Chapter 10: Vespers
The warm yellow light pouring from the windows of the house looked cozy and inviting through the heavy gray evening rain. Yelina opened the door just as Horatio reached it. "Come in," she said.
There were two cups of hot tea on the coffee table. "Thank you," he said as she handed one to him. "You have some information?"
"To start with, Hadrian King is not the killer. He was in D.C. during the time of both murders, and only got here a few days ago, right after Internal Affairs started investigating."
"You've been doing your homework on this case," Horatio noted with approval.
"I still have friends in the police department."
"What else did you find out about him?"
"Not much. What I could piece together I got from calling in some favors, not all of it was necessarily strictly legal. He's worked out of FBI offices in D.C., New Jersey, and Puerto Rico. He's originally from California, joined the Army right out of high school. In 2002 he went to Chile. There's no record of him after that until May of 2004, when he arrived at Washington Dulles International on a plane from Madrid."
"Chile and Spain. So Agent King may know Spanish."
"Seems likely. Is that significant?"
"It may be. Any idea what he was doing those two years?"
"I can tell you his trip from Madrid to D.C. looks like it may have been paid for by the State Department. He went to work for the FBI three months later."
"That's a telling coincidence. Did you find out why he came to Miami?"
"I can tell you that, while he was working in New Jersey, the FBI began investigating a series of seemingly accidental deaths of young Hispanic men in the area. The deaths were flagged as a possible serial killer, but the cases were never solved. King transferred to Puerto Rico shortly after similar deaths began occurring there. After they stopped he went to D.C."
"So that's why he's here now; he's following a serial killer."
"That's my guess. But why do you think he didn't tell you?"
"That is a good question."
As soon as Horatio left Yelina's house, his cellphone buzzed with a text message.
I assume you have some questions, the text read.
Horatio didn't recognize the number, but could guess it was from King. That meant the FBI agent was keeping track of him, which didn't surprise him. He replied with an address and a time.
Alexx Woods was clearing the table after a family dinner when she heard her doorbell.
"I'll get it," her husband called from the living room.
A minute later, an unexpected but welcome face appeared.
"Hope I'm not coming at a bad time."
"It's never a bad time to see you, Eric," Alexx assured him, giving him a quick hug. "How have you been doing? How's Calleigh?"
Eric smiled. He'd always liked Alexx, just like everyone else in the lab, but when their former M.E. saved Calleigh's life, his affection for her had grown. "We're doing great," he said, not sure whether she'd guessed they were together.
"I'd love to have the two of you over for dinner sometime."
"We'd like that," Eric replied before holding up the folder in his hand. "But I'm not here to catch up tonight. We're working on a case, and there was something I wanted to run by you."
"Sure. Come on into the living room and have a seat."
Eric took out autopsy photos of the two victims. "About a month ago, Pedro Quiroga drowned in scuba gear. Last week, another man, Freeman Lara, died in a fall from his apartment window, apparent suicide."
"And you want a second opinion?" she asked, taking both photos.
"Not quite," Eric smiled. "Dr. Price isn't you, but she's good. I trust her on the COD. The thing is, it's starting to look like their deaths are connected."
"They look like they could be brothers," Alexx remarked.
"They're not. As far as we can tell, there's nothing connecting the victims at all. The first victim isn't even from Miami; he lived in Fort Lauderdale. H and I are starting to think this could be the work of a serial killer."
Alexx looked at him, waiting to hear why he'd brought this to her.
"These deaths looked like an accident and a suicide, so if they were murdered, the killer knew how to cover his tracks. I was wondering if you can remember seeing any other cases like this: young Hispanic men whose deaths didn't look like murder."
"Honey, I've seen too many of those cases." She examined the photos again, pensively. "But come to think of it, there are a few this reminds me of. I'll have to go digging, but there was a poor boy shot in the head—this was years ago. It was ruled a suicide, but he did have a resemblance to these two. I don't remember the details, but there was something about the case that made Frank Tripp upset. Rosendo," she said abruptly. "That was the young man's name. Rosendo Gutierez."
"I'll look up the case. Thank you, Alexx."
"Any time."
After leaving Alexx's house, Eric went straight back to the lab. He had a feeling he wouldn't be getting much sleep.
The small Catholic church was empty this time of night. Hadrian King's footsteps echoed on the floor as he walked through it, coming to a stop in front of the altar.
"I'm not going to pretend I don't suspect why you asked to meet me here," he said without looking around.
Horatio stepped out of the shadowy recess where he'd been waiting. "You seem to have a need for secrecy, and I've always found churches a good place for confessions."
King finally turned to him. "Confessions won't be necessary, but explanations are in order. I know you've had your sister-in-law look into my background. What you may not know is that I've been looking into yours. I know about your father."
"That doesn't really matter now," Horatio said.
"It does, though for reasons you might not expect." He turned toward the altar again, and continued quietly. "By now you've figured out Lara and Quiroga are the latest victims of a serial killer."
Horatio, stepping up beside him, nodded. "You've been tracking this serial killer for years, in New Jersey and in Puerto Rico. What I don't know is why you didn't inform my team of this as soon as you realized it was the same killer."
"With this killer, it's hard to know for sure that these deaths are even related. He's extremely careful, and extremely smart. It was a statistician compiling data on household accidents in the Tri-State region who began to suspect there was a serial killer, from a statistically improbable number of young men who died in accidents after being missing for a few days. This killer chooses victims from low socio-economic demographics: illegal immigrants, day-laborers, unemployed. All of them have been single, divorced, or separated. At all of the crime scenes, there has been little or no forensic evidence of another person present. Of the cases in the Tri-State area, our analysts have determined eight deaths almost certainly caused by this killer, and thirteen more possibles. They started in 2003. The pattern wasn't noticed until 2006. The FBI released a statement asking for information about the killer, whom a newspaper in Newark began calling the Misadventure Killer after an FBI spokesperson said many of the murders had been classified 'death by misadventure.' As soon as the papers broke the story, the killings stopped."
"Until they started again in Puerto Rico."
King nodded. "We alerted FBI offices around the country to be on the lookout for the pattern. When San Juan reported an increase in the number of young men found dead days after being reported missing, I went there to head the investigation. This time, we tried to keep it out of the papers, but one police officer leaked the story, and the killing stopped again. We believe there were five victims in Puerto Rico."
"And now two in Miami."
"You see why I chose not to inform your lab," he said. "I had to make sure I could trust you. It's imperative that we keep this investigation out of the media. If the Misadventure Killer thinks we're onto him, he'll disappear again. The only chance we have of catching him is making sure he doesn't know we're getting close."
"You're the one who called the community center in Fort Lauderdale."
King confirmed what he'd suspected. "We learned in New Jersey that this killer will travel across county and state lines to hunt for victims. I called various Spanish-affiliated community organizations in the area around Miami until I found a match for John Doe."
"And you insisted that Eric follow up on it while sending Calleigh on what you already knew would be a dead end because..."
"Looking into your team's background led me to believe that CSI Delko, like you, is good at keeping things to himself."
"No one on my team would allow information that could compromise a case to get out."
"That's not what I heard."
"Well, you can't believe everything you hear."
"I don't." King glanced at him. "That's why I checked for myself."
Horatio nodded. "Fair enough. But now that you trust me, how much do we know about the Misadventure Killer?"
"No eyewitnesses have come forward, so we don't know what he looks like. Because most of the victims have been Spanish-speaking, and most serial killers target victims of their own race, our profilers have determined the killer is likely Hispanic. He's intelligent and possibly well-educated, but not wealthy. Miami's large Hispanic population makes it a perfect place for the killer to blend in. There have been no signs of rape or torture, but the murders likely have some sexual component. The killer varies the mode of death too much for the murder itself to be the primary release."
"So the killer commits the murders to cover up something else?"
"Or as a means to some other end," King replied. "Some of the earlier victims showed bruising from restraints around their wrists and ankles. Only one of the Puerto Rico victims had similar bruises. The killer has become better at avoiding leaving physical evidence. He's obviously an organized killer, so he probably uses a murder kit, and a vehicle to transport his victims to wherever it is he keeps them. The time between kills varies, as does the length of time the victims are kept, which has ranged from two to six days. The Misadventure Killer has so far avoided making the mistake of leaving a single fingerprint, footprint, or hair he can be identified by."
"The Misadventure Killer, Mr. King," Horatio paused like he did when he put on sunglasses, "made the mistake of coming to Miami."