A Serial Killer Returns: Upstate Mystery, #6

By fj donohue

A serial killer active in NY City over a period of years goes quiet. Detective Elton Hendricks could not close the case. Now he has returned with a vengeance to an upstate NY town where Detective Hendricks now works. Is this a copycat or has the killer come back? Is he taunting the detectives? Catch me is you can! Now Detective Hendricks, his partner, family and friends near them are the targets. They must close this case and quickly!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frank Donohue
• Release date: Nov 29, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201386429

fj donohue

I’m a retired International Sales Director, having worked in the commercial and military flight simulation industry for over 30 years. I lived in Brussels (Belgium) and Bonn (Germany) for eight years and met my British wife in Brussels. Before my career in the flight simulation industry, I was an Armaments and Electronics Maintenance Officer in the USAF during the Viet Nam era conflict. We have three children and seven grandchildren. Since retirement I continue to chase an ever-elusive golf game. Home is a small town in central New York State where the novellas are set. I'm a volunteer mediator and Lemon Law arbitrator and this occasionally appears in the stories. An underlying theme in my novellas is people helping people. In spite of the difficulties and crime that may surround us, there is always hope in friendship and good neighbors. Go to my website below for information about my novellas and to contact me for a FREE short story. I won't use your information for any other purpose.

Book preview

Prologue

To tell this story , we have to go back over ten years. That’s not unusual when you’re dealing with a serial killer. Active for a time and then a lapse of some years. Yet back again when the compulsion returns. Was it the thrill of not being caught or a force than can’t be denied? These are crimes that do not fit the standard investigative protocols of means, motive and opportunity. There’s a lot more going on here that needs to be understood. A serial murder cycle spread over a number of years is not uncommon. Active for a time then a quiet period. Serial killers come from all walks of life and all shapes and sizes. It’s not exclusively a socio-economic occurrence. An investigation of possible serial murders by Detective Elton Hendricks during his time with the NYPD would come roaring back into his life with a vengeance. Putting his family and colleagues at grave risk. An upstate NY city was now in the killer’s sights.

Chapter One

Elton Hendricks had been a NYPD patrolman for a little over four years when he was promoted to detective. His time on the streets prepared him well for his new job. A wide variety of patrol assignments during this time provided a solid foundation. He grew up and was educated in NY City. It was home.

A newly minted detective is always assigned to a veteran. Elton was lucky in that he was assigned to Walt Johnson.

Walt was a long-time detective, happy in his grade and well experienced in investigations. Walt was not interested in climbing the promotion ladder and spent his time and energy on solving crimes. He was an investigative force at the NYPD. He always caught the tough cases.

Walt and Elton were an interesting team. Walt, from a working-class family in the Bronx and Elton, sometimes called college boy by Walt, was from Harlem. When he did use the term, it was a compliment, not a put-down. He never called Elton college boy around the other detectives. Walt had also come up from patrolman to detective with many years on the beat. Elton had also put his time in on the streets and Walt respected him for it. They were a good team, learning from each other. Walt was old school. His weapon was still a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver while Elton carried a 9mm Glock. Walt insisted they go to the firing range every month. No sense carrying a weapon if you don’t know how to use it was his message.

I’m one and one. I’ve been shot once and I shot a person once. Neither was enjoyable. When I was shot, it was during the winter and I was struggling getting a hand under my coat to get the gun out. Lucky the guy was a bad shot and just nicked me! If you ever end up there, it will be happening very fast, you need to operate on instincts.

Elton said, I’ve only pulled my weapon once and never had to fire it.

That’s good. Some cops reach for their guns too quickly. In the end, it gets them in trouble.

All of this was taking place in 2010. Five years before Elton would move to the Binghamton, NY Police Department so the family could be closer to his wife Kendra’s parents who were in assisted living. Their health was rapidly declining and was a source of worry for Elton and Kendra.

Chapter Two

The call came in early on a Friday morning. A body was found in an alley on the upper West Side. When Elton and Walt arrived, two uniforms had taped off the area. The crime scene techs were also just arriving.

Guys, give us a minute to look it all over before you go in, said Walt. The detectives wanted to make an overall assessment of the crime scene before it was processed by the techs.

They asked the uniforms if there was much foot traffic around the crime scene.

No, we don’t think so. The guy who found the body is over there, you can check with him. He saw us on the street and called us over. We had just come out of the bodega up by the corner. Coffee and a pit stop. The body was not readily visible so I don’t think it was disturbed.

Okay. Tell him to stick around. We’ll want to talk to him.

The victim was a middle age male and well dressed. Not a fashion plate, but reasonable business attire. Clearly not a street person and probably lived in the area. His wallet was gone but this didn’t look like a robbery. He had about ninety dollars in a money clip still on him. He was shot in the back of the head with a small caliber pistol. No exit wound. No defensive wounds on his body. There were no signs of a struggle. It appeared that he was shot in the alley, not dragged into it. He had a set of keys on him. Two of the keys were numbered indicating they were probably for a building entrance and apartment. They should be able to get his name from the numbered keys. They also found a dry-cleaning receipt from a store a few blocks over. Another possibility for identification. Although Walt had been with the NYPD well over twenty years, he never got used to looking at a murder scene. You try to be professional and objective but the reality is somebody got killed and the dramatic effects of it will ripple through their family and friends. Everyone pays a price. It’s always hardest when young people are the victims. A life cut short. If it’s a child, it’s even harder. Where’s the justice? Why? Although Elton didn’t say anything, it was clear that he was dealing with similar thoughts.

Walt, look at this! cried Elton, The guy’s missing the top of his pinky finger on the left hand. I think It’s been cut off!

What the hell? said Walt. What’s that all about?

The left hand was under the body and they did not see it at first.

At this point, the crime scene techs started their analysis. Bag the left-hand, guys, said Walt, I want to keep it clean. There is a piece of his pinky finger missing. Check around for it, please.

Walt and Elton left them to their work. They went over to the man who found the body and asked. How did you come across the guy?

I was walking about a hundred feet behind a lady walking her dog. When they came to the alley the dog started barking and trying to go into it. It was just a small dog so she had no trouble pulling it along and they went their way. When I came to the alley, I stepped into it a bit as I was curious about what spooked the dog. At first, I only saw a shoe, but when I looked closer, I saw the body. I ran out of the alley and then saw the two cops near their car just down the street. I called them and they came right over.

Did you touch anything?

No. I was afraid someone might still be in there and left on a run.

Elton took the man’s name and address, and verified it with his driver’s license. He gave the man his card and told him he would need to go to the police precinct station and make a statement.

Walt said, Let’s go to the dry cleaners. We may get lucky with the receipt. Beats running down numbered keys.

The counter person at Paramount Cleaners looked up the receipt in their journal book and gave the detectives a name and address.

Chapter Three

The initial inspection of the victim’s apartment did not show anything special. It was a small one-bedroom place with a kitchen the size of a shoe box. Adequate bedroom and living area comfortably furnished. He lived alone and worked as a data manager for a large brokerage house. There was picture of him with a young girl at the beach. Daughter? Niece? It appeared to be a recent picture.

Nothing stood out that could explain such a bizarre murder. When they interviewed his supervisor and colleagues at his office, he was described as a friendly person, good at his job who pretty much kept to himself. He divorced about five years ago and his ex-wife and daughter now lived in Tampa, Florida. He spent his vacations there with his daughter. The autopsy did not reveal anything out of the ordinary. He was in reasonable health and there was no evidence of alcohol or drugs. The detectives would look into his financial records and mobile phone calls. They were looking for a money trail. Maybe blackmail payments, heavy debts, anything at this point. They recovered the bullet but could not match it to any weapons in their data base. They checked the State and FBI data bases for killings with the same M-O. It took time to assemble all the information, but no joy. Two months later, they were no further along than when they started.

There’s nothing remarkable about this guy, said Elton.

I know what you mean, replied Walt. This has the appearance of being a random murder. But why take a piece of the little finger? A trophy? A signature of some sort? This guy is talking to us. Look what I did! Catch me if you can!

I don’t like it, Walt. If we can’t close this quickly and it grows cold, it tends to stay there. We’ll lose our window of opportunity.

Yeah, you’re right. We’ve got a lot of other cases to work and this one could get lost in the pile over time. The detectives kept working on the case but without success. The case was still active but time was working against them now.

About six months after the murder, Walt got a call from Lt. Gomez at the fourteenth precinct.

Detective Johnson, remember me? We worked together on a string of bodega robberies over here a few years back?

Sure, I do, Lieutenant. How are you doing these days?

Confused as I’m sure you guys are about a murder you had some months back. I think we just had one over here. Guy shot in the back of the head with a small caliber pistol.

Walt asked, Okay, tell me about his small finger on the left hand.

"Well, we know