Sins Of The Mother (Chapter-14)

Lukas was at his desk before eight the following day, checking the tip lines to see if any information had come in overnight. There was no mention of the murders. There were, however, several complaints about speeders and loud parties. Morons. He looked at the field interview reports submitted by beat cops to see if there was any information that might reveal a lead, but there was nothing there, either.

He turned away from the computer and noticed a message he’d missed on a pink sticky note. A woman identifying herself as Claire Andrews had called. She was the mother of his first victim, Jamika Bradley. He had talked to her briefly the night Jamika was murdered. The note said that she had found something that may be of some use. He picked up his desk phone and called the number Claire Andrews had left. She said that she stumbled across something that might be worth a look. He told her he’d be there within the hour. He grabbed his keys and headed for the door as his phone buzzed. Brooke. She said they were a little light on females for the sting they were planning and encouraged him to get as many female officers as possible. He told her he hoped to hear something more on his end about the task force later that night.

Twenty minutes later, Lukas arrived at Claire Andrews’s home. There were crooked numbers on the faded column that was barely holding up the roof that hung over the porch. He knocked on the door, remembering that the doorbell didn’t work. After two rounds of knocks, the door opened, and a middle-aged, black lady wearing a housecoat that looked as old as she was opened the door.

“It’s good to see you again, Detective Miller,” she said as she waved him into the house.

He stepped into a tidy living room with modest furnishings. Pictures hung on the walls, neatly arranged. They reflected Jamika’s life, from infancy to high school. Lukas remembered how surprised he’d been at how tidy the house was, given its outside appearance.

“It’s hard to believe that’s my Jamika,” the woman said from behind Lukas. “I did my best for her, but once she got on the drugs, she just went downhill. Can I get you something to drink, officer?”

“No thank you, ma’am,” he said. “I appreciate you contacting us. Your message said you found something?”

“I don’t know how much this will help, but…” Her voice faded as she stepped into an adjoining room. She emerged a short time later holding a small worn notebook with flowers on the cover.

“I was looking through her things after she was, you know, gone, and I found this. I flipped to the end and noticed the last entry was on the day she was killed.” She pointed to the entry.

“Meeting RO.”

“Do you have any idea what this means, or who ‘RO’ is?”

“I stayed out of her business. The less I knew, the better.”

“Can I keep this?”

“Be my guest. I was going to throw it out anyway. As I said, I don’t know how much it will help, if it helps at all.”

“Thanks, Mrs Andrews, and I’m sorry for your loss.”

“When you find the man who killed my girl, will you call me?”

“I will.”

Lukas went back to the station and logged the notebook into the case file as evidence. He checked his messages. There was a message from Captain Hunter detailing the names of the detectives he had allocated for the hooker sting. He picked up his cell phone and dialled Brooke.

“Hey, Lukas. How’d the lead go?”

“Do the letters ‘R.O.’ mean anything to you? They appear to be initialled.”

“Not that I can think of. What’s the context?”

Lukas told her about the meeting with the victim’s mother and the diary entry.

“Could it be a new pimp?” Brooke said after a pause.

“Anything’s possible. Hold on one second.” He unlocked his computer screen and searched the database for persons known to be pimps in the area. “Nobody with those initials shows up here.”

Lukas could hear keystrokes on Brooke’s end. “Same here.”

“Ah, it may be nothing. But I’ll look through my case files and see if there’s any mention of anyone with those initials.”

“I’ll do the same,” Brooke said.

“Thanks. Oh, I almost forgot. I got four people for the sting. Two women.”

“So that’s seven total, three women. We need one more girl. Any chance you have any probies that could help us out over there?”

Lukas silently ticked off the number of probationary officers that hadn’t been on the street long enough to develop a police identity. “Might be a couple in the department we could use.”

“You know what?” Brooke said. “On second thought, never mind. I’ll do it.”

“You’ll do what?”

“I’ll do the sting.”

“You mean you’ll be a hooker? I mean, you know what I mean.”

“Sure, and you can be my pimp.”

Lukas laughed. “When do you want to do it?”

“We’ll need some time to get things lined up. How about Friday night?”

Lukas took a quick look at his calendar to make sure there were no conflicts. “Friday’s good for me.”

“Friday night, then. Have your people meet us at headquarters in Kingsport, and we’ll finalize the assignments.”

“I’ll get the word out. Talk to you later.”

Lukas hung up feeling a little more hopeful. He sat in front of the computer thinking about the initials. Or was it an acronym? It could be anything. Another very small lead. But many small leads often led to a break. Eventually. Maybe Friday would bring their killer out of the darkness and put them on the offensive for a change.