Don't Touch (16 page)

Ryan knelt down and looked at the defensive
wounds on Amber’s hands. The sleeve of the jacket was torn as well
she had tried to block the blows. Amber had been the lucky one to
get her dad’s hazel eyes. Now there was only one. “I don’t really
know. Shouldn’t I feel something?”

Jackson knelt down beside her returning from
questioning the caretaker who found the body. He had come out to
check on the grave after having vandals dig up the last fresh
burial. “After everything that’s happened between the two of you
the last couple weeks. I’m not sure I would feel anything right
now. It’s okay to be mad at her, even hate her a little for what
she tried to pull. Maybe later you can forgive her and grieve.”

Pulling off her glove and sitting on the dew
covered grass aside the mound Ryan sighed looking at her sister. “I
don’t know if I’ll ever forgive her. Does that make me a bad person
to not feel sad that your only family, only sibling is
murdered?”

“No, not at all.” This came from a uniform
cop that was near by. “Let’s just say that I had a bad relationship
with my brother. A couple of weeks ago I get called out to a wreck,
turns out that he was one of the fatalities. I stood there looking
at him through the window of his smashed up suv and didn’t really
care, still don’t. Dr. Reign it just means we’re human.”

Ryan nodded then picked up the lipstick. The
vision came easily of Amber and the killer. He was instructing her
on how to put on the lipstick. The pain in the butt she was told
him it was wrong you had to do it this way not his way. He laughed
and told her either do it his way or she would be eating it. This
was the first time Ryan had heard his voice.

It was a deep timber but there was an edge of
frantic to it. He was anxious, to get on with it. He liked watching
them put on the color. He was standing behind Amber in the shadows.
She finally relented and did as he asked but always rebellious,
once finished she turned the mirror toward him and asked
sarcastically. “Is that good enough for you?”

Ryan glimpsed in the mirror. He moved forward
and pulled the stool from under Amber making her fall. But for a
brief moment his face was profiled in the mirror. Amber must have
been knocked out when her head hit the floor because the vision
went black.

“I saw him. I saw the side of this face.”
Jackson pulled out a note pad for her to immediately start the
description. The sooner she got it out the more accurate it would
be.

“His hair is a brown but not like mine, it’s
like dark beach sand. His eyes are kind of oval, I don’t know what
color.” She was getting frustrated trying to hang on to the image
long enough for Jack to write it down. Instead, she took the
notepad from him and as best she could sketched the face.

Finished she handed it back. “That’s good,
let’s go to the station and you can help one of the sketch artists
refine it.”

Jumping up excited that they have at least
half of his face to work with Ryan started out to the car. Stopping
she looked back at her sister as the coroner laid out the black bag
she would be placed in. Maybe one day she could forgive Amber and
morn her loss but not today.

While Ryan was with the artist, Tom received
the call from the lab on the lipstick saying they had faxed the
report. It was positive for large amounts of GHB and two more odd
compounds. The compounds allow for fast absorption and the levels
of the date rape drug are high enough to incapacitate the women
quickly.

Jackson listened to the report intently then
raked his hands through his thick hair. “Great but how is he
getting the make up in their hands. They have to be getting it
before Ryan sees them.”

Thomas tossed the paper on the desk. “Then
why isn’t she picking that up.”

“Maybe because receiving the tubes isn’t as
emotional. It might be a lesser impression that is lost under the
bad one. Ryan could call and ask Barbara when she’s done.”

Ryan sat on the edge of their desks. “I asked
that the other day and that is exactly what she said. Severe
emotional trauma trumps the average every time.”

She placed the finished profile sketch in
front of them. “I didn’t want to try and do the whole face. You
don’t know if he’ll have some kind of marking or scaring that would
completely change it. But for now we have this.”

Jackson and Thomas studied the drawing. The
area of Lake County this guy seemed to be centralized on wasn’t
really that big. Most people at least saw one another out and about
town at one time or another. Jackson shook his head. “I don’t
recognize him.”

Thomas looked at the two, his partner looked
ragged as usual but Ryan looked like she could drop any second. She
was on an emotional roller coaster these days that had to be hard
on the mind. Now her sister one of the victims. “I’ll stick around
here while their processing…..Amber. I’m sorry, Ryan. Jack, take
her home and get some sleep. We’ll get back together when we can
all think straight.”

Taking her hand Jack pulled himself to his
feet. “I hate to admit it but I think he’s right. Come on your
comfortable pillows are calling my name.”

Once inside the house Ryan sat on the couch.
Jackson pulled her to her feet and marched her in the bedroom. “I
have a nasty nagging feeling that this will be a long day ahead of
us. So to bed with you.”

Ryan unbuttoned and dropped her jeans leaving
them in the floor as she fell onto the bed dressed in just the tee
and her cute little underwear. She pulled the covers down and
patted the bed. “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
You didn’t sleep at all last night.”

He cleared his throat. “I don’t know if I’ll
sleep at all next to that.”

She laughed and smiled wickedly. “Wimp.
Afraid I’ll molest you in your slumber?”

“More like the other way around. You can’t
trust me that much. I am a guy you know.” He made a head to toe
motion with his hands.

Sitting up she looked at his face, he was
genuinely worried about her. “Stop it. If you haven’t done it by
now you won’t. Besides I really don’t want to be alone right now. I
am a doctor so I’ve seen it all and then some. Come on before
someone else calls.”

With a sigh he did as she asked. Little did
she know how much he wanted to be there with her. Not sex, just to
hold her, be near her.

When he was undressed in his tee and boxers
he had another thought. “What about touching me?”

She scrunched her face. “Let’s find out if it
won’t work I’ll grab a pair of jammie bottoms and socks.”

Jack slid in and covered them up as she
snuggled close resting her head on his chest. Her legs were barely
resting against his, she was so warm. He couldn’t resist curling a
long strand of dark hair around a finger waiting for her to react
to a vision. Hoping it wasn’t the one that flashed in his own mind
a few minutes ago. After a minute he realized she had fallen sound
asleep.

Smiling he lightly kissed the top of her
head. Ryan stirred for a moment laying one arm across his chest and
nuzzling closer into his warmth. He wrapped his arm around her
shoulder protectively and drifted off.

A loud knock on the door jarred the pair
awake. Jack tugged on his jeans and sluggishly made his way to the
door. He opened the door and there stood a young woman with her
mouth hanging open. He was a sight to behold with is long hair
mussed, bed raggled tee and his jeans on but not buttoned or
zipped. “Uh….hi….I’ve…I’ve got a delivery for Dr. Reign. Is she
home by chance?”

Recognizing the emblem on the young woman’s
polo shirt from the local grocery store he nodded. “Hey Ryan, your
delivery is here.”

He picked up the box from the porch and took
it to the kitchen as Ryan looking just as tussled came out with her
check book. “How much do I owe you Mindy?”

The girl looked from the doctor to the man
standing behind her. “Thirty-two dollars and eighty-seven cents.”
Ryan handed her a check and a five dollar tip.

“Thanks, Doc. By the way the view from your
place is definitely improved the last couple of weeks.” The girl
thumbed over her shoulder at the man across the street attempting
to grill again. “I told dad to get off your case not everyone felt
like they had to spend life burning meat on the grill.”

Ryan glanced behind her at the view she knew
Mindy was referring to. “Thanks, Mindy. We might cook out this
weekend, if work allows that is. You guys will have to come
over.”

Mindy glanced at Jack. “Sounds great! I’d
love to eat a burger with out charcoal attached. We’ll I’d better
get back to the store and let you uh…get back to what you were
doing.”

As soon as the door closed Ryan burst into
laughter. “Oh that will be around town so fast our ears will ache
for weeks!”

He just stood there with his own chin hitting
the floor. “I can’t believe you just did that. Ryan Reign you are
an instigator.”

Still laughing now at his shocked expression.
“Oh yeah, and loving every minute of it! Look at us at two in the
afternoon what else would she think? Come on, tell me you don’t
think it a tiny bit funny.”

Shrugging he walked over and looked her right
in the eyes. “Hilarious.” Then bent his lips to hers, he kept the
kiss brief and smiled as she stood silent for a moment. “Do you
even have a grill?”

Returning the smile she nodded then pulled
him in to return the kiss lingering in the embrace before heading
into the kitchen. “On the back porch, hardly used.”

Neither of them said a word about the kisses
as they grabbed a quick lunch and headed for the station. They were
greeted by Thomas who offered her his chair. “You two look much
better. A little too much better, care to confess anything?”

Ryan leaned back and propped her feet on the
desk. “There is nothing to confess detective.”

His eyes narrowed darting between the couple.
“You’re both lying I can smell it. I’ll break out the toothpicks
for your fingernails later. Right now we need to figure out how
these women are getting the GHB. He has to be giving it to them
before they get the lipstick.”

Jackson flipped on the computer and turned to
Ryan. “You said that Phyllis was drunk but her reactions were more
than just booze and your lips were tingling. Then she had to get
the drug before leaving the Walk.”

Ryan pulled a sheet of paper from the printer
and started folding origami shapes with it then unfolding and
folding another. Suddenly the vision came back and she remembered
the street venders. “That has to be it.”

Chapter 14

“There was a guy selling make up and giving
free make overs. I didn’t see his face only his hands and there was
a tattoo between his thumb and first finger. A circle. Let’s go to
City Walk. I’m sure on location I can tell you exactly where he was
set up.”

Jack called the Captain, who said he would
contact Universal’s offices and let them know they were coming. The
detective was excited their first serious lead, he felt completely
energized. Or was that from Ryan’s kiss, she was better than V8.
Giving her a knowing smile he held a hand out to her. “Let’s
go.”

It had been longer than the year Ryan had
been hiding from the world since she had been to Universal City
Walk. It was a great place with shops and restaurants an awesome
theater and night clubs. But that really wasn’t her scene, it was
Amber’s though. The few times Ryan had been there she was drug by
the teeth at Amber’s insistence that she get out and live a
little.

They weren’t bad memories, Ryan recalled
having a good time as they walked through the shops. Amber kept
from the bars and such when Ryan was with her. Thinking back there
never was a make up vender any of those times she had been
here.

They walked past a couple of restaurants then
an empty spot that seemed wrong. “There in this space is where he
was set up. Phyllis almost knocked down a couple coming out of that
restaurant.”

There were black letters in a square on the
concrete. Thomas wrote them down then they headed for the offices
to find out if the guy was a registered vender or some yahoo that
sneaked in.

The park manager met them at the gate. “Hi
welcome to Universal. I wish it were just to enjoy the parks.”

Jackson shook the man’s hand. “So do we, the
weather is perfect for it today, Detective Jackson Prince. This is
Detective Thomas Lord, my partner and our associate Dr. Ryan Reign.
We have the possible location of the vender in question. J43.”

The man directed them to the front office and
he sat at the reception desk and pulled up the information on the
computer. “We do have a Mr. Gerard Black as a representative for
Palace Cosmetics.”

Ryan leaned on the counter while the manager
printed out the address and information. “Palace Cosmetics went out
of business about fifteen years ago.”

The manager handed Thomas the pages and
snorted. “That explains why my secretary was so sick after
receiving one of his sample lip colors. The poor thing was out for
two days with swollen lips and nausea.”

“Is she here?”