Mariah Stewart - Cold Truth

“If she said anything about me…”

“Don’t flatter yourself. She has more important things on her mind at the moment. Now, if you’ll excuse me-”

“The doctors said she’d probably be ready to leave by the end of the week. Just so you know, I’m taking her home.”

Cass turned back to him. “Why?”

“Why? Because she’s my wife, that’s why.”

“Oh. You finally remembered.” Cass walked past him and left the room.

“She needs to be home. She needs to be with her sons,” David called to her from the doorway, but Cass refused to turn around.

Rick fell in step with her and they walked toward the elevator.

“Where’s the fire?” he asked.

“Any place but here.” Her breath was coming in little, short puffs. “Just get me out of here.”

He led her to the elevator and took her arm when the doors opened. He punched the L button and leaned against the side of the car, studying her face and wondering what Lucy could have said that had unnerved her. They reached the lobby and she stepped out of the car as soon as the elevator doors opened. She headed for the exit to the parking garage as if fleeing a burning building.

Rick kept pace with her as they neared his car. He unlocked it with the remote when they were still ten feet from it, and once inside, he turned on the ignition, but didn’t put the car in gear.

“Are you going to tell me what she said that has you upset? Did she recognize the man who attacked her? Give you any clue as to who he is?”

Cass shook her head. “No, she didn’t say anything like that. She’s having trouble speaking, you know, because of the bruising to her throat. But she said… she said…” Cass cleared her throat and appeared to be attempting to collect herself. “She said that while he was attacking her… while he was attempting to rape her… the entire time he was strangling her, he was calling her Jenny. ”

“Jenny?” Rick frowned. “What the hell does that mean?”

“Rick, my mother’s name was Jenny,” Cass said softly.

“I remember. You showed me the memorial at the bird sanctuary.” He appeared puzzled. “But there are lots of women named Jenny. I can see why it might rattle you a bit, but-”

“I told you my mother was murdered. I don’t think I told you she’d been strangled. June 1979. Twenty-six years ago.”

“Twenty-six…” Rick frowned. “In 1979. The same summer the Bayside Strangler started his run here. Jesus, Cass, are you telling me she was one of his first victims? Don’t you think you could have mentioned this earlier?”

“No, she wasn’t. At least… no. Well… no.” Cass was clearly confused. “The man who killed her… killed my father… my little sister… he was arrested. He was tried and convicted.”

“Did he confess?”

“No.” She nibbled on the nail of her right index finger. “No. He never did.”

“Maybe we should go speak with him.”

“Tough to do. He died about ten years ago, remember?”

“Right. Maybe Lucy’s attacker had another Jenny in mind.”

“The thing you need to know is, Lucy looks almost exactly like my mother.” She closed her eyes and leaned back against the headrest. “Now that I think about it, all of the victims look a bit like my mother. Pretty, with long dark hair…”

“No one ever connected your family’s murder with the Bayside Strangler?”

She shook her head. “Why would they? This was an entire family that was wiped out-almost wiped out. The others-they were all attacks on women only. The MO was entirely different, too. My family…” She swallowed hard. “No one else was attacked in their own home that summer. Looking back, I can see why there was no connection made. And I’m still not sure there is a connection. I don’t want there to be a connection.”

“Where were you?” he asked. “Were you away from home on the day of the attack?”

“I was there,” she said, then turned to stare out the window.

He wanted to ask how she had been spared, but the look that had come over her face warned him off.

“We need to talk to Chief Denver. You need to tell him what Lucy said.”

Cass nodded but did not speak.

Rick started the car and they drove in silence to the police station. They walked straight back to the chief’s office and Cass barely knocked before opening the door and walking in.

“Cass.” Chief Denver looked up from his desk, started to say something, but her expression stopped him. Instead, he asked, “Cassie, what’s happened?”

She told him about her conversation with Lucy.

“He called her Jenny ?” Denver asked incredulously. “She was sure?”

“She was sure.”

“But what the hell…?” Denver stared at her blankly. “Why the hell would he…?”

“Chief, I wonder if I could have a look at your police file on the attack on Cass’s family,” Rick said. “I’m assuming you still have it?”

“I guess it’s still in the storage room. When we moved into the new municipal building seven years ago, all our old files were packed up and stored. I can have someone look for it. I don’t recall giving an okay to get rid of any of them, so I’m assuming we still have it. What do you want with it? What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking there’s a connection to the Bayside Strangler that somehow slipped by everyone back then.”

“No way did we miss a goddamn thing. No damn way. What the hell would make you even think such a thing?”

“Let’s start with the attack on Lucy Webb and the fact that her attacker called her Jenny. ”

“There are a lot of women named Jenny.”

“With long dark hair, who were strangled to death by a killer who only targets women with long dark hair?”

“I’m telling you, Cisco, I was part of both investigations back then, the Burkes’ and the Strangler’s. I was among the first officers on the scene at the Burke home. I can tell you that not much slipped past anyone. We all knew Bob and Jenny. We went over that house with a fine-tooth comb. We found the killer hiding in the garage, covered in Bob Burke’s blood. There was no doubt who was responsible for those killings.” Denver ’s voice rose with anger and he spoke as if he’d forgotten Cass was in the room. “I carried that child down the steps, bleeding from her neck to her waist, cut up like-”

Cass bolted from the room.

“Jesus, I can’t believe I just did that.” Denver ran a hand over his head. “Holy mother in heaven, I can’t believe I did that.”

Rick started after her, then stopped at the door, and over his shoulder asked, “By ‘that child,’ you mean Cass’s sister?”

“No, I mean Cass. Bastard stabbed her in the chest five, six times, left her for dead. It’s a miracle that she lived. I still don’t know how she survived.”

“I’ll need to see that file as soon as you can get your hands on it. Today if possible.” Rick closed the door and went in search of Cass.

He found her in her office, seated at her desk, the lights off, the window shades drawn. He could think of nothing to say that could possibly comfort her or matter to her, so he said nothing. He merely pulled up the chair at the desk she’d offered to him several days ago, and waited for her to come back from wherever it was her memories had taken her. He was pretty sure it was no place good.

They sat in silence for almost twenty minutes before his cell phone rang. He answered it, listened intently, then said, “We’ll be there. Thanks.”

Cass raised her eyes to meet his.

“That was Mitch. Dr. McCall-the profiler we told you about-has had a change of plans and can’t be here until around two o’clock tomorrow.”