by DK Cassidy
“I have to agree with Grant, Lucien. Waiting around isn’t my style. I want to keep searching for her and any of her partners.”
“Anything useful on her comm?” asks Lucien.
“The most interesting information is the text log between Jupzi and Jennifer.” I pass the communicator around so they can read them. “I’ve already sent her contacts to Judy to research who they are. Lucien, you might recognize some of the names. I didn’t.”
“Do you mind if we keep everything in your room tonight, Lily?” asks Grant.
“Yeah, no problem. As far as I know, no one has any idea we have the briefcase. Hey, did you tell your captain what’s going on?”
“Not yet. I will when we get back to New New York. I’d rather fill him in when I see him in person.”
The evening is winding down, and we all need a good night’s rest. I’m about to stand up and unpack my pajamas when Grant continues the conversation. He looks fascinated by the baggie of maxx.
“Have you ever messed with this stuff?” Grant asks us while looking at the bag of maxxolonium. “I’m not asking as a cop, just curious.”
Lucien shakes his head. “I’ve tried pot, but that’s about it. If I want to party, I drink.”
“I’m not crazy,” I say. “There’s no way I’d use that poison. That stuff needs to be taken off the street.”
“I still think you were stupid to talk to the dealers unarmed,” says Lucien. “You were lucky to get out of that situation alive. How did you choose who to approach?”
I thought the answer was obvious. “He was the only one from Jaxiolis.”
“Of course. I feel stupid. Now I need to go to my room and get some sleep,” says Lucien.
Grant sets the maxxolonium on my dresser next to the items we found in the briefcase. “See you in the morning, Lily.”
We are meeting in my room again first thing in the morning.
The answer to the mystery of the supply chain is there. Somehow, we’ll figure it out. But not tonight.
Chapter Eighteen
Lucien and Grant show up to my room bearing muffins and coffee. Before we can eat, someone knocks on my motel room door, disrupting our breakfast. Without checking the peephole, Lucien opens the door. Jennifer holds her gun at waist level, pointing it at him. She smiles at Lucien before asking to enter. “Aren’t you going to let your former lover in? Where are your manners?”
Lucien steps back from the door and motions for Jennifer to enter. He gives me a look that is far from reassuring. My gut doesn’t feel so good. She’s the last person I expected to see. Makes me wonder if the Jaxiolisan drug dealer called her.
Grant stays in my bathroom, not revealing his presence. He had just gone in there when Jennifer knocked on my door. I hope he has a plan, because I don’t. He left the door slightly ajar so she won’t suspect someone is in there.
Jennifer strides in, waving her gun in my direction. “So, you’re still with her? What are you, part of a posse? Or is she my replacement?”
It doesn’t matter what she thinks of me, but I can’t help myself. “Actually, we’re partners. And I have a name, it’s Lily. Now what do you want? Are you ready to surrender?”
Jennifer’s smile evolves into a snarl. “Feisty little thing, aren’t you? You’ve got this backwards, sweetie. I’m here to silence both of you. I’m tired of running.”
She raises her gun, then pauses. “Where’s that good-looking cop? Did he give up on you? He’s smarter than you two if he did.”
Neither of us says anything. I hope Grant can hear our conversation. Now would be a good time to do something.
Jennifer motions for us to kneel. If we’re going to die, I don’t want to feel alone. I reach for Lucien’s hand.
“Now isn’t that adorable? Who wants to die first? I’ll let your little girlfriend choose. What do you say, Lily? Do you want to die first, or would you prefer to watch Lucien die before I shoot you? Decide quickly, I have places to go.”
What a horrible position to be in. I decide I’d rather die first. I look up to answer and spot the bathroom door opening slowly. To give Grant time to get in position, I try to stroke Jennifer’s ego by asking her about her plans.
“Before I answer, I’d really like to know about the maxxolonium. Why are you selling it? Do you need the money? And do you have any partners?”
She smirks. “I guess I can tell you because in a minute, your brains will be all over this motel room.”
At this point Grant is out of the bathroom, but he doesn’t have his gun. He must have left it in his motel room. I feel defeated until I see he’s holding his belt like a whip. I suppose that will work. Hopefully he can keep quiet long enough to get within reach of Jennifer.
Lucien squeezes my hand. He understands what I’m trying to do. We have to distract her.
“Before I explain my grand plan, do you have any questions for me, Lucien? This feels ridiculous, but I’m not all bad. I’ll take the time to tell you some of what’s going on.”
Lucien stares at Jennifer and shakes his head.
“Last call for questions, lover.” She says this as she raises her gun once again, placing the muzzle against my temple. I’ve never been so scared in my life, and my body begins to shake. It all comes down to Grant being able to take down Jennifer, but he’s gotta make a move soon.
“Yes, I do have one thing I’d like to ask you, Jennifer. Why did you feel the need to steal from me?”
Lucien squeezes my hand again.
“I stole from you because I wanted to,” she says with a sneer. “Pure and simple, lover. Don’t be so egotistical thinking it had anything to do with you. I needed the money. Your company and its research made it simple for me. I’ve been planning this for close to a year. Why do you think I slept with you? Because you’re irresistible?” She laughs. “You give yourself too much credit. I prefer Jaxiolisans. They’re much better lovers than humans.”
Jennifer is shifting from one foot to the other. Either she’s getting bored with this or she’s nervous. I can’t imagine a woman like her being nervous. I want to ask her one more question, so I blurt it out before she says or does anything else.
“Who killed the women? And why the red scarves? Do they symbolize something?”
Jennifer lowers the gun from my temple and smiles. Technically it’s a smile, but it sends chills down my spine. It’s full of malice and delight. Her eyes gleam.
“Now that’s the best question you’ve asked. I was getting bored waiting for everything to fall into place. Then I thought about causing a distraction, something to keep the police—and it turns out, you two—busy. I figured if you joined the current murder investigation, you’d be too engaged to figure out what I’m doing. The bonus was that I enjoyed killing those women. Watching the life leave them gave me a thrill better than anything else I’ve ever experienced. Even better than sex with a Jaxiolisan, and that’s saying a lot.”
What the hell is taking Grant so long? Hasn’t he heard enough?
“You’re a monster!” Lucien snarls.
“No, I prefer to call myself a killing genius. It was so easy. I’d meet these women in bars and seduce them. We’d go back to my place, and I’d mix them a cocktail with a special ingredient. They’d be sedated just enough so I could control them, but they were also fully aware of what I was doing. The red scarves were my way of tying the killings together for the morons in the police department. I didn’t want them to take too long to figure out all the murders were connected.”
“You killed those poor women to cover your tracks and you enjoyed it?” says Lucien, disgust in his voice. “I can’t believe you fooled me for three years. You’re not going to be able to explain our murders.”
Jennifer looks exasperated now. We need to be careful; if we get her any angrier, she’ll shoot us before Grant gets to her.
“Hah, you think that’s going to be a problem, Lucien? Look around. You’re staying in a motel known for its criminal activity. The cops w
ill think you were killed over a drug deal. There’s even a baggie of maxxolonium sitting on your table. I don’t even have to clean up after myself this time. This is going to be the easiest murder to get away with yet.”
Something tugs at my brain. “Why the blood?” I ask.
Her eyes dart to me. “What?”
“Why drain their blood? The coroner said they were exsanguinated.”
She frowns. “I didn’t drain those women of blood. My partner did it. Even I couldn’t do that.” She points the gun at me again. “Time to die.”
She jams the muzzle in my temple again and looks into my eyes.
Anytime, Grant. In fact, now would be good. I see her begin to depress the trigger, then all of a sudden, she jerks back. Grant has looped his belt around her neck. About time!
Lucien and I stand up, ready to help, but at this point he seems to be in control of the situation. Jennifer is swearing and screaming, trying to shoot him. She gets a couple of shots off before he knocks the gun out of her hand. Jennifer stomps on his foot with her stiletto, causing him to yelp and stumble backwards. She pulls the belt from her neck, throws it aside, then crawls around looking for her gun.
Time to jump in and help. I toss a chair, hitting her squarely on her back.
“You bitch!” she shrieks at me.
That’s the second time today someone’s called me that.
Lucien pulls her by her leg, away from the gun. She’s kicking him and spitting. I recover the belt, tossing it to Grant. Jennifer has gotten to her feet, and she’s throwing her briefcase at Lucien. He ducks and laughs at her.
“Not so tough now, are you? Did you really think you could get away with all of this?”
We haven’t controlled her yet, but she’s tired, heaving her breaths in and out in gasps. I need to be careful. As if on cue, she runs at me, grabbing my arm with surprising strength, then punches me in the eye. Shit, that hurt. I kick her in the stomach, sending her reeling.
Grant flicks the buckle end of the belt, hitting Jennifer on the lips. She screams and falls down for the last time, knocking her head against a table. The blow knocks her unconscious.
Lucien picks her up and lays her on my bed. Grant ties up her legs with his belt; then he goes to his room for his handcuffs. When he returns, he finishes securing Jennifer. My brush with death has made me angry.
“Why in the hell did you wait so long, Grant?” says Lucien. “Not that I’m not thankful that you saved our lives, but I thought Lily and I were dead.”
Grant looks over at Jennifer to confirm she’s still knocked out. He rolls her over; she’s still unconscious.
“Believe me, I was worried about that too. When you and Lily started asking her questions, I was hoping she’d say something important. I kept my eye on her gun. I wasn’t going to let her hurt you. We learned about the murders, which is huge. Also, we know she has at least one partner. The information you got out of her is important, but in retrospect, I admit I waited too long. That was too damn close.”
No kidding. Once she began to depress that trigger, I was resigned to dying. Another microsecond and it would have been all over.
“Next time don’t wait so long, Grant,” I say.
The three of us stand over Jennifer, staring at her. We finally have her. Maybe now we can get the rest of the answers to our questions. It’s a waiting game, but once she wakes up the interrogation can begin. In the meantime, what do we do?
“I’m thinking it’s time to get the police involved,” says Grant. “Arresting her and getting to question her at the station might be easier. We’d have more power over her.”
I’m still not ready to give Jennifer over to the police. We’ve worked too hard to get to this moment. I want to get answers now, then hand her over. Maybe I’m being unreasonable, but I don’t care. We’ve captured her. This could mean lots of new cases. Our names will be all over the news.
“Grant, I get why you want to do that, but I’m asking for more time. We can solve this without help. What do you say?” I hope he agrees because if he doesn’t, I’m not backing down. Fighting with him is the last thing I want to do, but this is important to me. I’m surprised Lucien isn’t chiming in.
“I suppose you feel the same way, Lucien?” asks Grant.
“Lily has a point. We’ve invested a lot of time and energy on this case. I’d like to follow it to its conclusion.”
Grant sighs. “Okay, we’ll keep the police out for now, but as I’ve said before, if things get too dangerous, the deal is over. Although getting shot should have been dangerous enough.”
Jennifer wakes up and starts to writhe on the bed, trying to loosen the handcuffs. There is still blood on the buckle from where he hit her. The belt around her legs are too tight for her to get away.
“Let me go! You don’t know what you’ve done.”
That’s a curious thing to say. Not sure if Jennifer is alone, I part the curtains and look outside. The parking lot is empty except for the limo. I wonder how she got here and worry there is someone waiting for her around the corner.
“Are your partners nearby?” I ask.
She stops moving on the ratty bedspread and stares at me, answering me through bruised lips. “I work alone,” she says viciously. “I don’t need help from anyone.”
I don’t believe her.
Lucien slaps her, then begins shaking her shoulders. “I’m sick of your lies. Who are you working with?”
Before she can answer, there’s another knock on the door.
Chapter Nineteen
No one moves to answer. Strange that Jennifer doesn’t scream for help. In case she changes her mind, I stuff a washcloth in her mouth, and Lucien secures it with his necktie. I creep to the peephole and look. I don’t want another surprise on the other side of the door. Standing outside is the motel manager, and he looks pissed off. He is puffing on his cigarette and flicking the ashes against the wall. Then he starts banging at the door.
I whisper to Grant to carry Jennifer into the bathroom. She hangs limply on his shoulder, not struggling. Curious. “Just a minute!”
“Hurry up. I ain’t got all day.”
The room is a mess from the fight, but I hope the manager just assumes I’m a slob. A deep breath, and then I open the door, trying to act unconcerned.
“Yeah? Did you need something?” I ask.
Lucien and I use our bodies to block the view of the room from him.
“What the hell is going on in here? Three guests called the front office to complain about the noise. In a dump like this, that’s a big deal. This place is always noisy, so you two must have been having a major fight in the room.” He looks at my face. “Whoa, that’s quite a shiner you got there. Did this guy give it to you? Never mind, I don’t want to know. Either quiet down or you’re out of here.”
He tries one last time to see around us, then gives up.
Lucien puts his arm around me. “We’re sorry, sir. I promise we’ll be quiet the rest of the time we’re here.”
The manager calms down, shrugging as he turns to leave. With a final flick of his cigarette, he heads back to the front office. He’s done his duty and can tell the complaining guests we’ve been warned. I think he’s relieved we didn’t give him any trouble.
“I’m too jumpy. I thought for sure it was someone from Jennifer’s crowd.” I look around the room nervously. “I want to get out of this awful motel. Let’s hurry up and question her.”
The other two agree, so Grant carries Jennifer from the bathroom and sets her in a chair. I undo Lucien’s tie and remove the now bloody washcloth. The injury on her lip is still bleeding and swollen, but she tried to kill me earlier, so I have no sympathy for her now. Grant grabs her chin and jerks her face up so she can see us.
“Ready to tell us about your operation? These two already asked you the questions, now all we need are the answers.”
Jennifer looks defiant. “Be a gentleman, Officer, and unlock my handcuffs. I can’t talk with my
hands behind my back. They hurt.”
Grant fishes the key out of his pocket and unlocks one cuff, securing it to the bathroom doorknob. Then—and I give him credit for being more of a humanitarian than me—he offers her water.
“I was right about you. Thank you for treating me like a person. My wrists are numb. Do you want to rub them for me?” Jennifer gives Grant a seductive smile, which looks gruesome with her bleeding lip.
“Enough of your stalling, Jennifer. Start answering our questions.”
Lucien kneels down so he is eye level with her. Before he can speak, she says, “Last time you were on your knees, I had your life in my hands. It’s a pity I didn’t shoot you right away, lover. It’s my fault for being so nice.”
Lucien ignores her. “How many formulas did you steal from me? Besides the maxxolonium, are you and your partners planning on making any other illicit drugs?”
“Who said I have partners?”
“You did.”
“So maybe I was a little too free with my information, but in my defense, I thought you’d be dead before you could tell anyone.”
I don’t get involved in the conversation, preferring to listen. Her flippant attitude angers me, and I’m not sure I won’t slap her before the conversation is over.
Grant grabs Jennifer’s chin again to turn her face back to his. “Stop wasting our time. Answer the question Lucien asked, then we’ll go on to the next ones.”
I can tell Jennifer is enjoying herself. She closes her eyes and makes the gesture of zipping her mouth closed. I’m officially out of patience. Before Grant or Lucien can stop me, I jump up and slap her in the face. The force of my blow whips her face to the side, and I hear her groan. She opens her eyes and wipes her lips.
“You’re a feisty sidekick, aren’t you? I am officially not answering any questions. Do what you want, I won’t be bullied or beaten into cooperating.”
With that, she closes her eyes again and smiles.
Time to reassess. Grant takes a sheet off the bed, tying it around her and the chair so she can’t run away. The three of us go into the bathroom and close the door so we can talk. Jennifer can’t escape, and we need privacy to speak.