Loves Redemption (6 page)

“I don’t understand any of this,” she admitted.

“Neither do I, but I’m not going to run from it. I won’t rush you; I know that this is all

new to you, and that you just lost your sister. I want us to have the opportunity to find out where this may lead. Is that fair? Can you give me that?” His expression was somber, his eyes asking questions she didn’t have the answers to.

“I’ve never been involved in a long-term relationship before.” With a laugh directed at

herself, she continued, “Correction, I’ve never been involved in any
real
relationship before. I’m not sure if I know how, or even that I want to,” she admitted.

“I find it hard to believe that a woman as beautiful and as intelligent as you are has never been involved in a relationship, Maya. As far as you not being sure that’s what you want, I want it enough for the both of us. Please give us a chance to get to know each other better, and we can move at any pace you’re comfortable with. Just so that we’re moving together.”

Maya smiled in response and gave him the nod that she knew he wanted. “I can’t promise

anything. But I would like to get to know you better, Mark. But I warn you most of my time is spent here at Imani House. It’s important to me, and I would never sacrifice it for anyone or anything.”

“I wouldn’t try and come between you and your love of the work you do. I want a chance

to be able to share you and we’ll see that you can have both a relationship and Imani House.” He gave her one final lingering kiss good-bye. “Tell Jorge I enjoyed the lunch. And speaking of food, would you like to go to dinner with me tonight?” The rough pad of his thumb caressed the underside of her full bottom lip as he asked.

“I can’t tonight. One of my interns can’t facilitate one of the group sessions, so I need to find a replacement, and I’m going with Dalia to the library to do a little research,” she hated to admit. She felt ambivalent, wanting to take the time to get to know him, but knowing she had commitments and people who relied on her for their well-being.

“That’s okay. Why don’t you look at your calendar and I’ll call you later.Then you can

tell me what day you have open this week for dinner. I’ll also talk to Lieutenant Hernandez about you consulting with us. I’ll call you later.”

Maya walked him back through the house and opened the front door for him to leave. He

surprised her by pressing his lips to hers a final time before he left with a promise to call.

She touched her still tingling lips with the tips of her fingers, and watched as he climbed into his vehicle and drove away. When his car was no longer visible, she went back inside. As she turned around, she came face to face with Dalia.

“How long have you been there, Dal?” Maya wondered how much her friend had seen, as

she glanced down to make sure her clothes weren’t crazy looking and twisted.

“Not long, little sister. The detective found you, I see. Did he have more news for you

about your Allison?”

The two women moved together toward her office and Maya updated Dalia. “Detective

Halstan came to give me information about Ally. He has also asked if I would consider

consulting on this case with the police department.”

“In what capacity? As a psychologist?”

“I guess it’s more on the line of a special consultant. Because the police believe this killer is a prostitute, Mark, that is Detective Halstan, believes that I may provide an insight that may help in completing the sketchy profile they have.”

Dalia pretended not to catch the slip as Maya continued to fill her in on the details, and

how she’d planned to fit consulting with the police into her already busy schedule.

“
Mazyte Sesute,
” Dalia began, addressing her as she often did, as little sister in her native Lithuanian language.

Dalia loved Maya. She’d met her four years ago soon after Maya had bought the building

that was now Imani House. At the time it was a safe house where Maya had spent time doing her internship while completing her PhD. Although the safe house had an adequate referral system, it didn’t have funding or staff. Maya had changed all of that after she bought the building.

Dalia had real affection for Maya, who was responsible for affecting so many lives. Dalia

had immigrated from her small village in Lithuania to New York thirty years ago and had been lured into prostitution. She’d worked the streets for years, before she knew she could no longer live that life. She’d gathered her small possessions and moved to Texas. Within months she’d met Maya and not only had she become the young woman’s first client, she became Maya’s

assistant, and in turn provided aid for the new women in the program.

She continued to listen as Maya outlined the sketchy details of what she could provide to

the police as a special consult.

“If anyone can give this insight they are looking for, then it is you, Maya. I pray this

person who killed Allison is caught. How are you feeling today? We have not talked very much.”

“No, we haven’t. You know how it gets toward the end of semester. The interns need to

make sure they have all of their hours added, and it becomes a madhouse around here. This

reminds me, we need to recruit a few more volunteer counselors: one for the night shift and the other for the early afternoon.” She avoided giving a direct answer.

“I will leave you to your work. We can talk more tonight on the way to the library,” Dalia

reminded her.

Looking up with a smile, Maya answered, “Don’t worry, I didn’t forget. It shouldn’t take

me too long to wrap this up, and then we can go.”

With a small sigh, she picked up the phone to try and locate a substitute for the evening

class that was scheduled to start after dinner. Looking at her watch, she knew if she hurried she’d be able to grab a bite to eat before she and Dalia made their way to the library.

* * * *

Mark made it back to the station in the afternoon from his visit with Maya. Jordan was

there, working at his desk.

“Hey man, that was some errand. Did you get everything taken care of?” Jordan asked as

Mark walked over to his desk. “By the way, the lieutenant was looking for you an hour ago. He wants to know the specifics about Dr. Richardson and her connection with the female victim. He said when you came in to send you to his office.”

“Thanks, Jordan. I wanted to run something by him anyway.”

“Yeah well you also got a shit load of messages. I put ’em on your desk for you to sort.

Some woman kept calling, she must have called a dozen times, I swear. And she
would not
talk to anyone else but you. Anyway, I asked her name, but she wouldn’t tell me, kept saying she wanted to speak to you.” Jordan told him with a shrug.

Mark gave an answering shrug. These types of cases, because of the media coverage,

often generated a lot of misinformation and general gossip.

It was crazy the way the public got involved in the ones that the news broadcasts

followed, as if it were some type of reality show. Unfortunately, most of the leads they followed up on were unsubstantiated--a pissed off coworker or ticked off spouse.

Because Mark’s name was the one related to this case on television or in the papers,

many of the callers would ask for him by name, not willing to share their misguided information with anyone else.

As Mark was leaving the squad room, LeDoux came in and, spotting Jordan at his desk,

headed in his direction with a smirk on his face. “Did you see the fight last night?”

Mark knew the ensuing argument that would take place and escaped, knocking on the

lieutenant’s door. The first thing that struck him when he entered was how clean the room was.

In all of his time at the station he’d never seen it as clean as it was today. Walls he’d

thought were gray were white and sparkling. Glancing around he noticed the garbage can was

not only emptied but it too seemed as though it had seen a good scrubbing. Looking back up, he caught the lieutenant watching him as he surveyed the room.

“Looks good in here, smells even better. What happened?” he asked, as he pulled up a

chair.

“Nothing happened. The place needed to be cleaned, so I came in myself this weekend to

clear up some files, and I decided to clean it up a little.” The lieutenant pulled his tie away from his throat, as though it was too tight.

Changing the subject, the lieutenant asked, “I received your message about the positive

ID Dr. Richardson was able to give on the female victim. Were you able to find out much else after you questioned her?”

“The two of them hadn’t had too much communication during the last few years. Her

foster sister would come around when she needed something, usually money. Other than that, Dr.

Richardson didn’t have a last known address for her, but she thinks she can find out through her own network, which is what I want to talk to you about, Lieutenant.”

“What about?”

“Dr. Richardson has great insight into this population and a strong rapport with most of

them. Even those who don’t live there respect her, and I believe she could provide valuable information we may not have access to otherwise.”

“That sounds like a good idea. The chief is starting to breathe a little too close down my

neck since Hardcastle was murdered.” The lieutenant mentioned the latest victim found along with Allison.

“Although the circumstances around his murder were less than ideal, his family is up in

arms and wants to know what the police are doing about his murder. Like we’re sitting around twiddling our thumbs or something. It would be nice if Santiago could back us up once in a

damn while.” The lieutenant’s dislike of the chief was well-known. He considered him an

opportunist who saw his current position as a mere stepping-stone in his political aspirations.

“What were you able to find out about the victim from Dr. Richardson?”

“I got some background information about her, but nothing current. Dr. Richardson is

sure she’ll be able to use her network to find out something about her sister’s last known address, as well as who she was keeping company with before she was killed.”

“Hmm.” The Lieutenant murmured, “That’s fine. I’ll clear it with the department, but it

shouldn’t be a problem bringing Dr. Richardson on board. Bring her in as soon as she’s available and we’ll go from there.”

After Mark finished the meeting with the lieutenant, the remainder of the day was filled

with him and Jordan following up on leads. Looking at the wall clock, he decided to retire for the evening and pick it up tomorrow. He glanced over at Jordan and noticed he was checking out the time.

“I don’t know about you but I’m tired. Man, it was a long weekend, if you know what I

mean.” With a satisfied smile on his face Jordan stood to stretch out his long body. “I’m going home for some much needed rest. What about you?”

“I don’t think my weekend was as pleasurable as yours. I’m tired for an entirely different

reason,” he said with envy.

He knew it was too soon with Maya, but he wished he was tired for the same reasons

Jordan was. However
his
fatigue was associated with his inability to get her out of his mind and go to sleep, unfortunately. “I’m leaving too; I’m going to make one more call before I go.”

“I’ll see you in the morning, partner.” After saying goodnight, Jordan left Mark to make

his call.

Picking up the phone, he decided to see if he could catch Maya at Imani House. It was

late, and he suspected she was long gone for the night. As he waited for her voice mail to pick up, he was surprised when the phone was picked up on the fifth ring with her breathless, “Hello.”

Surprised he once again looked at the clock. “Hi Maya, are you okay?” he asked. She

sounded completely out of breath.

“Mark? Yes, I’m fine. Sometimes I have a hard time locating my telephone,” she

admitted with a light laugh.

“I didn’t think I’d catch you still at work. I expected to leave a message on your voice

mail.” Mark settled back into his chair, an unknowing smile on his face.

“I’m usually at the House until around eight or so, sometimes later. Today was busy. I

searched for a replacement for one of tonight’s group sessions and I couldn’t find one, so I conducted it.”

As she spoke, Mark picked up on her need to help everyone. He wondered if it was at the

expense of her well-being. He didn’t want to voice his opinion on such short acquaintance, so he kept his observation to himself.

“At any rate, I’m finished for the evening and was on my way out when the phone rang.”

she finished telling him.

“I don’t want to keep you, Maya. Lieutenant Hernandez thinks it would be a great idea

for you to consult with the department on the slayer case, if you’re still interested. But I know you have a heavy workload. I don’t want to add to your burden.”

“Thanks for the concern, Mark, but if I didn’t think that I could handle it, I wouldn’t do

it. I may seem like a masochist, but I’m not. I enjoy what I do. If I didn’t I wouldn’t be able to put in the time without having serious resentment issues, and I have none. Believe me, when I do begin to feel a little run down, I take a break.

“Honestly, I do. Although I’m the only full-time psychologist here, I do have a colleague

who devotes some of his spare time here on a volunteer basis. Once in a blue moon, I’ll take a day or two off, and he’s happy to fill in for me.”

“I’ll take note. That’s good to know for the future.” Clearing his throat he continued.

“The lieutenant wants to set up a time for you to come in so that you can be filled in on both the particulars of the case and police protocol, and we can come to a mutual agreement on what we’d like from you as a consultant.” He tried to squash his guilt over his need to have her available by telling himself it was for the investigation.