Callahan And McLane: Targeted Part 17

"h.e.l.lo?" a female voice called from the front of the house. A dark-haired woman strode in carrying a black satchel. She smiled at Ava and the crime scene tech, and took a good look at the body on the floor. "Looks like I'm in the right place." She held out a hand to Ava. "I'm Gianna Trask with the medical examiner's office."

Her smile was a little too sunny for Ava. "Special Agent Ava McLane." Her vision tunneled as she looked at the medical examiner.

The smile faltered. "Maybe you should sit down, Agent McLane." The doctor grabbed one of her arms while the tech grabbed the other, and they guided her into a dining room chair.

Ava lowered her head between her legs, anger flooding her. Dammit. Get a hold of yourself. She sucked in deep breaths.

The medical examiner squatted beside her. "Is it the blood?"

Ava choked out a laugh and lifted her head, looking into the woman's concerned brown eyes. "No, the blood doesn't bother me at all. It's something not related to this."

Gianna nodded, but she didn't appear convinced. Ava's vision finally seemed normal, so she stood, testing her legs. She noticed the medical examiner taking an a.s.sessing glance at her stomach.

"Not pregnant," Ava said dryly.

The medical examiner grinned. "If it's not a dead body, then pregnancy is usually my second guess."

Her head felt like it was about to crack open, and she fought to keep her thoughts on the crime at hand. They had another murder to solve and her personal problems had no business getting in the way. She exhaled and turned to Dr. Trask. "I'm better. I believe we're done taking pictures if you want to get started."

Dr. Trask nodded and turned her attention to Lucien Fujioka, but Ava noticed she positioned herself to keep Ava in her peripheral vision. She thinks I might get light-headed again.

Ava was determined not to repeat the experience. She watched the medical examiner palpate Fujioka's skull. "Is there a blow to the head?" Ava asked.

"Yes. I can feel it on the left side."

"I think he realized he was about to be attacked and turned," Ava commented. "Two of the others were hit squarely in the back of the head."

"I a.s.sisted on Vance Weldon's autopsy," Dr. Trask said as she ran her hands down Lucien's arms. "I went back and reviewed all our notes when I heard it might be tied to those other officers' cases. I didn't see anything to indicate it wasn't a suicide."

"He didn't have the blow to the back of the head, right?" asked Ava.

"Correct. If it wasn't suicide, I don't know how he was subdued enough to be hanged." Dr. Trask shook her head in frustration, and Ava felt bad for the medical examiner.

"Dr. Rutledge says sometimes mistakes are made in cla.s.sifications."

"They are. Doesn't mean it won't drive me batty and make me second-guess everything I saw."

Ava studied Fujioka's neck, the smooth cords of tendons and muscles, and mentally compared it with the slashed necks of two of the other cops. Weldon's neck had also looked relatively intact. How did he get Weldon to cooperate? "Would a stun gun have left behind some evidence if it had been used on Weldon?" asked Ava.

"Pressed directly against his flesh? Depends on the type of weapon used. I've seen a few stun guns leave small bruises and some leave nothing."

"I thought it left two little red marks."

"A Taser definitely would. Those p.r.o.ngs can bite into the skin. Stun guns vary widely. I didn't see any marks on Weldon that could be from a stun gun. But it doesn't mean one wasn't used."

That's not much help.

Ava looked back at the body. "This officer might have got in some blows on the suspect before he was shot," said Ava. "Please be careful bagging his hands. Our killer's DNA might be under his nails. No one else managed to lay a hand on their attacker, which might be why he was shot."

"I'm always careful," Dr. Trask said with a smile, and Ava felt a touch of embarra.s.sment about telling her how to do her job.

Nora and Zander reappeared, their cheeks pinked from the chill of the night air. "We didn't see him," Nora said. "We both walked the crowd and didn't see anyone who could remotely look like this guy." She handed the camera to the tech who'd helped Ava sit down. "We showed it to a few of the officers holding the perimeter and no one said they'd seen him."

"Well, he's not a figment of my imagination," stated Ava. "We have him on-screen."

"Right," said Zander. "But he decided to split. I bet he became aware of the filming when the tech was asked to come inside. What's he hiding from?"

"I don't know," said Ava. "It makes no sense. I really think he's trying to find Jayne. My best guess is that she owes someone money."

"You don't believe he's related to this?" Nora pointed at the officer on the floor. "Because if not, we need to get to work."

"I really don't," Ava stated as doubt crept up her spine. Nora held her gaze for a second and then introduced herself to the medical examiner. She and Zander started a discussion about the death with the ME.

Ava half listened, wondering how "David" could be related to the mask murders.

"A hanging, two cut necks after a blow to the head, and now a gunshot with a blow to the head," Zander said. "I'm a bit surprised by the variety of murder methods."

"Has someone tried to see if the methods relate to that particular mask and movie?" Ava asked. "Does the villain in each movie prefer a method? Maybe our killer is using movies for his inspiration."

"I looked into that after hearing the Weldon case involved a mask. I couldn't find a correlation," Nora said. "Good thought, though. Let's go talk to our witness next door. Maybe that will s.h.i.+ne some light on these cases."

20.

Zander thought Audrey Kerth looked too young to have a baby. A quick request to see her driver's license showed him she was twenty-seven. At first he thought she looked young because he was getting older, but after Nora asked him her age in a whisper, he knew it wasn't just him. Audrey sat in a living room chair, her legs crossed at the ankles and her hands twisted in her lap. The home smelled like baby shampoo.

"Mr. Fujioka was the nicest guy," she said tearfully. "I thought it was cool living next door to a police officer. It always felt safer, you know?"

Her manner of speaking made her sound young, too.

"His wife Jeanine bought the cutest outfit for Molly when she was born." She wiped her nose with the back of her hand. "Did you get a hold of her yet? Does she know that her husband's been . . ." Fresh tears streamed.

"I haven't heard," said Nora. "I asked the local Sacramento Police Department to go to her hotel and notify her."

Beside him Ava sat very still as she watched and listened to the young mother. Zander's train of thought kept wavering from the crime at hand to Ava's possible stalker. A definite stalker. The man had shown up three times at Ava's location and vanished out front the moment he'd thought someone had spotted him.

Zander wasn't surprised to hear Jayne's name a.s.sociated with the stalker. Anything disruptive in Ava's life traced its origins to her twin.

"Then I heard a gunshot," Audrey said. "I waited a few seconds to see if there'd be another. That's when I crept into Molly's room and took her out of her crib. I wasn't going to let her out of my sight if someone was shooting."

"There was only one shot?" Nora asked.

"I only heard one. I thought it'd come from the direction of the Fujioka house, so I peeked through Molly's blinds. I could see someone moving in the kitchen."

"Show us," said Nora. She, Ava, Zander, and the female officer who'd been waiting with Audrey followed the mother down the hallway. Audrey stopped outside a bedroom door that was open a few inches.

"Please be quiet," she whispered. "Molly's asleep." She pushed open the door. Inside she reached over the diaper changing table and twisted the rod to open the blinds. She had a perfect view through the window over the Fujioka side yard and into the kitchen. The distance appeared to be about twenty feet.

Zander could see Dr. Trask talking to one of the techs.

"What did you see?" Nora whispered. Audrey motioned for them to leave the baby's room. Zander stood back to let the women leave first. Ava paused and looked into the crib. She reached out as if to touch the baby but pulled her hand back at the last second. She glanced up and looked Zander's way, but he couldn't see her expression in the shadows. She gazed in his direction for a long moment and then followed the other women.

Huh.

He didn't know what to think of her behavior. Women loved babies, right? It was in their genes to touch soft baby hair and cheeks. But he'd never heard Ava say a maternal word in her life.

But she's getting married. Married can mean babies.

He couldn't see Mason Callahan going the kid route again. His son was in college, and he seemed content to blissfully move on, just he and Ava.

Is that how she feels, too?

He put it out of his head. The same way he'd earlier dismissed the images of a winery wedding. He was good at mentally filing away things he didn't want to think about.

"I saw a man leaving the kitchen," Audrey said as Zander entered the living room. "His back was to me, so I never saw his face."

"You knew he'd fired the gun?"

"No," said Audrey. "But he wasn't someone I'd seen over there before." She looked down and blushed slightly. "I don't spy. But sometimes when I'm changing Molly, I look over there. It's hard not to."

"So he was a stranger to you." Ava paused. "But you didn't see his face. How do you know he was a stranger?" She smiled at the young woman to take the sting out of her direct question.

Audrey's brows furrowed. "I don't know. You're right, though. I guess it's just my instinct telling me I didn't know him. I saw him again when I went outside."

"You went outside with your daughter? After a gunshot in the neighborhood?" Zander asked.

"Looking back, that was rather stupid," Audrey admitted. "But I was holding her. Your baby feels safe when she's in your arms, you know?" She raised her brows and looked at Ava for agreement. Ava gave a stiff nod.

"I had my phone in my pocket when I stepped out on the front porch. I wasn't worried about the man I'd seen next door, because I didn't realize that the gunshot had hurt someone. I thought it was an accident . . . that maybe one of Mr. Fujioka's guns had gone off while he was cleaning it or something. But then I saw someone dash across the street and I could see the gun in that man's hand. That's when I called 911."

"He had his back to you at that time, too?" Ava asked. They moved through Audrey's front door and out onto her porch. Two Adirondack chairs with a small table between them filled the welcoming s.p.a.ce. An autumn bouquet in Halloween colors graced the table, and a happy stuffed scarecrow sat in one chair. The number of people on the sidewalk across the street had thinned a bit, but the spectators turned in the direction of Audrey's home.

Audrey stepped backward as the impact of their nosy stares. .h.i.t her. "Oh, my," she muttered. "He ran across the street right where that second patrol car is." She pointed and moved her arm as she traced a route. "Then he ran up close to the Pearsons' garage, and I thought he was going to go in their house, but instead he stood in the shadow at the front. I don't know if he saw me or not, it was too dark to see, but it felt like he looked right at me and that's when he decided to run. He sprinted across their lawn, keeping close to the house and into the next yard. He did that all the way around the corner." She pointed to where the street arced to the left and went out of sight. "He was trying to stay out of the streetlights. Those homes didn't have their outside lights on."

They had them on now, Zander noticed. Every street on the house was lit up, and faces often looked out the windows.

"I never saw his face," Audrey said slowly, "But I saw his profile . . . in bad light. It's more like I have an impression of what he looks like instead of an actual view of his face."

"You told the operator he had dark hair," said Nora. "And that it was a medium length. He wore a dark long-sleeved jacket or s.h.i.+rt and dark pants. You couldn't guess his age and you said he wasn't heavy or super skinny, but very average build."

Audrey nodded. "I couldn't guess at his height, either. I had nothing to compare him to."

Zander pointed at the garage across the street, ignoring the gawkers. "You said he stood over there. Do you remember where the top of his head was in relation to the panels on the garage door?"

Audrey scowled as she looked. Her shoulders lifted as she took a deep breath and tilted her head, concentrating. "But he wasn't standing up straight," she said. "He was hunched over, like he was trying to hide."

"Good point." Zander let the question go. "I know you said you couldn't tell his age, but would you say he ran like someone young or old? Or perhaps like someone who didn't run very often?"

"He moved smoothly," Audrey said. "It didn't look difficult at all. He didn't hold himself like someone older, either. He bent over deliberately, not because he needed to."

"What can you tell me about the weapon?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Not much. It was small. A handgun. Not a rifle or shotgun."

Zander figured they'd be able to find the bullet below the kitchen. He hadn't opened the cupboard door with the bullet hole in it, because the body was in the way, but he knew there was a chance the bullet had gone all the way through the flooring. He was glad he wouldn't be the one scrambling through the crawl s.p.a.ce under the home.

"Will they want to talk to me?" Audrey asked quietly, looking at the news cameras setting up across the street from the Fujioka home.

"They will ask," Ava said. "By the look on your face, I'd guess that's the last thing you want to do. Can Officer Layden take you somewhere?" she asked with a gesture at the female officer.

"I think I better go to my sister's," Audrey said, moving back into the house. "I don't want to be a part of this."

"We have your number," Nora said. "We might need to talk with you again."

"That's fine." Audrey started to pace in the living room, wringing her hands again. "I need to pack up all Molly's things. Her bottles, her toys, enough diapers. Who knows how long we'll be gone." She grabbed a big diaper bag off a chair and dashed down the hall, disappearing into the baby's room.

Zander looked at Nora and Ava. "So we have a description of our suspect. A man. A man who is extremely average in every way."

"Should make our job easy," said Nora.

He wondered where the long hair on the previous two victims had come from.

The next morning Ava glanced at the clock in the hallway of the morgue. It was seven A.M. and she felt as if she'd barely slept. Probably because she hadn't gotten home until two A.M. They'd waited at the Fujioka murder scene until Dr. Trask had finished her exam. The doctor hadn't seen any other obvious evidence on the victim. "I suspect I'll discover he was. .h.i.t in the head and then shot," she'd told the investigators. "He'll be my first patient in the morning and I'll know more then."

Zander had told her and the evidence techs to keep an eye out for any long dark hair.

She and Nora were waiting for Zander before they joined Dr. Trask for the autopsy. "I think the victims have to know our suspect," said Ava as she put money in a machine to buy herself a cup of questionable coffee. She needed caffeine. There was no sign that she'd be able to catch up on sleep anytime soon. "There's no forced entry in any of the homes. Although Denny Schefte was lured outside somehow. I wish we knew what'd made him go outside, I have to imagine he got a call or text on his phone that made him step out."

Nora shook her head. "We heard back from his wireless provider. He hadn't had any calls or texts within his last few hours. And all the calls and texts from earlier that day were from the guys he was with."

"Dammit. So why'd the killer take his phone, if not to slow down our investigation?"

"Maybe to sell it?"

"Mason said it was old. I doubt it was worth anything. And this guy is good . . . he's got us scrambling to find him. I don't see him grabbing a phone because he might make a buck off of it."

"Then it was probably for a trophy."

Ava nodded grimly. That answer made sense. "What was the evidence Zander called me about before the murder last night?" she asked. "I kept meaning to ask you yesterday."

"We found the same fingerprint on two of the masks that doesn't belong to any of the responders or family members," said Nora.