Heart of Fire

by Carter, Dawn

  Frank thanked the man and circled the day Thursday. “We got her,” he said tapping his pen on the pad.

  “What?” Her eyes widened. “Are you saying we physically got her or we have a lead to get her?”

  “We have a lead,” he let out a heavy breath then smiled. “If I’m right, tomorrow night, we should catch her.”

  “I’m confused,” she said annoyed by his vague explanation.

  “For the past year someone has gone to Marlene O’Sullivan’s grave each week, either on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.” The tap of his pen stopped when he looked at the calendar. “Let’s go, I want to see the layout of the cemetery.”

  Danni said nothing as he shot out of his chair and grabbed his coat and slipped it on. “Get a vest from the locker and let’s go,” he pointed to the cabinet and Danni could tell by the distant look in his eyes he was formulating a plan.

  They spent most of the day with the ground keeper as he pointed out the exits and where he had found the food wrapper.

  “I don’t get paid enough to pick up peoples garbage,” he scoffed. “People don’t respect the dead anymore.”

  Neither, Frank or Danni encourage the grounds man, but they did not have too. He went on how he once helped the police to find a man who visited his mother each week. Danni half smiled and looked at Frank who only shook his head and rolled his eyes.

  When the man finally walked away, Danni drew a diagram of the grounds. Frank added to it placing X’s where he would have her hide and where he would wait.

  The next night, Danni set up surveillance from the entrance of the Zimmerman’s mausoleum. The dark entrance offered her anonymity from view. She perched in the corner with her binoculars and listened to instructions through the ear piece Frank provided to her. She could fully see the tomb stone that was marked with the name, date of birth, and date of death of Marlene O’Sullivan. The cemetery gave her the chills, she had to rationalize that the dead were not her issue, but after hearing several unexplained noises the hair on the back of her neck stood up. She could swear she heard whispers coming from inside the mausoleum but shook it off as she kept telling herself over and over again that it was just her mind was playing tricks on her.

  ‘There’s someone riding around on a bike,’ the voice echoed in her ear. She could feel the pulse in her neck pound from the sudden intrusion of light she saw from the distant flashlight. She tense as she listened as the tires from the bike rolled across the gravel road. She had to fight off the urge to scream when she felt something touch her arm. ‘Calm down,’ she scorned not acting on the impulse to slap her arm. She knew any sudden movement would give her location away and the person if it was her suspect would get away.

  The sound of footsteps neared and her pulse raced, she quietly radioed to the agents stationed around the cemetery to have them move in, but no one answered her back. Her stomach churned as the silence increased. She could not make out the figure that stood just a dozen feet from her. The temptation to stand up and make her presence known over took her. The adrenalin coursed through her veins as she made her appearance from her dark space, and when the figure turned around, she looked into the teary eyes of her suspect. If she did not know this was the woman she had been looking for, she would have forgotten that she was a full-blown killer at heart. She was rewarded by a look of startled dismay.

  The woman lost her balance and tumbled into the long grass and landed hard on her knee, she winced from the pain. She looked to the left then to the right. She had a look of desperation in her eyes as she searched through her jacket pocket. Before Danni could react, the suspect charged her and pushed her back against the concrete wall. With a jab of the knife, she turned and dashed into the dark. The knife still lodged in Danni’s arm, with a cry she pulled it out. She stormed in the direction of the footsteps. Suddenly the woman emerged from behind, knocking her down with a thump. Gasping in shock and pain, she witnessed the ferocity of hatred as the woman warned her to stay down or she would kill her. Ignoring the threat she attempted to pull herself up but she was kicked in her chest causing her to lose her breath. She buckled over as the pain shot into her ribs. As she struggled to pull herself up but the baggage that was wrapped around her hand caught on a twig sticking out of the ground, her eyes caught something far in the distance. She screamed for help and tried to stand up but immediately winced and fell back onto the cold hard ground. The woman saw the agents running in her direction and dashed into the dark. When they reached the top hill to find Danni alive they searched the immediate area.

  “Where the hell were you?” Danni coughed her irritation.

  “I began to run, and I fell into a hole,” Frank hissed. “It was a fucking freshly dug grave.” He sat on the ground next to her. “You’re bleeding; we need to get you to the hospital.”

  “No fucking hospital. I want that bitch. You didn’t answer my question Frank. Why did you not answer me?”

  “Our signals were jammed and when I realized what happened, you were already in an altercation with her.”

  Danni looked around into the darkness. “Where the hell is she?”

  “Lopez is searching the grounds. She’s on foot; she can’t get that far away.”

  Danni looked at him in disbelief. “This is the woman who jumps roof tops and takes officers down all the while being pursued. Are you fucking kidding me she can’t get far?”

  Frank moved his eyes from hers and looked down. “We surprised her tonight, she has no idea we were here or that you were hiding and waiting for her. We didn’t tell anyone what we were doing until we were here. That confirms it, I think I have a mole in my office, I’m not sure who it is but I am sure going to find out.” He slammed his fist against the ground and pierced his gaze into the dark.

  “What makes you think you have a mole?” She reached out to pat his leg, but stopped when she saw the bandage around her hand was soaked in blood. Damn it. She thought then looked at the twig to her right that reopened her wound.

  “What makes me think there’s mole? We did this last minute. She has always been one step ahead of us, and this time we didn’t tell anyone and we almost got her.” He slammed his fist again, his face turned red the more he thought about one of his men betraying him. “When I find you, I am going to take you out,” he promised.

  What he said made more sense to her than her original thought. She knew the woman could not be working alone and believed that someone in her own office was giving information to the perp, but she had no proof and every lead she followed ended with no new information. She wanted to scream, and put shackles on all the men that had the intel and get the guilty one to confess. Just the thought of a mole that would give intel that eventually lead to so many deaths upset her, but the worst was the death of a fellow officer and friend. The women who had died in the process were casualties of their lifestyle she was sure of it, but she could not connect the two. Who would want to kill prostitutes and what was the connection to the Mayor, were they truly trying to ruin his career or was he the main target. She had more questions than answers and it drove her crazy.

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  The ER doctor waved his left hand as he exited the room; his annoyance with Danni was more than what he could take for one night. She refused every suggestion he made to admit her for the night. He glanced back one last time and could feel the pounding in his temple increase. He blinked back the disapproving gaze the nurse gave as he instructed her to fill out the release forms.

  “Danielle Pacelli!” Nurse Templeton walked in. “I don’t know how you convinced Doctor Ngiun to let you go home, but here are your release papers.” She shook her head. “You are one stubborn cop and one day you’re not going to be so lucky.”

  “And when that day comes, I want a different nurse!” Danni put her hand in the air to stop any further conversation. “I’ll be up on the seventh floor all night with my partner. If anything goes wrong with me, there are better nurses and doctors up there.” As much
as she wanted to walk out of the room quickly the pain that shot from her broken ribs humbled her exit. Just breathe she told herself as she held her breath and proudly walked away.

  The night wore on as Danni stretched out on the reclining chair, she was in pain and when she breathed in deep she had to fight the urge not to vomit. Annabel tried to comfort her but sleep was the only medicine she needed, and just as she was drifting off she heard the door open and heavy footsteps enter. Burns strolled into with a shoe box in hand. He tried to apologize for not telling them about the child but didn’t believe it mattered he never thought it would come back and haunt him. He explained it took him half of the night to find the box, he had forgotten he had it hid on the top shelve of his closet. He pulled the small shoebox filled with the memories of his past.

  Danni had to force herself to sit up and take the box, when she opened it; she carefully pulled out its contents. There were several newspaper clippings and photos, as well as a memorial service program and a few other trinkets. Danni put the program and the clippings aside and started looking through the photos. She stopped at one showing the same face that now haunted her, Patricia O’Sullivan aka Wendy Travis with another girl.

  The photos always included the two girls, Burns was not sure who the other girl was and assumed it was a neighbor or a school buddy. He explained how he paid his child support and also paid for her to attend one of the best private schools. He wiped away a single tear as he looked at the last picture he had been given, it was taken one month prior to Marlene’s death, and the last time he had seen Patricia was two days before her birthday when social services showed up at his doorstep with the child sitting in the car, he recalled how tears filled her eyes, he could see she was frightened not knowing what was going on.

  He broke down as he explained how he sent them away and said he would pay for her needs but could not raise her. Burns held the photo in one hand and the surveillance photo in the other comparing the two. The image from the surveillance wasn’t as good as her photo, but it was clear enough to show that the two girls were indeed incredibly similar. He shook his head as he looked back and forth between the two pictures for a long time before sighing and putting them down.

  “I messed up. I was not ready to be a dad,” that was all he could say before the tears finally escaped. “It would have ruined my political career if it was made public that I had an illegitimate child.”

  “I’m not here to judge you Mayor I need you to tell me who the girl with her in the picture is. We don’t think she’s acting alone.”

  “I don’t know,” he covered his eyes. “I never knew anything about her, and Marlene never told me anything. I thought it better that way,” he sighed. “I guess if I didn’t know anything, I would never know what I was missing.”

  Danni looked to Annabel then back to the Mayor, she knew there had to be a way to find out. Two girls just do not grow up together for the first nine years of their life and no one knows or cares, the girls had to stay in touch.

  “Did you ever try to see her?” Annabel ended the silence.

  He nodded his head then sighed. “I would get weekly reports on her progress, and then one day I got a call and was told she ran away from the home when she turned seventeen.”

  “Nothing after that like notes, emails, packages, basically is this all you have?” Danni grilled further.

  He pulled a gold locket which dangled elegantly on a long chain from the inside pocket of his jacket pocket. He stared at it for several seconds before opening it. Inside the contents memorialized a picture of a younger version of the Mayor with a beautiful redhead and other the other side a lock of hair and a baby tooth taped in place.

  “How my life would have been so different if I would have just married her. The biggest mistake I ever made is when I let her get away.” A single tear escaped his eye as he handed Danni the locket.

  Her eyes narrowed down on the hair and the tooth. She looked at him and then back to Annabel. “Do you know what we have here? We have her DNA.” Danni stood up so quickly that the pain from her ribs knocked the breath out of her. She stumbled back and fell to her knees as the pain increased.

  Annabel shot out of the bed and grabbed her. “Okay Detective, it is time you sit down and let the FBI take it from here,” she ordered as she helped her into the bed and called for the nurse.

  It was not long before Burns was asked to leave and Frank entered. He stayed long enough to collect the locket and the shoebox.

  “What did the doctor say?” he whispered to Annabel who walked him out the door.

  “They admitted her for observation. She’s not happy about it but she agreed when they said they would put her bed in my room.” She giggled. “She’s stubborn as hell but they were not going to let her leave tonight.”

  Frank smiled as he looked over to see the sleeping Danni. “Take care of her and I’ll be back in the morning. I’ll have the lab run this tonight.”

  Annabel tapped him on his arm. “Are there any openings in the agency for an aspiring agent?”

  He smiled and patted her on the shoulder. “Get a little bit more experience and there will definitely be an opening for you.”

  “Oh,” she sighed. “I understand.”

  Frank nodded as he turned to walk away. The only one woman he has ever wanted on his team was Danni. He figured if she had not mentioned the transfer there was a good reason and it was not his place to tell her. Frank was aware the two were lovers and it would violate office protocol to have them both working in the same department.

  Back in the lab Frank stood over the technician waiting on the results. The woman fidgeted as she placed the beaker in the machine. She tried to shove him away but he would not budge. “I can’t work like this. You’re going have to move back.”

  Frank grabbed a stool placing it off to the left where his gaze never left the machine. As soon as the papers printed she handed it to another tech and ordered him to run the data into IAFIS. Once loaded in the system there would be no chance of human error or tampering. He slumped in his seat and the words echoed in his head. She’s not working alone and that was the first thing he heard all week that he agreed with. Someone was helping her and he would personally take that person down, and if they worked in his office, he would take joy in it.

  Lopez walked in the lab with two cups of coffee. “Here, thought you could use this. You look like shit Frank, go home and get some sleep, I’ll wait for the results.”

  Frank took the coffee and smiled. “Man, thanks I needed this, but I want to wait. This lady has done pissed me off and I want to be here when they compare the blood from the shooting and the DNA from the locket.”

  “I thought you knew it was her.”

  He rubbed his jaw when he noticed Lopez’s eager expression. “Crossing my T’s Lopez,” he offered trying not to show his suspicion and was happy when the machine chimed letting them know it was done, Lopez almost knocked him over trying to look at the screen.

  “What the fuck is this?” Frank yelled as the information came. “This doesn’t make sense. How the hell do the samples not match?”

  Frank called over the technician. “Look at this. You ran the DNA from the tooth and the blood sample and from the hair. Why don’t they match?”

  “If you look Sir, you will see the tooth matches perfectly with the blood sample, but the DNA we extracted from the tooth is not from the same donor, but sir, they do share alleles in common. One is male and one is female, but without parents DNA I cannot say if they are brother and sister or first cousins, but they do have enough in common to tell me they are closely related.”

  “What the fuck is going on here?” Frank ran his hand through his hair. “Lopez, stay here and wait on the rest of the tests, I need to go see a man about paternity and when I get back I will have a blood sample for you to compare too.

  “Yes sir.”

  “Oh and I want two in this room at all times while the tests are being run.” He glanced at Lopez
who was looking at the screen, and winced when he suspected him. Everyone was a suspect, even his closest and trusting agents.

  “Yes sir,” was all he heard as the lab door shut behind him. He made several calls and gave direction to the person on the other end. Now the hard part, he thought looking the phone on his desk, and it will be well worth the wait when I find out the truth.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  The beeping sound of machines and whispers stirred Danni awake, she looked around unaware of her surroundings, it took several times to clear her vision and a simple thought took noticeable effort. A brief pain in her arm caused her to look down, and she saw array of tubes that were connected. She squeezed her eyes shut hoping when she opened them she would find this was all a bad dream but the painful memories overwhelmed her from the night before. The sudden wave of nausea that passed over her as she caressed her ribs became a clear indication that she failed to apprehend her again.

  “Shit,” she cursed and clenched her fist, she was not a stranger to disappointment where this case was concerned but she had enough. She was aware that while she lay in the hospital, Travis had the advantage. “Unacceptable!” she hissed angrily as a sudden clench in her gut caused her to hunch over in pain. She moved slowly and cursed as the cramp came again but the need to contact Frank and get an update over rode her discomfort. She heaved herself over the edge of the bed and stumbled to the small fluorescent light that shone from the bathroom. The pain that shot through her ribs made her want to throw up but she held her side and move forward. Her legs were numb and weak and she only managed one strep before she tumbled over. She sat helpless, too proud to call out for help. Her throat was arid and her breath was warm and sickly in her chest. Her mind felt disconnected from her body and a blank void was all she could see or feel as she sat on the edge of consciousness.