by Robin Caroll
“Of course. Thank you.” Mantle stalked off.
“Sure.” Tiddle unlocked his car and climbed behind the wheel.
Nick caught Timmons’s attention and waved him up before heading to his car. Timmons slipped in the passenger’s seat. “What’s up?”
“The DNA results are back. We’re heading to the lab now.” He cranked the engine and pulled free from the line of cars snaking throughout the cemetery. “Did you catch anything down there?”
“Not really. Lot of people there who didn’t know Gina at all.”
“Just wanting to be seen here to get on the senator’s good side?”
“Something like that. What about you?”
Nick gave the condensed version of Mantle and Tiddle’s argument.
“That adds to both of their motives.”
“Right.” Nick picked up speed as he nosed the car onto the highway. “What about the gas station’s video?”
Timmons shook his head. “Martin and Salman both watched it twice. There is a blond woman who goes in and comes out during the time in question, but her face is concealed both times, so no positive ID.”
“Maybe one of them will be the hit. Especially since Cynthia Mantle’s father is in prison. His DNA profile should be in CODIS.”
Timmons snapped his fingers. “This could be it, Boss. This could be it.”
Nick could only hope so.
Chapter Twenty
“I’m trying to keep a level head. You have to be careful out in the world. It’s so easy to get turned.”
Elvis Presley
“You can’t read the contents by osmosis, you know.” Eva chuckled as she passed Maddie’s desk.
Maddie didn’t bother looking up from the sealed envelope propped on her desk. “Nick’s on his way.”
“So you’ll know the contents soon enough.” Eva plopped onto her own chair.
Maddie drummed her fingers. “Aren’t you the least bit excited? This is the first time we’ve been a part of using familial DNA on a case. It’s really cool.” She sat up straight. “Long distance information give me Memphis, Tennessee . . .”
Eva shook her head. “Yes, it’s terribly exciting.”
“Not even the Nashville TBI has gotten to actually work a case with familial DNA.” “Help me find the party trying to get in touch with me.”
“Groundbreaking.”
“Eva, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
Ah. Something was on her mind. Maddie propped her chin in her hands. “Come on, what’s going on with you? It’s like one second you’re excited, then you get around me and you aren’t.” She sat up straight. “Have I done something to upset you?”
“No, no. Nothing like that.” Eva crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m just a little sad this investigation will end soon.”
What? “You don’t like all the investigation part? You like the serology stuff.” Had all the chemicals finally warped her head?
“Well, this case is different.”
“Who are you and what have you done with my friend?”
Eva smiled, one of those I-have-a-secret-I’m-not-going-to-share smiles. “Forget it. No big deal.”
Maddie stood and crossed the room, plopping down on the middle of Eva’s desk. “Now you must tell me.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Eva!” Maddie leaned and got nose-to-nose with her friend. “Tell me or else. Remember, I know how to hide bodies and not leave evidence.”
“Okay, I give.” Eva laughed. “It’s just that I’ve enjoyed working with Darren. A lot.” Her face reddened. “A whole lot.”
Dawning hit Maddie like a freight train. “You have a crush on Darren?”
Eva’s face turned as red as a candy apple. “Don’t you dare tease me about this or I’ll have to take you out.”
Eva . . . and Darren? Eva and Darren. Eva and Darren. Yeah, it could make sense.
Maddie smiled. “I’m not going to tease you. I love Darren like a brother. Sometimes I like him more than Rafe.” She thought about that for a second. “Actually, most of the time I like him more than Rafe.”
Eva grinned. “He’s pretty great. He’s sweet and funny and good-looking as all get-out, but you already know that.”
Well . . . it was kind of that she didn’t. Growing up, all her friends had been gaga over Rafe, but he was just Rafe to her. She thought the same about Darren.
“And he’s a perfect gentleman.”
Maddie swung her dangling legs. “Uh, I didn’t realize you two had grown so . . . uh . . . aware of each other.” At least she hoped it wasn’t one-sided. But Darren had been seeing Kimi, his nanny-housekeeper. Hadn’t he?
“We’ve just formed a really nice friendship. Mainly just talking on the phone and e-mails. Texts.”
She had to ask. “What about Kimi?”
Eva shook her head. “Everybody assumed they were dating. They weren’t. Never have. Kimi actually has a serious boyfriend, but he’s in the service and is overseas at the moment. Stationed in Korea for six more months. So Darren takes her out to dinner and the movies at times, just so she isn’t so lonely. He’s so sensitive like that.”
That was true, Darren was very sensitive. “You do remember he has a daughter, right? He’s a single parent?”
Eva frowned. “Of course. I’m not stupid.”
Maddie held out her hands. “Sorry. You’ve just steered clear of single daddies in the past.”
“They aren’t like Darren.”
Oh no. Maddie recognized the over-the-moon look in her friend’s eyes. The problem was, Darren was her friend too.
She loved Eva, she did, but the woman went through men like Maddie went through Elvis songs: She loved so many, she never could pick just one favorite. She didn’t want to see either Eva or Darren hurt.
Creak.
Maddie hopped off Eva’s desk just as Nick and Darren strode into the lab, Peter matching their strides. She grabbed the envelope from the desk and handed it to Nick. “Special delivery, sir.”
Nick held the envelope, paused, then handed it to Peter. “It’s officially your case.”
Maddie had never seen Peter so impressed before. He nodded to Nick. Maddie just wanted to kiss Nick smack on the lips right then and there. What an amazing man he was. Showing such respect.
Peter opened the envelope and pulled out the pieces of paper. His lips moved as he read silently.
“Well?” Eva had come around from behind her desk and stood beside Darren.
“There are a lot of law enforcement policies we have to follow and investigative regulations, but according to this record, the unknown DNA sample we submitted is a familial match to one Brody Alexander.”
Maddie blinked. No, that couldn’t be right.
Nick shifted. “Who’s that?”
“Brody Alexander is the biological relative of the person whose DNA was recovered from Gina’s back,” Eva explained.
“So, we find this Alexander character’s blood relatives and that’s who left the blood on the victim at the scene?” Darren asked.
No!
“That’s it, in a nutshell.” Eva smiled at Darren.
“Then let’s go find out who Alexander’s blood relatives are.” Nick nudged Darren.
“Wait a minute. There’s policy on how we find that out.” Peter flipped the page and read. “To determine possible familial relationships, the investigator shall conduct a full background check of the identified individual and family members, including but not limited to: criminal history checks, inmate profiles from Department of Corrections as well as visitor logs from DOC, presentence investigative reports, prison telephone logs, and other public records.”
“So we have to run a background check on
this Brody Alexander first, then narrow down his blood relatives. Maybe we’ll find a connection between one of them and Gina Ford.”
“I already know the connection.” Maddie finally found her voice. Her entire body trembled.
Nick moved to take her elbow and helped her to her chair. “What’s wrong? You’re so pale . . . like you’ve seen a ghost.”
In a way, she had. “I know who Brody Alexander is and who his immediate family members are.”
“And that’s what’s got you white as a sheet?” Darren hovered behind Nick.
“Well, who is he?” Eva asked.
Maddie struggled to control her racing pulse. Not even an Elvis song could comfort her right now. “Ten years ago, he was released from federal prison. He did a short stint for selling junk bonds or something.”
“You know him?” Nick asked quietly.
“I’ve never met him personally.”
“So why are you still pale?” Eva asked.
“Brody has two children. A daughter, Tammy, who should be in her early thirties about now. I don’t know much about her.”
“And his other child?” Peter asked.
“He has a son, Adam, who is thirty-four.”
“And how would either of them connect with Gina Ford?” Nick asked.
She licked her lips. “Adam is a teacher at the college.”
“At University of Memphis?” Nick’s eyes lit up.
“Yes, but it can’t be Adam.”
“How’s that?” Nick asked.
She couldn’t go into this right now. Not here. Not now.
Eva moved beside her. “Adam started out as a TA at the University of Tennessee, didn’t he?”
Maddie locked stares with Eva.
“That Adam?” Eva barely whispered.
Maddie gave a slow nod.
The room grew still and close. Maddie found herself struggling to breathe. To even catch her breath. It was as if someone had poured glue into her lungs.
“Would someone mind enlightening the rest of us as to what’s going on?” Nick boomed.
Just when she’d been happy, when a chance for a true happily-ever-after was within her grasp, her past came up to smack her upside the head.
“Okay, let me wrap my mind around this.” Nick worked through the information. “Whoever left the blood drop on the back of Gina Ford’s shirt is a blood relative to Brody Alexander. Brody has a son, Adam, who just so happens to be a teacher at the university Gina attended.”
“Right.” Timmons had joined Nick, two steps away from the woman-whispers between Maddie and Eva.
“That’s a pretty strong connection to me. We need to see if Gina had Adam for any classes. Talk with her friends and see if they’d ever seen them together around campus.”
Maddie stood. “It’s not Adam.”
“How do you know?” She seemed pretty adamant about the guy.
“I just do.” Maddie ran a hand through her hair. It caught the light and picked up the highs and lows of the red.
Nick curled his hand so he wouldn’t touch it. “The connection’s too strong. We’ll look into it.”
“No, you have to believe me, Nick. It’s not Adam. He wouldn’t hurt anyone. He couldn’t.”
The pleading in her voice yanked his chest. But it also . . .
“How do you know?”
She let out a shaky breath. “I know him. Or I did.”
“People surprise each other all the time, Maddie. You know this.”
“Not Adam. He wouldn’t.”
Why was she so staunchly defending him? “How do you know this Adam character so well that you can be so positive it’s not him?”
She swallowed, then licked her lips. “I dated him. Back in college.”
Nick’s chest tightened like a vise grip had it in its claw. Tighter. Tighter. “That was . . . how many years ago?”
“Eleven.” She kept her eyes focused on his.
“That’s a long time ago, Maddie. People change.”
“Not like that. Not Adam.”
She sounded so sure. “Have you spoken with him recently?” Please say no.
Maddie shook her head. “Not in several years.”
At least there was that.
She held up her hands. “I know what you’re going to say, that he could’ve changed, but I’m telling you, there’s no way. Adam might be a cheater, but he abhors violence.”
Cheater? Ah. He understood that all too well. Joy. She’d done a real number on him. Made him doubt himself. Nick would bet his badge Adam had done the same kind of number on Maddie. Something they had in common: the firsthand knowledge that you can’t ever trust a cheater because a cheater has to lie.
He caught Timmons’s eye over Maddie’s head. Yeah, he thought the same thing . . . as Timmons had just said recently, you can’t ever trust a cheater because a cheater has to lie.
“When his father went to prison, Adam was furious. So upset. He wouldn’t visit his father in prison and hasn’t spoken to him upon release.”
“Still?” Nick asked.
She shrugged. “I guess. I don’t know.”
“So, as far as you know, father and son could’ve patched things up and they’re a happy, cozy family now. Right?”
“I guess but—”
“And as far as you know, Adam could have become some deranged killer, stalking women, right?”
“No, he couldn’t. It’s not in Adam. It’s just not. He’s a very gentle soul. A kind spirit.”
Nick fisted his hands, not at all familiar with the feelings surging through him. He couldn’t even process them as fast as they whipped through him. Anger. Jealousy. Disappointment.
Fear.
“Well, I’m sure Charles Manson and Jeffrey Dahmer’s ex-girlfriends thought they were gentle souls and kind spirits too.” Nick hated the way the sarcasm rolled off his tongue, but it was out of his mouth before he could stop it. “We’ll just do our job and check out Adam Alexander and see what we find.”
Maddie blinked and jerked back as if he’d slapped her. Her face colored right back up. “You do that, Agent, and see if I’m right.” She stood and headed to the door. “If you’ll excuse me.” She marched from the room.
Eva gave him a glower, then rushed out the door as well.
Helm glared at him. Even Timmons stared at him funny.
“Aw, come on. I’m not the bad guy here. This is our job, guys.”
“You were mean to her. She doesn’t deserve that.” Helm shook his head. “She said nothing offensive to you.”
Everything she said was offensive to him. She took up for her ex-boyfriend. A guy who cheated on her eleven years ago, yet she still defended him. Eleven years.
“The point is, guys, she didn’t even want us to look into Alexander.” He stared at Timmons. “You know that’s basically the point she was making.”
Timmons nodded. “That’s true.” He looked at Helms. “We can’t do that. We have to check out everyone.”
Helm continued to frown. “Doesn’t mean you have to be rude to her.”
And he was right. “You’re right. I’ll apologize to her. That was uncalled for.”
Helm hesitated, sighing. “Okay. What do we need to do first?”
Chapter Twenty-One
“I’m so nervous. I’ve always been nervous,
ever since I was a kid.”
Elvis Presley
If she’d ever been madder in her adult life, Maddie couldn’t remember it.
Eva had spent the better part of the last three hours attempting to make excuses for Nick’s blatant rudeness. Maddie hadn’t accepted any of them.
Now, an hour at home to unwind, and she was still furious. Even worse, she had a d
ate with him.
Not that she should keep it. She shouldn’t—she knew that, but she had to be ready in case. As clueless as the man was, he’d probably show up and be confused why she wasn’t raring to go out with him.
In a moment of normalcy, Maddie realized Nick was probably hurt because of her defense of Adam. But their past relationship aside, Nick should trust her judgment. On the other hand, she couldn’t help being baffled by the familial DNA results.
Science didn’t lie.
But she was positive Adam wasn’t involved in Gina’s murder. Knew it in her gut. Maybe it was Adam’s sister, Tammy. She could have known Gina, had a problem with her. Maddie had never met Tammy since Adam’s and her relationship had to remain primarily a secret—him being a teacher’s assistant and her being a student.
The doorbell buzzed at six o’clock, on the dot.
Nick was punctual in addition to being clueless.
She took a deep breath before she turned off the alarm, then opened the door.
A huge bouquet of roses with a pair of legs stood on her doorstep. Red, white, yellow, pink, orange, and purple—all mixed together with greenery and baby’s breath. There had to be at least four or five dozen.
“Oh. My.”
A hand extended, holding an envelope the size of a greeting card.
Maddie pressed her lips together and opened the envelope. Metallic confetti scattered all over the stoop of her front door as she pulled the card from the envelope.
I’M SORRY covered the front of the card. Big, bold print. Little print. All different colors.
She opened the card.
A picture of a teddy bear holding a sign that read FORGIVE ME? filled the interior of the card. Nick’s name was scrawled across the bottom, barely legible.
It was too cute. She let out a giggle.
Nick peeked at her from around the massive rose bouquet. “I’m really sorry for being such a rude jerk.”
“You were rude. And you were a jerk.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” He pushed out his bottom lip. “Forgive me?”
Like she could resist that sad, puppy dog face? Grinning and shaking her head, she stepped aside. “You’d better come in before those roses drive you into the ground.”