Daddy's Little Killer by LS Sygnet Read Free Book Online Page A

approached my car – one older and
rotund in the middle, one younger with a deep cleft just left of
center chin.  His hair dipped down over the edge of one
eyelid.  He tapped my closed window with a shiny gold
badge.
    "Great," I hissed a choice word or two under
my breath and depressed the button to open the window.  Its
motor hummed softly.
    "Dr. Eriksson?"
    I watched his chest expand and freeze the
moment our eyes met.  Something about the way he looked at me
seemed … off.  He stumbled half a step backward.  Not my
imagination.
    I frowned.  "Yes?"
    "Detectives Conall and Briscoe, Darkwater
Bay PD, Downey Division.  Commissioner Hardy informed us you'd
be arriving tonight and requested that we escort you to a fresh
crime scene."
    I shook my head, more of a rattle
really.  "Detective, I haven't even agreed to consult on cases
for Darkwater Bay yet."
    "I understand, Dr. Eriksson, but this case
is …"
    The man on the other side of the car,
presumably Briscoe, muttered something to his partner.  I
couldn't make out the words, but the tone was clear as day. 
Serious.
    "Fine.  I'll go with you to this crime
scene."
    "If you'd like, we can take you, ma'am."
    "Eriksson will do," did I really look old
enough to warrant ma'am?  Any woman approaching 40 who tells
you she doesn't mind being called ma'am is either insane or a liar,
possibly both.  Ma'am.  Why not call me grandma while
you're at it?
    "I'll follow you in my rental," I
said.  "I'd rather not take a trip into the city only to have
to return for the car after I see your crime scene."
    The passenger door popped open and the round
detective grunted.  He wasn't fitting inside a whole lot
better than I was.  "Tony Briscoe, Dr. Eriksson," he
said.  "I'll ride along with you so I can fill you in on the
particulars of the case, what we know, why this thing is such a
goddamned hornet's nest already.  Also, I can help you get
through our ground cover so you don't get turned around on the way
to the scene."
    I clicked on the GPS system.  "What's
the address?"
    "Forty-two fifty Templeton Lane."
    Coordinates entered. 
"Nightingale?"
    "That's the one," Briscoe said. 
"Puppy'll be right behind us."  His eyes darted through my
open window in silent command to his partner.  "This is a
mess, Dr. Eriksson.  I won't beat around the bush about it at
all.  We got a dead vic in Central Division's territory, and
everybody from the governor down is afraid it's gonna be the
Bennett case all over again."
    "What's the Bennett case?"
    "Fifteen years ago, a young teenage girl was
found dismembered in the Elegiac River.  Her name was Brighton
Bennett."
    "Dismembered in what way?"
    "Head and hands gone.  We never
recovered them."
    "We?"
    "They technically.  That case belonged
to central too."
    "And you're with …"
    "Downey Division, ma'am."
    "Please don't call me ma'am."  The GPS
offered its first cue at direction when I pulled away from the
curb.  "So why is my welcoming committee from Downey
Division?"
    "We were available.  Three of central's
five homicide detectives are holding down the scene until you
arrive."
    "What?  Why would they do that?"
    "Hardy's orders, Doc."
    "Don't call me Doc.  What does this
crime have to do with your old case?  Or are you telling me it
was never closed?"
    "It was and it wasn't.  I'll be
blunt.  You're walking into a war zone without any Kevlar, Dr.
Eriksson.  Hardy wants Downey to take the lead on this
investigation.  The boys from central aren't too happy to see
another unit take over their turf."
    "That doesn't tell me how this case relates
to the one that was closed but not really."  Briscoe was
remarkably vague for a man who claimed to be blunt.  "Is there
a link between the two?"
    "I'll let you make that call.  What I
can tell you is that there's another vic in Nightingale missing her
head and hands."
    "Teenager?"
    "No ma'am.  She certainly is not."
    "Do you know anything about the victim
yet?  I'm not sure you