Becoming Forever (Waking Forever Series) (19 page)

“Yea, she’s disappeared.” Ash hesitated. She knew she was being short, but she was irritated with her own inaction, and the doctor’s willful disregard for what was happening between them. “And with all due respect, the forensics didn’t help much.”

Emma’s eyebrow arched. “Forensics neither help nor hinder, they just are.”

Ash huffed. “That’s very Zen.”

Emma frowned. “Are you mad at me because the autopsy didn’t turn up more?”

Ash replaced the lid on the pot of marinara, put her hands on the edge of the counter, and looked down. She knew she was picking a fight out of frustration, and she hated herself for it.

“No, of course not.” She wanted to say she was sorry, but the irritation
was clinging to her. She looked up at Emma. “Actually yes. I am mad about the autopsy. The fact you won’t discuss some very strange findings is kinda pissing me off.”

Emma’s eyes widened. “I explained to you why that is. I don’t want the only thing we have in common-”

Ash shook her head, irritated. “Right, it can’t be all about work.”

Emma managed a faint smile. “Right.”

Ash grabbed the dish towel lying next to the stove top and clutched it in her hand. “I
want
to talk about it.”

Emma sat down in the chair at the small kitchenette table. “Okay.”

Ash was surprised by Emma’s response, and now given the chance to discuss the Garrett case was drawing a complete blank. “Well - what about the bite marks?”

Emma leaned back in the chair and crossed her legs. “What about them?”

Ash pursed her lips. Obviously Emma was going to make this difficult. “Are we dealing with someone who thinks they’re a vampire?”

Emma laughed. “Or what, an
actual
vampire?”

Ash put the dish towel down and went to sit across the table from Emma. “No, but is this someone acting out a fantasy?” Ash bit her lower lip.

Emma rested her elbow on the table and put her chin in the palm of her hand. “I wouldn’t disagree with the role playing angle.”

Ash looked up at Emma. She was clearly indulging Ash with this conversation, and even though part of Ash thought she should be thankful Emma would do something for her she so clearly did not
want
to do, the irritation and frustration from earlier wouldn’t go away. “And then there’s Ela.”

Emma
got up from the table. She opened the box of spaghetti and dumped it in the boiling water. “What about her?”

Ash sighed. “She’s strange.”

Emma turned to face Ash. “I haven’t met her. Why is she strange?”

Ash shook her head. “She moves so smoothly, and then when she’s sitting she’s
eerily still. Like she’s not breathing.” Ash looked up at Emma, and could see from the look on her face, what she was saying wasn’t making any sense. “And she’s really-” Ash stopped before she could make an unkind comparison.

Emma sat back down at the table. “She’s really what?”

Ash shrugged. “Nothing.”

Emma sighed. “You’ve forced me into this back and forth, at least finish it.”

Ash chewed on the inside of her cheek. “She’s cold.” Ash glanced at Emma and then back at the table.

“You mean cold like me?” Emma said plainly.

“Yes.”

Emma rubbed
the back of her neck. “Like me.” She muttered.

Ash shook her head and took Emma’s hand. “Not
like
you. I was just saying she reminded me of you when-” Ash closed her mouth before she could continue to insult her friend.

Emma smiled and squeezed Ash’s hand reassuringly. “I get it. You’re not comparing me to a possible
accomplice to a murderer, and/or an actual killer.”

Ash smiled. “Exactly.”

Emma wiped at her forehead with an exaggerated gesture and smiled. “Thank heaven for that.”

Ash got up. She was feeling better about earlier, and it occurred to her that it hardly mattered
how
Emma and her were together. She was happy to be with her regardless. “Pasta should be about ready. Do you mind putting the dressing on the salad?”

Emma sighed,
pretending to be exasperated. “Fine, Ash, if I have to do everything.”

Ash smirked as she poured the pasta through a stainless steel colander. “Remind me not to let you and Alan spend too much time together.”

Emma opened the refrigerator. “Beer?”

Ash nodded. “Please.”

“And where would I find that Dewar’s you mentioned earlier?” Emma scanned the cabinets.

Plating the pasta, Ash nodded toward a lower cabinet. “To your right.” Emma bent down to open the cabinet, affording Ash a view of her perfectly shaped backside.

Prepubescent boy, Haines. Keep it classy.

Chapter 10

“Yo
, partner, you’re back.” Cris jumped up from behind his desk.

Ash put her bag down on her desk. “Can’t keep a good woman down.” Cris wasn’t a hugger, but
he gave her a solid pat on her back and Ash knew he was glad to see her. “Anything new and exciting, partner?”

Cris sat back down behind his desk. “Still living the dream and making a difference.”

Ash grinned. “Glad one of us is.”

Cris shook his head. “I was talking about you.”

Ash looked up to see him smirking at her. “Sweet of you.”

“Haines, good to see you back.” Lieutenant Edwards stood in the doorway. “Martinez, anything on Garrett?”

Cris looked up from his file. “Nothing. Crickets on the tracing for the fibrinolytic enzyme, and the closest we’ve come to anyone of interest is Ela Jacobs, and she’s conveniently disappeared.”

Edwards shook his head. “Get me a formal write up by close of business today. The captain wants details since this one made the news.”
He tapped the door frame several times with his fingers. “Welcome back Haines. Now get to work.” He winked before heading down the hall.

“I think I’m growing on him.” Ash suggested.

Cris laughed. “It must be your warm and fuzzy personality.”

Ash crumpled a Post-I
t up and threw it at Cris. “Stow it.”

Cris swatted the flying paper away. “So what are you going to say in the report?”

“Why am I writing the report?” Ash frowned.

Cris leaned forward and put his elbows on the desk. “You’re much better with words than I am.”

“You mean the English language, and stringing all those letters together.” Ash smirked.

“Yea
h, that.” Cris winked.

Ash opened the laptop on her desk, and hit the power button. “It shouldn’t take me too long to type up that we don’t know shit about who killed Paul Garrett.”

Cris smiled. “I’m sure you’ll phrase that differently.”

Ash shrugged. “We’ll see. Speaking of the now
AWOL Ela Jacobs, I was thinking I would do a little more digging and try to find out who she is.”

“Go for it. I’ve run
her name through multiple databases and nothing.” Cris reached into his file cabinet, and pulled a thick manila folder out. “Here.” He tossed the file onto Ash’s desk. “Good luck. I have a meeting with Edwards. Annual reviews, and we’re talking about you, partner.”

Ash pulled the folder toward her. “Neat.”

Cris left, and Ash pulled Google up on her laptop. She typed in Ela Michelle Jacobs. Variations of the name appeared with links to Facebook, Twitter and several obituaries. She typed in Ela and several links came up with references to the name’s history. Ash clicked on Wikipedia to discover the name’s origins were Hebrew meaning oak. Ash then searched Ela and Hebrew together. She scrolled through four pages of Google search results until a link preview caught her attention. Ash clicked on
Nazi Concentration Camp Death Lists
. She wasn’t expecting to find anything, but the Holocaust had always piqued her interest in college. Specifically, the psychology of group think that ran rampant in Germany during the Nazi regime.

“A little light reading
, detective?” Emma was standing in the doorway.

Ash jumped. “Christ
, you scared me.”

Emma walked in and put her hands on Ash’s shoulders, squeezing gently. “Sorry.” She glanced at the laptop screen. “What are you looking at?”

Ash’s mind went blank as the doctor’s hands gently rubbed her shoulders. “I - I was doing a search on Ela Jacobs.”

Emma
pulled her hands away and walked around to sit on the edge of Cris’ desk. “And you ended up on a concentration camp site?” Emma’s tone had shifted from soothing to nearly accusatory in a split second.

“
Are you with the internet usage committee, doctor?” Ash teased.

Emma’s shoulders relaxed. “
Yes, and there’s been complaints.”

Ash chuckled.
“What brings you to this neck of the woods?” She sensed a subject change was in order.

“I was over for a meeting and wanted to see how you are feeling.”
Emma smiled.

Ash was touched she had thought of her in the middle of wha
t was certainly a busy day. “I’m tired way too early in the day, but otherwise I’m feeling okay.”

“It can be difficult getting back into the swing of things after some time off.” Emma
hopped the rest of the way up onto Cris’ desk.

Pleased that Emma clearly intended to stay awhile
, Ash rested her elbows on her desk. “What are you doing for lunch?”

The doctor looked at her watch. “Hmmm, meeting and then grabbing a bite with you.”

“Twelve-thirty work for you?” Before Emma could answer, Cris came in the office. He stopped for a second and looked at Ash and then at the woman sitting on his desk.

“Dr
. Atman, nice to see you.” He walked around to his desk. “Ah, you’re sitting on a file I need.” He nodded toward the desk.

Emma planted her palms on the d
esk, smoothly slid off the corner, and handed Cris the folder. “Here you are.”

The quickness and smoothness of Emma’s movements immediately reminded Ash of Ela. She looked at Cris to see if he had noticed, but he was focused on his phone. “Gotta go. Thanks
, doc.” Without looking up, he left the office.

“I should be going too. Double back and meet you at twelve-thirty?” Emma asked.

Ash nodded.  She was processing what she had just seen, certain she was reading more into it than was warranted. “Sure.” She looked up at Emma and grinned. “See you then.”

Emma left, and Ash brought the laptop back up and continued to look through the search results from earlier. She clicked on the concentration camp link, and waited while a PDF file downloaded.

It was a ledger with a series of names, numbers and dates listed on it. Parts of it were in German, and other parts were what Ash thought was Polish. She highlighted several passages, copied, and pasted them into Google Translate.

Krakow Labor Camp Worker Registration Log and Death Records for Years 19
43 through 1945
popped up on the screen. Ash’s eyes skimmed the PDF document looking for the key words that caused this page to populate her search. It was on the fourth page of the document that she paused. She didn’t need to have the words translated.

Ela B. 105975
. This alone could have been nothing more than a coincidence, but it was the four names appearing two pages after - presumably another reason why this document populated on Google - that caused the hair on Ash’s arms to standup.

Iwan Collins 107062, Jacob Collins 107063, Michelle Collins 107064
,
Rachel Collins 107065
. Their names appeared on a separate sheet, that according to Google Translate, contained the names of skilled workers like engineers and chemists. Ash assumed this was why their full names where written.

She stared at the screen for several seconds, and then clicked the print butto
n. Sitting still in her office, the quiet hum of the printer in the corner of the room was the only sound. The meaning of what she had just discovered eluded Ash, but she knew it meant something.

Her phone vibrated on her desk. She saw it
was Lara. “Hi.”

“Hi. I hadn’t heard from you and wanted to make sure we are still on for tonight.”

“Absolutely. Seven at Urban Taco?” Lara and her had spoken several times while she was convalescing at home, but Ash needed time to think about their relationship so they hadn’t actually seen each other in over a week.

“I’ve missed you.” Lara admitted.

Ash smiled awkwardly into the phone. “Me too. See you later.” She pressed the end button, and got up to retrieve the printouts. The truth was she wasn’t looking forward to the dinner. She had decided to end things with Lara.

She hoped it wouldn’t be too much of a scene considering they had only been dating casually for a few weeks. The decision had ultimately been easy because every time Ash thought about Lara, her mind would inevitably wander to Emma. Ash wasn’t always the most astute observer when it came to matters of the heart, but even she couldn’t ignore the signs, and
had finally decided not to string Lara along.