COLD CASE

Vengeance Is Mine

By J. B. Tilton (a.k.a. NoAzMale) and Teri Thibeault (a.k.a. Tessalynne)

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Rating: K+

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Disclaimer: "Cold Case" and all related characters and events are the property of Jerry Bruckheimer and the CBS Corporation, except for those characters specifically created for this story. This is a work of fan fiction and no infringement of copyright is intended.

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(Authors' note: This story takes place between season 1 episodes "Churchgoing People" and "The Runner".)

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The prime suspect in a series of prostitute murders in 1997 is released from prison and 2 months later the murders begin again.

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PROLOGUE

July 11, 1997, 11:04 p.m.

Detective Jeremy Collins showed his badge to the uniformed officer and then proceeded past the police tape to the people who were busily working the scene. He recognized one of the uniformed officers. Sergeant Moran and he had been friends for a long time. He quickly approached the sergeant who looked up as he walked towards him.

"What have we got, Mike?" Collins asked.

"Another dead prostitute," replied the sergeant. "It looks like the same guy. This makes number five."

"Yeah," said Collins engrossed in thought. "Who found the body?"

"Another girl. I have one of my men taking her statement now but there's not much she can tell us. She's pretty shaken up."

"Not so surprising. Most people have never even seen a dead body let alone one in the condition these have been in." He glanced over at a man bent over a body that was covered with a blanket. "I see the doc is all ready here."

"Yeah. He's all ready made his preliminary examination. They're getting ready to take the body back to the morgue for the autopsy. Just waiting for the wagon to get here."

"Thanks, Mike," said Collins. "Make sure I get a copy of everything."

"Will do, Jerry."

Collins walked over to where the body was and looked down on it as the medical examiner glanced up at him. Then the examiner went back to filling out his paperwork.

"You didn't waste any time getting here," said the examiner.

"I could say the same about you," said Collins. "Moran says you've all ready finished your preliminary examination?"

"Yep. Just like the others. Blunt force trauma to the head. Multiple blows. I won't know for sure until I get her on the table but I think it's a pretty safe bet that's going to be the cause of death."

"Any weapon found?"

"No. Just like the others. Whoever did this is taking the weapon with them. Moran also said they haven't been able to find any witnesses."

"As usual," said Collins. "This guy is good. Always chooses a secluded location with no witnesses. What about the signature?"

The medical examiner pulled back the sheet to expose the body underneath. It was the body of a female that still looked to be in her teens. She had dark hair, was wearing way too much makeup, and was dressed in skimpy clothes: the usual trademark of the "working girls" in the district.

Aside from a lot of blood there didn't appear to be any injuries. That was to be expected. The killer usually attacked from behind. He knew that if he rolled the body over there would be a different story. But at the moment he was more interested in something else. He looked at the forehead of the girl. Scrawled across the forehead in red was the word "GUILTY", written with what had been identified as a felt tipped marker.

"She can't be more than 19," Collins said.

"Seventeen, according to her ID," said the examiner. "Jennifer Bryant, street name 'Cookie'. According to the drivers license she was born September 1980. And it's an Illinois driver's license. My guess is she probably hasn't been here for more than a few months."

"Another runaway most likely," said Collins. "Comes all the way to the City of Brotherly Love only to get her head smashed in by some psycho."

"There was no love involved here," said the examiner, standing up and putting his pen into his pocket. "Whoever did this had a lot of rage in them."

"Thanks, doc. Will you make sure I get a copy of the report?"

"Don't I always?" said the examiner smiling. He looked up to see "the wagon" just arriving to take the body to the coroner's office for the autopsy. "I need to get back to prep for the autopsy. I'll have a report for you first thing in the morning."

"Thanks again," said Collins.

Collins looked back down at the body. So young. And probably doing nothing more than trying to eek out a meager living the best way she knew how. No one deserved what had happened to her. And Collins made a silent vow to himself to catch the monster responsible.

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ONE

October 22, 2003, 10:13 a.m.

Lilly and Nick walked up to the alley where Stillman had told them to meet him. The alley was taped off with the usual police tape and several uniforms were busy keeping a crowd of curious onlookers back. They flashed their badges and proceeded into the alley.

About halfway down the alley several people were busy examining what was obviously a crime scene. There was a body covered in a blanket next to one of the buildings and people could be seen collecting items from around the alley. A man, whom Lilly recognized as a medical examiner was busy examining the covered body while Stillman and another man dressed in a suit with a badge hanging from the breast pocket stood nearby talking. Stillman looked up and noticed them and motioned for them to join him.

"What have we got, boss?" Lilly asked glancing at the other detective and then at the body lying on the ground.

"Dead prostitute," said Stillman. "Someone beat her to death. She's been identified as Abigail Bennett a part-time secretary for one of the offices nearby." He turned to the other detective. "This is Detective Jeremy Collins. Lilly Rush and Nick Vera."

"Pleasure to meet you, even under the circumstances," said Collins.

"Bad way to go," said Nick. "Dissatisfied John?"

"That's the theory," said Stillman. "She was found early this morning by another working girl. Coroner places the preliminary time of death at between 10:00 last night and 1:00 this morning."

"So what are we doing here?" Lilly asked. "This isn't a cold case."

"No, but it's related to one," said Collins. "Actually, 5 others. Back in '97."

"I remember that," said Nick. "Five prostitutes all beaten to death between May and July. As I recall they never did find the killer. And they stopped as mysteriously as they started."

"Not so mysterious, apparently," said Stillman. "Collins was the lead detective on those cases. When he heard the call on this one he hurried right over. Apparently they're identical to the murders back then."

"And they stopped because the killer went to prison on an unrelated charge," said Collins.

"You know who did this?" Nick asked.

"His name is Jason Pettigrew," said Collins. "He was a stock broker that worked a few blocks from here. In 1997 he was convicted of vehicular homicide and sent to prison. He got out a couple of months ago."

"And you think he's the same one that did this murder?" Lilly asked.

"He has to be," said Collins. "It's the same signature."

"What signature is that?" Nick asked.

Stillman reached down and pulled the blanket back from the body on the ground. It showed a woman about 20 years of age, dressed in garish clothes, and wearing too much makeup. She was lying in a large pool of blood. Scrawled across her forehead in red was the word "GUILTY".

"That was Pettigrew's signature back in '97," said Collins. "Every one of his victims had the same thing."

"Guilty?" questioned Lilly. "Guilty of what?"

"No idea," said Collins. "Maybe he just doesn't like prostitutes. Or maybe he thought she was trying to gouge him on the price. Who knows? All I can say for sure is that every victim has the same word written on their foreheads."

"You sure this isn't a copy cat killing?" Nick asked.

"We never released the detail of the writing on the forehead to the press," said Collins. "Only the investigating officers and the killer knew about it. And it's the same handwriting as the others. No, this isn't a copy cat. It's Pettigrew back to his old tricks."

"What made you center in on Pettigrew?" Lilly asked.

"It's in the same part of town where he worked," said Pettigrew. "One of the girls we talked to said that he would come down and pick up prostitutes late at night. Probably after he got off work. And his car was seen in the area."

"Did you question him about it?" Stillman asked.

"Yes. He claimed he was heading to a bar nearby. It's owned by a college buddy of his. A Christopher Jackson. Pettigrew claimed he would stop by the bar after work for a couple of hours to drink and talk with his friend. I questioned Jackson and he backed up Pettigrew's story. I could never break his alibi."

"Maybe it's true," said Lilly. "Maybe he was at the bar. That could be why you couldn't break his alibi."

"That's what my lieutenant said," said Collins. "I questioned him several times about the murders. He eventually complained to the department that I was harassing him. My lieutenant finally said that unless I had some solid evidence to implicate him that I had to leave him alone."

"And you never had that evidence?" Lilly asked.

"Not directly, no," said Collins. "But I know it's him. He was less than cooperative. And he claimed he never used prostitutes. But I had witnesses that prove he did. Plus his car was seen in the area on at least 3 nights that the murders took place. When he went to prison the murders suddenly stopped. And like I said, he got out about 2 months ago. He's back working at his old firm and suddenly the murders have started up again. There's no doubt it's him."

"What about other suspects?" Lilly asked. "Anyone else you suspected of the murders?"

"Three others we looked at," said Collins, handing a piece of paper to Lilly. "Daniel Hildebrandt. He was a pimp back then. Two of the girls worked for him. The second was Bruno Kowalski. Small time hood that usually made his living mugging tourists and doing an occasional B & E. And there was Thomas Harrison. He had a record for picking up prostitutes and beating the hell out of them for fun. But he never killed any. And he always did it in the cheap motel rooms he rented."

"Well, if he was beating prostitutes to death he'd have gotten a lot of blood on him," said Nick. "There would probably be at least trace evidence of that blood in his car. You never found anything in his car?"

"Never got the chance to search," said Collins. "I never had enough probable cause to get a warrant. After the 4th girl was found I tailed him for a couple of weeks hoping to get something on him. Until my lieutenant told me to lay off him until and unless I got some evidence. The next night he struck again."

"A couple of weeks later he hit and killed a pedestrian on her way home from work," said Stillman. "He had been drinking and the DA charged him with vehicular homicide. He went to prison after that."

"And the murders stopped," Collins reiterated. "Now that he's out, they've started up again. We need to stop this guy before he does it again. And I'll be honest. I could use some help on this case. I've run out of leads."

"Lil, you and Nick check the old cases," said Stillman. "See if there's anything that Jerry might have missed. Anything that might give us cause for a warrant. It's possible to still find evidence even after six years."

"He still has the same car?" Nick asked.

"Yes," said Collins. "It's been parked in his garage since his conviction. But his wife won't let anyone search it. Claims he didn't kill those girls. She keeps saying I'm harassing him for no reason."

"Okay, we'll check into it," said Lilly. "Anything else you can remember that might help?"

"I'll have to check my notes. I still have them at home. I'll let you know if I come up with anything."

"Thanks," said Lilly.

"John, I'll get back to you," said Collins, looking at his watch. "I guess I'd better go check in. I still have some active case to pursue."

"Thanks, Jerry," said Stillman. "You have my number."

"He seems particularly obsessed with this case," said Lilly as Collins headed out of the alley.

"We've all got cases like that," said Stillman. "Ones that grab hold of us and just won't let go. But if he's right we have a serial killer loose on the streets. We need to get him off the streets before anyone else gets killed.

"Lil, go easy on this one. We don't want Pettigrew to think that we're persecuting him. If he is our killer we don't want him to know we're looking at him for these murders."

"Gotcha, boss," said Lilly. "Come on, Nick. Let's go see what the files on the previous murders can tell us."

Lilly and Nick headed out of the alley toward their car to see what they could find out about the original murders.