Robin Burcell - The Bone Chamber

“For you, Tasha. I’m going to find out who did this.”

Sydney called the D.C. police department from thecar. Amber Jacobsen, the records supervisor, was a cultivated contact from Syd’s days working in the capital, cultivated because Amber’s finger was on the pulse of what was going on in that town, and it always paid to have a friendly face when it came to dealing with the local law enforcement. Sydney had always been careful to reciprocate any favors.

“MPDC, Records, Jacobsen speaking.”

“Hey, girl. It’s Fitz.”

“To what do I owe the honor?”

“I was hoping you might be able to clue me in on any unsolved Jane Does in your area?”

“Not a one that I know of, why?”

“Just handled a forensic sketch, and was curious if the victim came out of your area. It was pretty brutal,” she said, and left it at that, since the case was CIA’s and she had no idea what was going on with it. She’d already had one friend killed, she didn’t need another. “Might have occurred at the Smithsonian or nearby.”

“Now that I would’ve heard about. I’ll double check with Dennis, but believe it or not, for D.C., we’ve been pretty quiet. Well, up until the bank robbery today. Nothing but the usual, and a couple gang killings the past few weeks. Since they’re only killing each other, not even the reporters are getting excited. Hey, that’s my other line,” she added, the phone ringing in the background. “I’ll call you if I hear anything on any Jane Doe murders.”

“Thanks.”

By the time Sydney arrived at the Smithsonian castle parking lot, doubts had hit her about this being the location. The color of the building was right, but surely there would’ve been some sort of rumor. All doubts fled the moment she saw the building up close. The large blocks of stone looked very much like what she’d seen in the crime scene photo.

She carried two sketches in her soft-sided briefcase, one of the woman’s face, the other of what she recalled from the crime scene. It was this one she looked at, trying to get a feel for its location on the property, and she walked around, stopped only once by a security guard who suddenly appeared through a side door from the building. The grounds were undoubtedly monitored, and she was off the beaten path.

The guard was a good six inches taller than her five-nine frame. His uniform shirt was strained at the buttons and at the pants’ pockets, as though he’d gained considerable weight since he’d purchased the uniform. His smile was guarded as he looked her over. “May I help you?” He had a slight accent, something Eastern European.

She pulled her credentials from her briefcase, held them open for him. “I’m looking into a report that a woman might have been assaulted here, possibly even murdered.”

He tucked his thumbs in his belt, shaking his head. “If there was any crime on these grounds, we’d be notified, especially something that serious.”

“Nothing in the past few days? Weeks…? Months?” she added when she received no reaction.

“I’ve only worked here a few weeks. If anything happened before that, I have no idea.”

“Mind if I have a look around?”

“You have a card? I’ll call my superior, let him know.”

She handed him one from her briefcase, then pulled out the sketch of the Jane Doe. “Do you recall ever seeing this woman around here?”

He eyed the sketch, his gaze narrowing as he shook his head. “With so many tourists, it’s hard to say. Would you like me to make a copy and ask around?”

“No, thank you.”

He held up her card. “But if I think of something, I’ll call you.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

He left and she continued her perusal, definitely at a loss. This appeared to be the crime scene she’d seen in the photo, but if so, it told her little. She stood there, eyeing the lamppost, the red sandstone on the building, but there was nothing that stood out, and she thought of the photo she’d seen in Quantico. She was no homicide detective, though she’d assisted on several serial murders during her few short years with the FBI, and the occasional murder while an officer with Sacramento PD before that. Perhaps that was why she hadn’t made the connection to what she hadn’t seen in the photo. Blood.

It had been there on what was left of the woman’s face, to be sure, but head wounds are known to bleed profusely, and the removal of a face from a body was bound to leave some blood evidence, if not massive amounts of blood evidence.

Which meant the woman had been killed elsewhere.

Sydney walked around a bit, finally ending up at the front of the building, with the distinct feeling that someone was watching her. She looked up, saw a tall, dark-haired priest eyeing her, a look of curiosity on his face, perhaps because she was coming from an area where the tourists didn’t usually venture. He was standing next to a group of people who were waiting at the entrance to the front of the very building Sydney had been searching around. She glanced at a sign, saw it was a display on the Holy Crusade, which no doubt explained the priest’s presence, and when she saw nothing else out of the ordinary, she returned to the parking lot. Okay, think. What would the homicide guys do if they were investigating a Jane Doe murder? Two things, she thought, both of which might help identify the victim. Missing persons’ reports and towed abandoned vehicles. If someone was missing or dead, she could very well have left a car somewhere, a car that was towed because she failed to return for it. And that could give her a good starting break.

Syd pulled out her cell phone, called Amber Jacobsen at MPDC Records. “You have time to do one other favor for me?”

“Depends. I get off in thirty. My favorite band is playing tonight. Scars on Broadway.”

“Hoping this won’t take too long. I need info on towed abandoned vehicles in the downtown area.”

“Time frame?”

“Last couple weeks, up until now. And if you can tie one of them to a missing person’s case, preferably a woman, that’s even better.”

“Piece of cake. When do you need it?”

“I’m on my way to the PD now.”

“I’ll have the listing for you when you get here.”

“Thanks,” she said, then looked up, surprised to see the security guard was standing just a few feet behind her.

“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t want to interrupt your call. There’s another guard who may have heard something a few nights ago. I thought you might like to come back, perhaps to speak with him.”

“Heard what?” she said, standing there, her hand on the car door.

“A man arguing with a woman. A lovers’ quarrel.”

“Did he say what night this was?”

“Three nights ago, I think. He’s tied up at the monitors, and said to come inside to the office and he’ll go over the details with you. He thinks it could be what you’re looking for.”

“Thanks,” she said, then tossed her briefcase into the front seat, not wanting to sound too ungrateful, since he had gone to the trouble to check for her. “Unfortunately, I have an appointment. If you could give him my card and have him call me, I’d appreciate it.” And she slid into the driver’s seat, started the car, then drove off, catching sight of the security guard in her rearview mirror. She dismissed the information he’d given her, not worried about this lovers’ quarrel thing, especially if it occurred that recently.

There had been snow on the ground three nights ago, and in the crime scene photo, there was no snow, which meant the murder had occurred sometime before that.

About twenty minutes later, she was walking up the front steps of the Henry J. Daly building of the Metropolitan Police Department. Amber was waiting for her at Records. Petite, she stood about five and a half feet tall, brown hair, blue-green eyes, and a dusting of freckles across her pretty face. She smiled as she held up two stacks of printouts.