by Hadena James
“Well, at least we know the importance of the teeth.” Xavier gave the bag a look of disgust.
“I guess so. We also know that means The Butcher knows about the incident.” I gave Lucas a look. “Malachi and I have always thought he might be law enforcement. Someone that knew my dad. Mainly because even when things didn’t make it into the crime blotter, he seemed to know the details.”
“We’ll deal with your pseudo-serial killer later,” Alejandro was glaring at Michael.
“I’m on it already,” Michael waved him away. “Searching for Jessica Thompson, hometown, Columbia, Missouri.”
“Well?” Alejandro asked after several minutes.
“Well, so far, I haven’t found much after the incident. It appears that she dropped off the grid about six years ago. No credit cards, no background checks, nothing is popping on her social security number. Even if she changed her name, like our Dr. Cain here, her social would remain the same.”
“People don’t just disappear off the face of the planet,” Alejandro snapped at him.
“They can, it just takes a lot of effort,” Michael snapped back.
“Can you find her?” Alejandro turned all his attention to Michael. The weight of that gaze would have shriveled lesser men. Michael just shook his head at him and made a huffing noise.
“Why don’t you go shoot something?” Michael dismissed him with the wave of a hand.
“We have to figure out why she would be doing this.” Lucas interrupted them.
“Well, the women would all have Nyleena’s body type.” I pointed out. “She’s not quite that tall, but she is taller than me by several inches.”
“But they don’t have her hair color or anything else that she has, so why these ten?” Lucas continued to press.
“At the time of the incident, Nyleena had poison green hair. She wore it well, surprisingly. Most women couldn’t get away with poison green hair, but Nyleena has the pale skin for it. I would look like I had jaundice.”
“That’s your contribution?” Alejandro scoffed.
“What do you want me to say? I barely remember the girl. If you showed me her picture from back then, I probably wouldn’t recognize it. I’m not as bad as Malachi, but there are some people gaps in my memory. This girl barely registered. She was there. Things have happened since.”
“Malachi nearly kills her brother and you can’t remember her face?” Alejandro made a noise deep in his throat.
“I remember her brother pretty vividly.” I defended myself. “She was just there. She bitched that I didn’t do anything to stop it, but she didn’t either. If she hadn’t told the police she was his sister, I would have thought she was just another bystander watching the action. Do you remember the face of every jacked up junkie you encounter?”
“I don’t deal with many jacked up junkies,” Alejandro told me.
“Fine, but don’t crucify me just because of a memory gap. That was over ten years ago. There’s been at least two serial killers and a serial rapist in my life during that time. For some reason, they made more of an impression.”
“Found her. Sort of.” Michael interrupted.
“What do you mean sort of?” Alejandro glared at me while talking to Michael.
“First, I couldn’t get away from your attention and now I can’t get it.” Michael prodded our team leader. I didn’t know Alejandro well enough to know how he would react.
His face changed. The scowl left. He turned to face Michael, all the malice gone from his posture.
“Here’s the deal, she has two blips in her file. Both classes, both of them at the University of Washington. Both of them had Ace as the professor’s assistant. She had changed her name. She is now using Jessica Welbourne. It appears she was married for a couple of years, then she just disappears again. Then she pops up at the University of Washington, she audits two classes, both of them under Ace and then she disappears again.”
“Welbourne,” I thought about it.
“Name ring a bell?” Lucas asked.
“Yes, but you don’t want to know why.” I told him.
“Why?” Alejandro asked.
“Nyleena is dating a guy whose last name is Welbourne. He’s a doctor in Kansas City. I don’t know if they are related or not.”
“Smart money says there’s a chance. How long have they been dating?” Alejandro asked.
“Dating may be too strong a word. They’ve been sleeping together for at least the last six years. I don’t know much about him. I’ve met him a couple of times. I try not to get involved in that section of her life.”
“Why?” Lucas asked.
“Uh, I attract serial criminals like honey attracts ants. She doesn’t need me complicating her sex life.” I said it as if it deserved a “duh” at the end. Lucas picked up on the unspoken ending and smiled at me.
“They could be related or it could be a massive coincidence.” Xavier stated.
“We’ll go with the assumption that they aren’t coincidences,” Alejandro was digging out his cell phone.
“Who is he calling?” I asked Lucas.
“My guess, the Federal Guard Apartments where Nyleena lives.”
“You think Nyleena is in danger?” I frowned and pulled out my own cell phone.
“What are you doing?” Xavier asked.
“Calling the one person I know will keep her alive.” I stepped out onto the balcony.
Chapter 40
