Loves Redemption (31 page)

“Thanks Montgomery,” Mark said.

The only response was the sound of a phone being disconnected. Mark turned around

when Dalia and Maya walked toward him. Maya must have packed her overnight bag as well,

because both women held bags in their hands.

“That was Agent Montgomery on the phone. He wants to take a look around. I told him I

didn’t think you’d mind. Is that okay?”

“No I don’t mind. I’ll be at Imani House all day, so he can get the key anytime he wants

to.” She was turning to key in the code on the alarm pad when Mark stayed her hand.

“He’s going to check it out tonight. He’ll be here in a few minutes. I’ll leave my key for

him to lock up when he’s done,” he said, when she looked at him questioningly.

Mark walked Dalia to her Corolla parked in the side garage. “Please take care of Maya,

this has been hard on her. I don’t know how much more she can take,” Dalia told Mark.

“You know I’ll take care of her Dalia. Be careful driving,” he assured her and closed her

car door. As she reversed out of the driveway and drove down the darkened silent street he

returned to the house.

“It’s been a long night, baby, why don’t we leave,” he urged her, as soon as he walked

back inside.

“Yes. I think that’s a good idea,” she said on a long sad sigh and followed him out after

he locked the door.

Mark stored her bags alongside his gym bag in the back of his Expedition before guiding

her to the passenger side. They’d been driving in silence for a while before Maya finally spoke.

“Why is Agent Montgomery looking now instead of in the morning? Did you ask him to come

tonight?” Her voice sounded hushed and weary in the dark. She turned her head and body toward him, in the soft leather seat.

“I called him when you and Dalia were getting your things together.”

“What is it?” she asked when he frowned.

“Nothing concrete.” Mark shook his head. “My first instinct whenever I need back-up is

normally Jordan.” He spoke slowly as though he were contemplating his words carefully before saying them. “This time my first instinct was to call Montgomery.”

“And why do you think that is?”

“I’m not sure. I’m not even sure I trust the guy,” he said, and immediately recanted. “No,

it’s not that I don’t trust him, I don’t understand him.”

He thought back on the odd way the agent investigated crime scenes and of his desire to

be alone while he did so.

“He’s good at what he does. I really believe that he can give us the insight into this

burglary that we need. Everything will be fine, Maya,” he sought to reassure her as he reached over and took her small hand within his, and kissed her open palm. “Everything will be alright, baby, I promise you.”

Nicolai casually walked inside the house, closing the door after he’d let himself in. He

took a deep breath, and leaned back against the door’s hard surface, as though he could gain strength from the antique wood door. Reluctantly he pushed himself away, and walked

throughout the lit house.

The evidence of the burglary was everywhere, from strewn pillows, to overturned

drawers. Cabinet doors had been opened and emptied, and food dumped into the middle of the

floor in the large bright kitchen.

He took his time going throughout the house, careful not to touch anything until he was

ready to ‘hear.’ Nicolai’s gaze stole over the simple, yet beautiful furnishings. Fresh picked daisy’s sat unmolested on a side table, and haunting artwork hung framed on warm painted

walls, all of which showed the many facets to Dr. Richardson’s personality.

Nicolai continued walking methodically through her home, and waited until last to go

into her personal sanctuary; her bedroom. Upon entering, he could immediately detect a

difference in the atmosphere before he touched anything.

Analyzing the feeling, the best way he could describe it to himself was that the air

seemed to have a heavier and more oppressive feel to it. His instincts told him this was where he needed to start. He slowly removed the gloves covering his large, yet sensitive hands.

Unlike the other rooms in the house, this one held little evidence of a burglary with small exception. As he walked into the large walk-in closet, he immediately noticed several articles of clothing obviously belonging to a man, had been ripped from the hangers.

However, among none of the strewn clothing did he see any feminine garments. He

closed his eyes and picked up a shirt and held it lightly between his sensitive fingers.

Immediately a bolt of lightening shot across his shut eyes, almost blinding in its intensity, and Nicolai was slammed into the auditory vision.

“
I CANNOT believe this! His clothes are in her closet-why would she have his clothes in

her closet? Is she letting him screw her? I thought she was different. She helps us. She hears our
stories, and understands. She knows the truth about men. They only want one thing-they only
want to use you, and keep you their dirty secret and come to you when no one else is around and
shove their dirty dicks anywhere they can shove them. Doesn’t she know?” The voice grew in
intensity with every heated word.

“ He’s the same way. He’s no different than the rest of them. I thought she knew better.

Why doesn’t she know better?” The angry high-pitched voice ranted in a voice that dropped, the
words barely above a whisper.

“Oh what is this? Isn’t it lovely? Hello there! How would you like to join your ‘sister’

little locket? So pretty and sweet. Yes I definitely will take you so you may be with her again.

Family reunions are so nice, so special.”

Once angry and strident, the voice was upbeat and happy, as though the anger and

hostility of moments ago hadn’t
happened. Humming, the voice slowly began to fade away as
though it had never been.

Coming out of his trance, Nicolai found himself standing in front of Maya’s bureau

looking down at her scattered jewelry. Although he’d come prepared and had taken the high

potent pills, his head throbbed relentlessly, blinding him.

With blurred eyes, he reached inside his pocket automatically, and withdrew the pills

tucked inside. He sat down in a loose heap with his knees drawn up and his arms hanging loosely over them while he massaged his throbbing temples and thought over what he’d ‘heard.’ He

thought past the debilitating pain, which had become an unwelcome accompaniment to his

ability.

The familiar singsong quality as well as the pitch confirmed to Nicolai the slayer and this burglar were one in the same. But there was something else mystifying him about this voice, the cadence and pitch reverberating in his head as he puzzled though what it could be.

“There are several things, besides the obvious, I don’t like about this burglary, and one is the timing,” Mark said as he paced the circumference of the room. He and Jordan had spent the greater part of the morning piecing together evidence, looking for a pattern after Mark filled Jordan in on the burglary at Maya’s.

He stopped his pacing to see Jordan was studying the pieces of evidence from the slayer

investigation laid out in front of him. In front of Jordan were the two cards Maya had received from her anonymous admirer.

“According to Wanda, the notes are from the same person. She also came up with some

interesting speculation on this admirer.” Mark walked around the table and picked up the

handwritten notes.

“Like what?” Jordan asked.

“Like the fact that although the language isn’t threatening to Maya, it was still written by someone who may have been angry when they wrote the notes, particularly the second one. In

my handwriting 101 crash course with Wanda she explained some interesting things. Like how

the curves and placement of letters indicate a variety of emotional states.” Mark pointed to one of the notes as he explained what he’d learned from the technician.

“I didn’t know you could tell so much from the way someone writes. I wonder what she

could tell from my writing?” Jordan halfway joked.

“Probably a lot. Wanda said she was free for lunch, why don’t you go and ask her

yourself?” Mark knew how uncomfortable the older woman made Jordan, and he tried not to

laugh as he asked the question.

Wanda flirted with nearly every male she came into contact with, but she flirted

especially hard with Jordan. She once told him what she would do with him if she ever had him alone for at least ten minutes, and was ten years younger. That’s all she needed, she’d say with a wink, just ten minutes and ten years.

“That’s alright. I think I’ll pass. I’m not that damn curious.” Jordan shivered in disgust, and looked over at Mark. “Funny,” he said when he caught Mark laughing, and reached over to punch him as hard as he could on the shoulder.

“Ouch,” Mark grimaced as he grabbed his shoulder and laughed at the same time. Jordan

reluctantly laughed along with him when there was a knock on the conference door.

“Come in,” their deep voices chorused. At the sight of the FBI agent, both men sobered

as Nicolai walked soundlessly into the room.

“Good afternoon, Detectives.” He nodded to both men before turning his gaze toward the

table that held pieces of their investigation. “May I?” He asked after he’d walked to the table.

“Sure go ahead. We’re going over the evidence. Instead of getting closer to discovering

the perpetrator, the evidence we have seems to contradict each other,” Jordan ran frustrated hands over the stubble on his cheeks, the levity of moments ago gone.

Nicolai picked up the two cards Mark placed on the table. His eyes blinked quickly for

several seconds as though he were struggling to keep them open. No sooner had it happened then it was over, and he placed the two cards side-by side on the table. He glanced at the two men to see if they’d noticed his reaction.

“The lieutenant is in a meeting with the acting chief this morning, so we haven’t been

able to fill him in on the burglary at Maya’s last night,” Mark said to Nicolai.

“These are the cards left with the flowers Dr. Richardson received?” Nicolai asked,

motioning to the two cards on the table.

“Yes, I had the handwriting examined by Wanda, one of the crime lab techs. She also has

a sub specialty in analyzing script,” he explained to the agent before continuing, “she believes the card was written by the same person.”

A knock on the door and LeDoux stuck his head inside the room. “Casanova you have a

call from a Ms. Arlinda Nyoni. Sounds important--can you take it?”

“Yeah sure tell her to hold on,” Jordan told LeDoux, before turning back to Mark. “I’d

better take this.”

“Well it is too late,” LeDoux smirked “she said if you would like to speak to her you

know where to find her,” he told Jordan gleefully.

“Oh damn I forgot the time. I was supposed to take Arly out to lunch. I need to go and

make a call.” Jordan hastily gathered the evidence collected on the table.

Mark recognized the name of Maya’s college friend, and he had no idea Jordan was still

in contact with the woman.

“We can wrap up and take a late lunch if that helps. I’ll put this stuff back,” he told his partner.

“Yeah okay. Thanks man.” Jordan walked quickly out of the room.

No sooner had Jordan left, than Nicolai turn toward Mark with a serious expression on

his face. “We may have a problem, Detective,” Nicolai said without preamble.

Immediately catching on to what he was referring to, all remaining humor over Jordan’s

predicament left. “In what way?”

“I believe the person who burglarized Dr. Richardson’s home is responsible for the serial

killings. And if I had to venture a guess, I would bet the floral arrangement was from the same person.” Nicolai told him calmly, with little or no inflection.

“Shit!” With lightening speed, Mark raced out the door with the FBI agent close on his

heels. When the agent grabbed his arm, Mark swung around, a fierce expression on his face.

“What the hell? I need to get a hold of Maya. Now!”

“Dr. Richardson is safe. If I didn’t feel she was, I would have contacted you last night.

She’s safe,” Nicolai calmly reassured him.

“Listen, you can come with me if you want. Or you can stay here. Either way, I’m going

to Imani House to check on Maya. If you’re coming, then on the way you can tell me how the

hell you know this shit.” He reached inside his pocket, and took out his cell phone to call Maya.

“Hey Dal, where’s Maya?” He asked without preamble, and waited as Dalia transferred

the call. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, and opened them just as quickly when Maya came on the phone,

“Hey, baby, how are you doing?” He listened for a moment before responding. “Good.

Sweetheart I want you to do me a favor. Who’s working security?”

“Rowan’s here today.”

“Great. I need for you to stay at the House, and make sure Rowan doesn’t let anyone

unfamiliar in there until I get there okay?”

“What’s going on, Mark?” She asked, her voice fearful.

“There’s nothing to worry about, Maya. We need to talk to you. I’m on my way, stay

where you are,” he told her, trying his best to keep the anxiety out of his voice. After a few moments of talking, he flipped the receiver down on his phone and turned to Montgomery,

who’d stood discretely away as he spoke with Maya.

“Well, are you coming? And will you tell me what the hell you do exactly? Who the hell

are you?” He demanded.

“I’ll tell you on the way to Imani House. Let’s go,” Montgomery said, and the two men