Heads Will Roll – Chapter Nine

NOT EDITED

Rick lifted his head as Jeff dropped into one of the chairs in front of his desk. “So I’m guessing nothing came of any good hiding places?” he asked.

Jeff shook his head. “No. Couple rats, a big raccoon. That’s about it. Did you guys already go check out Tina’s place again?”

“Not yet. Bo wanted to catalog the evidence from the school first.” Rick tilted his arm toward himself to check his watch. “Should be finishing up soon, though, and then we’ll head over.”

“Did he find anything other than the blood?”

“A couple hairs. He’s going to compare it to Bonnie’s after he’s checked her room. He says the blood’s recent enough that it’s very unlikely to be anyone other than Bonnie’s or the kidnapper’s, and we already know it’s not Bonnie’s. I doubt the bastard’s blood is in the system, but it’s still something.”

“Yeah. Something’s… better than nothing.” Jeff shifted in the chair. “What’s he hoping to find at Tina’s? Just hairs for comparison?”

“And fingerprints, also for comparison. He says it’s likely the guy was wearing gloves, but on the off chance he wasn’t, comparing the ones in the basement to Bonnie’s will eliminate any of the ones that are hers. It’s likely students aren’t usually allowed in there, so the rest of the prints should belong to staff members, and their prints should already be in the system.”

“What if the guy who took he is a staff member?” Jeff asked.

“Bo, umm, Bo says that’s a pretty good possibility. But if he didn’t wear gloves, if we find her car, any prints that are in her car and the basement likely belong to our guy,” Rick said. “Speaking of, did you keep an eye out when you and Miss Decker were looking at places?”

Jeff nodded. “Nada. No brush moved to hide something or brush disturbed enough to indicate a car had recently passed through any of the ditches, near the lake, or into the woods. No sign of it or any of its pieces at any of the good hidey places either.”

“Dammit.”

“I know. But if he’s ditched it somewhere, we’ll get our hands on it.”

“God, I hope so.” Rick pulled off his ballcap to scratch the top of his head before pulling it back on. “Bo says we should keep an ear out for any reports of missing persons, whether it be someone who never came home, someone whose kids haven’t been able to reach them, someone who hasn’t turned up to work. Anything. They’ve had cases in California where the guy has killed someone and squatted in their home for the rest of the kidnappings or killings.”

“I don’t think we’ve had anything like that. ‘Cept when Jim wandered off a couple weeks ago, but we tracked him down no problem.”

“That’s what I said. Bo says that if Jim ‘wanders off again’, we have to assume the worst instead of assuming it’s just his dementia again.”

“Jesus. Does he really think there’s a chance this guy will just be out here killing random people?”

“It’s better to be overprepared than under, you know? That goes for both this guy and for us, I guess.”

“Rick.”

He lifted his head. Georgia, the station’s only dispatcher, stood behind Jeff’s chair, a look on her face that he’d recognize anywhere. “No.”

“I’m sorry,” she asid, her voice shaking just a hair. “We just received a call about a… a headless body at the lake. They need you down there.”

“Oh, my God,” Jeff whispered. He pushed himself to his feet, seeming unsure as he looked down at Rick. “I’ll… I’ll go grab Bo and Bridget?”

Rick forced a nod. “Yeah. Meetcha… in the parking lot.”

***

Rick and Jeff let Bo go first. They stayed in the cruiser, Bridget still in the backseat, and watched the short blonde make his way up to the frozen lake. Bo looked at the body for all of three seconds before turning and giving them a thumbs-up.

“What the hell does that mean?” Jeff asked.

“It’s not Bonnie,” Bridget said from the back. “Come let me out.”

Jeff climbed out of the passenger seat and pulled open the back door. As she got out, he leaned back into the car. “You good to come out?”

“I’ll, uh… I’ll catch up in a moment,” Rick said, hands still wrapped tightly around the steering wheel.

“All right, man. See you out there.”

“Yeah,” Rick whispered.

Jeff closed the door and jogged to catch up with Bridget. “You ever been worried about Bo working a certain case?” he asked.

“Of course. Some of his first cases were kids our age. I mean… dead, murdered kids that were the same damn age as him. I didn’t want him involved in anything like that. Neither did the other analysts at the station.”

“What’d you do about it?”

“I think he handled it better than anyone else did, but it didn’t make us less worried. One analyst tried to essentially bully him off the case so he’d go away and wouldn’t come back, which didn’t work. The other analyst encouraged him, taught him, and let him know it was okay to not be okay, and if he wasn’t okay, he could step back at any time.”

“What’d… you do?”

“I was just a kid in school, so there wasn’t much I could do. But I did insert myself into the living people part of the case to try and get information for him, help solve the case faster.”

“Did it work?”

“Depends on who you ask, I guess. They solved it, for the most part. Killer in that specific one got away, though.” Bridget glanced up at him. “Are you worried about Rick?”

“Very.”

“Because Bonnie is dating his son?”

“Rick left California because of a bad case. His last case. I don’t know what it was, but I know it… broke something in him. He came here to get the hell away from violent killers and murder plots and victim ‘displays’. If this isn’t the only victim, if there’s gonna be more of this? I don’t know how that broken part will handle being broken more.”

“Have you ever tried to talk to him about that last California case?” Bridget asked.

“No, and the little bits I do know are from a drunk Rick. I’ve just, uh, I’ve never worked anything like what he did in LA. I wouldn’t know what to say or how to help him, so asking about it always seemed pointless.”

“After this, you will have worked something like what he did in LA. Maybe now you can talk to him, make sure he’s okay. And if not, Bo’s really good at making sure people are… good. You know?”

“Maybe I’ll see what Bo says. He’s got a hell of a lot more experience than I do.”

Bridget gently elbowed him in the side. “He’s got more experience than all of us.”

“The victim is an elderly woman, based on her skin,” Bo said. “Once she’s at the station and has had x-rays taken, her bones will give us a better clue as to her actual age. Her head and hands have been removed. Initial examination indicates all three were removed post mortem, likely to reduce the chances of positive identification of the body.”

“Miss Jameson.”

Squatted down beside the body, Bo tilted his head back to meet Jeff’s gaze. “Hmm?”

“Carol Jameson. She, umm… she used to be an art teacher at the school. Th-the necklace she’s wearing, umm, was given to her by a student.”

“You’re positive?”

“Positive. H-he died, umm, in a car accident in high school. I don’t remember the day, but the year would have been 1991. She had it engraved on the back side of the charm.”

With a gloved hand, Bo flipped the charm over. “You’re right.”

“She’s retired,” Rick said from a couple feet away. “What the hell’s the point in that? She didn’t see him at the school. She didn’t see him get into or out of Bonnie’s car. She didn’t see him move her to the basement or back out of it. So what the hell is the point?”

“There are practically limitless possibilities,” Bo said.

“Give me a few.” Bo stared up at him for a moment, holding his breath. “Bo?” Rick asked. “Please tell me about a few of the possibilities.”

“She may have seen them at a stop sign, she may have been Bonnie’s favorite teacher, they could be killing every teacher ever involved at the school, they—”

“They?” Jeff asked. “They as in this bastard and Bonnie?”

“They as in he won’t call the suspect a he or she without conclusive evidence for one of the two,” Bridget said.

“Oh,” Jeff whispered. “Thank God.”

“There’s nothing in Bonnie’s history that suggests she would participate in something like that,” Bo said. “In that specific regard, I believe we’re safe and have nothing to worry about.”

“Why would he kill all the teachers? And if that was the point, what’s the point in kidnapping Bonnie?” Rick asked.

“He doesn’t like answering questions like that,” Bridget said. “I know it’s tempting to ask, and I know it’s hard not to want an answer to it, but he just… he doesn’t feel comfortable answering them.”

“If that’s… okay,” Bo added.

“That’s… that’s fine. I knew that. I’m sorry.” Rick shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, really. I’ve worked with people every single days for years that still ask. Don’t worry about it,” Bo assured. He gestured past the body, to the line of footprints and drag marks. “Those are the same treads as the prints from the school, and they’re approximately the same size. The likelihood they were made by the same person is very high, but I’ll stll confirm measurements and molds back at the station.”

Rick nodded. “What about the blood on her shirt? It’s a lot.”

“It is,” Bo agreed. “I prefer to be a bit further along in my photo documentation before I start messing with the victim’s clothing, but without moving anything, I can see the rips and tears in the front of her shirt, and they’re littered all over the area the blood is. More than likely, once her shirt is removed at the station, I’ll find several stab wounds. Outside of that, I don’t see any other obvious causes of death, but I won’t know for certain until I’ve had the chance to run toxicology reports and the like.”

When neither deputy spoke up again, Bridget cleared her throat. “Do you know where she lives?”

“Outside of town, close to the farm lands at the edge of Blairsburg,” Jeff said.

“Perfect. I’d like to be the first one inside her home, to preserve the sanctity of the potential crime scene. But in the meantime, you guys can take Bridget with you and talk to her neighbors, as well as talk to dispatch about who called this in,” Bo said.

“You’ll be okay by yourself?” Bridget asked.

Bo offered a smile. “That’s my comfort zone, Bridge. I’ll be okay.”

She gave his shoulder a tight squeeze before turning around to face the deputies. “If you boys are ready?”

Rick drew in a long breath before slowly letting it back out. “I don’t think we get any readier. Let’s go.”

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