Chapter 19

“Hey, handsome, what's your pleasure?” Carla bent low to address the man in the car who got her attention. She had long brown hair and dark brown eyes.

He smiled at her and opened the door, “Hop in, sweetheart, I think I can make this day profitable for everyone.” He showed her a few hundred dollar bills to demonstrate that he was serious.

Carla squealed and jumped into the car, “I hope you are not that killer who is going around taking young girls off the streets.”

“Funny you should mention him,” the man pulled out two of the bills and handed them to her.

“What do I have to do to earn it?” She asked as the car started to make its way to a better part of town. She started to feel uneasy. This was too good to be true.

“Just cooperate,” the man said. He pulled into the abandoned silo parking lot in the industrial part of town. He parked the car, put a reassuring hand on her thigh and squeezed gently.

Then Brandon took out his FBI badge, “I want information. You can keep your clothes on for this service.”

Carla knew it, she was in the car with a cop. She tried opening the door but it was locked. She looked over at the cop, “What do you want from me?”

“I told you,” Brandon said. “Information. You brought up the man who was taking the girls off the street. I want to catch him, but I have to know something about him, something that only this part of the town knows.”

“I knew it was too good to be true,” Carla huffed. “Usually men as handsome as you don’t have to pay a prostitute for your good time. You can have fun for free.”

Brandon narrowed his eyes at the girl, “How old are you?”

“Nineteen,” Carla said. “I am a member of the Lobos gang. I have been a member since I was fifteen.”

“You looking to get out?” Brandon asked.

“No, I know what happens when a girl skips,” Carla said as she hugged herself and shuttered. “That monster isn’t the only one going around and making girls disappear.” Realizing what she'd just given away, Carla looked at Brandon and toughened up, “Look, you are not going to get me to narc on my brothers. They are family and they protect me. If they found out I was talking to you, they would kill me.”

“Sounds like a great family,” Brandon said sarcastically. “They really care.”

“Hey,” Carla snapped, “I didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth like you, Mr. FBI. My mom worked two jobs to keep us in a rundown apartment and food on the table. She basically worked herself to death. The Lobos came to take care of me when she died. I owe them a lot.”

“I didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth,” Brandon said. “I grew up near the Texas/Mexico border to a single mom. My history is a lot like yours. I just made better decisions. Goddamn it.”

“What?” Carla was taken aback by his outburst.

“Nothing,” Brandon said. “I just realized I made someone’s point. Anyway, I have seven dead girls and I don’t have their names. I was wondering if you know anyone who has gone missing.”

“Katrina Martinez went missing a few days ago,” Carla said. “We were roommates. I haven’t seen her and she wouldn’t skip. The gang is looking for her. The “brothers" are pissed.”

“What did she look like?” Brandon wrote down the girl’s name.

“She looked like me,” Carla said. “She had long brown hair, brown eyes, she had a tattoo on her leg. It is a butterfly.” Carla pulled her shirt sleeve up to show her shoulder. “We got matching tattoos.”

“When did you see her last?” Brandon asked.

“She took a john into her room,” Carla said. “He was tall, had sandy blond hair, I couldn’t see his face. She walked up to him and he went into her room. I didn’t see her for the rest of the night. Next thing I knew, I heard she skipped.”

“Have any other girls skipped?” Brandon asked.

“Some.”

“If I showed you pictures, could you tell me who they are?” Brandon reached over to the back seat and picked up an envelope. “They are a little disturbing, but these are ones that could be identified through their physical appearance.”

Brandon showed her another $200, “will you help me?”

Carla looked at the money, she thought she should do this for free, but she needed the money, “I will help.”

Brandon handed her the pictures and watched her face. He wanted to make sure she was going to identify them, not just give him fake names. He put in two girls who matched the missing person's report.

“That is Marissa De La Cruz,” Carla said. “The ‘brothers’ thought she skipped. They are still looking for her.”

“She is down at the morgue if they want to see what they are giving these girls for a few bucks,” Brandon told her.

She correctly named the other girl and gave him the names of four other girls, “they are not coming back, are they?”

Brandon sighed, “No, they are not coming back. They didn’t skip, they met up with this monster who decided he had the right to take their lives.”

Brandon paid her for her time, and drove her back to the motel the gang ran. She thanked him and got out of the car. She put $300 into her shoe and told the “brothers” that she earned $200.

Brandon called Lloyd, “We might need to talk to Nancy and Keith Ridgewood. I think he struck again. There is a girl who went missing a few days ago. Her name is Katrina Martinez. She matches the age, physical description and vulnerability of all the other girls. These guys are looking for her, they think she skipped.”

“Damn it,” Lloyd said. “These Lobos brothers better start doing better by their female members or there will not be any incentive for new male members to join.”

“What are we going to do?” Brandon asked.

“We are going to bring in a high-ranking brother,” Lloyd said. “I need to talk to someone who is inside that gang, and I know just who I want to talk to.”

“When do you want to tackle Keith Ridgewood’s alibi?” Brandon asked.

“We will do that when we have more information,” Lloyd said.

Melissa walked into her office and saw Veronica Conway waiting for her. Melissa smiled and hugged the young woman in greeting, “Hello dear. How did the meeting yesterday go?”

“I don’t think it did any good,” Veronica said. “There is another girl missing. I saw her friend talking to Brandon.”

“You couldn’t prevent that,” Melissa said. “You have a gift, and you have to stay open to that gift. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to solve the world’s problems.”

“I think if I can concentrate and meditate, I might be able to help more,” Veronica said. “I have to prove…”

“You don’t have anything to prove,” Melissa said. “You can only do what you can do, don’t expect too much out of yourself and don’t put too much pressure on yourself. That won’t help you tap into your gift. And Veronica, you don’t need to see everything.”

You don’t need to see everything, Veronica thought about what Melissa was saying as she started to focus on her breathing. She started to wonder in her mind and suddenly saw Melissa with a man, they were having sex but Melissa was bent over on some bench and he was moving into her from behind.

Melissa was right, Veronica thought, she didn’t have to see everything. Veronica started thinking about the man she saw with Melissa. She knows she has seen him before. She tried to think and then saw Melissa walk up to him, it was when Veronica came to the academy for help. She stayed with Melissa and heard her greet the man by name: Marc Anthony.

Marc Anthony, Veronica thought. She didn’t realize she was in a trance and didn’t hear Melissa call to her to get her out of the trance. Melissa just let her sit and watched her to make sure the young girl was safe.

Veronica, in a trance, follows Marc Anthony to an apartment, she watches him shoot a man and woman, then the scene switches and she watches him get rid of the bodies. He has done this several times, Veronica realized. He was another killer but there wasn’t anything really scary about him. She watched him interact with a young girl as he kissed her forehead, which made him look brotherly. He didn’t want her to get hurt. He saved her from getting hurt, Veronica realized.

Veronica shook herself out of the trance and looked into Melissa’s light green eyes. Veronica blushed, she felt like she stepped into Melissa’s private life and was caught.

“What did you see?” Melissa asked. Her pad was ready to take the notes.

“I saw a man go into an apartment and save a young girl,” Veronica said. She didn’t want to give her whole hand away. “He kissed her on the forehead and someone took her to the shelter.”

Melissa kept her face passive while she wrote down the information, “Did you see how he rescued the girl?” She asked blandly.

Veronica shook her head, “I just saw him with the girl.”

Melissa nodded.

Veronica got up and started to leave the office, her time was up and she didn’t want Melissa to guess that Veronica saw her in a vision. Well, it was to be expected at some point, but something so intimate. Veronica walked to her mother’s car which was waiting for her outside. Curtis was in the front seat, he had another practice at the same time.

“Hello, Honey,” Judith greeted her daughter, “how did your appointment go?”

“Good,” Veronica said. “We talked about meditation and how I can let go of trying to see things and not be so hard on myself.”

“Cool,” Curtis said, as he turned around to look at her face. “We’ll talk later,” Curtis said under his breath.

They rode in silence as Veronica wanted to think about what she saw. Melissa with Marc Anthony, Marc Anthony killing the couple and his interaction with the girl. She committed as much as she could to memory as the car winded its way down the long driveway. Veronica snapped out of the dreamlike state she was in when Judith parked the car in the garage.

“I want to go lie down and take a nap,” Veronica said as she walked up the stairs to her room. “I will be in time for dinner.” Thank god it was Wednesday, she thought. The formal requirements for dinner didn’t apply.

“OK,” Judith said as she pushed Curtis out of the way, he was getting bigger every day. He laughed as she glared at him. “I am going to try to feed this monster.”

Curtis followed Veronica upstairs, “What did you see?”

“Something weird,” Veronica said as she lay down on her bed. “I saw Melissa with a man, they were having sex, but it wasn’t normal. They were...never mind. I saw him at the academy, his name is Marc Anthony and he is a killer.”

“What?” Curtis asked. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Veronica nodded. “I am sure. I watched him kill and dispose of two bodies. I don’t know who they were, I don’t know what they did, but I do know something was wrong with what was going on in that apartment.”

“OK,” Curtis processed the information. “What do you know about this Marc Anthony?”

“I know he has some sort of farm, there was a lot of squealing, but I couldn’t tell what the animals were, it was too dark,” Veronica recounted. “He went to a rundown apartment complex, you know the projects, and shot a man and woman in cold blood. Then there was a young girl, she couldn’t have been much older than ten years old, and Marc Anthony felt this connection with the girl. He hugged her and kissed her forehead. He told the girl that the woman wasn’t going to hurt her anymore. Then he took the bodies to the farm and threw them into this dark mass that was moving. It was horrific. I got the distinct impression that the farm was bought for that purpose.”

Curtis just nodded, “get some sleep. You don’t have to do anything about everything you see.”

“That is what Melissa said,” Veronica said. She was starting to drift off. “She said not to put too much pressure on myself to tap in and I don’t have to be responsible for everything.”

Curtis shut the door to Veronica’s bedroom as she drifted off to sleep. He wondered how much of that story she told Melissa. Curtis knew his sister was cautious, but he also knew Melissa was clever.

Lloyd and Brandon paid a visit to the Ridgewood house. They knew Keith wouldn’t be there and wanted to talk to Nancy alone. Lloyd rapped on the door and heard some commotion as Nancy opened the door. The two little girls were hanging about her legs and the boy was somewhere in the house asking for lunch.

“I will be right there, Christopher,” Nancy said as she opened the door. She was surprised when two badges greeted her.

“Hello, Nancy,” Lloyd said smiling. “May we come in?”

“Yes,” Nancy moved out of the way and let both men into her house. “I was just getting lunch ready. Can I get you anything?”

“No, thank you,” Lloyd said. “This is FBI Agent Brandon Row. He is helping me on a case. I just wanted to clear up a few things.”

“Uh, OK,” Nancy said. “I will be happy to help.”

“You told Officer Phelps that Keith was with you on the night of June 15th,” Lloyd said. “Are you sure he was with you the whole night?”

“June 15th,” Nancy asked. Whatever she expected to answer, it wasn’t this. “Yes, I believe he came home at his usual time and we had dinner.”

“OK,” Lloyd said. “Thank you so much.”

“June 15th, wasn’t that three weeks ago?” Christopher came into the foyer to see what was keeping his mother. He didn’t like being left out of anything.

Brandon looked at the boy, “Yes, it was three weeks ago.”

“Dad got home late that night,” Christopher said. “I know because I got to stay up late, just like I got to stay up late a few nights ago. He came home around 10 p.m. and went straight upstairs after telling me to go to bed. He always goes straight to bed. I guess he gets something to eat on the way home.”

“Christopher, these nice men don’t want to hear your stories,” Nancy said as her face started to turn red. She didn’t know what else could come out of the child’s mouth. “Go back into the kitchen and wait for your food.”

“I am just saying,” Christopher said as he walked back to the kitchen, “he was late then and he was late last week.”

“Your son is charming,” Brandon said smoothly. “How old is he?”

“Ten,” Nancy answered.

Brandon nodded, “I think we have taken up enough of your time, Mrs. Ridgewood. You folks have a nice day.”

Lloyd and Brandon said their goodbyes and walked back to the car.

“Well, what do you make of that?” Lloyd asked.

“Someone is lying, and my money says it is not the 10-year-old kid who was excited that he got to stay up late,” Brandon opened the passenger side door and slid into the car.

Lloyd started the car and made his way over to Keith’s office. They showed their badges to the receptionist who paged Keith. Keith walked into the lobby and greeted the men.

“Why don’t we have this conversation in my office?” Keith led the way back to his office when Lloyd said he wanted to clear up a few things. He shut the door and looked at the two officers, “what can I do for you?”

“We just wanted to clear up where you were the night of June 15th,” Brandon said. “Your wife said you were working late.”

“I work late every so often a few days out of the month,” Keith said. “It is a busy time of year. People want to look at their policies. I have some late appointments due to my potential client’s schedule. Other times, I am with clients all day and I use that time to take care of the paperwork.”

Keith was smooth, Brandon thought, real smooth, “why would your wife tell Officer Phelps that you were home with her the entire night?”

Keith thought for a moment, he couldn’t panic, they didn’t have anything. They were just checking his alibi and Nancy couldn’t keep her fucking story straight. Keith took a deep breath and thought, then smiled.

“Maybe Officer Phelps wasn’t too specific about the dates,” Keith said. “I mean you can’t expect my wife to recount every evening I work late.”

“No,” Brandon said, “but I can expect a 10-year-old boy who likes to stay up late to recount the exact days he was allowed to stay up late during this month. I have to say, the coincidences are astounding. June 15th, when the Hammond girl was killed and last week when the Martinez girl went missing.”

“Now Brandon,” Lloyd interjected, “don’t get carried away. I am sorry Keith, the mayor wants us to close this case up fast and Agent Row’s superiors are getting a little impatient. I am afraid the strain has gotten to Agent Row.”

“That’s OK,” Keith said. “I understand. My name came up and you have to chase every lead down.”

“That is funny,” Brandon said. “Marc Anthony said the same thing. Well, we cleared him pretty quickly though.”

“Really?” Keith asked. He started to look uneasy. Marc Anthony was his ace in the hole and the FBI already cleared him?

“Yeah,” Brandon said, then thought to lay out a trap. “His DNA didn’t match. You wouldn’t mind coming to the station and providing a sample so we can clear you, would you?”

“I will have to get with my attorney,” Keith said. He opened the door to let the men out. “I will call you later this week.”

“Hey, thanks, Keith,” Lloyd said. “We look forward to hearing from you.”

Keith just smiled. He shut the door and started to think; he had to stay calm. They were just trying to rattle him, make him give something away, like the Tell-Tale Heart by Poe. Unlike that character, Keith was going to remain calm. And there was no way in hell he was going to give up his DNA without a warrant.

“They don’t have anything,” Keith said aloud. “If they had anything, they would put the handcuffs on me.”