With the Eyes of a Killer: A Jessica Roberts Detective Novel
Page 6
After getting what she wanted, Vanessa carried everything she had bought to the storage unit, sorted stuff out the way she wanted, hanging up a few items of clothing and such, then stood in the middle looking around. Though small, the unit now looked more like a small apartment than what it was. The boxes were covered with a cloth, so they weren’t easily visible, the table now sported two jewelry boxes with most of her accessories inside. She had even managed to hang a small picture on one wall. It was one that came with the frame when she bought it, but it was still nice. She changed clothes and wigs, did her makeup again and left the unit.
Driving to a totally new area of town, Vanessa basically drove up and down the streets taking note of bars and taverns on the various corners and the type of people that went in and out the doors. A few she dismissed when she saw biker jackets or the rougher sort of men going in and out. She preferred the quieter places that allowed women of course, but also that families might frequent. The men tended to be nicer and often had more cash on them as well even though the money was an added incentive and not the overall reason for what she did.
Finally, Vanessa saw one that struck her fancy. It had been a week and a half after the last kill, and she licked her lips in anticipation. As she drove around the block looking for a parking spot, she noticed a couple of dark alleys near the bar as well as some smaller apartment buildings. She nodded and parked the car that still sported Duke’s tags across the street and about a block up from the actual bar. She got out of the car, tugged the skintight dark green dress down, smoothing out any wrinkles, brushed the shoulder-length straight brown hair back from her face and headed to the bar.
Walking in, Vanessa scanned the small tavern and smiled. Perfect. There were several people at the tables but only two men at the bar itself. Several empty stools separated the men so they probably weren’t together and, from their actions, might not even know one another. She walked the length of the bar passing them both, her three-inch spike heels tapping lightly as she walked. The two men watched as she approached and again as she went by. She kept smiling as she went to where the bar turned at the far corner and slid onto the first stool. That put her in a position where she was able to see both of the men and most of the people in the bar. Several were eyeing her as she sat there but it was the two at the bar that she was most interested in.
The one closest to the door looked interesting but probably wouldn’t work. For one he was heavier than she usually picked, and she worried about that. Heavy men were usually harder to control. The other one, the one closest to her was dressed in a suit though he had loosened the tie he had on and opened the first couple of buttons at the neck of his white shirt. Businessman maybe, or he had had an interview that day and possibly failed to get a position? She wasn’t sure but often liked to speculate on such things. She glanced at the small watch she had picked up earlier that day. Eleven thirty. She nodded, ordered a rum and coke and smiled at the bartender as she paid.
Vanessa sipped her drink and bided her time. Sooner or later one of those men would wander her way, she was sure of it. A half-hour went by and though they both kept sneaking glances at her, neither of them moved. She started getting antsy when the heavier one got up and wandered out of the bar. She was down to one possible now. When that one got up and headed to the men’s room, she smiled at him. He nodded but kept going. Frowning Vanessa sipped her drink again.
When Vanessa saw the man return from the men’s room, she waited for a minute. Seemed she would have to make the first move. As she started to signal to the bartender, the man in the business suit, stopped by where he had been sitting, said something to the bartender, then headed out the door.
Vanessa wasn’t used to this. Usually they wanted to talk to her, to be close to her. She kept smiling as she sat there but inside, she was fuming, angry at men in general. She glanced at her watch. It was closing on one a.m. She considered trying another place but as late as it was getting to be, she would probably have to give up for the night. Just then, the door opened, and a sandy haired man walked in. He was easily six-foot-tall and though he might not be a body builder, he was in rather good shape. He walked down the length of the bar to roughly where the last man had been, glanced at her, smiled and sat down. Vanessa decided to wait a little longer.
Less than ten minutes went by before the bartender set another drink in front of Vanessa and said it was from the man at the bar. Lifting that glass, she raised it in a toast to the man and he headed her way.
Settling on the stool around the corner from her, he smiled. “Hi beautiful. You here alone?” His voice was nice too, baritone and smooth.
“Not anymore.” Vanessa replied with a smile. The man laughed.
“My name is William, what’s yours?” William took a drink from his glass. No sips for this man.
“Vanessa. It’s nice to meet you.” Vanessa was going to enjoy this one. She extended her hand and William shook it lightly, holding on for an extra minute.
Quietly they talked as he drank. Vanessa wasn’t certain if he noticed how little she drank but she definitely saw how much he was putting away. She glanced at her watch a time or two but tried not to let him notice it.
At five minutes before two a.m., the bartender did last call and William got one more plus a shot. He offered to get Vanessa a shot, but she waved him off with a smile.
Most of the other patrons of the bar had gone by that time. When the bar finally closed. William and Vanessa were the last two to wander out. She walked as if a little tipsy and William laughed. He didn’t have to pretend. His words were slurred, his steps a little uncertain, but he managed to keep one hand in the middle of her back as they meandered down the sidewalk toward one of the apartment buildings. Vanessa considered that for a few minutes then at one of the darker alleys, she ‘stumbled’, and they ended up careening into the alley, laughing all the way.
William was fast to take advantage of the situation, pushing Vanessa up against the wall and kissing her sloppily. His hand groped for the bottom of her dress, but it was so tight that he was having trouble.
Smiling, Vanessa laid both arms over William’s shoulders, her bag in her left hand. She slipped her right hand inside the bag as she lightly pushed him back a bit using her elbows. William leaned back grinning and met her eyes. A second later his expression changed to one of shock as she drew the knife in her right hand across his throat. As he fell to the ground, one hand at his throat she glanced at her dress and sighed. She was going to have to find a way to avoid this in the future. Doing it from behind the person was a good idea but not practical if they are a lot taller than herself. Luckily, the dark color of the dress didn’t show the blood as much as another color might. She waited until he stopped gasping then, using a handkerchief from her purse, she took his wallet, removed the cash she found, almost two hundred dollars, and dropped the wallet at his side.
At the end of the alley, she glanced both ways. Not seeing anyone, she crossed the street, walked to her car, got in and drove away.
Thirteen
Jessica Roberts was getting tired. Tired of finding more bodies and tired of not finding any clues. She stood at the end of the alley, her back to the gawkers behind the tape that closed off the area and watched Connor Jensen do his thing. Again, he went over the body carefully. The wallet that lay on the ground next to the man was opened and examined for a minute then dropped into an evidence bag. CSI was there as well moving around the area carefully, checking for anything that might help catch this serial killer. Only recently had the press nicknamed him or her as the ‘Slicer’ due to them slicing the victim’s throats.
Captain Murphy had finally held a press conference and stated that yes, they believed they did have a serial killer in the area and for people to be aware of it. He hadn’t given away any of the information that they currently had, not that that was a lot. He hadn’t alluded to it being a woman or anything, but the press loved sensationalism, so they had named the killer themselves.
Tony nodded since Jessica was staring at the wall near the victim. “Jess, you okay?”
Jessica nodded then motioned to one of the CSI people. “Do a check close to the wall there, especially for impressions in that muck at the bottom. If the killer were standing there in the dark, they might not have noticed it and could have left footprints.” The CSI person nodded and headed over there.
Tony watched then turned to face Jessica. “What are you thinking?”
Jessica leaned toward Tony and kept her voice down. “If it is a woman, the victim might have backed her against that wall before he was killed. Face to face would be the way this one went down I think.” She looked at Tony then as he nodded in agreement.
“I see what you mean,” Tony said. “A man wanting to do something with a woman might have done that. Could still be a man too, maybe a crossdresser. We can’t be sure.”
Jessica nodded. “That’s why I’m hoping there are even slight impressions by the wall. If it gives us a shoe size that might help.”
Shortly after that, the body was bagged up and removed from the scene. CSI went over the area where the body had lain once that was done but all of them said with it being in a dark alley at night, evidence was going to be difficult to determine. Too much trash and muck to deal with. That was understandable. The fact that it had rained two days prior didn’t help.
Jessica and Tony both headed back to the precinct after that. Uniforms would canvas the area and question the people that had stood watching the proceedings earlier. Often the killer would stand with a crowd and watch what was going on, so they were hoping for something like that.
At the precinct, Jessica started up their board lightly called the ‘murder board’. She put up copies of the pics of the victims starting with the woman Mary. She had a city map up as well and put pins in at all of the locations. They were pretty well scattered around the city as if the killer kept looking for new places to hit so as to not be seen too often. The victims seemed to be fairly random as well. A battered housewife at home, a young punk – possibly a gang member – in the park, a businessman in his apartment, and now this man, dead in an alley. Too random and with no witnesses other than an old woman that most might think is getting a bit senile, and a bartender who said a woman sat with the first victim. This case was not going anywhere.
Jessica stepped back, perched on the side of her desk as she studied the board again. That was when it hit her. Other than the young man in the park, all of the killings had been out around the city, nothing in the center. Could that mean their killer lived in that area? It was still a rather large area to investigate but it was a start. It also allowed her to eliminate the areas around the actual murders as well. Most murderers didn’t do that in their own area. Unless it was an act of passion and that was not what was going on here. Too many bodies for that to be the reason.
Jessica settled at her desk and started typing up everything she knew. So far, the height of the killer verses the victims could indicate a woman in high heels or a short man. Either was possible at this point. The only witnesses to any of it were an elderly woman and a bartender. And neither of them was really certain about what occurred. The elderly woman saw a person who might be the killer from behind. The bartender stated it was a woman who sat with the first victim but couldn’t testify as to what happened after they left the bar. They might have split up after leaving, the victim going home alone, or she might have gone to a different bar. There was no real evidence and it was annoying to say the least.
Tony walked in just as Jessica started to feel as if she was wasting her time. Before he could say anything to her, her phone rang, and she answered it.
“Hello? Oh Connor, yes. Did you find anything? CSI did? There were impressions by the wall. Yes, Tony and I will be right down.” Jessica stood up as she hung up the phone. Then she and Tony left the office and headed to Connor’s domain.
Inside the labs where Connor did most of his work, Jessica saw a thin cement rendering of the impression CSI found near that wall. High heels from the looks of it.
Connor looked up from his measurements as Jessica and Tony walked in. “Female shoes for sure Jessica. Size maybe seven or eight. They were smudged a bit. I guess from whoever it was moving around.” He pointed at the heel portion. “Spiked heels from the looks of it. The higher the heel the smaller the base usually. A cross-dressing man might wear them; however, the depth of the imprint indicates the person might weigh in at around one fifty or less.”
Jessica nodded as she took it all in. “Sounds like we have a female serial killer on our hands.” She sighed and shook her head. “To be honest I was hoping for a man. They tend to mess up faster.” She glanced sideways at Tony. She was teasing him of course.
“Now wait a damn minute. Men do not mess up all the time.” Tony huffed.
Jessica grinned. “I never said all the time. Just more often than women do.” She kept grinning and caught the smirk on Connor’s face as well. She dealt with some good people at the precinct and was happy there, at least for now. “Was there anything else Connor?”
Connor shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. This is the first break, but I hope to find more. Eventually the killer will get overconfident. They usually do.”
Jessica nodded. Then she and Tony went to report to the captain about what they had discovered with the hope of finding more.
Fourteen
Vanessa gave it time before she went exploring again, as she thought of it. A little over two weeks to be exact. There were bars and other places close to where she had been recently. She had avoided some of those because her last few killings had been in the same area. She was trying to keep them from happening too close together both in time and in distance. She even had a map hanging in the small storage unit on which she kept track of the areas she had already been in. Oh, she didn’t mark the bars so much as she did stores in the areas. Clothing stores, as well as jewelry stores, were marked on that map so if anyone did manage to get inside, they would think she was a shopaholic keeping what she bought hidden from a husband perhaps. She had smiled at that thought. Her with a husband? Never. No man would ever touch her in that way again.
This time Vanessa chose a small dive bar that didn’t have a lot of patrons. Oh, there were a few rougher types in the place, but she tended to avoid them. Once or twice a man in a biker jacket would approach her but she managed to get their attentions going in other directions. She had gotten there a little early and was biding her time for a change. The TV was on in the corner, and she watched the news when it came on. As the reporter talked about the murders and the press nicknaming the killer the ‘Slicer’ she barely contained her smile. So, they had a nickname for her now. Interesting. Of course, most of them out there probably didn’t realize it was a woman that was doing the ‘slicing’.
Vanessa sipped the drink in front of her again and looked up just as two men in business suits wandered into the bar. It was easy to see that they were friends by the way they joked and laughed as they stepped through the door. They were both fairly well built. One had dark brown hair and the other a sandy color. Each of them had their ties loosened but not removed and they were both obviously a little drunk already.
The two men sobered a bit as they looked around at the few patrons in the bar. Besides herself, there was one other woman sitting with a man in a booth, three men in the biker type jackets and a couple other men in plain clothing marking them as not doing too well financially. It wasn’t finances that she was interested in though. Since she had drained both of the accounts Duke had had, there was more than enough cash stashed to maintain her finances for a time. She simply took the cash because it was there. Duke had been a lucky exception.
The brown-haired man looked in
Vanessa’s direction and poked his friend who also looked. Of course, they did. Tonight, she was wearing a form-fitting red dress that hit about mid-thigh so sitting on the bar stool it had ridden up a bit more. Her blond hair was shoulder length this time and curved under a bit. She sipped her drink again, a rum and coke, then smiled in their direction. They both grinned and started in her direction, stopped, looked at one another and shrugged. They continued in her direction and sat down, one on either side of her.
The sandy haired man introduced himself as Robert and his friend with the brown hair was Calvin. Vanessa laughed at that and told him he didn’t look like a Calvin to her. He grinned back and said that back in high school he had. They continued their three-way conversation for a little over an hour before Robert glanced at his watch, groaned and said he had to be going. Then he gave Vanessa an apologetic smile and admitted that he was married, and his wife was going to kill him. He left the bar almost immediately, leaving her alone with Calvin.
The conversation got a little more intimate after that. Vanessa asked Calvin questions and he seemed more than willing to answer her.
“So, Calvin, your friend is married. Are you? Not that it matters all that much of course.” Vanessa leaned her chin in one hand as she watched Calvin down half his drink and order another.
“I was, once. But she ran off with another man. He lived next door to us, and I found out they had been having an affair for close to a year before she left.” Calvin sipped from the new drink, nodding his thanks to the bartender.