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By the time they had parked at A.P.S., they were ready for another coffee. On their walk to the entrance, Taylor came up from behind them. “We need to go to Operations, another body was found last night.”
Blake’s eyes widened. “Does Wayne know?”
“I called him as soon as I heard, and he’s on his way to the scene.”
Blake caught Taylor’s arm. “Slow up, there’s no fire. The killer is gone and the body’s not going anywhere. Call Rivers and have him meet Wayne at the site. Where is it?”
Taylor slowed his pace and pulled out his phone. “A place called Booth Park. Wayne had the street right, just the wrong park. While he was watching the cameras at Belz Park, a murder was taking place just a few blocks away. Hold on…Hello, Bob, this is Taylor. I need you to go to Booth Park. Last night’s murder was at Florida and South Parkway, east and north of Belz Park.” And he told Bob where the body was located.
They entered the building, went through security, and took their elevator. Taylor picked up the pace as they stepped off it and headed toward Operations.
Taylor closed the door and said, “What do we have, Peter?”
Peter sent his pictures to the big screen. “There isn’t much yet. Some kids cutting through the woods to go to the Stop and Save found the body. And Wayne just called in to say he’s on the scene.”
Blake poured a cup of coffee. “Are we pretty sure it’s our guy?”
Peter raised his palms. “The victim is a black woman, and the first police on the scene said it looked like she was strangled and raped. There hasn’t been anything from the medical examiner yet, but it sounds like our guy.”
Blake turned to Mary. “This keeps happening in our own backyard. If we can’t catch this son of a bitch, how do we even justify forming this group? I’m damn sure I’ll get an invite from upstairs later today to explain just that. Mary, I need a better profile of this guy. Take Rainbow here with you and go out to the scene. Maybe seeing the site and smelling the flowers first hand will trigger something.”
Before Mary could answer, Blake stood up. “Taylor, with me.” The two men walked to Blake’s office.
Taylor took a seat across from Blake’s desk. “I know what you’re thinking, boss, but you can’t pull Wayne off the case. He’s smart and has good instincts. He’d be crushed if you released him.”
Blake was rubbing his temples – the hangover headache was still there. “I know, but we have to do something. Have you ever looked at a map of Memphis? There are hundreds of little pissass parks like this one all over South Memphis. What if the killer decides to branch out even farther? Then there’d be potentially thousands of these kinds of parks. We have to go at this in a different way.”
Taylor tried to think of an answer for Blake. “You’re right, but how? The closest we have come to catching him was last night. Sure, Roberts guessed the wrong park, but everything else was right. He had the date, time, and the type of location.”
Blake shook his head. “That’s not enough, we’re not playing horseshoes. Get Bobby and Shelley involved in this. I want another angle. I also want Rainbow working with Wayne. Wayne’ll still be lead, but I want more than one pair of eyes on the case.”
Taylor knew he had his marching orders. “I’ll take care of it, boss. Oh, do you still want Rainbow involved with the Warner case?”
Blake took the cap off a bottle of water. “He can walk and chew gum at the same time, and besides there’s not much to do until the month of June.”
Taylor left and Blake turned up the water bottle and downed half of it. His cell phone rang as he was replacing the cap. It was Hawkins from Seattle. “How’s it going, Captain?”
Blake could hear the concern in Hawkins’ voice. “I hope your computer picked up something that’ll help us because we’ve got nothing here. The killings have taken place all over our area, which is why we never tied them together. But the towns where the murders have taken place have no more than we do.”
Blake thought for a few seconds. “This isn’t something we can do over the phone. I need one of my people on the ground up there with you. She won’t be working the case but she’ll be able to coordinate between the different police units and get us the information we need to develop a psychological profile.”
Hawkins sounded relieved. “The sooner the better.”
Blake knew the feeling a man had when he was drowning and a rope was thrown his way. “She’ll be on the first flight out tomorrow morning.”
He rung off his phone and pressed the intercom. “Peter, can you ask Shelley to come to my office?”
It was a beautiful, chilly fall morning. Tree leaves were turning yellow and grass was turning brown. It was brown grass on which the body lay. Death amidst the beauty of fall colors made Wayne feel sadder than he already was. He sat with his back against a tree on the outside of the yellow tape, waiting for Morgan Keeler to show up.
He now saw what greater draw this spot had than the Belz Park location. While Belz had the shopping center, the shopping center closed early and few people were out walking the streets. The Shop and Save on the corner next to Booth Park was open until midnight, and the Marathon gas station across the street from it was open all night. The chance of a target walking close or even in the park was very good. Wayne sighed. “Lot of good that does me now.”
Bob Rivers arrived just in time to hear that. “What does a lot of good?”
Wayne looked up at Bob smiling down at him. “I was talking to myself. What’re you doing here? Have I been fired?”
Bob gave a half-hearted laugh. “Nothing like that. Taylor thought I would be able to get more information from Keeler than you would. Morgan doesn’t play well with others, but he and I have somewhat of a relationship.”
Wayne stood up. “He’s taking his own sweet time, and no one is getting past that tape until he shows.”
Bob was about to comment when Wayne shouted, “My God, it’s Mary! Is Blake sending the whole damn office?”
Bob laid his hand on Wayne’s arm. “Don’t read more into this than there is. This is not a one-man show. We all have a vested interest in the case.”
Mary was wearing high heels and having a hard time on the soft ground. The first thing she said was, “I remember telling Blake I didn’t do field duty very well. What have you two found out?”
Mary looked like a fish out of water and Wayne couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m afraid we’re waiting for the medical examiner. What are you doing out here?”
Mary scoffed. “Blake thought if I saw the scene in person it might help me come up with a better profile. So please explain the scene to me so I can get back to the office where I belong.”
Wayne led her back up the hill a little ways so they could see the entire area. “I believe she was cutting through the park on her way to the Shop and Save. If you notice, there are a number of trails worn in from people going across the area where the grass is cut. There’s a housing complex on the other side of the trees. I figure we’re going to find that she lived over there. Anyway, he grabbed her and pulled her up the hill and into the tall grass. That’s where he raped and killed her.”
Mary looked around the park. “How did he know?”
Wayne’s eyes narrowed. “How did he know what?”
Mary was moving her eyes back and forth, following each trail. “How did he know she would be coming through the park? He has a routine: he kills on Thursday nights, and between 8:00 and 10:00. That’s a short window. He wouldn’t just sit out here hoping some lone woman would come walking through.”
It was as if a light had just gone on in Wayne’s head. “He knew she was coming and waited for her! But how the hell would he know that?”
Mary started back toward the car, and Wayne noticed the heavyset guy talking to Bob. Wayne hollered at Mary, “Where are you going?”
She didn’t even slow down. “We’ve been going at this all wrong,” she said. “He knew she would be coming across here because it was his job to know.” With that, she was gone.
Wayne walked down to where Bob and the big guy were talking. Bob said, “Have you met Rainbow? He was our undercover man in Reelfoot.”
Wayne nodded at Rainbow. “How’s it going?”
Rainbow angled his head toward the body. “Are we ever going to get a look at the scene?”
Wayne didn’t like the sound of the “we.” “Just what is your interest in my case?”
Rainbow put up his hands. “Don’t kill the messenger. I was told to come and give you a hand. You’re in charge, and I’m only here as an extra pair of eyes.”
Wayne spotted Keeler coming through the woods at last. “Here comes Keeler. Do your magic, Bob, so I and my other set of eyes can get on with our job.”
| Copyright © 2019, 2020 by Ed Rogers |
“Another body was found....” The horrors of a detective assigned to investigating serial killings! Like doctors and nurses in hospitals these pandemic days....
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