Murder in the Aisles

by Olivia Hill

  “I was going to run background on the staff and compare it to what I found out about Hollis, his life, whereabouts, etcetera,” Felicia said as she walked into the kitchen, tightening the belt on her robe. As she hopped on the armless chair, her robe slid open, revealing a smooth brown thigh. Mark tore his gaze away.

  “I’m requesting a search warrant for the employee files.”

  “That’s what I would have done,” Felicia teased.

  Mark chuckled and loaded up the whole wheat bread with the sliced chicken and fixings. “Really?”

  “Yep.”

  He put her sandwich on a plate and slid it across to her.

  “Thanks.”

  His cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and pressed the talk icon. “Rizzo.” He frowned as he listened. “Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Hold on to that report for me. I’ll swing by and pick it up.” He disconnected the call, looked down then across at Felicia. “I had your car towed to the police mechanic from where it was taken. Your brake lines had been cut.” He watched the array of expressions move across her face from shock to acceptance to fear. “We’re going to find out who did this.”

  Mark crossed the small space between them and came to stand in front of her. He placed his finger beneath her chin and lifted it until she was looking at him. “I’m going to make sure that nothing happens to you. Do you understand?”

  All Felicia could do was nod.

  He cupped her cheeks in his palm. “Promise.” He knew he shouldn’t but he lowered his head until his lips touched down on hers and when she moaned against his mouth he lost all sense of right and wrong. He tugged on the belt of her robe until it fell open. His open palms glided up her waist to cup her breasts, which overflowed over his fingers. His thumbs brushed and teased her nipples to erection. His mouth slid down from hers and planted kisses along her neck, down the valley of her breasts until he took a nipple in his mouth.

  Felicia whimpered. Her body shuddered. She held the back of his head while he gently suckled her.

  Mark slid a hand between her parted thighs and fingered the wet slit that welcomed him. He then grabbed her behind and tugged her forward on the chair until she was on the edge of it before he lowered himself between her legs.

  Felicia gripped the edge of the counter and bit down on her lip as if to keep from screaming.

  Mark hummed with hunger against her, savoring the sweetness of her essence. He felt her inner thighs tremble and her body shudder every time his tongue brushed her clit, which was hard and erect. He gripped her harder, licked her deeper. Her moans deepened and rose with intensity. Her breathing escalated. A light sheen of perspiration covered her body.

  Felicia’s fingers dug into his shoulders as the first wave of release crashed through her, carrying with it the cry of his name, which only propelled Mark to take her higher.

  Mark stood, lifted her in his arms and backed her up against the wall. Felicia wrapped her legs around his waist and let him in. They groaned with pleasure. Mark buried his face between her breasts as he thrust toward heaven. His breathing was erratic, his grip vise-like and his cock had hardened to the breaking point.

  Felicia grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled his head back until he was looking at her. She covered his mouth with hers, dipped her tongue deep into his mouth and welcomed his explosion.

  “Told myself I wasn’t gonna do this again,” Mark said as they sat on the floor together folded around each other. He stroked her hair.

  “Hmm,” she hummed against his chest. “Me, too.”

  “Can’t let whatever this is get in the way.”

  “Of course not.” She sighed heavily. “Now I’m really hungry,” she said, laughing.

  Mark chuckled and helped her to her feet. He tied the belt on her robe and fastened his pants. “Something about this kitchen,” he said, amused.

  Felicia laughed and quickly dug into her sandwich.

  * * * * *

  After lunch they talked, reviewed notes, and compared theories until Felicia said that she was tired and her head was beginning to hurt again. Mark got her medicine and she took her pill.

  “Why don’t you get some rest? I have some things to take care of. I can come back later if you want.”

  She looked up at him from her spot on the couch and a slow smile moved across her mouth. “Detective, I just might need protecting later.” She pushed up from her seat and stood in front of him. “But I think we should stay out of the kitchen.”

  He leaned down and lightly kissed her lips. “I’ll keep that in mind. Let me get you settled and then I’m gonna head out.”

  They went upstairs to her bedroom.

  “Hmm, those meds work really quickly,” she said as she crossed the threshold to her room. She stretched out on her side, then curled into a fetal position.

  Mark looked around for a blanket to put over her. Not seeing one in the immediate area he opened her closet and was stunned by the contents. The massive walk-in was complete with shelving, drawers, mirrors and rows of clothes that rivaled any major boutique. He didn’t know much about women’s fashion but he knew instinctively that the contents were worth thousands. He shouldn’t be surprised. Felicia was always impeccably dressed, looking like she belonged on a runway and not behind a desk—or digging into a murder investigation. He looked up and saw several cotton throws folded on the top shelf. He took one down, brought it to the bed and covered her.

  “Thanks,” she murmured sleepily.

  “That’s some closet you have,” he said. “Is that your real hobby—shopping?”

  Felicia smiled. “We all have our vices, and clothes and books are mine.”

  Mark leaned down and kissed her lightly on the forehead. “See you in a few hours.”

  “Hmm, umm,” she murmured.

  Felicia listened for the sounds of her door closing. Moments later she heard the engine of Mark’s car start up. She drew in a long, relaxing breath and let the medicine do its work. She smiled, thinking about her afternoon with Mark. Where was this going? What was really happening? Her mind grew foggy and couldn’t process the information.

  Just as she drifted into sleep, her thoughts shifted to what Mark said about clothes. Clothes had been the things that had been nagging her in the back of her mind. She groped though the fog of the medication. She needed to grab hold before she was pulled under. Dresden’s jacket…Emily’s dress. Her heart jumped. Emily’s dress! It was the last thing she thought before sleep captured her.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Mark returned to the precinct and went straight into the captain’s office. “This may be related or not, but last night the doctor that found the first body at the library was in an accident.”

  “So what?”

  “Her brake lines were cut.”

  The captain’s gaze rose from the papers on his desk to rest on Mark. “And you know that how?”

  “Let’s just say that I know. This whole thing at the library is for real.”

  “What did you get out of Hollis?”

  “It ain’t him. But, whoever is behind all this works at the library and has it out for Hollis. Once we can find out his connection to someone at the library we’ll have our murderer.”

  “The DA was here earlier.” He picked up the folded paper from his desk and handed it to Mark. “Here’s your warrant. Don’t fuck this up.”

  Mark grinned. “Do I ever?”

  “You don’t really want me to answer that. Keep me posted, Rizzo and take McDaniels with you and two blues along with the IT tech.”

  A half hour later, Mark arrived at the library along with Eddie, two uniformed officers and a technician. After passing through security they were escorted directly to Human Resources where for the next hour they gathered personnel documents on all employees in the Jefferson Building, while simultaneously the video and employee ac
cess logs were being collected.

  In the midst of the sweep, Mark’s cell rang.

  “Rizzo.”

  “Mark…I think I know who did it. What you need to figure out is why and who may have looked up information on car brakes.”

  Mark listened with growing alarm as Felicia laid out her reasoning. It all made sense, but the missing link was motive. The motive, hopefully, would be found in the personnel files or on someone’s computer. He knew he was close. He was getting a hard-on thinking about it.

  All employees that were on duty were corralled into the conference room to deal with the tech that took all of their passwords for their computers.

  More than four hours later Mark and his team were packing up documents and evidence. A police van was parked out front to carry back the materials to the precinct.

  Once there, Mark had all the boxes brought into an empty office and he and Eddie began poring over them. After talking with Felicia at least he had some idea of what he was looking for—someone on staff that had a connection to Steven Hollis—and two techs were scouring the videos, access logs and staff computer searches.

  They’d been at it for nearly two hours when Mark got his first hit. “Look at this,” he anxiously said to Eddie, shoving the papers in front of him. He excitedly pointed to the information on the personnel files.

  Eddie bobbed his head. “Yeah, but is that enough?”

  “It’s a damn good start.” He snatched up the phone and dialed the computer room. He told the tech to look for anyone that may have done a search on cars, researched poets, and researched drugs that disappear in the system. He gave him the names of the fake poets. If the tech came back with the same name he did…

  “What if they did all of their research from a home computer?” Eddie said.

  “Well, Mr. Sunshine, we’ll deal with that when or if the time comes.”

  “What’s the drug angle?”

  Mark sat back down and rotated his stiff neck. “Dresden’s death was ruled natural, but if someone was planning to kill him they wouldn’t want the how discovered. I’m figuring some kind of drug. The average person wouldn’t know that kind of information, so maybe they looked it up.”

  “Or maybe they have some kind of medical background.”

  Mark’s eyes widened. He snatched up the papers he’d shoved at Eddie and flipped through the pages. His stomach knotted when his gaze landed on the educational background. “Pre-med!” He pointed it out to Eddie and grinned expansively then grabbed the phone to call the captain. He needed another warrant and fast.

  * * * * *

  It was more than an hour before the search warrant arrived. While he waited he did what he knew he shouldn’t, which was to call Felicia and bring her up to date. But to be perfectly honest, a lot of her investigating was what had brought them all to the point of catching a killer. It was Felicia that wouldn’t let go of the idea that Dresden’s death was no accident. Her investigating had sparked her own attempted murder. Calling her to tell her that they were close was the least he could do.

  Mark could visualize her pacing and biting on her lip as she spoke. “When you do your search,” she said, “be sure to check the closet.” She clearly described what he should be looking for.

  “Will do. And Felicia?”

  “Yes?”

  “You can be my wingman anytime.” When he didn’t get a response, he told her it was from one of his other favorite movies, Top Gun.

  “We’ll have to watch it together sometime, and that Untouchables too.”

  “Yeah.” He grinned. “Look, I gotta go. I’ll call you.”

  “Okay.”

  * * * * *

  Two police cars and an unmarked vehicle pulled up in front of Emily Windsor’s home on Vermont Avenue.

  She didn’t put up any resistance. If anything she seemed almost relieved and resigned. While Mark plied her with questions, the officers confiscated her desktop computer, laptop, files and a floral dress. Tucked in the back of her closet, wrapped in a pillowcase and shoved in a shoebox, was a metal paperweight that had dried blood.

  “Ms. Windsor, I need you to stand up.”

  Emily did as she was told.

  Mark stepped behind her and placed the handcuffs on her wrists. “Emily Windsor, you are under arrest for the murder of Dr. Paul Dresden, the murder of Dr. Henry Wallington and the attempted murder of Dr. Felicia Swift.” He proceeded to Mirandize her, then led her out to the awaiting patrol car.

  “It was all for Steven you know,” she said as if talking through a fog while she was placed in the car.

  Mark shut the door and shook his head. A woman scorned was some dangerous shit. He returned to the house to supervise the rest of the search and made a call to Elaine to tell her he was on his way to her office, while Eddie booked Emily Windsor.

  Mark arrived at the medical examiner’s office and as always was a bit freaked out by the eeriness of the place. The regular staff was gone for the night and Mark was lucky to have caught Elaine as she was finishing up an autopsy. He walked down the echoing corridors until he reached her office. She was just walking into her office from the adjacent door that led to the exam room when Mark walked in.

  “Perfect timing,” she said and took off her white coat. “What’s going on?” She sat on the edge of her desk.

  “We picked up the suspect in the murders at the library.”

  “Murders as in plural? Something I don’t know?”

  “We picked up the alleged killer today. About an hour ago.” He shook his head. “Mousey-looking woman. Go figure.” He heaved a breath. “Anyway you did the post on Wallington. I know Dresden’s was ruled natural but we have real reason to believe it was murder as well.” He paused. “I know you were planning to run a tox screen on Dresden but stopped because of his doc. I was hoping that you might have taken some samples to work on and that you haven’t tossed ’em.”

  “I rarely discard samples. I’m sure I have Dresden’s. It hasn’t been long enough for them to have degraded.” She tilted her head to the side. “So you want a screen done?”

  “Yeah, like yesterday.”

  She flicked her brows. “First thing in the morning.”

  “E, come on. This is important.”

  She ran her tongue across her lips and folded her arms.

  “For old times’ sake.”

  “Oh, old times’ sake.” She lifted her chin and the blue of her eyes shimmered in the light. “Guess you decided,” she stated more than asked.

  “Elaine…it wouldn’t work. I think you know that. We both do.”

  She lowered her head. “Can’t blame a girl for trying,” she said and forced a smile. “Is it her?”

  “Her?”

  “Your Dr. Swift?”

  Mark didn’t quite meet her stare. “Don’t know what you mean.”

  “I saw how you changed when you were around her. I know you, remember.”

  His mouth quirked. “It’s not like that.”

  Elaine pushed out a breath. “I’ll get started tonight. It will take the better part of the day tomorrow.”

  “I’m looking for something that wouldn’t easily show up.”

  She nodded. “I’ll let you know.”

  “Thanks Elaine.” He turned to leave.

  “Hope it works out,” she said to his back.

  He wasn’t sure if she meant the case or Felicia. He wasn’t going to test it.

  When Mark returned to the precinct, Emily Windsor was in the interrogation room. “She say anything?” Mark asked as he sidled up to Eddie outside of the one-way window.

  “Naw.”

  “Ready?”

  “Yeah.”

  They entered the interview room together and two hours later they had a confession that was as twisted as it was intricate. She could have gotten aw
ay with it if it had not been for Felicia. Felicia had been right about the dress. The night of Dresden’s murder Emily logged out as always but snuck back in by reentering from one of the adjoining buildings. She then came back through the tunnel without having to swipe her ID again. But by the time the deed was done the buildings were locked for the night. She couldn’t leave so she stayed in the tunnel, exited in the morning and came back in through the front door. That’s why Felicia noticed that she had on the same dress two days in a row. Emily never went home. And Felicia, being a creature of detail, knew from day one that Dresden would have never been in those aisles, and even on the remote chance that he would, he would never leave his office—willingly—without his jacket.

  Apparently the idea to frame Steven Hollis blossomed when he was named Poet Laureate. In Emily’s mind it was time for payback for what he had done to her in grad school. It was confirmed that they attended the same college from his bio and her HR information. She fell hard for him. They were a thing. He seemed to go along with it until she found out by reading the paper that he was engaged to be married—to someone else. From there she followed his rising career. The search of her house had uncovered scrapbooks in her closet filled with articles written about Hollis, his poetry and photographs of his wedding.

  She concocted the entire ruse about his possible plagiarism with the fake poets and the website and fed all that information to Dresden, who became concerned that the Librarian of Congress and his best friend had appointed a fraud. She ultimately had to get rid of Dresden so that she could plant the information and make it look like Hollis—using the disk.

  “Which I found instead of the police,” Felicia said as she sat opposite Mark while she sipped sparkling water. He sipped on his own Dewar’s with Top Gun playing in the background. “She saw me with it. At some point she had to get rid of me, too.”