by Jenny Allen
“Honestly? I have no idea. Luminita wasn’t kidding about these being some unusual murders. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” She was deep in thought again, going over all the pieces. “None of it really makes sense. There’s no evidence of tool marks, but no human could have done that damage.” Her voice was definitely distracted. She was more talking out loud than actually trying to pass on information.
“You look like you’re holding up pretty well.” There was the concern again. This time she was too distracted to filter her reaction. Lilith frowned and rubbed at her neck in frustration.
“Of course I am. Hell, I deal with dead bodies all the time, Chance. I wasn’t related to this one and at least one of them still had an intact face.” Her tone was harsh enough to draw a surprised look from Cohen. She definitely hadn’t intended to bite Chance’s head off. Dammit.
She needed to get a grip on the emotional rollercoaster. She’d already been completely wrecked before Farren put a bullet in her father’s head. Now she seemed to have no balance at all. She was juggling plates and one of them was about to fall and shatter if she didn’t play nice.
“Besides, the Medical Examiners have it easy. The techs clean the bodies up. It makes them a hell of a lot easier to handle actually. You think whoever my new partner is back in NYC would be willing to run ahead to my crime scenes and clean up the bodies for me?” Humor. The deflection device of champions.
Cohen actually laughed while Chance looked far from being amused. Well maybe champion was too much to hope for. Lilith avoided the six foot three brooding man and looked right at Andrew. She shouldn’t have snapped at Chance like that, but she also knew that it would just keep happening if he kept asking if she was okay every ten minutes. She was not okay. She might never be okay again.
She needed to set some ground rules. Chance wasn’t psychic and despite being around for most of her life, he didn’t know her as well as he thought. Holding her when she was breaking down in tears was one thing, but this was something else entirely. This was the one thing she could handle. It was logical. It had solid, definite answers, even if she couldn’t see them yet. She needed the focus to distract from everything else. Hell, she felt like a psychotic bipolar just trying to keep it all straight in her own head.
“Cohen, do you think you could bring the car around? I have one more thing I want to do before I leave.”
Cohen’s blue eyes glanced from Lilith to Chance and back again. Lilith knew he wasn’t a complete idiot, she was just hoping he wouldn’t be an asshole about it. “I’ll meet you out front in 10.” Thankfully, he pulled himself out of the chair, straightened his tie, pressed his hands down his suit with a sense of dignity and walked out of the room without another word.
Chance slowly folded his magazine and placed it on the table. “I’m guessing you got rid of Cohen because you wanted to talk?” He didn’t seem completely pissed. There was definitely some concern in there somewhere, maybe. Of course that could just be wishful thinking on her part.
Lilith walked over to the open chair while collecting her thoughts and settled into the seat. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…” She sighed softly and leaned forward rubbing her temples. All those thoughts about ground rules went completely out of her head, leaving nothing but the gnawing anxiousness of having absolutely no idea what to do.
“I’ve only seen you around a few dead bodies and they were all pretty traumatic. I tend to forget that even when our lives aren’t on the line, you do this for a living. I just remember how…Miriah’s body was…and how completely devastated you were…”
“I ‘m trying so damn hard to focus on this case and not think about Miriah and Alvarez and Duncan and Gregor. I don’t need to be reminded of them. When you make comments like that, about holding up, I just flashback to Miriah’s office and her unrecognizable body on that desk. Thinking about her is not going to help me solve this case. Please, Chance. I can’t tell you how eternally grateful I am for you, but when it comes to work, I just need to stay focused, for all our sakes. I can, and probably will, break down later.”
Lilith sighed heavily and glanced over at Chance. She expected to see anger, but she didn’t know how else to say it. Hell, she still didn’t know exactly what she was even trying to say. Lilith was just praying that he’d magically make sense of her crazy gibberish.
Surprisingly, he didn’t look angry, just lost. Well that wasn’t exactly surprising since she felt the same way. He leaned his tall, lean frame forward in his chair, rubbing his hand against his stubbled jaw. “I just don’t know how to do this, Cherie. I worry about you and I haven’t worried about anyone that way…, well, ever. I’m not going to apologize for that. We’ve both lost a lot of good people and I don’t want you rattling apart at the seams. I’m trying to get a handle on this, but every time we have a moment to ourselves, someone dies or threatens to kill us.”
Chance surged out of his chair with all the extra adrenaline pumping through his system. Every lean muscle in his body was tensed and ready to attack. He was feeling just as helpless and frustrated as she was. He paced across the office, trying not to punch something. He wasn’t angry at her. He was angry at his inability to fight back against their enemies.
Lilith pulled herself out of her chair and very cautiously touched his shoulder. She just kept thinking back to that first night in Madisonville when he punched the crap out of the door frame for the same reason. “We are in this together, Chance. You and me. Cut me some slack and I’ll do the same. Okay? We will find a way out of this. We survived Ashcroft, we can survive this.”
He nodded and let out a slow breath before turning around. Even in her heels, he was several inches taller than her. Chance brushed a stray curl from her face. “You and me.” There was something sad in his face that made her heart hurt. She could see every word he still wanted to say, but for some reason just couldn’t.
She smiled softly up at him and felt a sense of calm move over both of them. She couldn’t tell anymore if it was because of Cohen’s blood or if it was just the effect they had on each other. Part of her was terrified to ever find out. The thought that this connection of theirs was anything less than real left a sour taste in her mouth.
“In the meantime, let’s see what we can find at the crime scenes and then get some rest at the hotel. We’ll have more answers in the morning when the trace and fingerprint results come back in.”
For a moment, they just stood there like that and then Chance nodded as if the internal battle was over for now. “Okay. Let’s get to those crime scenes and wrap this up. I’ll be professional as long as you don’t smile at me too much. It’s distracting.” A grin pulled at his lips and it lifted a weight off her. The witty banter was familiar and definitely didn’t come from Cohen’s stupid blood.
“Oh, no. That is entirely your fault. I am not taking the fall for that.” Lilith quirked an eyebrow and started for the door to the hallway.
“Wait. What? How the hell is that my fault?” Chance chased after her, jogging up beside her.
Lilith stopped to look him over. Standing there in his charcoal grey button up shirt and slick black slacks, he was the very picture of ruggedly handsome in a lean muscled, six foot three package of sarcastic wit and compassion. She patted his shoulder with a wry grin. “Yes, it is completely your fault. Why don’t you just think about that one on the way to the car? You can thank me later.” She winked and heard his deep chuckle behind her as they picked their way through the hallways of the gleaming hospital towards the front door.
Chapter 10
Lilith stood in the massive courtyard, shielding her eyes from the sun, to stare at the strangest building she’d ever seen in her life. Being a native New Yorker, that was saying a lot.
The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library was a huge modern art rectangle lifted off the ground by four pillars in the midst of neo-classic and neo-gothic architecture. Geometric grids littered every side like massive acoustic tiles. Instead of window
s, the walls were constructed of translucent, veined marble giving it an eerie quality. Logically she understood the use of marble to filter out damaging UV rays, but it was just odd. This was the “precious jewel box” of Yale University?
The doors were completely hidden in the shade, tucked away underneath the lifted building. The massive appearance of weight hovering over the four delicate support beams made entering the library very intimidating. Lilith kept expecting the building to collapse on them as Cohen led their little trio into the ominous shadows towards the revolving glass doors.
As Lilith pushed through the door, a blast of cool air filled with the smell of old books lit across her skin. She looked up in shock at the five story, glass enclosed bookcase on steroids lit by soft lighting and surrounded by warm wood trim. She’d been to some pretty impressive libraries, but nothing like this before. The entire center of the geometric building was encased, in a climate controlled cocoon of sparkling glass protecting every single book inside from the elements and anything else that could harm them. People included. How in the hell did anyone steal one specific book from this massive place?
She was still staring at the thousands of books filling each shelf when Chance bumped her shoulder. “I think security is heading over. The detective must have phoned ahead. You may want to close your mouth and look like a professional.” Chance leaned close and winked with that sarcastic grin of his that made her want to smack him. She settled for discreetly flicking him off before directing her attention to the man approaching them.
The security officer was wearing a stiff navy blue jacket, a red and blue striped tie and khaki slacks. It was the uniform of the upper crust, ivy-league rich, but the man himself definitely didn’t belong to the clothes.
He was clean cut enough, freshly shaven, close clipped haircut, but his wide pot-marked face and intensely trained, deep set eyes betrayed his story. He was probably ex-military or former police. His tan was fading from a lot of time indoors, but the weather damage to his skin was still obvious. He was all stocky muscle packed into a five foot ten frame that didn’t agree with the stuffy uniform. Tailoring probably wasn’t high on his list of priorities, especially not with a robbery to solve.
His deep blue eyes scanned each one of them, stalling on both Cohen and Lilith. Odd. Of the three of them, Chance was by far the most intimidating. Apparently, this man didn’t agree. “You must be the team that the Detective phoned about.”
Cohen nodded and stepped forward, extending his hand. “I’m Detective Andrew Cohen and these are my colleagues, Forensic Examiner Lilith Adams and Security Specialist Chance Deveraux.” The man took his hand in a firm shake, but kept his eyes on the entire group. With this guy as the head of security, it seemed even more impossible that the John Does from the morgue managed to pull this off. Of course, since the book hadn’t been recovered, there had to be a third guy, the brains of the operation. Hell, it could have been an inside job. Nobody was above suspicion.
“I’m Terry Eckhart, Head of Security. I’ll need to see your badges if you intend to carry your firearms in the building.” Well that explained the extended evaluation. Chance was the only one of them not carrying a gun. They had to have some silent metal detector or something.
Cohen knew precisely how to tailor his suits to hide the gun bulge and Lilith was currently keeping hers locked away in her forensics case. Whoever packed her suitcase hadn’t seen fit to toss in her gun holster. Tailored jackets and pencil skirts didn’t come with pockets. They also weren’t forgiving enough to do the movie solution of wedging it into the waist line of her skirt.
Both Lilith and Cohen fished out their badges while Eckhart took a good long look at Chance. You could practically taste the testosterone in the air. It had to be some alpha male show of dominance or something. Men. Once the security officer was satisfied with their credentials, he wasted no time in leading them towards a side door on the right side of the building. He started filling them in as he walked in a purposeful march.
“It happened two nights ago, around 22:00 hours.” Definitely ex-military. “It was right at shift change for the guards on duty. All the researchers and support staff were long gone. With the recent budget cuts, we can only afford two armed guards at night for the entire building. Thankfully, neither of them were injured.”
There was a huge pile of resentment and blame shoved into his little speech. Eckhart was probably right about blaming the execs but he didn’t know the sort of people that wanted this book, what they were capable of or willing to do to get it. The two thieves in the morgue said it all. If there had been more guards, it probably would have just meant more dead bodies for her to examine.
“We don’t have much to go on. The security feeds were all wiped clean.” Eckhart grabbed the handle with purpose and swung the door open, signaling gruffly for everyone to head inside. His eyes watched the mingling crowds of people as the trio passed by him. His thin lips were pulled into a permanently stressed scowl. His complete lack of social interaction screamed more than just military. This man lived for his job and it was the only thing that mattered. Lilith definitely wasn’t surprised to see the lack of a wedding band. He wouldn’t have time for that. So why was an ex-special forces man working security in a Library?
“How long have you been working here?” Lilith kept her voice casual as he led them down a utility corridor toward a small office.
“About a year now. I ran campus security for ten years before taking this position.” He was all matter of fact answers with absolutely nothing personally invested in the conversation.
“I’m guessing ex-military. So how did you get into this line of work? Guarding a library seems a bit of a step down.”
Lilith definitely did not miss the tension rippling across his back or the gruff tone in his voice. “Navy Seal to be precise and this is not just a library. This is the largest assembly of original books and manuscripts in the country, some of the rarest books in the world. Security is taken very seriously. The guy I replaced was a Green Beret who finally decided it was time to retire.”
“Point taken.” That wasn’t exactly the response she was expecting, but perhaps it should have been. No puffed up ex-military man wants to hear that they might be wasting their physical prowess on a mediocre job.
Chance shot her a look that certainly held a lot of patronizing humor and just a smidgeon of disapproval. “Smooth.” He whispered it just loud enough for her to hear. This time she didn’t have to worry about an audience seeing her middle finger.
Eckhart swung the security office door open with a little extra force and bustled inside leaving the trio trailing behind him. Not surprisingly, the small room definitely screamed ex-military. The cream colored walls were completely bare except for a corner of various awards and diplomas. The desk was spotless and everything was in a very particular order. Stapler on the left corner, cup of identical pens on the right corner, newly polished name plaque in the center. It was like an OCD dream.
Lilith and Cohen claimed the two chairs while Eckhart pulled open the top drawer of his army green filing cabinet and deftly flicked through his files. It only took him a matter of seconds to find what he was looking for. He slapped the file down on the desk and took a seat behind his orderly desk, pausing to adjust the stapler that was just a hair out of place. He definitely looked less excited with their presence than he had in the lobby.
Granted, poking at his choice of career fields probably hadn’t helped any, but she still found it odd. Even if this was the largest collection of original ancient works, it still seemed extreme to have an ex-navy seal guarding the place. Of course, she didn’t have many opportunities to check the credentials of museum security.
“That’s the file on the robbery.” His eyes went directly to Chance, who was hovering between the desk and the door. With a nod, Chance grabbed the manila folder and began scanning through the report. “As you can see, these guys were very prepared. They knew the security measures and how to bypass
them.”
“Which means they either had inside information or they’ve staked the place out.” Chance kept reading while thoughts ruminated in his mind. “What about the former head of security? Do you know what he’s been up to since he retired?”
Eckhart frowned and it definitely wasn’t friendly. “Patterson retired to Florida with his wife of 30 years. I somehow doubt he would be involved in anything like this.” Lilith watched the lines around his eyes tighten as he emphasized the last sentence. He definitely wasn’t happy about Chance insinuating that a former green beret may have been involved in robbing his old employer. “He ran a tight ship. If it was an inside job, it was not Patterson.”
Chance ignored the disdain and merely nodded as he continued flipping through the file. “I assume all your guys have been properly vetted?”
“Of course. Full background checks, security clearance and credit checks. There’s nothing out of the ordinary.” Eckhart sat a little straighter in his chair, puffing out his chest, which, along with the minuscule pursing of his lips, completely betrayed him. He wasn’t sure. It wasn’t an outright lie, but he wasn’t a hundred percent secure in his assessment.
“So there aren’t any disgruntled workers, anyone who has been laid off recently, or hasn’t shown up for a shift?” When Lilith spoke up, Terry Eckhart’s firm blue eyes fell on her with a look that was a mixture of open dislike and concern.
“No. No one in security.” Well that said volumes.
Chance jumped on the bait, thankfully pulling the security officer’s intense stare away from her. “Well anyone that works on the premises would be aware of the security protocols. Your report says that the item was stolen out of the secure work room?”
Eckhart nodded with his square jaw set in a firm line. “It’s a key-coded room on the far side of the building. Items being prepped for display are stored there in a locked case of security glass. One of the restorians has been out sick since the day before the theft, but I doubt he is involved in any way.”