CHAPTER 2
Matt pulled up to the address that Hoyt had given him: a building that contained loft apartments on Flower Street. As Matt put the truck into park, he reached for the LAPD civilian ID that Hoyt had given him about a month earlier. He had been instructed to wear it not only when entering the police station, but also when he came to crime scenes. Getting out of the truck, Matt approached the door of the apartments and was met by one of his friends: Sgt. Larry Carlisle. He smiled as Matt neared the door. "Well looky here, Junior – they called in the cowboy. How ya doin', Houston?" Matt shook the offered hand.
"Pretty good, Larry, how's the missus?" He had known the police officer for the last few years after moving to LA.
"She's good. How 'bout your girls?" He elbowed his partner, a rookie that he was in the middle of training. "He's fixing to whip out the phone now, kid, see?" He laughed as Matt did exactly as expected and showed Larry the latest pictures of CJ and Catey Rose. "She's a cutie. When are you and CJ planning on another one?"
"Oh, for some reason she wants to wait until Catey's a year old before trying again." Matt grinned. "Guess I better get up there and meet with Hoyt. He sounded kinda tired when he called."
"Yep, I don't doubt it. See ya later."
Matt headed for the elevator and closed the gate on the old freight elevator and pushed the button for the fourth floor. As he opened the gate and stepped out he saw the activity down toward the left and headed that way. He was met at the door by another young officer who wouldn't let him pass. "Lieutenant? There's a guy named Houston here." He eyed the private investigator dubiously.
"Yeah, Sanders, I called him in. From now on, don't stop the man. He's a consultant for the department." Hoyt walked toward the door.
"Sorry, sir, I didn't know." He apologized to Matt, who stuck out his hand and shook with the young cop.
"Hey, you're trying to do your job, no hard feelings." He grinned at the young man and headed on over to his friend. Back when he and Hoyt had first met, neither would have expected that they would turn into the best of friends in such a short amount of time. "Mornin'. What've we got?"
"Take a look and tell me what you think." Hoyt stepped out of the way as Matt put on a pair of black batting gloves and the young cop watched with unmasked curiosity.
The private investigator stepped over toward the wall where the body of a young woman lay in a large pool of blood. She was naked except for a pair of panties and had three upside-down crosses hacked into her body: one over each breast and one just below her navel. She had also been stabbed directly in the heart. "Oh boy, not again."
"What do you mean "not again"?" Hoyt was completely surprised.
"When I was in Texas I helped the Houston Police Department with a serial killer. He had used sulfuric acid to remove his finger print, then replaced it with one of these." He motioned to the crosses on the body of the dead female. "They can have a couple of meanings. Some refer to them as the Cross of St. Peter – used by the popes some. Or they can be a satanic symbol."
Hoyt was surprised that Houston had known about the history of the symbol. As a practicing Catholic, Michael Hoyt was familiar with its uses. "That guy's not on the loose again is he?"
"I sure hope not, but I can find out real quick." Matt pulled out his phone and called Michael Littlebear, the detective that he had worked with on the serial killer case right before the previous Christmas. "Hey Littlebear, how's it goin'?"
"Good man, how about you?" Michael Littlebear was walking around the perimeter of a crime scene. "Are you looking for a job, 'cause I've got a doozy that I'm on."
"Well I am, too. I was just talking with Lt. Hoyt. Our boy from last December isn't on the loose again – is he?" Matt most sincerely hoped not. The man was as crazy as a bed bug.
"No, he's still locked up and going through the process of getting ready for trial." Littlebear had hoped that Matt was in town – he sure would have liked to pick his brain over the current case that he was working.
"Good. Well maybe not. I guess it would be bad. Whoever did the murders that I'm looking at right now is using the same symbol, only he's hacking the crosses into the bodies of his victims." Matt had made it over to look at the body of the male that was a few feet from the female. His wounds were nearly identical, including the stab wound to the heart.
"Wow, not good. Well good luck with it."
"Same to ya, bud. Holler at you later. 'Bye." Matt hung up. "Not the guy from Texas. This is some other nut job." He squatted down and took a closer look at the wounds on the male, then lifted the somewhat bloody sheet that was half-way covering his pubic area. "Damn." The man's penis had been hacked with the symbol as well.
"Yeah, pretty much what I said, give or take." Michael Hoyt walked over to the private investigator. "The girl is Sherri Betts, 22, a model. No arrest record. This guy," he indicated the male, "is Logan Holcomb, age 24, a free-lance photographer - also no arrest record. This is his apartment." The pair walked around looking into the closets and drawers in the bedroom area of the loft.
"So who found them?" Matt hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary aside from the mutilated bodies.
"The super. The other neighbors in the surrounding apartments were complaining about the noise – those on either side as well as on the floor above and below." Hoyt pulled the always-present roll of antacids out of his pocket, popping one into his mouth. "When the officers arrived on the scene the stereo was turned up full blast."
"I take it there haven't been any others found like this?" Matt motioned to the lifeless young couple on the floor.
"No." Hoyt didn't have to add the "not yet" part that Matt knew he was thinking.
"Do you know anything else about them yet?" Matt continued to look around the apartment and was coming up empty.
"No. We've interviewed the neighbors and no one has any idea who would want to do this. None of them knew the girl but three of them knew Taylor – from the elevator, the parking lot, that kind of thing. Hey how you doing and so on." He followed Matt as he circulated around the apartment once again, ending up at the door.
"Doesn't look like it was forced, so they either knew the killer or weren't afraid of him for some reason. This is the only way in and out, right?" He hadn't spied any other way, but wanted to be sure.
"There's the fire escape out this way, but there doesn't seem to be any forced entry and it's locked." Hoyt showed the private investigator into the kitchen area and pointed out the window that led to the fire escape. Matt took a good look at the lock on the window and like Hoyt, didn't see any marks indicating that it had been forced open – or that it had been opened recently at all; in fact, there was a layer of dust on the handle.
"Hmm. So evidently our guy came and went through the front door. What about the security cameras?" Matt had noticed one in the elevator and another at either end of the hallway.
"The super is working on getting the feed for us. It's sent directly to the property management company that owns the building. They aren't open for business just yet."
"Did you find her purse?" He had been looking all over the apartment for it, but had yet to find it.
"No – we ID'ed her from this." He showed Matt a book that the photographer had evidently made that included the picture and information of each of the models that he had worked with – everything from their address and phone number right down to the dates of each photo shoot and who the client was that paid for the jobs.
"Are you done here?" Matt was headed toward the front door.
"Yes, the CSI's are on the way." He followed Matt out of the door and down the hallway to the elevator where they ran across Charlie Mason. "It's a messy one, Charlie."
"Oh goody. Great way to start the day." Charlie headed on down the hallway followed by the new tech that he was training.
Hoyt and Matt got onto the elevator and headed down to the street. "Okay, I'll go see what I can find on these two at my office, unless you've got another plan?" Matt looked over at the lieutenant. "Hey, are you okay?"
Michael nodded. "It's just been a long week. Hell, who am I kidding? It's been a long month. We just can't seem to catch a break. I knew things were going too smoothly about a month ago. You know I went two whole days without having to go out to a scene?"
"Really? That is unusual." Houston clapped his friend on the back. "Tell you what, how about you come to the office with me and we'll kick this thing around some?"
The veteran cop blew out a breath. "Might as well. Maybe a change of scenery will help. See you there." They parted ways out on the street and Matt high-fived Larry on his way to the truck.
Once he was back at the office and had parked the truck, he held the elevator for Hoyt and they rode up to the penthouse together. They met CJ who was just leaving with Catey Rose for a doctor's appointment. "Hey, is it that time already?" Matt leaned over and Catey gave him another kiss on the chin, causing Hoyt to smile.
"Yep, time for another round of shots." CJ didn't look too thrilled.
"Do you think you can handle her or do you need another pair of hands?" Matt's ears were grabbed by his curious daughter who found the whole thing to be hilarious – as did her Uncle Michael.
"No, I can get her. But we may head on home if she's fussy afterwards. Can you behave without us for a while?"
"Oh I don't know. I might just run amuck." Matt gave CJ a kiss and Hoyt gave Catey a kiss on the head.
"Good luck, Miss Catey Rose. Don't beat up on 'em too bad." Michael smiled as CJ and Catey boarded the elevator and took off for the appointment. The two men headed into the office and over to the coffee pot before stepping over the back of the couch and pulling up BABY the computer. "I always hated it when Kathy had to get her shots."
"You're telling me – I would have gladly traded places with Catey the last time – and I absolutely hate needles." Matt punched in the male victim's name. "Alrighty let's see here. Logan Holcomb, free-lance photographer, graduated from UCLA with a degree in Digital Photography and Video two years ago. Opened his business shortly thereafter. He's had a pretty steady job working for local record labels and has designed several critically acclaimed album covers." He punched a few more keys. "Family: mom and dad are divorced; he's got a younger sister Sicily who is currently enrolled at UCLA in the Drama program. He's never been married." He leaned back and studied the information in front of him and took a sip of the coffee. "Not much."
Leaning forward again, Matt punched in the name of the female victim. "Sherri Betts, model for one of the better agencies in town, has done layouts for a couple of Rodeo Drive jewelers and also for a local department store. Got into modeling while still in high school. Family: mom and dad both deceased, killed in an auto accident when she was sixteen…" Matt was looking to see who had taken custody of her. "Hmm, this is interesting. When the parents were killed she petitioned the court to be considered an emancipated minor – and was granted a declaration. She was already modeling steadily at the time and had a 4.0 grade point average. Beauty and brains – reminds me of CJ." He continued reading but nothing else caught his attention. He leaned back and drank more coffee as he thought.
"The crosses could stand either for or against religion. We really need to talk to someone who knew this pair well. The guy's sister might be able to help us with him, but who can we talk to about the girl?" He thought for a minute and then looked up Sherri Betts' address. "It's an apartment over on South Figueroa. Wonder if she's got a roommate?" He took another sip of coffee and looked over at Hoyt.
"Sounds like the logical place to start, then go check out the guy's sister." Michael drank down the last of his coffee as did Matt and then they got up and put their cups on the bar before starting back out to the elevator. "And how is Mrs. Murray Chase doing today?" He smiled at Matt's secretary.
"Just fine, thanks, and yourself?" She was all smiles.
"Oh, just wonderful - I have to run around with this guy looking for a murderer." He rolled his eyes.
Matt punched the button for the elevator and slapped Hoyt on the back of the head. "Manners – I could be studying my school books ya know."
"Oh boy, do you think he'll be the teacher's pet?" Hoyt grinned over at Chris.
"I would say you guys are the Three Stooges but you're missing a key component." She laughed as the two detectives boarded the elevator and headed out to work the case.