Simon Says... Walk by Dale Mayer

Author:Dale Mayer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
ISBN: 9781773367859
Publisher: Valley Publishing Ltd.
Published: 2023-02-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Kate was still living down the sweetheart moniker, as she walked back to her desk, Rodney teasing her mercilessly. “On the other hand, he brought breakfast,” she pointed out, “and you were the beneficiary of that, so you better be nice.”

“That’s true, sweetheart.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, that’ll get old very quickly.”

As soon as she sat down, her phone rang. It was Smidge. “Hey, Dr. Smidge. What’s up?”

“I have an ID on your last victim.”

“Wow, that was fast. The one at Clement Park?”

“Yeah.” His voice was hard, gruff. “I knew the victim, and, as soon as she arrived, I was sure of who it was.”

“You have a name for me?” she asked.

“Elizabeth Clement. … You need to come down and see me.” And, with that, he hung up.

She turned in shock to Rodney. “It is the daughter.”

Rodney winced. “Simon won’t like that.”

“No, but it sure brings in an angle that we didn’t have before,” Kate said. “I don’t know how long that woman had been buried there, which, considering the shape of the body, it’s hard to say.”

“But it wasn’t years,” Rodney pointed out. “Besides, Smidge can give us a timeline.”

“So she probably came back, after ten years or so of hiding, maybe saying goodbye to her mom or something,” Kate suggested, as she got up. “Smidge wants to see me.”

“I’m coming.” Rodney stood. “How the hell did he get to that body so fast?”

“He said he knew her and so potentially knew something that would help identify her.” And it didn’t take them long to get the answers.

Smidge looked up when they walked in and nodded. “I knew her mother,” he stated, “and she had a very defined jaw. When I saw the skull, I have to admit that it was the first thing that came to mind. … We have Mary’s DNA on file, so it wasn’t hard to check. I just had to pull some favors to get the results. Anyway, believe me. I’m not terribly happy to find out that I was correct.”

“No, of course not.” She hesitated. “Cause of death?”

He glared at her. “Same as the others.”

“Ah, shit.” Kate groaned. “So a woman who’s gone through hell as a child, escapes her tormenter, ends up tortured and she is murdered to boot.”

Smidge nodded. “Yeah. Her feet were really badly lacerated. They’ve bled a lot, and she’s been stabbed several times.” The coroner shook his head. “We’re doing a tox screen to see if she was aware at all during this time. Also, I found strangulation marks on her neck, but … I suspect that he used that to knock her out and then to bring her back around again.”

Kate paled at the idea but nodded. “Not an uncommon scenario either.”

“Correct,” Smidge acknowledged, “but it shows a level of hate that I wouldn’t want to think of in this case.”

“No, of course not. Elizabeth already went through hell growing up with an abusive father.”

“Did you find the father?” Smidge asked, turning to her.

“Still in jail. He killed a fellow inmate,” Rodney supplied.

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