Chapter 11
Jesse delighted in recounting his teasing of Steve the previous night as he sat with Amanda and Mark on the deck of the beach house.
"You are so cruel!" Amanda slapped his thigh and gave him one of her toughest glares.
"He saw the funny side" Jesse pleaded, "but I'm not so sure about Cheryl. And if there's one thing you don't want to do, it's get on the wrong side of a woman who carries a gun."
"I think you're safe" Mark told him. "When I called in after my shift last night things seemed to be going…...pretty well" he smiled.
Amanda raised her eyebrows expectantly but Mark could be drawn no further on the topic. "Well if you aren't going to spill any beans I may have to see if Cheryl wants to participate in a little girl talk sometime."
"I think Cheryl has more than 'girl talk' on her mind right now" Mark reminded her.
"Have they found out anymore about Emily Waters?" Jesse asked.
Mark shook his head, "The other detectives on the case, Crowther and Boardman I think their names are, they're working with Reynolds the FBI guy on Emily Waters for now. They've asked Cheryl and Steve to go back to the first three victims, see if they can come up with a connection."
"Steve's not overdoing it I hope?" Amanda shot Mark a concerned look.
"No he's being pretty sensible about things. He knows how tired he can get and when he should take a break, and Cheryl is keeping an eye on him. I think he's just pleased to be involved a little bit more y'know, he's worked this case so long."
"And it gives him something other than his illness to occupy his mind" Jesse pointed out.
Mark smiled "exactly. I just hope those two are making some progress."
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Cheryl shuffled through the pile of papers on the table until she found what she was looking for. "Here" she held the sheet in front of Steve's face and pointed to a line of text. "Valerie Shome made a cash withdrawal the morning before she was killed, $200. And if you look back here" she picked up another sheet "$200 two weeks previous, and two weeks before that."
"So she had a pattern of withdrawing money, a lot of people do. Maybe she did a big grocery shop every fortnight. And don't forget there was a lot of cash around the house, the husband was sure nothing had been taken in fact." Steve winced. He was slightly propped up in his bed today, half way between sitting and lying. The machine by his side hummed. "How long have I been on this?" he asked impatiently.
Cheryl glanced at her watch, "an hour gone, an hour to go. We can leave this stuff if you are tired."
"No, I'm fine" he smiled convincingly. "Back to Valerie Shome's financial habits."
"We can pretty much rule out robbery or burglary," Cheryl continued "but those trinkets have to mean something, and Valerie Shome's doll came with a quarter stitched into it."
"Motives for murder" Steve announced.
"Excuse me?" Cheryl shot him a puzzled glance.
"Back to basics, what are the main motives for murder?"
"Greed" Cheryl started
Steve thought for a moment. "Valerie Shome and Emily Waters both had money in the house but nothing was taken. Genie Anderson and Katriona Bennet were both on low incomes. No ransom notes or blackmail plots." Cheryl nodded her agreement. "OK, how about some good old fashioned lust?" Steve grinned.
"One track mind Sloan" Cheryl chided him.
"As a motive for murder" he reminded her, trying his best to look innocent.
"OK, I'll take this one" she replied. "Ahh,…lust, well we've got four very different looking women if you are talking physical lust, different ages too. No signs of sexual assault prior to the murder, and nothing about the mutilation sexual orientated either." She paused, "if our murderer was lusting after them emotionally speaking, it would suggest much more prior knowledge of the victims. He'd have to know their personality, and again, they were all quite different in that respect."
"And how would he meet them to get to know them, they didn't share any social circles or activities?" Steve added.
"So is lust in or out?" Cheryl asked, motioning her hands up and down like the pans of a balance.
"You never know what floats some people's boats so we have to leave it as a maybe."
"Revenge?"
"All we've heard is that these women never hurt anybody, no enemies" Steve jumped in.
"So if it's a past indiscretion that our guy is out to avenge, the family and friends aren't going to be able to help us much." Cheryl concluded.
"Anger goes with revenge in that case. Nobody had a right to be angry with these women as far as we know." Steve pondered for a moment. "Greed, lust, anger, revenge" he murmured. "This wasn't self defence, that's for sure. How about he's proving a point?"
"Then we are screwed because the only point he's proved to me is that he's random and psychotic."
"That's very politically incorrect" Steve warned his partner. "We don't know it's a he and whoever it is could be very sane, just very very evil."
"What do we know about evil?" Cheryl wondered out loud.
Steve blew a long breath through pursed lips. "Evil's a tough one. Evil and psychotic and deluded. Introduce any one of those and we could be here forever."
"So lets go back to the trinkets" Cheryl suggested as Steve's little game had provided no answers. "The money has us stumped, how about Genie's bottle top?" As Cheryl spoke those words Steve's mind drifted off. Cheryl continued, unaware "What's the significance of a bottle top? She was a student, enjoyed going out with her friends, drinking. But the top was from a soft drink, not alcoholic." She finally noticed Steve wasn't listening, "Steve, you still with me here?"
"Yeah, thought I had something for a second but it's gone."
Cheryl shuffled through the papers again. "She had a part time job at a second hand bookstore." There was a long pause as she played through a scene in her mind. "Do you remember going to that bookstore?"
"Yeah, I remember it, lot of students hanging around the place."
"And they had a section where you could just sit and read." Steve shot Cheryl a puzzled look. "Stay with me" she told him "they served drinks and snacks there too, right? It wasn't quite a café but a lot of those kids were hanging around, browsing the books and having a drink. Genie's bottle top could be in reference to her being a sort of waitress. What are you smiling at?"
"You said it again. 'Genie's bottle top'. That's when something clicked before. What if that bottle top was literally Genie's? As in it belonged to her, and our guy was giving her it back?"
Cheryl leant forward and rubbed her fingers across her lips, unconvinced. "And Valerie's coin belonged to her and he was giving it back?"
"We'd need some context for it" Steve admitted, realising his partner couldn't yet see a connection.
"Valerie dropped the coin and he found it" Cheryl suggested. Though as partners they'd often had different ideas on cases, she and Steve had always worked well together, following one another's lead when necessary, and playing devils advocate when appropriate. "Or maybe she gave it to him directly" she shrugged.
"A vagrant?" Steve was thinking out loud more than suggesting it as a possibility.
"A charity collector, a tip if he's a waiter or something like that."
"Remind me to be more generous with my tipping" Steve smirked.
"OK, we can give the coin some sort of loose context, and the bottle top too. How about the map we found with Katriona Bennet?" Cheryl continued.
There was silence. "A map's a map," Steve concluded stoically. "A map's used to give directions."
"Maybe it's that simple then" Cheryl offered casually. "Katriona Bennet gave him directions, maybe even drew the map herself."
"Would you kill somebody for helping you when you're lost?" Steve asked.
Cheryl laughed "Oh I don't know." She rubbed her eyes wearily. "I tell you what I'll do though, I'll see if Crowther has turned up anymore on the map, the area it was supposed to show and, if possible, any details on the pen used."
"And the handwriting" Steve added. "OK, I know it wasn't writing as such, just lines and arrows. But maybe they can still tell us left-handed or right-handed. It's not much but it's something," he raised a hopeful eyebrow.
Cheryl shuffled the papers into a pile on the table. "You OK there, want a drink or anything?"
"I'm fine thanks" Steve replied. "How much longer have I got?" he tried not to sound like a whining kid in the back of a car.
Cheryl smirked and looked at her watch. "55 minutes to go I'm afraid. Want me to stay with you a while longer?"
"You'd better take our tenuous link to Masters, let him blast it out of the water."
"Pessimist" Cheryl scorned. She slipped the papers into her bag "I can stay for a while if you like."
"I'd like very much" Steve replied cheekily, "but I don't want to get us into trouble."
Cheryl eyed the nurse in the corner of the room with suspicion. Swiftly and without a sound she leant across the bed. "You take it easy Sloan" she whispered, and softly kissed Steve's lips. It was over far too quickly, he thought, and pouted as Cheryl put on her jacket. "I'll be back to see you later" she called as she headed past the nurse to the door.
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CJ was rummaging through the collection of books that lay scattered across Steve's bed. "Well it depends what kind of story you want to hear next" he explained to Steve, palms upturned awaiting a response.
"You chose, you know which ones are best"
CJ began holding them up one by one. "This one is a bit like Harry Potter but not as good. It's about some kids in a haunted house and magic and stuff. This one" he picked up another book "is a bit of a baby's book so I don't think we should read that one." Steve smiled as the young boy concentrated on the task in hand. "Hmmm, I haven't read this one, or this one" he pointed "so maybe they're good, maybe they aren't."
The door opened and Mark, Amanda and Jesse filed in.
"Oh-oh looks like we are being invaded" Steve gasped.
"I finished Harry Potter for Steve" CJ beamed, turning to his mother, "he thought it was great!"
"That's good honey, but now you have to tidy these up OK?"
"Is it time to go already?" he moaned.
Steve shot a worried glance towards his father but Mark's expression allayed his fears.
"Yes little man, it's way past your bedtime."
"You hold these" CJ instructed Amanda, handing her the pile of books. He climbed onto the chair at Steve's bedside and kissed his cheek. "See you soon" he chirped.
"Bye CJ, thanks again" Steve called back. Amanda waved a silent goodbye as she closed the door behind herself.
"So?" Steve asked expectantly.
"So" Mark began, taking a seat beside his son. "I got a call from Cheryl. They think they have caught your 'voodoo' killer."
"Oh thank god" Steve smiled feeling months worth of fears starting to drain away, "what happened?"
"A woman heard noises in her garden, called 911. When the police arrived her back door had been forced open."
"Is she alright? Did he hurt her?" Steve asked, his voice brimming with panic.
Mark shook his head; "She's terrified but relatively unharmed. It seems the struggle had just started when your guys arrived."
"And they caught him at the scene, they're sure it's him?"
"The sirens scared him off but he was arrested a few blocks away, out of his mind on drugs."
"Evidence, they've got enough evidence right?" Steve began to pant.
"Ssh, Steve, calm down" Mark told his son. "Just relax, OK. Cheryl had just been called to the scene when we spoke but they seem sure it's him. They found a doll in the kitchen….."
"The camera, did he have it with him? The knife…."
"Hey Steve, come on, take it easy" Jesse interrupted, his friends growing anxiety obvious.
"I need to be sure" Steve's voice quaked, "I want to know what's going on down there."
"Should I call Cheryl?" Mark asked calmly.
Steve thought for a minute. "Are you working tonight?" he asked both his father and his friend.
"I'm on in a couple of hours" Jesse answered.
"I have the night off" Mark told him.
"OK then" Steve continued. "Dad, can you do me a favour?"
"Anything" Mark nodded.
"Just go to the station for me. I'm not asking you to get involved, but just be there in case there's anything I should know, in case Cheryl needs somebody…."
"OK, as long as you promise to go through your breathing exercises with Jesse. If Arnie hears you panting like that…"
"I know, I know, I promise to calm down. Now will you just go?"
Mark squeezed Steve's arm and headed towards the door. Before he left the room he shot a warning glance at Jesse who nodded his understanding.
"Come on then buddy" Jesse began. "Think calm mountain streams and let me hear you breathe."
Steve rolled his eyes and laughed raggedly.
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"But obviously the new ribs will never replace the original BBQ Bob's ribs" Jesse explained as he sat at Steve's bedside some time later. "Variety, that's what we are offering now" he smiled triumphantly, but Steve was a million miles away.
"I'm sorry Jess" Steve apologised "I'm interested, really I am, and I'm sorry that you've been lumbered with all the work at Bob's. It's just…"
"You've got other stuff on your mind right now?" Jesse finished.
Steve smiled, "that's an understatement."
"If you want to talk about anything, you know I'm here right"
"I know Jess, and I really appreciate it. But sometimes it's good just to try and get away from this" he rolled his eyes around the room "and from talk of the murders."
"Well there's something other than your health and the case we could talk about" Jesse smiled.
"More business at BBQ Bobs?" Steve teased, "or maybe Harry Potter?"
Jesse cackled and rubbed his hands together "I was thinking of somebody a little more worldly who works magic for you!"
"Do you use lines like that when you are chatting up women?" Steve asked but there was no reply.
"I'm not prying, I'm just being a friend" Jesse pressed on. "If you want to tell me about Cheryl" Steve blushed at the mention of her name, triggering another cackle from his friend. "Come on, spill the beans Sloan."
"Aren't you on shift yet?" Steve enquired. He appreciated Jesse's company but wasn't sure how much relentless prying he could fend off.
Jesse took a quick look at his watch. "As a matter of fact I almost am. I'll go down but if it's a quiet night I'll pop back up, OK?"
"OK, but I won't be spilling any beans."
"Spoilsport" Jesse giggled, "and remember, whatever happens, keep breathing deeply".
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