“We have an update.”
“Great. Join us in the morgue,” she stated.
They followed her.
“We have some good things for you,” Noah offered. “Not much, but a few little things that might make you happy.”
She was good with that.
Anything was better than nothing at this point. It wasn’t often they knew the killer in advance and had to track him. Normally, with her crazies, she had to figure out who was behind it. This made it easier and harder at the same time.
Like when tracking Bonnie.
“Let me update you all first,” she said, hopping onto the counter where Chris had been waiting. He sat back on his rolling stool and continued eating his apple that she’d brought him.
“Ready,” Alex stated.
She filled them all in on what she’d learned from O’Banion. She told them everything, from him being shit scared to him knowing the victim. The entire time, she made sure to keep Jaxon in view.
If the woman looked upset, she’d give them fewer details and email the team after the fact. She didn’t want to upset a pregnant woman.
“That makes sense,” Alex stated. “We ran his route, knowing he was a postal worker, and she’s on it.”
“Carl would want to find little ways to make O’Banion nervous. He did the man’s dirty work for years, and then O’Banion has his son shanked in prison. That’s going to make a person bitchy.”
Yeah, and make them absolutely crazy.
“He’s going to be overt, and he’s going to play cat and mouse with the man.”
“Are we protecting him?” Alex asked.
“Nope.”
She was drawing a hard and fast line on this one. While they might have Heath sitting outside his building, that was not him watching O’Banion, but Heath watching out for Carl. If they failed, and the man went down…
Yeah, karma.
It was what it was. She’d take the heat in the press and deal with it. She could only do so much.
“The US Marshals have that duty. He has a babysitter outside his place. Heath and the US Marshals know what Carl looks like, and they can watch him. I have to stop a killer. I’m going to be busy.”
Yeah, they all knew what was coming.
“I’m sorry, Jax,” she offered, hoping the woman wouldn’t hate her for it.
Jaxon reassured her.
“He was the reason my mother died. He was the reason my brother didn’t become a teacher and settle down before fighting so many wars. I have no sympathy. You get the dead justice. He’s going to take his chances.”
They all knew she was lying.
It was her father.
She still loved him even though he was evil. Jaxon wasn’t a mean person, and she had a huge heart. There would be sympathy for that devil.
Elizabeth made a silent vow to protect her the best she could on this one.
She pressed on.
Pointing up at the screen, she needed to know more about the dead woman.
“Let’s start with her past. What can you tell me about Beverly?” she asked.
The team gave her what she wanted.
“The woman worked in an office, she partied with her friends, and she had just dumped her boyfriend two days before,” Alex stated. “While he might not have anything to do with it…”
She knew.
He was still a possibility.
“I’ll check him out. Who is he?” she asked.
Callen got his phone out to make notes. It looked like they were going to be questioning an ex.
“His name is Landon Turner. He’s the everyday normal guy, except when you dig a little deeper into his past, he had one hell of an ugly divorce. His ex-wife has a restraining order against him.”
That was interesting.
Dead woman.
Restraining order.
Where there was smoke, there was fire.
“For?”
“Battery. Someone likes to drink and abuse,” Max stated. “I searched his social media, and up to an hour ago, he was posting updates.”
He ran his fingers over the screen and sent it to the big one on the wall.
They all read it.
‘The best bitch is a dead bitch.’
Well, that definitely said it all.
The man didn’t like women, and he didn’t seem to care if they got hurt.
That was…interesting.
While they knew Carl had likely killed her, Elizabeth still wanted to interview him. Maybe he saw something, or he knew something about how she’d been chosen to be his victim.
Since they were a couple two days prior, and Carl likely stalked her, Landon might be helpful.
“Cal, add him to my list to interview. Alex, I know you have to have his personal information. Shoot it to my research monkey.”
He did what she asked.
“What about Carl?” she asked, wanting to know where the hell he was.
Max was up.
“I found this,” he stated, sending the information to the wall. It was a video. “MATE play.”
The technology began doing its thing.
“That’s him there,” Max said, making a circle around him on the screen.
They watched him exit the bus, hail a cab, and then head out.
“Could we track him past there?” she asked, knowing the city had other recorded routes.
“Not by camera, Director,” Max stated.
“What’s that cab number?” she asked. “That may be our next best option at this point.”
Max magnified the screen so they could check it out and give her an answer. It was hard to see, but it was doable.
“I believe it says one-twenty-one.”
That worked for her.
“Callen, find out where that cab took him. I want to track him. Where else do you have him?”
“Nowhere.”
She glanced over.
How was that possible?
“What do you mean ‘nowhere’?”
Well, they were about to give her the bad news, and she wasn’t going to like it.
At all.
“The prison gave him a prepaid debit card. We have his account, that he opened after prison, tagged. There was a large sum of money placed in it, but that’s it. Nothing more in or out.”
She thought about it.
Something about that was odd, but then again, Carl could have had money stashed from his O’Banion days, or he could have someone helping him.
At this point, it could be anything.
“Okay, I need that account frozen. We’ll start boxing him in. If he has money hidden, we’ll cut off this avenue of escape.”
“I’ll make a call,” Callen stated, heading outside the morgue to get her what she wanted.
Elizabeth focused on Chris.
“My Doctor Smarty-Pants, what do you have for me?” she asked.
He smiled at the term. She’d called him that when they had been a couple.
“I haven’t heard that since when we were dating,” he said. “I almost forgot that term of endearment from you.”
She laughed.
“Sometimes, it’s good to bring back the past.”
He fought the emotion.
Yes, yes, it was.
Chris got down to business to give Elizabeth what she needed to start this case.
“Well, I can tell you that Doctor Vanbrunt is one of the better MEs out there. His autopsy was thorough, and he did it exactly how it should be done.”
Well, that gave her hope.
At least that was one thing she didn’t have to sweat at this point. They had a competent ME. She’d run with it.
“Give me the Christopher-approved details,” she stated, waiting for him to do his thing.
“Well, COD is definitely the knife wound to the back of her neck. It was one slide in, and then out. He knew what he was doing.”
“He?”
Chris nodded. “Yeah, that’s a tough spot to shank some
one. It takes a great deal of force. Someone of a decent size had to hold her, and then still be able to drive the blade through the space between the vertebrae and the skull. It takes precision and power.”
Well, Carl had practice.
“Let me see his prison picture,” she stated, pointing at Max. “I want the last known one we have on file for Carl.”
He sent it to the screen.
“He’s still in good shape,” Elizabeth stated. “He worked out in the supermax. The man wasn’t as soft and paunchy as his boss had become.”
“Is O’Banion in bad shape?” Chris asked.
“Well, time has not been his friend. He looks old and beat down.”
Good.
Chris was glad.
“Compared to his once hired thug, he’s not even in the same league. Carl could still do the killing. That was his MO all those years ago.”
Yeah, Carl was having some good old revenge and it looked like it was best served cold.
“We have an in-shape killer on the prowl,” Elizabeth stated. “We all need to watch our backs. Someone got buff in the clink.”
They all made a mental note.
“Well, in his defense, Carl would have to,” Chris stated. “That’s a tough place to rest your head for a ten-year sentence.”
He had a point.
“What’s next, Christopher?”
He continued with the autopsy report.
“She had cuts to her torso and, as you already know, they were made after to form the letter ‘C’. She had no abrasions to her wrists or ankles, so she wasn’t bound. I’m going to say she walked past the alley, he pulled her into the darkness, raped her, shoved the blade through her spine, and ended her life. The note was shoved into her mouth, and he did his carving.”
That’s exactly how she saw it happening.
That was precision.
That was a killer in action.
“Any trace?” she asked. “You know, from the rape?” she asked.
Chris flipped through the findings of the Metro’s office to find what she wanted.
“We have DNA, but this is the part you won’t like.”
“What?” she asked.
“The city ME sent it in to be analyzed.”
“And?” she asked.
“We can’t access it. It takes them around three months to get results back when we get them in a matter of days.”
And there it was.
“We can’t ask for a sample, can we?” she asked.
“Nope. We have DNA, but we can’t analyze it,” Christina stated. “We have to wait on it unless you know someone in the lab.”
Yeah, she didn’t.
“So, he left swimmers, but we are shit out of luck. Well, that sounds about right. We never take the easy route. How about anything else on the woman’s body?” she asked.
“We have some fibers. It's wool. It’s chilly out this time of the year and at night…”
“Yeah, he was likely lying in wait. So, he’d want to be warm. Can we trace them?”
“Yes, I have an origin,” he said.
“Great.”
“Sheep. It came from sheep.”
She stared at him and then began laughing at what he’d said. That was her Christopher. That was the man she grew with as a newbie Fed to the woman she was now.
“Color?”
“White.”
“Male or female?” she asked, playing his game while everyone around them thought they were crazy.
“Definitely female. It was softer and gentler against the skin.”
“Did she have a name?”
“Martha.”
“Was she someone’s first love?” she asked, going there with it.
He broke first and began laughing.
She joined him.
Chris gave her a fist bump. This was exactly why he needed his job. This helped him stay calm. He wasn’t thinking about dying.
He was thinking about helping people.
Callen headed in from his fact-finding mission, and she was laughing.
“Uh, did I miss something?” Callen asked.
“Chris was talking about a soft sheep he’d like to feel,” she teased.
“HEY NOW!”
She winked at him.
Callen was NOT going there. There wasn’t enough money for him to even open that can of worms with Elizabeth in the room. He knew his wife.
It would be a free-for-all.
“Well, I’m not asking because that’s a little too weird for me, but I do have your information.”
“What?” she asked.
“While you were talking sheep, I called the bank and there is a freeze on that account. Carl won’t be touching it.”
“Thank you.”
“Oh, angel, I’m not done.”
“Talk case to me, my sexy Native.”
Chris laughed.
“I feel so dirty. You were just talking sheep with me and have moved on.”
“Never, I can be perverted with multiple men.”
Alex raised his hand.
Callen pointed at him.
“I will break every bone in your body and kick your ass,” he warned.
Alex laughed and pointed at Noah.
“Uh oh, and in front of HR too,” he teased.
“Oh, I won’t turn you in. I’m up for a man on man fight. Bring it on,” he added.
Callen shook his head.
“Anyway, that cab was driven by Carson Gallagher, and he will be arriving at work around five. We are welcome to question him then.”
That was perfect.
“They don’t have tracking?” she asked. “I would have settled for that.”
Oh, he was aware, but he knew her.
“I know the location he dropped him off at, but I also know you. You’re going to want to browbeat the man.”
Okay, that was true, but still…Callen could have just asked the questions over the phone and gotten the man’s personal number. This meant something more was there.
“Why?” she asked.
“He wasn’t alone. He picked someone up and Carl had some company. I doubt that’s a coincidence.”
She agreed.
That made her day.
“You know me so damn well,” she said, giving him big smile. “You get a gold star.”
He’d take it.
“That’s all I have for you,” he offered.
That was good work, and it proved Callen excelled at his job of being a partner. He knew her.
Damn well.
Now, Elizabeth needed to focus on the next part of this case. She was going to be taking a trip to see a woman-hating ex and a cab driver.
“Tony, what do you have?” she asked, switching gears from the one case to the older one.
“Like I sent in the report, two men and six women. We’re just beginning to catalog the bones, Elizabeth. If you want anything more, I need time. I’m not dealing with one person. This is eight times the work.”
“How about a preliminary report on COD?”
He stared at her.
“Did you not just hear me?” Tony asked.
“Pardon?” she asked, teasing him.
Tony sighed.
“Now I know why he avoids you after a body is found,” Tony said, pointing at Chris.
Chris simply grinned. Yeah, she could ride ass until you gave her something. Tony should have seen this one coming. Elizabeth was Elizabeth.
“Come on, Doctor Magnus. Grab the situation by the balls and live a little. Give me a guess.”
“No freaking way.”
Jaxon stood and sighed. “I’ll guess. This could go on for hours,” she stated, waddling over to the first victim.
Tony looked appalled that she’d given in to the Elizabeth-questioning monster.
“Betrayed by my girl. Ouch.”
She laughed.
“You knocked me up and made me mean. Live with it. Your baby is going to come out a toddler.”
He grinned like a very happy caveman.
“I did, didn’t I?”
“Children,” Elizabeth warned. While she’d tolerate some jackassery, they had to get through this case.
Now.
Jaxon picked up the first skull and the top vertebrae. “You can see the chip in the bone here,” she said, holding it under the magnifier for the rest of the team.
They all stared at it on the screen.
“Something was shoved in there and chipped the bone. From the indentation, it’s a triangular shaped object. I would say a knife.”
“So, Carl was the killer and Joey helped him ditch the bodies?” Callen asked.
Elizabeth was leaning in that direction.
“Yeah, and O’Banion told them to do it. You know he wasn’t going to get his hands dirty.”
Jaxon laughed.
“Yeah, my father was not someone who would pick out his own clothes each day. We had people who did that for him. He isn’t going to kill someone. That would mean getting dirty.”
She moved on to body two.
“You can see the slice to the bone. It’s the diameter of a knife blade, and it’s consistent with victim number one.”
Elizabeth was good with that.
“All the scientists before us are rolling in their graves,” Tony stated.
Chris agreed.
“Listen you two, we’ve done this dance for over fifteen years. I know the reasons you won’t give it. Today, I had to deal with a mobster, and now I have to keep him safe. This is against everything I know to be right. Today is NOT the day to be stubborn with the information.”
They got it.
She wasn’t playing.
This case brought back memories.
“Okay,” Tony stated.
He went to victim three and picked up the vertebra. “This one also shows a cut. It’s only one, and I concur with my wife. This was an in, and then out motion.”
“Show and tell!” Elizabeth shouted the minute she got the man involved. It was payback for so many years of torture.
Tony looked horrified.
Callen joined in.
“Who wants to kill Jaxon?”
“You’re all sickos,” he muttered. “She’s pregnant!”
“As was I so many times,” she added. “It’s all fun and games until it’s your baby momma.”
Jaxon snorted.
Elizabeth headed his way and gave him a pen from the table beside Chris. “Show me the angle,” she stated.
“Well, I can get behind killing you if you’re offering,” he stated.
Dead are Forgotten Page 26
