Catherine led the way into the motel room. The scene looked so familiar now. Blood splatter on the walls and flooring, the bodies laid in their own pools of blood on the bed in the same positions and the smell of bleach from the bathroom. She sighed as she found David taking the body temperature from the liver to determine TOD from the female body.
He looked up at her as she approached. "Looks like TOD for both were approximately around 4:30 am. These killers definitely seem to stay true to form, except for changing sides of town on us."
"Yeah, I just hope one of these days someone catches them in the act," Catherine frowned while taking notes on the scene.
Greg had ventured into the bathroom to take photos and then he swabbed for traces of blood or anything else, but came up empty. They seemed to be doing better with cleaning up after themselves.
It took Greg and Catherine a couple hours again to go over the whole room. When they got back to the lab, they were exhausted. They recapped what they had so far on all three scenes.
"So far we know our killers like to stick to a pattern. They like to hit couples that are staying at these rural roadside motels. They possibly pick their victims by watching the motel or see their victims elsewhere. They somehow gain entrance into the vics rooms and probably drug them as soon as they can in order to gain control over the situation. Then perhaps, once their vics are lucid enough again, they start to play with them, torture them by cutting them and watching them bleed and beg for their lives. As they cut them they take their knives with the blood on them and like making a painting throw the blood onto the walls, around the room. They continue this for a while until their vics are pretty much out of it. Then they slash their throats to just end it. Once they are dead, they take their knives and go into the bathroom to wash them off, cleanse the place with bleach, pack up their things and make off as another game is done for them." Catherine vividly played the scene out in her mind as she gave her recount.
Greg could also see it as she described it; except he thought of something she left out. "The last two female victims, according to Dr. Robbins reports, were raped with a foreign object. After finding the pool cue chalk on the first vics clothes and then signs of it on the newest victim, we can possibly assume they used a pool stick as the object to rape them."
Catherine twisted her features looking disgusted. "We need to get these sickos off the street soon. At least they have warned all rural motels to be on the look out for suspicious activities, so maybe we will get lucky soon."
Brass came in with a smile on his face. "Did I hear someone getting lucky? I think we just did. It seems Miss Jessica Myers was at a convenient store out in North Vegas buying some stuff when the clerk recognized her and called us. An officer was in the area and picked her up fast. She is being brought in now and her vehicle is being brought into the garage."
Greg and Catherine looked at each other, smiles on both of their faces. "Greg, once her vehicle is here start processing it. I am going with Jim for interview."
Greg nodded and headed out while Catherine went with Brass to Central.
Greg put on his coveralls and got to work on the GMC Jimmy. He was not finding much other than fingerprints and hairs until he looked under the drivers side seat. He pulled out a small white towel. He examined the towel more closely and smiled when he found what he was hoping for. There was a tiny smear of blood on it. He took out a swab to make sure it was blood. It tested positive. He bagged it and took it over to Wendy in DNA, telling her it was a priority. Wendy knew at this point anything on this case was a priority.
Greg went back to the SUV to finish searching the rest of it. After finding nothing else with the naked eye he put on the special goggles and used the ALS light on the interior of the car. Faint traces of blood could be seen under the light. They must have cleaned the seats on the car, but not well enough for the ALS.
He then proceeded to go to the back of the Jimmy. Again traces came through with the light. He got the specially equipped camera to take photos of the interior under the ALS.
When he was finished with the SUV, he headed over to Wendy with the rest of what he collected.
"Hey Greg, you got good timing today. I got a positive match on the blood from the towel to Lacey Rowland, the vic from the last murder."
Greg smiled. "It's about time. I'll call Catherine and let her know. Thanks a lot, Wendy."
"You're welcome. Oh and when you got this case wrapped up, get some sleep will ya. You look like hell."
Greg shook his head at her, but was grinning. "Thanks, I'll remember you said that next time I see you looking tired."
Jessica Myers was playing with her medium length, dark brown hair. Her shallow, glassy brown eyes glared at Brass and Catherine Willows. They might as well as have been talking to a brick wall, as she refused to answer any questions.
Catherine's cell phone rang went off. She quickly pardoned herself from the interrogation room and answered the call.
"Catherine, it is Greg. I found a towel under her SUV seat with blood on it. The blood matches Lacey Rowland, our last victim." She could hear the excitement in his voice. He tended to get that way when he found a key piece of evidence.
"Great, that gives us something to maybe rattle her cage. She has not been saying a thing. Anything else I should know before I go back in?"
"They seemed to clean up the SUV pretty well but the ALS still detected blood on driver and passenger side seats. Also in the back on the carpeting some spots. Not much else for now until more test results are back."
"Thanks Greg. Why don't you go home now and get some sleep. I'll page you when needed or see you at start of shift later on today."
"Thanks. Wendy told me I looked like hell already anyway," he laughed then said goodbye.
Catherine went back into the interrogation room. Jim's eyes looked for a glimmer of hope from Catherine. She gave him a big smile, and then took the seat next to him again.
"Jessica, it seems we found a towel under the driver's side seat of your vehicle with blood on it. And guess what, that blood matches one of our victims from the murder last night. Now how do you explain that?"
Jessica rolled her eyes, and then simply said, "I want my lawyer."
Catherine looked to Jim, who simply shrugged his shoulders. She was going to be a tough cookie to crack but at least they had solid evidence now to hold her.
Catherine went home shortly after and got to see her daughter home from school and managed to catch a few hours sleep. When she got back into work a half hour early, she was surprised to see Greg already there. He was in the locker room talking with Nick and Sara about their case.
"Hey Nick. Hi Sara. Greg, I am surprised you are here already," she said with a smirk.
He scowled at her. "I do come in early once in awhile and well I wanted to see what happened with Jessica Myers."
"Well we did not get anywhere with her. She kept silent and then demanded her lawyer, but she is being held without bail for right now."
"So it looks like this Jessica Myers is possibly one of the killers. Any idea who her accomplice is," Nick asked them.
Catherine shook her head. "No, so far we do not know. We are not even sure if it is another woman or a man."
"Well hopefully with one possible suspect in custody, there will be no more killings," Sara said with a slight smile.
"Let's hope so," Greg replied as he looked toward Catherine, who nodded in agreement.
Even with a lawyer present, Jessica Myers was still keeping her silence. She was not going to give up her love. She had finally found someone to trust and love unconditionally. Plus when she found out his secret passion, she knew they were meant to be together. And together they enjoyed their new nightly activities. She only hoped that he would continue on with their work in her temporary absence.
He paced the floor in front of the television, pissed off that Jessie was in custody. How could she have been so stupid and careless? He warned her to keep a low profile, since her face had been shown on the news.
He had to get her back somehow, before she decided to rat him out. If she did, she would end up just as dead as the others. A plan was developing in his mind. It would not be easy to pull off alone, but he was determined to get her back with him, no matter what cost.
He grabbed his hunting knife and checked its blade for sharpness. Pleased, he took one more look at the news report and smiled to himself. He would get his Jessie back and enjoy his work in the process.