The Lady Killer (20 page)

“She wasn’t up here drinking a soda yesterday before you left for the evening?”

“Absolutely not, Peterson. The last time I talked to Stacey was a few days ago when that rose was delivered to you.”

Laura looked conflicted. “Burns, I know she’s your friend, but this makes her association with our suspects even more suspicious.”

“I have to agree with you. If I take our friendship out of this, and she was any other cop in here, I would suspect her of something immediately.”

“Okay, from now on if she comes to see you, make an excuse to get her out of here fast. Until we find out what she’s up to, I don’t trust her around anything. Also, I think we need to start locking up our files on this case every night.”

Dan looked around the office. “Hey, that cabinet over there locks. I can clean out what’s in there now, and we can use that.”

“Great idea, Murphy, you can work on that, if you don’t mind. We can get a couple of those cardboard file holders, and store all the stuff in the break room. I think there are some empty ones in the supply closet.”

He gave her a big smile. “Don’t worry; we will keep our secrets safe.”

“The problem is that we shouldn’t have to. Not here, where we depend on a safe work place.”

“Yeah, I know. I was just trying to keep things positive.”

Laura was about to answer him, when two men entered their office and announced that they were there to inspect for a rodent problem. She frowned at them. “A rodent problem?”

“Yes, Detective Peterson, Dr. Foote said he was up here and smelled a rat.”

She tried to muffle her laughter. “Well if he did, then we better check it out right away. Where would you like to start?”

“Don’t worry; we will take care of it from here. Why don’t all of you go get a cup of coffee, or something? We won’t be long. Is that an artificial plant hanging over there?”

She looked in the direction he was pointing. “Yes, I have a silk thumb. I can grow anything made out of silk.”

He smiled at her and winked. “I hear rats like to hide in plants. I better go inspect that right now. And if you have any questions, Dr Foote will be getting a full report daily.”

“Thank you so much for your prompt service.”

“My pleasure, Detective, if there’s anything I can’t stand, it’s a rat.”

She shook her head and went into the break room to join Roy and Dan. They all looked at each other and broke out in laughter. “Leave it to Ralph to come up with a humorous scenario! How do you suppose they are going to run wires and all that stuff, without someone seeing them?”

Dan got a sly look on his face. “Spoken like the woman who can’t even program her phone.”

She gave him a disparaging look. “Don’t make fun of the technically challenged.”

“Okay, I won’t. I’m willing to bet that they are going to do a wireless connection to a receiver somewhere else in the building.”

“Did you just make that up to sound very cleaver?”

He laughed at her. “Don’t trust me yet, huh?”

She looked deeply into his eyes. “I trust you more than you will ever know.”

Roy cleared his throat. “Okay, break it up you two. I thought we weren’t going to be making goo-goo eyes at work any more.”

She blushed and took a fake swing at Roy. “You take all the fun out of everything, but you’re right. Until we get a clear idea of what we’re up against here, we need to cool it.”

Dan looked at Roy. “Okay, Dad, the kids will be good. Thanks for keeping an eye on us.”

“Hey, I just want the two of you to be safe. Who am I going to heckle, if you guys aren’t around?”

She smiled at him. “Let’s all three of us take a lunch break while these guys work.”

When they got back from lunch, Laura headed to see Ralph. He wasn’t there, but she saw Stacey looking through one of his files. “Hi, Stacey, what are you doing down here?”

She looked startled to see Laura. “Oh, I just needed some information for a case I’m working on. Ralph isn’t here right now.”

When Jim walked into the room, he had a puzzled look on his face. “What can I help you ladies with?”

Stacey became very flustered. “I’ll just wait until Ralph gets back, thanks.” She immediately left the lab in a hurry.

“What’s going on, Detective Peterson?”

“Stacey was in here looking at that file, Jim.”

He picked it up and looked through it. “This is the forensic file on Amy Montgomery. Why would she be looking at that?”

Just then, Ralph returned from an appointment. “Why would who be looking at what?”

“Detective Morgan was just down here looking at one of our files on Amy Montgomery.”

Ralph’s eyes narrowed. “Thanks, Jim, was she by herself?”

“I went to the bathroom, and when I came back both ladies were in here.”

Ralph turned to Laura. “What did you see?”

“Actually, Ralph, not much. I walked in and startled her. She said she was looking for a file from a case she was working on.”

“Hmmmmm, that’s very interesting. And she was looking through Montgomery’s file? She has nothing to do with that file.”

“She has nothing to do with the files on my desk either, but that doesn’t seem to stop her!”

Ralph looked baffled. “What do we think she’s up to?”

Laura shrugged. “Possibly no good. How is that camera thing going to work?”

“It’s on a timer and will run between seven in the evening until seven in the morning.”

Laura was dismayed. “Will we have to go through twelve hours of recordings every day?”

“No, it’s motion activated. It won’t record unless someone is in there. So, we won’t have to look at anything, unless someone has triggered it.”

Laura smiled widely. “You are so cleaver, Dr. Foote. Now, how are we going to keep your lab safe?”

“I shouldn’t even have to worry about that. What is this world coming to when the annals of the morgue are no longer sacred? Jim, I think we are going to keep the main door locked, when no one is in here. I will have keys made for everyone we trust. Next, we will have a buzzer installed, so that it rings in the back if some one comes in during working hours.”

Laura looked troubled. “I’m sorry you have to go through all of this on account of my case. I just don’t know where I feel safe any more. Roy really trusted Stacey, and now look at what’s happening. Our criterion, for who we can trust, has been people who have been with the force over the one year mark. Now, it looks like even that’s out the window.”

“Don’t worry about Jim and me. We can take care of our end. Just be very careful, continue to wear your device and let the Captain know where you are at all times.”

“I will, and speaking of him, that is my next stop.”

When she walked through his office door, Captain Rutledge looked at her face and started to worry. “Maybe I should just move my desk up to Homicide.”

“Sir, I just came from the lab, and Stacey was down there going through Ralph’s files on our case.”

“That’s unbelievable! What in the world is she doing that for?”

“I don’t know, but Ralph is locking up the lab, and we’re going to lock up our files at night. Plus we now have a motion activated camera in our work space. I feel like I don’t know who to trust any more. Am I being too paranoid?”

“No, I am afraid that we need to be extra vigilant, from now on. I always lock my office door at night when I leave. The only people who come in here are the cleaning crew, which we have had for years. I will start locking up any sensitive files in my desk. I’m very disappointed in Stacey. Let’s see what we get on your cameras tonight. Have Burns give her a call and tell her that you guys got a juicy lead today, and just leave her hanging. Then we will see if she makes another trip to your desks tonight.”

Laura looked relieved. “I’ve always hated technology, but now it looks like it might turn out to be my best friend.”

She went back to her office, to tell Dan and Roy about her encounter with Stacey. “Burns, the Captain requested that you call her with some erroneous information, just to see if she comes up here again tonight.”

“Will do, I’ll tell her that we’ve uncovered some evidence that will blow the lid off of our case, but that I can’t talk about it.”

“Perfect, thanks.”

CHAPTER 14

W
hen the three detectives congregated in the office the next morning, it was obvious that someone had been there. The night before, each of them had placed a few objects exactly three inches from the edges of their desks. All of them had been moved to some degree, but Roy’s desk was the worst. He had left one of Stacey’s favorite candy bars in a drawer, and it was gone.

Just as Laura was about to call Ralph, he and the Captain walked in with a DVD. They all went into the break room and watched a video of Stacey taking their desks apart looking for the new clue. Roy was shaking his head. “Man, I didn’t see this one coming. I was afraid for her safety and now this.”

Captain Rutledge knew from experience what it felt like to be betrayed by a friend. “Roy, if it’s any consolation, none of us saw this coming. I know that doesn’t make it any less hurtful, but we do empathize with what you’re going through.”

“Thanks, Sir. How long do you think she’s been doing this without us knowing?”

“That’s hard to tell, but it would explain things like how he knew that we were wise to the Emily Anderson persona.”

Laura felt sorry for Roy, but she knew that they had to press on. “Sir, in light of this development, do you want to consider the possibility of her being an accomplice?”

Captain Rutledge looked sad. “It’s entirely possible. She was seen at that bar with our suspects again last night. Now, if we warn her about the company she’s keeping, we may actually be warning him!”

Roy acquiesced. “I’m in complete agreement with you guys. I was letting my emotional side compromise this case. Where do we go from here, Sir?”

“I would like to let things progress over the next couple of days, and see if this behavior continues. That will also give me more time to decide if I should talk to her.”

Laura didn’t want to sit by and do nothing. “Sir, what should we do in the mean time?”

“I think maybe all of us should go out for a drink tonight, at a certain bar. That way we make an appearance, and see if we get a reaction. Stacey and her friends get there around nine, so I think we should be there by eight thirty. If we are there first, it doesn’t look like we’re following them. When they come in, Roy can casually strike up a conversation with Stacey and invite them to join us. That way we can watch the relationship between them up close and personal, so to speak.”

Dan was curious about where they were going. “What’s the name of the bar, Sir?”

“You’re going to like it, Detective; its name is Murphy’s.”

Dan grinned to himself thinking about the night he took Laura there. “Actually, I used to hang out there a couple of years ago. If they ask what we’re doing there, I can say it’s an old haunt that I wanted to take you guys to.”

Captain Rutledge reached out and shook Dan’s hand. “Great thinking, that makes for an absolutely perfect scenario! Okay, we will leave here around seven, to give Stacey time to do her thing. Then we’ll meet at Murphy’s by eight thirty.”

After Rutledge left, the mood was somber. No one wanted to think that Stacey had been betraying them all along, or that she was helping the psycho. They wondered how many leads had been fed to this guy, which helped him get away with murder.

At seven, Laura went home and spent some time trying to decide what to wear. Should she dress to impress Dan, or just do her regular thing? After about twenty minutes, she picked her favorite pair of jeans and a nice blouse that wasn’t too sexy. Then she showered, put on a touch more makeup than normal and gave her hair a bit of extra fluff. When she stepped in front of her mirror, she was more critical of herself than usual. “God, I don’t know why you bother. You just look like you’re trying too hard. He might be ten years younger than you! What are you trying to prove? Are you nuts?” She caught herself talking out loud again, shook her head and walked out the door.