Chris Mooney - The Killing House

‘I rang the doorbell twice, and, when no one answered, I went to the garage. I saw both cars and decided to return to the house. I think the shooter was watching me from the bedroom window. The lights were off, it was dark in there, and she could watch me undetected. The shooter saw me coming back and at some point made the decision to escort Theresa Herrera downstairs to send me away.’

‘And now we know the husband was inside the house that night.’

‘ And we know the shooter didn’t bring the husband downstairs,’ Fletcher said. ‘I didn’t see or hear him. After she killed Theresa Herrera, after she tried to kill me, she fled out the back. I returned to the front and picked up the spent cartridge. Again, I didn’t see or hear anything to give me an indication the husband was inside the house.’

‘And then you drove away.’

Fletcher nodded. ‘I didn’t hear the bomb go off, so a significant period of time elapsed before it detonated. When it did, Barry Herrera must have been right on top of it or very close to it, for his head to have been thrown such a distance. That suggests a fixed position. That he couldn’t move.’

‘You think he was tied up somewhere, maybe the upstairs bedroom?’

‘And gagged,’ Fletcher said. ‘Remember, I didn’t hear him.’

‘What if he was already dead by that point?’

‘The woman in the fur coat was inside the house before I arrived. If she had killed the husband, why didn’t she also kill the wife? Why wait? And if the husband was already dead, why escort the distraught and terrorized wife downstairs to answer the door? Why take the risk?’

‘Because something was in progress when you arrived, and you interrupted it.’

Fletcher nodded. ‘Whatever was happening inside the house, whatever this woman in the fur coat had planned, it was important enough to risk allowing Theresa Herrera to answer the door. She wanted to send me on my way so she could get back to it.’

‘Only Theresa Herrera warned you with that bit about not being able to afford my fee.’

Fletcher nodded again.

‘Then the shooter killed Theresa Herrera, tried to kill you and fled the scene.’

‘And after she was a safe distance away, she detonated the bomb,’ Fletcher said. ‘I don’t think she came back with it. Too risky — someone might see her. I think she brought it with her to the house, possibly concealed in something inconspicuous, something that wouldn’t arouse any suspicion — a handbag, possibly.’

‘It must have been one hell of a big handbag.’

‘Bringing a bomb to the house… if her goal was simply to kill Theresa Herrera and her husband, she could have driven up to the house, left the bomb at the front door and detonated it from a safe location any time she wanted.’

‘Agreed,’ Karim said. ‘So why use the bomb? To erase evidence?’

‘Using a bomb doesn’t completely erase evidence. It only makes the pieces of the puzzle more difficult to put together. I think she used it because she couldn’t afford to let anyone know what she was doing inside there — she needed to hide what she was doing inside the house.’

‘What do you think she was trying to hide?’

‘That she’s done this before,’ Fletcher said.

‘What makes the Herrera family so unique?’ Fletcher asked. ‘What sets them apart from anyone else?’

‘Their missing son,’ Karim said. ‘Rico.’

Fletcher nodded. ‘We know Rico Herrera was abducted from his bedroom while he was sleeping. Four years have passed, and the police have failed to find him or to uncover any new investigative angle or piece of evidence. The trail has gone cold. Dead cold. The mother refuses to give up hope. Maybe she really does believe her son is alive or maybe, on an unconscious level, she knows he’s most likely dead and needs the police to find him so she can grieve and move on with her life.’

‘It’s probably a combination of both,’ Karim said. ‘Hope is always the last thing to die.’

‘We know she’s referred to you by your contact in Colorado, the homicide detective who worked her son’s case. You ask me to talk to her and her husband. I arrive to find the upstairs bedroom light being turned off. When Theresa Herrera finally answers the door, she’s frightened but able to maintain enough composure to concoct a story about suffering from a stomach virus and that her husband is out for the night. She tries to send me away, and we know what happens next.

‘These are indisputable facts. We also know the shooter is inside the house before I arrive on the scene, but we don’t know why. What is her reason for gaining access to the house? I started with that question and operated from the theory that the shooter is somehow connected to Rico Herrera’s abduction. If so, why would she decide to visit the family four years later? It certainly wouldn’t be to tell them their son is dead.’

‘I think you’re right,’ Karim said. ‘If the shooter had told the mother her son was dead, she wouldn’t have allowed Theresa Herrera to answer the door. The woman would have been too distraught. Even with a gun pointed at her, she might have risked screaming for help — or chosen to flee the house.’

‘So the shooter had leverage, something to make Theresa Herrera cooperate.’

‘You think, what, the shooter told Herrera that her son was alive?’

‘It would give the shooter the power to force Theresa Herrera to do what she was told.’

‘It’s possible, sure. But we don’t know that was, in fact, what happened.’

‘Correct. Let’s go back to our original assumption that the shooter is either responsible or somehow connected to Rico Herrera’s abduction. If this is true, we’re back to the original question: what’s the shooter’s reason for being there? Not to kill the wife and her husband. If this was simply about killing, she could have done that very easily. We know she gained access to the house, and we know she had a gun. She could have used it at any time, but she didn’t. She made Theresa Herrera answer the door to send me away.’

‘You know what was going on inside the house, don’t you?’

‘I have a theory.’

‘Let’s hear it.’

‘Our shooter, the woman in the fur coat, planned on abducting one of the parents.’

Surprise bloomed on Karim’s face.

Fletcher stood, his ribs screaming in protest, and left the dining room. He entered the kitchen and came back with the manila folder holding the three sheets of notes he had written earlier that morning.

Fletcher resumed his seat and said, ‘I conducted some preliminary research and found eight families who have had either a son or a daughter abducted from their house, on their way home from school, from a car — the abduction methods vary. The child vanishes, and after a significant amount of time passes — several months or, in the case of Rico Herrera, several years — one of the parents vanishes, never to be seen or heard from again.’

‘And the surviving spouse?’

‘Killed inside the house.’ Fletcher slid the folder across the table and added, ‘They’re all unsolved.’

Karim read through the pages. They contained only salient details: the names of the eight families; the names of their missing children and the date and circumstances of their abductions; the date and details involving the murder of the husband or wife followed by those for the husband or wife who vanished afterwards.

‘These families are scattered all over the country,’ Karim said.

‘And there may be more. I only had a day to do the research.’

‘Where did you get this information?’

‘Articles posted on various newspaper websites,’ Fletcher said.