by Paris Morgan
“I’ll meet you in one hour for breakfast. I have an idea of how we can trap Simon and get the evidence we need.”
She left without another word, and as the door closed after her, I noticed the water and aspirin sitting next to my gun. If she could stop herself from arguing with me all the time, I might get used to having her around.
Not exactly wanting to follow her orders, a shower did sound like a good idea, along with some more coffee to wash down the aspirin.
***
An hour later, I felt better, and food was sounding like a wonderful idea. Leslie had just come out the elevator doors when my phone rang.
“Hello?” I answered, not recognizing the number. “Yes, sir. We’ll be right there. Thank you for telling me.”
“Another murder?” Leslie guessed.
“Yep, and it’s our friend, Matt, from Simon’s. You were right about the followers being in danger. You drive, and I’ll put the GPS on for you.”
“I know how to get to Simon’s house.” Leslie held up the keys she still had from last night.
“He isn’t at Simon’s. He lives about two miles over in a small apartment.” I rubbed my temples as the headache came back with a small thudding beat playing in my head. Leslie wasn’t commenting on my condition, but I could feel a smirk underneath her concern.
“He was really a nice guy. I wonder if Simon will have a little more information this time around?” she murmured as she followed the directions to the crime scene. “Here we go.”
There were people and cars blocking most of the street, the yellow tape cordoning off the house.
We hadn’t even gotten out of the car when Simon approached us. “I’m so glad to see that you’re both okay. After finding him this morning, I keep expecting to see others from our group missing as well.”
Leslie stopped to listen to him, but I could barely hold myself together, much less stomach his false concern.
“I’m going to go up and see what’s going on if you want to stay here.” It was a suggestion, but I couldn’t really bring her into an active crime scene without permission. Maybe she could get Simon to say something without me around.
“Sure, I’ll wait here.” She turned back to Simon. “You found him? That must have been just awful.”
On the other side of the crime tape, the voices faded, and my cop senses kicked into gear. “Hey, I got a call from Chief Montier to take a look at the scene.”
“Yeah, he’s right here.”
Matt’s dead body still hung from the rope attached to the ceiling, with a card pinned to his chest. It was the same design as the refrigerator magnets.
“It doesn’t have anything written on it, just the design. No last wish or anything, but the chief thought you should see it.” He pointed to the Pisces symbol. “He might have planned to write something and forgot in his hurry to do the deed.”
I stopped in my tracks. “Why do you think he was in a hurry?”
“Um, it just appeared that he hadn’t planned it out much beforehand. There were groceries in the refrigerator, with a receipt from early this morning on the counter next to his keys and phone. Who goes out to buy groceries before they kill themselves?” The officer shrugged in confusion at the way Matt had taken his life.
“That’s interesting. I’m pretty sure he didn’t plan to kill himself—he was murdered. I think the murderer walked in with him, or was waiting for him to get home. At some point, they put the groceries up before Simon found him and called 9-1-1.” I started to go back out to Leslie, but turned back with a special request. “Have his blood tested for any sort of drugs or sedatives. I think they made him take something before he did this.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll make sure to let the coroner know.”
“Thanks. I’m going to go talk to the chief. If you find anything else, call me.”
Leslie had been out there with Simon for too long, and I wanted to hear what he had to say about his assistant ending up dead before ten in the morning.
***
“Simon, I need to ask you a few questions about this morning.” I pulled out a notebook to make it more official.
“Sure, whatever you need. I just can’t believe that we’ve lost two people to suicide in as many weeks.” A few tears ran down his cheeks, and I couldn’t decide if they were fake or real.
“What made you decide to come over here and check on him?”
“He normally comes to the house for breakfast, but when he hadn’t shown up at nine, as he always does, I checked to see if he left a message or changed his plans. Then I raced over here and found him like that.” Simon gave a shudder and turned away from the house.
“Do you normally check on people who don’t show up at your community?” I was being respectful, but I really wanted to say ‘your cult’ instead, and call him out about his compound-like home.
“Actually, Matt is normally the one who checks in on everyone to make sure they’re doing okay. With most of our group having come from bad or difficult situations, we want to make sure their safety is of the utmost importance. Not that we think they’ll do something like this, but they could be stalked or harmed by someone else just as easily.”
“Did you touch anything when you found him?” I couldn’t believe the amount of bull this guy continued to dish out. For their own safety, blah, blah, blah. It wasn’t hard to protect people when you were the one doing the most harm to them.
“No. I could see that he’d been there for a while, and dialed 9-1-1 immediately. I think I left the house a few minutes after nine and called…” He turned his phone on. “Nine fifteen.”
Just enough time to get here and find him, I thought. “I’ll have to verify that with a few of your people, but that should be easy enough. Did he seem agitated when he left last night? Was there anything bothering him lately?”
“No, he was perfectly normal. We joked around and finished up shortly after the two of you left. It’s been a long week, and I told him to go home early to get some rest. We had a few newcomers that needed some extra care and recovery.”
I nodded, like that was normal, but everything about this guy rubbed me the wrong way. I was going to have to dig deep and put aside my prejudice so that I could see things clearly.
“We’ll be in touch.” I turned to Leslie. “We’re needed back at the station for a meeting.”
She quickly excused herself, and we almost ran into each other at the driver’s door.
“I can drive again.” I held out my hands for the keys.
“Nope, I’m still driving. You’re not quite back to your normal self, and I like having something to do since I can’t work the case.”
When she put it like that, I couldn’t refuse her, so I walked to the passenger’s side, only to see Simon watching us with narrowed eyes.
Once inside the car, she commented, “That’s why I slept on the couch in your room last night. I just had a feeling that something was going on, and I didn’t want to wake up to find your body hanging from the railing outside your room.”
“So you’re not buying what he’s trying to sell you?”
“Of course not. He’s lying, without a doubt. The question is, how much does he believe, or has he just convinced himself of what he’s telling everyone? I’m not sure that he knew about Matt’s death, but someone in that house did,” Leslie vehemently advised.
“Whew, that’s a relief.”
“What, you thought I was convinced he’s the real deal? Dude, I wasn’t born yesterday. Besides, every girl has a built-in jerk detector.” She laughed at my astonished face. “Just because we have one, doesn’t mean that every girl knows how to use it. Most of the time, women ignore the warning signs and opt for the easier version when someone’s showing us attention.”
“Did he tell you anything different while I was inside the house?” I couldn’t help the protective feeling toward her, but didn’t plan to tell her that.
“Same as what he told you. He thinks the fact that David Kim died, and then Matt
does this the night after we show up, is quite a coincidence.”
“We should watch the house tonight and see who leaves after their self-imposed curfew. We might catch our killer. I think we should use a different car, though, since they know what this one looks like. I‘ll see if the station has a vehicle that we can use.”
“Great idea. What if we used Jesse’s truck? They wouldn’t be looking for it, and it’s not going anywhere right now,” she suggested helpfully.
“That should work. Do you want to meet with the chief too?” I didn’t want her to feel left out.
“Okay.”
We pulled into the parking lot, so I didn’t get a chance to find out what was behind her one-word answer.
***
The chief didn’t have much time for our report, but he gave the okay to do a stakeout. In a way, I was relieved that we were doing something productive, but I was looking forward to getting some rest and knock out the rest of this hangover.
A trip to the hospital was in order, and I wanted to let Leslie get a chance to meet Jesse’s family.
His mother was sitting in the room with him when we arrived.
“Has there been any change so far?” I gave her a hug as we walked in.
“No, but his coloring is looking better. It was really hard on his body. I think it’s recovering, and when he’s ready, he’ll wake up for us.”
I didn’t want burst her bubble, but it had already been a few days, and he should have woken up by now. Yet there were cases where someone had been in a coma for years when they just woke up one day. Who was I to say what was possible or not?
“Is this your girlfriend?”
Leslie stepped forward. “No, ma’am, I’m his partner. Ryan wanted a second pair of eyes to look at things because he needs to be impartial so he doesn’t miss anything.”
“Oh, bless you, honey. That’s true dedication to your job, to come up here and work on a case.” She looked between the two of us. “Have you found anything yet?”
“I’m so sorry, but we haven’t gotten any closer. Sometimes it hard to find a person that this devious. They become very good at hiding their true personalities, and it throws us off the trail for a while,” Leslie reassured her.
“We just came to check in on both of you before we got back to work. Is there anything that we can do or that you need?” I was starting to think that catching this person was impossible. After all, someone that had this many murders under their belt should be leaving some sort of evidence to point us in the right direction.
“Don’t worry about me.” She patted my arm. “I’m just waiting and praying. The best thing you can do for me is to pray and catch this killer.”
“Yes, ma’am, we’ll do our best.” Leslie seemed really good at making those around her feel comfortable. “We have to get back at it, but I’m sure that Ryan will check in as soon as he can.”
Walking down the hallway, slowly, I had to keep telling myself that we’d find this person.
“First thing we’re going to do is get some food, and then head back to the hotel for some sleep. If we’re going to be up all night, I’m going to need more sleep,” Leslie announced with determination.
“In case we’re being followed, I’m going to have you drive to the hotel, and I’ll get a taxi to Jesse’s for his truck.” I knew she was going to protest, but I needed to do this by myself.
She searched my face, and must have seen something because she didn’t protest at all.
“Watch your back, partner,” she whispered after me.
I couldn’t acknowledge her, because so far, she’d done more to make sure that I was safe than I had for myself.
Chapter 10
Leslie
Ryan seemed to be doing better, but I was worried that we’d gotten into more than we could handle on our own. This wasn’t like working with our joint taskforce. We only had each other to rely on.
While I’d managed to sleep a little bit on the couch, I’d slept with one eye open. The whole situation required us to be on guard. Most of the murders had happened in the early hours of the morning, and it would be hard for anyone to sneak into a hotel room with more people up and around. At least I hoped that was the case.
I’d just closed my eyes when my phone dinged with a text. It was Jerome.
Jerome: Hope things are going okay. Do you want to try dinner and see if we can do a restart?
Leslie: I’d love to, but I’m working a case. It’s got some moving parts, and we have to do some tailing tonight so we can catch this guy in the act. Maybe Sunday or Monday night?
Jerome: Okay, I can handle that. Be safe, and take this guy down.
Jerome: Did you get the flowers I sent?
Leslie: Where did you send them?
Jerome: The station you work at.
Leslie: I haven’t been in the office yesterday or today. I’ll let someone know that they need to water them.
Jerome: I figured something must have happened or you would have responded to my message on the card.
Leslie: What did it say?
Jerome: Seriously, sorry. Say that we can wine and dine again?
Leslie: That’s cute. I’m saying yes, just not tonight. Look, I’ve got to run, but when this part clears up, I’ll make some reservations.
Jerome: Reservations? We’re going to have to dress up for a place like that.
“Leslie: Not necessarily. I do have a few connections. Just wait and see. Laters.
Jerome: Stay safe. Laters.
I put the phone down on the bed beside me, thinking about what Simon had said. He was wrong, I was happy. Jerome could put a smile on my face, but I was going to have to try and leave work there. No one person was responsible for my happiness except for me.
***
Our stakeout was cold and long, but we’d spent all night watching the house where nothing happened after midnight. A single person made the rounds and locked up, turning lights inside off. Individual bedrooms had followed shortly after, and then nothing had moved for hours.
Ryan had decided that since I’d been the driver for the past twenty-four hours that he needed to drive his friend’s truck. He parked it at the hotel when the phone rang.
I watched as his face turned white.
“What’s wrong?” The knot in my stomach tightened in fear.
“There’s a 9-1-1 call at the house.” He yanked the gearshift into reverse and peeled out.
“Simon’s house?”
He nodded as he broke all traffic laws, racing back to the place we’d just left.
The gate was open, and Ryan flew up the drive. He was up to the house before I could process that the truck had stopped moving.
Sirens could be heard in the distance, but we were going to be the first responders to the scene.
Someone must have assumed we were there to help because the door opened without us having to knock. There were people standing around in groups, sobbing, with more joining them every second.
A gasp left me as I looked up to see Simon hanging from the chandelier.
The paramedics moving behind us seemed to unfreeze both Ryan and myself into motion.
“Everyone, let’s get you into the dining room so they can work.” He moved them out so they weren’t staring at Simon’s body just swinging there.
“Is there a remote that lowers this thing?”
A matronly lady with a uniform on paused when they asked the question. “We normally keep it in this drawer.” She started to open it, but I stopped her.
“We need to do that with gloves on.”
“Oh, you’re right.” She looked up again with a sigh. “Wait, it’s in his hand!”
“The remote?”
“Yes, look!” She pointed, and sure enough, Simon had it clutched tightly in his fist.
“Is there another way to lower it?”
She shook her head no.
“Thank you. Why don’t you go ahead into the other room? If we need any help, I’ll come g
et you.” I glanced at the paramedic. “Can you get it free from his hand?”
“No. We’re going to have to bring in a ladder.”
Thirty minutes later, they lowered the chandelier with Simon’s body. Now that he was laid out on the floor, we could see the note that had been pinned to his chest, just like the one at Matt’s death.
“You thought you had a suspect, but now what will you do? I was right under your noses, and you didn’t notice me. Catch me if you can, but the master is smarter than both of you.” The note taunted us, but this pretty much proved that someone else was pulling the strings for these deaths.
I took the note between gloved fingers to the lady who had been so helpful. “Is this Simon’s handwriting?”
She looked for just a minute. “Yes, ma’am. It’s his handwriting.”
My attention wandered, my gaze landing through the kitchen door. “Whose birthday was is it today?”
A little sadly, she answered, “Simon’s. He always had us start off with a cake at breakfast. We were in the middle of frosting it to put candles on when someone screamed.”
“Didn’t you notice his body when you came downstairs?”
“No, ma’am. There’s a back staircase that’s closer to the kitchen, and most of us use it to get up and down to our rooms. It wasn’t until the others who have to get ready for work would have been going down the front stairs.” She suddenly looked ready to faint at the thought of it happening while she was in the kitchen. “When did it happen?”
“We won’t know that until they get his body autopsied. With things from the past few days, it may take a while, but they’ll put it as a priority.”
Ryan stood in the doorway, waiting for me to finish. “Sorry, I have to go back in there. Is there someone that can stay with you?”
“Natalie. She should be here somewhere.”
“I’m afraid that she’s a little busy.” I’d already found her sitting in the corner, making enough noise to wake the recently dead with her sobs and shrieks.
I motioned to the nearest uniformed officer. “Can you stay here and make sure that she’s okay?” He nodded and I took off to see what Ryan had discovered.
