BODY COUNT: Killers (a novel): Chapter 15. The Killer

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Blake and his colleagues’ work on the church came to an end, as did any leads they might have hoped for, so they started backtracking from the opening scene: first were the two killings inside the church, where the mother and daughter had died.
    Shelley was lying on the floor as if she were the mother when she suddenly leaped up. She moved so fast, Blake and Bobby jumped back.
    “I know why there were so many strikes on the two bodies before they died,” she cried out.
    Blake waited for her to go on, but Shelley seemed lost in a dream world. At length, Blake said impatiently, “Shelley, for God’s sake, tell us.”
    “I’m sorry. The mother was protecting her child. She pulled the little girl under her and was shielding her from the blows. I don’t believe our killer was hesitant, just frustrated. Somehow, the mother was not entirely restrained.”
    Bobby ran through the photos. “Right, the crime photos don’t show any rope or anything else that could have been used to restrain her.”
    “But a mother wouldn’t just lie there and let someone kill her child. She must have been subdued somehow, maybe drugged? Were the bodies tested for drugs?”
    Bobby ran through the records on his laptop. “I can’t find any record of a drug test being performed on any of the bodies.”
    Blake was becoming angry. “It says right in the M.E. report that there was no sign of drug use. How do you know that without a drug test? Bobby, Shelley, I want one of you to send a text to Bob Rivers and have him get on this. We may have to dig all the bodies up. This puts everything in the M.E. report in doubt.”
    Blake’s phone rang, and he sharply said to whoever was calling, “Hello!” Then he toned it down. “Oh, hi, Betty. Sure, I would love to. I’ll see you at 7:00.”
    Shelley shook her head as she walked past Blake. “You’re playing with fire, boss.”
    Blake began to defend himself. “Come on, it’s just dinner. She’s been very helpful to us. If it hadn’t been for that party she threw for us, we’d still be tracking people down.”
    “A lot of good that did,” griped Bobby, who was following Shelley. “But it does remind me, I meant to go through their backgrounds again and see if maybe we missed something.”
    Blake caught up with them at the motorhome. “You know, we’ve been working on this case as if these were the only murders. There were two other killings.”
    Shelley, who was at her desk in the front of the motorhome e-mailing Bob, stopped and looked hard at Blake. “This was your idea, remember? You said the killer lived here and this is where we’d find him or her.”
    Blake scratched his head and looked somewhat sheepish. “I still believe that. However, I overlooked a very important point. There’s a good chance that whoever killed the preacher and his family here joined another church after this one closed.”
    Bobby looked up from the stack of background reports. “Yes! And then moved to the next after that one closed. That should be a short list of people, and one of them could be our killer.”
    Shelley hit send and faced Blake. “How do we find out who made that move? We were lucky to get a list from the hardware store, but there’s no town right around those other two churches.”
    Blake poured a cup of coffee and sat on the couch. “No, but all we need is one member of those churches and they’ll know who the new people were.”
    Bobby cupped his hands over the stack of paper on his desk. “If you’re taking a road trip, exclude me. It’ll take me a while to go through all of these again.”
    Blake took a sip of his coffee and smiled. “We may not have to go anyplace. I have a dinner date with Betty tonight. There’s a good chance she’ll know which locals joined the second church, and maybe even the third church. See, it does help to make friends.”
    Shelley stood up and walked back to Bobby’s stack of reports. “Give me some of those and I’ll help you.”
    She took a handful of papers and walked back to her desk. “Blake, I don’t want you to take this wrong, but there’s something odd about your friend. I can’t put my finger on it, but I get a bad feeling when I’m around her.”
    Blake almost spilled his coffee laughing. “A bad feeling? Holy shit, Shelley, we don’t gather feelings, we gather evidence. If you think Betty has something to do with this case, bring some kind of evidence, not a feeling.”
    This pissed Shelley off. “So it’s okay for a man to have a gut feeling about someone or thing, but a woman can’t pick up on a bad feeling?”
    Blake knew he’d stepped into shit. “I didn’t mean it that way. Even a gut feeling is not evidence.”
    Shelley began to flip pages. “Don’t talk to me for a few hours.”
    Blake had more sense than to keep digging the hole. “Okay. For now, I’ll let it go by saying I’m sorry.”
    He walked to the sink and set his cup in it, picked up his laptop, and walked to the couch. He first e-mailed Taylor to see how the Hometown Killer case was going. Then he started writing his daily report. After the little blowup with Shelley, he felt compelled to explain his relationship with Betty Walker…Well, maybe not all of the relationship.
    By 6:30, Blake had had a shower and shave and a change of clothes and had rejoined Bobby and Shelley. “You two find anything?”
    Bobby patted the stack of papers. “I know this has become a touchy subject, but how come there’s no picture or background check for Betty Walker?”
    Blake looked surprised, and indeed he was surprised. “I didn’t know there wasn’t one. I thought we got a picture of everybody.” But now he realized that he should have noticed the omission when he himself looked at the background reports.
    Shelley sighed. “She was on your arm all night – didn’t you think to turn and get her picture?”
    Blake rubbed his head with both hands. “I guess I thought one of you would be taking her picture.”
    Bobby walked to the fridge and pulled out a beer, opened it, and came back to his desk. “I just sent all her information to Peter, and I’m waiting for a report now.”
    Blake was shaking his head. “This was a bad oversight, but I still don’t believe she fits the profile.”
    Shelley, who was kicked back in the passenger seat that served as her desk chair when it was turned 180 degrees, said, “Without the background check we really don’t know that.”
    Blake stood and walked to the door. “If you find anything tonight call me.”
    Bobby cocked his head. “Are you still going over there, even knowing she could be the killer?”
    Blake was now fed up with their second-guessing his judgment. “I’ve seen what would be her weapon of choice and it’s not a machete. It’s an ax! How many times do I have to tell you a serial killer doesn’t change weapons? We messed up by not getting the background check, but that doesn’t change anything.”
    He slammed the door and headed to the Jeep. When he was Captain of Detectives, no one dared question him.
    Blake was still fuming as he pulled into Betty’s yard. He got out and immediately heard his name. “Blake, come down to the barn.”
    He entered the barn and Betty was standing at a table laden with food. “I thought we could eat down here. This, after all, is where we first made love. It’s a little chilly, but here’s something to warm you up.”
    Blake took the glass of straight Jack and clinked her glass. “That’s a wonderful idea.” He drank half of what she had poured, and she came into his arms and kissed his neck. He pulled back to kiss her lips, but she was already moving to the table. “Sit down, let’s eat before it gets cold.”
    He took a seat and finished his drink, and she poured another. Betty had his plate and was piling ham, potatoes, and green beans on it. She placed it in front of him and sat down to her salad. “I hope you enjoy everything.”
    Blake smiled at her. “It looks great, but before I forget to ask, do you remember anyone from this church starting to go to another church after this one closed?”
    Betty got up and moved toward a covered 4-wheel vehicle that Blake hadn’t noticed until that moment. He tried to get up to join her, but he was having a hard time moving his legs.
    Betty saw his difficulty and said, “Be still or you’ll fall on your face. Your drink was laced with Rohypnol – or a roofie as the date-rapers call it. In a few minutes, you’ll be completely paralyzed. You’ll be able to see and hear but you won’t be able to prevent what I’m going to do to you.”

Copyright © 2019, 2020 by Ed Rogers