The girl laughed at that.
“True.”
“I’m just here for my first gyn visit. I’m kind of nervous.”
“Carrie, I told you it would be fine.” Her mother chimed in.
“Ugh. I remember that appointment,” Kacey grimaced. “So awkward. But you’ll survive. I always go to my ‘happy place’ even after all of these years.
“Kacey Yates?” Kacey stood as her name was called.
“Good luck, Carrie.”
“Thanks.” Carrie smiled, still looking very nervous.
Kacey had been going to Dr. Emily Mason since right before she and Dan were married. Dr. Mason was a few years older than Kacey and had made her feel comfortable immediately … well, as comfortable as you can be in that situation.
Dr. Mason was a petite woman who would’ve caused you to doubt her baby delivering abilities should the going get tough, but her professional demeanor made you think of her as a powerful force. This was a capable, confident woman and Kacey admired her very much.
The nurse took Kacey’s vitals, had her step on the scale, and after making some notations, told her to hop up on the table and that the doctor would be with her shortly.
As soon as the nurse left the room, Kacey lay back and let her mind wander to their case.
Why these woman? Why now? What was the commonality? Sure, makeamatch was the obvious common element, but that seemed way too easy. There had to be more to it than that. The hair seemed to definitely be a thing.
As her mind drifted, her eyelids began to close. Kacey was right in the middle of a nice nap when there was a sharp rapping at the door.
She jolted up on the bed, heart racing. It took her a few seconds to get her bearings. Dr. Mason laughed.
“You alright there, Kacey?”
“You almost gave me a heart attack!” Embarrassed, Kacey struggled up to a sitting position.
“Well, we wouldn’t want that.” Dr. Mason smiled.
“Ok … let’s have a look at you.” Dr. Mason was once again in ‘medical mode’.
She took Kacey’s blood pressure again and listened to her heartbeat.
“Sounds good. Weight is good. How have you been feeling?”
“Pretty good. A little tired, obviously. I haven’t been sick in a week or so, just queasy at times.”
“Perfect. Are you eating healthy and drinking plenty of water?”
“Well, I’m drinking water.”
“That’s something anyway.” Dr. Mason said, wryly. “Your bloodwork shows no issues or deficiencies.
“Lie down and let’s have a listen.”
Kacey lay back and Dr. Mason put a lubricant on the wand and listened to the baby’s heartbeat.
The doctor smiled at Kacey and said,
“Good strong heartbeat, Kacey. Everything sounds great.”
She let Kacey listen for a few moments.
“Let’s schedule a sonogram and get a good look at him or her.”
She helped Kacey sit up and entered the results of the exam into her laptop.
“Have you been taking your prenatals?”
“I’ve been taking them at night, like you suggested when they were making me sick.”
“If that’s been working, keep doing that.” She said, tapping details from Kacey’s appointment into her laptop. “Well, if you don’t have any questions, you are good to go.”
“Nope. Thanks!”
Dr. Mason nodded at her, patted her on the shoulder, and left the room to go to her next patient.
Kacey began to text Dan as she made her way to the elevator. She was almost through the text when she realized what she was doing. Thankfully, there was no one to see her as she made her way to her car, struggling not to cry.
Chapter 43
Mike took his phone out of his holster as it vibrated and read the incoming text.
‘I’ll be in later.’
Mike frowned as he read what Kacey had sent. It was so unusual for her to leave such a short text. She was queen of correct grammar and punctuation and her texts were rarely shorter than a paragraph.
He holstered his phone and turned back to the task at hand.
He, Jack, and Calvin were discussing what they were now unofficially calling the ‘makeamatch murders. Mike was taking more notes about Jack and Calvin’s discovery of Alice’s body. He ran them through the string of events again, looking for anything that would give them any insight on who had done this awful thing.
Jack was beginning to grow weary of the repetitive line of questioning.
“I have nothing more to say about it, Mike! It’s really all so clear cut. We responded to the call, knocked on the door, and when there was no answer, Cal went around back and saw her body. He called me around and we busted the door glass to unlock the door and when we entered it was clear that there was no saving her. We called for backup and secured the scene. That’s all there is to it.”
“Jackie, you know I’m just doing my job. Don’t get mad about it.” He tried to soothe her as Calvin nodded in agreement.
“Is that all, Detective?” she asked.
“Yes, Officer.”
Jacqueline Bishop turned on her heel and stomped out of the office, Calvin sheepishly followed. Mike had to smile.
He gathered his notes up and followed her out. She made it all the way to her car before he caught up with her. He could tell by the sway of her hips that she was well aware that he was following her.
Jack turned around and said, “If you think you can apologize by taking me out to eat tonight, you would be correct.”
He walked up to her and came to within two inches of her and lowered his head to look her in the eyes.
“I will pick you up at 7:00 tonight, you’d better wear that red dress.” He turned and walked back into the precinct as her eyes followed him and she shivered in anticipation of her upcoming dinner date.
Chapter 44
Colleen was so excited! The Professor would be here anytime now. She heard the buzzer and when she looked through the camera, she couldn’t believe it … this was going to be a GREAT night!
She opened the door and squealed when she saw the flowers, but paused when she saw the man carrying them. He seemed a little familiar.
“What a nice surprise.” She said, smiling, as she took the flowers and kissed him on the cheek.
“I thought I recognized this address. I’m so happy you are the Colleen.” He said with his most charming smile, watching her arrange the flowers in a vase that was sitting on the counter.
He put his arm out for her and she hooked her arm through as they walked to the car, feeling giddy as he helped her into the car then walked around to his side.
They had a wonderful evening. French food wasn’t something she had tried before and, even though it seemed fussy and pretentious, it was quite good. She felt like a princess who had found her prince. He was definitely the one. Such a gentleman. He had opened every door for her and pulled her chair out for her. He even left his phone in the car so he wouldn’t be distracted by it. He complimented her and made her feel so beautiful.
He drove her home and when she invited him in, he readily accepted. This was going to be a very special night.
Her friends had definitely been wrong!
Chapter 45
Kacey made it to work two hours later. Mike was shocked when he looked at her blotchy face and red rimmed eyes.
“What happened, Kacey?”! He demanded.
“I’m fine. I just had a little meltdown on the way home from the OB’s office. I started to text Dan about how the appointment went and it just hit me all over again. I had a good cry and now I’m ready to face the day.”
“You sure?” Mike was still very concerned. “Do you seriously think you are ok to do your job? Or do you need more time?”
“Honestly, Mike … my knee jerk reaction is to say that ‘yes’ I do want to get back on track. But, it caught me so unaware and it took me so long to get a grip that I’m not sur
e. Let’s just get back to work for now, ok?”
“Yeah, sure, Kace.” Mike cleared his throat. “So your favorite doctor has cleared the bodies to be released to the families. It looks like Alice’s memorial service will be day after tomorrow morning. I thought it was soon until I found out that the family had been planning it and she was cremated as soon as the body was released.”
“That seems fast anyway, but people need closure, I guess.” Kacey shrugged her shoulders. “I guess we are going?”
“Yep. Captain Wells is placing a few officers in plain clothes with hidden cameras to mill around a bit at the service and the luncheon afterwards.” Mike started putting on his coat. “Want me to pick you up in the morning?”
“Actually, that would be great. Thor misses you.” Kacey smiled as she thought of that little pudgy beagle bundle.
“Where are you off to?”
“The lovely Jacqueline Bishop needs apologized to, so I am getting some flowers and taking her out for dinner and a movie. The new “The Rock” movie is out and he is her favorite, so, I’m hoping to enjoy the residuals of her watching him flex his biceps for two hours.”
Kacey laughed, “Best of luck, partner. I think I’ll stay here and go over the evidence while you are out getting back in your woman’s good graces.”
"Want to finish looking through these credit card receipts? I'm looking for time stamps and dinners for two. Thought I would just double check."
Mike winked at her and left.
Kacey sighed and began sorting through the receipts, finally tossig them in a pile. Nothing matched up. She began shuffling interviews and evidence to see if she could make any other connections besides the “makeamatch.com” one which seemed too obvious, but probably wasn’t.
She began by pinning 8 x 10 glossies of each woman that was lifted off of their Linkedin accounts. She stood back and looked at them closely.
Alice Benning was a beauty and her short blond hair fell just right. Kacey was struck by how artfully the woman used make up to camouflage what could be considered flaws and to highlight what would be considered perfection.
‘She certainly knew how to make herself beautiful.’ Kacey thought.
Her eyes moved on to Connie Forsythe’s photo. Connie was every bit as beautiful as Alice, but in a different way. Her long, brunette hair hung in soft waves well past her shoulders. Her blue eyes sparkled as if she knew something no one else would ever know.
‘She looks like someone who would be fun to hang out with.”
Kacey wondered again why these women both were trying to find dates through an internet dating service.
“This all makes me feel very old.” She said out loud.
“Have you had an epiphany?” Captain Wells made her jump with his baritone voice that came out of the blue.
Kacey turned and put her hand over her heart and looked at him wide eyed as she waited for her heartbeat to slow down.
“Sorry, Detective. I saw you working and thought I would see how it was going.”
Kacey laughed.
“It’s alright, Captain. I was just too deep in thought. This dating site stuff has me a little baffled.”
“How so?”
“Well, I guess I just wonder why anyone would ever use it and I wonder if there is any accountability attached to it. It’s a scary world out there and if you don’t know who is on the other end of the computer screen, who knows what you are getting. Plus, there is a lot of information that people are just putting out there and how can you know if it’s true or not.”
She turned back to the photos and her eyes went to Joanna McKinley. She took it off of the board and looked closely at the photo of the pretty redhead.
“Now this is a very lucky lady. She made some good decisions, like meeting her date at the restaurant and trusting her intuition and not getting in the car with him to go ‘back to her place’.”
Captain Wells cleared his throat.
“I can answer your questions about online dating, actually.”
Kacey turned to look at him.
“I joined ‘makeamatch’ last month because I’m ready to get back in the dating game and the only people I know are friends that my ex and I share and co-workers. Bars don’t interest me at all, and I don’t want everyone in my personal business, so it made sense.”
“I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean …”
“It’s fine, Kacey. I’m not offended. Remember, dating sites weren’t around when we were younger, so it’s all a little weird.
“As far as the information being true or not. Who’s to know. You have the hope that people are being honest, but I think we both know that it isn’t possible sometimes to tell.”
“True. So, have you had any luck?”
“Actually, yes. I’ve had one date with a woman who is very sweet, so we shall see. Well, I’ll leave you to it. Good night.”
“Good night.”
Kacey spent the next few minutes trying to envision Captain Wells on a date. He was definitely attractive … very much so, in fact. Interesting, too. She was surprised that he didn’t have women beating down the door to date him.
She shook herself loose from her thoughts and began pinning crime scene pictures below the corresponding victim. She then pinned the communications from each of their ‘makeamatch.com’ chats. Next came their phone call and texting histories. These were the boring things that sometimes cracked things right open.
Kacey sat down at the table with her laptop and began typing all of her thoughts as they popped up in her head. Just typing, not processing. Just what she was extrapolating from the photos and information. As she worked, thoughts of Dan melted away into the background.
Little did she know that while she and Captain Wells were talking, Colleen lay in a pool of her own blood, choking, taking her last breaths, as the professor sat on the floor stroking her hair.
Chapter 46
Mike went home, showered, and began getting ready for his big date. He glanced at himself in the bathroom mirror and moved into his bedroom to get dressed. Kacey always thought that Mike’s best quality was his inability to recognize that he was one of the best looking men she had ever seen. His broad shoulders tapered down to a slim waist and if she hadn't been happily married to her own ‘hunk’, the six pack that she was lucky enough to glimpse several times in their partnership, would’ve made her drool. He had brown hair that was just wavy enough and his dark blue eyes were gorgeous.
Mike didn’t see any of it. He worked out so he would be good at his job and his idea of dressing up was a button down shirt and his dark blue jeans with loafers.
He was sporting this look when he went to the florist to get a bouquet of Jack's favorite roses. The florist was practically swooning as she swiped his debit card.
He pulled up to Jack’s house, grabbed the roses, and got out of the car, walking up to her front door. He reached out to ring the doorbell and realized that she had left the door open for him. He could hear Jack’s preferred soft jazz playing softly. He walked in and the roses fell out of his hand and scattered across the floor. He crushed them underfoot as he ran towards Jack.
Jacqueline Bishop was laying on the living room floor... on her back with her legs bent awkwardly to the side. A screwdriver was sticking out of her stomach. One hand was wrapped around the handle and blood was dripping out of the side of her mouth as she croaked, “Mike?”
Mike ran to her side, dialing 9-1-1 as he took his shirt off and pressed it to the wound, carefully wrapping it around the screwdriver.
“I’m here, Jack. Try to stay calm.”
“9-1-1, what’s …”
“Officer down!” He gave the dispatcher the address and set the phone down beside him.
He whispered soothing words to her as he held her hand … willing her to stay alive.
He heard sirens immediately and within minutes the door was being knocked back against the wall as paramedics and several officers ran into the house.
Mik
e moved out of the way and the paramedics wrapped the wound without disturbing the screwdriver as best they could and began attaching Jack to IV’s to get her stabilized so they could move her into the ambulance and to the hospital.
While this was happening, he called Jack’s daughter and told her what was going on and that he would call her when he knew what hospital they were taking her to.
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