Fireflies: A Katie Bell Mystery (book 1) (12 page)

A
rthur took
a deep breath and let his arm fall to his side. He waited a moment, letting his eyelids droop closed and let his breath out. He took another deep breath and again let it out, and repeated it one more time.

His eyes still closed, he reached out with his left arm and hit the button. The whirring sound of oiled gears moving came from in front of him, though the sounds were muffled by his ear protection, ugly things that were a color of green Arthur was pretty sure only existed in the 1970's.

After a good six seconds he hit the button again and the whirring stopped.

He let his left arm fall to his side and took one last deep breath. Arthur's eyes sprung open and he had his pistol drawn and fired the first round one handed, his left arm falling into a correct shooting position for the second and third trigger squeezes. He paused for just a second and then continued to fire, two more quick three-round bursts, and then he paused again. He fired a four-round burst next, paused, and fired two more rounds running the magazine dry. In a fluid motion, dropped it out of the Glock and drew another with his left hand from it's holder on his left side, slapping it into place and tapping the slide back into place, before firing two more shots to finish the set.

Arthur paused again, this time firing only a single round at a time, waiting a good second between each shot. Twenty-six seconds later he lowered his empty weapon and set it down on the small ledge in front of him. He flicked the switch on the wall to his left and pressed the button again, the target sheet whirring back towards him.

He took off his safety glasses and pulled the sheet down. He was using a silhouette target this time. There were only five distinct holes on the target, three center mass and two in the face, one where the mouth would be and one, two and a half itches higher, basically at the top of the silhouettes nose.

Arthur nodded to himself just as he felt a hand tap his shoulder.

He turned to find Agent Fields and Agent Tapscott standing there, both looking at him expectantly.

Arthur took off his ear protectors and set them down on the shelf next to his goggles and Glock.

"Agents."

"We've got news," Tapscott said.

"I would assume if you came down here to tell me."

Agent Fields rolled her eyes, as if to say “no shit.” Arthur almost smiled when he saw it.

"Right," Fields said. “Our official report confirmed earlier when we talked to the handwriting expert the suicide note was in fact Seaborn's handwriting. However, upon further review something seemed like it was missing and we double-checked. The pen."

"The pen?"

"The note was clearly written with blue ink, and not just normal blue ink either. It's called Noodler's Midnight Blue and it's ink that comes in a bottle to be used with a fountain pen. This makes sense since Seaborn's secretary confirmed he had a special pen he always carried with him, a Montblanc limited addition Edgar Allan Poe pen."

“I know that pen. It’s expensive.”

Tapscott grinned. “Nerd.”

“Eccentric,” Arthur replied.

"Limited addition, goes for a couple grand online. The pen wasn't in the room, and there were only three pens in the room, a sharpie and two cheap BICs," Fields said.

Tapscott looked slightly irritated that she had done the majority of the talking. "But one of the BICs was blue. It's possible the handwriting expert got it wrong."

Fields looked at her partner, irritated. "Except I went and bought the same BIC pen in blue and tried it on similar paper, it doesn't even look remotely the same."

Arthur had heard enough. "Have you checked his apartment, his office?"

"Uh-huh, nothing."

"Then we are back to the drawing board."

Tapscott looked annoyed. "But what about the note, what about the evidence?"

"You mean the forty-plus grand we never found? Or the fact that Miss Watson’s cell phone is still missing as well as Seaborn’s precious pen."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying I think this was handed to us a little too neatly wrapped up. Agent Fields, go back over the surveillance video from that night. We must have missed something. Also, Agent Tapscott, where did we get with the interviews with the other male suspects?"

"Of the four other suspects, three of them alibied out for later in the evening."

"And the fourth?"

"Was seen the next morning passed out in his car a half a block away. He's a regular at the bar and apparently that's a common thing for him. One of the bartenders also remembers seeing him sleeping when he left after he closed up, around three. Good looking guy, but apparently has a problem with keeping it up, at least that's the rumors around the bar," Tapscott added smirking. "God, that would suck to have that problem."

Arthur and Fields both looked at each other and didn't even have to say anything. Fields glanced at Arthur’s sheet, seeing an opportunity to change the subject.

"Are you really that bad of a shot?"

Arthur looked at the young woman, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"I saw you fire off two magazine's, how did you only hit it five times?"

Arthur held up the target, like he was offering it to Fields.

"I didn't hit it five times."

Fields took it from Arthur, still not getting it.

Agent Tapscott did and turned away from the rookie. "Look closer," he said as he started to walk away.

Agent Fields held the target silhouette up to the light and it suddenly hit her.

Arthur had been correct that hit the target five times; he'd hit the target a lot more times than that. Thirty-one to be exact. His grouping patterns were just so close together the rounds overlapped basically perfectly.

“We don’t train…”

“The last time I fired my gun in the real world I missed, so now I practice a lot."

Agent Fields didn’t respond, still thunderstruck by the precision work of her boss.

"And speaking of practice, if you don't mind I'd like to get back to it."

"Right, of course."

Agent Fields set the target sheet down and left Arthur.

Arthur watched her leave for a moment and then set up another target sheet, this one with only a bullseye on it. He flicked the switch and pressed the button, the sheet sliding away from him. He put the goggles back on and the ear protectors, and raised his empty Glock 19, dropping the empty magazine and sliding a loaded one that was already on the shelf into place.

The slide fell back into place and he aimed down the barrel, closing his left eye before squeezing the trigger again.

Agent Fields found Agent Tapscott waiting for her in the hallway outside the range.

“He said he missed last time, that’s why he practices so much.”

Tapscott said, “That’s because he did miss last time.”

“But … We’ve all seen the trial and read the report. He shot Snow three times.”

Tapscott’s face suddenly went dark, like a shadow had come over him. “Yeah, but Snow’s still alive.”

Tapscott moved past Agent Fields without another word and she stood there for a long moment, contemplating her partner before she followed after him back to work.

T
he football team's
victory was without a doubt the high point of the Friday night for the majority of the school. Katie enjoyed the game for the school spirit, though she still wasn't too impressed with the concept of overweight men throwing a pigskin at each other and ramming themselves at other intentionally overweight men as a fun spectator sport. But than again, sports in general had never been her thing. Track didn't count. While she had run in high school, it was the act of running that really mattered to Katie, not the competition. That had just been a nice benefit.

Dan Reedman was the star quarterback for the Grizzlies, and Katie recognized him instantly. He was the jock that Coach Briggs had been yelling at. Dan won them the game much to the cheers of everyone.

Katie saw Gideon in the crowd, scribbling in his moleskin again, though he didn't seem to see her at all and that was fine with her at the moment; there were other things that mattered more as far as Katie was concerned.

She had seen him when she woke up in the morning, but it had been a little awkward as she had left his place. They hadn’t texted during the day, though Katie had thought back to the previous evening often. Still, as far as she knew, it was a one-time thing. It wasn't like they had a relationship. That had just been an added benefit. She didn't want to jump right into a relationship anyway.

But watching Gideon in the bleachers in front of her, Katie couldn't help but want to go up and talk to him.

T
he party
the next night was for the team's victory (go Grizzlies,) and was in a giant house just down the street from the campus, that frankly looked more like a small mansion built decades ago.

Katie loved the fact that there wasn't anything that she could or would do at the party other than drink and enjoy numbing herself.

If the party the previous weekend had seemed large, it was nothing compared to tonight. Every room seemed to be filled with people, everyone seemed to be having a good time. There wasn't just a keg in the kitchen, there were three, and the pool in the back was half filled with fully dressed people as soon as the punch bowl was quickly turned into jungle juice (there were actually two bowls of jungle juice, one regular and one made with gluten free ingredients).

I
t was just
after eleven and the party was going strong. Katie was two drinks in. Tiffany was also at the party, and Katie was sort-of-sober wing woman to Tiffany, who was both baked out of her mind and five shots in of what the charming linebacker called “applesauce.”

Katie leaned over the kitchen counter being careful not to knock over the dozen bottles of various mixers and flavored liquors, as well as a few bottles of the good stuff.

"What's in these anyway?"

The teen smiled and shook the shaker with a flourish.

"Apple Pucker, ice, Fireball whiskey and pineapple juice."

"You’re a football player and a bartender?"

"My older brother's a bartender. I learn from him when we hang out. Who's your friend?" he asked, nodding towards Tiffany, who was busy talking to a girl who couldn't be older than sixteen.

"That's my roommate, Tiffany Montgomery."

"Not bad," he said eyes still on the blonde, his expression thoughtful.

"Oh, you have no idea," Katie said with a wicked grin before downing the shot.

K
atie made
her way down the hall and almost ran into the Latino man who had the heavy scars on his face. It took Katie a moment to realize he had been at the party the previous weekend. He had a blue and brown backpack clutched tightly in his hand and he glanced at Katie dismissively before she pushed herself against a wall. “Sorry,” she said and he simply grunted and moved past her.

Katie made her way back into the study/gameroom, which for whatever reason was surprisingly not busy. There were only six people in the room other than herself, one of which was Dan Reedman. He was a Junior this year and after graduation there was every indication that he was going to turn pro. Katie only knew this because she actually listened as Tiffany had talked about the team over the past few days. Dan was talking to a man in the corner while a couple of girls played Wii and a drunk guy sitting on the couch watched them, half-passed out.

The man Dan was talking to was not a college student. He was older, early thirties from the looks of things though he was physically fit enough that he could easily be older and the athleticism was de-aging him. He was tall, six two or six three with brown hair and tanned skin. He had hawkish blue eyes that were one-hundred-percent focused on Dan. They were talking very intensely and very quietly in the corner of the room, both holding red plastic cups.

Katie assessed the situation and pretended to be drunker than she was, stumbling a bit as she made her way to the couch.

She plopped herself down and let her head bob a bit as she pretended to watch the girls playing tennis. One of them, who looked made up enough to go out on a fashion runway, was drinking from a water bottle and was clearly sober.

She had above average looks that was only slightly hindered by the amount of makeup she was wearing. Katie thought she looked like Anne Hathaway's younger sister.

"How are you this evening?" the girl asked Katie.

"Enjoying the party…" she trailed off intentionally, before adding, "You?"

“Very good, caretaker for the other sisters."

“The other sisters?"

"Oh, I'm a senior member of the Beta Kappa's."

“A sorority.”

"One of only two on campus. We're the sisters to our lovely brothers over here. We're rushing next week, you should think about joining."

Katie nodded, trying to act more eager than she was about the idea. Joining a sorority was not on her list of things to try in college.

She glanced over at Dan and the man and noticed the conversation was coming to an end. The man reached into his black North Face jacket pocket and pulled out a small silver USB thumb drive, which he handed to Dan.

Dan took the stick and slipped it into the breast pocket of his blue Oxford shirt. The man muttered something else to Dan before heading out the door.

Whatever the man had said clearly had shaken Dan. He was a few shades paler as he finished his red cup and headed out the other door to the study/gameroom, the one leading to the kitchen that Katie had come through not five minutes before.

Katie sat there thinking about what she had just seen and was puzzled about why she had thought it was so strange. She thought perhaps she had had a bit too much to drink and she was at the moment not doing a very good job of keeping an eye on her roommate.

She excused herself from her conversation with the senior sorority sister, and left the room the same way she had come in.

In the kitchen she almost ran into two Japanese foreign exchange students; a boy and a girl who could have been siblings as they chatted to each other in rapid fire and laughed randomly. They didn’t seem to mind in the slightest that no one could understand them. Katie saw Gideon for the first time, who was busy talking to a very attractive brunette who was leaning over the counter smiling fondly at him as he said something that clearly amused both of them, since she starting laughing and he started smiling even bigger.

The booze started talking and Katie felt like he had just punched her in the stomach. Then Katie was more pissed at herself for feeling hurt than being hurt by him, since she was supposed to be enjoying the single life.

Katie grabbed a red cup and went to fill it from one of the kegs on the kitchen island. Nothing but foam came out of the top. One of the Green Leafs brothers was standing nearby and shook his head.

“I swear we just tapped that keg. Sorry about that. The other one is full,” he added, grabbing the empty keg and carrying it towards a side door in the kitchen.

Katie filled her cup and took a sip of the amber liquid. It was too hoppy for her taste, but she just needed something in her hand.

As she headed out of the kitchen, Katie thought she heard the brunette say "thank you, Sensei," to Gideon, and Katie knew then she must have been drunker than she thought.

She found Tiffany flirting with the linebacker in the corner. When Katie walked up Tiffany was laughing as he was whispering in her ear.

Katie moved so she was in front of Tiffany but behind her suitor, and Tiffany gave her a look that indicated that everything was totally A-OK.

Katie nodded and looked away, because frankly the last thing she wanted to do was cock-block the situation, but at the same time she definitely needed something to distract herself from Gideon. She drank her beer and listened to the thump of the music. There was no DJ this week, just an iPod touch hooked up, blasting early Eminem.

Katie noticed that Dan was on the stairs, holding the blue and brown backpack over one shoulder. Katie took another sip of her drink and looked around again.

Katie knew it was a bad idea when she pulled out her phone and flipped to her messaging with Luke and looked at the screen. She hadn't heard a word from him since last week, though she knew that contacting him again was necessary. She still had a few things of his, and the same the other direction. She thought about it for a moment and texted him, simply saying “hi,” with a smiley face.

“Hey!”

Katie jumped and looked up, startled by Gideon standing in front of her, smiling.

“Hi. I didn’t see you earlier,” Katie said, taking a step back from him.

The brunette had also entered the living room, and was talking to the two Japanese exchange students. All three of them were laughing.

“I was a little delayed. Had to wait till everyone was a little drunk before I showed up.”

Katie frowned. “Why’s that? I thought these guys were your friends.”

“Kinda. I write for the paper and I’m kinda doing a behind the scenes report on the usual.”

“The usual?”

Gideon ran a hand through his damned near perfect hair. Both it and his stupidly adorable eyes distracted Katie.

“You know, frat boy behavior, rape culture, colleague corruption. The usual. Somebody must have tipped them off so I’m a bit frowned upon around here.”

Katie felt her cheeks getting redder and she took a step towards him. “Look at you, outlaw badass reporter, and a friend of the ladies.”

Gideon shrugged and took a sip from his red solo cup. “On my good days.”

“Listen, I need to run to the restroom, but I’ll catch up with you in a second?” Katie asked, suddenly feeling nature calling.

“Sure thing. Nearest bathroom is upstairs. First door on the left I think.”

“Sweet. Mind if you hold my cup?” Katie asked.

Gideon took it without saying anything.

K
atie took
the stairs two at a time and couldn’t help herself and looked back over her shoulder at Gideon. He was watching her go and Katie felt her face explode in a blush. She rounded the corner and opened the door on the left. Light flooded the dark room, and Katie found herself staring at a poster of Jurassic Park. The room was obviously not a bathroom but in fact a bedroom, and there were two shapes on the bed. The light spilled onto the man’s face as he was on top of the girl, who was moaning softly. He stopped moving his hips and glared at Katie. “Do you mind!” he snapped.

“Sorry,” Katie said and closed the door.

She looked across the hall and saw the door on the right side. “Maybe he meant to the right,” Katie said and tried the other door.

Gideon had meant the right, and it was the bathroom. Katie peed and splashed water on her face, trying to sober up a little. She shivered, and realized the window next to the toilet was open a crack. She went to the window and looked out the second story window. There was shrubs right below the window and something, probably a raccoon or another night critter was rustling around in them. Katie closed the window and turned to look at herself in the bathroom mirror.

“Okay, so this is happening, and he is totally into you,” she said to herself.

She breathed into her hand and winced. There was no way she didn’t smell like booze. Katie opened the medicine cabinet hoping for mouthwash, but there was only a bottles of Advil, two razors, a pair of toenail clippers, and a couple of cans of shaving cream. No mouthwash.

Katie opened the bathroom door and that’s when she smelled it. Smoke. Something burning. Katie glanced down the hallway. It was coming from around the corner, past where she could see. Katie headed in that direction, and turning the corner she could see the smoke and orange red glow of fire coming from the door at the end of the hallway. Katie sprinted to the door and gingerly tried the handle. It wasn’t hot and it wasn’t locked. She opened it, and gasped at the sight.

D
an Reedman was
on his knees, and his entire upper body was on fire.

Katie ran to him, even as she started to scream for help. As she yelled, Katie grabbed a pillow and started to hit the quarterback with it. The flames went out quickly and Dan sort of sank backwards onto the carpeted floor.

His lips were moving, but the only noise coming from his mouth was barely that of a gurgle, and the worst part was Katie could see the pain in his eyes, but awareness in general for the jock was fading fast.

It was then she noticed the blood, his shirt was burned up but there was no mistaking the multiple stab wounds along his chest, over half a dozen to his abdomen.

And he was only wearing a T-shirt, not the Oxford he had on minutes before. It took her a second to spot it, crumpled in a pile on his bed.

"Dan, Dan, can you hear me? You've got to stay awake. Dan!"

The voice was not Katie, but Gideon, who was somehow there, right beside her. Gideon’s voice urgent but strangely calm. There were other’s there too, all clamoring about. Gideon was at Dan’s side, and Katie stood up, moving to the bed again. Her attention still on Gideon, her hand reached into the shirt and found it. The drive was still there, and she easily slipped it into her pocket, never once letting her eyes leave the dying football star.