Silent Reckoning

What a lucky break that would be.

When Ammon had finished looking for fingerprints, hairs, trace fibers, etc., on the victim’s skin, I was ready to go. I had no desire to witness the inhuman mutilation of the body. Certainly I understood that the procedure was necessary, but I still didn’t care to stand around and watch.

Patterson sauntered out alongside me. If he’d been the least bit squeamish about any of the procedures, other than the genitalia exam, he’d kept it to himself. He had nothing on me there. I could hang with the best of them. I was the only one in my class at the forensics academy who hadn’t thrown up the first time watching an autopsy.

When I reached my Jetta, Patterson hesitated before moving on to his own vehicle, a big shiny red SUV. Figures.

Barlow talked to me this morning, he said, looking straight at me as he did so.

I told myself to hear him out before I jumped to any conclusions. “Oh, yeah?”

Patterson nodded. He wants this partnership to work out. He shrugged nonchalantly. I just wanted you to know I plan to do my part.

How sporting of him.

“That’s great, Patterson. Why don’t we get on down to the office and we can both do our part.”

He looked uncertain as to whether my comment was positive or not. But only for a couple of seconds. See you there. Then he sauntered on over to his big, macho-man SUV and climbed aboard. I had two brothers who drove vehicles very similar to that. Gas hogs.

I slid behind the wheel of my conservative, ultra-efficient Jetta and headed for Metro.

I didn’t want Barlow running interference between Patterson and me. We needed to work out this relationship on our own. On my terms, of course. I planned to keep that part to myself.

I considered Patterson’s actions at the scene and then in the lab. He hadn’t said a hell of a lot about the case. Just that one remark about having a serial killer on our hands. If he was half as good a cop as Barlow thought he was, he’d surely formed a number of conclusions. Just as I had.

But he’d kept them to himself.

Maybe that was partly my fault. I hadn’t mentioned any of my thoughts thus far. I suppose I couldn’t blame him for doing the same thing.

As soon as the stench of death had cleared from my senses, I would make an effort and invite him out to lunch. It was Sunday, might as well make the most of it. Break the ice so to speak.

But first we had to see what we could find on Mallory Wells and look for any connection, if one existed, between her and Reba Harrison. We could start at her place of residence.

Verifying the similarities between this murder and the ones four years ago wasn’t necessary, I could already see that we either had a copycat on our hands or an old killer was back in business.

Someone in Nashville was killing young women who were chasing after the stars, literally and figuratively. Reba Harrison had been a known groupie for at least two country music stars, but she was also a singer herself.

If there was a connection we hadn’t discovered yet between Reba Harrison and Mallory Wells, that link could lead us to the killer.

But it would never be that easy.

Nothing ever was.

Chapter 3

Being nice is definitely overrated.

If I’d ever thought otherwise, I knew differently now.

Ray Patterson might be younger than me, with less seniority in the Homicide Division, but that didn’t stop him from bucking to be the boss. Or from being nosy as hell.

The chief seems awfully protective of you. You think it’s because of your hearing impairment?

See what I mean?

“He’s concerned about all his detectives,” I countered, a subtle warning of don’t go there in my tone. “That’s his job. He knows our strengths and weaknesses. That’s how he decides who would be best on what case when it comes to something like this.”

Like the Starlet Murders, you mean, he suggested.

There he went, using that old moniker. I mean, maybe it’s because I’m a woman, but I just didn’t like it. In my opinion the case should be called the Jealous Male Scumbag Murders.

Thank God the food arrived. Kept me from saying something Barlow would probably make me regret. I imagine Patterson took my grunt for a positive response since he didn’t pursue the subject further.

The deli-style restaurant was one of my favorites in town. A quaint little sandwich shop near Metro. Between the police force and other city workers, the place never hurt for business. Since most grabbed their sandwiches on the run, dining in was never a problem and could always be counted on for a relaxing environment, especially on a Sunday afternoon.

My thoughts drifted back to the case. Mallory Wells’s home had revealed the same as Reba Harrison’s—nothing. Typical single, white, working-female abodes. The murders definitely hadn’t happened in either place.

I read the file on the Reba Harrison murder and some of the reports from the Starlet cases.

I wasn’t surprised. A good cop would want to be prepared whether he landed a case or not. It paid to stay up to speed on the goings-on in the city, especially those in your division.

“What’d you think?” I took a bite of my turkey sub and chewed as he considered what he wanted to say.

Twenty-seven. College drop-out. Had her heart set on a career in country music.

That told me what he’d read but it didn’t answer my question. “Reba was good,” I countered. “Just a few days before her murder she’d been invited to sing at the Wild Horse.” That was a big step in a new performer’s career—maybe my new partner wasn’t aware of that. Reba Harrison hadn’t even gotten a CD on the market and already her talent was gaining some momentum.

Patterson nodded. In more ways than one. Had herself an affair with Chase Taylor. Apparently it was no secret, although his wife claimed she had no idea the two had been involved. Adultery is a pretty good motive for murder.

“Since the sexual assault continued after the murder, that pretty much discounts Taylor’s wife,” I argued. “And Taylor had an airtight alibi.” He’d been on stage at the Grand Ole Opry at the time. A few thousand people had been watching. The affair between him and Harrison had happened ages ago and wasn’t relevant, in my opinion.

Patterson swallowed a mouthful of ham on rye, then said, He could have paid someone to do it. Someone who took things a little farther than he’d been paid for.

“That’s a possibility. That avenue has been under investigation.” I shrugged. “But the dynamics of that murder have changed now. Unless, of course, we can find a similar connection between Mr. Chase Taylor and our latest victim.” Not to mention we had to keep in the back of our minds that we had a four-year-old unsolved serial investigation that mirrored almost exactly our two current cases.

Unless his hired killer decided to have some more fun on the side for no extra charge.

It wasn’t that his suggestion was completely impossible, it was simply highly unlikely.

“It’s our job to find out what happened,” I said, as much of an agreement as he was going to get out of me on that one. We would definitely check out every avenue. Leave no rock unturned, as the old saying goes. “It’s possible that our killer remembers the Starlet cases and hoped to disguise his killings that way, shift our focus. That’s why we can’t assume anything at this point.”

Something about the way he looked at me then riled my temper but I kept my mouth shut. No point making something of it. He was likely curious about the deaf woman. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d gotten one of those looks. I knew exactly what it meant.

Weren’t you once engaged to Heath Woods?

Boy, I hadn’t seen that one coming, even this close. I blinked, startled. My personal life, past or present, was none of his business. That he had the brass balls to ask surprised me.

I mean, he clarified, obviously sensing my discomfort, he’s in the business. Would he be a source of inside information we could tap?