Killer in Sight (A Tom Lackey Mystery) Read online

  found a young woman in Durant Park. No ID.”

  Kathy arched her eyebrows and put down her coffee

  cup. “Oh, dear! That’s awful, Tom…” She shook her

  head lightly, thinking of her own daughter who was

  away at college and whose safety she worried about

  from time to time. It was normal for parents to be

  concerned about their children, young and older alike,

  and for a moment her heart ached for the parents of this

  yet-unidentified young woman.

  Tom blew a kiss her way, and Kathy smiled. Then

  he was gone. She took another sip of coffee and tried to

  focus on a newspaper article about the latest decisions

  of the Wake County school board, but she couldn’t

  concentrate. So, she took her plate and cup to the

  kitchen sink and went upstairs to shower, and get ready

  for work.

  #

  Traffic at this time of morning was a beast, and Tom

  wondered about the possibilities of looking for a

  different type of job that would keep him off the roads

  so early in the day. He thought about his sister’s

  husband, and the business he tried to convince Tom to

  join. Todd drove a tow truck, and in the last few months

  his business had taken off, leaving him short-handed and

  slightly grouchy from lack of personal time. The money

  was good, but Todd was rarely ever home, and Tom

  knew he couldn’t do that to Kathy. Although he was

  fairly sure Kathy would support any decision he made,

  the long hours away from home would definitely affect

  their relationship, and Tom didn’t want to take any

  chances on losing her. Besides, traffic was what he was

  hoping to get away from, so driving a tow truck at all

  hours of the day and night wasn’t the answer to his

  problems. And of course, there was another thing to take

  into account: Even if he loved complaining about the

  randomness of his working hours—and the bullshit he

  and the other detectives had to sometimes put up with—

  Tom loved his job. He loved being the good guy, he

  loved getting the bad guys, and more than anything, he

  loved a happy ending, though in his profession it wasn’t

  always guaranteed.

  When he pulled into the parking lot adjacent to the

  entrance near the wooded area of the park, he noticed a

  small group of people talking. One man was pointing his

  finger toward the pathway leading into the forest; his

  face appeared flushed. Tom got out of his car and began

  to walk toward the group when a uniformed officer on

  the other side of the yellow tape called him. Tom headed

  in that direction, still studying the first man from the

  corner of his eye.

  “Lieutenant Lackey, right through here.” The

  uniform pointed toward a small trail veering off from

  the main path, which was almost hidden by

  decomposing leaves.

  Tom nodded, and followed the officer after taking

  one last look at the group of people standing beyond the

  tape, whose heads were now turned in their direction.

  “One of the men standing there seemed sort of

  excited. Has he seen anything?” He asked the officer, a

  young fellow whose slowly fading acne betrayed his

  tender age.

  “No, Sir. We have kept everyone away. The two

  joggers used his phone to call 911. They had left theirs

  at home because they were afraid of dropping them

  while running.”

  “Oh, okay. As soon as you show me where to go, go

  back and tell him that he can’t disclose any information

  he might have heard.”

  “Yes, Sir. This way.”

  As they approached the area where the young

  woman had been found, Tom saw several uniforms

  standing around. Sergeant Gene Parker was already on

  the scene.

  “About time you got here, Lackey!” The sergeant

  was being his usual non-charming self. “What kept

  you?”

  Tom let it slide. “I got here as soon as I could. My

  car is fast, but it still can’t fly over other cars. Traffic is

  terrible!”

  Parker snorted derisively, and Tom ignored him.

  The temperature was already high, even this early in the

  day and, given that it was only the end of April, Tom

  expected the upcoming summer to be one for the

  records. A light breeze barely stirred the leaves on the

  trees around them, and a faint scent of unidentified

  flowers mixed subtly with the smell of decaying wood

  in the distance. Under normal circumstances, Tom loved

  to inhale deeply and enjoy the almost tactile earthiness

  of the woods, but today the air smelled different: Death

  had come to mar the beauty of nature, and it had

  interrupted the flow of things. Today, the air in the

  woods was repulsive.

  He and Parker walked together toward the body.

  Tom took one look and his heart dropped. The young

  woman was crumpled on the ground like a discarded

  doll, her silky blond hair spread like a fan around her

  head. She appeared to be about five feet, five inches tall,

  weighing around 120 pounds. A large blood stain

  radiated from a single wound on her chest near the

  heart. Her mouth was opened in a silent scream, and her

  blue eyes were fixed on the horrors they had witnessed

  before they could no longer focus on anything ever

  again. What had those eyes seen? Who had done this to

  her?

  From the moment he first glimpsed the body, Tom

  knew who the young woman was. For the last five days,

  he had stared at her picture on his desk, after her family

  had reported her missing. Tracey Newman was a

  physician assistant at Wake Memorial, and her best

  friend, Shannon Brinkley, had called Tracey’s mother

  after her roommate didn’t show up for her shift at the

  hospital. The family called the police and filed a missing

  person report, but Tracey appeared to have vanished into

  thin air…until now.

  Tom kneeled beside the body, careful not to disturb

  any evidence, and looked at Tracey’s beautiful face.

  What could possibly motivate someone to take away

  such a young and promising life? A single gunshot to the

  heart suggested a premeditated killing, rather than a

  crime of passion. The body didn’t appear to be injured

  in any other way, aside from a few marks on the ankles

  that were probably caused by the brushy, thorny ground

  cover characteristic of the area.

  Tom stood up and walked toward the coroner, who

  was talking to a young lady busily taking notes. Dr.

  Greer looked up and nodded to Tom. He said something

  to the young girl; she went off still looking at her

  notepad. Greer was a sight to behold—at nearly 65 years

  of age he refused to retire—and he talked about his

  work the same way a besotted lover would discuss the

  virtues of his beloved. He was a short, round man, with

  a fluffy mane of snow-white hair, a bushy white

  mustache and eyebrows. The hair
on his head and face

  always reminded Tom of the cotton fields he passed

  when he drove over to Smithfield to visit his mother.

  With a reddish complexion and benevolent blue eyes,

  the doctor looked like a miniature Santa Claus, minus

  the beard.

  “Hey, Lackey…a clean job, this one.”

  Tom nodded. “Yes, I saw that. How long has she

  been dead, Doc?”

  “Hard to say exactly, but I would say at least a few

  days. Strange how nobody has found the body before.

  Lots of people go through these woods.”

  “They usually stick to the beaten path. It’s pretty

  thick in here. I think I know who she is. We will have to

  compare dental records and bring in the family for

  identification, but I am pretty sure she is the young

  woman who was reported missing last week. Her family

  lives in Missouri. She was a physician assistant at one of

  the local hospitals.”

  Greer shook his head. “These young women never

  want to believe how dangerous it is to jog alone in these

  woods, until tragedies like this happen.”

  Tom looked at the doctor with a surprised look on

  his face. “You think she was attacked by a maniac while

  she jogged? Don’t you think the gunshot wound is

  inconsistent with that? She is fully dressed, so sexual

  assault doesn’t seem to apply. No marks other than what

  she might have inflicted on herself while trying to run.”

  “Lackey!” Parker’s voice thundered from the left.

  “One of the uniforms just found a print from a man’s

  shoe inside a cabin on the grounds. The print looks

  smeared, as if he slipped.”

  “I’m coming,” Lackey turned back toward the

  coroner and said, “I will call you as soon as I get back to

  my desk, Doc.”

  Tom rushed to meet Parker, who was already

  walking toward the cabin. Parker was making irritated

  noises, but this time it sounded more like the huffing

  and puffing was due to the uphill trail than to his

  grumpy attitude.

  “It would be real good if we could nail him with the

  shoe print. Hopefully it won’t be too smeared.”

  Tom nodded and walked on.

  #

  Kathy Spencer sometimes wished she had more

  than two hands: Today was one of those times. She tried

  her best to balance her handbag, camera, a tote bag and

  a large cup of skim latte in one hand while attempting to

  turn the key to open the door of her studio. Most of the

  items made it in; the cup of coffee, however, was not so

  lucky. As the cup fell from her hand, splattering its hot

  contents on the hardwood floor, Kathy knew this was

  not going to be a good day. The morning had already

  taken a turn for the worse when Tom received the call

  about the young woman who was found at Durant Park,

  and this latest incident only compounded Kathy’s

  encroaching feeling of gloom. She wasn’t sure why

  hearing about this young girl affected her so much—

  living with a police detective for the greater part of the

  last ten years had thickened her skin, and she didn’t

  usually get involved with his work. But this case was

  different, and Kathy couldn’t figure out what was

  different about it. She still didn’t know what the young

  girl looked like or what her story was, but she felt close

  to both the girl and her family. The fact that Kathy’s

  own daughter was probably nearly the same age as the

  young woman may have explained why her death had

  hit so close to home. She carried her armful of

  possessions to the desk, then went to the utility closet to

  retrieve a mop and clean up the coffee spill. After

  rinsing and putting away the mop, she sat at her desk

  and uploaded the photos from yesterday’s shoot to her

  computer. In a few moments, the image of a smiling

  young woman appeared on the screen. She was stunning

  and youthful, and in the photo she smiled adoringly at

  her fiancé; the young man appeared just as happy and

  excited about their future together. Did Tom’s young girl

  have a boyfriend? Was she happy? Here it was

  happening again…she couldn’t get the dead girl off her

  mind. But why?

  Kathy was very open to signs. Since early childhood

  she had experienced strange occurrences from time to

  time; her curiosity had led her to explore the possibility

  of alternate realities and the validity of little-known

  systems of belief. Given her passion for photography

  and anything related to cameras, it was no surprise to

  her that she had instantly fallen in love with the concept

  of iridology when it was presented during a discussion

  with a naturopathic physician. Of course, the main

  purpose of iridology was to detect illnesses in the body

  through a study of the iris, but Kathy was convinced—

  contrary to the tenets of current science—that the eye

  bore similarities to a camera. One of her secret dreams

  was to create a device that could be used to download

  images recorded by the eye. She conceived of digital

  cameras working along the same lines—images needed

  to be transferred to a computer, but even before being

  sent, they were recorded and preserved into a temporary

  memory slot in the machine; without an additional

  memory card, only few images could be saved in the

  camera at one time, but some could certainly be

  retrieved. Could the same process happen within the

  human eye? Might there be a way to view the last image

  captured by the eye in the moments before death? If the

  eye was indeed similar to a digital camera, Kathy

  reasoned, even if the main computer shut down before

  the images were sent to it, it should be able to retain at

  least a few impressions. Tom’s young woman saw her

  killer…

  Kathy’s mind snapped back to the present, and she

  tried once again to focus on the photos of the girl

  smiling at her from the screen, but her mind was

  elsewhere. She picked up the phone and dialed her

  daughter’s number, tapping her finger on the desk as she

  nervously waited for Caroline to answer. When she did,

  Kathy sighed in relief.

  “Caroline, it’s Mom. How are you, Honey?”

  “Mom? Is everything okay?”

  “Of course, Sweetie!” Her excited tone betrayed her

  anxiety, “Everything is great. I just wanted to say hi.”

  “Oh, okay. It’s just that you never call so early in

  the day. I thought something happened.”

  Kathy paused long enough for Caroline to wonder.

  “Mom, are you sure everything is okay?”

  Again, Kathy hesitated for a moment. Her daughter

  hated to be treated like a baby; at nineteen, she felt

  grown up and all-knowing, and certainly able to take

  care of herself. “Everything is fine, Caroline. It’s just

  that the body of a young woman was found today, not

  too far from here, and I was thinking of how devastating

  that will
be for her family. I also thought of how lucky I

  am to have you.”

  “Oh Mom, you old sweet thing…you know I am the

  lucky one, to have you in my life.” Caroline’s voice was

  smiling; Kathy could tell. Although she didn’t like to be

  babied, she did like to be the center of Kathy’s world,

  and Kathy was instantly proud of herself for the way she

  had handled this—conveying her affection without

  sounding too smothering.

  “Is Tom assigned to the case, Mom?”

  “Yes, I think so. He got the call early this morning

  while we were eating breakfast. For some reason I can’t

  get this young girl off my mind. How awful for her, and

  for her whole family!”

  “I’m sorry, Mom, but I promise you that you will

  have to put up with me for many years to come…at least

  until the day I have to push you around in a

  wheelchair!”

  Caroline’s words were a balm to Kathy’s heart. “I

  know that, Sweetheart. I’m just being a mom.”

  “Well, I have to get ready for school; I have a class

  in 45 minutes. Can I call you tonight?”

  “Of course. I’ll probably be home after six.”

  “Okay, Mom, I will talk to you around dinner time,

  then.”

  “Caroline? I love you. I really do.”

  “I love you too, Mom.”

  A click marked the end of the conversation, and

  Kathy sat there for a moment, with the phone still close

  to her ear. At least she had told Caroline she loved her—

  had the other young woman’s mother had a chance to do

  the same?

  She tried to call Tom’s desk and then his mobile

  phone, but she got voice mail both times, so she got up

  from the desk and turned off the computer. She had

  plenty of work to do, but she just couldn’t focus. She

  decided to take the rest of the day off and go home.

  Maybe she would stop by Starbucks to replace the

  coffee that got spilled earlier. Right now, for reasons still

  not known to her, Kathy needed something that would

  bring her comfort.

  #

  Tom stopped by the coffee machine before going to

  his desk. He was happy the department had installed one

  of the new machines that brew coffee from pods. He

  took a moment to decide whether he felt like Hazelnut

  or French Vanilla, but ended up choosing a non-flavored

  dark roast instead. Kathy had tried, over the years, to