Our Sick Inheritance (editing)

Chapter 55 - Find Me Faster

"Lock your keys in the car?" A police officer said making Kyle jumped so quickly that his hand jerked painfully off his door handle. The officer laughed at Kyle's surprise then apologized. Kyle laughed and waved his hand as the officer got into his car across the lot. Feeling foolish but not faithless, he quickly rushed into the building before the cop could drive out of the garage to leave him alone with the shadows again. He gripped his files then speed-walked through the back hallways of people constantly coming from and disappearing into different doors. Everyone moving was in their rush and barely noticed him weaving through the hallway. Each hallway was warm but even more so when they were crammed with people. The building was always busy on a Monday because it's when people were getting processed to get out of jail that had been caught since Friday.

Finally, on the far side of the building, Kyle stepped into their private hallway that was almost always empty. Just before opening the door to a slightly louder peace and quiet of their inner offices, Kyle checked his phone. Jake had sent him a message saying he was just checking out and was heading towards the casino.

Kyle wrote back: "Wishing you luck."

"Me too. Ha, ha, ha. Thanks, Dad." Jake had responded in his return text. Kyle hated texting, but he was happy that the communication was simple.

Through the doors, Jose immediately greeted Kyle with a great bright Mexican smile and a hug. Jose didn't look as if he were getting ready to head back to California to work on Nikki's case. Just as he was about to say something Jose caught him off guard making him laugh.

"You're as white as a ghost." Jose said.

"I just went to Jolene's autopsy." Kyle laughed and held eye contact with Jose. Kyle saw it was his laugh that made Jose frown with worry. Before Jose could ask about it, and Kyle knew he wouldn't want to know, he refrained from scaring his friend.

"Are you just now heading out?" Kyle asked.

"No man. Looks like you get me for a week. My daughter in law was having labor pains last night so I stayed with my grandson while Miguel and Sonja got checked out at the hospital. Since my girls are still on school break, my wife is flying with them to help Sonja set up her house and take care of her for a week. It will be a nice break for Lillian since she gets our house to herself. The wife and girls should be here tonight. Miguel is picking them up because they live close to the airport if I can't do it."

"That is really great to hear. Instead of Miguel, how about if Alicia picks them up." Kyle asked knowing his wife would be only all too happy to since she had only seen Jose's wife twice since Jose moved the family down to California last year.

"That would be great, so Sonja won't be alone since Miguel could stay with her and their son."

Kyle made a quick call to Alicia and barely could get the information out over the squealing of Stacy. The girls were close. Alicia and Jose's wife were best friends. They had a lot to talk about and relief washed over both Jose and Kyle's faces when they made the calls necessary. It felt special to have the freedom to work without having to run home or to the airport.

"Done!" Jose said after talking to his wife. "Now I am available for anything. Right now, we have a research team working on the 'West Coast Runaways' connections. We have men set up undercover in rest stops along the coast to keep an eye out for murders heading back down along those stops and near the freeways."

Chief Williams had walked from his office with Karla and Freddy, the two computer analysts, and heard Jose's plans as he got closer.

"That's wonderful to hear, we could use your help. He reached into his pocket and handed Jose a set of car keys. You can use one of the undercover trucks while you're here. Use the department gas card in the glove box." Chief Williams said.

"Thank you, Sir." Jose responded and took the keys.

"Right now, I've got a few guys as truck drivers hanging out a few hours at a time from here down through Oregon." Chief said then turned to Kyle.

"You have been to see Jolene?"

"Yes," Kyle responded. "Well it has been confirmed, the blood in Jolene's eyes was her own and not linked to the other seven girls."

Everyone let out a disgruntled noise of some sort. Kyle understood their frustration but continued.

"The puncture wound in Jolene's neck is where she bled out fully into the towel as they recovered fibers. No hair, nails, cells or semen were found even though she was raped and tortured. She was also four months pregnant with two tiny twins and according to those who knew her, Jolene thought she was carrying only one baby." Kyle said.

"Triple homicide." Karla, the computer technician said in disgust. Everyone just nodded.

"So, Jolene isn't linked to the west coast runaways, which means we have a copycat killer, or he is trying to throw us off track. We need to find out why Jolene was so special and how the killer knew to put the same marks on her that the runaway girls have, as well as the blood in her eyes." Chief summed it up perfectly.

Freddy gave a copy of the information to Kyle and everyone else at the table. Chief Williams was telling what was happening in the public. After the television stations blasted the murders of Jolene and Nikki out, people were starting to panic, so Chief had been on the phone all day. Officials of the city weren't any different.

Kyle looked at the picture of Jolene on top of his folder and automatically at the picture he had of Stacy on his desk. Jose just happened to notice.

"Don't think about it."

It's hard not to. I couldn't live without her." Kyle automatically responded.

"If it were my daughter, I'd feel the same way, but we need to find out why Jolene isn't linked." Jose said capturing everyone's attention. "At the age of twenty-five, Jolene is older than the rest of the girls. None of the girls had an occupation other than getting paid for sex after running away from their homes. Whereas, Jolene had a great steady job plus was killed and left in her home. She was the only blond where all the other girls had dark dyed hair. Yet, they were all murdered in a similar fashion. Raped, beaten, and stabbed in the neck to drain out in a material, usually a towel, then dumped except for Jolene. With Jolene, we have a couple of suspects but with the other girls we don't."

"Maybe we are getting close and he is getting nervous, so he is slipping up." Chief suggested.

"Or he is angry about the media exposure and is letting us know he isn't restricting himself to a certain type anymore. Maybe labels aren't his thing." Jose added.

"Or maybe it is a new line of girls." Kyle said hoping most that this wasn't the case.

"I don't know. Jolene doesn't seem to be as beat up as the other girls except for her dislocated arm." The Chief said flipping through Kyle's report. "He seemed to care more, by placing a sheet to cover her and didn't contaminate her with another's blood. If it is a copycat, then how would he know about the exact original kill markings that weren't discussed publicly before? If this is a copycat, we need to find both men and immediately. We can't have two lines of murders splitting and covering more area. There is a strong coastal panic as it is besides of what is happening in the freeway rest areas."

"So would Jolene actually be number eight or number one?" Karen asked.

"Well Nikki was killed after Jolene but with the blood in her eyes of the girl before her, makes her number seven in the chain." Jose said. "If it is two different guys, Jolene could be number one, or number seven if it is the same guy. We know that Jolene and Nikki were killed within two days from each other, but Jolene was murdered first. They were killed the same way, yet different circumstances and neither were connected to the other."

"Now with Jolene's death here in Seattle, that makes it the highest the murders have reached. The first girl Meredith was found just half an hour from here at a rest stop just over two years ago. She was from California. So, I am wondering if he is going to stay along the dotted line. If this is a copycat killer, the line could move in any direction including the coastal path so that he isn't too close to original west coast runaway killer. We must keep all areas open until we know what direction he is heading. I'd like to catch him... or them... before that happens." Chief Williams said.

"It does look like we are looking for two killers." Kyle responded.