Chapter  7

It was late afternoon and the sun was just sliding below the buildings on South Presa Street as Norman made his third loop looking for her. He finally spotted her standing with two other girls.

There you are!

He slowed to a stop by the curb and rolled down the window. One of the girls walked towards him. She was short and blonde, with red lipstick that needed refreshed. She smiled.

“Need something, mister?”

“Not from you.”

“What’s the matter, don’t like blondes?”

“Something like that. Ask your friend over there to come talk to me.”

The blonde looked over her shoulder.

“Which one?”

Norman continued to stare ahead.

“The tall, dark haired one.”

The blonde turned and walked back to her girlfriends. Norman saw the dark haired one look towards the truck, step on her cigarette, and walk over to him.

“Hi, sweetie. Can I do somethin’ for you?”

“Possibly. Want to go for a ride?”

“You got money?”

Norman reached into his pocket and pulled out a hundred dollar bill. She smiled.

“Okay. Let’s go for a ride.”

She got in the truck and waved to her girlfriends. Norman put the truck in gear and drove away.

****

Rob was doing some tuning on Vanessa’s car, so Tuesday morning Jason picked her up. When they got to the station, they found the Medical Examiner’s report on the golf course and dog search victims.

Jason scanned it with Vanessa looking over his shoulder. He stated the obvious.

“Except for the time of death, they are near duplicates.”

“Yeah. We have a serial killer who knows exactly what he wants.”

“They got a DNA swab off the golf course girl but the dog search had too much deterioration Like the others, it was negative.”

Lieutenant Patton leaned out of his office.

“Can I have a minute?”

He didn’t wait for an answer but went and sat back down. Jason and Vanessa went into the office, Vanessa closing the door behind them.

John Patton scrunched his eyebrows together, forming the familiar hedge across his forehead. It happened whenever he was forced to deal with something he didn’t like.

“What have we got on this wineglass nut job?”

Jason had brought the case file with him. He opened it.

“We have four confirmed victims. All killed in the same fashion, three killed in and around Canyon State Park. The fourth victim, who is actually the first known case, was killed in a similar location, outside of Austin.”

The lieutenant held up his hand for Jason to stop.

“Let’s back up and start with the first victim. We need to whiteboard this and make sure we are all on the same page.”

He dipped his head towards Jason.

“Your friend, Devin James, called asking questions. He wants a briefing and local TV has also requested information. The Chief wants a news conference this afternoon and he wants it to go smoothly. I’ll lead but both of you are going to be there.”

Vanessa groaned and rolled her eyes. “Great!”

She got up and went over to the large, white, dry erase board on the wall. Picking up a marker, she wrote the name of each of the victims across the top of the board. As Jason began to read out details from the file, she filled them in under each name. The heights varied from 5’7” to 5’9’. Each girl weighed within two pounds of 130. Their ages spanned 19 to 24 and all had mid-length, black hair. Jason continued to read and Vanessa write.

“Cause of death in all four was ‘gunshot to heart’. No rape and no DNA retrieved from three of four victims.”

The phone rang and the lieutenant picked it up.

“This is Patton.”

He listened, looking at Jason.

“Yeah, JD’s here.”

John Patton started nodding and finally hung up.

“That was Davis. He said his guess of three months, on time of death for Vicky Costa, is pretty close. Alright Vanessa, continue.”

Jason watched as she drew a long broken line below the columns.

FEB/Walker--MAY/Costa--JULY/Samples..AUG/Burns

She turned and looked at the lieutenant.

“This is the approximate timeline of death for each victim relative to each other. It’s clear that either the spaces between known victims are yet to be filled in with new names or else our guy is getting more active.”

“What’s your hunch?”

Vanessa came back over to the desk and sat down.

“My gut tells me that he is stepping up. Other than victim one, all have been found in the same area. The search dogs didn’t find others and I doubt he has two dumping grounds.”

“Okay. Jason, it’s pretty clear what his victim profile is. Any ideas why he’s chosen this particular look?”

“I think the first victim has to be the key. I think she might be the trigger.”

“Okay, I’ll bite. Why?”

“She’s the oldest case we know of and she wasn’t here in town. Until we get something that leads us in another direction, I think we should focus on people and places relative to her.”

John Patton looked at the board, then at Vanessa.

“You agree?”

“Yeah, makes sense. She went to high school here, so he may have followed her, killed her and then returned to San Antonio.”

“Okay. I’ll call the press conference for 2:00. Meet me back here at 1:45”

“Yes, Sir.”

Chapter  8

The Press conference was held outside the front doors of the police station. Lieutenant Patton stepped to the podium at precisely 2 PM. Behind him stood the Mayor, Chief of police,

 Doctor Davis, and the two detectives.

The lieutenant looked out over a ring of microphones towards three cameras, and ten or so reporters. He began with a statement.

“The City of San Antonio, in conjunction with the City of Austin, is conducting an investigation into the death of four young women. All four appeared to have been killed by the same individual.

We are following several leads and are asking for the help of the public. If you see anything suspicious, please call. We believe each of these women were snatched from a public place.

No effort is being spared in the search for this man. We ask for the public’s vigilance and cooperation in our investigation.”

He looked up from his notes and scanned the crowd.

“Questions?”

Devin James stood up, rather than raise his hand, and spoke over the other reporters.

“What information do you have on the victims?”

“They are between the age of 19 to 24, with black hair, and ranging from 5’7” to 5’9” tall.”

“That’s a pretty specific description. Do you know why he’s targeting these women?”

“We have a theory but I won’t discuss it.”

Devin James was not ready to yield the floor.

“Why is Austin involved?”

“The first victim that we know of was found in Austin.”

“That you know of?”

“Yes. We’re not ruling out the possibility of a victim or victims that we are not aware of.”

“How were the woman killed?”

“Gunshot to the heart.”

Another hand came up and the lieutenant took the opportunity to get away from James. He answered it and several other questions before passing the podium off the Mayor.

****

Norman sat in his plaid recliner watching the news conference. He was drinking an orange crush soda. It was his favorite on these special days. The girl was tied in the bedroom, all her clothes removed. The news conference had pre-empted his afternoon watching of “Mayberry RFD” but he had seen something that stopped him in his tracks. He had immediately sat down to watch.