She hadnt really talked about the breakup, even with Gigi, partly because shed needed to work it out for herself, and partly because shed hoped it would quickly become old news.
It didnt seem to be, thoughGigi and the other analysts still looked at her with pity in their eyes every time Nicks name came up or, worse, when they crossed paths. Which wasnt that often, granted, but when they did, she knew that the others were watching her, waiting to see how she would react, as if she hadnt been a hundred percent professional the last dozen times it had happened.
Not that she was counting.
Everything? Gigi nudged. Finished with the photographs, she was using a laser device to measure the room and the big pieces of furniture.
Those details, along with the photos and other notes, would go into one of the computers back in the lab to make a rendering. It wasnt quite the kind of high tech used by the crime scene shows on TVthose were largely a combination of science fiction and reality, anywaybut it was more than most local police departments could boast.
Unfortunately, even the money Matt was funneling into the crime lab couldnt force the case to break.
Jenn hesitated, then shook her head and got back to work, donning fresh gloves and getting ready to start swabbing the gruesome stains on the chair. Odds were that it all belonged to the victim, but it was still worth doing the work. That was the name of the game with crime scene analysis: ninety-nine percent drudgery and one percent eureka.
She worked methodically, swabbing each spot, retracting the swab into its sterile sheath and stoppering and labeling the tube, so ifor rather, whenthe Investor made it into court, there wouldnt be any chance of the evidence getting thrown out.
Not this time, she thought grimly, all too aware that over the past month, the case had gotten very personal for her, both as a way to prove herself, and a way to make amends for some of her past mistakes. Including the one shed made with Nick, letting herself get distracted from what was really important by something that they had both agreed from the very beginning would only be a passing thing.
It wasnt anybodys fault but her own that shed let herself forget that part.
Aware that Gigi was waiting for an answer, Jenn finally said, Nick wasnt the first guy Ive dated since Terry diedbut he was the first one who made an impact. He was the first one I was excited to see, the first one I missed when we were apart, the first one She broke off. Anyway, even though its been almost three years since Terry was killed, Nick was my rebound. I jumped in too far too fast, and clung too hard to something that wasnt real, mostly because I was so damn excited to finally feel something.
The thing between you and Nick was just a rebound, huh? Gigis tone didnt quite call her a liar. But it was close. And now youre over him. You sure about that?
One hundred percent. Not just because she needed to be, but because she was seeing him for who he really was these days. Over the past month, without the blinders of lust and admiration dimming her view, she had realized that the man she had knownthe one she had thought she knew so intimatelywas just one part of the real Nick Langand she wasnt sure she liked the other parts of him.
With her, he had been charming and courteous, but with an edge of wicked and earthy humor that had jibed with her own, along with a down-to-earth streak shed loved. Hed made goofy faces at Amber, the K9 whod taken up desk duty at the P.D., along with her injured human partner, Kelsey Meyers. Hed gone running in the rain with Jenn and hed used her shampoo without caring that it made him smell like flowers. And when shed gotten up in the middle of the night to pace or stare out into the darkness, when she came back to bed, hed always stirred and reached for her in his sleep.
She might not have known where he grew up or what kind of music he liked, but she had thought she knew what kind of man he was. That is, until she started watching him more objectively and realized that while he was sometimes the guy shed gotten to know, he could also be any number of other guys, depending on the situation.
With the other cops, he was a cop, which made sense. But she had also watched a couple of tapes of him interrogating some of the jailed militiamen. And what shed seen had startled the heck out of her, because he hadnt just been talking with them, hed become one of themnot just with a few quick changes of clothing, but with his body language, his speech . Even his face had been different, though she couldnt have said how. More, shed seen him do the same thing on other tapes, with witnesses. Hed been the perfect gentleman with a nervous grandmother and a midrange escort, but toughened up fast when facing a trio of teens whod thought they were more badass than him and very quickly learned they were wrong.
Shed watched the tapes in order to get a different context for her evidence, in the hopes of adding to the case. Instead, she had learned more than shed really wanted to about Nick.
He was a chameleon, the kind of guy who could slip into any situation and make himself indispensable. Hed even said as much, though not in so many words, when hed told her that his greatest skill as an undercover agent was his ability to slip into any group, any situation. But what worked for busting drug rings
really didnt work for her.
That wasnt resentment talking, either, or an effort to make herself feel better about the breakup. If anything, it had made her feel worse to realize that shed come very close to once again falling for a manipulator.
Her instincts, it seemed, still sucked.
Anyway, she said, realizing the conversation had lagged, though shed kept swabbing at the bloodstains, capping and labeling the tubes with automatic precision, Im grateful for what happened, in a way. At least I know that part of me isnt gone for good. Getting involved with Nick showed me that I can feel those feelings again. Ill just have to make sure I use better judgment and next time around find myself someone whos really available and not just passing through.
Does that mean youll let me set you up?
Jenn winced. Look, Im sure the bird man is a great guy
Hes an ornithologist, not to mention Matts best friend. Hes really cute in an intense yet geeky sort of way, and I think you guys could have some fun together . Gigi trailed off hopefully.
Iwell, not right now, okay?
When?
Seeing that Gigi wasnt going to give it upshe was still in that slightly sickening, more than slightly annoying everyone should be as happy as me phase of her relationshipJenn blew out a breath. After the Death Stare case is closed. Until then, I want to stay focused on this. Her gesture took in the scene and the spatter, and for a moment the smell intruded, bringing a stab of pity for a man who probably didnt deserve it, followed by a sting of guilt that she was letting Nick distract her again, and he wasnt even in the room. Or her life.
Gigi sent her a long look. You know what I think? I think that Her phone chimed, interrupting with the two-note tone that said it was incoming info from Dispatch. Jenn let out a sigh of relief as Gigi answered with, Go for Gigi. She listened for a moment, then nodded. Im on my way.
Please tell me its not another torture victim. The Investoror whoever was doing thishad never hit twice in one night beforebut hed also never shed this much blood before, or used his makeshift weapons with such vicious abandon.
No, but its related. At Jenns look, Gigi grimaced. Its a murder-suicide, guy and his girlfriend. Looks like he was flying high on Death Stare, and snapped before he ODd.
Oh. Jenn swallowed an uncharacteristic surge of nausea. Damn it. I thought it was off the streets.
Apparently not all the way. Gigi took a look around, lips flattening. I hate to leave you here alone. The analysts tried to work in pairs, but it wasnt always possible.
Jenn waved her off. I wont be alone. There are plenty of cops in the building doing door-to-doors.
Thats not what I meant.
I know. Gigi was the only one who knew how much the actual on-scene work bothered Jenn. But it was a part of the job, and one shed learned to tolerate. Go on. Ive got this. Weve nearly finished the first sweep, anyway. Another hour, maybe less, and I can take this stuff back to the lab and get started on the preliminary runs. That was the part she was good at, and where she could make a difference for the caseand the victims.
Gigi was already packing her gear, of course. They didnt really get a say in where they went, or when. You dont mind taking all of it back with you, mine as well as yours?
Not a problem. If I need to, Ill get one of the cops to help me carry it downstairs.
Promise me you wont try to do it all yourself? Gigis tone was suddenly intense.
Jenn looked up at her friend. What?
Wearing her heavy parka now, cheeks flushing from the heat in the apartment, Gigi shrugged and looked a little sorry that shed said anything. I justI dont know. It worries me that you keep so much to yourself. I want you to know you can talk to meor if not me, then Matt. Or someone.
Not sure how they had gotten here, Jenn rocked back on her bootied heels. Im fine, really.
You keep saying that.
Because its true. Or close enough. And the parts of her that werent fine werent the sort of thing her new friends in her new home could help with. History was history, baggage was baggage, and she needed to deal with it herself. Thanks, though. I mean it.
Gigi wavered for a moment, then exhaled. I need to get going. Damn that drug.
Relieved by the change in subjectthough equally frustrated by the situation in Bear ClawJenn said, Were going to get the bastard, Gigi. One of these days hes going to make a mistake and were going to get him.
Granted, that wouldnt fix things for the victims whod already died, or their families. But still.
Gigi headed for the door that opened from the small apartment into the fifth-floor hallway. She stripped off her booties and gloves in the doorway and took a long look back at the scene. I hope to hell we get him soon.
Me, too. Jenn lifted a hand. Keep your eyes sharp. It was a saying from her old crime lab, one of the few things shed brought with her to Bear Claw.
You, too. And dont forget to have someone help you carry that stuff down. With that, Gigi let the door swing shut behind her and her booted footsteps moved off down the hall.
Jenn blew out a long, slow breath that didnt do much to ease the tightness in her chest as she found herself alone in a dead mans apartment.
On one level it was a relief to have Gigiand her probing questionsheaded somewhere else. On another, though, her departure sucked the life out of the room, letting the smell crowd closer, until the atmosphere felt thick and cloying, like it was sticking to Jenns skin.
Get a grip, she muttered. You wanted to be back working in a crime lab, and you got what you wanted. Now deal with it and do your job.
It took her nearly an hour to process the main sitting area, where Dennisons murder had taken place. With the knives, tools and tablecloth all documented, labeled and packed away, she moved into the victims bedroom.
This particular crime scene was unusual in that the victim was also on the P.D.s most wanted list, which meant she wasnt just looking for evidence that would help them identify his killer, but also anything that might lead them to the other fugitive militiamenor their leader.
It was a complicated case, both challenging and frustrating.
The cops had already searched the other rooms, but she was seeking less obvious clues. And although the aha moment of an analyst finding exactly the right strand of hair sitting alone on an otherwise pristine carpet was pure Hollywood fictionthe reality was more along the lines of dust bunnies and dead endsthere were occasional aha moments in real life, too.
Her instincts quivered over some papers wadded in a wastebasket next to the bed, and again over a pair of boots lying near the closet as if theyd just been kicked off. They had dirt embedded in the treadsand that was her kind of evidence. Figuring out where the victim had been prior to his death could be very, very useful, and that was just the sort of thing she could do using the soil.
Maybe. Hopefully.
Whistling softly under her breath, she headed out into the main room and crouched down to rummage at the bottom of her kit for a larger evidence bag. The creak of the hallway door behind her shot adrenaline into her system and had her heart bumping, but logically she knew who it had to be.
Gigi told you to come up here, didnt she? Straightening, she turned toward the door. Well, Im not ready
A man rushed her and slammed a fist into her face.
Pain exploded alongside shock and Jenn reeled back with a scream. Her foot snagged on her evidence kit and she fell. Her heart hammered as she grabbed the kit, tried to roll away, tried to get away, crying, No! Help! Somebody help me!
He followed her, wrenched the evidence case from her fingers and then grabbed her by the hair with brutal force. She caught a glimpse of lethal gray eyes and a thin-lipped mouth before he slammed her head into the floor. And the lights went out.
Chapter Three
Nick paused on the landing and stuck his head through the stairwell door for a quick survey of the fourth floor, one level below the victims apartment. A couple of doors down, a uniformed officer paused midknock, then relaxed. Oh. Hey, Nick.
Hey, Doanes. Give me some good news.
But, like his buddies door-to-dooring it on the second and third floors, the cop shook his head. Sorry, man. I got nothing. Lots of empty apartments, and the few people whove answered didnt see anything, didnt hear anything, and mostly dont even know the people on their own floor, never mind one up. Merry said she was going to track down the super, though. Maybe shes got something better.
I already talked to her. The super didnt recognize the vics picture, said the apartment belongs to a woman, gave up her name and contact info. Merry got the renter on her cell phoneshe was evasive, but eventually fessed up that shes out of the city on a training assignment, and advertised online for a sublet to offset the bills. Dennison said hed only be here for a couple of weeks, but he paid her for a whole month. In cash.
He was moving around, keeping a low profile like the others, Doanes observed.
Seems like it. Question was, why? And why had he stayed in Bear Claw? What were the Investor and the other remaining members of the militia looking for? And why was the head honcho suddenly taking out his own people? What was going on here?