AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We can’t make the facts any less tragic, but what we can do is get justice for Eliza. If you think of anything that could help, please let us know.”
“That boy,” Rhonda snapped. “I don’t know his name, but I knew he was trouble the moment I saw him.”
“Which boy?” asked Ella. “A friend of Eliza’s?”
“Yeah. I’ve seen him drop her off a few times. No idea who he is. I asked Liza but she said he’s just a guy she knows.”
Could be something, could be nothing, Ella thought. “What did this boy look like? Why are you suspicious of him?”
“Oh he looks like something alright. Long black hair. Black clothes. Thin as a rake, like some kind of demon. I only saw him once or twice but I saw red in his eyes, like he was a messenger of death. I asked Liza why she was hanging around with a spawn like that and she said he was interesting. I oughta have kicked the evil out of her right there and then.”
Ella was beginning to form a picture of the Matthews’ family life. Pleasant and peaceful on the surface, misery under the hood. A tale as old as time.
“Name? License plate? Anything that could help us locate this man?”
“No. He stayed in the shadows. Last time I saw him was about a month ago. Not sure if Liza met up with him since.”
Ella guessed that a guy who looked like that in this town wouldn’t be too hard to find. “We’ll check him out, Rhonda. Thank you.” She and Ripley then took their leave and headed back to their vehicle out front. Before they’d gotten here, Mia had told Ella not to get too obsessed with this, but Ella realized it was already too late for that.
***
On the way to the nearest precinct, Ella thought that these murders might be the most interesting thing that had ever happened to this little town. The ratio of people to fields must have been 1:100, and if she was just passing through this quaint little settlement, she’d never guess this place could harbor a serial killer copycat.
“So, we’re looking for a young guy with long hair who looks like the Devil?” Ripley asked from the driver’s seat.
“Seems like it. I’m guessing we shouldn’t have too much trouble finding someone like that.”
Every soul here was either old and gray or prim and proper. The children were well-dressed with neat haircuts and the adults were non-offensive, tweed jacket and button-down blouse types.
“We definitely need to check him out, but I don’t want to put too much stock in a testimony from the victim’s mother. She’s obviously a religious devotee who can’t stand anything that looks even slightly anti-Christian. That stuff out of her mouth was some mid-eighties Satanic Panic garbage.”
“Yeah, she might just be in a state of hysteria, but it’s a lead worth following.”
“How do you think we should find him?” asked Ripley.
“As much as I’d like to drive around this pleasant little town looking for him, I don’t think we’ve got time for that. We’re gonna have to go virtual. First I’ll check the police database and if there’s no one matching the description there, I’ll check the residential lists. I’m guessing he’s fairly young and he must live within a few miles of Eliza’s house. That should narrow it down enough. With any luck, we could bag ourselves a Black Dahlia copycat by tonight.”
“There’s that obsession again, Dark. Watch your step. There’s nothing to admire about this guy or the original Dahlia murderer. Both weak, cowardly perverts.”
Ella was well aware of this fact. But there was something about the mystery that demanded her fascination. She remembered playing a video game as a kid, a Super Mario game. Once you’d finished the game, you could explore a tiny little hidden area that really had zero function other than being a tiny little reward for your effort. Ella never reached that part, so even 25 years later, she felt like she couldn’t claim ownership of the story.
She guessed unsolved murders worked the same way in her brain, only with much higher stakes.
“Don’t I know it? I’m not obsessed, Ripley, it’s just I’ve had my theories about the Dahlia murderer for decades. This is like my childhood thoughts come to life. You must have thought about it yourself?”
“Literally never. It was 80 years ago. It’s in the past. Unsolvable. Why waste time dwelling on that crap?”
Ella thought differently, but Ripley had a fair point. Once enough time elapsed, the chances of solving murders with any solid proof became near impossible. However, Ella had her reasons for dwelling on the original murder so much. She considered that something about the 1947 crime, perhaps even a microscopic piece of case information, could help them catch their current unsub.
“I’m gonna drop you at the precinct then I’m going to grab us some caffeine bombs. There’s gotta be a Starbucks around here somewhere. We need to track down our person of interest and check for any connections between the victims.”
“Way ahead of you. I’m already putting together some connections between the two original crimes. Elizabeth Short and Cheri Jo Bates both lived on streets with the same name. They once stayed in the same hotel in Vallejo. They both had tattoos on their legs, which was pretty rare in those days.”
“Forget the historical crimes for now, Dark. Understanding a killer’s motivation only helps if you can: one, determine where he found his victims; or two, determine who his next victim’s going to be. We need to look for solid, tangible links between these two women that could lead us straight to him.”
They arrived at the police precinct just outside of Hicksberg. A one-story building that looked more like a converted cottage than police headquarters.
“Not your typical concrete slab,” Ripley said. “I like it.”
