by J. J. Stone
“So far the police have found nine bodies, all of them almost completely drained of blood. Each one also had an organ or two missing. They were cut out pretty crudely, so I think we can rule out murderous surgeon.” Dade grinned at his own quip as the car came to a stop at a light. “So, how’s the teaching going?”
Ada had come to appreciate Dade’s attempts at small talk. Like they both weren’t in a new town, trying to catch a killer. She decided to humor him this time and take part. “I still have some assignments to hammer out. And finals are coming up soon.”
“How does a writing class have a final exam?”
“Finals aren’t always tests. In my class, students have to submit the final drafts of the manuscripts they’ve been writing the past semester. I can tell how much they’ve actually retained from class by how well their projects are written.”
The light turned green and Dade accelerated. “Oh, that reminds me. I ordered a couple of your books.”
Ada covered her face with her hands.
Dade chuckled. “Don’t get all embarrassed! They were good. I finished them both in a few days.”
Ada snuck a peek at him. “Really?”
“Yes, really.” Dade took a right and a hotel came into view. “You should be more proud of them.”
“I’d be more proud if my books were in more homes than bargain bins.”
Dade shook his head at her and pulled up under the hotel awning. “Go get situated. Brenda has you in room 305.” He handed her a keycard. “I’ll get your bag.”
“Do I leave you a tip?” Ada teased as she unbuckled and got out of the car.
Dade rolled his eyes at her. “We need to get to the station in half an hour. So don’t get too comfortable.”
Ada nodded and walked into the hotel. She gave a quick smile to the concierge as she passed the front desk. On the lobby television, a news update on the murders played. Another body had been found. Ada had a feeling the half hour of downtime Dade had promised her was about to be shortened.
——
James powered on his laptop and looked around while he waited for the computer to come to life. Across the room, Brenda was arguing with Janice about where to set up the profile board. A couple officers were dumping armloads of case files on the other end of the conference table, the heavy thuds of the files causing James’s laptop to shudder. James glanced at the clock nailed above the door and realized Dade would be arriving with Ada at any minute.
The laptop’s screen blinked blue then switched to its loading image. James looked away from it as a familiar stabbing emerged at the pit of his eye sockets. The plane ride from Virginia had given him the opportunity to get about three hours of sleep. That would bring his total for the past four days up to ten hours of sleep. Hardly enough to sustain a human body, but it would have to do for now.
The conference room door opened and Dade sauntered in, followed closely by Ada. An automatic cordial grin pulled at James’s lips, but Ada never looked his way. James watched as she made a beeline for Brenda, and the two of them embraced. Dade came up behind them and made a comment that caused all three to chuckle. A strange pang of jealousy struck James.
“Why does everything have to be so difficult with Brenda?” Janice huffed as she plopped down into the chair to the right of James.
James blinked, trying to dispel his headache, and clicked a few times to open his email. He heard Janice’s chair creak as she jostled around in it, but he didn’t bother to look at her. He already had enough of a throbbing in his head. He started typing a reply to the Director’s inquiry about the case when Janice’s hand slid into view and covered his right hand as it hovered over the keyboard. He instinctively flinched away and threw her a demanding glare.
“Oh please, you really think they’re paying attention?” Janice tossed her jet-black hair over one shoulder and leaned toward him. “You look a little tense, Deacon. Maybe we should go find somewhere quiet.”
Annoyance slowly morphing into confliction, James closed his eyes and realized they might not open again. As enticing as Janice’s “offer” was, he knew he couldn’t leave the team, not with so much to go through. The curse of being the leader. He forced his eyes open and shook his head at Janice as he rose from his seat. “I’ll take a rain check.”
“Sure you will,” Janice grumbled as she rose to follow him.
——
Ada watched James and Janice approach, and her eyes fell to the ground instantly. She could feel Janice’s laser glare searing into her already.
“How was your flight?” James asked her as he joined the group.
“Quick,” Ada said, glancing at him. He looked like hell, alarmingly so. Beside him, Janice studied her nails impatiently. Ada noted how close the other analyst had placed herself to James’s side.
“Good,” James answered awkwardly.
A shroud of uneasiness descended over the group, and everyone collectively looked anywhere but at each other. Even Dade, usually the go-to source for meaningless chitchat, was suddenly fascinated with a scratch on the back of his hand.
A female officer strode into the room with an armful of folders. She scanned the room until she found James. “This is the last of the case files you requested. The chief says to let him know if you need anything else,” the officer said flatly as she moseyed up to the group and deposited the folders in James’s hands then turned and left the room without a second glance.
Janice moved to take the folders from James, but he yanked them to his chest before she could.
“I need to review those to start the profile,” Janice huffed at him, crossing her arms tightly against her chest.
James held the stack out to Ada, forcing her to look his way again. He waited for her to take them. When she didn’t make a move, he waved them slightly.
Wincing, Ada took them.
“The two of you,” James motioned to Ada and Janice, “are going to review the files. Janice, get Ada up to speed on what you initially gathered from the request file.” Before either woman could reply, James cocked his head at Dade and the two men broke away from the group toward the case board.
Ada took a steadying breath then forced herself to look at Janice. The analyst was wordlessly fuming at James’s back, her right hand clenched in a fist at her side, her left hand gripping her right forearm so tight Ada could see white dimples below her fingertips. In that moment, Ada knew she needed to rectify this feud if anything was going to get done.
Ada gathered her hair in one hand and swept it over one shoulder then readjusted her computer bag strap and closed the distance between herself and Janice. “I’m ready if you are.”
Janice studied her for a moment, and Ada was pleased to see what she could only describe as jealous hatred dissipate from Janice’s eyes. Smug amusement settled across the analyst’s face, which Ada figured was the best she could hope to get. “I think I can get us an interview room. We’ll need quiet to get through all that.” Janice waved a hand at the stack of folders still in Ada’s arm.
Ada grinned at her as warmly as she could. “Sounds good to me.”
——
When Dade knocked on the door of the interview room, Janice and Ada flinched in unison. They glanced up from their spread of files and notes with bleary stares.
“Just wanted to know if you ladies wanted anything from the Mexican place down the street.” Dade leaned against the door jamb, inserting his head and torso into the room while the rest of him stayed in the safety of the hallway.
Janice twisted her arm and squinted at her watch. “Look at that. Five hours gone.”
Ada’s eyes widened and she quickly pulled her phone from her bag. Upon seeing it completely free of waiting calls or messages, she sagged back into her seat and rolled her neck around. “Sure, a dinner break sounds great.”
“A
group of us are heading over there in five, so just meet us out front.” Dade started to shut the door then abruptly whipped it back open and pointed at Ada. “Give me your to-go order.”
Ada frowned as she stood and reached for her bag. “I don’t mind going with you.”
“James wants to speak with you.”
At the mention of James, Ada waited for the temporary truce between Janice and herself to shatter into a million pieces. Instead, the other woman handed her a page of meticulously written notes. “Sounds like you get to do the progress meeting,” Janice said with a relieved sigh. She pushed in her chair and sauntered to the door, yanking it open all the way. Dade managed to catch himself before completely losing his balance.
After Janice left the room, Dade rolled his eyes at her back and said to Ada in a lowered voice, “I guess you two kissed and made up?” He waved his eyebrows, a devilish grin exposing his resplendent white teeth.
Ada flipped a pen at his face as she walked up to him. “You wish.” She poked her head into the hallway to make sure Janice was nowhere around. “I actually think we’re getting to a point where we can share a comfortable silence. I don’t feel like she’s plotting my murder anymore.”
Dade chuckled and held the door open so Ada could step into the hallway. “James said to meet him in the conference room.” He shut the door to the interview room and the two of them walked into the mild bustle of the police station hallway. “Just to warn you, though. He’s done nothing but duke it out with his boss for the past hour, so I’m sure he’s in a bit of a mood.”
Ada groaned. “Is he ever not in some kind of mood?”
“Not really.”
Dade and Ada shared a grin and then parted ways outside the conference room door. Ada placed her hand on the doorknob and shouted after Dade, “Bring me a couple of tacos, please.”
He tossed her a sloppy salute and pushed through the front doors of the station to join the small group of agents waiting to leave.
Ada pushed down on the conference room’s door handle and as the door opened, she heard James’s exasperated voice resonating from deeper in the conference room. She quickly entered the expansive room and shut the door as silently as she could behind her. Her eyes locked on James, who was standing in front of a window, his back to her. With one hand holding his phone to his ear and the other kneading his scalp, he continued what sounded like an exhausted conversation about the case without noticing her entrance.
She pulled out one of the conference table chairs and sank into it. The soft cushion of the conference room chair was blissful relief compared to the metal chair in which she had spent the past few hours. As her joints began to unwind, she pulled out her phone and began playing a game while she waited for James to finish his phone call.
She was nearly to the end of her hand of solitaire when a voice behind her said, “You need to move the second stack onto the fifth one.” She tapped her finger on the screen and moved the second stack. A moment later, her phone congratulated her on her win.
“Solitaire expert?” She teased James as he moved to the end seat two spots down from her chair.
James shrugged as he sat down. “My mom played it with me all the time when I was growing up. With real cards, though.”
Ada tucked her phone into her bag and brandished her and Janice’s notes. “Congratulations. This is definitely a copycat case.”
Relief washed over James’s face. His eyes slipped closed as he drew a deep breath through his nose. “Good.”
“The unsub seems to be very closely emulating Richard Chase, so it should make identifying potential victims much easier for you.” Ada inspected the notes one last time before sliding them down the table to James.
He half-rose from his seat and pulled the papers the rest of the way to him. “So, you guys are good?” he asked as he quickly scanned the case notes.
For a moment Ada wasn’t sure what he was referring to. Then it dawned on her, and she felt her cheeks begin to burn. “Of course. Janice really knows how to dissect a case file, so it made the whole process pretty smooth.” She stole a glance at him and saw that he was studying her, bemused. “Was it that obvious?” she asked, cringing inwardly.
“Janice Otto doesn’t really get along with anyone on the team. I’m used to her having ‘tension’ with the team.” He bit at the corner of his mouth, a tic Ada had come to recognize as an indicator that he was mildly perturbed. “I figured she would be a little peeved about having another analyst on this case, but I didn’t think she’d go on about it for this long.”
Ada smoothed a stray hair back to its spot behind her ear and cleared her throat. “Why am I still here, James?” Her voice refused to rise above a tentative murmur.
“Because you’ve been with the case from the beginning,” he said quickly and matter-of-factly.
“I just feel like I’m stepping on toes by being here. And I hate that.”
“You’re not.” James’s phone vibrated against the tabletop, skittering around on the polished surface. He snatched it up and gave it a couple taps. A few moments later a wide grin broke out on his face. “Chicago PD found a notebook in Thomas Gale’s basement.”
Ada pressed her palms to the table, jerking forward in her seat. “Two sets of handwriting?”
James scrolled for a moment then nodded, the rare smile refusing to leave his face. Ada contemplated joking about how much younger he looked when he smiled, but decided to just bask in the lead agent’s good mood.
“So that’s a connection between Seattle and Chicago. Which makes it a connected case. Right?” Ada asked.
James was bent over his laptop, tapping in a frenzied message. “To me, yes. But my opinion isn’t the final say, unfortunately.”
“Your boss sounds like mine,” Ada mused, “His way or nothing.”
“Basically,” James snorted. He mashed his thumb against the trackpad and collapsed back into his seat. He pressed his hands to his face and took a deep breath. He let it out in a whoosh and pushed his fingers back through his hair. “I sent him the Chicago update. That will at least give us time to work the case here.” He collapsed his head into the headrest of his chair and studied the ceiling, the corner of his mouth back between his teeth.
Ada traced a small dent in the tabletop with her index fingernail. She let her next words ruminate in her mind for a moment before verbalizing them. “Do you think this will be the last case?”
“I’d like to think so, but from experience, no, probably not.”
Ada didn’t respond, just traced the dent faster.
James tipped his head back down and looked at her. “Why?”
Ada shut her eyes for a moment then turned in her seat to face him. She pushed her shoulders back and said, “I can’t do this for much longer.”
James laced his fingers together. “I can deal with Janice—”
“It’s not her,” Ada cut him off. “Honestly, it has nothing to do with any of you.”
“Your job, then.” James watched her shrug and half nod. “Give me your boss’s number. I can call him now and straighten everything out.”
“He doesn’t know I’m here. Calling him won’t do anything except get me fired faster.” Ada sighed and clasped her hands. “It’s not even because of my job, really. This is just … it’s a lot. It’s an environment I’ve never felt comfortable with and will never feel comfortable in.”
“Then why are you here?”
Ada blinked. “Because you asked me.”
“Right. So what’s the problem?”
“The problem is …” she trailed off as annoyance crept in. “I just need to be done after this case.”
“That’s not entirely up to you.”
Out of nowhere, a chuckle rose from Ada’s throat. She raised a brow at him. “You’re not used to dealing with som
eone who doesn’t have to listen to you, are you?”
“Why do you really not want to be here?”
“I just told you.”
“No. You didn’t.”
Ada froze for a moment, her mouth dropping open slightly as she scrambled to come up with a viable excuse, which only made her angrier that she needed to have an excuse to walk away at all. “Maybe I’d like to get back to having a normal life again.” One that doesn’t involve stalker notes being left at my home and car, she finished in her head.
James remained stoic, his murky green eyes boring into her. “What are you not telling me?” He obviously wasn’t buying anything she was attempting to sell.
Why Ada thought she could withhold anything from an FBI profiler was beyond her. Rather than make excuses, she matched James’s unwavering gaze and prepared herself for the verbal reaming she was about to receive. “I got another letter, on my car this time.”
“When?”
“A couple of days before I came here.”
“What did it say?”
“Pretty much the same as the other letter. Just talked about me working with the FBI.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
Ada paused before answering. “Honestly … I felt silly bothering you with it.”
James pressed back into his seat, a look of either disdain or insult creasing his features. “Bothering me?” he said, “It’s part of the case, why would I not need to know about that?”
“I’m not that worried about it,” Ada lied. “It just feels like a crazy getting off on terrorizing me.”
“So I don’t need to worry about you being attacked by a ‘crazy?’” James’s eyebrows arched toward his hairline.
For a moment, Ada wasn’t sure how to respond. The conversation suddenly seemed less about the case and more about … her. And it felt far too odd for her liking. “No, James, you don’t,” Ada replied flatly.
She watched a somewhat wounded pang flit across James’s eyes, and then he quickly blinked it away and stood. “Any more letters show up, you send them to me immediately.” All casualness had been erased from his demeanor and he was once again James Deacon, lead agent.
