Dark Reasons Ch. 12

"We believe he may have been interrupted during the second murder sir. The other two crime scenes, the bodies were staged, the area mostly cleaned up. In the second, she was more thrown than posed, her clothing and personal items tossed haphazardly." Justin sighed. "He fucked up, sir. And if we can find out who interrupted, we may have a witness and get a break. We're going to be canvassing the park with pictures of the second victim. She hasn't been identified yet."

Harley linked his fingers tapping his lower lip in thought. "It was brought to my notice that each of these victims bear a striking resemblance to you, Jenna. Should I be worried?"

"No, sir. I'm capable of taking care of myself, and I'd like to be bait. We know he likes the park, we could set up a sting using me and lure him in."

"Remember what happened the last time you were bait, Jenna? We almost lost you to the killer."

"And an SUV," Justin said under his breath earning himself an evil glare from Jenna.

"Shut up, Swope," Harley grumbled good naturedly. "If we need to use you, we will. But only as a last resort. Now get out of here and do your jobs."

They turned and left, Jenna waiting until the door closed behind them before smacking Justin in the arm. "One of these days, Justin, that mouth of yours is going to get you shot, and I'm going to be the one pulling the damn trigger."

"Yeah, yeah, heard it all before, Jenna. You need to sing a new tune." He laughed, pulling a chunky wisp of her hair.

"How about I sing the tune of...Marcie, want to know who I saw Justin with three weeks ago?" She laughed when she saw his face drop.

"You are a mean woman, Jenna. Do you know what she'd do to me?"

"Cut em off and use them as dice for her rear view mirror?" Jenna laughed at the pained expression in Justin's face. "Come on, partner. Let's go to work. You get to tell them this time, I did it last time."

They jogged down the stairs to the garage, and Jenna slid into the passenger seat of Justin's car, reaching into her briefcase for the file she'd stuffed in there. She gave him the address and sat back while he drove in the light early morning traffic. Using the lights of the street lamps, she stared at the pictures they had of the two victims. It was eerie seeing their faces, so similar, their coloring almost the same. It was almost like looking into a mirror and seeing herself lying on the ground, pale from loss of blood, dead.

A shudder shook her small frame and Jenna mentally regrouped, refusing to let this spook her to the point that she would be unable to do her job. Maybe they didn't look like her, maybe they looked like someone else, and she was just lucky enough to be among that number. She sighed.

"It's so weird, Jenna. Those pictures, seeing those girls dead, it's like it's you on the ground almost." He reached over and patted her hand, slowing to turn down into the ritzier section of town.

Here the houses were bigger, the lawns greener. Picket fences surrounded two story houses landscaped with roses and huge trees. No dogs barked or graffiti marred the area. Justin pulled into a beautiful two story Tudor house. It was a far cry from where Stephanie Lawrence had lived.

He turned off the engine and waited for Jenna to slip the file back into her briefcase before walking up the steps toward the huge front door. A motion light flipped on, startling them both for a moment and then Justin leaned forward and hit the doorbell.

It pealed through the house, sounding too cheerful and chipper for so late at night. They waited and finally heard the front door being unlocked. Jenna flipped open her badge, holding it up to the man who answered the door. He was older, gray hair sticking up above his head from his pillow.

"Mr. Redman?" Justin asked quietly.

"I'm John Redman," the man said, looking at their badges and then back up at their faces in surprised dismay. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Do you know a Charlene Redman, sir?"

"She's my daughter. Why? What's wrong? She's okay isn't she?"

Justin stepped forward. "May we come in and talk to you sir?"

"John?" A woman's voice came from the stairs. "Is everything okay?"

John stepped back from the door, holding it open so that Justin and Jenna could come in. He ushered them into a plush living room done in shades of taupe and cream with big overstuffed furniture. A woman came in, her dark hair streaked with gray, looking tiny in a fluffy bathrobe. Her hand sought her husband's as she looked at Justin and Jenna with scared eyes.

"It's about Charlene, isn't it? She hasn't come home yet."

"Mrs. Redman, I'm Detective Justin Swope and this is my partner Detective Jenna Donovan. We have some bad news for you. Your daughter, Charlene was found in the park tonight. I'm afraid she was dead."

Both parents looked stunned, Mrs. Redman shaking her head in denial. And then they crumpled, Mr. Redman holding onto his wife as she started to fall towards the floor. Justin hurried over, taking her arm and leading her around to the sofa where he helped her to sit down.

"I'm so very sorry, Mr. Redman, Mrs. Redman." He took the glass that Jenna offered him, a glass that she'd found in the kitchen and filled with water.

"What happened? Was it an accident?"

"No, it wasn't, John and you know it. You saw those girls' pictures in the paper; you know what I told Charlene. She looks just like them. It was that killer, wasn't it?" She sobbed and Jenna reached for a box of tissues that was sitting on a stand.

"We aren't sure yet, Mrs. Redman." Jenna handed her a tissue and then sat down next to her, patting her hand gently. "Do you think you can answer a few questions? We know it's a terrible time, but if we could get some more information, it could help in our investigation."

"You ask," Mr. Redman said, blowing his nose in a red bandana handkerchief, "we'll do our best to answer."

"Did Charlene say anything about maybe being followed or feeling uncomfortable the past couple of days?" Jenna picked up the older woman's hand.

"No, no, not that I can recall." She wiped her eyes and looked at Jenna. "You look so much like her," she said.

Jenna ducked her head a little uncomfortable with their eyes on her, especially if this was all her fault.

"Where was Charlene headed tonight?" Justin asked, seeing his partner's unease.

"There was a party over in the apartments across from Big Lots. She has a lot of friends over there."

"Those apartments are on this side of the park," Jenna said. "What would she be doing in the park?"

The older couple just shook their heads. Jenna looked up, hearing Justin's phone. He stepped away from the couple and spoke in the phone.

"Can we see her?" Mr. Redman suddenly asked Jenna. "Maybe you have the wrong girl. We should see her to make sure."

"Mr. Redman, we identified her using fingerprints. I'm sorry, sir, but it is your daughter. She's being taken to the morgue but we'll make arrangement for you and your wife to see her in the morning." Jenna removed one of her cards from her wallet and left it sitting on their coffee table. "If you can think of anything, anything at all that might seem strange or out of whack for Charlene, call me. If you call first thing in the morning, I will make sure to get a hold of Doctor Rumny, our coroner, and he'll help you."

Mrs. Redman nodded, her face buried. Justin stood and they headed toward the door, showing themselves out as the parents of the murdered girl consoled each other.

"God, I hate doing that," Justin said, shutting the door quietly behind them. "It never gets any easier."

Jenna patted him on the arm. "So what was the call," she asked.

"They found Charlene's clothing and her purse. They're bringing them back into the station." He opened her car door for her and hurried around to his side, sliding behind the steering wheel. "Worth said they found something pretty interesting along with the clothing."

"Did he say what?" Jenna felt her curiosity peaking.

"No, but they should be there by the time we get back."

He sped through the night, leaving a heartbroken couple behind.

Jenna was out of his car and jogging up the stairs of the station before he even put the car into park. He followed her, laughing at her exuberance for a case.

Worth was sitting in the homicide bull pen, a cup of coffee in his hands, his feet up on Justin's desk. When Jenna walked into the room, he looked up at her and took a sip of his coffee. Jenna walked by the desk, knocking his feet off and making him spill his coffee onto the front of his uniform.

He snarled at her, jumping up to get into her face. "What's your problem?"

Jenna smiled sweetly. "I have no problems, Worth. And if you don't get out of my face, you won't have any either."

"Is that some kind of threat?" He slammed the mug of coffee down on the desk, spilling it. "You've been on my case since that first night."

"I wouldn't be on your case if you'd do your damn job Worth. Now get out of here and go do it." Jenna stood up to the much taller, much heftier built man. He stared down at her, hatred in his eyes. His flickered, glancing up and behind her and then he stepped back and brushed past her, knocking into her shoulder.

Jenna turned and saw Justin behind her, his eyes boring into the back of Worth's head. There was a strange expression in those eyes, something that made her shiver a little before he turned and saw her staring.

"Asshole," he said. "You wanna write him up or do you want me to?"

"Neither," she said. "Let's just work the case and let his commander worry about him." She turned toward the paper bag left on the top of Justin's desk. Pulling out a couple latex gloves from her coat pocket, she slipped them on and unfolded the bag.

"The jerk didn't even follow procedure," Justin grouched, staring at the bag. "He should have had a crime scene tech collect the evidence."

"Yeah, yeah, well, it's his fault. I want to see what he found." She pulled out a short sleeved green tee shirt that was ripped down the front. Blood stained one side of the rip as if he'd cut her in removing it. Under that was a short blue jean skirt. Two shoes were under that, one with the heel broken off, reminding Jenna of the red pumps their second vic had been wearing.

She set them down on Justin's desk, reaching in to pull out a bra. It was light green, lace, the front cut between the two cups. Blood stained the inside of one, and Jenna couldn't help the shudder, remembering her dream and the feel of the killer's mouth against her breast, lapping at her blood. She felt her heart beating faster, hating that a dream could still affect her the way this one was.

"What's that?" Justin asked, pointing with his pen at something hooked to the lace of the bra.

"I don't know," she said, turning the material in her hands until she could unhook the card caught in the fabric. "It's some kind of badge. We might have gotten lucky here, Justin." She flipped it over, staring at the picture on the front.

Justin heard her gasp and then saw her face go deathly pale. She dropped the card on the desk, shaking her head in denial as she backed away from it. Clasping her hands over her mouth, she turned and ran from the room.

"Jenna? What's wrong?" he called, but she was gone.

He turned back to the desk and the card that sat upon it. It was a work badge, a designated slot card for Lapeer General Hospital. There was a picture and some information on the card as well as a name. Justin looked at the picture, glancing at the name and then frowned.

"Dr. Ethan Miller," he snarled. "I'll be damned."