Chapter 3
Two hours later and Alexa or Lexie as she would soon be called once again, she only went by the formal while on assignment, emerged from the basement. She had taken care to leaving things in 'her' morgue as she liked to think of it in tip top shape for whoever would be replacing her. Even if her Burn here hadn't nabbed her killer she at least felt she had done some good while being here. In a matter of months she had turned this precincts pitiful excuse of a morgue into an actual working forensic pathology suite. She was grateful for that.
She had also taken the time to make sure she had left little 'goodbyes' in and around the morgue. Her favorite reading glasses left on an open forensic book with a page of half written notes. She had carefully placed a lipstick tube on the metal shelf in the bathroom as well as a pair of shoes in her locker along with a change of clothing. The little 'goodbyes' were always left to suggest that they had every intention of returning. They made the accidents of the operatives staged deaths all the more tragic and real.
This time tomorrow Foyle, Milner and Sam would be surveying the accident scene of one Dr. Alexa Greene's horrific death. Her body will have been burnt beyond recognition. The only objects left to identify the body will be charred remains of hair very similar to Alexa's. On the hand of the dead girl they will find her wedding band with her initials and that of her fake late husband's as well as the date of their supposed nuptials. All of the supporting documentation of course would be easily located with just a touch of investigation. However Foyle wouldn't have to dig too deep since Alexa had taken the time to show off her ring one day during tea with Sam.
Sam. Ah poor Sam. Alexa felt bad for what she was about to put the girl through. Sam was such a good natured soul. All of her emotions were always out there in the open for everyone to see. Alexa just knew that Sam was going to take her 'death' the hardest. Her guilt about it had been increasing by the bucket loads all morning. It was actually for Sam that Alexa drug herself out of the dungeon and into the light of day.
There wasn't much that Alexa could do about Sam. She couldn't tell her the truth, but what she could do was go to the local markets and cash in most of her remaining rations. She couldn't do all of them—that would be too obvious. Her plan was to fill her cupboards with the food in hopes that Foyle wouldn't let the precious provisions go to waste.
Sam had started to drive for Mr. Foyle the week after Alexa had arrived. Oh the shock to the poor man. First he had been saddled with a female pathologist then a female driver. It was a wonder that he had made it through the month of May. About a month after Sam had entered into her life, Alexa had snuck into the personnel files and had changed her paperwork to naming Sam as her next of kin. In the event of her death everything she owned would be inherited by one Samantha Stewart. It was the least Alexa could do.
Alexa reached the top of the basement stairs and walked into the chaotic commotion of the lobby. Just in time to see Milner enter from the outside doors with Mr. Benedict's brother Edwin in handcuffs. Following them was Foyle and Sam.
"Sir," Alexa began once she had made eye contact with Foyle. Hadn't she just told him the man's death had been an accident? How could he be arresting Edwin Benedict with the evidence she had presented to him only hours ago?
Foyle cut her off with a nod of his head indicating that she should follow him into his office. She walked around the spectacle of Milner physically bruiting Edwin towards the Sergeants desk and telling Rivers to find the boy a room at their establishment.
She followed Foyle and Sam into the office with Milner now on her heels after successfully ridding himself of his collar.
"Sir," she began again her initial argument once they were behind the closed office door. "I thought it was decidedly clear that Spencer Benedict's death was an accident made to look like suicide."
Foyle stood behind his desk glancing down and fidgeting with some paperwork that adorned the surface before bending at the knee slightly to the right before answering her, "Well actually, it was a murder disguised to look like an accidental suicide."
"But…" Her argument was cut short by Foyle's hard downward glance. One learned very quickly not to disrupt this man's train of thought. Once he was locked into it, any and all objects in his way would be smashed to smithereens from the sheer force of it. She silenced herself immediately.
"Spencer Benedict was a man of habit…wouldn't you say Greene?" She nodded her head slightly to answer his question. "The same oil was found staining the floor where he was found. Soaked clear through the wood. He used the same rope…"
"The same rope for what, sir. I'm afraid I don't quite understand this entire thing." This time it was Sam that had interrupted him. However it wasn't only Foyle that reprimanded her, it was all three of the other adults in the room.
"Shush Sam." They all three said at the same time leading Alexa to believe that Milner knew what it had been used for but not Sam. No- Foyle would never allow Sam to know.
Once Sam had quieted and accepted her fate of being left out Foyle continued.
"The same oil, the same rope…" He stopped himself short allowing Alexa to put the final piece of the puzzle into place.
"And the same stool." This earned her a rare appraising look from Foyle.
"Precisely." He reached into an evidence bag that was made of burlap and pulled out the stool. Inwardly Alexa cringed at the fiber made sack that the object came out of. The words CROSS CONTAMINATION OF EVIDENCE flashed in red throughout her mind. They can't help it, Alexa, she told herself. They don't have the same tools that we do. They can only use what's on hand for the time. "The same stool." He held the stool up and wobbled one of the remaining broken legs. "Which if you look at it closely was sawed and then glued back together. Now wouldn't you say that if someone was…ummm…vvvigorously using the stool for the job at ummm…hhhand that it would…"
"Break under the pressure." She finished for him. "Leaving him hanging."
Foyle tapped his hand on the desk, "Exactly. We searched the brothers work shed. Milner found some splinters left behind that match the wood of the stool. We also found the glue…"
"Yes," Alexa interrupted, "But that's all circumstantial. He could simply claim to have repaired the stool at some point or another. Or Spencer Benedict had."
"Well that's true, except when presented with the evidence, ummmm…Edwin confessed." Foyle finished in an almost birdsong voice at the end.
Alexa gave him an appreciative nod of the head, "Pretty good Foyle…pretty good."
He gave her the same nod back, "Well thank you. I thought so too."
At that they all shared a slight laugh.
"I still don't understand, sir." One could actually hear the roll of three pairs of eyes when Sam began her questions. "What would he be vigorously doing on a stool with a rope around his neck?"
"Ahhh…" Foyle suddenly found the pen on his desk the most interesting object in the room and began fiddling with it obsessively.
"I'll explain it later, Sam" Alexa answered for him. This in turn earned Alexa shocked wide eyes from her boss. With her back still to Sam she made a doubtful look towards Foyle while giving him the slightest shake of her head thus reassuring him that not in a million years would she explain the fundamentals of auto-erotic asphyxiation to the girl.
"After we've had some lunch." Alexa knew how to quiet Sam quickly. The mention of any food always did the trick. Alexa checked her watch. She had four hours remaining until the rendezvous time. That gave her plenty of time to share a last meal with her new friends with enough time left over for the market. "How's 'bout I take you three out for lunch? I mean it's the least that I can do. You all got it right while I was wrong."
"Wwwell…actually…Greene we wouldn't be anywhere if it weren't for you."
"How's that sir?" His statement quite baffled her.
"Well, let's just say that the case was vigorously solved."
"Oh," she couldn't help the slight blush that his words put on her cheeks, "just the same. I would like to treat you all." She raised her eyebrows in a silent plea to him.
"Well I don't see how I deserve anything." Sam stated in a pout. "All I did was drive the car." Poor innocent Sam was obviously feeling a bit left out.
"Yes, but ummm you shouldn't forget how important that was Sam."
"Important?" Sam questioned Foyle back. "How is driving the car important?"
Placing his hat onto his head Foyle began to usher Sam out of his office door. Once she was almost through he raised his arm to indicate that Alexa should follow Sam out. She was standing next to Foyle with his hand on the small of her back waiting for Sam to get out of the doorway.
"Simply put if you hadn't driven us there we wouldn't have been able to make the arrest. Wouldn't you say that was true, Sam?"
Sam stopped just outside of the door frame giving it great thought. The sudden stop caught Foyle and Alexa squeezed tight in the threshold.
"I suppose so, sir." Sam answered after a few seconds of pondering. From behind them Milner chuckled at Sam's response and Foyle threw him a conspiratorial wink.
Just then Sergeant Rivers along with a few Constables came through the lobby with a gang of five men thus trapping Alexa and the others where they were at for the time being.
"Pub brawl sir." Rivers explained to Foyle. "Take just a moment to settle them in."
"Need some help?" Foyle asked as Rivers grabbed one of the brawlers and dragged him back into the line with the others.
"Nah, we've got it sir."
"Alright then, carry on." Foyle looked as uneasy as Alexa felt inside. Sam couldn't go forward less she run smack into one of the brawlers. Milner blocked her and Foyle's escape back into the office—so for the moment they were good and stuck in the tight space.
"So….ahhh…where would you like to go for lunch, sir?" Alexa asked. She thought maybe talking a little might take the awkward out of having her right thigh pressed against his left one.
"Well let's see….ummm" He gave her a teasing wink, "It's on you, then?"
"Yes, sir."
Foyle seemed to ponder the possibilities.
"How about someplace you haven't been to in a while?" She thought she might help him to decide. "Any ideas, sir?" There was a loud bang out in the hall pulling Alexa's attention away from Foyle. Thus when he answered her it was more whispered in her ear rather than said to her face. Perhaps if it might not have been the miss-understanding that was about to take place could have been avoided.
"Well, perhaps you'd like to try Spread-eagle. I haven't eaten there in a while. Are you up for that?"
Alexa's head snapped back at Foyle faster than a bullet out of a Luger. Had she just heard him correctly? Had he just suggested what she thought he suggested -in a rather lewd way? Her mind didn't have time to investigate all of the possible meanings of his statement before her right hand came up and smacked him hard across the face.
"Sir!?" She replied in indignant shock. After the resonating sound of the crack of the slap ceased echoing in the lobby Alexa heard Milner from behind her choking on a gasp of horror.
Her mouth gaped open at Foyle who was rubbing his red cheek that now sported a perfect imprint of her hand on it.
"If you didn't want to eat at the Spread-eagle Hotel, a simple 'no thank you, sir', would have sufficed." His voice never went an octave below or above normal. He remained calm even though she was sure he was just as surprised by her attack as Sam. Dear Sam that was now standing with her hands covering her mouth in silenced disbelief.
Alexa was still in attack mode so it took her mind a second longer than normal to process what he'd just said.
With her hand still in midair ready to throttle him for his unprofessional suggestion she stopped before it reached his throat.
"Wait…what…hotel?" Her stomach dropped around the vicinity of her toes. "Did you say hotel?" Foyle simply stared into her eyes. "Are you saying you people have a hotel here with the name… Spread-eagle?"
"Yes." Foyle flatly replied.
Alexa looked around the room. All of the chaos of the pub brawlers had ceased to exit. Everyone's complete attention was focused on them.
"OHHH…." First Alexa's hand covered her mouth in horror from her faux pas then she reached up and tenderly rubbed his cheek which was now starting to swell slightly, "Sorry." She winced at the raised welts. "I thought….I mean…I thought you were being…ah… well…"
"Yesss?" Oh boy, she could tell he was thoroughly annoyed.
"Well…I thought you were being fresh, sir. In America spread eagle means…something totally different. You didn't say hotel..you said 'eat out at spread eagle'…I just…I…I… took it the wrong way. I'm sorry, sir."
Foyle shook his head at her, "I would love to know the translation."
Alexa looked at Milner then to Sam. There was no way she could tell Foyle and not have the others over hear. That plus the fact that she really didn't want to tell him.
"I'm pretty sure you don't, sir."
Foyle pinned her with his eyes. She wasn't getting out of that doorway without some sort of explanation. Sighing she accepted her fate and whispered what he needed to know into his ear.
When she was done, he reared his head back slightly and chewed on the inside of his cheek.
"Rrrright." Whether or not her brief explanation had embarrassed him she really couldn't tell. He was a master at bottling up his emotions.
Finally with the mess in the lobby finally cleared up Foyle swept his hand out indicating they could get out of there now. The group silently made their way out of the building and out into the street. Sam and Milner practically jumped into the car. They were both probably hoping that the inside of the automobile would be considered neutral territory.
From their side of the car Alexa apologized again.
"I really am sorry, sir. I'd do anything to make it up to you somehow."
"Anything? You say? Somehow I don't believe that."
"Honestly, sir. Just name it and I'll do it."
Foyle paused just as he was about to get into the car then turned and looked at her, "Actually it's painfully obvious," he cocked an eyebrow while rubbing his cheek again before finishing, "that you wouldn't do just anything."
Alexa's mouth dropped open. Was he being cheeky with her? Had the taciturn Chief Detective Superintendent Foyle just cracked a joke?
Foyle's chuckle as he ducked into the car sent a shiver down her spine. My God he had. Alexa quickly glanced around looking straight up to the sky to make sure it wasn't indeed falling down onto her head. For Foyle's behavior had to mean one thing and one thing only. That today was indeed Armageddon. Impending doom settled into her chest.
To her surprise lunch went off without a hitch, even if Foyle had refused to make any sort of eye contact with her. Alexa especially enjoyed the senseless chatter between Milner and Sam. She couldn't help but think that the two would have made a splendid couple. It was too bad that Milner was still married to his horrendous wife. She had met Jane Milner once, albeit briefly. However it was long enough for Alexa to surmise that the woman had a heart made out of coal.
After fighting off Foyle for the bill—he was forever the English Gentleman—when they were about to leave a Constable came up to the table.
"Pardon Miss…ahhh I mean Doc, but this parcel was dropped fer you at the station 'ouse. The messenger said it were urgent so I brought it right over."
Alexa looked down at the brown papered small box that was set in front of her. Tucked under the tied string was an envelope. Alexa froze at the inscription. Written in scrolling elegant slanted cursive was her name, Lexie. No one called her by that name except her friends and colleagues from back home. The only people from that time that were here were her handlers and they knew well enough to keep her cover intact.
"Lexie?" Sam questioned.
"Yeah we fought it was kinda funny too." The Constable replied in his heavy accent. "Rivers told the messenger boy we didn't know no Lexie. But the boy said the man that gave 'im the package specified it were for Dr. Greene. My guess…" the Constable tilted back on his heels as if he were Sherlock Holmes about to solve a great case, "it's 'er nickname."
All eyes had been on the Constable, except for Foyle's. His had remained fixed on Alexa.
"Aren't you going to open it?" He asked and Alexa could feel his inner thoughts in the words.
With shaking hands she lifted the flap and pulled out the letter. It was short and sweet and shot straight through to its evil point.
Waiting and watching from the shadows has become mundane. I think it's time we play the game.
Alexa's heart stopped beating. Her Jumper was here and what was worse he knew who she was. Had he been watching her this entire time?
"Open the box." Foyle more commanded than asked. Apparently her attempt to keep this all nonchalant was failing miserably. Foyle was onto her like mold on two week old bread. Alexa knew darn well she should fold the note up right now and make a feeble excuse to open the box later in private. But she was beyond all that right now.
In all of these years the bastard had never made contact with any Operative. They didn't even know what he looked like and they had been tracking him for almost a decade. She couldn't wait one more second to open that box. She had to know what was inside of it.
With deft fingers she pulled the tied string from the box. She threw open the top and removed the tissue paper like a child on Christmas morning. However it was a shriek of horror instead of joy that shot out of her lungs when she saw what was lying at the bottom of the box. In utter disbelief she looked again then shoved the box away from her.
Foyle looked to Milner than Sam before he grabbed a hold of the discarded box. When he opened the lid he let out a slight curse, "Good God in Heaven. What am I looking at?"
Reeling back in from the shock Alexa tried to formulate some sort of explanation for Foyle. Although she didn't quite know how she was going to explain someone sending her a box containing the mummified finger of her dead husband.
A/N I want to give a big thanks to Harper64. Thanks for all of your help. And I want to thank each and every one of you that took the time to leave a review. It means a great deal to me so thanks again for reading. Hope you like where it's going.
