Frost (3 page)

"Aren't you a kid doctor?"
 

"Yes," she straightened with a slight sideways smile and set the water on a side table. "But since they all know you're mine around here, I got first dibs to treat the cute cop in triage."
 

"Jack, that was a bad one."
 

I turned my head and looked up at Crow. He looked washed out. "How bad?"

"Worst attack so far. It's just past 6:00 am. You were unconscious just over 5 hours. You came pretty close to slipping into a coma this time."
 

Ouch. In the past unconsciousness lasted only an hour or so. The doctors always warned me about the dangers of heat exhaustion and believe it or not I
had
listened and taken measures to prevent it. I usually did a pretty good job of not overworking outside in any heat, keeping hydrated, and I always making my doctor appointments. "I don't know how it happened this time. We were inside an air-conditioned home and then all I did was step outside."
 

"You were dehydrated," Sarah volunteered as she slipped her cool hand into mine and squeezed. "Baby you have got to keep drinking during the day—especially in the heat. One attack of heat exhaustion makes you more susceptible—"
 

"—to more. Yes, I know. I live with this."
 

"And so do I." She leaned in again and cocked an eyebrow at me. It was supposed to look all business. But to me it just made her all the more desirable. "I want to marry you, but I want a long life with you, Jackson. It's bad enough worrying about you getting shot in the line of duty. With this heat wave," she reached up and ruffled my hair off my forehead. "You're such a delicate flower, aren't you?"

She knew how much I hated it when she called me that.

"Yes he is," Crow laughed. "Just a little rose."
 

"Shut up Tonto." I rubbed at my eyes. The headaches that immediately followed these episodes wiped me out. And this one was had doozy all over it. "You got aspirin?"
 

"Crow's got it. Be nice to him." Sarah gave my hand a final squeeze, released it, and moved to the bottom of the bed and squeezed my socked foot. "You are under orders to stay in bed and rest. Just take it easy, keep cool and hydrate." With that she left the room.

I raised my eyebrows questioningly up at Crow. "Coma?"
 

"Doc hasn't left your side all day. It's 5 pm. You got a good woman there,
kimosabi
. Do what she says. I can take this case. You go home and relax."
 

"Like hell." I didn't let the small amount of dizzy I felt hinder my sitting up and yanking the IV out of my arm.
 

Crow grabbed my hand. "What are you doing?"
 

"I'm going to work this case. Did you tell Sarah about Jason Frost?"
 

He let go of my arm. "No. But I did a bit of research on our vic." He reached inside his leather pea coat and pulled out a case file. Even if Sarah hadn't left my side, Crow had. "The lack of information we have on this guy will astound you."
 

Normally in any one case file I'd find copies of any reports from officers, detectives, forensics, snapshots of the victim, a full write up of name, birthday, place of birth, address, latest photo alive—but the only things in this folder were a few shots of the body on the asphalt outside of Blankenship's home. "You didn't find
anything
?"
 

"Nope." He pulled a chair up and sat in it so he could lean in close at my reclined level. "It's like he's a ghost wearing a Jack mask. He's got no finger prints. None."
 

I blinked at him. "Are you serious?"
 

"Fuck'n A." He shrugged. "No prints on his toes either. Noel sent samples of hair and nails for DNA testing, see if it's in the system."

"That'll take a month at least. We need to know who he was
now
. So," I hit the call button. "Did you find anything on Donna Blankenship?"
 

"I did ask Sarah if she knew Donna Blankenship."
 

Leaned toward him. "And?"
 

"And she said yes. Confirmed Blankenship was on staff. They've met a few times. It's Blankenship's job to report the more heinous injuries to the police. So," he turned and grabbed another folder from a side table. This one had paper inside of it. "I compiled a list of every one of Blankenship's clients, ten years back. Got a few hits but this one stuck out. Guy's name is Brian Bishop."
 

I opened the folder and winced when a seriously angry dude's mug shot glared back at me. He had a roundish face with dark eyes and relatively small nose for his other features. It gave him a kind a rodent look. I glanced at the file tucked behind it. "Multiple counts of child abuse and molestation?"
 

"Yep. Seems one of the kids brought into the ER about six years ago was one of his victims. The kicker? It was his daughter. Little girl, pretty badly beaten, and showed signs of molestation. Blankenship ordered a rape kit—caught hell for it—but was able to positively ID the DNA. This guy raped his daughter and then beat her to stop her from telling. And because of that successful revelation, his samples were tested against three unsolved cases. All of them matched. The dude's MO? A knife."
 

"Christ," I swore and looked at the report for a release date. "Sonofa—he's out on parole."
 

"Yep. Good behavior. Could be he came back to cap her ass and saw Mr. Frost heading to her house. Or maybe even Frost caught him
 
peeping in the window and the guy did him in then. Sarah and I were talking about it before you woke up. I think we need to let Miss Blankenship know there's a possibility this guy's gunning for her. But since we don't have any evidence this is our guy—" he sighed. "I distributed his picture when he couldn't be found at the address his parole officer had."
 

"So he's in the wind."
 

Crow took the folder back and plopped it on top of the empty one for Mr. Frost just as his phone buzzed. He looked at the face before answering it and after a one sided conversation put it back in his pocket. "Noel wants to see us as soon as possible. Said she wants to go over what she found."
 

The door to the room opened and an adorable brunette with a pleasant smile entered. Her scrubs had faded blue flowers on them. "You okay detective?"
 

"Yes. I need to check out."
 

"But the doctor said—"
 

"It's okay," I held out my arm and pointed to the IV, hoping she'd get the idea to remove it. "I'm just going downstairs."
 

To the morgue.
 

-4-

"I'm afraid I don't have any explanation for this," Noel said after Crow and I came through the door. I'd worked with Liz Noel for nearly a year and I couldn't remember ever seeing her this kind of frustrated. I'd seen her mad, moody, irritated, happy and drunk. She and Sarah were good friends.
 

"Anything you can tell us would help at this point," Crow moved around to the other side of the table where Mr. Frost lay. A blue green sheet gave my doppleganger a bit of dignity.
 

I'm not going to say it didn't bother me, looking down at him. Same face, same hair, same chest.
 

"You okay?" She put a hand on my arm. "I was there when Crow brought you down the stairs, Jack. I've seen you go through heat exhaustion before, but you've never been unconscious that long until now. Crow said you went down fast."
 

Everyone was worried about me. Like I didn't already know last night was different somehow? I mean, I was
there
. But I was polite and nodded. "What is it you wanted to tell us?"
 

Liz switched gears into professional mode, which was a lot different than drinking mode and partying mode and hug-all-over everyone mode while suffering from intoxicated mode. Professional mode sort of scared me. "Remember how I told you he had a different core temp than surface?"
 

"Vaguely," I said as Crow nodded.
 

"The only reason for that I can come up with is the body was frozen."
 

I frowned but didn't say anything. None of this was making sense.
 

"That's ridiculous, Liz. He was up walking and talking, and he bled fresh warm blood." Crow removed his hat as an afterthought. Being around the dead, no doubt.
 

"Now give me a minute to make it all muddier." She straightened her smock. "If you freeze a body for a long period of time, and you allow it to thaw naturally, then eventually the surface would warm faster than the inside. But even after it was thawed there would still be ice-pockets. But this guy? No ice at all. Nothing. I'm still not sure I'd swear by that time of death call I made."
 

"Because of the cold core?"
 

"Yep. So," Noel put her hands on her hips. "Right now the body's the temp is where it should be and I was able to identify the type of blade he was stabbed with." She pulled the sheet down to expose the wound. "See here and here? How the cut is rounded on this end but much more fine point on the opposite?"
 

I saw it, and it was making me queasy. Okay, maybe I should have stayed in bed.
 

"Your weapon's a Chef's knife, most likely a Global cook's knife. They're made in Japan, very popular and you can get them in Bed Bath and Beyond."
 

"That's one of my mom's favorite places to shop. I used to wish she'd get lost in
Beyond
."
 

Crow shook his head as he pulled out his phone and touched the screen for notes. "Thanks Liz. I'll check to see how many of those have been sold in the area. Anything else?"
 

"No. And that's what bothers me. The lab hasn't got back with me on the DNA."

"Are—" I cleared my throat. "Are you going to compare his DNA to mine?"
 

"You're damn straight I am. See if maybe you have a twin." She snapped her fingers as if remembering something and pulled down one of those round high powered magnifying glasses, flipped on the light and maneuvered it over his hand. I pressed my face to the concave glass as she moved and turned the guy's fingertips. "Take a good look at his fingers and tell me what you see."
 

I couldn't say what it was I saw, but I can say what I didn't see. No ridges or grooves. She moved the finger a different way so the light caught the fingers' edges—

"Shit—" I straightened up. "Are those snowflakes?"
 

"Huh?" Crow came around the body and I moved out of his way so he could see what I saw. For a split second I expected to hear his laughter at me 'cause I obviously needed glasses.
 

But he didn't.
 

Crow stood back, pointed at the guy's hands and looked at Noel. "That—that's not right. Did he have them made that way?"
 

She shut the glass off and pushed it back up on its anchor arm. "Nope. His usual prints weren't scrubbed off, or cut off or scared with acid. This is his natural finger print on his fingers
and
his toes. If it's a prank it's a hell of a good one." Noel made a pained face. "His face really creeps me out. It's like I'm working on you, Jack and I don't like it. Are you
sure
you don't have a twin?"
 

"With snowflake finger prints?" I leaned my neck to the right then the left to relieve the stiffness. "I can ask mom again—if she'll talk to me about it."
 

Crow spoke up. "You two still not speaking?"
 

"Not really. She stays in her little house reading her bible and praying for my sins even when I tell her I haven't committed any sins."
 

"Doesn't your mother know what a cop is?" My partner held out his hands. "We're the good guys. That means we do
good
."
 

"I didn't know your mother was a Jesus freak." Noel snapped off her gloves. "You two have a falling out?"

I glanced over at her. "She was a great parent I guess. Her husband died before she adopted me so she focused her attention on my upbringing. But she always made a point to make sure I knew I wasn't hers."

"That's kind of odd."
 

Crow shook his head. "No. Not really. I've met his mom. She's a piece of work. Jack never had a birthday or celebrated a holiday."
 

"You serious?"
 

I loved the look on Noel's face. "Very serious. The holidays were pagan, heathen rituals. So we always went to church instead. In fact—" I had to think hard to recall the memory. "I believe my first Christmas gift came when I was eighteen. First year of college. Beth Meeson. I didn't tell mom I lived in a co-ed dorm and Beth lived in the room above mine. Our room mates were dating so we sort of ended up in a nice friendship. I didn't know how to act around girls and she took pity on me. Beth bought me my first crime novel. I read it that night, devoured about 60 more in the next week and decided I wanted to be a detective." I held out my hands. "And here I am."
 

"She wasn't happy about it? Your mom?" Noel replaced the sheet on Jason Frost's body.

Crow laughed and I shook my head. "No. It's still me firing a gun. And it's dangerous. We had a falling out about seven years ago. I can't even remember about what. I haven't spoken to her."
 

"So calling her to ask about you having a brother is tantamount to Hell freezing over?"
 

Nothing to wipe the grin off my face. "Her answering the phone is. And him?" I nodded to the sheet shrouded body. "This might send her over the edge."
 

My phone buzzed in my back pocket. I retrieved it. I had a text from Sarah.
You up for dinner tonight—maybe a little crib shopping?