Murder Under Cover

by Kate Carlisle

  Was it a good thing or a bad thing that I was on a first-name basis with a homicide inspector?

  “Good to see you, Inspector,” Derek said, shaking hands with Jaglom.

  After introducing her partner to Robin, Inspector Lee said, “Ms. Tully, I’d appreciate it if you would remain on the premises for a while.”

  “Sure.”

  As Jaglom and Derek spoke with each other in hushed tones, Lee pulled two pairs of disposable rubber gloves from her bag. She handed one pair to her partner, cutting short the niceties. “Let’s do this, Nate. Watch where you’re stepping.”

  “Lead on,” Jaglom said, and the two disappeared inside Robin’s flat.

  Within forty-five minutes, the medical examiner and a number of crime lab people were crawling all over the property. Robin’s neighbor Sharon invited us to hang out at her place while the police combed through every inch of Robin’s home.

  After one of the criminologists swabbed Robin’s bloodstained skin and hair, she was allowed to take a shower in Sharon’s bathroom. Nervous to be alone, Robin begged me to sit in the bathroom with her while she showered. We both relaxed a bit once she’d washed all the dried blood away.

  Derek spoke to the police a while longer, then left to go back to my place to shower and dress for work. It was Sunday, but since he’d been gone all week, he’d arranged several meetings that couldn’t be canceled. Once he was gone, I dozed on Sharon’s couch.

  At some point, Inspector Lee took Robin into Sharon’s kitchen to ask her a bunch of questions. After an hour or so, Lee went back downstairs and Robin curled up on Sharon’s recliner. She slept soundly, but not calmly as she tossed and turned and moaned every so often. Poor Sharon didn’t know what to do to help, and truthfully I didn’t either. We commiserated in her kitchen as she made a pot of soup. She said she always made soup when she was worried.

  We’d been there for over three hours and I had thumbed through most of the magazines on the coffee table when Inspector Lee walked into Sharon’s apartment again. Robin was still stretched out in the chair, but I stood and watched the cop as she folded her arms tightly across her chest and flexed her neck muscles. I could tell something was up.

  “I have to ask you to come downtown with me for further questioning, Ms. Tully.”

  Robin blinked, then looked at me in confusion. “What does that mean?”

  “Wait.” I jumped up from the couch. “No. What for? She’s innocent. You can’t arrest her.”

  Inspector Lee thrust her hand out in a gesture of understanding. “I’m not arresting her, Ms. Wainwright, only taking her in for further questioning.”

  “That’s just one small step toward county,” I said, angry now. “This is unacceptable.”

  “Calm down, Ms. Wainwright,” she said in a patient tone she probably used with lunatics.

  “I won’t calm down. This is Robin we’re talking about. She’s a victim here.”

  “Ms. Wainwright, please.”

  I hated that she was calling me Ms. Wainwright, all formal and patronizing. It was not a good sign, and it didn’t bode well for Robin’s future. I was feeling all kinds of betrayal, because Inspector Lee should’ve been on our side. She and I were practically friends, we saw each other so often.

  Okay, maybe not friends exactly. More like crime scene buddies. Why did she need to question Robin any further? Why wasn’t she out trying to find the murderer who’d killed Alex and ruined Robin’s life?

  Meanwhile, Robin could barely move the recliner up to a sitting position.

  “Look at her,” I said indignantly, pointing at Robin. “She can barely sit up. Oh, crap.” That was when it finally hit me with both barrels. I’d wondered earlier if maybe she’d taken a sleeping pill. It had been bothering me off and on for hours, but I kept getting distracted.

  “Robin, did you take a sleeping pill last night?”

  “Huh?” she said, taken aback. “No, I never use them. You know that. I hate the hangover. I’d rather just get up and work when I can’t sleep.”

  “Why do you seem so groggy?”

  She swiped her forehead and scratched her head. “I don’t know. I just can’t seem to snap out of it.”

  I’d thought it was the trauma she’d been through, but that couldn’t be the only reason Robin had been so out of it all day. I whipped around to Inspector Lee. “Have you considered giving her a blood test? I wouldn’t be surprised if that guy drugged her last night.”

  “If he drugged her, she wouldn’t remember having sex,” Lee pointed out. “That’s the point of Rohypnol, after all.”

  “I know, I know,” I said, pacing the floor between Robin’s chair and Inspector Lee. “But maybe he drugged her after they had sex. And maybe it wasn’t Rohypnol. Maybe it was just some kind of strong sleeping pill.” I turned to Robin. “Did you have anything to eat or drink after… you know.”

  “Sex, Wainwright,” Lee said. “They had sex. Jeez, don’t get all puritanical on me now.”

  I shot her a dirty look, then went back to Robin. “After sex, did you have anything to eat or drink?”

  Robin had been watching Inspector Lee and me go back and forth like a tennis match. Now she had to think for a moment. “Yeah, we shared the rest of a bottle of wine.”

  “Oh.” My shoulders sagged in disappointment. “You shared it?”

  “Yeah.” Her forehead creased in concentration. “He went into the kitchen and poured two glasses and brought them back to bed.”

  “Aha.” I turned to Lee in triumph. “Some of these drugs stay in the system for only twenty-four hours, right? I want a blood test taken right now.”

  “What are you, a lawyer?” Lee asked, her eyes narrowing dangerously. “You don’t make demands of me.”

  I usually enjoyed trading barbs and quips with Inspector Lee, but this wasn’t funny. This was Robin’s life we were talking about.

  “No, I’m not a lawyer,” I said as my irritation escalated. “But I can get one over here faster than you can shout benzodiazepine. Just say the word.”

  She folded her arms across her chest and tried to stare me down. I stared right back.

  “Fine, Wainwright,” she said finally. “We’ll run a damn blood test.”

  “Thank you,” I snapped.

  “I was going to do it anyway.” She found her cell phone.

  “Then why didn’t you say so?”

  She gave me a sideways glance. “And miss the fun of watching you go all F. Lee Bailey on my ass? No way.”

  I tried to channel my mother by concentrating on keeping my breaths even, my thoughts positive, my dosha aligned. But I was still riled. “I was beginning to think you were playing good cop, bad cop. Without the good cop.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  I snorted politely. “You would.”

  She chuckled. “I really like you, Wainwright.”

  “Jeez,” Robin muttered. “I’d hate to see you with someone you don’t like.”

  Chapter 4

  It was past eleven a.m. when the assistant medical examiner ran up to Sharon’s to draw Robin’s blood for analysis in the lab. He also recommended a urine test and handed her a small plastic cup.

  Robin made a face. “You’re kidding.”

  “No,” he said. “Date-rape drugs can be detected in urine and hair follicles a lot longer than in the blood.”

  “Good to know,” I said.

  Normally, the medical examiner wouldn’t run a test like this, but he’d agreed as a favor for Inspector Lee. It made it a lot easier for Robin, but she was still a little grossed out as she took the plastic cup from him in front of all of us.

  As far as I was concerned, she could be as disgusted as she wanted to be, but I was reassured. If they could find drugs in her system, I knew it would exonerate her completely.

  As she disappeared into the bathroom, Derek walked in the front door. My heart stuttered as I watched him stride toward me, looking ridiculously gorgeous in a navy pinstripe su
it, crisp white shirt, and the most beautiful burgundy tie I’d ever seen. The tie alone probably cost more than my entire wardrobe. I glanced down at my turtleneck sweater, jeans, and scruffy boots, then back at him. It was sad to realize that he was a far better dresser than I was, but he didn’t seem to notice or care.

  In fact, he seemed just as pleased to see me as I was to see him. So I guessed I didn’t have anything to worry about, wardrobewise. Not yet, anyway. The relationship was still young. Besides, I was capable of cleaning up quite nicely when the occasion called for it. This one just happened to call for jeans and old boots.

  “You’re back already?” I asked, my voice betraying my happiness.

  “I was able to cancel my afternoon meeting,” he said, wrapping his arm around my waist. “I couldn’t concentrate on work, knowing you were here having all the fun.”

  I frowned at him. “Fun?”

  “No,” he said soberly. “This has definitely not been fun for you. But except for Robin’s involvement, you can’t pretend you’re not in your element.”

  I pressed my forehead against his chest. “What does it say about me that a crime scene has become my element?”

  He lifted my chin up with his fingers. “It says you’re endlessly fascinating.”

  I gazed up at him and knew I could lose myself in his dark blue eyes. “That’s very sweet.”

  “Oy, take it somewhere else, you two,” Inspector Lee groused as she strolled back into Sharon’s apartment. “You’re gonna make me sorry I changed my mind about moving this all downtown.”

  “We don’t want that,” I said, pushing away from Derek. Usually I was no fan of public displays of affection, but lately I couldn’t seem to help myself.

  “Where’s my girl?” Lee said, glancing around the apartment. “I’ve got some more questions.”

  I assumed she was looking for Robin. “She’ll be right out.”

  At that moment, the bathroom door opened and Robin emerged, looking sheepish, hiding the plastic cup inside her jacket. She went into Sharon’s kitchen and came out a moment later carrying a small brown bag that she handed to the assistant ME.

  “Hey, Schultz, call me with the results ASAP,” Inspector Lee said.

  The man waved without turning. “You got it.” Then he disappeared out the front door.

  “All right.” Lee motioned for Robin, saying, “Let’s do this.” She escorted Robin halfway down the hall before turning back to me and Derek. “We’ll probably be another half hour.”

  Then she led Robin into Sharon’s small office and closed the door, leaving Derek and me with nothing to do but wait. And worry. Which I was really good at. At the moment, my mind was racing back and forth among every possible bad situation Robin might face.

  “Why don’t we go for a walk?” Derek suggested, interrupting my anxious thoughts. “I’ll buy you something to eat.”

  “I could eat,” I allowed, and he grinned. Derek was well aware of my capacity to eat anytime, night or day. I loved food. All kinds of food. I wasn’t picky. You’d think I was starved as a child.

  I grabbed my jacket, then tracked down Sharon in her bedroom and told her we’d be back in twenty minutes if anyone was interested.

  Outside, the weather was sunny, cold, and breezy, but I didn’t mind the chill after being cooped up inside Sharon’s apartment for half the day.

  Deciding on coffee and maybe a muffin, we headed over to a bakery I knew of on Twenty-fourth Street, a few blocks away. In deference to Robin, we decided to hold off eating lunch. But coffee and pastry didn’t count as real food.

  We held hands as we walked, and Derek talked about the morning he’d spent at his new offices. He’d recently opened a branch of Stone Security in San Francisco, which meant that from now on, he would be commuting between here and London, as well as flying all over the world wherever and whenever his services were required.

  In his London, Berlin, and Rome offices, there was a combined staff of almost nine hundred, and forty of them had made the initial move with Derek to San Francisco. They were still bringing in furniture, arranging for services and vendors, and setting up all the myriad processes and functions and staffing it took to run a successful company in a strange new land.

  I’d never asked and he’d never mentioned whether he’d relocated here to be closer to his clients in the Pacific Rim countries or to me. Maybe it would be presumptuous to ask, but I was hoping it was all about me. After all, he seemed happy to be living in my home with me. But I guessed it was also a smart business decision to have an office on the West Coast, since he had clients on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. I’d decided not to ask him. Not yet, anyway, because he would’ve told me the truth. I wasn’t sure I was ready to hear it.

  Sometimes I couldn’t believe we had actually become so involved with each other. Derek resembled something out of a James Bond film, and by that I mean he truly resembled James Bond. Any Bond. Take your pick. Derek, of course, was better-looking, tougher, and classier than any of them. He was also loyal, bold, straightforward, and very, very hot. The first time I’d ever seen him, I was reminded of a sleek panther stalking its prey. At the time, I’d had the uneasy feeling that the prey just might be me.

  Did I mention that he carried a gun? He did. He also made me laugh. I guessed I kept him laughing, too. I just had to trust he was laughing with me. He made me feel feminine and petite-not that I was Quasimodo or anything, but at five-foot-nine, I wasn’t exactly elfin. Lucky for me he was six feet, two inches of blue twisted steel. Okay, the blue twisted steel was a bit of an exaggeration. But the part about being hot? No exaggeration there.

  And it sounds weird to say it, but he just plain liked me. And I liked him. A lot.

  From his positive description of things in his new offices, it was clear that his partners and personnel were settling in nicely after more than a month of flux.

  “You’ve been busy,” I said, “but it sounds like your assistant may be the real hero.”

  “Corinne is invaluable,” he said. “I would be lost without her. I wasn’t even sure she would come with me, but she surprised me. Told me she and her husband decided they wanted an adventure.”

  “They sound like an interesting pair.”

  “They are. You’ll meet them both next Saturday.”

  “I will?”

  “I hope so. We’re having a party to celebrate the official opening of the San Francisco offices. We wouldn’t ordinarily schedule an office event on a Saturday night, but my partners are flying over from London, and a number of clients are coming in from out of town. We’re inviting vendors, staff, friends, lovers.” He raised one rakish eyebrow and flashed me a smile.

  “Is that an invitation?” I asked.

  “I’m not about to go without you.”

  “Sounds like fun,” I said casually, while I secretly felt all squishy and blissful because he’d invited me. Maybe I would slap myself later for being such a twit, but right now I smiled and reveled in the joy of it all. “I’d love to see your offices.”

  “Good. I’m looking forward to showing you around.”

  I knew I was wearing a big dopey smile, but I couldn’t help it. Derek had revealed last month that he was moving here and I hadn’t gotten over the thrill yet. I could still remember the moment he told me. I’d spent the entire day-well, at least those moments when I wasn’t being threatened by a cold-blooded killer-preparing myself to say good-bye to him. Imagine my shock when he’d handed me his new business card showing a tony Nob Hill address as his new office location.

  I’d been wearing this same silly grin ever since.

  We turned on Twenty-fourth Street, the treelined heart of the Noe Valley community, and walked half a block down to the Noe Valley Bakery. As we entered, the intoxicating aroma of warm, sugary treats was the first thing that caught me. I stopped and stared in awe at the massive displays of fluffy cupcakes, airy croissants, and every type of gooey, yummy pastry known to man.

  It wasn’t
easy, but I finally settled on a sensible blueberry muffin and a large coffee, while Derek ordered coffee and took a pass on the sweets. Since most of the morning crowd was gone, we were able to grab an empty table and sit for a few minutes.

  After taking some sips of coffee and a bite of my muffin, I finally posed the question I’d been waiting all morning to ask. “Did you find anything important inside Robin’s place?”

  He eyed me for a moment, then said, “I assume you’re referring to something other than the dead man.”

  “You can start with him if you want. What did he look like? What was in his pockets? Tell me everything.”

  He glanced at me askance. “You saw him.”

  “I know, but I’ve been working really hard to block out the vivid image, and now I’m no longer sure of what I saw. I just remember a bullet hole and a lot of blood.” I shivered involuntarily.

  “There was plenty of that. I’m afraid Robin managed to spread it throughout the house. Her bloody footsteps were everywhere.”

  I took a big gulp of coffee to soothe my suddenly dry throat. “Okay, we can step away from the subject of blood and dead bodies. I won’t be happy if my appetite is so ruined that I can’t eat this muffin, so let’s keep it simple. Did he have a gun? Was there any information in his wallet? Please don’t tell me he had photos of a wife and six children. Did you find any traces of whoever killed him? Did you see anything else that was weird?”

  His smile was appraising. “Have you given any thought to going into law enforcement? You excel at interrogation.”

  “I’ve had some experience in that area, on the wrong end, unfortunately.” I touched his arm. “I’m just curious, you know? And worried. Because it’s Robin.”

  “I know, darling.”

  “I guess I just want to know whether you saw anything that would cause Inspector Lee to arrest her.”

  “Frankly, no.” But a frown line marred his forehead. “I can’t imagine they would think she ransacked her own apartment.”