“What is it?” Adams asked as he hung up his desk phone.
“Dr. Leroy is on a flight to Vancouver, B.C. It took off ten minutes ago. He's booked on a connecting flight from there to Sydney, Australia.”
“Well, that makes things a bit more complicated.”
Stephenson gritted his teeth as he stared at his screen. He was beyond frustrated they didn't have enough on the doctor to arrest him before he fled the country. Now, when they finally got what they needed to arrest him, they'd have to go through the process of extradition.
“Yeah, just a bit.”
It was late when Stephenson got home. He retrieved a beer from the fridge on his way to the couch, glad he'd remembered to put some in there that morning. After the day he'd had, he needed one.
He collapsed on the couch and dialed Richards. It was after ten, but he figured she'd still be awake. She answered on the second ring.
“Hi. You arrest Dwayne's killer already?”
He felt himself relax at the sound of her voice. “I wish. But no. I wanted to thank you for taking me to the game today. I had a great time.”
“You're welcome. I had a good time too. Plus, it didn't hurt that we won.”
“I'm sorry I had to leave so quick.”
“That's okay. You only missed meeting my brother. Oh, and Russell Wilson. It was the first time I'd met him. He was super nice. Came over and talked with us for like ten minutes.”
“That makes me feel a lot better about rushing out.”
Hearing her laugh on the other end of the call, he smiled.
“Did you get back to your car okay?”
“Yeah, my brother gave me a ride back to the station. I'm leaving his place now. He had a small party at his house. Have you eaten anything tonight?”
It was the first time he'd thought about food since he'd left the stadium. Now that she mentioned it, he realized he was starving.
“No, we were too busy to think about food.”
“I'm actually at Northgate, isn't that close to where you live? Want me to bring over some take out?”
“That sounds great, but you don't have to do that.” He glanced at his work laptop sitting on his coffee table. “Plus, I've got some work to do tonight, so I probably wouldn't be that great of company.”
“I don't mind. Maybe I could help you.”
“I'd love that, but only if you're sure that's how you want to spend your Saturday night.”
“I'm sure.”
Twenty minutes later he heard a knock at his door. He got up and opened the door to let her in. She looked as beautiful as she had earlier that day, maybe even more so.
“Mexican okay?” She held up a large paper bag.
“Perfect. Come on in.”
She followed him into the living room and took a seat next to him on the couch. He was already halfway through his burrito by the time she took her first bite.
“Good thing I bought you two,” she said, watching him inhale the second half of his burrito.
“Thank you.” He wiped his hands on a paper napkin. “I didn't realize how hungry I was.”
“So where are you at on Dwayne's murder case?”
“A cook at the café saw a man matching Dr. Leroy’s description in the kitchen right before Dwayne was found dead. Unfortunately, he was wearing a baseball hat, so the cook was unable to positively ID him in a photo montage.”
He sighed and pulled another burrito out of the bag, irritated that Dr. Leroy’s average looks and baseball cap had kept him from being positively ID’d twice in their investigation.
“We found threatening text messages on Dwayne's cell from someone saying they had Daisy's phone and could prove Dwayne killed her. They told him to meet them at the cafe where he was killed. Problem is, the texts were sent from an untraceable burner phone. There was no other communication between him and Dr. Leroy.
“We visited the crime scene, but there wasn't much to see. We did, however, get a partial fingerprint match to Dr. Leroy from a piece of a zipper that was found outside the bathroom’s window, which is how we think he fled the scene.”
“That's great! I mean, that's huge isn't it? Does that give you enough for his arrest?”
He shook his head as he swallowed the last bite of his second burrito. He crumpled its paper wrapper before tossing it back inside the empty take-out bag.
“No. Well, we might've been able to justify an arrest warrant with that, but we could've used more to strengthen our case.”
She leaned back against the couch while he went on.
“But Dr. Leroy is now on a flight to Australia. Since we didn't get the fingerprint analysis back until after he'd left the country, there was nothing we could do to stop him.”
Her eyes grew wide. “So, what? You'll have to extradite him?”
He nodded. “Yes, when we have enough evidence. The partial on the zipper might've been enough for a warrant while he was still in the country, but it may not be enough to make a case for extradition, which will be a drawn-out, complicated process. But I'm going to do whatever's necessary to bring him back and charge him with murder.”
“I'm sure you will.”
Their eyes met. He wanted to lean over and kiss her but wondered if maybe it was too soon. Instead, he cleared his throat and told her about the call he got from Dr. Leroy's sister-in-law.
“Wow. So, you think he killed his wife and has gotten away with it for twenty years?”
“Personally, yes. But I don't think we'll ever be able to prove it. Unless he confesses.”
“Well, he must think you have something on him if he's fleeing to Australia. Maybe it means he screwed up somehow.”
The same thought had already crossed his mind. “I hope so.”
He looked into her blue eyes and was suddenly overcome by how stunning she was. He wondered if he was boring her with all the details of his case, but she didn't seem bored. She looked intrigued.
“I hope I'm not ruining your Saturday night with all this shop talk,” he said.
She smiled, and he felt his heart rate quicken.
“Not at all. It's fascinating. Plus, I'm enjoying being with you.”
“Me too.”
“I actually had a bit of a crush on you when we were at the police academy.”
That would've been six years ago, but he didn't remember her being at the academy when he was there. He was sure he would've remembered her.
“You were in my class?”
“Well, no. I was in the class below yours, but I used to see you around at the training center. I never worked up the nerve to introduce myself.”
“I wish you would have.”
His urge to kiss her grew even stronger. He might've imagined it, but she seemed to be sitting closer to him on the couch than she had a minute ago. He leaned forward slowly, bringing his mouth to hers. Her lips moved against his as she returned his kiss.
Her fingers intertwined with his. They reclined on the couch and continued to talk between kisses. After walking her to her car an hour later, he didn't think about Dr. Leroy again for the rest of the night.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Eric boarded both flights without a problem. He had a window seat on the leg to Sydney, and he leaned forward to take in the view of his homeland as they descended.
Rugged sandstone cliffs dropped into the bright sapphire water along the outer shores of Sydney's coastline. The view of Sydney Harbour was breathtaking as they flew over the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. He suddenly realized how much he had missed this beautiful, diverse country.
After clearing customs without a hitch, Eric relaxed even more. He stepped outside into the warm, morning air. He drew in a deep breath as he squinted in the bright sunlight. Seeing the palm trees that lined the street immediately lifted his spirits.
He knew without a doubt he hadn't left Australia because he wanted to. He'd left because he felt like there was no other option. He pulled out the sunglasses he'd bought in the airport gift s
hop while killing time in Vancouver.
After nearly twenty years, it was good to be home.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
On Monday morning, Stephenson sat next to Sergeant McKinnon and looked across at Lieutenant Greyson, who frowned from behind his large desk. The wall behind him was covered with plaques and certificates of what looked to be every achievement and award the lieutenant had ever been given. They confirmed to Stephenson that Greyson had always been more interested in ass-kissing and moving his way up the department's ladder than he had ever been in solving crimes.
Stephenson had felt like a kid getting called into the principal’s office by the way the lieutenant had summoned them into his office. Greyson seemed to enjoy exercising his authority, which made their meeting all the more painful. Stephenson couldn't help but notice the lieutenant's hair was significantly thinner than the last time he saw him.
“So, let me get this straight. You released Dwayne Morrison, a known killer, for the purpose of using him as bait to catch a supposed serial killer who you couldn't justify putting under surveillance.”
“Well, actually—”
McKinnon raised his left hand in front of Stephenson's chest, signaling he'd do the talking.
“Not as bait. We released him and placed him under twenty-four-hour police surveillance in the hope of using any communication or interaction he had with Dr. Leroy as something we could use to prove Dr. Leroy was responsible for a string of recent murders. If the doctor threatened Dwayne, or the officers felt Dwayne was in danger at any point, they were ordered to intervene and arrest the doctor.”
“So, as I said, you released him and used him as bait. You not only risked his life but also posed a risk to the community by letting a killer back on the streets.”
Stephenson heard McKinnon let out a sigh. As he looked back and forth between his two superiors, he thought they couldn't have been more different. Not only in appearance, but also in personality. Even sitting down, one could see that Greyson was small in stature. His pale complexion gave him a washed-out look, especially in the middle of winter. And he was all about upholding policies and procedures. A man who lived for the rule book.
McKinnon was a couple inches taller than himself. Stephenson guessed he was about six three. And, much to Greyson's disapproval, McKinnon felt that in extreme circumstances rules sometimes needed to be bent, if not broken, to get the job done.
“Being under round-the-clock surveillance, Dwayne should never have been in any danger nor been allowed to harm anyone else. Prior to his release, we also had received a confirmation of Dwayne's alibi for the time around Daisy's death. Without a more precise time of death for Daisy Colbert, we couldn't be certain Dwayne was her killer.”
Stephenson knew McKinnon was stretching the truth a bit but hoped it would pacify the lieutenant. Since they only had an approximate time of death for Daisy, it was possible she was killed right after Dwayne got to his friends' house. But his alibi also left plenty of time for him to kill her within the window of her time of death, so it wouldn't have given them cause to release him.
The lieutenant stared back and forth between them as if deciding what to do next.
McKinnon took the opportunity to continue in their defense. “We aren't responsible for the actions, or lack thereof, of the two officers who were watching Dwayne at the time of his death. Plus, he wasn't in police custody when he was killed. We didn't owe him any protection. Their job was to see what we could learn from any interaction Dwayne had with the doctor.”
This seemed to appease the lieutenant, at least for the moment. He turned his focus to Stephenson.
“And where are you in the investigation of Dwayne's death and your recent strangulation cases, including Martin and Patricia Watts?”
“Our prime suspect is Dr. Eric Leroy, but we're still working on compiling enough evidence for his arrest.”
He didn't add that they would be closing Daisy's case by attributing her death to Dwayne. Or that the doctor was now in Australia and they'd have to extradite him once they could make a strong enough case. McKinnon sat silently next to him, and Stephenson was thankful he didn't bring up either of those things either.
They found Daisy's fingerprints in the passenger side of the doctor's BMW when they processed his car over the weekend. It made Stephenson wonder what sort of relationship the two of them had, even though there was no record of any calls or texts made between them. If Dwayne had suspected there was something going on between them, his jealousy could've been part of his motive for killing her.
Greyson leaned over and pulled that morning’s edition of The Seattle Times from his desk drawer. “I take it you’ve seen this?”
Stephenson tried not to cringe when he read the front-page headline. Adams had told him there was an article but not the extent of what it had said.
MURDER-SUICIDE OR KILLER WALKING FREE? COPS STILL HAVE NO ANSWERS IN DEATH OF MARTIN WATTS AND WIFE PATRICIA
“We’re very close to getting an arrest warrant for Eric Leroy.”
Greyson tossed the paper onto his desk. “I want to see those cases solved. And soon.”
Like I don't? Stephenson thought. “Yes, sir,” he said.
McKinnon stood, taking the cue they'd been dismissed and Stephenson followed suit. Stephenson shut the door to Greyson's office behind him.
“Thanks for having my back in there,” he said.
“You're welcome. Just find a way to bring the doctor back and put him away for good.”
“I will.”
The sergeant gave him a firm pat on the back before heading to his office. Stephenson walked back to his desk and tried to believe his own words.
He checked his email when he sat down and saw he had a new message from Patricia's health insurance company. Before he'd left on Friday, he called the software company Dr. Leroy used for his medical records. They confirmed Patricia's medical documents had, in fact, been edited by Dr. Leroy a few days before she was killed. However, when they tried to look up the previous versions of her records in their system, they found they'd all been deleted by Dr. Leroy.
He'd contacted her insurance company before his meeting with the lieutenant to request a list of other doctors she'd seen in the past couple years. He hoped maybe one of them had been sent her records from Dr. Leroy and he could compare them to the file the doctor had given them.
He scanned through the list of specialist doctors and stopped when he read she'd seen another psychiatrist three months earlier. That’d be his best bet for receiving a copy of her records from Dr. Leroy's office. He saw their address was in Madison Park, not far from where Patricia had lived. He dialed the number and spoke briefly with the receptionist.
She looked up Patricia in their database and verified she'd been seen once by their office three months before. She said their psychiatrist had agreed to cover for Dr. Leroy by seeing his patients while he was on vacation. She confirmed they'd received Patricia's entire file from Dr. Leroy at the time of her visit. It was exactly what he'd hoped for. He stressed the importance of them receiving her file and promised to fax over a warrant within a couple of hours.
It was late afternoon when Patricia's medical records came over their fax machine. Her file was lengthy. Stephenson and Adams worked together for over an hour comparing the file to what Dr. Leroy had given them.
Stephenson set down his highlighter when he reached the last page. “He completely falsified all the verbally abusive and controlling behaviors of Patricia's husband.”
“Yeah, looks like she complained about him a lot, but there's nothing in this file that would suggest he was any sort of danger to her. Dr. Leroy obviously wanted us to think Martin killed his wife. Falsifying her medical records should give us enough to start his extradition process. Plus, we have his prints on the zipper from Dwayne's crime scene.”
Stephenson picked up his highlighter and tapped it against the desk. “It's a start, but the medical records aren't enough to prove he killed Martin
and Patricia. I think we need to find more before we request his extradition. With double jeopardy, we only have one shot to get him convicted of Dwayne's murder. I want to bring him back on solid murder charges, not just this.”
“Blake?”
He turned and was shocked to see Serena. Unlike the last time he'd seen her, her hair was dry and she wore a tight black skirt that stopped above her knees and a button up shirt.
“What are you doing here? Who brought you up?” he asked.
“Suarez. I told him it was really important that I speak to you. I got off work early, and I figured you'd still be here.”
Her demeanor was serious, and Stephenson wondered what she'd possibly want to speak to him about. He couldn't imagine she'd come all the way here to say sorry for cheating on him. He had no desire to speak to her again; there was nothing to say.
Adams looked nearly as shocked to see her as Stephenson did. He glanced back and forth between the two of them, waiting for his partner's response.
“Okay. Go ahead.” Stephenson leaned back in his chair. “But make it quick, because I need to get back to work.”
She looked over at Adams before turning back to him. “Could we go somewhere private for a few minutes?”
Stephenson debated for a moment before answering. “Fine. We can talk in the break room.” He reluctantly got out of his chair. “I won't be long,” he said to Adams as he led the way to the small room down the hall from the large, open area where they worked.
He stepped aside and motioned for Serena to enter first. He followed behind, leaving the door open behind him. She turned to face him. He crossed his arms and waited for her to speak.
“So, how are you?” she asked.
The look of concern on her face was almost laughable. Seriously? he thought.
“I'm fine. I hope that's not what you came all the way down here to ask me.”
She took a step toward him and looked up with her big brown eyes, now brimmed with tears. “I wanted to say that I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I made a huge mistake.”
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