Right now, I'm in Lake City, Florida and the whole way here, I was really wishing that I could whip out my computer and work on my book, but I couldn't. In honor of the July 4th holiday and the fact that I can't guarantee when I will be able to post next, here is another chapter. Please leave your comments...thanks!
Chapter 5
On her way back to the precinct, Devyn stopped at the Starbucks for café mocha. When she got back to the precinct, she went to her desk to make a few additions to her notes and finished her drink before meeting Nelson Pierce. Before she got up, she had to ask one of the guys where Pierce’s office was and was told that it was on the fifth floor, to just ask his secretary to talk to him. She thanked the man and took the elevator upstairs.
It didn’t take long to find out who Janet was because as Devyn turned the corner, the two women ran right into each other. “Oh my God! I am so sorry,” Janet said in surprise.
“Do you know where I can find Janet?” Devyn asked her.
“That would be me and you must be Devyn Williams,” Janet replied.
“Yes, I am.”
“You have become quite popular around here since they paired you up with Terry Marks.”
“What is his problem?” Devyn asked the secretary.
“Would you like to answer that or should I?” a strong male voice said behind them.
The two women turned around to see a gray haired, white man standing in the doorway. Janet said that she would, but she had a lot of work to do before she went home at five and hurried away.
“Well then, you must be Devyn,” the man said to her.
“Yes, sir.”
“Nelson Pierce. Please follow me,” he said turning and walking back into his spacious office, which had to be about two and a half times larger than Trey’s downstairs. After they both sat down, Pierce folded his hands on his desk in front of him and said, “To answer your question about Detective Terry Marks, who you already know is not too thrilled to be working with you. Despite the fact that he is a huge pain in the ass- excuse my language - he is one of the better detectives in the department.”
“So, what’s his problem? I mean, I’ve barely said two words to the man and he already hates me,” Devyn asked. She wanted to know what she was walking into before she got too involved.
“He and his friend, Detective Brian Miller, both think that women should not share the same jobs as men. Because of this belief and how bluntly they have voiced their opinion, at least eight women have either quit or requested a transfer to another department or city. Both men have spent nights in jail, have had their badges taken away for months at a time and are on the verge of being kicked off the force completely.”
“So you’re saying that they are going try to get me to punk out and leave like those other women?”
Nelson nodded. “Well yes, if you want to put it that way.”
“I don’t think so, sir. That is not going to happen. What I don’t understand is why you paired me with him in the first place if you knew good and well that he was going to react like this!” This was something that Nelson had never heard from any of Terry’s previous partners.
“Because after looking over your records, we all figured that you could handle yourself and were tough enough to deal with someone like him. If, and I mean if, things don’t work out with Terry, I will reassign him to another case while you stay on the Carson case with another partner. Is that a deal?” he asked.
“As long as they are nothing like Terry, yes,” Devyn agreed.
“Detective Williams, there is no one else like Terry and Brian in this precinct, so don’t worry. The real reason why I wanted to see you was to introduce myself and see if you have any questions for me,” he said leaning back in his chair. “Any questions?”
She shook her head no. “I think you have told me all that I need to know.”
“Well then, I will let you go on your way and I will see you around, detective,” he said as he stood up and walked Devyn to the door.
By the time she got back to her desk, Theresa had already arrived and was sitting in front of her desk. “Hi Theresa, let’s go into one of the empty interrogation rooms and talk, okay?”
The younger woman just nodded and followed Devyn. They were soon joined by Terry.
“Theresa, honey, this is Terry Marks and he is also working on this case. That way we can find out who killed your mother,” Devyn explained and it looked as if an invisible weight had been lifted from her shoulders and the younger woman finally relaxed a little bit. “Can you tell us what happened last night?”
Theresa nodded and began her story. “The night before last, she called me after I got out of class, like she always does, and asked me to come by last night to have dinner with her and her new boyfriend, who I had never met. My mother had been talking about him for the past two, three weeks, saying how nice he was and how he was the first man since she divorced Dad four years ago, who had treated her like a queen. Well, I went out to dinner with them the last night to meet her new flame and he seemed like a nice guy and everything, but something didn’t seem right about him.
“After he dropped us off at Mom’s house, I told her this and what struck me as odd was that she agreed with me! She told me that she didn’t trust him all of a sudden, but figured that it was just nerves or something.” She took a deep breath before she continued. “She told me not to worry about it, so I went to my friends house down the street and told Mom that I would be home later, not to wait up for me.”
“What time was this?” Devyn asked the young woman.
“Just after ten thirty and I came home this morning. When I walked in, the living room was trashed. I mean, everything that usually was put in its place was all over the floor and when I went into the living room, I saw Mom lying there on the floor. Her stapled her mouth shut and her hands and feet were tied together.” Tears were streaming down her face by now and she was making a fruitless effort in making them stop. “Why would someone do this to her? All she wanted was to be happy.” Theresa buried her face in her hands and cried. Devyn walked over to her and put her arms around the young woman and let her cry.
Terry, fed up with all this emotional bullshit, got up and walked out of the room. When Trey, who was on the other side of the glass, saw this, he followed him.
“What was that?” he asked the detective.
Terry looked shocked when he saw Trey come out of the adjacent room. “What was what?”
“Why aren't you in there, Marks?” he asked. “This is your case too.”
“As you probably already know, I am not needed in there. It seems that Detective Williams has the whole thing under control and all I was doing was wasting precious oxygen,” Terry told him.
Trey rolled his eyes and told him, “Terry, you are about this close,” bringing his thumb and index finger within a few millimeters of each other, “to getting kicked off the force. Pierce already has your termination papers drawn up and ready to be signed.”
“You’re just waiting for me to screw up, aren't you?”
“You have a record of always doing something stupid even when we don’t expect it.” Knowing that the interview wasn't over and that it was a matter of time before Devyn came out wondering what was going on, he told Terry, “I’ll finish the interview with her and you watch from the other room where I was,” he said to Terry before joining the new detective in the interrogation room.
When Theresa saw that Terry hadn’t come back into the room, she released a sigh of relief and told Devyn, “Something isn’t right with you partner.” Devyn and Trey looked at each other before looking in Terry’s direction.
“Theresa, what was your mom’s friend’s name that the two of you went to dinner with the other night?” Devyn asked.
“Um, Evans, Walter Evans.”
“Can you describe him to us?”
She looked at Devyn as if she were the only person in the room and said, “He was a tall, black man that carried himself very well. He seemed to have very expensive tastes considering his suit and shoes were name brand and the restaurant that he took us to was one of the most expensive ones in town. He bought her this bracelet not long after they met,” Theresa said, holding up her wrist, which held a very expensive diamond bracelet.
“Trey, can you leave for a minute? There’s something I need to tell her,” Devyn asked her boss.
He nodded and said, “Okay,” before leaving the room.
Before he went too far, she told him to take Terry with him. When she sat back down across from Theresa, she took a deep breath. “You know, when I was about your age, I lost my dad the same way you lost your mom.”
Theresa’s eyes widened and said, “What? Are you saying that the same person who killed your dad killed my mom?”
“There’s a good chance that could be true since they died the same way. The only difference is that my dad’s mouth was taped shut, not stapled. When he was murdered, I had gone out with a few friends and when I came home, he was dead,” Devyn told her.
Theresa wiped her eyes with a Kleenex and asked, “Did they ever find out who killed him?”
“No. Eight weeks after his death, they closed the case saying that there was no evidence,” Devyn replied, shaking off the memory.
“Do you believe that?”
“No.”
“After a certain time, are you going to just close the case like they did to your dad’s case?” the young woman asked.
“Not if I have anything to do with it. It almost seems like this case is a continuation of my dad’s case six years later.”
She smiled and said, “Mom would have loved you.”
Devyn returned the smile and said, “If there isn’t anything else, then that’s everything. Thanks for all of your help, Theresa.”
“Are you just saying that because you have to or do you mean it?”
“I really mean it. I don’t blame you if you don’t believe me or trust me, but I really want to help you. Here’s my number if you need or remember anything, okay?” Devyn reassured her.
“Thank you so much, Devyn, for all of your help. I really appreciate it,” Theresa said before walking out of the room. Devyn sat on the table for another fifteen, twenty minutes before leaving herself.
No comments:
Post a Comment