The Crucifix Killer - Chris Carter [29]
Hunter and Garcia buzzed themselves out of the autopsy room and walked up to the computer tech lab in silence.
‘Can I ask you something?’ Garcia asked.
‘Shoot.’
‘How come no one believed you when you told them that Mike Farloe wasn’t the Crucifix Killer?’
‘I never said that. In the end Captain Bolter and my ex-partner, Scott, saw my reasoning. But with all the evidence found in Farloe’s car, coupled up with him confessing to the murders, there wasn’t much we could do. It was in the DA’s hands. And they didn’t wanna hear any reasoning.’ Hunter looked down debating if he should carry on. ‘Maybe the truth is that we all wanted it to end,’ he finally said. ‘It had gone on for too long. Deep inside I secretly wished Farloe was the real killer. And now the nightmare is back.’
For Garcia the nightmare was just starting. For Hunter this was the worst kind, a recurring one.
Twelve
Excluding children’s and psychiatric, there were eight hospitals in total in the central Los Angeles area, but only four of them showed Jane Doe entries for the past few days. Posing as the boyfriend or as a work colleague, Jerome visited all four with no luck. If Jenny had been admitted into a hospital, it hadn’t been one in downtown LA.
Jerome had thought about extending his search to places like Santa Monica, San Diego, Long Beach, Santa Ana, but that would’ve taken him an entire week and he didn’t have that kind of time. He decided to get in contact with Detective Culhane.
Mark Culhane hated receiving payments from a criminal, a drug lord, but he couldn’t deny the money came in handy; it was more than twice his Narcotics Division pay. In return, he was expected to look the other way during major drug deals, slightly mislead investigations and provide inside information every now and again. It’s a corrupt world and it didn’t take much effort from D-King to find Mark Culhane.
Jerome and Culhane met at the In-N-Out Burger restaurant in Gayley Avenue, one of Jerome’s favorite burger joints. By the time Culhane arrived, Jerome had already devoured two Double-Double burgers.
Culhane was forty-nine years old, five foot six, with a receding hairline and a frightening beer belly. Jerome had always wondered what would happen if Culhane had to chase a suspect on foot.
‘Culhane . . . sit down,’ Jerome said, eating the last of his fries.
Culhane sat opposite Jerome in the small old-fashioned diner booth. He looked older than Jerome remembered. The bags under his eyes had gained some extra weight. Jerome had no time for pleasantries and he slid a brown-paper envelope towards the detective. Culhane grabbed it and brought it close to his chest, holding it like a hand of poker. He had a quick look at the photograph inside.
‘She’s missing,’ Jerome carried on.
‘So? Talk to missing persons, I’m Narcotics remember?’ Culhane replied, clearly irritated.
‘Was that attitude?’ Jerome asked, having another swig of his giant-size root beer.
Culhane kept silent.
‘Let’s just say D-King considers her to be a special girl.’ He slid another envelope towards the detective. ‘This is extra.’
This time Culhane didn’t have to open it to know what was inside it. He picked the envelope up and placed it in his pocket.
‘What’s her name?’ he sked, his irritation dissipating.
‘Jenny Farnborough.’
‘Did she run out on him or you think it might be something else?’
‘We’re not sure, but we don’t think she’s a runaway. She’s got nothing to run away from. On top of that all of her belongings are still in her apartment.’
‘Is she hooked? Could she just be tripping out somewhere?’
‘I don’t think so. She does coke every now and then, you know, to keep her going, but she is no junkie. She wouldn’t work for the boss if she was.’
‘Boyfriend? Family?’
‘No boyfriend – her family lives in rednecksville somewhere in Idaho or Wyoming, but she doesn’t get along with them anyway.’
‘When was the last time you saw her?’
‘Last Friday night. She was out partying with the boss and a few other girls; she went to the bathroom to retouch her makeup, and that was it.’
‘She might’ve been