Black Widow

by Victor Methos

She nodded, not looking at him. “I would have been working.”

  “The time of death for both men was just after one in the morning.”

  A group of young students walked in, and Heidi’s eyes went to them. She watched them a while and then turned back to Stanton.

  “For severe shock of the type you’re talking about, where it could cause cardiac arrest, the wounds would have to be inflicted long before the time of death. The trauma would have to be sustained over a prolonged period.”

  He nodded. It had somehow slipped his mind that she was a physician and would know that. “Yeah. We think the torture began somewhere around five in the evening.”

  “I work until eight, as you just saw.”

  He nodded. An emotion came over him just then, and he wasn’t sure what it was exactly. He couldn’t identify it. A mixture of disappointment that he hadn’t found his collar, and a sense that he hadn’t wanted it to be her.

  “Why does Baby Dolls Companions have you listed as one of their employees?”

  She placed both hands around the cup of coffee as though warming her fingers. “I have no idea. You’ll have to ask them.”

  Stanton took out his cell phone and pretended to take a note. Instead, he opened the camera app and snapped a photo of Heidi.

  He debated what to do next. To inform her that she was about to have an arrest warrant executed and shouldn’t go into work tomorrow was a crime. But he also couldn’t let her be tackled by some overzealous rookies on their first takedown.

  “You have to do something for me, Heidi. And you have to believe that it is the best thing for you… you have to go down to the police station and turn yourself in. Call in sick to work for tomorrow and just go down now and tell them you think there’s an arrest warrant out for you.”

  Her eyes widened. “Is there? Are they going to arrest me at the hospital?”

  “Not if you turn yourself in.”

  “But I came with you. I told you everything you wanted to know.”

  He nodded. “I know. But it’s not my call. Just turn yourself in tonight. Okay?”

  They looked at each other a moment longer than Stanton was comfortable, and she said, “Okay.”

  He rose. “We’ll talk again, I’m sure.”

  As he was walking away, she said, “Detective?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You believe me, don’t you? That I didn’t kill anyone?”

  He hesitated a moment and then said, “Yeah. I do.”

  24

  Stanton parked outside Baby Dolls Companions, though there was nothing marking it as such, and went inside. The woman from before, Autumn, wasn’t there but another girl, young and blonde, was standing behind a desk flipping through some paperwork.

  “Can I help you?” she said.

  “Yes,” he pulled up his phone and showed her the photo he’d taken of Heidi. “Does she work here?”

  “Oh, Heidi. Yeah. Did you want to set an appointment with her?”

  Stanton’s heart dropped. “No, thank you.” He turned to leave.

  “Her hair’s different, though.”

  He stopped. “Excuse me?”

  “Her hair. It’s a lot longer. And a different color. Was she wearing a wig?”

  Stanton looked at the photo. He had seen her hair from up close. It was not a wig. “What color is her hair?”

  “Black. About shoulder length.”

  He walked back to the desk. “When is the next appointment Heidi has available?”

  She opened a tab on the computer. “Um… let’s see… looks like next Tuesday night. So what is that, like five days? Did you want to set it now?”

  “Yes, please.”

  “Okay, we just need a major credit card. We place a hold on it but don’t run it until after the date.”

  Stanton grinned. That was a clever way to have the escorts upsell services during the date. “Sure.” He handed her his credit card. She ran it and opened a file on the computer with his name. She then handed him a printout with the amount held, $2,500, and the date of the meeting printed across the top. On the bottom was an illustration of a heart with an arrow through it.

  “And where will I be meeting her?”

  “We’ll contact you with the date information the night before. Our escorts have the entire date planned from start to finish, so you can just enjoy yourself.”

  “I appreciate it. Thank you.”

  As he walked out to his car, he tried Suzanne’s phone, but she didn’t answer. He put the phone in his pocket and drove home.

  Darkness had taken over the island. The ocean glimmered and swirled with the moon and the waves continued to crackle near shore. But the island was black. Parts of Oahu were lit as brightly as anywhere on the mainland, but that was interspersed with blankets of darkness for dozens of miles. Powerful rivers and inactive volcanoes rumbled underneath the murky exterior.

  Stanton parked in his driveway and got out. He went to the door and heard laughter. Inside, Suzanne, Mathew, and Johnny were playing a board game. They didn’t notice him standing there and he didn’t alert them.

  The way Suzanne interacted with them was humbling. She was kind and never judged them about anything. He could see Mathew talking to her about things he would never share with his father.

  And Stanton would have to be blind not to notice that Suzanne was wearing makeup for babysitting. She was in her workout outfit still. A tight black and light-blue yoga suit. She was fit and tan, and he knew that he should be attracted to her. But something wasn’t there. Some spark, some magnetism that couldn’t be put into words. Suzanne was beautiful and sexy, and funny and smart… and as much as Stanton tried, he couldn’t think about her in a way that would make him ask her on a date.

  Heidi popped into his mind just then, and he had to push her away. Hit the delete button, he thought.

  “Hey!” Suzanne said, finally noticing him.

  “Daddy!”

  Stanton came over and sat down at the table. “What’re we playing?”

  “Ticket to Ride,” Mathew said. “You want in?”

  “Yup.”

  Stanton glanced up to Suzanne, who smiled at him. She reached out and gently touched his hand, a gesture letting him know something, but he didn’t know exactly what. Maybe permission that it was okay to think of her in that way.

  Slowly, Heidi came back into his thoughts.

  25

  Connor Jones sat on the beach next to a bonfire. Several women were around him, all drunk, and he could smell a joint being passed around. His buddy Todd was hitting a six-foot bong while a girl sucked on his ear.

  “You want?” Todd said, in that high-pitched stoner voice he got when he was holding in a toke.

  “I’ll pass,” Jones said. “I get tested.”

  Todd blew the smoke out in donut-shaped O’s. “This is good fuckin’ bud. Where’d we get this?”

  The girl removed his ear from her mouth and said, “My dad grew it.”

  “So C, when you gonna hook up with Maria, man. She was askin’ about you just a second ago.”

  “I don’t know, man. I heard she gets around.”

  “So? Ain’t that what you want?”

  He shook his head, slipping off his shoes and burying his feet in the sand. “I’m twenty-six years old, Todd. What the fuck have I done with my life, man?”

  “Are you serious?” he said, passing the bong to the girl. “C, you’re a fucking detective, man. Remember how we’d sit around in sixth grade and talk about what we were gonna do when we got older?”

  Jones smiled. “You said you wanted to rob trains.”

  “I know, and now nobody rides trains. But what we used to talk about you did, man. You’re a fucking detective and you’re not even thirty. That’s huge.”

  He shrugged. “It is pretty cool, man. Like everyday is exciting, you know? I’m never bored.”

  Todd pulled the bong back to his lips before the girl could take a hit. He sucked in a bowl and then blew it out i
nto her mouth before kissing her. “Holy shit, I am really high.”

  Jones chuckled. His cell phone vibrated in his pocket and he took it out. It was the precinct.

  “This is Jones.”

  “Connor, I need you down at the station,” Kai said. His voice was drenched with sleep, and Jones could tell he was probably out of it enough that he wouldn’t remember this conversation tomorrow. “They got her. She just walked in. I can’t get ahold of Jon, so you gotta go.”

  “Who?”

  “The Black Widow.”

  “Where?”

  “Kalihi City. I told them to bring her up to Beretania as soon as they got a minute.”

  Jones jumped to his feet and hurriedly put his shoes on. “I’m on my way.” He hung up and pulled his keys out of his pocket.

  “Where you goin’?” Todd shouted.

  “Ciao,” Jones yelled without looking back.

  Jones’ corvette screeched to a stop in front of the HPD headquarters on Beretania Street. He parked illegally and ran to the building. He was all the way to the front doors when he realized he didn’t lock his car. Running back, he frantically pushed his alarm button until he heard the two beeps and saw the lights flash.

  Jones ran inside and pressed the button for the elevator. He’d done this a million times and not once did he ever think the elevator was slow. Now it made him pace, and he pushed the button again a dozen times before the doors dinged and opened.

  He went up to the sixth floor and found the watch commander. A fat man eating a sandwich, with his shoeless feet up on a footstool.

  “Where is she?” Jones said.

  “Interrogation One,” he said, without looking up from his sandwich.

  Interrogation rooms were the same across police precincts and states, even nations. They were made to give suspects a feeling they were in an alien environment. Somewhere foreign. Somewhere unkind. Then, the detectives would come in with smiles, promises, and offers of friendship. The rooms were intended to throw people off-balance in an ocean of discomfort so the detective working the case could be their lifeline.

  Jones flipped a switch on the wall outside the room to turn on the camera.

  The room was gray with a table, two chairs, and an old carpet. The camera was up in the corner. A two-way mirror took up part of the wall.

  Jones sat down across from the woman at the table. He had to take a moment and just watch her. She smiled at him; her lips were pink, her hair coming down over her shoulders. Jones felt himself getting aroused, though she’d done nothing to provoke it.

  “Um…” He cleared his throat. “Heidi Rousseau?”

  “Yes.”

  Jones glanced to the camera in the corner. A small red light was blinking on top of it, indicating it was recording. “Date of birth, please?”

  “June twelfth, 1986.”

  “Do you know why you’re here, Mrs. Rousseau?”

  “Ms. And I don’t have a clue.”

  He placed his elbows on the table. “Some crimes occurred involving two men. We have some information that you might have been involved. Do you know the men I’m talking about?”

  She shook her head.

  “Alex Waters and Hugh Neal. Do you know either of them?”

  “No. Should I?”

  “Do you work for an escort company here on the island? Baby Dolls?”

  “I would never do that. Why do you ask?”

  “Someone at Baby Dolls identified you as an escort there. I’m not judging you; I don’t care about that. But what I do care about is that they said you were with Alex Waters and Hugh Neal on the nights they were killed. Why do you think someone would say that?”

  “I have no idea.” She glanced up to the camera. “I don’t know what this is about or why I’m here, but I’d like to talk to a lawyer now.”

  He gritted his teeth and leaned back in the chair. “Fine. But I’m trying to help you. The DA listens to us. If you cooperate upfront, we can work something out.” He grinned. “Everybody gets pissed off. Sometimes bad things happen, I get that. And so will the DA. We’re not here to bully you or judge. We want to help you.”

  “You can help me by getting my lawyer. Daniel Williams. I have his card in my purse, which your cop buddy outside took from me.”

  Jones glared at her a moment. He stood up. “It’s late. Might be a while before we can get your lawyer here. Get comfy.” He stopped at the door. “Out of curiosity, how did you know you had an arrest warrant out for you?”

  She shrugged. “Guardian angels, I guess.”

  He stared at her a moment longer and then left.

  26

  Stanton got the call around seven in the morning. When he was standing in his bathroom brushing his teeth.

  “Tell me you weren’t stupid enough to say anything,” Kai said by way of greeting.

  “Morning to you, too.”

  “Don’t, Jon. I’m serious. Did you tip Heidi Rousseau off that she had an arrest warrant?”

  He spat white foam into the sink. “I talked to her and told her to turn herself in. I never said to run or lawyer up, or anything like that. I never even told her she had an arrest warrant. I only told her to turn herself in.”

  Kai mumbled under his breath. “You just said that so she couldn’t get arrested in public.”

  “You only wanted the takedown for the news cameras, Kai. I’m not stupid. Please don’t treat me like that again. You gave me this case to work, and I’m going to work it my way. If you don’t like that way, then take me off the case. Take me off homicide if you want. But if I’m here, I work these cases how I want to work them. There’s no other way.”

  Kai began to swear. It was a good thirty seconds before he stopped and said, “Fine. Work the case how you want. But if she gets away with this, Jon, I’m not takin’ the shit. You understand me? I won’t be the one to do it.”

  “I understand.” He gargled with water. “Where is she now?”

  “Her lawyer came. He said she won’t be making a statement. We have enough to hold her for the seventy-two and then we gotta let her go.”

  Stanton knew about the seventy-two-hour rule. They had one in San Diego as well. The length varied from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but the rule was always the same. After an arrest, the DA’s Office had seventy-two hours to file charges and set a time for the suspect to get in and see a judge about bail. If charges weren’t filed in that time, the suspect had to be released.

  “Let her go,” Stanton said.

  “Why would I do that?”

  “Because I’m going to follow her.”

  “We can get a surveillance detail to—”

  “No, it’ll be easier if it’s just me. I don’t have any other cases right now. I can be with her all day and most of the night.”

  He was silent. “All right. You do what you do. Just get me my arrest.”

  “I still don’t think it’s her, Kai. But if it is, she won’t be able to keep it hidden for long. She’ll screw up somehow.”

  “I hope so.”

  Stanton hung up and placed his phone down by the sink. The blue button-down shirt with a black blazer looked nice for today, but the temperature was over ninety-five. And the humidity would make him sweat as though he were in a sauna. Instead, he opted for Dockers, a black V-neck shirt tucked in with a brown belt, and Italian shoes with no socks. Some of the detectives actually wore shorts on the island, but he wasn’t at that level of comfort just yet.

  Before leaving the house, he made sure Mathew and Johnny had breakfast and everything they needed for school that day. He kissed them both and watched as Mathew drove them to school. He’d drop Johnny off first at the elementary school and then head to Henry J. Kaiser High School. The school was named after the business magnate that had founded Hawaii Kai.

  After the kids had left, Stanton walked to his jeep. As he turned it on, Suzanne came out of her house and waved.

  “Hey. Off to work?” she asked.

  “Yup. What do you ha
ve planned for the day?”

  “Nothing much. I’m officially retired.”

  “People in retirement don’t live as long as those that keep working, you know.”

  “Work’s overrated. Besides, going to the gym and hanging by the pool can be work, too.”

  He grinned and flipped on his sunglasses. “I really appreciate you watching the kids, Suzanne. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “Well, you can always repay me with dinner.”

  An awkward silence followed. She had moved too quickly, and Stanton guessed she knew it. He tried to make her feel less awkward by saying, “You name the date and place.”

  “Okay. How about tomorrow?”

  “Tomorrow?”

  “You got something better planned on a Saturday night?”

  “I’ll have to get a babysitter.”

  “My sister’s in town. She could watch them.”

  Stanton adjusted his rearview mirror and thought for a moment about the words he would choose next. “Suzanne, I’ve seen things that have changed the way I view people. I can’t trust just anyone with my kids. It took me a year to trust you to be able to watch them, and I knew you were a good person from the second I saw you. It’s just the way I am.”

  She shook her and laughed softly. “You’re such a man.”

  “What’d you mean?”

  “This gallant pose that the world is always at war. Well, the world will leave you alone for one night while you actually try to relax. My sister is a hundred and twenty pounds. If she tried anything, Mathew can break her like a pretzel. They’ll be fine.”

  “It’s not your sister I’m worried about. What if someone tries to break into the house?”

  “Jon, you’re coming out with me Saturday. This proves to me you need it more than ever.”

  He nodded. “All right. Tomorrow.”

  She smiled. “See you then.”

  Stanton pulled out of the driveway. Driving down the street, he had to stop for some children playing baseball. They scattered, shouting, “Car!” as he drove by. He looked in his rearview and they had re-formed.