The Lady Killer (21 page)

When she got to the bar, Dan and Roy were already there. They were joined shortly by the Captain and Ralph. Everyone ordered something to drink and made light conversation about their lives. Stacey and her friends arrived a little early, and Roy called her over to the table. “Hey, fancy running into you here!”

She looked very uncomfortable. “Hi, Roy, I’ve never seen any of you guys in here before.”

“Well, Dan here is the new kid on our block, and he wanted to show us this place. Want to join us? We don’t bite.”

Almost as if on cue, a very large man came up behind Dan and hugged him around the neck with one arm. “Dan Murphy, you old dog! I haven’t seen you in forever! We thought you dropped off the face of the earth!”

“Hey, Pete! No, I just switched departments, and I’ve been pretty busy.”

“Really, what are you doing now?”

“I transferred to Homicide a few months ago. Do you believe they were dumb enough to make me a detective?”

“Wow, congratulations! I know that’s what you’ve wanted for some time now. You aren’t working that ugly serial case, are you?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so.”

Pete smiled at the rest of them and then focused on Laura. “Hey, Dan, is this beautiful lady your girlfriend?”

“Actually, she’s my boss!”

“No wonder you transferred! I might be tempted to put in for that myself. Hey, good to see you, man. Stop by more often. I have to get back over to my group. Your number’s still the same?”

“Yeah, same number. See you around, Pete.”

Stacey had a disapproving look on her face, as she watched Pete leave. “Boy, he sure is a womanizing loud mouth! Thanks for the invite, Roy, but I think I’m just going to hang out with my friends from SVU. All of you guys have a great evening.”

They watched her walk over to her friends and then casually kept an eye on them. It seemed like they all knew each other very well, and they were having a good time. Soon, it became obvious that this wasn’t just a coincidence that they all met at this bar, it was planned. After about a half hour, the Captain suggested that they leave and meet first thing in the morning to check surveillance and talk. Dan walked Laura to her car and insisted on following her home.

When they reached her building, he escorted her to the door and stood there for a minute. “You looked exceptionally beautiful tonight. In fact, my friend Pete called me on my way here.”

She looked perplexed. “Really, for what?”

“He wanted to know if you were available, and if he could get your number.”

“You’re kidding. What did you tell him?”

Dan looked at her and stroked her cheek gently with the back of his hand. “I told him that I didn’t think you were looking to get into a new relationship. Is that alright?”

She blushed and looked him in the eyes. “Yes, that was the perfect thing to tell him. I think I have all I can handle right here.”

He smiled and kissed her lightly on the lips, just once. “I was hoping you would say that. Go get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

When she got inside, she locked her door. Then she leaned back against it and smiled to herself. Her inner voice was telling her to stay away from that man, but she didn’t care. “Why do I get so brave when I have a glass of wine in me? I can’t believe what I just said to him, and he liked it! Wow, I really need to cool it with him, at least until this case is over. I also need to stop talking to myself like a lunatic, and go to bed! After that kiss, I should have good dreams.”

The next morning, everyone met in the Homicide break room. The video revealed that Stacey had a repeat performance with their desks. When she couldn’t find anything, she started on the file cabinets and even went through their trash. Roy was amazed at her actions. “Man, that’s pretty brazen! She must not care if she gets caught.”

Captain Rutledge just shook his head. “I don’t think she’s aware of the camera, Burns. We don’t have them in any of the other departments. Up until this point, we haven’t needed them. If she has been doing this for awhile and hasn’t been caught, she might have a false sense of security. By the way, Detective Murphy, did you pay that guy to come up to us last night when Stacey was standing there?”

Dan laughed. “No, Sir, I didn’t even know he would be there.”

“Well, it couldn’t have gone better if you planned it. Who was that guy?”

“That’s my old friend Pete. We used to work together in Burglary. He’s just a big goofball.”

Laura smiled quietly to herself, as she remembered that kiss. “Stacey didn’t like Pete at all, and she certainly looked uncomfortable having us there. It was great that you knew someone at the bar. That made it look like it really was a coincidence that we were there.”

Dan winked at Laura. “Yeah, she really did squirm! What do you think that was all about, Sir?”

“I would be willing to bet that it was a guilty conscience, from the looks of that video. Have you had any more problems in the lab, Ralph?”

“No, we put a camera in down there also. It has been quiet every night.”

Captain Rutledge looked at the group. “Guys, I’m sorry that we’re having these problems. I’ve always prided myself on running a tight ship and having a safe environment for my officers to work in. I have no control over what happens when you’re out there on the streets, but in here you should be safe. This invasion has been inexcusable.”

Laura was very fond of Paul Rutledge. He had given her a break by making her a detective when she was very young. “Sir, no one is blaming you. I can’t imagine what’s going on in Stacey’s head. But she’s the one who has to be responsible for her own actions, not you.”

“Thank you, Detective. What makes a cop go bad? I’m not sure, but I’ve seen it happen before. Not to the extent of this psychopath, of course. But no matter how it manifests itself, it tarnishes the very badge we all work so hard to protect.”

“Do you see any point in continuing the tail on Vitale, Sir?”

“Yes. Stacey obviously works closely with him, and she hangs out with both of our suspects together. I think our leak is definitely coming from SVU, regardless of which one is our killer, but my money is still on Vitale. I’ll ask my pal to keep things going for a couple more nights. Let me get back to my office and call him.”

“Thank you for all the help, Sir.” Laura turned and looked at her team. “Anything we need to go over guys?”

Roy looked like he had an idea. “What do you think about me taking the composite photos, which you had made up of Nancy, over to Alice at Searchlight?”

Laura looked interested. “What are you thinking?”

“If you suspect this guy of being all of the women friends, maybe he went to Searchlight dressed as Nancy for some reason. You never know what could be in this psycho’s mind! Also, I want Liz to come in and see a sketch artist for the crazy shopper. It might be a waste of time, but I think we need to cover all of our bases. Maybe it will come in handy sometime.”

“Hey go for it. We don’t have anything to lose. It might be some kind of weird connection.”

After Roy left, Laura asked Dan if he wanted more coffee. They were sitting at the break table together, and she was trying to bring up the subject of Pete. “Stacey’s reaction to us last night was very interesting.”

“Yeah, I think the Captain is right about the guilty conscience. She just finished pilfering through our desks and then boom, she is face to face with us. That had to rattle her a bit.”

“She really didn’t like your friend Pete.”

“No, that was obvious. He tends to rub certain women the wrong way. I think he’s what’s referred to as a man’s man. You know the type. All sports, beer and womanizing.”

“How well do you know him? Were you two roommates, or something?”

Dan looked at her, trying to decide where she was headed with that line of questioning. “Why, did you change your mind about being interested in him?”

Laura was surprised at his reaction. “God, no, I definitely don’t need a womanizing, sports nut in my life! I was just wondering how close you guys were. That was a pretty big hug he gave you, and he seemed really happy to see you.”

Dan frowned, and then he realized the problem. “Laura, I am not now, nor have I ever been interested in guys. After knowing what has happened in your past, I would never put you through that again, if I was bi-sexual. Not without telling you first, promising to be monogamous and giving you the choice of continuing our relationship.”

She blushed and looked down at her coffee. “Was I being that obvious?”

He laughed at her and shook his head. “Hey, we work together, but we haven’t really had the time to get to know each other, yet. Until we do, I’ll make a deal with you. You stop looking for my past boyfriends, and I won’t go through your closet looking for designer clothes. Is that a deal?”

She smiled at him warmly. “Deal! Sorry about the paranoia creeping in. I have a lot of trust issues from my past. Just give me time.”

“I will give you all the time you need. I’m not like the other guys you’ve known, and you sure aren’t like anyone else I’ve ever been with. After we get this case solved, I really would like to give us a try, if that’s alright with you.”

She closed her eyes for a moment and then looked directly at him. “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“How old are you?”

He laughed. “Thirty-five, does it make a difference?”

She sighed. “I’m forty-two years old!”

“So? I don’t care.”

“You should be with someone younger! A woman you can marry and have kids with. Not someone who’s over the hill and doesn’t want any.”

He shook his head. “What am I going to do with you? I’m going to let you in on a little secret, which I would like kept between you and me. I had a serious sports injury when I was a teenager. The doctor told me that I might never have children of my own. I always figured that if I wanted children, I could adopt. The first woman I fell in love with and asked to marry me, turned me down because of that. She was set on the idea of having children of her own. The fact that you don’t want to have children doesn’t bother me. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, it’s one less excuse for you to break my heart.”

She looked down and played with her mug. “I’m far more afraid of you breaking mine.”

“Hey, this sounds like another deal in the making. You don’t break mine, and I won’t break yours!”

She sighed deeply. “That sounds like a great deal. If only life were that simple.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, I know. But don’t give up just yet. Let’s get to work and solve this case first.”

CHAPTER 15

A
fter another four days of watching Detective Morgan raid the Homicide office, and the tail on Vitale linking her closely together with both suspects, Captain Rutledge thought it was time to have a talk with her. When Stacey walked into his office, she had the same sweet demeanor everyone was used to. “Miss Sunshine” had become her nickname around the precinct, and she usually lived up to it. “Hey, Captain Rutledge, how are you doing? You wanted to see me?”

He smiled at her warmly. She was his Lead Detective in SVU and did a great job. It pained him to feel that he couldn’t trust her any more. “Good morning, Detective, come on in and have a seat. How are things going down in SVU?”

“Great, Sir, it has been pretty quiet lately. I guess this serial killer has been making men think twice about raping, or roughing up the ladies.”

He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. “Really, do you think that is actually responsible for a drop in your case load?”

“Yes, I do. None of them want to throw suspicion on themselves. They already have enough problems of their own. A guy, who we were checking on the other day, was so paranoid that we were trying to pin this one on him. I almost laughed right in his face. He’s about five feet tall and beats his wife to make up for his short comings. No pun intended. The first few women this psycho got would have swatted him like a mosquito.”

Rutledge looked intrigued. “What do you mean?”

“Well, most of them have been taller and heavier than him. This guy’s wife is only about four feet tall. How macho do you have to be to smack around a midget, right? He’s a real prize, that one! One more violation, and I get to put him away for a long while.”