by Peyton Bogue
“Detective Kaelan," he says into the phone, turning sheepishly away from both Kai and Hazel. A moment later, he hangs up and turns to Kai. “Our vic's wife has surfaced.”
“It's always the wife,” Hazel says. “See, that's why I only stick to three months.”
“You are such a player, Hazel!” Kai says, laughing, before he gives her a small, decisive nod. “I respect that.”
Kai gives her another high five and she chuckles as Kai turns back to Sage. “Where's the wife at?”
“Upstairs,” Sage responds before pocketing his phone and motioning for Kai to lead the way.
“Catch you later, player!” Kai says to Hazel while Sage echoes a more reserved, “See you later, Hazel,” and flees a moment later, not allowing himself time to reject her invitation to the movies.
Kai gives him a look when they climb the stairs, and Sage just shakes his head, giving him a mock glare in warning. Kai mimes zipping his lips shut, but it doesn't stop him from looking seconds away from cackling.
Once they're back upstairs, Sage sees a tall, dark-skinned woman in Air Force blue being led to the spare seat at his desk, and he and Kai quicken their pace to meet the uniformed officer that's escorting her before she sits down.
“Hello, Mrs. Rollins,” Sage greets her sympathetically, keeping his voice steady. “Thank you for meeting us here. My name is Detective Sage Kaelan, and this is my partner, Detective Malakai Tate.”
Sage shakes her hand, noticing how she trembles, and sits down in his desk chair as Kai politely greets her and ushers her to sit down in the spare chair at the end of Sage's desk.
“We're very sorry for your loss, Mrs. Rollins,” Kai says, equally sympathetic, before he leans against Sage's desk.
“Thank you,” Lillian Rollins replies, sniffling. She's clutching a tissue in her hand, and Sage can tell from her body language that she's in shock and is going to be extremely closed off from the both of them in her stunned grief.
“Can I get you anything, ma'am? A coffee, maybe some water?” Kai asks.
Another sniffle. “Um. A coffee would be nice, thank you.”
Kai nods, pushing himself up and off of the desk and heads towards the elaborate display of coffee machines by the entrance to the precinct.
Sage turns back towards Lillian, thinking through his options and choosing his words carefully. “You work in the Air Force, ma'am?”
Lillian nods. “Yes, as a Captain and fighter pilot.”
“Well, thank you for serving, Captain,” Sage responds, nodding at her. That seems to get her to relax slightly, and she shifts in her chair.
“You say that with the air of someone who knows what it's like to serve,” she replies, smiling hesitantly if a little forced.
Sage nods, trying to fight the uncomfortable edge creeping into his voice. “Army. Two tours in Afghanistan.”
“And your rank?”
Sage is quiet for a moment, before he replies, “Captain.”
“Then thank you for serving as well, Detective Kaelan,” Lillian replies, and they lapse back into silence. Sage doesn't know what he should say as they glance at each other somewhat awkwardly. He doesn't want to keep talking about his past, and Lillian must sense that he's uncomfortable, so he smiles at her warmly as he shakes off his discomfort.
Kai returns with Lillian's cup of coffee only seconds later, and Sage feels himself release a tense breath when the Captain takes it gingerly and mutters a quiet, “Thank you.” Kai nods at her, also laying some creamer and sugar on the desk in front of her.
She takes a packet of creamer and dumps it into the cup, before saying, “Sorry, I was up late with our daughter, Maia.”
“No apologies, necessary, Captain,” Sage says, shaking himself out of his stupor before opening the Kell file and gazing at the notes he finds there. “I'm sorry that I have to ask you this, ma'am, but where were you last night between 8:00pm and 10:30pm?”
Lillian lifts the cup of coffee to her lips, her hand shaking slightly, before she answers, “At the base.”
“And how long were you there for?” Sage asks, writing the information in the file.
“I entered the base at 1200, and then worked my ten-hour shift on the landing strip, but my Commanding Officer asked me to stay so I could help with the training of a few recruits for a while. I didn't end up leaving the base until well after 0100,” the Captain replies, exhaling a shaky breath.
“Again, I'm sorry I have to ask you this, Captain, but is there anyone who can confirm that?” Sage asks, writing the times down in his notes.
He looks up when she doesn't answer and sees the Captain inhale deeply, trembling, and when she speaks again, her eyes are full of unshed tears. “Um,” she says, taking another deep breath and steadying herself. “My C.O., the security guard, and the three recruits I was training were all there with me on the landing strip. I also have my timecard, if you'd like to see it.”
She digs around in her purse for a few moments before grabbing a piece of paper and flicking her wrist, handing the timecard out to Sage, revealing a stamp mark in the shape of a star on her inner wrist. Kai spots it first.
“Were you at a club as well, Mrs. Rollins?”
The Captain looks down at her wrist questioningly, before replying, “Oh, no. No, I was at a fundraiser. I dropped in there on my way into the base.”
“Was your wife with you at that time?” Sage asks.
“No, she went straight to work after she had dropped our daughter off at school at around eight,” Lillian replies, sniffling. “She'd just landed a big promotion. She started out as an intern there.”
Kai looks at the timecard, sees the times matching up to the ones the Captain had given, and nods before showing it to Sage. He looks back to Lillian, asking politely, “Mrs. Rollins, that promotion, do you think it would have earned her any enemies?”
“You'd have to ask her assistant, Minerva Carlisle. I'm afraid I didn't know too much about Eliana's job,” the Captain responds, looking saddened at the admission.
“Thank you for your time, Mrs. Rollins. We'll make sure to keep you updated on the case. If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to call,” Sage says, reaching into his wallet and handing her his card. “We'll let you know if we have any more questions.”
The Captain nods, before picking up her coffee and nodding again to the both of them, disappearing out of the front door.
“Well, I don't think she murdered her wife,” Kai says, sighing.
“Yeah, I'd say so. She's heartbroken and in shock. She didn't do this,” Sage replies, leaning back into his chair. He brings his pen up near his mouth, clicking it as he thinks.
“Where does this leave us?” Kai asks, crossing his arms and looking at the manilla file on Sage's desk, flipping back through the evidence notes and the notes about Mrs. Rollins's interview.
Sage exhales a deep breath. “Well, the wife's alibi is airtight. We can rule her out. We still haven't gotten over to Hemera Magazine,” Sage points out, “and maybe interviewing the assistant will tell us about Mrs. Kell's potential enemies and whereabouts yesterday.”
“Sounds like a plan, partner,” Kai says, jumping up. “You drive.”
“Don't I always?” Sage mutters, before following Kai out the door.
◆◆◆
The headquarters of Hemera Magazine look like every other merchandising and retail building in New York. The building itself is a large skyscraper leased for its office spaces for many different corporations and industries, and Hemera Magazine is on the tenth floor.
When Sage steps off the elevator, the flurry of motion that greets he and Kai looks even more chaotic than it had been back at the precinct. He sees people carrying mounds of paperwork, fabric, and manilla files, and everyone is moving and talking over each other.
Kai gives him a look of distress before he reaches out and stops a male editor with an inquiring hand and asks, “Excuse me, where can we find a Minerva Carlisle?”
The
editor huffs but points back over his shoulder towards a slender and petite woman who is talking with another editor on the other side of the lobby.
The detectives make their way towards her, risking life and limb as someone nearly barrels right into Sage.
“Jeez,” Kai mutters, looking around with wide eyes, “it's like the apocalypse in here.”
Sage chuckles, turning towards where the woman is standing, and says, “Excuse me, ma'am, are you Minerva Carlisle?”
The woman turns around, and her cat-shaped eyes snap over to him in a quick once-over, before she says sweetly, “I am, and who's asking?”
She's got a European accent, and Sage can see Kai's eyes practically bug out of his head at the sound of her voice.
“Detectives Kaelan and Tate with the 88th Precinct,” Sage replies, and the woman snaps her mouth shut. “Is there somewhere we can speak privately, ma'am?” he asks, glancing around at the indistinct noise and motion.
“Yes. Follow me please, gentlemen.”
She turns on her heel, heading back away from the chaos and towards a glass conference room, before ushering them inside and shutting the door quietly. It's immediately silent, despite the glass allowing Sage to see the many employees still talking and moving rapidly around the small entryway of the office.
Soundproofed, then.
“May I ask what this is about, Detectives?” Minerva asks, gesturing for them to sit down.
The conference room is light and open. There are clothing racks hanging on the opposite wall in front of Sage, full of a vast array of different items of women's clothing. A purse is sitting on the edge of the conference table, and Minerva moves it and sits it into her lap when she sits down.
Sage and Kai both take a seat, and Kai says, “We're here investigating the murder of Eliana Kell.”
The woman immediately freezes. “Eliana's dead?”
Sage and Kai glance at each other, before Sage nods. “Yes. We're sorry to tell you this under these unfortunate circumstances.”
“Oh my, God,” Minerva says, her hand covering her mouth as she looks blearily at the conference table.
“Ma'am, from our understanding, Eliana worked here for a long time, correct?” Kai says, slipping his pocket notebook out his back pocket and opening it.
Minerva nods. “Yes. She's so loved here. She's always so nice to everyone.” A deep inhale and shaky exhale. “Was always so nice to everyone.”
She continues to look down at the conference table hypnotically. Sage can tell she's trying to process the new information she's been given, but she continues to look straight into the woodwork, her gaze spaced out and dazed. The glint her eyes in unnerving.
“Is there anyone you know who was jealous of Eliana's promotion, or who was up for that job, too?” Sage asks, and Minerva's cat-eyes snap up to meet his own suddenly startled gaze.
Minerva takes another deep breath before she leans her arms against the conference table. “Maybe the beauty editor, but. . .”
“The beauty editor?” Sage asks curiously, encouraging her to elaborate.
Minerva nods. “Caroline Sanders. She thought that she deserved the job but, I mean—I'm sorry—but Eliana was the fashion editor. She deserved it.”
Sage's phone begins to ring loudly and abruptly in the conference room, and he excuses himself sheepishly before stepping out and closing the door behind himself softly, answering curtly, “Kaelan.”
“Hey, Sage,” Hazel's voice says in that usual chipper tone down the line. “DNA results just came in. Got time to talk?"
“Hey,” Sage replies, rubbing the bridge of his nose and feeling the sudden urge to hold back a sigh, “go ahead, I'm listening.”
“So, the sample's corrupted.”
“You've got to be kidding me,” Sage huffs, suddenly overcome with annoyance.
“Yeah, I know. Kept coming back contaminated no matter how many times I ran it. The weird thing, though, is I did get a hit on one of the antibodies. I think you're looking for someone with heart disease.”
“Heart disease?”
“Yes,” Hazel responds. “I found chlorthalidone and metolazone in the hair sample, which are both diuretics used to help rid the body of excess sodium and water to help control blood pressure. From my guess, it looks like years' worth of use. I checked Eliana's medical records, and she's not on any heart disease medication. I just got off the phone with the wife, too, and she said no one in their household is on that kind of medication.”
“So, we're looking for someone with prolonged blood pressure issues?” Sage clarifies.
“I'd say so, but like I said, the DNA sample was corrupted, so I can't tell you who that person is, but they're definitely a female.”
“Thanks, Hazel, that really helps,” Sage replies. “Has tox come back on Eliana yet? Do we know what poisoned her?”
“Wow, our telepathy is working,” Hazel chuckles. “I was just about to tell you that. Eliana was positive for lethal doses of nicotine.”
“Nicotine? From where?”
“Your guess is as good as mine, Detective,” Hazel replies apologetically.
Sage sighs. “Thanks, Hazel.”
“You got it, Sage.”
Sage hangs the phone up just as Kai exits the conference room with a low puff of air.
“Hey, man. Mik just texted. She wants an update on where we're at here with this case.”
Sage nods, pocketing his phone and walking with Kai as they both head towards the elevator.
“Everything go alright for the rest of the interview? I'm sorry I had to step out.”
Kai groans. “You're good, Sage. She kept going on and on about how important it was that she get back to work, and she just kept flirting and asking when the 'tall, blond, and handsome' detective would be joining us again.”
Sage laughs. “Did you enjoy flirting with her?”
“Unfortunately, no,” Kai says with a dramatic sigh. “She wasn't nearly as interesting enough to make me break my cleanse.”
Sage laughs again as they step off of the elevator.
“What was your phone call about?”
“Hazel says we should be looking for someone with heart disease who takes blood pressure medication. Also, Eliana Kell died from lethal amounts of nicotine poisoning.”
“Nicotine poisoning?” Kai repeats, holding the door open for Sage as they exit the corporate building. “Doesn't that stuff kill you within, like, minutes of being ingested?”
Sage nods. “Yeah. Once she had that in her system, she didn't stand a chance.”
“So, we're looking for someone with poison knowledge and heart disease?”
Sage opens the driver's side door to his Camaro, nodding again. “And who's also a female.”
“Female? Well if she's got heart disease and is probably a smoker, wouldn't that fit with the old broad, Caroline Sanders?”
“We'll add her to the list,” Sage says. "Maybe we can call her to the precinct after we update Mik.”
“This case just keeps getting more complicated,” Kai whines, but Sage can't help but agree.
TWO
“So,” Kai starts from where he’s sitting on the sofa in Mikalina’s office, “nicotine, when ingested, kills in seconds.”
“But the security footage from the hotel lobby is longer than that,” Sage cuts in, sitting up and leaning his forearms on his knees from where he’s sitting in one of Mikalina’s spare office chairs. “The poison couldn't have been administered while Eliana was at the hotel. Which means that it was most likely absorbed through her skin, in which case it could have taken up to four hours to work.”
“So, where was Eliana during that four hour time span?” Mikalina asks, picking up the Kell file and flipping through the evidence log.
“Techies checked her date book and her hard drive. She didn't have any appointments, and she wasn’t at work,” Kai replies.
“Great. Great. So, we're nowhere. The D.A.’s already on my ass about this, guys. Eliana Kel
l’s murder is already creating a lot of speculation. I can’t wait to tell him that we have nothing,” Mikalina says, tossing the file back down onto her desk and sighing.
Sage and Kai had only had a short while to compile all of their information before they’d been willing to explain it to her, but even Sage can admit that they aren’t really giving her a lot to work with. Especially when he knows that they don’t really have anything solid to present to the D.A. yet.
Sage watches her carefully, making a low sound of disagreement.
“Not necessarily, Mik. I think we need to focus on finding the source of the poison. If we find the poison, we find the murderer. Eliana was a fashion editor, Lieutenant. She had to always look prim and proper. A needle mark would have been to obvious. If someone wanted to kill her, they probably wouldn’t do it with something as mundane as an injection or an oral pill.”
“So what do you think someone poisoned her with?” Mikalina asks, leaning back in her chair as she crosses her arms and purses her lips.
“We think the killer poisoned her with something from the beauty closet at Hemera Magazine. A witness told us in her interview that they’ve got all kinds of test products in the closet there, which are regularly checked out and passed around through multiple hands. But we can’t know for sure until we get a warrant,” Kai replies, shrugging his shoulders.
Mikalina nods her head. “All right, I’ll bite. Get a warrant. It probably won’t go through until tomorrow but be ready to leave today just in case.”
Sage glances at his phone screen, noting the time. It’s only a little past noon, but while they’re waiting for the warrant to be approved, he’s sure he and Kai will make themselves busy by catching up on paperwork to complete the rest of their case files.
“You got it, Mik,” Kai says to her with a mock salute. Mikalina just looks up at him with a roll of her eyes, then pointedly fixes her gaze towards the computer at her desk and begins typing on the keyboard. With Mikalina’s clear dismissal, Sage and Kai leave her office without another word, heading back to their desks in the middle of the precinct to settle in and open up their remaining case files for the day.