For Richer or For Poorer - 8. Chapter 8 - DNA Tells No Lies

Ryan got a phone call, it was Melinda. They had a body with a gunshot to the head. With that not matching The Ripper case, he didn’t think anything of it. That is until she told him that they had a positive identification on the body: Natalia Caldwell.

Ryan's mind was whirring with questions, ‘Who would kill Natalia? Jacob? The Ripper? No, The Ripper would torture her. Did she know something that Jacob wanted kept secret? Does this have to do with the skeletons?’

“When did she die, doctor?” Ryan asked.

“Three days at the most,” Dr. Harris said.

“Thank you, keep me posted on your findings.”

“Will do,” she said.

After hanging up, Ryan sat in Kieran’s office wondering why Jacob might kill Natalia. Yes she was a Grade-A bitch, but what had she done to deserve to die? Plus she was the only person he had ever seen Jacob show true affection for.

Kieran walked in and gave his lover an inquisitive look. Ryan looked up.

“After a few seconds of silence he said, “Natalia was found shot in the head in an abandoned lot near Miller Park.”

“Wow, Jacob seems to be cleaning house. What’s your opinion on this?” Kieran said sounding surprised, but not upset at this development.

“I don’t know. My only guess is that she was involved in the earlier crimes, and for whatever reason she put the bodies out for discovery, only for Jacob to have her murdered. My question is: Why? Why would she betray Jacob, knowing it would mean she would be killed if he found out?”

“Yea, that is quite puzzling,” Kieran stated then noticed something else was on Ryan’s mind, “Something else is bothering you, what’s up?”

“Detective O’Connor found another ‘Ripper letter’ with the body but the cause of death and the way the letter was written doesn’t match our tormentor’s MO.”

“What do you mean?”

“Natalia was shot in the head whereas The Ripper strangles and stabs his victims. She was just dumped in that lot like trash; there was no staging at all like our guy usually does. He thrives on torture and sadistic sexual pleasure. She also had semen inside her. Our killer never forgets to wear a condom. The letter is more telling. Our killer types his letters, but this one was handwritten.”

“Do you have a copy?”

“O’Connor is sending us a fax.”

Just then the fax machine came to life and Kieran grabbed the paper as soon as it was printed. He read it then handed it off to Ryan. The signature of the letter was also off.

Dear Kieran and Ryan,

This murder was justified. She was a detriment to your father and his business. Her lies cost her dearly. Your father is a good man. His handling of you was a righteous thing. Too bad you survived. Mark my words boy, you will get what coming to you and your faggot boyfriend. I will kill you, when the time comes.

Sincerely yours,
The Lake Michigan Killer

P.S.: Tell that faggot lover Alexander that he will meet his end soon. 30 years is to damn long for his head to still be on his shoulders.

“Well whoever wrote this letter is somewhat connected to our serial killer, because the letters haven’t been released to the public,” Ryan surmised.

“Does Davis know about his mother yet?” Kieran asked.

“I just got the call ten minutes ago.” Ryan answered confused.

“I’m talking about his real mother.”

“No, I don’t know how he’s going to react to this news. Everything’s been extremely stressful lately. Can’t we wait until this case is over?”

“Nope, no can do. His mother is dead. Both of them are. He has a right to know, Ry. Who better to tell him than his wonderful big brother?”

Ryan sighed in resignation, “Alright, let’s go.”

***

“Ry, what’s up? Something wrong?” Davis asked worried at his brother’s unexpected appearance.

“Natalia is dead. We believe that Jacob had her killed,” Ryan said quickly. He was ready to get this over with as soon as the entered the apartment.

“When? Why?” Bryce asked confused.

“That’s not all guys. There is more news. Davis you might want to sit down.” Kieran said indicating the couch and making sure the boys were sitting down before turning to his partner and said, "Go ahead Ry."

“What’s going on guys? You’re scaring me, bro. What is it?” Davis said looking between the two older men.

Ryan took a deep breath, “When we were investigating Katelynn’s death…”he began, stopped, took a deep breath, then continued to tell the boys about the other bodies they discovered, and the stunning DNA developments and followed up with Natalia’s death and the apparent connection between The Ripper and Jacob.

Davis was stunned into silence for a few seconds then he stood up and walked out of the apartment. Ryan went to follow but Bryce told him that he would get him and quickly left following his boyfriend.

Davis was sitting at a picnic table looking out at the lake. He was staring off into space obviously trying to digest the stunning news.

‘Natalia’s dead. What’s more is she’s not even my mother, who is also dead. Why is this shit happening to me?’ he thought.

He began blink away the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes. It was a lost cause because when Bryce came upon him and laid a hand on his lover’s strong shoulder the emotional dam burst and tears began to trickle down his cheeks.

“You going to be okay, sweetie?” Bryce asked concerned.

“Not really. I feel like everything I’ve ever known was a lie.” Davis said shaking with emotion.

“Hey. Listen babe,” Bryce said sitting down and putting his arm around the brunette’s shoulders and pulled him into his body, “Your still the love of my life, Ryan is still your brother, and we are gonna persevere through this just like everything we’ve dealt with.”

Davis cracked a smile, “Thanks babe, I love you, but unfortunately I’m also something else.”

“What is that?”

“Horny. The feel of your body against me is really having an effect on my cock sweetheart.”

“Whoops, sorry babe. I love you too,” he said pulling away, but Davis held on.

“No I like it. Will you do something for me, though?”

“Anything sweetie, what is it?”

“Kiss me,” Davis said smiling at Bryce’s beautiful cerulean blue eyes.

Bryce smiled back into Davis’ emerald greens and said, “No problem.”

They kissed for a few moments, then stood and went back to the apartment.

Ryan stood up and pulled his baby brother into his arms, “Davy, I’m so sorry. I wish I could change everything and have you live a life without all this nonsense.”

“I don’t.”

“What?” the others said in unison.

Ryan, Bryce, and Kieran looked at him like he had lost his mind.

“Think about it. If all of this hadn’t happened, I’d never found you or Kieran, Jacob would still be an asshole, I’d never be taken in as a member of the Alexander, and more importantly I would never have gotten drunk all those months ago and had Bryce confess his love for me, or confess my love for him.”

“You’re wrong babe,”

“Huh?"

“You’re wrong, I would have confessed my love for you at some point. You are the most important person in my life. I would have gotten up the courage to tell you. I love you so much.”

“I really love you too, Bry.”

A phone ringing broke the boys out of their reverie. Kieran answered his cell.

“Agent Pollack? This is Dr. Morgan Davies with Milwaukee LabCorp. I got this number through Dr. Harris. I have a break in the case, can you meet me at the police station?”

He listened as the doctor gave him more information and said, “We’re on our way.”

When he hung up he turned to Ryan and said, “We got to go guys."

The boys said goodbye and left to go to their classes.

“What’s up?” Ryan asked when they left.

“We have a break in the case. There is some interesting developments with one of The Rippers early victims. He may have made a mistake after all.”

***

At the police station, the agents met with Sam O’Connor and Devin Callando as well as Melinda Harris and Dr. Morgan Davies, a tall well-built black man who looked intrigued at this new revelation in the case.

“Dr. Davies? My name is Agent Kieran Pollack and this is my partner Agent Ryan Vincenzo. What is the new development?”

“Please call me Morgan. We have an unforeseen DNA sample from one of the earliest known victims of the serial killer. There was no match in CODIS.”

“I sense a ‘but’ coming,” Ryan said.

“But…” Melinda took over the discussion, “…the serial killer has a familial match to one of our other victims.”

“Who?” they asked at the same time.

“Natalia Caldwell.”

To say the boys were stunned at the new piece of evidence was an understatement.

***

In a seedy bar in Gary, Indiana, Colleen Ventura was nursing a scotch on the rocks and smoking a cigarette. She was meeting with ‘Marco’, an associate of her boss, Jacob Caldwell. She started getting annoyed with the mysterious man who had called an hour before asking to meet her telling her it was urgent. Marco wasn’t the man’s real name. She didn’t know it. In fact she only met him twice. Once when she was given orders by Jacob to get him a new identification 18 years ago. The second time was when he asked her to get all the information on Ryan, Kieran, Bryce, Davis and the Alexander family. All other interaction was done via dummy email accounts and internet café chat rooms.

‘OK Marco where the fuck are you?’ She asked to herself.

Just as she was about to leave Marco sat down next to her, “Sorry Colleen for being late, sitting here long?”

It was a rhetorical question. He had been watching Colleen since she had arrived watching her patterns and her drinking habits.

She lied, “No, I just got here about 10 minutes ago. So what’s so urgent Marco that I had to drive to this god forsaken town?”

He smiled at that quip. Gary was considered one of the worst cities in America to live just behind Detroit, Oakland, and parts of New York. The gangs and drugs had destroyed this one time thriving suburb of Chicago.

After talking to her about the death of Natalia and how they were close, Colleen was annoyed at the fact he seemed to just want to talk about her boss’ dead wife. She ordered another scotch and drank a few sips before getting up to go to the bathroom. When she came back, she took another swig. Marco smirked. After she left he put some drops of ketamine in her scotch.

When she came back she drank the rest of her glass and promptly ordered another one. She then asked him slightly buzzed, “Seriously Marco, what the fuck is so important that I had to drive all the way out here.”

When she was looking around to see if anyone was eavesdropping he slipped another drop of the date rape drug into her fresh beverage. When she was satisfied she took a sip of her drink.

When he still hadn’t told her, she impatiently asked him, “Well? You going to tell me? Or are you just trying to get me drunk Marco?”

He replied with a smirk, “I need to talk to Jacob in person and he’s not in Chicago. As you know he’s on the run. I know you know where he is. You’re his secretary and his mistress after all. He told me all about that Colleen.”

“I have the information, but it is back in my penthouse, you want to follow me?”

“Perfect. Lead the way,” Marco said evilly.

When they got outside, Colleen turned around to ask where his car was but suddenly she was overcome by dizziness. In her last conscious moment she saw Marco smiling sadistically at her, “This present’s for you Jacob,” he said.

***

“Say what now?” Kieran asked stunned.

“The DNA says The Ripper and Natalia Caldwell were siblings.” Morgan said.

“Impossible,” Ryan said disbelievingly, “Natalia didn’t have any siblings.”

“DNA doesn’t lie, Ryan.”

“Her body gave us another clue. Was Natalia from Russia by any chance?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Her dental fillings were about 30 years old. The fillings were gold. The chemical makeup mixed with radiation levels is consistent with the radiation chemical makeup of the Chernobyl meltdown.”

Dr. Davies didn’t know this bit of information. He said, “I’ll run the killer’s DNA with Interpol. It’ll take a few days to kick out results.”

“Thank you doctor, we’ll let you get back to running it then,” Kieran said.

As they got up to leave, Melinda said, “There’s more boys.”

“What’s up?”

“The Kenosha County Police found Colin Meyers’ body hanging like a scarecrow in the same cornfield Melissa’s body was in,” Devin Callando said, speaking for the first time.

They looked puzzled for a moment before Ryan quipped, “No great loss.” Kieran looked stunned for a second but ignored it.

“There was another typed-out note,” Devin continue, “I have it if you want to see it.”

The boys read it. It was written like a suicide note. It said:

Dear Kenosha Police,

My name is Officer Colin Meyers. I have worked for the Milwaukee Police Dept. for 14 years. For the last 5, I have been working Jacob Caldwell. If you’re reading this then I was murdered for betraying my boss, when I helped Natalia Caldwell bring the bodies of Samantha Krieger and Viktoriya Sazonova to light. I then betrayed Natalia by ratting her out to her husband and Louis Krieger. For this I was righteously murdered. If Agents Kieran Pollack and Ryan Vincenzo are reading this letter right now, let me tell you right now that all those involved in Natalia’s death will be avenged. There is absolutely nothing you faggots can do to stop the iron fist of The Ripper’s justice that is going to deliver a hammer blow to the men and women who were responsible in causing Natalia’s death. The next body will drop soon and no one will be able to stop it..

Posthumously,
Colin Myers

“He just got even more dangerous than he was before,” Kieran said stating the obvious.

“This may give us an advantage though,” Ryan said with a sudden thought of hopefulness. Everyone looked at him skeptically.

Ryan’s thoughts were that if The Ripper went on a revenge-styled killing spree, he might be more inclined to make a mistake. It turned out the others agreed with him when he voiced his epiphany to the group.

Kieran looked at his boyfriend with not only love but also pride. He did have some reservations though. His pride for his lover came from his ability to overcome his tragic past. When he first met the man whom he had fallen in love with, eight years ago, Ryan was still a very broken man; even after dating for the past four years, Kieran knew Ryan had never fully recovered from the abuse he suffered at the hands of Jacob’s sadistic and psychopathic goons. This man that was before him was now one of the most courageous and confident men he knew, and even though he was a fairly young agent in terms of service, he was wise beyond his training. The reservations were there because he knew Ryan was right, but in knowing he was right meant that in order to catch the cold, psychopathic monster haunting his family there had to be more bodies, more carnage, more fear, and more letters to sniff him out. He didn’t like having to play wait-and-see with this monster. Though, now they knew the connections between The Ripper and Jacob Caldwell they had an excellent chance to find not only their serial killer but it could probably be a direct lead to Jacob.

‘It will be like killing two birds with one stone,’ he thought.

***

Colleen woke up handcuffed to her bed.

“What the hell is going on? What happened to me? And why am I handcuffed to my bed?” she said aloud.

“All good questions my dear, I’ll tell you,” Marco said.

“Marco? What the hell? Let me go, asshole. Now!”

“Nope, you’re being punished.”

“Punished? For what?” she spat.

“For helping kill my sister,”

“What are you talking about? Who the fuck are you talking about?”

“My sister Natalia!” he said angrily.

Colleen’s face paled. Natalia’s family were connected to the Russian mob back in the day. If he was truly her brother, she was as good as dead

“It’s time to enact part two of revenge on Jacob. He not only killed my sister, and he betrayed my father’s honor. My father trusted him with his life and his daughter, and he let her die. She called me before she died, you know? Over the past month his drinking’s gotten worse. So has his drug use. He began to beat her and let those bodyguards take their turns raping her. They all deserve to die. You do too. You know why? Because you turned Jacob on my sister. She told me that you made him believe that she was telling people about his criminal enterprises, both past and present. But that’s not true, is it Colleen? You did it. You are the traitor. You were the one making anonymous tips to the police. Well I have said enough to you. You are a traitorous bitch, you definitely deserve to die. Let’s get this done, shall we? It’s time to destroy Jacob Caldwell one criminal associate n at a time.”

“Stop, I’ll help you destroy him. Just spare me, please!” she begged profusely, asking Marco for mercy.

He pretended to ponder her pleas, and smiled sinisterly and coldly said, “No, you have to die. Good bye Colleen.”

Then he took out a machete he had tucked in his waistband, pulled down his pants rolled on a condom and raped her. Then he slashed her breasts with a serrated knife he had been holding, accidentally nicking himself in the process. He then chopped off her head spraying blood everywhere throughout the bedroom. The bed was soaked to the box springs and arterial blood spray coated the wall and spatter from the hacking he did to the body with the machete and the knife, sending blood spatter all over the ceiling. It went as far as the opposite wall near the master bathroom.

He then packed the head in a box and delivered it to Jacob himself and dumped the rest of the secretary’s body at the same park the two skeletons were found. He also drafted two letters: one to Jacob and the other to the police. The letters were written the same way Officer Meyers’ letter had been written.

When Jacob opened the box, Marco got a sick sense of pleasure of seeing Jacob’s reaction to finding Colleen Ventura’s head and the letter inside from his vantage point not far away. A flash of horror and fear crossed his face, . He became violently ill and began throwing up and urinating on himself right there on the doorstep.

Marco then put down the binoculars and left saying to himself, 'There’s your warning Jacob. You don’t mess with the children of Piotr Grigori Abramov.'

Meanwhile, Colleen's headless body was found by a group of deer hunters in a Wisconsin forest close to the state line.

When the agents got to the latest crime scene and read the newest ‘confession letter’, Kieran said, “Well he seems to be taking to the revenge angle extremely seriously.”

“I wonder what happened to the head? And where is the original crime scene?” Sam asked.

“The head has most likely been delivered to Jacob’s safe house. We may never retrieve that. As for the crime scene, the FBI Crime Lab got dispatched to her penthouse on Lakeshore Drive. Hopefully they find something,” Ryan said.

After an hour at the scene his cell rang. It was the Crime Scene Unit, they had found a bloodbath at the penthouse. When they did a rush ABO test on the blood to determine to see if there was a different blood type from the victim. There was: Colleen was AB+; her killer was O-. The bastard had cut himself and now they had more evidence on him: a fresh DNA sample to test.

'Time to run this through Interpol. Hopefully this is the break we need,' Kieran thought.

“Call us when you get the results, Doctor,” Ryan said as they were leaving.

“Will do,” Morgan said.

As soon as they walked out they stopped dead in their tracks. Looking right at them was the severed head Dino Czorniak sitting on the hood of their Suburban.

“What the fuck?” Ryan said, looking at Kieran who like him had a horrified expression on his face.