Lullabies & Dead Bodies, page 21
Porter nodded.
“Let’s get started.”
Well over an hour later, Isaac and Pete sat at a picnic table in the middle of a food truck lot, eating their lunch of pulled pork nachos. Gavin joined them with his burger and sweet potato chips just as Hailey Kinsey sat down with a plate of tofu tacos.
“I can’t believe all the secrecy you’ve been dealing with. It sounds almost like you’ve been investigating two cases in one.” She took a bite of her food and looked at Isaac.
“Yeah. That’s kind of what it’s felt like.”
Isaac popped a loaded nacho into his mouth and his gaze drifted over to Gavin, who seemed lost in thought. He wondered what his boss was thinking.
“Dr. Porter also confirmed that the bodies were not scrubbed clean in the original murders, Lieu. That’s a new element of this recent spree.”
Gavin wiped his mouth with a napkin. “So Jeffery Schiffer’s trying to up his game by scrubbing the bodies this time around.”
“Extra insurance since he’s taunting Ike with each murder,” Pete chimed in. “Doubling down on his efforts to leave no DNA trace behind this time around.”
“Taunting Ike?”
Hailey glanced around at each of them, and Isaac realized they’d said some things they probably shouldn’t have.
Gavin sighed. “This is not common knowledge, counselor.”
“I understand.”
“Each of the lullaby snippets left behind in this new spree has a few letters poked out of the line. So far they spell Ike can’t catch.”
Isaac couldn’t help the nervous twitchy thing his eyebrow did at the mention of those words.
“That info has not been reported on the news.”
Hailey sounded shocked, and Gavin shook his head.
“No, it has not. We’ve managed to keep that from the media so far, and we’d like to continue to do so for as long as we can.”
His tone was overly stern, and Hailey nodded. “I totally understand. No one will hear it from me.”
“So, what do you think, Ms. Kinsey?” Isaac asked, wanting her assessment of the situation.
She took a deep breath and thought for a moment.
“Well, I’m stunned, frankly. I mean, this calls into question everything we know about Deputy Chief Jay Schiffer. Is he completely crooked, or is protecting his son his only crime?”
“Good question.” Isaac nodded and pushed his empty nachos carton away. “And even if he’s not completely crooked, his career is over when this comes to light.”
“As it should be!” Hailey sounded outraged. “I mean, we all took an oath to uphold the law. But he hid his son from prosecution and got a couple of sweet promotions in the process? That’s not right.”
She wasn’t saying anything Isaac hadn’t already told himself about the whole mess over the years, and he nodded his agreement.
“True. He made captain just two years after the original killing spree. Then went on to be Deputy Chief.”
They were all quiet for a moment. Then Hailey balled up her napkin and gathered her trash.
“Well. I’ll set up that meeting with DA Hanson and get back to you, Lieutenant.”
“I’ll be waiting for your call,” Gavin said.
Hailey stood and looked at Isaac. “Thanks for lunch, Ike.”
“Thank you for your discretion.”
“You got it.” She waved to them and then left the food truck lot, throwing away her trash as she went.
Isaac gave his remaining two companions a wary glance.
“You trust Kinsey?”
Isaac frowned at Gavin and wondered why he would ask that question. Did his boss know something he didn’t?
“You don’t?”
“I’m not saying that. She seems like a straight shooter. I just wanted to have more before we went to the DA with this.”
“Yeah, me too. But Conway Porter wanted to unburden himself, and I didn’t think it was smart to wait. I mean, you saw him, Lieu. The man’s knocking on death’s door; we needed to get his statement.”
Gavin held up a hand. “You did the right thing, Ike. I just don’t want us to play our hand too soon. If we accuse Jeffery Schiffer of not one, but two murder sprees, and Deputy Chief Jay Schiffer of covering it up, we better be damn sure we’ve got the evidence to back it up. Because if not… it’s all of our careers on the line this time.”
17
After lunch, they returned to the station in subdued silence. Under Gavin Hayes’ advice, they’d decided to sit on the knowledge that former Medical Examiner Dr. Conway Porter had signed a sworn deposition implicating his nephew, Jeffery Schiffer, in the original lullaby murder spree, and Deputy Chief Jay Schiffer of covering it up. That knowledge would stay between them and the District Attorney’s office for the time being. Their job now was to redouble their efforts to find actual, tangible proof that linked Jeffery Schiffer to the current lullaby murder spree plaguing their city.
“No sign of Miller and Dorn.”
Pete sounded tired and he propped both hands on his hips and seemed to study the case board.
Isaac pulled out his cellphone and texted Gerri Miller, asking for their location. It didn’t take long for her to respond.
“They’re following up on the paper coveralls.” His thumbs flew over the keys of his phone as he responded to her. “No luck yet, but I told her to keep me posted on their progress.”
He put his phone away and walked to his own desk across the pit. Pete followed after him.
“Hey, Ike… you ah…”
Pete sat down carefully and fidgeted with a pencil before he looked up, and Isaac frowned at the expression of dread on his partner’s face.
“You ever wonder what would happen if the Deputy Chief did get wind of the direction of our investigation?” He tapped the pencil’s eraser against the desk and glanced around as if worried he might be overheard. “Like, you know… what he might do to the two detectives trying to pin this murder spree on his son?”
Isaac looked him in the eyes.
“I’ve thought about what he could do to my career for years, Pete. I’m convinced the only reason he didn’t come after my badge seven years ago is because it would’ve drawn more attention to Jeffery and his possible connection to the case. Believe me… I know the danger we’re facing by pursuing this.”
Pete swallowed and looked down at the desk.
Isaac opened his mouth to say more, but paused for a second.
“Listen, Pete… If you want off this case, I’ll completely understand. I mean, your time as a detective is just beginning. The last thing you need is to piss off the Deputy Chief of Police and kill your law enforcement career in one spectacular swoop. Hayes might give me a hard time about it, but I can assign you to some other case until this lullaby thing is…”
“Are you for real right now?”
Isaac stopped mid-sentence and stared at Pete, trying to figure out what he’d said that made him angry. Pete glared at him, clearly offended.
“What? I’m just trying to…”
“I know what you’re trying to do, Ike, and you can forget it! I am not going to let you protect me, or coddle me, or whatever. I’m in this, okay? I took the same oath to uphold the law and bring criminals to justice that you did. No matter who those criminals might turn out to be. For better or worse, I’m in this.”
Isaac stared at him, taken aback by the outburst. Then he slowly nodded, and tried to put the strange feeling of pride away. The kid surprised him.
“All right.”
An awkward silence passed between them before Pete sighed.
“I appreciate the offer though.”
His tone was quiet and somewhat apologetic, and Isaac grinned.
“Okay. Let’s start at the beginning and go back through everything we know to date. Everything we know about the original murder spree and how it compares to the current spree going on now. There is something linking our boy to the current spree. The proof is out there. We just haven’t found it yet.”
“All right, here we go.”
They spent the rest of the work day chipping away at the case, going over the facts again and again, searching for something tangible that would link Jeffery Schiffer to the current lullaby spree.
Miller and Dorn returned with a short list of names of individuals who’d purchased a large quantity of the polypropylene paper coveralls, and Isaac instructed them to dig deep into each person. None of them were Jeffery Schiffer, but he’d learned a long time ago that it was a foolish move to zero in on one suspect right off the bat and never explore any other possibilities. After all, there was still an outside chance that Jeffery Schiffer wasn’t their man. A very slim outside chance, but a chance, nonetheless.
They worked well past shift change until Gavin Hayes emerged from his office and told them all to go home.
Isaac rubbed his temples, feeling the beginnings of a massive headache.
“Lieu’s right. We’re talking in circles here and getting nowhere fast. Go home, get some rest, come at it fresh in the morning.”
Tired mumbles of agreement came at him from the others, and as they each gathered their things and walked away, Isaac stared at the case board.
Three fresh smiling faces.
Three beautiful little girls who were gone forever.
Three senseless deaths on his hands.
All your fault, Ike. They’re gone because of you.
“Take your own advice, Sergeant.”
The deep voice snagged Isaac’s attention and he jumped slightly. He turned to see his boss standing at his side.
“Go home. Get some rest. That board will still be here in the morning.” Gavin’s voice was pragmatic.
“Yeah. But by then we may have more pictures to add to it.”
It was his greatest worry at the moment. His biggest fear.
“It might. But staying here and staring at it all night won’t stop that. The only way to do that is to find this asshole. And we can’t stop him if we let ourselves get run down. Go home, Ike. Spend some time with that beautiful girlfriend of yours. Eat. Sleep. We get another crack at him in the morning.”
Isaac sighed and rubbed his temple once more. He knew Hayes was right. Allowing himself to get run down would only make finding Schiffer that much harder. But he wasn’t sure at this point how to turn it off. He had to find him. He had to put a stop to the lullaby killer’s reign of terror. He had to stop him from hurting any more baby girls.
“Isaac…”
Gavin’s tone held a warning.
“Yeah. I’m going. I’ll see you tomorrow, Lieu.”
He was drained all the way home. His limbs were as heavy as dumbbells, and the pain at his right temple was sharp and persistent, and growing in intensity. Guilt hung around his neck, weighing him down like a ball of lead. He dragged himself from his car and into the house.
“Meow.”
Alfred Hitchcock, the growing Ragdoll kitten, trotted down the hallway to greet him, but Isaac didn’t even stop to acknowledge him. He went straight into the bedroom and sat down on the bed. The soft strains of the R&B oldies station Sidney loved to listen to wafted in from the living room. Isaac was kicking off his shoes and pulling off his holster when Sidney wandered in and stood at the bedroom door, watching him.
“That bad, huh?”
“You don’t even know the half of it, darlin’.”
He set his gun and holster down on the nightstand.
“Wanna talk about it?”
She sashayed into the room and planted herself in front of him. When she gently ran her fingertips through his hair Isaac shivered at the subtle touch. His scalp tingled, sending ripples of heaven down across his whole body.
He reached out and pulled her closer, burying his face between her cotton-covered breasts and inhaled the subtle scent of honeysuckle and ginger. The scent of Sidney. The scent of home. On the radio, the opening notes of “We Both Deserve Each Other’s Love,” by L.T.D. began to play. Isaac looked up into the light brown eyes he adored, and felt the feather-light brush of her curls gently kiss his face.
“You smell like sunshine.”
She placed a kiss on his forehead and smiled at him.
“Talk to me. Tell me what has you so upset.”
Isaac hesitated. He didn’t want to think about it anymore.
“I don’t want to.”
The bitch of it all was that he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He ran his hands over her backside, caressing and lightly squeezing. But even that couldn’t stop his mind from racing with thoughts of the case.
With both hands, Sidney combed her fingers through his hair, causing him to close his eyes and softly moan.
“Then maybe you’d like me to take your mind off your troubles for a while, hmm?”
“If only you could.”
His words were a distracted mumble, and he looked up at her as she gently pulled away from his embrace and stepped backwards. He watched in silence as she lifted the hem of the white v-neck t-shirt up and over her head, revealing bra-less perfect tits.
His mouth watered, and his hands twitched with the urge to reach out and touch them.
“How am I doing so far?”
Her voice held a hint of amusement, and Isaac swallowed.
“You’re doing good. Real good.”
“Hmm.”
Her shorts dropped to the floor, leaving her in the tiniest pair of panties he’d ever seen. They were bright red and barely covered the tasty bits they were meant to protect. His dick went rigid. His mind went blank. And for a full minute he watched her slowly turn away from him and bend slightly at the waist, putting on quite a show of tugging at the scrap of material, dragging it back and forth across her ass.
“How about now?” she asked sweetly.
He didn’t bother answering.
He grabbed.
In one swift motion she never saw coming, he brought her down onto the bed and positioned her beneath him. All thought had ceased. Only desire and instinct remained.
Want.
Need.
Now.
Her hands tugged at the clasp and zipper of his pants. His shirt was flung across the room.
“I need you, Sidney!”
The guttural utterance was full of urgency.
“You have me.”
She pressed a kiss to his lips, and Isaac’s hands worked frantically to push his pants down past his hips and free his throbbing dick.
“Anytime. Anywhere. Any way. I’m here, Isaac. Take what you need.”
He rammed deep inside her, the impact drawing a satisfying duet of moans from both of them. Then he began to move, his punishing rhythm exorcising the demons of his past and of this frustrating nightmare of a case that he couldn’t seem to escape.
Sidney screamed when her orgasm ripped through her, and Isaac felt the bite of her fingernails pinch into the skin of his back. The sensation triggered a flash of the two of them making love in what looked like a cabana, with the ocean clearly visible a few yards away.
It was something that had never happened. Another clear vision of the future. And the idea of an actual future with this amazing woman sparked his own release. More powerful than any other he’d experienced since they’d become lovers, he collapsed into a boneless heap on top of her.
Warm hands drifted down his back in soothing circles until they came to rest on his backside. She lifted her pelvis and drew him in deeper, squeezing his ass cheeks and pulling him to her.
“Whoa! You trying to kill me?”
Sidney giggled and he smiled. He truly did love that sound.
“Just trying to keep you here with me for a while longer before you slip back into the work void.”
Isaac leaned up on his elbows and looked down at her.
“I’m sorry, Sid. I know I’ve been preoccupied lately.”
“I don’t want you to apologize, Isaac. I just want you to know that you don’t have to hide things from me. If you’re upset, I want to know. If you need something that I can give you, or do for you… tell me. If you need to touch me, or pound into me…” She lifted her pelvis once more for effect. “Or even if you need me to leave you alone for awhile. Tell me. I’m your shield, right?”
She stared at him and Isaac knew she was waiting for a response.
“Yes. You are my shield.”
That’s what both Geneviève and his grandad had called her. A shield was the one person a hypersensitive psychic connected with. The only one a hype could touch without fear of physical pain.
“So let me shield you, baby. Let me be your safe place. Your soft place to land.”
Isaac stared into her eyes and silently thanked God for leading him to her. He’d lived his whole life in a lonely prison of his own making, isolated from human touch for his own self-preservation. But meeting Sidney had changed everything. She had opened up the world for him in ways he’d never thought possible.
“I love you so much, Sidney.”
She ran a hand over his face. “I love you back.”
On the street, Pete Vega sat behind the wheel of his black 2018 Honda Civic feeling drained and discouraged. The day and everything they’d learned during their visit to old Dr. Conway Porter weighed heavy on his shoulders. He understood the implications of the things Dr. Porter had told them, and he also understood the risks they were all taking.
With a heavy sigh he pulled his cellphone from his pocket and sent a text to Jada.
* * *
Pete:
Got a minute for a friend?
* * *
Her response was immediate.
Jada:
Charlie’s home.
* * *
Pete:
I’m not asking for a booty call Jada.
Just needing a friend.
* * *
When his phone rang, it startled him, but he smiled when he saw her name on the screen.
“Hello?”
