Chapter 2:
Joe Morelli rubbed his face as he stared at two crime scene photos depicting two very different woman who shared a common bond in having suffered the same death. Their heads were hanging loose from the bodies only held on by the vertebrae. Blood colored the ground like vibrant paint. There was something surreal about the bodies. Joe had been sitting at his desk at Trenton PD just waiting for the photos to speak to him...for the women to call to him...something. He was missing something vital, he could feel it. He didn't hear Eddie Gazarra come up behind him and jumped when Eddie's hand hit his shoulder.
"Shit, Eddie," he said. "Don't sneak up like that."
"You're working too hard, Joey," Eddie said placing a styrofoam cup filled with what looked like sludge in front of Joe. "It's after 11. Steph's gonna be home from the bachelorette party soon. Maybe you want to go home and get ready for her. It's not every day the wife comes home liquored up." Joe laughed. Eddie was a very close childhood friend of his wife's and was married to her cousin.
"Just assume that I just hit you with a shockingly intelligent comeback because that setup isn't even worth the effort." He glanced at the clock. "There's something I'm missing here, Eddie." He said tossing the pictures back on the desk. Eddie glanced at them and winced.
"Your lunch?" he asked. Joe chuckled.
"You're a big bad cop. It's not everyday you see a head almost completely severed but come on. A little respect, please," Joe advised hitting his shoulder. "You're right, though. Now that I'm a respectably married man if I want to get lucky I should get home before Steph passes out. No eating at the all night diners anymore, if you know what I mean." Eddie flashed a smile and nodded though he didn't. He'd been with Shirley since high school and hadn't enjoyed the sexual carousel that Joe obviously had. Eddie smiled again as he watched Joe leave. That carousel stopped when Joe and Steph had met again when she'd first become a bounty hunter and he was her first case. Joe hadn't looked at anyone else since then.
Eddie took another look at the pictures and shivered. Bad news. He'd have to call Shirley and make sure she locked up now that there was a serial killer loose in Trenton.
Joe was sitting at the table in the small dining room area. He had the reports of the murders of two young women spread out in front of him. Joe could sense that there had been more...somewhere else. He'd called around but hadn't gotten any positive responses. He looked down at Bob, the big golden retriever who was passed out on the floor next to him.
"I'm missing something, Bob. It's there in plain sight and I can't see it. Help me out here, pal." Bob rolled onto his back and offered his belly for scratching. Joe laughed.
"You always know what to say, don't you?" he said before giving in and scratching Bob's belly.
He heard a car pull up in front of his house and smiled as he saw Stephanie jump out of the Bronco and then turn back to say something to an illuminated Khari. Joe watched as she threw her head back and the memory of her laugh echoed through him. He unlocked the door and made his way to the kitchen for a bottle of water. He was headed back to the entryway when he heard the door opening.
"Hey, Cupcake, how was the party?" Joe opened the water and handed it to her. Through trial and error he'd found the best way to get her to drink water after she'd been out drinking was to meet her at the door.
"Oh thanks," Stephanie said taking the water. "My mouth feels like I've been sucking on sweatsocks." She downed half the bottle in one gulp and then tilted her head at him. "What are you still doing up?"
"I just got home and I've been going over some things," He followed her up the stairs. "How's Mitchie?"
"Nervous," Stephanie said as she pulled her shirt over her head and dropped it on the floor. Joe watched her for a moment and then moved slowly to pick up the shirt. He dropped the shirt into the hamper. "Maybe I'm just seeing things that aren't there but I think she's marrying Jerry because she thinks she should. I see the same look in her eye that I had the night before I married Dickie." she turned to Joe, handing him her pants. They'd only been married for about a year but it was habit for him now to pick up her clothes as she dropped them. He put the pants in the hamper and then sat on the bed.
"Hard to believe that she's old enough to get married. She's 20 now?" Joe shook his head. "People have to live their own lives, Cupcake, but it's hard to watch mistakes so obvious. Jerry's my age. I know what he sees in her but what does she see in him?" Stephanie shrugged.
"Maybe tomorrow morning I'll go over to Roxie's and feel her out again. I don't doubt that whatever I say she's gonna be Mrs. Jerry Gimelli tomorrow night. It's worth a shot." Stephanie jumped behind Joe on the bed and started massaging his shoulders. "Damn, you're tense." Joe turned and smiled at her.
"You wanna do something about that, Mrs. Morelli?" Stephanie smiled broadly and shoved Joe back on the bed.
"I'm no expert but I'll try my best."
The ringing phone woke Joe the next morning.
"'Lo," he said groggily. Stephanie sat up next to him. He listened for a moment and then his head fell to his hand. "Shit. Oh God. Shit."
"What is it?" Stephanie asked alarmed as Joe got out of bed and started pulling on his clothes.
"It's Mitchie," Joe said seriously. "She's dead." He hugged Stephanie with one arm as she cried softly. Joe felt like throwing something. He wanted to hurt something or someone or maybe himself. She'd been so young.
Mitchie's body had been found when Anthony Pino had taken out the trash upon arrival at his restaurant. It may not have been discovered all day had Geno remembered to take the trash out the night before. Rats surrounded Mitchie's head and had nibbled at her skin. Anthony had thrown up near the dumpster careful not to contaminate the crime scene.
Dr. Aziza Houdra, a forensic pathologist, knelt next to the body. Her rich brown hair had been pulled back and wrapped in the cord from the filter mask that she was wearing. Joe Morelli knelt next to her. They had met previously on another murder case.
"What do you think, Doctor?" Joe asked.
"Same as the others," she confirmed. "Cut back to the vertebrae. One motion. A sharp solid blade. One movement. Probably done from the back. Jack the Ripper style without the ripping afterward. Besides which there was this." she held up an oblong crystal bead. "Dropped into the gap where the head pulls away from the body. Just like the others."
"Shit," Joe said turning away from the body. Aziza stood up and walked over to him.
"It's always hard to look at," she said. "Someone so young and pretty. No one should die like this. He's doing it the same way every time. She's his third victim?" Joe nodded. "One of the uniforms told me that this is your niece. My condolences. I want you to know, Joe, she didn't suffer. She probably only had a moment of fear before it was all over."
"Thank you," Joe said. "That means a lot." Aziza looked closely at him.
"This isn't your fault, Joe. You weren't the one with the knife at her throat. You couldn't have stopped it," she said.
"My brain knows that but the rest of me isn't convinced. There's something screaming at me about this. Something that I'm too close to see." He turned to her. Azizia shrugged as she pulled her rubber gloves off. "You'll be getting some distance now. Who should I send the report to?"
"What?" Joe asked surprised.
"You're going to be off the case now, right? Should I just send my report to the captain?" Aziza asked. She stopped and stared at him for a moment, "You know that there's no way they're going to let you to continue with the case now that you're related to a victim."
"I hadn't really thought that far," Joe admitted. "Shit."
"Fuck, I'm gonna have to keep attention away from that fact for the moment. I was planning to get the staff profiler involved but I can't even go there now. Shit." Joe paused desperately trying to think through things. He could only think of one man who had what he needed to help and wouldn't report him to the captain. He took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking. "I'm gonna bring Khari in. He's a fresh viewpoint. If nothing else we can give him what we have and he'll come to the same conclusions." Aziza sighed heavily.
In the past Aziza had briefly been involved with Khari Kaplan, known as Tank on the street. He was the acting head of Rangemen, a mercenary operation specializing in government ops, since his boss' untimely demise. He and Aziza had come to the realization after one date that their viewpoints on gun control differed. They'd parted ways and avoided each other when possible. An easy task as Aziza spent most of her time with dead bodies and Tank's blood ran cold and vision swam at the thought of them.
"You can work with him?" Joe asked. He knew nothing of their relationship, only that they'd parted.
"I don't have any problems working with him. He might have some problems working with this," she said waving her hand in the direction of the crime scene.
"We'll work them out," Joe said pulling his cell phone from his pocket. He called Steph and she gave him Khari's cell phone number.