Evidence of Marriage

by Ann Voss Peterson

  “Who is he?”

  “Aidan Powell. Reporter for the Capital Times. A real pain in the ass. The good thing is, I think we can avoid photos and names.” He swung the car to the curb. Hitting the button to open the garage door, he lowered his window. “I should have known you’d be here.”

  “Got a chance to talk, Detective?” Powell ducked his head, trying to get a look inside the car.

  “I’ll have to get back to you, but I’m sure we can work something out.”

  “You know I’ll hold you to that.”

  “I know.” Reed hit the gas, breathing a sigh of relief. “Powell’s a good guy, for a reporter.”

  “So you’re going to talk to him?”

  Reed nodded. “I’ll talk. Perreth’s right about one thing. The press can be very helpful in cases like this…when they aren’t plastering every leaked word all over the news.” He could only hope Perreth hadn’t mentioned that Dryden Kane’s daughters were helping on the case. That would produce the kind of copy that would turn even ethical reporters like Aidan Powell into rabid dogs.

  Closing the garage door securely behind them, Reed piloted the car into his assigned spot. So far, so good. He got out and led Diana through the garage and into the adjoining offices. The place still smelled like a sewer. Hopefully the lieutenant had procured some office space for the task force. Not only would he have a blistering headache if he had to breathe this smell all day and night, with both the central and east districts operating out of this building, they would never have enough space for the task force now that it would be going full tilt again.

  Reed glanced out the station’s front door. Ellen Yee sat at the reception desk, the gate before the flood of reporters outside. Ellen had a ways to grow to hit the five-foot mark and had only been with the department a year, but she was tougher than any street punk. As long as the national media hadn’t descended, she would keep the reporters in line. Reed suspected the locals were a little bit afraid of her.

  Too bad Ellen couldn’t keep Stan Perreth out.

  The moment Reed spotted him, it was all he could do to keep from slamming his fist into that bulldog face.

  The detective flipped an unlit cigarette in stained fingers and glared at Diana. “Is bringing your girlfriend to work going to be an everyday thing now, McCaskey?”

  Reed didn’t bother answering. Instead, he turned to Diana. He didn’t like Perreth’s comments about her, but he liked the way the bastard looked at her even less. “I’ll meet you in the conference room.” He held his breath, praying she wouldn’t argue and make this a bigger mess than it was already.

  To his relief, she nodded and peeled off down the side hall.

  Reed jabbed the videotape from the prison at Perreth. “Make copies of this. VHS and DVD.”

  “I’m not your errand boy.”

  “Actually, if you want to stay on this task force, you are.”

  “I don’t have time. I’m getting ready to give a statement to the press.”

  “I haven’t approved a statement. In fact, I told you we were going to wait on informing the media.”

  “I don’t need your approval. I have the lieutenant’s.”

  “And he told you to run it by me then, I’m sure.” Reed grabbed the paper out of Perreth’s hand, causing him to drop the cigarette. As Perreth stooped to pick it up, Reed skimmed the statement.

  Just as he’d feared, Perreth had sprinkled Diana’s name throughout his statement, even going so far as to identify her as Dryden Kane’s daughter.

  Reed crumpled it with one hand. “You’re not mentioning Diana’s role in this. And you’re not admitting she’s here.”

  “Why the hell not? She doesn’t get special protection just because you’re—”

  “It’s not special protection. Copy the tape, and while you’re at it, watch the damn thing. Then you’ll understand why we need to keep her presence here quiet.” He thrust the tape into Perreth’s hand.

  He stepped away from Perreth before he gave into his urges and slugged the guy, and joined Diana and Nikki in the conference room. “Any word on office space that doesn’t reek?”

  Nikki raised a brow. “No word yet. But count yourselves lucky. Except for my little vacation to the north district this morning, I’ve been steeping in it like a tea bag for twenty-four hours.”

  Voices erupted from outside the conference room. Diana and Nikki looked up at Reed. He held up a hand. “I’ll see what it’s about.”

  He’d just turned around when all five-foot-eleven of Meredith Unger burst through the door.

  Ellen Yee chased in her wake. “You can’t just barge in there—”

  “We need to talk, McCaskey.”

  He couldn’t agree more. “I’ve got it, Ellen.”

  “Thanks.” Spinning around, the petite woman rushed back to her post to block any reporters who might try to run the play Meredith Unger just had.

  Reed glared at the attorney. Meredith Unger had the rep of a shark and the size of a small football player. Although she didn’t work criminal cases much anymore, Reed had sat in the hot seat during a few of her cross-examinations in the past. Even then he’d never known her to be this zealous. “What’s going on?”

  She flipped a hank of platinum hair back over her shoulder. “Who the hell gave you permission to talk to my client without me present?”

  “Your client?”

  “Don’t play dumb.”

  “Who’s playing?” Here he’d thought yesterday was a bad day. This day was shaping up to be straight out of hell. Reed’s gaze shot to Diana. A reflex. And a bad one.

  “This is her, isn’t it? The daughter?” Meredith raised a plucked brow. “I knew it.”

  Reed shook his head. He couldn’t believe this. For someone who was trying to keep Diana’s presence here from Dryden Kane, he was doing a damned awful job. “What is it you think you know?”

  “Her presence here says everything. This woman isn’t visiting my client because she’s his long-lost family. She’s manipulating him. She’s working as an agent of the police.”

  DIANA FOLDED HER ARMS around her middle and hunched forward in the conference-room chair. Her head spun, making her feel as dizzy and queasy as if she were on a carnival ride. She hadn’t stopped shaking since her visit to Kane. And with the press and Perreth and Meredith Unger swirling around her ever since, she felt thoroughly disoriented. And now Kane’s attorney thought she was manipulating him?

  The irony was as thick as the scent of sewer.

  She had told Reed she wanted to stand alone. That she wanted to take care of herself. And she did. But she couldn’t help being grateful he was with her. She didn’t know how she would have survived this morning without him.

  He had successfully sequestered Meredith Unger in his office with Nikki, promising to join them directly. Now he stood at the other end of the room barking orders to Perreth. “Search court records. I want to see a client list for Meredith Unger.”

  “Do you really think she’s Kane’s connection to the copycat? Or are you just looking to waste my time?”

  “Why? You have somewhere else to be?”

  Perreth tapped a cigarette from his pack and glanced longingly out the door.

  “I didn’t think so.”

  Heaving a theatrical sigh, Perreth ambled out of the conference room, walking past Diana as if she weren’t there.

  Another thing to be grateful for.

  Diana watched him go, glad to have a moment alone with Reed. She should probably tell him he was right, that she should have stayed away from the district office, that she should have holed up in her hotel room. But the thought of sitting helpless in her room was worse than any amount of dirty looks Perreth could throw at her, or inferences Meredith Unger could make. “What is Meredith Unger going to do?”

  “Do? Beyond making our lives hell?” He rubbed a hand over his face. “I suppose she’s getting ready to argue that any action Kane takes after his talks with you was set up by police. Ent
rapment, or some kind of garbage.”

  “And she can get away with that?”

  “I didn’t say that. Just that she’ll try. The worst thing about her barging in here is that I can almost guarantee she’ll tell Kane you were here.”

  Great. But he didn’t have to tell her that. “So what do we do now?”

  Reed grabbed a pile of papers Nikki had left on the conference table. He plopped them on the table in front of Diana. “Since you’re here, you might as well get some work done. Besides, no matter what Meredith Unger passes on to Kane, this is still probably the safest place for you.”

  Diana picked the top form off the stack. “Missing persons reports?”

  “These are from last September and October from all over the country—or at least from those jurisdictions that have computerized their reports. We’ve already done a computer search to come up with women who match the characteristics of our victim.”

  “The body that was burned?” Diana shuddered. The body who was at first mistaken for her.

  “Burnell said the copycat burned the body either to act out his own fantasies or to hide her identity. If we can figure out who she was, we’ll be that much closer to finding our copycat.” He tapped a finger on the top of the pile. “Right now, we’re at a dead end. I’m hoping with what you know about Kane, you might be able to recognize something in these reports that can help kick-start our investigation.”

  She nodded. She could do that. She was eager to do that. “And what are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to try to appeal to the human side of Meredith Unger. Provided there is one.” He leaned over her and brushed his lips to her forehead. “I’ll be back for you.”

  As soon as he stepped out the door, she leaned back in her chair, heart slamming against her rib cage as if she’d just finished a ten-mile run. She raised her hand to her forehead, touching her fingertips to the spot he’d kissed. As sweet as the gesture had been, she couldn’t help thinking how she wished he hadn’t done it.

  How she wished he’d kissed her lips instead.

  She shook her head and riveted her attention to the papers in front of her. The stack rose several inches thick. So many women. How many of them were the victims of violent death? Picking the top report from the stack, she forced her mind to concentrate on the information it contained.

  She scanned the missing person’s description and moved down the page. Moving her eyes over license plate and vehicle information, she studied the section marked Other Information, a classification including the complainant, the reporting officer and the clothing and jewelry the woman had worn when she’d disappeared. “Diana?”

  She didn’t recognize the thin voice at first. It was so out of context. She turned around.

  Louis Ingersoll leaned against the doorjamb. “Hey.”

  “Louis? What are you doing here?”

  He didn’t meet her gaze; instead, he focused on her neck. “I suppose he gave that to you.”

  Her hand flew to her throat. She clutched the delicate heart necklace in her fingers. The necklace she wore to feel close to her sister. “It’s from Sylvie.” She didn’t know why she felt she had to explain. She’d told Louis she wasn’t comfortable with his gift. She’d told him she liked him as a friend and that she couldn’t be anything more. But the hurt and anger in his eyes when he saw she wasn’t wearing the necklace he’d given her, but another, made her feel she had to give him an explanation just the same.

  He narrowed his eyes. “For the wedding?”

  “What?”

  “Did she give you that for being in her wedding?”

  “Yes. It was my maid-of-honor gift.”

  His face relaxed into the Louis she knew.

  She glanced at the conference room. The last thing she needed was for Reed to walk in about now. This day had been disturbing enough without trying to referee a face-off between the two. “Why are you here?”

  He shook his head, as if he wasn’t sure. “Something happened at our building yesterday, I guess. The police asked me to come down. Is that why you’re here?” He eyed the stack of paper in front of her.

  “Not totally.” She hated lying to Louis, but she was sure Reed wouldn’t want her to tell Louis anything. Still, it didn’t feel right to avoid answering his simple question. “I’m going through some paperwork.”

  “You’re working for the police?” His eyes widened, then narrowed. “Or for McCaskey?”

  The jealousy again. She didn’t know if they’d ever get around that, if they’d ever be friends again. “I can’t tell you any more than that. I’m sorry.”

  His face flushed red, blending skin and freckles and hair.

  She felt bad for Louis, but what could she do to satisfy him, short of falling madly in love with him? Something that just plain was not going to happen. “I’m not back together with Reed.” She flinched. There she was, explaining things again.

  “That’s not what it looks like.”

  “I don’t want to talk about this.”

  “You used to talk to me, Diana. We talked all the time. What happened?”

  What happened? How was she supposed to answer that? Louis’s feelings happened. He started looking at her as if he had a claim. He started acting as if he deserved an explanation for every decision she made. He started giving her gifts.

  “Someone left a music box outside my apartment door yesterday. Did you see anyone unfamiliar in the building?”

  His rigid posture seem to relax a little. “No.”

  Maybe if she could steer their conversation off the subject of Reed, they could stay clear of hurt feelings. “That’s probably what the police want to talk to you about.”

  He took a step into the room. “That’s not what the detective said.”

  “What did he say?”

  “I’m only supposed to talk to him. No other detective. No one else.”

  Odd. Why would a detective give Louis those kinds of instructions? “Who was the detective?”

  “His name is Perreth.”

  A bad feeling solidified in the pit of her stomach. Why would Perreth tell Louis not to talk to another detective? What was he up to? “Louis, you have to tell me what Perreth said.”

  He shook his head, the fluorescent light flaming orange off his hair. “I can’t.”

  “Please. It might be important.”

  “Sorry, Diana. I know who you’re going to run to as soon as I tell you anything. And Detective Perreth specifically said not to say a word to McCaskey.”

  “SO WHAT DO YOU THINK he’s up to?” Diana had been mulling over what Louis had told her about Perreth all afternoon and evening while she’d sorted through missing persons reports. She hadn’t come up with an explanation that made sense, but her uneasy feeling about the whole exchange had grown.

  Alternating shadow and streetlight played across Reed’s face as they drove the few blocks to her hotel. “What Perreth’s up to is always the question. And I don’t have the answer this time.”

  “Do you think he’s doing something to hurt you?” Ever since Reed had confronted Perreth about abusing his wife, the bulldog-faced detective had been looking for revenge.

  “I can almost guarantee he is trying to hurt me. He’s probably trying to get me thrown off the task force. And if he can, ruin my career.”

  “How would he do that?”

  “If I knew that, I could head him off.” He flicked on his signal and made a turn, circling toward the hotel. “Perreth is no genius, but he can be creative. At least when he’s properly motivated. And I guess we don’t have to wonder if Louis Ingersoll would be eager to help.”

  Diana didn’t have to spend much time thinking to answer that one. “If Perreth’s plan is to hurt you, Louis would help in a heartbeat.”

  “I know he’s your friend. What I don’t understand is why.”

  Things might have changed between her and Louis in past months, but it hadn’t changed so much that she didn’t remember exactly why she’d
valued his friendship. “He didn’t judge me.”

  Reed’s brows snapped upward. “And I did?”

  “No. Not really. But I felt like I was letting you down just the same.”

  “Letting me down? How? You never let me down.”

  She shook her head. He was right. She could see that now. Reed had thrived on helping her, taking care of her. The only person she had let down was herself. “I suppose my failings were mostly in my own head. But at the time, Louis seemed safe. It really never occurred to me that he wanted more than friendship. Not until after you and I broke up.”

  “What happened?”

  “He started coming over to my apartment more. He’d stop to see me at the university every time the food-service company he works for had a delivery downtown. And he gave me an expensive necklace for a Christmas present. Emeralds and diamonds set in white gold.”

  “Nice.” His gaze flicked to her throat, as if checking to see what jewelry she was wearing.

  “I never wore it. I knew he would take it as a sign that I wanted to be romantically involved, which I didn’t.”

  “You gave it back?”

  She shifted in her seat. “Well, no.”

  “Why not?”

  She stared out the side window at the night street scrolling by. She knew she should have insisted Louis take back the gift. But somehow, she couldn’t. “He just felt so fragile. So needy. If I had, I would have broken his heart. I didn’t know what to do. So I put it in my drawer and forgot about it.” At least she’d tried. With Louis checking her throat nearly every time she saw him, she hadn’t been able to wipe it from her mind for good.

  “He clearly sees me as his rival.”

  She couldn’t argue with that. And the way it looked, Louis was now conspiring with Perreth to sabotage Reed’s career. “I’ll talk to him. I’ll tell him to leave you out of this.”

  “And you think that will help?”

  “Probably not. But if there’s a danger to your career, I can’t just do nothing.” Reed’s career was more important to him than anything. She couldn’t live with herself if her actions ended up destroying it.

  He veered the car into a vacant spot along the curb, parking between a van and a cab dropping off its fare. Slipping the key from the ignition, he twisted to face her, his hand braced against the back of her seat. “Everything will be fine.”