Chapter 17
Detective Klass went down to the medical examiner's office. She'd put in a call to Trooper Gonzales to let him know the development and he promised to be back in Manhattan as quickly as possible. With Rollins not available, they were down a detective, but Captain Benson promised to have a Detective Velasco meet Klass before she spoke to Melinda.
"Detective Klass, here to see the remains?" Melinda looked up from the fleshier body she was working on and gave the woman a slight smile. Of course, the detective was but the ME wasn't sure if she could crack wise like she used to with Benson and Stabler or Munch and Tutuola.
"I'm supposed to be meeting Detective Velasco here before we get to it," the Queens SVU detective said.
"Ah, well hopefully he'll be here soon," Melinda said before turning back to the body on her table.
"Doc… the chances that Nicole Cox is still alive… they aren't great, are they?" Klass heaved out a breath. This case was doing her in. The ME looked up, a tight smile on her face.
"The other three missing ladies are gone but there is always hope," Melinda said.
"He made a point to keep Darlene Cox, her mother, well hidden. Then he gets sloppy with Makayla Powell and her mother Diane. Does that make sense? I mean he took the Powells before he took the Coxes. Shouldn't they have been killed in the same order? Wouldn't that be why he went looking for the Coxes in the first place?" The detective wondered.
"That's why I had a forensic anthropologist come and take a look at all the bones. It's possible that the Powells were killed first and then moved because of some sort of extenuating circumstances. Look where he buried them – a dug up grave and a dug-up lot. These were not their original locations, yet he made a point of keeping their bones together. Considering that he moved the bones, he did a pretty good job of not missing much. My guess is that the two were buried together originally and then he had to split them up. Probably didn't think he could bury them both at Mrs. Bernardini's grave without being noticed. It would explain why the fingers got mixed up," Melinda figured. The detective needed an outside opinion and the medical examiner was glad that she was talking it out. Holding a case like this in would ruin a person.
"I hear your dog Betty is to thank for her sense of smell. Without her, we might have not found poor Diane," Melinda continued.
"Yes. I hadn't meant to bring her but she needed a walk and Gonzales and I were going to check out the parking ticket spot. Betty enjoys car rides so I figured it was a win-win," Klass smiled a little.
"Hey Melinda, sorry I'm late," a man announced from behind the two.
"Detective Velasco, this is Detective Klass from Queens. Shall we take a look at the remains?" The medical examiner asked.
"Nice to meet you," Velasco shook hands with Klass. They watched as Melinda pulled the remains out of the cooler drawer.
"Same. Any chance you have a cause of death?" The Queens detective asked.
"Shot to the back of the head – just like Darlene Cox," Melinda said.
"So, Louis Howey shoots the mothers but suffocates Makayla? He wants to see the children suffer?" Velasco was confused. If Howey had a gun, why not use it on all his victims?
"Could we be looking at a team?" Klass suddenly wondered.
"Two killers? That's a little outside my wheelhouse. If we had more on the bodies, I might be able to tell but…" Melinda shook her head.
"Sounds like a question for Huang. Anything else from Diane's body?" Velasco asked.
"Her clothing would seem to date back to not long after her disappearance but I'm waiting on the forensic anthropologist to confirm a time range," the medical examiner said.
"Ok thanks," Klass gave her a smile.
"Keep me posted on when you catch this bastard," Melinda told her.
"Will do," the detective promised. Then her phone rang and she quickly answered it while she and Velasco retreated towards her car. She was still on the phone when they exited the ME's office. Without disrupting the caller, Klass directed Velasco to her car.
"Thanks Captain. Were you brought up to speed?" She asked, the call was finally over.
"Yes. Fin has been keeping me updated. So, what was that about?" Velasco wanted to know.
"Casey Barreto was apparently sleeping with Ben Updike's wife. He got the weapons because he was getting paranoid that Ben knew what the two of them were up to," Klass explained.
"Well Ben does work with a shovel," Velasco said.
"Worse still – Ben had no idea. Huang is having Barreto admitted for a psych hold and it sounds like the Updike's will be getting a divorce," she told him.
"Good grief. No word on Louis Howey?" He wondered.
"TARU has the footage cleaned up. Bruno and Churlish are on their way there," Klass let him know.
"Hopefully we catch this guy soon," Velasco said.
To Be Continued…