After his talk with Aletta in the car, he wondered if she would actually listen to him if there was danger. When he reported to the captain, Jones was surprised but pleased to hear what they’d done and that he was still willing to partner with Aletta at this point. Her observational skills had apparently spooked some of her other prospective partners and they had point-blank declined to partner with her. As far as he was concerned, it wasn’t an issue. From what he’d observed of her, she’d never use her skills against her partner and didn’t seem to be the type to pry past what the other person was willing to share.
He grinned, surprised to discover that for the first time in a long while, he was actually looking forward to tomorrow. He didn’t know what was going to happen, but he bet that it would at least be interesting.
Four
Aletta groaned as she dumped her stuff at her desk, then sipped at her coffee to see if it was cool enough to drink. Although calling it coffee was somewhat of a misnomer since it was more sugar and creamer than coffee. Satisfied that it was indeed cool enough to drink she took a long swallow, praying that the caffeine would kick in quickly. She jumped about a foot when she realized that Lirim was standing silently behind her.
She whirled to face him, hand covering her pounding heart. She scowled, “Make some sound when you approach somebody.”
He gave her an absent nod, his nose twitching slightly. “What in the world are you drinking?”
She grumbled and took another swallow. “It’s coffee, obviously.”
He smirked at her. “If you say so. Ready to get started?”
She groaned and gave him an assessing glare. “You’re a morning person, aren’t you?”
“Yep. C’mon, we’re burning daylight.”
She surrendered, unable to come up with a cutting response, the caffeine not in effect yet. “Where do you want to start?”
“Up to you. You’re in charge, remember?”
She scowled and muttered several things under her breath. Swiping the file off of her desk, she growled, “Let’s go talk to tech first, see if they turned up anything on that name we gave them yesterday.”
He motioned for her to go first, amusement dancing in his eyes. It irritated her that he found her ire amusing but she decided to just ignore him, too tired to muster up the energy to confront him about it. Besides, it was only their second day as partners and she didn’t want to do anything that would fuel the office gossip. It was already a living thing; she didn’t need to feed it by squabbling with her partner in front of everyone. She made a mental note to yell at him about it later when she was more awake. That, and for him to not be so disgustingly cheerful in the morning.
Walking down the hallway, they made their way to the tech area. She pushed open the door, a smile easing away her scowl. Tech was one of her favorite places in the whole department. It was full of unique individuals but somehow she managed to fit right in. Scanning the room, she was pleased to see that Ian was at his desk. She made a beeline for him, amused to see that the knick knacks on his desk seemed to have multiplied again. He was an avid collector of action figures, which was how their friendship had started. She’d been dropping some files off to him when she’d noticed a rare Starfire figurine on his desk. When Aletta had asked him where he’d gotten it, his jaw had practically dropped. No one had ever correctly identified it before. They’d ended up bonding over their mutual adoration of the Starfire Dragon Chronicles.
She chuckled. So she was a bit of a nerd, so what? Emptying the last bit of coffee from the cup, she chucked it in his trash. “Hey Ian, got a sec?”
“For you, I have a minute.” Her partner moved up behind him and Ian smiled. “Hey Lirim, what can I do for you?”
Lirim merely jerked his thumb at her and Ian’s eyes widened. Aletta merely rolled her eyes, the caffeine finally starting to kick in. “Okay, you obviously know each other, so that saves some time. Lirim’s my new partner. We need some help on our case.”
Ian’s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked back and forth between them. “Aletta, why’d they partner him with you? Is it because of the ogre incident? Or are you in danger?”
Aletta felt her face heat up and wondered why she’d even decided to get up today. Oh yeah, because she needed to eat and this job paid her bills. That and there was a murderer to catch. Taking a deep breath, she counted to five before answering. “It has nothing to do with the ogre incident. I wish people would just let it go already! I survived; no one was seriously injured; everything’s good. But no, people just have to keep poking at the raw spot.”
Ian winced and held up his hands placatingly. “I won’t bring it up again, promise. But are you in danger?”
She eyed the redhead, judging his sincerity. Deciding that he meant it, she shrugged. “Nope, s’all good.
“Remember I said that we need your help? Turns out that the captain assigned me to the murder case. He decided that it would be better for me to have an experienced agent for a partner since this is my first murder. Lirim happened to be solo at the moment and generously agreed to oversee the case with me. Depending on how well we work together on this case, we may or may not end up as permanent partners. So, ready?”
Ian swiveled his chair and placed his hands on the keyboard, “Fire away, Leta.”
“We’re working on the Jeremy Brown murder. When we visited his job, they mentioned a client that was shifty, an Edmund Druery. Any intel yet?”
His hands flew over the keys before stopping and turning the monitor so they could see the various files he had pulled up. “Doesn’t exist.”
She groaned and shot Lirim a wry glance. “Told you. What about the cameras at the bank? I know that they have the technology to cut through glamours.”
“This guy was a smart bastard. Kept his face away from all of the cameras and wore nondescript clothes. All I can say is that our perp is male and Fae; can’t say anything beyond that for certain.”
“What about footage around the bank? Any idea which way he came from or left?”
“Nope. He teleported in and out.”
Aletta sighed, “Great, so we’re dealing with a greater Fae here. At least that’s something, I suppose. Thanks Ian. We still on for next Thursday?”
He grinned at her. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Sorry I wasn’t more help. Now get out of my space, I have things to do.”
She chuckled at his trademark dismissal and made her way out of the tech area, Lirim following her closely. She wondered how long it would take for his curiosity to get the better of him. He lasted exactly five steps beyond the tech door, which was longer than she thought he would. “So, what’s on next Thursday?”
She smirked. She knew it was petty, but it was satisfying after he’d irritated her this morning. Still, it wouldn’t hurt for her to tell him. “The next novel in the Starfire Dragon Chronicles comes out. We’re going to get a copy together.” And she’d lost him, his interest immediately fading. “Come on, let’s grab a conference room. We need to go over the file and the main area is way too noisy.”
He grunted his agreement and followed her into the nearest free room. Sitting, she dropped the case file carelessly on the table and pulled out a notepad. “Okay, let’s start with what we know. Jeremy Brown was murdered. The attacker came, killed him, and left without apparent detection.”
She looked up at him from where she was writing. “Hey, if nobody saw or heard anything, how did we find out that there’d been a murder?”
Lirim didn’t even bother to look at his notes from the day before. “When he didn’t appear at work or call in, Mr. Raymer sent someone to check on him. Apparently he hasn’t missed a day of work in nearly three years. That co-worker was the one that found him. The interview is in the file. Poor woman was traumatized.”
“Huh. Mr. Raymer didn’t mention that yesterday. Interesting. Anyway, back to the case. After assessing the scene, it became clear that the perpetrator didn’t come into contact with Mr. Brown through either his fa
mily or his social life, but through his work. Upon visiting his work, the First National Bank, we confirmed that he’d met his killer at work when said killer came in to inquire about opening an account. Was he looking for any manager or did he specifically target Mr. Brown?”
She quickly made a note to look into that, then added another one. “Also, if he specifically targeted Mr. Brown to gain access to something, what did Mr. Brown have access to that he wanted?”
“I’ll have Ian look into the accounts Mr. Brown managed. What else?” Lirim pulled out his phone and shot Ian a text with their request.
“So, the killer appears to be highly intelligent based on his use of glamour and a false name. He avoids all of the cameras in the bank, allowing us to only identify him as male and Fae. Also, he appears to be a greater Fae, given his ability to transport himself. Can you narrow it down to a specific type of Fae given that?”
He shook his head. “There are several types of greater Fae that have the ability to summon, cast a glamour, and teleport. Nothing stands out yet that would definitely identify him as one or the other.”
“Come on, Lirim. Give me something to work with here.”
“Well, Leta, I can’t. This is the third case lately where leads seem to vanish into thin air or not even exist in the first place.”
She glanced at him and raised an eyebrow, but just shrugged, “Leta doesn’t bother me, although I can switch back to Agent Bosk if you prefer.”
He chuckled. “Nah, its fine. Just messing with you. Seems like you’ve woken up at least.”
She groaned, “Not all the world can be morning people, you know.”
He ignored this and drummed his fingers on the table top. “So, where do we go from here?”
Frowning in concentration, she tried to figure out what was nagging at her. Dragging the case file over to her, she opened it and shuffled through it until she found the sole witness interview. Scanning it quickly, she grimaced, then reread it more carefully. Sliding it over to Lirim, she said, “Tell me what’s wrong with this.”
He read it before handing it back to her. “I don’t know. It seems fine to me.”
“All right, bear with me.”
Straightening, she read, “‘So Miss Valens, what brought you to Mr. Brown’s house?’ ‘Mr. Raymer said that Mr. Brown hadn’t come to work, so I volunteered to go check on him. We were close; he was my friend.’” Aletta looked at Lirim, but he merely stared at her.
“When we interviewed Mr. Raymer, he said the Mr. Brown was a loner, no close co-workers, too focused on work.”
Understanding flashed in his eyes. “That’s right, I didn’t notice that. Anything else?”
“You said that she was traumatized?”
“Yeah, nearly hysterical from what the responding officers said.”
Aletta continued reading, “‘All right, Miss Valens, walk me through how you found Mr. Brown.’ ‘I pulled up to his house, everything looked normal. I walked up to the door and rang it several times. When he didn’t answer, I found his spare key and opened the door. When I opened the door, the smell... it was... it was... horrific. I was too scared to go inside, so I called the police department and waited outside until they arrived.’”
“She didn’t actually enter the house?”
“No. Now while I suppose that the realization that your co-worker is dead could be traumatizing, that seems off to me. There are several things that strike me as off.”
“Such as?”
“What average person approaches a house and thinks that it looks normal? When someone is checking on someone, they’re usually too focused on making sure that the person is okay to really notice how the house appears. Also, she rang several times. Proper etiquette is to ring, wait a minute for a response, then ring again. When someone is worried or stressed, they unconsciously fall back onto familiar routine and behaviors. When he didn’t answer the door, she found the spare key. Mr. Brown is not the type of person to hide his key under the welcome mat. He strikes me as the kind of individual that would leave the key with a trusted neighbor for emergencies only.”
Lirim snagged the case file and quickly searched through it. “You’re right. Detective Weathers reported that during his interview of the neighbors. The neighbor to the right of Mr. Brown had a house key in case of emergencies.” He pulled out the report and handed it to her.
She accepted it and hmmed thoughtfully. “If she were really his close friend, she would’ve known this. I can only conclude that she was lying. So if she didn’t have the key, she couldn’t have opened the door. That means that she knew that he was already dead when she called the police.”
She scanned the report and set it aside. “I should’ve guessed that he had an ally on the inside, a low-level person. How else would he know where all the cameras were positioned? Problem was, she wasn’t high enough level to access whatever it is he wants, so they singled out Mr. Brown. She knew that he was a loner, so figured that even if they approached him, he’d never talk about it. But she didn’t count on his strong ethics.”
Lirim’s phone chimed and he glanced at it. “Ian sent the accounts. Here, you look at them. I’m going to call the bank and see if Miss Valens showed up to work today.”
Her phone pinged as he stood and left the room. Opening the file from Ian, she was glad for his thoroughness. However, the list was massive. How in the world was she supposed to narrow it down? Sighing, she started scrolling through it. Sometimes she really hated efficient people.
* . * . *
She’d just finished going through the list when Lirim returned, irritation visibly rolling off of him. Slumping in the chair, he growled. “They kept giving me the run-around, kept transferring me. Finally, someone told me that she’d been given the rest of the week off to recover from emotional distress. Ian’s going to send me her home address. Any luck?”
“I think I found something. Mr. Brown was a very competent bank manager. He managed over a hundred accounts personally, some pretty big names actually. However, there was one that stood out. A pawn shop opened an account with him a little over two weeks ago along with safety deposit box. I think that they have something to do with whatever it is they want. Nothing else really sets off any red flags.”
“Let’s go pay them a visit, see if they’d be willing to share what’s in that box.”
Standing, she hastily stuffed the case file in her messenger bag and followed after Lirim.
* . * . *
Aletta stared at the pawn shop, taking everything in. While not necessarily in a bad neighborhood, the pawn shop had clearly seen better days. Age had mellowed it, giving it more of a comfortably shabby feel rather than broken down. If she had to describe it, she’d say that it felt like the neighborhood grandma, the one who always had cookies and time to share with anyone who wanted it.
Lirim asked, “This is the place?”
She double checked the address and nodded.
He said firmly, “Let me go first.”
She glanced at him. “Is something wrong?”
He hesitated, “It feels too... open. After everything else, who knows what could happen? It’s probably nothing.”
She shook her head. “Don’t discount your instincts. They’ve kept you alive this long, right?”
He shot her a grateful look. “Let’s go, you’ll take lead in questioning.”
Exiting the car, she scanned the neighborhood, but nothing stood out to her. She allowed Lirim to take the lead, falling in right behind him. The bells on the door jingled cheerfully as they stepped inside. The shop appeared empty, so she took the opportunity to glance around. Light streamed through the clean front window, giving the room a warm glow. All of the shelves were packed, but the items seemed clean and in good repair. All in all, it was a very welcoming place.
The sound of shuffling footsteps drew her attention to the back of the store. An old man appeared through a curtained doorway that she’d missed. Lirim made his way over to the man and she stay
ed right behind him, ignoring the temptation to go and explore the shop. The old man looked up and greeted them with a warm smile. “What can I do for you folks?”
Lirim pulled out his badge and showed it to him. “We’re with HSI. We need to ask you a few questions.”
The man moved over to the counter and perched on the stool placed there. “Of course. How can I help you, agents?”
Lirim eyed him for moment before stepping back and motioning for Aletta to take the lead. Taking this to mean that it was safe for the moment, she smiled and approached the proprietor. “Mr. Williams, I’m Agent Sheridan and this is Agent Bosk. We need to ask you a few questions. About two weeks ago, you opened an account with the First National Bank. What prompted you to do this?”
He looked at them startled, “Am I under investigation?”
She looked at Lirim for permission and he nodded for her to go ahead. “No, but there has been a crime. The person who helped you set up your account was murdered.”
“Mr. Brown was killed?”
“Yes sir, yesterday.”
Sadness passed over his face. “He was a nice young man. I’m sorry to hear that. But what does that have to do with me?”
“We’ve come to believe that Mr. Brown was killed because the killer wanted him to acquire something from the bank for him and Mr. Brown refused. After a thorough search, your account was the most likely target. Would you be willing to tell us what’s in that safety deposit box?”
Mr. Williams fidgeted with his glasses and sighed. “Oh dear, I never expected something like this to happen.”
“What is in there?”
Opening a drawer, he pulled out a picture. “It’s a statue, roughly six inches tall, of a dryad dancing. About three weeks ago, a lovely young woman– an apple dryad, I believe– came into my store. She was in desperate need of money and she offered the statue as collateral. Said that it had been in her family for generations. I couldn’t turn her away.
In Search of Justice Page 4
