“You want to contact Harvey or should I?” Reznik asked holding back the cover so he could get a good look at her.
“No, we’ll wait until the morning,” Hanson said. “Davenport said they’ve screwed up enough for one night.”
Reznik scoffed. “I don’t know why they haven’t canned her ass by now, she’s making the whole department look bad,” he said. “Let’s face it, she doesn’t fit in so what other reason would they keep her?”
Hanson shrugged as he crouched down and used a pen to push back the dark hair on the woman. She couldn’t have been more than twenty-one years of age. She was wearing red lingerie and had multiple red marks all over her rear end and back as if someone had taken a whip to her. There were also ligature marks around her neck leading him to believe she’d been strangled before being placed in the water.
She couldn’t have been in the water long as there was little swelling to the body itself and rigor mortis had set in and that only started to happen four to six hours after death and commonly lasted up to three days.
“Do we have an ID?” Hanson asked.
“Nothing so far.”
Hanson shifted from one foot to the next and brought up the camera around his neck and began taking photos. The camera flash lit up the night.
* * *
Skylar slipped into some fresh clothes after taking a shower and then joined Scot out on the deck. It was a warm night and the smell of saltwater lingered in the air. Scot had his feet dangling off the end of the boat. When she emerged the old-timer on the boat beside her waved.
“You know I could get used to this,” he said.
“It’s one thing to visit, another to work here,” she said, taking a seat beside him.
He leaned back supporting himself with both hands.
“Why am I not surprised to find you alone on Valentine’s?” Scot asked casting a sideways glance at her.
“I wasn’t alone, I was working.”
“Still, you didn’t go home with anyone.”
“Because I’ve got you here.”
He laughed. There were a few minutes of silence.
“Any word on who was involved in Alex’s death?” she asked shifting the topic away from herself. She felt uncomfortable talking about relationships or lack of. Since moving to Carrabelle, burying herself in her work had become the one thing that had kept her sane.
“We pulled in a few guys but none of them said anything. We lost a lot of good guys that day. Not just Alex.”
She nodded.
“His family still asks about you from time to time. You know, to see how you’re doing.”
She was about to reply when her phone buzzed. She looked down to see it was Ben sending her a text message. “Any luck with the information I sent you?”
She shot him a quick text back.
“Who’s that?” Scot asked.
“Ben.”
Ben and Scot had been long-time friends. He’d been the one that had put her in contact with Ben in the first place.
“I was meaning to ask you about him. How’s that all working out?”
“Good, I guess.”
“You guess?” He started laughing. “Has he not asked you out yet?”
Her brow pinched. “Why would he?”
He looked away. “I dunno, I just thought you’d have a lot in common.”
“Please tell me you didn’t put me in contact in order to get me into a relationship?”
He screwed up his face and threw his hands up. “No. I thought it would be good to have someone to talk to and long before Ben went into studying therapy he was always someone I could bounce my shit off.”
“And now?”
“Well I’ve got you, haven’t I?” he said, grinning and then nudged her in the ribs. He sniffed and took another sip of beer.
“I think I screwed things up for him tonight.”
“How so?”
“I… asked him to help us out with a stakeout. I mean, I needed to have someone go in and get information from a guy we arrested yesterday.”
“And?”
She laughed noticing that he didn’t see anything wrong in that.
“He was meant to have dinner tonight with a friend of his sister.”
He made a pfft sound with his lips. “Ah it wouldn’t have worked out. You probably did him a favor. He would have just dragged her along and then given her the same line he gives everyone. I don’t have time for a relationship or, it’s me not you.”
She noted the way he said it as if he knew something she didn’t. “Why would you say that?”
“Because he hasn’t dated anyone in over six years, Skylar.”
“Is he gay?”
“No, he was married. Didn’t he tell you?”
“Well I know about his son but I figured he didn’t want to talk about his divorce.”
“Divorce? He didn’t get divorced.”
“But he isn’t wearing a wedding band.”
“Neither are you.”
She glanced down and realized her engagement ring was no longer on her finger. She’d taken it off within the first few days as it hurt too much to see it. It only reminded her of him. As she was thinking about her reasons for removing it she looked at Scot and came to her own conclusion. “You’re saying she’s dead?”
“That’s right. Died in a skiing accident six years ago.” He spat a huge wad of phlegm into the water and then looked at her. “He didn’t tell you that?”
“No.”
Here she was going to see him about the issues of losing her fiancé, and the baby and he was dealing with the same exact same thing, except his kid had survived.
“That’s Ben for you. Great at solving other people’s problems, not too good at solving his own.” He looked at her. “Sound like someone you know?”
She closed her eyes and felt like a complete idiot for calling upon him. Had she known his background, there was no way in hell she would have sent him into a matchmaking service and put him in that awkward position. They probably peppered him with questions, and she knew what he was like when she turned the tables on him in their sessions. He closed up.
She got up and headed back into the salon.
“You turning in for the night?”
“Soon but I have a few things to do.”
She stared down at the text message and typed out a reply then deleted it. She came up with another that she thought would be good but deleted that one as well. In the end she just shot back a reply saying that it had helped out a lot. In all truth it had, as it confirmed what Tyron had said about them offering another level of service. But why was Taylor getting involved with them? Perhaps she was too scared to say anything.
She opened her computer and did a search for the modeling agency based out of Miami going by the name Cameo. She clicked on the section that listed female models and began scrolling through the photos searching for Taylor. It didn’t take her long to find her. She brought up her details and browsed through a variety of photo shoots she’d done for magazines. By all accounts it looked like a legitimate agency. She continued going through the list until she stopped about halfway down. In the middle of the screen was a photo of Teresa. They worked for the same agency. Curious to see who was behind the agency itself, she clicked on the contact page and got a list of names and email addresses for those in charge.
That’s when she saw his name. Callum Jackson. CEO.
Her mind began churning thinking of her conversation with Taylor. She pulled out her notebook and flipped through the pages looking for her statement. She’d taken down her name and number. Once she found it she scooped up her phone and dialed.
It rang a few times and then went to voice mail.
She hung up and tried again without leaving a message.
This time a male picked up the phone.
“Yeah?”
“Is this Matthew?”
“That’s right, who’s asking?”
Instead of telling him straight aw
ay that she was a detective, she just tried to see what he knew by avoiding the question. “Is Taylor in?”
“No, she’s out this evening. Can I take a message?”
“You wouldn’t know where she might have gone or have a contact number for her, would you?”
“Who is this calling?”
“Detective Reid.”
“The police? Is this about Teresa?”
“Yes, Its a routine follow-up call. I just wanted to see how she was coping and if there was anything else she might have remembered from that morning.”
“She doesn’t know anything else.”
“And you would know this because?”
He went quiet on the other end. “We don’t have any secrets between us.”
“Okay. So would you know where she is tonight?”
“Miami, doing a photo shoot.”
Was he lying or was she lying to him, and why hadn’t she told him where she was? Apalachicola was a long way from Miami.
“What time will she be back?”
“She didn’t say. I have a contact number if you want it though.”
“Sure, I’ll take it.”
He put the phone down and she could hear him rifling through papers and then he returned and gave her the number. Skylar scribbled it down, thanked him for his time and hung up. Immediately after she tried the number, but it went straight to voice mail. She considered leaving a message but opted not to. After hanging up she sat there for a few minutes until Scot came back in.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, just thinking about the things we hold back from people.”
There was a reason why she hadn’t told them about that evening and there was a reason she went with Ricardo to that boat. The question was, did she know what was going on with Teresa?
Chapter 10
The call came in a little after eight that morning. Her phone had been buzzing multiple times, but she just left it and turned over and went back to sleep. They’d drunk their way through a six-pack of Buds and half a bottle of wine before finally hitting the hay. Scot had taken the bed in the stateroom while she’d retreated to her usual settee bench. When the phone rang for the fifth time her arm extended out from beneath the blankets and answered it.
“Yeah,” she croaked.
“Glad to see some things haven’t changed. Listen, a body was pulled from the bay last night in Apalachicola. I’m going to be down at the medical examiner’s office at eight-thirty. You think you can make it by then or are you too busy ignoring phone calls?” Harvey asked.
“Who is it?” She wiped at her dry lips with the back of her hand.
“Harvey, who the hell do you think it is?”
“No, I mean the body.”
“Uh, I don’t know. There was a message on my phone this morning from Jenna. Hanson and Reznik dealt with it.”
“And they didn’t think to call us?”
“Would you after yesterday?”
“Good point,” she said pawing at her eyes to wake up.
“Anyway, get your ass in gear and don’t be late.”
“You want me to bring coffee?”
“I’ve already had mine. I’ve been up an hour. Some of us are actually ready to work.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She hung up and slapped her phone down and disappeared back under the covers for a few more minutes until she heard the shower turn on, and the sound of Scot singing a Springsteen tune. Five minutes later she groaned and slipped out and rolled her head around a few times to get herself moving. Her head was throbbing from the alcohol. A quick shower, grab a coffee and she’d be ready to return to the land of the living. She yawned and got up and was about to head over to the fridge when Scot walked out stark naked.
She immediately put a hand over her eyes.
“Oh, my God, wrap a towel around you.”
“I would if there was one.”
“Check the hamper over there.”
“Already have, they’ve all been used.”
“Right.” She looked at her to-do list scribbled on a chalkboard. Laundry was one of the many items that she still hadn’t scratched off. She scanned the counter and scooped up a tea towel used for dishes and tossed it over her shoulder.
“Are you serious?”
“Just dry yourself and put some clothes on, my eyes are already burning.”
As she went about getting ready for the day ahead, Scot tried to bring up the topic of his daughter again, but Skylar nipped the conversation in the bud saying that it wasn’t going to happen. It was one thing to look after her for a few days, a week even but to act as some kind of guardian, that wasn’t in the cards. On one hand she felt bad turning him down as he’d been good enough to allow her to use his boat, but that was entirely different to looking after a young kid. No, if it came down to it, he would need to step up to the plate and take on being a father. God only knows she would have jumped at the chance to be a mother.
“Listen, Scot, there is a café called Vagabond just down from here. I’m probably going to be gone all day. I’d love to show you around but…”
He poked his head into the room. “You’re busy, I know.”
She breathed in deeply and stared at him. “I would help you out, you know that, don’t you, but I just think you need to handle this one.”
He gave a nod and a weak smile before she headed out.
* * *
When she arrived at the medical examiner’s office, Harvey was sitting in the waiting area with his headset on and his eyes closed. She didn’t even need to ask him what he was listening to, it was obvious — Diane Fletcher. Elizabeth had got him hooked on some mumbo jumbo self-improvement speaker. He swore by it but she was skeptical.
She strode over to him and yanked the left earphone off his head.
“Earth to Harvey,” she said. She released the earpiece, and it snapped back against his ear.
“You know, Reid, I was probably twenty seconds away from having the Kundalini Awakening experience.”
“Kunda what?”
He rolled his eyes as he got up and brushed past her. “That’s it, mock what you don’t know.”
“No, I’m interested.”
“Yeah right.”
As she fell in step and they headed off down the corridor, she peppered him with questions.
“So how did it go with Elizabeth last night?”
“I’m not going to divulge those intimate details.”
“Oh c’mon.”
“It was a very beautiful experience.”
“Are we talking a Kundalini experience or you slept on the couch?”
He shook his head in disbelief. “I swear, some days, Reid, I don’t know why I bother.”
They entered the sterile autopsy room. Skylar pulled at the skin below her eyes as she caught her reflection in the stainless-steel refrigeration compartments. She grumbled. She needed more sleep and nothing short of plastic surgery would help her today.
Jenna was at the far side of the room wearing her usual white smock. She was tapping on a tablet and talking with someone over her Bluetooth at the same time. As the door clunked closed, she cast a glance over her shoulder. “I’ll get back in touch.” She pressed the Bluetooth device on her ear and turned.
“Detectives.”
She walked over to the examination table where the corpse was hidden below a white cover. She pulled back the sheet to reveal a young woman, dark hair, pale white skin with stitching where Jenna had performed her preliminary examination.
“So what do we know about her?” Harvey asked.
Something about her looked familiar.
“Not a lot to go on right now. There was no ID found on her and they pulled her out of Apalachicola Bay last night. All she was wearing was lingerie. I’m guessing she’s early twenties.”
Skylar walked around her trying to place where she’d seen the woman.
“So she drowned?”
“Asphyxiation. However that’s not what’s interestin
g. It’s the marks that she shares with our last victim, Teresa Palmer. Take a look.” She walked over to a desk and picked up the tablet. Tapped it a few times then handed it to Harvey.
“What am I looking at?”
“Those marks all over her back and rear end indicate she was whipped prior to being killed. Teresa Palmer had the same thing, however, hers had slightly faded indicating that she obtained them a day or two earlier. Whoever did this was inflicting pain on her before strangling and tossing her body into the bay.”
Harvey shook his head and handed it to Skylar. She flicked through the images of the woman’s back that was red and raw.
“Yeah, not a pleasant way to leave this world,” Jenna said.
“And you said Hanson is looking into finding out who the woman is?”
She nodded.
“I think I know,” Skylar muttered before meeting the gaze of both of them. She turned the tablet around and showed them the Cameo website she’d been on the previous evening. “Her name is Nancy Prescott.” She handed over the tablet to Harvey then looked down at the dead woman. “She was a model from Cameo, the same agency that Teresa Palmer was signed with, and Taylor Hall works for.”
“Our witness?” Harvey said.
She nodded. “I looked up the agency last night after we saw her as she’d mentioned she’d seen Teresa at various auditions. I figured that perhaps they were working for the same agency.”
“So she would have known that, wouldn’t she?”
“Not necessarily. Well, not unless she browsed the site or Teresa had mentioned it. Lots of agencies send models to auditions. It’s not uncommon for them to see each other. At least that’s what Taylor seemed to indicate.”
Harvey stared at it. “Twenty years old?” He sighed and looked at Jenna. “So does anyone know how she ended up in the water? Any surveillance?”
“From what Hanson told me, no, they didn’t have much. A fisherman pulled her out of the water.”
Harvey looked at Skylar. “You think it’s possible?”
“Only one way to find out. We need to talk to Taylor today and speak to the owner of Cameo.”
“Who’s the owner?”
“Callum Jackson,” she replied.
Death Match Page 8