by Cass Sellars
The file was ludicrously thin. Photos of the abandoned car holding her friend’s lifeless body stared up at her from the pathetic stack of notes, initial requests, maps, and corporate filings. She didn’t need the career profile document. Sandy and Mack had spent the duration of field training in the same district and were boosted to sergeant during the same promotions cycle. They worked cases together for years until she was transferred to the West patrol unit and Mack went to Homicide. Sandy had been a good cop and an even better friend. There was something Mack wasn’t seeing.
She dialed the lab as she headed home to her family. Before she could park in the driveway, a department email chimed through her phone announcing that her request for the warehouse warrant had been denied.
Chapter Eight
Mack jogged quickly up the stairs into Syd’s open studio and closed the door behind her leaving Jenny and Parker alone on the sofa.
Mack felt both concerned and conspiratorial as she handed over unofficial crime scene photos to the forensic reconstruction expert.
“I know this is wrong”—she pointed at the police files she was sharing with a civilian—“but I also know that there’s something I’m not seeing, that people aren’t saying.” Mack watched Syd pull out the glossy photos of Sandy and begin to sift through them.
“You know what I’m asking you to do is potentially risking your career or at least your business with our agency, hell, any agency in Fairfax County if it got out and this turns out to be nothing.” Mack met her friend’s intense gaze. “I’m perfectly okay if you turn me down, Syd.”
“I appreciate that, but I’m willing to help if you’re telling me that this smells funny.” Sydney’s acute sense of right and wrong was anchored deeply in her soul.
“That’s what I’m telling you. It stinks.” Mack nearly spat the words. “Sandy was killed in the line of duty and practically no evidence exists.”
“That’s not completely unheard of, Mack,” Syd offered reasonably.
“I know that but I get the feeling from the lab that things seemed off for them, too. No leads from the car or the scene. An easy warrant gets denied out of hand and the next thing I know they’re yanking me off the whole damned case.”
“Maybe they thought you were a little too close to this?”
“Then why dispatch me at all? Why am I reassigned before I can even get her phone records? I don’t even need a subpoena for a department cell.”
“I hear you, all good questions, but it could also be exactly what it looks like.”
“What if it isn’t?” Mack’s glare was furious.
Syd acquiesced. “Okay. How are you wanting to play this?”
“I took video of the scene and the car. I also filmed the warehouse next door. Something makes me believe that there’s something worth looking at there.”
“That isn’t a lot. The best thing I can do is load in what you do have”—she held up the photos—“and start to look for what’s not obvious. It may take me a little time.” Sydney half shrugged as she looked back at Mack.
“Clearly I have time. No one wants to hear what I have to say anyway.” Mack paced the short distance behind Syd’s desk.
Syd spun her chair to face Mack. “What’s the party line when you ask them?”
“Well, them is an unknown quantity, but I saw Major Williams in the hall after my transfer and he almost rolled his eyes at me when I told him that I thought there should be a more thorough investigation than two rookies could handle. He told me that I was overreacting since we were friends. When I challenged him, he told me that I was very close to holding paper for insubordination. He has never said anything even remotely like that to me. In fact, he normally avoids me like the plague. I don’t think he relates very well to women he can’t hit on.” Mack looked incredulous.
Sydney sighed loudly. “You should know, Williams is not my biggest fan, Mack. He’s the reason I lost the contract on two big cases last year. He’s still very close with my mother and he seems to hate me by proxy. If he so much as smells me near this case, you’ll never hear the end of it.”
“I’m already on the outside of this, Syd. Something’s got to be there. I just want the opportunity to prove myself wrong. If someone with a gold badge and a white shirt is pushing me out, I just want to know why.”
“Clearance rates are a big deal. Especially after the show they put on the other night about ridding Silver Lake of all crime. This case is pretty embarrassing,” Syd noted.
“Yeah. How can we protect the city if we can’t even protect ourselves, right? Still, I can’t imagine putting clearance above this case.”
“Agreed. But, again, if the chief is any barometer, appearance is everything.”
“True.”
“If you want me to go on this, I will.” Sydney spoke carefully. “Use Jenny’s phone to call Parker’s when you want to talk. You can’t leave any trail that the department owns now that you have been pushed off the case.” Syd pointed to her SLPD cell phone. “I’ll need whatever you have regarding the murder weapon and the scene team report if you can.”
Mack nodded. “Most of that is in the hands of the lab.” Mack filled her in on her plans to meet with the lab manager.
“Do you think you can trust this new person?” Syd didn’t trust easily.
“I do. I have to. You don’t know how much this means to me, Syd. I think if I can just get a handle on the scene—all of it—maybe we’ll see something someone missed…or that someone couldn’t hide.”
“We’ll find it if it’s there, Mack.”
“She was our friend. As a peer, I owe her more than the PD is putting into it. As her friend, I can’t let this get pushed under some political departmental rug.”
“I get it and we won’t.” Syd turned to look directly at Mack. “You told me once not to be stupid, and now it’s my turn. Be safe. You have a wife and a daughter. No matter what, they need you to be safe and, of course, employed. They’re your primary responsibility.”
“I know.” Mack stared at the photos.
“Get me what you can.”
* * *
Mack had just slammed the drawer on the scuffed wooden desk in the corner of the Central District bullpen. She tried not to look furious when the district admin dropped a desk calendar and some generic business cards onto the surface. She managed a thank you before her phone began to buzz from her belt.
“Mack, it’s Dean.” Darcy’s words rushed out through the phone. “I haven’t had a chance to call before now. Can we talk?”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Not on the phone.” Darcy sounded distracted and Mack could hear papers rustling in the background.
“I can come down there later.”
“Not sure it should be here…or anywhere near here for that matter.”
The hair on the back of Mack’s neck stood up as she realized someone might have found something she could use. “Just so you know, I’m not officially—”
“On the case anymore, I know. I met your replacements this afternoon. Interesting.”
Mack smirked at the restrained assessment. “How about I pick you up at the Second Street Mall after your shift and we’ll head to a good meeting spot?”
“Okay.” Darcy sounded resigned and just a little nervous. “I’m trusting you with a lot.”
“I have just as much to lose, believe me.” Mack contemplated just how much that was.
“I guess we’ll just call this a mutual leap of faith.”
“I guess we will. Call me from the mall.” Mack disconnected and went in search of a case assignment that might make her appear busy.
* * *
Mack paced nervously in Syd’s office when her phone began to ring. “That’s the lab, you ready to do this now?”
Syd nodded and listened to Mack arrange to meet another city employee for some decidedly un-city business.
“You bringing her here?” Syd asked cautiously. Mack nodded.
Syd was d
irect. “Make sure she knows what she’s getting into and you better be damn sure she won’t compromise us.”
“I’m sure.” She glanced into the living room from the loft window. “I’ll be back, and then we need to fill everyone in.”
Mack walked heavily down the stairs, kissed her daughter briefly, then focused on Jen. “I’ll be back in ten minutes and then we’re all going to talk.” She looked over her shoulder as a serious Sydney walked to stand near Parker, winding her fingers through Parker’s hair.
“I’m not going to like this, am I?” Jenny looked up at her wife.
“Probably not, but we both think everyone should know what’s happening,” Mack responded gloomily.
“That doesn’t sound normal.” Jenny laced her fingers into Mack’s.
“It isn’t. That’s what I want to talk about.”
“Don’t be long and please be careful.”
Syd knew Jen had been a cop’s wife long enough to recognize the feeling of dread when it crept up on her. Mack kissed Jen briefly and escaped to her SUV.
Ten minutes later, Mack returned, leading a curvy blonde through the door.
The room tensed slightly in anticipation. Syd emptied her glass and headed back to the bar to pour another scotch.
Parker studied the stunning blonde with large breasts and huge green eyes. Her tight jeans and scoop-necked T-shirt left little to the imagination. Jenny raised an eyebrow at Parker as Mack and the newcomer entered the loft.
Mack pointed toward Jenny first. “This is my wife, Jenny Foster, and this is Parker Duncan. Her girlfriend is the person I wanted you to meet.” She bent her head toward the kitchen, as if expecting to find Sydney there.
Instead, Syd walked into the living room from the other side of the room, stopping abruptly. Parker watched her lover’s olive complexion turn pale, her stare welded into cold steel.
Mack continued, “This is Sydney Hyatt. She owns DRIFT. Everyone, this is—”
“Darcy Dean,” Sydney finished.
The blonde flashed Syd a smile. “Hey, SyFi. It’s been a while. Wow, you look great.” Her voice was smooth and sexy, maybe unintentionally, but for some reason Parker didn’t think so.
She crossed the room to hug a stunned Syd who didn’t move to return the embrace. Parker eyed them both as seemingly unwelcome arms snaked around Syd’s neck.
“Well, perhaps you can fill us all in later.” Mack was clearly focused on the task at hand. Parker felt no need to derail the meeting for the, albeit intriguing, story of how the two women were acquainted since Sydney was clearly unenthused.
“Yeah, can I get anyone anything?” Syd scanned the others while they stared at her, as she stood glued to the small square of rug she had occupied since she saw the visitor in her home.
Mack stepped into the kitchen and grabbed a beer, holding one out for Darcy.
“Thanks, Mack.” The sexy voice sounded more professional now.
“Let’s go up.” Sydney nodded toward the stairs. She dragged Parker to her feet and whispered in her ear, “I’ll explain later.” She stopped to double lock the front door and looped a finger over the waistband of Parker’s slacks as they walked up the stairs together.
When the small contingent, including one sleeping baby in a carrier, had assembled in the loft studio, all eyes fell on Mack and Syd as they sat in front of the large monitor.
“I guess I’ll start.” Mack sighed. Syd, as if given some unspoken cue, began launching programs that typically held her reconstruction videos.
“As everyone knows, Sandy Curran was murdered on July 4th near a warehouse in the West District.” Mack looked, for the moment, like she was briefing her squad during roll call.
“As soon as I got to the lot with my partner, Major Williams was standing by as the scene was essentially dismantled. The lab was leaving and the coroner was ready to move her body. I was the lead for Homicide that night but it took a while for them to call us. Williams said he was trying to spare me.”
She turned to Darcy, with a formal professional demeanor. “Darcy is running the Silver Lake lab and was standing in while Dr. Gray was on vacation. She had the first crime scene techs there—in fact, she was the first person inside the car. I’ve been speaking with her over the past few days and on the way here. She agrees that we have reason to be concerned and she can explain. After the lieutenant yanked me off the case and essentially buried me in the Central District, he told me to hand over the case file to two rookies just out of Northside Patrol, and needless to say, my access to information has dried up considerably since then.
“Syd has agreed to help me with some reconstruction and evidence analysis. Darcy has brought some new facts to light that I want Syd to hear. Parker and Jen, you have nothing to do with this but I’m afraid that if anyone finds out that we’re investigating this case, axes could fall and things could get pretty ugly.” Parker tensed at the mention of potential danger to her chosen family. “I don’t expect either of you to be involved.”
Syd leaned over to click on a couple of frames and Parker noticed the telltale bulge of the Sig Sauer P232 in the concealed holster she wore at her back. She bristled at the implications of the situation and the fact that her partner was, once again, armed in their home.
Bringing a dingy gravel lot onto the screen, Sydney addressed Darcy. “Perhaps you should walk us through this, Dean, so we can all see what you did that night. These are the images Mack shot, right?” Sydney’s voice was tense but she was now focused on her keyboard, not the woman Parker had so many questions about.
Darcy walked to the screen and pointed to the black sedan. “My photos aren’t approved yet so I can try to work from these.” She pointed to a photo of Sandy Curran’s body wedged behind the steering wheel.
“When I got there, there were about four uniforms and a couple of EMTs walking all over the scene. Major Williams was standing over here by the car. Pretty typical I suppose, just not what I’m used to, in DC anyway.” She glanced quickly to Sydney. “Syd and I worked on a couple of officer involved shootings a long time ago and they were never like this—remember, Syd?”
Sydney didn’t respond as she continued to adjust settings on the display. Darcy finally looked away and turned to address Mack directly. “We did the best we could when we realized what we had and who the victim was.” She looked sympathetically at Mack. “I didn’t know her but I understand that she was a great police officer and I’m really sorry this happened.”
Mack nodded and looked back at the screen. Parker watched her seem to force the memory of her friend away.
“I processed the scene like I would any other priority homicide, even though there was a huge perimeter. Williams was just waiting for detectives to arrive, I guess. There wasn’t much direction. It sort of felt like we walked onto a movie set. He told me that Curran must have stumbled onto a drug deal in progress. There were some plastic bags on the ground behind the car which had meth residue in them as it turned out.” She pointed at the screen.
Syd was looking at her intently. “Not a long leap, by the tracks.”
“True.”
“Where was the wound?” Syd asked. “Do we have trajectory or theories where the shooter might have been standing?”
“That’s sort of why I wanted to talk to Mack. Based on the entry wound, she was shot in the left temple from behind her left shoulder and just outside the driver’s door.” She reached over to point at the sergeant’s head. “All my preliminary data and, quite frankly, common sense says that the impact would have caused her to fall onto her right side. However, she was lying in this position, more on her left and kind of over the steering wheel.” She tapped the screen with a short manicured fingernail and drew an arc with her hand.
“When I first got on scene, keys were in the ignition, driver’s window halfway down. No one had been in the car until us according to the major. I examined her body and livor mortis was present along her right side even though she was lying on her left.”
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Darcy then scratched a finger in a careful line along Sandy Curran’s right arm. “See this stippling?” Darcy waited for everyone to follow the imaginary line she’d drawn on the screen.
“So the body had been moved.” Syd stared at Darcy.
“Well, at least repositioned. It could have been the shooter but that wouldn’t explain the livor which wouldn’t even start until the heart had stopped beating for at least twenty minutes.”
Parker watched Darcy as she spoke and was momentarily distracted as she tried to place the beautiful woman’s name in the archives of her lover’s past, realizing that despite their time together, she hadn’t learned any names at all.
“Pretty risky for a cop killer to hang out or return to the scene,” Mack remarked.
“Right. And why? They didn’t even take her weapon,” Syd offered rhetorically.
“Maybe they figured a police weapon would be too hot to hold on to?” Parker made a concerted effort to participate instead of focusing on the alluring presence of Darcy Dean.
“Maybe,” Darcy replied absently.
“They still haven’t recovered her cell phone, right? What about the GPS?” Syd looked at both Mack and Darcy.
“Yes. Weapon was still there but phone was not. Maybe that’s why they moved her body?” Darcy looked to Mack, the seasoned detective, for confirmation.
“Possibly. But why do you want to take that kind of risk? You can’t get into it without some hacking skill, if then. More importantly, it’s useless as soon as someone turns it off remotely or, worse, uses it to track you. A gun I can turn into cash inside of twenty minutes.” She shook her head and continued. “Tell us about ballistics.”
“It looks like the gun was a Glock 20, ten millimeter automatic. A ton of police departments use them but so does just about every gun freak in America. The bullet was a ten millimeter lite or FBI lite round—they make the gun weigh less in the field.” She focused on Mack once again. “SLPD will be using those after the equipment upgrade next year. Thousands of rounds are sold every day.”