Lullabies & Dead Bodies, page 24
By the time they were finally in the air, Isaac was so preoccupied with his thoughts that the two hours passed by in no time.
They disembarked and went straight to the car rental kiosk, and then headed for the Barres Institution of Mental Health, not even stopping to check into their hotel.
The facility itself was like something out of one of those psychological thriller movies — a huge, stately building that gave you the most depressing sense of foreboding just looking at it. The kind of building that might look haunted if a black and white photo of it were taken.
Inside, the place was sterile and pristine, and the smell of bleach was pervasive, as though someone had just sanitized the reception area.
“Special Agent Emmett Fox, Detective Sergeant Isaac Taylor. We need to see someone in charge.”
Isaac liked Agent Fox’s no-nonsense attitude. He didn’t give the receptionist the chance to ask what the visit was about. He simply let his badge speak for him. Of course, Isaac suspected most people tended to be slightly more intimidated by a Federal badge than a local one. The receptionist immediately picked up a phone and spoke softly into it.
It took no time at all for a lanky man in a white coat with pinched, narrow features and a curious scowl to approach them.
“Hello? I’m Dr. Vigo Anderson, I’m the director of Barres Institution. How can I help you?”
Again, they presented their badges, and Isaac continued to let Agent Fox take the lead when dealing with the public.
“I’m Special Agent Emmett Fox. This is my associate, Detective Sergeant Isaac Taylor. We’ve come from Cleveland, Ohio with a warrant for the records of a former patient.” He removed the paperwork from the breast pocked of his suit and handed it over to the doctor. “Patient’s name is Eugene Talbot.”
The doctor was immediately flustered.
“Well, I… I don’t… this is highly irregular. I’m not sure…”
“If you need to get someone from your legal department down here to look over the warrant, you do that. But I assure you it is legitimate, and we are not leaving here without the information we’ve come for.”
The doctor turned to the receptionist. “Perhaps a legal representative would be prudent.”
The receptionist nodded and got on the phone once again.
“We’ll also wish to speak with you and any of your staff who had regular interactions with Eugene Talbot.”
“May I ask what this is about, sir? Has Eugene Talbot done something? Is he all right?”
Emmett looked at Isaac as if to say, “your call.”
“The man you know as Eugene Talbot is suspected of multiple murders in the Cleveland area. And two others here in Dubuque,” Isaac spoke up.
His words stunned the good doctor.
“No.” The doctor shook his head. “No, no, that can’t be. Eugene Talbot spent seven years here under my care. I believe I got to know him very well. He’s a very gentle soul.”
“A gentle soul who’s got a penchant for raping and strangling little girls.”
Isaac tried to keep the disgust out of his voice, but he failed miserably. Dr Anderson blanched, going white as his doctor’s coat.
“Does that news shake something loose for you, Doc?” Isaac’s sarcasm was thick as mud, but he didn’t give a shit.
“Dr. Anderson?” The receptionist got their attention. “Someone from legal will be down to go over the warrant, but they say you should cooperate in the meantime.”
“Yes, of course.” A very distracted Dr. Anderson waved her off and then looked back at Isaac and Emmett. “Perhaps we should speak in my office. This way please.”
Isaac and Emmett exchanged another look before they followed after him. Once seated in the man’s office, they watched as Anderson unlocked a file cabinet and pulled out a rather thick file. Then he sat at his desk and opened it up.
“I will have this file copied in its entirety for you. It’s Eugene Talbot’s record.” He paused and licked his lips before he finally looked up from the file and met their eager, waiting gazes, and Isaac got the feeling the man was trying to figure out how to say whatever was on his mind.
“During our therapy sessions, Eugene spoke a lot about his younger sister, Ruthie. He was obsessed with her. He adored her, often speaking of her beauty and her innocence, and how everyone who knew her loved her. Well, Eugene wanted very much to be loved by her. Perhaps even to be her.”
The doctor paused and his hands twisted in his lap for a moment before he looked up at them and continued.
“But… he also resented her. Strongly. At times I would say his feelings even bordered on hatred. He spoke of being second-best in his parents hearts, supplanted when Ruthie was born, and how he often thought of killing her when she was a baby. But then he fell under her spell as well.”
“So we’re talking less than normal sibling rivalry?” Emmett’s question held a note of revulsion.
“Yes. Definitely not normal.”
Isaac shook his head as he listened to the exchange. He didn’t ever recall hearing that Deputy Chief Jay Schiffer had more than one child. He’d only ever known of Jeffery, aka Eugene Talbot.
“So what happened to the sister?” Isaac asked, cutting to the chase.
“Well, that’s what got my attention before when you mentioned that your suspect raped and strangled little girls. You see… Eugene’s sister Ruthie… when she was seven years old she was kidnapped, missing for several days before her body was found. Somewhere in the woods, I believe he mentioned. He’d go into great detail about the frilly party dress she was still wearing when they found her. I guess she’d been to a friend’s birthday celebration when she went missing. Anyway… when they found her, she had been raped and strangled to death.”
Isaac looked at Emmett and he knew they were thinking the same thing.
Sister Ruthie had been this sick bastard’s first kill.
19
It took a couple of hours for Eugene Talbot’s file to be copied and handed over to them. Hours during which Isaac and Emmett interviewed several staff members who’d had daily dealings with the patient in question. They learned that during his stay at the mental health facility, Jeffery Schiffer, aka Eugene Talbot, had grown increasingly volatile and had been prescribed mood altering medication to mellow him out. Medication that caused him to gain significant weight.
“Son of a bitch.” Isaac flipped through the file in his hands.
“Something catch your eye, Ike?” Emmett frowned at him.
“This.”
He showed Emmett a recent headshot of Eugene Talbot that was attached to the inside of the file.
“This is the man I saw when I touched Shania Lane’s wrist at the crime scene.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”
Isaac took a deep breath and realized that there was no reason why Agent Fox would understand. He didn’t know.
“Sometimes, if I allow myself to touch a recent victim’s skin, I see…” He looked away and then squared his shoulders, owning his abilities. “I see the moment of their death.”
“Dear God.”
It was just a mumble, astonished and horrified at the same time.
“When I touched victim number two’s wrist, this is the man I saw. The image was blurry, as though I was seeing through her tear-filled eyes, so I wasn’t certain if it was Jeffery Schiffer or not. But now, looking at this picture, I am. This is Jeffery Schiffer.”
There was no way in hell that he could’ve kept the note of triumph from his voice if he’d tried. But on the inside, his stomach was doing something strange. Like the adrenaline and the vindication and the fear were all swirling together and causing his stomach to lurch. He was either going to vomit or have dry heaves, and he took several deep breaths to try and stave off either scenario.
“Under the circumstances, I say we cancel our hotel reservations, grab a bite to eat, and try to get on a flight back to Cleveland as soon as possible,” Emmett suggested.
Isaac liked the way the agent worked. He was very methodical and logical, and he actually thought they made a good team. Too bad Agent Fox worked for the Feds. He was exactly the kind of partner Isaac would’ve liked to have had.
Not that Pete Vega wasn’t a good detective. He was, and getting better all the time. Isaac just wished he’d be a tiny bit more professional at times.
“What do you think, Ike?”
Emmett’s question brought him back to the question at hand.
“Yeah. That sounds like a solid plan of action to me. I’m eager to look into the circumstances surrounding the death of the sister, and the sooner we get this info back home the sooner we can catch this fucker and put an end to this mess.”
And the sooner he could get back to Sidney.
He still didn’t like the idea of her being there all alone. Not with Natalie Bains’ odd threats looming over their lives. And even though he’d enlisted both Pete and Lt. Hayes to keep an eye on Sid for him, he’d just feel better being there himself.
“All right. I’ll see if we can get a return flight for today.”
Emmett got on his cellphone and walked away, leaving Isaac alone to flip through the file.
Several hours later, Isaac let himself into the dark house as quietly as he could, trying to not even let the keys jingle in his hand.
“Meow.”
The kitten trotted down the entry hallway to greet him, and Isaac bent and picked up the round fur ball.
“Hey, Mr. Hitchcock,” he whispered, scratching the kitten’s head. “Did you and your mama have a good day without me, huh? I trust you took care of her while I was gone.”
That statement was met with a soft purr that Isaac found reassuring. He put the cat down and silently entered the bedroom where Sidney was sleeping. A glance at the digital clock by the bed told him it was just after one o’clock in the morning, and suddenly he felt bone tired. He and Emmett had spent hours on stand-by waiting for a flight back home, and the drive back from the airport had all but done him in.
He couldn’t get undressed fast enough, and when he finally slid between the sheets and gently pulled a warm, sleeping Sidney into his arms, his entire body relaxed on a long exhale. He breathed in the scent of her hair and her skin, and he tightened his arms around her, snuggling deeper in.
“You’re home.”
It was a sleepy mumble, but Isaac clearly heard the joy and relief in those two small words.
“I am.”
“How was your trip? Did you learn anything useful for your case?”
“Shhh. Go back to sleep, baby.”
He planted a soft kiss on her forehead, and Sidney snuggled in wrapping her body around his.
“Glad you’re home,” she whispered.
“Me too,” he muttered before sleep swiftly swooped in.
How long he’d been sleeping before the ringing phone shattered the silence and sparked the dread, he had no clue. But he knew with utter certainty that bad news awaited him on the other end of the phone line.
“Taylor.”
“Good morning, Detective.”
Was that his imagination, or did the dispatcher’s voice hold a note of pity?
“Another child.”
It wasn’t so much a question as it was a statement of fact.
“Yes, sir. Found when a woman was walking her dog past the industrial park on Walford Avenue.”
Isaac sighed and felt Sidney kiss his shoulder.
“Anyone on scene?”
“Officer Haige responded to the 911 call the woman made. She’s still on scene with the caller.”
“All right, get me Detectives Vega, Miller, and Dorn. Tell ’em to meet me there. And get me a K9 too.”
“Sure thing, Detective.”
He ended the call and sighed. Then he yawned and looked at the time. 5:52 in the morning. At least he’d gotten a few hours of sleep.
“Do you want breakfast?”
Her voice was sweet, and Isaac leaned over and kissed her lips.
“Don’t bother darlin’. Get you some more sleep. I’ll see you this evening.”
Then he got up and headed for the bathroom.
The scene at the industrial park where they’d found the little girl had been brutal. A small crowd of onlookers had made their job difficult, and nearly caused a traffic accident when rubberneckers had gone parading by. A circus at six in the morning had frazzled Isaac’s already frayed nerves.
“You have an update on victim number four, Sergeant?” Lieutenant Gavin Hayes approached them in the detectives pit, studying the ever expanding case board.
Isaac sighed, still unable to shake his mounting frustration, or the constant exhaustion he was beginning to feel with this case.
“Miller? Can you update the Lieutenant please?” he stared into his paper cup filled with strong black coffee and secretly wished it held a shot of something much, much, stronger. Then he took a sip.
Gerri Miller picked up her small notepad and looked down at her notes.
“Due to the small crowd at the scene, K9 found nothing significant there. But we’ve ID’d the girl as Sunny Davies, aged seven, who went missing two days ago from the movie theater. She was on a play date with a friend and the friend’s mother at the time. Sunny apparently wandered off when the trio stopped off at the bathroom before leaving the theater. Sunny Davies’ parents, and the parents of the other little girl, were both questioned extensively yesterday by the Special Victims Unit, who caught that case. We’ve already been in contact with them and exchanged files, but they don’t have much more than we do at this point. Oh, also the lullaby snippet found at the scene contains the poked out word ‘me’.”
“Me?”
“Yes, sir. As in ‘Ike can’t catch me’. Sir.”
“Thank you, Detective Miller.” Gavin turned to Isaac. “Sergeant Taylor, I’d like a moment of your time in my office, please.”
Isaac took another sip of his coffee and then met the Lieutenant’s probing gaze. He nodded and then moved to follow Gavin to his office. With a barely undetectable nod of his head, he beckoned Pete to follow.
Once the three of them were behind the closed door of Hayes’ office, Isaac flopped down into one of the chairs in front of the man’s desk.
“No offense, Ike, but you look like shit.”
Pete stifled a laugh and sat in the other chair, and Isaac gave Gavin a rueful smile.
“Thank you, sir. Must be the late flight, coupled with the scent of murder in the morning.”
“What time did you get in?”
“Got home after one. Then the call out this morning just before six.”
“Ouch.”
Isaac raised his eyebrows and took another sip of his coffee. It was his only response.
“So. Was your trip useful?”
“It was more than useful. It brought us a positive ID on the man I saw in my flash after touching victim number two. And that man is definitely Jeffery Schiffer. The medical records we obtained with the warrant clearly show that Eugene Talbot, aka Jeffery Schiffer, had been prescribed medication to mellow him out during his stay at the Barres Institution, and that said medication caused his significant weight gain.”
“So the man you saw was Jeffery Schiffer,” Gavin repeated.
“Yep.”
“Yeah, but… you saw that with your psychic abilities,” Pete pointed out. “That doesn’t give us anything tangible to take to the ADA.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Isaac confirmed. “But the trip also yielded a lead I’m eager to follow up on.”
“What’s that?” Gavin asked, right on cue.
“Jeffery Schiffer’s possible first kill, at the tender age of twelve. A younger sister named Ruthie who went missing when she was seven. Her body was found a few days later, sporting a pretty party dress. Raped and strangled to death.”
“No shit?”
The disbelief and disgust were strong in Hayes’ voice.
“I shit you not. And according to the head doctor, who was in charge of patient care at the facility, Eugene Talbot spoke a lot about his weird love-hate for that kid sister. Dr. Anderson says at times it was like Talbot was both in love with, and held a deep-seeded hatred for her.”
“Talk about sick,” Pete mumbled.
“You got that right,” Isaac agreed. Then he looked at his boss. “So do you ever remember hearing that Jay Schiffer and his wife had a second child? A little girl? Or do you maybe remember the case when she was killed?”
Gavin appeared to think about it for a moment and slowly shook his head.
“No, I don’t. But, that would’ve been a little before my time here at the CPD. I’m sure there’s probably something about it in the records. Old case files or something we could pull.”
“Are you sure you really want to risk that, Lieu? Jay Schiffer has a lot of friends on this force. Me poking around the old files of his daughter’s death might get back to him somehow.”
“If you know of a better way, I’m all ears.”
Isaac paused and took a deep breath as he thought about things.
“Well, a story like that had to have at least gotten some attention from the local news outlets. Let me do some digging on my own for a day or two. We’re so close now, I would hate to spook the Schiffers at this late hour.”
“All right.” Gavin nodded and folded his arms across his chest. “I’ll follow your instincts for now. Good work, Ike. Truly.”
“Thank you, sir.”
The phone on his desk rang, and the sound of it was insistent, as though the person on the other end refused to be ignored. Gavin raised a finger to them and answered it.
“Lt. Gavin Hayes.”
Isaac had no clue what was being said or who the caller was, but the look on his boss’ face told the tale. Whatever it was wasn’t good.
“Yes. I understand, Chief.”
Gavin hung up the phone with a deep sigh that sounded as tired as Isaac felt.
“What’s up, Lieu?” Isaac heard the trepidation in his own voice.
“Mayor Kirk has called an emergency press conference happening in half an hour. It seems a fourth victim in this murder spree has sparked some understandable concern and outrage among the community. People are scared and they want answers. And Brenda Kirk intends to get those answers from us.”
