SEEKER

BODY DROP

I have worked for the NYPD homicide police for years now. I got my shield young. I took down the Irish Mob a few years back.

It all just kinda fell into place. I ran away from home at 17 and stayed at Stanton Island. Finished up school and enrolled into the Police Academy. I even changed my name to Lola Jenkins ( I was young and it made sense then) to make it harder for my family to find me. I was gone for about two years. I regularly updated my mother and Tali so they would not worry. I had a life, friends, a job and I was alone, really alone, as I thought I deserved. Independent. I even managed to fall in love, my first big love. What I did not know was that my boyfriend at the time was actually Head of Sales and Distribution in the Drug and Trafficking Department of the Mob. Imagine my surprise when one of my first assignments was a drug bust and murder he was involved in. I truly believed they were mistaken, so I stayed with him. Seamus o'Malley was dangerous to everyone but me. I used it to my advantage. It was not until he killed my colleague in front of me that I turned on him. Adam was a friend of mine I met at the Academy. Like me, our already established profiles there made it easy to infiltrate them. I refused the assignment and Adam took it on. It did not take long for him to be busted, hence his murder. All of the friends I thought I had stood watch as he executed Adam. Everything fell apart. I was devastated. It was actually Seamus' birthday and I told him I would be away because I wanted to surprise him and boom, the man that claimed to love me was a killer amongst many other horrific things. I told my superiors about my relationship with Seamus. Soon after, I was the mole in the mob. Seamus knew I wanted to be a cop, so I broke up with him. I could not be a cop and a criminal's girlfriend at the same time.

He did everything in his power to woo me, so much so, he left himself vulnerable. He was already under pressure from the information Adam got to leak, so it was not exactly hard. I staged an attack, had the written record of all their transactions stolen and I was in the clear. Anyway, I got my badge shortly after that and never looked back.

***

I went onto the missing persons database and searched. Brown hair. Green eyes. Wide green eyes… gorgeous even. Medium height. 5 “4, I think. 120 pounds. Caucasian. …. She worked at Freddy’s bar. I had a mission now. Even with the administrative leave, I could at least look into that girlie from my vision.

I scrolled through the hits. Dates ranged from the 90’s till a month ago. Dark-haired beauties. Missing people broke my heart, most of them are likely dead. We just can't find them. I scrolled through them all. I found her. She was the 16th hit. Gianna Wilkinson. Presumed dead in a house fire. Her body was never retrieved. I got her address and list of kin etc. I printed it all out. Seeing as I was done with my paperwork, I had nothing else to do either than read up on her.

She was 45 years old. Her parents were Brynne Anderson and Jack Wilkinson from Maine. They moved to this side when Gianna was a 15-year-old girl and have been living there since. Middle class Manhattan. Her mom was a teacher and her dad was a mechanic. She had siblings. Her brother worked as an accountant in LA. Her sister, Amy, was dead. There was a whole case about her but it happened before Gianna died so I paid it no attention. There were a few calls made to the police about domestic violence. No proof. She dropped out of high school when her dad lost his job. She started working back then to make ends meet. She prostituted for a few years before being caught, multiple times, for solicitation when she was 23. She did 8 months… Became a foster mom after that and never really looked back. It all went radio silent after that.

I called the records room. Mama Isla promised me Gianna’s file by lunch.

Lucy’s phone rang and disturbed my reading. “Charles... yes… okay,” She started writing down details.

I looked up. “Fresh one?”

I grabbed my car keys. Lucy grabbed her badge and followed. “Where are we going?” I asked in the elevator.

“Morton Playground.” She said.

“Over by Harrsion Avenue in Washington Heights?”

“Yup.”

“Devin and Garcia there?”

She nodded. “Dispatch reached them first. Garcia called me,”

I had parked in the basement to avoid the media. We saw them but they did not see me. They were still reporting on the Stephen shooting. My blood ran cold. I was gonna have to leave my gun in the car or something. Right, I did not have my service weapon. I parked a little far from the scene, avoiding prying eyes. There was no sign of the media... I could not be caught. I kept my head down, my pathetic attempt at concealing my identity. I approached the team.

“So…” I shrugged. “What do we have?”

“We-” Devin made the word sound like it was two syllables, indicating Garcia, Lucy and him. “-We have a case,” he reminded me. “You should be pushing paper or catching up on your hate mail or painting your nails,”

I lifted my middle finger and looked around the crime scene. Right as he was, it still pissed me off. It was a brazen body disposal. I spotted a camera across the street. “Devin, I see a camera over there-”

“Already on it. I can do my job,“ he said.

Garcia was standing over the body. She was not moving. I know how that sounds, given that I was a homicide detective and I dealt specifically with unmoving bodies but she was frozen. Her arms were outstretched and a few centimeters from the ground. I spotted more as I got closer, her hair was still fresh, like it was blown out recently. Her body was bruised all over though. She had been beaten. Her neck, larynx frozen above her throat, whole thing slit open. I rubbed my neck, remembering how that felt. Her wounds were familiar. She died like my girlie this morning. This scene should have been blood everywhere but there was nothing. Deliberate body disposal. Clean. Efficient. Scary. Serial killer.

I wore gloves and checked the victim’s face. It was not my victim but she died the same way as Gianna. Then I remembered my vision, it was not just one person. I had representative visions sometimes. When victims die the same way by the same hand. This has only happened once before. Killer had a type. Green eyed. Brown hair. White. Skinny. Pale.

This was not the killer's first rodeo.

The Medical Examiner at our disposal today was Gina Michaels. She was also a good friend of mine. She was in blue jeans and a blue sweatshirt. She had her box-braids in a high pony. She had finished taking video footage of the body in its current state. Her rotund, short, brown-haired, beedy-eyed assistant, Robby, was taking pictures of the scene. Gina stood up.

“Happy birthday girl,” she said.

“Thank you.” I said. “Overkill much?”

“Girl, like you won’t believe.” Gina agreed. “Victim is a white female. Late 20’s. She was cut in all her major arteries in her forearms and thighs. Prelims denotes assault and battery within the same window as time of death.” She said and leaned over to show us what she meant. “ Cigarette burns on her cheeks and bruising on her upper body…” she tisked.

“Official cause of death?” Lucy asked. “Out of all of them…”

“Exsanguation. The carotid artery and everything else was slit right open. I am not sure whether the neck was slit open and then the killer had fun with the knife on her or if he had fun first, then ended her misery. She lost a lot of blood very quickly and then lights out.” She wrote in her notebook some more. “From what I can tell from the bruising here-” she indicated the vic’s neck. “-There are no hesitation marks and it is one clean swoop. No hesitation marks or defence wounds. The wounds around her wrists and ankles have everything to do with that.”

“Her body is really f*****g cold.” Devin said.

“Gold star for Devin,” Gina patronized him. They were having a thing. On and off. Seemed like it was off at that moment. They stared at each other. Gina was unapologetic. Devin looked tired and sad. I chewed on my lip and looked at Garcia. He shrugged and looked at Lucy, who did not even pay attention to what had happened.

“She is also well preserved. Frozen for a while. This was not exposure. She is solid.” Lucy said and swerved the awkwardness. She took my attention away from Gina.

Gina nodded. “Freezing the body makes the time of death much harder to determine. I need her on my table to give you an accurate window.” She stood up and I followed.

“Check with the FBI for any murders with this MO,” I murmurred to Officer Ted Johnson. Tall. Brawny. Sweet. Brown haired. Brown-eyed. Chocolate skin to die for.

He hesitated. “Can you be giving orders right now?” No derisive tone. He was sincere. Confused really.

“Just do what she said,” Garcia said. “You okay?” he whispered so only I could hear.

I nodded. “Thanks for letting me come along,” I said, pulling him aside.

“Not that I had a choice,” he smiled.

I nodded. “It will haunt me for a while, won’t it?” I asked. Genuine. He was another cop that knew what I was going through. He has shot someone before. A serial killer from 3 years ago. The Break-in Murderer. His divorce served as testament to how he handled that. Drinking binge etc…It was actually the second time I had a representative vision.

“It will stay with you,” he said. “But it will not haunt you. Not like that. Not if you let it. Accept the help. See the therapist and avoid any vices except s*x. That, do lots of it,” he laughed. “But seriously, taking a life is no joke. Don't do what I did.”

I nodded. He walked towards the officers near the barricades. They had closed off the whole park. Even if the press were to come, they would not see anything. I made my way back to the team near the body. “Any signs of s****l assault?” I asked. I never get the full picture. I get the few moments right before they died. Anything before is unbeknownst to me.

Gina shook her head. “No. Not that I can tell,” she stood up. “I was pretty surprised at the lack of s****l assault indicators. I was almost certain, seeing as she was bound. Let her thaw, we will talk then.”

I looked up from the body, only to see my apparition staring down at me. It was Gianna. I had gotten real good at concealing their appearances. I straightened myself up. Where was my dead girl?

“Who found her?” Lucy asked, Bringing me back to reality.

“Garcia is on that.” Devin said. I quickly glanced Garcia’s way. He was talking to the witness. She looked absolutely terrified. Her hair was in a messy high bun. Her eyes red from the crying. The bags under her eyes were telling of sleepless nights (you and me both baby girl) and her nose looked like it belonged on a Christmas tree, it was so red. Poor thing, she was scarred for life. This was not exactly for the light-hearted.

“This was not the first time. This is too brazen… cocky. It is also almost perfect. It’s as if he has been doing this for a while.” Devin muttered.

“I was just thinking that,” Lucy said. “Can’t be many when the MO is this noticeable." she turned to me. "Would you like to follow up with the FBI and ask a certain boyfriend to do us a favour?” she eyed me mischievously.

“Teddy is on it,” I stood up.

“Let CSAU take over,” Lucy said. “Are we ignoring the crucifixion pose?”

I shook my head. “You thinking religious sacrifice?”

Garcia nodded. “Not necessarily. There is a message here.”

“A loner loser with a low opinion of women… great. Another one,” Devin said. “Zoey, don’t shoot this one,” he laughed. “I want to,”

“To add to the chills, I can’t be the only one thinking that this is only the beginning,” Lucy murmurred.

***

“You okay?” Lucy asked in the car ride back to the office. Without fail.

“I am good. This scene was a little too much.” I lied.

“Is it your -” she hesitated. “-Psychic thing?” she whispered. I didn’t know why I bothered with the lying bit sometimes.

I didn’t answer. Lucy knew. She walked in on me talking to a ghost once. The ghost was also the victim of a case we had been working on. She listened in on me doing my thing and passed the spirit over. When I was done, she grilled me about how my powers worked. She was one of the only people that actually loved this about me. She loved that I could commune with the spirits. I loved her too much to ever break that bubble although this was not how any of it worked. I had not really told her the mechanics or what a physical toll it took on me, just that I saw things. To be fair, I did not know what I looked like. The camera always went haywire when I tried to record it.

“It is my thing but it is not our victim… the victim died the same way as the girl in my…” I struggled for a word. “Vision,” I said.

“Is that what you were busy with earlier?” she asked.

I nodded.

“So it isn’t the killer’s first time, huh?” Lucy said.

I nodded. Even the way the body was disposed of, you could tell that was not the first time; too learned, too careful and too clean.

“And Stephen?” she asked.

Why this now? I narrowed my eyes and focussed on the road. “What about him?”

“You tell me,” She said.

I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could manage even though everything inside was screaming to be let out. I fought to steady my grip on the wheel. “It hasn’t really hit me …” I lied smoothly. Maybe lying was not a lost cause for me just yet.

We lapsed into silence. My thoughts went towards the case. I would have to work till late to build a profile… s**t! Kellan and his plans. I decided to call my boo.

“McCarty,” Short. Curt. Abrasive. Did I call his work phone?

“Hi love,” I said sweetly.

“Zoey?” he asked. Shocked. Brusqueness all but dissolved. It was his work phone. Car phone errors. “Love, you do know I have a personal phone, right?” he said.

I ignored the jab. “I had a body drop, babe.” I said. “Came through 20 minutes ago,”

He waited. So did I. “Babe?” I said.

“Relevance, my love. I am waiting for relevance,” he said.

“We have to reschedule…?” I was so confused, it came out as a question.

“I have her covered still, Kellan. Don’t worry,” Lucy piped up.

“Thanks Lucy,” Kellan started to say.

Covered? Why? What was going on tonight? “d**k,” I muttered.

“I heard that, “ he murmurred. “I will see you later, babe.”

He hung up. I chewed on my lip. I wondered what the plans were. “So, Kellan has you in on these plans I have no clue about?” I swerved the conversation.

“Not saying a word, so do not bother.” Lucy said dismissively and stared at her phone.

Ungh. I bit my lip anxiously. “I hate surprises,”

She laughed. “We know. That was why he did it. Don’t bother asking Michelle or Akira… we are all in on it.”

***

“Vic’s name is Bailey Andrews. She was 26 years old. Has been missing for 3 weeks.” I said to Lucy as she handed me the coffee.

“CSAU finished their sweep. They said that was not the primary. But we knew that. Gina says that there is no trace evidence; no material underneath her fingers. She found traces of bleach on the vic’s body.” Lucy murmurred. "She was frozen in liquid nitrogen, to preserve her cryogenically in a way,"

“Even if there was trace evidence, it is unusable because of the f*****g bleach,” I folded my arms.

“She also said that the killer is left-handed. The vic had been frozen for about 48-62 hours. She had also been frozen within 24 hours of her death.”

I nodded. “That makes it 3-4 days since being killed and she was probably killed the day before.”

“Only an assumption. Time of death will be clearer later. She needs to let her thaw,” Lucy continued. “There is nothing on her or the place of disposal. The footprint is from a New balance sneaker,” Lucy said. “Officers are canvassing the area as we speak.”

Garcia snuck up behind me. (Giving me the fright of my life) “She’s an orphan. Half a dozen busts for solicitation. She did time for drug possession. 6 months at Women’s Penitentiary. It dries up after that. Either got out or got smart,” Garcia added.

“We do have an address.” Devin said.

“Devin and Lucy go check out her place.” Garcia said, then he looked at me. “Zoey, you have the street cam footage and traffic cam footage for a two block radius to inspect,”

It was a huge box of tapes. “How many traffic cams will I be looking at?” I complained.

“You wanted in, you got it, hotshot. Can’t have an inactive detective active in my case, so I will keep your involvement minimal till you are cleared,” he picked up his ringing phone. “Garcia… yes… bring him in,” he looked at me. “Uni’s found a witness to the body dump at around 3 am. That should lighten this load,” he pushed the box towards me.

“Good thing the shop owner was compliant. “ I rolled my eyes at him and left the Ball Pit with the tapes.