matter, and in twenty minutes the front door would be broken down. I hung up, and we followed Kyle, Dan, and the lieutenant to the front of the barn.
With everyone gathered, Kyle and Dan passed around the jar of Vicks before we entered the barn. The sickening odor was intense. Each person reached in, pulled out a glob of Vicks, and dabbed it under their nose before entering.
The deputies entered first with the rest of us right behind. Silver hit the lights a
s he passed through the door. He called back to keep the doors open. To the left and right were box stalls, most likely for horses. A tack room stood twenty feet ahead to the right of us. Since we had no idea what to expect, the deputies had their guns drawn as a cautionary measure. Jack, the lieutenant, and I followed Kyle and Dan into the tack room while the deputies kept a watchful eye for any movement on the rest of the barn. The pungent, rotting smell made our eyes water, and our gag reflexes kicked in even with the menthol salve beneath our noses.
“There’s been a scuffle in here,” Dan said, pointing out the disturbances in the straw strewn about. “Look over here.” We hugged the edges of the room to the opposite wall, trying not to disturb the scene. Dried blood spatter and strands of blond hair were stuck to the rough-hewn boards. We gave the wall a long look then left the tack room—it needed to be processed.
Lieutenant Clark nodded ahead. Two deputies hugged the left stalls and two hugged the right as we inched forward. The odor was getting thicker with each step. The deputies peeked over every stall gate as they got to it, their guns at the ready.
Something odd caught my eye at the third stall on the left. I whispered and pointed. The deputies nodded and approached what looked to be leather tied around the gate slats.
Deputy Silver knelt down and peered between the slats. “Holy shit.” It took him a second to process what he’d just seen. He stood and looked over the gate. He waved us forward, then backed away so we could get through. Dan and Kyle peered over the gate with the lieutenant on their heels.
“Son of a bitch.” The anger spewed out of the lieutenant’s mouth.
Jack approached, looked over, and held up his hand for me to stop. “There’s no need for you to see this, Jade. It’s pretty bad. Silver, call Doug and Jason. Get them out here now.”
“Yes, sir, I’m on it.”
“Jack, move aside. We have a job to do. I can’t let personal feelings get in the way of our investigation,” I said.
Kyle climbed over the gate first, and Dan handed him the camera. Kyle took close to twenty pictures before allowing us to climb over and join him on the side where Melissa sat tied to the gate and bridled.
We spent a good amount of time studying the way she was propped against the gate, the bridle in her mouth and the leather strap that had likely choked the life out of her wrapped around her neck and the gate. I wondered if there was significance to her being bridled. Her mouth was swollen, and her eyes bulged from bloat. The skin was beginning to turn a shade of grayish green. Looking at her was difficult, but we needed to get into the head of this madman. Why was he so devious and angry, and what did these innocent people do to make him choose them?
“Come on. Let’s get some fresh air and let Kyle and Dan begin processing this barn. Doug and Jason should be here soon.”
We went outside to talk to the groundskeepers. The sight of an approaching vehicle caught our attention. The car, a newer sporty orange Camaro, had magnetic ads for Realty World on each door. I assumed it was Leon Erikson.
“Officers, what’s going on?” he asked as he parked behind the row of vehicles and rushed toward us.
I extended my hand. “Mr. Erikson? I’m Sergeant Jade Monroe”—I nodded to my left—“and my partner, Detective Jack Steele. We’re from Washburn County Sheriff’s Department.”
Jack shook his hand.
“Mr. Erikson, we need to get inside the house right away. It’s a police matter.”
“Yes, ma’am, let’s go.” Leon entered the code for the lockbox, opened it, and pulled out the house key. He unlocked the heavy oak door and pushed it forward.
“Sir, you’ll have to wait outside with Deputy Lawrence. Deputy, interview Mr. Erikson and find out when Melissa was here last and with what client.”
“Yes, Sergeant. Sir, please step this way. Let’s find a place to sit.”
Jack, two deputies, and I entered the house with our guns drawn. We split at the end of the foyer, the deputies taking the first level, Jack and I taking the staircase to the second floor. I heard the deputies call out as they cleared each room. We cleared the second floor, checked each balcony and closet. The four of us cleared the basement level together before we entered the garage.
My breath caught in my throat when I saw the gold Infinity parked in the third stall. Jack pushed the button for that garage door. It lifted, allowing more light into the garage. With gloved hands, I opened the driver’s side door and looked in. Nothing seemed amiss, and the seat appeared to be in the correct position for someone Melissa’s height. A struggle hadn’t taken place in the car.
“Doug and Jason are here,” Jack said when he saw them come up the driveway and park the coroner’s van next to the forensics van.
Doug approached the garage. Jason followed behind him. “Sergeant, Detective Steele, what do we have?”
Jack stepped out of the garage and responded while I popped the trunk. I went to the back of the car to give it a look. “We’ve got a body in the horse barn, and it looks like she’s been there for a while.” Jack nodded toward the outbuildings. “It’s the one on the right.”
“Okay, Jason, back the van over to the barn as close as you can,” Doug said as he turned and walked toward the barn alone.
Jack stuck his head in the trunk. “See anything unusual?”
“No, nothing that looks out of place. We should call for the flatbed. We aren’t going to drive Melissa’s car back to the evidence garage.”
“Good idea. May as well get a head start on it. Kyle and Dan can give the car a quick once-over before they load it up. They’ll likely take a few photographs here too.”
Chapter 37
Doug and Jason spent a good half hour in the barn. Jack and I talked to the lieutenant near the cars as we waited. I explained to him that the oddball in Eddy’s Tap Tuesday evening was more than likely our killer. He had to have been on his way to the house to meet up with Melissa under false pretenses. Pretending to be an interested buyer—especially of a home worth as much money as the house on Oriole Lane—would be a great way to lure a Realtor out there alone.
“Don’t you think common sense flies out the window at the chance of a hefty commission? And who would imagine a killer using that as a ruse? Scary and dangerous people are most often pictured in bad neighborhoods, not here,” I said.
“Sounds logical. Do you think you got everything you could get out of the bartender and the man at the video poker machine?” Lieutenant Clark asked.
“Not sure, sir, but they’re both getting a second interview.”
Doug and Jason walked out of the barn and headed our way.
“What can you tell us?” the lieutenant asked.
Doug shrugged. “Pretty gruesome, if I do say so myself. Body appears to be a female in her thirties. It looks like she’s been here around five days according to the maggots. Rigor has passed. The quantity of facial lacerations and contusions may have been enough to render her unconscious. COD was likely asphyxia. Her tongue is swollen and protruding, but I found decomposed paper in her throat, and this”—Doug held out a dime in the palm of his hand—“under her tongue.”
“Son of a bitch.” Lieutenant Clark ground his fist into his eyes. “Okay, bag everything up and give it to Kyle and Dan. I’ll call the North Bend PD and see if their forensic lab can spare Peterson and Gundrum. I’m sure our boys could use the help. Monroe and Steele, get back to town and round those fellas up again. There has to be more they can tell us.”
“You got it, boss. We’ll head out now,” I said.
Jack backed our car down the driveway and out to the road. With the number of vehicles at the house, there wasn’t room to turn around.
“Do you think my family is safe, Jack? Last night couldn’t have been personal, could it?”
Jack exited Oriole Lane and merged onto the highway heading back to town. His expression told me he was concerned.
“I don’t have any answers. Fred told us the guy ordered the wine at five thirty. You
guys got to the restaurant at six thirty. That means he didn’t follow you there. He already knew where you were going.”
“The only thing I can think of is he may have been at Left Field and overheard Amber and me talking, or he knows Amber works at Joey’s and heard her telling a friend what we were doing Saturday night. I swear my brain is ready to explode.”
“Yeah, join the crowd. I think you should call Amber and update her. She’s a big girl, and if she really wants to be a cop someday, she’s going to have to know what kind of people are out in the real world. We’ll ask the lieutenant’s opinion once he gets back at the station. Maybe you and your family ought to hole up together for the time being.”
“I’m going to give Amber a quick call and tell her to stay at Mom’s house until I get back to her later. Somebody will have to let Realty World know it was Melissa we found. Leon has no idea why he came to the house, just that it was a police matter.”
Jack pulled into the station and parked. “The deputies can take care of that. I’ll tell them to track down her next of kin too. We have plenty on our plates already.”
We entered the bull pen, and I dropped to my chair. My notepad was still on my desk where I’d left it Friday night. I flipped the pages to Mike Cole’s interview and read through the information again out loud. “I’m going to call him right now.”
Mike answered on the third ring. I heard the TV playing in the background. It sounded like sports.
“Hello.”
“Mike, Sergeant Monroe calling from the sheriff’s department.”
“Hello, Sergeant. Hang on one second.”
He left the phone, and I heard the TV volume go down.
“Sorry about that. I have a habit of turning the volume up too high when I’m watching basketball. I guess it comes from having the bar TVs muted most of the time. Sometimes I actually like to hear the play-by-play action. I’m recording it, so we’re good. Okay, what can I do for you?”
“Mike, it’s about the guy at the bar on Tuesday. Is there anything else you thought of since we spoke? Anything, even if it seems insignificant, might help us catch our killer.” I stared at the notes again from the interview we had conducted at Mike’s apartment. “I’m not necessarily saying the man at Eddy’s is him, so please don’t spread that rumor. We’re just checking every possible lead we can get.”
