Perfect Reflection

by Jana Leigh

  She thought it was because she was a shifter, but there were a lot of other cops that were shifters and they didn’t have that talent. Josh told her that it was a gift, but he also told her that sometimes with a gift comes a price. He worried about her because she let the cases consume her sometimes.

  When she slept, she got visions of the victims. Josh would wake her up, because she would be crying or screaming in her sleep for them to run. Now that he was gone, no one was there to wake her up. She loved her job, but sometimes the visions took their toll and she would look ragged and worn out. She didn’t give a shit if it found the scumbag she was looking for, but it was still draining.

  She hadn’t really confided in anyone about her gift. Jewel looked at it as a curse, too, and wasn’t so sure she would find out something was wrong with her. Hell, for all she knew it could be some freaking genetic thing passed down from her birth parents. The ones who didn’t stay around long enough to see how she turned out. Jewel really had gotten over her parents’ death, but she was a little bitter that they were taken from her while she had been so young, it made her the bitch cop she had become. Her strength came from the fact that she was helping innocent victims who needed it.

  Jewel kicked into detective mode when she stopped at the doorway, and looked at the crime scene without stepping inside. With her camera out, she took pictures of things nobody else did. Most of the time, crime scene techs didn’t look at the scene in 3D, but Jewel did. This was her gift, her thing that made her special, although no one knew it but her partner, and even he didn’t understand how she did it.

  Because of her visions, Jewel was responsible for catching a lot of people; she was so meticulous at her job. She bent down and looked at the crime scene then started taking pictures from below. Vander knew not to get in her way when she walked into the crime scene. He didn’t ask her any questions or stand behind her. He always said that Jewel was in a trance when she walked into a crime scene. She transported herself back to when the crime started, or at least that is what she told Vander. He never understood it, but he never questioned it either. She was good, very good, and you never mess with something if it is working. Jewel had a digital recorder with her. She didn’t take notes much, but she spoke into the recorder as she walked through the scene.

  Vander stood at the doorway while Jewel did her mojo. He would take notes of things he saw and they would compare notes later when they would type their summaries. Vander learned so much from Jewel that he was making a name for himself dealing with crime scenes, too. Jewel told him her theories and Vander told his, then they were able to come up with several scenarios that most cops wouldn’t recognize because of their different styles.

  Jewel walked in a circle around the crime scene talking into her recorder. She came to the table where the Victim was tied up. “She was scared, she knew what was going to happen, only if she could talk him out of it,” Jewel said into the recorder.

  “He talked to her, made her think she had a chance if she did something,” Jewel muttered and then frowned because the image would not come to her; she had no idea why he was doing what he was. It was pissing her off, as if someone was blocking her, impossible of course, but still frustrating.

  The M.O. was the same. He put tape over her mouth and used thin rope to tie her hands and legs to the table. She was nude and appeared to be raped just like the other victims. “Teaching her a lesson, she should never have gone out to the bar with such a sexy outfit. She was asking for trouble,” Jewel said into her recorder—it was the same thing she felt before. Somehow, the perp felt like he was justified in killing them, as if it was his job.

  The Victim was pretty and usually came from money. Looking at where the malicious perp had tortured the girl made her blood boil. This was the third victim in Atlanta. Captain John Marks informed her after the second one that he had received a call from Captain Lex Doyle from the New York Police Department asking about their murders. Captain Doyle informed her captain that they had two murders with the same M.O.

  That meant he was traveling from one city to another killing, leaving his own brand of destruction in his path. His killing zone was specific though, all at construction sites. Jewel made a note to see if there was a connection there.

  Captain Marks wanted Jewel and Vander to go to New York, meet with Captain Doyle, and see if the crimes were connected. They would work together in trying to solve this if it was connected. Jewel wasn’t happy about this development; she was comfortable in her own territory. A wolf traveling out of her territory would need to make sure she didn’t piss another pack off. That’s all she would need. Then there was her fear of flying, being in a small tube that is lofted into the air was not natural. Besides the fact, the cute little flight attendants that inevitably flirted with Vander got on her nerves. She didn’t care about the flirting so much as the hair flipping and disgusting odor of perfume that would always make her want to gag. Then there was her wolf; she hated being enclosed for a long period of time. Only shifters knew how much pain their wolf could cause if they were pissed, the clawing on the inside was painful, so Jewel usually drank to help with the pain.

  However, since Captain Doyle believed that this was a serial killer moving from New York to Atlanta, she had to go. Now with this third murder here in Atlanta, the press would be all over it. And she was going to have to be front and center, damn it, she thought. They were going to make her cut her hair and wear something business-like instead of her standard jeans and t-shirt.

  Shaking off her thoughts, Jewel walked over to the table with the victim and started taking pictures. She reached out and touched the arm of the victim. It was only a light touch to the arm. She was trying to see if you could get a vision.

  It was as if she went back in time. She could see the victim lying on the table. She was talking to somebody. It looked like she said, “We had a good time, but this is going too far” but Jewel had a hard time reading the girls lips. She couldn’t hear the other voice, it was muffled, but she could feel the woman’s fear from whatever he said.

  Jewel watched as the tape went over the victim’s mouth. She made a note to see if the tape was left behind. Fuck, she was terrified, the woman felt confused and scared, why was he doing this?

  Then the women struggled, trying to get loose. This could not be happening to her, she had just been out for a little bit of fun and ended up here. What the hell was going on?

  Jewel observed two hands reach up and touch the woman’s legs then she was pulled closer to the end of the table. She couldn’t see anyone’s face but the woman’s, but the blurred movements showed the man’s arms, she studied his skin, the way his hair was shaved off his forearms.

  What Jewel saw next pissed her off. She watched a hand reach up to the woman’s stomach, then turn into claws. The claws slit the woman’s stomach in two. Jewel flinched as she could almost hear the rip of the flesh, it disturbed her.

  The vision stopped before Jewel could see anymore. She knew the suspect was a male, because of the semen in the victims. Now she knew that the suspect was a wolf as well. This changed everything.

  If humans found out that a wolf shifter killed the victims, it would change everything as they know it. Humans didn’t know about shifters. If they did then shifters would be put into cages and experimented on. The Elders had seen it in the past when someone found out about them, they were treated like freaks, so they went into hiding, making sure never to reveal their shifter side. A killer among them could be disastrous.

  This man was smart. He never left a print or hair. Now Jewel was glad that he didn’t leave any hair. How could she explain if a wolf’s hair was found at the scene? The visions were always the same; she could only see so much of what happened. They needed more information. Jewel was getting frustrated quickly with her gift, and with the torture the victims were going through, it pissed her off.

  The victims were sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) Crime lab. They would be examined, tryi
ng to locate evidence from the victims’ bodies and clothing. In this case and the others, the victims didn’t have any clothing on. However, the findings in the exam and collected evidence often provided information to help Jewel and Vander reconstruct the details of the events in question, in an objective and scientific manner.

  The semen would be put into CODIS to check for a possible DNA match. CODIS is a computer software program that operates local, state, and national databases of DNA profiles. While in prison, officials can take DNA from the prisoners currently housed in State Correctional facilities. Then they compare the DNA collected at the scenes of crimes and those that are already in the CODIS system to see if there is a match.

  Unfortunately, there was no match located with the other murders. This meant that the killer hadn’t been arrested, so they didn’t have his DNA. Jewel and Vander were taking the case apart piece by piece. These were high profile murders. The victims came from money. Parents and loved ones wanted answers. This meant that pressure was being put on Captain Marks to come up with some answers. In return, this put pressure on Jewel, since it was her case, and Vander, since he was her partner.

  Jewel couldn’t let herself become attached to the victims. If she did, then she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on finding the suspect. Other cops were the only ones who understood this. Feelings would bring the investigation to a halt. It was one of the things they drilled into their head during training was to keep your feelings detached from the crime, you had to be able to focus on the perp or it would be difficult to look at the evidence. Jewel took that to heart and never crossed the line, she couldn’t, or it would tear her up.

  She never did victim notices to the family. She would go and speak with the family later after the grief had passed some. It was hard for her because she knew the victims suffered until he finally killed them. Her so-called gift made sure she saw the suffering. What she didn’t see was who the killer was or what they looked like. The suspect enjoyed making these women suffer. He always took something from the crime scene to remember the victim by. Usually it was a piece of jewelry. The victims came from a lot of money so the jewelry was missed and noted by the family. Jewel knew it was a serial killer, but she didn’t want to say it.

  Vander knew that Jewel was ready for him to come into the room and compare notes with her. He had been with her long enough to read the signs. “Like I said before, we have a serial killer,” Vander said looking at Jewel.

  “Yeah, I know,” Jewel growled.

  Jewel walked to the door and looked at the crime scene techs. “Hey, guys, you can come on in now. I want the door printed. Oh yeah, and bring the table the Victim is laying on, too.” The crime scene techs walked in smiling at Jewel. They knew how she wanted the evidence collected.

  Joseph Newton was the youngest crime scene tech at the Atlanta Police Department. Jewel showed him things that he would never had learned if it wasn’t for her, she liked the kid and wanted him to succeed. The techs respected her. She always gave them the respect they deserved, while other cops made fun of them. Jewel was a class act. She remembered them during Christmas and always made sure they had plenty of drinks on hand after the evidence was collected.

  Jewel and Vander walked out of the building looking across the street at the vultures that had already set up their vans. She turned her head not wanting to be on the eleven o’clock news. They walked to the side of the building so they could compare notes. She spotted the small trailer the company used as an office and walked toward it.

  “Where are you going?” Vander asked Jewel as she walked up onto the porch outside the trailer. Jewel knocked on the door waiting for the Superintendent to open the door. She could hear him and knew he was on the phone. Her hearing was great since she was a wolf, it worked to her advantage that she could hear things others couldn’t.

  Mr. James Sams, the Superintendent, opened the door with his cell phone to his ear. He motioned them to come into the office while he finished his phone call. “Yes, sir, I understand. I have your name written down, Captain Lex Doyle. Thank you, sir. I will.”

  Jewel looked up at Vander when the Superintendent mentioned Captain Lex Doyle. Why the fuck was he calling her witness?

  “Okay, bye, Captain,” James Sams said as he hung the phone up and looked at Vander and said, “Sorry about that. What can I do for you, Lt. Collins?”

  “Mr. Sams, this is Lt. Campbell, she is in charge of this crime scene. She has some questions for you.” Vander motioned toward Jewel.

  “Yes, ma’am, I will help you all I can. This is terrible, just terrible. I can’t believe somebody would do this to a woman. It’s a shame, a terrible shame,” Mr. Sams said as he sat down on the side of his desk.

  “Mr. Sams, can you tell me why you are talking to Captain Doyle from the New York City Police Department?” she asked quickly, she didn’t like this guy, and hearing him talk to Doyle pissed her off.

  “Umm. Well, my boss, ma’am. Mr. Wexford told me to tell him what I found at the site,” the man stuttered, which pissed her off even more. She was certain that he was lying about something.

  “Why would your boss want a New York Police Officer to ask you questions about my scene when the Atlanta Police Department is working the damn case?” Jewel demanded. James Sams looked up at Jewel with a panicked expression. “Why, Mr. Sams, are you telling another cop that is in New York City about my case, giving vital information out to another agency who isn’t working this case.”

  “Well, ma’am, I work for Mr. Wexford and when he tells me to do something or talk to somebody then I do it. I want to keep my job, ma’am,” James Sams said as he looked at Vander for some type of help. James could tell that Jewel was pissed off and he wasn’t second-guessing the way this situation would play out. He didn’t want to go to jail for releasing information that he wasn’t supposed to, but he wasn’t going to go down for this, the other things he had done, maybe, but not this.

  “Mr. Retten Wexford owns this site, too?” Jewel asked Mr. Sams.

  “Yes, ma’am, he does. He owns the other two buildings the other murders took place at, too. I’m sorry, I thought you knew that. Mr. Wexford owns many buildings in Atlanta and New York City. His best friend is Captain Doyle. There were two murders in New York, too, and they were at Mr. Wexford’s buildings.” Jewel looked up at Vander with smoke coming out of her ears. The supervisor wanted to smile, but he was not going to get in trouble for this.

  “Mr. Sams, may I use your phone?” Jewel asked. Mr. Sams knew that she wasn’t really asking she was demanding, so he stepped back and held put his hands. He could now honestly say he wasn’t culpable.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Mr. Sams handed his cell phone to Jewel.

  Jewel looked at the recent calls and saw Lex Doyle’s name. She pushed his name and the phone redialed Captain Lex Doyle’s number. The phone rang a couple of times then she heard “Doyle.”

  Jewel smiled and said sweetly into the phone, “Captain Doyle?”

  “Yes, who is this?” the arrogant bastard demanded on the other end of the phone. She was ready to rip some ass, this whole situation smelled rotten.

  “This is Lt. Jewel Campbell with the Atlanta Police Department. Next time you want to know about my crime scene, you pompous ass, then you pick up the damn phone and call me. I understand that you boys think that we are a bunch of hicks down here in the south, but I can assure you, Captain, that we are on this. I would have been happy to call you with this information, but I will not tolerate you pissing on my scene. Do we understand each other, sir?” Jewel didn’t wait for Captain Doyle to answer her before she hung the phone up.

  She looked up at Sams, who had his mouth open, staring at Jewel. She tossed his phone to him. “Mr. Sams, I understand that you don’t want to lose your job, but if you give out any more information without my authority, I will lock your ass up. Do you understand me?” Mr. Sams nodded his head as Jewel stuck her hand out, “It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Sams. If you think of any
thing else then please contact me?” She took a business card out of her coat pocket and handed it to James Sams. Jewel turned and walked out the door before James Sams could respond.

  “Wow, you really know how to make friends?” Vander said, laughing at Jewel. She looked over at him shaking her head.

  “You know how that pisses me off when they think we are just a bunch of rednecks.”

  “Hell, Jewel, we are a bunch of rednecks. Now they will probably put us up in the roach motel in New York. You know I’ve never been to New York and I want to go so please stop pissing off the people who are paying our way,” Vander snorted as he pushed Jewel on the shoulder playing with her.

  “Hey, Vander?” Jewel asked.

  “Yeah.” Vander looked over at Jewel.

  “I didn’t know that Retten Wexford owned this construction site. It doesn’t say that. I thought it was the NY Pack Industries.” Jewel looked at Vander confused.

  “I thought so, too, but now I’ve got to go and check to see if he owns this company, too, or maybe his family owns it. Hell, who knows with these rich folks,” Vander said as he and Jewel continued to walk back to where the body was found.

  Jewel and Vander walked back to the crime scene. Jewel always went back over the scene in case she missed something. They continued to take notes and pictures as the crime scene techs finished processing the scene.

  Chapter Two

  He sat and watched. Those idiots had no idea who he was and what he was capable of, there she was, he grinned and rubbed his hands. Hiding her face from the cameras like that wouldn’t make a difference, he could see her whenever he wanted. She was his ultimate prize, and soon they would be together for his final act of terror.

  She was the perfect choice for his finale, before he took over what was rightfully his. Once everything fell into place, he would be like a Phoenix rising from the ashes to step into place and save the day. The plan was perfect, and he would execute it like he and his father planned all those years ago, he only wished his father and mentor was alive to see how he turned out. Unfortunately, the old man didn’t know when to turn over the reins, and the Redeemer had to take them from him. It was the only kill that affected him, not like he was sad or anything—more like disappointed in the fact he refused to allow him to grow. He had shown him though, the Redeemer grinned to himself.