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TODAY HAD BEEN AN EXTREMELY long day, and the week has just begun. Landry thought five o’clock would never get here. He wanted to go home and fall into a deep sleep. Before he could do that though, he needed to go talk to Sheriff Williams and give him a status update on the case.
So far nothing was panning out. Their killer had walked right past the undercover doormen without being noticed. Then they have had no luck with the killer visiting grave sites either. This woman was a ghost; she slipped in and out with no problem.
What irritated him more than anything, was that they have absolutely no leads. He had to admit this lady was damn good, she left little to no evidence at the scenes. Nothing was adding up in this case. He raked a hand through his hair and knocked on Sheriff Williams’s door.
“Come in, Landry. What do we have so far?”
Letting out a deep sigh, “Not much still.” Taking a chair, Landry reclined back and made himself comfortable. “All the autopsies show that she injected the men with various poisons. The toxicology reports have confirmed that she drugs their champagne, most likely to sedate them enough so they offer no resistance when she restrains them to the bed. The fibers left on the body confirm that she did use a form of bondage on the men, but she took the restraints with her. We also know she favors black; there were black silk fibers on the bodies and in their mouths. I have a feeling she uses a black silk scarf to muffle any screams the men may make. Dr. Renault confirmed that the poisons she uses would be very painful.
We also retrieved a strand of long black hair from one of the crime scenes, but there was no root. Forensics believes it may be from a wig, which confirms my suspicions that she wears a disguise.”
Sheriff Williams asked, “So you are certain this is a woman?”
“Yes, sir. I don’t see this killer as being a man. I believe these men either called or picked up an escort for the night. I am running into a brick wall when it comes to talking to the escort services around here. Not only would this hurt their business if word got out that one of their girls may be the killer, but it would also hurt their business if clients find out that police are talking to them and they are cooperating.
I have been working on a plan, and talking to vice about the nuances of the escort business. I am considering having someone go undercover and call an escort service. Maybe we will get lucky and snare her in our web, or at the very least, maybe we may get an escort that is willing to talk to us with the promise of not bringing her in.”
Landry had no doubt that Sheriff Williams wanted to catch this woman as much as him. Hell, they were likely to have another body and still have nothing more to go on than they have now.
“I had hoped we would get lucky with the surveillance, but that is turning out to be a waste of time. The newspaper article didn’t seem to help lure her out as I had hoped. I even ran plates of the guests that have stayed at the hotels and that turned up nothing. I’m not ready to give up though.”
Sheriff Williams stated, “I don’t know how much longer we can keep up this surveillance. The budget is tight, and this case is starting to involve a lot of man hours with no results. We may have to rethink our strategy in two weeks. I also want to talk some more about this sting.”
Landry didn’t like that he was being given a timeline. “Sheriff, what happens if we pull the undercover doormen and then she murders a man? The public will be outraged that we may have had a chance to stop her and we didn’t.”
“Yeah, but she has already slipped past them, what’s to say she won’t do it again and again. You said yourself that she seems to be a master of disguise.”