Cavanaugh on Duty

chapter 17



“You’re back,” Brenda Cavanaugh said when she looked up from her work the following morning and saw Kari and her partner walking into the tech lab. “And you brought a friend,” she noted as they headed straight for her. “Esteban, right?” she recalled with a smile. “Not sure if you recognize me, since you were introduced to a lot of Cavanaughs on Saturday, but we met at the wedding.”

Esteban nodded, politely returning her smile. “I remember. How are you doing?”

Brenda shifted her eyes toward Kari. “I don’t know. That depends on what your partner here asks me to do.”

Kari became the soul of innocence. “Can’t I just be visiting?”

Brenda choked back a laugh, then said, “No.”

“Okay, you’re right,” Kari allowed, then added with emphasis, “this time. But I’ll drop by just to say hi next time,” she promised.

“I’ll look forward to it,” Brenda quipped, then went on more seriously, “Meanwhile...?”

Kari had learned a few tricks since her academy days and knew how to phrase things so they were presented in the best possible light—and were almost impossible to turn down. “Brenda, how would you like to save the Aurora Police Department hundreds, maybe thousands of man-hours?”

Because her skills put her in such demand, Brenda had evidently heard it all when it came to detectives trying to wheedle their work requests to the top of the pile. But the receptive look she shot Kari implied that Brenda was willing to hear her out.

“So far, so good,” the computer tech responded. Then, humor curving her mouth, she bluntly asked, “Exactly where is this going?”

Kari took out her folder containing a copy of the photographs of all the victims with their names and either former or present occupations written beneath their images. Since there’d been no one available in the tech lab yesterday when she’d come up with her theory, she and Esteban had made the rounds questioning the judge’s and the A.D.A.’s neighbors, as well as several of their separate friends, starting with Greer and Blake.

Just as she had suspected, absolutely no one had seen anything or anyone who aroused their suspicions. The workday had ended in frustration.

The night, however, had been a whole other matter. There had been no frustration there, just a late dinner and a great deal of lovemaking. No matter where she and Esteban wound up going from here, she was always going to cherish what amounted to an utterly exquisite weekend.

But it was a new day now, the beginning of a new week, and she wanted to bring down this serial killer so badly she could almost taste it. And although Esteban said little on the subject, she could sense that he felt exactly the same way.

“I—we,” she corrected, glancing toward her partner, “need you to cross-reference something for us. We need to find out what case A.D.A. Philip Watson pleaded before Judge Hal Rockwell.”

Brenda couldn’t help but laugh. “You make it sound so simple, but that’s not one case. My guess is that we’re looking at a whole bunch of cases,” she said, pulling the folder closer. Her eyes swept over the other photographs and she raised a quizzical eyebrow.

Which was when Esteban told her, “There’s more.”

Brenda sighed. “Of course there is. Go on,” she said, waiting to be filled in.

“The case in question involved this man serving on the jury.” She moved the third victim’s photograph closer to Brenda. “And it’s possible that these two people were also on the jury.” He moved the photographs of the first two victims and had them join the third victim’s. “But we’re really not sure yet just how these two fit in with the rest—other than being this serial killer’s victims.”

“Well, I’ll say one thing for you,” Brenda declared. “Your request is colorful, not to mention challenging.” She looked over the information that Kari had brought her in the folder. “Okay, this is going to take me a while.”

“Not nearly as long as it would take us if we had to wade through all the boxed archives in the courthouse basement,” Kari assured her. “Thanks, Brenda, we owe you.”

“That’s what they all say. Someday, I intend to collect. Big-time,” she told them, pretending to put them on notice.

“It’ll be worth it,” Kari assured the older woman as she and Esteban left the tech lab.

* * *

Kari had exactly fifteen minutes to feel good about her hunch before her cell phone began ringing. She knew without looking that it couldn’t be Brenda getting back to them so soon.

And she was right.

Taking her phone out, she had just enough time to answer before the voice on the other end of the call said something that had her jaw dropping.

“So soon?” she cried, disheartened.

She’d really hoped that, with Brenda’s help, they could get to the killer and stop him before he honed in on his next victim. But the serial killer had beaten them to the punch.

Again.

She closed her eyes, fighting back a wave of frustration.

“Yes, sir, yes. Fine.” She opened her eyes again, slanting Esteban a quick glance. “He’s right here with me. Yes, right away.” With the call abruptly terminated, she slipped her phone into her pocket. “We’re not going up to the squad room,” she informed him.

“Another one?” It was a rhetorical question. He’d guessed the content of the call by the look on her face.

“Another one,” she echoed. “The bastard’s upping his game much too fast. Of course,” she added, trying desperately to find a silver lining to this, “the faster he kills, the more likely he is to make a mistake.” And when he did, she was going to get him. Big-time.

“That’s not much of a comfort to his victims,” Esteban said brusquely.

Kari sighed, her frustration mounting at a prodigious rate. “I know.”

* * *

The moment they found out the latest victim’s occupation, Kari immediately got back in contact with Brenda. This had to mean she was right, she thought excitedly.

As soon as she heard the line on the other end being picked up, she immediately started talking, struggling to sound relatively coherent. “Those court cases you’re cross-referencing...” she began.

“And hello to you, too, Kari,” Brenda said with a laugh.

“Hello,” Kari returned the greeting belatedly. “Add Attorney James Bell to that list I gave you earlier.”

There was silence on the other end for a moment and then Brenda asked quietly, “Is he...”

It didn’t take a genius to know what the rest of the computer tech’s question was. “The latest victim, yes,” she responded, then said more eagerly, “There can’t be too many cases involving all three of those men. Once you’ve found those, you can use the reluctant juror to complete the weeding-out process.”

“I know my job, Kari,” Brenda reminded her good-naturedly.

The last thing she wanted to do was insult her new cousin-in-law and the Chief’s daughter-in-law to boot. She was just so eager to have this all finally come together, she was tripping over her own tongue—and stumbling across other people’s feelings.

“Sorry, Brenda,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to insinuate that you didn’t.”

“Apology accepted,” she said, evidently taking it all in stride. Kari knew that the older woman was all too familiar with the emotional roller coaster that detectives rode while working their cases. “Oh,” Brenda added offhandedly, “and tell Esteban that I wish him lots of luck.”

Kari didn’t understand. “Why?” she wanted to know.

“I think he’ll understand” was all Brenda said before she ended the call.

“She find something?” Esteban asked the moment Kari put her phone away.

She realized that she was furrowing her brow as she pondered the other woman’s odd words, so she forced a neutral expression to her face. “Not yet—but she said to tell you that she wished you luck.”

Rather than ask her what Brenda meant by that, the way she assumed that he would, she saw Esteban laugh, compounding the mystery for her.

“Then you do know what she’s talking about?” she asked him.

He wasn’t positive, but he had a pretty good idea. “My guess would be that she thinks you come on a little too intense and dealing with that on an ongoing basis a minimum of five days a week might be...a little challenging for me.”

“I want to catch a serial killer before he winds up wiping out half the city,” Kari protested. “What’s wrong with that?”

“Not a thing, Hyphen, not a thing,” he told her with an easy smile she found hopelessly sexy.

Concentrating on her job was getting harder and harder for her, Kari thought. Especially when torrid memories of last night and the night before kept unexpectedly ambushing her mind.

She did her best to block those thoughts, but she was fighting a losing battle.

* * *

Shortly after she and Esteban finished eating the takeout they’d picked up for lunch, Kari’s cell phone rang.

For once, she didn’t immediately take out her phone. “Oh, God, if that’s someone calling with more bad news, I don’t think I can stand it,” she moaned.

“Well, it’s not the lieutenant calling,” Esteban told her. He nodded toward the man’s office. “He’s not on the phone.”

“Okay, maybe that’s a good sign.” Mentally crossing her fingers, Kari pulled out her phone. “Cavelli-Cavanaugh.”

“I think you need to come down here.”

She recognized the voice immediately and mouthed “Brenda” to Esteban. For once containing her all-consuming curiosity, Kari didn’t instantly bombard the other woman with questions. Instead she replied, “We’ll be right there.”

“It is another body?” Esteban wanted to know the moment she ended the call.

“No,” she answered. “From the way Brenda sounded, I think we’ve just had a breakthrough,” she said as she rose to her feet and all but flew out of the squad room.

Caught off guard, Esteban found he had to lengthen his stride just to catch up. “You know, for a little thing,” he told her once he was abreast again, “you can really move.”

Just for a second, she allowed herself a quick mental detour. Flashing a wicked grin, she said, “I thought you already knew that.”

His laugh made her gut tighten with hopeful anticipation about the night ahead. “I’m learning, Kari, I’m learning.”

She loved hearing him say her name, but she knew better than to admit that to him. If she didn’t say or do anything to scare Esteban off, maybe whatever it was that was going on between them would last awhile longer.

At least she could hope.

* * *

“We’re here,” Kari announced, walking quickly into the tech lab. The eager note in her voice was impossible to miss. “Are you going to make our day?”

“Quite possibly,” Brenda replied. She doled out the information in stages to allow the two detectives to digest it properly. “First off, I found your connection. Judge Rockwell, A.D.A. Watson and that defense attorney, Mel Samet, were involved in a number of cases—”

Kari could feel her stomach begin to sink. “How many?”

“Twenty,” Brenda told her.

Observing the exchange, Esteban scrutinized the look on Brenda’s face. There were traces of triumph there. That could mean only one thing. “How many cases with that guy on the jury?” he wanted to know.

Brenda laughed. “Cut to the chase, right? To answer your question, one.” As Kari started to inundate her with questions, Brenda held up her hand, asking for patience. “But that’s not the most significant part.”

“Go on,” Esteban urged. One glance at his expression told Kari that he was still expecting to hear the worst. She needed to rub off on him a little more, she thought. He’d be a happier man for it.

Brenda went over the details as quickly as possible, hitting only the highlights. “The trial involved a rape case. The teenager accused of raping this girl was tried as an adult, convicted and sent to prison. His father tried to get the verdict appealed. The kid kept protesting that he was innocent.”

“That’s what they all say,” Esteban commented darkly.

“True,” Brenda agreed. “But it turned out he really was. The real rapist was this repeat offender who could have been the kid’s twin. They caught him on another charge, the guy confessed and the original verdict was overturned.” She paused, looking distraught by what she was about to reveal. “The only problem was it was too late. The same day that the verdict was being overturned, the kid was killed in prison by another inmate.” Brenda glanced at them before adding the last piece of important information. “His throat was slashed.”

So much for thinking an ex-con with a grudge was killing the people responsible for sending him away. “But if the poor kid’s dead, then who’s killing all these people?” Kari wanted to know.

Before Brenda could answer, Esteban thought of his stepfather and said, “His father.”

Clearly impressed, Brenda turned to Kari. “I’d say this guy’s a keeper.”

“I’m leaning that way myself,” Kari told her. She meant to make it sound like a joke, but she wasn’t quite successful.

Suppressing a knowing smile, Brenda got back to business. “The kid’s father took it hard and swore revenge on the justice system,” she informed them. “I guess this body count was what he meant.”

It certainly looked that way to her, Kari thought. “You have an address for this man?” she asked the other woman.

“Would I let you down?” Brenda asked. Taking a page the printer had just spat out for her, she handed it to Kari. The page contained a copy of Ray Gibson’s DMV license. On it were his picture and his address.

“You’re the best, Brenda,” Kari declared as she folded the paper and slipped it into her back pocket. “C’mon, Esteban, we’ve got a killer to detain.”

They lost no time leaving the lab.

* * *

Ray Gibson’s apartment, once they gained access to it with the aid of a reluctant superintendent, was empty. Judging from the date of the newspaper left open on Gibson’s beat-up kitchen table, the man had left three weeks ago—exactly the time when the killings had begun.

Framed photographs of Gibson’s deceased son occupied almost every flat surface available, dating back to when he was a baby.

The entire apartment had been turned into a veritable shrine to the teen. There was a photograph of father and son—the only one as far as they could determine—on the cheap coffee table.

Esteban paused before it, picking it up and looking more closely at father and son.

“You find something?” Kari asked, coming over to join him.

He’d been studying the older man’s face, trying to remember where he’d seen it before—and then it came to him. “I’ve seen this guy before. He was the stenographer at my stepfather’s trial.”

She didn’t bother asking if he was sure. She knew Esteban well enough now to know he didn’t say anything that he had the least doubt about. Seeming reckless, he was actually as stable as a rock.

“I guess we can stop wondering how he got his hands on the names and addresses of those three jurors.” Her eyes widened as a thought hit her squarely between the eyes. “Oh, God.”

Esteban had just had the same thought. “He’s got the rest of the addresses.”

She nodded numbly. “We’re going to need those extra detectives that Lieutenant Morrow promised me,” she said. They had possibly a great deal of legwork before them and speed was of the utmost importance. “Immediately,” she added.

Her first call was to Brenda, followed by a call to the lieutenant.

* * *

Armed with the names and addresses of the remaining jurors who were still alive and in the area—one juror had died of natural causes, another had drowned in a boating mishap and three had moved to other states—Kari divided up the remaining four jurors, giving three to the other detectives that had been temporarily assigned to her department. She took the fourth one, a Kyle Masters, for Esteban and herself.

With luck, they could get to all four before the killer did.

While Esteban drove them to the fourth man’s house, Kari called the cell phone number Brenda had provided for the juror.

All three tries went to voice mail.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Kari told her partner as she gave up trying to reach the man by phone. “Drive faster.”

Esteban pressed down harder on the accelerator.