Afterburn: A Kenzie Gilmore Thriller

by BIBA PEARCE

  “I’m not freakin’ sleeping with her,” he stormed.

  Pérez gave him an arched look. “It’s not like you to forgive and forget so quickly. Last year, you hated all journalists. You quit your job over this. It effectively put a halt to your career. Now you’re happy to work with the same woman?”

  It did sound ridiculous when he put it like that.

  “She helped out on the Natalia Cruz case,” he lowered his voice. The adrenaline was wearing off now. “I told you that. She introduced me to DJ Snake, Natalia’s husband, and his whole crew. They’re valuable witnesses.”

  “And suspects,” Pérez pointed out.

  “Yeah, that too.”

  “This woman gave you access to them?”

  “Exactly. She helped me gain their trust.”

  “And you’re not sleeping with her.”

  “Jesus.” Reid swiped a hand through his hair. “How many times do I have to say it?”

  Pérez held up his hands. “Okay. Okay. Calm down. I’m just trying to get the facts straight. I don’t want to put IA onto you as well.”

  “I think they’ll have something to say about Ortega’s nose, anyway.”

  Pérez grimaced. “Let’s try to limit the damage. I don’t want to have to suspend two of my top detectives. Ortega’s in the middle of a complex op. Now the DEA are going to have to do without him.”

  “Sorry about that.” It was unfortunate. The last thing he wanted to do was disrupt an op.

  “You should be.” Pérez wouldn’t forgive him in a hurry. “Now, where are we with the Cruz case? I’ve had her father on the line asking for updates. He’s not going to rest until we have a suspect behind bars.”

  Reid sighed. “Ms. Montague’s car was clean. We can’t get a warrant to search her house, so we’re nowhere.”

  “Maybe it wasn’t her?” the Lieutenant suggested. “I believe we got a complaint about a fraudulent wire scam this morning. Sounded like your guy.”

  “Antonio Fernández?” His pulse ticked up a notch.

  “I don’t know. Ryan took the call. She’s looking into it.”

  Reid got up.

  “You’re on thin ice, Garrett. Watch your step from now on.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He left the office and headed straight to Ryan’s desk. She glanced up in surprise. He saw a flash of uncertainty in her gaze. He’d scared her by his outburst. Maybe now she realized he was only human.

  “Sorry about earlier,” he said. “Temper got the better of me.”

  “It’s understandable.”

  Was it? For someone on the outside looking in, he wasn’t sure. She hadn’t been there a year and a half ago. She hadn’t lost her friend and colleague.

  “Did you take a call earlier about a wire scam?”

  “I did. I left a note on your desk.”

  “Oh, I haven’t been back there yet.”

  “A woman called in and said she’d invested 10 thousand dollars in a trading account in the name of AF Investments. She was checking her balance using an app, and now it’s suddenly gone offline. She called the company but got no answer.”

  That was Fernández alright. “You might get a few more complaints,” he said. “They’ve obviously made off with everyone’s money.”

  Ryan shook her head. “That’s so mean. Those poor people. This woman said she’d invested her pension. It was all she had.”

  “Well, let’s try to find this guy.” He perched on the end of her desk. “Maybe we can even get some of her money back.”

  “Okay.”

  “There’s a gym near South Beach called Progressive Overload. Fernández’s henchman, Ivan Petrovitch, works out there. They might have an address for him.”

  “You want me to head over there?” she asked.

  “Yeah. You’re a detective, aren’t you?” Now that he had eyes on Torres, he could afford to bring Fernández in.

  “Of course, sir.” Her eyes lit up.

  “Go on then. Get his details, round up some uniform officers and go pay him a visit. If he’s home, bring him in for questioning. Think you can handle that?”

  “Yes, sir.” She sprung out of her seat. “Thank you, sir.”

  “You don't have to call me sir,” he told her. “Reid is fine, or Garrett, if you prefer.” After all, everyone called her Ryan.

  She grinned, and grabbing her badge and gun, headed for the elevator.

  41

  “Garrett, you’ve got to hear this.”

  Reid joined Pérez at the screen outside the interrogation room. “What’s up?”

  Jonny was interviewing Halston again. Armed with evidence, he was going in strong, pushing the serial killer for a confession.

  “We have enough to charge you,” Jonny was saying. “So if you want to give your side of the story, now’s your chance.”

  There was a pause. Reid saw the gleam in Halston’s eye. “He’s going to confess,” he muttered.

  “How do you know?” Pérez asked.

  “Look at him. He’s preening. He wants people to know what he did.”

  “Evil son of a bitch,” murmured the lieutenant.

  He wasn’t wrong there.

  “She wasn’t the first.” Halston pointed to the picture of Sarah Randall.

  “Fuck me,” hissed Pérez. Even Jonny looked shocked. The attorney sat as if turned to stone.

  “She wasn’t?” Jonny stammered.

  “The first was a girl from Jacksonville.” He glanced up. “You always remember your first.”

  A chill went down Reid’s spine.

  “Do you remember her name?” Jonny asked.

  “Felicity Reiner. Sweet Felicity.” His eyes hardened. “That’s what she wanted people to believe. But she was a slut, prancing around in her little skirt, tempting all the boys. She came into the store once with her dad. Bent down right in front of me. Taunting me.” he laughed. “I showed her.”

  Jonny swallowed. “Where did you hide her body?”

  “The Glades, of course. It’s the perfect burial ground. If the gators don’t eat ‘em, the elements get ‘em. Those ones you found, those were unfortunate. If you hadn’t found them, you’d never have known.”

  “He’s crazy,” said Pérez.

  They watched with growing horror as the killer listed the other girls and what he’d done to them. Then he paused, looked up at the camera and said, “And then there was Natalia.”

  Reid blinked. “What did he say?”

  “He said Natalia.” Pérez looked as shocked as he felt.

  “No way. He can’t have.”

  Jonny leaned forward in his chair. “Are you talking about Natalia Cruz?”

  “Yeah, who else?”

  Jonny studied him. “Tell us about Natalia, then. How did you do her?”

  It was a test.

  “I found her walking along the beach, all made-up. She wanted men to notice her.”

  Reid went very still.

  “She looked drunk, so I approached her and asked if she needed help. She said she was fine, but I could see she wasn’t. She’d been crying.”

  “Did she have anything with her?” asked Jonny.

  “A suitcase. It wasn’t very heavy. I don’t think there was much in it.”

  “What did you do with the case?”

  “I dumped it. Can’t remember where.”

  Jonny wrote this down, then he glanced up at Halston. “Then what?”

  “I offered to give her a ride. She was so grateful, stupid bitch. We were almost back to my place when she suddenly panicked. She wanted to get out of the car.”

  Reid listened hard.

  “We struggled. I tried to stop her, but she opened the car door. I pulled over and she jumped out. I chased her down the road and pulled her into the bushes. She began to scream, so I put my hands around her neck and squeezed.”

  “Holy crap,” muttered Pérez.

  Reid didn’t know what to think.

  “I didn’t mean to kill her so soon
. It just happened.”

  Shit.

  “I pulled her back into the car and took her to the swamp. I dumped her body.” He shook his head. “Such a waste.”

  Reid gulped. A waste because he hadn’t had time to torture her first. To tie her up on that filthy mattress and sexually assault her. What a pig.

  “You didn’t rape her?” Jonny asked, just for the record.

  “No. Not Natalia.”

  He genuinely looked upset.

  “That’s it then.” Pérez turned to Reid. His eyes were haunted. Reid was sure he looked the same. “He did all four girls.”

  “Looks that way.” Reid frowned. “Although, they didn’t find traces of Natalia in his car, did they?”

  “Not that I know of,” said Pérez. “But what does it matter? We’ve got a confession.”

  “It doesn’t feel right.”

  Pérez sighed. “Why would he admit to killing Natalia if he didn’t?”

  “I don’t know.” Reid stared at the man in the interrogation room. Halston had a gleam in his eye.

  Look what I’ve done. I’m going to be famous.

  “Maybe he wants the attention?” Reid suggested. “Natalia’s a celebrity. He gets bonus points for killing her.”

  “That’s demented,” said Pérez.

  “But what if it’s true? What if he’s lying?”

  “Jesus, Garrett. The guy confessed. Let’s close this case and move on. We’ve got him. Leave it be.”

  Pérez walked back to his office, shaking his head, but Reid didn’t move. He stood staring at the screen. Something about that confession didn’t add up.

  “I want a shot at him,” he told Pérez.

  “Why? He’s confessed.”

  “I don’t think he did it,” Reid said. “He’s claiming it, but I don’t know why.”

  “Let it go, Reid, for God’s sake. The man’s going to prison, regardless.”

  “Five minutes, Lieutenant. That’s all I ask.”

  Pérez rubbed his forehead. “Okay, fine. But I really don’t see the point.”

  Reid went into the interrogation room where Halston was still sitting. His lawyer was talking to him in a low voice, no doubt going over what would happen next.

  “I just have a few questions for the suspect.” Reid took a seat.

  “You again?” sneered Halston.

  “Yeah, me again. I want to talk about Natalia Cruz.”

  Dark eyes glared back at him. “Sure, why not?”

  “Why her? Surely you were taking a risk by targeting someone so famous?”

  “I didn’t know she was famous at the time,” he said. “I saw her walking across the beach and saw an opportunity. So I took it.”

  “You mentioned she was upset. Did she say why?”

  He frowned. “She might have mentioned something about her husband, I can’t remember.”

  “You knew she was married?”

  “Yeah, she wore a wedding ring.”

  “I didn’t think you liked married women, judging by all the others. Young, single, sexy. Flaunting their bodies.”

  His mouth hardened into a thin line. “Whores, all of them. They deserved what they got.”

  “But Natalia wasn’t a whore. She was married.”

  “She looked like a whore.”

  “I can see why you might say that. That tight, black dress she was wearing, that would make any man think of sex.”

  “Exactly. I couldn’t help myself.”

  “Thank you.” Reid walked out of the room.

  “He didn’t do it,” Reid told Pérez who was standing by the screen.

  “What do you mean? He literally admitted it. Again.”

  “Natalia was wearing a yellow dress when I found her. It was long, down to her ankles.”

  Pérez stared at him.

  “You said she had on a tight black number.”

  Reid shot him a pointed look. “Exactly.”

  42

  Kenzie met Xavier in a quiet bar near her apartment. They sat outside, enjoying the breeze that had sprung up during the afternoon. The sun hung like an orange globe over the horizon.

  “I’m glad you called.” He touched his nose. It was swollen and bruised, and he wasn’t wearing cover up on it.

  “What happened to you?” she asked.

  “Your boyfriend punched me because I told you about Bianca.”

  “Reid did that?” She didn’t know whether to be shocked or amused.

  “It’s not funny,” he retorted, seeing the glimmer in her eye. “The guy’s a loose cannon. They should never have brought him back. I don’t know what the lieutenant was thinking.”

  “He’s a good cop,” Kenzie said quietly.

  “He’s got anger issues.”

  That was why she’d called him. She needed to know if he’d done it on purpose or not. If he had, he wasn’t the man she thought he was. If he hadn’t known, perhaps he deserved a second chance. Either way, she wanted to know.

  “Why did you tell me the undercover agent was extracted when she hadn’t been?”

  “I thought she had.” His dark eyes met hers. “Honestly, Kenz. I didn't know.”

  “Reid said he told you.” She watched for signs he was lying. She was good at reading people. A hesitation here, a glance there.

  There was the slightest flicker in his gaze, so minute, she nearly missed it. But it was there. He was lying.

  “He’s imagining things,” Xavier insisted. “Maybe he thought he told me, or he told someone else. I swear, I didn’t know. Why would I put Bianca’s life at risk?”

  “To get back at him,” she whispered. “I know you had a thing for her.”

  “It’s true. We went out a couple times, but that was all. Bianca was like that. She didn’t want a committed relationship. She loved her job too much. She always said if she ever settled down it wouldn't be with a cop.”

  “What about Reid?” Kenzie asked.

  “They didn’t even go out,” he scoffed “They just slept together a couple of times. It was nothing.”

  “Not to him,” she said.

  “Well, if he fell for her, that’s his problem. She had feelings for her target.”

  Kenzie gasped. “You mean the man she’d seduced to get in with the cartel?”

  “Yeah, Alberto Torres. She told me once.”

  “But he killed her.”

  “She always had a thing for bad boys.”

  Kenzie didn't know what to think. Was any of this true?

  “If you knew she was in love with Torres, why tell me she was out when she was still undercover?”

  The flicker again. That's when she knew he was full of crap.

  “She wasn’t in love with Torres, was she? You’re making that up. She was in love with Reid, that’s what you couldn’t stand. That’s why you gave her up.”

  “That’s bullshit, Kenz.”

  But she knew she was right. Now that she’d confronted him, it was written all over his face. “How could you do it, Xav? How could you put her life on the line like that? And make me an accomplice? Do you know how I beat myself up about that?” Not to mention what she’d gotten into at work.

  His shoulders stooped. “I didn’t know she was going to get killed, did I?”

  Kenzie stared at him.

  “If I’d known, I would never have told you. I thought the op would go south and Garrett would take the blame. He was gunning for a promotion.”

  “And you didn’t want him to get it.”

  He shook his head.

  Kenzie stood up. That’s it. She was done with him.

  “What happened to you, Xavier? The guy I knew at the academy would never put a fellow officer’s life in danger.”

  “I didn’t know,” he whispered.

  He was pathetic. She could barely look at him.

  “Goodbye, Xavier,” she said. “Don’t ever call me again.”

  And she left the bar.

  Kenzie got home but couldn’t relax. What a mess. Xa
vier had lied to her. She’d considered him a friend and he’d handed her false information. He’d caused Torres to shoot an innocent woman, all because he was jealous of Reid.

  Un-freaking-believable.

  He deserved that punch in the nose.

  She smirked as she thought about it. Good for Reid. She hoped he wouldn’t get into too much trouble because of it.

  It was still relatively early. Feeling antsy, she poured herself a glass of wine and took down some old photo albums. Looking at the past always calmed her. Until it didn’t.

  She paged through her memories, smiling at the old sepia shots of her parents. Her mother, so young and beautiful with her pale blond hair and wispy figure. There was one of her in a long white dress, dancing on the beach. Her eyes glittered with undisclosed joy. She looked happy.

  There was another of her mother holding her. They were both laughing. She had a smudge of something on her cheek.

  “What happened to you, mom,” she whispered into the fading light.

  There was a picture of her father with Vic Reynolds. Both looking smart in their Miami PD uniforms. Vic used to call regularly after her father passed away. Now he rarely did.

  On a whim, she picked up her phone and scrolled through her contacts until she found his number. His wife had died about 10 years ago. Breast cancer. As far as she knew, he was still by himself.

  “Uncle Vic, it’s Kenzie. I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

  “Kenzie, this is a surprise. No, of course not. How are you?”

  “I’m good, thanks. I was just looking at some old photographs and I thought I’d give you a call. It’s been a while.”

  “I know, I’m sorry. I’ve been so busy at the precinct.”

  “Everything okay?” she asked.

  “Better than okay,” he said. “We’ve nabbed the Swamp Strangler. He’s confessed to all the murders.”

  “All the murders?” They must have discovered who the other girls were. That was good news.

  “Yeah, even that missing celeb, Natalia Cruz.”

  Her heart almost stopped.

  “He confessed to Natalia’s murder?”

  “Yeah, isn’t that great? That’ll make her father happy. He’s a friend, you know.”

  “Did they find Natalia’s DNA at his house?” she inquired.