Suspicions with Murder (A Rilynne Evans Mystery, Book Four) (22 page)

Other Books by Jenn Vakey

Rilynne Evans Mysteries

Delusions with Murder

Deception with Murder

Betrayal with Murder

Wanted with Murder

Wanted with Murder

Book #5 in the Rilynne Evans Mystery series

“
I
told you I don’t want to do anything,” Rilynne said. She let her head fall back in frustration as the look of determination settled on her boyfriend’s face.

Ben Davis sat his beer on the table and turned toward her. “It’s your birthday,” he stated firmly. “You’re only going to turn twenty-se…”

“Hey,” she interrupted, giving him a perturbed look.

He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Fine. You’re only going to turn twenty-three a few more times.”

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” she asked.

He gave her a triumphant grin. He knew he had won. “Not a chance. Besides, do you really think the guys are going to just let you refuse a party?”

“They will if you tell them to,” she said.

He chuckled. “That’s never going to happen,” he said, apparently amused by the hopeful note in her voice.

Rilynne let out one last resigned sigh and pushed herself off of the couch. “Another?” she asked as she walked toward her kitchen.

“Sure,” he called out after her.

When she returned, she found him nearly asleep where she had left him, with his head resting against the back of the couch and his feet propped up on the coffee table. She grinned down at him for a moment before sitting back down next to him. “It’s not even nine,” she stated. “How can you look so exhausted?”

He twisted the top off of the bottle and took a long swig. “There was a bit of an incident at the lab last night,” he explained. “I ended up having to go down at two in the
morning to get it all sorted out. I was actually about to head back home for a quick nap when the call came in for your case. Honestly, if it had been anyone else’s, I would have just handed the scene off.”

“What on earth did they do that would have required you to go down and fix it in the middle of the night?” she asked curiously. She took a drink of her own beer before setting it on the table and leaning against the arm of the couch.

He shook his head. The look on his face said he still couldn’t believe what had happened. “Apparently they didn’t think they had enough actual work to do, so they decided to have a little fun. They thought since no one was around, they could test out the mixture Jared Lewis used to fill his car will bubbles. I don’t think I need to tell you how that ended.”

Rilynne fought hard to keep the grin off of her face, but only because Ben still seemed incredibly annoyed. “Oh no,” she stated. She remembered how much of a mess was left in the car; she could only imagine how bad the lab must have looked.

“By the time I got there, the room was already filled with two feet of suds. Luckily, they had just enough intelligence to make sure all of the evidence was removed before they started,” he explained. “One of the computers ended up a little wet, but we managed to get all of the expensive equipment out before any damage was done. There was still an incredible mess to clean up, though. Not to mention, their behavior will reflect poorly on the department.”

“I can only imagine,” she replied. “I can see a defense attorney bringing that up in court to try to show they don’t have the best judgment.”

“Exactly,” he said before draining the last of his beer. “That was the reason I gave them when I said they would have to clean up the mess themselves instead of calling in the cleaning staff. Hopefully, since it happened in the middle of the night, we can try to keep it contained as much as possible. Actually, the fact that you hadn’t heard about it yet is a good sign.”

“I wasn’t exactly in the office much today, though,” she replied. In fact, her new case kept her out the majority of the day.

He shrugged and let his head drop back down against the back of the couch. “Something tells me if it made it around the homicide office, you would have heard about it. Especially since it came from the case you worked a couple months ago. You know the guys still haven’t stopped talking about it.” As his eyes closed, an impish grin appeared on his face.

She had known that working in an office primarily composed of men would mean suffering a good deal of backlash after her undercover assignment, but she had hoped it would have died down by now. Instead, the men were actually talking about using the photo of her in the maid uniform in the next batch of training manuals to be printed. Anytime a conversation turned to Jared Lewis or the Lewis manor, it would inevitably take a shift toward her assignment and her uniform. Ben was right; if word had gotten back to the homicide office, she surely would have heard about it.

“So tell me about your case,” he stated. “Have you found any suspects?”

“Matthews put in a call to the vice unit to see if they have any previous reports that match our case,” she said. “Unfortunately, muggings are almost always performed by a stranger, making it much more difficult to find the person responsible. Did the evidence turn up anything that could help?”

He shook his head, though didn’t open his eyes. “I went over the knife we discovered under the dumpster, but it appears to have been wiped down. There were some black fibers stuck in it, but they won’t be of any use until we have something to compare them to. Do you know what was taken? Maybe you can catch a break when he tries to pawn something.”

“Unfortunately, the victim still had his watch and other valuables on him. It looks like the only thing that was taken was his cash,” she explained.

“What’s with the rise in crime lately?” he asked. “Two months ago, we were at an all time low. Now it seems like people are trying to break some kind of record.”

“It’s that magazine article that came out last month naming Addison Valley as one of the top tourist spots in the state. It caused both a rise in tourism and people moving in. Along with that, of course, came a rise in crime,” she stated. She had actually been expecting it as soon as the article was published. Everyone else seemed excited at the prospect of tourists bringing money into the town, but Rilynne knew it would have an added negative effect.

“I bet Katy’s happy she let Matthews buy that land now,” he stated. His tone became drowsier with each word. “He told me that all three cabins are booked solid for almost the entire summer. It’ll definitely give them a nice financial boost before the baby comes.”

Before she could respond, Ben’s head gave a slight bob and slowly dropped to the side. He was asleep. Rilynne smiled and reached up to gently push his dirty blonde hair out of his eyes. Although she had done it countless times before, she always found herself shocked by just how soft it really was.

Ben didn’t stir at the feel of her fingertips brushing against his forehead. She smiled again as she dropped her head down on his shoulder and turned toward the television.

While her life has been a constant roller coaster since she arrived in Addison Valley a year before, Rilynne couldn’t remember herself ever being happier. Staring blankly at the screen in front of her, her mind drifted back to everything that had happened over the last year.

When she arrived in Addison Valley, she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. She was mourning the loss of her husband and trying to escape the feeling of betrayal at the thought of her former partner being responsible for his death. She soon faced that same feeling again when she discovered her new friend, Nicole Bennett, was the very serial killer she had come to Addison Valley to catch.

Months past, and she finally felt like her life was settling down before it was once again upturned. She discovered that her husband had not been murdered, but instead had faked his death to run away with his mistress. As if that wasn’t enough, he had in fact murdered her old partner, along with several other people.

After that, she was able to finally close that chapter of her life and move forward. Luckily, she had found Ben Davis. Ben was by far the most amazing man she had ever met. He made her happier than she ever thought possible. All of the weight she had been feeling the year before was gone. That is, all but one thing. Rilynne knew, no matter how her life came together, she would always have her secret.

From the time she was a little girl, Rilynne had the ability to see things going on in the lives of people she knew or came in contact with. She used her special skill to investigate cases and track down killers. Although her flashes were a major part of her
life, she kept them hidden from everyone, including Ben. The only person who knew about her gift was her mother.

Since the altercation with her former husband, Christopher, Rilynne had a growing suspicion that Ben had discovered what she could do. This was only helped along by the pointed comments he made every time she gave an excuse for something she just seemed to know on a case. Although she would be relieved if Ben had in fact learned her secret, it wasn’t something she could bring herself to ask him about. It was a constant battle, always raging in her mind.

Rilynne took a deep breath and pushed it out of her mind as she felt her eyes growing heavy.

*

When Rilynne walked into the office the next morning, she found her partner, Detective Todd Matthews, sitting at his desk.

“You look awful,” she said when she took in the sight. Aside for simply looking like he hadn’t slept in days, he had missed a button on his shirt and his tie was on backwards.

He gave her a puzzled look before looking down and nodding. “Between Katy’s nonstop morning sickness, her insane mood swings, and her midnight cravings, I’m not getting much sleep these days.” He paused for a moment and a look of panic spread over his face. “Please don’t tell Katy I said her mood swings were crazy.”

Rilynne chuckled and dropped down into her seat. “I won’t as long as you fix your shirt,” she replied. “I’m not going to be seen out in public with you looking like that.”

Matthews nodded in submission as he started fumbling with the buttons. He had just finished when he reached for a file sitting on his desk. “Collin Clark pulled this together for us,” he stated as he handed it to Rilynne. “These are all of the reported muggings over the last three months. He tagged the ones that matched the M.O. of our case.
There
are three that really stood out. The perpetrator only took cash, used a knife, and showed a level of violence that could have very easily progressed to murder. The last victim was left with a cut on her throat from the knife being held firmly against it.” He held his hand up to his own throat to demonstrate. “In her statement, she said he laughed in her face when she started to panic as the blood ran down.”

“Do we have
a name for this guy?” she asked.

He shook his head sullenly. “A sketch was made, but we haven’t been able to match it to anyone in the database,” he explained. “It was handed out at roll call this morning, so hopefully someone will spot him on the streets.”

“Let me see that,” she said as she reached for the paper in his hands. She always hated composite sketches. To her, they always looked like they could be a hundred different people. This one was no different.

Rilynne closed her eyes and thought over the details of the scene and the face sitting in front of her. Within a few seconds, she started to see a scene passing in front of her.

The victim, Andrew Fields, walked out of the antique store and started making his way down the sidewalk. As he crossed in front of the alley, a strong hand reached out and grabbed him.

Fear spread through him as the man pushed him into the wall. He looked like he wanted to fight back for a moment until the knife appeared. The light from the street post on the corner hit the blade and flashed into his eyes.

“Give me your wallet,” the man stated with a deep, scratchy voice.

Fields didn’t hesitate before pulling the wallet out of his back pocket and handing it to the stranger. The man tore it out of his hand, but didn’t budge. Instead, he cocked his head to the side as a wicked grin grew on his face.

“What else do you have?” he asked. “You’re holding out on me, aren’t you?”

Panic spread through Andrew Fields. “That was everything, I swear. The only other think I have is my watch. Here,” he tried to take it off of his wrist, “take it.”

“No, I don’t want that. Where’s the rest of the cash?”

“I don’t have any. I swear. Please, just don’t hurt me. I swear I won’t tell anyone,” he pleaded.

The smile on his face twisted as he thrust the knife into Fields’ chest. “You shouldn’t have lied.”

Rilynne felt sick when she opened her eyes. She looked over the sketch again. It was him.

“He gets off on it,” she said as she handed it back to Matthews. “He’s been growing more violent with every offense. He didn’t have to kill Fields he wanted to. If we don’t get him off the streets, he’s only going to become more aggressive. This won’t be the last death he causes.”