She unlocked the door and let herself in, she was surprised to find Kevin in the hallway in front of her. “Everything okay?” She asked, glancing at her phone wondering if something had happened and she had missed a call from Vance.
“Everything is fine, Vance, uh, wasn’t feeling well, so he had Derek help him to bed hours ago. I was planning to stay only a few minutes but I must’ve fallen asleep on the couch. Your keys in the lock woke me up.”
Naya had zoned out after hearing that Vance wasn’t feeling well. “Did he say what was bothering him?”
“His stomach, I think.” Kevin said as he followed her into the kitchen. Naya opened the fridge surveying the contents. The food she had made for Vance had been eaten, just like every other day Derek had been there this week.
“He ate at least.”
“Yeah.” Kevin confirmed.
They stood in silence for what seemed like forever but was probably only a few minutes. “Listen,” he finally spoke, his voice cracking a bit. “Vance, well, he hasn’t told me how bad it is, but I know it’s bad, and well, since he’s my best friend and all, do you think I could have your number? You know, for emergencies.”
Naya surprised herself by giggling in response, to which she was immediately embarrassed by and slapped her hand over her mouth before apologizing. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh. I just got the mental image of you using that line to pick up a girl.”
A smile broke out across Kevin’s face. “I mean, it is a pretty good line, right? I’ve been rehearsing it all night.”
With that they both broke out in laughter. They tried to stifle it as not to wake Vance, which of course made them both only laugh harder. Pretty soon they were sitting on the floor next to each other, in front of the refrigerator, trying to breathe deeply between giggles as they attempted to calm themselves down.
“Well, ridiculous line or not, you can have my number.” Naya held out her phone in his direction with a new contact page pulled up.
“Yes! Success!” He hissed which only made them both laugh again. Once they had calmed down for the second time, he looked at her, “But really,” he said somberly, as he handed her phone back and kept her hand in his. “Me and the guys, we know it’s bad, and we want to be there for Vance any way we can. None of us have much extra money, but we’re all in construction and fairly handy. So if you need help around the house or something, please let us know.”
She nodded and stood up from the floor, reaching a hand out to help Kevin up, but he shooed her offer away and stood up on his own facing her with a small grin. “Well, since I have your number now. Do you think I could, you know, text you just for me sometimes?”
Naya raised an eyebrow but felt a smile spread across her face. “And just why would you want to text me for yourself?”
“Because I think you’re kinda cute.” He quipped, and then he turned and headed out the door, leaving her alone in the kitchen. Naya stood there for a moment after he left, a bit in shock at what he said. She hadn’t lost her edge after all.
Making herself dinner now completely forgotten, she turned off the lights and headed up the stairs to prepare for bed. Tomorrow was likely to be another long day at the precinct.
Her phone jolted her awake in the middle of the night again. She sighed as she reached over to answer it. She definitely wasn’t used to the pace of police work in the big city yet.
“Largusa?”
She was already sitting up and kicking her legs over the edge of the bed as she grunted in confirmation.
“You’re not gonna believe this.” It was Atlas.
“I think I can.” She mumbled as she fumbled for the light. “Another girl?”
“Sort of. This one isn’t quite a girl though. Shanice Woods. Thirty-two, mother of two. Her husband called when she didn’t return from her run.”
“So, he likes runners then.” She considered this as she slid on her pants and placed her gun in its holster.
“It would seem so.”
There was silence on the other end of the line for a minute, but Naya had an idea. “Listen Atlas, maybe I’m going out on a limb here. But I don’t think we should waste time interviewing the husband and kids. I think we should let the patrol guys handle that this time.”
“I agree.”
“We should see if we can find out her regular route from them, head there and see if there could’ve been any witnesses around or anyone suspicious.” Naya tiptoed down the stairs, looking in on Vance as always. She was surprised to see him awake and sitting up in bed. She held up her finger and looked away from him. “I’ll meet you at the station in twenty.”
“Sure thing, hop in my car when you get here.”
“Will do.” Naya hung up the call and looked back towards Vance. He had a book open on his lap and she could see dark circles under his eyes, she wondered how long he had been having trouble sleeping.
“Everything okay?” She asked.
“I’m fine. Seems I can go to bed nice and early with as tired as I am these days..” A shy smile playing on his lips.
Naya went over and sat on the bed with him for a moment. “How are you liking Derek?” She asked reluctantly. It felt weird to have a conversation with her older brother about his caretaker.
He shrugged. “He’s okay. I’m trying to stay positive about this whole thing,” he motioned to his legs covered by the blanket, “But it’s hard. Derek is cool though. Kevin and I got him into our Call of Duty rotation.”
Naya nodded slowly, knowing what she had to say next. She looked away from her brothers face and towards the wall. “Derek wants me to get you a wheelchair...”
“That would be best, yes.” He answered in a way that was so calm and collected, for a minute Naya forgot what a serious topic this was. For a second he was just her brother again, having a mundane conversation about something like grocery shopping and not the impact of his cancer. It was hard to believe he was able to stay so objective about something so life altering.
She turned back to look at his face, and all it took was seeing the dark circles under his eyes to remind her of where they were and their reality, and that she had to be going.
“Alright, I’ve got to go, but call me if there’s an emergency okay? No Derek today, but there is still lunch in the fridge for you. Middle shelf.” She said this as if he didn’t know, though she knew he did.
“Thanks mom.” Rolling his eyes, a half-smile back on his face.
“You’re welcome son.” She joked right back, ruffling his hair like she used to do when they were kids. It wasn’t until she locked the front door and looked down at her hand that she noticed it was covered in his hair.
Her breath caught and she fought back the tears that threatened to spill as she turned away from the door.
She had work to do, she would have to deal with her turmoil later.
CHAPTER 8
NAYA
“Turn left on 88th.” Naya directed, looking down at the hastily scribbled notes in her hand.
“Hmm…” Atlas surveyed the dark horizon. “This is so…rural.”
Fields lined the road on either side, a single double yellow line reflected their headlights back at them, there were no streetlights, no sidewalks either.
“Are you sure this was the route Shanice’s husband gave?” She glanced back at the notes, they weren’t all that descriptive.
“Yeah. And I know this is a grown woman we’re talking about, but I would be nervous to run this road at night.” Atlas slowed the car as there was motion off to the left.
Naya leaned over to get a better look “Raccoon?”
“Yeah… This is weird, although, her husband did say she was a former long distance marathoner and fast. He said her average mile time could get as low as a six-minute mile.”
She let out a low whistle. “And our guy managed to grab her? He’d have to be pretty fast himself?”
They were both quiet for a second. “I guess we shouldn’t assume this is the sa
me guy.” Naya added. “After all, she’s a full-grown woman, maybe she just went further than normal?”
“No.” Atlas shook his head. “I know we’re supposed to keep an open mind, but it’s too similar. Two late night runners disappearing within a week of each other isn’t a coincidence.” He let out a huff. “And I don’t care what anyone says. No mother of two children is still out at three in the morning when she told her husband she would be home at ten as always.”
Naya shared his belief.
“Turn right.”
Atlas did and Naya surveyed the area around them. They were almost back to the Woods’ house. “I wish there was a chance that there was a witness, but I’m thinking not.”
“Maybe we should’ve detained the raccoon.” Atlas joked and Naya laughed.
“I don’t think we have cuffs small enough.” She yawned. “Well, we are almost back to her home, but I need coffee. We aren’t going to be sleeping any time soon.”
“You’re right. I think there’s a 24-hour drive-thru on the way back to the station.”
“Thank god.”
They laid out everything they had on the conference room table and then Atlas rearranged the pictures of Julia Charles he had taped to the white board. Naya took a gulp of her coffee and tried not to yawn. She needed some sleep, badly. It would have to wait though, she glanced at her watch and noticed it was now almost six in the morning.
She stifled another yawn and taped together the halves of the map she had printed, circling both sites of the victims homes in yellow and the site where they had found Julia’s body in red. She grabbed a few more pieces of tape and hung it up next to where Atlas was working on the board. He paused to look at her project.
“Damn. This is weird.”
He didn’t have to explain, she knew. Killers usually worked in a single convenient and familiar area, and they would be able to get an idea of where the killer lived or worked based on their abduction and dump sites. But the three circles Naya had made on the map were scattered and had no correlation to one another.
“Well, I guess we know he has transportation.” She shrugged and turned to see what else they had accumulated on the table.
“Transportation. And he likes females who are in shape from running”
“Which is weird because the murder of Julia didn’t seem to be sexually driven.” Naya added while reading from the coroner’s report on Julia Charles. “Well I guess that could change with Shanice.”
He shook his head in agreement. “I don’t think he is a sexual predator at all. He doesn’t seem to keep them alive long enough for that I don’t think…” He trailed off as they both thought of what was left unsaid.
“He crossed racial barriers.” She interjected into the uncomfortable silence that had taken over, she said this while looking at the picture of the young and Caucasian Julia Charles next to Shanice Woods, who was a black woman and mother, and much older than Julia. She stood up and began to pace, they were so different. What could this man possibly be doing with these women? And with the blood? And how long did they have until Shanice showed up dead?
Atlas watched her pace as he sipped from his coffee. “Penny for your thoughts?”
“Honestly, I’ve got nothing.” She admitted.
“Me neither.” He looked a bit dejected. “I’m considering running this by Brody and getting his take on it.”
“Couldn’t hurt.” She slid back into one of the chairs and took another gulp of her coffee.
She was feeling stuck, so she pulled out her phone and pulled up the website for wheelchairs, realizing she had no idea which one to pick. She scrolled through for a few moments before randomly selecting one. It would have to do. She quickly clicked to the checkout screen, then before she could put her card information in, she thought better of it and set her phone back down. When she looked up again Atlas was staring intently at the board.
“Anything?” She asked.
He shook his head. “Nada. Honestly, as pessimistic as it is, I’m trying to guess where and when we will find the body this time. I expect him to be more careful. I really don’t think he meant for us to find Julia so fast.”
“I agree –.” Her statement was cut off when she yawned again and this didn’t escape Atlas’ notice.
“You’ve been working long hours all week, why don’t you head home and sleep for a few hours and I’ll call you if we have and leads?”
“Are you sure?” Naya still felt guilty leaving in the middle of a case.
“Again, you do realize we have lots of detectives here, right? You don’t have to be here round-the-clock, you just have to be ready to go around the clock.” He smirked as he turned back to the whiteboard and began reading something there.
She stood and slid her phone in her pocket. He was right, she needed sleep.
“How do you do it?”
“Do what?” He asked without turning around.
“You don’t even look tired, meanwhile I’m dead on my feet.”
He chuckled. “No wife, no kids, nothing to do but work and sleep.”
“And you’re assuming I have a wife and kids?” She gave him her most accusatory look.
“Nah.” He chuckled. “I think you’ve got two. And that your balancing both until it blows up in your face.” With that they both broke out in laugher as Naya left and shut the door to the conference room, headed for her car.
She awoke hours later in her bed with only a vague idea of how she got there. She had a fuzzy memory of driving home, walking up the stairs and crawling in bed. She did know she hadn’t seen Vance when she had come in, he must’ve gone back to sleep after she had left. Atlas was right though, she was letting herself become way too worn out for her own good, she’d have to work a little harder on taking care of herself if she wanted to make this work long term.
She sat up, suddenly realizing she hadn’t bothered to change when she had gotten home and had instead just slept in her work clothes. As much as she was determined to go right back to the case she knew she needed a shower. But first she decided it was time to try one of her more unusual case working methods.
Before she could talk herself out of it, she slipped into some running clothes and slid her work phone into her side pocket. She cued up her favorite playlist and slid a single ear bud in her left ear.
As she walked down the stairs, she could hear Vance in the living room talking, but she didn’t hear anyone answering so he was likely playing video games with his online friends. She smiled a little to herself as she realized how little he had changed.
She quietly made her was outside and shut the door, carefully locking it behind her and sliding the key into her pocket. Then she lightly jogged down the front walk and up the street. She was cautious to not overexert herself, she hadn’t gone for a run since before the move, but her muscles and breathing easily found their old steady rhythm. She had always loved running, it helped to clear her mind.
As she was starting to work up a sweat and breathe a little heavier, she reached down and shut off her playlist, listening to the sound of her own breathing. As she did, she observed the world around her. Would she notice if a man jumped out in front of her right now? She glanced over her shoulder. What about cars? Would she hear one if she hadn’t shut off her music? And what if both women were wearing both earbuds? How likely would they have been to hear someone approaching then?
These thoughts continued to swirl around in her head as she turned and began to make her way back to the house. She hadn’t come far, but that wasn’t the point today. As she stretched out her muscles on the front lawn, she realized that she really missed running and decided that she should definitely start again. She pulled up her RunTracker app and looked at how long her last run had been, ten miles, but it had been over a month and a half ago. She closed the app and promised herself she would run that weekend, rain or shine.
As she walked up to the front door, she noticed a car pull up behind hers on the curb. It was a red pickup
with dark tinted windows. On instinct, her hand went to where her gun would normally be before she remembered that of course she didn’t have it when wearing her running clothes.
Kevin chose that moment to step out from behind the driver’s side and waved, Naya relaxed and waved back as Trevor stepped out of the passenger side. She unlocked the door and waited for the two men to make it up the steps.
“Hey, Vance invited us over.” Kevin explained.
“I assumed.” Naya replied, mock sternness on her face.
“What are you doing home during the day?” Trevor checked the clock on his phone, clearly confused to see her.
“Why? You guys doing something you wouldn’t want a cop to know about?” She raised her eyebrow and tried to display the most authoritarian cop face she could imagine.
Both men smiled as they walked into the home.
“No, just not like you is all.” Trevor replied.
Naya watched as both men headed into the living room, Kevin turning around at the last second to give her a little wink. After they had disappeared she dashed upstairs to grab her clothes and headed for the shower, she needed to get back to work. There was a serial killer to catch.
As she stepped in the shower she realized it was almost one in the afternoon and Atlas hadn’t called her about finding a body, which meant that either their guy had gotten better, or maybe he had intended to keep them longer, and Julia had been a fluke.
She washed her hair and body as quickly as humanly possible, suddenly feeling like she had been away from the office too long. Although she knew Atlas was right, they didn’t need her there all the time, even during a big case, she still couldn’t shake the feeling of duty leftover from her days in La Junta. She finished her shower spurred by this obligation and stepped into her second set of slacks. She missed the comfort of her jeans, but she needed to get more slacks. She had only bought two pairs, and it was clear she would be working more frequently than that would be sufficient for.
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