Текст книги "Detective Jason Strong: The Early Cases"

Автор книги: John C. Dalglish

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Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 21 страниц)

 

Chapter  4

Jason had tried to make an appointment for the following day with the parents of Marcie Walker but they were out of town. It was the following Monday when Vanessa and Jason were able to meet with them.

As they pulled up in front of the modest bungalow style home in south San Antonio, Jason noticed how normal it looked. White with a gray shingle roof and flower beds on either side of the front door. He was struck, as he often was with these cases, how out of place tragedy seemed on a street such as this.

They got out and walked to the front door and as Vanessa reached to ring the bell, the door opened.

“Detective Strong?”

“Yes, ma’am. This is my partner, Detective Vanessa Layne.”

The tiny woman, with gray hair and bright blue eyes, gave them a warm smile, as she swung open the screen door.

“Nice to meet you. Please come in. My husband is in the living room.”

Jason and Vanessa followed Mrs. Walker into the living room and Mr. Walker rose to greet them. They shook hands and Mrs. Walker asked if they would like coffee.

“No, thank you. Not for me, anyway.”

Vanessa shook her head and took a seat on the couch. Jason remained standing and took out his notebook. He noticed the pictures on the wall, placed around one of those home interior ‘FAMILY’ signs. There were the two Walkers and a picture of Marcie. Also hung were two older photos of what looked to be the Walkers parents.

“Folks, we appreciate you taking time to speak with us. I’m sure this is difficult.”

Mrs. Walker gave a half smile.

“We’re glad to do anything we can to help catch the man who did that to our daughter. She was our only child, you know.”

“I did not. I’m very sorry. Unfortunately, there has been another death and we believe it’s the same man as the one who killed your daughter.”

Mr. Walker was sitting straight up in his chair. He is a tall man, and despite being elderly, was still an imposing figure. He was clearly agitated.

“If I found that S.O.B., he’d wish he’d never been born.”

“Jerry, watch your language.” Mrs. Walker chastised her husband.

They must have had Marcie late in life because they both appeared to be in their sixties. Or maybe losing a daughter will just make you age more quickly.

Jason let Vanessa take the lead.

“I’m sure you answered these questions before but we would like to go over it once more.”

The Walkers nodded.

“When was the last time you spoke with your daughter?”

“I talked to her on the phone just before she went to work that day. She called me almost every day.” Mrs. Walker smiled as she said it. “She is…was…a good girl. I’m sorry, it’s still hard to believe she’s gone.”

“No need to apologize. Did she sound okay that day?”

“Yes, fine.”

“She didn’t mention anyone bothering her or being afraid of anyone?”

“No. She was in good spirits, as usual.”

“Did she have any enemies that you were aware of, either in Austin or from high school?”

Mr. Walker spoke up.

“Our daughter was friendly and outgoing. We never saw where she had hurt anyone.”

Jason knew that parents didn’t always know the whole truth about their children but they clearly weren’t aware of anybody that he and Vanessa could look into. It was time to go.

“Mr. and Mrs. Walker, thank you very much for your time.” He put a card on the table. “Please don’t hesitate to call if anything comes to mind.”

Mrs. Walker saw them out.

“Goodbye. And detectives…”

    Jason and Vanessa turned.

“Catch him, please…for Marcie.”

Jason spoke for both of them.

“We’ll do our best, ma’am. That’s a promise.”

Mrs. Walker smiled a sad smile and closed the door.

****

Back in the car, Jason noticed Vanessa was quieter than usual. She was turned away, staring out the passenger window.

“You okay?”

When she turned towards him, her eyes were red.

“Their only child…so sad.”

It was one of the things that Jason liked about his partner. She wasn’t afraid to be human. He also knew her pregnancy had a lot to do with how this was hitting her.

“Your right, it’s very tough when there isn’t more family to help people get over tragedy.”

“Did I tell you that Rob has always wanted a big family?”

“No, I don’t think you did.”

“Yeah. He was an only child and he said he didn’t want that for his kid.”

“One baby or ten, you’ll be a great mom.”

She smiled at him and then pointed a finger at him.

“Not a word of this at the station.”

Jason just laughed. He was used to such warnings.

****

Norman Lasiter turned his black pick-up onto South Presa Street. South Presa was his hunting ground. Here was the largest concentration of prostitutes in the city.

He cruised slowly down the east side of the road, ignoring the calls from girls on his side but looking over the girls on the west side. He knew what he was looking for. He had found her down here before and she was bound to be here again.

He circled around at the end of the block and came back along the west side.

There you are!

He noticed the tall, thin, dark-haired girl eyeing him and she stepped out to the curb.

“You looking for some fun?”

“Maybe. Are you?”

“You bet, baby.”

He didn’t look at her but stared straight ahead.

“How much?”

“Depends.”

“Just basic.”

“50”

“Okay, get in.”

The girl got in and smiled at him. Norman drove to the end of the block and turned into a parking lot. He pulled a gun and held it to her head. Her eyes grew huge.

“Don’t hurt me! Please!”

Norman produced a large zip tie formed into a loop.

“Put your hands through.”

Keeping her eyes fixed on the gun, she complied. Norman cinched the zip tie tight.

“Sit back and don’t do anything stupid.”

Chapter  5

Frank watched his friend tee off. They kept a standing golf date at Oak Valley Golf Course on Sunday afternoons. It was just nine holes but the only thing that kept them from it was rain and Dallas Cowboy games.

“Nice drive.”

“Thanks.”

Frank teed his ball up, took a couple practice swings and hit. His ball started out straight but quickly took a hard right turn. Frank groaned.

“That’s the third slice today.”

His friend shook his head.

“You’re getting your hips through ahead of your hands.”

“I know, I know.”

Frank stuffed his driver back into his bag and they both started walking, pulling their carts behind them. To Frank, this was the best part. A invigorating walk in beautiful surroundings.

His friend’s ball was sitting nicely down the left side of the fairway but Frank’s was deep in the woods to right. He pulled out his pitching wedge and started whacking at the tall grass and leaves. He had already lost two balls today and he wasn’t about to lose another. After searching for several minutes, he spotted the white ball sitting on a patch of brown grass.

“There you are!”

He was about to line up his shot when a glint off something caught his eye. The sun through the tree branches was reflecting off something about thirty yards away. There was a shape there, too. He carefully walked over a fallen tree and up next to a big oak tree. He found himself staring at something his brain didn’t seemed able to process. It was something hideous among all this beauty.

Like a fuzzy TV that suddenly clears up, he saw a woman propped against a tree, naked and holding a wine glass. There was dried blood on her chest. Frank staggered backwards, falling over the downed tree. He got to his feet, and without taking his eyes off the woman, backed out onto the fairway.

His friend called to him.

“Frank? You okay?”

Frank turned to face him.

“Call 911!”.

****

Jason was spending his Sunday at home, working on one of the numerous projects that the new house needed. Today, it was painting the guest room and Sandy was helping by doing the trim. He rolled the pale green she had chosen onto the walls, trying not to spray paint everywhere. His pager started to vibrate on the table in the center of the room. Sandy groaned.

“Noooo…we’ll never get this room done.”

Jason laid the roller in the pan and went over to look at the pager.

“Sorry, honey. Got to check in.”

He left the room and retrieved his cell phone, punching the speed dial for the station. Vanessa answered.

“Homicide.”

He was surprised to hear her voice.

“What are you doing there?”

“ Hey, Jason. I came into to pick up something and the call came through.”

“What call?”

“There’s another victim.”

Jason groaned.

“Wineglass?”

“Afraid so.”

“I’m on my way.”

****

Jason picked up Vanessa at the station and they headed out to the crime scene. It was in the northwest section of San Antonio, at a golf course on the fringe of Canyon State Park.

“Two crime scenes in close proximity to the park.” Vanessa was thinking out loud. “Leads you to think he either lives near the park or it’s in his route from one place to another.”

“Sure or he's just comfortable with the national forest area from previous experiences there.”

Jason stopped the car at the entrance to the golf course parking lot. Two police cars were parked nose to nose, blocking entrance. The car on the left backed up to let Jason pull in. After parking, they got out to find an officer standing with his arms crossed and shaking his head at Devin James.

Devin James is a reporter for the San Antonio News. Black, easily six three, balding and a cynical mind that he concealed with a wide smile. Jason could tell he’d been spotted.

The reporter stopped pestering the officer and walked, or rather limped, directly towards the detective. He had a pronounced limp but the one time Jason had asked about it, James brushed it off.

“Detective, nice to see you again.”

The reporter ignored Vanessa. They had a feud going back to before Jason made it to homicide. Vanessa had never told him the details and he had not pried. Jason didn’t mind Devin but he remained guarded around him.

“Devin, You playing golf today?”

“Very funny, Detective. Actually, the scanner said there’s something much more interesting going on here than just putt-putt.”

The lieutenant had been able to keep the first girls death under the radar, but this one was going to be different.

“They just called us out here, I don’t know anymore than you do.”

“Okay if I tag along?”

“Nope.”

The officer that had been shaking his head at the reporter, pointed at an electric golf cart parked behind him. The two detectives walked over and got in.

The officer got into the cart in front of them and turned to look at them.

“I'm supposed to lead you out to the seventh hole. The crime scene techs are there. They took their van down a service road.”

Devin had followed them to the carts. Jason gave him a big smile.

“Sorry Devin, duty calls.”

“Come on, Detective. Give me something.”

Jason pretended not to hear and stepped down on the gas pedal. The officer led the way, heading down the far side of hole #1, cutting across #4, and through some woods, until they could see the yellow crime tape flitting in the breeze.

They pulled up and got out as the medical examiner was walking back to his van. It was one of Doctor Davis' assistants. Jason caught up with him.

“What have we got?”

“Gunshot wound to the chest. She's been out here about a week. We're done with photos and forensics is done with evidence collection. We'll bag her when you guys are done.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Vanessa had already gone over by the body and Jason followed her. Instead of examining the victim, she was staring out towards the forest. Jason left her alone while he made some notes.

Naked, no clothes or belongings found in the area, gunshot to chest at scene. Propped up against tree, bloodstained wineglass in her hand. Victims hair color, eye color and approximate height match previous two crime scenes.

When he was done, he walked over to where she was standing. He tried to figure out what she was focused on.

“What are you looking at?”

“I'm trying to place the previous crime scene. Wasn't it maybe 500 yards that way, across the woods?”

Jason followed her sight line.

“Yeah, I think you're right.”

At first they seemed much farther apart because they had arrived at the first crime scene from the other side of the forest, but they appeared to be much closer if you drew an imaginary line between the two.

“We need to have a complete search of the area between the two scenes.”

Vanessa agreed.

“Yeah. We can walk it but it might be better to bring in cadaver dogs. If there's a crime scene we haven't found, we don't want to be traipsing all over it.”

Jason nodded.

“Good Point. I'll talk to the lieutenant in the morning.”

Jason signalled they were done with the body and the techs started to wrap her up. Jason and Vanessa got in their cart and went back to the parking lot.

They found Frank in the clubhouse bar. He had regained his composure with help of several beers. Jason sat on one side and Vanessa stood on the other. Jason smiled at Frank.

“You find the body?”

“Yeah. Shook me up pretty good.”

“I can understand that, not something you see during your average round of golf. Did you see anyone else around?”

“No, my buddy and I were the only one’s on that hole when we got there.”

Vanessa leaned in.

“How did you find her?”

“I sliced my ball into the woods and found her while I was looking for it. I was getting ready to hit when something glinted in the sun.”

“The wine glass?”

“I guess. That's some messed up shit.”

Jason gave Frank a card and patted him on the shoulder.

“Thanks. You think of anything else, call us.”

They got up and began making the rounds of the employees and other golfers that were present. Their last stop was at the groundskeeper’s shed.

Jason called through the door.

“Hello?”

A man stuck his head out from behind a tractor.

“Can I help you?”

Jason flashed his badge.

“Yes. Can I ask you a few questions?”

The man came around to where they were standing.

“This about that dead girl?”

“Yes. You see anybody or anything unusual this week?”

“No. I'm here most all day from open to close and I'm all over the course. I hadn't seen anything that would have made me think something like that was going on here.”

“How many roads are there around this place?”

The groundskeepers shed had a map of the course on the wall and he went over and pointed at the brown tracks.

“These are roads around the course, the gray are cart paths.”

Vanessa ran a finger along the seventh hole until it came to rest on a brown trail leading back to the parking lot.

“This is one route he could’ve taken to the scene. Is there any gates along this road?”

“No. Just the one on the parking lot and you can drive around it on the grass if you wanted. It's more of an inconvenience than a solid gate.”

Vanessa pointed to the far side of the forest, opposite the golf course.

“That’s the location of the first crime scene.”

Jason followed the road from the current crime scene out to the previous one. The road continued past the first scene and let out onto the main highway just 50 yards south.

“Is there a gate on the end of that road where it meets the highway?”

“Yes. But we never use it. It was put in during construction of the golf course.”

“Locked?”

“I imagine but I’m not sure.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Jason and Vanessa got back in their car and drove around to the end of the road they had seen on the groundskeeper’s map. Just as the groundskeeper had said, there was a gate. They got out and walked up to look at the chain. It was looped through the gate but the padlock, if there had been one, was gone. Vanessa grunted.

“I think we found his way in.”

Jason stared beyond the gate at the woods along the service road

“Yeah, and that makes me afraid for what we might find with the dogs. Who knows how long this lock has been cut.”

Chapter  6

Jason was at the station early on Monday. He met the lieutenant and got permission to call in the cadaver dogs. It took several phone calls to get the search set up but by 11:00 AM the area had been cordoned off and the dogs, with their handlers, were ready to begin searching.

Before the searchers were allowed in, the forensic team had taken tire tread castings from two spots. They were consistent with a truck but would only be useful if they had one to compare to.

Jason called the search teams in and gathered them together around a map of the area. He pointed as he spoke.

“First of all, as usual, thank you for your quick response to our call. The area we’re searching is not overly large, so everyone take their time following the dogs. We don’t want anything disturbed if the dogs do have a hit. This road here is the service road for the golf course. It was used mainly during construction and is rarely travelled any more. We’ll begin at the road edge and move inwards towards the trees. If someone has an alert, everyone freeze where they are. We’ll signal for the search to continue when we have secured the area that the dog hit on.”

Jason looked at Vanessa.

“You want to add anything?”

“Yes. Pay special attention around the base of trees. If the dog is at all curious, let him travel completely around the tree. We believe that any alerts will likely come in those areas. Also, keep your eyes open for a wine glass.”

One of the searchers raised his hand.

“Did you say wine glass?”

“I did. We believe that it may be found at any scene that the dogs find and we don’t want it broken, if possible.”

Jason looked around at the group.

“Detective Layne and myself will be by the radio. You all have the frequency. Any questions?”

There was no response so Jason assigned starting points to each team and they lined up along the service road at 100 yard intervals.

The teams began to work the area. It was no more than ten minutes when one of the dogs alerted with 6 sharp barks. He pointed at the location while his handler kept him from moving. The dog had alerted near the base of a large tree.

****

Jason and Vanessa were sitting in her car at the entrance gate when the radio crackled life.

“We’ve got a dog alerting on a location.”

Jason picked up the handheld radio.

“Where?”

He was already up and moving.

“About three hundred yards in. It’s search dog two, the one that started at 100 hundred yards up the road from the entrance.”

“We’re on our way.”

Vanessa caught up with him.

“Got something?”

“Dog number two has alerted.”

When they got to where the dog was, they began to step very carefully. Everyone else had been backed away and a uniformed officer was stretching yellow tape around the scene. Vanessa saw it first.

“Is that a wine glass?”

Laying in the undergrowth was a wine glass with a stain on it. Jason stopped and got on the handheld.

“Get me forensics. I need them at my location.”

He listened while his order was conveyed and then put the radio on his hip. He leaned over and looked at the bark on the tree. A dark stain and a hole. Under the leaves, you could make out a vague outline of a body

“Animals have probably scattered some of the bones. We’ll let forensics take it from here.”

Jason waited for the crime tape to be stretched completely around the alert location before he gave the signal for the search to resume.

****

Back at Vanessa’s car, they stayed by the radio until the dogs had searched the entire grid. The first alert turned out to be the only hit. Jason called the search off and thanked the handlers.

They walked over to the taped off area where forensics was finishing up. Leonard Davis had been on site all day and nodded at the two detectives when they walked up.

“Female, probably. That’s about all. I’ll know more at autopsy but she’s been here long enough to destroy most of the useful evidence.”

Vanessa picked up the baggie with the wine glass in it.

“Looks like the others. Did you find the casing or bullet?”

“Found the bullet in the tree, looks to be 9 millimeter like the others but either we missed the casing or it’s gone.”

Jason had his pad out.

“You got a guess how long she’s been here?”

“I don’t like to guess, but if I had to, I’d say around three months.

“Thanks, Doc.”

They walked back to the car. Before leaving, Jason left instructions for a new lock to be put on the gate after forensics was done. No sense making it easy for a killer to get in and out.

They left for the station, Vanessa driving and she’d fallen quiet, again.

“You’re awfully quiet. You doing okay?”

She gave him a half smile.

“The morning sickness is still hanging around. Makes for a long day.”

“I’m sure. Everything going good with the baby?”

“Yeah. Rob and I got to hear the heartbeat at the last appointment.”

“Awesome. I bet Rob was stoked. Did you find out what it is?”

“No. Too soon for an ultrasound.”

“How long you plan on working?”

“I guess as long as I can stand the desk, once they put me on one.”

“You gonna come back at the end of maternity leave or stay home with the baby for a while?”

She smiled and gave him a wink.

“Gonna miss me?”

“Of course. You’re my partner.” He pretended to be stating a fact, but he knew she saw through it. Like most partners, they had become close.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. It’ll be hard to leave the baby but finances may force me to come back as soon as possible.”

They pulled into the station and parked. Jason didn’t get out but looked at her.

“When are you going to tell the lieutenant?”

“I don’t know.”

“I suggest you do it before you begin to show!”

He laughed but he was only half joking. Jason knew she would wait until the last minute. He also knew he wouldn’t let her endanger the baby. He would tell the lieutenant himself if she was stubborn about it.

“I’ll tell him soon. Rob wants me on a desk now but he knows better. I’ve already warned him not to let it slip to the lieutenant. Come to think of it, that goes for you, as well.”

Jason got out and pretended not to hear her. He walked towards the station and could hear Vanessa locking the car behind him. She hurried to catch up.

“Did you hear me? That goes for you, too.”

Jason kept walking.

“What does?”

“No letting the cat out of the bag.”

“Who, me?” He was grinning to himself but Vanessa, trailing behind, couldn’t tell. “Don’t you mean the bun out of the oven?”

“Jason! I’m serious!”

“I can see that.”

“Promise me.”

He turned to face her and his smile had disappeared, his face serious.

“I’ll keep your secret as long as it poses no threat to you or the baby. If I feel you or your baby are in danger, all bets are off.”

She stood there glaring at him and he could tell she wanted to argue.

After a minute or so, she smiled and quietly said “Thank you.”