Emma woke earlier than usual after barely sleeping that night. She took a long hot shower, got dressed, and made the short drive to work. The sky was clear, but the wind had picked up, and the frigid air burned her face as she walked from the parking lot to her office. She poured herself a cup of strong coffee before heading to her desk. She looked at the time on her phone. It was still ten minutes before her scheduled phone appointment. She dialed Doctor Greene anyway and hoped she’d be available.
“Hello, this is Doctor Greene.”
The voice was smooth and flawless. Emma had met Cassidy Greene on a few occasions when Greene had made the long drive to Gloucester. She was a renowned pathologist in the Hampton Roads area whose services would be leant to Gloucester County when an autopsy of this level needed to be performed. Emma always smiled as she watched all of the men in the room stop talking when the doctor would enter the office. Greene had seemed completely oblivious to the attention her beauty caused, or maybe she was just used to it.
“This is Emma Ross. Sorry for calling a little early.”
“It’s not a problem. I’ve got a packed schedule today, so it’s better for me if we get started now.”
“Were you able to determine a time of death? I’m worried the high temperatures in the house might have screwed up your findings.”
“Understood. I estimate Detective Hall was deceased for around eight to ten hours when you found him.”
“That puts his death the night before.”
“It was probably between eight and ten o’clock.”
Emma wrote the time down on a notepad. It confirmed her suspicions that the killer had stayed there all night.
“I found evidence of multiple strikes with the hammer,” Greene continued. “The killer used both sides of the hammer. It looks like he probably used the flat surface to fracture Detective Hall’s skull. He then used the claw side of the hammer to dig away at the flesh of the face.”
Emma did her best to force the memory of Ben’s bloody face out of her mind, but it came forward anyway.
“If there’s any consolation, the first one or two blows would have killed him. He wasn’t alive when most of the damage was done.”
“Is there anything else?” Emma asked.
“Yes. I sent you an email right before you called. There’s something you need to see. I need to warn you, though. It’s graphic.”
“What is it?”
“I found something carved into the detective’s back.”
Emma opened her email, and a message from Doctor Greene appeared a few seconds later. She clicked on the message and opened the attachment. It was a grisly photograph of Ben’s skin.
“I increased the contrast on the photo to make it easier for you to read,” Greene continued.
The bloody word was clear to see: Guilty.
“You didn’t find this on the body of Bill Tatum?” Emma asked.
“No, and it would have been impossible to miss. The manner of death is obviously the same between the two cases. However, the damage to the detective’s head and face was far more severe.”
Emma looked at the photograph of Ben’s back again.
“Have you ever seen anything like this before?”
“Once. It was a case years ago.”
“Did they catch him?”
“They did, but not before several people died.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” she said, but she knew in her gut that it might.
***
Penfield made the one-hour drive to Toano. He’d passed by this small town on countless trips to Richmond, but he didn’t know the area very well. His phone’s GPS app announced the upcoming exit, and he slowed down and merged to the right. He made a left turn at the end of the exit ramp and saw the convenience store after driving just half a mile. It had four gas pumps in front of it. All four were currently occupied by cars. Penfield drove around the pumps and parked on the side of the store. He entered the store and waited for the cashier to free up.
Penfield walked up to the young man and flashed him his badge. It was a convincing fake that he’d actually used while he was still a homicide detective. Many officers used fakes since losing the real one meant a ton of paperwork and a thorough ass chewing from your supervisor. He’d turned in the legitimate badge when he’d left the force, but he’d kept the fake one for future investigative jobs.
He told the clerk he was there to review the security footage. The clerk didn’t say a word in response. Instead, he pointed to the rear corner of the store and then turned his attention to the impatient customer behind Penfield. Penfield turned and saw a small office where he assumed he’d find the store manager. He walked to the back and knocked on the door. He could see an elderly lady through the glass window in the door. She was smoking a cigarette while she went through a thick stack of receipts. She took a quick look at him and motioned for him to enter.
Penfield opened the door, but she spoke before he could say anything.
“You with the sheriff’s department?” she said in a deep voice that sounded like it was the result of years of smoking those cigarettes.
Penfield didn’t bother using the fake badge this time.
“That’s right.”
“I told that lady last night she was lucky when she called. We only keep the backup video for a couple of weeks before we delete it. We sold the guy three phones. I remember because I was working the register.”
“Is it normal for people to buy three phones?”
“Depends.”
“On what?”
“On what kind of people they are.”
Penfield nodded and reached into his front pocket. He pulled out a thumb drive and held it up for the manager to see.
“Any chance I can get the footage copied to this drive?”
“Don’t you want to see it first?”
“Of course.”
“Give me a second. I found it last night after your partner called, so it shouldn’t take me long to pull it up.”
The manager put her cigarette on the ashtray and rolled her squeaky chair a few feet from her desk to the security system, which was on top of a small book shelf filled with colorful binders. She opened a folder on the computer’s desktop and found the appropriate date. She double-clicked on that file, and a moment later four video boxes appeared on the screen in a quadrant display. One camera showed the front exterior of the store and the gas pumps. The second camera focused on the side exterior of the store where Penfield had parked. The third camera was on the ceiling behind the cashier and focused on the customers checking out. The last camera was also on the ceiling, and it showed the back of the interior of the store and the door to the room Penfield was now inside.
The manager scanned through the file until she got to the footage that was recorded in the evening.
“Here he is,” she said.
She stopped the footage and then played it at normal speed. Penfield checked the timestamp on the footage. It was nine thirteen at night, exactly two weeks ago. He saw a man wearing a dark baseball cap come into the store. He walked directly to the back of the store where the rear security camera recorded him grabbing three burner phones. He then walked to the register. Penfield looked at the next camera and saw the manager process the transaction. The man paid in cash and left the store. Penfield hadn’t been able to get a look at his face because of the hat, but it was obvious it was a man from his tall stature and broad shoulders. Penfield turned to the manager.
“Can you pause the footage please?”
The woman stopped the security footage.
“Was there anything you remembered about him? Anything distinguishing about his face?”
“I never got a good look at him. Sorry. We see dozens of customers every day. I usually don’t remember them unless they live around here, and I see them all the time.”
“Okay. Please play it again.”
The manager pressed play by hitting a button on the keyboard, and Penf
ield turned back to the computer monitor. He looked at the camera that recorded the area where the gas pumps were located. The man exited the store, walked past the gas pumps, and headed to the side of the store. Penfield followed him to the fourth camera.
The man did something that Penfield had ironically seen many times before. He looked up at the security camera like he was checking to see if there was one there. It was a stupid mistake that many criminals committed. Maybe it was some sort of nervous compulsion that made them do it. He didn’t know, but it really didn’t matter. He had the guy’s face now, clear as can be. Penfield watched as the man walked between two cars. Instead of getting into one of them, as Penfield expected, he walked past them and disappeared from the camera’s view.
Penfield turned to the manager.
“Can you rewind it to the point he walks under the side camera?”
“You mean where he looks right at the camera?”
Penfield smiled. He liked this woman more and more.
The manager rewound the footage and stopped it at the appropriate point in the video. Penfield removed his cell phone and took a quick photograph of the frozen frame. He texted it to Emma. His phone pinged a few moments after that.
The message had just three words: That’s Bobby Tatum.
Penfield waited several minutes for the manager to finish copying the security footage to his drive. He thanked her and made his way out to his car on the side of the store. His phone rang before he had a chance to open the car door. It was Emma.
“Hey there,” Penfield said.
“So we know Bobby Tatum was working with whoever killed Ben.”
“There’s no other way to interpret it.”
Penfield unlocked his car with his remote and climbed inside to escape the cold wind.
“Think about it,” he continued. “It was an excellent distraction. You and Ben spent a lot of mental energy trying to figure out why Bobby would blame a dead relative. Meanwhile, there’s an accomplice running around.”
“Bobby killed his father and the other guy goes after Ben. It was premeditated murder, and Bobby just waited for Charles Ray not to show for work so he wouldn’t get in the way.”
“It probably wouldn’t have mattered where he did it. The boat just ended up being convenient. Hell, he could have easily killed him in his sleep since he was living with his parents.”
“Maybe he didn’t want his mother to witness the attack,” Emma guessed.
“Probably. Did you find out anything interesting about the autopsy?”
Emma told him about her conversation with Doctor Greene and the discovery of the word “Guilty” carved into Ben’s back.
“That wasn’t on Bill Tatum’s back?” Penfield asked.
“No.”
“Just goes to further suggest there were two killers. There’s also something else.”
“What’s that?”
“This opens the field of suspects back up. They probably agreed in advance that Bobby would blame his brother for the murder.”
“So it doesn’t have to be someone within the department.”
“Doesn’t mean it isn’t, but you’re right. It doesn’t have to be. I would still keep things close to your chest.”
“I’m going to see Buddy Butler later today. Do you want to go?” Emma asked.
“Who’s he again?”
“He’s friends with Bobby Tatum. He was one of the guys who found the boat the morning of the murder. I know he held something back when Ben and I spoke with him at the marina. Maybe he’ll talk now that Bobby is gone.”
“What time are you going?” Penfield asked.
“I just got off the phone with his wife. She said he gets back to the marina around one or two. I thought I’d get out there just before that and wait for him.”
“Sounds good. I’ll see you there.”
Penfield thought about going home since he had another three or four hours before he needed to meet Emma, but the traffic was heavy on the drive back to Hampton because of a multicar accident on Interstate 64. He decided to take the exit for Route 17 instead of going home and drove straight for the Mobjack Bay Marina.
By the time he got close to the marina, he only had a couple of hours to kill. He pulled into the parking lot of a roadside diner and had a late breakfast of eggs, bacon, and orange juice. The food was marginal at best, but it filled his stomach. Penfield finished his juice, paid the waitress, and drove the remaining few miles to the marina.
The weather was much better on this visit, but the wind had not abated since that morning, and it kicked up high, choppy waves in the bay. Penfield parked in a back corner of the marina’s gravel lot and turned off the ignition. He set the alarm on his phone to go off at ten minutes to one. Then he eased the driver’s seat into a full recline and laid back. He was asleep within minutes.
A burst of wind rattled the windows in his car, and Penfield jerked awake. He guessed he’d only been asleep for a minute or two, but then his phone’s alarm buzzed a second later. He looked at the time on the display to verify he hadn’t set it for an incorrect time. It was almost one o’clock. He’d been asleep for over an hour, but he felt even more tired now than before.
He turned as he heard the crunch of tires on gravel and saw Emma park her sedan beside his car. She got out of her car and knocked twice on his passenger window. Penfield brought his seat to the upright position and hit the unlock button on the driver’s door panel. Emma opened the passenger door and climbed inside.
“How long have you been out here?” she asked.
“Not long.”
Penfield reached into his coat pocket and removed the thumb drive. He handed it to Emma.
“Thanks again for doing that,” she said.
“Have you made a decision on whether to tell Slater about this footage?”
“I’ll tell him the next time I see him. I’m sure he’ll agree to keep it quiet.”
Penfield backed out of the parking space and drove to the opposite side of the lot so they could observe the boats coming into the marina. They decided to stay in the warmth of the car instead of braving the strong wind coming off the water. They only had to wait another ten minutes before Emma spotted Buddy Butler walking down the dock.
“That’s him,” she said.
“Got it.”
They both exited the car and walked down a small hill to meet Buddy just as he was reaching the end of the dock.
“Mr. Butler,” Emma called out.
Buddy looked up and did a double-take when he spotted Emma. For a second, Penfield thought the guy might run.
“I’m Detective Ross. We spoke the other day.”
“I remember,” Buddy said.
“This is Alex Penfield,” she said, and she nodded toward her new temporary partner. “We’d like a few minutes of your time.”
“I already told you everything I saw.”
“I’m sure you did, but we’re looking for some background information on Bobby,” Emma said.
“He’s dead. Isn’t that enough punishment for what he did?”
“I’m sorry for your loss. I know you two were friends.”
Buddy looked away, and Penfield wondered if he was looking back toward the deadrise boat where the murder had taken place.
“If you don’t mind, please walk us through what you saw again,” Emma said.
Buddy turned back to them.
“Like I told you before, we saw the boat drifting. There didn’t appear to be anyone on it. I recognized the boat, and I got a little concerned. When we pulled up alongside it, we saw Bobby sitting on the deck next to his father.”
“You told Detective Ross that Bobby screamed for help, but did he say anything else to you?” Penfield asked.
“He said something, but it didn’t make sense.”
“What did he say?” Emma asked.
“He kept repeating the name Jimmy.”
“Why didn’t you tell us that before?”
“I wasn’t ev
en sure I heard it right. He was mumbling.”
“Did you know he had a brother named Jimmy?” Penfield asked.
“Yeah. We grew up together.”
“So you were familiar with what Jimmy looked like?” Emma asked.
“Sure. I saw him before and after he got sick.”
“We spoke to Bobby’s wife. She said they’d been separated much longer than others had thought. She told us it was closer to a year,” Penfield said.
“That sounds about right.”
“She also said they were getting along okay when Bobby moved out, like they had some kind of understanding,” Emma said.
“I don’t know nothing about that.”
“Did Bobby ever talk to you about problems he was having with anyone?” Penfield asked.
“Like I said before, he never spoke one angry word about his father. I still don’t know why he did it.”
“What about my partner? Did he ever say anything about him?” Emma asked.
Buddy didn’t reply.
“You knew Ben Hall before, didn’t you?” Emma asked.
“We all knew him.”
“I did some digging into some old files this morning. You were arrested with Bobby on that armed robbery charge. Ben Hall was the one who took you both in,” Emma said.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“I’m just wondering if you and Bobby still held a grudge against Ben.”
“You think I had something to do with this? I haven’t had no trouble with the law since then. Why would I wait all this time and do something now?”
“Bobby knew the man who killed Detective Hall. We know because Bobby gave him something. You know who that might be?” Penfield asked.
“No idea. Bobby never said one word about your partner. He didn’t have one thing to do with Hall’s death. He couldn’t have. He was locked up. You put him there yourself.”
“So you never heard of anyone who had beef with Ben Hall?” Emma asked.
“Nobody around here talks about him. I haven’t even seen him in years until you two came out here this week.”
Penfield found that statement hard to believe, but he was beginning to think that Buddy Butler really didn’t have any idea what was going on in the double murder case. He decided to change tactics.
Dead Rise: An Alex Penfield Novel Page 8
