A Deadly Secret Page 4

  “Nah, nothing of use. People are afraid to talk if they know something. Wouldn’t you be? The killer decapitated the woman. I mean, what kind of savage beast does something like that? What were they trying to prove?” He shook his head, disgusted with the details.

  “Yeah, haven’t seen something this bad around here for a while. Well, not this bad at all.”

  “Oh! I do have something of interest for you, now that I think of it. I was going back through previous cases in and around the area, checking nearby counties as well. There was a suspect that Belmont was looking at. His name was Mark Abbott. Says he was a primary suspect from an unsolved case. While he looked to be their best lead, he was never charged. Not enough evidence. We might want to see what he’s been up to. Now, there was a different signature, but it wasn’t too far from here, and he could be back to kill again if he’s convinced he got away with murder before.”

  “Good job. Yeah, we’ll look him up and give him a shout tomorrow. See if he’s been in the area recently, or if he has any connection to our victim,” Alex said. He turned toward Cam and pointed to Bryce. “That man taught me everything I know.”

  Bryce smacked Alex on the shoulder. “And you didn’t let me down, at least not yet.”

  Alex laughed. “Go home to your wife before she gives you a curfew for being late.”

  Bryce gave a quick, playful, one-finger salute, then turned to leave.

  “You need help with those notes?” Cam asked.

  “Nah, I’m good. Get some rest. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”

  Alex spent the night going through the interview information and documenting everything. He got up to stretch his legs and walked to the evidence room.

  He pulled the bin for their case and looked at the jewelry that they’d found. There was a P-shaped symbol on it with two lines going horizontally through the bottom of the P. What did it stand for? It was the only thing engraved on it. It wasn’t the maker’s mark. This was added after the piece was made and looked to be more of a personal thing. Would it tell them more about their victim? More about the suspect? Or was it irrelevant, just a bauble that ended up at the scene of the crime but meant nothing?

  Chapter 7

  Amanda was leaving for the night. She was drained from the last patient she’d had, and being short-staffed, was pulled in too many directions. Her insides felt twisted in vines. The thought of Dawn, her dying, the grisly way she’d been found…the tears started again. She didn’t deserve to die that way. Who would want to harm her? Was it random, or was it someone she knew? Was it someone they all knew?

  Amanda shivered at the thought. She pulled her arms around her as a chill slid through her veins. She spun around, thinking she heard footsteps. Her heart quickened, then lodged in her throat. Nobody was there. She knew better than go to the parking garage at night without security by her side. They usually walked the night shift out, but she’d run behind and told them to go without her. She wanted to wrap up some paperwork.

  Silly goose. Nobody there. You’re scaring yourself over nothing. Amanda steeled herself. She glanced around one more time, but was alone. A swift breeze blew through an opening of the concrete structure. Slats between levels offered light and ventilation during daylight hours. At night, they reminded her how dark it was outside.

  She picked up her pace and quickly got into her car. She locked her door and turned on the engine. Her nerves were jumpy. She scanned the rearview mirror to make sure she was still alone. With a heavy sigh, she put her car in reverse and pulled out of the garage. Slowly, the fear she’d let overtake her drained away.

  Once home, she locked her door and double-checked the deadbolt. She went window to window and checked to make sure each was secure. You could never be too careful.

  She’d spooked herself. Dawn’s killer was out there somewhere. Who was it? What did they want from her? What had she done to deserve her tragic end in their eyes? Amanda tried to shake the thought. She flicked on the television and channel-surfed, not landing on anything of interest. She turned off the TV and instead grabbed a book she’d started reading the night before.

  Double-checking the locks one last time, she pulled herself up the stairs to her bedroom, then snuggled into bed with her book. Her mind drifted to Alex’s dark, brown eyes. He’d crossed her path on more than a few occasions, but this time it was different. This time he’d been on her mind since she saw him in the hallway.

  She flushed over with guilt. While every thought she had should have been on her friend Dawn, half of them circled back to Alex. She’d never noticed how big and strong his shoulders were before. Amanda blushed, realizing she had a small crush on the guy. Funny how all those times in the past, she just saw him as Detective Ramsey, the guy that stopped by when he had a case to deal with. Today, it was different. Today, she wanted to feel his arms wrap around her and pull her into a hug.

  She closed her eyes and rubbed her eyelids. They were raw from all the crying.

  The day was hardly what she’d expected. In fact, nothing would ever feel the same. Even her sense of security was diminished knowing Dawn’s life was taken so violently.

  ***

  By the time Alex got home, he was ready to drop into bed. He dug through the fridge, pulled out a beer, and flipped on the news. There were too many details to think of, but one specific one kept circling back. Amanda Gladstone. Those big, crystal, blue eyes. Her sweet, pouty lips. He’d always found her attractive, but today there was something else there. Something that called to him in a way it hadn’t before.

  If he didn’t have to break the news about one of her coworkers being killed, maybe he’d have invited her out for coffee or something. He was there on business, and it wasn’t the kind of icebreaker he was looking for.

  His brother had always been a ladies’ man, confident and cocky with swagger when it came to women. Alex tended to be subtler. He smiled thinking about his brother. He’d have told him to go for it. “Just give it a go, man. Don’t know if you don’t try.”

  Amazing how much time had passed. He wondered what his brother would be doing today if he were still alive. What path would he have followed? And where would Alex have ended up?

  He knew his career choices would have been different. Life would have been different.

  Alex dropped onto the sofa and propped his feet up on the coffee table. Another long day was behind him. He hoped tomorrow offered something more, because the lack of leads they had was disheartening.

  Chapter 8

  Alex and his team were able to secure the premise of the victim’s residence. They’d sweep and scan for anything that might help their case, as well as canvass the neighborhood. Had the assault taken place anywhere near her home or was it in another location?

  Her body had been moved and taken to where she’d been dumped, so the crime hadn’t been committed in the park. Had she gotten into the car with somebody willingly? Was she alive when she was transported? There were too many unanswered questions.

  What started with high hopes didn’t give them the leads they’d hoped for. Somebody had taken the time to clean and wipe everything down. The doorknobs had been wiped. The kitchen was spotless and freshly mopped, and the smell of disinfectant hung in the air. Even the mop handle had been wiped. They checked the bucket that was probably used, and again, nothing. If she’d been the one mopping, her prints would still be on it.

  There was a high probability the crime had been committed there, just from the efforts to wipe everything, but not much showed.

  The front door showed nothing. There were no notes on the table or bedside nightstand that might point to an issue. They checked the back door, and again, nothing. As frustrating as it was, the person behind this had taken the time to organize their clean-up effort.

  No footprints or shoeprints in the ground. There were no tire tracks on the drive that were ingrained. They swept for prints on the house land line, but only one set showed up, which were probably Dawn’s.

/>   Nothing conclusive stood out. They decided to leave Cam nearby to watch the neighborhood and see if anybody drove by to revisit the scene. It might not lead anywhere, but it couldn’t hurt to survey the area a little longer. They’d hoped there’d been something more obvious, anything, but it wasn’t the case.

  ***

  “I can barely believe she’s gone,” Amanda said. She hunched over the counter where Greg sat filling in a chart.

  “Yeah, our silly arguments aside, I’m throttled by the entire thing. It’s kind of crazy something like this happened around here. You hear stuff like that on the news, but it’s always someone you don’t know or it’s far away. This really hits home.” He stood and stretched. “Know what I did this morning? I bought a new car. I was like, heck, you only live once and nobody knows when our time is up.”

  “You did?”

  “You didn’t question your mortality?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I guess I did. This morning, I was looking at getaway trips, sort of thinking the same thing. I poked around the web to scout locations. I keep putting off taking a vacation. It’s money I don’t need to spend, but then something like this happens and I think if not now, when?” Amanda shrugged. “What kind of car did you get?”

  Lee overheard them as he walked by. “You got a new car?”

  “Yeah, we were just talking about hearing the news, and how it jolted us. I traded in my Impala for a loaded Lincoln MKZ. Why not? What about you? Did you do something different after hearing the news?”

  “I hugged my kids tighter this morning and had ice cream for breakfast. Maybe you had the right idea. A new car sounds more fun than ice cream. Anyway, I wanted to come by and let you know that Sharon from maternity will be stepping into Dawn’s position. She’ll be starting with us tomorrow, so please make her feel welcome.”

  “Wow, that was fast,” Amanda said. “We’d only learned…”

  “She was a no-show for a few days. I’d already started the process in case I needed to fill her shoes. As much as we hate to think of it, the hospital is a business. They have a bottom line and being understaffed doesn’t help anybody.” Lee rubbed the back of his neck. “I hate it as much as you do, but I have a job to do.”

  Greg nodded. “It’s not easy on anybody.”

  “By the way, we’ll have a small remembrance in the chapel tomorrow for anyone that would like to come. We’ll have counselors available if you need to talk. It’s been difficult on all of us losing a friend and coworker,” Lee added.

  Chapter 9

  Alex and Bryce headed back to where Dawn’s body had been discovered. They wanted to sweep the ground again and see if anything new turned up, maybe a shoeprint they’d overlooked or a tire track. It was off the beaten path, so there wouldn’t be many prints out there, but if they could find one, just one, it could put them on the right path.

  They suspected a man due to the violent nature of the crime. Also, carrying the body that far away from the parking lot took quite a bit of strength. It’s not that a woman couldn’t do it, but based on what they had so far, it pointed toward a male suspect. Women tended to turn their anger and frustration onto themselves and were more self-destructive, where men struck out.

  While out at the scene, Alex and Bryce discussed the other angle. “So, this other guy, the one you found out about in Belmont, what can you tell me about him?”

  Bryce filled Alex in on the case that had taken place a few towns away. “While he was their best suspect, they never were able to nail it on him. There’d been a murder where the suspect tried to get rid of the body. They’d found the woman as a floater in the river and most of the evidence pointed toward Mark Abbott, but it was circumstantial. He also had an alibi, and though they were convinced he was lying, they couldn’t prove it.”

  “And you think…”

  “Not a clue, but it can’t hurt to check into what they found and see if there’s any relation to the case. Looks like he’s been in the system for a while. Mostly petty stuff. Runs with a biker gang and goes by the alias of Blade.”

  “Okay, I guess we’ll tackle that after here. What do you think? Anything left to find around the park? And where did he dispose of the rest of her body? That part bugs me. Why not leave them together?”

  “He was buying time,” Bryce surmised. “Covering her identity.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right. I’d just hate to be the person who finds the remains. Do you think he tried to burn them too?”

  “Not sure, because the flames were started here, not wherever else they came from. I sure hope he’s not keeping them for a souvenir.”

  Alex shook off the thought. He kicked freshly fallen leaves aside, hoping to find a print.

  ***

  Amanda clocked out after a long night at work and happily made her way to the garage with the others. After the previous night of walking out by herself, she didn’t want to make that mistake again.

  Greg was excited to show off his new car, so Amanda and a couple of her coworkers gathered around as he pointed out the highlights.

  It wasn’t until she was halfway home that a car tried to run her off the road. It was dark on the winding stretch of county road.

  The car behind her had its high beams on. She squinted to try to block some of the glare that bounced off her rearview mirror and side mirrors. Didn’t they realize they were blinding her with them on?

  Amanda did her best to ignore it, then pressed down on her gas pedal to put more distance between them. Only, as she sped up, so did the car behind her. They matched her pace. Without a shoulder on the road, she couldn’t pull over. Why didn’t they just pass her?

  Finally, the car behind her started to make a move to pass. She’d be glad to be rid of them tailing her. As it pulled out and started to accelerate, the driver laid on the horn, blaring it obnoxiously, then pushed their car dangerously close. Their tires squealed as they floored it and took off.

  Amanda jerked her steering wheel to the right to avoid a collision. She wedged in against the concrete barrier and cringed as the metal of her car scraped loudly against it. She held fast to the steering wheel trying to keep control. She was white-knuckled as her car bounced back onto the road.

  Her heart pounded heavily against her ribcage as if trying to escape. Her breathing was rapid and shallow. She tried to calm herself, but her body rebelled, trembling fiercely. “Asshole!”

  If she’d seen what kind of car it was…but it was gone before she could notice. The most she remembered was that it was a dark sedan, but there was nothing else that stood out to her, and on that stretch of roadway there weren’t any street lights. The ongoing curves didn’t help matters. It was out of her line of vision by the time she could focus on anything besides staying alive.

  There were no other cars on the road at that time of night, and she didn’t see a license plate. Should she speed up and try to find them? No. She shook her head. Safer to stay as far away from that jerk as possible. They didn’t even slow down or stop to see if she was okay.

  She’d need to file a report with the police. Only, what could she report other than what happened? She had no make or model of the car, no tag, and no other information. At least with the police report it would be easier to get her insurance to help cover the cost of damages.

  Amanda finally found a spot to pull over. After catching her breath and steadying her nerves, she dialed for help.

  It was probably some cocky teen driver goofing off with their friends or something. Maybe the driver was drunk. Either way, it was reckless and scary. It had been a hell of a week. She would be glad to put it behind her.

  Chapter 10

  Alex looked through the records that Bryce mentioned the day before. Mark “Blade” Abbott was associated with the Devil Riders, a notorious biker gang based out of Philadelphia. Smaller segments had slowly made their way into the suburbs, though most of their criminal activity was still playing out in the city.

  They were known for drug-smuggling,
gun-running, and racketeering. While the police had infiltrated them in the past, the criminals got smarter and found new ways around the law. It was damn near impossible to make charges stick. And with a staff of highly paid lawyers, the appeals and attempts to slow the justice system down were never-ending.

  Alex studied his file and read through some of Mark’s gang associates’ files that were in the system, hoping to learn more about the potential suspect. If he’d gotten away with a crime, would he have killed again? He’d need to call around and see what else he could find.

  A couple of officers in the city specialized in gang violence. Each gang had their own specialist on the force. The Warlocks, the Saints, and the Outlaws were still prevalent in the city. The Russian mafia, the Greeks, the Junior Black Mafia, the Jamaicans, the Italians, MS-13, and more littered the streets of the north, south, east, and west corners. While many had moved on to other areas, drug-smuggling and arms-trafficking remained a problem. Each maintained its own parameters. Rivalries broke out over territory and the struggle never ended.

  He’d put a call into Louie Franco and see what he could tell him. He had a couple of informants that were good for the inner workings of some of these groups. While this past case was old news, and the murder case of the floating woman in the river was considered cold, he hoped by putting their heads together it might help both departments if it turned out Mark Abbott was their man.

  Alex sorted through papers on his desk and ran some files through the computer. Most of their stuff was digitized these days, but he still liked paper forms as much as the next guy. It was tangible in his hands. Scribbling notes helped him think differently. Jotting things down, puzzling through clues and evidence, he could think outside of the box better.