LAST WOMAN STANDING
Detective Molly Watson had no idea how long she had been sitting on the cold and damp ground next to the river. All she knew was that she had become stiff and uncomfortable. She was, however, not ready to return to the reality of the life waiting for her on the other side of the line of trees obscuring the river from the busy road. The best she could do was to shift her position slightly and continue staring at the water, not that it brought her any closer to a solution to her problems, at least not yet.
Molly joined the police force ten years ago and had moved up the ranks slowly but steadily. When she was transferred to homicide two years ago, she was elated. That was where she had wanted to be all along and still loved being, until a few weeks ago. Molly was warned that the other detectives in the homicide division, all of them men, would not take kindly to her presence and that it would be difficult for her to be accepted and treated as an equal. This, however, proved to be wrong. She had been welcomed in the office immediately and through hard work had gained the respect of all her colleagues. Being treated badly at work was not one of Molly’s many problems.
Solving a case, or to be truthful, solving the four cases she oversaw, was the root of all her problems, both at work and in her personal life. Now, for the first time since joining the police, she was considering a desk job, but could not bring herself so far as to complete the application for chief of operations. Molly was no quitter but felt like perhaps she would do the cases a disservice by staying on. Perhaps someone else could come up with something better as she had no clue as to what to do or where to go next. In the early morning hours, before the sun was even up, she made up her mind. She would give herself a few more days, 5 days to be exact, and if she could not unearth a new clue in the four homicide cases, she would quit.
Determined to see it through she approached the most senior member of their team, John Brackenhurst and told him how she felt. He listened quietly, did not interrupt her, but when she finished talking, he was the one to suggest that she took the day off, go somewhere quiet and think.
Molly sighed deeply and started going through the cases in her mind one by one.
July 4th, Maria Salenas, 35, found brutally murdered in her home at 4:50pm when her husband and two young children returned from work and school. Maria was 25 when she married Marko Salenas, a widower with two teenage children, aged 17 and 14 at the time of their wedding ten years ago. Marko was 40 when they married.
Molly systematically went through every detail she remembered from the many interviews she and her colleagues conducted.
Maria was working as a teacher’s assistant at a pre-school center when she met Marko. His wife had passed from cancer more than a year prior to them meeting at a delicatessen where he went to grab lunch. His children, colleagues and family, as well as Maria’s family, confirmed that Marko and Maria did not know one another before that day.
In the six months since her murder Molly and her colleagues also could not even find a single rumor about any affairs either of the parties may have had nor anything about any possible serious argument or unhappiness in the home.
Marko’s son, Julian was now married and had a child of his own. Marko’s daughter, Sophia, was a flight attendant on a flight to Spain when the murder took place. Both, however, had nothing but good things to say about Maria. They spoke of how she never tried to take the place of their mother, how she had been kind to them throughout the years they have known her and how happy they were when Maria and their father found out that she was pregnant. When Maria became pregnant for a second time, they found it fitting that Maria would now have two children of her own after taking such good care of someone else’s two kids for years. By all indications both Julian and Sophia were still close to the family and visited often, with Sophia often bringing small gifts for them from her many travels.
Worse than that, at least for the investigating team, was that Marko’s alibi for the day was as solid as they come. He left for work that morning, dropping the two young children off at their school. He was co-operative and allowed the detectives access to his financial records, both personal and business, as well as access to his phone records. To date they could not find anything which could not be explained or proven.
Being a rich neighborhood there was an abundance of security camera footage and from those detectives learned that Maria left the house at 9am and returned with shopping bags just before 10 am. Footage at the local supermarket also showed her buying foodstuffs and cleaning materials. Maria chatted to the cashier while she was checking out, but other than that did not interact with anyone else and nor was there any sign of her being followed or stalked in any way. A security camera in the parking lot showed her getting into her vehicle and driving off, four minutes later their own outside cameras as well as a neighbor’s camera, picked her up driving into her own driveway, getting out of her vehicle and entering her home. Further footage taken after she returned home did not show anything suspicious either and only confirmed Marko’s testimony that he and the children returned home at 4:50 pm.
The Salenas’ had cameras in their backyard, but detectives soon discovered that it did not cover the whole of the yard, nor the largest portion of the back deck and back door. It was generally believed that if there was an intruder, that would have been the direction from which he entered the home. The only problem was that there was no sign of forced entry and whoever had come that way must have known exactly where to walk not to be picked up by the two cameras.
Forensics had also determined that all the blood found in the house belonged to Maria and all the fingerprints and hair to the family. Although Maria was stabbed and had her throat cut there was also no weapon found at the murder scene. Nothing was taken from the home either that anybody knew off.
Molly and her colleagues were however certain that it was an ‘inside job’, but who exactly that ‘insider’ could be remained elusive. The Salenas family, unlike the families around them, did not have a housekeeper, had not had work done to their home in recent months, they had a garden service, a small privately owned company and all their employees were accounted for and not anywhere near the Salenas’ home that day. Detectives interviewed Marko’s colleagues, the Salenas’ friends and family without any luck. Yet they still could not believe or accept that a stranger could have entered the home undetected, that was until the next murder occurred…
August 7th, Sally-Ann Murdock, 36, found brutally stabbed to death in her home at 11 am when her mother, Susan Jardine, 65, arrived for a visit. Sally-Ann had been married to her husband Jordan for 14 years at the time of her death and was the mother of two children, Joe, 12, and Sandy 10.
By all indications Sally-Ann was the typical PTA mom. She lived for her children and husband and although they went through a rough patch financially a few years before, it was not bad enough for Sally-Ann to return to her previous job as a hairdresser. Instead, the family scaled down by moving to a smaller home and soon after Jordan was given a promotion at work along with a significant raise in his pay packet.
Once again, no rumors of any affairs on either side, no animosity between Sally-Ann and other PTA moms, no discord between other family members. The family did not employ a housekeeper or a gardener, have not had any work done to their home in more than a year and Jordan’s phone records and financial statements showed nothing of significance. This time there were no security camera footage and only one witness who saw Sally-Ann kiss her husband and children in front of their home and then waving at them when they left for work and school. Nobody saw anyone suspicious loitering about or approaching Sally-Ann’s home until her mother arrived at 11am.
As if they were not busy enough giving all they got to the investigation and trying to keep the media at bay, one of Molly’s colleagues suffered a heart attack and was laid off work for an undetermined period. As two of the other detectives, including John Brackenhurst, was assigned to the murder investigation of a known drug dealer, Molly was told to lead the investigation of the murders of the two housewives. It was the first time Molly was to lead an investigation and she prayed that she was up to it. Her little bit of self-doubt did not deter her, but instead she started living and breathing the two cases. She thought of little else, to the detriment of her relationship with her long-time partner Jack.
Jack accepted her dedication at first and often went to bed on his own leaving her to pour over papers and photographs until the early hours of the morning, but after the second murder, he was becoming frustrated with Molly’s lack of attention and the long hours she spent at work and at home working on the cases. Molly was hoping that there would not be a third murder, but unfortunately, whoever did the killings did not know or care about Molly’s wishes.
It was 2am when Molly’s phone rang and she was called out to one of the strangest murder scenes she had ever seen or heard of for that matter. Molly was grateful that Jack had decided to go on a team-building trip with his colleagues. She really was not up to spending time explaining and arguing with his, what she thought was childish, grievances.
September 10th, Julie Grant, 34, found murdered in her home by neighbors after an alarm went off and was not silenced soon enough. Julie had been married to James Grant for 11 years and they had one son, James Jnr. James was on a business trip and James Jnr on an overnight camping trip with the rest of his classmates when the murder occurred.
When Molly first arrived on the scene, she found it hard to believe that a brutal murder had occurred in the home. The house was pristine. It was all shining surfaces and not a single carpet, picture or piece of furniture out of place. The bedroom in which the murder occurred was the same except for the blood that covered the bed and splattered the walls. Julie was on the bed with her arms neatly to her sides. Her throat was cut and she had multiple stab wounds all over her body. There was no sign of a struggle or any other evidence pointing to a possible suspect.
Once again forensics only found Julie’s blood on the scene and no weapon, hair or fingerprints not belonging to the family and even those were hard to find as the house was meticulous. Molly soon found out that Julie was somewhat of an obsessive-compulsive cleaner.
This time there were some rumors about Julie and James’ relationship, and it was common knowledge that James had considered leaving his wife a number of times. It was also believed that James had an affair with a woman at work two years earlier. However, on further investigation it was found that the affair came to an end when the woman met someone else whom she married soon after. Both James and the ex-mistress also had rock-solid alibis.
Julie herself did not have many friends but baked beautifully decorated cupcakes for an events company. The employees at the events company described her a rather aloof, yet friendly enough and no one seemed to have been close enough to her to give any information about her private life.
The Grant’s home had security cameras, as did their neighbors. The only part of the house not covered by security cameras was the side closest to the neighbor on the right of them. Once again James’ financial records showed no unusual transactions and his phone records no suspicious calls.
Molly’s anxiety rose and she started dreading going to work. On days when she could not think of anything new to investigate, she poured over previous reports, looked at crimes scene photographs and even re-interviewed anyone and everyone she deemed needed a second look at. Although there was no forensic evidence to prove that it was the same person who committed all three crimes, Molly was sure that it was and that they had a serial killer on their hands. It was the fourth murder which caused her to notice a pattern and convinced her that she was right.
October 13th, Samantha Locke, 31, found stabbed and killed in her home by a neighbor who brought a parcel which was delivered to her home by mistake. The neighbor could hear the television set blaring in the house and knew that Samantha was home as she was known to be a soap opera addict. The neighbor found it odd that the front door was open as Samantha did not encourage visitors in the morning when her children were at school and her husband at work as it was the only time when she had the peace and quiet to watch her favorite ‘soapies’ without interruption. Samantha had been married to Brandon Locke for ten years and they had four children, 3, 5,7 and 9 years of age. The youngest had just started attending a crèche the month before and Samantha relished the peace and quiet in the morning and made no secret about it.
Regardless of her soap opera addiction, Samantha was vivacious and kept a neat home. She told neighbors that she found folding washing in front of the television the best way to relax.
Her husband Brandon worked as a mechanic at an auto repair shop and by all inclinations doted on his pretty wife, who somehow also managed to keep her looks and figure after four babies. He often joked with his work pals that the reason she kept her figure was because he gave her plenty of exercise which also resulted in them having so many babies.
Molly and other detectives turned the neighborhood upside down looking for any negative gossip or rumors but the worst they found was from an elderly lady living in a home which shared a back wall with the Locke home. She complained that Samantha was not particularly shy about exposing herself and that she had an argument with Samantha a few years back about tanning in her backyard with her pregnant belly exposed. The neighbor thought that it was improper.
Once again Brandon Locke had a solid alibi, nothing showed up in his financial or phone records. Both Brandon and Samantha had large extended families and an equally large group of friends, yet no one could come up with any idea as to who could have wanted to kill Samantha.
A detective’s worst nightmare was playing itself out right in front of Molly. There was no obvious connection between the women. Their children did not attend the same schools, they did not live in the same neighborhoods, they were from different financial and social backgrounds, did not resemble each other in any way. Maria was curvy and had dark hair, Sally-Ann tall and blonde, Julie a petite red head and Samantha was of average height with a good figure, freckles and brown hair. The only things Molly could find that they had in common were that they were all married, stay-at-home moms.
Then, as Molly was adjusting the board to add Samantha’s picture and details, she noticed a pattern. The women were killed exactly one month and three days apart. Somehow the one month and three days were just too exact to be a coincidence. Molly was almost sure of it, but not sure enough of its significance to share it with her colleagues yet. Without mentioning it to any of the others, she took to phoning the husbands and asking each of them whether the period of one month and three days had any significance for any of them. Molly knew that it was most likely reaching a bit thinking that it would, but she had nothing else. She also knew that if she was right, it would not be much longer before she would receive the next call to attend another murder scene.
Molly could barely eat, and sleep was almost out of the question. Jack was becoming even more irritable and vocal about his grievances with regards to their relationship. He did not mind bringing fast food home for dinner, but he could no longer abide with Molly’s mind drifting off while they were making love.
“Call me when you have decided to pay attention to the living again…!” he shouted as he stormed out only carrying a bag of clothing, his toothbrush and his briefcase. Molly knew that she would not and could not call him until the case was solved or she left the case, and she was not sure that leaving the case to someone else would improve things between them. Jack’s display of self-centered and childish behavior had opened Molly’s eyes and she realized that there was a distinct possibility that she had outgrown him a long time ago.
With no further clues and an empty bed at night Molly knew she was reaching the end of her rope and that was when she saw the internal memo for a new chief of operations. Although she could not see herself haggling over the cost of toilet paper for the station, she did not know what else to do.
And now there are only five days left before the next murder, that is, if Molly was right. Unfortunately, even though Molly thought that she knew when the next murder would happen, she did not know the where or who the victim would be. It made her sick to her stomach not to know.
The birds’ happy chirping in the trees told a story of freedom, but Molly knew she would never be free from this case, no matter where she went or what she did for a living. She would only be able to hold her head up again when the case was solved once and for all. She thought she saw Jack cross the road that morning, but although she made herself believe for a few days that she wanted him back, she had no desire to call out to him.
Allowing her mind to wander off the case or a moment, she contemplated her relationship with Jack for a while. She had always considered Jack’s petulant, almost childlike side to be rather adorable, but since becoming a detective she felt that she had matured, and that Jack had not. She knew that he needed and craved a family, particularly since the accident that claimed the lives of his last remaining family, his mother and sister… but she did not… yet…
The realization hit her like a four-pound hammer. Her head started spinning, her ears ringing and all she could do at that moment was to scream. She knew she had to get back to the office, but it took her body a while to react.
***
John Brackenhurst put an arm around Molly’s shoulders.
“You do not have to be here when they bring him in Molly. It is out of your hands now. You will no longer have anything to do with the investigation due to your relationship with Jack. You are now a witness in this case.”
Molly allowed herself a moment to accept and appreciate the comfort John offered. He also arranged for his wife to collect her from the station. Neither of them thought it would do Molly any good to return to the home she shared with Jack, at least not for a while.
“I know John, but I need to face him otherwise I’ll never be able to make peace with this. As is, I do not think I’ll ever be able to forgive myself…”
“Nonsense Molly, if you did not find the pattern pertaining to the dates on which the murders were committed and if you did not remember about Jack’s mother and sister and that horrible accident, another woman would have died four days from now. None of us knew that Jack’s mother died on impact and his sister in hospital a month and three days later… you are a hero and the sharpest tool in the shed, so now you need to rest so we can have you back calm and healthy.”
“But…”
“No buts Molly… Detective Brian and Detective Joe found enough evidence in his bag to put him away for a long time… Maria’s locket, a key from Julie Grant’s house…and a knife covered in dried blood, and I bet you forensics is going to find the blood of all four women on it. There is nothing more for you to do here but hurt yourself my dear.”
John had barely finished talking when his wife walked in and headed straight for them. Without saying a word, she took over from her husband and started leading Molly out of the office. It was just a moment too late as halfway down the corridor they met Detectives Joe Morris and Brian Schultz and walking between them a disheveled and shackled Jack.
An evil, nasty glint sparked in his eyes when he saw Molly.
“So, what now Molly? Do you still care more about the dead than the living? You failed the test I set up for you Molly…you failed, bitch!”
Molly suddenly felt eerily calm.
“No Jack, you failed the test. You failed as a partner and as a human being.”
With that Molly allowed John’s wife to lead her out of the building.
Copyright : Lynne 2021