Carter's Cases Page 11

  “Yes.”

  “Well it makes sense that you would have fantasized you and I being together right?”

  “Yeah, I did. A lot!”

  “So, every time you saw Dan and I together, you felt like he stole me away from you. Right?”

  “Yeah!”

  “Then it makes sense that when you see Dan now, all those old feelings come back, and it makes you worry that he might take me away even though you and I both know that’s not going to happen. So, what you have to do is change the fantasy. Now you can think about how much better you feel, because you took me away from him.

  Karen’s attempt to reassure Jerry was interrupted by the chief clinking his glass with a spoon.

  “If I could have everyone’s attention please, I would like to propose a toast.”

  Everyone checked their glass to be sure they had enough to drink a toast to whomever or whatever the chief had in mind.

  “Here’s to the Dan Diego Police Department and specifically it’s detective squad. By closing the Atlas Killer case, we have achieved a new record for case closures, by this department, this month.

  We all know that cases get closed, not only by the lead detective, but by the entire team. That has been the reason for our success…teamwork!

  I also want to welcome back a valuable part of our team efforts, Dan Carter. He was seriously wounded during an investigation almost one year ago and he has been missed. He is back now and his contribution to our team efforts can resume.

  So, here’s to all of you. San Diego is a much safer city because of the work you do.”

  Everyone raised their glass and drank to that toast. The chief’s words made all the detectives proud to be a part of the team.

  Chapter 46

  After all the guests had enough to eat, and the host said goodnight to everyone except Annika, she looked at him and said, “Dan, I’m afraid I may have had more than the legal limit to drink tonight so maybe I shouldn’t drive home.”

  Dan smiled and said, “that’s alright, I can call you a cab.”

  “But it is so late, I thought maybe I could just stay here tonight, if that’s O.K.?”

  “Are you sure that would be proper? Benji has Sean staying over, so I don’t think he will be available for chaperone duty.

  “Oh, I hadn’t thought of that. But I won’t tell if you don’t.”

  “O.K., the bed in the guest room is made up so that won’t be a problem.

  “Alright! That is enough kidding. I am going up to ‘your’ bathroom to take a shower. When I get done, I will expect you to be under the covers of ‘your’ bed wearing nothing but the remains of your aftershave.”

  “Yes, Ma’am.”

  By the time Benji had helped Dan get undressed and into bed, the door to the bathroom opened. Dan had followed her instructions to the letter. As she appeared in the doorway, he gasped, and felt his breath stutter. He couldn’t believe his eyes. She was the most beautiful vision he had ever seen.

  While pulling back the covers and sliding into bed next to him she could see that his hardness had benefitted from some time off.

  Dan was amazed by the soft, smoothness of her skin, the smell of her hair, the wet, warmth between her legs and the way she tasted. All his senses became dramatically heightened during their love making.

  She could tell that he was an experienced lover by his tender touch and his soft kisses on her neck and shoulder. When she was above him, he held her hair away from her face, and caressed her cheek with his other hand. He looked directly into her eyes, and she thought her heart would burst. It was if he could see into her soul.

  After, they lay side by side holding hands and gradually getting their breathing and heart rate back to normal. Although she was soon very comfortable nestled in his arms, neither of them got much sleep that night. Without speaking, they were imagining what their future could bring now that they had “sealed” the beginning of a relationship. They both knew that this had not been a “one-night stand” and that their feelings for each other would grow.

  Chapter 47

  During the morning briefing, there was a general air of expectancy. Everyone agreed that tracking down their current target, the assassin, was going to require a lot of work. Dan was in attendance, again via video conference call.

  Frank was giving a briefing on the forensic report regarding the weapon used to take out the Atlas Killer.

  “The slug that passed through the victim’s head, was extracted from the car seat. It was from a standard, ‘run of the mill’ 30-06 bullet which can be purchased anywhere guns are sold. It is one of the most common weapons used by deer hunters. The 30-06 rifle has an accuracy range of 1,400 yards. Combine that with a shooter who knows what he is doing, and a sniper scope, and you have a deadly combination, lethal at long distances. This was the same weapon he used when we were trying to track him down before. Forensics have not yet had time to match this bullet with the ones from his previous killings.”

  Chief Gates then asked how the assassin knew that the team would be there to make an arrest. Everyone agreed that the information must have been leaked but no one had any idea how it got back to The Assassin.

  Frank said, “We didn’t even have a plan until that morning, so there wasn’t any time for word to get out.”

  “Nevertheless, word did get out. We better find this leak and plug it. Start thinking about anyone any of you might have called during that night before we made the arrest. Get back to me if you think of anything.

  Jerry, put your “high-tech, electronic, brain” to work collecting data on any murders for hire and/or sniper killings anywhere in the country during the last ten months.”

  He then looked at the video monitor and asked Dan to dig up any of his old records and notes from when they investigated “The Assassin” a year ago.

  Frank and Karen were tasked with going over the data from Jerry, Dan, and the recent San Diego murder, to look for any connections between victims or circumstances.

  As the meeting was breaking up, the detectives waved to the video camera and shouted, “Hey Dan, thanks for that great party last night.”

  Dan responded, “No problem guys, I just hope you enjoyed last night as much as I did.”

  Fortunately, his fellow detectives could not see Annika lightly punch his shoulder.

  Chapter 48

  William was talking to his informant on the phone. “Did everyone enjoy the party last night?”

  “Yeah, they all seemed to. I was hoping to get you some more intel, but the chief’s wife put all office talk off limits.”

  “That’s alright, don’t worry about it. I am in no rush. Just make sure you keep me up to date.”

  “You got it. I’ll be in touch as soon as I hear about anything going on.”

  William hung up without saying good-bye.

  He truly did not care if it took a while. Making Carter suffer was going to be just as sweet whether he started tomorrow or next week.

  “Now let’s see, who should I kill first? Should I start with someone closest to him or someone he doesn’t care so much about? They all act like one big happy family, but I know there’s a difference in how much he cares about each one. I just have to figure out the hierarchy.

  Benji is with him night and day so I know they gotta’ be tight. But then, the chief treats Carter better than he does the other dicks and they have been working together a long time.

  That Jerry is low on the list because Dan doesn’t work as closely with him as he does with Rawlings.

  Karen is up there with the chief because Carter used to have a thing with her. He knows her inside and out so to speak... Oh Jesus, I should have been a comedian.

  Then there’s that physical therapist. My man tells me that she and Carter are getting real cozy. He thinks they are going to get something going pretty soon.


  I just can’t make up my mind, but one of them is going to die soon.

  He wasn’t going to bother with as much planning and preparation, as he did with his contracts, when he took out these dumb cops. It always cracked him up when he thought about how superior he was to them. Cops across the U.S. have been trying to catch him for years. Carter was the only one who ever came close, and he was too stupid to know just how close.”

  Chapter 49

  While Jerry searched the local and national criminal activity databases looking for contract killings and murder by sniper cases, he was thinking of Karen. They’d had a good time at Dan’s party last night and he felt like their relationship was growing, but he couldn’t help those feelings of jealously that crept up now and then. He knew Dan and Karen had been really tight before Dan got shot and that she had really suffered when he refused to talk to her about it afterward. Jerry hated to think that she was dating him just to get even with Carter. He just wished he could be sure that, as far as Karen was concerned, Dan was out of the picture.

  Meanwhile, while Frank Rawlings was waiting for data to evaluate, he was thinking about what he’d had to do to be able to continue paying for his wife’s cancer treatment. There was a limit to what the meager health insurance from the police department had covered. The treatments were already over the limits of that policy. He didn’t like it, but he’d had to find another way to make money.

  Karen Kretzky was thinking about Jerry. She was wondering how long it would take him to give her a ring and make their relationship permanent. He seemed like he wanted to but didn’t have the balls to ask. She also wondered why she was drawn to the shy ones. Carter had taken forever just to take her to bed. Maybe she would have to make the first move with Jerry as she had with Dan.

  Karen was from the back streets of Chicago, where her father had been a cop. While she was growing up, she quickly learned that you had to fight for what you wanted. None of the guys she knew back there would have waited for a girl to make the first move. If they liked you, they were trying to get in your pants on the first date. She knew it was worth the wait when Jerry finally got there. It had been with Dan too, until he had broken her heart by not letting her in after he got shot.

  Dan was going over the notes he wrote during their first investigation into The Assassin. There were a lot of them as they tracked the murderer for over a year. The detectives were able to place him in the city where a sniper killing occurred, fourteen times during that period. They knew he used several aliases. Walter Stanton, Wilbur Short, Walker Stuyvesant, all with the initials W.S. It was shortly after Dan made that connection, that the assassin shot him.

  There were no witnesses to any of the shootings. By checking incoming flight manifests for the week preceding all the sniper attacks, and the week after, they were always able to come up with a passenger with those initials, who could not be accounted for, when they checked each name. They had never been able to connect the W.S. on the manifests with any car rental restaurants. It appeared that he had used a different name for those things while carrying out his contracts.

  Jerry’s computer was currently scanning the manifests of all incoming flights for the week prior to the first of the current murders in San Diego.

  Dan was not able to come up with anything new in his notes. He went over every detail twice. Forensics had determined that the same weapon had been used for every killing. He knew that The Assassin had wanted him crippled but alive. All of the other victims had been killed instantly with a clean head shot. He was the only one who was shot in the lower spine.

  Annika interrupted Dan’s analysis of his notes with two fingers of Jameson Irish whiskey.

  “I thought you might want to take a break. You’ve been at that, ever since this morning’s briefing. After you unwind a little, I’ll give you your massage.”

  Chapter 50

  It was time to set his plan in motion. His target had been set up and should be in position within a half hour. Although he did not need to do much planning, he still had to pack his rifle and scope and get to his ‘stand’ to wait for her. He felt a glowing sensation in his belly that he didn’t feel when he was getting ready to carry out a contract. That was business. This was pleasure.

  He remembered having that same feeling when he was younger and was able to con his classmates into doing whatever he wanted by lying. He had even talked the biggest prude in the school into giving him a blow job by convincing her he was dying, and “had to experience it,” before he died. Of course, everyone in the school knew about it the next day.

  Lying had always come easy to him. In fact, he lied even when there was nothing to gain. He called it practicing, but actually it was just fun when he convinced others to believe even the most ridiculous lies.

  As usual, before a kill, he was completely calm and relaxed. The excitement would come after. He looked over the lip of the rooftop and could see her coming. She’d had to park two blocks away but was still right on time. Not that it mattered. He was patient and would wait as long as he needed to get the perfect shot.

  As she came closer to the spot where he would end her life, he took just a second to relish just how much pain Carter would feel when he found out that she was dead. As she entered the kill zone, he took in a deep breath… let it all out… and gently squeezed the trigger.

  His target fell backwards against a building, and slid to the sidewalk, blood immediately staining the blouse over her left shoulder.

  “God damn it!” he muttered and quickly pumped another shell into the chamber. He took careful aim and fired again, this time hitting her in the center of the forehead.

  He quickly disassembled the rifle, put it in its case, and left the rooftop, frowning. On the way back to his car, he was cursing himself. This was the first time he had ever had to take a second shot since he started his business. He would have to revise his plans now. He couldn’t afford to make any more mistakes. He would finish Carter and take another job just to get out of this town.

  Chapter 51

  When Benji brought his breakfast in the morning, Dan asked him where Annika was.

  “I don’t know boss. She was up early, got a phone call and went out.”

  “God damn it Benji! I told her that I didn’t want her leaving the house without you.”

  “You should have told me too. I would never have let her leave alone if I knew that’s what you wanted.”

  Dan grabbed his phone from the bedside table and quickly dialed Annika’s cell phone number.

  “You have reached the phone of Annika Eld. Please leave your name and number and I will return your call as soon as I am able.”

  He got the same message when he called her home phone.

  “Shit, both lines go straight to voice mail. Did she say anything about where she was going?”

  “No, I’m sorry, she just said ‘goodbye, I’ll be back in a bit’ and went out.”

  “How long ago?”

  “Uh, let’s see…about two hours ago.”

  “Christ, she’s been gone for two hours and you didn’t think to call me?”

  “Sorry Dan, Sean and I were talking on the phone, and I didn’t notice the time.”

  “What was she wearing? Did she have her swim suit on for the beach?”

  “No, she had on that beige skirt and lavender blouse that you like.”

  After Dan called Chief Gates, who hadn’t heard anything, he told Benji to help him get dressed and bring the van around to the front entrance.

  They drove straight to Annika’s house. Her car wasn’t in the driveway. Neither of them had a key so Dan had Benji break a side window to get in. After a check of every room, Benji returned and told him that the house was clear. No sign of Annika and no sign of any disturbance.

  “Jesus!” said Dan. “Where could she have gone? If that son of a bitch has hurt her in any way, I will kill him wit
h my bare hands after I remove all of his fingernails and teeth with a pliers.”

  “Relax boss, I know you are worried, but we will find her, and she’s gonna’ be alright.”

  “Did she say anything at all about where she was going as she left the house?”

  “No, just that she would be back in a bit.”

  Just then the phone in the van rang.

  “This is Carter.”

  “Dan, this is Michael Gates. I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

  Dan dropped the phone, covered his ears and said, “No! No! No!”

  Benji picked up the phone and said, “Hello, who is this?”

  “Benji this is Chief Gates. Tell Dan that we don’t know anything about Annika yet, but Karen Kretzke has been shot… she’s dead.”

  When Dan found out that the call was about Karen, not Annika, he was torn between relief and grief. He still didn’t know where the one he was most worried about was, but he had lost an ex-lover and close friend. The resulting clash of emotions left him feeling sick and confused. He was nauseous, and had a horrible feeling, as if some part of him had left his body.

  “Benji, get me home!”

  As the van pulled into his driveway, Dan could see her car parked there. His grief for Karen was temporarily replaced by a total flood of relief. He yelled to Benji to get the rear door open, so he could get into the house. As he sped up the ramp to his front door, Annika opened the door to greet him. Her smile turned to a look of concern when she saw his face.

  As soon as he was close enough, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to him in a hug that took her breath away.

  “Annika, Annika,” he sobbed.

  “Dan, what is it?”

  When it finally sunk in that she was safe, he pushed her away and growled, “where have you been?”

  “Sean called and told me about a sale at Nordstrom’s, so I went shopping. Why, what’s the matter. What has happened?”