Deadly Relations (18 page)

Doc Meade arrived with two assistants. He immediately had the assistants roll Tiffany over on her side. “Damn it,” he mumbled. “That sick son of a bitch has done it again. Look at these lacerations. He tortured this poor girl, just like he did Catherine Thomas.”

<><><>

Jennifer and Blake returned to the command post to talk to Lane. He was standing next to the sheriff, deep in a conversation Jennifer could not hear. Her father’s fisted hands told her how angry he was.

“
We still have two missing searchers,” Lane said as they approached. “Have no clue which trail they took so the deputies are hiking each one until they find them.”

Tim cut in, “What’s your take on the crime scene?”

Blake began with an accounting of Tiffany’s injuries, “It appears she was tortured and killed in the same manner as Catherine Thomas. There are deep ligature marks around her neck and lacerations across her buttocks and thighs. She was probably tortured before he killed her and dumped her here.”

Repulsed, Tim shook his head. “I want to review the map of Deer Run State Park to see where the service road is in respect to where we found Catherine’s body. If that’s how he abducted Tiffany and got her out of the park, I don’t doubt he’s done it before.”

“
I’ll bet my next paycheck it’s close, and that there is an ATV and cart involved. Although, how could we prove it? The roads that day were as wet and muddy as they are today,” offered Lane.

Jennifer said, “Once again, this is not the primary crime scene. He did not kill Tiffany or Catherine in the parks. Where is he taking them? He has to have a house or cabin in this general vicinity between both parks.”

Lane reached for his cell phone, “I think it’s time our deputies did a house-to-house to ask questions and report anything or anyone that looks suspicious.”

<><><>

Tiffany’s autopsy the next day bore no new revelations. The cause of death was strangulation with a ligature, most likely a leather belt. Her hyoid bone was broken and there was residue of duct tape on her mouth, wrists and ankles where she had been restrained. Her body had been scrubbed with bath soap and household bleach. Like Catherine, Tiffany had been raped, and the killer had used a condom to prevent DNA analysis of his semen.

Later, as Jennifer prepared interview questions for Evan Hendricks, she got a text from Blake for her to meet him in the break room. When she entered the room, both Lane and Blake were looking at the television. On the screen was Evan Hendricks being interviewed by Grace Cohn of CSN, Crime Story Network.

“
Just what we need,” Jennifer said with a sigh. Grace Cohn was a nationally known crime commenter and television host known for her outbursts and often vicious treatment of guests on her program. She often bashed efforts made by law enforcement to solve crimes.

“
Mr. Hendricks, please tell us who you are in relation to the murdered girl, Tiffany Chase?” Grace Cohn asked Evan, who appeared to be sitting in his desk chair at his small office in the church.

“
Ms. Cohn, Tiffany and I were engaged,” Evan began, wiping at his eyes with a tissue.

“
Tears? Are you kidding me?” asked Blake as Jennifer rolled her eyes.

“
Just yesterday,” Evan stated. “
I
organized a search to find her.”

“
Yeah, Evan, let’s talk about the search from hell. I’ve got a couple of things to add to that discussion,” said Lane.

Grace Cohn let Evan get out a couple more sentences before she interrupted him. “What I want to know, Evan, is why you organized a search.”

“
The local law enforcement did not appear to be giving Tiffany’s disappearance the focus it needed. She should have been found before she was murdered.”

“
That son of a bitch!” exclaimed Tim as he entered the room and stood next to Jennifer.

“
Let’s talk about you, Evan,” Grace Cohn began. “My producer tells me Tiffany had gone camping with another man the night she disappeared. If you were engaged to her, that must have made you pretty angry.”

Evan looked at someone adjacent to the camera with confusion, then back at the camera, “I didn’t find out until much later that Tiffany was camping with someone else.”

Cohn smirked and said, “Well, I know if I found out my fiancé was with someone else, I’d be hopping mad.”

Evan’s face visibly reddened and a muscle twitched at his jaw. “I told you I didn’t know about it until after she disappeared.”

Cohn didn’t skip a beat. “By the way, where were you the night Tiffany Chase disappeared? Maybe you can answer that question after the commercial break.”

The camera shot back to Grace Cohn. “For our viewing audience,” Cohn began. “We were unable to get anyone from the county sheriff’s office to respond to our calls. If the law enforcement agencies that are assigned the Tiffany Chase murder would please call in, we would like to hear their explanations about this investigation. Our telephone number is listed at the bottom of your screen.”

“
When hell freezes over,” said Tim as he left for his office.

A commercial soon appeared and Lane turned to Jennifer and Blake, “Are you two ready to interview this prick?”

“
We’re headed to his house now.”

<><><>

Wordlessly, Fred and Julie Thomas focused on Grace Cohn’s interview with Evan Hendricks until the commercial break.

“
Why does that guy look so familiar?” asked Fred.

“
Honey, Catherine dated Evan before she met Nicholas. Don’t you remember him coming to the house to talk to her? He was very upset that she broke up with him. He thought they were getting married.”

Fred froze. Evan Hendricks was engaged to Tiffany Chase who was abducted and murdered much like his Catherine. Until Julie had brought it up, he had not remembered Evan dating Catherine, it was so long ago. But one thing that was clear was that Evan had had a relationship with both murder victims. This was way too coincidental. How likely was it? In Fred’s mind, it was only too clear now that Evan murdered both young women. He’d made a promise to Catherine and he intended to keep it.

“
Julie, I just remembered that I’m out of my heart medicine,” Fred said as calmly as he could. “Would you please run to the drug store and get the prescription refilled?”

“
Sure, honey. Let me put on some lipstick and get my purse.”

He waited for her by the door that led to the garage. As she approached him with her purse slung over her shoulder, he grabbed her and kissed her hard. “I love you, Julie. Always remember that.”

As soon as Fred heard the car pull out of the driveway, he went to his bedroom closet and pulled out his rifle, Smith & Wesson pistol, and a black duffle bag. Then he pulled out his laptop to look up Evan's adddress.

Fred raced to Evan’s house. When he arrived, he noticed a news van parked in front, so he drove down the street, did a U-turn, and then parked under a huge oak tree a block away to watch the house.

<><><>

When Blake and Jennifer pulled up outside Evan Hendricks’ home, a white news van with the Crime Story Network logo on the side was parked outside. A man was loading up camera equipment into the back while a female reporter talked to Evan on his porch.

Blake and Jennifer waited in their SUV for the conversation to wrap up. They got out of the vehicle when they saw the reporter get into the van.

Evan spotted them walking up his sidewalk and slammed the front door in their faces. Blake pounded on the door. “Evan, open up. We need to talk to you.”

Evan flung open the door and glared at them with burning, reproachful eyes. “I know what you’re doing. You’re getting a lot of pressure to solve Tiffany’s disappearance and murder so you think you’re going to pin it on me. Well, you’re wrong!”

“
Evan, we just want to talk to you. That’s all. There’s no reason for you to be so upset,” Jennifer said as she inched closer to the door.

The news van hadn’t moved and both occupants were listening to the conversation on the porch.

Jennifer didn’t see Evan’s fist until it slammed into her cheekbone, sending her stumbling backward until she fell off the porch, pounding her head painfully onto the hard ground. Starbursts appeared behind her eyelids before she blacked out.

Fred Thomas witnessed the assault, started his car, then sped past the house. He knew where they would be taking Evan Hendricks, and he wanted to be there first.

Blake grabbed Evan’s thumb, bending back his wrist until Evan screamed with pain. He then jerked Evan’s arm behind his back and dropped him to the porch floor. “Evan Hendricks, you are under arrest for assaulting a police officer. You have the right to remain silent... “

As his Miranda rights were stated, Blake shoved his knee into Evan’s back to hold him in place while he grabbed his handcuffs from his back pocket. Once he had each wrist cuffed, he jumped off the porch and helped Jennifer to her feet.

“
Honey, are you okay?” Blake lifted her chin to check her injuries. A raw abrasion streaked across her cheek, her right eye was swelling shut and blood dripped from her nose.

Jennifer clenched her jaw as pain radiated across her face and she wiped the blood from her nose with the back of her hand. She fought the waves of nausea that ensued. Her legs felt wobbly so she leaned on Blake for support.

“
I’m fine. Just pissed he got the drop on me.”

With his arm around her waist, Blake helped her to the SUV and into the passenger seat. “Give me a minute to get the asshole into the back seat. Then I’ll find the first aid kit.”

Camera mounted on his shoulder, the man from CSN filmed as the female reporter talked in low tones into a microphone. They followed Blake back to the porch.

Blake jerked Evan Hendricks to his feet then led him to the SUV where he locked him in the back seat. Once in the driver seat, he pulled a small first aid kit from the glove box. Opening the kit, he took out some alcohol pads, ointment and some Band-Aids.

“
Jennifer, let me see your face.”

She leaned toward him, saw the alcohol pads and moved back. “That alcohol is going to sting.”

“
Honey, come here. I have to clean out your cuts or you’ll get an infection.”

Jennifer grimaced but leaned back toward him. He gently cleaned each cut, and then applied some antibiotic ointment. Jennifer drew the line when it came to putting Band-Aids on her face, so he put them away.

Suddenly, Blake put his hand at the back of her neck, pulled her close and kissed her gently on the lips.

“
Oh, why don’t you two get a room?” Evan said.

“
Shut up!” Blake and Jennifer shouted in unison.

Once they were on the road, Blake looked in the rear-view mirror and saw the CSN news van behind them. Great. Just great. He called ahead to let Lane know they were bringing Evan Hendricks in, as well as a reporter from Crime Story Network.

<><><>

By the time Fred Thomas reached town, it was past six o’clock and the bank and stores were closed, which suited his purposes just fine. He parked in the back parking lot of the Glory Days Hotel. He walked to the front of the building, entered the lobby and asked for a room on the third floor facing the street. After he received his room key card, he headed back outside through the rear exit to his car for his things.

Settling in his room, he opened the drapes and stepped out onto the balcony to take in his perfect view of the front entrance to the sheriff’s building. He sat on a plastic chair at a small table for a moment, waiting for his heart rate to slow. Once it did, he went back inside and pulled out his loaded rifle. He pulled a soft cloth from inside the case, and polished the gun as he sat on the balcony.

Fred remembered the day Catherine was born. She was the prettiest baby he’d ever seen, with rosy cheeks and a cloud of brown hair. He’d handed out cigars to anyone in the hospital who would take one. Fred had loved watching her grow up: coaching her through her first home run, teaching her to fish until she caught one, watching her as she entered the living room all dressed up for her first prom. She was close to Julie, but Catherine had always been a daddy’s girl.

He had never let her down. And he wasn’t about to start now.

<><><>

Blake drove into town, relieved that things seemed quiet. As he got closer to the sheriff’s building, he was grateful there wasn’t a crowd on the front lawn, with people chanting and holding signs. He pulled the SUV in front of the building, got out with Jennifer, and prepared to get Evan Hendricks out of the vehicle, ignoring the white CSN van parking behind them.

Evan refused to get out. Blake yanked him out by his arm and pressed him against the SUV as Evan struggled to get his balance. Jennifer came around the other side to take one of Evan’s arm to walk him in while Blake took the other.

Blake noticed the appearance of the CSN cameraman and shouted, “Get back in your van.”

The cameraman stopped momentarily but followed them with his camera as he filmed, now with the female reporter at his side.

A deputy appeared at the front glass-door and waited for them. They were about five feet from the door when a shot rang out and Evan Hendricks’ body slumped heavily to the ground, dragging Jennifer and Blake down with him. Blake whipped his Glock out of his holster and looked toward the direction of the shot, but saw only the orange setting sun reflected in the old hotel’s windows.