32
Libby
The phone woke him with a start. He groped around in the dawn light for his phone.
“Hudson.”
The dispatcher gave him the details of a body that had been found behind a warehouse. He mumbled a thank you in response and went to climb out of bed when he remembered he wasn’t alone. Lying next to him was … he wasn’t sure of her name. Her blond hair fanned out across the pillow and in slumber she looked innocent. Much more innocent than she’d been in bed. With his palm he shook her gently by the shoulder to wake her. Pretty green eyes opened and she offered him a slow smile.
“I have to go to work. Feel free to shower when I’m gone. I won’t be back for a while so you can let yourself out.”
Something that could’ve been disappointment passed over her face before she responded. “No problem.”
After a quick shower and goodbye to his conquest, he headed to the scene.
Lucas called Maggie on route with the details and location. It took about ten minutes to get there and he arrived before his partner. While he waited by his car, he perused the street and detected that the location for the body dump was well thought out. A driveway ran along the side of the building to what would probably lead to a vacant lot in the back. Anyone could drive up and dump a body without witnesses from the street. The time of day would also have helped with concealment. It was dawn when he got the call so the body could have been there all night. The ME would be able to determine time of death which may give them an approximate dumping time.
As he continued to assess the scene Maggie arrived. She climbed from the car with grace. Her lean legs brought her to him in a few strides.
“Have you checked out the scene yet?”
“No, I was just checking out the street and location. The killer has found a good spot to leave a body.”
His partner looked one way and then the other up the street and then her gaze locked on the driveway. “Agreed, he has chosen a good spot. No-one would see him from the street. Do you know who found the body?”
“Not yet. Let’s go and ask the officers who attended the scene.”
As they walked towards the scene a lump leapt into Lucas’ throat. Maggie spoke with the officer who first attended the scene while he looked around for security cameras on nearby premises. Maybe they could get some footage of the guy in the act.
“So a garbage truck driver found the body.” Maggie said when she returned. “That means there’s room out the back to fit a truck so a car could easily get in and out without too much notice.”
“There’s a camera on the shop across the road. We’ll have to check it out when it opens.”
Maggie nodded. “Shall we go and check it out?” She asked with a tilt of her head towards the building.
“Yes, let’s get it over with.”
After all the years in the force and homicide, he’d never got used to dead bodies. It was all part of the job but he still found each scene gut wrenching, some more than others. It never got any easier.
They strolled down the alley and turned the corner and there she lay in the middle of the lot. Naked, brutalised, with her throat cut, another cut throat to haunt him in his nightmares and memories. Would he ever escape? His stomach leapt and sent another lump into his throat as he stared at hers. Just when he felt on top of it all, when he thought he wouldn’t be affected, another body tormented him.
“Holy shit,” Maggie said.
Lucas couldn’t speak as they approached the girl. Her brunette hair fanned out around her. Bruises in different shades covered her face and one of her eyes was swollen shut. In her chest the words “Rich Bitch” had been carved in thin lines with varying degrees of healing. Some wounds light red and fresh, others dark and dry. The killer took his time. Her body also had varying degrees of bruising. There was no blood at the scene which indicated she was killed elsewhere. Her petite, short frame only added to her helplessness. Bile filled his throat and he thought he might throw-up, something he hadn’t done at a scene for a very long time.
“What kind of fucking animal does this to someone?” Maggie asked the brisk morning, not necessarily needing an answer. Lucas wasn’t sure he could answer.
The medical examiner arrived and underwent his preliminary examination. Lucas knew the routine. Check body temperature. Take note of rigor and lividity. Check the air temperature. All the things needed to help determine time of death and perhaps time of dumping. He also listed all the obvious injuries. The more they knew up front, the more it could help with the investigation.
“Hello, what do we have here?” Said David the Medical Examiner. “Her ID is here, just under her shoulder. Libby Greene.”
He passed it to Maggie’s outstretched gloved hand. She studied it for a moment and then showed it to Lucas. The girl was pretty and young. He shook his head while Maggie put it into an evidence bag.
“Anything more you can tell us, Doc that we can’t already see?”
“I believe she’s probably been here a few hours but dead closer to six hours. I’ll let you know more when I’ve had a chance to look at her at the morgue.”
Spinning on his heels, Lucas walked to his car, got in and drove to the station without saying a word to Maggie. She would meet him there. He needed the journey to clear his head and focus on their new case. Trying to get his mother’s image out his head would be the hardest part. The brutality of this murder had affected him more than any other, more than the murders similar to his parents. What the girl would’ve gone through and they were only going on the obvious injuries, there could be more to it yet.
Coffee in hand, Lucas exited the break room and nearly ran smack bang into Maggie who must have come looking for him.
“Are you okay?” She asked as she dodged his coffee cup.
“Yes.”
“You didn’t say much at the scene. It was a tough one to attend—”
“I’m fine, Maggie, let’s just concentrate on working the case.”
“Okay. Well I have her missing person’s report here,” she said lifting the file in her hand. “She was missing six days. He really did take his time.” She shook her head, her lips in a thin line, her brow furrowed. “I’m guessing David’s going to find evidence of sexual abuse as well.”
Lucas spoke as he sipped his coffee and walked to his desk. “I think you’re assumption will be correct. There was anger here. The number of bruises, the words cut into her chest over time, the deep lacerations on her wrist and ankles showing struggle. This was personal. Maybe she knew him or she looked like someone the killer knew, whatever the motive, this guy is a sadist.”
“It’s one of the worst I’ve seen,” Maggie said before pausing. “So what’s next? We notify next of kin and question family and friends?”
With a nod Lucas grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair and picked up his car keys. “Let’s get this over with.”
After a full day of interviewing family and friends, canvasing the area around the scene and checking the missing person’s database for potential victims, they called it a day. They also had been able to obtain video from the camera Lucas had spotted and their tech team was going through the footage. This could be a lucky break for them.
Lucas didn’t want to go home but he didn’t want to pick up either. Feeling lost and alone he drove around for a while to think and found himself at the crime scene. Sitting in his car he looked up and down the street and watched any activity for potential witnesses. Maybe someone working late, working shift work, saw something on the way to or from work. It was only seven and much earlier than Libby’s murderer would have dumped her but it couldn’t hurt to see the activity occurring on the street at night. He could sit here till midnight or maybe longer but an overwhelming tiredness overcame him after sitting for nearly two hours. He needed some solace so he started the car and drove towards the one person who could help him find it.
Carrie answered the door. His niece and nephew would be in bed. As much as he loved seeing them, tonight it would’ve been too hard to put on a happy face.
“I’m sorry it’s so late,” he said to his concerned sister.
“It’s never too late. Are you okay? You look terrible.”
“Gee, how to make a guy feel good.”
“You know what I mean. Come sit down. Do you want a drink?”
“Whiskey on the rocks. I need to settle my nerves.”
Flashes of Libby and his mother, flicked back and forth in his mind while he waited for his sister. Several minutes later Carrie returned with a glass full of ice and a bottle of whiskey.”
“I thought you might need more than one. You can stay here tonight. I don’t think you should be alone.”
“I don’t want to be alone.”
“Then you’ll stay.” She paused. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really. Leave the bottle. Don’t let me keep you up.”
Carrie sighed and then disappeared from the room to return moments later with a pillow and blanket.
“Try not to write yourself off too much, the kids will probably jump on you in the morning. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“No but I have to be.”
“Lucky, talk to me.”
“It’s been months since I’ve had a nightmare, since I put it behind me. I was starting to feel normal, without torment and then wham there it is again. I can’t escape it. Why do I do this to myself?”
He poured another generous whiskey and downed it in one go before pouring another.
“Quit, Lucas. This job has been destroying you for years. That’s why I never wanted you to join in the first place.”
“I can’t quit, Carrie, the job is my life. What else could I do?”
“Couldn’t you see if you could teach at the academy?”
“Maybe. I guess it’s something to think about. I’m just over feeling like this. I was doing okay. I really was.”
“But you are always only okay. Never good. Never great. Just fine or okay. That’s no way to live. Living in solitude. No-one to come home to. No-one to love you. It will destroy you.”
“I can cope, Carrie, I’ve been doing this for a long time. I fall off the wagon now and again so to speak, then I pull myself together and do it all again.”
“I just want you to be happy.”
“I know, Carrie but I’m not sure I know how.”
“Are you going to be okay?”
“Yes, go to bed. I’ll be fine.”
“I love you, Lucky.”
Lucas didn’t have the strength to correct her. “Love you too, sis.”
Once she left, he played out the scene in his mind while trying not to add the scene he wanted to stay forgotten from entering his mind. But try as he might he was fighting a losing battle. He downed his whiskey and poured another.
The senseless murder opened the box and everything flooded out. Everything he’d put behind him with regards to his parent’s murder came storming back and almost affected him more than when it happened. It was like being wounded again. Fresh and sharp.
Whiskey was helping but it wouldn’t help him in the morning. With a sigh he hoped he was drunk enough to fall asleep.
The next morning, he was awoken by Mabel and Tommy. It was a welcome greeting despite his thumping head. After chatting with them a while, he had breakfast before heading to work.
Their investigation continued with no leads and no evidence. Another dead end case. They’d managed to find some footage of a dark coloured sedan entering the driveway at 2am but the licence plate was covered. They would be looking for a needle in a haystack when it came to the number of dark coloured sedans in the DMV system. All they could focus on next was whether this was a one off or should they follow up any similar looking missing persons.
Day after day they chased leads to no avail. Would another case go cold under their watch? This case was doing his head in.
Her hug was warm and he brimmed with comfort and love. She kissed his cheek and ruffled his hair. He scoffed a little but he loved her attention nevertheless. She waved goodbye, her eyes filled with motherly love as she told him not to be late.
As her face began to fade, the house disappeared and as he spun around, he realised where he was. He rushed to where she lay crumpled on the floor, her blood so dark it looked black. Her hazel eyes stared lifeless while he held her cold hand. His clothes became soaked with her blood as he drew her close. He hoped in vain her heart still beat or her eyes would still be filled with warmth. He never wanted to let her go, even as the kind voices urged him to do so. He didn’t want them to take his mother away.
Lucas jolted upright, bathed in sweat. The nightmares had returned after months of silence, the horror re-emerging. The memories so fresh as though it happened only yesterday. His chest ached and his eyes stung. He breathed deeply, trying to slow down his rapid beating heart.
Now that his dreams were haunting him again, he began to doubt, for the first time since receiving his badge, his capacity to continue with the case. He was beginning to lose focus, his edge. When conscious he could escape but now the nightmares had returned and sleep was no longer his friend again.
Thirteen years after his parent’s murders and he was no closer to getting closure or redemption and his life mission seemed to bring him no joy. His haunting memories and nightmares plagued him. The same darkness that arrived that night when he was seventeen returned and he wondered whether he could really keep doing this to himself. Why had he followed this path? Did he really believe that attending murder after murder and seeing loved ones grieve would help? Of course, there were the ones they caught and the comfort this brought families helped a little but after all this time he still felt the same unfulfilled hollowness in his chest. Did he need something to fill it? No. No loss meant no pain, but really, was he living without pain now? Was this really the way he wanted to live his life?
Little did he know that his life was about to change in a way he never anticipated with the entry of Chelsea Summerville into his world.