Not Alone

by Liz Bradford

  “Yes, sir.” Jared said. “We were partners back in San Diego.”

  “Really, when you were both uniforms? I knew you had both worked there but didn’t realize it was the same time and same precinct. That’s great. How long were you partners?”

  “The entire five years I was there,” Rebecca answered.

  “Okay, Rebecca, you are normally one of the hardest people to read, but it is written all over your face that there is something else going on here. Go ahead and spit it out. You know I don’t like secrets in my department.”

  She looked at the Captain. He didn’t like secrets, so she knew he needed to know the truth now. “Jared is Callie’s dad.”

  “Ok, then,” he said, “that’s great; I’m glad he will be in her life now.” He smiled at them, but then his expression became more solemn. “But let me tell you two this, I’m not a fan of relationship between my detectives, but ultimately, I do not care what your personal lives look like outside of work, as long as, when you are at work, you work. DO NOT let your personal lives interfere. If that ever becomes a problem for the two of you, you come to me. Don’t make me have to confront you on it. Understand?”

  “Yes, sir,” they said in unison.

  “All right. Palmer, show Johnson around. And you are on,” he looked at his watch, “in fifteen minutes. Be ready.”

  The Captain left his office.

  Jared’s smile reappeared. “Hey, partner.”

  She tried to suppress a giggle. Her heart fluttered at the sight of him. She couldn’t believe that after all these years, and all they had been through, that he still had that effect on her. She shook her head.

  “Nothing like jumping in with both feet, but if you are half as good a detective as you were a uniformed officer we’ll be great partners.” She smiled at him. “All right, the grand tour will have to wait since I have a presentation in fifteen minutes. But let me show you the most important spot in the station.” He followed her through the busy station to the break room. She needed more coffee. On the way she was stopped by three different people asking questions about the case. Finally, she snapped a little.

  Throwing her hands in the air she said, “No more questions about it,” to the third inquisitor. “I’m briefing everyone in less than fifteen minutes.”

  Adam Jamison walked by, “Palmer, get more coffee, stat. Is that just your first cup?”

  “That’s where I’m headed!”

  “New Guy,” Adam said to Jared, “Make sure she gets that coffee.”

  “Will do,” Jared replied.

  “Go away, Adam.” Becca glanced at Jared who was snickering at her. She glared at him.

  “This is the break room. Coffee is here. And it is good coffee; no junk coffee allowed in here.” She poured herself and offered the pot to Jared. He took it and filled the travel mug he had been holding.

  He laughed as she added copious amount of sugar and cream. “Becca, how would you know if it is good coffee with all that sugar and cream?”

  “Shut it.” She smiled at him. “Caleb told you I was a detective?”

  “After we got home last night.”

  “I can’t believe… well, I guess he did tell me. But he didn’t say his brother was a detective.”

  Jared chuckled. “Yeah, he said something about how he wanted us to meet and get to know each other as connected to him before we worked together.”

  “Little did he know.”

  “Right!” They laughed before a silence fell between them.

  Becca sipped her coffee. Now it was time to focus. They walked back to the squad room and to her desk in the middle of the room. “Have you seen the case file yet?”

  “I spent yesterday afternoon looking over it. I think I have a fair idea of what is going on. Listening to your briefing should help. Let me clarify this, though. Based on his pattern this week would be when we would have expected him to grab another victim, but there hasn’t been a missing person’s report that matched, right?”

  “Correct. So, he’s either taking a week off, or he has a girl out there that we don’t know about. Either way I don’t like it.”

  Rebecca picked up the files on her desk and started flipping through them to remind herself of all that she wanted to say, refreshing her mind of the details. So much had happened in her personal life in the last fourteen hours that she needed to refocus. She wasn’t sure Jared standing there watching everything she did was very helpful, but she couldn’t think of a better partner to have by her side. It was almost time. She looked up at Jared and saw him brush his hair out of his face.

  “How did the Captain not send you straight to the barber?”

  “You know you like it.”

  She shot him a glare that said, “Don’t go there at work.” He was right though, she had always liked his hair long. He always kept it at the maximum length his bosses would let him. But it was brushing his collar and falling in his eyes.

  She motioned for Jared to follow her while she headed to the large briefing room. On the way she asked an office clerk to have Doug’s desk switched with the empty one so Jared wouldn’t be across the room. Once in the room Rebecca picked up the tablet that sat on the narrow table below the screen and made sure everything was ready to go. Then the two of them sat in the chairs at the front of the room. Everyone started gathering in the room and took their seats waiting for the briefing to begin. The Captain came to the front to get things started. He motioned for Rebecca to join him in front of everyone.

  “Good morning, everyone,” the Captain began, “As you all know we have a serial killer on our hands. Detective Palmer is going to run through the details of the case for us. But before she begins I want to introduce you all to our newest detective, Jared Johnson.” He motioned for Jared to stand. “Johnson will be Palmer’s partner since Ramirez had an unfortunate accident on the basketball court with some of you yahoos last night. Johnson comes from the Chicago PD, so he’s experienced and has an impressive arrest history. Treat him well. He and Palmer were partners back in San Diego, so I already know they will work well together.” Jared sat back down with Baker’s permission, but Baker continued to speak. “You all know how much I hate secrets and even more how much I hate gossip going around about my detectives—”

  Rebecca closed her eyes briefly knowing exactly what was coming and dreading it.

  “I want this out and said so there’s no chatter. You all know Palmer’s daughter, Callie, well, Johnson is Callie’s father. No need to gossip, got it?” Nods and ‘yes, sir’s’ came from around the room.

  Now it was time for Rebecca to begin. “All right, folks, I’m going to run through the victim profile and crime scenes and then our wonderful profiler, Benson, is going to run us through the unsub’s profile. We have three victims.” As she said their names she put their pictures up on the screen, “The first victim was Michelle MacDonald, second was Tonya Jennings, and the third was Crystal Atkins. As you can see, all three women were brunettes. They were all in their mid-twenties or early thirties. Michelle was thirty-two, Tonya was thirty, and Crystal was twenty-six. They all were single moms of young children. Michelle had two children that are five and three, Tonya had one son who is six, and Crystal’s little one is four. Each woman was snatched during or after her regular workout on Monday of the week they were found. We just discovered through further investigation that Michelle was indeed walking home from yoga class when she went missing. Tonya was grabbed when she left the gym, and Crystal was kidnapped on her regular evening run. That is where the similarities between these women end. They are from completely different parts of the city and are from different income brackets. To recap the victims are all brunettes in their mid-twenties to early thirties, single moms who are athletic, and have young children.

  “What the unsub does with these women is very consistent. He has been kidnapping them on Mondays and dumping their bodies in a public park on Thursday mornings. In between, he tortures them; we haven’t been able to determin
e how exactly he is doing it, but their bodies have been covered in bruises and cuts. He is also using a permanent marker to write words on them. All three women had the words ‘sinner,’ ‘selfish,’ ‘whore,’ and ‘immoral’ on their bodies. But each one also had a word unique to them. Michelle had ‘cheater.’ Tonya had ‘coward.’ And Crystal had ‘liar.’ This connects to the notes he has left with their bodies. Each note has started with the same line, ‘I have paid for my sins.’ Then the remainder of the note alludes to the unique word that was written on their bodies. The unsub is restraining their wrists with a basic rope, the same rope that he then uses to strangle them. Before he dumps their bodies, he is washing them thoroughly with bleach. When he put their bodies in the parks, he laid them there with care, arranging their hair just so. He dressed each woman in a clean, white dress. He then placed flowers in each woman’s hands. The same flowers were found in their homes, and we know from Crystal’s best friend that the flowers were delivered to them, most likely by or at least from the unsub. Each woman had a different flower. Michelle had violets, Tonya had hydrangeas, and Crystal had white chrysanthemums.”

  Adam raised his hand.

  “Jamison?”

  “Has anyone had a chance to look into the meanings of those flowers? Since we’ve established recently that he didn’t choose the flower based on the victim’s preferences, maybe he’s sending a message.”

  “I have not, but that’s a great idea. Jamison, would you research that and let me know?”

  “On it.”

  “Thanks. Well, that’s the basics. These women deserve justice. They were hard-working moms, who were doing what they could to take care of their little families. Let’s find this guy and keep him from hurting anyone else. Benson, please tell us more about the unsub.”

  Rebecca went and sat down next to Jared while Benson explained that the unsub was most likely a man in his thirties or forties who was intelligent. He was methodical and meticulous. The man most likely has deep-seated mommy issues. While she was listening to Benson explain his theories, Margret came up to Rebecca. Handing her a piece of paper she whispered, “We have another victim,” in her ear. Rebecca’s heart plummeted. She got up and walked behind Benson over to where Captain Baker was leaning against the wall. She whispered to him the news. Baker waited for a break in what Benson was saying before he interrupted.

  He pushed off the wall and said, “Unfortunately, it has been brought to my attention that we have a fourth victim. Palmer and Johnson will head to the scene. The rest of you know your jobs, so let’s work together and get this guy.”

  She joined Jared and walked back to her desk. She checked her magazine and holstered her Smith & Wesson M&P9. Jared checked his weapon as well. Grabbing the keys to the department car she drove, she headed out the door with Jared right behind her.

  Rebecca climbed in the driver’s side of the sedan while Jared went around and got in the passenger’s side. The poor man bumped his head and knees trying to get into the seat Doug normally sat it.

  “Seriously, is your old partner a hobbit or something?”

  She snickered. “Sorry, I should have warned you or moved the seat back before you got in. Doug is a rather small guy, only 5’6.”

  “He’s shorter than you?”

  “Yep.”

  “And do you always wear those heels?” She glanced down at her chunky heels that lifted her another two inches off the ground.

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “Poor, Doug. That’s not very nice, Becks.” She hadn’t heard that nickname in over five and a half years. She smiled, forgetting about Doug and the heels.

  Rebecca pulled out of the parking space and then out onto the road headed to the crime scene. For the first time, she was alone with Jared, but she didn’t know what to say so she just focused on driving. She had done such a good job of keeping her work and personal life separate the last five years, but Jared sitting in the seat next to her was bringing her two worlds crashing together once again. Back in the day she had only had one world. Jared. They worked together, they ate together, they drank together, and they slept together. Her entire world had been that man. Things had to be different now. They had to keep their personal lives separate from work. But all she could think about right now was their personal lives. What was going to become of them? Were they going to pick up where they left off? But, how could they? They were both Christians now, everything had changed. Everything except how she felt about him; that remained the same.

  Her stomach grew queasy. Why was she thinking about her personal life when someone had just been murdered? She needed to focus on the case.

  They arrived at the crime scene, having not said a word the entire time since they left the precinct. As they were about to exit the car, Jared reached over and gently touched her shoulder. She turned to look at him. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  She smiled. “Yeah.”

  “Okay, because you looked really pensive the entire way here. Thinking about the case?”

  “No. Thinking about all the things we need to talk about, but once again now is not the time or place.”

  He nodded with understanding. “Well, shall we go see what we can glean from this crime scene?”

  She nodded, and they both exited the car and made their way to the area cordoned off by police tape.

  As a uniformed officer lifted the police tape for them to walk under Jared asked, “I know I don’t know the area yet, but this is pretty close to where you live isn’t it?”

  Becca had been trying to ignore that fact, but Jared identifying it made her stop as she struggled to take in air. “It is.” She looked at the school that was next door. “That’s Callie’s school.”

  Jared grimaced.

  “Hey, Riley,” she turned back to the uniformed officer they had just passed. “Please tell me none of the kids found the body.”

  “No, thankfully, they are inside for recess because of the rain. I believe the janitor noticed something out of place and came over to check it out.”

  “Good. Thanks.”

  “Sure.”

  Rebecca sighed. This definitely could have been worse. She resumed her path to the body with Jared just a step behind.

  Her chest deflated as her eyes fell on the victim. There in the playground mulch near the tree line lay another beautiful young lady with dark brown hair, just like the others. Everything was just like the others. The flower of choice this time was a pink carnation.

  Jared followed Becca around the crime scene. This case was intense, and he needed to get his bearings on this new job quickly. His instinct was to take charge, but this was Becca’s case, so his job was to observe and support her in any way he could. The more he learned about this case the more it disturbed him. Why hadn’t someone reported this young woman as missing? Was she a single mom like the others? If so, weren’t her kids missing her by now? It could be hours until they knew who she was, so for now they focused on what was before them. They hadn’t been there but half an hour when Becca started getting antsy. No one else probably noticed, but you don’t know someone as well as he knew Becca and not notice the way she shifted back and forth on her feet and absent-mindedly twisted her hair.

  Working side by side with Becca was definitely not what he expected for his first day. It was reassuring and incredibly distracting at the same time, but he was determined to do his job and do it well. They had made a good team once upon a time. Their personalities meshed well; their strengths and weaknesses had always complimented each other. He hoped that they could fall right back into the beat of working well together. But so much had happened. They had let their personal lives interfere with work once, and for years he had carried around the guilt that maybe if they hadn’t Carl would still be alive. He had dealt with the situation on his own and come to grips with the fact that it wasn’t their fault, but he knew they needed to deal with it together now that they were partners again.

  “It’s all the same.” Becca’s words
brought him out of his head.

  They were learning nothing new from this crime scene. The body had been there for hours and with the light rain that had been falling all morning, they were at a loss for leads. “Becks, you ready to head back to the station?” he asked.

  “Yes. Let’s get out of here,” she said.

  He suppressed a chuckle at her gusto. She was still as adorable as ever. Why did he find every little thing about this woman so endearing? Why had he left five and a half years ago? He was going to regret that for the rest of his life.

  As they rode to the station an uneasy feeling settled in Jared’s stomach. “Becca? Where do you work out?” It was apparent by the way her suit clung to her tall, slender body that she was as dedicated as ever to her regular workout routine.

  “At home. I have an elliptical and weights in the spare bedroom upstairs. Why?” She asked clearly not seeing the relevance of the question.

  “I just wanted to be sure you weren’t going to a gym or out running on your own.”

  “What difference does that make?”

  “You fit the victim profile.”

  She slammed on the brakes as they approached a red light. “What are you talking about? No, I don’t!”

  “Yes, you do.”

  “How? My hair isn’t dark like theirs. I’m older than all the victims.”

  “But, you aren’t much older. Thirty-five isn’t much older than thirty-two. And I don’t think the exact age of the mother is as important as the age of her children. The kids have been three, four, five, and six, right? And Callie is five. And do you really not think of your hair as brown? It may be lighter, and you may have been blonde as a kid, but it’s brunette now.”

  She obviously had not thought about any of this. The light turned green, but she just sat there staring at the dashboard. “Becca, the light is green,” he said gently. She shook her head as if to shake off the realization that he might be right.