Picture Perfect

Chapter 34

The killer sat in her trophy room relaxing. She was off of work for a week so she had plenty of time to observe her next group of potentials and choose her next masterpiece. First she had to group her potentials and choose her next masterpiece. First she had to group her potentials, she had ten previously discarded families plus another eight new potentials.
She placed the eighteen pictures in front of her on the table and began looking over the families. Although the concept sounded easy enough, the killer put a lot of thought into which families were grouped together. In her groups of three she liked variety, it was the spice of life of course. She enjoyed picking very different families because it are her observations more entraining and sometimes more challenging.
She spent all day mixing and matching families. It was like she was a woman going through her closet to find the perfect ensemble for a big occasion, like a job interview or a first date. Her trios had to be perfect because she didn't want to do this again for a while. Since she had been creating masterpieces at a rapid rate she didn't want to waste time coming up with three possible families every time.
"Finally complete!" The killer exclaimed happily. After twelve tireless hours she was finally pleased with her trios. She had even chosen her first group of potentials. "It won't be long before I've added another masterpiece Detective Morris. I do love watching you squirm!" She said with a laugh. The killer was truly pleased that the Milwaukee homicide department, especially Ashlee, had no clue who was responsible for these murders.

I walked back to my desk in a haze. I'd been just hit by a double whammy; I was now a background member of the team on these cases and an ex of mine was one of the victims. I really couldn't tell which hit me harder.
In all my years with the police department I had never been removed from a case I was working on. Granted the captain hadn't completely removed me from the case but he had moved me from the drivers seat to the bitch spot in back essentially.
On the other hand, Clare was dead. More importantly I had seen her dead body and I had not recognized a woman I saw almost daily for months. I suppose it made sense that she changed her appearance, the media coverage on her case had been insane. If she had wanted any sort of life after being released, she would have had to move or change her appearance drastically.
I had almost made it to my desk when the captain bellowed from his office door, "Morris, Williams my office now."
I quickly looked over at Hayley and she looked as confused as I felt. A quick glance around the squad room revealed a number of confused faces as well. Everyone including my partner seemed to be looking to me for answers. I simply shrugged and turned back towards the captains office because I had no idea what was going on.
Hayley rushed up behind me and whispered, "What the hell is going on?"
I shook my head and replied, "I have no clue." I waved Hayley into his office then closed the door behind myself.
"No need to sit down." The captain quickly said in a very grumpy tone. "I just got a call from the Greenfield homicide. Looks like our killer struck again."
"Shit!" Hayley and I said in unison.
The captain handed me a piece of paper with an address on it. "Morris, that conversation we just had, let's say it happened about ten minutes after you get back from this scene."
"Understood." I replied then opened the door again. "Let's go partner."
    "Oh and ladies," The captain said quickly causing us both to turn back towards him. "We were called in because of the similarities nothing more, so please don't completely take over at the crime scene. This is technically still Greenfield's case. The only people who can change that fact are the FBI or maybe the mayor, not us!"
    "Got it Capt." Hayley said as we walked out the door.

    I had barely gotten the car started when Hayley jumped in with the questions. "What the hell was the Captain talking about? The whole cryptic double talk about a conversation thing?"
    I smiled and said, "Congrats partner, after this crime scene you are lead detectives on these cases." I paused for a moment then added, "Well the Daniels case for sure, but probably the Olsen case too. And if we start a task force with New Berlin, Muskego and now Greenfield, that'll be all you."
    "What?" Hayley squeaked.
    "Oh and on paper Jameson's your new partner too." I added. "Just for these cases that is."
    "What the fuck is going on Ashlee?" Hayley nearly yelled at me.
    I took a deep breath then explained, "The unidentifiable woman in the Daniels house has been identified. It was Clare."
    "Clare?" Hayley repeated seeming confused. I gave her a moment to think then saw it hit her, her facial expression changing to disbelief, "Your ex Clare? Crazy killer Clare?"
    "Yes, one in the same." I replied choosing not to comment on the crazy killer comment. I wasn't sure how I felt about that one. It was a fairly accurate comment but it seemed a bit harsh all the same.
    "Damn." Hayley replied shaking her head.
    "I know it's strange. We both saw her and had no clue it was her. That is hard for me to wrap my head around too." I admitted.
    "Well there is that too." Hayley replied.
    That response threw me off a little, "Wait, what were you thinking?"
    Hayley suddenly turned her head and found the scenery passing by on the passenger side more interesting than our conversation.
    "Hayley!" I said firmly, trying not to get annoyed. "What were you thinking?"
    "You're not gonna like it Ash." Hayley quietly warned.
    "Who gives a shit what I'll think, just tell me." I replied with more anger than I had intended.
    "Fine but don't say I didn't warn you." Hayley stated firmly.
    I know she was waiting for another outburst or any reaction but I held it in. I took a couple deep breaths then calmly said, "Let's hear it."
    "Okay," Hayley sighed then began to explain. "So we've got a serial killer who seems to have fixated on you, right? Well at least the Daniels scene anyways, more than the other scenes. They kill families and stage them to look like the perfect family. It's not a stretch to think that Clare evolved a bit while she was locked up in the mental hospital."
    "Wait, Clare was one of your suspects?" I asked in disbelief.
    "Honestly yes. She's a convicted murderer who has killed children before and was released to freely roam the streets. She wouldn't be the first to convince people she was better, then go back to their old habits. I had to look into it." She finished, sounding almost apologetic.
    "You knew she was out and didn't tell me?"
    "I figured you already knew. I'm sorry Ash."
    I knew she meant this too. Hayley would never do anything to hurt me, we had been through too much together for me to doubt her. Investigating someone I had cared about, then keeping it from me had to have been hard for her so I said, "It's okay."
    "You sure?"
    "Yeah. And honestly you were right to check into Clare, you were thinking like the good detective you are. I should have thought of it."
    "Well that's what you have me around for Ash, to check on your crazy ex's and make sure they're not serial killers." Hayley joked.
    I laughed then said, "What, was Jenna on the suspect list too?"
    Hayley instantly stopped laughing, "No, do you think she should be?"
    I got serious too, "Well partner, if anything at this crime scene is linked to me you might have to check into people in my sorted past."
    "My first suspect would be Aaron, he has always seemed a bit shifty." Hayley joked trying to lighten the mood.
    "I know you don't like him all the time but he's Sebastian's father so give him a break." I replied.
    "Being you baby's daddy doesn't give him a free pass." Hayley laughed.
    "You are ridiculous." I said shaking my head. I turned left and saw the numerous police cruiser's, news vans and onlookers.
    "Looks like we found the place." Hayley commented.
    "Yep, time to play serious detectives. Hopefully something here will give us a clue to who this son of a bitch is."

    The killer had come by the scene on a whim and stayed, watching the scene in delight. She thought, 'I love the mayhem I can create so easily. And I see they called in my two favorite detectives. I wonder what Aaron and Sebastian are doing while mommy's out trying to catch me. I think I'll go see.' With that he killer ducked through a few backyards to get back to her car parked three blocks away.