“Your mother didn’t sound upset in any way? She didn’t mention any problems she was having?” He asked, studying her and then Mark. Did he really think she killed her mother, she thought.
She kept her face as expressionless as possible and hoped that Mark could do the same. Too afraid to glance at him, she kept her eyes glued on the detective.
“As I said I was telling her about my engagement and she was brimming with joy. She expressed relief we were speaking again. I’m sorry Detective, but that’s really all I know.”
“Do you have anything to add sir?” Detective Gutierrez asked Mark. Mark wasn’t a good a liar, and she worried the whole story would spill out of him. To her surprise, Mark shrugged.
“I never met the woman so I only know what Lorelei has told you,” Mark said. Lorelei squeezed his hand in thanks. She had made a mistake by doing that. Detective Gutierrez noted the gesture and jotted something down in his notebook. She wanted to lean in and check what it was but stopped herself. That didn’t look guilty or anything, she thought.
“My condolences on your loss. We will do everything in our power to find your mother’s killer,” he recited. Lorelei wondered how often he’d had to trot those lines out. She guessed he had to say something. She wasn’t sure if she was making the right choice about withholding so much information from the police. There was something to the fact that the moment her mother had spoken to the police, she ended up dead the next day. Her resolve strengthened, and she knew she would see Sara Caine soon.
14
Sara got off the phone with Madeleine Richard’s daughter Lorelei and turned to Eva Murphy in the passenger seat. “Lorelei has a file for us. Her mother made her promise to give it to me if something happened to her.”
“This case gets weirder every moment,” Eva said.
“Madeleine Richards is connected to my father, Eva. She was involved in whatever he did that night in Topanga Canyon. She didn’t let on to a damn thing when I showed her that film. That film has to be part of the bigger picture at play. Now she’s dead and all we have is some file. Should we turn around and go there now?” She asked ready to pull out of the parking spot it had taken them ten minutes to find. Second Street in Santa Monica was the definition of Los Angeles parking. Baroque and maddening.
“Ritchie’s lead is viable and we’re here. Lorelei will keep. The cops are crawling all over that house right now, anyway. We can call her to see if she can meet us away from the core murder scene when we’re done here.” Eva said and got out of the car.
Sara struggled to keep herself from turning the car around and getting that file. Eva was right, but that didn’t make her feel any less anxious. She was her mentor now and her best shot at coming out of this case in one piece.
She stepped out of the car and looked up at the clapboard building that had stunning views of the beach. This felt like a long shot but Eva schooled her when she mentioned that. Eva stated that this was investigative work and the heart of any investigation. A detective had to follow every lead, however ridiculous it was, because sometimes the leads that looked so out of left field were the ones that closed the case.
Sara followed Eva inside and went up the mildew smelling stairs into a cramped reception area. A woman sat in front of an iMac computer. Past her, they could see an old man pacing and talking loudly while staring out onto the incredible view of the Santa Monica Promenade.
“We’re here to see Mr. Mitch Mitchell,” Eva said, and the receptionist waved her arm towards him.
“He’s on the phone but he’ll be with you as soon as he’s off,” she said just as Mitch Mitchell looked up and saw the two women standing there. He waved them inside and motioned for them to be seated in two plush seats facing his enormous desk. They sat down and a smell of mildew wafted around them. Sara tried hard not to gag as they waited for Mitch Mitchell to get off the phone.
“This is an opportunity of a lifetime and I’m thrilled you’re on board.” He finished the call. “What can I help you ladies with,” he asked.
“Several actresses auditioned for you and they have since disappeared. We hope we can jog your memory to give us a hint of what could have happened to them.” Eva said as she took out six headshots of the women Ritchie found that were connected to Mitch Mitchell. He heaved his big bulk onto a squeaky chair and picked up the headshots.
“I see so many actresses I can’t recall all of them. None of these women look familiar.”
Eva Murphy pushed in, “You hired none of these actresses?” Mitch Mitchell shook his head.
“I would remember them if I had given them a job.”
“You don’t remember ANY of these women?” Eva prodded. He inspected them again and scratched his dirty beard. He pointed his finger at Clarissa Thomas, a twenty-year-old blonde that had come to Hollywood from Tennessee.
“This one. This one, I think, I remember. I sent her to one of my buddies in the valley.”
“The Valley? Are you talking about porn?” Sara asked and Mitch nodded.
“He pays well and some actresses don’t have a problem with taking off their clothes.” He tapped his finger on her photo again. “I definitely think I sent her there. The guy’s name is Mike Kravitz. He runs a pretty big operation out in Glendale so not too far away. Mikey can give you much more information about Clarissa Thomas than I can. She wasn’t a great actress, but she was a looker which is why I suggested that she check him out.”
“Was she offended that you were sending her to a porn producer?” Sara asked.
“Not that I can recall.” The man got up out of the seat and Sara could tell that their interview was over.
“If you remember anything else, please call us,” Eva said and slid a card across the table at him. He looked at it but didn’t pick it up.
“These are some pretty cold cases you’ve got going on here. These headshots are from another era, ten years ago maybe?”
“Some of these women disappeared much more recently than that,” Eva said. “Any information you could give us would be very helpful.”
“ That’s all I got for you ladies. Now if you wouldn’t mind, I gotta get back to work.” Mitch Mitchell turned back to perusing his email.
They got up and left. By the time they got to the car, Sara’s mind was back on that file.
“That was a waste of time,” she said as she got into the driver’s seat.
“Not necessarily. We have a lead to track down now. Also if he was a pipeline into porn then that changes matters significantly. Many porn actresses change their names and go off the grid to protect their families from their profession.”
“Do you know this for a fact or are you assuming they’ve all gone under different names?” Sara countered. Eva shot her a look. Sara had met enough porn actors in her time working film sets and, although what Eva said sounded plausible, it didn’t happen as much as she thought it did.
“You know these women are dead, right?” Sara asked.
“Is this your gut telling you they’re dead or have you talked to their ghosts?” Eva asked and Sara sucked in her breath. The very thought of talking to a ghost made her physically ill. She shook her head.
“No, I don’t talk to ghosts anymore, Eva. I told you that. If Ritchie has found nothing on them since the days around their disappearance, then they’re dead. No way actresses could stay off the internet.”
“I see,” was all Eva said.
Sara pulled out of the parking spot. “Lorelei is waiting for us at a coffee shop. She has the file with her.”
“I’m with you, Sara.”
“Thank you for that,” Sara said and drove back towards Brentwood.
15
Sara Caine sat in the booth of a popular diner with Eva next to her across from Lorelei Richards and her fiancé Mark. Lorelei slipped a bulging manila folder across the table to Sara and gave her a wan smile.
“I’m convinced my mother was murdered for this file. In it you’ll find my mother’s documentation of t
hree UCLA college girls that went missing while your father was still alive during the years of nineteen ninety-two to nineteen ninety-four. Your father got what he claimed was a clue, and he died the next night.” Lorelei started.
“Was Asmodeus mentioned in the files?” Sara asked her heart thumping. Maybe her and Johan had been wrong this entire time and her father’s death had nothing to do with the demon. Could her father have discovered a serial killer who then eliminated him? If that were true, then why did Asmodeus know of her father and mother’s suspicious death? And what about the man she now saw in her dreams?
“Have you shared this file with the police?” Eva asked.
“Lorelei didn’t want to give this to them. I want to put it out there that I don’t agree with her decision but it’s hers to make. I wanted her to tell them everything,” he stopped and faced his fiancée. Sara noticed the girl was struggling with tears. “Are you sure you want to do it this way? It’s not too late to go to them.”
“When I spoke to my mother last night, she told me she spoke to the police. The next day, I found her dead. I think my paranoia is justified. My mother was killed, your father was killed, and these girls were never found.”
Sara opened the file and saw many notes under the first girl’s name, Tara Brooks. In Madeleine’s neat hand, she documented Tara’s last known whereabouts, where she worked and studied, boyfriends, and any friends she had. She had interviewed every person connected to Tara Brooks. Sara flipped the pages to check out the other girls. Madeleine’s research on them was just as detailed.
“How did my father get involved in this?” Sara asked.
“It’s all in the file but basically your father was the one who first figured out that his student had gone missing. He and my mother were friends and she had a missing girl in one of her classes as well. When they discovered there was something more to the girls’ disappearances than simply dropping out of school, they brought their evidence to the police. The police got nowhere with the disappearances and they became cold cases. Then a third girl went missing right before your father’s death. The disappearances stopped after his death.” Lorelei paused.
“My mother finally gave up on the missing girls about five years after your father passed. But two months ago, a man came to see her, and she worked the cases again.” Lorelei cocked her head at Sara.
“This man wouldn’t happen to be Johan Luken?” Sara could see the fury in the young woman’s eyes. Johan started Madeleine back on investigating this old case.
“Yes, he restarted this,” Lorelei said through gritted teeth. Sara watched the young woman struggle to keep her anger hidden. “He’s the reason my mother’s dead. He might not have put that noose around her neck but he’s responsible all the same. She wouldn’t have looked through the old notes again.” Lorelei stopped, and a sob erupted from deep within her. Sara felt the full blast of her pain.
Mark pulled her close to him. “Lorelei has given you the file like her mom requested. I need to take her home. There are arrangements to be made, and she needs to rest.” Lorelei hugged him.
“Thank you for giving this to me.”
Lorelei shuddered, and the fury was back in her eyes. “You need to find the bastard who killed our parents, Sara. You find him and make him suffer. Kill him if you have to. He doesn’t deserve to live or have a trial.” Lorelei hissed. Sara nodded and knew exactly how the woman felt.
“We will do our concentrated best to bring your mother’s killer to justice,” Eva said in a cool and soothing voice. Sara recognized the voice. It was the cop placating the victim. She hoped she never developed the voice herself. It sounded disingenuous. Mark got up and pulled Lorelei with him. Lorelei took comfort in his arms and then looked down at them.
“I will do anything to help you. You say the word and I will be here in whatever way, shape, or form you want me to be.” Lorelei declared. Sara saw Mark grimace, but he remained silent.
“Thank you.” Sara said and put her hand on the file.
“My mother made me swear to call you first if anything happened to her. She trusted your father and I trust you.” And with that the couple was gone. Sara moved across the table from Eva.
“You were right.”
“Yes, I was. You can still leave this behind. You can bring this to the cops and tell them the history and let them do their job.”
“I made a promise to Asmodeus. I swore I would not look into my father’s death. If I break that promise, I don’t know what will happen.” Sara said. It took a large amount of her willpower not to open the case notes.
Sara wanted this case. She wanted to know what happened to her father and to Madeleine Richards. Johan was right. She needed to do this.
Eva cleared her throat. “I know where Johan is.” Sara braced for the worst. “He’s in jail for breaking and entering and it looks like the person will pursue charges.”
Sara sighed in relief. “He’s not dead. Everyone connected to these disappearances has been killed. I thought you would tell me that.”
The two women sat in silence staring at the file.
“She was holding something back. I could tell in how she was speaking about the file. There’s a hesitation there. I’m not sure if it’s relevant at all to the missing girls but she’s got secrets and she’s not willing to let go of them just yet. I hope that will not affect anything we read in there.” Eva said and pushed the file closer to Sara. Sara opened the file.
“How could you tell?” Sara was impressed.
“I’m not sure. It was more of how Mark was reacting to that file. He gave her a side-glance as she was explaining what was in the file. He might have seen that she didn’t give us all of it.”
“I don’t know what to do, Eva.”
“I can’t help you with this. Make your own decision.”
“You aren’t afraid?” Sara watched Eva’s face change. Anderson must be saying something to her. Sara could differentiate now whether or not Eva was communicating to Anderson at any given moment. Eva’s face showed first annoyance and then pain.
“We should read this whole thing before I make any decision.” She pulled out Tara Brook’s dossier and gave the file back to Eva.
“We might as well get more coffee.” Sara said and got busy reading.
16
Sara Caine pulled into a parking spot outside of Ritchie’s loft and turned the ignition off. She rubbed her eyes and wished she’d grabbed another cup of coffee. It’d been a long evening, and the night stretched ahead in front of them.
It had taken Sara and Eva several hours to go through Madeleine’s extensive files and journals on the missing girls. They hoped Ritchie could fill in some background for them and get more information on Janice’s missing actresses. Something was bothering Sara though, and she wasn’t sure how to approach it.
“I know I’m new to this,” Sara started.
“You’ve been wanting to say something since we left the coffee shop. Spit it out,” Eva said.
“There was no mention of films in the files, nitrate or otherwise. Could these be two different killers? The MO doesn’t match up and his victims are different.”
“I noticed the same,” Eva said. “One of Madeleine’s girls was an anthropologist, and the other was a pre-med student. The third was undecided but in school as well. None of them were actresses.”
“Right. And, as you’ve said, young women are the most common victims of serial killers.”
“We need to focus on how the UNSUB entered their lives. How did his path cross with theirs and, thinking ahead, how could his path cross with the actresses now?” Eva said as they reached the door. “What is an UNSUB?” Sara asked.
“It’s a term that’s been adopted by law enforcement from the FBI’s Behavior Unit. It stands for unknown subject.”
Sara texted Ritchie that they were there and the door buzzed open. She walked inside and realized Eva wasn’t beside her. She turned and saw Eva standing still, her face blank. Sara knew tha
t look. Eva was conversing with Anderson and it wasn’t a pleasant conversation.
“What does Anderson have to say about the subject?” Sara asked, pulling the other women through the door.
Eva flinched and refocused back on Sara. “Nothing. He has nothing to say.” She walked passed her to the staircase. Sara trotted to catch up with her.
“Another perspective could be that the original girls were his first victims. He was young and hadn’t found the satisfactory ritual to get his rocks off. Now, so many years later, and most likely countless victims, he’s got it down. The films are an outgrowth of his developed needs.”
“But how did Johan connect the film to Madeleine Richards and her girls?” Sara asked.
“How did you find Madeleine?” Eva asked.
“Madeleine was an old friend of my father’s. She worked in the film department at UCLA. I didn’t know what kind of film Johan gave me until a camera assistant on my last job told me to be careful handling it. Nitrate film is so unique that specialists at film departments know about it. So I contacted Madeleine.”
“Did Johan know your father?” Eva asked. The question unsettled Sara and she didn’t know why. Before she could answer, Ritchie opened the door.
“Come on in, ladies. I’ve worked through half of the women’s files and, oh boy, being an actress is an ugly business.” Ritchie said as they followed him inside and took the chairs across from Ritchie’s bank of computers.
“Ready for more work?” Sara asked. Ritchie frowned.
“More missing women?
“Unfortunately, yes. Three girls went missing ten years ago from the UCLA campus.” Eva handed him Madeleine’s bulging files. “All the pertinent info is in here. Madeleine Richards dedicated years finding everything she could about these girls. She wasn’t a computer genius like you, however. I’m hoping you’ll find more information. I’m sure you’ll be able to dig up more information on all of them.”
“Ten years ago? That will be more difficult than you think. The online world back then was not as complete and big as it is now. Social media as we know it didn’t exist back then.” Ritchie said. “Online chat rooms existed, but that took a special kind of person to access. Most college students just used the Internet for email. Government and DMV information, a lot of times, was still on paper,” he said. “I’ll see what I can dig up.”
Silent Death: A Chilling Serial Killer Thriller (A Caine & Murphy Thriller Book 3) Page 6
