Strand of Deception

by Robin Caroll

  “What about you, Nick? Do you want to say good-bye to your brother?” Mom asked.

  “Yes.” To have just five more minutes with Roger . . . to tell him that he loved him. That he was sorry for all the times he resented him being Dad’s favorite. That none of that mattered.

  “Then come along.” Mom moved across the carpet.

  Wait. He didn’t mean he wanted to say good-bye to him like this. To see him? Dead? On second thought, maybe he should stay here with Dad.

  Mom grabbed his hand and squeezed. Fresh tears dampened her cheeks. No, he couldn’t let her do this alone. Dad should be here, being strong for his wife. Nick glanced over his shoulder to stare at his father’s back. Dad wouldn’t even look down the hall to where Mom led Nick.

  The lady at the door opened it, letting him and Mom in. The room was cold . . . so, so cold. And the lights? So dimly lit Nick had to squint. In the center of the room, a table waited. A table holding a body. It was Roger. Nick even recognized the Marine uniform he wore that Mom had picked up from the cleaners and given to the lady yesterday, but his brother was so still. And so . . . white.

  The paleness of his face made him look almost like he glimmered . . . but Roger never glimmered. Roger was always in motion, always on the move, always laughing or smiling.

  The body on the table didn’t laugh or smile as Nick and his mother approached.

  He stood over Roger’s body, staring into his face. Eyes closed, no hint of expression. Lifeless . . . dull . . . like a wax figure.

  Mom wailed and slumped to the floor. Transfixed by Roger’s appearance, Nick couldn’t even move to help her. Dad should be here for Mom.

  But Nick wished he’d never seen Roger like this. He still hadn’t forgiven God for taking his brother . . .

  “It’s her. It’s Gina.” Senator Ford’s wavering voice yanked Nick from his memory.

  “Are you sure?” The question was stupid, as always, but had to be asked every time.

  Ford turned his tear-filled eyes to Nick. “I’m positive.”

  McMichael reached for the sheet.

  Ford jerked his hands over the medical examiner’s. “Don’t. Please.” He licked his lips and turned to include Nick. “May I have just a moment alone with my daughter?”

  Nick cocked his brow at McMichael, who nodded. “Sure. Take all the time you need. We’ll be in the hall.” He motioned for the ME to follow him.

  “That’s hard. No parent should outlive their child.” Cullen McMichael and his wife had four children, all under the age of thirteen.

  “Agreed. It’s too hard on the families.” Like how Mom and Dad had to move to Florida to get away from the memories, even though Nick still needed Mom in his life. Nick shook off the sentiments and leaned against the wall. “I know you haven’t performed the autopsy yet, but can you give me anything other than the time of death?”

  “While I can’t be a hundred percent, I’m pretty certain Gina Ford wasn’t murdered by the same person as the other girl.” Cullen was a good man, a brilliant doctor, and an honest government employee. Nick had never had a reason to doubt any of Cullen’s findings.

  “Hailey Carter.” She was a victim and had a name. Nick rested his head against the wall. “Both women had three stab wounds to the chest, right?”

  “Yep. Most serials are very methodical about their MO. These wounds aren’t in the same locations. They aren’t even at the same angle, which indicates Gina’s murderer was taller than Hailey Carter’s.” McMichael rubbed under his glasses. “I’d estimate Gina’s murderer was at least six feet tall. Hailey’s murderer is about five eight or nine.”

  “Hmm.” Nick shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “What about boot heels? Could that make up the difference?”

  The ME shook his head. “Too much of a variance. And Hailey’s wounds were made with an assailant attacking from behind. With Gina, I believe she was stabbed with her killer facing her.”

  “What else besides the height and location of the wounds?”

  “Again, I can’t say for sure until after the autopsy, but I’m fairly certain Gina’s cause of death wasn’t any of the stab wounds.”

  What? “I’m not following.”

  “Unlike Hailey’s wounds that were deep enough to reach her heart, Gina’s stabs were shorter and without much penetration. Even from the front, they weren’t as deep as they should’ve been. They were almost like an afterthought. I suspect they were delivered postmortem.”

  “You mean someone stabbed Gina Ford after she was already dead?” That was crazy.

  McMichael nodded. “I’ll know for sure once I conclude the autopsy, but I think her neck was broken prior to the stabs.”

  Why bother stabbing her if she had a broken neck? Nick shoved off the wall. “Then Gina was stabbed to make it look like Hailey Carter’s murder.”

  A cover-up.

  Out of all the furniture in the Jungle Room, Maddie’s favorite was the table made from a tree stump. The intricately carved wooden arms of the couch were beautiful, but she would bet her bottom dollar that the leather couch was beyond uncomfortable. What was it about the furnishings from the seventies that just looked stiff and . . . well, ugly? And the floor-to-ceiling carpet? Uh, no.

  She’d loved Graceland since the first time Mom snuck her out of school and took her. It was one of their special moments, just Maddie and Mom.

  She left the mansion and headed to her car, singing under her breath. “Little things, I should have said and done.”

  Her shoes crunched on the asphalt.

  “I just never took the time.”

  She unlocked the door and slid behind the steering wheel. “You were always on my mind.”

  Her nerves were no longer bunched into tight knots. She continued to hum as she steered onto US 51. Now she was in the right frame of mind to go into the lab and finish processing the samples from last night. Last night . . . what a nightmare. After the police had left, she received two more calls before she gave up and unplugged her phone. If work needed the team, they would’ve called her cell.

  She merged onto I-240, picking up speed. As she had for the better part of the night, Maddie racked her brain for people she knew—not a single person she could think of would make such calls. Well, unless it had to do with her court appearance a couple of weeks ago. If the calls started again tonight, she’d just have her number changed like the police had suggested.

  Her cell phone vibrated. She secured her earpiece, then pushed the button. “Hello?”

  “Morning, sunshine. Ready for a little DNA extraction?” Eva’s voice almost sounded lyrical.

  “Well, aren’t you the bright little sunbeam this morning? Guess your picnic last night with Lance was fun?”

  “Oh, it was the best. I’ll tell you all about it when you get here.”

  “I’m on my way. Should be there soon.” Quicker if the traffic would move out of her way.

  “Where exactly are you?”

  Maddie swallowed a groan. “On my way.”

  Eva chuckled. “You went to Graceland again this morning, didn’t you?”

  “Just for a few minutes. I had a rough night.” And just visiting Graceland made Maddie feel better, almost as if Mom were still with her.

  “Oh?”

  Now it was Maddie’s turn to say, “I’ll tell you all about it when I get there.”

  “Okay. Listen, the reason I called is to give you a heads-up.”

  “For?” She eased onto Walnut Grove Road.

  “Peter came down a few minutes ago to check if we needed anything. Ivan got a decent print to run. He didn’t get a match through AFIS, so he’s called Nick Hagar to have it run through the federal fingerprint database. Nick will be here soon, and I’m sure he’ll want a status update on the lab work. Just thought I
’d warn you.”

  Lovely. Just hunky-dory. They so didn’t need any complications right now when they were fighting for their jobs. “Thanks. Any problems with any of our samples?”

  “Nope. All good. Right on schedule with no hiccups. Already finished the reference samples.”

  “I’ll start on the quantitation when I get there. Almost there.” Maddie veered onto Farm Road.

  “I’ll pour you a cup of coffee. See you in a second.”

  Maddie tossed the earpiece into the console. A print was excellent. If it wasn’t the victim’s, chances were very good it might lead them to the girl’s killer. The thought of playing a role in bringing the person responsible to justice for murder . . . well, it always made Maddie feel better. And if they solved this one quickly, with all its political overtones, maybe the money for their lab expansion would free up, courtesy of the hidden powers-that-be.

  She turned into TBI’s parking lot and slipped into her space. She grabbed her cell, then locked her car. Her jacket provided mediocre protection against the strong wind gusting over the open space and shoving against her. She shivered against the cold as she headed in the back door.

  “Coffee’s on your desk.” Eva greeted her at the door to the lab. “And Peter’s on his way down.”

  She put her cell and purse in her drawer, then traded her leather jacket for her blue lab coat. “Is something wrong?”

  “Nope, but your hunk-a-hunk-of-burning-love is on his way, so Peter wants us to be on our toes.”

  What a way to spend their Saturday. So much for a day off. “Joy and rapture.” She reached for her coffee.

  Eva chuckled and led the way into the actual lab area. Maddie slipped disposable covers over her shoes and followed, slipping on latex gloves. She took a seat at the lab table and began preparing the samples by adding the necessary chemicals, in the exact required amount, to each of the sample tubes.

  Working through the samples, Maddie and Eva finished the preparations within thirty minutes. Maddie took the trays of tubes to the real-time PCR sequence detection system, then set the samples to run for two hours.

  “I’m guessing the coffee’s past cold now.” Maddie tossed her gloves and shoe covers in the trash after she passed the divider separating the laboratory from the office portion of the lab.

  The door opened with its customary creak.

  “Good morning, Maddie.”

  She smiled at her supervisor. Peter Helm could be considered a handsome man, if a woman liked the studious look. Maybe a little too slim because of his height, but there was no denying the sincerity glimmering in his green eyes hiding behind his dark-framed glasses. His sandy blond hair was a bit of a shock, the way it was so curly and full on top, but only because of the pallor of his skin.

  Over the years, he’d made no secret that he found Maddie attractive and would love to ask her out, but she’d made it just as plain that she didn’t date people in her daily environment. She’d learned that lesson the hard way back in college. With a teacher’s assistant, of all things.

  It didn’t matter that was a decade ago. Memories of Adam’s betrayal still caused her heart to clutch when she thought of him.

  “That FBI agent is on his way.” Peter sat on the edge of her desk. “I got the impression you two knew each other?”

  Despite making it clear she wouldn’t go out with him, she didn’t want to hurt Peter. “He was my brother’s supervisor when Rafe was here.”

  “Ah.” Peter nodded.

  Eva shot her a pointed look. “And she went out on a date with him before she went to Louisiana.”

  Peter’s face tightened. “I see.” He stood. “Will it be a problem for you to work this case with him?”

  “No.” Maddie swallowed. “Not at all.”

  “Good. I don’t have to tell you we can’t afford any mistakes or problems.” He marched to the door. “I’ll go see if he’s here yet.”

  “Why would you tell him that?” Maddie glared at Eva.

  “Hey, he needs to accept you aren’t going to suddenly change your mind about going out with him. He needs to get over it.”

  “There’s no reason to hurt him unnecessarily, though.”

  “Whatever.” Eva rolled her eyes. “Now, tell me what you and Mr. Super Agent did on y’all’s date.”

  “Nothing much. Went out to eat.”

  Eva leaned against the divider wall. “Tell me all the juicy details.”

  Maddie laughed. “There aren’t any juicy details to tell. We had dinner, he took me home, and that was that.”

  “There’s always something more than that with someone as handsome as him.”

  Oh, he was handsome all right. Deadly handsome. So handsome he should carry a license for those smoldering ebony eyes.

  Eva tapped her red-tipped nails against the side of the divider and stared at her. “You really like him. I can tell.”

  Heat barely tinged Maddie’s face. “Of course I like him. What’s not to like? He’s an honest man, according to Rafe. A good agent.”

  Creeeeak.

  “And Lord knows he looks like Adonis—”

  Eva cleared her throat.

  “But Nick Hagar makes me go stupid whenever I’m around him, and I hate that a man has such an effect on me.”

  “Good morning, Maddie.” No mistaking that voice, especially when memories of it were what had haunted her dreams last night more than the dead young woman or the anonymous caller.

  The room shifted. No, the entire earth shifted under her feet. Heat flooded her whole body as she slowly turned toward the voice.

  She stiffened her back. “Good morning, Nick.”

  Chapter Seven

  “I never expected to be anybody important.”

  Elvis Presley

  So he made her go stupid, did he?

  Nick bit back a smile as Maddie faced him. She had turned the deepest shade of red he’d ever seen in a blush. Not just her face, but her entire neck to her collarbone until her flesh met with the collar of her shirt.

  “The DNA results won’t be concluded until tomorrow afternoon.” Peter Helm’s face had turned red as well. Not as much as Maddie’s, though.

  Nick raised a brow at Helm. “I understand that. I want to get the technicians’ impressions of the crime scene. Anything unusual.”

  “Everything will be in the reports.” Helm had taken a step back toward the door out of the lab.

  “I’m sure it will, but a few questions now won’t hurt, right?”

  “Of course not.” The other woman approached him, hand outstretched. “I’m Eva Langston, in case you didn’t remember. Come on in and ask your questions.” She smiled wide. “We’re happy to help, right, Maddie?”

  The auburn-haired woman he made go stupid looked anything but happy at the moment. “What do you want to know?”

  He sat on the edge of her desk, deliberately leaning in her personal space. “Was there anything in your initial analysis of the crime scene that was odd?”

  Maddie sat in her chair and rolled it back from the desk. “Every aspect of our job is odd. Every crime scene is unnatural.”

  “What I mean is, specifically, something that struck you as, I don’t know, off about this particular crime scene?” He leaned a little further over her desk and stared into her big, brown eyes outlined by her glasses. If he made her go stupid, why hadn’t she called him when she got back in town?

  Maddie shrugged. “You’d probably do better to talk with the ME’s office. They actually removed the body and have it.”

  “I have. He’s performing the autopsy right now and is rushing his report. We have positive identification that the victim is Gina Ford.”

  Maddie’s eyes widened. “Senator Ford’s daughter?”

  He nodded. “
That’s why we’re pushing hard.” He twisted and faced Helm. “I’m sure the senator’s office will be contacting you soon with an official statement.” Goodness knew his office lit up the lines to the deputy director fast enough.

  Helm jerked his head, almost like a twitch. “We’ll handle it.”

  Nick was sure Helm would. “I’m sure you agree we should withhold her name to the press as long as we can, but Ford will soon be chomping at the bit to demand justice. I can’t imagine a scenario where he doesn’t go public with that demand.” Like Dad had celebrated each successful report of the ground Marines in Desert Storm.

  “Da-da, da-da-da.”

  He glanced back at Maddie. She’d opened a notebook filled with her scribbles and held a pen against her lips as she read. Humming.

  Nick smiled as he watched her, Maddie totally unaware of the audience.

  “Baby, let me be . . . your lovin’ Teddy Bear.” She dropped her pen, seemed to realize no one was talking anymore, and looked up. The pretty blush returned. “I do remember something.”

  “What?”

  “The drop of blood on her back.” Eva moved beside Maddie but locked gazes with him. “Maddie keeps detailed notes of her impressions at scenes.”

  “Last night, I found a drop of blood on her shoulder. Not in a place consistent with where any blood splatters should be, considering the crime scene.”

  “And you think it might be . . . ?”

  “It’s possible it’s not the victim’s blood. Not back there.” Maddie lifted her pen and tapped it against her notebook. “Or I could be wrong and it could be an old stain.”

  “You know it didn’t look old,” Eva interjected.

  “No, it looked fresh.”

  “And you took a sample of it?” If a match came back from the fingerprint database and then they could match it with DNA to a stain on the back of her shirt . . .