Picture Perfect

Chapter 9

From noon until four my house was the scene of mass chaos. Sebastian's  closest friends, twenty-five of his classmates from the two five K classes at his school, a few other neighborhood kids and a number of their parents invaded my property to celebrate his sixth birthday. I was completely overwhelmed with the details that went into ensuring both kids and adults remained happy. I thought I had enough food and beverages to provide for a small arm yet I still had to send Kayla out a couple times to replenish the supplies. Who knew kids could eat so much while running around like fools? Or that their parents could drink so much in such a short amount of time.
Just like the five previous parties, I didn't get to enjoy much of the festivities but the few  glimpses I got of Sebastian made all the stress worthwhile. He was having the time of his life, which was all that mattered. I also saw Aaron being his normal lazy, useless self but the beaming smile on my sons face allowed me to keep my temper in check.
According to Aaron the party went off without a hitch. Of course he got to play with all the kids and I got to clean up after all of them. I guess it was all a matter of perspective when it came to the success of the party.
After all the excitement of the day luckily Sebastian was pooped out. He barely stayed awake during dinner, a few times I was sure he would land face first in is Macaroni and Cheese.
Once he was tucked into bed, I got things sorted in the house then headed out back where Hayley and Kayla were already discussing the crime scene in New Berlin I assumed. After Hayley arrived at the party around two I had to try very hard to not immediately ask for details but a number of times both Hayley and Kayla reminded me that murder could wait until after Sebastian was safely asleep.
"So what have I missed so far?" I asked as I grabbed an MGD from the cooler and sat down.
"What took so long? Did my nephew get a second wind after his sleepy dinner?" Kayla asked with a laugh.
"No," I said with a sigh. "Aaron's cranky and wanted to pick a fight."
"What does he have to be cranky about? He's not the one who had to run to Target twice for chips, hot dogs and juice boxes plus a couple runs to Discount Liquor for more beer. I forgot how much alcohol gets consumed at a six year olds birthday party." Kayla replied with a laugh.
"When most people live within walking distance why not get trashed I guess. I think that's why so many people show up to gatherings here, they know I'll provide plenty of alcohol since it's the best way for me to deal with Aaron." I said shaking my head. "Thank you by the way. I really appreciate you running out for me Kay."
"So back to the fight with Aaron." Hayley piped in quickly. "What happened? Did you punch him?"
I rolled my eyes, "Not this time. He was just cranky not drunk." I laughed remembering my son's second birthday party when Aaron got extremely drunk and started hitting on the other mothers at the party including Kayla. At the time we were still a couple so needless to say I got pissed really quickly. That was the one and only time I lost my temper to that degree and I decked him, breaking his nose. I had enough presence of mind to take the fight inside the house before I lost my temper to prevent the kids and other parents from witnessing the escalating argument and its conclusion.
Kayla started to laugh then said, "That's a good thing since the last time you had a hell of a time explaining to your son how his daddy got a major boo boo on his face."
"Exactly!" I responded with a smile then turned to Hayley. "So partner can we talk about what happened out in New Berlin? Reminiscing about my past minor violence may be entertaining but I'm sure the captain would appreciate us discussing someone else's serious violent tendencies."
"You ruin all our fun." Hayley said with a slight pout. She waited a moment to see if either my sister or I said anything more before turning the conversation serious. "Alright, the victims were Theresa Garcia, age 38, Antonio Garcia, age 15, and Jamie Jones, age 42."
"Okay so if we're thinking along the same lines as the Olsen family, I don't see any picture frames in the crime scene photos. Was there some other sort of ID in the house that lead to the quick identification of the victims?" I asked.
"None of the above." Hayley replied. "We lucked out; one of the first responders knew the victims. Apparently his son and Antonio had played soccer together for years. He also said his wife and Theresa were good friends."
"Let's get to the million dollar question ladies?" Kayla injected. "Is this the same guy as our unsolved case or not? Cause so far this could be our guy or it could be someone else."
    Hayley got a slight smirk as she pulled a photo from her bag. "Take a look at this and you tell me."
    The picture she laid out before us was chillingly similar to our crime scene of almost two months ago. Three corpses seated at what looked like a dining room table but instead of dinner being laid out on the table it looked as if the victims had even playing cards. I was beginning to see why similarities had been drawn.
    "What was the relationship between our three victims?" Kayla asked, breaking the silence.
    "Theresa and Jamie have been together for ten years and Antonio is Theresa's son from a previous relationship." Hayley read from her notes then laughed, "Wow that was pretty obvious seeing as he was two weeks short of sixteen."
    "Hey at least you caught yourself." I said laughing. "But seriously, do we know anything about the previous relationship?"
    Hayley flipped through her notes, "The cop I talked to did say Antonio had a father that was sort of in the picture, but him and Theresa didn't always get along."
    "That could be a possible explanation, if Theresa and the dad were fighting over the son. Dad snaps and kills everyone. Kinda scary scenario but it's a possibility." I said with a shrug.
    "Yeah, it's been too long for him to snap over the fact that she's with a woman. Could have contributed to his mind set but definitely wouldn't sent him over the edge ten years later." Hayley agreed.
    Kayla seemed like she hadn't noticed our conversation which was strange. She was singularly focused on two crime scene photos, the one of victims and the one of the living room which appeared to be the primary crime scene.
    "What do yo see sis?"
    "I'm pretty confident in saying this is the same guy."
    "Please share with the class." I replied.
    "First off, Hayley, we are talking about Jamie Jones right? Owner of two insanely popular restaurants, Chance and Sanctuary. Also soon opening a third, Fever?" Kayla asked.
    Hayley quickly looked through her notes then nodded, "Yes, one in the same. Fever opened last week. How did you know that?"
    "Jackson's best friend is a restaurant critic for the Journal Sentinel. He recommended Chance when it first opened. We usually go to one of her two restaurants but that's beside the point. Look here." Kayla said pointing to the two pictures she had been studying. "Obvious similarities are the moving of the bodies, removal of photographs and the method of the murders. Unfortunately that may not be enough to prove a damn thing because there are a lot of sick people out there who could be capable of something like this."
    As Kayla spoke something dawned on me, "If these two murders are the same killer, how would they get to know these seemingly unrelated families without raising some suspicion?"
    Kayla and Hayley shrugged so I continue, "Well someone doing an article on an individual could research them without anyone seeing it as odd. I wonder what our reporter friend's latest assignment is?" I replied.
    "Between Jamie's restaurant success and Antonio being a stand out soccer star I'm sure that family has at least one potential story for the society pages." Hayley responded.
    "We may not be actually working this case yet but I think we should pay a visit to our new friend Cassidy at the Journal Sentinel tomorrow, just to chat and catch up on things." I said with a smirk before finishing my beer.

    From the bushes a few feet away the killer was watching the exchange in Ashlee's backyard. The whole conversation was completely audible from where the killer was hiding which made them smirk. 'So you all realized that I killed both families. Good for you, but there is no way you will find me. My crimes are picture perfect.'