The Perfect Scream

by James Andrus

  The cop said, “That’s okay, everyone makes mistakes sometimes.” He looked up and down the highway. Then he smiled and said, “My name’s Martin.”

  His friendly manner took her by surprise and she blurted out, “I’m Lynn.”

  “Well, Lynn, would you consider letting me take you out to dinner one night and explain the dangers of speeding to you? We could avoid a lot of messy court time.”

  He said it as a joke and not as any kind of threat. Lynn was stuck in a tricky position. Right now he didn’t know her last name. But if she refused dinner there was no guarantee he wouldn’t write her an official ticket or at least copy down her tag. She decided to give him her business card instead. All it had was the Thomas Brothers Supply number and not her personal cell.

  The young cop looked at the card and said, “Thomas Brothers, that’s a big operation.”

  “Biggest in Northeast Florida.” She’d learned to recite the line after the eldest Thomas brother decided to start saying it whether it was true or not.

  The young cop was about to say something else when his radio flared to life. Lynn could only catch a few words but recognized “marina” and “fatality.”

  The cop stood up and said, “I’ll call you soon, but I’ve got to go to this accident. There’s never a fireman around when you need one.” He hustled back to his car and made a quick U-turn onto the road.

  Lynn that let out a long sigh of relief as she saw his taillights fade into the darkness. Just from that brief encounter she knew that the cops already thought Kyle’s death was an accident. She also saw how susceptible they were to flirting.

  She would never be caught. Just the idea made her smile.

  TWENTY-THREE

  Tony Mazzetti felt antsy as he entered the small white administrative building of the Duval County Medical Examiner’s Office. He still wasn’t sure what he was going to say or how he would to say it. The last thing he wanted to do was to hurt Lisa Kurtz’s feelings. That wasn’t entirely accurate. The last thing he wanted to do was be lonely again, but the concept of having to hide from your girlfriend did not make for a particularly positive relationship. He realized it late Sunday night when his ears were ringing slightly from the constant chatter of his new girlfriend. That was reinforced last night when he’d spent the evening alone and decided he preferred it that way.

  He nodded to a couple of the administrators and the operations officer, a tall gregarious fellow who never let an opportunity pass to tell Mazzetti he did not hold detectives in high esteem. Maybe that was because the lanky former investigator taught a class on what cops shouldn’t do when they happen on to the scene of a homicide. He’d seen all the mistakes that could be made from trampling evidence to moving the body. He’d even yelled at a young JSO patrolman for placing a blanket over a nude women’s body in her own apartment, thinking that it was a sign of respect. The medical examiners’ operations officer pointed out to him that she had lost her modesty and the most important thing was finding out who’d killed her and left her nude in the middle of her living room.

  Mazzetti was certain the operations officer didn’t like the prospect of a homicide detective dating one of the assistant medical examiners. He’d probably like it even less when he found out Mazzetti intended to break up with Lisa.

  He followed the instructions of several assistants and administrative people who kept directing him farther back down the hall toward Lisa until he found himself in the procedure room at the back of the building. Things had been so slow around the squad that he had not been in the room for some time. He could remember when things were rocking and rolling in homicide, coming to the ME’s office four times a week. In the last month he had come far more times on personal, social business than on official business. Hell, that’s what this visit was all about.

  As he entered the room he was glad he was still wearing his suit. The room was kept at a constant fifty-eight degrees and could be a little overwhelming if you weren’t prepared for it. Lisa gave a quick wave and bright smile as she scurried around the room, placing instruments where she would need them for an autopsy.

  She said, “What a nice surprise.”

  Mazzetti just grunted.

  “I hope you don’t mind if we chat while I work on an accident victim from last night.”

  “No, not at all.” He waited while she walked to the rear of the room and rolled a gurney up into the position she had prepared with a bright overhead light and a recorder for her notes. Mazzetti could remember the first time he had seen a circular saw and drill laid out on the table and made the connection to what they would be used for. At that time, as a new homicide detective, it had made him queasy. He’d never admitted it to anyone, especially his partner at the time, but after they had left the procedure room and he’d claimed to have needed to use the bathroom, he’d thrown up instead of peeing. No one had ever found out, but he was sure they all suspected. Now the sight of the tools was as mundane as seeing a computer on someone’s desk. Even the sight of the black plastic body bag on the gurney didn’t cause him any concern.

  Lisa fumbled with the awkward bag, always preferring to work by herself rather than with an assistant. She said, “This is the accident victim from the marina last night.”

  Mazzetti nodded, having seen a short story on the local news about a fisherman who fell into the blades of a deep-sea fishing boat. He said, “Bet I can tell you what killed him.”

  “Very funny.” She slowly started to pull down the zipper of the body bag, saying, “This has a lot more to do with toxicology to see if drugs or alcohol played any role. We’re starting to do more and more studies like that as long as the homicide rate has slowed down and we have time for it. This was the kind of stuff I expected to do when I graduated.” She concentrated as she jerked the zipper the last foot of the bag, which was turned slightly on the side. The lower part of a leg, severed just below the knee, rolled out onto the table.

  Mazzetti had become so jaded that the gruesome scene held no real interest for him. Until he noticed the familiar tattoo on the ankle. It was the local Tau Upsilon fraternity tattoo. He glanced up and saw Lisa had noticed it too.

  She mumbled, “You don’t have to say it. I think this is something you should look into a little more closely.”

  As Mazzetti stared at the severed leg he couldn’t even remember why he had come over to the medical examiner’s office, but it was a good thing he had.

  Stallings burst through the door of the squad bay, annoyed that he’d been called in from checking with the businesses on University Boulevard. He had a clear plan of what he expected to complete today and yakking with the sergeant or lieutenant was not part of his agenda. But now that he was sitting in the conference room with Tony Mazzetti, Patty Levine, and Sparky Taylor, the sergeant had his complete and utter attention.

  Sergeant Zuni stood in front of an easel with three sets of photographs. They were all of corpses at the medical examiner’s with a tattoo of a red pickup truck with Greek letters in the back identifying the fraternity of Tau Upsilon. The sergeant said, “The first tattoo is from a shooting victim in Arlington. Tony’s been working the case.” She looked over at Mazzetti and said, “Anything new?”

  Mazzetti looked down at the table and shook his head.

  The sergeant continued, “Second photo is from an overdose over at the big apartment complex where the fraternities are housed. This kid’s name was Connor Tate and I think Patty and Stall talked to him about their missing persons case.” Her eyes cut over to Stallings and Patty, who were both nodding. “The last photo is from the young man who fell into the marina last night. His name was Kyle Lee. The folks at the marina and on the fishing boat said that he was a regular in the area and that they saw nothing unusual. But the fact that three young men from the same fraternity at a smaller school like the University of North Florida would end up dead in just a short amount of time makes me curious.”

  Stallings said, “How’d we make the connection between the
three? Who recognized the tattoos?”

  Sergeant said, “We can thank Detective Mazzetti for being sharp. I knew you and Patty had been talking with some of the fraternity members and my real fear is that Zach Halston is dead somewhere and we just don’t know that yet.”

  Stallings mumbled, “That’s my fear too.”

  “Do you have a rapport with the fraternity brothers?”

  Stallings said, “I got rapport up the ass.”

  The sergeant let a slight smile creep across her pretty face. “Do you think you and Patty could go over and talk to some of the brothers to see if anything else has happened? I don’t want to start a panic or put any ideas into anyone’s head. I just want us to do our duty and protect the public if there’s something other than clumsiness or drunkenness causing these deaths.”

  “We’re on it.”

  The sergeant folded her arms and leveled a fierce glare at Stallings. “I don’t want you to scare any of those boys. You understand me? No terror tactics.”

  Stallings was already standing when he said, “I understand perfectly.”

  Patty Levine considered intervening as John Stallings held Bobby Hollis by the collar of his Izod shirt, so close that Stallings’s spit settled on the boy’s cheek. They had not seen the young fraternity member since the first encounter at the beach that kicked off the whole investigation. Stallings rumbled, “Look, you little shit. I know you guys are hiding something.”

  The terrified young man shook his head furiously, saying, “No. No, sir.” Stallings released his grip and the boy stumbled to one side and grasped a garbage can next to his couch and vomited.

  Stallings backed off, saying, “Jesus, at least dopers don’t get sick when you throw a little scare into them.” He settled on a recliner and looked across at Bobby Hollis, who was now sitting on the beat-up leather sofa. Stallings said, “Look, son, I’ve talked to a couple boys in this fraternity and both of them ended up dying. I cannot believe that’s a coincidence.”

  The young man shook his head again, his eyes cutting over to Patty for some kind of reassurance. She figured now was the time for her to move in as a good cop. Although sometimes Stallings went so far she could slap someone and still be considered the good cop.

  “Bobby, all we’re asking is if you heard about any other brothers that had been hurt or killed that we might not know about.”

  “You mean from our chapter?”

  Patty had to think about that for a minute. “Your chapter or any chapters you guys are associated with in the area. Maybe as far south as UCF and as far north as Atlanta.”

  “I heard about a guy who graduated and had been by our chapter house a couple times. He was in some kind of a hit-and-run down in Daytona. I think he’s still in the hospital.”

  Patty used an even voice to say, “You know his name?”

  “Alan Cole.”

  “Anyone else?”

  The boy seemed to hesitate, causing Stallings to lean forward and emit a low growl like a pit bull.

  That spurred the boy to say quickly, “An upperclassman who graduated from UF before me died in a fire in Atlanta.”

  “Do you know his name?”

  Bobby shook his head, but said he could get it.

  Patty realized they had a lot of work to do.

  Tony Mazzetti hadn’t stopped hustling since the impromptu meeting a few hours earlier. He’d managed to send out an inquiry to law enforcement and medical examiners asking if they had seen any homicide or accidental death victims with tattoos similar to those on the dead fraternity brothers in Jacksonville. He’d been careful to list that it was just for information and no action should be taken.

  Even as busy as he was, he had noticed Patty Levine stroll in and start working at her desk an hour before. When he needed a break, Mazzetti stood up and stretched and wandered over to her desk. He asked, “Where’s Stall?”

  “Still looking for Zach Halston. He’s convinced the young man might hold the key to our investigation.”

  “Stall sure does get fixated.”

  “You have no idea. He’s even worse on this case. He’s been out at all hours showing photographs of young men to different businesses and witnesses along University Boulevard.” She looked up at Mazzetti and said, “This is a great catch. I’m very impressed you noticed the tattoos and made the connection.”

  Mazzetti said, “I can’t take all the credit.” When he realized who he was talking to, he stopped short, but Patty had to ask, “Who else gets the credit?”

  Mazzetti said, “Lisa Kurtz at the medical examiner’s office picked up on it too.”

  Patty just said, “Oh.” She almost looked disappointed.

  Mazzetti said, “Sorry, I didn’t want it to be awkward between us.”

  “It’s not.”

  “Heard you’ve got a new boyfriend.”

  “Sort of.”

  “What’s he like?”

  “He’s a doctor.”

  “Really?”

  “Well, not really a doctor. A podiatrist.”

  “No shit. My foot has been bothering me lately. Should I go see him?”

  Patty smiled and patted Mazzetti on hand. “You can see him, but he’s not going to give you a discount.”

  Mazzetti mumbled, “Never mind.” It would have been wrong to infringe on his former girlfriend’s new squeeze anyway. He looked down at Patty’s desk and said, “What’s the chart you’re working on?”

  “It’s a time line of the three fraternity brothers. How long they’d been at school. What people knew about them. Maybe we’ll find some common factor.” She looked back up at Mazzetti and said, “Don’t worry, Tony. We’ll figure this out together.”

  As Mazzetti walked back to his desk he couldn’t believe how good a few words from the girl made him feel.

  Lynn sat at her desk reading another online news story about Kyle Lee’s unfortunate accident. The three stories she had read all said the same thing: he had accidentally fallen off the dock and was caught in the propellers of a large deep-sea fishing boat. The story made it sound so clean and antiseptic. She had been there and knew it was anything but neat and tidy. She didn’t know if a reporter could ever describe the scene she’d caused. She’d dreamed about it vividly overnight but had awakened very refreshed and even relaxed.

  It had worked out exactly as she had planned. Now she could figure out who else needed to be dealt with and move on. The whole episode had given her an enormous feeling of satisfaction and power.

  She’d been able to focus like a laser this morning and completed balancing the gas receipts and mileage on the entire fleet of Thomas Brothers vehicles. That’s why she had the time to scan the Internet for stories that didn’t relate to either of her jobs.

  Just before lunch, Dale, the loading dock manager who’d been pressuring her for a date, poked his head in the door. He said, “Hey, good looking.”

  Lynn cut her eyes up and casually and mumbled, “Hey, Dale.”

  The big man said, “Think you’ll be ready for that drink soon?”

  Lynn sighed, wondering if this might be an issue she’d have to deal with before she could complete her own mission. She said, “How about Saturday night?”

  The big man whistled and clapped his beefy hands together.

  John Stallings had to work hard not to fixate on the issues bubbling up at work. He was already focused on finding Zach Halston because he wanted to find out more about Jeanie. The young fraternity brother might also be the key to their larger case of looking into the deaths within the fraternity. All Stallings could do was think about Jeanie and the photo of her and Zach locked arm in arm.

  But at this moment, playing a simple game of catch in the backyard with Charlie and Lauren, Stallings didn’t want to focus on anything but the two kids laughing and telling him about their day. This was how he’d dreamed life would be when he was a child. But he’d never had a relationship with his father. Now, as the old man’s memory faded, Stallings had the relationship
he had always wanted. He was determined not to make the same mistakes with his own children. They seemed to enjoy having him around and looked forward to his daily visits. It had not surprised him that Maria had stayed hidden during his entire visit. He didn’t know if she was still angry or if she was embarrassed by her allegation that he had traveled through Ocala to see his partner, Patty.

  He had not even bothered to refute the ridiculous claim and hoped that the time and distance of the weekend might have caused Maria see how silly she’d acted and that was why she was avoiding him.

  Looking at Lauren with her perfect smile and long, brown hair blowing in the late afternoon breeze, Stallings couldn’t help but compare her to Jeanie. It was about this age, fourteen, that he’d felt his relationship with his missing daughter start to change. She’d become more distant and disappeared with her friends more often. He had assumed she and her mother were still communicating closely like they always had. It wasn’t until later, after she disappeared, that he’d realized Maria had completely lost her grip on all aspects of family life. Apparently he had too. He had been so absorbed in homicide investigations he had lost sight of what was really important.

  It was different with Lauren. He was involved in every aspect of her life and knew her habits and hobbies as well as she did. Lately, she’d been on a reading kick so he had bought her an Amazon Kindle and was gratified whenever he saw her curled up on the downstairs couch, reading the latest teen angst book. But she still liked to get outside and exercise. His fears about his middle child had eased somewhat since he’d caught her in a downtown bar with older girls less than a year ago. She had told Stallings she was going to study and it had broken his heart to realize his little girl had lied to him.

  He didn’t know why Lauren had backed away from her older group of friends but suspected it had something to do with her need to keep a closer eye on her mother. Since his sister, Helen, had transitioned out of the house, Lauren seemed to accept more and more responsibility.