Loves Redemption (29 page)

expert.

“Yep. Somewhere around here,” the tech said before he bellowed, “hey Wanda, you got a

visitor!”

“What can I do for you sexy?” Wanda asked with a wink, as she came from behind a

partition in the room, which separated each technician’s workspace.

Mark watched with a smile as the large woman ambled slowly in his direction. Wanda

was old enough to be his mother, but that never stopped her from flirting with him.

Her glasses sat perched on the end of her large nose as she peered at him over the frames.

Her nearly wrinkle-free sienna skin was liberally sprinkled with freckles and small moles. Her wide mouth usually carried an infectious grin virtually no one was immune to, even though she was known to tease just as mercilessly as she flirted. However, Wanda was sharp, and when it came to her field of expertise, she was the best.

“Wanda, I want you to take a look at these two cards for me and give me your

impressions,” he asked.

Mark handed her the two plastic wrapped cards. He watched as she looked around before

spying a box of surgical gloves and donned a pair before she removed the cards. She then

carefully examined both, her eyes squinting behind her half lenses, before looking back at Mark who was watching her expectantly.

“Well sugah, it looks like the writing may have come from the same hand although there

are some differences in the script. You see these two letters?” She pointed a gloved, ringed, pinky to the curve of a letter in one of the cards, before pointing to a similar curve in the letter of the other.

“This is unintentional. This is the natural way the writer makes this particular letter.

However, what is intentional is the large ‘flowery’ script, as though they’re trying to disguise their true handwriting,” she told him as she continued to carefully look at both cards.

“Can you tell if it’s a man or a woman?” He bent his head down close to hers, looking at

both cards with her.

“Boo, you smell good! What you wearing? Polo? Armani?” Wanda took a deep whiff off

the side of his neck.

Used to the way the older woman teased, Mark absentmindedly answered, “Ralph,” as he

continued to peruse both cards.

“I need to examine them both a little closer before giving a good ‘guess.’ This one is

tricky, it could be a man or woman. Usually I can tell straight off if it’s a woman trying to pass off writing as a man or vice versa, but I’m not sure with this one. Leave it with me for a hot minute, and I’ll take it back to my lair and find out for you.”

“Thanks Wanda I appreciate it. Give me a ring whenever you finish with it.” He gave her

peck on the cheek, to her delight, before leaving and heading back to the squad room.

Jordan looked up from his work as Mark sat down at his desk, thinking about the two

cards he’d left with Wanda.

“What’s up?” Jordan asked, when he didn’t greet him.

“Before I came up I went over to the lab. Remember the arrangement I gave them

Saturday?”

“The one sent to Maya?”

“Yeah that one. Jack said he couldn’t find any prints on the card itself other than Dalia’s and Maya’s.”

“What do you mean?”

“Maya told me only she and Dalia touched the card inside the envelope, so I got a copy

of their finger prints and gave it to the Jack. According to him, those were the only two prints that showed. That’s strange. It doesn’t make any sense.” Mark could feel dread lurking in the pit of his stomach as he thought of the ramifications of the tech’s discovery.

“Man that’s
damn
strange. So whoever sent Maya the flowers, must have been wearing

gloves when he handled it. Hmm.”

“Or
she
was wearing gloves,” Mark stated flatly.

“You think Maya’s secret admirer is a woman?”

“I don’t know. I don’t like the looks of it Jordan.”

Mark quickly went through his notebook in search of the message left on the card. After

he’d reread it, he leafed backward until he found the earlier entry from the first anonymous floral arrangement she was given.

“I saw you on the news. You were wonderful. I’ll bet Alicia Somers will think again

before she opens that big trap of hers and tries to make anyone else look foolish!!”

“Same type of cryptic message. I went to the evidence room and looked at the card from

the first arrangement. I took both cards over to Wanda to have her take a look at them. She says from a quick observation, they may be from the same person. Anything deeper and she would

need to take time to really analyze both of them.”

“Good thing you kept that card. What are you thinking?”

“I’m not sure yet, just like I said, I don’t like the way this looks. You know, I think I’m going to pick the lieutenant’s brain for a minute. Do you know if anyone is in there with him?”

Mark asked as he rose from his desk.

“I don’t know. I got in a few minutes before you did and his office door was already

closed.”

Mark walked over to the lieutenant’s office and wrapped his knuckles lightly on the

partially closed door.

He walked inside and closed the door behind him. He was already inside when he noticed

Lieutenant Hernandez was not alone; Special Agent Montgomery was inside with him, his back

propped against the wall facing the door.

“Sorry sir, I thought you were alone, I wanted to run something by you.”

With a wave of his hand, the lieutenant told him, “We weren’t discussing anything

confidential. What did you need, Mark?”

“No we weren’t,” the agent agreed, “in fact I think I will leave you gentlemen to speak in

private.” Agent Montgomery told them both as he pushed away from the wall.

Mark motioned with his hand for him to stay. “Actually Agent Montgomery I could use

your input as well.” When the man settled back against the wall with a small nod in agreement, Mark continued.

“Maya received flowers for the second time this weekend from an anonymous ‘admirer.’

The first time it happened was a few months ago when she was first brought into the

investigation. I didn’t like it then and I definitely don’t like it now. My gut reaction wasn’t good either time.”

“You didn’t like it because…? Is this the professional or personal gut reaction?” Mark

looked in surprise at the lieutenant’s question.

Although he wasn’t trying to keep his relationship with Maya a secret, he was surprised

at the lieutenant’s obvious knowledge of his feelings for her. His surprise must have shown on his face because Lieutenant Hernandez confirmed his knowledge with his next words.

“Detective Phillips made reference to your relationship in passing recently,” he said,

“congratulations. Dr. Richardson is as beautiful as she is intelligent. You’re a lucky man.”

“Thanks sir, I think so too. But in answer to your question, my gut was working in pure

professional mode. The wording on the first message was phrased in a damn odd way,” Mark

started, and was quickly interrupted by the lieutenant.

“You read the message on the first card?” The lieutenant asked, clearly now he was the

surprised one.

Mark happened to glance in the direction of the silent FBI agent, and noticed the way his

head was tilted in that odd way he had, that signaled he was intently listening, focusing.

“Yes sir. After Maya showed it to me, I brought it in for the lab to take a look.”

“Did they find anything?”

“No they didn’t find anything on it, no prints; nothing. I put it in the evidence room.” He didn’t add that he had recently taken it out for Wanda. He thought it best to wait until she’d had a chance to examine it. He turned his head away and noticed the agent now had his gaze unerringly directed on him.

“What do you make of all of this Agent Montgomery?” Lieutenant Hernandez asked.

“I believe there’s a strong possibility it’s no accident Dr. Richardson has received these

two anonymous gifts at the same time the these killings are taking place.” Nicolai spoke into the silent room.

“You think it’s the slayer?” Mark asked him, a deep frown settling between his dark

brows.

“I couldn’t, and wouldn’t say without further proof, Detective. I simply do not believe

it’s a coincidence, and I also think Dr. Richardson should be closely watched. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“I’m not sure that it’s anything more than a beautiful woman receiving an anonymous gift

from a secret admirer. She works with a lot of people with whom she’s helped a great deal

throughout her career. Maybe even one of her students or volunteers, who knows? I’m not sure what one has to do with the other.” Lieutenant Hernandez injected, clearly disagreeing with Agent Montgomery’s assessment.

“The serial killer will sometimes encounter a person who they idolize or think extremely

highly of. For whatever reason they’ll put this person on a pedestal. Unfortunately, if this person performs some wrongdoing in the killer’s eye they can then ‘fall from grace’ so to speak.” The agent informed them in a low tone with his eyes closed and head back against the wall.

“What could cause this ‘fall from grace?’” Mark felt an urgency to know the answer. He

didn’t like the way it sounded, his fear for Maya escalating.

Nicolai opened his eyes and looked at Mark as he answered his question, his silver gaze

direct and unflinching. “Anything. Nothing. It’s all subjective, and according to the whims of the offender.”

“Dalia, what are you talking about?” Maya laughingly asked her friend as she opened the

door from the garage that led directly into her portion of the mansion.

“
Sesute
, it is nothing to be ashamed of. That is what love and good lovemaking is

supposed to do to a woman. It is the way you should look. Like a petal on a beautiful rose

completely opened, I mean unfolded,” she told her young friend tongue-in-cheek as she preceded her into the kitchen.

As Maya turned on the light, Dalia’s husky laugh dwindled to a stop, and was replaced

with a horrified gasp.

Maya was walking directly behind Dalia and stumbled into her when she stopped, after

taking a few steps into the room. Moving around her, Maya felt as though she’d been kicked in the stomach as she surveyed the scene in front of her. Slowly, she walked around Dalia taking the site in.

Drawers and cabinet’s gaped open, the items inside spilled out onto the floor and along

the counter tops. Nearly every surface of her kitchen was cluttered with cans, food, papers, and dishes. In shock, Maya turned large frightened eyes toward Dalia.

After her initial horrified reaction, Dalia grabbed Maya by the hand. “Come on, Maya,

we must leave this place. They may still be in here. Come, let us go.”

Without waiting for her assent, Dalia half dragged Maya out of the kitchen. Swift and

silent, she closed the door, and took the keys from Maya’s nerveless fingers. She hustled her quickly into the passenger seat of her car, before going around to the driver’s side.

“Dalia I can’t believe what I saw. Who would do something like that?” Maya asked as

she came out of her state of shock as they sped away from her burglarized home.

“I do not know, Maya, but I did not want to take the chance to stay in there in case they

were still in our home.” Dalia took Maya’s small clammy hand in hers and gripped it tightly, before she let it go, and placed shaking hands back on the steering wheel. “I think we had better call the police and wait on them before we go back.”

“Dalia, I don’t understand....” Maya choked out, still in shock.

“We will be okay,
Sesute
. We will call the police,” Dalia assured her as she turned into a convenience shop before she pulled out her cell phone and placed the call to the police. After she’d completed the call she turned back to Maya.

“It is going to be okay, Maya, I have given them the address, and they have said they are

on their way. They have this number to call when they arrive. Are you alright little one?”

“I’ll be okay. Could I use your phone please so I can call, Mark?” She asked, doubting

her ability to rummage through her oversized bag and find her small phone.

With shaky fingers, Maya dialed the precinct, and when she got Mark’s voice mail, left a

message for him to call her. She placed a second call to his cell phone and also received his voice mail. After leaving the second message, she sat back in the seat and leaned her head back against the backrest.

“He’s not answering.”

“Everything will be fine, you will see.” Dalia was in the process of saying when her cell

phone rang.

She picked up the phone and spoke for a few moments before she ended the call. “That

was the police. They are at the house and say it is okay for us to return. The burglars have already left.”

When they drove back to the house, both women noticed several of their neighbors were

outside, no doubt wondering why two police cruisers were parked in Maya’s driveway. They

parked and walked to the front door where two of the officers waited on her porch.

The young black female officer greeted first Maya and then Dalia. “Good evening ladies,

I’m Officer Greeley and this is my partner Officer Kelley with the SAPD.”

Both officers displayed their badges for the women to see. “It seems as though you’ve

had a break in. Which one of you ladies is Dr. Maya Richardson?” The young officer asked,

referring to the name she’d written in her small black notebook.

“I’m Dr. Richardson Officer.” Maya stepped forward to shake the woman’s hand. “This

is my friend and assistant Dalia Draugulis. Ms. Draugulis also lives here, in one of the three units.”

“Yes we noticed the house was sectioned into three separate living quarters. We haven’t