For a moment, before theyd concluded, Weaver considered the sensations of the victims last moments of being buried alive. She would have felt the crushing pressure of the soil. The pain of it pressing on her, on her organs, would have numbed her, but she wouldve still been able to think as she slowly became entombed. The soil wouldve grown warm around her face. Reflexively, she wouldve clenched her mouth shut, but eventually shed have been forced to inhale soil, which, in combination with the earth encasing her, led to death.
He was at his computer writing his report after they had finished when Ozmek came into his office and sat in the chair near him.
She contemplated the frosty can of diet soda from the vending machine that she held in her hands.
Weaver stopped.
Want to talk about it?
She stared deep into the framed painting of the sun setting on the Caribbean Sea that Weaver had on the wall next to his degrees.
I dont know, Garry.
What dont you know?
We go way back, dont we?
Sure, way back to before the MEs office was at the Mercy and the morgue was in the basement, remember that?
Sure. She took a hit of her soda and swallowed. But the thing is, weve seen it all-the fires, the car wrecks, stabbings, shootings, drownings, hypothermia, suicides, just about everything you can think of.
Right.
But this. I mean she was buried alive. We both know what she wouldve gone through.
Yes, but it wouldve been short, a minute or two, if thats any comfort.
It isnt. What I cannot comprehend is why someone would take her life with such vile, calculating malevolence.
Weaver nodded.
This one just pierced me. It just- She shook her head.
Weaver patted her hand.
Lets move on getting our findings to BCA, submit everything to every possible database, so we can help catch her killer.
42
Chicago
As the jetliner approached OHare International Airport, Kate took in Chicagos sprawl and skyline, knowing that time was ticking down on the inevitable.
Sooner or later Vanessa would be identified as one of Nelsons victims, but Kate couldnt sit back and do nothing.
She had to find him.
During her flight from JFK, shed reviewed key aspects of the story. It took some convincing, but Chuck, who was a hard-core old-school reporter, had approved the trip. Hed agreed that if they struck out on her hunch about Nelsons links to Chicago, Denver and the Alberta abduction, they struck out.
Thats the way it goes. With this story we have to roll the dice, hed said, behind his steepled fingers. Well put in the legwork and see where this leads. Were not going to risk having a competitor beat us. Youre sure youre okay to go?
Im sure, Chuck. I need to do this.
All right. Ill alert our Chicago bureau. Call on them if you need anything, like a shooter if you find something.
I will.
Ill give you a couple of days. Good luck.
Before she left headquarters shed put in more research with the news library, then she went to Davidson. Viper had not given her a way to contact him. She needed Hugh to reach out to him through his sources.
I will, Kate. But you know that he might not respond.
Now, as the jets flaps groaned, Kate turned her thoughts from the window to her files, rereading the document dealing with the Chicago burial site for Krasimira Zurrn.
Who was she?
Kate concentrated on the newest information shed uncovered: A death notice that appeared in the Chicago Tribune in 1998.
Krasimira Anna Zurrn, 53 years old, died Oct. 12, 1998. Beloved mother of Sorin Zurrn. Visitation on Tuesday 10:00 a.m. until Mass 11:00 a.m. at Glorious Martyrs and Saints Church, Belmont. Interment Service 2:00 p.m. at New Jenny Park Cemetery, 9200 Kimball.
After landing Kate made calls while waiting in line for her rental car. She couldve had someone from the bureau pick her up, but she needed to do this on her own.
The funeral home that had handled Zurrns service was no longer in business. Kates calls to the Glorious Martyrs and Saints Church for help reaching the dead womans son, Sorin Zurrn, had not been returned. But Kates earlier search of archived public records had yielded a nugget of information: In 1998, Krasimira Zurrn lived at 6168 Craddick Street. Kate entered the address in the GPS of her rented Nissan Altima before leaving OHare.
Merging with traffic on the Kennedy Expressway, Kate experienced the familiar rush of self-doubt that usually plagued her whenever she embarked on a difficult assignment.
This time her stomach tensed.
Oh, God, what am I doing here? This is likely a waste of time, my way of avoiding the truth-that Vanessa is dead in Rampart or died twenty years ago in the river, and that somehow someone found her necklace and it made its way to New York and Stop it! Just stop it and work!
She took the Kimball Avenue exit.
Craddick Street was on the Northwest Side of Chicago. It fell between the areas of Avondale and Belmont Gardens in a neighborhood known as New Jenny Park, which had a large Polish and Eastern European population. According to the parks history, the name arose from the phonetic sound of Nee-WOE-Jenny, thought to be the Polish word for peace.
Kate agreed with her research-this was a solid blue-collar community. Meat shops, bakeries, grocery stores and cafés sprinkled the business district. The streets were lined with modest bungalows on small lots, a playground here and there.
She found the Zurrn house at the fringe of the neighborhood, where freshly painted homes with neat lawns stood next to those with overgrown yards and boarded-up windows laced with graffiti.
Kate shut off the car.
The motor ticked down as she studied the compact wood-frame house, sneaking a few quick pictures with her phone. The small front yard was overtaken with weeds. A couple of panels of the vinyl siding had warped and bent out from the walls. Shingles curled or were missing from the roof, and the chimney had gaps where the mortar had eroded and blown away.
The place stood as a tired headstone to hope, she thought as she knocked on the door. Flyers overwhelmed the mailbox. No one responded. A dog barked far off in the distance. A siren faded. Kate knocked again and pressed her ear to the door.
Nothing.
She took out a business card, jotted a request for the residents to call her cell phone ASAP, wedged it in the frame, turned and tapped her notebook to her leg. Of course different people had lived in the house over the years, but she was hopeful someone might remember Krasimira Zurrn and her son, Sorin.
Bright patches of blue and yellow flashed from the backyard of the house across the street. Kate would try the neighbors.
The house across the street had a lush manicured lawn, a thriving flower garden. The brick bungalow, with its gleaming windows, gave off a pleasant soapy smell as Kate walked along the driveway.
Hello! she called as she approached the back.
A man and woman were on their knees working in the small jungle that was their vegetable garden. The man wore a ball cap. The woman wore a large straw hat. They were gathering berries into a plastic bowl.
Can I help you? The man got to his feet, eyeing her carefully.
Im Kate Page, a reporter with Newslead. Kate fished her Newslead photo ID from her bag and showed it to him.
You come here from New York?
Yes, Im researching the history of Krasimira and Sorin Zurrn, who used to live across the street. I was wondering if I could talk to you about them.
Krasimira Zurrn? the old man repeated. Why come from New York?
Well, were looking at family history for a story.
What kind of story?
A crime story.
The woman stood and spoke a long stream in what Kate thought was Polish to the man, who debated with her in Polish before answering Kate.
Krasimira Zurrn died a long time ago, he said.
I know. Did you live here then? Did you know her?
I remember that one. His eyes glinted.
The woman spoke in Polish again and the old man waved her off.
Yes. This Zurrn woman, she had problems.
What kind of problems? Kate took out her notebook.
Are you going to write my name down in your story?
I dont know your name, unless you want to give it to me?
I dont care. Stan Popek, eighty-three, retired welder. My wife is Magda.
I dont want my name in the paper. Magda Popek waved her hand.
Okay, Kate said. Just Stan. How do you spell Popek?
P-o-p-e-k.
Got it.
This Zurrn- Popek nodded at the house -she was a nurse, but then she took drugs. She had men coming and going. Thats how she paid her rent. This was very bad for the boy.
What can you tell me about Sorin, her son?
He was strange.
Whatd you mean?
He always played by himself. He had no friends. He had a bad limp. He was a sad boy. Always running after butterflies and working on electrical things in his basement.
Did you ever talk to him?
A little bit. I used to give him old tools because I felt sorry for him. He was pretty smart about computers. Once he showed me in their garage how he built one using parts from others. It worked really well. I think he was very intelligent.
Do you know where Sorin lives now?
Popek stuck out his bottom lip, shook his head, then turned to his wife and said something in Polish before returning to Kate.
No, its been too long.
Do you know if the people living in the Zurrn place now might know?
Nobodys there now. The landlords trying to rent it. Lots of people have lived there since the Zurrns.
Do you know the landlord?
Tabor something.
Lipinski, Magda Popek said. Tabor Lipinski, hes rented it for years.
Do you have number for him?
No, Magda said. Hes a nasty, greedy man.
Kate made some notes.
Did Sorin Zurrn have any brothers, sisters or any other relatives?
Popek shook his head.
You say he had no friends, not even one?
Never saw him with other kids.
Did he belong to Scouts or any clubs? Did he work after school?
No, nothing like that.
What school would he have gone to? What high school?
Thornwood High School. Its not too far. I can draw you a map.
Kate asked a few more questions before thanking Popek and exchanging contact information.
You know, he had a mean side, Popek said.
How so?
He never went to his mothers funeral.
Did you go?
Yes, we both did. She was our neighbor. But there were less than ten people and Sorin, who was a grown man, was not one of them.