Trix

by Kate Morris

  She chuffed and offered a sad smile, “You always did look after me.”

  “Someone had to,” he reminded her.

  As he waited for the microwave to count down, he admired his ex-wife as she strolled around the living room. There were crime scene photos, evidence folders, and other paraphernalia that had to do with the case strewn about, but he wasn’t worried about her seeing any of it. Elizabeth had seen workspaces like this before when they were married.

  “Who’s looking after you now, Liz?” he asked.

  She looked over her shoulder at him again with a sad smile and said, “Usually Hailee, but now she’s gone, too.”

  “What about your husband?”

  Shrugging, she answered, “Victor’s too busy with work, his family’s businesses, and getting elected to bother with me.”

  “From the looks of those bruises, it seems to me that he had enough time to knock you around,” he said and paused, “How bad is it?”

  She sipped her tea and didn’t answer.

  “Where’s your partner?” she asked as he stirred honey into his tea.

  “Sleeping. She’s sick. Normally, she doesn’t sleep much at all, not when we’re on a case,” he told her, then wondered why he was.

  “Hm, she’s awfully pretty,” his ex commented as she took a seat on the sofa. This was apparently going to be an extended visit.

  Jack chuckled, “Yeah? She wouldn’t know.”

  “You would,” she said as if she knew everything about him, which she probably did. “I saw the way you look at her, Jack. You have what I’d describe as a little bit of an infatuation going.”

  “Most men look at you like that, Liz, and you know it, too.”

  She shrugged. “Not anymore. I’m getting old. Your partner…Lorena, wasn’t it? She’s young and pretty. You like her. I can see it.”

  “You think you see something, but you’re wrong. She’s just my partner.”

  “There’s no rule against it,” she said, knowingly. “Remember your friend…what was his name?”

  “Tommy?”

  “Yes, Tommy. He had a female partner. Ended up divorcing his wife and marrying the partner instead.”

  “Good thing I’m not married then,” he said with a touch of antagonism which caused Elizabeth’s lipstick painted mouth to turn down with disapproval.

  She sipped her hot tea and placed the mug on the coffee table.

  “Neither of us is married, so it wouldn’t be home-wrecking. We’re just not into each other like that. She’s my partner. She’s not into the dating scene anyway.”

  “Is she a lesbian? That seems to be the saveur du jour.”

  “She’s not a lesbian. She’s just…she’s different. She’s all about her career.”

  “Oh? Ambitious like Victor?”

  He chuckled at this. “No, not like that. She just likes putting away scumbags. That’s all. She’s single-parenting her orphaned niece, too, so she doesn’t have a lot of free time on her hands.”

  “Everyone has time for sex, Jack. Unless she’s a nun.”

  He squirmed in his seat and took a gulp of his hot tea. It scalded his mouth a little.

  “Why are you here, Elizabeth?”

  She didn’t answer him, but the corner of her mouth twitched as if she were trying to conceal a smile. Liz thought she knew everything about him, but he changed a lot after their divorce. She didn’t know him anymore. He was not going to sleep with his partner, no matter how pretty she was. To Liz, that’s all she could see about Lorena, her beauty. But he knew there was so much more to Lorena than met the eye. She was witty, sarcastic, intelligent and more than a little broken. It made her seem vulnerable, which made Jack want to protect her, which also wasn’t his job. He needed to stop seeing that vulnerability in her and just focus on her as his partner.

  “Is this all the evidence you have on the man who took Hailee?” she asked and rose again to walk around.

  “Yes, some. There’s a lot more at the FBI’s headquarters here in Portland.”

  “Is he a serial killer, Jack?”

  “We think so,” he confirmed, knowing Elizabeth wouldn’t leak anything to the press. It was probably difficult enough for her and her new husband having this all over the papers and news channels.

  “I saw your partner on the t.v. What was she talking about? I didn’t understand why she was talking about breakfast food.”

  Elizabeth’s voice was sultry, smoky in comparison to Lorena’s, who he sometimes confused on the phone for Gracie. She had a very young, light voice, unless his partner was tired, of course.

  “Inside information. She was talking through the media to get to him. She’s smart. You can trust her.”

  “I read online about how you and she caught a serial killer in Cleveland who went by the name of Gingerbread, some crazy woman.”

  “No,” he shook his head. “That was ten percent me, ninety percent Evans. She’s some kind of super brain, high I.Q. and stuff. You know me. I’m just a grunt detective with a few good instincts and a gun.”

  She grinned and tipped her head to the side, her blonde locks falling artfully over one shoulder. He knew she was the sort of woman who did such things with full intent in mind.

  “You were never that at all. You’re a good cop, too good. Too devoted to your job.”

  “She’s the same. That’s why she makes a good partner. She thinks of things I’d never consider. She’s the one who knew it was a woman serial killer, not a man. She’ll probably crack this case, too. There’s a reason she’s just a detective from Cleveland and was brought in on a case the FBI is working. Don’t worry. If Hailee’s still alive, Lorena will be the one to bring her home to you.”

  “I hope so, Jack,” she said and rested her hand on his forearm a moment before walking away again.

  “Were you and Hailee close, Liz?”

  “She and I have grown a lot closer over the years than when I first came into the picture. She didn’t like me too much back then,” she said. “She’s a good girl most of the time. I knew that she hid some things from Victor, but I figured it was harmless, so I never said anything to him about it.”

  “Like what? The boyfriend?”

  “No, I only just found that one out.”

  “What then?”

  “Her desire to go to art school. I knew she didn’t want to go to Brown. I didn’t bother pestering Victor about it because I figured it was better for Hailee to go to Brown anyway. It’s a good school. She’ll go further coming out of there than she would from art school.”

  “Can you think of anyone who had contact with her that would’ve wanted to harm her? Maybe this Tooth Fairy asshole knows Victor and wants to get back at him for something.”

  She blinked rapidly, and her eyes drifted down and away from him. She was hiding something. Jack had learned many of her body language signals when he was married to her. She was either lying to him or hiding something. She’d done this the first time he confronted her about the possibility that she might be cheating. She’d denied it and made the same expression she just had. The second time, he hadn’t needed to ask. He hadn’t been proud that he’d followed her to that hotel where she’d met with Victor, but at least it had given him the proof he needed so that he could stop feeling paranoid.

  “What is it? What aren’t you telling me?”

  She paused again, so Jack touched her wrist lightly. Her eyes jumped to his.

  “Look at Victor’s brother,” she hinted. “I don’t trust him. I never have.”

  “What’s his name and why do you suspect him?”

  Liz shook her head lightly and said, “Christof. He runs the family business in California now, ever since their grandfather passed away a few years ago. He’s just…I just don’t trust him around Hailee. I never did. I always tried to keep her away from him. Victor told me once that his brother was arrested a long time ago for something that had to do with a girl.”

  “A young girl?”

  She n
odded. “I think so. He didn’t fully explain it. He became angry and didn’t want to talk about it ever again.”

  “And you think he could have something to do with Hailee being kidnapped?”

  “Maybe. He’s…he’s just kind of…I don’t know how to say it, Jack. He makes me uncomfortable, and I’ve seen him looking at Hailee when he’s around. One time, a few years ago or so, he visited us when we lived in California, and we went to the beach.”

  She took a sip of her tea and paused to collect her thoughts. Then she placed her mug on the counter and strolled around looking at the photographs again. Jack finished his tea and took both mugs to the kitchen sink. He figured he’d give her space to relax and think back to that day. When he rejoined her, she was standing in the middle of the room ready to talk.

  “I saw him taking pictures all day with his phone and…and so I snatched it when he went surfing. All the pictures were of Hailee. She was with her friends, and they were all wearing swimsuits. Many of the photos were just her, many were extremely close up. Some were…”

  She shivered, so Jack prompted, “What?”

  “Just close-ups of her breasts with everything else cropped out. At first, I thought it was an accident, that he just wasn’t good at photography. It seemed strange. He didn’t take pictures of the beach or the ocean or my son or us. Just her. Some of them looked like he’d cropped out the background already leaving just her in the frame. It was just eerie, Jack. It spooked me so bad that I took Hailee to the side and told her to wear her coverup and a pair of shorts. She didn’t understand why, so I made up a reason. I don’t even remember what I told her.”

  “Did you tell Victor about it?”

  “I tried, but he didn’t want to hear about it. He became angry and slept in the guest house that night.”

  Jack gave a single nod. “I’ll look into him immediately. Thanks for telling me this. You never know. We’re exhausting every lead.”

  “Jack,” she said, grasping his sleeve in her fingertips. “You have to find her. She’s so…she’s such an innocent kid. She’s not like us. She hasn’t even lived her life yet.”

  Elizabeth broke down, tears escaping, she hiccupped and tried to hold them back. Jack opened his arms, and she walked into them. He held her. Rubbed her back soothingly. What she was going through was a tremendous amount of stress. He couldn’t even begin to comprehend what parents of missing children felt. All he wanted was to find Hailee and return her home.

  “Sorry,” she said on a gasp. “Oh, good grief. Sorry, Jack.”

  He leaned back and held onto her shoulders to support her. “It’s fine, Liz. Don’t worry about it. You’re going through a lot right now. It’s perfectly normal.”

  She sniffed and wiped at her tears with the back of her hand. Jack grabbed a tissue from the box on the stand and held it out.

  “Thanks,” she whispered and blotted her eyes. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

  He rubbed her shoulders and nodded. “It’s fine. It’s understandable to be upset. I would be, too.”

  “I know you would,” she said, sobering and looking up at him. “You were always so tender and kind.”

  He didn’t know what to say to that, so he offered a half-hearted smile of appreciation.

  “You never would’ve let me go through this alone. You would’ve been there for both of us. You would’ve held me and told me everything would be okay.”

  He nodded, still unsure of what she was getting at. Praise? That seemed unlikely considering their past. He tried to step back, but Liz followed.

  “I miss you, Jack,” she said softly. “You were…you are so different from him…”

  Her brow pinched together with indecision, and she pulled him close. Elizabeth leaned up and pressed her mouth to his. Jack froze. What the hell was she doing? When he didn’t respond, she pushed the kiss deeper and slipped her tongue between his lips. Jack jerked back. He looked down at his ex-wife and pondered the situation. Then he threw caution, reason, and good sense to the wind and yanked her to him, kissing her soundly. Some part of him wanted revenge against Victor for stealing her away. She both disgusted and aroused him. Jack was angry. Angry at her for cheating on him with Victor and angry with himself for not seeing the woman she was before he married her. He did not kiss her gently. He was punishing her, maybe punishing himself, too.

  A loud gasp behind him drew his attention. Jack broke away simultaneously from Elizabeth in time to spin and see a very confused and sick Lorena standing there. He felt instantly disappointed in himself. Lorena’s mouth fell open. She probably couldn’t figure out what Elizabeth was doing there so early in the morning or why, more importantly, he was kissing his ex-wife.

  “Oh! Sorry! I didn’t know you had company,” Lorena said and spun to leave.

  “Lorena, wait!” Jack called after her. She didn’t stop, though. She went back to her room.

  He turned around to face his ex-wife and frowned.

  “Oops,” Elizabeth said with the same manipulative grin she used to give him.

  “That was a mistake. I’m sorry…”

  “I’m not, Jack,” she was quick to say.

  Jack ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “I think you’d better go, Liz. I have work to do anyway. I need to find your step-daughter, and this isn’t going to help do that.”

  She offered a sympathetic smile and nodded.

  “Thanks for the tip about Victor’s brother. I’ll look into him without it linking back to you.”

  “Thanks,” she said with a nod as she pulled on her trench coat.

  He walked her to the door and stepped aside to allow her to exit. She stopped halfway through and leaned into him again.

  “We’ll talk soon,” she said.

  Jack nodded uncomfortably and slinked away from her. His ex-wife left, and Jack locked the door and made another cup of tea. Lorena came back into the room again, obviously hearing Liz leave.

  “Sorry about that,” he apologized.

  Lorena shook her head and said, “No, doesn’t matter. That’s between you and her.”

  “Well, that was a mistake due to lack of sleep,” he joked.

  “I just came out to tell you that he texted again,” Lorena said and handed over her phone. “It’s worse this time.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Lorena

  Jack led her to the sofa and requested that she sit beside him. Her head was foggy and muddled from too much cold medicine, and probably from too much sleep, as well. He leaned close so that she could see, although she didn’t need to.

  My Dearest Detective,

  The gift I left you down by the river had very little true worth. She was just a whore like so many others. Any woman who takes money for sleeping with men is not worthy of life.

  Hailee is alive and well, although I don’t think she enjoyed our last festivities. She is not a very obedient pet, but I have hope for her.

  Today I shall leave you another gift. She displeased me. You will find her in Kelley Point Park.

  I want to know why your father killed your mother. I cannot find anything conclusive on the internet. When I was studying at UF, we didn’t have Google. What college did you attend? I must say the internet is not exactly helping me now, either. I assume you have worked hard at hiding your past. Tell me why he did it, or you’ll not learn anything more about me. Did you love your mother? I never cared for mine. She watched me too closely, which made my fun pastimes difficult to get away with while she was still alive.

  We should meet. I want to dig into your brain and find the inner workings and nightmares hiding there. I bet I could open up your mind to so many new and unrealized fears. I would like you whimpering and cowering, chained to my wall, squatted in your panties, afraid to even move and earn my wrath. You are an amazing woman, perhaps my equal. It is not likely, but I think we should explore that. Are you a whore like these others?

  Meet me tonight. I will send further directions.

  �
��Yeah, right,” Jack said as he finished. “Like you’re going to meet him. What an idiot.”

  “I have to. If he gives directions, I’m gonna have to go, Jack. He’ll hurt Hailee, maybe kill her if I don’t show up.”

  “No way, Evans. This dude is bad news. If he has a plan to meet you, then it means he’s given it a lot of thought during the last twenty-four hours and planned it so that we aren’t going to catch him. He’ll end up duping us and snatching you.”

  “I’m not a total idiot. I’m also not helpless. You know that.”

  He huffed with irritation, “No, I don’t agree with that at all. Remember Cleveland? That didn’t go well for us doing a simple undercover op, and you want to go at this guy one-on-one?”

  “We’ll see what the feds want to do with this,” she replied with a little irritation of her own. “I already called Craig to tell him about Kelley Point Park.”

  “I don’t…”

  “Now, help me reply to this jackhole,” she interrupted and got a stern look from Jack, who’d just been kissing his ex-wife. And from what Lorena could tell, it was a somewhat mutual, heated exchange of baser needs. She wondered if he wasn’t over her yet. She was never good at guessing about people’s relationships. Facts and forensic evidence were so much easier to understand. If Jack were still in love with his ex-wife, Lorena wasn’t sure how she felt about it. Also, it wasn’t something she should even be questioning. It was his business, not hers.

  Dear Trix,

  I will tell you in person why my father killed my mother. I am sure you can understand why I would need to protect that privacy from the eyes of other agents.

  “Would you?” Jack asked.

  “Hell, no,” she answered. Her screwed up past was not something she would ever share with anyone, not even her partner. Bob knew the bare minimum. She wasn’t telling Jack any of it. He would look at her differently.

  I am not a whore at all. I have only been with one man. My life is very boring to most. I don’t date, I don’t go out, I don’t party. My job is my life. I may be the perfect specimen for which you’ve been searching. This is what you’re doing, isn’t it? Trying to find a woman who is pure and chaste and untarnished by the world yet?