“My God,” Naya stage whispered, “And you are sure you’re single?”
Kevin laughed. “Well about that, actually, I had wanted to ask you last night but you fell asleep too quickly.” He poked her gently in the side as she pulled on her sweater. “But how would you feel about being an item?”
She followed him down the stairs, her socks in her hands. “Is that your way of asking me to be your girlfriend?” She jabbed him playfully.
“Kinda, I mean, yes. I just always felt the term ‘girlfriend’ wasn’t a very mature word for a grown woman in a relationship.”
Naya was surprised. “Wow,” she mumbled. “I thought I was the only one who thought that.”
They walked into the kitchen, where he poured them each a cup of coffee in travel mugs and laid out creamer and sugar. He held hers out to her then held up the carton of half and half. She shook her head, snagging the sugar from the counter and adding some before she took a sip.
“So, what do you prefer to call someone you are in a relationship with then?” He asked as he doctored up his cup.
“You’re going to laugh because of my profession, but I always liked the idea of ‘partner’. Once things got far enough along.”
“Same here.” He smiled as he put away the coffee supplies and began to head to the door. “It’s shocking that you feel the same way. I feel like most people like the terms ‘boyfriend’ and ‘girlfriend’.”
She shrugged as she placed her coffee on the table by the door to slip on her socks and shoes. “I just like the idea of men and women being equals in a relationship. Again, maybe it’s because I’m a cop, but this isn’t 1890, if I’m with a man it’s because I want to be, not because I need him to survive.”
He opened the door and held it open for her as she grabbed her coffee and exited, then he handed her his coffee so he could use both hands to lock the door.
“And as a man, I don’t want a woman who relies on me for everything. I want her to be able to stand on her own two feet. It’s crazy how quick emotions and stress can get out of control when someone is relying on you for everything.”
Naya had never thought about it from the guy’s perspective, but he was right. If you were expected to single-handedly support your woman and any children, it could put a lot of stress on your shoulders that may be hard to handle.
She handed Kevin back his coffee as they headed for the truck. Once they were inside, she set her coffee in the cup holder and sent a quick text to Vance, making sure he was feeling alright, and that everything had gone well the night before.
“Did you want to stop for food before I drop you off?” Kevin asked politely. “Usually, I would have offered to cook but that would take time, and I know you’re in the middle of a case right now.”
She shook her head. “Thanks, but I’m already going to be late as it is, and I’ll have to explain why to Atlas.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. Like Kevin always did, she knew Atlas would be able to read her like an open book and he would know exactly why she was late.
“So is you not answering a ‘no’ then?” Kevin asked as he kept his eyes on the road.
Naya looked over at him, observing the way his jaw was clenched. It seemed like he was a bit nervous too. “Can I think about it? It just feels a bit fast for me is all.” She explained.
Kevin kept his face stoic but she saw his shoulders drop a bit. He was disappointed. “Of course.”
They pulled up in front of her house and Naya noted that there were indeed two additional vehicles parked out front with the ones that belonged to her and Vance. Trevor and Sebastian must’ve both spent the night.
She leaned across the center console and gave Kevin a quick peck on the lips.
“Can I see you tonight?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I can text you when I get off?”
“Okay, I’ll probably be here anyway. I’m going to go home and shower and stuff, but I told your parents and Vance that I would spend the day with them.”
Naya rolled her eyes. “How is it that my parents instantly adopted you into our family?”
“Because Vance isn’t the only one who can tell I’m a good guy.” He smiled at her seductively as she stepped out of the car.
She rolled her eyes again. “Sure, bye, text me.” She sassed, shutting the door she sprinted inside to change.
She was done and back in her car within five minutes. She had peaked her head in on Vance on her way out and he had been sound asleep. She had been tempted to check the living room for Trevor and Sebastian but hadn’t wanted to risk waking them.
It was just after nine when she got to her desk, but sure enough Atlas was already there and her late arrival didn’t escape him.
“Tsk-tsk You’re late to your overtime Saturday shift. How dare you have a life outside of work.” He didn’t even look at her as he said it, clearly too engrossed in whatever else he was doing though he said it lightheartedly.
Naya tossed her pad of sticky notes at the back of his head but she was blushing and didn’t say anything about it for fear he would look up.
She slid into her chair and powered up her computer to check her emails. She had access to them on her phone, but it was almost dead from not being charged at any point during the night. She hoped what measly battery power remained would be enough for the seven or so hours she was about to spend here.
“Any new developments?”
“Nada. I was hoping maybe something would miraculously come through late last night, but I’m sure now we won’t see anything ‘til Monday.”
“Does that mean we’re taking tomorrow off?” The minute the words left her mouth she could tell they sounded much too excited and that she shouldn’t have said anything.
Atlas finally lifted his head and looked at her. “Why, you have a hot date?”
She blushed bright red and Atlas chuckled.
“So that’s why you were late. This is a development!” He spun his chair to face her. “So, you better tell me about him just in case you wind up missing.” The beaming smile on his face teasing.
“Like anyone could kidnap me.” She retorted as she noted there was nothing of use in her inbox and minimized the screen. He was far too excited in her opinion.
Atlas was still waiting patiently for the details, but Naya ignored him and instead pulled up an internet search engine to resume her research from before.
Realizing he wasn’t going to get any juicy details out of her, he changed the subject as he pulled up his own search engine.
“What should I be looking into?”
“Well, he is clearly injecting them with something that doesn’t show up in an autopsy. So, it must be something that is already in the human body. I want to know what benefit he would get from injecting these women and what the substance is, to figure out what his motive might be.”
Atlas typed something in his computer as he mulled her statement over. “Do you think the injection is part of the abduction?”
She shook her head. “No, because Shanice didn’t have any injection marks on her. I think it’s something he does after and I want to know why.”
“You have a point. But I also know that sometimes people do crazy things because they are well, crazy, and there simply is no explanation that makes sense to anyone but them.”
“And that’s what you think is happening here?” Naya was reading an article about what a large dose of potassium would do to the human body, but she turned to look at Atlas who was looking straight at her.
He nodded. “You’re analytical, so you naturally want to find a reason behind everything. But I’m telling you, this isn’t like any case I’ve ever seen before. I mean we still need to analyze his behavior to find him, but I think when we do, we’ll find that he is simply crazy.”
She wasn’t going to argue with Atlas because he was entitled to his opinions and she hated the thought, but he could be right. She turned back and clicked through a few more windows about potassium as
her mind raced.
“So, you think he’s just crazy?”
“I do.” He answered, his voice level, no hint of playfulness now.
“Do you think he is able to hide his crazy? Or do you think people around him notice it?” Naya turned to face him once again, crossing her legs and spinning a pen around in her right hand.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I guess what I’m saying is, do you think this guy can hold down a normal job, or do you think he’s too crazy for that?”
“I guess I hadn’t thought about it. “
Atlas leaned back and rubbed his stubble. “What if he’s too crazy for a professional job, but not too crazy to hold down a job? You know, something menial like a janitor or gardener. And while he’s there, he feels out of control of his life. So maybe he tries to get control back by abducting women.“
They were both quiet for a moment as they considered the new theories on the table.
“I wish I could say we were getting somewhere, but that only eliminates less than half of the professions in this city.” Naya grumbled dejectedly as she set down her pen.
“There’s got to be something big we’re missing. Something this guy missed that will lead us to him.” He leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head.
Suddenly, a thought hit her that she realized they should’ve investigated a long time ago. “How easy is it to get needles here?”
“Well, not easy, but not hard either I’d imagine.” He appeared to be deep in thought for a moment. “If you are in the medical profession, I think it would be quite easy. Now if you’re not, I don’t think it’s hard necessarily, but definitely can’t be that easy either.”
Naya turned back to her computer and typed a few words in the search bar. When the results came up, she muttered in frustration and turned her screen so Atlas could see.
“Well, I’ll be damned; you can order needles on Amazon. Who knew?”
Naya rolled her eyes as she scrolled through the online needle options. “Amazon, making it easier for serial killers since 1994.”
“Really, it’s been that long?” Atlas had picked up a stress ball from his desk and started tossing and catching it.
“Yep.” She leaned back in her chair, exhausted even though she had just started. “You think we should canvas?”
“Once we get the information from RunTracker, for sure.” Atlas was still tossing the ball.
“So where does that leave us for right now then?”
Atlas shrugged and put the ball down. “I guess you can help me research these chemicals.”
Typical Atlas, getting out of his work. “No problem. Let’s research separately and compare notes?” Atlas nodded his agreement so Naya quickly turned to her computer and got to work. She skimmed the article on potassium overdose. It could cause an irregular heartbeat, which could lead to death. She couldn’t tell if that was instantaneous, or if it would take time. Surprisingly, there wasn’t that much information about taking potassium by injection. Go figure. But something did catch her eye, it said prolonged exercise could cause elevated levels of potassium in the body without taking any supplements, and that meant because these women were already working out, their potassium levels could have already been high. She put a star next to potassium on her paper.
She went back to her list of naturally occurring minerals in the human body and clicked through to the next one which was magnesium. Surprise, surprise, magnesium overdoses could also be life threatening. And, like potassium, it could cause an irregular heartbeat. It didn’t seem like it could kill someone who didn’t have kidney problems, she would have to dig further into that for sure. She was sure the amount of magnesium found in a supplement was nowhere near the levels this guy was potentially dosing them with.
She clicked the back arrow again and went to the next mineral. Calcium. She chanced a sneak-peak rolling her eyes to the side to see if Atlas was still working. It appeared that he was, as he was reading something on his computer, but she supposed he could also just be scrolling Facebook. She went back to her own screen and began scanning the article, like the two previous minerals, calcium overdose was also possible. And if you took in too much it would cause blood toxicity, which could weaken the heart and be lethal. She was sensing a theme. It still didn’t quite seem like their smoking gun, but she it was definitely a possibility all the same.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Atlas’ voice interrupted her thoughts.
“That all of the minerals that the body needs are also apparently fatal in large enough doses?”
“Yeah, I’m thinking I should watch what I eat now.” He joked while scrolling down his screen slowly.
“As if you would ever get too many minerals from your diet. I think you’ll be fine.” She teased as she clicked on the next mineral. Copper could apparently also cause death, specifically heart failure. However, it claimed it had to be over a long period of time, which didn’t sound like their culprit. Unless of course he was injecting these women with an amount that had never been studied—
“Wait. Do you think he’s performing science experiments on these women?” The thought was disturbing.
Atlas shrugged. “I’m still going with just plain crazy, but you do have a point, there isn’t much existing science on these sorts of things it seems.“
Naya’s phone buzzed in her lap and she looked down to see a text from Kevin. The battery bar in the upper right corner blinked once to remind her it was dangerously low at three percent. Kevin would just have to wait until she got off work.
“Well, I don’t think this mineral research is getting us anywhere.” Atlas leaned back in his chair. “The cop in me wants to go canvas but I don’t even know where we would start a canvas. At least not without the information from RunTracker.”
“And that won’t be until Monday.” Naya pinched the bridge of her nose.
“So, we’ve got one day to solve this crime?”
“Basically.”
CHAPTER 22
MARK
He really hadn’t wanted it to come to this. But here he was. Someone not a part of his plan had to die.
Mark was in the kitchen at the detective’s house preparing lunch for Vance. He had suggested they order Thai food, and now he pulled the bottle from his pocket and plopped an entire dropper full of liquid into the bowl of Pad Thai before sliding it back in his pocket and stirring the food.
He walked back into the living room where Vance was right where he had been when he left him, playing video games. He handed Vance his food when he paused the game.
“Damn.” The other man in the room exclaimed. “Of course, it’s lunch time right when I’m about to win.
“Story of life.” Mark shrugged and dug into his curry with gusto. “There’s plenty more in the kitchen if you want some.”
“Thanks man.”
After a few minutes later Mark looked up from his food to see Vance staring at him. “Everything okay?” He asked politely.
Vance shrugged. “I just got a weird feeling is all.”
“Like you’re not feeling well?”
Mark took a quick glance at Vance’s bowl to see he had hardly eaten.
Grr. This was going to be more difficult than he had thought. He would have to find a different way to do things.
Vance’s eyes followed his own, “No, I feel okay. Just something feels really wrong, like in the mood.” He was looking pointedly at Mark again, and he felt himself lean back a fraction of an inch.
“Maybe you should call your sister?” He suggested, trying to think of what a normal person who wasn’t trying to poison someone would say in this situation. He began to second guess himself. Had he been sneaky enough? Or had he spent too long in the kitchen?
The doorbell rang before Vance could speak again and Mark got up to answer it.
It was Vance’s parents.
He opened the door wide to let the two of them in, watching as they removed their shoes, placing t
hem on the mat by the door and then headed into the living room. He stood by the door a moment longer to make sure they would already be in a conversation with Vance when he returned.
When he walked back in, he was glad to see that the four people in the room all seemed to be chatting animatedly. Phew, that was a close one.
“Anyone else want Thai food? There’s plenty in the kitchen.” Mark offered.
“Nah, we just ate.” Vance’s dad chimed in as he turned back to whatever conversation they were having. Well, it seemed like he wouldn’t be missed for the moment.
Mark walked into the kitchen and messed with the takeout boxes a bit making it sound like he was cleaning up. He thought about actually taking the time to clean up, but he didn’t want to be that nice to the detective. He flipped the lid open on the trash can, noting it was a new bag, and a plan formulated in his mind.
He quickly undid the trash bag, shook it out, then placed the bag back in as if he had just emptied the trash. Then he paused to see if there was any movement from the other room. He heard the four muffled voices, still absorbed in conversation. They wouldn’t miss him one bit.
He walked towards the door, but instead of going out of it, he turned left and headed up the stairs to detective Largusa’s room. The walk up was silent until he reached the top step which let out a creak as he put his weight on it. He paused for a second to see if he had been noticed, but no one called up after him.
He gingerly moved his second leg over the spot that had creaked, checking to see if there were any more spots he needed to be aware of, but it seemed like the rest of the floor was silent. He remained cautious as he crossed the room towards the wardrobe and began peeking in rummaging through her belongings.
There was nothing of interest, just clothes. Besides, he didn’t even really know what he was looking for. It just seemed exciting to be in the detective’s room.
She really didn’t have much, so his snooping didn’t take long. But once he finished, he had a decision to make. What should he take? He wanted the detective to know he had been there, but he didn’t want it to be too obvious. He glanced at her running shoes and thought for a minute that could work, but then he realized that could affect his plans. That’s when he spotted a rainbow scrunchie tied around the edge of her hairbrush.
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