by Dale Mayer
“Do you miss the good old days?”
He knew bringing up any reference to those days could trigger a response other than the one he wanted, but that depended on what kind of military man Gordon was. For many there was a sense of camaraderie to others in the military. A sense of ownership. Of belonging. Many men would say they were the best days of their lives. For some it was the opposite. But society expected them to say it was horrible. To say it was the worst thing you could ever experience. Within that experience though there was also a sense of bonding.
No, I can’t miss what I never left.
Hunter nodded. “Sorry to hear that. It’s tough when you come back from war to find people killing each other.”
Especially women and children. We were supposed to save them. Not kill them.
Gordon’s voice dropped even lower. It was hard to hear it as his words were coming more as impressions now not actual enhanced sounds.
“And when you see women and children dying it’s hard to stop it?”
There was an ugly silence. Then Gordon whispered, Yes. I couldn’t stop him. Them.
Hunter straightened. Them? “Why was that, by the way?” Hunter asked, deliberately keeping his voice calm, curious. “It was a long time ago so it’s okay to talk about it, but just wondering why it wasn’t possible to stop them.”
Because he was my friend.
Back to a single pronoun. And a man he knew?
“Interesting. If soldiers did something wrong when you were around, would you have done something about it?”
I’d report them. Then there was a heavy sigh. Unless he was part of my unit. Then I’d have done everything I could to protect him and make him stop. It’s so confusing now.
Interesting. Brotherhood over ethics. “Gordon, are you saying this man was in your unit?”
A heavy silence filled the air. Hunter wasn’t sure if Gordon had left or if he was just unwilling to answer the question. They’d never considered a military man. And yet why not? So many came home and couldn’t stop killing.
He changed the question. “Had you known him long?”
But there was no response from Gordon.
Realizing he was likely losing his connection, Hunter said, “It’s okay, Gordon. If you don’t want to talk about it that’s fine. I just wondered if maybe the victims were his wife and kids? Or if they were strangers?”
Silence.
Shit. He’d lost Gordon that time. He tried to ease back the pressure. “It doesn’t really matter. It’s just kind of odd.”
Then that same faint voice said, Why is it odd?
“Because he killed a family, but he left one little girl alive.”
That’s not right. If he left anyone alive he had a reason. Gordon’s voice faded into the distance. And it won’t be good.
And he blinked out.
Hunter called a couple more times. But even the air felt empty, like Gordon had long gone.
Hopefully now that he’d passed on something important, his spirit would be free to cross over to where it belonged. The last thing he wanted was to have Gordon tied to this dirty alley for the rest of eternity.
He pulled out his phone and quickly called Jericho. Now he had something important to tell him.
Chapter 30
It was the same scenario she’d seen in her vision. She positioned herself in exactly the same place as she had in the vision. A sense of déjà vu took over. She hadn’t had time before for more than a quick glance around the office. She’d barely seen the wall, windows, and table. Her gaze had focused on the body on the floor. As she stood now the only difference was the forensic team working in the boardroom.
The janitor still lay with his head to the side, both arms up. What was different was a large pool of blood underneath. When she’d seen him he’d recently died. Now with his life force drained, the pool of blood was rather substantial.
With the forensic team and several of her team here already, there was barely enough room to walk, let alone think. Lawrence came up behind her and joked, “I guess somebody didn’t like the job he did?”
She shoved her hands into her jeans pockets at the bad joke. “Or he interrupted somebody who shouldn’t have been here? He could’ve interrupted somebody who was allowed to be here but was doing something he shouldn’t be? Alternatively our janitor was doing something he shouldn’t have been doing.” She turned slightly to see Lawrence’s face. “Too early to tell.”
He nodded, his gaze on the sweepers to the side. “Couple of good theories in there, though.” He motioned at the body. “Hard not to link this to the others. That’s three now with their throats slit.”
“All males.”
“We still need a connection to the girl.”
“I don’t think they are connected,” Tavika said calmly. “I think someone used it as a dump site hoping it would turn the police off – or would investigate.” She shrugged. “Who knows?”
“Pretty stupid though,” Peters said, coming up beside them. “It’s just going to make us look harder.”
“As good a theory as any,” Lawrence said. “Still, until we get more information it’s just that – a theory.”
“Which means it has thrown us in the dark,” Tavika said quietly. “If we’d found her somewhere else, we’d have treated her case differently.”
“But because of where she was found we’re wasting our time trying to connect her to the old man.” Peters nodded. “I like it.”
Lawrence said, “So then we should treat this as a completely unrelated case?”
Tavika nodded. She thought back to the dots in the connection with Anna. “I’d look at home, or close to it.”
She sensed more than saw when the two men glanced her way because her gaze was locked on the janitor on the floor. That’s where her focus was going to be. She didn’t know what the deal was with the girl and she would certainly give her time and attention, but right now it was this janitor that took top priority.
The Ghost had to be stopped. Before he killed again.
“What do we know about the victim?”
Peters answered, “His name is Eric Proteus. He was from South Africa originally. Lived in the US for the last fifteen years. For the last three he worked for the cleaning company that has the contract for the office. They’ve never had any trouble with him. They didn’t know what happened until the rest of his crew came looking.”
He brought out his notebook and added, “We have the names of the rest of his crew. But of course no one saw or heard anything.”
She nodded. “The killer could easily have taken a different elevator to avoid the cleaning crew.”
“They could just as easily have been surprised by another member of it,” Peters said. “We need to check.”
Tavika nodded. “The killer wouldn’t have any way to know exactly where the other cleaners would have been at any point in time.”
“Then I guess we can safely assume he didn’t run into anyone as no one else is missing.”
She raised an eyebrow at Lawrence. “You can confirm all the rest of the crew is accounted for?”
Lawrence nodded. “Yes, they have all checked in. And I agree. Had he seen anybody else he likely would’ve killed them too.”
She also happened to agree with them. In her line of duty she’d been forced to kill twice. She wasn’t sure how many it would take for killing to get easier, but she was more than willing to write the Ghost’s name on bullet number three.
After that she ran through the basics, did a quick examination of the office, collected as much detailed information that she could get off the victim and ran it through her computer.
“I can wait for the coroner to get here,” Mark said.
She turned and smiled at him. “Who did you call?”
He just shrugged. “I called the office. They said they’d send somebody.”
She winced. “I would’ve called Shelby.”
“Not for something like this,” he protested. “
She’s the big cheese down there. Any junior would do for this case.”
“No. This case is connected to several others she’s working on. You call Shelby exactly for something like this.” And because her friend was going to be absolutely pissed at having missed out, she sent a text to let her know a third body had been found. As for her, all she could think about was getting home. That was going to be hours out.
She couldn’t wait. And if she was honest she really wanted to see Jericho.
Speaking of which, where was he right now? She looked around. He’d been with her when she walked into the office buildings, but she’d lost him soon after. Where had he gone?
*
Jericho could sense probing energy looking for him. Nice to know she was reaching out to see where he was. He’d gone into the office with her and made his way into the crime scene. But when she started talking with the other detectives he’d done a quick sweep and gone back out to the hallway. He’d managed to get through doors by following the team as they moved up and down the building, tracking the strange energy to the front door. He assumed it belonged to the Ghost. He wallowed around in the entranceway for a while before turning and heading back down to the elevator at the back. Except he couldn’t open the damn doors. He caught her just as she was about to step outside.
Come this way.
She turned and a smile lit up her face.
“There you are.”
The Ghost went here. And he raced ahead of her.
She picked up the pace and ran to the back elevator. They went down to the parking level.
He walked outside and studied the energy hanging around. He could see where some had traveled to the reserved parking spots in the front. He tracked the energy to an empty one with a number on it. He motioned with his hand. “He was here.”
She quickly wrote the number down and then opened up phone. It didn’t take long to get a name and occupation. “Robert Greene. He’s a consultant.”
What kind of consultant? Jericho asked.
“Civil engineering. Specializes in houses.” She frowned. “That might give him access to places and families.”
Where does this guy live?
“I got the address, let’s find out.” They quickly backtracked to her truck. She got in to the driver’s side then laughed because she had forgotten to open the door for him to get in. Once he was inside she said, “Really, can you not open any doors?”
Sometimes I can, others I can’t. It’s odd and frustrating as hell. Lots of times I can just go through glass, but doors are harder.
“Ha,” she said with a laugh. “Chances are it’s all in your mind. You were probably punished for opening a door without permission.”
He started to laugh. You could be right.
She entered the address into her GPS and pulled the vehicle out into traffic. “Greene doesn’t live too far away. Let’s go take a look.”
Makes sense. He lives close to where he works.
They drove to the man’s house and found a vehicle parked in the driveway. On instinct he told her, Keep driving.
“What’s the matter?” she muttered.
There was an awful lot of dark energy collected at the back of the car.
She studied the trunk. “Are you thinking we’ve found Greene in the trunk of his own car? Would the Ghost do that a second time?”
He didn’t answer. She drove slowly past the house then pulled a U-turn and drove in the direction of the address. She parked on the opposite side of the street two houses away.
They were close enough to see a light on in the house. “Do you think the Ghost might be in there?”
I doubt it. It could be Greene’s wife and family. They may not have heard the vehicle return. It would be completely out of character for the Ghost to go into the house.
“Actually, not really. We were all home when he entered our house. He just never left.”
He turned to look at her. Are you starting to remember some things?
Grim faced she nodded. “And none of it’s nice. First things first.” She pulled out the phone. “I need a reason to examine the car.”
He watched a man walking a large Doberman on a leash. He cupped his hands around his mouth and sent out a whisper of energy. The dog stopped, looked in his direction, his ears went up and then he bolted forward ripping the leash from the man’s hand. Instantly there were cries of, “Bruno, Bruno come back, Bruno come back.”
But the Doberman wasn’t having any of it. He raced to the suspect’s car and started barking like a madman.
As the man got closer to the car and tried to pull the dog away he resisted. He snarled and howled at the back of the car.
It was obvious the owner was nervous.
Open the window for me, will you?
She opened the window on his side, letting him out. He headed toward the vehicle and dog. The dog’s owner was frantically trying to pull Bruno back. Other neighbors turned lights on and various people came running out. A neighbor said, “What’s going on?”
Bruno’s owner said, “I’m sorry, but my dog is going crazy over this vehicle.”
The neighbor joined them. Eventually Bruno managed to calm down enough, but he wouldn’t move away from the trunk, short of being dragged.
The neighbor said, “We should call the cops.”
Bruno started to howl. Instantly other dogs within the vicinity joined in.
The neighbor got really nervous. “I’m going to call the cops, this is just way too weird.”
He raced inside.
Jericho watched and smiled. That should do it.
*
No, no. That goddamn dog. He wanted to slice its throat. He’d bolted around the side of the neighbor’s hedge when he’d seen the man and his dog approach. They should have walked right on by.
Not stopped and raised the entire neighborhood.
Hadn’t he had a bad enough day already without this? He just needed to catch a break. Those were thin on the ground today.
The damn janitor shouldn’t have been there. Not in that sector of the building. But no, he was going through every desk in the office. Looking for something to steal. He’d watched him take a slug of a bottle from one drawer. So gross.
Then he’d moved on to another and found some cash. He’d pocketed that damn fast.
Thief.
Scumbag.
Even then he’d have left the janitor alone.
Until he walked into the wrong office.
Chapter 31
Tavika called into dispatch. “I’m on the scene of a disturbance.” She rattled off the address.
“Acknowledged. Reports indicate a suspicious vehicle…” The dispatcher’s voice droned on.
Tavika already knew what was suspicious. “I’ll take it. I believe it’s connected to my other cases.”
She rang off, stepped out of the truck. She pulled out her ID and motioned at the other two officers now on scene to move the gathering crowd back.
Once done, one of the officers returned with a pry bar and popped the trunk. They all stepped back at the gruesome site of a blood stained blanket wrapped male.
With a heavy heart she made the calls. Within minutes the crime tape went up and the process was in motion. She could hear the murmur of the crowd behind her. Well, they’d have a lot more to talk about soon.
She pulled back the corner of the blanket and studied the man’s face. It was Robert Greene. She dropped the blanket back over him and walked up to the front door of the house. Nobody answered. After a few minutes she walked around to the back, two officers with her. She knocked on the kitchen door. The door popped open. She stepped inside quietly with the others at her side, and did a quick sweep of the downstairs. The kitchen light was on but it was empty, as if nobody cooked. That led credence to the fact he was on his way home from work and potentially lived alone. Although they’d seen the light on inside, they hadn’t seen anybody. Maybe he always left it on.
They moved through the hou
se. Even in the bedroom there were no signs of someone else cohabitating in the space. By the time they were done a crowd had gathered outside. Several more units arrived as the coroner pulled up.
Tavika walked out to greet Shelby with a smile. “Glad you made it.”
Shelby snorted. “What’s this about another victim with a sliced throat? Why was I not called in to that scene?”
“Because I wasn’t primary,” Tavika explained.
“You should’ve been. They are all connected.” With a disgusted shake of her head, Shelby walked to the car.
Tavika stood off to one side and watched the coroner examine the victim.
“He’s in full rigor,” she announced. “And in this position we’re likely not looking at the crime scene.”
“No, I believe he was killed in the office where the janitor was and loaded into his trunk and driven here.” Tavika motioned at the house behind them. “This is where he lived.”
The coroner’s sharp gaze took in the two-story brick house then slid back to Tavika. “So the killer drove him home?” she asked incredulously.
“Apparently. I’m waiting for the sweepers to arrive. Maybe the killer went inside.”
Shelby shook her head. “He’s too damn clever for a mistake like that. This makes no sense.”
“No, but I think this is the second time he’s done this,” Tavika said. “Only last time we found the vehicle before he could take her home – if he intended on doing that. I don’t know,” she admitted.
“Damn. He’s on a hell of a spree.” Shelby straightened up and turned to look around. “I have enough to do without some madman killing people then delivering them home.”
Tavika ran her fingers through her hair. It was going to be a long night. She was still feeling pretty shaky, but the last thing she wanted was to be taken off the case. She stepped back a few feet and studied the crowd. She doubted she’d find the killer there, but more than one criminal had stopped to watch the results of his handiwork. They got a thrill from seeing what they instigated.
