Scene of the Crime

by M. J. Williamz

  “Not intentionally. But I’m thinking we’ll get enough clues to piece it together.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “Count on it, handsome.”

  She kissed Cullen then and Cullen’s mind went blank. She couldn’t think; she could only feel. She felt every emotion so keenly. She felt her hormones raging against their confines, and she felt her boxers dampen with the urge to make love to Julia.

  When the kiss finally ended, Julia threw herself back against the couch.

  “I’m famished,” she said.

  “I know something you could eat.” Cullen grinned and wiggled her eyebrows.

  “All in due time, dear heart. All in due time.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Cullen woke when she heard Julia get up the following morning.

  “Why do you always get up so early?” she whined.

  “To beat traffic and to make sure there haven’t been any new developments in either of my two favorite cases.”

  “Wouldn’t someone have gotten in touch with you if something had come up?”

  “In theory, my dear, but in reality? Who knows?”

  Cullen rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling.

  “What’s on your mind?” Julia said.

  “Nothing really. I was just wondering if we should split our time between our houses. Don’t get me wrong. I love having you here and I love my house, but the commute is so much better from yours.”

  “True statement. Why don’t you pack some clothes and we’ll just plan on staying at my house for a few?”

  “That sounds good. I’ll do it.”

  “Great.” Julia kissed her, and Cullen’s nipples puckered painfully. “I’ll start getting ready. I’ll be out in a jiff.”

  Cullen tried to relax, but it was hard knowing Julia was naked in the next room. How could she be so calm, cool, and collected? Didn’t she want Cullen? She said she did, but she was so strong, damn it. Cullen knew she had to be strong too. It sure as hell wasn’t easy, but was anything that was worth having?

  Julia came out of the bathroom, the scent of her body wash wafting in with her. Cullen breathed deeply. She smelled so good. Cullen just wanted to eat her up.

  “What’s with you?” Julia smiled.

  “What?”

  “I don’t know. You have this odd look on your face. Is everything okay?”

  “It’s fine. I just want you and it’s getting harder to not take you.”

  “Patience, my dear. I promise to make it worth your while.”

  “Oh, I don’t doubt that. I don’t doubt that one bit.”

  She pulled Julia in and kissed her.

  “Okay, Cullen,” Julia said. “Any more of that and I’ll never go to work again. Now you behave and I’ll get out of here.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Be careful out there.”

  “I will. You drive carefully to work when you finally hit the road.”

  “Will do,” Cullen said.

  “I’ll see you at my house this evening.”

  Julia gave Cullen a sweet peck on the cheek before she left. Alone in the house, Cullen lay back down. She knew she needed to get going, but she was in pain from wanting Julia so desperately. What would it hurt to take matters into her own hands, just once?

  No! She catapulted herself out of bed and took a cool shower, dressed, and took off for work. She sat in her office, powered on her computer, and checked her email. Top of the list was an email from Samantha in human resources asking to see her. Samantha and Cullen had gone on a couple of dates a few years ago before Samantha started working at Logan and Bremer. What could she possibly want to see Cullen for now?

  She sent her a chat message saying she was on her way and didn’t wait for a reply. Cullen arrived at Samantha’s office one floor up from hers and poked her head into the office.

  “You wanted to see me?”

  Samantha looked up from her monitor.

  “Cullen. Great, yes, please come in.”

  Cullen stepped inside the plush office decorated in soft blues and browns. Samantha stood and closed the door. She motioned to one of the leather chairs on the near side of her desk so Cullen sat and was surprised when Samantha took the other chair.

  “What’s going on? Why did you need to see me?”

  “Cullen, I like you and I respect you. So I’m going to give you a heads-up before our staff meeting today.”

  Cullen’s skin crawled and her stomach tightened. Why didn’t this sound like a good thing?

  “Okay, shoot. I’m all ears.”

  “You do great work. You’re one of our best.”

  Why did she stop?

  “And? But? What?”

  “As you have no doubt noticed, the firm isn’t doing real well. And because of that, we’re facing massive layoffs.”

  Cullen thought she was going to puke.

  “And this affects me? I’m going to be let go?”

  Samantha drew a deep breath.

  “I don’t want to see you go, Cullen. I really don’t. Nobody does, but we need to let people go. I wanted to talk to you about your attendance lately. Or lack thereof. You’ve missed a lot of work in the past month or so. I hate to say it, but that’s one of the criteria we’re going to be using.”

  “So you’re letting me go?”

  “No, not at the moment.”

  “Good. Look, I’ve had some personal issues I’ve had to deal with. But they’re all resolved now. I won’t be missing any more work.”

  “I hope not. It won’t look good if you do.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Excellent, that’s what I needed to hear.”

  “So,” Cullen said, “lots of layoffs, huh? This should be fun.”

  “It’s all confidential still at this point. I could lose my job for telling you this.”

  “I won’t say a word. You know you can trust me.”

  “Yes, I do know that. Keep your head down and your ass in your office and you should make it through the first round of cuts.”

  Cullen nodded.

  “Got it. I’ll be here every day.”

  “Thanks, Cullen.”

  “No, thank you.”

  Cullen went back to her office and closed her door. She was in a foul mood and didn’t want to deal with anyone. She was close to losing her job over her absences? She had enough time off earned to be off every day for the next year practically. Why hadn’t she thought to point that out to Samantha? It didn’t matter. She was on their radar and that wasn’t good.

  Damn Sara anyway. It was her fault Cullen had been missing work. First, to be with her and then because she ran away. She wished Julia would catch her and put her away. But she also wished she didn’t have to play a part. Not that she minded helping Julia; she just never wanted to speak to Sara again.

  * * *

  Julia’s morning started the minute she hit the station. She had just settled in at her desk when her phone rang. A rock had been found at Sara’s house, a large, fist-sized rock with blood on it. She drove back out to Bidwell and met her team at the house.

  The rock was in a rock garden in the backyard.

  “Holy hell, who thought to look here?”

  “It was Cooper’s idea.”

  “Cooper, where are you?”

  “Over here, ma’am.” A middle-aged man with greasy dark hair approached her. “It was driving me crazy that we never found the murder weapon. I was determined it had to be here somewhere. We were just taking down the police tape and going over the house one more time when I spotted the rock garden and I thought what better place to hide a rock than in plain sight?”

  “You’re a genius.” She slapped him on his arm. “Sheer genius.”

  She picked up the overturned rock in her gloved hand and slipped it into an evidence bag.

  “Did we find anything else?” she asked.

  “Nothing yet,” Cooper said.

  “Yet? You’re still looking? I thought you guys had alre
ady been over this place.”

  “We had, but we somehow missed a garbage can out here in the shed. It was hidden pretty well. We’re going through it now.”

  “Hey, Detective,” a uniformed woman called to her. “I think you’re going to want to see this.”

  Julia hurried over to the shed. The officer was holding something in some tweezers.

  “What have you got there?” Julia said.

  “A driver’s license belonging to one Sara Donovan.”

  Julia’s heart skipped a beat. Adrenaline and coffee coursed through her making her heart race. They had Sara’s driver’s license. Which confirmed her suspicions that she’d created a new identity before she moved on. It would make her that much harder to find.

  She bagged the license and turned to leave.

  “You guys are the best. Keep up the good work.”

  Julia took the evidence to Mike in the lab.

  “I want this rock gone over so carefully it’ll make you nuts, got it? I want fingerprints, blood type, hair follicles, the works. When can you have it to me?”

  “Seriously? I suppose you want it today.”

  “You know it. That’s probably the murder weapon in the Bergstrom case and I want a definite yes by end of day.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’ll have the results to you before I leave.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Welcome.” His terse response did nothing to cool her mood. She was getting closer to Sara. She could feel it.

  She was very excited and she wanted to celebrate, so she called Cullen.

  “Hey there, I’m taking you out for dinner tonight. My treat. Can you sneak out early for drinks first?”

  “Sorry, hon, no can do. I’m being watched like a hawk right now and have to be here until four thirty no matter what. What are we celebrating?”

  “I’m having a great day. We’re so close to getting Sara, babe. So very close.”

  “That’s great.”

  “You sound flat. And why are you being watched?”

  “Nothing I can talk about right now. I’ll explain it all when I get home.”

  “Fair enough. Let’s meet at El Gaucho as soon as you’re off. We’ll have drinks and dinner and you can even have a cigar.”

  That got a laugh out of Cullen.

  “That sounds great. I’ll see you then.”

  “Hope your day gets better.”

  “Yeah. Me, too.”

  Julia tossed her phone on the desk and turned to her computer. She searched for warm climate cities with large lesbian populations. Portland was number four, which was interesting, but she needed to focus on the task at hand.

  The top three were Ft. Lauderdale, Austin, and Atlanta. She delved into researching those three communities. All three were likely candidates. They all had universities, which was a draw for Sara. Young partiers meant cocaine sales. Just look what happened here.

  Austin. She really liked Austin. It was big enough and college oriented and obviously had a large lesbian population. All draws for Sara. Next was Atlanta. It was a nice, big city with universities as well, and it was warm this time of year.

  Julia tried to narrow her choices down, but couldn’t. She scrolled farther down the list. Palm Springs and Santa Fe were next on the list. She supposed she couldn’t rule them out either. Of course, these choices were all contingent on the fact that Sara was telling the truth. And they had no proof of that. Then again, Molly had said she’d talked about moving somewhere warm, so Julia had to trust her gut and contact the police departments of the cities.

  She got her information together and sent pictures of Sara to the main police departments in all the cities she’d selected. She mentioned that Sara was a lesbian so to keep their eyes on any parts of the city she may be attracted to. Julia also pointed out her history of selling coke to college students. She finally let them know her fingerprints were in the system and to please notify her if they found anything.

  That took most of her afternoon, and she was ready to head home. She was putting on her coat when her phone rang.

  “Stansworth.”

  “Detective? It’s Mike from the lab.”

  She sat back down.

  “Mike, great. What have you got for me?”

  “That rock was definitely your murder weapon. Bergstrom’s DNA was all over it.”

  “Any fingerprints?”

  “No, your suspect was probably wearing gloves. As I recall, it was cold and rainy that day.”

  “True, well, thanks for the information, Mike. I’ll be right down to pick up the evidence. Oh, were there any other fingerprints on Sara’s license?”

  “A few. Mostly smudged. None that match anybody in the system.”

  “Great, thanks again. I’m on my way.”

  Julia picked up the evidence and delivered it to Marge to be filed. Feeling like she’d accomplished a lot that day, she went home and changed into some blue jeans and a thick royal blue sweater. She slipped her coat back on and drove to El Gaucho to meet Cullen.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Cullen was engrossed in working on a campaign for a new client. When she finally glanced at the time, it was past time for her to leave. She logged off her computer, donned her coat, and headed for the parking garage.

  Work had been good after the two meetings she’d had that day. The second meeting was the staff meeting where the official announcement had been made and morale plummeted which was to be expected. She locked herself in her office and focused. The day flew by, and it was finally time to see Julia.

  The short drive to the restaurant seemed to take forever. She loved Portland and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else, but she hated the traffic. It was unbearable at times. She finally arrived at the restaurant and spotted Julia at the bar and snuck up behind her.

  “Whatcha drinking?” she whispered in her ear. Julia leaned back into Cullen, and Cullen’s pulse quickened. She was really into Julia. There was no denying that, and while the waiting was making her crazy, she knew it was the right thing to do. She wanted to claim Julia as her own in every way possible, but they both needed to be certain where this was going. Sara had betrayed Cullen in a big way, and it was the second time that had happened to her. She needed to know in her heart and soul that she could trust Julia. Only time would tell.

  Julia sat up straight.

  “I’m having a margarita. Won’t you join me?”

  “I think I will.”

  Julia signaled the bartender while Cullen slipped off her coat and draped it over the back of her barstool.

  “So, what are we celebrating?” Cullen asked.

  Julia looked around the bar, which was empty save the two of them, but she still lowered her voice.

  “We found the murder weapon.”

  “For that Sherry woman?”

  “Exactly. She was killed by a blow to the head by a rock. And that rock was in Sara’s backyard.”

  Cullen’s stomach lurched. More proof that Sara had been a murderer as well as a drug dealer. She knew it in her heart, but it still hurt that all the proof was piling up to show that Cullen never really knew Sara to begin with.

  “That’s great,” she said. “Now to find the murdering bitch.”

  “Ah, yes. I worked on that, too. Assuming she’s telling you the truth about where she moved, and why wouldn’t she, I’ve sent her information to several warm cities with decent lesbian populations. I had a good time researching that, let me tell you, and when all this is over, I have some cities I want to visit that I’d never considered before.”

  Cullen laughed.

  “Yeah? Like where?”

  “Oh, there are several. Primarily Austin and Ft. Lauderdale, and I suppose Atlanta wouldn’t be bad, either. I don’t know.”

  “So you researched lesbian meccas at work today, huh? I think I want your job, minus all the death and criminals and stuff.”

  Julia laughed and leaned into Cullen.

  “Yeah, minus all that. So what about y
our job? What happened today?”

  Cullen exhaled and rolled her eyes.

  “Today sucked. There’s no way around it. There are going to be massive layoffs at the firm and that’s never good to hear.”

  “They won’t let you go, will they? You’ve been there forever and I’m sure you do good work.”

  “True, but I’ve missed a lot of work lately, and that’s making them look at me harder than they normally would.”

  “How do you know that?” Julia said.

  “I dated the head of human resources a few years back.”

  “You dated a coworker? Cullen, that’s not smart.”

  “Oh, no. She wasn’t with the firm at the time. Anyway, as a courtesy she called me into her office and told me she was all for keeping me, but that my attendance or lack thereof had me square in the crosshairs of some.”

  “That’s not good.”

  “No, and it’s not like I don’t have the time to burn. But apparently I’ve burned too much recently, so no leaving early or staying home to nurse a hangover for me in the near future.”

  “Fair enough. That reminds me though. Do you get Friday off?”

  “Friday?”

  “Yeah, Thursday is Thanksgiving, remember?”

  “Oh wow, with everything going on, I completely forgot. Yes. I get Friday off. Do you?”

  “We’ll see.”

  “What are you doing for Thanksgiving?” Cullen asked. “Are you going over to your folks’ place?”

  Julia shook her head.

  “My parents disowned me when I came out. My siblings usually go over there for the day, so I’ll just hang. What about you? I suppose you’ll be at your parents’ house?”

  “I should. Or we could spend the day together.”

  “Cullen, you should be with your parents. Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

  “Nope, I’m it. I’d rather spend the day with you. I’ll go see them Friday while you’re working.”

  Julia smiled and nodded.

  “That sounds good to me.”

  They got a table and enjoyed their celebratory dinner. When it was over, Cullen followed Julia back to her house. Once safely in for the night, they hit the leftover Guinness.

  “I’m so proud of you, Julia,” Cullen said.