9. Matteo
Chapter 9
Matteo
H olding up the blood-splattered white card to the sunlight streaming in through the window, I reviewed the evidence.
The contents of the woman’s purse had spilled out onto the carpet of her floor beside her. Whoever had broken in and killed her must have been scared before killing her. Not too far away her husband lay nearby, deceased as well.
“Kazou Gentetics,” I said reading the name on the business card out loud.
“It means family,” Jason’s voice was barely a whisper as if he were spooked, his eyes surveying the crime scene slowly.
“Bag this up,” I motioned to one of the techs.
He took the card from me and I came to stand by Jason’s side.
“Another Japanese family, with crime ties…there is no way this is a coincidence,” he murmured. “And in less than twenty-four hours…’
In front of us were Susan and Shin Taoko, both with alleged ties to the Taoko crime family. Although it seemed Susan ran a genetics lab, while Shin ran a construction conglomerate it was still heavily implied that they were in the family.
Walking over to the deceased male, who was face down on the carpet. He must’ve been getting out of the shower because a sea foam green towel had wrapped his waist. Tattoos covered this entire upper torso stopping at the forearms.
I signaled to the forensic tech photographing the woman. “Make sure you get as many shots of his body as possible.”
Jason’s cell phone had started to ring and I watched as his face contorted before answering. “The Director wants us to come in.”
The two of us exited the crime scene together but split off to go to our separate vehicles. Noting the time when we arrived parking on opposite ends from each other, I realized the victims hadn’t lived too far from here.
Jason met me at the door before we walked in together. “I swear this man gives me the creeps. Imagine, how I sound saying that.”
A raven’s caw echoed through the air and I found my eyes landing on a tree in the parking lot. In the sunlight, a sleek black raven was perched and watching. I wondered if it was the one who’d sat outside my office window the other day.
“It’d be nice if he’d opened the curtains,” I remarked following him through the office doors.
We rode up together in the elevator, the two of us quiet. The soft whir of the elevator was familiar as it carried us to what always felt like our doom. Dealing with the director always felt like a trip to the principal’s office and you hadn’t done anything wrong.
Cigar smoke filled my lungs the second we walked in.
“Close the door behind you,” his voice sounded hoarse when he spoke.
The metal of the door knob felt cool under my fingertips. As the last rays of fluorescent light vanished from sight, I outwardly cringed.
It wasn’t as if he’d be able to see it.
“I hear bodies are piling up,” the director spoke again, the ember on the end of his cigar glowing.
“Sir,” Jason spoke. “There was a witness to the first murder.”
Rain…
The director cleared his throat. “And has she said what she saw? Or who she saw?”
“No,” I said quickly.
“Well, I didn’t get a chance to question her,” Jason snapped and I could practically hear his teeth grinding.
Silence filled the void of the director’s office momentarily. I could hear Jason’s breathing and the stench of the cigars was starting to drive me crazy. The base of my head began to throb and I began to crave an aspirin, anything to take the edge off.
“Any connection between the murders except the obvious?” The Director asked.
Shaking my head in the dark, “No.”
“Find one,” the director quipped.
I was about to speak again when he dismissed us. I couldn’t wait to get out of that miasma of cigar smoke.
“We need to find a connection,” Jason said stepping onto the elevator.
“I do my best thinking over beer,” I shrugged.
“Still such a frat boy,” he shook his head.
“No completely. I work harder now than I ever did in college.”
The doors to the elevator parted and we stepped into the main lobby. A few other agents dressed in black suits and chatting animatedly walked by.
“What do we do about that witness,” Jason pushed open the front door.
Fresh air smacked me in the face and I took a deep breath closing my eyes for a second and filling my lungs.
“We need to stay on her…”
“I can’t do it,” Jason said. “I have a newborn at home and there’s no way in hell my wife is going to put up with me doing fieldwork after hours.”
I quirked a bow. “And I’m what just…”
“You’re fucking single…so yeah, you’re gonna be on this witness’s ass…”
Flashes of Rain’s ass popped into my head.
Fuck, I thought. You get to stalk the woman who won’t give you the time of day…
“Just until we figure out a connection…”
Jason was already walking down the sidewalk and getting into his car. The need to throw up my hands entered my mind but I didn’t. Walking over to my black-out SUV, I heard the Raven caw again nearby.
The second I turned his way, he flew from the branch as if he’d been waiting for me.
Bird shit hit the roof of my car, a loud grating thud.
“Fucking gross,” I hollered after it. The animal was already gone, flapping its wings higher and higher until it disappeared out of sight.
As I drove away, I began to make a mental check list of what I’d need to keep me awake.