Jeremy Rudolph was a balding black man with a great barrel chest. His build reminded me more of a professional wrestler than a prosecuting attorney. When he sat down at his desk after greeting me, his abdomen showed signs of a stomach just beginning to hang over his leather belt.
“Thank you for meeting with me today, Mr. Rudolph.”
He appraised me with small, dark, serious eyes. “I’m sorry it hasn’t been earlier. I’d heard Forrester had made a new hire over in Cold Case, but it gets pretty busy around here to be taking field trips to the Fourth District. Tell me about yourself, Detective.”
I leaned back in my chair and tried to find a comfortable spot in the hard-backed chair. “I’ve been with MPD for nearly two years. Before that I was in the United States Marine Corps just shy of eight years.”
“Eight years?” Rudolph’s voice elevated. “Christ, Miller, did you enlist at fourteen?”
My mouth twitched. “No, sir. I was eighteen. I’m closing in on twenty-nine.”
“Twenty-nine years young, and now you’re chasing ghosts. Who did you piss off?”
“No one that I’m aware of, sir.”
He cleared his throat. “Don’t mind me, Miller. I try to be funny, but it usually comes out like an insult. Why don’t you tell me what cases you’re working on.”
“Just one currently, but we’ve had an encouraging break. We’ve positively identified a deceased Jane Doe. Toxicology reports indicated she’d been poisoned by Botox.”
Rudolph chuckled. His baritone laugh rattled my bones. “Shit. What your kind won’t do for beauty.”
I delicately coughed.
“Sorry,” he grunted. “Continue.”
“The deceased wasn’t a bored housewife,” I continued. “She was a bit of a drifter—homeless, actually—on the lookout for her next con if witness testimony is valid. She was having an affair with a woman named Victoria LeVitre, whose husband also happens to be a plastic surgeon. He would have had access to the chemical the coroner found in her body.”
Rudolph tented his fingers and looked thoughtful. “It’s a good detail, but circumstantial at best. Have you confronted him about the death?”
“Briefly. But I thought it prudent to speak to you before following that thread.” I’d once had a criminal case dismissed because I hadn’t secured a warrant early enough. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.
“Come see me when you’ve built more of a case. There’s not enough evidence or paperwork here. Your job as a police officer is to build a case on probable cause. But that’s not going to cut it in a court of law.”
He stood from his chair and rounded his desk, indicating that our meeting was coming to an end. “They’re cold cases for a reason, Detective Miller. We’re not going to take a case to court if we can’t move from probable cause to beyond a reasonable doubt.”
“I understand, sir,” I nodded. “Thank you for your time.”
I left the assistant D.A.’s office slightly annoyed with myself for wasting my morning hiking all the way to the federal courthouse. But on the upside, at least it had distracted me momentarily from what was supposed to happen later that night.
I spent the remainder of my shift in front of my work computer. With Stanley at the warehouse and Sarah at her other job, I had been on my own that day. My concentration hadn’t improved upon my return to the Fourth District. Instead of details about the Tracey Green case, my thoughts had been taken hostage by a light pink strap-on.
As my workday came close to its end, my anxiety heightened. I was no closer to knowing what to do with Julia’s present. I stared at the empty search engine box and flexed my fingers over the keyboard. What were the chances that someone was monitoring my browser searches? Cops had to conduct Internet searches for all kinds of things, but I couldn’t really imagine explaining away an investigation of strap-on lesbian sex tips.
“Hey, Miller.”
My hand jerked on the mouse, and I minimized the browser window even though I was only on the main search engine screen.
“What do you want?” I choked out.
Sarah Conrad’s face appeared over my computer monitor. “Did I scare you?” she asked with a teasing smile.
“No.” I could feel the heated flush spread across my face. “What are you doing here? I thought you were at your other office today.”
“I was,” she confirmed. “I tracked down Tracey Green’s family.”
“Wow. Nice work, Sarah.”
Her lips twisted into a half smile. “You won’t be so congratulatory when I tell you you’re coming with me to relay the news about their daughter being dead.”
I curled my upper lip. “Why does that require both of us?”
“I’m not a cop,” she reminded me. “My job is to support the family, and yours is to take their statements in case one of them killed her.”
I stood from the desk and reached for the squad car keys. “Okay, fine. Let’s get this over with.”
“They live up in St. Cloud.”
“Fuck.” I swore without meaning to.
“It’s not that bad of a drive.”
“No, it’s not that.” I grimaced. “I grew up in St. Cloud.”
Sarah’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding me. You mean you might actually know her family?”
I shook my head. “I doubt it. St. Cloud is pretty big. And I don’t think I know any Greens.”
Sarah glanced at the clock on her cell phone. “It’s probably too late to talk to the family today. If we head up tonight though we can charge the hotel room to the department and talk to her parents in the morning.”
My stomach sank. “I can’t tonight.”
Sarah arched an eyebrow. “Hot date?”
“It’s, uh, it’s my girlfriend’s birthday.”
“Ah, I see.” Sarah bobbed her head. “Well, don’t wanna get you in trouble. Tomorrow, then.” She jerked her thumb towards the hallway. “I’ll go tell Forrester the news. I assume he’s in his office, dusting the old woodchuck?”
I couldn’t hold back my snort. “That’s one way of putting it.”
Sarah slipped out of the central office in search of our boss while I returned my attention back to my work computer. I pulled the search engine page back up and exhaled. The clock was ticking. In a few hours I would have to give my girlfriend her ‘present.’
I placed my fingertips onto the keyboard. What would I even search for?
“Miller!” someone barked.
My hands flew from the keyboard like I’d been electrocuted. “Nothing!” I yelled.
Captain Forrester stood in the doorway. His visage was stern, but unconcerned by my unorthodox response. “My office. Now.”
I hadn’t been in Forrester’s office since my first day on the job. It was as crowded as ever, hardly room for a conference between two, let alone three people, with all of the stuffed squirrels and chipmunks. Sarah was sitting across from Forrester’s desk in one of the office chairs. Rather than acknowledge my entrance, she was staring down at her lap.
“Have a seat, Miller,” Forrester instructed. His tone sounded displeased, but that wasn’t unusual for him.
When I sat in the empty chair next to Sarah, she continued to avoid looking in my direction.
“Sarah was able to track down our Jane Doe’s parents,” Forrester told me. “I want you to accompany her to tell the family.”
I bit back a reflexive response: “Our Jane Doe?” I wanted to say. “She has a name, and you’d know that if you bothered to ever come out of your office.”
Rather than speak my mind, I schooled my features. “Yes, sir. We’re going to head up there tomorrow morning.”
“No, you’re not.”
My voice lilted. “I’m not?”
“You’re going tonight.”
Shit.
“Sir—respectfully—I don’t see how going tonight instead of in the morning is going to make a difference,” I tried. “We’d be saving the department from having
to cover hotel costs, too.”
“Miller—respectfully,” he seemed to mock, “you’ve got a lead; you’re not going to sit on it.”
Now I knew why Sarah wouldn’t look at me. She felt too guilty.
I tried to think of another excuse, some kind of logic to justify postponing the trip to St. Cloud, but I came up empty.
I felt sick to my stomach. “Yes, sir,” I complied.
Forrester continued with his inane instructions, but I heard and retained little. Instead, I thought about what I was going to say to Julia. Our first birthday together, and I was going to miss it for work.
Sarah grabbed my elbow as soon as Forrester dismissed us. “Miller, I’m so sorry. If I had known he was going to make us go tonight I would have waited to tell him in the morning.”
“It’s not your fault,” I sighed. “I don’t suppose you want to break the bad news to my girlfriend?”
Sarah chuckled. “Don’t get it twisted; I don’t feel that bad.”
I found an empty corridor in the basement where my phone had service to let Julia know about the change in plans.
“I’ve been waiting to hear from you all day, Detective,” Julia chastised in a low, throaty burr. “When can I expect you?”
“I can’t make it tonight.”
“I gave you very explicit instructions this morning—.”
I growled in frustration. “Julia, I’m not playing around. I really have to work.”
“All night?” she challenged.
“Sarah Conrad tracked down Tracey Green’s parents. They live in St. Cloud. Forrester wants me to go with her. Actually, it was more like a direct order.”
“Why do you have to go?”
“Because it’s my job, Julia. I’ve got training in bereavement that I suppose Sarah doesn’t have.”
I had told family that loved ones had died in car accidents before, but I’d never had to tell someone’s parents that we’d found or had identified someone who’d been missing for over a decade.
“Or else Forrester likes throwing around the little power he has,” I added.
Julia was quiet on the other line. Too quiet. I didn’t like how it made me feel.
“Baby, I’m so sorry.”
“This isn’t an excuse to avoid seeing me tonight?”
“Of course not,” I insisted. “Why would I ever want to not see you?”
“I’ve been worried I might have intimidated you this morning with my … present.”
“Oh, it terrified me,” I admitted with a chuckle. “But believe me, baby. A piece of plastic isn’t enough to keep me from seeing you.”
I heard her long exhale. “Are you planning on telling your parents you’ll be in St. Cloud?”
“I don’t think so. It’s not like I’m planning on hanging around there.” In reality I hadn’t given it much thought. I’d been too focused on disappointing Julia to think about dropping by my childhood home.
“You’re really going to leave me alone on my birthday,” Julia said sullenly.
“I know. It’s a shitty thing of me to do. And I’d try to get out of having to go, but this is my first real case. I don’t want to piss Forrester off before I’ve really gotten started here.”
“It’s strange,” she remarked. “You said there was no missing persons report on her. All this time, and her parents never contacted the police.”
I followed her train of thought. “Like they knew she was dead, so they didn’t bother filing a report?”
Julia made a thoughtful noise. “I’d keep my ears and eyes peeled when you’re around her family. There may be something more going on.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
I left my motorcycle at the Fourth Precinct and drove the division’s squad car to my apartment to pack a quick overnight bag. I had only ever driven out to the suburbs with the well-utilized police vehicle, and I hoped it would make the trip to St. Cloud without incident.
I threw clean clothes, deodorant, and my toothbrush into a duffle bag. I watered the plant Julia had given me when we’d started to get along in Embarrass, as it was looking a little droopy. It was the only living thing in my apartment, and with me spending so much time at Julia’s place lately, I worried it might not be living for too much longer.
Sarah was all smiles when I picked her up from her apartment. Like myself, she lived not far from the Fourth Precinct in a multi-unit building. “Excited for our road trip?” she asked as she slid into the passenger seat of the unmarked squad car.
I only grunted in response. As annoyed as I was to be road tripping to St. Cloud, at least it gave me more time to figure out how the hell I was going to have sex with my girlfriend with a piece of plastic attached to me. I didn’t want to come across as inexperienced. I’d been to multiple foreign countries; I was supposed to be worldly. I already lacked sophistication in comparison to my girlfriend. I didn’t want to be inadequate in this department as well.
St. Cloud was about an hour away without rush hour traffic. Driving across the city limits brought with it a flood of memories. I had spent the first eighteen years of my life in the central Minnesota town and probably would still have been living there if not for the escape that the military had provided. We passed the high school where I still possessed several swimming records. The grocery store where I’d had my first summer job as a bagger. The city park where I’d broken my right arm falling out of a tree.
My subconscious almost had me turning down the residential street where my parents still lived. I hadn’t bothered to tell them I’d be in town, however, and I had no intention of dropping by unannounced. I hadn’t spoken to them since my return to Minneapolis. They’d shipped me the few things I’d been storing at their house, and beyond that we hadn’t had any communication.
The department hadn’t splurged on our transportation, and they hadn’t broken the bank on our accommodations either—not that there were luxury hotels to be found in my hometown. Our room was non-descript: two parallel double beds and a dresser upon which a small flat screen TV sat.
Sarah tossed her suitcase on the closest bed, claiming it for herself. “I hope you’re not a snorer.”
“Not that I know of,” I remarked.
I sat down on the edge of the second bed. As my backside hit the unforgiving stiffness of the mattress, I came to the realization that I had only ever shared a bedroom with Julia since returning to the States.
The recognition sat heavy in the pit of my stomach. What if I had a flashback? What if I yelled out something incriminating in the middle of the night? No one on my new team knew about my PTSD, and I preferred to keep it that way.
Sarah continued to talk, but I only caught every other word.
“Sorry. What?”
“Pizza,” she repeated. “Do you want to order delivery, and stay in for the night?”
“Uh, yeah. Sounds good.”
Sarah grabbed a few items out of her suitcase. “I’ll leave the ordering to you. I’m game for anything except pineapple. Fruit doesn’t belong on pizza.”
“Tomatoes.” My thoughts were elsewhere, but somehow I continued to make conversation.
Sarah paused on her way to the bathroom. “What did you say?”
“Tomatoes. They’re fruit.”
Sarah made a funny face. “Just order the pizza, Einstein.”
I sat for a moment longer on the bed, still soaking in the situation and my surroundings. I’d been in such a hurry to get on the road and beat the traffic, I hadn’t even thought to bring my dream journal with me. I opened the drawers in the end table and clothes bureau, looking for something to write on, but found only the in-room Bible. I picked up the thick tome, but quickly put it back, dismissing the prospect of writing in the margins of the holy book. God would understand, I was sure, but I didn’t need that kind of negative karma.
Sarah was still in the bathroom, so I called Julia, if only for reassurance that I’d make it through the night.
She didn’t bother with a traditional gr
eeting. “Did your supervisor change his mind?” she asked hopefully.
“No. I’m in St. Cloud.”
“Oh.”
There was so much disappointment in the monosyllabic word, I nearly forgot the purpose of my call.
“I left my sleep journal at your place, and I’m kind of freaking out. What if I have a flashback tonight?”
“Then you pick up the phone and call me, and I’ll walk you through it just like we do here.”
“But what about Sarah?”
“Sarah?” Julia paused as the information came together. “You’re sharing a hotel room with your co-worker?”
“Yeah.”
“Whose idea was this?” she pressed.
“I don’t know. I didn’t even think about it. It saves the department money, I guess.”
“Put her on the phone.”
I balked. “Why? So you can threaten her?”
“Would that really be the worst thing?” she posed.
“It’s one night. It’ll be okay,” I tried to appease.
“So you’re saying you’d have no problems with me sharing a bed with my assistant Alice while you’re gone?”
“Jesus, Julia. I’m not sharing a bed with anyone. And I’m certainly not sharing you with anyone. I’ll be back tomorrow,” I hissed. “I’ll give you your damn birthday present then.”
“Maybe I’ll wait for you to get back to use it,” she huffed. “Maybe I won’t.”
Sarah exited the bathroom just as I was hanging up with Julia. She’d changed into a t-shirt and sleep shorts and had pulled her long, dark hair into a high ponytail.
“How long for the pizza?” she asked.
“I haven’t ordered it yet.”
“Who was on the phone then?”
“My girlfriend.”
Sarah laughed. “Missing her already? That’s sweet,” she teased.
“I just wanted to wish her a happy birthday.”
The lie got stuck in my throat. I had never once uttered those words all day. The realization made me feel worse than before. I had to have been the worst girlfriend in the history of girlfriends.
Cold Blooded Lover Page 13
