Avery parked her car on the eastern edge of Stony Brook Park and walked down Mill Street to the entrance.
The Stony Brook Children's Playground was an expansive water park for children, combined with three separate playgrounds and a huge wooden fort, all nestled within a circle of trees and behind a fence near a gated community.
A number of Belmont police cruisers, along with news vans and reporters and crowds, surrounded the area by the gate.
"There she is!" someone shouted.
Before Avery could even think, a number of reporters made their way toward her. In her previous life, when she'd been fired from her law firm, Avery had assumed the cameras and lights and microphones would eventually fade away. Unfortunately, that had never been the case. She could always find herself as the butt of jokes in one paper or another on slow news days.
A small reporter with bobbed black hair shoved a mic in her face.
"Ms. Black," she said, "are you in a relationship with Howard Randall?"
"What?" Avery demanded.
Someone else extended a mic.
"You went to visit him yesterday. What did you two talk about?"
"Where are you getting this information?" Avery asked.
A paper was held out in front of her, and as Avery scanned the front page and turned to the news article inside, cameras were rolling, and everyone waited for a response.
The headline read "Two girls dead and no leads." The picture was from the cemetery. A sub-headline on the bottom said: "A Cop and A Killer: Romance Blooms." Avery saw herself sobbing inside her car, right beyond the prison walls.
The guards, she realized. They took pictures.
The actual news article was on the third page: "Who Runs The Boston PD?" Words like "incompetent," "mishandling," and "negligence" practically jumped off the page. One line: "Why would Boston PD allow a former attorney with questionable ethics to handle another possible serial killer case?"
Sick to her stomach, Avery handed the paper back.
"Can you give us a comment?" someone asked.
Avery pushed ahead in silence.
"Officer Black!? Officer Black!?"
A woman that couldn't have been more than ninety pounds found her way to Avery and punched her in the chest.
"You fucking piece of shit!" she cried. "My tax money pays for you? No way! I'm going to have you fired-you murdering son of a bitch."
The crowd moved in.
"Why are you on this case?" someone else shouted.
"Don't let her near kids!"
At the gate, Avery flashed her badge and an officer pushed her through.
"Who's in charge here?" she said.
"Right over there," the cop pointed. "Talbot Diggins. Lieutenant Diggins."
Normally, the abuse was easy for Avery to ignore, but today, after her dismal interrogation of John Lang and another dead body, and no leads, and the paper, and everything else, it took all of her energy just to stand tall and walk forward.
Even separated from the mob beyond the gate, she could hear people voicing their outrage as reporters pushed cameras through the bars.
Cops around the area turned and watched Avery pass. Some muttered under their breath. Others just looked at her with scorn.
When will it end? she wondered.
Talbot Diggins was an extremely large black man with a shaved head. He wore sunglasses and was sweating hard in the early morning heat. He was dressed in a slick gray suit and a T-shirt underneath, and the only items that gave him away as a cop were the badge around his neck and gun peeking out from the back of his jacket.
He noticed her and pointed.
"You Black?" he said.
"Yeah."
"Follow me."
The actual park was ignored. Behind the wide pool that normally sprayed water in countless directions, they passed a playground for toddlers and headed directly toward a wooden castle, complete with bridges, a moat, and a wooden city.
Lights from a police photographer flashed inside the wooden structure.
"Kid found her this morning," Talbot said. "Ten-year-old girl. Said she was trying to play with her but the body wouldn't move. So she touched her. Cold as ice."
The wooden structure had an opening at its front that served as a castle entrance.
A dead girl sat in the entrance, positioned as if she'd simply taken a break from play. She was eighteen or nineteen, Avery guessed. Blond hair. Dressed in a tight-fitting shirt and skirt. A whimsical, humorous expression lined her face. Hands were up and had been bound to a bar over her head with very fine fiber, like fishing line. The eyes themselves, like the others Avery had seen, appeared drugged and tortured.
"Do you know who she is?" Avery asked.
"Not yet."
A quick look and Avery could tell the victim wore all her undergarments. Maybe that last girl was a fluke? she wondered
Like the other girls, this one appeared to be looking at something. Avery tracked the line of sight to the toddler playground. Immediately, she knew what the victim had been meant to see: a painted mural of children that lined one of the plastic borders. The children were boys and girls, multicultured, and there were a lot of them, all holding hands.
Talbot eyed her suspiciously.
"Is it true?" he asked.
"Is what true?"
"You and Randall. Papers say you two are an item. Is it true?"
"That's disgusting," she said.
"Maybe," he offered. "But is it true?"
"None of your business," she said.
"Man, you really screwing up my day, you know that? First, I have to deal with some serial killer fallout because you can't do your job, and now you won't even answer a simple question. Come on, we've got a big office pool riding on this."
"You don't have to worry about this," Avery said. "My department will-"
"Nah, nah, nah," he complained, "that's not going to happen. This is my crime scene, you understand? I called your department out of courtesy. I can't give you this," he declared and indicated the dead body. "You already have two dead girls in under a week. Now we've got a third in Belmont. You know what that spells? Team up."
"We don't need to-"
"Oh, we do need to," he said with his eyes rolled back. "Honestly. How close are you to cracking this case?"
"We have a lot of solid leads that-"
"Beep! Incorrect answer!" he cried like an alarm and pretended to be a robot. "I don't believe that," he calmly indicated. "Look at you. You look as messed up as they say in the papers. And you won't even give a fellow cop a hint about your personal life. What's that all about? So you know what? We're teammates now, and in Belmont, we solve cases quick."
"Oh yeah?" Avery said. "How many bodies have you ever seen like this?"
"Pssss," he sang.
"No, I'm serious."
"That don't matter."
"I'll tell you what matters," she said. "I've been on the case for under a week and I know the general area where the killer lives. I know his height and a description of his body. I know he has a soft spot for pets and what he drives, and from the looks of this third body?" she said and pointed to the dead girl, "I know he's not finished yet. Three used to be his magic number. Now that's changed. I know a lot of other things," she spit. "But you know what? You're right. This is your jurisdiction. Figure it out for yourself."
She spun around to walk out.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Talbot howled. "Hold on there, white lion!"
Talbot had a completely different demeanor when Avery looked back. His arms were open wide and he displayed a stunning smile with large white teeth.
"Here I thought I was dealing with a kitty cat, but what I really got is a white lion."
He sidled up to Avery, who was about an inch shorter and smaller in every way.
"I can't come between a lead detective and possible serial killer on a major case like this," he said. "Shit is all over the news. I gotta help you, whether I like it or not. Take your time," he said and waved around. "Check things out."
"But you just said-"
"Nobody likes you," he emphasized in earnest. "My people can't think we're buddies. Hard enough being a black man out here. How about this: I'll have my people take care of this crime scene. We'll get the body to our coroner, try to figure out who she is and have forensics sweep the area. What's your number? Whisper it to me. Whisper…"
Avery whispered her number and Talbot made a nasty face, like he was taking down the digits of her supervisor so she could be reprimanded.
"I just called you," he said. "There it is…Now you have my number too. Once I hear back from everyone on my team. I'll send you a detailed report. Not happy? Talk to your captain, and have him call my captain, but I can tell you this already: this shit happened in my town this time, and that means Belmont police are involved. You wanna help me out? Share what you got?"
"Sure," she said, "we can do that. I'd also want my team to view the body and consult with your coroner."
"No problem."
"And I want complete access to this crime scene."
"You got it. We good?"
"Yeah," she said and frowned, "I think."
"I don't give a shit what you think!" Talbot yelled and backed up so everyone could hear. "That's just the way it is, Black!"
