Free to Kill

by Julie Mellon

  As Katie quietly snuck down the stairs, carrying her shoes so her sock feet would make less noise, she heard voices from the kitchen. Turning the corner, she entered the room to find Michael sitting at the kitchen table and Caroline wrapping breakfast sandwiches in paper towels.

  Smiling at her, Caroline said, “I heard your phone and figured you were about to head out for another long day. When Michael lived here, he was often called out in the middle of the night. Here’s some breakfast.” She handed over a toasted English muffin with a slice of ham, a scrambled egg and cheese on it. It smelled so good that Katie’s mouth watered before she even reached for it.

  Katie quickly pulled on her shoes and thanked Caroline for the sandwich. With some of her anger softened by the gesture, Katie merely turned toward the door with a dark look sent to Michael, her mouth too full of food to form the words that she wanted to say. Besides, her brain said, it isn’t his fault that the other men are acting like sexist jerks.

  Michael quietly got into the driver’s seat as he polished off his second sandwich. “Not a morning person, huh?”

  “I’m just fine, thank you. I’m just tired of being surrounded by sexists.” Katie muttered as she bent down to tie the lace she hadn’t tied when rushing to get ready.

  “Uh huh.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Katie asked, irritated.

  “Well, your one sentence answers seem to indicate that you are not a morning person. And since when did I become a sexist?”

  “Since the minute I first saw you,” she answered. “Don’t think I didn’t see you checking me out in the stairwell. Also, you always assume you are driving. I do have a license and know how to operate a motor vehicle, you know.” Katie didn’t really know where her petulance was coming from; she hated driving. Growing up, there were rarely cars on her mother’s property. She certainly had never seen her mom drive one. Of course, her mother never left the property, so why would she need a car? Her mother had Patty and other women from the local shelter to bring her groceries and the essentials from the store. They also brought Katie’s schoolbooks and any library books they thought she might enjoy. Shaking herself from thoughts of home, Katie glared over at Michael, but didn’t say anything further.

  “You’re right. I did check you out in the stairwell. But it isn’t because you’re beautiful. It’s because I’m the only one who actually uses those stairs.” Michael hoped this lie was believable. He thought she was extremely beautiful and everything male in him had stood at attention when he found her in the stairwell. “I was surprised to find someone else in there. And as for never asking you to drive, I figured it would be faster for me to drive until you found your way around. I was trying to help you out, not be a sexist.”

  “Why is it that SAC Nelson contacted you to tell you about this case and not me? He has my information, too. If he is really trying to watch me, you would think he would inform me of the cases that come our way. Also, Chief Davidson felt the need to call you when he had my card as well as yours. Is the south always so sexist? I’ve been down here for a little over two years and Louisiana was just as bad as Tennessee is turning out to be.” Her green eyes were flashing as she finished her speech.

  Michael just kept his mouth shut as he sped toward Shelbyville. After five minutes of silence and several drinks of coffee later, Katie took a calming breath and finally asked, “So what did you mean when you said we had a survivor? Did they find Barbie, or are there others that got away or were dumped alive?”

  “Barbie was dumped on her front porch about fifteen minutes before I called you. She was unconscious, but alive. The husband gave her an insulin shot to stabilize her until the medics could arrive. So far, she is hanging in there. Once the ambulance pulled away, Chief Davidson called me. I called you, and here we are.” As he finished, Michael pulled into the parking lot of the small Bedford County Medical Center. “This is the closest medical facility that’s capable of handling a diabetic patient,” he explained.

  He parked the car and got out. Katie met him at the front of the car and they headed into the hospital. There was a deputy at the door waiting for them. “Right this way,” he said and turned right down the hall leading deeper into the emergency department. They stopped outside cubicle three, where both Chief Davidson and Chuck Jones were standing. Chuck kept alternately running his hands through his hair and curling them into fists. He didn’t seem to notice that he was bare-chested and his jeans hadn’t been buttoned. His feet were crammed into unlaced work boots and the jeans looked like they could use a good wash. The minute Chuck saw the agents he stopped pacing. “Someone just dumped her on the porch. Her little body was covered in welts. What the hell did he do to her?” His voice was an agonized moan. They were the first words he had spoken since finding Barbie on their porch. He immediately broke down into tears and sat on the chair outside the curtain.

  Katie turned away, uncomfortable, as Michael squatted down beside Chuck’s chair. Gently, Michael asked, “How is she?” Instinctively, he knew that getting Chuck to acknowledge that Barbie was alive, even if she was still unconscious or injured, would help him calm down.

  Taking a deep breath, Chuck responded, “She’s still unconscious. The doctors took her down for x-rays to see if anything was broken. They’re giving her insulin slowly, trying to stabilize her blood sugar without sending her into shock. What did he do to her?” Chuck asked again, in a whisper, his eyes filling with tears that he managed to hold back this time.

  “We won’t know everything that happened until the doctors have finished examining her,” Michael replied, as calmly and quietly as he could. “But we do know that if she had welts, she was likely hit with something like a whip.” Chuck’s shoulders shook as he once again began sobbing. “Just think about her being here with you, Chuck. She’s a survivor. Her diabetes might have saved her life.” Michael’s words slowed Chuck’s tears a bit as the doctor approached them.

  “Mr. Jones?” The doctor asked.

  “Yes, how is she?” Chuck’s voice wavered as he shot to his feet, still looking like he was about to collapse. He unconsciously grabbed Michael’s arm and held on as if his life depended on it.

  “Mr. Jones, are you aware that your wife is pregnant?” the doctor asked.

  Chuck looked at him in stunned silence. Finally he managed to say, “We’ve been trying for a baby for two years. We’ve had four miscarriages. Is the baby ok? What will happen to it with her sugar levels being all messed up?”

  “Mr. Jones, right now we are more concerned with your wife. We don’t want to put her through an x-ray, so we’re going to try an MRI. She’s been taken down to get it started. It will be a bit longer than an x-ray and I didn’t want you to worry. We can do an ultrasound after the MRI, but I don’t want you to get your hopes up. The upset with her diabetes could cause several birth defects. It is also possible that the fetus won’t or hasn’t survived. All I know right now is that the pregnancy test came back positive, but the likelihood of the fetus surviving isn’t good. I’m sorry to bring such mixed news. I will let you know as soon as I know more about your wife.” The doctor’s tone was matter of fact, but held a bit of sympathy. He tried to be as gentle in his delivery as he could, but also had to make sure the husband understood the situation. As the doctor turned to go, Katie touched his arm.

  “I’m Special Agent Freeman. This is my partner Special Agent Powell. Would you mind if we walked with you?”

  The doctor nodded and headed down the hall trailed by Katie and Michael. “Has Mrs. Jones awakened yet?” Katie asked.

  “No, unfortunately she hasn’t. It isn’t unusual. Her glucose levels are still high. We are slowly getting them leveled out. The longer they’re abnormal, the worse the prognosis for the fetus. But I can’t worry about that just yet. I am trying to keep her stable and make sure she walks out of here.”

  “Can you give us any information on her condition other than her glucose levels and the fact that she is pregnant?” Kat
ie persisted.

  “I can tell you that she was beaten with something similar to a whip. The narrow lacerations on her torso and legs are proof of that. We’ll photograph them once we have her through the MRI. I can also tell you that she wasn’t raped. There are ligature marks on her ankles and wrists. The skin is abraded and quite raw. Oh, and we removed the ropes from her wrists and ankles when she came in. Having worked a forensics rotation, I made sure to leave the knots intact and have bagged them as evidence. They are currently secured in the hospital security office. You can sign for them there. I checked her hands for defensive wounds when she was brought in, but there were none. Under her nails was clean, no trace of anything. I don’t mean to cut this short, but that is all I know at the present moment. I really do need to check on the other patients while I wait for Mrs. Jones to be brought back from the MRI.”

  Katie and Michael thanked the doctor and returned to Chuck and Chief Davidson. They asked the Chief a few more questions and then stepped aside to discuss where things stood.

  “I feel like we’re a step behind on this case,” Michael said.

  “I agree,” replied Katie. “I think we need to go back to the beginning. We need to start as if we were called in when Elaine Henderson was taken. So far, we’ve only spoken to Rick Henderson. Let’s go back and talk to the twin, Evelyn. I think we should also get Dr. Bennett’s findings. Perhaps there’s something there that will help us. Father Joe might be worth another conversation, but I think we should reserve that for when we have a clearer picture. There’s still something bothering me about that church.”

  “I agree. I also think we should begin looking for anyone in the park yesterday that might have seen Barbie Jones. And we should see if there are any other employees of the church and whether or not they were there when Elaine Henderson disappeared,” Michael added.

  Checking her watch, Katie nodded. “It’s after eight. Let’s start the rounds. We can have Chief Davidson call us if or when Barbie wakes up.”

  Following up with Chief Davidson and getting his assurance that he would notify them immediately with any change in Barbie’s condition and that he would wait to ask or answer questions until they arrived, Katie and Michael left the hospital.

  CHAPTER NINE

  “Where to first?” Michael asked.

  “Let’s start with Evelyn Baker. She was one of the last people to see her sister alive.”

  Michael started the car and headed in the direction of the address in the file. Fifteen minutes later he pulled up to the curb in front of a craftsman style house in one of the oldest sections of Shelbyville. The sidewalk was cracked, but otherwise the street was in good condition. All the yards were mowed and the shrubbery was trimmed back with blooming flowers of varying shades of red and pink up and down the street. The woman who answered the door was so similar to the one they had witnessed on the autopsy table that both Michael and Katie took a shocked breath before being able to introduce themselves.

  Evelyn’s eyes were red and puffy. After identifying themselves, she opened the door and invited them in. As they went in, Katie noted the differences between Elaine and her sister. Evelyn was taller and a little heavier. Her blonde hair was cut short, where Elaine’s had been past her shoulders. Her house was very clean and there were religious trinkets on nearly every surface. They were shown into a comfortable and homey living room that had toys strewn across the floor. As they were about to sit, two children came flying down the stairs. “Can we play outside?” the girl asked. Receiving a nod from their aunt, the little girl took her brother’s hand and they vanished out the front door.

  “Those are Elaine’s kids, Austin and Emma. She will never see them grow up.” Evelyn broke down crying. It took her a few minutes to collect herself. The agents sat silently waiting, allowing her to grieve.

  Katie looked at Michael and gave a small nod, signaling to him that she was okay if he took the lead in questioning Evelyn.

  “Are you up to answering a few questions, Ms. Baker?”

  “I don’t know what more I can tell you than I told Chief Davidson when Elaine disappeared.”

  “Why don’t you just start at the beginning and walk me through the evening.”

  “We all get together about seven and start planning whatever we are working toward. That night we were putting prices on all the donated items. Elaine rushed in late, as usual. She was always running late, but we didn’t mind. She had two kids and a husband to get fed. We worked for about an hour and Elaine left as usual to go talk to Father Joe. She was gone for about fifteen minutes and was a bit distracted when she came back. But again that was normal. I know I am always distracted when I bare my soul to Father Joe. It’s just uncomfortable sometimes to think that one man knows all the secrets of this town. I bet if someone farts, he knows who did it. And not because someone would tattle, but because that person would confess it. I know Father Joe can’t be much older than me, but he is a gentle, old soul. He is very easy to talk to.” The admiration in Evelyn’s voice was clear. Katie wondered how deep the woman’s feelings for the priest went, and if they were returned.

  Katie was fidgeting in her chair, though Michael couldn’t figure out why. Perhaps it was because Evelyn was rambling. He shot her a look to try and calm her down, knowing that people in grief needed to tell their story in their own way and in their own time. Just as his eyes met hers, she asked, “So, Ms. Baker, as far as you know, Rick came home from work, they sat down to a family dinner and then Elaine came to the church?”

  “Oh, yes. Elaine always made sure that we knew that Rick did the clean up on those nights. He was so supportive of her and the kids.”

  Katie merely nodded. Michael looked at her confused, but when she didn’t follow up with another question, he turned back to Evelyn and said, “Please continue.”

  “Where was I? Oh, yes, her confession. Well, we worked on and each of the women took their turn going up to confession. Once the last of us had had our turn, we always had what we call comedy hour. We all laughed and joked and did our best to make sure it was a relaxing evening. I mean, how often do we all get to be together without husbands and children? Of course that didn’t apply to me. I’m happy being an old maid. I have my sister’s kids all the time, though. And Mondays were our special night. Elaine would bring them over so Rick could have one quiet evening. She usually went to the library or ran errands or some such thing. Me and the kids would play and read and work in the yard or garden.” Her eyes welled with tears and she took a few more minutes to gather herself. “I sure hope Rick allows me to keep them close. They are my only link to her now.”

  Katie was surprised to hear Evelyn call herself an old maid. She was only in her mid-thirties. But she kept her mouth closed as she exchanged a look with Michael. Something more was going on, she just didn’t know what yet. “Ms. Baker, what happened after comedy hour that night?”

  “Well, we worked a bit later than normal. We have so many donations this year.” She smiled sadly at this. “It was about 10:15 when we left. Elaine walked me to my car, even though it was three spots down from hers. She waited until I was inside and then I watched as she went to her car. She was taking a long time to get in, so I rolled my window down to see what was taking so long. She said she couldn’t find her keys and was going to run back inside before Father locked up for the night. I told her I could just take her home, no need to disturb Father if he was still working. But she just waved me off and went back inside. Father Joe came out a few minutes later and came over to talk to me. We talked for, I don’t know, maybe ten minutes. Finally I mentioned how long it was taking and that we should go help her look so all of us could get some sleep. We went inside and there was her purse on the table by the door. We looked into the yard sale room and saw the mess with the toy table. I went to the ladies room to see if she was there and Father Joe went into the sanctuary. Neither of us found her. We went room to room, but she wasn’t there. The front and side doors were already locked for the nig
ht, so the only way she could have gone back out was the back door. I looked outside to see if maybe we had crossed paths while we were searching. She wasn’t outside. Father called the police. I told all this to the police the night Elaine went missing.” Taking a deep breath, Evelyn looked at the two agents. “What could I have done differently? Could I have saved her?”

  Michael reached over and took her hand. “There was nothing you could have done to stop this. This happened because there is a very sick individual out there who is taking advantage of women.” Waiting a beat, Michael then asked, “Evelyn, was there any time during your search of the church that Father Joe was out of your sight for a period of time?”

  “You can’t think he did this? Surely not! There is just no way.” Seeing their silent, serious faces, Evelyn knew they considered Father Joe a suspect. “I don’t believe it. He couldn’t… He wasn’t out of my sight for more than a few seconds. I peeked in the bathroom and then met him in the main sanctuary. We thought she might have checked for her keys in the confessional. He was looking in there when I went in. We walked up and down the aisles together. We were together practically the whole time. We certainly weren’t apart long enough for him to retrieve her from somewhere and move her. There’s no way Father Joe did this.” Her mulish expression showed that she would never believe anything bad of Father Joe.

  Michael asked a few more questions and then the two of them stood and made their way out of the house. They waved to the kids in the yard and got in the car. Turning over the ignition and blasting the air conditioning into the furnace-like interior, Michael turned to Katie without making a move to drive off. “I can tell you caught something. I don’t know what Evelyn said that got you excited, but something is going on in that brain of yours.”

  Katie gave a smug smile, knowing she had picked up on something he hadn’t. “Evelyn said Elaine was always late, rushing in at the last minute to get started at these meetings. Rick said that Elaine left the house by five; that they ate without her on Wednesday nights. Where did Elaine go every Wednesday between five and seven? Also, is it the same place as she went on Mondays while Evelyn kept the kids? It would be worth a trip to the library to see if she even had a library card. I think Elaine had something going on that her family didn’t know about.”