Naya chuckled, that was a something they would definitely need to know about each other, especially as more cases came across their desk. “Two sugars, the real kind. You?”
“Black.” He winked over at her then turned his eyes back to the road. “Favorite donut?”
She giggled at that; this was the quintessential cop quiz. “Glazed, you?”
“Don’t laugh, but, pink with sprinkles.” It was his turn to break out into a grin. “And I eat them because I somehow always get left with them in the break room, understand? I If you ever insinuate otherwise to anyone in the precinct, you will find out just how sneaky I can be.” He mocked a serious face at her before they both burst into laughter.
“Alright, alright, point taken. My turn, favorite take out?”
“Chipotle, you?”
“Uh-oh, Qudoba.”
“Uh oh is right, seems like we will be rock paper scissoring a lot.” it unintentionally sounded like an innuendo and they both busted out laughing again. They were practically in tears when he choked out, “I did not mean it like that.” They giggled a little longer before finally getting their breathing under control.
“Don’t worry, I won’t be reporting you for sexual harassment. It’s not my style and I can handle myself.” Naya reassured, smiling as they pulled into the station parking lot.
“Well besides the takeout battle, I think we will get along just fine.” Atlas teased as he stepped out of the car.
“I agree.”
She pulled up in front of her house just as a man dressed in scrubs was stepping out of his car. Naya stepped out of hers and waved. He waved back and she could see the muscles flexing in his arm. He seemed strong enough to lift Vance, just as the representative had assured her. His dark hair was gelled back professionally so that strands wouldn’t fall in his eyes.
“Hi! I’m Naya Largusa.” She held out her hand as she walked up. He shook it, his grip was like iron, his handshake solid and professional.
“Hi, I’m Derek, from Home Health Care.”
She smiled. “I assumed so, come right in. Hopefully Vance is awake.” She slid her key into the lock and pushed the door open, heading inside, Derek followed her.
“Vance?” She called out.
“In here.” He replied from the den area, his voice scratchy.
They rounded the corner to find Vance sitting on the couch in the same place he had been the day before. Kevin was once again on the floor next to him and seemed a bit shocked to see a man walk in behind Naya. For a minute, Naya swore she saw an emotion cross his features but she couldn’t identify it before it was gone.
“Vance, Kevin, this is Derek from Home Health Care.”
The men greeted Derek.
“Well, since you’re here to meet Vance I’ll leave you two to talk and I’ll be in the kitchen when you’re finished.” She tried to keep her voice even as she excused herself, even though the fact that she was hiring a caregiver for her thirty-two year old brother was splintering her insides to pieces.
“Kevin, join me in the kitchen?”
Kevin paused the game they were playing and followed her into the tiny kitchen. Naya opened the fridge to find Vance hadn’t eaten lunch again. She took a deep breath and blinked back the tears that welled up behind her eyes before grabbing some leftover pizza for herself and turning around to face Kevin.
He clearly sensed something was up. “Who is that?” He asked, his tone slightly accusatory.
She grabbed a plate from the cupboard and began microwaving the pizza, swallowing the lump building in her throat and trying to keep her composure. She felt crazy, she could look at the dead body of an eighteen year old girl without blinking but couldn’t face he brothers illness.
“He’s from Home Health Care. I… I need help with Vance.”
Kevin was silent. She was sure he knew Vance’s condition, but she also wasn’t sure how much her brother had disclosed and didn’t want to violate his privacy.
But before she could stop herself, she felt the next words bubble from her lips, “He won’t eat unless I’m here, it’s getting harder for him to move, and I just—” She caught herself as a single tear slid down her cheek. She turned toward the sink to try to hide while she regained her composure. She felt embarrassed.
The microwave dinged, interrupting the moment.
Kevin took the interruption as his cue. “Is there anything I can do to help?” his voice was somber closer than before. He had stepped toward her but hesitated, his posture visibly unsure what else to do now that he was there.
She took another few seconds to breathe and got her emotions under control, before turning to face him.
“Well, Derek will be here a couple days a week now, but maybe when he isn’t, you could make sure Vance at least tries to eat lunch? I always leave it in the fridge, I can start making extra for you as well—”
Kevin held up his hand. “No need. But yes, I will encourage him to try to eat more often. I promise.”
Derek cleared his throat from the doorway. “Can I talk to you a minute Ms. Largusa?”
She nodded and Kevin took his cue and headed back into the den.
“Vance and I seem to get along alright.” Derek started.
“Yes?”
“Yeah, I mean it’s hard for any guy to admit they need help, but I explained to him that I want to be his friend not just his assistant. So, I can help carry him to use the facilities, but then we can also play video games the rest of the time if that’s what he wants.”
It felt so weird to be discussing her older adult brother like this. “And he was okay with that?”
Derek nodded. “As okay with it as any man in his condition can be.”
“Okay well, do they have a set a schedule for you, or…” She trailed off, she really hadn’t any idea how this was supposed to work.
“No. You let me know your schedule, I am yours any three days of the week you choose. I’m just not available on Sunday’s or Tuesday’s, I work with someone else those days.” Derek specified. “However, Home Health Care did explain to me that you want to start at part-time care but at some point you would likely need more full-time assistance. They already know my schedule though, so it’s likely that when that time comes, you will be assigned a second person who can fill in the gaps . But for now, when did you think would work best?”
Naya did some quick calculations. “Well, I guess let’s do Monday, Wednesday, Friday to start? Vance usually sleeps in late, but I would want you here when he wakes up to help him get ready if he needs. So how about ten in the morning? And your shifts are eight hours, correct?”
He nodded. “That works, and yes. I take a half hour lunch, but I will stay from ten in the morning until six every night. My job is to help with medical care and household chores, errands, or whatever needs to be done that the person no longer can on their own, so I can assist with whatever Vance needs done on those days.”
“Perfect. Well, no chores here. I do want you to make sure Vance eats lunch, I’ve been leaving it in the fridge and coming home to it untouched. And then on Friday’s if you could take him to his chemo appointment at two in the afternoon? He was driving himself…but it’s gotten too hard.”
“I understand, and I can definitely do those.”
“Other than that, whatever he wants you to do is up to him. He’s an adult—”Her voice cracked. “—And this is his home.”
“Yes ma’am. Well, I will report back to Home Health Care that things went well and that I’ll start Friday, since it’s Wednesday?”
“Sounds great to me.” She said as she suddenly remembered her forgotten pizza in the microwave and randomly popped open the door to her now cold slice, she would have to reheat it again.
“Perfect. Home Health Care will call you to verify, but if you want to give me the house key for tomorrow, I’ll say bye to Vance and get out of your way the evening.”
“Certainly.” Naya grabbed the spare house key off the wall and handed it
to Derek. She would need to make another copy at some point. “Here you go.”
“Thank you. I’ll show myself out, have a good night.”
Naya responded automatically and slipped her pizza back in the microwave, resting her elbows on the counter as it made its slow revolutions. She could still feel her emotions rippling right beneath her normally composed surface. She would need to figure herself out before she returned to work. She couldn’t end up crying on her first case. She would never live it down.
She scarfed down her pizza as quickly as the temperature would allow, wishing like hell she could go for a run right now. It always helped to clear her mind, but duty was calling and she had a murderer to find.
She had wanted to talk with Vance about Derek, but when she looked in the den Kevin was still there, and they were clearly having a ball with the shooting game they were playing. So instead she decided to settle for a quick goodbye. After all, Vance could text her if he wanted to.
“Later Vance.” She called out as she walked to the door.
“See ya, catch those bad guys for me, will ya?”
“I will.” She smiled at their inside joke. It started when she had first become sheriff.
She caught Kevin’s eye just as she stepped out the door, and she couldn’t be quite sure, but she though she saw him wink at her. Maybe it was her imagination.
CHAPTER 6
MARK
He was bored. Really bored. The young girl hadn’t fought enough and it had been over too quickly for him. He missed the days when he could play mind games with women for years instead.
Now he was just sitting in his apartment, staring out the window, his disguise making his face unbearably itchy. Granted, he could probably take it off. He doubted anyone was really looking for him, especially here and on the third floor. But he was also a cautious man, and he knew the one time people let their guard down was often the time they got caught. He wasn’t taking that chance, he had too much work to do.
He turned away from the window and looked at what he had spent all day setting up in his room. Granted, it was rough. But he could perfect it as the days went on.
If only he hadn’t had to get a job! He would’ve been able to devote all his time to his work, but unfortunately he had to pay for his room somehow. And he needed to be a model tenant if he wanted to stay under the radar, so that meant he couldn’t miss rent payments.
All in all the job wasn’t too bad, he had some great coworkers. They had even invited him out for a beer after work the other night. He had to decline though, he couldn’t let anyone get to close, it would be too risky.
He surveyed his set up again. It definitely needed work. But even though he was bored he just didn’t feel like devoting himself to it tonight. What he did feel like, was doing some scouting. He pulled out his phone and opened his favorite feature.
Of course, the phone hadn’t come with this feature, but he had no problem programming it. Computer programming had always been his gift. He brushed his hand over the interface he had designed. He could have totally used his skills for good and spent time programming all kinds of fun apps for Google, Apple, and whatever other operating systems were out there.
He could have.
He had tried that however, and it was boring. Mind numbingly so.
Instead, he had decided to go out on his own. It was more fun that way.
Interesting.
And he didn’t have to climb the corporate ladder.
And he could work on his project.
But the last girl. She was too easy. He needed someone older, more mature, with more fight this time.
Mark moved to his PC and popped open the Facebook tab and began making a number of requests. He requested several hundred friends in under a few minutes. Then he leaned back and rested his hands in his lap.
Now to wait.
It didn’t take long, just a few minutes latera little red notification showed up.
He was in business.
CHAPTER 7
NAYA
Naya dropped her head into her hands and grumbled in frustration. It had been nearly a week since Julia’s Charles’ body had been discovered, and they were absolutely no closer to finding her than they were that first night. There were no fingerprints, no footprints left on the scene, there was nothing that would give them a single hint as to what happened to the eighteen year old athlete.
Atlas leaned back in his chair and huffed. “I’m guessing you’re just as stuck as me?”
She nodded without looking up from the coroner’s report she was reading for the umpteenth time. “It’s like she was beamed up by aliens, got her blood sucked out, and was dumped in that field.”
“I know.” He replied, his dejection matching hers. “I haven’t had a case like this in a long time. Usually people have at least one enemy, but everyone loved this girl. And I mean everyone.”
Atlas wasn’t exaggerating, after informing the parents they had found her body last week, they had gone to interview the best friend, as well as half of the girl’s high school, and she didn’t know if it was because the girl was dead, but no one had anything bad to say.
Maybe it was her prejudice from working in a small town, but in La Junta, whenever she had a case, especially a murder, there was always rumors and gossip to go with it. Everyone there had comments and opinions.
She flipped the pages of the report, looking for something, anything she hadn’t see on her other passes. But no luck. “No leads on what happened to her phone?” she asked again.
Atlas shook his head as he rattled off the same thing they both knew. “Still hasn’t surfaced. Has been off since about nine that evening, which is her estimated abduction time. Time of death was between ten and eleven that evening.”
She’d heard it before, and she knew Atlas was humoring her by going over it again, but she couldn’t help it. This case was getting under her skin.
Suddenly, she remembered the files she had tucked in the bottom of her desk drawer, she leaned down and dug around for them. Atlas must’ve thought she had found something because he raised an eyebrow in interest.
“Don’t get too excited.” She joked as she pulled out the three cold cases from La Junta.
“What are those?”
“Cases from my time as Sheriff in La Junta. They are the only three cases I never solved.” She flipped open the top one, it was from five years earlier when she was still just officer Largusa, it detailed the sudden disappearance of a six year old girl.
“Do you think they have something to do with this case?” He asked incredulously.
Naya shook her head. “No, but sometimes it helps to focus on something else for a minute and then come back.”
“You know most cops just use social media for that.”
Naya smiled. “I’m not most cops. Besides, I don’t want to flood my mind with new information, I want to look at this case I know everything about then look back at the case in question. You never know what might help jolt your mind to make connections.”
He rolled his eyes but was smirking. “Well I’m going to look at something known as the breakroom. I need coffee, want a cup?”
“Please.” She checked her watch, it was almost eight at night and she knew she needed to go home soon. Derek would have left a couple hours ago, and Vance needed dinner.
Life was much easier with Derek around and Vance seemed to be eating more. Naya had also noticed that on the days Derek came Vance was always dressed a bit nicer. Maybe they went out for walks or something, she wasn’t sure, but it still made her happy.
As much of a blessing as Derek was, he had also been the bearer of bad news. After just two visits he had mentioned to Naya that she needed to purchase a wheelchair for Vance. She hadn’t done it yet, mainly because when she opened the internet window to do so she had started crying inconsolably and had been unable to complete the order. She would have to try again when she got home tonight, but before she clocked out she wanted to take one m
ore look at the report on Julia Charles.
She was scanning the part where it talked about the vast amount of blood which had been drained from her body, when it hit her. She hastily opened Google and began searching.
Atlas walked back over, noticing her enthusiasm as he placed a paper cup in front of her. “Did you seriously crack the case while I was getting coffee?” He joked.
“No, but I thought of something. Why would he drain her blood so completely?”
“Because he’s a nutjob?” Atlas raised his eyebrow at her, a confused look on his face.
“Definitely, but I was thinking, it was done so completely, what if he also had a reason to? Like a use for the blood?” She closed the tab she was in and went back to the search results. “I mean it could be for something like a cult ritual, or science experiments or something. I don’t know, that’s what I’m searching now, possible reasons he might need that much blood.”
“That’s what you typed in?”
Naya chuckled. “No, but you get my point, right? I want to see if this goes anywhere.”
“You’re right.” He conceded as he opened his own internet browsing window. “The removal was so clean. Manner of death was blood loss, do you think she was awake for it? And if she was, why didn’t she struggle and how did he not get any on her? You may be on to something here Largusa.”
They fell into a concentrated silence as they clicked through internet windows, the only sounds the clacking of keys between sips of coffee. What felt like moments later, she looked up at the clock and it was after nine. “Shit, I gotta head home, but I’ll do some more before bed.”
“Hot date?” Atlas joked.
Naya tried to paste on a smile. She hadn’t told Atlas about her brother yet, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep it from him much longer with these hours.
“Kinda, but I better not keep him waiting either way.”
“So it is a him then? There was a rumor going around you batted for the other team.” He teased.
Naya laughed and blushed. “You never can tell, can you?” And with a wink she turned and headed for the door.
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