Betrayal with Murder (A Rilynne Evans Mystery, Book Three) (3 page)

“I wonder why he’s been going to forensic conferences. It isn’t often that I see anyone there other than forensic investigators or students going into the field.”

“He said that he likes to keep up with the breakthroughs,” she explained. “Like I said, he was very impressed with you.”

“The feeling is mutual then. I have the utmost respect for anyone who takes the initiative to keep his department informed by making sure he himself is informed. Are you sure you don’t want me to just go up there to examine the evidence?”

Again she found herself at odds. She knew that having him with her would make dealing with the entire situation much easier, but at the same time she, wanted to do what was best for the case. “You’ll be able to do much more in your own lab than up here. Besides, I don’t imagine I’ll be here for more than a day or two. It isn’t like there’s anything that I’ll really be able to do.”

“Well, you’ve had a long day. Get some sleep and call me tomorrow when you know the flight information.”

After hanging up, Rilynne had to force herself to get up and get ready for bed. When she finally climbed under the cool sheets, she fought with herself on whether or not to allow her eyes to close. She wasn’t sure that she wanted to face what her dreams might bring, but on the other hand, was desperate to. After another hour, her body finally took over and she drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.

T
o her surprise, Rilynne was still asleep when her alarm went off. Though she had only managed a few hours of sleep, usually she was up well before she needed to be. For a blissful few seconds after opening her eyes, she had forgotten the events of the previous night. As she looked around at the strange room surrounding her, though, it all came quickly rushing back.

She jumped out of the bed so fast that she lost her balance and fell, hitting the nightstand on her way down. “Ouch!” she cried out, while simultaneously laughing. “Brilliant, Rilynne.”

She grabbed her side, which felt like it was on fire as she slowly pulled herself up. Ignoring it, she dug in her suitcase for her clothes and quickly got ready. After pulling her auburn hair up into a hair tie, she grabbed her jacket and rushed out the door.

“Still early, I see,” Wooldridge said as he met her at the front doors of the station. “Let’s run up and get the files, then we’ll go to the morgue. I’m sure there are a few people up there who would like to say hello while you’re here.”

“Just a few?” she chuckled as she followed him through the doors.

The Bodker homicide office was just as she remembered it. The room, twice the size of the one in Addison Valley, was filled with close to twenty desks. She passed the first six desks, which she knew belonged to the detectives primarily working the cold cases, and stopped next to the empty desk by the window.

“Still haven’t filled it?” she asked when Wooldridge appeared behind her.

“We aren’t planning to. We’re saving it for you when you decide to come back,” he said with an air on confidence.

“What makes you so sure I’m coming back?” she asked as she sat down in the all too familiar chair. She was surprised by the level of comfort that she felt as she looked out across the room. For a brief moment, she wished that she were back, surrounded by the people she had been so close to. That was quickly squashed when she looked over at the desk that had belonged to her former partner, the very man who had betrayed her and killed Christopher.

Wooldridge traced her line of sight to the desk, now covered in flowery plants. “Well, I’m not quite as sure as I was before I saw you step off that plane in a dress. The only dress I’ve ever seen you in was your wedding dress, and even then I think you’d have worn pants if you could.” He had a look very similar to that of Detective Wilcome. His eyes seemed to almost pierce her as they searched for any sign of a reaction. “How long have you been seeing Ben Davis?” he asked after several moments of silence.

Rilynne took in a deep breath, letting it out with a heavy sigh. “Actually, last night was our first actual date. We’ve been dancing around it for months, though; more so after I received the death in absentia notice in October.”

“Well, I feel like an ass,” he said as he folded his arms in front of him. “Knowing you, that was the first date you had been on in nineteen months.”

“I thought I was the profiler here,” she said with a grin. “And you know that I would have been furious if you had waited to call. As much as it still hurts, it’ll be nice to finally get some answers. At least now I know for sure.”

“Well let me go grab the files and we can head to the morgue,” he said as he walked to the door. “The coroner should have something for us by the time we get there.”

Wooldridge left her sitting in the vacant room, staring out the window at the passing cars below. She had gotten so used to small town living that she had almost forgotten how busy the larger cities were.

“My eyes must be deceiving me,” she heard a loud voice coming from the doorway. She spun toward it in her seat to find a short, stout man with a large smile looking right at her. “Small city living getting old, Evans?”

“You wouldn’t believe how comfortable it actually is, Ramos. The food is pretty good, too,” she said as she stood up to greet him. “How have you been? How’s the new baby?”

“He’s perfect,” he said as he reached for a wallet. He held it up, showing a picture of a plum little baby wrapped in a yellow blanket. “Vanessa’s loving the role of a stay at home mom. I’m sure she would love to see you.”

“I don’t know how long I’ll be in town, but I would love to see her, too,” she said. She looked from the picture back up to Ramos just in time to see the smile on his face vanish.

“Was it him?” he said hesitantly. “I heard that a body had been found outside of Madison. Was it Christopher?”

Rilynne nodded gently as she dropped back down into the awaiting chair. “That’s what it looks like,” she said, fighting to keep a relaxed expression. “His wallet was found at the scene. The chief’s grabbing the files and we’re going to head to the morgue. I’m hoping they’ll have a definitive answer for me.”

“So they brought the remains here instead of sending them to Madison?” he asked.

She nodded again. “Wooldridge was called as soon as the wallet was found, and they handed over the jurisdiction. He’s going to send all of the evidence to Addison Valley. We have the top forensic tech in the country, and he’s going to analyze everything for us. Hopefully he can find something useful.”

“You ready, Evans?” Wooldridge asked as he stuck his head through the door.

“I’ll see you later,” she said with a weak smile as she walked past Ramos and followed Wooldridge back out the door.

*

“Dr. Ramirez, you remember Detective Rilynne Evans. She’s the wife of Christopher Parker,” Wooldridge said as they walked into morgue.

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” she said as she pulled off her gloves and offered Rilynne her hand. “I wish I could say I had some news for you, but unfortunately, I haven’t been able to learn much from the remains.”

When she turned toward the wall behind her, Rilynne thought for a split second that she was going to pull the body out of the cooler. Instead, she reached for the clipboard on her desk.

“All of the teeth appear to have been removed in an attempt to conceal the identity. I’ve bagged up what was left of the clothing, along with the personal items found on the body. There was no identification, but I understand that a wallet was found buried in the vicinity.” Although it wasn’t a question, she looked to Wooldridge for confirmation.

He nodded softly, but it was Rilynne who spoke first.

“Were you able to collect any viable DNA?” she asked, a slight quiver just noticeable in her voice.

Dr. Ramirez hesitated and Rilynne knew why. It was one thing to delve into the details of an examination with the investigators; it was something entirely different when it was a family member. “There were dark brown stains visible on the shirt, which is consistent with blood. You said that everything was going to be sent to an outside lab,” she turned toward Wooldridge, “so I sealed them up for you instead of sending it in to be run. I also collected several trace samples that I wasn’t able to identify.”

“Um,” Rilynne said with a crack in her voice. “Do you mind if I have a look at the personal items you found?”

Dr. Ramirez nodded kindly as she grabbed the small bag from the instrument tray and held it out for Rilynne.

She ran her thumb gently across the clear plastic as she slowly shifted the objects sealed inside. When she finally found what she was looking for, her chest tightened up and she had to struggle to draw another breath.

“It took me three weeks to pick out this ring,” she said softly. “I went to eight different jewelry stores before I found the perfect one. There’s just something about the hammered look with the beveled edge that I’ve always liked, but it was the contrast between the thin black accents and the white gold that made me fall in love with it. He never took it off, no matter what he was doing.” She ran her fingers against it one last time before handing the evidence bag back. “Where are the clothes?”

Dr. Ramirez sat the bag back on the tray before reaching for the second one. “Luckily, the shirt was a cotton-polyester blend,” she said as Rilynne took it from her. “If it had been pure cotton, it would have decomposed well before now.”

The shirt was heavily stained, making it difficult for her to make out the original color. If she hadn’t been searching for a hint of a specific shade, she might not have seen it.

“His favorite shirt,” she mumbled. “He wore it to every big meeting or event. I loved the way the green almost matched the color of his eyes.” She looked up to find Wooldridge staring at her instead of the bag in her hand. She could see the question in his eye before he could ask it.

“Yes,” she said shortly. “I’m sure.”

She stared at the plastic bag firmly grasped between her fingers for another ten minutes before Wooldridge reached out and placed his hand gently on her shoulder. She nodded without him having to utter a word and handed it back to Dr. Ramirez.

“I’ll have someone come to collect the evidence,” he said as he offered her a gentle smile.

Rilynne couldn’t muster the strength to make herself speak, so instead bowed her head slightly toward the doctor before turning toward the door. She wasn’t even sure that Wooldridge was following until he reached out from behind her to open the front doors.

“Where do you want to go first?” Wooldridge asked as they stepped out onto the crowded sidewalk. Rilynne had to fight to come up with an answer other than going back to her room and curling up in bed.

“Let’s find a place to eat,” she said gloomily. “Somewhere where we can start looking over the case files.”

Wooldridge took her by the arm and led her to the car. Instead of getting in, he unlocked the trunk and pulled it open. “There’s a diner right around the corner that opened up a couple months ago,” he explained when he saw the confused look on her face. “It’s become a bit of a hangout for the officers. There are a few big booths where we can lay everything out.”

As they rounded the corner, she saw a large sign saying ‘Megan’s Place’ hanging over what looked to be a diner right out of the 1950’s. “Every Tuesday they sell milkshakes for a dime,” he said as they neared the doors. Rilynne paused briefly before entering to admire the 1955 Chrysler Windsor police car parked out front.

They took the large booth in the back corner, away from the heavily seated bar. After ordering their drinks, they spread the contents of the evidence box out across the table.

“Have you had any new developments since I left?” she asked as she glanced over the all too familiar pages. “Is there anything that I haven’t seen before?”

Wooldridge shook his head as he sipped on the chocolate milkshake the waiter set down in front of him. “I run Mifflin’s prints and DNA every month to see if a match pops up from another case that could give us a hint about where he is now, but we haven’t gotten anything from it so far. The cold case squad has also been searching for any murders that match the M.O., and they look into anything that’s close. Although several cases have fit within the parameters, they’ve been able to rule all of them out.”

Lamar Mifflin had been assigned as Rilynne’s partner when she first made homicide detective. They had been investigating the suspected murder of a woman who had lived down the street from Rilynne, and discovered she had been having an affair. Mifflin must have known it was only a matter of time before she identified him as that man, because he attempted to change the direction of the investigation by adding another body. The night that Christopher came back from a business trip, Mifflin went into their house and killed him, leaving the same blood-covered room he had with the first victim. Rilynne was supposed to be working late, but went home early to tend to their dog. When she walked in before he had been able to leave, he stabbed her seven times in the lower back. By the time her back up arrived, he was gone along with Christopher’s body.

The following day, the first victim’s phone records came in and showed the same number had called at least three times a day for the three months leading up to her death. The detectives were shocked when they called it, and the voice on the outgoing message was one of their own. An arrest warrant was issued for Lamar Mifflin, who hadn’t returned to the station after visiting Rilynne in the hospital that morning. When they arrived at his house to serve it, they found that all of his clothes and personal belongings were gone, along with the contents of his safe and bank accounts.

“How does someone completely disappear?” she asked. “I know he didn’t have enough money to go underground indefinitely. He has to be earning money somehow, and we’ve had his picture out consistently since the night he left. How has no one spotted him?”

Wooldridge couldn’t seem to provide her with an answer.