04 - Shock and Awesome

by Camilla Chafer

  After I scrawled a few ideas, I tossed my pen on the pad. It was impossible! If it were somewhere public, that would be no help at all. It wouldn't even necessarily pinpoint an area where I could go look. It was not only a waste of time, but a dead end. I thought about the night I saw him outside the Chilton house. I didn't recognize him straight off then. I could have seen Ben anywhere.

  Maybe if I went to MPD and actually looked at him? Something might jog my memory. Only I was stuck, waiting on Lucas...

  "Lucas?" I called as I swiveled in my chair. "How's it going?"

  "Good. I'm done. This Madeleine is not as tech-savvy as she might think, which is good news for us. She's good, but I retrieved all the files. Want to take a look?"

  "You bet."

  Lucas turned the laptop towards me as I rounded his desk. "Here's a list of the deleted files," he told me.

  "You have the files too?" Lucas gave me the “Are you stupid?” look and clicked another button, opening a folder. There were only a dozen files, including Ben's, although that one I knew about. There were several women, with a couple of names I recognized, so I figured the rest must be on the agency's books too. There was a file with my fake name on it. The last file was named "Madeleine."

  "Have you looked through the files?"

  "Yeah." Lucas nodded. "They're all intact even though she tried to load a virus to corrupt everything. It was pretty amateur." Lucas pointed at the screen. "Most of these are agency profiles, including details of dates and follow-up notes entered by Helen Callery. That includes yours and Ben's. Madeleine's file is in employment records."

  "Do we have their photos?"

  "No. I figure they didn't scan them."

  "That's probably why Madeleine went through the office files. I wondered why she would start a fire. Maybe it was too risky to take them. I bet when we audit them, we'll find that it's only these files that are missing." I made a circular movement with my hand while pointing at the digital icons.

  "I wouldn't be surprised if Madeleine made copies of every file in this laptop before she tried corrupting it," said Lucas. "It would make sense if they wanted to spend more time targeting clients."

  "That's not good news. She might keep that information to use in the future."

  "I'll be able to tell you soon enough if she copied them."

  "Can you tell me while I'm on the move? I have my cell."

  Lucas glanced up and shrugged. "No problem. Where are you going?"

  "MPD. I want to take another look at Ben. I know him from somewhere, I just don't know where."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Not a hundred percent, but close as."

  "Do Solomon and Detective Maddox know?"

  "Not yet. I've stuffed up enough on this case. When I know something, I'll tell them. Besides, Maddox already has Ben in custody, so I'm not sure it's even all that relevant."

  "If you think it's relevant, maybe it is." Lucas turned to the screen, striking keys and losing himself in the familiar “tap tap tap” of his keyboard.

  I smiled at the back of his head. "When did you get so wise?"

  He looked up. "Fooled ya," he said, grinning.

  I pulled up across the street from MPD, turning off the engine just as my cell phone started to ring. I had a mind to ignore it, but good sense told me to answer it. Good sense served me right. Funny, I usually had a good time when I ignored it too.

  "Boss," I said, on answering.

  "Employee," said Solomon. I held the phone away from my ear and stuck my tongue out at it. "I have the glass. I'm going to take it into MPD. The CSI's collected a few items from the dating agency for comparison."

  "It'll take them forever to get DNA and prints."

  "They probably already got them when Rafferty got booked," Solomon replied, sounding like he couldn’t care less. "This is just backup, assuming his accomplice may have the abilities to hack into MPD's systems."

  "You think so? Lucas said the virus Madeleine uploaded was amateur."

  "Lucas thinks so. Plus, your definition of amateur compared to Lucas's are worlds apart," he reminded me.

  "Isn't Lucas reaching?"

  "Maybe, but I'd rather take precautions. I'll take the glass to a friend of mine who works in forensics. I hope Maddox will give me something from the dating agency, a cup or mug, or whatever they find that I can get tested too."

  "You think he'll just give you evidence?"

  "Sure. It means he can skip the over-worked queue for their crime lab and get the results faster. Plus, it's just backup information; we have enough samples from what I can guess. My contact has a bonafide lab but whatever Maddox takes to court, he can get from his own lab later. We'll back it up as consulting detectives."

  "I'm at MPD now. You want me to run it by him?"

  "No. Wait for me there. I'll be there in fifteen."

  "Awesome," I said, my voice dry. I really, really didn't enjoy the idea of being stuck in the same room as Maddox and Solomon. Again. The only thing that could make it worse would be stuck in the same room as my ex-boyfriend, ex-lover, and all three of my brothers. The icing on the cake would be if Delgado, my potential future brother-in-law turned up for the floorshow. On that cheery thought, I decided there was no time like the present to hightail it over there and get the whole thing over with.

  I managed to bump into Garret on entering the building. "Don't mention babysitting," I told him. "I'm down for it."

  "I wasn't going to mention babysitting. I was going to ask what you were doing here. Is Mom with you?" He looked over my shoulder.

  "Hah. No. I'm consulting on Maddox's theft and fraud case."

  "Ah."

  "No smartass comments?"

  "None. Too busy. How's Lily?"

  "Sad."

  "It's too bad that happened to her. She'd have made a great mom."

  "She still will someday."

  "That's positive thinking, Lexi. I like it. Tell her Traci and I say hi and we'll come by when she's feeling a little better. Sam and Chloe made her a card. Sam wrote 'Get better soon, butt face.’ I'm not sure she'll like it."

  "She might. I'm sure she'll appreciate the thought." I paused. "Not Sam's thoughts so much."

  Garrett smiled. "Okay, so if you're looking for Maddox, I'll take you upstairs."

  "You sure you have time?"

  "Sure thing."

  Lucky me, we picked up my second oldest brother, Daniel, en route. Fortunately, I staved off one uncle and four cousins on the way, or it would have looked like I was arriving at Maddox's desk with an entourage. I figured I was plenty awesome enough on my own.

  Maddox glanced up when the three of us crowded in front of his desk.

  "Why aren't you interrogating the suspect?" I asked.

  "I'm letting him sweat."

  "I don't think Ben sweats. He just glistens a little."

  "I think the cuffs are helping."

  I nearly quipped, “Didn't know you were into that sort of thing,” before remembering one time when he definitely was. My brothers did not need to hear about that. It was enough that they glared daggers at Maddox for weeks and already made his life plenty uncomfortable during our break-up. The three of them assured me Maddox was safe for now, and I didn't want to stir things up again.

  "Great!" I beamed.

  Maddox frowned. "That's scary." Then he got a look that told me he thought the same as I. He smiled to himself.

  "He's right," said Daniel, nudging me in the ribs. "You look like you might kill someone and get away with it."

  "I'm touched that you think I'd get away with it." I turned back to Maddox who was waiting patiently for the Three Graves Comedy Show to end. "So... Ben? Whatcha got?"

  "It's quite a story." The chair in front of me burst out from under the desk and I just caught a glimpse of Maddox's boot retreating. I took the hint and sat. My brothers took up positions either side of me. When I glanced over, they both stood with their feet shoulder-width apart, hands folded in front of their crotches
. They looked like club bouncers. I watched Maddox look from Garrett to Daniel. Garret, his senior, he couldn't do much about. Daniel, his senior's brother, he couldn't do much about either, so he sighed instead. I could have done something about it, but that was no fun, especially once I spied Detective Blake entering the room. She started to approach, stopped, looked at the three Graves looking her way, thought better of it. She switched her route to walk out the other door, past her colleagues who didn't make any effort to talk to her. Maddox made no move to call her over.

  Hmmm. So, Blake wasn't exactly popular. I wondered just how hard life had been for her at the station, and struggled to give a shit. I had no fondness for the woman, and a low opinion of her. All I knew was she partnered up with Maddox, which included going undercover as his girlfriend in a sting, a role she really warmed to. How far it went... well, there was no need to go into that again. We'd spoken briefly on occasion, but made no effort otherwise. I was aware she was still a part of Maddox's team after transferring here, but I heard nothing about her one way or the other. Come to think of it, my family had been unusually discreet about not mentioning her, and they knew everyone in law enforcement. My heart warmed a little at their protective natures.

  "Go on," I urged Maddox. "Though if you've got coffee..."

  Maddox smiled warmly and it made his eyes crinkle in a particularly sexy way. "We've pieced together most of it," he said. "Ben Rafferty is almost certainly an alias. We can't tie him to the crimes yet, but we will."

  "Wait! He hasn't confessed? Has he lawyered up?"

  Maddox shook his head. "Not yet, but he will. They always do."

  "Any sign of Madeleine?"

  Again, another shake of the head. "Not yet. We're sure Madeleine is an alias too. We don't have any photos of her as she was never under surveillance, so if you can get one, that would help."

  "I'm sorry, I don't think I have anything, but I'll check our files. Maybe one of my colleagues snapped a photo of her."

  "Thanks, appreciate that."

  "Solomon says he has a forensics guy who can run their prints and DNA." I shut my mouth. Oops. Was I supposed to not mention that? I didn't want to steal Solomon's thunder.

  "That would be useful. We ran Ben's prints against our databases and got nothing."

  "Nothing?" said we three Graves in unison.

  Maddox sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. Yeah, we were exasperating. Whatever. "Nothing," he confirmed. "Local and national."

  "I hear Madeleine is good with computers," I dropped in.

  Maddox nodded, letting that register. "Then we need to check the prints manually against the crimes we think are linked. That's gonna take time. Time we don't have. The moment Ben asks for a lawyer, he'll be out of here and we'll have nothing to charge him with. All the lawyer needs to do is point out our evidence is circumstantial, and I don't see him desperate to confess."

  "Solomon said he'll be here soon. He's got a glass with Ben's prints. We're hoping for DNA."

  "Where'd he get it?"

  "The Chilton place."

  I felt a tap on my shoulder. "Lexi, how are you mixed up in this?" asked Garrett, looking down.

  I flapped a hand at him. "Undercover consulting," I explained as succinctly as I could, wanting to get back to the story. "I told you."

  "Anyway," Maddox said, looking from Garrett to me, "I spoke to a guy in Charlotte and he said he had suspicions about a female accomplice, but nothing he could readily put a finger on. I asked him for a description and he said there was a blonde hanging around, but he couldn't really describe her beyond ‘white and a nice figure’."

  "Madeleine has red hair, but she could've dyed it."

  Maddox gave a nod of agreement and reached for his desk phone, which started ringing. He answered it, spoke briefly and put the phone down. "That was Blake," he told us. "Ben asked for a lawyer. We can't speak to him anymore until his counsel is here."

  "That sucks."

  "This is less fascinating than I thought it would be," said Daniel, over my head, to Garrett. "You want to get something to eat?"

  "What's the special today?"

  "Burgers. With real meat."

  "Tasty." Garrett's hand landed on my shoulder and he squeezed it softly, which was a little like being gripped in a vise. "You okay here, Lexi? Or do you want to sample MPD cuisine? See what they make us run on."

  I thought they were less interested in feeding me, and more worried about leaving me on my own with Maddox while Blake lurked nearby. All the same, I refused their offer with a simple "No, thanks."

  "Good call," said Daniel, squeezing my other shoulder. Ouch.

  "I know we can't talk to Ben, but can I take a peek?" I asked, when my brothers left.

  "Huh?"

  "You know, an eyeball. A look-see. A..."

  "I know what a peek is. Haven't you seen the guy enough?"

  "Yeah, but I just wanted another look."

  "You and the whole female contingent of MPD," huffed Maddox.

  "If it makes you feel better, I'm not going to perve."

  Maddox rolled his eyes. It wasn't smart, but appropriate. "I'll see what I can do. Shouldn't be a problem. Let me get this," he said, as his cell phone began to ring. Answering the call, I looked around the room, taking in the whiteboard full of scrawled notes, and the heaped piles of paperwork consuming his fellow detectives' desks. I really didn't know how they could work in such chaos, but I sure as hell wasn't going to offer to file any of it. "There was a possible sighting of Madeleine; she was heading towards Boston," he said, setting the phone down. "Uniforms are tailing her until they can get a decent sighting."

  "Why don't they just pull her over?"

  "They don't want to spook her."

  "If it's really her, she'll notice. She's not stupid."

  "I don't think she's even stupid enough to get spotted," said Maddox, "but you never know. This Rafferty guy did. Excuse me again." This time, he grabbed the desk phone and spoke into it. "What?"

  "You have an excellent phone manner," I told him when he hung up.

  Maddox laughed. "Ben's lawyer just got here. You'll have to wait on that peek while they talk privately."

  "No problem."

  "Coffee?"

  "Please," said Solomon, making me jump.

  "When did you get here?" I asked, twisting to find him looming over me.

  "You'll never know," he said before turning to Maddox. "How's it going?"

  "Lexi and I will fill you in while we get that coffee. Follow me. I hope you like coffee that tastes of nothing, but keeps you awake long enough to get the shakes." He didn't even wait to hear the answer, instead pushing back his chair and indicating we should follow him. Solomon's eyes roved over the same whiteboards as he waited for me to get up, and I was pretty certain he memorized the whole lot.

  The breakroom-slash-kitchen was small, stuffed with old furniture, and a coffee machine that had seen better days. Maddox set about fixing the coffee, which involved hitting the machine hard enough to get it to start, then spending several minutes hunting for filters. While that occupied Maddox, I relayed to Solomon what Maddox already told me, with Maddox occasionally chipping in.

  "Your uniforms are tailing the wrong woman," Solomon said when we finished. "Madeleine is long gone. I don't think she's even a redhead anymore. If she was in on this from the beginning with Ben, they must have an exit plan. They know how to move fast, change their looks, and never leave a trace."

  "Didn't help Ben," Maddox pointed out.

  "He was unlucky, but he knows there's nothing to hold him on until he can be tied to a crime. So far, we've got this one theft we can put him in the vicinity of, and a whole bunch of suspicions. Once his lawyer sees how little we've got, he gets boosted and he's in the wind. He'll put his exit plan into play and that's it. Ben Rafferty ceases to exist." Solomon clapped his hands together as if to say “the end.”

  For a moment, we stood there looking at each other, then the coffee machine made th
e most awful gurgling noise and we all looked at it instead. That was the moment Detective Blake stuck her head around the door and we all looked at her next.