They watched as Mark Nells wheeled the gurney to the back of the Optima. He unzipped the body bag, then he and Don lifted Jill out of the trunk and placed her in the bag.

  “We need to get the car to the evidence garage.” Lutz glanced at Tobias. “Any problem with me calling for the flatbed?”

  “Nope. If these murders are connected to the Central Inn killings, then it’s your case to begin with.”

  Frank huffed. “And that’s something we definitely need to figure out.”

  Lutz stepped aside and called the evidence garage. He returned after hanging up. “They’re on their way. Don, how long has Jill been dead?”

  Don’s gloves snapped as he pulled them off and tucked them into his pocket. “Can’t go by body temp since she’s literally frozen. In my opinion, though, and because of the location of the wound, I doubt that she died immediately. A gut injury like hers could have taken hours before she bled out.”

  Frank cringed. “Hope that detail doesn’t make its way back to Phelps or Jill’s family.”

  Lutz tipped his head toward the bags. “What about the body parts?”

  “Longer, I’d say. Granted, it isn’t an entire body that’s still in one piece, but those limbs are as solid as tree branches, excuse the pun.”

  “Humph.”

  All eyes focused on Frank, then Lutz spoke up.

  “Go ahead with your thought, Mills.”

  “If the killings happened shortly after people went missing, then it makes total sense. Sarah went missing a full day before Jill did, so if those limbs are hers, she would be more thoroughly frozen, especially if she was left outside or placed in a freezer.”

  “Good point. And if that missing mailman met the same fate, God forbid, then he’s likely frozen whole or cut up too.”

  Tobias added his opinion. “And I imagine the killer didn’t think of how to dispose of the bodies until after he killed them. It’s winter, and the lakes and ponds are frozen.”

  Frank nodded. “As well as the ground. Burying a body would be nearly impossible this time of year without using heavy equipment.”

  Lutz palmed his cheek. “The next question is, what did the killer do with her fingers and head?”

  Chapter 28

  I followed Jan’s car as she led the way to her parents’ house. I glanced over at the passenger seat, where Phelps sat staring out the window.

  “Maybe you should stay with the family for the day. I’m sure Jan will take you back to the precinct later to pick up your car.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, I know I’ll lose it if I’m alone.”

  “And you have every right to lose it, buddy. Everyone would.”

  Mark turned to me. “We’re going to find this madman, aren’t we?”

  “Damn straight we are. That much, I’ll guarantee. It might take a while since we don’t have a motive or even know who’s doing the killings, but once I get back to the precinct, we’re going to hit this case and hit it hard. Forensics will do a thorough inspection of Jill’s car to see if they can pull prints. We have unidentified prints in the system that we took from the whiskey bottle at the Central Inn murders, and if we’re lucky enough to get some off Jill’s car and they match, then that’s telling us we’re definitely dealing with the same killer.”

  “But we still have to find him.”

  I knew the procedure and every resource we would use to find the killer, but Mark was right. It was going to take a lot of work and a lot of luck to find out who was randomly murdering people and why. I glanced at Phelps. “There isn’t anyone who’s trying to send you a message, is there? Somebody who has a beef with you and they’re paying you back by killing Jill?”

  “Not to my knowledge, and we all work the same cases.”

  “What about in your personal life?”

  “I’m at a loss, Jesse. My brain is in a fog, but off the top of my head, I can’t think of anyone I’ve pissed off.”

  “How about Jill, then?”

  “She’s never said she had a problem with anyone, and that still doesn’t explain the bags of body parts found in the trunk.”

  “True enough.”

  Phelps pointed at the white house with green awnings on the right. “That’s it.”

  Jan parked along the curb, and I pulled up behind her. “I can leave if you want to do this privately.”

  “Let’s ask Jan what she wants to do.” We exited the cruiser and approached Jan before we took to the sidewalk. Mark went ahead with the question. “Jesse wants to know if he should leave and let us tell your folks the news as a family.”

  She looked at me, and I held up my hand. “I won’t take offense if you’d rather I left. I’m only here to support Mark. He’ll need a ride back to the precinct later to get his car, though.”

  She let out a long sigh and glanced at the house. “Shit. Mom is staring out the window.” Jan’s eyes instantly welled up.

  “How about I just leave? I think it’s for the best.” I turned to Mark. “You’re always welcome to hang out with Hanna and me if you’d rather not be alone. My door is always open.”

  He nodded a thanks, then I gave them both a hug and left. It was the right thing to do.

  It was pushing noon as I headed to the precinct. A Hurry Up and Go caught my eye, so I turned in. During my work hours, I lived on fast food and vending machine options. I was thankful that supper was usually something healthy that Hanna had prepared, and I was also thankful she was a great cook.

  I ate my lunch as I drove and, when I reached the precinct, went directly upstairs to Lutz’s office. I told him how it went at Jan’s house and that I left Mark with Jill’s family to break the news.

  “I’m not family and didn’t feel like I should be there when they gave the bad news to Jill and Jan’s parents.”

  Lutz agreed. “I’m glad you’re back. We need to get a handle on this mess and quick.”

  “Yep, and I think we should hold a brainstorming session in the conference room right now.”

  Lutz tipped his wrist and checked the time. “Okay, let everyone know that we’re meeting in fifteen minutes. Put on your thinking cap, McCord. We need to apprehend the person responsible for these murders before he strikes again.”

  Once we’d gathered around the table in the conference room, Lutz updated everyone about the scene behind the Parkside Apartments. I assumed Frank had already told his version of events to the detectives in the bullpen, but I hadn’t heard anyone’s version yet. We each had paper and pens in front of us for note taking as Lutz got ready to speak.

  Lutz coughed into his fist and began. “Frank and I met up with Tobias, Don, the forensic guys, and a handful of cops behind the Parkside Apartments earlier today. By now, everyone knows that the BOLO for Jill O’Neal’s Optima got a hit, and more police units and Tobias arrived at the scene shortly after that. When the trunk was popped, Tobias found Jill O’Neal, Detective Phelps’s fiancée, dead in her trunk. She had a fatal wound—which Don will try to identify—in her midsection. At this point, we do know it wasn’t from a gunshot. Along with Jill, there were several black garbage bags in the trunk. Upon the arrival of Forensics, and with Mike taking the lead, he opened the bags to find body parts from a dismembered woman inside. There weren’t any identifying features on the limbs such as scars, moles, or tattoos. None of the bags contained the head or fingertips.”

  Kip groaned. “Jesus! What kind of maniac does shit like that?”

  I looked at him. “The worst kind, Murray, and that’s why we need to find him as soon as humanly possible. Killing a loved one from our own crew is hitting damn close to home if you ask me. It could happen to any of us. The fact that there isn’t a head or fingertips will make our job of identifying the woman harder, but since Sarah Carlton has gone missing in the last few days, we’ll take a look at her DNA first.”

  Lutz jerked his chin toward Henry. “After the meeting, I want you and Shawn to pay a visit to Sarah’s mother. According to Sergeant Leeland at the eighteenth, the mom is who filed the missing persons report, and we need to get a sample of Sarah’s DNA from her.”

  “We’ll take care of that, Boss.”

  “Good, and get it to Forensics immediately when you come back. There’s still the fact that Mr. Dunlevy, the mailman, is missing, but unless his body is located, the responsibility for finding him is on the eighteenth district. Whatever happened with the pimp, Marcus Tillmore?”

  Henry took his turn. “We interviewed him just like we did with Lenny Brown. He also said that neither Amy nor Dalia ever worked for him, and he went on to say he isn’t involved in that type of work anymore.”

  I let out a sarcastic laugh. “Since when is any pimp honest, and since when is being a pimp considered work? All he does is lay on his ass and rake in the money the girls earn. Is there a way to see if he has an active website?”

  Shawn jotted down that question on his notepad. “I’ll ask Tech if that’s possible.”

  I rubbed my brow as I thought.

  “Something on your mind, McCord?” Lutz asked.

  “Yeah, where is that desk clerk we arrested for outstanding parking tickets?”

  Tony took his turn. “He, or should I say his dad, paid the fines, and he was released.”

  I rolled my eyes. “We need to talk to him again. In my mind, everything leads back to the guy who ran from the motel. The desk clerk. What the hell was his name?”

  Frank answered. “Joe Kingston.”

  “Yeah, that guy. He has to be interviewed again to see if his story changes. We need to know with one hundred percent certainty that the runner told him he lived on Cleveland, not that he lived near Cleveland.”

  Lutz shook his head. “But you’ve already interviewed everyone who lived on Cleveland and had a police jacket, and nothing panned out.”

  I rounded the table and pulled down the roller map then grabbed the plastic box of push pins from the cabinet. “Okay, help me out here, guys. Where was the mailman’s truck found?”

  Shawn flipped the pages of his notepad. “On North Mohawk halfway between Dickens and Armitage.”

  I pressed a pin into that spot on the map then moved my finger to the left. “And here is Larrabee Street, where the Parkside Apartments are, and where the BOLO hit on Jill’s car. The beginning of Oz Park is, what, a hundred feet from the apartment’s parking lot?”

  Lutz scratched his chin. “About that.”

  “Right. Joe Kingston told us that the motel guy said he lived on Cleveland.”

  “But Cleveland goes on forever.”

  “True, but what if we focused only on the length of Cleveland that starts at Webster where the park begins? The mailman’s route, according to the post office, was what?”

  Kip spoke up. “North Sedgwick Street westbound to North Larrabee and south from West Webster to West Armitage. Wait a minute. I don’t believe it!”

  I pointed at him and grinned. “You’re catching on, Murray. The killer lives in that grid. I’m sure of it. Statistics show that the majority of crimes are committed in the very neighborhoods where the perp lives—their comfort zone. Maybe he doesn’t have a police record yet since every serial killer on earth had a clean record at some point in life. What better way to scope out the apartment parking lot late at night than by standing at the edge of the park? He made sure there were no cameras, dropped off Jill’s car, cut through the park again, where there also aren’t any cameras, and then popped out a few blocks later and casually walked home.”

  “So we’re going to refocus on Cleveland between Webster and Armitage?” Lutz asked.

  “Yep, unless somebody has a better idea.”

  Henry frowned. “So do we go door to door until we find the guy who looks like the motel runner?”

  “We may have to. So far, we’ve only knocked on the doors of people whose last name started with an L and had police records. Let’s go back to Cleveland and knock on every door between Webster and Armitage.”

  Lutz pushed back his chair. “Okay, but this will be the last time we direct all our attention on Cleveland Avenue. Kip and Tony, head that way. You’ll only have time to go down one side of the street before shift change. I’ll have Gaines and King pick up where you left off.” Lutz turned to Henry and Shawn. “Go have a talk with Sarah Carlton’s mother. The only thing you have to tell her for now is that we need a sample of Sarah’s DNA to put in our system. Frank and McCord, since it was you who interviewed Joe Kingston, go bang on his door and question him again. Shawn, don’t forget to ask Todd about the adult websites and if there’s a way to find out if Marcus Tillmore is the administrator of any of them.”

  “Will do, and I’ll ask him on our way out.”

  Lutz nodded before heading to the door. “I want everyone in the bullpen by shift change. We’ll conduct updates and pass the responsibility on to the night crew then.”

  Chapter 29

  After Frank knocked, Joe Kingston’s father pulled open the door. He looked us up and down. “What?”

  I could tell by his greeting that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. The man was about as discourteous to us as his son had been at the motel. I figured this was a good conversation for Frank to handle.

  “Are you Mr. Kingston, Joe’s father?” Frank asked.

  “Yeah, I’m the senior Joe. What do you want with my son?”

  “We need to speak with him.”

  “Why?”

  Frank ignored the question. “How old is Joe?”

  The father frowned at us. “Twenty-four.”

  “That’s right, which means we don’t need your permission to speak with him.” Frank jerked his chin. “Go get him. I’m sure he wouldn’t appreciate us hauling him to our precinct for questioning when we can ask what we need to know right here.”

  The man grumbled and said he’d be back as he closed the door in our faces.

  I turned to Frank. “Nice guy, huh?”

  The door opened again, and the younger Joe stood on the other side of it. He grumbled just like his father had. “Now what?”

  Frank continued where he’d left off with the elder Joe. “Damn, you two are sure jovial people.”

  “Whatever.” Joe stared at Frank. “So?”

  “We need clarification and have a few more questions for you about the guy from the motel.”

  “What guy?”

  “Knock it off,” I said, “unless you want to do this dance at our station. It’s up to you, but then you’d have to call daddy to come pick you up.”

  “Yeah, get on with it, then.”

  “You’re going to stand at the door in twenty-five-degree weather wearing a T-shirt?”

  He shrugged.

  It was my turn to be smug. “Whatever. Suit yourself. At least we have on coats. Guess our comfort is really all that matters.”

  He rubbed the goose bumps that had already popped up on his arms. “Fine. Come in, but I don’t have all day.”

  Frank took over. “Yeah, we don’t either, so let’s get to it.”

  Joe pointed at the couch. “You can sit there.”

  His father came around the corner. “What’s going on in here?”

  I held up my hand. “This conversation is between your son and us. You don’t have a say in anything we discuss with him, so if you don’t mind.”

  Joe waved him off. “Dad, I’ll talk about it with you later.”

  The father turned away and left the room.

  “Okay, we need you to go over what you told us a few days ago about the guy you spoke to at the motel.”

  “Can’t read your own notes?”

  Frank snarled. “Humor us.”

  Joe heaved a sigh. “What do you want to know?”

  “Just repeat what you said to us the other day.”

  “Um… The guy was just hanging around, so I asked if he wanted a room. He said he wasn’t sure.”

  “Then what?” I asked.

  Joe rubbed his forehead. “Then he said he lived far away, which made no sense.”

  Frank furrowed his brow. “Why is that?”

  “It wasn’t like he was there with anyone, and well, you know—”

  “That the high-class Central Inn rents rooms by the hour? So why doesn’t it make sense?”

  “The fact that he was even there. If that guy didn’t have plans to rent a room at some point, why be there at all, especially if he lives far away? I mean, it isn’t like he had to decide if he wanted to move in or not. It’s just a rental by the hour or by the day.”

  “Getting back to living far away, what did he say exactly about that?”

  Joe rolled his neck and appeared to be thinking.

  “Take your time, Joe. It’s really important,” I said.

  He sucked in a deep breath. “He said he lived too far away, on Cleveland.”

  “And you’re sure he said he lived on Cleveland, or was it around Cleveland?”

  “Nope. He said on Cleveland. Why bring up Cleveland at all unless he lived on it? It is a long street, but because he said he lived far away, I’d take that to mean on the north end of Cleveland.”

  I nodded. “Makes sense to me. Okay, thanks for your time, Joe, and keep on top of those parking tickets.”

  He walked us to the door and closed it at our backs.

  I pulled my phone from my pocket. “I’ll call Kip and tell him it’s a go for Cleveland.” I checked the time. “We can even lend a hand for about a half hour before going back to the precinct.”

  We climbed into the cruiser and headed northeast. I called Lutz, told him the plan, then called Kip and said we’d be there in ten minutes.

  Chapter 30

  Kip and Tony had already spoken with three homeowners on the east side of Cleveland when we arrived. We took the west side of the street, starting from the intersection with Armitage, and on foot, we worked our way north.

  We had been knocking on doors and talking to residents for fifteen minutes when Frank pointed at two houses north of where we stood. A man walked down the sidewalk from a beautiful Craftsman-style home and was about to climb into a black sedan.

  “Hey, check it out. He’s got a black car.” Frank rushed ahead to catch the man before he pulled away. I followed twenty feet behind. Frank called out to him. “Excuse me, sir.”

 

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