Cry for Me Read online

  “No I have not”, he replied.

  “No. No, I don’t believe you have.” replied Rick as he turned and continued walking down the hall.

  Rick and Dan discussed the day’s events as they drove back to the police station. They both agreed that the room mate, Gene, was worth looking into. He sure sounded like he could fit the profile of a sick ass whack job capable of carving up his victims. They would put their notes together back at the station and decide where to take it from there.

  Chapter 16

  The day had been a busy one and Rick was ready to head home. It was now midnight and Friday looked to be just as busy. Over the past seventeen hours they were able to learn a little more about Martinez and his roommate and obtained 3 new leads. They tracked down the leads and after conducting interviews with each lead had determined that Martinez is as just as he appears, a drug dealer. He will sell anything to anyone. He doesn’t care what he is selling and what the buyer intends to do with it. As long he is making the all mighty buck.

  Martinez is their link to the killer. Martinez gets the curare from the Mexican Drug cartel that undoubtedly gets it from South America. They, like Martinez, are in this to sell the drug. It is highly unlikely they are involved in the murders. It’s Martinez’s buyer that they need to check out. That could be their killer or another middle man in the transportation of the drug. Either way they needed to talk to him or her. No way, is Martinez going talk, at least for now. He is far too scared.

  Martinez’s roommate at EMHC certainly had their interest. Kemper and Cranston both made a point to mention how odd this guy was and voiced their concern on how the system allowed him to fall through the cracks and release him. They both felt he was actually insane and needed to be an inpatient at a mental institution.

  Miller needed a court order to get medical records and was going to push hard tomorrow to obtain that order. He did not care whose toes he had to step on to get that done and was prepared to lean hard, on whoever he needed to, in order to make that happen.

  Rick was having trouble keeping his eyes open and decided he’d head home for the night and try get a couple hours of sleep. If nothing else a shower, shave, and clean uniform. He wondered what Samantha was doing and if she were still up. He figured she was probably fast asleep in her bed, like he should be.

  Rick waved good bye to Robyn, the dispatcher on the grave yard shift, as he walked out the door. He walked to his squad car looking at flashes of lightning in the distance, remnants of the storms that pounded the area throughout the day.

  The night felt damp and heavy. Another bought of extreme heat was in store for the area and Rick was not looking forward to it. He had hoped that the storms would bring a change to the predicted heat. They ushered in fairly cool ahead of each squall line giving him a glimmer of hope that they would somehow miss out on the hot weather.

  Rick reached his patrol car and noticed an envelope on the windshield. It had rained hard 20 minutes ago and the envelope appeared to be dry. Rick looked around to see if he could see anyone in the area before he grabbed the envelope.

  Rick opened his trunk and pulled out a pair of rubber gloves and put them on. He careful pulled the envelope out from under the driver side windshield wiper. He looked the envelope over before opening it and it was only slightly damp indicating to Rick it had been placed there after the rain had left the area.

  Rick pulled a folding knife from his front right pocket and opened the locking blade. He carefully inserted the tip of the blade under the flap at one corner. Using the utmost caution, not to ruin any potential evidence, he slowly ran the knife done the upper ridge of the envelope.

  He opened the envelope and looked inside. He saw what looked to be a single folded piece of paper. Rick pulled the piece of paper from the envelope. He then placed the envelope in a plastic evidence bag he retrieved from his trunk and placed it on the driver seat.

  Rick opened the letter and began to read. The letter had been typed on a computer or word processor and contained just five words, “South Elgin Cemetery Curare Killer.”

  Rick quickly placed the letter in another plastic evidence bag and grabbed the envelope evidence bag. He ran back to the door he had just exited and began ringing the buzzer frantically, which rings inside the dispatch center.

  Robyn looked up at the security monitor that covered that area, immediately when she heard the series of long and short rapid tones screaming from the buzzer. She saw Rick waving his hands at the monitor indicating that he needed the door opened and fast. She immediately pressed the button that opened the door.

  Rick came running into the dispatch center and laid the evidence bags on her desk. “What the hell is going on Rick?” asked Robyn.

  “I just found another letter from the killer. It was left on my squad! I am heading to the South Elgin Cemetery on Middle St. Send me every available car we have. No one enters until I get there!”

  Robyn could hear the urgency in Rick’s voice and immediately dispatched two patrol units to respond to the cemetery and assist Detective Miller, and advised not to enter until authorized by Detective Miller. Both units were assigned to patrol the east side and were only a few minutes away. Robyn advised the units to respond with no lights or sirens, per Rick’s orders.

  Rick was speeding down Middle St. when one the patrol units had turned off a side street behind him. He could see the other unit sitting on the side of Middle St. at the entrance to the cemetery, with his head lights off. Rick and the other patrol, pulled up behind the officer already parked, and shut their lights off as well. Rick got out and filled the officers in on what he found and what the letter said. He told them he had no idea what to expect and to follow him and that they would roll in dark, with head lights off, in case the killer was there. He also reminded them that this guy was a “nut job” and that this could be a set up to ambush the police.

  Rick began to slowly drive up the slight hill on the drive of the cemetery entrance, followed by his back up. The drive consisted mainly of gravel with a slight grass strip in the middle. It was approx. 500 feet long and a couple of houses were on either side of the drive. Once past the house the drive curved to the right revealing the graves and the headstones that marked them.

  The cemetery is very old and secluded. It is on the south side of Middle St. and buts up to a wooded area that is part of East Avenue Park to the south, and a horse farm to the east. The burials dates back to 1851 and it is a little over three acres. It is very dark and creepy in the cemetery at night, and with rumors of it being haunted, it is a popular hang out for teenagers looking to get scared.

  Once they had reached an area where they could get a good visual of the grounds, they parked, and Rick got out of his car. He approached the other officers and went over his game plan with them. With the fact that it was dark and visibility was very poor he decided best to go in fist, to see what was going on. He had no idea what they were looking for and did want to use lights or flash lights just yet to give them away. He divided the cemetery up in thirds assigning each officer a third. All three would begin walking south and meet at the tree line at the edge of the cemetery grounds. There they would regroup and make additional passes.

  The officers began walking slowly using their senses as they went, trying to figure why they were there and what they might find. After a short period of time they reached the edge. No one had seen anything worth reporting. Miller re-divided the cemetery picking different rows for them to walk and they walked north back towards the patrol cars.

  Just before they reached the patrol cars, Darren, the officer furthest west, suddenly stopped. He had seen something sitting atop one of the head stones to his left. He moved in that direction to get a better look. When he got closer he could see the object that he was looking at appeared to be a human skull.

  Darren quickly and quietly got Rick and the officer’s attention and motioned them over. They met up with Darren and without saying word Darren pointed at the skull shape on the h
ead stone. Rick did not know what to make of it in the dark. It could have been a fake skull placed there by teens in an attempt to scare unsuspecting visitors.

  The officers moved slowly closer until they were inches from the skull. If was fake it was of good enough quality to make Rick willing to break what ever cover they had and turn on his flash light. Rick took a quick look around before he turned on his Maglite flash light. He wanted to make sure there was no one watching from a distance before he turned on the powerful beam of the light.

  He was convinced that no one was around and turned on the light. The bright light hit the skull casting shadows in the low spots and eye sockets giving a very spooky look. Rick could hear his throat make a noise as he swallowed. It looked to be a real skull to Rick. He whispered to the other officers what they thought and both agreed it looked real.

  Rick had no choice. He needed to wake up his superiors and they needed to get additional personnel out here and fast. This was obviously left by the killer as some type of clue. The entire cemetery and possibly surrounding areas needed to be searched. He would need additional personnel from his department, cadaver dogs, evidence technicians, and deputies from Kane County Sheriff, scene lights from Kane County Emergency Management, and The Coroner’s office. His already long day was about to get longer.

  Chapter 17

  The additional personnel and assisting agencies had been on scene searching under the bright lights provided by the EMA team for the past two hours and had come up with no additional evidence. They had split up into separate groups and had been searching in grid type pattern in hopes they would find anything that may help explain the letter and the significance of the skull left at the cemetery.

  Officer Keyes had spent most of this time looking into the name that was engraved on the headstone where the skull had been placed. He was unable to find any connection to the victims. The person buried in that plot had passed in the year 1908 and it was highly unlikely that there was any connection to the case other than that is where the killer had decided to place the skull.

  Jim Schauer was on scene, as well as the medical examiner, Dr. Martin. They had been examining the skull and had determined that it was most likely a Caucasian female approx. 35 year of age. The teeth were still in tact and contained some dental work. They were going to process the teeth to be used in checking dental records. They estimated that the time of death was approx 8 months to 1 year as there were fragments of flesh and some hair still on the skull. They also concluded that it had been exposed to the elements as opposed to being buried and the head was more then likely separated from the rest of the body after decomposition.

  Detective Miller had arranged for two K-9 units to be brought to the scene. The units were on scene and were waiting for the sun to come up. Daylight would allow them to broaden their search into the park and surrounding areas.

  The sun had risen enough to begin the search using the K-9 officers, and Detective Miller had just finished briefing the teams. The group was going to be broken up into two teams. Team “A” was to be lead by Officer Keyes. Officer Keyes would have the assistance of Deputy Michael Ortiz of the Kane County Sheriff’s Police and his 4 year old male German shepherd, Max. They were going to begin their search on the east side of the cemetery and work the large pastures and around the buildings of the horse farm that bordered the cemetery.

  Team “B” was headed by Detective Miller and assisted by Trooper, Jill Wegner, of the Illinois State Police and her 5 year old female black lab, Ida Mae. They were going to begin their search on the south side of cemetery and work their way down an old trail leading from the cemetery into the heavy wooded area, of East Ave. Park.

  The dogs were allowed to smell the skull and the area around the headstone and then each team had set out to search their areas. Each team was assigned officers from both Kane County Sheriff’s Police and South Elgin Police Department to assist in the search as well as provide security. The ambush scenario had still not been ruled out by Detective Miller and those officers were armed with tactical style semi-automatic rifles.

  Detective Miller was walking behind Trooper Wegner watching her dog work its nose busily over the trail. They were just a few feet in, when the dog had made the indication that it had picked up a scent.

  Detective Miller was both excited and nervous with this reaction. He was excited that they had picked up something but was very apprehensive on what they might find. He had no clue what to think. The letter gave him a location. But what did the skull give him? His mind was working through all the different possibilities when they reached a slight opening in the thick scrub that had lined the trail.

  The dog was getting excited and was eager to enter the opening. Trooper Wegner help her right arm in a clenched fist indicating the group to stop. Without saying a word she pointed towards the opening to Detective Miller by nodding her head.

  Trooper Wegner and Detective Miller ducked down below the low hanging branches of the bush growing at the edge of the trail and began to enter. Once past the thick branches they were able to see a large grassy area. Trooper Wegner walked a few feet into the grassy area and Ida Mae began to get extremely excited and began barking toward the far edge. Wegner and Miller walked slowly, allowing the dog to pull them in the direction she wanted to go.

  As they reached the edge of the grassy area they could see that it ended abruptly at a large hole. This was obviously an excavation pit left behind from when this area was a gravel mine.

  The pit was approx 30 feet in diameter and at least that deep. It was in the shape of a circle and the outer edge lined, in trees and brush. They followed a trail that led to the rim of the pit. The trail led down a steep hill that entered the pit. At the bottom of the pit, sat two old abandoned dump trucks from what looked to be the 1940’s.

  Ida Mae wanted down that hill in the worst way. Detective Miller informed the rest of the team to take up tactical positions at the top of the pit and cover himself and Trooper Wegner while they investigated the bottom of the pit and the old trucks.

  Wegner and Miller reached the end the trail and made it to the bottom of the pit. Ida Mae was trying to pull the trooper to one of the trucks. They allowed the dog to take the lead. As they approached Detective Miller was looking at both trucks making mental notes.

  The trucks were very old and rusty. The tires were rotted and had not held air in a very long time. The trucks had sunk into the earth overtime resting half way up the rims. The widows were missing and the trucks contained several bullet holes and graffiti. The hoods were open and the engines looked as if they had been scavenged over the years. They were obviously left here when the gravel pit closed as you could barely make out the words “Chicago Mining Co.” on the driver door.

  Ida Mae had led them to one particular truck. Detective Miller stepped up on the step of the driver door and peered in. The steering wheel had suffered decay over the years and most of the plastic had broken off exposing its steel skeleton. The fabric that once covered the seat was gone as well and all that remained were frame and spring coils. The gear shift was still there but was missing the knob. The can was littered with old beer cans and hard liquor bottles and there was a small pile of old weathered pornographic magazines tucked into a cubby hole in the old, rusted, metal dash.

  Trooper Wegner walked Ida Mae around the truck and the dog kept lifting her nose in the air and at time standing on her hind legs with one front paw on the side of the truck indicating there may be something in the bed of the old dump truck.

  Detective Miller walked to the rear of the truck. The gate of the truck was above his head. He looked around for something he could use to climb up the back. He noticed an aluminum ladder that was under the truck. The ladder was out of place. It was not old and abused like the truck. It looked to be fairly new and contained splashes of green and brown spray paint as if someone had attempted to camouflage it.

  Detective Miller put a pair of leather gloves on and pulled the ladder from under
the truck placing it against the truck. He checked to make sure he had a good solid footing and began climbing up the ladder.

  He reached the top of the rear of the truck and looked in. He could not believe what he found. The sight of his discovery had momentarily taken his breath. Lying on the bed of the old dump truck were the remains of what looked to be at least three people.

  There were bones covered with tattered clothing and the skulls still contained remnants of hair. Some of the bodies still were wearing shoes. The bodies had been there long enough that most of the flesh had decomposed, and had been removed by bugs, birds, and micro organisms.

  Detective Miller could see a pile of clothing piled in one corner of the truck bed. It looked like expensive designer clothing. He could also see what appeared to be jewelry, watches, eyes glasses, wallets, and purses strewn about the bodies.

  He could feel that feeling growing in the pit of his gut once again. That feeling has become all too familiar to the detective since this case began. The scope of this case was much larger than Rick had ever imagined. It was now clearer than ever that he was dealing with a serial killer. How many people has this psycho killed? How many more will he kill? Rick needed to find the killer and fast.