Dark Wings Descending (30 page)

Rafe purposely kept her eyes forward. She didn’t dare meet his concerned gaze. “I’m rested enough. I was working out the strategy for our interrogation, but I didn’t expect you to tell me he wasn’t going to talk…indefinitely.”

“I froze my ass off watching his house in the hope he would slink back there to hide. Instead, the sneaky bastard was back at the last scene leaving us another dead body.”

Rafe was thankful that this time she was driven directly to the scene. She was tired of having to park blocks away and sneak in like a member of the special ops squad. The previous crime scene tape was still in place, but there was a heavy presence of officers guarding the area. Rafe followed Dean, curious as to what she would find left behind by Eli. There was something strange about stepping onto a murder scene where you’d already seen the murder happen hours ago but had yet to see it staged. She forced herself to remain professional and not look around for any signs of angels watching.

Lucas Thorpe lay in a smattering of snow. He was spread out on his back, eyes wide open staring sightless at the sky above. Rafe stepped toward him. His wrists had been cut and the blood was spread out above his head and down to his sides. For a moment, the significance escaped her, but when it registered she hastily stifled a snort of laughter. She coughed to cover it.

“You okay there, Rafe?” Dean asked, putting a hand on her arm.

“I’m fine. Must have swallowed a snowflake.” She walked around the body to make sure she was seeing what she thought. “Am I the only one to see a snow angel here?”

Dean’s head whipped up at her then back down at the body. “Fuck, you’re right.”

Dr. Alan picked his way across the light snow to join them. “Makes a change for one of these to do the right thing and take himself out.”

“Saves taxpayers too.” She knelt beside the body. “So what do you think, Doc? He slit his wrists, then lay down to make a snow angel?”

“I’ve seen stranger things, Rafe, but I’d say that pretty much sums it up. He left a note stabbed to a tree with a huge knife that I would guess was the one he used.”

Rafe looked over to where he pointed. Sure enough, there was a piece of paper with a message scrawled upon it. It was held in place by the murder weapon he had brandished at her and Ashley earlier.

“That really is a big fucking knife.” Dean padded over to retrieve the evidence. Jim Pope was already on hand with his camera documenting the scene so Dean could remove both the knife and the note.

Dr. Alan edged over to Rafe and bumped her gently from her musings. “I…I checked him for you.”

“Checked him for what?”

Dr. Alan brushed at his forehead. “Horns. If ever there was one I’d expect to have them, it would be this guy.”

Rafe couldn’t agree more. “Any sign?”

Dr. Alan shook his head. “Not on my initial examination, but I’ll take great pleasure in sawing open his skull to take a deeper look.”

“Keep me posted on your findings, horns or not.”

Dr. Alan nodded, then edged closer still. “Do you want to bring your PI friend down to see this body?”

“I don’t think there’ll be any need for her to do that. Ms. Scott’s involvement is finished now that the killer is dead. This case is mercifully closed.”

“Did she help your case, Rafe?”

“I don’t think we could have solved it without her.”

Rafe studied the photographs taken at Lucas Thorpe’s suicide scene and laughed silently at the irony on display.
You got your wings after all, Lucas, laid out in the snow and painted with your own blood this time
.

Dean stood beside her all but breathing down her neck.

“Damn creepy, if you ask me,” he said.

“I want to know why he killed himself.” Alona enlarged the photo and Lucas Thorpe’s dead eyes stared out at them. “I mean, he seemed to be a man on a mission.”

“I think us closing in on him tipped his hand. He had to have come to the realization he wouldn’t be able to spread his wings in a cell on death row.”

“He was an angel maker.” Dean picked up the painting that they had kept on display in the office.

Rafe found the artwork curiously beautiful in its rendition of a fallen angel seeking to return to former glories. Yet it was equally disturbing knowing it had been used for deadly inspiration. She was of two minds whether to have it valued by her brother for its artistry or to set fire to it. She hoped it got lost somewhere in the evidence locker and would remain forever unseen.

“So all along he was delusional and killing women because he thought they were angels and he could steal their wings.” Alona held the bagged suicide note in her grasp. “Explains the ripping open of their backs.” She waved the note at Rafe. “Have you spoken to Ashley about this?”

Rafe nodded. “I called her from the scene. She said she’d drop by later.”

“Was this anything to do with the occult?” Dean turned the picture in his hands to another angle. “Because this picture depicts a weird way of looking at the world.”

It’s truer than you’ll ever know
. “That painting isn’t much different from the religious frescoes you find in certain cultures. Everything is angels and demons. I think the only occult thing we’ll find is that he was chased by his own set of demons.”

“Well, his mother was no use whatsoever. She couldn’t shed any further light on him at all.” Dean put the painting down in exasperation. “She was a weird one too. Just kept on about how she had to raise him all on her own.”

“I told you her view of the world was pretty much observed from the bottom of a whiskey bottle.” Rafe wondered how much Eli had removed from Marion’s memory. She marveled at how easy it could have been for him to have done the same to her.
Would I want to forget Armitage and that alley
? Rafe fingered her scar reflectively.
It brought Ashley to me; I want to remember it all
.

“It was strange how she kept assuring me he was a good boy and how much he looked after his mother. It was obvious he hadn’t been home for a while.”

“Some kids can do no wrong in their mother’s eyes,” Rafe said.

Alona patted her computer. “Well, I for one was just glad we had the data stream up and running and his previous brushes with the cops were documented here.”

Rafe was pleased with that good fortune. Thorpe’s previous dealings with the police had given them the basis to build their case on and pursue him before he killed again. “Guess all this tech just made itself invaluable,” she teased Alona. “And we’re only just starting. Imagine what we can find out when all the DDUs are set up around the country. We’ll have information at our fingertips within hours instead of days or weeks.”

“Without the interference of jurisdiction rearing its ugly head,” Dean said.

“That was the final hurdle. Law enforcement officers do tend to clutch their territory to their chests like a precious commodity. With these units we can open up the world of investigation.” She caught Alona checking her watch for the second time. “Got a date, Officer Wilson?”

Laughing, Alona shook her head. “No. I’m making sure you make your appointment with Detective Powell so she can break the case on tonight’s news.”

Rafe waved a hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll go see her shortly and she can go tell the city how wonderful we are and that they can all sleep soundly in their beds for another night.”

“She’ll be surprised to get you instead of me.”

Rafe shot Alona a sly glance. “I’m sure she’ll find another way to get you alone.” Rafe gathered up her files and patted Alona on her shoulder as she walked past her. “I’ll be back in a little while. Just need to go feed the media its sound bites for the evening.”

“Paint us in a good light,” Dean called after her.

“Of course I will. We chased down the bad guy and cornered him until his only way out was to take his own life. Case closed; the city rejoices. Justice is seen to be served.”

“And Thorpe can rot in hell,” Dean added.

No truer words had been spoken.

*

Rafe wasn’t surprised that Ashley came into the office much later in the day. Dean was down in the morgue trying to speed up Dr. Alan’s autopsy report and Alona was out getting food since none of them had eaten for hours. When Ashley’s blond head appeared around the office door, Rafe’s pulse soared at the sight of her.

“Hey,” she called, suddenly aware that the screen behind her displayed the photos of Lucas Thorpe’s suicide scene. She wanted to wipe the screen clean or at least reduce the size of the photos that were boldly emblazoned for all to see.

“Don’t hide them on my account,” Ashley said as she slipped into the room and headed straight into Rafe’s arms. “God, it feels good to be near you again.” She buried her face in Rafe’s neck. “I woke up to a furry alarm clock purring in my face. I’d have rather had you to wake up to.”

“I got called out by Dean bright and early. I didn’t want to wake you. How are you doing?” Rafe held her and became aware of just how slight Ashley was in her arms. She nuzzled her face in Ashley’s hair, delighting in the familiar scent.

“I’ve had better lifetimes, but finding that the killer I was brought in to take down was my own brother was a bit of a shock.”

“I can’t imagine what you’re feeling.” Rafe deliberately kept Ashley turned away from the screen. Ashley gazed up at her with a knowing look.

“You can’t hide the screen from me forever. I need to know the last scene so I can put it all to rest.”

Rafe loosened her hold and let Ashley turn around.

“So, officially, you caught the guy?”

“The reports read that he killed himself at the scene of his last crime because we were closing in on him.”

Ashley took a step toward the screen. She was silent for a moment, then peered over her shoulder at Rafe. “Who says angels don’t have a sense of humor?” She studied the photo again. “I did wonder at the early snowfall we experienced this morning. I didn’t expect it to be for artistic license courtesy of Eli.”

“I’m finding it hard to get my head around the fact I saw Lucas dragged off by two guys with wings and yet I’m also seeing him here obviously dead.”

“Have you been down to the morgue?”

Rafe shook her head. “I sent Dean. I was honestly too creeped out by it. I keep expecting his eyes to pop open or something.”

“You’ve watched too many scary movies.”

“I just never realized they could come true.” Rafe handed Ashley the suicide note in its plastic evidence bag. “Signed, sealed, and stuck to a tree with the murder weapon. Eli left nothing to chance.”

“He’s thorough.” Ashley read the note. “Case closed, Detective?”

“Thankfully, yes, but I can’t help but wonder what comes next.” She sat back against the desk and her restless hands caught at the silver pen she had kept beside her all day. She didn’t want to acknowledge its presence, but she couldn’t let it out of her sight either. It was a dilemma that tore at her.

Ashley’s eyes fell on the pen. “Next?”

“There’s suddenly more to my policing than just humans out to do wrong. I’ve got demons invading our territory and the occasional half blood to make matters even more precarious.” Rafe brandished the seemingly innocuous pen at Ashley. “And then there’s the little matter of this thing.”

“It’s just a pen.”

“You and I both know it’s a whole lot more than that.”

“Only if you want it to be.”

Rafe whispered even though she didn’t need to. “It’s an angel’s weapon, and I’m not an angel. Why would Eli entrust it to me?”

“Maybe because he sees in you something that goes beyond your innate sense of justice and right.”

“So I’m supposed to do what? Go out at night and ram it through every person I see glittering?”

Ashley laughed. “Not all of us. Some of us aren’t meant to be banished. Myself included, I hope.”

“See? How could I ever know?” Rafe shoved the pen into Ashley’s hands.

“You’ll know because you’ll see the demon in the shimmering, like you’re able to.”

“It’s a responsibility I can’t handle.”

“And I think it’s a responsibility you’ve been chosen for.”

“Don’t I get any say in it?” Not for the first time did Rafe wish her hair was grown back in so she could have something to tug at in frustration. The soft bristles of her crew cut just tickled her palm.

“Of course you do. It all comes down to free will, remember? You reminded me of that. We are free to make our own choices in life.”

After a quiet moment, Rafe gently plucked the pen out of Ashley’s fingers. “And this is what? My agreement with a higher power that I’ll help chase down the bad guys who escape hell?”

“Look at it this way; you’re just expanding your jurisdiction,” Ashley replied with a grin.

Rafe stared at the floor as if searching for the answers she needed there. “And what does this mean for us?”

Ashley’s finger caught Rafe under her chin and lifted her head up. “It means we start our own family business, if you want to.”

“I’m not quitting my day job.”