Chapter 33
33
Mark stormed into the workroom, his body radiating tension, every muscle taut with barely contained fury. He met the eyes of the other detectives, noting they included Jeremy and Pete from the drug task force, as well as Colt. He opened his mouth to speak, but the flood of words that threatened to escape felt too dangerous, too volatile. He snapped it shut, his jaw clenched so tightly it ached.
Staring down at his boots, he inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with the cold, sterile air of the precinct. He held it for a moment, forcing the anger to settle, then slowly let it out through his nose. Only then did he lift his head, his eyes blazing with a controlled, simmering intensity.
“I know Karen Drummond had nothing to do with the thefts,” he said, his voice low. “I also know that Alan Solstein had stolen credit cards in his possession from at least two of the ESHH patients. And I know that she was at those houses. But what I don’t know is how that fucker got information from her. Was he following her? If so, that means he knows what she drives… what her schedule looks like… maybe where she lives.” His voice rose with each word.
Brad shifted slightly toward him, and Mark let out a rueful chuckle. He was usually the calm one… the stalwart detective. And now he was ready to blow a gasket over someone who had entered his inner sanctum and was a threat to the one he loved. Loved. The thought hit him like a sucker punch to the gut, and his mind reeled from it. He blinked, the sudden realization stunning him into silence. Was that what this was? Love?
“You okay, man?” Brad quietly asked.
Letting out a shaky breath, he nodded. Now wasn’t the time to define his feelings for Karen or slap a label on his relationship with her. “Yeah. Sorry.”
Brad and Colt exchanged glances, and Sam spoke up, his voice gruff but understanding. "Hell, don’t be sorry," he said, shaking his head in solidarity. Aaron and Brad nodded in agreement, their expressions softening. "Some of us have been where you are, and it sucks."
Mark ran a hand over his face, the tension still buzzing in his veins, but the edge of his anger dulled as he let their words sink in. He wasn’t alone in this. They understood. But the thought of anyone—especially Alan—putting Karen in danger made his blood boil all over again. He couldn't let it happen. Not to her.
“Let’s work the problem like we know how to do,” Colt said. “Jeremy and Pete—you’ll take the drug aspect of what was found in the mobile home of Carla Perkins. Mark, I want you and John to see what you can find out about Carla and Alan… where they might have gone. Brad, you work with Elizabeth and check on the people Karen mentioned. There’s got to be some link. Sam and Aaron—you’ve got your own cases, but whatever time you have, throw some into this. We want to get our hands on Carla and Alan before he has a chance to break into someone else’s place. He may be desperate.”
Everyone headed to their desks, and the normal chatter became muted as the detectives fired up their computers and began working. An hour later, Mark looked over at John whose desk was behind him. “You got anything?”
John shook his head. “Selma Thompson is married to a man who runs a gas station out on the highway. They pay their bills and have some savings in the bank. Her retirement from the state will help them in their older years, although her husband has a little in an investment account. Their son? He works various jobs and doesn’t hold one down for long like his mom reported to Karen. But no priors… not even a speeding ticket. I’ve checked his accounts, and there’s not much. She said he gave his girlfriend a ring, and I’ve seen the credit card payments to the pawn shop. Nothing suspicious there. Phone records don’t tie him to Alan or Carla.”
“So, the ring was legitimate?”
“Seems so. What did you find out about Rick and his twins?”
Mark looked down at his notes. “Same kind of thing. No records that tie any of them to either Carla or Alan. One of his boys has already applied to the community college here on the shore. The other one applied to ODU but as a day student. Not sure if Dad knows that the other boy plans to commute and do online classes, but that will hold down costs. None of them have made suspicious deposits.”
“Patrick has student loans, but his bank records show he’s been making payments for five years. He’s increased the payments in the past year, but only in accordance with the raise he received. Again, nothing to signify that he was involved in any way with Carla or Alan.”
Mark was beginning to turn back to his desk when Brad called out, “Mark!” His head jerked up to see Karen standing next to Colt in the doorway of the detectives’ workroom. Her face was pale, and even from a distance, he could see her hands shaking.
He leaped to his feet and crossed the room in a few long strides. “Karen, what’s happened?”
She looked at him, then her gaze skittered over the room of faces that had turned her way. She swallowed deeply, then said, “I changed purses this morning. And when I reached down into an inner pocket, I found this.” She opened her fist, and in her palm lay a diamond-and-emerald ring. He stared at it for a few seconds before his gaze jumped back to her face.
“I have no idea how it got in there,” she said, her eyes pleading for him to believe her.
Brad stepped closer, with John and Elizabeth nearby. Brad looked at Karen. “Could Alan have?—”
“No,” Karen stated definitely. “He’s never been near me.”
“Could you have left your purse in your car when you were visiting Roscoe Jefferson?” Elizabeth asked.
Karen shook her head again. “No. Never. I always take my briefcase with my laptop and my purse into every home.”
“Does that ring match any that have been reported?” Colt asked.
Mark stared, then slowly shook his head. Looking up at Brad, he found his partner also shaking his head. “It must be from someone who hasn’t missed it yet.”
“Oh God,” Karen groaned. “This makes no sense. The only time I dealt with Alan was when he stared at me the first time I met the kids at Roscoe’s place. He just asked who I was, and I said I was Mr. Jefferson’s visitor. It was Marty who told me later that Alan asked who I was. Marty said he told Alan that I was a nurse who visited people in their homes. But there’s no way he could have followed me to all my patients. There’s no way he could have gotten ahold of an ESHH list.” Her chest heaved with emotion. “And there’s no way he could have gotten near me to put this in my purse!”
Mark didn’t care about the others around and pulled her into his arms. He felt her shivering, and while he wanted to offer comfort, his mind raced with the question of how the ring came into her possession. Suddenly, he jolted and leaned back, keeping his hands on her arms. “Zannie.”
Karen’s head started to shake, but he continued. “We asked Marty about what he’d seen. He told us about the credit cards and the cash. He may have seen jewelry and not realized that was something that didn’t belong to Alan or his mom. But we never talked to Zannie.”
“Mark, honey… Zannie wouldn’t… she… oh, I don’t know.”
“She was fascinated with the cards,” Brad said.
Elizabeth added, “And if there was any jewelry, she might have thought it was pretty and taken a piece.”
“But I wasn’t in their home,” Karen protested.
“Yes, but you were all at Roscoe’s,” Mark said. “What if Zannie put the ring in your purse to keep it safe? Maybe she forgot about it. But we need to talk to her.”
A huge sigh left Karen’s lips as her shoulders dropped. “I don’t want her to be scared. If we bring her here, she’ll be scared. Marty thought it was cool, but Zannie might get upset.”
“Let’s talk to her at school. The counselor can call her out of class, and she won’t be upset.”
Karen looked at the others before her gaze landed back on Mark. Slowly, she nodded. “I need to call Lisa. I want Zannie to have legal representation.”
“We need to check the list of all your patients to see if any of them had a ring that fit this description and have them look to see if it is missing,” Colt added.
Karen dropped her head, and Mark drew her back into his arms. One hand soothed over her back, and the other cradled her head. “It’s going to be fine, I promise. We’ll find them and find out the connection. You just concentrate on taking care of yourself and the kids.”
She snorted, then leaned her head back to hold his gaze. “And my job. And making sure I don’t get falsely arrested for having stolen items in my possession.”
“No one is arresting you, babe. No one here thinks you have anything to do with this other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
After a moment, she stepped back and offered a small smile to the others. “I’m sorry. I know this was unexpected, but when I put my hand in my purse to see if I could find a lost lipstick, a diamond-and-emerald dinner ring was hardly what I expected to pull out.”
The others chuckled and made their way back to their desks. Mark held her by her arms to ensure she was steady, then said, “Call Lisa. Tell her to meet us at the school. I’ll drive and then bring you back to your car here.” He looked up at Brad. “You coming?”
Brad nodded. “Absolutely. John and Elizabeth can work on the ones we’re checking and make calls to the others to see who the ring belongs to.”
Mark offered a chin lift to Colt as he escorted Karen to his vehicle. Once there, she stopped him before she climbed into the SUV. He tilted his head and waited as she placed her palms on his chest.
“I’m getting tired of this never-ending mess,” she said. Her face was taut as her lips pressed together.
“I know you’ve put yourself out there for these kids, and?—”
Her body jerked slightly. “No, that’s not what I mean. What we’re doing for the kids is fine. I love having them. I want this to be done for them. I don’t want this to be hanging over their heads anymore. They deserve a safe home and people who care about them.”
He kissed her lightly, feeling her pain. With his forehead against hers, he said, “I know, babe. I want that, too.”
“I’m also selfish?—”
“Karen, you’re the most unselfish person I know.”
She leaned back to hold his gaze. “Mark, honey, I’m selfish about us. After Jeffrey, I didn’t go out looking for another man to replace him. I was happy with the girls. But I also wasn’t opposed to falling in love again if it happened.”
His heart skipped a beat. He wanted to bombard her with questions but managed to stay silent, waiting to see what she was going to say.
“Then I met you,” she continued. “I started to fall. And now I know I’ve fallen. But we can’t get a break in this case long enough for us to just be us.”
“Oh, babe, I’ve fallen, too. I haven’t been looking for a replacement for Benji’s mom, and honestly, I never thought I’d want to bring someone else into his life. But with you, it was easy.”
She lifted a brow, and he chuckled. “Okay, maybe easy isn’t the word. But no matter what life has thrown at you, you’ve been filled with grace and empathy, and what my mom used to call gumption. You are the woman I want in my heart and in my son’s heart.”
Her smile glowed, warming his very soul. “And you are the man I trust with my girls. And now the bonus children in my home.” She sighed, then added, “Please tell me we will all get through this.”
“I promise we will,” he vowed. “When we do, we’ll be stronger. And we’ll be ready to bring us all together.”
“Good,” she declared. “Now, let’s go tackle the next thing we have to deal with.”
Thirty minutes later, they sat in a conference room near the principal’s office. The counselor went to get Zannie and Marty after Mark decided they should have both together. Lisa sat beside Karen, with Brad and Mark on the other side of the round table.
Marty entered first, his gaze shooting around the room, then landed on Karen, who walked over to hug him. “Is everything okay, Miss Karen?” he asked.
“We just needed to check on you and Zannie,” she said.
Before she could say anything else, Zannie was brought to the room. Her smile was wide when it landed on Karen. “Miss Karen! Hi!”
Karen laughed and opened her arms for Zannie to snuggle into a hug. “Hey, sweet girl.”
Zannie leaned back and looked up. “Did you come to see me?”
“Yes, and Mr. Mark needs to ask you some questions, okay?”
“Sure,” she said but was interrupted by Marty’s soft voice.
“What’s going on?”
“Let’s sit down so we can talk,” Karen said as she ushered the kids to sit beside her.
She kept a hand on each of them before nodding at Mark.
“Okay, guys. We talked to Marty about some of the things that Alan would bring home. Things that you may have seen. Marty, you told us about the credit cards and some money, right?”
Marty nodded. “Yeah,” he muttered, his one-word response laden with suspicion.
“Zannie, did you ever see anything that Alan brought in?” Brad asked.
She scrunched her nose, and Mark thought she was adorable. “Sometimes he brought food. He’d put it in the refrigerator or the cabinets. He thought we couldn’t reach the cookies in the cabinets, but Marty would climb up and get a cookie for me.” She grinned and cut her eyes at her brother.
“You’re a good brother,” Mark said to Marty, hoping to ease the tension he felt coming from him.
Brad then prodded Zannie for more information. “Was there anything else you saw Alan have that you thought was pretty besides all the cards?”
Her eyes brightened. “Pretty? Yeah, he had a pretty necklace, and some bracelets, and some rings. I thought he was giving them to Mom.” Suddenly, her smile drooped, and she glanced toward Karen.
Taking the pressure off Zannie, who may have remembered the ring, Mark turned to Marty. “Did you notice jewelry?”
Marty nodded, but his reply seemed uncertain. “Only once or twice. I thought he bought them for Mom, but she only wore one bracelet that he gave her. I don’t know why she didn’t wear the others.”
“Zannie, did you ever see anything pretty that he brought home and wanted to keep?”
She looked down, and her bottom lip quivered. Karen wrapped her arm around the little girl. “Sweetheart, you’re not in any trouble. We just want to know what happened.”
Zannie blinked back tears and looked up at Karen. “I don’t want to go to jail,” she whispered as a tear slid down her cheek.
“What? No!” Marty gushed, turning to his sister.
“No, no,” Karen assured, hugging Zannie tighter. “You’re not in any trouble. I promise.”
“What is she talking about?” Marty asked, his face tight with worry.
“It’s okay,” Mark jumped in. “Zannie, honey, look at me.” When she finally turned her face from Karen’s chest and peered across the table at him, he smiled. “You have my word that you’re not in trouble. We’re just trying to figure out where Alan got some of the things he brought home. Okay? You trust me and Karen, right?”
She nodded and wiped her eyes but stayed in Karen’s embrace. “Alan dumped a bag on the table. It had some pretty jewelry in it. One of the rings rolled onto the floor, and I saw it. I wasn’t going to touch it because he’d get mad.”
“Okay, sweetheart,” Brad said. “What happened after that?”
“He didn’t act like he ever saw it. The following morning, it was still on the floor, and all the other stuff was gone. When we got home from school, it was still there.” She sniffled and wiped her nose. Lisa handed her a tissue, and Karen helped her wipe her face.
“What did you do?” Marty asked.
Zannie twisted in Karen’s arms and looked at him. “I picked it up. It was green and gold and shiny and pretty. I thought if Alan lost it, then I could keep it. I stuck it in my pocket.”
Marty’s expression twisted into a grimace. “What if he’d caught you, Zannie? He woulda been so mad. I couldn’t keep him from hurting you if he wanted.”
“I was afraid he might find it in my pocket,” Zannie said. She then looked up at Karen again. “You were over with Mr. Roscoe, and when we came in, I put it in your purse so it wouldn’t get lost.”
“Do you remember the day that happened?” Brad asked, earning a what-the-fuck look from Karen.
“You wore your green nursing outfit,” Zannie said easily, her smile slipping back into place. “I thought the green ring would be pretty with your green outfit!”
Karen blinked, then shook her head. “Um… I… I have no idea.”
“You wrote the twelfth on your paper when you were talking to Mr. Roscoe.” Zannie continued, “I remember because my birthday is June the twelfth, and I like that number.”
“Then it would have been about three weeks ago,” Karen said, hefting her shoulder in a little shrug.
Brad and Mark smiled widely. “That’s amazing, Zannie,” Mark said, nodding at her and earning a smile beamed directly at him.
“She’s not in trouble?” Marty asked, his tone doubtful.
“Not at all,” he promised. “You guys did great.”
“Will Benji come over to play again?” Zannie asked.
“How about tonight?”
“Yes!” Zannie threw her arms into the air, and all was right in her little girl world.
Mark looked at Marty and could see the relief in his body as he sighed heavily and then grinned. Now, if I could only help make all their problems go away so easily.