Biloxi Sunrise (The Biloxi Series Book 1)

by Jerri Ledford

  The door to the room closed and the unmistakable tone of anger carried through the door in both Lisa’s and Leslie’s voices, but their words were indistinguishable. No wonder they’d put her in a private room rather than leaving her in triage.

  TWO

  “Let’s go up to my office.”

  Jack looked at the nametag pinned to the doctor’s green scrubs. Dr. Webber. He nodded and followed the doctor to the nurses’ station where he spoke with one of the nurses and scribbled on Lisa's chart. He handed it across the counter to the nurse, and they walked through a large swinging door marked Authorized Personnel Only. Behind it, a long hallway stretched, deserted and eerie.

  “Lisa said you’re her uncle.” The doctor’s voice echoed off the blank walls.

  “I am.”

  “She’s lucky. To have an uncle that’s a cop, I mean.” The doctor held open an unmarked door for Jack.

  For all the good that’s done her.

  A small desk lamp casting shadows around a large space was the only light in the office. Behind Jack, the doctor flipped a switch, illuminating several large bookcases lining the walls of the room. In the center of the room an oversized oak desk was piled with papers and several picture frames that Jack could only see the back of. A small wilted plant occupied one corner of the room. It looked like the plant was in danger of dying.

  Dr. Webber followed Jack’s gaze. “I’m a good doctor, but I don’t have a green thumb. Have a seat, please.”

  Jack sat in one of the two chairs in front of the desk and waited for the doctor to settle himself. “What’s the story, Doc?”

  “I won’t lie to you, Jack. It looks like this has been going on for a long time. There is a lot of scar tissue.”

  Jack paused and sucked in a deep breath. He really had failed Lisa. How could he not have known this was happening? “What else?” He really didn’t want to know. What he wanted was for all of this to be a nightmare. Something he would wake up from, shudder, and then push into the dark recesses of his mind, like everything else that haunted him.

  “She’s angry. She’s defending him. And she says it was consensual. They love each other. And she’s furious with her mother for making such a big deal out of this, says she’s jealous.” The doctor paused, watched Jack as he absorbed the details.

  “She what?” Jack coiled, leaned forward as if to strike. He was ready to stomp downstairs and shake some common sense or personal responsibility into someone. “She’s seventeen years old, for crying out loud. How could she want this?” Anger squeezed Jack’s breath away. “Is this like Stockholm Syndrome or something?”

  “I’ve called in a crisis counselor.” Doctor Webber held out a business card. “Her name is Dana McNally.”

  The name cranked Jack’s tension up a notch. He had recently worked the investigation of a teenage girl that had been repeatedly raped by her brother and his friends. Dana McNally was the counselor called in to support the girl and her family. She was a tough woman, someone who had seen the true face of the world and lived to tell about it. And her involvement made this whole situation that much more real.

  “She’s very good at what she does, and I’ve worked with her many times. She’ll be able to help Lisa and Leslie through this.”

  “Leslie’s not the best mother, but she’s not the worst either.” He felt the need to defend Leslie, though he wasn’t sure why after all she did to destroy his life and now Lisa’s. “Lisa began sinking into the teenage realm about five years ago. She just keeps getting wilder and wilder. Leslie doesn’t know what to do about it, and she’s pretty messed up herself.”

  A knock at the door interrupted them. The doctor stood behind his desk and thrust a second small white card toward Jack. “Here’s my card. My number and the number of my answering service are on it. If you have any questions, please call me. If I’m not available, I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

  “Thank you.” Jack took the card in one hand and shook the doctor’s hand with the other. He pulled open the door and found himself staring into the deep green eyes of a tall, slim woman. He stared at her for a moment before he recognized her.

  “Dana.”

  “Jack. How are you? It’s been awhile since I saw you last.” Her voice was smooth, and if he’d heard it over the phone, Jack would have imagined a much smaller woman.

  “Not good,” Jack snaked his hand around his neck and squeezed at tense muscles. “The girl that Dr. Webber called you in to see is my niece”

  Dana stared a Jack for a second. “I’m so sorry Jack. I just saw her. It’s going to be difficult to work through this. She’s very angry, and she doesn’t want to talk at all.”

  THREE

  Kate pulled her car onto the boat ramp on the West side of the Courthouse Road Pier. From her vantage point, she could see the yellow crime scene tape blocking the entrance to the pier and the body lying on the rocks.

  Long, dark hair swirled in the brown waters lapping at the rocks. Waves were rare in this part of the Gulf. Unless a storm was brewing, the water just gently rolled to the shore and then drifted slowly back out. In this case, that was a good thing. It meant the water had done nothing to destroy the crime scene.

  Activity bustled around the pier. Gawkers already gathered on the East side, away from the police vehicles. A department photographer walked a few steps, snapped a few pictures then walked a few more steps. More pictures.

  That’s what I should have done. Photographing scenes would have been so much easier. Safer. A flash in her rear view mirror. Kate looked up and saw Jack’s car rolling smoothly up behind her.

  She steeled herself and took one more deep breath of the cool air blowing through the car vents then pushed her door open. Thick fingers of humidity pushed at her. Even as she pushed the door shut behind her, her shirt was glued to her back and sides and she could feel sweat dripping down the small of her back. The heat promised another September day guaranteed to make statues sweat.

  “Jack.” Kate stopped. Dark circles ringed Jack’s eyes and his shoulders sagged toward the pavement.

  “Hey.” Even his voice sounded tired.

  “You okay?”

  “Long night. Have you been by the precinct yet?”

  “No, I came straight here.” Kate studied his face. Lines cut deep into his normally handsome features. “Why?”

  “I’ll fill you in later.” Jack started toward the area that had been cordoned off. “Have you been up there yet?” He inclined his head toward the scene.

  “Not yet.” Kate gnawed the inside of her lip and followed close behind Jack. “I’ve only been here a few minutes.” She hated walking into a scene without Jack. She’d been his partner since she transferred to his division six months ago, and she still felt as if no one but him had really warmed up to her. So much for Southern hospitality.

  They all knew about her past. She felt it.

  How Jack didn’t know yet was beyond her. She’d intended to tell him, but the chance never came up. One day he’d learn about her past and he’d demand a new partner. Until then, she planned to learn as much as she could from him.

  They cleared the perimeter of the scene. Kate kept her gaze focused on the ground, taking in details and searching for anything that seemed out of place. Nothing looked unusual, but in scenes that got as much traffic as this place did, it was hard to tell what belonged and what didn’t.

  She stopped at the edge of the rocks and glanced at the body. The dark-haired woman lay sprawled below, one arm tucked behind her in an unnatural position. Her feet rested a few feet from the top of the rock berm, blood spattered heaviest at that point and faded the closer it got to the victim’s head which rested near the water. Deep red rivulets wandered into the water that swayed around the crown of her head.

  Jack stood at Kate’s left, but his gaze focused far to the west.

  “Jack?” What was going on? His gaze snapped back to the body below them. “Let’s talk to the witness first.”

 
; Jack never wanted to talk to witnesses first. He was the hands-on guy that preferred to see what he could for himself. Questioning witnesses was usually far down his list.

  “Okay?” Kate couldn’t keep the questioning tone from her voice but Jack didn’t seem to notice.

  “Donnelly.” Jack called to the red-headed rookie leaning against the front end of a squad car as they approached. “That the guy that found her?” Jack pointed to a thin man sitting in the back of the squad car.

  “Yeah. I put him in there because it’s hot out here already. He looked like he was about to pass out when we got here.” Donnelly’s voice betrayed his heritage. He was raised in the Deep South and anyone would be able to tell as soon as he opened his mouth. His fingers fidgeted, walking from one compartment to the next on his gear belt.

  “Did you talk to him?” Kate stepped forward.

  Ignoring Kate, Donnelly looked at Jack. “More like listened to him talk.”

  Kate bit back irritation. This was how she’d been treated ever since coming to the Coast. She should be used to it by now, but it still crawled under her skin. Suck it up, girl. It’s no less than you deserve.

  ”Like I said, he was looking all sickly, so as soon as I could get a word in, I sat him in the car before he passed out. Last thing we needed was to have to rush him to the hospital. Not a good way to start the morning.” Donnelly shifted his weight back and forth.

  He glanced down at a small notebook held in his large hand. “His name is Brian Carter. He said he—”

  Kate pulled open the car door and reached inside. Her hand connected with a boney arm. “Mr. Carter, could you please step out?” She pulled him out of the back seat.

  The thin man stumbled from the car but held tightly to the door. He looked as if he might faint at any time.

  Motioning for the witness to step to the side, Jack pushed the door shut.

  “I’m Special Investigator Roe, this is Special Investigator Giveans.” Jack nodded in Kate’s direction. “Tell us what happened.”

  The man cleared his throat. “I jog here. Every morning. But I didn’t see her when I got here.” He pointed to where the woman’s body lay. “But she was right there when I got back. I didn’t see her until I got in my car.”

  “What time?” Jack’s eyes stayed focused on Carter who stared at him blankly.

  “What Detective Roe means is what time were you jogging?”

  “Oh.” Kate watched Carter’s eyes dart back and forth from her to Jack as he began to understand. “About five. During the summer I’m out by five. During the winter I don’t usually come out till six.”

  She glanced over at Jack who was staring off in the distance. What was going on? What had him so distracted? She’d never seen him like this.

  “Do you always start here?”

  “Yeah, I start here, run down to where the Biloxi Flags used to be and come back.” The Biloxi Flags, a landmark near the Edgewater Mall had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The city never bothered to replace them, but people that had lived in the area long enough still remembered them.

  “You do the same route every morning?”

  “I do.” The jogger puffed out his chest. Kate never understood the addiction to running that joggers felt. The pain. The damage to their bodies. Looking at Carter’s taunt muscles, but thin frame and fragile continence, she held strong to her belief that running was not an exercise that she would enjoy.

  “You always alone?”

  “Usually.” Carter’s eyes narrowed. “What? Do you think I did this?”

  Kate shook her head. “I think you’re just some unlucky sap that stumbled onto a dead woman. But it’s my job to ask.”

  Carter’s features pinched together and he fisted his hands at his sides. Kate had no desire to cater to the wrongly accused routine. “Okay, Donnelly, get Mr. Carter’s statement. Then he can go home.” She looked Carter directly in the eye. “Thanks for your help. And stick around town for a while in case we have any more questions.”

  Kate nudged Jack who started as if waking up from a nightmare.

  He shook his head. Then without saying a word, he walked back toward the pier.

  Kate resisted the urge to grab his elbow and spin him around. She wanted to shout at him to fill her in on what had him so distracted. But this wasn’t the place to confront him. She’d have to wait until they finished up.

  A Medical Examiner’s assistant was crouched near the body when they reached the pier.

  “Finding anything?” Kate wrestled a pair of latex gloves onto her hands as they picked their way across the rocks. The victim looked to be in her mid-twenties, and had at one time been dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. Those were now in shreds around her and her naked body was covered in stab wounds.

  “I don’t see any obvious signs of drug use.” The ME’s assistant stood and stepped back. “Have a look. This is pretty intense.”

  Jack examined the spaces between the rocks, looking for drug paraphernalia while Kate knelt next to the body. Drug users hung out around and under piers and bridges in this area after dark. It was secluded and offered them the privacy they needed to get their fix.

  “Maybe she was meeting someone?” Kate needed some way to explain how the woman ended up here and she didn’t have it yet. Nothing pointed to any logical reason she could think of.

  Bruises covered the victim’s face and neck and a few colored her arms, but even without an autopsy it was obvious that the knife wounds were what killed her. The only question was, which one. There were so many to choose from.

  “Whoever did this was angry.” Kate felt Jack watching her as she looked at the victim’s hands, her feet, and her wounds. She glanced up at him several times expecting him to bend down to get a closer look, but he just stood there. It was unnerving.

  “Jack, do you want to take a look at this?” She couldn’t stand it anymore. Where was his mind? It certainly wasn’t on this case. She pointed to a knife wound near the heart.

  “It’s probably what killed her.” The ME’s assistant held his position a few feet away, giving them space to examine the scene.

  “Probably.” Jack remained motionless.

  Kate pushed herself up from the rocks. Maybe a different direction would get him focused. “Did you see that?” She pointed a gloved finger at a purse laying a short distance away, turned upside down on the rocks. She’d seen it earlier but wanted to look at the body first.

  “Yep.” Jack picked his way across the slippery rocks.

  Kate followed. Finally, he seemed interested in something. She worried the inside of her lower lip. Jack was her partner, but he was also her friend, and she knew that whatever bothered him must be serious. She’d never seen him like this. Sure, he got moody sometimes, but never like this.

  She motioned to the photographer to join them. “Did you shoot the bag yet?” It felt awkward to take the lead at the scene. That was usually Jack’s role, but he hadn’t made sure that the photographer was thorough. It was as if he was working on autopilot.

  “Yeah.” The photographer didn’t remove his gaze from the camera he fiddled with. Clearly the man was uneasy, poor guy. His pictures were the best and although he didn’t like working this kind of scene, he would capture details other photographers missed. Usually, though, he was more confident, more talkative, even at this kind of scene.

  With Jack.

  Does he know? Had word of her incompetence finally gotten out at the precinct? Or was this just more of the “good ole boys” club and he just didn’t like working with her?

  Jack pulled a small pair of latex gloves over his large hands. After tugging at them until they were on well enough to suit him, he squatted by the bag and carefully righted it without spilling any additional contents onto the rocks. They couldn’t empty the purse here on the rocks. If they did, any potential evidence might be lost forever. That was something the forensics team would have to do later in the lab where they could contain all of the loose items in the ba
g.

  He poked around inside as Kate peeked over his shoulder. A few papers, loose change, candy wrappers, and a handful of pens filled the main compartment of the purse.

  “There’s no wallet.” Jack continued rummaging. “There’s no identification, only bits of paper, loose sticks of gum, and forty-three dollars in cash stuck in a side pocket.”

  He lifted the bag away from the rocks using a silver pointer that he carried for manipulating evidence without touching it. On the rocks beneath the bag were a few coins, a pen, and a white square of paper. The paper was wedged between two rocks. Otherwise, the contents of the purse seemed to have been contained when the bag hit the ground.

  Jack stepped back and let the photographer snap a few shots of the area under where the purse had been. Then he picked up the paper. A business card. Kate leaned over Jack’s shoulder to look at the card just as he stood up. He nearly knocked her down.

  “What is it?” She struggled to regain her balance on the rocks.

  He thrust the card at her but didn’t let go when she tried to take it from him.

  ‘Dana McNally, Crisis Counselor’ was printed in bold letters on the center of the card and an appointment time had been written in delicate handwriting in the bottom right corner. Two phone numbers graced the left corner. An office number and the number for an answering service in case of an emergency.

  “And?” What did Jack find so startling about the card? She knew who Dana McNally was. They had encountered her on past investigations. She was beautiful. Poised. Just the kind of woman that Kate could never be. How was Jack connected with her?

  Jack pointed to the body. “She was a client of Dana McNally’s. That means she was abused, or the family member of someone that was abused maybe.” Jack ran his thumb over the edge of the card. “From the looks of that body, she was probably abused. Dana can probably identify her.”