Chris Carter - The Crucifix Killer

‘What a useless piece of shit he is. And we paid him for that?’

Jerome agreed with a nod.

‘Tell the girls we’ll be leaving soon, but before that get me that barman, the one Jenny used to talk to every once in a while, the long-haired one.’

‘Sure.’ Jerome watched D-King finish half a bottle of champagne in one swig. ‘Are you OK, boss?’

He threw the empty champagne bottle onto the table knocking over several glasses and attracting unwanted attention. ‘What the fuck are you looking at?’ he yelled at the table closest to his. Its four occupants quickly turned away to mind their own business.

‘No, I’m not OK,’ D-King said, turning to face Jerome. ‘As a matter of fact I’m pretty damn far from OK, Jerome. Someone snatched one of my girls right from under my nose. If what the detectives said is true she was tortured and killed.’ He looked disgusted. ‘Skinned alive, Jerome. Now you tell me, what sort of stupid motherfucker would be crazy enough to do that to one of my girls?’

Jerome could offer no answer but a shrug of his shoulders.

‘I’ll tell you who… a fucking dead one. I want this guy, do you feel me? I want him alive so I can show him what torture really is.’ He put his right arm around Jerome’s neck and pulled his face within an inch of his own. ‘Whatever it takes, nigga, do you understand me? Whatever it fucking takes.’

The realization that the killer had been in the Vanguard Club only a few days ago made Hunter’s blood boil. He decided they should stick around for a while longer. The killer had been here, he had touched things, allowed other people to look at him, maybe even talk to him. Somehow he’d managed to drug Jenny between the VIP area and the ladies’ room and then drag her out of the club without looking suspicious – or did he?

Hunter touched Garcia’s arm to get his attention and pointed to the low ceiling. ‘Do you see what I see?’

Garcia looked up, following Hunter’s extended index finger. ‘CCTV!’

‘Bingo.’

‘Excuse me!’ Hunter said, approaching the bouncer standing next to the fire exit. ‘Where is your CCTV control room?’ he asked, showing the muscle man his badge.

‘Upstairs, next to the manager’s office.’

‘Can you show me where it is? I need to take a look at some of your tapes.’

The two detectives followed the bouncer back through the dancing crowd to the western side of the club. A narrow staircase led them up to the next level and into a small corridor. They approached the second door on the right where the sign read ‘CONTROL ROOM’. Inside a solitary guard sat surrounded by small TV screens. He was holding a newspaper neatly folded in four with the crossword section showing. Hunter noticed he had yet to complete a single word.

‘Hi there, Stu,’ the bouncer said.

The guard didn’t look up. ‘Emotional shock, six letters beginning with T, do you have any idea what it could be?’ The top of the ballpoint pen he was holding in his right hand had been completely chewed off.

‘Trauma.’ The answer came from Hunter.

The guard finally lifted his eyes from the paper with a surprised look, only then realizing Tarik wasn’t alone. He put down the newspaper and straightened himself in his chair. Hunter took care of the introductions and badge-displaying ritual.

‘I need to clear it with the manager first,’ Stu said reaching for the phone after Hunter had explained the reason for their unannounced visit. Hunter made no objection and listened as the guard quickly explained the situation over the phone to one of his superiors.

‘OK, sir. We’ll wait,’ he said, putting the phone down.

‘So?’ Hunter asked.

‘He’s coming over.’

Hunter scanned the small TV monitors in front of Stu’s desk. ‘How many cameras in total?’

‘One over each bar, one over the dance floor entrance, one above the fire exit, two out on the patio, one over the club entrance, one in each of the two corridors that lead to the bathrooms, three over the dance floor and two over the VIP area,’ Stu said, pointing to a different monitor with each new camera he mentioned.

The door opened and a short man dressed in an immaculately pressed pin-striped suit walked in. He was about five-foot five and the bad acne from his youth had left his pale face pitted like a sponge. His thick bushy eyebrows made him look like a cartoon character. He introduced himself as Tevez Lopez, the security manager.

‘We need to see all your CCTV footage from last Friday,’ Hunter said wasting no time with frivolous explanations.

‘What exactly are we looking for?’

‘A young woman was abducted last Friday. We have reason to believe she might’ve been abducted from this club. We need to check those tapes.’

Tevez and Stu looked worried for a moment. ‘We might have a problem here, Detective,’ Tevez said.

‘Why?’

‘We only keep our recordings for two, maybe three days; last Friday has been erased.’

‘What? Why?’ Garcia asked with frustration.

‘We have no need to keep it,’ Tevez offered casually. ‘If we had no problems on the night, no fights, no money’s gone missing from the tills, no drug-related incident, we see no point in holding on to the recordings. You see, Detective, everything is digital in this day and age. We have about thirteen cameras recording something like twelve to fifteen hours every night and that uses a hell of a lot of hard-drive space. Once we’re satisfied the night has gone on without a problem, we erase it to make room for the new recordings.’

Both detectives were stunned by Tevez’s statement. Probably the only ever footage of the killer, erased to save disk space. Hunter knew an opportunity like this would never come up again. He turned and faced the monitors.

‘You have no hard copy?’ Garcia questioned.

‘No, as I’ve said, there’s no need.’

‘Wait, can you zoom in on this camera,’ Hunter pointed to the top left monitor.

‘Sure.’ Stu twisted a knob on his desk and the monitor image zoomed in to three times its original size.

‘Who is this?’ Hunter pointed to a long-haired man seated in the VIP area. D-King and Jerome were sitting in front of him.

‘That’s Pietro, one of our barmen, but he’s not supposed to be in the VIP area,’ Tevez replied.

‘We’ll need to talk to him.’

‘Sure, would you like me to call him up here now?’

Hunter looked around the control room. It was hardly an appropriate place for an interview. ‘Do you have another room we could use?’

‘You could use my office, it’s just down the corridor.’

‘Wait until he’s finished talking to whoever it is he’s talking to and then call him up. We’ll wait in your office.’ Hunter didn’t want Tevez to know he’d already made D-King’s acquaintance.

Tevez’s office was small but well decorated. A square mahogany desk sat towards the back of the room. To its right, a neon-illuminated fish tank gave the office a nice personal touch. An array of shelves filled with photographs and books covered the entirety of the east wall. The loud music from the dance floor was muffled but still audible, making the floor under their feet tremble slightly but constantly. They’d been waiting for about five minutes when Pietro came in to greet them.

‘Mr Lopez said you’d like to talk to me,’ Pietro said after the usual introductions.

‘That’s right. Your conversation with Bobby Preston, what was it about?’ Hunter saw no need for beating around the bush.

The look on Pietro’s face told them that he didn’t recognize the name.

‘D-King, your conversation with D-King,’ Garcia clarified.

‘Was it about this girl?’ Hunter showed him Jenny’s picture.