by Paris Morgan
Silence fell as I stuffed my face with the delicious food. “Do detectives always get to have hot food?”
“More than patrol officers do. You have to learn to disassociate from any crime scene that you’re at and eat when it’s time,” Joe advised around a mouthful of food.
“Oh, I showed her the card that came with the flowers. She said it looked like it was done by an artist rather than just a computer-generated icon. When we finish eating, I’d like to go back to that first scene and see if we can find a card or something like this that we missed that would connect the two scenes.” I closed my eyes, the sweet tea hitting the spot.
Joe wiped at his mouth with a paper napkin.
“You know, most cases aren’t solved in the first day. You kind of have to pace yourself, or the chief will have you working all the time. But I know how it is the first day with all of that enthusiasm, so I guess we can make a second pass.” He started the car, heading back to the first victim’s house.
“Not all murders are connected either. Serial killers are rare, even though that’s what’s always shown on TV because they’re the most sensational. These two murders are most likely not connected at all. Maybe it’s just a coincidence that they were in the same area.”
“You’re probably right, but I just have a feeling that we missed something on the first one. The fact that they were killed only a day apart on their birthdays is what’s bothering me the most.”
I collected our trash and put it back in the bag so that I could dispose of it later. Even though it looked like Joe didn’t know what a trash cans was, I wasn’t about to add to the problem.
The only thing left from this morning was the crime scene tape. It was eerily quiet inside as we pulled our gloves on and walked over the outlines and into the empty living room.
“I don’t see how we could have missed anything.” Joe moved around carefully, appraising the scene to see if anything stood out.
“The bedroom,” I exclaimed. Racing back to her room, I started pulling out drawers.
“What are you talking about?” Joe had followed me, but at a much slower pace.
“She has lacy underwear.” I held up a pair in my gloved hand like it was evidence.
“What in the world are you blabbering about? Most single women have lacy underpants, don’t they?”
“True, but the majority of her drawers are filled with nice stuff. A girl from small-town Oklahoma isn’t going to own mostly lacy stuff. She’s going to have a few nice pairs for a date, but will wear the comfortable ones unless she’s dating on a regular basis.” I smiled triumphantly.
“That doesn’t mean she was dating. Maybe she just went out occasionally to scratch an itch and then came home. Her boss said she worked all the time and didn’t have time for other stuff.”
“Well, bosses can be wrong. I need to look through her social media and phone stuff. I’m pretty sure that she had boyfriend, at least recently. I still want to find that card,” I muttered, walking back to the living room.
“I’m so glad that you’re here to tell me things I would have missed.” His sarcasm obvious.
Ignoring him, I continued to look at the room from the kitchen’s point of view.
Then I saw it, mixed in with the mail that had dropped when she’d fallen. One of the techs must have put it back on the desk once they were done.
A note card with the sign of Aquarius, with the words ‘Happy Birthday’ printed, but no signature.
Joe was standing next to me with an evidence bag for the card.
“Good job, kid. Let’s call it a day and go back to process this, see if we can find anything on these cards.”
Chapter 2
My alarm went off an hour and a half before I had to be at work, but that wasn’t what had me groaning. It was the coffee date I’d agreed to the day before.
Why did I do things like this to myself? There was no way that a cup of coffee before work was going to be enough to tell me if we would hit it off. Then again, having coffee meant that he wasn’t going to expect to get to home base the first time we met.
Standing in front of my closet wasn’t helpful, because I was honestly clueless as to what I should wear. I had to go to work afterward, so I compromised and went with a pair of casual khaki pants and dress shirt. I was still too new from my patrol beat to feel comfortable in women’s dress shoes or heels. My dress boots were hidden, but I didn’t have to worry that they would hold up if I had to chase someone.
Hair and makeup didn’t take long, and before I knew it, I was parked and in the coffee shop, waiting on a guy who looked like his picture to walk through the door.
My phone dinged, so I missed the moment he walked into the room.
He was about six foot two, good looking, with blond hair and a clean-shaven style. Not my usual type of bad-boy-trying-to-do-good, but maybe I could make an exception in his case. He made a beeline straight toward me, and I had to tear my eyes away from his muscled physique. His picture didn’t do him justice.
“Hi. I’m hoping you’re Leslie?”
“Uh, yeah, and you must be Jerome. It’s nice to meet you. Should we get some coffee and something to eat?” I nervously suggested.
“Of course.” He politely motioned for me to order first.
It was now or never, and I needed a real breakfast before I went to work, so I ordered a burrito, orange juice, and to-go coffee. If he couldn’t handle my job, it was best to get it over with now.
“You must have worked up an appetite while waiting for me.” He gave me a charming grin that threatened to melt the walls I normally kept up.
“Sort of. I need a good meal before I start my shift. It could be a while before I get a chance to eat again.” Before I could say anything else, he started to order.
“I’ll have a to-go coffee and a banana, please.” He pulled out his wallet.
“No, I’ve got this one.” I waved his money away. I’d wanted us to go Dutch, but I decided that paying for all of it was better than being obligated to him if things didn’t work out.
“For today. I’ll get it next time.” He confidently stepped to the side to wait for our order. “So, what do you do for a living that has you skipping meals?”
I took a deep breath. “I’m a police detective.”
“Really? That must be fascinating. Getting to catch the bad guys and knowing that you’re making the world a better place.”
“It can be, if you find the one who committed the crime. I work homicides, so I tend to see the worst in people.” I cringed and turned to grab the tray as they called our number.
“I could see how that makes things more difficult. You’re always seeing people who’ve had a bad day, and it’s hard to think of rainbows and unicorns after being faced with death on a daily basis,” he sympathized.
Staring at him seemed to be a thing, as I found myself gaping at his words. Could I have actually found someone that understood my job? Time to put some of my skills to use instead of letting him carry the conversation.
“What do you do for a living? It didn’t say on your profile.”
“Oh, I do research for articles with a few magazines here in Dallas. I gather all the research and do the outlines of facts for the first draft, then they write it and put their bylines on it.”
“That’s terrible. Why would you let someone else get the credit for your work?”
He smiled at my offense on his behalf. “I’m really just a well-paid fact checker. Writers don’t always have time to do all the research on a subject, but they need to make sure that it’s done correctly so they don’t get sued. I do the reading and computer search for them so they can publish knowing they’re giving their people the best information on any given topic. I’m kind of the insurance person for writers. It’s cute that you would get upset on my behalf, though.”
“I’m surprised that I reacted so strongly, but I’m kind of a black and white kind of girl. There isn’t much room for the gray or crossing lines
in my job, and that just sounds like they’re cheating or something.” I slapped my hand over my mouth in horror. “I just went really deep for a coffee date. I apologize. My mouth is the thing that gets me in the most trouble with people.”
“No worries. Any woman that can become a detective has to be tough and opinionated to make it to that type of position. What made you want to be a cop in the first place?” He paused. “See? Now I’ve done it too, asking a deep question that should be for a later date.”
“This is one question I don’t mind answering. My sister is a cop, and when she first got started, I thought she was crazy. I mean, who wants a job where they get shot at? Then I started listening to some of the stories where she was able to help people, and I knew when I got out of college that I’d join the academy.”
“Um,” He let out a nervous laugh, before sipping his coffee. “Now, let’s find a lighter subject. Are you a dog or cat person?”
“Neither, really. That’s why I did the dating app. I don’t have much of a life. I’m gone too much to have a pet and still give them the attention that they deserve. Which is one of the reasons that I was reluctant to fill out the profile for a date. I have a hectic schedule, and it doesn’t leave much room for relationships.”
“Well, I think that any man who meets you could see that your job comes first. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It means that if you ever fall in love, you’ll be just as passionate about that person as you are about your job.”
I could feel a blush creeping up my cheeks. To hide it, I took a large drink of orange juice, only to start choking because I’d drank it too fast.
Jerome reached over and began patting my back. “Whoa, I hope I didn’t offend you.”
“No, you didn’t. I’m just not used to doing this kind of thing.” I wiped my chin to make sure that I hadn’t dribbled on my shirt or anything.
“The not being in control of everything, or having a conversation with a guy you might be interested in?” Jerome crossed his arms with a smirk.
“Ah, well, you are very interesting. But I’m not a control freak, so I’m not sure how that applies here.” I knew as soon as the words left my mouth that he had me figured out. I could never let someone else be in control, and it was one of the reasons that I didn’t have lasting relationships.
“How about we compromise so we don’t trigger your control issues?” His grin suggested he was being playful, “Dinner tonight, but you choose the place so that you feel comfortable, and we can ask light questions we skipped this morning?” He glanced at his watch. “I’ve got a meeting in twenty minutes, and it’ll take most of that to get there.”
Unable to meet his eyes, I focused on the top button of his shirt. “Yes to dinner. Just tell me where you want to go, I’m not that picky.”
He studied me for a moment before replying. “The Italian place off the Central Expressway at seven.”
“Done. I’ll be thinking of questions for dinner.” I grabbed my coffee and uneaten burrito before I fled the scene.
I arrived at Joe’s desk, out of breath, but not for the reason that he assumed.
I had a date tonight, and I had no idea how that had happened. I hadn’t chased this guy off yet. Well, he still had the afternoon to think about my words before standing me up.
***
“What’s the plan for today?” I wanted to get the conversation off of me to help avoid questions.
“A visit to the morgue so we can make sure that these cases are both connected. I know we found cards at each of the crime scenes, but it’s always better to collect as many facts as possible. Did you think of anything last night that might help?”
“What makes you think I worked on this last night?” I shoved the last bite of burrito into my mouth, glad that something good came from my morning stop.
“You’re new and eager to prove yourself. Plus, this is one of those cases that if we don’t crack it in the next forty-eight hours, it’ll become a cold case. Our chances become very slim on finding who did this.”
Joe pulled out his keys.
“Nope, I’m driving today.” I figured he could wait to find out what I’d discovered on the way to the morgue.
“Oh, great,” Joe grumbled, following me. “Taking the lead already.”
“Not exactly. I just want to smell like me at the end of the day and not like fried chicken.” I stuck my tongue out at him as we walked out to the parking garage.
“So what did you discover last night?” Joe waited for me to unlock his door.
“I got on all their social media sites last night and looked through their profiles. Susan had her work stuff separate from her private stuff. She had two accounts so her boss didn’t see what she did when she wasn’t working. She seemed to be into a less than traditional sex life.” I concentrated on bypassing the morning traffic that the freeways were congested with at this time of day.
“You mean, like, a private club?” He shifted uncomfortably.
“Yes, but I found two or three people that might be able to shed light on her more current activities.”
“What about our other victim, Heather?”
“Most of her stuff was pretty normal. Since she worked late, there weren’t a lot of friends that she did stuff with. She had a few girlfriends that she kept in touch with, but it looked like she was more of a home body than victim number one.” I pulled into the morgue’s parking lot and waited for Joe to get out so that I could lock it up.
“Let’s see if we can find out what the murder weapon was so that we can run it through the database for similar crimes. This might not be this guy’s first try at this.”
“Agreed. If it is, he got really lucky on not leaving much evidence behind.”
“Anyone that watches TV or does their research can figure out how to avoid leaving a trace. But lucky for us, the majority of criminals aren’t that smart.” Joe led the way inside, since I’d had no idea where we were going.
Joe stopped outside a set of swinging doors and swiped his ID card, which granted us entrance into the room.
“Hey, Caleb,” Joe called out to a middle-aged guy removing someone’s vital organs.
Even though I wasn’t squeamish, seeing something that belonged on the inside of a body hadn’t been on my to-do list for today.
“Joe, I see you’ve brought your new side piece with you.” He barely glanced up at us.
“Excuse me?” I frowned. He should know better than to say something like that.
“What?” He looked up at the sound of my voice. “Joe didn’t show you his new gun?”
“No, he didn’t.” I gave Joe a dirty look for not warning me about this guy.
“So what do you have for us on the two dead bodies?” He stood at the edge of the room, not going any closer to the table than he had to.
“I wrote the reports up last night. Give me just a second to record this and I’ll go over it with you.” He put an organ on the scale and made a notation on his tablet. We watched as he bagged it up before pulling his gloves off with a snap.
“We’re talking about the two victims of blunt trauma that came in before noon yesterday, correct?”
“Yeah. Do you already have a cause of death?” I had to tread carefully. I didn’t want to get on the bad side of anyone this early in my career. These guys were the ones that could make or break a case with their testimony and evidence.
“It was a light day, but we had three gunshot victims last night. I don’t have much extra time, so let’s get to it.” He picked up a file and flipped it open. “This first one was from the day before. She’d been dead at least twelve hours when it was called in to you guys. It was a quick hit to the middle of the forehead, probably when she turned back around. He was able to take her by surprise because there were no signs of struggle. The blow would have knocked her unconscious and fractured her skull, causing her to die rather quickly.
“The second victim, he had to hit twice to accomplish his goal. The first blow si
mply dazed her, and he had to hit her harder the second time so that she couldn’t fight back or call for help. You’ll see here in the X-rays that he crushed her skull in, which is why there was tissue leaking out from the wound.” He closed the folder and placed it on top of the other one.
“What kind of weapon did he use to do this?” I posed the question when it looked like Joe wasn’t going to say anything.
“It was a six to twelve inch wooden weapon, like a large handle to something.” He demonstrated with his hands.
“Could he have exerted that much force to cause that kind of damage with something less than a foot long?” Joe questioned from behind me.
“I’m going to guess that he was able to swing it in a downward motion, which puts him at a little taller than both women. I’d estimate at least six foot, considering that they were both under 5’6”. If he was determined and knew what he was doing, then this would have been fairly easy. I didn’t detect any hesitation on the first one, just a good clean blow to the head. The second one received two blows, but from the pictures of the crime scene, it appears that she had a towel on the top of her head. That would have changed the effectiveness and made the second blow a requirement if he was intent on causing her death.” He continued to talk as he walked over to the wall and grabbed another pair of gloves. “If you find anything, or come across something that looks like it might have been used, send me a picture and I’ll see if I can match it.”
“Thanks for your time, Caleb.” Joe hurried back out into the hallway. Following him out, he turned to me, exhaled, and took a deep breath. “I hate going in there. Dead bodies are fine until they’re cut open and he’s playing around with their insides. I’ve seen lots of zombie movies, and I always expect it to come alive with its chest open and bite him.” He shivered before straightening up. “Anyway, do you have a possible lead on a boyfriend or partner for Susan?”
