Don't Touch Me! - 12

 

Cody finally took a drink of coffee. Brent noticed the young man's hands weren't shaking anymore, and chuckled when Cody put the cup down with a 'Guess I am calmer now'," comment. Then Cody asked, "Do you know… Did you ask him if there's anything connecting the three previous victims?"

"I didn't," Brent admitted. "I should have, not that he'd have told me. You and I already discussed the fact two of the three were invalids. Your mother fits within that parameter."

Cody nodded. "So three out of four. Still, that might have been coincidence. They were all older—another connection. I wonder…" He got up, heading out of the kitchen. When Brent didn't follow, Cody stopped long enough to tell him, "My computer's up in the study."

Understanding, Brent followed. When they got there, Cody took the computer out of sleep mode then went online where he started searching for something. Brent came over, standing a safe distance from Cody's side but close enough to see he was looking for news stories about the four murders, his mother's included. He opened a blank document and began taking notes.

"You're doing my job," Brent said with a dry chuckle. "Maybe you should fire me."

"Umm, no? I figured we're both here, so…" Cody kept making notations. Brent saw they were mainly about the murdered women, not how the crimes were committed. When Cody finished, he got up, saying, "Your turn. You probably know better than I do how to find out more about each woman."

Brent sat, going first to the obituaries for each woman.

"See, I never would have thought of that," Cody commented.

"Practice, my boy. Practice." He added to Cody's notes, saying, "Different religious affiliations and different birth cities for two of them. No birth city given for the third woman."

"Mother was born in Schenectady, New York, and when she used to go to church, it was Central Presbyterian."

"Got it," Brent replied, adding that beside her name. She didn't have an obituary since her body was still at the coroner's office. "Did she go to college?"

"Yes. J&W, here in the city, but only for two years. Then she met Dad, dropped out, and married him."

"Okay. None of them went to the same school. You said your father was a factory worker?"

"Yes. A machinist. He was killed on the job three years ago."

"Damn. Sorry." Brent almost reached out to pat Cody's arm in commiseration, quickly pulling his hand back. "Okay, that doesn't match the jobs the other women's husbands held, and two of the men are still living."

Brent continued reading the obituaries, muttering as he did, "No clubs in common, different social levels…"

"So not a damned thing to make the killer choose them specifically, that you can see."

"Not so far, other than their ages. I wonder… You said your mother did leave the house for doctor appointments. Who was her physician?"

"Norman Trent. He has his offices in the medical building at Fifth and Central."

Brent drummed his fingers on the desk. "Now if there was some way to find out if the other women had doctors in the same building…"

"Is there?" Cody asked hopefully.