83- Politics of Homicide

Standing on the sidewalk, Mazurka turned and looked down the perfectly manicured street of the wealthy Matatakwa Pines Estate community; an older suburb of Wahlborn Grove known for its mansions, large lots, esteemed residence, and private security. It is a community of privilege, prestige, and outlandish HOA fees, all tucked away behind a steel gate and manned security hut.

"Never thought I'd be back here," Mazurka muttered as he stared at the house at the end of the street.

"Familiar territory?" Kavak wondered as he locked the doors of the car.

"I grew up in that house at the end of the street. The white one with the stone fence and iron gate."

"When did your family move?"

"They didn't."

"Oh," Kavak replied as Mazurka turned and walked towards the house that was surrounded by police.

"I went to the police academy, and I haven't been back since. The folks still live there, but family get togethers are always at my brothers place now; Black Fox Run, two gated communities to the west of here."

"So then, if these are your people, why are you working in Freetier?"

"Because they are my people," Mazurka replied grimacing as they made their way towards the front door, both showing their badges to the officer on guard.

"We're looking for Detective Eijana Byatti," Mazurka told the guard.

"She's with the family in the kitchen," he replied and directed them inside.

When they arrived at the kitchen, an older woman with long black hair rolled up in a traditional Irasary style, excused herself and approached them.

"You must be the detectives from the Major Case Squad, Captain Sandiford warned me about," she said with a very distinctive, heavy accent that helped punctuate her confident presence. "Welcome to my crime scene gentlemen."

"Detective Yechiel Mazurka, and Hakan Kavak. Captain Sandiford contacted our lead about the victim possibly being connected to our case and sent us to verify. What can you tell us so far?"

"I can tell you that no one is going to want you to believe that you are welcome here. However, I don't agree. The victim is 21-year-old Kathleen Tricour. Three months ago, after an intervention, she was checked into Welland Rehab Center. According to her parents, Kathleen has struggled with anorexia nervosa for the better part of six years, as well as substance abuse, and bouts of excessive drinking. Although it is a voluntary program, they had no reason to believe that she wasn't going to be staying for the full six-month duration of the treatment plan they had paid for and opted to head to their second home in Cove-Atal to enjoy the rest of the summer. They said they don't normally go down there so early but didn't want to be close to the rehab center in case Kathleen reached out to them and begged them to let her come home. Two days ago, they called the rehab center to check-in and to see how their daughter was doing now that she was halfway through the program. They were shocked to find out that Kathleen had checked herself out three weeks ago, and they immediately started their drive back, arriving here this morning to find her dead. They said that the house was completely locked up, and the security system was armed. There were several needles as well as a couple of empty pill and vodka bottles in her room, and she was discovered lying on the bed with the rope still tied around her neck.

"Everyone has been instructed to report any bodies that appear to be wearing a specific expression, and to me, this one qualified despite the amount of decomposition. What was even more chilling though, is that someone had "cut"," she said using air-quotes, "her down and placed her on the bed."

"What do you mean "cut"?" Kavak questioned, mimicking her motions.

"Follow me," she said as she led them through the house to the victim's room.

It was a large room with an open rafter ceiling, dark wood floors, and a shaggy white area rug covering less than 1/3rd of it. The king-sized bed had a fluffy pink duvet, now permanently stained with a pattern of human remains.

"As you can see detectives, for someone to have been able to reach that high, they would have had to have brought in a ladder, but there isn't one on the property."

"They could have brought one in themselves," Kavak remarked as he looked about the area.

"Perhaps, Detective Kavak, but unlikely given the limited access and with a ladder of any size, unavoidable by the cameras that continue to record even when the system is off. The blind spots for the cameras are limited to being pressed against the building. Kathleen would have known about them, making it easy for her to slip in and out, but anyone of normal size carrying anything wouldn't be able to press close enough to the walls," Byatti explained as others continued to move around the room taking pictures and bagging up evidence.

"So, difficult, but not impossible," Kavak replied.

"I suppose you are right, but I would like for you to take a closer look at the rope. Braided ropes like these, fray in a specific pattern when cut. The end of this one appears to have been ripped apart or bitten through."

"Detective Byatti, a word?" a tall, pale, skinny man of about thirty, asked as he entered the room, his biohazard suit half on.

"Detectives Mazurka and Hakan, this is Jack Hollis, one of our Medical Examiners."

"Nice to meet you," Jack said as he removed his gloves and hat revealing his bright orange hair.

"Likewise," they responded.

"What do you need Hollis?" Byatti questioned seeing as how he wasn't exactly getting to the point.

"Oh, yes. I wanted to confirm this paperwork. It says to take the body to Freetier's central county morgue?"

"That is correct. This is no longer our case," she responded, crossing her arms as she looked at him.

"With all due respect, this is a suicide. My preliminary examine may be superficial, but it was thorough. The rope is still around her neck, and the lack of predation is a clear indication of the amount of alcohol permeating through her skin."

"Then explain to me how she ended up on the bed or that look on her face? Do that and I will change my order."

"The look on her face could easily be due to a combination of her extremely emaciated state and the additional decomp. As for her being on the bed, it's possible that the rope broke, and she managed to get back to the bed where she probably passed out and died from the strain of the drugs and alcohol on her body. Although it is more likely that she wasn't alone. I suspect whoever she was with, cut her down and left because they didn't want to be associated with or accused of, not doing enough to prevent this."

"Speculation, all of it, and that doesn't equate to evidence. Transfer the body as ordered."

"But…"

"But nothing," she replied stressing her voice. "If this turns out to be nothing but a suicide then you were right and the body comes back, and if you're wrong, it's their problem."

"Yes, detective."

"Hollis, was it?" Mazurka asked seeing the look of frustration on the man's face.

"Yes."

"As strange as this seems, this fits with what we know of our unsub's M.O. and she fits with what we know of his victim selection."

"Are you saying he goes out of his way to stage elaborate suicide scenes?" Jack questioned with a slight infuriated tone.

"Not exactly," Mazurka replied taking a moment to think about how he was going to explain this. "Let me make one thing very clear; whether or not, our unsub arrived here, I've no doubt that she would have died that night. The fact that she was cut down and moved on to the bed; that is what makes me believe he was here. That little stool, the one tipped over beneath what's left of the rope, that wouldn't have been enough, not with her bodyweight, to have led to a quick end. She would have suffered for possibly hours. Our unsub, he would have made this much quicker, and then brought her down. We still don't understand why he does this, especially since he doesn't appear to take any care at all with the bodies. He tends to dump them and then leave. I'm betting she wasn't covered, and her head wasn't placed on a pillow, and her arms and legs weren't adjusted into a comfortable position either."

"You're right. It was as if she was just dropped onto the bed, and how she landed was how she was left to be found. Her father admitted to covering her with a sheet after he called Emergency services to report the death. The stain on the duvet proves that she wasn't cut down recently, and the rope, I'm not even certain that it was cut at all. But I'm sure your people will be able to tell you more after they do a thorough examination of all of the evidence," Hollis replied as he looked over at Byatti and then scratched at the back of his neck. "As strange as all of this seems though, it's simply not logical. This was a suicide, most likely with an assist. We have no need for a mysterious 'angel of mercy' killer in the Grove, detectives."

"That is enough Hollis. Be that as it may, do as you were instructed. Gentlemen," she said as she turned to Mazurka and Kavak, "she is your problem now. My people will finish gathering the evidence and will have it shipped to your precinct. What was the name of your lead detective?"

"Renford Harlow," Mazurka answered.

"Really? Someone actually trusted that old… maeiz… to run an investigation?" she asked with a laugh as she led them back out to the kitchen.

"Maeiz?"

"Mean's goat," Kavak replied to Mazurka quietly as they followed behind her.

"Ah," he nodded.

"Wonders never cease," she continued. "Give him my regards when you get back to your station."

"Are you asking us to leave?" Mazurka questioned as she turned and smiled at him.

"In as polite a way as I can."

"Understood."

"Excellent. I'll be in touch with Detective Harlowe shortly."

With that, Mazurka and Kavak left the house and returned to their car.

"That turned suspiciously hostile," Kavak remarked as Mazurka started the car.

"Not surprising. The people here, they like it when things are simple. A messed-up kid killing themselves; tragic, but simple. A serial killer coming into their safe little community unseen and unheard, preying on their vulnerable neighbors; that's messy and problematic. And then there's all the politics. She needed to sell us on the idea that this was one of our victims regardless of what the ME said. And, if Byatti didn't play nice, she would take the heat since she's the one who reported this. On the other hand, if we're wrong and it turns out this is just a freak assisted suicide, she comes out with accolades for dealing so well with the incompetent Freetier detectives."

Kavak shook his head as he spoke, "It's like last night never even happened."

"If you wanted to be a hero, you should have been a fireman."

"I don't need to be a hero to know I've done a good thing."

When they arrived back at the precinct, they made their way to Harlowe and filled him in on what had happened, before returning to the evidence room to pick up where they had left off earlier in the day. They were still working their way through the photographs and journals when Skye knocked on the door. Seeing her in through the window, Mazurka was quick to get up and let her in.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked as she handed him a folder.

"I found that on Ogilvy's locked hard drive. It's all of his income, and the statistics for the videos he uploaded and a list of the sites he uploaded them too," she explained as Mazurka sat down and opened the file.

"What exactly am I looking at?" he asked as he started reading over the first page that was filled with numbers.

"That's his income, and that is what's currently in his crypto account."

"This is insane," Mazurka stated as he read over the increasingly larger numbers.

"I know right? He could have been living in the Grove with this sort of income, and it's still coming in. I checked his account a half hour ago, and money is still being deposited daily. I've been trying to contact these sites to have the content removed but it's more difficult than you might think, given the nature of content they host as a whole. The two companies I have managed to reach, both claimed ignorance, no surprise there. According to them, in a near identical cut and paste reply, the content, although disturbing in context, wasn't a known violation of their TSAs as no one had ever reported the content or its creator for illegally obtaining the footage or misrepresentation of the individuals in the videos. In other words, since the victims never claimed to be victims, because they clearly knew they were being filmed, they were under the impression that the women had consented to being filmed and were fully aware of the cameras. The content is currently being deleted and removed from their sites, or so they claim. I will be monitoring both of them."

"Plausible deniability at its finest. But seriously, how many others are out there doing the exact same thing? And these websites are allowing it to happen, if not encouraging it."

"More than you want to know, Yechi. Either way, once I'm done on my end, I'm going to send everything we have on this shit to the Federal Cyber Crimes Unit. They'll be able to track down a lot more than me, and maybe even collapse some of the websites. As for the crypto account, I'm making a list of known victims and will be passing it along to the DA. Your friend, she might come out of this with a few million of her own, if the exchange of the crypto currency remains as high as it is."

"Yeah, a windfall as a reminder of the shit that bastard did to her. Isn't that just the ultimate cosmic 'fuck you'."