Exposed by Rage

by Sherrel Lee

  “Ashley, you still with your friend? Butch Wal--”

  Yeah, it was going to be bad news.

  * * * *

  Randi looked even worse than Jillie had, and there was evidence she had fought the son on a bitch. Her front tooth was chipped, and she had defense marks up and down her arms. However, she hadn’t been killed here. There was some blood but not enough. This was nothing more than a dump site. Now, as far as the killer was concerned, Randi was just another piece of trash.

  Randi was behind a dumpster outside an empty warehouse on the southeast side of town. DeMarco got called as the lead. When he realized it was Randi, he called me with an invitation to view the scene firsthand. I appreciated his largesse.

  I wanted to puke my guts out at the hatred demonstrated by the overkill. Unlike Jillie, Randi’s abdomen was minced, leaving individual organs unidentifiable. The killer may have acted on the moment, finding Randi upset and alone, but the kill was personal. Very personal.

  DeMarco pulled me aside more gently than he had to as the coroner’s assistant, spread out the black body bag. Before they moved her, he had them lift her up so I could see her back. I sat down on my heels to study the brand. This time you could tell what the bastard burned into her. A flower. A lotus flower.

  I felt like I should recognize it. It should mean something to me. I must have seen it before, but where?

  DeMarco laid his hand on my shoulder, and told the assistant he could take Randi. “You sure you believe Butch? His ‘oh-my-gosh she’s missing’ act?”

  “Yes. He didn’t do this. You can cross Kevin and Butch off your list of suspects. I don’t know who this guy is, but it’s not one of them.” I wished I felt as confident as I sounded.

  To hate someone as much as these killings indicated, you had to be close. Had to have spent a lot of time together. Had to know each other’s secrets. And, with all that emotion boiling inside of you, you had to have a glacier-cold heart making you capable of destroying another human in this manner. Could either of them fool me so completely? I hadn’t seen that degree of artic chill in either one of them. Their chosen professions demanded some distance and chill factors but not to the degree of murder.

  “Okay, for now I’ll believe you, but I’m going to talk to both of them again.” A uniform officer stepped over to DeMarco, eyeing me, wanting me to move out of hearing range.

  I didn’t take offense. I wouldn’t want an outsider listening in on my report. I stepped back a few paces and waited until their business was finished.

  “So, where are you going to start?” DeMarco asked as the young cop walked away.

  “I have a couple of places in mind,” I answered, not willing to give him my game plan. Why? Maybe it was habit, or maybe I just had a hard time trusting people. It didn’t matter. He knew the people I would want to visit, but I didn’t have to give him the line-up.

  Not willing to let me shut him out, he said “I’ll take you home, you can tell me about it on the way.”

  Hard to say no when he’d had an officer pick me up and drop me here.

  10

  I must have been feeling weak, because instead of rushing out to confront a few of those I wanted to talk to, I invited DeMarco in. He’d left Braden in charge of the scene and didn’t appear to be in a rush to start the reports he’d have to do. That thought made me smile. For once I wasn’t chained to a desk for seventy-five percent of the investigation. I could get used to being out of the Army and doing things my own way. Apparently I had made the decision. I was retiring.

  “Glad to see the smile. I know this has been extremely hard on you,” DeMarco said. “Want to share?”

  “I was thinking about Jillie, wanting me to come home. She kept trying to talk me into leaving the military. It took her death to accomplish that.” Hot, wet tears started streaming down my face. Appalled, I turned away from DeMarco and stumbled toward the bedroom. He didn’t say anything or try to stop me, but he did follow me. When I didn’t collapse on the bed, he put his arms around me, gave a gentle hug and helped me to sit on the mattress.

  Damn. This was awkward. The harder I tried to stop crying, the more I leaked tears. I don’t cry. I don’t show emotion, especially to guys. I didn’t want to feel the warmth of his touch and long to put my head on his shoulder. But I did. Before I knew what was happening his lips were on mine and I was holding him. Desperate to keep from drowning.

  He pushed back, looking into my eyes. Reading me like the clichéd open book. Gently he lowered me and began to unbutton my shirt.

  I returned the favor, stripping him of his shirt and pants. Savoring every revelation. The fire of having his naked body against mine made me half-mad as he refused to immediately give me the satisfaction I craved. Instead he kissed every inch of my body. Caressed my breasts, sucking and nipping at them. Each touch of his lips, his mouth, sent an explosion of desire flooding through me and allowed me to forget, just for a moment, about the senseless brutality that had defined my life lately.

  I flipped him, placing myself above him, aching to take him. He was having none of it. Instead I found myself again under his glorious body, as he caught my wrists in one hand, and be began to tease me, torment me with the other.

  My muscles bunched in ecstasy as he sent me into pulsating orgasms. One, immediately followed by another. A scream of pleasure escaped me as he released his hold on my wrist, his tongue gliding hotly down my body, between my legs, duplicating the wondrous experience he’d given my breasts.

  Tears, this time of joy, leaked from my eyes, as he moved up my body and planted a kiss on my lips.

  My turn, I thought, but he had other plans. Flipping me up, sliding into me, he drove into me--deeper and deeper until together we came for a final time.

  * * * *

  He stayed. Rising before I did, he’d showered and made coffee, bringing me a cup and setting it on the dressing table as I walked out of the shower wrapped in a thick towel. His lips quirked up in a satisfied smile.

  “So do you want to talk about what just happened or…?” I’d had some time to think while I was in the shower. Those thoughts that make you a little nervous that the guy will think you’re something you’re not. Like I should have stopped him. Felt guilty. Felt anything but the overwhelming desire to touch him, feel his skin on mine, explore him. The truth is I know sex is often the response to death of friends or family. A way to announce to the gods that you intend to stay alive. But I would have been lying if I tried to tell myself this was all this meant. I wanted him. I’d wanted him since the moment I met him. He had crossed my defenses and I would have to deal with that later.

  He shook his head with a laugh. “Not something I need. I wanted you. I still want you. We can work it out from there. Right now I have to go, those reports won’t wait any longer.”

  I didn’t know what would happen next, but I knew we hadn’t had our last encounter.

  * * * *

  I didn’t hesitate. Using my pass code I was in through the gates and parked in front of the house before anyone could rush to greet me. I was in the hallway before the boy toys had made it to the front of the house. Mimzi, the boys and a collection of others stood in doorways to several rooms off the hall, staring at me. They looked unsure, or unwilling to move in my direction or say anything to make me leave.

  Two strides and I stood in front of Boy Toy One, more commonly known as Hunk, “Trixie. Where is she? And don’t give me that out of town shit.” The bitch mother had some things to explain. Her partnership with Jillie in the club I now owned exclusively. What she knew about Jillie’s desire that I come to Plano. The meaning of the lotus branded into the back of two women.

  “I’m right here,” Trixie said from the door of her office. “What’s set you on fire?” I suppose I’d shaken her, it’s not like me to storm in on her.

  “We need to talk. In private.” I walked over and into the office, standing until she closed the door and joined me by the desk.

  “So, what e
lse has happened? You aren’t here out of concern for me or my friends.”

  “Jillie was your friend. Was Randi one as well?”

  “Randi? Randi from Vix...”

  “Yeah. She’s dead. The same bastard that killed Jillie.”

  “Ash, I...”

  “Let’s not play the caring mother card. I need to know what’s been happening around here. Jillie was your partner. Surely you know what was bothering her. Why she wanted me here.”

  Trixie looked away, staring off into space, lost in some thought of her own.

  Taking a deep breath, she turned back and looked into my eyes. “Ashley, Jillie was a good friend of mine. I loved her like a sister, but she was hiding something from me recently and I’m not sure what it was.”

  “Why would she do that?”

  “I think she wasn’t sure she could trust me.”

  “Okay, so what did you do to her? Try to run her out of the club, steal Kevin from her?” I wasn’t being fair, but I really didn’t care. The woman sitting across from me made me cold and unfeeling. Or maybe she made me feel too much. I wanted to find she was involved and make her pay. Make her pay for how she had made me feel when I was a kid. How she made me feel I am an unsophisticated fool standing five feet away from her today.

  “I didn’t do anything. Not that I am aware of. She was here, at the house a month or so ago. Everything was fine. A few days later, she was...distant. I have no idea what happened.”

  “Well you’ve never been known as sensitive. You know, about the feeling of those around you.”

  “Ashley, I really don’t think this is the time to go into all that...”

  “No, you’re probably right. I’m not sure there ever will be a time. So, she was here. Anyone else here?”

  “Of course. The house is always full of people.”

  “So, was there anything unusual? Different?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

  “Of course not.”

  “Look, Jillie came around and we talked about business. We sat around the pool, had drinks. The others were just background.”

  Trixie brought her hand up, caressed my face with her fingers. I brushed them away.

  “Ashley, I loved Jillie. She’s been by friend, my sister since the day we met. She was younger than me but we clicked. Grew close. I miss her.”

  “Trixie, this is not about you. If you’re able, take some time and think about the last time Jillie was here. Make a list of people who were at the house. I want...no I need to talk to every one of them. Call me when you have the list, you have my cell number.” I didn’t wait to hear her answer as I walked back into the hall and out the front door.

  11

  “Ashley, I’ve been thinking about this brand. You said it’s a lotus?” Poppy closed the computer and turned toward me.

  “It sure looks like one. I keep thinking it means something to me but I can’t remember.”

  “Well, it’s s symbol in some cultures meaning rebirth. A water plant, it closes up at night and sinks below the surface, sunlight brings it back and it reopens. I looked it up on the web. You think this might be what they guy is saying?”

  “Maybe. I guess this guy could think by killing Jillie and Randi he’s going to cause them to be re-incarnated as something or someone else. Killers are loony in that way, but it doesn’t feel right.”

  I rubbed my temples. My head hurt and I wasn’t getting anywhere. Poppy got up and went to the fridge, started taking out meat and fruit, fixing lunch. She’d decided, years ago on the street, to be my official caretaker. I loved her for it, but wished sometimes she’d just leave me the hell alone.

  “Pop, I’m not hungry.”

  “You never are, but you have to eat and I’m starving.”

  The sandwich tasted like cardboard and stuck to the roof of my mouth. After the first bite I picked at the crust but couldn’t bring myself to try another. I pushed away from the table and went to change for a swim.

  As I was getting out of the pool, Poppy brought my cell phone out and handed it to me. DeMarco was on the line. Not really surprised, but concerned he was calling so soon, I took a deep breath before placing the speaker to my ear.

  “Your friend Dylan…”

  “Is he alright?” Felt a tsunami of fear.

  “No. He’s fine. He came to see me.”

  Instead of feeling relieved I felt irritated. “Why? He came here to help me, not you.” I was in bitch mode and didn’t know what put me there. DeMarco is a smart cop and I wanted him to get along with Dylan. The fact is I wanted him more than anything I’d ever experienced. I didn’t want to need him—but I was hooked.

  “Whoa. I offered to show him the murder books. He asked me a couple of questions that made me think maybe we hadn’t completed our search of the house.”

  “So you’re calling to tell me you’re sending the crime scene investigators back out? Fine, you have the house under wraps. They won’t bother me.”

  “You could be the most irritating woman I’ve had the pleasure to talk to, but remembering last night and hoping more are to come—well just let me tell you why I called.”

  I smiled. He was insulting me and all I could do was smile about it. “Go ahead.”

  “Thanks. Dylan told me your friend Jillie was paranoid about some things. It made me wonder if that meant she might have another safe we didn’t find. I want to come out and go through the house with you. See what turns up. There could be something there to help us ID the killer if he’s right.”

  I felt like a fool. Of course Jillie had another safe, why hadn’t I looked for it? I remembered her saying something about safes a long time ago, but couldn’t remember exactly what it was. Maybe she even had a safe deposit box. I hadn’t gone through everything in the envelope Severenson had given me. “Let me check something and I’ll meet you at the front door.”

  “Perfect. Dylan is already on his way, I’ll be there in twenty.”

  I ran into the bedroom I was using in the pool house and retrieved the envelope with the keys and other things Severenson had given me. I dumped the manila envelope on the bed and began to sort through the smaller envelopes and various keys.

  A safe deposit key with the box number on it was wrapped in a letter from the attorney giving me authorization signed by Jillie to be used in the case of her death. There was nothing else that might lead them to another safe in the house. I got to the front of the house just as Dylan came up through the gate, followed minutes later by DeMarco.

  “I found a safe deposit key for Artemis-Collins Bank and Trust here in Plano. We’ll have to check that tomorrow. Let’s take a look and see if we find anything here.”

  We entered the house, dividing the rooms between us, knocking on walls, tapping on tiles and floor boards. I have a good memory, but the conversation with Jillie about the safe was a moving target. Until I went to the kitchen, that is. I remembered she had kidded me about how secure a safe would be if you had one put in behind the refrigerator. Not something I would think of easily and I didn’t remember any evidence that the CSI’s had moved the one in the kitchen or in the utility room. It was worth a look.

  We found two. One behind each of the Sub-Zeros. There was no way Jillie could have moved them without help, and eventually we discovered the refrigerators were mounted on hidden rollers that could be activated remotely from the pantry.

  Unlocking the safes had been the easiest part of the endeavor. She had used my birthday as the code on both of them. Once the safes were open, DeMarco called in the technicians to document the items we had found. A lot of cash. A copy of the will. Gold coins and savings bonds. Receipts for the cars, along with the titles. None of them would help us take down a killer. Nothing shocking. Nothing revealing.

  Disappointed, and leaving everything in its place, DeMarco told me I could come back and live in the house if I wanted to. “We have documented everything we can. Will you be able to do that? I know it has to be hard.”

>   “I don’t know.” I was surprised he seemed to care about how I felt. It was a side of him that had flared up when I’d broken down, but I thought that was because I was being girlie.

  “Let me know if I can do anything to help. I can recommend some companies that are good at restoral.”

  “Thanks, but I have a designer and can get the work done. Maybe I’ll turn her bedroom into an upstairs office. I don’t really need it and already have my own room for when I stayed here, plus there are plenty of others.” Yeah, way too many for me. I had two friends and a maybe a lover. They wouldn’t fill a teacup in a place like this.

  We stayed in the house while the crime techs went through the safes. Checking the rooms we hadn’t been in. When they were done, Dylan drifted back to the pool house, where Poppy was playing her magnificent chef role but I wasn’t in the mood for anything fancy. DeMarco seemed to notice, and asked if I wanted to get away for a while. He meant take a break. I meant take a tumble in bed.

  Maybe I misjudged his intentions. We went to his place. He softened me up with a glass of wine and didn’t take his time removing my clothes. I was liking this guy more and more every day. I knew I was falling, something I believed I could never do.

  I had a healthy sex life. After all, I’d been around sex all my life. I mean my darling mother was a porn queen and had always had her friends scattered throughout the house. Nudity was something you ignored. The sound of sexual ecstasy was usually faked and didn’t always require a partner or even a helping hand.

  There were areas of the house that had been strictly out of bounds except for me. But living in that palace had all kinds of challenges. You had to be careful where you chose to sit in some of the rooms. What closed door might be sheltering a rehearsal? A tryout. An affair. I had grown up disgusted. Overexposed. Thinking sex was a tool more than something that had a meaning. It was disturbing that this thing with DeMarco felt like something more. Something I couldn’t readily identify.

  But I had to put all that aside. We made a visit to the bank and it was just as unrevealing as the safes had been. Mostly deeds, partnership agreements, contracts, and other stuff related to business. The only thing surprising and out of place was a photograph of Jillie’s office at the house. Neither DeMarco nor I could come up with any reason for it to be there, or any clue what it was telling us.