Читать книгу Vengeance Passed On - Macy Gray - Страница 10

Chapter 6

Thursday morning was rough due to lack of sleep and a mind not shutting off. Jaxon brewed himself a large pot of coffee and filled his mobile cup before he left for work. This was one time when he wished he kept a box of donuts around because he sure could use some extra carbs to wake him up. He did a double check of all his windows and doors, then got behind the wheel of his car and headed toward the office.

“Wow! Jaxon, you look like crap! Did you have an all-nighter? And if so, why wasn’t I invited?”

“Thanks a lot, Peter. You know I have to work on my beauty sleep. It doesn’t come natural like yours. I had lots of things running through my mind all night, so I pulled up all open cases and started perusing through. I think I found the next case I would like us to work on. It’s a tough one, but it will definitely keep us occupied.”

“You know we’re allowed to have a couple days off before rushing into the next case, right? I’m glad to see you might have put retirement on hold, but take a breather and enjoy our success for a little longer.”

“Honestly, Peter, I can’t get that woman out of my mind. I researched the previous file and found nothing. She knows about me. How is that possible? Look at the note I found in my mailbox. I’m unlisted, and we never exchanged names, so how did she find me? Is my phone tapped, or am I wearing a bug, a sign stating my name and address? I’m really freaked out about this.”

“Hopefully, sarcasm will make you feel more normal. Let me see that. This piece of paper was in your mailbox? No envelope or anything else?” asked Peter with a look of sheer confusion as he held up the note.

“Nothing but that piece of paper! This freaked me out enough that I actually locked my doors and windows. I haven’t worried about that in years. I even checked my gun was loaded and kept it in my nightstand! What is happening here?”

“Do you want me to have this tested for fingerprints? We might find her in the system. I mean, I’ll have to eliminate yours and mine, but maybe we’ll get lucky. How do you know someone else didn’t put it in there?”

“No one else knew what happened, so it had to be her that left it. Fingerprints are a great idea. I’m still so shook up that I didn’t even think of that. Let’s do it, but it has to stay on the lowdown. I’m not ready to start publicizing that I’m possibly losing my mind.”

“Perfect. I’ll take it and do the prints myself. Give me about twenty minutes and then we’ll start running it through the database and hopefully find her. And when I get back, we’ll discuss your sanity and this next case you’re interested in. Sound good?” Peter said with a cordial smile.

“Yeah, thanks, Peter.”

The next twenty minutes went by with Jaxon sitting at his desk, drinking his coffee, and letting his mind wander through the events of the last twenty-four hours. It was a jumble that he had always been able to unscramble until now. He was torn back from his wandering state of mind by Peter with the fingerprints. He pulled his desk chair around to sit next to Jaxon, facing his computer screen. He punched in a bunch of keys, and the screen started scanning matching points on the fingerprint, looking for at least an eight-point match.

“While this works its magic, tell me about this next case, Jaxon.”

“Okay. The guy’s name is Reginald Grey. He’s kidnapped three separate women. He would keep them for about three weeks, then kill them by asphyxiation. Each victim showed signs of sexual assault both pre- and postmortem, meaning they died during the middle of the sexual assault while suffocating to death. He disappeared after his last kill. That was a year and a half ago. He hasn’t been seen or heard from since. There haven’t been any more killings either. So I figured if we started with hospitals and morgues, maybe we could get lucky and find his dead body. How does this one sound?”

“Actually, it sounds great. You have a great eye for these files, and I always trust your judgment. Why don’t you separate out the hospital and morgues between us, and we can divide and conquer? I need a copy of Reginald’s picture from his file. I’ll look for all John Does or unclaimed bodies. We can be thorough at our own pace on this one, since he has not been killing.”

Just then, they heard a ding, and both turned to the computer to see if a match was found in the computer. One true match was found, but the picture was of a man named Fred Hernandez. He worked at the office store where the paper is sold.

“Well, he definitely does not look like the woman I saw.”

“It was worth a try. Why don’t you go over and talk to Fred and see if he remembers the woman that bought the paper?”

“Damn, Peter, you have the brainpower today. I’m going to do exactly that.” Jaxon copied down the office store address and placed it in his pocket.

“Jaxon, I guess I’ll separate out the hospitals and morgues for us to work on while you follow up with Fred. We can start looking into Reginald tomorrow. Why don’t you take the rest of the day off, see Fred, and follow up by taking time to do something that you would enjoy doing and come back tomorrow refreshed?”

“Will do.” Squeezing Peter’s arm, Jaxon grabbed his coffee cup, keys, and left work. The file would wait one more day.