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  “I miss Jack, but I’m glad she’s not here right now. I’ve never seen a body that torn up. There’s not much dignity in death, but this is beyond that.”

  On that note, he left them and went to start tearing down the tape.

  “I let the guy and his dog go home. His name is David Franks. I got his contact information in case we need him. Poor guy. This woman is someone’s baby, Mike, and I know that someone has to be missing her.”

  “When Dr. Accent has some DNA, I bet he will find out who she is. Hopefully there’s enough to identify her and find out what happened.”

  “That would be nice. You know what? For the first time in forever, I’m not hungry at all.”

  Chapter 82

  Kacey and Mike went back to the precinct to, once again, go over their case. Kacey pulled out a box that held the contents of Alice Benning’s desk. She reached in and grabbed her diary and began flipping through the months. Alice had a very busy social life and a multitude of appointments. This was a woman who clearly enjoyed beauty regimes. Kacey admired her dedication to her search for perfect health and beauty.

  “I had no idea there were people out there who did this stuff. No wonder she had such a successful blog. She treated beauty like a full-time job, and I can see why women would read it.”

  She kept flipping through until she stopped and stared intently at an appointment entry. She put a scrap of paper in it to hold her place and grabbed the desk calendars out of the other victim’s evidence boxes and began flipping through them, slowly and thoughtfully at first, but then she picked up the pace. When she had gone through all of the appointment books, she leaned back in her chair and stared at a spot on the ceiling over the door. Just thinking. She sat up and grabbed the books and opened them all, propping them open with her arm, side by side.

  “Mike, come look at this and tell me what you think.”

  He walked around the conference table and pulled out the chair beside her. One by one, she slid the books over towards him and watched his face for a reaction, absentmindedly twisting a curl around her finger. Once he had read each entry, he sat up and swiveled his chair to look at her.

  “Heck of a coincidence.” He said wryly.

  “I thought so.” Kacey twirled her hair a moment more and then, realizing what she was doing, stopped and picked up a pen. “Let’s take a ride.”

  As they stood up to leave, Dr. Forrester came into the room and shut the door behind him, face grim.

  “I found something that you two might find interesting.”

  “Oh, boy.” Mike said as they all settled back into their seats.

  Dr. Forrester removed his glasses and rubbed his face with his hands. He put the glasses into his front shirt pocket, leaned back in the chair, and folded his hands behind his head.

  “So, I examined the body from the park. I haven’t done a full autopsy, but I’ll tell you what I know so far. She was in her late 20’s, maybe early 30s. It took a few minutes to find the cause of death. I was hoping against hope, that it was an accident, but her throat had been cut … almost to her spine. Very similar to your dating case. She predates Alice Benning by at least a few months. I would speculate that she was his first victim.”

  He pulled a photo out of his file.

  “What exactly are we looking at?” Mike asked.

  “It’s a partially decomposed playing card. Actually, I think it’s the cheat card from a poker deck. You know … the instructions. I hope we don’t find any other women, maybe she was his first. I don’t know. I’ll give you a complete report as soon as I have it. Good luck, detectives.”

  He paused in the doorway and wearily turned to face the detectives.

  “Please solve this. I don’t want to do another autopsy like this one.” He nodded at them and went back to his work.

  Chapter 83

  Linda Wells was getting bored. Her ex-husband was kind to let her stay at his house, but they were divorced for a reason. She had grown tired of being the last thing on his mind. He worked all of the time and was never home.

  That hadn't changed, she thought wryly.

  Fortunately, she could work at home, so she wasn’t having an issue with that, but she couldn’t see her friends, or even go grab a cup of coffee at her favorite café.

  She threw herself on the couch and put her feet up on the coffee table. She had already cleaned the house and started laundry. Just like she used to.

  “This is ridiculous.” She said to the empty house. “I am not his maid or cook. How much longer am I supposed to stay here?”

  She got up and began to pace.

  “What a bachelor pad.” She said, looking around her.

  Captain Wells had worked hard making the house his own. There wasn’t a feminine touch anywhere. It was all leather and walnut. She walked from room to room, discontent growing in her heart like a kudza vine. Finally, she grabbed her purse and called her best friend to come pick her up.

  When they drove back through the gates, the guard didn’t even realize that it was Linda in the passenger seat.

  Chapter 85

  Kacey and Mike looked at the closed door for a moment then at each other.

  “I’ve never seen him upset before.” Kacey said with worry etched on her face.

  “Me either. Let’s go.”

  As they began putting their coats on, Kacey’s laptop pinged. She looked down at it and sat back down … coat forgotten, still in her hand.

  “Mike, it might be him.” She turned the laptop to face him.

  “Le Proffeseur”, Mike read. “French for ‘the professor’. Hmm. Start a chat. If that’s him and he’s trying to throw us off the trail, he’s an idiot, and we are idiots for not finding him yet.”

  They sat, side by side, both leaning over the laptop, reeling him in. Captain Wells walked by and noticed that they seemed to be on to something. He backed up and entered the room.

  The detectives looked up and Kacey waved him over.

  “We think we may have ‘the professor’ here. If it’s him, he has changed to spelling it in French. I’m trying to get a date.”

  He stood behind them and watched Kacey work. He shook himself as he realized that he had been staring at Kacey’s profile. He had been catching himself doing that a lot lately. His preschool teacher had decided to move on after several interrupted dates. The final straw was when he had to call an officer to take her home and she was so embarrassed when one of her student’s parents saw her sitting in the backseat of a police car as they sat at a stop sign.

  “Got it. He wants to pick me up Friday.”

  “Meet him, but not at home. We can set up a team wherever you go.” Captain Wells sat down across from them to wait.

  “He wants to meet at Bon Nourriture … where Joanna McKinley was attacked.”

  “Do it.” Mike said. “Wait … you kind of have a medical condition that he might spot right away, like a growth.”

  “You’re hilarious, Mike. I’ll get there before him and sit down. It’s cold. A cardigan will hide my baby bump.”

  Kacey typed rapidly, pausing now and then to rub said baby bump.

  “OK, we meet at 7:00 on Friday. Who’s hungry?”

  Chapter 86

  Linda Wells was enjoying her second cup of coffee when it happened.

  She began clutching her throat, short wheezing breaths barely escaping as her windpipe began to close. She stood up and knocked her chair backwards as she fell backwards clawing at the collar of her blouse.

  Her friend stood up, horror etched on her face and reached for her, yelling …

  “Someone call 9-1-1! Don't just stand there!” She shouted to the shocked customers.

  Linda’s eyes rolled back in her head, eyelids fluttering, until you almost couldn’t see anything but white. Her friend was sobbing by this time.

  Linda was gone before the 9-1-1 operator could even get the address.

  He watched the scene unfold. His heart beating faster with every shallow breath th
at Linda took. His palms grew clammy as he watched everyone scurry around her.

  ‘Was it enough?’ he hoped so. The poison was ridiculously easy to get and even more ridiculously easy to put into her coffee. He just ‘accidentally’ took her order and brought it back with an apology to the barista. Stupid girl was too lazy to replace it and just passed it on to the now dead woman.

  He gathered his things and quickly left before his excitement got the better of him.

  Chapter 87

  Detective Menard walked through the parking lot. It had been too long since he had been here. It felt like years instead of weeks. He had spent his time grieving the loss of his precious Marsha. His heart felt like an invisible fist was squeezing it whenever he thought of her.

  Lately, though, in quiet moments, it was to think of all of the wonderful things she had added to his life. He missed the smell of melting chocolate and cookies baking … the soft skin of her cheek where he would kiss her, staying out of the way of her reaching into the oven to pull out those golden puffs of her famous chocolate chip cookies. As the cookies cooled and flattened, she would bring him three, fresh out of the oven, with a tall glass of ice cold milk. Sometimes she would sit on his lap and help him finish them.

  The way she would call to him as soon as she heard the door close behind him to tell her where she was. She was always careful to make sure he never came home to an empty house. She would listen to him talk about his day … interrupting every now and then to clarify. He knew, beyond any doubt that she not only listened, but that she heard.

  His daughter had gone home a week ago to her own family. She had taken a few things that were special to her and reminded her of her mom, and all of Marsha’s crafting stuff.

  She had stayed to help him clean out the rest of Marsha’s things. The clothes and shoes were all gone, as were the beauty items that she loved so much. They redecorated the room where Marsha had breathed her last, so that it would be fresh and new and ready to make more memories. They made it just as Marsha would have … comfortable and personal.

  As he walked through the lobby, he noticed that there was a new receptionist. He nodded at her and went into the precinct. As he walked through the door, applause met him and he was repeatedly thumped on the shoulder. Jeff Boaz grabbed him in a bear hug that seemed to go on forever. Both men wiped tears from their eyes.

  Captain Wells walked over and shook his hand.

  “Welcome back. When you’ve settled in, you and your partner come on in my office. We have things we need to talk about.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He went to his old desk and sat. It felt good to be back.

  Chapter 88

  Angie and her sons sat in the waiting room, taking turns going to see Matt. Angie thought he might be looking better, but maybe that was wishful thinking. When it was her turn, she went in and leaned in to put her forehead to his.

  “I love you, Matt. You’d better wake up and help me with these boys. They’re awful!”

  She kissed him and sat back in her chair, holding his hand to her heart.

  Chapter 89

  “NO!”

  The sound that emanated from Captain Wells office sounded like a large wounded animal. The entire room turned towards the office as the captain raced to his office door and shouted.

  “Boaz!” He gestured at the detective to follow him and Detective Boaz grabbed his coat and ran after him.

  They got in the car and Captain Wells threw the phone into the well between the front seats.

  “It’s Linda. She’s dead. Maybe poisoned. I told her not to leave the house. That woman could never listen!”

  He took one hand off the wheel and swiped it over his face. His heart was breaking and he was angry.

  They pulled into the parking lot of the coffee shop where Linda had spent so much of her time and joined the other flashing lights.

  When they got out of the car, the crowd of officers parted as if they were one entity and solemnly watched as Captain Wells, ex-husband of the victim, entered the building. He walked over to the body and knelt down by it. He brushed the hair away from her face and struggled to keep his composure.

  Detective Boaz stood back to give him a moment, then he knelt down on one knee on the other side of the body. He could see a foam like substance at the corner of her mouth. He put a glove on and gently put his thumb on her chin to pull her mouth open. He saw the captain wince.

  He could smell almonds as he leaned over her to look.

  “Arsenic.” The detective whispered.

  “She wouldn’t even notice it in her drink. Her favorite was hazelnut latte. The perfect camouflage.”

  Captain Wells stood up and a switch was flipped. He was now Captain Wells, not ex-husband Abraham.

  He covered her with a table cloth until the ME could get there. He just couldn’t bear seeing her lying like that. He looked over and saw Simone, Linda’s best friend. She was sitting, glassy eyed at a far table. A female officer was sitting with her. He slowly walked over knowing this would be difficult. Simone was not a fan. She looked up at him, eyes glassy, almost not recognizing him, and looked back down at her lap. Her fingers were nervously twisting a napkin back and forth. Captain Wells shooed the officer away and took her seat.

  “Simone, I know this is difficult. Can you tell me why you two are here?”

  “Lin called me … said you were practically keeping her prisoner and using her as a maid. She wanted to leave, so I came and got her.”

  Captain Wells worked to control his temper. A vein pulsed in his left temple. Simone should’ve stopped there.

  “What were you thinking, Abraham. Locking her up like that.”

  “What I was thinking, Simone, was that I was trying to save her life. You might as well have poisoned her yourself.”

  He stood and walked away, not even caring when Simone began wailing.

  He gestured at Detective Boaz to finish interviewing her. The officer who had been sitting with Simone came over to where Captain Wells was standing.

  “I took her statement, sir”

  “Thank you, Officer.” He took it from her and began reading. It was just like he had thought. Linda had gotten bored. She called her best friend and they came here. He shook his head at the sheer stupidity of these two women.

  He glanced over at the barista. She couldn’t have been older than 18. He walked towards her, reading her name tag as he got close enough to read it. She had a sheen of sweat on her face and there were rings under her arm pits. She was trembling.

  “Tina, were you the one who served the deceased.”

  “Y-y-yes.”

  “Relax, Tina. I don’t think you poisoned her. Did anyone other than you touch the cup?”

  “I made it myself and I promise, I didn’t do anything to it, mister.”

  “It’s Captain and did you serve her, too?”

  “I sat it on the counter, like we always do, and called her name. I didn’t see her take it, but almost right away, a man brought the cup to me and said that he had mistakenly taken the wrong one. I mean, her name was right on the cup. Since I knew who ordered it, I just took it over to her.”

  “So you served something that another person could’ve taken a drink of or put something in? You didn’t make a fresh one?”

  Her posture changed from a terrified young girl, to a defiant teenager almost immediately.

  “No … why would I. I can’t help it if people can’t read or hear.”

  “Because, young lady, if you had made a fresh one, this woman would still be here laughing with her friend.” He said sharply. He had absolutely no time for a teenage smart aleck. The look on her face made him feel a little better.

  Captain Wells looked over to where Detective Boaz was talking to a younger man with horn rimmed glasses. Clearly, he was in charge.

  The Detective motioned him over and the manager began to tell him that there was a security system in place and that he wanted a subpoena. Clearly wanting to let t
hem know that he was in charge and wasn’t going to cave.

  “Really.” Captain Wells began. “You don’t want us to catch the person who poisoned a woman out to enjoy her coffee in your establishment? I bet people would like to know that.”