Sunday, September 14, 1:14 a.m.
Alex lay on her side, staring at the digital clock. She was careful to breathe as steadily as possible to avoid waking her companion. She craned her neck slowly, trying to locate where each item of clothing had landed.
'Maybe he's a deep sleeper', she thought. Maybe she could get out of this dark bedroom and apartment without knocking anything over and with all of her clothing.
'Yeah right,' she snarked in her head. She was never meant to be the mysterious-one-night-stand girl. Instead she would inevitably not be able to find her bra or something as essential. Then, when she finally decided to fuck the overpriced Victoria's Secret push up bra, she would break something in her escape.
Just as she was about to edge a bare leg out of the comforter and onto the floor, her cell phone rang. In her surprise and rush to get to the phone before Tom (or maybe Rick?) woke up, she fell off the bed and landed on her ass with a big, solid thud. She winced and grabbed the phone, streaking naked into the bathroom.
"Eames," she answered in a breathless whisper.
"Eames? You okay?"
"Yeah, Bobby. Are we getting called out?" She was still whispering but managed to steady her voice.
"Uhm, yeah. Do you want me to stop by and pick you up?"
"No. I'll meet you." After memorizing the address Bobby read to her, she literally tip toed back into the bedroom where she found all of her clothing except her underwear. She was pleased. She could live without underwear for one crime scene. As she closed the door to the apartment, she thanked God she hadn't broken anything and almost skipped to the elevator. Her escape had been much more smooth than customary.
As Bobby neared the crime scene and Alex came into view, his fears were confirmed. Her hair had the remnants of curls and she had on a black silky top and tight jeans. Alex was dating someone. She was at someone else's apartment when he had called. She was whispering to keep from waking up her lover. He had been suspicious for a few weeks but until tonight had nothing to corroborate his suspicions. He pushed the new evidence into the back of his mind as he neared her. She was speaking in a low tone to the detective from the local precinct.
"The mayor's press secretary," Alex supplied when he reached her. "Julianne Meyers. Looks like she was raped but we're not sure yet. Cut up pretty good."
Bobby looked past the yellow tape. Sure enough the woman's body was covered in blood. More blood than he had seen in a while. He walked to her and squatted down. The medical examiner's assistant handed him some gloves and he began his own examination. Alex leaned down to his shoulder and pointed to the end of the ally.
"I'm gonna interview the kid who found her." He nodded and pretended that his stomach hadn't fluttered when her lips had been so close to his ear. Instead, he studied the victim's face. She was pretty, with deep red hair that reached her lower back. She was slender with long legs and fair, perfect skin.
"We find any clothing?"
"No," someone answered, "None. Her purse is right here though."
"He left her to be embarrassed," Goren muttered to no one in particular. "He left her exposed. This wasn't someone who cared for her on a personal level. This was about the murderer, not our victim." Goren looked up, subconsciously expecting Eames to be standing behind him, listening to his ramblings. Instead, he located her at the end of the ally, interviewing the kid like she said she would be.
The bus boy from the Spanish restaurant had been on a smoke break when he found the woman's body. She had been laying in the middle of ally, completely stripped, face up, arms and legs spread eagle. He crossed himself and swore softly before running back inside and calling the police. He now stood against the ally wall, biting his fingernail anxiously. A uniformed officer stood with him, hands in his pockets and obviously bored. Alex approached and nodded to the officer, indicating he could go.
"I'm Detective Eames. I'd like to ask you a few questions."
The bus boy nodded and stuffed his hands in his pockets.
Alex continued, "You were out on a smoke break?"
"Yes," he answered. His English was good but slightly accented with his native Spanish tongue.
Alex motioned to the body, "Is this exactly how the body was positioned?"
"Yes. I did not touch her."
Alex moved a piece of hair out of her eyes. "Had you ever seen her before?"
He shook his head. Alex thanked him for the information and for not touching the body and headed back to where Bobby stood.
"Bus boy doesn't know anything. Says he's never seen her before."
"No," Bobby said, "she's not from this area. She lives three blocks from City Hall. Spends all of her time at work. She wouldn't make it all the way down here."
"Her purse is right there," Alex pointed to where an expensive leather purse sat, contents still present.
"Not a robbery," Bobby summarized.
On the way to the victim's apartment uptown, Bobby shared his insights with Alex.
"The murderer didn't have an intimate relationship with her. This was about control. Leaving her naked. Her arms and legs like that. It was about his personal need for control, not revenge or jealousy."
Alex nodded. "So we aren't looking for a boyfriend. Just an acquaintance maybe?"
Goren's head bobbed in confirmation.
The flag in front of City Hall stood at half mass. Alex and Bobby signed in with security at 8:32 a.m. After checking their guns and re-holstering them, the partners made their way upstairs to the floor that housed the mayor's staff.
The deceased's assistant greeted them at the elevator. She stood, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue and then ushered them towards the press secretary's office. The office was well organized with a good view of the city. One whole wall was occupied with televisions. There were two bookshelves that immediately captured Goren's attention, leaving Alex to question the distraught assistant.
"Was Julianne dating anyone?"
A hiccup and then a response, "No. She just broke up with her fiancé last month. She was keeping pretty busy, you know, with the campaign and all."
"Do you know why she broke off the engagement?" The assistant shook her head 'no' and blew her nose.
"About a month before, she said something about Jake not being the one. But there was already wedding stuff done and I thought maybe she was going to go through with it anyway. But then one morning, she didn't have her ring on and then she asked me to cancel the reception sight."
Alex handed the girl another tissue while asking, "Was there anyone here at the office Julianne was having a problem with?"
The girl was now sobbing with her whole body and shaking her head 'no'. Bobby looked up from the book he was flipping through. Alex shrugged and then asked one final question. "When was the last time Julianne was in the office?"
The assistant took a deep breath and finally answered, "Yesterday morning. We did some planning for an event last week. We met here at about nine. I left at noon to meet my parent's for brunch. Julianne was still here."
"Okay, if you could just get me Jake's number, we'll be on our way." The girl blew her nose loudly and stood. When she was out of the office, Bobby stepped away from the books and suggested, "Let's talk to some more people on the way out." Alex nodded.
The general consensus among Julianne Meyer's co-workers was that everyone respected her. The only other woman on the policy staff was a speechwriter named Annie Helder. She was thirty something, tall and definitely the academic type. Her eyeglasses were thick and black rimmed and her suit was just slightly too big. Alex observed that Annie was attempting sophistication but not quite hitting the mark. Alex stood back for this interview and let Goren flirt his way through.
"You two spend a lot of time together outside of work?" he asked, smiling and batting his eyelashes. Alex almost laughed. He was such a girl when he flirted.
"Well, sometimes. I mean, little things like maybe drinks. Really though," she smiled shyly, "we stay pretty busy here. Not a lot of time for outside things."
Bobby nodded understandingly, "Yeah. My partner and I," he gestured awkwardly towards Alex, "see a lot of each other. Lots of hours spent over cases." Alex watched in wonder as Bobby mirrored his behavior to the awkward woman in front of him. 'Give him thirty more seconds,' she thought, 'and he'll have all the information he wants'. Sure enough, five minutes later, the detectives walked out of city hall with the names of the last three bars the women had visited for late night drinks.