Cause to Fear

***

The two officers who had located Allen Haggerty seemed happy to hand him off. One of the officers was a guy Avery had gotten to know fairly well – an older man who would likely be retiring within a few years. His name was Andy Liu and he always seemed to have a smile on his face. But not now. Now, he seemed irritated.

The four of them met outside of Andy Liu’s patrol car. In the back seat, Allen Haggerty peered out at them, confused and clearly pissed off. A few people passing by to bar-hop on a Friday night tried to see what was going on without being too obvious.

“He give you any problems?” Ramirez asked.

“Not really,” Andy’s partner said. “He’s just a little drunk. We were almost ready to take him to the precinct and give him a nice interrogation room, but O’Malley said he wanted you to talk to him before we made that sort of decision.”

“Does he know why you want to speak with him?” Avery asked.

“We told him about Patty Dearborne’s death,” Andy said. “That’s when he really lost his mind. I tried to keep it civil in the bar but in the end, I had to cuff him.”

“That’s fine,” Avery said. She looked into the back of the patrol car and frowned. “Do you mind if we borrow your car for a second?”

“Help yourself,” Andy said.

Avery took the driver’s side while Ramirez slid into the passenger seat. They angled themselves to the side to peer easily into the back at Allen.

“So how did it happen?” Allen asked. “How did she die?”

“That’s still not clear,” Avery said, not seeing any reason to be vague with him. She’d learned a long time ago that honesty was always the best approach if you wanted to get a proper read on a potential suspect. “Her body was discovered in a frozen river, under the ice. We don’t have sufficient information to know if that was what killed her or if she was killed before being thrown into the river.”

That might have been a little harsh, Avery thought as she watched a soft shock fill Allen’s face. Still, seeing that genuine expression on his face was all she needed to have a good feeling that Allen Haggerty had nothing to do with Patty’s death.

“When was the last time you saw her?” Avery asked.

It was clear that he was having to struggle to think about it. Avery was pretty sure that by the time the night was over, Allen would shed more than a few years over his now-deceased lost love.

“A little over a year ago, I guess,” he finally answered. “And that was purely coincidental. I ran into her as she was coming out of a grocery store. We looked at each other for like two seconds and then she hurried off. And I don’t blame her. I was an asshole to her. I got pretty obsessed.”

“And there has been no contact since then?” Avery asked.

“None. I faced the facts. She was done with me. And being obsessed with someone really isn’t the way to win them over, you know?”

“Do you know of anyone in her life that might be capable of doing something like this to her?” Ramirez asked.

Again, there was a struggle behind Allen’s eyes as he tried to piece it all together. As he thought about this, Avery’s phone rang. She glanced at the display and saw that it was O’Malley.

“Yeah?” she asked, answering quickly.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“Speaking with the ex-boyfriend.”

“Any chance he might be the one we’re looking for?”

“Highly doubtful,” she said, continuing to watch the sorrow overtake Allen’s face in the back seat.

“Good. I need you back at the station on the double.”

“Is everything okay?” she asked.

“That depends on how you look at it,” O’Malley replied. “We just got a letter from the killer.”

CHAPTER SIX

Even before Avery and Ramirez were able to get into the precinct, Avery could tell that this situation had gotten out of hand. She had to carefully maneuver the car through the A1 parking lot to not hit reporters or clip news vans. The place was an absolute circus and they had not even gotten inside yet.

“This looks bad,” Ramirez said.

“It does,” she said. “How in the hell did the press find out about this letter if it came directly to the precinct?”

Ramirez could only shrug as they got out of the car and hurried inside. A few reporters got in the way, one of whom practically stepped out in front of Avery. She nearly collided with him but sidestepped him just in time. She heard him call her a bitch under his breath but that was the least of her concerns.

They fought their way to the door, with reporters clamoring for comment and flashbulbs going off. Avery felt her blood boiling and would have given anything in that moment to punch one of those nosy ass reporters directly in the nose.

When they finally made it into the precinct with the doors closed and locked securely behind them, she saw that the inside wasn’t much better. She’d seen the A1 in a state of urgency and disarray before, but this was something new. Maybe there’s a leak in the A1, Avery thought as she walked quickly toward Connelly’s office. Before she reached it, though, she saw him storming down the hallway. O’Malley and Finley were marching behind him.

“Conference room,” Connelly barked.

Avery nodded, taking a right a few feet further down the hall. She noticed that no one else was milling around the conference room door, meaning that this meeting was going to be small. And those types of meetings were typically not pleasant. She and Ramirez followed Connelly into the room. The moment O’Malley and Finley were also inside, Connelly shut the door and locked it.

He threw a sheet of paper down onto the conference room table. It was covered in a clear plastic sheet, causing it to slide almost perfectly in Avery’s direction. She picked it up carefully and looked at it.

“Just read it,” Connelly said. He was frustrated and looked a little pale. His hair was in disarray and there was a wild look in his eyes.

Avery did as instructed. Without removing the single sheet of paper, she read the letter. With each word she read, the room seemed to grow colder.

Ice is beautiful, but it kills. Think of the gorgeous sparkle of a thin layer of frost on your windshield on a late fall morning. That same pretty ice is killing plant life.

It’s efficient in its beauty. And the flower comes back…always comes back. Rebirth.

The cold is erotic, but it maims. Think of being extremely cold coming out of a winter storm and then curling up naked with a lover under the sheets.

Are you chilled yet? Can you feel the iciness of being outsmarted?

There will be more. More cold bodies, floating into the afterlife.

I dare you to try to stop me.

You’ll succumb to the cold before you find me. And while you’re freezing, wondering what happened just like the flowers burdened with frost, I’ll be long gone.

“When did this come in?” Avery asked, setting the letter back on the desk for Ramirez to read.

“Sometime today,” Connelly said. “The envelope itself wasn’t opened until about an hour ago.”

“How in the hell did the press know already?” Ramirez asked.