Urban Renewal (Urban Elite Book 1) (26 page)

Jack

The thing about reviewing security tape footage is that, until something exciting happens, nothing happens. Motion sensitive cameras would make the job faster, of course, so we’d only have to review footage where something moved to trigger the camera to record. But I prefer to decide for myself if something’s happening onscreen. So that’s why Spider and I are holed up in the main office, staring at the unchanging view of the security gate from last night. Yeah, a whole lot of nothing going on so far. Considering the shit storm this morning turned out to be, it’s surreal to watch the nighttime security footage of the parking lot looking so peaceful in the hours before all hell broke loose.

In reality, the parking lot looks like business as usual once again. The crime scene tape has been removed and the female’s head is on its way across town to the M.E.’s office. In fact, if I hadn’t seen that severed head for myself, I wouldn’t have believed it ever happened.

It was quite a grandiose gesture from our killer and, as far as I’m concerned, it changes everything. My interest in the case was already personal because I take my work and the pursuit of justice seriously. But this? This is no longer a civilized, methodical crime investigation; now it’s more like a bare-knuckles street brawl –
that
kind of personal.

We’re dealing with a narcissist, after all. Of course he’s going to make everything personal. In all my years of being a cop, I’ve never had a criminal confront me so directly. But, hey, if this guy wants a fight, so be it.

Spider’s sullen voice interrupts my thoughts. “She drives me crazy, Jack.”

I bite back a grin and put on my professional mask, asking benignly, “Who? Max?”

“Yeah, fuckin’ Max. Doesn’t listen, meets up with a potential suspect and holds his fucking hand during dinner, takes off outta here like a bat out of hell this morning without telling me where she’s going…”

“Yeah, you’ve got all the symptoms, alright.”

“Symptoms of what?”

“Symptoms of being smitten with the woman you’ve been hired to guard.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t know if I’d call it smitten as much as a bad case of ‘she’s a pain in my ass’.”

“Same thing, my man, same thing. Any time a woman affects you like that, there’s gotta be more to it. She’s on her way back now with--- hey! Go back, right there, and zoom in to the left of the gate,” I say urgently, pointing to the screen.

“Sure thing, boss. Give me a few seconds to adjust the resolution and we’ll see what we’re dealing with. I love this shit, you know? I spent way too many years being the computer geek behind the glasses.”

“That’s why I hired you – that, and to keep my people safe. So what ever happened to the glasses?”

“Laser surgery.”

“So how is it that you went from one extreme to the other -- from geek chic to tattooed biker?”

“Got tired of catching a ration of shit from people I otherwise wouldn’t bother with,” he mutters, his fingers a blur as he types and rearranges the screen for a clearer image. “All that changed when I started working out and doing martial arts so I could defend myself. That, and I just grew up.”

“I bet a lot of those high school girls wish they had given you more attention.”

“Yeah, well, Mean Girls wasn’t just a movie. That shit is real, man. Chicks can be brutal, especially to each other. Now all of a sudden they’ll do anything to get my attention. I think that’s one reason why I like Max so much—“

He freezes in place and glances at me as he clears his throat. “Yeah, so anyway…She stands up to me. Doesn’t kiss my ass. She’s…fierce. But she’s not a bitch about it, you know? I mean, there’s a difference.”

“You like her, don’t you?” I chuckle as a flush of color hits his cheeks.

“I didn’t say that—” he sputters.

“You kinda did.”

“Like hell—hey, look. Shit! Fuckin’ A, is that who I think it is?” he blurts out excitedly as he leans toward the screen, gripping the mouse with white knuckles as he zooms in.

I lean forward for a better look and come to the same conclusion.
Sonofabitch. Well, what’s up, Doc?...

“Damn sure is. The hood makes it difficult to get a clear shot, but from what I can see, the likeness is uncanny.”

“Aw, man, this is not good.” Spider grabs his phone and I know he’s calling Max. “Where are you? Yeah? Good, you’re back. We’ll be discussing your disappearing act later, I’m so fucking pissed at you. Now, get your ass in here. We need to show you something.”

He ends the call and looks over at me sheepishly. “Um…”

“Jesus, Spider. You okay, cupcake?” I ask sardonically.

“Not you, too, Jack, give me a goddamn break already—”

We’re interrupted when the door bursts open. Max saunters in, followed closely by Lady Luck. I don’t think either of them realizes that, with their hands on their hips and fury in their eyes, they’re striking a pose that would do any Charlie’s Angels movie poster proud. Clearly, Lady overheard the phone conversation and she’s not happy with our boy, Spider. I decide to help him out.

“I take it you’ve decided to take me up on my job offer?” I ask Lady, as I do just about every time I see her. She looks in my eyes and sees the concern that I’m not giving voice to. She had to call for help this morning -- she had to be fucking
rescued
. I’m asking about a lot more than my ongoing quest to hire her, and she knows it. I’m not expecting the answer she gives me, but I couldn’t be more fucking pleased.

“Actually, yeah, Detective Jack, I have. Max here thinks I could be your staff photographer. I’m tired, just so tired. I can’t walk these streets no more.”

The expression on her face is telling me more than her words ever could. I see a young woman weighed down with the sadness of someone far beyond her years. Her gaze drifts over my shoulder to the computer screen. She freezes in place as her face pales. In all the years I’ve known her, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Lady look truly frightened. Before I can respond, the fear in her eyes fades. In its place? Pure, unadulterated rage.

“Hey…that’s him! Max, that’s the crazy white man that tried to kill me last night!”

“What?!” Max sputters as she steps closer to look over Spider’s shoulder. “Oh, my God. But it can’t—Oh, God, Jack, that’s…that’s Liam.” Her eyes widen and she covers her trembling lips with shaking fingertips. “I can’t believe Liam was here last night, that he’s the one who left that poor woman’s head there like that. Fucking hell. I’ve been dating a killer.”

Spider’s voice is ominously quiet when he says, “Guess I wasn’t so paranoid after all. You said you weren’t dating him.”

“Spider, seriously?! He invited me out for coffee, for God’s sake and we’ve only had dinner…meetings since then” Max hisses, her eyes narrowing as she glares at him.

“You never did say how this all started with you in the first place. So, he asked you out. Nice,” Spider grumbles as he stares at the screen as the hooded figure climbs the fence with the head.

“He passed me a note, actually, it was swee--” Max freezes in place and pales before abruptly running from the room. I look at Lady Luck for clarification but she just throws up her hands as if to say, “Hey, don’t look at
me
…”

These too obviously have unfinished business to settle between the two of them, but it’ll have to wait. I ask Lady if she’s sure it’s the same guy. We don’t want to fuck up this late in the game, so she’s got to be certain.

“Yeah, it’s him, alright, because he’s got a big fuckin’ black eye from when I punched his sorry ass,” Lady gloats as she raises her fist and shakes it at the image on the screen. Suddenly she’s frowning as she holds her hand in front of her face and inspects her flexed fingers. “Now I really am gonna kill that motherfucker. I broke a nail. Look at that,” she says, holding the offending hand out for Max to see as she races through the door, waving a slip of paper in her hand.

“Jack,” she gasps. “We’ve got him, we’ve seriously got him. Look at this.” She hands me the slip of paper and I see that it’s a handwritten note signed by Liam, asking Max out for a cup of coffee.
Fuckin’ A…

“Spider, pull up photos of the leg and arm. I want to do a handwriting comparison.”

“Here you go,” he says and rolls his chair away from the desk so I can get a better look. But I don’t have to look closer. It’s all right there, so simple.

“Jack, I’m so sorry I didn’t think of the note sooner. I almost threw it away…”

“We’ve got it now, Max, no worries. Looks like the good doctor is officially a ‘person of interest’,” I say as I scroll through the contacts on my cell. “Time for Agent Turner and Rene to pick him up for questioning.”

Max

“You okay, girl?” Lady asks, looking at me with sympathetic eyes. In her line of work she knows what betrayal looks like. Even though I didn’t even come close to making a love connection with Liam, it still stings to feel so betrayed.

Why did he seek me out in the first place? Maybe I was too hard on Spider, as much as it pains me to admit it. Looks like he was on to Liam all along. Honestly, I felt like something wasn’t quite right about him, but I didn’t want it to be true. I put myself and my team at risk because of it. If I’m going to be researching and writing about criminal cases, I need to remain objective. I need to listen to my instincts -- and not my heart.

I take the key from my pocket and open the door to Lady’s new room, then set the key on the dresser next to the door. Jack put her in the room next to mine. He told her it was the only other room ready for an occupant, but I know better. She’s been through a lot in the last 24 hours. She could use a friend and, frankly, so could I.

She tosses her overnight bag onto the bed -- and a camera bag, which I hadn’t noticed until now. If she brought her professional gear with her, she must have been thinking about staying when she packed her bag. She hesitantly explores the room, touching the bedspread, opening the closet door, running her fingertips along the dresser’s edge. She turns to face me with a toothy grin.

“Girl, this is nice, it’s like an efficiency apartment. Everything I need is right here. I can’t even tell you how glad I am to be off the streets. I couldn’t take it anymore. Touching men -- and sometimes women -- that I didn’t want to touch and I sure as fuck didn’t want them touching me. Even when I was in my nasty excuse for an apartment, the constant sirens and gunshots outside my window made it hard to ever really relax. You know how long it’s been since I’ve actually felt safe? Felt clean? Years, baby. Years and years...”

“This is a new beginning for you.” I touch her arm gently and smile as I speak. “You won’t be lonely here, I can promise you that. You’ve got a friend in me, Lady. We’re going to have a blast working together. And it’ll me keep my mind off Spider, too.”

“Girl, that is one hot ass man. Why in the world would you ever want to get rid of
that
?”

“Because he’s driving me crazy, watching my every move. I’m an independent woman. I don’t need anyone breathing down my neck.”

I sit down on the bed and pat the space beside me. She perches on the edge of the mattress like she’s still trying to convince herself that she can make herself at home. In time, I hope she’ll allow herself to trust her new circumstances.

“You’ve been through a lot, Lady. There isn’t much you’ve haven’t seen. But that’s what worries me – you’re still going to be dealing with the ugliness of street life, just in a different way. You’re going to be in the thick of things now. You’ll be photographing crime scenes, so Jack won’t be able to shield you from much. You’ll be taking pictures of the crowds that gather, too. Usually it’s just people rubbernecking, wanting to see what all the excitement’s about. But serial killers love to witness the aftermath of their crime. They love to gloat. Can you handle being that close to the street life after all you’ve been through?”

Lady was quiet for a long time, just staring down at her hands folded in her lap, occasionally rubbing the edge of that broken nail. When she raised her head, she looked around the room with hard eyes before settling her gaze on her reflection in the dresser mirror. “Being on the streets, Max? It’s not just ‘difficult’ or ‘unfortunate’. It’s disgusting. It’s filthy – the kind of filthy that doesn’t wash off. I’m talkin’ about suckin’ off some asshole and having to listen to him telling me what a dirty whore I am – while his wife watches. And then finding out that I ain’t gonna get paid unless I let his skanky wife go down on me too.”

She laughs callously at my shocked expression, then continues. “Yeah, that’s pretty much how I felt about it myself. But I agreed to that shit – not because I wanted to, because, baby girl, it’s been years since I’ve done a goddamn thing with this body that I’ve actually wanted to do. No, I went along with it because my rent was due that day. Oh, and he told I had to be convincing, had to make sure his woman knew how much I liked it. So I played along, even though I just wanted to cut that bitch’s tongue out.

“Know why I let the bitch do that to me? Because my landlord was an asshole and if I didn’t have the money when I walked through the door that night, I’d have to suck him off, too. Just to have a goddamn place to live. So, yeah, I did it. Then I scrubbed my skin raw in the shower and went to bed. Next day, I got up and did it all over again.”

Lady’s stony expression softens when she sees the tears on my cheeks. She hands me the box of tissues from the dresser, then pats my hand – comforting
me
.

“So you see, Max, nothing you or Jack or anybody else can throw at me could ever be harder than that. I may never get a happily ever after, but I’ve got my fresh start. If it means facing the ugliness of street life -- this time, praise God, from the outside looking in -- then that’s what I’ll do. At least I’ll know I’m safe while I’m doing it.”

She stands abruptly and starts unpacking. “Now, baby girl, if you don’t mind, I want to take a hot shower. It’s been years since I’ve felt clean.”

I walk to the door and pause with my hand on the doorknob. I swallow hard and I’m sure she can hear it. “Okay, then, Lady—“

“Lady doesn’t live here no more. I’d be pleased if you’d call me by my real name. It’s Evelyn.”

“Nice to meet you, Evelyn.”