SPIRIT OF CONSEQUENCE (A Spirit Walking Mystery Book 1) (12 page)

Dodge nodded to her. “Have you spoken to the girls?”

“They know nothing, didn’t see anything, and want to get back to work. Time is money after all,” Marge replied.

“I got the same line from their boss. It must be the escorts’ mantra.”

Dodge glanced over at the girls and then turned back to Marge. “Who’s the most nervous?”

She tilted her head to a tall girl, long red hair, and very skimpy red teddy. “She is. Can’t sit still. Keeps pacing the room and arguing with me when I tell her to sit down and relax.”

“Drugs?”

“Probably.”

“Let me talk to her. Take the rest out.”

“You want me to stay and help?” she asked.

“No, separate all the girls into different rooms. Let’s give them some time to sit and think and then we’ll question them again.”

“Okay.” Marge walked over to the women. “Let’s go.” Then she pointed to the redhead. “You have a seat. The Inspector wants to talk to you.”

The women protested about being hungry and tired. Marge smiled and said, “Time is money, ladies. You’re working on our dime now.”

She hustled the girls out and closed the door. The redhead came over and sat down at the table.

She smiled, flipped her hair and said, “Want to go for a spin? I’ve got your favorite color on, Dodge.”

Chapter 12

What? This escort was a personal friend of Dodge?

“How’s it going, Jessica?” Dodge asked.

She put her foot up on the table and massaged it. “Hard work.”

“You know this escort personally? Forget it. I’m not getting into her body. You’re on your own, Dodge.” I started toward the door.

“Is the room clean?”

“Yes, no surveillance devices in here. There are some listening devices and video feeds in the girls’ rooms, but no recording capabilities. At least that I’ve been able to find.”

Why would she be looking for recording devices? I turned before I reached the door, “Who is she, Dodge?”

“When did you start working Vice?”

She shook her head. “I’m not. The Russian pipeline I’m following with the Feds led me here. This drug trafficking organization has some major backing. Someone very important is running this end of the business. I’ve been back a couple of weeks.”

“Spent it all here?”

“Yes.”

“I have a source that says this place is selling drugs too.”

“I haven’t been here long enough for them to trust me, so I haven’t found any,” she said adjusting a twisted strap on her clothing.

“I might be able to help you on that. My source says Anderson threw the stuff in the machines in the laundry room before he called us.”

Jessica raised her eyebrows. “You haven’t taken the stuff out yet?”

“I sent a patrolman to check but Mr. Anderson doesn’t know I’ve done it yet.”

“Perfect, put it back. Let me find it and then maybe I can get involved in that end of the business. Ray is a small fish. We want the guy he’s buying the stuff from.”

“I might be able to help on that, too,” Dodge smiled.

Jessica arched an eyebrow. “Really?”

Dodge leaned over and whispered into her ear. No doubt sharing the information we had on the Mayor.

Her eyes went wide.

Dodge nodded.

“Who’s your source?” Jessica narrowed her eyes, but they glistened with curiosity. “Is it one of the other girls?”

“Can’t say,” Dodge exclaimed, his eyes flashing with amusement.

“Girls talk, you know. I’ll figure it out.”

“Go ahead, give it a try. I don’t think you’ll be able to get anything out of my girl.”

“A challenge. I like that.” She stood up, stretched her arms over her head, and smiled. Then she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “Talk to you soon, Dodge.”

As she reached the door, Dodge said, “Dexter’s out there.”

“Oh shit!” She stopped before opening the door. “Why didn’t you tell me he was here?”

“A little fun.”

“He’s going to come unglued. He still thinks I’m back in D.C. working undercover with the FBI on the Russian drug pipeline.”

“He knew when he got involved with a DEA agent that you’d be working mostly undercover.” Dodge stood and came over to the door.

“Yeah, but he’s okay with me being undercover as a drug buyer. He’s not going to be too keen on me working as an escort.”

“Does that mean I’m not supposed to tell him?”

She rolled her eyes. “The two of you have never been able to keep secrets from each other.”

“I could try.”

“No, send him in. I’ll talk to him.”

“And when I hear the explosion?”

“Ignore it.”

“I’m sure you’ll find a way to calm him down.”

Jessica smiled and picked up the hem of her teddy, “Red’s his favorite color, too.”

Dodge opened the door and he and I stepped out. Dexter and Marge stood in the hallway. Dodge went over to Dexter and whispered in his ear.

Dexter’s eyes widened, he frowned, and then marched toward the dining room.

Marge tilted her head and watched Dexter march off. “What’s with him?”

“I’ll tell you later. Was there anything on the video from the front door?”

“Dexter said there are about thirty men who came and left around the time of Tiffany’s death. We can pull photos from the video and start checking them out. According to two of the girls, some of the men come through the back door.”

“There’s no video camera there.”

“Nope.”

“Those must be the clients that Ray doesn’t plan on blackmailing.”

“Probably.”

“Where is Mr. Anderson now?” Dodge asked.

“I put him back in his office.”

A patrolman walked up to Dodge. “We found drugs in all of the machines in the laundry room.”

“Put it all back.”

“Why?” Marge and the patrolman asked in unison.

“Just trust me. Put it back.”

The patrolman shrugged and walked back down the hallway.

“You’ll tell me that later, too. Right?” Marge said.

“Yes.”

Marge flipped open her notebook. “I’ll just write it down, so you don’t forget.”

“Did you get anything else from the girls?” Dodge asked.

“Not really. They were all busy working when Tiffany was killed and didn’t even know that she was taking clients. She was supposed to be down with the flu.”

“Are the girls allowed to have their own clients that they don’t run through the escort service?”

“Nope, but they probably do.” She made a note in her notebook. “I’ll go ask them.”

“Are the CSI techs and coroner people done with the room and the body?”

“I think so.”

“Okay, I want to take a look.”

“I told them you’d want to before they removed the body.”

“Thanks.”

“I know my boys. You like to be alone at the crime scene before it’s dismantled but after it’s been photographed, tagged, and the bodies have been examined. Dexter has a soft spot for a certain undercover DEA agent.” She glanced toward the dining room door.

Dodge winked at her. “You’re a smart woman, Marge.”

“I know.” She laughed and turned back down the hallway. “I’ll let you know what the girls say.”

“Okay.” Dodge walked toward a room that had yellow crime scene tape scattered across it.

He walked into the center of the room.

“Dodge?”

He took the earpiece for his phone out of his pocket and put it in his ear. “Give me a few minutes.”

I went over and stood by Dodge. Everything was still in the room but obviously it had been photographed. The room had tags with numbers everywhere. We stood in the middle of the room for a long time as Dodge slowly turned, taking in the room and its contents. It was a fairly sparse room. A faded flowered loveseat and glass coffee table were positioned on the right wall and in the center stood a king-size bed. Everything in the room was pink, from the bedspread and silk sheets to the flower arrangement that sat on top of a coffee table in a seating area.

I don’t know much about escort services, so I asked Dodge. “Does each girl have a color theme?”

He held up his hand and walked over to the bed. I followed. Tiffany was posed just like the other two girls, as if she had been crucified. Dodge took a pair of latex gloves from his pocket and lifted the medallion around her neck. When he turned it over I could see the letters ‘HS’ engraved on the back. When he lifted her body I could see the same irregular shaped tattoo we had seen on the other two women’s bodies. F? S? And now HS? What did the initials stand for? I wondered.

Dodge mumbled, “Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I wasn’t sure until he engraved the HS on the last medallion.”

“A religious nut, like Marge said?”

“Could be, or just something to throw us off the track.”

“What track?”

“I don’t know, but my gut tells me the religious angle is just a small part of this killer’s mind. There have been three prostitutes killed in a city where prostitution is legal. Is he saying something against the girls or the city?”

“Or both?”

“Could be.” He nodded. “He strangles them, adds the medallion and tattoo, and then leaves. No other wounds are found on the body and no sexual assault either.”

“This isn’t about sex?”

“No, besides, sexual assault isn’t about sex either, it’s about power.”

“Okay, if this is about power, what power?”

“To kill.”

“But why? Doesn’t there have to be a reason, even in the killer’s mind?”

“There’s a reason but we don’t know what it is. If we knew that we’d be able to catch him.”

“Do you think he’s done?”

“Here? Maybe.”

“Why?”

“It’s the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. What would he put on the next victim?”

“The twelve disciples?”

“Let’s hope not.”

“Do you think he’s done this before?”

Dodge turned and stared at me. “Yeah, I bet he has.”

“More dead prostitutes?”

“Maybe, but maybe not. Maybe another city means another type of woman.”

“Oh, you mean he killed prostitutes here because it’s legal?”

“Yes and if he goes some place else, he’ll kill women that go with that city.”

“Like hula dancers from Hawaii?”

“Yes, for example. Let’s get back to the station. I want to use the Federal database and see if I can find any other murders that match ours.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I followed Dodge out of the room.

As we entered the hallway, Dexter came out of the dining room. He marched over to us. He frowned at Dodge. “Did you know?”

“No, I was as surprised to see her as you.”

Dexter huffed, then muttered, “I hate undercover work.”

Dodge patted him on the shoulder. “No, you hate your wife doing undercover work.”

“Yeah, that too.”

Dodge looked at his watch. Eight o’clock. “Let’s try and get a few hours of sleep and meet at the station at noon.”

“Better yet, let’s meet at Hooligan’s for ribs.”

“Okay. Let Marge know. I want to go into the station and run a few things through the computer.”

“You need sleep, too.”

“I’ll get it after I’m done at the station.”

Dexter nodded and left in search of Marge.

Dodge and I got into his car. When we had gone a few blocks, I asked, “Why didn’t you tell me that Jessica was a cop?”

“I knew you’d figure it out all by yourself.” He grinned. “I wish you could have seen your face when she called my name and said red was my favorite color. If looks could kill, she’d be dead.”

“I did not.”

“Yes, you did. You were jealous, admit it.”

“I was not.”

Dodge held up his hand and gave me a thumbs down. “Liar.”

I reached up and grabbed my twitching eye. “That’s not fair.”

“Yes it is!” He waved his thumb in front of me.

I slapped it away and actually made contact with his hand.

Dodge’s eyes widened. “Did you just touch my hand?”

My pulse soared. “Yes.” I slowly reached over and tried to touch his hand again. My hand went right through his.

His smile broadened. “That’s okay, Samantha. You’re making more and more contact with things. Pretty soon I’m going to wrap my arms around you and kiss those wonderful full lips of yours.”

My pulse rate accelerated with the thought that we might actually be able to touch each other.

Dodge turned his attention back to the road. He smiled and whistled. I watched him and my heart took a nose dive as my stomach churned. What kind of life was he reaching for? It wasn’t fair to him. I couldn’t do this to him. He needed a real woman, not a ghost of one.

“Dodge?”

“Yes,” he said without turning toward me.

“You don’t need me at the station, do you?”

“No, I’ll be going through computer records.”

“I think I’ll go back to your apartment.”

“That’s fine. I’ll drop you off.”

“No, I’d like to walk. I miss walking and enjoying the city sounds.”

“Okay.” He pulled his car to the curb. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Okay.” I slipped out of the door, turned back and smiled at him. “Goodbye, Dodge.”

He blew a kiss at me and took off from the curb.

Goodbyes are hard, especially from people you love. But sometimes they’re the best thing for everyone. I took a cable car to the airport, got on the first plane that was taking off, and left San Francisco.