by Dale Mayer
“No. I’ve got a few more coworkers to run down and to talk to about the two victims,” Jake said. “If I find anything, I’ll call you. Why don’t you run home and see if you can find anything in those files?”
“Good idea.” Damon got up, grabbed his jacket, and slipped out of the office, so he didn’t have to talk with his captain anymore. Everybody knew Captain Meyer was upset, but a tirade in the wrong direction wasn’t helping anybody. They were all trying to find answers, but, so far, they hadn’t had any break in the cases.
As Damon made his way home, he looked up at the garage apartment, and he could see her sitting at the desk, working away. He presumed she was working on a résumé, so she could get another job. But if anybody had been followed by bad luck, it was her.
Inside the main house, he put on a pot of coffee, sat down at the dining room table, and opened up the first of the oldest files. In chronological order, he slowly and methodically read through what there was. And there wasn’t a whole lot. The case was thin on the ground back then, and it certainly hadn’t grown over time. It looked like nothing had been added since. He frowned at that because normally, with cold cases, every few years they were pulled out and given another look to see if they could do anything further before they were filed away again.
If that had happened here, it was obvious that nothing had changed or was different. The cases were almost as bizarre as what he was currently going through. One woman died on the mountain; another one died in an apartment. And again their chests had been cut open. The cuts were different, but it was the same idea. And that was concerning in itself.
He made notes on the case numbers with similarities, and, armed with that, he headed back to the office. As he drove away, he saw Wendy walking down the block, probably to visit Gabby. He was startled with that at first, but why not? They were friends, and, of course, it was totally okay for Gabby to have a friend over. If anything, she needed something like that right now because, without a job, she was just that much more at odds.
Damon walked into the head office where his captain sat, dropped the case file numbers and the similarities list on his desk, and said, “Captain, we must open up these other cases.”
“Like hell,” he said, without even looking at the list.
“You don’t even know what cases I’m talking about,” Damon said in frustration.
“Yes, I do, and nothing was normal about those cases back then,” he said, staring at Damon’s handwritten notes. “We had no explanation back then, and nothing has changed. They are cases that do nothing but haunt us all, and the only way that we can carry on and can survive is to ignore them.”
“Four women died back then,” he said quietly. “Four.”
The captain glared at him. “And I can name every single one of them,” he said. “I knew three of them personally,” he roared. “It’s not that we ignored them. It’s not that we didn’t try,” he said. “There was nothing to find.”
“Mirroring exactly what’s happening now,” Damon said.
The captain stopped and went really quiet for a long time. “Well, you better hope it’s not,” he said, “because that would mean two more women will die soon, and we won’t have any answers again.”
He looked at Damon sternly and said, “You’re young. You’re smart. You were some big-city hotshot. You’re not the first young gun who thought he could figure it out. The men who have tried have paid a high price, and we’re still paying. If you’re set on joining that club, you get your ass all over these files, and you find out what we missed, but I’ll be damned if I stand over four more dead women and have not one answer for the families.”
The captain looked at Jake, who had come in behind Damon, and back to Damon. “Pull in whoever the hell you need,” he said, “but we need answers, and we need them now.”
And, with that, he pointed at the door and said, “Go.”
Chapter Seventeen
When Gabby heard a faint knock on the door, she realized it was probably Wendy, knocking on the door downstairs. She opened the upstairs door, skipped down the stairs, and opened up the bottom door, and there was Wendy. Gabby grinned at her and said, “Come on in.”
“This is a pretty high-end area,” she said, stepping in and shaking the snow off her shoulders. She held out a grocery bag and said, “I picked up a few things.”
“Good, we get lunch then,” she said, as she led the way upstairs. “I’ve got lots of coffee, so that’s one thing.”
“Well, that was always more important to you than me,” Wendy said with a laugh. As soon as they got into the apartment, she stopped and stared. “Wow,” she said, “now this is the Aspen lifestyle.”
“I know. It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?”
“How did you get here?”
“The detective. After everybody left the first crime scene, and I had no place to go, he offered me this place. He inherited the house and this garage suite from his aunt and hadn’t quite decided what he would do with it all yet, so this suite was empty.”
Wendy shook her head. “Wow,” she said. “You know what? I get that you feel like you’ve had a ton of bad luck, but this is a welcome relief. This is seriously high living.”
“High living when you consider it’s a suite over a garage,” she said drily.
Wendy laughed. “Isn’t that the truth?”
“But so much in Aspen is over-the-top anyway.”
“That it is. I’m still glad I came here with you,” Wendy said.
“I am too,” Gabby said with a smile. She motioned at the coffeemaker. “Do you want one?”
“Sure,” Wendy said, shrugging off her coat. “What have you been doing on the laptop?”
“Well, I should be working on my résumé,” she said, “but I’ve been looking into the details of some old unsolved cases around town, wondering if they have any connection.”
“Ugh,” she said. “You’re the one who always had that kind of fascination, not me.”
“Maybe,” she said, “but this all directly impacts us, and I would really like to have that shadow of doubt off our shoulders,” she said.
“You and me both. It’s pretty damn uncomfortable with people avoiding you because they know you’re connected to that case.”
“And yet we didn’t do anything,” Gabby said. “We’re the ones huddled in the bedroom, calling for the cops.”
“I know,” Wendy cried out. “That was such a horrific night. I still have nightmares.”
“You and me both,” she said. “And I’m not sure that’ll ever go away.”
“I hope so,” she said. “Meghan is getting pissed off about it.”
Gabby winced at that. “I’m sorry. It’s one thing if it’s your sleep that’s getting dragged through the mud. But it’s another thing if it’s somebody else’s as well.”
“She’s usually pretty tolerant, but, when I wake up, bawling my eyes out, she’s struggling with that.”
“I can see that,” Gabby said, trying for a noncommittal neutral tone.
“It’s okay. You can say it. I know you don’t like her at all.”
“It’s not that,” she said, “but it’s hard to like anybody who hurt my friend.”
Wendy just nodded, almost as if she were ignoring Gabby’s comment. “Have you decided what you’ll do?”
“No,” she said. “I haven’t.”
Wendy asked, “If you don’t get another job, are you going home?”
“I don’t know yet,” she said. “I’d like to stay, but, if I can’t, then I can’t.” Something was weird about the way Wendy had said the word home. Because of all the things that California was, Gabby no longer felt like it was home. Aspen felt like home. She’d only been here a few months, but she’d acclimated really fast. “What about you?”
“No decision as of yet,” she said. “I have enough money to get through the month, and then I’ll see.”
“What about you and Meghan?”
At that, her gaze slid s
ideways. “I don’t know what to do with that yet,” she said finally.
“Okay, then we can leave that subject alone for a while,” Gabby said. “No pressure.”
And Wendy gave her a big grin. “Thanks for that,” she said. “Normally you’re more of a nag until you get the answer you want kind of person.”
Gabby winced. “Apparently I’ve been pretty insensitive to a lot of things,” she admitted. “And, for that, I’m sorry.”
Wendy just stared at her in surprise. “Where’s that coming from?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “It just seems like maybe I haven’t been there for you as much as I might have been.”
“Oh, baloney,” she said. “I made mistakes, should have said something, should have stopped some things, and I didn’t. Same for you. It’s the same for all of us all over the world. We do the best we can in the moment, with the limited knowledge that we have at that point, but, yeah, we could have still done more things, and we only ever realize them in hindsight, maybe because we did find more info. The sad part is that, if you knew what three months down the road would bring, you would make appropriate plans now, but, because we don’t know in advance, we’re stuck with the decisions we already made.”
At that, Gabby wasn’t sure if Wendy was talking about hooking up with Meghan or their roommates getting murdered or their decision to come to Aspen. But Gabby decided she didn’t want to get into those discussions. “I’ve got my résumé up,” she said. “You’ve always been better at that stuff than I am. Do you want to take a look at it for me?”
“Sure.” Wendy walked over to the laptop and looked over Gabby’s résumé while Gabby made more coffee. “It doesn’t look a whole lot different than the last time I looked at it,” Wendy said. “You’ve only added in the bookstore.”
“But I added in the customer service retail experience and a few other things,” she said. “The bookstore gig wasn’t much of a job, I suppose, but I really enjoyed working there.”
“And that’s worth a lot,” she said. “To be happy in a job seems like nirvana these days.”
“Only if that job pays the bills,” she said with half a smile. “And now that I don’t have the job and the bills are still there, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do.”
“Do you think we’re on the hook for the rent?” Wendy asked.
“I think we’re probably on the hook for a couple months’ rent,” she admitted. “If you think about it, we paid for this month already, but we owe for next month. Plus we haven’t given notice yet.”
“But we can’t even live there,” Wendy exclaimed.
“I know, but I don’t think that lets us off the lease.”
“That’s just—” Wendy stopped and shook her head. “And now there’s only three of us to pay too.”
“I’m not even sure Betty will pay her share,” Gabby said. “Her boyfriend is pretty irate about the whole thing.” Gabby then explained about the unpleasant visitor she’d had at the bookstore.
“But it’s not like you did anything,” Wendy said in Gabby’s defense.
“I know. I know,” she said. “And I don’t know if the cops went and talked to him or not. But I wouldn’t mind if they poked around a bit into his life and make him angry at them instead,” she said with a smirk.
“Maybe they’ll find out that something crooked is going on there and that he didn’t want the cops brought so close.”
“I don’t know, but Betty had been going out with him for quite a while beforehand,” she said. “So, in a way, it makes sense that she just moved in with him.”
“Maybe so but I can’t stand him,” Wendy said.
“He is a little creepy,” Gabby said, “but it’s not that bad.”
“I think it’s that bad,” her friend said, “but what do I know?” Wendy looked up, accepted the cup of coffee that Gabby held out to her, and said, “Thank you.” She then switched to one of the two chairs by the window.
Gabby looked at her, smiled, and said, “Almost like old times.”
“Maybe,” Wendy said. “At least the time when we were young and stupid. I feel old and jaded these days.”
“Well, it’s been an eye-opening winter,” Gabby said, tilting her head. As she studied her friend, she could see an odd glow around her head. Gabby shifted so the light behind Wendy shone at a different angle, but it didn’t change the shadow. She looked at it and frowned.
Wendy watched her and asked, “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing,” she said with a shake of her head. “My eyes are just really tired.”
“I get that,” Wendy said. “I didn’t sleep any these last few nights.”
“No, me either. It was thinking about my boss last night,” she said.
Wendy winced. “That just adds to it, doesn’t it?”
Morose, the two women sat here and sipped their coffee.
“We could go home at the end of the month,” Wendy said.
“We still have to pay rent on the apartment for next month.”
“I know, but all I can do is come up with my fifth. I can’t come up with the rest of it.”
“That’s an idea,” Gabby said, considering that angle. “I wonder if that’s enough. But I still must find another place to live too. And I don’t even know how to get that kind of money.”
“I guess that’s why I’m wondering about going back to the way we were.”
“But I don’t have a home back there,” Gabby said. “You can go home. I can’t. I still need a place to live, no matter where I go,” she pointed out.
“You could stay with me for a few days.”
“I don’t think your parents would accept that,” she said. “They’re pretty upset with me as it is.”
“I tried to explain to them that it wasn’t your fault. But—” Wendy shrugged and said, “I don’t think they want to listen.”
“No, I’m sure they don’t,” Gabby said. “They’re looking for somebody to blame, and I’m an easy target.”
“Maybe,” she said. “There’s also something else I didn’t explain to you before.”
“What’s that?” Gabby asked.
“I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to ruin our friendship.”
At that, Gabby stiffened. Uh-oh, what kind of conversation will this be? She was hoping to just avoid all that other stuff and cheerfully get out of it. Taking a deep breath, then another, Gabby finally said, “What are you talking about?”
“Well, I have feelings for you. I have always seen you as more than a friend, even before we came to Aspen,” Wendy said. “But I hooked up with Meghan because, well, … you didn’t feel the same way.”
Silence. Gabby didn’t know what to say.
With Gabby quiet, Wendy continued, “I had this talk with Meghan, and she has basically given me an ultimatum that I either need to commit to her exclusively or leave.”
“I can’t really blame her,” Gabby said slowly, avoiding Wendy’s earlier comment. “I mean, you want to be the one person in someone’s life and not be worried that someone else is in the picture too.”
“Regardless,” Wendy said candidly, “I know you don’t feel the way about me as I do about you,” she said. “But I should have made my feelings known earlier.”
Gabby stared at her in surprise. “That possibility only recently occurred to me,” she said, trying to keep everybody else out of it. “And I’m sorry I didn’t see it before.”
Wendy gave her a ghost of a smile. “You didn’t see it because you weren’t thinking like I was,” she said, “and I didn’t say anything because I knew you didn’t return my feelings. But I came here to Aspen for you. My mother knows that, and I think that’s why she’s angry with you.”
“Did you tell her that I didn’t know? That you didn’t say anything to me?”
“I did, but she thinks you should have figured it out anyway.”
“I’m not a mind reader,” she said. “I can’t figure this stuff out. Apparent
ly I’m really dense when it comes to these emotions anyway.”
“I don’t know about dense,” she said. “It just never hit your radar. It wasn’t something that you’ve ever really dealt with, and that’s fine,” she said. “I’ve come to terms with the fact that you and I aren’t an item and won’t be an item. What I must figure out now is whether I want to be an item with Meghan.”
“No,” Gabby said. “You currently are an item with Meghan. What you must figure out is if you want to be a long-term item with Meghan. Because anything else is effectively cheating her.”
“I know,” she said with a sad smile. “I feel like I cheated myself by hooking up with her, but now I’m cheating her by being with her too.”
“I know,” Gabby said, “and now I feel like I cheated us because I was looking for and thought we were best friends. Not seeing that you wanted more.”
“We are best friends,” Wendy said. “You have no idea how many times I beat myself up for feeling the way I do about you and not able to change it. But we can’t always control this kind of stuff. So I’m asking for a little bit of time to deal with downplaying some of this, so it’s not quite so prevalent in my world.”
“Does that work?”
“I don’t know,” she said, “because the alternative is that I go home, and we stay friends from a distance.”
Gabby winced at that.
“I know we’ve been friends for a long time,” Wendy continued. “And I wouldn’t want us to end up as estranged friends, but, if I can’t stand to see you and not be with you, then I don’t know what else I can do.”
“You’ll need to do whatever you need to do,” Gabby said quietly. “I’m sorry I don’t feel the way you do, but I can’t change that either.” The two friends looked at each other sadly, and Gabby didn’t know what to say.
Wendy jumped up and said, “I’m hungry. Let’s make sandwiches.”
Gabby laughed. “You’ve always been the pragmatist,” she said.
“That I am,” Wendy replied, “that I am.”
With her feelings churning and not sure how to completely avoid going back into that conversation, yet knowing that something had changed between them, Gabby helped Wendy make sandwiches.