A smile spread on his face when he saw Kissney and Levi look over the scene. They’d been put back on the case to stop him. The game was still running and he loved every moment of it. The cops had gone through most of the trees that ringed the park but missed him in the shadows. How they missed a grown man he didn’t understand. He had snuck back to the scene to watch Kissney go over the bodies. She noticed the small piece of shirt the woman had been able to rip off, but he wasn’t worried about that.
He watched then listened, they had been right about the blood. A sly smile crossed his face at the way he had gotten around that.
“She’s holding something, Levi.”
Levi pried the woman’s hand open enough to get the piece of cloth out. It was the first time he had left something behind. This woman had fought to get away from him.
“It looks like a piece of fabric.”
“Bag it. It’s the first real piece of evidence we’ve found.”
Levi put the small piece of cloth into a bag sealing it to be taken back to the lab. Mac had arrived to take the bodies.
“He really made a mess of these two,” Mac told them as he made his way through the trees.
“He didn’t want to pose them like the others. This was more about getting the attention of the papers,” Levi said, but it didn’t seem right to him. Maybe this killer was trying for something else when he killed these two.
“This killer is after something, I just can’t place what it is.” Kissney looked around to see if he had left boot prints. With this much blood there was no way he was able to walk away with none on him. “Did the beat cops look through the trees in this area?”
“They said they looked and found nothing, not a drop of blood.” Levi didn’t believe that for a minute.
“No way had he gotten out of this without a drop of blood on his body or clothes,” Mac told them as he checked out the bodies. The murder had happened only a few hours ago so the bodies hadn’t started to stiffen yet.
“Levi, have them check again, there has to be a blood trail around here.”
“Kissney, do you really think they missed it?”
“Yes I do, they don’t want to be going through the trees looking for a smear or dot of blood.”
Mac gave a slight chuckle. It was true the beat cops didn’t want to do the small jobs. They wanted to move up in the ranks faster, but didn’t want to do anything to earn it. With the help of his assistant, Mac took the two bodies back to the morgue. Kissney stood, thinking about what this killer had wanted. In the letter he’d wanted the two cops back on the case. It didn’t matter which cops happen to land on the case, this killer was attached to Kissney and Levi.
“You have the look on your face,” Levi spoke as he moved up beside her.
“What look is that?”
“You thought of something.”
“I think I have, but I’m not sure yet. Why would he care which cops take this case? How did he know we happened to be off the case?”
“Maybe he reads the papers? Watches the news?”
“That is possible, but most serial killers latch on to a certain person because they have a secret to hide.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know.”
Levi didn’t like the look in her eyes. She had thought of more than that, but didn’t want to talk about it. They walked the scene once more before they talked to a few more people in the park. No one saw anyone covered in blood. The ride back to the precinct was tense. Levi wanted to ask her more but he kept his mouth shut.
“Shaw, Krumm, my office.”
They didn’t get a moment to sit down and process anything before Captain Parnese yelled for them to come into his office.
“Sir?”
“You found something this time?”
“A piece of fabric that looks like it came from a shirt. Levi was about to send it to the lab when you called us in here,” Kissney told him with a glare.
“It’s a good thing you found something on him.”
“Captain, this doesn’t mean we have anything on him. It’s just a piece of a shirt, it could be from any number of shirts in this city.”
“Kissney, are you second guessing the evidence?”
“Sir, I am saying we have to take the time to see if it was the killer’s shirt. It could have come from her boyfriend.”
Levi had thought the same thing but hadn’t said anything out loud. In that moment he knew Kissney would be a great sergeant.
“Fine, get the piece of fabric to the lab.”
Kissney walked back to her desk to see Levi had moved all his stuff to another desk. She guessed she would have a new partner after this case. It almost hurt too much to see the empty desk across from her. Had he wanted to change partners so he could get into her pants? Did Levi really love her? Kissney was so lost in thought that she didn’t hear Levi walk up behind her. When he touched her shoulder she punched without looking.
“Kissneyyyy.” Her name was let out in a grunt when Levi almost doubled over from the hit in the stomach. She knew her eyes were big as saucers when she noticed it was him. Laughter could be hear all around them.
“Sorry, was thinking about stuff, didn’t hear you coming up behind me.”
“I’ll wear a bell from now on.”
“That might be helpful, did you get the sample to the lab? Any word from Mac?” She was joking about the bell but the look in his eyes told her a different story.
“Yes I did and nothing so far. Mac called about ten minutes ago. Cause of death for the woman was blood loss from stab wounds. The man was more blunt force trauma.”
“Have you had lunch yet?”
“Heading that way now, you want to grab something?”
Kissney didn’t know if they should be going to lunch like this but she liked having the company. She pushed the pictures of the scenes into the folder and the folder went into her desk drawer, which she kept locked. She grabbed her purse as they headed out to grab some lunch.
“Do you think he will kill again?”
“I believe this guy is going to kill until we catch him or he’s dead.”
“So how do we catch him, Kiss? He isn’t leaving us much to find him with.”
“Well you know he’s going to slip up at some point. All killers do, the letters are one of his mess ups if you ask me.”
Kissney took a bite of her salad then thought on what she had said. It was true she believed he was being cocky about the murders. He wanted the cops to link all the bodies to him. That didn’t make much sense unless he loved the glory of it.
“The letters are his mess up? I don’t follow you on that one.”
“He wrote the letters to link the bodies to him. So he has given us a hint in that, he also gave us a hint in the name he took. Rembrandt was a great painter and we all know who Jack the Ripper was, so he’s putting the two into one.” Kissney moved her fork with lettuce on it around as she spoke.
“How the hell did you make the connection?”
Levi took a bite of his burger, dripping mayo and ketchup onto the plate. Kissney looked at him with a slight smile.
“Look at the two names, he’s cutting them up or skinning them before he arranges them like they’re art pieces. It makes the most sense.” Kissney took a drink of her tea as she watched him make sense of what she had just said.
Levi had to agree with her that it made sense, but he didn’t like the idea that this guy was trying to be like Jack the Ripper. He thought on what she said but he couldn’t find a common link between the two men. Maybe this guy was just crazy enough to believe he could be a painter with murder victims.
“You really believe he’s trying to be some kind of morbid painter?”
“I don’t think he’s being a painter, more like a sculptor. The problem with being in his art is it will kill you.”
Levi didn’t want to laugh at that statement but a slight chuckle slipped. When he looked into her eyes again he knew they needed to talk about what happened the other night. “Kissney, we need to talk about the other night.”
“No, we really don’t.”
Kissney finished her food, stood, and left the little bistro. She didn’t look back at him to see if he would follow her. It wasn’t like her to leave her trash on the table, but she knew Levi would take care of it. A few moments later he spoke as he walked up behind her.
“Kissney, really we need to talk about this.”
“Levi, I don’t want to talk about, so let it go. We have work to do.”
Levi couldn’t understand why she didn’t want to hear what he had to say. He followed her into the precinct and wondered if there would be a time she would ever want to talk about it.