“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.”
Chapter 7
It was late afternoon and the sun was just sliding below the buildings on South Presa Street as Norman made his third loop looking for her. He finally spotted her standing with two other girls.
There you are!
He slowed to a stop by the curb and rolled down the window. One of the girls walked towards him. She was short and blonde, with red lipstick that needed refreshed. She smiled.
“Need something, mister?”
“Not from you.”
“What’s the matter, don’t like blondes?”
“Something like that. Ask your friend over there to come talk to me.”
The blonde looked over her shoulder.
“Which one?”
Norman continued to stare ahead.
“The tall, dark haired one.”
The blonde turned and walked back to her girlfriends. Norman saw the dark haired one look towards the truck, step on her cigarette, and walk over to him.
“Hi, sweetie. Can I do somethin’ for you?”
“Possibly. Want to go for a ride?”
“You got money?”
Norman reached into his pocket and pulled out a hundred dollar bill. She smiled.
“Okay. Let’s go for a ride.”
She got in the truck and waved to her girlfriends. Norman put the truck in gear and drove away.
****
Rob was doing some tuning on Vanessa’s car, so Tuesday morning Jason picked her up. When they got to the station, they found the Medical Examiner’s report on the golf course and dog search victims.
Jason scanned it with Vanessa looking over his shoulder. He stated the obvious.
“Except for the time of death, they are near duplicates.”
“Yeah. We have a serial killer who knows exactly what he wants.”
“They got a DNA swab off the golf course girl but the dog search had too much deterioration Like the others, it was negative.”
Lieutenant Patton leaned out of his office.
“Can I have a minute?”
He didn’t wait for an answer but went and sat back down. Jason and Vanessa went into the office, Vanessa closing the door behind them.
John Patton scrunched his eyebrows together, forming the familiar hedge across his forehead. It happened whenever he was forced to deal with something he didn’t like.
“What have we got on this wineglass nut job?”
Jason had brought the case file with him. He opened it.
“We have four confirmed victims. All killed in the same fashion, three killed in and around Canyon State Park. The fourth victim, who is actually the first known case, was killed in a similar location, outside of Austin.”
The lieutenant held up his hand for Jason to stop.
“Let’s back up and start with the first victim. We need to whiteboard this and make sure we are all on the same page.”
He dipped his head towards Jason.
“Your friend, Devin James, called asking questions. He wants a briefing and local TV has also requested information. The Chief wants a news conference this afternoon and he wants it to go smoothly. I’ll lead but both of you are going to be there.”
Vanessa groaned and rolled her eyes. “Great!”
She got up and went over to the large, white, dry erase board on the wall. Picking up a marker, she wrote the name of each of the victims across the top of the board. As Jason began to read out details from the file, she filled them in under each name. The heights varied from 5’7” to 5’9’. Each girl weighed within two pounds of 130. Their ages spanned 19 to 24 and all had mid-length, black hair. Jason continued to read and Vanessa write.
“Cause of death in all four was ‘gunshot to heart’. No rape and no DNA retrieved from three of four victims.”
The phone rang and the lieutenant picked it up.
“This is Patton.”
He listened, looking at Jason.
“Yeah, JD’s here.”
John Patton started nodding and finally hung up.
“That was Davis. He said his guess of three months, on time of death for Vicky Costa, is pretty close. Alright Vanessa, continue.”
Jason watched as she drew a long broken line below the columns.
FEB/Walker--MAY/Costa--JULY/Samples..AUG/Burns
She turned and looked at the lieutenant.
“This is the approximate timeline of death for each victim relative to each other. It’s clear that either the spaces between known victims are yet to be filled in with new names or else our guy is getting more active.”
“What’s your hunch?”
Vanessa came back over to the desk and sat down.
“My gut tells me that he is stepping up. Other than victim one, all have been found in the same area. The search dogs didn’t find others and I doubt he has two dumping grounds.”
“Okay. Jason, it’s pretty clear what his victim profile is. Any ideas why he’s chosen this particular look?”
“I think the first victim has to be the key. I think she might be the trigger.”