Blue Baby

by Arnold, Carolyn

  Angela studied the photo for a few seconds and shook her head. “Sorry. If either of them were a friend of Cheryl’s, I didn’t know about it.”

  “We’ve come to learn Cheryl was cheating on Phil. Do know with whom?” Paige asked.

  It seemed like the conversation would be better to have sitting down, but the offer was never extended. And Angela, unlike Karen, had dealt with Cheryl’s loss—or she was good at giving that impression.

  Angela let out a paced exhale. With it came the subtle scent of whiskey. She was obviously having a nice, relaxing night by herself before they showed up. The oaky aroma had Paige craving a drink, too.

  “Do you think he had something to do with this? Did Karen tell you that? That bitch.”

  Paige faced Zach, then looked back to Angela. “‘That bitch’? I thought you were all friends.”

  “Until Cheryl died.”

  She tossed the word died out there without feeling, almost as if Cheryl had passed of natural causes or old age, as the result of an illness or a car accident, not due to murder.

  Angela continued. “Karen drove me nuts. Cheryl was the glue. We both loved the girl. But Karen and me? We are like oil and water.”

  “Was that always the case? I mean, I wouldn’t hang around someone I didn’t like, even if another friend did. I’d arrange to see my friend when the other person wasn’t around.”

  “Cheryl didn’t have many girlfriends.” Her eyes traced to Zach’s phone. “I doubt she had any besides Karen and me. It’s why I hung around. The guilt trip Cheryl would have given me otherwise… Then I’d have to listen to the whine in her voice. I hated Cheryl’s grating octave more than I hated Karen, and that’s saying a lot.”

  “You said you loved Cheryl, but I’m not feeling it,” Paige said.

  “That’s because you don’t understand. Someone can drive you nuts and you can still love them.”

  The comment struck close to home. Paige shuffled thoughts of Brandon out of her head. “So why did you and Karen dislike each other so much?”

  “You could say we always hated each other. Well, maybe not always, but it became that. Karen started playing Mother Hen, telling us how to act and who to do. And, yes, I mean that how I said it.”

  “She didn’t agree with your choices in men?”

  “Not mine or Cheryl’s. But because there was already an instant repulsion between the two of us, Karen was worse with me. That bitch went so far as to call me a whore.”

  With her raised voice and the expulsion of breath, another waft of whiskey hit Paige’s nose. She needed a drink as soon as they were finished here.

  “What made her say that?”

  “She thought I was dating an ex of Cheryl’s. Well, dating is a loose term. I was sleeping with the guy, but not sleeping if you catch my drift.” She winked at Zach. “She didn’t know I was with him at the same time as Cheryl.”

  “As in, all together?” Paige asked.

  “You’re thinking ménage à trois? I’m not into those. I’ve tried them, but one person always gets more attention and I’m not about competing. I’m about coming out on top.” Angela made sure to align her eyes with Zach’s. This time, Paige noticed a subtle pink hue in his cheeks. She had to give the girl props. She was somehow still using her sex appeal while wearing Hello Kitty pj’s. Impressive.

  “So you mean you were seeing him at the same time?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And when was this?”

  “The same month Cheryl was murdered.” She paused and looked between them. “Wait. You don’t think he did this to her? There’s no way Gavin could have. He’s egotistical to the point of being a narcissist, but a killer? No way.”

  They finally had a name, but Paige was still processing everything else. Karen had told them she didn’t know the man’s identity, but Angela had said Karen gave her a hard time for sleeping with a boyfriend of Cheryl’s. Which was the truth? It had to be somewhere in the middle. “So Cheryl was sleeping with Gavin when she was engaged to Phil?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Karen told us she didn’t know who Cheryl was cheating with.”

  “And that’s probably the truth. Cheryl would never have named Gavin to Karen, are you kidding me? Karen had a big mouth. I’d be surprised if Cheryl mentioned seeing someone behind Phil’s back to her at all.”

  “Well, somehow Karen knew Cheryl was cheating on Phil.”

  Angela was shaking her head. “Nope, I’m not buying that Cheryl told her. It sounds like Karen’s imagination is alive and well.”

  It was a possibility that Karen grieved the loss of her friend and a mystery man alleviated her guilt. If she couldn’t identify him, she couldn’t have prevented Cheryl’s murder.

  “Do you have a last name for Gavin?” Zach asked.

  “Yeah. Bryant.”

  “And one more question. Where did you and Cheryl meet Gavin?”

  “I don’t know about Cheryl, but I happened on the two of them. Gavin and I bumped into each other another time and exchanged numbers.”

  -

  Chapter 40

  NADIA OBTAINED THE ADDRESS FOR Gavin Bryant, but no one was home when we arrived. The DMV showed a dark-green 2008 Pontiac G6 registered to him. It matched Sharon’s description of the car she saw in the parking lot. We placed an APB, all-points bulletin, on the vehicle, and Jack requested local PD post a car at the guy’s place in case he returned home.

  Gavin’s license photo showed an attractive man with brown hair and brown eyes. Gavin was thirty-five and fell within the estimated age range of the killer. If all these factors weren’t damning enough, he’d been employed by Dream Weddings a couple years ago. That was the wedding planner Reanne told us Tara had used, and it connected Gavin to two of the three victims, leaving a tie to Penny left to uncover. Of course, we still had to prove Tara and Gavin had met that way.

  To top it off, Gavin had lost his mother ten years ago and his father two winters ago. There was a record of a sister, but she was alive and well and living in Tennessee. This didn’t run contradictory to the indicators. It could’ve been a family friend Gavin had found dead.

  A quick stop at Shooters & Pints was also unsuccessful. We’d hoped at least someone would identify Gavin as being the man with Penny. No such luck. Even the three guys who were beaten up weren’t talking anymore. I had a feeling they were afraid of Paige.

  All this brought us back to the hotel restaurant awaiting either word from Nadia or a hit on the APB.

  Paige ordered a whiskey on the rocks to precede her dinner, which surprised me, but Jack seemed content to have a drinking companion. I had water and Zach had pop. At least the two of us would be ready to move when Gavin’s whereabouts were found.

  “I just had a thought,” I began.

  “Whoa, Pending has a thought. Mark it down,” Zach jested, but I shot him a glare.

  “What if we’re looking at this the wrong way?” I asked.

  “What are you thinking, Slingshot?” This came from Jack and had me looking at him. It was awhile since I’d heard him pull out that nickname. The booze was working its magic tonight and soothing the savage beast. The instant the analogy fired through my mind, a pang of guilt slithered in. The man was going through something personal, and it was enough to throw him off his game. I gave him a pass on the handle.

  “We talked about the woman in the unsub’s past being a sibling or family friend. We’ve operated under the assumption that something happened at a younger age, between nine and eleven. What’s to say his world wasn’t shaken until he was older? We had mentioned it briefly at the start. If he was close to someone—”

  “You’re thinking romantically,” Paige interjected. She held her glass, poised to take a drink, her pinkie finger pointing up in the air.

 
I nodded. “Exactly.”

  She lowered her eyes from mine as she sipped on the whiskey.

  “He’s killing heartbroken women, posing them in wedding gowns, and using earrings belonging to previous victims on his next. Now he’s reused a dress and a ring. We assumed they belonged to the initial woman, but what if he did kill before and it was from another victim?”

  “You think he posed this woman, drew her, and then reclaimed the dress and ring?” Zach asked.

  “Hmm.” Jack drained the rest of his martini and set the glass on the table. “I don’t think we’re looking at additional victims. I believe the dress and ring used on Penny came from the original woman who started him down this path.”

  “Woman or victim?” My question stayed out there. I knew what Jack’s opinion was, but no one seemed ready to touch it with a reply. The truth was we didn’t know yet. We had no solid evidence either way. It was all conjecture. I continued. “I think we need to find out if Gavin was ever engaged.”

  “Nadia mentioned he was single. For her to say that it means he wasn’t divorced. She’s meticulous,” Paige said. “I would think if it started with a woman he was romantically involved with, our victims would’ve showed signs of sexual intercourse.”

  “Not necessarily.” The waitress returned with two of our dinner orders, and Zach stopped talking. He went on once she was out of earshot. “If the initial event happened when he was older, and to a woman he was in love with, he would have respect for the opposite sex. The way our unsub poses them proves he does. Even Penny was made up. The thing out of place with his method here was that he didn’t pose her hands as he had the others.”

  “So, a romantic link is definitely a possibility we need to keep on the table,” I summed up.

  The other two meals arrived, and we all dug in as if we hadn’t consumed food in a week. The conversation lulled for a while. My plate was already almost clear, but the others had a ways to go. I never claimed to be a slow eater at the best of times. Add starvation and stress into the mix and the pace accelerated.

  “Paige, you said Nadia mentioned Gavin was single, so he wasn’t married, but that doesn’t prove he was never engaged.” I turned to Jack and caught him putting a forkful into his mouth. I waited for him to chew and swallow before I continued. “I want Nadia to see if she can find out if he was engaged. Maybe Gavin’s sister would know.”

  Jack nodded.

  Clearly, there wasn’t much point waiting for him to swallow his food. I wasn’t getting a verbal response, anyway. But it didn’t matter. I’d received the approval I sought. I dialed Nadia while the rest of them finished eating.

  -

  Chapter 41

  PAIGE CONSIDERED SLIPPING INTO SOMETHING comfortable and dropping onto the plush pillow top. She had spent seconds staring at the bed, contemplating how wonderful it would feel to her exhausted body. But she knew any efforts to sleep would be met with futility. Whether it was the whiskey responsible for her poor judgment or a determination bordering on obsession, she had to go to Shooters & Pints where Penny was last seen. She needed to speak with the bouncers and find out how Penny was acting that night. Had she seemed overly intoxicated? Drugged?

  Jack and Brandon had asked the staff about Gavin, but Jack preferred she stay away from the bar. She realized a toxicology panel was being run on Penny, but she wanted to hear it with her own ears. Some sort of culpability from the establishment, an owning up to the fact that this had taken place under its roof. It went beyond teaching a lesson to those three guys and reached the bar’s management. They needed to assume some responsibility.

  In cases of sexual assault, contributing factors needed to be considered. Those in the wrong extended beyond those who physically got their hands dirty; it included those who facilitated the action. Maybe the resort owner in Mexico had sensed this mind-set coming off her all those years ago, and it had been why she went silent and uncooperative. She could have been hiding behind the line about not being able to share the address.

  Somehow Paige had to bury the uncertainties. It would do her friend no good at this point. It had taken place the better part of twenty years ago. And without Natasha having filed a report in Mexico, no DA would consider pressing charges, even if they received a confession. But she could make three men in North Dakota aware that their actions were neither excusable nor acceptable. She wondered if a part of her motivation was to prove something to herself, but if it was, so what?

  Zach had the keys to the rental car and she considered taking a taxi to the bar, but she decided on a reckless alternative. She had dialed Sam Barber, and he was coming to get her.

  She saw the cherry-red Mustang pull under the hotel’s overhang, and she found herself smiling. Sam was here. It was worth noting if all it took was seeing the guy’s ride to make her happy—right? Or was she allowing her feelings to distort her perception of men and relationships? Besides, there wasn’t a relationship between them. They both worked in law enforcement. And while they were both single and available, Paige knew better than to accept that those two things were interchangeable. Some people claimed to be single but were weighed down with too much emotional baggage.

  The passenger-side window went down, and Sam leaned over to see her. “Hey, beautiful, want a ride?”

  By the flash in his eyes, he was joking with her, and he obviously recognized the cheesiness in the line. Still, he used it.

  Brave. Paige laughed. “Where are you going?” she asked.

  “My place.”

  Paige shook her head but got into his car anyway. “What makes you think I’m going to—”

  His mouth was on hers. She hadn’t seen it coming, but she sank into the kiss. He gave with equals parts hunger and possession. She reciprocated but was the first to pull back.

  He remained poised over the console, his eyes tracing her face. “I’d say I’m sorry—”

  “But you’re not?” Paige licked her lips, tasting him.

  He shook his head.

  “I’m not either.” She didn’t know what was coming over her, but she was the one to make the next move.

  The kiss lasted for a while. This time he pulled back first.

  Her heart was beating rapidly, and a part of her didn’t want to leave the hotel. The woman in her wanted to take Sam upstairs. Didn’t she promise herself the other day to find time for dating? But that’s not how things worked for her anymore. Or was it?

  Before Brandon, she’d slept with men to satisfy her needs. It wasn’t about commitment and a happily-ever-after. In certain circles she might be considered easy—or worse—but she preferred to go with the modern twist. She was sophisticated, a woman of the world. It’s not like she slept with just anyone. But what did she really know about Sam? He was a detective. He was single. His middle name was Logan. His parents were easygoing, and he had a brother and a sister. He loved his car. That’s all. But maybe it was enough.

  Was it wrong, especially in a world full of negativity, to latch onto affection that presented itself?

  It took all her willpower to clasp the seat belt and face forward. She didn’t bring him here for a booty call. She brought him to— What did she bring him for? She could have gone to the bar by herself.

  Sam cleared his throat. “That line worked better than I expected.”

  “Oh hush.” She smirked at him, and he returned it. By the way he smiled—his teeth biting down on his bottom lip, the crease lines around his mouth—he knew he was cute, and he was playing her. This wasn’t the first time he’d used his charm on a woman, and it wouldn’t be the last.

  He revved the Mustang’s engine—he already had her revved—and the car shot forward. She placed her hand on his forearm, and the car slowed down. He had received the message from her touch. Change of plans.

  She didn’t get nervous as he parked the car, and when he to
ok her hand as they entered the hotel, she held it together. As he trailed kisses down her neck in the elevator, she experienced no tugs of conscience. She wanted this. She wanted him. Tonight was going better than she originally planned.

  -

  Chapter 42

  THE NEXT MORNING, the four of us were gathered in Jack’s hotel room. Nadia was on speaker.

  “There’s nothing to indicate on paper that Gavin was engaged,” she said, “but that doesn’t prove or disprove anything.”

  “Have you contacted his sister in Tennessee to see what she has to say?” Jack asked.

  “I have a message in to her.”

  “And what about the computers? Have you received Cheryl’s at this point?”

  “Yes, I have all the ladies’ laptops now. I’ll be looking at all three of them today.”

  “Good, let us know what you find out. See if there’s any romantic connection between Gavin and Tara, and Gavin and Penny.”

  Smart. We had him potentially tied to Tara already since he’d been employed by the wedding planner Tara had started to work with two years ago. It didn’t mean they came in contact, though. With Cheryl, the connection was confirmed as a romantic relationship. Tara had a mystery man. All we had was the assumption that Gavin was the man. We had nothing to prove our suspicion. And if Gavin was the player as Angela had alleged, then an online dating profile might fit right for him, too. It would give him access to more women.

  “On it, boss,” Nadia said. “But there’s something you need to know.” There was an extra octave of anxiety in Nadia’s voice. One of her database searches must’ve netted a juicy result.

  “The latest financials came in on Gavin,” she went on. “He booked a flight to the Dominican Republic two days ago. His flight left yesterday morning.”

  “So he planned all this. It wasn’t a chance run-in with Penny at the bar. He didn’t have the dress hanging around in his trunk. He was prepared,” I said.