The Queen of Hearts (Mountain Springs Mysteries, #1)

by J. E. Mann

Two minutes thirty seconds, not bad at all.

  “Where?”

  “1025 Lilic Dr. He’s up in the rich part of town.”

  I sighed. Broadlake district, where the one percent lived in Mountain Springs. Where all the security in town was. A very long night indeed. Leaning back I thought about how whenever things got dirty in this city, they always seemed to lead to the cleanest part of town. I thought that maybe I would have to deal with some sort of security system. Now, my mind flashed with images of dogs and private security cars.

  “You don’t look very happy Jake.”

  “Just didn’t want to break out my suit and tie.”

  “This a personal matter or you working with Rachel?”

  “Trying to earn a paycheck.”

  I threw down a twenty in Alonzo’s direction and stood up. I pointed back at the wagon.

  “Don’t spend it on that crap either. You’ll be dead before you reach your car.”

  “Hey. I lost twenty pounds.”

  “Maybe, but when you found it, you picked up an additional ten.”

  I headed back to my car. I wondered if I had brought my gloves. Broadlakewas twenty minutes away and I didn’t want to have to stop by my house first. The way things were going, I wouldn’t get home until the sun rose. Overtime suddenly didn’t seem so important any more.

  RACHEL

  After seeing my mom for mandatory shopping, I finally made my way back to the office. I was eager to see Jake and find out why he hadn't called me the previous night to give me the news on Joshua Buckstone. Lucky for me, as I stumbled in to the office with my bags going in all directions, Jake was already inside. He turned his head to look at me and then focused on the bags I was carrying.

  "Jake! Good to see you finally. Why didn't you call me last night? Didn't you find anything?"

  Jake looked at the bags and said, "Are they still having that 35% off sale?"

  "40% off actually," I retorted.

  "Nice," Jake said with a grin. He often ribbed me for the little things in my life.

  Once I made my way across the room to the empty corner, I sat my bags down happy to have the weight off of my arms. I really did buy too much crap. It was a hazard of spending time with my mom. I stretched big and wide hoping to get more blood flow to my extremities before making my way to my desk. I cleaned up the papers that were scattered and adjusted my chair before I sat down. The business day for me had finally begun.

  Jake pulled a file from the back of a filing cabinet. It was as far back as it could get.

  "Here's your dirt." Jake tossed the file across the room, and with a fluttering noise, the file landed in a slide on my desk scattering all of my papers with it. When I adjusted the papers on my desk back in to their original positions, I made my way to the file and opened it. Inside was a pristine will and testament.

  "If you'll notice, this appears to be an old will. While I'm not entirely sure what the new will might say, you can see what the major change was in this one."

  "If this will is an old one you could have fooled me. This paper has been taken care of very well." I mused over the paper in front of me.

  The change that Jake spoke of was made extremely clear. In the upper lines of the will, a name had been marked out in pen. The gash was deep and looked like the mark could have gone straight through the paper. Someone was severely pissed off at whoever was below that ink.

  "That's not all," Jake interrupted my thoughts. Jake shuffled some things in his pockets and produced a manila envelope. He handed it to me hastily and I took it from him. Unclasping the pin in the back. I dumped the contents on to my growing paper pile and out came multiple photos. They all appeared to be family photos. All of the photos featured the same two men over and over. One was Joshua and the other a younger version of Joshua. The young man could only be Joshua's son.

  "This is really great stuff Jake, but where did you get all of this evidence?"

  “Whenever something is put into the trash and put out on to the sidewalk it becomes public property," Jake smirked giving himself a nonverbal pat on the back.

  "Ew." I complained, and was suddenly not as interested in the papers on my desk and I had the urge to wash my hands several times.

  "I could have gotten in to the house, security really didn't look that tough," Jake was still gloating.

  While Jake moved and started to sit on the window ledge my phone went off. I picked it up on the second cycle of music. The connection was open, "Ok." I said after listening a minute. I hung up shortly after.

  I peered at Jake on the window, "Steve Calloway" I said. “I don't know any Steve Calloway," Jake said hesitantly.

  "You'll never get to know him Jake; He's the guy on our stove. But you will get to meet his widow."

  JAKE

  "We told her about forty five minutes ago. Took a lot of persuasion to get her to talk to you."

  Rach nodded as Officer Rodriguez studied his note pad, probably looking for anything else of interest. I stood by the side of the front door. Steve had lived in a middle class suburb in an okay part of town. It was far from the rich side I had been to last night, but it was nice. I had scowled when we had pulled up and saw Rodriguez was there, but I didn't think Rach saw him. After going through some facts, we were ready to talk to Gloria Calloway.

  "How is she?" Rachel asked.

  "Crying, thought she was going to faint when we told her. Better now."

  Rach nodded and took a deep breath. I knew that she hated this part. Finding out who and why, was just a little abstract puzzle for her to solve. Now we were getting to the human aspect. I felt bad for her.

  "...Don't understand why he is here."

  I jerked my head toward Rodriguez.

  "Wondered how long before you said something like that, " I said louder then I wanted, "Too much to ask for you to be a professional I guess."

  Rodriguez puffed his chest out.

  "She's the professional," he huffed. "I don't know what you are."

  "Take a swing and you'll find out mighty quick."

  He actually took a step towards me.

  "Are you threatening me?"

  I didn't really want to fight him, not now not here. But he had crossed a line and challenged me. And no one challenges me, especially not some soft cop. I closed the distance between us and got right in his face.

  "Gonna arrest me? Try."

  I felt the hand on my stomach for just a moment before I was pushed back. I saw Rodriguez fall back as well. Standing between us was a very pissed off Rachel Paige. Her voice was low but full of fury.

  "Are you two done? Or do you want to wrestle on the front lawn of the newly made widow? Jake, he is an officer of the law. You don't like him? Fine, but you will respect him. Ben, Jake helps me a lot and he should never be questioned why he is with me. You two want to beat each other up, go down the street. Or better yet, why don't we do our jobs? I'm going in the house."

  She turned on the spot and entered the house. The door did not slam. Rodriguez looked at me in shock.

  "This is nothing," I said following her, “Try lighting a cigarette in her house."

  The house was pretty much what I expected, walls with bland color and pictures of famous landmarks. The furniture was leather, or a good imitation of leather. Rach was sitting in the first chair. Across from her was a young woman in her late twenties. She was blond and slim. Her face was currently covered in a tissue and she was sobbing quietly. Rach didn't even look up as I entered.

  "Gloria this is my associate, Jake Morningstar."

  I nodded. Gloria fought back the tears and nodded back.

  "Gloria was just telling me about Steve.”

  "We had been married for six years. He was a good man, very loving. He loved me.”

  "Gloria, did he have any enemies or people who wanted to hurt him?"

  "No. He was a respiratory therapist at the hospital. Everyone liked him."

  I scanned around the room as Rach asked the usual questions. The
couple had one child, a boy. Pictures showed him in kindergarten, the family on a roller-coaster, the usual shots, and a lot of pictures actually. I focused back on the questions.

  "Had you ever gone to the Genghis K?"

  Gloria shook her head with a confused look in her eyes.

  "No, we never went there. We talked about it. He really wanted to go."

  This brought on a fresh wave of tears. I suddenly zoomed in on her hand. Something was off about it. After a moment, I realized what it was. Rach asked a few remaining questions and then stood.

  "That's all Gloria. Again, we are very sorry and we will find out what happened."

  She thanked us and we showed ourselves out. As we crossed the lawn Rodriguez walked toward us.

  "She doing any better?' he asked.

  "Very upset," Rach said. Rodriguez shook his head in sympathy. Rach continued, "Strange, since she and her husband have been having marital problems." Rodriguez gapped as I nodded my head.

  "How the hell do you know that?" Rach looked at me.

  "You go first boss, my evidence is quick."

  "The pictures in the living room, they seem at first glance to be just normal family pictures. But all of them involve their son. Not very convincing, but even in the pictures where all three of them are in the frame, the son is between them like a buffer. No picture of their wedding, no picture of them kissing, no picture of the two of them together. It suggests that neither of them wanted reminders of being alone."

  I held up my left ring finger and pointed toward it.

  "No wedding ring on her finger. Maybe she can't wear it at work,” I pondered for a split second before diving back in, “But the skin was the same color all the way around. She has not worn it for a while."

  Rachel looked back at the house.

  "I feel bad for her. She can never make things right now."

  "Let's catch the bastard who killed him. That might help with the healing process."

  RACHEL

  Stepping in to the coroner’s office was a receptionist. Her face lit up as she saw me. She obviously had very little company come through during the day. I signed in at the desk and we made idle chatter about how the day was going.

  I didn’t want to be at the coroner’s office, I hated the smell and the sight of dead bodies. They had nothing useful to give me other than an upset stomach and a headache. Jake knew Karen from our previous cases but wasn’t the autopsy room’s biggest fan so I was the one elected to talk to her after that.

  “Hey there!” Karen exclaimed from a room behind her receptionist. She must have heard the bell go off when I entered.

  Karen rushed out removing some sterile gloves and sanitizing her hands. We gave each other a hug and preceded to her office, I waved goodbye to the receptionist as I went. Her face had returned in to a look of cheerlessness.

  “So,” she huffed before sitting down at her desk. She grabbed a folder from a pile of miscellaneous papers. “How are things with the case progressing?”

  “The case had taken some interesting turns I should say. Can’t say we’ve put it all together yet.” I said sheepishly.

  Karen’s eyes lit up as she looked at me. “I see you have a new necklace, who’s the lucky guy that could afford that luxurious stone?” She was absolutely giddy as she stared at the two carat ruby I was wearing around my neck.

  “Oh that?” I deflected her giddiness, “I went to an amazing sale yesterday with my mom, and you know I can’t pass up jewelry!” We laughed for a minute when her face turned to a frown.

  “Well shoot, I was sure you would have really hit it off with James, thought maybe he had gotten it for you.” She was skimming through the folder before flipping a group of papers open to the section she was looking for.

  Karen was always finding new guys for me to try and date. Many of them were very handsome police officer’s and other traffic she normally got through her office. I just didn’t want a relationship with anyone that I shared work with.

  James however, wasn’t related to the academy or its other branches. Karen had told me James was a practicing psychologist about my same age. I just didn’t like set ups and there was no right way to tell her that I wasn’t interested.

  “I haven’t actually met him you know,” I said trying to bring her mood back up. “Oh, so that handsome partner of yours got it?” The tone in her voice sounded with disappointment. My mouth gaped for a moment while I processed the thought that people actually thought Jake and I were more than coworkers. “No, Jake and I are not…we have never been more than coworkers.” “Well that’…good, let me just put something together for you two. He’s such a sweet guy!” She was gushing and pleading with me once more.

  I just wanted to shut her up. She was almost as bad as dealing with my mother. Everyone was suddenly interested in my loneliness. Telling her no was much harder in person so I agreed to meet James for lunch after “missing” his first phone call and attempt at going out since the last time I had seen Karen. Karen was going to give me the details after she spoke with him. I never did tell her I had intentionally blown off the phone call. There was simply too much going on for me to worry about dating.

  “So what’s new with Steve from the restaurant?” I broke her excitement and concentration. I waited for her answer as she was digging through her phone for James’ number.

  “Well… after I did the autopsy I determined that he was definitely dead before someone tried to cook him. There was one more thing, it’s pretty disturbing.” Her upper lip and eyebrows reflected the disgust and shock that her voice had just given me but her main focus was still on her flashy Smartphone.

  “Ok, well give me what you’ve got.” I took out a notepad for my own records and prepared to jot down whatever this shocking news was that Karen had found.

  “It looks like Steve was made in to Swiss cheese before he was grilled.”

  “A food metaphor? Really Karen?” I put my hand over my temple and sighed. I didn’t want to think of food in a morgue ever. Karen was laughing hard when she snorted and added, “Yes Rachel, this guy was made in to a huge al a carte menu item, a Steve sandwich!” She was snorting and cackling at this point.

  “So you’re saying he was shot multiple times before he was put on the grill?” I jumped back in to her laughing and she knew I was serious. Karen cleared her throat and adjusted her seat before continuing.

  “Sorry, coroner’s humor I guess.” She shrugged.

  “Looks like I wrote down here that he was shot multiple times and the bullet wounds are the actual cause of death. The grill was the post mortem part. The worst part of it, and I can’t tell if it was pre or post, was his chest. His heart couldn’t be found, looks like someone had cut it out at some point in time.”

  I could understand why Karen had that disgusted look on her face. Someone was seriously deranged to cut out another human beings heart. There was no doubt now that Jake was right. Someone was trying to send a message.

  She slapped her folder shut, grasped her hands together and leaned across her desk. “You done writing?” I looked up from my notepad and began to pack up satchel, “Yes, I’m done. Why?” She had never come so close to me before but I could see the boredom and excitement in her eyes.

  “We must talk about James! You’re going to just love him, I know it!” Her knuckles were turning white from the pressure she held on her hands as she refrained from bouncing up and down.

  “About that…” I paused, then stood quickly, “I will meet him this one time. That’s it. But for now…” I was losing my train of thought quickly and I could feel the heat in my face, “that thing called work… yea I have to do that now.”

  Karen giggled like a school girl and I felt a hand on my wrist as I turned to leave, “Hey, slow down. I’ll walk you out.”

  She chewed on my ear for the fifty feet we had to walk and all I heard was a comment about texting me the time he could meet up with me. Everything else was a blackout.

  JAKE
r />   “They took his heart?”

  Rachel nodded her head. Around us the food court bustled with teenagers and old people going about their business. I was eating a chicken sandwich, but at the moment it was totally forgotten.

  “He was dead before he was burned. The body had multiple bullet wounds.”

  “And then they took his heart.” Rach smirked.

  “I’m pretty sure the cutting took place after he was dead, yes.”

  “You’re right,” I said taking a big bite of my sandwich, “Seems so unnecessary to shoot him after.”

  We ate in silence for a few moments. Rach ate a piece of salad.

  “We might have to rethink everything, Jake. The removal of an organ signifies surgical knowledge and deep, deep psychological trauma. We might be dealing with a very disturbed and dangerous individual.”

  “Totally removes the spur of a moment kill theory, not that we were betting on that. Planning.” I suddenly perked up. “Wasn’t there some South American culture that removed hearts?

  Rach nodded. “The Aztecs used to remove hearts to honor Tonatiuh, the sun god.”

  “Any Aztecs still running around?”

  “Some Hispanic people can trace their roots back to the Aztec. The only thing was that the sacrifice had to be done outside in the afternoon. The sun god was at his peak and could smile down and accept the offering.”

  I put my head in my hands and thought.

  “Soon, Kali Ma will rule the world,” I mumbled.

  “Pardon?” Rach looked at me quizzically. I shook my head.

  “Nothing. What does it mean Rach? Is there some kind of symbolism?

  “The heart means a great many things in different cultures. Source of power and pride. That’s where love is supposed to reside in the body. Take your pick Jake.”

  “Of course, the big elephant in the room right now is where did the heart go?”

  “Taken as a trophy? Or he could have eaten it.”

  I looked back down at my half eaten lunch. I pushed it away.

  “Well, I’m done. Cannibalistic killer likes his dinner well done, lovely. Steve have any criminal record?