“I also make a mean cup of tea if you’d rather have that,” Joe offered with a quick glance at Phil’s current support.
“I’ll take you up on the offer for tea—decaf if you have it—and get this one a cup of whatever she usually drinks when she’s going to be talking for a while.” Phil sounded as gruff as ever, but Ellie could see him relaxing slightly, approving of where she’d brought him for their debriefing.
Joe’s eyes narrowed before he said, “If you two need a place to talk for that long, why don’t you head into my office? I’m going to be doing some training out here for next hour or more, making it too noisy for you to have a decent conversation. You’d have your privacy, and I think you’ll find it a lot more comfortable.”
Phil glanced to the office door when Joe nodded in that direction. “That’s nice of you. I think we’ll take you up on your offer, if you’re sure it’s no trouble.”
Ellie tried not to show how amusing it was to see two guys practically quoting from Janice’s rule book on how to engage in perfect hospitality.
Joe assured them it was no problem and then suggested Phil go ahead and settle in and Ellie could follow him with the drinks in just a moment. As soon as Phil disappeared into the office, Joe smiled warmly at her and gave his student instructions for the two drinks he’d promised to have delivered. While the Goth girl busied herself making the enormous silver machine come to life, Joe leaned forward and spoke softly, obviously intending for only Ellie to hear him. “Are you doing okay?”
“You already said I looked like I was, don’t take your compliment back,” Ellie teased, uncertain where the new attitude was coming from. She was going to blame the shoes. She didn’t usually dress this way, so it made sense it was making her act out of character, too.
“I never speak a word I don’t mean,” he replied with an expression that reminded her so much of Phillips, she had to remind herself she shouldn’t treat him the same way she did her neighbor. “I’m glad you came here when you needed a safe place to talk,” he continued, changing the subject.
“My boss wanted to go over a case with what he said should be a good cup of coffee, so there was no other place I’d consider coming,” Ellie replied, hoping he got the point that while she knew the coffee was good, there was something about this place that she found comfortable and safe as well.
“I know the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, but are you telling me I can get to yours as long as I keep this coffee addiction of yours well fed?” Joe teased.
“I think we’ve established that,” Ellie admitted. “But just so you know, I’m a pretty good cook, so we’ll have to try out the first half of the comment sometime.”
Fortunately, Goth girl set down onto the counter two of the enormous white mugs they used, so Ellie had an excuse to grab her purse, as though expecting to be told the cost for their drinks.
“You know your money’s no good here,” Joe said, giving her a look that made it abundantly clear she wasn’t paying a penny for the drinks.
Ellie nodded her acceptance and picked up the foam-topped mug to take a small sip before attempting to walk with it so full. Not unexpectedly, it was wonderful. Those poor saps at the retreat center didn’t know what they were missing by giving up this stuff. She felt like Joe was waiting for a verdict, so she smiled up at him and said, “It’s delicious…but it’s not as good as yours.”
Joe laughed, so she picked up the second cup and made her way quickly to the office, where Phil was no doubt wondering where she was. Based on the way she had been uncharacteristically openly flirting with the owner of the shop, she was starting to wonder where the real Ellie was too.
Chapter Seventeen
“Do you think the killer is tied to the yahoo center out west?” Phil asked, looking at the tea bag floating on top of the water in his mug with great suspicion.
“The yoga center?” Ellie rephrased.
“Whatever.” Phil didn’t seem to be in the mood to be corrected.
“Yes, I’m convinced the killer is there,” she tried to answer his question.
“You were sent there to figure out if it related to a teacher,” Phil reminded her. “Do you have any reason to suspect it’s one of them?”
Ellie took a slow sip of her coffee and then set the mug down, figuring she wouldn’t be able to drink much of it until they got this part of the conversation finished. Digging into the side zipper compartment of her purse, she pulled out the necklace Luka had given to her the day before and laid it on the table.
Phil whistled as he looked at it. “I’m assuming it’s a good sign that the woman there still has all her body parts.”
“Yes, all the victims so far had worn a medallion just like this one until they were murdered, then the killer switched it out for a modified version,” she reported, remembering the linear postmortem bruising on the back of the girls’ necks that implied the initial jewelry had been ripped off before being replaced.
“So the guru gave you the normal version, which is somewhat suspicious” Phil pointed out.
“Maybe...” Ellie hesitated to agree with him any more than that.
“I can’t help you if you don’t spill everything,” Phil reminded her.
“He’s certainly strong enough to have quickly strangled someone, he’s charismatic enough to draw women to him, and there’s something about him that seems to make people trust him,” Ellie described, feeling as though the words didn’t do Luka justice.
“You don’t think he did it,” Phil surmised.
“I can’t picture him doing it,” Ellie conceded. “I spent two full days alone with him and nothing in all that time raised any red flags. Then he gives me this necklace and all but confesses by saying no one but him hands them out. So despite what my gut says, I have no evidence to support his innocence.”
“Other than the necklace, what do you have to support his guilt?” Phil guided the discussion gently.
“We know he was in the area when each of the murders took place. And he has a doctor on staff who sometimes helps guests who overexert themselves at the retreat center. He gives out anti-inflammatories or muscle relaxants like candy.” With that, she pulled out the pill bottles Dr. Grumpy had given her.
Phil whistled once more. “All of those together are major pieces of the puzzle.”
She knew it was true, but down deep, she just couldn’t make the leap that said Luka was a serial killer.
“Did you pick up on anyone else that stood out in your mind?”
“The doctor’s name was Evans. I haven’t been able to look into him yet to see how he fits,” Ellie shared.
“Then tell me what you do know,” Phil prompted.
“He’s…well, he was creepy.”
“I’m not sure creepy is a classification that warrants follow-up,” Phil answered, clearly needing more details.
Ellie took him through her interaction with the physician, including his interest in where she lived, and his admission he’d been in DC when the last murder occurred.
“Be sure all of that conversation gets into the file notes,” Phil directed before asking, “Who else seemed suspicious?”
“There was one woman,” Ellie began, noticing as Phil raised a single eyebrow. Ellie went through Lydia’s strange behavior, the flip-fop of her attitude, and the way she referred to Luka as Master in a way that even he seemed to find distasteful. Because she was the person entrusted with the care of Luka’s students, Lydia had access to the necklaces and the drugs.
“As does the doctor,” Phil reminded her, keeping him on the list of unofficial suspects. “Is she in good shape?” he asked.
“Yes.” At least, Ellie assumed she was. “She’s a massage therapist and the person Luka trusts with the women he mentors, so I have to assume she’s good.”
“Do you think she could physically have done it?” Phil pushed.
“I don’t know.” She didn’t like that answer. “According to Agent Peters, she didn’t travel
east when the girls were murdered. She can’t be the killer if she wasn’t in the same time zone.”
Phil seemed as disappointed to hear it as Ellie was to say it.
“She wouldn’t be the first person to travel under an alias, so it’s not wise to rule her out just yet,” Phil commented, taking another long drink from his tea and allowing Ellie to have more of her coffee. Having given it a chance to sit and cool for a bit, it was more creamy than foamy, and the chocolate flavor seemed to be stronger. If anything, it was even better now than it had been at first.
“Why did you want to talk about this here?” Ellie wondered aloud.
“Because I wanted you to have time to work through your suspicions with me first before the suits came down and started demanding answers. You’re going to need to log this into the system, but from the sound of it, there isn’t enough here to bring Luka in just yet for questioning. The necklaces are damaging evidence, but not the final piece of the puzzle. I have a feeling they’re going to suggest you begin stretching your social life a bit so they can dangle you as bait.”
“Wait… I agreed to go to the yoga center and bring back my observations, which I did. No one said anything about using me to draw out a killer.” She quickly put the coffee back on the table so Phil wouldn’t notice her hand shaking.
“No one said it, but we both knew it was what they were going to do. You can’t act surprised when they suggest it.”
“How am I supposed to act?” she demanded.
“Prepared,” he answered, setting his empty mug down. “As though it’s exactly what you expected them to say.”
“And what does my preparation have to do with what they’re asking me to do?” Ellie was beginning to feel the familiar panic whenever she thought about being in a high-adrenaline takedown.
“You will have your list of demands ready to go,” Phil said calmly.
“I have demands?”
“Of course. You’re going to need a shadow team hand-picked by you. You’re going to want field pay for all of this, and you’re going to want to be a part of this case until the end.”
“Why would I insist on being included through to the end?” Ellie figured she’d want to get out as soon as possible.
“Because they’re putting your life in danger, so the least they can do is keep you fully briefed until the perp is caught so you know when you can let your guard down.” When he put it like that, it seemed like it should go first on the list.
“I can’t hand-pick a team to support me,” Ellie admitted. “I wouldn’t know where to begin.”
“You begin by asking for advice from people you trust who have done this kind of thing enough that they know exactly what needs to be done,” he assured her.
“People like you...” Ellie thought she was catching on.
Phil grinned. “Exactly like me.”
“You know your wife is going to come after me personally if you get hurt again, don’t you?” Ellie teased, glad to know Phil wasn’t going to push her out on her own.
“Maybe, but by then, your skills will be sharper, so you can probably get away from her,” he replied with a straight face. “Besides, she should be happy. There are a few canes in my collection that I think could only be used in the field, so I’ll finally take them out for a spin.”
They talked through the specifics for the next hour, and by the time they stood up to return to the Bureau, Ellie was feeling much better about what might be asked of her.
There were three people at the counter when they walked out to leave, but Joe stepped out and moved to meet them at the door.
Phil continued moving, commenting, “I’m going to make my way slowly to the car while you thank this young man for the drinks.”
“Why do I feel like he’s trying to hint something to us?” Joe asked, amused.
“Phil is many things, but subtle isn’t one of them,” Ellie admitted. “I can’t thank you enough for letting us crash your office.”
“You don’t owe me thanks,” he assured her. “But if you want me to believe my drinks are better than what you got today, you’ll need to come back sometime and have one of mine.”
“Deal,” Ellie quickly agreed.
After a brief second of awkward silence, Joe turned to look at the growing line. “You should get going,” he suggested. Ellie took a couple of steps closer to the exit before he called out, “You look great, but when you come back for that coffee, feel free to show up in jeans so you can be comfortable enough to stay awhile.”
“That’s just the outfit,” she blurted out. “Anytime I’m around you, I am.” Leaving him to figure out what she meant, Ellie pushed the door open and stepped outside, thankful Phil was waiting by the car so she had a reason to hurry over to prevent it from looking like she was running away.
***
Just as Phil had predicted, the suits were waiting in his office when he and Ellie returned to the basement. “Gentleman, if I’d known we had an appointment, I wouldn’t have done my check-in with Miss Michaels first thing this morning.” The evenness in his voice almost made him sound sincere.
Johnson stood up, indicating that Ellie should take his seat, leaving Miller to her right.
As soon as everyone stopped moving, Miller demanded, “Did a quack out there do it?”
Ellie blinked a few times, trying to keep from blurting out, “My magic eight ball is on the fritz, so I’ll have to get back to you on that.” Instead, she said, “I have no infallible evidence to prove if that is true or false.”
“Not surprising,” he replied brusquely.
“If you aren’t shocked, then how about we move on to the next part, where you clearly spell out how you expect my agent to risk her life to help solve a case that shouldn’t have come down to us in the first place,” Phil fired back.
“You were a lot easier to work with when you still drove that muscle car with the sticky clutch,” Miller said caustically.
“Isn’t it against some sort of equal opportunity employment law to bring up a person’s physical limitations?” Phil asked, beginning to tap his cane on the floor in the way that always grated on Ellie’s nerves.
“I said you were easier to work with. I didn’t say anything about your ability to work,” Miller corrected in what Ellie thought was a splitting hairs kind of distinction. “But you’ve always had a way of anticipating things, so yes, we think it’s a good idea to keep Agent Michaels in the field by having her develop a social life.”
“I have a social life,” she corrected the man sitting straight in the chair next to her.
“Perhaps, but not the kind that seems to draw out the killer we need to catch,” he corrected. “All the women have been murdered in the parking lot of a bar or dance club. I’m aware of a coffee bar you might frequent, but other than that, you don’t have much of a party inclination.”
“So the plan is just to have me randomly going to clubs until the killer makes a move and tries to take me out?” Ellie asked incredulously.
“No, it looks like a group from the yoga place is coming east for a health fair in Norfolk this weekend. You don’t need to do anything out of the ordinary now, but Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, you need to be prepared to work some overtime.”
“Then I’m going to have to renegotiate my participation,” she countered immediately, getting a surprised look followed by a hand gesture that indicated she needed to say a little more.
“I assume you’ve adjusted my pay grade to match the level of danger you’re asking me to work in. On top of that, I want to pick my own team.” She began, getting a nod that she was electing to interpret as agreement. “And I want to be in on all the activity for this case until it’s closed.”
“Is that it?” he asked.
Ellie decided to toy with him and tilted her head in the same way Miller had when she was speaking.
He almost laughed, but seemed to catch himself. “You’re really starting to remind me of your old man.”
After Mi
ller left, Johnson sat down and turned to Ellie. “Tell me what you found out.”
She walked him through everything she’d updated in the system that morning and the impressions she’d already discussed with Phil at Mocha Joe’s. It was much easier to discuss with Johnson because she’d already gotten her thoughts together after going through it once already, and Johnson wasn’t nearly as intimidating as Miller tended to be.
When she was done, he pulled his steepled fingers away from his mouth to say, “It sounds like it was a valuable weekend. You managed to learn more than we’d been able to with basic surveillance.”
“Evidently it was worth more than that,” Phil spoke up. “So from now until Friday, she’s clear for her usual duties, but beginning Friday night, you’re going to want her in the field through the weekend.”
“That’s the plan,” Johnson agreed and then addressed Ellie once more. “You’ve already put in a couple of twenty-four-hour days. You should probably take some time off so the weekend duty coming up won’t feel like so much.”
“Thanks for your concern,” Phil jumped in before Ellie could tell the suit beside her she didn’t need his help in managing her schedule. “But I’ll work with my staff to be sure she’s taken care of. We don’t need you reminding us how to work.”
Seeming to understand that he wasn’t being dismissed so much as he was being thrown out, Johnson stood to button his suit jacket, and then left.
Once they were alone again, Phil finally stopped tapping his cane and seemed to relax. “Okay. Today, you’re going to finish the case notes on your weekend, including your thoughts about the lady that had equal access to everything the leader did. Keep it factual by mentioning her being in good shape, but don’t add an opinion that she might not be strong enough to strangle someone in a parking lot.”
Ellie nodded.
“Clean out your e-mail and work on any other loose ends until quitting time. Tomorrow, you don’t come in.”
“Wait,” Ellie said quickly. “Why am I being punished?”
A Killer Cup of Joe Page 21
