by Roxie Spears
“I see.” Emilie raised her eyebrows, but she figured that line of questioning had reached its end. “And did Krystal have a reason for wanting to live away from you? We know she had a child. Were you aware of this prior to her decision to leave Quafin?”
William hesitated to answer and Emilie wondered if she’d crossed some kind of line. There was something off about the Bane family. It seemed as though everyone, including her partner and the captain, tiptoed around them. If there was one thing Emilie didn’t like, it was secrets and she could tell the Bane family had many. Apparently they even kept secrets from one another.
Before William got the chance to answer, they heard the sound of the front door creaking open. The buzz of voices could be heard out in the entrance and William stood from his seat as his four sons walked into the living room. It was impossible not to notice how well-built the four men were. They were lively, covered in sweat and dressed in loose-fitting clothing. At first Emilie thought they must have gone for a run, but glancing down, she saw that the Bane sons wore no shoes.
At the sight of the detectives sitting in their living room, the smiles on their faces vanished. The voices quieted. Emilie didn’t know what they found so funny, but their presence seemed to have stifled all humor, snuffed out like a cigarette. The brothers exchanged glances, except for one. He didn’t take his eyes off of Emilie.
“What are you doing here?” Logan demanded. “Didn’t you get the memo yesterday?”
Emilie wasn’t surprised that Logan was immediately on the offensive, but she wasn’t going to lie down and take it. She hopped up from the sofa. Even at her fullest height, Logan towered over her and she found that she had to look up if she wanted to meet his gaze properly. “Didn’t you? In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re in the middle of an investigation here.”
“Excuse me?” Logan took a step forward, his step heavy and menacing as it slapped down on the marble.
“Just what is your problem with me?” Emilie snapped.
“Hartford!” Jack cried out, setting his cup on the table before standing from the sofa. “That’s enough. We’re leaving.”
“That won’t be necessary, Detectives.” William said calmly.
“No, no,” Jack waved his hands. “We’ve taken up quite enough of your time. You’re a very busy man. We understand that.”
“But Jack, we still have questions. I still have questions.”
Jack turned to face her and she could see that his expression was pained. “Please, Hartford,” he whispered it so low that she had to read his lips. “Drop it.”
Emilie stared at her partner for a moment. The tension in the air was palpable, thick enough to run a blade through. Glancing over Jack’s shoulder, she could see that the brothers were uneasy. Colt, Brian, and Gerald were hanging back, but their shoulders were as tense as Logan’s. The difference was that Logan was breathing heavily, his chest heaving as he glared at the detectives.
Finally, after deliberating, Emilie turned back to William. She reached into her breast pocket and pulled out two photographs. “Mr. Bane, I have one more question if you’ll allow me.”
“Of course, Detective Hartford. Anything.”
Emilie offered the photos. One was of the dead man on the autopsy table. The photo didn’t extend past his neck, but Emilie could still remember the horrific way his chest cavity had been ripped open, could still remember his organs out in the open – what was left of them. The second photo was of the same man as he was in life, suited with wavy chestnut locks and a sharp jawline. His eyes were dark and smoldering. In life, he’d been a good-looking man.
“Do you know this man?” Emilie asked.
William seemed hesitant to take the photos, narrowing his eyes as he did. He gazed down at them for what felt like an age in the silence of the room, looking back and forth between the two. “Was this the second victim?” he asked.
“Yes,” Emilie said. Her voice was softer than she would have liked, rife with anticipation.
“I’m afraid I don’t know him,” William handed the photos back. He could tell that Emilie was disappointed as she tucked them back into her breast pocket because he murmured a quiet, “My apologies.”
“Okay, that was our last question.” Jack nodded curtly. He was practically hopping up and down, eager to get out of the Bane house. “We’ll leave you and your family in peace.”
“I’ll see you out.”
As they passed by, Emilie glared up at Logan as fiercely as he glared down at her. Still, when she walked past him, she could smell the subtle notes of something that smelled like the wild. Either his cologne was pine-scented or Logan smelled like trees and the outdoors. It was a strange scent for someone who’d recently exercised to carry. She hated to admit it, but it wasn’t altogether unpleasant either.
Heat emanated off all four of the brothers and Emilie thought that it must be nice to be a walking heater. She was the type of person who needed to layer up, especially with autumn and a sharp nip in the air. She didn’t understand how the men could walk around wearing no shoes and loose clothes.
“I must apologize for my sons,” William said as he saw them out. “Krystal’s death hasn’t been easy for any of us. Logan is taking it especially hard.”
We could tell, Emilie thought.
“No,” Jack shook his head. “It’s our fault, really. We shouldn’t have come here. I can only imagine how difficult it must be.”
Emilie raised her eyebrows but remained quiet.
“Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions,” Jack added.
“Of course. Anything to help with the investigation.” When he spoke again, he met Emilie’s eyes and she was sure that it was an invitation extended only to her. “You’re welcome here any time.”
With a nod, the heavy door was shut and Jack and Emilie made their way back to the car, feet crunching in the gravelly driveway.
“I don’t know why you thanked him,” Emilie sighed as she climbed into the car. “We barely got a chance to ask any questions at all.”
“We got the most important answer.”
Jack’s tone of voice was no-nonsense. The discussion was closed. He started up the car and they drove down the driveway, Emilie staring at the massive building and the grounds. On the way out, the grounds seemed creepier than before. The edge of the woods that surrounded them gave the impression that something lived within. Emilie couldn’t see eyes staring at her through the density of the trees, but she could almost feel someone – or something – watching.
On the way back to the precinct, Emilie wondered what it was about the Banes that scared her partner so much. They were powerful and wealthy, but that didn’t explain Jack’s behavior. It made her think that the Banes might have obtained their power and wealth in unorthodox ways. Were they dealing with some kind of mob family?
Let It Go
“There has to be something we’re missing,” Emilie sighed to herself, going through Krystal Bane’s file for what must have been the thousandth time.
By now, she could practically recite every word on the pages in the small folder. Things didn’t make any sense, no matter how many times she went through them. They had no leads on who their male victim was, nor did they know how he was connected to Krystal. The worst part was that no one in Quafin knew Krystal was back until she turned up dead, so they had no helpful witnesses either.
The only fascinating thing so far had been the Bane family.
Eventually, if for nothing more than the overwhelming need to stretch her legs out, Emilie pulled back from her desk. She glanced over at Jack’s desk; it was empty because he’d gone to get himself something to eat. In all honesty, it wasn’t a bad idea, but Emilie didn’t have much of an appetite, especially since she decided it might be time to visit their John Doe again.
Thus far, the worst thing about the Quafin precinct was the morgue. It was as though the funds ran out when it came to that part of the department. The elevator hitched right before it st
opped on the last floor down every single time. When they finally opened, Emilie was faced with a narrow hallway, at the end of which was a set of silver double doors. The hallway was lit by one fluorescent tube light, but it hadn’t been replaced in some time and flickered with the occasional loud buzzing sound. Walking down the hallway, Emilie often obsessed over the pain on the wall; it was a horrible yellow color, but it was bumpy and cracked, folding back off the plaster. There were no hand sanitizers stuck to the walls anywhere that Emilie could see, which bothered her to no end. How were they preventing the spread of germs from this area out?
As far as Emilie was concerned, the small walkway needed fixing – pronto. There was a serious lack of funding in the department and she loathed that fact. Besides, morgues were scary enough as it was; they were cold, dark, and clinical. Something about them had always been able to freak her out, whether they had bodies in them or not. Perhaps it was the cold that traveled from the fridges, reminding her of what they were intended for, or perhaps the space remembered and the memories were too much for her empathic mind.
Whatever the case, the venture into the morgue was never a fun one for Emilie. Still, it was a necessary journey. She didn’t know how she was going to solve the case if she didn’t know who the male victim was. She was almost certain that he was the puzzle piece they needed to figure out before everything else came together. Their case simply didn’t make sense otherwise.
When she pushed open the door to the morgue, Emilie was faced with James Bakersfield and his assistant, both of whom were arms deep in a dead woman’s body.
“Oh,” she gasped. “I’m sorry.”
“Detective Hartford,” James gave her a smile even as he continued working, pulling what looked like the woman’s spleen out and setting it down in a silver bowl with a wet, splashing noise. “What can I do for you?”
“I’d like to see John Doe again.” At the last moment, she added, “You don’t have to stop. Let me know what locker he’s in and I can take a look for myself.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, Detective.”
Emilie furrowed her brows. “Why not?”
“Someone signed for the body this morning. He’s been taken.”
“What?!” Emilie cried out.
She hurried over to the clipboard on the table near the door, knowing that was where the doctor kept his logs, and skimmed through the list of signatures. Near the bottom, only half an hour earlier, someone had indeed signed for her John Doe. Emilie’s heart started racing and for a second, she could barely breathe, let alone speak.
“Why did no one tell me this?” she snapped at the coroner.
James arched an eyebrow, looking for all the world as though he was amused, and shrugged his shoulders. “I was only following orders.”
“Orders?” Emilie approached the table, but stopped as the whiff of blood hit her nose. She thought she was going to vomit if she went any closer. “Orders from who?”
Rather than answer, James simply raised his eyebrows even higher. The look on his face and the way the corners of his mouth twitched told her that she should already know the answer. Knowing she wasn’t going to get anything out of the coroner, Emilie turned on her heel and made her way out of the morgue. The trip out was faster and less distracting.
Emilie’s only annoyance was that she had to wait for the lift. She half-wished that she’d taken the stairs and kept the momentum of her anger going. It didn’t stop her from storming out of the elevator as it opened up, going right past Jack. He’d returned and his eyes widened at the sight of her.
“Hartford?” he asked, his mouth full of taco. “What’s going on?”
He heard no response. Emilie was like a rhinoceros with only one thing in mind; charging down the captain’s office. And that was exactly what she did.
The door flew open and the captain looked up at her in surprise. A myriad of emotions crossed his face, including confusion and concern.
“Is everything all right, Detective Hartford?”
“Why did no one tell us that our John Doe was signed for?” Emilie asked. “Without that body, Jack and I have no chance of solving this case!”
“Ah,” the captain sighed, relaxing into his chair. “I’m sorry, Emilie, but there was nothing I could do about it.”
“You’re the captain! How can there be nothing you can do?”
Though Emilie had no right to yell at her captain this way, he didn’t react badly. In fact, he was surprisingly calm as she stormed into his office and more so when he found out why. He simply shrugged his shoulders.
“The orders were from higher up. We’re going to have to accept it.”
“What’s going on?” Jack was right behind Emilie.
When Emilie turned to face her partner, she noticed a bit of sauce at the corner of his mouth. “Someone signed for the John Doe. He’s been taken.”
Jack turned to the captain. “What?”
“As I told Detective Hartford; the orders were from higher up. I couldn’t do anything about it.”
Again, Emilie thought, but she dare not say that. The last thing she wanted was to be suspended. She was lucky the captain hadn’t told her off as it was for the way she spoke to him.
“I see,” Jack nodded. “Sorry to have bothered you, sir.”
“Not to worry,” Captain Wilks nodded. He gestured at the sauce on the side of Jack’s mouth. “Make sure Emilie gets something to eat too.”
“Of course, captain,”
Emilie felt Jack’s hand on her shoulder, leading her out of the office, but she was in a daze. It hit her that every lead they’d had – the baby, the male victim – had been taken away. There were too many coincidences and she couldn’t help but think that someone was intentionally trying to sabotage the case. One couldn’t exactly solve a murder if one didn’t have the murder victim. The lack of a body made things difficult – though not impossible.
“If the Banes are behind this…”
“Then you’d do well to leave it alone, Hartford,” Jack snapped. They’d reached their desks. Jack helped Emilie into his seat and rolled his chair up to face her. He was serious, his voice hushed when he spoke to her. “You need to let this go, Emilie. You don’t understand what you’re dealing with and you’re trying to open locked doors. Did you ever think that maybe it wasn’t your house to be rummaging through?”
“Jack, it’s our job to solve crimes,” Emilie’s mouth was agape. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You’re my partner. You’re supposed to be on my side.”
“Believe me, Emilie; I am on your side.” He ran a tired hand over his face. “Look, I know you know what I know. The victims killed each other. Isn’t that enough for you? Why do you need to know how? It’s not as though we have a killer running around Quafin.”
“Then why is someone trying to cover it all up?”
Jack sighed. “I don’t know, but I think you need to let them. Captain Wilks is.”
“That doesn’t mean I should,” Emilie chewed on her lower lip.
She expected Jack to be on her side, but it seemed he was as easily swayed by the power of the Banes as everyone else. Was she alone in wanting to stand up to them?
“Listen, Hartford,” Jack said in a firm voice. He looked around to make sure that no one could heart them. Only a few moments earlier, all eyes were on Emilie. It wasn’t every day a newcomer barged into the captain’s office to yell at him after all. “When it comes to the Banes, it’s better to turn a blind eye.”
Either Jack didn’t expect a response or he didn’t want to hear one because with that, he rolled over to his own desk, returning to his taco.
“And go get some lunch, will you? We’re supposed to eat sometimes. You’re like a work vampire or something.”
Emilie sighed and nodded. She stood from her desk and made her way out of the precinct, heading to her new favorite place. It was a food truck right around the corner. They sold the most amazing burgers.
Whi
le she walked, Emilie wished she could switch her thoughts off. They were going faster than she would have liked. She wondered what it was about the Banes that scared the people of Quafin so much. Her partner wanted her to just drop a murder case because they were trying to cover their tracks – if it was the Banes who’d signed for the body, that was.
Neither of them had openly stated it until that day; the victims had murdered one another. There was no other logical conclusion, but that conclusion wasn’t the most logical either. How had they killed each other? Why? She’d never seen anything like this and she didn’t know if she was going to be able to drop it. Emilie had always been a resilient woman and she’d be damned if she let this hiccup stop her from solving such a high profile case.
If her partner wouldn’t help her, she’d simply have to go in on her own. The Banes were going to have to try harder if they wanted her to turn a blind eye. That simply wasn’t going to work for her.
Heat of the Moment
The bar did not seem like the sort of place one would ever find a respectable Bane in. Therefore, Emilie wasn’t remotely surprised to find out that it was one of Logan’s regular hangout spots. It was on the dodgy side of the city, underground. Emilie didn’t even know Quafin had a dodgy side until arriving, but she supposed every city had their deep, dark secrets. The Banes in particular seemed to have control over a large amount of them, from what she could tell.
Emilie had been digging up whatever she could find about the Banes. Unfortunately, that didn’t equate to much as far as her case went. She found hardly anything out of the ordinary, save for the fact that their name was as old as the city. They went back centuries and she’d traced their name all the way back to when Quafin was first founded. History dictated that the Banes were once leaders in the city. Over the years, they’d faded into the background, but they were always there. They cut ribbons at grand openings, they made substantial donations to the hospital, and they were in high places and had friends there. It seemed everywhere she looked, they had connections. There were photos of the Banes shaking hands with the mayor, invitations to the most prestigious events, and a history of awards and medals. Emilie wasn’t sure she’d ever known a family to have as high a standing as this one. The public eye was almost always trained on them in the most positive of lights.
