by Adan Ramie
"Well, I guess because I just started. I mean, it's not like I haven't worked before," Busy stuttered, her blush deepening. "It's just that I just started with this department. I was in petty crimes, but I wanted more of a challenge."
"Petty crimes are challenging," Harry said.
The girl snorted. "Yeah, if you're a dope," she said, then clamped her mouth shut.
Harry laughed. "You're a keeper, Busy." She glanced toward where Cal stood, just out of her line of sight, talking to CSS Vinton. "I guess I need to get to work. This case is going to be a long one, I think."
Busy's smile faded. "It's horrible, what happened to her."
"It really is," Harry agreed, and patted Busy's shoulder again. "It was nice meeting you, Busy. We'll talk again soon." She let her hand linger a beat longer than necessary before she turned away.
HARRY STARED DOWN AT the cold, pale skin of the young woman on the table with a pen in one hand and a notepad in the other. Both hung down to her sides. The written record she would create later would be a supplement to the catalog of injuries, forensic evidence, and witness statements she kept in her head. Right now, all she wanted to do was talk to the coroner.
The victim in front of her was under 30, she could tell, but her faced was lined from hard living. Her flaming orange hair – natural, Harry guessed – still had shreds of green plastic woven into the loose braids. She was naked under the sheet, and Harry could tell her breasts were fake without lifting it.
"Hey, Rick," she said at the tell-tale click and whoosh of the door opening behind her.
Dr. Richard Nettle, county coroner, trudged in and up to Harry in orthopedic shoes. He put his gnarled hand on her shoulder, she turned, and they shared a tight hug that ended as quickly as it had begun. He shuffled closer to the table and pushed his glasses further up his beak-like nose with a crooked smile that didn't quite make it to his eyes.
"How's your day, Harry?" he asked her.
"Better than hers," she answered, and indicated the woman on the table with the end of her pen. "What can you tell me about our girl here?"
He nodded, picked up his clipboard, and stared down at it for a moment before he spoke, mechanical, as if into a tape recorder. "The patient is Sunshine Christina Galaviz, female, aged 28. Cause of death: internal and external hemorrhaging." His prominent Adam’s apple bobbed as he cleared his throat. He put down the clipboard and considered the face of his patient. "This was a senseless, hateful crime, Detective Thresher."
"How many attackers?" She tapped her pen against the shiny metal table and tried to fight down the wave of fury that boiled inside her when faced with such a brutal murder. Not many she handled were this sadistic, and she could list the ones that had been with only two hands.
"From what I can tell by the wound patterns, at least four objects were used to cause her injuries. One was a handgun, and from the size of the bullet, I’d say it was a 9mm. There was also a sharp object, thin, with a serrated blade." He shuddered. "A kitchen knife, if I had to put my money on anything. Then, another blunt object that I haven't identified yet, and a pair of boots." He licked his chapped lips and fiddled with his clipboard. "It could have been one attacker, but based on the amount of injuries, and the different wound patterns, I would say there were at least two. She was beaten, raped, sodomized, and mutilated."
Harry surveyed the body, then held out her hand for the coroner's report. He handed it over and removed his gloves. While Harry perused the document, Dr. Nettle found a chair and settled down into it.
"I've handled a lot of murders in my career, but this one is going to stay with me for a very long time." His Adam's apple wobbled as he swallowed hard. "What would make someone do something like this?"
Harry closed the report, put it back on the table, and turned toward him. She shook her head and leaned her backside against the table. "There's no one defining characteristic or situation that sends someone over the edge like this."
She flicked her pen on the metal table again. The tap, tap, tap echoed around them in the stony silence. Harry cleared her throat, then pushed off the table, and tucked her pen and notepad into her pockets. "My guess is that they were torturing her for information. After that," she said, and glanced behind her. "After that, they were just getting their jollies off."
"Monsters," he murmured, and rubbed the back of one hand over his graying temple. “Absolute monsters.”
"Monsters on borrowed time, Rick."
CHAPTER 7
Lee stared out the window of Ruby's luxury sedan as the dirty city around her melted into clean, freshly manicured neighborhoods. The low-rent apartments turned into new buildings, the new buildings into modest homes, which gave way to large, expensive affairs. They all looked different, but somehow the same.
Carbon copy houses for the rich and unoriginal. Is it worth the pressure toward perfection just to be confident of your uninterrupted electricity and next hot meal?
She tried to picture the families living inside the houses they passed. She wondered if there were any people like her inside, then chided herself. Most of these people would not have made their money on their own; it was handed to them by their fathers and their fathers’ fathers. Old money, old world, old values. There was no place in it for orphans or outcasts like her, Josie, or Sunny.
Her eyes glazed over. Sunny was dead; she knew it before she even set foot in her old friend's apartment, before she saw the bloody nightmare left behind as a warning to Josie, and to her, that they were next. Even if Josie paid in full, Eddie would take it out in flesh. He didn't care that the debt was only Josie's, either: the more blood he drew and pain he caused, the happier Eddie Bishop would be.
As Ruby slowed and turned onto a tiny street, the car's path was lit by ornate lamp posts that looked to Lee like something out of a fairytale. She gazed up at them as they passed one after another, amazed that such a place even existed. Everything around her was pristine. If she closed her eyes, and pushed the gory tragedy out of her mind, she could almost pretend that her house was at the end of the cul-de-sac they approached; she could be out for a drive to clear her head before she took a long bath in a whirlpool tub, then climbed into silky sheets in a big, soft bed. She closed her eyes and smiled.
Ruby killed the engine. Lee's eyes opened and her smile died. The garage around them was as big as the apartment Eddie had burned from the inside out. She opened her door, gestured for Ruby to do the same, and got out of the car.
"Don't try anything, okay?" she asked with a sigh. "I really don't want to see you get hurt."
Ruby nodded, then glanced into the backseat. "How are we going to get him into the house?" she asked, her voice quiet but strong.
Lee tucked the gun away in the pocket inside of her jacket, then closed the door. "Strength of will and teamwork?" she offered.
They each took the few steps to the back of the car, opened the back doors, and looked inside. Josie lay still, his eyes closed, and for a moment, Lee felt her throat close. If Josie died, she would have nothing left in the world.
"Josie?" Ruby said, and nudged his shoulder. He groaned, and Lee felt relief shoot through her like a fresh line of powder after a long, hard day. "He's okay."
"Let's get him inside."
HOURS LATER, LEE AND Ruby finally sat back down. The hardest part, Lee found, had been getting him into the house. Once they had him in the bathroom, Lee had instructed Ruby in helping her strip him to his shorts, clean him up, wrap his ankle, and dress his open wounds. Now he was quiet in one of the guest bedrooms of Ruby's house. The last time Lee had checked on him, his breathing had been labored, but his face was closer to the same peachy pink she had come to know.
"This is a fucking nightmare," Lee said into the silence.
Ruby turned from her spot on the sectional sofa, kitten in her lap, to stare at Lee perched on the sofa's far right arm. Lee stared back.
"Don't you think so?"
Ruby nodded, her lips squeezed into a thin line. The cat sho
ok its fluffy head out from under her hand and nipped at the end of one finger, then stared at her with big, golden eyes.
"No, Taya. Bad girl," she whispered.
"You're just petting her too hard. She doesn't like it," Lee said. She looked Ruby up and down, from her messy hair to the spot of dried blood on the bottom of one sock. "You need a shower?"
Ruby jerked her head toward Lee. "What?"
Lee scratched behind her ear and let out a long-stifled yawn. "Do you need to shower?" she repeated more slowly. "You can. It might make you feel better." She dropped her hands to her lap, then shrugged her shoulders. "It's been a shit day."
"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Ruby said, then clamped her mouth shut. Lee grinned back at her, and Ruby dropped her eyes. "Yeah, I would love a shower."
She uncurled her legs, and the kitten jumped down onto the thick carpet. It shot her a dirty look before darting off toward the kitchen. Ruby stood, stretched, and turned toward Lee. "I'll only be a few minutes. I don't take a long shower." She turned and started to walk toward a hallway to their left.
Lee stood, then let her hand graze the gun tucked into the back of her jeans as she stretched. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to come with you."
"Excuse me?" Ruby turned on her heel and stared back at Lee, her mouth open and eyebrows furrowed.
Lee tucked her hands into her pockets, and tried at a weak smile. "You know I can't let you go into the bathroom alone. I'm in a uniquely volatile position here."
"Do you expect to watch me?" Ruby asked, and propped her hands on her hips.
Lee suppressed a smile. "No. I just want to be sure you don't make off out a window or something. If the cops come, Josie and I will end up in jail. Before we go to trial for kidnapping, Eddie Bishop will have us both killed in our cells, probably strangled with our own intestines." She sucked in a breath, then let it out slow. "You saw what he did to Sunny."
Ruby squeezed her eyes shut. "I don't know how you even..." Her mouth puckered and her forehead crinkled. "That was inhuman."
"So, you understand exactly my situation. I know you're in a tough spot, but my position is a little trickier."
Ruby shuddered, then opened her eyes. She dropped her arms to hang by her sides. "Don't watch me."
Lee held up three fingers in a Scout's salute she learned from a foster brother in pre-school. "You can trust me, Ruby."
"Somehow, I doubt that," Ruby answered, but turned and walked toward the hallway.
Lee followed several steps behind. She wondered, as she watched the sway in Ruby's hips as she padded across the carpet, if her captive didn't enjoy her predicament just a little.
CHAPTER 8
"Listen, I know this is weird," Lee started, but Ruby shrugged and turned her back.
"It's no weirder than anything else that's gone on today," she said, and started to peel off her sweat-drenched shirt.
Lee turned to face the opposite direction and cleared her throat. Ruby watched herself get undressed in the mirror on the back of the bathroom door; it reflected the medicine cabinet mirror, where Lee's eyes lingered and traced the lines of her back and hips. Once nude, she turned and sat on the edge of the bathtub, twisted both knobs, and let the temperature level to a comfortable lukewarm. She flipped the lever up and the shower came alive. She stepped into the stream, turned to face Lee, and pulled the curtain shut.
"I don't normally do this," Lee said from her position beside the sink.
Ruby took a step forward, and the shower cascaded from the top of her head to the tops of her feet. She let the water beat down on her face, her eyes and mouth closed, until she couldn't wait another second to suck in a deep gulp of air, then she turned away from the spray and let it pour down her back.
"I'm sorry you got dragged into it."
Ruby couldn't fight a chuckle. "I guess I should have known I wasn't going to get out of town without a fight. It's been too long."
"Why do you say that?" Lee asked after a beat.
The cap of the shampoo clicked as she opened it. She poured a quarter-sized amount into the palm of her hand, put down the bottle, and stared at the soap as it struggled to ooze between her fingers. "I've never been able to get away from him. That's why I'm here now." She rubbed the shampoo into her hair until it lathered in thick, meringue peaks, then twisted to rinse her hands. "I can't ever leave."
"Is he abusive?"
Ruby heard something in Lee's voice, a throatiness that gave her pause. She tilted her head back into the shower spray, and let it force the soap out and down the drain. She ran her fingers through it twice, then leaned down for the conditioner. Her fingertips grazed the bottle before she thought better of it, and the bottle fell to the floor with a thump.
"Are you all right?" Lee asked, and took a step toward the shower.
"I'm fine," Ruby answered, then wondered what would have happened if she hadn't. She had a vision of Lee opening the curtain, her eyes slithering down Ruby's wet body before she reached in to give her a hand. She shook her head, and the image dissipated, but the warmth inside her remained.
"You didn't answer me," Lee said, and opened the cabinet over the toilet with a tiny, metallic click.
Ruby grabbed the body wash, squirted it onto a bath sponge, and made quick work of lathering herself. "What did you ask?"
When she spoke again, she was closer; if Ruby squinted, she could just see her standing inches away through the semi-opaque curtain. "I asked if he hurt you."
"Only when he's angry." She couldn't raise her voice above a whisper, and she cursed her luck; in her original plans, she was hours out of town by now, and he would never find her again.
The silence stretched between them as Ruby finished. When she flipped the lever to turn off the shower, she heard the door click open. She turned off the tap and pushed open the curtain just in time to see Lee close the door behind her.
RUBY STEPPED OUT OF the bathroom, warm and dry, her skin pink against the fluffy red towel that encircled her. Lee sat on the arm of the sofa nearest her, scraping dark flecks of filth from beneath her fingernails with the tip of a pocket knife. She glanced up at Ruby as she walked over, and gave her a tight smile.
"I'm sorry," Lee said.
Ruby shook her head, and drops of water scattered around her. "I get it." She pushed loose tendrils of hair behind ears she had always been self-conscious about, and adjusted her towel to cover more of her cooling skin. "I'm going to the bedroom." She pointed a hand over her shoulder, but kept her eyes on Lee. "Do you want to follow me in?"
Lee's cheek twitched. Ruby could almost imagine the smile that would have formed had she let it, and she shivered. "Cold?" Lee asked, and stood up from the sofa arm. She pointed toward the bedroom. Ruby obediently turned on her heel, and marched down the hall and into the master bedroom she shared with her husband. Lee leaned against the door frame, her arms crossed over her chest, and stared at her boots while Ruby picked out clothes to wear.
Ruby faced the covered window, dropped the towel to the floor, and bent to put on a pair of sheer bikini briefs she rarely wore. When she bent again to pluck her pajama bottoms from the bed, she glanced out the corner of her eye at Lee; her eyes rested on the lacy part of the back of her panties that left little to the imagination. She stepped into the pants, then picked up her bra. She lingered with it in her hands, fiddled at the clasp as she softly sucked in a breath.
"How long have you, Josie, and Sunny known each other?" She slipped her arms into the straps, pulled the band of the bra around her chest, and clipped it in the back.
Lee adjusted her position on the door frame. "Since we were kids."
"School?" Ruby asked as she leaned down to the bed for her shirt.
Lee cleared her throat. "Youth shelter. None of us have much for family."
Ruby turned to face her as the shirt fell into place around her torso. "I'm sorry." She took a step forward, then stopped. Her eyes darted to Lee's impassive face. "Should we check on him?"
Lee n
odded and stood to the side of the doorway. As Ruby passed, she pressed forward just far enough that her hand brushed Ruby's thigh. The heat from Lee's hand passed through the thin cotton and gathered low in her abdomen. She walked unsteadily from the master bedroom, down the hall, and into the guest bedroom that Josie occupied.
"He's getting pale," Ruby said.
Lee snickered. "He's always been pale," she said, then sobered. "I guess you're right, though. I wish I could take him to the hospital."
"You can." Ruby placed a hand on Lee's bicep, and felt her tense through her t-shirt. "You haven't done anything wrong. There's nothing anyone can charge you with." She let her hand slide down Lee's arm before it dropped to her own side. "If you go to the hospital, you could actually tell the police that you know who hurt Sunny, and they can give you protection."
Lee moved subtly forward. "He has warrants."
Ruby's hand itched to reach out to her, to pull her back and into her embrace, but she tucked it into her pocket instead. She watched as Lee took a few more steps toward the bed, then put her hand close to Josie's face. Satisfied, she leaned forward and placed her ear to his chest.
"Is he...?"
Lee stood back up, then turned to face her. "He's okay. Breathing, good heartbeat." She pushed out a hard breath. "Let's just hope he stays that way."
CHAPTER 9
As she drove toward the strip club, Harry thought back over everything she had learned about Sunshine Galaviz. By all accounts, the young woman had been through a lot. Born to young parents, Sunshine had been taken from her home during a drug raid and dropped into the system. Harry knew the feeling. Despite being only seven years old at the time, no one had taken little Sunny in, and she had been moved from one foster home to another until she was settled in a group home. She aged out of the system, but not well, and she was known by her hometown police by the age of 18.