She studied the floor plan, visualizing where she might want to arrange the pieces she had and those that needed to be selected and purchased. Since they wouldn’t be able to move in until well after Sara’s maternity leave ended, furnishing and decorating the house would be an ongoing task with many decisions delayed until she could get back to Santa Fe on weekend trips.
However, she could do a number of things after the baby came: buy linens and housewares, perhaps some lamps and end tables, order a custom-made piece or two, and get a freestanding kitchen center island she’d spotted in a local store. But putting the house in any kind of reasonable order would have to be accomplished in bits and pieces.
That sucked, and she wondered if everything-the marriage, the baby, the new house-was nothing but a big romantic daydream on her part that had gone badly awry.
She blocked the negative thoughts from her mind. It wasn’t like her to be so moody and disheartened. She did love Kerney and did want this baby. No matter that the task was daunting, she would turn the new house into a home, even if it took years.
The desk phone rang. Larry Otero needed to speak to Kerney. Sara asked why.
“We’ve got another homicide and another note,” Larry replied.
“I’ll get him.”
She walked to the bedroom thinking one down, one to go, and for once she really didn’t give a damn. The baby had stopped kicking and all she wanted to do was go to sleep.
She quietly opened the bedroom door, gently shook Kerney awake, and softly told him the killer had struck again.
Kerney rolled up to the crime scene. The blue van was awash in light and ringed off with police-line tape strung between the police cars that surrounded the vehicle. Andy Baca, Larry Otero, Russell Thorpe, and Sal Molina were standing at the perimeter with Officer Neal, all of them looking somber, watching the ME and two paramedics at the back of the van remove the body. Techs stood off to one side, waiting their turn at the vehicle, while two detectives videotaped and photographed the scene. Except for the sound of traffic coming from Cerrillos Road, silence hung thick in the air.
Kerney gave Andy and the others a quick nod. Nobody smiled. Sal Molina held out a bloodstained note encased in a clear plastic sleeve. It had a hole in it and read:
KERNEY, DO YOU KNOW ME YET? GUESS WHO’S NEXT.
“It was probably written with a fine-point permanent ink marker,” Molina said.
“Has anybody had a look inside the vehicle?” Kerney asked.
“I did a quick visual check, Chief,” Neal replied. “The victim is an unknown, naked white female, age probably late forties, I’d guess. Slender build, maybe five-six with long, light-brown hair. I saw no clothing or personal possessions inside the vehicle.”
“The killer posed her,” Otero said. “Wrapped her arms around the dog’s head and placed it on her chest. The note was attached to the body by a knitting needle driven into the lower abdomen below the navel.”
“Driven how deeply?” Kerney asked.
“Far enough to kill an unborn child,” Larry said.
The appalled look on Kerney’s face was palpable.
“We don’t know if he did it before or after she was dead,” Andy added, breaking the silence.
The men surrounding Kerney stared at the ground with expressionless eyes.
“Do we have an approximate time of death?” he asked, forcing himself to stay focused.
“According to the ME, it’s a fresh kill,” Larry said, lifting his gaze to Kerney’s face. “Two, maybe three hours.”
“And the cause of death?” Kerney asked.
“We don’t know, Chief,” Molina replied. “Except for the puncture wound to the stomach, there are no other visible traumas to the body. The ME thinks she may have been poisoned.”
“What about the van?”
“The tire tracks match the imprints I took at the horse barn,” Thorpe replied.
“Well, at least that’s nailed down,” Kerney said, trying to keep the alarm he felt out of his voice. He glanced at Larry. “What’s under way?”
“We’re running a records check on the van, and searching the missing-person database for a match,” Larry replied. “Plus, Lieutenant Molina has a man inside the courthouse pulling the tape from the parking lot surveillance camera.”
“Did he view it?” Kerney asked.
“We all did,” Andy answered. “The perp’s a ballsy bastard, Kerney. It shows him parking the van, opening the rear door, throwing a finger at the camera, and walking away. We’ll have the lab enhance it to see if we can get an ID.”
“What else was on the tape?”
“Nothing,” Molina said.
“So where did the perp go?” Kerney asked. “Did he have another car nearby? Did he walk away?”
“We don’t know,” Larry said. “But Chief Baca and I have every available officer from both departments hunting for him. We’re checking public transportation, cab companies, and all residential areas within walking distance.”
“What about nearby hotels and motels?” Kerney asked.
“We’re on it,” Molina said quietly.
“I’d like to go out on patrol and help find this guy, sir,” Thorpe said to Chief Baca, eager to get away from the tight-lipped gloom that permeated the group.
“Go ahead,” Andy replied.
Thorpe hurried to his unit. Kerney turned to Sal Molina. “When the ME is finished, I want people all over that vehicle, top to bottom. I want to know where it’s been and who’s been in it. I want to know the name of every person who ever owned it, ever rode in it. I want every fiber, every hair, every piece of dirt, mud, or pebble stuck in the tread of a tire found and analyzed. If there’s a leaf or twig caught in the undercarriage, I want it logged into evidence, and I want to know where it came from. Nothing comes out of or off that vehicle that isn’t bagged and tagged.”
“We’ll do it right, Chief,” Molina said.
“I want the entire vehicle dusted for prints: the engine compartment, wheel wells, and every other possible place that could have been handled or touched. When that’s done, tow it, have it stripped down, and put everything under a microscope.”
“My techs are on the way,” Andy said.
“Good,” Kerney said. “I want the autopsy started right now, and a plant biologist and soil expert looking at what we get off that vehicle as soon as possible. Let’s get that videotape enlarged and analyzed pronto. Wake people up if you have to.”
“Anything else?” Otero asked.
“That will do for starters. I’ll be in my office.”
They watched Kerney walk away, his back stiff with anger.
“God, I hated to tell him about the knitting needle,” Larry said.
In unison, the men nodded glumly and then turned to the business at hand.
What was he missing? Who was this guy? In the quiet of his office, Kerney started from scratch and went through every bit of information that had been assembled so far. Amid the reams of contacts, follow-ups, and closed-case research conducted by the teams of officers and detectives, there wasn’t one reasonable suspect in sight.
The phone rang and the light to his private line blinked. Kerney answered quickly, thinking it might be Sara calling to tell him the baby was on the way.
“Do you know me yet?” a man’s soft voice asked.
Kerney didn’t respond. He picked up a pen and started writing everything down.
The man chuckled at Kerney’s silence. “You know nothing.”
“You’d be surprised,” Kerney said.
“So who’s next?” the man asked.
“Let’s get together and talk about it,” Kerney said.
“There’s no need for this to go any further.”
The man laughed. “I can’t stop now, Kerney. I’m planning a two-for-one special, just for you. Haven’t you got that figured out yet?”
“Do you think I’m going to let that happen?” Kerney asked, biting back his exasperation.
“You can’t stop it. But before that, I’m going to make your world blow up in your face.”