Page 35 of Shadow Angel
Ignoring her question, Beth cut straight to the chase. “Where is this room?”
“In the loft.” Mrs. Crenshaw waved a hand toward the passageway. “There are pulldown stairs just out there, but the room is locked as I said. He’s made sure no one can get in.”
“Is it booby-trapped?” Styles came to stand by her side.
“Not that I know.” Mrs. Crenshaw narrowed her gaze. “Padlocks is all.”
“I carry bolt cutters in the cruiser.” Ryder hurried outside.
When he returned, they filed into the passageway and Styles pulled down the stairs to the loft. At the top of the stairs, they found a door barred with three large padlocks attached to metal strips reinforcing a wooden door. After Ryder made short work of the locks, he pushed the door open slowly and peered inside. The comment in Beth’s throat froze at the sight of hideous images covering the walls. The photographs had been printed from an office printer and each had a corresponding lock of hair neatly tied in a pink bow and pinned to the group. She pulled out her phone and took a video of the entire space, moving slowly along each wall to capture every inch. Beside her, Styles was using his phone to take images of the rest of the room.
Turning, Beth went to a small desk with a computer and printer. She sat in the office chair and booted up the computer. It didn’t take her too long to override the password and gain access to the video files. She discovered he had uploaded many of them to a dark website. There were more files than she could have ever imagined. Sickening recordings of a very damaged mind had been very carefully catalogued by date and location. She turned in her seat. “It’s all here. The dates and times, how many visits he made. How long he kept them alive before killing them. Every sickening detail.”
“How many?” Styles eyes flashed with anger. “So much suffering.”
Beth scrolled down lists. “Too many to count right now. We’ll hand this over to sex crimes; they can work through it and see if they can find a match in the missing persons files. We’ve done our part by arresting this guy.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t gain the attention of the Tarot Killer.” Ryder continued to open drawers and collect evidence. “We know he’s in the state. He was in Black Rock Falls recently and this guy has been doing this for a long time.”
Biting back a smile, Beth shrugged. “Maybe he’s busy elsewhere. I’m glad he didn’t take him out. I’d really like to hear what Crenshaw has to say for himself. I’m betting Jo Wells will be hotfooting it to Black Rock Falls to listen in on the interview.”
“Yeah, we should notify her he’s in custody.” Styles rubbed the back of his neck and looked at Ryder. “You’ll need to ask Mrs. Crenshaw to pack a bag for her and the kids. They can’t be here. We’ll have to get all this stuff packed up and moved into evidence. I’ll call in a team.”
“Okay, I’ll go and ask her if she has somewhere she can stay for a time.” Ryder left the room.
“Tell me more about the dark web. You mentioned he had uploaded them to a site. So do people actually get enjoyment out of watching what he did to the women?” Styles leaned over her shoulder staring at the computer screen.
Beth nodded. “Yeah, I’m afraid every facet of depravity is enjoyed by someone out there, well, many people not just a few. The dark web is their playground, a place they can be safe. The problem is these people are in all walks of life. I mean, I don’t think I could name a career that hasn’t had a deviant at one time or the other. It probably goes right to the top in many places because this kind of thing is covered up way too often.”
“Can we trace any of them?” Styles frowned at the screen. “You’re an expert in cybercrime. Have they left any clues?”
Shaking her head, Beth sighed. “That’s the beauty of the dark web. It’s very difficult unless we find an access point, like someone’s computer, to discover these sites in the first place. The people who use them bounce their signal all over the world. They’re impossible to find unless they leave a clue to their whereabouts in a photograph or video. We have in the past traced people by a reflection of a building or sign in a window or similar.”
This was the last thing she needed to be doing. The Crenshaw case was wrapped up and her anxiety to get to Billings and remove Jackson before he killed another innocent woman was burning a hole in her patience. “I’ll download the catalog of video files onto an external drive and place them into evidence. I’ll remove the hard drive from this computer and use it to track down others of like mind, but we’re talking about possibly months of work and chances are I’ll come up empty.” She took a hard drive from her bag and plugged it into the computer. “It’s going to take a long time to download everything.”
“We have time. It’s a big house.” Styles squeezed her shoulder. “Once we have this case sewn up, I promised you a few days’ downtime, maybe a week. I never go back on my word. Is a week enough time for you to recharge?”
Beth liked the wordrecharge. It exactly described the feeling after removing a monster from society. “I hope so, but I won’t get the cabin finished in one week. That’s not my intention. It’s going to be my respite, so I’m planning on going slow and just tinkering with it over time. It’s a reason to be visiting towns and buying things or I’d be wandering around aimlessly without purpose.” She laughed. “Can you imagine if I’d purchased furniture from the charity shop and Crenshaw had delivered it? I might have ended up sewn to a sofa.”
“Maybe, but he knows now you’re not a dancer, and from what I can see, they were his favorite.” Styles used the mouse to scroll through the image files. “Ah maybe not. Look here at the notation.”
Intrigued, Beth turned in her seat to view the screen. “He calls them his ‘darlings’ and this one isn’t a dancer. She’s listed as a One B.” Beth scrolled through the catalog. “Ah, One B is a sex worker.”
“I recognize her.” Styles peered at the image of before and after Crenshaw’s cosmetic do-over. “Ryder arrested her and normally he’d let sex workers slide if they weren’t causing a problem, but she was selling drugs on the side. She was fined and we assumed she left town. From these images, she didn’t make it to the bus. That would be where Crenshaw obtained the fentanyl. We knew she was dealing but couldn’t find her supply. Crenshaw must have had dealings with her and then killed her.” Styles shook his head. “He’s been busy over years and in many different states. I hadn’t realized he’d moved around so often.” He frowned. “Leave this room for the forensic team. We should ask Mrs. Crenshaw some questions and then start on the rest of the house, but I don’t think we’ll find anything incriminating. Everything we need is here.”
Downstairs, Ryder was on his phone making arrangements for Mrs. Crenshaw and her kids to stay at the local shelter. It was run by her church and it would be for only a day or so. Beth sat on the sofa beside her and Styles sat opposite. Beth took out her notebook and pen. “I need to ask you a few questions. You’ve lived here for some time, I believe, but did Joe move around for his work? Or did he go away on vacation alone sometimes?”
“He moved around with his work all the time.” Mrs. Crenshaw shrugged. “People buy our recycled furniture from all over and Joe always insisted on delivering it personally. He was often gone for weeks at a time, dropping things off in different states. He was generous like that, but the deliveries did bring in extra income for us.” She teared up. “He liked to go fishing and hunting, so yeah, he went on vacation alone. Not all the time, only in the warmer months. When the snow came, he stayed home.”
“Did he bring you gifts? Clothing or jewelry from his trips away?” Styles leaned forward in his chair.
“Oh, he was always giving me clothes and jewelry.” Mrs. Crenshaw stood. “Most of the things weren’t to my taste but he’d have me dress up sometimes and I did just to please him. Want to see them?”
Beth exchanged a knowing glance with Styles and controlled an involuntary shudder. How close was his wife to becoming a victim? She followed the woman to a hall closet and stared at the boxes of clothes stacked inside. To one side was an ornate jewelry box, overflowing with gawdy costume jewelry. She looked at Mrs. Crenshaw. “We’ll need to take this. Have you packed a bag?”
“Not yet.” Ryder walked up behind them. “We’ll search the bedroom first.” He looked at Mrs. Crenshaw. “Go and wait in the family room. We’ll be out of your hair very soon.” He gave Beth a long look and lowered his voice to just above a whisper. “Who is going to tell her the charges her husband is facing? She had no idea. I don’t figure that’s an act.”
Wanting to feel empathy for the wife of a serial killer but not buying Mrs. Crenshaw’s innocent act, she raised an eyebrow. “I’ll speak to her. You go and finish the search. I find it hard to believe she wasn’t aware he was doing something weird. Married people get close, so close they can almost read each other’s minds. Then there was the smell. We all know the stink of death hangs around. He visited the corpses and she didn’t notice?” She headed back to the family room and sat down opposite Mrs. Crenshaw. “It’s been a long morning and you’ll be moving into the shelter for a couple of days. Do you want to grab something to eat before you go?”
