Deranged Page 15

  I wrote down the time stamp where I had stopped the video, then shut down the computer and leaped from my chair. With my purse and jacket in hand, I exited the building with Dave.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I’ll explain everything in the car.”

  I climbed into the cruiser and buckled up just as Dave shifted into Drive. The tires squealed as the car lurched forward, and he turned left out of the lot.

  Chapter 43

  As he drove, Dave explained the call he had just received. “That was the manager from Quick Break, a fast-food restaurant on South Moreland Avenue. The caller said an odor—nothing like anything he had smelled before—was coming from the dumpster behind the drive-through area. An employee was taking the trash from the outdoor receptacles to the dumpster when he caught whiff of it and saw a suspicious looking bag inside. He alerted the manager, who called it in. Patrol is at the scene, and they pulled out another black bag just like the others.” Dave grimaced with the next words. “They found what they think is the remains of a human head inside.”

  I snapped my neck toward him. “What does that mean?”

  “I don’t want to be too graphic, but according to Patrol, it sounds like the head was crushed purposely so it couldn’t be identified. Of course, the coroner will have to verify that the remains are indeed from a skull, but Patrol did say they saw a few strands of long black hair.”

  “Oh my God, that guy is out of control.” I stared out the window as I thought about the victims who would have no funerals, no names, and nobody mourning their deaths. They were only bits and pieces of what were once living, breathing human beings.

  We arrived at the already cordoned off fast-food restaurant and pulled into the back lot, where three squad cars and the coroner’s van sat.

  Dave pointed at the man wearing a navy-blue jacket with the word Coroner in yellow block letters. He was crouched alongside the dumpster. “Come on. There’s Bob. I’ll make the introductions and find out what he knows.”

  Bob stood and turned toward us when Dave called out his name. “Sergeant.”

  Dave introduced me to him as a consultant since there wasn’t time for anything else right then. “So what do you make of this, Bob?”

  Bob let out a heavy sigh and slipped off his gloves. “It’s damn gruesome, that’s for sure. I’m telling you, Dave, people just keep getting sicker and sicker. Never in my life have I seen something like this before, but I guess there’s always a first.”

  “So it really is a skull?”

  “Let’s just say it’s what’s left when a skull has been pulverized by an object heavy enough to crush it. Of course, I’ll know more once the bits and pieces are on the autopsy table.”

  I asked the question that was probably on everyone’s mind. “Is there a way to tell if that skull belonged with either bag of body parts found this last week?”

  “I should be able to get you a definitive answer on that, and I’ll let you know as soon as I have the results.”

  As we left, Dave reminded the coroner to turn over the bag to Forensics.

  “Will do.”

  The sergeant and I walked back to the officers milling around the area. “Have all of the employees been interviewed?”

  Ron Williams stepped up and gave me a hello nod. “We’ve interviewed everyone who was staffed today, sir.”

  “How many employees, and who was the one who discovered the bag?”

  Ron checked his notes. “There were nine employees interviewed, but none of them other than Sam Ketch, the kid that initially opened the dumpster, knew anything. He saw the black plastic bag, went back into the building, and alerted his manager, a Lloyd Meadows. Mr. Meadows was the man who called it in.”

  “Okay, I’ll need to speak to both of them.”

  “Sure thing. I’ll set it up.”

  I walked with Dave as he stretched a pair of gloves over his hands, covered his nose with his forearm, and peeked over the edge of the dumpster. I gave the contents a quick look as I covered my nose. The only items I saw were fast-food wrappers and the clear garbage bags used at the restaurant, but a good foot or two of trash still lay below that.

  Dave yelled to an officer who was standing within earshot. “Go inside, find out what company picks up this trash, and have the manager get them on the horn. This dumpster needs to be emptied on the pavement right now so we can go through the remaining garbage. I’m not about to leave any potential evidence behind.” He pressed his palms against his temples and squeezed. “I’d like to air what we have so far, but what do I give them without a description? I doubt if many people are close acquaintances with a serial killer who likes to cut up women and smash skulls.”

  “Let’s put out a statewide BOLO for an older dark-colored truck with chrome bumpers instead, and we can add that the driver may be a man with light-brown hair and blue eyes. The truck can’t be pulled over if nobody knows about it. At least it’s a start.”

  “You’re right, Kate, and maybe that’s all I should tell the press too. There’s somebody out there who knows him and has seen that vehicle in their neighborhood.”

  “And we ought to do that as soon as possible. Meanwhile, I’ll grab a ride back to the station so I can continue watching that video.”

  “Yeah, go ahead, and I’ll get that BOLO set up.” Dave scanned the lot. “Jackson, take Detective Pierce to the station.” Dave glanced at the building’s back door. “Here comes Ron and the people I need to speak with. I’ll catch up with you later, Kate.”

  Ron escorted two people to Dave’s side. “Sergeant Masters, this is the manager who made the call, Lloyd Meadows, and Sam Ketch, the employee who discovered the bag.”

  “Thanks, Ron. How about we take a seat over at the outdoor dining area? I want to know everything you told the officers earlier.”

  The manager spoke for both of them. “Sure thing.” He walked with Sam, who appeared visibly shaken by the discovery. They took seats opposite Dave.

  “Okay, first off, I need to know if Sam’s parents have been called.”

  Lloyd confirmed that they had since the teenager was still under eighteen years old.

  “Good. Okay, Sam, can you tell me how you came about discovering that bag?”

  He clenched his hands as he recalled the events from an hour earlier. “I work part-time after my school day is over—three until ten, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”

  Dave wrote that down. “Go ahead.”

  “My first duties of the day are to empty the drive-through and outdoor dining receptacles into the dumpster. After that, I usually fill dispensers and clean back in the prep area. I had two full bags to take to the dumpster, and we only use clear bags here.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “The closer I got to the dumpster, the more it reeked. It didn’t smell like bad food either—it was much worse than that. I opened the lid and almost puked.” The teenager’s eyes welled up. “That’s when I saw the black bag with something leaking out of it. I slammed the cover and went inside to tell Mr. Meadows what I’d found.”

  Dave lowered his pen and turned to Lloyd. “And you took it from there?”

  “I immediately went to the dumpster with Sam, lifted the lid for a split second, saw the black bag, and then backed away and made the 911 call. I’ve seen both breaking news reports of the black garbage bags containing human remains, and I wasn’t about to open it myself.”

  “And I appreciate the fact that you didn’t. Situations like that should always be left to the police to handle. What are the scheduled garbage pick-up days here, Mr. Meadows?”

  “Garbage collection is Tuesday and Friday mornings.”

  “So that bag could have been placed inside the dumpster any time after the Friday pick-up?”

  “That’s correct.”

  “I didn’t notice cameras back there.”

  “We never felt a need for any at the dumpster. I mean, what for?”

  “You do have a point. Can you show me the locati
ons of all the cameras you do have?”

  “Sure thing.”

  Dave stood and thanked Sam for his input then walked the perimeter of the building with Lloyd. “I see you have two driveways.”

  “Yep, we’d have a bottleneck if we only had one way in and the same way out. The driveways are marked with yellow arrows. The right side is the entrance because of the drive-through window.”

  “Got it. So I see two cameras—one at the front of the building and one where the payment is taken at the drive-through window. Any others?”

  “Inside the restaurant, of course, at the dining area and at each register.”

  “I’ll need to see the footage from both cameras beginning with Friday after the garbage was collected.”

  “The payment window only shows the person sitting in the car who ordered food.”

  “Okay, then we’ll start with the camera at the front of the building. I’ll have one of my detectives get that footage from you.” Dave handed Lloyd his card, thanked him, and returned to the back of the building. He walked the lane around the building that customers would normally take when exiting after parking or using the drive-through.

  Son of a bitch.

  Behind the buildings, a small three-store strip mall shared an exit that led to a side street. The perp wouldn’t necessarily have had to use the driveway that entered off Moreland Avenue.

  Can’t we ever catch a damn break?

  Dave yelled out to Brian Conway, a longtime detective with Dave’s precinct. “Conway, I need you to go inside and get the video footage from the manager. Take it back to the precinct and start going through it, beginning with Friday after the garbage was collected.”

  Conway jogged across the back lot. “What are we looking for?”

  “A truck from the seventies or earlier, dark colored with chrome bumpers.”

  “That’s all you have on it?”

  “Sorry, pal, but that’s it.”

  Chapter 44

  I returned to the room I had been in before and resumed the camera feed from Thursday night. Watching cars zoom by on green lights and stop on red was about as monotonous as it could get, but every time a vehicle pulled into the left turn lane, I perked up with hope that I’d see the truck. My hopes faded as I got through Thursday night’s footage without that truck showing up. The lingering doubts I always had were beginning to creep into my mind. Was that truck, the field, or anything about that nightmare actually related to the case? I knew that with only Friday night’s footage to go, I might end up with nothing but a bad dream.

  With a glance at the time on the bottom right-hand side of the monitor, I realized it was after seven o’clock, and I hadn’t seen or heard from Dave since I left the fast-food restaurant. My cell phone’s vibration on the table next to the computer caught my attention. It was an incoming text from Kim asking if I’d be home for dinner and saying that it would be ready in twenty minutes. With a sigh about the hours wasted, I powered down the computer and carried it with me to Dave’s office. I had no idea if he was back or not, but I gave the door two raps, anyway. Surprisingly, a voice on the other side said to come in.

  “Dave?”

  “Kate, you’re still here? I’m so sorry, but with all this—”

  I gave him a thoughtful smile. “You don’t have to explain. I fully understand the stress you’re dealing with.”

  He let out an exhausted “Thanks” and asked me to take a seat. “Seriously, I apologize. The press showed up, wanted an interview, and I just lost track of time. So, I’m assuming you haven’t found the truck on the camera feed yet.”

  I stared at my lap and felt like a failure. “No, I haven’t, but there’s still Friday’s footage to review, and I’ll take the computer home if you’d like me to keep watching it.”

  He swatted the air. “No way. You’ve put in enough time today. I’ll have the night shift boys finish it up.”

  “Thanks. I do intend to keep working the case tonight, though. It’s just that my family would like me to join them for dinner.”

  “Please, go ahead, and don’t give it another thought.”

  “Okay, then I guess I’ll leave. Good night, sir.”

  “Good night, Kate.”

  The case was consuming my every thought. Janine was likely dead by now and trying to explain to Beth why the police and I couldn’t save her would be heart-wrenching. I’d eat dinner, try to socialize with my mom and Kim for a bit, and dig back in. I wasn’t ready to give up on my friends or the city I grew up in.

  I entered a house full of anticipation. Mom and Kim wanted to know if our investigation was progressing and if we were any closer to finding Janine.

  I looked around. “Did Beth go home?”

  Mom set the table while Kim put the fried chicken on a platter and placed a sheet of aluminum foil over it while the potatoes boiled. “Yes, her sister flew in today, remember?”

  “Yeah, that’s right.” I plopped down on a kitchen chair and rolled my neck.

  Mom took a seat next to me. “So?”

  “So this is a really hard case, Mom, and the only clues we have are from my dreams. There’s a lot of pressure involved when the entire police department trusts me and my nightmares to figure things out.”

  “Why?” Kim asked. “That’s what you do.”

  “It is, and I agree, but I’m the one who offered my services. Now I need to prove that my abilities can help find Janine and capture the Fulton County Butcher at the same time. Usually, the police force has something to go on too, but so far, not in this case.”

  “So what are they doing to contribute to their own investigation?” Kim poured the potatoes into a strainer, rinsed them, then dumped them into a bowl. She placed the bowl on the table along with the chicken and broiled asparagus.

  “Sergeant Masters put out a BOLO for the vehicle in my dream.”

  Mom raised her brows. “You had a dream vehicle that actually exists?”

  I smiled. “That’s how this whole psychic thing works, Mom, and yes, hopefully it is a real vehicle that the perp owns.”

  Kim leaned forward after settling into her seat. “What did it look like?”

  I speared a chicken thigh with my fork and dropped it on my plate. “That’s the problem. I didn’t get a good look at it.”

  “Then how is there a BOLO out on it?”

  I let out a frustrated puff of air. “We’re doing everything we can with what we have to work with. In my dream, I caught a glimpse of the front driver’s side of an older truck. It looked dark, but I couldn’t tell you what color it was. It did have a chrome bumper, though, and that would make it a vehicle from the seventies or older.”

  Kim frowned. “Wow, that’s vague.”

  I bit into a baby red potato. “I know, but it’s all we have other than the man had blue eyes and light-brown hair.”

  “That’s vague too.”

  I let out an exhausted sigh. “Thanks, Mom.”

  She slid four asparagus spears onto her plate. “Well, I’ll keep my eyes peeled for an older truck with chrome bumpers.”

  I forced a smile. “Anyway, that information will be aired on tonight’s news and every news broadcast going forward until the case is solved. We need the public’s help, and the more eyes looking for that vehicle, the better.”

  With dinner finished, I helped clean the kitchen and apologized for turning in early. I had hours of paperwork and theories to review before the lights went out.

  “Kate?”

  I looked over my shoulder at my mom. “Yep?”

  “What are we supposed to say to Beth? It doesn’t sound like there’s much hope for Janine.”

  “Don’t say anything. Beth needs to stay in touch with the police and get information from them, not us.” I gave my mom and Kim a kiss on their cheeks and headed for my bedroom. “Good night, guys.”

  “Good night, Kate.”

  Chapter 45

  He checked the calendar after hanging his jacket in the closet.
<
br />   Yes, last night was ginger tea. Green tea sounds good about now. It’ll give me the focus to figure out how to sedate Tristan so I can dye her hair.

  Greg poured the filtered water into a glass measuring cup to the one and a quarter cup mark then placed it in the microwave. He turned on the TV while the water heated.

  Ah, I haven’t watched the news lately. Let’s see what’s going on in the world.

  He flipped the channels to his favorite station then checked the time. Ten minutes of local news was left before the world news began. He grinned.

  Guess it doesn’t hurt to see if there’s anything new with the Fulton County Butcher.

  A loop of that afternoon’s discovery and an interview with Sergeant Dave Masters filled the TV screen. The location behind the sergeant looked familiar. Greg frowned with suspicion then realized it was the fast-food restaurant where he’d dropped the crushed head into the dumpster.

  You can’t be serious! How the hell did they discover that bag?

  Greg quickly recognized the sergeant as the same man who had been snooping around the cemetery yesterday with that woman.

  “So you’re a big shot at the police force, are ya? What I’m wondering now is who the bitch was that you were with.”

  He paused the TV, prepared his tea, then continued watching the news coverage. The sergeant went on to say that the police had issued a BOLO for an older dark-colored pickup truck with chrome bumpers. Anyone who knew of an individual with a similar truck was asked to notify the police department at the 800 number listed at the bottom of the screen.

  “Shit! How could anyone know my truck was there? I entered through the back lot, where there weren’t any cameras.” He gulped the scalding tea, set the cup on the counter, and paced around the table. “I can’t drive myself to a rental car agency. I’ll need them to deliver a car, but how the hell am I going to hide the truck now that the garage is closed off?”

  He stormed outside, looked in every direction, and weighed his options. The only place he could use was the shed. Greg jogged to the side yard and pulled open the double doors. There was no way the truck would fit inside, even without the ATV in there. The doors weren’t wide enough. He slapped at the wall until his hand connected with the light switch. He scoured the wall shelves until he found what he needed—a large tarp. With that in hand, he slammed the doors, returned to the driveway, and drove the truck to the backside of the shed. Luckily, the tarp was large and covered most of the vehicle. The fact that it was well hidden behind the shed offered him an extra sense of security—it couldn’t be seen from the driveway. Greg placed four cinder blocks on the ends of the tarp to keep it from blowing away then returned to the house.