Pieces of You: A Stan Brookshire Novel, #4

By Allison Cosgrove

Some cases are hard to let go of, even haunting. Detective Stan Brookshire knows this better than anyone - he still relives a particularly brutal unsolved case from his past in his darkest dreams. A young girl gone and her murderer never brought to justice… 

There’s a serial killer who removes pieces of his victims until they succumb to his game and then skips town, without a trace. He's already left his mark on Lake City and Stan himself but he's back and has his eyes set on Stan; this time it’s personal. 

It's Stan against the clock as he and the entire Lake City Police Force race once more to catch the one that got away. Will another innocent die in the process or will Stan get to her in time?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Allison Cosgrove
• Release date: Jul 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781524225254

Allison Cosgrove

Allison Cosgrove was born and raised in a suburb of Toronto, Ontario. A married mother of three daughters, she runs her own business by day and creates her own worlds by night. She enjoys spending time with her husband and daughters hiking in the woods or sitting by the fire reading a good book. She has had the love of reading and writing detective mysteries from the age of twelve but it has only been since the birth of her youngest that she has gotten serious about crafting some of her own works for others to enjoy. She credits her family and friends with being the driving force that has given her the strength to breathe life into her books.

Book preview

To The Faithful.

Here we go again.

Prologue

As he waited in the darkened alleyway, the man held his breath. He did not move or make a sound. He awaited the woman who passed by this very alleyway every night on her way home from work.

He had been watching her for months now; she was a waitress at the local bar. She wasn’t anywhere near being able to be called beautiful and had readily accepted the attention he had lavished upon her during his visits to the bar. She did not have a boyfriend and because of her night shift at the bar, did not have time to get out and make any real friends otherwise. The friends she did have, as far and few between as they were, lived back in her hometown just outside the city and she did not talk to them very often.

She was basically alone in the city. Even her family wanted nothing to do with her. She barely spoke to them when she was living with them and after they threw her out at the tender age of sixteen she spoke to them and the rest of her extended family even less.

She was certainly his most perfect victim yet. He grinned at his good luck that this woman fit so nicely into his plans for his next victim.

He knew he had taunted the police in countless cities and states for almost ten years. He had all but laughed in their faces as they had yet to find anything that would even come close to catching him.

He had traveled, changed his name, his occupation, his story and even his face during those years. Every time they got to close to him he would disappear into the cloak of darkness that was his life. By the time he came back he was a completely different person again.

It would be different this time though. He was tired of being the hunted. He was going to turn the tables and this time the hunters would become the hunted and he the hunter.

He had spent the last year learning about the local police, the manner in which they did things, their names and habits. He even managed to learn where their allegiances lay and not all of them, he was pleased to see, believed in the laws that they were charged with upholding. Those he knew by name believed him to be a stockbroker from the building next door. They thought he was a husband to a woman named Lucy and had two children, a son and a daughter, that went to a private school on the upper east side of the city. 

He chuckled to himself in the darkness. Yes, he had become the master of deception over the years. He could blend into any scene or situation, anywhere and at any time. He could be the widower that lived down the street whose wife died of breast cancer or the man ahead of you every morning at the coffee shop who always ordered a low-fat latte. He was a chameleon and just like a chameleon he could sit patiently and wait for his prey to come to him.

Glancing down at his watch he smiled and then proceeded to pull a dirty rag and small plastic bottle out of his pocket. The rag he had taken off a drunken bum awhile back when he had realized that once again the time was nearing for him to strike. The drunk reeking of booze and urine had barely noticed someone picking through his cart.

Not that it would matter much anyways. No one paid much attention to those who were less fortunate than themselves. Besides, the chances of those bumbling idiots in the police department connecting that rag to that particular bum were slim to begin with; now add in the chances of the drunk actually having noticed him, let alone remembering and the chances became drastically slimmer still that they would connect the person he was today to the abduction that he was about to commit.

He peered out of the alleyway and watched as the bar’s outside lights were turned off.

Soon. Very soon.

Quickly he doused the rag in the chloroform that he had in the little bottle, being careful not to spill any on himself. He wanted to be ready; didn’t want to miss this chance.

Holding the rag in his gloved hand, just far enough away that he didn’t have to worry about knocking himself out with the fumes, he crouched in the darkness, ready and waiting to pounce.

He heard footsteps. They were coming this way and getting closer. He felt every muscle in his body tighten in anticipation. He loved this part almost as much as the kill itself.

The footsteps drew closer still. They were almost right outside the alley now.

The figure of a woman suddenly popped into view at the mouth of the alleyway and he pounced.

She did not even have the chance to utter a sound before the rag clamped down over her mouth and she slipped into unconsciousness.

With no one else on the street he quickly dragged her limp body back into the alleyway and tossed her into the waiting trunk of his car.  Humming to himself he pulled out his keys and got in to his car. Still humming, he pulled out of the alleyway and into the street behind. Nothing moved on this street either. It was a perfect getaway. Or at least he thought it was.

Chapter 1

I don’t know Stan, the more that you say for me not to become a police officer, the more I want to become one, Julian Chan said rubbing his eyes. He ran a hand through his thick, spikey, black hair as he sat in  Detective Stan Brookshire's living room enjoying a late night cup of coffee.

I am telling you kid, I understand why you would want to do the job I do. I understand completely, however there are bigger and better things waiting out there for someone like you, Stan said closing his eyes and praying that the kid would just listen to him and give up all this nonsense about becoming a homicide detective.

He completely understood why the kid wanted to. A year ago he had helped Stan rescue his twin sister from their biological father, a Chinese mafia baron, in Beijing. The two, Stan and Julian had become close during the entire investigation, and closer still afterwards. Stan knew the boy looked up to him and admired his work.

It had been hard to watch Julian move out to his own apartment but at the same time, he hoped that the kid would just forget about becoming a detective. He knew that the risks were great when you dealt with killers of every shape and size. He also knew that if he did decide to support and aid Julian in becoming a detective and anything should happen to him, he would never forgive himself for having brought Julian into his world.

For awhile the warning and dissuasion had worked but in the last few weeks it had become a topic of conversation on an almost daily basis. He knew Julian was just trying to do what he thought was best. As he saw it, he owed a lot to people like Stan who risked their lives and their livelihood for people like himself and he wanted to be able to give something back. Almost like a never ending 'pay it forward'.

However Stan was not going to just give up and let Julian have his way. He was going to do everything in his power to try and talk the kid out of it before he became too involved and trapped in the cycle as Stan himself had. That cycle of needing to be needed. It made for a rough life, as you ended up taking unnecessary risks that in the heat of the moment seemed like the only course of action to take.

He knew the kid could most certainly handle the job itself, as he had proven very valuable in the time that he was staying with Stan while he was working the case. He had learned a lot about computers and what their capabilities from the kid. Even though he wasn’t any good with computers and did not trust them worth a damn, he knew Julian was very good with them and that in itself would push him to the top of the class. But there was a part of him still that worried and did not want him to do it.

So this is what it was like to be a parent Stan thought. The kid had no one left in the world but his twin sister and she lived with her adopted parents, who would not offer him a place to stay temporarily, even though Julian had played a big role in bringing Jade home,. It was a sad situation but Julian had managed to get by. In spending the next year almost living with Stan they had grown quite attached to each other and as a result had spent a lot of time getting to know one another. And Stan had in that time begun to take a shine to the kid and felt like he should be protecting him.

So with this in mind instead of trying to talk the kid out of it he was going to tell Julian the truth. He would tell him about the least glamorous points of being a detective and see if that would do anything to deter him. Stan doubted that it would do much to stop him. The kid was too much like Stan himself. When he got it in his head to do something it was almost impossible to change his mind.

Earth to Stan, you still with me? Julian said trying to bring Stan back to their conversation.

Yeah I am still here. Just thinking about a few things; that’s all, Stan said looking back up at Julian.

If you’re thinking of another way to try and talk me out of becoming a cop then you might as well conserve your brain cells because it’s not going to work. I am not going to change my mind.

Nope, was not thinking about that at all; was actually thinking about some of the cases I’ve handled over the years, Stan lied. He couldn’t tell Julian what he was really thinking about otherwise the kid would stop listening again. Although he believed that Julian already knew Stan wasn’t telling the truth, there wasn’t anything he could do about that. There was no way to talk him out of it; he would have to go through the back do with this one.

You and I both know that is not the truth; there was a look of worry on your face that could have been lit up in neon lights, it was so clear.

The kid was good; not much got by him. Time for another tactic.

No, I was actually thinking about a case I worked on a few years ago - one of those ones that got away. Particularly horrible one, it was. One that I still try and look into every now and then when I have a spare moment.

Just when do you have a spare moment? Every time I talk to you, you are dealing with a new case. Never have I seen you work on something that is not current.

Trust me kid, I never forget about the ones that got away. And just how do you know what I look into while I am at the station? You got a bug in my computer or something? Stan asked giving the kid a hard stare.

No, I never thought of that, but now that you mention it, that might be a good idea. Might keep you out of trouble.

I don’t go looking for trouble, kid. Believe me, I avoid the stuff but it always seems to follow me around.

That is precisely what I am worried about. Someone has got to look out for you somehow, Julian said with a smile.

You don’t even give up do you? Alright if you really must know, I was thinking about that one in particular because it was so brutal. It is those that tend to stay with me for longer. There is no getting rid of them,really. You may forget about them for awhile, but they never really go away entirely.

What happened in this one that made it ... memorable for lack of a better word? Julian asked, his interest obviously piqued as he stared at Stan in wonder as if to say, what has made this one different than any others that he had faced over the years?

Well it didn’t originate here but it certainly came to a head out here. We were dealing with a serial killer who enjoyed chopping his victims up and sending whatever he chopped off to the victims’ families. What made matters worse: the second victim he snatched was that of a young girl no more than ten years old. At the end he sent the parents the head. And that’s when we found the rest of her body – that had not been chopped up.

Wow. I know there are a whole lot of psychos out there but that one sure takes the cake. He really sent them through the mail?

No he sent them via a courier.

Did you guys not check the store cameras?

Stan looked at him for a moment; one would think that the kid would realize that they had checked every angle possible. But he was a kid and did not know everything about police work after all.

Of course we checked but it was as if the guy knew just where and how to stand to avoid being seen by the camera. The most we can tell is that the guy is about five foot ten inches and white. Every place he has been to has revealed something different about his general appearance. They never seem to be able to agree beyond the fact that he was white and tall. Which of course has made it really hard to find the guy.

So he was wearing a disguise every time he went some where? Julian asked

Pretty much, which made it hard for us to catch up with this guy. We did come close but then somehow he slipped out of reach and we haven’t heard form him since. Sad but true - that one really got away.

It really does bother you doesn't it?

"Every day. The guy has been a suspect in 15 similar murders over the last 10 years. It’s scary how he manages to do it every time and completely get away with it. We have done everything that we can. Worked with all the other cities that he has hit since he started this and nothing is the same except the height and the fact that he is white. There is nothing else for us to use. There was never even so much as a hair or fabric fluff left behind. No finger prints, nothing. I don’t know how this guy does it but somehow he does. If someone ever catches up to him then I would love to sit there and pick his brain.

I don’t blame you, it would be something else to sit down with a criminal mastermind who has somehow managed to stay away from getting caught as long as he has.

Don’t get too stoked about something like that. I doubt the guy will be willing to do a candid interview with a cop to help them in catching others like him.

Yeah I guess you would be right about that; he isn’t going to want to talk to the people that stopped his little rampage now is he?

Not likely, Stan sighed. There was nothing that would make the fact that this one got away any better until he was caught