Breaking news, p.9
Breaking News, page 9
He nearly fell on his bed when he attempted to put a clean pair of pants on. Was the tooth a threat? Was this crazy bastard telling him that he was next? Or was it because of the articles he’d written? Like some kind of sick souvenir? His brain started to click and think, now calming down. Perhaps that was it. Les knew deep down, that if the man wished to have killed him, Les would be dead.
Also, the man struck at night, and Les wasn’t going out anywhere after dark. Jesus, I’ll never leave my home again, he thought. He sat on his bed for a moment, feeling a little lightheaded. He needed to get a grip, but the fear was nearly suffocating him. Les took deep breaths, and blowing them out slowly. He felt his heart rate begin to normalize.
He held his hands up before his face. They were shaking like leaves in a hurricane. He made fists, squeezing them and flexing them open. That was a little better. He shook his hands out and took another deep breath. He wiped at the sweat that was on his face.
He got up and went into the bathroom and turned on the tap. He splashed his face with cold water. Then he dried his face with the hand towel. He looked up into the mirror. He saw a very frightened man before him.
“You can do this Les, you can. You don’t have to be afraid, it is broad daylight. No one is going to kill you. Stop freaking out. Pull your shit together man.” He ordered in a firm voice.
That made him feel a little better. He held up his hands once more and saw that they still shook, but only a little. Good. Better. He gathered his things once more and went back down to his car, though he would not look at it. He saw that there were techs around his car and that made him feel better. He went to stand by Officer Reeder.
“Thank you for coming so fast. I’ll tell you, that scared the living hell out of me, I’m not shitting you.” Les confessed.
“I don’t even want to imagine. I can talk to Detective Shin about maybe putting a car on the apartment to watch your place.” Reeder offered.
Les thought about it. He’d want the whole task force living in his home, that would make him feel better. But what if one of the policemen that sat outside his place was the killer, and it was night? No. No.
“No. I think if this bastard wanted me dead, I’d already be that way. I’m thinking that tooth was meant as a gift or a sick joke or a nod to my articles.” Les said, he was now getting control over himself and thinking rationally.
“You might be right Mr. Pigg.”
“Please, call me Les.”
“Rich.” Reeder said and shook Les’s proffered hand.
“Have you ever seen anything like these murders Rich? My god, it’s just so horrible.” Les said, his voice still had a bit of shakiness to it. He tried to breathe normally, to calm himself. He was going to have a goddam heart attack like Rachael. Jeeze.
“I’ve seen a lot, and some almost as bad. What people do to themselves and each other, well, there are not enough words.” Rich said, shaking his head.
“I’ve reported news for fifteen years, but I guess I’ve lived a sheltered life, because this thing, this person has just thrown me for a loop. The violence of it, I mean. Killing is one thing, but what he did to those victims, it is just pure unadulterated rage.”
“Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head, Les. What he has done is past murder, it is rage.”
One of the techs came up with a plastic evidence bag, the bloody tooth within.
“We found no prints on the wiper or the windshield. There are smudges, but we think those maybe yours, Mr. Pigg. We’ll run them through and make sure, but I don’t think the killer left any prints. There is a filament on the tooth, maybe from clothing. We’ll check that out.”
“Can I use my car?”
“Yes, because it was locked, we don’t have to get inside to print. We got both door handles and the windshield of course. You can take some solvent to clean that stuff off.” The tech said and turned and left. Les watched the young man walk away with the evidence bag. Another tech held a case open and the young man placed the evidence bag inside.
“Should I go to the crime scene over in North Charleston or just go to headquarters?” Les asked the officer.
Reeder looked at his watch. “Might as well head to headquarters, I don’t think that Detective Shin will be long at the crime scene. She may well be heading back. I’ll radio her and pass the word that you’ll be going to CPD.”
“Thanks Rich, thanks again for coming. I never thought of my self as a coward, but I’ll tell you what, all I wanted to do was run and hide.”
“Les, if you didn’t want to run and hide, I’d call you crazy.” Rich laughed and went to his patrol car.
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Olivia received the call from Reeder and she was finishing up at the crime scene. It had been at a small run-down apartment complex. Christopher Buelly had been beaten to death. The coroner had put TOD at 2am. The frantic call from Les shook her. The killer had gone to his place and had left a souvenir. She couldn’t imagine what Les was feeling, besides the horrific and overwhelming fear. Reeder said that he’d sent Les to CPD, to await her. It was just as well. There wasn’t much he could do here and it was the same as the last murder.
The murders were escalating, two, within four days of each other. They were no closer to finding this guy. She wondered again if it could be a cop. Could it be someone here, now at the crime scene? She looked around at the officers. Their faces neutral, professional, none of them really zeroed in on her or the body.
Would she now become paranoid at each crime scene? Should she worry about watching her back? Jesus, this had her spooked and she wasn’t easy to spook. She hoped that the tooth would have some kind of clue, Reeder said the forensic techs found what they thought was a fiber fragment. It wasn’t much, but it was something.
It also nodded to the fact that this guy had been in fact taking teeth. Would the fiber be from a uniform? A cop’s uniform? Or a delivery man? She also needed to look at the files again and also arrest records for all the victims. She’d need to figure that out fast.
She’d asked her husband about why he thought a killer might want to take the teeth of his victims last night. He’d been so sweet to her and had held her after they’d made love. He was good about switching from pillow talk to questions she had about her job. It never seemed to bother him. She smiled at the thought.
“Why would this guy take their teeth, especially after he’d beat them so badly?” she’d asked.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I can guess that maybe it is substantive, that it has weight. It is something, that when taken, had been taken with violence. Like when a tooth is pulled. It takes a lot to pull a tooth. The tooth is keenly a part of that person and cannot be easily taken. Pulling a tooth is very painful without numbing it up.” Jeff had said.
“Would it take a long time to pull a tooth?” She’d asked.
“No, especially if you say that the skull had been shattered. But it does take a lot of brute force. If the upper jaw had been fractured before pulling the tooth, then the tooth may well have come out easily. However, had the killer pulled the tooth prior, then that would take some strength and a few minutes, I’m sure.”
“I just wish we could catch this guy.” She’d said and her husband had pulled her into his arms and comforted her as best he could. There wasn’t much either of them could do. She tried not to bring her work home with her. But she knew that her husband knew about teeth.
Buelly’s wife, Tiffany, had heard nothing. She’d said that her husband had gone out earlier in the evening and she hadn’t expected him home early. She’d gone to bed and one of the neighbors had discovered the body, and called the police. The police had not been able to identify the man, except for the ID in his wallet. The money was still in the wallet. It had not been a robbery. Tiffany had not seen anything, and Olivia was glad.
No one should have to see that, let alone a loved one. This one differed from the others, they did not have children. But the man had gone to a bar, over on Rivers Avenue. She’d swing by there this afternoon. She’d bring Buelly’s ID photo with her and see if anyone remembered him. He’d gone to the Riverbank Sports bar. She’d checked, it was closed right now. She’d take Les with her and she hoped Les was doing okay from the scare.
She’d asked Tiffany point blank if Mr. Buelly had ever hit or abused her. She’d seen the woman’s eyes tear up and she’d nodded.
“Yeah, he had a bad temper. I don’t know why he got so mad all the time. But he’d go off on me, sometimes over nothing.”
“When was the last time he hit you Tiffany?” She’d asked the woman.
“Last night, before he went out. I’d asked if I could go with him. He smacked me. He told me my place was here.” She wept. Olivia had handed her a tissue. So, this was another case of abuse.
“Had he ever been arrested or charged with domestic abuse?” Olivia asked.
“Yeah, this past 4th of July. We were at a party and he was drunk. He started smacking me around. One of the guests called the police. They arrested him.” She said, looking at her hands.
“Did you press charges?”
Tiffany wiped at her eyes, still cast down and shook her head.
“No, I was scared to. He got sixty days though.”
“Did he hurt you when he got out?” Olivia asked softly.
Tiffany looked up and nodded.
“Yeah, they just made it worse. But now, I guess I don’t got to worry about it.” She said and smiled wobbly. Then began to weep harder. Olivia reached over and patted her back.
“Listen, I’m going to give you the name of a counselor, she’ll help you deal with all of this. Okay?” Olivia said, pulling a card out of her wallet. She handed it over to the woman. The counselor would help Tiffany with grief, but also with breaking the cycle of abuse. The abused sometimes fell right back into the same situation, just with a different abuser.
Olivia had learned that children of abused parents often either abused others or lived with and accepted abuse as normal. She thought perhaps Tiffany might feel that way. If she could help one woman walk away from that kind of life, she’d be happy.
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Les looked up to see Olivia come in. He was in the task force room. Going over old files. Brightwater and Littleton were gone. He had the room to himself. He’d needed that time to gather his wits. He smiled wanly when she walked in.
“Seems like you had a visitor.” She said, by way of greeting.
“Yeah, and nearly soiled my pants.” He laughed grimly.
“Yeah, so, you okay Les?” She asked, eyeing him.
“I guess I’ve been better. I wanted to ask your honest opinion. Should I be worried? Do you think he is coming after me?”
“Honestly, no. I think this guy has read your articles on the case. He’s reached out to you. I don’t want to scare you, but he might leave more evidence. And I’m almost hoping he does. I got a call, that was a fabric filament they pulled from that tooth. We now know that the killer was wearing dark clothing. It is one more piece to the puzzle.”
“God, I hope he doesn’t leave me anything else, I don’t know if I could take it. I almost had a heart attack. But I understand what you’re saying. Dark clothing could mean police uniform. Do you think I should stop writing? Do you think this is pushing him to kill more? So, he can see his name in the paper?”
“That’s a good thought and yes, you may well be right. But we can’t know what is in this guy’s head. I would suggest you hold off on publishing any more for the moment. I hope this won’t get you in trouble with your boss. As for the fragment of fabric, it might well be from a uniform, a police uniform. We can’t know for sure until they do more testing on it.”
“Ross is a good man, I think he will understand and agree. Once this guy is caught, then I’ll write one hell of a piece. But I don’t ever want to see that again.” Les said, a shiver running through his body.
“I think that is a wise choice. We’ll be heading out in a bit, the latest vic had gone to a sports bar over on Rivers. I’ll be taking a photo, I’m hoping since it was less than twenty-four hours, that they have video and the bartenders may well remember this guy.”
“That’s a hell of a lucky break. God, I hope you catch him soon. I think Charleston will breathe a heavy sigh of relief. I know I will.”
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Olivia and Les entered the Riverbank Sports bar, and saw that there were a few people at the bar, eating lunch. Olivia went up to the bar and asked the bartender for the manager. He nodded and went into the back. She and Les looked around the bar. It wasn’t huge, but it was a nice bar. She looked up and saw security cameras. She’d gotten a warrant for the videos. She’d have forensics go through them, but she and Les would sit down and have a look.
She and Les turned when a middle-aged man came from the back and waved them to him. He led them back to his office.
“Hi, I’m Brian Sumpter, come on in and make yourselves comfortable. When I got your call Detective Shin, I pulled last night’s videos.”
“Hi, Mr. Sumpter. Thank you so much. Here is the photo of our vic, his name is Christopher Buelly. Would you be able to circulate this for me, to your bartenders that were working last night?”
“I sure can, one of my guys is in now. I’ll take it out to him and see what he says. You can go through the videos.” Brian said and left the two.
Olivia clicked on the computer and brought up the first camera, it was from behind the bar and was a good view along the long bar. She and Les watched, she fast forwarded the video and then stopped. They saw Buelly, and she looked at the time stamp, it was 11:45pm.
They followed him, looking at the people around him. He was laughing and got his drink and left the bar. Olivia saw that the man was weaving as he walked, he was intoxicated, but not sloppy drunk. The video screens were split and she and Les followed his progress. He came to a table, there were other people, they were watching a large screen. She and Les studied the faces of the patrons.
“No one is talking to him.” Les said.
“No, it doesn’t look like they know him, they’re all just at the same table. The place is crowded.”
They watched the video and they saw Buelly laughing and watching the game. But he never interacted with those around the table. Olivia fast forwarded the video. Several of the people at the table left. They watched a waitress stop by and Buelly ordered something. Fifteen minutes later, the waitress brought a basket of food and a tall glass of beer.
Several other people came to sit at the table, but Buelly ignored them. Then, near 1am, he got up from the table. They watched as he headed to the men’s room. A few minutes later, he came back out and they watched as he left the bar. He was weaving a bit more, the beer having its effect on him. As far as they could tell, no one from the table noticed him or followed after him. Olivia and Les looked around in all the shots, seeing no one pay attention to the departing man.
Oliva and Les continued to watch, but no one left until ten minutes later, and that was a couple. No others for another twenty minutes. Nothing.
“Maybe when we get a copy, we can sit and watch it more closely. Break it down and watch those around him.” Les suggested hopefully.
“That’s what I’m hoping, it’s hard seeing everything at once. We’ll have Brightwater and Littleton take a look as well. Though, initially, I’m having to say, there was no one there paying attention. I’m going to see about getting traffic cams along the route home for this time segment and see if we can see anyone following him.”
“Good idea. I wish the bar had security cameras outside.” Les said and turned as the manager came back in.
“My guy said he remembered him, but that he only ordered a few beers. He said he didn’t see your man with anyone, just that he sat at a table with others. Nothing much beyond that. He also said that the guy didn’t cause any trouble. He wasn’t a sloppy drunk. Were you able to find him on the tapes?”
“Yes, can you please send a copy over to CPD and have my name for the recipient?” Olivia asked.
“I sure can. I wish we could be of more help.”
“Thank you, this is a big help.” She said and she and Les left the bar.
“Well, that wasn’t as bad as I thought. At least we have a time and maybe with the traffic cams, we can get a clear picture, and see if someone was outside the bar and followed him home.”
“I admire you Olivia. This is a mind-numbing job, and the pressure you’re under is unbelievable.”
“The pressure is going to increase. Chief Skilter is having a news release, warning the public of this killer. He is going to suggest that people who frequent bars, perhaps either not go or go in pairs and especially when they go home. I doubt people will listen, but he has to do it. This killer has escalated things.”
“Since I won’t be writing any more articles, I’ll be heading back to work. I’m sorry I won’t be around to help in any way Olivia.”
“Les, you’ve already been a big help with the idea of the killer being a cop. We are going to still look at other avenues, but I really think you nailed it. I understand and I want you to know that you and I will sit down and we’ll go through everything once the killer is caught.”
“Thanks Olivia. I really appreciate it. I won’t let you down when I write the article. Just please be careful and be safe out there.”
“Don’t worry Les, I’m already paranoid and watching my back.”
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The funny saying, death comes in three, hit Jasper. He was sure that Mr. Piggy Pig, pissed himself when he found the tooth. Jasper was at a drive thru, getting something fast and filling. His eyes tracked a man, who shoved a little girl, maybe ten, he thought. He couldn’t hear the man, but his face was red and he kept shoving the girl. Jasper could see she was crying and his nostrils flared and he smelled blood.
