Mike spent the rest of his vacation as a ‘staycation’ and did those mundane things you have to do when you are a homeowner. He raked leaves, cleaned gutters, touched up paint throughout the house, got his tires rotated, took his cat, Mika to the vet and on and on.
As he finished painting the shed at the back of his property, Kacey wasn’t far from his heart and mind as he thought about her and her cruise, hoping it was healing her. He missed her when she was gone.
After his two weeks were up, he was actually looking forward to getting back to work. Since Kacey had a little more time off than him, the Captain decided to put him on desk duty. Since he was a witness at the scene and had a personal relationship with the victim, he couldn’t actively be involved, but could be a resource. With the detectives who were working on Dan Yates' case for the time being. As of now, the detectives had very little to go on and were leaning towards it being a stray bullet from a hunter. It was hunting season, and there were woods on the property surrounding the winery. But they weren’t just giving up and leaving it at that.
These were the best detectives on the force because they were focused, tenacious, and determined. Detectives John Denard and Jeff Boaz were legendary for not taking the easy way out. They were old school and didn’t mind dirty work. Mike looked forward to working with them.
When Mike arrived his first morning back, he hung his coat up and found the two detectives already at it in the corner of the room they had been using for their evidence.
“Morning, Mike.” John greeted him.
Jeff just looked up and nodded.
“Here’s what we have so far,” John began. “Glad to have you, by the way. We have yet to find the bullet casing and where the shot originated from. As you know, the woods are pretty dense. But from the wound angle, we could extrapolate the trajectory and it led to an area that’s maybe a square quarter mile.
Officers have been looking for the spot since. Also, it is deer season, so we are keeping that in mind, but not excluding other options. If someone did purposely shoot Dan Yates, they are a mean shot. The bullet came from what could be any variety of hunting rifles.”
He showed Mike a picture of the bullet and a picture of several styles of hunting rifles. “Since you heard a ‘crack’ we know they didn’t use a silencer, so they weren’t trying to hide the fact that they were shooting something, whether it was Dan or a deer.”
“Any insights from that night, Mike?” asked Jeff Boaz.
“Not really. It was a pretty intense moment and all I was thinking about was Dan and Kacey.”
“Understandable. Feel like a field trip?”
“Of course.” Mike grinned. “To the woods, I assume.”
Detective Denard glanced at Mike’s shoes and grinned back. Mike had worn his hiking boots.
“What a coincidence.”
Chapter 4
Connie Forsythe was a strikingly beautiful woman in her 40s, an accomplished professional in her field and was definitely ready to settle down. Her eyes sparkled and her skin glowed with health as well as her weekly tanning bed sessions. She was tired of the men she was finding at work, blind dates, and at the bar. She was ready for a serious boyfriend with serious husband potential. If she heard one more time about ‘this guy you have got to meet’, friends of friends with “great personalities”, she was going to scream!
So, she did what many of her peers were doing now and she signed up on a dating site. This site was unusual in the fact that photos were not allowed. Matches were based solely on personality and commonality. She filled out the questionnaire in complete honesty. She didn’t want to have to remember the lies she told to make herself sound better and it wasn’t long before the responses started pouring in. Some were clearly not in her league only interested in sex. Others were clearly in denial about their accomplishments.
‘Rugged?’ she snorted. ‘maybe weasely and living in your mother’s basement.’
“Hmm. This one sounds promising.” She said out loud. He was a professor of history at the local college, forty-five years old, likes the outdoors and reading. Nothing sounded made up. He seemed normal.
She clicked on his profile and scanned it through. She definitely liked what she read, so she emailed him back and smiled as they set up a date for the following Friday.
Chapter 5
Donna Sanis was getting worried. Alice, wasn’t returning her calls or texts and that was very unlike her. They usually couldn’t go more than a couple of days without connecting somehow. After pacing around her apartment for a day, she finally decided to go check on her. Thankful that she and Alice had traded keys years ago, she grabbed the key to Alice’s townhome and drove across town. She parked her car and walked up to the door. After ringing the bell several times, and gathering the mail spilling out of the mailbox, she finally made the decision to let herself in.
“Alice.” She called loudly. “It’s me, Donna. Are you here?”
She was answered by a heavy stillness, subconsciously thinking that a house feels a certain way when no souls are present. She walked in further into the kitchen area. Nothing was disturbed, so she walked through and went into the living room.
It took her a few seconds to register what she was seeing.
A pair of strappy high heels came into view from behind the couch. She forced herself to walk around hoping against hope that she would just see Alice passed out or asleep. But when her friend came into full view, there was so much blood. It was pooled all around the upper half of her body, soaking into the beige carpet and spreading behind her like a pair of wings.
Donna ran out of the townhouse, to the hedge and vomited into the bushes. An alarmed jogger stopped to see if she needed any help.
“My friend … she’s dead.” She gasped. “Call 9-1-1 … please.”
The jogger led her over to a bench by the hedgerow and gently sat her down. After confirming that what she said was true, he shakily dialed 9-1-1. He told the dispatcher that he would wait in the front yard with the distraught woman until the police came.
Chapter 6
When Kacey walked into the precinct for the first time in 30 days, she was greeted with calls of ‘Welcome back’ and ‘Good to see you, Kacey’. She returned the greetings and felt like she was back in the saddle almost immediately.
She went to her desk, opened the bottom drawer, tossed her purse in, and locked it. She had just started going through her messages and stacks of papers when Mike walked in. He came up beside her and gave her a side hug.
“It’s good to have you back where you belong.” Mike said, grinning.
“It’s actually good to be back, believe it or not.” Kacey grinned back.
The Captains door banged open. “Yates. Parker. Now.”
Kacey and Dan glanced at each other warily with a ‘here we go again’ look, then stood and walked to the Captain’s office. “Not exactly how I wanted to start my day.” Kacey thought.
“Sit.” He commanded.
They sat and he walked to his desk, leaning back against it, he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Glad you’re back, Kacey.
"So, this morning Alice Benning was found murdered in her townhome. A concerned friend went to check on her. Officers are keeping the scene contained and the witness is being evaluated by paramedics at the scene. You two get out there and see what you can find out.”
The Captain straightened up and went over to open the door. Their sign to leave. As Mike went out, he held out his hand to stop Kacey as Mike left the office ahead of her.
“How are you holding up?”
He looked at her with a concerned expression on his face.
“I’m actually doing alright. I won’t lie … it’s hard, but I’m making it. Thank you.”
“The whole department is behind you, just so you know.” The Captain stood aside so she could catch up with Mike.
“I’ll drive, Kace, my car is closer.” He wanted to give her a little time to compose herself. S
he had tears in her eyes, but was trying to not let them show.
Kacey cleared her throat.
“So, Alice Benning? Why does that name sound so familiar?” She got her phone out to do a search, but Mike stopped her.
“Seriously. You don’t know? She’s some kind of fashion blogger. Jack follows her Instagram religiously. If she wears it or suggests it, Jack has to have it.”
“You have totally gone to the dark side, Mike Parker.” Kacey said, laughing and soon Mike was joining in.
They quickly sobered as they pulled up to the immaculate townhome in a gated neighborhood. The landscaping was flawless. Roses had recently been cut back in preparation for the colder weather, and mums replaced them as the main source of color.
The gravel crunched beneath their feet as they made their way up the sidewalk, Kacey pointed at a camera that was pointed towards the entryway.
An officer noticed the gesture and said, “Already on it, detective.”
Kacey nodded at him and she and Mike made their way to the front door.
Kacey walked into the entryway while snapping rubber gloves on her hands. She looked around, taking in the beautiful objects which were tastefully disbursed throughout and the entire house seemed to be painted the same shade of soft gray. Every piece of furniture was some shade of cream. There was a tasteful faux fur blanket tossed artfully on the couch. The feeling of the home was peace, tranquility, and clearly no children. It should’ve felt sterile, but it wasn’t at all. Just past the entryway was what Kacey thought of as the ‘parlor’. Not for hanging out, but for formal gatherings.
“Very nice.” She muttered.
Officers were milling around taking photographs and dusting for fingerprints. Mike walked into the gleaming modern kitchen, noting that nothing was amiss. There was nothing to indicate that Alice had company the night she was killed. No dishes, no wine glasses, etc. Kacey soon joined him and they walked into the living room where the body was.
The living room was a more casual version of the parlor. It was still the same color scheme; the only difference was that an accent wall had been painted a dark gray. There was a fireplace on that wall. The mantle was painted white and the TV was mounted above. Personal touches were scattered throughout the room and it wasn’t quite as uncluttered as the rest of the house. There were framed photos on the mantle, colorful pillows on the couch, etc. Clearly, this was where Alice spent most of her time.
Kacey squatted down by the body and, with her gloved hand, moved a strand of hair from the face. Her throat was slit from ear to ear. The eyes stared upwards in permanent terror. Her mouth was slightly open and you could see her perfect white teeth behind her outlined red lips. Alice was beautiful, even in death.
“Kacey, there’s something in her mouth.” Mike handed her tweezers that a tech was handing him.
Kacey took them and put her thumb on Alice’s chin to pull it down. Seeing something, she called the photographer over to take a photo. After he took the picture, she inserted the tweezers and pinched what looked like a piece of heavy paper. She pulled it out and held it up so that Mike could see it, too. He took it from the tweezers with gloved hands and unfolded it. It was a playing card. An ‘ace of spades’ to be exact. A camera flash blinded them momentarily as the photographer did his job. Kacey asked for an evidence bag from one of the officers and Mike put the card inside.
Mike knelt on the other side of the body, picked up Alice's hands and began inspecting under her fingernails, one by one.
“No defensive injuries that I can see, but I’m sure Dr. Forrester will be able to tell. It looks like she was either getting ready to go out on a date, or she had just returned from a date.”
Kacey stood up, knees cracking. “I’m out of shape, too many buffets on the cruise ship.”
An officer walked up to them and glanced at his note pad. “The victim’s friend, a Donna Sanis, found the body this morning. She’s cooling her heels by the ambulance.”
“Let’s go talk to the friend.” Mike suggested. “And leave the techs do their job.”
The detectives walked out into the sunlight. A cold breeze made the bare tree branches clack together noisily, causing the young woman sitting on the back bumper of an ambulance with her legs dangling to glance up.
She had a blanket wrapped around her and her face was drawn and blotchy from crying. Kacey sat next to her and angled her legs so she was facing the distraught woman. Mike stood in front of her a little to the opposite of Kacey. He had his notepad and pencil out.
“Donna, I’m Detective Kacey Yates and this is Detective Mike Parker. We’re sorry for your loss. I know this is quite a shock for you.” The woman choked back a sob. “Why did you come to check on her today?”
“Sh-sh-she hadn’t been returning my calls or texts for a couple of days and that’s really unlike her. She’s attached to her phone. It’s almost like it’s fused to her hand or something. So I decided to check on her. To make sure she wasn’t sick or passed out.” The woman burst out in tears and put her hands to her face. “Who could’ve done this?”
Kacey put her arm around the woman’s shoulders.
“What was the last thing she texted to you?” Mike asked gently.
“She was just getting ready to go on a date with a man she met through a dating website. She was so excited.”
“Do you know what dating site that was?” Kacey handed her a tissue.
“I don’t remember the name, but it’s the one with a match for the logo. Oh, I remember. ‘makeamatch.com’ is where she met him.”
“Thanks, Donna. An officer can take you home and another will follow with your car. Is there someone we can call for you?” Mike asked gently.
“That’s not necessary, detective, I texted my boyfriend and he’ll be here soon.” The woman gave them a wobbly smile.
Kacey handed her a business card with her name and phone number on it and asked Donna to give her a call if she needed anything or thought of anything that would help. And also to let her know that they might be calling her later.
About that time, a red Porsche pulled up into the driveway and a handsome man got out and ran towards Donna. She stood and they embraced.
“You ok, honey?” he asked.
“I am now.”
The man turned to the detectives and asked if it was OK if he took Donna home.
“Of course,” Kacey answered. “Thank you.”
The couple walked to the Porsche and Donna’s boyfriend opened the door for her, closed it carefully after she was in, and walked to his side to get in. He leaned over to touch her face and then kissed her before driving off.
“Nice car.” Mike muttered.
“Nice man.” Kacey added.
An officer walked up to Mike and Kacey and handed them a sheet of paper with the security company’s name and number.
“I already called them and they said you can either come by and look at the tapes right now, or they will forward the recording to you by email.”
“Thanks, Mathis, I’ll call them.” Mike took the scrap of paper and went to do just that.
After he finished his call, the detectives turned around to go back into the house to see if they could get the time of death from Dr. Forrester. The ME had walked by them as they were talking to Donna.
When they walked into the living room, Dr. Forrester was just zipping up the black body bag that contained the soulless body of Alice Benning. It was always a somber moment when you heard that awful zip.
“Any wisdom you can share, Doc?” Mike asked.
“Now detective, you know I never give opinions, so you will just have to wait along with everyone else.” Dr. Forrester was an attractive older ebony skinned man with a wonderful British accent that Kacey could listen to forever.
He smiled at her as he walked by, knowing full well the power his accent had over her. She smiled back.
“Oh, stop it, Kace.” Mike elbowed her back to reality.
“He gives me tingles.”
Kacey said with a mock shudder.
It was easier for the detectives to walk around now. There were only a few people left milling about now that the body was gone and most of the tech work had been done.
“Hopefully that video footage will solve this in 30 seconds, but just in case, let’s walk the perimeter and the home to see if anything looks off.” Kacey suggested.
As the detectives walked the yard, looking for anything that would clarify what happened to Alice, Kacey asked Mike. “Did you ever think about using a dating site?”
“Maybe a little, before I met Jack, but I never actively pursued it. Why?” He asked, lifting some low lying branches of a lilac bush, peeking under them.
Fatal Hunt Page 2