Elgie handed her the photos. Jamey glanced at each and said she didn’t recognize any of them.
“Thank you for your time.” Elgie turned to Kim. “Do you want to take a look around?”
“Sure, Boss, let me just ask this bartender something.” Kim took the photos from Elgie. “Mr. Bartender, you sure you never seen any of these fellas before?”
“Why do you sound like that?” The bartender asked.
“Sound like what?” Kim asked.
“Like you’re from Texas. Hell, you’re Korean, why do you sound like that?”
“Can’t I be Korean and from Texas too?”
“I guess you can. Let me take another look. Yeah, this guy here looks familiar but I don’t know if I’ve seen him in here, but I’ve seen him somewhere.”
“It’s Deorader again, Boss.”
The two walked around the bar together making sure to look closely at everyone’s face but saw no one familiar.
Elgie and Kim went to their last destination, the Mack Shack and had no luck. No one at the bar recognized any of the suspects.
Elgie and Kim returned to the tip line office Elgie saw a familiar face waiting for him.
“Hello, Lieutenant Reynolds.”
“Hi, you’re detective…”
“Detective McBean, sir.”
“Right, Justin McBean. What can I do for you, Detective?”
“I just wanted to check in with you, sir, see if there is anything I can help you with.”
“No, there’s nothing I need help with. Just what did you have in mind?”
“I thought I could help with calls or surveillance of suspects, anything that can help catch the Butcher, sir.”
“Give me your number, McBean and check with your supervisor, if he’s okay with you helping out I may find something for you to do.”
“Thank you, sir. If my supervisor doesn’t consent, I can help you on my own time, sir.”
“I’m sure you have enough to do on your own squad, Detective, but I’ll keep you in mind.”
“Thank you, sir.”
After McBean left Kim, Connors, and Elgie went home for the night and returned Sunday morning at seven. Everything was quiet on Sunday. There were very few calls and nothing to follow up on other than by phone. Things were so slow that Elgie sent Kim and Connors home at five, then called Vanessa.
“Hi Honey, what are you doing today?”
“I’m going to go see Michelle in the hospital.?”
“I was about to get out of the office in a few minutes. Maybe I’ll come by to see Michelle myself since I did tell her I would come. This seems like a good day for it, everything’s pretty quiet around here. I think I’ll stay for another half hour and head out. I’ll see you at the hospital if nothing comes up.”
“That sounds great, Elgie. I’ll see you at the hospital.”
Elgie was wondering if there was anything he needed to do before he left for the night. He thought about Alexander Deorader and him possibly being in the Catch Up on Friday night and being recognized at Jimmie’s in Hollywood. Deorader wasn’t seen the night Barbara McMullen was at the Catch-Up, but it was an interesting coincidence. And Elgie didn’t believe in coincidences. He decided to check Deorader’s fingerprints through the FBI’s Automated Fingerprint Identification System. They had already done a background check on Alexander Deorader by name, but not by his fingerprints. Elgie also decided to check for a juvenile record. Deorader came up clean on both accounts. He thought it was time to head out and go see Michelle and Vanessa. He didn’t know that the quiet would soon be cut—with a butcher’s knife.
When Vanessa arrived at the hospital, she found Michelle watching the Disney Channel while she ate dinner. When Vanessa entered, Michelle turned off the TV and began speaking with Vanessa.
“Hey V, I’m so glad you came. It’s good to see you.”
“Thank you, Michelle. It’s good to see you too. What have you been up to today?”
“The usual, sleepin’, wakin’ up to be given my pain medication and something to help me sleep. Oh yeah, they also give me antibiotics. Today was a little different though, I was able to take a shower. I saw myself in the mirror for the first time since I’ve been here. I knew I had been stabbed twenty-two times, but I didn’t know what that would look like in the mirror.” Michelle began to tear up. “It was horrible, seein’ all them cuts and the staples. I don’t have one inch on my stomach that ain’t covered in cuts. Not one single one-inch spot.”
Vanessa got up from the chair, came to the side of Michelle’s bed and took her hand. Michelle held on to Vanessa’s hand like a drowning woman holding on to a life-preserver as tears ran down her cheek. In about a minute she let go and wiped her tears.
“Thanks, V. You’ve been the best friend anyone could wish for. I really appreciate it.”
“I’m happy to do it.”
Michelle told Vanessa about her days as an escort. She talked about the expensive places clients would take her to and how she would have to dress and act. Wear low-cut dresses and don’t say too much. After a while, she talked about when she worked the streets.
“I could see the Hollywood sign from where I worked the streets when I was in my teens. Just a couple of blocks from the Walk of Fame. Sometimes it would make me sad. Almost in the shadow of the Hollywood sign and there I was prostituting myself.”
Vanessa tried to lighten the mood and get Michelle out of the blue funk she was falling into.
“All the escort stuff sounds exciting. Don’t you think you’ll miss it?”
“No, I just don’t want that kinda life no more. Besides I couldn’t go back to that life even if I wanted to. I’m all scarred up, and I’ll never look the same again. Enough about that I gotta talk to Jen. I don’t think I should be her roommate anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I like her and all that, but I just don’t want to be around that same stuff again. I want to leave that old life behind me. I do wanna keep Jen as a friend, but just not as a roommate with her still doin’ the same thing I wanna stay away from. Does that make sense?”
“Yes, that makes a lot of sense. Not being in the same environment. That’s a good, common-sense approach to change.”
“Thanks, V, you must be a great mom. Well, I mean if you have kids. Do you and your husband have any children?”
“No, we don’t, but if we had a daughter, she’d be about your age.”
“You two don’t look old enough to have a twenty-four-year-old daughter.”
“We are.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, why don’t you have any children? It seems like you two would make great parents.”
“When I was twelve I was molested by a friend of my father’s. I told my father, and he called the police. The man pled guilty, did three years in prison and is a registered sex offender. I haven’t seen him since, but the man that molested me gave me chlamydia, but I didn’t know it until it had infected my fallopian tubes and as a consequence, I can’t get pregnant.
“I told Elgie about it when we first started dating when it became clear that he meant a lot to me. He was so sweet and has stood by me every step of the way. Even after he became a police officer, he still made me a priority. He still does.” Elgie walked in the door; “And there he is now. Good to see you, Darling.”
“Good to see you too,” Elgie said as he kissed his wife on the cheek. “It’s good to see you too, Michelle.”
“Thanks, Elgie. We were just talkin’ about you right before you walked in the door.”
“I hope they were good things.”
“It couldn’t be anythin’ else,” Michelle said. “We were talkin’ about so many things I forgot to tell you. The nurse said that I should be able to leave in about a week, but I’ll have to be on oxygen for about two more weeks to be sure that my lung heals right.”
“That’s good news,” Vanessa said, “But where are you going to go since you don’t want to go back to live with Jennifer?”
“Why don’t you w
ant to live with Jennifer?” Elgie asked. “She seems like a very nice girl and a good friend.”
“Yeah, I know, but the lure of good, easy money is hard to resist, and I don’t want to go back to work at the escort service. I just think livin’ with Jen right now is not the best thing for me if I really wanna change and I do want to change. I wasn’t going to just leave without saying anything. I plan to talk to Jen today, and if she really wants me to stay, I’ll stay. I wanna keep her in my life, and if that’s the only way I can, then that’s what I’ll do.
“Jen has been by me since I first got to this town. She has stood by me through thick and thin, and I don’t want to abandon her. I had been working the streets since I was fourteen and Jen would always be there for me to talk to if things were going wrong or if I needed money she would lend it to me. She even came down and bailed me out of jail a couple of times. She got me that job with the escort agency, and she backed me up when I told them I wanted to take mostly true escort dates. At first, they were against it. That’s when Jen backed me up and said she thought it was a good idea because it gave the service an opportunity to build legal clients. She’s done a lot for me, and if she wants me to stay, then I’ll stay.”
“Well, if you don’t live with Jennifer, what do you plan to do?” Elgie asked.
“I thought I would go to the hotel I used to stay in until I find an apartment. I have enough money saved to stay afloat for at least six months, and I could pay several months in advance, so I shouldn’t have a problem getting into a place.”
“But you can’t live on your own in a hotel,” Elgie said. “You need someone around to help you. You’ll barely be able to get around, much less take care of yourself. I have an idea—if you don’t move back in with Jennifer, you can come live with Vanessa and me. What do you think, Vanessa? I mean, we have that room that’s not used most of the time.”
“I think it’s a good idea and Michelle, you are welcome as long as you want to live with us. That means you don’t have to move out as soon as you get well.”
“That’s really nice and all, but I don’t know if I can accept. I don’t want to be a burden on you. I just met you guys, and you have already been nicer to meet than most of the people I have met in my life. I don’t know if I should take advantage of you guys like that.”
“Nonsense,” Elgie said, “you’re welcome, and if we had second thoughts or doubts we wouldn’t have invited you. We want you to stay with us as long as you want.”
“Wow, that’s really somethin’—you two are the best. I’ll tell Jen about it when she comes. She’ll be glad that I have a good place to go, I know that already. She is, and always will be, a very good friend of mine and I couldn’t see my life without her. What I’m tryin’ to say is if you let me move in with you-you're gonna see a lot of Jen. Is that okay with you?”
“I really like Jennifer,” Vanessa said, “and I see how much she likes you, and you like her. I would never want to split up your friendship. I kind of thought of you two as a package deal anyway.”
“When I first saw Jennifer,” Elgie said, “I told her about your attack, and she helped us by telling us everything we needed to know. It was obvious by the way she spoke about you, she thought of you like a sister. That’s a rare thing to find. In my line of work, I see a lot of bad in people, and I also see the good. I see the good in Jennifer no matter what she does for a living. She’s always welcome in our home.”
“I guess I’ll have to say yes. I can pay you guys rent and help out with the food, just like I did with Jen.”
“That’s not necessary,” Venessa said, “you are our guest, not our roommate or tenant. Consider yourself part of the family.” Elgie agreed. Then they said their goodbyes and left for the evening realizing Jennifer was coming and Michelle needed to speak with her alone.
“Hi, Michelle.”
“Hey, Jen. You’re right on time seven on the nose.”
“Yeah, I wanted to be exactly on time. In fact, I waited in the lobby for a while because I was early. I guess I wanted to be sure I was prepared.’
“Prepared for what?”
“Prepared for you to tell me you were moving out.”
“How did you know I was thinkin’ about movin’ out?”
“I just thought about it, and I thought since you wanted to change your life it wasn’t a good idea for you to be back in the same place, with the same people that are a part of your old lifestyle. I mean you used drugs in your room and probably hid some there too. Your drug dealer is just down the street. And you would be tempted to fall back into your old ways because it’s familiar.”
“Yeah, I’ve been thinkin’ about it, and you’re right, that’s what I thought, I need a change, but I still want us to be friends.”
“Of course, Sweetie. I’ll always be your friend. So, where are you planning to live?”
“Elgie and V asked me to move in with them, and I said yes, but only if it’s okay with you. I mean me leaving and all.”
“I'm glad you’re moving in with Lieutenant Reynolds and his wife. They’ll be a good influence on you.” Jennifer began speaking fast. “Being with me right now is probably not what is best for you, but I want you to know that I told them at the escort service that you were quitting, and so was I. I've gotten too old for this and I really need to make a change. You really inspired me to do so, and I hope we are going to continue to be friends. I imagine we are and I hope that I'll see you often. And if they'll let me come over and see you, I can help you while you recuperate and see if you need anything. I’d like to come over and see how things are going for you. If you want to I can take you out to eat or whatever you’d like to do. I’ll take you to a movie or a concert whatever you’d like to do, but I want us to stay in each other’s lives. I think that's very important.”
“Slow down Jen were you thinkin’ about that the whole way over here. I mean you just rambled on like you only had a few seconds to talk.” They both laughed.
“Yeah, I did think about it on my way over, and I thought if I didn’t say it fast, I might not have a chance to say everything.”
“Yeah, but you ran over the biggest news of all—you left the escort agency. Wow, that’s big! And it’s awesome, you’re awesome for doing it.”
“Yeah, I am kind of awesome, aren’t I?”
“You better believe it.”
“Oh, the other thing I sort of ran over are Lieutenant Reynolds and his wife going to let me come over to see you? I mean with him being a cop and me being a prostitute and all. I break the law every day, or at least I used to. And as far as they are concerned, I still do.”
“Don’t worry about that. They both said you were welcome anytime. Vanessa called us a, how did she put it…oh yeah, ‘a package deal.’ They both like you and Elgie said you were a good person, no matter what you did for a living.”
“Really, he said that?”
“Yeah, he said it.”
“Now that’s awesome.”
Jennifer and Michelle went on talking until visiting hours were over at ten. Michelle didn’t know it, but she needed to savor this moment because moments like this wouldn’t last for long. Not for her. She would soon learn that the Butcher had not forgotten about her.
Chapter Ten
When Elgie went into the office on Monday, the quiet continued, although there were more callers than there were on Sunday there still were none that required in-person follow up. In a way, it was relaxing, but in another way disturbing. That was the whole purpose of the tip line. To follow up leads with an end result of identifying and capturing the Butcher. These quiet days were not helping him to achieve that goal. Then at six-fifteen, the quiet was shattered by the sound of Elgie’s cell phone ringing.
“Hello, this is Lieutenant Reynolds.”
“Lieutenant, this is the front desk. Someone claiming to be the Butcher is on the line asking for you. I put a trace on the call.”
“Thank you,” Elgie took in a deep breath and the
n said, “put him through.”
“Hello, is this Lieutenant Reynolds?” Said a familiar disguised voice.
“Yes, this is Lieutenant Reynolds.”
“This is the Butcher. I just thought you might like to know that I just killed some people. You’ll find them at 83 Peckinpaw Road in Los Angeles. They are in the kitchen, and there are two children in the basement. The door is unlocked.”
“Hello! Hello!” the caller had hung up. Elgie called dispatch.
“I need you to send out two black and white units to 38 Peckinpaw Road respond code three. The door is supposed to be unlocked, and there are people dead in the kitchen and children in the basement. I don’t know the condition of the children. Tell them to enter with caution because the killer may still be in the house.” Then Elgie’s cell phone rang again.
“Hello.”
“Lieutenant Reynolds, this is Geraldo Lopez with the Channel Three News. I’m calling because I just received a call from someone claiming to be the Butcher and he said that he murdered some people on Peckinpaw Road. Do you have any information on that?”
“I just received the same call. I sent two black and white units. My partners and I are on our way.”
“I’ll see you there.”
With that Kim, Connors, and Elgie grabbed their coats and headed for the address. With wheels screeching and siren blaring Connors drove to Peckinpaw Road while Elgie placed his right hand on the dashboard to steady himself in his seat, held his cell phone in his left and called the front desk at headquarters. Elgie had to yell to be heard over the siren.
“This is Lieutenant Reynolds, did you get a location for the phone call?”
“The unit dispatched found the phone thrown in a trashcan, but there was no one to be seen anywhere.”
“Tell them to search the area just in case and stop anyone they see and get their identification. If the person doesn’t live in the neighborhood, call the Butcher Tip line and find out if the individual is on our watch list.”
“I’ll pass that information on, sir.”
“Also call a SID team,” Elgie said, “have them collect the cell phone and check it for fingerprints, DNA, fibers, hairs, anything! Just check it thoroughly.”
Tracking the Butcher Page 10
