Deception with Murder (A Rilynne Evans Mystery, Book Two) (6 page)

“Has anyone come across any reports about home invasions?” he called out to the entire room. “Any case where the M.O. matches the assignment that he had been working?” After looking around at all of the shaking heads, he went on. “If any reports pop up that look like they could have been the work of this group, pass them to me.”

“I’m going to go pull up the complete reports for the breakins on the list prior to him taking the assignment to see if he was noted on any of them,” Rilynne said, pushing her chair back from the table. “That’ll be a little quicker than looking through all of these boxes.”

“He might not be listed on an official report, though,” Matthews said. “So we’ll still have to sort through these to be sure.”

She nodded and walked out to her desk.

*

“Well,” she said, dropping two files down on the table. “In addition to the first one, it looks like he worked at least two of the other calls. The last one was just two months before going undercover.”

“As a profiler, what do you think the chances are that he could have been seen while responding to the calls?” he asked.

Rilynne sat back down in her chair. “This is not some fly by night operation. They’re very organized and put a lot of effort into not being caught. I wouldn’t put it past them to want to know everyone who was working on the cases. They’ll know exactly who the sergeant is and any detectives actively involved. That said, it’s less likely they would also include officers who responded to the calls, because they generally work one scene and aren’t involved in the investigation after. Although, if they’re really paranoid, they may have been snapping pictures of anyone who entered the scenes.”

Matthews shook his head before dropping it down on the desk. “He shouldn’t have been put on this case,” he groaned.

“Chances of him being recognized would have been slim. You said it yourself, he didn’t look like himself at all,” she tried to comfort him. “Besides, if they were going to recognize him, it would have happened much sooner.”

He gave her a halfhearted smile and returned his attention back to the box in front of him. She had a feeling he knew she was just trying to comfort him. Despite the lapse in time, she knew there was still a chance he had been recognized.

“
H
ey,” Rilynne said, walking into the lab. “I was just about to head out and wanted to see if you had gotten anywhere with the substance that was pulled from his shirt and hair.”

Ben spun around on his stool to face her. “I’m still running it,” he said, pulling off his gloves. “I should have a definitive answer for you tomorrow. The only thing I can tell you right now is that it’s a tree sap with some kind of trace mixed into it, which left it black. I should be able to tell you the type of tree, as well as the trace that’s in it, by around noon tomorrow. That is unless you’re in a rush and you want me to pull an all-nighter.” Despite offering, she could tell he really didn’t want to have to work through the night.

“No, tomorrow will be fine,” she said, pausing briefly to enjoy the relief on his face. “I wouldn’t feel right asking you to stay all night when I’m not.”

“Well then, if you don’t have plans,” he said in his familiar unsure tone. He flipped off the lights as he walked out of the lab and followed her toward the elevator. “We could go out for that steak dinner.” She glanced over to him, but he was avoiding her gaze.

Rilynne smiled and pushed the down button. “That actually sounds perfect right now. Do you know a good place?” she asked as the doors opened and she stepped in.

“Actually, I know the perfect place,” he said with an elated smile as he climbed in behind her. Rilynne peered at him curiously, but he kept his eyes on the elevator door, the smile not fading from his face. He didn’t speak again until they walked out onto the street. “I’ll drive.”

Rilynne thought for a moment that they were lost when the car stopped in front of a run down looking building at the end of the block named simply ‘Pinkston’. Though there were cars filling the parking lot, the building itself looked like it was close to being condemned.

He grinned at her when she climbed out of the car and stared at it skeptically. “Come on,” he said softly. He took her by the arm and led her to the door at the corner.

When she stepped through, she felt herself draw an involuntary breath. She heard Ben chuckle over her shoulder, but she was too busy taking in the sight in front of her to acknowledge it.

The ceiling was lined with dozens of hanging glass fishbowls, each filled with floating candles. The walls had been covered in a mural of a cliffside village at sunset. The tables, each tucked their own niche, had a fishbowl filled with candles in the middle. “Wow,” she said on a long breath as she turned to face Ben. A smile lit across his face as he held up two fingers to the hostess
.

The hostess quickly escorted them to a back table just under the sun sinking below the rocks. Rilynne had barely gotten comfortable in her chair when the waiter arrived with two carafes holding water and iced tea. They had only just finished ordering their steaks when two garden salads were delivered to the table.

“So, do you like your new place?” he asked, picking at his salad.

“It’s nice not hearing people stomping around through the ceiling, or doing… other stuff through the walls.” She smiled as she sipped on her iced tea.

Ben laughed and leaned back in his chair, his ears pinking. “I can imagine.”

“The bathtub may also be the most amazing thing in the world.”

“I saw it when I was moving your stuff in,” he said. “I was tempted to test it out. You know, make sure it was good enough for you to use.”

“Oh really?” She couldn’t keep the smile off of her face. “You just don’t seem much like the bath type to me. I have always taken you for a shower kind of guy.”

His ears were now burning red. “So you think about me in the shower, huh?”

Despite his joking tone, Rilynne felt her own cheeks growing warmer. The sight of her getting flustered only made him smile more. “It does look like an amazing bathtub,” he said, reaching for his drink. “Oh, and I left your box of pajamas on top so you could find it easily. I didn’t think you’d want to be searching for something to wear in the middle of the night.”

“Oh, thanks. I’ll look for it when I get home.”

His smile stretched from ear to ear. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it without making a sound. Rilynne had a pretty good idea he knew what it meant if she hadn’t found the box yet. She sat back and crossed her arms, enjoying his inability to form words.

“Anyway,” he finally said. “You’re the only person I have ever seen use different color duct tape to color code your boxes by room, then list everything in the box on the side. It must have taken you forever to pack.”

“Only about two days really. It helped that I still had all of my boxes from when I moved a few months ago. I just had to put everything back in the box that was already labeled,” she explained. She reached out and gently pushed the fishbowl on the table, making the candles dance on the water. “It makes it much easier when I’m unpacking.”

He just shook his head in disbelief. “Other than your amazing bathtub, how’s the house?”

“It isn’t quite as convenient. I had gotten used to being so close to the station. Now it’s too far for me to run unless I leave an hour before my shift. And lets face it, when do I ever get enough sleep to leave an hour early in the morning?”

“Good,” he said bluntly.

She looked up at him, shocked by his frankness.

“You know how I feel about you walking alone at night,” he explained. “How many times do you need to be kidnapped off of the street before you start to be more careful?”

“Hey,” she said defensively. “You know that wasn’t really what happened. Well, not technically.”

He rolled his eye. “Knowing that it was going to happen before doesn’t change anything. It was still an abduction.” He gave her the same stubborn look he always did when their conversation turned to her having allowed Nicole Benson to snatch her. As much as she wanted to push the subject, just to see how agitated she could get him, she decided to let it go there.

“So how did you ever find this place?” she asked, looking around. “I would never have thought to stop in. It honestly looks like a closed down store of some kind.”

“This is where my brother brought me when I graduated from college,” he said. “It’s been my favorite place since.”

“Ah,” she said, peering up at him from the top of her glass. “I imagine it really goes over well on dates?”

He smiled slyly. “Actually, I have never brought any girls here.”

“Really?” She didn’t hide the shocked tone in her voice. While it was completely stunning, she didn’t like just how pleased she was with his response. “This would be the ultimate date place. Sure to put any girl in the, well…” she trailed off, uncomfortable with where the conversation was going.

He studied her face, as if searching for something. “This place holds importance to me. I wouldn’t soil it with memories of girls just passing through. Besides, it’s not like I have much time for dating these days.”

Rilynne suddenly felt a spinning sensation passing through her. She quickly shook it off as the waiter appeared with their meals.

She was just about to slide her knife into her steak when she heard her name. Spinning around quickly, she saw Detective Wilcome and his wife, Sherri, being seated just a few tables over. She waved kindly and turned back to Ben.

“I told Wilcome about this place last year when he realized that he had completely forgotten about his anniversary. I guess they really enjoyed it,” Ben explained when he saw how shocked she was. He did not appear to share the same concern that there would be a conversation awaiting her at the office tomorrow. Instead, he seemed to be amused with the look that had settled on Rilynne face. “He’s going to think we’re involved in a clandestine tryst, isn’t he?” he finally asked.

Rilynne nodded and started to laugh quietly. “Most definitely. Even more than he already does now.”

“He already does?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Does it really surprise you? I think he started to lean that way after you were abducted while leaving my apartment early in the morning.”

Ben just shrugged, but Rilynne couldn’t help but notice his expression was more that of pleasure than surprise. “So he’ll probably be bringing it up tomorrow then? Boy, will the rumors start to fly.”

“It’s a good think the no-fraternization rule was lifted, or we would both be facing the disciplinary board instead of just rumors,” she said.

He fumbled his fork, dropping it to the floor, but he didn’t reach down for it. “What?” he asked looking suddenly confused.

“You didn’t know?” She studied his face and saw nothing but surprise. “They abolished it in lieu of the aftermath from Nicole.”

“When did this happen?”

“About a month ago. Actually, Wilcome told me about it on the first day you went back to work, right after he made the announcement about the ceremony.” She paused, soaking in his look of pure bewilderment. Part of her wanted to smile, but at the same time she suddenly found herself almost terrified. “I’d have thought you would have known by now. It was pretty big news around the station.”

“No, but I went to a conference that week and was gone for a few days. I guess the excitement had worn off by the time I got back.” He slowly ran his knuckles across his chin as if working something out in his head. It wasn’t until the waiter brought him a new fork that he seemed to snap back to reality.

Despite returning to pleasant conversation for the remainder of the meal, Rilynne could tell that his mind was preoccupied by something else.

*

The sun had not yet risen when Rilynne pulled herself out of bed the next morning. She had tried to make herself fall back asleep, but found that she had too much on her mind. After turning on the coffee pot, she slipped on her sneakers and stepped out the front door.

The chilled breeze hit her hard on the face, sending chills running down her back. She jogged down to the end of the walkway, pausing only to decide which way to go, before breaking into a full run. The cool air whipping past her seemed to carry away all of her thoughts as it went. Before she knew it, her mind was completely clear and relaxed. She had just rounded the corner when she was blindsided by a brief round of flashes,
Villarreal’s cell phone and a map.

Before she had time to see anything else, she found herself being knocked painfully to the ground. When the street in front of her came back into focus, she discovered a large tree rising up from her feet. “Great Rilynne,” she said aloud to herself. Using the tree for support, she rose to her feet and started back toward her house. This time, she decided to walk.

The sun had just peeked over the tree line when she stepped back in her front door. Pulling her shirt off, she walked to her bathroom for a better look at the source of her shoulder pain. Her reflection showed the front of her right shoulder was scraped and bleeding. She also had a tiny cut along her jaw line. While spontaneous flashes had often caught her by surprise, she almost never had one during a time where she could be injured. She was just glad no one had been around to see her run full force into a tree.

After showering and taping a bandage to her arm, Rilynne got dressed and decided to leave for work early. There was still an hour before anyone else should be in, so she would be able to surround herself by the case information and try to make sense of the flashes.

The lights were still off in the office when she opened the door ten minutes later. She sat her purse down on her desk and walked back into the conference room.

“A cell phone and a map,” she said to herself. She sat on the edge of the table staring confusedly at the white board. She closed her eyes again and concentrated hard.

Shane was making a cal, and then the scene shifted to a tall tower of some kind. There was something coming from the top of the tower. It looked almost like a cartoon; there were red rings sprouting from the tip of it, growing larger as they spread out.

A cell tower, she thought as she opened her eyes.

“Enjoy your night out, Evans?” She jumped off the table when she heard Detective Wilcome’s voice behind her.

“Yeah,” she replied. “I can’t complain.”

“So the food was good? And the company?” He was probing, and not subtly. She considered letting him fish around for a while, but thought it best to finish the conversation before anyone else could join in. As the only woman in the unit, she knew it was something she would never hear the end of if it got around.