The Lady Killer (5 page)

“Yes, I just found out today when I was looking through her apartment. There’s a shelf hidden in her closet with books on the subject. If I give you a list of names, would you be willing to see if any of them are connected to your religion?”

“I would be happy to do that for you. And thank you for calling it a religion. Most people think we’re a bunch of soulless weirdo’s who worship Satan.”

“In my line of work we need to be informed about many different things, Janet.”

“I certainly hope you’re wrong about the connection to our group. That would mean that none of us are safe.”

Suddenly, Laura thought about the Yale key. “Did Shelia have a key to your meeting room?”

“No, I was the only one who had a key, why do you ask?”

Laura waved her hand in the air dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. We just found a key on her ring, and we don’t know what it goes to.”

Murphy brought over the list of women victims and handed it to Janet to look through. She said that none of them were familiar to her, but she would check with her group. She thanked Detective Peterson and left, saying that they could contact her any time they had questions.

Laura felt a bit hopeful. “Did you hear that, Murphy? Nancy was the person Sheila was trying to bring into their group. We have to find out something about this woman.”

Dan really didn’t want to be the one to kill her excitement. “That cell phone number was from a prepaid phone, and it was paid for with cash. That makes it untraceable.”

“Damn! I feel like a rat in a maze. Just when I think I’m headed somewhere, it turns out to be just another dead-end. I just about fell over when I saw that pentagram around Janet’s neck, but now it looks like she has about twenty witnesses to her alibi.”

“Yeah, she doesn’t look like the mass murderer type. She reminds me of my mother, into all that New Age stuff. After my dad died she went all metaphysical. I think it was a reaction to being married and taking care of us kids for forty years. She was never able to express herself as an individual before that, she was just an extension of the family.”

“That’s a very enlightened analysis for a man, Murphy.”

He pointed his finger at her playfully. “Now who’s the sexist?”

She laughed as she walked away. “I’m on my way to the morgue.”

There was something about Murphy that made her want to ruffle his hair. Maybe it was his boyish good looks, or that sense of innocence he had about him. For a seasoned cop, he didn’t appear to be very experienced, but looks can be deceiving. She didn’t know much about him, unlike Roy, whom she had worked with for years. He was a stable married man with two wonderful kids, Bethany who was ten and Ryan who was thirteen. They had just gotten back from a trip to Disneyland, because Roy had to use up his vacation time before it expired. She didn’t know how his wife Sara put up with the hours Roy spent at work. It would almost have to be like being a single mom. They had been married eighteen years. Laura couldn’t imagine saying goodbye to someone she loved each morning, and not knowing if she would ever see them again. It must be hell being a cop’s spouse. Whether she liked to think about it or not, it was a dangerous job, which was another reason to be thankful she was single.

When she walked through the door of the morgue, she looked for Ralph. As usual, he was bent over a dead body. “Don’t you ever get tired of hanging out with a bunch of stiffs?”

Ralph looked up at her with a big smile. “I’d know that cheery voice anywhere. What’s the matter, you stuck?”

“Actually, a new lead. It turns out our latest victim was a Wiccan.”

“Hmmmmm, that certainly explains the pentagram, but what’s the connection?”

“Not sure yet. The night she was murdered, she was supposed to be at a meeting for a full moon meditation. Also, she was thinking of bringing Nancy into the coven.”

Ralph covered up the body and came around the table to talk to her. “I thought you didn’t think Nancy had anything to do with this.”

“I still don’t, since we can’t connect her to any of the other victims, but something is just not right. Call it one of my crazy hunches. Her name keeps coming up when I track down a lead, and that makes me suspicious. Also, she just seems to have disappeared. The bartender is the only one who has ever seen her. Is there anything that we can get from those hair samples?”

Ralph shook his head. “I’m afraid not. They’re synthetic strands from a cheap wig, which explains why they were falling out everywhere. Do we know if Nancy wore a wig?”

“No idea. I’m going down to interview that bartender again later. I’ll ask.”

“Great, have one for me while you’re there.”

She smiled to herself, because she knew that Ralph didn’t drink. “That security guard turned out to have a record of abuse, just like the rest of the Butt Men.”

“I love the way you come up with these pet names.”

“Seriously, Ralph, I’m so frustrated with these cases that I could scream. It has been almost two weeks since we found Sheila, and we have had about one body a month. Every time the phone rings, I’m afraid to answer it.”

“This guy is like a phantom. No one sees anything but his handiwork. Never a witness, until the guard the other night, and he’s the strong, silent type.”

Her eyes opened wide. “Rather morbid of you, Dr. Foote!”

“In my line of work, if I didn’t find a way to joke about it, I would go crazy.”

“Okay, see ya!”

“Till we meet again, fair damsel.”

When she got stuck on something, she liked to run it past Ralph. He had a different way of looking at things. She went upstairs, grabbed Murphy and they headed back to the bar. It was about quitting time for the office crowd. Maybe they would get lucky and run into Nancy, or someone who knew her. When they walked in, she scanned the area for a blonde. Sam was behind the bar dusting off the bottles of liquor. “Good afternoon, Sam. How’s business doing today? It doesn’t look very busy.”

Sam gave her a big smile. “Hey, Detective, what’s up with you? Caught the bad guy yet?”

“No, I’m still looking for leads. Haven’t seen Nancy?”

“You know, that’s the strangest thing. She shows up here with Sheila every day for about a month, and then nothing. Maybe it’s my breath, huh?” He chuckled at his own humor.

“Sheila came in here before she knew Nancy, right?”

“Oh yeah, she was a regular. Kept to her self, unless she was discussing a case with one of her co-workers. I wondered about her. She was beautiful and always alone, until Nancy came along. Didn’t look like the lesbian type to me, but what do I know. Times have changed so much since I was a kid, it’s hard to tell what anybody is any more. You know what I mean?”

“Unfortunately, I do. Did Nancy talk to anyone while she waited for Sheila?”

“Now that you mention it, there was a guy. He bought her a drink once. Personally, I thought she could do better than him. She might have had those big ugly glasses, but she had a real tight body. I’d have taken her home, but my wife probably wouldn’t let me keep her.”

“Probably not, Sam, you dog! Do you remember the guy, and have you seen him since?”

“No, he was a one timer. You know the type. In the area for a meeting or something and stopped in to have a drink. I was just relieved that he had to listen to the rant about Sheila being late, and not me. Come to think of it, Bob had to listen to Nancy one night not too long ago, when she waited for Sheila for about three hours. Then she got mad and left.”

Laura’s interest was aroused by the thought of another witness. “Who’s Bob?”

“He works with me when we’re busy and covers my nights off.”

“Where can I find this Bob?”

Sam looked around. “You’re in luck, here he comes right now. Hey, Bob, this is Detective Peterson. She wants to talk to you about that Nancy lady, who used to meet with Sheila.”

“Hi, Bob, do you mind if I ask you a few questions about Nancy?”

“Sure, Detective Peterson. Shame what happened to Sheila. She was a looker and real nice too. What can I help you with?”

“Sam told me that you recently saw Nancy come in by herself and wait for Sheila. Can you tell me when that was?”

Bob grabbed a towel and leaned back against the liquor cabinets. “Yeah, it was a Saturday, been about a couple of weeks.”

Laura frowned. “You’re sure it was a Saturday?”

“Yep, I have Friday off and that’s my only early day. I come in about three and relieve the lunch person. Nancy came in about four or so. She said she was waiting for Sheila, and then they were going to grab a bite. I hadn’t talked to Sam, so I didn’t even know she was dead. By seven, when Sheila hadn’t shown, Nancy was pissed! I had been listening to her complain for almost three hours, so I suggested that she go ahead and eat something. She had been sitting there nursing two glasses of wine, and I thought if she ate, she would shut up! She kept going on about all the self-centered and inconsiderate people in the world.”

“So did she eat?”

“No, she just paid for her wine. Said that she was fed up with Sheila, and that she was never coming back again. Then she just stormed out. I haven’t seen her since.”

Laura wondered how much of this story was just Bob’s bravado. “Considering the amount of customers that come in here, you seem to have a pretty accurate memory of something that happened a couple of weeks ago.”

“Hey, that bitch yakked my ear off for almost three hours, and didn’t even leave me a tip! A guy remembers that kind of thing. Right, Sam?”

Sam came back over to where they were standing. “Yep, Bob’s right, now that I think about it. That was my late day. I got here about eight and then closed the place. Bob usually leaves about eleven, unless we get real busy. When I came in, Bob bitched like hell to me after she left and didn’t tip him anything. She wasn’t so drunk that she forgot, and she had enough change from her twenty. Bob didn’t even know that Sheila was dead until I told him, and that was after Nancy had left. I feel bad about Sheila too, but I sure don’t miss Nancy. Wow, it’s too bad that Bob didn’t know that you wanted to talk to Nancy. Then he could have called you when she was here. Sorry about that, Detective!”

“That’s okay, Sam. Just keep my number in case she shows up again. By the way, is there any chance that Nancy was wearing a blonde wig?” Both men looked at each other, shrugged and claimed they couldn’t tell.

Out in the car, Laura banged her hands hard on the steering wheel. “Damn it! Another dead-end. If Nancy had anything to do with Sheila’s murder, she probably wouldn’t show up a couple of nights later to meet her as usual, unless it was a cover up to give her an alibi. If only Bob had known to called us! We need to talk to that woman!”

“Is it safe to be in here with you?”

“Sorry, Murphy, notice I am hitting the car, not you.” Laura answered her phone. “Peterson….. Thanks, Janet, I appreciate the effort.”

Dan saw the dejected look on her face. “Bad news?”

“That was our Wiccan High Priestess. You gave her that list of the other victims, and it turns out that no one in their coven knows any of them. Another dead-end! I am so tired of this! It’s like he plants things just to throw us off. I feel like a mouse, and he’s the sadistic cat.”

“It’s almost quitting time. Do we have anything else to follow up on tonight?”

“No, I really can’t think of anything.”

Dan cleared his throat and tried to act casual, even though he was nervous about asking her. “Great, then how about stopping for a beer? We can go to Murphy’s, where all the cops hang out. You might really like the place.”

She glanced at him and laughed. “Must be something in the name of the place that you like.”

“Yeah, it has a real nice ring to it. I’ll introduce you to some of my old buddies.”

When they arrived at the bar it was unusually quiet, and none of Dan’s friends were around. They ordered a couple of icy mugs and headed to a small table in the corner.

He looked at her for awhile before he spoke. “So, when you dream, Detective Peterson, what do you dream about?”

“Lately, it has been nightmares since this string of murders started.”

“How about before this case?”

“Calm water flowing between cattails on a warm summer’s evening, seagulls crying on an open beach and the roar of the ocean. When we were kids, my mom vacationed alone with my brother and me near the Cape. Dad was too busy to join us, thank God! The only good memories I have are there. That’s where I feel safe.”

“Those are good dreams to have. So, you don’t feel safe now?”

“How can any woman feel safe in this city with a twisted psychopath on the loose?”

Dan felt bad; he had been trying to take her mind off of the case. “Sorry. I guess I would feel much different, if we were finding mutilated men in these warehouses.”

“No matter how liberated we think we have become, Murphy, there will always be men who cross the line and feel they’re entitled. That somehow women are there only to please them, and they can take what they want, when they want it. I know that this psycho is an example taken to the extreme, but I see the attitude everywhere. The TV commercials don’t help. Every guy that uses a certain product gets a good looking woman with big boobs fawning all over him. That’s my objection to porn. It suggests that women are there just to use.”