SO LONG, page 4
"Okay, so we have both our victims' identities," Jake said. "Let's find out everything we can about them. I've got Sarah if you can keep on Jane."
"Already on it," Lauren said.
Jake began researching Sarah Zimmer, scrolling through her social media profile and photos. She seemed like a happy girl, full of life and energy. He saw pictures of her out at parties with friends, smiling and laughing. She had a large group of friends who were constantly in contact with each other and, based on her file, she went missing after a party with her best friends.
He continued his research by looking into her background; she was twenty-one years old when she went missing a year ago and had just graduated college with a degree in English. She was an avid reader, loved animals (especially cats), and had plans to start grad school in the fall.
As he researched more about Sarah's life before her disappearance, Jake felt himself becoming more attached to her story. He wanted so badly to find out what happened that night - if there was anything he could do to help give justice to this young woman whose life ended too soon.
Jake sighed sadly as he closed the file; it seemed like Sarah was just another victim of violence and tragedy. He wished there was something he could do to bring closure to her family, but all he could do right now was keep looking for clues until they figured out what happened. Maybe it would bring her family peace to know they had found her, even if it wasn't a happy ending.
"So," Jake began, addressing Lauren, "Sarah was twenty-one, an English major with a ton of friends who went missing after a party. She grew up in a suburb on the west end of Portland. What about Jane Ives?"
"Pretty different story," Lauren said. "Forty-one, recently divorced, husband was cleared of suspicion. Her kids now live with him. She was a receptionist at a hospital."
"So, there's nothing similar about these victims at all," Jake said.
"Doesn't look like it. They both lived on the west end of Portland, but in different neighborhoods."
Jake and Lauren both looked at each other, each of them thinking the same thing. It seemed like the killer was choosing their victims randomly; there was no pattern, no commonality between Sarah and Jane other than their gender. It was baffling - why were they chosen? Who would be next? Jake shook his head, feeling a sense of dread wash over him. He knew they had to find this killer soon, before anyone else fell victim to their sick game.
But now, they had to do the hard part. Sarah's family needed to know the truth.
Jake stood up and closed his laptop, sighing.
"Come on," he said to Lauren. "We should go talk to Sarah's family."
CHAPTER FOUR
Jake’s stomach was tense and coiled with knots as he slowly walked up the well-manicured path toward the Zimmer family home. The house was situated in a quiet and peaceful neighborhood in the western part of Portland, with trim lawns and mature trees lining the streets. He could feel a lump forming in his throat as he silently approached the front porch, knowing that he was about to face a difficult conversation. Lauren was quiet at his side, acting stoic, but Jake knew her--he knew she hated these conversations too. Despite the warmth of the day, there was an icy chill in the air that Jake couldn't shake.
He paused at the door, taking a deep breath before finally gathering his courage and raising his hand to knock. After a few moments of silence, the door slowly opened and revealed an older man with salt-and-pepper hair. Mr. Zimmer stood in the doorway, his face drawn and severe. He looked at Jake with eyes that had seen too much pain for one lifetime, and his grip on the doorknob was so tight it looked like it might break off any second.
Jake cleared his throat. "Mr. Zimmer?" he asked.
"Yes?" Mr. Zimmer's voice was strained. It was like he had been waiting for two people dressed like FBI agents or detectives to show up on his doorstep, and now it was really unfolding.
Lauren snapped her badge up, and Jake did the same.
"What is this about?" Mr. Zimmer asked. "Have you found her? My daughter?"
Jake exchanged an uneasy glance with Lauren. Then he said, "I'm Agent Jake Tucker with the FBI, and this is my partner, Agent Lauren Price. May we come in?"
"It's about Sarah, isn't it?" Mr. Zimmer's voice broke in distress. "Tell me you found her. Tell me she's okay."
Jake swallowed hard. He could see the desperation in Mr. Zimmer's eyes, and he knew that this was going to be a painful conversation. He wanted to tell Mr. Zimmer that everything was going to be okay, but he couldn't make that promise. For Sarah, it wasn't okay. Not at all.
"We need to talk," Jake said in a low voice. "May we come in and talk in private?"
Mr. Zimmer stepped aside, and the two agents stepped into the entryway of his home. It was a beautiful house, with high ceilings and large windows that let in plenty of natural light. The walls were adorned with family photos and artwork, and Jake could see Sarah's smiling face everywhere he looked. He couldn't help but feel a surge of sadness as he saw how much Mr. Zimmer was missing his daughter--and how much he still loved her.
"Please, come into the living room," Mr. Zimmer said softly, gesturing towards the back of the house.
Jake followed him down the hall, feeling a deep sense of sorrow for what this family had gone through since Sarah went missing. They reached the living room, which had comfortable couches and armchairs arranged around a low coffee table in front of a large fireplace with framed photos of Sarah on either side. Mr. Zimmer motioned for them to sit down. Jake did, feeling the stiff cushions beneath him and Lauren’s weight beside him.
Finally, after an uncomfortable silence that seemed to stretch on forever, Mr. Zimmer spoke up again; his voice was sad and resigned as he said, "I've been waiting for this moment. Please, just tell me where my daughter is."
Jake sighed, leaning forward on the couch and clasping his hands together. Lauren was quiet beside him.
"We... we think we found Sarah," Jake said. "We are going to need a positive ID from you or another family member, but..."
Mr. Zimmer's face was grim. "So, she's gone, then."
"Or someone who looks a lot like her is," Lauren chimed in.
Mr. Zimmer swallowed, trying to keep his composure, but Jake could see he was breaking. Jake didn't have kids--he could only imagine the pain of what it was like to lose one. He had only ever lost a parent, and the pain from that was devastating.
"I personally matched the body we found with an image of Sarah from our missing persons database," Jake said. "As I mentioned, we will need a positive ID, but I wanted to come in and let you know personally what we found."
"And what did you find?" Mr. Zimmer asked, his voice barely a whisper.
Jake swallowed hard. How could he look another man in the eye and tell him he found his daughter decomposing in the woods, covered in so many insects she was barely recognizable?
"We were called out to a woman's body discovered in Forest Park," Jake said. "We're treating the death as suspicious and doing everything we can to find the cause. That's really all we know right now."
Mr. Zimmer nodded, his face still and stoic as he tried to process the information.
"I'm so sorry," Jake said quietly, looking away from Mr. Zimmer's grief-stricken expression. He felt like there was nothing more he could do but just be there, and answer as many questions as he could. This man had lost more than Jake could imagine.
For a long moment, nobody spoke. The only sound in the room was the ticking of the grandfather clock in the hallway. Finally, Mr. Zimmer cleared his throat and looked up at Jake with clear eyes that were filled with sorrow, but also strength and resolve.
"Thank you for telling me," he said softly. "If there's anything I can do to help, let me know."
"We'll have more information for you on that soon," Lauren said. "For now, we need to ask you some questions."
Jake took out the file from his bag, gaining a curious look from Mr. Zimmer. Jake and Lauren had gone over their game plan on the ride over; they had all the details of Sarah's disappearance in the system, same with Jane's, but they were still trying to find a connection between the two other than being women and living in the same end of the city. It was probably a longshot, but Jake took out a photo of the first victim, Jane Ives, and held it up to Mr. Zimmer.
"Do you recognize this woman?"
His brows pitched as he scanned the photo. "Not at all. Who is she?"
"This is Jane Ives," Jake said. "She went missing eight months ago, a few months after Sarah. She was found deceased earlier this week, in the same forest as Sarah.”
"Oh, that's just awful," Mr. Zimmer said. "So that's why the FBI is involved, then? You think someone is out there murdering women like my daughter?"
"We need to explore every possible lead right now," Jake explained, tucking the photo of Jane away. "We were trying to find any connection between Sarah and Jane."
"I've never seen her in my life," Mr. Zimmer said.
"Was there anyone who you suspected might be involved in Sarah's disappearance?" Lauren asked. "We saw on her file that there were no official suspects, but as her father, maybe you have another idea."
At this, Mr. Zimmer hesitated and glanced away. He ran a hand through his thinning hair before he finally looked back up at the agents.
"Well," he said slowly, "there was one person who made me feel uneasy. He's our neighbor down the street, a strange fellow who keeps to himself."
Jake leaned forward in his seat as Lauren shot him a knowing glance.
"What can you tell us about him?" Jake asked.
Mr. Zimmer shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable with sharing this information. But his resolve to bring justice to his daughter must have burned brighter than his hesitancy.
"He's never been particularly friendly or welcoming," he began slowly, "but I've noticed strange things about him over the years that have made me question his character. I didn't suspect him at all at first, but he said something strange to me a few months after Sarah went missing."
Jake's pulse lifted. This sounded promising. "What did he say?"
"Well, I was going for a walk around the neighborhood and stopped to talk to him as he was raking his leaves. He said Sarah was a hardworking girl and that it was a shame she'd never get to fulfill her dream of living in the country and having a horse. I thought that was extremely odd, as not many people knew Sarah liked horses; it was something she'd sort of grown away from since she was a kid. That, along with how quiet and weird the guy has always been... it just raised my suspicion, that's all. I never told the police because I didn't think I had enough, but now that this is out, I think I need to lay all my cards down."
Jake nodded. "You did the right thing by telling us. What is his name?"
"Greg Abbott. He lives a couple neighborhoods over, but his house is on a common walking route for both me and Sarah. We used to walk by it together all the time, and I'm sure she did alone too."
"Thank you for the information, sir. We'll look into it," Jake said, standing.
"Hold on!" Mr. Zimmer stood too. "What happens now? What can I do to help?"
"Right now, just stay put until we call you in for the ID," Jake said. "Our forensics team is doing everything they can to find out exactly what happened to Sarah in the meantime."
Mr. Zimmer sighed, deflating. "Thank you both so much."
As Jake and Lauren said their goodbyes and stepped out onto the porch of Mr. Zimmer's house, they looked around at the neighborhood he had described. It was a peaceful little community filled with families living contentedly in their homes - nothing seemed amiss here - yet beneath the surface of this seemingly normal place lurked something sinister and foreboding. Jake thought of Sarah walking alone down these streets to get home from school every day, unaware that danger may have been lurking just around the corner in the form of Greg Abbott.
Jake sighed as he and Lauren walked back over to his car. Jake got in the driver's seat, Lauren on the passenger side. The moment they were in, Lauren had her laptop out and was looking up Greg Abbott in the database. Jake watched as the file loaded.
"No criminal record," Lauren said. "Barely even any medical records. This guy seems clean."
"On paper," Jake said. As much as he wanted to bust down Greg Abbott's door, they needed more first. Something more concrete. "If Greg is the guy," Jake said, thinking out loud, "then he was known to Sarah. Maybe he was known to Jane too. If we can find a connection between Jane and Greg, then we've found our connection between Jane and Sarah."
Jake took a breath and looked out the window at the neighborhood. "Let's go talk to Jane's family," he said finally. "Maybe they can give us some answers."
***
Jake pulled his car outside of Jane's ex-husband's house, a modest two story home nestled away in a quiet neighborhood. It had a large garden in the front with colorful flowers and plants that were beginning to bloom. The paint was chipping off the sides of the house, but it still looked inviting, a home well lived in. As Jake put the car in park, he noticed an old car parked at the side of the house.
"Let's make this quick," Jake muttered, then knocked on the door. The sooner they had a good reason to talk to Greg, the sooner they could either clear him--or arrest him. It could only go one of two ways, and Jake was eager to get it done.
A man in his mid-forties answered the door with a frown. Jane Ives's ex-husband was her only family in town aside from her kids; even if they had divorced recently, he was still the closest thing she'd had.
"Can I help you?" he asked sternly.
"Are you Frank Ives?" Jake asked.
"I am," he said, leaning against the doorframe. "What's this about?"
"We're with the FBI," Jake said, showing his badge. "We were hoping to talk to you about your wife."
"I already told the police everything I know," he said. "Jane and I divorced. The police cleared me of any involvement, and I've got lawyers on speed dial if you're here for more accusations."
"It's not that," Jake said. "We have reason to suspect the person who caused Jane's death may be responsible for another, so we need to talk to you."
Frank's attitude and overall demeanor was a red flag, that was for sure. Divorced or not, Jane was still the mother of his children and was dead now. And yet he seemed more scornful toward those were trying to help than anything else.
Still, after a moment, he eased up. "Of course. Come in."
Frank opened the door to let them in, and Jake and Lauren stepped into the house. It was a cozy little place, probably built decades ago but kept up well by Frank. The walls were painted in a light blue color, and there were framed photos of Frank and his kids hung up all around the living room--no pictures of Jane. A few pieces of furniture here and there gave it a homey feel. Frank gestured for them to sit down on the couch, then grabbed a chair from an adjacent room to join them.
"Now," Frank said, folding his hands together. "What did you want to know?"
Jake pulled out his phone, where he had a picture of Greg Abbott--a bald, older man with a sunken face--that he'd extracted from Greg's files.
"Do you recognize this man?" Jake asked.
Frank's eyebrows pinched as he looked closer. Jake expected him to pass it off--the chances of drawing a connection like that seemed slim, and probably a shot in the dark.
But then Frank nodded. "Yes," he said. "I do recognize him."
Jake felt a spark of hope, and he pushed the phone closer to Frank. "Who is he?"
Frank took in a deep breath before letting it out. He looked like he was debating whether or not to tell them the truth--and Jake prayed that he'd make the right decision.
"He used to hang around the hospital Jane worked at," Frank said. "I guess he'd try to convince the staff to give him free medical attention, even when there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him. Jane felt like he was there to prey on the women, herself included."
Jake exchanged a look with Lauren. If this was true, then it was a huge connection.
"You're sure it's this man?" Jake pressed.
"Positive," Frank said. "Jane had me pick her up a few times when we were still together, and she pointed him out. I would never forget a face like that."
Jake nodded, relieved. This could be it. Forget the insects, the examinations, all of that—if they could get the killer right now, then he would be able to sleep soundly tonight. And Greg Abbott had to be their guy.
"Thank you for your time, Mr. Ives," Jake said. "We'll do our best to find out who was responsible for Jane's death."
Frank stood up and shook Jake's hand with a determined grip. "I appreciate that," he said. "Jane and I, we... we ended on a bad note." Frank took a moment to collect his thoughts, before continuing. "We were married for nearly a decade, and we had two children together. At first, things seemed perfect. We had a good life, with plenty of love and support for each other. But then things started to change. Jane became distant and irritable, so much so that I couldn't figure out what was wrong or how to fix it. We argued more than we talked, and it felt like we were growing apart even though I still loved her deeply. I can't help but think things could have been different if we'd tried harder." He sighed and looked away, his expression pained as he remembered the past.
Jake's heart sank into his stomach. He couldn't help but think of Lauren and how their own romance had turned sour recently. Jake wanted things to work, but Lauren was hot and cold with him, which made him hot and cold with her too. But seeing a man, left with regret after the death of his ex-wife; it all made Jake want to slow down and appreciate life a bit more.
"I'm sorry for your loss," Jake said. "We'll find out what happened to Jane."
And they would. Jake was sure of it. Because like in every case he’d solved in his career, he wouldn’t give up—not until the killer was caught.
As far as he was concerned, Greg Abbott had some questions to answer.
CHAPTER FIVE
This poor girl, Fiona thought as she examined the body. She'd taken samples of all the insects she needed, then proceeded to begin the cleaning process by removing all the bugs, not to take samples but so she could properly examine the remains of the woman in front of her.
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