CHAPTER 39
BELLA
“Hey, Deveraux!” the on-duty sergeant shouted. “Check your mail!”
Bella nodded and walked over to the wall of mail slots.
Since she’d been off for a while, her box was filled with unopened mail.
Clearly, it hadn’t dawned on her sister to check the mail when she was impersonating her.
Looking at it, Bella didn’t much blame her.
She grabbed the mail, tossed it in a plastic bag, and walked over to her desk.
She tossed the bag along with her backpack on the side of her desk.
Bella sat down and flipped through her FOP directory until he found the number for the Illinois State Police Crime Lab. She scooted up in her chair and dialed.
“Illinois State Police, Division of Forensics,” announced a woman on the other end of the call.
“Hi, this is Detective Belladonna Devereaux calling Sheila Watts.”
“One second. I’ll connect you.”
It rang three times before Shiela answered. “Crime Lab. This is Sheila. How can I help you?”
“Hey, lady. Its Bella Deveraux.”
“Oh, heyyy, Bella” she squealed as if happy to hear from her.
“I need a favor.”
Though Sheila was a civilian, she and Bella had once worked together on a violent crime task force. They’d remained friendly, even having dinner and cocktails from time to time. So, Bella was fairly confident that if asked for help, Sheila would oblige.
“What you need, boo?”
“The ME just submitted DNA from a southside homicide that might be in line with my serial murders. I need a rush on those results.”
“Really?” Sheila scoffed. “So does everyone else in Chicago.”
“Well, is everyone else in Chicago gonna invite you to a wedding where a gang of fine-ass single millionaires will be in attendance?”
Sheila raised a brow. After only seconds of pensive silence, she asked, “What is it that you need me to do? Give me the report number.”