“Over here.”
Cal swung his flashlight over to where mine was and we slowly walked forward. On the floor was a large, congealed mess that sure as hell didn’t resemble any beer I ever drank. Maggie spun and threw up all over the floor and then continued to dry heave as Cal and I moved forward to try and figure out what was there.
“Cal, head back and get the lab kit. We need samples to try and figure out what this is. I would say this is maybe a week or two old.”
“On it, Cap.”
“I’m going back with him. I can’t stay here.”
“I’ll go with you. You can’t just stay out there by yourself.”
We all walked back out into the night air and breathed deep, cleansing breaths. Cal quickly headed back to the SUV and came back carrying a lab case with the necessary equipment.
“Make sure you get as many samples as you can. When we get back to the safe house, we’ll have one of the guys come pick up the samples and take them to the lab. They can run a gas chromatograph and hopefully tell us what this is.”
“A gas chroma- what?”
Cal stepped in. He knew all about this stuff since he studied chemical science when he was in college. When he was in the military, he was the explosives expert in his squadron. That was probably why the serial killer had chosen to kill his family in an explosion. It was poetic in its own way. Cal hadn’t mentioned explosives since that day a year ago, even when a team member specifically went to him for aide on a case. He just walked away. He never expected the thing he loved to be what eventually killed his family.
“Gas chromatography is used for separating and analyzing compounds that can be vaporized without decomposition.”
“Homie say what?”
“Basically, you take a sample, you heat it up, and you shine the light through the smoke of the sample because every particle reflects light on a different wavelength. From the different wavelengths you can determine what particles are in the sample.”
“Okay, I didn’t really understand that either, but what you’re saying is that we’ll know what was in that congealed mess on the floor.”
“Hopefully. If I’m right and that’s some kind of acid, there may not be anything left to identify,” Cal said.
Maggie sighed and rubbed a hand across her forehead. She looked exhausted now that I took a closer look at her. We hadn’t really taken a break since I killed that guy next to her in the alley. Cal could see it too and raised an eyebrow in her direction.
“Why don’t you guys head back to the SUV and I’ll go collect the samples. It should only take me a few minutes.”
I didn’t like leaving a teammate alone, but Maggie wasn’t going to go back into that building with the smell and I had a feeling she was going to be done here in a few minutes.
“Sounds good. If you’re not back in ten, I’m coming in to get you. Don’t shoot me.”
His face looked remorseful as I spoke those last words and it was only after I saw his face that I realized he thought I could actually think he would shoot me. I was going to have to fix that. Trust worked both ways and the more I let him know that I didn’t trust him, the more he would wonder if I really had his back. It would lead to big mistakes while on duty if I didn’t solve this once and for all.
“I’ll be right back.”
Cal went back into the building and I kept watch on our surroundings. Maggie had slumped against the wall and looked like she could barely hold herself up. I thought about suggesting she sit down, but the ground was wet and muddy.
“Cal’s a good guy, you know.”
“What? Since when do you know anything about him?”
“Since I spent the last day with him. While you were sleeping, I talked with him. He’s a really good guy.”
“And did he tell you what happened?”
“Yes, but that’s not who he is. He made a bad call and it cost him everything.”
“His bad call almost got his teammates killed.”
She nodded, but stayed silent. The more she stayed silent, the more I felt I needed to explain myself. I really did know that Cal was a good person and I guess agreeing with Maggie was the first step in accepting what happened.
“I know that Cal is a good man. The choice he had to make was difficult and while I wish that he had chosen to trust us, I understand why he did what he did. Now, he’s paying for those decisions every day.”
“By losing the trust of his brothers.”
“No, because he lost his family. Trust can be earned back, but he can never get his family back.”
Cal returned a few minutes later carrying the lab case. “I got as many samples as I could.”
“Good. Let’s get back to the safe house, then.”
“We aren’t going to check out the other properties?”
“Not tonight. The test takes a long time to perform. The sooner we get it to the lab, the sooner we’ll get the results.”
If I told Maggie that I wanted to head back because she was exhausted, she would only argue with me. This gave her a reason to go back to the safe house. We desperately needed some answers.
“Besides, once we’re back at the safe house, we can open the flash drive and see what’s on there.”
“That’s right. Let’s get going.”
I should have kept my mouth shut. Maggie just got a second wind and I had a feeling none of us would be sleeping tonight.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Maggie
“CAN’T YOU HURRY up? I would like to see what’s on the flash drive today.”
“Just relax,” Sebastian said as he worked on testing the flash drive. “I’m not taking the chance that this flash drive is compromised. If there’s a virus on here, it could crash our hard drive or send a worm into our system. I’m not risking the security of my business for fast results.”
Cal was outside doing a perimeter check and then was taking the first shift sleeping. Sebastian insisted on being the one to stay up with me while I went over the files on the flash drive. I paced behind him for another ten minutes as he ran every check he could possibly think of on the flash drive. My patience was wearing thin and I think he realized that and was stalling on purpose.
“Alright, let’s open this up and see what’s on it.”
He clicked on the flash drive icon and it slowly loaded.
“Come on. Come on.”
“Calm down, Freckles. You’ll give yourself a conniption.”
“Ah!” I screamed as a spreadsheet appeared on the screen. I shoved him over so that I could see the screen better. “Move over.”
The spreadsheet appeared to be a list of account numbers and then names that were attached to those accounts. In the next column was a list of job descriptions and then dates accompanying them.
“Okay, so it looks like these are lists of people and jobs that were performed. I don’t understand what the jobs are though. Does this make sense to you?”
The jobs were listed as “cleaner” or “filler”. If this was a list of maid’s service or dentistry, it was useless.
“I’m guessing that cleaner means a clean up crew.”
“Like, he hired someone to come clean up for an event?”
“Highly unlikely. Did you hear me on the phone with Becky when we were leaving the alley?”
I tried to remember back, but it was all a blur. I was so focused on not focusing on what happened that I blocked some things out.
“Not really. I think I was trying to think about anything but what had happened.”
He gave me a sympathetic look. “Sorry about that. I should have been a little more understanding. I forget that clients aren’t used to dealing with this stuff on a daily basis. This is just another day at the office for all of us.”
“It’s fine. I’m not gonna break down or anything, I just momentarily blocked out what was going on.”
“Well, I called Becky when we were leaving and asked her to send a clean up crew. To us, that means to clean up the sit
uation we just left behind.”
“How did she know where to send them?”
“All of our phones are monitored at all times. We always need to be aware if someone on the team is in trouble.”
“Oh. Okay, so if ‘cleaner’ is a clean up crew, what is a filler?”
“That I don’t know. We don’t have a filler, but I’m guessing you can figure out what ‘exterminator’ is.”
“Yeah. I think I can guess. Can you print off this sheet for me? I’d like to do some research on the Mayor’s associates. I need to link the time that these people were hired with what was going on at the time.”
“Sure. Hey, wait. She wrote some notes for you on the bottom.”
“Let me see.”
Maggie, I found this on the Mayor’s computer when I went snooping earlier. I know you said to stay out of it, but I had an opportunity and I took it. Also, I overheard a conversation he was having with Nicholas Webb, his right hand man. Apparently, they’re looking at selling Mayor Johnson’s properties to the city so that Cassidy Redevelopment doesn’t get their hands on the properties. Webb said that they could control the contracts if they sold them to the city instead of to Cassidy Redevelopment. I’m not sure what that means, but when I stepped into the office, they were quick to hide files they were looking at. I would suggest looking into the contractors the Mayor has used in the past. Webb seemed to be very interested in that.
“Damn. That’s probably what got her killed. I bet she didn’t cover her tracks and the Mayor found out that she was snooping.”
“I told her not to look any further. I didn’t want her involved. Why didn’t she listen?”
“Probably the same reason you don’t listen to me.”
Ignoring his comment, I got into work mode and started thinking of all the things I needed to start researching.
“Okay, I’m going to need a notebook, different colored pens, and a laptop.”
“Why don’t you just use the laptop for your notes?”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Because I like to write things down on paper. It helps me to sort out my thoughts. Plus, I use different colored pens for different thoughts. It helps me stay organized.”
“You do realize that they have this thing called a toolbar the allows you to change the color you type in?”
“This is the way I do things. Are you going to get me what I need or not?”
He held up his hands and started walking away. “Fine. Fine. I’ll get you the stuff you want. I’m just saying, it’s seems like extra work.”
When he got back with all my stuff, I sat down and got to work researching. There was so much to go over that I wasn’t sure where to start. I completely forgot about Sebastian as I dug in and started researching.
I decided to start by cross-referencing the names and dates with things that were going on at the time politically. There were a few dates that I could find absolutely nothing to match. It made me wonder what these people were being secretly hired and paid for that the Mayor would want anyone to find out about. I continued checking dates and what I found was very interesting.
The first name that matched a major event in the city was Rudy Moore. He was a private investigator that specialized in blackmail. I knew this because he had become quite well known a few years back when he dug up dirt on a lawyer to make him throw the case he was going to trial for. All would have gone well, but the person that hired Moore got drunk one night and bragged to a bar full of prominent citizens how he had hired Moore to blackmail a lawyer to get his way. The news of how thorough Moore was spread like wildfire and eventually, he had to move his practice since he was so well known.
Moore was listed in the ledger as a mediator. I snorted at the name because Moore was less mediator and more extortionist. I supposed though that if you were trying to keep a secret ledger, you wouldn’t want to put exactly what that person did for you.
The first major event I came across was back in 1992 when big box stores wanted to build in the city. Many citizens were against it, not wanting a box store to drive out the small business owners. The citizens fought back on it for months until Mayor Johnson announced that the city council had come to an agreement with the companies that would ensure that local construction companies would handle construction and all supplies would be bought locally. With plans for several box stores to be built, RND construction, the local construction company that was hired, announced that with all the projects they would be undertaking, they would be hiring several hundred more workers.
After that, the uproar in the city settled down and everyone except for the local businesses were happy with the new plans. City council members applauded the Mayor for striking a deal that would not only create new jobs, but also give more business to local companies.
From a first glance, it appeared that the deal the Mayor made was a good deal for the city. So what did the Mayor get out of this? If Moore was part of this deal, why was it necessary to hire him in the first place? If citizens were against the deal, perhaps city council members weren’t for this deal going through. Maybe they needed some convincing.
I made a note to check into city council members at the time and try to find anyone that changed their minds suddenly on the deal. While I had no proof that Moore was connected to this deal, it seemed awfully suspicious that Mayor Johnson would hire a private investigator months before a major city deal went down.
Looking again at the ledger, I saw that Moore’s name was listed several more times and I decided to look at those dates first. The next date was 1996. I set about some research and spent the next several hours looking into the dates where Moore was listed and tried to connect the dots.
When I looked up from my work, rays of sunlight were streaming in through the windows. I had worked the rest of the night and was finally feeling the effects of sleep deprivation. I got up and went over to the coffee pot, needing a pick me up if I was going to finish working on this.
“You know, sleep would be better for you than caffeine.”
Sebastian’s deep timber made me jump and I spilled coffee grounds all over the counter.
“Would you quit sneaking up on me?”
“I don’t think walking into the kitchen is sneaking up on you. You’ve been up all night. Why don’t you go lie down and get some sleep. Your research can wait a few hours.”
“Not if I hope to find Danielle.”
“Freckles, I think we both know that Danielle is dead. Nothing you do is going to bring her back.”
I turned and stared at him, crossing my arms over my chest. “I can at least catch her murderers.”
“Yes, you can, but running yourself ragged isn’t going to help. If you would just get some sleep, you could look at all this with fresh eyes and maybe make some headway.”
“I’ve already found a ton of information.”
“Okay.” He stood there thinking for a minute. “How about we go lie down and I’ll give you a back massage? You can tell me all about what you’ve found and then we’ll get some sleep. When we get up, I’ll help you with research.”
Lying down sounded awfully appealing at the moment. My eyes felt like dirt was caked inside my eyelids and my hands were starting to shake from exhaustion.
“Fine. Let’s go, but I want that back massage. No take backs.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
We headed up to the bedroom and sat down on the king size bed. It was nice and soft, just the way I liked it.
“Lay down on your belly.”
I did as he said and felt my eyes drifting shut as he started to massage my back.
“So, tell me about what you’ve found.”
“Mostly, I found that a private investigator was hired at the same time that some major events were taking place in the city. The first was when big box stores wanted to come into the city. The Mayor brokered a deal that the citizens seemed to hate. Somehow, city council members were on board with it.
“The second event was whe
n the city wanted to build new schools in poorer neighborhoods. Get this, one of the schools was going to be built on one of the Mayor’s properties. He managed to get all the bills blocked and proposed new locations for the schools. It didn’t get a whole lot of media attention because the new locations were safer, so no one thought twice about the change in location.”
“You know that’s not really a smoking gun, right? None of that sounds too devious.” Sebastian’s hands worked down to the small of my back and brushed against the waistband of my pants, causing me to momentarily forget what we were talking about. His large, strong hands gripped my waist as his thumbs dug into my lower back, eliciting a moan of pleasure from me.
“Does that feel good?”
“Oh God, yes. Oh.” I moaned as his fingers continued to trail over my skin, his touch becoming lighter as he moved his hands higher up, his fingers brushing the undersides of my breasts. Any traces of sleepiness vanished in that moment. My eyes were now wide open and my body was on fire with need. The small taste I had of him earlier was only enough to quench my thirst for him.
My moans must have had the appropriate effect on him because I felt him hardening against my ass. I pushed myself up to brush against him, hearing a low growl rumble from him.
“You’re supposed to be telling me about what you found.”
“You started it by touching my breasts.”
I rolled underneath him so I was facing him. He could have easily stopped me if he wanted. He was a strong, powerful man and I was scrawny next to him. I sat up slightly and pulled my t-shirt over my head. His eyes narrowed in on my breasts that were barely covered by my lacy bra. I scooted back on the bed to pull my legs out from under him and crawled back to him, straddling his lap.
“This isn’t what we’re supposed to be doing.”
“Do you always do what you’re supposed to?” I asked as I wrapped my arms around his neck. My fingers played with the hair at the nape of his neck as I leaned forward and kissed him. His arms wrapped around me as he deepened the kiss. His hands moved up my back and released the clasp of my bra. Slowly, he pulled the straps down my arms, his eyes widening as he took in my heavy breasts.
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