Chapter 48

Darrell woke to a phone call. Schrödinger growled at the disturbance as Darrell rolled to catch the call.

“What?”

“There’s been a development.”

“Where?” Darrell continued to snarl into the phone.

“Meet me at the shop.”

“Okay”

Darrell hung up the phone, sat up, rubbed his eyes, scratched the top of his cat’s head then got out of bed and got dressed. On his way to the office, Darrell stopped at his local coffee shop and got his usual. He got into his car, and then decided on two more coffees. One for his new ‘partner’ and another for himself. When he reached police plaza, he was a coffee down and he was a little less crabby and more or less ready for the long day that he was sure he was about to have.

When Darrell saw Liam, he thrust a cup of coffee at him and asked,

“So what’s the development?”

“We’ve had 6 more go missing.”

“Shit! How long?”

“At least 30 hours.”

“How do we know that these girls are missing?”

Liam pointed down to the conference room.

“All 6 girls have family or friends in there. And he left this at each abduction.” Liam handed the plastic bagged paper to Darrell.

“TSK, TSK, TSK

ONE LITTLE GIRL

GOES AWAY

ALL BECAUSE YOU ARE

SLOW AND CAN NOT

PUT THE PUZZLE I HANDED

YOU TOGETHER

ALL THESE TEARS…

TSK

DETECTIVE DARRELL DARKER.”

Darrell looked up at Liam, rage filled his eyes and his muscles, his hands started to make fists and at the moment Liam took back the bag.

“Great! Now he’s taunting me. This is getting out of hand. How do we end this?” Darrell was desperately searching Liam’s eyes.

“We start at the beginning and work fast. This guy has a timetable and we aren’t even slowing him down. We have to find these puzzle pieces he’s handed us.”

Darrell listened intently to his partners words. Then suddenly a thought crossed his mind. He grabbed Liam’s arm and dragged him to the IPK room. He stopped in front of the Gayle Adams/Bethany Cross spot on the white board.

“This is the key!” Darrell was adamant. “She is the piece we need to fit into all of this. Start with the phone calls to her cell and office phones. There’s got to be something there. I’m going to go through all of this.” Darrell pointed to the eight bankers boxes of papers that came from Gayle’s house.

Liam called his analyst to get the phone calls that Darrell had asked for.

Darrell grabbed the top box and started to sift through the files on Detective Gayle Adams and Bethany Cross.

Darrell flipped through countless files and at the bottom of the second box he came across a small spiraled notebook that looked well used. He placed the notebook in front of him and waded through the next box. Again at the bottom he found a second notebook. Darrell placed this one on top of the first then dug through the remaining boxes. After all the boxes had been rummaged through he ended up with three spiral notebooks. Darrell cleared the desk of all but the notebooks and post-it notes. He shifted and then slowly exhaled. He set his mind to accept whatever it was he was about to read. He carefully opened the first book on the pile and the first date he saw was June 17, 1986. Darrell opened the next book and saw that the first date was December 9, 1988. Then he grabbed the third and final book and opened it, the first date was September 7, 2004.

Darrell started on the earliest chronological book. As he opened it to the first page he found his eyes and fingers wandering and searching the page for key words. Darrell stopped himself and re-started at the top of the page.

“June 17, 1986

I’m out of here! I told her and all she did was call me a jealous whore! Like it’s my fault she married a pervert! Like it’s my fault he doesn’t find her attractive when she’s drunk. All I did was live here! She should have believed me! I’m leaving tomorrow morning.

June 22, 1986

I left her and am living in a shelter. I’m gonna finish high school and go to college to be a cop. I’m gonna put their asses in jail! I’m moving to the city so I can’t be found easily. “Sometimes, revenge is a choice you need to make.” I like that. Kinda my life right now!

December 5, 1986

I’m in the city. I’m at a foster home, the lady seems OK, and I’m pretty much left to myself. I’m doing good in school. I go by Gayle Adams now. My social worker helped me change my name so I will never be Bethany Cross again.

Darrell flipped through the pages and placed post-its on what he considered important passages. He was transfixed on these short yet poignant statements. He now understood what drove Gayle to become so focused on her career, why she never spoke of family or friends or her past outside the force.

He grabbed the second book and flipped through it with the same intensity as the first. He started to notice patterns. The next statement that caught Darrell’s eyes was the one dated May 17, 1997:

I did it! I got my revenge! I can’t help but think though, that my reputation isn’t spotless anymore. The bitch actually was surprised when I showed up. Oh well, I got him with a shot in the head and I beat that bitch of a mother with the pistol then plunged his hunting knife into her chest. I left the place like a typical DV scene. I doubt it will get any attention other than local coverage.”

Darrell sat in disbelief. There was the piece he was missing. She was a killer. Not only a revenge killer but a trained killer with no conscience. As he went through the books he saw that Gayle was practiced at getting information. She had no problem putting a gun to a perp’s head and threatening to pull the trigger. Darrell was astounded. He continued to read. In the third and final book he saw what Gayle truly was: a murderess, plain and simple.

Darrell read:

November 15, 2006

‘W’ and I killed tonight. It was glorious. We are so meant to do this. I wasn’t sure when we met at Leo “the nose” Sarcazi’s autopsy, but now I know; we are kindred spirits.

Darrell read on, page by page not wanting to miss anything. The last entry in the third book was written a week before Gayle was found dead.

June 14, 2012

I am sure that my new partner will eventually figure out that I am involved, if he doesn’t suspect already. ‘W’ is working behind the scenes and I am curious as to how long he will see me as a “partner” and not a liability. We have committed at least a dozen murders between us and that number will be at least 100 IF we aren’t stopped before ‘W’ finds a new list. Leave it to me to be holding all the matches when the fire trucks show up!”

Darrell stopped and re-read the passage. He was stunned, not only to find out that he was on the right track but she knew he was on to her. Darrell stood and then sat back down. All the pieces were laid out in front of him. All he needed to do was find out who was at the mobster’s autopsy and work his way through that list. Darrell stood up, placed the books into a large evidence bag and went to find Liam.