Shelby's Secret (Once a Marine, Always a Marine Book 4) (18 page)

Daniel frowned. “How could he know that? You were careful to get them both out of the house without anyone seeing anything.”

“He must have been watching somehow. It’s the only thing that makes sense, considering the carnage inside. I’d be willing to guess Casey will put the time of death sometime after we left for Flagstaff.”

Daniel didn’t question the hypothesis. Mike was eerily accurate about these things. “Is it like one of her videos?”

“No.” Then the big man let out a breath. “This is a very different scene from the previous two. This one is the sickest fucker I’ve ever seen.”

“Jesus,” Daniel muttered. Now he really didn’t want to go inside. But viewing evidence was part of his job and if he advanced the way he wanted to, then he’d be the homicide sergeant one day. He couldn’t let a scene destroy him. “I’ll take a quick look, and then come back out and wait for the medical examiner.”

Mike nodded and turned his body slightly to the side, giving his tacit permission.
 

As Daniel moved to pass, he was stopped by Mike’s hand.

“Don’t step too far into the room, the blood is everywhere.”

Daniel nodded. “Got it. Anything else?”

“The shock value is high. Try and keep it together when you come back outside.” Mike nodded toward the cops all watching them from a distance. “They need to know we’ll take care of this.”

Taking a deep breath of the fresh air, Daniel said, “I won’t let you down.”

“I know.”

Mike moved around him and headed toward the young officer still sitting in the patrol car.

Daniel figured he must have been the first unit on scene, since he looked worse than anyone else. Peer support would get called out, and they’d all be in for a de-brief once the scene was thoroughly secured and the officers released.

As with the other scenes, the smell is what hit him first. Maybe he was psyching himself out due to what Mike said, but the odor of death seemed so much stronger. And when he stepped inside the main portion of the warehouse, he could see why. He almost went to his knees.

Instead, he braced a hand on the door and closed his eyes.
Sick bastard
. He took a moment before he could talk himself into opening them again. Carnage wasn’t even the right word to describe the scene because what had been done to that poor woman was nothing less than butchery. “Dear God,” he whispered.

She was in pieces. Everywhere.

This was no body dump and stage set. The murder had happened right there in the center of the room. Blood spatter lined the walls and the floor, and body parts were flung in every direction, as if dismembering her hadn’t been enough.

Daniel forced himself to stand there and take it all in. The violence—the terror that stained the air. The abject horror of mangled flesh and entrails twisted in a mass that didn’t resemble anything human. And when he was sure his expression was under control, he walked outside.

But the world didn’t look the same as when he went inside. The vicious murders of the first two women hadn’t affected him the way this one did. Mike had been right. They had to keep it together for their brothers in blue, because
this
was their job. To find and capture the animal that went beyond the normal scope of reasoning.

Casey and her tech arrived at that moment and not even her newly spiked red hair could bring a smile to Daniel’s face. He stayed to the side as Mike talked to her. Her mobile face was set in a grimace.

She nodded once and then followed Mike toward the door of the warehouse. The tech stayed behind gathering supplies. Casey had only her camera in her hands. She was fastidious about making sure the crime scene was carefully preserved in photos before they started mucking around gathering evidence, as she called it.

He didn’t go with them. Not yet. And he’d made the right decision. The subtle shake of Mike’s head as he passed told Daniel to stay where he was for the moment. The instant relief he felt was both appalling and necessary. He needed a couple of minutes to make sure he didn’t throw up. The bile was at the back of his throat, and he held it at bay by sheer strength of will.

He’d never felt like taking justice in his own hands before. Daniel was all about the legal system and making it work, but in this moment, he had the grisly realization he could kill another man in cold blood. The animal doing this didn’t deserve to rot away in a cage.

This monster needed to die.

Chapter 15

“They’re calling him “The Surgeon” in the newspaper,” Madge said.

The disgust in her voice was thick. Shelby looked up from the schedule she’d been making changes to. “Who makes up these things?”

“I guess they can’t call every killer “The Sadistic Butcher.” That wouldn’t sell any papers, or have folks tuned into the news stations. Every new one gets a catchy name.”

Shaking her head, Shelby glanced across the stage to check on Rebecca. But the little girl was surrounded by her dolls and a couple of new toy horses. She’d retreated back into her quiet self, but the silence wasn’t like before. She was still talking, thank God. Even if all she talked about were horses and when she’d get to ride Cinnamon again.

“That murder is a form of entertainment for the news people is just sick.”

“I’m sure they’re all high-fiving when a poor person gets mutilated, because then their ratings all go up.”

“When are we done here?” Shelby asked, ready to change the subject. She was tired and had worked hard with her band and the sound technicians most of the morning. Her hairdresser/make-up artist was a pro and didn’t need anything more than approval on a new lipstick color she wanted to use for the Friday performance. The wardrobe was ready and waiting, having already been fitted before she left with Mike during the week.

“I have to check a couple more items off my list, but I think we’re good to go.” Madge had her clipboard out and was making notes here and there in the ten pages located there.

“Good. It’s getting late, and I want to get Rebecca home and serve her a hot meal.”

“Will the hot detective be there?”

Shelby shot a look around, but no one was close within ear shot. A couple of the sound guys were in deep conversation with her guitarist, and someone with the lighting crew was setting up a ladder on the stage at the other end. “Don’t say that too loudly,” she whispered.

“I didn’t, but your reaction is interesting. I’ll go ahead and call the Chef and let her know to set another place at the table.”

Shelby felt her ears get hot. Madge wouldn’t judge if she decided to come out on stage stark naked in front of a hundred thousand fans, but having her know Mike would be spending the night felt naughty somehow. Especially since Madge was more like her mother than just her manager. And who knew when Mike would even be there? He was back and focused on the job.

“I guess.” Shelby stood to go get Rebecca. Madge’s amused chuckle followed her.

She reached the little girl, and Rebecca looked up and smiled. “Time to go?”

Shelby nodded. “Did you have fun today?”

Rebecca shrugged and started putting away her toys in the bag she had.

A gray-and-white sock monkey caught Shelby’s attention. “Where did that come from?” She didn’t remember that particular toy.

Rebecca shrugged again.

Chills ran the length of Shelby’s body. There was no reason to be worried about a stupid toy, but for some reason it bothered her. “When did you find it exactly?” She tried to keep her voice neutral.

“After lunch.” Rebecca stood and slung the strap of the bag across her little body. “Okay, ready.”

Shelby couldn’t stop from glancing around or the feeling of being watched, but she ignored it. Being back in town was making her jumpy, but the security team hadn’t left her side all day. She didn’t want to cause a scene over a toy, especially since they were about to leave, but the stuffed animal gave her a bad feeling. She’d ask Madge about it when they were home.

Two men who were part of the security team approached her on the stage. “Ready to go, ma’am?”

“Yes, thank you for being here with us.”

“Our pleasure,” the older one said.

His name was Hank, and he was the leader of her security team. Shelby liked all the guys, and they never let on that this was a pain for them in any way. Of course, Madge was paying them quite a bit of money not to mind, but they seemed genuine enough.

“We’re leaving a car and a team member here for Ms. Henner, but I know you’re ready to go. Shall we?”

Good ol’Madge. She never missed a beat. The feeling of being watched slowly faded as they left the arena, and Shelby shook it off as an over-tired imagination. All of their people were checked, and double checked. She had nothing to worry about as long as she stayed with her team. And she had no plans to do otherwise. She might be stubborn about doing these shows, but she wasn’t stupid. She was happy to have extra security. These concerts would be the best of her career. Her fans deserved the best that she had to give, especially since they were her last.

***

Mike was still at the scene as dusk darkened into night. The remains of Tara Shumway had been removed, and they had a positive ID this time, due to Tara’s love of butterfly tattoos. She had several on her body, and all had been found and confirmed.

Casey had packed up and her tech was more than ready to go. He’d been chain smoking by their van for an hour now, waiting on her to finish up.

Mike thought he’d quit about six months ago, but Casey said this case was stressing out the poor guy and he’d picked up the habit again. She had a betting pool going at work on how long he’d make it before he quit the job completely. Casey didn’t think he’d last a full year—he was at eight months now. Looking at him while he paced, Mike thought she might be right. That kid wasn’t cut out for this type of work.

“I’ve got everything,” Casey said, coming up behind him.

“Thanks. Call me if you need anything.”

She put a hand on his arm and squeezed. “You’ll get this guy.”

He looked down into her earnest face. The spikey red hair made her look like a rebellious teenager, especially since she wasn’t wearing any make-up. “Go home and sleep. Your eyes are the color of your hair.”

“Gee, Mike. Is that your way of saying I look like shit?”

“Yeah, it is. Go home. You can let someone else process everything tomorrow.”

“Are you going home?”

They both knew he wasn’t. But not for the reasons she thought. “I’ll get there . . . eventually.”

“Me too.” Then she nodded at Detective Wolfe and left.

“What’s our move, boss?” Daniel said, coming up next to him.

“Have the patrol sergeant start sending his guys home, as soon as a couple more swing shift officers arrive. I want this scene locked up tight in case this bastard comes back to visit.”

“You think he will?”

Mike looked around at the shadows lengthening between the buildings. Traffic horns intermittently blared on the freeway that curved away and to the south of their location. The air smelled like old diesel and rubber, due to the tire recycling plant a block away. It was a desolate place to die. Surrounded by more than a million people, and yet utterly alone in an abandoned warehouse-turned slaughter house. “No, I don’t. I think if he was inclined to visit one of his scenes, it wouldn’t be this one.”

“Because this one’s different?”

“This was about rage and hate. Nothing was staged about this scene. Nothing—beautiful—to him.”

Daniel’s face let Mike know he didn’t like the description, and he didn’t either. But this killer had taken so much time with the other two women, posing them in such a way, as well as tailor designing his own videos that he must consider himself a bit of an artist. To him, the carved-up women and the scenes he staged were his art.

What he considered the mess he’d left here, Mike didn’t know, but he hoped to God that Shelby didn’t get an email of this scene. She already had nightmares as it was, something he’d learned while they were away. “Let’s get out of here. You brought the case file with you?”

Daniel nodded. “I wanted to go over it with you in person.”

“Good. Follow me. I have a meeting to attend, and you might as well come along.”

The drive lasted longer than he was interested in, considering how tired he suddenly was, but the food and company were well worth it. From the truck, he’d called Shelby to make sure they’d made it home safely. The units stationed around her home for extra patrol had already reported in, but he’d wanted to hear her voice.

“I was hoping you’d make it here for dinner,” she said.

“I have some things to do before I can make it.”

“What happened? I can hear in your voice that something’s gone wrong.”

“I’ll tell you about it when I get there.”

“Okay, just be careful. I’ll be waiting up.”

“You should sleep, I can crash on one of the couches in the den.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it, Mike Hanson. You’re so goddamn stubborn.”

The steel in her voice made him smile. She was so feisty when she was riled. “Yes, ma’am.”