Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Day 9: The Return of The Angel of Death














Throughout the long, sleepless hours of the early morning, Jack Mongtomery couldn’t escape the feeling something bad would happen today. It had to. It was the anniversary of the Angel of Death.
As head of the FBI’s DC branch of CASMIRC, Jack had seen his fair share of bad situations. But oddly enough the past few years at the center had been relatively tame. They’d been working cold cases just to stay funded.
Unfortunately, the last of his remaining doubts were about to be blown to smithereens and his gut instinct confirmed the minute he walked into his office that morning, guaranteeing he’d remember this day for the rest of his life.
Dan Martinez, Jack’s second in command, appeared in the doorway.
“What’s up?” Jack asked once he got a good look at Dan’s worried expression. This was going to be bad.
“DC police found the body of a woman in an empty warehouse off Arlington Boulevard,” Dan told him before taking his usual seat across from Jack.
“So?” Dan didn’t answer right away, which only served to increase Jack’s apprehension. “So what’s so special about this one to make DC homicide want us involved in it? Don’t tell me it’s a politician?”
“No such luck. Jack, I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know what to make of it. I received a call from homicide this morning. The detective I spoke with who caught the case wanted to talk to you. The killer used a scarf. A white Heremes scarf. Not only similar to the scarf used in the original Angel case, Jack, it’s the same scarf.”
“What are you talking about? That’s impossible—”
“He used the same scarf as in the original Sinclair murder. The initial lab report indicates there is more than one source of blood on the scarf and since the perp didn’t leave any DNA at the crime scene we’re almost certain it isn’t his. I had the lab compare the blood to Amy’s blood type and it’s a match.”
“How is that possible?”
“That’s what I wanted to know, so I checked on the evidence file from those first cases and Jack—the scarves have all gone missing from the Angel of Death case.”
“What did you say?” Jack’s thoughts went instinctively back to the last time he’d seen those scarves. They’d remained at CASMIRC for three years following the official closing of the Angel case even though they’d never recovered Eddie’s body from the Potomac. Later, they’d gone into storage at the Bureau’s evidence storage facility.
“How is that possible, Dan?”
“That’s a good question. And one we’d better figure out soon. Before the press gets wind of this.”
“Have you talked to the evidence clerk?”
“Yes, I called her as soon as I discovered the missing evidence. But nothing unusual happened to her knowledge and she’s squeaky clean. She’s a dead end, Jack.”
“Does Peter know about this yet?”
“Are you kidding? I wanted to give you the heads up before I mentioned anything to him.”
“Good. Keep it that way for now. He’s going to blow when he hears someone waltzed into our evidence facility and took evidence from one of the most notorious serial killer cases in centuries. The one case none of us want resurrected again.” Jack didn’t really need to add that last part.
“Hey, you aren’t telling me anything I don’t know, buddy. I’m meeting the two homicide detectives working the case in a few minutes. I’ve asked them to turn over all the information they have so far to us. You want to sit in? I can have them meet us here.”
“Yes. But let’s try to keep a lid on this for now, Dan. This could all just be some screwup at the lab. No need getting anyone worked up unnecessarily. Did you find anything else missing from the evidence files?”
“Nothing and I drove out there this morning myself to check on it personally. Just the scarves.”
As he waited for Dan to bring the two detectives round, Jack glanced at the calendar on his desk. Six years ago to the day. The anniversary of the discovery of first victim in the Angel of Death murders. The first of many to follow. He still remembered everything he’d felt about that day because he’d felt the same way today. God he hoped this wasn’t going to prove to be another bad omen.

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