About twenty minutes later I arrived at the portrait studio. Lucky for me the owner was still at work. I showed her my badge and said, "I was wondering if I could ask you a question or two?"
"Why not." The owner said almost dismissively. "I've already answered a million questions today. What's a couple more?"
"Thank you! I'm just doing a little follow up to solidify some details." I said pleasantly. "Now did you suggest to Carmen that she leave her locker unlocked?"
She seemed surprised by the question but said, "Yes, I did. I swear that girl would forget her head if it wasn't already attached. Although I did warn her not to leave anything valuable in there just in case." She finished with a smile but her expression quickly changed, "It didn't even dawn on me earlier, all three lockers were locked."
I smiled, "Both facts were what I heard from Carmen and Detective Jameson earlier. Now who was responsible for processing the pictures the team took?"
"They all shared that duty. Honestly because of that they are my best, most efficient team. They're always very prompt in getting proofs back to their clients."
"Is there any record of who took care of which proofs?"
"I could see, do you know a specific set of proofs you're looking for?"
"Let's try the Daniels family." I said giving her the address. "Probably would have been November or early December. I'm sorry I can't be more specific on time."
She punched the information into the computer. "Looks like Carmen took care of them but she made a note here that Tara delivered the proofs to their house. That's weird!"
"What's weird?" I asked expectantly.
"Well we don't usually deliver proofs to people's homes. They normally come back here to look through the proofs."
I quickly jotted down the names and addresses of the other families who were murdered. "Can you check these too?"
"Of course." the owner said. After a couple of minutes she said, "They were all processed by Carmen, the proofs that is, but all had the same note that Tara hand delivered the proofs."
"I'm gonna need Tara's information. I'll need to speak with her." I said anxiously.
"Of course," the owner pulled up her employee info page and printed it out for me. "But the police talked to her earlier. If she had any information I'm sure she would have told them."
"I'm sure too. But as I said before I'm just doing routine follow up. Thank you for your help." I said before I ran to my car.
The killer rang the doorbell at the Mastro house. She was a little nervous because there was a police car across the street but she couldn't back down now. Her plan was in motion.
The wife answered the door, "Tara, how nice to see you again. What can I do for you?"
"I have your proofs ready." She said with a smile. "If you'd like we can look over them now and I can get your final copies processed tonight."
"Oh that would be wonderful." Mrs. Mastro replied. "Come on in, I'll get my husband and daughter."
"Great!" Tara, the killer, said with a smile.
I ran by Tara's house but no one was home. I surprised myself a bit with my next call. "Madison, it's Ashley."
"Detective, what a surprise. What can I do for you?"
"Can your friend run a name for me?" I wasn't really sure why I trusted Madison enough to ask for help but it seemed like the best option at the moment. The lab guys would give me the run around since I wasn't on the case anymore and I needed answers quickly.
"What's the name?"
"Tara Winters." I also rattled of her address and social security number. "I just need any information he can find on this lady."
"No problem, I've already sent the information to my friend. He should have some information back in about ten minutes or so. I'll call you back as soon as he sends me anything."
"Thank you Madison, I owe you." I didn't like saying that but she was helping me out.
"You're welcome." Madison said then thought to add, "Just hear Spencer out when she finds you, okay?"
"What?" Why did it seem like everyone was confusing me today. This is why I don't normally take time off, my brain turns to dumb way to quickly.
"I talked to Spencer a little bit ago and she was upset about something that went down between you and her earlier. Just hear her out." Madison informed me.
"Sure, no problem." I answered, not really sure what else to say. "I'll talk to you soon."
Tara looked around the living room while she waited for the family. She thought this room was as good as any. She hated rushing things but she didn't have much time to create this masterpiece. She laid the proofs out on the coffee table and pulled it closer to the couch to set the stage.
"Found them!" Mrs. Mastro smiled and pointed to her husband and daughter. "They were playing video games in the basement."
Tara smiled, "I set the proofs up. Have a seat and look them over."
They sat down just as she had hoped, with the daughter between the two parents. Tara walked behind them, pulled out her gun which she had outfitted with a silencer and quickly shot each one in the back of the head. She watched them closely for a few minutes to make sure all three were dead.
When she was satisfied she circled the couch and made sure all three were sitting upright facing the TV. She turned on Animal Planet and took her bag into the bathroom. She carefully took off her clothes, wrapped them up and washed off any blood she had on her skin. She didn't want to give the police outside any hint about what had just happened inside the house. Then from her bag she pulled out clean clothes, identical to the ones she had just taken off and got dressed. She put the bloody clothes and the gun in her bag then went back to the living room. She snapped a few pictures of her final masterpiece then headed for the door. It was time for her to claim her perfect family.
Though I wanted to wait for this woman to get home, it was getting late and I had told Aiden I'd meet his new girlfriend tonight. I went back and forth about it in my head, finally deciding to wait another five minutes or so. Just before I decided to leave my phone rang, "What did he find out Madison?"
"Well nothing for the last five years on Tara Winters." She said.
"That's a good thing right?"
"Actually no Ash, Tara Winters died five years ago in a car accident in Chicago."
It took me a few moments to process this information. If Tara Winters died five years ago then whose face was I looking at on the paper the owner of the studio gave me. Suddenly it clicked and I blurted out, "The killer, shit!"
"What about the killer?" Madison asked.
"I know who she is, sort of. She was posing as Tara Winters and she works at the portrait studio. I gotta go Madison."
"But Ash…" was all I heard before I hung up on Madison. I quickly snapped a picture of the employee photo and sent it to the Captain then called him.
"Found anyth…"
"Capt I just sent you a picture. Check with Haley or Jameson and see if she's one of the other women from the studio."
"I can't Ash. We just got word there's been another family killed, they're heading out to the scene right now. From the sound of it, our killer is still out there."
"Shit." I said wondering what to do next. "Check with…"
"Carmen? Just thought of that myself. Hold on." I heard him open a door and heard a chair move. Probably Will getting up to say something. "Look I just need to know, do you recognize this woman Carmen?" The Captain asked.
Without hesitation I heard Carmen answer, "Yeah that's Tara. I work with her. Why?"
"Thank you!" he said to her then started talking to me, as he walked out of the interrogation room I assumed. "Is this woman a better suspect Davies?"
"Yes sir, especially because the real Tara Winters died five years ago in Chicago."
"Shit. I'll put a BOLO out on her. I'm gonna need you here Ash, ASAP."
"Sorry but not a chance Capt. This woman killed another family and she's got it in for mine. I'm going home." I didn't even wait for a response, I just hung up then dialed Aiden's number.
"Hey Ash, you on your way home?" he asked.
"Yeah I am. I need you to go around the house and make sure every door and window is locked. Don't let anyone in until I get there."
"Carmen didn't do it then, hey?"
"No and I know who did, at least I know what she looks like. I'm gonna send you a picture. If you see her take Bash and hide in the basement immediately. From there call the police and get the gun that's locked up down there."
"No problem, just get home safe Ash."
"I will, I'm about ten minutes away." I hung up, pulled over and sent him the picture hoping Tara, or whoever she was didn't show her face at least until after I got home.
Tara entered Ashley's house without any issues. The cops outside knew her as Aiden's girlfriend so they simply nodded when she approached their car, conversed for a few moments then let her walk to the house. Aiden welcomed her into the house with loving arms. He had no clue of her plans but she was sure he would approve. He had taken Ashley to court to get full custody of their son so why wouldn't he approve of her ultimate plan?
After only a couple minutes Aiden's phone rang and he said, "I have to take this, it's Ashley. Bash is in his room if you want to see what he's up to or just say hi. I'll be in my room, I'm not sure how long this will take."
"Okay." Tara said with a smile. Once he closed his door she went to Sebastian's bedroom.
"Bash honey, do you want to help me start dinner?" Tara said with a warm smile.
Sebastian looked up from his Lego's and said, "Yeah! I always help my Mommy cook. And she's coming for dinner so she'll be happy I helped!"
"I know Ashley will be here so we should get started little man."
As he eagerly walked into the kitchen Tara pulled out a small needle.
Once in the kitchen Bash turned to the killer and asked, "What are we making?" He was confused because he saw no food on the counters.
"Nothing yet honey." She said as she stepped up to him, placed her hand over his mouth and plunged the syringe into his neck. She picked him up before he could crumble to the floor. He was just unconscious, not dead.
Once she placed him in the basement she went back upstairs with a fresh syringe in hand.
Aiden walked into the kitchen moments after she got up the stairs, "I just have to check a text then I'm all yours." He said to his girlfriend.
She wasn't sure what he was doing so she hesitated.
When Aiden saw the picture Ashley had sent him a look of disbelief crossed his face. After a few moments a look of horror settled on his face as he looked at his girlfriend. "You're the family kill..."
He didn't finish his statement because Tara had jumped at him and injected him with the same sedative she had just injected Bash with, just a higher dosage.
Once he was out she dragged him down and placed him next to his son, soon to be their son, in the basement.
She had hoped to sedate their stupid dog as well to avoid any complications but she couldn't find the mangy mutt, she hated pets! And given the fact that Ashley had discovered her fake identity, apparent from the text to Aiden, she wasn't sure she had time to search for the little twenty some pound dog. She knew the cat lived upstairs with Ashley so she just hoped the dog was either upstairs for some reason or was too much of a wimp to make an appearance. The dog had avoided her on her previous visits to the house so hopefully that rang true today as well. She didn't need any unexpected surprises.
She needed to prepare herself for her showdown with Ashley. Tara figured seeing Sebastian and Aiden unconcious would probably throw Ashley off her game a bit but she did not want to underestimate her foe.
"Make sure you bag and tag all these proof sheets on the coffee table." Haley barked orders at the CSU guys.
"Do you really think this is the same person?" Jameson asked Haley.
Haley shrugged, "Could be but this seems too rushed. All three victims were shot. At the other scenes only one was shot."
"Detectives, you may want to see this." one of the crime scene techs said.
Haley and Jameson walked over and looked at the sheet of proofs the guy was holding up.
"Son of a bitch!" Jameson said.
Haley immediately replied, "We need to get to Ashley's house, now!"
The sheet of proofs in question were pictures of Ashley and Sebastian. Some of the pictures had an x drawn over Ashley's face. This seemed to be a likely message about the killers next destination, Ashley's house. Her and her family were in immediate danger!
