by Laura Scott
He wondered if there was anything left behind by the murderer in the Emery case, other than the stuffed monkey encased in plastic. He thought about the fenced-in backyard. He’d been so focused on finding the gunman and then the monkey that he hadn’t searched closely for clues.
“Stay here next to Willow and Lucy for a few minutes, would you?” He shortened up Murphy’s leash. “Come, Murphy.”
“Where are you going?” Willow’s terse question caught him off guard.
“I’ll be back shortly.” He flashed a reassuring grin. “I’ll take you and Lucy home after I check something out.”
Her smile was sad. “Okay.”
He understood she wanted to get Lucy out of here, so he quickened his pace. When he’d rounded the backyard earlier in an effort to follow the path the perp may have taken, he hadn’t bothered searching for clues. The crime scene techs would be very thorough, but he still wanted to go back to check the ground beyond the house for himself.
Retracing his steps, he closely examined the ground on the other side of the fence, searching for evidence. Footprints, or something the perp may have dropped.
Unfortunately, the backyard butted right up against the road, no soft ground to reveal a footprint similar to what he’d found in the cemetery. He broadened his search outside the property, but still came up empty-handed.
Unless the techs found some kind of DNA evidence inside, they’d have nothing to use as a match for what had been identified on the leather watch band.
Disappointed, he turned back to the Emery crime scene. “Murphy, heel.”
The yellow Lab obediently sat at his left side.
“Good boy.” He bent over to scratch Murphy behind the ears, then hurried back to where Willow and Lucy waited next to Vivienne.
“I was just explaining to Willow that a caseworker by the name of Jayne Hendricks will be following up either tomorrow or Tuesday.” Vivienne smiled gently. “I’m sure everything will be fine.”
Willow nodded. “Okay.”
“Ready to go?” he asked.
“Yes, thank you.” Willow glanced down at Lucy. “Except I just realized we’ll need a child safety seat for your vehicle.”
He frowned, understanding her concern. “I’ll run and grab one. Vivienne, will you and Hank keep watch?”
“Sure.”
As he ran the errand, he thought about Willow and Lucy. There was something vulnerable yet strong about them. As if it was the two of them against the world.
It reminded him of how close he and his mother once were. When he was younger, it had been the two of them against the world, too.
When he returned, he opened the box and pulled out the car seat. Willow took it from him and expertly placed it in the back seat of his SUV.
Nate looked at the petite little girl, noticing again that her yellow outfit carried several dark smears of blood. He’d need to take her clothing in as evidence, which meant she’d need replacements.
“Why don’t we stop and pick up a few more things along the way?” he offered. With the traffic, the drive between East Flatbush and Bay Ridge would take a good forty-five minutes. “There’s a department store not too far from here.”
“Thank you. That would be great.”
He wasn’t sure why he’d offered to take her home; he wasn’t exactly the family kind of guy. Yet it was on the way to the K-9 Unit headquarters, so he told himself it was the decent thing to do.
Willow gently set Lucy in the car seat, while he put Murphy in the back K-9 crate area. Using the rearview mirror, he kept an eye on Lucy as he navigated the traffic toward Bay Ridge.
“Detective Slater?”
He glanced at Willow. “Sounds so formal. Why don’t you call me Nate?”
“Um, okay, Nate.” She cleared her throat. “I know you can’t give me details about the investigation, but I’d like to be kept informed of your progress. I—need to know the person who killed my brother will be punished. No matter what my brother did—” She stopped and swallowed hard before continuing. “He and Debra didn’t deserve to be murdered in their home.”
“I can’t make any promises,” he cautioned. “But I’ll do my best to keep you updated on the case.” Considering the similarities between the Emery murders and the twenty-year-old McGregor case, he felt certain Gavin would fight hard to keep the newly established Brooklyn K-9 Unit on the case.
He’d been the first officer on the scene and wanted, needed, to see it through to the end.
“Thank you.” Willow ran her fingers through her long straight brown hair. “I still can’t believe this happened.”
“Was your brother expecting your visit?” He glanced at Willow.
She winced and shook her head. “No, unfortunately he was ignoring my calls. Debra, too. This was my first day off in two weeks, so I decided to confront them face-to-face.”
“About what?”
She hesitated, then waved a hand. “You saw the place. Empty liquor bottles, dirty dishes piled up to the cabinets and hardly any decent food. Is that a good environment for a child? I knew Lucy wasn’t exactly a planned addition to their family, but I thought they’d settle down, do the right thing.” She let out a heavy sigh. “They didn’t.”
He nodded thoughtfully. Her brother’s lifestyle may have made it easier for a stranger to get into their house. Maybe someone who’d confronted them, then fired his weapon as they ran away. But why? That was the nagging question.
If the killer was the same murderer from twenty years ago, he couldn’t figure out why they’d struck again, all these years later.
“Oh, there’s the store.” Willow gestured toward her side of the road.
He’d almost forgotten his promise. He quickly maneuvered over to the right lane, then pulled into the parking lot. The moment he stopped the car, Willow pushed out of her passenger seat and opened the back door to get Lucy from the car seat.
He fetched Murphy, unwilling to leave him in the car, and easily caught up to her. It felt strange to walk into the store with Willow and Lucy. He’d never dated a single mother, or any woman who wanted to settle down. He was keenly aware of the smiles aimed in their direction, as if they were a happy little family.
Maybe because his blond hair was similar to Lucy’s, not to mention, Lucy had Willow’s cinnamon-brown eyes.
He found himself putting distance between them, instinctively shying away from being associated with the role of husband and father. That was a path he’d never take.
Not with his history.
Willow lifted Lucy into the seat of a shopping cart, then whizzed through the aisles, picking out clothes, a stroller and toys. Then she added groceries before heading over to the checkout lane.
“I’m sure you’ll be able to get some things from the house once the scene has been processed,” he reminded her.
“I know, but these are essentials.” The total was staggering, but she didn’t blink as she paid the bill.
He stored most of the items in the back seat while Willow lifted Lucy up and buckled her in.
“Ready?” He glanced at Willow.
For the first time since he’d met her, she offered a genuine smile. The way her entire face brightened made his mouth go dry. Willow was incredibly beautiful, tall and slender like a model might be. “Yes, thank you.”
Inwardly shaking his head at his foolishness, he started the SUV. Pulling back into traffic, he decided not to mention that he’d need Lucy’s bloodstained clothes as evidence until after they’d reached her apartment. “What’s your address?”
She rattled it off and he recognized it as a prewar redbrick apartment building, not far from where their headquarters was located.
“Nice,” he said. “A two-bedroom place?”
“No, just one.” She glanced back at Lucy and shrugged. “It will have to do for now.”
>
He was curious as to what her job was that allowed her to afford even a one-bedroom in the nice neighborhood, but told himself it wasn’t his business. His own single-bedroom apartment had been his mother’s, one that he’d inherited after she died. Conveniently located on the ground floor, there was a small yard for Murphy.
Thinking about his mother, and how far they’d come after leaving his abusive father, wasn’t helpful. He needed to stay focused on the case at hand, not the disturbing memories of his past.
When he reached her apartment building, she looked at him with uncertainty in her gaze. “Thanks. The killer hid his identity. There’s no reason for him to come after us, right? After all, Lucy can’t identify him, and I never saw him at all.”
He threw the gearshift in Park. “Yes, I wouldn’t leave you otherwise. But I’ll arrange for a squad car to drive by hourly, just to be extra cautious. Come on, I’ll carry your things up for you.”
She gave a nod, then slid out of the seat. She set Lucy on her feet, then grabbed the bag of new clothes with one hand and clung to Lucy’s tiny fingers with the other. He let Murphy out of the back, then hauled everything else as he followed her and Lucy inside. There was no key to get into the lobby, making him frown. But the lobby was nice, newly renovated with black-and-white tile floors.
“I’m on the seventh floor.” She pushed the elevator button and stepped back.
Lucy looked around with wide, curious eyes. Then she lightly stroked Murphy. “Can the doggy stay wif us?”
“No, sweetie, he lives with Detective Nate.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to offer to bring Murphy for a visit, but he caught himself in the nick of time.
When the elevator opened, Willow led the way to her apartment, number 706. She had her key but didn’t use it. She came to an abrupt stop, then gingerly pushed the door open. He heard her gasp. “Oh no!”
“What is it?” He peered over her shoulder and instantly saw what was wrong.
Willow’s apartment had been thoroughly and completely ransacked.
THREE
Her mouth went desert dry and her heart thudded painfully in her chest. She stared at the horrific invasion of her privacy.
Never in her entire life had she felt so violated.
“Stay back—let me check it out.” Nate hastily piled the items he’d carried in just outside her apartment door, then gently nudged her and Lucy aside and pulled his weapon. Watching as he and Murphy crossed the threshold had her sending up another silent, desperate prayer.
Please, Lord, keep us all safe!
“Aunt Willow, you’re messy like Mommy and Daddy,” Lucy said, breaking into her thoughts.
The reminder of how much worse things could be helped calm her racing heart. She forced a smile, relieved that Lucy hadn’t picked up on the sinister nature of their situation. “Yes, it sure looks that way.”
“I’m hungry,” Lucy complained.
Food wasn’t even close to the top of her list, but she knew Lucy needed to eat dinner, especially since she highly doubted the little girl had eaten anything substantial for lunch. The burn of resentment hit hard, but she pushed it away. Alex and Debra were gone. Dead. Despite their neglect of Lucy, they certainly didn’t deserve to be murdered.
Was it possible the same person who’d killed them had done this to her apartment? If so, why? Had they been searching for something? The same thing they hadn’t found at Alex and Debra’s?
She suppressed a shiver.
Glancing again at the mess, she swallowed hard. It was very tempting to ask Nate to drive her and Lucy to the nearest hotel. Especially considering the handle on her apartment door was broken.
“There’s no one inside,” Nate informed her. “I’ll call for a team to respond, although it seems unlikely we’ll be able to lift any fingerprints. Whoever did this was likely smart enough to wear gloves.”
The idea of more strangers invading her small apartment was unsettling. “Okay.”
Nate’s expression softened. “I’m sorry. I know you’ve already been through a lot. Whoever did this made a huge mess, but thankfully there isn’t a lot of actual damage.” He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. “It seems the person responsible spent a lot of time going through your closet and dresser drawers as if searching for something.”
The chill returned. “You think this is related to what happened to Alex and Debra?”
“Maybe, but I’m not convinced. You said yourself, your brother and sister-in-law weren’t expecting you to visit. Then again, the timing is a strange coincidence.” He frowned, thinking it through, then glanced at his watch. “The patrol officers should be here soon. Oh, and I’m sorry, but I need Lucy’s bloodstained clothes for evidence.”
She nodded, suppressing a shiver. Borrowing gloves from Nate, she carefully took the little girl’s yellow outfit off, gingerly handing it to Nate, who placed it in an evidence bag. Stripping the gloves off, she dressed Lucy in a new pink outfit she’d purchased from the store. Sitting back against the wall, she wished she’d bought more snacks for Lucy. At this rate, the poor child would never get her dinner. She felt bad, as if she were no better at caring for Lucy than Alex and Debra had been.
The two officers arrived five minutes later. They disappeared inside her apartment with Nate and Murphy. Frustrated and exhausted, Willow sat on the floor in the hallway just outside her apartment next to Lucy. She pulled the baby doll she’d purchased at the store out of one of the bags and gave it to her niece. Together, they played with the doll, Willow doing whatever she could think of to keep the little girl occupied.
But she couldn’t forget how her apartment had been thoroughly searched. Or the way her brother and his wife had been brutally murdered.
The fingerprint crew showed up a few minutes later, and it took them over an hour to check the various surfaces for prints.
“Willow?” Nate came out and hunkered down beside her. “We’ll need your prints so we can exclude them from anything we may have found. The place was really very clean. There weren’t many prints at all.”
“Okay.” She shifted Lucy off her lap. As she was about to stand, Nate held out his hand to her. After a moment’s hesitation, she put her hand in his and allowed him to draw her upright. His warm palm was strangely reassuring. She wanted to cling to his strength but forced herself to let go.
“Thanks.” She inwardly grimaced at her breathless tone. She really needed to get a hold of herself. This weird attraction she felt toward the K-9 cop was not healthy. She didn’t have time for such nonsense.
Lucy was the only thing that mattered right now. Not her dearth of a love life. The little girl deserved a stable, loving home and Willow planned to do whatever it took to provide that for her.
Once she’d been fingerprinted, the crime scene techs took off, leaving a mess of black fingerprint powder covering numerous surfaces behind.
Crazy to have spent the hour after Sunday services cleaning prior to heading over to confront her brother about Lucy. She’d need to clean, again.
“Here, let’s get your stuff inside.” Nate bent down to gather her bags. “We’ll leave the car seat here for now. I’ll need you to tell me if anything has been stolen.”
Feeling nervous, she followed him into the apartment. The two officers who’d initially responded were standing off in the corner of her living room, speaking in low tones. Murphy brushed against her legs and she was oddly reassured when the animal stayed close.
She wiped the kitchen counter, then began unpacking the groceries. Nate went over to speak with the two officers. The task of putting her apartment back together seemed overwhelming, but what choice did she have? She was emotionally and physically exhausted. The last thing she wanted to do was pack up and move to a hotel. But staying here with a broken door handle wasn’t a very good idea, either.
The two officers hea
ded out of the apartment. She must have looked upset, because Nate crossed over to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
“They’re not leaving, I just want them to check the video cameras for any footage of the person who did this.”
“Oh.” She tried to offer a smile. “That would be good, right? Then we’d know who murdered Alex and Debra.”
“Only if these two crimes are linked,” Nate cautioned. “Listen, I want to look around again and then will likely have some questions for you.”
“Okay, but I need to feed Lucy something for dinner. She needs something more substantial than animal crackers in her belly.”
“Understood.” He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, then moved away. She instantly missed the warmth of his touch.
She reminded herself that the men in her life didn’t stick around. She’d dated a few, only to have them quickly disappear. Either because she wasn’t very exciting or because she worked too many hours, or both.
Once the pizza was in the oven, she quickly wiped down the small kitchen table so Lucy would have a place to sit, then replaced her sofa cushions. She couldn’t comprehend why anyone would be looking for something of Alex’s in her apartment. Especially since she and Alex hadn’t been close in a very long time.
Since before the death of their grandmother, three years ago, right after Lucy was born. They’d each received a modest inheritance; she’d invested hers in this apartment. When Alex and Debra had moved into their two-story, she’d praised him for putting his money to good use, only to have him laugh at her, carelessly announcing they were just renting the cheap place and living off the money and enjoying life. Despite having Lucy, Debra made it clear she wasn’t interested in settling down.
Watching as Lucy played with her new baby doll, Willow tried to find the forgiveness in her heart that she knew God expected of her. Alex and Debra had gone down a bad path and unfortunately had paid the ultimate price.