TIED TO MURDER (Det. Jason Strong(CLEAN SUSPENSE Book 5) Read online

  TIED TO MURDER

  By

  John C. Dalglish

  2014

  Prologue

  After slipping through the crack in the door, he slowly closed it behind him. Making sure it didn’t click, he turned and listened. The sun hadn’t peaked over the horizon yet, but caution was required. If his target were already awake, it would make what he had to do much more difficult.

  Moving carefully across the small living room, his ears picked up the sound of snoring. He looked into the bedroom and saw his target lying on her back, asleep. As he waited for the right moment, he mentally rehearsed every move he was about to make.

  Once he decided to go, he rushed across the room, jumped on the bed, and covered the woman’s mouth with his hand.

  Her eyes flew open, confused at first, but her expression quickly changed to terror as what was happening dawned on her. He drew a knife and showed it to her. Her eyes grew wider still and she froze. He drove the knife into the pillow next to her head and moved his finger to his lips, warning her to be quiet. She nodded.

  Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out a roll of duct tape. Using his teeth, he tore a strip loose and forced it over her mouth. Now that both hands were free, he took out a piece of rope, flipped her on her side, pulled both of the woman’s arms behind her, grabbed one leg, and tied her up in seconds. He got up off the bed.

  Walking into the kitchen, he looked under the sink, in the closet, and in the drawers. Finally, he found what he was after. Tearing one loose, he walked back to the bedroom, and sat beside the tiny woman. Snapping the garbage bag in the air until it opened, he dragged it over her head as she struggled to get free.

  Grabbing the role of duct tape, he wrapped a long piece around her neck, sealing the bag over her.

  He got up and walked to the bedroom door. Leaning against the doorframe, he watched until she stopped kicking and her body lay still.

  Before leaving, he walked over to the bed, grabbed the loose end of the rope, and released it. Taking the rope, the knife, and the tape, he left the room. Going to the air conditioning control, he turned it down as low as it could go. The sun was just starting to come up when he unlocked the patio door and slipped away.

  Chapter 1

  “Come On, Ruby! We’re going to be late.”

  Grace Caldwell hated being late, and her sister Ruby was perpetually running behind schedule. Grace stood by the door of their apartment and stared at the hallway mirror.

  At seventy-four, she was only three years older than her sister, but somehow Ruby managed to look ten years her junior. Grace attributed looking older to constantly worrying about her baby sister. Even now, she felt like she had to watch out for Ruby.

  She turned sideways and looked at her profile. Five-foot even, short gray hair and blue eyes, she was happy with the way she’d aged. The men in the complex still showed an interest in her.

  “I’m coming, I’m coming. Don’t get your girdle in a wad.”

  Ruby was four inches taller than Grace, with their father’s red hair. With bright green eyes, Ruby could still turn the head of a younger man.

  Grace was sure Ruby had also inherited their father’s temper. “We’ve played cards every Wednesday night for the last five years. You’d think you might be on time just once.”

  Ruby just smiled at her. Grace knew it didn’t bother Ruby at all to fluster her big sister occasionally.

  “Maybe next week.”

  Grace rolled her eyes and opened the door to the apartment.

  They shared a two-bedroom unit in Orchid Village, a retirement community consisting of multiple unit buildings, all on cul-de-sacs named after orchids.

  A large community center was the hub in a giant wheel, the individual buildings at the end of roads running away from the center like spokes in a wheel. Grace had rented the unit almost ten years ago after her husband had passed away.

  Four years later, Ruby called with the news her scumbag husband had left. It came as neither a surprise nor a disappointment to Grace. She told her sister to sell everything and come live with her. They’d been roommates ever since.

  Grace drove up to the clubhouse fifteen minutes late. The building was divided into offices and colored rooms, each color having a different use. Red for reading, green for exercise, blue for cards, and so on. Going inside, they found two members of their group already waiting at a card table in the Blue Room.

  As the women approached their friends, Grace bent over to kiss Tabby on the cheek. “Sorry we’re late.”

  Tonya ‘Tabby’ Jensen was the self-appointed worrier of the group. If someone was missing, ill, or out of sugar, it was Tabby who made sure the problem got solved.

  The youngest woman of the group at sixty-eight, she kept her brown hair, with very little gray, cut shoulder length. Willie thought it had to be dyed, but Tabby wouldn’t admit to it. She wore jogging suits and tennis shoes because she thought they made her look younger.

  “Don’t worry about it. Ruth isn’t here yet, either.”

  Grace watched as Ruby wrapped her arms around Willie.

  “Hi, Wild Bill! Miss me?”

  He smiled wide and hugged her back. “Of course!”

  Willie, or ‘Wild Bill’ as Ruby liked to call him, was a sixty-six-year-old widower with a booming laugh and immense gleaming smile that contrasted with his dark skin. Grace had watched Willie’s easygoing nature help settle Ruby in when she first arrived. They’d been buddies ever since.

  Grace took a seat and pulled out her cell phone. Punching Ruth’s number, she let it ring at least ten times before hanging up. She looked at Tabby.

  “No answer.”

  Ruby piped up. “She’s probably got a male visitor.”

  Tabby made a face, and Grace couldn’t tell if it was one of disgust or worry.

  “Maybe she’s on her way. Anybody talk to her today?”

  Heads shook all around the table. Grace refused to worry yet.

  “Well, let’s play some gin and see if she turns up.”

  ********

  An hour later, Ruth had neither showed up nor called. Numerous calls to her phone had gone unanswered, and worrywart Tabby was nearing full-blown panic.

  “We need to check on her.”

  Grace agreed. Ruth never missed their card games.

  “Do you still have the spare key she gave you?”

  Tabby nodded.

  “Okay, who wants to go?”

  Willie got up. “I’ll go. I need to use the bathroom anyway.”

  Tabby fished the chain with everyone’s spare keys out of her purse. She kept the group’s keys as a safety measure, mostly for her own peace of mind. She tossed it to Willie. “The names are on the tags.”

  Willie caught the keys easily, and left to check on their friend.

  *******

  Ruth Rogers lived on the branch of Orchid Village known as Fox Tail Court. Willie stopped his ‘85 Chevy pickup at the entrance to the building. At her door, he rang the bell.

  When no answer came, he banged on the door with his fist.

  “Ruth!”

  Still without a response, he took out the key and let himself in.

  “Ruth?”

  As he moved through her apartment, he realized how cold it was.

  “Ruth? Dang it, why’s it so cold in here?”

  He got to the bedroom door and stopped. As his brain struggled to process the scene, he moved toward the bed. When he touched her tiny cold foot, his hand instinctively jerked away.

  Staggering backward, his eyes fixed on the garbage bag over his friend’s head, he pulled hi
s cell phone from his pocket. Despite trembling fingers, he managed to dial 9-1-1.

  *********

  Grace looked up from her cards to the clock on the wall. Willie had been gone nearly forty minutes. Suddenly, the interior of the game room lit up with flashing red and blue lights.

  Tabby looked up at the same time as Ruby, and they echoed each other. “What’s going on?”

  Grace laid her cards down and went to the window.

  “Police cars.”

  After watching the last of several cars go by, she turned to the other two women.

  “They’re going toward Ruth’s building!”

  Chapter 2

  Detective Jason Strong came running through the front doors of the San Antonio police station. For the third day in a row, he was late. His partner, Vanessa Layne, rolled her big, blue eyes and made an exaggerated display of checking her watch.

  Jason knew she was just taking the opportunity to needle him, but he still didn’t like to be late.

  “Sorry, partner.”

  “Same thing as the last two days?”

  “Yeah. Poor thing is really having a tough time of it.”

  He sat down at his desk, which butted up against his partner’s, so they faced each other. The ‘poor thing’ he was referring to was his wife, Sandy. Pregnant for the first time, her morning sickness was bad.

  Vanessa could sympathize. Her son, Kasen, now almost a year old, had caused her the same problem early on.

  “Morning sickness is no fun.”

  “Why do they call it morning sickness, anyway? She seems to have waves of nausea at all hours of the day.”

  Vanessa laughed. “Most women get sick in the morning, but there’s no law, that’s for sure.”

  Jason looked around the station. Homicide, which occupied the entire third floor of the station, was usually buzzing with activity. This morning was quiet, and even the lieutenant’s office was empty.

  “Where’s the lieutenant?”

  “He went downstairs to talk with Doc Josie.”

  Jason nodded. Doctor Jocelyn Carter, ‘Doc Josie’ to everyone at the station, was the head of the Forensic Science Department.

  The phone in the lieutenant’s office started to ring. Vanessa got up and answered it.

  “Lieutenant Patton’s office.”

  Jason watched her as she grabbed a piece of paper and took down some information. She looked in his direction as she hung up.

  “Patrol called. They’ve got a body at Orchid Village.”

  “The retirement community? Why us?”

  “It’s clearly not death by natural causes. You want to get your car while I notify the lieutenant?”

  “Sounds good.”

  They got on the elevator, pushing One for Jason, and Basement for Vanessa. The elevator stopped and Jason stepped out.

  “Meet you outside in ten?”

  “Okay.”

  The elevator doors closed and Jason turned to go to the parking lot.

  “Hey, Jason.”

  Jason looked up to see his friend Dave Connor. Dave had lost his wife a few months ago, and he’d been on leave. Her death had been a big case for Jason and Vanessa. They’d almost lost the lieutenant to the same killer.

  Jason had stayed in contact with Dave and finally convinced him to come back to work. Dave manned the Sergeant’s desk, directing lobby traffic. An old injury had put him behind the desk, which he hated, but Jason knew being back at the station was the best medicine for his friend.

  “Dave! How ya doin’?”

  “Makin’ it. You?”

  “Sandy’s still struggling with morning sickness. Me, I’m doing fine.”

  Dave laughed. “Yeah, us guys sure got the better end of the deal when it comes to pregnancy.”

  Jason chuckled. “Amen to that! See ya later.”

  Jason stepped out of the station doors into the heat of the early South Texas summer. Spring was barely over, but they’d already had four one-hundred-plus-degree days. Not a good sign for this moisture-starved area of the Lone Star State.

  Getting in his car, he cranked the air conditioning and pulled up by the station doors. Vanessa climbed into the passenger seat a few minutes later.

  “The lieutenant called Doc Davis. He’s got a van headed to the scene.”

  Doctor Leonard Davis, one of the smartest people Jason had ever met, had been City Coroner for as long as Jason could remember.

  “What about forensics?”

  “Also on the way.”

  “Okay. Let’s go see what we’ve got.”

  *******

  Fifteen minutes later, they pulled up at the front gate of Orchid Village. Located on the north end of the city, the retirement community was well known for its immense size and active retiree population.

  Jason pulled onto the main road, known as Orchid Way, and spotted flashing lights among a group of buildings to his right. He followed the road around and pulled up at the edge of the crowd. Vanessa got out and cleared a path for Jason to drive up to the crime tape.

  An officer lifted the tape for the car to pass through. As Jason got out, Vanessa caught up to him. She looked back over her shoulder at the crowd.

  “I’ve seen big crowds at crime scenes but this takes the cake. There must be a thousand people here.”

  Jason gave her a grim smile.

  “Must be all the flashing lights brought on by a dead body!”

  Vanessa snorted. “Must be.”

  They walked up the path leading to the ground floor apartment. The forensic team was already there, but they were waiting for the detectives to get their first look before moving anything.

  The two detectives went through the front door and back to the bedroom. Jason wasn’t prepared for the scene that greeted them.

  “Is that a garbage bag over her head?”

  “Yes,” The voice was female, but it didn’t belong to Vanessa. Jason turned to see a young officer looking at him. “We found a box of matching bags on the counter in the kitchen.”

  Vanessa was leaning over the body.

  “What’s around her neck?”

  “Duct tape.”

  “Jason, look at this pillow. Knife?”

  He walked over and peered closely.

  “I’d say so.” He turned to the female officer. “Any knives found?”

  The officer shook her head.

  “Kitchen knives are in a drawer. Hard to tell if one is missing.”

  Jason rubbed his arms.

  “Why’s it so cold in here?”

  The officer pointed toward the living room.

  “A/C was left on at its lowest setting. We assume by the killer.”

  “Seems pretty comfortable to me.” Jason turned to see Doc Davis coming through the door.

  “Of course! You like it because it reminds you of home, your morgue!”

  Doc Davis smiled and shook Jason’s hand. He waved at Vanessa.

  “Hi, Vanessa.”

  “Hi, Doc. I’m impressed with the personal appearance. No underling this time?”

  “I heard you were going to be here, so I came myself.”

  “Flattery will get you everywhere, Doc.”

  He smiled and then, as he approached the body, slid a pair of gloves on. Carefully, he pushed a finger under the tape around the woman’s neck.

  “The tape’s not tight enough to have choked the victim. Probably just meant to hold the bag in place.”

  Jason walked over and looked more closely at the victim.

  “Any sign of restraints?”

  “By the position of the body, I would say probably. She’s lying with both hands behind her.”

  Doc Davis gently lifted each hand.

  “Something restrained her. She’s got ligature marks on both wrists.”

  “Any guess of what was used?”

  “Looks to be rope, but can’t say for sure until the autopsy.”

  Vanessa was talking to the female officer, writing some information on her
pad, and turned to Jason.

  “The guy who found her is sitting on the patio. You want to go talk to him with me?”

  Chapter 3

  Jason and Vanessa found the man who called 9-1-1, but as they stepped out onto the patio, Jason hesitated.

  “I’ll be out in a minute.”

  He returned to the female officer.

  “You were the first to respond?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Was the patio door locked?”

  She didn’t answer immediately, and Jason could tell she wasn’t sure.

  “It’s okay, Officer. Just tell me what you remember.”

  “I’m sorry, Detective. I just don’t know. I didn’t check it before Mr. Davis went out to the patio.”

  Jason knew he should chew her out so it wouldn’t happen again, but he’d been a young cop once, and he knew how it felt.

  He looked her in the eyes and lowered his voice. “Always check and secure the perimeter of any scene. Learn, and make sure next time, understand?”

  He could see gratitude in her eyes.

  “Yes, sir. Thank you.”

  He turned and went back to the patio.

  Vanessa was sitting across the table from an elderly man, who looked drawn and tired. She was asking questions and making notes. Jason interrupted.

  “Excuse me. My name is Detective Strong...”

  Jason waited until the man turned his direction. Vanessa introduced the man.

  “This is Willie Davis. He found our victim, Ruth Rogers.”

  “Hello, Mr. Davis. Do you remember if this door was locked when you came outside?”

  Willie scrunched his face, trying to remember, but finally shook his head.

  “I don’t think so, but I’m not sure. I’m sorry.”

  Jason touched the man’s shoulder.

  “It’s okay. Do you remember if the front door was locked?”

  “Yes. I used the spare key to let myself in.”

  “Thank you.”

  Jason turned back to the sliding door and examined the handle. He couldn’t find any sign of forced entry. He went back into the apartment and checked the front door. It looked undamaged, as well. He returned to the patio.