by Sheri Lyn
He needed to find the perfect place; an empty or abandoned house would be perfect. He pulled up a new tab on his computer and did a search on homes for sale on four acres in the county. A few realtor websites popped up, and he scrolled through. He found three that would suit his purposes, all a few miles or more outside of town. Remote access and no close neighbors, even better two were available for tours by the same agent. Fate was smiling down on him; he put in a request to view them both the next day. He added a note he was only in town for one day and was in a rush. He pulled up the contact for the third house and sent the same information. Hopefully, they both called early enough he could see them during the day. That would be the perfect start to his plan! With those tasks out of the way, he logged off the computer and left the store.
It was too early to go to bed but too late to do much in the town he was in. He decided to find a playmate for the evening, and this one would get to live. He didn’t want to show his face in the area back to back nights, so he drove to the next city and looked for his love of the night.
Twelve
Remi
Remi groaned as the morning light hit his eyes, he’d forgotten to close the damn blinds again. He blamed it on Theo, of course. Well, that and teaming on with him against Knox. His boyfriend was cute as hell when he got disgruntled. Remi froze as he realized what he’d just said. Boyfriend, why did that one word scare him so much he wasn’t sure, but it did.
“Babe, it’s too early. Go back to sleep.” Knox grumbled as he rolled closer, placed half his body over Remi’s, and went back to sleep.
It felt too good to complain, so Remi let him be as he began to run his fingers through Knox’s soft hair. As much as he wanted the Professor dead and gone, he’d forever be grateful at the same time for bringing this man into his life.
A soft knock on the bedroom door alerted Remi just as the door opened and Theo stuck his head in. “Hey, you’re awake good.” He sauntered in the room wearing only a pair of low-slung sweatpants that looked way too good on the man.
“What are you doing?” Knox growled as he opened one eye and stared at the other man.
Theo sat on the edge of the bed and pushed with his hip to make more room, “I couldn’t sleep, I was looking through your file on the Professor.”
“And that involved coming in here why?” Remi asked in confusion.
“These notes he’s left, and the email to the blogger. Have you looked at them all together?” Theo asked as he held up photocopies of them.
“No, why? What did we miss?” Knox question as he sat up wide awake now.
Theo shook his head, “No, I don’t think you missed it. Until the email came in you wouldn’t have picked up on it most likely.”
Remi waved his hand as if to say give us more, “Elaborate, please.”
“The first letter he says, ‘I wouldn’t call this a flop.’ The second letter he says, ‘Raise the Ante! And in the email, he says, ‘full house.’ I didn’t think anything of it until I got to the email and then I went back looking for clues. No one uses those words in regular everyday life unless you’re a serious player. Right?”
Knox and Remi shrugged, “I’m not sure. I guess, but doesn’t it seem a little far-fetched? And how does that help us exactly?” Remi asked. “It really doesn’t get us any closer to finding the guy by knowing he likes to play cards.”
Theo shrugged, “Maybe not, but it's another piece of who he is. If we get enough of them, we’ll figure this guy out and catch him. I’m sure of it.”
Remi yawned and pushed at Knox’s shoulder, “Since we’re up might as well get breakfast and head in. We’ve got a lot to do, starting with tracking down that body in Tennessee and checking on the victim in the coma.”
***
Theo huffed out a laugh, “And I still say it’s fru-fru coffee and unbecoming of a Go…. you to drink it.”
“You only think that because you haven’t ever tried it. If you did, it’d change your religion; I promise you that.”
Remi scoffed, “Are we talking about coffee here or something else? Because I’ve never had coffee that good, but sex on the other hand….”
“Seriously, do you guys ever stop?” Walker demanded as he stopped behind them. “And now you’re dragging others into it as well?”
“Chief Walker, let me introduce you to FPU Agent Theo Granger.”
Walker held out his hand and greeted the newcomer, “Please tell me you’re not as big a pain in the ass as these two have turned out to be.”
Theo grinned, “No promises, but if it helps I promise results.”
“Great, another one.” Walker laughed, “Bas is in the conference room waiting on you guys. And I have news; they found the body late last night. In a spot known to be used by local prostitutes. It’s bad, one of the worst I've ever seen. I pulled in some favors and got the autopsy done early this morning. The preliminary is already here along with photos of the scene. There’s a note as well. A copy is there for you guys.”
Remi jerked in surprise, “What type of favors did you have to trade for that? It’s only just past seven am.”
“Too many I’d been saving, but this case was worth it to me,” Walker replied before walking away to talk to another detective who was waving him down.
They headed into the conference room and began the introductions again. “Bas, this is Agent Knox Grayson and Agent Theo Granger of the FPU, guys this is Sebastian Taylor, but he prefers Bas.”
They exchanged greetings, and Bas held out the file he’d been reading, “Chief gave me a copy of the file. I was getting caught up. That one there is the autopsy, and the other is the crime scene.”
Knox grabbed the first folder he came too and sat down to begin reading. His sharp intake of breath caught everyone’s attention.
“Babe?” Remi asked hesitantly. “What is it?”
“Walker wasn’t lying, this is bad. I don’t think I’ll be able to get this out of my head anytime soon.”
“Lay them out, let’s see them together. Get the shock out at once.” Remi decided quickly.
Knox quickly laid the picture out, in a single file row. There was no rhyme or reason to it. Just placed them down and move on. Remi could see why quickly. The Professor had upped his game with this second victim. She looked to be in her late thirties, with brown hair and green eyes frozen in shock and pain. She might have been pretty once, but time and her lifestyle had taken their toll. She wore a short skirt with some sort of animal print on it, but with all the blood and dirt it was hard to tell. The worst by far was the woman’s top and chest.
“Fucking A, what did he do to her?” Bas asked in outrage.
“Best guess, he pried her heart out through her chest,” Knox replied in an even tone. “You can see bits of the shirt tucked into the wound there.”
Remi pointed, “Seems like he was literal on that first call. Didn’t he mention something about loving a woman who held her heart in her hands or something along those lines?”
“She’s really holding her heart, isn’t she?” Knox asked. “I was hoping I was seeing that wrong.”
“He’s one sick son of a bitch, and I don’t care if he doesn’t like the name, he is without a doubt a psychopath.” Remi seethed out as he grabbed the other folder and glanced at it. He didn’t need to see any more pictures to understand that the woman had died horribly and in excruciating pain.
“Here’s the note, it says…
Dear Detective Conahan,
I’m glad I finally got your name. I hope this letter finds you well and I hope my advice about smiling helped you bag that lovely man in the suit. Who I assume is the FBI agent I just read about in the paper. How would that work between you two? You live in Alabama, and he has to travel all over for work. Are you ready for a long distance relationship?
Anyways, I’m on my way to my next stop. I admit I am excited to see if my next experiment works. Well, works isn’t the right word to use. This time I am curious how long the heart ca
n beat outside the body. If I placed it in her hand, would she realize what she held before she died? What part would be the most painful or would she pass out from the pain long before I reached her heart?
Hmm, I might have to figure a way to keep her awake to get those answers.
That’s all for now, btw, I love my new name. Please thank whoever came up with it. It’s quite catchy really. Fitting too. Right now I have a pair, but I'm hoping for three of a kind or better a full house.
Yours in Science
The Professor
“Hot damn,” Theo exclaimed. “I was right. He is a player. He said ‘a pair, three of a kind and a full house.’ No doubt in my mind he’s into cards and gambling.”
Bas smiled, “There are a bunch of underground illegal games all over the country. We’ve even shut a few down before. If you’re willing I can go undercover as a dealer, I’ve done it before and can get references no problem. I can even get a game setup if we want.”
“That could be great; we can at least get some names of people to check out. But how do we decide where to host the game? We have no idea where he is. He’s killed in Alabama, Tennessee and attacked that guy in Mississippi.” Remi questioned in frustration.
Before anyone could reply there was knock on the conference room door, and it was cracked open by one of the volunteers that manned the information desk, “Detective Conahan, there’s a Jasmine Raimer here to see you. She says it’s urgent.”
Knox grinned and turned to Remi, “Sounds like we just got a new letter. Maybe the Gods are looking out for you after all.”
Theo and Remi groaned at his words, “Can you have one of the patrol guys show her into interrogation room one if it’s not in use. We’ll be right there.”
“Of course, Detective.” The volunteer closed the door with a soft click.
Remi turned to face Bas and Theo, “You want in or do you two want to stay behind the glass?”
“Glass is fine; we don’t need to spook her by coming in force,” Bas replied without hesitation. “If we think of something we’ll come knock and let you know, right Theo?”
The other man nodded, and they all headed out. They met Jasmine as she was coming down the hall. She looked shaken and pale and held a piece of paper clutched tightly in her hands.
Knox opened the door and ushered her inside, “Are you okay Ms. Raimer?”
She bit her lip and glanced around nervously before shaking her head no, “He...um… he contacted me again, sent it last night, but I didn’t see it till this morning. He’s going to kill again... tomorrow. He said it’d be done by tomorrow night and it’d be his greatest experiment to date.” She handed them the printed out an email.”
They quickly scanned the email and asked her to have a seat while they discussed things. Remi slammed out of the room and punched the wall, opening his knuckles on the unforgiving concrete.
“Did that help?” Knox asked dryly.
“We’re running out of time. I’m pissed; I’m sorry.” Remi seethed as he began to pace up and down the hallway.
“That’s not going to help,” Theo replied from his spot leaning against the doorway a few feet away. “Didn’t the report say she’d given permission for us to check her computer? Has that happened yet? Maybe we can trace his IP and find out where he's sending the letters from. It may lead nowhere, but it’s better than punching walls.”
Remi rolled his eyes, “I put in a request for cyber, but if she just got an email, they obviously haven’t looked. I’ll get Walker on that, either way. It should have been handled right away.”
Knox pulled out his phone and dialed a number, “Give me a minute. I’m calling in a favor. You’re gonna owe me tonight for this one big time though. Just fair warning.”
Remi cocked one eyebrow and listened to Knox’s side of the phone conversation.
“Hey Tony, I need to speak to your other half. You know the good half.”
There was a pause as Knox winked at Remi and waggled his eyebrows, “Hey Jane, my love.” Pause, “Well, that’s because you’re the only woman I love.” Longer pause that left Remi even more confused as to the relationship between Knox and the people on the other line. “Yeah, yeah. I hear you. Look I need to call in my favor. Yes, that one.” Pause and Knox sighed sadly, “I know, but I’ll explain it later, and you’ll understand why it’s a necessity. No more questions, time is of essence. I’ll explain I promise, love. Just do this for me this first. I need you to talk to your boy and have him access a computer for me. I need to know where two emails have come from. I’ll send you all the information in text as soon as we hang up.” Pause. “I need it yesterday, of course. Why else would I call in my favor for it, after all.” Pause. “Love you too; give my best to Tony.”
Knox hung up and began typing frantically on his phone, before sticking his head back in the room and talking to Jasmine. He shut the door and turned back to Remi. “Fifteen minutes give or take and we’ll have a location.”
Remi raised his eyebrows in surprise, “Seriously? You guys have someone who can do that?”
“While you two are getting that taken care of, I’m going to help Bas get a game ready, as soon as have a location let us know. Fifteen minutes after that and we’ll have the game up on the dark web, and gamblers will be lining up. Let’s just hope our boy is one of them.” Theo clapped Bas on the shoulder, and the two of them walked off.
“I’m going to fill the Chief in while you wait on your call. Unless you think we need her, you can send Jasmine home as well. Thanks to you we got the information without bothering her or needing a warrant. You’re kind of nice to have around.”
When Remi got back to the conference room, Knox was on the phone with Jane again, but this time he was scowling. He thanked her and hung up. “Everything okay?”
“He sent both emails from the same internet cafe in Maport, Louisiana. I’ve got times they were sent, so we can see who was in the cafe at those times. Jane can’t get us access though; her boy is tapped out from another case. He was able to get that, but we were lucky it didn’t knock him down.”
Remi frowned, “All right road trip in the morning. With luck, we’ll convince them to give us the footage without having to get a warrant. Just in case though, I’ll have the Chief see what we have to do to get one if needed in Louisiana. Should help that you’re running the task force and as FPU, you aren’t confined to one state.”
Theo nodded, “Okay, then we set the game up in close to Maport or in the town if we can find a place that will work for tomorrow late morning. You guys get to the cafe, find this guy’s picture and send it to us. He’s there we’ll take him down. If you don’t get us a picture, we’ll do what we do best. Interrogate, listen and find him anyway.”
“Gamblers do love to gossip. We’ll find out who’s been at which games around the local states. We’ll catch him.” Bas added.
Thirteen
Professor
Typical to any city, he found what he was looking for pretty fast. Everyone wants to hide their darker underbelly, but for those who know, it’s easily found. He stopped next to the first redhead he found; he hadn’t gotten to experience a red yet, so he figured why not. “I’m in town for a few hours. Think you can handle that?”
The hooker rolled her eyes and walked over to his car. “Four hundred dollars gets you three hours, no kinky shit either.” She stood up and backed up a few steps and waited.
Damn, that was steep, but he had nothing better to do, and he always wanted to try a new flavor. “Okay, tell me where to go.”
She smirked and walked back to the car and climbed in. “I’m going to take you for a ride alright.”
***
The next morning he woke up in his motel room back in Maport, he didn’t recall how he got there. His head was pounding, and he was thankfully alone. He gingerly sat up and spotted a bottle of whiskey on the ground next to him. That explained the headache, but he didn’t usually drink, so it was out of context. He dragged himself
off the bed and glanced at the time. Ten a.m.? Another thing he never did. Who was that hooker and what did she do?
Before he could think about it more, his cell phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number so almost didn’t answer, but he remembered the realtors. “Hello?”
“Hello sir, My name is Rebecca Zane. You contacted me about the two houses for sale. I understand you are on a time crunch. I was wondering if we could meet this afternoon at three and then head to the second house right afterward?”
He glanced at the clock again to plan his day in his head. “Yeah, I can do that. Thank you for meeting me on short notice.” He hung up his phone, got up, showered and dressed within moments. He had things to do today, and no headache was standing in his way.
He left the motel and searched for the closest drive-thru; he needed food and coffee fast. He pulled up to a local restaurant, placed his order and drove around the building to the window. The window was open, and inside he could hear the teenagers chatting. A couple stared at a TV on a counter, one turned it up, and he heard what they were listening to. A newscast was updating the area about his whereabouts. Recapping his killings and they fucking said it again. Psychopath.
A young girl walked up with his food and coffee, he snatched it from her and tossed a twenty in the window and pulled away. He would ignore what they said; one day they would all see he was a genius. They just didn’t understand yet. One day his experiments could be the norm, was he really doing anything different than doctors did in medical trials? They experimented on people, and some died every day. That thought put him in a better mood. His next stop he realized needed to be a home improvement store before it got too late and they closed.
He did a search and found a small local store three miles away. He pulled out of the parking lot with a wide smile; everything was falling into place perfectly. This was fate at its finest. Wasn’t that how it worked, for one person to have good fortune someone else had to suffer?
