Premonition (Detective Jade Monroe 4)

by C. M. Sutter

  I heard him rummaging through his desk.

  “Okay, shoot.”

  “Kate recognized a vehicle in the north parking lot camera video. If you watch it again, you’ll see an older red-and-white truck come into view. I swear it made the hair stand up on the back of my neck when she pointed it out. Joe, she was actually shaking. That truck came out of nowhere and followed the Mazda slowly through the parking lot. When the car turned onto the street, it was right behind it. The truck followed the Mazda until they were out of the camera’s view.”

  Clayton set the coffee on my desk. I mouthed a thank-you.

  “Couldn’t that have been any vehicle heading toward the exit and the Mazda happened to be in front of it?”

  “Yep, definitely, and that’s what I would have thought if Kate wasn’t watching it with us.”

  “What made the difference?”

  “She said that very truck was in her first dream. That was the vehicle that pulled over and gave victim one a ride. I might have been skeptical if she hadn’t told me about it four days ago.”

  I heard Joe whistle through the phone line. “Man, that woman has some serious psychic abilities.”

  “Yeah, scary abilities, and here’s the bad news. If Deidra’s attacker was driving her car, that—”

  Detective Amoroso interrupted, “That means he has an accomplice.”

  “Exactly.”

  “So that’s how this perp is getting around—there are actually two of them. We need to put a BOLO out on the truck. Were you guys able to make out the model?”

  “Nope, but I’d venture to say it’s older, has noticeable rust on it, and it could have Georgia or Tennessee plates.”

  “Sounds like enough information to get the ball rolling. I’ll put the BOLO notification out to the state police and sheriff’s departments. Anything else?”

  “We weren’t able to see the driver of the truck. He had the visor pulled down alongside the window. My guess would be to block his face from the store cameras.”

  “I’d agree with that. Okay, I’m going to round up my guys and check out that video again. We might be lucky enough to have an old car enthusiast on the force. They might recognize what make and model the truck is. Meanwhile, we’re waiting to hear from the Evansville crime lab. They have the Mazda in their evidence garage. We haven’t heard anything about Deidra yet. You can imagine how worried her family is. I’ll keep you posted.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Joe.” I clicked off.

  An email from my dad came in right as I was about to close down my computer. I opened it and saw that he’d sent his itinerary. He was scheduled to arrive in two days. I hit the print icon on the email and heard the printer around the corner come to life. I said a silent prayer that these criminals would be taken down before the holiday and nobody would die in the process.

  Chapter 33

  Robert

  The area had become wooded, and traffic was sparse. No blind corners or hills blocked their view.

  Robert looked ahead and then turned to look over his shoulder. Behind them, the coast was clear. Theirs were the only two vehicles as far as he could see in either direction. He was willing to take the risk.

  “This looks like a good spot. You know how to pit a car, right?”

  “Sure, but then what? We’d have to get both vehicles off the road before anyone drives by. And that’s if there’s a place to hide two vehicles.”

  “This is our only chance. Gun it and tap her back quarter panel. She’ll spin out. When her car stops, I’ll knock her out temporarily. Come on. We’ll figure it out as we go.”

  She was a quarter mile ahead of them. Tony buried the gas pedal against the floor. His heavy boot held the pedal down with constant pressure. The truck revved and leaped forward.

  “Go, go, go!” Robert looked back—the road behind them was devoid of cars. He laughed nervously and punched Tony on the shoulder. “You’re almost there, bro—hit her!”

  They saw that blond hair through her rear window. She looked back and sped up. Tony stayed on her. She sped up again. Robert felt her fear when she looked back the second time. He could see it on her face—it was a look that fueled his pent-up fire.

  Robert yelled out, “Now!”

  Tony bumped the back driver’s side. The vehicle wobbled, but she kept it on the road and stepped on it.

  “Get alongside her and hit it harder!”

  Tony caught up and hit the back quarter panel again. The Subaru spun out of control.

  “That’s what I’m talking about. Get past her so we don’t get tangled up in that.”

  A roar from the engine sounded when Tony gunned the pickup and got around her vehicle. Robert turned in his seat to see the car spinning backward. He slapped the back of the bench seat and laughed.

  “Okay, stop the truck.”

  Tony slammed on the brakes and turned around. The tires squealed when he stepped on the gas and sped back to her car. The stench of burned rubber was strong. Smoke and dust filled the air. The car, still clouded in a blanket of dust, slid on the gravel and crashed through a barbed wire fence, then came to rest in the ditch, against a thicket of bushes and small trees. With the driver’s door pinned, the only way out was on the roadside where the Lynch brothers stood.

  Robert’s eyes darted both ways—still clear. “We have to hurry. Get the truck and push this car back onto the road.”

  Screams sounded from inside the car. Robert grabbed the passenger-side door handle and swung it open. The woman thrashed and caught him along his cheek with her foot, stunning him for a second.

  “Big mistake, bitch.” Robert grabbed her by the arm and pulled her toward him. With his arm coiled back, he punched her in the face, and she fell limp.

  The sound of gravel crunching caused Robert to look back. Tony had lined the truck up behind the Subaru. He rolled down the window to talk to his brother.

  Robert yelled to him, “I’ll get in the driver’s seat and steer the car out.”

  “Where’s the girl?”

  “Napping.”

  Robert climbed over the woman and turned the steering wheel toward the road.

  An approaching vehicle caught Tony’s eye as he lined up the truck’s front to the back of the car. He yelled out. “Shit, we have company.”

  The vehicle slowed to a stop. Robert and Tony locked eyes—they knew what needed to be done.

  “What happened here?” the man asked as he clicked on his flashers and exited the van.

  “An apparent blowout.” Robert climbed out as the man approached the car. “She must have hit her head when she went into the ditch. She’s out cold, and there’s a pretty big goose egg on her forehead. This is how we found her.”

  “Let me take a look. I’m an EMT. Did you call it in?”

  “Yeah, a few minutes ago. They said the ambulance was dispatched and on its way. It shouldn’t be long now.”

  Tony closed in. Robert lifted his T-shirt and pulled the knife out of its sheath. Tony did the same. The man leaned over the front passenger seat to check on the woman. With a quick glance both ways down the road, Robert nodded. The man cried out, jerked, and stiffened his body when they both plunged their knives into him. He swatted at his back, unsure of what was happening. A sucking noise sounded when Robert pulled his knife out. He thrust it again, this time at the base of the man’s neck. The EMT twitched and fell to the ground with a blood pool spreading around him.

  Robert reached over him, pulled the keys from the ignition, and wiped the steering wheel down. He popped the trunk with the key fob. “Grab his wallet,” he said to Tony. “Let’s get him inside.”

  They carried the man to the trunk and threw him in, then Tony slammed the lid. The coast was still clear. Robert pointed at the license plates.

  “Pull those off the car, then get the rope. We need to tie her up.”

  Robert pulled the woman’s arms and yanked her out of the Subaru. He bent his knees and, with a grunt, picked her up and heaved her over his
shoulder. He crossed the road and tossed her on the flattened seats at the back of the van. Tony tied her arms and legs to the metal slides that held the seats in place while Robert wiped the lip of the trunk and door handles with his T-shirt. He grabbed her purse and the bag of snacks that had fallen to the floor.

  “Let’s get the hell out of here. Follow me. I’ll find a spot to pull off the road.”

  Tony nodded.

  Robert watched as his brother climbed in the truck and backed up, then they both made a U-turn in the road and continued toward Terre Haute. He pressed the seek button on the radio as he drove, trying to locate a station that played country music. The woman moaned behind him. Robert looked over his shoulder and grinned at her. He had big plans, and his heart raced with anticipation.

  Chapter 34

  I had all of next week blocked off as vacation. This much-anticipated visit from my dad was all Amber and I had talked about for months. Even my mom wanted to schedule a family visit, much to Bruce, her second husband’s, dismay. My dad was larger than life, and Bruce always seemed a bit intimidated by him. Thanksgiving Day would be a small, quiet affair consisting of Amber, my dad, and me. Since they were family, I had to include Spaz, Polly, and Porky too, even though they wouldn’t be enjoying turkey and pumpkin pie with us.

  Ever since Kate called me early last week with her dream descriptions, this case had had my stomach tied in knots. Even though it wasn’t truly our case, I still wanted to be kept abreast of everything that went on, especially since I’d be out of the loop beginning in two days. Tomorrow was Friday, my last day of work for a week. My dad was arriving Saturday evening.

  My mind was deep in Kate’s dream world to the point that I needed to know more about psychics, clairvoyants, and mystics. I was sure they were all one and the same. The ringing desk phone jarred me out of my thoughts.

  I answered to Joe Amoroso’s tense voice. His distress sounded through the phone line.

  “What’s wrong, Joe? Whatever you’re going to say can’t be good.” I pulled my notepad and a pen closer in case I needed them.

  “I just received an update from the Evansville PD, and you’re right, it isn’t good.”

  My heart sank—I knew what he was going to say.

  “The police department got an urgent call about ninety minutes ago from a pretty upset kid. Apparently a group of teenagers skipped school and gathered at some abandoned warehouses near the rail yard on the edge of downtown. Sounds like that’s the place they all go to when they want to hang out and smoke weed. Anyway, they entered one of the buildings through a broken-out window and immediately smelled something foul. One kid was egged on to go investigate. That boy found a woman crumpled in a dark corner. He ran back to his friends and called it in. He was pretty shook up.”

  “It’s Deidra, right?”

  I was sure I heard Joe’s voice crack, then the line went silent for a few seconds. He cleared his throat.

  “Yes. The police department pulled up her driver’s license online when they found her car. They have the photo and confirmed it was her. Jade, she was opened up from her sternum to her pelvic bone and shoved into a corner like yesterday’s trash. According to the Evansville PD, it was quite a gruesome scene with blood everywhere. They said her intestines spilled out onto the floor.”

  Imagining that scene was horrible, and I would keep that information to myself. Kate had no reason to hear those sickening details.

  Joe went on. “According to the responding officer’s statement, it appeared that she was dragged to that spot from outside, likely to hide her. Evansville’s crime lab is still on-site, going over everything with a fine-toothed comb. The ME has already taken her body to the morgue. Now it’s up to me to inform the family. I’ll contact her kids today. Hang on a sec.”

  I heard paper rustling.

  “Yeah, here we go. Her son, Andy, goes to school in Colorado Springs, and her daughter, Amy, is a bit closer to home at Ohio State.”

  “Joe, I’m so sorry. Have they found any forensic evidence?”

  “I haven’t heard. They said they’d update me again this afternoon. It’s still early in the investigation, and it’s their case now. Deidra lived in and was kidnapped from Nashville, then her car and disemboweled body was found in Evansville, Indiana. Those are the crimes our jurisdictions can work on—nothing more.”

  “Don’t you think the FBI should be involved? These killers are crossing state lines.”

  “I’ll find out when I talk to the police chief in Evansville what their intentions are. I would agree that the FBI should be told, and maybe they’ve already been contacted.”

  “Joe, I don’t know what to say to Kate. This is going to scare her beyond belief. It sounds like a knife was used on Deidra, the thing Kate fears most.”

  “Yeah, I understand. Give your approach some thought before you tell her anything. Oh, by the way, we took another look at the north parking lot video at Shopmart. We couldn’t tell the make and model of that truck from the footage. The entire vehicle doesn’t come into frame until it’s farther out, almost ready to turn onto the street. I’m going to ask around about showing a vehicle identification expert the video footage. I don’t know if that type of person exists, but I intend to find out. Meanwhile, we put a BOLO out for a red-and-white older pickup truck in the Evansville vicinity that’s possibly heading north. At this point, we have no reason to believe they’d turn around and head back south.”

  “Yeah, I agree. Kate left a bit ago to do a reading she had postponed earlier. I think I’ll finish up here, go home, and give this information some careful thought before I tell her about it. She deserves at least one day and night without horrible dreams or bad news.”

  I clicked off the phone call and woke up my computer.

  Clayton glanced over my shoulder as he walked by. “What are you looking for?”

  “I want to see if there’s such a person as a forensic vehicle identification expert.”

  Chapter 35

  Robert

  She kicked the sides of the van and screamed for help. The ropes kept her tightly in place. Robert smiled at her through the rearview mirror.

  “Save your energy. Kicking and crying isn’t going to do anything except wear you out. I have a fun afternoon planned for us.”

  She screamed even louder.

  “You know, young ladies like you are just asking for trouble. Look at the way you dress. You look like a slut, and to be honest, I’m pretty sure that’s the image you were going for.”

  “Let me go. You don’t know anything about me, and I haven’t done anything wrong.”

  “Sure you have.” Robert chuckled loudly and adjusted the mirror so she could see his eyes. He winked at her. “You were in the wrong place at the exact time I came into the gas station.” He saw the recognition in her eyes. “There you go, now it’s coming back to you. You do remember seeing me earlier at the gas station. Checking me out, huh?”

  She spat and swore at him to no avail.

  “How’s the head?”

  “How’s yours, asshole? I remember giving you a nice kick to the face.” She jerked on the ropes and thrashed some more.

  “I’ll live. That’s more than I can say about you. Relax, babe, and enjoy the ride. We’ll be pulling over real soon now.”

  She kicked the back of Robert’s seat so hard it pushed him forward. The van lurched.

  “You’re going to be nothing but trouble, right? I think it’s time to find a nice, quiet spot to get better acquainted, right now.”

  Robert slammed on the brakes and pulled over. Her head hit the sliding side window because of the sudden stop. He heard the thud and looked back to see her bloodied forehead. He got out.

  Tony pulled off the road behind him.

  “What’s going on?”

  “We need to get this done now. I want to have some fun with her, but the screeching is getting on my nerves. I need the duct tape.”

  “Sure, no sweat.” Tony went to the truc
k and returned with the roll of tape spinning around his index finger.

  “Perfect. I’m going to shut her up then find a secluded place to stop. We may have to detour off the highway for a few miles.”

  “Let me see what’s ahead of us.” Tony pulled out his cell phone and tapped on the map application. He enlarged the screen and appeared to ponder it for a minute. “Yeah, that should work. Looks like three miles up is a turnoff that leads to Smith Lake Road. The satellite image shows a small lake in a fairly wooded area. There aren’t any houses around it, either. Let’s check it out.”

  “That sounds good, but first give me a minute to tape up her mouth. You have the map, so you can lead the way. Who knows—she may even want to go for an afternoon swim.”

  The van rocked when Robert climbed in the back. A few minutes later, he exited and slammed the door. He wiped his forehead and grinned at his brother. “That bitch is a handful, but at least she’ll be a quiet one.”

  Robert climbed into the driver’s seat and closed the door. He waved Tony around him to lead the way.

  The clock on the dashboard showed four o’clock. Robert clicked on his right blinker and followed Tony down a two-lane road that ended at Smith Lake Road. They turned right. The gravel path went for another half mile through dense woods before it opened up to a grassy area with a small lake to their left. They both got out.

  Tony pulled the rubber band off his ponytail, ran his hands through his hair, gathered the loose ends, and fastened it again. He lifted his sunglasses. The sun had lowered in the afternoon sky, and the shaded surroundings darkened the area.

  “What do you think?” Robert asked. He skipped a few rocks across the water.

  “Let’s take a look around. We have to make sure nobody is back here fishing.”

  “No cars or bikes, that’s a good sign.” Robert disappeared into the brush, then came out thirty feet to his right. He pointed over his shoulder. “We can stash the vehicles in there for now. It looks like we can pull in a good forty feet.”