Ryan
Ryan had smiled more in the last two weeks than he had in his entire life. The woman in front of him chatted away but he hadn’t heard a word she said, he only had eyes for the one waiting at the table.
“Sir, did you want your change?” the barista repeated.
“No, thanks. Just put it in the tip jar.” He took a cup in each hand.
“Here you go.” He set Val’s drink in front of her. “Sure you don’t want a muffin or anything?”
“No, I want to fit into my dress.” She took a sip and moaned. “This is heaven.”
The sweet sound that came from her lips stirred him below the belt. It was hard to concentrate when she was around. At least once a day they’d seen each other. Sometimes it was just for morning coffee, other times they went out for dinner or just watched a game. They were dating. Slowly. It was the way he wanted it. Valentina deserved better than a wham bam, thank you, ma’am date. She was special. She was the real deal and he craved her for a lifetime, not just a night.
He let the comment about the dress slip on purpose. The Snowflake Ball was only a few nights away and Valentina had dropped several hints about wanting to go, but so far he’d ignored them. Sure, he was taking her, but he was waiting for the perfect moment to ask. If he didn’t have to work at the last minute that is.
“Anything planned for the rest of the week? Say, like, Friday night?” Her graceful fingers stirred the coffee with a tiny red straw.
“Still not sure if I have to work or not.” Thankfully, there hadn’t been any more murders. They still weren’t any closer to finding the killer, though, either. There were no prints, no witnesses, and being in a small town, no video surveillance.
His phone buzzed. It was a text from Danny. A dark cloud seemed to come over the room and it was hard to breath. They’d found another one. It was like a hit to the stomach and he pushed his coffee aside.
Valentina put a hand over his. “What is it?”
“I’ve got to go.” He kissed her cheek and she held tight to his hand.
“It’s happened again. Hasn’t it?” Pain shown in her dark eyes and her lower lip trembled.
He nodded and kissed her hand before letting go. “I’ll tell Dom to come sit with you.” The guy was out in the car, reading a book of all things.
“No, I’ll leave now.”
After seeing Val safely to her bodyguard, Ryan drove to the crime scene. There were already several cars in the parking lot of the veterinary clinic. He left his coat in the car and hurried to the front entrance. It was getting colder and colder but right now it didn’t matter one bit.
He never had cause to visit the place except to drop Milo off for his shots. The clinic had the usual hospital cleaning supplies smell mixed with a hint of animal urine.
Dr. Bob was on his phone, speaking quietly, but looked up when he noticed Ryan and nodded. He was visibly upset, as was everyone else in the place. A tearful worker dressed in scrubs hugged another person by the door.
Ryan walked into the back room and a body lay in front of some pet cages. A poodle whined and wagged its tail. If only the pooch could talk. The place was a mess. Drawers were pulled out, the refrigerator door was open, and some cupboard doors were even yanked from the hinges.
“Same as before,” Danny whispered in his ear. “Same needle mark in the neck. Doc here declared her dead.” Each victim had been drugged, but killed a different way. Etorphine was what the medical examiner called it, an extremely powerful animal tranquilizer, although it was used on humans in some countries. “Maybe the bastard tore the place apart in search of more etorphine.” Danny carefully turned the victim’s wrist so that he could see the face. “Looks like her watch was smashed in the struggle. It stopped at seven oh three.”
“Son of a bitch.” Running his fingers through his hair, Ryan shook his head. “We have to find this guy. The town can’t handle another death.” Families had lost loved ones and everyone was on edge. Scared to go out and live life like they normally did. Just when things had finally calmed down a little in the local news, a third murder was going to put everyone in a panic. “Who found the body?”
Danny looked at her notes. “The girl out front. Arianne Manning.”
Arianne, the badge bunny he’d turned down for the date? “I’ll go talk to her.” Sure enough, when he went out front, it was Arianne sitting in one of the waiting room chairs. Her arms and legs were crossed.
“Hi, Arianne. Mind if I talk to you for a moment?”
“Yes, of course.” Arianne scooted her chair over and he sat down next to her.
“I hear you found the body. Could you tell me what happened?”
“I saw the lights on so I went inside. I called out but no one answered. I thought it was kind of weird so I looked around.” Her hands shook. She interlocked her fingers and laid them on her lap. There were beads of sweat on her forehead.
“Can I get you some water?” Ryan stood up.
“Yes, that would be great. I’m just very upset.” She fidgeted and rocked back and forth.
“That’s understandable. I’ll be right back.” Paper cup in hand, he returned with some water from the bubbler and gave it to Arianne. “So when you didn’t see anyone, what did you do?”
“I, uh, I heard dogs barking in the back so I went to look. There she was, lying on the floor, clutching her chest.”
“Clutching her chest? Was she alive?” That didn’t make sense.
“No. No. She wasn’t moving. Just lying there like this.” Arianne brought her hands up in front of her chest.
“You’re sure?” The victim had her arms by her side when Ryan got to the scene.
“Yes, positive.” The shaken woman nodded vigorously.
“You didn’t try to move or revive her?” The victim had somehow changed position if what Arianne said was true.
“No. I just left to go get help. I was scared.”
“Did you see anyone else around? Any cars in the lot?” Ryan took a visual count of the vehicles outside.
“Yes, a van. It was black, dark grey. I don’t remember.”
He jotted down the description, wondering if the van belonged to Davis. “Any others?”
“No. Just mine and another car. I assumed it belonged to the person inside.” She took a sip of the water.
Never had he felt so hopeless. Another death with not much to go on. “If you think of anything, please give us a call.” He took out a business card for the department and handed it to her.
Grabbing her purse, she stood up and accepted the card. “I will. Thanks. Is it okay to go now?”
“Sure.” Walking over to the entrance, he opened the front door for her. “One more thing before you go.”
She hurried out in the cold and Ryan followed.
“Do you have a dog?” he hollered after her.
“What? No, why?” She struggled with the zipper of her coat.
“Just wondering why you were here.” He put his hands in his pockets.
“Am I a suspect now? I didn’t do anything. I’m the one who called the police.” Arianne gave up on the zipper, stomped her foot, and put her gloves on.
“I didn’t say that. You came here for a reason so I didn’t want you to forget to get what you came in here for.” And why so early? Judging by the hours listed on the door, she had arrived at least an hour before the clinic opened.
“If you must know, I was driving by and, like I said, I saw a car here. Since I can’t get equipment yet for my fitness center, I thought I would use the space to collect clothes for charity. You know coats, boots, and gloves. Stuff like that.” Her cheeks turned pink from the cold and little puffs of air escaped as she talked.
“That’s sounds like a great idea. I will ask around and see if anyone wants to donate.” Valentina had a kind heart, she’d be happy to help with something like that.
“Can I go now? I’m freezing.” Her teeth chattered.
“It’s only forty degrees out, what are you going to do when it hits thirty below?” Winter was hard on locals, let alone people from the South.
“I’ll get used to it. That’s what everyone keeps telling me.” Arianne let out one more wisp of air. “Are we done now?”
“Yeah.” He studied her as she rushed to her car. The plates were from Georgia, just like the ones on Edward’s van. Her story didn’t jive. When he got back to the station, he’d run a check on those plates. “One more thing.”
She stopped. “Now what?”
“I need you to stop at the station later.” Ryan walked to where she stood bouncing from one foot to the other.
“Why? I gave your my statement.”
“We need to get your fingerprints so that all we find at the scene are accounted for.”
“Fine,” she grumbled, “I’ll do it after lunch.”
Once Arianne drove off, an ambulance pulled in. They’d be taking the body to the hospital morgue and the medical examiner would meet them there. It hurt just as bad as the first one. A young life cut needlessly short. He’d catch this murderer if it was the last thing he did.
Ryan reentered the vet clinic and pulled Dr. Bob aside. “What’s going on, Bob?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know who would be doing such a thing but it has to stop soon.” The man teared up. “Alyssa is the daughter of a friend of mine. What am I going to tell them? What do I say?”
He placed a hand on the man’s shoulder. “We’ll do it together, okay?”
Dr. Bob took out a handkerchief and blew his nose. “Thanks.” He nodded and wiped the back of his hand across his forehead.
“Tell me what happened. Why was Alyssa here so early?” Ryan took out his notebook again.
“One of the dogs that just had surgery needed to be checked on so she volunteered to come in at seven, give him his meds, and let him out for a bit.”
“So she opened up the place?”
“Yes, but she would have locked back up once inside. We always leave the door locked except for during business hours.” Yet Arianne had come inside. Had the killer run out and left it that way?
“When I got here, Arianne was by her car. As soon as I got out of the truck, she started screaming that someone was dead inside.” The man rubbed his jaw. “I never expected this. Never.”
“Was she dead when you found her?”
“Yes.”
“How was Alyssa laying when you arrived? Did you move her or try to resuscitate her, give CPR?”
“No, she’s as I found her. Arms by her side. I checked for a pulse but there was none. The body had already cooled. It was too late to do anything.” The doctor pulled out a chair and sat down. “Her eyes were open.” As a coroner, the man had seen death many times, but it was different when it was someone you knew.
“What time did you get here?”
“A little before eight.”
“Was anything else out of place?”
“I didn’t notice. Wait.” The doctor suddenly stood up and rushed to the back room. “I saw in the autopsy report that the Housewife Killer is using etorphine.” Dr. Bob pulled open a cupboard. “This is always locked.”
“Don’t touch anything.” Danny rushed over. Inside the cupboard was a mess. Bottles and boxes were tipped over. “Is this where the etorphine is kept?”
“Yes. We only have one bottle because of the circus elephants. It’s very potent. Here it is.” He pointed at a little container.
“That’s a package of suppositories.” Danny took her pen and peeked in the box.
“When I read the report, I put it in there. If someone tried to get in and steal it, they hopefully wouldn’t find it.” Clever. “I guess they didn’t realize there’d be no reason to lock up laxatives, so it worked.”
“Did any of the girls working here know that?” Ryan glanced at Alyssa, who was being lifted onto a gurney. His heart ached at the loss and it was his determination to catch the killer that kept him on his feet.
“No, and only the other doctor and I have a key.”
“And where is your partner now?”
“She comes in the afternoon.”
“Has the drug been tampered with in anyway?” Danny studied the bottle that had been the killer’s target.
Dr. Bob checked it over and shook his head. “No, it looks fine.”
“Do you have any security cameras here?”
He shook his head and leaned against the counter as he witnessed them putting a sheet over Alyssa’s body. “No, but I’m ordering some today.”
“Ryan. Look what I just found.” Danny held up another day of the week towel.