Damaged Goods

by Lainey Reese

  “Hello, officers,” she greeted when she saw them, not quite making eye contact. “Welcome back. Can I get you something? Or are you here with news?”

  “Hi, Mandy.” He shook his head when she lifted a tray of muffins for him and Kent. “No sweets for me, thanks. I’ll take a large drip coffee, no sugar, easy on the cream. Kent?”

  “I’ll have a double tall monkey madness with an extra shot of hazelnut.” Kent said around a mouth full of the muffin.

  Brice shook his head in awe. “Seriously? Dude? You’re a cop. Where’s your dignity, man?”

  “Hey, back off my monkey madness,” Kent said with all the dignity he had at his disposal considering that his cheeks were packed with double chocolate muffin and his coffee of choice was named after a zoo animal.

  “You eat like an eight-year-old.” Brice thought back and couldn’t remember ever having a stomach that could take that much sugar in one sitting, even when he had been eight.

  “Well, my diet keeps me young.” Kent struggled to choke down a lump of gooey chocolate as he debated with Brice.

  “Wrong,” Brice shot back. “Your diet will put you in an early grave and in the meantime it just makes you immature. Which is a far cry from young, my friend.”

  Kent ignored the taunt, having heard it a million times by now, and gulped down his first hot swallow of chocolaty, nutty, banana coffee goodness with undisguised relish.

  With coffee in hand, Brice asked Mandy, “Is there another girl on with you today? Maybe someone who can watch the counter for a minute so we can talk?”

  “Ummm.” Mandy acted as though she didn’t quite understand the question and looked around the café as if the answer might be written on one of the walls. “Ummm. I’m not sure, Angie is working, but Katie is off and Amber is gone now and Jenny isn’t here and I don’t know.”

  Before she could keep going, Brice placed his hand over hers and asked, “Where’s Angie?”

  “Behind you, officers,” Angie said as she came up to them. “Wassup? Any news yet?”

  Brice turned and smiled at her. He’d only met her once when he’d interviewed all the employees after Amber’s death, but he’d liked her. She was a straightforward, no-nonsense kind of girl. She’d cried quietly through the interview, answered all his questions directly and to the point. Even when her heart was so clearly broken and he could tell that she’d wanted to fall apart she hadn’t; she’d just held it together and the only sign that she’d been devastated were the tears steadily and quietly dripping from her eyes.

  Before he could ask her for a minute, she caught on that something was wrong. She had lovely Filipina features thanks to her mother and her almond-shaped eyes narrowed on him as the cautious cheer faded from her expression.

  “What is it?” she demanded with a raised eyebrow and a hand on her hip. “What? I am not up to any more bad news. Let’s just say that right now.” All New York sass and bravado, Brice thought as she tried to ward off what she knew was coming. “’Cause I’m done with that, okay? I mean it. I don’t care. I am not crying again and all that so just go on if that’s why you came, ’cause really? Really? I’m done already and y’all haven’t even talked yet so—yeah.”

  Brice could see the panic starting to build up as he and Kent continued to look at her. There was nothing they could do but watch as she slowly backed away from them and stumbled into a table.

  “C’mon, sweetheart.” Kent reached out and helped her to a chair. “Sit down and brace yourself for a minute.” He looked into her eyes and would’ve given anything he owned not to do this to her. “This is gonna be bad. Brice? Do you want to lock the door?”

  Brice headed for the front as Kent reached out and tucked her black hair behind her ear. It was thick as a horse’s mane yet soft as silk, and Kent had been secretly wondering about how it would feel since they’d first met. She was alluring and sassy and he’d been coming in for coffee just for a glimpse of her whenever the case had let him come up for air.

  She had black-framed glasses that slid on her face because her nose was too small. He thought it was sexy as hell whenever she peeked at him over them, and the way she splayed her fingers wide and used her palms to slide them back in place stirred him up just as much. Right now they were down again, so he just took them off completely, folded them and placed them in her lap. He’d been watching her these past days and knew she didn’t need them to see close up.

  “It’s Katie, sweetie.” Kent took a deep breath and finished quick, like ripping off a Band-Aid. “She’s gone. We think it was the same guy who got Amber.”

  With a keening cry, she folded. Less than a week ago she lost one friend and coworker and now here they were again. Her thin arms clutched around Kent’s neck and her face burrowed into his shoulder. The heartrending sobs shook her small frame from head to toe, so Kent scooped her up, sat in her chair and just let her cry it out. Stroking her hair and not saying a word as he rocked her and tried to offer what comfort he could. Nothing would bring her friend back, nothing would make it better, so all he had was this—he could hold her while she cried.

  Brice watched with a dawning sadness. He hadn’t known until this moment that Kent had felt anything for Angie. He’d known that Kent had thought she was hot—hell, who wouldn’t? She was beautiful and though slender, she had curves in all the right places. But it was her smart mouth and keen wit that had probably done Kent in. His partner was a sucker for a girl with a sense of humor and a sharp tongue. He just hoped that the two of them could find a way to make this work when the dust settled.

  “What? What is it? Is it Amber still?” Mandy asked, peering around Brice’s shoulder to see. “I know it was so sad. We are all so sad. I didn’t work with her long. Not like Angie, but I knew her and it was just so sad.” Mandy shook her head and pursed her lips as she watched Kent and Angie.

  Brice didn't know how she managed not to hear them tell Angie when she'd been standing right there, but figured it was up to him to fill her in. “Mandy, it’s Katie. We think the same person got her that killed Amber.”

  “What?” She gasped, shock leached all the color from her already pale face, “Oh no! Oh no! It can’t be! I knew her too! Not Katie! She was so sweet!”

  And then she launched herself at Brice. He felt like he’d just been hit by a linebacker as she latched on to him with surprising strength. Her shrill wail blasted right into his ear. Unlike the delicate shudders that had run through Angie’s body in her grief, Mandy’s first jerking sob knocked him off balance since he wasn’t expecting it, and they almost toppled onto the floor.

  Oh hell no, he thought. “Mandy.” If his voice was too sharp for the situation, it couldn’t be helped. Sweet, vacant Mandy was squeezing hard enough to crack a rib and wailing loud enough to bust his ear drum “Mandy, stop. I need you to focus. We have to ask some questions and I need you to talk to me. Can you do that for me? Can you focus for just a moment? For Katie?”

  “M-kay.” With a wet slurping sound that could never be considered a sniffle, Mandy released her death grip on him and stepped back. “For Katie I will.”

  “When was the last time you saw her?” he asked in a more gentle tone now that he could breathe again. He took out his notebook and a pen.

  “I saw her yesterday. We worked together all day. Then she went home and had a date. But I didn’t see her after that. I didn’t see her date, only her alone at work.” She blinked at him, looking as confused as if she’d been asked what the square root of pi was. “And then she went home. For a date. But I didn’t see her after that. After her date, I mean. Just here at work.”

  “Oh Lord.” Angie gathered herself together and pushed up from Kent’s lap to face Brice. “She left here ’bout six yesterday. Took the subway across the street just like normal. Katie rides the A train. She did have a date with one of our regulars. His name’s Brian Gwin. They were supposed to have dinner and go dancing if it went well.” She seemed to pull herself together as she spoke and by the time
she looked past him to Mandy, her expression was kind. “Mandy? Can you go in the back and check on the muffins? They’re gonna burn if we don’t get them out. Don’t forget to turn the oven off.”

  Mandy hurried to the back, and all three breathed a sigh of relief once she was out of sight. “I just don’t get it,” Angie said. “She seems normal when you look at her. She can do everything that you or I can, but something just is a little off, ya know? She’s got just a little Forrest Gump thrown in there. Maybe they’re related.”

  She shook her head with a rueful smile and Kent unsuccessfully tried not to laugh. “Forrest Gump?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” She looked up at him with a glimmer of her normal self coming to the surface. “You know, the Tom Hanks flick?” Kent full out laughed at that and Brice knew then they were a match made in heaven.

  After jotting down some more notes on Katie’s last day of work, the two headed off to find Brian Gwin and see just how his date went last night.

  Chapter Six

  Brian was easy to track down. His had been the last call made from Katie’s phone and he answered on the first ring when Brice called.

  “Hello?” He had a deep voice that sounded like he might have still been asleep when he answered.

  “Hello, Brian?” Brice replied. “This is Detective Brice Marshall and I need about five minutes of your time. Can you give me your whereabouts?”

  “Huh?” The voice sounded a little clearer and a not a little confused. “Um, who is this?”

  “Detective Marshall. Where are you right now?” His voice got firmer. “There is an urgent matter that we need to discuss.”

  “Oh, ’kay. Sure, I’m still at home, I got the day off so I was sleepin’ in.” He rattled off the address and Brice assured him they’d be there in ten minutes.

  The young man who opened the door was six foot, blond, had blue eyes and good, strong features. He had a decent build, not muscled or ripped, but it was easy to see why Katie had gone out with him. Brice noted that he hadn’t bothered to shower while waiting for them—it looked as though he had instead just gone back to sleep. He stood there at the door wearing worn-thin boxers, messy hair and a day’s worth of stubble.

  “Hi, Brian,” Brice said. “Mind if we sit down?”

  “Oh, sure,” Brian stepped aside and gestured to the living room. It was spacious and surprisingly neat for a single guy. The carpet even had the lines that showed a recent vacuuming and there wasn’t a dust bunny or empty cup in sight.

  “Nice place you got here,” Kent commented. “Who’s your maid service?” As Kent and Brice sat, Brian shuffled his feet and, if Brice didn’t know any better, blushed.

  “Nah, no service. I’m, um, kind of a neat freak.” When the men just stared at him, he shrugged. “What? I don’t like a mess. Big deal. I like it clean, so I clean.”

  “Brian,” Brice started, getting to the point because he wasn’t sure Kent wouldn’t get into a debate about the dangers of doing housework. His partner was a serious slob. “We understand that you had a date with Katie Jernigan last night?”

  Bafflement marked his features and he said, “Yeah. So?” And his arms crossed over his chest. The defensive gesture was not lost on the detectives.

  “Can you tell us how that went? What time the date ended?”

  “It went great, why? We hit it off and stayed out for a while. I don’t know what time I got home.”

  “So you went home alone?” Kent left a smirk in place to needle him; Brice knew he did it just to see if they could shake something loose.

  “Yeah, alone.” Brian’s stance got even more defensive, his fists clenched where they were tucked under his pits and he braced his legs as though for a fight. “I mean, we fooled around a little. Just, it was our first date and we weren’t ready to spend the whole night together.”

  “So? What?” Kent returned. “You bent her over in a dark alley and then said see ya?”

  “Hey!” Brian’s face flushed an ugly red and he took an aggressive step forward. “Watch it! You got no right to come in here and talk that way. And watch where you’re going with that. She’s a nice girl and even though it was our first date we’ve known each other a long time. And it wasn’t in a freakin’ alley, either. We, umm.” He lost some of his steam and seemed to think twice about giving out the details. “Wait. What’s this about? What happened? Is she in trouble for something?” He looked from one to the other of them. “Am I?”

  “You’re not in trouble.” Not yet, anyway, Brice thought. “We need you to finish telling us about your date, though. Go on.”

  More cautious now, Brian continued, “We came back here. We weren’t ready for an all-nighter, so I took her home after.” He looked like he knew he was caught in a trap but didn’t know what he could do about it.

  “What time did you take her home?”

  “I told you, I don’t know. I wasn’t keeping track.”

  “All right,” Kent soothed, switching tactics to keep him off balance. “So you saw her safely home? You took her there yourself?”

  “No. I’m a jerk-off who bags ’em and leaves ’em.” Brian shot Kent a look that should’ve fried him on the spot. “’Course I saw her home. We left and took a cab to her place. I left her in front of the back door to her building ’cause she didn’t want the neighbors asking questions if anyone saw me going up to her apartment. We kissed good night and I’m supposed to have dinner with her after her shift.”

  “Wait?” Brice zeroed in on that—he knew it was supposed to be her off day. “She’s working today?”

  “Yeah.” Brian shrugged. “At her second job. She doesn’t make enough at the Surf-N-Slurp so she took a part-time deal at that new rec center for girls, the Pink Ladies or something.”

  “Well, fuck me,” Brice said under his breath as the rug was pulled out from under his feet.

  “Yeah, me too,” Kent agreed. “Small world.”

  “Why?” Brian asked, looking at their identical expressions of shock.

  “Nothing,” Brice answered. “It’s just that my cousin and his family own that rec center.” And this is going to kill them. He wondered fleetingly if Katie was the girl Riley had hinted at setting him up with. He hoped not. Riley had said the two of them were close and he didn’t think he could stand breaking her heart that way.

  “No kidding?” Brian shrugged again. “It is a small world. So, you guys wanna tell me why my love life is so interesting to a couple of cops?”

  Brice looked at the guy, possibly the last person to see Katie alive, and braced himself for what came next. “Brian, Katie was found dead around two o’clock this morning in the parking lot behind her building. She was murdered. We need you to tell us everything you remember about last night. Every detail, no matter how small. I also need you to tell me how you got back home and if you saw or talked to anyone after you left her.”

  Back in the car outside Brian’s building, Kent scrubbed at his face as though he could wash the fatigue away. “That was brutal. I didn’t expect him to cry like that. What a mess.”

  “Yeah, who’da thought after one date he’d fall apart?”

  “He did say they’d known each other a while.”

  “True, and didn’t Angie say he was a regular?” Brice gave himself a mental pat for being subtle in bringing Angie’s name up, nice and smooth.

  “Fuck you,” Kent said without making eye contact. “I ain’t goin’ there, so drop it right now.” So much for subtle.

  “Hey, I haven’t said a word.” Brice held up his hands in the classic surrender gesture.

  “And let’s keep it that way. I’m not ready to talk about it and I’ll let you know when I am. Just drive.”

  Brice chuckled, glad he could find some humor in this dreary situation and headed for the Pink Ladies rec center for girls.

  Terryn Keller was ticked off and exhausted. This was her seventh straight day at the rec center and her fourth double, since she’d have to work both the morning and eve
ning shifts today. She’d been called in this morning to cover for Katie, who was a no-show. Terryn swore when she got her hands on that skinny little pixie she was going to squish her like a bug.

  But as she thought it, she knew she wouldn’t say a word. She loved Katie; she just couldn’t believe that she’d gone and no-showed them like this. Katie knew that someone would have covered for her—all she had to do was ask. Well, Terryn sure hoped her date was worth it, because Trevor was spittin’ mad about this and even though Terryn wished otherwise, she was afraid that this might just cost Katie her job.

  Sure, Brian was cute and Terryn knew that Katie had been looking forward to their date all week. The two of them had hit it off like magic and Terryn hadn’t blamed Katie at all for wanting to be alone with him. What she did blame her for, though, was leaving her holding the bag. Terryn had been wallowing in afterglow all morning and just when she was about to indulge herself in a nice long bubble bath for more glowing, she’d been called into work.

  To make matters worse, Terryn was fed up with the place right now. She loved these girls, she loved the work and she even loved her bosses. She’d just been living and breathing all things tween for too long without a break. If she had to break up one more argument over who was hotter, Robert Pattinson or Taylor Lautner, she just might strangle herself with the nearest Miley Cyrus T-shirt.

  She bent over the spa chair, tuned out the music and screechy chatter that only teen girls seemed capable of making and tried to focus on the motor and only the motor. If she could get the darn thing working before Trevor came in tomorrow, she’d know that there was a God and He liked her. The center was run one-hundred percent on donations and if she could save them the cost of a repairman it would mean that money could go for more important things. Besides, she liked working on stuff like this; she’d always had a knack for gadgets and motors. One of her favorite ways to burn off stress or relieve a little pent-up frustration was tinkering and today she had stress and frustration in spades. Just as that thought drifted through her mind, a gasket blew and water blasted her right in the face.