"Good thinking, but we still need more. We need to go back to where he abducted you."
Vicky nodded and the world around them shimmered, everything shifting into another scene associated with the crime. Danny recognized the environment from the crime scene photos. It was Vicky's house moments before she was taken. She had just returned from her job as a nurses' aide and was unwinding from a rather tiring day. Her scrubs had been discarded in the bathroom hamper, and she wore a blue knee-length night shirt, moving silently across the carpeted floor in her bare feet. At peace after several months of turmoil with her abusive now ex-husband, Vicky relaxed on her sofa sipping a diet soda. Flipping through the channels, she tucked her feet under her body. She was jarred from her serene respite when her door was kicked in with a sound as harrowing as a thunderclap.
"We need to slow things down." Danny instructed. The reenactment before them obliged her request. Time nearly halted, every detail magnified as Danny walked around the scene her highly trained eyes not wanting to miss anything.
As if in slow motion, the ex-husband kicked open the door sending sparkling particles of glass and the shattered door chain flying. Shocked into action, Vicky threw everything she could grab at him; the remote, a bowl of popcorn, and a drinking glass her only ammunition. He swept the flying popcorn bowl away in one swipe but not before cutting his palm slightly on the heavy ceramic. Three drops of his blood fell onto the beige Berber carpeted floor unnoticed.
"That's exactly what we need." Stepping around and through him as he continued to move, Danny started at the front door and counted her paces until she came to the spot where the blood splattered. Dropping to the floor, she noted its location.
The scene continued to replay with the man savagely manhandling his ex-wife. The victim pointed out a pair of small crafting scissors she had tried to stab him with. He had knocked them aside, but not before leaving a trace of DNA. They slid right under the sofa where they had remained hidden.
"I think we've got him by the balls." Danny surmised, picking up on the final details and noting where every drop of blood that belonged to him was located. He and Vicky had never occupied this living space together so there was no reason why any of his DNA should be present. As long as he could be tied to the scene of the crime with fresh DNA evidence, the prosecutor had a good case.
"Thank you." Danny rested a hand on the woman's shoulder. "He will pay for this."
She mouthed her own thanks, before she faded from her sight like a mirage. In her own reality Danny opened her eyes from the spirit realm trance, immediately aware of everything that was going on around her. Non-psychics mistook her trance for being some sort of sleep cycle since her eyes were nearly closed and she was oblivious to everything that happened around her. It was the main reason she wanted to have her working space out of Gerard's home. How freaked out would he be if he discovered his fiancée with her eyes closed and unresponsive? It wouldn't go over very well at all, and like Lucy, she'd have a lot of 'splainin' to do.
Gerard showed no interest in her job at the magazine. He thought her working was a novelty, something she would eventually come to her senses about. He was so wrapped up in his practice and the reality show that she hadn't been seeing him much over the last couple of weeks.
All the information Danny had gathered from the crime scene was at the forefront of her mind, just like grand mere had trained her. Taking a pen and pad she placed beside her floor pillow, she jotted down every detail she had learned during her investigation. Logging into her computer, Danny made contact with the police contact in Jacksonville, Florida and sent him the specifics on the case and where to locate the evidence.
Her cell phone vibrated, vying for her attention.
"Crap." She muttered. Of course Gerard had left several messages on her phone. She had missed five messages to be exact. Even though time in the spirit realm went faster than it did in the real world, it was possible to lose track of time, especially when working such a difficult case. She had been gone for probably forty minutes and Gerard was probably throwing a hissy fit.
Despite her putting it off for weeks, tonight they were meeting for dinner with his partners at the practice and their spouses, exactly the kind of evening she was not wanting. Gerard had continued to nag her about hanging out with the other doctors' wives, but she had refused. First impressions were everything, and from Danny's initial meeting with them she could tell they weren't worth two dead flies, as grand mere would say. She had met a couple of them in passing and all they did was gossip about the women that were not in attendance and bicker over petty things. Danny was the oddity because she was the only one of the wives who actually worked for a living. Oh well, she thought, wasn't love about sacrifices?
Danny wheeled her classic Camaro into the driveway fifteen minutes later. Scorching Arizona heat slapped her in the face as she opened the door and entered the house.
"It's about damned time." Like a dad waiting for his daughter who had broken curfew, Gerard was waiting impatiently in the living room, his foot tapping against the tiled floor. He was already dressed in one of his finest suits. "I've been calling you for the last hour. If you don't hurry we're going to be late."
"I don't want to hear it." Danny warned on her way upstairs. "I told you I didn't want to go to this damned stupid dinner in the first place."
She stripped off her clothes as she walked to their bedroom, finally arriving at the shower. She lathered with body wash and scrubbed before rinsing off. Wrapped in a towel she went back to the bedroom and selected undergarments from her drawer.
Gerard watched her dress from the doorway. "Forgive me if I want my fiancée to meet the people I work with."
"Forgive me if I don't want to spend my evening sitting next to a bunch of backstabbing Housewives of Arizona wannabes who are constantly competing with each other." She retorted, consulting her walk-in closet and slipping into a breathtaking black Alexander McQueen dress. Leaving the closet she stepped into a pair of Christian Dior heels, she'd bought at a boutique just before leaving New York.
"They're not that bad." Gerard zipped the back of her dress while she held her hair away from her neck. "You might like them if you got to know them."
"I spent a half hour with two of them and was ready to blow my own brains out afterward, thank you very much."
"Danielle, you're being a little overdramatic, don't you think?" He admonished, gently squeezing her shoulders. "A few of them sit on the boards of local charities. Maybe you could quit the magazine and--
Danny gave him a look like she wanted to rip his tongue out. "I told you, I'm not quitting my job. I'm not going over this again."
He put his palms up in surrender. "Fine, sweetheart. Whatever you say."
"Let's get this fiasco over with." She muttered grabbing her designer handbag and heading downstairs.
Gerard opened the car door for his fiancée as she slid into the leather interior of his pricey Bentley coupe. In his field it was important to look successful, and this vehicle was exactly the image he wanted to project. Like a feral beast the coupe roared as he reversed, shifted gears and peeled out of the neighborhood.
Danielle might as well have been light years away from him. She stared out the passenger side of the car, passing headlights playing across her face. By the furrow in her brow and the clenching of her jaw he could tell she was in a most foul mood. She was still the greatest mystery he had ever stumbled upon. At 10 years his junior, she had the makings of the perfect trophy wife. Her body was exquisite, petite and thin, with curves in all the places that mattered. Her caramel skin and honey-gold brown eyes made her an exotic beauty. She was also highly intelligent. He could take her to dinner parties, and he didn't have to worry about her embarrassing him with ignorant conversation. The only drawback was that she was too independent.
When they had first met, he had envisioned her as a dutiful housewife, ready at his beck and call when he wanted to entertain, the perfect hostess. For some reason
, she insisted on doing her investigations, or whatever she did for the magazine. Other women would have been ecstatic if they had the option to stay home and spend their husband's money, but not his fiancée.
Gerard loved her, of that there was no doubt. However, sometimes he felt that Danielle was concealing part of herself from him. She rarely went into details about her family, other than stating that her parents and her beloved grandmother were deceased. Even her professional history was an enigma. He knew she had a Bachelor's degree in criminal justice and had done a brief stint as a cop in New Orleans and New York before being selected to work on the magazine. Then there were at least two years with the FBI where her activities were unaccounted for, and she offered no explanation. She gave thin excuses when he probed into those years. She had erected a wall around herself, and he wanted a sledgehammer to tear it down. Sure, they had an entire lifetime to sort it out, but by nature Gerard was not a patient man.
He had to put a rush on the wedding. Planning the event would keep her busy for a while. Hopefully he would have her pregnant by the time their honeymoon was over. Caring for their child would squash her little rebellious streak. It would be a little difficult for her to work with a baby at her breasts. He smiled inwardly. If keeping the future Mrs. Wolfe with child was what it would take to tame her wild ways, then that's exactly what he planned to do.
Their destination was the new French restaurant, Bon Sojourn, one of the most popular upscale restaurants in the Phoenix area. A red jacketed valet assisted Danielle out of the Bentley while Gerard handed off the keys to another. The restaurant space was elegant yet intimate. Jewel toned lights illuminated the restaurant, while a soft steam of French jazz added to the ambiance. Arm in arm, Danielle was led by Gerard to the oblong table where his partners and their wives were waiting.
"Gerard, good to see you, man!"Cliff, the tallest of the doctors, stood up and clapped Gerard on the back, before turning his attention to Danny. "This must be your beautiful fiancée. It's a pleasure to meet you finally. I'm Cliff and this is my wife Tricia."
"It's nice to finally meet you too." Danny addressed them both, feeling Tricia's eyes casing her up and down like a bank robber before a heist. She and Tricia had met very briefly and informally at the charity event in New York.
"Likewise."Tricia's greeting was as chilly as her demeanor.
Cliff and Gerard went way back to when they were fraternity brothers trying to make it through college and eventually medical school. They had kept tabs on each other ever since. Gerard had been in attendance at Cliff and Tricia's wedding five years ago, and Cliff had been the one to offer the position at the facility to Gerard.
The other surgeon and his wife were Dominick and Cassandra Hopkins. Dominick was a goofy and friendly guy with mocha skin and a close cropped haircut, while Cassie, as she now liked to be called, was a strawberry blonde and like Tricia had met Danny at the charity event in New York with the infamous exchange. She also seemed to be sizing Danny up. Also at the table were Stuart with his wife Sarah and Kevin with Melissa. There almost seemed to be a cool, somewhat reptilian quality to all the women as they watched her, as if she were an interloper. She felt like she was sitting at the table with her own personal rogue's gallery.
With her observant eyes, Danny noticed that several of the women had work done because the skin on Tricia's face was pulled as taut as a trampoline with nary a wrinkle while Cassie had overinflated basketballs poking through the décolletage of her dress. Melissa's cheekbones were a little too perfect, and you really couldn't tell what expression was on Sarah's face.
"I've got to say, when Gerard was raving on and on about this beautiful fiancée of his, I thought the guy was lying. But I have to say, you are absolutely beautiful." Dominick said, taking another sip of his vodka tonic. "If I were your plastic surgeon, I would tell you not to change a thing."
Danny was dumbfounded. "Uh…I don't know what to say. Thanks Dominick."
"Dom, you've had enough to drink." Cassie intoned like she was talking to a three-year-old, moving his glass toward the middle of the table where he couldn't reach it.
"Cass, don't start that bullshit with me, not tonight. I'm a grown man. I can drink as much as I want." Dom whined snatching his glass back, the vodka sloshing over his fingers.
Danny was a little embarrassed, feeling she was seeing something that should be private between Dom and his wife.
"Where the hell are Rob and Lisa? They were supposed to be here." Gerard inquired of his other partner and her husband.
"Rob and Lisa had some dinner with their in-laws, they couldn't make it. So it's just us tonight." Cliff informed them.
"So what are you thinking of our fair city of Phoenix so far?" Cliff asked Danielle.
"It is hot." She laughed fanning herself with her palm. "But not as busy as New York. I'm just getting used to driving again as opposed to walking or catching a cab."
"I've visited New York on occasion." Dominick said. "But I've never had an opportunity to catch the subway. Are the subways really as bad as they say they are?"
"No, they're not as bad as people would have you believe. But if you want to catch the subway after midnight, you're taking your life in your own hands."
The guys laughed at her little joke.
"Speaking of driving," Cliff began. "Your fiancé informed me that you drive a 1970 Chevy Camaro."
"Oh, you mean Lucille?"
"Love the name." Stuart chimed in.
"You're just making me sick. My grandfather used to have a 65 Camaro when I was a kid." Dominick said. "Unfortunately I took it out for a joyride without his permission and wrecked the thing. By the time he was through with me I couldn't sit down for a month."
Kevin was interested now. "What does a beautiful young lady such as you know about a classic car like that?"
"Lucille belonged to my dad. Getting her in tip top shape was his weekend project and it took years before it was completed. When I was living in New York I kept the car in storage, just because traffic there is crazy. Now that I'm in Arizona I can actually take her out and stretch her legs."
"I'm definitely gonna have to come by and take a look at her. I have a 68 Mustang Fastback, but unlike you I keep it in storage." Stuart said.
Cassie turned her attention to Danny. "Just a little warning, Danielle.We've been dying to get to know you for the past few weeks and we have a ton of questions. We are so curious to find out about you. So if you feel like you're being interrogated, please let us know."
"Okay. I will." Danny retorted without ever breaking a smile.
The waiter returned and was ready to take the orders for their appetizers and main courses. They all seemed to be amazed, Gerard included, when Danielle exhibited her mastery of the French language, ordering her meal and sharing a brief snippet of conversation with the waiter.
"So Danielle," Tricia began, swirling the red wine in her goblet. "So what's your background? Your look is very….unique and you're quite fluent in French."
"Ah, thanks? My dad was Haitian-Creole. He grew up in New Orleans. My mother was white and also from Louisiana. They lived there until they died almost eight years ago. I remained in New Orleans until I finished college, then I moved to Washington D.C. for a little bit, until my grand mere got sick. After she passed I spent some time in New York before moving out here to Phoenix."
"Oh, yes that's right you did live there when we met briefly at the fundraiser, remember? But we never did learn what part of New York you actually lived in?" Cassie inquired.
"Lower East side. I had a small apartment."
"Goodness, living in New York is so expensive." Cassie muttered, chewing on that factoid. "I have no idea how you managed."
"With a roommate.My best friend Stephania was a flight attendant so most of the time I had the apartment to myself."
"With a roommate, of course."Melissa said. "There's no way you could have afforded New York rent on your own."
Danny could feel the dark clou
ds approaching. She knew that this was going to be one hell of a night. She felt like dropkicking Gerard in the face for forcing her to break bread with these jackals in designer clothing. They were going to keep picking her apart until there was nothing but bones left, but that didn't matter. These wenches were going to find out that Danny had a sharp set of teeth of her own.
"Gerard tells us that you are a former police officer and you worked with the FBI for a little while." Kevin said.
Danny nodded. "Yes, after college I did some clerical work with the FBI for a couple years before I moved back to New Orleans and joined their police department. After grand mere passed I moved to New York, joined the NYPD and was working desk duty before I moved out here with Gerard."
"It must have been so depressing working in the ghettos." Tricia said. "All the crime and violence.How did you even manage?"
"I heard they don't even pay police officers that much." Cassie had to add.
Does everything with these women come down to money? Danny asked herself. "I managed just fine."
"That is an awful scar." Sarah literally pointed at Danny's breasts. "Oh my, how did that happen?"
You could have sizzled a steak on Danny's skin it was so hot, but she wasn't heated out of embarrassment. She was furious! She didn't know which was more disturbing, the fact that they were staring at her breasts or their critiquing of her scar. If she had been born with laser vision, she would have reduced Sarah to molten ash.
"I was born with a congenital heart defect." She began.
"You had something wrong with your genitals?" Tricia stupidly asked.
"Oh geez!No honey!" Looking horrified Cliff explained to his dingbat of a wife. "She was born with something wrong with her heart."
"I had surgery as a child to repair it." Danny continued. "Therefore, I have this scar."
The Body Hunters Page 7
