Chapter 3: The Call
2549 Words
The cellphone rang.
An unknown number
Ray picked up the call
“Hello”
“Hello Detective, Did you see my smile?”
The line cuts off.
“Who the hell was that”
Ray lowered his phone slowly, the voice echoed in his head Did you see my smile?
His grip tightened on the steering wheels.
Ray maneuvered his car around and turned back to the station.
Ray became unsettled, the voice kept playing in his head.
He rushed into his office.
“Hey, Justin, get Riviera, my office. now”
At the office, Ray opened a white cloth covering a board, he scribbles down, “The Call” and pins it to the board on the wall.
There were several pictures of the warehouse victims and their body parts on the board. Justin could also see the pictures of the car and other evidence Riviera took photos of.
Detective Ray gave his phone to Riviera
"Take this to Forensics. Check for spyware, bugs, anything unusual. Then see if you can pull the source of the last call."
Riviera collected the phone and went down to the forensic lab.
Justin’s eyes lit up
“Sir, did the killer call you?”
Ray ignored the question and focused on his board instead.
He muttered a few words to himself.
“He knew me, he called me directly, that’s not random”
Justin looked up.
"Sir?"
Ray ignored him.
Ray walked back to his seat and started scattering the items inside his desk.
“Do you need help with something sir”
“Damn, must have left it in the car “
There’s a knock on the door, the two looked at the door as it opened slowly, A lady walked in, sharp suit, confidence stride, short hair brunette with dark shades on.
“Megan Bernstein here”
She took off her shades
“You must be Ray”
She moved forward to his desk and brought out her hand for a shake.
Ray looked at her outstretched hand and totally ignored her.
She smiled.
“They tell me you are a piece of work, I must say, they really understated you”
Justin quickly got up to greet the detective and salvage the awkwardness in the room.
“it is so great to finally meet you ma’am, I am Justin”
Megan laughs out loudly.
“Did you just call me ma’am, call me Meg”
She grabbed him on the shoulder and pulled out a seat opposite Ray.
“So you're really an FBI agent?"
"Former FBI."
"What's the difference?"
"Less paperwork."
Justin laughed.
“The Captain tells me we are searching for a serial-killer, what intel do you have on him”
“Not much Meg, we have nothing on the suspect just yet” Justin responded.
Megan got up and went to the white board
“But, He called Detective Ray though”
She sharply turned to look at Ray, who was pretending to be busy
“you don’t say”
“Hey, tough guy, what did he say”
“Well, we don’t know just yet”.
Megan walked back to the desk, looked at Ray unimpressed.
“Are you gonna tell us what he told you”
Ray totally ignored the two and continued his search.
“Raaay”
He stopped and looked up
“Did you see my smile”.
Justin looked even more confused
“errr”
“Could you repeat that”
“the killer said “did you see my smile”
She froze, she slowly gathered her thought
“It cant be”
“that sounds familiar”
Megan took off her jacket.
“oh my God, is he still alive”
She took a look at the face of the victims on the board.
“Did he say anything else”
“What do you mean, is he still alive”
Ray got up and moved closer to Megan
“Did he take the victim’s eyes”
“Yes”
Megan tilted her head to the side as she moved closer to the board. She took a closer look at the images.
“I assisted on a case back in Ohio 5 years ago, the killer had over 15 kills, eyes were all removed”
“That fits the pattern”
“That’s not all, he called the lead Detective, “Did You see my smile”, Santiago died in a freak accident four months later.”
Justin adjusted his tie as he desperately avoided staring at Ray.
Back at the Lab, Riviera approached the IT specialist.
“Hey Jones, I need a favor, help me run this phone and trace the last received call”
“You owe me one Riviera”
“I always do but this is top urgent”
Riviera brought out a gum from his pocket as he moved to the side of the room.
“I’d be damned, This is Detective Ray’s phone”
“I hope I don’t get into any trouble for this”
Riviera chuckled
“Trust me, I got that personally from him”
The Two wait patiently as Jones runs some forensic test on the device. Twenty minutes later.
“The phone was active for less than 20 seconds and most likely the sim’s been destroyed.
“Burner Phone”
“Exactly, the caller used a burner”
“s**t”
Riviera was visibly upset with the lead.
“But I can get where he got the sim from though”
“Okay help me get that”
“Sure, also no bugs on this phone”
Jones continues working as he tries to provide necessary information to Riviera.
Ray stretched his hands to the board
“look, this is all I have on him”
Megan sighed.
“If this is our killer, he will surely kill again”
“can you get me everything from that case in Ohio, I need to see what they have”
“sure, I’d make some calls”
Ray stretched his hands in an attempt to shake Megan. She looked at his hand.
“It’s a bit too late for that don’t you think”
she smiled and walked outside to make a call.
“Justin, get us some coffee”
“okay sir”
Justin heads out to get the coffee, bumps into Riviera at the door.
“Detective Ray, your phone is clean”
“what of the call”
“we couldn’t trace it, he used a burner cell”
Megan walked back into the room.
“Ohio will get it in tomorrow, I even got them to get the behavioral analysis we did on the profile”
“Riviera, this is Detective Megan Bernstein, she prefers if you call her Meg though”
There was a smirk on his face as he retrieved his phone from Riviera.
“welcome to the Team, Detective Meg”
“thank you Riviera, at least I can take pleasure that you all aren’t as unwelcoming as him”
Riviera nodded in agreement as he sits beside Megan.
“well, we can all agree that the killer has killed in multiple states and will likely kill again”
“I agree with that Ray, he is very calculated and very unsuspecting”
“if he knows Detective Ray, does he have links with the PD”
“I doubt that, anybody can get our information that easily”
“True, It is much easier to get information on an officer compared to an FBI agent”
Ray sighed
“So why did you leave the bureau to join the local boys”
“Well after a nasty divorce and losing custody of my kids due to work, I guess I was due for a change of environment”
Justin walked in with 2 cups of coffee and handed it over to Ray and Megan.
“I guess it is easier to get information off an FBI agent”
Megan smiled as she sips on her coffee.
“Is he always this unbearable”
The two officers nodded in unison.
“Shoot, I need to get something in my car”
Ray got up, left the coffee on the table and headed for his car.
Megan stood up and goes to the board again.
“Why call Ray”
“What is the killer obsessed about”.
“Any suggestion boys”
The two officers looked confused, they are not used to sharing their thoughts. Ray was also not fond on taking second opinions either.
She looked at them as though she was surprised they were still quiet. They finally respond.
“Might be a fetish or a trophy thing”
“The killer might have some form of disability himself”
“I highly doubt that, the precision is almost perfect with the cut”
“why is he obsessed about the smile”
“childhood trauma”
“Maybe abuse as a kid or being forced to smile”
Megan stopped.
“That might be it you know, A man suffering from childhood trauma and abuse”.
Ray opened the car door and brought out a file from underneath the floor mat.
As he tried to open the file, the voice echoed again in his head “Did you see my smile”
“why did that sound awfully familiar” he thought
He opened the file and flipped to a newspaper clipping.
It read “How I survived the eye monster”.
Ray closed his car door and headed back to the office. He opened the door.
“What the hell is going on”
Everyone in his office stopped. Megan smiles
“Just a little brainstorming Ray”
The two officers looked flustered as they head out of the room.
“Do they need to leave”
The room goes quiet
“They can stay”.
Megan smiled again and leaned over to see the file on the desk.
“what do you have here”
“Well, I was looking for a file earlier, this article is dated 4 years ago, A young nurse escaped from a killer after she had her eyes removed”
Justin let out a bright smile
“This might be our guy”
Megan picked up the file and read through the article.
“Ray, I say we find this lady and see what we can get from her”.
Megan picked up her jacket while Ray turned to face the officers.
“Riviera, get the contact and send it to me”
“Okay sir” as he received the file from Ray.
The Two detectives head for the black sedan.
Meanwhile, rumors of a new detective already spread through the station.
“Who’s the new detective?”
“I heard she was a federal agent”
“Think she’ll survive working with Ray”
“Nobody survives working with Ray”.
The two officers laugh
Justin overhears them.
In the car, Megan pressed Ray to reveal more about himself
“You don’t say a lot, do you?”
A text came into Ray’s phone.
It is the address and phone number of the lady.
The last line on the text was different -I forgot to tell you the sim from the caller was from Ohio.
Ray smiled as he starts the car.
“You have the address”.
“Yes”
He looked at her as he reversed the car through the side mirror.
“Hmm, You still haven’t told me why you came in today”
“oh that”
“I already moved here 2 weeks ago, I know captain said I should resume next week but I saw the news yesterday and I knew I had to come in”
“Interesting”
“well I told you, I’m a workaholic”
“I didn’t say anything”
“Ray you didn’t have to, you were implying I am strange.”
There was an awkward silence after that. Fifteen minutes later.
“we’re here”.
The two headed for the front door of the house. Megan rang the bell.
She rang it again.
An elderly woman opened the front door.
Ray brings out his badge
“Hello ma’am, I am Detective Ray and this is Detective Meg”
The woman held his hand, Ray was shocked as he looked at Megan.
“Does Faye Bennett live here?”
The woman pulled him in, Megan followed and shut the door.
The house is filled with different pictures of the same person, a pretty blonde lady.
“Faye is my daughter”
“Ma’am can we speak to Faye, we have some questions about the incident 4 years ago”
The Old Woman walked to the pictures on the Television set.
“My poor Faye”
she started sobbing
“Yes, she survived the attack and we honestly thought she will get better”
Megan stood up to comfort her
“She died two months later in therapy, the doctors said she was doing well”
Ray and Megan looked at each other
“Was this after she did the interview”
The woman sat down.
“Well, If I remember correctly she died two weeks after that interview you know”.
Ray sighed
“Another coincidence”.
“Does Faye have any siblings Mrs Bennett”
“Oh, yes, Laura”
She got up and started walking towards a room in the house, the two detectives followed her.
She opened the door and the room was very neat, bed laid and no pictures on the wall.
“She left for LA two year ago. She needed to find herself again and I didn’t want to lose another child”
Megan held her hands and tried to comfort her as she sat by the bed.
Ray was disappointed with yet another dead lead.
“We are so sorry about what happened to Faye, Mrs Bennett thank You so much for your time”
The two detectives left the house for the car.
The detectives left the house and head for Ray’s car.
“so this guy goes around killing people and nobody knows what he looks like”
Ray, reached for his left pocket, brought out the cigarette box.
“You smoke”
Megan stretched her hand and Ray handed her a stick.
Mrs Bennett hurriedly tried to reach the detectives as she shouted from outside her front door.
“Detectives”
Ray and Megan ran to meet her up. She had a little box in her hand.
“These are recordings of Faye and her therapist that I kept, Laura had them stored in her room”
Megan was happy.
“Thank You Ma’am, this would be helpful” as she collected the box from her.
Megan and Ray walked backed to the car. They light up the cigarettes.
Ray’s Phone rang.
An unknown number.
Ray picked the call
“Hello”
“Hello Detective Ray, Another dead end”
The line dropped and the two look at each other.
This might not be the usual close and shut case like they thought.
- Writer
