In the parking lot, she met Detective Rogers from Missing Persons. He waved to her, then locked his car again and came over.
“Congratulations on your promotion.” After a small pause, he asked, “Have you heard from McCarthy?”
Kate McCarthy, one of Ellie’s closest friends, had decided to leave the force after working with Rogers on a particularly grueling case.
“Yes. She’s doing fine now.” Ellie wasn’t sure how much Rogers really knew, about Kate losing her fiancé, then dating Derek Henderson and breaking up with him. She had put lots of determination into finding a missing woman who had turned up dead.
“When is she coming back?”
Kate had left town abruptly to live and work with her grandparents. When Ellie had last seen her, she had implied that she might come back sometime soon, but not to the job.
“I’m not sure, but I don’t think she wants to be a cop anymore.”
“I don’t blame her.” He sighed. “It’s a shame, though. She was good. Sometimes, things don’t work out. Thanks for letting me know. Have a good night.”
“You too. Bye.”
Ellie sat in her car for a moment, telling herself she had nothing to feel guilty about.
She and Kate had made different choices. That was all.
Still, it felt good to arrive at the familiar table at the Night Shift and be greeted with cheers.
Jordan had endured some good-natured ribbing for sneaking into the autopsy. She pulled Ellie close for a kiss before they sat in the booth.
“You made it. Congratulations.”
“Thank you. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
Ellie wasn’t sure why that produced some laughter from the group of her friends. “Come on, I’m serious. All of you. I’m paying for this round, too, how about that?”
“Careful, baby,” Jordan said. “We just bought a house, and we have to invite all of these people to our wedding.”
Apparently there were some of them who hadn’t heard the news yet.
It occurred to Ellie that this was where she’d always wanted to be, professionally and personally. The moment was here. If it seemed a little too good to be true, she didn’t care. She had paid her dues, they both had.
Time to be happy.
Chapter Four
“Mom, I’m hungry.”
The woman sitting at the picnic table, holding on to a bottle, didn’t seem to care much. It was unclear whether she was even listening.
“Mom…”
“Go over to Christine’s and ask her.”
“I don’t have time. I have to go to school.”
“Then make yourself something, for God’s sake! You’re old enough!”
Jordan sat up in bed, wiping a hand across her face, glad that she hadn’t woken Ellie. Gradually, she let reality comfort her. This was her life. Nothing to worry about, least of all those little snippets her subconscious conjured up these days, slivers of a time long gone.
They were distracting and frustrating, at best. Why now? She had done all she could, opened the door to Kathryn so they could both be adults and live in the present. Maybe dinner wasn’t a good idea. Maybe she had made a mistake thinking she and Kathryn could ever have something real, and untainted.
“Are you okay?” Ellie asked softly.
Jordan lay back down and let herself be embraced. “I didn’t want to wake you,” she mumbled.
“Can’t sleep?”
“It’s no big deal,” Jordan said, not wanting anything to overshadow this important day for Ellie. “Kathryn wants us to come by for dinner.”
“Of course I’ll come with you. There’s strength in numbers.”
Jordan couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s not it. She knows about the wedding, or at least suspects. I’m not sure I want her there.”
Ellie was silent for a moment, but Jordan could easily read her mind. She would have given anything if her parents could be present. That was different though. Ellie’s memories of her family weren’t fraught with neglect.
“What would you need to feel better about it?”
“Tricky. I would need her to have been a different person back then.”
“You’re worried about what Jack and Pauline might think? I’m sure they wouldn’t mind. I wouldn’t mind either.”
“So it’s decided then.” She hadn’t meant for her words to sound so harsh.
“No,” Ellie said calmly. “You decide. I promise you, whatever it is, I will support you.”
“Thank you. I’m sorry. This was a big day for you.”
“Yes, and it’s only the beginning. Like the wedding. Remember that the guests will only be there for a day, but you’re stuck with me forever.”
Jordan turned to her. “That sounds wonderful.”
“Yeah?” Ellie’s smile was all promise. “Try to relax a bit. I can help you with that.”
It was an offer Jordan didn’t want to refuse, even though they both had an early morning coming up.
* * * *
Ellie had left the house while Jordan was still in the shower, but she’d brewed a fresh pot of coffee first.
Raynor was first on her list—the park’s tourist service wasn’t open yet. On her way, she pondered the progress they’d made on the case so far.
Ellie had made it through the autopsy with her dignity intact, horrified by the implications of the injuries rather than the sight itself.
They still didn’t have more than the first name, Lea. The woman’s body was bruised all over. The rain had washed away most of the evidence, but a pattern of broken branches seemed to point to Ellie’s theory. They had toyed with her. Perhaps she’d been able to run, and they came after her, finishing with hitting her in the head, with a rock, likely. Not that they had found said object or the knife.
She hoped Raynor, who was still waiting for his arraignment, would be able to help fill in some of the blanks. He seemed surprised to see her.
“Why do you want to talk to me?” he asked, his resignation obvious. “You made up your mind, didn’t you?”
“I have a few more questions, if you don’t mind.”
“Does it matter?”
“Do you know someone named Willie Potter?”
Ellie could tell that she was on to something before he answered. His eyes widened, and he avoided his gaze.
“Marco, I’m not out to get you. Two people died within a few weeks, and I’m trying to find out who’s responsible.”
“Willie died of exposure. I heard talk about it at the shelter,” he clarified. “I’m not surprised the police wasn’t looking too hard.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just another bum off the streets, right?”
Ellie straightened in her chair. “You also seem to assume that everyone’s the same. I’m here now. I’m listening to you.”
“Yeah, not like that’s going to help me. Either I go to jail, or they get to me too.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know!” He raked a hand through his hair. “Some guys, looking for trouble. Willie told me they started beating him up without reason, just like that.”
“Did he tell you what they looked like? Anything that would help us to identify them?”
Raynor shook his head. “You might care, but it’s not enough. Some higher up will assign you to a more important case, and others will get killed.”
“That’s not going to happen, I swear.”
“It was dark. He said they were all wearing dark sweaters, one of them had some lettering on it.”
“What kind? Like from a company?”
“He didn’t know. Willie couldn’t read.”
Ellie suppressed a curse. The picture unfolding got worse by the minute, and Waters thought the case was closed. “Look, if you want me to help you, you need to help me. A witness saw you that night, around the time of the murder, carrying something heavy.”
“Like what? That isn’t true. I told you already I found Lea, but I couldn�
��t save her. I knew this was gonna happen!”
“There’s not going to be another murder. We do care, and we will find out who killed Lea, and, possibly Willie, okay?”
“Why do you care?” he muttered, though she had seen the hope flicker in his eyes.
“I’m not the only one. It’s our job to keep all people in the city safe.”
I’m not the exception, she thought. Cliff Waters is.
* * * *
It was too late to drive by the park’s office, so Ellie decided to meet with her partner and discuss the next steps based on what she’d found. She saw Jordan and Derek exiting the lieutenant’s office. Detective Waters was at his desk, getting to his feet when she came in.
“Harding, let’s go. The A.D.A. is here.”
“Already? We weren’t…” She broke off her sentence when Waters knocked on Lieutenant Carroll’s door, and they both walked in.
“Morning, sir,” he greeted their supervisor, addressing A.D.A. Esposito with a nod.
“Good morning,” she said curtly. “On your suspect…”
“He hasn’t confessed, but we have a witness that places him at the scene. He doesn’t even deny he was there, gave us some story why her blood was all over him, claims he wanted to help her. He’s hiding something.”
“Well, yeah, that’s circumstantial at best,” Esposito said doubtfully. “What about your witness?”
“If I may…” Ellie ventured. “Yes, he was hiding something, but he talked to me this morning. He’s scared. It’s possible that Willie Potter was murdered as well, and Marco Raynor is afraid he could be next.”
She wasn’t surprised by Waters’ audible groan. “What part of ‘let it go’ didn’t you understand? That case is closed. If Raynor had any suspicions, why didn’t he come forward?”
“Detective Harding?” the lieutenant prompted.
Ellie had to admit she was still a bit startled when addressed like this. After all, it was only the second day.
“Yes. I thought it was important to ask him about the other victim, since it happened in the same area, and we didn’t have the time yesterday. I think he’s truly scared. As for why he didn’t come forward, they didn’t exactly check in with each other. Raynor learned about Potter’s death at the shelter. He says that Potter told him about a group of men that had beaten him. They were wearing sweatshirts with lettering—he couldn’t describe any of the men though.”
“Convenient,” Waters muttered.
“He said he wasn’t carrying anything heavy.”
“About the witness.” Ellie turned to A.D.A. Esposito. “I ran a check on him. His ex-wife filed charges last year after a domestic dispute. The charges were dropped, because she never appeared in court…but I imagine that kind of thing would come up.”
“I’d certainly make sure we know about it before we put him on the stand,” Valerie Esposito agreed. “Congratulations on the new job, by the way.”
“Oh…thanks.”
“Yeah, well, part of a new job is to listen to people who’ve been doing this for a while.”
Valerie smiled. “True, Cliff, but a pair of fresh eyes is always helpful. I’d hesitate to rely on a likely domestic abuser to testify in a case where a woman was violently murdered.”
“Alleged domestic abuser.”
“You’re right,” Lieutenant Carroll agreed, “but it still doesn’t look good. If you’re sure Raynor is our man, find a better witness, or evidence to support your theory. If not, well, then find me the real killer. We don’t want people to think we’re treating one murder case differently from another.”
“Thank you, sir,” Ellie said. “I also meant to talk to the park employees once more—maybe they remember something, either about the witness or Raynor.”
“You do that.”
“We’re done here?” Esposito asked. “That’s not a whole lot you people give me to work with.”
“What do you want? He probably threw the rock and the knife into the lake.”
“Come back when you have proof.”
Ellie hadn’t expected Waters to be happy with the actions she had taken, but she hoped now that it moved them forward slightly, he might be more forgiving.
She’d been wrong.
“We need to talk,” he said once they had exited the lieutenant’s office.
“Okay. Sure.”
Ellie followed him to the break room. He waited until she was inside, and then slammed the door shut hard enough to make her flinch.
“What the hell were you thinking?”
“I’m sorry, there was no time to tell you. I didn’t want to rush anything, and I thought Raynor could tell us something about Willie Potter. It turned out he could. So I’m thinking we also could ask around in shelters, see if they heard about someone being threatened…”
“We will do all of these things. I know you’ll do whatever you can to get ahead, but you have to understand something. You’re not the first person to do the job. You think you know everything, but being that cocky can get somebody killed someday.”
Ellie kept her head up thinking that rushing ahead to declare someone guilty wasn’t any less cocky. She kept that thought to herself.
“You show me up again like that, and you’ll be in trouble.”
“I understand,” she said calmly.
“Do you?”
The door opened, and Derek Henderson walked inside.
“Everything all right in here?” he asked.
“We’re fine,” Ellie hurried to say.
“Okay.” In the resulting uncomfortable silence, he got himself a coffee and left.
“Come on, let’s go. We’ll have a couple of uniforms go to the shelters, and let’s see what the park employees have to say.”
Perhaps she was a bit spooked, but to Ellie, it sounded like he wanted to make it look like he had just come up with these ideas. Working with this man was without a doubt a challenge. She was up to it.
* * * *
“Thank you,” Jordan said when Derek returned from the impromptu assignment she had given him. They were going to meet with the CEO of Andrews Secure Living next. The autopsy results weren’t in yet. Mrs. Kenning had called and asked to be updated.
“You know you can’t be around all the time,” Derek said when they were in the car. “If you keep sending me instead of doing the hovering yourself, she’ll figure that out too. She’s a detective, you know.”
“Come on, stop it. It was just one time. Waters has been such a jerk to Doss, and you know it. I want to know if he’s doing the same thing to Ellie.”
“And you’re going to do what? He has his moments, no doubt, but he’s not stupid. He’s not going to do anything to endanger his retirement.” Derek shrugged. “Though I doubt he’ll be happier, but that’s none of my business or yours. How are the wedding plans coming along?”
“They’re coming along.”
“That’s all?”
“Speaking of which, have you talked to Kate? Could we seat you two together, or is that not a good idea?”
“Okay, you got me there. Same table is fine. We’re adults.”
“Maria too?”
“Stop it now. I get it, no more talk about personal lives. Let’s see what Mr. Andrews has to say.”
Jordan was fine with that. Last night’s talk with Ellie had been helpful, but she still didn’t know what to do about Kathryn. The distraction was most welcome.
* * * *
The CEO of Andrews Secure Living was a busy man according to his secretary. Earlier on the phone, he had promised he’d be available, but now, the woman with the perfectly manicured nails claimed she couldn’t reach him anywhere.
“You could come back later,” she suggested.
“That’s fine, thank you. We’ll wait.”
This was nothing but a silly power play, Jordan assumed, trying to tell them that his time was more valuable than anyone else’s.
After about twenty minutes, the CEO arrived and asked them
into his office.
“My apologies I’m late, but I’m afraid I have to cut our meeting short as well.”
Jordan cast a quick look at Derek. Told you so.
“This won’t take long,” she said.
“It’s about Kenning, right? Such a sad story. I can’t help feeling bad. I wonder if we’re partly responsible.”
“Why would that be?” Derek asked.
“I assume you know we had to fire him. His work performance had been sub par for a while now, and as much as we sympathized, I had to act in the best interest of the company.”
“How did he handle it when you told him?”
“He seemed…fine. Of course, the problems at home didn’t go away, and I imagine that’s the main reason he did it.”
“What kind of problems are you talking about?”
“His wife? She had mental problems. Paranoia. He had to take days off to take care of her. I suppose it all got too much for him. Such a shame.”
“How do you know all this?” After meeting Mrs. Kenning, Jordan wasn’t yet ready to believe in this completely different version of the story, especially given Andrews’ history with his partner.
“When I realized his work was suffering, I had to ask him, but I promised him not to tell anyone. Obviously, these are different circumstances. The poor woman. I hope she has family to take care of her.”
“Before you started Andrews Secure Living, you worked with a partner named…Larry Ferguson?”
“Yes, why? That has nothing to do with poor Mr. Kenning.”
“Can you tell us about the circumstances of Mr. Ferguson’s death?”
“He killed himself. Come on, Detectives, I can’t believe what you’re insinuating here. It’s an unfortunate coincidence.”
“We’re not insinuating anything,” Derek assured him. “This must be a difficult time for you.”
“It certainly is, but there was no relation between the two. Larry was single, and he seemed happy. No one ever knew why he did it. Mr. Kenning, now, that’s another story. Why are you even here? You don’t think someone staged his suicide?”
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