JUSTICE REBORN (A Charlie Taylor Novel Book 1) (11 page)

It was early morning.

The squad occupied the largest incident
room available in the Hall of Justice. The facility contained numerous
electronic whiteboards which served as perimeter fencing around the central
conference table. No windows. A perfect room for their wireless network and the
isolation the group needed.

 Charlie drove the process and used his
tablet to capture key words or terms as they surfaced, occasional a phrase but
rarely a full sentence. His efforts reflected immediately on one of the
electronic whiteboards and would be there for all to see.  Charlie believed a
visual array of word and phrases with a variety of colored fonts would
stimulate creative thinking and encourage people to speculate. If his
contribution triggered an entry onto one the whiteboards, a detective was
secretly pleased.

The large room allowed participants to get
up and wander around. Ideas and challenges flowed freely; the intent was to
have new avenues of thinking surface. A couple of paper flip-charts rested in a
far corner, but they were only used if the discussion became so convoluted they
needed a series of diagrams to follow what was being proposed.

 Wes arrived early, distributed relevant
paper, ensured the network was operational, tested the recording equipment, and
made sure the coffee arrived on time. He would kick off and Charlie expected a
first rate summary, would interrupt, correct and aggressively pursue any loose
ends, friendship didn’t count at this point.

The 24-hour delay in getting this session
going annoyed Wes, an entire day since they had been at the hotel; but Charlie
insisted he needed a specific outsider. He wanted the Sector’s busy Historian
whose schedule didn’t allow attendance until today.

Wes knew, even though Charlie at times appeared
to be a joker, when it came to criminals the senior detective was a hard-liner
and expected his team to reflect that attitude. The outlook a surprise to many
because Charlie’s quick tongue mislead them into thinking he was flippant and
casual.

Early in their careers Charlie’s family,
his wife Nancy and daughter Linda, with Wes and his wife frequently escaped the
city. Camping, picnics, hiking, even some fishing and many camp fire suppers.
It was one large family, and the young daughter had two sets of parents which
she enjoyed and learnt to manipulate to everyone’s amusement. The accident left
two dead, Nancy and Linda, and the third occupant of the car Wes’s wife,
Millie, with some broken bones and some permanent facial scars.

The impact on Charlie was dramatic and
visible, for Wes and Millie the situation less open. Wes didn’t discuss
Millie’s depression with anyone, afraid the gossip would get back to Charlie,
already on the edge and struggling for too long. Maybe it was because of her
inability to conceive, maybe she just loved the vibrant youngster too much, for
whatever the reason, Millie’s mourning was a regular part of their marriage.

The two workhorses, Terry Patterson and
Manuel Moreno, had been first to arrive and first to the coffee. Both could be
tiresome jokers, but they had bulldog tenacity and knew the streets.

 Karen came in on their heels. She excelled
in these sessions, prepared to think out loud and go off in odd directions. Wes
liked her and was glad she could be there, but her appearance surprised him.
Her black jeans and leather jacket appeared a trifle harsh for a senior
detective. Was she trying to beat father time? Some nasty rumors, including the
Chief, were making the rounds. Wes had a problem with that innuendo.

The last participant appeared to be an
out-of-place middle-aged man. He nodded his head to Wes and said: Charlie
invited him. He strode in and introduced himself to each member of the group
as: John Wojecki. A humorless man, his distracters said ‘cold fish’, who was
able to bring logic to even the most highly charged emotional scenes: a tall,
slender man, nondescript face, long sleeve flannel shirt and corduroy pants, a
thin goatee, and bedroom slippers. In many ways, he was the archetypical
university professor, able to live in whatever time zone he chose, his
concentration intense.

 This gift man could read a complex
technical manual and understand most of the material after the one reading.
And, his phenomenal memory stunned the uninitiated; but, history remained his
primary love and given an opportunity this is where he spent his time, in a
different century or era. This was the man they’d been waiting for: the
Historian.

 Finally, Charlie arrived with his
recording tablet. “Good morning group. Make sure you have your coffee, muffins
or donuts. We need this brainstorming session. I want some wild ideas.
Something that will get us.. ”

An interruption from the end of the table.
“Charlie is it true you are on record as saying that the brain is your second
most favorite organ?”  Lots of laughter filled the room, even Charlie laughed,
although he recognized the line was stolen from Woody Allen.

“Good start.” He typed on his tablet and
‘organ’ appeared on one of the whiteboards in bold red font. “Let me point out
I asked Karen to attend.”

This was greeted with a whistle, a wolf
howl and a rowdy cheer, just what to expect with Terry and Manuel. “She hasn’t
been working the case, but we need fresh eyes. And that brings me to John
Wojecki. He is the Historian for the Forensic Section, again someone without
any preconceived views.

 No questions? Good. We’ll start by Wes
giving us a summary and the latest status. Once he is finished everything is
open. Wes the floor is yours.”

Wes didn’t stand; he used his notes for a
careful opening. “There is an old classification system created by Richard
Walter which establishes four personality types for killers. Our Couple fits
category four, the most difficult to catch, the Anger-Excitation killer, the
AE. This AE type doesn’t engage for any tangible achievements, like money,
power or sex, but just kills for the sheer pleasure of the torture and the
kill. This sadist type doesn’t stop, unless caught or the killer dies.

In our situation, the first move appears to
be the blow to the head to daze or knock her out, then she is moved to the
bathroom and her head held under water until she is close to drowning.
According to the experts, the water enhances a killer’s sensitivity and
pleasure.

 I’m not making this up. The struggle under
water result in a series of currents; these bathtub currents create tingles on
the small hairs on the killer’s arm. This tingling sensation evokes an
erogenous zone. .

The one deviation is AE killers generally
work solo.  Everything else fits the pattern. The couple is smart and have done
their homework and understand chemistry and biology. I think they enjoy the
game and thrill of being chased; they believe they’re in control and smarter
than the cops. I don’t think they will move on unless we get a lot closer.

The case has taken on the label as the Five
Star Couple.  The operation is rather straightforward. The woman checks into a
room of a four or five-star hotel. The man joins her later; they call up one of
the high escort services and have a girl sent up. They systematically beat,
almost drown her and torture her. You can see the pictures on the wall.

Finally, the girl’s neck is broken, not
much deviation in any of the cases; they clean up the room in a fashion we’ve
never seen before. They must bring their own vacuum cleaner and cleaning
fluids. Even our new forensic tools have not detected anything of value.

Hotel video is useless; the woman always
wears some type of large hat which hides her face. On the first killing, a
hotel guest saw the man leaving the room, again not much help, just a glance.
Her male partner is spotted with large sunglasses and a hood over his head. Not
much from the witness. Just a glimpse. Nevertheless, we were lucky; since the
man is never present at the registration desk, this sighting is how we
established it was a couple.

The latest twist in the case is the room
number. These high-end escorts try and protect their girls, so once the girl
gets in a room, she calls. She has a code signal if she is safe or is
concerned. If she indicates concern, a bodyguard, who is still in the lobby,
gets up to the room asap. If she signals she is safe, the guard returns to the
office for the next assignment. At the last killing, this service had a
recording device on all incoming calls, and we can hear the girl call and
provide the safe word code. Please listen:

“Hi gang, this is Sherry, I’m in room
272 at the Ritz Hotel and should be here for a few days; everything is AOK.”

“The AOK is the code they use. This means
she feels absolutely safe and the bodyguard may leave. Sounds like a useless
clue but here is the twist: she was killed in room 212. I had the tech team go
over the room door, and they found evidence of four dabs of a soft putty. This
putty is the kind that teachers, and others, use to hang objects on a wall. The
stuff can then be rolled off after use, and if the wall has a high gloss
finish, there is almost no evidence left on the wall. This is how they
established room 212 as 272; they only hung a sign over the real room
designation. Room 272 was never used.

None of the other agencies have recording
devices, but they do record the room numbers. And yes, in every case the girls
were killed in a different room than the one they were sent to and the one they
called in with the safe code.

The mystery lady has always registered in
the killing room. The second room was just a complete red herring. So what I am
saying is the killers registered in room 212 where she was killed. But the
request for a woman comes into the agency for someone to come to 272 and the
girl calls back saying she is in 272.

 The killers are able to disguise the room
number and get the girl into the room; why bother?  I’d like to spend a few
minutes on this room and door issue. Alright, let’s started. Any thoughts?”

There was no hesitation and Terry started.
“If the idea is to fool someone into accepting a wrong room number, this couple
must have some carpentry or artistic skills……you know … to be able to match the
room numbers….. they’d  have to match the colors and texture, the font, etc. To
do all this, they must scout the hotel and get pictures of the style, size and
color of a room’s numerals.”

“A lot of work for what? Just to develop
some type of false clue?’

The Historian was next. “Here is my take:
all the killings were in rooms next to the bank of elevators and the wrong
rooms at the far end of the hall or around a corner. Am I correct?’

Wes looked at his diagrams and after a few
minutes. “Son of a bitch you are right. Everyone follows the same pattern: the
girl says 272 which is way down the end of the hall and the killing room 212 is
right next to the elevator and the stairway. Son of a bitch, they were
establishing an exit. If anything blew up, the bodyguard would be around the
corner or at the far end of the hall, and they would be two steps away from the
elevator and the stairs.”

Karen was ready. “They really don’t have to
be artists. Let’s try another scenario. Let’s assume they use an ‘under
construction’ approach. The sign says something like ‘temporary room number 272
during maintenance period’.  It doesn’t have to be up very elaborate. The
prostitute’s directions are to call from the lobby when she arrives…..remember
the killers provided a cell number in every instance. On arrival she calls…..
gets the OK to come up and at that time they slip the sign on the wall. The
special putty is already on the wall. The sign comes down as soon as she is in
the room; it is only up for a few minutes,  and it doesn’t have to match the
other room numbers.’’

Charlie was happy with this development;
this was a feasible scenario. “Let’s leave the room number and focus on the
lady.” 

The word ‘lady’ set Manuel off. “My bet:
she is the leader…..a hard-nosed bitch, looking for some bizarre, wild
debauchery, completely out of control action.”

 Terry couldn’t contain himself. “Jesus, I
am getting horny.”

“What? You’re always horny. It’s your
natural state.”   More yelling and laughter.

The Historian got them back on track, “I
read where the hotel clerk described her hands as ugly. What did he mean?”

“He describes himself as a ‘hands man’ and
says even the white cotton gloves couldn’t hide the fact that this woman had
large hands and what appeared to be large knuckles. I don’t know what he saw….
this was a bit confusing……. maybe he didn’t like the shape.”

“Maybe the hands were large for a woman or
swollen, like some martial arts fighter; they can hurt their hands and over
time, develop some misshapen hands.”

“It’s a bit of a stretch but let’s follow
this. How many clubs are there in the city for female martial arts fighters? Or
why would she belong to an organization?’

“Yes, I think she would belong.  The club
gives her an opportunity to continue to be on top of her game, and since these
two are so meticulous, we have to assume they are perfectionists. I would be
prepared to canvas the clubs but what the hell would I be looking for? We have
no pictures or prints. I don’t think she would be dumb enough to wear the dress
and hat to the club.”