The Perfect Murder

One

Mary looked good. Better than she had in high school. There were more curves to her body, a new sophistication to her face, and her smile seemed to have more meaning behind it. But Malcolm could tell she was weary. The divorce had taken a heavy toll. And she did a lot for her two boys.

He shifted, ducking when he heard an engine in the street. He was partly shielded by a large poplar tree and, judging by the volume of the music emanating from what appeared to be a muscle car, the driver was probably a teenage boy who was as oblivious and self-absorbed as he used to be at that age. But it wouldn’t do to have someone see him peeking in Mary’s windows.

The car, bass pounding through its speakers, passed without slowing. Then the beat and the motor dimmed, and the neighborhood returned to sleep mode. This was Malcolm’s favorite time to watch Mary-although he sometimes came when the sun was up, too, if he thought she’d be home from work. Now that he was unemployed it was hard to fill all the hours in a day. His new life hadn’t turned out remotely the way he’d imagined when he’d planned to start over. He missed the people he’d known before, wanted to contact some of them-but they thought he was dead and they had to go on thinking that.

Maybe that was why, after so many years, he’d looked up his high-school sweetheart and followed her to California. The compulsion to reconnect didn’t make much sense otherwise. He’d moved on without her quite easily twenty years ago. Married twice, divorced once and…

He didn’t want to think about what he’d done to his second wife. He didn’t regret killing her or her son. As far as he was concerned, they deserved what they got. But ever since he’d gambled away most of the insurance settlement he’d taken when he left Jersey, he’d been forced to live in dumpy rental houses out in the boondocks where the smell of cow shit was so strong it sometimes felt as if he was standing in it. Tough to find something better when the only jobs he could get were at two-bit security companies that paid a buck or two over minimum wage.

With a silent curse, he remembered the last job he’d held. It wasn’t the meager pay that bothered him so much as the lack of respect. He couldn’t take it; not after being a real cop.

Fingering the badge he still carried everywhere, he slid to the next window so he could have a better view of Mary checking her computer. She was probably expecting to hear from him. Claiming to be someone she’d once met briefly, he’d contacted her through her jewelry-making Web site and managed to strike up a relationship. But hiding behind an alias and a computer screen wasn’t satisfying him tonight. He was bored, restless…

After only a few minutes at the computer, Mary stood and started turning off the lights. With the kids in school and her job at the hospital, she was pretty damned predictable. From here, she’d go into her bedroom, pull the blinds and the show would be over.

Unless she didn’t bother with the blinds. In the months he’d been watching her, she’d forgotten only once, but that gave him hope.

Creeping around to the other side of the house, he squatted in the shrubbery and waited for her to enter her bedroom.

She came in, turned on the TV, put away some clothes that were folded and sitting on a chair. Then she approached the window. They were only inches apart, so close he could see the mascara smudges that told him she’d been rubbing her eyes-

Then the blind went down.

Shit. Malcolm sank lower on his haunches. What now? Should he head to the Indian casinos and while away a few hours?

No. He needed something more visceral, something more exciting, something to remind him of the power he’d once enjoyed.

He toyed with the idea of slipping into the house, exploring the empty rooms, touching Mary’s things, stealing a pair of her panties. Maybe even watching her sleep. The temptation to do so was growing stronger every day. He certainly thought about it a lot. But he was afraid he’d get caught and screw up the possibility of having a real relationship with her once he could trust her enough to reveal his true identity. He’d come too far to blow all that by being impatient…

He had to leave. But that didn’t mean he had to call it a night. Thinking of the Kojak light he kept in his van, he felt his mood improve. Playing cop wouldn’t put him in Mary’s bed tonight, but it would give him the adrenaline rush he craved-and maybe a few sexual favors to go with it.

Three weeks later…

Jane Burke recognized an opportunity when she saw one. Ever since she’d started working at The Last Stand, she’d been waiting for her chance, hoping a case would come along that would allow her to prove herself.

She was pretty sure it had just walked through the door.

“The man who let me in said you might be able to help me.” A short cannonball of a woman stood uncertainly in the entryway of Jane’s office, swiping at tear-filled eyes.

Motioning for her to come farther into the room, Jane brought over a box of tissues. “I’ll do my best,” she promised. “But first I need to learn more about why you’re here.”

The young woman’s obesity made it difficult to guess her age, but Jane pegged her at twenty-four or twenty-five. Gerald, the volunteer who’d admitted her, had told Jane she had two siblings who’d recently gone missing. So far, that was all Jane knew. If it’d been on the news, she hadn’t seen it or heard about it. But that wasn’t too surprising. She’d been so busy she hadn’t even turned on the TV. “What’s your name?”

In an attempt to control her emotions, the woman took two tissues and blew her nose. “Gloria. Gloria Rickman.”

“Gloria, I’m Jane Burke. Please sit down so we can talk.” Jane returned the tissue box to its generally ignored corner, then pulled a chair away from the wall, placing it in front of the desk, where it would’ve been if she’d been in the habit of taking her own cases. She was still in training, had been since she’d started six months ago, which meant she did all the tedious record searches, time-consuming court runs and boring clerical work for the three partners who were the backbone of the victims’ charity. But she had a feeling the criminal justice courses she’d been taking, and everything she’d learned on the job, was about to pay off. With Skye Willis and Ava Trussell in South America on a rare job-for-hire, tracking a father who’d stolen his child from his ex-wife, and Sheridan Granger out on maternity leave, Jane had been left in charge of the office. This was the perfect time to tackle her first case. Other than the three volunteers who came in to stuff envelopes or solicit donations, she was the only person here.

“Let me get a notebook. Then I want you to tell me what’s upset you so much.”

The chair creaked as the woman settled into it. Rolls of flesh spilled over the wooden frame, but Jane didn’t care about her excess weight. She’d once been heavy herself. Maybe not quite to this degree, but definitely frumpy. If not for the counseling, daily workout sessions and self-defense classes that’d become her routine-all a product in one way or another of her friendship with Skye-she’d probably still be the disillusioned, overweight, hard-edged smoker she’d been four years ago.

Now she ran an hour a day, weighed a trim one hundred and ten pounds, and had stopped trying to kill herself with cigarettes. Only her smoker’s voice remained. And the scars from that period of her life, of course. They’d never go away entirely-especially the ones on the inside.

“I’m here ’bout my two sisters,” Gloria said. “They went missin’ three weeks ago.”

“Three weeks ago?” Jane echoed, unable to hide her shock.

Tears welled up again. “Three weeks ago las’ Saturday.”

It was Monday morning. That added another day, almost two.

“Why haven’t I heard about this?”

“I don’t know. There were articles in the paper. I reported it to the police the same afternoon it happened,” she said, “but the detective who called me ain’t found nothin’ yet. He’s been tryin’, but…no one’s got any idea where my sisters are an’…I’m so scared. That’s why I’m here. I have to do somethin’ more. I can’t jus’ sit around an’ wait. I’m all they have. I’m all they ever had.”

“Where’re your parents?”

“We have different fathers, but none of ’em are any good,” she said. “Our mother didn’t hang with the best crowd, you hear what I’m sayin’? She died of a drug overdose when I was twenty-three. I was the oldest and had my own place, so I moved my sisters in with me. Latisha, the youngest, wasn’t even in high school yet.”

Jane could easily identify with being raised by another member of the family. Her parents had been killed in a car accident when she was six, leaving her to be raised by an aging aunt who’d stayed single her entire life and had since died, as well. “Where do you live?”

“In a one-bedroom apartment on Marconi. We been there since they came to live with me. It’s a small place, but we make it work. I won’t uproot ’em again and again and again, like what my mama did to me.”

“It’s wonderful that you’ve been able to provide some stability,” Jane said. “How long ago did you assume responsibility for them?”

“It’s been ’bout three years now. They eighteen and seventeen. They both graduated this last June,” she stated proudly. “Marcie got her GED, but Latisha, she was put up a grade on account of she’s so smart. She graduated with honors and won a scholarship to Sac State.”

So the missing sisters were, for the most part, adults. That was probably why this case hadn’t become a major focus for the media. That and the fact that there’d been nothing more to report. “Did you have an argument with them? Try to punish them? Anything that might’ve made them angry enough to leave?”

“We argue all the time, but that ain’t what’s wrong, Ms.-”

“Jane. You can call me Jane.”

“They ain’t never left before. They know I yell ’cause I want ’em to be more and have more than our mother. They gotta go to college. They keep tryin’ to drop out so they can help me keep a roof over our heads. It’s tough to earn a livin’ workin’ at a convenience store. I put in a good sixty, seventy hours a week. But I got Marcie’s tuition at ARC to pay for, in addition to all the other bills. They’re what make it worth doin’-knowin’ they’ll have a better life if I keep goin’. I can’t lose ’em.” More tears streaked her bronze cheeks. “We been through too much. It can’t end like this.”

Already Jane feared she might be in over her head. Be careful what you wish for, she silently chided herself. She’d been bugging Skye to let her start taking on her own cases, and Skye kept saying she wasn’t ready. But if she didn’t get involved now, Gloria would have to wait for Skye and Ava to return. Depending on what happened in South America, that could take a week to ten days, maybe longer. With the economy the way it was, donations were down by a significant margin. Skye and Ava needed to finish this job in order to keep the charity’s doors open. That was the only reason Skye’s husband had agreed to her going so far away. He was the one who’d insisted Ava go with her, since he couldn’t take the time off work. They wouldn’t be back until the woman who’d contracted them had her child back. And Sheridan, their other partner, was planning to spend the next three or four months at home with her new baby.

“Have you been in touch with all their friends?” Jane asked. “Do you have any other family in the area?”

“I talked to everybody. I been on the phone night an’ day. Ain’t nobody seen ’em.”

“When’s the last time you had contact?”

“That same Saturday. Latisha was sleepin’ when I had Marcie take me to work. Latisha had to wait tables at noon and Marcie had to be at the Rancho Cordova Marriott at three. She’s a maid.” She leaned forward, as if taking Jane into her confidence. “I let ’em work part-time if they’re keepin’ up with their schoolwork and all.” She rocked back. “Anyway, Latisha never showed up at the restaurant. I didn’t know ’cause nobody called me. But when Marcie didn’t go to work like she always does, the hotel wanted to know what was what. I tried her cell, but it kept goin’ to voice mail.”

“So you’re thinking they disappeared from your apartment?”

“No. As soon as I could get someone to cover the store, I took the bus home and foun’ the house jus’ fine, locked up an’ everythin’. But the car was gone. We have a little Honda Civic.”

Jane made a note of this information. “Is there any chance your sisters could be into drugs, Gloria?”

“Oh, no! You think I’d let that happen after I watched my mama kill herself with that shit? After all I done to raise ’em up good? They wouldn’t dare. They know I’d kick their asses clear to kingdom come.”

Jane believed she would, too. “Where do you think they might’ve driven?”

Gloria’s double chin wagged as she shook her head. “With the price of gas, they had no business goin’ nowhere. We gotta pinch pennies jus’ to survive. Mosta the time, we take the bus. But maybe Marcie decided to buy some doughnuts and a paper. She been talkin’ ’bout gettin’ a new job, a better one. That’s my best guess, since the car was found near Hank’s Donuts. Hank’s is our favorite.”

Jane quickly tried to assemble the scenario in her mind. Car abandoned; girls missing. Both sisters were going to school and working. They were also living in an environment that wasn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination, but it was very apparent that they were at least loved. What could’ve gone wrong?

“What condition was the car in? Did it have a flat, a breakdown?” she asked.

“That car has one problem after another. It ain’t worth but a few hundred bucks. But the police found it parked on a residential street off Franklin Boulevard, a few blocks from the doughnut place, like I said. And it was runnin’ jus’ fine.”

“Was there anything inside to indicate where your sisters had been that morning-some napkins from Hank’s? A grocery sack? A Starbucks cup?”

“Jus’ the books and stuff they leave in there all the time. I keep tellin’ ’em not to leave their backpacks in the car. It don’t even lock right. But sometimes they do. You know what kids are like these days.”

This woman was only in her twenties, but she acted a lot closer to Jane’s forty-six. With so much responsibility thrust on her at such a young age, she probably felt at least forty. “What about cell phones? Have the police checked to see if they’ve been used since Latisha and Marcie disappeared?”

“Their phones were in the car.” Covering her face, Gloria broke into sobs but spoke through them. “That’s another way I knew they didn’t walk off. They wouldn’t leave their phones behind. We got no money for two extra cell phones but they’d rather go without food.”

This wasn’t sounding very hopeful. Jane forced a pleasant expression to cover her concern. “Do you have the phones? We’ll need to check all incoming and outgoing calls. It’s possible they know someone you didn’t realize they know. Maybe that person’s seen them since you have.”

“The police have the phones. A detective’s goin’ through their recent calls.”

“Which detective is that?”

“They gave the case to a white guy named Willis. He a handsome man. But he wearin’ a weddin’ ring. I checked.”

Jane might’ve been tempted to laugh at Gloria’s aside, but she was too distracted by the name. “Did you say Willis?”

“Yes, ma’am, I did.”

Too bad. Willis was Skye’s husband. That would be tricky if Jane wanted to hide her involvement from her bosses, who wouldn’t be happy to hear she’d dived in without permission.

On the other hand, having David on the case was fortuitous, too, since he was cooperative and sympathetic to what they were trying to accomplish at The Last Stand. Not all members of the department were friendly. They believed the mere existence of TLS sent a message to the community that the police weren’t being effective. Some of the unflattering comments Skye, Ava and Sheridan occasionally made to the media didn’t help. “Your husband’s the cop, not you!” someone had yelled at Skye a few weeks ago.

Jane wasn’t a cop, either. She wasn’t even a full caseworker. Not yet. But if she’d learned anything in the past six months it was that drive, determination and sheer hard work could make up for a lot in an investigation.

Gloria was explaining the situation in greater detail. Taking a deep breath, Jane refocused.

“I guess Detective Willis worked them cases down by the American River a few years back.” She wiped her nose. “Murders. They think this might be related.”

Jane felt her eyebrows slide up. If those cases were the ones that sprang immediately to her mind, this wasn’t related. It couldn’t be. Jane knew the perpetrator. She’d been living with him at the time. Oliver Burke was dead. But the memory of what he’d done in the years she’d been married to him still made her shudder. He’d been so good at compartmentalizing, at playing whatever part he needed to play in order to avoid detection. He’d fooled even her, right up until the end.

That was what she had to offer The Last Stand that none of the others could, she reminded herself. She knew how a psychopath thought, how he behaved, how manipulative he could be. Not only had she shared a decade of her life with Oliver, she had a child by him-and was nearly murdered by him, too.

“I’ll give Detective Willis a call,” she told Gloria. “I know him. He’s a friend.”

The chair groaned as Gloria shifted. “You don’t think my sisters are dead, do you? I can’t even imagine what I’d do if they was dead.”

Jane wanted to promise that they weren’t. But Latisha and Marcie had been gone for three weeks. They’d left their car and their cell phones behind, and there’d been no trace of them. What were the chances that they weren’t lying lifeless in the woods somewhere? The only thing they had going for them was the fact that they’d been together. That was better than disappearing alone. Unless the worst had happened. Then Gloria would lose both sisters at once.

“We’ll find them, one way or another,” she said. “Can you get me some photographs?”

“I got ’em right here.” She took several pictures from a large purse, as well as a crudely made flyer. “I been postin’ that flyer everywhere I can.”

Jane accepted these items, stared into the faces of the missing girls and felt a renewed sense of urgency as they became real to her. One had a distinctly darker complexion than the other, cornrows and a nose piercing. The name Marcie was written at the bottom. The other, Latisha, had almond-shaped eyes, a wide smile and an attractive bob. “Good idea,” she said. “I’ll do what I can from here.”

“Thank you.” Gloria dabbed at her wet cheeks. “I-I got no money, but I’ll do whatever I-”

“Don’t worry about fees,” Jane hurried to interject, setting the pictures and the flyer, which had the word MISSING written in large block letters across the top, on the edge of her desk. “Our services are free to those who need them.”

Relief eased some of the tension in the other woman’s bearing. “Hallelujah! Thank you, God.”

“I might require some insight or answers as we go along, however,” Jane continued. “Can you give me your contact information?”

Gloria complied with an address, work number and cell phone number.

“What about their fathers, and your father?” Jane asked. “Can you tell me how to reach these men?”

“What would you want with my no-good father?”

“I’m just being thorough.”

“I don’t want him callin’ me again.” She sank lower in her seat. “But…I’ll do anything if it’ll help. His name’s Timothy Huff. I don’t have a number for him, but you can find him down at the pool hall on Florin Road most Fridays, drunker’n a skunk.”

That was loose contact information indeed. “And Marcie’s dad?”

“He call every once in a while from prison.”

At least they could rule him out. “What’s he in for?”

“Possession.”

“That leaves Latisha’s dad.”

Gloria shook her head. “You don’t wanna bother Luther Wilson. He got a’ anger management problem. We call him Lucifer, but we do it behind his back. That’s how bad he is.”

“Does he know his daughter’s missing?”

“I haven’t told him,” she said. “What’s the use? He don’ care ’bout her. He never has.”

Jane dropped her pen and steepled her fingers. “How’d your mother meet these men?”

“Turnin’ tricks.”

“You’re saying she was a prostitute?”

“She had to pay for her drugs somehow.”

That explained a lot. “What’s so scary about Lucifer-I mean, Luther?” she corrected.

“He was her pimp, and he beat the hell out of her.”

Now Jane knew she was in over her head. She liked to believe a bottle of bleach and a couple of tattoos made her look tough. But at five foot four she was no match for an angry pimp. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Standing, she managed a smile. “Thanks for coming in. I’ll call you when I’ve had a chance to do some checking.”

When Jane walked her to the door, Gloria said, “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

Jane wasn’t prepared for the embrace that accompanied those words, but as Gloria’s shoulders shook beneath her arms, she felt a renewed determination. She wanted to help, but could she handle this case?

Pimps. Prostitutes. Drugs. She’d never been part of that world. She’d lived with a psychopath, but Oliver was dead, and she was safe. She’d been safe for nearly five years…

Jumping into this was asking for trouble. Most people were kidnapped or killed by a family member or friend, which meant she had to contact Latisha’s father. She had to talk to everyone associated with the missing girls. That was one of the cardinal rules of a good investigation.

But if Luther had anything to do with what had happened to his daughter and her sister, he certainly wouldn’t want her snooping around…