At seven the next morning Jack Stacy slowly woke from a deep dreamless sleep.
The sheets beneath him were softer than his own and carried a faint lavender scent.
He turned his head and found Ivanka Anderson asleep beside him with her blonde hair scattered across the pillow.
For a moment Jack had no desire to move.
The previous night had been the first time in weeks that his mind had completely escaped police work and death.
Then the phone on the nightstand vibrated and the name Hank Voight appeared on the screen.
Jack carefully pulled his arm free and answered in a low voice.
“Sergeant.”
“Stacy, your leave is being cut short,” Hank said over the sound of sirens and distant voices.
“Get to Pier 63 on the Riverwalk.
Now.”
Jack sat upright.
“What happened?”
“We’ll talk when you get here.
I need you on scene within forty minutes.”
The call ended before Jack could ask anything else.
Ivanka stirred beside him and opened her eyes.
“Work?”
“Emergency recall.” Jack leaned over and kissed her forehead.
“Hank needs me downtown.”
Ivanka told him there were clothes and car keys waiting in the closet.
Jack opened it and found a complete set of new clothes in his exact size along with a Rolex and the key to a Mercedes.
When he looked back at her in surprise she smiled and explained that her assistant had prepared everything the previous day in case he needed to leave quickly.
“No, I’m not trying to buy you,” Ivanka said when she saw his expression.
“Consider it my way of showing affection.”
Jack looked at the watch and then at her.
“This is a pretty expensive way of showing affection.”
“You can complain tonight.” Ivanka helped straighten his collar before giving him one last kiss.
“Assuming you come back.”
“I’ll be back.”
At 8:20 a.m.
a black Mercedes-AMG GT pulled up near the police perimeter at the Pier 63 section of the Chicago Riverwalk.
Jack stepped out and looked toward the crowd of patrol officers and crime-scene personnel ahead.
The drive had taken only about twenty minutes.
Part of the reason was the Bronze Treasure Chest he had opened from the Collins body-packing case before leaving Ivanka’s apartment.
[Obtained: $100,000 Cash — Deposited into System Hidden Account]
[Obtained: Skill Points ×2]
[Obtained: High-Speed Driving Lv.1]
Jack had immediately spent one Skill Point.
[High-Speed Driving upgraded to Lv.2.]
[High-Speed Driving Lv.2: While operating a vehicle, evasive maneuver capability +50%.
Reaction speed +20%.]
He still had 1 Skill Point unused.
Catherine Hayek spotted him near the perimeter and walked over carrying a ballistic vest.
She looked at the Mercedes then slowly examined Jack’s new clothes.
“You look like you had a very relaxing few days.”
“It’s a long story.” Jack took the vest from her.
“What do we have?”
Commander Ron Perry and Hank were speaking several yards away while Forensics worked near the river.
Catherine handed Jack a briefing sheet.
“Charlotte Matthews.
Twenty-eight.
She was jogging here early this morning when someone attacked her.”
Catherine lowered her voice.
“Sexual assault followed by a severe beating.
Her left ear was removed with a sharp weapon.
She was already dead when somebody found her.”
Jack’s expression hardened as he looked toward the covered body.
“Wouldn’t this normally go to Violent Crimes?”
“There was another attack two days ago.” Catherine stepped closer so nearby officers wouldn’t hear.
“Same area.
Same sexual assault pattern.
Same mutilation.”
Jack understood immediately.
Serial offender.
Hank noticed them and waved them over.
As they approached they heard Commander Perry speaking in a tired but furious voice.
“Voight, I want this guy identified and in custody within forty-eight hours.
The public doesn’t know we’re looking at a serial predator yet.
Once that gets out every woman who uses this Riverwalk is going to panic.”
“We’re working it,” Hank replied.
“Work faster.” Perry stared at him before lowering his voice.
“You know I don’t like the way you operate and you’ve never cared what I think.
But this is exactly the kind of case your unit handles better than anyone else.
I want results.”
Perry walked away and Hank immediately turned toward Intelligence.
“What do we have?”
Catherine pointed toward several marks near the scene.
“Charlotte fought hard.
Her fingernails were removed afterward which is different from the first victim.
My guess is she scratched him and he realized she might have gotten skin or blood under them.”
“Forensics is still checking everything they can recover,” she continued.
“If anything survived we might get DNA.”
Antonio Dawson and Jay Halstead had already searched the surrounding blocks.
Antonio shook his head.
“No camera gives us a clean view of the attack site.”
Erin Lindsay had been working the witness angle and had no better news.
“No useful witnesses either.
Whoever found her only saw the body.
This happened early enough that almost nobody was down here.”
Hank stared toward the Riverwalk for several seconds.
“Two attacks in the same general area within days.
Less than two miles apart.
This guy is comfortable here.”
He turned back toward his team.
“He might even be standing somewhere nearby watching us work.
Maybe he wants to see the cops fail before he starts looking for the next woman.”
Adam Ruzek frowned.
“So what are we looking for?”
“Behavior.” Hank pointed toward the crowded walkway.
“Lone guys paying too much attention to women.
People hanging around without a reason.
Anybody who looks like he’s hunting instead of walking.”
He looked across the entire team.
“Plain clothes.
Spread out.
We stop the third attack before it happens.”
By nine Jack and Catherine were sitting along the middle section of the Riverwalk dressed like a young couple enjoying the morning.
Both wore concealed wireless earpieces while occasionally leaning close enough to maintain their cover.
Almost an hour passed before Jack noticed a man sitting alone on a bench.
Dark jacket.
No phone.
No book.
His attention kept shifting from one woman to another.
“Ten o’clock,” Jack whispered.
“Gray jacket.”
Catherine bent down as if adjusting her shoe and looked in that direction.
“He’s watching every woman who passes.
Could just be a creep.”
The man suddenly stood.
A woman carrying a shoulder bag passed in front of him and he moved quickly toward her.
Jack and Catherine were already on their feet.
“Chicago Police!
Stop!”
The man tried to keep moving but Jack caught him within seconds.
He trapped the man’s arm and used Tactical Grappling Lv.2 to bring him under control while Catherine moved toward the startled woman.
“Hands behind your back.” Jack secured the cuffs as the man cursed beneath him.
“Stop fighting.”
Hank’s voice came through Jack’s earpiece.
“Stacy.
Report.”
“One male detained.
We’re checking him now.”
When Hank and the others reached them the suspect was still protesting.
“I didn’t do anything!
Let me go!”
Erin ran his name through the system.
“John Miller.
Forty-two.
Multiple petty-theft arrests.
Nothing violent.”
Hank looked at the frightened woman and then at John.
“Probably going after the purse.”
His disappointment was obvious.
“Bring him in anyway.
He spends time down here.
Maybe he knows something.”
Back at the 21st District Jack and Catherine handled the interview.
John Miller sat across the table insisting he had simply been taking a walk and had never intended to steal anything.
Jack didn’t argue.
He placed Charlotte Matthews’s photograph on the table.
“Know her?”
John glanced down.
His expression changed for barely a fraction of a second.
“No.
Jesus.
That’s awful.”
Jack had already seen enough.
The reaction had not been simple shock at seeing a dead woman.
It was recognition followed immediately by surprise.
“You know her.”
John shook his head.
“No.”
“You recognized her.” Jack kept his tone calm.
“I’m not saying you killed her.
But you were working the Riverwalk this morning and you’ve got a history of stealing from people in this area.”
John shifted uneasily.
“If you were here when something happened and you lie about it now you’re only making yourself look worse.” Jack leaned forward.
“Help us separate you from whoever did this.”
“I didn’t see anybody get attacked.”
Catherine noticed the wording immediately.
“Nobody asked whether you saw the attack.”
John froze.
Jack continued.
“You saw Charlotte before she died.”
John stared at the table.
“You saw her or you saw the man following her,” Jack said.
“Maybe both.”
John’s eyes flickered.
There it was.
“Tell us what you saw and we can document that you cooperated,” Jack continued.
“Keep lying and we treat everything you did this morning like part of the same timeline until we prove otherwise.”
John finally dropped his head into his hands.
“I didn’t see him attack her.”
Catherine pushed a bottle of water toward him.
John took a drink before continuing.
“It was around five-thirty.
East end of the Riverwalk near the lake.
I saw that woman walking alone.”
“And?” Catherine asked.
“A guy was following her.”
Jack leaned forward.
“Describe him.”
“Tall.
Six feet minimum.
Maybe taller.” John thought for several seconds.
“White guy.
Good shape.
Short blond hair.”
“What else?”
John frowned as he tried to remember.
“He had this smile.
Looked friendly if you weren’t paying attention but it felt fake.”
Jack wrote everything down.
“He kept a little distance from her,” John continued.
“Never got too close but his eyes stayed on her the entire time.
I passed him going the other direction and looked at him because something felt wrong.”
“Why did you remember him?”
John hesitated before answering.
“His watch.”
Catherine looked up.
“His watch?”
“Expensive.
Really expensive.” John shrugged.
“Guys hanging around down there looking for trouble usually don’t wear something like that.
I remember thinking he was either a cop or some rich psycho.”
“Where did they go?”
“She turned toward the pier.” John looked at Jack.
“He followed her.
I kept walking.”
Jack and Catherine exchanged a look.
For the first time that morning they had something resembling a suspect description.
They collected their notes and stepped out of the interrogation room.
Hank was standing in the hallway waiting for them.
He looked from Catherine to Jack.
“Good work.”