This was the second time in less than a week Ryan was standing over a dead body, this time in the back room of a laundromat. It was not something a person wanted to get used to. Everything was the same and yet it was different. This was murder. This was planned. The victim was a mess.
The name on her pink smock said Amy. From the looks of the office, she didn’t go down without a fight. There were chairs tipped over and spots of blood smeared on just about every surface. Her body was a crumpled heap on the floor. Her blonde hair was a mixture of red and white strands.
“Looks like trauma to the head again.” Were Tracy and Amy somehow connected?
Danny’s gloved finger pointed to a broken stapler lying on the floor. “Death by stapler? I don’t think so, but there was definitely a struggle.” Pen, paper, and even the contents of a trash can were lying about the room. It was messed up no matter what way you looked at it.
“It was more likely this.” She picked up a heavy cast iron item next to the stapler. It had some blood and hair on it.
“What the hell is that?” Ryan asked.
“Obviously, you don’t know antiques.” Danny held it by the handle. “It’s called a sad iron. They heat it on the stove and then use it to press clothes. It must have been a knickknack or paperweight on the desk.”
“This is fucked up.” Ryan squatted next to the victim as Danny continued to take photos from every angle.
“That’s for damn sure.” She snapped a few more shots. “How long do you think she’s been like this?”
“From the condition and temperature of the body, I would say maybe late last night, early this morning.” The coroner jotted down some notes. The vet had arrived at the same time he had. “This is one of those twenty-four-hour places. She could have been in the back about to lock up the office and been hit from behind.”
Ryan glanced inside the store’s open safe. “No money seems to be missing. So robbery is out.” The deposit bag was still sitting there full of money, leaving him to believe she’d just unlocked the safe before being attacked.
“Tuesday, huh?” Danny stopped taking pictures and carefully shifted through a stack of items on the floor with her glove covered hands.
“You got something, Dan?” She was new to the force but Ryan already respected her keen senses. Danny often saw things the guys missed.
“It makes me think of those old towels.”
“Towels?”
“My grandma had them.”
Ryan raised an eyebrow. “Go on.” The coroner was also listening.
“Monday was wash day. Tuesday was for ironing. Wednesday was for something else. Could be a coincidence, but just made me think of it. Tracy had a basket of laundry on the floor. We have an iron in a laundromat. I’m sure you can find some reproductions of the towels at a store. Let me check.” She dug her phone out and did a search. When she found the right image, Danny handed it to him. Sure enough, there was an activity for each day of the week embroidered on flour sacks. Wednesday was mending day.
“Did you find any of those images here?”
“Not yet, but I will search the list for the other crime scene and see if there was anything there.”
“Interesting, but what does it tell you about the killer?” the coroner questioned.
“Your guess is as good as mine. They hate housework? Who knows?” He was used to drunk and disorderly calls, not murders. “Danny, do a search of similar crimes and see if anything comes up. Also see if Tracy and Amy knew each other.”
“Got it.” She’d been jotting down notes and clicked her pen and put it in her pocket. “Anything else?”
“Nope, just get copies of the photos printed and wait for the others to get here. Does the victim have any next of kin?”
“I checked her phone for an ICE but nothing.” It always surprised him how many people failed to designate someone as their in case of emergency contact on their phone.
“Look at this.” The coroner lifted the collar of the victim’s smock. “It’s some kind of puncture wound.” It was as if someone had tried to stab her once, it didn’t take, so they stabbed her again.
“Donavan?”
Ryan jumped when he heard his name being yelled from the other room. He recognized it as Roman Caponelli. Just what he needed. The guy probably wanted to chew him a new one for visiting his sister. The tall Italian in a suit strolled into the room.
“This is a crime scene. You shouldn’t be in here.”
“I had them add me to the list.” He said it as if he was on the police payroll.
“You have no right to be on the list.” Ryan glared at the new recruit at the door who meekly held a clipboard. Whenever there was a crime scene, they kept a list of everyone who came in so they could either add or delete people’s DNA that might pop up in any test results.
Roman approached him so that they were out of anyone’s earshot. “I want to know if there is anything I can do to help. Word is this might be a serial killer. We might be able to hunt them down and take care of the problem if you know who it is.”
Just what he needed, a mafia posse out to take down a desperado.
“As much as I would love to have you hunt down and dispose of the problem, I don’t know who it is. Plus, Caponelli, I am an officer of the law, and things don’t work that way.”
“Look, you know and I know that sometimes these bastards slip through the cracks. I have a wife and a sister here and I want this guy caught before anyone else gets hurt.”
“And I don’t want him caught?” The nerve of this guy thinking that the police weren’t doing their jobs. These things took time. “The last thing we need is you going off and taking out the wrong person. Then where would we be?”
Roman turned his attention to the body on the floor and his jaw twitched. “What the hell? She’s so young.”
Grabbing him by the elbow, Ryan led him out the door. “And so was the other one. You can’t tell anyone what you saw here. If word gets out, we could have copycat murders and god only knows what else.” Police often kept a few clues from the scene from being public knowledge, something that in an interrogation only the true killer would know.
Tugging loose from his hold, Roman faced him. “I only let you lead me out of there because I know you have to show that you’re in charge and I wasn’t supposed to be in there, but if you ever put your hands on me again, you’ll be shooting left handed.”
“Are you threatening an officer?”
“No, I’m threatening Ry, the kid I went to high school with.” Roman stepped back and smoothed his hair back with his hand. “You know I’ve got connections. If there is anything I can do to rid this town and the earth of the monster that did this, you let me know.”
“There is. The other woman, Tracy, had a name in her appointment book, A. Man. Does that mean anything to you? Any mob men around we don’t know about or anyone with that name?”
“Not that I can think of but I’ll get some men on it. See if there is anyone who shouldn’t be here.”
An ambulance pulled up to the curb. Amy would be going for an autopsy and Danny would be riding with her to keep the chain of evidence intact. Hopefully, something would show up that might give a clue to not only her death, but Tracy’s as well.
“In the meantime, have someone with Madison and Valentina at all times. We don’t know who we’re dealing with here,” Ryan instructed.
They were quiet a moment as they nodded a greeting to the ambulance crew that walked by.
“Believe me, Madison will not be leaving my sight, and I’ll have Dominic camp out at Val’s place.”
Ryan stiffened. “Are you sure you can trust him? The guy’s a killer. I don’t like him being anywhere near her.”
“It doesn’t matter what you think. I trust him with my life and hers.”
“But I don’t. I will be upping patrols. I have to stop by later to get Tyler anyway.”
“Speaking of which. How do I know I can trust that kid?”
“He’s a good kid, just going through a rough patch that I’d like to get smoothed out. I think it would be good for him to have a job, and Val needs the help.”
“If she needs any help, any help at all, she just has to ask me.”
“Maybe she wants some independence from the family.”
“There is no getting away from the family, and we protect our own. I won’t turn down the added security. We have cameras on all our residences and businesses so I’ll have extra eyes on those as well.” Roman and he may not have agreed on how things got done, but Ryan knew they both cared about keeping the people of their small town safe. “I want this murderer brought down, and fast.”
“Finally something we can agree on. Just don’t go off halfcocked. I don’t need any more bodies in my town.”
“It’s my town too,” Roman added.
“Then let’s agree to keep it safe.” Ryan held out his hand.
“Agreed. Keep in touch.” Roman shook the offered hand and headed off to the black SUV. His always present bodyguard, Arlo, opened the door for him. The guy was the size of a linebacker. It just reaffirmed how different Valentina’s life was from his. There were no cameras at his house, no bodyguards, and no family to protect him.
Ryan returned to the crime scene and greeted the ambulance guys that he’d met during car accidents and other scenes they were both at.
The first guy whistled and spoke before getting down to the business of getting the body onto the gurney. “Poor thing. I’ve got a daughter this age.”
“You ever seen anything like this before?” Ryan asked from the doorway.
“In Genoa? The answer is no. When I lived in the big city, yes.” The man shared a few stories of bizarre crime scenes he’d been to. The urge to get to Valentina’s side was stronger than ever. He was thankful for her around-the-clock protection, but that wouldn’t necessarily stop someone intent on killing.
He spied Danny scrolling through her phone again and her face lit up.
“Got something?” Ryan stepped to her side.
“I found one of those day of the week towels under the desk. I also did a search and you can buy towels like that at a place here in town.” She held up the phone.
“No shit? Where?” He was eager to find this killer.
“Lakeside Commons. That new antique store. They sell both new and old stuff. You know, reproductions and such.”
His stomach dropped. “That’s where Valentina Caponelli just opened her new office.”
“Do you want me to go check it out for you?” she offered.
“I think we both should. You go in normal clothes as a customer and I will go in my uniform. See what you can find out. Why did they just open here, where did the owners come from? We’ll see if we each get the same answer.”
“Will do. I’ll go back to the station and change. See if I can find a towel in the list of Tracy’s belongings that we might have missed.”
“Thanks. Let me know what you find out.”
“You got it.” She started down the row of washers and then stopped and turned around. “You should probably go make sure Valentina is okay. You know, with a potential killer possibly next door.”
“We don’t know that.” He tried to brush it off but she was all he could think about.
“She doesn’t know that either. Might score some points for you.”
“I have a feeling you’re trying to fix me up with her.”
“No, just trying to protect the citizens of the town from your bad disposition.” She winked. Was he really turning into a grumpy old man?
“I do have to pick up Tyler.”
“Ry, just a suggestion. Women like flowers and candy.” She shook her head, as if realizing he was a hopeless case. “Dropping off a juvenile delinquent never got anyone laid.”
“Are you saying my skills with women are off? Why, I’m crushed.” He placed a hand on his heart.
“It would take a lot more than words to crush you. You know you like her, I know you like her. Ask her out.”
“No, I don’t think so.” He didn’t do well in relationships. It was already becoming apparent that he was married to the job. Still, his heart wanted her.
“Scared she’ll say no?” Danny taunted.
“No, afraid she’ll say yes.” The conflicts of interest alone were a mess. The town cop dating a mob princess.
“I never figured you for a chicken.” She was not giving up.
“I’m not chicken, just smart enough to stay far from that family.”
“From what I’ve seen, she wants to stay far from the family business as well.” She flapped her arms a couple times like she was a chicken and then rushed out the door.
The last thing he’d ever be considered would be a coward, but he wanted to be smart. One needed to be careful about getting involved with the Caponelli family. Being a cop meant he had to be careful every day, but maybe it was time his personal life wasn’t.
That was easier said than done. It was late afternoon by the time Ryan finally returned to the office of Valentina Caponelli. The new shiny gold sign glimmered on the wall next to the door. He tried the door but it was locked. Spying through the window, he noticed the place was empty. Even Tyler was nowhere to be found. Where was everyone?
Ryan turned to leave and take a look around back, but a scream from inside the building stopped him in his tracks.