Reckoning

by Shakir Rashaan

  I wanted to say something to help calm her nerves, but the truth of the matter was that I didn’t know what he did, if he did anything at all. My emotions wanted to tell her something to give her a focal point; give her something to lead me in the right direction. I couldn’t do too much to give her false hope, but the look in her eyes made that task impossible. With each day, the possibility of finding Kendyl alive got slimmer. I needed something to at least give me an idea of where she might have gone.

  “My Lady, I need You to listen to Me very carefully, please. I need You to try to remember if diamante told You where she was going after she left You.” It was a long shot, but I had to hope that she’d developed enough of a connection that she had some influence over her. If I was lucky, she had established some sort of protocol with her, if the connection was deep enough. “Did You have a general protocol in place with her? Was she deep enough with You to have that in place?”

  “As a matter of fact, Dominic, yes, we did.” Her eyes lit up as she grabbed her smartphone to check the text messages and her phone tracking app. When that pulled up, I didn’t know whether I wanted to balk at the concept or not. She saw my confusion and gave up a small giggle. “You should talk to Your mentor more; He’s got something more invasive than this on His and Neferterri’s slaves.”

  “I don’t have a clue of what You’re talking about.”

  “You’re an awful liar, Dominic.” Lohyna continued to wait for the app to come online. She gave a sigh of relief when she saw the bubble that represented Kendyl popped up. “According to the app, her phone is not too far from where My husband’s house is. It looks like it’s in the vicinity of Gwinnett Place Mall. Does that help at all?”

  She tried to call the cell phone number, but it rang once and went directly to voicemail. I saw the frustration creep onto her face, but I was ecstatic; it was the first good lead we had on her, and it was all due to a tracking app. I almost wanted to kick myself for not thinking of it; with a techie for a partner, I was more surprised that Ramesses didn’t mention that as a possible way of finding her.

  “It helps more than You know, My Lady.” I gave a soft kiss on her cheek as I hurried to my truck. I only hoped that she wasn’t separated from her phone. It would be a positive spin on this whole missing person’s situation, and considering the murder case I was working on the other end, I needed all the positivity I could get.

  That hope would kick me dead square in the gut once I answered my phone. The caller ID showed a Fulton County government facility, which really put me on edge.

  “Law.”

  “Detective, this is Collette. I’m sorry to tell you this, but we have a homicide victim out in Buckhead that I think you should see about. I found your card in her pocket. How soon can you get here?”

  I checked my watch, feeling a sense of dread come over me as I felt a really eerie sense of déjá vu. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

  TWELVE

  The moment I viewed the body, I wanted to throw up.

  Yeah, this was definitely déjá vu, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to like the outcome of where this would head, either.

  Collette did her best to explain the cause of death of the victim, but I really didn’t want to hear it at the moment. I was too entranced by Tori’s body laying inside of a body bag to listen to anything or anyone.

  Something clicked in my mind, transposing Tori’s face with Sherrie’s, putting me back in the same emotional state I was in last year when she was murdered. I kneeled next to her, unsure of how to feel as the face switched from Sherrie to Tori and back again to Sherrie, seemingly putting me in a state of disarray. I was saddened that Tori was dead, but I wasn’t sure that sorrow was what I was feeling, or if it was something else tormenting me. It wasn’t like I was in love with Tori, but the knots I felt in the pit of my stomach could not be ignored.

  Damn, how the hell did you get caught up like this?

  There was no choice in the matter for me but to play this out; there was something I was missing, and I was determined to figure out what the hell it was. With Tori gone, there was no telling what else might be happening in the coming days. One thing was for sure: it was not something I was going to look forward to witnessing.

  I finally blinked out of my trance long enough to hear Collette mention something that might have shone a ray of hope in this whole mess. “Wait a minute, did you say that the killer got sloppy?”

  “Very sloppy, detective.” She pulled a black light from her bag and walked with me to the bedroom. Once there, she moved the light over the mattress and sheets, highlighting the patterns of splattered fluids. I couldn’t decipher the difference, and I wasn’t about to fake it, either. She sensed my confusion and quickly put me out of my misery. “It’s blood and semen, detective; the suspect made sure it was all over her even though we found used condoms near the body.”

  That disturbed me more than I wanted to allow. If the killer was being so careless now, then he wanted to be caught. The thing that really bugged me was the blatant manner in which he decided to show off. He might as well have scrawled a message on the walls or something, saying “I did it, I did it! Find me here!” The new game was now afoot; it wasn’t a matter of whether we would catch him, but if and when we would.

  I needed away from this situation before I lost my mind, and I saw the opportunity to have something pleasant to look at while I did that, while being able to focus on the other murder in this case at the same time. I looked at my watch, realizing it was coming up on shift change. “Can you meet me at Thrive near Centennial Olympic Park in a couple of hours? It will be my treat.”

  Collette regarded my impromptu invitation, wondering where it was coming from. “I thought you only wanted to invite me out to coffee, detective?”

  “If you keep calling me ‘detective,’ I might have to rescind the offer and change it to the original invitation for coffee, which, if I recall correctly, you never did call me back to meet me for.” I couldn’t resist flirting with her; it was my defense mechanism whenever I was stressed out. “Now, can you accept an early dinner invitation and stimulating conversation—albeit with some direct questioning to help with the murder of your boyfriend—from a reasonably attractive gentleman, or would you rather have that coffee?”

  A smile crept across her face as she moved closer to me so no one was within earshot of her response. “I’ll see you in ninety minutes, and I’ll make sure I look sexy for you. After all, if you’re treating me to one of the more raved-about restaurants in the city, I think I might want to dress the part, don’t you think? It is the least I can do for standing you up.”

  She wasn’t getting away that easily, even if I did want to see what she looked like away from the job. Yes, it was the least she could do for standing me up, but that didn’t exactly mean there would be anything else going on, either. “Then it’s a date, Collette. I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

  “So, what was the deal between you and Jason? He never mentioned he was seeing anyone, but I guess now I understand why.”

  We were sitting inside Thrive, enjoying drinks before the entrees showed up. I was already on my second bottle of Heineken as Collette managed to enjoy her second glass of a premium Moscato bottle that I didn’t realize was as expensive as it was. I was glad I had an expense account, otherwise I probably would be expecting some head or something at the end of the evening. Granted, I did invite her to the locale, but damn, I didn’t expect her to take advantage.

  Collette did her best to figure out exactly how she wanted to answer the question I posed. She wasn’t sure which way her answer would steer things, but she eventually threw caution to the wind. “Jason and I were a ‘thing’ to be honest. It was only supposed to be a distraction due to my pending divorce from my husband. I thought I was able to really not develop any feelings, but you know how women are when it comes to sex. I got caught up in feelings, no matter how hard I tried.”

  I observed her as the entrees arri
ved, watching her inhale the aroma of the Cedar Plank Smoked Salmon and Zucchini plate she ordered. A brief smile popped across her face before her eyes met mine. I took my knife and made the obligatory cut into the Angus Beef Fillet to ensure that the steak was cooked to my medium-rare specifications. Satisfied with the order, I dismissed the waiter to get me another beer and another glass of wine for the lady.

  “I didn’t know you knew about this place,” she observed, taking a bite of the meat to make sure the texture was to her liking. After a few moments of savoring the sample, she returned to her thoughts. “I thought I was the only one who knew this place existed.”

  “Well, I’m a bit of a foodie, truth be told, and I prefer to cook at home, but that would have been a bit inappropriate to have this type of conversation in such intimate surroundings.”

  The curious look she gave me had me wondering if she thought I was coming on to her. “And bringing me to a rather upscale restaurant isn’t inappropriate? Don’t think for a minute that I don’t know what you’re trying to do here. I’m not that easy, detective.”

  I slowed down for a minute to get things square with her. I had a feeling she needed to understand how this was supposed to go down. “Collette, I know I’m not a law enforcement officer with the department, but I am still a law enforcement officer. Do not mistake my using this atmosphere as a cover to try and wine and dine you, get you wide open so I can fuck you. You know how this was supposed to go down, since I know your connection to the deceased. Do you really want it to go down this way with Sharpe on the other side of the table instead of me?”

  I watched her eyes as they darted left to right. If she arrived at the same conclusion that I arrived at before I even extended the invitation, she wouldn’t be so boorish about her suspicions concerning why I was doing what I was doing. Pussy was a dime a dozen, and considering I had three at my disposal already, I didn’t feel the need to be all that greedy. Not that Collette wasn’t an attractive woman, but I had cases to solve, and if she could help with that, then I would not let her go until I was satisfied she could.

  Collette closed her eyes and sighed, slumping her shoulders as she finally arrived at the conclusion I expected her to come to. “Okay, detective, I get it, and I’m sorry. What do you want to know?”

  “Did you see anything out of the ordinary in hindsight that might give me an idea of who might have been behind this?” I didn’t want to beat around the bush now. Thanks to her killing the vibe that would have made this as palatable as the cuisine we were dining on, I wasn’t in the mood to be conciliatory or massage her psyche. “I know you saw something. You were at his apartment on several occasions; you must have heard something, noticed something.”

  Collette was taken aback by my directness, trying to shake off the change of pace and intensity as she took a sip from her wineglass. “I guess doing this subtle and smooth went out the window, huh?”

  “Yes, it did. Now, if you would answer the question.” I would have preferred to do things nice and easy, to let the information pour from her the way the wine was pouring from the bottle each time she emptied the glass, but that became a moot point, and she had herself to blame for that. “If you have any hard evidence that you can provide, I would greatly appreciate that, too.”

  Collette pulled out her smartphone, scrolled through something for a few moments, and once she found what she was looking for, she placed the phone face up on the table and slid it in my direction. “I had planned to ask him who this man was, but by the time I had the chance to get the nerve to do it, he was already dead.”

  I studied the picture for a few moments; it was a picture of Jason and a man I didn’t recognize right off the bat. The picture was intimate, sexy. There was no question that this man was someone Jason was involved with on a carnal level. I stole a glance at Collette as she continued to enjoy her meal, noticing the discomfort she felt from even having that picture in the first place.

  I was taking a risk with my next question, but I was never one to shy away from an uncomfortable situation. Besides, given her occupation, it was a necessary protective measure. “Have you been tested?”

  She froze. “Why would you ask that?”

  “Considering he was having sex with another person, and in this case, he was male, and there might be a chance that the sex was unprotected, it is a logical question to ask, Collette.” I didn’t have time to play sexual politics with her. “Answer the question.”

  “Yes, I have been tested. I haven’t gotten the results yet; I was tested yesterday.” The disgusted look on her face suggested that she was offended that she had to submit to the process to begin with. “If he was honest with me in the beginning, I wouldn’t have had to be tested.”

  “Yeah, because cheating on your estranged husband, while having sex with your estranged husband, with the possibility of reconciliation, is so much better, right?” The gloves were about to come off, and she was not about to like me right about now. Jason might have been wrong for not telling her about his sexuality, but she wasn’t a damn saint, either. “In fact, that’s the reason why you’re so dolled up right now, aren’t you? It wasn’t to impress me, right?”

  Her eyes narrowed; she was cold and unfeeling from that moment forward. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I resent the implications you’re drawing, sir.”

  I held up her smartphone, showing the text that popped up, dominating the picture I was studying. I can’t wait to see you, babe. Did you wear my favorite dress?

  The look on her face was priceless. “Look, it’s complicated, all right? Jason was pulling away from me, and it was probably because his fruity ass was trying to be with whoever the fuck this dude is. I thought we were connecting, something I was having trouble doing with my husband. Jason listened to me, he made me feel pretty and sexy, but he knew how I felt about bisexual guys, too. That’s why I’m pissed right now; he could have told me before I—”

  “Before you fucked him to get back at your husband for cheating on you in the first place, right?” I slammed the door on her pity-party quickly. I paid no mind to the tears streaking down her face, especially when I’d had time to run through her information. “What other concoction are you going to come up with, Collette? There’s no point in lying to me anymore; just come clean and tell me what you know or your husband will find out you’re wearing your favorite dress while you’re out with me.”

  “You’re an asshole.”

  “And then some, and don’t forget I have your phone in my possession at the current moment. I can still send the text without a moment’s hesitation or second thought. I have nothing to lose, what about you?”

  The gauntlet had been thrown down, and it was only a matter of time before she would blink and realize that I was not the one to fuck with. I’d done much worse, and there was not a hesitation in me to go back to doing that in order to accomplish the goal I had in mind. The feelings of a person who wanted to try to even the score on a man she obviously was still in love with was not in my circle of concern.

  “Okay, stop, please!” Collette reached for her phone, snatching it from my grasp. She quickly returned the message from her husband before she composed herself long enough to begin talking again. “The guy called me from an unlisted number. I figured it might be a burner or something. He told me that the man I was fucking was not the man I thought he was, and he sent that pic and a few others that were not so lovey-dovey. I was so disgusted over the things he made Jason do, I threw up, but not until after I erased all the photos from my phone. I didn’t want that filth on my phone or in my cloud.”

  I didn’t pay that last comment any mind. As much as she didn’t want it in the cloud, it was still there, and I could get Ty to pull it with ease. If anything, it might give me some other identifying markers that might tell me who this man was. I didn’t want her to suffer any more than she already had, but it was obvious that she wasn’t suffering as badly as she thought.

  I sat there, wondering
if she was going to cut the conversation short or not. After all, her husband was waiting in the wings. She had some things to do; partly making up for lost time, partly to fuck away the guilt she felt for getting caught up. She still wanted to make him pay for the wrong he’d done, but she also wanted to cover up her own wrongdoing. With the other party in no position to ever haunt her again, that would be a secret she could take to her grave.

  As I observed her put her phone away and take a last sip of her wine, I noticed her eyes never met mine for more than a few minutes. It wasn’t hard to figure out she was avoiding me, but it didn’t matter; I got what I needed, especially since I had her cell phone number. The rest was a matter of time and patience.

  “If you think I’m judging you, trust me, I’m not.” I stood for a moment as she got up to leave. I made her look at me, whether she wanted to or not. “What you decide to do from here on out is your business. The only thing I care about is finding the killer.”

  Collette nodded, still unable to look at me. She pushed past me as her cell phone rang, no doubt her husband calling to check up on her. I sat at the table, taking the information I’d received and digested it a bit as I continued to enjoy the steak, and I pulled my smartphone to make a call.

  “Ty, it’s Dom. I need you to run a number and get me all the deleted pictures you can find in the past two weeks…yeah, trust me, this could be the break I was looking for.”

  THIRTEEN

  “Wait a minute…do you care to repeat that one more time?”

  The shock on my face as I listened to Niki tell me that there was a major break in the newly classified murder case of Kendyl Ashton should have put me on the floor. It probably would have, if it weren’t for the irritation I felt and the sneaking suspicion that I’d been played. I wanted to punch the wall; there was no way discretion would be secured now. With the assumption that the body had been recovered, the painstaking process of speaking with the parents to inform them of their daughter’s death would have to be handled.