Page 27 of Haunted By Sin
Keeping her weapon trained on the staircase leading upstairs, Brook reached over with her left hand and turned the deadbolt. She made a mental note to let the forensics team know she had left her fingerprints on the latch. Taking a step to the side so Theo could enter the house, she waited until he was prepared to help her clear the home. They fell into step, searched each room, and eventually returned to the living room.
“I’ll make the call,” Theo murmured as Brook crouched beside the victim.
The onset of rigor mortis had begun, but Brook noticed the absence of a struggle. Had Janice invited her killer into the house? If so, such conduct would have suggested surprise—or trust—allowing the unsub to draw near enough to deliver the fatal slice.
Theo was still on the phone with Agent Tirelli, who would be the one to initiate the process of bringing the medical examiner and a forensics team to the crime scene. Brook stood and made her way back toward the kitchen. She came to a stop when she had views of both the sliding glass door through the kitchen and the chair placed near the living room window.
Brook snapped her fingers to garner Theo’s attention.
The unsub had almost certainly left the sliding glass door unlocked so that he could come and go as he pleased, which meant that there was a chance he planned on coming back at some point in the near future. Her profile suggested otherwise. The unsub was too intelligent to overstay his welcome. He would have noticed right away that the neighbors noticed even the slightest disturbance in the community. Still, she couldn’t risk not covering their bases.
“Tell Tirelli to keep this quiet,” Brook directed after Theo pulled the phone away from his ear. “No radios, no sirens, and no cars. We’ll sneak in the medical examiner and one forensic tech through the back door after dusk. There’s a chance—a slim one—that the unsub plans to come back to the house.”
Chapter Fourteen
Theo Neville
May 2024
Friday — 1:49 am
The stillness inside Janice Morris’ residence was heavy. Almost suffocating, though neither Theo nor Special Agent Rick Tirelli made a move to turn on the ceiling fan. The faint odor of blood and decomposition still hung in the air, and the fan would only further spread the smell around the lower level of the house. The medical examiner and two forensic techs had processed the scene and removed the body after dusk through the back sliding glass door.
“I’m surprised that Sloane isn’t here,” Rick said, his silhouette framed by the doorway leading into the kitchen. He shifted his weight to lean against the archway, causing the material of his pants to rustle. The slight sound was amplified by the deep quiet. “Is she planning on joining us at some point?”
“No.” Theo had moved a kitchen chair to the corner of the living room. His eyesight had adjusted to the dim illumination, though the moonlight streaming through the sheer curtains had aided such effort. The victim had opted for heavier drapes in the kitchen, but her choice of living room décor had been beneficial to the unsub. “Brook drove back to the rental house to work on the profile.”
A dog could be heard barking in the distance, but neither radio that had been supplied by Tirelli to the other agents and officers had come to life. Their immediate surroundings were under surveillance by both local law enforcement and federal agents. Theo and Rick would be notified instantly should anyone attempt to approach Janice Morris’ home.
“No offense, but I don’t get the whole profiling thing. The odds are in every profiler’s favor when they point to a Caucasian male with mommy issues.”
Theo rested the back of his head against the wall. He had been a skeptic himself until he had the privilege of working with Brook in the field. His view on the topic had quickly changed upon witnessing the way she could gather evidence and transform what she discovered into a single personality trait of a killer. With each discovery, she was able to describe everything about the unsub but his name.
“Would you label our killer as charming and sociable?”
“Nothing surprises me anymore with these sick fucks,” Rick muttered before smothering a yawn. “I deal mostly with counterterrorism cases. The shit we see on a daily basis makes me have little faith in humanity. I get what you’re saying, but that’s a fifty-fifty shot, isn’t it?”
“We’re searching for someone who has been able to take time off work without suspicion, which indicates the unsub has a white-collar job with the ability to work remotely. He observes his victims for weeks if not months. He spends time getting to know either the victims themselves or their friends and family members. The video that Mary Jane Reynolds posted brought the attention of the police, the FBI, and the press. The unsub looks at Janice Morris as nothing but collateral, but he was successful in monitoring the neighborhood for a couple of days. Long enough for us to know that he will be searching for another way to reach his target.”
“DNA was retrieved from the previous crime scenes,” Rick pointed out, as if such evidence could help them this evening. There hadn’t been a match in the system. “With the new suspect list your team is gathering, you will have a pool of men to retrieve samples and eventually obtain a match.”
“You’ve made up your mind, Tirelli.” Theo didn’t have to point out that they couldn’t legally go around and collect every single male subject’s DNA without a warrant. Tirelli was well aware of the law’s limitations. “Either you’ll gain more insight into Brook’s methods of solving cases and attempt to incorporate them into your own, or you’ll stick with your old procedures. No harm, no foul.”
It had been obvious from the time that Tirelli had entered the residence that he was a talker. He would choose idle chitchat over silence every time. Theo had worked with different agents during his tenure with the Bureau, and each had their own quirks. He didn’t mind one way or the other, but the way S&E Investigations went about apprehending their targets wasn’t up for debate.
Theo stretched his right leg, the sharp creak of the wood beneath him complaining with the movement. Sunrise was still hours away.
“Wait. Back up a second,” Rick said as he glanced Theo’s way. Particles of dust floated around his face which was captured in one of the angled moonbeams breaking through the middle of the curtains. “Is that why Sloane isn’t here? She doesn’t believe the perp is coming back here?”
“No, she doesn’t,” Theo replied truthfully as he switched to stretching his left leg. It wasn’t like his answer would change their plans for the rest of the night. “I’m inclined to agree with her. The unsub realized right away that the community was close-knit. Nothing happens here without someone noticing, and the unsub was unfortunate in his choice of so-called collateral. Janice Morris preferred to be outside. It wouldn’t have been long before one of her neighbors came to check on her.”
“Well, shit.”
Tirelli finally moved from his position, which gave him a view of both the front and back entrances. He had not moved far, though. Theo could hear what sounded like one of the three remaining kitchen chairs being moved from the table. Sure enough, the man’s silhouette reappeared as he settled back underneath the arch dividing the rooms.
“You ever miss it? Working for the FBI, I mean.”
Though the two men were close in age, they had been at the academy at different times. Theo had never met Rick Tirelli before this investigation, but rumors traveled fast through the Bureau. All Tirelli would have to do was place a single call to the West Virginia field office, which was where Theo had been stationed fresh out of the academy.