Sauk Valley Killer: A Must Read Serial Killer Thriller (Kat Beckman Book 6)

by KJ Kalis

  Dawson unfolded the thick paper and started reading. Kat knew what it said. She had read it three or four times. It was the letter that most closely resembled one of the murders, the amputation of Chelsea and Daniel’s arms. In the letter, Dr. Schreiber had proposed that most people who needed a new arm or leg should be able to have one. Kat agreed with that. Far too many people she knew who were former military members came back from deployment without all of their limbs. Dr. Schreiber proposed that harvesting limbs from people who were recently dead would be a straightforward way to solve the problem. In his letter, he described a process where he could test his theory by removing limbs and reattaching them to other people.

  While Dawson read through the first letter, Kat picked up another, sliding it out of the envelope. From the looks of it, Dr. Rose used an old-fashioned letter opener. The top of each envelope was sliced neatly from end to end, not torn as it might be if he had used his fingers. Kat slid the papers out of the envelope and unfolded them, starting to read.

  “Dear Dr. Rose,” the letter began, “I hope this mailing finds you well. I’m sorry that I haven’t heard from you. Perhaps my suggestions for medical research are a little nontraditional, however, I believe that they merit the support of your organization…”

  Every letter Kat read started off similarly, with a loosely veiled complaint that Dr. Schreiber hadn’t heard from the medical journal and his desire to provide value to the medical community. In his warped way, Kat knew that was what he thought. “As you know, twins share identical genetic material. It makes them ideal for research. I would like to propose a study on twin babies, preferably under twelve months old, to inject a chemical solution into their eyes. Although the solution I have in mind might temporarily, or permanently blind them, it might also lead to opportunities to solve blindness issues, such as macular degeneration, which is plaguing the elderly of our country. My own father suffered from this and did not adapt well to losing his sight at an old age. Please refer to the attached forms and experimental process documents for your review.”

  Bile rose in Kat’s throat. She swallowed hard. What kind of a madman would want to inject a chemical into a baby’s eye? Her mind flashed to Jack as an infant and then over to the puppy they had at home. Hurting anyone, particularly someone so young, was something she just couldn’t fathom. It was beyond what she was capable of understanding. Her gut told her that the person they saw in the videotape at Rebecca’s apartment and the person that wrote these letters was one and the same.

  As the nausea settled back down, Kat glanced up at Dawson. The pinkness in his cheeks from rushing into the office had melted into a gray, ashen tone. By the looks of it, he felt the same way she did. Kat glanced at him, “What do you think?”

  Dawson set the letter back down on the table and pushed his glasses up on the top of his head, wiping his face with the sleeve of his sport coat. Beneath the thick glasses, Kat noticed he had gentle eyes. She wondered what the years of being a police detective had done to him. He pulled off his gloves and pushed the glasses back down on the bridge of his nose. “What do I think? I think I’m glad Dr. Rose reached out to you. This could be the guy.”

  Before Kat could ask anything else, Van spoke, “What’s the next step?”

  Dawson stood up from the table, tossing the gloves in the trash can in the corner of the room. Kat could hear the plastic bag rustle as they landed at the bottom. “Well, we need to find someone who can positively identify this Dr. Schreiber. I’m going to go make a couple of calls. Would you guys mind staying here and reading through a few more of these letters?”

  Dawson was being so nice and polite, Kat could hardly say no. She glanced at Van who gave her a tiny nod, “Of course, we’ll keep reading. Just let us know what else you need.”

  Kat had only gotten through two more letters by the time Dawson came back in. “I called the college where Dr. Schreiber works. As you guys are probably already figured out, it’s the same location where Ben Boyd’s body was found. The person that I talked to told me Dr. Schreiber works in that building.”

  Kat’s stomach twisted a bit. She wanted to say she was surprised, but she wasn’t. “Is there someone that can identify him?”

  Dawson nodded. “Yep, they are sending the department chair here to take a look at the handwriting and the videos to see if they can make a positive identification. It’s just a waiting game until they get here.”

  28

  By the time Evan and Layne woke up, Joseph was seated comfortably in front of them, his legs crossed, his experiment notebook open in front of him. Layne gave a little cough, “Where am I?” she said, her eyes bulging, “Who are you?”

  In Joseph’s mind, introducing himself to his newest subjects was one of the most pleasurable parts of the process. He enjoyed their reaction to their changing environment very much. It would probably be something he would tell mother and father about later. He licked his lips, “Welcome!” he said cheerily. “I’m so glad you could join me.”

  Watching their initial behavior told Joseph a lot about his subjects. Layne stayed in the corner where he had dropped her off, her knees pulled up into her chest, her eyes wild. Evan stood up. “Let me out of here!” he shouted. “You can’t keep me here! I bet the police are already on their way!”

  Joseph closed his eyes for a moment, sweeping his head from left to right. “Tsk, tsk,” he clucked, the same way his mother used to when he was a young child, “There is no need to shout, Evan.”

  “You know my name? Who the hell are you?”

  Joseph closed his experiment notebook and stood up, setting it on his chair. He interlaced his fingers behind his back and started to pace in front of the cages, the same way he did when he was giving a lecture on the role of Russia in World War I or the impact of British troop movements in World War II. He stared at the floor as he spoke, only glancing up occasionally to see the looks on Evan and Layne’s faces. “You are here for a special reason. While my specialty out in the world is history, I have always had a passion for medical experimentation. In fact,” he paused for a moment looking at each of them, “I wanted to be a medical doctor.” He began walking again, “Conducting experiments the type I like to conduct are not necessarily ones that meet the approval of the greater medical community.” Joseph stopped for a minute, realizing he had never taken the time to explain to his subjects why he was doing what he was doing before. A glow of satisfaction rose inside of him. Yes, he thought, yes, it was important for them to know what he was doing and why he was doing it. He was sure they would want to cooperate once they knew. “You see, there are many problems in the medical community that people need to have the courage to try to solve. Unfortunately, rules and regulations get in the way. You both have an unprecedented opportunity to make an impact on the rest of humanity by agreeing to be part of this experiment.”

  “I didn’t agree to anything!” Evan said, prowling back and forth in his cage like a wild animal, rattling the door. “It doesn’t look like she did either. Let me out of here.”

  Joseph stopped pacing for just a moment, carefully looking at his two subjects, studying them. “I’m so sorry, I can’t do that. Your assistance is needed.” He started to walk again, “You know, my mother used to always tell me there were things that we needed to do that we didn’t like to do. It didn’t mean that they weren’t valuable.” He stopped moving again. Evan was standing in the center of his cage, arms hanging down, shoulders slumped. Layne was still cowering in the corner of her cage, an occasional sniffle interrupting his speech. “In this case, neither of you may want to do this, but it will be extremely helpful. Your names will go down in history. Now, shall we get started?”

  As Joseph turned away, he heard the metal cage rattle again. He was sure it was Evan. He didn’t turn around to look. Whether they knew it or not, he had the upper hand. He was in complete control. It was time to start the next experiment…

  29

  It didn’t take long for an entourage from Grand
Ridge College to arrive at the police station. Cheryl Morris stuck her head in the conference room, where Van and Kat were still going through the letters with Detective Dawson. “A group from the college is here. Should I bring them in?” she asked, hanging in the doorway.

  Dawson nodded. “Yep. Can you queue up the video from the apartment building in here, too?”

  Cheryl grinned, clearly aware of Dawson’s ineptitude with technology. “Sure. Give me a sec.”

  Kat heard rustling from outside the door, as two men and one woman entered. All three of them were wearing suits, which wasn’t a surprise, Kat thought. They were obviously high up in the Grand Ridge College food chain.

  “Thank you for coming,” Detective Dawson said, pointing them to chairs around the conference table. Kat pushed the letters to the side but left her gloves on. She wasn’t sure if they would want to look at them or not. It was Dawson’s show. The group positioned themselves around the table, taking time to adjust sport coats and set down briefcases.

  “I’m so sorry we have to meet under these circumstances. I am Detective Wesley Dawson. This is Kat Beckman and Van Peck. They are assisting with the investigation.”

  Kat nodded and tried not to smile. How Dawson’s tone had changed in just the last few days, she thought. They had gone from yelling in the same conference room they were sitting in to his public admission they were part of the investigation.

  Dawson frowned for a moment, looking at one of the men. “We met at the crime scene, right?”

  One of the men answered, “Yes, Detective Dawson. I’m Dr. Jeremy Laffer, the President of the college.” He nodded at the other two people with him. “This is Frank Miles, he’s the legal counsel for the college, and this is Dr. Meredith Conklin, she’s the chair of the history department.”

  Dawson cleared his throat. “Okay, let’s try to make this as painless as possible. We have a video we’d like to show you and a few letters.” He glanced at Kat. “Let’s start with the letters.”

  Kat took that as her cue to speak. “We received this stack of letters from a gentleman that runs a medical publication here in the area. The details are strikingly similar to the first set of murders we saw, those of Chelsea Atkinson and Daniel Arthur.” As she leaned forward to hand the letter over to the college officials to read, Cheryl stopped her, “Hold on for a sec. Let’s put that in a separate evidence bag so they don’t have to put on gloves.” Kat nodded, feeling a little embarrassed and a little grateful that Cheryl had stepped in before she accidentally damaged evidence that might be needed in the case.

  As she handed the letter over to the three representatives of the college, she watched their faces as they passed it back and forth. Meredith’s eyes seemed to sink into her skull, her lips becoming pale. The other two men didn’t have as much of a response, just a tightening of the muscles and skin across their faces. Meredith was the first one to speak, “I recognize Joseph’s signature.” she said, looking up. “I see it all the time on his requisition forms.” She shook her head and furrowed her brow. “The thing is, he’s not a medical doctor. As far as I know, he has a doctorate in history. Why is he interested in medical experiments?”

  Detective Dawson looked at her, “That’s something we're trying to figure out.” He looked at the other two men, “Do either of you recognize the signature?”

  Frank, the lawyer for the college, was the next to speak. He reached down into his briefcase and pulled out a laptop. “If you give me just a moment, I think I can access our HR paperwork.” The room was silent. A wave of surprise pushed at Kat. The fact that an attorney was willing to help their case said something about the concern he had for the college’s liability.

  After a moment of Frank’s quiet typing on his laptop, he looked up, “I am not a handwriting expert and I want you to understand that sharing this document does in no way admit that the college had any knowledge of Dr. Schreiber’s extracurricular activities.”

  Van grumbled under his breath, “Spoken like a true lawyer.” Dawson glared at him.

  Frank turned the laptop towards Dawson, Van, and Kat. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. The signature on Joseph’s intake paperwork looked exactly the same as the signature that was on all of the letters. “Could we get a copy of that, please?” Dawson asked.

  Frank turned to Dr. Laffer, who nodded. “Sure. Just give me your email address.”

  While Cheryl took over getting the documents sent to her email address, Dawson pointed to the monitor at the end of the room. “We have a video we’d like you to watch. We’d like to know if it looks like Joseph in the images we are about to show you.”

  Kat stared down at her hands for a moment. Her fingers were interlaced in her lap. She felt queasy and edgy. In the back of her head, she could hear the memory of the IED explosion getting closer. She forced herself to take a deep breath. This was not the time for her to have a panic attack or to have her PTSD flare up. I’m stronger than this, she told herself. I have to be strong to help the people this man has killed. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked to her left. It was Van, a concerned look on his face. “Are you okay?” he mouthed.

  She nodded, giving him a thin smile, trying to press the fear back into a corner. The memories were still swirling in the back of her head, but if she could keep them away, she might have a chance to help on this case before it was too late, before more people lost their lives. As she looked up, she realized the rest of the room was waiting for the video to start. There was a knock on the door. Another officer, someone Kat didn’t recognize stuck his head in, motioning for Dawson to come out into the hallway. The door clicked behind him. Cheryl continued with the team from the college, “Okay, please watch this video and tell me if you recognize the person in question.” Cheryl tapped at her computer screen. Kat watched the video crawl forward.

  The first images on the screen were the ones of Joseph getting out of the van and opening the rear doors. From the angle of the camera, it was hard to see much more than just his back. Kat watched as he unloaded the box, a box she knew held the body of Rebecca Blake. Sadness covered her, thinking about what her family must be going through right now. Kat glanced back up at the screen, just as it changed over to the view from the lobby. It was still difficult to see who was pictured. Kat realized she wasn’t breathing. Her eyes were just going back and forth between the television screen and the people from the college. None of them were saying anything. What if they didn’t recognize him? What if Dr. Rose was wrong? If that were the case, they would be back to square one. They’d have no leads at all.

  Fear nipped at Kat’s heels. She felt so responsible for this case. She didn’t know why. Maybe it was because of Stephanie, who had become part of their family. Swallowing hard, she glanced up, just as the video switched to the view of the person they thought was Joseph coming back through the lobby. “Stop!” Meredith said, “That’s Joseph! I know it!”

  Kat looked at Meredith. Her eyes were wide, and her hands were covering her mouth. “Oh my God,” she said. “That’s him. That’s who you are looking for, isn’t it?”

  Seeing Joseph on the screen had shaken Meredith. Frank and Dr. Laffer stared at her as if they were hoping that the words she had said would go back in her mouth. Time stood still. Cheryl blinked and then looked at Meredith, “Are you sure? Are you positively identifying the person in the video as Joseph Schreiber?” Each word came out of Cheryl’s mouth as though there was space between it, as though she didn’t want there to be any misunderstanding about what she was asking Meredith. Meredith nodded, “I’m sorry, I need you to say either yes or no,” Cheryl said, staring at her.

  Kat watched the two of them. She knew that Cheryl’s insistence on Meredith speaking her answer was part of police procedure. Shaking your head simply wasn’t enough. Meredith whispered, “Yes.”

  Cheryl gave a brief nod and then looked at Frank and Dr. Laffer. “Either of you? Do either of you recognize the man in the video?”

  Frank shook
his head no. “Unfortunately, I’ve never met him in person, so I can’t be of help.” He looked at Dr. Laffer.

  “I, ah, I need a closer look. I only met him a couple of times.” Dr. Laffer stood up and walked closer to the monitor, staring up at the screen. Cheryl rolled the video back to the spot where Joseph looked up at the camera and stopped it.

  Kat stared at Dr. Laffer. She couldn’t see his face. The only view she had was the back of his head tilted up toward the screen. “I’m sorry. I can’t say definitively that’s Joseph,” he said, turning back to the group, “I’ve only met him a couple of times, but I trust what Meredith said. If she said it’s him, then it probably is.”

  A surge of anger covered Kat. She didn’t believe for a second that Dr. Laffer didn’t know the man in the video. Based on the look on Frank’s face, Dr. Laffer knew exactly who it was. Frank looked relieved. Dr. Laffer was probably trying to keep himself from being liable for hiring a serial killer. Why people couldn’t do the right thing, Kat didn’t understand. At least they had one positive ID, but Dr. Laffer’s comments were enough to throw Meredith’s confirmation into the spotlight. One person said it was, two people didn’t know or wouldn’t admit it. What if it wasn’t Joseph? What would they do then? Kat's stomach tightened into a small ball. She could feel the muscles along the back of her neck shorten, a headache on the horizon. The stress of everything was just too much.

  She pulled off her gloves, “If you’ll excuse me for a moment,” she said, not giving anyone time to answer. Kat needed fresh air. She ran down the hallway, through the lobby, and out the front door before anyone could respond.