Proving Grounds: A London Carter Novel (London Carter Mystery Series Book 2)

by BJ Bourg

  A thought crawled into my brain and squatted there for a second. I grunted. “Shannon Reed is old enough to be the Trinity Sniper, and he knows rifles.”

  “The guy who stole Mr. Boudreaux’s boat?”

  I nodded and called the sheriff on my phone. After fielding a dozen questions about Roger’s involvement and subsequent murder, I asked if he could send a team down Little Bayou to locate Shannon. “He’s supposed to be staying with a guy named Gary Allain in a camp north of Pelican Pass.”

  “Is he dangerous?” the sheriff asked. “I mean, if he’s our guy, shouldn’t you be going after him?”

  “If he’s home, he’s not the killer. If he is the killer, he’s not home. Either way, they’ll be fine. Just let me know what they find when they get there.”

  “Will do.” He started to hang up and then stopped. “Oh, and keep me posted on what’s happening on your end.”

  After agreeing to do so, I made my way back inside Dean’s house and found Dawn squatting over Roger’s body. She looked up when I walked in. Her eyes were misty. “That poor little girl,” she said. “What will she do now that her dad and brother are gone?”

  “We need to let her know what’s going on.”

  She nodded. “I’ll have a team of crime scene detectives respond to process this scene so we can make contact with Lily as soon as possible. I don’t want her hearing about it on some social media site or through the school.”

  While Dawn made some phone calls, I asked Jerry and Ray to secure the area until the crime scene detectives could arrive.

  “There’s a team on the way,” Dawn said, shoving her phone in her back pocket. She paused momentarily and just stared at me.

  “What’s up?”

  Without saying a word, she walked across the kitchen and stood inches from me, studying my face. She then reached up and slid her fingers lightly across the left side of my face. “You’re bleeding. Were you hit?”

  I reached up and our hands brushed together as I felt the source of the stinging pain. “It’s just shards of glass. I’ll be fine.”

  “We can’t have Lily seeing you like this. It might upset her more.” She took me by the wrist and guided me toward the door. “Get your first aid kit so I can get you cleaned up.”

  “I’ll take care of it,” I said. “I don’t need anyone looking after me.”

  She started to object, but clamped her mouth shut and nodded. “Okay, just take care of it before we meet with Lily.”

  I silently cursed myself as she walked away. What the hell was wrong with me? A beautiful and intelligent woman was trying to take care of me and I’d turned her away. Truth was I didn’t like anyone looking after me. I was self-sufficient and could take care of myself, but I should’ve told Dawn how much I appreciated the offer. I started to call after her, but it was too late to not sound awkward.

  I was still cursing myself as I wiped my face with a sterile wipe. I was just about done when a team of detectives arrived and piled out of the crime scene van. Dawn led them into the house and began handing out assignments. I waited for her to finish and then we got into my truck and headed toward South Magnolia High to meet with Lily.

  We hadn’t gone a mile when my phone rang. It was the substation, so I answered.

  “London,” one of the dispatchers began, her voice high, “Lieutenant Buzz Landry is on the line. Go ahead, Lieutenant Landry.”

  “Hey, London, I need you to meet me in the area of Thirty-Nine Twenty-Six Highway Three in Gracetown pronto. We’re on the bayou side.”

  “Can it wait?” I asked. “I’m heading to the high school to do a death notification.”

  “You’re going to want to see this.” Buzz took a deep breath and exhaled. “A couple of kids found a woman’s body along the banks of Bayou Magnolia. It looks like she was tossed out of a car and then rolled down the embankment.”

  “Can someone else handle it?”

  “No, I think you’re going to want to handle this one.”

  “Sorry, Buzz, but I’m real busy at the moment.”

  “London, the dead woman…she’s Sally Piatkowski.”

  CHAPTER 43

  South Magnolia High School

  Dawn hesitated in the parking lot, her knuckles white from gripping the steering wheel of London’s truck. After dropping London off at the death scene—and promising to return later to help with the investigation—she had driven straight to the high school. Now that she was here, she found it especially hard to step out of the truck.

  Death notifications were the absolute worst part of her job, and she had no clue how to break the news to Lily. London had conveyed how close Dean and his children were, and she was well aware that the news would destroy Lily. How do you tell a young girl that her brother killed her father and then a mystery man killed her brother?

  “God help me,” Dawn whispered as she exited the truck and quickly strode across the bright parking lot. It was a little after two, so the bell to end school would be ringing at any time. She wanted to catch Lily before she boarded the bus to go home.

  As Dawn made her way up the large concrete steps at the front of the school, she wondered what had happened to Sally. That a fellow detective had been murdered—preliminary findings indicated she’d been strangled—was alarming. What was more troubling was the fact that Sally could handle herself in a fight and she was an expert with her pistol. How on earth had someone managed to strangle her to death and escape with their life? As she pondered this, she couldn’t help but wonder if her murder was connected to the sniper killings.

  A tall blonde lady was working in the office. Dawn showed the lady her identification and asked to speak with Lily.

  “Can I ask what it’s about?”

  “It’s police business,” was all Dawn said.

  The lady nodded and moved to a desk in the corner. She made a few phone calls before telling Dawn that Lily was on her way to the office.

  “Is there a place we can sit when she gets here?” Dawn asked. “Somewhere private?”

  “You can use the vice principal’s office. He’s not in.”

  Dawn nodded her thanks and paced back and forth in front of the counter. She whirled around when the door opened and Lily walked in with a pink schoolbag slung over one shoulder. Her hair was pulled back in a barrette and she smiled when she saw Dawn.

  “Hey, Ms. Dawn, what’s up?”

  Dawn forced a smile. “Hey, Lily, I need to speak with you in private.”

  Lily’s smile faded and she looked around the waiting area. “Why? Is something wrong?”

  “Let’s go in the office where we can speak in private.”

  Dawn took her by the arm and led her into the vice principal’s office, where they sat beside each other on a small sofa. Lily was hesitant. “What is it? Why are you here to see me?”

  Dawn’s eyes burned and her jaw ached as she fought to control her emotions. “Lily,” she began, “I have some terrible…um…something awful has happened.”

  Sensing something was wrong, Lily’s eyes watered. “What is it?”

  “Sweetie, I don’t know how to say it.” Dawn hesitated and blinked away a tear that spilled from her eye. “It’s your dad and your brother.”

  Lily threw a hand to her mouth. “What is it? What happened?”

  “I’m so sorry, honey,” Dawn said. “They’re gone. They passed away.”

  Lily gasped out loud and shook her head, tears spilling from her horrified eyes. “No! Please…no! Please…no!”

  Dawn wrapped her arms around Lily and squeezed the trembling teenager as tight as she could. Lily was screaming in Dawn’s ear and shaking uncontrollably. It was all Dawn could do to hold onto her. “I’m here, Lily…I’m here for you.”

  “Oh, my God, no! This can’t be happening! Oh, God…Dad! Roger! No! Please, God…no!”

  Dawn could feel the cool wetness from Lily’s tears as they rained down the side of her face and neck, mixing with her own. She knew she was supposed to be s
trong and emotionless, but this was too much. Her heart broke for Lily like it had never broken for anyone else—including herself.

  “Baby, I’m so sorry,” Dawn said, as she clutched onto the sobbing teenager. Not knowing what else to do, or how to make the young girl’s pain go away, she just kept repeating how sorry she was and held Lily as tight as she could.

  “Daddy, Roger…please don’t leave me alone! God, please let this be a dream.”

  CHAPTER 44

  3926 Highway 3, Gracetown, LA

  I was numb as I stared down at Sally’s body. She lay on one side, her eyes half closed and seemingly staring at me in an accusatory manner. I felt a sense of guilt for hanging up on her yesterday. What if I’d agreed to meet her? Maybe she’d still be alive. I forced the thought from my mind and tended to the task at hand. There’d be time for regret later. At the moment, I needed to figure out what happened to her and who might want to hurt her.

  I hadn’t been at the scene for ten minutes when the sheriff called to say they’d located Shannon. He was at his friend’s camp and he was in possession of over fifty cut alligator lines. They’d written him a summons for damage to property and released him. After a moment of silence, the sheriff asked if I thought Sally’s death had anything to do with the sniper killings.

  “I’m just getting here,” I said. “So, I don’t know much.”

  “I’m fixing to meet with the special agent in charge and I’m going to demand he tell me everything he knows about this case.”

  Although he couldn’t see me, I nodded my agreement. “They know more than they’re saying, that’s for sure.”

  “Keep me informed, and I’ll do the same.”

  After hanging up and pulling on a pair of latex gloves, I squatted beside Sally and gently pushed open her eyelids. Petechial hemorrhages were present in both eyes—a strong indicator of strangulation. Rigor mortis was fixed, which told me she’d been dead at least eight hours.

  Over the next two hours, I visually examined the area surrounding her body, took dozens of photographs, and wrote pages of notes. When I’d documented the scene with photographs, I solicited Buzz’ help to measure the location of her body—using two fixed points of reference—and began searching the surrounding area for evidence. It didn’t take me long to realize this was not the scene of her murder. This was simply where she’d been dumped.

  The coroner’s investigator arrived a short time later and I helped him ease Sally into a body bag and onto a spine board. We then carried her up the embankment. We struggled a bit, because the dirt was soft and the angle steep, but finally made it to level ground. I frowned when I saw the long line of police cars—some marked and some unmarked—lining both sides of Highway Three. The officers were huddled in groups, speaking softly, a somber expression on all of their faces. They all stopped talking when they saw us approach the hearse and they stood in silent respect.

  Once Sally’s body was secured and the hearse was gone, I loaded my crime scene gear in the back of Buzz’ patrol cruiser and checked my phone. I’d received a text message an hour earlier, but didn’t have the time to look at it until now. It was Dawn letting me know she had taken Lily to the criminal operations center in Payneville, which was just down the road from Gracetown.

  I walked to the officers huddled along the highway and fielded some of their questions—they wanted to know what happened and who did this to Sally, the latter of which I couldn’t answer—before following Buzz to his cruiser. I’d noticed a news van parked a few hundred yards away, but the officers wouldn’t let the reporter get close. For that, I was thankful.

  Buzz and I rode in silence until we reached the criminal operations center. I thanked him for the ride and unloaded my gear.

  I found Dawn in Sally’s cubicle, rummaging through her desk and going through her computer. “There’s got to be a clue here,” she said, not looking in my direction. “Something to indicate what she was working on or what she was doing.”

  I sighed and grabbed a chair from the neighboring desk and took a seat. I was tired and hungry, but I didn’t feel like eating or sleeping. I wanted to know who killed Roger and Sally.

  After Dawn grew tired of searching Sally’s desk, she turned to me and I gasped when I saw her swollen eyes. “Are you okay?”

  She lowered her face. “I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t be strong for Lily. The poor girl broke my heart.”

  “Yeah, I feel you.” I glanced around the office. “Where’s she now?”

  “Dean’s sister came pick her up. She’s got four daughters, two of them around Lily’s age. Lily said she’s close to her cousins and she wanted to be with them.”

  I had a good idea what Lily was feeling at the moment, and I knew the worst was yet to come. “Did you tell her Roger killed Dean?”

  “I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

  I nodded my understanding, and we both just sat there in awkward silence until Dawn finally looked up. “Did you find Sally’s phone?”

  “No. She was clean. No purse, no wallet, no money…nothing.”

  Dawn shook her head. “She didn’t show up for work this morning and no one has heard from her or seen her since Dean’s party.”

  I snapped my fingers. “What about Sergeant Eric Boyd? He was with her at the party, remember?”

  “I spoke to Cindy over in evidence, and she said she and her husband were talking with another couple in front of Dean’s house until late, and she saw Sally leave the party alone. Watched her get into her car and drive away. She commented to her husband that Sally shouldn’t be driving, because she’d been stumbling around drunk.”

  I was thoughtful, as I recalled seeing Sally and Eric making out on the swing. “Let’s check with him anyway, to see if they had plans past that night.”

  “Sure, thing. I’ll run his name and see what I can find—”

  The fax machine screamed from the corner of the room and cut her off.

  “That’s for me.” Dawn got up to retrieve the documents that were coming through. “I had the personnel section pull up Sally’s department-issued cell phone account and print up her latest calls and text messages.”

  When she walked back to where I was sitting, she held a stack of papers in her hand. She flipped to the last page and squinted to focus as she ran her fingers line by line. Her hand suddenly stopped and she looked up at me, a puzzled expression on her face.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “It was you.”

  “Me?”

  She nodded slowly, searching my eyes with her own. “You were the last person to speak with Sally.”

  CHAPTER 45

  “She called my phone at about eight last night,” I explained, “but I didn’t talk to her. In fact, I rejected the call.”

  Dawn turned the page so I could see. “It says here y’all spoke for two minutes.”

  She was right—the records showed a conversation from her cell to mine that lasted for two minutes. “That’s impossible. I turned my phone off right after I rejected the call.”

  “Why’d you reject her call?”

  I sighed. “She’d called me earlier on Sunday while you were on the phone with Captain Ansley. She wanted to meet to discuss something, but I thought she was just trying to get back with me.”

  Dawn raised an eyebrow. “That sure of yourself, are you?”

  “No.” I would’ve laughed if the situation wouldn’t have been so grim. “Not at all. It’s just that she’d been trying to get back together with me, and I really didn’t have time to deal with it. We broke up, it was mutual, and it was time to move on. I just got the feeling she wanted to talk about us, so I turned her down. Besides, we were in the middle of this case.”

  Dawn was chewing on her lower lip, as she often did when she was thinking, and studying the phone record. “But it says y’all spoke for two minutes.”

  “I didn’t even answer the call.” A thought occurred to me and I fished my phone from my pocket. “Unless…”
/>
  “Unless what?” Dawn wanted to know.

  I clicked on the Recent Calls section on my screen and scrolled down the list to eight o’clock yesterday. Sally’s number was lit up in red. I then clicked on the Voicemail section and turned it so Dawn could see. “She left me a voicemail. It’s one minute and seventeen seconds long.”

  “Well, hurry up and play it.”

  After pressing the voicemail and switching the speaker feature on, I held it between me and Dawn. It was Sally’s voice, but she was whispering and we had to listen carefully to make out everything she said.

  ——

  London, please call me back. I overheard a conversation between Roger Pierce and Eric Boyd. Eric is recruiting Roger to infiltrate the military and turn against his own people. Roger has to prove that he is capable of fulfilling some screwed up mission by killing a man, a woman, and a child. He’s going to do it, London…he’s going to kill a child. I overheard him admit to killing that alligator poacher and that young girl. You have to do something! Please call me back! [Noise in the background.] Shit! I have to—

  Who in the hell are you talking to? [A man’s voice.]

  ——

  Next, we heard the sound of screams, cursing, and grunting, mixed with stomping and furniture being knocked over. Suddenly, everything went quiet except for a sick wheezing sound. When the sound stopped, there was a final thump and then the phone went dead.

  Dawn rubbed her throat. “We just heard Sally die.”

  I dropped my phone on the desk and stared at the floor. “I should’ve answered her call.”

  Dawn put a hand on my shoulder. “It wouldn’t have saved her life. She would’ve just been caught on the phone with you, instead of leaving you a voicemail.”

  She was right, I knew, but at least we would’ve known what was going on.