Murders of the Zodiac Boxed Set

by Paris Morgan

  The wheels of the plane touched down roughly, and I glanced around, feeling better when we started to taxi to our gate. Something had prickled on the back of my neck, but I hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary.

  A pair of eyes followed us off the plane, just waiting for me to make the wrong move.

  ***

  Chapter 7

  Leslie

  Our crime scene looked like hundreds of others that we’d seen over the past few months. I was starting to think that nothing was going to make it through the wall I’d formed around my emotions.

  There wasn’t enough emotion left to feel more than a small twinge of sadness that we hadn’t caught him to prevent it. Empathy wasn’t something I could bring to the surface anymore. Looking at the crime scenes, I was becoming numb and detached. This was completely unfair to the victims.

  “Um, Adam…?” I started to excuse myself, but something caught my attention.

  A piece of paper had been pushed under the china hutch. Bending over, I picked it up with my glove-covered hand.

  Beware: An act of kindness can bring death.

  “Here’s our connection. Kindness. He’s having them killed with deeds of goodwill. We can’t even fight against this. Any type of warning would just make them all panic.” I slid the note into an evidence bag.

  “I’m going to alert the rest of the team to be on the lookout for notes of this nature.”

  Something else was bugging me, and I couldn’t put a finger on it right then. I scanned the room in case I picked anything else out.

  I shook my head before walking out the door. All that was left of the owner was his need to have everything in its place. Even in death, he’d left a spotless home.

  “Okay, I’ve got everyone updated.” Adam joined me on the sidewalk. “We’ll meet the others in Birmingham for dinner. We need to go over to the police station and give them this piece of evidence before we leave town.”

  “Great,” I mumbled, sliding into the passenger seat.

  I didn’t want to wait in the car, not even for the few minutes it took for him to share what we’d found. Unlike TV shows, the FBI did try to work with the local police as much as possible.

  Walking around, I was drawn toward the other side of the street. There wasn’t anything specific, but I felt something.

  “Not what you’d expect from a town where everyone knows each other, is it?”

  “What?” I turned to face a man sitting in a wheelchair, the cast on his leg propped up.

  “Just when you think someone is giving you a chance, helping you when you’re down, they take advantage of you.” His smile held a hint of sadness.

  “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

  “Someone pushed me into the street. I thought they were helping me to cross it. Being a good neighbor, you know, since it’s really hard to get up and down the curbs by myself. Instead, they pushed me straight into traffic. The bus couldn’t stop in time.”

  Gasping, I sank to the very curb that had led to his death.

  “Leslie, what’s wrong? Why are you sitting over here?” Adam rushed to my side.

  “We’ve got two murderers.” I rubbed at my temples, because they were starting to hurt from all the overthinking I’d been doing lately.

  “See something?” He queried, taking a seat next to me, blocking the man in wheelchair.

  “Yep. You were sitting on his feet there for a minute.” I grinned at the image. “Anyway, he was pushed into the street. Thought he’d found someone doing a good deed, an act of kindness, until he realized it was straight in front a bus.”

  “Oh, that’s not good.” He grimaced and looked out into the busy street where small pieces of the wheelchair still littered the street.

  “There are two of them, huh?”

  “Well, at least there were two murders on the same day. It could have been the same person, but the essence is different.”

  “Something new you’ve come up with? Almost like you can smell the different kinds of evil now?”

  “Unfortunately, but I hadn’t even noticed until you said something. It’s like I have all these new things, and it’s just so normal now that it doesn’t raise any flags.”

  “A bonus of your new connection?”

  I frowned. “Who knows? Maybe…or maybe it’s been there all along and I just didn’t know it.”

  “Could be.”

  “Don’t patronize me. I have no idea if things have amped up or I’ve gotten new gifts. I probably won’t know for a while. And no, I don’t want to talk about it.” I stood up and looked both ways before attempting to cross the street.

  I could hear Adam muttering all the way to the car, but he didn’t try to talk to me again.

  The outskirts of Birmingham began to pass by, and I didn’t want to leave things in such a sour state.

  “Adam, I’m sorry. There was no need to chop your head off when you’re just trying to be helpful.”

  He never took his eyes off the road. “Apology accepted.”

  “These emotions are starting to overwhelm me. I’ve never felt like this before, and it’s making me crabby. On the one hand, I’m at a crime scene and feel nothing. Then I walk out into the street and want to start crying when I meet a ghost because they’re dead. I’ve always been a tough cop, and could keep my emotions under control.”

  “You’ve been through a lot this past year. It’s not because you’re a woman, but because you’ve held it back, just like your gifts. When you let one wall down, all the others come tumbling down with it. You’re going to have to find a new way to make things work better in the future.”

  “True, but I’ve never had this kind of trouble keeping them in check before.”

  Adam grinned. “I think you’re just getting started with keeping things in order, but I’d be surprised if things didn’t get a lot worse before they get better. Anyway, this is the address of the crime scene,” he announced as he pulled up to the curb. “Looks like we beat the others here.”

  I sat there trying to work up some enthusiasm, but I’d already used all of my energy for the day. Still, I had a job to do, and it wasn’t going to get done sitting out here in the car.

  The local police department had sent someone to meet us.

  “We were just about to take down the tape and call this completed when we got your call. We held it all just for you.” The officer led us up the steps into the lovely old house.

  The inside of the home was gorgeous, and much larger than it looked from the outside. A wide-open ceiling showed off the circular stairs on each side of the room.

  “Where did they find him?” I blurted out as I looked around, but couldn’t see any signs of a crime scene.

  “Oh, he was upstairs.”

  “He died of poisoned lettuce in his bedroom?” I couldn’t see why someone would have taken their food upstairs when the kitchen was on the bottom floor.

  “The office is up there, where he was apparently working. When the food came, he must have taken it up because the packaging was on his desk. We’ve had it tested, and the lettuce was sprayed with pesticides after it was prepared.”

  We arrived at the top of the stairs and turned toward the office where it had happened.

  The officer and Adam had gone first into the small space when it hit me. This man’s ghost wasn’t playing nice, and pushed me backward into a very strong set of arms.

  “What on earth?” I righted myself and turned on the ghost with fire in my eyes, but came face-to-face with the one who had caught me instead.

  “N–Noah,” I stuttered. “What are you doing here?”

  “Evidently, rescuing damsels in distress,” he answered with a grin, but it disappeared quickly as if a switch had been flipped.

  The ghost had apparently thought we were more interesting than being mad, because he piped in with, “I would have rescued you too if I’d realized who you were. Sorry, ma’am. There’ve been people all over my house for the past few days, and I jus
t want to be left in peace.”

  I motioned for us to step outside the room and gave Adam a glance as we left to let him know I’d encountered the dead .

  “Can you tell us what happened?” I made it look like I was having a conversation with Noah instead of a ghost.

  “I don’t remember much, except for that I went down, got dinner, and before I’d finished eating it, I was looking at my body lying on the floor. Why am I like this?” he questioned, perplexed.

  “Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you’re dead. It’s shocking, I know, but I can’t do anything about it now.”

  “I kind of figured that out. What do I do next?”

  “Not really sure I can help you. They say to follow the light, but so far, it doesn’t always appear when we want it to.”

  “Great. Now I’m stuck here, and I don’t even have work to distract me.” He gave an exaggerated sigh.

  “You might try haunting someone. I’ve heard ghosts generally enjoy that kind of thing.” I caught Noah’s expression when I said this, and had to place a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing.

  “Well, since you’ve suggest it, why not? I’ve never done anything like that before, but I guess it might be fun.”

  I reached out to put a hand on his arm, forgetting for a moment that he wasn’t real. My hand went through and I caught myself. “Do you mind if I ask a question before you flit off somewhere?”

  “No. What can I help you with?” he offered politely.

  “Can you describe the person who brought you the food? See, she’s doing this to quite a few guys, and we’d like to catch her before it happens again.”

  “Oh, certainly, but it would be easier if you just watched my security tapes.”

  “Security tapes? The local police didn’t mention security footage.”

  “They wouldn’t have found it. I have it uploading to my safe room. You’ll need the code to get inside.” He blushed. “It’s 1234. Not very original, but I figured it would be easy to remember if something happened.”

  “Makes perfect sense,” I responded, while mentally shaking my head at his stupidity. “Where can we find this room?”

  “Oh, it’s there in the office on the back right side. There’s a line in the wallpaper, and you’ll find the keypad hidden behind the curtain.”

  “That’s very helpful. You’re free to go out and haunt someone. Have fun,” I called as he floated down the stairs.

  “You’re just too much. Did you know that?” Noah stood there with his arms crossed, chuckling.

  “Too much? I’m not sure what you mean.” I turned and headed back to give Adam the new information, completely ignoring him. “There’s a safe room in this corner with video footage in it.” I walked confidently into the room and headed for the curtain with the keypad.

  “Hey, we searched everything and didn’t find that. How did you know the code?” The officer eyed me with suspicion.

  I had to come up with something that sounded more reasonable than “a ghost told me.”

  “Uh, from the hallway. I got to looking at the rooms, spotted a few cameras, and realized that he had a safe room to hide them in. Nobody is that security-conscious without having an escape.” I typed in the code and the door to the secret room opened. “Now, let’s see what those tapes can tell us.”

  It only took a few minutes to scroll back to the date in question and find the moment when his food was delivered.

  “There, that’s her!” the ghost shouted next to me, causing me to jump at his sudden appearance.

  “So, um, I think that could be her. I’ll get this downloaded and sent to our techs so they can get started on facial recognition.” I tried to play off my reaction as excitement.

  “Sure. I hope you can get this person before they hurt someone else.” The officer shook his head as he left the room.

  I followed. “Excuse me. I was just wondering if there had been any accidental deaths in the past few days?”

  “You mean other than this?” He jerked his thumb back toward the office.

  “Yes, like someone helping others to cross the street, but they die. Anything out of the ordinary?”

  “Well, there was this case of an allergic reaction, and the bystander used an EpiPen, but it was expired. It didn’t work because it was too old and the man died anyway.”

  “Can I see the case file on that one?” I pleaded.

  “Sure. Don’t see what this case has to do with that one, but okay.” He shrugged. “If you want to do more work, nobody around here will complain.”

  “Can’t hurt to see if the cases connect.”

  “You really think they’re connected? Don’t see what the motive would be to kill strangers with a random act of kindness. Pure craziness is what all this is. I thought I knew what I’d signed up for when I became a cop, protect and serve, but these days, you can’t protect against the good things in the world along with the bad.”

  I agreed with him, but that didn’t change the fact that someone still had to do the job.

  It only took a few minutes to read the files that had been put together to figure out it was almost exactly like the case of the man who’d been stung by the bees in his home.

  The witnesses could only identify that it was a woman, but beyond that, no one had a good description, and there weren’t any cameras in the area.

  “Thank you.” I handed the tablet back to him.

  “Were they connected?” He shuffled from foot to foot nervously.

  “I believe so. There’s not really a way to identify her, so we can’t know for sure, but I think she’s one of two people killing in your town. Are they still here? Maybe not, but now we know to be looking out for someone else.”

  Adam, Ryan, and Noah stepped out onto the wrap-around porch.

  “We’ll be in touch if we find out anything.” I held out a hand to him. “We appreciate your help.”

  “Yes,” Adam agreed. “If there’s something else that turns up, don’t hesitate to call us.”

  The officer nodded and returned to his car.

  “Where to now, boss?” Ryan asked, standing on the sidewalk, looking slightly out of place.

  “Dinner and regroup. Maybe Mac and Barbie will have something for us by the time we’re finished,” Adam replied. “I saw just the thing as we drove into town. Follow me to the good food.”

  Noah’s stomach rumbled just then in agreement.

  “Guess we know Noah’s thoughts on the subject,” I teased.

  While I’d felt hurt by his actions, I was determined to move past it and into a pleasant working relationship.

  ***

  Adam had found the perfect place to eat—a café that served real, homemade food.

  We’d gotten seated and ordered drinks when I decided to visit the ladies’ room. Ryan had just gotten a video of Hope making new sounds.

  “Can one of you order me a burger while I use the ladies’ room?”

  Adam gave me a thumbs-up as he joined Ryan in watching the video.

  They weren’t even going to miss me.

  I walked into the two-stall bathroom and leaned against the door in relief. I really enjoyed the guys, but it was nice to have a moment of quiet.

  I’d finished up and was washing my hands when the door swung open and another woman entered. I felt a prick against my neck as she passed me, and then my body went limp.

  Chapter 8

  Noah

  I done good to ignore Leslie for most of the time we’d been near each other. It was a lot harder than I’d thought, but other than a few frowns, she hadn’t called me on it.

  We were all watching Ryan’s video of Hope for the third time when something felt wrong.

  “Where did Leslie say she was going?” I’d heard her ask us to order for her, but was trying to focus on anything but her.

  “Oh, the bathroom. Why?”

  “Not sure.” I almost got up, but the waitress appeared to take our orders.

  Adam o
rdered for Leslie by the time she got to me, and I simply picked the first thing I saw. My stomach was sending me vibes that were distracting me.

  “Excuse me,” I muttered at the poor waitress and ran to the restroom.

  I couldn’t exactly go into the ladies’ room, but it was in a little alcove that couldn’t be seen by most of the restaurant.

  Not really seeing a choice, I knocked on the door as I pushed it open slightly. “Leslie? Anyone?”

  Receiving no response, I went in and could see that no one was in the small room.

  Trying not to panic, I left the bathroom while dialing Leslie’s cell as I walked back to the table.

  It started ringing from the side door next to the restrooms, and I knew she was gone as I made my way outside to find it lying on the ground next to a parking space.

  I turned to head back to the table, only to find Adam and Ryan making their way to me.

  “She’s gone. Her phone was out here.” The amount of loss I felt with that statement was overwhelming.

  “Gone?” Ryan looked ready to hit something. “How many times are we going to let this happen?”

  “Dude, we didn’t let it happen. She went to the bathroom. They had to have been watching and planned this. It wouldn’t have mattered if it was now or when we were back at the hotel, they’d have tried something.” I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to reassure him when I was the one feeling like my insides were being ripped out.

  “What do we do now?” I didn’t normally have this type of decision to make when it was personal to me.

  “I’ll make a phone call, and then we’re going to eat dinner.”

  “Are you freaking kidding me?” I exploded, lashing out at Adam’s indifference.

  “For the moment, I’m going to put out an alert. We can’t panic, and we know that the Zodiac Master has eyes on us. So, we’ll calm down, eat, and see what our options are.” Adam shot a quick glance at Ryan before adding more. “You may be our best link to her, and you’re not going to be able to help if you’re freaking out.”