Wages of Sin

by Yolonda Tonette Sanders

  “I understand your position and I hate to break it to you like this, but unless we find the killer another woman will soon die. We are certain about the killer’s motive. Did Lolita have a close male friend that someone could possibly misconstrue to be something more than what it was?”

  “I appreciate how diligent you’ve been working, but my life sucks enough without you coming in here insinuating that my wife was not who I have known her to be. She was a good woman and if it hadn’t been for some monster stealing her away, she, Miguel, and I would be spending time together right now like we always did on Sundays after church. Instead, Lolita is dead and it will feel like my son is, too if my in-laws win this custody suit they’ve filed. Honestly, if Lolita cheated on me, I don’t want to know. Memories of her are all I have left. Sometimes, detective, ignorance is bliss.”

  “What grounds do your in-laws have for seeking custody of your son?”

  “I’m not his biological father. You’d think it wouldn’t matter since I have been with Lolita ever since she was pregnant. I never officially adopted him, but he has my last name for goodness sake and they want to strip me of my son because of a stupid technicality.” Chad cried shamelessly. Troy had to wait until he calmed down before proceeding further.

  “Do you know his biological father’s name?”

  “Samuel Keller or Kingsley…something like that. I can’t remember. She told me they’d met online. It won’t do you any good. He was killed shortly after Lolita found out she was pregnant. That was a tough time for her because she saw his murder on the news. I didn’t ask many questions. I wanted to be there for her. It didn’t matter to me that…well, that the circumstances weren’t ideal. I’ve loved her since high school and wanted to be there for her. I promised to raise her baby as my own and I did.”

  “What aren’t you telling me?”

  Chad looked away. “I’ve told you everything. Anything else isn’t relevant to the case. I refuse to say anything that will tarnish my wife’s name. She was an amazing woman.”

  Troy had had enough of tiptoeing around Chad’s fragility. “Look, man, personally, I don’t care if your wife screwed a dozen guys on the same night she got knocked up. I only want to find her killer, so quit farting around and tell me everything you know about your son’s father.”

  He blew out a long, deep breath. “I know nothing besides the fact that he was married.”

  CHAPTER 42: PLAIN AND SIMPLE

  It was a few minutes before six when Troy got home. He immediately recognized the almond-colored sedan parked in front of the house and ran in, praying he didn’t walk into an explosive situation.

  “That must be my husband,” he heard Natalie say. She came around the living room corner, followed by Cheryl.

  What in the heck is she doing here? Troy thought.

  “Hi, babe.”

  “Um, hey, what’s going on?” He stared fiercely at his ex.

  “I’m sorry to drop by unannounced. I was telling your wife how concerned I was about your daughter. I thought I’d come by and see if I could provide any additional insight to the case.”

  “I’ll leave the two of you to work. I have some phone calls I need to make. Nice meeting you, Agent Hunter.”

  “Please, call me Cheryl. It was nice meeting you, too.”

  When Troy was certain that Natalie was completely out of ear shot, in not so kind words, he asked Cheryl what she was doing at his home. He felt convicted for cursing in light of the new leaf he’d turned over yesterday. Traces of his last conversation with Jon zipped through his mind as she stuttered her reply.

  “I wanted to check on you. You didn’t sound well earlier and I got concerned because you haven’t responded to any of my texts or calls since.”

  “My daughter is missing. I don’t have time to answer your freakin’ calls,” he spat through gritted teeth.

  “Calm down.” He backed away as she came closer. “I know solving this case is even more critical to you than before. I want to help any way that I can.”

  “You’ve helped enough. I can take it from here.”

  “Troy, I know you’ve been taken off the case. I have a lot of friends on the force and I can likely gain access to information that you are no longer privy to.”

  Troy had never hit a woman in his life and yet he was mad enough to slap the black off Cheryl. “I have friends on the force, too, and I’m sure I can get whatever information I need to work this case. I don’t appreciate you coming by my house. How’d you even know where I lived? Did you follow me home Friday night?”

  “I’m an FBI agent. It wasn’t that hard.”

  “Your actions are inappropriate and completely unprofessional.”

  “We don’t exactly have a professional relationship.”

  “We don’t have any kind of relationship.”

  “I’m sorry. I—I thought we could be friends.” The look on her face was the same as it was the night they’d broken up.

  “Why won’t you tell me you love me?”

  “Because that won’t be enough. You’ll want more.”

  “We’ve been dating for over a year now and you can’t even say you love me. Elvin and Nicole haven’t been together as long as we have and already he’s proposed to her.”

  “We are not them! I don’t want to get married because my best friend is.”

  “But you will spend seventy-five dollars on a stupid stuffed animal to keep up with him.”

  “I am not ready.”

  “Do you love me?”

  He looked down at her petite frame, wishing he had never allowed their contact to extend beyond their one-night stand. But, she’d called him the next day and before he knew it, they were dating. She was a nice person whom he’d had a lot of fun and great sex with, but she wasn’t someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. “I can’t give you the answer you want.”

  “So what are you saying?”

  “This is obviously an issue that won’t go away. Maybe it’s best that we end things.”

  Cheryl went into a hysterical rage, screaming how much she loved him and wanted to be with him forever. She punched him repeatedly until he’d finally grabbed her arms and held her to his chest. To be so small, she hit hard. He felt horrible, but he refused to lie and play with her heart or any woman’s for that matter, by admitting to feelings he did not have. He apologized profusely for hurting her. She kicked him out of her apartment and that was the last he’d ever seen or heard from Cheryl until recently.

  “I’m sorry if I have done anything to mislead you into thinking that we could reconnect in any way. It’s not wise, given our history.”

  “I truly just wanted to help. Guess I’ll see myself out.”

  She turned to leave and Troy swore he saw tears in her eyes. After watching her drive away, he immediately locked the door and turned on the exterior alarm before going up to check on Natalie.

  “That’s fine, Toni,” he heard her say. He put his gun in the safe and signaled that he’d be in the basement, anxious to get back on the case.

  He still hadn’t heard from Jon. Maybe something had happened with his mom? Still, he could have communicated that. To completely disregard Troy’s calls and text messages at such a crucial time was plain and simple ignorance. He gave texting one last attempt.

  Where r u? Call me asap! Need 2tell u sumthn!!! Spoke 2 Chad Gordon.

  He was in the process of printing out one of the official photos that Jon had sent earlier of Mindy Lee’s body when Jon finally replied. Sorry ddnt answr ur calls. WorkN on sumthN. Find out what u can abt Darnell Thompson. DT is r guy. Promise 2fill u n l8r.

  Troy was confused by Jon’s message. Something wasn’t right. Who in the world was Darnell Thompson? Troy was scanning through witness interviews when Natalie came down to the basement. “Is your friend coming back?”

  “No. I got everything I need from her.” Now wasn’t the time to explain Cheryl to her. “How’d things go today?”

  “Gr
eat! We walked until our feet were raw. Robert sent some staff members to help us and other people saw what we were doing and joined in.”

  “That was nice of him and everyone else.”

  “Yeah. Lisa is so encouraging. I really appreciate her. Anyhow, afterward I stopped over Aneetra’s to see Nate. I hadn’t too long gotten home when Cheryl came.”

  “How was li’l man doing?”

  “He was good. I thought he might be bored since the girls were still with Marcus, but Aneetra kept him entertained. He did ask for Corrine a couple times. It’s going to be so hard if—”

  “Shh, baby. Don’t say it.” He pulled her into his lap.

  “Did you find out anything?”

  He wanted so desperately to erase those worry lines in her forehead. “Nothing concrete, but I’m trying, babe, and I swear I won’t stop.” She nodded, staring at the crime scene photo he’d printed.

  “Who is this?”

  “Mindy Lee. The last victim.”

  “This is—was the girl Marcus cheated with?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ve been getting a bunch of phone calls about Corrine. She’s all over the news. I was so glued to what the media had been saying about all the other women, but I can’t bring myself to watch it now.”

  He gently grabbed the picture from her and set it next to the ones he’d printed from his phone earlier. “You don’t need to be looking at that nor watching the news. These things will only upset you.”

  “Based on the other victims, how much time do you think Corrine has left?”

  Troy could tell from the sound of her voice that she was fighting back tears. He didn’t want to add any additional stress. “Honey, I’m trying to find her. Don’t get yourself all worked up about things.”

  “I’m not. I want you to keep it real with me. How much time does she have?”

  He sighed heavily. “From all accounts, it seems she was taken late Friday night. Worst case scenario, she has another day. Best case, she has until Thursday.”

  “What determines how long he keeps them alive?”

  “I honestly don’t know.”

  Natalie chewed her bottom lip. “I refuse to panic. I’ll prepare for the worst and pray for the best.”

  As the tears finally rolled down her face, Troy felt his eyes filling as well. This could not happen again. What would she think of him? How could he be there for her if she saw him as emotionally weak? “Um, I should probably get back to this.” He willed himself to break her intense gaze, but her eyes held him captive. Get it together, man! She was the one who looked away. Whew!

  “Toni and Kenny are in town.”

  “They flew in this morning?”

  “I’m assuming. I didn’t ask. She called when I was at the park going off because I didn’t call her. She was blaming me for everything, even called me a skank. I got so mad that I snapped. I called her a jealous old wench.”

  “You didn’t exactly say anything that wasn’t true.”

  “I can only imagine how she feels. She gave up a lot to raise Corrine and had her all to herself before I came into the picture. I should have called her immediately.”

  “Don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s not like you intentionally tried to keep her out the loop. She’ll have to get over it.”

  “Toni is not one to forgive easily. I got off the phone with her a few minutes ago and she still has an attitude. She did tell me that Richard pulled some strings and arranged for her and Kenny to hold a press conference. They’re offering a twenty-five-thousand-dollar reward for anyone who has information about Corrine.”

  “Do they have that kind of money?’

  “They must.”

  “We can pitch in if necessary. I’m willing to do anything to find her.”

  “I do sort of feel responsible. Corrine came to Ohio because of me and look what’s happened to her.”

  “This is not your fault. If my theory is correct, she was targeted because of her involvement with that fool.” Troy filled her in on his encounter with Brent.

  “Why’d you let him go? What if he’s the killer?”

  “He’s not, babe, trust me. The killer is on some type of moral mission. I’ve been able to confirm that all the women, except one, were involved with married men. There’s no proof about the second victim, Myesha Turner, to support this theory, but I’m ninety-nine point nine percent sure this is why she was chosen.”

  “But how would the killer know about Corrine?”

  “Maybe she told someone.”

  “I doubt it. I think I’m the only one she confided and I certainly didn’t tell anyone but you.”

  “And the only person I told was J—” A sickening feeling came over Troy. The scratches…the excuses…and now his sudden disappearance—could it be?

  “Who?”

  “Jon.” He said with a shoe-sized lump in his throat.

  “You don’t think he…he couldn’t do this to us, could he?”

  “It’s hard for me to conceive, but he was extremely bitter about his wife’s affair and his behavior has been very odd lately.” Troy thought about something Cheryl had said the day she gave the profile. He had a troubled childhood or a traumatic event later in life. Either way, something has triggered this string of killings. “It’s been a year since Belinda left him.”

  Troy hadn’t realized he spoke out loud until Natalie said, “What does that mean?”

  “Hopefully nothing.” Troy’s gut was telling him that Jon was a good guy. Still, it was worth checking out.

  “Has anyone you’ve interviewed said anything to make you think Jon is involved?”

  “No. I spoke with the husband of the first victim today. He promised to go through his wife’s things and get back to me if he finds anything. I stopped by another guy’s house earlier, but talking to him was a waste of time. He has this insane story about God writing him messages on the wall. I believe that happened in the Bible, but who in their right mind would buy that crap about mysterious writings disappearing, unless…” At the same time, he and Natalie turned their attention to the bottles of fading ink Troy’s mother had gotten Nate for his birthday. “Maybe Eric has been telling the truth after all,” he whispered. A quick glance at the two photos of Mindy lying next to each other revealed another troubling fact.

  CHAPTER 43: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

  With the two pictures of Mindy Lee side-by-side, Troy noticed a huge discrepancy between the ones printed from his Droid and the ones Jon had sent. In his, Mindy had a closed fist, but in Jon’s her hand was open. It wouldn’t be a big deal if any of the photos Jon had sent resembled his as CSI sometimes had to move bodies, but they also took pictures every step of the way. There were no official photos of Mindy with her fist closed. Someone had been looking for something.

  Troy drowned out all sounds of Natalie as he compared other official crime photos to the ones he’d taken himself. There were no other discrepancies, but there was a startling discovery when he compared the notes of the crime scene reports—Victim was lying on back with arms spread out wide.—with the letter left at Corrine’s apartment—Corrine Shepherd WILL BE THE LAST DEATH. It was very apparent that the person who had written the report and the note was one in the same. Everything was starting to make sense now.

  Curious about the DNA results, he called one of the techs on her cell, knowing he’d have a better chance of reaching her that way than by calling the lab. “Do you have the results yet from the Lee case?”

  “Yep. We made it a priority as requested. I left a message for Detective Knight earlier today.”

  She had been given strict orders not to speak with anyone except Jon. But, Troy was able to finagle the information out of her with relative ease since she had heard that Corrine was missing and wanted to do what little she could to help. “Thanks, Kel. I owe you one.”

  Troy immediately called his Superior, explaining how the DNA results confirmed his theory.

  “These are strong allegations you’
re making, Evans. Are you certain about this?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “As much as I hate to think that one of our people could be responsible for this nightmare, I’m going to back you up on this in light of Knight’s disappearance. If you’re wrong, this could land you in hot water for quite some time,” he said sternly.

  • • •

  Natalie paced back and forth between the living room and the kitchen, praying and wondering what Troy had discovered. When he started tuning her out and curtly ordered her to “chill with all the questions,” she knew he was on to something. Natalie watched from behind as he’d flipped through crime scene photos, mumbling things under his breath that she couldn’t comprehend. She’d never seen so many pictures of dead people in her life. It freaked her out. She had to come upstairs to get out of his way and to keep from imagining Corrine in one of those photos.

  After moving from room to room, her pacing driving her to the point of feeling useless, Natalie thought of a way to be productive and possibly help out with the case at the same time. She grabbed her iPad and started looking up the disappearing ink. It sounded so far-fetched that the killer would sneak into someone’s house to write messages on their wall. The stuff his mom got Nate faded in minutes. She wanted to see if there was anything that lasted longer.

  To her surprise, disappearing ink was more common than she’d thought. Many were gag gifts or toys. The most legitimate thing she found was a Russian KGB disappearing ink spy pen. Supposedly it was the type used during the Cold War. There were all kinds of sites advertising ways to chemically create fading ink. Time for the writings to last varied from fifteen minutes to twenty-four hours. It seemed ludicrous, but in a crazy world, anything was possible.

  Troy came from the basement at lightning speed and ran upstairs to their room.

  “What’s going on?” she yelled, following after him.

  He unlocked his gun safe faster than she’d ever seen before. “I know who has Corrine.”

  “Is it Jon?”

  “No! The DNA did not contain a Y chromosome.”

  “What does that mean?” He was already back down and nearly out the door.