Chapter 04 I Spy with my Little Eye
The squad room was a quiet place in the early hours of the morning, but Rae had been unable to sleep and finally, at two o'clock, decided to get up and start her day six hours before time.
Now she was sat, her feet resting on the pulled out middle drawer of her desk, looking at the scene of crime photos that she had taken herself. She wasn't a professional photographer by any means, but she got the idea, while talking with Ron one afternoon, that she might be able to dissect a crime scene more successfully if she had shots of the body, or other important evidence, taken from the angles she was most interested in. This was the first time she had tried the suggestion out and there was a buzz of excitement within her as she looked at the different pictures and realised that she was able to revisit far more easily this way.
Once Steve had told them that the couple had been on horseback the trampled grass had made far more sense. They had been able to surmise the route that had been taken and both uniformed and plain clothes officers were going to flood the area later that day to try and find anyone who might have witnessed the two horses either with or without their riders.
The second mount had finally returned to the stables a little after ten in the evening, lame, badly scratched and exhausted. Not for the first time, she guessed, Rae was a human wishing that horses could talk; an eyewitness could move them much closer to completing their enquiries, but the breaks weren't falling their way.
Rae was worried about Steve, she knew that he had a lot on his mind and another killing wasn't going to help him. She was also worried about Jesse, but she wasn't sure why. He had been distant and reserved when she had finally arrived home although he hadn't given her any indication of what it was that troubled him. He hadn't woken when she had got up and left the house, but she was determined to speak with him when they were both home for the evening.
The phone rang on the desk in front of her and Rae sighed; she knew she shouldn't have informed the switchboard that she was in the building. Grabbing a pen she hoped she wouldn't need Rae picked up the receiver and announced who she was.
ooo
Jo sat up in bed, a beautifully soft cashmere shawl around her shoulders. The wrap was blue one side and a rich mauve the other. There was a herringbone pattern through the weave and she loved it. Michael had brought it back from London for her and the feel of it against her skin was almost unbelievable. It was also warm and, in the early hours of the morning, she was feeling a little chilled. Her head ached too, but that wasn't anything unusual; she would take a couple of Tylenol once Steve had left for work, which would sort that.
Steve had got up after his nightmare and taken a shower, it hadn't helped him much though and he was now pacing the room running his fingers absently through his still wet hair and sighing deeply every few steps.
"Darlin', you are gonna wear through the rug if you don't stop movin'. Please, come back to bed, come back to me, to us." Jo smiled, hoping that the mention of their child would help break through her husband's negativity.
"And do what? If I close my eyes I'll see it all again, I'm keeping you awake, I'll just get dressed and go into the station. At least that way I can be productive."
"Oh no you don't. Rae is always sayin' she never beats you in. You start workin' at three in the mornin' when you don't have to an' she is gonna think you have really lost the plot."
Steve smiled; it had been a longstanding joke between them that he was always in the squad room before his partner. He had to admit it had never occurred to him that he started work before his shift was due to begin, but he guessed that if he was honest it happened that way more often than not. Forcing a smile onto his face Steve moved back over to the bed and climbed in between the cool sheets. He looked into the eyes of his wife and although he saw love there he also realised that something else was on her mind, something that again she was keeping from him, and fighting down his anger and disappointment he took her hand into his own.
"D'you want to tell me what's the matter?"
"Pardon?" Jo looked into the brilliant blue eyes of her husband and saw love mingled with a little anger and concern. "Nothin' it's nothin', you have far too much on your mind as it is."
"Jo, Honey, whatever it is, you need to tell me, because if you don't I'll just imagine something ten times worse."
Again Jo looked at him; the way he had been worrying lately he was probably right. She only had to leave a little bit of her dinner, or take two minutes longer than usual in the bathroom and he was ready to call in the paramedics, if she turned away from him now he would probably have her admitted to hospital tied to a gurney, convinced that there was something wrong with either her or the baby.
"I … I'm havin' money problems."
"What?" the worried tone had gone, in its place was total incredulity; surely he couldn't have heard what he thought he heard. "You have money problems? How can you have money problems?"
"I don't know, an' that is part of the trouble. Someone has taken out a credit card in my name an' run up huge debts on it. I know bein' pregnant can cause your brain cells to shut down, but I would remember if I had authorized a new card, I know I would."
Steve saw tears fill his wife's beautiful dark eyes and the smart remark he was going to use disappeared back from whence it came. Instead he pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. "Honey, if you are in serious debt then I'm not the person to help you. But if it is just one card we can sort it out together. If you didn't have anything to do with this someone else must have. I'll get the fraud squad to look into it."
"I've dealt with some of it myself. I went an' saw the debt collection agency who were dealin' with it, the account has been closed an' the debt wiped out, but how can someone do that? The signature wasn't that different to my own, the contract was sent here an' then, apparently, I contacted the company an' requested that all further correspondence be sent to a post office box account. That has to be so illegal!"
This time Steve couldn't help but laugh the indignation and naivety in his wife's voice as she finished speaking belying the fact that she was, herself, an experienced police officer, or ex-police officer. "Honey, I promise you, when I get into the station in the morning I'll look into all of this, but right now I just want to snuggled back down under the covers and feel you next to me, I love you, Jo, move a little closer."
He lay still as his wife moved down under the covers as well and then she turned slightly away from him so that she could move back against his chest. The sensation of his warm breath against now bare shoulders caused a shiver to escape her and then his arms were around her and as she felt their baby move towards the warmth of his hands on her belly she knew that she was in the best place in the entire world.
ooo
Sitting across from her in one of the station interview rooms, Jason Freeman looked far more dapper than Rae felt. He was wearing a suit and tie, he had a neat black briefcase by his feet and he was what she had been waiting for, for the longest time. He was an eyewitness and had seen Dominic and Leigh together.
"I was just walking the dog before bed. I didn't realise until I got up again that what I had seen was of any interest to anyone."
"That's ok, Sir, but why were you going to bed that early in the afternoon?"
"Because I work through the night. I'm in charge of one of the computer programming systems for the Provident Bank; I work permanent ten p.m. to eight a.m. I get home, sleep for a couple of hours, then I potter around, walk the dog and sleep for about six hours before getting up and going off to work."
"Oh, ok. I don't think I could do it that way, I've worked nights, but I'm a one long sleep type of person." Rae smiled, she was glad that there was an easy explanation as to why he hadn't come forward earlier.
"Can you tell me what you saw?" She had a pen in her hand and her heart was beating loudly with the anticipation of what she hoped was to come.
"Yes, of course. I live just about five minutes away from The Rough."
"The Rough?" Rae looked up from the notes she had only just started making.
"That's what locals call that piece of ground. Most of the households in my street have dogs, and we all tend to walk them on The Rough. I meet up with them some days, other days, like yesterday, I'm alone."
"And do you always go the same way?"
"Oh yes, I don't have a choice, my dog is a creature of habit. He charges off in exactly the same direction every time we go up there. Never any variation."
Rae smiled, for three-thirty in the morning the company was very pleasant. "And you saw the couple who were mentioned on the news?"
"Yes, Ma'am." Jason suddenly became serious. "I was tramping along behind Mutley and I heard talking."
Rae was totally focused as she spoke. "Mr. Freeman, I sure hope you were nosy."
The man looked down for a moment but then nodded his head. "I was. I didn't mean to be, but somehow the conversation was, I don't know, there was a tension, a sexual tension, and I couldn't drag myself away. Mutley is happy to wander by himself for hours, so I stood where I was, behind the bushes, and listened."
Rae gripped her pen even tighter in her hand, finally a break; maybe they could work out more of what happened from this witness.
Jason Freeman took a deep breath, and as he spoke Rae could picture the scene in her mind.
"You don't mind if I brush your hair?" The male voice hadn't sounded at all worried that his companion wouldn't say yes.
"No, it's wonderful, as long as you braid it back up before we start home. I don't like it to be loose when I'm riding."
"Don't you worry about that, it won't be a problem."
"Do you ride out of these stables very often?"
"No, not at all, but I saw them on my way back into town the other day, recognized the name of the proprietors and thought I'd try them out."
Rae looked up sharply, but said nothing. Jason didn't notice and carried on talking.
"Why were you out of town?"
"I had to get away for a while. LA was closing in on me. So I went to Colorado, then FloridaNew Mexico."
"Wow, lucky you."
"You have beautiful hair."
"I could hear the sound of kissing then, and I … I wanted to leave, but well, part of me wanted to stay hidden, to … to indulge in a little voyeurism." The young man didn't look too embarrassed, and Rae wondered how often he indulged in 'a little voyeurism'.
"I don't usually … mmm, I don't want …"
"She didn't put up much of a fight y'know and they kissed and … cuddled for a while, before they started to talk again." Rae nodded her head and then with a quick turn of the page carried on writing, learning about their killer's past in more detail than they had up until that moment been able to.
Twenty minutes later she held her hand up to pause Mr. Freeman's tale. "Sorry, I just need to stretch for a moment."
"That's ok, I'm about done anyhow. Mutley barked about then and they both looked up."
"What was that? Where's … where's my shirt? Maybe we had better get back." The woman's voice sounded a little concerned.
"No, I don't think so, not yet."
"Ow, you're hurting me."
"I thought you liked me playing with your hair, I like hair, especially blonde hair."
"I started to move away then, I know they didn't see me. I heard raised voices a little later, just as I was getting to the sidewalk and putting Mutley's leash back on. I … I thought I heard a scream, but I was so tired by then that I put it out of my mind. I should have realised, he said he liked blonde hair … I should have realised."
"Maybe, but you were out walking your dog, you weren't expecting to come across anything remotely dangerous." Rae paused for a moment, knowing that she would feel awful if she found herself in the same position. "Mr. Freeman, I'll get this typed up, if you want to wait I can do it, or if you come in again later in the day my partner may have some questions for you."
"That would be best, I need to get back to work, I said I would only be about an hour or so. I … I hope I've been some help. Do you think I could have saved that young woman if I'd gone back when she screamed?"
Rae thought for a moment, knowing somehow that this man wouldn't want a glib answer.
"Maybe. She was stabbed more than once. But I can't say for certain that she would have lived."
Jason nodded his head before getting to his feet and smoothing down his jacket. He held his hand out to Rae who took it gratefully. "Thank you for coming forward; it's not an easy thing to do."
"No, it's not. I'll call back in on my way home from work, Detective."
Rae smiled and then watched as the young man made his way out of the interview room. She knew that he would carry Leigh's death on his conscience for a while, but now she had fourteen women's deaths on hers, and it was beginning to weigh far too heavily.
ooo
Jo watched her husband drive away a little after half past seven with Daniel sitting next to him. Although it meant that she was going to be separated from her family for the next six or so hours, she loved to see them leave together and knew that Steve got great pleasure from running his son to school.
Jo had a hospital appointment at one, and planned to do a little shopping before that. Now she was almost six months pregnant Jo had decided that she should grab her fears with both hands and push them away. To that end she was going to buy a stroller and crib for the baby. The things that she had bought for the nursery they had now had been for Eliana initially and then Anneya. They would remain there for Damita to use, the new baby would have its own room, and Jo could see no problem in indulging in a little retail therapy to furnish it properly.
The store, Momma's Little Helper, was a treasure trove for new parents, or more correctly, new rich parents. If it was suitable for a child over three they didn't stock it. The staff, almost all female but with a few token males for nervous fathers-to-be, wore smart dark suits with diaper pins as their identification badges.
The young woman who made her way towards Jo with a smile on her face had 'Ashton' written on a pink edged tag attached to the pin, which, on closer inspection, Jo could see, had a diamante clasp.
"Good morning, Madam, how may I help you today?"
"I would like to look at baby furniture. My baby is due in three months an' I need to furnish the nursery."
If Ashton thought Jo had left things a little late she didn't say a word, instead she nodded her head and indicated over to her left with her hand. "If you would like to come this way then, Madam."
Jo looked around her at the beautiful things and knew that she was going to find all that she needed right here.
ooo
The emergency room was quiet when Jesse arrived just before ten and he headed straight for the doctors' lounge, hoping to grab a coffee and a chat before his shift started in earnest.
Alex was sitting at the table reading a magazine but he hastily closed it up as he saw his friend enter. "Hey, Jess, how's it going?"
"Um, fine, fine, thanks." Jesse wondered what Alex was hiding, but decided that, for the time being, he wouldn't ask. The young man was usually almost transparent in his dealings with everything and everyone deserved a few secrets.
"There's a parcel for you at the nurses' station." He stood up, "Want me to go get it for you?"
"Sure, thanks." Jesse watched as Alex, with the magazine now folded up in his white coat pocket, headed out of the door and knew that when he returned the pocket would be empty.
She watched the parcel being handed over and was disappointed, how was she supposed to see how pleased he would be, see how he would suddenly realise that she was serious, if he didn't open the gifts in the hallway?
Alex made his way, slowly, back to the lounge, thinking all the time as he did so. There was something that bothered him about the package, he didn't know what it was, but there was definitely something.
"Be careful, ok. As Rae would say, this gives me the whim whams." Alex handed it over, and then waited as Jesse began to undo the wrapping.
ooo
Steve's trip to the forgery section hadn't improved his mood, and he had stomped up to his desk and sat glowering at anyone foolish enough to make eye contact with him. Rae had made him a coffee and then, quietly left that and a manila folder on the blotter in front of him without a word. Equally silently he had taken a sip of drink and then begun to look at the papers now held in his left hand.
The smile had gotten bigger and bigger as Steve read through the report, then he had spoken to Mr. Freeman on the phone and his day had improved even more.
"I guess I'm gonna have to check his record to see if he's been prosecuted as a Peeping Tom, but this helps, Rae, this really helps."
"How could she have not known who he was? These details, or some of them, are common knowledge." Rae ran her hand through her hair; she was suddenly tired and beginning to regret her early start.
"I don't know, but until we talk to her folks we're not likely to find out. She isn't local, or at least we are gonna have to travel to speak to her parents."
"Oh." Rae said just one word, the vision of what had happened the last time she had travelled with Steve to interview someone flooding into her brain and scaring her as it always did.
Steve saw the look on Rae's face change as he spoke and understood instantly what the problem was. He reached out to where she was sitting on the edge of his desk and gently touched her arm. "Are you ok with that? I can ask Cheryl."
"No, no it's fine; I'll see this through if it kills me!" She shuddered, "Sorry, bad choice of words."
"You think?" Steve shook his head, "He seems to have unburdened himself to Leigh, and I don't see this being any different to his other killings, what do you think?"
"No, I agree, he's opening up, telling this woman things he can't tell any living soul, because, of course, before he's finished with her she won't be living either. You know, Freeman couldn't have made this up, not all of it, certainly not the part about what happened to his mother. This has to be genuine.
"It will be far easier for us when places no longer take cash; this guy never pays for anything any other way. He must have it stashed under a mattress somewhere though, because I sure as hell can't find it anywhere." Rae sighed deeply; she had been searching bank accounts for months, and had contacted over three hundred branches herself. The information she'd had was sketchy, at least it had been when she started her search, and so it had been easier, although not quicker, to call each one individually. All she had asked initially each time was whether they had an account for one of three names once that was out of the way it got more difficult. Rae had wanted information on whether one of the same three names had been used to draw cash from an account held at another bank or branch. So far she had come up empty and had grown to dislike bank managers and under-managers intensely.
"Wanna go ride a horse?" The suggestion caught Rae totally by surprise and she began to laugh.
"What?"
"Do you want to go ride a horse? A perfectly legitimate question I would have thought." His eyes were laughing, as was he, as his phone began to ring and Steve leant over to pick it up. "Sloan here. What?" The laughter, the joking, was gone, "No, I'll come right over. Thanks, Dad."
"Steve?"
"I have to go over to the hospital, Rae; I don't know how long I'll be."
"Why, Steve, is it Jesse or Texas? I'll come too." Rae stood as she spoke, but saw her partner shake his head.
"No, I want you here, get Freeman back in to sign the statement, then go to Jo's stables, interview the woman who took the booking and the one who helped them saddle up. I should be back by then." Steve didn't make eye contact with his partner, knowing that his information would only hurt and upset her.
"Steve, please, tell me, is it Jesse? I need to come, Steve." Her words were so full of anguish that he nearly gave in, but his dad's words were still playing in his head and so he spoke again, a little more forcefully than he would normally have done.
"I gave you an instruction, Detective, I expect it to be carried out, is that clear?"
"Yes, Sir." Rae turned away, something was wrong, she knew it, but she also knew that she wasn't wanted, and that hurt and worried her even more.
ooo
The shopping trip had gone way better than she had imagined it would. She was now the proud owner of a beautiful pram, ten organic blankets to keep her baby warm, the most beautiful nursery furniture she had ever seen, wrought iron, delicately shaped, and with a hint of gold in it. She knew that Steve would love it all, although Jo realised that the playhouse she had bought for the yard might take some explaining away, but it looked like a dream home and she just couldn't resist it, especially when the sales lady had said that the Queen of England had a similar one when she was a child. Jo knew that she would keep the $19,000.00 it had cost her a secret, that was something Steve definitely wouldn't understand.
Jo was smiling to herself as she walked along the sidewalk towards where her car was parked. As she turned the final corner she stopped dead in her tracks, her heart suddenly racing, and the blood pounding in her ears. Over the months she had thought she'd seen him, just a glimpse here or there, but had convinced herself that she was imagining things, that other people must look similar to him, but now, now she knew that the man just in front of her was Wayne McCauley. She saw him tip his hat to her and then the shopping mall began to blur and fade as silently she fell to the ground.
ooo
"Jesse, calm down, just sit and take a deep breath, then try again to tell me what happened." For a moment Steve wasn't sure if his friend would comply or not, but then, with relief, he watched him collapse into the chair behind him.
"Rae, she didn't come, did she?" Jesse looked up, the anxiety suddenly combining with the anger and fear already there.
"No, she didn't, I sent her off to interview the staff at the riding stables. She'll be gone 'til mid afternoon." The atmosphere seemed to lose a little of its tension, as Steve imparted the information.
"Now, I need you to tell me what happened." Steve sat next to Jesse and rested his tablet of paper on the table in front of him. Next to it was the parcel, unwrapped but covered in both brown and patterned paper. He watched as Jesse did as he was told, and gradually his friend began to calm down; he took a drink of his coffee and then, finally, began to speak coherently.
"Alex told me I had a parcel, he went to get it for me and when I opened it …" Jesse paused, closing his eyes as he did so.
"Jess?" Mark moved across from where he had been refilling his and Steve's coffee mugs and placed a hand on his younger friend's shoulder.
"Sorry." Again Jesse took in a deep breath and then pushed the parcel closer to Steve. "Rae'll freak when she sees it."
Steve pulled on a pair of latex gloves and then carefully peeled back the paper to find two gifts still wrapped and another one that had been opened. Lying inside the ripped wrapping paper was a beautifully ornate silver frame and under the glass Steve could clearly see a photo of Eliana and Anneya playing in the front yard at Oak Place apparently on their own as they were the only two in the picture. For a moment Steve just stared; it was lovely, and both little girls, having no idea they were being watched, were playing with the skittles that he knew bore his likeness as well as that of their parents.
"We never leave them unattended, Steve, never." Jesse was shaking, the shock of the photo nowhere near as great as the note that accompanied it. He pointed to it with his right hand and watched almost hypnotised as Steve picked it up.
Dear Jesse,
You have beautiful children, but even in Beverly Hills things can happen to them, especially if they are left alone. The youngest is deaf; she would never hear an attacker or kidnapper coming up behind her.
They deserve better than they are getting, and when you realise that then I know we will be together.
I love you,
Susan.
"Jesse, I don't think it's a threatening letter."
"What? How can you say that? Look at it; she's saying that things can happen to children, especially deaf ones. 'The youngest is deaf', does she think I don't know that?"
"She signed it, Jesse." Steve indicated the signature, just the Christian name and easy to make out. "If you are threatening someone you don't usually sign your own name. Let me speak with her, maybe she'll back off."
"Open these first. I want to know what she sent my daughters." Jesse wanted to rip the paper off and view the gifts, but he also wanted to just throw them in the trash and stop thinking about all the terror that had engulfed him as he read her words. He would never forget the helplessness he'd felt when Eliana had been taken from the hospital, kidnapped because of who she was, and who her mother was. "And then I intend to take out a restraining order to keep her away from me and my family."
Jesse had got to his feet and was walking up and down the small room. He had told Steve to open the parcels, but now he couldn't watch, his emotions were in turmoil and he was unable to keep still. As he walked he heard the sound of ripping paper, and then, when the room went silent again he turned and stared at the table.
He could see two similar items; each one was a cuff of material with a Velcro fastening attached to another cuff of material via a curly plastic cord. The second piece had one of the children's names on it. Once again there was a note, this time addressed to each child.
Dear Eliana,
Steve began reading out the first one, and found that this time, as he said his goddaughter's name, his anger built.
This little device is called a wrist link, if you have the part with your name on it on your arm and your daddy has the other on his, then you will never get lost or separated from your family.
Lots of love
Susan
"How dare she! How dare she write to my children? That's it, Steve, no more Mr Nice Guy, I'm gonna go speak to her, right now." He paused for a moment as a thought crossed his mind. "Look, look there, both of these have names on, you can't get ready made stuff with Eliana or Anneya on them, they aren't common enough. These were specially made. My God, what does she think she's doing?"
The fight had left him, he didn't rush towards the nurses' station, he didn't even leave the room, instead he flopped back down onto the chair and just looked at his friend.
"I think," Steve paused, wanting to word it right, so Jesse didn't freak. "I think I will leave speaking with her," he shook his head, Jesse was squirming in his seat, but to his credit he wasn't saying a word.
"Doctor Sloan, to the ER STAT, Doctor Mark Sloan, to the ER STAT."
The disembodied voice floated through the air, and with an apologetic grin Mark made his way out of the room, "I'll see you later, Son."
"Sure, Dad, bye." Steve followed him with his eyes, just for a moment and then turned back to his friend. "I'll arrange for her to be picked up by a black and white and brought to the station, maybe that way she'll realise what she is doing and you won't have to get a restraining order. I'll make sure Rae is out of the way though."
"That would be a good idea … Mark? What's the matter?" Jesse saw his old friend come back into the room looking worriedly at his son who turned as he heard Jesse speak.
"Dad? What is it?"
"Steve, it's Jo coming in, Son. She collapsed in Beverly Hills, the paramedics say her blood pressure is sky high, I'm sorry."
Steve stood up as he felt the cold tendrils of fear begin to envelope him and, not knowing what to do or say, he just followed blindly behind his father as Mark returned to the ER to await his daughter-in-law's arrival.