Connor waved at her, and then walked over to the free weights. Kate watched Connor as he stretched out his muscular arms, then moved on to stretching his legs. She noticed a few other women in the gym eyeing him. Kate felt a streak of jealousy, then guilt. She knew that, due to departmental policy, she and Connor could never date. She could put in for a transfer within the department, but at the time the only position she was aware of was in auto theft.
She sighed heavily. Why on earth did life have so many difficulties? Even if she did transfer, the possibility existed that he wouldn’t be interested in dating her.
Connor interrupted her thoughts. “Hey, how about we grab a bite to eat after we’re done?”
Kate pulled out her ear buds, draped them over her shoulders, and smiled at him. “What?” She’d heard him, but she wanted to hear his voice again.
“After we get done here and shower, why don’t we grab a bite to eat?”
“Actually, I have my world-famous spaghetti sauce simmering on the stove. Why don’t you grab Sundae and come over to the house when you’re done?”
“A home-cooked meal!” Connor said enthusiastically. “I’ll never pass that up. What can I bring?”
“Surprise me,” Kate said, tilting her head to one side.
Kate showered, slipped on a pair of faded jeans and a V-neck sweater, and dabbed a little perfume behind each ear and on her wrists. Hurrying, she went into the den and loaded the CD player with soft background music. Then she quickly set the table for two. She lit candles and stood back, looking at the table.
“No,” she said out loud. Shaking her head, she quickly snuffed out the candles, thinking they were too much. Off to the kitchen she ran. She pulled out the bowls that she kept on hand for when Sundae came to visit. She looked at the corner of the living room to make sure Sundae’s bed still had a small blanket.
“Where did I put Sundae’s blanket?” she thought out loud. Then she remembered; she had washed it the last time Connor had let Sundae spend the weekend with her while he went mountain hiking with a buddy of his. Quickly, Kate retrieved the small pink blanket from the linen closet and placed it to one side of Sundae’s bed. Standing back, she looked at the tiny handmade toy box next to Sundae’s bed.
Back in the kitchen, Kate ran some water into a large pot. Once Connor and Sundae arrived, she would start the pasta. She began cutting up fresh vegetables and tossing them into a salad bowl. Just as she finished, the doorbell rang.
Before opening the door, Kate glanced at her image in the foyer mirror and ran her hands through her hair. Sundae immediately ran into the kitchen, following the aroma of spaghetti sauce and the garlic bread cooking in the oven.
“Well, just make yourself at home, Sundae,” Connor said, smiling at Kate.
Kate laughed as she watched Sundae sniff around the kitchen.
“You sure this isn’t too much work?” asked Connor.
“The sauce was already made. I would only eat my portion and put the rest in the freezer for other meals. In fact, I’ll give you some to take home for your freezer,” Kate said with a smile. She gave him a friendly hug and shut the front door.
Connor handed Kate a bottle of White Merlot. “It’s already chilled,” he said.
Connor inhaled the soft fragrance of Kate’s perfume. He watched her go into the kitchen and start the pot of water to boil. He missed having a family, missed the smells of home cooking and the touch of a woman.
“What can I do?” he asked.
“Relax. Sundae and I have this. Just sit down.”
Connor walked around Kate’s living room, looking at photos of Kate and her parents, and another of Kate and her younger sister. He came across Sundae’s toy box and bent down to look at it. Connor saw Sundae’s name on the front of it and smiled.
“Looks like Sundae has a home away from home here.”
After dinner, they each sat down with a glass of wine. Sundae curled up in her bed and quickly fell asleep.
“Dinner was wonderful, Kate.”
“We should do this more often.” Kate smiled and turned to Connor.
He reached out and placed a hand softly on her face, looking into her eyes. They leaned in and kissed passionately. His kiss was intoxicating. Kate felt lightheaded. Though lost in the moment, Kate pulled back suddenly.
“Connor, if we continue this, you know we can’t work together anymore.”
Connor quickly stood. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…”
Kate wasn’t sorry. She’d wanted a relationship with Connor for some time. She stood and wrapped her arms around his muscular shoulders, then leaned in to kiss him again. This time, Kate didn’t care about departmental rules, their chief, or their sergeant. She cared only about the man who stood before her.
Suddenly, Connor’s cell phone rang. He pulled away to answer it. Kate sat on the couch and waited until Connor disconnected the call.
“That was the IT department. They checked all of Ellie’s social media accounts. Seems as though Jeff has been stalking her online for some time,” Connor said. He returned his phone to his pocket and took Kate’s hand. “Kate, when we’re both thinking straight, I think we need to think about where this could lead us.”
Kate knew all too well that Connor wasn’t talking about the case. The question was, did they really want to end their professional relationship and pursue an intimate relationship with each other?
“You’re right,” Kate said reluctantly. She went into the kitchen and put some sauce into a few containers for Connor to take home.“Just pop them into the freezer. Take it out in the morning when you want to eat it, and leave it in the fridge. Warm it up in a pan while you boil some pasta.” She reached over and gave him a friendly peck on the cheek.
After Connor and Sundae left, Kate cleaned up the kitchen. Suddenly, she heard a text from Connor come in on her phone. It read simply, “I’m sorry.”
Under her breath, she said, “I’m not.”
When the kitchen was clean, Kate poured herself half a glass of wine. She lit the candles and turned out the lights. Listening to the soft music, she thought about Connor. What was the difference, she wondered, between being a couple and working with that person as your partner on a daily basis, being in love with that person and not being able to show those feelings? Would a person react differently in a situation on the streets?
Chapter 24
Connor came in early the following morning. They had a meeting with Jeff Gilbert scheduled for 8:00 and he wanted to write out his list of questions to ask. Looking up at the wall clock, he thought, ‘Kate must be running late.’ He wondered if they could get past what had happened the previous night. He also wondered whether, if not for their work, things would have progressed further that night. He knew he wanted them to. He remembered the taste of her lips and how soft they’d felt against his. Her body felt much different in an embrace than it did when they were wrestling a perp in the streets. It had felt right to be there with her and Sundae the previous night. It all felt so perfect. Her house had smelled good when he entered, and it had a feminine touch, with each thing in its place. It was not at all like his place, with its bare walls and shelves. He missed having a woman in his life. Was Kate that woman?
The elevator chimed, interrupting his thoughts. Kate rushed in.
“Forget to turn on your alarm?” Connor joked as Kate rushed to her desk and locked up her purse. “We have Jeff Gilbert coming in at 8:00.”
“No, we don’t,” Kate said, looking across her desk.
“I’ve been here since 6 and no one told me that.”
“I was coming in when dispatch received a call from his attorney. It seems Mr. Gilbert has lawyered up. Our schedule and the attorney’s don’t match. They want to know if they can meet with us tomorrow afternoon.”
Connor leaned back in his chair, shaking his head. “I did a little research on Jeff. Seems he comes from a very wealthy family. Dad’s a homebuilder and Mom’s a psychiatrist.”
�
��That would explain the attorney.”
“What explains the attorney?” Connor looked confused.
“Jeff hired Slater.”
Connor’s eyebrows rose and he leaned forward. “You mean Bennett Slater…the best and highest paid defense attorney the state has to offer? And every DAs worst nightmare.”
“The same,” Kate said.
Sundae got up and went to Kate’s desk. As Kate rubbed Sundae’s soft ears, she wondered how the dog had felt about her and Connor the previous night. Sundae had seemed to be comfortable with the two of them together at the house. Then again, Sundae spent almost every day with Connor and Kate.
“Kate…earth to Kate.”
“Oh. I was just wondering if Jeff’s mommy will go for an insanity plea if Jeff is found guilty, with her being a psychiatrist and all.” That was only partly true, but Kate didn’t want to bring up the previous night or what she was really thinking unless Connor did so first.
“I requested the subpoena for Jeff’s cell phone records from the ADA. Ellie’s social media records came in, so we need to go over them when we can,” Connor said.
“Give ‘em here,” Kate said, holding out her hand. “I’ll do that.”
“They’re all electronic. I can send them to your computer.” Connor quickly forwarded the files. “Beth sent us a text early this morning.” He read from his cell phone. “She said we should stop looking at the murder and the crime scene for answers. We need to focus on the power behind the act, what drove this person to commit murder.”
Kate began looking at what Ellie had posted. First, she found several photos of Ellie and Bud from a weekend getaway. She also found playful photos of the two of them. Next, Kate looked through the account activities, which could be obtained only from the social media site. There, she saw Jeff Gilbert’s name and the IP address of the computer used to access and view her account. Below this was a list of time and date stamps for all the instances in which someone had viewed Ellie’s page. She scrolled down. ‘There must be hundreds,’ she thought.
“Come here,” Kate said, pointing at her computer screen. “Jeff was cyber stalking her for months after they broke up.”
Connor came up behind Kate and looked over her shoulder at the computer screen. “Looks like Ellie thought they were just a few casual dates, but Jeff was on an entirely different page. Maybe this was the power Beth was talking about. The man simply thought more of their relationship than Ellie did,” Connor said.
“I’ll go down to our IT guys and ask them to take a look at these files, see if the IP address goes back to Gilbert,” Kate said. She got up from her desk and left.
Connor picked up his desk phone and pressed the speed dial for the DA’s office.
Over the next few weeks, Attorney Bennett Slater’s office had called and canceled multiple times. Connor knew all too well that this was a stall tactic to buy them time. Connor had a detail watching Jeff to make sure he didn’t leave.
Detectives Bob Barton and Grant Harris had made an arrest in their case. This had taken the heat off the department in terms of the news media and the revelation that this was not a serial murder.
Connor had a meeting downtown with the DA’s office about the Hampton case. Meanwhile, Kate stayed behind, working on the paperwork that the DA needed. Her desk phone rang.
“Detective Stroup.”
“Detective, this is the office of Bennett Slater. He needs you to meet him at Highway 10, where the alleged bags were found. We’ve discovered some very vital objects.”
Kate quickly locked up her files and headed for Highway 10.
Minutes later, when they returned to the police department, Connor and Sundae greeted the dispatcher.
“I thought you and Sundae would be out at Highway 10,” the dispatcher said.
“Why would we be there?” asked Connor.
“Kate was meeting Bennett Slater there,” she answered.
“Slater…See if you can reach her by radio!” Connor said.
“She’s not answering,” the dispatcher said.
“I can hear that. Try her phone.” Connor turned around and ran for the door. Sundae followed him. “If you reach her, tell her I’m on my way. Also, have the IT guys check the phone logs. I want to know the number that called Kate,” Connor shouted as the door closed.
Chapter 25
Connor weaved in and out of traffic with lights flashing and siren shrieking.
“Get out of the way!” Connor screamed at the motorist who ignored the unmarked car with lights and siren behind her. The woman driving in front of him refused to move her car over so that Connor could pass her on the two-lane highway.
“Give me a break, lady!” Connor said to himself as he pounded his steering wheel. As soon as the oncoming traffic lane cleared, Connor pulled into the lane, passing the woman. “If someone in her family needed emergency help, you can bet she’d want them to pull over,” he said to Sundae.
Just as Connor crested the hill, he saw a logging truck in his lane.
“Oh, for the love of….” Connor didn’t have to finish the sentence, as the trucker pulled his large rig to the side of the road, allowing Connor to pass.
The voice of Sandy Curtis, the dispatcher, came over the police radio. “15, I have the information you requested.”
“15, go ahead PD,” Connor said.
Sandy heard the stress in his voice. “I called Slater’s law office. They stated no one called here.”
“10-4. What about the phone number? Has that come back to anyone?”
“I have the IT people working on that. I’ll give you that when it comes in.”
“15 PD, put a BOLO out on Kate. Do you remember what she was wearing? If so, give that information and the time she left the PD.”
“10-4, 15. Will do.”
Sandy had already started preparing a BOLO – an acronym for “be on the lookout” – in case it was needed.
“Also, PD, see if Detectives Barton and Harris can run by Jeff Gilbert’s home. If he’s there, I want him and his mouthpiece attorney brought in for questioning. Also, I want a make and model of his car and anywhere he might be.”
“10-4. Oh, Connor, we’ll find her,” the dispatcher said without using code.
About eight minutes before getting to the grassy path, Connor turned off the lights and siren. If Jeff Gilbert had lured Kate to this desolate area, Connor didn’t want to announce his arrival with sirens blaring and light flashing. However, if his own heartbeat could be measured in decibels, Jeff would know that Connor was coming after him, as Connor’s heart was pounding out of his chest.
Connor parked about an eighth of a mile from the grassy pathway and got out of the car. He commanded Sundae to stay by his side as they walked down the old highway. Once at the path, he saw Kate’s police unit in the brush. Fresh tracks from the side of her car led in and back out to the highway. Connor put Sundae in search mode and she began her zigzag hunt for Kate. He watched as the tip of Sundae’s white tail disappeared into the thick brush until she was completely out of sight in the taller, denser brush.
Looking in Kate’s police unit, Connor swallowed hard when he saw that the cord to her police radio had been cut. He used the spare key – they each had one to the other’s police unit – to pop the trunk. It contained flares, a first aid kit, a drug kit, and other police paraphernalia. Connor shut the trunk, then looked around for anything. Only an occasional car on the highway broke the silence.
He began searching the area. A breeze had arisen and caused the branches of the bushes to knock together. The sound reminded Connor of his days in a homicide investigation class. The agent conducting the class had carried in a skeleton. The branches sounded like the bones of a skeleton knocking together. The thought made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.
It was then that he heard Sundae howling off in the distance, signaling to him that she had found something. Connor ran toward Sundae. The thick brush snapped and crackled under his feet. He
grabbed his arm as a branch cut through his shirt. Had he stopped long enough to grab his sport coat, he thought to himself, he would have given his arms some protection. Looking down, he noticed a tear and blood on his right thigh as well. When he turned, a branch snapped against his face. Droplets of blood rolled down his cheek.
Five more yards and he found Sundae sitting in front of a woman’s scarf. It was Kate’s. Connor knew it because she always wore it around her neck with her winter coat.
“Release,” Connor commanded. Sundae got up and continued searching the area. Connor grabbed a pair of latex gloves from his pocket. The scarf had blood on it. Was it from the branches, as he had just experienced? Or was it worse? Why hadn’t Kate waited for him to get back from the DA’s office so they could both go?
Sundae returned to Connor, which meant she hadn’t found anything else.
Connor and Sundae ran back to their police unit.
“15, PD, I located Detective Stroup’s unit. The mic cord to the radio has been cut. We found only her scarf with blood on it. Anything from Barton and Harris?”
“They’re at Gilbert’s home right now.”
“10-4,” Connor said as he swung the police unit back out onto the highway.
Chapter 26
Jeff Gilbert had been unable to keep a job his entire adult life. He still lived with his parents in a sprawling estate 45 minutes from Lakewood. The grounds were meticulously manicured, even at this time of year. Word was the place was worth some 6.5 million dollars. Regardless of the price tag, it was clear to anyone who drove down the driveway that the home was a place of wealth and prestige. To the right side of the large home was a six-car garage with the garage doors pulled down. The only thing out of place was the unmarked police car in the circle driveway under the large portico in front of the home. Detectives Barton and Harris emerged from the front door. They quickly got into their unit and pulled down the long, tree-lined driveway. A woman’s face could be seen peering from the front window of the Gilbert home.
In a Split Second Page 8
