House Call
Kevin spent most of his day on the phone back and forth to the lab, trying to get them to move a little faster with their analysis of the objects he found under that plate in the perp’s house. They were able to make a positive ID on at least three of those items and when he actually talked to those parents they were able to say with certainty that some of those things belonged to their kids.
All of them said the same thing however which left a bad taste in the detective’s mouth and that was that those items were not with the children when they disappeared. The mother of the second victim, the one who belonged to the baby doll’s head which was found, remembered specifically throwing that doll across the room in frustration on the second day of her daughter’s disappearance. She had broken that head herself. It flew off when it hit the wall which made the mother go into such a frenzy that she had to be subdued for the rest of that night.
The mother of the fourth victim said that some of those hair ties belonged to her daughter, but just like victim number two, the girl had not left home wearing them. Kevin felt a chill go up his spine, knowing that after this guy took the children, he would go into their houses and retrieve things as souvenirs. Or maybe to make the girls feel better? What if they weren’t killed right away? What if after kidnapping them, the monster kept them alive and hidden for a few days, naturally they’d be so upset they’d be crying, more likely carrying on. So maybe he went into those houses and got things to make them feel better. Stop the crying and at the same time make them think that maybe they’d eventually make their way home.
The other girl who he managed to get a positive ID for was the latest victim Mandy. It turned out that the small toys that were found were hers. It was Jeff who told Kevin that when he called. Both of his parents were on sedatives and sleeping. The kid sounded like he was about 20 years old. Forever transformed into an adult.
Once again, he remembered how it felt when the same thing happened to him. St. John’s Wart, an herbal version of Prozac is what his mother was put on. She slept for hours on end after her husband died. Like life no longer held any meaning. That day even though he was already considered an adult, he became a full fledged man. Taking on all the responsibilities that his father had, just like that.
He was almost certain that Jeff was going to undergo the same transformation, now that his sister was dead. No longer was he going to be able to act like a carefree child. No, not only did Scott Wilson take away his sister, but he also took away Jeff’s childhood.
Kevin sighed and looked away from his computer screen for a second. Why was he letting this case get to him so badly? It’s not like this was the first serial killer case he worked on or anything. He had seen things even more gruesome than this, but for some reason this one hurt. Probably because they were just children, babies with their whole lives ahead of them.
“I missed one.” He said out loud rubbing at his temples as he tried to figure out what the guy had meant.
“What did I miss?”
Once again he picked up the phone and called down to the lab, he knew that once they answered they would most likely roll their eyes and mouth this guy again? He didn’t care; he had to get to the bottom of this.
“Trey.”
“Hi Trey it’s Kevin again.”
“Oh hi Kevin.”
“Anything yet?”
“Actually yes, we were able to link victim number one to the little bear that you found.”
“Excellent.”
“Yes, another thing…there was no match to the pair of earrings you found. It doesn’t match up with any of the girls.”
“None?”
“No.”
“Okay thanks Trey.”
“Sure.”
“What about those figurines?”
“Haven’t gotten to them yet.”
“Okay.”
“We’re kind of bogged down right now.”
“I understand thanks again.” Kevin hung up and once again picked up the picture of Scott Wilson. Those eyes made Kevin wince and for the first time, he allowed himself to think about this guy calling his house.
That’s when Howie walked in; he looked exhausted, one of the side effects of working for the FBI.
“Hey D, any leads or anything?”
“Not sure, I lifted a bunch of fingerprints from three local payphones, so if they match we’ll get an idea where he called from. Also I confiscated some video security film from outside where one of those phones was.”
“Well, it’s a start.”
“Kev, have you thought about not staying at your place?”
Even though he did, he didn’t want to admit that, so he just shrugged it off.
“Howie, it’s no big deal. I mean I’m not going to run away scared from this guy.”
“He’s a cold blooded killer Kevin. I’d feel much better if you stayed somewhere else. I mean you can stay with me if you want.”
“No really, it’s okay.”
Howie nodded, knowing he was going to lose this battle. Kevin Richardson was the most stubborn person he knew. Sometimes it was comical to picture the two as best friends. They were so polar opposite.
“All of the parents collected those Precious Moments Figurines.”
“They did?” Kevin nodded. That was something else enlightening he found out today as he talked to each family. They thought it was an odd question but when the answer was yes, it was followed by a “and one is missing.”
“So he was in their houses?”
“Yes, he also took those things after the kids were taken. He managed to get into those places which means he was staking them out way beforehand.”
“This means he knows how to get into and out of a place unnoticed which is another reason why you should consider staying somewhere else.”
“Howie…”
“I know, but Kevin…think about it.”
Kevin wasn’t thinking about it at the moment though, his thought went to something else. He turned towards his friend and jumped out of his chair, startling Howie to almost fall down.
“What if the thing we missed is a person still alive in his house?”
“What?”
“Trey said the earrings didn’t match any of our victims…what if it’s because there’s another one we missed?”
“We searched that place up and down Kevin; if there was someone in there we would have found her.”
“It’s worth a try.”
Howie nodded as they both headed out the door.
They got to the Devil’s lair about twenty minutes later with a full team to help comb through it, for the third time. Kevin knew the chances of finding someone alive in there were slim but he had to try. They moved into the house and split up, three people took the main floor, two the second floor, three the attic and two the basement.
Kevin decided to go back to the basement, the place where they found Mandy. He walked slowly down the stairs where the smell of blood still lingered in the air. Compared to the others, Mandy’s death was the most gruesome. He seemed to kill her in a rage. Not caring how much blood there was all over the place.
He stepped over to the water heater where her blood still stained the wall and floor. It was painful to look at, even dried; to someone else it would have almost passed for paint. He wished he could be so naïve to think that way. He walked towards the wall in hopes that he might find a hidden hole or maybe a fake panel in the floor or wall, but unfortunately everything was as is.
There was no place a child could hide. Not one that was alive anyway. Suddenly all hope was lost for Kevin as he climbed back up the stairs. “I think we’re looking in the wrong place.” He said to Howie as they met in the living room.
“Why?”
“Because besides Mandy, none of the others were found here. If there is another victim, she is somewhere else.”
“I found something!” One of the agents yelled from the attic which sparked Kevin and Howie to go bounding up the steps. Once there, they stopped short to see the agent holding a manila envelop which said Detective Richardson ONLY!
“How the hell did that get in here?”
“That means he was here after we closed the place.”
“Maybe he was hiding in here the entire time...” Were all things being echoed in the room around Kevin but all he could concentrate on was that damn envelope with HIS name on it.
“Search this entire place for new fingerprints, anything you can get your hands on!” He said walking away from the agents and tearing open the envelope. Howie followed right on his heels while everyone else moved away.
“I don’t like that he addressed that to you.”
“Yeah, I’m not too pleased either Howie.”
Kevin looked down and pulled the evidence out of the envelope. Looking at it horrified before once again setting things in motion, “Okay people he has another victim! We need to find this guy before he kills this child!”
Howie gave his friend a questioning glance, so in return he placed the picture in his hand. It was a little girl who was holding a stuffed turtle, wearing a similar pair of earrings that they had found under the fireplace.
The date in the bottom corner of the picture read today which meant she was still alive. He was toying with them. Giving them some live bait. Maybe he was growing bored with them not finding him. Maybe that’s what he wanted. To be found.
“Someone needs to run this to the office and see if we can get a name on this child. We need to talk to her parents and find out all we can.”
“Kevin for someone who was kidnapped, she doesn’t look the least bit scared does she?” Howie said handing the picture back over to Kevin for examination. The little girl, around 11 years old, was smiling from ear to ear, hugging the toy, not a trace of sadness in her eyes.
“He knows her, that’s probably how he gets in and out of people’s houses unnoticed. He probably gets invited in.”
“But the parents all say they have never seen that guy before.”
Kevin looked up at Howie, “I’m not talking about the parents.”
“So you think maybe the kid invites him in and he takes things while he’s there? But the families said that a lot of that stuff is gone AFTER the kids disappear.”
“I know…that’s the part I’m trying to make sense out of, but all I know is we have to find this guy. Let’s head back to the office and see how the search for the parents is going.”
By the time they got back to headquarters, the girl had a name to go with the face, Sheila Tamry, eleven years old, just like Kevin had predicted and missing for three days. The parents were already at the station to be questioned. Kevin was hoping that they would be able to make a positive idea on their suspect. He looked over at the clock, time was running out.
“Kevin…Scott Wilson’s fingerprints are nowhere to be found on any of those figurine fragments.” Trey said walking into Kevin’s office startling him from his thoughts.
“What?”
“None…they don’t match his. Although all of the victims had their prints all over them.”
Kevin grabbed the report and looked at it, shaking his head in disappointment and disgust.
“Okay...thanks Trey.”
“No problem,” He said walking out the door for the weekend.
The parents of Sheila Tamry walked out of the office where they were being questioned by a few agents. Kevin stood to meet them, thankful for once that this wasn’t a morgue visit.
“We will do all we can to find your daughter, I promise.” The woman who looked as if she hadn’t slept in days nodded and tried her best to smile.
“At least she looks happy.”
“Yes, did you recognize that picture?” Both parents shook their heads.
“Has anything of Sheila’s gone missing since she’s been gone? A favorite toy or anything like that?”
“Just that turtle…she loved that turtle.”
“So she had it with her the last time you saw her?”
“No, she was at gymnastics the last time I saw her…I only left for a minute. I went to go get us some bread for dinner…only a minute.” She started to cry and was pulled close by her husband.
“We’ll find her Mrs. Tamry…” Howie reassured as he handed her a tissue.
“Thanks.” She said once again smiling.
Once they left, Kevin was just about to run down to see if anything came up of the video footage when another envelope showed up. It looked identical to the first and said for Detective Richardson ONLY, on it.
Kevin held it in his hands unbelieving that the guy would send it to the FBI. “Call down to the main entrance and have them send up footage for anyone coming and going in the building, send them a scan of Wilson’s picture,” He barked as he tore open the envelope, not sure what he would find.
There was Sheila Tamry, smile gone from her face as she lay in a pool of her own blood. Her eyes still open and glazed over, a scarf around her neck, where she had been strangled.
“Son of a bitch.” He whispered, barely able to contain the anger or sadness in his voice. “That son of a bitch.” He repeated once again.
The time on the corner of the camera was ten minutes after the first picture had been taken. Howie realizing it was bad news walked slowly over to Kevin and grabbed the picture from his friend, who now placed his hands on his face and shook his head in disbelief.
“What kind of game is he playing?”
“I don’t know…maybe he wanted us to bring the parents in and get their hopes up.” Kevin said monotone and ready to quit the force altogether.
“Maybe.” Howie echoed sounding just as distraught.
About three hours later, long after his shift ended, Kevin made his way back to his apartment. It was a Friday night, the weekend here to do with what he pleased, but what was there to do? ‘Just think about some dead kids and how he failed to help them,’ He thought to himself as he picked up the lamp sitting on the table by the front door and flung it across the room.
“Damn it!!” He screamed knocking over a chair and throwing some magazines that were lying around. He went to punch the wall and stopped himself, instead choosing to slide down it with his hands on his head and began to sob.
When he calmed himself down enough to breath normally, he picked up the phone and called the one person who could make him feel better.
She answered on the third ring, he was glad he didn’t hang up.
“Mom?”
“Honey? What’s wrong?” He felt bad for making her alarmed.
“Nothing…I just had a really rough day.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. You weren’t hurt were you?”
“No, nothing like that.” He held the phone tight to his ear, instantly calming himself down.
“Okay good…so what happened?”
“I can’t really go into detail mom; just it was a bad day,” He sighed.
“Well you know honey if there’s anything I can do to make it better.” He heard the voice of Brian and another boy walk past as his mother shushed them.
“What’s going on over there?”
“Brian decided to invite some kids over to watch a movie. How nice of him to consult me first.” Kevin smiled and wiped a tear away.
“They better not eat me out of house and home either!” She shouted into the living room. He heard Brian yell, “Relax mommy we ordered a pizza!”
“You are eating pizza at this hour of night? Oh Kevin you need to rescue me from this madness.”
“Actually mom, I was wondering if I could maybe stay with you guys for a few days?” He looked around his house to find a good excuse, “The landlord wants to fumigate the apartments.”
“Goodness, do you have bugs?”
“No, but I guess it’s a just in case thing.” He felt bad for lying but the truth would have been much worse.
“You are always welcome and I can tell you there is a certain little blonde who will be thrilled. He misses you so much Kevin. He misses you and worries about you.”
Kevin’s heart filled with love at the thought of Nicky.
“I’m actually going to pack a bag and come over tonight, is that all right?”
“Sure honey, I’m excited. Maybe we can play cards.”
“Sounds good mom.”
“I love you baby.”
“I love you too. See you soon.”
He hung up the phone already feeling better. He needed to get away from the sadness, out of this place where the killer contacted him and home for a few days. He packed his bag and headed out the door, not noticing that his answering machine light was blinking.
Thanks for the comments on this one so far. I appreciate it! I'll be back on Wednesday with another update on this story!
