COME AND GET ME
She wasn't exactly lost, but she wasn't quite sure where she was either. Been in the city for almost a year now, and you still don't know your way around, she thought to herself. She'd tried, but New York was just so big. So now, here she was, walking down a street in what she hoped was Manhattan, no cab in sight, and she wasn't even sure she could find her way back to the friends apartment she'd just left. Looking about a half a block ahead of her, she thought she recognized one of the stores on the corner. She crossed the street, not quite running, thrilled at the sight of something familiar. She hopped up on the curb and took a few steps, even more sure now she knew where she was. He stepped out of the shadows, blocking her path. She gasped in surprise, and not realizing what was happening, she took a step to the right to walk around. He moved with her, still blocking the way. She moved again, to the left. So did he. That's when she finally understood. She held out her purse. He paused for a moment, then chuckled, low and throaty. "Nope." He snatched the purse out of her hands and tossed it to the ground.
*****
"Her name is Theresa Miller." Lenny Brisco led Detectives Goren and Eames down the alley. "We found her purse up on the sidewalk." He jerked his thumb to the opening of the alley. "She was strangled. It doesn't look like she was raped, but we won't know for sure until the ME's report comes back." Lenny's partner, Ed Green held up a hand to Goren and Eames as they walked up.
Eames crouched down, next to the crumpled woman. The bruising on her neck was consistent with strangulation, and the woman's skirt was hiked up a bit on her thighs. There wasn't anything particularly remarkable about the scene. Alex didn't understand why Major Case had been called.
Bobby was thinking the same thing. "So why'd you call us?" He asked, looking to Brisco.
Ed and Lenny glanced at each other. "Well," Lenny started. "You haven't seen everything yet. There's more over here." Goren and Eames glanced at each other, and Alex stood to follow the Green and Brisco around the corner. Neither homicide detective said anything as Goren and Eames stopped and looked around them. Eames saw it just a second before Goren did, enough time to turn her head and catch her partner's expression. She saw him see it, saw his eyes move down the wall to the right as he read the words. His face changed, almost imperceptibly, anyone else probably wouldn't have seen it, but Eames was his partner, and she was watching for it, so she did see it. Her curiosity met, she turned back toward the wall to read it again. In letters about four feet high, sprayed on with black spray paint were the words: COME AND GET ME GOREN.
*****
The press had heard about the killing and had gathered on the street in front of the alley. One over zealous uniformed officer had told a pretty reporter about the graffiti left by the murderer. Another reporter had overheard, and in minutes the entire grouping knew about the taunt. When Bobby and Alex had finished with the scene, leaving the alley, they were bombarded by shouts from the press.
"Detective, over here."
"Detective, any comments?"
"Goren, do you know who did this?"
All questions were shouted at once, one over lapping another. Bobby had no interest in talking to any of them, so he pushed his way through the crowd, ignoring the shouts, cameras and microphones. At the SUV, Alex got in behind the wheel, and Bobby walked around to the passenger side. One reporter had avoided the chaos and had chosen to wait by the truck. Goren had dealt with this guy before. "What do you want Steve?"
"Is there really a message to you?" Steve asked, his pencil poised above a note pad.
"Yes."
"Come and get me Goren?"
"Yes."
"What are you going to do now?"
"I'm going to go get him." Bobby answered and slid inside the passenger seat.
*****
Deakins sat on the corner of his desk, Alex in the chair in front of him, Goren behind her.
"He won't stop until we arrest him." Goren told Deakins about the message on the wall.
"Any ideas on who it might be?" Deakins asked.
"Lots of them. Everyone I've ever arrested." Alex cut him off.
"It may not be job related, it could be something personal."
Bobby looked down at her, then at Deakins, nodding. "It could be someone I don't even know."
"Well," Deakins said, rising from the desk. "Start with your collars who've been recently paroled."
*****
"Who do you want to start with?" Alex asked, sitting down at her desk.
Goren made a few double clicks with his mouse, read for a moment then glanced across the desk at Eames. "Talbot is still inside. And so are." he paused checking the screen and clicking the mouse. "So are Rankin, and Dr. Dwyer, they were all stranglers."
"But they're sill locked up?" Alex asked.
"Yeah." Bobby turned away from the computer and faced Alex. "It is to early for any of them to be paroled, but I wanted to check."
One of the other detectives walked up, and dropped an envelope down on Alex's desk. The envelope grabbed Goren's attention, he watched as Eames opened the flap, pulling out the papers inside. "ME's report," she told him as she read. "Death from strangulation. They think he used a woman's scarf," that stuck a cord in Goren, he turned back toward the computer, and hit a few keys, "they found a miniscule crosshatch pattern imbedded in her skin, couple of silk strands. No rape, no fluids on her body or clothes.." She trailed off as she read.
"Any DNA under her nails?" He asked, still facing the screen.
"Only her own." Alex shook her head sadly and looked up. "Matches the gouges on her neck. She clawed herself, trying to get free."
Bobby found what he'd been searching for and turned the monitor so it faced Alex. "Jasper Conti. I arrested him three years ago. Strangled his girlfriend with her scarf."
"Three years? He's out already?"
"Heat of passion. He plead temporary insanity, got sentenced him to the state institution. They let him out six weeks ago."
"Guess he got better." Alex said slyly.
*****
Alex parked the SUV in front of the Parker Residential Hotel, Conti's last address on file. "What a dump," she pronounced, climbing out of the front seat.
Goren showed his badge to the desk clerk, then handed him Conti's file photo. "Do you know this man?"
"Yeah, Jasper." The clerk looked up from the file, and searched the room with his eyes. "He's over there." He said and pointed toward the living room type lobby.
"Thanks." Goren took the photo back, slipping it into the pocket of his overcoat.
Several people scattered out of the lobby as Goren and Eames strode through.
"Conti. How ya been?" Goren asked, towering over the man sitting on a stained couch.
"What do you want?" Conti looked up and sneered.
"Where were you last night?" Alex asked.
"I don't have to tell you anything." he stood, looking from Eames to Goren and started to walk out of the room. Bobby got in front of him, blocking his path
"There's a guy out there that killed a girl with a scarf, just like you did. I don't think he's done yet. If he kills another girl, and I'm wasting time on you..." he paused, and bent down a little to look Conti in the eye "I'm gonna be really pissed off"
Conti licked his lips, and glanced at Eames. Alex understood what he was looking for. She crossed her arms and leaned back on one heel, letting him know he was on his own.
"Ok, ok" licking his lips again.
Goren straightened and took a step back, waiting. "I was here." Conti continued.
"All night?" Alex asked.
"Yeah, all night, we was playin' poker. Ask them." Conti said, pointing to the few people who hadn't fled the room when the detectives walked in.
"Then why didn't you want to tell us?" Alex asked stepping toward him.
Conti shrugged and looked at Goren "Don't like cops."
Outside, Bobby pulled his cell phone out and dialed. Holding it up to his ear with one hand, he opened the door to the SUV with the other. Eames made her way around the front of the vehicle and after checking on coming traffic, she opened the door and climbed in. Grabbing her seat belt and fastening it around her, she listened to Bobby's side of the conversation.
"Yeah, we'll be there in twenty minutes." Bobby said, and snapped the phone shut. He glanced at Alex, who had started the engine, and was looking at him expediently. "Victims parents have flown in, they're in Deakins office. I need to talk to them."
Alex shifted into drive and pulled out into traffic. "Are you thinking that the victim meant something?"
"No. She was probably convenient. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I doubt our boy had ever seen her before."
He watched them from the other side of the street.
*****
Stan and Viola Miller sat in the chairs facing Deakins desk. The chairs had been moved closer together so Stan could keep an arm around his wife. Viola had both hands wrapped around a coffee cup, her knuckles were white, and the coffee had grown cold, untouched. Mr. Miller and Capitan Deakins were speaking quietly about Theresa when Bobby knocked twice and opened the door. Stan Miller looked up at the sound; Viola continued to stare at the floor. Deakins stood up from behind his desk, to make the introductions.
"Mr. and Mrs. Miller, these are Detectives Eames and Goren, they're leading the investigation."
"Goren? Goren from the message?" Stan asked.
Bobby nodded. "Mr. Miller, I know how hard . . ." Miller cut him off. Standing up, he began to holler.
"What do you know? Do you have a daughter who was murdered?" His voice rose with every word. "Is your daughter dead for no good reason?" Viola started to sob loudly. Stan sat down and put his arm around his wife's shoulders. He murmured in her ear, trying to quiet her.
Goren and Eames watched the scene. After a moment, Alex felt as if she were intruding and turned her eyes to the floor. Bobby looked at Deakins, then out the window.
*****
"Damn, I hate that part of the job." Alex said sitting down at her desk.
"Me, too." Bobby answered her, his head in his hands.
After Violas sobs had quieted into weeping, they were able to speak to Theresa's parents. They learned everything they could about her, but neither detective nor their captain thought it would help. Bobby had explained to Stan his theory that Theresa was just in the wrong place. That information seemed to make everything worse for her parents.
At his desk, Bobby rubbed his hands over his face and lifted his head up. Alex watched him, concerned. He was taking this case more personally than any other they had worked together. She was too.
"Bobby." He looked over at her, a haggard expression on his face. "You need to go home." He started to protest, but Deakins, having heard Alex walked up and agreed with her.
"Go." He said. "You're no good right now. Get some sleep."
*****
At three in the morning, his phone rang. "Bobby. We got another one, I'll be over in ten minutes." Alex hung up the phone and Bobby was already out of bed and pulling on his pants.
He was outside, waiting when she pulled up. She'd barley stopped when he pulled the door open, got in and slammed it shut behind him.
"Where?" He asked.
"You're not going to like this . . ."
The street in front of the Parker Residential Hotel glowed blue and red from all the cop cars. Even at three thirty in the morning, the street was packed with bystanders trying to get a better view. Alex parked as close as she could. Bobby hopped out of the car before she'd even put it in park and rushed into the alley where all the cops were.
Jasper Conti lay on the ground, arms and legs askew, a thin red line ran across his neck. The sea of cops parted for Goren and he strode right through the opening. He looked down at Jasper and the ME crouched next to him. Bobby shook his head and looked around, inspecting all the nearby walls. "Where is it?" he asked the closest uniform.
"Over here." Alex called from the back end of the alley. She pointed as he approached her. Bobby's stomach clenched as he turned the corner. There it was, same black spray paint. WHATS TAKING SO LONG?
The same reporters, or at least it seemed like the same ones, bombarded them with the same questions when they left the alley. Again, both detectives ignored the shouts. Halfway to the SUV, Bobby held his hand out to Alex. She looked at him, questioningly, then handed over the keys. Steve, the reporter from the first scene was again standing on the passenger side of the truck. He was surprised when Alex came around the front of the vehicle and opened the door. "I thought you always drove." He said.
"Not this time."
Bobby heard the voices and walked around to their side of the vehicle. "What do you want Steve?"
Steve straightened his stance when he saw Goren. "Thought you said you were going to get him?" he provoked.
"We will."
"Yeah? Doesn't seem like you're doing to good a job." Steve smiled, and looked toward the alley.
"What's your problem?" Bobby asked, his voice low, each word controlled. Alex had never heard him this angry.
"I'm not the one with the problem." Steve laughed through is words.
"Go to hell." Bobby hissed.
"Can I quote you on that?" Still laughing.
Bobby turned, knowing he need to get away from this before it got out of hand.
"Not such a hot shot now, are you?" Steve called after him.
Bobby stopped in his tracks. He turned so slowly, Alex braced herself, ready to step in and stop him.
Facing Steve again, Bobby pointed his finger at him and said: "Don't blame me for what happened to your career."
"You're the one that lied to me." Steve said, stepping forward, getting in Bobby's face. "Because of you, my paper ended up printing misinformation, and I got busted down for it."
"I had to feed you that BS. The scumbag I was tracking couldn't know how close we were, if you had printed the truth, he would've run." Goren turned, and walked around the front of the SUV, ignoring Steve's taunts. Alex stood by the open passenger door, stunned by what she'd just seen. Only the roar of the engine broke her gaze. She climbed in, and Bobby began to drive off before she'd closed the door.
Steve stepped out into the middle of the street, watching the trucks tail lights until they turned the corner. Turning to walk back to his own car, he started laughing.
After Bobby ran his second red light, having to swerve to miss another car, Alex ordered him to pull over. He glared over at her from the drivers seat. "Pull over before you kill someone." She demanded, pointing to the curb. Realizing she was right, he slowed the vehicle and pulled in to an empty space near a curb.
He turned off the engine and Alex took a deep breath. Glancing around, she saw an open diner.
"Come on." She said, opening her door and getting out.
Goren did as he was told and followed her into the diner. Alex spied an empty booth in the back and pointed at it, making him go in front of her.
Both of them shrugged out of their coats and hung them on hooks that sprouted up from the seats. Bobby sat down, heavily. Alex slid in across from him. She watched as he put his head in his hands, a sight that was becoming too familiar to her. "Want to tell me . . ."
"No."
They sat in silence until the waitress came up. "Coffee, regular." Alex told her and looked over at Bobby. He didn't say anything. Didn't even raise his head up. "Make it two, please." The waitress taped her pencil once against her order pad and sauntered away. A few minutes later she came back with two ceramic mugs and a half empty pot of coffee. After filling both cups, and setting down two spoons she left again. Alex grabbed the cream, dumping some in her cup and stirred, purposely making the spoon hit the inside of the cup as much as possible.
"Ok, ok." Bobby raised his head and looked at her. "Enough with the stirring." He glanced across the table and reached for the creamer where Alex had left it. He looked up at her as he stirred. "Now you know why I never drive."
Alex gave him a small smile. "Guess that Steve guy has ridden with you too."
"What do you mean?"
"He was surprised to see me on the passenger side. Said something like 'I thought you always drove'" she waved a hand in the air, "something like that."
"How would he know that?" Bobby asked.
"I did drive to and from the Miller site."
"Yeah, but to make a statement like that . . .Sounds like he's seen you driving more than the one time." Alex nodded in agreement. She'd seen this look in his eyes before, and she didn't want to interrupt his thought process by speaking. "Coincidences like that just don't happen." he said to himself and pulled his cell phone out, hitting one of the speed dial numbers, then glanced at his watch. "Mrs. Deakins, it's Bobby Goren, I'm sorry to wake you, but I need to speak to the Captain." Alex watched him as he waited for Deakins to wake up and get on the phone. "Captain. Yeah, it's a little after five, I need a detail to follow somebody." He listened for a moment. Deakins must have asked him why he and Alex couldn't follow the guy themselves, because Bobby answered: "Because the guy I need followed is following us."
*****
After he'd explained to Deakins who he needed followed, and why, they'd both gulped down the lukewarm coffee, dropped a few dollars on the table and headed for One PP. Alex drove. Deakins walked in an hour later. From home, he'd called two other of his detectives, telling them to get in as soon as they could. When both of them arrived, all four detectives met with their captain in his office. Bobby told them the story, starting with the original case, three years before and how he'd misled the reporter. He ended with the argument that morning, and his and Alex's conversation at the diner. Alex noticed he left out the part about his running the two red lights. "You always drive?" Deakins asked, pointing at Alex. When she nodded, he then looked up at Bobby. "Sounds like he's probably our guy. How do you propose we catch him?" Alex took over; pitching the idea she and Bobby had come up with on the drive from the diner. Deakins and the other detectives listened, nodding their heads. "Ok, do it." Deakins said when she'd finished. She looked over at Bobby. He gave her a short nod.
*****
"Where are you?" Bobby asked into the radio, resisting the urge to turn around and look.
"About a half mile behind you." Came the answer.
"Tell them to pull back a little, we're almost there." Alex said from the drivers seat.
Bobby repeated the message into the radio, and then set it down on the seat between them. "I was hoping to meet your dad under better circumstances."
"Are you kidding?" Alex asked, flipping on the turn signal. "He loved the idea when I called."
"He misses being on the job?"
"Yeah. He does." She glanced in the right side rear view mirror, and changed lanes.
"Do you see him?" Bobby asked.
"No."
"He's back there."
"Yeah." She agreed.
"Do you think you'll miss it?" He asked, turning slightly in his seat, toward her.
"What? Being on the job?"
"Yes."
She thought about it for a moment. "Probably. You?"
Bobby shrugged as an answer. "I won't miss the politics aspect of it." They rode in silence until Alex pulled up in front of her parents' house.
She'd told her father over the phone that he had to act like a witness; he couldn't greet her with his normal kiss on the cheek. Before he got out of the SUV, Bobby slipped the radio into his coat pocket. Alex saw her mother glance out the window as they approached the front door. She knocked, something she'd never done before.
He dad opened the door, peering out at them through the screen. "Hi Pops." Alex said as she and Bobby both showed him their badges.
"You're not wired?" Her father asked. Alex heard a little disappointment in his voice.
"No. We're not. He's following us, Pops, not listening."
"Well, come on in." He opened the door. Bobby stood to the side, holding the screen open then followed Alex in.
"We appreciate you're doing this." Bobby said.
"Pops, this is my partner, Bobby Goren."
"Pleased to meet you." Alex's father said, shaking Bobby's hand.
"Ma?" Alex called, walking through the house into the kitchen. The detective and the retired cop followed her.
They sat at the kitchen table for about ten minutes. The radio squawked, the other detectives told Bobby that Steve had pulled over about a half block down, and when they'd walked inside, he'd driven slowly by the house. Going around the block, he drove by again, stopping in front. They thought he was writing down the address. After the second circle, Steve had driven off, headed back to the city. The detectives were behind him.
Alex and her parents listened to the radio conversation. "Ok." Alex stood. "Lets go."
Bobby stayed behind as Alex and her parents got in the SUV. Uncomfortable in the strange house, Bobby stayed at the kitchen table, although it had crossed his mind to go find Alex's childhood bedroom.
Twenty minutes later, Alex was back. She'd dropped her parents off at her aunt's house three blocks away, leaving the SUV there and walking back. When Steve came back, they didn't want any sign of their still being there. "Did you even move?" She asked, walking into the kitchen, finding Bobby where she'd left him.
"I thought about looking for your bedroom, but decided against it."
"Good thing." Alex said from the counter by the coffee pot. "You'd have never found it. Ma made it into a sewing room after I graduated the academy." She held the coffee pot up at him. He shook his head, and she set it back on the burner.
For the next two hours, they waited. Migrating from the kitchen to the living room, Alex had flipped on the TV, surfed for a few minutes and shut it back off, declaring daytime tv as crap. Bobby offered a card game to pass the time, but Alex shook her head, knowing he was probably able to count cards.
Finally, the radio squawked again, the detectives announcing they were about ten minutes away, and Steve was five minutes ahead of them. Bobby and Alex walked into the hall, out of sight, and waited.
Five minutes later, they heard a car pull up in the driveway and it's engine shut off. Steve was stepping quietly, but they heard him on the porch. The front door rattled and they heard metallic noises. Both detectives drew their guns, and aimed them toward the end of the hall. A moment later, the front door opened, then shut again. The footsteps told them the intruder was almost at the end of the hall, right in front of them. A shadow crossed the floor, and they raised their weapons a little higher. Steve stepped into the opening in front of them. "Freeze." Alex and Bobby yelled in unison.
*****
The stalking charge, combined with the breaking and entering was enough to get a judge to sign a search warrant. In Steve's apartment they found a scarf that tested positive for Theresa's DNA. They also found a knife that matched the wounds on Jasper Conti's neck, but not Jaspers DNA. It was enough. Goren had Steve in the box only five minutes before he broke down. Cussing, Steve admitted he'd killed the girl and left the taunt on the wall. He wanted to humiliate Goren as much as he'd been humiliated three years before. When he'd followed them to the hotel when they interviewed Conti, he got the idea to kill him, furthering the humiliation. Then he asked how they'd figured it out.
"You told us." Bobby answered him. Then explained to Steve the slip up he'd made by asking Alex if didn't she drive all the time? "Only someone who'd been following us could know that Alex drove all the time. Even our Captain didn't realize that. And who ever had killed Jasper, obviously had been following us." Steve put his head down on the table. Bobby walked over to where Steve was sitting, grabbed both his arms, pulling them behind his back. Bobby leaned down, so his mouth was right next to Steve's ear. "I told you we'd get him."
Steve struggled against the grip, and muttered, "Go to hell, Goren."
"Can I quote you on that?" Bobby asked, clicking the handcuffs closed.
She wasn't exactly lost, but she wasn't quite sure where she was either. Been in the city for almost a year now, and you still don't know your way around, she thought to herself. She'd tried, but New York was just so big. So now, here she was, walking down a street in what she hoped was Manhattan, no cab in sight, and she wasn't even sure she could find her way back to the friends apartment she'd just left. Looking about a half a block ahead of her, she thought she recognized one of the stores on the corner. She crossed the street, not quite running, thrilled at the sight of something familiar. She hopped up on the curb and took a few steps, even more sure now she knew where she was. He stepped out of the shadows, blocking her path. She gasped in surprise, and not realizing what was happening, she took a step to the right to walk around. He moved with her, still blocking the way. She moved again, to the left. So did he. That's when she finally understood. She held out her purse. He paused for a moment, then chuckled, low and throaty. "Nope." He snatched the purse out of her hands and tossed it to the ground.
*****
"Her name is Theresa Miller." Lenny Brisco led Detectives Goren and Eames down the alley. "We found her purse up on the sidewalk." He jerked his thumb to the opening of the alley. "She was strangled. It doesn't look like she was raped, but we won't know for sure until the ME's report comes back." Lenny's partner, Ed Green held up a hand to Goren and Eames as they walked up.
Eames crouched down, next to the crumpled woman. The bruising on her neck was consistent with strangulation, and the woman's skirt was hiked up a bit on her thighs. There wasn't anything particularly remarkable about the scene. Alex didn't understand why Major Case had been called.
Bobby was thinking the same thing. "So why'd you call us?" He asked, looking to Brisco.
Ed and Lenny glanced at each other. "Well," Lenny started. "You haven't seen everything yet. There's more over here." Goren and Eames glanced at each other, and Alex stood to follow the Green and Brisco around the corner. Neither homicide detective said anything as Goren and Eames stopped and looked around them. Eames saw it just a second before Goren did, enough time to turn her head and catch her partner's expression. She saw him see it, saw his eyes move down the wall to the right as he read the words. His face changed, almost imperceptibly, anyone else probably wouldn't have seen it, but Eames was his partner, and she was watching for it, so she did see it. Her curiosity met, she turned back toward the wall to read it again. In letters about four feet high, sprayed on with black spray paint were the words: COME AND GET ME GOREN.
*****
The press had heard about the killing and had gathered on the street in front of the alley. One over zealous uniformed officer had told a pretty reporter about the graffiti left by the murderer. Another reporter had overheard, and in minutes the entire grouping knew about the taunt. When Bobby and Alex had finished with the scene, leaving the alley, they were bombarded by shouts from the press.
"Detective, over here."
"Detective, any comments?"
"Goren, do you know who did this?"
All questions were shouted at once, one over lapping another. Bobby had no interest in talking to any of them, so he pushed his way through the crowd, ignoring the shouts, cameras and microphones. At the SUV, Alex got in behind the wheel, and Bobby walked around to the passenger side. One reporter had avoided the chaos and had chosen to wait by the truck. Goren had dealt with this guy before. "What do you want Steve?"
"Is there really a message to you?" Steve asked, his pencil poised above a note pad.
"Yes."
"Come and get me Goren?"
"Yes."
"What are you going to do now?"
"I'm going to go get him." Bobby answered and slid inside the passenger seat.
*****
Deakins sat on the corner of his desk, Alex in the chair in front of him, Goren behind her.
"He won't stop until we arrest him." Goren told Deakins about the message on the wall.
"Any ideas on who it might be?" Deakins asked.
"Lots of them. Everyone I've ever arrested." Alex cut him off.
"It may not be job related, it could be something personal."
Bobby looked down at her, then at Deakins, nodding. "It could be someone I don't even know."
"Well," Deakins said, rising from the desk. "Start with your collars who've been recently paroled."
*****
"Who do you want to start with?" Alex asked, sitting down at her desk.
Goren made a few double clicks with his mouse, read for a moment then glanced across the desk at Eames. "Talbot is still inside. And so are." he paused checking the screen and clicking the mouse. "So are Rankin, and Dr. Dwyer, they were all stranglers."
"But they're sill locked up?" Alex asked.
"Yeah." Bobby turned away from the computer and faced Alex. "It is to early for any of them to be paroled, but I wanted to check."
One of the other detectives walked up, and dropped an envelope down on Alex's desk. The envelope grabbed Goren's attention, he watched as Eames opened the flap, pulling out the papers inside. "ME's report," she told him as she read. "Death from strangulation. They think he used a woman's scarf," that stuck a cord in Goren, he turned back toward the computer, and hit a few keys, "they found a miniscule crosshatch pattern imbedded in her skin, couple of silk strands. No rape, no fluids on her body or clothes.." She trailed off as she read.
"Any DNA under her nails?" He asked, still facing the screen.
"Only her own." Alex shook her head sadly and looked up. "Matches the gouges on her neck. She clawed herself, trying to get free."
Bobby found what he'd been searching for and turned the monitor so it faced Alex. "Jasper Conti. I arrested him three years ago. Strangled his girlfriend with her scarf."
"Three years? He's out already?"
"Heat of passion. He plead temporary insanity, got sentenced him to the state institution. They let him out six weeks ago."
"Guess he got better." Alex said slyly.
*****
Alex parked the SUV in front of the Parker Residential Hotel, Conti's last address on file. "What a dump," she pronounced, climbing out of the front seat.
Goren showed his badge to the desk clerk, then handed him Conti's file photo. "Do you know this man?"
"Yeah, Jasper." The clerk looked up from the file, and searched the room with his eyes. "He's over there." He said and pointed toward the living room type lobby.
"Thanks." Goren took the photo back, slipping it into the pocket of his overcoat.
Several people scattered out of the lobby as Goren and Eames strode through.
"Conti. How ya been?" Goren asked, towering over the man sitting on a stained couch.
"What do you want?" Conti looked up and sneered.
"Where were you last night?" Alex asked.
"I don't have to tell you anything." he stood, looking from Eames to Goren and started to walk out of the room. Bobby got in front of him, blocking his path
"There's a guy out there that killed a girl with a scarf, just like you did. I don't think he's done yet. If he kills another girl, and I'm wasting time on you..." he paused, and bent down a little to look Conti in the eye "I'm gonna be really pissed off"
Conti licked his lips, and glanced at Eames. Alex understood what he was looking for. She crossed her arms and leaned back on one heel, letting him know he was on his own.
"Ok, ok" licking his lips again.
Goren straightened and took a step back, waiting. "I was here." Conti continued.
"All night?" Alex asked.
"Yeah, all night, we was playin' poker. Ask them." Conti said, pointing to the few people who hadn't fled the room when the detectives walked in.
"Then why didn't you want to tell us?" Alex asked stepping toward him.
Conti shrugged and looked at Goren "Don't like cops."
Outside, Bobby pulled his cell phone out and dialed. Holding it up to his ear with one hand, he opened the door to the SUV with the other. Eames made her way around the front of the vehicle and after checking on coming traffic, she opened the door and climbed in. Grabbing her seat belt and fastening it around her, she listened to Bobby's side of the conversation.
"Yeah, we'll be there in twenty minutes." Bobby said, and snapped the phone shut. He glanced at Alex, who had started the engine, and was looking at him expediently. "Victims parents have flown in, they're in Deakins office. I need to talk to them."
Alex shifted into drive and pulled out into traffic. "Are you thinking that the victim meant something?"
"No. She was probably convenient. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I doubt our boy had ever seen her before."
He watched them from the other side of the street.
*****
Stan and Viola Miller sat in the chairs facing Deakins desk. The chairs had been moved closer together so Stan could keep an arm around his wife. Viola had both hands wrapped around a coffee cup, her knuckles were white, and the coffee had grown cold, untouched. Mr. Miller and Capitan Deakins were speaking quietly about Theresa when Bobby knocked twice and opened the door. Stan Miller looked up at the sound; Viola continued to stare at the floor. Deakins stood up from behind his desk, to make the introductions.
"Mr. and Mrs. Miller, these are Detectives Eames and Goren, they're leading the investigation."
"Goren? Goren from the message?" Stan asked.
Bobby nodded. "Mr. Miller, I know how hard . . ." Miller cut him off. Standing up, he began to holler.
"What do you know? Do you have a daughter who was murdered?" His voice rose with every word. "Is your daughter dead for no good reason?" Viola started to sob loudly. Stan sat down and put his arm around his wife's shoulders. He murmured in her ear, trying to quiet her.
Goren and Eames watched the scene. After a moment, Alex felt as if she were intruding and turned her eyes to the floor. Bobby looked at Deakins, then out the window.
*****
"Damn, I hate that part of the job." Alex said sitting down at her desk.
"Me, too." Bobby answered her, his head in his hands.
After Violas sobs had quieted into weeping, they were able to speak to Theresa's parents. They learned everything they could about her, but neither detective nor their captain thought it would help. Bobby had explained to Stan his theory that Theresa was just in the wrong place. That information seemed to make everything worse for her parents.
At his desk, Bobby rubbed his hands over his face and lifted his head up. Alex watched him, concerned. He was taking this case more personally than any other they had worked together. She was too.
"Bobby." He looked over at her, a haggard expression on his face. "You need to go home." He started to protest, but Deakins, having heard Alex walked up and agreed with her.
"Go." He said. "You're no good right now. Get some sleep."
*****
At three in the morning, his phone rang. "Bobby. We got another one, I'll be over in ten minutes." Alex hung up the phone and Bobby was already out of bed and pulling on his pants.
He was outside, waiting when she pulled up. She'd barley stopped when he pulled the door open, got in and slammed it shut behind him.
"Where?" He asked.
"You're not going to like this . . ."
The street in front of the Parker Residential Hotel glowed blue and red from all the cop cars. Even at three thirty in the morning, the street was packed with bystanders trying to get a better view. Alex parked as close as she could. Bobby hopped out of the car before she'd even put it in park and rushed into the alley where all the cops were.
Jasper Conti lay on the ground, arms and legs askew, a thin red line ran across his neck. The sea of cops parted for Goren and he strode right through the opening. He looked down at Jasper and the ME crouched next to him. Bobby shook his head and looked around, inspecting all the nearby walls. "Where is it?" he asked the closest uniform.
"Over here." Alex called from the back end of the alley. She pointed as he approached her. Bobby's stomach clenched as he turned the corner. There it was, same black spray paint. WHATS TAKING SO LONG?
The same reporters, or at least it seemed like the same ones, bombarded them with the same questions when they left the alley. Again, both detectives ignored the shouts. Halfway to the SUV, Bobby held his hand out to Alex. She looked at him, questioningly, then handed over the keys. Steve, the reporter from the first scene was again standing on the passenger side of the truck. He was surprised when Alex came around the front of the vehicle and opened the door. "I thought you always drove." He said.
"Not this time."
Bobby heard the voices and walked around to their side of the vehicle. "What do you want Steve?"
Steve straightened his stance when he saw Goren. "Thought you said you were going to get him?" he provoked.
"We will."
"Yeah? Doesn't seem like you're doing to good a job." Steve smiled, and looked toward the alley.
"What's your problem?" Bobby asked, his voice low, each word controlled. Alex had never heard him this angry.
"I'm not the one with the problem." Steve laughed through is words.
"Go to hell." Bobby hissed.
"Can I quote you on that?" Still laughing.
Bobby turned, knowing he need to get away from this before it got out of hand.
"Not such a hot shot now, are you?" Steve called after him.
Bobby stopped in his tracks. He turned so slowly, Alex braced herself, ready to step in and stop him.
Facing Steve again, Bobby pointed his finger at him and said: "Don't blame me for what happened to your career."
"You're the one that lied to me." Steve said, stepping forward, getting in Bobby's face. "Because of you, my paper ended up printing misinformation, and I got busted down for it."
"I had to feed you that BS. The scumbag I was tracking couldn't know how close we were, if you had printed the truth, he would've run." Goren turned, and walked around the front of the SUV, ignoring Steve's taunts. Alex stood by the open passenger door, stunned by what she'd just seen. Only the roar of the engine broke her gaze. She climbed in, and Bobby began to drive off before she'd closed the door.
Steve stepped out into the middle of the street, watching the trucks tail lights until they turned the corner. Turning to walk back to his own car, he started laughing.
After Bobby ran his second red light, having to swerve to miss another car, Alex ordered him to pull over. He glared over at her from the drivers seat. "Pull over before you kill someone." She demanded, pointing to the curb. Realizing she was right, he slowed the vehicle and pulled in to an empty space near a curb.
He turned off the engine and Alex took a deep breath. Glancing around, she saw an open diner.
"Come on." She said, opening her door and getting out.
Goren did as he was told and followed her into the diner. Alex spied an empty booth in the back and pointed at it, making him go in front of her.
Both of them shrugged out of their coats and hung them on hooks that sprouted up from the seats. Bobby sat down, heavily. Alex slid in across from him. She watched as he put his head in his hands, a sight that was becoming too familiar to her. "Want to tell me . . ."
"No."
They sat in silence until the waitress came up. "Coffee, regular." Alex told her and looked over at Bobby. He didn't say anything. Didn't even raise his head up. "Make it two, please." The waitress taped her pencil once against her order pad and sauntered away. A few minutes later she came back with two ceramic mugs and a half empty pot of coffee. After filling both cups, and setting down two spoons she left again. Alex grabbed the cream, dumping some in her cup and stirred, purposely making the spoon hit the inside of the cup as much as possible.
"Ok, ok." Bobby raised his head and looked at her. "Enough with the stirring." He glanced across the table and reached for the creamer where Alex had left it. He looked up at her as he stirred. "Now you know why I never drive."
Alex gave him a small smile. "Guess that Steve guy has ridden with you too."
"What do you mean?"
"He was surprised to see me on the passenger side. Said something like 'I thought you always drove'" she waved a hand in the air, "something like that."
"How would he know that?" Bobby asked.
"I did drive to and from the Miller site."
"Yeah, but to make a statement like that . . .Sounds like he's seen you driving more than the one time." Alex nodded in agreement. She'd seen this look in his eyes before, and she didn't want to interrupt his thought process by speaking. "Coincidences like that just don't happen." he said to himself and pulled his cell phone out, hitting one of the speed dial numbers, then glanced at his watch. "Mrs. Deakins, it's Bobby Goren, I'm sorry to wake you, but I need to speak to the Captain." Alex watched him as he waited for Deakins to wake up and get on the phone. "Captain. Yeah, it's a little after five, I need a detail to follow somebody." He listened for a moment. Deakins must have asked him why he and Alex couldn't follow the guy themselves, because Bobby answered: "Because the guy I need followed is following us."
*****
After he'd explained to Deakins who he needed followed, and why, they'd both gulped down the lukewarm coffee, dropped a few dollars on the table and headed for One PP. Alex drove. Deakins walked in an hour later. From home, he'd called two other of his detectives, telling them to get in as soon as they could. When both of them arrived, all four detectives met with their captain in his office. Bobby told them the story, starting with the original case, three years before and how he'd misled the reporter. He ended with the argument that morning, and his and Alex's conversation at the diner. Alex noticed he left out the part about his running the two red lights. "You always drive?" Deakins asked, pointing at Alex. When she nodded, he then looked up at Bobby. "Sounds like he's probably our guy. How do you propose we catch him?" Alex took over; pitching the idea she and Bobby had come up with on the drive from the diner. Deakins and the other detectives listened, nodding their heads. "Ok, do it." Deakins said when she'd finished. She looked over at Bobby. He gave her a short nod.
*****
"Where are you?" Bobby asked into the radio, resisting the urge to turn around and look.
"About a half mile behind you." Came the answer.
"Tell them to pull back a little, we're almost there." Alex said from the drivers seat.
Bobby repeated the message into the radio, and then set it down on the seat between them. "I was hoping to meet your dad under better circumstances."
"Are you kidding?" Alex asked, flipping on the turn signal. "He loved the idea when I called."
"He misses being on the job?"
"Yeah. He does." She glanced in the right side rear view mirror, and changed lanes.
"Do you see him?" Bobby asked.
"No."
"He's back there."
"Yeah." She agreed.
"Do you think you'll miss it?" He asked, turning slightly in his seat, toward her.
"What? Being on the job?"
"Yes."
She thought about it for a moment. "Probably. You?"
Bobby shrugged as an answer. "I won't miss the politics aspect of it." They rode in silence until Alex pulled up in front of her parents' house.
She'd told her father over the phone that he had to act like a witness; he couldn't greet her with his normal kiss on the cheek. Before he got out of the SUV, Bobby slipped the radio into his coat pocket. Alex saw her mother glance out the window as they approached the front door. She knocked, something she'd never done before.
He dad opened the door, peering out at them through the screen. "Hi Pops." Alex said as she and Bobby both showed him their badges.
"You're not wired?" Her father asked. Alex heard a little disappointment in his voice.
"No. We're not. He's following us, Pops, not listening."
"Well, come on in." He opened the door. Bobby stood to the side, holding the screen open then followed Alex in.
"We appreciate you're doing this." Bobby said.
"Pops, this is my partner, Bobby Goren."
"Pleased to meet you." Alex's father said, shaking Bobby's hand.
"Ma?" Alex called, walking through the house into the kitchen. The detective and the retired cop followed her.
They sat at the kitchen table for about ten minutes. The radio squawked, the other detectives told Bobby that Steve had pulled over about a half block down, and when they'd walked inside, he'd driven slowly by the house. Going around the block, he drove by again, stopping in front. They thought he was writing down the address. After the second circle, Steve had driven off, headed back to the city. The detectives were behind him.
Alex and her parents listened to the radio conversation. "Ok." Alex stood. "Lets go."
Bobby stayed behind as Alex and her parents got in the SUV. Uncomfortable in the strange house, Bobby stayed at the kitchen table, although it had crossed his mind to go find Alex's childhood bedroom.
Twenty minutes later, Alex was back. She'd dropped her parents off at her aunt's house three blocks away, leaving the SUV there and walking back. When Steve came back, they didn't want any sign of their still being there. "Did you even move?" She asked, walking into the kitchen, finding Bobby where she'd left him.
"I thought about looking for your bedroom, but decided against it."
"Good thing." Alex said from the counter by the coffee pot. "You'd have never found it. Ma made it into a sewing room after I graduated the academy." She held the coffee pot up at him. He shook his head, and she set it back on the burner.
For the next two hours, they waited. Migrating from the kitchen to the living room, Alex had flipped on the TV, surfed for a few minutes and shut it back off, declaring daytime tv as crap. Bobby offered a card game to pass the time, but Alex shook her head, knowing he was probably able to count cards.
Finally, the radio squawked again, the detectives announcing they were about ten minutes away, and Steve was five minutes ahead of them. Bobby and Alex walked into the hall, out of sight, and waited.
Five minutes later, they heard a car pull up in the driveway and it's engine shut off. Steve was stepping quietly, but they heard him on the porch. The front door rattled and they heard metallic noises. Both detectives drew their guns, and aimed them toward the end of the hall. A moment later, the front door opened, then shut again. The footsteps told them the intruder was almost at the end of the hall, right in front of them. A shadow crossed the floor, and they raised their weapons a little higher. Steve stepped into the opening in front of them. "Freeze." Alex and Bobby yelled in unison.
*****
The stalking charge, combined with the breaking and entering was enough to get a judge to sign a search warrant. In Steve's apartment they found a scarf that tested positive for Theresa's DNA. They also found a knife that matched the wounds on Jasper Conti's neck, but not Jaspers DNA. It was enough. Goren had Steve in the box only five minutes before he broke down. Cussing, Steve admitted he'd killed the girl and left the taunt on the wall. He wanted to humiliate Goren as much as he'd been humiliated three years before. When he'd followed them to the hotel when they interviewed Conti, he got the idea to kill him, furthering the humiliation. Then he asked how they'd figured it out.
"You told us." Bobby answered him. Then explained to Steve the slip up he'd made by asking Alex if didn't she drive all the time? "Only someone who'd been following us could know that Alex drove all the time. Even our Captain didn't realize that. And who ever had killed Jasper, obviously had been following us." Steve put his head down on the table. Bobby walked over to where Steve was sitting, grabbed both his arms, pulling them behind his back. Bobby leaned down, so his mouth was right next to Steve's ear. "I told you we'd get him."
Steve struggled against the grip, and muttered, "Go to hell, Goren."
"Can I quote you on that?" Bobby asked, clicking the handcuffs closed.