First to Die (4 page)

Chapter 5

I
slithered my way through the back door of the station so I wouldn't be noticed. I was thinking that, at this point, I would probably make a better criminal than a cop. I made my way to the little office next to the bullpen that I share with Jason and locked the door behind me. I leaned against the cold metal door and let out a sigh of relief.

The silence would be brief and I intended to take advantage of every second. I could hear the rattle of the chief’s voice thundering its way toward me. I had about two minutes to catch my breath and wrap my head around the situation before he'd be searching for me. I tiptoed across the diamond-speckled tile shimmering from the few morning rays that were pushing through the clouds and fell into my chair. My phone rang. I hesitated before I picked it up. "You've reached Detective Kelly. I'm either on another call or away from my desk. Please leave..."

"Don't make me come in there." Stella Johnson, our police clerk, had busted me.

I laughed. "I'm trying to hide."

"I saw you on the monitor. You're not very good at it."

"That damn thing actually works?"

"Yes, and the chief is on the war path about your pet, Billy Randall, so I suggest you lock yourself in a closet or something." She hung up.

I wasn't surprised. Crazy bastard. He’d been on my back about little Billy Randall for the past month. I’d bribed Cole to let him slide by on a Minor in Possession charge. He hadn't been driving. He was sliding. On a mad roll down Millers Hill, I pleaded in our defense. I couldn't justify placing that kind of mark on a sixteen-year-old’s record. I’d rolled down that same hill when I was his age. We all did. The hill handed out too many broken bones and it was off limits except during the winter when the toboggan runs were carved out, and then it was okay to have a shattered femur. The rest of the hooligans had been coherent enough to scatter into the woods and hide. Luck or stupidity was on their side that night because I knew who they were and I would have hauled all of them in to give them a good scare. I’d locked Billy in a cell and waited a few hours for the vomiting to subside and called his parents to come and pick him up. I figured that was punishment enough.

When the chief found out, he blew a gasket. Anyone within earshot would have testified that a bomb had exploded in his office before they took the first sip of their morning coffee. "I've been here thirty years, chased their damn parents around, and now I have to deal with their kids. You included. No more, I'm done. Understand?"

"Yes," I’d told him and I felt the stabbing pain in my ears when I withered out of his office from embarrassment.

I covered my head and waited for the onslaught of a Hayes attack. The footsteps stopped at my door.

"Samantha?" Chief Hayes pounded.

"I'm here," I yelled through the door, hoping that he wouldn't open it.

"Briefing room in five." His footsteps clicked away. I had a reprieve.

I cracked my door, checking to see it if was safe to exit, and could smell the scent of freshly brewed coffee. I followed the heavenly aroma into the break room across the hall. Stella was filling carafes for the briefing. She handed me a cup, already filled with double cream and sugar, with a wink from her false eyelash that looked like a big, black spider. Her hair was as red as fire, and she had a mouth to match. Stella could hold her own with the best of them and, if needed, chew you up and spit you out before you ever knew what happened. She could insult you with a big, beautiful smile and you'd walk away believing it was a compliment. I thought I’d held the record for insults and injury until I met Stella. She'd say, "It's all the in the delivery, Sam, all in the delivery." We'd laugh for hours, exchanging stories.

"Thank you, my love," I said affectionately.

"Only for you." She blew me a kiss from her plump, red lips.

"Did he get you?" She giggled.

"No, thank God." I took a drink of the hot coffee.

"He's bouncing all over the place this morning."

"Have you been here long?" She looked frazzled, and the big poof on the top of her head was deflated on the left side.

"Long enough to know Chief's going to need a nitro before lunch time." She would know. We'd had him transported on a few occasions.

"I think he's already had a few."

"That fool is going have a heart attack before the day is over."

"He'll settle down. He always does."

"Last time I saw him in this condition was the day your daddy died."

"Don't go there, Stella." I closed my eyes tight.

"I know, honey, but I'm seriously worried about him."

"You worry too much, about too many things." My jaw hurt from clenching my teeth. "I'll check on him."

"Good," she said, raising the carafe as a salute and handing me a stack of papers from the counter. “Could be a love note in there from Jason.” She was jerking with excitement. “Ya know, you guys really need to get your shit on the same page."

I shook my head in dispute. "It's not going to happen," I said, flipping through papers.

"If I have anything to do with it, it will. That pathetic boy has been moping around the station for the last week. The two of you have been dancing around each other like fools." Her voice echoed down the hall. "That gorgeous man is all yours, honey, and he's rich, too. Wake the hell up, girl."

"I'm wide awake and I can't do it, I can't."

"Don't you think it's time you started living that life of yours?" She reached over and rubbed the side of my arm. "I know how much you've been through and I've seen what you've lost. I've seen every bit of it." She fluttered her long eyelashes at me, and one of them was trying to crawl away.

"Do you need some adhesive?" I used the runaway spider to dodge the subject.

"I was in a hurry this morning. Do they look that bad?” She pressed her fingers to her lids and laughed. "Hey, don't try to change the subject, cookie. You have to let go of the past and knock those walls down. It isn't healthy for you, and I see how you and Jason look at each other."

"Good God, Stella, stop it. Everyone can hear you." I could feel the heat turning my cheeks to fire. "It's not like that. There's nothing going on with us," I whispered.

"Well, there should be," she said, opening another packet of coffee. "What else can I do for you, sweetheart?"

"Will you please call my neighbor Mrs. Schultz and ask her to go check on Max."

"You got it, sunshine."

"Thank you, I owe lunch."

"Oh, you'll owe me more than that, precious, by the time all the shit settles," she said, aiming a grin back at me as she clicked down the hall in her black, strappy heels.

There wasn't anything that I didn't like about Stella, except for her perfume. I would never tell her that. I'd rather die than hurt her feelings. I had to suck it up and deal with the strong, distinct smell of sweet flowers overtaking the station. I used to stand in the bathroom and watch my mom get ready for a night on the town and the last thing that she would do was spray the pretty crystal bottle into the air and twirl into the mist, spreading it evenly all over her body. She said it was her way of making sure that when she walked past someone that she was never forgotten. I was eight years old when she walked past me for the last time. Walked out the door and never came back. She was right. I have never forgotten.

A red flashing banner fluttered and forced me to turn my head in the direction of the muted television hanging in the corner.
Breaking News....Ivy Knox...Live Update.
"Oh, here we go." I swallowed a mouth full of coffee. This was going to be brutal. I searched for the remote and found it under a box of cold pizza. I was starving, but it was better to have an empty stomach when Ivy was performing surgery on you. Without sedation.

I cringed when I saw the footage of the scene. She had us all on tape, including a few stragglers that I didn't recognize. Emmy's—she has a few of those fancy little statues, but this coverage might get her an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy. Unbelievable. I was surprised that she hadn't called me yet.

"I hear her voice." Jason hid his face behind is hands when he walked in. "She's wiggling around so much, she looks like she's going to piss her pants," he said, laughing as he poured his coffee. "You need to reel her in." He shook his head at me.

"Me? I have no control over her."

"She's your girlfriend." His eyes twinkled as he lifted his cup in the air at me.

"You've known her as long as I have. You do something."

"Ah, no. I tried that a few weeks ago when she was ripping the investigation into shreds.

"I love her to death, but there's no stopping that train." I hated to admit it as I listened to her spin the facts.

"Well, she isn't that far off-base. We don't have shit to go on." He purposely bumped my arm and knocked me off balance for a second time.

"Hey," I said, wiping the dribbles of coffee from the front of my shirt.

"She'll come up with something creative," he said.

"Maybe we can use it," I enthusiastically replied. "Hey, look at that guy standing behind her. Look." I pointed to the right of Ivy's head. “Look at his buggy, dark eyes staring at the camera." I felt the hair on my arms stand up. "Creep. Did you see anybody that looked like that at the scene?"

"No, only scared neighbors who knew nothing."

"Remind me to put in a request for her footage," I said.

"I'll do it," He said, strolling to the break room exit. "I'll pick it up after the meeting." He turned and grinned at me.

"Thank you." I tried to force the corner of my lips back down, topped off my coffee and headed reluctantly toward the sound of zoo animals that was coming from down the hall.

Chapter 6

T
he briefing room was standing room only. The entire department was here, flipping papers around, spilling coffee, and comparing notes. The conversations were getting heated when Chief Hayes began the debriefing.

"Thank you all for your professional and excellent work at the scene this morning." He cleared the sleep from his throat. "This is an extremely difficult time for all of us and your dedication to the department, and city will not go unnoticed." He glanced around the room, looking at every member of the department. "What you've witnessed the past few weeks will undoubtedly leave a mark and it's up to all of you to rely on your strength and experience to bring this horrendous case to closure and bring in our guy." He drank the rest of whatever was in his cup. "It's been a long and strenuous morning. I'll be meeting with the mayor and city council in a few hours and I'd like Bradford and Kelly to fill us in on the details, so we're all up to speed."

Jason could handle the room fine without me. His badge carried more weight than my entire body. He didn't need me up there making a fool out of myself. I had plenty of experience, but not enough experience to handle this crowd. You get your hand slapped enough times, you learn to keep it behind your back. Hayes pulled me up there because I belonged there and he wanted the others to follow his lead. Wishful thinking. I had plenty of friends at the department, but there was always one or two that had to spoil all the fun.

Jason covered most of the details and then pushed me in front of the podium, and I took over with the most gruesome part. "With the on-site preliminary analysis of decomposition rate, the M.E. estimates three to four days for time of death. Same M.O." I took a long breath. "Like the first body, tortured and carved up with another snazzy poem, and he likes to collect earrings. The red lipstick and the flower in the hair matches Stephanie Mason. Most likely ritualistic, organized, and highly evolved." I paused. "It's imperative that the information stays in this room.” I turned around and wrote the latest information on the white board, with a number two and the name Jennifer Edwards next to it. “It's another warning and we need to prepare for the worst."

"What, women's intuition?" Detective Tom Ward blurted out and the echo of his laughter circled around the room and grazed the side of my head. He always hit his target, especially when it was aimed at me. I never knew why because he was one of my dad’s closest friends, along with Hayes and Neville, but everything changed when I was hired. I wasn't expecting favors, but I definitely wasn't expecting the constant battles.

"Intuition and brains, something you apparently are missing," slipped across my tongue before I could catch it.

"Watch yourself, Sam," Ward said, looking around for approval. "You're out of line." He got a few nods out of loyalty.

"What line?" I could feel the blood rushing through my veins. "I'm not in line to kiss your ass."

"What do you think? We have a psychopath running loose in Riverview?" Ward was a smart man. He knew exactly what we were dealing with. This was his attempt to make me look bad in front of everyone.

"Yes." I was sure that I was looking at one. "We all know that it's usually the nice guy next door, until one day, by accident, we find out and dig up twenty bodies in his back yard. You know what I mean?” I didn’t take my eyes off of him. “A nice guy like you, Tom, and they like to stay close to home. You live in the same neighborhood, don't you?" I was furious and going for the throat. I had had enough of his bullying. "I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. Why do you have to make things so difficult?" I said, narrowing my eyes at the vermin. Ward pushed up out of his chair.