by Christi Snow
Nathan saw the move if his cocked eyebrow was anything to judge by. Damn.
Yeah, coffee. He needed coffee.
Frantically, he searched the counter for his pot. Relief flowed through him as he saw that it was already full of hot glorious, dark liquid. Thank God. He needed something to go according to plan this morning.
Chapter 4
As Brian looked disbelievingly toward his partner later that same morning, he began to wonder again why he’d thought it was a good idea to get out of bed this morning.
“What do you mean the DNA evidence has disappeared?” He ground his molars, trying to contain the anger coursing through his system.
“Exactly what I said. We have record of the evidence leaving here to go to the lab. The lab has no record of it ever arriving.” Eddie threw his file down on the desk, as irritated as Brian about the debacle.
“Who was the last person that we know touched it?”
“Joe down in forensics processed it in-house. He packaged it up and sent it through our shipping company to the laboratory. It never arrived and checking the shipping company’s records, there’s no record of it. It’s just disappeared.”
“I suppose it’s too much to hope that maybe we have more of the samples.”
Eddie’s answer was a simple roll of his eyes.
“Yeah, I was afraid of that.” Brian pressed his lips together, mentally going over the evidence in the case. The DNA would have helped, definitely, but they still had a strong case without it so it wasn’t like this screw up was a death blow. It just made things a bit more difficult for the prosecution.
“I’m going to go talk to the pick-up courier for the shipping company who worked that day later this afternoon,” Eddie added. “They said he would be in the office after lunch and we’ll see if we can track down where the samples went missing.”
“Yeah, good luck with that. I have a feeling you’re going to need it.”
* * *
As Brian expected, Eddie came up with a big fat nothing at the shipping courier’s office. They’d run through the evidence again this afternoon with the DA who was on the verge of bringing up all the charges.
Brian glanced down at the clock on his computer before he shut it down. He’d worked late, but that was okay. It was probably better for him to avoid interaction with Toni for the next couple of days for his own sanity especially after their morning in the kitchen. By his estimation, she would already be asleep when he got home. The computer monitor went dark and he grabbed his suit jacket when his cell phone rang. The caller ID said “Unknown Number.”
“Detective Barnes,” he answered.
Silence came across the line, but he could hear someone breathing heavily.
“You either need to speak up now or I’m hanging up the phone. If you have an emergency, you need to call 911.”
“Detective?”
“Yes, who am I speaking to?”
“This…this is Mark Hunter. I need to talk to you.”
Yes. Maybe this day hadn’t been a total waste. “Okay, well I’m actually still at work. Can you come down to the police station?”
“No, no, I can’t come into the police station until I talk to Matt. I need to find Matt.” The guy sounded confused and freaked out and that concerned Brian.
“O…kay. Do you want to tell me what this is about? Are you hurt? Are you in danger?”
“No, I just need to talk to you, in person, but not at the police station.” His panic was obvious even over the phone lines. “Can we meet at The Mocha Mermaid?”
The Mermaid was a local coffee shop over by the campus. The public location would work for a meeting. “Do you mind if I bring my partner, Eddie?”
“No, your partner would be fine. I’ll meet you there in thirty minutes.” The connection went dead as Mark hung up.
As Brian glanced down at his watch, he grimaced. 10:30. Eddie had a family life that he tried to keep somewhat steady in defiance of his job. This type of interference was entirely too common and the main cause of divorce for detectives in their department. They all worked way too many hours and if they had the manpower, would work even more because there was always more that could and should be done.
Deciding the risk with the public meeting place was virtually non-existent, Brian called Eddie so he knew what was going on in case something did go wrong, but told him not to worry about coming. Brian could handle the meeting by himself.
An hour and a half later, Brian still waited for the missing Mark. He never showed and now Brian had drunk enough coffee to ensure that he’d have another restless night imagining Toni in the next room. Damn, he really should have gone decaf.
Knowing that Eddie would already be asleep for the night, he sent him a quick text to let him know that Mark never showed and that he would be late the next morning since he planned to go by his house to check on things.
* * *
As expected, Brian slept like crap for the second night in a row. When he’d gotten home there hadn’t been a single sign of his new roommates, as they were all sound asleep, even the dog, but that didn’t stop his obsession with Toni in a bed in his house.
Coming down the stairs, he knotted his tie and glanced out the front window. Toni’s car was already gone. Nathan’s door was pulled mostly closed, but he peeked in to make sure the kid was okay. Like any normal teen, he was dead to the world at this hour of the morning, which was good. He needed the extra rest. His bruises were beginning to fade, but the kid still looked rough.
Sam was the only one to greet him and he did so with a wagging tail and a push of his snout at Brian’s hand. He capitulated and scratched the dog behind his ears before heading into the kitchen. On the breakfast bar, there were two notes: one labeled for him and one for Nathan. His was edged under a doughnut box and an empty coffee cup. He slid it out to read it.
Detective,
Since I don’t want to poison you so early in our relationship, I bought you some doughnuts for breakfast. Cops like those, right? Although, from the glimpse I saw of you yesterday, I’m guessing you don’t indulge all that often. I’ll figure out something healthier for tomorrow. You can thank me by showing up for a meal sans shirt again. Nathan and I promise to only drool in an appropriate manner, so you feel appreciated, but not objectified.
And we do appreciate you. Your house is wonderful and we love it. It’s just too bad that you never seem to be home to enjoy it. Call me if you’ll make it home for dinner tonight…and again, remember, shirts are optional at Toni’s Bistro (where our motto is “We don’t kill the customers.”)
Have a great day, Detective.
~Toni (the one trying not to kill you)
P.S. There’s hot coffee in the carafe on the counter.
Brian laughed and peeked in the box to find a variety of a dozen different types of doughnuts. Yeah, he’d definitely get out of shape quick if he made this a habit, but he grabbed a chocolate-covered one anyway. He’d leave the rest of the box for the teenager who would probably wipe them out before afternoon.
Grabbing a travel mug out of the cabinet, he filled it with coffee and then headed out to his truck. He needed to swing by Mark Hunter’s house on the way into the police station and see if he could figure out what happened to the guy and their meeting last night. It was probably too much to hope that Mark was ready to confess all and turn on his friends and brother, but with the missing DNA evidence, Brian could hope.
The twins lived together in a house in the older part of town. They both were college students, although based on Matt’s transcript he was making a career out of flunking and skipping his classes.
When Brian pulled up to the house, he examined it. Honestly, it was cleaner and neater than he expected. The lawn was trimmed and edged, with no visible trash or junk. There were even flowers in the flower-beds. An older model truck was parked in the driveway, and all the blinds for the house were closed.
As he approached the front door, he noticed that it wasn’t closed tightly. A chill
of premonition rolled over his spine as he pulled his service revolver out of his shoulder holster. He knocked lightly on the door as he pushed it open. Not a single sound came from the interior of the house. He called out, “Mark or Matt, are you guys here?”
No answer.
Moving quickly and silently, he scanned the living room. Nothing but a couple of empty beer bottles. The kitchen was completely clean. On the surface, the house appeared to be deserted.
He crept down the hall, moving cautiously from door to door of the bedrooms and bathroom. Besides unmade beds and a few dirty clothes lying about, there wasn’t any sign of the guys who lived here.
He headed toward a sunroom. The shadow of swaying feet moved along the wall, cast from the bright morning sun. Stepping into the doorway, he found Mark’s body swinging from a noose that had been tied around the exposed rafters of the room. The open, unblinking eyes told him that he was too late.
Closing his eyes for a moment to reflect against the waste of it all, he pulled out his cell phone to call it in. After he called the precinct, he examined the room to see if he could spot any evidence before the CSI guys arrived. There wasn’t any sign of visible struggle, but there also wasn’t a suicide note that he could see, yet. Mark was not a small guy and it wouldn’t have been easy to string him up there if he hadn’t been cooperating. So was this a suicide? If so, why had the front door been ajar?
There was no doubt the guy had been upset last night, but why would Mark ask to meet him and then kill himself? That didn’t add up, unless somehow he was trying to make sure Brian found him instead of his twin brother, Matt.
The medical examiner, forensics, and Eddie all showed up within minutes of each other. As the forensics and medical examiner teams did their thing, he and Eddie watched.
“So what does your gut tell you?” Eddie asked.
“He was upset last night, to the point of almost panic, but I didn’t get depressed or suicidal vibes from him. This doesn’t sit well with me. I just don’t feel like it was a suicide, but if it wasn’t, how would someone else get him strung up there?”
“Have you seen any sign of his brother yet?”
“No, and that’s definitely a huge question mark. If Matt was here last night, how did he miss this? We’ll have to wait for the ME to give us an approximate time of death. We probably should put out an APB on the brother.”
Just then footsteps pounded down the hall and Matt Hunter skidded to a halt at the doorway of the room. When he caught sight of his brother, he crumpled to the floor with a horrified, “No!” that echoed out over the whole room. Horror and grief flooded his face as he stared disbelievingly up at his dead twin, tears overflowing onto his cheeks.
His gaze swung to the detectives. “What happened? Who did this?” He charged over to his brother’s body. It took both men to hold him back as Matt uttered ‘no’ over and over again, the anguish in his voice palpable as it echoed over the room.
Pulling against the man, Brian placated him. “Matt, you can’t touch anything. Let the forensics guys process the scene or we won’t be able to figure out what happened.”
Suddenly Matt wilted as his eyes filled with tears again. “We can’t just leave him hanging there.” His voice dropped to a whisper as he looked on in horror.
“They will get him down as soon as they can.” Brian exchanged looks with Eddie, who gave a slight nod. “Come on, let’s go back to the kitchen while they work and maybe we can ask you a few questions about last night.”
Reluctantly Matt pulled his eyes from his twin to look at them in confusion. “Ask me questions? Why?” His mouth dropped open. “No, you don’t think I had anything to do with this, do you? Don’t you think if I knew he was going to do something like this, I would have stopped him?” His voice broke. “He’s my brother, my twin.”
Eddie herded Matt toward the kitchen. “We only want to figure out what happened and that means piecing together the events of last night.”
Matt nodded, the shock of his twin’s death making him pale, as he dropped onto a chair at the kitchen table.
Brian took the lead for the questioning as he sat across from Matt. “When was the last time you talked to Mark?”
Matt scowled down toward his folded hands on the table. “It was right before dinner last night. I wanted him to go out with us, but he didn’t want to go.”
Brian noticed Matt had some new scrapes across his knuckles like he’d been in another fight.
“Who all went with you?”
“Just some guys from my chem class.”
“Were James Marshall and Brady Walsh part of that group?”
“No, not specifically, but I did see James while I was out.”
“What time did you see him and where?”
Matt shrugged. “I saw James at a party at a girl’s house. I don’t know what time it was. Maybe around ten. He was being an asshole so I didn’t stick around for long.”
“Being an asshole how?” asked Eddie.
“He was harassing a girl and then talking shit about Mark. He’s an asshole when he’s been drinking.”
“Does he have matching wounds to go with your bruised knuckles?”
Matt glanced down at his right hand and grudgingly said, “He might.”
“So how did you leave things with him?”
Matt cracked a smile for the first time all day. “He was on the ground, cursing a blue streak.”
That was an interesting attitude considering they were supposedly friends.
“Back to Mark, you said James talked about him. Did he act like he’d seen him recently or been in touch with him?”
Matt shook his head negative. “No, it was nothing like that. James doesn’t like Mark and doesn’t trust him. He was just trash-talking him.”
“Is there any reason why Mark would commit suicide besides the trouble of the ongoing investigation? Is there anything else happening in his life that he’s stressed about?”
Matt rolled his eyes at them. “What else does he need? We could go to prison. I think that’s enough, but he wasn’t suicidal.” His tone hardened. “Don’t you think I would have known about it if he was?” He shook his head.
Brian ignored the question. “Mark called me late last night to meet up, but he never showed. Do you know why he would have wanted to meet with me?”
Startled eyes met his. “He called you?”
“Yes. That was around 10:30, but he never came. I need to know who else he talked to last night.”
After that, Matt shut down, although he appeared both angry and circumspect, his eyes shifting around the room as he considered things.
Brian would bet good money that Matt had an idea who did this and that it wasn’t suicide. It might be worth putting a tail on Matt for a while, but would his captain go for that plan? He would discuss it with Eddie when they got back to the station.
* * *
Three days later, Toni was surprised when she pulled into the driveway after work to find Brian’s truck there. She’d always known he worked long hours, but truly had no idea what that really meant until they were living together. She hadn’t seen him all week. It was rare for him to be home before she went to bed at night, although she had heard him come in once or twice. She left in the mornings before he got up, but Nathan said he was always gone before he awoke.
They’d taken to conversing via notes left on the breakfast bar, although he had called to let her know that one of Nathan’s assailants was dead from an apparent suicide. She had been the one to break it to Nathan.
As the week progressed, Nathan became quieter than normal, introspective. He was healing incredibly well physically and both he and Sam loved Brian’s place. They spent hours in the backyard playing fetch with a tennis ball. But that didn’t change her concern about where he was at mentally, that she wasn’t providing enough care for him to heal. She even considered calling the therapist she saw occasionally to make an appointment for him, but that would be overstepping. Nathan wa
s his own person and needed to make his own decisions. She planned to talk to him about it though, if he continued to follow this path of withdrawing.
With that in mind, she’d already decided that tonight they would head into town and go out to dinner. He hadn’t been out much since the assault and she thought a change in scenery and interacting with other people might help. He wasn’t a social butterfly, but he was still only seventeen. Teenagers were definitely pack creatures.
Now it looked like she could include Brian in those plans, too. A frisson of excitement spread down her spine at the idea of the three of them going out together. She just had to get him to agree. He’d worked some long hours and would probably be more up to a night at home to relax. It couldn’t hurt to ask.
Entering the house, she found it to be surprisingly quiet. Sam didn’t even bound out to greet her. She glanced around but couldn’t see any signs of the guys. Maybe they were out back. She sat her bags on the entryway side table and walked straight through the house.
The house was from an era before air conditioning. The huge entry hall ran the entire width of the house, straight through from front door to back door. As Toni walked by the beautiful mahogany staircase, she lovingly caressed the newel post at the bottom of the rail, worn by many hands over the years. She could seriously come to love this house.
Her footsteps tapped across the wooden floors. She gazed into the cozy, comfortable rooms as she went, but still didn’t see the guys. Upon opening the back door, the joyful noise of Nathan’s laugh echoed over the yard. That sound had been missing for a while and it warmed her heart to hear it again.
She stood on the back porch, watching the three of them for a moment. A lump formed in her throat. Both guys were sitting on the pond edge with their pant legs rolled up, feet in the water despite the cool autumn air, and fishing poles in hand. Sam ran helter-skelter all over the backyard, alternately chasing birds from the trees and the tennis ball the guys threw for him.
The evening light highlighted the golden leaves dropping from the trees to carpet the grass. Those leaves crunched beneath Sam’s paws and kept distracting him from his pursuit of the ball. Both men laughed at his antics, their enjoyment echoing across the yard. It was a picture perfect view and one that Toni knew she needed to cherish. There weren’t many like this in her life. They still hadn’t noticed her yet, so she pulled her phone out of her pocket and took a photo. Perfection.