Murders of the Zodiac Boxed Set

by Paris Morgan

  “Suicide is just stupid,” Charlie blurted out. “It only hurts you and then you’re dead. Even if you get bit by a zombie, you should wait until you’re almost turned into one before you shoot yourself.”

  Shock filled me as I realized that my kid knew way more than he should about death…and, well, zombies too.

  “You’re right, it is stupid. The people on my cases seem to have committed suicide, but we think someone is killing them.”

  “Oh!” Patti rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “So you’re going to find this person and make him stop hurting people?”

  “Yep, if I can. That’s part of my job, to find the bad guys. But today, I have to work my other job.”

  “What’s that, Dad?” Charlie asked.

  “Having fun with my kids.”

  They both smiled at me, and we continued to eat our pizza while people watching those in the restaurant.

  ***

  The weekend went way too fast, but even with Charlie’s casted arm, we’d managed to make me a birthday cake a few days early without burning the house down.

  There hadn’t been any emergency calls, and the suicides had stopped just as quickly as they’d started. I could only hope the trend continued.

  I was working on closing up the cases from last week when a call interrupted me. “Hey, Mom.”

  She was always the first one to call to wish me happy birthday, but it was after five, which was slightly unusual.

  “Is everything okay?” I questioned.

  “Yes. I was just out for a drive this morning and there wasn’t much signal. Did you want to come over for dinner tonight?”

  “Aw, Mom, don’t tempt me. I had the kids all weekend, and it was a long week. I was looking forward to getting a little extra sleep. Can we celebrate tomorrow night?” I rotated my neck, trying to get the kinks out from sitting in front of the computer all day.

  “Absolutely. That will give me a chance to cook your favorite meal.”

  I really hated to disappoint her, but the hour drive there and back wasn’t something I was looking forward to, not today. “That sounds wonderful, Mom. I’ll try to get off work early so I can be there by six.”

  “Whatever the birthday boy wants, he gets. Love you, baby.”

  “Bye, Mom.”

  Because I was the youngest of four, I still got babied by my mother. It certainly had its advantages.

  ***

  A sound startled me, but I couldn’t move. I tried to get up, but my body wouldn’t respond.

  “Ah, you’re awake. Don’t worry, the sedative will wear off enough for you to move in just a few minutes.”

  Someone was in my house, and there was no way for me to escape the situation. I couldn’t even speak. My mouth was slightly open, but all I could do was drool.

  “Now, don’t be worried. I made sure that I didn’t come while your children were here. It’s not fair to punish them for what you’ve done.” She lifted my head and placed the noose around my neck, pulling it taut while tying it to the bed frame.

  I couldn’t move anyway, and the rope let me breathe for the moment, but I could feel it scratching against my neck.

  “I was hoping that you would have a birthday sometime on my schedule. It will be a pleasure taking you out of the picture. You don’t fit my profile, but I knew this was meant to be when I saw you at the donut shop.”

  My mind raced, trying to remember who I saw that day.

  “This is what you truly want in your heart. You’ve thought about it many times, but you were too weak to follow through with it. I’m here to do it for you so there will be no mistakes. The master doesn’t keep those who make mistakes.”

  She left the room and didn’t return. I listened to all the sounds that I’d never paid attention to before.

  A drip in the bathroom seemed so loud in the stillness. The clock ticking in the living room sounded like it was right next to my ear. But the one sound I didn’t hear was the person who had done this to me. Where were they?

  My leg moved about the same moment I felt someone standing next to me again. How in the world did they move so quietly?

  “Good, the feeling it starting to return. I’m going to untie the rope, but it’s still around your neck. I suggest you don’t try anything stupid. Now, get up carefully and begin walking to the front door.”

  There was no choice except to follow her directions. A chance to escape would present itself. It had to.

  I weakly sat up, putting my head in my hands to steady the dizziness. This was what they had been waiting for, a chance to make me kill myself.

  Walking in front of me, the rope pulled me forward, keeping a nice distance between me and my attacker. I suddenly knew where I was being led, to the stairwell of the apartment complex.

  Standing at the railing, I could only hope that my children knew how much I loved them. With a push from behind, I toppled over the rail toward the concrete, and everything went black.

  Chapter 5

  Ryan

  On my way to work, the phone rang with an unknown number. Ignoring it, I went inside and picked up the paper lying on my desk. I hadn’t ordered a paper, and certainly not one from Wisconsin.

  “Boss wants to see you, asap,” one of the guys announced as he passed by my office.

  “Be right there.”

  When the boss asked to see you, it meant you’d better go now. What I wasn’t expecting was the grim look on his face.

  “Sir, is something wrong?” My first thought was if Shea was okay since I’d just left her at home.

  “Yes. Take a seat.” He motioned to the chair and I sank into it, fearing the worst.

  “You have a friend up in Wisconsin named Jesse Burns?”

  At my nod, he continued. “There was an accident last night and Jesse was injured. He jumped off the railing of his building, trying to hang himself. A neighbor heard something and called 9-1-1, so they were able to get him down quickly. He’s in the hospital, but the doctor doesn’t think he’ll recover or have much brain activity if he wakes up at all.”

  “I knew I should have called him back last week. It just got pushed to the back burner too many times.” I was having trouble absorbing that he would have done something like this to himself.

  “The chief up there said they’d been having a string of suicides, and that Jesse was convinced they were actually murders. They’ve had at least eight deaths in a row before they stopped for about three days. All of them died on their birthday, and Jesse was attacked on his.”

  “Crap! Leslie was right. The birthday killer isn’t dead after all.”

  “Now, don’t go making assumptions. For all we know, this could be a copycat, or someone with an entirely different agenda. Killing a cop is not something that an amateur would be willing to try.”

  “Sir, I request permission to go up there and see what I can find that might help us locate this killer.”

  “Already done. The Green Bay Police Department is low on trained detectives, and they’re willing to work with you if you can find out who did this to one of their own.”

  “So they aren’t believing that it’s a suicide attempt?” I questioned, curious.

  “Well, he called to inform me since he hadn’t been able to reach you, hoping that I would be the one to break the bad news. As I asked about the case, it became quite clear that this might have some sort of connection to your other case. I’m not willing to play around with the lives of more people if this is a serial killer. If nothing else, you can talk to your friend’s family and help them deal with what’s happened. They’ll have questions.”

  “Yes, sir. Am I supposed to take Leslie with me?” I cringed as the words left my mouth, but she’d shown good perception on the last case, and might come in helpful on this one.

  “That will be up to her commanding officer. I’m thinking it might be better to go up there, and if you find something, then we can always request that she join you.”

  Yes, sir.”

 
“Do us proud, and watch your back. Someone didn’t want him to find something.”

  I just nodded, trying to think about booking a ticket and packing my bags.

  “Hey, Ryan?” He waited until I’d paused in the doorway. “We’ll purchase the ticket for you. Go home and pack. We’ll text you the flight info and the ticket.”

  “Thank you,” I managed to get out before I wandered back to my office where the paper was still sitting there.

  Suicides on the Rise, the caption read. There had been four suicides over the weekend, a record number for the Madison area.

  Madison? Jesse was in Green Bay and hadn’t mentioned this happening in other areas. Realization dawned on me. I hadn’t bought a paper from Wisconsin. Someone had had it delivered to my desk at police headquarters. Whoever had been playing a game with us in January had decided to continue, but had changed their location by moving up north.

  Gathering up my stuff, I dialed Leslie as I walked out the door.

  I sighed when she answered almost immediately. “Hey, you’re never going to believe it, but I think you were right.”

  “You got a newspaper from Wisconsin too, didn’t you?”

  “Crap. I’d barely seen it, and then was called into the boss’s office. My friend from college, Jesse, ‘attempted’ to commit suicide early this morning. He’d been calling me for a week, and we just hadn’t been able to connect yet.”

  “Oh, Ryan, I am so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Not yet. Look, I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but could you check with Flora and see if she knows anything? Without tipping her off, that is.” Frustrated, I kicked the tires of my car, which was dumb because all that did was make my foot hurt on top of everything else.

  “Sure. Anything you come across that might connect things, just let me know and I’ll do whatever research you need. I can’t believe we were tricked by this person.”

  “I’m not sure we were. That guy we found was really dead, but the note certainly threatened there might be more of them behind this than we thought.”

  “Hey, when you take out one of our own, we’ll work hard to find you, even if it’s not in our state. Do we need to alert the FBI and bring them into this?” I smiled at her enthusiasm, since there wasn’t much to smile at this morning. “No. Until I can do some digging, it’s best if we don’t have another agency hanging over our shoulders while we work. They might not be connected.” I could only be hopeful. “I’m really thinking they are somehow, and that I’m going to find more than I bargained for up there. They’re really shorthanded and have asked me to consult since I was his friend. He’s made me his proxy since his divorce, even though we live so far apart. We’re brothers in many other ways.”

  “Ryan, take a deep breath. You’ve got this. I’ve seen you work, and you’re years ahead of me in field experience. So if something doesn’t seem right, take backup. Don’t jeopardize yourself in the process. I’m going to text Shea to meet you at home while you pack.” Leslie’s words registered, and I realized that I was just sitting in the parking garage.

  “Right.” I shook my head and started the car. “I’m leaving for home now, and should be on a flight in the next two hours if they can get me on that fast.”

  “Call me with an update once you get the lay of things.”

  “I promise. I’ve got to go so I can drive. Laters. And Leslie?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thank you.” She had gotten under my skin and understood a side of me that Shea never had.

  “You’re welcome. Now go. Bye.”

  She hung up and I took a deep breath. Jesse is still alive. Jesse is still alive. I let that sink in as I drove home and got ready to fly out.

  “Jesse is alive. Hang on, Jesse, I’m coming,” I whispered to the empty car.

  ***

  Five hours later, I entered the hospital where a few cops were keeping watch over my buddy. His wife and kids weren’t even there yet, which was really unusual.

  I caught one of the nurses, and she pointed me to the person who’d asked me to come in the first place, Chief Don Montier.

  I approached cautiously, as I was the unknown person in a room full of fellow cops. “Chief Montier? I’m Ryan Fox.”

  “Ah, yes. We’ve been waiting for you.” He placed a hand on my shoulder. “It’s not good, son. He hasn’t regained consciousness yet, and the doctors aren’t sure that he will. We haven’t notified his ex-wife because you’re his ‘in case of emergency’ contact now. I really wanted to, but we had to wait for you on that.”

  “Yes, sir. Let me see him for a few minutes, and then I’ll go find his ex, Lucy. Is there anywhere I can leave my stuff besides my rental car?” I inquired, not really wanting to keep my extras out there in the parking lot.

  “Sure. We can go over to the station and get you a temporary ID and permit to carry your gun after we see Lucy. I think they would want to be up here if they knew.”

  “Thank you, sir. I’ll also need to go see his mother and bring her here as well. Once they’re all settled, I want to go see his place and the other crime scenes if I can.”

  “Absolutely. I’ll be right here when you get done.” He motioned to the ICU room where Jesse was being monitored.

  I nodded and went around the glass and past the curtain that was keeping him from prying eyes.

  The Jesse I remembered was nothing like the bruised body that was lying there on the bed. Tubes and monitors were hooked up, leaving the deep burns on his neck visible. Thankfully, his chest was still moving up and down without the help of machines.

  I moved to stand beside the bed and picked up his hand.

  “Jesse, I’m sorry. You should never be too busy for friends. It’s a little late, but I’ll make sure to protect your kids, buddy.” I felt a tear run down my cheek, and brushed it away in frustration. Being emotional wasn’t going to help me find out what happened to my friend.

  “I’ve got your back. We’ll find who did this to you, even if it takes years. You’ve got to fight so you can help me. I know you have the answer in your brain, but you have to come back for me and your kids. They need you. We need you.”

  Not wanting to break down as I walked back through a room of cops, I stopped talking. The only way I could make it up to Jesse now was to find this killer.

  “Let’s go,” I almost commanded before I remembered who I was talking to. “Sir,” I added.

  “Okay, we can leave your car at the station and give you a locker for your stuff. I’ll drive you over to his ex-wife’s house, but you’ll have to go to his mom’s on your own. It’s over an hour drive each way, and I’ve got some stuff I’ll need to attend to while you’re gone.” He strode confidently through the maze of halls toward the front entrance.

  “When you’re settled and ready to go over the files, let me know and I’ll have an office prepared with all the information we’ve got.”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you for allowing me to work his case. I know it’s not normal to call in detectives from different states to work in your department.”

  “Right now, we’re so shorthanded that most of our open and shut cases are going cold because we don’t have enough manpower to follow up. The mayor was agreeable when I informed him of the possibility of having a serial killer and nowhere near the manpower to cover it.” He walked quickly to the parking lot, but paused beside the cruiser at the front. “We have to find this person the right way, but I’m ready to take any advantage we can get, and you’ve already dealt with a serial killer recently. I know we can count on you for this.”

  He shut the door before I could ask if there had been a calling card left at the scenes. They wouldn’t have known what to look for, but I knew whoever was behind this would have left a clue if they were willing to send both Leslie and I newspapers.

  ***

  Lucy was at work when we arrived. She didn’t realize who had walked in at first, but as soon as she saw me, it sank in. “He’s dead.”<
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  She dropped back into the chair behind her with a look of shock.

  “Not yet, but he was attacked last night and is in the hospital. So far, the doctors aren’t optimistic.” I awkwardly stood beside Chief Montier, uncertain of what I should do.

  “He gave you power of attorney, correct?” She pinned me with a hurt gaze.

  “Yes,” I quietly answered.

  “Good, because other than taking the kids to see him to say goodbye, I can only say it’s a relief.”

  When she caught the expressions on our faces, she explained, “I’ve been expecting this visit for years. Jesse’s gotten reckless since you were up here several years ago. He seems to want to face death and beat it. I couldn’t live knowing the man I loved was going to go out every day and try to get himself killed.” She sighed. “I still love him in some ways, but I had to protect myself and the kids. Have you called his mother yet?”

  “No, ma’am. Ryan is headed there after we’re done here with you,” Chief Montier informed her.

  “If you don’t mind, I’ll go with you, Ryan. I can drive her into town, and when the kids get out, we’ll come up there to see him. She’s going to need support, and shouldn’t be stranded at the hospital. When his brothers and sister get there, they can take over and I’ll deal with the kids,” she announced matter-of-factly. “Do you have a place to stay?”

  “Yes, I’ve got a hotel. Before you offer, I’m going to spend most of my time between the hospital and digging into his cases to see who might have done this to him. I don’t want to interrupt your family, or have someone follow me there and hurt you guys. It’s not what he would want.”

  She shook her head in acknowledgement. “I understand. What happened?”