The Scum of All Fears: Squeaky Clean Mysteries, Book 5 (16 page)

Sure
enough, Mr. Sears was dead inside his home. I hadn’t been able to go inside. No, I’d been a good girl and called the police. They’d come and checked out his house.

If anyone could recognize the smell of death, it was a crime scene cleaner and former medical examiner. There
were some scents that were just undeniable. Rotting flesh was one of them.

Thankfully, your sense of smell became
immune after about five minutes around a scent. That was good at crime scenes, but not so good if you had B.O.

The most Detective Adams could give me
on the case was that Mr. Sears had been murdered. He wouldn’t give me a hint as to what the cause had been.

But the neighbor had said she’d seen him two days ago. He must have been killed
that very day she’d seen him for his body to smell this bad already.

But that meant
Mr. Sears had been killed
before
Rose had been abducted. I still wasn’t sure how this all tied in, but I was confident it did somehow.

I also found it interesting that the neighbor told us a police officer had been looking for Mr. Sears
either one or two days ago. The bad news was that she couldn’t remember what he looked like, if he was young or old, or what he drove. She only remembered his badge. I had a feeling the woman was on some kind of drug that had deadened most of her brain cells.

Had Officer
Newell stopped by? Why would he?

After we left the scene,
Riley and I went to a little Mexican restaurant down the street, deciding that food might be a good way to revive our minds and spirits. A TV played in the corner. It was the five o’clock news, and all they were talking about was the Scum River Killer, whom they’d dubbed simply as “Scum.” People all around us had stopped eating in order to listen. The restaurant staff even killed the overhead music for a moment.

The information the police gave to the media was
simpler than what I knew. But the facts were that three women had been abducted, and the police had hardly any leads. Time was ticking away. Nichole only had two more days to live, if Jones stuck with his previous time schedule.

The station then launched into a recap of his terror spree in California.

I turned to Riley and shook my head. “I don’t often say that I’m scared, but this guy scares me.”

He reached across the table and squeezed my hand. “I know. But he’ll mess up and the police will catch him.”

“But how many women will be snatched before then? How many will die?”

Riley shook his head, and I could
see the melancholy that washed over him. He didn’t have the answer to that question. I didn’t expect him to.

I’d been involved in some nasty cases before, but I was pretty sure this was the nastiest. Most of the people I’d tracked down had killed to cover up something or to hide the truth or out of fear they’d get in trouble for something else.

Milton Jones murdered for the fun of it. I wasn’t sure how to come to terms with that.

“I need to change the subject for a minute,” Riley started. “When are you and
Teddi going dress shopping?”

Teddi
was my dad’s new girlfriend. She’d offered to help me pick out a wedding gown, and, for some reason, I’d agreed.

“Tomorrow, now that you mention it.
I’m going to have to reschedule, though. I’m behind on my work. Clarice is missing. Rose is missing. There are other things more important.”

“Just how behind are you on your jobs?”

“I’m
behind
behind. I just can’t work with everything else going on. One lady said she was staying with relatives out of town for a while, so it wasn’t a big deal. Another location is where the homeowner actually died. He lived alone. Relatives want to get the house cleaned up so they can put it on the market, but they’re not in a big hurry. They’re still planning the funeral for that matter.”

“The good news is that Chad will be back . . . on S
unday, right?”

I nodded. “Last I heard.
”

As the waitress set our food in front of us, m
y stomach grumbled. I felt guilty even feeling hungry. Three beef and cheese enchiladas waited for me to devour them, along with some rice and refried beans.

Riley and I prayed for our food, for
Nichole and Clarice and Rose and Mr. Sears’ family. We prayed for sound minds for all of those involved in finding Milton Jones. I felt better after saying “amen.”

I took my first bite and savored the spicy, warm food. What had Riley said before we prayed? That’s right. He’d mentioned Chad and Sierra. I couldn’t wait for them to get back, for more than one reason. First, I needed Chad’s help. Second, Sierra was my best friend and I always bounced ideas off of her. Third, I had to get the inside scoop as to why they’d decided to elope while I was away on vacation last week.

I thought about my own wedding. We’d picked out a church in Norfolk. The place had stained glasses windows and white, wooden siding. Riley and I would get married in the evening and soft candlelight would create a warm atmosphere in the sanctuary.

I had so many other details I needed to attend to. I had to find a caterer
. Pick out dresses. Send invitations. Choose my flowers.

Maybe eloping was a better idea. I knew I wanted to marry Riley, so why wait? Besides, I still hadn’t figured out how
we would afford the wedding. Money was already tight, and Riley and I wanted to pay for the wedding ourselves. Now he had to buy a new car. Sometimes my business was busy and lucrative. Other times, it dragged. That meant I saved money when times were good, so I could pay my bills when times were bad. Such was the life of the self-employed.

I couldn’t even think about all of that right now.

“Let me talk this out for a minute,” I started. “We know Milton Jones is behind this. He’s the mastermind.”

“Correct, although he has veered from his usual M.O.”

“We know someone is helping him. Maybe that’s why he’s veered from his previous routine. Maybe his little apprentice isn’t sticking with the plan completely.”

“I can accept that.”

He sounded so lawyerish when he said stuff like that. Ordinarily I might give him a hard time. Not today, though. “Okay, so Rose was my first suspect. Now she’s missing, so we can rule her out.”

“Agreed.”

“Then there was the rookie cop who took pictures at the crime scenes.”

“He could have just had bad judgment as he claims,” Riley pointed out.

“It’s true. The police have their eye on him. He would have to be pretty brazen to continue to help Milton Jones, if he’s our guy. Certainly he has to know he’s under the microscope right now.”

“
I haven’t completely ruled him out as a suspect.”

“Then there’s Freddy, who runs the online a
uction. Freak or killer’s right-hand man?”

Riley shrugged. “That’s debatable, I suppose.”

“There’s Colin, Clarice’s friend who wants to find his big break into show business. He did come forward with his video. Again, I think he’s a case of someone with bad judgment. I don’t think he’s a killer.”

“From what I understand, he’s been under police surveillance. There’s no way he could have snatched
Rose.”

“Then there’s Stephen Alexander. Last person, other than Sharon, to be seen with Clarice.”

“Maybe we’ll get some answers when we look through his trash tonight.”

“A person’s trash can say a lot about a person. That’s what Tim wou
ld say.” I’d scoffed at his Yogi Berra-like phrases, but he had a point.

We both leaned back, lost in thought.

Riley pointed to a sign hanging in the window beside us. “Zombie Fest?”

I nodded. “Clarice was really excit
ed about that.”

My heart sank when I remembered it. Even if the woman had set me up and secretly recorded me, I didn’t want her to suffer.
I wished more than anything she could be here to enjoy Zombie Fest. I wished she was around to tell me how much she’d enjoyed it, even if it meant I’d want to throw something at her.

Riley and I
finished eating, each of our thoughts obviously heavy. Any attempts at conversations about anything other than Milton Jones seemed to fall flat.

Finally, I looked at Riley. “You think the dentist office is closed yet?”

He glanced at his watch. “It’s past six. I’d imagine they’re either closed or will be closing any time.”

“Let’s go get Tim, then.”

I stood outside the dumpster while Tim rummaged around inside
the smelly metal container. Riley had to take a call from a client, so he paced in front of the building, promising to alert us if anyone came our way. The sun was beginning to set and sink lower into the sky as we began our mission.

Luckily, most of the shops in this area were professional, so they’d closed up rather early. Th
at made our job easier.

It wasn’t that I was opposed to jumping into a dumpster myself
—I mean, I did clean up blood and other bodily fluids for a living. It was just that Tim was so good at digging through trash. And someone needed to go through the items that he tossed onto the ground. That seemed like a good job for me.

Even though
this dumpster catered to an office building, the stench that crept from it was nauseating, like it had seen one too many rotting bags of food scraps. From what Tim had told me, some locals must take to dropping bags of dog doo into this dumpster after they took their evening walks as well.

Tim stood up. “I found something.”

I hurried to the side of the dumpster and tried to peer in. I was a little too short to see inside.

He raised his hand in the air. “A free toothbrush. The wrapper is still on it and everything, so it’s clean. Can you believe people would throw away a perfectly good toothbrush? I bet it was someone who got one of these for free after getting their teeth cleaned. They probably have some fancy one at home, so they just tossed this on their way out. Can you believe the nerve of some people?”

“A toothbrush, Tim? I thought you’d found something good.” I wanted to scream at my brother sometimes. But then I remembered what it was like to have him gone from my life, and I was filled with gratitude, despite his quirks.

He shrugged. “This is good . . . to me, at least. I just stopped a perfectly useable product from entering the landfill.”

“I need clues, Tim. Not clean teeth.” Too bad he hadn’t been all that concerned about using a toothbrush since he’d been staying at Riley’s. We’d been the ones who had to endure his morning breath, and it hadn’t been pretty.

“A
ll right, all right. If I find any more, I’m donating them to the homeless shelter down the street, just for the record.” He glanced down at the trash around him. “It would help if I knew what I was looking for.”

What was he looking for? Even I didn’t know for sure. I just knew that I’d kno
w when I saw it. “Pictures. Cell phone records. Written admissions of guilt.”

Tim popped his head up. “Really? You think it’s that easy?”

“Of course not.” I sighed. “I’m grasping at straws here, aren’t I?”

Riley slid his cellphone back into his pocket and approached us, just to hear the last part of our conversation. “Dr. Alexander
was the last person, other than Sharon, who had contact with Clarice,” Riley said. “He’s worth looking into. He may not be guilty of anything other than being unfaithful to his girlfriend, though.”

Was there anyone
I was missing? Of course there was. For all I knew, I’d never even seen this accomplice.

We knew that someone had mailed
Jones items to his jail cell. That’s how he’d ended up with the article about me. It would seem logical that he had someone helping him.

But all that mattered was that we found either Milton Jones or someone else
who could lead us to him.

Suddenly, a bag landed beside me.

“Look through that,” Tim yelled.

I ignored some kind of greenish-yellow gel that covered the outside of the plastic bag. “Sure thing.” I snapped on some gloves and pulled the plastic apart. Riley squatted beside me to help.

Inside, there were papers. Some were shredded. Others were flyers and junk mail. It looked like someone had cleaned out their desk.

I riffled through a lot of it
but found nothing useful. Just as I finished that bag, Tim threw another bag out.

“Try this one, too
,” he yelled. “It’s too hard to look through bags like that while I’m in the dumpster.”

The truth was, he’d probably rather be looking for things he could either use or things he could sell to make a few extra bucks. My family was so interes
ting. A crime scene cleaner. A freegan. A washed up surfing champion turned alcoholic.

Did Riley really know what he was getting himself into
when he married me?

I wasn’t about to tell him. Not that I thought he’d change his mind. Sometimes, it was better to keep these thoughts quiet, though.

I dug through a lot of the same information that I’d found in the other bag, which wasn’t very much.

I
stopped when I saw one stray piece of paper. The words there made me pause.

You can use t
he family hunting cabin whenever you need it. State Road 172, Surry, Virginia. Love, Dad.

A hunting cabin? Could this be where Milton Jones was keeping his victims?

There was only one way to find out.

***

“Should we call Adams?” I asked as we bumped down the road.

Riley shook his head, his neck looking tight and stiff.
“We’re just following a hunch. I say we call him if we discover anything. This could be nothing.”

“Or it could be everything.”

Riley nodded, his hands tight on the steering wheel and his knuckles white. “If Milton Jones is there . . .”

I reached into
my purse. “I have this.” I pulled out my gun.

Riley’s eyes widened.
“Put that down before another driver sees you and calls the police! You’re carrying it with you? You don’t have a permit.”

“There are some things that are bigger than a permit. Like my life.”

Riley shook his head. “I agree, but . . .”

I held up my free hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll be careful.”
I put the gun back in my purse. Truth was, I felt a little weird about carrying it.

But then
I remembered those crime scene photos and I thought about what Milton Jones had done to his victims, and I forgot any of my hesitations.

The stench in the car after Tim had been in the dumpster was nearly unbearable. Even though the heat was stifling outside, I still cracked my window.
Tim, in the meantime, was sleeping in the backseat.

Apparently, he
and
my father snored.

The drive to Surry County would take at least an hour. The
sky was now gray, and by the time we arrived at the cabin, it would be dark.

I knew that going out there alone
had all the warning signs of being a bad idea. But I also knew that sending the police out there based on a scrap of paper would be foolish. They had better things to do right now. Still, a shudder raced up my spine.

The car made a weird sound and thumped a couple of times as we sped down the interstate. It was an old F
ord Taurus, probably nice in its day. But right now the blue car was on the verge of not passing inspection.

Someone at church had been thinking about selling it, and when they foun
d out Riley was carless after the accident last week, they volunteered to let him use it. The paint was faded. The plastic covering the steering wheel peeled. The seats were stained—being a crime scene cleaner, my mind went to the worst places concerning
what
exactly those stains had come from. No, I’d seen too much to simply think “spilled soda.”

And those were just the physical aesthetics that were unappealing.

The car also made a strange noise when you turned left, the engine some times groaned, and the windshield wipers mysteriously turned on and off without anyone ever touching a button.

Right now
, as we rattled down the road, I wished we’d stopped back by my apartment to get my van. I wasn’t sure this vehicle would make it.

We traveled off of the int
erstate, on some smaller highways, through a couple of small towns, and finally headed down a rural road surrounded by trees. Outside, the light became dimmer and dimmer. Darkness was close.

The thought chilled me as I realized its double meaning. We truly could be approaching one of the darkest people and crimes I’d ever been involved in.
The thought was unsettling.

I lifted up a quick prayer that God would keep us safe.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

The Scripture ran through my mind.
I repeated it over and over.

For the Lord my God is with me.

He could do much more than any gun could. He’d proven that time and time again in my life. And I felt like the most undeserving person ever when it came to God’s protection. I was thankful He didn’t give me what I deserved, but that He showered His love on me.

I looked at the GPS on my phone. “Turn right here.”

We veered off one narrow road and onto another. The trees closed in closer to the car. The sun sank deeper into the horizon.

Out here, there was mostly woods, so it was the perfect place for a hunting cabin.

“This is like the area where he kept the girls in California,” Riley said quietly. His jaw looked locked in place and his neck muscles tight. This case had obviously affected him in a big way.

“What do you mean?”

“It was in the middle of nowhere, well off the beaten path. Woods had surrounded it. If one of the girls had been able to break free, there was only a slim chance that she would have survived running through the woods to get help. There was too much space between the cabin and the rest of the world.”

I could sense this was hard for him to talk about. “Did you go to the cabin?”

“Once. I wanted to get a feel for what had happened there.”

“What was it like?”

He shook his head. “It was horrible. What happened between those walls, although it was over and done with, still seemed to fill the air in the room, if you know what I mean.”

I nodded. It wasn’t like Riley to talk about things in the abstract. He liked relying on facts.

That being said, the realization that he was talking about something other than the facts spoke volumes.

“I don’t believe that places can be haunted
,” he continued. “But I definitely felt like something malevolent had happened there.”

His
words left a sick feeling in my gut. We should have definitely called Detective Adams. Maybe this whole case was beyond my scope.

I pointed to another road. “We have two more turns before we get there.
This one is next.”

“I’m going to cut my headlights. Just in case this is the right place, I don’t want to alert anyone that we’re here. Do you still have a phone signal out here?”

I checked my screen. “I sure do.”

“Good. We have to be careful.”

We rolled down the gravel road labeled “Private.” With each inch closer, my muscles tightened. Whenever we did find Milton Jones, I feared we were going to need the protection of an angel army, as the song we sang at church said.

I remembered what Riley had said.
When I looked into his eyes, it was like looking into pure evil. The man was soulless.

“I see some lights over there.” I pointed through the trees, down toward the end of the lane.

Sure enough, the faintest trickle of light could be seen through the trees. Riley pulled to the side of the road and cu
t the engine. “We should walk from here,” Riley said.

I couldn’t agree more.

“Do you want me to look through his trash can for you? You can tell a lot by—” Tim appeared in the backseat, like Lazarus raised from the dead. How long had he been awake?

“—what a person throws away,” I finished. I shook my head. “
No rummaging through garbage now, but I will give you my phone. Come with us, but stay back on the outskirts of the property. If anything happens, you have to call the police. If this is Milton Jones, he won’t suspect that you’re here with us.”

“There are advantages to being a third wheel.”

I sent him a small smile. “You’re always welcome, Tim. Always.”

I actually got a grin back from him. “Thank
s, big sis. That means a lot.”

Our relationship was slowly developing. I’d take slowly developing to nothing, though.

I tucked the gun into the waistband of my jeans and stepped out of the car. Riley and Tim joined me.

Darkness was on us at full force. Out here in the country, the darkness was different than in the city.
It was blacker, heavier.

The woods were alive with crickets and owls and other creatures that made leaves crackle and branch
es shake.

I was thankful that Riley reached for my hand. “You’re trembling,” he whispered.

I was hoping he wouldn’t notice.

I didn’t say anything. What was there to say? Yes, I’m terrified. This man gives me nightmares.