Chapter 20 Kobe
Kobe
I sat in my car in the department’s back lot, rolling new ideas around my head, too reluctant to go inside and face the fire that was my partner and sergeant, at least not until I was sure I had something worth sharing.
Rue had sent me on a goose chase to entertain me and keep me out of her hair. I wasn’t stupid. She considered my theory ridiculous and thought I wasn’t focused, but the joke was on her. I’d made discoveries.
Could Navid have been providing Jesse with drugs to sell on campus, or was the suggestion Fatemeh’s deliberate means of redirecting my attention?
If it was true, how did peddling drugs get him killed?
Why had Fatemeh lied? Was Navid murdered for insurance money, or was there something deeper and darker going on?
Insurance money alone didn’t explain why Ford and Jesse were dead, so it had to be something else.
How were the three connected?
What was I missing?
Head buzzing, I located Dominique’s number in my contacts and hit Connect, letting it ring. The man wasn’t at work, but he had taken home the autopsy files for all three of our victims, and I had niggling questions.
He answered on the third ring. Children’s music sounded in the background at high volume.
I chuckled. “Saturday morning cartoons?”
“I wish. At least that would be something different. Cosette is on a T’choupi et Doudou kick. We watch the same ten episodes on repeat and have been for the past six months.”
“It could be Dora.”
“I’d take Dora in a heartbeat. I’d even take the cursed Caillou, and I can’t stand that whiny fucker.”
I laughed. “That’s a big bad word for you, Doc. Might be the first time I’ve heard it cross your lips.”
“I’m sorry. It’s been a trying morning. Cosette woke up in a mood, so I’m doing all I can to keep tantrums at bay, but I’m sure you didn’t call to chat about children’s television shows and hardheaded toddlers.”
Dominique must have relocated to another part of the house since the background noise quieted. “What can I do for you?”
“Hopefully, answer a few questions.”
“Shoot.”
“I’m curious if any of our victims had drugs or alcohol in their systems at the time of death.”
Dominique tsked. “Come on, Detective. You know better than to ask me that at this stage. I won’t get toxicology results back for several weeks.”
“I know, I know, but standard drug testing can be done fast. Blood alcohol levels, too. I’m not looking for a full-spectrum analysis. What are the chances I can get my hands on that particular information sooner?”
Dominique didn’t speak for a long minute. “Maybe. I’ll visit the lab on Monday morning and push, but don’t hold your breath. What are you thinking?”
I sighed and sank lower in my seat. “I don’t know.
I saw Fatemeh this morning. Navid’s ex-wife.
She rubs me the wrong way. Or maybe I rub her the wrong way.
She lied to me, but at the same time, she made a plausible suggestion.
Navid was a doctor with access to drugs.
He could have been supplying Jesse with drugs to sell on campus.
Ford was part of Jesse’s crowd. That officer who interviewed those girls three years ago said one of them claimed her drink was spiked.
I don’t know. It’s all bits and pieces I’m trying to make sense of. ”
“How do positive drug tests on our victims help?”
Resigned, I slumped further. “I’m not sure it does. One more thing. Navid’s autopsy report mentioned that fibers were recovered from his neck. I didn’t see anything mentioned on Jesse’s or Ford’s. Did you recover fibers on them?”
Dominique didn’t speak for a beat. “I can’t recall off the top of my head. I had students working with me on those exams. I’ll need to consult my notes.”
“Have the bodies been released?”
“Not yet.”
“Double-check for me before that happens. Was the fiber analysis completed? I didn’t get a follow-up report.”
“Not sure if it’s back yet. I’ll chase it down on Monday.”
“Thanks.” I exhaled sharply, knowing I couldn’t delay going inside much longer.
“Where are you, Kobe?”
“Sitting in the parking lot at work, avoiding my partner and boss. This case is frustrating. There are too many missing pieces. Sorry if I sound whiny. I’d rather be anywhere else on a Saturday.”
“Think you’ll get to go home at some point?”
“Hopefully. I’ll have to cancel with émeric. He’s going to be bummed, but there’s no way I’ll be able to catch a movie tomorrow. I hope you didn’t tell Cosette already.”
“I haven’t. Another time.”
A shuffling sounded on the other end of the line before Dominique spoke again. “Will you spend the night?”
“Really? Two in a row?”
“I quite enjoyed having you in my bed.”
I hummed in pleasure. “I have no idea when I’ll be done today.”
“That’s fine. I don’t care when you come over. Say you’ll come.”
“I’d like that. Isn’t my presence interfering with your disgustingly early visits to the gym?”
Dominique chuckled, a sound I wanted to hear more of. “True. I suppose I can’t keep skipping my morning sessions because I have a hot police detective in my bed, can I?”
“I wouldn’t expect you to. You can go if you want. It won’t bother me.”
“What about Cosette?”
“I’ll watch her. If she’s up before you’re back, I now know what to put on the TV to make her happy.”
My comment earned another soft chuckle. “I’ll think about it. I look forward to seeing you, Kobe.”
“Me too. I’d better run before Rue finds me hiding out here and gives me shit.”
As we were about to say goodbye and hang up, a thought struck. “Hey, Dom? Question. You lift weights, right? You’re not racing to the gym strictly for cardio, are you?”
“No. I lift. Why?”
“Do you have gnarly calluses?”
“The worst. I’m surprised you didn’t notice them last night when I was fondling your body.”
“I had other things on my mind.”
“Between the gym and constantly washing my hands at work, my skin is terrible. I moisturize. I swear I do, but I have perpetually rough hands.”
I grinned. “They can’t be that bad if I didn’t notice.”
“You must have been lost in the moment because I assure you, they’re awful. Why do you ask?”
“Do you pick at them?”
“I try not to. Tear those buggers off and you’ll probably bleed and make your next session more painful. They’re hard to ignore though.”
“Shit. You’ve effectively obliterated another pesky thought.”
“I feel like I should apologize.”
“No. It was nothing.”
Silence.
I didn’t want to let him go. I wanted to return to the previous evening.
I wanted to bask in the glorious time we’d shared.
In the newness of this relationship. Was it a relationship?
I wanted to get fully naked with Dominique and explore him both physically and emotionally.
Maybe that set me apart from other men, but I’d spent my entire life longing for a connection like the one that was developing between us.
I wanted to savor it and nurse it into being.
It had been uncomfortable sharing about my past the previous night, but I needed Dominique to trust me, to know me. By exposing my injured heart, I hoped it would encourage him to share his story too. His past didn’t frighten me. I hoped someday he would let me in.
Before we got off the phone, I took a chance and asked, “Are we dating?”
I could hear Dominique’s smile. “I don’t usually entertain hookups, so…”
“So we are?”
“We are.”
“Excellent. I really should go,” I muttered miserably.
“I’ll see you tonight, Kobe.”
“Have a good day… boyfriend.”
Rue was waiting for me when I got to the bullpen. She waved me over, insisting I pull up a chair. Instead of asking how my interview with Fatemeh went, she dove right into her most recent discovery.
“I found out why Ford was at the university.”
“Oh?”
“Remember how his mother mentioned that he attended weekly therapy? Well, upon going through his phone, our IT specialist found regular appointments on the calendar app. Ford saw a guy named Dr. Fortune from five to six p.m. every Thursday night. The doctor’s office is on the other side of the canal, near the bank where Ford worked.
It didn’t seem like an unreasonable distance from his home, so I called Ford’s mother to see how he got to work and back.
She confirmed he didn’t own a vehicle and walked most places.
He didn’t like the confines of public transport and only used it if the weather was particularly bad.
Rue pulled up a map on her laptop. She zoomed in to cover the area in question and ran her finger along a suggested path. “If Ford took the shortest route from the doctor’s office to home, it would go right through campus. I suspect he cut through the quad regularly. Every Thursday night.”
“Like clockwork. Shit, and our perp knew it.”
“Yep. Ford would have been crossing the quad at approximately six thirty, which is within the window for time of death, according to Dr. Chevalier’s report.
We figured Navid’s morning runs were known to our unsub, and I suspect Ford’s weekly appointments were as well. These kills were meticulously planned.”
“Our unsub has an agenda, Rue. These men were targeted for a reason.”
“The time frame is what concerns me. It feels rushed. A shortened cooldown period suggests escalation and could indicate he or she is getting impatient or they’re losing control.”
I glanced over my shoulder to confirm my sergeant wasn’t in—she rarely showed her face on weekends. Lowering my voice, I said, “You’re not listening. If they have an agenda, for all we know, he or she is finished. Boom, boom, boom. This may not be serial at all if it’s vengeance for a wrongdoing.”
“You’re hung up on those girls Yates talked about.”
“Why not? It makes sense.”
Rue looked ready to object, so I capitulated, motioning to the computer screen and the highlighted section of the map she’d blown up. “You’re right, though. This one was risky. It might be dark at six thirty in December, but that’s not a nature trail or a park. Anyone could have witnessed it.”