“Carma!” a man yelled from inside of her house.
She spun around at the sound of her name and glared at the man standing on the other side of the opened glass door, the same horrified eyes she saw staring at her in the picture.
“You come to finish me off?”
Chapter Eighteen
“What?” Mike asked taken aback, but then froze when he got a good look at her. “Oh, my God, Carma, your face! Are you alright?” he asked, staring at her battered face. He walked up to her and raised his hand to caress her purple cheek, but she flinched from his hand and took a step back. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. I have been so busy dealing with Kristen. You wouldn’t believe who she is dating now.” He shook his head to get the image of his precious daughter with that spoiled brat, Robert Lee, out of his mind. “I heard the rumors about what happened to you, but I couldn’t believe it.”
She stared at him, confused, rage boiling to the surface. “I’m sure you’re sorry. Did you not expect to see me here or did you have to see for yourself that I am still alive? I’m not some weak child and I am not at a disadvantage this time.”
“What are you talking about?”
“No, the question is, what are you doing here, Mike?”
“Harold got worried when you stormed out of the office without a word and called me when you wouldn’t answer the phone. He wanted to come check on you himself, but I told him I would. What are you doing out here anyway? I heard you scream, I thought you were in trouble.”
“I was letting off some steam.”
“I can see that. Bad day?”
“You can say that,” she said, glaring at him, still full of rage and pain. “You really shouldn’t be here right now. I’m not ready to deal with this shit yet.”
“Deal with what? What’s going on, Carma?”
“I’m serious, Mike! You really should just go.”
“No, not until you tell me what is going on.”
In one swift motion, Carma jumped in his face, breathing heavily, her heart beating so hard blood was about to burst through her veins. “My problem is you!”
Feeling the force of her anger, Mike took a step back. “Me? What the hell did I do?” Mike asked, getting angry as well. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you after the other night but …”
“You were fucking my dead girl, you douchebag!”
“What? How? What?”
“I saw you!” she screamed in his face. “You stupid son of a bitch! What? Did you screw me just to get information about the case?”
Mike backed away further from her as if she had just hit him. “How?”
“I found the pictures in Ronald Marks’ stuff, but you were already aware that your whore had a stalker, weren’t you? You saw him watching you.”
“Don’t call her that,” Mike barked back.
“No, you’re right. She is just a child, you were the adult. Tell me, what was it like to fuck your seventeen-year-old daughter’s best friend?”
“It wasn’t like that,” he pleaded.
“Oh, no? Tell me, Mike, how was it?”
“It just happened.”
“So you accidentally started screwing her, is that it? What, did you slip and fall, and she just happened to be under you just as naked? That’s a mighty big coincidence. Please explain to me how it ‘just’ happened.”
Mike looked away from her glare.
“Oh my God! Did you have feelings for her?”
“I don’t know! It’s so confusing.”
“Seriously, are you stupid or something? Never in my whole life would I ever say this, but you make me sick, like physically, violently ill. I have loved your dumb ass since I was a kid. I compared all other guys to you and for what? You’re no different from any other horny scumbag.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, looking away.
“Well, you should be. I separated myself from you and no matter how much I missed Mary, I stayed away. I gave you and Mary the life she so desperately wanted and I kept away so that no feelings would confuse you or me any further because that’s what good people do. So don’t tell me how sorry you are.”
“You’re right. I’m weak.”
“And apparently not that smart either. You didn’t exactly cover your tracks very well. Next time you better make sure there isn’t any evidence left behind or at the very least make sure I’m dead before you leave.”
“There won’t be a next time, I promise.”
“Nope, there won’t be because you are going to be spending a substantial part of your life in prison.”
“Are you serious? You’re going to arrest me?”
“Bet your ass I am.”
“It’ll ruin my career. What about Kristen?” Mike pleaded desperately.
“Sounds like you should have thought about all that before you did what you did.”
“Can’t we talk about this? You’re angry now, but maybe when you calm down you will feel a little differently.”
“Mike, after this, I have absolutely no interest in talking to you or seeing you ever again.”
Mike lowered his head, feeling utterly defeated and turned around and walked into the house and sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands. “I don’t know how things got so messed up.”
Carma followed him into the house and crossed her arms tight across her chest. “I’m not feeling sorry for you, Mike.”
Mike stood back up and opened the front door. Carma glared at him through slanted eyes, praying he didn’t try to run on her, or maybe he should so she could shoot him.
“You coming?” he asked over his shoulder.
“Where?”
“I thought you wanted to take me in.”
Carma took a deep shallow breath, then slowly walked further into the house and snatched up her coat and purse off the floor where she had collapsed when she got there earlier in the day.
***
Without saying another word, they reached the Sheriff’s Department fifteen minutes later. Everyone there was so accustomed to seeing both of them that they don’t give them a second look, that was until Mike freely walked into an empty holding cell and Carma closed the iron door behind him.
“What the hell is going on?” Jeff Williams, a deputy on night shift asked them.
“He’s under arrest,” Carma said sadly, walking away.
“For what?” he asked her, but she didn’t stop. She didn’t have it in her to explain it to some random cop at that moment.
“Mike?” he asked.
Mike didn’t answer, but instead sat on the small cot against the wall and put his head in his hands.
When Carma reached her desk, she collapsed in her chair, feeling completely spent from the night. She folded her arms and laid her head down on her desk, burying her face and closing her eyes.
“Jones!” Sheriff Ron yelled, his voice disturbing her fatigue. “What the hell happened to you today?”
“I had to leave,” she mumbled without looking up.
“Then why the hell are you here now?”
She lifted up her head and looked at the Sheriff. “I made an arrest today.”
He walked over to her desk and stood over her. “On your Cooley/Marks case?”
“Yep.”
“That’s great news.”
“I guess,” she said.
“Jones, why are you dragging ass? You should be happy!”
“Sorry, sir. It has just hit too close to home, way too close.”
“Why? Who is it? And you better not say that Lee kid unless you have absolute proof.”
“No, it is Mike.”
“Mike?”
“Mike Jenkins, a Sheriff’s deputy; one of our own.” She began to cry now for the first time since falling asleep on her floor earlier today. “I spent years pining over him and I got him, Sheriff Ron. He was finally in my grasp. I always thought he was so perfect, but now I feel like I don’t even know him, maybe I never did.”
Sheriff Ron caved a
nd gave her a tight fatherly hug.
“Sir, could you call Harold in for the interrogation? I don’t think I can handle it right now.”
“I can do that.” He gave her one more squeeze before going back to his office. Carma stayed at her desk and laid her head back down and closed her eyes in hopes that had all been a horrible nightmare.
“Carma?”
Carma opened her eyes and lifted her head at the sound of Harold’s voice. “Hey, Harold,” she said with a weak smile.
“Sheriff Ron called and told me to come down right away. Is it true? Did your friend Mike do it?”
Damn it! It’s not a dream, she thought and said, “Yeah, he was the guy in the pictures.”
“Damn, that’s messed up.”
“You’re telling me. That perfect guy I have been in love with for most of my life, well that’s him, or at least it was.”
“Wow, I don’t even know what to say.”
“There’s nothing to say. It happened and it is heartbreaking, but we are professionals and we have a job to do. I’m so sorry to call you in so late, but the interrogation can’t wait and the magistrate has been called to set bail, so it has to be now while it’s fresh and I can’t go in there.”
“I got this, don’t worry.”
“Thanks, Harold. Let me know when you’re done.”
When Harold walked away, Carma laid her head back down, feeling utterly defeated.
***
Harold quietly sat across from Mike, staring daggers at him. Mike was too dazed to notice.
“So, Mr. Jenkins, tell me what happened,” Harold finally said.
“You already know what happened,” Mike said then stared down at his lap. “The whole department probably knows by now. God, I’m so ruined.”
“Okay, so tell me this. Why?”
Mike shook his head. “Man, I don’t know. My wife died two years ago and I haven’t been able to make sense of my life. I couldn’t even make myself date. One day she was just a kid playing dress up in my wife’s stuff and the next thing I know my wife is gone and Melissa was there, all grown up. I found myself able to open up to her about things I couldn’t fathom talking about with anyone else. Life became exciting again.”
“So, you were horny?”
Mike jerked his head up and stared at Harold. “No, I got over that a long time ago. I was lonely.”
“And you thought a seventeen-year-old could fill that need. Really, what did you two have in common?”
“I’m done talking.”
“So, why did you kill her? I can understand Ronald, he saw you, but why her?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I saw the pictures, man. Did she confide in you about her stalker?”
“She told me there was someone following her around. She didn’t feel threatened, but she did feel uneasy about it.”
“I get it. You knew he caught you. The pictures tell us that much. You knew if it got out that you were sleeping with a minor, your life would be over, so you had to get rid of all the evidence.”
“I knew there would be consequences.”
“I guess it’s a good thing you were prepared then, because my friend, your life is over. You are never going to see the light of day again. It’s a shame you didn’t think about your daughter in all this. She already lost one parent, and now, because you couldn’t keep it in your pants, she has to lose two.”
Mike jumped up and slammed his hands on the metal table. “I said I’m done talking to you!”
This caused Harold to jump up as well, knocking his chair over with a loud bang. “You better believe it! You are done!” Harold slung the door open and barked at the deputy standing guard, “Take him back to his cell.”
With the lights off in the holding cell section of the sheriff’s department and the slight few deputies working the nightshift going about their business trying to stay awake throughout the night, no one was really paying any attention to Mike. He scribbled a quick note on the back of a piece of paper that Deputy Jeff gave him earlier and placed it on the thin cot beside him. He stared up at the ceiling as tears streamed down his cheeks. In Carma’s haste, she neglected to pat him down before entering the cell. He quietly took his keys out of his pocket and raked the jagged edge of the metal hard across his wrists, digging down harder and harder with each swipe until he had a steady flow of blood. Satisfied he had done the job right, he closed his eyes one last time and held onto the images of his wife, Mary, and daughter, Kristen, during happier times.
With his last breath he mumbled, “Please, forgive me.”
Chapter Nineteen
By the time Carma left the sheriff’s department, it was midnight and she was lethargic from the day of whirlwind emotions. On her way out, she had to force herself not to stop by the holding cells to check on Mike before she left. He deserved to be punished for what he had done. She had every right to be mad and she wasn’t prepared to forgive him. Maybe one day, but not today. Instead, she went home, grabbed a bottle of vodka from the cabinet and sat out on her back deck, shrouded in the darkness of the night. The water was so peaceful that time of night. The boats and jet skis were finished playing for the day, leaving only the sound of night music, the small slapping of water against the shore, a slight breeze through the tall pine trees, crickets chirping, bull frogs croaking, nature at its best. She put the bottle to her lips and took a big swig, letting the burn flow down her throat into her stomach. She didn’t drink alcohol much and usually it was just a few beers or a glass of wine after work or with colleagues, but tonight was different. Her world had shifted and nothing would ever be the same again.
At some point early in the morning, long before the sun had made its ascent into the sky, Carma passed out on her wicker loveseat on her back deck, half a fifth of vodka still clutched in her hand. When the sun finally did greet the world with its presence, it sent sharp pin pricks to Carma’s eyelids. She threw her hand over her face to block the assault and slowly blinked from the light.
“Ouch,” she moaned, trying to roll off her aching back. “I’m getting too old for this shit.”
She slowly sat up and held her head with both hands, trying to force the throbbing pain in her temples to go away. She stretched her arms out in front of her and flexed her back, hoping to soothe the screaming pain in her muscles from sleeping on the too small wicker furniture. She stood up and slowly walked inside of the house, leaving a trail of clothing behind her.
She closed her eyes as she stood under the water, letting the steady pelt of the massager beat into her muscles until the hot water turned cold. Once she was dressed in her typical pantsuit, she stood in front of the mirror and looked at her face. She had been covering up the bruises with makeup, but not today. Sure, her face was still bruised and her eyes were extra red and puffy today from crying, but she didn’t have it in her to hide it. Instead, she wore it like a badge and left her house.
Fifteen minutes later she was striding into the Sheriff’s Office and all eyes were on her as she walked by. She should have felt self-conscious, but she didn’t care, instead she held her head high. Although feeling much better than she did waking up that morning, she still refused to stop by the holding cells.
“Carma, where have you been?” Harold asked as soon as she strolled into the detectives’ offices.
“I know, I know. I’m late.”
“Yeah that, too. After last night, no one really expected you to come in today though. I’ve been trying to call you.”
“Oh.” She took her phone out of her pocket and saw that it wouldn’t turn on. “I forgot about plugging it in last night. Battery’s probably dead. What’s up?”
“I’ve got bad news.”
“Dear God, what now? Can’t I go one day without having to hear bad news?” she asked, rubbing her temples.
“Not today. I’m sorry to tell you, but Mike is dead.”
“Excuse me?”
“He killed himself sometime l
ast night.”
Carma’s legs wouldn’t hold her any longer. She quickly sat down in the nearest chair, bent over and tried to breathe.
“I don’t understand. How?” she asked through sobs.
“They found his keys by him on the cot. Looks like he slit his wrists with them.”
“Dammit! It’s all my fault,” she said burying her face in her hands.
“Carma, you can’t blame yourself for what he did. He couldn’t take the guilt.”
She slowly raised her head to look at him. “No, Harold. I never checked his pockets last night when I brought him in. I didn’t even think to.”
“There was a lot going on yesterday. You’re not at fault here. He had a relationship with a minor, and then killed the only two kids that knew about it to cover it up. His life was over anyway.”
“I know, but man, this is all too close to home.”
“He left a note, nothing long and fancy. Sounds like it could be a confession though.”
“Wha… what did it say?” she stuttered.
Please forgive me.
“Oh God, oh God! I feel like I’m going to be sick,” she said, bending over again and rocking back and forth. “I am so angry with him, but I didn’t want this. Not for him and not for Kristen. God, Kristen! Has anyone told her?”
“Yeah, Sheriff Ron went there this morning.”
“Okay, good. I’ll call her later to check on her.”
“Why don’t you just go home for the day?”
She shook her head back and forth. “No, I can’t. I need the distraction.”
“Well then let’s close out this case now. It’s been too damn depressing.”
They both remained at their desks for the rest of the day and wrote up reports on everything that had happened in the past week. Harold did, anyway. For Carma, she couldn’t keep herself from staring off into space in total disbelief. Thankfully they had been good with keeping up by writing notes every step of the way, until yesterday anyway. Carma spent her day trying to relive her horrific day in order to write up her arrest report, while trying hard to keep it as unemotional and straightforward as possible through the tears flowing down her cheeks.
Too Close to Home (The Forensic Files) Page 14