by W L Knightly
“I’m not saying it’s less important, but I just think that this branding is significant. This is the second time Capricorn has made an appearance. With our first victim Alicia, that was one of the symbols pointed out to us by the coroner. The other was Sagittarius, remember?”
How could he forget? He gave her a nod. He also couldn’t forget the fact that the brand was the exact same shape, size, and style as the one on Tad Halston’s arm. Darek had just talked to the guy hours earlier face to face. Had he been with the killer?
Darek didn’t think so, but at this point, anything was possible. “I think we need to work the case from a bigger picture. At least we know where the alpha and the omega reference came from.”
Victor Barnes had that tattooed on his chest, and Darek hoped it was the only significant clue on this victim’s skin. The more distance he could put between him and the others from this case, the better. He’d hoped Victor was his man, but it hadn’t worked out that way. At least, then, it would have made up for having to listen to all those freaky friends of his and how they’d practically mutilated themselves trying to please him. He hoped those poor souls could move on with their lives in a healthier way.
Max walked up looking as tired as Darek felt. “I think we should release the brand to the press. Maybe someone in the public has seen something like this before.”
Lizzy nodded. “I have to agree. It’s going to take come convincing Reed, but I’m sure he’ll listen to reason. Someone has to know something. And since we’ve already interviewed every person in Victor’slife, I’m not sure we’re ever going to get answers from any of them.”
Darek could see it now. All of the people who knew Tad—his sister, his family, his coworkers, and especially his old clients down at the escort agency—were going to be coming out of the woodwork to point the finger. Anyone who had seen Tad’s mark before could connect him to this murder. Only one person had ever seen Darek’s, and he couldn’t help but wonder if Megan would try to make a connection just to get him in trouble.
The woman was already trying to fuck him over by taking his house. He was sure that the arrangement with her father had been orchestrated to put him in this exact situation. She was nothing but a gold-digging whore who had seen him doing well for himself. Once she knew he wasn’t as well off as she thought, she had been done with him. He was a hard-working cop and nothing more, just another man in blue when she needed someone in green and lots of it.
Darek looked down at the mark on Victor Barnes and shook his head. “I don’t know. What if this is our only private information, and we leak it, and it ruins everything? I’m more for letting the public find out about things in their own time. I mean, you know they will eventually, so why rush the natural process of things? At least, then we’ll be ready when it happens.” He tried to talk some reason into them, but Max and Lizzy exchanged a look.
“I’m sure it will be okay, man.” Max gave him a strange look. The two rarely disagreed on such things, but Darek knew that if the situation were different, he’d feel the same about the idea.
“Fine, I just hope it doesn’t bring in every nut with a Capricorn tattoo.” He gave a shrug and knew he’d have to warn Tad or else Bay would be pissed. But what if Tad was his killer? The guy didn’t seem to have it in him, but he’d seen many other criminals who didn’t look like they’d hurt a fly, who had done much worse than cut up an escort and a sexual deviant.
Lizzy paced in front of the door. “We know this murder took place not long after Alicia’s, possibly within the same night or the next.” She let out a sigh, the stench in the container was making it hard to breath. “I can’t wait to get out of here.” She looked over to where the body was being moved to a bag, nice and slowly so nothing around it would be disturbed, just as she’d asked. They’d been there for hours longer than they’d hoped they be, but there had been a wreck in town, and the fatalities had made those involved a higher priority than a dead man.
“I’m sure the new cat misses you.” Darek knew that was the only thing she had to go home to, and he considered asking if she needed any company. His desire for her had only grown stronger since Megan left.
“Yeah, he’s a real sweetheart.” She turned her attention to him. “I’m going to try and catch a few hours of sleep before Dr. Cobb calls.” The medical examiner would most likely call in the early morning.
“You’re not even going to the office first?” Darek asked. She usually did, and he kind of thought she’d want to get her report in as soon as possible. Then again, it had been a long day.
She stepped out of the way as the body was walked out of the container and to the ambulance for transport. “Not tonight. I think I’m going to take some pain medicine for my wrist and lie down. You can get Max to take you home, can’t you?”
“Sure.” The two had ridden in together, and even though Lizzy had driven like a mad woman, Darek had wanted more time alone with her. “Max, can you help me out?”
“Yeah, no problem,” Max said as he was called off by another officer.
“Well, it looks like this is the big break you wanted after all. With this no doubt a serial killer, I’m sure you’ll be getting a chance at that promotion.” Lizzy forced a smile, but with the stench of death in the air, it wasn’t as bright as it could have been.
“Right. It’s hard to be happy about that kind of thing.”
“A lot of times, the best things that happen to us are bittersweet. You have to know how to take the good and the bad, to turn the negative into a positive. I’m sure you’ve had to do that before a time or two in life. Everyone has. How a person handles that speaks a lot to their character, and it’s actually one of the things I look for most in a person. It lets me know if I should give them the time of day or not.” She looked thoughtful for a second. Then she turned to weave through the small crowd of onlookers toward her car.
“Hey, wait up.” Darek followed her, and she stopped and turned around to give him a tired-eyed expression. “Do you need me to pick you up later? I mean, if Cobb calls?”
“No, thanks. I’ll meet you there.” She smiled, and as she turned away to open the car door, his phone rang.
He glanced down to see Bay Collins’s number. The two didn’t have to be so secretive now that Bay was going to represent him in his divorce.
“Bay, how’s it going?” he asked, not that he really cared. He figured in the glamorous world of the psycho’s, things were probably perfect.
“I heard about the body that’s been discovered. What can you tell me?” His voice was as calm as ever. The motherfucker even sounded a bit bored.
News sure traveled fast in the city. “How did you find out?”
“Give me a fucking break, Darek. It’s all over the news. Now, tell me what the hell is going on before I lose my patience.”
Fucking great.
3
Bay
The cop’s voice shook on the other end of the line, and Bay didn’t think it had anything to do with being cold. “Hello? It’s your lawyer speaking. Spill the details. Was it related or not?”
“It was, actually.” Darek let out a breath, and Bay’s temper spiked.
“You’re dicking me.” He gritted his teeth.
“No, I’m not. Trust me; this shit isn’t looking good for us.”
Bay let that sink in a moment. “For us or anyone in particular?”
“There was a Capricorn symbol burned into this guy’s forehead. And not only did it look like a branding, but it was eerily similar to one I’ve seen before.”
“You mean it matches Tad’s? How much of a match?”
“Like it could have been done with the same fucking iron. Someone is onto us.” Darek’s tone was quiet.
“Are you still at the scene?” Bay rapped his fingers on his desk then curled his fingers toward Mia who was sprawled out on his couch. She padded across the room, and he placed his arm around her waist.
“Yeah, I’m almost done.”
M
ia leaned down and got a kiss. Then Bay took out his wallet and handed her a twenty. “Coffee,” he mouthed. She gave him a pouty look and then turned to storm out of his office. He needed to be able to speak freely.
“What if it’s only Tad they’re after, and it’s some kind of vendetta against him alone?”
“It’s possible, but too much connects to all of us, not to mention I have a partner hellbent on linking the two. She’s got that file coming down from Virginia, all of the case facts, the transcripts, evidence reports, you name it. She really feels like she’s on to something, and she’s the most determined woman I’ve met in a long time.”
“More determined than the beauty queen? That’s hard to believe.”
“Well, you’ve seen my luck with her. I can’t even sleep in my own fucking house.” He let out a sound of frustration. “Yeah, so this just makes it look even more like one of us. I’m starting to wonder if Tad is our man.”
“No way. He’s a follower, not a leader, and he’d never have the brains to pull off something like this; something this messy and this involved.”
“I’ve had people surprise me. And as for capable, let’s not forget we were all involved years ago.”
“Were we?” Bay liked to fuck with him. Keeping him doubting was one of his only weapons aside from being his lawyer. He needed Darek to wonder if he had passed out that night. It would seem logical to him since he’d lost most of his memories due to repression.
“Don’t start with me, man. What I need you to help me with are the brands. Where the fuck are they?”
Bay knew exactly where they shouldn’t be. “I told Logan to melt those fucking things down years ago.”
“And you’re sure he did?”
“You know Logan. He usually does what I tell him, but no, I didn’t actually see him destroy the brands.” Bay would have to call the guy and get to the bottom of it. Being a local artist, the guy wouldn’t be hard to get in touch with.
“If someone knew Tad beforehand, they could have drawn the symbol from memory.” Darek had a point, but there were other ways someone could copy the mark.
“It’s possible. Or maybe someone measured it while he was sleeping. I’m sure he’s been passed out with the wrong person more than once in his life.” Bay had gone and pulled Tad out of some really shitty places, and the last one had him coked up and on his fucking knees. Thankfully, he’d reached him only hours after he’d landed in the situation, and he wasn’t harmed.
“All I know is, the fucking thing is going public soon, so you might want to warn him. I really don’t want to get in touch with the guy unless I have to since it wouldn’t look good. It’s bad enough I just saw the guy, and now this. Do you think Logan could have done it? Maybe the mark isn’t a signature, and Logan is playing some kind of fucking game?”
“No. There are others I’d suspect before Tad or Logan.” The only person he could see doing something that off the wall was Justin Finch.
“You care to drop a name?” Darek should have known better than to ask. Bay wasn’t inclined to rat out any of the guys, especially for something this serious. One wrong accusation, one false arrest, and whoever got pinched would squeal like a pig.
“No fucking way, but you should think a minute about what everyone’s up to.”
“Why don’t you save me the trouble and enlighten me?”
“Well, you know what Tad and Logan are up to. I’d scratch them off. Lane has been in New Orleans scouting locations for two months now.”
“Maybe he wanted to get out of town?”
“No way. He’s done with being anywhere near a courtroom. He’s got big plans. Speaking of big dreams, there’s Ethan, but seeing how he’s about to hit it big with his singing career in Nashville, I don’t think he’d throw all of that away on a fucking murder.”
“Again, I’ve seen some strange shit, Bay. You’d be surprised what people will do when they snap.”
“Ah, it’s funny you should use the word ‘snap.’ You know out of all of us, aside from you, of course, the only one of us who isn’t playing with a full deck is Justin.”
“I’m going to ignore the ‘aside from me’ part and ask you what you mean. What’s Justin up to these days? I thought he owned a small sporting goods store in Michigan.”
Bay laughed thinking how the guy had acted the last time he saw him. Bay had shown up at the store while investigating a case, and the man’s eyes had nearly popped out of their sockets.
“He does, but he also owns a fully-stocked fallout shelter and an arsenal so large, even I wouldn’t fuck with him if it came down to it.”
“Really? Is he one of those conspiracy theorist types?”
“Is he one of them? Let’s just say if I found out tomorrow that the world was ending, he’d be my new best friend.” He hoped to plant enough seeds that Darek would wonder if he should take the heat off of Tad, but in the end, heat on Tad was better than heat on himself.
“What about the rest of them? I know Alan Lowe’s status. What about Finn, Seth, and Carter? Did you talk to Corey?”
“I did. He should be shutting the site down.” He’d had a long talk with that man about following his instructions. He’d vowed to have the old site down by the end of the day, and Bay would have to check and make sure he had followed through. “As for Finn, Seth, and Carter, they all have too much to lose. Seth’s trying to make a run for politics in Dallas. Carter is fooling himself with religion down in good old San Diego, and Finn, he’s so busy working on screenplays that he doesn’t even have time to worship me anymore.”
“I’m sure you’re heartbroken.”
“It had its advantages. I think he finally caught on that I’m a straight man.”
“You are?”
“Am I?” Bay had never really considered himself gay or bisexual, but he wasn’t above using another person to get off. The one thing he did not do was bottom, and he’d never knelt or bent for anyone, man or woman.
Darek made an exhausted sound, and then Bay could have sworn he heard the man yawn. “I’ve got to get going.”
“Not so fast. I need you to keep me in the loop on this. Any information that comes in about anything connecting to us, I’ll expect you to take care of it.”
“I’m sworn to uphold the law, and while I know you don’t think means a lot, considering my past, I’m not the same person I was then. When I took my oath, I meant it, maybe even more than any other.” He paused a moment. “I’m not a dirty cop.”
Wrong answer. “I suggest that you rethink that, with me being the only thing standing between you and your house and all. I don’t have to defend you, Darek. You need me.” He wanted to have him between a rock and a hard place. He was one of the only guys in the circle who had ever stood up against him or defied him.
That night, trying to save the girl, taking her off, and leaving her to be found out behind the diner, it was the first time anyone had ever defied him. It had stung him right in the balls to know that he couldn’t corral them all.
“You know, if you push me, Bay, I may just have to find a new lawyer and risk it. I mean, after all, a house really isn’t worth my integrity.” The words stung as his actions had way back then.
Mia opened the door and walked back in with his coffee. Bay turned his back on her and lowered his voice.
“Don’t get too bold, Darek. When you try to do the right thing, you usually choke, and if you think that divorce of yours is done getting dirty, you’ve got another thing coming. She’s going to go for the jugular, and when she does, you’ll be begging me for help. So, you just keep me in the loop, and we’ll talk about our other options as they arise.” He hung up the phone and then reached out and snatched Mia’s hand. “Where’s my change?”
“I didn’t think you’d mind if I kept it.” Mia trembled and tried to pull away, but her fear only turned Bay on more.
“You know, you keep coming in here, flaunting your little ass and borrowing money, maybe I should start making you wo
rk for it.” He slapped her bottom, and she met his eyes with a grin. He could still see the worry in her eyes. Their deal was to wait for her birthday, which was only a couple of weeks away now, but he wasn’t sure how much longer he could wait. “You might just have to take your nineteenth birthday present a little early.”
Her smile widened. “Could I?” She turned and cupped his hard erection through his pants. “Please?”
“If I thought it would teach you a lesson, I would.” He turned and dismissed her, and she grabbed his arm and pulled it.
“Don’t turn away from me! You can’t just tease me that way.”
Bay turned and slapped her across the face so hard that she staggered back a few steps. His hand stung on contact, and an angry red streak appeared across her cheek.
“You had better watch your fucking tone with me, you spoiled fucking brat. I’ve given you everything, and if you don’t start acting grateful and being respectful, I’m going to tell your mother and your sister what a foul, manipulative whore you are, and then there will be no birthday, and no more of my fucking money going into your pockets. Do you understand me?”
When she didn’t answer, he jerked her closer and slipped his hands into the pockets of her jeans until he found the money. But then something else came with it; something long and thin. His gold, cylinder tie clip.
“Where’d you get this?”
“I found it on your desk this morning; I was going to put it back, I swear. I wasn’t going to steal it.” He opened the cylinder and pulled out the little spoon. It didn’t look like she’d taken any of the coke he kept hidden inside of it, but she was also not surprised by what she saw. “When I saw what it was, I was going to put it back.”
He reached across his desk and poured the cocaine into a small, thin line. “Snort it.”
She started around the desk, but he grabbed her hands and pulled her back. “Oh no, from here. Show me that pretty ass while you take my coke.” She bent over the desk, practically lying across it to snort the thin line, and he walked up behind her and unzipped his pants. “Looks like your birthday comes early this year after all.”
