It's been raining non-stop for days, and I managed to use the time to write several chapters ahead. I could wait, but why not put up another chapter now that the sun is shining again? Read on dear readers...
Dead Ringer
Chapter 4
Just A Feeling
Jane let his mind wander over the information discovered at the latest crime scene. A nurse had been killed. Why? Who would want her dead? What did she know that was so dangerous to someone that she had to be silenced? Or was it a crime of passion committed by a jilted lover? Was it a sexual assault gone horribly wrong? The autopsy would reveal answers to that question. What was the lifestyle of the nurse? A rush of new questions flooded Jane's mind.
"Wylie, what do we know about the nurse so far? We're missing something here."
"Sure...ahh...Susannah Moore. She was employed full time at the Litchfield Psychiatric Home. Worked there for six months…"
"Only six months and she's dead?"
"Well, yes. She was single, never married, devoted to helping people apparently. Had a clean employment record. Professional, organized. Came home from working in a Houston hospital to take care of her elderly mother, Beth Moore. Took a job at Litchfield. "
"How old was she?"
"Fifty-seven. Why Jane?"
Jane looked out of his window at the countryside rolling by. This nurse should have been the last person to be someone's enemy. And at her age, not the first choice for a young lothario with an ego bigger than his brain. Not a sexual issue then…
"At fifty-seven, her career is set. She has generated a good reputation and is at the top of her game professionally. Unless she was remarkably beautiful and rich, especially rich, she wouldn't be a target for a gigolo. I don't think she was killed because of an angry ex-boyfriend. She must have known something that was dangerous to someone else's sense of security."
"Agreed. What about the others?" Wylie asked, always keen to see how Jane's mental process worked.
"The pharmacist, Bill Palley, male, 62 years old. The first one killed and displayed at a baseball diamond, on home plate. Head bashed in with a bat. The killer left him so that he would be discovered when the local team showed up to play a game."
Jane grimaced at the mental picture of the poor man draped across home plate like a bloody trophy.
"I hope kids didn't find him" Wylie said, imagining their shock and horror at the grisly sight.
"Nope, the groundskeeper found him at 6:30 am, long before the kids turned up" Jane assured Wylie.
"Both women died from cyanide poisoning but the pharmacist died from a blow to the head. So why is he lumped in with the women? How do we know he was killed by the same perp?" Wylie asked sensibly. "Two women wouldn't be considered the work of a serial killer."
"No idea why the killer changed his methods. Since Palley died from a crushed skull, he wasn't immediately linked to the other murders. When the other two women showed up displayed in public places, his murder fit that profile. The killer can't help himself. He needs to show off."
"D'ya think he'll kill again using a third method? Maybe the cyanide was just a something to try out and he'll move on to another method, given time and opportunity" Wylie thought out loud. "Who knows how many people are helping this guy."
"Mmmm...maybe..good question Jason. But this is the work of one person. I'm sure of it. When we find out how all three deaths are linked, we'll have our killer" Jane said with assurance.
"What about the student nurse Jane? She was home to visit her parents. Who could have known she was coming? Did someone take her just because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, or did someone have a vendetta against her too?"
Jane shook his head, no answer to give to his young companion. If no one knew Carrie Klein was in town, how could he have planned to kill her?
"By now some of the family and friends of the victims have been re-interviewed since this is the case of a serial killer on the loose. We need to see those interviews. The key is in there somewhere" Jane proposed, feeling certain he was right. A clue was there, it just had to see the light of day.
As if in response to Jane's comment, Wylie unconsciously hit the gas pedal, the urge to return to the office and dig deeper into this mystery his first priority.
When Jane and Wylie stepped into the bullpen, it was a hive of activity. Several new agents had transferred in from other departments and were checking the large overhead screens that displayed details of the murders and photos of the deceased. It reminded Jane of the procedure boards back in the days of the CBI. While digital files were fast, staring into the faces of their victims did something on a more visceral level to motivate the team. As he stood reading the newest information that had been uploaded, Lisbon found Jane and tapped his arm.
"Hi" he smiled, running his hand across her back in greeting. "Anything new?"
"Not too much. Cho decided to put up this digital display to see if anything new shakes out. The widow of Palley, the pharmacist, was re-interviewed in light of the newest murder, but she's not very much help. She's in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease - early onset - so her facts are a bit scrambled. His kids don't live in Markdale anymore so they don't know anything. Unless Mrs. Palley can focus more clearly on the recent past, she can't be of much use to us."
"Huh...I can speak to her if that would help" Jane offered. Perhaps a bit of surreptitious hypnotism could bring back some of her memories. "What about the student nurse's family? Has anyone spoken to them today?"
"Cho just asked me to go out with someone. Want to come with me?" Lisbon suggested, knowing full well Jane would say yes.
"Let me grab a cup of tea and then we can go" Jane agreed. Lisbon followed him to the kitchen and poured herself a coffee in a travel mug while Jane brewed himself a tea to go. While never as tasty as a cup of tea in his favourite blue cup, it was better than the swill he was forced to drink out of a foam cup from a gas station on the road. Lisbon watched his tea making ritual, knowing it calmed Patrick and let him think about his upcoming task in a more focussed manner. When he threw away the tea bag and screwed on the lid of his travel mug, he turned to her with a smile and guided her towards the elevator with his hand in the small of her back. Such small gestures meant the world to Lisbon. It kept both of them grounded and unified on a day like this.
"Let's grab some lunch to go from the deli down the street" Lisbon suggested, seeing how the morning had flown by without much thought for lunch.
"Deal" smiled Jane, his stomach rumbling already.
On the way downstairs, Lisbon filled Jane in on the little information Mrs. Palley could remember from the last year. Her husband had been the first to die, and she had not recovered from the shock of his death. She fervently believed he had no enemies and that his death was an accident. He had been planning to meet someone to discuss medications the day he disappeared. That's all she could remember from that horrible day. He had worked in his pharmacy for the last 35 years and knew everyone in town. According to her, everyone was his friend and if you had a beef with him, it was very soon rectified.
"Mrs. Palley said her husband had no real problems with any particular patients. He also dealt with the local small hospital and Litchfield Psychiatric Hospital, the only private mental health facility in the region. He supplied their pharmaceuticals and had a great relationship with Dr. David Litchfield, the administrator and chief psychiatrist."
"So he was beloved by all" Jane said with a touch of sarcasm. "Isn't that what people always say of the dead? Everybody loved him?"
"Well, maybe it's true sometimes Jane! Don't be such a cynic!" Teresa teased him.
"Sorry, can't help it in this business. The idol usually turns out to have feet of clay."
"Let's hope not" Lisbon added as she stepped into the elevator.
As they walked to the parking lot, Jane wanted to know if the autopsy report had come in yet.
"Too soon, it's only been a few hours since Susannah Moore was found in Markdale."
"When that report comes in, I want to read it, and the autopsy findings for Palley and Carrie Klein. There has to be something there that links all three victims" Jane said with conviction.
"We can read the first two when we get back to the office. By the time we wade through all that, perhaps the autopsy will be completed on Miss Moore" Lisbon suggested.
Once in the SUV, Jane regaled Teresa with the details of his trip to Markdale with Wylie. While not a lot was revealed, he felt it had not been a wasted trip. Perhaps the parents of young Carrie Klein could shed some light on her last days alive in Markdale. Many of the answers the FBI needed were in that sleepy small city.
An hour later Jane and Lisbon stood on the front porch of a well maintained Victorian house in a leafy suburb of Markdale. After ringing the doorbell a few times, they stepped off the porch and walked around to the back of the house. There they found Mr. and Mrs. Klein, tending to a small garden. It looked relatively new, and featured a petite statue of an angel in the middle of a profusion of bright flowers. A memorial to the daughter lost to them forever.
"Mr. and Mrs. Klein?" Lisbon said softly so as not to startle them.
"Yes? Can we help you?" Mr. Klein asked.
"Hello. I'm Agent Teresa Lisbon Jane of the Austin FBI, and this is our Consultant, Patrick Jane. I wonder if you would let us ask you a few questions about your daughter Carrie?"
Mrs. Klein twisted a tissue in her fingers and seemed instantly distraught. "We already spoke to so many police officers, and nothing ever happened. They didn't catch that devil who took away my baby girl!" she said in grief.
"Now now sweetie, please, don't get worked up" her husband consoled her, putting his arm protectively around her shoulders.
Turning to Jane and Lisbon, Mr. Klein offered them chairs by a small table on the patio.
"You must understand, we've been through a terrible tragedy, and we just need to put it behind us. Unless you came to give us the good news that someone has been arrested for killing our daughter, I don't see what we have to talk about" he explained kindly.
"Unless you've suffered the loss of a child, you can't possibly know how we feel" said Mrs. Klein bitterly, her eyes searching Jane's and Lisbon's. "All your talk about finding this evil person is just talk. It's different when it's your child You'd try harder to find him!" she sobbed, breaking down in frustration.
Jane dropped his head and took a deep breath, not daring to speak for a moment. Teresa saw the distress on Patrick's face. It would always be this way, no matter how many years passed since Charlotte died and Red John had moldered to dust in the ground. Then Jane spoke up and surprised her.
"Mrs. Klein, I do know how you feel" he began before she cut him off.
"You can't possibly know how we feel so don't tell me any lies Agent Jane!"
Jane squared his shoulders and took Mrs. Klein's hand in his, caressing it soothingly.
"I lost my daughter Charlotte to a madman when she was just a little girl. She and her mother both died that day. I do know how you feel, and we will do everything we can to bring your daughter's killer to justice" he added, now wanting to move on.
Mrs. Klein stopped her sobbing and felt like a fool and a cruel one at that. Of course she wasn't the only one to ever lose a loved one. She felt ashamed of having put this nice man in such a difficult position.
"Forgive me...I'm sorry…" she said softly while her husband put his arm around her shoulder again.
Lisbon broke the tension and carried on.
"We're sorry to have to bring this up again, but there's been another murder and we feel that perhaps you could know something that would help to catch this killer. We believe the latest murder was committed by the same person who killed Carrie" Lisbon informed them.
"We told the detectives everything we know" Mr. Klein reiterated. "What more could we tell you?"
Jane spoke softly to Mrs. Klein. He had to get control of his emotions.
"Tell us about Carrie" Jane said, still stroking Mrs. Klein's hand. "Tell me what she was like, who she was friends with. She decided to become a nurse. Why did she choose that profession when there are so many new and unusual jobs out there now" he said soothingly.
Mrs. Klein smiled bleakley and put her other free hand over Jane's. This is what she needed. She needed to tell someone about her beautiful daughter, to have someone who was interested and wouldn't try to console her for once. Just to listen without interruption.
"Oh Carrie was...she was such a sweet girl. An old soul we always said" she said softly, turning to smile at her husband.
"Carrie would always be bringing little animals home. A bird with a damaged wing, a frog who was in the middle of the lawn and she thought had lost his way home. Once she brought home a kitten with its tail all mangled. She cried and cried over the cruelty someone had inflicted on that poor creature. We ended up keeping that cat until it died of old age. Taking care of people and animals was just in her nature. She had a lot of friends, good kids, never a bit of trouble from any of them. Carrie volunteered at a nursing home as soon as she was old enough and got her community service hours for high school that way, but she would have done it anyway. She also worked during the summer at the local hospital as a nurse's aide, helping with the old folks and babies. The kids in the pediatric department just loved her too. I think that's when she decided to go into nursing after she graduated from high school. She also spent a couple of weeks every summer helping out at the Litchfield Psychiatric Home and really liked Dr. Litchfield. Said he was doing really good work there."
"It seems like she would have been a wonderful nurse" said Lisbon. "My mother was a nurse. They're special people."
"Yes they are" said Mr. Klein in support.
"When your daughter came home to visit this time, did she tell anyone in advance she was coming home?" asked Jane.
Both of her parents stared at each other in consternation.
"I don't think so, no" said Carrie's mother. "She just called us that morning and said she felt homesick and could she come over from Dallas where she was in training."
"Of course we said yes" added her father. "It was a last minute decision and she left for home as soon as school was done for the day. I really don't think she told anyone else but us."
Jane nodded thoughtfully. "And once she got here? Did she hook up with an old boyfriend? Did she go out with school friends or stay close to home?"
"Oh all of her friends are away at school out of state" explained Mrs. Klein. "And Carrie never had a steady boyfriend in high school. She was just too busy to date much, but not for lack of boys asking her out. She spent the first night home around the house, and the next day laying in the sun, raiding the fridge" she said with a sad smile. "The next day, Sunday, she said she wanted to drop in at the nursing home to see if any of the old folks would remember her. They meant that much to Carrie."
"Did she go there?" asked Lisbon.
"Oh yes, she did. After the funeral, the nursing home staff told us they were so happy to see her again. But, she died that Sunday night. Whatever she did after she left the nursing home, we don't know, even to this day. It's still a mystery to us" her Dad said in anguish.
"How did she get to the nursing home?"
"I drove her. Then she said she would take the bus and go downtown and shop a bit at some local stores before coming home for supper" Mr. Klein explained.
"I made all her favourites...and a cake! A double chocolate devil's food cake" said Mrs. Klein with a faint smile, seeing the food sitting on the table, growing cold when Carrie never returned that night.
"And then? Did Carrie call you while she was out?" Lisbon prodded gently.
"No. She must have been busy shopping...or something..we didn't hear from her again" said Mr. Klein while his wife wiped her eyes silently. "Her cell phone was never recovered."
"Is there a possibility she went to visit some other old friends, co-workers from the past, after she left the nursing home?" Jane asked, hoping for a breakthrough.
"Well of course she could have. She could have gone to see Dr. Litchfield I guess, but he says she didn't. So, maybe she looked up some kids from high school...I don't know anymore" her father said with frustration.
"Ok, just asking" Lisbon said soothingly. Mr. Klein was now the one getting upset as old memories came rushing back.
"What I don't understand is why her killer did what he did to her. He didn't just kill Carrie. He left her on the front steps of her old high school, leaning against the front doors. Who does something that sick?"
"That's what we're going to find out. That's what unites all three victims. Whoever did this to them wanted to make trophies of them, to personalize their deaths. In some twisted way, he was showcasing them" Jane explained.
Mr. Klein shook his head in disgust. Such people didn't deserve to be called human.
"You've both been so helpful, thank you for talking to us" Jane said, standing up and reaching for Lisbon's hand. She was surprised he ended the conversation so abruptly, but, it was Jane and he had his methods.
"Yes, thank you. We won't take up any more of your time" smiled Teresa.
"You'll tell us if you find out something, anything?" begged Mrs. Klein, reaching for Jane's hand.
"I hope the next time we speak, we'll have the news that you've been waiting for. We'll stay in touch" Jane promised, meaning it.
"Oh...okay...thank you" mumbled Mrs. Klein, not sure that they had really been of any help, but these people seemed to care about Carrie. Maybe they would finally find their daughter's murderer.
Jane and Lisbon made their way back to the SUV and sat for a few moments before Lisbon turned the key to pull away from the curb. She looked at Jane a few times, waiting for him to speak. Something had happened. He had discovered something, sensed something.
Frustrated that he hadn't spoken after 5 long silent minutes, Teresa finally had to ask.
"Well? What did you figure out back there?"
"Nothing. At least maybe nothing...not sure yet" Jane mumbled, his finger busily tapping his lower lip. Such an obvious tell to Lisbon, she knew that he wasn't exactly telling the truth.
"Jane...what's going on? Play nice and share with the class!" she cajoled him.
Jane turned his gaze to his lovely wife and smiled at her. She knew him all too well.
"It's too early to say...but I have a feeling. We need to talk to Susannah Moore's mother. And Mrs. Palley. Then I'll know if my hunch is worth anything."
Knowing she wouldn't get any more out of Jane, Teresa let the subject of his 'feeling' drop and switched on the radio for some soothing jazz. A bit of calm before dealing with more distraught people was just what they needed.