5

When we got to the Ruth house I felt like something was wrong. I pulled out my gun and Lisa did the same. I knocked but got no answer. Lisa pointed to the lock and I saw it was broken. I pushed on the door and it opened. We went in with our guns in front of us. The downstairs was clear so we went upstairs. We found Mrs. Ruth dead on the ground with a wolf head above her and a phone beside her.

"Mr. Ruth is in here," Lisa called from the bathroom. "The wolf head is above him."

I called it in. Then I put on latex gloves, knelt, and moved Mrs. Ruths's hair to see her neck. There were bruises that showed she had been strangled. I looked at Lisa when she came back into the room. "Was he strangled too?"

She nodded. "He has additional bruises that makes me think he had fought back. He's in the tub naked."

I looked at Mrs. Ruth. "It doesn't look like she fought her attacker." I stood up. "He broke in and found them up here. He killed her first then found Mr. Ruth. Is Mr. Ruth wet?" Though that won't tell us much because Mr. Ruth had been strangled. I wonder, not for the first time, what the wolf head signifies. Could it just be something he likes?

"Yeah. The tub is filled with water too. Mr. Ruth must have gotten out to see why his wife wasn't making any noises and the killer jumped him."

"They fought, Night wolf gets the advantage, and he kills Mr. Ruth."

Jasper walked in and looked at Mrs. Ruth. "Did you touch both the bodies?"

I rolled my eyes. "I moved her hair but don't worry." I held up my gloved hands. "I had gloves on. I didn't even look at Mr. Ruth so ask your twin if she touched him."

Lisa glared. "I didn't!"

Jasper knelt beside Mrs. Ruth. "He's killing adults now?"

"Or Mr and Mrs. Ruth figured out who he is and he killed them to keep them quiet," Lisa said.

"She does have the phone next to her," I said.

Jasper nodded. "Ed, Am's in my car."

I blinked. "Were you planning on bringing her here?"

"No, I spent some time with her and was on my way to my parents when I was called. They said to come here quickly."

I nodded and went to his car. I opened the back door. "Hey, Sweetheart."

"Daddy!" She said beaming.

I unbuckled her and picked her up. "How was your day?"

"Papa and I got ice cream!"

"Did you? What flavor did you get?"

"Strawberry."

"Was it good?"

"Yeah!"

Lisa came over. "How's my favorite niece?"

"Aunt Lisa," Amelia said excitedly.

"She's your only niece." I handed my squirming daughter to her. "I'm heading back inside."

She took her. "Okay."

I went in. "So how's it going?" I asked Jasper as I entered the bedroom.

"They were both strangled. The only difference is Mrs. Ruth didn't struggle. He didn't even beat her. He did it quickly so the husband couldn't interfere," Jasper replied.

I nodded. "But he had more time to kill Mr. Ruth."

"Yes, and Mr. Ruth fought back too."

"Do you think you could get something from under Mr. Ruth's fingernails?"

Jasper shrugged. "It's a possibility but I doubt it. The killer was probably wearing what he was wearing when he killed all those girls." He used his shoulder to wipe his eyes.

I knelt beside him. "Jasp, are you okay?"

He wouldn't look at me. "I'm fine."

"No, you aren't. What's wrong?"

He sighed. "This needs to stop, Ed. Every time we find a kid I keep thinking that we're lucky that kid isn't ours and I feel sorry for those who are going through this. We could lose our daughter too and I wouldn't be able to handle that."

I hugged him. "One, our daughter doesn't fit with who he's going to go after next. Second, she's always around us or your parents. She's safe." Mostly because his parents keep weapons close by.

He frowned. "What do you mean 'she doesn't fit'?"

"The next kid he kills should have brown hair and should be five foot four." Our daughter has blond hair and she's short.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. That's the conclusion we came to with all the information we have." Even if that information is barely anything. It still gave us that much to go by so I'm not complaining. I've solved cases with less information.

He nodded. "Okay."

"It's odd that Mrs. Ruth didn't fight. Why would she let him kill her? Why didn't she scream?" I looked at her body. "Did she have a gag?"

Jasp shook his head. "No gag. But she might have had his hand over her mouth. There are some signs of it."

I stood. "That doesn't answer the question of why she didn't fight back."

"Maybe she was relieved that she'd get to see Sarah again," he said as he stood.

"Maybe he threatened her at knifepoint not to make a sound," Amanda said as she came into the room.

"I don't think he did. He's never done it before," I said.

"He used gags for the girls," Amanda pointed out. "And he's never killed an adult before."

"I doubt he held her at knifepoint." I looked at Jasp. "Did she have a mark on her to that would prove she was being held that way?"

He shook his head. "No signs of anything."

"Did you even have a chance to look at her back?" Amanda asked.

He glared. "Yes."

"Then it was probably the relief of finally being able to see her daughter again."

I looked at the phone that was still on the ground. "She might have been about to call someone."

"Or she was already on the phone," Jasper said.

I looked at Amanda. "See if you can get anything from every phone in the house."

"Got it." She already had gloves on so she picked up the phone and looked for Mr. Ruth's.

I turned to Jasper. "Let me know if you find anything odd."

"I always do. Do you think I'm going to be able to pry Am from Lisa?"

I chuckled. "It will be a challenge but I think you'll win." He might end up in a wrestling match with Lisa to get Amelia back.

He snorted. "Thanks for the support." He kissed me quickly and left.

I looked out the window for a minute then looked at the pictures. The frames weren't broken and I don't think the mirror was either. I noticed one of the pictures was lopsided so I unhooked it and found a diary. "Amanda? Come look at this," I said.

She came over. "Is that a diary?"

"Yeah, I'll have Lisa look through it. Maybe Mrs. Ruth wrote something important down."

She took it from me and walked out. I sighed. I knew she was going to do that. With one more look around I got into my car and left.