Killing Ways

16

Ren pulled Gia Larosa’s file as soon as she got into work the next morning. It was JeffCo’s case, but had started out with Safe Streets, because there was a last-known sighting in Denver. Gia Larosa had run away from her home in Montana, and hitch-hiked to Denver with various truckers, all of whom were cleared of any involvement in her death. Her body was found a month after she arrived in Denver — two days after she went missing.

Ren went through the photos of the crime scene. Temperatures at the end of May and early June were high, but Gia Larosa had been left partially covered by undergrowth, so the problem was not so much the heat, but the critters that had gotten to her. She was too decomposed to tell whether or not she’d been raped. But Ren honed in on one of the little yellow plastic markers at the scene, and an ax handle beside it.

Rape with a foreign object.

The lab report said that the ax handle had no prints on it. It was clean clean — bleach clean. There was evidence of sharp-force trauma to the lower spine that was likely caused by the ax, the blade of which was never found.

Gia Larosa’s cause of death was undetermined.

Ren sent an email out to all the agencies working on the case that Gia Larosa should be considered a victim of the same killer.

Sorry, Gary. Can’t fight another fight with you.

I have an appointment to get to...

Dr Leonard Lone was Ren’s psychiatrist, an intelligent, kind-faced man, gray-haired, bearded, soft-spoken. Behind the air of normality was an abnormally large family fortune, and an enduring, under-the-radar commitment to share it with those less fortunate. Ren secretly called him Batman.

‘How are you doing, Ren?’ Lone opened the door wide in a deliberate flourish.

Greetings, Batman! ‘I’m great, thank you,’ said Ren, taking a seat. ‘You look like you’re in a good mood.’

He sat at his desk opposite. ‘Don’t I always?’

She laughed. ‘Well, yes. But I’m liking the door-opening.’

‘I’m cultivating grand entrances today,’ said Lone.

‘Well, how about this for a grand entrance: there’s a serial killer in Denver. It’s not been formally announced yet. I’m case agent.’

‘Good for you,’ said Lone. ‘That was Gary’s decision?’

‘Yes.’

‘How do you feel about that?’

‘Confident, thank you.’

He nodded, then waited for an elaboration that didn’t come.

‘So, with this new responsibility...’ said Lone.

‘Comes great power!’ said Ren.

Lone smiled. ‘Comes the more mundane issues of longer hours, irregular hours, increased workload...’

There’s no such thing as a long hour. An hour is an hour.

She glanced at the clock.

Then again...

‘How has your sleep been?’ said Lone.

Why are we even doing this? I’m smart enough to know the right answers. And smart enough to know never to say out loud anything that egomaniacal. Flag. ‘I’m sleeping well, eating well, working well.’ Suppressing checking the time well.

Dr Lone nodded. ‘Are you happy with your meds?’

Happy I am no longer taking them, yes. Ren nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘The dosage is right for you?’ said Lone.

‘Yes, absolutely.’

‘When do you take them?’ said Lone.

Pause. ‘At night.’ She thought of her shoebox of shame — the meds box — lying under her bed, untouched.

‘Are you having any adverse reaction?’ said Lone.

‘No, nothing — they’re great. I’m feeling very... on an even keel.’

‘Good,’ said Lone. ‘Is there anything in particular you think we need to address today?’

‘Hmm, not really.’ Jesus, make something up. ‘Oh, there is something, actually. What am I meant to do with this information? A married colleague, who I greatly respect, had an affair. I was his unwitting alibi. I have gone along with this, lied to his wife, whom I know well. And I feel like shit.’

‘I don’t need to know names, but is this colleague a superior?’ said Lone.

‘Yes,’ said Ren.

‘Then that alters the dynamic,’ said Lone.

‘Not really,’ said Ren.

‘Well, do you still respect him?’

Hmm. ‘Yes,’ said Ren, ‘totally.’

‘Do you still value his judgment?’ said Lone.

Ooh. ‘Yes.’ But, seriously, what the fuck was he thinking?

‘Do you still feel he has your back?’ said Lone.

‘I guess I feel a little thrown to the wolves.’

‘Is it affecting how you’re interacting with him?’ said Lone.

‘Yes, actually,’ said Ren. ‘And him me... and to cap it all off, if I’m perfectly honest, part of me wishes that, if he was going to cheat, that I could have been someone he might have slept with.’

Lone nodded.

‘I know that sounds screwed up,’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Lone. ‘It does sound unwise, though. Has he always been faithful to his wife?’

‘Well, I thought so.’

‘And is that what stopped you ever pursuing anything with him?’ said Lone.

‘Well...’ He’s my boss. ‘Maybe if he were single, I would have gone there in the past.’

‘Do you feel now that “all bets are off”?’ said Lone.

‘I shouldn’t,’ said Ren. ‘But part of me does.’

‘And what about Ben?’ said Lone.

Ren let out a breath. ‘I don’t know. I’m feeling kind of... bored.’

‘Be wary of bored,’ said Lone. ‘Boredom likes to make mischief.’

‘Boredom is my kryptonite.’

He nodded. ‘Yes. You’ve just described an unhealthy environment for you, Ren. Boredom, work drama, increased workload, sleep deprivation, sexual attraction, and the perceived availability of the focus of that attraction.’

Jesus Christ, is anyone not fucking boring around here?

And are you studying me a little too closely, Batman?

Ren went home that night and put together a hot meal of cannellini beans, spinach, lemon juice, the remaining shard of parmesan, and black pepper. She ate in front of the television, with a glass of red wine, and a magazine open on the sofa beside her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a big red blast of BREAKING NEWS.

Oh. Shit.

She grabbed the remote control and turned it up.

‘Unconfirmed reports have come in that authorities are on the hunt for a violent serial killer in Denver...’

‘Shiiiit!’ said Ren. ‘And unconfirmed my ass!’

The frowning reporter stared straight ahead, unflinching, earnest: ‘The FBI has joined forces with Denver PD, the Douglas County and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Offices in piecing together events surrounding the murder of Gia Larosa whose body was found at Lookout Mountain in June; Stephanie Wingerter, who was found in July at Devil’s Head in Douglas County; kindergarten teacher, Hope Coulson, discovered last month at the Fyron Industries landfill site in Denver; and the latest victim — mother-of-one, Donna Darisse, who was last seen on Colfax Avenue, before her body was discovered off Highway 72 in Jefferson County. It is believed that some or all of the victims were brutally raped before they were murdered. Authorities have no leads.’

‘Noooooo!’ shouted Ren, grabbing a cushion to throw at the television, knocking her wine glass from the coffee table onto the floor. ‘Nooooo!’