Murders of the Zodiac Boxed Set

by Paris Morgan

  “When things happen in this neighborhood, we normally have a hard time finding anyone who saw what happened. Evidently, this wasn’t typical because we had five phone calls about it. The victim was dead when we got there, but we might have a description since they’re not feeling threatened to keep quiet about it,” Ryan explained as he expertly maneuvered into an empty parking spot.

  “Not gang or drug related, and she must have been someone they all cared about or they wouldn’t have bothered.”

  “Bingo! That is what we’ve been waiting for was someone to lay eyes on this killer.” He got out, taking charge of the patrol officers on scene.

  A small crowd had gathered on the lower level of the apartment complex and were hovering on the sidewalk. I edged closer to listen to what they were saying.

  “We’ve never had someone hurt one of our own like that,” an older man grumbled.

  “Bert, you know that’s not true. She was a hussy and had men coming to see her all the time. This is the kind of thing that happens when you answer the door, no matter if you know them or not.”

  “Gina, you’re just jealous that she was getting some, and us old coots know better than to mess with you. If we wanted to be nagged to death, we’d have stayed married to our first wives,” Bert chuckled and nudged his buddy standing next to him.

  “How did she get hurt?” I asked curiously.

  Half of those standing there gave me a dirty look. A white girl in business attire wasn’t something they normally saw taking part in conversations like this.

  “Why do you want to know?” Gina asked, her tone suspicious.

  “I got the report on the radio and beat the news cameras over here. Can you give me the scoop?”

  “Hmph. In my day, a lady wouldn’t be seen in public without dress shoes on, but I guess you can’t expect everyone to be professional these days.” She raised an eyebrow as she looked me up and down.

  I didn’t want to tell her that the purple she’d used as brow liner to fill in the thinning areas wasn’t really how it was done, but I thought I’d ignore it if it got us some answers.

  “Never mind Gina, she’s just a grouch. We were all in our apartments when we heard a loud scream, or at least I did. Normally, you don’t pay much attention so they don’t look your way, but this was so early in the morning, and most of the problems are in the late afternoons and evenings. Anyway, I peeked out my window and saw this guy running past.” Bert paused, and his friends took up the story.

  “Once the guy was gone, we knew it was safe to see what was wrong, and only three people live on the end down there. We have a pretty good idea who belongs to which place, but I never expected to see Joy lying there with blood just pouring from her head.”

  “Everyone was afraid to move her, but I could tell by her eyes that she was already gone. Even though others…” Bert glanced toward Gina, “were busy calling 9-1-1.”

  “Did she have any enemies?” I urged them to keep going.

  “No, but it was a regular revolving door of men. Sometimes it was the same one, but never for more than a week or two. She was just the sweetest thing,” a man in the group added.

  “Oh, I did notice the killer get in his car. It was a gray van that had ‘florist’ written on it,” Bert gushed excitedly.

  “Was he wearing anything distinctive?” I cautioned myself, as I didn’t want to lead them in any specific direction.

  “He didn’t fit in because he didn’t have a uniform on, but was wearing khakis and polo shirt.” Gina wanted to make sure to put her two cents in. “He wasn’t all that good looking, but I guess it takes on all types.”

  “Thank you. It might help catch her killer.” I excused myself to go see if Ryan had anything at the crime scene.

  “Wonder why they let her past the yellow tape?” Gina complained loudly.

  “Aw, she’s got to try to get a statement from the detective.” Bert pointed to the balcony that wasn’t dripping with blood anymore.

  “Where’s the camera crew?”

  I only caught the question posed to their huddled group. I felt sorry for them, because while it was probably more excitement than they were used to, they were lucky they hadn’t tried to stop our killer or they might be on the way to the hospital.

  The stairs took me out of sight for a few minutes, but the scene was one that was already way too familiar.

  Her body was lying outside the door in a pool of blood and brains.

  “She fought back. That’s why she’s out here instead of inside. He might have startled her, but she managed to shove him outside before he could actually hit her.” Ryan straightened from crouching next to the body where he’d been examining her.

  “There were flowers inside. Is there a card?” I took out a pair of gloves before I stepped through her doorway.

  “Haven’t gotten to it yet. Where did you disappear to?”

  “Her neighbors had a few things to add to the story they were telling to a reporter.”

  “You told them you were with a news station?” Ryan questioned angrily.

  “No, I told them I beat the camera crews here and asked if they could tell me what happened.”

  Nodding, he looked surprised. “Not bad for a newbie.”

  “They wouldn’t speak to the police, but a chance to be quoted for the news is a different matter.” I winked at him. “I might be new at this, but I wasn’t born yesterday.”

  “Touché.”

  “Ah, here’s the card.” I pulled it out of the shattered glass lying in the doorway among the flowers.

  “Same as the others?” Ryan asked.

  “Yep. I’m wondering what made her fight instead of taking the flowers? Her neighbors seemed to think that she was well acquainted with strange men showing up all the time. “

  “It’s not uncommon in this area, but I’ll check with vice and see if they have any idea who might have been frequenting her apartment lately.” He added a note to his phone.

  “That’s something that’s always bothered me.”

  “What bothers you?” he questioned as he followed me down the stairs.

  “How many man hours vice spends to watch a flop house or drug house when they could just arrest those that are in it and be done with it. They could move on to another area of crime.” His face was the perfect picture of shock. “I know, it’s all so we can get the big fish, but if we arrested all the little fish, then the big fish would go out of business and take care of the problem from a different perspective.”

  “What on earth made you become a cop?” Ryan asked incredulously as he got in the car.

  “My big sister’s one,” I confessed.

  “Oh, the hero. Or, should I say, heroine worship got to you?”

  “Yeah, it’s not that I don’t think we’re doing something good—I do. There are just better ways for that to happen that doesn’t allow the crimes to continue at the cost of the victims.”

  “Sounds like you would be on board with your new police chief who’s redoing the vice department over there.”

  Ryan didn’t sound too thrilled at the rumors he’d heard.

  “Have to wait and see if her new plans will work out the way she expects them to. But you don’t make any progress without some trial and error.”

  “True, but at what cost to the system that’s already in place?”

  “Hey now, we both know that there are problems with the system. It’s not something that can be changed overnight. Each little pebble you throw causes a ripple, so you have to choose good. That way, you have a greater impact for the right side.”

  He shook his head at my idealist views. “You’ll lose most of that after you’ve been on the job for a while. It’s a hard life, which is why you’re about to meet my fiancée for a quick lunch.”

  “Oh, you’re engaged. See? You’re not completely hardened beyond repair,” I teased.

  “She’s one of the few that’s been able to deal with my long and erratic hours.”

&nb
sp; “Had a few that you took for a test drive first, huh?” I couldn’t explain the comfortable way he made me feel, and I wasn’t worried that I was going to hurt his feelings.

  “Ha-ha, very funny. I meant in the police world, not personally. We’ve been together for about five years now. The plan is to get married sometime next year because she knows where she wants to get married, but she has to find a dates that’s open.” He shrugged. “It’s her wedding, and honestly, I have things like murders to solve, so I leave all the details to her.”

  “Is that what she wants, though? Not having you around, even just to listen, must be really tough.” Every girl dreamed about their weddings and how they wanted it to look, but they still liked to have the guy involved a little bit.

  “Nah. She knows that some days I have more energy than others, depending on the case load. It’s what you’ll have to get used to as a new detective. Having a relationship is hard in this job.”

  “I just met someone and we’ve been on a few dates. I don’t know how he’ll react if I cancel or reschedule on a regular basis. He’s been amazing, but I know that’s just the way things work in any relationship.”

  “So you’re dating?” He darted a glance in my direction without taking his eyes off the road for more than a second.

  I cocked my head to the side and looked out the window as I contemplated the idea that I might be in a relationship. “It’s too early to call it that, but we have been on a few dates now.”

  He pulled up in front of a sandwich shop.

  “I’ll just stay in the car so I don’t intrude.”

  “No way. I already told her about you, and the fact that you simply had that psychic lady eating out of your hand. She’s eager to meet you.”

  “I’ll just bet she is,” I mumbled softly.

  In my experience, when a wife or girlfriend wanted to meet you, that meant they were checking out your hotness level to see if you were a threat while working with their husbands. It didn’t always turn out bad or cause the changing of partners, but most of the time, my partner suddenly needed to be in a different division without any explanation.

  Making friends was hard to do, but having friends that were girls was almost impossible. I was more like one of the guys than a girly-girl.

  “Well, I might as well get it over with and get some food out of it.” Plastering a smile on my face, I went to have another friendship killed before it even got started.

  Ryan approached a booth with a petit woman, who did not fit my image of blonde model that was floating around in my head. Shea was a blonde, but had that shy, introverted manner about her.

  “Hey, babe.” He kissed her forehead. “I’d like you to meet Leslie Boxe, the one that’s been working the case with me.”

  She had a bite of food in her mouth, and hurriedly placed a napkin up to cover her face.

  “It’s so nice to meet you.” She held out her left hand, which signified that she was a lefty.

  “Hi. I’m sorry, he just told me we were stopping. I would have gotten something at the station so that you two could have a meal together.”

  “Don’t worry yourself about it. Ryan is always trying to find minutes where we can squeeze some time in together. I enjoy meeting the people he works with so that I know his partner’s got his back. Anything can happen, and it’s important to have someone to look out for you.”

  “We’ll go ahead and order now, but don’t wait for us to eat your food.” Ryan headed to the counter to place his order.

  Most of the food looked good in the pictures. I mean, how badly could someone mess up a sandwich, right?

  I took a seat across from the two of them and watched their body language. People watching was a hobby that most cops used, even when they weren’t on duty. It was just second nature.

  Ryan had his arm around her, while she had a hand on his leg.

  Jealousy hit me with a quick stab of pain. Not that they were together, but that I didn’t have someone like that yet. The relationship with Jerome was only in the early stages.

  “What do you make of our case? Any ideas on how this person is so successful at committing these murders with almost no witnesses—until today, that is?” Ryan took a bite of his sandwich.

  “I’ve done research on the astrology sign on the cards. It appears that our psychic, Flora, might have a point. The flowers that he brings are always Orchids, which are more common this time of year, and the flower of the Aquarius sign.”

  “Well, don’t stop now. Go on,” Ryan urged, as he and Shea stopped eating to listen.

  “All right. There seems to be a pattern to this killer. He only kills during the daytime, and both Ft. Worth and Dallas are considered to be Sun Aquarius cities.”

  “What the hell is a sun city? How did they become sun cities? Is this why he’s choosing them?” Ryan sputtered.

  “Honey, if you’d let her talk, you might find some answers.” Shea winked at me.

  Taking a deep breath so that I didn’t take his frustration personally, I began again. “From the research we did last night—”

  “We who?” Ryan demanded.

  “My date, who happens to do research for a living. Actually, I only told him I was looking into astrology and the signs because I’d had to interview a psychic, and wanted to see if her predictions were on point. It was case adjacent, and he didn’t get any of the details about the murders.” I looked pointedly from him to Shea, and then around the room filled with strangers. There was no one in the booths around us, but there were a few other people in the room.

  “She has a point, Honey. I’m here listening, and it sounds like she told him a lot less about it than I know.”

  “Well, I trust you. I know you and I just met her, and I’ve never met her guy. They aren’t even in a relationship. How do we know he’s not the killer?” Ryan protested.

  Before I could protest, Shea did it for me. “Honey, I know that you don’t trust people easily. I also know that your instinct is telling you to trust Leslie and you’re not doing it. She wouldn’t have made it to detective or been assigned to help you if she wasn’t good at her job.” She shook a finger under his nose. “You also know that you’ve pumped for information or gotten help from many people about cases that had no idea what you were really looking for, so don’t be putting your issues onto her. She doesn’t deserve it.”

  Shea turned to me. “I’m going to go, but I want you to know that underneath all his crap is a nice man. If you can make it past that, the two of you should work fine together. It was nice meeting you, and I’m sure that I’ll see you in the future—if he doesn’t run you off.”

  I held out my hand to her. “It was a pleasure, and I have to say, you’re the better half. I won’t be going anywhere until these murders are solved.”

  Ryan just sat there after she left, picking at his sandwich.

  “Were you going to eat that?” I tried not to giggle, knowing that it would piss him off more.

  Men weren’t all the same, but there were some characteristics that most seemed to have, and being reminded to have manners by your future wife would always cause their pride to be hurt.

  “Yeah. Why don’t you finish telling me what you and your ‘date’ found,” he mumbled between bites.

  That was the most of an apology I could expect for now, but he wasn’t going to get off so easy next time. Besides, I had his fiancée to back me up.

  “Sure. Where was I before I was interrupted…Oh, sun cities. They’re formed due to the date they were created—the cities, that is. When a city is formed, they are given an astrological sign that’s determined on the date and time, as well as the geographical location of the cities’ center. Some cities were around for years before they became established. They don’t get a sun or moon sign until the actual declaration or contract between the city officials make the charter.”

  When he didn’t say anything, I continued. “It just so happens that both Ft. Worth and Dallas are sun cities for Aquarius.
This is allowing the killer to move between the two cities and makes it harder to anticipate his moves. If I hadn’t done that search based on M.O.’s, we might not have made the connection, and the crimes might not have been linked.”

  He gave me a tight nod and took another bite of food. I’d have to remember that he shut down when he was mad or upset.

  “I think that if we look at all the women in our cases, we’re going to see a pattern between many aspects of their lives.”

  “Now hold on. How could he have watched or known about these particular women? Even if they’re born under the sign of Aquarius, that doesn’t mean that they don’t have their own personalities. It’s not like there’s a directory of people who are born on this date,” Ryan protested.

  “Well, actually, there is. Online you can find out just about anything about anyone. Some of it’s not exactly legal, but most of it can be found out with a subscription or membership to the site. There are databases about all sorts of things, including social media that will bring up the information that he needed to find these girls. Stalking is much easier than most people think it is, no matter how much protection or privacy you put on an account.”

  “So we’re back to square one again. Great. So your research didn’t find anything?” Ryan collected his trash and got up to throw it away.

  I waited patiently for him to take his seat again before continuing. “Exactly the opposite. We know that he has to be getting flowers from somewhere every day. It’s the same arrangement, so we can check to see if he’s ordering them or having them sent somewhere and then picking them up. We might not be able to trace how he found his victims, but we can run a search for each city and see who checks the boxes for what he’s been looking for.”

  Ryan frowned. “Let’s discuss this in the car on the way back to the station. We can find out if your idea has merit when I put a few of the guys to calling flower shops.”

  “I’m going to text Joe so they can do that in our area, but we need to find a way to get a warrant for the national flower orders from online.”

  “Hmm…I’ll talk to my boss and get the approval to order the warrant. Since it’s a national company, I can’t guarantee that we’ll get an agreement, but if we narrow it down to only that type of flower order in our two cities and only delivered this month, that might make a difference as well.”