“You’ve had the best team in the city for well over ten years. But I have to say I’m worried.” Charlie looked down at the floor and shifted his weight from his heels to his toes in a rocking motion.
“I don’t think I have to tell you why. You’ve been in this business for longer than I and you know the mistakes that have been made.” Mark paused, giving Charlie a chance to respond.
Charlie stood still, took a deep breath and looked up at Mark as though he’d just lost his best friend. “It’s my fault. I’ve fallen behind. My guys are playing cat and mouse with each other and I can’t let anyone go because I don’t have the manpower or time to hire and train.”
“Who dropped the ball?” Mark asked, sensing there was more to the story than Charlie was sharing. Charlie once again looked down at the floor and shifted his weight.
“Charlie.” Mark said, inviting him to make eye contact again. “We’ve been friends for many years. There isn’t anything you can tell me that would change that.”
Charlie looked up at him. Mark could see his reflection in Charlie’s eyes. Charlie swallowed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Madeline’s got cancer.”
Madeline and Charlie had been married for over twenty five years. They had two kids together and now had six grandchildren. Madeline hosted many benefit parties for causes close to the precinct’s heart in the past and was the first person to volunteer if there were any missing persons reports released or an amber alert for a missing child.
Mark suddenly felt a mountain of guilt for having such negative thoughts about him. Charlie had been one of the most responsible, reliable and hard working employees since he’d been Chief. He had never so much as taken unplanned day off and was always motivated when he worked with Mark. Madeline’s cancer would clearly explain the slip ups.
Mark’s head tilted in despair. “Oh Jesus. I’m sorry. I had no idea. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Madeline’s scared and doesn’t want anyone except family to know.” He looked down and gathered his thoughts for a moment. Mark sensed he was trying to keep it together.
“Listen, Charlie,” Mark said, resting his hand on Charlie’s shoulder. “I believe in you. You’ve never been a guy to mess around. I know you’ll do the right thing.” Charlie nodded, still looking at the floor. “Let me help you, okay? If you need manpower just say the word.”
Charlie looked up. “Are you sure?”
Mark beamed at him. “Sure, we can shuffle and send a temp or two over for now. After we crack this case we’ll look at a permanent solution.”
Charlie shook his head. “You know, I’m kind of embarrassed. I knew you would be supportive and I tried to explain it to Madeline. I didn’t want to burden her with work troubles under the circumstances.”
“Madeline’s a sweet girl. I’ll be sure to keep her in my prayers.”
“In the meantime, we have a vacuum cleaner that may have something to say about Karen Reed’s murder. Hand me that screwdriver, will you?” Mark said, putting his rubber gloves on.
Chapter 9
Shelley grabbed a quick bite to eat at five. Sarah sent her a couple encouraging text messages in the meantime, pumping her up for yoga class later. Her response after the first ten messages was: ‘I thought you were having a busy day? Stop texting me and work dammit!! Lol’. The yoga bag was sitting in the bottom of Shelley’s side of the closet as usual. As she bent over to pick it up her cell phone whined and vibrated across the bed. It was Mark ‘Sorry, gonna be really late tonight. Don’t wait up.’ Her response was ‘No problem. Yoga night….with Sarah!’
She placed her cell phone in the side pocket of the yoga bag and her exercise clothing and gear into the large pocket and zipped it up. Looking down at her clothing, she realized she needed to change out of her housecleaning clothes before leaving. There was a noticeable hole in the upper part of her shirt; it was the same worn out shirt that Mark had given her as an anniversary gift. Remembering how he reacted the last time she wore it in front of him, she stood in front of her dressing mirror and touched the hole.
You could almost clearly see her breasts through the shirt and now part of her nipple poked out if she bent down slightly. Her hand went up inside the shirt and she stuck her finger through the hole to determine if it was too large to be mended. When her finger touched her nipple, the warmth made it harden. The sensation caused Shelley to close her eyes for a moment. Thoughts began running through her mind of the many times she and Mark made love. It had been so long. Her hands began caressing her breasts, remembering how it felt when Mark did this. She moaned quietly with pleasure.
She pulled her shirt off and the rest of her clothes as she continued to reminisce about her seemingly absent sex life. As she lay on the bed, her heart pumped rapidly in long lost pleasure. When Shelley climaxed, she couldn’t help but wonder if she would ever have an orgasm with Mark ever again. The thought saddened her and she grasped the covers from Mark’s side of the bed. She took his pillow and held it in her arms. His scent remained there from the previous night. Her face was enveloped in the soft, woody scent of his cologne and the softness that lay next to his own face each night.
For a moment Shelley thought why am I sad? Mark wasn’t taken from me; he’s still here. I should be thankful for that. We can still spend the rest of our lives together and this dry spell could be only temporary. She swallowed and peered over at the picture of her and Mark on their wedding day sitting on the night stand. But what if it’s not temporary? What if we can never make love again?
The shirt was puddled on the floor with the rest of her dirty housecleaning clothes. She took the wad of soiled laundry and threw it in the garbage bin next to the bed.
…
Sarah pulled up to the recreation centre first. There was no sign of Shelley yet. Her cell phone wasn’t flashing so there were no new messages. She took a sip out of her water bottle and turned up the volume on the radio. People were coming and leaving the centre in a constant flow. Both families and single men and women of all ages entered and exited. This was entertainment for her given her line of work; there it was impolite to stare. Her line of sight was from the second row of cars; she was lucky enough to get a spot close to the entrance. Good things always came to those who waited and she had sat idling at the front curb for a few minutes, waiting to follow someone to their car; a trick she had learned after many years of parking in the downtown area.
As she navigated through the radio stations, she looked up and saw the most handsome man. He was tall and slender with dark brown wavy hair cut eighties style like Patrick Swayze. He had blue green eyes and a cleft chin. His jacket was slightly open and his hair was still damp from either his workout or a shower afterward. The workout bag that he carried was large and shaped like a tennis racket. Sarah watched him like a puma awaiting her prey. He walked right behind her car and she watched him from her rear view mirror. His ass was very shapely and round, like she could grab it in her hand easily. The bag shifted to his right hand and he grabbed his keys out of his pocket, pulled them out and proceeded to open the trunk of his car…..right beside hers.
Her gasp was audible as he walked right to the passenger side door on her left. If he turned around, he would look directly at her. The door opened and suddenly she heard a ‘thud.’ She blindly felt for the power window button in the centre console as she said “shit!” As the window rolled down, he turned around and smiled sheepishly.
“Oh Jesus ma’am! I’m so sorry!” he said.
She smiled and said casually, “That’s okay, I thought I parked a little close.”
“It doesn’t appear to have left a mark. Do you want to see for yourself?” he offered, embarrassed.
If it did, you can father my children and consider us even she thought to herself but didn’t say it aloud.
He shifted and made enough room so she could open the door. Sarah opened the door and squeezed out slowly, grinning.
“Um, yeah, I guess I did park a litt
le close.” She half laughed as she closed the door behind her and looked at her mirror. There wasn’t a mark on it.
“Ah, you’re right, there’s nothing there. No harm done.” She smiled and looked at him.
“I’m terribly sorry about that. I had forgotten my padlock in the passenger seat. I was just getting it before heading to yoga class.”
Her face lit up. “Oh, yoga? Yeah, I’m just waiting for my friend. We’re going to yoga too.” She felt like a moron. She might as well have drooled.
He grinned and a small dimple appeared in his left cheek. “Well, I guess I’ll see you in there then.” Then he held out his left hand, which bore no ring and she took note, and offered to shake her hand. “I’m Michael.”
The warmth and softness of his hand made her knees weak. “I’m Sarah.” She returned, giving his hand a gentle pump.
“Sorry we met under these circumstances.”
Sarah waved. “Ah, that’s okay. You can bang me…er…my car any day.”
…
Shelley put her bag down and unzipped the side pocket. There were no messages on her cell phone. She quickly typed in, ‘Where the hell are you? I’m in the change room. Class is starting in five minutes!’
As she waited she began to dress for yoga. Ten seconds later her phone vibrated and whined as it had earlier. She looked at the screen, which read ‘I’m here! I’ve been waiting! I’ll meet you in class.’ Shelley sighed and shook her head.
She saw Sarah standing outside the class and the look on her face prompted Shelley to ask, “What is going on?” Her face bore a smirk and it looked as though she was trying to hold back laughter. Sarah grabbed Shelley by the arm and took her inside the classroom, holding her close enough to smell the Caesar salad she’d had for dinner.
“Oh my god!” she squeaked.
“What? What? Tell me!” Shelley begged.
“I was waiting in the parking lot and this gorgeous guy gives me a door ding…and his name is Michael and he’s coming to yoga!”
Shelley rolled her eyes. “Oh dear god woman! I thought there was something wrong!”
“No, no. All is great!” Sarah squeaked and squeezed Shelley’s arm.
The yoga instructor entered the square shaped room. Both girls had their outfits on as did everyone else. Some people who didn’t have lockers were placing their bags in the corner of the room that had a sign saying ‘Please place belongings here.’ And an arrow pointing down. Shelley pointed to the sign and Sarah responded by picking up her bag and walking it over. When she put it down she noticed everyone was already laying out their yoga mats and assembling around the instructor.
“Come on, come on!” Shelley coaxed, motioning Sarah to hurry up and grab a spot beside her.
Shelley had already grabbed two mats from the bin by the door and placed them side by side at the back of the class. There were about fifty yoga enthusiasts present, and as hard as Sarah tried, she couldn’t find Michael. Once the class began, Sarah finally caught sight of him during a warm up pose. She couldn’t bend down far enough to touch the floor and the instructor said to remain standing if that was the case. Sarah and about ten other people followed suit, and Michael was one of them. He was in front, only a few rows from the instructor, she saw him clear as day and nudged Shelley, who was bent over fully.
As Shelley remained bent over she hissed, “This is not the time!”
There was a break about thirty minutes into the class, nearly half way through. During this time the girls stayed in the class while others took a washroom break or went to refill their water bottles. Michael caught sight of Sarah and came over.
“Hey again. How are you enjoying the class so far?” he asked. His hair was damp again and there was a triangle of sweat from his neck to his chest under his t-shirt.
“It’s great so far. This is my friend Shelley.” he offered Shelley a hand shake and she shifted her water bottle to her left hand to oblige.
Sarah and Michael remained talking flirtatiously for the next few minutes while Shelley stood, awkwardly peeling the label off her water bottle. She kept checking to see when the yoga instructor would return, counting the minutes.
A few latecomers were arriving and Shelley was relieved that something else grabbed her attention. She watched as some filed in just as they did a half hour before. One man entered and smiled at Shelley. She smiled back casually and took another sip of water. He walked by her and she noticed he had an interesting tattoo on his upper right arm. It was small yet subtle. She recognized the zodiac sign straight away since she’d seen it many times on her mother’s horoscope reference material. He was a Leo. The lion tattoo was only about three inches in diameter but the detail was astounding. It seemed as though you could see every hair on the lion’s body. She couldn’t help but stare as he walked by.
He took his place slightly to the left of her in the row ahead. The yoga instructor returned and class resumed. Michael bid Sarah adieu and promised they would talk after class.
“Do you want to have his children yet?” Shelley snickered as he walked away.
“We’ll see. I think I’m going to ask him out. Do you think I should or should I wait and let him ask me?”
“I bet he’s gay. A good looking drink of water like that and still single? Gay.” Sarah rolled her eyes.
“Oh stop being jealous. I’ll tell you all the details, don’t worry.”
“Jealous? Why would I be jealous?”
“I don’t know. After being married for as long as you have I just figured.” Sarah shrugged. “Why? Does Mark still ride you like a pony in bed like he used to?” She laughed, arranging her arms in front of her, mirroring Shelley’s pose.
Shelley hesitated. Her lack of response spoke volumes and Sarah looked over at her, bent down to see her face and Shelley looked at Sarah from the corner of her eye.
“He’s fine,” she said.
“Really? I saw you checking out that other guy over there.” Sarah said, motioning her chin over towards the tattoo guy.
Shelley’s head quickly turned to Sarah’s and she gave her a look as though she’d just been insulted. “So now I’m not allowed to look?” She said under her breath. “For the record. I was looking at his tattoo.” Her head returned to the centre and they both squatted down along with all the others.
Sarah didn’t press. It wasn’t often that Shelley spoke in that tone.
At the end of class, Michael stopped and cordially said goodbye to both girls. Shelley was quiet while they showered and got dressed.
“You wanna go for a drink?” Sarah offered, sensing Shelley needed to talk.
Shelley nodded and headed for the door, which Sarah took as assent. She took a deep breath. She knew there was definitely something bothering her dear friend.
…
“You want the good news or bad first?” Lisa asked.
“Surprise me.” Mark looked up from his computer screen in frustration. It had frozen for the third time in ten minutes.
“We got a DNA sample from the vacuum cleaner bag.” Lisa said matter of factly. “But there was no match in the system.”
It was almost 7pm and Mark had waited all afternoon hoping that the lab would produce something to help solve the case. There was no word from any other leads, including Karen Reed’s best friend who was supposed to have made contact by now.
Mark stretched his arms over his head and ran his fingers through his hair in exhaustion. He took a deep breath and clasped his hands under his chin. Finally after a long pause he said to Lisa, “Why don’t you head home? It’s been a long day.”
She raised her chin, “You should do the same.”
“I think I might try the friend again. What was her name?” he asked, scratching his forearm.
“Monica Sutherland.” Lisa’s eyes scanned upward at the clock on the wall above Mark’s head. “It’s after the dinner hour. You might have some luck if she’s home.”
“Give me the number.” He stifled a yawn.
Thirty seconds later, she returned from her desk. Mark rose from his chair to meet her halfway. “You don’t have to call her,” Lisa said,
“She’s here. She just walked in.” Lisa’s brows were raised in surprise. Mark peered over the filing cabinets and saw Monica standing by Lisa’s desk.
“Send her in,” he said, straightening his tie.
Monica wore a well-tailored pants suit, definitely custom fit but not from any fancy label. Her brown hair was well groomed and tucked back in a clip on either side of her face. She wore just enough mascara and lipstick to highlight her light features. She had recently whitened her teeth. Mark offered her a handshake and noticed she wore no expensive jewellery. Her handshake was firm.
Mark motioned her to the guest chair in front of him. “Please have a seat.” She placed her handbag in the chair next to her.
He fidgeted with a pencil on his desk while she retrieved a business card out of her purse and handed it to him. The pencil was only about three inches long and had chew marks all over it.
“I apologize for not calling sooner. I just got back from my mother’s place on Sunday and then immediately came down with the flu….or food poisoning. You never know with my mother’s cooking,” she said with a gentle giggle.
“I would have called first to make an appointment but my schedule is very much in disarray. I’m a realtor.” She said, pointing at her business card. “I just showed a house two blocks from here and thought I would take my chances dropping in.”
“No problem. What can you tell me about your relationship with Ms. Reed?” Mark asked, placing the card upright on his keyboard.
Monica spoke like she was being interviewed by a client. “Well, we met while she was working as a waitress at TGI Friday’s. I think we were around twenty one or twenty two….I was the hostess. She was going through for her degree in University and I was working on my real estate license. We did a lot of things together and we even lived together for a while until she met up with Eddie, her husband. He died in a car accident a while back….but I’m sure you already know that.” Monica paused.
The Wife of a Lesser Man (LA Cops Series Book 1) Page 7
