3rd Body: Just try to keep your head (Book 1 in the 2nd Darc Murders Collection)

by Carolyn McCray

  “Aliens?” Maggie asked. “What are you talking about?”

  As Trey and Maggie ironed out the finer points of her lack of belief in extraterrestrials, Darc studied the metal card. In addition to the other warnings of the approaching apocalypse that had become part and parcel to any case involving these symbols, another message surfaced in Darc’s mind. Two words, translated as simply as possible. Two words, that at least to Darc, seemed to make no sense.

  Stud animal.

  * * *

  Mala stared at the young woman in front of her, trying to make sense of what she’d just said. I’m her sister. How was that even possible?

  Carly had folded her arms and taken a step back. In addition to the more defensive posture she’d adopted, the girl’s face had turned hard. A moment ago, there had been tears starting in her eyes. Now, no one would guess that there was anything of tenderness to be found in this street-hardened vision in front of Mala.

  This was a conundrum. What was Mala supposed to do now?

  Janey moved out from behind Mala’s leg, and before Mala was able to do anything to stop her, the little girl had approached this teenager that claimed to be some kind of long-lost sister. Holding out her hand, Janey took one of Carly’s arms and placed it around her own neck.

  A look of surprise and wonder crossed Carly’s visage, and for a brief moment, Mala thought that Janey would be able to pierce the psychological armor the older girl was clearly wearing. But a moment later, Carly had extricated herself and was facing off with Mala.

  “You gonna keep me from seeing her?” she challenged, thrusting her chin out in an unconscious aggressive posture.

  Mala glanced from Carly’s face down to that of her adoptive daughter. Janey was staring up at the older girl, seeming to take in everything about her. After stroking Carly’s hair for a moment, Janey got up on her tiptoes and pointed at the teenager’s earlobes. They were fully attached to her face, rather than the free ones Mala possessed.

  Janey’s hand then drifted to her own. Also attached. Janey was finding herself in this girl.

  Mala had to admit. There were a lot of similarities. Take away the hard, almost feral look in the teenager’s eyes, and this girl could easily be an older version of Janey.

  As Mala and Janey had gone through the adoption process together, Mala had come across several pictures of Janey’s birth mother. One of them had been of the mother as a younger girl.

  Carly was the spitting image of that picture.

  If the resemblance had been less obvious, if there had been even the smallest room for doubt… But it was clear that this girl was who she said she was.

  Why she was here was a completely different question. And not one for the hallway outside Mala’s apartment.

  Plus, the more Mala delayed answering the young woman, the more aggressive her stance became. That wasn’t a good thing, as she’d started off looking like she might cut someone. Going downhill from there was just a bad idea all around.

  “Why don’t you come inside?” Mala urged, not wanting to answer her visitation question without a lot more discussion first.

  But the mere mention of going indoors put the girl’s back up. Her resemblance to a wild animal was becoming more pronounced by the moment.

  “You gonna call the cops?” she demanded, her jaw a blade that she thrust between herself and Mala.

  “Why?” Mala answered in a calm tone. “Have you done something that would make me call the cops?”

  “Do you think that’s the kind of person I am?” the girl fired back.

  “I’ll start to in a minute.” Mala was doing what she could to be kind and patient with Carly, but the girl wasn’t making it any easier. “Look, let’s just go in. I’ll make you some tea.”

  Carly glared at her. “I hate tea. Tastes like boiled paper bags.”

  “Okay, whatever you’d like. I have coffee, some diet soda, hot chocolate…”

  For an instant, right after Mala mentioned the hot chocolate, Carly’s eyes softened. Even surprised and sandbagged outside her apartment by a long-lost sibling, Mala was enough of a seasoned therapist to know when she’d struck pay dirt.

  “Hot chocolate it is. And maybe some toast? A sandwich?”

  The whole time Mala and Carly had been facing off, Janey had stood at Carly’s side, staring up at her. Now the little girl reached up her hand and stroked her big sister’s arm. Carly looked down and her eyes softened. Janey smiled at her.

  Glancing back up at Mala, the teenager’s look became more guarded, but it was a step up from where they’d been a moment ago. “All right. I’ll come in for some cocoa. And maybe a sandwich. But I’m not staying.”

  Mala shrugged, trying to look like she didn’t care one way or the other. To be honest, she had no idea what to think about it.

  One the one hand, this was Janey’s sister. If she didn’t have a place to stay, there was no way Mala wanted to send her out in the cold to face whatever might lurk out in Seattle’s night. The city might be named after the famed peaceful and green city from the Wizard of Oz, but evil things lurked in the shadows of this town’s dark corners.

  On the other hand, Mala had no idea who this girl was or what she was capable of. While it might appear that they were taking in a vulnerable, if troubled, young teen, it was just as possible that they were taking in a viper that would strike as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

  For now, it was enough that Carly was coming inside. And that Janey was grinning from ear to ear.

  Mala only hoped it would stay that way.

  * * *

  Trey wasn’t sure what to do at this point. There was a crime here that appeared to be part of the murder investigation he was already a part of. In addition to that, this was his home that someone had torched.

  Plus there was that whole stud thing to figure out. Darc had told him what the symbols represented. What was that about? Trey was pretty sure the word hadn’t been intended as a compliment. Most people didn’t praise you at the same time they were trying to burn you to a crisp. Or shoot at you, or whatever.

  Having someone gunning for him wasn’t the best feeling in the world. Getting kidnapped was one thing. Having a psycho take pot shots at you was another.

  But Maggie was clearly feeling fragile, and Darc was being his normal, obtuse, unhelpful self. Asking Darc if he could leave to take care of Maggie right now was likely to get a him dead-eyed stare and a lecture on good detective work from his bald and bearded partner.

  Plus, there was still that whole E.T. angle that Trey wanted to look at here. It could explain everything from all of the cases that seemed to be related to each other. A whole series of seemingly good people going bat-guano crazy and starting to kill everyone in their path? Alien mind control seemed like as good an explanation as any other Trey could think of.

  Just as Trey was starting to extricate himself from Maggie’s embrace to go and talk to his partner, the crime scene team showed up. Among the group was the tech that Darc had grilled back there at the dairy farm after they’d gotten shot at. Waters? Walters? Something like that.

  And the big guy. James… no, Jeff. Jeff Fischer. New guy.

  Also, the crusty M.E., Dr. Hutchinson. Man, it always looked like that guy had smelled something unpleasant.

  “Detectives. You arrived here quickly.” The way the doctor said it, the phrase sounded more like an accusation than an observation. “Are you ready to begin?”

  “Dude,” Trey answered. “It’s my house that got torched. Well, mine and Mags. Maggie. My girlfriend.”

  “Ah, yes. Detective Darcmel’s ex,” the examiner replied, looking down his nose at Trey.

  Giving what sounded like a disdainful cough, the man glanced over at Maggie, who was hugging herself, trying to stay warm. Come to think of it, she might be suffering from shock. He should really be getting her to the hospital. Or at least somewhere warm.

  Trey turned back to the doctor. “Okay, right. So while you’re busy bein
g an self-righteous prick, Maggie’s freezing to death.” Trey thought it might not be the perfect time to bring up the fact that she was also pregnant, seeing that the doc was already predisposed toward being all judgy and stuff.

  “By all means, Detective. Go do whatever it is you have to do,” he answered, the insult clear in his tone. Trey clenched his jaw, but took a deep breath. Wouldn’t do to get in trouble for punching the M.E. in the nose.

  “Darc,” Trey said in a low voice to his partner. “I need to go take Mags to the nearest hotel. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  Darc looked at Trey’s right eyebrow. Okay, so it wasn’t quite the dead-eyed stare that Trey had been dreading, but it also wasn’t exactly a good sign that Darc wasn’t making eye contact. It meant that Trey’s partner was deep in his Asperger’s right now. Which was just what Trey had been hoping would not be the case.

  “Why does Maggie need help in getting a hotel room?” came Darc’s response after a beat. “Is she not capable of that type of transaction?”

  “C’mon, man. Can’t you see that she’s in bad shape?”

  Darc peered over toward where Mags was standing. “She appears unchanged.”

  Wow. How Darc, who could notice a change as subtle as dust motes that had gotten shifted as someone walked past, was so oblivious to the simplest of emotional cues was somehow still stunning, even after all these years.

  “Dude! Her apartment just got torched. She’s cold, she’s frightened, and on top of all of that, she’s pregnant!”

  The last part of that statement ended up coming out a lot louder than Trey had intended. Dr. Hutchinson looked up from where he was putting together some kind of CSU-type equipment that Trey couldn’t for the life of him identify. The look the good doctor gave him was perhaps to be expected.

  What was not expected was the expression of disgust on the new guy’s face. Strange. Trey wouldn’t have thought him to be that much of a prude. Especially since the guy had no idea of the history here.

  Unless he had heard the exchange between Trey and the doc a minute ago.

  Trey swore under his breath. It was time for him to learn to keep his big mouth shut. Especially around people from work.

  In the meantime, Trey swiveled back around to see what his partner’s reaction had been to his little outburst. To Trey’s surprise, Darc’s face was all twisted up. Well, as twisted as Trey had ever seen it, at least. Which probably meant that no one else would notice.

  Maggie stepped forward. “Darc, are you okay?”

  All right, so his ex-wife would notice. That made sense.

  But Darc just gave a quick vertical shake to his head. Somehow that almost-nod didn’t seem all that convincing, at least to Trey.

  It must not have to Mags either, as she placed her hands on her hips. That was never a good sign.

  “Darc, what’s the problem?”

  The tall detective turned to face his one-time wife. “There is no problem. I wish only to investigate this crime. Seeing as it is your apartment, I should think that would be what you would want as well.”

  Fantastic. Darc was in full-on asswipe mode. There was only one thing that could help in moments like these.

  “Hey, Darc. I have some Starbursts in my pocket.” Candy wasn’t quite as good as say, a nice chocolate-chip cookie when it came to taming Darc’s beast. But it was far more consistent. Darc was really picky when it came to cookies.

  Darc’s head swiveled in Trey’s direction. “I did not notice you purchasing any Starbursts today.”

  Damn him and his super observational powers. “Yeah. I got ‘em on the way home from work last night.”

  “So they are not fresh.” It was not a question. It was a statement of pure candy fact.

  “Dude. They’re Starbursts. They don’t go bad.”

  “Sugar based confections rarely become dangerous to eat,” Darc explained with the robotic tone that he got when he was having a full-blown tantrum. This was not good. Normally even the mention of the Starburst would have been enough to calm him down. “They do, however, grow stale.”

  “Not in a day.” Trey stared down his partner, but Darc wasn’t budging. “Look. They’ve been in my pocket all day long, so they’re nice and warm and soft.”

  Maggie made a disgusted face at that, but when it came to candy, Trey knew his partner. This was one area where being the ex didn’t come with additional information.

  “That would counter most of the effects of any staleness that might have occurred since yesterday,” Darc conceded. Peering into Trey’s eyes, he squinted ever so slightly. “What do you require in return?”

  “Forty-five minutes to get Mags set up in a hotel,” Trey fired back, ready with his answer. When Darc moved on a deal, he moved fast. “No, make it an hour. I want to make sure she has food.” Darc went to open his mouth, but before he could speak, Trey continued. “And I’ll throw in the whole pack.”

  Darc shut his mouth, thought for a moment, then held out his hand. Trey reached into his pocket and pulled out the sleeve of candy. The packaging was a little mangled, but the candy shouldn’t be any the worse for wear.

  “And you will return in an hour?” his partner confirmed.

  “Totally.” He cleared his throat. “Hour-fifteen, tops.”

  Darc was busy opening up the package as Trey snuck in that last, and by the time he raised his head back up, Trey had grabbed Maggie and was on his way to the Land Rover. Time to beat a hasty retreat.

  “Trey?” Maggie murmured to him as he hurried her along the sidewalk to where he had parked earlier. “You just gave Darc candy. You know what he’s like when--”

  He held up his hand. “That wears off in like an hour. Why do you think I gave us so long before I had to get back?”

  Maggie gave him a sly half-smile. “I was hoping it was because you were wanting a little alone time.”

  “Woman,” Trey blurted, surprised. “Our apartment just burned down. What the hell?” When she just shrugged, Trey coughed. “Besides, that would take at least another forty-five minutes.”

  Maggie snickered. “Think what you want, lover boy. I’m the one who can see the clock from my spot on the bed.” She sighed and gave him a slight pout. “Besides, it’s a fantastic stress reliever.”

  Wasn’t he the one that was supposed to be a horn dog? This pregnancy thing had the world turned upside down. Which is what Trey was afraid might happen to the baby if things got out of hand. Who knew what all happened down there? He shuddered.

  Luckily, Maggie was too busy trying to warm up her hands to see. “Okay, so you thought through the sugar high,” she said, going back to their previous topic. “But what about the crash.”

  And just like that, her point hit Trey like a ton of bricks. What had he just done? How could he have missed something so key?

  Okay, it was possible that the ex knew more than the partner here. Now Trey just had to pray that Darc was adult enough to not eat the entire package in one fell swoop.

  But really, what were the chances of that? As Darc would probably say, something like less than .017 of a percent.

  * * *

  Janey was enchanted.

  That was a word she had learned when her teacher had decided to read to the whole class from the Fancy Nancy books. And right now, that was the only word that Janey could think to describe how she was feeling.

  It wasn’t like Carly was all that sweet, although every time she talked to Janey, her face got all squishy and sometimes it looked like she was about to cry. That made Janey want to cry, too.

  Popeye made a gagging sound. Sometimes he wasn’t very nice at all.

  But it was just that Carly looked so much like Janey’s mother. She had the same voice and everything. Even though Carly said words that Janey’s mom would never ever had said. Not in a million years.

  Right now she was making her way through the second sandwich that Mala had made her. Plus two cups of hot chocolate, and three apples. She was talking around a huge bi
te she had just taken.

  “And that’s how I found out I had a sister.”

  Mala’s mouth was hanging open. “You broke into the records office?”

  “Well,” Carly said, gulping down another swig of hot chocolate. She stopped for a minute and sucked air through her mouth. “Shit, that’s hot.” She looked over at Janey. “Sorry.”

  Janey knew that the word was a potty word, because she’d heard Manuel at school use it and he’d gotten into big, big, big trouble. He’d gotten sent to the principal, and that didn’t happen very often.

  Well, Janey’d gotten sent there, too, but that hadn’t been fair. That was back when there was a bully that was running things in the classroom, and it had been up to Janey to make sure her friends were okay.

  After fanning off her mouth for a moment or two more, Carly continued. “No one would tell me anything about where I came from. You know?” She made a face and looked down at the remainder of her food. “Then I hit eighteen, and it was like, ‘See ya! Don’t call us, we’ll call you.’ Bastar…” She glanced at Janey again. “Uh… jerks.”

  “So Marilyn gave you up when she was a teenager?” Mala asked.

  Marilyn was Janey’s mom’s name. She remembered how Daddy would always say that rhyme about Mary and the garden. She’d never known what “contrary” meant.

  Carly shrugged. “Guess so. Just found out her name. Wasn’t ‘til I got here that I realized…” This time the teenager didn’t look at her, but Janey could still feel her paying attention, if that made sense.

  “That must have been tough,” Mala murmured.

  The older girl… Janey’s sister… shrugged again. It was like she was trying to pretend that it wasn’t a big deal. But the lines inside Janey’s mind told her that Carly did care. She cared a lot.

  “I just don’t get it, you know?” Carly said. “Who could give up her baby like that?”