Chapter 11- Waiting to Exhale
When Dana arrived at the scene and saw the body of one Rachel Emerson she let out a large breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding. The scene was that unnerving.
There was blood everywhere, on the couch, the floor, it soiled her clothes and her hair clumped with the dried liquid. A gunshot wound to the head, and an extracted liver. Dana's hand flew to her mouth and she gasped, forcing the bile back down and looked at the women empathetically. This poor women, who was only 30, had so much more to life. And now that was gone.
"Call came around 25 minutes ago. She didn't show up to work and a co-worker got worried after calling 4 times and receiving no answers. The two were friends so the other women, Diane Kensington, had a house key. After knocking twice she let herself in, to…this. She's outside giving her statement to some of my men as we speak."
"When was the last time anybody heard from her?" Will asked.
"The lady, Diane, talked to her before leaving work yesterday, that's all we know so far."
"Does anybody know how long she's been dead?"
"Well, not for sure, but with the rigor mortise I would say at least 10 hours. If not more."
Dana nodded her head and they combed the scene for any usable evidence. After searching the place three times and finding nothing they finally decided to give up for then.
"Im going to go to the morgue, observe the autopsy . Do you want to come or should I drop you off at the hotel?"
"Hotel. While your there you should drop off the swab, have somebody compare it with the DNA from Tooms. See if we have a relation."
"Ok, I'll do that."
After one last look at the gruesome scene, they left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After dropping off Dana Will started the ride to the morgue. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed his parents house once more.
"Dana." His mother said answering the phone.
"Mom, its Will. You ready for this. They found another body. Gunshot wound to the head and an extracted liver."
She drew in a breath, "What about this man you were going to find out about. Any news on him?"
"Yes, his name is Steven Taylor. Taylor is his mother maiden name, were not sure of his father at the moment. Dana and I went to his house. And mom, he looks just like the picture I saw of Tooms. Very much alike, there's no doubt in my mind now that he is in some way related."
"Where are you now?"
"On my way to view the autopsy."
"Is Dana with you?"
"No, she's back at the hotel. Looking over the case files I assume. Im on my way to drop off the DNA sample we took from Taylor as well. See if he is related. Which im sure will come up yes. But we have to make sure right, hopefully we can find something that lets us get a search warrant."
"Well, I don't want to hold you up. I'll tell your father what you told me when he gets home. Will, how long do you think this case will take you? Bill will be here tomorrow, and he'll be here for 3 days. I don't want you to miss this chance to meet him, but if you can't I'll understand, im just not sure he will. He'll probably blame your father. And they have enough water under the bridge as it is. All Bill needs is more reason to hate your father."
"I'll try as hard as I can mom, but im not sure how long this will take. Hopefully we can get this guy behind bars in less than 2 days, but im not really positive that will be the case."
"Ok, call me when you know more."
"Ok mom, I will."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dana read the case report on the elderly couple and tried to match details from their home to details with the new victims. Her and Will had found many possible points of entry but none had any evidence on them so they were of no use. She sighed and rubbed her temples. She was starting to get a headache and couldn't find any Advil or Tylenol anywhere.
She finally decided to go see if they had some in the vending machine. Normally at hotels they had those kinds of things. She grabbed her key and exited the room. She had to search for a few minutes before finding the machine and to her dismay they were all out.
"Wonderful." She breathed as she headed back to the room.
When she got back to the room she glanced at the clock, 4:31, Will had been gone for over 2 hours. With any luck he would be on his way back with some important discoveries. But she felt like with her luck that was highly unlikely.
After a few minutes she decided to call him to see. She pulled out her cell phone and pressed 2 on her speed dial.
After three rings he picked up, "Yea, this is Will."
"Hey Will, its Dana. You find anything of interest?"
"Actually, im on my way back to the hotel right now. We ran the DNA through the system, and you were right about one thing. He is related to Tooms, but there's something else."
"What?"
"He's not Tooms' son, their DNA is almost identical, so much in fact that the only thing he could possibly be is his twin. Identical twin. That's why he looks so much like him."
"If that's true though he wasn't born in 1992. He had to have made up new records."
"He probably does a lot, and it explains your thoughts on why now. Its his time to feed. And the reason he probably wouldn't let us in his house was he's probably making a nest."
"Can we get a warrant for this?"
"I think so, there's more too."
A knock at the door draws her attention.
"Hey Will, there's somebody at the door, hold on." She walks to the door, the phone still next to her ear. "Wonderful."
"What?
"No peep hole."
Will chuckles. "Well, ask who it is then."
"Yea." She holds the phone away from her mouth and calls loudly, "Who is it?"
"House Keeping." Comes a muffled voice from the other side.
Sighing she opens the door, "I don't need--" She stops in the middle of her sentence, so shocked she cant speak. The man at the other end is Taylor.
He gives the same malicious smile he gave her earlier and she franticly tries to slam the door, he blocks it however and the force of the door swinging back knocks the cell phone out of her hand. She can hear Wills voice on the other line asking her what's wrong. She opens her mouth to say something but instead of words a high pitched scream comes out. Taylor is now in the room and she's searching for her gun.
In what seems like years but is only a few seconds she remembers where her gun is and rushes to get it, Taylor on her tail. She fumbles to get it out of the holster and before she can Taylor grabs her. She clutches onto the holster and tries to kick behind her, unsuccessfully. She screams again and fights, again with no success.
She finally breaks out of his hold and once again searches for her gun. He tries once again to grab hold of her but she punches him as hard as she can causing him to stumble backwards. She grabs the gun and rips it out of its holster. Just as she does so the door to the hotel room swings open and Will enters his gun drawn as well.
"Get away from her!" He screams loudly.
With the same malicious look he lunges at Dana. The deafening sound of gunshots enters the air and Taylor drops to the floor, dark crimson blood spilling from the two wounds in his stomach.
Dana stands in her spot frozen and drops her smoking gun. She looks up at Will fear apparent in her crystal blue eyes and opens her mouth to say something but nothing comes out. She closes her mouth and resumes her stance.
Will takes out his cell phone and calls 911, his eyes never leaving Dana's. After the call is complete he walks over Taylor's nearly lifeless body and to Dana. Pulling her into an embrace the tears start to fall from her eyes. After a few minutes of standing there he pulls back and brushes the hair out of her face, "You ok?" He asks slowly.
"I will be, after the shock wears off."
Voices in the room startle him and he turns around to see two of the hotel security guards gawking at the room in a state of awe. "What the hell happened in here?"
Dana regains her composure and looks at the man, "He attacked me. I shot him, twice, he's a suspect in three murders. Were FBI agents."
"Was an ambulance called."
"Yes. They're on their way as we speak."
"And this man, your not going to tend to his wounds?"
Dana huffed and turned away from the men's faces. "Why should we." She mumbled softly. The only one to hear her was Will. He put an arm around her shoulder.
"If its not to much to ask, could you. She's still a bit shaken up and I haven't the slightest clue what to do, except for basic training. I probably would do more damage than good."
The cubby man nods and they begin on helping Taylor.
Will turns to Dana once more, "Are you sure your ok? I mean, he could've--"
"Yea, well he didn't. Right about now at that matters is he's the one in a puddle of blood on the floor, and not you or I. Or some other unlucky person."
The sound of ambulance's enters the air and Dana slumps into a chair, placing her head into her hands and then staring at the body of Steven Taylor. The MT's enter the room and shout out demands at other MT's then put the body of Taylor onto a gurney and exit the room. Then the Calvary arrives, in the form of policemen, Lewis among them.
They question both Dana and Will and then over an hour later leave. Dana looks around the room and sighs. "Were going to have to get another room."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Will and Dana were on their way to the front desk when Dana's cell phone rings. She takes out her cell phone but presses the ignore button instead of the talk button. She then turns off the phone and puts it back in its holding place.
Seconds later Will's phone rings, he, however, answeres it. "Will."
"Will, its Monica, Dana didn't answer her phone. Are you with here?"
"Yeah. She's standing right next to me."
They walk into the elevator and Dana pushes the button for floor 1.
"Can I talk to her?"
Will takes the cell phone away from his ear, "Dana, its your mom. She wants to talk to you, you up to talking to her?"
She shakes her head and the elevator dinges, indicating that they are on the first floor. They exit and make their way to the front desk.
"Im sorry Mrs. Dogett--"
"Monica."
"Ok, well, im sorry Monica. Dana cant really talk at the moment, I'll have her call you back though."
"Did something happen?"
"Yes, but I'll wait and let Dana tell you about it, she can't talk at the moment however."
"Tell her she better call me back."
"I will."
He hangs up the phone and looks at Dana, "You should really talk to her, she's been through things like that before hasn't she? It could help."
"Damn-it Will, I've been through things like that before, and I will again. I just need some time. That's all, time. You think you could give me that."
"Yeah. That I can do."
According to the blonde their was still only one room left, the one with the king size bed. Not wanting to drive across town to find another hotel Will just told the lady that they would take that room. Dana was quiet through the whole conversation.
As soon as they enter their new hotel room Will's phone chirps again. He picks it up after the second ring. "Will."
"Will, its dad. Monica just called, what's wrong?"
"Did mom tell you about our conversation?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Taylor attacked Dana."
"What happened?"
"Lets see, from what I know Dana was on the phone with me when there was a knock at the door, since there was no peephole she had to ask who it was. I think I heard Taylor say it was housekeeping. Im guessing she opened the door to tell them they weren't needed and he pushed his way in, I heard a scream so I floored it and made it to the hotel as quickly as I could. When I got there she had a gun on him, I had my gun drawn as well and he went after her again. She shot him, and well the rest is kind of routine. Ambulance, police."
"Is she ok?"
"She will be, she just needs some time."
"Ok, well, Monica was really worried so I'll give her a call."
"Ok, bye dad."
"Bye Will."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What if I killed him?" Dana says looking up at Will from her spot on the bed.
"Then you did the world a favor."
Dana closes her eyes and exhales loudly, "I know, but still what if he dies? I've shot somebody before, but it's never been fatal. If he dies, am I a killer?"
"You protected yourself, your not a killer. And even if he does die he deserved too, there's no doubt in my mind that he killed those three people and would've killed more, probably has killed others. Is there any in yours?"
"No."
Their silent for a few minutes before she speaks again, "What did mom want?"
"To talk to you. Dad said he was going to call her and let her know what happened."
Dana nods and stands up off of the bed, "You never did finish telling me what you found at the morgue. All you told me was that Taylor and Tooms were twins."
"Oh, they found a fingerprint on the latest victim, they were going to run it through the system when I left, im not sure who it belonged too."
Will's phone rings and picks it up. "Yea, this is Will."
Pause.
"Ok. Thanks."
He hangs up and looks at Dana, "That was Lewis, he just got a call from the hospital. Taylor didn't make it through surgery."
When Dana arrived at the scene and saw the body of one Rachel Emerson she let out a large breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding. The scene was that unnerving.
There was blood everywhere, on the couch, the floor, it soiled her clothes and her hair clumped with the dried liquid. A gunshot wound to the head, and an extracted liver. Dana's hand flew to her mouth and she gasped, forcing the bile back down and looked at the women empathetically. This poor women, who was only 30, had so much more to life. And now that was gone.
"Call came around 25 minutes ago. She didn't show up to work and a co-worker got worried after calling 4 times and receiving no answers. The two were friends so the other women, Diane Kensington, had a house key. After knocking twice she let herself in, to…this. She's outside giving her statement to some of my men as we speak."
"When was the last time anybody heard from her?" Will asked.
"The lady, Diane, talked to her before leaving work yesterday, that's all we know so far."
"Does anybody know how long she's been dead?"
"Well, not for sure, but with the rigor mortise I would say at least 10 hours. If not more."
Dana nodded her head and they combed the scene for any usable evidence. After searching the place three times and finding nothing they finally decided to give up for then.
"Im going to go to the morgue, observe the autopsy . Do you want to come or should I drop you off at the hotel?"
"Hotel. While your there you should drop off the swab, have somebody compare it with the DNA from Tooms. See if we have a relation."
"Ok, I'll do that."
After one last look at the gruesome scene, they left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After dropping off Dana Will started the ride to the morgue. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed his parents house once more.
"Dana." His mother said answering the phone.
"Mom, its Will. You ready for this. They found another body. Gunshot wound to the head and an extracted liver."
She drew in a breath, "What about this man you were going to find out about. Any news on him?"
"Yes, his name is Steven Taylor. Taylor is his mother maiden name, were not sure of his father at the moment. Dana and I went to his house. And mom, he looks just like the picture I saw of Tooms. Very much alike, there's no doubt in my mind now that he is in some way related."
"Where are you now?"
"On my way to view the autopsy."
"Is Dana with you?"
"No, she's back at the hotel. Looking over the case files I assume. Im on my way to drop off the DNA sample we took from Taylor as well. See if he is related. Which im sure will come up yes. But we have to make sure right, hopefully we can find something that lets us get a search warrant."
"Well, I don't want to hold you up. I'll tell your father what you told me when he gets home. Will, how long do you think this case will take you? Bill will be here tomorrow, and he'll be here for 3 days. I don't want you to miss this chance to meet him, but if you can't I'll understand, im just not sure he will. He'll probably blame your father. And they have enough water under the bridge as it is. All Bill needs is more reason to hate your father."
"I'll try as hard as I can mom, but im not sure how long this will take. Hopefully we can get this guy behind bars in less than 2 days, but im not really positive that will be the case."
"Ok, call me when you know more."
"Ok mom, I will."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dana read the case report on the elderly couple and tried to match details from their home to details with the new victims. Her and Will had found many possible points of entry but none had any evidence on them so they were of no use. She sighed and rubbed her temples. She was starting to get a headache and couldn't find any Advil or Tylenol anywhere.
She finally decided to go see if they had some in the vending machine. Normally at hotels they had those kinds of things. She grabbed her key and exited the room. She had to search for a few minutes before finding the machine and to her dismay they were all out.
"Wonderful." She breathed as she headed back to the room.
When she got back to the room she glanced at the clock, 4:31, Will had been gone for over 2 hours. With any luck he would be on his way back with some important discoveries. But she felt like with her luck that was highly unlikely.
After a few minutes she decided to call him to see. She pulled out her cell phone and pressed 2 on her speed dial.
After three rings he picked up, "Yea, this is Will."
"Hey Will, its Dana. You find anything of interest?"
"Actually, im on my way back to the hotel right now. We ran the DNA through the system, and you were right about one thing. He is related to Tooms, but there's something else."
"What?"
"He's not Tooms' son, their DNA is almost identical, so much in fact that the only thing he could possibly be is his twin. Identical twin. That's why he looks so much like him."
"If that's true though he wasn't born in 1992. He had to have made up new records."
"He probably does a lot, and it explains your thoughts on why now. Its his time to feed. And the reason he probably wouldn't let us in his house was he's probably making a nest."
"Can we get a warrant for this?"
"I think so, there's more too."
A knock at the door draws her attention.
"Hey Will, there's somebody at the door, hold on." She walks to the door, the phone still next to her ear. "Wonderful."
"What?
"No peep hole."
Will chuckles. "Well, ask who it is then."
"Yea." She holds the phone away from her mouth and calls loudly, "Who is it?"
"House Keeping." Comes a muffled voice from the other side.
Sighing she opens the door, "I don't need--" She stops in the middle of her sentence, so shocked she cant speak. The man at the other end is Taylor.
He gives the same malicious smile he gave her earlier and she franticly tries to slam the door, he blocks it however and the force of the door swinging back knocks the cell phone out of her hand. She can hear Wills voice on the other line asking her what's wrong. She opens her mouth to say something but instead of words a high pitched scream comes out. Taylor is now in the room and she's searching for her gun.
In what seems like years but is only a few seconds she remembers where her gun is and rushes to get it, Taylor on her tail. She fumbles to get it out of the holster and before she can Taylor grabs her. She clutches onto the holster and tries to kick behind her, unsuccessfully. She screams again and fights, again with no success.
She finally breaks out of his hold and once again searches for her gun. He tries once again to grab hold of her but she punches him as hard as she can causing him to stumble backwards. She grabs the gun and rips it out of its holster. Just as she does so the door to the hotel room swings open and Will enters his gun drawn as well.
"Get away from her!" He screams loudly.
With the same malicious look he lunges at Dana. The deafening sound of gunshots enters the air and Taylor drops to the floor, dark crimson blood spilling from the two wounds in his stomach.
Dana stands in her spot frozen and drops her smoking gun. She looks up at Will fear apparent in her crystal blue eyes and opens her mouth to say something but nothing comes out. She closes her mouth and resumes her stance.
Will takes out his cell phone and calls 911, his eyes never leaving Dana's. After the call is complete he walks over Taylor's nearly lifeless body and to Dana. Pulling her into an embrace the tears start to fall from her eyes. After a few minutes of standing there he pulls back and brushes the hair out of her face, "You ok?" He asks slowly.
"I will be, after the shock wears off."
Voices in the room startle him and he turns around to see two of the hotel security guards gawking at the room in a state of awe. "What the hell happened in here?"
Dana regains her composure and looks at the man, "He attacked me. I shot him, twice, he's a suspect in three murders. Were FBI agents."
"Was an ambulance called."
"Yes. They're on their way as we speak."
"And this man, your not going to tend to his wounds?"
Dana huffed and turned away from the men's faces. "Why should we." She mumbled softly. The only one to hear her was Will. He put an arm around her shoulder.
"If its not to much to ask, could you. She's still a bit shaken up and I haven't the slightest clue what to do, except for basic training. I probably would do more damage than good."
The cubby man nods and they begin on helping Taylor.
Will turns to Dana once more, "Are you sure your ok? I mean, he could've--"
"Yea, well he didn't. Right about now at that matters is he's the one in a puddle of blood on the floor, and not you or I. Or some other unlucky person."
The sound of ambulance's enters the air and Dana slumps into a chair, placing her head into her hands and then staring at the body of Steven Taylor. The MT's enter the room and shout out demands at other MT's then put the body of Taylor onto a gurney and exit the room. Then the Calvary arrives, in the form of policemen, Lewis among them.
They question both Dana and Will and then over an hour later leave. Dana looks around the room and sighs. "Were going to have to get another room."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Will and Dana were on their way to the front desk when Dana's cell phone rings. She takes out her cell phone but presses the ignore button instead of the talk button. She then turns off the phone and puts it back in its holding place.
Seconds later Will's phone rings, he, however, answeres it. "Will."
"Will, its Monica, Dana didn't answer her phone. Are you with here?"
"Yeah. She's standing right next to me."
They walk into the elevator and Dana pushes the button for floor 1.
"Can I talk to her?"
Will takes the cell phone away from his ear, "Dana, its your mom. She wants to talk to you, you up to talking to her?"
She shakes her head and the elevator dinges, indicating that they are on the first floor. They exit and make their way to the front desk.
"Im sorry Mrs. Dogett--"
"Monica."
"Ok, well, im sorry Monica. Dana cant really talk at the moment, I'll have her call you back though."
"Did something happen?"
"Yes, but I'll wait and let Dana tell you about it, she can't talk at the moment however."
"Tell her she better call me back."
"I will."
He hangs up the phone and looks at Dana, "You should really talk to her, she's been through things like that before hasn't she? It could help."
"Damn-it Will, I've been through things like that before, and I will again. I just need some time. That's all, time. You think you could give me that."
"Yeah. That I can do."
According to the blonde their was still only one room left, the one with the king size bed. Not wanting to drive across town to find another hotel Will just told the lady that they would take that room. Dana was quiet through the whole conversation.
As soon as they enter their new hotel room Will's phone chirps again. He picks it up after the second ring. "Will."
"Will, its dad. Monica just called, what's wrong?"
"Did mom tell you about our conversation?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Taylor attacked Dana."
"What happened?"
"Lets see, from what I know Dana was on the phone with me when there was a knock at the door, since there was no peephole she had to ask who it was. I think I heard Taylor say it was housekeeping. Im guessing she opened the door to tell them they weren't needed and he pushed his way in, I heard a scream so I floored it and made it to the hotel as quickly as I could. When I got there she had a gun on him, I had my gun drawn as well and he went after her again. She shot him, and well the rest is kind of routine. Ambulance, police."
"Is she ok?"
"She will be, she just needs some time."
"Ok, well, Monica was really worried so I'll give her a call."
"Ok, bye dad."
"Bye Will."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What if I killed him?" Dana says looking up at Will from her spot on the bed.
"Then you did the world a favor."
Dana closes her eyes and exhales loudly, "I know, but still what if he dies? I've shot somebody before, but it's never been fatal. If he dies, am I a killer?"
"You protected yourself, your not a killer. And even if he does die he deserved too, there's no doubt in my mind that he killed those three people and would've killed more, probably has killed others. Is there any in yours?"
"No."
Their silent for a few minutes before she speaks again, "What did mom want?"
"To talk to you. Dad said he was going to call her and let her know what happened."
Dana nods and stands up off of the bed, "You never did finish telling me what you found at the morgue. All you told me was that Taylor and Tooms were twins."
"Oh, they found a fingerprint on the latest victim, they were going to run it through the system when I left, im not sure who it belonged too."
Will's phone rings and picks it up. "Yea, this is Will."
Pause.
"Ok. Thanks."
He hangs up and looks at Dana, "That was Lewis, he just got a call from the hospital. Taylor didn't make it through surgery."