Splintered (Mike Campbell Series Book 1)

by Rosemary Wilson

  He had done his due diligence when he was made aware Craig McGinley was abusing his wife and children. He had staked out their house and researched as much as he could on the internet. He knew they were in their early thirties, had been married for almost eight years, and had two children, Taylor, who was six, and Chelsea who was four. They bought their house, a nice 15 year old four bedroom colonial in East Hempfield shortly after their son was born. Craig had a good job as a project manager for a local builder and by all accounts was good at it.

  Last Wednesday had been a beautiful night. There was a light breeze blowing and he had heard the argument through the open windows. The houses were far enough apart in this development so he was able to get close to the McGinley house without arousing anyone’s suspicions. He listened as Carol told her husband she wanted to visit her parents in Philadelphia to celebrate her father’s sixtieth birthday. Craig didn’t want to go. Initially, she told him it would look bad if he didn’t attend. He didn’t like her talking back because he hauled off and slapped her. When the two kids saw him hit their mom, they screamed and ran out of the room. He assumed they had seen this before and were getting out of harm’s way. Craig, was a large man, about six feet one, weighing around 220 pounds. He towered over his much smaller wife and his slap had caused her to fall to the floor.

  He watched her get up holding her bruised cheek. She stood erect, making her five feet two inches look much taller as she told Craig he could stay home and she would take the kids and go alone. He didn’t like her defying him and hauled off and hit her again. To avoid any further confrontations, Carol left the room and went upstairs to put the children to bed. Craig went to the small bar in the rec room and poured himself a healthy shot of bourbon.

  He had seen and heard enough. Craig was as bad as Dave. It was time he learned his lesson. He wanted to make sure Carol would not be around on Saturday, so he staked out the house one last time on Friday night. The van, which he knew was Carol’s car, was not in the driveway. Craig’s Ford F150 was parked in its usual spot. The lights went on and off downstairs and then on and off upstairs in the master bedroom. When he left at 11:00 p.m. the van was still not there. He was confident she had taken the children and gone to her parents’ for the weekend.

  On Saturday night, he parked several houses away from the McGinley residence, took his briefcase off the front seat and walked to their front door. He rang the bell and Craig answered the door with a most unfriendly “Who are you? Don’t you realize what time it is?” He just smiled and told Craig he could address him as The Avenger. As Craig started to slam the door in his face, the Avenger pushed the door toward Craig, who was off balance because he had been drinking since early afternoon and was quite intoxicated. The self-proclaimed avenger entered the home and took the taser from his pocket. One blast sent Craig to the floor flopping around like a fish on the deck of a boat. He quickly bound Craig and dragged him to the basement, where he intended to have a long talk with Craig and show him the error of his ways. He wanted to make sure Craig knew why he was about to die.

  Now, here on Monday, he did not feel any regret for either Dave’s or Craig’s deaths. Neither man had been the least bit sorry about the way they treated their wives. In fact, they had both accused their spouses of ‘bringing it on themselves’. The avenger had hit Craig several times to show him what it felt like, and Craig had cursed and threatened as if he had control of the situation. Craig’s eyes had grown very large though when he saw the knife as it was taken from the briefcase. He pleaded for his life right up until the time his throat was cut. When Craig was dead the avenger cut off his hands and placed the note between the thumb and index finger, cleaned up his tools and left through the front door.

  The only thing he felt any guilt about was it would likely be Carol who would find her husband. He prayed neither of the children would go to the basement laundry room with their mother.

  As he cleaned up his dinner dishes, the avenger finally thought of the most fitting term for Dave Flanders and Craig McGinley and those to follow. They were not his victims. They were rubbish. He was just taking out the trash.

  CHAPTER 30

  Mike and Max spent Tuesday morning running down the few tips called into the hot line – six in all. Two of them were from regulars who had information on every crime committed in Lancaster. Even though they knew they wouldn’t get any useful information, Mike contacted one of the callers, while Max took the other. They divided the last four in half and by lunchtime had followed up on all six calls. No new clues were found and they once again went over the timeline, trying to find something they had missed.

  It was about 3:00 o’clock in the afternoon when Mike answered his phone and got some news he was not expecting.

  “Is this Detective Campbell?” the caller asked.

  “Yes, how can I help you?”

  “Detective Campbell, I’m Officer Henry Simonson of the East Hempfield Police.”

  “What can I do for you Officer Simonson?” Mike asked a bit confused.

  “You’ll hear about it on the news tonight, but I just wanted to give you a heads up on what we were called out on late this morning.”

  Now the hackles on the back of Mike’s neck started to rise and he could almost predict what the officer was going to tell him.

  “We were called by a Mr. William Harrison. He is the father of Mrs. Carol McGinley and was calling from his daughter’s house. They found her husband dead in their laundry room.”

  “Can I put this call on speaker so my partner can hear?”

  “Sure.”

  Mike hit the speaker button and motioned Max to listen. “Since you’re calling me Officer Simonson, I presume there were similarities to Dave Flanders’ death. Were his hands removed?”

  “Yes, just like with the Flanders’ murder. I have to ask a question. Was there anything in his hands when he was found?”

  “I’m assuming there was something in Mr. McGinley’s?”

  “Yes, it was a bit strange. His hands were holding a folded piece of paper. When we opened up the paper, there was one sentence printed on it.”

  “What was that sentence?” Mike asked, although he already knew the answer.

  “’If he had kept his hands to himself, he would still have them’. I had to call and ask because that information wasn’t presented at the press conference yesterday.”

  “We’re trying to keep the note from becoming public knowledge. Have you told anyone about it?”

  “Well, Mrs. McGinley saw the paper, but not the message. Her father was there with her and wanted to know, but we told him it was evidence and we couldn’t share the contents. I told the other officers on the scene not to mention it until I had talked to you.”

  “Thanks. Has the coroner taken the body yet?”

  “Yeah. He said a rough guess on time of death was probably late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. Cause of death has to be verified, but the victim’s throat had been cut and he was sitting in a big puddle of his own blood.”

  Mike was curious why the body was discovered today.

  Officer Simonson told him Mrs. McGinley had been in Philadelphia over the weekend and had just returned today with her father. He was there as moral support because she planned to tell her husband she wanted a divorce and she and the children would be living with her parents for the short-term.

  “She went to the basement to gather up the clean clothes from the laundry room when she found her husband sitting beside the washer. She was really freaked out. Her father heard her screaming and came down. When he saw Craig, he got his daughter upstairs and called 911 and stayed with her. He didn’t touch anything in the laundry and neither did his daughter.

  “It appears we might have the same perp for both murders and I want to know if we can get together to compare information.”

  Mike was agreeable and they set up a time to meet on Wednesday morning. After ending the call, Mike turned to Max who had been listening to the conversation. �
�You know Max, when you said something at Sandy’s house about the murderer printing more than one copy of the note, I thought you were just kidding.”

  Max was shaking his head. “I saw stranger things during my time in Philadelphia, but I was hoping multiple copies of it was not a possibility. Now the big question is: Does our killer plan on using all the copies he made?”

  Mike had asked Officer Simonson to bring the note so they could compare it to the one they found. He was sure they would match. He was also sure if they didn’t catch this guy soon, there would be more killings.

  CHAPTER 31

  Mike met Officer Simonson in the lobby of the police building and escorted him to a conference room where Max was waiting. They had already brought their small collection of evidence and pictures to the room so they wouldn’t waste time. Mike liked to try and guess what people looked like by the sound of their voice, so he had developed a mental picture of the officer after their brief conversation yesterday. He wasn’t surprised to see he was batting a thousand – wrong again. The fiftyish, medium build, six footer with dark hair and brown eyes he had pictured was anything but. Henry Simonson topped out at five feet ten inches, was in his early forties and it was quite evident he worked out. There was no flab on his well-toned torso and his handshake was firm, but controlled. His hair was dirty blonde and his eyes were a clear blue. Mike checked Officer Simonson’s left hand, but saw no wedding ring.

  The three men took seats at the table and Mike began by showing Officer Simonson the note they had taken from the Flanders’ house. When put side-by-side with the note Officer Simonson had brought, they knew they had the same assailant.

  “Had your victim been tased, Officer Simonson?” Mike asked.

  “We couldn’t tell for sure. Dr. Dougherty said he should have the autopsy done today and he will get the report to us as soon as it’s completed.”

  Max asked the officer to walk them through the chain of events leading up to his call to them yesterday.

  “There was a call made to 911 yesterday at approximately 10:30 a.m. It was from a Mr. John Harrison. He explained he was at his daughter’s house and needed the police because his son-in-law had been killed.

  “We arrived on the scene at approximately 10:45 a.m. Mr. Harrison introduced himself and his daughter, Carol McGinley. She had just returned from a weekend with her parents in Philadelphia and explained she went to the basement to get some clothing and found her husband propped up against the washer. She started to scream and Mr. Harrison went to see what was wrong. As soon as he saw his son-in-law, he got his daughter upstairs and called 911.

  “I went to the basement laundry room to see if Mr. McGinley was dead or in need of medical assistance. His eyes were wide open and he was sitting in a huge puddle of blood. By the way the blood had coagulated and dried I knew he had been dead for quite a while. I made the call for the coroner and backup. I secured the scene and waited for the coroner.

  “While waiting, I ask Mrs. McGinley if she was able to answer some questions. She agreed. I started by asking her if she and her husband were having any marital problems. She said yes they were. She stated her husband had been getting progressively more abusive toward her and she was afraid the abuse would soon spread to her children. She talked to her parents while visiting them and they agreed to let her stay with them until she could file for divorce and make other living arrangements. She asked her father to accompany her to Lancaster so she could get clothing for herself and the children.

  “I asked her when she last talked to her husband. She stated he called on Saturday afternoon. He had been drinking and was really angry with her for taking the children and going to Philadelphia after he had told her not to go. The tone of his voice had really frightened her and she said that’s when she made her decision to end the marriage.

  “Her father accompanied her to her house while her mother kept the children. She was surprised when they entered the house and were not confronted by Craig because his truck was in the driveway. She hurried downstairs to get the clothes she had washed before leaving on Friday and found Mr. McGinley.”

  Mike listened carefully to Officer Simonson’s recitation and was amazed by the number of similarities between the McGinley and Flanders cases.

  Max asked Officer Simonson if he had brought pictures of the scene.

  The officer pulled them out of the large envelope he brought with him and spread them out on the table. While he was looking at the pictures of Craig McGinley, Mike asked Officer Simonson where the victim’s hands had been found.

  “Right on top of the dryer. The note was folded in half and placed between the thumb and first finger of his right hand. When I noticed them, it looked like an art project. The coroner instructed his assistant to bag the hands along with the body and I realized the hands were Craig McGinley’s. The note was removed and placed in an evidence bag before the hands were put in the body bag. All the evidence reminded me of your press conference on Monday. I ran it past the chief of police and he agreed we should meet and compare the cases.”

  “It appears Mr. McGinley was already dead when we had the press conference on Monday. I don’t think we have a copycat killer because no one but the killer and us knew about the note. It appears we have the same killer for both victims.” Max looked at both Mike and Officer Simonson as he made the statement. They were both nodding their heads.

  Mike glanced at Max and asked “Did you ever work a multiple homicide in Philadelphia?”

  “A couple of times, but they were either gang-related or one person went berserk and went on a shooting spree with himself as the last victim. These crime victims seem to be strangers to each other. We’re going to have to find the thread that ties these two people together.”

  Mike asked Officer Simonson if Mrs. McGinley was still in the area.

  “She said she was going to stay with friends until after the funeral. Craig is from Lancaster and she’s working with his parents to plan the funeral but doesn’t want to impose on them because they have a very small house. They are older and she’s afraid the children would make too much noise for them. She gave me her cell number so I can contact her.”

  “Okay,” Mike began, “we have to re-interview our victim’s wife and you need to talk to Mrs. McGinley again. We’ll need to know if these two families had any connection with one another, no matter how tenuous. Mrs. Flanders called me last night after seeing the news. I asked her if she knew either Mr. or Mrs. McGinley and she said she didn’t. So we will need to start from scratch.”

  Max suggested they start with the obvious: schools attended; churches and organizations they belonged to; where they shopped; gym memberships; doctors, neighbors, friends. “When you have gathered what you can from Mrs. McGinley, we’ll compare it to the information we obtain from Mrs. Flanders to see if there are any connections. We’ll also check with Jason Flanders to see if perhaps the McGinleys bought a car from his dealership.”

  Officer Simonson looked at Max as if he had spoken a foreign language. “Why would you do that?”

  “We need to cover all bases. I know it’s farfetched but we need to check ANY possible link between the two families.”

  The three men put together a list of questions they would ask both wives and agreed to have another meeting the next afternoon.

  After Officer Simonson left, Max looked at Mike and asked about Richard Powers.

  “I think we should interview him and find out where he was over the weekend. With this new murder, I think we can probably eliminate him as a suspect.

  “I’ll run it past Lt. Harper, but I think I should be the one to interview Sandy and you can interview her father. After news broadcasts and this morning’s paper, Jason knows about this new murder, and is probably trying to figure out how to keep you in the mix of suspects.”

  “I don’t see how he can manipulate this new murder to include me, but I think you’re right. I haven’t said anything to Sandy about Jason’s insinuations because I was a
fraid she’d confront him and I think it would only make things worse.”

  “You’re probably right. Give me Sandy’s number and I’ll see if she can meet me this afternoon.”

  “I’ll get in touch with Richard and meet him at his office. I don’t want Sandy to know that her father has been a suspect.”

  They made their calls and headed out, Mike to Richard Powers’ office and Max to the Powers’ house where Sandy was still staying. With the new murder, Mike was more convinced he was missing something – something important. He hoped it dawned on him soon, before there was another death, because he knew they were dealing with a killer who would keep killing until he was stopped.

  CHAPTER 32

  Max pulled into the Powers’ driveway and saw Sandy looking out the living room window. By the time he got to the front door she was waiting for him and showed him into the kitchen where he could smell fresh coffee.

  “I hope you don’t mind Detective, but I’d like to sit in here. The kitchen has always been the hub of the house and besides, it’s easier to get to the coffee. Would you like a cup?”

  “Sounds good. Black will be fine.”

  Sandy poured the coffee and sat down opposite Max as she slid his cup across the table. “What did you need to talk to me about, Detective Davis?”

  “Mike told me you called him last night after seeing the report of the man murdered in the same manner as your husband.”

  “Yes, it was a little surreal. I called Mike to see if he knew anything more than what had been reported on the news. He asked me if I knew the victim. It’s terrible, but I can’t remember his name.”

  “Craig McGinley.” Max placed a picture on the table he had obtained from Officer Simonson. “This is a picture of Craig and Carol McGinley. Have you ever seen either one of them?”

  Sandy studied the picture before answering. “Neither of them look familiar to me.”