reports on the news regarding the
murders?”
“ Yes horrible. Dreadful for their families.”
“ Well they think he got Elle.”
There was a heavy pause, a decisive pause. “Chelsea, I’m going
to come and stay with you. You shouldn’t be alone right now. I can
get a locum to cover for me at the surgery and I can be there by
tomorrow. Charlotte will come with me.”
“ Thanks, I really need you both.”
“ We’ll be there tomorrow.”
They said their goodbyes and hung up. Somehow Chelsea managed
to get to her room and climb into bed before she burst into
uncontrollable floods of tears.
* * *
When they arrived at the station, Lucas and Maggie were called
into their Captain’s office. Everett Shaw exuded superiority. With
his large stature and booming voice, he could menace the bravest of
men. He got the job done and expected the best from his detectives
and officers. And yet his rugged looks and boyish smile could also
charm almost anyone.
“ Sit down, Detectives,” he commanded. “I hear we have number
three. Is that correct?”
“ Yes, Captain.” Lucas took the floor. “We have just come from
speaking with her roommate.”
“ There is a lot of heat on us right now to get results. Where
are we on this?”
“ We’re about to go over all three and see if there’s a
connection. The only link we have at present is the first two
looked similar and the third girl’s roommate resembles the victims.
We also know all three were seeing a new ‘mystery’ man but we’ve
been unable to get a description. There were hairs found on Kate,
which luckily can be used for DNA comparison. We have flour traces
from two of the victims. We’re waiting for the results from Dave to
see if the same is true for the third.”
“ Good, keep focusing on how these girls could be connected and
I’ll get you some manpower to help with canvassing. They can also
re-interview all the friends and family.”
“ That would be a great help, thanks, Captain,” Maggie
answered.
“ Great let’s get to work.”
They had been dismissed.
Maggie headed off to organise CSIs and officers to search
Chelsea’s house and to allocate tasks to the detectives assigned to
help on the case.
Lucas strode back to his desk, determined to find something,
anything, no matter how small, tying these girls together. He
didn’t want to think about Maggie’s theory regarding Chelsea
regardless of their similarities. Just because he mentioned it to
Captain Shaw didn’t mean he wanted to consider it. The idea made
him uneasy and he didn’t know why.
Instead, he looked over the list of items retrieved from Kate
Miller’s house and found it wasn’t long. All items had been
fingerprinted. They had found no matches within the department
databases but they did match the prints taken from Libby’s house.
This confirmed what they already assumed; the same killer was
responsible for both murders.
Scanning down the page, he stopped when he came to a Coffee Break
Café paper
cup. It seemed familiar but even though he mulled it over for a
moment, he couldn’t place why.
Then he remembered. That’s it!
While brooding by the door at Chelsea’s house that morning his
cop radar had still been active. He’d scanned the room and now
thought he’d seen the very same coffee cup on a table near the
stairs. Could this be the connection? Only one way to find
out.
Grabbing his jacket off the back of his chair, he bounded off
looking for his partner. He located her getting coffee in the break
room.
“ Maggie, everything organised?”
“ Yeah, bud, what’s up?”
“ I need you to do something while I check out a possible
link.” He gave her his crooked grin.
“ You know I can’t resist that smile, Lucas, what do you
need?”
“ Could you ring Amy Miller and Kelly Bradshaw, find out
whether Kate and Libby frequented the Coffee Break
Café?”
“ Sure, where are you going?”
“ To ask Chelsea the same question. I think I found
murders?”
“ Yes horrible. Dreadful for their families.”
“ Well they think he got Elle.”
There was a heavy pause, a decisive pause. “Chelsea, I’m going
to come and stay with you. You shouldn’t be alone right now. I can
get a locum to cover for me at the surgery and I can be there by
tomorrow. Charlotte will come with me.”
“ Thanks, I really need you both.”
“ We’ll be there tomorrow.”
They said their goodbyes and hung up. Somehow Chelsea managed
to get to her room and climb into bed before she burst into
uncontrollable floods of tears.
* * *
When they arrived at the station, Lucas and Maggie were called
into their Captain’s office. Everett Shaw exuded superiority. With
his large stature and booming voice, he could menace the bravest of
men. He got the job done and expected the best from his detectives
and officers. And yet his rugged looks and boyish smile could also
charm almost anyone.
“ Sit down, Detectives,” he commanded. “I hear we have number
three. Is that correct?”
“ Yes, Captain.” Lucas took the floor. “We have just come from
speaking with her roommate.”
“ There is a lot of heat on us right now to get results. Where
are we on this?”
“ We’re about to go over all three and see if there’s a
connection. The only link we have at present is the first two
looked similar and the third girl’s roommate resembles the victims.
We also know all three were seeing a new ‘mystery’ man but we’ve
been unable to get a description. There were hairs found on Kate,
which luckily can be used for DNA comparison. We have flour traces
from two of the victims. We’re waiting for the results from Dave to
see if the same is true for the third.”
“ Good, keep focusing on how these girls could be connected and
I’ll get you some manpower to help with canvassing. They can also
re-interview all the friends and family.”
“ That would be a great help, thanks, Captain,” Maggie
answered.
“ Great let’s get to work.”
They had been dismissed.
Maggie headed off to organise CSIs and officers to search
Chelsea’s house and to allocate tasks to the detectives assigned to
help on the case.
Lucas strode back to his desk, determined to find something,
anything, no matter how small, tying these girls together. He
didn’t want to think about Maggie’s theory regarding Chelsea
regardless of their similarities. Just because he mentioned it to
Captain Shaw didn’t mean he wanted to consider it. The idea made
him uneasy and he didn’t know why.
Instead, he looked over the list of items retrieved from Kate
Miller’s house and found it wasn’t long. All items had been
fingerprinted. They had found no matches within the department
databases but they did match the prints taken from Libby’s house.
This confirmed what they already assumed; the same killer was
responsible for both murders.
Scanning down the page, he stopped when he came to a Coffee Break
Café paper
cup. It seemed familiar but even though he mulled it over for a
moment, he couldn’t place why.
Then he remembered. That’s it!
While brooding by the door at Chelsea’s house that morning his
cop radar had still been active. He’d scanned the room and now
thought he’d seen the very same coffee cup on a table near the
stairs. Could this be the connection? Only one way to find
out.
Grabbing his jacket off the back of his chair, he bounded off
looking for his partner. He located her getting coffee in the break
room.
“ Maggie, everything organised?”
“ Yeah, bud, what’s up?”
“ I need you to do something while I check out a possible
link.” He gave her his crooked grin.
“ You know I can’t resist that smile, Lucas, what do you
need?”
“ Could you ring Amy Miller and Kelly Bradshaw, find out
whether Kate and Libby frequented the Coffee Break
Café?”
“ Sure, where are you going?”
“ To ask Chelsea the same question. I think I found
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